The gendarme pushed aside the women, who were crowded close about him, and asked in a threatening tone:
"Who was that? Who made that remark?"
The people scattered before him as he thrust them aside. A number took quickly to their heels, and some one in the crowd broke into a mocking laugh.
The mother went home.
"No one is sorry," she thought. The broad figure of Nikolay stood before her like a shadow, his narrow eyes had a cold, cruel look, and he wrung his right hand as if it had been hurt.
When Pavel and Andrey came to dinner, her first question was:
"Well? Did they arrest anybody for Isay's murder?"
"We haven't heard anything about it," answered the Little Russian.
She saw that they were both downhearted and sullen.
"Nothing is said about Nikolay?" the mother questioned again in a low voice.