You and the Little Russian and Nikolay, you all got caught!" He
paused for the right word and looked at the window, rapping the
table with his fingers. "They discovered your resolve. You attend
to your business, your honor, you say, and we'll attend to ours.
The Little Russian's a fine fellow, too. The other day I heard how
he speaks in the factory, and thinks I to myself: that man isn't
going to be vanquished; it's only one thing will knock him out,
and that's death! A sturdy chap! Do you trust me, Pavel?"
"Yes, I trust you!" said Pavel, nodding.
"That's right. Look! I am forty years old; I am twice as old as
you, and I've seen twenty times as much as you. For three years
long I wore my feet to the bone marching in the army. I have been
married twice. I've been in the Caucasus, I know the Dukhobors.
They're not masters of life, no, they aren't!"
The mother listened eagerly to his direct speech. It pleased her to
have an older man come to her son and speak to him just as if he
were confessing to him. But Pavel seemed to treat the guest too
curtly, and the mother, to introduce a softer element, asked Rybin:
"Maybe you'll have something to eat.
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