Ivan has discovered Makar’s escape plan. Makar threatened Ivan with death if he reveals it.

The next day, when the convicts were led out to work, the convoy soldiers noticed that one or other of the prisoners emptied some earth out of his boots. The prison was searched, and the tunnel found. The warden came and questioned all the prisoners to find out who had dug the hole. They all denied any knowledge of it. Those who knew would not betray Makar Semyonitch , knowing he would be flogged almost to death. At last the warden turned to Ivan, whom he knew to be a just man, and said:

“You are a truthful old man; tell me, before God, who dug the hole.”

Makar Semyonitch stood as if he were quite unconcerned, looking at the warden and not so much as glancing at Ivan. Ivan’s lips and hands trembled, and for a long time he could not utter a word. He thought “Why should I shield him who ruined my life? Let him pay for what I have suffered. But if I tell, they will probably flog the life out of him and maybe I suspect him wrongly. And after all, what good would it be to me?”

“Well, old man,” repeated the warden, “tell us the truth: who has been digging under the wall?”

Ivan glanced at Makar Semyonitch, and said, “I cannot say, sir. It is not God’s will that I should tell! Do what you like with me; I am in your hands.”

However much the warden tried, Ivan would say no more, and so the matter had to be left.

—

Would Ivan have felt better if he told on Makar?

 —

Story adapted from “God Sees the Truth, But Waits” in Walk in the Light and Twenty-Three Tales by Leo Tolstoy