, had been a series of mistakes. They had all merely contributed to the triumph of the reaction under Alexander III , which put society back almost to the days of serfdom. According to them, the true path was a quite different one.

For two days and the greater part of two nights the disputes between Mezhenétsky and his new acquaintances hardly ceased. Especially one of them, their leader, Román (everybody called him by his Christian name), pained and grieved Mezhenétsky by his unwavering assurance of being right, and by a contemptuous and even sarcastic rejection of all the old methods of Mezhenétsky and his comrades.