I'm against it. Printed sheets are
better for the city, and the hektograph copies ought to be sent off
somewhere."

"Here, I'll carry them to Natasha!" the mother exclaimed animatedly.
"Give them to me."

She was seized with a great desire to sow them broadcast, to spread
Pavel's speech as soon as possible. She would have bestrewn the whole
earth with the words of her son, and she looked into the doctor's face
with eyes ready to beg.

"The devil knows whether at this time you ought to take up this
matter," the physician said irresolutely, and took out his watch. "It's
now twelve minutes of twelve. The train leaves at 2.05, arrives there
5.15. You'll get there in the evening, but not sufficiently late--and
that's not the point!"

"That's not the point," repeated Liudmila, frowning.

"What then?" asked the mother, drawing up to them. "The point is to do
it well; and I'll do it all right."

Liudmila looked fixedly at her, and chafing her forehead, remarked:

"It's dangerous for you."

"Why?" the mother challenged hotly.

"That's why!" said the physician quickly and brokenly. "You
disappeared from home an hour before Nikolay's arrest. You went away
to the mill, where you are known as the teacher's aunt; after your
arrival at the mill the naughty leaflets appear. All this will tie
itself into a noose around your neck."

"They won't notice me there," the mother assured them, warming to her
desire. "When I return they'll arrest me, and ask me where I was."
After a moment's pause she exclaimed: "I know what I'll say. From
there I'll go straight to the suburb; I have a friend there--Sizov. So
I'll say that I went there straight from the trial; grief took me
there; and he, too, had the same misfortune, his nephew was sentenced;
and I spent the whole time with him. He'll uphold me, too. Do you
see?"

The mother was aware that they were succumbing to the strength of her
desire, and strove to induce them to give in as quickly as possible.
She spoke more and more persistently, joy arising within her. And they
yielded.

"Well, go," the physician reluctantly assented.

Liudmila was silent, pacing thoughtfully up and down the room. Her
face clouded over and her cheeks fell in. The muscles of her neck
stretched noticeably as if her head had suddenly grown heavy; it
involuntarily dropped on her breast. The mother observed this. The
physician's reluctant assent forced a sigh from her.

"You all take ca