"
CHAPTER VII
The next day they knew that Bukin, Samoylov, Somov, and five more had
been arrested. In the evening Fedya Mazin came running in upon them.
A search had been made in his house also. He felt himself a hero.
"Were you afraid, Fedya?" asked the mother.
He turned pale, his face sharpened, and his nostrils quivered.
"I was afraid the officer might strike me. He has a black beard,
he's stout, his fingers are hairy, and he wears dark glasses, so
that he looks as if he were without eyes. He shouted and stamped
his feet. He said I'd rot in prison. And I've never been beaten
either by my father or mother; they love me because I'm their only
son. Everyone gets beaten everywhere, but I never!"
He closed his eyes for a moment, compressed his lips, tossed his
hair back with a quick gesture of both hands, and looking at Pavel
with reddening eyes, said:
"If anybody ever strikes me, I will thrust my whole body into him
like a knife--I will bite my teeth into him--I'd rather he'd kill
me at once and be done!"
"To defend yourself is your right," said Pavel. "But take care not
to attack!"
"You are delicate and thin," observed the mother.
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