Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/62

50 very difficult for me to be separated from my wife. I shall ask your permission to bring her to Udzimi as soon as the work is in full swing and living quarters can be provided."

Seeing the supplicatory look in the eyes of the beautiful youth, emphasized by his trembling lips, I immediately gave my consent; but at the same time I made another distinct observation. Samsonoff was talking with me in a low voice, almost a whisper. Swinging round unexpectedly, I discovered Kazik with his face turned away from us but with his head held tense in the effort to catch our conversation at the other end of the car. As is so frequently the case in my relations with my fellow-beings, I seemed to sense some deep, personal trouble between these two young men to whom Fate had united me.

Chatting on with Samsonoff, I soon learned that he had made the acquaintance of his wife in Harbin, where she worked as a typist in the administration office of the railway, and that it was through Kazik, his friend from childhood, that he had first met her.

"And is Kazik also married?" I asked.

"No!" exclaimed Samsonoff. "Kazik will not marry young, as I have."

"Why not?"

"Because," whispered the boy, as he glanced cautiously toward his friend, "Kazik is a proud being, full of ambition and demands much of life."

"I don't understand. Please explain," I said, much interested by the suggestions of Samsonoff.

"Kazik is the son of a simple labourer, but he declares he will attain to a high station in life. He studies energetically, works all the time and pushes ahead everywhere it is possible. I really don't know when he sleeps.