86

The mother smiled. It was clear to her that if the leaflets
kept appearing at the factory, the management could not
blame her son for them. She felt that she was capable of
coping with the taks and twitched all over with joy.

"When you visit Pavel in jail, tell him he has a fine
mother," said Yegor.

"I'll be seeing him first," laughed Samoilov.
"Tell him I'll do everything that has to be done—let
him know that."

"What if they don't send Samoilov to jail?" asked
Yegor.

"It can't be helped," she said.

The two men burst otit laughing, and she too began to
laugh shyly, and a bit archly.

"It's hard to see other people's troubles for your own,"
she said, dropping her eyes.

"That's only natural," exclaimed Yegor. "And don't
you mope and pine for Pavel, He'll come back from jail
even better, A man gets a good rest there and a chance to
study, and people like us have no time to do either when
we're at large. I've been in three times, and each time with
great profit to heart and mind, though I could hardly say
it was a pleasure/'

"You have a hard time breathing," she observed with
a friendly glance into his plain face,

"There's a very special reason for that," he replied,
lifting a finger. "Well, then, I suppose everything's
settled, mother? Tomorrow we'll bring you the leaflets and
once more the wheel will start turning, grinding away the
darkness of the ages. Three cheers for freedom of speech,
and three cheers for the heart of a mother! Till we meet
again!"

"Good-bye," said Samoilov, shaking her hand, "I could
never have suggested such a thing to my mother."

"They'll all understand some day," said Pelagea, want-
ing to cheer him.

When they had left she locked the door and knelt in
the centre of the room, mingling her prayers with the