the unseen people, who in her imagination united into one huge person,
full of inexhaustible, manly force. This giant slowly but incessantly
strides over the earth, cleansing it, laying bare before the eyes of
the people the simple and clear truth of life--the great truth that
raises humanity from the dead, welcomes all equally, and promises all
alike freedom from greed, from wickedness, and falsehood, the three
monsters which enslaved and intimidated the whole world. The image
evoked in the mother's soul a feeling similar to that with which she
used to stand before an ikon. After she had offered her joyful,
grateful prayer, the day had then seemed lighter than the other days of
her life. Now she forgot those days. But the feeling left by them had
broadened, had become brighter and better, had grown more deeply into
her soul. It was more keenly alive and burned more luminously.

"But the gendarmes aren't coming!" Nikolay exclaimed suddenly,
interrupting his story.

The mother looked at him, and after a pause answered in vexation:

"Oh, well, let them go to the dogs!"

"Of course! But it's time for you to go to bed, Nilovna. You must be
desperately tired. You're wonderfully strong, I must say. So much
commotion and disturbance, and you live through it all so lightly. Only
your hair is turning gray very quickly. Now go and rest."

They pressed each other's hand and parted.

CHAPTER XIII

The mother fell quickly into a calm sleep, and rose early in the
morning, awakened by a subdued tap at the kitchen door. The knock was
incessant and patiently persistent. It was still dark and quiet, and
the rapping broke in alarmingly on the stillness. Dressing herself
rapidly, she walked out into the kitchen, and standing at the door
asked:

"Who's there?"

"I," answered an unfamiliar voice.

"Who?"

"Open." The quiet word was spoken in entreaty.

The mother lifted the hook, pushed the door with her foot, and Ignaty
entered, saying cheerfully:

"Well, so I'm not mistaken. I'm at the right place."

He was spattered with mud up to his belt. His face was gray, his eyes
fallen.

"We've gotten into trouble in our place," he whispered, locking the
door behind him.

"I know it."

The reply astonished the young man. He blinked and asked:

"How? Where from?"

She explained in a few rapid words, and asked:

"Did they take the other comrades, too?"

"They weren't there. They had gone off to be