Then carefully rubbing his hands dry, he added: "If you show them, mother, that you are frightened, they will think there must be something in this house because you tremble.

And we have done nothing as yet, nothing! You know that we don't want anything bad; on our side is truth, and we will work for it all our lives.

This is our entire guilt.

Why, then, need we fear ?" "I will pull myself together, Pasha!" she assured him.

And the next moment, unable to repress her anxiety, she exclaimed: "I wish they'd come soon, and it would all be over!" But they did not come that night, and in the morning, in anticipation of the fun that would probably be poked at her for her alarm, the mother began to joke at herself..