her eyes again, and breaking into sobs she added: "You will perish,
my son!"

Pavel walked up and down the room.

"Well, now you know what I am doing and where I am going. I told
you all. I beg of you, mother, if you love me, do not hinder me!"

"My darling, my beloved!" she cried, "maybe it would be better for
me not to have known anything!"

He took her hand and pressed it firmly in his. The word "mother,"
pronounced by him with feverish emphasis, and that clasp of the hand
so new and strange, moved her.

"I will do nothing!" she said in a broken voice. "Only be on your
guard! Be on your guard!" Not knowing what he should be on his
guard against, nor how to warn him, she added mournfully: "You are
getting so thin."

And with a look of affectionate warmth, which seemed to embrace his
firm, well-shaped body, she said hastily, and in a low voice:

"God be with you! Live as you want to. I will not hinder you.
One thing only I beg of you--do not speak to people unguardedly!
You must be on the watch with people; they all hate one another.
They live in greed and envy; all are glad to do injury; people
persecute out of sheer amusement. When you begin to accuse them and
to judge them, they will hate you, and will hound you to destruction!"