His mother and Nadia were there also.
The old Siberian, although energetic enough when her own safety
was in question, was frightfully pale. She expected some
terrible scene. It was not without reason that her son had been
brought before the Emir. She therefore trembled for him.
Ivan Ogareff was not a man to forgive having been struck
in public by the knout, and his vengeance would be merciless.
Some frightful punishment familiar to the barbarians of
Central Asia would, no doubt, be inflicted on Michael. Ogareff had
protected him against the soldiers because he well knew what would
happen by reserving him for the justice of the Emir.
The mother and son had not been able to speak together since
the terrible scene in the camp at Zabediero. They had been
pitilessly kept apart--a bitter aggravation of their misery,
for it would have been some consolation to have been together
during these days of captivity. Marfa longed to ask her son's
pardon for the harm she had unintentionally done him, for she
reproached herself with not having commanded her maternal feelings.
If she had restrained herself in that post-house at Omsk,
when she found herself face to face with him, Michael would
have passed unrecognized, and all these misfortunes would
have been avoided.
Michael, on his side, thought that if his mother was there,
if Ogareff had brought her with him, it was to make her suffer
with the sight of his own punishment, or perhaps some frightful
death was reserved for her also.
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