XLVIII + 

They granted a last meeting. A few minutes passed in questions, answers, embraces, and tears. + 

Boris said very little. + 

“Don’t cry, mamma. I am not afraid. There is nothing else they can do. They don’t feed you at all badly here. Remember me to all. And you, Natasha, take care of mother. One sacrifice is enough from our family. Well, goodbye.” + 

He seemed somehow callous and distant. He seemed to be thinking of something else, of something he could tell no one. And his words had an external ring, as though merely to make conversation. + 

That night, before daybreak, Boris was hanged. The scaffold was set up in the gaol courtyard. The spot where he was buried was kept secret. + 

The mother implored the next day: “Show me his grave at least!” + 

What was there to show! He was laid in a coffin, he was put into a hole in the earth and the soil that covered him was smoothed down to its original level⁠—we all know how such culprits are buried. + 

“Tell me at least how he died.” + 

“Well, he was a brave one. He was calm, a bit serious. And he refused a priest, and would not kiss the cross.” + 

They returned home. A fog of melancholy hung over them, and within them there lit up a spark of mad hope⁠—no, Borya is not dead, Borya will return. + 