“Have you known him long?”
“I knew him in St. Petersburg. That was what made me talk to you. Sergai Mihailovitch has also told me—”
“Oh Markelov! Is it long since you’ve seen him?”
“No, not long. But he’s gone away now.”
“Where to?”
“Where he was ordered.”
Mariana sighed.
“Oh, Miss Mashurina, I fear for him.”
“In the first place, I’m not miss. You ought to cast off such manners. In the second, you say ... ‘I fear,’ and that you must also cast aside. If you do not fear for yourself, you will leave off fearing for others. You must not think of yourself, nor fear for yourself. I dare say it’s easy for me to talk like that. I am ugly, while you are beautiful. It must be so much harder for you.” (Mariana looked down and turned away.) “Sergai Mihailovitch told me.... He knew I had a letter for Nejdanov.... ‘Don’t go to the factory,’ he said, ‘don’t take the letter. It will upset everything there. Leave them alone! They are both happy.... Don’t interfere with them!’ I should be glad not to interfere, but what shall I do about the letter?”
“Give it to him by all means,” Mariana put in. “How awfully good Sergai Mihailovitch is! Will they kill him, Mashurina ... or send him to Siberia?”