Every
word of his speech fell upon the mother's ears like a blow. And his
face set in the frame of his black beard, his broad face attired, as
it were, in mourning, frightened her. The dark gleam of his eyes
was insupportable to her. He aroused in her a sense of anguish, and
filled her heart with terror.
"No, I'd better go away," she said, shaking her head in negation.
"It's not in my power to listen to this. I cannot!"
And she quickly walked into the kitchen followed by the words of
Rybin:
"There you have it, Pavel! It begins not in the head, but in the
heart. The heart is such a place that nothing else will grow in it."
"Only reason," said Pavel firmly, "only reason will free mankind."
"Reason does not give strength!" retorted Rybin emphatically. "The
heart gives strength, and not the head, I tell you."
The mother undressed and lay down in bed without saying her prayer.
She felt cold and miserable. And Rybin, who at first seemed such a
staid, wise man, now aroused in her a blind hostility.
"Heretic! Sedition-maker!" she thought, listening to his even voice
flowing resonantly from his deep chest. He, too, had come--he was
indispensable.
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