"Why do you so exclaim?"
"You hope to escape?"
"I do."
"Ah! do not lay that flattering unction to your immortal soul, my son."
"Why not? The governor assured me that he would present my case to the authorities."
"But he never will."
"What!"
"Or if he does it, will never be acted upon. Oh, how many have I known in the thirty-five years that I have toiled and suffered here, who held hopes just as bright, and whose unredeemed and unclaimed bones now whiten on Siberian snows! I do not wish to dishearten you, nor do I wish to buoy you up with false hopes."
"But my case is different, my dear sir."
"It may be, as one-half differs from another; but remember that once a name is obliterated and the owner of it is transported to Siberia, there is no power on earth to reclaim him."