ng
away the cold haze that enveloped them, pricking the old skin of the
judges with sharp words. The judges had the air of moving more closely
to one another, or suddenly they would puff and swell, repulsing the
sharp, caustic raps with the mass of their soft, mellow bodies. They
acted as if they feared that the blow of the opponent might call forth
an echo in their empty bosoms, might shake their resolution, which
sprang not from their own will but from a will strange to them.
Feeling this conflict, the people on the benches back of the mother
sighed and whispered.

But suddenly Pavel arose; tense quiet prevailed. The mother stretched
her entire body forward.

"A party man, I recognize only the court of my party and will not speak
in my defense. According to the desire of my comrades, I, too,
declined a defense. I will merely try to explain to you what you don't
understand. The prosecuting attorney designated our coming out under
the banner of the Social Democracy as an uprising against the superior
power, and regarded us as nothing but rebels against the Czar. I must
declare to you that to us the Czar is not the only chain that fetters
the body of the country. We are obliged to tear off only the first and
nearest chain from the people."

The stillness deepened under the sound of the firm voice; it seemed to
widen the space between the walls of the hall. Pavel, by his words,
removed the people to a distance from himself, and thereby grew in the
eyes of the mother. His stony, calm, proud face with the beard, his
high forehead, and blue eyes, somewhat stern, all became more dazzling
and more prominent.

The judges began to stir heavily and uneasily; the marshal of the
nobility was the first to whisper something to the judge with the
indolent face. The judge nodded his head and turned to the old man; on
the other side of him the sick judge was talking. Rocking back and
forth in the armchair, the old judge spoke to Pavel, but his voice was
drowned in the even, broad current of the young man's speech.

"We are Socialists! That means we are enemies to private property,
which separates people, arms them against one another, and brings forth
an irreconcilable hostility of interests; brings forth lies that
endeavor to cover up, or to justify, this conflict of interests, and
corrupt all with falsehood, hypocrisy and malice. We maintain that a
society that regards man only as a tool for its enrichment is
anti