She gasped in a whisper:
"Nikolay is out of prison!"
"Which Nikolay?" asked Yegor, raising his head from the pillow.
"There are two there."
"Vyesovshchikov. He's coming here!"
"Fine! But I can't rise to meet him."
Vyesovshchikov had already come into the room. He locked the door
after him, and taking off his hat laughed quietly, stroking his
hair. Yegor raised himself on his elbows.
"Please, signor, make yourself at home," he said with a nod.
Without saying anything, a broad smile on his face, Nikolay walked
up to the mother and grasped her hand.
"If I had not seen you I might as well have returned to prison.
I know nobody in the city. If I had gone to the suburbs they would
have seized me at once. So I walked about, and thought what a fool
I was--why had I escaped? Suddenly I see Nilovna running; off I am,
after you."
"How did you make your escape?"
Vyesovshchikov sat down awkwardly on the edge of the sofa and
pressed Yegor's hand.
"I don't know how," he said in an embarrassed manner. "Simply a
chance. I was taking my airing, and the prisoners began to beat
the overseer of the jail. There's one overseer there who was
expelled from the gendarmerie for stealing.
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