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Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936

"Mother"

There inside the walls they know the time when this
will be done, and will ask the criminals to arrange an uproar, or
they'll arrange it themselves, and those who need it will go up the
ladder over the wall--one, two, it's done. And they calmly proceed
to the city because the chase throws itself first of all on the
vacant lot and the cemetery."
He gesticulated rapidly in front of the mother's face, drawing his
plan, the details of which were clear, simple, and clever. She had
known him as a clumsy fellow, and it was strange to her to see the
pockmarked face with the high cheek bones, usually so gloomy, now
lively and alert. The narrow gray eyes, formerly harsh and cold,
looking at the world sullenly with malice and distrust, seemed to
be chiseled anew, assuming an oval form and shining with an even,
warm light that convinced and moved the mother.
"You think of it--by day, without fail by day. To whom would it
occur that a prisoner would make up his mind to escape by day in
the eyes of the whole prison?"
"And they'll shoot him down," the woman said trembling.
"Who? There are no soldiers, and the overseers of the prison use
their revolvers to drive nails in.


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