We have very little wood
left. You see, mother, how well Pavel looks? Instead of punishing
the rebels, the government only fattens them."
The mother laughed. Her heart was still leaping with joy. She was
fairly intoxicated with happiness. But a certain, cautious, chary
feeling already called forth in her the wish to see her son calm as
he always was. She wanted this first joy in her life to remain
fixed in her heart forever as live and strong as at first. In order
to guard against the diminution of her happiness; she hastened to
hide it, as a fowler secrets some rare bird that has happened to
fall into his hands.
"Let's have dinner! Pasha, haven't you had anything to eat yet?"
she asked with anxious haste.
"No. I learned yesterday from the warden that I was to be released,
and I couldn't eat or drink anything to-day."
"The first person I met here was Sizov," Pavel communicated to
Andrey. "He caught sight of me and crossed the street to greet me.
I told him that he ought to be more careful now, as I was a
dangerous man under the surveillance of the police. But he said:
'Never mind!' and you ought to have heard him inquire about his
nephew! 'Did Fedor conduct himself properly in prison?' I wanted
to know what is meant by proper behavior in prison, and he declared:
'Well, did he blab anything he shouldn't have against his comrades?'
And when I told him that Fedya was an honest and wise young man, he
stroked his beard and declared proudly: 'We, the Sizovs, have no
trash in our family.
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