Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume XIV).djvu/184

Rh subjected to corporal punishment yes;—of other wrongs I will not speak But is there really nothing before us but to go back to those old times again? The way they are treating the young people now! Yes, it breaks down all endurance at last. It breaks it down! Yes! Wait a bit!'

I had never seen Baburin in such a condition. Musa turned positively white Baburin suddenly cleared his throat, and sank down into a seat. Not wishing to constrain either him or Musa by my presence, I decided to go, and was just saying good-bye to them, when the door into the next room suddenly opened, and a head appeared. It was not the cook's head, but the dishevelled and terrified-looking head of a young man.

'Something's wrong, Baburin, something's wrong!' he faltered hurriedly, then vanished at once on perceiving my unfamiliar figure.

Baburin rushed after the young man. I pressed Musa's hand warmly, and withdrew, with presentiments of evil in my heart.

'Come to-morrow,' she whispered anxiously.

'I certainly will come,' I answered.

I was still in bed next morning, when my man handed me a letter from Musa.

'Dear Piotr Petrovitch!' she wrote: 'Paramon Semyonitch has been this night arrested by the police and carried off to the fortress, or