LII + 

Sofia Alexandrovna, ignoring the interruption, continues: + 

“Why should I really go to my death boldly and resolutely? Is it not all the same? I shall die in the courtyard, in the dark of night. Whether I die boldly, or weep like a coward, or beg for mercy, or resist the executioner⁠—is it not all the same? No one will know how I died. I shall face death alone. Why should I really suffer this wild anguish? I will raise up my voice to wail and to weep, and I will shake the whole gaol with my despairing cries, and I will awake the town, the so-called free town, which is only a larger gaol⁠—so that I shall not suffer alone, but that others shall share in my last agony, in my last dread. But no, I won’t do that. It is my fate to die alone.” + 

Natasha rises, trembles, presses her mother’s cold hand in hers, and says: + 

“Mamma, mamma, it is terrible, if alone. No, don’t say that he felt alone. We shall be with him.” + 

Elena Kirillovna whispers: + 

“Yes, Sonyushka, it would be terrible alone. In such moments!” + 

“We are with him,” insists Natasha vehemently. “We are with him now.” + 

A smile is on Sofia Alexandrovna’s lips, a smile such as a dying person smiles to greet his last consolation. Sofia Alexandrovna speaks: + 

“My last consolation is the thought that I am not alone. He is with me. These walls are unrealities, this gaol built by men is a lie. What is real and true is my suffering and I am one with them in my grief. A poor consolation! And yet I, just think, this extraordinary I, Boris, I am dying.” + 

“I am dying,” repeats Natasha. + 

Her voice is clouded, and it is fraught with despair. And all three remain silent for a brief while, overcome by the spell of these tragic words. + 