“I don’t quite know how to tell you. He is our leader now and directs everything. We couldn’t get on without discipline in our movement; we must obey someone.” (“What nonsense I’m talking!” Nejdanov thought.)
“What is he like to look at?”
“Oh, he’s short, thick-set, dark, with high cheek-bones like a Kalmick ... a rather coarse face, only he has very bright, intelligent eyes.”
“And what does he talk like?”
“He does not talk, he commands.”
“Why did they make him leader?”
“He is a man of strong character. Won’t give in to anyone. Would sooner kill if necessary. People are afraid of him.”
“And what is Solomin like?” Mariana asked after a pause.
“Solomin is also not good-looking, but has a nice, simple, honest face. Such faces are to be found among schoolboys of the right sort.”
Nejdanov had described Solomin accurately.