"That's too bad."
The mother buried her head in the pillow and wept inaudibly.
In the morning Andrey seemed to her to be lower in stature and
all the more winning. But her son towered thin, straight, and
taciturn as ever. She had always called the Little Russian Andrey
Stepanovich, in formal address, but now, all at once, involuntarily
and unconsciously she said to him:
"Say, Andriusha, you had better get your boots mended. You are apt
to catch cold."
"On pay day, mother, I'll buy myself a new pair," he answered,
smiling. Then suddenly placing his long hand on her shoulder, he
added: "You know, you are my real mother. Only you don't want to
acknowledge it to people because I am so ugly."
She patted him on the hand without speaking. She would have liked
to say many endearing things, but her heart was wrung with pity, and
the words would not leave her tongue.
They spoke in the village about the socialists who distributed
broadcast leaflets in blue ink. In these leaflets the conditions
prevailing in the factory were trenchantly and pointedly depicted,
as well as the strikes in St. Petersburg and southern Russia; and
the workingmen were called upon to unite and fight for their interests.
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