V + 

Now he cried, now he laughed. At home he again cried and laughed. He complained: + 

“I was entirely undressed. It would have been nice, wouldn’t it, if I had been wearing that torn shirt!” + 

Later⁠—yes, what happened later? His mother would go to the director. She wished to make a scene. Afterwards she would lodge a complaint against him. But she recalled, in the street, that her boy was a non-paying student. There was no scene. Besides, the director received her pleasantly. He was so apologetic. + 

The impression of his degradation remained with the boy. All its incidents had impressed themselves upon him: he had been suspected of theft, and searched, and he had stood, almost naked, undergoing the scrutiny of an officious person. Shameful? Let us, by all means, console ourselves that it is an experience useful to life. + 

Weeping, the mother said: “Who knows⁠—perhaps when you grow up, something of the sort will really happen. We’ve heard of such things in our time.” + 