By what arguments he had induced his mother to sell their little property and go abroad for an indefinite time, I cannot tell precisely.  I have an idea that Mrs. Haldin, at her son’s wish, would have set fire to her house and emigrated to the moon without any sign of surprise or apprehension; and that Miss Haldin—­Nathalie, caressingly Natalka—­would have given her assent to the scheme.

Their proud devotion to that young man became clear to me in a very short time.  Following his directions they went straight to Switzerland—­to Zurich—­where they remained the best part of a year.  From Zurich, which they did not like, they came to Geneva.  A friend of mine in Lausanne, a lecturer in history at the University (he had married a Russian lady, a distant connection of Mrs. Haldin’s), wrote to me suggesting I should call on these ladies.  It was a very kindly meant business suggestion.  Miss Haldin wished to go through a course of reading the best English authors with a competent teacher.

Mrs. Haldin received me very kindly.  Her bad French, of which she was smilingly conscious, did away with the formality of the first interview.  She was a tall woman in a black silk dress.  A wide brow, regular features, and delicately cut lips, testified to her past beauty.  She sat upright in an easy chair and in a rather weak, gentle voice told me that her Natalka simply thirsted after knowledge.  Her thin hands were lying on her lap, her facial immobility had in it something monachal.  “In Russia,” she went on, “all knowledge was tainted with falsehood.  Not chemistry and all that, but education generally,” she explained.  The Government corrupted the teaching for its own purposes.  Both her children felt that.  Her Natalka had obtained a diploma of a Superior School for Women and her son was a student at the St. Petersburg University.  He had a brilliant intellect, a most noble unselfish nature, and he was the oracle of his comrades.  Early next year, she hoped he would join them and they would then go to Italy together.  In any other country but their own she would have been certain of a great future for a man with the extraordinary abilities and the lofty character of her son—­but in Russia....

The young lady sitting by the window turned her head and said—­

“Come, mother.  Even with us things change with years.”

Her voice was deep, almost harsh, and yet caressing in its harshness.  She had a dark complexion, with red lips and a full figure.  She gave the impression of strong vitality.  The old lady sighed.

“You are both young—­you two.  It is easy for you to hope.  But I, too, am not hopeless.  Indeed, how could I be with a son like this.”