Marfa, then, had understood all, and kept his secret.
During that night, Michael was twenty times on the point
of looking for and joining his mother; but he knew that he must
resist the longing he felt to take her in his arms, and once
more press the hand of his young companion. The least imprudence
might be fatal. He had besides sworn not to see his mother.
Once at Tomsk, since he could not escape this very night,
he would set off without having even embraced the two beings
in whom all the happiness of his life was centered, and whom
he should leave exposed to so many perils.
Michael hoped that this fresh meeting at the Zabediero camp would
have no disastrous consequences either to his mother or to himself.
But he did not know that part of this scene, although it passed
so rapidly, had been observed by Sangarre, Ogareff's spy.
The Tsigane was there, a few paces off, on the bank, as usual,
watching the old Siberian woman. She had not caught sight
of Michael, for he disappeared before she had time to look around;
but the mother's gesture as she kept back Nadia had not escaped her,
and the look in Marfa's eyes told her all.
It was now beyond doubt that Marfa Strogoff's son, the Czar's courier,
was at this moment in Zabediero, among Ivan Ogareff's prisoners.
Sangarre did not know him, but she knew that he was there.
She did not then attempt to discover him, for it would have been
impossible in the dark and the immense crowd.
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