"There are extremely few free men in the world--that's its
misfortune," he said.
This the mother understood. She knew men who had emancipated
themselves from greed and evil; she understood that if there were
more such people, the dark, incomprehensible, and awful face of
life would become more kindly and simple, better and brighter.
"A man must perforce be cruel," said Nikolay dismally.
The mother nodded her head in confirmation. She recalled the
sayings of the Little Russian.
CHAPTER VI
Once Nikolay, usually so punctual, came from his work much later than
was his wont, and said, excitedly rubbing his hands: "Do you know,
Nilovna, to-day at the visiting hour one of our comrades disappeared
from prison? But we have not succeeded in finding out who."
The mother's body swayed, overpowered by excitement. She sat down
on a chair and asked with forced quiet:
"Maybe it's Pasha?"
"Possibly. But the question is how to find him, how to help him
keep in concealment. Just now I was walking about the streets to
see if I couldn't detect him. It was a stupid thing of me to do,
but I had to do something. I'm going out again."
"I'll go, too," said the mother, rising.
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