Prushevsky and Chiklin have a conversation about the days before the Russian Revolution. He tells Chiklin about a girl who spontaneously kissed him. She was the factory owner's daughter, and, while he regrets not stopping to talk to her, he's sure that she has grown old by now. Safronov and Kozlov begin to fight. Both claim that the other is trying to undermine the workers' goals, but Safronov leaves when Kozlov recalls the time he "incited a certain poor peasant to slaughter a cock and eat it."