Silently he pressed close to her and whispered, "Don't go yet.

He won't come just yet.

" The mother held him away from her to see what he was thinking, what to say to him, and in his frightened face she read not only that he was speaking of his father, but, as it were, asking her what he ought to think about his father.

"Seryozha, my darling," she said, "love him; he's better and kinder than I am, and I have done him wrong.

When you grow up you will judge.