FOMÁ. And it was quite clear that his victim was Sasha? AST. Quite clear. Adámek gave intimate details about him, such as only a friend of his could have known, which put his identity beyond a doubt. When the trial was over the body was sent in a coffin to Praskóvya Petróvna, who buried it here in the Tróitski Cemetery. FOMÁ. And the Pole? AST. He was sent to penal servitude for life to the silver mines of Siberia. FOMÁ. So Praskóvya is even madder than I thought. Her religion is founded on a myth. Her life is an absurd deception. AST. No; she has created something out of nothing; that is all. FOMÁ. In your place I should have told her the truth. AST. No. FOMÁ. Anything is better than a lie. AST. There is no lie in it. Praskóvya's idea and Sasha's life are two independent things. A statement of fact may be true or false; but an idea need only be clear and definite. That is all that matters. [_There is a tapping at the door; the latch is lifted, and the Stranger peeps in._] Come in, come in! [_Enter the Stranger, ragged and degraded. He looks about the room, dazed by the light, and fixes his attention on Astéryi._] Who are you? What do you want? STRANGER. I came to speak to you. AST. To speak to me? FOMÁ. Take off your cap. Do you not see the eikons? AST. What do you want with me? STRANGER. Only a word, Astéryi Ivanovitch. AST. How have you learnt my name? FOMÁ. Do you know the man? AST. No. STRANGER. You do not know me? AST. No. STRANGER. Have you forgotten me, Astéryi Ivanovitch? AST. [_almost speechless_]. Sasha! FOMÁ. What is it? You look as if you had seen a ghost. AST. A ghost? There are no such things as ghosts. Would that it were a ghost. It is Sasha. FOMÁ. Sasha? AST. It is Praskóvya's son alive. FOMÁ. Praskóvya's son? SASHA. You remember me now, Astéryi Ivanovitch. AST. How have you risen from the dead? How have you come back from the grave--you who were dead and buried these twenty years and more? SASHA. I have not risen from the dead. I have not come back from the grave; but I have come a long, long journey. AST. From where? SASHA. From Siberia. FOMÁ. From Siberia? SASHA. From Siberia. AST. What were you doing in Siberia? SASHA. Do you not understand, Astéryi Ivanovitch? I am a criminal. AST. Ah! SASHA. A convict, a felon. I have escaped and come home. AST. Of what crime have you been guilty? SASHA. Do not ask me so many questions, but give me something to eat. AST. But tell me this.... SASHA. There is food here. I smelt it as I came in. [_He eats the meat with his fingers ravenously, like a wild beast._] FOMÁ. It is your mother's supper. SASHA. I do not care whose supper it is. I am ravenous. I have had nothing to eat all day. FOMÁ. Can this wild beast be Praskóvya's son? SASHA. We are all wild beasts if we are kept from food. Ha! and vodka, too! [_helping himself_]. AST. Are you a convict, a felon, Sasha? You who were dead? Then we have been deceived for many years.