are referring to. No, I did not meet him, and thank God I did not! I
did not try to find him. I did not try to find him: not because I did
not think I had a right to kill him--I would kill him with a very easy
conscience--but because now is not the time for private revenge, when
we are concerned with the general national vengeance--or no, that is
not the right word--when we are concerned with the liberation of a
people. The one would be a hindrance to the other. In its own time
that, too, will come . . . that too will come,' he repeated, and he
shook his head.

Elena looked at him from the side.

'You love your country very dearly?' she articulated timidly.

'That remains to be shown,' he answered. 'When one of us dies for
her, then one can say he loved his country.'

'So that, if you were cut off all chance of returning to Bulgaria,'
continued Elena, 'would you be very unhappy in Russia?'

Insarov looked down.

'I think I could not bear that,' he said.

'Tell me,' Elena began again, 'is it difficult to learn Bulgarian?'

'Not at all. It's a disgrace to a Russian not to know Bulgarian. A
Russian ought to know all the Slavonic dialects. Would you like me to
bring you some Bulgarian books? You will see how easy it is. What
ballads we have! equal to the Servian. But stop a minute, I will