“Nadia, Nadia,” replied Michael, “you should think only of your father!” “Michael,” replied Nadia, “you have more need of me than my father. Do you mean to give up going to Irkutsk?” “Never!” cried Michael, in a tone which plainly showed that none of his energy was gone. “But you have not the letter!” “That letter of which Ivan Ogareff robbed me! Well! I shall manage without it, Nadia! They have treated me as a spy! I will act as a spy! I will go and repeat at Irkutsk all I have seen, all I have heard; I swear it by Heaven above! The traitor shall meet me one day face to face! But I must arrive at Irkutsk before him.” “And yet you speak of our separating, Michael?” “Nadia, they have taken everything from me!” “I have some roubles still, and my eyes! I can see for you, Michael; and I will lead you thither, where you could not go alone!” “And how shall we go?” “On foot.” “And how shall we live?” “By begging.” “Let us start, Nadia.” “Come, Michael.” The two young people no longer kept the names “brother” and “sister.” In their common misfortune, they felt still closer united. They left the house after an hour’s repose. Nadia had procured in the town some morsels of “tchornekhleb,” a sort of barley bread, and a little mead, called “meod” in Russia. This had cost her nothing, for she had already begun her plan of begging. The bread and mead had in some degree appeased Michael’s hunger and thirst. Nadia gave him the lion’s share of this scanty meal. He ate the pieces of bread his companion gave him, drank from the gourd she held to his lips. “Are you eating, Nadia?” he asked several times. “Yes, Michael,” invariably replied the young girl, who contented herself with what her companion left. Michael and Nadia quitted Semilowskoe, and once more set out on the laborious road to Irkutsk. The girl bore up in a marvelous way against fatigue. Had Michael seen her, perhaps he would not have had the courage to go on. But Nadia never complained, and Michael, hearing no sigh, walked at a speed he was unable to repress. And why? Did he still expect to keep before the Tartars? He was on foot, without money; he was blind, and if Nadia, his only guide, were to be separated from him, he could only lie down by the side of the road and there perish miserably. But if, on the other hand, by energetic perseverance he could reach Krasnoiarsk, all was perhaps not lost, since the governor, to whom he would make himself known, would not hesitate to give him the means of reaching Irkutsk. Michael walked on, speaking little, absorbed in his own thoughts. He held Nadia’s hand. The two were in incessant communication. It seemed to them that they had no need of words to exchange their thoughts. From time to time Michael said, “Speak to me, Nadia.” “Why should I, Michael? We are thinking together!” the young girl would reply, and contrived that her voice should not betray her extreme fatigue.