Turkish aga; her husband, Insarov's father, found out the truth,
tried to avenge her, but only succeeded in wounding the aga with his
poniard. . . . He was shot.'

'Shot, and without a trial?'

'Yes. Insarov was just eight years old at the time. He remained in the
hands of neighbours. The sister heard of the fate of her brother's
family, and wanted to take the nephew to live with her. They got him
to Odessa, and from there to Kiev. At Kiev he lived twelve whole
years. That's how it is he speaks Russian so well.'

'He speaks Russian?'

'Just as we do. When he was twenty (that was at the beginning of the
year 1848) he began to want to return to his country. He stayed in
Sophia and Tirnova, and travelled through the length and breadth of
Bulgaria, spending two years there, and learning his mother tongue
over again. The Turkish Government persecuted him, and he was
certainly exposed to great dangers during those two years; I once
caught sight of a broad scar on his neck, from a wound, no doubt; but
he does not like to talk about it. He is reserved, too, in his own
way. I have tried to question him about everything, but I could get
nothing out of him. He answers by generalities. He's awfully
obstinate. He returned to Russia again in 1850, to Moscow, with the
intention of educating himself thoroughly, getting intimate with
Russians, and then when he leaves the university----'

'What then?' broke in Elena.