at is being played by his patron. Raspopov, who is
an agent of the secret police, gives Dorimedonte--who, by the way,
is deceiving him with Raissa--the names of the buyers of the
forbidden books in which he trades. And here it is that the tragedy
suddenly breaks forth.

Raissa, tired of being tormented by Raspopov, who accuses her of
poisoning him, strangles the old man in a moment of cold anger,
under the very eyes of Evsey. Thanks to Dorimedonte, this crime goes
unpunished. Evsey, having become the lodger of the two lovers, now
enters the Okhrana, at the advice of his new master. After a while,
Raissa, haunted by remorse, commits suicide, and Dorimedonte is
killed by some revolutionists.

All the interest of the book, however, is centered in the picture of
the police institutions. From the chief Philip Philipovich to the
agent Solovyev, Gorky presents, with consummate art, the mass of
corrupt and greedy agents who wearily accomplish their tasks.

Among them, young Evsey leads a miserable and ridiculous existence.
Bruised by an invincible power, he sees himself compelled to arrest
an old man who has confided his revolutionary ideas to him; then a
young girl with whom he is in love; finally, his own cousin, a
revolutionary suspect.

Gradually his eyes are opened. He realizes that he cannot extricate
himself from the position in which he has placed himself. Tired of
leading a life which his conscience disapproves of, he thinks of
killing his superior, who has driven him to do so many infamous
deeds. He will thus get justice. His project miscarries; maddened,
he throws himself under a passing train.

* * * * *

These three remarkable works, riddled by the Russian censor, so that
the complete version has appeared only abroad, have recently been
followed by two important stories: "Among the People" and "Matvey
Kozhemyakine."

With his accustomed power, Gorky shows us, in the first of these
stories, the spread of socialism among the agricultural proletariat.
He depicts village life with its pettiness and ignominy. The village
is for the most part a backward place, hostile to everything that
makes a breach in tradition. The hatching of socialism goes on
slowly. From day to day, new obstacles, helped on by the ignorance
of the peasants, hinder those who are trying to carry out their
belief. Even the village guard, Semyon, pursues them with his
hatred.

But Igor Petrovich, the propagat