'Till the day after to-morrow.'
'That's capital. We will stay the night with Mr. Markelov. Can we do that, Sergei Mihalitch?'
'What a question! Of course you can.'
'Well, I'll be ready directly. Only let me clean myself up a bit.'
'And how are things going with you at the factory?' Markelov inquired significantly.
Solomin looked away.
'We will have a talk,' he said a second time. 'Wait a little. . . . I'll be back directly. . . . I've forgotten something.'
He went out. If it had not been for the good impression he had made on Nezhdanov, the latter would probably have thought, and perhaps even have said to Markelov, 'Isn't he shuffling out of it?' But no question of the sort even entered his head.
An hour later, at the time when from every floor of the vast building, on every staircase, and at every door the noisy crowd of factory hands were streaming out, the coach, in which were seated Markelov, Nezhdanov, and Solomin, drove out of the gates on to the road.
'Vassily Fedotitch! is it to be done?' Pavel, who had escorted Solomin to the gate, shouted after him.
'No; wait a little' . . . answered Solomin.
180
