“I’ve sat two months in administrative order."[5]
Every one understood these strange words. Piotr asked:
“For what?”
Kiril seemed embarrassed. He answered with a morose uneasiness:
“It’s all a very simple affair with us—you do the slightest thing, and they try at once the most murderous measures.”
At this moment Stchemilov said very quietly to Elisaveta:
“Not a bad chap. He wants to become acquainted with you, comrade.”
Elisaveta silently inclined her head, smiled amiably at Kiril, and pressed his hand. His face brightened.
Rameyev came up to them. He greeted his visitors pleasantly but coldly, giving an impression of studied correctness. The conversation continued somewhat awkwardly. Elisaveta’s blue eyes looked gently and pensively at the irritated Piotr and at his deliberately inimical adversary Stchemilov.
Piotr asked: