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diff --git a/1938.txt b/1938.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b935b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1938.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20054 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Resurrection, by Leo Tolstoy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Resurrection + +Author: Leo Tolstoy + + +Released on October, 1999 [Etext #1938] +Last Updated: April 8, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RESURRECTION *** + + + + +Produced by Jim Tinsley + + + + + + + + +RESURRECTION + +By Leo Tolstoy + + +Translated by Mrs. Louise Maude + + + +[Transcriber's Note: The following paragraph is on a page of its own, in +cursive writing, apparently in Tolstoy's own hand.] + + This English version + of "Resurrection" is pub- + lished by Dodd, Mead and + Company by my authority. + Leo Tolstoy + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE + +Opinions about Tolstoy and his work differ, but on one point there +surely might be unanimity. A writer of world-wide reputation should be +at least allowed to know how to spell his own name. Why should any one +insist on spelling it "Tolstoi" (with one, two or three dots over the +"i"), when he himself writes it "Tolstoy"? The only reason I have ever +heard suggested is, that in England and America such outlandish views +are attributed to him, that an outlandish spelling is desirable to match +those views. + +This novel, written in the rough by Tolstoy some years ago and founded +upon an actual occurrence, was completely rewritten by him during the +last year and a half, and all the proceeds have been devoted by him +to aiding the Doukhobors, a sect who were persecuted in the Caucasus +(especially from 1895 to 1898) for refusing to learn war. About seven +thousand three hundred of them are settled in Canada, and about a +hundred of the leaders are exiled to the remote parts of Siberia. + +Anything I may receive for my work in translating the book will go to +the same cause. "Prevention is better than cure," and I would rather +help people to abstain from killing and wounding each other than devote +the money to patch up their wounds after the battle. + +LOUISE MAUDE + + + + +RESURRECTION + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MASLOVA IN PRISON. + +Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure the +small piece of land on which they were crowded together, by paving the +ground with stones, scraping away every vestige of vegetation, cutting +down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, and filling the air with +the smoke of naphtha and coal, still spring was spring, even in the +town. + +The sun shone warm, the air was balmy; everywhere, where it did not get +scraped away, the grass revived and sprang up between the paving-stones +as well as on the narrow strips of lawn on the boulevards. The birches, +the poplars, and the wild cherry unfolded their gummy and fragrant +leaves, the limes were expanding their opening buds; crows, sparrows, +and pigeons, filled with the joy of spring, were getting their nests +ready; the flies were buzzing along the walls, warmed by the sunshine. +All were glad, the plants, the birds, the insects, and the children. But +men, grown-up men and women, did not leave off cheating and tormenting +themselves and each other. It was not this spring morning men thought +sacred and worthy of consideration not the beauty of God's world, given +for a joy to all creatures, this beauty which inclines the heart to +peace, to harmony, and to love, but only their own devices for enslaving +one another. + +Thus, in the prison office of the Government town, it was not the fact +that men and animals had received the grace and gladness of spring that +was considered sacred and important, but that a notice, numbered and +with a superscription, had come the day before, ordering that on this +28th day of April, at 9 a.m., three prisoners at present detained in the +prison, a man and two women (one of these women, as the chief criminal, +to be conducted separately), had to appear at Court. So now, on the 28th +of April, at 8 o'clock, a jailer and soon after him a woman warder with +curly grey hair, dressed in a jacket with sleeves trimmed with gold, +with a blue-edged belt round her waist, and having a look of suffering +on her face, came into the corridor. + +"You want Maslova?" she asked, coming up to the cell with the jailer who +was on duty. + +The jailer, rattling the iron padlock, opened the door of the cell, from +which there came a whiff of air fouler even than that in the corridor, +and called out, "Maslova! to the Court," and closed the door again. + +Even into the prison yard the breeze had brought the fresh vivifying air +from the fields. But in the corridor the air was laden with the germs of +typhoid, the smell of sewage, putrefaction, and tar; every newcomer felt +sad and dejected in it. The woman warder felt this, though she was +used to bad air. She had just come in from outside, and entering the +corridor, she at once became sleepy. + +From inside the cell came the sound of bustle and women's voices, and +the patter of bare feet on the floor. + +"Now, then, hurry up, Maslova, I say!" called out the jailer, and in a +minute or two a small young woman with a very full bust came briskly out +of the door and went up to the jailer. She had on a grey cloak over a +white jacket and petticoat. On her feet she wore linen stockings and +prison shoes, and round her head was tied a white kerchief, from under +which a few locks of black hair were brushed over the forehead with +evident intent. The face of the woman was of that whiteness peculiar to +people who have lived long in confinement, and which puts one in mind of +shoots of potatoes that spring up in a cellar. Her small broad hands and +full neck, which showed from under the broad collar of her cloak, were +of the same hue. Her black, sparkling eyes, one with a slight squint, +appeared in striking contrast to the dull pallor of her face. + +She carried herself very straight, expanding her full bosom. + +With her head slightly thrown back, she stood in the corridor, looking +straight into the eyes of the jailer, ready to comply with any order. + +The jailer was about to lock the door when a wrinkled and severe-looking +old woman put out her grey head and began speaking to Maslova. But the +jailer closed the door, pushing the old woman's head with it. A woman's +laughter was heard from the cell, and Maslova smiled, turning to the +little grated opening in the cell door. The old woman pressed her face +to the grating from the other side, and said, in a hoarse voice: + +"Now mind, and when they begin questioning you, just repeat over the +same thing, and stick to it; tell nothing that is not wanted." + +"Well, it could not be worse than it is now, anyhow; I only wish it was +settled one way or another." + +"Of course, it will be settled one way or another," said the jailer, +with a superior's self-assured witticism. "Now, then, get along! Take +your places!" + +The old woman's eyes vanished from the grating, and Maslova stepped out +into the middle of the corridor. The warder in front, they descended +the stone stairs, past the still fouler, noisy cells of the men's +ward, where they were followed by eyes looking out of every one of the +gratings in the doors, and entered the office, where two soldiers were +waiting to escort her. A clerk who was sitting there gave one of the +soldiers a paper reeking of tobacco, and pointing to the prisoner, +remarked, "Take her." + +The soldier, a peasant from Nijni Novgorod, with a red, pock-marked +face, put the paper into the sleeve of his coat, winked to his +companion, a broad-shouldered Tchouvash, and then the prisoner and the +soldiers went to the front entrance, out of the prison yard, and through +the town up the middle of the roughly-paved street. + +Isvostchiks [cabmen], tradespeople, cooks, workmen, and government +clerks, stopped and looked curiously at the prisoner; some shook their +heads and thought, "This is what evil conduct, conduct unlike ours, +leads to." The children stopped and gazed at the robber with frightened +looks; but the thought that the soldiers were preventing her from doing +more harm quieted their fears. A peasant, who had sold his charcoal, and +had had some tea in the town, came up, and, after crossing himself, gave +her a copeck. The prisoner blushed and muttered something; she noticed +that she was attracting everybody's attention, and that pleased her. The +comparatively fresh air also gladdened her, but it was painful to step +on the rough stones with the ill-made prison shoes on her feet, which +had become unused to walking. Passing by a corn-dealer's shop, in front +of which a few pigeons were strutting about, unmolested by any one, the +prisoner almost touched a grey-blue bird with her foot; it fluttered up +and flew close to her ear, fanning her with its wings. She smiled, then +sighed deeply as she remembered her present position. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MASLOVA'S EARLY LIFE. + +The story of the prisoner Maslova's life was a very common one. + +Maslova's mother was the unmarried daughter of a village woman, +employed on a dairy farm, which belonged to two maiden ladies who were +landowners. This unmarried woman had a baby every year, and, as often +happens among the village people, each one of these undesired babies, +after it had been carefully baptised, was neglected by its mother, whom +it hindered at her work, and left to starve. Five children had died in +this way. They had all been baptised and then not sufficiently fed, and +just left to die. The sixth baby, whose father was a gipsy tramp, would +have shared the same fate, had it not so happened that one of the maiden +ladies came into the farmyard to scold the dairymaids for sending up +cream that smelt of the cow. The young woman was lying in the cowshed +with a fine, healthy, new-born baby. The old maiden lady scolded the +maids again for allowing the woman (who had just been confined) to lie +in the cowshed, and was about to go away, but seeing the baby her heart +was touched, and she offered to stand godmother to the little girl, and +pity for her little god-daughter induced her to give milk and a little +money to the mother, so that she should feed the baby; and the little +girl lived. The old ladies spoke of her as "the saved one." When the +child was three years old, her mother fell ill and died, and the maiden +ladies took the child from her old grandmother, to whom she was nothing +but a burden. + +The little black-eyed maiden grew to be extremely pretty, and so full of +spirits that the ladies found her very entertaining. + +The younger of the ladies, Sophia Ivanovna, who had stood godmother to +the girl, had the kinder heart of the two sisters; Maria Ivanovna, the +elder, was rather hard. Sophia Ivanovna dressed the little girl in nice +clothes, and taught her to read and write, meaning to educate her like a +lady. Maria Ivanovna thought the child should be brought up to work, and +trained her to be a good servant. She was exacting; she punished, and, +when in a bad temper, even struck the little girl. Growing up under +these two different influences, the girl turned out half servant, half +young lady. They called her Katusha, which sounds less refined than +Katinka, but is not quite so common as Katka. She used to sew, tidy up +the rooms, polish the metal cases of the icons and do other light work, +and sometimes she sat and read to the ladies. + +Though she had more than one offer, she would not marry. She felt that +life as the wife of any of the working men who were courting her would +be too hard; spoilt as she was by a life of case. + +She lived in this manner till she was sixteen, when the nephew of the +old ladies, a rich young prince, and a university student, came to +stay with his aunts, and Katusha, not daring to acknowledge it even to +herself, fell in love with him. + +Then two years later this same nephew stayed four days with his aunts +before proceeding to join his regiment, and the night before he left he +betrayed Katusha, and, after giving her a 100-rouble note, went away. +Five months later she knew for certain that she was to be a mother. +After that everything seemed repugnant to her, her only thought being +how to escape from the shame that awaited her. She began not only to +serve the ladies in a half-hearted and negligent way, but once, without +knowing how it happened, was very rude to them, and gave them notice, +a thing she repented of later, and the ladies let her go, noticing +something wrong and very dissatisfied with her. Then she got a +housemaid's place in a police-officer's house, but stayed there only +three months, for the police officer, a man of fifty, began to torment +her, and once, when he was in a specially enterprising mood, she fired +up, called him "a fool and old devil," and gave him such a knock in the +chest that he fell. She was turned out for her rudeness. It was useless +to look for another situation, for the time of her confinement was +drawing near, so she went to the house of a village midwife, who also +sold wine. The confinement was easy; but the midwife, who had a case of +fever in the village, infected Katusha, and her baby boy had to be sent +to the foundlings' hospital, where, according to the words of the old +woman who took him there, he at once died. When Katusha went to the +midwife she had 127 roubles in all, 27 which she had earned and 100 +given her by her betrayer. When she left she had but six roubles; she +did not know how to keep money, but spent it on herself, and gave to +all who asked. The midwife took 40 roubles for two months' board and +attendance, 25 went to get the baby into the foundlings' hospital, and +40 the midwife borrowed to buy a cow with. Twenty roubles went just for +clothes and dainties. Having nothing left to live on, Katusha had to +look out for a place again, and found one in the house of a forester. +The forester was a married man, but he, too, began to annoy her from the +first day. He disgusted her, and she tried to avoid him. But he, more +experienced and cunning, besides being her master, who could send her +wherever he liked, managed to accomplish his object. His wife found it +out, and, catching Katusha and her husband in a room all by themselves, +began beating her. Katusha defended herself, and they had a fight, and +Katusha got turned out of the house without being paid her wages. + +Then Katusha went to live with her aunt in town. The aunt's husband, +a bookbinder, had once been comfortably off, but had lost all his +customers, and had taken to drink, and spent all he could lay hands +on at the public-house. The aunt kept a little laundry, and managed to +support herself, her children, and her wretched husband. She offered +Katusha the place of an assistant laundress; but seeing what a life of +misery and hardship her aunt's assistants led, Katusha hesitated, and +applied to a registry office for a place. One was found for her with a +lady who lived with her two sons, pupils at a public day school. A +week after Katusha had entered the house the elder, a big fellow with +moustaches, threw up his studies and made love to her, continually +following her about. His mother laid all the blame on Katusha, and gave +her notice. + +It so happened that, after many fruitless attempts to find a situation, +Katusha again went to the registry office, and there met a woman with +bracelets on her bare, plump arms and rings on most of her fingers. +Hearing that Katusha was badly in want of a place, the woman gave her +her address, and invited her to come to her house. Katusha went. The +woman received her very kindly, set cake and sweet wine before her, +then wrote a note and gave it to a servant to take to somebody. In the +evening a tall man, with long, grey hair and a white beard, entered the +room, and sat down at once near Katusha, smiling and gazing at her with +glistening eyes. He began joking with her. The hostess called him away +into the next room, and Katusha heard her say, "A fresh one from the +country," Then the hostess called Katusha aside and told her that the +man was an author, and that he had a great deal of money, and that if +he liked her he would not grudge her anything. He did like her, and gave +her 25 roubles, promising to see her often. The 25 roubles soon went; +some she paid to her aunt for board and lodging; the rest was spent on +a hat, ribbons, and such like. A few days later the author sent for her, +and she went. He gave her another 25 roubles, and offered her a separate +lodging. + +Next door to the lodging rented for her by the author there lived a +jolly young shopman, with whom Katusha soon fell in love. She told +the author, and moved to a little lodging of her own. The shopman, who +promised to marry her, went to Nijni on business without mentioning it +to her, having evidently thrown her up, and Katusha remained alone. She +meant to continue living in the lodging by herself, but was informed +by the police that in this case she would have to get a license. She +returned to her aunt. Seeing her fine dress, her hat, and mantle, her +aunt no longer offered her laundry work. As she understood things, her +niece had risen above that sort of thing. The question as to whether she +was to become a laundress or not did not occur to Katusha, either. She +looked with pity at the thin, hard-worked laundresses, some already in +consumption, who stood washing or ironing with their thin arms in the +fearfully hot front room, which was always full of soapy steam and +draughts from the windows, and thought with horror that she might have +shared the same fate. + +Katusha had begun to smoke some time before, and since the young shopman +had thrown her up she was getting more and more into the habit of +drinking. It was not so much the flavour of wine that tempted her as the +fact that it gave her a chance of forgetting the misery she suffered, +making her feel more unrestrained and more confident of her own worth, +which she was not when quite sober; without wine she felt sad and +ashamed. Just at this time a woman came along who offered to place her +in one of the largest establishments in the city, explaining all the +advantages and benefits of the situation. Katusha had the choice before +her of either going into service or accepting this offer--and she chose +the latter. Besides, it seemed to her as though, in this way, she could +revenge herself on her betrayer and the shopman and all those who had +injured her. One of the things that tempted her, and was the cause +of her decision, was the woman telling her she might order her own +dresses--velvet, silk, satin, low-necked ball dresses, anything she +liked. A mental picture of herself in a bright yellow silk trimmed with +black velvet with low neck and short sleeves conquered her, and she gave +up her passport. On the same evening the procuress took an isvostchik +and drove her to the notorious house kept by Carolina Albertovna +Kitaeva. + +From that day a life of chronic sin against human and divine laws +commenced for Katusha Maslova, a life which is led by hundreds of +thousands of women, and which is not merely tolerated but sanctioned by +the Government, anxious for the welfare of its subjects; a life +which for nine women out of ten ends in painful disease, premature +decrepitude, and death. + +Katusha Maslova lived this life for seven years. During these years she +twice changed houses, and had once been to the hospital. In the seventh +year of this life, when she was twenty-six years old, happened that for +which she was put in prison and for which she was now being taken to +be tried, after more than three months of confinement with thieves and +murderers in the stifling air of a prison. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +NEKHLUDOFF. + +When Maslova, wearied out by the long walk, reached the building, +accompanied by two soldiers, Prince Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff, who +had seduced her, was still lying on his high bedstead, with a feather +bed on the top of the spring mattress, in a fine, clean, well-ironed +linen night shirt, smoking a cigarette, and considering what he had to +do to-day, and what had happened yesterday. + +Recalling the evening he had spent with the Korchagins, a wealthy and +aristocratic family, whose daughter every one expected he would marry, +he sighed, and, throwing away the end of his cigarette, was going +to take another out of the silver case; but, changing his mind, he +resolutely raised his solid frame, and, putting down his smooth, white +legs, stepped into his slippers, threw his silk dressing gown over his +broad shoulders, and passed into his dressing-room, walking heavily +and quickly. There he carefully cleaned his teeth, many of which were +filled, with tooth powder, and rinsed his mouth with scented elixir. +After that he washed his hands with perfumed soap, cleaned his long +nails with particular care, then, from a tap fixed to his marble +washstand, he let a spray of cold water run over his face and stout +neck. Having finished this part of the business, he went into a third +room, where a shower bath stood ready for him. Having refreshed his +full, white, muscular body, and dried it with a rough bath sheet, he put +on his fine undergarments and his boots, and sat down before the glass +to brush his black beard and his curly hair, that had begun to get thin +above the forehead. Everything he used, everything belonging to his +toilet, his linen, his clothes, boots, necktie, pin, studs, was of the +best quality, very quiet, simple, durable and costly. + +Nekhludoff dressed leisurely, and went into the dining-room. A table, +which looked very imposing with its four legs carved in the shape of +lions' paws, and a huge side-board to match, stood in the oblong room, +the floor of which had been polished by three men the day before. On +the table, which was covered with a fine, starched cloth, stood a silver +coffeepot full of aromatic coffee, a sugar basin, a jug of fresh cream, +and a bread basket filled with fresh rolls, rusks, and biscuits; and +beside the plate lay the last number of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, a +newspaper, and several letters. + +Nekhludoff was just going to open his letters, when a stout, middle-aged +woman in mourning, a lace cap covering the widening parting of her hair, +glided into the room. This was Agraphena Petrovna, formerly lady's maid +to Nekhludoff's mother. Her mistress had died quite recently in this +very house, and she remained with the son as his housekeeper. Agraphena +Petrovna had spent nearly ten years, at different times, abroad with +Nekhludoff's mother, and had the appearance and manners of a lady. She +had lived with the Nekhludoffs from the time she was a child, and had +known Dmitri Ivanovitch at the time when he was still little Mitinka. + +"Good-morning, Dmitri Ivanovitch." + +"Good-morning, Agraphena Petrovna. What is it you want?" Nekhludoff +asked. + +"A letter from the princess; either from the mother or the daughter. +The maid brought it some time ago, and is waiting in my room," answered +Agraphena Petrovna, handing him the letter with a significant smile. + +"All right! Directly!" said Nekhludoff, taking the letter and frowning +as he noticed Agraphena Petrovna's smile. + +That smile meant that the letter was from the younger Princess +Korchagin, whom Agraphena Petrovna expected him to marry. This +supposition of hers annoyed Nekhludoff. + +"Then I'll tell her to wait?" and Agraphena Petrovna took a crumb brush +which was not in its place, put it away, and sailed out of the room. + +Nekhludoff opened the perfumed note, and began reading it. + +The note was written on a sheet of thick grey paper, with rough edges; +the writing looked English. It said: + +Having assumed the task of acting as your memory, I take the liberty of +reminding you that on this the 28th day of April you have to appear +at the Law Courts, as juryman, and, in consequence, can on no account +accompany us and Kolosoff to the picture gallery, as, with your habitual +flightiness, you promised yesterday; _a moins que vous ne soyez dispose +a payer la cour d'assise les 300 roubles d'amende que vous vous refusez +pour votre cheval,_ for not appearing in time. I remembered it last +night after you were gone, so do not forget. + + Princess M. Korchagin. + +On the other side was a postscript. + +_Maman vous fait dire que votre convert vous attendra jusqu'a la nuit. +Venez absolument a quelle heure que cela soit._ + + M. K. + +Nekhludoff made a grimace. This note was a continuation of that skilful +manoeuvring which the Princess Korchagin had already practised for two +months in order to bind him closer and closer with invisible threads. +And yet, beside the usual hesitation of men past their youth to marry +unless they are very much in love, Nekhludoff had very good reasons why, +even if he did make up his mind to it, he could not propose at once. It +was not that ten years previously he had betrayed and forsaken Maslova; +he had quite forgotten that, and he would not have considered it a +reason for not marrying. No! The reason was that he had a liaison with a +married woman, and, though he considered it broken off, she did not. + +Nekhludoff was rather shy with women, and his very shyness awakened in +this married woman, the unprincipled wife of the marechal de noblesse +of a district where Nekhludoff was present at an election, the desire +of vanquishing him. This woman drew him into an intimacy which entangled +him more and more, while it daily became more distasteful to him. Having +succumbed to the temptation, Nekhludoff felt guilty, and had not the +courage to break the tie without her consent. And this was the reason he +did not feel at liberty to propose to Korchagin even if he had wished to +do so. Among the letters on the table was one from this woman's husband. +Seeing his writing and the postmark, Nekhludoff flushed, and felt his +energies awakening, as they always did when he was facing any kind of +danger. + +But his excitement passed at once. The marechal do noblesse, of the +district in which his largest estate lay, wrote only to let Nekhludoff +know that there was to be a special meeting towards the end of May, and +that Nekhludoff was to be sure and come to "_donner un coup d'epaule_," +at the important debates concerning the schools and the roads, as a +strong opposition by the reactionary party was expected. + +The marechal was a liberal, and was quite engrossed in this fight, not +even noticing the misfortune that had befallen him. + +Nekhludoff remembered the dreadful moments he had lived through; once +when he thought that the husband had found him out and was going to +challenge him, and he was making up his mind to fire into the air; also +the terrible scene he had with her when she ran out into the park, and +in her excitement tried to drown herself in the pond. + +"Well, I cannot go now, and can do nothing until I get a reply from +her," thought Nekhludoff. A week ago he had written her a decisive +letter, in which he acknowledged his guilt, and his readiness to atone +for it; but at the same time he pronounced their relations to be at an +end, for her own good, as he expressed it. To this letter he had as yet +received no answer. This might prove a good sign, for if she did not +agree to break off their relations, she would have written at once, or +even come herself, as she had done before. Nekhludoff had heard that +there was some officer who was paying her marked attention, and this +tormented him by awakening jealousy, and at the same time encouraged him +with the hope of escape from the deception that was oppressing him. + +The other letter was from his steward. The steward wrote to tell +him that a visit to his estates was necessary in order to enter into +possession, and also to decide about the further management of his +lands; whether it was to continue in the same way as when his mother was +alive, or whether, as he had represented to the late lamented princess, +and now advised the young prince, they had not better increase their +stock and farm all the land now rented by the peasants themselves. The +steward wrote that this would be a far more profitable way of managing +the property; at the same time, he apologised for not having forwarded +the 3,000 roubles income due on the 1st. This money would be sent on by +the next mail. The reason for the delay was that he could not get the +money out of the peasants, who had grown so untrustworthy that he had +to appeal to the authorities. This letter was partly disagreeable, and +partly pleasant. It was pleasant to feel that he had power over so +large a property, and yet disagreeable, because Nekhludoff had been an +enthusiastic admirer of Henry George and Herbert Spencer. Being himself +heir to a large property, he was especially struck by the position +taken up by Spencer in Social Statics, that justice forbids private +landholding, and with the straightforward resoluteness of his age, had +not merely spoken to prove that land could not be looked upon as private +property, and written essays on that subject at the university, but had +acted up to his convictions, and, considering it wrong to hold landed +property, had given the small piece of land he had inherited from his +father to the peasants. Inheriting his mother's large estates, and thus +becoming a landed proprietor, he had to choose one of two things: either +to give up his property, as he had given up his father's land ten years +before, or silently to confess that all his former ideas were mistaken +and false. + +He could not choose the former because he had no means but the landed +estates (he did not care to serve); moreover, he had formed luxurious +habits which he could not easily give up. Besides, he had no longer the +same inducements; his strong convictions, the resoluteness of youth, and +the ambitious desire to do something unusual were gone. As to the second +course, that of denying those clear and unanswerable proofs of the +injustice of landholding, which he had drawn from Spencer's Social +Statics, and the brilliant corroboration of which he had at a later +period found in the works of Henry George, such a course was impossible +to him. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MISSY. + +When Nekhludoff had finished his coffee, he went to his study to look +at the summons, and find out what time he was to appear at the court, +before writing his answer to the princess. Passing through his studio, +where a few studies hung on the walls and, facing the easel, stood an +unfinished picture, a feeling of inability to advance in art, a sense of +his incapacity, came over him. He had often had this feeling, of late, +and explained it by his too finely-developed aesthetic taste; still, the +feeling was a very unpleasant one. Seven years before this he had given +up military service, feeling sure that he had a talent for art, and had +looked down with some disdain at all other activity from the height of +his artistic standpoint. And now it turned out that he had no right +to do so, and therefore everything that reminded him of all this was +unpleasant. He looked at the luxurious fittings of the studio with a +heavy heart, and it was in no cheerful mood that he entered his study, +a large, lofty room fitted up with a view to comfort, convenience, +and elegant appearance. He found the summons at once in a pigeon hole, +labelled "immediate," of his large writing table. He had to appear at +the court at 11 o'clock. + +Nekhludoff sat down to write a note in reply to the princess, thanking +her for the invitation, and promising to try and come to dinner. Having +written one note, he tore it up, as it seemed too intimate. He wrote +another, but it was too cold; he feared it might give offence, so he +tore it up, too. He pressed the button of an electric bell, and his +servant, an elderly, morose-looking man, with whiskers and shaved chin +and lip, wearing a grey cotton apron, entered at the door. + +"Send to fetch an isvostchik, please." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And tell the person who is waiting that I send thanks for the +invitation, and shall try to come." + +"Yes, sir." + +"It is not very polite, but I can't write; no matter, I shall see her +today," thought Nekhludoff, and went to get his overcoat. + +When he came out of the house, an isvostchik he knew, with india-rubber +tires to his trap, was at the door waiting for him. "You had hardly gone +away from Prince Korchagin's yesterday," he said, turning half round, +"when I drove up, and the Swiss at the door says, 'just gone.'" The +isvostchik knew that Nekhludoff visited at the Korchagins, and called +there on the chance of being engaged by him. + +"Even the isvostchiks know of my relations with the Korchagins," thought +Nekhludoff, and again the question whether he should not marry Princess +Korchagin presented itself to him, and he could not decide it either +way, any more than most of the questions that arose in his mind at this +time. + +It was in favour of marriage in general, that besides the comforts +of hearth and home, it made a moral life possible, and chiefly that a +family would, so Nekhludoff thought, give an aim to his now empty life. + +Against marriage in general was the fear, common to bachelors past +their first youth, of losing freedom, and an unconscious awe before this +mysterious creature, a woman. + +In this particular case, in favour of marrying Missy (her name was Mary, +but, as is usual among a certain set, a nickname had been given her) +was that she came of good family, and differed in everything, manner +of speaking, walking, laughing, from the common people, not by anything +exceptional, but by her "good breeding"--he could find no other term +for this quality, though he prized it very highly---and, besides, she +thought more of him than of anybody else, therefore evidently understood +him. This understanding of him, i.e., the recognition of his superior +merits, was to Nekhludoff a proof of her good sense and correct +judgment. Against marrying Missy in particular, was, that in all +likelihood, a girl with even higher qualities could be found, that she +was already 27, and that he was hardly her first love. This last idea +was painful to him. His pride would not reconcile itself with the +thought that she had loved some one else, even in the past. Of course, +she could not have known that she should meet him, but the thought that +she was capable of loving another offended him. So that he had as many +reasons for marrying as against it; at any rate, they weighed equally +with Nekhludoff, who laughed at himself, and called himself the ass of +the fable, remaining like that animal undecided which haycock to turn +to. + +"At any rate, before I get an answer from Mary Vasilievna (the +marechal's wife), and finish completely with her, I can do nothing," he +said to himself. And the conviction that he might, and was even obliged, +to delay his decision, was comforting. "Well, I shall consider all that +later on," he said to himself, as the trap drove silently along the +asphalt pavement up to the doors of the Court. + +"Now I must fulfil my public duties conscientiously, as I am in the +habit of always doing, and as I consider it right to do. Besides, they +are often interesting." And he entered the hall of the Law Courts, past +the doorkeeper. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE JURYMEN. + +The corridors of the Court were already full of activity. The attendants +hurried, out of breath, dragging their feet along the ground without +lifting them, backwards and forwards, with all sorts of messages and +papers. Ushers, advocates, and law officers passed hither and thither. +Plaintiffs, and those of the accused who were not guarded, wandered +sadly along the walls or sat waiting. + +"Where is the Law Court?" Nekhludoff asked of an attendant. + +"Which? There is the Civil Court and the Criminal Court." + +"I am on the jury." + +"The Criminal Court you should have said. Here to the right, then to the +left--the second door." + +Nekhludoff followed the direction. + +Meanwhile some of the Criminal Court jurymen who were late had hurriedly +passed into a separate room. At the door mentioned two men stood +waiting. + +One, a tall, fat merchant, a kind-hearted fellow, had evidently partaken +of some refreshments and a glass of something, and was in most pleasant +spirits. The other was a shopman of Jewish extraction. They were talking +about the price of wool when Nekhludoff came up and asked them if this +was the jurymen's room. + +"Yes, my dear sir, this is it. One of us? On the jury, are you?" asked +the merchant, with a merry wink. + +"Ah, well, we shall have a go at the work together," he continued, after +Nekhludoff had answered in the affirmative. "My name is Baklasheff, +merchant of the Second Guild," he said, putting out his broad, soft, +flexible hand. + +"With whom have I the honour?" + +Nekhludoff gave his name and passed into the jurymen's room. + +Inside the room were about ten persons of all sorts. They had come but +a short while ago, and some were sitting, others walking up and down, +looking at each other, and making each other's acquaintance. There was a +retired colonel in uniform; some were in frock coats, others in morning +coats, and only one wore a peasant's dress. + +Their faces all had a certain look of satisfaction at the prospect of +fulfilling a public duty, although many of them had had to leave their +businesses, and most were complaining of it. + +The jurymen talked among themselves about the weather, the early spring, +and the business before them, some having been introduced, others just +guessing who was who. Those who were not acquainted with Nekhludoff made +haste to get introduced, evidently looking upon this as an honour, and +he taking it as his due, as he always did when among strangers. Had he +been asked why he considered himself above the majority of people, he +could not have given an answer; the life he had been living of late was +not particularly meritorious. The fact of his speaking English, French, +and German with a good accent, and of his wearing the best linen, +clothes, ties, and studs, bought from the most expensive dealers in +these goods, he quite knew would not serve as a reason for claiming +superiority. At the same time he did claim superiority, and accepted the +respect paid him as his due, and was hurt if he did not get it. In the +jurymen's room his feelings were hurt by disrespectful treatment. Among +the jury there happened to be a man whom he knew, a former teacher of +his sister's children, Peter Gerasimovitch. Nekhludoff never knew his +surname, and even bragged a bit about this. This man was now a master +at a public school. Nekhludoff could not stand his familiarity, his +self-satisfied laughter, his vulgarity, in short. + +"Ah ha! You're also trapped." These were the words, accompanied with +boisterous laughter, with which Peter Gerasimovitch greeted Nekhludoff. +"Have you not managed to get out of it?" + +"I never meant to get out of it," replied Nekhludoff, gloomily, and in a +tone of severity. + +"Well, I call this being public spirited. But just wait until you get +hungry or sleepy; you'll sing to another tune then." + +"This son of a priest will be saying 'thou' [in Russian, as in many +other languages, 'thou' is used generally among people very familiar +with each other, or by superiors to inferiors] to me next," thought +Nekhludoff, and walked away, with such a look of sadness on his face, +as might have been natural if he had just heard of the death of all +his relations. He came up to a group that had formed itself round a +clean-shaven, tall, dignified man, who was recounting something with +great animation. This man was talking about the trial going on in the +Civil Court as of a case well known to himself, mentioning the judges +and a celebrated advocate by name. He was saying that it seemed +wonderful how the celebrated advocate had managed to give such a clever +turn to the affair that an old lady, though she had the right on her +side, would have to pay a large sum to her opponent. "The advocate is a +genius," he said. + +The listeners heard it all with respectful attention, and several of +them tried to put in a word, but the man interrupted them, as if he +alone knew all about it. + +Though Nekhludoff had arrived late, he had to wait a long time. One +of the members of the Court had not yet come, and everybody was kept +waiting. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE JUDGES. + +The president, who had to take the chair, had arrived early. The +president was a tall, stout man, with long grey whiskers. Though +married, he led a very loose life, and his wife did the same, so they +did not stand in each other's way. This morning he had received a note +from a Swiss girl, who had formerly been a governess in his house, and +who was now on her way from South Russia to St. Petersburg. She wrote +that she would wait for him between five and six p.m. in the Hotel +Italia. This made him wish to begin and get through the sitting as soon +as possible, so as to have time to call before six p.m. on the little +red-haired Clara Vasilievna, with whom he had begun a romance in the +country last summer. He went into a private room, latched the door, took +a pair of dumb-bells out of a cupboard, moved his arms 20 times upwards, +downwards, forwards, and sideways, then holding the dumb-bells above his +head, lightly bent his knees three times. + +"Nothing keeps one going like a cold bath and exercise," he said, +feeling the biceps of his right arm with his left hand, on the third +finger of which he wore a gold ring. He had still to do the moulinee +movement (for he always went through those two exercises before a long +sitting), when there was a pull at the door. The president quickly put +away the dumb-bells and opened the door, saying, "I beg your pardon." + +One of the members, a high-shouldered, discontented-looking man, with +gold spectacles, came into the room. "Matthew Nikitich has again not +come," he said, in a dissatisfied tone. + +"Not yet?" said the president, putting on his uniform. "He is always +late." + +"It is extraordinary. He ought to be ashamed of himself," said the +member, angrily, and taking out a cigarette. + +This member, a very precise man, had had an unpleasant encounter with +his wife in the morning, because she had spent her allowance before the +end of the month, and had asked him to give her some money in advance, +but he would not give way to her, and they had a quarrel. The wife told +him that if he were going to behave so, he need not expect any dinner; +there would be no dinner for him at home. At this point he left, fearing +that she might carry out her threat, for anything might be expected from +her. "This comes of living a good, moral life," he thought, looking at +the beaming, healthy, cheerful, and kindly president, who, with elbows +far apart, was smoothing his thick grey whiskers with his fine white +hands over the embroidered collar of his uniform. "He is always +contented and merry while I am suffering." + +The secretary came in and brought some document. + +"Thanks, very much," said the president, lighting a cigarette. "Which +case shall we take first, then?" + +"The poisoning case, I should say," answered the secretary, with +indifference. + +"All right; the poisoning case let it be," said the president, thinking +that he could get this case over by four o'clock, and then go away. "And +Matthew Nikitich; has he come?" + +"Not yet." + +"And Breve?" + +"He is here," replied the secretary. + +"Then if you see him, please tell him that we begin with the poisoning +case." Breve was the public prosecutor, who was to read the indictment +in this case. + +In the corridor the secretary met Breve, who, with up lifted shoulders, +a portfolio under one arm, the other swinging with the palm turned to +the front, was hurrying along the corridor, clattering with his heels. + +"Michael Petrovitch wants to know if you are ready?" the secretary +asked. + +"Of course; I am always ready," said the public prosecutor. "What are we +taking first?" + +"The poisoning case." + +"That's quite right," said the public prosecutor, but did not think it +at all right. He had spent the night in a hotel playing cards with a +friend who was giving a farewell party. Up to five in the morning they +played and drank, so he had no time to look at this poisoning case, +and meant to run it through now. The secretary, happening to know this, +advised the president to begin with the poisoning case. The secretary +was a Liberal, even a Radical, in opinion. + +Breve was a Conservative; the secretary disliked him, and envied him his +position. + +"Well, and how about the Skoptzy?" [a religious sect] asked the +secretary. + +"I have already said that I cannot do it without witnesses, and so I +shall say to the Court." + +"Dear me, what does it matter?" + +"I cannot do it," said Breve; and, waving his arm, he ran into his +private room. + +He was putting off the case of the Skoptzy on account of the absence +of a very unimportant witness, his real reason being that if they were +tried by an educated jury they might possibly be acquitted. + +By an agreement with the president this case was to be tried in the +coming session at a provincial town, where there would be more peasants, +and, therefore, more chances of conviction. + +The movement in the corridor increased. The people crowded most at +the doors of the Civil Court, in which the case that the dignified man +talked about was being heard. + +An interval in the proceeding occurred, and the old woman came out of +the court, whose property that genius of an advocate had found means of +getting for his client, a person versed in law who had no right to it +whatever. The judges knew all about the case, and the advocate and his +client knew it better still, but the move they had invented was such +that it was impossible not to take the old woman's property and not to +hand it over to the person versed in law. + +The old woman was stout, well dressed, and had enormous flowers on her +bonnet; she stopped as she came out of the door, and spreading out her +short fat arms and turning to her advocate, she kept repeating. "What +does it all mean? just fancy!" + +The advocate was looking at the flowers in her bonnet, and evidently not +listening to her, but considering some question or other. + +Next to the old woman, out of the door of the Civil Court, his broad, +starched shirt front glistening from under his low-cut waistcoat, with +a self-satisfied look on his face, came the celebrated advocate who had +managed to arrange matters so that the old woman lost all she had, and +the person versed in the law received more than 100,000 roubles. The +advocate passed close to the old woman, and, feeling all eyes directed +towards him, his whole bearing seemed to say: "No expressions of +deference are required." + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE OFFICIALS OF THE COURT. + +At last Matthew Nikitich also arrived, and the usher, a thin man, with a +long neck and a kind of sideways walk, his nether lip protruding to one +side, which made him resemble a turkey, came into the jurymen's room. + +This usher was an honest man, and had a university education, but could +not keep a place for any length of time, as he was subject to fits of +drunkenness. Three months before a certain countess, who patronised his +wife, had found him this place, and he was very pleased to have kept it +so long. + +"Well, sirs, is everybody here?" he asked, putting his pince-nez on his +nose, and looking round. + +"Everybody, I think," said the jolly merchant. + +"All right; we'll soon see." And, taking a list from his pocket, he +began calling out the names, looking at the men, sometimes through and +sometimes over his pince-nez. + +"Councillor of State, [grades such as this are common in Russia, and +mean very little] J. M. Nikiforoff!" + +"I am he," said the dignified-looking man, well versed in the habits of +the law court. + +"Ivan Semionovitch Ivanoff, retired colonel!" + +"Here!" replied a thin man, in the uniform of a retired officer. + +"Merchant of the Second Guild, Peter Baklasheff!" + +"Here we are, ready!" said the good-humoured merchant, with a broad +smile. + +"Lieutenant of the Guards, Prince Dmitri Nekhludoff!" + +"I am he," answered Nekhludoff. + +The usher bowed to him, looking over his pince-nez, politely and +pleasantly, as if wishing to distinguish him from the others. + +"Captain Youri Demitrievitch-Dantchenko, merchant; Grigori Euphimitch +Kouleshoff," etc. All but two were present. + +"Now please to come to the court, gentlemen," said the usher, pointing +to the door, with an amiable wave of his hand. + +All moved towards the door, pausing to let each other pass. Then they +went through the corridor into the court. + +The court was a large, long room. At one end there was a raised +platform, with three steps leading up to it, on which stood a table, +covered with a green cloth trimmed with a fringe of a darker shade. At +the table were placed three arm-chairs, with high-carved oak backs; on +the wall behind them hung a full-length, brightly-coloured portrait of +the Emperor in uniform and ribbon, with one foot in advance, and holding +a sword. In the right corner hung a case, with an image of Christ +crowned with thorns, and beneath it stood a lectern, and on the same +side the prosecuting attorney's desk. On the left, opposite the desk, +was the secretary's table, and in front of it, nearer the public, an +oak grating, with the prisoners' bench, as yet unoccupied, behind +it. Besides all this, there were on the right side of the platform +high-backed ashwood chairs for the jury, and on the floor below tables +for the advocates. All this was in the front part of the court, divided +from the back by a grating. + +The back was all taken up by seats in tiers. Sitting on the front seats +were four women, either servant or factory girls, and two working men, +evidently overawed by the grandeur of the room, and not venturing to +speak above a whisper. + +Soon after the jury had come in the usher entered, with his sideward +gait, and stepping to the front, called out in a loud voice, as if he +meant to frighten those present, "The Court is coming!" Every one got +up as the members stepped on to the platform. Among them the president, +with his muscles and fine whiskers. Next came the gloomy member of the +Court, who was now more gloomy than ever, having met his brother-in-law, +who informed him that he had just called in to see his sister (the +member's wife), and that she had told him that there would be no dinner +there. + +"So that, evidently, we shall have to call in at a cook shop," the +brother-in-law added, laughing. + +"It is not at all funny," said the gloomy member, and became gloomier +still. + +Then at last came the third member of the Court, the same Matthew +Nikitich, who was always late. He was a bearded man, with large, round, +kindly eyes. He was suffering from a catarrh of the stomach, and, +according to his doctor's advice, he had begun trying a new treatment, +and this had kept him at home longer than usual. Now, as he was +ascending the platform, he had a pensive air. He was in the habit of +making guesses in answer to all sorts of self-put questions by different +curious means. Just now he had asked whether the new treatment would be +beneficial, and had decided that it would cure his catarrh if the number +of steps from the door to his chair would divide by three. He made 26 +steps, but managed to get in a 27th just by his chair. + +The figures of the president and the members in their uniforms, with +gold-embroidered collars, looked very imposing. They seemed to feel this +themselves, and, as if overpowered by their own grandeur, hurriedly sat +down on the high backed chairs behind the table with the green cloth, +on which were a triangular article with an eagle at the top, two glass +vases--something like those in which sweetmeats are kept in refreshment +rooms--an inkstand, pens, clean paper, and good, newly-cut pencils of +different kinds. + +The public prosecutor came in with the judges. With his portfolio under +one arm, and swinging the other, he hurriedly walked to his seat near +the window, and was instantly absorbed in reading and looking through +the papers, not wasting a single moment, in hope of being ready when the +business commenced. He had been public prosecutor but a short time, and +had only prosecuted four times before this. He was very ambitious, +and had firmly made up his mind to get on, and therefore thought it +necessary to get a conviction whenever he prosecuted. He knew the chief +facts of the poisoning case, and had already formed a plan of action. He +only wanted to copy out a few points which he required. + +The secretary sat on the opposite side of the platform, and, having +got ready all the papers he might want, was looking through an article, +prohibited by the censor, which he had procured and read the day before. +He was anxious to have a talk about this article with the bearded +member, who shared his views, but wanted to look through it once more +before doing so. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SWEARING IN THE JURY. + +The president, having looked through some papers and put a few questions +to the usher and the secretary, gave the order for the prisoners to be +brought in. + +The door behind the grating was instantly opened, and two gendarmes, +with caps on their heads, and holding naked swords in their hands, +came in, followed by the prisoners, a red-haired, freckled man, and two +women. The man wore a prison cloak, which was too long and too wide for +him. He stuck out his thumbs, and held his arms close to his sides, thus +keeping the sleeves, which were also too long, from slipping over his +hands. Without looking at the judges he gazed steadfastly at the form, +and passing to the other side of it, he sat down carefully at the very +edge, leaving plenty of room for the others. He fixed his eyes on the +president, and began moving the muscles of his cheeks, as if whispering +something. The woman who came next was also dressed in a prison cloak, +and had a prison kerchief round her head. She had a sallow complexion, +no eyebrows or lashes, and very red eyes. This woman appeared perfectly +calm. Having caught her cloak against something, she detached it +carefully, without any haste, and sat down. + +The third prisoner was Maslova. + +As soon as she appeared, the eyes of all the men in the court turned +her way, and remained fixed on her white face, her sparklingly-brilliant +black eyes and the swelling bosom under the prison cloak. Even the +gendarme whom she passed on her way to her seat looked at her fixedly +till she sat down, and then, as if feeling guilty, hurriedly turned +away, shook himself, and began staring at the window in front of him. + +The president paused until the prisoners had taken their seats, and when +Maslova was seated, turned to the secretary. + +Then the usual procedure commenced; the counting of the jury, remarks +about those who had not come, the fixing of the fines to be exacted +from them, the decisions concerning those who claimed exemption, the +appointing of reserve jurymen. + +Having folded up some bits of paper and put them in one of the glass +vases, the president turned up the gold-embroidered cuffs of his uniform +a little way, and began drawing the lots, one by one, and opening them. +Nekhludoff was among the jurymen thus drawn. Then, having let down his +sleeves, the president requested the priest to swear in the jury. + +The old priest, with his puffy, red face, his brown gown, and his gold +cross and little order, laboriously moving his stiff legs, came up to +the lectern beneath the icon. + +The jurymen got up, and crowded towards the lectern. + +"Come up, please," said the priest, pulling at the cross on his breast +with his plump hand, and waiting till all the jury had drawn near. When +they had all come up the steps of the platform, the priest passed his +bald, grey head sideways through the greasy opening of the stole, and, +having rearranged his thin hair, he again turned to the jury. "Now, +raise your right arms in this way, and put your fingers together, thus," +he said, with his tremulous old voice, lifting his fat, dimpled hand, +and putting the thumb and two first fingers together, as if taking a +pinch of something. "Now, repeat after me, 'I promise and swear, by the +Almighty God, by His holy gospels, and by the life-giving cross of +our Lord, that in this work which,'" he said, pausing between each +sentence--"don't let your arm down; hold it like this," he remarked to a +young man who had lowered his arm--"'that in this work which . . . '" + +The dignified man with the whiskers, the colonel, the merchant, and +several more held their arms and fingers as the priest required of +them, very high, very exactly, as if they liked doing it; others did it +unwillingly and carelessly. Some repeated the words too loudly, and with +a defiant tone, as if they meant to say, "In spite of all, I will and +shall speak." Others whispered very low, and not fast enough, and +then, as if frightened, hurried to catch up the priest. Some kept their +fingers tightly together, as if fearing to drop the pinch of invisible +something they held; others kept separating and folding theirs. Every +one save the old priest felt awkward, but he was sure he was fulfilling +a very useful and important duty. + +After the swearing in, the president requested the jury to choose +a foreman, and the jury, thronging to the door, passed out into +the debating-room, where almost all of them at once began to smoke +cigarettes. Some one proposed the dignified man as foreman, and he was +unanimously accepted. Then the jurymen put out their cigarettes and +threw them away and returned to the court. The dignified man informed +the president that he was chosen foreman, and all sat down again on the +high-backed chairs. + +Everything went smoothly, quickly, and not without a certain solemnity. +And this exactitude, order, and solemnity evidently pleased those +who took part in it: it strengthened the impression that they were +fulfilling a serious and valuable public duty. Nekhludoff, too, felt +this. + +As soon as the jurymen were seated, the president made a speech on +their rights, obligations, and responsibilities. While speaking he kept +changing his position; now leaning on his right, now on his left hand, +now against the back, then on the arms of his chair, now putting the +papers straight, now handling his pencil and paper-knife. + +According to his words, they had the right of interrogating the +prisoners through the president, to use paper and pencils, and to +examine the articles put in as evidence. Their duty was to judge not +falsely, but justly. Their responsibility meant that if the secrecy of +their discussion were violated, or communications were established with +outsiders, they would be liable to punishment. Every one listened with +an expression of respectful attention. The merchant, diffusing a smell +of brandy around him, and restraining loud hiccups, approvingly nodded +his head at every sentence. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE TRIAL--THE PRISONERS QUESTIONED. + +When he had finished his speech, the president turned to the male +prisoner. + +"Simeon Kartinkin, rise." + +Simeon jumped up, his lips continuing to move nervously and inaudibly. + +"Your name?" + +"Simon Petrov Kartinkin," he said, rapidly, with a cracked voice, having +evidently prepared the answer. + +"What class do you belong to?" + +"Peasant." + +"What government, district, and parish?" + +"Toula Government, Krapivinskia district, Koupianovski parish, the +village Borki." + +"Your age?" + +"Thirty-three; born in the year one thousand eight--" + +"What religion?" + +"Of the Russian religion, orthodox." + +"Married?" + +"Oh, no, sir." + +"Your occupation?" + +"I had a place in the Hotel Mauritania." + +"Have you ever been tried before?" + +"I never got tried before, because, as we used to live formerly--" + +"So you never were tried before?" + +"God forbid, never." + +"Have you received a copy of the indictment?" + +"I have." + +"Sit down." + +"Euphemia Ivanovna Botchkova," said the president, turning to the next +prisoner. + +But Simon continued standing in front of Botchkova. + +"Kartinkin, sit down!" Kartinkin continued standing. + +"Kartinkin, sit down!" But Kartinkin sat down only when the usher, with +his head on one side, and with preternaturally wide-open eyes, ran up, +and said, in a tragic whisper, "Sit down, sit down!" + +Kartinkin sat down as hurriedly as he had risen, wrapping his cloak +round him, and again began moving his lips silently. + +"Your name?" asked the president, with a weary sigh at being obliged to +repeat the same questions, without looking at the prisoner, but glancing +over a paper that lay before him. The president was so used to his task +that, in order to get quicker through it all, he did two things at a +time. + +Botchkova was forty-three years old, and came from the town of Kalomna. +She, too, had been in service at the Hotel Mauritania. + +"I have never been tried before, and have received a copy of the +indictment." She gave her answers boldly, in a tone of voice as if she +meant to add to each answer, "And I don't care who knows it, and I won't +stand any nonsense." + +She did not wait to be told, but sat down as soon as she had replied to +the last question. + +"Your name?" turning abruptly to the third prisoner. "You will have to +rise," he added, softly and gently, seeing that Maslova kept her seat. + +Maslova got up and stood, with her chest expanded, looking at the +president with that peculiar expression of readiness in her smiling +black eyes. + +"What is your name?" + +"Lubov," she said. + +Nekhludoff had put on his pince-nez, looking at the prisoners while they +were being questioned. + +"No, it is impossible," he thought, not taking his eyes off the +prisoner. "Lubov! How can it be?" he thought to himself, after hearing +her answer. The president was going to continue his questions, but +the member with the spectacles interrupted him, angrily whispering +something. The president nodded, and turned again to the prisoner. + +"How is this," he said, "you are not put down here as Lubov?" + +The prisoner remained silent. + +"I want your real name." + +"What is your baptismal name?" asked the angry member. + +"Formerly I used to be called Katerina." + +"No, it cannot be," said Nekhludoff to himself; and yet he was now +certain that this was she, that same girl, half ward, half servant to +his aunts; that Katusha, with whom he had once been in love, really +in love, but whom he had betrayed and then abandoned, and never again +brought to mind, for the memory would have been too painful, would +have convicted him too clearly, proving that he who was so proud of his +integrity had treated this woman in a revolting, scandalous way. + +Yes, this was she. He now clearly saw in her face that strange, +indescribable individuality which distinguishes every face from all +others; something peculiar, all its own, not to be found anywhere else. +In spite of the unhealthy pallor and the fulness of the face, it was +there, this sweet, peculiar individuality; on those lips, in the slight +squint of her eyes, in the voice, particularly in the naive smile, and +in the expression of readiness on the face and figure. + +"You should have said so," remarked the president, again in a gentle +tone. "Your patronymic?" + +"I am illegitimate." + +"Well, were you not called by your godfather's name?" + +"Yes, Mikhaelovna." + +"And what is it she can be guilty of?" continued Nekhludoff, in his +mind, unable to breathe freely. + +"Your family name--your surname, I mean?" the president went on. + +"They used to call me by my mother's surname, Maslova." + +"What class?" + +"Meschanka." [the lowest town class or grade] + +"Religion--orthodox?" + +"Orthodox." + +"Occupation. What was your occupation?" + +Maslova remained silent. + +"What was your employment?" + +"You know yourself," she said, and smiled. Then, casting a hurried look +round the room, again turned her eyes on the president. + +There was something so unusual in the expression of her face, so +terrible and piteous in the meaning of the words she had uttered, in +this smile, and in the furtive glance she had cast round the room, that +the president was abashed, and for a few minutes silence reigned in the +court. The silence was broken by some one among the public laughing, +then somebody said "Ssh," and the president looked up and continued: + +"Have you ever been tried before?" + +"Never," answered Maslova, softly, and sighed. + +"Have you received a copy of the indictment?" + +"I have," she answered. + +"Sit down." + +The prisoner leant back to pick up her skirt in the way a fine lady +picks up her train, and sat down, folding her small white hands in the +sleeves of her cloak, her eyes fixed on the president. Her face was calm +again. + +The witnesses were called, and some sent away; the doctor who was to act +as expert was chosen and called into the court. + +Then the secretary got up and began reading the indictment. He read +distinctly, though he pronounced the "I" and "r" alike, with a loud +voice, but so quickly that the words ran into one another and formed one +uninterrupted, dreary drone. + +The judges bent now on one, now on the other arm of their chairs, then +on the table, then back again, shut and opened their eyes, and whispered +to each other. One of the gendarmes several times repressed a yawn. + +The prisoner Kartinkin never stopped moving his cheeks. Botchkova sat +quite still and straight, only now and then scratching her head under +the kerchief. + +Maslova sat immovable, gazing at the reader; only now and then she gave +a slight start, as if wishing to reply, blushed, sighed heavily, and +changed the position of her hands, looked round, and again fixed her +eyes on the reader. + +Nekhludoff sat in the front row on his high-backed chair, without +removing his pince-nez, and looked at Maslova, while a complicated and +fierce struggle was going on in his soul. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE TRIAL--THE INDICTMENT. + +The indictment ran as follows: On the 17th of January, 18--, in the +lodging-house Mauritania, occurred the sudden death of the Second Guild +merchant, Therapont Emilianovich Smelkoff, of Kourgan. + +The local police doctor of the fourth district certified that death was +due to rupture of the heart, owing to the excessive use of alcoholic +liquids. The body of the said Smelkoff was interred. After several days +had elapsed, the merchant Timokhin, a fellow-townsman and companion +of the said Smelkoff, returned from St. Petersburg, and hearing the +circumstances that accompanied the death of the latter, notified his +suspicions that the death was caused by poison, given with intent to +rob the said Smelkoff of his money. This suspicion was corroborated on +inquiry, which proved: + +1. That shortly before his death the said Smelkoff had received the sum +of 3,800 roubles from the bank. When an inventory of the property of the +deceased was made, only 312 roubles and 16 copecks were found. + +2. The whole day and night preceding his death the said Smelkoff spent +with Lubka (alias Katerina Maslova) at her home and in the lodging-house +Mauritania, which she also visited at the said Smelkoff's request during +his absence, to get some money, which she took out of his portmanteau in +the presence of the servants of the lodging-house Mauritania, Euphemia +Botchkova and Simeon Kartinkin, with a key given her by the said +Smelkoff. In the portmanteau opened by the said Maslova, the said +Botchkova and Kartinkin saw packets of 100-rouble bank-notes. + +3. On the said Smelkoff's return to the lodging-house Mauritania, +together with Lubka, the latter, in accordance with the attendant +Kartinkin's advice, gave the said Smelkoff some white powder given to +her by the said Kartinkin, dissolved in brandy. + +4. The next morning the said Lubka (alias Katerina Maslova) sold to her +mistress, the witness Kitaeva, a brothel-keeper, a diamond ring given to +her, as she alleged, by the said Smelkoff. + +5. The housemaid of the lodging-house Mauritania, Euphemia Botchkova, +placed to her account in the local Commercial Bank 1,800 roubles. The +postmortem examination of the body of the said Smelkoff and the chemical +analysis of his intestines proved beyond doubt the presence of poison +in the organism, so that there is reason to believe that the said +Smelkoff's death was caused by poisoning. + +When cross-examined, the accused, Maslova, Botchkova, and Kartinkin, +pleaded not guilty, deposing--Maslova, that she had really been sent by +Smelkoff from the brothel, where she "works," as she expresses it, to +the lodging-house Mauritania to get the merchant some money, and that, +having unlocked the portmanteau with a key given her by the merchant, +she took out 40 roubles, as she was told to do, and that she had taken +nothing more; that Botchkova and Kartinkin, in whose presence she +unlocked and locked the portmanteau, could testify to the truth of the +statement. + +She gave this further evidence--that when she came to the lodging-house +for the second time she did, at the instigation of Simeon Kartinkin, +give Smelkoff some kind of powder, which she thought was a narcotic, +in a glass of brandy, hoping he would fall asleep and that she would be +able to get away from him; and that Smelkoff, having beaten her, himself +gave her the ring when she cried and threatened to go away. + +The accused, Euphemia Botchkova, stated that she knew nothing about the +missing money, that she had not even gone into Smelkoff's room, but +that Lubka had been busy there all by herself; that if anything had +been stolen, it must have been done by Lubka when she came with the +merchant's key to get his money. + +At this point Maslova gave a start, opened her mouth, and looked at +Botchkova. "When," continued the secretary, "the receipt for 1,800 +roubles from the bank was shown to Botchkova, and she was asked where +she had obtained the money, she said that it was her own earnings for +12 years, and those of Simeon, whom she was going to marry. The accused +Simeon Kartinkin, when first examined, confessed that he and Botchkova, +at the instigation of Maslova, who had come with the key from the +brothel, had stolen the money and divided it equally among themselves +and Maslova." Here Maslova again started, half-rose from her seat, and, +blushing scarlet, began to say something, but was stopped by the usher. +"At last," the secretary continued, reading, "Kartinkin confessed also +that he had supplied the powders in order to get Smelkoff to sleep. When +examined the second time he denied having had anything to do with the +stealing of the money or giving Maslova the powders, accusing her of +having done it alone." + +Concerning the money placed in the bank by Botchkova, he said the same +as she, that is, that the money was given to them both by the lodgers in +tips during 12 years' service. + +The indictment concluded as follows: + +In consequence of the foregoing, the peasant of the village Borki, +Simeon Kartinkin, 33 years of age, the meschanka Euphemia Botchkova, 43 +years of age, and the meschanka Katerina Maslova, 27 years of age, are +accused of having on the 17th day of January, 188--, jointly stolen from +the said merchant, Smelkoff, a ring and money, to the value of 2,500 +roubles, and of having given the said merchant, Smelkoff, poison to +drink, with intent of depriving him of life, and thereby causing his +death. This crime is provided for in clause 1,455 of the Penal Code, +paragraphs 4 and 5. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE TRIAL--MASLOVA CROSS-EXAMINED. + +When the reading of the indictment was over, the president, after having +consulted the members, turned to Kartinkin, with an expression that +plainly said: Now we shall find out the whole truth down to the minutest +detail. + +"Peasant Simeon Kartinkin," he said, stooping to the left. + +Simeon Kartinkin got up, stretched his arms down his sides, and leaning +forward with his whole body, continued moving his cheeks inaudibly. + +"You are accused of having on the 17th January, 188--, together with +Euphemia Botchkova and Katerina Maslova, stolen money from a portmanteau +belonging to the merchant Smelkoff, and then, having procured some +arsenic, persuaded Katerina Maslova to give it to the merchant Smelkoff +in a glass of brandy, which was the cause of Smelkoff's death. Do you +plead guilty?" said the president, stooping to the right. + +"Not nohow, because our business is to attend on the lodgers, and--" + +"You'll tell us that afterwards. Do you plead guilty?" + +"Oh, no, sir. I only,--" + +"You'll tell us that afterwards. Do you plead guilty?" quietly and +firmly asked the president. + +"Can't do such a thing, because that--" + +The usher again rushed up to Simeon Kartinkin, and stopped him in a +tragic whisper. + +The president moved the hand with which he held the paper and placed the +elbow in a different position with an air that said: "This is finished," +and turned to Euphemia Botchkova. + +"Euphemia Botchkova, you are accused of having, on the 17th of January, +188-, in the lodging-house Mauritania, together with Simeon Kartinkin +and Katerina Maslova, stolen some money and a ring out of the merchant +Smelkoff's portmanteau, and having shared the money among yourselves, +given poison to the merchant Smelkoff, thereby causing his death. Do you +plead guilty?" + +"I am not guilty of anything," boldly and firmly replied the prisoner. +"I never went near the room, but when this baggage went in she did the +whole business." + +"You will say all this afterwards," the president again said, quietly +and firmly. "So you do not plead guilty?" + +"I did not take the money nor give the drink, nor go into the room. Had +I gone in I should have kicked her out." + +"So you do not plead guilty?" + +"Never." + +"Very well." + +"Katerina Maslova," the president began, turning to the third prisoner, +"you are accused of having come from the brothel with the key of the +merchant Smelkoff's portmanteau, money, and a ring." He said all this +like a lesson learned by heart, leaning towards the member on his left, +who was whispering into his ear that a bottle mentioned in the list +of the material evidence was missing. "Of having stolen out of the +portmanteau money and a ring," he repeated, "and shared it. Then, +returning to the lodging house Mauritania with Smelkoff, of giving +him poison in his drink, and thereby causing his death. Do you plead +guilty?" + +"I am not guilty of anything," she began rapidly. "As I said before +I say again, I did not take it--I did not take it; I did not take +anything, and the ring he gave me himself." + +"You do not plead guilty of having stolen 2,500 roubles?" asked the +president. + +"I've said I took nothing but the 40 roubles." + +"Well, and do you plead guilty of having given the merchant Smelkoff a +powder in his drink?" + +"Yes, that I did. Only I believed what they told me, that they were +sleeping powders, and that no harm could come of them. I never thought, +and never wished. . . God is my witness; I say, I never meant this," she +said. + +"So you do not plead guilty of having stolen the money and the ring from +the merchant Smelkoff, but confess that you gave him the powder?" said +the president. + +"Well, yes, I do confess this, but I thought they were sleeping powders. +I only gave them to make him sleep; I never meant and never thought of +worse." + +"Very well," said the president, evidently satisfied with the results +gained. "Now tell us how it all happened," and he leaned back in his +chair and put his folded hands on the table. "Tell us all about it. A +free and full confession will be to your advantage." + +Maslova continued to look at the president in silence, and blushing. + +"Tell us how it happened." + +"How it happened?" Maslova suddenly began, speaking quickly. "I came to +the lodging-house, and was shown into the room. He was there, already +very drunk." She pronounced the word _he_ with a look of horror in her +wide-open eyes. "I wished to go away, but he would not let me." She +stopped, as if having lost the thread, or remembered some thing else. + +"Well, and then?" + +"Well, what then? I remained a bit, and went home again." + +At this moment the public prosecutor raised himself a little, leaning on +one elbow in an awkward manner. + +"You would like to put a question?" said the president, and having +received an answer in the affirmative, he made a gesture inviting the +public prosecutor to speak. + +"I want to ask, was the prisoner previously acquainted with Simeon +Kartinkin?" said the public prosecutor, without looking at Maslova, and, +having put the question, he compressed his lips and frowned. + +The president repeated the question. Maslova stared at the public +prosecutor, with a frightened look. + +"With Simeon? Yes," she said. + +"I should like to know what the prisoner's acquaintance with Kartinkin +consisted in. Did they meet often?" + +"Consisted in? . . . He invited me for the lodgers; it was not an +acquaintance at all," answered Maslova, anxiously moving her eyes from +the president to the public prosecutor and back to the president. + +"I should like to know why Kartinkin invited only Maslova, and none +of the other girls, for the lodgers?" said the public prosecutor, with +half-closed eyes and a cunning, Mephistophelian smile. + +"I don't know. How should I know?" said Maslova, casting a frightened +look round, and fixing her eyes for a moment on Nekhludoff. "He asked +whom he liked." + +"Is it possible that she has recognised me?" thought Nekhludoff, and the +blood rushed to his face. But Maslova turned away without distinguishing +him from the others, and again fixed her eyes anxiously on the public +prosecutor. + +"So the prisoner denies having had any intimate relations with +Kartinkin? Very well, I have no more questions to ask." + +And the public prosecutor took his elbow off the desk, and began writing +something. He was not really noting anything down, but only going over +the letters of his notes with a pen, having seen the procureur and +leading advocates, after putting a clever question, make a note, with +which, later on, to annihilate their adversaries. + +The president did not continue at once, because he was consulting the +member with the spectacles, whether he was agreed that the questions +(which had all been prepared be forehand and written out) should be put. + +"Well! What happened next?" he then went on. + +"I came home," looking a little more boldly only at the president, "and +went to bed. Hardly had I fallen asleep when one of our girls, Bertha, +woke me. 'Go, your merchant has come again!' He"--she again uttered the +word _he_ with evident horror--"he kept treating our girls, and then +wanted to send for more wine, but his money was all gone, and he sent me +to his lodgings and told me where the money was, and how much to take. +So I went." + +The president was whispering to the member on his left, but, in order to +appear as if he had heard, he repeated her last words. + +"So you went. Well, what next?" + +"I went, and did all he told me; went into his room. I did not go alone, +but called Simeon Kartinkin and her," she said, pointing to Botchkova. + +"That's a lie; I never went in," Botchkova began, but was stopped. + +"In their presence I took out four notes," continued Maslova, frowning, +without looking at Botchkova. + +"Yes, but did the prisoner notice," again asked the prosecutor, "how +much money there was when she was getting out the 40 roubles?" + +Maslova shuddered when the prosecutor addressed her; she did not know +why it was, but she felt that he wished her evil. + +"I did not count it, but only saw some 100-rouble notes." + +"Ah! The prisoner saw 100-rouble notes. That's all?" + +"Well, so you brought back the money," continued the president, looking +at the clock. + +"I did." + +"Well, and then?" + +"Then he took me back with him," said Maslova. + +"Well, and how did you give him the powder? In his drink?" + +"How did I give it? I put them in and gave it him." + +"Why did you give it him?" + +She did not answer, but sighed deeply and heavily. + +"He would not let me go," she said, after a moment's silence, "and I was +quite tired out, and so I went out into the passage and said to Simeon, +'If he would only let me go, I am so tired.' And he said, 'We are also +sick of him; we were thinking of giving him a sleeping draught; he will +fall asleep, and then you can go.' So I said all right. I thought they +were harmless, and he gave me the packet. I went in. He was lying behind +the partition, and at once called for brandy. I took a bottle of 'fine +champagne' from the table, poured out two glasses, one for him and one +for myself, and put the powders into his glass, and gave it him. Had I +known how could I have given them to him?" + +"Well, and how did the ring come into your possession?" asked the +president. "When did he give it you?" + +"That was when we came back to his lodgings. I wanted to go away, and he +gave me a knock on the head and broke my comb. I got angry and said I'd +go away, and he took the ring off his finger and gave it to me so that I +should not go," she said. + +Then the public prosecutor again slightly raised himself, and, putting +on an air of simplicity, asked permission to put a few more questions, +and, having received it, bending his head over his embroidered collar, +he said: "I should like to know how long the prisoner remained in the +merchant Smelkoff's room." + +Maslova again seemed frightened, and she again looked anxiously from the +public prosecutor to the president, and said hurriedly: + +"I do not remember how long." + +"Yes, but does the prisoner remember if she went anywhere else in the +lodging-house after she left Smelkoff?" + +Maslova considered for a moment. "Yes, I did go into an empty room next +to his." + +"Yes, and why did you go in?" asked the public prosecutor, forgetting +himself, and addressing her directly. + +"I went in to rest a bit, and to wait for an isvostchik." + +"And was Kartinkin in the room with the prisoner, or not?" + +"He came in." + +"Why did he come in?" + +"There was some of the merchant's brandy left, and we finished it +together." + +"Oh, finished it together. Very well! And did the prisoner talk to +Kartinkin, and, if so, what about?" + +Maslova suddenly frowned, blushed very red, and said, hurriedly, "What +about? I did not talk about anything, and that's all I know. Do what you +like with me; I am not guilty, and that's all." + +"I have nothing more to ask," said the prosecutor, and, drawing up his +shoulders in an unnatural manner, began writing down, as the prisoner's +own evidence, in the notes for his speech, that she had been in the +empty room with Kartinkin. + +There was a short silence. + +"You have nothing more to say?" + +"I have told everything," she said, with a sigh, and sat down. + +Then the president noted something down, and, having listened to +something that the member on his left whispered to him, he announced +a ten-minutes' interval, rose hurriedly, and left the court. The +communication he had received from the tall, bearded member with +the kindly eyes was that the member, having felt a slight stomach +derangement, wished to do a little massage and to take some drops. And +this was why an interval was made. + +When the judges had risen, the advocates, the jury, and the witnesses +also rose, with the pleasant feeling that part of the business was +finished, and began moving in different directions. + +Nekhludoff went into the jury's room, and sat down by the window. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +TWELVE YEARS BEFORE. + +"Yes, this was Katusha." + +The relations between Nekhludoff and Katusha had been the following: + +Nekhludoff first saw Katusha when he was a student in his third year +at the University, and was preparing an essay on land tenure during +the summer vacation, which he passed with his aunts. Until then he had +always lived, in summer, with his mother and sister on his mother's +large estate near Moscow. But that year his sister had married, and his +mother had gone abroad to a watering-place, and he, having his essay to +write, resolved to spend the summer with his aunts. It was very quiet +in their secluded estate and there was nothing to distract his mind; his +aunts loved their nephew and heir very tenderly, and he, too, was fond +of them and of their simple, old-fashioned life. + +During that summer on his aunts' estate, Nekhludoff passed through that +blissful state of existence when a young man for the first time, without +guidance from any one outside, realises all the beauty and significance +of life, and the importance of the task allotted in it to man; when he +grasps the possibility of unlimited advance towards perfection for one's +self and for all the world, and gives himself to this task, not only +hopefully, but with full conviction of attaining to the perfection +he imagines. In that year, while still at the University, he had read +Spencer's Social Statics, and Spencer's views on landholding especially +impressed him, as he himself was heir to large estates. His father had +not been rich, but his mother had received 10,000 acres of land for her +dowry. At that time he fully realised all the cruelty and injustice of +private property in land, and being one of those to whom a sacrifice +to the demands of conscience gives the highest spiritual enjoyment, he +decided not to retain property rights, but to give up to the peasant +labourers the land he had inherited from his father. It was on this land +question he wrote his essay. + +He arranged his life on his aunts' estate in the following manner. He +got up very early, sometimes at three o'clock, and before sunrise went +through the morning mists to bathe in the river, under the hill. +He returned while the dew still lay on the grass and the flowers. +Sometimes, having finished his coffee, he sat down with his books of +reference and his papers to write his essay, but very often, instead of +reading or writing, he left home again, and wandered through the fields +and the woods. Before dinner he lay down and slept somewhere in the +garden. At dinner he amused and entertained his aunts with his bright +spirits, then he rode on horseback or went for a row on the river, and +in the evening he again worked at his essay, or sat reading or playing +patience with his aunts. + +His joy in life was so great that it agitated him, and kept him awake +many a night, especially when it was moonlight, so that instead of +sleeping he wandered about in the garden till dawn, alone with his +dreams and fancies. + +And so, peacefully and happily, he lived through the first month of his +stay with his aunts, taking no particular notice of their half-ward, +half-servant, the black-eyed, quick-footed Katusha. Then, at the age +of nineteen, Nekhludoff, brought up under his mother's wing, was still +quite pure. If a woman figured in his dreams at all it was only as a +wife. All the other women, who, according to his ideas he could not +marry, were not women for him, but human beings. + +But on Ascension Day that summer, a neighbour of his aunts', and her +family, consisting of two young daughters, a schoolboy, and a young +artist of peasant origin who was staying with them, came to spend the +day. After tea they all went to play in the meadow in front of the +house, where the grass had already been mown. They played at the game +of gorelki, and Katusha joined them. Running about and changing partners +several times, Nekhludoff caught Katusha, and she became his partner. +Up to this time he had liked Katusha's looks, but the possibility of any +nearer relations with her had never entered his mind. + +"Impossible to catch those two," said the merry young artist, whose turn +it was to catch, and who could run very fast with his short, muscular +legs. + +"You! And not catch us?" said Katusha. + +"One, two, three," and the artist clapped his hands. Katusha, hardly +restraining her laughter, changed places with Nekhludoff, behind the +artist's back, and pressing his large hand with her little rough one, +and rustling with her starched petticoat, ran to the left. Nekhludoff +ran fast to the right, trying to escape from the artist, but when he +looked round he saw the artist running after Katusha, who kept well +ahead, her firm young legs moving rapidly. There was a lilac bush in +front of them, and Katusha made a sign with her head to Nekhludoff to +join her behind it, for if they once clasped hands again they were safe +from their pursuer, that being a rule of the game. He understood the +sign, and ran behind the bush, but he did not know that there was a +small ditch overgrown with nettles there. He stumbled and fell into the +nettles, already wet with dew, stinging his bands, but rose immediately, +laughing at his mishap. + +Katusha, with her eyes black as sloes, her face radiant with joy, was +flying towards him, and they caught hold of each other's hands. + +"Got stung, I daresay?" she said, arranging her hair with her free hand, +breathing fast and looking straight up at him with a glad, pleasant +smile. + +"I did not know there was a ditch here," he answered, smiling also, and +keeping her hand in his. She drew nearer to him, and he himself, not +knowing how it happened, stooped towards her. She did not move away, and +he pressed her hand tight and kissed her on the lips. + +"There! You've done it!" she said; and, freeing her hand with a swift +movement, ran away from him. Then, breaking two branches of white lilac +from which the blossoms were already falling, she began fanning her hot +face with them; then, with her head turned back to him, she walked away, +swaying her arms briskly in front of her, and joined the other players. + +After this there grew up between Nekhludoff and Katusha those peculiar +relations which often exist between a pure young man and girl who are +attracted to each other. + +When Katusha came into the room, or even when he saw her white apron +from afar, everything brightened up in Nekhludoff's eyes, as when the +sun appears everything becomes more interesting, more joyful, more +important. The whole of life seemed full of gladness. And she felt the +same. But it was not only Katusha's presence that had this effect on +Nekhludoff. The mere thought that Katusha existed (and for her that +Nekhludoff existed) had this effect. + +When he received an unpleasant letter from his mother, or could not get +on with his essay, or felt the unreasoning sadness that young people are +often subject to, he had only to remember Katusha and that he should see +her, and it all vanished. Katusha had much work to do in the house, but +she managed to get a little leisure for reading, and Nekhludoff gave her +Dostoievsky and Tourgeneff (whom he had just read himself) to read. She +liked Tourgeneff's Lull best. They had talks at moments snatched when +meeting in the passage, on the veranda, or the yard, and sometimes +in the room of his aunts' old servant, Matrona Pavlovna, with whom he +sometimes used to drink tea, and where Katusha used to work. + +These talks in Matrona Pavlovna's presence were the pleasantest. When +they were alone it was worse. Their eyes at once began to say something +very different and far more important than what their mouths uttered. +Their lips puckered, and they felt a kind of dread of something that +made them part quickly. These relations continued between Nekhludoff +and Katusha during the whole time of his first visit to his aunts'. +They noticed it, and became frightened, and even wrote to Princess +Elena Ivanovna, Nekhludoff's mother. His aunt, Mary Ivanovna, was +afraid Dmitri would form an intimacy with Katusha; but her fears were +groundless, for Nekhludoff, himself hardly conscious of it, loved +Katusha, loved her as the pure love, and therein lay his safety--his and +hers. He not only did not feel any desire to possess her, but the very +thought of it filled him with horror. The fears of the more poetical +Sophia Ivanovna, that Dmitri, with his thoroughgoing, resolute +character, having fallen in love with a girl, might make up his mind to +marry her, without considering either her birth or her station, had more +ground. + +Had Nekhludoff at that time been conscious of his love for Katusha, and +especially if he had been told that he could on no account join his life +with that of a girl in her position, it might have easily happened +that, with his usual straight-forwardness, he would have come to the +conclusion that there could be no possible reason for him not to marry +any girl whatever, as long as he loved her. But his aunts did not +mention their fears to him; and, when he left, he was still unconscious +of his love for Katusha. He was sure that what he felt for Katusha was +only one of the manifestations of the joy of life that filled his whole +being, and that this sweet, merry little girl shared this joy with him. +Yet, when he was going away, and Katusha stood with his aunts in the +porch, and looked after him, her dark, slightly-squinting eyes filled +with tears, he felt, after all, that he was leaving something beautiful, +precious, something which would never reoccur. And he grew very sad. + +"Good-bye, Katusha," he said, looking across Sophia Ivanovna's cap as he +was getting into the trap. "Thank you for everything." + +"Good-bye, Dmitri Ivanovitch," she said, with her pleasant, tender +voice, keeping back the tears that filled her eyes--and ran away into +the hall, where she could cry in peace. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LIFE IN THE ARMY. + +After that Nekhludoff did not see Katusha for more than three years. +When he saw her again he had just been promoted to the rank of officer +and was going to join his regiment. On the way he came to spend a few +days with his aunts, being now a very different young man from the one +who had spent the summer with them three years before. He then had been +an honest, unselfish lad, ready to sacrifice himself for any good cause; +now he was depraved and selfish, and thought only of his own enjoyment. +Then God's world seemed a mystery which he tried enthusiastically and +joyfully to solve; now everything in life seemed clear and simple, +defined by the conditions of the life he was leading. Then he had felt +the importance of, and had need of intercourse with, nature, and with +those who had lived and thought and felt before him--philosophers +and poets. What he now considered necessary and important were human +institutions and intercourse with his comrades. Then women seemed +mysterious and charming--charming by the very mystery that enveloped +them; now the purpose of women, all women except those of his own family +and the wives of his friends, was a very definite one: women were the +best means towards an already experienced enjoyment. Then money was not +needed, and he did not require even one-third of what his mother allowed +him; but now this allowance of 1,500 roubles a month did not suffice, +and he had already had some unpleasant talks about it with his mother. + +Then he had looked on his spirit as the I; now it was his healthy strong +animal I that he looked upon as himself. + +And all this terrible change had come about because he had ceased to +believe himself and had taken to believing others. This he had done +because it was too difficult to live believing one's self; believing +one's self, one had to decide every question not in favour of one's own +animal life, which is always seeking for easy gratifications, but almost +in every case against it. Believing others there was nothing to decide; +everything had been decided already, and decided always in favour of the +animal I and against the spiritual. Nor was this all. Believing in his +own self he was always exposing himself to the censure of those around +him; believing others he had their approval. So, when Nekhludoff had +talked of the serious matters of life, of God, truth, riches, and +poverty, all round him thought it out of place and even rather funny, +and his mother and aunts called him, with kindly irony, notre cher +philosophe. But when he read novels, told improper anecdotes, went +to see funny vaudevilles in the French theatre and gaily repeated the +jokes, everybody admired and encouraged him. When he considered it +right to limit his needs, wore an old overcoat, took no wine, everybody +thought it strange and looked upon it as a kind of showing off; but +when he spent large sums on hunting, or on furnishing a peculiar and +luxurious study for himself, everybody admired his taste and gave him +expensive presents to encourage his hobby. While he kept pure and meant +to remain so till he married his friends prayed for his health, and even +his mother was not grieved but rather pleased when she found out that +he had become a real man and had gained over some French woman from his +friend. (As to the episode with Katusha, the princess could not without +horror think that he might possibly have married her.) In the same way, +when Nekhludoff came of age, and gave the small estate he had inherited +from his father to the peasants because he considered the holding +of private property in land wrong, this step filled his mother and +relations with dismay and served as an excuse for making fun of him to +all his relatives. He was continually told that these peasants, after +they had received the land, got no richer, but, on the contrary, poorer, +having opened three public-houses and left off doing any work. But when +Nekhludoff entered the Guards and spent and gambled away so much with +his aristocratic companions that Elena Ivanovna, his mother, had to draw +on her capital, she was hardly pained, considering it quite natural +and even good that wild oats should be sown at an early age and in good +company, as her son was doing. At first Nekhludoff struggled, but all +that he had considered good while he had faith in himself was considered +bad by others, and what he had considered evil was looked upon as good +by those among whom he lived, and the struggle grew too hard. And at +last Nekhludoff gave in, i.e., left off believing himself and began +believing others. At first this giving up of faith in himself was +unpleasant, but it did not long continue to be so. At that time he +acquired the habit of smoking, and drinking wine, and soon got over this +unpleasant feeling and even felt great relief. + +Nekhludoff, with his passionate nature, gave himself thoroughly to the +new way of life so approved of by all those around, and he entirely +stifled the inner voice which demanded something different. This began +after he moved to St. Petersburg, and reached its highest point when he +entered the army. + +Military life in general depraves men. It places them in conditions of +complete idleness, i.e., absence of all useful work; frees them of their +common human duties, which it replaces by merely conventional ones to +the honour of the regiment, the uniform, the flag; and, while giving +them on the one hand absolute power over other men, also puts them into +conditions of servile obedience to those of higher rank than themselves. + +But when, to the usual depraving influence of military service with its +honours, uniforms, flags, its permitted violence and murder, there is +added the depraving influence of riches and nearness to and intercourse +with members of the Imperial family, as is the case in the chosen +regiment of the Guards in which all the officers are rich and of good +family, then this depraving influence creates in the men who succumb +to it a perfect mania of selfishness. And this mania of selfishness +attacked Nekhludoff from the moment he entered the army and began living +in the way his companions lived. He had no occupation whatever except +to dress in a uniform, splendidly made and well brushed by other people, +and, with arms also made and cleaned and handed to him by others, ride +to reviews on a fine horse which had been bred, broken in and fed by +others. There, with other men like himself, he had to wave a sword, +shoot off guns, and teach others to do the same. He had no other work, +and the highly-placed persons, young and old, the Tsar and those near +him, not only sanctioned his occupation but praised and thanked him for +it. + +After this was done, it was thought important to eat, and particularly +to drink, in officers' clubs or the salons of the best restaurants, +squandering large sums of money, which came from some invisible source; +then theatres, ballets, women, then again riding on horseback, waving +of swords and shooting, and again the squandering of money, the wine, +cards, and women. This kind of life acts on military men even more +depravingly than on others, because if any other than a military man +lead such a life he cannot help being ashamed of it in the depth of his +heart. A military man is, on the contrary, proud of a life of this kind +especially at war time, and Nekhludoff had entered the army just after +war with the Turks had been declared. "We are prepared to sacrifice +our lives at the wars, and therefore a gay, reckless life is not only +pardonable, but absolutely necessary for us, and so we lead it." + +Such were Nekhludoff's confused thoughts at this period of his +existence, and he felt all the time the delight of being free of the +moral barriers he had formerly set himself. And the state he lived in +was that of a chronic mania of selfishness. He was in this state when, +after three years' absence, he came again to visit his aunts. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE SECOND MEETING WITH MASLOVA. + +Nekhludoff went to visit his aunts because their estate lay near the +road he had to travel in order to join his regiment, which had gone +forward, because they had very warmly asked him to come, and especially +because he wanted to see Katusha. Perhaps in his heart he had already +formed those evil designs against Katusha which his now uncontrolled +animal self suggested to him, but he did not acknowledge this as his +intention, but only wished to go back to the spot where he had been so +happy, to see his rather funny, but dear, kind-hearted old aunts, who +always, without his noticing it, surrounded him with an atmosphere of +love and admiration, and to see sweet Katusha, of whom he had retained +so pleasant a memory. + +He arrived at the end of March, on Good Friday, after the thaw had set +in. It was pouring with rain so that he had not a dry thread on him and +was feeling very cold, but yet vigorous and full of spirits, as always +at that time. "Is she still with them?" he thought, as he drove into the +familiar, old-fashioned courtyard, surrounded by a low brick wall, and +now filled with snow off the roofs. + +He expected she would come out when she heard the sledge bells but she +did not. Two bare-footed women with pails and tucked-up skirts, who had +evidently been scrubbing the floors, came out of the side door. She was +not at the front door either, and only Tikhon, the man-servant, with his +apron on, evidently also busy cleaning, came out into the front porch. +His aunt Sophia Ivanovna alone met him in the ante-room; she had a silk +dress on and a cap on her head. Both aunts had been to church and had +received communion. + +"Well, this is nice of you to come," said Sophia Ivanovna, kissing him. +"Mary is not well, got tired in church; we have been to communion." + +"I congratulate you, Aunt Sophia," [it is usual in Russia to +congratulate those who have received communion] said Nekhludoff, kissing +Sophia Ivanovna's hand. "Oh, I beg your pardon, I have made you wet." + +"Go to your room--why you are soaking wet. Dear me, you have got +moustaches! . . . Katusha! Katusha! Get him some coffee; be quick." + +"Directly," came the sound of a well-known, pleasant voice from the +passage, and Nekhludoff's heart cried out "She's here!" and it was as if +the sun had come out from behind the clouds. + +Nekhludoff, followed by Tikhon, went gaily to his old room to change his +things. He felt inclined to ask Tikhon about Katusha; how she was, +what she was doing, was she not going to be married? But Tikhon was so +respectful and at the same time so severe, insisted so firmly on pouring +the water out of the jug for him, that Nekhludoff could not make up +his mind to ask him about Katusha, but only inquired about Tikhon's +grandsons, about the old so-called "brother's" horse, and about the +dog Polkan. All were alive except Polkan, who had gone mad the summer +before. + +When he had taken off all his wet things and just begun to dress again, +Nekhludoff heard quick, familiar footsteps and a knock at the door. +Nekhludoff knew the steps and also the knock. No one but she walked and +knocked like that. + +Having thrown his wet greatcoat over his shoulders, he opened the door. + +"Come in." It was she, Katusha, the same, only sweeter than before. The +slightly squinting naive black eyes looked up in the same old way. Now +as then, she had on a white apron. She brought him from his aunts +a piece of scented soap, with the wrapper just taken off, and two +towels--one a long Russian embroidered one, the other a bath towel. The +unused soap with the stamped inscription, the towels, and her own self, +all were equally clean, fresh, undefiled and pleasant. The irrepressible +smile of joy at the sight of him made the sweet, firm lips pucker up as +of old. + +"How do you do, Dmitri Ivanovitch?" she uttered with difficulty, her +face suffused with a rosy blush. + +"Good-morning! How do you do?" he said, also blushing. "Alive and well?" + +"Yes, the Lord be thanked. And here is your favorite pink soap and +towels from your aunts," she said, putting the soap on the table and +hanging the towels over the back of a chair. + +"There is everything here," said Tikhon, defending the visitor's +independence, and pointing to Nekhludoff's open dressing case filled +with brushes, perfume, fixatoire, a great many bottles with silver lids +and all sorts of toilet appliances. + +"Thank my aunts, please. Oh, how glad I am to be here," said Nekhludoff, +his heart filling with light and tenderness as of old. + +She only smiled in answer to these words, and went out. The aunts, who +had always loved Nekhludoff, welcomed him this time more warmly than +ever. Dmitri was going to the war, where he might be wounded or killed, +and this touched the old aunts. Nekhludoff had arranged to stay only a +day and night with his aunts, but when he had seen Katusha he agreed to +stay over Easter with them and telegraphed to his friend Schonbock, whom +he was to have joined in Odessa, that he should come and meet him at his +aunts' instead. + +As soon as he had seen Katusha Nekhludoff's old feelings toward her +awoke again. Now, just as then, he could not see her white apron without +getting excited; he could not listen to her steps, her voice, her laugh, +without a feeling of joy; he could not look at her eyes, black as sloes, +without a feeling of tenderness, especially when she smiled; and, above +all, he could not notice without agitation how she blushed when they +met. He felt he was in love, but not as before, when this love was a +kind of mystery to him and he would not own, even to himself, that he +loved, and when he was persuaded that one could love only once; now he +knew he was in love and was glad of it, and knew dimly what this love +consisted of and what it might lead to, though he sought to conceal +it even from himself. In Nekhludoff, as in every man, there were two +beings: one the spiritual, seeking only that kind of happiness for him +self which should tend towards the happiness of all; the other, the +animal man, seeking only his own happiness, and ready to sacrifice to it +the happiness of the rest of the world. At this period of his mania of +self-love brought on by life in Petersburg and in the army, this animal +man ruled supreme and completely crushed the spiritual man in him. + +But when he saw Katusha and experienced the same feelings as he had had +three years before, the spiritual man in him raised its head once more +and began to assert its rights. And up to Easter, during two whole days, +an unconscious, ceaseless inner struggle went on in him. + +He knew in the depths of his soul that he ought to go away, that there +was no real reason for staying on with his aunts, knew that no good +could come of it; and yet it was so pleasant, so delightful, that he did +not honestly acknowledge the facts to himself and stayed on. On Easter +eve, the priest and the deacon who came to the house to say mass had had +(so they said) the greatest difficulty in getting over the three miles +that lay between the church and the old ladies' house, coming across the +puddles and the bare earth in a sledge. + +Nekhludoff attended the mass with his aunts and the servants, and kept +looking at Katusha, who was near the door and brought in the censers +for the priests. Then having given the priests and his aunts the Easter +kiss, though it was not midnight and therefore not Easter yet, he was +already going to bed when he heard the old servant Matrona Pavlovna +preparing to go to the church to get the koulitch and paski [Easter +cakes] blest after the midnight service. "I shall go too," he thought. + +The road to the church was impassable either in a sledge or on wheels, +so Nekhludoff, who behaved in his aunts' house just as he did at home, +ordered the old horse, "the brother's horse," to be saddled, and instead +of going to bed he put on his gay uniform, a pair of tight-fitting +riding breeches and his overcoat, and got on the old over-fed and heavy +horse, which neighed continually all the way as he rode in the dark +through the puddles and snow to the church. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE EARLY MASS. + +For Nekhludoff this early mass remained for ever after one of the +brightest and most vivid memories of his life. When he rode out of the +darkness, broken only here and there by patches of white snow, into the +churchyard illuminated by a row of lamps around the church, the service +had already begun. + +The peasants, recognising Mary Ivanovna's nephew, led his horse, which +was pricking up its ears at the sight of the lights, to a dry place +where he could get off, put it up for him, and showed him into the +church, which was full of people. On the right stood the peasants; the +old men in home-spun coats, and clean white linen bands [long strips of +linen are worn by the peasants instead of stockings] wrapped round their +legs, the young men in new cloth coats, bright-coloured belts round +their waists, and top-boots. + +On the left stood the women, with red silk kerchiefs on their +heads, black velveteen sleeveless jackets, bright red shirt-sleeves, +gay-coloured green, blue, and red skirts, and thick leather boots. +The old women, dressed more quietly, stood behind them, with white +kerchiefs, homespun coats, old-fashioned skirts of dark home-spun +material, and shoes on their feet. Gaily-dressed children, their hair +well oiled, went in and out among them. + +The men, making the sign of the cross, bowed down and raised their heads +again, shaking back their hair. + +The women, especially the old ones, fixed their eyes on an icon +surrounded with candies and made the sign of the cross, firmly pressing +their folded fingers to the kerchief on their foreheads, to their +shoulders, and their stomachs, and, whispering something, stooped +or knelt down. The children, imitating the grown-up people, prayed +earnestly when they knew that they were being observed. The gilt case +containing the icon glittered, illuminated on all sides by tall candles +ornamented with golden spirals. The candelabra was filled with tapers, +and from the choir sounded most merry tunes sung by amateur choristers, +with bellowing bass and shrill boys' voices among them. + +Nekhludoff passed up to the front. In the middle of the church stood +the aristocracy of the place: a landed proprietor, with his wife and +son (the latter dressed in a sailor's suit), the police officer, the +telegraph clerk, a tradesman in top-boots, and the village elder, with +a medal on his breast; and to the right of the ambo, just behind the +landed proprietor's wife, stood Matrona Pavlovna in a lilac dress and +fringed shawl and Katusha in a white dress with a tucked bodice, blue +sash, and red bow in her black hair. + +Everything seemed festive, solemn, bright, and beautiful: the priest in +his silver cloth vestments with gold crosses; the deacon, the clerk and +chanter in their silver and gold surplices; the amateur choristers in +their best clothes, with their well-oiled hair; the merry tunes of the +holiday hymns that sounded like dance music; and the continual blessing +of the people by the priests, who held candles decorated with flowers, +and repeated the cry of "Christ is risen!" "Christ is risen!" All was +beautiful; but, above all, Katusha, in her white dress, blue sash, and +the red bow on her black head, her eyes beaming with rapture. + +Nekhludoff knew that she felt his presence without looking at him. He +noticed this as he passed her, walking up to the altar. He had nothing +to tell her, but he invented something to say and whispered as he passed +her: "Aunt told me that she would break her fast after the late mass." +The young blood rushed up to Katusha's sweet face, as it always did +when she looked at him. The black eyes, laughing and full of joy, gazed +naively up and remained fixed on Nekhludoff. + +"I know," she said, with a smile. + +At this moment the clerk was going out with a copper coffee-pot +[coffee-pots are often used for holding holy water in Russia] of holy +water in his hand, and, not noticing Katusha, brushed her with his +surplice. Evidently he brushed against Katusha through wishing to pass +Nekhludoff at a respectful distance, and Nekhludoff was surprised that +he, the clerk, did not understand that everything here, yes, and in +all the world, only existed for Katusha, and that everything else might +remain unheeded, only not she, because she was the centre of all. For +her the gold glittered round the icons; for her all these candles in +candelabra and candlesticks were alight; for her were sung these +joyful hymns, "Behold the Passover of the Lord" "Rejoice, O ye people!" +All--all that was good in the world was for her. And it seemed to him +that Katusha was aware that it was all for her when he looked at her +well-shaped figure, the tucked white dress, the wrapt, joyous expression +of her face, by which he knew that just exactly the same that was +singing in his own soul was also singing in hers. + +In the interval between the early and the late mass Nekhludoff left the +church. The people stood aside to let him pass, and bowed. Some knew +him; others asked who he was. + +He stopped on the steps. The beggars standing there came clamouring +round him, and he gave them all the change he had in his purse and went +down. It was dawning, but the sun had not yet risen. The people grouped +round the graves in the churchyard. Katusha had remained inside. +Nekhludoff stood waiting for her. + +The people continued coming out, clattering with their nailed boots on +the stone steps and dispersing over the churchyard. A very old man with +shaking head, his aunts' cook, stopped Nekhludoff in order to give +him the Easter kiss, his old wife took an egg, dyed yellow, out of her +handkerchief and gave it to Nekhludoff, and a smiling young peasant in a +new coat and green belt also came up. + +"Christ is risen," he said, with laughing eyes, and coming close to +Nekhludoff he enveloped him in his peculiar but pleasant peasant smell, +and, tickling him with his curly beard, kissed him three times straight +on the mouth with his firm, fresh lips. + +While the peasant was kissing Nekhludoff and giving him a dark brown +egg, the lilac dress of Matrona Pavlovna and the dear black head with +the red bow appeared. + +Katusha caught sight of him over the heads of those in front of her, and +he saw how her face brightened up. + +She had come out with Matrona Pavlovna on to the porch, and stopped +there distributing alms to the beggars. A beggar with a red scab in +place of a nose came up to Katusha. She gave him something, drew nearer +him, and, evincing no sign of disgust, but her eyes still shining with +joy, kissed him three times. And while she was doing this her eyes met +Nekhludoff's with a look as if she were asking, "Is this that I am doing +right?" "Yes, dear, yes, it is right; everything is right, everything is +beautiful. I love!" + +They came down the steps of the porch, and he came up to them. + +He did not mean to give them the Easter kiss, but only to be nearer to +her. Matrona Pavlovna bowed her head, and said with a smile, "Christ is +risen!" and her tone implied, "To-day we are all equal." She wiped her +mouth with her handkerchief rolled into a ball and stretched her lips +towards him. + +"He is, indeed," answered Nekhludoff, kissing her. Then he looked +at Katusha; she blushed, and drew nearer. "Christ is risen, Dmitri +Ivanovitch." + +"He is risen, indeed," answered Nekhludoff, and they kissed twice, then +paused as if considering whether a third kiss were necessary, and, +having decided that it was, kissed a third time and smiled. + +"You are going to the priests?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"No, we shall sit out here a bit, Dmitri Ivanovitch," said Katusha with +effort, as if she had accomplished some joyous task, and, her whole +chest heaving with a deep sigh, she looked straight in his face with +a look of devotion, virgin purity, and love, in her very slightly +squinting eyes. + +In the love between a man and a woman there always comes a moment when +this love has reached its zenith--a moment when it is unconscious, +unreasoning, and with nothing sensual about it. Such a moment had come +for Nekhludoff on that Easter eve. When he brought Katusha back to his +mind, now, this moment veiled all else; the smooth glossy black head, +the white tucked dress closely fitting her graceful maidenly form, her, +as yet, un-developed bosom, the blushing cheeks, the tender shining +black eyes with their slight squint heightened by the sleepless night, +and her whole being stamped with those two marked features, purity and +chaste love, love not only for him (he knew that), but for everybody and +everything, not for the good alone, but for all that is in the world, +even for that beggar whom she had kissed. + +He knew she had that love in her because on that night and morning +he was conscious of it in himself, and conscious that in this love he +became one with her. Ah! if it had all stopped there, at the point it +had reached that night. "Yes, all that horrible business had not yet +happened on that Easter eve!" he thought, as he sat by the window of the +jurymen's room. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE FIRST STEP. + +When he returned from church Nekhludoff broke the fast with his aunts +and took a glass of spirits and some wine, having got into that habit +while with his regiment, and when he reached his room fell asleep at +once, dressed as he was. He was awakened by a knock at the door. He knew +it was her knock, and got up, rubbing his eyes and stretching himself. + +"Katusha, is it you? Come in," said he. + +She opened the door. + +"Dinner is ready," she said. She still had on the same white dress, but +not the bow in her hair. She looked at him with a smile, as if she had +communicated some very good news to him. + +"I am coming," he answered, as he rose, taking his comb to arrange his +hair. + +She stood still for a minute, and he, noticing it, threw down his comb +and made a step towards her, but at that very moment she turned suddenly +and went with quick light steps along the strip of carpet in the middle +of the passage. + +"Dear me, what a fool I am," thought Nekhludoff. "Why did I not stop +her?" What he wanted her for he did not know himself, but he felt that +when she came into his room something should have been done, something +that is generally done on such occasions, and that he had left it +undone. + +"Katusha, wait," he said. + +"What do you want?" she said, stopping. + +"Nothing, only--" and, with an effort, remembering how men in his +position generally behave, he put his arm round her waist. + +She stood still and looked into his eyes. + +"Don't, Dmitri Ivanovitch, you must not," she said, blushing to tears +and pushing away his arm with her strong hard hand. Nekhludoff let her +go, and for a moment he felt not only confused and ashamed but disgusted +with himself. He should now have believed himself, and then he would +have known that this confusion and shame were caused by the best +feelings of his soul demanding to be set free; but he thought it was +only his stupidity and that he ought to behave as every one else did. He +caught her up and kissed her on the neck. + +This kiss was very different from that first thoughtless kiss behind +the lilac bush, and very different to the kiss this morning in the +churchyard. This was a dreadful kiss, and she felt it. + +"Oh, what are you doing?" she cried, in a tone as if he had irreparably +broken something of priceless value, and ran quickly away. + +He came into the dining-room. His aunts, elegantly dressed, their family +doctor, and a neighbour were already there. Everything seemed so very +ordinary, but in Nekhludoff a storm was raging. He understood nothing +of what was being said and gave wrong answers, thinking only of Katusha. +The sound of her steps in the passage brought back the thrill of that +last kiss and he could think of nothing else. When she came into the +room he, without looking round, felt her presence with his whole being +and had to force himself not to look at her. + +After dinner he at once went into his bedroom and for a long time walked +up and down in great excitement, listening to every sound in the house +and expecting to hear her steps. The animal man inside him had now not +only lifted its head, but had succeeded in trampling under foot the +spiritual man of the days of his first visit, and even of that every +morning. That dreadful animal man alone now ruled over him. + +Though he was watching for her all day he could not manage to meet her +alone. She was probably trying to evade him. In the evening, however, +she was obliged to go into the room next to his. The doctor had been +asked to stay the night, and she had to make his bed. When he heard her +go in Nekhludoff followed her, treading softly and holding his breath as +if he were going to commit a crime. + +She was putting a clean pillow-case on the pillow, holding it by two of +its corners with her arms inside the pillow-case. She turned round +and smiled, not a happy, joyful smile as before, but in a frightened, +piteous way. The smile seemed to tell him that what he was doing was +wrong. He stopped for a moment. There was still the possibility of a +struggle. The voice of his real love for her, though feebly, was still +speaking of her, her feelings, her life. Another voice was saying, +"Take care I don't let the opportunity for your own happiness, your own +enjoyment, slip by!" And this second voice completely stifled the first. +He went up to her with determination and a terrible, ungovernable animal +passion took possession of him. + +With his arm round he made her sit down on the bed; and feeling that +there was something more to be done he sat down beside her. + +"Dmitri Ivanovitch, dear! please let me go," she said, with a piteous +voice. "Matrona Pavlovna is coming," she cried, tearing herself away. +Some one was really coming to the door. + +"Well, then, I'll come to you in the night," he whispered. "You'll be +alone?" + +"What are you thinking of? On no account. No, no!" she said, but only +with her lips; the tremulous confusion of her whole being said something +very different. + +It was Matrona Pavlovna who had come to the door. She came in with a +blanket over her arm, looked reproachfully at Nekhludoff, and began +scolding Katusha for having taken the wrong blanket. + +Nekhludoff went out in silence, but he did not even feel ashamed. He +could see by Matrona Pavlovna's face that she was blaming him, he knew +that she was blaming him with reason and felt that he was doing wrong, +but this novel, low animal excitement, having freed itself of all the +old feelings of real love for Katusha, ruled supreme, leaving room for +nothing else. He went about as if demented all the evening, now into his +aunts', then back into his own room, then out into the porch, thinking +all the time how he could meet her alone; but she avoided him, and +Matrona Pavlovna watched her closely. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +NEKHLUDOFF AND KATUSHA. + +And so the evening passed and night came. The doctor went to bed. +Nekhludoff's aunts had also retired, and he knew that Matrona Pavlovna +was now with them in their bedroom so that Katusha was sure to be alone +in the maids' sitting-room. He again went out into the porch. It was +dark, damp and warm out of doors, and that white spring mist which +drives away the last snow, or is diffused by the thawing of the last +snow, filled the air. From the river under the hill, about a hundred +steps from the front door, came a strange sound. It was the ice +breaking. Nekhludoff came down the steps and went up to the window of +the maids' room, stepping over the puddles on the bits of glazed snow. +His heart was beating so fiercely in his breast that he seemed to hear +it, his laboured breath came and went in a burst of long-drawn sighs. In +the maids' room a small lamp was burning, and Katusha sat alone by the +table, looking thoughtfully in front of her. Nekhludoff stood a long +time without moving and waited to see what she, not knowing that she +was observed, would do. For a minute or two she did not move; then she +lifted her eyes, smiled and shook her head as if chiding herself, then +changed her pose and dropped both her arms on the table and again began +gazing down in front of her. He stood and looked at her, involuntarily +listening to the beating of his own heart and the strange sounds from +the river. There on the river, beneath the white mist, the unceasing +labour went on, and sounds as of something sobbing, cracking, dropping, +being shattered to pieces mixed with the tinkling of the thin bits of +ice as they broke against each other like glass. + +There he stood, looking at Katusha's serious, suffering face, which +betrayed the inner struggle of her soul, and he felt pity for her; but, +strange though it may seem, this pity only confirmed him in his evil +intention. + +He knocked at the window. She started as if she had received an electric +shock, her whole body trembled, and a look of horror came into her face. +Then she jumped up, approached the window and brought her face up to the +pane. The look of terror did not leave her face even when, holding her +hands up to her eyes like blinkers and peering through the glass, she +recognised him. Her face was unusually grave; he had never seen it so +before. She returned his smile, but only in submission to him; there was +no smile in her soul, only fear. He beckoned her with his hand to come +out into the yard to him. But she shook her head and remained by the +window. He brought his face close to the pane and was going to call out +to her, but at that moment she turned to the door; evidently some one +inside had called her. Nekhludoff moved away from the window. The fog +was so dense that five steps from the house the windows could not be +seen, but the light from the lamp shone red and huge out of a shapeless +black mass. And on the river the same strange sounds went on, sobbing +and rustling and cracking and tinkling. Somewhere in the fog, not +far off, a cock crowed; another answered, and then others, far in the +village took up the cry till the sound of the crowing blended into one, +while all around was silent excepting the river. It was the second time +the cocks crowed that night. + +Nekhludoff walked up and down behind the corner of the house, and once +or twice got into a puddle. Then again came up to the window. The lamp +was still burning, and she was again sitting alone by the table as +if uncertain what to do. He had hardly approached the window when she +looked up. He knocked. Without looking who it was she at once ran out of +the room, and he heard the outside door open with a snap. He waited +for her near the side porch and put his arms round her without saying a +word. She clung to him, put up her face, and met his kiss with her lips. +Then the door again gave the same sort of snap and opened, and the voice +of Matrona Pavlovna called out angrily, "Katusha!" + +She tore herself away from him and returned into the maids' room. He +heard the latch click, and then all was quiet. The red light disappeared +and only the mist remained, and the bustle on the river went on. +Nekhludoff went up to the window, nobody was to be seen; he knocked, but +got no answer. He went back into the house by the front door, but could +not sleep. He got up and went with bare feet along the passage to her +door, next to Matrona Pavlovna's room. He heard Matrona Pavlovna snoring +quietly, and was about to go on when she coughed and turned on her +creaking bed, and his heart fell, and he stood immovable for about five +minutes. When all was quiet and she began to snore peacefully again, he +went on, trying to step on the boards that did not creak, and came to +Katusha's door. There was no sound to be heard. She was probably +awake, or else he would have heard her breathing. But as soon as he +had whispered "Katusha" she jumped up and began to persuade him, as if +angrily, to go away. + +"Open! Let me in just for a moment! I implore you!" He hardly knew what +he was saying. + + * * * * * * * + +When she left him, trembling and silent, giving no answer to his words, +he again went out into the porch and stood trying to understand the +meaning of what had happened. + +It was getting lighter. From the river below the creaking and tinkling +and sobbing of the breaking ice came still louder and a gurgling sound +could now also be heard. The mist had begun to sink, and from above it +the waning moon dimly lighted up something black and weird. + +"What was the meaning of it all? Was it a great joy or a great +misfortune that had befallen him?" he asked himself. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +AFTERWARDS. + +The next day the gay, handsome, and brilliant Schonbock joined +Nekhludoff at his aunts' house, and quite won their hearts by his +refined and amiable manner, his high spirits, his generosity, and his +affection for Dmitri. + +But though the old ladies admired his generosity it rather perplexed +them, for it seemed exaggerated. He gave a rouble to some blind beggars +who came to the gate, gave 15 roubles in tips to the servants, and +when Sophia Ivanovna's pet dog hurt his paw and it bled, he tore his +hemstitched cambric handkerchief into strips (Sophia Ivanovna knew that +such handkerchiefs cost at least 15 roubles a dozen) and bandaged the +dog's foot. The old ladies had never met people of this kind, and did +not know that Schonbock owed 200,000 roubles which he was never going to +pay, and that therefore 25 roubles more or less did not matter a bit to +him. Schonbock stayed only one day, and he and Nekhludoff both, left +at night. They could not stay away from their regiment any longer, for +their leave was fully up. + +At the stage which Nekhludoff's selfish mania had now reached he could +think of nothing but himself. He was wondering whether his conduct, if +found out, would be blamed much or at all, but he did not consider what +Katusha was now going through, and what was going to happen to her. + +He saw that Schonbock guessed his relations to her and this flattered +his vanity. + +"Ah, I see how it is you have taken such a sudden fancy to your aunts +that you have been living nearly a week with them," Schonbock remarked +when he had seen Katusha. "Well, I don't wonder--should have done the +same. She's charming." Nekhludoff was also thinking that though it was +a pity to go away before having fully gratified the cravings of his +love for her, yet the absolute necessity of parting had its advantages +because it put a sudden stop to relations it would have been very +difficult for him to continue. Then he thought that he ought to give her +some money, not for her, not because she might need it, but because it +was the thing to do. + +So he gave her what seemed to him a liberal amount, considering his and +her station. On the day of his departure, after dinner, he went out and +waited for her at the side entrance. She flushed up when she saw him +and wished to pass by, directing his attention to the open door of the +maids' room by a look, but he stopped her. + +"I have come to say good-bye," he said, crumbling in his hand an +envelope with a 100-rouble note inside. "There, I . . . " + +She guessed what he meant, knit her brows, and shaking her head pushed +his hand away. + +"Take it; oh, you must!" he stammered, and thrust the envelope into the +bib of her apron and ran back to his room, groaning and frowning as if +he had hurt himself. And for a long time he went up and down writhing as +in pain, and even stamping and groaning aloud as he thought of this last +scene. "But what else could I have done? Is it not what happens to every +one? And if every one does the same . . . well I suppose it can't be +helped." In this way he tried to get peace of mind, but in vain. The +recollection of what had passed burned his conscience. In his soul--in +the very depths of his soul--he knew that he had acted in a base, cruel, +cowardly manner, and that the knowledge of this act of his must prevent +him, not only from finding fault with any one else, but even from +looking straight into other people's eyes; not to mention the +impossibility of considering himself a splendid, noble, high-minded +fellow, as he did and had to do to go on living his life boldly and +merrily. There was only one solution of the problem--i.e., not to think +about it. He succeeded in doing so. The life he was now entering upon, +the new surroundings, new friends, the war, all helped him to forget. +And the longer he lived, the less he thought about it, until at last he +forgot it completely. + +Once only, when, after the war, he went to see his aunts in hopes of +meeting Katusha, and heard that soon after his last visit she had left, +and that his aunts had heard she had been confined somewhere or other +and had gone quite to the bad, his heart ached. According to the time of +her confinement, the child might or might not have been his. His aunts +said she had gone wrong, that she had inherited her mother's depraved +nature, and he was pleased to hear this opinion of his aunts'. It seemed +to acquit him. At first he thought of trying to find her and her child, +but then, just because in the depths of his soul he felt so ashamed and +pained when thinking about her, he did not make the necessary effort to +find her, but tried to forget his sin again and ceased to think about +it. And now this strange coincidence brought it all back to his memory, +and demanded from him the acknowledgment of the heartless, cruel +cowardice which had made it possible for him to live these nine years +with such a sin on his conscience. But he was still far from such an +acknowledgment, and his only fear was that everything might now be found +out, and that she or her advocate might recount it all and put him to +shame before every one present. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE TRIAL--RESUMPTION. + +In this state of mind Nekhludoff left the Court and went into the +jurymen's room. He sat by the window smoking all the while, and hearing +what was being said around him. + +The merry merchant seemed with all his heart to sympathise with +Smelkoff's way of spending his time. "There, old fellow, that was +something like! Real Siberian fashion! He knew what he was about, no +fear! That's the sort of wench for me." + +The foreman was stating his conviction, that in some way or other the +expert's conclusions were the important thing. Peter Gerasimovitch +was joking about something with the Jewish clerk, and they burst out +laughing. Nekhludoff answered all the questions addressed to him in +monosyllables and longed only to be left in peace. + +When the usher, with his sideways gait, called the jury back to the +Court, Nekhludoff was seized with fear, as if he were not going to +judge, but to be judged. In the depth of his soul he felt that he was a +scoundrel, who ought to be ashamed to look people in the face, yet, +by sheer force of habit, he stepped on to the platform in his usual +self-possessed manner, and sat down, crossing his legs and playing with +his pince-nez. + +The prisoners had also been led out, and were now brought in again. +There were some new faces in the Court witnesses, and Nekhludoff noticed +that Maslova could not take her eyes off a very fat woman who sat in the +row in front of the grating, very showily dressed in silk and velvet, a +high hat with a large bow on her head, and an elegant little reticule on +her arm, which was bare to the elbow. This was, as he subsequently found +out, one of the witnesses, the mistress of the establishment to which +Maslova had belonged. + +The examination of the witnesses commenced: they were asked their names, +religion, etc. Then, after some consultation as to whether the witnesses +were to be sworn in or not, the old priest came in again, dragging +his legs with difficulty, and, again arranging the golden cross on his +breast, swore the witnesses and the expert in the same quiet manner, +and with the same assurance that he was doing something useful and +important. + +The witnesses having been sworn, all but Kitaeva, the keeper of the +house, were led out again. She was asked what she knew about this +affair. Kitaeva nodded her head and the big hat at every sentence +and smiled affectedly. She gave a very full and intelligent account, +speaking with a strong German accent. First of all, the hotel servant +Simeon, whom she knew, came to her establishment on behalf of a rich +Siberian merchant, and she sent Lubov back with him. After a time +Lubov returned with the merchant. The merchant was already somewhat +intoxicated--she smiled as she said this--and went on drinking and +treating the girls. He was short of money. He sent this same Lubov to +his lodgings. He had taken a "predilection" to her. She looked at the +prisoner as she said this. + +Nekhludoff thought he saw Maslova smile here, and this seemed disgusting +to him. A strange, indefinite feeling of loathing, mingled with +suffering, arose in him. + +"And what was your opinion of Maslova?" asked the blushing and confused +applicant for a judicial post, appointed to act as Maslova's advocate. + +"Zee ferry pesht," answered Kitaeva. "Zee yoong voman is etucated and +elecant. She was prought up in a coot family and can reat French. She +tid have a trop too moch sometimes, put nefer forcot herself. A ferry +coot girl." + +Katusha looked at the woman, then suddenly turned her eyes on the jury +and fixed them on Nekhludoff, and her face grew serious and even severe. +One of her serious eyes squinted, and those two strange eyes for some +time gazed at Nekhludoff, who, in spite of the terrors that seized him, +could not take his look off these squinting eyes, with their bright, +clear whites. + +He thought of that dreadful night, with its mist, the ice breaking on +the river below, and when the waning moon, with horns turned upwards, +that had risen towards morning, lit up something black and weird. These +two black eyes now looking at him reminded him of this weird, black +something. "She has recognised me," he thought, and Nekhludoff shrank as +if expecting a blow. But she had not recognised him. She sighed quietly +and again looked at the president. Nekhludoff also sighed. "Oh, if it +would only get on quicker," he thought. + +He now felt the same loathing and pity and vexation as when, out +shooting, he was obliged to kill a wounded bird. The wounded bird +struggles in the game bag. One is disgusted and yet feels pity, and one +is in a hurry to kill the bird and forget it. + +Such mixed feelings filled Nekhludoff's breast as he sat listening to +the examination of the witnesses. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE TRIAL--THE MEDICAL REPORT. + +But, as if to spite him, the case dragged out to a great length. After +each witness had been examined separately and the expert last of all, +and a great number of useless questions had been put, with the usual +air of importance, by the public prosecutor and by both advocates, the +president invited the jury to examine the objects offered as material +evidence. They consisted of an enormous diamond ring, which had +evidently been worn on the first finger, and a test tube in which the +poison had been analysed. These things had seals and labels attached to +them. + +Just as the witnesses were about to look at these things, the public +prosecutor rose and demanded that before they did this the results of +the doctor's examination of the body should be read. The president, who +was hurrying the business through as fast as he could in order to visit +his Swiss friend, though he knew that the reading of this paper could +have no other effect than that of producing weariness and putting off +the dinner hour, and that the public prosecutor wanted it read simply +because he knew he had a right to demand it, had no option but to +express his consent. + +The secretary got out the doctor's report and again began to read in his +weary lisping voice, making no distinction between the "r's" and "l's." + +The external examination proved that: + +"1. Theropont Smelkoff's height was six feet five inches. + +"Not so bad, that. A very good size," whispered the merchant, with +interest, into Nekhludoff's ear. + +"2. He looked about 40 years of age. + +"3. The body was of a swollen appearance. + +"4. The flesh was of a greenish colour, with dark spots in several +places. + +"5. The skin was raised in blisters of different sizes and in places had +come off in large pieces. + +"6. The hair was chestnut; it was thick, and separated easily from the +skin when touched. + +"7. The eye-balls protruded from their sockets and the cornea had grown +dim. + +"8. Out of the nostrils, both ears, and the mouth oozed serous liquid; +the mouth was half open. + +"9. The neck had almost disappeared, owing to the swelling of the face +and chest." + +And so on and so on. + +Four pages were covered with the 27 paragraphs describing all the +details of the external examination of the enormous, fat, swollen, and +decomposing body of the merchant who had been making merry in the +town. The indefinite loathing that Nekhludoff felt was increased by the +description of the corpse. Katusha's life, and the scrum oozing from +the nostrils of the corpse, and the eyes that protruded out of their +sockets, and his own treatment of her--all seemed to belong to the same +order of things, and he felt surrounded and wholly absorbed by things of +the same nature. + +When the reading of the report of the external examination was ended, +the president heaved a sigh and raised his hand, hoping it was finished; +but the secretary at once went on to the description of the internal +examination. The president's head again dropped into his hand and he +shut his eyes. The merchant next to Nekhludoff could hardly keep awake, +and now and then his body swayed to and fro. The prisoners and the +gendarmes sat perfectly quiet. + +The internal examination showed that: + +"1. The skin was easily detachable from the bones of the skull, and +there was no coagulated blood. + +"2. The bones of the skull were of average thickness and in sound +condition. + +"3. On the membrane of the brain there were two discoloured spots about +four inches long, the membrane itself being of a dull white." And so on +for 13 paragraphs more. Then followed the names and signatures of +the assistants, and the doctor's conclusion showing that the changes +observed in the stomach, and to a lesser degree in the bowels and +kidneys, at the postmortem examination, and described in the official +report, gave great probability to the conclusion that Smelkoff's death +was caused by poison which had entered his stomach mixed with alcohol. +To decide from the state of the stomach what poison had been introduced +was difficult; but it was necessary to suppose that the poison entered +the stomach mixed with alcohol, since a great quantity of the latter was +found in Smelkoff's stomach. + +"He could drink, and no mistake," again whispered the merchant, who had +just waked up. + +The reading of this report had taken a full hour, but it had not +satisfied the public prosecutor, for, when it had been read through and +the president turned to him, saying, "I suppose it is superfluous to +read the report of the examination of the internal organs?" he answered +in a severe tone, without looking at the president, "I shall ask to have +it read." + +He raised himself a little, and showed by his manner that he had a right +to have this report read, and would claim this right, and that if that +were not granted it would serve as a cause of appeal. + +The member of the Court with the big beard, who suffered from catarrh of +the stomach, feeling quite done up, turned to the president: + +"What is the use of reading all this? It is only dragging it out. These +new brooms do not sweep clean; they only take a long while doing it." + +The member with the gold spectacles said nothing, but only looked +gloomily in front of him, expecting nothing good, either from his wife +or life in general. The reading of the report commenced. + +"In the year 188-, on February 15th, I, the undersigned, commissioned +by the medical department, made an examination, No. 638," the secretary +began again with firmness and raising the pitch of his voice as if to +dispel the sleepiness that had overtaken all present, "in the presence +of the assistant medical inspector, of the internal organs: + +"1. The right lung and the heart (contained in a 6-lb. glass jar). + +"2. The contents of the stomach (in a 6-lb. glass jar). + +"3. The stomach itself (in a 6-lb. glass jar). + +"4. The liver, the spleen and the kidneys (in a 9-lb. glass jar). + +"5. The intestines (in a 9-lb. earthenware jar)." + +The president here whispered to one of the members, then stooped to the +other, and having received their consent, he said: "The Court considers +the reading of this report superfluous." The secretary stopped reading +and folded the paper, and the public prosecutor angrily began to write +down something. "The gentlemen of the jury may now examine the articles +of material evidence," said the president. The foreman and several of +the others rose and went to the table, not quite knowing what to do with +their hands. They looked in turn at the glass, the test tube, and the +ring. The merchant even tried on the ring. + +"Ah! that was a finger," he said, returning to his place; "like a +cucumber," he added. Evidently the image he had formed in his mind of +the gigantic merchant amused him. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE TRIAL--THE PROSECUTOR AND THE ADVOCATES. + +When the examination of the articles of material evidence was finished, +the president announced that the investigation was now concluded and +immediately called on the prosecutor to proceed, hoping that as the +latter was also a man, he, too, might feel inclined to smoke or dine, +and show some mercy on the rest. But the public prosecutor showed mercy +neither to himself nor to any one else. He was very stupid by nature, +but, besides this, he had had the misfortune of finishing school with a +gold medal and of receiving a reward for his essay on "Servitude" when +studying Roman Law at the University, and was therefore self-confident +and self-satisfied in the highest degree (his success with the ladies +also conducing to this) and his stupidity had become extraordinary. + +When the word was given to him, he got up slowly, showing the whole of +his graceful figure in his embroidered uniform. Putting his hand on the +desk he looked round the room, slightly bowing his head, and, avoiding +the eyes of the prisoners, began to read the speech he had prepared +while the reports were being read. + +"Gentlemen of the jury! The business that now lies before you is, if I +may so express myself, very characteristic." + +The speech of a public prosecutor, according to his views, should always +have a social importance, like the celebrated speeches made by the +advocates who have become distinguished. True, the audience consisted of +three women--a semptress, a cook, and Simeon's sister--and a coachman; +but this did not matter. The celebrities had begun in the same way. To +be always at the height of his position, i.e., to penetrate into the +depths of the psychological significance of crime and to discover the +wounds of society, was one of the prosecutor's principles. + +"You see before you, gentlemen of the jury, a crime characteristic, if +I may so express myself, of the end of our century; bearing, so to say, +the specific features of that very painful phenomenon, the corruption to +which those elements of our present-day society, which are, so to say, +particularly exposed to the burning rays of this process, are subject." + +The public prosecutor spoke at great length, trying not to forget any of +the notions he had formed in his mind, and, on the other hand, never to +hesitate, and let his speech flow on for an hour and a quarter without a +break. + +Only once he stopped and for some time stood swallowing his saliva, but +he soon mastered himself and made up for the interruption by heightened +eloquence. He spoke, now with a tender, insinuating accent, stepping +from foot to foot and looking at the jury, now in quiet, business-like +tones, glancing into his notebook, then with a loud, accusing voice, +looking from the audience to the advocates. But he avoided looking at +the prisoners, who were all three fixedly gazing at him. Every new craze +then in vogue among his set was alluded to in his speech; everything +that then was, and some things that still are, considered to be the last +words of scientific wisdom: the laws of heredity and inborn criminality, +evolution and the struggle for existence, hypnotism and hypnotic +influence. + +According to his definition, the merchant Smelkoff was of the genuine +Russian type, and had perished in consequence of his generous, trusting +nature, having fallen into the hands of deeply degraded individuals. + +Simeon Kartinkin was the atavistic production of serfdom, a stupefied, +ignorant, unprincipled man, who had not even any religion. Euphemia was +his mistress, and a victim of heredity; all the signs of degeneration +were noticeable in her. The chief wire-puller in this affair was +Maslova, presenting the phenomenon of decadence in its lowest form. +"This woman," he said, looking at her, "has, as we have to-day heard +from her mistress in this court, received an education; she cannot only +read and write, but she knows French; she is illegitimate, and probably +carries in her the germs of criminality. She was educated in an +enlightened, noble family and might have lived by honest work, but she +deserts her benefactress, gives herself up to a life of shame in which +she is distinguished from her companions by her education, and chiefly, +gentlemen of the jury, as you have heard from her mistress, by her power +of acting on the visitors by means of that mysterious capacity lately +investigated by science, especially by the school of Charcot, known by +the name of hypnotic influence. By these means she gets hold of this +Russian, this kind-hearted Sadko, [Sadko, the hero of a legend] the rich +guest, and uses his trust in order first to rob and then pitilessly to +murder him." + +"Well, he is piling it on now, isn't he?" said the president with a +smile, bending towards the serious member. + +"A fearful blockhead!" said the serious member. + +Meanwhile the public prosecutor went on with his speech. "Gentlemen of +the jury," gracefully swaying his body, "the fate of society is to a +certain extent in your power. Your verdict will influence it. Grasp the +full meaning of this crime, the danger that awaits society from those +whom I may perhaps be permitted to call pathological individuals, such +as Maslova. Guard it from infection; guard the innocent and strong +elements of society from contagion or even destruction." + +And as if himself overcome by the significance of the expected verdict, +the public prosecutor sank into his chair, highly delighted with his +speech. + +The sense of the speech, when divested of all its flowers of rhetoric, +was that Maslova, having gained the merchant's confidence, hypnotised +him and went to his lodgings with his key meaning to take all the money +herself, but having been caught in the act by Simeon and Euphemia had to +share it with them. Then, in order to hide the traces of the crime, she +had returned to the lodgings with the merchant and there poisoned him. + +After the prosecutor had spoken, a middle-aged man in swallow-tail coat +and low-cut waistcoat showing a large half-circle of starched white +shirt, rose from the advocates' bench and made a speech in defence of +Kartinkin and Botchkova; this was an advocate engaged by them for 300 +roubles. He acquitted them both and put all the blame on Maslova. He +denied the truth of Maslova's statements that Botchkova and Kartinkin +were with her when she took the money, laying great stress on the +point that her evidence could not be accepted, she being charged with +poisoning. "The 2,500 roubles," the advocate said, "could have been +easily earned by two honest people getting from three to five roubles +per day in tips from the lodgers. The merchant's money was stolen by +Maslova and given away, or even lost, as she was not in a normal state." + +The poisoning was committed by Maslova alone; therefore he begged the +jury to acquit Kartinkin and Botchkova of stealing the money; or if they +could not acquit them of the theft, at least to admit that it was done +without any participation in the poisoning. + +In conclusion the advocate remarked, with a thrust at the public +prosecutor, that "the brilliant observations of that gentleman on +heredity, while explaining scientific facts concerning heredity, were +inapplicable in this case, as Botchkova was of unknown parentage." The +public prosecutor put something down on paper with an angry look, and +shrugged his shoulders in contemptuous surprise. + +Then Maslova's advocate rose, and timidly and hesitatingly began his +speech in her defence. + +Without denying that she had taken part in the stealing of the money, +he insisted on the fact that she had no intention of poisoning Smelkoff, +but had given him the powder only to make him fall asleep. He tried to +go in for a little eloquence in giving a description of how Maslova was +led into a life of debauchery by a man who had remained unpunished while +she had to bear all the weight of her fall; but this excursion into the +domain of psychology was so unsuccessful that it made everybody feel +uncomfortable. When he muttered something about men's cruelty and +women's helplessness, the president tried to help him by asking him to +keep closer to the facts of the case. When he had finished the public +prosecutor got up to reply. He defended his position against the first +advocate, saying that even if Botchkova was of unknown parentage the +truth of the doctrine of heredity was thereby in no way invalidated, +since the laws of heredity were so far proved by science that we can not +only deduce the crime from heredity, but heredity from the crime. As to +the statement made in defence of Maslova, that she was the victim of an +imaginary (he laid a particularly venomous stress on the word imaginary) +betrayer, he could only say that from the evidence before them it was +much more likely that she had played the part of temptress to many and +many a victim who had fallen into her hands. Having said this he sat +down in triumph. Then the prisoners were offered permission to speak in +their own defence. + +Euphemia Botchkova repeated once more that she knew nothing about it and +had taken part in nothing, and firmly laid the whole blame on Maslova. +Simeon Kartinkin only repeated several times: "It is your business, but +I am innocent; it's unjust." Maslova said nothing in her defence. Told +she might do so by the president, she only lifted her eyes to him, cast +a look round the room like a hunted animal, and, dropping her head, +began to cry, sobbing aloud. + +"What is the matter?" the merchant asked Nekhludoff, hearing him utter +a strange sound. This was the sound of weeping fiercely kept back. +Nekhludoff had not yet understood the significance of his present +position, and attributed the sobs he could hardly keep back and the +tears that filled his eyes to the weakness of his nerves. He put on his +pince-nez in order to hide the tears, then got out his handkerchief and +began blowing his nose. + +Fear of the disgrace that would befall him if every one in the court +knew of his conduct stifled the inner working of his soul. This fear +was, during this first period, stronger than all else. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE TRIAL--THE SUMMING UP. + +After the last words of the prisoners had been heard, the form in which +the questions were to be put to the jury was settled, which also took +some time. At last the questions were formulated, and the president +began the summing up. + +Before putting the case to the jury, he spoke to them for some time in a +pleasant, homely manner, explaining that burglary was burglary and theft +was theft, and that stealing from a place which was under lock and key +was stealing from a place under lock and key. While he was explaining +this, he looked several times at Nekhludoff as if wishing to impress +upon him these important facts, in hopes that, having understood it, +Nekhludoff would make his fellow-jurymen also understand it. When he +considered that the jury were sufficiently imbued with these facts, he +proceeded to enunciate another truth--namely, that a murder is an +action which has the death of a human being as its consequence, and that +poisoning could therefore also be termed murder. When, according to his +opinion, this truth had also been received by the jury, he went on to +explain that if theft and murder had been committed at the same time, +the combination of the crimes was theft with murder. + +Although he was himself anxious to finish as soon as possible, although +he knew that his Swiss friend would be waiting for him, he had grown so +used to his occupation that, having begun to speak, he could not stop +himself, and therefore he went on to impress on the jury with much +detail that if they found the prisoners guilty, they would have the +right to give a verdict of guilty; and if they found them not guilty, +to give a verdict of not guilty; and if they found them guilty of one of +the crimes and not of the other, they might give a verdict of guilty +on the one count and of not guilty on the other. Then he explained that +though this right was given them they should use it with reason. + +He was going to add that if they gave an affirmative answer to any +question that was put to them they would thereby affirm everything +included in the question, so that if they did not wish to affirm the +whole of the question they should mention the part of the question they +wished to be excepted. But, glancing at the clock, and seeing it was +already five minutes to three, he resolved to trust to their being +intelligent enough to understand this without further comment. + +"The facts of this case are the following," began the president, and +repeated all that had already been said several times by the advocates, +the public prosecutor and the witnesses. + +The president spoke, and the members on each side of him listened with +deeply-attentive expressions, but looked from time to time at the clock, +for they considered the speech too long though very good--i.e., such +as it ought to be. The public prosecutor, the lawyers, and, in fact, +everyone in the court, shared the same impression. The president +finished the summing up. Then he found it necessary to tell the jury +what they all knew, or might have found out by reading it up--i.e., how +they were to consider the case, count the votes, in case of a tie to +acquit the prisoners, and so on. + +Everything seemed to have been told; but no, the president could not +forego his right of speaking as yet. It was so pleasant to hear the +impressive tones of his own voice, and therefore he found it necessary +to say a few words more about the importance of the rights given to the +jury, how carefully they should use the rights and how they ought not +to abuse them, about their being on their oath, that they were the +conscience of society, that the secrecy of the debating-room should be +considered sacred, etc. + +From the time the president commenced his speech, Maslova watched him +without moving her eyes as if afraid of losing a single word; so that +Nekhludoff was not afraid of meeting her eyes and kept looking at her +all the time. And his mind passed through those phases in which a face +which we have not seen for many years first strikes us with the outward +changes brought about during the time of separation, and then gradually +becomes more and more like its old self, when the changes made by +time seem to disappear, and before our spiritual eyes rises only the +principal expression of one exceptional, unique individuality. Yes, +though dressed in a prison cloak, and in spite of the developed figure, +the fulness of the bosom and lower part of the face, in spite of a few +wrinkles on the forehead and temples and the swollen eyes, this was +certainly the same Katusha who, on that Easter eve, had so innocently +looked up to him whom she loved, with her fond, laughing eyes full of +joy and life. + +"What a strange coincidence that after ten years, during which I never +saw her, this case should have come up today when I am on the jury, and +that it is in the prisoners' dock that I see her again! And how will it +end? Oh, dear, if they would only get on quicker." + +Still he would not give in to the feelings of repentance which began to +arise within him. He tried to consider it all as a coincidence, which +would pass without infringing his manner of life. He felt himself in +the position of a puppy, when its master, taking it by the scruff of +its neck, rubs its nose in the mess it has made. The puppy whines, draws +back and wants to get away as far as possible from the effects of its +misdeed, but the pitiless master does not let go. + +And so, Nekhludoff, feeling all the repulsiveness of what he had done, +felt also the powerful hand of the Master, but he did not feel the whole +significance of his action yet and would not recognise the Master's +hand. He did not wish to believe that it was the effect of his deed that +lay before him, but the pitiless hand of the Master held him and he felt +he could not get away. He was still keeping up his courage and sat on +his chair in the first row in his usual self-possessed pose, one leg +carelessly thrown over the other, and playing with his pince-nez. Yet +all the while, in the depths of his soul, he felt the cruelty, cowardice +and baseness, not only of this particular action of his but of his whole +self-willed, depraved, cruel, idle life; and that dreadful veil which +had in some unaccountable manner hidden from him this sin of his and +the whole of his subsequent life was beginning to shake, and he caught +glimpses of what was covered by that veil. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE TRIAL--THE VERDICT. + +At last the president finished his speech, and lifting the list of +questions with a graceful movement of his arm he handed it to the +foreman, who came up to take it. The jury, glad to be able to get +into the debating-court, got up one after the other and left the room, +looking as if a bit ashamed of themselves and again not knowing what +to do with their hands. As soon as the door was closed behind them +a gendarme came up to it, pulled his sword out of the scabbard, and, +holding it up against his shoulder, stood at the door. The judges got up +and went away. The prisoners were also led out. When the jury came +into the debating-room the first thing they did was to take out their +cigarettes, as before, and begin smoking. The sense of the unnaturalness +and falseness of their position, which all of them had experienced +while sitting in their places in the court, passed when they entered the +debating-room and started smoking, and they settled down with a feeling +of relief and at once began an animated conversation. + +"'Tisn't the girl's fault. She's got mixed up in it," said the kindly +merchant. "We must recommend her to mercy." + +"That's just what we are going to consider," said the foreman. "We must +not give way to our personal impressions." + +"The president's summing up was good," remarked the colonel. + +"Good? Why, it nearly sent me to sleep!" + +"The chief point is that the servants could have known nothing about the +money if Maslova had not been in accord with them," said the clerk of +Jewish extraction. + +"Well, do you think that it was she who stole the money?" asked one of +the jury. + +"I will never believe it," cried the kindly merchant; "it was all that +red-eyed hag's doing." + +"They are a nice lot, all of them," said the colonel. + +"But she says she never went into the room." + +"Oh, believe her by all means." + +"I should not believe that jade, not for the world." + +"Whether you believe her or not does not settle the question," said the +clerk. + +"The girl had the key," said the colonel. + +"What if she had?" retorted the merchant. + +"And the ring?" + +"But didn't she say all about it?" again cried the merchant. "The fellow +had a temper of his own, and had had a drop too much besides, and gave +the girl a licking; what could be simpler? Well, then he's sorry--quite +naturally. 'There, never mind,' says he; 'take this.' Why, I heard them +say he was six foot five high; I should think he must have weighed about +20 stones." + +"That's not the point," said Peter Gerasimovitch. "The question is, +whether she was the instigator and inciter in this affair, or the +servants?" + +"It was not possible for the servants to do it alone; she had the key." + +This kind of random talk went on for a considerable time. At last the +foreman said: "I beg your pardon, gentlemen, but had we not better take +our places at the table and discuss the matter? Come, please." And he +took the chair. + +The questions were expressed in the following manner. + +1. Is the peasant of the village Borki, Krapivinskia district, Simeon +Petrov Kartinkin, 33 years of age, guilty of having, in agreement with +other persons, given the merchant Smelkoff, on the 17th January, 188-, +in the town of N-----, with intent to deprive him of life, for the +purpose of robbing him, poisoned brandy, which caused Smelkoff's death, +and of having stolen from him about 2,500 roubles in money and a diamond +ring? + +2. Is the meschanka Euphemia Ivanovna Botchkova, 43 years of age, guilty +of the crimes described above? + +3. Is the meschanka Katerina Michaelovna Maslova, 27 years of age, +guilty of the crimes described in the first question? + +4. If the prisoner Euphemia Botchkova is not guilty according to the +first question, is she not guilty of having, on the 17th January, in the +town of N----, while in service at the hotel Mauritania, stolen from a +locked portmanteau, belonging to the merchant Smelkoff, a lodger in that +hotel, and which was in the room occupied by him, 2,500 roubles, for +which object she unlocked the portmanteau with a key she brought and +fitted to the lock? + +The foreman read the first question. + +"Well, gentlemen, what do you think?" This question was quickly +answered. All agreed to say "Guilty," as if convinced that Kartinkin +had taken part both in the poisoning and the robbery. An old artelshik, +[member of an artel, an association of workmen, in which the members +share profits and liabilities] whose answers were all in favour of +acquittal, was the only exception. + +The foreman thought he did not understand, and began to point out to him +that everything tended to prove Kartinkin's guilt. The old man answered +that he did understand, but still thought it better to have pity on him. +"We are not saints ourselves," and he kept to his opinion. + +The answer to the second question concerning Botchkova was, after much +dispute and many exclamations, answered by the words, "Not guilty," +there being no clear proofs of her having taken part in the poisoning--a +fact her advocate had strongly insisted on. The merchant, anxious to +acquit Maslova, insisted that Botchkova was the chief instigator of it +all. Many of the jury shared this view, but the foreman, wishing to be +in strict accord with the law, declared they had no grounds to consider +her as an accomplice in the poisoning. After much disputing the +foreman's opinion triumphed. + +To the fourth question concerning Botchkova the answer was "Guilty." But +on the artelshik's insistence she was recommended to mercy. + +The third question, concerning Maslova, raised a fierce dispute. The +foreman maintained she was guilty both of the poisoning and the theft, +to which the merchant would not agree. The colonel, the clerk and the +old artelshik sided with the merchant, the rest seemed shaky, and the +opinion of the foreman began to gain ground, chiefly because all the +jurymen were getting tired, and preferred to take up the view that would +bring them sooner to a decision and thus liberate them. + +From all that had passed, and from his former knowledge of Maslova, +Nekhludoff was certain that she was innocent of both the theft and the +poisoning. And he felt sure that all the others would come to the same +conclusion. When he saw that the merchant's awkward defence (evidently +based on his physical admiration for her, which he did not even try +to hide) and the foreman's insistence, and especially everybody's +weariness, were all tending to her condemnation, he longed to state his +objections, yet dared not, lest his relations with Maslova should be +discovered. He felt he could not allow things to go on without stating +his objection; and, blushing and growing pale again, was about to speak +when Peter Gerasimovitch, irritated by the authoritative manner of +the foreman, began to raise his objections and said the very things +Nekhludoff was about to say. + +"Allow me one moment," he said. "You seem to think that her having the +key proves she is guilty of the theft; but what could be easier than +for the servants to open the portmanteau with a false key after she was +gone?" + +"Of course, of course," said the merchant. + +"She could not have taken the money, because in her position she would +hardly know what to do with it." + +"That's just what I say," remarked the merchant. + +"But it is very likely that her coming put the idea into the servants' +heads and that they grasped the opportunity and shoved all the blame +on her." Peter Gerasimovitch spoke so irritably that the foreman became +irritated too, and went on obstinately defending the opposite views; but +Peter Gerasimovitch spoke so convincingly that the majority agreed with +him, and decided that Maslova was not guilty of stealing the money and +that the ring was given her. + +But when the question of her having taken part in the poisoning was +raised, her zealous defender, the merchant, declared that she must +be acquitted, because she could have no reason for the poisoning. The +foreman, however, said that it was impossible to acquit her, because she +herself had pleaded guilty to having given the powder. + +"Yes, but thinking it was opium," said the merchant. + +"Opium can also deprive one of life," said the colonel, who was fond +of wandering from the subject, and he began telling how his +brother-in-law's wife would have died of an overdose of opium if there +had not been a doctor near at hand to take the necessary measures. The +colonel told his story so impressively, with such self-possession and +dignity, that no one had the courage to interrupt him. Only the clerk, +infected by his example, decided to break in with a story of his own: +"There are some who get so used to it that they can take 40 drops. I +have a relative--," but the colonel would not stand the interruption, +and went on to relate what effects the opium had on his brother-in-law's +wife. + +"But, gentlemen, do you know it is getting on towards five o'clock?" +said one of the jury. + +"Well, gentlemen, what are we to say, then?" inquired the foreman. +"Shall we say she is guilty, but without intent to rob? And without +stealing any property? Will that do?" Peter Gerasimovitch, pleased with +his victory, agreed. + +"But she must be recommended to mercy," said the merchant. + +All agreed; only the old artelshik insisted that they should say "Not +guilty." + +"It comes to the same thing," explained the foreman; "without intent to +rob, and without stealing any property. Therefore, 'Not guilty,' that's +evident." + +"All right; that'll do. And we recommend her to mercy," said the +merchant, gaily. + +They were all so tired, so confused by the discussions, that nobody +thought of saying that she was guilty of giving the powder but without +the intent of taking life. Nekhludoff was so excited that he did not +notice this omission, and so the answers were written down in the form +agreed upon and taken to the court. + +Rabelais says that a lawyer who was trying a case quoted all sorts of +laws, read 20 pages of judicial senseless Latin, and then proposed to +the judges to throw dice, and if the numbers proved odd the defendant +would be right, if not, the plaintiff. + +It was much the same in this case. The resolution was taken, not because +everybody agreed upon it, but because the president, who had been +summing up at such length, omitted to say what he always said on such +occasions, that the answer might be, "Yes, guilty, but without the +intent of taking life;" because the colonel had related the story of his +brother-in-law's wife at such great length; because Nekhludoff was too +excited to notice that the proviso "without intent to take life" had +been omitted, and thought that the words "without intent" nullified the +conviction; because Peter Gerasimovitch had retired from the room while +the questions and answers were being read, and chiefly because, being +tired, and wishing to get away as soon as possible, all were ready to +agree with the decision which would bring matters to an end soonest. + +The jurymen rang the bell. The gendarme who had stood outside the door +with his sword drawn put the sword back into the scabbard and stepped +aside. The judges took their seats and the jury came out one by one. + +The foreman brought in the paper with an air of solemnity and handed +it to the president, who looked at it, and, spreading out his hands +in astonishment, turned to consult his companions. The president was +surprised that the jury, having put in a proviso--without intent to +rob--did not put in a second proviso--without intent to take life. From +the decision of the jury it followed that Maslova had not stolen, nor +robbed, and yet poisoned a man without any apparent reason. + +"Just see what an absurd decision they have come to," he whispered to +the member on his left. "This means penal servitude in Siberia, and she +is innocent." + +"Surely you do not mean to say she is innocent?" answered the serious +member. + +"Yes, she is positively innocent. I think this is a case for putting +Article 817 into practice (Article 817 states that if the Court +considers the decision of the jury unjust it may set it aside)." + +"What do you think?" said the president, turning to the other member. +The kindly member did not answer at once. He looked at the number on a +paper before him and added up the figures; the sum would not divide +by three. He had settled in his mind that if it did divide by three he +would agree to the president's proposal, but though the sum would not so +divide his kindness made him agree all the same. + +"I, too, think it should be done," he said. + +"And you?" asked the president, turning to the serious member. + +"On no account," he answered, firmly. "As it is, the papers accuse the +jury of acquitting prisoners. What will they say if the Court does it? +I, shall not agree to that on any account." + +The president looked at his watch. "It is a pity, but what's to be +done?" and handed the questions to the foreman to read out. All got +up, and the foreman, stepping from foot to foot, coughed, and read the +questions and the answers. All the Court, secretary, advocates, and even +the public prosecutor, expressed surprise. The prisoners sat impassive, +evidently not understanding the meaning of the answers. Everybody sat +down again, and the president asked the prosecutor what punishments the +prisoners were to be subjected to. + +The prosecutor, glad of his unexpected success in getting Maslova +convicted, and attributing the success entirely to his own eloquence, +looked up the necessary information, rose and said: "With Simeon +Kartinkin I should deal according to Statute 1,452 paragraph 93. +Euphemia Botchkova according to Statute . . ., etc. Katerina Maslova +according to Statute . . ., etc." + +All three punishments were the heaviest that could be inflicted. + +"The Court will adjourn to consider the sentence," said the president, +rising. Everybody rose after him, and with the pleasant feeling of a +task well done began to leave the room or move about in it. + +"D'you know, sirs, we have made a shameful hash of it?" said Peter +Gerasimovitch, approaching Nekhludoff, to whom the foreman was relating +something. "Why, we've got her to Siberia." + +"What are you saying?" exclaimed Nekhludoff. This time he did not notice +the teacher's familiarity. + +"Why, we did not put in our answer 'Guilty, but without intent of +causing death.' The secretary just told me the public prosecutor is for +condemning her to 15 years' penal servitude." + +"Well, but it was decided so," said the foreman. + +Peter Gerasimovitch began to dispute this, saying that since she did +not take the money it followed naturally that she could not have had any +intention of committing murder. + +"But I read the answer before going out," said the foreman, defending +himself, "and nobody objected." + +"I had just then gone out of the room," said Peter Gerasimovitch, +turning to Nekhludoff, "and your thoughts must have been wool-gathering +to let the thing pass." + +"I never imagined this," Nekhludoff replied. + +"Oh, you didn't?" + +"Oh, well, we can get it put right," said Nekhludoff. + +"Oh, dear no; it's finished." + +Nekhludoff looked at the prisoners. They whose fate was being decided +still sat motionless behind the grating in front of the soldiers. +Maslova was smiling. Another feeling stirred in Nekhludoff's soul. Up to +now, expecting her acquittal and thinking she would remain in the town, +he was uncertain how to act towards her. Any kind of relations with her +would be so very difficult. But Siberia and penal servitude at once cut +off every possibility of any kind of relations with her. The wounded +bird would stop struggling in the game-bag, and no longer remind him of +its existence. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE TRIAL--THE SENTENCE. + +Peter Gerasimovitch's assumption was correct. The president came back +from the debating room with a paper, and read as follows:--"April 28th, +188-. By His Imperial Majesty's ukase No. ----- The Criminal Court, on +the strength of the decision of the jury, in accordance with Section +3 of Statute 771, Section 3 of Statutes 770 and 777, decrees that the +peasant, Simeon Kartinkin, 33 years of age, and the meschanka Katerina +Maslova, 27 years of age, are to be deprived of all property rights and +to be sent to penal servitude in Siberia, Kartinkin for eight, Maslova +for four years, with the consequences stated in Statute 25 of the code. +The meschanka Botchkova, 43 years of age, to be deprived of all special +personal and acquired rights, and to be imprisoned for three years with +consequences in accord with Statute 48 of the code. The costs of the +case to be borne equally by the prisoners; and, in the case of their +being without sufficient property, the costs to be transferred to the +Treasury. Articles of material evidence to be sold, the ring to be +returned, the phials destroyed." Botchkova was condemned to prison, +Simeon Kartinken and Katerina Maslova to the loss of all special rights +and privileges and to penal servitude in Siberia, he for eight and she +for four years. + +Kartinkin stood holding his arms close to his sides and moving his lips. +Botchkova seemed perfectly calm. Maslova, when she heard the sentence, +blushed scarlet. "I'm not guilty, not guilty!" she suddenly cried, so +that it resounded through the room. "It is a sin! I am not guilty! I +never wished--I never thought! It is the truth I am saying--the truth!" +and sinking on the bench she burst into tears and sobbed aloud. When +Kartinkin and Botchkova went out she still sat crying, so that a +gendarme had to touch the sleeve of her cloak. + +"No; it is impossible to leave it as it is," said Nekhludoff to himself, +utterly forgetting his bad thoughts. He did not know why he wished to +look at her once more, but hurried out into the corridor. There was +quite a crowd at the door. The advocates and jury were going out, +pleased to have finished the business, and he was obliged to wait a few +seconds, and when he at last got out into the corridor she was far +in front. He hurried along the corridor after her, regardless of the +attention he was arousing, caught her up, passed her, and stopped. She +had ceased crying and only sobbed, wiping her red, discoloured face with +the end of the kerchief on her head. She passed without noticing him. +Then he hurried back to see the president. The latter had already left +the court, and Nekhludoff followed him into the lobby and went up to +him just as he had put on his light grey overcoat and was taking the +silver-mounted walking-stick which an attendant was handing him. + +"Sir, may I have a few words with you concerning some business I have +just decided upon?" said Nekhludoff. "I am one of the jury." + +"Oh, certainly, Prince Nekhludoff. I shall be delighted. I think we +have met before," said the president, pressing Nekhludoff's hand and +recalling with pleasure the evening when he first met Nekhludoff, and +when he had danced so gaily, better than all the young people. "What can +I do for you?" + +"There is a mistake in the answer concerning Maslova. She is not guilty +of the poisoning and yet she is condemned to penal servitude," said +Nekhludoff, with a preoccupied and gloomy air. + +"The Court passed the sentence in accordance with the answers you +yourselves gave," said the president, moving towards the front door; +"though they did not seem to be quite in accord." And he remembered +that he had been going to explain to the jury that a verdict of "guilty" +meant guilty of intentional murder unless the words "without intent to +take life" were added, but had, in his hurry to get the business over, +omitted to do so. + +"Yes, but could not the mistake be rectified?" + +"A reason for an appeal can always be found. You will have to speak to +an advocate," said the president, putting on his hat a little to one +side and continuing to move towards the door. + +"But this is terrible." + +"Well, you see, there were two possibilities before Maslova," said the +president, evidently wishing to be as polite and pleasant to Nekhludoff +as he could. Then, having arranged his whiskers over his coat collar, he +put his hand lightly under Nekhludoff's elbow, and, still directing his +steps towards the front door, he said, "You are going, too?" + +"Yes," said Nekhludoff, quickly getting his coat, and following him. + +They went out into the bright, merry sunlight, and had to raise their +voices because of the rattling of the wheels on the pavement. + +"The situation is a curious one, you see," said the president; "what lay +before this Maslova was one of two things: either to be almost acquitted +and only imprisoned for a short time, or, taking the preliminary +confinement into consideration, perhaps not at all--or Siberia. There is +nothing between. Had you but added the words, 'without intent to cause +death,' she would have been acquitted." + +"Yes, it was inexcusable of me to omit that," said Nekhludoff. + +"That's where the whole matter lies," said the president, with a smile, +and looked at his watch. He had only three-quarters of an hour left +before the time appointed by his Clara would elapse. + +"Now, if you like to speak to the advocates you'll have to find a reason +for an appeal; that can be easily done." Then, turning to an isvostchik, +he called out, "To the Dvoryanskaya 30 copecks; I never give more." + +"All right, your honour; here you are." + +"Good-afternoon. If I can be of any use, my address is House Dvornikoff, +on the Dvoryanskaya; it's easy to remember." And he bowed in a friendly +manner as he got into the trap and drove off. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +NEKHLUDOFF CONSULTS AN ADVOCATE. + +His conversation with the president and the fresh air quieted Nekhludoff +a little. He now thought that the feelings experienced by him had been +exaggerated by the unusual surroundings in which he had spent the whole +of the morning, and by that wonderful and startling coincidence. Still, +it was absolutely necessary to take some steps to lighten Maslova's +fate, and to take them quickly. "Yes, at once! It will be best to find +out here in the court where the advocate Fanarin or Mikishin lives." +These were two well-known advocates whom Nekhludoff called to mind. He +returned to the court, took off his overcoat, and went upstairs. In the +first corridor he met Fanarin himself. He stopped him, and told him that +he was just going to look him up on a matter of business. + +Fanarin knew Nekhludoff by sight and name, and said he would be very +glad to be of service to him. + +"Though I am rather tired, still, if your business will not take very +long, perhaps you might tell me what it is now. Will you step in here?" +And he led Nekhludoff into a room, probably some judge's cabinet. They +sat down by the table. + +"Well, and what is your business?" + +"First of all, I must ask you to keep the business private. I do not +want it known that I take an interest in the affair." + +"Oh, that of course. Well?" + +"I was on the jury to-day, and we have condemned a woman to Siberia, +an innocent woman. This bothers me very much." Nekhludoff, to his own +surprise, blushed and became confused. Fanarin glanced at him rapidly, +and looked down again, listening. + +"Well?" + +"We have condemned a woman, and I should like to appeal to a higher +court." + +"To the Senate, you mean," said Fanarin, correcting him. + +"Yes, and I should like to ask you to take the case in hand." Nekhludoff +wanted to get the most difficult part over, and added, "I shall take the +costs of the case on myself, whatever they may be." + +"Oh, we shall settle all that," said the advocate, smiling with +condescension at Nekhludoff's inexperience in these matters. "What is +the case?" + +Nekhludoff stated what had happened. + +"All right. I shall look the case through to-morrow or the day +after--no--better on Thursday. If you will come to me at six o'clock I +will give you an answer. Well, and now let us go; I have to make a few +inquiries here." + +Nekhludoff took leave of him and went out. This talk with the advocate, +and the fact that he had taken measures for Maslova's defence, quieted +him still further. He went out into the street. The weather was +beautiful, and he joyfully drew in a long breath of spring air. He was +at once surrounded by isvostchiks offering their services, but he went +on foot. A whole swarm of pictures and memories of Katusha and his +conduct to her began whirling in his brain, and he felt depressed and +everything appeared gloomy. "No, I shall consider all this later on; I +must now get rid of all these disagreeable impressions," he thought to +himself. + +He remembered the Korchagin's dinner and looked at his watch. It was +not yet too late to get there in time. He heard the ring of a passing +tramcar, ran to catch it, and jumped on. He jumped off again when they +got to the market-place, took a good isvostchik, and ten minutes later +was at the entrance of the Korchagins' big house. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE HOUSE OF KORCHAGIN. + +"Please to walk in, your excellency," said the friendly, fat doorkeeper +of the Korchagins' big house, opening the door, which moved noiselessly +on its patent English hinges; "you are expected. They are at dinner. +My orders were to admit only you." The doorkeeper went as far as the +staircase and rang. + +"Are there any strangers?" asked Nekhludoff, taking off his overcoat. + +"Mr. Kolosoff and Michael Sergeivitch only, besides the family." + +A very handsome footman with whiskers, in a swallow-tail coat and white +gloves, looked down from the landing. + +"Please to walk up, your excellency," he said. "You are expected." + +Nekhludoff went up and passed through the splendid large dancing-room, +which he knew so well, into the dining-room. There the whole Korchagin +family--except the mother, Sophia Vasilievna, who never left her +cabinet--were sitting round the table. At the head of the table sat old +Korchagin; on his left the doctor, and on his right, a visitor, Ivan +Ivanovitch Kolosoff, a former Marechal de Noblesse, now a bank director, +Korchagin's friend and a Liberal. Next on the left side sat Miss Rayner, +the governess of Missy's little sister, and the four-year-old girl +herself. Opposite them, Missy's brother, Petia, the only son of the +Korchagins, a public-school boy of the Sixth Class. It was because of +his examinations that the whole family were still in town. Next to +him sat a University student who was coaching him, and Missy's cousin, +Michael Sergeivitch Telegin, generally called Misha; opposite him, +Katerina Alexeevna, a 40-year-old maiden lady, a Slavophil; and at the +foot of the table sat Missy herself, with an empty place by her side. + +"Ah! that's right! Sit down. We are still at the fish," said old +Korchagin with difficulty, chewing carefully with his false teeth, +and lifting his bloodshot eyes (which had no visible lids to them) to +Nekhludoff. + +"Stephen!" he said, with his mouth full, addressing the stout, dignified +butler, and pointing with his eyes to the empty place. Though Nekhludoff +knew Korchagin very well, and had often seen him at dinner, to-day this +red face with the sensual smacking lips, the fat neck above the napkin +stuck into his waistcoat, and the whole over-fed military figure, struck +him very disagreeably. Then Nekhludoff remembered, without wishing to, +what he knew of the cruelty of this man, who, when in command, used +to have men flogged, and even hanged, without rhyme or reason, simply +because he was rich and had no need to curry favour. + +"Immediately, your excellency," said Stephen, getting a large soup ladle +out of the sideboard, which was decorated with a number of silver vases. +He made a sign with his head to the handsome footman, who began at once +to arrange the untouched knives and forks and the napkin, elaborately +folded with the embroidered family crest uppermost, in front of the +empty place next to Missy. Nekhludoff went round shaking hands with +every one, and all, except old Korchagin and the ladies, rose when he +approached. And this walk round the table, this shaking the hands of +people, with many of whom he never talked, seemed unpleasant and odd. He +excused himself for being late, and was about to sit down between Missy +and Katerina Alexeevna, but old Korchagin insisted that if he would not +take a glass of vodka he should at least take a bit of something to whet +his appetite, at the side table, on which stood small dishes of lobster, +caviare, cheese, and salt herrings. Nekhludoff did not know how hungry +he was until he began to eat, and then, having taken some bread and +cheese, he went on eating eagerly. + +"Well, have you succeeded in undermining the basis of society?" +asked Kolosoff, ironically quoting an expression used by a retrograde +newspaper in attacking trial by jury. "Acquitted the culprits and +condemned the innocent, have you?" + +"Undermining the basis--undermining the basis," repeated Prince +Korchagin, laughing. He had a firm faith in the wisdom and learning of +his chosen friend and companion. + +At the risk of seeming rude, Nekhludoff left Kolosoff's question +unanswered, and sitting down to his steaming soup, went on eating. + +"Do let him eat," said Missy, with a smile. The pronoun him she used as +a reminder of her intimacy with Nekhludoff. Kolosoff went on in a loud +voice and lively manner to give the contents of the article against +trial by jury which had aroused his indignation. Missy's cousin, Michael +Sergeivitch, endorsed all his statements, and related the contents of +another article in the same paper. Missy was, as usual, very distinguee, +and well, unobtrusively well, dressed. + +"You must be terribly tired," she said, after waiting until Nekhludoff +had swallowed what was in his mouth. + +"Not particularly. And you? Have you been to look at the pictures?" he +asked. + +"No, we put that off. We have been playing tennis at the Salamatoffs'. +It is quite true, Mr. Crooks plays remarkably well." + +Nekhludoff had come here in order to distract his thoughts, for he +used to like being in this house, both because its refined luxury had a +pleasant effect on him and because of the atmosphere of tender flattery +that unobtrusively surrounded him. But to-day everything in the house +was repulsive to him--everything: beginning with the doorkeeper, the +broad staircase, the flowers, the footman, the table decorations, up to +Missy herself, who to-day seemed unattractive and affected. Kolosoff's +self-assured, trivial tone of liberalism was unpleasant, as was also the +sensual, self-satisfied, bull-like appearance of old Korchagin, and the +French phrases of Katerina Alexeevna, the Slavophil. The constrained +looks of the governess and the student were unpleasant, too, but most +unpleasant of all was the pronoun _him_ that Missy had used. Nekhludoff +had long been wavering between two ways of regarding Missy; sometimes he +looked at her as if by moonlight, and could see in her nothing but what +was beautiful, fresh, pretty, clever and natural; then suddenly, as +if the bright sun shone on her, he saw her defects and could not help +seeing them. This was such a day for him. To-day he saw all the wrinkles +of her face, knew which of her teeth were false, saw the way her hair +was crimped, the sharpness of her elbows, and, above all, how large her +thumb-nail was and how like her father's. + +"Tennis is a dull game," said Kolosoff; "we used to play lapta when we +were children. That was much more amusing." + +"Oh, no, you never tried it; it's awfully interesting," said Missy, +laying, it seemed to Nekhludoff, a very affected stress on the word +"awfully." Then a dispute arose in which Michael Sergeivitch, Katerina +Alexeevna and all the others took part, except the governess, the +student and the children, who sat silent and wearied. + +"Oh, these everlasting disputes!" said old Korchagin, laughing, and he +pulled the napkin out of his waistcoat, noisily pushed back his chair, +which the footman instantly caught hold of, and left the table. + +Everybody rose after him, and went up to another table on which stood +glasses of scented water. They rinsed their mouths, then resumed the +conversation, interesting to no one. + +"Don't you think so?" said Missy to Nekhludoff, calling for a +confirmation of the statement that nothing shows up a man's character +like a game. She noticed that preoccupied and, as it seemed to her, +dissatisfied look which she feared, and she wanted to find out what had +caused it. + +"Really, I can't tell; I have never thought about it," Nekhludoff +answered. + +"Will you come to mamma?" asked Missy. + +"Yes, yes," he said, in a tone which plainly proved that he did not want +to go, and took out a cigarette. + +She looked at him in silence, with a questioning look, and he felt +ashamed. "To come into a house and give the people the dumps," he +thought about himself; then, trying to be amiable, said that he would go +with pleasure if the princess would admit him. + +"Oh, yes! Mamma will be pleased. You may smoke there; and Ivan +Ivanovitch is also there." + +The mistress of the house, Princess Sophia Vasilievna, was a recumbent +lady. It was the eighth year that, when visitors were present, she lay +in lace and ribbons, surrounded with velvet, gilding, ivory, bronze, +lacquer and flowers, never going out, and only, as she put it, receiving +intimate friends, i.e., those who according to her idea stood out from +the common herd. + +Nekhludoff was admitted into the number of these friends because he was +considered clever, because his mother had been an intimate friend of the +family, and because it was desirable that Missy should marry him. + +Sophia Vasilievna's room lay beyond the large and the small +drawing-rooms. In the large drawing-room, Missy, who was in front of +Nekhludoff, stopped resolutely, and taking hold of the back of a small +green chair, faced him. + +Missy was very anxious to get married, and as he was a suitable match +and she also liked him, she had accustomed herself to the thought that +he should be hers (not she his). To lose him would be very mortifying. +She now began talking to him in order to get him to explain his +intentions. + +"I see something has happened," she said. "Tell me, what is the matter +with you?" + +He remembered the meeting in the law court, and frowned and blushed. + +"Yes, something has happened," he said, wishing to be truthful; "a very +unusual and serious event." + +"What is it, then? Can you not tell me what it is?" She was pursuing her +aim with that unconscious yet obstinate cunning often observable in the +mentally diseased. + +"Not now. Please do not ask me to tell you. I have not yet had time +fully to consider it," and he blushed still more. + +"And so you will not tell me?" A muscle twitched in her face and she +pushed back the chair she was holding. "Well then, come!" She shook her +head as if to expel useless thoughts, and, faster than usual, went on in +front of him. + +He fancied that her mouth was unnaturally compressed in order to keep +back the tears. He was ashamed of having hurt her, and yet he knew that +the least weakness on his part would mean disaster, i.e., would bind +him to her. And to-day he feared this more than anything, and silently +followed her to the princess's cabinet. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MISSY'S MOTHER. + +Princess Sophia Vasilievna, Missy's mother, had finished her very +elaborate and nourishing dinner. (She had it always alone, that no one +should see her performing this unpoetical function.) By her couch stood +a small table with her coffee, and she was smoking a pachitos. Princess +Sophia Vasilievna was a long, thin woman, with dark hair, large black +eyes and long teeth, and still pretended to be young. + +Her intimacy with the doctor was being talked about. Nekhludoff had +known that for some time; but when he saw the doctor sitting by her +couch, his oily, glistening beard parted in the middle, he not only +remembered the rumours about them, but felt greatly disgusted. By +the table, on a low, soft, easy chair, next to Sophia Vasilievna, sat +Kolosoff, stirring his coffee. A glass of liqueur stood on the table. +Missy came in with Nekhludoff, but did not remain in the room. + +"When mamma gets tired of you and drives you away, then come to me," +she said, turning to Kolosoff and Nekhludoff, speaking as if nothing had +occurred; then she went away, smiling merrily and stepping noiselessly +on the thick carpet. + +"How do you do, dear friend? Sit down and talk," said Princess Sophia +Vasilievna, with her affected but very naturally-acted smile, showing +her fine, long teeth--a splendid imitation of what her own had +once been. "I hear that you have come from the Law Courts very much +depressed. I think it must be very trying to a person with a heart," she +added in French. + +"Yes, that is so," said Nekhludoff. "One often feels one's own de--one +feels one has no right to judge." + +"Comme, c'est vrai," she cried, as if struck by the truth of this +remark. She was in the habit of artfully flattering all those with whom +she conversed. "Well, and what of your picture? It does interest me so. +If I were not such a sad invalid I should have been to see it long ago," +she said. + +"I have quite given it up," Nekhludoff replied drily. The falseness of +her flattery seemed as evident to him to-day as her age, which she was +trying to conceal, and he could not put himself into the right state to +behave politely. + +"Oh, that _is_ a pity! Why, he has a real talent for art; I have it from +Repin's own lips," she added, turning to Kolosoff. + +"Why is it she is not ashamed of lying so?" Nekhludoff thought, and +frowned. + +When she had convinced herself that Nekhludoff was in a bad temper and +that one could not get him into an agreeable and clever conversation, +Sophia Vasilievna turned to Kolosoff, asking his opinion of a new play. +She asked it in a tone as if Kolosoff's opinion would decide all doubts, +and each word of this opinion be worthy of being immortalised. Kolosoff +found fault both with the play and its author, and that led him to +express his views on art. Princess Sophia Vasilievna, while trying at +the same time to defend the play, seemed impressed by the truth of his +arguments, either giving in at once, or at least modifying her opinion. +Nekhludoff looked and listened, but neither saw nor heard what was going +on before him. + +Listening now to Sophia Vasilievna, now to Kolosoff, Nekhludoff noticed +that neither he nor she cared anything about the play or each other, and +that if they talked it was only to gratify the physical desire to +move the muscles of the throat and tongue after having eaten; and that +Kolosoff, having drunk vodka, wine and liqueur, was a little tipsy. +Not tipsy like the peasants who drink seldom, but like people to +whom drinking wine has become a habit. He did not reel about or talk +nonsense, but he was in a state that was not normal; excited and +self-satisfied. Nekhludoff also noticed that during the conversation +Princess Sophia Vasilievna kept glancing uneasily at the window, through +which a slanting ray of sunshine, which might vividly light up her aged +face, was beginning to creep up. + +"How true," she said in reference to some remark of Kolosoff's, touching +the button of an electric bell by the side of her couch. The doctor +rose, and, like one who is at home, left the room without saying +anything. Sophia Vasilievna followed him with her eyes and continued the +conversation. + +"Please, Philip, draw these curtains," she said, pointing to the window, +when the handsome footman came in answer to the bell. "No; whatever you +may say, there is some mysticism in him; without mysticism there can be +no poetry," she said, with one of her black eyes angrily following the +footman's movements as he was drawing the curtains. "Without poetry, +mysticism is superstition; without mysticism, poetry is--prose," she +continued, with a sorrowful smile, still not losing sight of the footman +and the curtains. "Philip, not that curtain; the one on the large +window," she exclaimed, in a suffering tone. Sophia Vasilievna was +evidently pitying herself for having to make the effort of saying these +words; and, to soothe her feelings, she raised to her lips a scented, +smoking cigarette with her jewel-bedecked fingers. + +The broad-chested, muscular, handsome Philip bowed slightly, as +if begging pardon; and stepping lightly across the carpet with his +broad-calved, strong, legs, obediently and silently went to the other +window, and, looking at the princess, carefully began to arrange the +curtain so that not a single ray dared fall on her. But again he did +not satisfy her, and again she had to interrupt the conversation about +mysticism, and correct in a martyred tone the unintelligent Philip, +who was tormenting her so pitilessly. For a moment a light flashed in +Philip's eyes. + +"'The devil take you! What do you want?' was probably what he said to +himself," thought Nekhludoff, who had been observing all this scene. But +the strong, handsome Philip at once managed to conceal the signs of his +impatience, and went on quietly carrying out the orders of the worn, +weak, false Sophia Vasilievna. + +"Of course, there is a good deal of truth in Lombroso's teaching," said +Kolosoff, lolling back in the low chair and looking at Sophia Vasilievna +with sleepy eyes; "but he over-stepped the mark. Oh, yes." + +"And you? Do you believe in heredity?" asked Sophia Vasilievna, turning +to Nekhludoff, whose silence annoyed her. "In heredity?" he asked. "No, +I don't." At this moment his whole mind was taken up by strange images +that in some unaccountable way rose up in his imagination. By the side +of this strong and handsome Philip he seemed at this minute to see the +nude figure of Kolosoff as an artist's model; with his stomach like a +melon, his bald head, and his arms without muscle, like pestles. In the +same dim way the limbs of Sophia Vasilievna, now covered with silks and +velvets, rose up in his mind as they must be in reality; but this mental +picture was too horrid and he tried to drive it away. + +"Well, you know Missy is waiting for you," she said. "Go and find her. +She wants to play a new piece by Grieg to you; it is most interesting." + +"She did not mean to play anything; the woman is simply lying, for +some reason or other," thought Nekhludoff, rising and pressing Sophia +Vasilievna's transparent and bony, ringed hand. + +Katerina Alexeevna met him in the drawing-room, and at once began, in +French, as usual: + +"I see the duties of a juryman act depressingly upon you." + +"Yes; pardon me, I am in low spirits to-day, and have no right to weary +others by my presence," said Nekhludoff. + +"Why are you in low spirits?" + +"Allow me not to speak about that," he said, looking round for his hat. + +"Don't you remember how you used to say that we must always tell the +truth? And what cruel truths you used to tell us all! Why do you not +wish to speak out now? Don't you remember, Missy?" she said, turning to +Missy, who had just come in. + +"We were playing a game then," said Nekhludoff, seriously; "one may +tell the truth in a game, but in reality we are so bad--I mean I am so +bad--that I, at least, cannot tell the truth." + +"Oh, do not correct yourself, but rather tell us why _we_ are so bad," +said Katerina Alexeevna, playing with her words and pretending not to +notice how serious Nekhludoff was. + +"Nothing is worse than to confess to being in low spirits," said Missy. +"I never do it, and therefore am always in good spirits." + +Nekhludoff felt as a horse must feel when it is being caressed to make +it submit to having the bit put in its mouth and be harnessed, and +to-day he felt less than ever inclined to draw. + +"Well, are you coming into my room? We will try to cheer you up." + +He excused himself, saying he had to be at home, and began taking leave. +Missy kept his hand longer than usual. + +"Remember that what is important to you is important to your friends," +she said. "Are you coming tomorrow?" + +"I hardly expect to," said Nekhludoff; and feeling ashamed, without +knowing whether for her or for himself, he blushed and went away. + +"What is it? _Comme cela m'intrigue_," said Katerina Alexeevna. "I must +find it out. I suppose it is some _affaire d'amour propre; il est tres +susceptible, notre cher Mitia_." + +"_Plutot une affaire d'amour sale_," Missy was going to say, but stopped +and looked down with a face from which all the light had gone--a very +different face from the one with which she had looked at him. She would +not mention to Katerina Alexeevna even, so vulgar a pun, but only said, +"We all have our good and our bad days." + +"Is it possible that he, too, will deceive?" she thought; "after all +that has happened it would be very bad of him." + +If Missy had had to explain what she meant by "after all that has +happened," she could have said nothing definite, and yet she knew that +he had not only excited her hopes but had almost given her a promise. No +definite words had passed between them--only looks and smiles and hints; +and yet she considered him as her own, and to lose him would be very +hard. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE AWAKENING. + +"Shameful and stupid, horrid and shameful!" Nekhludoff kept saying to +himself, as he walked home along the familiar streets. The depression +he had felt whilst speaking to Missy would not leave him. He felt that, +looking at it externally, as it were, he was in the right, for he had +never said anything to her that could be considered binding, never made +her an offer; but he knew that in reality he had bound himself to her, +had promised to be hers. And yet to-day he felt with his whole being +that he could not marry her. + +"Shameful and horrid, horrid and shameful!" he repeated to himself, with +reference not only to his relations with Missy but also to the rest. +"Everything is horrid and shameful," he muttered, as he stepped into the +porch of his house. "I am not going to have any supper," he said to +his manservant Corney, who followed him into the dining-room, where the +cloth was laid for supper and tea. "You may go." + +"Yes, sir," said Corney, yet he did not go, but began clearing the +supper off the table. Nekhludoff looked at Corney with a feeling +of ill-will. He wished to be left alone, and it seemed to him that +everybody was bothering him in order to spite him. When Corney had gone +away with the supper things, Nekhludoff moved to the tea urn and +was about to make himself some tea, but hearing Agraphena Petrovna's +footsteps, he went hurriedly into the drawing-room, to avoid being seen +by her, and shut the door after him. In this drawing-room his mother had +died three months before. On entering the room, in which two lamps with +reflectors were burning, one lighting up his father's and the other his +mother's portrait, he remembered what his last relations with his mother +had been. And they also seemed shameful and horrid. He remembered how, +during the latter period of her illness, he had simply wished her to +die. He had said to himself that he wished it for her sake, that she +might be released from her suffering, but in reality he wished to be +released from the sight of her sufferings for his own sake. + +Trying to recall a pleasant image of her, he went up to look at her +portrait, painted by a celebrated artist for 800 roubles. She was +depicted in a very low-necked black velvet dress. There was something +very revolting and blasphemous in this representation of his mother as +a half-nude beauty. It was all the more disgusting because three months +ago, in this very room, lay this same woman, dried up to a mummy. And he +remembered how a few days before her death she clasped his hand with her +bony, discoloured fingers, looked into his eyes, and said: "Do not judge +me, Mitia, if I have not done what I should," and how the tears came +into her eyes, grown pale with suffering. + +"Ah, how horrid!" he said to himself, looking up once more at the +half-naked woman, with the splendid marble shoulders and arms, and the +triumphant smile on her lips. "Oh, how horrid!" The bared shoulders of +the portrait reminded him of another, a young woman, whom he had seen +exposed in the same way a few days before. It was Missy, who had devised +an excuse for calling him into her room just as she was ready to go to +a ball, so that he should see her in her ball dress. It was with disgust +that he remembered her fine shoulders and arms. "And that father of +hers, with his doubtful past and his cruelties, and the bel-esprit her +mother, with her doubtful reputation." All this disgusted him, and also +made him feel ashamed. "Shameful and horrid; horrid and shameful!" + +"No, no," he thought; "freedom from all these false relations with the +Korchagins and Mary Vasilievna and the inheritance and from all the rest +must be got. Oh, to breathe freely, to go abroad, to Rome and work at +my picture!" He remembered the doubts he had about his talent for art. +"Well, never mind; only just to breathe freely. First Constantinople, +then Rome. Only just to get through with this jury business, and arrange +with the advocate first." + +Then suddenly there arose in his mind an extremely vivid picture of a +prisoner with black, slightly-squinting eyes, and how she began to cry +when the last words of the prisoners had been heard; and he hurriedly +put out his cigarette, pressing it into the ash-pan, lit another, and +began pacing up and down the room. One after another the scenes he had +lived through with her rose in his mind. He recalled that last interview +with her. He remembered the white dress and blue sash, the early mass. +"Why, I loved her, really loved her with a good, pure love, that night; +I loved her even before: yes, I loved her when I lived with my aunts the +first time and was writing my composition." And he remembered himself as +he had been then. A breath of that freshness, youth and fulness of life +seemed to touch him, and he grew painfully sad. The difference between +what he had been then and what he was now, was enormous--just as great, +if not greater than the difference between Katusha in church that night, +and the prostitute who had been carousing with the merchant and whom +they judged this morning. Then he was free and fearless, and innumerable +possibilities lay ready to open before him; now he felt himself caught +in the meshes of a stupid, empty, valueless, frivolous life, out of +which he saw no means of extricating himself even if he wished to, +which he hardly did. He remembered how proud he was at one time of +his straightforwardness, how he had made a rule of always speaking the +truth, and really had been truthful; and how he was now sunk deep in +lies: in the most dreadful of lies--lies considered as the truth by all +who surrounded him. And, as far as he could see, there was no way out of +these lies. He had sunk in the mire, got used to it, indulged himself in +it. + +How was he to break off his relations with Mary Vasilievna and her +husband in such a way as to be able to look him and his children in the +eyes? How disentangle himself from Missy? How choose between the two +opposites--the recognition that holding land was unjust and the heritage +from his mother? How atone for his sin against Katusha? This last, at +any rate, could not be left as it was. He could not abandon a woman he +had loved, and satisfy himself by paying money to an advocate to save +her from hard labour in Siberia. She had not even deserved hard labour. +Atone for a fault by paying money? Had he not then, when he gave her the +money, thought he was atoning for his fault? + +And he clearly recalled to mind that moment when, having caught her up +in the passage, he thrust the money into her bib and ran away. "Oh, that +money!" he thought with the same horror and disgust he had then felt. +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! how disgusting," he cried aloud as he had done +then. "Only a scoundrel, a knave, could do such a thing. And I am that +knave, that scoundrel!" He went on aloud: "But is it possible?"--he +stopped and stood still--"is it possible that I am really a scoundrel? +. . . Well, who but I?" he answered himself. "And then, is this the only +thing?" he went on, convicting himself. "Was not my conduct towards Mary +Vasilievna and her husband base and disgusting? And my position with +regard to money? To use riches considered by me unlawful on the plea +that they are inherited from my mother? And the whole of my idle, +detestable life? And my conduct towards Katusha to crown all? Knave and +scoundrel! Let men judge me as they like, I can deceive them; but myself +I cannot deceive." + +And, suddenly, he understood that the aversion he had lately, and +particularly to-day, felt for everybody--the Prince and Sophia +Vasilievna and Corney and Missy--was an aversion for himself. And, +strange to say, in this acknowledgement of his baseness there was +something painful yet joyful and quieting. + +More than once in Nekhludoff's life there had been what he called a +"cleansing of the soul." By "cleansing of the soul" he meant a state +of mind in which, after a long period of sluggish inner life, a total +cessation of its activity, he began to clear out all the rubbish that +had accumulated in his soul, and was the cause of the cessation of the +true life. His soul needed cleansing as a watch does. After such an +awakening Nekhludoff always made some rules for himself which he meant +to follow forever after, wrote his diary, and began afresh a life which +he hoped never to change again. "Turning over a new leaf," he called +it to himself in English. But each time the temptations of the world +entrapped him, and without noticing it he fell again, often lower than +before. + +Thus he had several times in his life raised and cleansed himself. The +first time this happened was during the summer he spent with his aunts; +that was his most vital and rapturous awakening, and its effects had +lasted some time. Another awakening was when he gave up civil service +and joined the army at war time, ready to sacrifice his life. But here +the choking-up process was soon accomplished. Then an awakening came +when he left the army and went abroad, devoting himself to art. + +From that time until this day a long period had elapsed without +any cleansing, and therefore the discord between the demands of his +conscience and the life he was leading was greater than it had ever been +before. He was horror-struck when he saw how great the divergence was. +It was so great and the defilement so complete that he despaired of the +possibility of getting cleansed. "Have you not tried before to perfect +yourself and become better, and nothing has come of it?" whispered the +voice of the tempter within. "What is the use of trying any more? Are +you the only one?--All are alike, such is life," whispered the voice. +But the free spiritual being, which alone is true, alone powerful, +alone eternal, had already awakened in Nekhludoff, and he could not but +believe it. Enormous though the distance was between what he wished +to be and what he was, nothing appeared insurmountable to the +newly-awakened spiritual being. + +"At any cost I will break this lie which binds me and confess +everything, and will tell everybody the truth, and act the truth," he +said resolutely, aloud. "I shall tell Missy the truth, tell her I am a +profligate and cannot marry her, and have only uselessly upset her. +I shall tell Mary Vasilievna. . . Oh, there is nothing to tell her. I +shall tell her husband that I, scoundrel that I am, have been deceiving +him. I shall dispose of the inheritance in such a way as to acknowledge +the truth. I shall tell her, Katusha, that I am a scoundrel and have +sinned towards her, and will do all I can to ease her lot. Yes, I will +see her, and will ask her to forgive me. + +"Yes, I will beg her pardon, as children do." . . . He stopped---"will +marry her if necessary." He stopped again, folded his hands in front of +his breast as he used to do when a little child, lifted his eyes, and +said, addressing some one: "Lord, help me, teach me, come enter within +me and purify me of all this abomination." + +He prayed, asking God to help him, to enter into him and cleanse him; +and what he was praying for had happened already: the God within him had +awakened his consciousness. He felt himself one with Him, and therefore +felt not only the freedom, fulness and joy of life, but all the power of +righteousness. All, all the best that a man could do he felt capable of +doing. + +His eyes filled with tears as he was saying all this to himself, good +and bad tears: good because they were tears of joy at the awakening +of the spiritual being within him, the being which had been asleep all +these years; and bad tears because they were tears of tenderness to +himself at his own goodness. + +He felt hot, and went to the window and opened it. The window opened +into a garden. It was a moonlit, quiet, fresh night; a vehicle rattled +past, and then all was still. The shadow of a tall poplar fell on the +ground just opposite the window, and all the intricate pattern of its +bare branches was clearly defined on the clean swept gravel. To the left +the roof of a coach-house shone white in the moonlight, in front the +black shadow of the garden wall was visible through the tangled branches +of the trees. + +Nekhludoff gazed at the roof, the moonlit garden, and the shadows of the +poplar, and drank in the fresh, invigorating air. + +"How delightful, how delightful; oh, God, how delightful," he said, +meaning that which was going on in his soul. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +MASLOVA IN PRISON. + +Maslova reached her cell only at six in the evening, tired and footsore, +having, unaccustomed as she was to walking, gone 10 miles on the stony +road that day. She was crushed by the unexpectedly severe sentence and +tormented by hunger. During the first interval of her trial, when the +soldiers were eating bread and hard-boiled eggs in her presence, her +mouth watered and she realised she was hungry, but considered it beneath +her dignity to beg of them. Three hours later the desire to eat had +passed, and she felt only weak. It was then she received the unexpected +sentence. At first she thought she had made a mistake; she could not +imagine herself as a convict in Siberia, and could not believe what she +heard. But seeing the quiet, business-like faces of judges and jury, who +heard this news as if it were perfectly natural and expected, she grew +indignant, and proclaimed loudly to the whole Court that she was not +guilty. Finding that her cry was also taken as something natural +and expected, and feeling incapable of altering matters, she was +horror-struck and began to weep in despair, knowing that she must submit +to the cruel and surprising injustice that had been done her. What +astonished her most was that young men--or, at any rate, not old +men--the same men who always looked so approvingly at her (one of them, +the public prosecutor, she had seen in quite a different humour) had +condemned her. While she was sitting in the prisoners' room before the +trial and during the intervals, she saw these men looking in at the open +door pretending they had to pass there on some business, or enter the +room and gaze on her with approval. And then, for some unknown reason, +these same men had condemned her to hard labour, though she was innocent +of the charge laid against her. At first she cried, but then quieted +down and sat perfectly stunned in the prisoners' room, waiting to be led +back. She wanted only two things now--tobacco and strong drink. In this +state Botchkova and Kartinkin found her when they were led into the same +room after being sentenced. Botchkova began at once to scold her, and +call her a "convict." + +"Well! What have you gained? justified yourself, have you? What you have +deserved, that you've got. Out in Siberia you'll give up your finery, no +fear!" + +Maslova sat with her hands inside her sleeves, hanging her head and +looking in front of her at the dirty floor without moving, only saying: +"I don't bother you, so don't you bother me. I don't bother you, do I?" +she repeated this several times, and was silent again. She did brighten +up a little when Botchkova and Kartinkin were led away and an attendant +brought her three roubles. + +"Are you Maslova?" he asked. "Here you are; a lady sent it you," he +said, giving her the money. + +"A lady--what lady?" + +"You just take it. I'm not going to talk to you." + +This money was sent by Kitaeva, the keeper of the house in which she +used to live. As she was leaving the court she turned to the usher with +the question whether she might give Maslova a little money. The usher +said she might. Having got permission, she removed the three-buttoned +Swedish kid glove from her plump, white hand, and from an elegant purse +brought from the back folds of her silk skirt took a pile of coupons, +[in Russia coupons cut off interest-bearing papers are often used as +money] just cut off from the interest-bearing papers which she had +earned in her establishment, chose one worth 2 roubles and 50 copecks, +added two 20 and one 10-copeck coins, and gave all this to the usher. +The usher called an attendant, and in his presence gave the money. + +"Belease to giff it accurately," said Carolina Albertovna Kitaeva. + +The attendant was hurt by her want of confidence, and that was why he +treated Maslova so brusquely. Maslova was glad of the money, because +it could give her the only thing she now desired. "If I could but get +cigarettes and take a whiff!" she said to herself, and all her thoughts +centred on the one desire to smoke and drink. She longed for spirits so +that she tasted them and felt the strength they would give her; and she +greedily breathed in the air when the fumes of tobacco reached her from +the door of a room that opened into the corridor. But she had to wait +long, for the secretary, who should have given the order for her to go, +forgot about the prisoners while talking and even disputing with one of +the advocates about the article forbidden by the censor. + +At last, about five o'clock, she was allowed to go, and was led away +through the back door by her escort, the Nijni man and the Tchoovash. +Then, still within the entrance to the Law Courts, she gave them 50 +copecks, asking them to get her two rolls and some cigarettes. The +Tchoovash laughed, took the money, and said, "All right; I'll get 'em," +and really got her the rolls and the cigarettes and honestly returned +the change. She was not allowed to smoke on the way, and, with her +craving unsatisfied, she continued her way to the prison. When she was +brought to the gate of the prison, a hundred convicts who had arrived by +rail were being led in. The convicts, bearded, clean-shaven, old, young, +Russians, foreigners, some with their heads shaved and rattling with the +chains on their feet, filled the anteroom with dust, noise and an acid +smell of perspiration. Passing Maslova, all the convicts looked at her, +and some came up to her and brushed her as they passed. + +"Ay, here's a wench--a fine one," said one. + +"My respects to you, miss," said another, winking at her. One dark man +with a moustache, the rest of his face and the back of his head clean +shaved, rattling with his chains and catching her feet in them, sprang +near and embraced her. + +"What! don't you know your chum? Come, come; don't give yourself airs," +showing his teeth and his eyes glittering when she pushed him away. + +"You rascal! what are you up to?" shouted the inspector's assistant, +coming in from behind. The convict shrank back and jumped away. The +assistant assailed Maslova. + +"What are you here for?" + +Maslova was going to say she had been brought back from the Law Courts, +but she was so tired that she did not care to speak. + +"She has returned from the Law Courts, sir," said one of the soldiers, +coming forward with his fingers lifted to his cap. + +"Well, hand her over to the chief warder. I won't have this sort of +thing." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Sokoloff, take her in!" shouted the assistant inspector. + +The chief warder came up, gave Maslova a slap on the shoulder, and +making a sign with his head for her to follow led her into the corridor +of the women's ward. There she was searched, and as nothing prohibited +was found on her (she had hidden her box of cigarettes inside a roll) +she was led to the cell she had left in the morning. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE CELL. + +The cell in which Maslova was imprisoned was a large room 21 feet long +and 10 feet broad; it had two windows and a large stove. Two-thirds of +the space were taken up by shelves used as beds. The planks they were +made of had warped and shrunk. Opposite the door hung a dark-coloured +icon with a wax candle sticking to it and a bunch of everlastings +hanging down from it. By the door to the right there was a dark spot on +the floor on which stood a stinking tub. The inspection had taken place +and the women were locked up for the night. + +The occupants of this room were 15 persons, including three children. +It was still quite light. Only two of the women were lying down: a +consumptive woman imprisoned for theft, and an idiot who spent most of +her time in sleep and who was arrested because she had no passport. The +consumptive woman was not asleep, but lay with wide open eyes, her cloak +folded under her head, trying to keep back the phlegm that irritated her +throat, and not to cough. + +Some of the other women, most of whom had nothing on but coarse brown +holland chemises, stood looking out of the window at the convicts down +in the yard, and some sat sewing. Among the latter was the old woman, +Korableva, who had seen Maslova off in the morning. She was a tall, +strong, gloomy-looking woman; her fair hair, which had begun to turn +grey on the temples, hung down in a short plait. She was sentenced to +hard labour in Siberia because she had killed her husband with an axe +for making up to their daughter. She was at the head of the women in +the cell, and found means of carrying on a trade in spirits with them. +Beside her sat another woman sewing a coarse canvas sack. This was the +wife of a railway watchman, [There are small watchmen's cottages at +distances of about one mile from each other along the Russian railways, +and the watchmen or their wives have to meet every train.] imprisoned +for three months because she did not come out with the flags to meet a +train that was passing, and an accident had occurred. She was a short, +snub-nosed woman, with small, black eyes; kind and talkative. The third +of the women who were sewing was Theodosia, a quiet young girl, white +and rosy, very pretty, with bright child's eyes, and long fair plaits +which she wore twisted round her head. She was in prison for attempting +to poison her husband. She had done this immediately after her wedding +(she had been given in marriage without her consent at the age of 16) +because her husband would give her no peace. But in the eight months +during which she had been let out on bail, she had not only made it up +with her husband, but come to love him, so that when her trial came +they were heart and soul to one another. Although her husband, her +father-in-law, but especially her mother-in-law, who had grown very fond +of her, did all they could to get her acquitted, she was sentenced to +hard labour in Siberia. The kind, merry, ever-smiling Theodosia had a +place next Maslova's on the shelf bed, and had grown so fond of her that +she took it upon herself as a duty to attend and wait on her. Two +other women were sitting without any work at the other end of the shelf +bedstead. One was a woman of about 40, with a pale, thin face, who once +probably had been very handsome. She sat with her baby at her thin, +white breast. The crime she had committed was that when a recruit was, +according to the peasants' view, unlawfully taken from their village, +and the people stopped the police officer and took the recruit away from +him, she (an aunt of the lad unlawfully taken) was the first to catch +hold of the bridle of the horse on which he was being carried off. +The other, who sat doing nothing, was a kindly, grey-haired old woman, +hunchbacked and with a flat bosom. She sat behind the stove on the +bedshelf, and pretended to catch a fat four-year-old boy, who ran +backwards and forwards in front of her, laughing gaily. This boy had +only a little shirt on and his hair was cut short. As he ran past the +old woman he kept repeating, "There, haven't caught me!" This old woman +and her son were accused of incendiarism. She bore her imprisonment with +perfect cheerfulness, but was concerned about her son, and chiefly about +her "old man," who she feared would get into a terrible state with no +one to wash for him. Besides these seven women, there were four standing +at one of the open windows, holding on to the iron bars. They were +making signs and shouting to the convicts whom Maslova had met when +returning to prison, and who were now passing through the yard. One +of these women was big and heavy, with a flabby body, red hair, and +freckled on her pale yellow face, her hands, and her fat neck. She +shouted something in a loud, raucous voice, and laughed hoarsely. This +woman was serving her term for theft. Beside her stood an awkward, dark +little woman, no bigger than a child of ten, with a long waist and very +short legs, a red, blotchy face, thick lips which did not hide her +long teeth, and eyes too far apart. She broke by fits and starts into +screeching laughter at what was going on in the yard. She was to be +tried for stealing and incendiarism. They called her Khoroshavka. Behind +her, in a very dirty grey chemise, stood a thin, miserable-looking +pregnant woman, who was to be tried for concealment of theft. This woman +stood silent, but kept smiling with pleasure and approval at what was +going on below. With these stood a peasant woman of medium height, +the mother of the boy who was playing with the old woman and of a +seven-year-old girl. These were in prison with her because she had no +one to leave them with. She was serving her term of imprisonment for +illicit sale of spirits. She stood a little further from the window +knitting a stocking, and though she listened to the other prisoners' +words she shook her head disapprovingly, frowned, and closed her eyes. +But her seven-year-old daughter stood in her little chemise, her flaxen +hair done up in a little pigtail, her blue eyes fixed, and, holding +the red-haired woman by the skirt, attentively listened to the words of +abuse that the women and the convicts flung at each other, and repeated +them softly, as if learning them by heart. The twelfth prisoner, who +paid no attention to what was going on, was a very tall, stately girl, +the daughter of a deacon, who had drowned her baby in a well. She went +about with bare feet, wearing only a dirty chemise. The thick, short +plait of her fair hair had come undone and hung down dishevelled, and +she paced up and down the free space of the cell, not looking at any +one, turning abruptly every time she came up to the wall. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE PRISONERS. + +When the padlock rattled and the door opened to let Maslova into the +cell, all turned towards her. Even the deacon's daughter stopped for a +moment and looked at her with lifted brows before resuming her steady +striding up and down. + +Korableva stuck her needle into the brown sacking and looked +questioningly at Maslova through her spectacles. "Eh, eh, deary me, so +you have come back. And I felt sure they'd acquit you. So you've got +it?" She took off her spectacles and put her work down beside her on the +shelf bed. + +"And here have I and the old lady been saying, 'Why, it may well be +they'll let her go free at once.' Why, it happens, ducky, they'll even +give you a heap of money sometimes, that's sure," the watchman's wife +began, in her singing voice: "Yes, we were wondering, 'Why's she so +long?' And now just see what it is. Well, our guessing was no use. The +Lord willed otherwise," she went on in musical tones. + +"Is it possible? Have they sentenced you?" asked Theodosia, with +concern, looking at Maslova with her bright blue, child-like eyes; and +her merry young face changed as if she were going to cry. + +Maslova did not answer, but went on to her place, the second from the +end, and sat down beside Korableva. + +"Have you eaten anything?" said Theodosia, rising and coming up to +Maslova. + +Maslova gave no reply, but putting the rolls on the bedstead, took +off her dusty cloak, the kerchief off her curly black head, and began +pulling off her shoes. The old woman who had been playing with the boy +came up and stood in front of Maslova. "Tz, tz, tz," she clicked with +her tongue, shaking her head pityingly. The boy also came up with her, +and, putting out his upper lip, stared with wide open eyes at the roll +Maslova had brought. When Maslova saw the sympathetic faces of her +fellow-prisoners, her lips trembled and she felt inclined to cry, but +she succeeded in restraining herself until the old woman and the boy +came up. When she heard the kind, pitying clicking of the old woman's +tongue, and met the boy's serious eyes turned from the roll to her face, +she could bear it no longer; her face quivered and she burst into sobs. + +"Didn't I tell you to insist on having a proper advocate?" said +Norableva. "Well, what is it? Exile?" + +Maslova could not answer, but took from inside the roll a box of +cigarettes, on which was a picture of a lady with hair done up very high +and dress cut low in front, and passed the box to Korableva. Korableva +looked at it and shook her head, chiefly because see did not approve of +Maslova's putting her money to such bad use; but still she took out a +cigarette, lit it at the lamp, took a puff, and almost forced it into +Maslova's hand. Maslova, still crying, began greedily to inhale the +tobacco smoke. "Penal servitude," she muttered, blowing out the smoke +and sobbing. + +"Don't they fear the Lord, the cursed soul-slayers?" muttered Korableva, +"sentencing the lass for nothing." At this moment the sound of loud, +coarse laughter came from the women who were still at the window. The +little girl also laughed, and her childish treble mixed with the hoarse +and screeching laughter of the others. One of the convicts outside had +done something that produced this effect on the onlookers. + +"Lawks! see the shaved hound, what he's doing," said the red-haired +woman, her whole fat body shaking with laughter; and leaning against the +grating she shouted meaning less obscene words. + +"Ugh, the fat fright's cackling," said Korableva, who disliked the +red-haired woman. Then, turning to Maslova again, she asked: "How many +years?" + +"Four," said Maslova, and the tears ran down her cheeks in such +profusion that one fell on the cigarette. Maslova crumpled it up angrily +and took another. + +Though the watchman's wife did not smoke she picked up the cigarette +Maslova had thrown away and began straightening it out, talking +unceasingly. + +"There, now, ducky, so it's true," she said. "Truth's gone to the dogs +and they do what they please, and here we were guessing that you'd go +free. Norableva says, 'She'll go free.' I say, 'No,' say I. 'No, dear, +my heart tells me they'll give it her.' And so it's turned out," she +went on, evidently listening with pleasure to her own voice. + +The women who had been standing by the window now also came up to +Maslova, the convicts who had amused them having gone away. The first to +come up were the woman imprisoned for illicit trade in spirits, and her +little girl. "Why such a hard sentence?" asked the woman, sitting down +by Maslova and knitting fast. + +"Why so hard? Because there's no money. That's why! Had there been +money, and had a good lawyer that's up to their tricks been hired, +they'd have acquitted her, no fear," said Korableva. "There's +what's-his-name--that hairy one with the long nose. He'd bring you out +clean from pitch, mum, he would. Ah, if we'd only had him!" + +"Him, indeed," said Khoroshavka. "Why, he won't spit at you for less +than a thousand roubles." + +"Seems you've been born under an unlucky star," interrupted the old +woman who was imprisoned for incendiarism. "Only think, to entice the +lad's wife and lock him himself up to feed vermin, and me, too, in my +old days--" she began to retell her story for the hundredth time. "If +it isn't the beggar's staff it's the prison. Yes, the beggar's staff and +the prison don't wait for an invitation." + +"Ah, it seems that's the way with all of them," said the spirit trader; +and after looking at her little girl she put down her knitting, and, +drawing the child between her knees, began to search her head with deft +fingers. "Why do you sell spirits?" she went on. "Why? but what's one to +feed the children on?" + +These words brought back to Maslova's mind her craving for drink. + +"A little vodka," she said to Korableva, wiping the tears with her +sleeve and sobbing less frequently. + +"All right, fork out," said Korableva. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +A PRISON QUARREL. + +Maslova got the money, which she had also hidden in a roll, and passed +the coupon to Korableva. Korableva accepted it, though she could not +read, trusting to Khoroshavka, who knew everything, and who said that +the slip of paper was worth 2 roubles 50 copecks, then climbed up to the +ventilator, where she had hidden a small flask of vodka. Seeing this, +the women whose places were further off went away. Meanwhile Maslova +shook the dust out of her cloak and kerchief, got up on the bedstead, +and began eating a roll. + +"I kept your tea for you," said Theodosia, getting down from the shelf +a mug and a tin teapot wrapped in a rag, "but I'm afraid it is quite +cold." The liquid was quite cold and tasted more of tin than of tea, yet +Maslova filled the mug and began drinking it with her roll. "Finashka, +here you are," she said, breaking off a bit of the roll and giving it to +the boy, who stood looking at her mouth. + +Meanwhile Korableva handed the flask of vodka and a mug to Maslova, who +offered some to her and to Khoroshavka. These prisoners were considered +the aristocracy of the cell because they had some money, and shared what +they possessed with the others. + +In a few moments Maslova brightened up and related merrily what had +happened at the court, and what had struck her most, i.e., how all the +men had followed her wherever she went. In the court they all looked at +her, she said, and kept coming into the prisoners' room while she was +there. + +"One of the soldiers even says, 'It's all to look at you that they +come.' One would come in, 'Where is such a paper?' or something, but I +see it is not the paper he wants; he just devours me with his eyes," she +said, shaking her head. "Regular artists." + +"Yes, that's so," said the watchman's wife, and ran on in her musical +strain, "they're like flies after sugar." + +"And here, too," Maslova interrupted her, "the same thing. They can +do without anything else. But the likes of them will go without bread +sooner than miss that! Hardly had they brought me back when in comes a +gang from the railway. They pestered me so, I did not know how to +rid myself of them. Thanks to the assistant, he turned them off. One +bothered so, I hardly got away." + +"What's he like?" asked Khoroshevka. + +"Dark, with moustaches." + +"It must be him." + +"Him--who?" + +"Why, Schegloff; him as has just gone by." + +"What's he, this Schegloff?" + +"What, she don't know Schegloff? Why, he ran twice from Siberia. Now +they've got him, but he'll run away. The warders themselves are afraid +of him," said Khoroshavka, who managed to exchange notes with the male +prisoners and knew all that went on in the prison. "He'll run away, +that's flat." + +"If he does go away you and I'll have to stay," said Korableva, turning +to Maslova, "but you'd better tell us now what the advocate says about +petitioning. Now's the time to hand it in." + +Maslova answered that she knew nothing about it. + +At that moment the red-haired woman came up to the "aristocracy" with +both freckled hands in her thick hair, scratching her head with her +nails. + +"I'll tell you all about it, Katerina," she began. "First and foremost, +you'll have to write down you're dissatisfied with the sentence, then +give notice to the Procureur." + +"What do you want here?" said Korableva angrily; "smell the vodka, do +you? Your chatter's not wanted. We know what to do without your advice." + +"No one's speaking to you; what do you stick your nose in for?" + +"It's vodka you want; that's why you come wriggling yourself in here." + +"Well, offer her some," said Maslova, always ready to share anything she +possessed with anybody. + +"I'll offer her something." + +"Come on then," said the red-haired one, advancing towards Korableva. +"Ah! think I'm afraid of such as you?" + +"Convict fright!" + +"That's her as says it." + +"Slut!" + +"I? A slut? Convict! Murderess!" screamed the red-haired one. + +"Go away, I tell you," said Korableva gloomily, but the red-haired one +came nearer and Korableva struck her in the chest. The red-haired woman +seemed only to have waited for this, and with a sudden movement caught +hold of Korableva's hair with one hand and with the other struck her in +the face. Korableva seized this hand, and Maslova and Khoroshavka caught +the red-haired woman by her arms, trying to pull her away, but she let +go the old woman's hair with her hand only to twist it round her fist. +Korableva, with her head bent to one side, was dealing out blows with +one arm and trying to catch the red-haired woman's hand with her teeth, +while the rest of the women crowded round, screaming and trying to +separate the fighters; even the consumptive one came up and stood +coughing and watching the fight. The children cried and huddled +together. The noise brought the woman warder and a jailer. The fighting +women were separated; and Korableva, taking out the bits of torn hair +from her head, and the red-haired one, holding her torn chemise together +over her yellow breast, began loudly to complain. + +"I know, it's all the vodka. Wait a bit; I'll tell the inspector +tomorrow. He'll give it you. Can't I smell it? Mind, get it all out of +the way, or it will be the worse for you," said the warder. "We've no +time to settle your disputes. Get to your places and be quiet." + +But quiet was not soon re-established. For a long time the women went on +disputing and explaining to one another whose fault it all was. At last +the warder and the jailer left the cell, the women grew quieter and +began going to bed, and the old woman went to the icon and commenced +praying. + +"The two jailbirds have met," the red-haired woman suddenly called out +in a hoarse voice from the other end of the shelf beds, accompanying +every word with frightfully vile abuse. + +"Mind you don't get it again," Korableva replied, also adding words of +abuse, and both were quiet again. + +"Had I not been stopped I'd have pulled your damned eyes out," again +began the red-haired one, and an answer of the same kind followed from +Korableva. Then again a short interval and more abuse. But the intervals +became longer and longer, as when a thunder-cloud is passing, and at +last all was quiet. + +All were in bed, some began to snore; and only the old woman, who always +prayed a long time, went on bowing before the icon and the deacon's +daughter, who had got up after the warder left, was pacing up and +down the room again. Maslova kept thinking that she was now a convict +condemned to hard labour, and had twice been reminded of this--once by +Botchkova and once by the red-haired woman--and she could not reconcile +herself to the thought. Korableva, who lay next to her, turned over in +her bed. + +"There now," said Maslova in a low voice; "who would have thought it? +See what others do and get nothing for it." + +"Never mind, girl. People manage to live in Siberia. As for you, you'll +not be lost there either," Korableva said, trying to comfort her. + +"I know I'll not be lost; still it is hard. It's not such a fate I +want--I, who am used to a comfortable life." + +"Ah, one can't go against God," said Korableva, with a sigh. "One can't, +my dear." + +"I know, granny. Still, it's hard." + +They were silent for a while. + +"Do you hear that baggage?" whispered Korableva, drawing Maslova's +attention to a strange sound proceeding from the other end of the room. + +This sound was the smothered sobbing of the red-haired woman. The +red-haired woman was crying because she had been abused and had not got +any of the vodka she wanted so badly; also because she remembered +how all her life she had been abused, mocked at, offended, beaten. +Remembering this, she pitied herself, and, thinking no one heard her, +began crying as children cry, sniffing with her nose and swallowing the +salt tears. + +"I'm sorry for her," said Maslova. + +"Of course one is sorry," said Korableva, "but she shouldn't come +bothering." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE LEAVEN AT WORK--NEKHLUDOFF'S DOMESTIC CHANGES. + +The next morning Nekhludoff awoke, conscious that something had happened +to him, and even before he had remembered what it was he knew it to be +something important and good. + +"Katusha--the trial!" Yes, he must stop lying and tell the whole truth. + +By a strange coincidence on that very morning he received the +long-expected letter from Mary Vasilievna, the wife of the Marechal +de Noblesse, the very letter he particularly needed. She gave him full +freedom, and wished him happiness in his intended marriage. + +"Marriage!" he repeated with irony. "How far I am from all that at +present." + +And he remembered the plans he had formed the day before, to tell +the husband everything, to make a clean breast of it, and express his +readiness to give him any kind of satisfaction. But this morning this +did not seem so easy as the day before. And, then, also, why make a man +unhappy by telling him what he does not know? Yes, if he came and +asked, he would tell him all, but to go purposely and tell--no! that was +unnecessary. + +And telling the whole truth to Missy seemed just as difficult this +morning. Again, he could not begin to speak without offence. As in many +worldly affairs, something had to remain unexpressed. Only one thing he +decided on, i.e., not to visit there, and to tell the truth if asked. + +But in connection with Katusha, nothing was to remain unspoken. "I shall +go to the prison and shall tell her every thing, and ask her to forgive +me. And if need be--yes, if need be, I shall marry her," he thought. + +This idea, that he was ready to sacrifice all on moral grounds, and +marry her, again made him feel very tender towards himself. Concerning +money matters he resolved this morning to arrange them in accord with +his conviction, that the holding of landed property was unlawful. Even +if he should not be strong enough to give up everything, he would still +do what he could, not deceiving himself or others. + +It was long since he had met the coming day with so much energy. When +Agraphena Petrovna came in, he told her, with more firmness than he +thought himself capable of, that he no longer needed this lodging nor +her services. There had been a tacit understanding that he was keeping +up so large and expensive an establishment because he was thinking of +getting married. The giving up of the house had, therefore, a special +meaning. Agraphena Petrovna looked at him in surprise. + +"I thank you very much, Agraphena Petrovna, for all your care for me, +but I no longer require so large a house nor so many servants. If you +wish to help me, be so good as to settle about the things, put them away +as it used to be done during mamma's life, and when Natasha comes she +will see to everything." Natasha was Nekhludoff's sister. + +Agraphena Petrovna shook her head. "See about the things? Why, they'll +be required again," she said. + +"No, they won't, Agraphena Petrovna; I assure you they won't be +required," said Nekhludoff, in answer to what the shaking of her head +had expressed. "Please tell Corney also that I shall pay him two months' +wages, but shall have no further need of him." + +"It is a pity, Dmitri Ivanovitch, that you should think of doing this," +she said. "Well, supposing you go abroad, still you'll require a place +of residence again." + +"You are mistaken in your thoughts, Agraphena Petrovna; I am not going +abroad. If I go on a journey, it will be to quite a different place." +He suddenly blushed very red. "Yes, I must tell her," he thought; "no +hiding; everybody must be told." + +"A very strange and important thing happened to me yesterday. Do you +remember my Aunt Mary Ivanovna's Katusha?" + +"Oh, yes. Why, I taught her how to sew." + +"Well, this Katusha was tried in the Court and I was on the jury." + +"Oh, Lord! What a pity!" cried Agraphena Petrovna. "What was she being +tried for?" + +"Murder; and it is I have done it all." + +"Well, now this is very strange; how could you do it all?" + +"Yes, I am the cause of it all; and it is this that has altered all my +plans." + +"What difference can it make to you?" + +"This difference: that I, being the cause of her getting on to that +path, must do all I can to help her." + +"That is just according to your own good pleasure; you are not +particularly in fault there. It happens to every one, and if one's +reasonable, it all gets smoothed over and forgotten," she said, +seriously and severely. "Why should you place it to your account? +There's no need. I had already heard before that she had strayed from +the right path. Well, whose fault is it?" + +"Mine! that's why I want to put it right." + +"It is hard to put right." + +"That is my business. But if you are thinking about yourself, then I +will tell you that, as mamma expressed the wish--" + +"I am not thinking about myself. I have been so bountifully treated by +the dear defunct, that I desire nothing. Lisenka" (her married niece) +"has been inviting me, and I shall go to her when I am not wanted any +longer. Only it is a pity you should take this so to heart; it happens +to everybody." + +"Well, I do not think so. And I still beg that you will help me let this +lodging and put away the things. And please do not be angry with me. I +am very, very grateful to you for all you have done." + +And, strangely, from the moment Nekhludoff realised that it was he who +was so bad and disgusting to himself, others were no longer disgusting +to him; on the contrary, he felt a kindly respect for Agraphena +Petrovna, and for Corney. + +He would have liked to go and confess to Corney also, but Corney's +manner was so insinuatingly deferential that he had not the resolution +to do it. + +On the way to the Law Courts, passing along the same streets with the +same isvostchik as the day before, he was surprised what a different +being he felt himself to be. The marriage with Missy, which only +yesterday seemed so probable, appeared quite impossible now. The day +before he felt it was for him to choose, and had no doubts that she +would be happy to marry him; to-day he felt himself unworthy not only of +marrying, but even of being intimate with her. "If she only knew what +I am, nothing would induce her to receive me. And only yesterday I was +finding fault with her because she flirted with N---. Anyhow, even if +she consented to marry me, could I be, I won't say happy, but at peace, +knowing that the other was here in prison, and would to-day or to-morrow +he taken to Siberia with a gang of other prisoners, while I accepted +congratulations and made calls with my young wife; or while I count the +votes at the meetings, for and against the motion brought forward by the +rural inspection, etc., together with the Marechal de Noblesse, whom I +abominably deceive, and afterwards make appointments with his wife +(how abominable!) or while I continue to work at my picture, which will +certainly never get finished? Besides, I have no business to waste +time on such things. I can do nothing of the kind now," he continued +to himself, rejoicing at the change he felt within himself. "The first +thing now is to see the advocate and find out his decision, and then +. . . then go and see her and tell her everything." + +And when he pictured to himself how he would see her, and tell her all, +confess his sin to her, and tell her that he would do all in his power +to atone for his sin, he was touched at his own goodness, and the tears +came to his eyes. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE ABSURDITY OF LAW--REFLECTIONS OF A JURYMAN. + +On coming into the Law Courts Nekhludoff met the usher of yesterday, who +to-day seemed to him much to be pitied, in the corridor, and asked him +where those prisoners who had been sentenced were kept, and to whom one +had to apply for permission to visit them. The usher told him that the +condemned prisoners were kept in different places, and that, until they +received their sentence in its final form, the permission to visit them +depended on the president. "I'll come and call you myself, and take you +to the president after the session. The president is not even here at +present. After the session! And now please come in; we are going to +commence." + +Nekhludoff thanked the usher for his kindness, and went into the +jurymen's room. As he was approaching the room, the other jurymen were +just leaving it to go into the court. The merchant had again partaken +of a little refreshment, and was as merry as the day before, and greeted +Nekhludoff like an old friend. And to-day Peter Gerasimovitch did not +arouse any unpleasant feelings in Nekhludoff by his familiarity and his +loud laughter. Nekhludoff would have liked to tell all the jurymen about +his relations to yesterday's prisoner. "By rights," he thought, "I ought +to have got up yesterday during the trial and disclosed my guilt." + +He entered the court with the other jurymen, and witnessed the same +procedure as the day before. + +"The judges are coming," was again proclaimed, and again three men, +with embroidered collars, ascended the platform, and there was the same +settling of the jury on the high-backed chairs, the same gendarmes, the +same portraits, the same priest, and Nekhludoff felt that, though he +knew what he ought to do, he could not interrupt all this solemnity. +The preparations for the trials were just the same as the day before, +excepting that the swearing in of the jury and the president's address +to them were omitted. + +The case before the Court this day was one of burglary. The prisoner, +guarded by two gendarmes with naked swords, was a thin, narrow-chested +lad of 20, with a bloodless, sallow face, dressed in a grey cloak. +He sat alone in the prisoner's dock. This boy was accused of having, +together with a companion, broken the lock of a shed and stolen several +old mats valued at 3 roubles [the rouble is worth a little over two +shillings, and contains 100 copecks] and 67 copecks. According to the +indictment, a policeman had stopped this boy as he was passing with his +companion, who was carrying the mats on his shoulder. The boy and +his companion confessed at once, and were both imprisoned. The boy's +companion, a locksmith, died in prison, and so the boy was being tried +alone. The old mats were lying on the table as the objects of material +evidence. The business was conducted just in the same manner as the day +before, with the whole armoury of evidence, proofs, witnesses, swearing +in, questions, experts, and cross-examinations. In answer to every +question put to him by the president, the prosecutor, or the advocate, +the policeman (one of the witnesses) in variably ejected the words: +"just so," or "Can't tell." Yet, in spite of his being stupefied, and +rendered a mere machine by military discipline, his reluctance to speak +about the arrest of this prisoner was evident. Another witness, an old +house proprietor, and owner of the mats, evidently a rich old man, when +asked whether the mats were his, reluctantly identified them as such. +When the public prosecutor asked him what he meant to do with these +mats, what use they were to him, he got angry, and answered: "The devil +take those mats; I don't want them at all. Had I known there would be +all this bother about them I should not have gone looking for them, but +would rather have added a ten-rouble note or two to them, only not to +be dragged here and pestered with questions. I have spent a lot +on isvostchiks. Besides, I am not well. I have been suffering from +rheumatism for the last seven years." It was thus the witness spoke. + +The accused himself confessed everything, and looking round stupidly, +like an animal that is caught, related how it had all happened. Still +the public prosecutor, drawing up his shoulders as he had done the day +before, asked subtle questions calculated to catch a cunning criminal. + +In his speech he proved that the theft had been committed from a +dwelling-place, and a lock had been broken; and that the boy, therefore, +deserved a heavy punishment. The advocate appointed by the Court proved +that the theft was not committed from a dwelling-place, and that, though +the crime was a serious one, the prisoner was not so very dangerous +to society as the prosecutor stated. The president assumed the role of +absolute neutrality in the same way as he had done on the previous day, +and impressed on the jury facts which they all knew and could not help +knowing. Then came an interval, just as the day before, and they smoked; +and again the usher called out "The judges are coming," and in the +same way the two gendarmes sat trying to keep awake and threatening the +prisoner with their naked weapons. + +The proceedings showed that this boy was apprenticed by his father at +a tobacco factory, where he remained five years. This year he had been +discharged by the owner after a strike, and, having lost his place, he +wandered about the town without any work, drinking all he possessed. In +a traktir [cheap restaurant] he met another like himself, who had lost +his place before the prisoner had, a locksmith by trade and a drunkard. +One night, those two, both drunk, broke the lock of a shed and took the +first thing they happened to lay hands on. They confessed all and were +put in prison, where the locksmith died while awaiting the trial. The +boy was now being tried as a dangerous creature, from whom society must +be protected. + +"Just as dangerous a creature as yesterday's culprit," thought +Nekhludoff, listening to all that was going on before him. "They are +dangerous, and we who judge them? I, a rake, an adulterer, a deceiver. +We are not dangerous. But, even supposing that this boy is the most +dangerous of all that are here in the court, what should be done from a +common-sense point of view when he has been caught? It is clear that he +is not an exceptional evil-doer, but a most ordinary boy; every one +sees it--and that he has become what he is simply because he got into +circumstances that create such characters, and, therefore, to prevent +such a boy from going wrong the circumstances that create these +unfortunate beings must be done away with. + +"But what do we do? We seize one such lad who happens to get caught, +knowing well that there are thousands like him whom we have not caught, +and send him to prison, where idleness, or most unwholesome, useless +labour is forced on him, in company of others weakened and ensnared by +the lives they have led. And then we send him, at the public expense, +from the Moscow to the Irkoutsk Government, in company with the most +depraved of men. + +"But we do nothing to destroy the conditions in which people like these +are produced; on the contrary, we support the establishments where +they are formed. These establishments are well known: factories, mills, +workshops, public-houses, gin-shops, brothels. And we do not destroy +these places, but, looking at them as necessary, we support and regulate +them. We educate in this way not one, but millions of people, and then +catch one of them and imagine that we have done something, that we have +guarded ourselves, and nothing more can be expected of us. Have we +not sent him from the Moscow to the Irkoutsk Government?" Thus thought +Nekhludoff with unusual clearness and vividness, sitting in his +high-backed chair next to the colonel, and listening to the different +intonations of the advocates', prosecutor's, and president's voices, and +looking at their self-confident gestures. "And how much and what hard +effort this pretence requires," continued Nekhludoff in his mind, +glancing round the enormous room, the portraits, lamps, armchairs, +uniforms, the thick walls and large windows; and picturing to himself +the tremendous size of the building, and the still more ponderous +dimensions of the whole of this organisation, with its army of +officials, scribes, watchmen, messengers, not only in this place, but +all over Russia, who receive wages for carrying on this comedy which no +one needs. "Supposing we spent one-hundredth of these efforts helping +these castaways, whom we now only regard as hands and bodies, required +by us for our own peace and comfort. Had some one chanced to take pity +on him and given some help at the time when poverty made them send him +to town, it might have been sufficient," Nekhludoff thought, looking at +the boy's piteous face. "Or even later, when, after 12 hours' work +at the factory, he was going to the public-house, led away by his +companions, had some one then come and said, 'Don't go, Vania; it is +not right,' he would not have gone, nor got into bad ways, and would not +have done any wrong. + +"But no; no one who would have taken pity on him came across this +apprentice in the years he lived like a poor little animal in the town, +and with his hair cut close so as not to breed vermin, and ran errands +for the workmen. No, all he heard and saw, from the older workmen and +his companions, since he came to live in town, was that he who cheats, +drinks, swears, who gives another a thrashing, who goes on the loose, +is a fine fellow. Ill, his constitution undermined by unhealthy labour, +drink, and debauchery--bewildered as in a dream, knocking aimlessly +about town, he gets into some sort of a shed, and takes from there some +old mats, which nobody needs--and here we, all of us educated people, +rich or comfortably off, meet together, dressed in good clothes and fine +uniforms, in a splendid apartment, to mock this unfortunate brother of +ours whom we ourselves have ruined. + +"Terrible! It is difficult to say whether the cruelty or the absurdity +is greater, but the one and the other seem to reach their climax." + +Nekhludoff thought all this, no longer listening to what was going on, +and he was horror-struck by that which was being revealed to him. He +could not understand why he had not been able to see all this before, +and why others were unable to see it. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE PROCUREUR--NEKHLUDOFF REFUSES TO SERVE. + +During an interval Nekhludoff got up and went out into the corridor, +with the intention of not returning to the court. Let them do what they +liked with him, he could take no more part in this awful and horrid +tomfoolery. + +Having inquired where the Procureur's cabinet was he went straight to +him. The attendant did not wish to let him in, saying that the Procureur +was busy, but Nekhludoff paid no heed and went to the door, where he was +met by an official. He asked to be announced to the Procureur, saying he +was on the jury and had a very important communication to make. + +His title and good clothes were of assistance to him. The official +announced him to the Procureur, and Nekhludoff was let in. The Procureur +met him standing, evidently annoyed at the persistence with which +Nekhludoff demanded admittance. + +"What is it you want?" the Procureur asked, severely. + +"I am on the jury; my name is Nekhludoff, and it is absolutely necessary +for me to see the prisoner Maslova," Nekhludoff said, quickly and +resolutely, blushing, and feeling that he was taking a step which would +have a decisive influence on his life. + +The Procureur was a short, dark man, with short, grizzly hair, quick, +sparkling eyes, and a thick beard cut close on his projecting lower jaw. + +"Maslova? Yes, of course, I know. She was accused of poisoning," the +Procureur said, quietly. "But why do you want to see her?" And then, as +if wishing to tone down his question, he added, "I cannot give you the +permission without knowing why you require it." + +"I require it for a particularly important reason." + +"Yes?" said the Procureur, and, lifting his eyes, looked attentively at +Nekhludoff. "Has her case been heard or not?" + +"She was tried yesterday, and unjustly sentenced; she is innocent." + +"Yes? If she was sentenced only yesterday," went on the Procureur, +paying no attention to Nekhludoff's statement concerning Maslova's +innocence, "she must still be in the preliminary detention prison until +the sentence is delivered in its final form. Visiting is allowed there +only on certain days; I should advise you to inquire there." + +"But I must see her as soon as possible," Nekhludoff said, his jaw +trembling as he felt the decisive moment approaching. + +"Why must you?" said the Procureur, lifting his brows with some +agitation. + +"Because I betrayed her and brought her to the condition which exposed +her to this accusation." + +"All the same, I cannot see what it has to do with visiting her." + +"This: that whether I succeed or not in getting the sentence changed I +want to follow her, and--marry her," said Nekhludoff, touched to tears +by his own conduct, and at the same time pleased to see the effect he +produced on the Procureur. + +"Really! Dear me!" said the Procureur. "This is certainly a very +exceptional case. I believe you are a member of the Krasnoporsk rural +administration?" he asked, as if he remembered having heard before of +this Nekhludoff, who was now making so strange a declaration. + +"I beg your pardon, but I do not think that has anything to do with my +request," answered Nekhludoff, flushing angrily. + +"Certainly not," said the Procureur, with a scarcely perceptible smile +and not in the least abashed; "only your wish is so extraordinary and so +out of the common." + +"Well; but can I get the permission?" + +"The permission? Yes, I will give you an order of admittance directly. +Take a seat." + +He went up to the table, sat down, and began to write. "Please sit +down." + +Nekhludoff continued to stand. + +Having written an order of admittance, and handed it to Nekhludoff, the +Procureur looked curiously at him. + +"I must also state that I can no longer take part in the sessions." + +"Then you will have to lay valid reasons before the Court, as you, of +course, know." + +"My reasons are that I consider all judging not only useless, but +immoral." + +"Yes," said the Procureur, with the same scarcely perceptible smile, +as if to show that this kind of declaration was well known to him and +belonged to the amusing sort. "Yes, but you will certainly understand +that I as Procureur, can not agree with you on this point. Therefore, +I should advise you to apply to the Court, which will consider your +declaration, and find it valid or not valid, and in the latter case will +impose a fine. Apply, then, to the Court." + +"I have made my declaration, and shall apply nowhere else," Nekhludoff +said, angrily. + +"Well, then, good-afternoon," said the Procureur, bowing his head, +evidently anxious to be rid of this strange visitor. + +"Who was that you had here?" asked one of the members of the Court, as +he entered, just after Nekhludoff left the room. + +"Nekhludoff, you know; the same that used to make all sorts of strange +statements at the Krasnoporsk rural meetings. Just fancy! He is on the +jury, and among the prisoners there is a woman or girl sentenced to +penal servitude, whom he says he betrayed, and now he wants to marry +her." + +"You don't mean to say so." + +"That's what he told me. And in such a strange state of excitement!" + +"There is something abnormal in the young men of to-day." + +"Oh, but he is not so very young." + +"Yes. But how tiresome your famous Ivoshenka was. He carries the day by +wearying one out. He talked and talked without end." + +"Oh, that kind of people should be simply stopped, or they will become +real obstructionists." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +NEKHLUDOFF ENDEAVOURS TO VISIT MASLOVA. + +From the Procureur Nekhludoff went straight to the preliminary detention +prison. However, no Maslova was to be found there, and the inspector +explained to Nekhludoff that she would probably be in the old temporary +prison. Nekhludoff went there. + +Yes, Katerina Maslova was there. + +The distance between the two prisons was enormous, and Nekhludoff only +reached the old prison towards evening. He was going up to the door of +the large, gloomy building, but the sentinel stopped him and rang. A +warder came in answer to the bell. Nekhludoff showed him his order of +admittance, but the warder said he could not let him in without the +inspector's permission. Nekhludoff went to see the inspector. As he was +going up the stairs he heard distant sounds of some complicated bravura, +played on the piano. When a cross servant girl, with a bandaged eye, +opened the door to him, those sounds seemed to escape from the room +and to strike his car. It was a rhapsody of Liszt's, that everybody was +tired of, splendidly played but only to one point. When that point was +reached the same thing was repeated. Nekhludoff asked the bandaged maid +whether the inspector was in. She answered that he was not in. + +"Will he return soon?" + +The rhapsody again stopped and recommenced loudly and brilliantly again +up to the same charmed point. + +"I will go and ask," and the servant went away. + +"Tell him he is not in and won't be to-day; he is out visiting. What do +they come bothering for?" came the sound of a woman's voice from behind +the door, and again the rhapsody rattled on and stopped, and the sound +of a chair pushed back was heard. It was plain the irritated pianist +meant to rebuke the tiresome visitor, who had come at an untimely hour. +"Papa is not in," a pale girl with crimped hair said, crossly, coming +out into the ante-room, but, seeing a young man in a good coat, she +softened. + +"Come in, please. . . . What is it you want?" + +"I want to see a prisoner in this prison." + +"A political one, I suppose?" + +"No, not a political one. I have a permission from the Procureur." + +"Well, I don't know, and papa is out; but come in, please," she said, +again, "or else speak to the assistant. He is in the office at present; +apply there. What is your name?" + +"I thank you," said Nekhludoff, without answering her question, and went +out. + +The door was not yet closed after him when the same lively tones +recommenced. In the courtyard Nekhludoff met an officer with bristly +moustaches, and asked for the assistant-inspector. It was the assistant +himself. He looked at the order of admittance, but said that he could +not decide to let him in with a pass for the preliminary prison. +Besides, it was too late. "Please to come again to-morrow. To morrow, at +10, everybody is allowed to go in. Come then, and the inspector himself +will be at home. Then you can have the interview either in the common +room or, if the inspector allows it, in the office." + +And so Nekhludoff did not succeed in getting an interview that day, +and returned home. As he went along the streets, excited at the idea of +meeting her, he no longer thought about the Law Courts, but recalled his +conversations with the Procureur and the inspector's assistant. The +fact that he had been seeking an interview with her, and had told the +Procureur, and had been in two prisons, so excited him that it was long +before he could calm down. When he got home he at once fetched out his +diary, that had long remained untouched, read a few sentences out of it, +and then wrote as follows: + +"For two years I have not written anything in my diary, and thought I +never should return to this childishness. Yet it is not childishness, +but converse with my own self, with this real divine self which lives +in every man. All this time that I slept there was no one for me to +converse with. I was awakened by an extraordinary event on the 28th +of April, in the Law Court, when I was on the jury. I saw her in the +prisoners' dock, the Katusha betrayed by me, in a prisoner's cloak, +condemned to penal servitude through a strange mistake, and my own +fault. I have just been to the Procureur's and to the prison, but I was +not admitted. I have resolved to do all I can to see her, to confess to +her, and to atone for my sin, even by a marriage. God help me. My soul +is at peace and I am full of joy." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MASLOVA RECALLS THE PAST. + +That night Maslova lay awake a long time with her eyes open looking at +the door, in front of which the deacon's daughter kept passing. She was +thinking that nothing would induce her to go to the island of Sakhalin +and marry a convict, but would arrange matters somehow with one of the +prison officials, the secretary, a warder, or even a warder's assistant. +"Aren't they all given that way? Only I must not get thin, or else I am +lost." + +She thought of how the advocate had looked at her, and also the +president, and of the men she met, and those who came in on purpose at +the court. She recollected how her companion, Bertha, who came to see +her in prison, had told her about the student whom she had "loved" while +she was with Kitaeva, and who had inquired about her, and pitied her +very much. She recalled many to mind, only not Nekhludoff. She never +brought back to mind the days of her childhood and youth, and her love +to Nekhludoff. That would have been too painful. These memories lay +untouched somewhere deep in her soul; she had forgotten him, and never +recalled and never even dreamt of him. To-day, in the court, she did not +recognise him, not only because when she last saw him he was in uniform, +without a beard, and had only a small moustache and thick, curly, though +short hair, and now was bald and bearded, but because she never thought +about him. She had buried his memory on that terrible dark night when +he, returning from the army, had passed by on the railway without +stopping to call on his aunts. Katusha then knew her condition. Up to +that night she did not consider the child that lay beneath her heart +a burden. But on that night everything changed, and the child became +nothing but a weight. + +His aunts had expected Nekhludoff, had asked him to come and see them in +passing, but he had telegraphed that he could not come, as he had to be +in Petersburg at an appointed time. When Katusha heard this she made up +her mind to go to the station and see him. The train was to pass by at +two o'clock in the night. Katusha having helped the old ladies to bed, +and persuaded a little girl, the cook's daughter, Mashka, to come with +her, put on a pair of old boots, threw a shawl over her head, gathered +up her dress, and ran to the station. + +It was a warm, rainy, and windy autumn night. The rain now pelted down +in warm, heavy drops, now stopped again. It was too dark to see the path +across the field, and in the wood it was pitch black, so that although +Katusha knew the way well, she got off the path, and got to the little +station where the train stopped for three minutes, not before, as she +had hoped, but after the second bell had been rung. Hurrying up the +platform, Katusha saw him at once at the windows of a first-class +carriage. Two officers sat opposite each other on the velvet-covered +seats, playing cards. This carriage was very brightly lit up; on the +little table between the seats stood two thick, dripping candles. He sat +in his closefitting breeches on the arm of the seat, leaning against +the back, and laughed. As soon as she recognised him she knocked at the +carriage window with her benumbed hand, but at that moment the last bell +rang, and the train first gave a backward jerk, and then gradually the +carriages began to move forward. One of the players rose with the cards +in his hand, and looked out. She knocked again, and pressed her face to +the window, but the carriage moved on, and she went alongside looking +in. The officer tried to lower the window, but could not. Nekhludoff +pushed him aside and began lowering it himself. The train went faster, +so that she had to walk quickly. The train went on still faster and the +window opened. The guard pushed her aside, and jumped in. Katusha ran +on, along the wet boards of the platform, and when she came to the end +she could hardly stop herself from falling as she ran down the steps +of the platform. She was running by the side of the railway, though the +first-class carriage had long passed her, and the second-class carriages +were gliding by faster, and at last the third-class carriages still +faster. But she ran on, and when the last carriage with the lamps at +the back had gone by, she had already reached the tank which fed the +engines, and was unsheltered from the wind, which was blowing her shawl +about and making her skirt cling round her legs. The shawl flew off her +head, but still she ran on. + +"Katerina Michaelovna, you've lost your shawl!" screamed the little +girl, who was trying to keep up with her. + +Katusha stopped, threw back her head, and catching hold of it with both +hands sobbed aloud. "Gone!" she screamed. + +"He is sitting in a velvet arm-chair and joking and drinking, in a +brightly lit carriage, and I, out here in the mud, in the darkness, in +the wind and the rain, am standing and weeping," she thought to herself; +and sat down on the ground, sobbing so loud that the little girl got +frightened, and put her arms round her, wet as she was. + +"Come home, dear," she said. + +"When a train passes--then under a carriage, and there will be an end," +Katusha was thinking, without heeding the girl. + +And she made up her mind to do it, when, as it always happens, when a +moment of quiet follows great excitement, he, the child--his child--made +himself known within her. Suddenly all that a moment before had been +tormenting her, so that it had seemed impossible to live, all her +bitterness towards him, and the wish to revenge herself, even by dying, +passed away; she grew quieter, got up, put the shawl on her head, and +went home. + +Wet, muddy, and quite exhausted, she returned, and from that day the +change which brought her where she now was began to operate in her soul. +Beginning from that dreadful night, she ceased believing in God and +in goodness. She had herself believed in God, and believed that other +people also believed in Him; but after that night she became convinced +that no one believed, and that all that was said about God and His +laws was deception and untruth. He whom she loved, and who had loved +her--yes, she knew that--had thrown her away; had abused her love. Yet +he was the best of all the people she knew. All the rest were still +worse. All that afterwards happened to her strengthened her in this +belief at every step. His aunts, the pious old ladies, turned her out +when she could no longer serve them as she used to. And of all those she +met, the women used her as a means of getting money, the men, from the +old police officer down to the warders of the prison, looked at her as +on an object for pleasure. And no one in the world cared for aught but +pleasure. In this belief the old author with whom she had come together +in the second year of her life of independence had strengthened her. He +had told her outright that it was this that constituted the happiness of +life, and he called it poetical and aesthetic. + +Everybody lived for himself only, for his pleasure, and all the talk +concerning God and righteousness was deception. And if sometimes doubts +arose in her mind and she wondered why everything was so ill-arranged +in the world that all hurt each other, and made each other suffer, she +thought it best not to dwell on it, and if she felt melancholy she could +smoke, or, better still, drink, and it would pass. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +SUNDAY IN PRISON--PREPARING FOR MASS. + +On Sunday morning at five o'clock, when a whistle sounded in the +corridor of the women's ward of the prison, Korableva, who was already +awake, called Maslova. + +"Oh, dear! life again," thought Maslova, with horror, involuntarily +breathing in the air that had become terribly noisome towards the +morning. She wished to fall asleep again, to enter into the region of +oblivion, but the habit of fear overcame sleepiness, and she sat up and +looked round, drawing her feet under her. The women had all got up; only +the elder children were still asleep. The spirit-trader was carefully +drawing a cloak from under the children, so as not to wake them. The +watchman's wife was hanging up the rags to dry that served the baby +as swaddling clothes, while the baby was screaming desperately in +Theodosia's arms, who was trying to quiet it. The consumptive woman was +coughing with her hands pressed to her chest, while the blood rushed to +her face, and she sighed loudly, almost screaming, in the intervals of +coughing. The fat, red-haired woman was lying on her back, with +knees drawn up, and loudly relating a dream. The old woman accused of +incendiarism was standing in front of the image, crossing herself and +bowing, and repeating the same words over and over again. The deacon's +daughter sat on the bedstead, looking before her, with a dull, sleepy +face. Khoroshavka was twisting her black, oily, coarse hair round her +fingers. The sound of slipshod feet was heard in the passage, and the +door opened to let in two convicts, dressed in jackets and grey trousers +that did not reach to their ankles. With serious, cross faces they +lifted the stinking tub and carried it out of the cell. The women went +out to the taps in the corridor to wash. There the red-haired woman +again began a quarrel with a woman from another cell. + +"Is it the solitary cell you want?" shouted an old jailer, slapping the +red-haired woman on her bare, fat back, so that it sounded through the +corridor. "You be quiet." + +"Lawks! the old one's playful," said the woman, taking his action for a +caress. + +"Now, then, be quick; get ready for the mass." Maslova had hardly time +to do her hair and dress when the inspector came with his assistants. + +"Come out for inspection," cried a jailer. + +Some more prisoners came out of other cells and stood in two rows along +the corridor; each woman had to place her hand on the shoulder of the +woman in front of her. They were all counted. + +After the inspection the woman warder led the prisoners to church. +Maslova and Theodosia were in the middle of a column of over a hundred +women, who had come out of different cells. All were dressed in white +skirts, white jackets, and wore white kerchiefs on their heads, except +a few who had their own coloured clothes on. These were wives who, with +their children, were following their convict husbands to Siberia. The +whole flight of stairs was filled by the procession. The patter of +softly-shod feet mingled with the voices and now and then a laugh. When +turning, on the landing, Maslova saw her enemy, Botchkova, in front, and +pointed out her angry face to Theodosia. At the bottom of the stairs the +women stopped talking. Bowing and crossing themselves, they entered the +empty church, which glistened with gilding. Crowding and pushing one +another, they took their places on the right. + +After the women came the men condemned to banishment, those serving +their term in the prison, and those exiled by their Communes; and, +coughing loudly, they took their stand, crowding the left side and the +middle of the church. + +On one side of the gallery above stood the men sentenced to penal +servitude in Siberia, who had been let into the church before the +others. Each of them had half his head shaved, and their presence was +indicated by the clanking of the chains on their feet. On the other side +of the gallery stood those in preliminary confinement, without chains, +their heads not shaved. + +The prison church had been rebuilt and ornamented by a rich merchant, +who spent several tens of thousands of roubles on it, and it glittered +with gay colours and gold. For a time there was silence in the church, +and only coughing, blowing of noses, the crying of babies, and now and +then the rattling of chains, was heard. But at last the convicts that +stood in the middle moved, pressed against each other, leaving a passage +in the centre of the church, down which the prison inspector passed to +take his place in front of every one in the nave. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THE PRISON CHURCH--BLIND LEADERS OF THE BLIND. + +The service began. + +It consisted of the following. The priest, having dressed in a strange +and very inconvenient garb, made of gold cloth, cut and arranged little +bits of bread on a saucer, and then put them into a cup with wine, +repeating at the same time different names and prayers. Meanwhile +the deacon first read Slavonic prayers, difficult to understand in +themselves, and rendered still more incomprehensible by being read very +fast, and then sang them turn and turn about with the convicts. The +contents of the prayers were chiefly the desire for the welfare of +the Emperor and his family. These petitions were repeated many times, +separately and together with other prayers, the people kneeling. Besides +this, several verses from the Acts of the Apostles were read by the +deacon in a peculiarly strained voice, which made it impossible to +understand what he read, and then the priest read very distinctly a +part of the Gospel according to St. Mark, in which it said that Christ, +having risen from the dead before flying up to heaven to sit down at His +Father's right hand, first showed Himself to Mary Magdalene, out of whom +He had driven seven devils, and then to eleven of His disciples, and +ordered them to preach the Gospel to the whole creation, and the priest +added that if any one did not believe this he would perish, but he that +believed it and was baptised should be saved, and should besides drive +out devils and cure people by laying his hands on them, should talk in +strange tongues, should take up serpents, and if he drank poison should +not die, but remain well. + +The essence of the service consisted in the supposition that the bits +cut up by the priest and put by him into the wine, when manipulated and +prayed over in a certain way, turned into the flesh and blood of God. + +These manipulations consisted in the priest's regularly lifting and +holding up his arms, though hampered by the gold cloth sack he had on, +then, sinking on to his knees and kissing the table and all that was on +it, but chiefly in his taking a cloth by two of its corners and waving +it regularly and softly over the silver saucer and golden cup. It was +supposed that, at this point, the bread and the wine turned into flesh +and blood; therefore, this part of the service was performed with the +greatest solemnity. + +"Now, to the blessed, most pure, and most holy Mother of God," the +priest cried from the golden partition which divided part of the church +from the rest, and the choir began solemnly to sing that it was very +right to glorify the Virgin Mary, who had borne Christ without losing +her virginity, and was therefore worthy of greater honour than some kind +of cherubim, and greater glory than some kind of seraphim. After this +the transformation was considered accomplished, and the priest having +taken the napkin off the saucer, cut the middle bit of bread in four, +and put it into the wine, and then into his mouth. He was supposed to +have eaten a bit of God's flesh and swallowed a little of His blood. +Then the priest drew a curtain, opened the middle door in the partition, +and, taking the gold cup in his hands, came out of the door, inviting +those who wished to do so also to come and eat some of God's flesh and +blood that was contained in the cup. A few children appeared to wish to +do so. + +After having asked the children their names, the priest carefully took +out of the cup, with a spoon, and shoved a bit of bread soaked in wine +deep into the mouth of each child in turn, and the deacon, while wiping +the children's mouths, sang, in a merry voice, that the children were +eating the flesh and drinking the blood of God. After this the priest +carried the cup back behind the partition, and there drank all the +remaining blood and ate up all the bits of flesh, and after having +carefully sucked his moustaches and wiped his mouth, he stepped briskly +from behind the partition, the soles of his calfskin boots creaking. +The principal part of this Christian service was now finished, but +the priest, wishing to comfort the unfortunate prisoners, added to the +ordinary service another. This consisted of his going up to the gilt +hammered-out image (with black face and hands) supposed to represent +the very God he had been eating, illuminated by a dozen wax candles, and +proceeding, in a strange, discordant voice, to hum or sing the following +words: + +"Jesu sweetest, glorified of the Apostles, Jesu lauded by the martyrs, +almighty Monarch, save me, Jesu my Saviour. Jesu, most beautiful, have +mercy on him who cries to Thee, Saviour Jesu. Born of prayer Jesu, all +thy saints, all thy prophets, save and find them worthy of the joys of +heaven. Jesu, lover of men." + +Then he stopped, drew breath, crossed himself, bowed to the ground, and +every one did the same--the inspector, the warders, the prisoners; and +from above the clinking of the chains sounded more unintermittently. +Then he continued: "Of angels the Creator and Lord of powers, Jesu most +wonderful, the angels' amazement, Jesu most powerful, of our forefathers +the Redeemer. Jesu sweetest, of patriarchs the praise. Jesu most +glorious, of kings the strength. Jesu most good, of prophets the +fulfilment. Jesu most amazing, of martyrs the strength. Jesu most +humble, of monks the joy. Jesu most merciful, of priests the sweetness. +Jesu most charitable, of the fasting the continence. Jesu most sweet, +of the just the joy. Jesu most pure, of the celibates the chastity. Jesu +before all ages of sinners the salvation. Jesu, son of God, have mercy +on me." + +Every time he repeated the word "Jesu" his voice became more and +more wheezy. At last he came to a stop, and holding up his silk-lined +cassock, and kneeling down on one knee, he stooped down to the ground +and the choir began to sing, repeating the words, "Jesu, Son of God, +have mercy on me," and the convicts fell down and rose again, shaking +back the hair that was left on their heads, and rattling with the chains +that were bruising their thin ankles. + +This continued for a long time. First came the glorification, which +ended with the words, "Have mercy on me." Then more glorifications, +ending with "Alleluia!" And the convicts made the sign of the cross, +and bowed, first at each sentence, then after every two and then after +three, and all were very glad when the glorification ended, and the +priest shut the book with a sigh of relief and retired behind the +partition. One last act remained. The priest took a large, gilt cross, +with enamel medallions at the ends, from a table, and came out into the +centre of the church with it. First the inspector came up and kissed +the cross, then the jailers, then the convicts, pushing and abusing +each other in whispers. The priest, talking to the inspector, pushed the +cross and his hand now against the mouths and now against the noses of +the convicts, who were trying to kiss both the cross and the hand of the +priest. And thus ended the Christian service, intended for the comfort +and the teaching of these strayed brothers. + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +THE HUSKS OF RELIGION. + +And none of those present, from the inspector down to Maslova, seemed +conscious of the fact that this Jesus, whose name the priest repeated +such a great number of times, and whom he praised with all these curious +expressions, had forbidden the very things that were being done there; +that He had prohibited not only this meaningless much-speaking and the +blasphemous incantation over the bread and wine, but had also, in the +clearest words, forbidden men to call other men their master, and to +pray in temples; and had ordered that every one should pray in solitude, +had forbidden to erect temples, saying that He had come to destroy +them, and that one should worship, not in a temple, but in spirit and +in truth; and, above all, that He had forbidden not only to judge, to +imprison, to torment, to execute men, as was being done here, but had +prohibited any kind of violence, saying that He had come to give freedom +to the captives. + +No one present seemed conscious that all that was going on here was the +greatest blasphemy and a supreme mockery of that same Christ in whose +name it was being done. No one seemed to realise that the gilt cross +with the enamel medallions at the ends, which the priest held out to the +people to be kissed, was nothing but the emblem of that gallows on which +Christ had been executed for denouncing just what was going on here. +That these priests, who imagined they were eating and drinking the body +and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine, did in reality eat +and drink His flesh and His blood, but not as wine and bits of bread, +but by ensnaring "these little ones" with whom He identified Himself, +by depriving them of the greatest blessings and submitting them to most +cruel torments, and by hiding from men the tidings of great joy which +He had brought. That thought did not enter into the mind of any one +present. + +The priest did his part with a quiet conscience, because he was brought +up from childhood to consider that the only true faith was the faith +which had been held by all the holy men of olden times and was still +held by the Church, and demanded by the State authorities. He did not +believe that the bread turned into flesh, that it was useful for the +soul to repeat so many words, or that he had actually swallowed a bit of +God. No one could believe this, but he believed that one ought to hold +this faith. What strengthened him most in this faith was the fact that, +for fulfilling the demands of this faith, he had for the last 15 years +been able to draw an income, which enabled him to keep his family, send +his son to a gymnasium and his daughter to a school for the daughters of +the clergy. The deacon believed in the same manner, and even more firmly +than the priest, for he had forgotten the substance of the dogmas of +this faith, and knew only that the prayers for the dead, the masses, +with and without the acathistus, all had a definite price, which real +Christians readily paid, and, therefore, he called out his "have mercy, +have mercy," very willingly, and read and said what was appointed, with +the same quiet certainty of its being necessary to do so with which +other men sell faggots, flour, or potatoes. The prison inspector and the +warders, though they had never understood or gone into the meaning of +these dogmas and of all that went on in church, believed that they must +believe, because the higher authorities and the Tsar himself believed in +it. Besides, though faintly (and themselves unable to explain why), they +felt that this faith defended their cruel occupations. If this faith +did not exist it would have been more difficult, perhaps impossible, for +them to use all their powers to torment people, as they were now doing, +with a quiet conscience. The inspector was such a kind-hearted man that +he could not have lived as he was now living unsupported by his faith. +Therefore, he stood motionless, bowed and crossed himself zealously, +tried to feel touched when the song about the cherubims was being sung, +and when the children received communion he lifted one of them, and held +him up to the priest with his own hands. + +The great majority of the prisoners believed that there lay a mystic +power in these gilt images, these vestments, candles, cups, crosses, +and this repetition of incomprehensible words, "Jesu sweetest" and "have +mercy"--a power through which might be obtained much convenience in this +and in the future life. Only a few clearly saw the deception that was +practised on the people who adhered to this faith, and laughed at it in +their hearts; but the majority, having made several attempts to get the +conveniences they desired, by means of prayers, masses, and candles, and +not having got them (their prayers remaining unanswered), were each of +them convinced that their want of success was accidental, and that +this organisation, approved by the educated and by archbishops, is very +important and necessary, if not for this, at any rate for the next life. + +Maslova also believed in this way. She felt, like the rest, a mixed +sensation of piety and dulness. She stood at first in a crowd behind a +railing, so that she could see no one but her companions; but when those +to receive communion moved on, she and Theodosia stepped to the front, +and they saw the inspector, and, behind him, standing among the warders, +a little peasant, with a very light beard and fair hair. This was +Theodosia's husband, and he was gazing with fixed eyes at his wife. +During the acathistus Maslova occupied herself in scrutinising him and +talking to Theodosia in whispers, and bowed and made the sign of the +cross only when every one else did. + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +VISITING DAY--THE MEN'S WARD. + +Nekhludoff left home early. A peasant from the country was still driving +along the side street and calling out in a voice peculiar to his trade, +"Milk! milk! milk!" + +The first warm spring rain had fallen the day before, and now wherever +the ground was not paved the grass shone green. The birch trees in the +gardens looked as if they were strewn with green fluff, the wild cherry +and the poplars unrolled their long, balmy buds, and in shops and +dwelling-houses the double window-frames were being removed and the +windows cleaned. + +In the Tolkoochi [literally, jostling market, where second-hand clothes +and all sorts of cheap goods are sold] market, which Nekhludoff had to +pass on his way, a dense crowd was surging along the row of booths, and +tattered men walked about selling top-boots, which they carried under +their arms, and renovated trousers and waistcoats, which hung over their +shoulders. + +Men in clean coats and shining boots, liberated from the factories, it +being Sunday, and women with bright silk kerchiefs on their heads and +cloth jackets trimmed with jet, were already thronging at the door of +the traktir. Policemen, with yellow cords to their uniforms and carrying +pistols, were on duty, looking out for some disorder which might +distract the ennui that oppressed them. On the paths of the boulevards +and on the newly-revived grass, children and dogs ran about, playing, +and the nurses sat merrily chattering on the benches. Along the streets, +still fresh and damp on the shady side, but dry in the middle, heavy +carts rumbled unceasingly, cabs rattled and tramcars passed ringing by. +The air vibrated with the pealing and clanging of church bells, that +were calling the people to attend to a service like that which was now +being conducted in the prison. And the people, dressed in their Sunday +best, were passing on their way to their different parish churches. + +The isvostchik did not drive Nekhludoff up to the prison itself, but to +the last turning that led to the prison. + +Several persons--men and women--most of them carrying small bundles, +stood at this turning, about 100 steps from the prison. To the right +there were several low wooden buildings; to the left, a two-storeyed +house with a signboard. The huge brick building, the prison proper, was +just in front, and the visitors were not allowed to come up to it. A +sentinel was pacing up and down in front of it, and shouted at any one +who tried to pass him. + +At the gate of the wooden buildings, to the right, opposite the +sentinel, sat a warder on a bench, dressed in uniform, with gold cords, +a notebook in his hands. The visitors came up to him, and named the +persons they wanted to see, and he put the names down. Nekhludoff also +went up, and named Katerina Maslova. The warder wrote down the name. + +"Why--don't they admit us yet?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"The service is going on. When the mass is over, you'll be admitted." + +Nekhludoff stepped aside from the waiting crowd. A man in tattered +clothes, crumpled hat, with bare feet and red stripes all over his face, +detached himself from the crowd, and turned towards the prison. + +"Now, then, where are you going?" shouted the sentinel with the gun. + +"And you hold your row," answered the tramp, not in the least abashed by +the sentinel's words, and turned back. "Well, if you'll not let me in, +I'll wait. But, no! Must needs shout, as if he were a general." + +The crowd laughed approvingly. The visitors were, for the greater +part, badly-dressed people; some were ragged, but there were also +some respectable-looking men and women. Next to Nekhludoff stood a +clean-shaven, stout, and red-cheeked man, holding a bundle, apparently +containing under-garments. This was the doorkeeper of a bank; he had +come to see his brother, who was arrested for forgery. The good-natured +fellow told Nekhludoff the whole story of his life, and was going to +question him in turn, when their attention was aroused by a student and +a veiled lady, who drove up in a trap, with rubber tyres, drawn by a +large thoroughbred horse. The student was holding a large bundle. He +came up to Nekhludoff, and asked if and how he could give the rolls he +had brought in alms to the prisoners. His fiancee wished it (this lady +was his fiancee), and her parents had advised them to take some rolls to +the prisoners. + +"I myself am here for the first time," said Nekhludoff, "and don't know; +but I think you had better ask this man," and he pointed to the warder +with the gold cords and the book, sitting on the right. + +As they were speaking, the large iron door with a window in it opened, +and an officer in uniform, followed by another warder, stepped out. +The warder with the notebook proclaimed that the admittance of visitors +would now commence. The sentinel stepped aside, and all the visitors +rushed to the door as if afraid of being too late; some even ran. At +the door there stood a warder who counted the visitors as they came +in, saying aloud, 16, 17, and so on. Another warder stood inside the +building and also counted the visitors as they entered a second door, +touching each one with his hand, so that when they went away again +not one visitor should be able to remain inside the prison and not +one prisoner might get out. The warder, without looking at whom he was +touching, slapped Nekhludoff on the back, and Nekhludoff felt hurt by +the touch of the warder's hand; but, remembering what he had come about, +he felt ashamed of feeling dissatisfied and taking offence. + +The first apartment behind the entrance doors was a large vaulted room +with iron bars to the small windows. In this room, which was called the +meeting-room, Nekhludoff was startled by the sight of a large picture of +the Crucifixion. + +"What's that for?" he thought, his mind involuntarily connecting the +subject of the picture with liberation and not with imprisonment. + +He went on, slowly letting the hurrying visitors pass before, and +experiencing a mingled feeling of horror at the evil-doers locked up in +this building, compassion for those who, like Katusha and the boy they +tried the day before, must be here though guiltless, and shyness and +tender emotion at the thought of the interview before him. The warder +at the other end of the meeting-room said something as they passed, but +Nekhludoff, absorbed by his own thoughts, paid no attention to him, and +continued to follow the majority of the visitors, and so got into the +men's part of the prison instead of the women's. + +Letting the hurrying visitors pass before him, he was the last to get +into the interviewing-room. As soon as Nekhludoff opened the door of +this room, he was struck by the deafening roar of a hundred voices +shouting at once, the reason of which he did not at once understand. But +when he came nearer to the people, he saw that they were all pressing +against a net that divided the room in two, like flies settling on +sugar, and he understood what it meant. The two halves of the room, +the windows of which were opposite the door he had come in by, were +separated, not by one, but by two nets reaching from the floor to the +ceiling. The wire nets were stretched 7 feet apart, and soldiers were +walking up and down the space between them. On the further side of the +nets were the prisoners, on the nearer, the visitors. Between them was +a double row of nets and a space of 7 feet wide, so that they could not +hand anything to one another, and any one whose sight was not very +good could not even distinguish the face on the other side. It was also +difficult to talk; one had to scream in order to be heard. + +On both sides were faces pressed close to the nets, faces of wives, +husbands, fathers, mothers, children, trying to see each other's +features and to say what was necessary in such a way as to be +understood. + +But as each one tried to be heard by the one he was talking to, and +his neighbour tried to do the same, they did their best to drown each +other's voices' and that was the cause of the din and shouting which +struck Nekhludoff when he first came in. It was impossible to understand +what was being said and what were the relations between the different +people. Next Nekhludoff an old woman with a kerchief on her head stood +trembling, her chin pressed close to the net, and shouting something to +a young fellow, half of whose head was shaved, who listened attentively +with raised brows. By the side of the old woman was a young man in +a peasant's coat, who listened, shaking his head, to a boy very like +himself. Next stood a man in rags, who shouted, waving his arm and +laughing. Next to him a woman, with a good woollen shawl on her +shoulders, sat on the floor holding a baby in her lap and crying +bitterly. This was apparently the first time she saw the greyheaded man +on the other side in prison clothes, and with his head shaved. Beyond +her was the doorkeeper, who had spoken to Nekhludoff outside; he was +shouting with all his might to a greyhaired convict on the other side. + +When Nekhludoff found that he would have to speak in similar conditions, +a feeling of indignation against those who were able to make and enforce +these conditions arose in him; he was surprised that, placed in such +a dreadful position, no one seemed offended at this outrage on human +feelings. The soldiers, the inspector, the prisoners themselves, acted +as if acknowledging all this to be necessary. + +Nekhludoff remained in this room for about five minutes, feeling +strangely depressed, conscious of how powerless he was, and at variance +with all the world. He was seized with a curious moral sensation like +seasickness. + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +VISITING DAY--THE WOMEN'S WARD. + +"Well, but I must do what I came here for," he said, trying to pick up +courage. "What is to be done now?" He looked round for an official, and +seeing a thin little man in the uniform of an officer going up and down +behind the people, he approached him. + +"Can you tell me, sir," he said, with exceedingly strained politeness of +manner, "where the women are kept, and where one is allowed to interview +them?" + +"Is it the women's ward you want to go to?" + +"Yes, I should like to see one of the women prisoners," Nekhludoff said, +with the same strained politeness. + +"You should have said so when you were in the hall. Who is it, then, +that you want to see?" + +"I want to see a prisoner called Katerina Maslova." + +"Is she a political one?" + +"No, she is simply . . ." + +"What! Is she sentenced?" + +"Yes; the day before yesterday she was sentenced," meekly answered +Nekhludoff, fearing to spoil the inspector's good humour, which seemed +to incline in his favour. + +"If you want to go to the women's ward please to step this way," said +the officer, having decided from Nekhludoff's appearance that he was +worthy of attention. "Sideroff, conduct the gentleman to the women's +ward," he said, turning to a moustached corporal with medals on his +breast. + +"Yes, sir." + +At this moment heart-rending sobs were heard coming from some one near +the net. + +Everything here seemed strange to Nekhludoff; but strangest of all was +that he should have to thank and feel obligation towards the inspector +and the chief warders, the very men who were performing the cruel deeds +that were done in this house. + +The corporal showed Nekhludoff through the corridor, out of the men's +into the women's interviewing-room. + +This room, like that of the men, was divided by two wire nets; but it +was much smaller, and there were fewer visitors and fewer prisoners, so +that there was less shouting than in the men's room. Yet the same thing +was going on here, only, between the nets instead of soldiers there was +a woman warder, dressed in a blue-edged uniform jacket, with gold cords +on the sleeves, and a blue belt. Here also, as in the men's room, the +people were pressing close to the wire netting on both sides; on the +nearer side, the townspeople in varied attire; on the further side, the +prisoners, some in white prison clothes, others in their own coloured +dresses. The whole length of the net was taken up by the people standing +close to it. Some rose on tiptoe to be heard across the heads of others; +some sat talking on the floor. + +The most remarkable of the prisoners, both by her piercing screams and +her appearance, was a thin, dishevelled gipsy. Her kerchief had slipped +off her curly hair, and she stood near a post in the middle of the +prisoner's division, shouting something, accompanied by quick gestures, +to a gipsy man in a blue coat, girdled tightly below the waist. Next +the gipsy man, a soldier sat on the ground talking to prisoner; next the +soldier, leaning close to the net, stood a young peasant, with a fair +beard and a flushed face, keeping back his tears with difficulty. A +pretty, fair-haired prisoner, with bright blue eyes, was speaking to +him. These two were Theodosia and her husband. Next to them was a tramp, +talking to a broad-faced woman; then two women, then a man, then again a +woman, and in front of each a prisoner. Maslova was not among them. But +some one stood by the window behind the prisoners, and Nekhludoff knew +it was she. His heart began to beat faster, and his breath stopped. The +decisive moment was approaching. He went up to the part of the net where +he could see the prisoner, and recognised her at once. She stood behind +the blue-eyed Theodosia, and smiled, listening to what Theodosia was +saying. She did not wear the prison cloak now, but a white dress, +tightly drawn in at the waist by a belt, and very full in the bosom. +From under her kerchief appeared the black ringlets of her fringe, just +the same as in the court. + +"Now, in a moment it will be decided," he thought. + +"How shall I call her? Or will she come herself?" + +She was expecting Bertha; that this man had come to see her never +entered her head. + +"Whom do you want?" said the warder who was walking between the nets, +coming up to Nekhludoff. + +"Katerina Maslova," Nekhludoff uttered, with difficulty. + +"Katerina Maslova, some one to see you," cried the warder. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +NEKHLUDOFF VISITS MASLOVA. + +Maslova looked round, and with head thrown back and expanded chest, +came up to the net with that expression of readiness which he well +knew, pushed in between two prisoners, and gazed at Nekhludoff with a +surprised and questioning look. But, concluding from his clothing he was +a rich man, she smiled. + +"Is it me you want?" she asked, bringing her smiling face, with the +slightly squinting eyes, nearer the net. + +"I, I--I wished to see--" Nekhludoff did not know how to address her. "I +wished to see you--I--" He was not speaking louder than usual. + +"No; nonsense, I tell you!" shouted the tramp who stood next to him. +"Have you taken it or not?" + +"Dying, I tell you; what more do you want?" some one else was screaming +at his other side. Maslova could not hear what Nekhludoff was saying, +but the expression of his face as he was speaking reminded her of him. +She did not believe her own eyes; still the smile vanished from her face +and a deep line of suffering appeared on her brow. + +"I cannot hear what you are saying," she called out, wrinkling her brow +and frowning more and more. + +"I have come," said Nekhludoff. "Yes, I am doing my duty--I am +confessing," thought Nekhludoff; and at this thought the tears came in +his eyes, and he felt a choking sensation in his throat, and holding on +with both hands to the net, he made efforts to keep from bursting into +tears. + +"I say, why do you shove yourself in where you're not wanted?" some one +shouted at one side of him. + +"God is my witness; I know nothing," screamed a prisoner from the other +side. + +Noticing his excitement, Maslova recognised him. + +"You're like . . . but no; I don't know you," she shouted, without +looking at him, and blushing, while her face grew still more stern. + +"I have come to ask you to forgive me," he said, in a loud but +monotonous voice, like a lesson learnt by heart. Having said these words +he became confused; but immediately came the thought that, if he felt +ashamed, it was all the better; he had to bear this shame, and he +continued in a loud voice: + +"Forgive me; I have wronged you terribly." + +She stood motionless and without taking her squinting eyes off him. + +He could not continue to speak, and stepping away from the net he tried +to suppress the sobs that were choking him. + +The inspector, the same officer who had directed Nekhludoff to the +women's ward, and whose interest he seemed to have aroused, came into +the room, and, seeing Nekhludoff not at the net, asked him why he was +not talking to her whom he wanted to see. Nekhludoff blew his nose, gave +himself a shake, and, trying to appear calm, said: + +"It's so inconvenient through these nets; nothing can be heard." + +Again the inspector considered for a moment. + +"Ah, well, she can be brought out here for awhile. Mary Karlovna," +turning to the warder, "lead Maslova out." + +A minute later Maslova came out of the side door. Stepping softly, she +came up close to Nekhludoff, stopped, and looked up at him from under +her brows. Her black hair was arranged in ringlets over her forehead in +the same way as it had been two days ago; her face, though unhealthy and +puffy, was attractive, and looked perfectly calm, only the glittering +black eyes glanced strangely from under the swollen lids. + +"You may talk here," said the inspector, and shrugging his shoulders he +stepped aside with a look of surprise. Nekhludoff moved towards a seat +by the wall. + +Maslova cast a questioning look at the inspector, and then, shrugging +her shoulders in surprise, followed Nekhludoff to the bench, and having +arranged her skirt, sat down beside him. + +"I know it is hard for you to forgive me," he began, but stopped. His +tears were choking him. "But though I can't undo the past, I shall now +do what is in my power. Tell me--" + +"How have you managed to find me?" she said, without answering his +question, neither looking away from him nor quite at him, with her +squinting eyes. + +"O God, help me! Teach me what to do," Nekhludoff thought, looking at +her changed face. "I was on the jury the day before yesterday," he said. +"You did not recognise me?" + +"No, I did not; there was not time for recognitions. I did not even +look," she said. + +"There was a child, was there not?" he asked. + +"Thank God! he died at once," she answered, abruptly and viciously. + +"What do you mean? Why?" + +"I was so ill myself, I nearly died," she said, in the same quiet voice, +which Nekhludoff had not expected and could not understand. + +"How could my aunts have let you go?" + +"Who keeps a servant that has a baby? They sent me off as soon as +they noticed. But why speak of this? I remember nothing. That's all +finished." + +"No, it is not finished; I wish to redeem my sin." + +"There's nothing to redeem. What's been has been and is passed," she +said; and, what he never expected, she looked at him and smiled in an +unpleasantly luring, yet piteous, manner. + +Maslova never expected to see him again, and certainly not here and not +now; therefore, when she first recognised him, she could not keep back +the memories which she never wished to revive. In the first moment she +remembered dimly that new, wonderful world of feeling and of thought +which had been opened to her by the charming young man who loved her +and whom she loved, and then his incomprehensible cruelty and the whole +string of humiliations and suffering which flowed from and followed that +magic joy. This gave her pain, and, unable to understand it, she did +what she was always in the habit of doing, she got rid of these memories +by enveloping them in the mist of a depraved life. In the first moment, +she associated the man now sitting beside her with the lad she had +loved; but feeling that this gave her pain, she dissociated them again. +Now, this well-dressed, carefully-got-up gentleman with perfumed beard +was no longer the Nekhludoff whom she had loved but only one of the +people who made use of creatures like herself when they needed them, +and whom creatures like herself had to make use of in their turn as +profitably as they could; and that is why she looked at him with a +luring smile and considered silently how she could best make use of him. + +"That's all at an end," she said. "Now I'm condemned to Siberia," and +her lip trembled as she was saying this dreadful word. + +"I knew; I was certain you were not guilty," said Nekhludoff. + +"Guilty! of course not; as if I could be a thief or a robber." She +stopped, considering in what way she could best get something out of +him. + +"They say here that all depends on the advocate," she began. "A petition +should be handed in, only they say it's expensive." + +"Yes, most certainly," said Nekhludoff. "I have already spoken to an +advocate." + +"No money ought to be spared; it should be a good one," she said. + +"I shall do all that is possible." + +They were silent, and then she smiled again in the same way. + +"And I should like to ask you . . . a little money if you can . . . not +much; ten roubles, I do not want more," she said, suddenly. + +"Yes, yes," Nekhludoff said, with a sense of confusion, and felt for his +purse. + +She looked rapidly at the inspector, who was walking up and down the +room. "Don't give it in front of him; he'd take it away." + +Nekhludoff took out his purse as soon as the inspector had turned his +back; but had no time to hand her the note before the inspector faced +them again, so he crushed it up in his hand. + +"This woman is dead," Nekhludoff thought, looking at this once sweet, +and now defiled, puffy face, lit up by an evil glitter in the black, +squinting eyes which were now glancing at the hand in which he held +the note, then following the inspector's movements, and for a moment he +hesitated. The tempter that had been speaking to him in the night again +raised its voice, trying to lead him out of the realm of his inner into +the realm of his outer life, away from the question of what he should +do to the question of what the consequences would be, and what would be +practical. + +"You can do nothing with this woman," said the voice; "you will only +tie a stone round your neck, which will help to drown you and hinder you +from being useful to others. + +"Is it not better to give her all the money that is here, say good-bye, +and finish with her forever?" whispered the voice. + +But here he felt that now, at this very moment, something most important +was taking place in his soul--that his inner life was, as it were, +wavering in the balance, so that the slightest effort would make it sink +to this side or the other. And he made this effort by calling to his +assistance that God whom he had felt in his soul the day before, and +that God instantly responded. He resolved to tell her everything now--at +once. + +"Katusha, I have come to ask you to forgive me, and you have given me no +answer. Have you forgiven me? Will you ever forgive me?" he asked. + +She did not listen to him, but looked at his hand and at the inspector, +and when the latter turned she hastily stretched out her hand, grasped +the note, and hid it under her belt. + +"That's odd, what you are saying there," she said, with a smile of +contempt, as it seemed to him. + +Nekhludoff felt that there was in her soul one who was his enemy and who +was protecting her, such as she was now, and preventing him from getting +at her heart. But, strange to say, this did not repel him, but drew him +nearer to her by some fresh, peculiar power. He knew that he must waken +her soul, that this was terribly difficult, but the very difficulty +attracted him. He now felt towards her as he had never felt towards her +or any one else before. There was nothing personal in this feeling: he +wanted nothing from her for himself, but only wished that she might not +remain as she now was, that she might awaken and become again what she +had been. + +"Katusha, why do you speak like that? I know you; I remember you--and +the old days in Papovo." + +"What's the use of recalling what's past?" she remarked, drily. + +"I am recalling it in order to put it right, to atone for my sin, +Katusha," and he was going to say that he would marry her, but, +meeting her eyes, he read in them something so dreadful, so coarse, so +repellent, that he could not go on. + +At this moment the visitors began to go. The inspector came up to +Nekhludoff and said that the time was up. + +"Good-bye; I have still much to say to you, but you see it is impossible +to do so now," said Nekhludoff, and held out his hand. "I shall come +again." + +"I think you have said all." + +She took his hand but did not press it. + +"No; I shall try to see you again, somewhere where we can talk, and then +I shall tell you what I have to say-something very important." + +"Well, then, come; why not?" she answered, and smiled with that +habitual, inviting, and promising smile which she gave to the men whom +she wished to please. + +"You are more than a sister to me," said Nekhludoff. + +"That's odd," she said again, and went behind the grating. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +MASLOVA'S VIEW OF LIFE. + +Before the first interview, Nekhludoff thought that when she saw him +and knew of his intention to serve her, Katusha would be pleased and +touched, and would be Katusha again; but, to his horror, he found +that Katusha existed no more, and there was Maslova in her place. This +astonished and horrified him. + +What astonished him most was that Katusha was not ashamed of her +position--not the position of a prisoner (she was ashamed of that), but +her position as a prostitute. She seemed satisfied, even proud of it. +And, yet, how could it be otherwise? Everybody, in order to be able to +act, has to consider his occupation important and good. Therefore, in +whatever position a person is, he is certain to form such a view of the +life of men in general which will make his occupation seem important and +good. + +It is usually imagined that a thief, a murderer, a spy, a prostitute, +acknowledging his or her profession as evil, is ashamed of it. But the +contrary is true. People whom fate and their sin-mistakes have placed in +a certain position, however false that position may be, form a view of +life in general which makes their position seem good and admissible. In +order to keep up their view of life, these people instinctively keep to +the circle of those people who share their views of life and their own +place in it. This surprises us, where the persons concerned are thieves, +bragging about their dexterity, prostitutes vaunting their depravity, or +murderers boasting of their cruelty. This surprises us only because the +circle, the atmosphere in which these people live, is limited, and we +are outside it. But can we not observe the same phenomenon when the rich +boast of their wealth, i.e., robbery; the commanders in the army pride +themselves on victories, i.e., murder; and those in high places vaunt +their power, i.e., violence? We do not see the perversion in the views +of life held by these people, only because the circle formed by them is +more extensive, and we ourselves are moving inside of it. + +And in this manner Maslova had formed her views of life and of her own +position. She was a prostitute condemned to Siberia, and yet she had a +conception of life which made it possible for her to be satisfied with +herself, and even to pride herself on her position before others. + +According to this conception, the highest good for all men without +exception--old, young, schoolboys, generals, educated and uneducated, +was connected with the relation of the sexes; therefore, all men, even +when they pretended to be occupied with other things, in reality +took this view. She was an attractive woman, and therefore she was an +important and necessary person. The whole of her former and present life +was a confirmation of the correctness of this conception. + +With such a view of life, she was by no means the lowest, but a very +important person. And Maslova prized this view of life more than +anything; she could not but prize it, for, if she lost the importance +that such a view of life gave her among men, she would lose the meaning +of her life. And, in order not to lose the meaning of her life, she +instinctively clung to the set that looked at life in the same way as +she did. Feeling that Nekhludoff wanted to lead her out into another +world, she resisted him, foreseeing that she would have to lose her +place in life, with the self-possession and self-respect it gave her. +For this reason she drove from her the recollections of her early youth +and her first relations with Nekhludoff. These recollections did not +correspond with her present conception of the world, and were therefore +quite rubbed out of her mind, or, rather, lay somewhere buried and +untouched, closed up and plastered over so that they should not escape, +as when bees, in order to protect the result of their labour, will +sometimes plaster a nest of worms. Therefore, the present Nekhludoff +was not the man she had once loved with a pure love, but only a rich +gentleman whom she could, and must, make use of, and with whom she could +only have the same relations as with men in general. + +"No, I could not tell her the chief thing," thought Nekhludoff, moving +towards the front doors with the rest of the people. "I did not tell her +that I would marry her; I did not tell her so, but I will," he thought. + +The two warders at the door let out the visitors, counting them again, +and touching each one with their hands, so that no extra person should +go out, and none remain within. The slap on his shoulder did not offend +Nekhludoff this time; he did not even notice it. + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +FANARIN, THE ADVOCATE--THE PETITION. + +Nekhludoff meant to rearrange the whole of his external life, to let +his large house and move to an hotel, but Agraphena Petrovna pointed out +that it was useless to change anything before the winter. No one would +rent a town house for the summer; anyhow, he would have to live and keep +his things somewhere. And so all his efforts to change his manner +of life (he meant to live more simply: as the students live) led to +nothing. Not only did everything remain as it was, but the house was +suddenly filled with new activity. All that was made of wool or fur was +taken out to be aired and beaten. The gate-keeper, the boy, the cook, +and Corney himself took part in this activity. All sorts of strange +furs, which no one ever used, and various uniforms were taken out and +hung on a line, then the carpets and furniture were brought out, and the +gate-keeper and the boy rolled their sleeves up their muscular arms and +stood beating these things, keeping strict time, while the rooms were +filled with the smell of naphthaline. + +When Nekhludoff crossed the yard or looked out of the window and saw +all this going on, he was surprised at the great number of things there +were, all quite useless. Their only use, Nekhludoff thought, was the +providing of exercise for Agraphena Petrovna, Corney, the gate-keeper, +the boy, and the cook. + +"But it's not worth while altering my manner of life now," he thought, +"while Maslova's case is not decided. Besides, it is too difficult. It +will alter of itself when she will be set free or exiled, and I follow +her." + +On the appointed day Nekhludoff drove up to the advocate Fanarin's own +splendid house, which was decorated with huge palms and other plants, +and wonderful curtains, in fact, with all the expensive luxury +witnessing to the possession of much idle money, i.e., money acquired +without labour, which only those possess who grow rich suddenly. In +the waiting-room, just as in a doctor's waiting-room, he found many +dejected-looking people sitting round several tables, on which lay +illustrated papers meant to amuse them, awaiting their turns to be +admitted to the advocate. The advocate's assistant sat in the room at a +high desk, and having recognised Nekhludoff, he came up to him and said +he would go and announce him at once. But the assistant had not reached +the door before it opened and the sounds of loud, animated voices were +heard; the voice of a middle-aged, sturdy merchant, with a red face and +thick moustaches, and the voice of Fanarin himself. Fanarin was also +a middle-aged man of medium height, with a worn look on his face. Both +faces bore the expression which you see on the faces of those who have +just concluded a profitable but not quite honest transaction. + +"Your own fault, you know, my dear sir," Fanarin said, smiling. + +"We'd all be in 'eaven were it not for hour sins." + +"Oh, yes, yes; we all know that," and both laughed un-naturally. + +"Oh, Prince Nekhludoff! Please to step in," said Fanarin, seeing him, +and, nodding once more to the merchant, he led Nekhludoff into his +business cabinet, furnished in a severely correct style. + +"Won't you smoke?" said the advocate, sitting down opposite Nekhludoff +and trying to conceal a smile, apparently still excited by the success +of the accomplished transaction. + +"Thanks; I have come about Maslova's case." + +"Yes, yes; directly! But oh, what rogues these fat money bags are!" +he said. "You saw this here fellow. Why, he has about twelve million +roubles, and he cannot speak correctly; and if he can get a twenty-five +rouble note out of you he'll have it, if he's to wrench it out with his +teeth." + +"He says ''eaven' and 'hour,' and you say 'this here fellow,'" +Nekhludoff thought, with an insurmountable feeling of aversion towards +this man who wished to show by his free and easy manner that he and +Nekhludoff belonged to one and the same camp, while his other clients +belonged to another. + +"He has worried me to death--a fearful scoundrel. I felt I must relieve +my feelings," said the advocate, as if to excuse his speaking about +things that had no reference to business. "Well, how about your case? +I have read it attentively, but do not approve of it. I mean that +greenhorn of an advocate has left no valid reason for an appeal." + +"Well, then, what have you decided?" + +"One moment. Tell him," he said to his assistant, who had just come in, +"that I keep to what I have said. If he can, it's all right; if not, no +matter." + +"But he won't agree." + +"Well, no matter," and the advocate frowned. + +"There now, and it is said that we advocates get our money for nothing," +he remarked, after a pause. "I have freed one insolvent debtor from a +totally false charge, and now they all flock to me. Yet every such case +costs enormous labour. Why, don't we, too, 'lose bits of flesh in the +inkstand?' as some writer or other has said. Well, as to your case, or, +rather, the case you are taking an interest in. It has been conducted +abominably. There is no good reason for appealing. Still," he continued, +"we can but try to get the sentence revoked. This is what I have noted +down." He took up several sheets of paper covered with writing, and +began to read rapidly, slurring over the uninteresting legal terms and +laying particular stress on some sentences. "To the Court of Appeal, +criminal department, etc., etc. According to the decisions, etc., the +verdict, etc., So-and-so Maslova pronounced guilty of having caused the +death through poison of the merchant Smelkoff, and has, according to +Statute 1454 of the penal code, been sentenced to Siberia," etc., etc. +He stopped. Evidently, in spite of his being so used to it, he still +felt pleasure in listening to his own productions. "This sentence is +the direct result of the most glaring judicial perversion and error," +he continued, impressively, "and there are grounds for its revocation. +Firstly, the reading of the medical report of the examination of +Smelkoff's intestines was interrupted by the president at the very +beginning. This is point one." + +"But it was the prosecuting side that demanded this reading," Nekhludoff +said, with surprise. + +"That does not matter. There might have been reasons for the defence to +demand this reading, too." + +"Oh, but there could have been no reason whatever for that." + +"It is a ground for appeal, though. To continue: 'Secondly,' he went +on reading, 'when Maslova's advocate, in his speech for the defence, +wishing to characterise Maslova's personality, referred to the causes of +her fall, he was interrupted by the president calling him to order +for the alleged deviation from the direct subject. Yet, as has been +repeatedly pointed out by the Senate, the elucidation of the criminal's +characteristics and his or her moral standpoint in general has a +significance of the first importance in criminal cases, even if only +as a guide in the settling of the question of imputation.' That's point +two," he said, with a look at Nekhludoff. + +"But he spoke so badly that no one could make anything of it," +Nekhludoff said, still more astonished. + +"The fellow's quite a fool, and of course could not be expected to say +anything sensible," Fanarin said, laughing; "but, all the same, it will +do as a reason for appeal. Thirdly: 'The president, in his summing up, +contrary to the direct decree of section 1, statute 801, of the criminal +code, omitted to inform the jury what the judicial points are that +constitute guilt; and did not mention that having admitted the fact of +Maslova having administered the poison to Smelkoff, the jury had a right +not to impute the guilt of murder to her, since the proofs of wilful +intent to deprive Smelkoff of life were absent, and only to pronounce +her guilty of carelessness resulting in the death of the merchant, which +she did not desire.' This is the chief point." + +"Yes; but we ought to have known that ourselves. It was our mistake." + +"And now the fourth point," the advocate continued. "The form of the +answer given by the jury contained an evident contradiction. Maslova +is accused of wilfully poisoning Smelkoff, her one object being that of +cupidity, the only motive to commit murder she could have had. The jury +in their verdict acquit her of the intent to rob, or participation in +the stealing of valuables, from which it follows that they intended +also to acquit her of the intent to murder, and only through a +misunderstanding, which arose from the incompleteness of the president's +summing up, omitted to express it in due form in their answer. Therefore +an answer of this kind by the jury absolutely demanded the application +of statutes 816 and 808 of the criminal code of procedure, i.e., an +explanation by the president to the jury of the mistake made by them, +and another debate on the question of the prisoner's guilt." + +"Then why did the president not do it?" + +"I, too, should like to know why," Fanarin said, laughing. + +"Then the Senate will, of course, correct this error?" + +"That will all depend on who will preside there at the time. Well, now, +there it is. I have further said," he continued, rapidly, "a verdict of +this kind gave the Court no right to condemn Maslova to be punished as +a criminal, and to apply section 3, statute 771 of the penal code to her +case. This is a decided and gross violation of the basic principles of +our criminal law. In view of the reasons stated, I have the honour of +appealing to you, etc., etc., the refutation, according to 909, 910, and +section 2, 912 and 928 statute of the criminal code, etc., etc. . . . +to carry this case before another department of the same Court for a +further examination. There; all that can be done is done, but, to be +frank, I have little hope of success, though, of course, it all depends +on what members will be present at the Senate. If you have any influence +there you can but try." + +"I do know some." + +"All right; only be quick about it. Else they'll all go off for a change +of air; then you may have to wait three months before they return. Then, +in case of failure, we have still the possibility of appealing to His +Majesty. This, too, depends on the private influence you can bring to +work. In this case, too, I am at your service; I mean as to the working +of the petition, not the influence." + +"Thank you. Now as to your fees?" + +"My assistant will hand you the petition and tell you." + +"One thing more. The Procureur gave me a pass for visiting this person +in prison, but they tell me I must also get a permission from the +governor in order to get an interview at another time and in another +place than those appointed. Is this necessary?" + +"Yes, I think so. But the governor is away at present; a vice-governor +is in his place. And he is such an impenetrable fool that you'll +scarcely be able to do anything with him." + +"Is it Meslennikoff?" + +"Yes." + +"I know him," said Nekhludoff, and got up to go. At this moment a +horribly ugly, little, bony, snub-nosed, yellow-faced woman flew into +the room. It was the advocate's wife, who did not seem to be in the +least bit troubled by her ugliness. She was attired in the most original +manner; she seemed enveloped in something made of velvet and silk, +something yellow and green, and her thin hair was crimped. + +She stepped out triumphantly into the ante-room, followed by a tall, +smiling man, with a greenish complexion, dressed in a coat with silk +facings, and a white tie. This was an author. Nekhludoff knew him by +sight. + +She opened the cabinet door and said, "Anatole, you must come to +me. Here is Simeon Ivanovitch, who will read his poems, and you must +absolutely come and read about Garshin." + +Nekhludoff noticed that she whispered something to her husband, and, +thinking it was something concerning him, wished to go away, but she +caught him up and said: "I beg your pardon, Prince, I know you, and, +thinking an introduction superfluous, I beg you to stay and take part +in our literary matinee. It will be most interesting. M. Fanarin will +read." + +"You see what a lot I have to do," said Fanarin, spreading out his hands +and smilingly pointing to his wife, as if to show how impossible it was +to resist so charming a creature. + +Nekhludoff thanked the advocate's wife with extreme politeness for the +honour she did him in inviting him, but refused the invitation with a +sad and solemn look, and left the room. + +"What an affected fellow!" said the advocate's wife, when he had gone +out. + +In the ante-room the assistant handed him a ready-written petition, +and said that the fees, including the business with the Senate and the +commission, would come to 1,000 roubles, and explained that M. Fanarin +did not usually undertake this kind of business, but did it only to +oblige Nekhludoff. + +"And about this petition. Who is to sign it?" + +"The prisoner may do it herself, or if this is inconvenient, M. Fanarin +can, if he gets a power of attorney from her." + +"Oh, no. I shall take the petition to her and get her to sign it," said +Nekhludoff, glad of the opportunity of seeing her before the appointed +day. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +A PRISON FLOGGING. + +At the usual time the jailer's whistle sounded in the corridors of the +prison, the iron doors of the cells rattled, bare feet pattered, heels +clattered, and the prisoners who acted as scavengers passed along the +corridors, filling the air with disgusting smells. The prisoners washed, +dressed, and came out for revision, then went to get boiling water for +their tea. + +The conversation at breakfast in all the cells was very lively. It was +all about two prisoners who were to be flogged that day. One, Vasiliev, +was a young man of some education, a clerk, who had killed his mistress +in a fit of jealousy. His fellow-prisoners liked him because he +was merry and generous and firm in his behaviour with the prison +authorities. He knew the laws and insisted on their being carried out. +Therefore he was disliked by the authorities. Three weeks before a +jailer struck one of the scavengers who had spilt some soup over his new +uniform. Vasiliev took the part of the scavenger, saying that it was not +lawful to strike a prisoner. + +"I'll teach you the law," said the jailer, and gave Vasiliev a scolding. +Vasiliev replied in like manner, and the jailer was going to hit him, +but Vasiliev seized the jailer's hands, held them fast for about three +minutes, and, after giving the hands a twist, pushed the jailer out of +the door. The jailer complained to the inspector, who ordered Vasiliev +to be put into a solitary cell. + +The solitary cells were a row of dark closets, locked from outside, and +there were neither beds, nor chairs, nor tables in them, so that the +inmates had to sit or lie on the dirty floor, while the rats, of which +there were a great many in those cells, ran across them. The rats were +so bold that they stole the bread from the prisoners, and even attacked +them if they stopped moving. Vasiliev said he would not go into the +solitary cell, because he had not done anything wrong; but they used +force. Then he began struggling, and two other prisoners helped him to +free himself from the jailers. All the jailers assembled, and among them +was Petrov, who was distinguished for his strength. The prisoners got +thrown down and pushed into the solitary cells. + +The governor was immediately informed that something very like a +rebellion had taken place. And he sent back an order to flog the two +chief offenders, Vasiliev and the tramp, Nepomnishy, giving each thirty +strokes with a birch rod. The flogging was appointed to take place in +the women's interviewing-room. + +All this was known in the prison since the evening, and it was being +talked about with animation in all the cells. + +Korableva, Khoroshevka, Theodosia, and Maslova sat together in their +corner, drinking tea, all of them flushed and animated by the vodka they +had drunk, for Maslova, who now had a constant supply of vodka, freely +treated her companions to it. + +"He's not been a-rioting, or anything," Korableva said, referring to +Vasiliev, as she bit tiny pieces off a lump of sugar with her strong +teeth. "He only stuck up for a chum, because it's not lawful to strike +prisoners nowadays." + +"And he's a fine fellow, I've heard say," said Theodosia, who sat +bareheaded, with her long plaits round her head, on a log of wood +opposite the shelf bedstead on which the teapot stood. + +"There, now, if you were to ask _him_," the watchman's wife said to +Maslova (by him she meant Nekhludoff). + +"I shall tell him. He'll do anything for me," Maslova said, tossing her +head, and smiling. + +"Yes, but when is he coming? and they've already gone to fetch them," +said Theodosia. "It is terrible," she added, with a sigh. + +"I once did see how they flogged a peasant in the village. +Father-in-law, he sent me once to the village elder. Well, I went, +and there . . . " The watchman's wife began her long story, which was +interrupted by the sound of voices and steps in the corridor above them. + +The women were silent, and sat listening. + +"There they are, hauling him along, the devils!" Khoroshavka said. +"They'll do him to death, they will. The jailers are so enraged with him +because he never would give in to them." + +All was quiet again upstairs, and the watchman's wife finished her story +of how she was that frightened when she went into the barn and saw +them flogging a peasant, her inside turned at the sight, and so on. +Khoroshevka related how Schegloff had been flogged, and never uttered +a sound. Then Theodosia put away the tea things, and Korableva and the +watchman's wife took up their sewing. Maslova sat down on the bedstead, +with her arms round her knees, dull and depressed. She was about to lie +down and try to sleep, when the woman warder called her into the office +to see a visitor. + +"Now, mind, and don't forget to tell him about us," the old woman +(Menshova) said, while Maslova was arranging the kerchief on her head +before the dim looking-glass. "We did not set fire to the house, but he +himself, the fiend, did it; his workman saw him do it, and will not damn +his soul by denying it. You just tell to ask to see my Mitri. Mitri +will tell him all about it, as plain as can be. Just think of our being +locked up in prison when we never dreamt of any ill, while he, the +fiend, is enjoying himself at the pub, with another man's wife." + +"That's not the law," remarked Korableva. + +"I'll tell him--I'll tell him," answered Maslova. "Suppose I have +another drop, just to keep up courage," she added, with a wink; and +Korableva poured out half a cup of vodka, which Maslova drank. Then, +having wiped her mouth and repeating the words "just to keep up +courage," tossing her head and smiling gaily, she followed the warder +along the corridor. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +NEKHLUDOFF AGAIN VISITS MASLOVA. + +Nekhludoff had to wait in the hall for a long time. When he had arrived +at the prison and rung at the entrance door, he handed the permission of +the Procureur to the jailer on duty who met him. + +"No, no," the jailer on duty said hurriedly, "the inspector is engaged." + +"In the office?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"No, here in the interviewing-room.". + +"Why, is it a visiting day to-day?" + +"No; it's special business." + +"I should like to see him. What am I to do?" said Nekhludoff. + +"When the inspector comes out you'll tell him--wait a bit," said the +jailer. + +At this moment a sergeant-major, with a smooth, shiny face and +moustaches impregnated with tobacco smoke, came out of a side door, with +the gold cords of his uniform glistening, and addressed the jailer in a +severe tone. + +"What do you mean by letting any one in here? The office. . . ." + +"I was told the inspector was here," said Nekhludoff, surprised at the +agitation he noticed in the sergeant-major's manner. + +At this moment the inner door opened, and Petrov came out, heated and +perspiring. + +"He'll remember it," he muttered, turning to the sergeant major. The +latter pointed at Nekhludoff by a look, and Petrov knitted his brows and +went out through a door at the back. + +"Who will remember it? Why do they all seem so confused? Why did the +sergeant-major make a sign to him?" Nekhludoff thought. + +The sergeant-major, again addressing Nekhludoff, said: "You cannot meet +here; please step across to the office." And Nekhludoff was about to +comply when the inspector came out of the door at the back, looking even +more confused than his subordinates, and sighing continually. When he +saw Nekhludoff he turned to the jailer. + +"Fedotoff, have Maslova, cell 5, women's ward, taken to the office." + +"Will you come this way, please," he said, turning to Nekhludoff. They +ascended a steep staircase and entered a little room with one window, a +writing-table, and a few chairs in it. The inspector sat down. + +"Mine are heavy, heavy duties," he remarked, again addressing +Nekhludoff, and took out a cigarette. + +"You are tired, evidently," said Nekhludoff. + +"Tired of the whole of the service--the duties are very trying. One +tries to lighten their lot and only makes it worse; my only thought is +how to get away. Heavy, heavy duties!" + +Nekhludoff did not know what the inspector's particular difficulties +were, but he saw that to-day he was in a peculiarly dejected and +hopeless condition, calling for pity. + +"Yes, I should think the duties were heavy for a kind-hearted man," he +said. "Why do you serve in this capacity?" + +"I have a family." + +"But, if it is so hard--" + +"Well, still you know it is possible to be of use in some measure; I +soften down all I can. Another in my place would conduct the affairs +quite differently. Why, we have more than 2,000 persons here. And what +persons! One must know how to manage them. It is easier said than done, +you know. After all, they are also men; one cannot help pitying them." +The inspector began telling Nekhludoff of a fight that had lately taken +place among the convicts, which had ended by one man being killed. + +The story was interrupted by the entrance of Maslova, who was +accompanied by a jailer. + +Nekhludoff saw her through the doorway before she had noticed the +inspector. She was following the warder briskly, smiling and tossing her +head. When she saw the inspector she suddenly changed, and gazed at +him with a frightened look; but, quickly recovering, she addressed +Nekhludoff boldly and gaily. + +"How d'you do?" she said, drawling out her words, and smilingly took his +hand and shook it vigorously, not like the first time. + +"Here, I've brought you a petition to sign," said Nekhludoff, rather +surprised by the boldness with which she greeted him to-day. + +"The advocate has written out a petition which you will have to sign, +and then we shall send it to Petersburg." + +"All right! That can be done. Anything you like," she said, with a wink +and a smile. + +And Nekhludoff drew a folded paper from his pocket and went up to the +table. + +"May she sign it here?" asked Nekhludoff, turning to the inspector. + +"It's all right, it's all right! Sit down. Here's a pen; you can write?" +said the inspector. + +"I could at one time," she said; and, after arranging her skirt and the +sleeves of her jacket, she sat down at the table, smiled awkwardly, took +the pen with her small, energetic hand, and glanced at Nekhludoff with a +laugh. + +Nekhludoff told her what to write and pointed out the place where to +sign. + +Sighing deeply as she dipped her pen into the ink, and carefully shaking +some drops off the pen, she wrote her name. + +"Is it all?" she asked, looking from Nekhludoff to the inspector, and +putting the pen now on the inkstand, now on the papers. + +"I have a few words to tell you," Nekhludoff said, taking the pen from +her. + +"All right; tell me," she said. And suddenly, as if remembering +something, or feeling sleepy, she grew serious. + +The inspector rose and left the room, and Nekhludoff remained with her. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +MASLOVA REFUSES TO MARRY. + +The jailer who had brought Maslova in sat on a windowsill at some +distance from them. + +The decisive moment had come for Nekhludoff. He had been incessantly +blaming himself for not having told her the principal thing at the first +interview, and was now determined to tell her that he would marry her. +She was sitting at the further side of the table. Nekhludoff sat down +opposite her. It was light in the room, and Nekhludoff for the first +time saw her face quite near. He distinctly saw the crowsfeet round her +eyes, the wrinkles round her mouth, and the swollen eyelids. He felt +more sorry than before. Leaning over the table so as not to be heard by +the jailer--a man of Jewish type with grizzly whiskers, who sat by the +window--Nekhludoff said: + +"Should this petition come to nothing we shall appeal to the Emperor. +All that is possible shall be done." + +"There, now, if we had had a proper advocate from the first," she +interrupted. "My defendant was quite a silly. He did nothing but pay me +compliments," she said, and laughed. "If it had then been known that I +was acquainted with you, it would have been another matter. They think +every one's a thief." + +"How strange she is to-day," Nekhludoff thought, and was just going to +say what he had on his mind when she began again: + +"There's something I want to say. We have here an old woman; such a fine +one, d'you know, she just surprises every one; she is imprisoned for +nothing, and her son, too, and everybody knows they are innocent, though +they are accused of having set fire to a house. D'you know, hearing I +was acquainted with you, she says: 'Tell him to ask to see my son; he'll +tell him all about it."' Thus spoke Maslova, turning her head from side +to side, and glancing at Nekhludoff. "Their name's Menshoff. Well, will +you do it? Such a fine old thing, you know; you can see at once she's +innocent. You'll do it, there's a dear," and she smiled, glanced up at +him, and then cast down her eyes. + +"All right. I'll find out about them," Nekhludoff said, more and more +astonished by her free-and-easy manner. "But I was going to speak to you +about myself. Do you remember what I told you last time?" + +"You said a lot last time. What was it you told me?" she said, +continuing to smile and to turn her head from side to side. + +"I said I had come to ask you to forgive me," he began. + +"What's the use of that? Forgive, forgive, where's the good of--" + +"To atone for my sin, not by mere words, but in deed. I have made up my +mind to marry you." + +An expression of fear suddenly came over her face. Her squinting eyes +remained fixed on him, and yet seemed not to be looking at him. + +"What's that for?" she said, with an angry frown. + +"I feel that it is my duty before God to do it." + +"What God have you found now? You are not saying what you ought to. God, +indeed! What God? You ought to have remembered God then," she said, and +stopped with her mouth open. It was only now that Nekhludoff noticed +that her breath smelled of spirits, and that he understood the cause of +her excitement. + +"Try and be calm," he said. + +"Why should I be calm?" she began, quickly, flushing scarlet. "I am a +convict, and you are a gentleman and a prince. There's no need for you +to soil yourself by touching me. You go to your princesses; my price is +a ten-rouble note." + +"However cruelly you may speak, you cannot express what I myself am +feeling," he said, trembling all over; "you cannot imagine to what +extent I feel myself guilty towards you." + +"Feel yourself guilty?" she said, angrily mimicking him. "You did not +feel so then, but threw me 100 roubles. That's your price." + +"I know, I know; but what is to be done now?" said Nekhludoff. "I have +decided not to leave you, and what I have said I shall do." + +"And I say you sha'n't," she said, and laughed aloud. + +"Katusha," he said, touching her hand. + +"You go away. I am a convict and you a prince, and you've no business +here," she cried, pulling away her hand, her whole appearance +transformed by her wrath. "You've got pleasure out of me in this life, +and want to save yourself through me in the life to come. You are +disgusting to me--your spectacles and the whole of your dirty fat mug. +Go, go!" she screamed, starting to her feet. + +The jailer came up to them. + +"What are you kicking up this row for?' That won't--" + +"Let her alone, please," said Nekhludoff. + +"She must not forget herself," said the jailer. "Please wait a little," +said Nekhludoff, and the jailer returned to the window. + +Maslova sat down again, dropping her eyes and firmly clasping her small +hands. + +Nekhludoff stooped over her, not knowing what to do. + +"You do not believe me?" he said. + +"That you mean to marry me? It will never be. I'll rather hang myself. +So there!" + +"Well, still I shall go on serving you." + +"That's your affair, only I don't want anything from you. I am telling +you the plain truth," she said. "Oh, why did I not die then?" she added, +and began to cry piteously. + +Nekhludoff could not speak; her tears infected him. + +She lifted her eyes, looked at him in surprise, and began to wipe her +tears with her kerchief. + +The jailer came up again and reminded them that it was time to part. + +Maslova rose. + +"You are excited. If it is possible, I shall come again tomorrow; you +think it over," said Nekhludoff. + +She gave him no answer and, without looking up, followed the jailer out +of the room. + +"Well, lass, you'll have rare times now," Korableva said, when Maslova +returned to the cell. "Seems he's mighty sweet on you; make the most +of it while he's after you. He'll help you out. Rich people can do +anything." + +"Yes, that's so," remarked the watchman's wife, with her musical voice. +"When a poor man thinks of getting married, there's many a slip 'twixt +the cup and the lip; but a rich man need only make up his mind and it's +done. We knew a toff like that duckie. What d'you think he did?" + +"Well, have you spoken about my affairs?" the old woman asked. + +But Maslova gave her fellow-prisoners no answer; she lay down on the +shelf bedstead, her squinting eyes fixed on a corner of the room, and +lay there until the evening. + +A painful struggle went on in her soul. What Nekhludoff had told her +called up the memory of that world in which she had suffered and which +she had left without having understood, hating it. She now feared to +wake from the trance in which she was living. Not having arrived at any +conclusion when evening came, she again bought some vodka and drank with +her companions. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +VERA DOUKHOVA. + +"So this is what it means, this," thought Nekhludoff as he left the +prison, only now fully understanding his crime. If he had not tried to +expiate his guilt he would never have found out how great his crime was. +Nor was this all; she, too, would never have felt the whole horror of +what had been done to her. He only now saw what he had done to the soul +of this woman; only now she saw and understood what had been done to +her. + +Up to this time Nekhludoff had played with a sensation of +self-admiration, had admired his own remorse; now he was simply filled +with horror. He knew he could not throw her up now, and yet he could not +imagine what would come of their relations to one another. + +Just as he was going out, a jailer, with a disagreeable, insinuating +countenance, and a cross and medals on his breast, came up and handed +him a note with an air of mystery. + +"Here is a note from a certain person, your honour," he said to +Nekhludoff as he gave him the envelope. + +"What person?" + +"You will know when you read it. A political prisoner. I am in that +ward, so she asked me; and though it is against the rules, still +feelings of humanity--" The jailer spoke in an unnatural manner. + +Nekhludoff was surprised that a jailer of the ward where political +prisoners were kept should pass notes inside the very prison walls, and +almost within sight of every one; he did not then know that this was +both a jailer and a spy. However, he took the note and read it on coming +out of the prison. + +The note was written in a bold hand, and ran as follows: "Having heard +that you visit the prison, and are interested in the case of a criminal +prisoner, the desire of seeing you arose in me. Ask for a permission +to see me. I can give you a good deal of information concerning your +protegee, and also our group.--Yours gratefully, VERA DOUKHOVA." + +Vera Doukhova had been a school-teacher in an out-of-the-way village of +the Novgorod Government, where Nekhludoff and some friends of his had +once put up while bear hunting. Nekhludoff gladly and vividly recalled +those old days, and his acquaintance with Doukhova. It was just before +Lent, in an isolated spot, 40 miles from the railway. The hunt had +been successful; two bears had been killed; and the company were having +dinner before starting on their return journey, when the master of the +hut where they were putting up came in to say that the deacon's daughter +wanted to speak to Prince Nekhludoff. "Is she pretty?" some one asked. +"None of that, please," Nekhludoff said, and rose with a serious look +on his face. Wiping his mouth, and wondering what the deacon's daughter +might want of him, he went into the host's private hut. + +There he found a girl with a felt hat and a warm cloak on--a sinewy, +ugly girl; only her eyes with their arched brows were beautiful. + +"Here, miss, speak to him," said the old housewife; "this is the prince +himself. I shall go out meanwhile." + +"In what way can I be of service to you?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"I--I--I see you are throwing away your money on such nonsense--on +hunting," began the girl, in great confusion. "I know--I only want one +thing--to be of use to the people, and I can do nothing because I know +nothing--" Her eyes were so truthful, so kind, and her expression of +resoluteness and yet bashfulness was so touching, that Nekhludoff, as +it often happened to him, suddenly felt as if he were in her position, +understood, and sympathised. + +"What can I do, then?" + +"I am a teacher, but should like to follow a course of study; and I +am not allowed to do so. That is, not that I am not allowed to; they'd +allow me to, but I have not got the means. Give them to me, and when I +have finished the course I shall repay you. I am thinking the rich kill +bears and give the peasants drink; all this is bad. Why should they not +do good? I only want 80 roubles. But if you don't wish to, never mind," +she added, gravely. + +"On the contrary, I am very grateful to you for this opportunity. . . . +I will bring it at once," said Nekhludoff. + +He went out into the passage, and there met one of his comrades, who +had been overhearing his conversation. Paying no heed to his chaffing, +Nekhludoff got the money out of his bag and took it to her. + +"Oh, please, do not thank me; it is I who should thank you," he said. + +It was pleasant to remember all this now; pleasant to remember that +he had nearly had a quarrel with an officer who tried to make an +objectionable joke of it, and how another of his comrades had taken his +part, which led to a closer friendship between them. How successful the +whole of that hunting expedition had been, and how happy he had felt +when returning to the railway station that night. The line of sledges, +the horses in tandem, glide quickly along the narrow road that lies +through the forest, now between high trees, now between low firs weighed +down by the snow, caked in heavy lumps on their branches. A red light +flashes in the dark, some one lights an aromatic cigarette. Joseph, a +bear driver, keeps running from sledge to sledge, up to his knees in +snow, and while putting things to rights he speaks about the elk which +are now going about on the deep snow and gnawing the bark off the aspen +trees, of the bears that are lying asleep in their deep hidden dens, and +his breath comes warm through the opening in the sledge cover. All this +came back to Nekhludoff's mind; but, above all, the joyous sense of +health, strength, and freedom from care: the lungs breathing in the +frosty air so deeply that the fur cloak is drawn tightly on his chest, +the fine snow drops off the low branches on to his face, his body +is warm, his face feels fresh, and his soul is free from care, +self-reproach, fear, or desire. How beautiful it was. And now, O God! +what torment, what trouble! + +Evidently Vera Doukhova was a revolutionist and imprisoned as such. He +must see her, especially as she promised to advise him how to lighten +Maslova's lot. + + + +CHAPTER L. + +THE VICE-GOVERNOR OF THE PRISON. + +Awaking early the next morning, Nekhludoff remembered what he had done +the day before, and was seized with fear. + +But in spite of this fear, he was more determined than ever to continue +what he had begun. + +Conscious of a sense of duty, he left the house and went to see +Maslennikoff in order to obtain from him a permission to visit Maslova +in prison, and also the Menshoffs--mother and son--about whom Maslova +had spoken to him. Nekhludoff had known this Maslennikoff a long time; +they had been in the regiment together. At that time Maslennikoff was +treasurer to the regiment. + +He was a kind-hearted and zealous officer, knowing and wishing to know +nothing beyond the regiment and the Imperial family. Now Nekhludoff +saw him as an administrator, who had exchanged the regiment for an +administrative office in the government where he lived. He was married +to a rich and energetic woman, who had forced him to exchange military +for civil service. She laughed at him, and caressed him, as if he were +her own pet animal. Nekhludoff had been to see them once during the +winter, but the couple were so uninteresting to him that he had not gone +again. + +At the sight of Nekhludoff Maslennikoff's face beamed all over. He had +the same fat red face, and was as corpulent and as well dressed as in +his military days. Then, he used to be always dressed in a well-brushed +uniform, made according to the latest fashion, tightly fitting his chest +and shoulders; now, it was a civil service uniform he wore, and that, +too, tightly fitted his well-fed body and showed off his broad chest, +and was cut according to the latest fashion. In spite of the difference +in age (Maslennikoff was 40), the two men were very familiar with one +another. + +"Halloo, old fellow! How good of you to come! Let us go and see my wife. +I have just ten minutes to spare before the meeting. My chief is away, +you know. I am at the head of the Government administration," he said, +unable to disguise his satisfaction. + +"I have come on business." + +"What is it?" said Maslennikoff, in an anxious and severe tone, putting +himself at once on his guard. + +"There is a person, whom I am very much interested in, in prison" (at +the word "prison" Maslennikoff's face grew stern); "and I should like to +have an interview in the office, and not in the common visiting-room. I +have been told it depended on you." + +"Certainly, mon cher," said Maslennikoff, putting both hands on +Nekhludoff's knees, as if to tone down his grandeur; "but remember, I am +monarch only for an hour." + +"Then will you give me an order that will enable me to see her?" + +"It's a woman?" + +"Yes." + +"What is she there for?" + +"Poisoning, but she has been unjustly condemned." + +"Yes, there you have it, your justice administered by jury, ils n'en +font point d'autres," he said, for some unknown reason, in French. "I +know you do not agree with me, but it can't be helped, c'est mon opinion +bien arretee," he added, giving utterance to an opinion he had for the +last twelve months been reading in the retrograde Conservative paper. "I +know you are a Liberal." + +"I don't know whether I am a Liberal or something else," Nekhludoff +said, smiling; it always surprised him to find himself ranked with a +political party and called a Liberal, when he maintained that a man +should be heard before he was judged, that before being tried all men +were equal, that nobody at all ought to be ill-treated and beaten, but +especially those who had not yet been condemned by law. "I don't know +whether I am a Liberal or not; but I do know that however had the +present way of conducting a trial is, it is better than the old." + +"And whom have you for an advocate?" + +"I have spoken to Fanarin." + +"Dear me, Fanarin!" said Meslennikoff, with a grimace, recollecting how +this Fanarin had examined him as a witness at a trial the year before +and had, in the politest manner, held him up to ridicule for half an +hour. + +"I should not advise you to have anything to do with him. _Fanarin est +un homme tare_." + +"I have one more request to make," said Nekhludoff, without answering +him. "There's a girl whom I knew long ago, a teacher; she is a very +pitiable little thing, and is now also imprisoned, and would like to see +me. Could you give me a permission to visit her?" + +Meslennikoff bent his head on one side and considered. + +"She's a political one?" + +"Yes, I have been told so." + +"Well, you see, only relatives get permission to visit political +prisoners. Still, I'll give you an open order. _Je sais que vous +n'abuserez pas_. What's the name of your protegee? Doukhova? _Elle est +jolie?_" + +"Hideuse." + +Maslennikoff shook his head disapprovingly, went up to the table, and +wrote on a sheet of paper, with a printed heading: "The bearer, Prince +Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff, is to be allowed to interview in the +prison office the meschanka Maslova, and also the medical assistant, +Doukhova," and he finished with an elaborate flourish. + +"Now you'll be able to see what order we have got there. And it is +very difficult to keep order, it is so crowded, especially with people +condemned to exile; but I watch strictly, and love the work. You will +see they are very comfortable and contented. But one must know +how to deal with them. Only a few days ago we had a little +trouble--insubordination; another would have called it mutiny, and would +have made many miserable, but with us it all passed quietly. We must +have solicitude on one hand, firmness and power on the other," and he +clenched the fat, white, turquoise-ringed fist, which issued out of +the starched cuff of his shirt sleeve, fastened with a gold stud. +"Solicitude and firm power." + +"Well, I don't know about that," said Nekhludoff. "I went there twice, +and felt very much depressed." + +"Do you know, you ought to get acquainted with the Countess Passek," +continued Maslennikoff, growing talkative. "She has given herself up +entirely to this sort of work. Elle fait beaucoup de bien. Thanks to +her--and, perhaps I may add without false modesty, to me--everything has +been changed, changed in such a way that the former horrors no longer +exist, and they are really quite comfortable there. Well, you'll see. +There's Fanarin. I do not know him personally; besides, my social +position keeps our ways apart; but he is positively a bad man, and +besides, he takes the liberty of saying such things in the court--such +things!" + +"Well, thank you," Nekhludoff said, taking the paper, and without +listening further he bade good-day to his former comrade. + +"And won't you go in to see my wife?" + +"No, pray excuse me; I have no time now." + +"Dear me, why she will never forgive me," said Maslennikoff, +accompanying his old acquaintance down to the first landing, as he was +in the habit of doing to persons of not the greatest, but the second +greatest importance, with whom he classed Nekhludoff; "now do go in, if +only for a moment." + +But Nekhludoff remained firm; and while the footman and the door-keeper +rushed to give him his stick and overcoat, and opened the door, outside +of which there stood a policeman, Nekhludoff repeated that he really +could not come in. + +"Well, then; on Thursday, please. It is her 'at-home.' I will tell her +you will come," shouted Maslennikoff from the stairs. + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +THE CELLS. + +Nekhludoff drove that day straight from Maslennikoff's to the prison, +and went to the inspector's lodging, which he now knew. He was again +struck by the sounds of the same piano of inferior quality; but this +time it was not a rhapsody that was being played, but exercises by +Clementi, again with the same vigour, distinctness, and quickness. The +servant with the bandaged eye said the inspector was in, and showed +Nekhludoff to a small drawing-room, in which there stood a sofa and, +in front of it, a table, with a large lamp, which stood on a piece of +crochet work, and the paper shade of which was burnt on one side. The +chief inspector entered, with his usual sad and weary look. + +"Take a seat, please. What is it you want?" he said, buttoning up the +middle button of his uniform. + +"I have just been to the vice-governor's, and got this order from him. I +should like to see the prisoner Maslova." + +"Markova?" asked the inspector, unable to bear distinctly because of the +music. + +"Maslova!" + +"Well, yes." The inspector got up and went to the door whence proceeded +Clementi's roulades. + +"Mary, can't you stop just a minute?" he said, in a voice that showed +that this music was the bane of his life. "One can't hear a word." + +The piano was silent, but one could hear the sound of reluctant steps, +and some one looked in at the door. + +The inspector seemed to feel eased by the interval of silence, lit a +thick cigarette of weak tobacco, and offered one to Nekhludoff. + +Nekhludoff refused. + +"What I want is to see Maslova." + +"Oh, yes, that can be managed. Now, then, what do you want?" he said, +addressing a little girl of five or six, who came into the room and +walked up to her father with her head turned towards Nekhludoff, and her +eyes fixed on him. + +"There, now, you'll fall down," said the inspector, smiling, as the +little girl ran up to him, and, not looking where she was going, caught +her foot in a little rug. + +"Well, then, if I may, I shall go." + +"It's not very convenient to see Maslova to-day," said the inspector. + +"How's that?" + +"Well, you know, it's all your own fault," said the inspector, with a +slight smile. "Prince, give her no money into her hands. If you like, +give it me. I will keep it for her. You see, you gave her some money +yesterday; she got some spirits (it's an evil we cannot manage to root +out), and to-day she is quite tipsy, even violent." + +"Can this be true?" + +"Oh, yes, it is. I have even been obliged to have recourse to severe +measures, and to put her into a separate cell. She is a quiet woman in +an ordinary way. But please do not give her any money. These people are +so--" What had happened the day before came vividly back to Nekhludoff's +mind, and again he was seized with fear. + +"And Doukhova, a political prisoner; might I see her?" + +"Yes, if you like," said the inspector. He embraced the little girl, +who was still looking at Nekhludoff, got up, and, tenderly motioning +her aside, went into the ante-room. Hardly had he got into the overcoat +which the maid helped him to put on, and before he had reached the door, +the distinct sounds of Clementi's roulades again began. + +"She entered the Conservatoire, but there is such disorder there. She +has a great gift," said the inspector, as they went down the stairs. +"She means to play at concerts." + +The inspector and Nekhludoff arrived at the prison. The gates were +instantly opened as they appeared. The jailers, with their fingers +lifted to their caps, followed the inspector with their eyes. Four +men, with their heads half shaved, who were carrying tubs filled with +something, cringed when they saw the inspector. One of them frowned +angrily, his black eyes glaring. + +"Of course a talent like that must be developed; it would not do to bury +it, but in a small lodging, you know, it is rather hard." The inspector +went on with the conversation, taking no notice of the prisoners. + +"Who is it you want to see?" + +"Doukhova." + +"Oh, she's in the tower. You'll have to wait a little," he said. + +"Might I not meanwhile see the prisoners Menshoff, mother and son, who +are accused of incendiarism?" + +"Oh, yes. Cell No. 21. Yes, they can be sent for." + +"But might I not see Menshoff in his cell?" + +"Oh, you'll find the waiting-room more pleasant." + +"No. I should prefer the cell. It is more interesting." + +"Well, you have found something to be interested in!" + +Here the assistant, a smartly-dressed officer, entered the side door. + +"Here, see the Prince into Menshoff's cell, No. 21," said the inspector +to his assistant, "and then take him to the office. And I'll go and +call--What's her name? Vera Doukhova." + +The inspector's assistant was young, with dyed moustaches, and diffusing +the smell of eau-de-cologne. "This way, please," he said to Nekhludoff, +with a pleasant smile. "Our establishment interests you?" + +"Yes, it does interest me; and, besides, I look upon it as a duty to +help a man who I heard was confined here, though innocent." + +The assistant shrugged his shoulders. + +"Yes, that may happen," he said quietly, politely stepping aside to let +the visitor enter, the stinking corridor first. "But it also happens +that they lie. Here we are." + +The doors of the cells were open, and some of the prisoners were in the +corridor. The assistant nodded slightly to the jailers, and cast a side +glance at the prisoners, who, keeping close to the wall, crept back to +their cells, or stood like soldiers, with their arms at their sides, +following the official with their eyes. After passing through one +corridor, the assistant showed Nekhludoff into another to the left, +separated from the first by an iron door. This corridor was darker, and +smelt even worse than the first. The corridor had doors on both sides, +with little holes in them about an inch in diameter. There was only an +old jailer, with an unpleasant face, in this corridor. + +"Where is Menshoff?" asked the inspector's assistant. + +"The eighth cell to the left." + +"And these? Are they occupied?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"Yes, all but one." + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +NO. 21. + +"May I look in?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"Oh, certainly," answered the assistant, smiling, and turned to the +jailer with some question. + +Nekhludoff looked into one of the little holes, and saw a tall young man +pacing up and down the cell. When the man heard some one at the door he +looked up with a frown, but continued walking up and down. + +Nekhludoff looked into another hole. His eye met another large eye +looking out of the hole at him, and he quickly stepped aside. In the +third cell he saw a very small man asleep on the bed, covered, head and +all, with his prison cloak. In the fourth a broad-faced man was sitting +with his elbows on his knees and his head low down. At the sound of +footsteps this man raised his head and looked up. His face, especially +his large eyes, bore the expression of hopeless dejection. One could see +that it did not even interest him to know who was looking into his +cell. Whoever it might be, he evidently hoped for nothing good from him. +Nekhludoff was seized with dread, and went to Menshoff's cell, No. 21, +without stopping to look through any more holes. The jailer unlocked the +door and opened it. A young man, with long neck, well-developed muscles, +a small head, and kind, round eyes, stood by the bed, hastily putting +on his cloak, and looking at the newcomers with a frightened face. +Nekhludoff was specially struck by the kind, round eyes that were +throwing frightened and inquiring glances in turns at him, at the +jailer, and at the assistant, and back again. + +"Here's a gentleman wants to inquire into your affair." + +"Thank you kindly." + +"Yes, I was told about you," Nekhludoff said, going through the cell up +to the dirty grated window, "and I should like to hear all about it from +yourself." + +Menshoff also came up to the window, and at once started telling his +story, at first looking shyly at the inspector's assistant, but growing +gradually bolder. When the assistant left the cell and went into the +corridor to give some order the man grew quite bold. The story was told +with the accent and in the manner common to a most ordinary good peasant +lad. To hear it told by a prisoner dressed in this degrading clothing, +and inside a prison, seemed very strange to Nekhludoff. Nekhludoff +listened, and at the same time kept looking around him--at the low +bedstead with its straw mattress, the window and the dirty, damp wall, +and the piteous face and form of this unfortunate, disfigured peasant +in his prison cloak and shoes, and he felt sadder and sadder, and would +have liked not to believe what this good-natured fellow was saying. It +seemed too dreadful to think that men could do such a thing as to take +a man, dress him in convict clothes, and put him in this horrible place +without any reason only because he himself had been injured. And yet the +thought that this seemingly true story, told with such a good-natured +expression on the face, might be an invention and a lie was still +more dreadful. This was the story: The village public-house keeper had +enticed the young fellow's wife. He tried to get justice by all sorts +of means. But everywhere the public-house keeper managed to bribe the +officials, and was acquitted. Once, he took his wife back by force, but +she ran away next day. Then he came to demand her back, but, though he +saw her when he came in, the public-house keeper told him she was not +there, and ordered him to go away. He would not go, so the public-house +keeper and his servant beat him so that they drew blood. The next day +a fire broke out in the public-house, and the young man and his mother +were accused of having set the house on fire. He had not set it on fire, +but was visiting a friend at the time. + +"And it is true that you did not set it on fire?" + +"It never entered my head to do it, sir. It must be my enemy that did +it himself. They say he had only just insured it. Then they said it was +mother and I that did it, and that we had threatened him. It is true I +once did go for him, my heart couldn't stand it any longer." + +"Can this be true?" + +"God is my witness it is true. Oh, sir, be so good--" and Nekhludoff had +some difficulty to prevent him from bowing down to the ground. "You see +I am perishing without any reason." His face quivered and he turned +up the sleeve of his cloak and began to cry, wiping the tears with the +sleeve of his dirty shirt. + +"Are you ready?" asked the assistant. + +"Yes. Well, cheer up. We will consult a good lawyer, and will do what we +can," said Nekhludoff, and went out. Menshoff stood close to the door, +so that the jailer knocked him in shutting it, and while the jailer was +locking it he remained looking out through the little hole. + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +VICTIMS OF GOVERNMENT. + +Passing back along the broad corridor (it was dinner time, and the cell +doors were open), among the men dressed in their light yellow cloaks, +short, wide trousers, and prison shoes, who were looking eagerly at him, +Nekhludoff felt a strange mixture of sympathy for them, and horror and +perplexity at the conduct of those who put and kept them here, and, +besides, he felt, he knew not why, ashamed of himself calmly examining +it all. + +In one of the corridors, some one ran, clattering with his shoes, in +at the door of a cell. Several men came out from here, and stood in +Nekhludoff's way, bowing to him. + +"Please, your honour (we don't know what to call you), get our affair +settled somehow." + +"I am not an official. I know nothing about it." + +"Well, anyhow, you come from outside; tell somebody--one of the +authorities, if need be," said an indignant voice. "Show some pity +on us, as a human being. Here we are suffering the second month for +nothing." + +"What do you mean? Why?" said Nekhludoff. + +"Why? We ourselves don't know why, but are sitting here the second +month." + +"Yes, it's quite true, and it is owing to an accident," said the +inspector. "These people were taken up because they had no passports, +and ought to have been sent back to their native government; but the +prison there is burnt, and the local authorities have written, asking us +not to send them on. So we have sent all the other passportless people +to their different governments, but are keeping these." + +"What! For no other reason than that?" Nekhludoff exclaimed, stopping at +the door. + +A crowd of about forty men, all dressed in prison clothes, surrounded +him and the assistant, and several began talking at once. The assistant +stopped them. + +"Let some one of you speak." + +A tall, good-looking peasant, a stone-mason, of about fifty, stepped out +from the rest. He told Nekhludoff that all of them had been ordered back +to their homes and were now being kept in prison because they had no +passports, yet they had passports which were only a fortnight overdue. +The same thing had happened every year; they had many times omitted to +renew their passports till they were overdue, and nobody had ever said +anything; but this year they had been taken up and were being kept in +prison the second month, as if they were criminals. + +"We are all masons, and belong to the same artel. We are told that the +prison in our government is burnt, but this is not our fault. Do help +us." + +Nekhludoff listened, but hardly understood what the good-looking old +man was saying, because his attention was riveted to a large, dark-grey, +many-legged louse that was creeping along the good-looking man's cheek. + +"How's that? Is it possible for such a reason?" Nekhludoff said, turning +to the assistant. + +"Yes, they should have been sent off and taken back to their homes," +calmly said the assistant, "but they seem to have been forgotten or +something." + +Before the assistant had finished, a small, nervous man, also in prison +dress, came out of the crowd, and, strangely contorting his mouth, began +to say that they were being ill-used for nothing. + +"Worse than dogs," he began. + +"Now, now; not too much of this. Hold your tongue, or you know--" + +"What do I know?" screamed the little man, desperately. "What is our +crime?" + +"Silence!" shouted the assistant, and the little man was silent. + +"But what is the meaning of all this?" Nekhludoff thought to himself +as he came out of the cell, while a hundred eyes were fixed upon him +through the openings of the cell doors and from the prisoners that met +him, making him feel as if he were running the gauntlet. + +"Is it really possible that perfectly innocent people are kept here?" +Nekhludoff uttered when they left the corridor. + +"What would you have us do? They lie so. To hear them talk they are all +of them innocent," said the inspector's assistant. "But it does happen +that some are really imprisoned for nothing." + +"Well, these have done nothing." + +"Yes, we must admit it. Still, the people are fearfully spoilt. There +are such types--desperate fellows, with whom one has to look sharp. +To-day two of that sort had to be punished." + +"Punished? How?" + +"Flogged with a birch-rod, by order." + +"But corporal punishment is abolished." + +"Not for such as are deprived of their rights. They are still liable to +it." + +Nekhludoff thought of what he had seen the day before while waiting +in the hall, and now understood that the punishment was then being +inflicted, and the mixed feeling of curiosity, depression, perplexity, +and moral nausea, that grew into physical sickness, took hold of him +more strongly than ever before. + +Without listening to the inspector's assistant, or looking round, he +hurriedly left the corridor, and went to the office. The inspector was +in the office, occupied with other business, and had forgotten to send +for Doukhova. He only remembered his promise to have her called when +Nekhludoff entered the office. + +"Sit down, please. I'll send for her at once," said the inspector. + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +PRISONERS AND FRIENDS. + +The office consisted of two rooms. The first room, with a large, +dilapidated stove and two dirty windows, had a black measure for +measuring the prisoners in one corner, and in another corner hung a +large image of Christ, as is usual in places where they torture people. +In this room stood several jailers. In the next room sat about twenty +persons, men and women in groups and in pairs, talking in low voices. +There was a writing table by the window. + +The inspector sat down by the table, and offered Nekhludoff a chair +beside him. Nekhludoff sat down, and looked at the people in the room. + +The first who drew his attention was a young man with a pleasant face, +dressed in a short jacket, standing in front of a middle-aged woman +with dark eyebrows, and he was eagerly telling her something and +gesticulating with his hands. Beside them sat an old man, with blue +spectacles, holding the hand of a young woman in prisoner's clothes, who +was telling him something. A schoolboy, with a fixed, frightened look on +his face, was gazing at the old man. In one corner sat a pair of +lovers. She was quite young and pretty, and had short, fair hair, looked +energetic, and was elegantly dressed; he had fine features, wavy hair, +and wore a rubber jacket. They sat in their corner and seemed stupefied +with love. Nearest to the table sat a grey-haired woman dressed in +black, evidently the mother of a young, consumptive-looking fellow, in +the same kind of jacket. Her head lay on his shoulder. She was trying +to say something, but the tears prevented her from speaking; she began +several times, but had to stop. The young man held a paper in his hand, +and, apparently not knowing what to do, kept folding and pressing it +with an angry look on his face. + +Beside them was a short-haired, stout, rosy girl, with very prominent +eyes, dressed in a grey dress and a cape; she sat beside the weeping +mother, tenderly stroking her. Everything about this girl was beautiful; +her large, white hands, her short, wavy hair, her firm nose and lips, +but the chief charm of her face lay in her kind, truthful hazel eyes. +The beautiful eyes turned away from the mother for a moment when +Nekhludoff came in, and met his look. But she turned back at once and +said something to the mother. + +Not far from the lovers a dark, dishevelled man, with a gloomy face, sat +angrily talking to a beardless visitor, who looked as if he belonged to +the Scoptsy sect. + +At the very door stood a young man in a rubber jacket, who seemed more +concerned about the impression he produced on the onlooker than about +what he was saying. Nekhludoff, sitting by the inspector's side, looked +round with strained curiosity. A little boy with closely-cropped hair +came up to him and addressed him in a thin little voice. + +"And whom are you waiting for?" + +Nekhludoff was surprised at the question, but looking at the boy, and +seeing the serious little face with its bright, attentive eyes fixed +on him, answered him seriously that he was waiting for a woman of his +acquaintance. + +"Is she, then, your sister?" the boy asked. + +"No, not my sister," Nekhludoff answered in surprise. + +"And with whom are you here?" he inquired of the boy. + +"I? With mamma; she is a political one," he replied. + +"Mary Pavlovna, take Kolia!" said the inspector, evidently considering +Nekhludoff's conversation with the boy illegal. + +Mary Pavlovna, the beautiful girl who had attracted Nekhludoff's +attention, rose tall and erect, and with firm, almost manly steps, +approached Nekhludoff and the boy. + +"What is he asking you? Who you are?" she inquired with a slight smile, +and looking straight into his face with a trustful look in her kind, +prominent eyes, and as simply as if there could be no doubt whatever +that she was and must be on sisterly terms with everybody. + +"He likes to know everything," she said, looking at the boy with so +sweet and kind a smile that both the boy and Nekhludoff were obliged to +smile back. + +"He was asking me whom I have come to see." + +"Mary Pavlovna, it is against the rules to speak to strangers. You know +it is," said the inspector. + +"All right, all right," she said, and went back to the consumptive lad's +mother, holding Kolia's little hand in her large, white one, while he +continued gazing up into her face. + +"Whose is this little boy?" Nekhludoff asked of the inspector. + +"His mother is a political prisoner, and he was born in prison," +said the inspector, in a pleased tone, as if glad to point out how +exceptional his establishment was. + +"Is it possible?" + +"Yes, and now he is going to Siberia with her." + +"And that young girl?" + +"I cannot answer your question," said the inspector, shrugging his +shoulders. "Besides, here is Doukhova." + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +VERA DOUKHOVA EXPLAINS. + +Through a door, at the back of the room, entered, with a wriggling gait, +the thin, yellow Vera Doukhova, with her large, kind eyes. + +"Thanks for having come," she said, pressing Nekhludoff's hand. "Do you +remember me? Let us sit down." + +"I did not expect to see you like this." + +"Oh, I am very happy. It is so delightful, so delightful, that I desire +nothing better," said Vera Doukhova, with the usual expression of fright +in the large, kind, round eyes fixed on Nekhludoff, and twisting the +terribly thin, sinewy neck, surrounded by the shabby, crumpled, dirty +collar of her bodice. Nekhludoff asked her how she came to be in prison. + +In answer she began relating all about her affairs with great animation. +Her speech was intermingled with a great many long words, such as +propaganda, disorganisation, social groups, sections and sub-sections, +about which she seemed to think everybody knew, but which Nekhludoff had +never heard of. + +She told him all the secrets of the Nardovolstvo, [literally, "People's +Freedom," a revolutionary movement] evidently convinced that he was +pleased to hear them. Nekhludoff looked at her miserable little neck, +her thin, unkempt hair, and wondered why she had been doing all these +strange things, and why she was now telling all this to him. He pitied +her, but not as he had pitied Menshoff, the peasant, kept for no fault +of his own in the stinking prison. She was pitiable because of the +confusion that filled her mind. It was clear that she considered herself +a heroine, and was ready to give her life for a cause, though she could +hardly have explained what that cause was and in what its success would +lie. + +The business that Vera Doukhova wanted to see Nekhludoff about was +the following: A friend of hers, who had not even belonged to their +"sub-group," as she expressed it, had been arrested with her about five +months before, and imprisoned in the Petropavlovsky fortress because +some prohibited books and papers (which she had been asked to keep) had +been found in her possession. Vera Doukhova felt herself in some measure +to blame for her friend's arrest, and implored Nekhludoff, who had +connections among influential people, to do all he could in order to set +this friend free. + +Besides this, Doukhova asked him to try and get permission for +another friend of hers, Gourkevitch (who was also imprisoned in the +Petropavlovsky fortress), to see his parents, and to procure some +scientific books which he required for his studies. Nekhludoff promised +to do what he could when he went to Petersburg. + +As to her own story, this is what she said: Having finished a course +of midwifery, she became connected with a group of adherents to the +Nardovolstvo, and made up her mind to agitate in the revolutionary +movement. At first all went on smoothly. She wrote proclamations +and occupied herself with propaganda work in the factories; then, an +important member having been arrested, their papers were seized and all +concerned were arrested. "I was also arrested, and shall be exiled. But +what does it matter? I feel perfectly happy." She concluded her story +with a piteous smile. + +Nekhludoff made some inquiries concerning the girl with the prominent +eyes. Vera Doukhova told him that this girl was the daughter of a +general, and had been long attached to the revolutionary party, and was +arrested because she had pleaded guilty to having shot a gendarme. +She lived in a house with some conspirators, where they had a secret +printing press. One night, when the police came to search this house, +the occupiers resolved to defend themselves, put out the light, and +began destroying the things that might incriminate them. The police +forced their way in, and one of the conspirators fired, and mortally +wounded a gendarme. When an inquiry was instituted, this girl said that +it was she who had fired, although she had never had a revolver in her +hands, and would not have hurt a fly. And she kept to it, and was now +condemned to penal servitude in Siberia. + +"An altruistic, fine character," said Vera Doukhova, approvingly. + +The third business that Vera Doukhova wanted to talk about concerned +Maslova. She knew, as everybody does know in prison, the story of +Maslova's life and his connection with her, and advised him to take +steps to get her removed into the political prisoner's ward, or into +the hospital to help to nurse the sick, of which there were very many at +that time, so that extra nurses were needed. + +Nekhludoff thanked her for the advice, and said he would try to act upon +it. + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +NEKHLUDOFF AND THE PRISONERS. + +Their conversation was interrupted by the inspector, who said that the +time was up, and the prisoners and their friends must part. Nekhludoff +took leave of Vera Doukhova and went to the door, where he stopped to +watch what was going on. + +The inspector's order called forth only heightened animation among the +prisoners in the room, but no one seemed to think of going. Some rose +and continued to talk standing, some went on talking without rising. +A few began crying and taking leave of each other. The mother and +her consumptive son seemed especially pathetic. The young fellow kept +twisting his bit of paper and his face seemed angry, so great were his +efforts not to be infected by his mother's emotion. The mother, hearing +that it was time to part, put her head on his shoulder and sobbed and +sniffed aloud. + +The girl with the prominent eyes--Nekhludoff could not help watching +her--was standing opposite the sobbing mother, and was saying something +to her in a soothing tone. The old man with the blue spectacles stood +holding his daughter's hand and nodding in answer to what she said. The +young lovers rose, and, holding each other's hands, looked silently into +one another's eyes. + +"These are the only two who are merry," said a young man with a short +coat who stood by Nekhludoff's side, also looking at those who were +about to part, and pointed to the lovers. Feeling Nekhludoff's and +the young man's eyes fixed on them, the lovers--the young man with the +rubber coat and the pretty girl--stretched out their arms, and with +their hands clasped in each other's, danced round and round again. +"To-night they are going to be married here in prison, and she will +follow him to Siberia," said the young man. + +"What is he?" + +"A convict, condemned to penal servitude. Let those two at least have a +little joy, or else it is too painful," the young man added, listening +to the sobs of the consumptive lad's mother. + +"Now, my good people! Please, please do not oblige me to have recourse +to severe measures," the inspector said, repeating the same words +several times over. "Do, please," he went on in a weak, hesitating +manner. "It is high time. What do you mean by it? This sort of thing is +quite impossible. I am now asking you for the last time," he repeated +wearily, now putting out his cigarette and then lighting another. + +It was evident that, artful, old, and common as were the devices +enabling men to do evil to others without feeling responsible for it, +the inspector could not but feel conscious that he was one of those who +were guilty of causing the sorrow which manifested itself in this +room. And it was apparent that this troubled him sorely. At length the +prisoners and their visitors began to go--the first out of the inner, +the latter out of the outer door. The man with the rubber jacket passed +out among them, and the consumptive youth and the dishevelled man. Mary +Pavlovna went out with the boy born in prison. + +The visitors went out too. The old man with the blue spectacles, +stepping heavily, went out, followed by Nekhludoff. + +"Yes, a strange state of things this," said the talkative young man, as +if continuing an interrupted conversation, as he descended the stairs +side by side with Nekhludoff. "Yet we have reason to be grateful to the +inspector who does not keep strictly to the rules, kind-hearted fellow. +If they can get a talk it does relieve their hearts a bit, after all!" + +While talking to the young man, who introduced himself as Medinzeff, +Nekhludoff reached the hall. There the inspector came up to them with +weary step. + +"If you wish to see Maslova," he said, apparently desiring to be polite +to Nekhludoff, "please come to-morrow." + +"Very well," answered Nekhludoff, and hurried away, experiencing +more than ever that sensation of moral nausea which he always felt on +entering the prison. + +The sufferings of the evidently innocent Menshoff seemed terrible, and +not so much his physical suffering as the perplexity, the distrust in +the good and in God which he must feel, seeing the cruelty of the people +who tormented him without any reason. + +Terrible were the disgrace and sufferings cast on these hundreds of +guiltless people simply because something was not written on paper as it +should have been. Terrible were the brutalised jailers, whose occupation +is to torment their brothers, and who were certain that they were +fulfilling an important and useful duty; but most terrible of all seemed +this sickly, elderly, kind-hearted inspector, who was obliged to part +mother and son, father and daughter, who were just the same sort of +people as he and his own children. + +"What is it all for?" Nekhludoff asked himself, and could not find an +answer. + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +THE VICE-GOVERNOR'S "AT-HOME". + +The next day Nekhludoff went to see the advocate, and spoke to him +about the Menshoffs' case, begging him to undertake their defence. The +advocate promised to look into the case, and if it turned out to be as +Nekhludoff said he would in all probability undertake the defence free +of charge. Then Nekhludoff told him of the 130 men who were kept in +prison owing to a mistake. "On whom did it depend? Whose fault was it?" + +The advocate was silent for a moment, evidently anxious to give a +correct reply. + +"Whose fault is it? No one's," he said, decidedly. "Ask the Procureur, +he'll say it is the Governor's; ask the Governor, he'll say it is the +Procureur's fault. No one is in fault." + +"I am just going to see the Vice-Governor. I shall tell him." + +"Oh, that's quite useless," said the advocate, with a smile. "He is such +a--he is not a relation or friend of yours?--such a blockhead, if I may +say so, and yet a crafty animal at the same time." + +Nekhludoff remembered what Maslennikoff had said about the advocate, and +did not answer, but took leave and went on to Maslennikoff's. He had +to ask Maslennikoff two things: about Maslova's removal to the prison +hospital, and about the 130 passportless men innocently imprisoned. +Though it was very hard to petition a man whom he did not respect, and +by whose orders men were flogged, yet it was the only means of gaining +his end, and he had to go through with it. + +As he drove up to Maslennikoff's house Nekhludoff saw a number of +different carriages by the front door, and remembered that it was +Maslennikoff's wife's "at-home" day, to which he had been invited. At +the moment Nekhludoff drove up there was a carriage in front of the +door, and a footman in livery, with a cockade in his hat, was helping +a lady down the doorstep. She was holding up her train, and showing her +thin ankles, black stockings, and slippered feet. Among the carriages +was a closed landau, which he knew to be the Korchagins'. + +The grey-haired, red-checked coachman took off his hat and bowed in a +respectful yet friendly manner to Nekhludoff, as to a gentleman he knew +well. Nekhludoff had not had time to inquire for Maslennikoff, when the +latter appeared on the carpeted stairs, accompanying a very important +guest not only to the first landing but to the bottom of the stairs. +This very important visitor, a military man, was speaking in French +about a lottery for the benefit of children's homes that were to be +founded in the city, and expressed the opinion that this was a good +occupation for the ladies. "It amuses them, and the money comes." + +_"Qu'elles s'amusent et que le bon dieu les benisse. M. Nekhludoff!_ How +d'you do? How is it one never sees you?" he greeted Nekhludoff. "_Allez +presenter vos devoirs a Madame._ And the Korchagins are here et Nadine +Bukshevden. _Toutes les jolies femmes de la ville,_" said the important +guest, slightly raising his uniformed shoulders as he presented them to +his own richly liveried servant to have his military overcoat put on. +"_Au revoir, mon cher._" And he pressed Maslennikoff's hand. + +"Now, come up; I am so glad," said Maslennikoff, grasping Nekhludoff's +hand. In spite of his corpulency Maslennikoff hurried quickly up the +stairs. He was in particularly good spirits, owing to the attention paid +him by the important personage. Every such attention gave him the same +sense of delight as is felt by an affectionate dog when its master pats +it, strokes it, or scratches its ears. It wags its tail, cringes, +jumps about, presses its ears down, and madly rushes about in a circle. +Maslennikoff was ready to do the same. He did not notice the serious +expression on Nekhludoff's face, paid no heed to his words, but pulled +him irresistibly towards the drawing-room, so that it was impossible for +Nekhludoff not to follow. "Business after wards. I shall do whatever +you want," said Meslennikoff, as he drew Nekhludoff through the dancing +hall. "Announce Prince Nekhludoff," he said to a footman, without +stopping on his way. The footman started off at a trot and passed them. + +"_Vous n'avez qu' a ordonner._ But you must see my wife. As it is, I got +it for letting you go without seeing her last time." + +By the time they reached the drawing-room the footman had already +announced Nekhludoff, and from between the bonnets and heads that +surrounded it the smiling face of Anna Ignatievna, the Vice-Governor's +wife, beamed on Nekhludoff. At the other end of the drawing-room several +ladies were seated round the tea-table, and some military men and some +civilians stood near them. The clatter of male and female voices went on +unceasingly. + +"Enfin! you seem to have quite forgotten us. How have we offended?" +With these words, intended to convey an idea of intimacy which had never +existed between herself and Nekhludoff, Anna Ignatievna greeted the +newcomer. + +"You are acquainted?--Madam Tilyaevsky, M. Chernoff. Sit down a bit +nearer. Missy _vene donc a notre table on vous apportera votre_ the +. . . And you," she said, having evidently forgotten his name, to an officer +who was talking to Missy, "do come here. A cup of tea, Prince?" + +"I shall never, never agree with you. It's quite simple; she did not +love," a woman's voice was heard saying. + +"But she loved tarts." + +"Oh, your eternal silly jokes!" put in, laughingly, another lady +resplendent in silks, gold, and jewels. + +"C'est excellent these little biscuits, and so light. I think I'll take +another." + +"Well, are you moving soon?" + +"Yes, this is our last day. That's why we have come. Yes, it must be +lovely in the country; we are having a delightful spring." + +Missy, with her hat on, in a dark-striped dress of some kind that fitted +her like a skin, was looking very handsome. She blushed when she saw +Nekhludoff. + +"And I thought you had left," she said to him. + +"I am on the point of leaving. Business is keeping me in town, and it is +on business I have come here." + +"Won't you come to see mamma? She would like to see you," she said, and +knowing that she was saying what was not true, and that he knew it also, +she blushed still more. + +"I fear I shall scarcely have time," Nekhludoff said gloomily, trying +to appear as if he had not noticed her blush. Missy frowned angrily, +shrugged her shoulders, and turned towards an elegant officer, who +grasped the empty cup she was holding, and knocking his sword against +the chairs, manfully carried the cup across to another table. + +"You must contribute towards the Home fund." + +"I am not refusing, but only wish to keep my bounty fresh for the +lottery. There I shall let it appear in all its glory." + +"Well, look out for yourself," said a voice, followed by an evidently +feigned laugh. + +Anna Ignatievna was in raptures; her "at-home" had turned out a +brilliant success. "Micky tells me you are busying yourself with prison +work. I can understand you so well," she said to Nekhludoff. "Micky (she +meant her fat husband, Maslennikoff) may have other defects, but you +know how kind-hearted he is. All these miserable prisoners are his +children. He does not regard them in any other light. _Il est d'une +bonte---_" and she stopped, finding no words to do justice to this bonte +of his, and quickly turned to a shrivelled old woman with bows of lilac +ribbon all over, who came in just then. + +Having said as much as was absolutely necessary, and with as little +meaning as conventionality required, Nekhludoff rose and went up to +Meslennikoff. "Can you give me a few minutes' hearing, please?" + +"Oh, yes. Well, what is it?" + +"Let us come in here." + +They entered a small Japanese sitting-room, and sat down by the window. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +THE VICE-GOVERNOR SUSPICIOUS. + +"Well? _Je suis a vous_. Will you smoke? But wait a bit; we must be +careful and not make a mess here," said Maslennikoff, and brought an +ashpan. "Well?" + +"There are two matters I wish to ask you about." + +"Dear me!" + +An expression of gloom and dejection came over Maslennikoff's +countenance, and every trace of the excitement, like that of the dog's +whom its master has scratched behind the cars, vanished completely. The +sound of voices reached them from the drawing-room. A woman's voice was +heard, saying, _"Jamais je ne croirais,"_ and a man's voice from +the other side relating something in which the names of la Comtesse +Voronzoff and Victor Apraksine kept recurring. A hum of voices, mixed +with laughter, came from another side. Maslennikoff tried to listen to +what was going on in the drawing-room and to what Nekhludoff was saying +at the same time. + +"I am again come about that same woman," said Nekhludoff. + +"Oh, yes; I know. The one innocently condemned." + +"I would like to ask that she should be appointed to serve in the prison +hospital. I have been told that this could be arranged." + +Maslennikoff compressed his lips and meditated. "That will be scarcely +possible," he said. "However, I shall see what can be done, and shall +wire you an answer tomorrow." + +"I have been told that there were many sick, and help was needed." + +"All right, all right. I shall let you know in any case." + +"Please do," said Nekhludoff. + +The sound of a general and even a natural laugh came from the +drawing-room. + +"That's all that Victor. He is wonderfully sharp when he is in the right +vein," said Maslennikoff. + +"The next thing I wanted to tell you," said Nekhludoff, "is that 130 +persons are imprisoned only because their passports are overdue. They +have been kept here a month." + +And he related the circumstances of the case. + +"How have you come to know of this?" said Maslennikoff, looking uneasy +and dissatisfied. + +"I went to see a prisoner, and these men came and surrounded me in the +corridor, and asked . . ." + +"What prisoner did you go to see?" + +"A peasant who is kept in prison, though innocent. I have put his case +into the hands of a lawyer. But that is not the point." + +"Is it possible that people who have done no wrong are imprisoned only +because their passports are overdue? And . . ." + +"That's the Procureur's business," Maslennikoff interrupted, angrily. +"There, now, you see what it is you call a prompt and just form of +trial. It is the business of the Public Prosecutor to visit the prison +and to find out if the prisoners are kept there lawfully. But that set +play cards; that's all they do." + +"Am I to understand that you can do nothing?" Nekhludoff said, +despondently, remembering that the advocate had foretold that the +Governor would put the blame on the Procureur. + +"Oh, yes, I can. I shall see about it at once." + +"So much the worse for her. _C'est un souffre douleur_," came the voice +of a woman, evidently indifferent to what she was saying, from the +drawing-room. + +"So much the better. I shall take it also," a man's voice was heard to +say from the other side, followed by the playful laughter of a woman, +who was apparently trying to prevent the man from taking something away +from her. + +"No, no; not on any account," the woman's voice said. + +"All right, then. I shall do all this," Maslennikoff repeated, and put +out the cigarette he held in his white, turquoise-ringed hand. "And now +let us join the ladies." + +"Wait a moment," Nekhludoff said, stopping at the door of the +drawing-room. "I was told that some men had received corporal punishment +in the prison yesterday. Is this true?" + +Maslennikoff blushed. + +"Oh, that's what you are after? No, mon cher, decidedly it won't do to +let you in there; you want to get at everything. Come, come; Anna is +calling us," he said, catching Nekhludoff by the arm, and again becoming +as excited as after the attention paid him by the important person, only +now his excitement was not joyful, but anxious. + +Nekhludoff pulled his arm away, and without taking leave of any one +and without saying a word, he passed through the drawing-room with a +dejected look, went down into the hall, past the footman, who sprang +towards him, and out at the street door. + +"What is the matter with him? What have you done to him?" asked Anna of +her husband. + +"This is _a la Francaise_," remarked some one. + +"_A la Francaise_, indeed--it is _a la Zoulou_." + +"Oh, but he's always been like that." + +Some one rose, some one came in, and the clatter went on its course. +The company used this episode with Nekhludoff as a convenient topic of +conversation for the rest of the "at-home." + +On the day following his visit to Maslennikoff, Nekhludoff received a +letter from him, written in a fine, firm hand, on thick, glazed paper, +with a coat-of-arms, and sealed with sealing-wax. Maslennikoff said +that he had written to the doctor concerning Maslova's removal to the +hospital, and hoped Nekhludoff's wish would receive attention. The +letter was signed, "Your affectionate elder comrade," and the signature +ended with a large, firm, and artistic flourish. "Fool!" Nekhludoff +could not refrain from saying, especially because in the word +"comrade" he felt Maslennikoff's condescension towards him, i.e., while +Maslennikoff was filling this position, morally most dirty and shameful, +he still thought himself a very important man, and wished, if not +exactly to flatter Nekhludoff, at least to show that he was not too +proud to call him comrade. + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +NEKHLUDOFF'S THIRD INTERVIEW WITH MASLOVA IN PRISON. + +One of the most widespread superstitions is that every man has his own +special, definite qualities; that a man is kind, cruel, wise, stupid, +energetic, apathetic, etc. Men are not like that. We may say of a man +that he is more often kind than cruel, oftener wise than stupid, oftener +energetic than apathetic, or the reverse; but it would be false to say +of one man that he is kind and wise, of another that he is wicked and +foolish. And yet we always classify mankind in this way. And this is +untrue. Men are like rivers: the water is the same in each, and alike in +all; but every river is narrow here, is more rapid there, here slower, +there broader, now clear, now cold, now dull, now warm. It is the same +with men. Every man carries in himself the germs of every human quality, +and sometimes one manifests itself, sometimes another, and the man often +becomes unlike himself, while still remaining the same man, In some +people these changes are very rapid, and Nekhludoff was such a man. +These changes in him were due to physical and to spiritual causes. At +this time he experienced such a change. + +That feeling of triumph and joy at the renewal of life which he had +experienced after the trial and after the first interview with Katusha, +vanished completely, and after the last interview fear and revulsion +took the place of that joy. He was determined not to leave her, and not +to change his decision of marrying her, if she wished it; but it seemed +very hard, and made him suffer. + +On the day after his visit to Maslennikoff, he again went to the prison +to see her. + +The inspector allowed him to speak to her, only not in the advocate's +room nor in the office, but in the women's visiting-room. In spite +of his kindness, the inspector was more reserved with Nekhludoff than +hitherto. + +An order for greater caution had apparently been sent, as a result of +his conversation with Meslennikoff. + +"You may see her," the inspector said; "but please remember what I +said as regards money. And as to her removal to the hospital, that his +excellency wrote to me about, it can be done; the doctor would agree. +Only she herself does not wish it. She says, 'Much need have I to carry +out the slops for the scurvy beggars.' You don't know what these people +are, Prince," he added. + +Nekhludoff did not reply, but asked to have the interview. The +inspector called a jailer, whom Nekhludoff followed into the women's +visiting-room, where there was no one but Maslova waiting. She came from +behind the grating, quiet and timid, close up to him, and said, without +looking at him: + +"Forgive me, Dmitri Ivanovitch, I spoke hastily the day before +yesterday." + +"It is not for me to forgive you," Nekhludoff began. + +"But all the same, you must leave me," she interrupted, and in the +terribly squinting eyes with which she looked at him Nekhludoff read the +former strained, angry expression. + +"Why should I leave you?" + +"So." + +"But why so?" + +She again looked up, as it seemed to him, with the same angry look. + +"Well, then, thus it is," she said. "You must leave me. It is true +what I am saying. I cannot. You just give it up altogether." Her lips +trembled and she was silent for a moment. "It is true. I'd rather hang +myself." + +Nekhludoff felt that in this refusal there was hatred and unforgiving +resentment, but there was also something besides, something good. This +confirmation of the refusal in cold blood at once quenched all the +doubts in Nekhludoff's bosom, and brought back the serious, triumphant +emotion he had felt in relation to Katusha. + +"Katusha, what I have said I will again repeat," he uttered, very +seriously. "I ask you to marry me. If you do not wish it, and for as +long as you do not wish it, I shall only continue to follow you, and +shall go where you are taken." + +"That is your business. I shall not say anything more," she answered, +and her lips began to tremble again. + +He, too, was silent, feeling unable to speak. + +"I shall now go to the country, and then to Petersburg," he said, when +he was quieter again. "I shall do my utmost to get your--our case, I +mean, reconsidered, and by the help of God the sentence may be revoked." + +"And if it is not revoked, never mind. I have deserved it, if not in +this case, in other ways," she said, and he saw how difficult it was for +her to keep down her tears. + +"Well, have you seen Menshoff?" she suddenly asked, to hide her emotion. +"It's true they are innocent, isn't it?" + +"Yes, I think so." + +"Such a splendid old woman," she said. + +There was another pause. + +"Well, and as to the hospital?" she suddenly said, and looking at him +with her squinting eyes. "If you like, I will go, and I shall not drink +any spirits, either." + +Nekhludoff looked into her eyes. They were smiling. + +"Yes, yes, she is quite a different being," Nekhludoff thought. After +all his former doubts, he now felt something he had never before +experienced--the certainty that love is invincible. + +When Maslova returned to her noisome cell after this interview, she took +off her cloak and sat down in her place on the shelf bedstead with her +hands folded on her lap. In the cell were only the consumptive woman, +the Vladimir woman with her baby, Menshoff's old mother, and the +watchman's wife. The deacon's daughter had the day before been declared +mentally diseased and removed to the hospital. The rest of the women +were away, washing clothes. The old woman was asleep, the cell door +stood open, and the watchman's children were in the corridor outside. +The Vladimir woman, with her baby in her arms, and the watchman's +wife, with the stocking she was knitting with deft fingers, came up to +Maslova. "Well, have you had a chat?" they asked. Maslova sat silent on +the high bedstead, swinging her legs, which did not reach to the floor. + +"What's the good of snivelling?" said the watchman's wife. "The chief +thing's not to go down into the dumps. Eh, Katusha? Now, then!" and she +went on, quickly moving her fingers. + +Maslova did not answer. + +"And our women have all gone to wash," said the Vladimir woman. "I +heard them say much has been given in alms to-day. Quite a lot has been +brought." + +"Finashka," called out the watchman's wife, "where's the little imp gone +to?" + +She took a knitting needle, stuck it through both the ball and the +stocking, and went out into the corridor. + +At this moment the sound of women's voices was heard from the corridor, +and the inmates of the cell entered, with their prison shoes, but +no stockings on their feet. Each was carrying a roll, some even two. +Theodosia came at once up to Maslova. + +"What's the matter; is anything wrong?" Theodosia asked, looking +lovingly at Maslova with her clear, blue eyes. "This is for our tea," +and she put the rolls on a shelf. + +"Why, surely he has not changed his mind about marrying?" asked +Korableva. + +"No, he has not, but I don't wish to," said Maslova, "and so I told +him." + +"More fool you!" muttered Korableva in her deep tones. + +"If one's not to live together, what's the use of marrying?" said +Theodosia. + +"There's your husband--he's going with you," said the watchman's wife. + +"Well, of course, we're married," said Theodosia. "But why should he go +through the ceremony if he is not to live with her?" + +"Why, indeed! Don't be a fool! You know if he marries her she'll roll in +wealth," said Korableva. + +"He says, 'Wherever they take you, I'll follow,'" said Maslova. "If he +does, it's well; if he does not, well also. I am not going to ask him +to. Now he is going to try and arrange the matter in Petersburg. He is +related to all the Ministers there. But, all the same, I have no need of +him," she continued. + +"Of course not," suddenly agreed Korableva, evidently thinking about +something else as she sat examining her bag. "Well, shall we have a +drop?" + +"You have some," replied Maslova. "I won't." + +END OF BOOK I. + + + + +BOOK II. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +PROPERTY IN LAND. + +It was possible for Maslova's case to come before the Senate in a +fortnight, at which time Nekhludoff meant to go to Petersburg, and, if +need be, to appeal to the Emperor (as the advocate who had drawn up the +petition advised) should the appeal be disregarded (and, according to +the advocate, it was best to be prepared for that, since the causes for +appeal were so slight). The party of convicts, among whom was Maslova, +would very likely leave in the beginning of June. In order to be able to +follow her to Siberia, as Nekhludoff was firmly resolved to do, he was +now obliged to visit his estates, and settle matters there. Nekhludoff +first went to the nearest, Kousminski, a large estate that lay in the +black earth district, and from which he derived the greatest part of his +income. + +He had lived on that estate in his childhood and youth, and had been +there twice since, and once, at his mother's request, he had taken a +German steward there, and had with him verified the accounts. The state +of things there and the peasants' relations to the management, i.e., +the landlord, had therefore been long known to him. The relations of the +peasants to the administration were those of utter dependence on that +management. Nekhludoff knew all this when still a university student, +he had confessed and preached Henry Georgeism, and, on the basis of that +teaching, had given the land inherited from his father to the peasants. +It is true that after entering the army, when he got into the habit of +spending 20,000 roubles a year, those former occupations ceased to be +regarded as a duty, and were forgotten, and he not only left off asking +himself where the money his mother allowed him came from, but even +avoided thinking about it. But his mother's death, the coming into the +property, and the necessity of managing it, again raised the question +as to what his position in reference to private property in land was. A +month before Nekhludoff would have answered that he had not the strength +to alter the existing order of things; that it was not he who was +administering the estate; and would one way or another have eased his +conscience, continuing to live far from his estates, and having the +money sent him. But now he decided that he could not leave things to go +on as they were, but would have to alter them in a way unprofitable +to himself, even though he had all these complicated and difficult +relations with the prison world which made money necessary, as well as a +probable journey to Siberia before him. Therefore he decided not to farm +the land, but to let it to the peasants at a low rent, to enable them +to cultivate it without depending on a landlord. More than once, when +comparing the position of a landowner with that of an owner of serfs, +Nekhludoff had compared the renting of land to the peasants instead +of cultivating it with hired labour, to the old system by which serf +proprietors used to exact a money payment from their serfs in place of +labour. It was not a solution of the problem, and yet a step towards the +solution; it was a movement towards a less rude form of slavery. And it +was in this way he meant to act. + +Nekhludoff reached Kousminski about noon. Trying to simplify his life +in every way, he did not telegraph, but hired a cart and pair at the +station. The driver was a young fellow in a nankeen coat, with a belt +below his long waist. He was glad to talk to the gentleman, especially +because while they were talking his broken-winded white horse and the +emaciated spavined one could go at a foot-pace, which they always liked +to do. + +The driver spoke about the steward at Kousminski without knowing that he +was driving "the master." Nekhludoff had purposely not told him who he +was. + +"That ostentatious German," said the driver (who had been to town and +read novels) as he sat sideways on the box, passing his hand from +the top to the bottom of his long whip, and trying to show off his +accomplishments--"that ostentatious German has procured three light +bays, and when he drives out with his lady---oh, my! At Christmas he had +a Christmas-tree in the big house. I drove some of the visitors there. +It had 'lectric lights; you could not see the like of it in the whole +of the government. What's it to him, he has cribbed a heap of money. I +heard say he has bought an estate." + +Nekhludoff had imagined that he was quite indifferent to the way the +steward managed his estate, and what advantages the steward derived from +it. The words of the long-waisted driver, however, were not pleasant to +hear. + +A dark cloud now and then covered the sun; the larks were soaring above +the fields of winter corn; the forests were already covered with fresh +young green; the meadows speckled with grazing cattle and horses. The +fields were being ploughed, and Nekhludoff enjoyed the lovely day. But +every now and then he had an unpleasant feeling, and, when he asked +himself what it was caused by, he remembered what the driver had told +him about the way the German was managing Kousminski. When he got to his +estate and set to work this unpleasant feeling vanished. + +Looking over the books in the office, and a talk with the foreman, who +naively pointed out the advantages to be derived from the facts that the +peasants had very little land of their own and that it lay in the midst +of the landlord's fields, made Nekhludoff more than ever determined to +leave off farming and to let his land to the peasants. + +From the office books and his talk with the foreman, Nekhludoff found +that two-thirds of the best of the cultivated land was still being +tilled with improved machinery by labourers receiving fixed wages, while +the other third was tilled by the peasants at the rate of five roubles +per desiatin [about two and three-quarter acres]. So that the peasants +had to plough each desiatin three times, harrow it three times, sow +and mow the corn, make it into sheaves, and deliver it on the threshing +ground for five roubles, while the same amount of work done by wage +labour came to at least 10 roubles. Everything the peasants got from the +office they paid for in labour at a very high price. They paid in labour +for the use of the meadows, for wood, for potato-stalks, and were nearly +all of them in debt to the office. Thus, for the land that lay beyond +the cultivated fields, which the peasants hired, four times the price +that its value would bring in if invested at five per cent was taken +from the peasants. + +Nekhludoff had known all this before, but he now saw it in a new light, +and wondered how he and others in his position could help seeing how +abnormal such conditions are. The steward's arguments that if the land +were let to the peasants the agricultural implements would fetch next to +nothing, as it would be impossible to get even a quarter of their value +for them, and that the peasants would spoil the land, and how great a +loser Nekhludoff would be, only strengthened Nekhludoff in the opinion +that he was doing a good action in letting the land to the peasants +and thus depriving himself of a large part of his income. He decided to +settle this business now, at once, while he was there. The reaping and +selling of the corn he left for the steward to manage in due season, and +also the selling of the agricultural implements and useless buildings. +But he asked his steward to call the peasants of the three neighbouring +villages that lay in the midst of his estate (Kousminski) to a meeting, +at which he would tell them of his intentions and arrange about the +price at which they were to rent the land. + +With the pleasant sense of the firmness he had shown in the face of the +steward's arguments, and his readiness to make a sacrifice, Nekhludoff +left the office, thinking over the business before him, and strolled +round the house, through the neglected flower-garden--this year the +flowers were planted in front of the steward's house--over the tennis +ground, now overgrown with dandelions, and along the lime-tree walk, +where he used to smoke his cigar, and where he had flirted with the +pretty Kirimova, his mother's visitor. Having briefly prepared in his +mind the speech he was going to make to the peasants, he again went in +to the steward, and, after tea, having once more arranged his thoughts, +he went into the room prepared for him in the big house, which used to +be a spare bedroom. + +In this clean little room, with pictures of Venice on the walls, and a +mirror between the two windows, there stood a clean bed with a spring +mattress, and by the side of it a small table, with a decanter of water, +matches, and an extinguisher. On a table by the looking-glass lay his +open portmanteau, with his dressing-case and some books in it; a Russian +book, The Investigation of the Laws of Criminality, and a German and +an English book on the same subject, which he meant to read while +travelling in the country. But it was too late to begin to-day, and he +began preparing to go to bed. + +An old-fashioned inlaid mahogany arm-chair stood in the corner of +the room, and this chair, which Nekhludoff remembered standing in his +mother's bedroom, suddenly raised a perfectly unexpected sensation in +his soul. He was suddenly filled with regret at the thought of the house +that would tumble to ruin, and the garden that would run wild, and the +forest that would be cut down, and all these farmyards, stables, sheds, +machines, horses, cows which he knew had cost so much effort, though not +to himself, to acquire and to keep. It had seemed easy to give up all +this, but now it was hard, not only to give this, but even to let the +land and lose half his income. And at once a consideration, which proved +that it was unreasonable to let the land to the peasants, and thus to +destroy his property, came to his service. "I must not hold property in +land. If I possess no property in land, I cannot keep up the house and +farm. And, besides, I am going to Siberia, and shall not need either +the house or the estate," said one voice. "All this is so," said another +voice, "but you are not going to spend all your life in Siberia. You may +marry, and have children, and must hand the estate on to them in as good +a condition as you received it. There is a duty to the land, too. +To give up, to destroy everything is very easy; to acquire it very +difficult. Above all, you must consider your future life, and what +you will do with yourself, and you must dispose of your property +accordingly. And are you really firm in your resolve? And then, are you +really acting according to your conscience, or are you acting in order +to be admired of men?" Nekhludoff asked himself all this, and had to +acknowledge that he was influenced by the thought of what people would +say about him. And the more he thought about it the more questions +arose, and the more unsolvable they seemed. + +In hopes of ridding himself of these thoughts by falling asleep, and +solving them in the morning when his head would be fresh, he lay down on +his clean bed. But it was long before he could sleep. Together with the +fresh air and the moonlight, the croaking of the frogs entered the room, +mingling with the trills of a couple of nightingales in the park and +one close to the window in a bush of lilacs in bloom. Listening to +the nightingales and the frogs, Nekhludoff remembered the inspector's +daughter, and her music, and the inspector; that reminded him of +Maslova, and how her lips trembled, like the croaking of the frogs, when +she said, "You must just leave it." Then the German steward began going +down to the frogs, and had to be held back, but he not only went down +but turned into Maslova, who began reproaching Nekhludoff, saying, "You +are a prince, and I am a convict." "No, I must not give in," thought +Nekhludoff, waking up, and again asking himself, "Is what I am doing +right? I do not know, and no matter, no matter, I must only fall asleep +now." And he began himself to descend where he had seen the inspector +and Maslova climbing down to, and there it all ended. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EFFORTS AT LAND RESTORATION. + +The next day Nekhludoff awoke at nine o'clock. The young office clerk +who attended on "the master" brought him his boots, shining as they had +never shone before, and some cold, beautifully clear spring water, and +informed him that the peasants were already assembling. + +Nekhludoff jumped out of bed, and collected his thoughts. Not a trace +of yesterday's regret at giving up and thus destroying his property +remained now. He remembered this feeling of regret with surprise; he was +now looking forward with joy to the task before him, and could not help +being proud of it. He could see from the window the old tennis ground, +overgrown with dandelions, on which the peasants were beginning to +assemble. The frogs had not croaked in vain the night before; the day +was dull. There was no wind; a soft warm rain had begun falling in the +morning, and hung in drops on leaves, twigs, and grass. Besides the +smell of the fresh vegetation, the smell of damp earth, asking for more +rain, entered in at the window. While dressing, Nekhludoff several times +looked out at the peasants gathered on the tennis ground. One by one +they came, took off their hats or caps to one another, and took their +places in a circle, leaning on their sticks. The steward, a stout, +muscular, strong young man, dressed in a short pea-jacket, with a +green stand-up collar, and enormous buttons, came to say that all had +assembled, but that they might wait until Nekhludoff had finished his +breakfast--tea and coffee, whichever he pleased; both were ready. + +"No, I think I had better go and see them at once," said Nekhludoff, +with an unexpected feeling of shyness and shame at the thought of the +conversation he was going to have with the peasants. He was going to +fulfil a wish of the peasants, the fulfilment of which they did not +even dare to hope for--to let the land to them at a low price, i.e., +to confer a great boon; and yet he felt ashamed of something. When +Nekhludoff came up to the peasants, and the fair, the curly, the bald, +the grey heads were bared before him, he felt so confused that he +could say nothing. The rain continued to come down in small drops, +that remained on the hair, the beards, and the fluff of the men's rough +coats. The peasants looked at "the master," waiting for him to speak, +and he was so abashed that he could not speak. This confused silence +was broken by the sedate, self-assured German steward, who considered +himself a good judge of the Russian peasant, and who spoke Russian +remarkably well. This strong, over-fed man, and Nekhludoff himself, +presented a striking contrast to the peasants, with their thin, wrinkled +faces and the shoulder blades protruding beneath their coarse coats. + +"Here's the Prince wanting to do you a favor, and to let the land to +you; only you are not worthy of it," said the steward. + +"How are we not worthy of it, Vasili Karlovitch? Don't we work for you? +We were well satisfied with the deceased lady--God have mercy on her +soul--and the young Prince will not desert us now. Our thanks to him," +said a redhaired, talkative peasant. + +"Yes, that's why I have called you together. I should like to let you +have all the land, if you wish it." + +The peasants said nothing, as if they did not understand or did not +believe it. + +"Let's see. Let us have the land? What do you mean?" asked a middle-aged +man. + +"To let it to you, that you might have the use of it, at a low rent." + +"A very agreeable thing," said an old man. + +"If only the pay is such as we can afford," said another. + +"There's no reason why we should not rent the land." + +"We are accustomed to live by tilling the ground." + +"And it's quieter for you, too, that way. You'll have to do nothing +but receive the rent. Only think of all the sin and worry now!" several +voices were heard saying. + +"The sin is all on your side," the German remarked. "If only you did +your work, and were orderly." + +"That's impossible for the likes of us," said a sharp-nosed old man. +"You say, 'Why do you let the horse get into the corn?' just as if I +let it in. Why, I was swinging my scythe, or something of the kind, +the livelong day, till the day seemed as long as a year, and so I fell +asleep while watching the herd of horses at night, and it got into your +oats, and now you're skinning me." + +"And you should keep order." + +"It's easy for you to talk about order, but it's more than our strength +will bear," answered a tall, dark, hairy middleaged man. + +"Didn't I tell you to put up a fence?" + +"You give us the wood to make it of," said a short, plain-looking +peasant. "I was going to put up a fence last year, and you put me to +feed vermin in prison for three months. That was the end of that fence." + +"What is it he is saying?" asked Nekhludoff, turning to the steward. + +"Der ersto Dieb im Dorfe," [The greatest thief in the village] answered +the steward in German. "He is caught stealing wood from the forest every +year." Then turning to the peasant, he added, "You must learn to respect +other people's property." + +"Why, don't we respect you?" said an old man. "We are obliged to respect +you. Why, you could twist us into a rope; we are in your hands." + +"Eh, my friend, it's impossible to do you. It's you who are ever ready +to do us," said the steward. + +"Do you, indeed. Didn't you smash my jaw for me, and I got nothing for +it? No good going to law with the rich, it seems." + +"You should keep to the law." + +A tournament of words was apparently going on without those who took +part in it knowing exactly what it was all about; but it was noticeable +that there was bitterness on one side, restricted by fear, and on the +other a consciousness of importance and power. It was very trying to +Nekhludoff to listen to all this, so he returned to the question of +arranging the amount and the terms of the rent. + +"Well, then, how about the land? Do you wish to take it, and what price +will you pay if I let you have the whole of it?" + +"The property is yours: it is for you to fix the price." + +Nekhludoff named the price. Though it was far below that paid in the +neighbourhood, the peasants declared it too high, and began bargaining, +as is customary among them. Nekhludoff thought his offer would be +accepted with pleasure, but no signs of pleasure were visible. + +One thing only showed Nekhludoff that his offer was a profitable one +to the peasants. The question as to who would rent the land, the whole +commune or a special society, was put, and a violent dispute arose among +those peasants who were in favour of excluding the weak and those not +likely to pay the rent regularly, and the peasants who would have to be +excluded on that score. At last, thanks to the steward, the amount and +the terms of the rent were fixed, and the peasants went down the hill +towards their villages, talking noisily, while Nekhludoff and the +steward went into the office to make up the agreement. Everything was +settled in the way Nekhludoff wished and expected it to be. The peasants +had their land 30 per cent. cheaper than they could have got it anywhere +in the district, the revenue from the land was diminished by half, but +was more than sufficient for Nekhludoff, especially as there would be +money coming in for a forest he sold, as well as for the agricultural +implements, which would be sold, too. Everything seemed excellently +arranged, yet he felt ashamed of something. He could see that the +peasants, though they spoke words of thanks, were not satisfied, and +had expected something greater. So it turned out that he had deprived +himself of a great deal, and yet not done what the peasants had +expected. + +The next day the agreement was signed, and accompanied by several old +peasants, who had been chosen as deputies, Nekhludoff went out, got +into the steward's elegant equipage (as the driver from the station had +called it), said "good-bye" to the peasants, who stood shaking their +heads in a dissatisfied and disappointed manner, and drove off to the +station. Nekhludoff was dissatisfied with himself without knowing why, +but all the time he felt sad and ashamed of something. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +OLD ASSOCIATIONS. + +From Kousminski Nekhludoff went to the estate he had inherited from his +aunts, the same where he first met Katusha. He meant to arrange about +the land there in the way he had done in Kousminski. Besides this, he +wished to find out all he could about Katusha and her baby, and when and +how it had died. He got to Panovo early one morning, and the first thing +that struck him when he drove up was the look of decay and dilapidation +that all the buildings bore, especially the house itself. The iron +roofs, which had once been painted green, looked red with rust, and +a few sheets of iron were bent back, probably by a storm. Some of the +planks which covered the house from outside were torn away in several +places; these were easier to get by breaking the rusty nails that held +them. Both porches, but especially the side porch he remembered so well, +were rotten and broken; only the banister remained. Some of the windows +were boarded up, and the building in which the foreman lived, the +kitchen, the stables--all were grey and decaying. Only the garden had +not decayed, but had grown, and was in full bloom; from over the fence +the cherry, apple, and plum trees looked like white clouds. The lilac +bushes that formed the hedge were in full bloom, as they had been +when, 14 years ago, Nekhludoff had played gorelki with the 15-year-old +Katusha, and had fallen and got his hand stung by the nettles behind one +of those lilac bushes. The larch that his aunt Sophia had planted near +the house, which then was only a short stick, had grown into a tree, +the trunk of which would have made a beam, and its branches were covered +with soft yellow green needles as with down. The river, now within its +banks, rushed noisily over the mill dam. The meadow the other side of +the river was dotted over by the peasants' mixed herds. The foreman, +a student, who had left the seminary without finishing the course, met +Nekhludoff in the yard, with a smile on his face, and, still smiling, +asked him to come into the office, and, as if promising something +exceptionally good by this smile, he went behind a partition. For a +moment some whispering was heard behind the partition. The isvostchik +who had driven Nekhludoff from the station, drove away after receiving +a tip, and all was silent. Then a barefooted girl passed the window; +she had on an embroidered peasant blouse, and long earrings in her ears; +then a man walked past, clattering with his nailed boots on the trodden +path. + +Nekhludoff sat down by the little casement, and looked out into the +garden and listened. A soft, fresh spring breeze, smelling of newly-dug +earth, streamed in through the window, playing with the hair on his damp +forehead and the papers that lay on the window-sill, which was all cut +about with a knife. + +"Tra-pa-trop, tra-pa-trop," comes a sound from the river, as the women +who were washing clothes there slapped them in regular measure with +their wooden bats, and the sound spread over the glittering surface of +the mill pond while the rhythmical sound of the falling water came from +the mill, and a frightened fly suddenly flew loudly buzzing past his +ear. + +And all at once Nekhludoff remembered how, long ago, when he was young +and innocent, he had heard the women's wooden bats slapping the wet +clothes above the rhythmical sound from the mill, and in the same way +the spring breeze had blown about the hair on his wet forehead and the +papers on the window-sill, which was all cut about with a knife, and +just in the same way a fly had buzzed loudly past his car. + +It was not exactly that he remembered himself as a lad of 15, but he +seemed to feel himself the same as he was then, with the same freshness +and purity, and full of the same grand possibilities for the future, and +at the same time, as it happens in a dream, he knew that all this could +be no more, and he felt terribly sad. "At what time would you like +something to eat?" asked the foreman, with a smile. + +"When you like; I am not hungry. I shall go for a walk through the +village." + +"Would you not like to come into the house? Everything is in order +there. Have the goodness to look in. If the outside---" + +"Not now; later on. Tell me, please, have you got a woman here called +Matrona Kharina?" (This was Katusha's aunt, the village midwife.) + +"Oh, yes; in the village she keeps a secret pot-house. I know she does, +and I accuse her of it and scold her; but as to taking her up, it would +be a pity. An old woman, you know; she has grandchildren," said the +foreman, continuing to smile in the same manner, partly wishing to +be pleasant to the master, and partly because he was convinced that +Nekhludoff understood all these matters just as well as he did himself. + +"Where does she live? I shall go across and see her." + +"At the end of the village; the further side, the third from the end. To +the left there is a brick cottage, and her hut is beyond that. But I'd +better see you there," the foreman said with a graceful smile. + +"No, thanks, I shall find it; and you be so good as to call a meeting +of the peasants, and tell them that I want to speak to them about +the land," said Nekhludoff, with the intention of coming to the same +agreement with the peasants here as he had done in Kousminski, and, if +possible, that same evening. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE PEASANTS' LOT. + +When Nekhludoff came out of the gate he met the girl with the long +earrings on the well-trodden path that lay across the pasture +ground, overgrown with dock and plantain leaves. She had a long, +brightly-coloured apron on, and was quickly swinging her left arm in +front of herself as she stepped briskly with her fat, bare feet. With +her right arm she was pressing a fowl to her stomach. The fowl, with +red comb shaking, seemed perfectly calm; he only rolled up his eyes and +stretched out and drew in one black leg, clawing the girl's apron. When +the girl came nearer to "the master," she began moving more slowly, and +her run changed into a walk. When she came up to him she stopped, and, +after a backward jerk with her head, bowed to him; and only when he had +passed did she recommence to run homeward with the cock. As he went down +towards the well, he met an old woman, who had a coarse dirty blouse on, +carrying two pails full of water, that hung on a yoke across her bent +back. The old woman carefully put down the pails and bowed, with the +same backward jerk of her head. + +After passing the well Nekhludoff entered the village. It was a bright, +hot day, and oppressive, though only ten o'clock. At intervals the sun +was hidden by the gathering clouds. An unpleasant, sharp smell of manure +filled the air in the street. It came from carts going up the hillside, +but chiefly from the disturbed manure heaps in the yards of the huts, +by the open gates of which Nekhludoff had to pass. The peasants, +barefooted, their shirts and trousers soiled with manure, turned to look +at the tall, stout gentleman with the glossy silk ribbon on his grey hat +who was walking up the village street, touching the ground every other +step with a shiny, bright-knobbed walking-stick. The peasants returning +from the fields at a trot and jotting in their empty carts, took +off their hats, and, in their surprise, followed with their eyes the +extraordinary man who was walking up their street. The women came out +of the gates or stood in the porches of their huts, pointing him out to +each other and gazing at him as he passed. + +When Nekhludoff was passing the fourth gate, he was stopped by a cart +that was coming out, its wheels creaking, loaded high with manure, which +was pressed down, and was covered with a mat to sit on. A six-year-old +boy, excited by the prospect of a drive, followed the cart. A young +peasant, with shoes plaited out of bark on his feet, led the horse out +of the yard. A long-legged colt jumped out of the gate; but, seeing +Nekhludoff, pressed close to the cart, and scraping its legs against the +wheels, jumped forward, past its excited, gently-neighing mother, as she +was dragging the heavy load through the gateway. The next horse was led +out by a barefooted old man, with protruding shoulder-blades, in a dirty +shirt and striped trousers. + +When the horses got out on to the hard road, strewn over with bits +of dry, grey manure, the old man returned to the gate, and bowed to +Nekhludoff. + +"You are our ladies' nephew, aren't you?" + +"Yes, I am their nephew." + +"You've kindly come to look us up, eh?" said the garrulous old man. + +"Yes, I have. Well, how are you getting on?" + +"How do we get on? We get on very badly," the old man drawled, as if it +gave him pleasure. + +"Why so badly?" Nekhludoff asked, stepping inside the gate. + +"What is our life but the very worst life?" said the old man, following +Nekhludoff into that part of the yard which was roofed over. + +Nekhludoff stopped under the roof. + +"I have got 12 of them there," continued the old man, pointing to two +women on the remainder of the manure heap, who stood perspiring with +forks in their hands, the kerchiefs tumbling off their heads, with their +skirts tucked up, showing the calves of their dirty, bare legs. "Not a +month passes but I have to buy six poods [a pood is 36 English pounds] +of corn, and where's the money to come from?" + +"Have you not got enough corn of your own?" + +"My own?" repeated the old man, with a smile of contempt; "why I have +only got land for three, and last year we had not enough to last till +Christmas." + +"What do you do then?" + +"What do we do? Why, I hire out as a labourer; and then I borrowed some +money from your honour. We spent it all before Lent, and the tax is not +paid yet." + +"And how much is the tax?" + +"Why, it's 17 roubles for my household. Oh, Lord, such a life! One +hardly knows one's self how one manages to live it." + +"May I go into your hut?" asked Nekhludoff, stepping across the yard +over the yellow-brown layers of manure that had been raked up by the +forks, and were giving off a strong smell. + +"Why not? Come in," said the old man, and stepping quickly with his +bare feet over the manure, the liquid oozing between his toes, he passed +Nekhludoff and opened the door of the hut. + +The women arranged the kerchiefs on their heads and let down their +skirts, and stood looking with surprise at the clean gentleman with gold +studs to his sleeves who was entering their house. Two little girls, +with nothing on but coarse chemises, rushed out of the hut. Nekhludoff +took off his hat, and, stooping to get through the low door, entered, +through a passage into the dirty, narrow hut, that smelt of sour food, +and where much space was taken up by two weaving looms. In the hut an +old woman was standing by the stove, with the sleeves rolled up over her +thin, sinewy brown arms. + +"Here is our master come to see us," said the old man. + +"I'm sure he's very welcome," said the old woman, kindly. + +"I would like to see how you live." + +"Well, you see how we live. The hut is coming down, and might kill one +any day; but my old man he says it's good enough, and so we live like +kings," said the brisk old woman, nervously jerking her head. "I'm +getting the dinner; going to feed the workers." + +"And what are you going to have for dinner?" + +"Our food is very good. First course, bread and kvas; [kvas is a kind of +sour, non-intoxicant beer made of rye] second course, kvas and bread," +said the old woman, showing her teeth, which were half worn away. + +"No," seriously; "let me see what you are going to eat." + +"To eat?" said the old man, laughing. "Ours is not a very cunning meal. +You just show him, wife." + +"Want to see our peasant food? Well, you are an inquisitive gentleman, +now I come to look at you. He wants to know everything. Did I not tell +you bread and kvas and then we'll have soup. A woman brought us some +fish, and that's what the soup is made of, and after that, potatoes." + +"Nothing more?" + +"What more do you want? We'll also have a little milk," said the old +woman, looking towards the door. The door stood open, and the passage +outside was full of people--boys, girls, women with babies--thronged +together to look at the strange gentleman who wanted to see the +peasants' food. The old woman seemed to pride herself on the way she +behaved with a gentleman. + +"Yes, it's a miserable life, ours; that goes without saying, sir," said +the old man. "What are you doing there?" he shouted to those in the +passage. "Well, good-bye," said Nekhludoff, feeling ashamed and uneasy, +though unable to account for the feeling. + +"Thank you kindly for having looked us up," said the old man. + +The people in the passage pressed closer together to let Nekhludoff +pass, and he went out and continued his way up the street. + +Two barefooted boys followed him out of the passage the elder in a +shirt that had once been white, the other in a worn and faded pink one. +Nekhludoff looked back at them. + +"And where are you going now?" asked the boy with the white shirt. +Nekhludoff answered: "To Matrona Kharina. Do you know her?" The boy +with the pink shirt began laughing at something; but the elder asked, +seriously: + +"What Matrona is that? Is she old?" + +"Yes, she is old." + +"Oh--oh," he drawled; "that one; she's at the other end of the village; +we'll show you. Yes, Fedka, we'll go with him. Shall we?" + +"Yes, but the horses?" + +"They'll be all right, I dare say." + +Fedka agreed, and all three went up the street. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MASLOVA'S AUNT. + +Nekhludoff felt more at ease with the boys than with the grown-up +people, and he began talking to them as they went along. The little +one with the pink shirt stopped laughing, and spoke as sensibly and as +exactly as the elder one. + +"Can you tell me who are the poorest people you have got here?" asked +Nekhludoff. + +"The poorest? Michael is poor, Simon Makhroff, and Martha, she is very +poor." + +"And Anisia, she is still poorer; she's not even got a cow. They go +begging," said little Fedka. + +"She's not got a cow, but they are only three persons, and Martha's +family are five," objected the elder boy. + +"But the other's a widow," the pink boy said, standing up for Anisia. + +"You say Anisia is a widow, and Martha is no better than a widow," said +the elder boy; "she's also no husband." + +"And where is her husband?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Feeding vermin in prison," said the elder boy, using this expression, +common among the peasants. + +"A year ago he cut down two birch trees in the land-lord's forest," the +little pink boy hurried to say, "so he was locked up; now he's sitting +the sixth month there, and the wife goes begging. There are three +children and a sick grandmother," he went on with his detailed account. + +"And where does she live?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"In this very house," answered the boy, pointing to a hut, in front +of which, on the footpath along which Nekhludoff was walking, a tiny, +flaxen-headed infant stood balancing himself with difficulty on his +rickety legs. + +"Vaska! Where's the little scamp got to?" shouted a woman, with a dirty +grey blouse, and a frightened look, as she ran out of the house, and, +rushing forward, seized the baby before Nekhludoff came up to it, and +carried it in, just as if she were afraid that Nekhludoff would hurt her +child. + +This was the woman whose husband was imprisoned for Nekhludoff's birch +trees. + +"Well, and this Matrona, is she also poor?" Nekhludoff asked, as they +came up to Matrona's house. + +"She poor? No. Why, she sells spirits," the thin, pink little boy +answered decidedly. + +When they reached the house Nekhludoff left the boys outside and went +through the passage into the hut. The hut was 14 feet long. The bed +that stood behind the big stove was not long enough for a tall person +to stretch out on. "And on this very bed," Nekhludoff thought, "Katusha +bore her baby and lay ill afterwards." The greater part of the hut was +taken up by a loom, on which the old woman and her eldest granddaughter +were arranging the warp when Nekhludoff came in, striking his forehead +against the low doorway. Two other grandchildren came rushing in after +Nekhludoff, and stopped, holding on to the lintels of the door. + +"Whom do you want?" asked the old woman, crossly. She was in a bad +temper because she could not manage to get the warp right, and, besides, +carrying on an illicit trade in spirits, she was always afraid when any +stranger came in. + +"I am--the owner of the neighbouring estates, and should like to speak +to you." + +"Dear me; why, it's you, my honey; and I, fool, thought it was just some +passer-by. Dear me, you--it's you, my precious," said the old woman, +with simulated tenderness in her voice. + +"I should like to speak to you alone," said Nekhludoff, with a glance +towards the door, where the children were standing, and behind them a +woman holding a wasted, pale baby, with a sickly smile on its face, who +had a little cap made of different bits of stuff on its head. + +"What are you staring at? I'll give it you. Just hand me my crutch," the +old woman shouted to those at the door. + +"Shut the door, will you!" The children went away, and the woman closed +the door. + +"And I was thinking, who's that? And it's 'the master' himself. My +jewel, my treasure. Just think," said the old woman, "where he has +deigned to come. Sit down here, your honour," she said, wiping the seat +with her apron. "And I was thinking what devil is it coming in, and it's +your honour, 'the master' himself, the good gentleman, our benefactor. +Forgive me, old fool that I am; I'm getting blind." + +Nekhludoff sat down, and the old woman stood in front of him, leaning +her cheek on her right hand, while the left held up the sharp elbow of +her right arm. + +"Dear me, you have grown old, your honour; and you used to be as fresh +as a daisy. And now! Cares also, I expect?" + +"This is what I have come about: Do you remember Katusha Maslova?" + +"Katerina? I should think so. Why, she is my niece. How could I help +remembering; and the tears I have shed because of her. Why, I know all +about it. Eh, sir, who has not sinned before God? who has not offended +against the Tsar? We know what youth is. You used to be drinking tea and +coffee, so the devil got hold of you. He is strong at times. What's to +be done? Now, if you had chucked her; but no, just see how you rewarded +her, gave her a hundred roubles. And she? What has she done? Had she +but listened to me she might have lived all right. I must say the truth, +though she is my niece: that girl's no good. What a good place I found +her! She would not submit, but abused her master. Is it for the likes +of us to scold gentlefolk? Well, she was sent away. And then at the +forester's. She might have lived there; but no, she would not." + +"I want to know about the child. She was confined at your house, was she +not? Where's the child?" + +"As to the child, I considered that well at the time. She was so bad +I never thought she would get up again. Well, so I christened the baby +quite properly, and we sent it to the Foundlings'. Why should one let +an innocent soul languish when the mother is dying? Others do like this: +they just leave the baby, don't feed it, and it wastes away. But, thinks +I, no; I'd rather take some trouble, and send it to the Foundlings'. +There was money enough, so I sent it off." + +"Did you not get its registration number from the Foundlings' Hospital?" + +"Yes, there was a number, but the baby died," she said. "It died as soon +as she brought it there." + +"Who is she?" + +"That same woman who used to live in Skorodno. She made a business of +it. Her name was Malania. She's dead now. She was a wise woman. What do +you think she used to do? They'd bring her a baby, and she'd keep it and +feed it; and she'd feed it until she had enough of them to take to the +Foundlings'. When she had three or four, she'd take them all at once. +She had such a clever arrangement, a sort of big cradle--a double one +she could put them in one way or the other. It had a handle. So she'd +put four of them in, feet to feet and the heads apart, so that they +should not knock against each other. And so she took four at once. She'd +put some pap in a rag into their mouths to keep 'em silent, the pets." + +"Well, go on." + +"Well, she took Katerina's baby in the same way, after keeping it a +fortnight, I believe. It was in her house it began to sicken." + +"And was it a fine baby?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Such a baby, that if you wanted a finer you could not find one. Your +very image," the old woman added, with a wink. + +"Why did it sicken? Was the food bad?" + +"Eh, what food? Only just a pretence of food. Naturally, when it's not +one's own child. Only enough to get it there alive. She said she +just managed to get it to Moscow, and there it died. She brought a +certificate--all in order. She was such a wise woman." + +That was all Nekhludoff could find out concerning his child. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +REFLECTIONS OF A LANDLORD. + +Again striking his head against both doors, Nekhludoff went out into the +street, where the pink and the white boys were waiting for him. A few +newcomers were standing with them. Among the women, of whom several +had babies in their arms, was the thin woman with the baby who had the +patchwork cap on its head. She held lightly in her arms the bloodless +infant, who kept strangely smiling all over its wizened little face, and +continually moving its crooked thumbs. + +Nekhludoff knew the smile to be one of suffering. He asked who the woman +was. + +"It is that very Anisia I told you about," said the elder boy. + +Nekhludoff turned to Anisia. + +"How do you live?" he asked. "By what means do you gain your +livelihood?" + +"How do I live? I go begging," said Anisia, and began to cry. + +Nekhludoff took out his pocket-book, and gave the woman a 10-rouble +note. He had not had time to take two steps before another woman with +a baby caught him up, then an old woman, then another young one. All of +them spoke of their poverty, and asked for help. Nekhludoff gave them +the 60 roubles--all in small notes--which he had with him, and, terribly +sad at heart, turned home, i.e., to the foreman's house. + +The foreman met Nekhludoff with a smile, and informed him that the +peasants would come to the meeting in the evening. Nekhludoff thanked +him, and went straight into the garden to stroll along the paths strewn +over with the petals of apple-blossom and overgrown with weeds, and to +think over all he had seen. + +At first all was quiet, but soon Nekhludoff heard from behind the +foreman's house two angry women's voices interrupting each other, and +now and then the voice of the ever-smiling foreman. Nekhludoff listened. + +"My strength's at an end. What are you about, dragging the very cross +[those baptized in the Russo-Greek Church always wear a cross round +their necks] off my neck," said an angry woman's voice. + +"But she only got in for a moment," said another voice. "Give it her +back, I tell you. Why do you torment the beast, and the children, too, +who want their milk?" + +"Pay, then, or work it off," said the foreman's voice. + +Nekhludoff left the garden and entered the porch, near which stood two +dishevelled women--one of them pregnant and evidently near her time. +On one of the steps of the porch, with his hands in the pockets of his +holland coat, stood the foreman. When they saw the master, the women +were silent, and began arranging the kerchiefs on their heads, and the +foreman took his hands out of his pockets and began to smile. + +This is what had happened. From the foreman's words, it seemed that the +peasants were in the habit of letting their calves and even their cows +into the meadow belonging to the estate. Two cows belonging to the +families of these two women were found in the meadow, and driven into +the yard. The foreman demanded from the women 30 copecks for each cow +or two days' work. The women, however, maintained that the cows had got +into the meadow of their own accord; that they had no money, and asked +that the cows, which had stood in the blazing sun since morning without +food, piteously lowing, should be returned to them, even if it had to be +on the understanding that the price should be worked off later on. + +"How often have I not begged of you," said the smiling foreman, looking +back at Nekhludoff as if calling upon him to be a witness, "if you drive +your cattle home at noon, that you should have an eye on them?" + +"I only ran to my little one for a bit, and they got away." + +"Don't run away when you have undertaken to watch the cows." + +"And who's to feed the little one? You'd not give him the breast, I +suppose?" said the other woman. "Now, if they had really damaged the +meadow, one would not take it so much to heart; but they only strayed in +a moment." + +"All the meadows are damaged," the foreman said, turning to Nekhludoff. +"If I exact no penalty there will be no hay." + +"There, now, don't go sinning like that; my cows have never been caught +there before," shouted the pregnant woman. + +"Now that one has been caught, pay up or work it off." + +"All right, I'll work it off; only let me have the cow now, don't +torture her with hunger," she cried, angrily. "As it is, I have no rest +day or night. Mother-in-law is ill, husband taken to drink; I'm all +alone to do all the work, and my strength's at an end. I wish you'd +choke, you and your working it off." + +Nekhludoff asked the foreman to let the women take the cows, and went +back into the garden to go on thinking out his problem, but there was +nothing more to think about. + +Everything seemed so clear to him now that he could not stop wondering +how it was that everybody did not see it, and that he himself had for +such a long while not seen what was so clearly evident. The people were +dying out, and had got used to the dying-out process, and had formed +habits of life adapted to this process: there was the great mortality +among the children, the over-working of the women, the under-feeding, +especially of the aged. And so gradually had the people come to this +condition that they did not realise the full horrors of it, and did +not complain. Therefore, we consider their condition natural and as it +should be. Now it seemed as clear as daylight that the chief cause of +the people's great want was one that they themselves knew and always +pointed out, i.e., that the land which alone could feed them had been +taken from them by the landlords. + +And how evident it was that the children and the aged died because they +had no milk, and they had no milk because there was no pasture land, and +no land to grow corn or make hay on. It was quite evident that all the +misery of the people or, at least by far the greater part of it, was +caused by the fact that the land which should feed them was not in their +hands, but in the hands of those who, profiting by their rights to the +land, live by the work of these people. The land so much needed by men +was tilled by these people, who were on the verge of starvation, so +that the corn might be sold abroad and the owners of the land might buy +themselves hats and canes, and carriages and bronzes, etc. He understood +this as clearly as he understood that horses when they have eaten all +the grass in the inclosure where they are kept will have to grow thin +and starve unless they are put where they can get food off other land. + +This was terrible, and must not go on. Means must be found to alter it, +or at least not to take part in it. "And I will find them," he thought, +as he walked up and down the path under the birch trees. + +In scientific circles, Government institutions, and in the papers we +talk about the causes of the poverty among the people and the means of +ameliorating their condition; but we do not talk of the only sure means +which would certainly lighten their condition, i.e., giving back to them +the land they need so much. + +Henry George's fundamental position recurred vividly to his mind and how +he had once been carried away by it, and he was surprised that he could +have forgotten it. The earth cannot be any one's property; it cannot be +bought or sold any more than water, air, or sunshine. All have an equal +right to the advantages it gives to men. And now he knew why he had felt +ashamed to remember the transaction at Kousminski. He had been deceiving +himself. He knew that no man could have a right to own land, yet he had +accepted this right as his, and had given the peasants something which, +in the depth of his heart, he knew he had no right to. Now he would not +act in this way, and would alter the arrangement in Kousminski also. And +he formed a project in his mind to let the land to the peasants, and to +acknowledge the rent they paid for it to be their property, to be kept +to pay the taxes and for communal uses. This was, of course, not the +single-tax system, still it was as near an approach to it as could be +had under existing circumstances. His chief consideration, however, was +that in this way he would no longer profit by the possession of landed +property. + +When he returned to the house the foreman, with a specially pleasant +smile, asked him if he would not have his dinner now, expressing the +fear that the feast his wife was preparing, with the help of the girl +with the earrings, might be overdone. + +The table was covered with a coarse, unbleached cloth and an embroidered +towel was laid on it in lieu of a napkin. A vieux-saxe soup tureen with +a broken handle stood on the table, full of potato soup, the stock made +of the fowl that had put out and drawn in his black leg, and was now +cut, or rather chopped, in pieces, which were here and there covered +with hairs. After the soup more of the same fowl with the hairs was +served roasted, and then curd pasties, very greasy, and with a great +deal of sugar. Little appetising as all this was, Nekhludoff hardly +noticed what he was eating; he was occupied with the thought which had +in a moment dispersed the sadness with which he had returned from the +village. + +The foreman's wife kept looking in at the door, whilst the frightened +maid with the earrings brought in the dishes; and the foreman smiled +more and more joyfully, priding himself on his wife's culinary skill. +After dinner, Nekhludoff succeeded, with some trouble, in making the +foreman sit down. In order to revise his own thoughts, and to express +them to some one, he explained his project of letting the land to the +peasants, and asked the foreman for his opinion. The foreman, smiling +as if he had thought all this himself long ago, and was very pleased +to hear it, did not really understand it at all. This was not because +Nekhludoff did not express himself clearly, but because according to +this project it turned out that Nekhludoff was giving up his own +profit for the profit of others, and the thought that every one is only +concerned about his own profit, to the harm of others, was so deeply +rooted in the foreman's conceptions that he imagined he did not +understand something when Nekhludoff said that all the income from the +land must be placed to form the communal capital of the peasants. + +"Oh, I see; then you, of course, will receive the percentages from that +capital," said the foreman, brightening up. + +"Dear me! no. Don't you see, I am giving up the land altogether." + +"But then you will not get any income," said the foreman, smiling no +longer. + +"Yes, I am going to give it up." + +The foreman sighed heavily, and then began smiling again. Now he +understood. He understood that Nekhludoff was not quite normal, and +at once began to consider how he himself could profit by Nekhludoff's +project of giving up the land, and tried to see this project in such a +way that he might reap some advantage from it. But when he saw that this +was impossible he grew sorrowful, and the project ceased to interest +him, and he continued to smile only in order to please the master. + +Seeing that the foreman did not understand him, Nekhludoff let him go +and sat down by the window-sill, that was all cut about and inked over, +and began to put his project down on paper. + +The sun went down behind the limes, that were covered with fresh green, +and the mosquitoes swarmed in, stinging Nekhludoff. Just as he finished +his notes, he heard the lowing of cattle and the creaking of opening +gates from the village, and the voices of the peasants gathering +together for the meeting. He told the foreman not to call the peasants +up to the office, as he meant to go into the village himself and meet +the men where they would assemble. Having hurriedly drank a cup of tea +offered him by the foreman, Nekhludoff went to the village. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE DISINHERITED. + +From the crowd assembled in front of the house of the village elder +came the sound of voices; but as soon as Nekhludoff came up the talking +ceased, and all the peasants took off their caps, just as those in +Kousminski had done. The peasants here were of a much poorer class than +those in Kousminski. The men wore shoes made of bark and homespun shirts +and coats. Some had come straight from their work in their shirts and +with bare feet. + +Nekhludoff made an effort, and began his speech by telling the peasants +of his intention to give up his land to them altogether. The peasants +were silent, and the expression on their faces did not undergo any +change. + +"Because I hold," said Nekhludoff, "and believe that every one has a +right to the use of the land." + +"That's certain. That's so, exactly," said several voices. + +Nekhludoff went on to say that the revenue from the land ought to be +divided among all, and that he would therefore suggest that they +should rent the land at a price fixed by themselves, the rent to form +a communal fund for their own use. Words of approval and agreement were +still to be heard, but the serious faces of the peasants grew still more +serious, and the eyes that had been fixed on the gentleman dropped, as +if they were unwilling to put him to shame by letting him see that every +one had understood his trick, and that no one would be deceived by him. + +Nekhludoff spoke clearly, and the peasants were intelligent, but they +did not and could not understand him, for the same reason that the +foreman had so long been unable to understand him. + +They were fully convinced that it is natural for every man to consider +his own interest. The experience of many generations had proved to them +that the landlords always considered their own interest to the detriment +of the peasants. Therefore, if a landlord called them to a meeting and +made them some kind of a new offer, it could evidently only be in order +to swindle them more cunningly than before. + +"Well, then, what are you willing to rent the land at?" asked +Nekhludoff. + +"How can we fix a price? We cannot do it. The land is yours, and the +power is in your hands," answered some voices from among the crowd. + +"Oh, not at all. You will yourselves have the use of the money for +communal purposes." + +"We cannot do it; the commune is one thing, and this is another." + +"Don't you understand?" said the foreman, with a smile (he had followed +Nekhludoff to the meeting), "the Prince is letting the land to you +for money, and is giving you the money back to form a capital for the +commune." + +"We understand very well," said a cross, toothless old man, without +raising his eyes. "Something like a bank; we should have to pay at a +fixed time. We do not wish it; it is hard enough as it is, and that +would ruin us completely." + +"That's no go. We prefer to go on the old way," began several +dissatisfied, and even rude, voices. + +The refusals grew very vehement when Nekhludoff mentioned that he would +draw up an agreement which would have to be signed by him and by them. + +"Why sign? We shall go on working as we have done hitherto. What is all +this for? We are ignorant men." + +"We can't agree, because this sort of thing is not what we have been +used to. As it was, so let it continue to be. Only the seeds we should +like to withdraw." + +This meant that under the present arrangement the seeds had to be +provided by the peasants, and they wanted the landlord to provide them. + +"Then am I to understand that you refuse to accept the land?" Nekhludoff +asked, addressing a middle-aged, barefooted peasant, with a tattered +coat, and a bright look on his face, who was holding his worn cap +with his left hand, in a peculiarly straight position, in the same way +soldiers hold theirs when commanded to take them off. + +"Just so," said this peasant, who had evidently not yet rid himself of +the military hypnotism he had been subjected to while serving his time. + +"It means that you have sufficient land," said Nekhludoff. + +"No, sir, we have not," said the ex-soldier, with an artificially +pleased look, carefully holding his tattered cap in front of him, as if +offering it to any one who liked to make use of it. + +"Well, anyhow, you'd better think over what I have said." Nekhludoff +spoke with surprise, and again repeated his offer. + +"We have no need to think about it; as we have said, so it will be," +angrily muttered the morose, toothless old man. + +"I shall remain here another day, and if you change your minds, send to +let me know." + +The peasants gave no answer. + +So Nekhludoff did not succeed in arriving at any result from this +interview. + +"If I might make a remark, Prince," said the foreman, when they got +home, "you will never come to any agreement with them; they are so +obstinate. At a meeting these people just stick in one place, and there +is no moving them. It is because they are frightened of everything. Why, +these very peasants--say that white-haired one, or the dark one, who +were refusing, are intelligent peasants. When one of them comes to the +office and one makes him sit down to cup of tea it's like in the Palace +of Wisdom--he is quite diplomatist," said the foreman, smiling; "he will +consider everything rightly. At a meeting it's a different man--he keeps +repeating one and the same . . ." + +"Well, could not some of the more intelligent men be asked to come +here?" said Nekhludoff. "I would carefully explain it to them." + +"That can be done," said the smiling foreman. + +"Well, then, would you mind calling them here to-morrow?" + +"Oh, certainly I will," said the foreman, and smiled still more +joyfully. "I shall call them to-morrow." + +"Just hear him; he's not artful, not he," said a blackhaired peasant, +with an unkempt beard, as he sat jolting from side to side on a well-fed +mare, addressing an old man in a torn coat who rode by his side. The two +men were driving a herd of the peasants' horses to graze in the night, +alongside the highroad and secretly, in the landlord's forest. + +"Give you the land for nothing--you need only sign--have they not +done the likes of us often enough? No, my friend, none of your humbug. +Nowadays we have a little sense," he added, and began shouting at a colt +that had strayed. + +He stopped his horse and looked round, but the colt had not remained +behind; it had gone into the meadow by the roadside. "Bother that son +of a Turk; he's taken to getting into the landowner's meadows," said the +dark peasant with the unkempt beard, hearing the cracking of the sorrel +stalks that the neighing colt was galloping over as he came running back +from the scented meadow. + +"Do you hear the cracking? We'll have to send the women folk to weed +the meadow when there's a holiday," said the thin peasant with the torn +coat, "or else we'll blunt our scythes." + +"Sign," he says. The unkempt man continued giving his opinion of the +landlord's speech. "'Sign,' indeed, and let him swallow you up." + +"That's certain," answered the old man. And then they were silent, and +the tramping of the horses' feet along the highroad was the only sound +to be heard. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GOD'S PEACE IN THE HEART. + +When Nekhludoff returned he found that the office had been arranged as +a bedroom for him. A high bedstead, with a feather bed and two large +pillows, had been placed in the room. The bed was covered with a dark +red doublebedded silk quilt, which was elaborately and finely quilted, +and very stiff. It evidently belonged to the trousseau of the foreman's +wife. The foreman offered Nekhludoff the remains of the dinner, which +the latter refused, and, excusing himself for the poorness of the fare +and the accommodation, he left Nekhludoff alone. + +The peasants' refusal did not at all bother Nekhludoff. On the contrary, +though at Kousminski his offer had been accepted and he had even been +thanked for it, and here he was met with suspicion and even enmity, he +felt contented and joyful. + +It was close and dirty in the office. Nekhludoff went out into the yard, +and was going into the garden, but he remembered: that night, the window +of the maid-servant's room, the side porch, and he felt uncomfortable, +and did not like to pass the spot desecrated by guilty memories. He +sat down on the doorstep, and breathing in the warm air, balmy with the +strong scent of fresh birch leaves, he sat for a long time looking into +the dark garden and listening to the mill, the nightingales, and some +other bird that whistled monotonously in the bush close by. The light +disappeared from the foreman's window; in the cast, behind the barn, +appeared the light of the rising moon, and sheet lightning began to +light up the dilapidated house, and the blooming, over-grown garden more +and more frequently. It began to thunder in the distance, and a black +cloud spread over one-third of the sky. The nightingales and the other +birds were silent. Above the murmur of the water from the mill came the +cackling of geese, and then in the village and in the foreman's yard +the first cocks began to crow earlier than usual, as they do on warm, +thundery nights. There is a saying that if the cocks crow early the +night will be a merry one. For Nekhludoff the night was more than merry; +it was a happy, joyful night. Imagination renewed the impressions of +that happy summer which he had spent here as an innocent lad, and he +felt himself as he had been not only at that but at all the best moments +of his life. He not only remembered but felt as he had felt when, at +the age of 14, he prayed that God would show him the truth; or when as +a child he had wept on his mother's lap, when parting from her, and +promising to be always good, and never give her pain; he felt as he did +when he and Nikolenka Irtenieff resolved always to support each other in +living a good life and to try to make everybody happy. + +He remembered how he had been tempted in Kousminski, so that he had +begun to regret the house and the forest and the farm and the land, and +he asked himself if he regretted them now, and it even seemed strange to +think that he could regret them. He remembered all he had seen to-day; +the woman with the children, and without her husband, who was in prison +for having cut down trees in his (Nekhludoff's) forest, and the terrible +Matrona, who considered, or at least talked as if she considered, +that women of her position must give themselves to the gentlefolk; he +remembered her relation to the babies, the way in which they were taken +to the Foundlings' Hospital, and the unfortunate, smiling, wizened +baby with the patchwork cap, dying of starvation. And then he suddenly +remembered the prison, the shaved heads, the cells, the disgusting +smells, the chains, and, by the side of it all, the madly lavish city +lift of the rich, himself included. + +The bright moon, now almost full, rose above the barn. Dark shadows fell +across the yard, and the iron roof of the ruined house shone bright. +As if unwilling to waste this light, the nightingales again began their +trills. + +Nekhludoff called to mind how he had begun to consider his life in +the garden of Kousminski when deciding what he was going to do, and +remembered how confused he had become, how he could not arrive at any +decision, how many difficulties each question had presented. He asked +himself these questions now, and was surprised how simple it all was. It +was simple because he was not thinking now of what would be the results +for himself, but only thought of what he had to do. And, strange to say, +what he had to do for himself he could not decide, but what he had to do +for others he knew without any doubt. He had no doubt that he must +not leave Katusha, but go on helping her. He had no doubt that he must +study, investigate, clear up, understand all this business concerning +judgment and punishment, which he felt he saw differently to other +people. What would result from it all he did not know, but he knew for +certain that he must do it. And this firm assurance gave him joy. + +The black cloud had spread all over the sky; the lightning flashed +vividly across the yard and the old house with its tumble-down porches, +the thunder growled overhead. All the birds were silent, but the leaves +rustled and the wind reached the step where Nekhludoff stood and played +with his hair. One drop came down, then another; then they came drumming +on the dock leaves and on the iron of the roof, and all the air was +filled by a bright flash, and before Nekhludoff could count three a +fearful crash sounded over head and spread pealing all over the sky. + +Nekhludoff went in. + +"Yes, yes," he thought. "The work that our life accomplishes, the whole +of this work, the meaning of it is not, nor can be, intelligible to +me. What were my aunts for? Why did Nikolenka Irtenieff die? Why am +I living? What was Katusha for? And my madness? Why that war? Why my +subsequent lawless life? To understand it, to understand the whole +of the Master's will is not in my power. But to do His will, that is +written down in my conscience, is in my power; that I know for certain. +And when I am fulfilling it I have sureness and peace." + +The rain came down in torrents and rushed from the roof into a tub +beneath; the lightning lit up the house and yard less frequently. +Nekhludoff went into his room, undressed, and lay down, not without +fear of the bugs, whose presence the dirty, torn wall-papers made him +suspect. + +"Yes, to feel one's self not the master but a servant," he thought, and +rejoiced at the thought. His fears were not vain. Hardly had he put out +his candle when the vermin attacked and stung him. "To give up the land +and go to Siberia. Fleas, bugs, dirt! Ah, well; if it must be borne, I +shall bear it." But, in spite of the best of intentions, he could not +bear it, and sat down by the open window and gazed with admiration at +the retreating clouds and the reappearing moon. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE LAND SETTLEMENT. + +It was morning before Nekhludoff could fall asleep, and therefore he +woke up late. At noon seven men, chosen from among the peasants at +the foreman's invitation, came into the orchard, where the foreman +had arranged a table and benches by digging posts into the ground, +and fixing boards on the top, under the apple trees. It took some time +before the peasants could be persuaded to put on their caps and to sit +down on the benches. Especially firm was the ex-soldier, who to-day had +bark shoes on. He stood erect, holding his cap as they do at +funerals, according to military regulation. When one of them, a +respectable-looking, broad-shouldered old man, with a curly, grizzly +beard like that of Michael Angelo's "Moses," and grey hair that curled +round the brown, bald forehead, put on his big cap, and, wrapping his +coat round him, got in behind the table and sat down, the rest followed +his example. When all had taken their places Nekhludoff sat down +opposite them, and leaning on the table over the paper on which he had +drawn up his project, he began explaining it. + +Whether it was that there were fewer present, or that he was occupied +with the business in hand and not with himself, anyhow, this +time Nekhludoff felt no confusion. He involuntarily addressed the +broad-shouldered old man with white ringlets in his grizzly beard, +expecting approbation or objections from him. But Nekhludoff's +conjecture was wrong. The respectable-looking old patriarch, though he +nodded his handsome head approvingly or shook it, and frowned when the +others raised an objection, evidently understood with great difficulty, +and only when the others repeated what Nekhludoff had said in their own +words. A little, almost beardless old fellow, blind in one eye, who sat +by the side of the patriarch, and had a patched nankeen coat and old +boots on, and, as Nekhludoff found out later, was an oven-builder, +understood much better. This man moved his brows quickly, attending to +Nekhludoff's words with an effort, and at once repeated them in his +own way. An old, thick-set man with a white beard and intelligent eyes +understood as quickly, and took every opportunity to put in an ironical +joke, clearly wishing to show off. The ex-soldier seemed also to +understand matters, but got mixed, being used to senseless soldiers' +talk. A tall man with a small beard, a long nose, and a bass voice, who +wore clean, home-made clothes and new bark-plaited shoes, seemed to be +the one most seriously interested. This man spoke only when there +was need of it. The two other old men, the same toothless one who +had shouted a distinct refusal at the meeting the day before to every +proposal of Nekhludoff's, and a tall, white lame old man with a kind +face, his thin legs tightly wrapped round with strips of linen, said +little, though they listened attentively. First of all Nekhludoff +explained his views in regard to personal property in land. "The land, +according to my idea, can neither be bought nor sold, because if it +could be, he who has got the money could buy it all, and exact anything +he liked for the use of the land from those who have none." + +"That's true," said the long-nosed man, in a deep bass. + +"Just so," said the ex-soldier. + +"A woman gathers a little grass for her cow; she's caught and +imprisoned," said the white-bearded old man. + +"Our own land is five versts away, and as to renting any it's +impossible; the price is raised so high that it won't pay," added the +cross, toothless old man. "They twist us into ropes, worse than during +serfdom." + +"I think as you do, and I count it a sin to possess land, so I wish to +give it away," said Nekhludoff. + +"Well, that's a good thing," said the old man, with curls like Angelo's +"Moses," evidently thinking that Nekhludoff meant to let the land. + +"I have come here because I no longer wish to possess any land, and now +we must consider the best way of dividing it." + +"Just give it to the peasants, that's all," said the cross, toothless +old man. + +Nekhludoff was abashed for a moment, feeling a suspicion of his not +being honest in these words, but he instantly recovered, and made use of +the remark, in order to express what was in his mind, in reply. + +"I should be glad to give it them," he said, "but to whom, and how? +To which of the peasants? Why, to your commune, and not to that of +Deminsk." (That was the name of a neighbouring village with very little +land.) All were silent. Then the ex-soldier said, "Just so." + +"Now, then, tell me how would you divide the land among the peasants if +you had to do it?" said Nekhludoff. + +"We should divide it up equally, so much for every man," said the +oven-builder, quickly raising and lowering his brows. + +"How else? Of course, so much per man," said the good natured lame man +with the white strips of linen round his legs. + +Every one confirmed this statement, considering it satisfactory. + +"So much per man? Then are the servants attached to the house also to +have a share?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Oh, no," said the ex-soldier, trying to appear bold and merry. But the +tall, reasonable man would not agree with him. + +"If one is to divide, all must share alike," he said, in his deep bass, +after a little consideration. + +"It can't be done," said Nekhludoff, who had already prepared his reply. +"If all are to share alike, then those who do not work themselves--do +not plough--will sell their shares to the rich. The rich will again get +at the land. Those who live by working the land will multiply, and land +will again be scarce. Then the rich will again get those who need land +into their power." + +"Just so," quickly said the ex-soldier. + +"Forbid to sell the land; let only him who ploughs it have it," angrily +interrupted the oven-builder. + +To this Nekhludoff replied that it was impossible to know who was +ploughing for himself and who for another. + +The tall, reasonable man proposed that an arrangement be made so that +they should all plough communally, and those who ploughed should get the +produce and those who did not should get nothing. + +To this communistic project Nekhludoff had also an answer ready. He said +that for such an arrangement it would be necessary that all should have +ploughs, and that all the horses should be alike, so that none should +be left behind, and that ploughs and horses and all the implements would +have to be communal property, and that in order to get that, all the +people would have to agree. + +"Our people could not be made to agree in a lifetime," said the cross +old man. + +"We should have regular fights," said the white-bearded old man with the +laughing eyes. "So that the thing is not as simple as it looks," +said Nekhludoff, "and this is a thing not only we but many have been +considering. There is an American, Henry George. This is what he has +thought out, and I agree with him." + +"Why, you are the master, and you give it as you like. What's it to you? +The power is yours," said the cross old man. + +This confused Nekhludoff, but he was pleased to see that not he alone +was dissatisfied with this interruption. + +"You wait a bit, Uncle Simon; let him tell us about it," said the +reasonable man, in his imposing bass. + +This emboldened Nekhludoff, and he began to explain Henry George's +single-tax system "The earth is no man's; it is God's," he began. + +"Just so; that it is," several voices replied. + +"The land is common to all. All have the same right to it, but there is +good land and bad land, and every one would like to take the good land. +How is one to do in order to get it justly divided? In this way: he that +will use the good land must pay those who have got no land the value of +the land he uses," Nekhludoff went on, answering his own question. "As +it would be difficult to say who should pay whom, and money is needed +for communal use, it should be arranged that he who uses the good land +should pay the amount of the value of his land to the commune for its +needs. Then every one would share equally. If you want to use land pay +for it--more for the good, less for the bad land. If you do not wish to +use land, don't pay anything, and those who use the land will pay the +taxes and the communal expenses for you." + +"Well, he had a head, this George," said the oven-builder, moving his +brows. "He who has good land must pay more." + +"If only the payment is according to our strength," said the tall man +with the bass voice, evidently foreseeing how the matter would end. + +"The payment should be not too high and not too low. If it is too high +it will not get paid, and there will be a loss; and if it is too low it +will be bought and sold. There would be a trading in land. This is what +I wished to arrange among you here." + +"That is just, that is right; yes, that would do," said the peasants. + +"He has a head, this George," said the broad-shouldered old man with the +curls. "See what he has invented." + +"Well, then, how would it be if I wished to take some land?" asked the +smiling foreman. + +"If there is an allotment to spare, take it and work it," said +Nekhludoff. + +"What do you want it for? You have sufficient as it is," said the old +man with the laughing eyes. + +With this the conference ended. + +Nekhludoff repeated his offer, and advised the men to talk it over with +the rest of the commune and to return with the answer. + +The peasants said they would talk it over and bring an answer, and left +in a state of excitement. Their loud talk was audible as they went along +the road, and up to late in the night the sound of voices came along the +river from the village. + +The next day the peasants did not go to work, but spent it in +considering the landlord's offer. The commune was divided into two +parties--one which regarded the offer as a profitable one to themselves +and saw no danger in agreeing with it, and another which suspected and +feared the offer it did not understand. On the third day, however, all +agreed, and some were sent to Nekhludoff to accept his offer. They were +influenced in their decision by the explanation some of the old men gave +of the landlord's conduct, which did away with all fear of deceit. They +thought the gentleman had begun to consider his soul, and was acting as +he did for its salvation. The alms which Nekhludoff had given away while +in Panovo made his explanation seem likely. The fact that Nekhludoff +had never before been face to face with such great poverty and so bare +a life as the peasants had come to in this place, and was so appalled +by it, made him give away money in charity, though he knew that this was +not reasonable. He could not help giving the money, of which he now had +a great deal, having received a large sum for the forest he had sold +the year before, and also the hand money for the implements and stock in +Kousminski. As soon as it was known that the master was giving money in +charity, crowds of people, chiefly women, began to come to ask him for +help. He did not in the least know how to deal with them, how to decide, +how much, and whom to give to. He felt that to refuse to give money, of +which he had a great deal, to poor people was impossible, yet to give +casually to those who asked was not wise. The last day he spent in +Panovo, Nekhludoff looked over the things left in his aunts' house, and +in the bottom drawer of the mahogany wardrobe, with the brass lions' +heads with rings through them, he found many letters, and amongst them a +photograph of a group, consisting of his aunts, Sophia Ivanovna and Mary +Ivanovna, a student, and Katusha. Of all the things in the house he took +only the letters and the photograph. The rest he left to the miller who, +at the smiling foreman's recommendation, had bought the house and all it +contained, to be taken down and carried away, at one-tenth of the real +value. + +Recalling the feeling of regret at the loss of his property which he had +felt in Kousminski, Nekhludoff was surprised how he could have felt this +regret. Now he felt nothing but unceasing joy at the deliverance, and +a sensation of newness something like that which a traveller must +experience when discovering new countries. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NEKHLUDOFF RETURNS TO TOWN. + +The town struck Nekhludoff in a new and peculiar light on his return. +He came back in the evening, when the gas was lit, and drove from +the railway station to his house, where the rooms still smelt of +naphthaline. Agraphena Petrovna and Corney were both feeling tired and +dissatisfied, and had even had a quarrel over those things that seemed +made only to be aired and packed away. Nekhludoff's room was empty, but +not in order, and the way to it was blocked up with boxes, so that his +arrival evidently hindered the business which, owing to a curious kind +of inertia, was going on in this house. The evident folly of these +proceedings, in which he had once taken part, was so distasteful to +Nekhludoff after the impressions the misery of the life of the peasants +had made on him, that he decided to go to a hotel the next day, leaving +Agraphena Petrovna to put away the things as she thought fit until his +sister should come and finally dispose of everything in the house. + +Nekhludoff left home early and chose a couple of rooms in a very modest +and not particularly clean lodging-house within easy reach of the +prison, and, having given orders that some of his things should be sent +there, he went to see the advocate. It was cold out of doors. After some +rainy and stormy weather it had turned out cold, as it often does in +spring. It was so cold that Nekhludoff felt quite chilly in his light +overcoat, and walked fast hoping to get warmer. His mind was filled +with thoughts of the peasants, the women, children, old men, and all the +poverty and weariness which he seemed to have seen for the first time, +especially the smiling, old-faced infant writhing with his calfless +little legs, and he could not help contrasting what was going on in the +town. Passing by the butchers', fishmongers', and clothiers' shops, he +was struck, as if he saw them for the first time, by the appearance +of the clean, well-fed shopkeepers, like whom you could not find one +peasant in the country. These men were apparently convinced that the +pains they took to deceive the people who did not know much about their +goods was not a useless but rather an important business. The coachmen +with their broad hips and rows of buttons down their sides, and the +door-keepers with gold cords on their caps, the servant-girls with their +aprons and curly fringes, and especially the smart isvostchiks with +the nape of their necks clean shaved, as they sat lolling back in their +traps, and examined the passers-by with dissolute and contemptuous +air, looked well fed. In all these people Nekhludoff could not now help +seeing some of these very peasants who had been driven into the town by +lack of land. Some of the peasants driven to the town had found means +of profiting by the conditions of town life and had become like the +gentlefolk and were pleased with their position; others were in a worse +position than they had been in the country and were more to be pitied +than the country people. + +Such seemed the bootmakers Nekhludoff saw in the cellar, the pale, +dishevelled washerwomen with their thin, bare, arms ironing at an open +window, out of which streamed soapy steam; such the two house-painters +with their aprons, stockingless feet, all bespattered and smeared with +paint, whom Nekhludoff met--their weak, brown arms bared to above the +elbows--carrying a pailful of paint, and quarrelling with each other. +Their faces looked haggard and cross. The dark faces of the carters +jolting along in their carts bore the same expression, and so did the +faces of the tattered men and women who stood begging at the street +corners. The same kind of faces were to be seen at the open, windows of +the eating-houses which Nekhludoff passed. By the dirty tables on which +stood tea things and bottles, and between which waiters dressed in white +shirts were rushing hither and thither, sat shouting and singing red, +perspiring men with stupefied faces. One sat by the window with +lifted brows and pouting lips and fixed eyes as if trying to remember +something. + +"And why are they all gathered here?" Nekhludoff thought, breathing +in together with the dust which the cold wind blew towards him the air +filled with the smell of rank oil and fresh paint. + +In one street he met a row of carts loaded with something made of iron, +that rattled so on the uneven pavement that it made his ears and head +ache. He started walking still faster in order to pass the row of carts, +when he heard himself called by name. He stopped and saw an officer with +sharp pointed moustaches and shining face who sat in the trap of a swell +isvostchik and waved his hand in a friendly manner, his smile disclosing +unusually long, white teeth. + +"Nekhludoff! Can it be you?" + +Nekhludoff's first feeling was one of pleasure. "Ah, Schonbock!" he +exclaimed joyfully; but he knew the next moment that there was nothing +to be joyful about. + +This was that Schonbock who had been in the house of Nekhludoff's aunts +that day, and whom Nekhludoff had quite lost out of sight, but about +whom he had heard that in spite of his debts he had somehow managed to +remain in the cavalry, and by some means or other still kept his place +among the rich. His gay, contented appearance corroborated this report. + +"What a good thing that I have caught you. There is no one in town. Ah, +old fellow; you have grown old," he said, getting out of the trap and +moving his shoulders about. "I only knew you by your walk. Look here, we +must dine together. Is there any place where they feed one decently?" + +"I don't think I can spare the time," Nekhludoff answered, thinking only +of how he could best get rid of his companion without hurting him. + +"And what has brought you here?" he asked. + +"Business, old fellow. Guardianship business. I am a guardian now. I am +managing Samanoff's affairs--the millionaire, you know. He has softening +of the brain, and he's got fifty-four thousand desiatins of land," +he said, with peculiar pride, as if he had himself made all these +desiatins. "The affairs were terribly neglected. All the land was let +to the peasants. They did not pay anything. There were more than eighty +thousand roubles debts. I changed it all in one year, and have got 70 +per cent. more out of it. What do you think of that?" he asked proudly. + +Nekhludoff remembered having heard that this Schonbock, just because, he +had spent all he had, had attained by some special influence the post of +guardian to a rich old man who was squandering his property--and was now +evidently living by this guardianship. + +"How am I to get rid of him without offending him?" thought Nekhludoff, +looking at this full, shiny face with the stiffened moustache and +listening to his friendly, good-humoured chatter about where one gets +fed best, and his bragging about his doings as a guardian. + +"Well, then, where do we dine?" + +"Really, I have no time to spare," said Nekhludoff, glancing at his +watch. + +"Then, look here. To-night, at the races--will you be there?" + +"No, I shall not be there." + +"Do come. I have none of my own now, but I back Grisha's horses. You +remember; he has a fine stud. You'll come, won't you? And we'll have +some supper together." + +"No, I cannot have supper with you either," said Nekhludoff with a +smile. + +"Well, that's too bad! And where are you off to now? Shall I give you a +lift?" + +"I am going to see an advocate, close to here round the corner." + +"Oh, yes, of course. You have got something to do with the prisons--have +turned into a prisoners' mediator, I hear," said Schonbock, laughing. +"The Korchagins told me. They have left town already. What does it all +mean? Tell me." + +"Yes, yes, it is quite true," Nekhludoff answered; "but I cannot tell +you about it in the street." + +"Of course; you always were a crank. But you will come to the races?" + +"No. I neither can nor wish to come. Please do not be angry with me." + +"Angry? Dear me, no. Where do you live?" And suddenly his face became +serious, his eyes fixed, and he drew up his brows. He seemed to be +trying to remember something, and Nekhludoff noticed the same dull +expression as that of the man with the raised brows and pouting lips +whom he had seen at the window of the eating-house. + +"How cold it is! Is it not? Have you got the parcels?" said Schonbock, +turning to the isvostchik. + +"All right. Good-bye. I am very glad indeed to have met you," and +warmly pressing Nekhludoff's hand, he jumped into the trap and waved +his white-gloved hand in front of his shiny face, with his usual smile, +showing his exceptionally white teeth. + +"Can I have also been like that?" Nekhludoff thought, as he continued +his way to the advocate's. "Yes, I wished to be like that, though I was +not quite like it. And I thought of living my life in that way." + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +AN ADVOCATE'S VIEWS ON JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS. + +Nekhludoff was admitted by the advocate before his turn. The advocate at +once commenced to talk about the Menshoffs' case, which he had read with +indignation at the inconsistency of the accusation. + +"This case is perfectly revolting," he said; "it is very likely that +the owner himself set fire to the building in order to get the insurance +money, and the chief thing is that there is no evidence to prove the +Menshoffs' guilt. There are no proofs whatever. It is all owing to the +special zeal of the examining magistrate and the carelessness of the +prosecutor. If they are tried here, and not in a provincial court, I +guarantee that they will be acquitted, and I shall charge nothing. +Now then, the next case, that of Theodosia Birukoff. The appeal to the +Emperor is written. If you go to Petersburg, you'd better take it with +you, and hand it in yourself, with a request of your own, or else they +will only make a few inquiries, and nothing will come of it. You must +try and get at some of the influential members of the Appeal Committee." + +"Well, is this all?" + +"No; here I have a letter . . . I see you have turned into a pipe--a +spout through which all the complaints of the prison are poured," said +the advocate, with a smile. "It is too much; you'll not be able to +manage it." + +"No, but this is a striking case," said Nekhludoff, and gave a brief +outline of the case of a peasant who began to read the Gospels to the +peasants in the village, and to discuss them with his friends. The +priests regarded this as a crime and informed the authorities. The +magistrate examined him and the public prosecutor drew up an act of +indictment, and the law courts committed him for trial. + +"This is really too terrible," Nekhludoff said. "Can it be true?" + +"What are you surprised at?" + +"Why, everything. I can understand the police-officer, who simply obeys +orders, but the prosecutor drawing up an act of that kind. An educated +man . . ." + +"That is where the mistake lies, that we are in the habit of considering +that the prosecutors and the judges in general are some kind of liberal +persons. There was a time when they were such, but now it is quite +different. They are just officials, only troubled about pay-day. +They receive their salaries and want them increased, and there their +principles end. They will accuse, judge, and sentence any one you like." + +"Yes; but do laws really exist that can condemn a man to Siberia for +reading the Bible with his friends?" + +"Not only to be exiled to the less remote parts of Siberia, but even to +the mines, if you can only prove that reading the Bible they took the +liberty of explaining it to others not according to orders, and in this +way condemned the explanations given by the Church. Blaming the Greek +orthodox religion in the presence of the common people means, according +to Statute . . . the mines." + +"Impossible!" + +"I assure you it is so. I always tell these gentlemen, the judges," +the advocate continued, "that I cannot look at them without gratitude, +because if I am not in prison, and you, and all of us, it is only owing +to their kindness. To deprive us of our privileges, and send us all to +the less remote parts of Siberia, would be an easy thing for them." + +"Well, if it is so, and if everything depends on the Procureur and +others who can, at will, either enforce the laws or not, what are the +trials for?" + +The advocate burst into a merry laugh. "You do put strange questions. +My dear sir, that is philosophy. Well, we might have a talk about that, +too. Could you come on Saturday? You will meet men of science, literary +men, and artists at my house, and then we might discuss these general +questions," said the advocate, pronouncing the words "general questions" +with ironical pathos. "You have met my wife? Do come." + +"Thank you; I will try to," said Nekhludoff, and felt that he was saying +an untruth, and knew that if he tried to do anything it would be to keep +away froth the advocate's literary evening, and the circle of the men of +science, art, and literature. + +The laugh with which the advocate met Nekhludoff's remark that trials +could have no meaning if the judges might enforce the laws or not, +according to their notion, and the tone with which he pronounced the +words "philosophy" and "general questions" proved to Nekhludoff how very +differently he and the advocate and, probably, the advocate's friends, +looked at things; and he felt that in spite of the distance that now +existed between himself and his former companions, Schonbock, etc., +the difference between himself and the circle of the advocate and his +friends was still greater. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WHY THE PEASANTS FLOCK TO TOWN. + +The prison was a long way off and it was getting late, so Nekhludoff +took an isvostchik. The isvostchik, a middle-aged man with an +intelligent and kind face, turned round towards Nekhludoff as they were +driving along one of the streets and pointed to a huge house that was +being built there. + +"Just see what a tremendous house they have begun to build," he said, as +if he was partly responsible for the building of the house and proud of +it. The house was really immense and was being built in a very original +style. The strong pine beams of the scaffolding were firmly fixed +together with iron bands and a plank wall separated the building from +the street. + +On the boards of the scaffolding workmen, all bespattered with plaster, +moved hither and thither like ants. Some were laying bricks, some hewing +stones, some carrying up the heavy hods and pails and bringing them down +empty. A fat and finely-dressed gentleman--probably the architect--stood +by the scaffolding, pointing upward and explaining something to a +contractor, a peasant from the Vladimir Government, who was respectfully +listening to him. Empty carts were coming out of the gate by which the +architect and the contractor were standing, and loaded ones were going +in. "And how sure they all are--those that do the work as well as those +that make them do it--that it ought to be; that while their wives at +home, who are with child, are labouring beyond their strength, and their +children with the patchwork caps, doomed soon to the cold grave, smile +with suffering and contort their little legs, they must be building this +stupid and useless palace for some stupid and useless person--one of +those who spoil and rob them," Nekhludoff thought, while looking at the +house. + +"Yes, it is a stupid house," he said, uttering his thought out aloud. + +"Why stupid?" replied the isvostchik, in an offended tone. "Thanks to +it, the people get work; it's not stupid." + +"But the work is useless." + +"It can't be useless, or why should it be done?" said the isvostchik. +"The people get bread by it." + +Nekhludoff was silent, and it would have been difficult to talk because +of the clatter the wheels made. + +When they came nearer the prison, and the isvostchik turned off the +paved on to the macadamised road, it became easier to talk, and he again +turned to Nekhludoff. + +"And what a lot of these people are flocking to the town nowadays; it's +awful," he said, turning round on the box and pointing to a party of +peasant workmen who were coming towards them, carrying saws, axes, +sheepskins, coats, and bags strapped to their shoulders. + +"More than in other years?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"By far. This year every place is crowded, so that it's just terrible. +The employers just fling the workmen about like chaff. Not a job to be +got." + +"Why is that?" + +"They've increased. There's no room for them." + +"Well, what if they have increased? Why do not they stay in the +village?" + +"There's nothing for them to do in the village--no land to be had." + +Nekhludoff felt as one does when touching a sore place. It feels as if +the bruised part was always being hit; yet it is only because the place +is sore that the touch is felt. + +"Is it possible that the same thing is happening everywhere?" he +thought, and began questioning the isvostchik about the quantity of land +in his village, how much land the man himself had, and why he had left +the country. + +"We have a desiatin per man, sir," he said. "Our family have three men's +shares of the land. My father and a brother are at home, and manage the +land, and another brother is serving in the army. But there's nothing to +manage. My brother has had thoughts of coming to Moscow, too." + +"And cannot land be rented?" + +"How's one to rent it nowadays? The gentry, such as they were, have +squandered all theirs. Men of business have got it all into their own +hands. One can't rent it from them. They farm it themselves. We have +a Frenchman ruling in our place; he bought the estate from our former +landlord, and won't let it--and there's an end of it." + +"Who's that Frenchman?" + +"Dufour is the Frenchman's name. Perhaps you've heard of him. He makes +wigs for the actors in the big theatre; it is a good business, so he's +prospering. He bought it from our lady, the whole of the estate, and now +he has us in his power; he just rides on us as he pleases. The Lord be +thanked, he is a good man himself; only his wife, a Russian, is such a +brute that--God have mercy on us. She robs the people. It's awful. Well, +here's the prison. Am I to drive you to the entrance? I'm afraid they'll +not let us do it, though." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +NURSE MASLOVA. + +When he rang the bell at the front entrance Nekhludoff's heart stood +still with horror as he thought of the state he might find Maslova in +to-day, and at the mystery that he felt to be in her and in the people +that were collected in the prison. He asked the jailer who opened the +door for Maslova. After making the necessary inquiry the jailer informed +him that she was in the hospital. Nekhludoff went there. A kindly old +man, the hospital doorkeeper, let him in at once and, after asking +Nekhludoff whom he wanted, directed him to the children's ward. A young +doctor saturated with carbolic acid met Nekhludoff in the passage and +asked him severely what he wanted. This doctor was always making all +sorts of concessions to the prisoners, and was therefore continually +coming into conflict with the prison authorities and even with the head +doctor. Fearing lest Nekhludoff should demand something unlawful, and +wishing to show that he made no exceptions for any one, he pretended to +be cross. "There are no women here; it is the children's ward," he said. + +"Yes, I know; but a prisoner has been removed here to be an assistant +nurse." + +"Yes, there are two such here. Then whom do you want?" + +"I am closely connected with one of them, named Maslova," Nekhludoff +answered, "and should like to speak to her. I am going to Petersburg to +hand in an appeal to the Senate about her case and should like to give +her this. It is only a photo," Nekhludoff said, taking an envelope out +of his pocket. + +"All right, you may do that," said the doctor, relenting, and turning to +an old woman with a white apron, he told her to call the prisoner--Nurse +Maslova. + +"Will you take a seat, or go into the waiting-room?" + +"Thanks," said Nekhludoff, and profiting by the favourable change in +the manner of the doctor towards him asked how they were satisfied with +Maslova in the hospital. + +"Oh, she is all right. She works fairly well, if you the conditions of +her former life into account. But here she is." + +The old nurse came in at one of the doors, followed by Maslova, who wore +a blue striped dress, a white apron, a kerchief that quite covered her +hair. When she saw Nekhludoff her face flushed, and she stopped as if +hesitating, then frowned, and with downcast eyes went quickly towards +him along the strip of carpet in the middle of the passage. When she +came up to Nekhludoff she did not wish to give him her hand, and then +gave it, growing redder still. Nekhludoff had not seen her since the +day when she begged forgiveness for having been in a passion, and he +expected to find her the same as she was then. But to-day she was +quite different. There was something new in the expression of her face, +reserve and shyness, and, as it seemed to him, animosity towards him. He +told her what he had already said to the doctor, i.e., that he was going +to Petersburg, and he handed her the envelope with the photograph which +he had brought from Panovo. + +"I found this in Panovo--it's an old photo; perhaps you would like it. +Take it." + +Lifting her dark eyebrows, she looked at him with surprise in her +squinting eyes, as if asking, "What is this for?" took the photo +silently and put it in the bib of her apron. + +"I saw your aunt there," said Nekhludoff. + +"Did you?" she said, indifferently. + +"Are you all right here?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Oh, yes, it's all right," she said. + +"Not too difficult?" + +"Oh, no. But I am not used to it yet." + +"I am glad, for your sake. Anyhow, it is better than there." + +"Than where--there?" she asked, her face flushing again. + +"There--in the prison," Nekhludoff hurriedly answered. + +"Why better?" she asked. + +"I think the people are better. Here are none such as there must be +there." + +"There are many good ones there," she said. + +"I have been seeing about the Menshoffs, and hope they will be +liberated," said Nekhludoff. + +"God grant they may. Such a splendid old woman," she said, again +repeating her opinion of the old woman, and slightly smiling. + +"I am going to Petersburg to-day. Your case will come on soon, and I +hope the sentence will be repealed." + +"Whether it is repealed or not won't matter now," she said. + +"Why not now?" + +"So," she said, looking with a quick, questioning glance into his eyes. + +Nekhludoff understood the word and the look to mean that she wished +to know whether he still kept firm to his decision or had accepted her +refusal. + +"I do not know why it does not matter to you," he said. "It certainly +does not matter as far as I am concerned whether you are acquitted or +not. I am ready to do what I told you in any case," he said decidedly. + +She lifted her head and her black squinting eyes remained fixed on him +and beyond him, and her face beamed with joy. But the words she spoke +were very different from what her eyes said. + +"You should not speak like that," she said. + +"I am saying it so that you should know." + +"Everything has been said about that, and there is no use speaking," she +said, with difficulty repressing a smile. + +A sudden noise came from the hospital ward, and the sound of a child +crying. + +"I think they are calling me," she said, and looked round uneasily. + +"Well, good-bye, then," he said. She pretended not to see his extended +hand, and, without taking it, turned away and hastily walked along the +strip of carpet, trying to hide the triumph she felt. + +"What is going on in her? What is she thinking? What does she feel? Does +she mean to prove me, or can she really not forgive me? Is it that she +cannot or that she will not express what she feels and thinks? Has she +softened or hardened?" he asked himself, and could find no answer. He +only knew that she had altered and that an important change was going on +in her soul, and this change united him not only to her but also to Him +for whose sake that change was being wrought. And this union brought on +a state of joyful animation and tenderness. + +When she returned to the ward, in which there stood eight small beds, +Maslova began, in obedience to the nurse's order, to arrange one of the +beds; and, bending over too far with the sheet, she slipped and nearly +fell down. + +A little convalescent boy with a bandaged neck, who was looking at her, +laughed. Maslova could no longer contain herself and burst into loud +laughter, and such contagious laughter that several of the children also +burst out laughing, and one of the sisters rebuked her angrily. + +"What are you giggling at? Do you think you are where you used to be? +Go and fetch the food." Maslova obeyed and went where she was sent; but, +catching the eye of the bandaged boy who was not allowed to laugh, she +again burst out laughing. + +Whenever she was alone Maslova again and again pulled the photograph +partly out of the envelope and looked at it admiringly; but only in the +evening when she was off duty and alone in the bedroom which she shared +with a nurse, did she take it quite out of the envelope and gaze long +at the faded yellow photograph, caressing with, her eyes every detail +of faces and clothing, the steps of the veranda, and the bushes which +served as a background to his and hers and his aunts' faces, and could +not cease from admiring especially herself--her pretty young face with +the curly hair round the forehead. She was so absorbed that she did not +hear her fellow-nurse come into the room. + +"What is it that he's given you?" said the good-natured, fat nurse, +stooping over the photograph. + +"Who's this? You?" + +"Who else?" said Maslova, looking into her companion's face with a +smile. + +"And who's this?" + +"Himself." + +"And is this his mother?" + +"No, his aunt. Would you not have known me?" + +"Never. The whole face is altered. Why, it must be 10 years since then." + +"Not years, but a lifetime," said Maslova. And suddenly her animation +went, her face grew gloomy, and a deep line appeared between her brows. + +"Why so? Your way of life must have been an easy one." + +"Easy, indeed," Maslova reiterated, closing her eyes and shaking her +head. "It is hell." + +"Why, what makes it so?" + +"What makes it so! From eight till four in the morning, and every night +the same!" + +"Then why don't they give it up?" + +"They can't give it up if they want to. But what's the use of talking?" +Maslova said, jumping up and throwing the photograph into the drawer of +the table. And with difficulty repressing angry tears, she ran out into +the passage and slammed the door. + +While looking at the group she imagined herself such as she was there +and dreamt of her happiness then and of the possibility of happiness +with him now. But her companion's words reminded her of what she was now +and what she had been, and brought back all the horrors of that life, +which she had felt but dimly, and not allowed herself to realise. + +It was only now that the memory of all those terrible nights came +vividly back to her, especially one during the carnival when she was +expecting a student who had promised to buy her out. She remembered how +she--wearing her low necked silk dress stained with wine, a red bow in +her untidy hair, wearied, weak, half tipsy, having seen her visitors +off, sat down during an interval in the dancing by the piano beside the +bony pianiste with the blotchy face, who played the accompaniments +to the violin, and began complaining of her hard fate; and how this +pianiste said that she, too, was feeling how heavy her position was and +would like to change it; and how Clara suddenly came up to them; and how +they all three decided to change their life. They thought that the night +was over, and were about to go away, when suddenly the noise of tipsy +voices was heard in the ante-room. The violinist played a tune and the +pianiste began hammering the first figure of a quadrille on the piano, +to the tune of a most merry Russian song. A small, perspiring man, +smelling of spirits, with a white tie and swallow-tail coat, which he +took off after the first figure, came up to her, hiccoughing, and +caught her up, while another fat man, with a beard, and also wearing a +dress-coat (they had come straight from a ball) caught Clara up, and for +a long time they turned, danced, screamed, drank. . . . And so it +went on for another year, and another, and a third. How could she help +changing? And he was the cause of it all. And, suddenly, all her former +bitterness against him reawoke; she wished to scold, to reproach him. +She regretted having neglected the opportunity of repeating to him once +more that she knew him, and would not give in to him--would not let him +make use of her spiritually as he had done physically. + +And she longed for drink in order to stifle the feeling of pity to +herself and the useless feeling of reproach to him. And she would have +broken her word if she had been inside the prison. Here she could not +get any spirits except by applying to the medical assistant, and she was +afraid of him because he made up to her, and intimate relations with +men were disgusting to her now. After sitting a while on a form in the +passage she returned to her little room, and without paying any heed to +her companion's words, she wept for a long time over her wrecked life. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +AN ARISTOCRATIC CIRCLE. + +Nekhludoff had four matters to attend to in Petersburg. The first was +the appeal to the Senate in Maslova's case; the second, to hand in +Theodosia Birukoff's petition to the committee; the third, to comply +with Vera Doukhova's requests--i.e., try to get her friend Shoustova +released from prison, and get permission for a mother to visit her son +in prison. Vera Doukhova had written to him about this, and he was +going to the Gendarmerie Office to attend to these two matters, which he +counted as one. + +The fourth matter he meant to attend to was the case of some sectarians +who had been separated from their families and exiled to the Caucasus +because they read and discussed the Gospels. It was not so much to +them as to himself he had promised to do all he could to clear up this +affair. + +Since his last visit to Maslennikoff, and especially since he had been +in the country, Nekhludoff had not exactly formed a resolution but felt +with his whole nature a loathing for that society in which he had lived +till then, that society which so carefully hides the sufferings of +millions in order to assure ease and pleasure to a small number of +people, that the people belonging to this society do not and cannot +see these sufferings, nor the cruelty and wickedness of their life. +Nekhludoff could no longer move in this society without feeling ill at +ease and reproaching himself. And yet all the ties of relationship and +friendship, and his own habits, were drawing him back into this society. +Besides, that which alone interested him now, his desire to help Maslova +and the other sufferers, made it necessary to ask for help and service +from persons belonging to that society, persons whom he not only could +not respect, but who often aroused in him indignation and a feeling of +contempt. + +When he came to Petersburg and stopped at his aunt's--his mother's +sister, the Countess Tcharsky, wife of a former minister--Nekhludoff at +once found himself in the very midst of that aristocratic circle which +had grown so foreign to him. This was very unpleasant, but there was no +possibility of getting out of it. To put up at an hotel instead of at +his aunt's house would have been to offend his aunt, and, besides, his +aunt had important connections and might be extremely useful in all +these matters he meant to attend to. + +"What is this I hear about you? All sorts of marvels," said the Countess +Katerina Ivanovna Tcharsky, as she gave him his coffee immediately after +his arrival. "_Vous posez pour un Howard_. Helping criminals, going the +round of prisons, setting things right." + +"Oh, no. I never thought of it." + +"Why not? It is a good thing, only there seems to be some romantic story +connected with it. Let us hear all about it." + +Nekhludoff told her the whole truth about his relations to Maslova. + +"Yes, yes, I remember your poor mother telling me about it. That was +when you were staying with those old women. I believe they wished to +marry you to their ward (the Countess Katerina Ivanovna had always +despised Nekhludoff's aunts on his father's side). So it's she. _Elle +est encore jolie?_" + +Katerina Ivanovna was a strong, bright, energetic, talkative woman of +60. She was tall and very stout, and had a decided black moustache +on her lip. Nekhludoff was fond of her and had even as a child been +infected by her energy and mirth. + +"No, ma tante, that's at an end. I only wish to help her, because she is +innocently accused. I am the cause of it and the cause of her fate being +what it is. I feel it my duty to do all I can for her." + +"But what is this I have heard about your intention of marrying her?" + +"Yes, it was my intention, but she does not wish it." + +Katerina Ivanovna looked at her nephew with raised brows and drooping +eyeballs, in silent amazement. Suddenly her face changed, and with a +look of pleasure she said: "Well, she is wiser than you. Dear me, you +are a fool. And you would have married her?" + +"Most certainly." + +"After her having been what she was?" + +"All the more, since I was the cause of it." + +"Well, you are a simpleton," said his aunt, repressing a smile, "a +terrible simpleton; but it is just because you are such a terrible +simpleton that I love you." She repeated the word, evidently liking it, +as it seemed to correctly convey to her mind the idea of her nephew's +moral state. "Do you know--What a lucky chance. Aline has a wonderful +home--the Magdalene Home. I went there once. They are terribly +disgusting. After that I had to pray continually. But Aline is devoted +to it, body and soul, so we shall place her there--yours, I mean." + +"But she is condemned to Siberia. I have come on purpose to appeal about +it. This is one of my requests to you." + +"Dear me, and where do you appeal to in this case?" + +"To the Senate." + +"Ah, the Senate! Yes, my dear Cousin Leo is in the Senate, but he is in +the heraldry department, and I don't know any of the real ones. They are +all some kind of Germans--Gay, Fay, Day--tout l'alphabet, or else all +sorts of Ivanoffs, Simenoffs, Nikitines, or else Ivanenkos, Simonenkos, +Nikitenkos, pour varier. Des gens de l'autre monde. Well, it is all the +same. I'll tell my husband, he knows them. He knows all sorts of people. +I'll tell him, but you will have to explain, he never understands me. +Whatever I may say, he always maintains he does not understand it. C'est +un parti pris, every one understands but only not he." + +At this moment a footman with stockinged legs came in with a note on a +silver platter. + +"There now, from Aline herself. You'll have a chance of hearing +Kiesewetter." + +"Who is Kiesewetter?" + +"Kiesewetter? Come this evening, and you will find out who he is. He +speaks in such a way that the most hardened criminals sink on their +knees and weep and repent." + +The Countess Katerina Ivanovna, however strange it may seem, and however +little it seemed in keeping with the rest of her character, was a +staunch adherent to that teaching which holds that the essence of +Christianity lies in the belief in redemption. She went to meetings +where this teaching, then in fashion, was being preached, and assembled +the "faithful" in her own house. Though this teaching repudiated all +ceremonies, icons, and sacraments, Katerina Ivanovna had icons in every +room, and one on the wall above her bed, and she kept all that the +Church prescribed without noticing any contradiction in that. + +"There now; if your Magdalene could hear him she would be converted," +said the Countess. "Do stay at home to-night; you will hear him. He is a +wonderful man." + +"It does not interest me, ma tante." + +"But I tell you that it is interesting, and you must come home. Now you +may go. What else do you want of me? _Videz votre sac_." + +"The next is in the fortress." + +"In the fortress? I can give you a note for that to the Baron +Kriegsmuth. _Cest un tres brave homme_. Oh, but you know him; he was a +comrade of your father's. _Il donne dans le spiritisme_. But that does +not matter, he is a good fellow. What do you want there?" + +"I want to get leave for a mother to visit her son who is imprisoned +there. But I was told that this did not depend on Kriegsmuth but on +Tcherviansky." + +"I do not like Tcherviansky, but he is Mariette's husband; we might ask +her. She will do it for me. _Elle est tres gentille_." + +"I have also to petition for a woman who is imprisoned there without +knowing what for." + +"No fear; she knows well enough. They all know it very well, and it +serves them right, those short-haired [many advanced women wear their +hair short, like men] ones." + +"We do not know whether it serves them right or not. But they suffer. +You are a Christian and believe in the Gospel teaching and yet you are +so pitiless." + +"That has nothing to do with it. The Gospels are the Gospels, but what +is disgusting remains disgusting. It would be worse if I pretended to +love Nihilists, especially short-haired women Nihilists, when I cannot +bear them." + +"Why can you not bear them?" + +"You ask why, after the 1st of March?" [The Emperor Alexander II was +killed on the first of March, old style.] + +"They did not all take part in it on the 1st of March." + +"Never mind; they should not meddle with what is no business of theirs. +It's not women's business." + +"Yet you consider that Mariette may take part in business." + +"Mariette? Mariette is Mariette, and these are goodness knows what. Want +to teach everybody." + +"Not to teach but simply to help the people." + +"One knows whom to help and whom not to help without them." + +"But the peasants are in great need. I have just returned from the +country. Is it necessary, that the peasants should work to the very +limits of their strength and never have sufficient to eat while we are +living in the greatest luxury?" said Nekhludoff, involuntarily led on by +his aunt's good nature into telling her what he was in his thoughts. + +"What do you want, then? That I should work and not eat anything?" + +"No, I do not wish you not to eat. I only wish that we should all work +and all eat." He could not help smiling as he said it. + +Again raising her brow and drooping her eyeballs his aunt looked at him +curiously. "_Mon cher vous finirez mal_," she said. + +Just then the general, and former minister, Countess Tcharsky's husband, +a tall, broad-shouldered man, came into the room. + +"Ah, Dmitri, how d'you do?" he said, turning his freshly-shaved cheek to +Nekhludoff to be kissed. "When did you get here?" And he silently kissed +his wife on the forehead. + +"_Non il est impayable_," the Countess said, turning to her husband. +"He wants me to go and wash clothes and live on potatoes. He is an awful +fool, but all the same do what he is going to ask of you. A terrible +simpleton," she added. "Have you heard? Kamenskaya is in such despair +that they fear for her life," she said to her husband. "You should go +and call there." + +"Yes; it is dreadful," said her husband. + +"Go along, then, and talk to him. I must write some letters." + +Hardly had Nekhludoff stepped into the room next the drawing-room than +she called him back. + +"Shall I write to Mariette, then?" + +"Please, ma tante." + +"I shall leave a blank for what you want to say about the short-haired +one, and she will give her husband his orders, and he'll do it. Do not +think me wicked; they are all so disgusting, your prologues, but _je +ne leur veux pas de mal_, bother them. Well, go, but be sure to stay at +home this evening to hear Kiesewetter, and we shall have some prayers. +And if only you do not resist _cela vous fera beaucoup de bien_. I +know your poor mother and all of you were always very backward in these +things." + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +AN AVERAGE STATESMAN. + +Count Ivan Michaelovitch had been a minister, and was a man of strong +convictions. The convictions of Count Ivan Michaelovitch consisted in +the belief that, just as it was natural for a bird to feed on worms, +to be clothed in feathers and down, and to fly in the air, so it +was natural for him to feed on the choicest and most expensive food, +prepared by highly-paid cooks, to wear the most comfortable and most +expensive clothing, to drive with the best and fastest horses, and that, +therefore, all these things should be ready found for him. Besides this, +Count Ivan Michaelovitch considered that the more money he could get out +of the treasury by all sorts of means, the more orders he had, including +different diamond insignia of something or other, and the oftener he +spoke to highly-placed individuals of both sexes, so much the better it +was. + +All the rest Count Ivan Michaelovitch considered insignificant and +uninteresting beside these dogmas. All the rest might be as it was, or +just the reverse. Count Ivan Michaelovitch lived and acted according +to these lights for 40 years, and at the end of 40 years reached the +position of a Minister of State. The chief qualities that enabled +Count Ivan Michaelovitch to reach this position were his capacity of +understanding the meaning of documents and laws and of drawing up, +though clumsily, intelligible State papers, and of spelling them +correctly; secondly, his very stately appearance, which enabled him, +when necessary, to seem not only extremely proud, but unapproachable +and majestic, while at other times he could be abjectly and almost +passionately servile; thirdly, the absence of any general principles +or rules, either of personal or administrative morality, which made it +possible for him either to agree or disagree with anybody according to +what was wanted at the time. When acting thus his only endeavour was +to sustain the appearance of good breeding and not to seem too plainly +inconsistent. As for his actions being moral or not, in themselves, or +whether they were going to result in the highest welfare or greatest +evil for the whole of the Russian Empire, or even the entire world, that +was quite indifferent to him. When he became minister, not only +those dependent on him (and there were great many of them) and people +connected with him, but many strangers and even he himself were +convinced that he was a very clever statesman. But after some time had +elapsed and he had done nothing and had nothing to show, and when in +accordance with the law of the struggle for existence others, like +himself, who had learnt to write and understand documents, stately and +unprincipled officials, had displaced him, he turned out to be not +only far from clever but very limited and badly educated. Though +self-assured, his views hardly reaching the level of those in the +leading articles of the Conservative papers, it became apparent +that there was nothing in him to distinguish him from those other +badly-educated and self-assured officials who had pushed him out, and +he himself saw it. But this did not shake his conviction that he had to +receive a great deal of money out of the Treasury every year, and new +decorations for his dress clothes. This conviction was so firm that no +one had the pluck to refuse these things to him, and he received yearly, +partly in form of a pension, partly as a salary for being a member in +a Government institution and chairman of all sorts of committees +and councils, several tens of thousands of roubles, besides the +right--highly prized by him--of sewing all sorts of new cords to his +shoulders and trousers, and ribbons to wear under and enamel stars +to fix on to his dress coat. In consequence of this Count Ivan +Michaelovitch had very high connections. + +Count Ivan Michaelovitch listened to Nekhludoff as he was wont to listen +to the reports of the permanent secretary of his department, and, having +heard him, said he would give him two notes, one to the Senator Wolff, +of the Appeal Department. "All sorts of things are reported of him, but +dans tous les cas c'est un homme tres comme ii faut," he said. "He is +indebted to me, and will do all that is possible." The other note Count +Ivan Michaelovitch gave Nekhludoff was to an influential member of +the Petition Committee. The story of Theodosia Birukoff as told by +Nekhludoff interested him very much. When Nekhludoff said that he +thought of writing to the Empress, the Count replied that it certainly +was a very touching story, and might, if occasion presented itself, he +told her, but he could not promise. Let the petition be handed in in due +form. + +Should there be an opportunity, and if a petit comite were called on +Thursday, he thought he would tell her the story. As soon as Nekhludoff +had received these two notes, and a note to Mariette from his aunt, he +at once set off to these different places. + +First he went to Mariette's. He had known her as a half-grown girl, the +daughter of an aristocratic but not wealthy family, and had heard how +she had married a man who was making a career, whom Nekhludoff had heard +badly spoken of; and, as usual, he felt it hard to ask a favour of a man +he did not esteem. In these cases he always felt an inner dissension +and dissatisfaction, and wavered whether to ask the favour or not, and +always resolved to ask. Besides feeling himself in a false position +among those to whose set he no longer regarded himself as belonging, who +yet regarded him as belonging to them, he felt himself getting into the +old accustomed rut, and in spite of himself fell into the thoughtless +and immoral tone that reigned in that circle. He felt that from the +first, with his aunt, he involuntarily fell into a bantering tone while +talking about serious matters. + +Petersburg in general affected him with its usual physically +invigorating and mentally dulling effect. + +Everything so clean, so comfortably well-arranged and the people so +lenient in moral matters, that life seemed very easy. + +A fine, clean, and polite isvostchik drove him past fine, clean, polite +policemen, along the fine, clean, watered streets, past fine, clean +houses to the house in which Mariette lived. At the front door stood +a pair of English horses, with English harness, and an English-looking +coachman on the box, with the lower part of his face shaved, proudly +holding a whip. The doorkeeper, dressed in a wonderfully clean livery, +opened the door into the hall, where in still cleaner livery with gold +cords stood the footman with his splendid whiskers well combed out, +and the orderly on duty in a brand-new uniform. "The general does not +receive, and the generaless does not receive either. She is just going +to drive out." + +Nekhludoff took out Katerina Ivanovna's letter, and going up to a table +on which lay a visitors' book, began to write that he was sorry not to +have been able to see any one; when the footman went up the staircase +the doorkeeper went out and shouted to the coachman, and the orderly +stood up rigid with his arms at his sides following with his eyes a +little, slight lady, who was coming down the stairs with rapid steps not +in keeping with all the grandeur. + +Mariette had a large hat on, with feathers, a black dress and cape, and +new black gloves. Her face was covered by a veil. + +When she saw Nekhludoff she lifted the veil off a very pretty face with +bright eyes that looked inquiringly at him. + +"Ah, Prince Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff," she said, with a soft, +pleasant voice. "I should have known--" + +"What! you even remember my name?" + +"I should think so. Why, I and my sisters have even been in love with +you," she said, in French. "But, dear me, how you have altered. Oh, what +a pity I have to go out. But let us go up again," she said and stopped +hesitatingly. Then she looked at the clock. "No, I can't. I am going to +Kamenskaya's to attend a mass for the dead. She is terribly afflicted." + +"Who is this Kamenskaya?" + +"Have you not heard? Her son was killed in a duel. He fought Posen. He +was the only son. Terrible I The mother is very much afflicted." + +"Yes. I have heard of it." + +"No, I had better go, and you must come again, to-night or to-morrow," +she said, and went to the door with quick, light steps. + +"I cannot come to-night," he said, going out after her; "but I have +a request to make you," and he looked at the pair of bays that were +drawing up to the front door. + +"What is this?" + +"This is a letter from aunt to you," said Nekhludoff, handing her +a narrow envelope, with a large crest. "You'll find all about it in +there." + +"I know Countess Katerina Ivanovna thinks I have some influence with my +husband in business matters. She is mistaken. I can do nothing and do +not like to interfere. But, of course, for you I am willing to be false +to my principle. What is this business about?" she said, searching in +vain for her pocket with her little black gloved hand. + +"There is a girl imprisoned in the fortress, and she is ill and +innocent." + +"What is her name?" + +"Lydia Shoustova. It's in the note." + +"All right; I'll see what I can do," she said, and lightly jumped into +her little, softly upholstered, open carriage, its brightly-varnished +splash-guards glistening in the sunshine, and opened her parasol. The +footman got on the box and gave the coachman a sign. The carriage moved, +but at that moment she touched the coachman with her parasol and the +slim-legged beauties, the bay mares, stopped, bending their beautiful +necks and stepping from foot to foot. + +"But you must come, only, please, without interested motives," and she +looked at him with a smile, the force of which she well knew, and, as if +the performance over and she were drawing the curtain, she dropped +the veil over her face again. "All right," and she again touched the +coachman. + +Nekhludoff raised his hat, and the well-bred bays, slightly snorting, +set off, their shoes clattering on the pavement, and the carriage rolled +quickly and smoothly on its new rubber tyres, giving a jump only now and +then over some unevenness of the road. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +AN UP-TO-DATE SENATOR. + +When Nekhludoff remembered the smiles that had passed between him and +Mariette, he shook his head. + +"You have hardly time to turn round before you are again drawn into +this life," he thought, feeling that discord and those doubts which the +necessity to curry favour from people he did not esteem caused. + +After considering where to go first, so as not to have to retrace his +steps, Nekhludoff set off for the Senate. There he was shown into the +office where he found a great many very polite and very clean officials +in the midst of a magnificent apartment. Maslova's petition was received +and handed on to that Wolf, to whom Nekhludoff had a letter from his +uncle, to be examined and reported on. + +"There will be a meeting of the Senate this week," the official said to +Nekhludoff, "but Maslova's case will hardly come before that meeting." + +"It might come before the meeting on Wednesday, by special request," one +of the officials remarked. + +During the time Nekhludoff waited in the office, while some information +was being taken, he heard that the conversation in the Senate was all +about the duel, and he heard a detailed account of how a young man, +Kaminski, had been killed. It was here he first heard all the facts of +the case which was exciting the interest of all Petersburg. The story +was this: Some officers were eating oysters and, as usual, drinking very +much, when one of them said something ill-natured about the regiment to +which Kaminski belonged, and Kaminski called him a liar. The other hit +Kaminski. The next day they fought. Kaminski was wounded in the stomach +and died two hours later. The murderer and the seconds were arrested, +but it was said that though they were arrested and in the guardhouse +they would be set free in a fortnight. + +From the Senate Nekhludoff drove to see an influential member of the +petition Committee, Baron Vorobioff, who lived in a splendid house +belonging to the Crown. The doorkeeper told Nekhludoff in a severe tone +that the Baron could not be seen except on his reception days; that he +was with His Majesty the Emperor to-day, and the next day he would again +have to deliver a report. Nekhludoff left his uncle's letter with the +doorkeeper and went on to see the Senator Wolf. Wolf had just had his +lunch, and was as usual helping digestion by smoking a cigar and pacing +up and down the room, when Nekhludoff came in. Vladimir Vasilievitch +Wolf was certainly _un homme tres comme il faut_, and prized this +quality very highly, and from that elevation he looked down at everybody +else. He could not but esteem this quality of his very highly, because +it was thanks to it alone that he had made a brilliant career, the very +career he desired, i.e., by marriage he obtained a fortune which brought +him in 18,000 roubles a year, and by his own exertions the post of a +senator. He considered himself not only _un homme tres comme il faut_, +but also a man of knightly honour. By honour he understood not accepting +secret bribes from private persons. But he did not consider it dishonest +to beg money for payment of fares and all sorts of travelling expenses +from the Crown, and to do anything the Government might require of him +in return. To ruin hundreds of innocent people, to cause them to be +imprisoned, to be exiled because of their love for their people and the +religion of their fathers, as he had done in one of the governments of +Poland when he was governor there. He did not consider it dishonourable, +but even thought it a noble, manly and patriotic action. Nor did he +consider it dishonest to rob his wife and sister-in-law, as he had +done, but thought it a wise way of arranging his family life. His family +consisted of his commonplace wife, his sister-in-law, whose fortune +he had appropriated by selling her estate and putting the money to his +account, and his meek, frightened, plain daughter, who lived a lonely, +weary life, from which she had lately begun to look for relaxation in +evangelicism, attending meetings at Aline's, and the Countess Katerina +Ivanovna. Wolf's son, who had grown a beard at the age of 15, and had at +that age begun to drink and lead a depraved life, which he continued to +do till the age of 20, when he was turned out by his father because +he never finished his studies, moved in a low set and made debts which +committed the father. The father had once paid a debt of 250 roubles for +his son, then another of 600 roubles, but warned the son that he did it +for the last time, and that if the son did not reform he would be turned +out of the house and all further intercourse between him and his family +would he put a stop to. The son did not reform, but made a debt of a +thousand roubles, and took the liberty of telling his father that life +at home was a torment anyhow. Then Wolf declared to his son that he +might go where he pleased--that he was no son of his any longer. Since +then Wolf pretended he had no son, and no one at home dared speak to him +about his son, and Vladimir Vasilievitch Wolf was firmly convinced that +he had arranged his family life in the best way. Wolf stopped pacing +up and down his study, and greeted Nekhludoff with a friendly though +slightly ironical smile. This was his way of showing how comme il faut +he was, and how superior to the majority of men. He read the note which +Nekhludoff handed to him. + +"Please take a seat, and excuse me if I continue to walk up and down, +with your permission," he said, putting his hands into his coat pockets, +and began again to walk with light, soft steps across his large, quietly +and stylishly furnished study. "Very pleased to make your acquaintance +and of course very glad to do anything that Count Ivan Michaelovitch +wishes," he said, blowing the fragrant blue smoke out of his mouth and +removing his cigar carefully so as not to drop the ash. + +"I should only like to ask that the case might come on soon, so that +if the prisoner has to go to Siberia she might set off early," said +Nekhludoff. + +"Yes, yes, with one of the first steamers from Nijni. I know," said +Wolf, with his patronising smile, always knowing in advance whatever one +wanted to tell him. + +"What is the prisoner's name?" + +"Maslova." + +Wolf went up to the table and looked at a paper that lay on a piece of +cardboard among other business papers. + +"Yes, yes. Maslova. All right, I will ask the others. We shall hear the +case on Wednesday." + +"Then may I telegraph to the advocate?" + +"The advocate! What's that for? But if you like, why not?" + +"The causes for appeal may be insufficient," said Nekhludoff, "but +I think the case will show that the sentence was passed owing to a +misunderstanding." + +"Yes, yes; it may be so, but the Senate cannot decide the case on its +merits," said Wolf, looking seriously at the ash of his cigar. "The +Senate only considers the exactness of the application of the laws and +their right interpretation." + +"But this seems to me to be an exceptional case." + +"I know, I know! All cases are exceptional. We shall do our duty. That's +all." The ash was still holding on, but had began breaking, and was in +danger of falling. + +"Do you often come to Petersburg?" said Wolf, holding his cigar so that +the ash should not fall. But the ash began to shake, and Wolf carefully +carried it to the ashpan, into which it fell. + +"What a terrible thing this is with regard to Kaminski," he said. "A +splendid young man. The only son. Especially the mother's position," he +went on, repeating almost word for word what every one in Petersburg +was at that time saying about Kaminski. Wolf spoke a little about the +Countess Katerina Ivanovna and her enthusiasm for the new religious +teaching, which he neither approved nor disapproved of, but which was +evidently needless to him who was so comme il faut, and then rang the +bell. + +Nekhludoff bowed. + +"If it is convenient, come and dine on Wednesday, and I will give you a +decisive answer," said Wolf, extending his hand. + +It was late, and Nekhludoff returned to his aunt's. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +COUNTESS KATERINA IVANOVNA'S DINNER PARTY. + +Countess Katerina Ivanovna's dinner hour was half-past seven, and the +dinner was served in a new manner that Nekhludoff had not yet seen +anywhere. After they had placed the dishes on the table the waiters left +the room and the diners helped themselves. The men would not let the +ladies take the trouble of moving, and, as befitted the stronger sex, +they manfully took on themselves the burden of putting the food on +the ladies' plates and of filling their glasses. When one course was +finished, the Countess pressed the button of an electric bell fitted +to the table and the waiters stepped in noiselessly and quickly carried +away the dishes, changed the plates, and brought in the next course. +The dinner was very refined, the wines very costly. A French chef was +working in the large, light kitchens, with two white-clad assistants. +There were six persons at dinner, the Count and Countess, their son +(a surly officer in the Guards who sat with his elbows on the table), +Nekhludoff, a French lady reader, and the Count's chief steward, who +had come up from the country. Here, too, the conversation was about the +duel, and opinions were given as to how the Emperor regarded the case. +It was known that the Emperor was very much grieved for the mother's +sake, and all were grieved for her, and as it was also known that the +Emperor did not mean to be very severe to the murderer, who defended +the honour of his uniform, all were also lenient to the officer who had +defended the honour of his uniform. Only the Countess Katerina Ivanovna, +with her free thoughtlessness, expressed her disapproval. + +"They get drunk, and kill unobjectionable young men. I should not +forgive them on any account," she said. + +"Now, that's a thing I cannot understand," said the Count. + +"I know that you never can understand what I say," the Countess began, +and turning to Nekhludoff, she added: + +"Everybody understands except my husband. I say I am sorry for the +mother, and I do not wish him to be contented, having killed a man." +Then her son, who had been silent up to then, took the murderer's part, +and rudely attacked his mother, arguing that an officer could not behave +in any other way, because his fellow-officers would condemn him and turn +him out of the regiment. Nekhludoff listened to the conversation without +joining in. Having been an officer himself, he understood, though he +did not agree with, young Tcharsky's arguments, and at the same time +he could not help contrasting the fate of the officer with that of a +beautiful young convict whom he had seen in the prison, and who was +condemned to the mines for having killed another in a fight. Both had +turned murderers through drunkenness. The peasant had killed a man in +a moment of irritation, and he was parted from his wife and family, had +chains on his legs, and his head shaved, and was going to hard labour in +Siberia, while the officer was sitting in a fine room in the guardhouse, +eating a good dinner, drinking good wine, and reading books, and would +be set free in a day or two to live as he had done before, having only +become more interesting by the affair. Nekhludoff said what he had been +thinking, and at first his aunt, Katerina Ivanovna, seemed to agree with +him, but at last she became silent as the rest had done, and Nekhludoff +felt that he had committed something akin to an impropriety. In the +evening, soon after dinner, the large hall, with high-backed carved +chairs arranged in rows as for a meeting, and an armchair next to a +little table, with a bottle of water for the speaker, began to fill +with people come to hear the foreigner, Kiesewetter, preach. Elegant +equipages stopped at the front entrance. In the hall sat richly-dressed +ladies in silks and velvets and lace, with false hair and false busts +and drawn-in waists, and among them men in uniform and evening dress, +and about five persons of the common class, i.e., two men-servants, a +shop-keeper, a footman, and a coachman. Kiesewetter, a thick-set, grisly +man, spoke English, and a thin young girl, with a pince-nez, translated +it into Russian promptly and well. He was saying that our sins were so +great, the punishment for them so great and so unavoidable, that it was +impossible to live anticipating such punishment. "Beloved brothers and +sisters, let us for a moment consider what we are doing, how we are +living, how we have offended against the all-loving Lord, and how +we make Christ suffer, and we cannot but understand that there is no +forgiveness possible for us, no escape possible, that we are all doomed +to perish. A terrible fate awaits us---everlasting torment," he said, +with tears in his trembling voice. "Oh, how can we be saved, brothers? +How can we be saved from this terrible, unquenchable fire? The house is +in flames; there is no escape." + +He was silent for a while, and real tears flowed down his cheeks. It +was for about eight years that each time when he got to this part of his +speech, which he himself liked so well, he felt a choking in his throat +and an irritation in his nose, and the tears came in his eyes, and these +tears touched him still more. Sobs were heard in the room. The Countess +Katerina Ivanovna sat with her elbows on an inlaid table, leaning her +head on her hands, and her shoulders were shaking. The coachman looked +with fear and surprise at the foreigner, feeling as if he was about to +run him down with the pole of his carriage and the foreigner would +not move out of his way. All sat in positions similar to that Katerina +Ivanovna had assumed. Wolf's daughter, a thin, fashionably-dressed girl, +very like her father, knelt with her face in her hands. + +The orator suddenly uncovered his face, and smiled a very real-looking +smile, such as actors express joy with, and began again with a sweet, +gentle voice: + +"Yet there is a way to be saved. Here it is--a joyful, easy way. The +salvation is the blood shed for us by the only son of God, who gave +himself up to torments for our sake. His sufferings, His blood, will +save us. Brothers and sisters," he said, again with tears in his voice, +"let us praise the Lord, who has given His only begotten son for the +redemption of mankind. His holy blood . . ." + +Nekhludoff felt so deeply disgusted that he rose silently, and frowning +and keeping back a groan of shame, he left on tiptoe, and went to his +room. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +OFFICIALDOM. + +Hardly had Nekhludoff finished dressing the next morning, just as he +was about to go down, the footman brought him a card from the Moscow +advocate. The advocate had come to St. Petersburg on business of his +own, and was going to be present when Maslova's case was examined in the +Senate, if that would be soon. The telegram sent by Nekhludoff crossed +him on the way. Having found out from Nekhludoff when the case was going +to be heard, and which senators were to be present, he smiled. "Exactly, +all the three types of senators," he said. "Wolf is a Petersburg +official; Skovorodnikoff is a theoretical, and Bay a practical lawyer, +and therefore the most alive of them all," said the advocate. "There is +most hope of him. Well, and how about the Petition Committee?" + +"Oh, I'm going to Baron Vorobioff to-day. I could not get an audience +with him yesterday." + +"Do you know why he is _Baron_ Vorobioff?" said the advocate, noticing +the slightly ironical stress that Nekhludoff put on this foreign title, +followed by so very Russian a surname. + +"That was because the Emperor Paul rewarded the grandfather--I think he +was one of the Court footmen--by giving him this title. He managed to +please him in some way, so he made him a baron. 'It's my wish, so don't +gainsay me!' And so there's a _Baron_ Vorobioff, and very proud of the +title. He is a dreadful old humbug." + +"Well, I'm going to see him," said Nekhludoff. + +"That's good; we can go together. I shall give you a lift." + +As they were going to start, a footman met Nekhludoff in the ante-room, +and handed him a note from Mariette: + +_Pour vous faire plaisir, f'ai agi tout a fait contre mes principes et +j'ai intercede aupres de mon mari pour votre protegee. Il se trouve +que cette personne pout etre relaxee immediatement. Mon mari a ecrit au +commandant. Venez donc disinterestedly. Je vous attends._ + + _M._ + +"Just fancy!" said Nekhludoff to the advocate. "Is this not dreadful? +A woman whom they are keeping in solitary confinement for seven months +turns out to be quite innocent, and only a word was needed to get her +released." + +"That's always so. Well, anyhow, you have succeeded in getting what you +wanted." + +"Yes, but this success grieves me. Just think what must be going on +there. Why have they been keeping her?" + +"Oh, it's best not to look too deeply into it. Well, then, I shall give +you a lift, if I may," said the advocate, as they left the house, and +a fine carriage that the advocate had hired drove up to the door. "It's +Baron Vorobioff you are going to see?" + +The advocate gave the driver his directions, and the two good horses +quickly brought Nekhludoff to the house in which the Baron lived. The +Baron was at home. A young official in uniform, with a long, thin neck, +a much protruding Adam's apple, and an extremely light walk, and two +ladies were in the first room. + +"Your name, please?" the young man with the Adam's apple asked, stepping +with extreme lightness and grace across from the ladies to Nekhludoff. + +Nekhludoff gave his name. + +"The Baron was just mentioning you," said the young man, the Baron's +adjutant, and went out through an inner door. He returned, leading a +weeping lady dressed in mourning. With her bony fingers the lady was +trying to pull her tangled veil over her face in order to hide her +tears. + +"Come in, please," said the young man to Nekhludoff, lightly stepping up +to the door of the study and holding it open. When Nekhludoff came in, +he saw before him a thick-set man of medium height, with short hair, +in a frock coat, who was sitting in an armchair opposite a large +writing-table, and looking gaily in front of himself. The kindly, rosy +red face, striking by its contrast with the white hair, moustaches, and +beard, turned towards Nekhludoff with a friendly smile. + +"Very glad to see you. Your mother and I were old acquaintances and +friends. I have seen you as a boy, and later on as an officer. Sit +down and tell me what I can do for you. Yes, yes," he said, shaking his +cropped white head, while Nekhludoff was telling him Theodosia's story. +"Go on, go on. I quite understand. It is certainly very touching. And +have you handed in the petition?" + +"I have got the petition ready," Nekhludoff said, getting it out of his +pocket; "but I thought of speaking to you first in hopes that the case +would then get special attention paid to it." + +"You have done very well. I shall certainly report it myself," said the +Baron, unsuccessfully trying to put an expression of pity on his merry +face. "Very touching! It is clear she was but a child; the husband +treated her roughly, this repelled her, but as time went on they fell in +love with each other. Yes I will report the case." + +"Count Ivan Michaelovitch was also going to speak about it." + +Nekhludoff had hardly got these words out when the Baron's face changed. + +"You had better hand in the petition into the office, after all, and I +shall do what I can," he said. + +At this moment the young official again entered the room, evidently +showing off his elegant manner of walking. + +"That lady is asking if she may say a few words more." + +"Well, ask her in. Ah, mon cher, how many tears we have to see shed! If +only we could dry them all. One does all that lies within one's power." + +The lady entered. + +"I forgot to ask you that he should not be allowed to give up the +daughter, because he is ready . . ." + +"But I have already told you that I should do all I can." + +"Baron, for the love of God! You will save the mother?" + +She seized his hand, and began kissing it. + +"Everything shall be done." + +When the lady went out Nekhludoff also began to take leave. + +"We shall do what we can. I shall speak about it at the Ministry of +Justice, and when we get their answer we shall do what we can." + +Nekhludoff left the study, and went into the office again. Just as in +the Senate office, he saw, in a splendid apartment, a number of very +elegant officials, clean, polite, severely correct and distinguished in +dress and in speech. + +"How many there are of them; how very many and how well fed they all +look! And what clean shirts and hands they all have, and how well all +their boots are polished! Who does it for them? How comfortable they +all are, as compared not only with the prisoners, but even with the +peasants!" These thoughts again involuntarily came to Nekhludoff's mind. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +AN OLD GENERAL OF REPUTE. + +The man on whom depended the easing of the fate of the Petersburg +prisoners was an old General of repute--a baron of German descent, +who, as it was said of him, had outlived his wits. He had received a +profusion of orders, but only wore one of them, the Order of the White +Cross. He had received this order, which he greatly valued, while +serving in the Caucasus, because a number of Russian peasants, with +their hair cropped, and dressed in uniform and armed with guns and +bayonets, had killed at his command more than a thousand men who were +defending their liberty, their homes, and their families. Later on +he served in Poland, and there also made Russian peasants commit many +different crimes, and got more orders and decorations for his uniform. +Then he served somewhere else, and now that he was a weak, old man +he had this position, which insured him a good house, an income and +respect. He strictly observed all the regulations which were prescribed +"from above," and was very zealous in the fulfilment of these +regulations, to which he ascribed a special importance, considering that +everything else in the world might be changed except the regulations +prescribed "from above." His duty was to keep political prisoners, +men and women, in solitary confinement in such a way that half of them +perished in 10 years' time, some going out of their minds, some dying +of consumption, some committing suicide by starving themselves to death, +cutting their veins with bits of glass, hanging, or burning themselves +to death. + +The old General was not ignorant of this; it all happened within his +knowledge; but these cases no more touched his conscience than accidents +brought on by thunderstorms, floods, etc. These cases occurred as a +consequence of the fulfilment of regulations prescribed "from above" by +His Imperial Majesty. These regulations had to be carried out +without fail, and therefore it was absolutely useless to think of the +consequences of their fulfilment. The old General did not even allow +himself to think of such things, counting it his patriotic duty as a +soldier not to think of them for fear of getting weak in the carrying +out of these, according to his opinion, very important obligations. Once +a week the old General made the round of the cells, one of the duties of +his position, and asked the prisoners if they had any requests to make. +The prisoners had all sorts of requests. He listened to them quietly, in +impenetrable silence, and never fulfilled any of their requests, because +they were all in disaccord with the regulations. Just as Nekhludoff +drove up to the old General's house, the high notes of the bells on the +belfry clock chimed "Great is the Lord," and then struck two. The sound +of these chimes brought back to Nekhludoff's mind what he had read +in the notes of the Decembrists [the Decembrists were a group who +attempted, but failed, to put an end to absolutism in Russia at the time +of the accession of Nicholas the First] about the way this sweet music +repeated every hour re-echoes in the hearts of those imprisoned for +life. + +Meanwhile the old General was sitting in his darkened drawing-room at +an inlaid table, turning a saucer on a piece of paper with the aid of +a young artist, the brother of one of his subordinates. The thin, +weak, moist fingers of the artist were pressed against the wrinkled and +stiff-jointed fingers of the old General, and the hands joined in this +manner were moving together with the saucer over a paper that had all +the letters of the alphabet written on it. The saucer was answering the +questions put by the General as to how souls will recognise each other +after death. + +When Nekhludoff sent in his card by an orderly acting as footman, the +soul of Joan of Arc was speaking by the aid of the saucer. The soul of +Joan of Arc had already spelt letter by letter the words: "They well +knew each other," and these words had been written down. When the +orderly came in the saucer had stopped first on b, then on y, and began +jerking hither and thither. This jerking was caused by the General's +opinion that the next letter should be b, i.e., Joan of Arc ought to +say that the souls will know each other by being cleansed of all that +is earthly, or something of the kind, clashing with the opinion of the +artist, who thought the next letter should be l, i.e., that the souls +should know each other by light emanating from their astral bodies. The +General, with his bushy grey eyebrows gravely contracted, sat gazing at +the hands on the saucer, and, imagining that it was moving of its own +accord, kept pulling the saucer towards b. The pale-faced young artist, +with his thin hair combed back behind his cars, was looking with his +lifeless blue eyes into a dark corner of the drawing-room, nervously +moving his lips and pulling the saucer towards l. + +The General made a wry face at the interruption, but after a moment's +pause he took the card, put on his pince-nez, and, uttering a groan, +rose, in spite of the pain in his back, to his full height, rubbing his +numb fingers. + +"Ask him into the study." + +"With your excellency's permission I will finish it alone," said the +artist, rising. "I feel the presence." + +"All right, finish alone," the General said, severely and decidedly, and +stepped quickly, with big, firm and measured strides, into his study. + +"Very pleased to see you," said the General to Nekhludoff, uttering the +friendly words in a gruff tone, and pointing to an armchair by the side +of the writing-table. "Have you been in Petersburg long?" + +Nekhludoff replied that he had only lately arrived. + +"Is the Princess, your mother, well?" + +"My mother is dead." + +"Forgive me; I am very sorry. My son told me he had met you." + +The General's son was making the same kind of career for himself that +the father had done, and, having passed the Military Academy, was now +serving in the Inquiry Office, and was very proud of his duties there. +His occupation was the management of Government spies. + +"Why, I served with your father. We were friends--comrades. And you; are +you also in the Service?" + +"No, I am not." + +The General bent his head disapprovingly. + +"I have a request to make, General." + +"Very pleased. In what way can I be of service to you?" + +"If my request is out of place pray pardon me. But I am obliged to make +it." + +"What is it?" + +"There is a certain Gourkevitch imprisoned in the fortress; his mother +asks for an interview with him, or at least to be allowed to send him +some books." + +The General expressed neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction at +Nekhludoff's request, but bending his head on one side he closed his +eyes as if considering. In reality he was not considering anything, and +was not even interested in Nekhludoff's questions, well knowing that he +would answer them according to the law. He was simply resting mentally +and not thinking at all. + +"You see," he said at last, "this does not depend on me. There is a +regulation, confirmed by His Majesty, concerning interviews; and as to +books, we have a library, and they may have what is permitted." + +"Yes, but he wants scientific books; he wishes to study." + +"Don't you believe it," growled the General. "It's not study he wants; +it is just only restlessness." + +"But what is to be done? They must occupy their time somehow in their +hard condition," said Nekhludoff. + +"They are always complaining," said the General. "We know them." + +He spoke of them in a general way, as if they were all a specially bad +race of men. "They have conveniences here which can be found in few +places of confinement," said the General, and he began to enumerate the +comforts the prisoners enjoyed, as if the aim of the institution was to +give the people imprisoned there a comfortable home. + +"It is true it used to be rather rough, but now they are very well kept +here," he continued. "They have three courses for dinner--and one of +them meat--cutlets, or rissoles; and on Sundays they get a fourth--a +sweet dish. God grant every Russian may eat as well as they do." + +Like all old people, the General, having once got on to a familiar +topic, enumerated the various proofs he had often given before of the +prisoners being exacting and ungrateful. + +"They get books on spiritual subjects and old journals. We have a +library. Only they rarely read. At first they seem interested, later on +the new books remain uncut, and the old ones with their leaves unturned. +We tried them," said the old General, with the dim likeness of a smile. +"We put bits of paper in on purpose, which remained just as they had +been placed. Writing is also not forbidden," he continued. "A slate is +provided, and a slate pencil, so that they can write as a pastime. They +can wipe the slate and write again. But they don't write, either. Oh, +they very soon get quite tranquil. At first they seem restless, but +later on they even grow fat and become very quiet." Thus spoke the +General, never suspecting the terrible meaning of his words. + +Nekhludoff listened to the hoarse old voice, looked at the stiff limbs, +the swollen eyelids under the grey brows, at the old, clean-shaved, +flabby jaw, supported by the collar of the military uniform, at the +white cross that this man was so proud of, chiefly because he had gained +it by exceptionally cruel and extensive slaughter, and knew that it was +useless to reply to the old man or to explain the meaning of his own +words to him. + +He made another effort, and asked about the prisoner Shoustova, for +whose release, as he had been informed that morning, orders were given. + +"Shoustova--Shoustova? I cannot remember all their names, there are so +many of them," he said, as if reproaching them because there were so +many. He rang, and ordered the secretary to be called. While waiting for +the latter, he began persuading Nekhludoff to serve, saying that "honest +noblemen," counting himself among the number, "were particularly needed +by the Tsar and--the country," he added, evidently only to round off +his sentence. "I am old, yet I am serving still, as well as my strength +allows." + +The secretary, a dry, emaciated man, with restless, intelligent eyes, +came in and reported that Shoustova was imprisoned in some queer, +fortified place, and that he had received no orders concerning her. + +"When we get the order we shall let her out the same day. We do not keep +them; we do not value their visits much," said the General, with another +attempt at a playful smile, which only distorted his old face. + +Nekhludoff rose, trying to keep from expressing the mixed feelings of +repugnance and pity which he felt towards this terrible old man. The +old man on his part considered that he should not be too severe on the +thoughtless and evidently misguided son of his old comrade, and should +not leave him without advice. + +"Good-bye, my dear fellow; do not take it amiss. It is my affection that +makes me say it. Do not keep company with such people as we have at our +place here. There are no innocent ones among them. All these people +are most immoral. We know them," he said, in a tone that admitted no +possibility of doubt. And he did not doubt, not because the thing was +so, but because if it was not so, he would have to admit himself to +be not a noble hero living out the last days of a good life, but a +scoundrel, who sold, and still continued in his old age to sell, his +conscience. + +"Best of all, go and serve," he continued; "the Tsar needs honest +men--and the country," he added. "Well, supposing I and the others +refused to serve, as you are doing? Who would be left? Here we are, +finding fault with the order of things, and yet not wishing to help the +Government." + +With a deep sigh Nekhludoff made a low bow, shook the large, bony hand +condescendingly stretched out to him and left the room. + +The General shook his head reprovingly, and rubbing his back, he again +went into the drawing-room where the artist was waiting for him. He had +already written down the answer given by the soul of Joan of Arc. The +General put on his pince-nez and read, "Will know one another by light +emanating from their astral bodies." + +"Ah," said the General, with approval, and closed his eyes. "But how is +one to know if the light of all is alike?" he asked, and again crossed +fingers with the artist on the saucer. + +The isvostchik drove Nekhludoff out of the gate. + +It is dull here, sir, he said, turning to Nekhludoff. "I almost wished +to drive off without waiting for you." + +Nekhludoff agreed. "Yes, it is dull," and he took a deep breath, and +looked up with a sense of relief at the grey clouds that were floating +in the sky, and at the glistening ripples made by the boats and steamers +on the Neva. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +MASLOVA'S APPEAL. + +The next day Maslova's case was to be examined at the Senate, and +Nekhludoff and the advocate met at the majestic portal of the building, +where several carriages were waiting. Ascending the magnificent and +imposing staircase to the first floor, the advocate, who knew all the +ins and outs of the place, turned to the left and entered through a door +which had the date of the introduction of the Code of Laws above it. + +After taking off his overcoat in the first narrow room, he found out +from the attendant that the Senators had all arrived, and that the last +had just come in. Fanarin, in his swallow-tail coat, a white tie above +the white shirt-front, and a self-confident smile on his lips, passed +into the next room. In this room there were to the right a large +cupboard and a table, and to the left a winding staircase, which an +elegant official in uniform was descending with a portfolio under his +arm. In this room an old man with long, white hair and a patriarchal +appearance attracted every one's attention. He wore a short coat and +grey trousers. Two attendants stood respectfully beside him. The old man +with white hair entered the cupboard and shut himself in. + +Fanarin noticed a fellow-advocate dressed in the same way as himself, +with a white tie and dress coat, and at once entered into an animated +conversation with him. + +Nekhludoff was meanwhile examining the people in the room. The public +consisted of about 15 persons, of whom two were ladies--a young one with +a pince-nez, and an old, grey-haired one. + +A case of libel was to be heard that day, and therefore the public were +more numerous than usual--chiefly persons belonging to the journalistic +world. + +The usher, a red-cheeked, handsome man in a fine uniform, came up to +Fanarin and asked him what his business was. When he heard that it was +the case of Maslova, he noted something down and walked away. Then the +cupboard door opened and the old man with the patriarchal appearance +stepped out, no longer in a short coat but in a gold-trimmed attire, +which made him look like a bird, and with metal plates on his +breast. This funny costume seemed to make the old man himself feel +uncomfortable, and, walking faster than his wont, he hurried out of the +door opposite the entrance. + +"That is Bay, a most estimable man," Fanarin said to Nekhludoff, and +then having introduced him to his colleague, he explained the case that +was about to be heard, which he considered very interesting. + +The hearing of the case soon commenced, and Nekhludoff, with the +public, entered the left side of the Senate Chamber. They all, including +Fanarin, took their places behind a grating. Only the Petersburg +advocate went up to a desk in front of the grating. + +The Senate Chamber was not so big as the Criminal Court; and was more +simply furnished, only the table in front of the senators was covered +with crimson, gold-trimmed velvet, instead of green cloth; but the +attributes of all places of judgment, i.e., the mirror of justice, the +icon, the emblem of hypocrisy, and the Emperor's portrait, the emblem of +servility, were there. + +The usher announced, in the same solemn manner: "The Court is coming." +Every one rose in the same way, and the senators entered in their +uniforms and sat down on highbacked chairs and leant on the table, +trying to appear natural, just in the same way as the judges in the +Court of Law. There were four senators present--Nikitin, who took the +chair, a clean-shaved man with a narrow face and steely eyes; Wolf, with +significantly compressed lips, and little white hands, with which he +kept turning over the pages of the business papers; Skovorodnikoff, +a heavy, fat, pockmarked man--the learned lawyer; and Bay, the +patriarchal-looking man who had arrived last. + +With the advocates entered the chief secretary and public prosecutor, a +lean, clean-shaven young man of medium height, a very dark complexion, +and sad, black eyes. Nekhludoff knew him at once, in spite of his +curious uniform and the fact that he had not seen him for six years. He +had been one of his best friends in Nekhludoff's student days. + +"The public prosecutor Selenin?" Nekhludoff asked, turning to the +advocate. + +"Yes. Why?" + +"I know him well. He is a fine fellow." + +"And a good public prosecutor; business-like. Now he is the man you +should have interested." + +"He will act according to his conscience in any case," said Nekhludoff, +recalling the intimate relations and friendship between himself and +Selenin, and the attractive qualities of the latter--purity, honesty, +and good breeding in its best sense. + +"Yes, there is no time now," whispered Fanarin, who was listening to the +report of the case that had commenced. + +The Court of Justice was accused of having left a decision of the Court +of Law unaltered. + +Nekhludoff listened and tried to make out the meaning of what was going +on; but, just as in the Criminal Court, his chief difficulty was +that not the evidently chief point, but some side issues, were being +discussed. The case was that of a newspaper which had published the +account of a swindle arranged by a director of a limited liability +company. It seemed that the only important question was whether the +director of the company really abused his trust, and how to stop him +from doing it. But the questions under consideration were whether the +editor had a right to publish this article of his contributor, and what +he had been guilty of in publishing it: slander or libel, and in what +way slander included libel, or libel included slander, and something +rather incomprehensible to ordinary people about all sorts of statutes +and resolutions passed by some General Department. + +The only thing clear to Nekhludoff was that, in spite of what Wolf had +so strenuously insisted on, the day before, i.e., that the Senate could +not try a case on its merits, in this case he was evidently strongly +in favour of repealing the decision of the Court of Justice, and that +Selenin, in spite of his characteristic reticence, stated the opposite +opinion with quite unexpected warmth. The warmth, which surprised +Nekhludoff, evinced by the usually self-controlled Selenin, was due to +his knowledge of the director's shabbiness in money matters, and the +fact, which had accidentally come to his cars, that Wolf had been to a +swell dinner party at the swindler's house only a few days before. + +Now that Wolf spoke on the case, guardedly enough, but with evident +bias, Selenin became excited, and expressed his opinion with too much +nervous irritation for an ordinary business transaction. + +It was clear that Selenin's speech had offended Wolf. He grew red, moved +in his chair, made silent gestures of surprise, and at last rose, with +a very dignified and injured look, together with the other senators, and +went out into the debating-room. + +"What particular case have you come about?" the usher asked again, +addressing Fanarin. + +"I have already told you: Maslova's case." + +"Yes, quite so. It is to be heard to-day, but--" + +"But what?" the advocate asked. + +"Well, you see, this case was to be examined without taking sides, +so that the senators will hardly come out again after passing the +resolution. But I will inform them." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I'll inform them; I'll inform them." And the usher again put something +down on his paper. + +The Senators really meant to pronounce their decision concerning the +libel case, and then to finish the other business, Maslova's case among +it, over their tea and cigarettes, without leaving the debating-room. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE APPEAL DISMISSED. + +As soon as the Senators were seated round the table in the +debating-room, Wolf began to bring forward with great animation all the +motives in favour of a repeal. The chairman, an ill-natured man at +best, was in a particularly bad humour that day. His thoughts were +concentrated on the words he had written down in his memoranda on the +occasion when not he but Viglanoff was appointed to the important post +he had long coveted. It was the chairman, Nikitin's, honest conviction +that his opinions of the officials of the two upper classes with which +he was in connection would furnish valuable material for the historians. +He had written a chapter the day before in which the officials of the +upper classes got it hot for preventing him, as he expressed it, from +averting the ruin towards which the present rulers of Russia were +driving it, which simply meant that they had prevented his getting a +better salary. And now he was considering what a new light to posterity +this chapter would shed on events. + +"Yes, certainly," he said, in reply to the words addressed to him by +Wolf, without listening to them. + +Bay was listening to Wolf with a sad face and drawing a garland on the +paper that lay before him. Bay was a Liberal of the very first water. He +held sacred the Liberal traditions of the sixth decade of this century, +and if he ever overstepped the limits of strict neutrality it was always +in the direction of Liberalism. So in this case; beside the fact that +the swindling director, who was prosecuting for libel, was a bad lot, +the prosecution of a journalist for libel in itself tending, as it did, +to restrict the freedom of the press, inclined Bay to reject the appeal. + +When Wolf concluded his arguments Bay stopped drawing his garland and +began in a sad and gentle voice (he was sad because he was obliged to +demonstrate such truisms) concisely, simply and convincingly to show +how unfounded the accusation was, and then, bending his white head, he +continued drawing his garland. + +Skovorodnikoff, who sat opposite Wolf, and, with his fat fingers, kept +shoving his beard and moustaches into his mouth, stopped chewing his +beard as soon as Bay was silent, and said with a loud, grating voice, +that, notwithstanding the fact of the director being a terrible +scoundrel, he would have been for the repeal of the sentence if there +were any legal reasons for it; but, as there were none, he was of Bay's +opinion. He was glad to put this spoke in Wolf's wheel. + +The chairman agreed with Skovorodnikoff, and the appeal was rejected. + +Wolf was dissatisfied, especially because it was like being caught +acting with dishonest partiality; so he pretended to be indifferent, +and, unfolding the document which contained Maslova's case, he became +engrossed in it. Meanwhile the Senators rang and ordered tea, and began +talking about the event that, together with the duel, was occupying the +Petersburgers. + +It was the case of the chief of a Government department, who was accused +of the crime provided for in Statute 995. + +"What nastiness," said Bay, with disgust. + +"Why; where is the harm of it? I can show you a Russian book containing +the project of a German writer, who openly proposes that it should not +be considered a crime," said Skovorodnikoff, drawing in greedily the +fumes of the crumpled cigarette, which he held between his fingers close +to the palm, and he laughed boisterously. + +"Impossible!" said Bay. + +"I shall show it you," said Skovorodnikoff, giving the full title of the +book, and even its date and the name of its editor. + +"I hear he has been appointed governor to some town in Siberia." + +"That's fine. The archdeacon will meet him with a crucifix. They ought +to appoint an archdeacon of the same sort," said Skovorodnikoff. "I +could recommend them one," and he threw the end of his cigarette into +his saucer, and again shoved as much of his beard and moustaches as he +could into his mouth and began chewing them. + +The usher came in and reported the advocate's and Nekhludoff's desire to +be present at the examination of Maslova's case. + +"This case," Wolf said, "is quite romantic," and he told them what he +knew about Nekhludoff's relations with Maslova. When they had spoken +a little about it and finished their tea and cigarettes, the Senators +returned into the Senate Chamber and proclaimed their decision in the +libel case, and began to hear Maslova's case. + +Wolf, in his thin voice, reported Maslova's appeal very fully, but +again not without some bias and an evident wish for the repeal of the +sentence. + +"Have you anything to add?" the chairman said, turning to Fanarin. +Fanarin rose, and standing with his broad white chest expanded, proved +point by point, with wonderful exactness and persuasiveness, how the +Court had in six points strayed from the exact meaning of the law; and +besides this he touched, though briefly, on the merits of the case, and +on the crying injustice of the sentence. The tone of his speech was one +of apology to the Senators, who, with their penetration and judicial +wisdom, could not help seeing and understanding it all better than he +could. He was obliged to speak only because the duty he had undertaken +forced him to do so. + +After Fanarin's speech one might have thought that there could not +remain the least doubt that the Senate ought to repeal the decision of +the Court. When he had finished his speech, Fanarin looked round with a +smile of triumph, seeing which Nekhludoff felt certain that the case was +won. But when he looked at the Senators he saw that Fanarin smiled and +triumphed all alone. The Senators and the Public Prosecutor did not +smile nor triumph, but looked like people wearied, and who were thinking +"We have often heard the like of you; it is all in vain," and were only +too glad when he stopped and ceased uselessly detaining them there. +Immediately after the end of the advocate's speech the chairman turned +to the Public Prosecutor. Selenin briefly and clearly expressed +himself in favour of leaving the decision of the Court unaltered, as +he considered all the reasons for appealing inadequate. After this the +Senators went out into the debating-room. They were divided in their +opinions. Wolf was in favour of altering the decision. Bay, when he +had understood the case, took up the same side with fervour, vividly +presenting the scene at the court to his companions as he clearly saw it +himself. Nikitin, who always was on the side of severity and formality, +took up the other side. All depended on Skovorodnikoff's vote, and he +voted for rejecting the appeal, because Nekhludoff's determination to +marry the woman on moral grounds was extremely repugnant to him. + +Skovorodnikoff was a materialist, a Darwinian, and counted every +manifestation of abstract morality, or, worse still, religion, not only +as a despicable folly, but as a personal affront to himself. All this +bother about a prostitute, and the presence of a celebrated advocate and +Nekhludoff in the Senate were in the highest degree repugnant to him. +So he shoved his beard into his mouth and made faces, and very skilfully +pretended to know nothing of this case, excepting that the reasons for +an appeal were insufficient, and that he, therefore, agreed with the +chairman to leave the decision of the Court unaltered. + +So the sentence remained unrepealed. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +AN OLD FRIEND. + +"Terrible," said Nekhludoff, as he went out into the waiting-room with +the advocate, who was arranging the papers in his portfolio. "In a +matter which is perfectly clear they attach all the importance to the +form and reject the appeal. Terrible!" + +"The case was spoiled in the Criminal Court," said the advocate. + +"And Selenin, too, was in favour of the rejection. Terrible! terrible!" +Nekhludoff repeated. "What is to be done now?" + +"We will appeal to His Majesty, and you can hand in the petition +yourself while you are here. I will write it for you." + +At this moment little Wolf, with his stars and uniform, came out into +the waiting-room and approached Nekhludoff. "It could not be helped, +dear Prince. The reasons for an appeal were not sufficient," he said, +shrugging his narrow shoulders and closing his eyes, and then he went +his way. + +After Wolf, Selenin came out too, having heard from the Senators that +his old friend Nekhludoff was there. + +"Well, I never expected to see you here," he said, coming up to +Nekhludoff, and smiling only with his lips while his eyes remained sad. +"I did not know you were in Petersburg." + +"And I did not know you were Public Prosecutor-in-Chief." + +"How is it you are in the Senate?" asked Selenin. "I had heard, by the +way, that you were in Petersburg. But what are you doing here?" + +"Here? I am here because I hoped to find justice and save a woman +innocently condemned." + +"What woman?" + +"The one whose case has just been decided." + +"Oh! Maslova's case," said Selenin, suddenly remembering it. "The appeal +had no grounds whatever." + +"It is not the appeal; it's the woman who is innocent, and is being +punished." + +Selenin sighed. "That may well be, but----" + +"Not _may be_, but is." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I was on the jury. I know how we made the mistake." + +Selenin became thoughtful. "You should have made a statement at the +time," he said. + +"I did make the statement." + +"It should have been put down in an official report. If this had been +added to the petition for the appeal--" + +"Yes, but still, as it is, the verdict is evidently absurd." + +"The Senate has no right to say so. If the Senate took upon itself to +repeal the decision of the law courts according to its own views as +to the justice of the decisions in themselves, the verdict of the jury +would lose all its meaning, not to mention that the Senate would have +no basis to go upon, and would run the risk of infringing justice rather +than upholding it," said Selenin, calling to mind the case that had just +been heard. + +"All I know is that this woman is quite innocent, and that the last +hope of saving her from an unmerited punishment is gone. The grossest +injustice has been confirmed by the highest court." + +"It has not been confirmed. The Senate did not and cannot enter into +the merits of the case in itself," said Selenin. Always busy and rarely +going out into society, he had evidently heard nothing of Nekhludoff's +romance. Nekhludoff noticed it, and made up his mind that it was best to +say nothing about his special relations with Maslova. + +"You are probably staying with your aunt," Selenin remarked, apparently +wishing to change the subject. "She told me you were here yesterday, and +she invited me to meet you in the evening, when some foreign preacher +was to lecture," and Selenin again smiled only with his lips. + +"Yes, I was there, but left in disgust," said Nekhludoff angrily, vexed +that Selenin had changed the subject. + +"Why with disgust? After all, it is a manifestation of religious +feeling, though one-sided and sectarian," said Selenin. + +"Why, it's only some kind of whimsical folly." + +"Oh, dear, no. The curious thing is that we know the teaching of our +church so little that we see some new kind of revelation in what are, +after all, our own fundamental dogmas," said Selenin, as if hurrying to +let his old friend know his new views. + +Nekhludoff looked at Selenin scrutinisingly and with surprise, and +Selenin dropped his eyes, in which appeared an expression not only of +sadness but also of ill-will. + +"Do you, then, believe in the dogmas of the church?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Of course I do," replied Selenin, gazing straight into Nekhludoff's +eyes with a lifeless look. + +Nekhludoff sighed. "It is strange," he said. + +"However, we shall have a talk some other time," said Selenin. "I +am coming," he added, in answer to the usher, who had respectfully +approached him. "Yes, we must meet again," he went on with a sigh. "But +will it be possible for me to find you? You will always find me in at +seven o'clock. My address is Nadejdinskaya," and he gave the number. +"Ah, time does not stand still," and he turned to go, smiling only with +his lips. + +"I will come if I can," said Nekhludoff, feeling that a man once +near and dear to him had, by this brief conversation, suddenly become +strange, distant, and incomprehensible, if not hostile to him. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR. + +When Nekhludoff knew Selenin as a student, he was a good son, a true +friend, and for his years an educated man of the world, with much tact; +elegant, handsome, and at the same time truthful and honest. He learned +well, without much exertion and with no pedantry, receiving gold medals +for his essays. He considered the service of mankind, not only in words +but in acts, to be the aim of his young life. He saw no other way of +being useful to humanity than by serving the State. Therefore, as soon +as he had completed his studies, he systematically examined all the +activities to which he might devote his life, and decided to enter the +Second Department of the Chancellerie, where the laws are drawn up, and +he did so. But, in spite of the most scrupulous and exact discharge of +the duties demanded of him, this service gave no satisfaction to his +desire of being useful, nor could he awake in himself the consciousness +that he was doing "the right thing." + +This dissatisfaction was so much increased by the friction with his very +small-minded and vain fellow officials that he left the Chancellerie and +entered the Senate. It was better there, but the same dissatisfaction +still pursued him; he felt it to be very different from what he had +expected, and from what ought to be. + +And now that he was in the Senate his relatives obtained for him the +post of Gentleman of the Bedchamber, and he had to go in a carriage, +dressed in an embroidered uniform and a white linen apron, to thank +all sorts of people for having placed him in the position of a lackey. +However much he tried he could find no reasonable explanation for the +existence of this post, and felt, more than in the Senate, that it +was not "the right thing," and yet he could not refuse it for fear of +hurting those who felt sure they were giving him much pleasure by this +appointment, and because it flattered the lowest part of his nature. It +pleased him to see himself in a mirror in his gold-embroidered uniform, +and to accept the deference paid him by some people because of his +position. + +Something of the same kind happened when he married. A very brilliant +match, from a worldly point of view, was arranged for him, and he +married chiefly because by refusing he would have had to hurt the +young lady who wished to be married to him, and those who arranged the +marriage, and also because a marriage with a nice young girl of noble +birth flattered his vanity and gave him pleasure. But this marriage +very soon proved to be even less "the right thing" than the Government +service and his position at Court. + +After the birth of her first child the wife decided to have no more, +and began leading that luxurious worldly life in which he now had to +participate whether he liked or not. + +She was not particularly handsome, and was faithful to him, and she +seemed, in spite of all the efforts it cost her, to derive nothing but +weariness from the life she led, yet she perseveringly continued to live +it, though it was poisoning her husband's life. And all his efforts +to alter this life was shattered, as against a stone wall, by her +conviction, which all her friends and relatives supported, that all was +as it should be. + +The child, a little girl with bare legs and long golden curls, was a +being perfectly foreign to him, chiefly because she was trained quite +otherwise than he wished her to be. There sprung up between the husband +and wife the usual misunderstanding, without even the wish to understand +each other, and then a silent warfare, hidden from outsiders and +tempered by decorum. All this made his life at home a burden, and became +even less "the right thing" than his service and his post. + +But it was above all his attitude towards religion which was not "the +right thing." Like every one of his set and his time, by the growth of +his reason he broke without the least effort the nets of the religious +superstitions in which he was brought up, and did not himself exactly +know when it was that he freed himself of them. Being earnest and +upright, he did not, during his youth and intimacy with Nekhludoff as a +student, conceal his rejection of the State religion. But as years +went on and he rose in the service, and especially at the time of the +reaction towards conservatism in society, his spiritual freedom stood in +his way. + +At home, when his father died, he had to be present at the masses +said for his soul, and his mother wished him to go to confession or to +communion, and it was in a way expected, by public opinion, but above +all, Government service demanded that he should be present at all sorts +of services, consecrations, thanksgivings, and the like. Hardly a day +passed without some outward religious form having to be observed. + +When present at these services he had to pretend that he believed in +something which he did not believe in, and being truthful he could not +do this. The alternative was, having made up his mind that all these +outward signs were deceitful, to alter his life in such a way that he +would not have to be present at such ceremonials. But to do what +seemed so simple would have cost a great deal. Besides encountering the +perpetual hostility of all those who were near to him, he would have to +give up the service and his position, and sacrifice his hopes of being +useful to humanity by his service, now and in the future. To make such a +sacrifice one would have to be firmly convinced of being right. + +And he was firmly convinced he was right, as no educated man of our +time can help being convinced who knows a little history and how the +religions, and especially Church Christianity, originated. + +But under the stress of his daily life he, a truthful man, allowed a +little falsehood to creep in. He said that in order to do justice to +an unreasonable thing one had to study the unreasonable thing. It was a +little falsehood, but it sunk him into the big falsehood in which he was +now caught. + +Before putting to himself the question whether the orthodoxy in which +he was born and bred, and which every one expected him to accept, and +without which he could not continue his useful occupation, contained the +truth, he had already decided the answer. And to clear up the question +he did not read Voltaire, Schopenhauer, Herbert Spencer, or Comte, but +the philosophical works of Hegel and the religious works of Vinet and +Khomyakoff, and naturally found in them what he wanted, i.e., something +like peace of mind and a vindication of that religious teaching in which +he was educated, which his reason had long ceased to accept, but without +which his whole life was filled with unpleasantness which could all be +removed by accepting the teaching. + +And so he adopted all the usual sophistries which go to prove that +a single human reason cannot know the truth, that the truth is only +revealed to an association of men, and can only be known by revelation, +that revelation is kept by the church, etc. And so he managed to be +present at prayers, masses for the dead, to confess, make signs of the +cross in front of icons, with a quiet mind, without being conscious of +the lie, and to continue in the service which gave him the feeling of +being useful and some comfort in his joyless family life. Although he +believed this, he felt with his entire being that this religion of his, +more than all else, was not "the right thing," and that is why his eyes +always looked sad. + +And seeing Nekhludoff, whom he had known before all these lies had +rooted themselves within him, reminded him of what he then was. It was +especially after he had hurried to hint at his religious views that he +had most strongly felt all this "not the right thing," and had become +painfully sad. Nekhludoff felt it also after the first joy of meeting +his old friend had passed, and therefore, though they promised each +other to meet, they did not take any steps towards an interview, and did +not again see each other during this stay of Nekhludoff's in Petersburg. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MARIETTE TEMPTS NEKHLUDOFF. + +When they left the Senate, Nekhludoff and the advocate walked on +together, the advocate having given the driver of his carriage orders +to follow them. The advocate told Nekhludoff the story of the chief of a +Government department, about whom the Senators had been talking: how the +thing was found out, and how the man, who according to law should +have been sent to the mines, had been appointed Governor of a town +in Siberia. Then he related with particular pleasure how several +high-placed persons stole a lot of money collected for the erection of +the still unfinished monument which they had passed that morning; also, +how the mistress of So-and-so got a lot of money at the Stock Exchange, +and how So-and-so agreed with So-and-so to sell him his wife. The +advocate began another story about a swindle, and all sorts of crimes +committed by persons in high places, who, instead of being in prison, +sat on presidential chairs in all sorts of Government institutions. +These tales, of which the advocate seemed to have an unending supply, +gave him much pleasure, showing as they did, with perfect clearness, +that his means of getting money were quite just and innocent compared +to the means which the highest officials in Petersburg made use of. +The advocate was therefore surprised when Nekhludoff took an isvostchik +before hearing the end of the story, said good-bye, and left him. +Nekhludoff felt very sad. It was chiefly the rejection of the appeal by +the Senate, confirming the senseless torments that the innocent Maslova +was enduring, that saddened him, and also the fact that this rejection +made it still harder for him to unite his fate with hers. The stories +about existing evils, which the advocate recounted with such relish, +heightened his sadness, and so did the cold, unkind look that the +once sweet-natured, frank, noble Selenin had given him, and which kept +recurring to his mind. + +On his return the doorkeeper handed him a note, and said, rather +scornfully, that some kind of woman had written it in the hall. It was +a note from Shoustova's mother. She wrote that she had come to thank +her daughter's benefactor and saviour, and to implore him to come to see +them on the Vasilievsky, 5th Line, house No. --. This was very necessary +because of Vera Doukhova. He need not be afraid that they would weary +him with expressions of gratitude. They would not speak their gratitude, +but be simply glad to see him. Would he not come next morning, if he +could? + +There was another note from Bogotyreff, a former fellow-officer, +aide-de-camp to the Emperor, whom Nekhludoff had asked to hand +personally to the Emperor his petition on behalf of the sectarians. +Bogotyreff wrote, in his large, firm hand, that he would put the +petition into the Emperor's own hands, as he had promised; but that it +had occurred to him that it might be better for Nekhludoff first to go +and see the person on whom the matter depended. + +After the impressions received during the last few days, Nekhludoff felt +perfectly hopeless of getting anything done. The plans he had formed +in Moscow seemed now something like the dreams of youth, which are +inevitably followed by disillusion when life comes to be faced. Still, +being now in Petersburg, he considered it his duty to do all he had +intended, and he resolved next day, after consulting Bogotyreff, to +act on his advice and see the person on whom the case of the sectarians +depended. + +He got out the sectarians' petition from his portfolio, and began +reading it over, when there was a knock at his door, and a footman came +in with a message from the Countess Katerina Ivanovna, who asked him to +come up and have a cup of tea with her. + +Nekhludoff said he would come at once, and having put the papers back +into the portfolio, he went up to his aunt's. He looked out of a window +on his way, and saw Mariette's pair of bays standing in front of the +house, and he suddenly brightened and felt inclined to smile. + +Mariette, with a hat on her head, not in black but with a light dress +of many shades, sat with a cup in her hand beside the Countess's easy +chair, prattling about something while her beautiful, laughing +eyes glistened. She had said something funny--something indecently +funny--just as Nekhludoff entered the room. He knew it by the way she +laughed, and by the way the good-natured Countess Katerina Ivanovna's +fat body was shaking with laughter; while Mariette, her smiling mouth +slightly drawn to one side, her head a little bent, a peculiarly +mischievous expression in her merry, energetic face, sat silently +looking at her companion. From a few words which he overheard, +Nekhludoff guessed that they were talking of the second piece of +Petersburg news, the episode of the Siberian Governor, and that it was +in reference to this subject that Mariette had said something so funny +that the Countess could not control herself for a long time. + +"You will kill me," she said, coughing. + +After saying "How d'you do?" Nekhludoff sat down. He was about to +censure Mariette in his mind for her levity when, noticing the serious +and even slightly dissatisfied look in his eyes, she suddenly, to please +him, changed not only the expression of her face, but also the attitude +of her mind; for she felt the wish to please him as soon as she looked +at him. She suddenly turned serious, dissatisfied with her life, as if +seeking and striving after something; it was not that she pretended, but +she really reproduced in herself the very same state of mind that he was +in, although it would have been impossible for her to express in words +what was the state of Nekhludoff's mind at that moment. + +She asked him how he had accomplished his tasks. He told her about his +failure in the Senate and his meeting Selenin. + +"Oh, what a pure soul! He is, indeed, a chevalier sans peur et sans +reproche. A pure soul!" said both ladies, using the epithet commonly +applied to Selenin in Petersburg society. + +"What is his wife like?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"His wife? Well, I do not wish to judge, but she does not understand +him." + +"Is it possible that he, too, was for rejecting the appeal?" Mariette +asked with real sympathy. "It is dreadful. How sorry I am for her," she +added with a sigh. + +He frowned, and in order to change the subject began to speak about +Shoustova, who had been imprisoned in the fortress and was now set free +through the influence of Mariette's husband. He thanked her for her +trouble, and was going on to say how dreadful he thought it, that this +woman and the whole of her family had suffered merely, because no one +had reminded the authorities about them, but Mariette interrupted him +and expressed her own indignation. + +"Say nothing about it to me," she said. "When my husband told me she +could be set free, it was this that struck me, 'What was she kept in +prison for if she is innocent?'" She went on expressing what Nekhludoff +was about to say. + +"It is revolting--revolting." + +Countess Katerina Ivanovna noticed that Mariette was coquetting with her +nephew, and this amused her. "What do you think?" she said, when they +were silent. "Supposing you come to Aline's to-morrow night. Kiesewetter +will be there. And you, too," she said, turning to Mariette. "_Il vous a +remarque_," she went on to her nephew. "He told me that what you say (I +repeated it all to him) is a very good sign, and that you will certainly +come to Christ. You must come absolutely. Tell him to, Mariette, and +come yourself." + +"Countess, in the first place, I have no right whatever to give any kind +of advice to the Prince," said Mariette, and gave Nekhludoff a look that +somehow established a full comprehension between them of their attitude +in relation to the Countess's words and evangelicalism in general. +"Secondly, I do not much care, you know." + +"Yes, I know you always do things the wrong way round, and according to +your own ideas." + +"My own ideas? I have faith like the most simple peasant woman," said +Mariette with a smile. "And, thirdly, I am going to the French Theatre +to-morrow night." + +"Ah! And have you seen that--What's her name?" asked Countess Katerina +Ivanovna. Mariette gave the name of a celebrated French actress. + +"You must go, most decidedly; she is wonderful." + +"Whom am I to see first, ma tante--the actress or the preacher?" +Nekhludoff said with a smile. + +"Please don't catch at my words." + +"I should think the preacher first and then the actress, or else the +desire for the sermon might vanish altogether," said Nekhludoff. + +"No; better begin with the French Theatre, and do penance afterwards." + +"Now, then, you are not to hold me up for ridicule. The preacher is the +preacher and the theatre is the theatre. One need not weep in order to +be saved. One must have faith, and then one is sure to be gay." + +"You, ma tante, preach better than any preacher." + +"Do you know what?" said Mariette. "Come into my box to-morrow." + +"I am afraid I shall not be able to." + +The footman interrupted the conversation by announcing a visitor. It +was the secretary of a philanthropic society of which the Countess was +president. + +"Oh, that is the dullest of men. I think I shall receive him out there, +and return to you later on. Mariette, give him his tea," said the +Countess, and left the room, with her quick, wriggling walk. + +Mariette took the glove off her firm, rather flat hand, the fourth +finger of which was covered with rings. + +"Want any?" she said, taking hold of the silver teapot, under which a +spirit lamp was burning, and extending her little finger curiously. Her +face looked sad and serious. + +"It is always terribly painful to me to notice that people whose opinion +I value confound me with the position I am placed in." She seemed ready +to cry as she said these last words. And though these words had no +meaning, or at any rate a very indefinite meaning, they seemed to be of +exceptional depth, meaning, or goodness to Nekhludoff, so much was he +attracted by the look of the bright eyes which accompanied the words of +this young, beautiful, and well-dressed woman. + +Nekhludoff looked at her in silence, and could not take his eyes from +her face. + +"You think I do not understand you and all that goes on in you. Why, +everybody knows what you are doing. _C'est le secret de polichinelle_. +And I am delighted with your work, and think highly of you." + +"Really, there is nothing to be delighted with; and I have done so +little as Yet." + +"No matter. I understand your feelings, and I understand her. All +right, all right. I will say nothing more about it," she said, noticing +displeasure on his face. "But I also understand that after seeing all +the suffering and the horror in the prisons," Mariette went on, her only +desire that of attracting him, and guessing with her woman's instinct +what was dear and important to him, "you wish to help the sufferers, +those who are made to suffer so terribly by other men, and their cruelty +and indifference. I understand the willingness to give one's life, and +could give mine in such a cause, but we each have our own fate." + +"Are you, then, dissatisfied with your fate?" + +"I?" she asked, as if struck with surprise that such a question could +be put to her. "I have to be satisfied, and am satisfied. But there is a +worm that wakes up--" + +"And he must not be allowed to fall asleep again. It is a voice that +must be obeyed," Nekhludoff said, falling into the trap. + +Many a time later on Nekhludoff remembered with shame his talk with her. +He remembered her words, which were not so much lies as imitations of +his own, and her face, which seemed looking at him with sympathetic +attention when he told her about the terrors of the prison and of his +impressions in the country. + +When the Countess returned they were talking not merely like old, but +like exclusive friends who alone understood one another. They were +talking about the injustice of power, of the sufferings of the +unfortunate, the poverty of the people, yet in reality in the midst of +the sound of their talk their eyes, gazing at each other, kept asking, +"Can you love me?" and answering, "I can," and the sex-feeling, taking +the most unexpected and brightest forms, drew them to each other. As she +was going away she told him that she would always be willing to serve +him in any way she could, and asked him to come and see her, if only for +a moment, in the theatre next day, as she had a very important thing to +tell him about. + +"Yes, and when shall I see you again?" she added, with a sigh, carefully +drawing the glove over her jewelled hand. + +"Say you will come." + +Nekhludoff promised. + +That night, when Nekhludoff was alone in his room, and lay down after +putting out his candle, he could not sleep. He thought of Maslova, of +the decision of the Senate, of his resolve to follow her in any case, of +his having given up the land. The face of Mariette appeared to him as if +in answer to those thoughts--her look, her sigh, her words, "When shall +I see you again?" and her smile seemed vivid as if he really saw her, +and he also smiled. "Shall I be doing right in going to Siberia? And +have I done right in divesting myself of my wealth?" And the answers to +the questions on this Petersburg night, on which the daylight streamed +into the window from under the blind, were quite indefinite. All seemed +mixed in his head. He recalled his former state of mind, and the former +sequence of his thoughts, but they had no longer their former power or +validity. + +"And supposing I have invented all this, and am unable to live it +through--supposing I repent of having acted right," he thought; and +unable to answer he was seized with such anguish and despair as he had +long not felt. Unable to free himself from his perplexity, he fell into +a heavy sleep, such as he had slept after a heavy loss at cards. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +LYDIA SHOUSTOVA'S HOME. + +Nekhludoff awoke next morning feeling as if he had been guilty of some +iniquity the day before. He began considering. He could not remember +having done anything wrong; he had committed no evil act, but he had had +evil thoughts. He had thought that all his present resolutions to marry +Katusha and to give up his land were unachievable dreams; that he should +be unable to bear it; that it was artificial, unnatural; and that he +would have to go on living as he lived. + +He had committed no evil action, but, what was far worse than an +evil action, he had entertained evil thoughts whence all evil actions +proceed. An evil action may not be repeated, and can be repented of; but +evil thoughts generate all evil actions. + +An evil action only smooths the path for other evil acts; evil thoughts +uncontrollably drag one along that path. + +When Nekhludoff repeated in his mind the thoughts of the day before, he +was surprised that he could for a moment have believed these thoughts. +However new and difficult that which he had decided to do might be, he +knew that it was the only possible way of life for him now, and however +easy and natural it might have been to return to his former state, he +knew that state to be death. + +Yesterday's temptation seemed like the feeling when one awakes from deep +sleep, and, without feeling sleepy, wants to lie comfortably in bed a +little longer, yet knows that it is time to rise and commence the glad +and important work that awaits one. + +On that, his last day in Petersburg, he went in the morning to the +Vasilievski Ostrov to see Shoustova. Shoustova lived on the second +floor, and having been shown the back stairs, Nekhludoff entered +straight into the hot kitchen, which smelt strongly of food. An elderly +woman, with turned-up sleeves, with an apron and spectacles, stood by +the fire stirring something in a steaming pan. + +"Whom do you want?" she asked severely, looking at him over her +spectacles. + +Before Nekhludoff had time to answer, an expression of fright and joy +appeared on her face. + +"Oh, Prince!" she exclaimed, wiping her hands on her apron. "But why +have you come the back way? Our Benefactor! I am her mother. They have +nearly killed my little girl. You have saved us," she said, catching +hold of Nekhludoff's hand and trying to kiss it. + +"I went to see you yesterday. My sister asked me to. She is here. This +way, this way, please," said Shoustova's mother, as she led the way +through a narrow door, and a dark passage, arranging her hair and +pulling at her tucked-up skirt. "My sister's name is Kornilova. You must +have heard of her," she added, stopping before a closed door. "She was +mixed up in a political affair. An extremely clever woman!" + +Shoustova's mother opened the door and showed Nekhludoff into a little +room where on a sofa with a table before it sat a plump, short girl with +fair hair that curled round her pale, round face, which was very like +her mother's. She had a striped cotton blouse on. + +Opposite her, in an armchair, leaning forward, so that he was nearly +bent double, sat a young fellow with a slight, black beard and +moustaches. + +"Lydia, Prince Nekhludoff!" he said. + +The pale girl jumped up, nervously pushing back a lock of hair behind +her ear, and gazing at the newcomer with a frightened look in her large, +grey eyes. + +"So you are that dangerous woman whom Vera Doukhova wished me to +intercede for?" Nekhludoff asked, with a smile. + +"Yes, I am," said Lydia Shoustova, her broad, kind, child-like smile +disclosing a row of beautiful teeth. "It was aunt who was so anxious to +see you. Aunt!" she called out, in a pleasant, tender voice through a +door. + +"Your imprisonment grieved Vera Doukhova very much," said Nekhludoff. + +"Take a seat here, or better here," said Shoustova, pointing to the +battered easy-chair from which the young man had just risen. + +"My cousin, Zakharov," she said, noticing that Nekhludoff looked at the +young man. + +The young man greeted the visitor with a smile as kindly as Shoustova's, +and when Nekhludoff sat down he brought himself another chair, and sat +by his side. A fair-haired schoolboy of about 10 also came into the room +and silently sat down on the window-sill. + +"Vera Doukhova is a great friend of my aunt's, but I hardly know her," +said Shoustova. + +Then a woman with a very pleasant face, with a white blouse and leather +belt, came in from the next room. + +"How do you do? Thanks for coming," she began as soon as she had taken +the place next Shoustova's on the sofa. + +"Well, and how is Vera. You have seen her? How does she bear her fate?" + +"She does not complain," said Nekhludoff. "She says she feels perfectly +happy."' + +"Ah, that's like Vera. I know her," said the aunt, smiling and shaking +her head. "One must know her. She has a fine character. Everything for +others; nothing for herself." + +"No, she asked nothing for herself, but only seemed concerned about your +niece. What seemed to trouble her most was, as she said, that your niece +was imprisoned for nothing." + +"Yes, that's true," said the aunt. "It is a dreadful business. She +suffered, in reality, because of me." + +"Not at all, aunt. I should have taken the papers without you all the +same." + +"Allow me to know better," said the aunt. "You see," she went on to +Nekhludoff, "it all happened because a certain person asked me to keep +his papers for a time, and I, having no house at the time, brought them +to her. And that very night the police searched her room and took her +and the papers, and have kept her up to now, demanding that she should +say from whom she had them." + +"But I never told them," said Shoustova quickly, pulling nervously at a +lock that was not even out of place. + +"I never said you did," answered the aunt. + +"If they took Mitin up it was certainly not through me," said Shoustova, +blushing, and looking round uneasily. + +"Don't speak about it, Lydia dear," said her mother. + +"Why not? I should like to relate it," said Shoustova, no longer smiling +nor pulling her lock, but twisting it round her finger and getting +redder. + +"Don't forget what happened yesterday when you began talking about it." + +"Not at all---Leave me alone, mamma. I did not tell, I only kept quiet. +When he examined me about Mitin and about aunt, I said nothing, and told +him I would not answer." + +"Then this--Petrov--" + +"Petrov is a spy, a gendarme, and a blackguard," put in the aunt, to +explain her niece's words to Nekhludoff. + +"Then he began persuading," continued Shoustova, excitedly and +hurriedly. "'Anything you tell me,' he said, 'can harm no one; on the +contrary, if you tell me, we may be able to set free innocent people +whom we may be uselessly tormenting.' Well, I still said I would not +tell. Then he said, 'All right, don't tell, but do not deny what I am +going to say.' And he named Mitin." + +"Don't talk about it," said the aunt. + +"Oh, aunt, don't interrupt," and she went on pulling the lock of hair +and looking round. "And then, only fancy, the next day I hear--they let +me know by knocking at the wall--that Mitin is arrested. Well, I think +I have betrayed him, and this tormented me so--it tormented me so that I +nearly went mad." + +"And it turned out that it was not at all because of you he was taken +up?" + +"Yes, but I didn't know. I think, 'There, now, I have betrayed him.' I +walk and walk up and down from wall to wall, and cannot help thinking. +I think, 'I have betrayed him.' I lie down and cover myself up, and hear +something whispering, 'Betrayed! betrayed Mitin! Mitin betrayed!' I +know it is an hallucination, but cannot help listening. I wish to +fall asleep, I cannot. I wish not to think, and cannot cease. That is +terrible!" and as Shoustova spoke she got more and more excited, and +twisted and untwisted the lock of hair round her finger. + +"Lydia, dear, be calm," the mother said, touching her shoulder. + +But Shoustova could not stop herself. + +"It is all the more terrible--" she began again, but did not finish, and +jumping up with a cry rushed out of the room. + +Her mother turned to follow her. + +"They ought to be hanged, the rascals!" said the schoolboy who was +sitting on the window-sill. + +"What's that?" said the mother. + +"I only said--Oh, it's nothing," the schoolboy answered, and taking a +cigarette that lay on the table, he began to smoke. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +LYDIA'S AUNT. + +"Yes, that solitary confinement is terrible for the young," said the +aunt, shaking her head and also lighting a cigarette. + +"I should say for every one," Nekhludoff replied. + +"No, not for all," answered the aunt. "For the real revolutionists, I +have been told, it is rest and quiet. A man who is wanted by the police +lives in continual anxiety, material want, and fear for himself and +others, and for his cause, and at last, when he is taken up and it is +all over, and all responsibility is off his shoulders, he can sit and +rest. I have been told they actually feel joyful when taken up. But the +young and innocent (they always first arrest the innocent, like Lydia), +for them the first shock is terrible. It is not that they deprive you of +freedom; and the bad food and bad air--all that is nothing. Three times +as many privations would be easily borne if it were not for the moral +shock when one is first taken." + +"Have you experienced it?" + +"I? I was twice in prison," she answered, with a sad, gentle smile. +"When I was arrested for the first time I had done nothing. I was 22, +had a child, and was expecting another. Though the loss of freedom and +the parting with my child and husband were hard, they were nothing when +compared with what I felt when I found out that I had ceased being a +human creature and had become a thing. I wished to say good-bye to my +little daughter. I was told to go and get into the trap. I asked where I +was being taken to. The answer was that I should know when I got there. +I asked what I was accused of, but got no reply. After I had been +examined, and after they had undressed me and put numbered prison +clothes on me, they led me to a vault, opened a door, pushed me in, and +left me alone; a sentinel, with a loaded gun, paced up and down in front +of my door, and every now and then looked in through a crack--I felt +terribly depressed. What struck me most at the time was that the +gendarme officer who examined me offered me a cigarette. So he knew that +people liked smoking, and must know that they liked freedom and light; +and that mothers love their children, and children their mothers. Then +how could they tear me pitilessly from all that was dear to me, and +lock me up in prison like a wild animal? That sort of thing could not +be borne without evil effects. Any one who believes in God and men, and +believes that men love one another, will cease to believe it after all +that. I have ceased to believe in humanity since then, and have grown +embittered," she finished, with a smile. + +Shoustova's mother came in at the door through which her daughter had +gone out, and said that Lydia was very much upset, and would not come in +again. + +"And what has this young life been ruined for?" said the aunt. "What is +especially painful to me is that I am the involuntary cause of it." + +"She will recover in the country, with God's help," said the mother. "We +shall send her to her father." + +"Yes, if it were not for you she would have perished altogether," said +the aunt. "Thank you. But what I wished to see you for is this: I wished +to ask you to take a letter to Vera Doukhova," and she got the letter +out of her pocket. + +"The letter is not closed; you may read and tear it up, or hand it to +her, according to how far it coincides with your principles," she said. +"It contains nothing compromising." + +Nekhludoff took the letter, and, having promised to give it to Vera +Doukhova, he took his leave and went away. He sealed the letter without +reading it, meaning to take it to its destination. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE STATE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. + +The last thing that kept Nekhludoff in Petersburg was the case of the +sectarians, whose petition he intended to get his former fellow-officer, +Aide-de-camp Bogatyreff, to hand to the Tsar. He came to Bogatyreff in +the morning, and found him about to go out, though still at breakfast. +Bogatyreff was not tall, but firmly built and wonderfully strong (he +could bend a horseshoe), a kind, honest, straight, and even liberal man. +In spite of these qualities, he was intimate at Court, and very fond of +the Tsar and his family, and by some strange method he managed, while +living in that highest circle, to see nothing but the good in it and to +take no part in the evil and corruption. He never condemned anybody +nor any measure, and either kept silent or spoke in a bold, loud voice, +almost shouting what he had to say, and often laughing in the same +boisterous manner. And he did not do it for diplomatic reasons, but +because such was his character. + +"Ah, that's right that you have come. Would you like some breakfast? +Sit down, the beefsteaks are fine! I always begin with something +substantial--begin and finish, too. Ha! ha! ha! Well, then, have a glass +of wine," he shouted, pointing to a decanter of claret. "I have been +thinking of you. I will hand on the petition. I shall put it into his +own hands. You may count on that, only it occurred to me that it would +be best for you to call on Toporoff." + +Nekhludoff made a wry face at the mention of Toporoff. + +"It all depends on him. He will be consulted, anyhow. And perhaps he may +himself meet your wishes." + +"If you advise it I shall go." + +"That's right. Well, and how does Petersburg agree with you?" shouted +Bogatyreff. "Tell me. Eh?" + +"I feel myself getting hypnotised," replied Nekhludoff. + +"Hypnotised!" Bogatyreff repeated, and burst out laughing. "You won't +have anything? Well, just as you please," and he wiped his moustaches +with his napkin. "Then you'll go? Eh? If he does not do it, give the +petition to me, and I shall hand it on to-morrow." Shouting these words, +he rose, crossed himself just as naturally as he had wiped his mouth, +and began buckling on his sword. + +"And now good-bye; I must go. We are both going out," said Nekhludoff, +and shaking Bogatyreff's strong, broad hand, and with the sense of +pleasure which the impression of something healthy and unconsciously +fresh always gave him, Nekhludoff parted from Bogatyreff on the +door-steps. + +Though he expected no good result from his visit, still Nekhludoff, +following Bogatyreff's advice, went to see Toporoff, on whom the +sectarians' fate depended. + +The position occupied by Toporoff, involving as it did an incongruity of +purpose, could only be held by a dull man devoid of moral sensibility. +Toporoff possessed both these negative qualities. The incongruity of the +position he occupied was this. It was his duty to keep up and to defend, +by external measures, not excluding violence, that Church which, by its +own declaration, was established by God Himself and could not be shaken +by the gates of hell nor by anything human. This divine and immutable +God-established institution had to be sustained and defended by a human +institution--the Holy Synod, managed by Toporoff and his officials. +Toporoff did not see this contradiction, nor did he wish to see it, and +he was therefore much concerned lest some Romish priest, some pastor, or +some sectarian should destroy that Church which the gates of hell could +not conquer. + +Toporoff, like all those who are quite destitute of the fundamental +religious feeling that recognises the equality and brotherhood of men, +was fully convinced that the common people were creatures entirely +different from himself, and that the people needed what he could very +well do without, for at the bottom of his heart he believed in nothing, +and found such a state very convenient and pleasant. Yet he feared lest +the people might also come to such a state, and looked upon it as his +sacred duty, as he called it, to save the people therefrom. + +A certain cookery book declares that some crabs like to be boiled alive. +In the same way he thought and spoke as if the people liked being kept +in superstition; only he meant this in a literal sense, whereas the +cookery book did not mean its words literally. + +His feelings towards the religion he was keeping up were the same as +those of the poultry-keeper towards the carrion he fed his fowls on. +Carrion was very disgusting, but the fowls liked it; therefore it was +right to feed the fowls on carrion. Of course all this worship of the +images of the Iberian, Kasan and Smolensk Mothers of God was a gross +superstition, but the people liked it and believed in it, and therefore +the superstition must be kept up. + +Thus thought Toporoff, not considering that the people only liked +superstition because there always have been, and still are, men like +himself who, being enlightened, instead of using their light to help +others to struggle out of their dark ignorance, use it to plunge them +still deeper into it. + +When Nekhludoff entered the reception-room Toporoff was in his study +talking with an abbess, a lively and aristocratic lady, who was +spreading the Greek orthodox faith in Western Russia among the Uniates +(who acknowledge the Pope of Rome), and who have the Greek religion +enforced on them. An official who was in the reception-room inquired +what Nekhludoff wanted, and when he heard that Nekhludoff meant to +hand in a petition to the Emperor, he asked him if he would allow the +petition to be read first. Nekhludoff gave it him, and the official took +it into the study. The abbess, with her hood and flowing veil and her +long train trailing behind, left the study and went out, her white hands +(with their well-tended nails) holding a topaz rosary. Nekhludoff was +not immediately asked to come in. Toporoff was reading the petition +and shaking his head. He was unpleasantly surprised by the clear and +emphatic wording of it. + +"If it gets into the hands of the Emperor it may cause +misunderstandings, and unpleasant questions may be asked," he thought +as he read. Then he put the petition on the table, rang, and ordered +Nekhludoff to be asked in. + +He remembered the case of the sectarians; he had had a petition from +them before. The case was this: These Christians, fallen away from the +Greek Orthodox Church, were first exhorted and then tried by law, but +were acquitted. Then the Archdeacon and the Governor arranged, on the +plea that their marriages were illegal, to exile these sectarians, +separating the husbands, wives, and children. These fathers and +wives were now petitioning that they should not be parted. Toporoff +recollected the first time the case came to his notice: he had at that +time hesitated whether he had not better put a stop to it. But then +he thought no harm could result from his confirming the decision to +separate and exile the different members of the sectarian families, +whereas allowing the peasant sect to remain where it was might have a +bad effect on the rest of the inhabitants of the place and cause them +to fall away from Orthodoxy. And then the affair also proved the zeal +of the Archdeacon, and so he let the case proceed along the lines it had +taken. But now that they had a defender such as Nekhludoff, who had some +influence in Petersburg, the case might be specially pointed out to the +Emperor as something cruel, or it might get into the foreign papers. +Therefore he at once took an unexpected decision. + +"How do you do?" he said, with the air of a very busy man, receiving +Nekhludoff standing, and at once starting on the business. "I know +this case. As soon as I saw the names I recollected this unfortunate +business," he said, taking up the petition and showing it to Nekhludoff. +"And I am much indebted to you for reminding me of it. It is the +over-zealousness of the provincial authorities." + +Nekhludoff stood silent, looking with no kindly feelings at the +immovable, pale mask of a face before him. + +"And I shall give orders that these measures should be revoked and the +people reinstated in their homes." + +"So that I need not make use of this petition?" + +"I promise you most assuredly," answered Toporoff, laying a stress on +the word I, as if quite convinced that his honesty, his word was the +best guarantee. "It will be best if I write at once. Take a seat, +please." + +He went up to the table and began to write. As Nekhludoff sat down he +looked at the narrow, bald skull, at the fat, blue-veined hand that was +swiftly guiding the pen, and wondered why this evidently indifferent man +was doing what he did and why he was doing it with such care. + +"Well, here you are," said Toporoff, sealing the envelope; "you may let +your clients know," and he stretched his lips to imitate a smile. + +"Then what did these people suffer for?" Nekhludoff asked, as he took +the envelope. + +Toporoff raised his head and smiled, as if Nekhludoff's question gave +him pleasure. "That I cannot tell. All I can say is that the interests +of the people guarded by us are so important that too great a zeal +in matters of religion is not so dangerous or so harmful as the +indifference which is now spreading--" + +"But how is it that in the name of religion the very first demands of +righteousness are violated--families are separated?" + +Toporoff continued to smile patronisingly, evidently thinking what +Nekhludoff said very pretty. Anything that Nekhludoff could say he would +have considered very pretty and very one-sided, from the height of what +he considered his far-reaching office in the State. + +"It may seem so from the point of view of a private individual," he +said, "but from an administrative point of view it appears in a rather +different light. However, I must bid you good-bye, now," said Toporoff, +bowing his head and holding out his hand, which Nekhludoff pressed. + +"The interests of the people! Your interests is what you mean!" thought +Nekhludoff as he went out. And he ran over in his mind the people in +whom is manifested the activity of the institutions that uphold religion +and educate the people. He began with the woman punished for the +illicit sale of spirits, the boy for theft, the tramp for tramping, the +incendiary for setting a house on fire, the banker for fraud, and that +unfortunate Lydia Shoustova imprisoned only because they hoped to get +such information as they required from her. Then he thought of the +sectarians punished for violating Orthodoxy, and Gourkevitch for wanting +constitutional government, and Nekhludoff clearly saw that all these +people were arrested, locked up, exiled, not really because they +transgressed against justice or behaved unlawfully, but only because +they were an obstacle hindering the officials and the rich from enjoying +the property they had taken away from the people. And the woman who sold +wine without having a license, and the thief knocking about the town, +and Lydia Shoustova hiding proclamations, and the sectarians upsetting +superstitions, and Gourkevitch desiring a constitution, were a real +hindrance. It seemed perfectly clear to Nekhludoff that all these +officials, beginning with his aunt's husband, the Senators, and +Toporoff, down to those clean and correct gentlemen who sat at the +tables in the Ministry Office, were not at all troubled by the fact that +that in such a state of things the innocent had to suffer, but were only +concerned how to get rid of the really dangerous, so that the rule +that ten guilty should escape rather than that one innocent should +be condemned was not observed, but, on the contrary, for the sake of +getting rid of one really dangerous person, ten who seemed dangerous +were punished, as, when cutting a rotten piece out of anything, one has +to cut away some that is good. + +This explanation seemed very simple and clear to Nekhludoff; but its +very simplicity and clearness made him hesitate to accept it. Was it +possible that so complicated a phenomenon could have so simple and +terrible an explanation? Was it possible that all these words about +justice, law, religion, and God, and so on, were mere words, hiding the +coarsest cupidity and cruelty? + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE MEANING OF MARIETTE'S ATTRACTION. + +Nekhludoff would have left Petersburg on the evening of the same day, +but he had promised Mariette to meet her at the theatre, and though he +knew that he ought not to keep that promise, he deceived himself into +the belief that it would not be right to break his word. + +"Am I capable of withstanding these temptations?" he asked himself not +quite honestly. "I shall try for the last time." + +He dressed in his evening clothes, and arrived at the theatre during the +second act of the eternal Dame aux Camelias, in which a foreign actress +once again, and in a novel manner, showed how women die of consumption. + +The theatre was quite full. Mariette's box was at once, and with great +deference, shown to Nekhludoff at his request. A liveried servant stood +in the corridor outside; he bowed to Nekhludoff as to one whom he knew, +and opened the door of the box. + +All the people who sat and stood in the boxes on the opposite side, +those who sat near and those who were in the parterre, with their grey, +grizzly, bald, or curly heads--all were absorbed in watching the thin, +bony actress who, dressed in silks and laces, was wriggling before them, +and speaking in an unnatural voice. + +Some one called "Hush!" when the door opened, and two streams, one of +cool, the other of hot, air touched Nekhludoff's face. + +Mariette and a lady whom he did not know, with a red cape and a big, +heavy head-dress, were in the box, and two men also, Mariette's +husband, the General, a tall, handsome man with a severe, inscrutable +countenance, a Roman nose, and a uniform padded round the chest, and a +fair man, with a bit of shaved chin between pompous whiskers. + +Mariette, graceful, slight, elegant, her low-necked dress showing her +firm, shapely, slanting shoulders, with a little black mole where they +joined her neck, immediately turned, and pointed with her face to a +chair behind her in an engaging manner, and smiled a smile that seemed +full of meaning to Nekhludoff. + +The husband looked at him in the quiet way in which he did everything, +and bowed. In the look he exchanged with his wife, the master, the owner +of a beautiful woman, was to be seen at once. + +When the monologue was over the theatre resounded with the clapping of +hands. Mariette rose, and holding up her rustling silk skirt, went into +the back of the box and introduced Nekhludoff to her husband. + +The General, without ceasing to smile with his eyes, said he was very +pleased, and then sat inscrutably silent. + +"I ought to have left to-day, had I not promised," said Nekhludoff to +Mariette. + +"If you do not care to see me," said Mariette, in answer to what his +words implied, "you will see a wonderful actress. Was she not splendid +in the last scene?" she asked, turning to her husband. + +The husband bowed his head. + +"This sort of thing does not touch me," said Nekhludoff. "I have seen so +much real suffering lately that--" + +"Yes, sit down and tell me." + +The husband listened, his eyes smiling more and more ironically. "I have +been to see that woman whom they have set free, and who has been kept in +prison for so long; she is quite broken down." + +"That is the woman I spoke to you about," Mariette said to her husband. + +"Oh, yes, I was very pleased that she could be set free," said the +husband quietly, nodding and smiling under his moustache with evident +irony, so it seemed to Nekhludoff. "I shall go and have a smoke." + +Nekhludoff sat waiting to hear what the something was that Mariette had +to tell him. She said nothing, and did not even try to say anything, but +joked and spoke about the performance, which she thought ought to touch +Nekhludoff. Nekhludoff saw that she had nothing to tell, but only wished +to show herself to him in all the splendour of her evening toilet, with +her shoulders and little mole; and this was pleasant and yet repulsive +to him. + +The charm that had veiled all this sort of thing from Nekhludoff was +not removed, but it was as if he could see what lay beneath. Looking at +Mariette, he admired her, and yet he knew that she was a liar, living +with a husband who was making his career by means of the tears and lives +of hundreds and hundreds of people, and that she was quite indifferent +about it, and that all she had said the day before was untrue. What she +wanted--neither he nor she knew why--was to make him fall in love with +her. This both attracted and disgusted him. Several times, on the point +of going away, he took up his hat, and then stayed on. + +But at last, when the husband returned with a strong smell of tobacco +in his thick moustache, and looked at Nekhludoff with a patronising, +contemptuous air, as if not recognising him, Nekhludoff left the box +before the door was closed again, found his overcoat, and went out of +the theatre. As he was walking home along the Nevski, he could not help +noticing a well-shaped and aggressively finely-dressed woman, who was +quietly walking in front of him along the broad asphalt pavement. The +consciousness of her detestable power was noticeable in her face and +the whole of her figure. All who met or passed that woman looked at her. +Nekhludoff walked faster than she did and, involuntarily, also looked +her in the face. The face, which was probably painted, was handsome, +and the woman looked at him with a smile and her eyes sparkled. And, +curiously enough, Nekhludoff was suddenly reminded of Mariette, because +he again felt both attracted and disgusted just as when in the theatre. + +Having hurriedly passed her, Nekhludoff turned off on to the Morskaya, +and passed on to the embankment, where, to the surprise of a policeman, +he began pacing up and down the pavement. + +"The other one gave me just such a smile when I entered the theatre," he +thought, "and the meaning of the smile was the same. The only difference +is, that this one said plainly, 'If you want me, take me; if not, go +your way,' and the other one pretended that she was not thinking of +this, but living in some high and refined state, while this was really +at the root. Besides, this one was driven to it by necessity, while +the other amused herself by playing with that enchanting, disgusting, +frightful passion. This woman of the street was like stagnant, smelling +water offered to those whose thirst was greater than their disgust; that +other one in the theatre was like the poison which, unnoticed, poisons +everything it gets into." + +Nekhludoff recalled his liaison with the Marechal's wife, and shameful +memories rose before him. + +"The animalism of the brute nature in man is disgusting," thought he, +"but as long as it remains in its naked form we observe it from the +height of our spiritual life and despise it; and--whether one has +fallen or resisted--one remains what one was before. But when that +same animalism hides under a cloak of poetry and aesthetic feeling and +demands our worship--then we are swallowed up by it completely, and +worship animalism, no longer distinguishing good from evil. Then it is +awful." + +Nekhludoff perceived all this now as clearly as he saw the palace, the +sentinels, the fortress, the river, the boats, and the Stock Exchange. +And just as on this northern summer night there was no restful darkness +on the earth, but only a dismal, dull light coming from an invisible +source, so in Nekhludoff's soul there was no longer the restful +darkness, ignorance. Everything seemed clear. It was clear that +everything considered important and good was insignificant and +repulsive, and that all the glamour and luxury hid the old, well-known +crimes, which not only remained unpunished but were adorned with all the +splendour which men were capable of inventing. + +Nekhludoff wished to forget all this, not to see it, but he could no +longer help seeing it. Though he could not see the source of the light +which revealed it to him any more than he could see the source of the +light which lay over Petersburg; and though the light appeared to +him dull, dismal, and unnatural, yet he could not help seeing what it +revealed, and he felt both joyful and anxious. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +FOR HER SAKE AND FOR GOD'S. + +On his return to Moscow Nekhludoff went at once to the prison hospital +to bring Maslova the sad news that the Senate had confirmed the decision +of the Court, and that she must prepare to go to Siberia. He had little +hope of the success of his petition to the Emperor, which the advocate +had written for him, and which he now brought with him for Maslova to +sign. And, strange to say, he did not at present even wish to succeed; +he had got used to the thought of going to Siberia and living among the +exiled and the convicts, and he could not easily picture to himself how +his life and Maslova's would shape if she were acquitted. He remembered +the thought of the American writer, Thoreau, who at the time when +slavery existed in America said that "under a government that +imprisons any unjustly the true place for a just man is also a prison." +Nekhludoff, especially after his visit to Petersburg and all he +discovered there, thought in the same way. + +"Yes, the only place befitting an honest man in Russia at the present +time is a prison," he thought, and even felt that this applied to him +personally, when he drove up to the prison and entered its walls. + +The doorkeeper recognised Nekhludoff, and told him at once that Maslova +was no longer there. + +"Where is she, then?" + +"In the cell again." + +"Why has she been removed?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Oh, your excellency, what are such people?" said the doorkeeper, +contemptuously. "She's been carrying on with the medical assistant, so +the head doctor ordered her back." + +Nekhludoff had had no idea how near Maslova and the state of her mind +were to him. He was stunned by the news. + +He felt as one feels at the news of a great and unforeseen misfortune, +and his pain was very severe. His first feeling was one of shame. He, +with his joyful idea of the change that he imagined was going on in her +soul, now seemed ridiculous in his own eyes. He thought that all her +pretence of not wishing to accept his sacrifice, all the reproaches and +tears, were only the devices of a depraved woman, who wished to use +him to the best advantage. He seemed to remember having seen signs of +obduracy at his last interview with her. All this flashed through his +mind as he instinctively put on his hat and left the hospital. + +"What am I to do now? Am I still bound to her? Has this action of hers +not set me free?" And as he put these questions to himself he knew at +once that if he considered himself free, and threw her up, he would be +punishing himself, and not her, which was what he wished to do, and he +was seized with fear. + +"No, what has happened cannot alter--it can only strengthen my resolve. +Let her do what flows from the state her mind is in. If it is carrying +on with the medical assistant, let her carry on with the medical +assistant; that is her business. I must do what my conscience demands of +me. And my conscience expects me to sacrifice my freedom. My resolution +to marry her, if only in form, and to follow wherever she may be sent, +remains unalterable." Nekhludoff said all this to himself with vicious +obstinacy as he left the hospital and walked with resolute steps towards +the big gates of the prison. He asked the warder on duty at the gate +to inform the inspector that he wished to see Maslova. The warder knew +Nekhludoff, and told him of an important change that had taken place +in the prison. The old inspector had been discharged, and a new, very +severe official appointed in his place. + +"They are so strict nowadays, it's just awful," said the jailer. "He is +in here; they will let him know directly." + +The new inspector was in the prison and soon came to Nekhludoff. He was +a tall, angular man, with high cheek bones, morose, and very slow in his +movements. + +"Interviews are allowed in the visiting room on the appointed days," he +said, without looking at Nekhludoff. + +"But I have a petition to the Emperor, which I want signed." + +"You can give it to me." + +"I must see the prisoner myself. I was always allowed to before." + +"That was so, before," said the inspector, with a furtive glance at +Nekhludoff. + +"I have a permission from the governor," insisted Nekhludoff, and took +out his pocket-book. + +"Allow me," said the inspector, taking the paper from Nekhludoff with +his long, dry, white fingers, on the first of which was a gold ring, +still without looking him in the eyes. He read the paper slowly. "Step +into the office, please." + +This time the office was empty. The inspector sat down by the table +and began sorting some papers that lay on it, evidently intending to be +present at the interview. + +When Nekhludoff asked whether he might see the political prisoner, +Doukhova, the inspector answered, shortly, that he could not. +"Interviews with political prisoners are not permitted," he said, and +again fixed his attention on his papers. With a letter to Doukhova in +his pocket, Nekhludoff felt as if he had committed some offence, and his +plans had been discovered and frustrated. + +When Maslova entered the room the inspector raised his head, and, +without looking at either her or Nekhludoff, remarked: "You may talk," +and went on sorting his papers. Maslova had again the white jacket, +petticoat and kerchief on. When she came up to Nekhludoff and saw his +cold, hard look, she blushed scarlet, and crumbling the hem of her +jacket with her hand, she cast down her eyes. Her confusion, so it +seemed to Nekhludoff, confirmed the hospital doorkeeper's words. + +Nekhludoff had meant to treat her in the same way as before, but could +not bring himself to shake hands with her, so disgusting was she to him +now. + +"I have brought you bad news," he said, in a monotonous voice, without +looking at her or taking her hand. "The Senate has refused." + +"I knew it would," she said, in a strange tone, as if she were gasping +for breath. + +Formerly Nekhludoff would have asked why she said she knew it would; +now he only looked at her. Her eyes were full of tears. But this did not +soften him; it roused his irritation against her even more. + +The inspector rose and began pacing up and down the room. + +In spite of the disgust Nekhludoff was feeling at the moment, he +considered it right to express his regret at the Senate's decision. + +"You must not despair," he said. "The petition to the Emperor may meet +with success, and I hope---" + +"I'm not thinking of that," she said, looking piteously at him with her +wet, squinting eyes. + +"What is it, then?" + +"You have been to the hospital, and they have most likely told you about +me--" + +"What of that? That is your affair," said Nekhludoff coldly, and +frowned. The cruel feeling of wounded pride that had quieted down rose +with renewed force when she mentioned the hospital. + +"He, a man of the world, whom any girl of the best families would think +it happiness to marry, offered himself as a husband to this woman, +and she could not even wait, but began intriguing with the medical +assistant," thought he, with a look of hatred. + +"Here, sign this petition," he said, taking a large envelope from his +pocket, and laying the paper on the table. She wiped the tears with a +corner of her kerchief, and asked what to write and where. + +He showed her, and she sat down and arranged the cuff of her right +sleeve with her left hand; he stood behind her, and silently looked +at her back, which shook with suppressed emotion, and evil and good +feelings were fighting in his breast--feelings of wounded pride and of +pity for her who was suffering--and the last feeling was victorious. + +He could not remember which came first; did the pity for her first enter +his heart, or did he first remember his own sins--his own repulsive +actions, the very same for which he was condemning her? Anyhow, he both +felt himself guilty and pitied her. + +Having signed the petition and wiped her inky finger on her petticoat, +she got up and looked at him. + +"Whatever happens, whatever comes of it, my resolve remains unchanged," +said Nekhludoff. The thought that he had forgiven her heightened his +feeling of pity and tenderness for her, and he wished to comfort her. "I +will do what I have said; wherever they take you I shall be with you." + +"What's the use?" she interrupted hurriedly, though her whole face +lighted up. + +"Think what you will want on the way--" + +"I don't know of anything in particular, thank you." + +The inspector came up, and without waiting for a remark from him +Nekhludoff took leave, and went out with peace, joy, and love towards +everybody in his heart such as he had never felt before. The certainty +that no action of Maslova could change his love for her filled him with +joy and raised him to a level which he had never before attained. Let +her intrigue with the medical assistant; that was her business. He loved +her not for his own but for her sake and for God's. + +And this intrigue, for which Maslova was turned out of the hospital, +and of which Nekhludoff believed she was really guilty, consisted of the +following: + +Maslova was sent by the head nurse to get some herb tea from the +dispensary at the end of the corridor, and there, all alone, she found +the medical assistant, a tall man, with a blotchy face, who had for a +long time been bothering her. In trying to get away from him Maslova +gave him such a push that he knocked his head against a shelf, from +which two bottles fell and broke. The head doctor, who was passing at +that moment, heard the sound of breaking glass, and saw Maslova run out, +quite red, and shouted to her: + +"Ah, my good woman, if you start intriguing here, I'll send you about +your business. What is the meaning of it?" he went on, addressing the +medical assistant, and looking at him over his spectacles. + +The assistant smiled, and began to justify himself. The doctor gave no +heed to him, but, lifting his head so that he now looked through his +spectacles, he entered the ward. He told the inspector the same day to +send another more sedate assistant-nurse in Maslova's place. And this +was her "intrigue" with the medical assistant. + +Being turned out for a love intrigue was particularly painful to +Maslova, because the relations with men, which had long been repulsive +to her, had become specially disgusting after meeting Nekhludoff. The +thought that, judging her by her past and present position, every man, +the blotchy assistant among them, considered he had a right to offend +her, and was surprised at her refusal, hurt her deeply, and made her +pity herself and brought tears to her eyes. + +When she went out to Nekhludoff this time she wished to clear herself of +the false charge which she knew he would certainly have heard about. But +when she began to justify herself she felt he did not believe her, and +that her excuses would only strengthen his suspicions; tears choked her, +and she was silent. + +Maslova still thought and continued to persuade herself that she had +never forgiven him, and hated him, as she told him at their second +interview, but in reality she loved him again, and loved him so that she +did all he wished her to do; left off drinking, smoking, coquetting, and +entered the hospital because she knew he wished it. And if every time he +reminded her of it, she refused so decidedly to accept his sacrifice and +marry him, it was because she liked repeating the proud words she had +once uttered, and because she knew that a marriage with her would be a +misfortune for him. + +She had resolutely made up her mind that she would not accept his +sacrifice, and yet the thought that he despised her and believed that +she still was what she had been, and did not notice the change that had +taken place in her, was very painful. That he could still think she had +done wrong while in the hospital tormented her more than the news that +her sentence was confirmed. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE ASTONISHING INSTITUTION CALLED CRIMINAL LAW. + +Maslova might be sent off with the first gang of prisoners, therefore +Nekhludoff got ready for his departure. But there was so much to be done +that he felt that he could not finish it, however much time he might +have. It was quite different now from what it had been. Formerly he used +to be obliged to look for an occupation, the interest of which always +centred in one person, i.e., Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff, and +yet, though every interest of his life was thus centred, all these +occupations were very wearisome. Now all his occupations related to +other people and not to Dmitri Ivanovitch, and they were all interesting +and attractive, and there was no end to them. Nor was this all. Formerly +Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff's occupations always made him feel vexed +and irritable; now they produced a joyful state of mind. The business at +present occupying Nekhludoff could be divided under three headings. +He himself, with his usual pedantry, divided it in that way, and +accordingly kept the papers referring to it in three different +portfolios. The first referred to Maslova, and was chiefly that of +taking steps to get her petition to the Emperor attended to, and +preparing for her probable journey to Siberia. + +The second was about his estates. In Panovo he had given the land to +the peasants on condition of their paying rent to be put to their own +communal use. But he had to confirm this transaction by a legal deed, +and to make his will, in accordance with it. In Kousminski the state of +things was still as he had first arranged it, i.e., he was to receive +the rent; but the terms had to be fixed, and also how much of the money +he would use to live on, and how much he would leave for the peasants' +use. As he did not know what his journey to Siberia would cost him, he +could not decide to lose this revenue altogether, though he reduced the +income from it by half. + +The third part of his business was to help the convicts, who applied +more and more often to him. At first when he came in contact with +the prisoners, and they appealed to him for help, he at once began +interceding for them, hoping to lighten their fate, but he soon had so +many applications that he felt the impossibility of attending to all of +them, and that naturally led him to take up another piece of work, which +at last roused his interest even more than the three first. This new +part of his business was finding an answer to the following questions: +What was this astonishing institution called criminal law, of which the +results were that in the prison, with some of the inmates of which +he had lately become acquainted, and in all those other places of +confinement, from the Peter and Paul Fortress in Petersburg to the +island of Sakhalin, hundreds and thousands of victims were pining? What +did this strange criminal law exist for? How had it originated? + +From his personal relations with the prisoners, from notes by some of +those in confinement, and by questioning the advocate and the prison +priest, Nekhludoff came to the conclusion that the convicts, the +so-called criminals, could be divided into five classes. The first were +quite innocent people, condemned by judicial blunder. Such were the +Menshoffs, supposed to be incendiaries, Maslova, and others. There +were not many of these; according to the priest's words, only seven per +cent., but their condition excited particular interest. + +To the second class belong persons condemned for actions done under +peculiar circumstances, i.e., in a fit of passion, jealousy, or +drunkenness, circumstances under which those who judged them would +surely have committed the same actions. + +The third class consisted of people punished for having committed +actions which, according to their understanding, were quite natural, +and even good, but which those other people, the men who made the laws, +considered to be crimes. Such were the persons who sold spirits without +a license, smugglers, those who gathered grass and wood on large estates +and in the forests belonging to the Crown; the thieving miners; and +those unbelieving people who robbed churches. + +To the fourth class belonged those who were imprisoned only because they +stood morally higher than the average level of society. Such were the +Sectarians, the Poles, the Circassians rebelling in order to regain +their independence, the political prisoners, the Socialists, the +strikers condemned for withstanding the authorities. There was, +according to Nekhludoff's observations, a very large percentage +belonging to this class; among them some of the best of men. + +The fifth class consisted of persons who had been far more sinned +against by society than they had sinned against it. These were +castaways, stupefied by continual oppression and temptation, such as the +boy who had stolen the rugs, and hundreds of others whom Nekhludoff had +seen in the prison and out of it. The conditions under which they lived +seemed to lead on systematically to those actions which are termed +crimes. A great many thieves and murderers with whom he had lately come +in contact, according to Nekhludoff's estimate, belonged to this class. +To this class Nekhludoff also reckoned those depraved, demoralised +creatures whom the new school of criminology classify as the criminal +type, and the existence of which is considered to be the chief proof +of the necessity of criminal law and punishment. This demoralised, +depraved, abnormal type was, according to Nekhludoff, exactly the same +as that against whom society had sinned, only here society had sinned +not directly against them, but against their parents and forefathers. + +Among this latter class Nekhludoff was specially struck by one Okhotin, +an inveterate thief, the illegitimate son of a prostitute, brought up +in a doss-house, who, up to the age of 30, had apparently never met with +any one whose morality was above that of a policeman, and who had +got into a band of thieves when quite young. He was gifted with an +extraordinary sense of humour, by means of which he made himself very +attractive. He asked Nekhludoff for protection, at the same time making +fun of himself, the lawyers, the prison, and laws human and divine. + +Another was the handsome Fedoroff, who, with a band of robbers, of +whom he was the chief, had robbed and murdered an old man, an official. +Fedoroff was a peasant, whose father had been unlawfully deprived of his +house, and who, later on, when serving as a soldier, had suffered much +because he had fallen in love with an officer's mistress. He had a +fascinating, passionate nature, that longed for enjoyment at any cost. +He had never met anybody who restrained himself for any cause whatever, +and had never heard a word about any aim in life other than enjoyment. + +Nekhludoff distinctly saw that both these men were richly endowed by +nature, but had been neglected and crippled like uncared-for plants. + +He had also met a tramp and a woman who had repelled him by their +dulness and seeming cruelty, but even in them he could find no trace of +the criminal type written about by the Italian school, but only saw in +them people who were repulsive to him personally, just in the same way +as some he had met outside the prison, in swallow-tail coats wearing +epaulettes, or bedecked with lace. And so the investigation of the +reasons why all these very different persons were put in prison, while +others just like them were going about free and even judging them, +formed a fourth task for Nekhludoff. + +He hoped to find an answer to this question in books, and bought all +that referred to it. He got the works of Lombroso, Garofalo, Ferry, +List, Maudsley, Tard, and read them carefully. But as he read he became +more and more disappointed. It happened to him as it always happens +to those who turn to science not in order to play a part in it, nor +to write, nor to dispute, nor to teach, but simply for an answer to an +every-day question of life. Science answered thousands of different very +subtle and ingenious questions touching criminal law, but not the one +he was trying to solve. He asked a very simple question: "Why, and +with what right, do some people lock up, torment, exile, flog, and kill +others, while they are themselves just like those whom they torment, +flog, and kill?" And in answer he got deliberations as to whether human +beings had free will or not. Whether signs of criminality could be +detected by measuring the skulls or not. What part heredity played in +crime. Whether immorality could be inherited. What madness is, what +degeneration is, and what temperament is. How climate, food, ignorance, +imitativeness, hypnotism, or passion act. What society is. What are its +duties, etc., etc. + +These disquisitions reminded him of the answer he once got from a little +boy whom he met coming home from school. Nekhludoff asked him if he had +learned his spelling. + +"I have," answered the boy. + +"Well, then, tell me, how do you spell 'leg'?" + +"A dog's leg, or what kind of leg?" the boy answered, with a sly look. + +Answers in the form of new questions, like the boy's, was all Nekhludoff +got in reply to his one primary question. He found much that was clever, +learned much that was interesting, but what he did not find was an +answer to the principal question: By what right some people punish +others? + +Not only did he not find any answer, but all the arguments were brought +forward in order to explain and vindicate punishment, the necessity of +which was taken as an axiom. + +Nekhludoff read much, but only in snatches, and putting down his failure +to this superficial way of reading, hoped to find the answer later on. +He would not allow himself to believe in the truth of the answer which +began, more and more often, to present itself to him. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +NEKHLUDOFF'S SISTER AND HER HUSBAND. + +The gang of prisoners, with Maslova among them, was to start on the 5th +July. Nekhludoff arranged to start on the same day. + +The day before, Nekhludoff's sister and her husband came to town to see +him. + +Nekhludoff's sister, Nathalie Ivanovna Rogozhinsky, was 10 years older +than her brother. She had been very fond of him when he was a boy, and +later on, just before her marriage, they grew very close to each other, +as if they were equals, she being a young woman of 25, he a lad of 15. +At that time she was in love with his friend, Nikolenka Irtenieff, since +dead. They both loved Nikolenka, and loved in him and in themselves that +which is good, and which unites all men. Since then they had both been +depraved, he by military service and a vicious life, she by marriage +with a man whom she loved with a sensual love, who did not care for the +things that had once been so dear and holy to her and to her brother, +nor even understand the meaning of those aspirations towards moral +perfection and the service of mankind, which once constituted her life, +and put them down to ambition and the wish to show off; that being the +only explanation comprehensible to him. + +Nathalie's husband had been a man without a name and without means, but +cleverly steering towards Liberalism or Conservatism, according to which +best suited his purpose, he managed to make a comparatively brilliant +judicial career. Some peculiarity which made him attractive to women +assisted him when he was no longer in his first youth. While travelling +abroad he made Nekhludoff's acquaintance, and managed to make Nathalie, +who was also no longer a girl, fall in love with him, rather against her +mother's wishes who considered a marriage with him to be a misalliance +for her daughter. Nekhludoff, though he tried to hide it from himself, +though he fought against it, hated his brother-in-law. + +Nekhludoff had a strong antipathy towards him because of the vulgarity +of his feelings, his assurance and narrowness, but chiefly because of +Nathalie, who managed to love him in spite of the narrowness of his +nature, and loved him so selfishly, so sensually, and stifled for his +sake all the good that had been in her. + +It always hurt Nekhludoff to think of Nathalie as the wife of that +hairy, self-assured man with the shiny, bald patch on his head. He could +not even master a feeling of revulsion towards their children, and when +he heard that she was again going to have a baby, he felt something like +sorrow that she had once more been infected with something bad by this +man who was so foreign to him. The Rogozhinskys had come to Moscow +alone, having left their two children--a boy and a girl--at home, and +stopped in the best rooms of the best hotel. Nathalie at once went to +her mother's old house, but hearing from Agraphena Petrovna that her +brother had left, and was living in a lodging-house, she drove there. +The dirty servant met her in the stuffy passage, dark but for a lamp +which burnt there all day. He told her that the Prince was not in. + +Nathalie asked to be shown into his rooms, as she wished to leave a note +for him, and the man took her up. + +Nathalie carefully examined her brother's two little rooms. She noticed +in everything the love of cleanliness and order she knew so well in +him, and was struck by the novel simplicity of the surroundings. On his +writing-table she saw the paper-weight with the bronze dog on the top +which she remembered; the tidy way in which his different portfolios and +writing utensils were placed on the table was also familiar, and so was +the large, crooked ivory paper knife which marked the place in a French +book by Tard, which lay with other volumes on punishment and a book +in English by Henry George. She sat down at the table and wrote a note +asking him to be sure to come that same day, and shaking her head in +surprise at what she saw, she returned to her hotel. + +Two questions regarding her brother now interested Nathalie: his +marriage with Katusha, which she had heard spoken about in their +town--for everybody was speaking about it--and his giving away the land +to the peasants, which was also known, and struck many as something of +a political nature, and dangerous. The marriage with Katusha pleased +her in a way. She admired that resoluteness which was so like him and +herself as they used to be in those happy times before her marriage. And +yet she was horrified when she thought her brother was going to marry +such a dreadful woman. The latter was the stronger feeling of the two, +and she decided to use all her influence to prevent him from doing it, +though she knew how difficult this would be. + +The other matter, the giving up of the land to the peasants, did not +touch her so nearly, but her husband was very indignant about it, and +expected her to influence her brother against it. + +Rogozhinsky said that such an action was the height of inconsistency, +flightiness, and pride, the only possible explanation of which was the +desire to appear original, to brag, to make one's self talked about. + +"What sense could there be in letting the land to the peasants, on +condition that they pay the rent to themselves?" he said. "If he was +resolved to do such a thing, why not sell the land to them through the +Peasants' Bank? There might have been some sense in that. In fact, this +act verges on insanity." + +And Rogozhinsky began seriously thinking about putting Nekhludoff under +guardianship, and demanded of his wife that she should speak seriously +to her brother about his curious intention. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +NEKHLUDOFF'S ANARCHISM. + +As soon as Nekhludoff returned that evening and saw his sister's note +on the table he started to go and see her. He found Nathalie alone, +her husband having gone to take a rest in the next room. She wore a +tightly-fitting black silk dress, with a red bow in front. Her black +hair was crimped and arranged according to the latest fashion. + +The pains she took to appear young, for the sake of her husband, whose +equal she was in years, were very obvious. + +When she saw her brother she jumped up and hurried towards him, with her +silk dress rustling. They kissed, and looked smilingly at each other. +There passed between them that mysterious exchange of looks, full of +meaning, in which all was true, and which cannot be expressed in words. +Then came words which were not true. They had not met since their +mother's death. + +"You have grown stouter and younger," he said, and her lips puckered up +with pleasure. + +"And you have grown thinner." + +"Well, and how is your husband?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"He is taking a rest; he did not sleep all night." There was much to +say, but it was not said in words; only their looks expressed what their +words failed to say. + +"I went to see you." + +"Yes, I know. I moved because the house is too big for me. I was lonely +there, and dull. I want nothing of all that is there, so that you had +better take it all--the furniture, I mean, and things." + +"Yes, Agraphena Petrovna told me. I went there. Thanks, very much. +But--" + +At this moment the hotel waiter brought in a silver tea-set. While he +set the table they were silent. Then Nathalie sat down at the table and +made the tea, still in silence. Nekhludoff also said nothing. + +At last Nathalie began resolutely. "Well, Dmitri, I know all about it." +And she looked at him. + +"What of that? l am glad you know." + +"How can you hope to reform her after the life she has led?" she asked. + +He sat quite straight on a small chair, and listened attentively, trying +to understand her and to answer rightly. The state of mind called forth +in him by his last interview with Maslova still filled his soul with +quiet joy and good will to all men. + +"It is not her but myself I wish to reform," he replied. + +Nathalie sighed. + +"There are other means besides marriage to do that." + +"But I think it is the best. Besides, it leads me into that world in +which I can be of use." + +"I cannot believe you will be happy," said Nathalie. + +"It's not my happiness that is the point." + +"Of course, but if she has a heart she cannot be happy--cannot even wish +it." + +"She does not wish it." + +"I understand; but life--" + +"Yes--life?" + +"Demands something different." + +"It demands nothing but that we should do what is right," said +Nekhludoff, looking into her face, still handsome, though slightly +wrinkled round eyes and mouth. + +"I do not understand," she said, and sighed. + +"Poor darling; how could she change so?" he thought, calling back to his +mind Nathalie as she had been before her marriage, and feeling towards +her a tenderness woven out of innumerable memories of childhood. At that +moment Rogozhinsky entered the room, with head thrown back and expanded +chest, and stepping lightly and softly in his usual manner, his +spectacles, his bald patch, and his black beard all glistening. + +"How do you do? How do you do?" he said, laying an unnatural and +intentional stress on his words. (Though, soon after the marriage, +they had tried to be more familiar with each other, they had never +succeeded.) + +They shook hands, and Rogozhinsky sank softly into an easy-chair. + +"Am I not interrupting your conversation?" + +"No, I do not wish to hide what I am saying or doing from any one." + +As soon as Nekhludoff saw the hairy hands, and heard the patronising, +self-assured tones, his meekness left him in a moment. + +"Yes, we were talking about his intentions," said Nathalie. "Shall I +give you a cup of tea?" she added, taking the teapot. + +"Yes, please. What particular intentions do you mean?" + +"That of going to Siberia with the gang of prisoners, among whom is the +woman I consider myself to have wronged," uttered Nekhludoff. + +"I hear not only to accompany her, but more than that." + +"Yes, and to marry her if she wishes it." + +"Dear me! But if you do not object I should like to ask you to explain +your motives. I do not understand them." + +"My motives are that this woman--that this woman's first step on her way +to degradation--" Nekhludoff got angry with himself, and was unable to +find the right expression. "My motives are that I am the guilty one, and +she gets the punishment." + +"If she is being punished she cannot be innocent, either." + +"She is quite innocent." And Nekhludoff related the whole incident with +unnecessary warmth. + +"Yes, that was a case of carelessness on the part of the president, the +result of which was a thoughtless answer on the part of the jury; but +there is the Senate for cases like that." + +"The Senate has rejected the appeal." + +"Well, if the Senate has rejected it, there cannot have been sufficient +reasons for an appeal," said Rogozhinsky, evidently sharing the +prevailing opinion that truth is the product of judicial decrees. "The +Senate cannot enter into the question on its merits. If there is a real +mistake, the Emperor should be petitioned." + +"That has been done, but there is no probability of success. They will +apply to the Department of the Ministry, the Department will consult the +Senate, the Senate will repeat its decision, and, as usual, the innocent +will get punished." + +"In the first place, the Department of the Ministry won't consult the +Senate," said Rogozhinsky, with a condescending smile; "it will give +orders for the original deeds to be sent from the Law Court, and if +it discovers a mistake it will decide accordingly. And, secondly, the +innocent are never punished, or at least in very rare, exceptional +cases. It is the guilty who are punished," Rogozhinsky said +deliberately, and smiled self-complacently. + +"And I have become fully convinced that most of those condemned by law +are innocent." + +"How's that?" + +"Innocent in the literal sense. Just as this woman is innocent of +poisoning any one; as innocent as a peasant I have just come to know, of +the murder he never committed; as a mother and son who were on the point +of being condemned for incendiarism, which was committed by the owner of +the house that was set on fire." + +"Well, of course there always have been and always will be judicial +errors. Human institutions cannot be perfect." + +"And, besides, there are a great many people convicted who are innocent +of doing anything considered wrong by the society they have grown up +in." + +"Excuse me, this is not so; every thief knows that stealing is wrong, +and that we should not steal; that it is immoral," said Rogozhinsky, +with his quiet, self-assured, slightly contemptuous smile, which +specially irritated Nekhludoff. + +"No, he does not know it; they say to him 'don't steal,' and he knows +that the master of the factory steals his labour by keeping back his +wages; that the Government, with its officials, robs him continually by +taxation." + +"Why, this is anarchism," Rogozhinsky said, quietly defining his +brother-in-law's words. + +"I don't know what it is; I am only telling you the truth," Nekhludoff +continued. "He knows that the Government is robbing him, knows that we +landed proprietors have robbed him long since, robbed him of the land +which should be the common property of all, and then, if he picks up dry +wood to light his fire on that land stolen from him, we put him in jail, +and try to persuade him that he is a thief. Of course he knows that not +he but those who robbed him of the land are thieves, and that to get any +restitution of what has been robbed is his duty towards his family." + +"I don't understand, or if I do I cannot agree with it. The land must +be somebody's property," began Rogozhinsky quietly, and, convinced that +Nekhludoff was a Socialist, and that Socialism demands that all the land +should be divided equally, that such a division would be very foolish, +and that he could easily prove it to be so, he said. "If you divided +it equally to-day, it would to-morrow be again in the hands of the most +industrious and clever." + +"Nobody is thinking of dividing the land equally. The land must not +be anybody's property; must not be a thing to be bought and sold or +rented." + +"The rights of property are inborn in man; without them the cultivation +of land would present no interest. Destroy the rights of property and +we lapse into barbarism." Rogozhinsky uttered this authoritatively, +repeating the usual argument in favour of private ownership of land +which is supposed to be irrefutable, based on the assumption that +people's desire to possess land proves that they need it. + +"On the contrary, only when the land is nobody's property will it cease +to lie idle, as it does now, while the landlords, like dogs in the +manger, unable themselves to put it to use, will not let those use it +who are able." + +"But, Dmitri Ivanovitch, what you are saying is sheer madness. Is it +possible to abolish property in land in our age? I know it is your old +hobby. But allow me to tell you straight," and Rogozhinsky grew pale, +and his voice trembled. It was evident that this question touched him +very nearly. "I should advise you to consider this question well before +attempting to solve it practically." + +"Are you speaking of my personal affairs?" + +"Yes, I hold that we who are placed in special circumstances should +bear the responsibilities which spring from those circumstances, should +uphold the conditions in which we were born, and which we have +inherited from our predecessors, and which we ought to pass on to our +descendants." + +"I consider it my duty--" + +"Wait a bit," said Rogozhinsky, not permitting the interruption. "I am +not speaking for myself or my children. The position of my children is +assured, and I earn enough for us to live comfortably, and I expect my +children will live so too, so that my interest in your action--which, +if you will allow me to say so, is not well considered--is not based +on personal motives; it is on principle that I cannot agree with you. I +should advise you to think it well over, to read---?" + +"Please allow me to settle my affairs, and to choose what to read and +what not to read, myself," said Nekhludoff, turning pale. Feeling +his hands grow cold, and that he was no longer master of himself, he +stopped, and began drinking his tea. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE AIM OF THE LAW. + +"Well, and how are the children?" Nekhludoff asked his sister when he +was calmer. The sister told him about the children. She said they were +staying with their grandmother (their father's mother), and, pleased +that his dispute with her husband had come to an end, she began telling +him how her children played that they were travelling, just as he used +to do with his three dolls, one of them a negro and another which he +called the French lady. + +"Can you really remember it all?" said Nekhludoff, smiling. + +"Yes, and just fancy, they play in the very same way." + +The unpleasant conversation had been brought to an end, and Nathalie was +quieter, but she did not care to talk in her husband's presence of what +could be comprehensible only to her brother, so, wishing to start a +general conversation, she began talking about the sorrow of Kamenski's +mother at losing her only son, who had fallen in a duel, for this +Petersburg topic of the day had now reached Moscow. Rogozhinsky +expressed disapproval at the state of things that excluded murder in a +duel from the ordinary criminal offences. This remark evoked a rejoinder +from Nekhludoff, and a new dispute arose on the subject. Nothing was +fully explained, neither of the antagonists expressed all he had in +his mind, each keeping to his conviction, which condemned the other. +Rogozhinsky felt that Nekhludoff condemned him and despised his +activity, and he wished to show him the injustice of his opinions. + +Nekhludoff, on the other hand, felt provoked by his brother-in-law's +interference in his affairs concerning the land. And knowing in his +heart of hearts that his sister, her husband, and their children, as his +heirs, had a right to do so, was indignant that this narrow-minded +man persisted with calm assurance to regard as just and lawful what +Nekhludoff no longer doubted was folly and crime. + +This man's arrogance annoyed Nekhludoff. + +"What could the law do?" he asked. + +"It could sentence one of the two duellists to the mines like an +ordinary murderer." + +Nekhludoff's hands grew cold. + +"Well, and what good would that be?" he asked, hotly. + +"It would be just." + +"As if justice were the aim of the law," said Nekhludoff. + +"What else?" + +"The upholding of class interests! I think the law is only an instrument +for upholding the existing order of things beneficial to our class." + +"This is a perfectly new view," said Rogozhinsky with a quiet smile; +"the law is generally supposed to have a totally different aim." + +"Yes, so it has in theory but not in practice, as I have found out. The +law aims only at preserving the present state of things, and therefore +it persecutes and executes those who stand above the ordinary level and +wish to raise it--the so-called political prisoners, as well as those +who are below the average--the so-called criminal types." + +"I do not agree with you. In the first place, I cannot admit that the +criminals classed as political are punished because they are above the +average. In most cases they are the refuse of society, just as much +perverted, though in a different way, as the criminal types whom you +consider below the average." + +"But I happen to know men who are morally far above their judges; all +the sectarians are moral, from--" + +But Rogozhinsky, a man not accustomed to be interrupted when he spoke, +did not listen to Nekhludoff, but went on talking at the same time, +thereby irritating him still more. + +"Nor can I admit that the object of the law is the upholding of the +present state of things. The law aims at reforming--" + +"A nice kind of reform, in a prison!" Nekhludoff put in. + +"Or removing," Rogozhinsky went on, persistently, "the perverted and +brutalised persons that threaten society." + +"That's just what it doesn't do. Society has not the means of doing +either the one thing or the other." + +"How is that? I don't understand," said Rogozhinsky with a forced smile. + +"I mean that only two reasonable kinds of punishment exist. Those used +in the old days: corporal and capital punishment, which, as human nature +gradually softens, come more and more into disuse," said Nekhludoff. + +"There, now, this is quite new and very strange to hear from your lips." + +"Yes, it is reasonable to hurt a man so that he should not do in future +what he is hurt for doing, and it is also quite reasonable to cut a +man's head off when he is injurious or dangerous to society. These +punishments have a reasonable meaning. But what sense is there in +locking up in a prison a man perverted by want of occupation and bad +example; to place him in a position where he is provided for, where +laziness is imposed on him, and where he is in company with the most +perverted of men? What reason is there to take a man at public cost (it +comes to more than 500 roubles per head) from the Toula to the Irkoatsk +government, or from Koursk--" + +"Yes, but all the same, people are afraid of those journeys at public +cost, and if it were not for such journeys and the prisons, you and I +would not be sitting here as we are." + +"The prisons cannot insure our safety, because these people do not +stay there for ever, but are set free again. On the contrary, in those +establishments men are brought to the greatest vice and degradation, so +that the danger is increased." + +"You mean to say that the penitentiary system should be improved." + +"It cannot be improved. Improved prisons would cost more than all that +is being now spent on the people's education, and would lay a still +heavier burden on the people." + +"The shortcomings of the penitentiary system in nowise invalidate +the law itself," Rogozhinsky continued again, without heeding his +brother-in-law. + +"There is no remedy for these shortcomings," said Nekhludoff, raising +his voice. + +"What of that? Shall we therefore go and kill, or, as a certain +statesman proposed, go putting out people's eyes?" Rogozhinsky remarked. + +"Yes; that would be cruel, but it would be effective. What is done +now is cruel, and not only ineffective, but so stupid that one cannot +understand how people in their senses can take part in so absurd and +cruel a business as criminal law." + +"But I happen to take part in it," said Rogozhinsky, growing pale. + +"That is your business. But to me it is incomprehensible." + +"I think there are a good many things incomprehensible to you," said +Rogozhinsky, with a trembling voice. + +"I have seen how one public prosecutor did his very best to get an +unfortunate boy condemned, who could have evoked nothing but sympathy in +an unperverted mind. I know how another cross-examined a sectarian and +put down the reading of the Gospels as a criminal offence; in fact, the +whole business of the Law Courts consists in senseless and cruel actions +of that sort." + +"I should not serve if I thought so," said Rogozhinsky, rising. + +Nekhludoff noticed a peculiar glitter under his brother-in-law's +spectacles. "Can it be tears?" he thought. And they were really tears +of injured pride. Rogozhinsky went up to the window, got out his +handkerchief, coughed and rubbed his spectacles, took them off, and +wiped his eyes. + +When he returned to the sofa he lit a cigar, and did not speak any more. + +Nekhludoff felt pained and ashamed of having offended his brother-in-law +and his sister to such a degree, especially as he was going away the +next day. + +He parted with them in confusion, and drove home. + +"All I have said may be true--anyhow he did not reply. But it was not +said in the right way. How little I must have changed if I could be +carried away by ill-feeling to such an extent as to hurt and wound poor +Nathalie in such a way!" he thought. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE PRISONERS START FOR SIBERIA. + +The gang of prisoners, among whom was Maslova, was to leave Moscow by +rail at 3 p.m.; therefore, in order to see the gang start, and walk +to the station with the prisoners Nekhludoff meant to reach the prison +before 12 o'clock. + +The night before, as he was packing up and sorting his papers, he came +upon his diary, and read some bits here and there. The last bit written +before he left for Petersburg ran thus: "Katusha does not wish to accept +my sacrifice; she wishes to make a sacrifice herself. She has conquered, +and so have I. She makes me happy by the inner change, which seems +to me, though I fear to believe it, to be going on in her. I fear to +believe it, yet she seems to be coming back to life." Then further on +he read. "I have lived through something very hard and very joyful. I +learnt that she has behaved very badly in the hospital, and I suddenly +felt great pain. I never expected that it could be so painful. I spoke +to her with loathing and hatred, then all of a sudden I called to mind +how many times I have been, and even still am, though but in thought, +guilty of the thing that I hated her for, and immediately I became +disgusting to myself, and pitied her and felt happy again. If only we +could manage to see the beam in our own eye in time, how kind we +should be." Then he wrote: "I have been to see Nathalie, and again +self-satisfaction made me unkind and spiteful, and a heavy feeling +remains. Well, what is to be done? Tomorrow a new life will begin. A +final good-bye to the old! Many new impressions have accumulated, but I +cannot yet bring them to unity." + +When he awoke the next morning Nekhludoff's first feeling was regret +about the affair between him and his brother-in-law. + +"I cannot go away like this," he thought. "I must go and make it up with +them." But when he looked at his watch he saw that he had not time to +go, but must hurry so as not to be too late for the departure of the +gang. He hastily got everything ready, and sent the things to the +station with a servant and Taras, Theodosia's husband, who was going +with them. Then he took the first isvostchik he could find and drove off +to the prison. + +The prisoners' train started two hours before the train by which he was +going, so Nekhludoff paid his bill in the lodgings and left for good. + +It was July, and the weather was unbearably hot. From the stones, the +walls, the iron of the roofs, which the sultry night had not cooled, the +heat streamed into the motionless air. When at rare intervals a slight +breeze did arise, it brought but a whiff of hot air filled with dust and +smelling of oil paint. + +There were few people in the streets, and those who were out tried to +keep on the shady side. Only the sunburnt peasants, with their bronzed +faces and bark shoes on their feet, who were mending the road, sat +hammering the stones into the burning sand in the sun; while the +policemen, in their holland blouses, with revolvers fastened with +orange cords, stood melancholy and depressed in the middle of the road, +changing from foot to foot; and the tramcars, the horses of which wore +holland hoods on their heads, with slits for the ears, kept passing up +and down the sunny road with ringing bells. + +When Nekhludoff drove up to the prison the gang had not left the yard. +The work of delivering and receiving the prisoners that had commenced +at 4 A.M. was still going on. The gang was to consist of 623 men and 64 +women; they had all to be received according to the registry lists. +The sick and the weak to be sorted out, and all to be delivered to the +convoy. The new inspector, with two assistants, the doctor and medical +assistant, the officer of the convoy, and the clerk, were sitting in the +prison yard at a table covered with writing materials and papers, which +was placed in the shade of a wall. They called the prisoners one by one, +examined and questioned them, and took notes. The rays of the sun had +gradually reached the table, and it was growing very hot and oppressive +for want of air and because of the breathing crowd of prisoners that +stood close by. + +"Good gracious, will this never come to an end!" the convoy officer, +a tall, fat, red-faced man with high shoulders, who kept puffing the +smoke, of his cigarette into his thick moustache, asked, as he drew in +a long puff. "You are killing me. From where have you got them all? Are +there many more?" the clerk inquired. + +"Twenty-four men and the women." + +"What are you standing there for? Come on," shouted the convoy officer +to the prisoners who had not yet passed the revision, and who stood +crowded one behind the other. The prisoners had been standing there more +than three hours, packed in rows in the full sunlight, waiting their +turns. + +While this was going on in the prison yard, outside the gate, besides +the sentinel who stood there as usual with a gun, were drawn up about 20 +carts, to carry the luggage of the prisoners and such prisoners as were +too weak to walk, and a group of relatives and friends waiting to see +the prisoners as they came out and to exchange a few words if a chance +presented itself and to give them a few things. Nekhludoff took his +place among the group. He had stood there about an hour when the +clanking of chains, the noise of footsteps, authoritative voices, the +sound of coughing, and the low murmur of a large crowd became audible. + +This continued for about five minutes, during which several jailers went +in and out of the gateway. At last the word of command was given. The +gate opened with a thundering noise, the clattering of the chains became +louder, and the convoy soldiers, dressed in white blouses and carrying +guns, came out into the street and took their places in a large, exact +circle in front of the gate; this was evidently a usual, often-practised +manoeuvre. Then another command was given, and the prisoners began +coming out in couples, with flat, pancake-shaped caps on their shaved +heads and sacks over their shoulders, dragging their chained legs and +swinging one arm, while the other held up a sack. + +First came the men condemned to hard labour, all dressed alike in grey +trousers and cloaks with marks on the back. All of them--young and old, +thin and fat, pale and red, dark and bearded and beardless, Russians, +Tartars, and Jews--came out, clattering with their chains and briskly +swinging their arms as if prepared to go a long distance, but stopped +after having taken ten steps, and obediently took their places behind +each other, four abreast. Then without interval streamed out more shaved +men, dressed in the same manner but with chains only on their legs. +These were condemned to exile. They came out as briskly and stopped as +suddenly, taking their places four in a row. Then came those exiled by +their Communes. Then the women in the same order, first those condemned +to hard labour, with grey cloaks and kerchiefs; then the exiled women, +and those following their husbands of their own free will, dressed in +their own town or village clothing. Some of the women were carrying +babies wrapped in the fronts of their grey cloaks. + +With the women came the children, boys and girls, who, like colts in a +herd of horses, pressed in among the prisoners. + +The men took their places silently, only coughing now and then, or +making short remarks. + +The women talked without intermission. Nekhludoff thought he saw Maslova +as they were coming out, but she was at once lost in the large crowd, +and he could only see grey creatures, seemingly devoid of all that was +human, or at any rate of all that was womanly, with sacks on their backs +and children round them, taking their places behind the men. + +Though all the prisoners had been counted inside the prison walls, the +convoy counted them again, comparing the numbers with the list. This +took very long, especially as some of the prisoners moved and changed +places, which confused the convoy. + +The convoy soldiers shouted and pushed the prisoners (who complied +obediently, but angrily) and counted them over again. When all had +been counted, the convoy officer gave a command, and the crowd became +agitated. The weak men and women and children rushed, racing each +other, towards the carts, and began placing their bags on the carts +and climbing up themselves. Women with crying babies, merry children +quarrelling for places, and dull, careworn prisoners got into the carts. + +Several of the prisoners took off their caps and came up to the convoy +officer with some request. Nekhludoff found out later that they were +asking for places on the carts. Nekhludoff saw how the officer, without +looking at the prisoners, drew in a whiff from his cigarette, and then +suddenly waved his short arm in front of one of the prisoners, who +quickly drew his shaved head back between his shoulders as if afraid of +a blow, and sprang back. + +"I will give you a lift such that you'll remember. You'll get there on +foot right enough," shouted the officer. Only one of the men was granted +his request--an old man with chains on his legs; and Nekhludoff saw the +old man take off his pancake-shaped cap, and go up to the cart crossing +himself. He could not manage to get up on the cart because of the chains +that prevented his lifting his old legs, and a woman who was sitting in +the cart at last pulled him in by the arm. + +When all the sacks were in the carts, and those who were allowed to get +in were seated, the officer took off his cap, wiped his forehead, his +bald head and fat, red neck, and crossed himself. + +"March," commanded the officer. The soldiers' guns gave a click; the +prisoners took off their caps and crossed themselves, those who were +seeing them off shouted something, the prisoners shouted in answer, a +row arose among the women, and the gang, surrounded by the soldiers in +their white blouses, moved forward, raising the dust with their chained +feet. The soldiers went in front; then came the convicts condemned to +hard labour, clattering with their chains; then the exiled and those +exiled by the Communes, chained in couples by their wrists; then the +women. After them, on the carts loaded with sacks, came the weak. High +up on one of the carts sat a woman closely wrapped up, and she kept +shrieking and sobbing. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +NOT MEN BUT STRANGE AND TERRIBLE CREATURES? + +The procession was such a long one that the carts with the luggage and +the weak started only when those in front were already out of sight. +When the last of the carts moved, Nekhludoff got into the trap that +stood waiting for him and told the isvostchik to catch up the prisoners +in front, so that he could see if he knew any of the men in the gang, +and then try and find out Maslova among the women and ask her if she had +received the things he sent. + +It was very hot, and a cloud of dust that was raised by a thousand +tramping feet stood all the time over the gang that was moving down +the middle of the street. The prisoners were walking quickly, and the +slow-going isvostchik's horse was some time in catching them up. Row +upon row they passed, those strange and terrible-looking creatures, none +of whom Nekhludoff knew. + +On they went, all dressed alike, moving a thousand feet all shod alike, +swinging their free arms as if to keep up their spirits. There were so +many of them, they all looked so much alike, and they were all placed in +such unusual, peculiar circumstances, that they seemed to Nekhludoff +to be not men but some sort of strange and terrible creatures. This +impression passed when he recognised in the crowd of convicts the +murderer Federoff, and among the exiles Okhotin the wit, and another +tramp who had appealed to him for assistance. Almost all the prisoners +turned and looked at the trap that was passing them and at the gentleman +inside. Federoff tossed his head backwards as a sign that he had +recognised Nekhludoff, Okhotin winked, but neither of them bowed, +considering it not the thing. + +As soon as Nekhludoff came up to the women he saw Maslova; she was in +the second row. The first in the row was a short-legged, black-eyed, +hideous woman, who had her cloak tucked up in her girdle. This was +Koroshavka. The next was a pregnant woman, who dragged herself along +with difficulty. The third was Maslova; she was carrying her sack on +her shoulder, and looking straight before her. Her face looked calm +and determined. The fourth in the row was a young, lovely woman who was +walking along briskly, dressed in a short cloak, her kerchief tied in +peasant fashion. This was Theodosia. + +Nekhludoff got down and approached the women, meaning to ask Maslova if +she had got the things he had sent her, and how she was feeling, but the +convoy sergeant, who was walking on that side, noticed him at once, and +ran towards him. + +"You must not do that, sir. It is against the regulations to approach +the gang," shouted the sergeant as he came up. + +But when he recognised Nekhludoff (every one in the prison knew +Nekhludoff) the sergeant raised his fingers to his cap, and, stopping +in front of Nekhludoff, said: "Not now; wait till we get to the railway +station; here it is not allowed. Don't lag behind; march!" he shouted to +the convicts, and putting on a brisk air, he ran back to his place at a +trot, in spite of the heat and the elegant new boots on his feet. + +Nekhludoff went on to the pavement and told the isvostchik to follow +him; himself walking, so as to keep the convicts in sight. Wherever the +gang passed it attracted attention mixed with horror and compassion. +Those who drove past leaned out of the vehicles and followed the +prisoners with their eyes. Those on foot stopped and looked with fear +and surprise at the terrible sight. Some came up and gave alms to the +prisoners. The alms were received by the convoy. Some, as if they were +hypnotised, followed the gang, but then stopped, shook their heads, and +followed the prisoners only with their eyes. Everywhere the people +came out of the gates and doors, and called others to come out, too, +or leaned out of the windows looking, silent and immovable, at the +frightful procession. At a cross-road a fine carriage was stopped by the +gang. A fat coachman, with a shiny face and two rows of buttons on his +back, sat on the box; a married couple sat facing the horses, the wife, +a pale, thin woman, with a light-coloured bonnet on her head and a +bright sunshade in her hand, the husband with a top-hat and a well-cut +light-coloured overcoat. On the seat in front sat their children--a +well-dressed little girl, with loose, fair hair, and as fresh as a +flower, who also held a bright parasol, and an eight-year-old boy, with +a long, thin neck and sharp collarbones, a sailor hat with long ribbons +on his head. + +The father was angrily scolding the coachman because he had not passed +in front of the gang when he had a chance, and the mother frowned and +half closed her eyes with a look of disgust, shielding herself from the +dust and the sun with her silk sunshade, which she held close to her +face. + +The fat coachman frowned angrily at the unjust rebukes of his +master--who had himself given the order to drive along that street--and +with difficulty held in the glossy, black horses, foaming under their +harness and impatient to go on. + +The policeman wished with all his soul to please the owner of the fine +equipage by stopping the gang, yet felt that the dismal solemnity of +the procession could not be broken even for so rich a gentleman. He only +raised his fingers to his cap to show his respect for riches, and looked +severely at the prisoners as if promising in any case to protect the +owners of the carriage from them. So the carriage had to wait till the +whole of the procession had passed, and could only move on when the last +of the carts, laden with sacks and prisoners, rattled by. The hysterical +woman who sat on one of the carts, and had grown calm, again began +shrieking and sobbing when she saw the elegant carriage. Then the +coachman tightened the reins with a slight touch, and the black +trotters, their shoes ringing against the paving stones, drew the +carriage, softly swaying on its rubber tires, towards the country +house where the husband, the wife, the girl, and the boy with the sharp +collar-bones were going to amuse themselves. Neither the father nor the +mother gave the girl and boy any explanation of what they had seen, so +that the children had themselves to find out the meaning of this curious +sight. The girl, taking the expression of her father's and mother's +faces into consideration, solved the problem by assuming that these +people were quite another kind of men and women than her father and +mother and their acquaintances, that they were bad people, and that they +had therefore to be treated in the manner they were being treated. + +Therefore the girl felt nothing but fear, and was glad when she could no +longer see those people. + +But the boy with the long, thin neck, who looked at the procession +of prisoners without taking his eyes off them, solved the question +differently. + +He still knew, firmly and without any doubt, for he had it from God, +that these people were just the same kind of people as he was, and like +all other people, and therefore some one had done these people some +wrong, something that ought not to have been done, and he was sorry for +them, and felt no horror either of those who were shaved and chained or +of those who had shaved and chained them. And so the boy's lips pouted +more and more, and he made greater and greater efforts not to cry, +thinking it a shame to cry in such a case. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE TENDER MERCIES OF THE LORD. + +Nekhludoff kept up with the quick pace of the convicts. Though lightly +clothed he felt dreadfully hot, and it was hard to breathe in the +stifling, motionless, burning air filled with dust. + +When he had walked about a quarter of a mile he again got into the trap, +but it felt still hotter in the middle of the street. He tried to recall +last night's conversation with his brother-in-law, but the recollections +no longer excited him as they had done in the morning. They were dulled +by the impressions made by the starting and procession of the gang, and +chiefly by the intolerable heat. + +On the pavement, in the shade of some trees overhanging a fence, he saw +two schoolboys standing over a kneeling man who sold ices. One of the +boys was already sucking a pink spoon and enjoying his ices, the other +was waiting for a glass that was being filled with something yellowish. + +"Where could I get a drink?" Nekhludoff asked his isvostchik, feeling an +insurmountable desire for some refreshment. + +"There is a good eating-house close by," the isvostchik answered, and +turning a corner, drove up to a door with a large signboard. The plump +clerk in a Russian shirt, who stood behind the counter, and the waiters +in their once white clothing who sat at the tables (there being hardly +any customers) looked with curiosity at the unusual visitor and offered +him their services. Nekhludoff asked for a bottle of seltzer water and +sat down some way from the window at a small table covered with a dirty +cloth. Two men sat at another table with tea-things and a white bottle +in front of them, mopping their foreheads, and calculating something in +a friendly manner. One of them was dark and bald, and had just such a +border of hair at the back as Rogozhinsky. This sight again reminded +Nekhludoff of yesterday's talk with his brother-in-law and his wish to +see him and Nathalie. + +"I shall hardly be able to do it before the train starts," he thought; +"I'd better write." He asked for paper, an envelope, and a stamp, and as +he was sipping the cool, effervescent water he considered what he should +say. But his thoughts wandered, and he could not manage to compose a +letter. + +"My dear Nathalie,--I cannot go away with the heavy impression that +yesterday's talk with your husband has left," he began. "What next? +Shall I ask him to forgive me what I said yesterday? But I only said +what I felt, and he will think that I am taking it back. Besides, this +interference of his in my private matters. . . . No, I cannot," and +again he felt hatred rising in his heart towards that man so foreign +to him. He folded the unfinished letter and put it in his pocket, paid, +went out, and again got into the trap to catch up the gang. It had grown +still hotter. The stones and the walls seemed to be breathing out hot +air. The pavement seemed to scorch the feet, and Nekhludoff felt a +burning sensation in his hand when he touched the lacquered splashguard +of his trap. + +The horse was jogging along at a weary trot, beating the uneven, dusty +road monotonously with its hoofs, the isvostchik kept falling into a +doze, Nekhludoff sat without thinking of anything. + +At the bottom of a street, in front of a large house, a group of people +had collected, and a convoy soldier stood by. + +"What has happened?" Nekhludoff asked of a porter. + +"Something the matter with a convict." + +Nekhludoff got down and came up to the group. On the rough stones, +where the pavement slanted down to the gutter, lay a broadly-built, +red-bearded, elderly convict, with his head lower than his feet, and +very red in the face. He had a grey cloak and grey trousers on, and lay +on his back with the palms of his freckled hands downwards, and at +long intervals his broad, high chest heaved, and he groaned, while +his bloodshot eyes were fixed on the sky. By him stood a cross-looking +policeman, a pedlar, a postman, a clerk, an old woman with a parasol, +and a short-haired boy with an empty basket. + +"They are weak. Having been locked up in prison they've got weak, and +then they lead them through the most broiling heat," said the clerk, +addressing Nekhludoff, who had just come up. + +"He'll die, most likely," said the woman with the parasol, in a doleful +tone. + +"His shirt should be untied," said the postman. + +The policeman began, with his thick, trembling fingers, clumsily to +untie the tapes that fastened the shirt round the red, sinewy neck. He +was evidently excited and confused, but still thought it necessary to +address the crowd. + +"What have you collected here for? It is hot enough without your keeping +the wind off." + +"They should have been examined by a doctor, and the weak ones left +behind," said the clerk, showing off his knowledge of the law. + +The policeman, having undone the tapes of the shirt, rose and looked +round. + +"Move on, I tell you. It is not your business, is it? What's there +to stare at?" he said, and turned to Nekhludoff for sympathy, but not +finding any in his face he turned to the convoy soldier. + +But the soldier stood aside, examining the trodden-down heel of his +boot, and was quite indifferent to the policeman's perplexity. + +"Those whose business it is don't care. Is it right to do men to death +like this? A convict is a convict, but still he is a man," different +voices were heard saying in the crowd. + +"Put his head up higher, and give him some water," said Nekhludoff. + +"Water has been sent for," said the policeman, and taking the prisoner +under the arms he with difficulty pulled his body a little higher up. + +"What's this gathering here?" said a decided, authoritative voice, and +a police officer, with a wonderfully clean, shiny blouse, and still more +shiny top-boots, came up to the assembled crowd. + +"Move on. No standing about here," he shouted to the crowd, before he +knew what had attracted it. + +When he came near and saw the dying convict, he made a sign of approval +with his head, just as if he had quite expected it, and, turning to the +policeman, said, "How is this?" + +The policeman said that, as a gang of prisoners was passing, one of the +convicts had fallen down, and the convoy officer had ordered him to be +left behind. + +"Well, that's all right. He must be taken to the police station. Call an +isvostchik." + +"A porter has gone for one," said the policeman, with his fingers raised +to his cap. + +The shopman began something about the heat. + +"Is it your business, eh? Move on," said the police officer, and looked +so severely at him that the clerk was silenced. + +"He ought to have a little water," said Nekhludoff. The police officer +looked severely at Nekhludoff also, but said nothing. When the porter +brought a mug full of water, he told the policeman to offer some to the +convict. The policeman raised the drooping head, and tried to pour a +little water down the mouth; but the prisoner could not swallow it, and +it ran down his beard, wetting his jacket and his coarse, dirty linen +shirt. + +"Pour it on his head," ordered the officer; and the policeman took off +the pancake-shaped cap and poured the water over the red curls and bald +part of the prisoner's head. His eyes opened wide as if in fear, but his +position remained unchanged. + +Streams of dirt trickled down his dusty face, but the mouth continued to +gasp in the same regular way, and his whole body shook. + +"And what's this? Take this one," said the police officer, pointing to +Nekhludoff's isvostchik. "You, there, drive up." + +"I am engaged," said the isvostchik, dismally, and without looking up. + +"It is my isvostchik; but take him. I will pay you," said Nekhludoff, +turning to the isvostchik. + +"Well, what are you waiting for?" shouted the officer. "Catch hold." + +The policeman, the porter, and the convoy soldier lifted the dying man +and carried him to the trap, and put him on the seat. But he could not +sit up; his head fell back, and the whole of his body glided off the +seat. + +"Make him lie down," ordered the officer. + +"It's all right, your honour; I'll manage him like this," said the +policeman, sitting down by the dying man, and clasping his strong, +right arm round the body under the arms. The convoy soldier lifted the +stockingless feet, in prison shoes, and put them into the trap. + +The police officer looked around, and noticing the pancake-shaped hat of +the convict lifted it up and put it on the wet, drooping head. + +"Go on," he ordered. + +The isvostchik looked angrily round, shook his head, and, accompanied +by the convoy soldier, drove back to the police station. The policeman, +sitting beside the convict, kept dragging up the body that was +continually sliding down from the seat, while the head swung from side +to side. + +The convoy soldier, who was walking by the side of the trap, kept +putting the legs in their place. Nekhludoff followed the trap. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +SPILLED LIKE WATER ON THE GROUND. + +The trap passed the fireman who stood sentinel at the entrance, [the +headquarters of the fire brigade and the police stations are generally +together in Moscow] drove into the yard of the police station, and +stopped at one of the doors. In the yard several firemen with their +sleeves tucked up were washing some kind of cart and talking loudly. +When the trap stopped, several policemen surrounded it, and taking the +lifeless body of the convict under the arms, took him out of the trap, +which creaked under him. The policeman who had brought the body got +down, shook his numbed arm, took off his cap, and crossed himself. +The body was carried through the door and up the stairs. Nekhludoff +followed. In the small, dirty room where the body was taken there stood +four beds. On two of them sat a couple of sick men in dressing-gowns, +one with a crooked mouth, whose neck was bandaged, the other one in +consumption. Two of the beds were empty; the convict was laid on one of +them. A little man, with glistening eyes and continually moving brows, +with only his underclothes and stockings on, came up with quick, soft +steps, looked at the convict and then at Nekhludoff, and burst into loud +laughter. This was a madman who was being kept in the police hospital. + +"They wish to frighten me, but no, they won't succeed," he said. + +The policemen who carried the corpse were followed by a police officer +and a medical assistant. The medical assistant came up to the body and +touched the freckled hand, already growing cold, which, though still +soft, was deadly pale. He held it for a moment, and then let it go. It +fell lifelessly on the stomach of the dead man. + +"He's ready," said the medical assistant, but, evidently to be quite in +order, he undid the wet, brown shirt, and tossing back the curls from +his ear, put it to the yellowish, broad, immovable chest of the convict. +All were silent. The medical assistant raised himself again, shook his +head, and touched with his fingers first one and then the other lid over +the open, fixed blue eyes. + +"I'm not frightened, I'm not frightened." The madman kept repeating +these words, and spitting in the direction of the medical assistant. + +"Well?" asked the police officer. + +"Well! He must be put into the mortuary." + +"Are you sure? Mind," said the police officer. + +"It's time I should know," said the medical assistant, drawing the shirt +over the body's chest. "However, I will send for Mathew Ivanovitch. Let +him have a look. Petrov, call him," and the medical assistant stepped +away from the body. + +"Take him to the mortuary," said the police officer. "And then you must +come into the office and sign," he added to the convoy soldier, who had +not left the convict for a moment. + +"Yes, sir," said the soldier. + +The policemen lifted the body and carried it down again. Nekhludoff +wished to follow, but the madman kept him back. + +"You are not in the plot! Well, then, give me a cigarette," he said. +Nekhludoff got out his cigarette case and gave him one. + +The madman, quickly moving his brows all the time, began relating how +they tormented him by thought suggestion. + +"Why, they are all against me, and torment and torture me through their +mediums." + +"I beg your pardon," said Nekhludoff, and without listening any further +he left the room and went out into the yard, wishing to know where the +body would be put. + +The policemen with their burden had already crossed the yard, and were +coming to the door of a cellar. Nekhludoff wished to go up to them, but +the police officer stopped him. + +"What do you want?" + +"Nothing." + +"Nothing? Then go away." + +Nekhludoff obeyed, and went back to his isvostchik, who was dozing. He +awoke him, and they drove back towards the railway station. + +They had not made a hundred steps when they met a cart accompanied by +a convoy soldier with a gun. On the cart lay another convict, who was +already dead. The convict lay on his back in the cart, his shaved head, +from which the pancake-shaped cap had slid over the black-bearded face +down to the nose, shaking and thumping at every jolt. The driver, in +his heavy boots, walked by the side of the cart, holding the reins; +a policeman followed on foot. Nekhludoff touched his isvostchik's +shoulder. + +"Just look what they are doing," said the isvostchik, stopping his +horse. + +Nekhludoff got down and, following the cart, again passed the sentinel +and entered the gate of the police station. By this time the firemen had +finished washing the cart, and a tall, bony man, the chief of the fire +brigade, with a coloured band round his cap, stood in their place, and, +with his hands in his pockets, was severely looking at a fat-necked, +well-fed, bay stallion that was being led up and down before him by a +fireman. The stallion was lame on one of his fore feet, and the chief of +the firemen was angrily saying something to a veterinary who stood by. + +The police officer was also present. When he saw the cart he went up to +the convoy soldier. + +"Where did you bring him from?" he asked, shaking his head +disapprovingly. + +"From the Gorbatovskaya," answered the policeman. + +"A prisoner?" asked the chief of the fire brigade. + +"Yes. It's the second to-day." + +"Well, I must say they've got some queer arrangements. Though of course +it's a broiling day," said the chief of the fire brigade; then, turning +to the fireman who was leading the lame stallion, he shouted: "Put him +into the corner stall. And as to you, you hound, I'll teach you how to +cripple horses which are worth more than you are, you scoundrel." + +The dead man was taken from the cart by the policemen just in the same +way as the first had been, and carried upstairs into the hospital. +Nekhludoff followed them as if he were hypnotised. + +"What do you want?" asked one of the policemen. But Nekhludoff did +not answer, and followed where the body was being carried. The madman, +sitting on a bed, was smoking greedily the cigarette Nekhludoff had +given him. + +"Ah, you've come back," he said, and laughed. When he saw the body he +made a face, and said, "Again! I am sick of it. I am not a boy, am I, +eh?" and he turned to Nekhludoff with a questioning smile. + +Nekhludoff was looking at the dead man, whose face, which had been +hidden by his cap, was now visible. This convict was as handsome in face +and body as the other was hideous. He was a man in the full bloom of +life. Notwithstanding that he was disfigured by the half of his head +being shaved, the straight, rather low forehead, raised a bit over the +black, lifeless eyes, was very fine, and so was the nose above the +thin, black moustaches. There was a smile on the lips that were already +growing blue, a small beard outlined the lower part of the face, and on +the shaved side of the head a firm, well-shaped ear was visible. + +One could see what possibilities of a higher life had been destroyed +in this man. The fine bones of his hands and shackled feet, the strong +muscles of all his well-proportioned limbs, showed what a beautiful, +strong, agile human animal this had been. As an animal merely he had +been a far more perfect one of his kind than the bay stallion, about the +laming of which the fireman was so angry. + +Yet he had been done to death, and no one was sorry for him as a man, +nor was any one sorry that so fine a working animal had perished. The +only feeling evinced was that of annoyance because of the bother caused +by the necessity of getting this body, threatening putrefaction, out of +the way. The doctor and his assistant entered the hospital, accompanied +by the inspector of the police station. The doctor was a thick-set man, +dressed in pongee silk coat and trousers of the same material, closely +fitting his muscular thighs. The inspector was a little fat fellow, with +a red face, round as a ball, which he made still broader by a habit he +had of filling his cheeks with air, and slowly letting it out again. The +doctor sat down on the bed by the side of the dead man, and touched +the hands in the same way as his assistant had done, put his ear to the +heart, rose, and pulled his trousers straight. "Could not be more dead," +he said. + +The inspector filled his mouth with air and slowly blew it out again. + +"Which prison is he from?" he asked the convoy soldier. + +The soldier told him, and reminded him of the chains on the dead man's +feet. + +"I'll have them taken off; we have got a smith about, the Lord be +thanked," said the inspector, and blew up his cheeks again; he went +towards the door, slowly letting out the air. + +"Why has this happened?" Nekhludoff asked the doctor. + +The doctor looked at him through his spectacles. + +"Why has what happened? Why they die of sunstroke, you mean? This is +why: They sit all through the winter without exercise and without light, +and suddenly they are taken out into the sunshine, and on a day like +this, and they march in a crowd so that they get no air, and sunstroke +is the result." + +"Then why are they sent out?" + +"Oh, as to that, go and ask those who send them. But may I ask who are +you?" + +"I am a stranger." + +"Ah, well, good-afternoon; I have no time." The doctor was vexed; he +gave his trousers a downward pull, and went towards the beds of the +sick. + +"Well, how are you getting on?" he asked the pale man with the crooked +mouth and bandaged neck. + +Meanwhile the madman sat on a bed, and having finished his cigarette, +kept spitting in the direction of the doctor. + +Nekhludoff went down into the yard and out of the gate past the +firemen's horses and the hens and the sentinel in his brass helmet, and +got into the trap, the driver of which had again fallen asleep. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE CONVICT TRAIN. + +When Nekhludoff came to the station, the prisoners were all seated in +railway carriages with grated windows. Several persons, come to see +them off, stood on the platform, but were not allowed to come up to the +carriages. + +The convoy was much troubled that day. On the way from the prison to the +station, besides the two Nekhludoff had seen, three other prisoners +had fallen and died of sunstroke. One was taken to the nearest police +station like the first two, and the other two died at the railway +station. [In Moscow, in the beginning of the eighth decade of this +century, five convicts died of sunstroke in one day on their way from +the Boutyrki prison to the Nijni railway station.] The convoy men were +not troubled because five men who might have been alive died while in +their charge. This did not trouble them, but they were concerned lest +anything that the law required in such cases should be omitted. To +convey the bodies to the places appointed, to deliver up their papers, +to take them off the lists of those to be conveyed to Nijni--all this +was very troublesome, especially on so hot a day. + +It was this that occupied the convoy men, and before it could all be +accomplished Nekhludoff and the others who asked for leave to go up to +the carriages were not allowed to do so. Nekhludoff, however, was soon +allowed to go up, because he tipped the convoy sergeant. The sergeant +let Nekhludoff pass, but asked him to be quick and get his talk over +before any of the authorities noticed. There were 15 carriages in all, +and except one carriage for the officials, they were full of prisoners. +As Nekhludoff passed the carriages he listened to what was going on in +them. In all the carriages was heard the clanging of chains, the sound +of bustle, mixed with loud and senseless language, but not a word was +being said about their dead fellow-prisoners. The talk was all about +sacks, drinking water, and the choice of seats. + +Looking into one of the carriages, Nekhludoff saw convoy soldiers taking +the manacles off the hands of the prisoners. The prisoners held out +their arms, and one of the soldiers unlocked the manacles with a key and +took them off; the other collected them. + +After he had passed all the other carriages, Nekhludoff came up to the +women's carriages. From the second of these he heard a woman's groans: +"Oh, oh, oh! O God! Oh, oh! O God!" + +Nekhludoff passed this carriage and went up to a window of the third +carriage, which a soldier pointed out to him. When he approached his +face to the window, he felt the hot air, filled with the smell of +perspiration, coming out of it, and heard distinctly the shrill sound +of women's voices. All the seats were filled with red, perspiring, +loudly-talking women, dressed in prison cloaks and white jackets. +Nekhludoff's face at the window attracted their attention. Those nearest +ceased talking and drew closer. Maslova, in her white jacket and her +head uncovered, sat by the opposite window. The white-skinned, smiling +Theodosia sat a little nearer. When she recognised Nekhludoff, she +nudged Maslova and pointed to the window. Maslova rose hurriedly, threw +her kerchief over her black hair, and with a smile on her hot, red face +came up to the window and took hold of one of the bars. + +"Well, it is hot," she said, with a glad smile. + +"Did you get the things?" + +"Yes, thank you." + +"Is there anything more you want?" asked Nekhludoff, while the air came +out of the hot carriage as out of an oven. + +"I want nothing, thank you." + +"If we could get a drink?" said Theodosia. + +"Yes, if we could get a drink," repeated Maslova. + +"Why, have you not got any water?" + +"They put some in, but it is all gone." + +"Directly, I will ask one of the convoy men. Now we shall not see each +other till we get to Nijni." + +"Why? Are you going?" said Maslova, as if she did not know it, and +looked joyfully at Nekhludoff. + +"I am going by the next train." + +Maslova said nothing, but only sighed deeply. + +"Is it true, sir, that 12 convicts have been done to death?" said a +severe-looking old prisoner with a deep voice like a man's. + +It was Korableva. + +"I did not hear of 12; I have seen two," said Nekhludoff. + +"They say there were 12 they killed. And will nothing be done to them? +Only think! The fiends!" + +"And have none of the women fallen ill?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"Women are stronger," said another of the prisoners--a short little +woman, and laughed; "only there's one that has taken it into her head to +be delivered. There she goes," she said, pointing to the next carriage, +whence proceeded the groans. + +"You ask if we want anything," said Maslova, trying to keep the smile +of joy from her lips; "could not this woman be left behind, suffering as +she is? There, now, if you would tell the authorities." + +"Yes, I will." + +"And one thing more; could she not see her husband, Taras?" she added, +pointing with her eyes to the smiling Theodosia. + +"He is going with you, is he not?" + +"Sir, you must not talk," said a convoy sergeant, not the one who had +let Nekhludoff come up. Nekhludoff left the carriage and went in search +of an official to whom he might speak for the woman in travail and about +Taras, but could not find him, nor get an answer from any of the convoy +for a long time. They were all in a bustle; some were leading a prisoner +somewhere or other, others running to get themselves provisions, some +were placing their things in the carriages or attending on a lady +who was going to accompany the convoy officer, and they answered +Nekhludoff's questions unwillingly. Nekhludoff found the convoy officer +only after the second bell had been rung. The officer with his short +arm was wiping the moustaches that covered his mouth and shrugging his +shoulders, reproving the corporal for something or other. + +"What is it you want?" he asked Nekhludoff. + +"You've got a woman there who is being confined, so I thought best--" + +"Well, let her be confined; we shall see later on," and briskly swinging +his short arms, he ran up to his carriage. At the moment the guard +passed with a whistle in his hand, and from the people on the platform +and from the women's carriages there arose a sound of weeping and words +of prayer. + +Nekhludoff stood on the platform by the side of Taras, and looked how, +one after the other, the carriages glided past him, with the shaved +heads of the men at the grated windows. Then the first of the women's +carriages came up, with women's heads at the windows, some covered with +kerchiefs and some uncovered, then the second, whence proceeded the same +groans, then the carriage where Maslova was. She stood with the others +at the window, and looked at Nekhludoff with a pathetic smile. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +BROTHER AND SISTER. + +There were still two hours before the passenger train by which +Nekhludoff was going would start. He had thought of using this interval +to see his sister again; but after the impressions of the morning he +felt much excited and so done up that, sitting down on a sofa in the +first-class refreshment-room, he suddenly grew so drowsy that he turned +over on to his side, and, laying his face on his hand, fell asleep at +once. A waiter in a dress coat with a napkin in his hand woke him. + +"Sir, sir, are you not Prince Nekhludoff? There's a lady looking for +you." + +Nekhludoff started up and recollected where he was and all that had +happened in the morning. + +He saw in his imagination the procession of prisoners, the dead bodies, +the railway carriages with barred windows, and the women locked up in +them, one of whom was groaning in travail with no one to help her, and +another who was pathetically smiling at him through the bars. + +The reality before his eyes was very different, i.e., a table with +vases, candlesticks and crockery, and agile waiters moving round the +table, and in the background a cupboard and a counter laden with fruit +and bottles, behind it a barman, and in front the backs of passengers +who had come up for refreshments. When Nekhludoff had risen and sat +gradually collecting his thoughts, he noticed that everybody in the +room was inquisitively looking at something that was passing by the open +doors. + +He also looked, and saw a group of people carrying a chair on which sat +a lady whose head was wrapped in a kind of airy fabric. + +Nekhludoff thought he knew the footman who was supporting the chair in +front. And also the man behind, and a doorkeeper with gold cord on his +cap, seemed familiar. A lady's maid with a fringe and an apron, who was +carrying a parcel, a parasol, and something round in a leather case, +was walking behind the chair. Then came Prince Korchagin, with his thick +lips, apoplectic neck, and a travelling cap on his head; behind him +Missy, her cousin Misha, and an acquaintance of Nekhludoff's--the +long-necked diplomat Osten, with his protruding Adam's apple and his +unvarying merry mood and expression. He was saying something very +emphatically, though jokingly, to the smiling Missy. The Korchagins were +moving from their estate near the city to the estate of the Princess's +sister on the Nijni railway. The procession--the men carrying the +chair, the maid, and the doctor--vanished into the ladies' waiting-room, +evoking a feeling of curiosity and respect in the onlookers. But the old +Prince remained and sat down at the table, called a waiter, and ordered +food and drink. Missy and Osten also remained in the refreshment-room +and were about to sit down, when they saw an acquaintance in the +doorway, and went up to her. It was Nathalie Rogozhinsky. Nathalie came +into the refreshment-room accompanied by Agraphena Petrovna, and both +looked round the room. Nathalie noticed at one and the same moment both +her brother and Missy. She first went up to Missy, only nodding to her +brother; but, having kissed her, at once turned to him. + +"At last I have found you," she said. Nekhludoff rose to greet Missy, +Misha, and Osten, and to say a few words to them. Missy told him about +their house in the country having been burnt down, which necessitated +their moving to her aunt's. Osten began relating a funny story about a +fire. Nekhludoff paid no attention, and turned to his sister. + +"How glad I am that you have come." + +"I have been here a long time," she said. "Agraphena Petrovna is with +me." And she pointed to Agraphena Petrovna, who, in a waterproof and +with a bonnet on her head, stood some way off, and bowed to him with +kindly dignity and some confusion, not wishing to intrude. + +"We looked for you everywhere." + +"And I had fallen asleep here. How glad I am that you have come," +repeated Nekhludoff. "I had begun to write to you." + +"Really?" she said, looking frightened. "What about?" + +Missy and the gentleman, noticing that an intimate conversation was +about to commence between the brother and sister, went away. Nekhludoff +and his sister sat down by the window on a velvet-covered sofa, on which +lay a plaid, a box, and a few other things. + +"Yesterday, after I left you, I felt inclined to return and express my +regret, but I did not know how he would take it," said Nekhludoff. "I +spoke hastily to your husband, and this tormented me." + +"I knew," said his sister, "that you did not mean to. Oh, you know!" and +the tears came to her eyes, and she touched his hand. The sentence was +not clear, but he understood it perfectly, and was touched by what it +expressed. Her words meant that, besides the love for her husband which +held her in its sway, she prized and considered important the love she +had for him, her brother, and that every misunderstanding between them +caused her deep suffering. + +"Thank you, thank you. Oh! what I have seen to-day!" he said, suddenly +recalling the second of the dead convicts. "Two prisoners have been done +to death." + +"Done to death? How?" + +"Yes, done to death. They led them in this heat, and two died of +sunstroke." + +"Impossible! What, to-day? just now?" + +"Yes, just now. I have seen their bodies." + +"But why done to death? Who killed them?" asked Nathalie. + +"They who forced them to go killed them," said Nekhludoff, with +irritation, feeling that she looked at this, too, with her husband's +eyes. + +"Oh, Lord!" said Agraphena Petrovna, who had come up to them. + +"Yes, we have not the slightest idea of what is being done to these +unfortunate beings. But it ought to be known," added Nekhludoff, and +looked at old Korchagin, who sat with a napkin tied round him and a +bottle before him, and who looked round at Nekhludoff. + +"Nekhludoff," he called out, "won't you join me and take some +refreshment? It is excellent before a journey." + +Nekhludoff refused, and turned away. + +"But what are you going to do?" Nathalie continued. + +"What I can. I don't know, but I feel I must do something. And I shall +do what I am able to." + +"Yes, I understand. And how about them?" she continued, with a smile and +a look towards Korchagin. "Is it possible that it is all over?" + +"Completely, and I think without any regret on either side." + +"It is a pity. I am sorry. I am fond of her. However, it's all right. +But why do you wish to bind yourself?" she added shyly. "Why are you +going?" + +"I go because I must," answered Nekhludoff, seriously and dryly, as if +wishing to stop this conversation. But he felt ashamed of his coldness +towards his sister at once. "Why not tell her all I am thinking?" he +thought, "and let Agraphena Petrovna also hear it," he thought, with +a look at the old servant, whose presence made the wish to repeat his +decision to his sister even stronger. + +"You mean my intention to marry Katusha? Well, you see, I made up my +mind to do it, but she refuses definitely and firmly," he said, and his +voice shook, as it always did when he spoke of it. "She does not wish +to accept my sacrifice, but is herself sacrificing what in her position +means much, and I cannot accept this sacrifice, if it is only a +momentary impulse. And so I am going with her, and shall be where she +is, and shall try to lighten her fate as much as I can." + +Nathalie said nothing. Agraphena Petrovna looked at her with a +questioning look, and shook her head. At this moment the former +procession issued from the ladies' room. The same handsome footman +(Philip). and the doorkeeper were carrying the Princess Korchagin. She +stopped the men who were carrying her, and motioned to Nekhludoff to +approach, and, with a pitiful, languishing air, she extended her white, +ringed hand, expecting the firm pressure of his hand with a sense of +horror. + +"Epouvantable!" she said, meaning the heat. "I cannot stand it! Ce +climat me tue!" And, after a short talk about the horrors of the Russian +climate, she gave the men a sign to go on. + +"Be sure and come," she added, turning her long face towards Nekhludoff +as she was borne away. + +The procession with the Princess turned to the right towards the +first-class carriages. Nekhludoff, with the porter who was carrying his +things, and Taras with his bag, turned to the left. + +"This is my companion," said Nekhludoff to his sister, pointing to +Taras, whose story he had told her before. + +"Surely not third class?" said Nathalie, when Nekhludoff stopped in +front of a third-class carriage, and Taras and the porter with the +things went in. + +"Yes; it is more convenient for me to be with Taras," he said. "One +thing more," he added; "up to now I have not given the Kousminski +land to the peasants; so that, in case of my death, your children will +inherit it." + +"Dmitri, don't!" said Nathalie. + +"If I do give it away, all I can say is that the rest will be theirs, +as it is not likely I shall marry; and if I do marry I shall have no +children, so that--" + +"Dmitri, don't talk like that!" said Nathalie. And yet Nekhludoff +noticed that she was glad to hear him say it. + +Higher up, by the side of a first-class carriage, there stood a group of +people still looking at the carriage into which the Princess Korchagin +had been carried. Most of the passengers were already seated. Some of +the late comers hurriedly clattered along the boards of the platform, +the guard was closing the doors and asking the passengers to get in and +those who were seeing them off to come out. + +Nekhludoff entered the hot, smelling carriage, but at once stepped out +again on to the small platform at the back of the carriage. Nathalie +stood opposite the carriage, with her fashionable bonnet and cape, +by the side of Agraphena Petrovna, and was evidently trying to find +something to say. + +She could not even say ecrivez, because they had long ago laughed +at this word, habitually spoken by those about to part. The short +conversation about money matters had in a moment destroyed the tender +brotherly and sisterly feelings that had taken hold of them. They felt +estranged, so that Nathalie was glad when the train moved; and she +could only say, nodding her head with a sad and tender look, "Goodbye, +good-bye, Dmitri." But as soon as the carriage had passed her she +thought of how she should repeat her conversation with her brother to +her husband, and her face became serious and troubled. + +Nekhludoff, too, though he had nothing but the kindest feelings for +his sister, and had hidden nothing from her, now felt depressed and +uncomfortable with her, and was glad to part. He felt that the Nathalie +who was once so near to him no longer existed, and in her place was only +a slave of that hairy, unpleasant husband, who was so foreign to him. He +saw it clearly when her face lit up with peculiar animation as he spoke +of what would peculiarly interest her husband, i.e., the giving up of +the land to the peasants and the inheritance. + +And this made him sad. + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF HUMAN LIFE. + +The heat in the large third-class carriage, which had been standing in +the burning sun all day, was so great that Nekhludoff did not go in, +but stopped on the little platform behind the carriage which formed a +passage to the next one. But there was not a breath of fresh air here +either, and Nekhludoff breathed freely only when the train had passed +the buildings and the draught blew across the platform. + +"Yes, killed," he repeated to himself, the words he had used to his +sister. And in his imagination in the midst of all other impressions +there arose with wonderful clearness the beautiful face of the second +dead convict, with the smile of the lips, the severe expression of the +brows, and the small, firm ear below the shaved bluish skull. + +And what seemed terrible was that he had been murdered, and no one knew +who had murdered him. Yet he had been murdered. He was led out like all +the rest of the prisoners by Maslennikoff's orders. Maslennikoff had +probably given the order in the usual manner, had signed with his stupid +flourish the paper with the printed heading, and most certainly would +not consider himself guilty. Still less would the careful doctor who +examined the convicts consider himself guilty. He had performed his duty +accurately, and had separated the weak. How could he have foreseen this +terrible heat, or the fact that they would start so late in the day and +in such crowds? The prison inspector? But the inspector had only carried +into execution the order that on a given day a certain number of exiles +and convicts--men and women--had to be sent off. The convoy officer +could not be guilty either, for his business was to receive a certain +number of persons in a certain place, and to deliver up the same number. +He conducted them in the usual manner, and could not foresee that two +such strong men as those Nekhludoff saw would not be able to stand it +and would die. No one is guilty, and yet the men have been murdered by +these people who are not guilty of their murder. + +"All this comes," Nekhludoff thought, "from the fact that all these +people, governors, inspectors, police officers, and men, consider that +there are circumstances in which human relations are not necessary +between human beings. All these men, Maslennikoff, and the inspector, +and the convoy officer, if they were not _governor, inspector, officer,_ +would have considered twenty times before sending people in such heat +in such a mass--would have stopped twenty times on the way, and, seeing +that a man was growing weak, gasping for breath, would have led him +into the shade, would have given him water and let him rest, and if an +accident had still occurred they would have expressed pity. But they +not only did not do it, but hindered others from doing it, because they +considered not men and their duty towards them but only the office they +themselves filled, and held what that office demanded of them to be +above human relations. That's what it is," Nekhludoff went on in his +thoughts. "If one acknowledges but for a single hour that anything +can be more important than love for one's fellowmen, even in some +one exceptional case, any crime can be committed without a feeling of +guilt." + +Nekhludoff was so engrossed by his thoughts that he did not notice how +the weather changed. The sun was covered over by a low-hanging, ragged +cloud. A compact, light grey cloud was rapidly coming from the west, and +was already falling in heavy, driving rain on the fields and woods far +in the distance. Moisture, coming from the cloud, mixed with the air. +Now and then the cloud was rent by flashes of lightning, and peals of +thunder mingled more and more often with the rattling of the train. The +cloud came nearer and nearer, the rain-drops driven by the wind began +to spot the platform and Nekhludoff's coat; and he stepped to the other +side of the little platform, and, inhaling the fresh, moist air--filled +with the smell of corn and wet earth that had long been waiting for +rain--he stood looking at the gardens, the woods, the yellow rye fields, +the green oatfields, the dark-green strips of potatoes in bloom, that +glided past. Everything looked as if covered over with varnish--the +green turned greener, the yellow yellower, the black blacker. + +"More! more!" said Nekhludoff, gladdened by the sight of gardens and +fields revived by the beneficent shower. The shower did not last long. +Part of the cloud had come down in rain, part passed over, and the last +fine drops fell straight on to the earth. The sun reappeared, +everything began to glisten, and in the east--not very high above the +horizon--appeared a bright rainbow, with the violet tint very distinct +and broken only at one end. + +"Why, what was I thinking about?" Nekhludoff asked himself when all +these changes in nature were over, and the train ran into a cutting +between two high banks. + +"Oh! I was thinking that all those people (inspector, convoy men--all +those in the service) are for the greater part kind people--cruel only +because they are serving." He recalled Maslennikoff's indifference when +he told him about what was being done in the prison, the inspector's +severity, the cruelty of the convoy officer when he refused places on +the carts to those who asked for them, and paid no attention to the fact +that there was a woman in travail in the train. All these people were +evidently invulnerable and impregnable to the simplest feelings of +compassion only because they held offices. "As officials they were +impermeable to the feelings of humanity, as this paved ground is +impermeable to the rain." Thus thought Nekhludoff as he looked at the +railway embankment paved with stones of different colours, down which +the water was running in streams instead of soaking into the earth. +"Perhaps it is necessary to pave the banks with stones, but it is sad +to look at the ground, which might be yielding corn, grass, bushes, or +trees in the same way as the ground visible up there is doing--deprived +of vegetation, and so it is with men," thought Nekhludoff. "Perhaps +these governors, inspectors, policemen, are needed, but it is terrible +to see men deprived of the chief human attribute, that of love and +sympathy for one another. The thing is," he continued, "that these +people consider lawful what is not lawful, and do not consider the +eternal, immutable law, written in the hearts of men by God, as law. +That is why I feel so depressed when I am with these people. I am +simply afraid of them, and really they are terrible, more terrible than +robbers. A robber might, after all, feel pity, but they can feel +no pity, they are inured against pity as these stones are against +vegetation. That is what makes them terrible. It is said that the +Pougatcheffs, the Razins [leaders of rebellions in Russia: Stonka Razin +in the 17th and Pougatcheff in the 18th century] are terrible. These are +a thousand times more terrible," he continued, in his thoughts. "If +a psychological problem were set to find means of making men of our +time--Christian, humane, simple, kind people--perform the most horrible +crimes without feeling guilty, only one solution could be devised: to +go on doing what is being done. It is only necessary that these people +should he governors, inspectors, policemen; that they should be fully +convinced that there is a kind of business, called government service, +which allows men to treat other men as things, without human brotherly +relations with them, and also that these people should be so linked +together by this government service that the responsibility for the +results of their actions should not fall on any one of them separately. +Without these conditions, the terrible acts I witnessed to-day would be +impossible in our times. It all lies in the fact that men think there +are circumstances in which one may deal with human beings without love; +and there are no such circumstances. One may deal with things without +love. One may cut down trees, make bricks, hammer iron without love; but +you cannot deal with men without it, just as one cannot deal with bees +without being careful. If you deal carelessly with bees you will injure +them, and will yourself be injured. And so with men. It cannot be +otherwise, because natural love is the fundamental law of human life. It +is true that a man cannot force another to love him, as he can force +him to work for him; but it does not follow that a man may deal with men +without love, especially to demand anything from them. If you feel no +love, sit still," Nekhludoff thought; "occupy yourself with things, with +yourself, with anything you like, only not with men. You can only eat +without injuring yourself when you feel inclined to eat, so you can only +deal with men usefully when you love. Only let yourself deal with a man +without love, as I did yesterday with my brother-in-law, and there are +no limits to the suffering you will bring on yourself, as all my life +proves. Yes, yes, it is so," thought Nekhludoff; "it is good; yes, it is +good," he repeated, enjoying the freshness after the torturing heat, and +conscious of having attained to the fullest clearness on a question that +had long occupied him. + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +TARAS'S STORY. + +The carriage in which Nekhludoff had taken his place was half filled +with people. There were in it servants, working men, factory hands, +butchers, Jews, shopmen, workmen's wives, a soldier, two ladies, a +young one and an old one with bracelets on her arm, and a severe-looking +gentleman with a cockade on his black cap. All these people were sitting +quietly; the bustle of taking their places was long over; some sat +cracking and eating sunflower seeds, some smoking, some talking. + +Taras sat, looking very happy, opposite the door, keeping a place for +Nekhludoff, and carrying on an animated conversation with a man in +a cloth coat who sat opposite to him, and who was, as Nekhludoff +afterwards found out, a gardener going to a new situation. Before +reaching the place where Taras sat Nekhludoff stopped between the seats +near a reverend-looking old man with a white beard and nankeen coat, who +was talking with a young woman in peasant dress. A little girl of about +seven, dressed in a new peasant costume, sat, her little legs dangling +above the floor, by the side of the woman, and kept cracking seeds. + +The old man turned round, and, seeing Nekhludoff, he moved the lappets +of his coat off the varnished seat next to him, and said, in a friendly +manner: + +"Please, here's a seat." + +Nekhludoff thanked him, and took the seat. As soon as he was seated the +woman continued the interrupted conversation. + +She was returning to her village, and related how her husband, whom she +had been visiting, had received her in town. + +"I was there during the carnival, and now, by the Lord's help, I've been +again," she said. "Then, God willing, at Christmas I'll go again." + +"That's right," said the old man, with a look at Nekhludoff, "it's the +best way to go and see him, else a young man can easily go to the bad, +living in a town." + +"Oh, no, sir, mine is not such a man. No nonsense of any kind about him; +his life is as good as a young maiden's. The money he earns he sends +home all to a copeck. And, as to our girl here, he was so glad to see +her, there are no words for it," said the woman, and smiled. + +The little girl, who sat cracking her seeds and spitting out the shells, +listened to her mother's words, and, as if to confirm them, looked up +with calm, intelligent eyes into Nekhludoff's and the old man's faces. + +"Well, if he's good, that's better still," said the old man. "And none +of that sort of thing?" he added, with a look at a couple, evidently +factory hands, who sat at the other side of the carriage. The husband, +with his head thrown back, was pouring vodka down his throat out of a +bottle, and the wife sat holding a bag, out of which they had taken the +bottle, and watched him intently. + +"No, mine neither drinks nor smokes," said the woman who was conversing +with the old man, glad of the opportunity of praising her husband once +more. "No, sir, the earth does not hold many such." And, turning to +Nekhludoff, she added, "That's the sort of man he is." + +"What could be better," said the old man, looking at the factory worker, +who had had his drink and had passed the bottle to his wife. The wife +laughed, shook her head, and also raised the bottle to her lips. + +Noticing Nekhludoff's and the old man's look directed towards them, the +factory worker addressed the former. + +"What is it, sir? That we are drinking? Ah, no one sees how we work, +but every one sees how we drink. I have earned it, and I am drinking and +treating my wife, and no one else." + +"Yes, yes," said Nekhludoff, not knowing what to say. + +"True, sir. My wife is a steady woman. I am satisfied with my wife, +because she can feel for me. Is it right what I'm saying, Mavra?" + +"There you are, take it, I don't want any more," said the wife, +returning the bottle to him. "And what are you jawing for like that?" +she added. + +"There now! She's good--that good; and suddenly she'll begin squeaking +like a wheel that's not greased. Mavra, is it right what I'm saying?" + +Mavra laughed and moved her hand with a tipsy gesture. + +"Oh, my, he's at it again." + +"There now, she's that good--that good; but let her get her tail over +the reins, and you can't think what she'll be up to. . . . Is it right +what I'm saying? You must excuse me, sir, I've had a drop! What's to be +done?" said the factory worker, and, preparing to go to sleep, put his +head in his wife's lap. + +Nekhludoff sat a while with the old man, who told him all about himself. +The old man was a stove builder, who had been working for 53 years, and +had built so many stoves that he had lost count, and now he wanted to +rest, but had no time. He had been to town and found employment for the +young ones, and was now going to the country to see the people at home. +After hearing the old man's story, Nekhludoff went to the place that +Taras was keeping for him. + +"It's all right, sir; sit down; we'll put the bag here," said the +gardener, who sat opposite Taras, in a friendly tone, looking up into +Nekhludoff's face. + +"Rather a tight fit, but no matter since we are friends," said Taras, +smiling, and lifting the bag, which weighed more than five stone, as if +it were a feather, he carried it across to the window. + +"Plenty of room; besides, we might stand up a bit; and even under +the seat it's as comfortable as you could wish. What's the good of +humbugging?" he said, beaming with friendliness and kindness. + +Taras spoke of himself as being unable to utter a word when quite sober; +but drink, he said, helped him to find the right words, and then he +could express everything. And in reality, when he was sober Taras kept +silent; but when he had been drinking, which happened rarely and only on +special occasions, he became very pleasantly talkative. Then he spoke +a great deal, spoke well and very simply and truthfully, and especially +with great kindliness, which shone in his gentle, blue eyes and in the +friendly smile that never left his lips. He was in such a state to-day. +Nekhludoff's approach interrupted the conversation; but when he had put +the bag in its place, Taras sat down again, and with his strong hands +folded in his lap, and looking straight into the gardener's face, +continued his story. He was telling his new acquaintance about his wife +and giving every detail: what she was being sent to Siberia for, and why +he was now following her. Nekhludoff had never heard a detailed account +of this affair, and so he listened with interest. When he came up, the +story had reached the point when the attempt to poison was already an +accomplished fact, and the family had discovered that it was Theodosia's +doing. + +"It's about my troubles that I'm talking," said Taras, addressing +Nekhludoff with cordial friendliness. "I have chanced to come across +such a hearty man, and we've got into conversation, and I'm telling him +all." + +"I see," said Nekhludoff. + +"Well, then in this way, my friend, the business became known. Mother, +she takes that cake. 'I'm going,' says she, 'to the police officer.' My +father is a just old man. 'Wait, wife,' says he, 'the little woman is +a mere child, and did not herself know what she was doing. We must have +pity. She may come to her senses.' But, dear me, mother would not hear +of it. 'While we keep her here,' she says, 'she may destroy us all like +cockroaches.' Well, friend, so she goes off for the police officer. He +bounces in upon us at once. Calls for witnesses." + +"Well, and you?" asked the gardener. + +"Well, I, you see, friend, roll about with the pain in my stomach, and +vomit. All my inside is turned inside out; I can't even speak. Well, so +father he goes and harnesses the mare, and puts Theodosia into the cart, +and is off to the police-station, and then to the magistrate's. And she, +you know, just as she had done from the first, so also there, confesses +all to the magistrate--where she got the arsenic, and how she kneaded +the cake. 'Why did you do it?' says he. 'Why,' says she, 'because he's +hateful to me. I prefer Siberia to a life with him.' That's me," and +Taras smiled. + +"Well, so she confessed all. Then, naturally--the prison, and father +returns alone. And harvest time just coming, and mother the only woman +at home, and she no longer strong. So we think what we are to do. Could +we not bail her out? So father went to see an official. No go. Then +another. I think he went to five of them, and we thought of giving it +up. Then we happened to come across a clerk--such an artful one as you +don't often find. 'You give me five roubles, and I'll get her out,' says +he. He agreed to do it for three. Well, and what do you think, friend? I +went and pawned the linen she herself had woven, and gave him the money. +As soon as he had written that paper," drawled out Taras, just as if he +were speaking of a shot being fired, "we succeeded at once. I went to +fetch her myself. Well, friend, so I got to town, put up the mare, took +the paper, and went to the prison. 'What do you want?' 'This is what I +want,' say I, 'you've got my wife here in prison.' 'And have you got a +paper?' I gave him the paper. He gave it a look. 'Wait,' says he. So I +sat down on a bench. It was already past noon by the sun. An official +comes out. 'You are Vargoushoff?' 'I am.' 'Well, you may take her.' The +gates opened, and they led her out in her own clothes quite all right. +'Well, come along. Have you come on foot?' 'No, I have the horse here.' +So I went and paid the ostler, and harnessed, put in all the hay that +was left, and covered it with sacking for her to sit on. She got in and +wrapped her shawl round her, and off we drove. She says nothing and I +say nothing. Just as we were coming up to the house she says, 'And how's +mother; is she alive?' 'Yes, she's alive.' 'And father; is he alive? +'Yes, he is.' 'Forgive me, Taras,' she says, 'for my folly. I did not +myself know what I was doing.' So I say, 'Words won't mend matters. I +have forgiven you long ago,' and I said no more. We got home, and she +just fell at mother's feet. Mother says, 'The Lord will forgive you.' +And father said, 'How d'you do?' and 'What's past is past. Live as +best you can. Now,' says he, 'is not the time for all that; there's +the harvest to be gathered in down at Skorodino,' he says. 'Down on the +manured acre, by the Lord's help, the ground has borne such rye that +the sickle can't tackle it. It's all interwoven and heavy, and has sunk +beneath its weight; that must be reaped. You and Taras had better go +and see to it to-morrow.' Well, friend, from that moment she took to the +work and worked so that every one wondered. At that time we rented three +desiatins, and by God's help we had a wonderful crop both of oats and +rye. I mow and she binds the sheaves, and sometimes we both of us +reap. I am good at work and not afraid of it, but she's better still at +whatever she takes up. She's a smart woman, young, and full of life; and +as to work, friend, she'd grown that eager that I had to stop her. We +get home, our fingers swollen, our arms aching, and she, instead of +resting, rushes off to the barn to make binders for the sheaves for next +day. Such a change!" + +"Well, and to you? Was she kinder, now?" asked the gardener. + +"That's beyond question. She clings to me as if we were one soul. +Whatever I think she understands. Even mother, angry as she was, could +not help saying: 'It's as if our Theodosia had been transformed; she's +quite a different woman now!' We were once going to cart the sheaves +with two carts. She and I were in the first, and I say, 'How could you +think of doing that, Theodosia?' and she says, 'How could I think of it? +just so, I did not wish to live with you. I thought I'd rather die +than live with you!' I say, 'And now?' and she says, 'Now you're in +my heart!'" Taras stopped, and smiled joyfully, shook his head as if +surprised. "Hardly had we got the harvest home when I went to soak the +hemp, and when I got home there was a summons, she must go to be tried, +and we had forgotten all about the matter that she was to be tried for." + +"It can only be the evil one," said the gardener. "Could any man of +himself think of destroying a living soul? We had a fellow once--" and +the gardener was about to commence his tale when the train began to +stop. + +"It seems we are coming to a station," he said. "I'll go and have a +drink." + +The conversation stopped, and Nekhludoff followed the gardener out of +the carriage onto the wet platform of the station. + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +LE VRAI GRAND MONDE. + +Before Nekhludoff got out he had noticed in the station yard several +elegant equipages, some with three, some with four, well-fed horses, +with tinkling bells on their harness. When he stepped out on the wet, +dark-coloured boards of the platform, he saw a group of people in front +of the first-class carriage, among whom were conspicuous a stout +lady with costly feathers on her hat, and a waterproof, and a tall, +thin-legged young man in a cycling suit. The young man had by his side +an enormous, well-fed dog, with a valuable collar. Behind them stood +footmen, holding wraps and umbrellas, and a coachman, who had also come +to meet the train. + +On the whole of the group, from the fat lady down to the coachman who +stood holding up his long coat, there lay the stamp of wealth and quiet +self-assurance. A curious and servile crowd rapidly gathered round this +group--the station-master, in his red cap, a gendarme, a thin young lady +in a Russian costume, with beads round her neck, who made a point of +seeing the trains come in all through the summer, a telegraph clerk, and +passengers, men and women. + +In the young man with the dog Nekhludoff recognised young Korchagin, +a gymnasium student. The fat lady was the Princess's sister, to whose +estate the Korchagins were now moving. The guard, with his gold cord and +shiny top-boots, opened the carriage door and stood holding it as a sign +of deference, while Philip and a porter with a white apron carefully +carried out the long-faced Princess in her folding chair. The sisters +greeted each other, and French sentences began flying about. Would the +Princess go in a closed or an open carriage? At last the procession +started towards the exit, the lady's maid, with her curly fringe, +parasol and leather case in the rear. + +Nekhludoff not wishing to meet them and to have to take leave over +again, stopped before he got to the door, waiting for the procession to +pass. + +The Princess, her son, Missy, the doctor, and the maid went out first, +the old Prince and his sister-in-law remained behind. Nekhludoff was too +far to catch anything but a few disconnected French sentences of their +conversation One of the sentences uttered by the Prince, as it often +happens, for some unaccountable reason remained in his memory with all +its intonations and the sound of the voice. + +"_Oh, il est du vrai grand monde, du vrai grand monde_," said the Prince +in his loud, self-assured tone as he went out of the station with his +sister-in-law, accompanied by the respectful guards and porters. + +At this moment from behind the corner of the station suddenly appeared +a crowd of workmen in bark shoes, wearing sheepskin coats and carrying +bags on their backs. The workmen went up to the nearest carriage with +soft yet determined steps, and were about to get in, but were at +once driven away by a guard. Without stopping, the workmen passed +on, hurrying and jostling one another, to the next carriage and began +getting in, catching their bags against the corners and door of the +carriage, but another guard caught sight of them from the door of the +station, and shouted at them severely. The workmen, who had already got +in, hurried out again and went on, with the same soft and firm steps, +still further towards Nekhludoff's carriage. A guard was again going to +stop them, but Nekhludoff said there was plenty of room inside, and that +they had better get in. They obeyed and got in, followed by Nekhludoff. + +The workmen were about to take their seats, when the gentleman with the +cockade and the two ladies, looking at this attempt to settle in their +carriage as a personal insult to themselves, indignantly protested and +wanted to turn them out. The workmen--there were 20 of them, old men +and quite young ones, all of them wearied, sunburnt, with haggard +faces--began at once to move on through the carriage, catching the +seats, the walls, and the doors with their bags. They evidently felt +they had offended in some way, and seemed ready to go on indefinitely +wherever they were ordered to go. + +"Where are you pushing to, you fiends? Sit down here," shouted another +guard they met. + +"Voila encore des nouvelles," exclaimed the younger of the two ladies, +quite convinced that she would attract Nekhludoff's notice by her good +French. + +The other lady with the bracelets kept sniffing and making faces, +and remarked something about how pleasant it was to sit with smelly +peasants. + +The workmen, who felt the joy and calm experienced by people who have +escaped some kind of danger, threw off their heavy bags with a movement +of their shoulders and stowed them away under the seats. + +The gardener had left his own seat to talk with Taras, and now went +back, so that there were two unoccupied seats opposite and one next to +Taras. Three of the workmen took these seats, but when Nekhludoff came +up to them, in his gentleman's clothing, they got so confused that they +rose to go away, but Nekhludoff asked them to stay, and himself sat down +on the arm of the seat, by the passage down the middle of the carriage. + +One of the workmen, a man of about 50, exchanged a surprised and even +frightened look with a young man. That Nekhludoff, instead of scolding +and driving them away, as was natural to a gentleman, should give up his +seat to them, astonished and perplexed them. They even feared that this +might have some evil result for them. + +However, they soon noticed that there was no underlying plot when they +heard Nekhludoff talking quite simply with Taras, and they grew quiet +and told one of the lads to sit down on his bag and give his seat to +Nekhludoff. At first the elderly workman who sat opposite Nekhludoff +shrank and drew back his legs for fear of touching the gentleman, but +after a while he grew quite friendly, and in talking to him and Taras +even slapped Nekhludoff on the knee when he wanted to draw special +attention to what he was saying. + +He told them all about his position and his work in the peat bogs, +whence he was now returning home. He had been working there for two and +a half months, and was bringing home his wages, which only came to 10 +roubles, since part had been paid beforehand when he was hired. They +worked, as he explained, up to their knees in water from sunrise to +sunset, with two hours' interval for dinner. + +"Those who are not used to it find it hard, of course," he said; "but +when one's hardened it doesn't matter, if only the food is right. At +first the food was bad. Later the people complained, and they got good +food, and it was easy to work." + +Then he told them how, during 28 years he went out to work, and sent all +his earnings home. First to his father, then to his eldest brother, and +now to his nephew, who was at the head of the household. On himself he +spent only two or three roubles of the 50 or 60 he earned a year, just +for luxuries--tobacco and matches. + +"I'm a sinner, when tired I even drink a little vodka sometimes," he +added, with a guilty smile. + +Then he told them how the women did the work at home, and how the +contractor had treated them to half a pail of vodka before they started +to-day, how one of them had died, and another was returning home ill. +The sick workman he was talking about was in a corner of the same +carriage. He was a young lad, with a pale, sallow face and bluish lips. +He was evidently tormented by intermittent fever. Nekhludoff went up to +him, but the lad looked up with such a severe and suffering expression +that Nekhludoff did not care to bother him with questions, but advised +the elder man to give him quinine, and wrote down the name of the +medicine. He wished to give him some money, but the old workman said he +would pay for it himself. + +"Well, much as I have travelled, I have never met such a gentleman +before. Instead of punching your head, he actually gives up his place +to you," said the old man to Taras. "It seems there are all sorts of +gentlefolk, too." + +"Yes, this is quite a new and different world," thought Nekhludoff, +looking at these spare, sinewy, limbs, coarse, home-made garments, +and sunburnt, kindly, though weary-looking faces, and feeling himself +surrounded on all sides with new people and the serious interests, joys, +and sufferings of a life of labour. + +"Here is_ le vrai grand monde_," thought Nekhludoff, remembering the +words of Prince Korchagin and all that idle, luxurious world to which +the Korchagins belonged, with their petty, mean interests. And he felt +the joy of a traveller on discovering a new, unknown, and beautiful +world. + + +END OF BOOK II. + + + + +BOOK III. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MASLOVA MAKES NEW FRIENDS. + +The gang of prisoners to which Maslova belonged had walked about three +thousand three hundred miles. She and the other prisoners condemned for +criminal offences had travelled by rail and by steamboats as far as the +town of Perm. It was only here that Nekhludoff succeeded in obtaining a +permission for her to continue the journey with the political prisoners, +as Vera Doukhova, who was among the latter, advised him to do. The +journey up to Perm had been very trying to Maslova both morally and +physically. Physically, because of the overcrowding, the dirt, and the +disgusting vermin, which gave her no peace; morally, because of the +equally disgusting men. The men, like the vermin, though they changed +at each halting-place, were everywhere alike importunate; they swarmed +round her, giving her no rest. Among the women prisoners and the men +prisoners, the jailers and the convoy soldiers, the habit of a kind of +cynical debauch was so firmly established that unless a female prisoner +was willing to utilise her position as a woman she had to be constantly +on the watch. To be continually in a state of fear and strife was very +trying. And Maslova was specially exposed to attacks, her appearance +being attractive and her past known to every one. The decided resistance +with which she now met the importunity of all the men seemed offensive +to them, and awakened another feeling, that of ill-will towards her. But +her position was made a little easier by her intimacy with Theodosia, +and Theodosia's husband, who, having heard of the molestations his wife +was subject to, had in Nijni been arrested at his own desire in order +to be able to protect her, and was now travelling with the gang as a +prisoner. Maslova's position became much more bearable when she was +allowed to join the political prisoners, who were provided with better +accomodations, better food, and were treated less rudely, but besides +all this Maslova's condition was much improved because among the +political prisoners she was no longer molested by the men, and could +live without being reminded of that past which she was so anxious to +forget. But the chief advantage of the change lay in the fact that she +made the acquaintance of several persons who exercised a decided and +most beneficial influence on her character. Maslova was allowed to stop +with the political prisoners at all the halting-places, but being a +strong and healthy woman she was obliged to march with the criminal +convicts. In this way she walked all the way from Tomsk. Two political +prisoners also marched with the gang, Mary Pavlovna Schetinina, the girl +with the hazel eyes who had attracted Nekhludoff's attention when he had +been to visit Doukhova in prison, and one Simonson, who was on his +way to the Takoutsk district, the dishevelled dark young fellow with +deep-lying eyes, whom Nekhludoff had also noticed during that visit. +Mary Pavlovna was walking because she had given her place on the cart +to one of the criminals, a woman expecting to be confined, and Simonson +because he did not dare to avail himself of a class privilege. + +These three always started early in the morning before the rest of the +political prisoners, who followed later on in the carts. + +They were ready to start in this way just outside a large town, where a +new convoy officer had taken charge of the gang. + +It was early on a dull September morning. It kept raining and snowing +alternately, and the cold wind blew in sudden gusts. The whole gang of +prisoners, consisting of four hundred men and fifty women, was already +assembled in the court of the halting station. Some of them were +crowding round the chief of the convoy, who was giving to specially +appointed prisoners money for two days' keep to distribute among the +rest, while others were purchasing food from women who had been let into +the courtyard. One could hear the voices of the prisoners counting their +money and making their purchases, and the shrill voices of the women +with the food. + +Simonson, in his rubber jacket and rubber overshoes fastened with a +string over his worsted stockings (he was a vegetarian and would not +wear the skin of slaughtered animals), was also in the courtyard waiting +for the gang to start. He stood by the porch and jotted down in his +notebook a thought that had occurred to him. This was what he wrote: +"If a bacteria watched and examined a human nail it would pronounce +it inorganic matter, and thus we, examining our globe and watching its +crust, pronounce it to be inorganic. This is incorrect." + +Katusha and Mary Pavlovna, both wearing top-boots and with shawls tied +round their heads, came out of the building into the courtyard where the +women sat sheltered from the wind by the northern wall of the court, +and vied with one another, offering their goods, hot meat pie, fish, +vermicelli, buckwheat porridge, liver, beef, eggs, milk. One had even a +roast pig to offer. + +Having bought some eggs, bread, fish, and some rusks, Maslova was +putting them into her bag, while Mary Pavlovna was paying the women, +when a movement arose among the convicts. All were silent and took their +places. The officer came out and began giving the last orders before +starting. Everything was done in the usual manner. The prisoners were +counted, the chains on their legs examined, and those who were to +march in couples linked together with manacles. But suddenly the angry, +authoritative voice of the officer shouting something was heard, also +the sound of a blow and the crying of a child. All was silent for a +moment and then came a hollow murmur from the crowd. Maslova and Mary +Pavlovna advanced towards the spot whence the noise proceeded. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN INCIDENT OF THE MARCH. + +This is what Mary Pavlovna and Katusha saw when they came up to the +scene whence the noise proceeded. The officer, a sturdy fellow, with +fair moustaches, stood uttering words of foul and coarse abuse, and +rubbing with his left the palm of his right hand, which he had hurt in +hitting a prisoner on the face. In front of him a thin, tall convict, +with half his head shaved and dressed in a cloak too short for him and +trousers much too short, stood wiping his bleeding face with one hand, +and holding a little shrieking girl wrapped in a shawl with the other. + +"I'll give it you" (foul abuse); "I'll teach you to reason" (more +abuse); "you're to give her to the women!" shouted the officer. "Now, +then, on with them." + +The convict, who was exiled by the Commune, had been carrying his little +daughter all the way from Tomsk, where his wife had died of typhus, and +now the officer ordered him to be manacled. The exile's explanation that +he could not carry the child if he was manacled irritated the officer, +who happened to be in a bad temper, and he gave the troublesome prisoner +a beating. [A fact described by Lineff in his "Transportation".] Before +the injured convict stood a convoy soldier, and a black-bearded prisoner +with manacles on one hand and a look of gloom on his face, which he +turned now to the officer, now to the prisoner with the little girl. + +The officer repeated his orders for the soldiers to take away the girl. +The murmur among the prisoners grew louder. + +"All the way from Tomsk they were not put on," came a hoarse voice from +some one in the rear. "It's a child, and not a puppy." + +"What's he to do with the lassie? That's not the law," said some one +else. + +"Who's that?" shouted the officer as if he had been stung, and rushed +into the crowd. + +"I'll teach you the law. Who spoke. You? You?" + +"Everybody says so, because-" said a short, broad-faced prisoner. + +Before he had finished speaking the officer hit him in the face. + +"Mutiny, is it? I'll show you what mutiny means. I'll have you all +shot like dogs, and the authorities will be only too thankful. Take the +girl." + +The crowd was silent. One convoy soldier pulled away the girl, who was +screaming desperately, while another manacled the prisoner, who now +submissively held out his hand. + +"Take her to the women," shouted the officer, arranging his sword belt. + +The little girl, whose face had grown quite red, was trying to disengage +her arms from under the shawl, and screamed unceasingly. Mary Pavlovna +stepped out from among the crowd and came up to the officer. + +"Will you allow me to carry the little girl?" she said. + +"Who are you?" asked the officer. + +"A political prisoner." + +Mary Pavlovna's handsome face, with the beautiful prominent eyes (he +had noticed her before when the prisoners were given into his charge), +evidently produced an effect on the officer. He looked at her in silence +as if considering, then said: "I don't care; carry her if you like. It +is easy for you to show pity; if he ran away who would have to answer?" + +"How could he run away with the child in his arms?" said Mary Pavlovna. + +"I have no time to talk with you. Take her if you like." + +"Shall I give her?" asked the soldier. + +"Yes, give her." + +"Come to me," said Mary Pavlovna, trying to coax the child to come to +her. + +But the child in the soldier's arms stretched herself towards her father +and continued to scream, and would not go to Mary Pavlovna. + +"Wait a bit, Mary Pavlovna," said Maslova, getting a rusk out of her +bag; "she will come to me." + +The little girl knew Maslova, and when she saw her face and the rusk +she let her take her. All was quiet. The gates were opened, and the gang +stepped out, the convoy counted the prisoners over again, the bags were +packed and tied on to the carts, the weak seated on the top. Maslova +with the child in her arms took her place among the women next to +Theodosia. Simonson, who had all the time been watching what was going +on, stepped with large, determined strides up to the officer, who, +having given his orders, was just getting into a trap, and said, "You +have behaved badly." + +"Get to your place; it is no business of yours." + +"It is my business to tell you that you have behaved badly and I have +said it," said Simonson, looking intently into the officer's face from +under his bushy eyebrows. + +"Ready? March!" the officer called out, paying no heed to Simonson, and, +taking hold of the driver's shoulder, he got into the trap. The gang +started and spread out as it stepped on to the muddy high road with +ditches on each side, which passed through a dense forest. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MARY PAVLOVNA. + +In spite of the hard conditions in which they were placed, life among +the political prisoners seemed very good to Katusha after the depraved, +luxurious and effeminate life she had led in town for the last six +years, and after two months' imprisonment with criminal prisoners. The +fifteen to twenty miles they did per day, with one day's rest after two +days' marching, strengthened her physically, and the fellowship with her +new companions opened out to her a life full of interests such as she +had never dreamed of. People so wonderful (as she expressed it) as those +whom she was now going with she had not only never met but could not +even have imagined. + +"There now, and I cried when I was sentenced," she said. "Why, I must +thank God for it all the days of my life. I have learned to know what I +never should have found out else." + +The motives she understood easily and without effort that guided these +people, and, being of the people, fully sympathised with them. She +understood that these persons were for the people and against the +upper classes, and though themselves belonging to the upper classes +had sacrificed their privileges, their liberty and their lives for the +people. This especially made her value and admire them. She was charmed +with all the new companions, but particularly with Mary Pavlovna, +and she was not only charmed with her, but loved her with a peculiar, +respectful and rapturous love. She was struck by the fact that this +beautiful girl, the daughter of a rich general, who could speak three +languages, gave away all that her rich brother sent her, and lived like +the simplest working girl, and dressed not only simply, but poorly, +paying no heed to her appearance. This trait and a complete absence +of coquetry was particularly surprising and therefore attractive to +Maslova. Maslova could see that Mary Pavlovna knew, and was even pleased +to know, that she was handsome, and yet the effect her appearance had on +men was not at all pleasing to her; she was even afraid of it, and felt +an absolute disgust to all love affairs. Her men companions knew it, and +if they felt attracted by her never permitted themselves to show it to +her, but treated her as they would a man; but with strangers, who often +molested her, the great physical strength on which she prided herself +stood her in good stead. + +"It happened once," she said to Katusha, "that a man followed me in the +street and would not leave me on any account. At last I gave him such a +shaking that he was frightened and ran away." + +She became a revolutionary, as she said, because she felt a dislike to +the life of the well-to-do from childhood up, and loved the life of the +common people, and she was always being scolded for spending her time +in the servants' hall, in the kitchen or the stables instead of the +drawing-room. + +"And I found it amusing to be with cooks and the coachmen, and dull with +our gentlemen and ladies," she said. "Then when I came to understand +things I saw that our life was altogether wrong; I had no mother and I +did not care for my father, and so when I was nineteen I left home, and +went with a girl friend to work as a factory hand." + +After she left the factory she lived in the country, then returned to +town and lived in a lodging, where they had a secret printing press. +There she was arrested and sentenced to hard labour. Mary Pavlovna +said nothing about it herself, but Katusha heard from others that Mary +Pavlovna was sentenced because, when the lodging was searched by the +police and one of the revolutionists fired a shot in the dark, she +pleaded guilty. + +As soon as she had learned to know Mary Pavlovna, Katusha noticed +that, whatever the conditions she found herself in, Mary Pavlovna never +thought of herself, but was always anxious to serve, to help some one, +in matters small or great. One of her present companions, Novodvoroff, +said of her that she devoted herself to philanthropic amusements. And +this was true. The interest of her whole life lay in the search for +opportunities of serving others. This kind of amusement had become the +habit, the business of her life. And she did it all so naturally that +those who knew her no longer valued but simply expected it of her. + +When Maslova first came among them, Mary Pavlovna felt repulsed and +disgusted. Katusha noticed this, but she also noticed that, having made +an effort to overcome these feelings, Mary Pavlovna became particularly +tender and kind to her. The tenderness and kindness of so uncommon +a being touched Maslova so much that she gave her whole heart, and +unconsciously accepting her views, could not help imitating her in +everything. + +This devoted love of Katusha touched Mary Pavlovna in her turn, and she +learned to love Katusha. + +These women were also united by the repulsion they both felt to sexual +love. The one loathed that kind of love, having experienced all its +horrors, the other, never having experienced it, looked on it as +something incomprehensible and at the same time as something repugnant +and offensive to human dignity. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SIMONSON. + +Mary Pavlovna's influence was one that Maslova submitted to because she +loved Mary Pavlovna. Simonson influenced her because he loved her. + +Everybody lives and acts partly according to his own, partly according +to other people's, ideas. This is what constitutes one of the great +differences among men. To some, thinking is a kind of mental game; they +treat their reason as if it were a fly-wheel without a connecting strap, +and are guided in their actions by other people's ideas, by custom or +laws; while others look upon their own ideas as the chief motive power +of all their actions, and always listen to the dictates of their own +reason and submit to it, accepting other people's opinions only on rare +occasions and after weighing them critically. Simonson was a man of the +latter sort; he settled and verified everything according to his own +reason and acted on the decisions he arrived at. When a schoolboy +he made up his mind that his father's income, made as a paymaster in +government office was dishonestly gained, and he told his father that it +ought to be given to the people. When his father, instead of listening +to him, gave him a scolding, he left his father's house and would not +make use of his father's means. Having come to the conclusion that all +the existing misery was a result of the people's ignorance, he joined +the socialists, who carried on propaganda among the people, as soon as +he left the university and got a place as a village schoolmaster. +He taught and explained to his pupils and to the peasants what he +considered to be just, and openly blamed what he thought unjust. He was +arrested and tried. During his trial he determined to tell his judges +that his was a just cause, for which he ought not to be tried or +punished. When the judges paid no heed to his words, but went on with +the trial, he decided not to answer them and kept resolutely silent when +they questioned him. He was exiled to the Government of Archangel. There +he formulated a religious teaching which was founded on the theory that +everything in the world was alive, that nothing is lifeless, and that +all the objects we consider to be without life or inorganic are only +parts of an enormous organic body which we cannot compass. A man's task +is to sustain the life of that huge organism and all its animate parts. +Therefore he was against war, capital punishment and every kind of +killing, not only of human beings, but also of animals. Concerning +marriage, too, he had a peculiar idea of his own; he thought that +increase was a lower function of man, the highest function being to +serve the already existing lives. He found a confirmation of his +theory in the fact that there were phacocytes in the blood. Celibates, +according to his opinion, were the same as phacocytes, their function +being to help the weak and the sickly particles of the organism. From +the moment he came to this conclusion he began to consider himself as +well as Mary Pavlovna as phacocytes, and to live accordingly, though +as a youth he had been addicted to vice. His love for Katusha did not +infringe this conception, because he loved her platonically, and such +love he considered could not hinder his activity as a phacocytes, but +acted, on the contrary, as an inspiration. + +Not only moral, but also most practical questions he decided in his own +way. He applied a theory of his own to all practical business, had rules +relating to the number of hours for rest and for work, to the kind of +food to eat, the way to dress, to heat and light up the rooms. With all +this Simonson was very shy and modest; and yet when he had once made +up his mind nothing could make him waver. And this man had a decided +influence on Maslova through his love for her. With a woman's instinct +Maslova very soon found out that he loved her. And the fact that +she could awaken love in a man of that kind raised her in her own +estimation. It was Nekhludoff's magnanimity and what had been in the +past that made him offer to marry her, but Simonson loved her such as +she was now, loved her simply because of the love he bore her. And she +felt that Simonson considered her to be an exceptional woman, having +peculiarly high moral qualities. She did not quite know what the +qualities he attributed to her were, but in order to be on the safe side +and that he should not be disappointed in her, she tried with all her +might to awaken in herself all the highest qualities she could conceive, +and she tried to be as good as possible. This had begun while they +were still in prison, when on a common visiting day she had noticed his +kindly dark blue eyes gazing fixedly at her from under his projecting +brow. Even then she had noticed that this was a peculiar man, and that +he was looking at her in a peculiar manner, and had also noticed the +striking combination of sternness--the unruly hair and the frowning +forehead gave him this appearance--with the child-like kindness and +innocence of his look. She saw him again in Tomsk, where she joined the +political prisoners. Though they had not uttered a word, their looks +told plainly that they had understood one another. Even after that they +had had no serious conversation with each other, but Maslova felt that +when he spoke in her presence his words were addressed to her, and that +he spoke for her sake, trying to express himself as plainly as he could; +but it was when he started walking with the criminal prisoners that they +grew specially near to one another. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE POLITICAL PRISONERS. + +Until they left Perm Nekhludoff only twice managed to see Katusha, once +in Nijni, before the prisoners were embarked on a barge surrounded with +a wire netting, and again in Perm in the prison office. At both these +interviews he found her reserved and unkind. She answered his questions +as to whether she was in want of anything, and whether she was +comfortable, evasively and bashfully, and, as he thought, with the same +feeling of hostile reproach which she had shown several times +before. Her depressed state of mind, which was only the result of the +molestations from the men that she was undergoing at the time, tormented +Nekhludoff. He feared lest, influenced by the hard and degrading +circumstances in which she was placed on the journey, she should again +get into that state of despair and discord with her own self which +formerly made her irritable with him, and which had caused her to drink +and smoke excessively to gain oblivion. But he was unable to help her in +any way during this part of the journey, as it was impossible for him to +be with her. It was only when she joined the political prisoners that he +saw how unfounded his fears were, and at each interview he noticed that +inner change he so strongly desired to see in her becoming more and more +marked. The first time they met in Tomsk she was again just as she had +been when leaving Moscow. She did not frown or become confused when she +saw him, but met him joyfully and simply, thanking him for what he had +done for her, especially for bringing her among the people with whom she +now was. + +After two months' marching with the gang, the change that had taken +place within her became noticeable in her appearance. She grew sunburned +and thinner, and seemed older; wrinkles appeared on her temples and +round her mouth. She had no ringlets on her forehead now, and her hair +was covered with the kerchief; in the way it was arranged, as well as in +her dress and her manners, there was no trace of coquetry left. And this +change, which had taken place and was still progressing in her, made +Nekhludoff very happy. + +He felt for her something he had never experienced before. This feeling +had nothing in common with his first poetic love for her, and even less +with the sensual love that had followed, nor even with the satisfaction +of a duty fulfilled, not unmixed with self-admiration, with which he +decided to marry her after the trial. The present feeling was simply one +of pity and tenderness. He had felt it when he met her in prison for +the first time, and then again when, after conquering his repugnance, +he forgave her the imagined intrigue with the medical assistant in the +hospital (the injustice done her had since been discovered); it was the +same feeling he now had, only with this difference, that formerly it was +momentary, and that now it had become permanent. Whatever he was doing, +whatever he was thinking now, a feeling of pity and tenderness dwelt +with him, and not only pity and tenderness for her, but for everybody. +This feeling seemed to have opened the floodgates of love, which had +found no outlet in Nekhludoff's soul, and the love now flowed out to +every one he met. + +During this journey Nekhludoff's feelings were so stimulated that he +could not help being attentive and considerate to everybody, from the +coachman and the convoy soldiers to the prison inspectors and governors +whom he had to deal with. Now that Maslova was among the political +prisoners, Nekhludoff could not help becoming acquainted with many of +them, first in Ekaterinburg, where they had a good deal of freedom and +were kept altogether in a large cell, and then on the road when Maslova +was marching with three of the men and four of the women. Coming in +contact with political exiles in this way made Nekhludoff completely +change his mind concerning them. + +From the very beginning of the revolutionary movement in Russia, but +especially since that first of March, when Alexander II was murdered, +Nekhludoff regarded the revolutionists with dislike and contempt. He +was repulsed by the cruelty and secrecy of the methods they employed +in their struggles against the government, especially the cruel murders +they committed, and their arrogance also disgusted him. But having +learned more intimately to know them and all they had suffered at the +hands of the government, he saw that they could not be other than they +were. + +Terrible and endless as were the torments which were inflicted on the +criminals, there was at least some semblance of justice shown them +before and after they were sentenced, but in the case of the political +prisoners there was not even that semblance, as Nekhludoff saw in the +case of Sholostova and that of many and many of his new acquaintances. +These people were dealt with like fish caught with a net; everything +that gets into the nets is pulled ashore, and then the big fish which +are required are sorted out and the little ones are left to perish +unheeded on the shore. Having captured hundreds that were evidently +guiltless, and that could not be dangerous to the government, they left +them imprisoned for years, where they became consumptive, went out of +their minds or committed suicide, and kept them only because they had +no inducement to set them free, while they might be of use to elucidate +some question at a judicial inquiry, safe in prison. The fate of these +persons, often innocent even from the government point of view, depended +on the whim, the humour of, or the amount of leisure at the disposal +of some police officer or spy, or public prosecutor, or magistrate, +or governor, or minister. Some one of these officials feels dull, or +inclined to distinguish himself, and makes a number of arrests, and +imprisons or sets free, according to his own fancy or that of the +higher authorities. And the higher official, actuated by like motives, +according to whether he is inclined to distinguish himself, or to what +his relations to the minister are, exiles men to the other side of the +world or keeps them in solitary confinement, condemns them to Siberia, +to hard labour, to death, or sets them free at the request of some lady. + +They were dealt with as in war, and they naturally employed the +means that were used against them. And as the military men live in an +atmosphere of public opinion that not only conceals from them the guilt +of their actions, but sets these actions up as feats of heroism, +so these political offenders were also constantly surrounded by +an atmosphere of public opinion which made the cruel actions they +committed, in the face of danger and at the risk of liberty and life, +and all that is dear to men, seem not wicked but glorious actions. +Nekhludoff found in this the explanation of the surprising phenomenon +that men, with the mildest characters, who seemed incapable of +witnessing the sufferings of any living creature, much less of +inflicting pain, quietly prepared to murder men, nearly all of them +considering murder lawful and just on certain occasions as a means +for self-defence, for the attainment of higher aims or for the general +welfare. + +The importance they attribute to their cause, and consequently to +themselves, flowed naturally from the importance the government attached +to their actions, and the cruelty of the punishments it inflicted on +them. When Nekhludoff came to know them better he became convinced that +they were not the right-down villains that some imagined them to be, nor +the complete heroes that others thought them, but ordinary people, just +the same as others, among whom there were some good and some bad, and +some mediocre, as there are everywhere. + +There were some among them who had turned revolutionists because they +honestly considered it their duty to fight the existing evils, but there +were also those who chose this work for selfish, ambitious motives; the +majority, however, was attracted to the revolutionary idea by the desire +for danger, for risks, the enjoyment of playing with one's life, which, +as Nekhludoff knew from his military experiences, is quite common to +the most ordinary people while they are young and full of energy. But +wherein they differed from ordinary people was that their moral standard +was a higher one than that of ordinary men. They considered not only +self-control, hard living, truthfulness, but also the readiness to +sacrifice everything, even life, for the common welfare as their duty. +Therefore the best among them stood on a moral level that is not often +reached, while the worst were far below the ordinary level, many of them +being untruthful, hypocritical and at the same time self-satisfied and +proud. So that Nekhludoff learned not only to respect but to love some +of his new acquaintances, while he remained more than indifferent to +others. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +KRYLTZOFF'S STORY. + +Nekhludoff grew especially fond of Kryltzoff, a consumptive young man +condemned to hard labour, who was going with the same gang as Katusha. +Nekhludoff had made his acquaintance already in Ekaterinburg, and +talked with him several times on the road after that. Once, in summer, +Nekhludoff spent nearly the whole of a day with him at a halting +station, and Kryltzoff, having once started talking, told him his +story and how he had become a revolutionist. Up to the time of his +imprisonment his story was soon told. He lost his father, a rich landed +proprietor in the south of Russia, when still a child. He was the only +son, and his mother brought him up. He learned easily in the university, +as well as the gymnasium, and was first in the mathematical faculty +in his year. He was offered a choice of remaining in the university +or going abroad. He hesitated. He loved a girl and was thinking of +marriage, and taking part in the rural administration. He did not like +giving up either offer, and could not make up his mind. At this time +his fellow-students at the university asked him for money for a common +cause. He did not know that this common cause was revolutionary, which +he was not interested in at that time, but gave the money from a sense +of comradeship and vanity, so that it should not be said that he was +afraid. Those who received the money were caught, a note was found which +proved that the money had been given by Kryltzoff, he was arrested, and +first kept at the police station, then imprisoned. + +"The prison where I was put," Kryltzoff went on to relate (he was +sitting on the high shelf bedstead, his elbows on his knees, with +sunken chest, the beautiful, intelligent eyes with which he looked at +Nekhludoff glistening feverishly)--"they were not specially strict in +that prison. We managed to converse, not only by tapping the wall, but +could walk about the corridors, share our provisions and our tobacco, +and in the evenings we even sang in chorus. I had a fine voice--yes, if +it had not been for mother it would have been all right, even pleasant +and interesting. Here I made the acquaintance of the famous Petroff--he +afterwards killed himself with a piece of glass at the fortress--and +also of others. But I was not yet a revolutionary. I also became +acquainted with my neighbours in the cells next to mine. They were both +caught with Polish proclamations and arrested in the same cause, and +were tried for an attempt to escape from the convoy when they were being +taken to the railway station. One was a Pole, Lozinsky; the other a +Jew, Rozovsky. Yes. Well, this Rozovsky was quite a boy. He said he +was seventeen, but he looked fifteen--thin, small, active, with black, +sparkling eyes, and, like most Jews, very musical. His voice was still +breaking, and yet he sang beautifully. Yes. I saw them both taken to be +tried. They were taken in the morning. They returned in the evening, and +said they were condemned to death. No one had expected it. Their case +was so unimportant; they only tried to get away from the convoy, and had +not even wounded any one. And then it was so unnatural to execute such +a child as Rozovsky. And we in prison all came to the conclusion that it +was only done to frighten them, and would not be confirmed. At first +we were excited, and then we comforted ourselves, and life went on +as before. Yes. Well, one evening, a watchman comes to my door and +mysteriously announces to me that carpenters had arrived, and were +putting up the gallows. At first I did not understand. What's that? What +gallows? But the watchman was so excited that I saw at once it was +for our two. I wished to tap and communicate with my comrades, but was +afraid those two would hear. The comrades were also silent. Evidently +everybody knew. In the corridors and in the cells everything was as +still as death all that evening. They did not tap the wall nor sing. +At ten the watchman came again and announced that a hangman had arrived +from Moscow. He said it and went away. I began calling him back. +Suddenly I hear Rozovsky shouting to me across the corridor: 'What's the +matter? Why do you call him?' I answered something about asking him to +get me some tobacco, but he seemed to guess, and asked me: 'Why did we +not sing to-night, why did we not tap the walls?' I do not remember +what I said, but I went away so as not to speak to him. Yes. It was a +terrible night. I listened to every sound all night. Suddenly, towards +morning, I hear doors opening and somebody walking--many persons. I went +up to my window. There was a lamp burning in the corridor. The first +to pass was the inspector. He was stout, and seemed a resolute, +self-satisfied man, but he looked ghastly pale, downcast, and seemed +frightened; then his assistant, frowning but resolute; behind them the +watchman. They passed my door and stopped at the next, and I hear the +assistant calling out in a strange voice: 'Lozinsky, get up and put on +clean linen.' Yes. Then I hear the creaking of the door; they entered +into his cell. Then I hear Lozinsky's steps going to the opposite side +of the corridor. I could only see the inspector. He stood quite pale, +and buttoned and unbuttoned his coat, shrugging his shoulders. Yes. +Then, as if frightened of something, he moved out of the way. It was +Lozinsky, who passed him and came up to my door. A handsome young fellow +he was, you know, of that nice Polish type: broad shouldered, his head +covered with fine, fair, curly hair as with a cap, and with beautiful +blue eyes. So blooming, so fresh, so healthy. He stopped in front of my +window, so that I could see the whole of his face. A dreadful, gaunt, +livid face. 'Kryltzoff, have you any cigarettes?' I wished to pass him +some, but the assistant hurriedly pulled out his cigarette case and +passed it to him. He took out one, the assistant struck a match, and he +lit the cigarette and began to smoke and seemed to be thinking. Then, +as if he had remembered something, he began to speak. 'It is cruel and +unjust. I have committed no crime. I--' I saw something quiver in his +white young throat, from which I could not take my eyes, and he stopped. +Yes. At that moment I hear Rozovsky shouting in his fine, Jewish +voice. Lozinsky threw away the cigarette and stepped from the door. +And Rozovsky appeared at the window. His childish face, with the limpid +black eyes, was red and moist. He also had clean linen on, the trousers +were too wide, and he kept pulling them up and trembled all over. He +approached his pitiful face to my window. 'Kryltzoff, it's true that the +doctor has prescribed cough mixture for me, is it not? I am not well. +I'll take some more of the mixture.' No one answered, and he looked +inquiringly, now at me, now at the inspector. What he meant to say +I never made out. Yes. Suddenly the assistant again put on a stern +expression, and called out in a kind of squeaking tone: 'Now, then, no +nonsense. Let us go.' Rozovsky seemed incapable of understanding what +awaited him, and hurried, almost ran, in front of him all along the +corridor. But then he drew back, and I could hear his shrill voice +and his cries, then the trampling of feet, and general hubbub. He was +shrieking and sobbing. The sounds came fainter and fainter, and at +last the door rattled and all was quiet. Yes. And so they hanged them. +Throttled them both with a rope. A watchman, another one, saw it done, +and told me that Lozinsky did not resist, but Rozovsky struggled for +a long time, so that they had to pull him up on to the scaffold and to +force his head into the noose. Yes. This watchman was a stupid fellow. +He said: 'They told me, sir, that it would be frightful, but it was +not at all frightful. After they were hanged they only shrugged their +shoulders twice, like this.' He showed how the shoulders convulsively +rose and fell. 'Then the hangman pulled a bit so as to tighten the +noose, and it was all up, and they never budged."' And Kryltzoff +repeated the watchman's words, "Not at all frightful," and tried to +smile, but burst into sobs instead. + +For a long time after that he kept silent, breathing heavily, and +repressing the sobs that were choking him. + +"From that time I became a revolutionist. Yes," he said, when he was +quieter and finished his story in a few words. He belonged to the +Narodovoltzy party, and was even at the head of the disorganising group, +whose object was to terrorise the government so that it should give +up its power of its own accord. With this object he travelled +to Petersburg, to Kiev, to Odessa and abroad, and was everywhere +successful. A man in whom he had full confidence betrayed him. He was +arrested, tried, kept in prison for two years, and condemned to death, +but the sentence was mitigated to one of hard labour for life. + +He went into consumption while in prison, and in the conditions he was +now placed he had scarcely more than a few months longer to live. This +he knew, but did not repent of his action, but said that if he had +another life he would use it in the same way to destroy the conditions +in which such things as he had seen were possible. + +This man's story and his intimacy with him explained to Nekhludoff much +that he had not previously understood. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +NEKHLUDOFF SEEKS AN INTERVIEW WITH MASLOVA. + +On the day when the convoy officer had the encounter with the prisoners +at the halting station about the child, Nekhludoff, who had spent +the night at the village inn, woke up late, and was some time writing +letters to post at the next Government town, so that he left the inn +later than usual, and did not catch up with the gang on the road as +he had done previously, but came to the village where the next halting +station was as it was growing dusk. + +Having dried himself at the inn, which was kept by an elderly woman who +had an extraordinarily fat, white neck, he had his tea in a clean room +decorated with a great number of icons and pictures and then hurried +away to the halting station to ask the officer for an interview +with Katusha. At the last six halting stations he could not get the +permission for an interview from any of the officers. Though they had +been changed several times, not one of them would allow Nekhludoff +inside the halting stations, so that he had not seen Katusha for +more than a week. This strictness was occasioned by the fact that +an important prison official was expected to pass that way. Now this +official had passed without looking in at the gang, after all, and +Nekhludoff hoped that the officer who had taken charge of the gang in +the morning would allow him an interview with the prisoners, as former +officers had done. + +The landlady offered Nekhludoff a trap to drive him to the halting +station, situated at the farther end of the village, but Nekhludoff +preferred to walk. A young labourer, a broad-shouldered young fellow +of herculean dimensions, with enormous top-boots freshly blackened with +strongly smelling tar, offered himself as a guide. + +A dense mist obscured the sky, and it was so dark that when the young +fellow was three steps in advance of him Nekhludoff could not see him +unless the light of some window happened to fall on the spot, but he +could hear the heavy boots wading through the deep, sticky slush. After +passing the open place in front of the church and the long street, +with its rows of windows shining brightly in the darkness, Nekhludoff +followed his guide to the outskirts of the village, where it was pitch +dark. But soon here, too, rays of light, streaming through the mist +from the lamps in the front of the halting station, became discernible +through the darkness. The reddish spots of light grew bigger and bigger; +at last the stakes of the palisade, the moving figure of the sentinel, a +post painted with white and black stripes and the sentinel's box became +visible. + +The sentinel called his usual "Who goes there?" as they approached, and +seeing they were strangers treated them with such severity that he would +not allow them to wait by the palisade; but Nekhludoff's guide was not +abashed by this severity. + +"Hallo, lad! why so fierce? You go and rouse your boss while we wait +here?" + +The sentinel gave no answer, but shouted something in at the gate and +stood looking at the broad-shouldered young labourer scraping the mud +off Nekhludoff's boots with a chip of wood by the light of the lamp. +From behind the palisade came the hum of male and female voices. In +about three minutes more something rattled, the gate opened, and a +sergeant, with his cloak thrown over his shoulders, stepped out of the +darkness into the lamplight. + +The sergeant was not as strict as the sentinel, but he was extremely +inquisitive. He insisted on knowing what Nekhludoff wanted the officer +for, and who he was, evidently scenting his booty and anxious not to let +it escape. Nekhludoff said he had come on special business, and would +show his gratitude, and would the sergeant take a note for him to the +officer. The sergeant took the note, nodded, and went away. Some time +after the gate rattled again, and women carrying baskets, boxes, jugs +and sacks came out, loudly chattering in their peculiar Siberian dialect +as they stepped over the threshold of the gate. None of them wore +peasant costumes, but were dressed town fashion, wearing jackets and +fur-lined cloaks. Their skirts were tucked up high, and their heads +wrapped up in shawls. They examined Nekhludoff and his guide curiously +by the light of the lamp. One of them showed evident pleasure at the +sight of the broad-shouldered fellow, and affectionately administered to +him a dose of Siberian abuse. + +"You demon, what are you doing here? The devil take you," she said, +addressing him. + +"I've been showing this traveller here the way," answered the young +fellow. "And what have you been bringing here?" + +"Dairy produce, and I am to bring more in the morning." + +The guide said something in answer that made not only the women but even +the sentinel laugh, and, turning to Nekhludoff, he said: + +"You'll find your way alone? Won't get lost, will you?" + +"I shall find it all right." + +"When you have passed the church it's the second from the two-storied +house. Oh, and here, take my staff," he said, handing the stick he +was carrying, and which was longer than himself, to Nekhludoff; and +splashing through the mud with his enormous boots, he disappeared in the +darkness, together with the women. + +His voice mingling with the voices of the women was still audible +through the fog, when the gate again rattled, and the sergeant appeared +and asked Nekhludoff to follow him to the officer. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +NEKHLUDOFF AND THE OFFICER. + +This halting station, like all such stations along the Siberian +road, was surrounded by a courtyard, fenced in with a palisade of +sharp-pointed stakes, and consisted of three one-storied houses. One of +them, the largest, with grated windows, was for the prisoners, another +for the convoy soldiers, and the third, in which the office was, for the +officers. + +There were lights in the windows of all the three houses, and, like +all such lights, they promised, here in a specially deceptive manner, +something cosy inside the walls. Lamps were burning before the porches +of the houses and about five lamps more along the walls lit up the yard. + +The sergeant led Nekhludoff along a plank which lay across the yard up +to the porch of the smallest of the houses. + +When he had gone up the three steps of the porch he let Nekhludoff pass +before him into the ante-room, in which a small lamp was burning, and +which was filled with smoky fumes. By the stove a soldier in a coarse +shirt with a necktie and black trousers, and with one top-boot on, stood +blowing the charcoal in a somovar, using the other boot as bellows. [The +long boots worn in Russia have concertina-like sides, and when held to +the chimney of the somovar can be used instead of bellows to make the +charcoal inside burn up.] When he saw Nekhludoff, the soldier left the +somovar and helped him off with his waterproof; then went into the inner +room. + +"He has come, your honour." + +"Well, ask him in," came an angry voice. + +"Go in at the door," said the soldier, and went back to the somovar. + +In the next room an officer with fair moustaches and a very red face, +dressed in an Austrian jacket that closely fitted his broad chest and +shoulders, sat at a covered table, on which were the remains of his +dinner and two bottles; there was a strong smell of tobacco and some +very strong, cheap scent in the warm room. On seeing Nekhludoff the +officer rose and gazed ironically and suspiciously, as it seemed, at the +newcomer. + +"What is it you want?" he asked, and, not waiting for a reply, he +shouted through the open door: + +"Bernoff, the somovar! What are you about?" + +"Coming at once." + +"You'll get it 'at once' so that you'll remember it," shouted the +officer, and his eyes flashed. + +"I'm coming," shouted the soldier, and brought in the somovar. +Nekhludoff waited while the soldier placed the somovar on the table. +When the officer had followed the soldier out of the room with his cruel +little eyes looking as if they were aiming where best to hit him, he +made the tea, got the four-cornered decanter out of his travelling case +and some Albert biscuits, and having placed all this on the cloth he +again turned to Nekhludoff. "Well, how can I be of service to you?" + +"I should like to be allowed to visit a prisoner," said Nekhludoff, +without sitting down. + +"A political one? That's forbidden by the law," said the officer. + +"The woman I mean is not a political prisoner," said Nekhludoff. + +"Yes. But pray take a scat," said the officer. Nekhludoff sat down. + +"She is not a political one, but at my request she has been allowed by +the higher authorities to join the political prisoners--" + +"Oh, yes, I know," interrupted the other; "a little dark one? Well, +yes, that can be managed. Won't you smoke?" He moved a box of cigarettes +towards Nekhludoff, and, having carefully poured out two tumblers of +tea, he passed one to Nekhludoff. "If you please," he said. + +"Thank you; I should like to see--" + +"The night is long. You'll have plenty of time. I shall order her to be +sent out to you." + +"But could I not see her where she is? Why need she be sent for?" +Nekhludoff said. + +"In to the political prisoners? It is against the law." + +"I have been allowed to go in several times. If there is any danger of +my passing anything in to them I could do it through her just as well." + +"Oh, no; she would be searched," said the officer, and laughed in an +unpleasant manner. + +"Well, why not search me?" + +"All right; we'll manage without that," said the officer, opening the +decanter, and holding it out towards Nekhludoff's tumbler of tea. "May +I? No? Well, just as you like. When you are living here in Siberia you +are too glad to meet an educated person. Our work, as you know, is the +saddest, and when one is used to better things it is very hard. The idea +they have of us is that convoy officers are coarse, uneducated men, and +no one seems to remember that we may have been born for a very different +position." + +This officer's red face, his scents, his rings, and especially his +unpleasant laughter disgusted Nekhludoff very much, but to-day, as +during the whole of his journey, he was in that serious, attentive state +which did not allow him to behave slightingly or disdainfully towards +any man, but made him feel the necessity of speaking to every one +"entirely," as he expressed to himself, this relation to men. When he +had heard the officer and understood his state of mind, he said in a +serious manner: + +"I think that in your position, too, some comfort could be found in +helping the suffering people," he said. + +"What are their sufferings? You don't know what these people are." + +"They are not special people," said Nekhludoff; "they are just such +people as others, and some of them are quite innocent." + +"Of course, there are all sorts among them, and naturally one pities +them. Others won't let anything off, but I try to lighten their +condition where I can. It's better that I should suffer, but not they. +Others keep to the law in every detail, even as far as to shoot, but +I show pity. May I?--Take another," he said, and poured out another +tumbler of tea for Nekhludoff. + +"And who is she, this woman that you want to see?" he asked. + +"It is an unfortunate woman who got into a brothel, and was there +falsely accused of poisoning, and she is a very good woman," Nekhludoff +answered. + +The officer shook his head. "Yes, it does happen. I can tell you about +a certain Emma who lived in Kasan. She was a Hungarian by birth, but she +had quite Persian eyes," he continued, unable to restrain a smile at the +recollection; "there was so much chic about her that a countess--" + +Nekhludoff interrupted the officer and returned to the former topic of +conversation. + +"I think that you could lighten the condition of the people while they +are in your charge. And in acting that way I am sure you would find +great joy!" said Nekhludoff, trying to pronounce as distinctly as +possible, as he might if talking to a foreigner or a child. + +The officer looked at Nekhludoff impatiently, waiting for him to stop +so as to continue the tale about the Hungarian with Persian eyes, who +evidently presented herself very vividly to his imagination and quite +absorbed his attention. + +"Yes, of course, this is all quite true," he said, "and I do pity them; +but I should like to tell you about Emma. What do you think she did--?" + +"It does not interest me," said Nekhludoff, "and I will tell you +straight, that though I was myself very different at one time, I now +hate that kind of relation to women." + +The officer gave Nekhludoff a frightened look. + +"Won't you take some more tea?" he said. + +"No, thank you." + +"Bernoff!" the officer called, "take the gentleman to Vakouloff. Tell +him to let him into the separate political room. He may remain there +till the inspection." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE POLITICAL PRISONERS. + +Accompanied by the orderly, Nekhludoff went out into the courtyard, +which was dimly lit up by the red light of the lamps. + +"Where to?" asked the convoy sergeant, addressing the orderly. + +"Into the separate cell, No. 5." + +"You can't pass here; the boss has gone to the village and taken the +keys." + +"Well, then, pass this way." + +The soldier led Nekhludoff along a board to another entrance. While +still in the yard Nekhludoff could hear the din of voices and general +commotion going on inside as in a beehive when the bees are preparing to +swarm; but when he came nearer and the door opened the din grew louder, +and changed into distinct sounds of shouting, abuse and laughter. He +heard the clatter of chairs and smelt the well-known foul air. This din +of voices and the clatter of the chairs, together with the close smell, +always flowed into one tormenting sensation, and produced in Nekhludoff +a feeling of moral nausea which grew into physical sickness, the two +feelings mingling with and heightening each other. + +The first thing Nekhludoff saw, on entering, was a large, stinking tub. +A corridor into which several doors opened led from the entrance. The +first was the family room, then the bachelors' room, and at the very end +two small rooms were set apart for the political prisoners. + +The buildings, which were arranged to hold one hundred and fifty +prisoners, now that there were four hundred and fifty inside, were so +crowded that the prisoners could not all get into the rooms, but filled +the passage, too. Some were sitting or lying on the floor, some were +going out with empty teapots, or bringing them back filled with boiling +water. Among the latter was Taras. He overtook Nekhludoff and greeted +him affectionately. The kind face of Taras was disfigured by dark +bruises on his nose and under his eye. + +"What has happened to you?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"Yes, something did happen," Taras said, with a smile. + +"All because of the woman," added a prisoner, who followed Taras; "he's +had a row with Blind Fedka." + +"And how's Theodosia?" + +"She's all right. Here I am bringing her the water for her tea," Taras +answered, and went into the family room. + +Nekhludoff looked in at the door. The room was crowded with women and +men, some of whom were on and some under the bedsteads; it was full of +steam from the wet clothes that were drying, and the chatter of women's +voices was unceasing. The next door led into the bachelors' room. This +room was still more crowded; even the doorway and the passage in front +of it were blocked by a noisy crowd of men, in wet garments, busy doing +or deciding something or other. + +The convoy sergeant explained that it was the prisoner appointed to buy +provisions, paying off out of the food money what was owing to a sharper +who had won from or lent money to the prisoners, and receiving back +little tickets made of playing cards. When they saw the convoy soldier +and a gentleman, those who were nearest became silent, and followed +them with looks of ill-will. Among them Nekhludoff noticed the criminal +Fedoroff, whom he knew, and who always kept a miserable lad with +a swelled appearance and raised eyebrows beside him, and also a +disgusting, noseless, pock-marked tramp, who was notorious among the +prisoners because he killed his comrade in the marshes while trying to +escape, and had, as it was rumoured, fed on his flesh. The tramp stood +in the passage with his wet cloak thrown over one shoulder, looking +mockingly and boldly at Nekhludoff, and did not move out of the way. +Nekhludoff passed him by. + +Though this kind of scene had now become quite familiar to him, though +he had during the last three months seen these four hundred criminal +prisoners over and over again in many different circumstances; in the +heat, enveloped in clouds of dust which they raised as they dragged +their chained feet along the road, and at the resting places by the way, +where the most horrible scenes of barefaced debauchery had occurred, yet +every time he came among them, and felt their attention fixed upon him +as it was now, shame and consciousness of his sin against them tormented +him. To this sense of shame and guilt was added an unconquerable feeling +of loathing and horror. He knew that, placed in a position such as +theirs, they could not be other than they were, and yet he was unable to +stifle his disgust. + +"It's well for them do-nothings," Nekhludoff heard some one say in a +hoarse voice as he approached the room of the political prisoners. Then +followed a word of obscene abuse, and spiteful, mocking laughter. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MAKAR DEVKIN. + +When they had passed the bachelors' room the sergeant who accompanied +Nekhludoff left him, promising to come for him before the inspection +would take place. As soon as the sergeant was gone a prisoner, quickly +stepping with his bare feet and holding up the chains, came close up to +Nekhludoff, enveloping him in the strong, acid smell of perspiration, +and said in a mysterious whisper: + +"Help the lad, sir; he's got into an awful mess. Been drinking. To-day +he's given his name as Karmanoff at the inspection. Take his part, sir. +We dare not, or they'll kill us," and looking uneasily round he turned +away. + +This is what had happened. The criminal Kalmanoff had persuaded a young +fellow who resembled him in appearance and was sentenced to exile to +change names with him and go to the mines instead of him, while he only +went to exile. Nekhludoff knew all this. Some convict had told him about +this exchange the week before. He nodded as a sign that he understood +and would do what was in his power, and continued his way without +looking round. + +Nekhludoff knew this convict, and was surprised by his action. When in +Ekaterinburg the convict had asked Nekhludoff to get a permission for +his wife to follow him. The convict was a man of medium size and of the +most ordinary peasant type, about thirty years old. He was condemned to +hard labour for an attempt to murder and rob. His name was Makar Devkin. +His crime was a very curious one. In the account he gave of it to +Nekhludoff, he said it was not his but his devil's doing. He said that +a traveller had come to his father's house and hired his sledge to drive +him to a village thirty miles off for two roubles. Makar's father told +him to drive the stranger. Makar harnessed the horse, dressed, and +sat down to drink tea with the stranger. The stranger related at the +tea-table that he was going to be married and had five hundred roubles, +which he had earned in Moscow, with him. When he had heard this, Makar +went out into the yard and put an axe into the sledge under the straw. +"And I did not myself know why I was taking the axe," he said. "'Take +the axe,' says _he_, and I took it. We got in and started. We drove +along all right; I even forgot about the axe. Well, we were getting +near the village; only about four miles more to go. The way from the +cross-road to the high road was up hill, and I got out. I walked behind +the sledge and _he_ whispers to me, 'What are you thinking about? When +you get to the top of the hill you will meet people along the highway, +and then there will be the village. He will carry the money away. If +you mean to do it, now's the time.' I stooped over the sledge as if to +arrange the straw, and the axe seemed to jump into my hand of itself. +The man turned round. 'What are you doing?' I lifted the axe and tried +to knock him down, but he was quick, jumped out, and took hold of my +hands. 'What are you doing, you villain?' He threw me down into the +snow, and I did not even struggle, but gave in at once. He bound my arms +with his girdle, and threw me into the sledge, and took me straight to +the police station. I was imprisoned and tried. The commune gave me a +good character, said that I was a good man, and that nothing wrong had +been noticed about me. The masters for whom I worked also spoke well of +me, but we had no money to engage a lawyer, and so I was condemned to +four years' hard labour." + +It was this man who, wishing to save a fellow-villager, knowing that he +was risking his life thereby, told Nekhludoff the prisoner's secret, for +doing which (if found out) he should certainly be throttled. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MASLOVA AND HER COMPANIONS. + +The political prisoners were kept in two small rooms, the doors of which +opened into a part of the passage partitioned off from the rest. The +first person Nekhludoff saw on entering into this part of the passage +was Simonson in his rubber jacket and with a log of pine wood in his +hands, crouching in front of a stove, the door of which trembled, drawn +in by the heat inside. + +When he saw Nekhludoff he looked up at him from under his protruding +brow, and gave him his hand without rising. + +"I am glad you have come; I want to speak to you," he said, looking +Nekhludoff straight in the eyes with an expression of importance. + +"Yes; what is it?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"It will do later on; I am busy just now," and Simonson turned again +towards the stove, which he was heating according to a theory of his +own, so as to lose as little heat energy as possible. + +Nekhludoff was going to enter in at the first door, when Maslova, +stooping and pushing a large heap of rubbish and dust towards the stove +with a handleless birch broom, came out of the other. She had a white +jacket on, her skirt was tucked up, and a kerchief, drawn down to her +eyebrows, protected her hair from the dust. When she saw Nekhludoff, she +drew herself up, flushing and animated, put down the broom, wiped her +hands on her skirt, and stopped right in front of him. "You are tidying +up the apartments, I see," said Nekhludoff, shaking hands. + +"Yes; my old occupation," and she smiled. "But the dirt! You can't +imagine what it is. We have been cleaning and cleaning. Well, is the +plaid dry?" she asked, turning to Simonson. + +"Almost," Simonson answered, giving her a strange look, which struck +Nekhludoff. + +"All right, I'll come for it, and will bring the cloaks to dry. Our +people are all in here," she said to Nekhludoff, pointing to the first +door as she went out of the second. + +Nekhludoff opened the door and entered a small room dimly lit by a +little metal lamp, which was standing low down on the shelf bedstead. It +was cold in the room, and there was a smell of the dust, which had not +had time to settle, damp and tobacco smoke. + +Only those who were close to the lamp were clearly visible, the +bedsteads were in the shade and wavering shadows glided over the walls. +Two men, appointed as caterers, who had gone to fetch boiling water and +provisions, were away; most of the political prisoners were gathered +together in the small room. There was Nekhludoff's old acquaintance, +Vera Doukhova, with her large, frightened eyes, and the swollen vein on +her forehead, in a grey jacket with short hair, and thinner and yellower +than ever.. She had a newspaper spread out in front of her, and sat +rolling cigarettes with a jerky movement of her hands. + +Emily Rintzeva, whom Nekhludoff considered to be the pleasantest of the +political prisoners, was also here. She looked after the housekeeping, +and managed to spread a feeling of home comfort even in the midst of +the most trying surroundings. She sat beside the lamp, with her sleeves +rolled up, wiping cups and mugs, and placing them, with her deft, red +and sunburnt hands, on a cloth that was spread on the bedstead. Rintzeva +was a plain-looking young woman, with a clever and mild expression of +face, which, when she smiled, had a way of suddenly becoming merry, +animated and captivating. It was with such a smile that she now welcomed +Nekhludoff. + +"Why, we thought you had gone back to Russia," she said. + +Here in a dark corner was also Mary Pavlovna, busy with a little, +fair-haired girl, who kept prattling in her sweet, childish accents. + +"How nice that you have come," she said to Nekhludoff. + +"Have you seen Katusha? And we have a visitor here," and she pointed to +the little girl. + +Here was also Anatole Kryltzoff with felt boots on, sitting in a far +corner with his feet under him, doubled up and shivering, his arms +folded in the sleeves of his cloak, and looking at Nekhludoff with +feverish eyes. Nekhludoff was going up to him, but to the right of +the door a man with spectacles and reddish curls, dressed in a rubber +jacket, sat talking to the pretty, smiling Grabetz. This was the +celebrated revolutionist Novodvoroff. Nekhludoff hastened to greet him. +He was in a particular hurry about it, because this man was the only one +among all the political prisoners whom he disliked. Novodvoroff's eyes +glistened through his spectacles as he looked at Nekhludoff and held his +narrow hand out to him. + +"Well, are you having a pleasant journey?" he asked, with apparent +irony. + +"Yes, there is much that is interesting," Nekhludoff answered, as if +he did not notice the irony, but took the question for politeness, and +passed on to Kryltzoff. + +Though Nekhludoff appeared indifferent, he was really far from +indifferent, and these words of Novodvoroff, showing his evident desire +to say or do something unpleasant, interfered with the state of kindness +in which Nekhludoff found himself, and he felt depressed and sad. + +"Well, how are you?" he asked, pressing Kryltzoff's cold and trembling +hand. + +"Pretty well, only I cannot get warm; I got wet through," Kryltzoff +answered, quickly replacing his hands into the sleeves of his cloak. +"And here it is also beastly cold. There, look, the window-panes are +broken," and he pointed to the broken panes behind the iron bars. "And +how are you? Why did you not come?" + +"I was not allowed to, the authorities were so strict, but to-day the +officer is lenient." + +"Lenient indeed!" Kryltzoff remarked. "Ask Mary what she did this +morning." + +Mary Pavlovna from her place in the corner related what had happened +about the little girl that morning when they left the halting station. + +"I think it is absolutely necessary to make a collective protest," said +Vera Doukhova, in a determined tone, and yet looking now at one, now +at another, with a frightened, undecided look. "Valdemar Simonson did +protest, but that is not sufficient." + +"What protest!" muttered Kryltzoff, cross and frowning. Her want +of simplicity, artificial tone and nervousness had evidently been +irritating him for a long time. + +"Are you looking for Katusha?" he asked, addressing Nekhludoff. "She is +working all the time. She has cleaned this, the men's room, and now she +has gone to clean the women's! Only it is not possible to clean away +the fleas. And what is Mary doing there?" he asked, nodding towards the +corner where Mary Pavlovna sat. + +"She is combing out her adopted daughter's hair," replied Rintzeva. + +"But won't she let the insects loose on us?" asked Kryltzoff. + +"No, no; I am very careful. She is a clean little girl now. You take +her," said Mary, turning to Rintzeva, "while I go and help Katusha, and +I will also bring him his plaid." + +Rintzeva took the little girl on her lap, pressing her plump, bare, +little arms to her bosom with a mother's tenderness, and gave her a bit +of sugar. As Mary Pavlovna left the room, two men came in with boiling +water and provisions. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +NABATOFF AND MARKEL. + +One of the men who came in was a short, thin, young man, who had a +cloth-covered sheepskin coat on, and high top-boots. He stepped lightly +and quickly, carrying two steaming teapots, and holding a loaf wrapped +in a cloth under his arm. + +"Well, so our prince has put in an appearance again," he said, as he +placed the teapot beside the cups, and handed the bread to Rintzeva. +"We have bought wonderful things," he continued, as he took off his +sheepskin, and flung it over the heads of the others into the corner +of the bedstead. "Markel has bought milk and eggs. Why, we'll have +a regular ball to-day. And Rintzeva is spreading out her aesthetic +cleanliness," he said, and looked with a smile at Rintzeva, "and now she +will make the tea." + +The whole presence of this man--his motion, his voice, his look--seemed +to breathe vigour and merriment. The other newcomer was just the reverse +of the first. He looked despondent and sad. He was short, bony, had very +prominent cheek bones, a sallow complexion, thin lips and beautiful, +greenish eyes, rather far apart. He wore an old wadded coat, top-boots +and goloshes, and was carrying two pots of milk and two round boxes +made of birch bark, which he placed in front of Rintzeva. He bowed to +Nekhludoff, bending only his neck, and with his eyes fixed on him. Then, +having reluctantly given him his damp hand to shake, he began to take +out the provisions. + +Both these political prisoners were of the people; the first was +Nabatoff, a peasant; the second, Markel Kondratieff, a factory hand. +Markel did not come among the revolutionists till he was quite a man, +Nabatoff only eighteen. After leaving the village school, owing to +his exceptional talents Nabatoff entered the gymnasium, and maintained +himself by giving lessons all the time he studied there, and obtained +the gold medal. He did not go to the university because, while still in +the seventh class of the gymnasium, he made up his mind to go among the +people and enlighten his neglected brethren. This he did, first getting +the place of a Government clerk in a large village. He was soon arrested +because he read to the peasants and arranged a co-operative industrial +association among them. They kept him imprisoned for eight months and +then set him free, but he remained under police supervision. As soon +as he was liberated he went to another village, got a place as +schoolmaster, and did the same as he had done in the first village. +He was again taken up and kept fourteen months in prison, where his +convictions became yet stronger. After that he was exiled to the Perm +Government, from where he escaped. Then he was put to prison for seven +months and after that exiled to Archangel. There he refused to take the +oath of allegiance that was required of them and was condemned to +be exiled to the Takoutsk Government, so that half his life since he +reached manhood was passed in prison and exile. All these adventures did +not embitter him nor weaken his energy, but rather stimulated it. He was +a lively young fellow, with a splendid digestion, always active, gay +and vigorous. He never repented of anything, never looked far ahead, and +used all his powers, his cleverness, his practical knowledge to act in +the present. When free he worked towards the aim he had set himself, the +enlightening and the uniting of the working men, especially the country +labourers. When in prison he was just as energetic and practical in +finding means to come in contact with the outer world, and in arranging +his own life and the life of his group as comfortably as the conditions +would allow. Above all things he was a communist. He wanted, as it +seemed to him, nothing for himself and contented himself with very +little, but demanded very much for the group of his comrades, and could +work for it either physically or mentally day and night, without sleep +or food. As a peasant he had been industrious, observant, clever at +his work, and naturally self-controlled, polite without any effort, and +attentive not only to the wishes but also the opinions of others. His +widowed mother, an illiterate, superstitious, old peasant woman, was +still living, and Nabatoff helped her and went to see her while he was +free. During the time he spent at home he entered into all the interests +of his mother's life, helped her in her work, and continued his +intercourse with former playfellows; smoked cheap tobacco with them in +so-called "dog's feet," [a kind of cigarette that the peasants smoke, +made of a bit of paper and bent at one end into a hook] took part +in their fist fights, and explained to them how they were all being +deceived by the State, and how they ought to disentangle themselves out +of the deception they were kept in. When he thought or spoke of what a +revolution would do for the people he always imagined this people from +whom he had sprung himself left in very nearly the same conditions +as they were in, only with sufficient land and without the gentry and +without officials. The revolution, according to him, and in this +he differed from Novodvoroff and Novodvoroff's follower, Markel +Kondratieff, should not alter the elementary forms of the life of the +people, should not break down the whole edifice, but should only alter +the inner walls of the beautiful, strong, enormous old structure he +loved so dearly. He was also a typical peasant in his views on religion, +never thinking about metaphysical questions, about the origin of +all origin, or the future life. God was to him, as also to Arago, an +hypothesis, which he had had no need of up to now. He had no business +with the origin of the world, whether Moses or Darwin was right. +Darwinism, which seemed so important to his fellows, was only the same +kind of plaything of the mind as the creation in six days. The question +how the world had originated did not interest him, just because the +question how it would be best to live in this world was ever before him. +He never thought about future life, always bearing in the depth of his +soul the firm and quiet conviction inherited from his forefathers, and +common to all labourers on the land, that just as in the world of plants +and animals nothing ceases to exist, but continually changes its form, +the manure into grain, the grain into a food, the tadpole into a frog, +the caterpillar into a butterfly, the acorn into an oak, so man also +does not perish, but only undergoes a change. He believed in this, and +therefore always looked death straight in the face, and bravely bore the +sufferings that lead towards it, but did not care and did not know how +to speak about it. He loved work, was always employed in some practical +business, and put his comrades in the way of the same kind of practical +work. + +The other political prisoner from among the people, Markel Kondratieff, +was a very different kind of man. He began to work at the age of +fifteen, and took to smoking and drinking in order to stifle a dense +sense of being wronged. He first realised he was wronged one Christmas +when they, the factory children, were invited to a Christmas tree, got +up by the employer's wife, where he received a farthing whistle, an +apple, a gilt walnut and a fig, while the employer's children had +presents given them which seemed gifts from fairyland, and had cost more +than fifty roubles, as he afterwards heard. + +When he was twenty a celebrated revolutionist came to their factory to +work as a working girl, and noticing his superior qualities began giving +books and pamphlets to Kondratieff and to talk and explain his position +to him, and how to remedy it. When the possibility of freeing himself +and others from their oppressed state rose clearly in his mind, the +injustice of this state appeared more cruel and more terrible than +before, and he longed passionately not only for freedom, but also for +the punishment of those who had arranged and who kept up this cruel +injustice. Kondratieff devoted himself with passion to the acquirement +of knowledge. It was not clear to him how knowledge should bring about +the realisation of the social ideal, but he believed that the knowledge +that had shown him the injustice of the state in which he lived would +also abolish that injustice itself. Besides knowledge would, in his +opinion, raise him above others. Therefore he left off drinking and +smoking, and devoted all his leisure time to study. The revolutionist +gave him lessons, and his thirst for every kind of knowledge, and the +facility with which he took it in, surprised her. In two years he had +mastered algebra, geometry, history--which he was specially fond of--and +made acquaintance with artistic and critical, and especially socialistic +literature. The revolutionist was arrested, and Kondratieff with her, +forbidden books having been found in their possession, and they were +imprisoned and then exiled to the Vologda Government. There Kondratieff +became acquainted with Novodvoroff, and read a great deal more +revolutionary literature, remembered it all, and became still firmer +in his socialistic views. While in exile he became leader in a large +strike, which ended in the destruction of a factory and the murder of +the director. He was again arrested and condemned to Siberia. + +His religious views were of the same negative nature as his views of the +existing economic conditions. Having seen the absurdity of the religion +in which he was brought up, and having gained with great effort, and +at first with fear, but later with rapture, freedom from it, he did +not tire of viciously and with venom ridiculing priests and religious +dogmas, as if wishing to revenge himself for the deception that had been +practised on him. + +He was ascetic through habit, contented himself with very little, and, +like all those used to work from childhood and whose muscles have been +developed, he could work much and easily, and was quick at any manual +labour; but what he valued most was the leisure in prisons and halting +stations, which enabled him to continue his studies. He was now studying +the first volume of Karl Marks's, and carefully hid the book in his sack +as if it were a great treasure. He behaved with reserve and indifference +to all his comrades, except Novodvoroff, to whom he was greatly +attached, and whose arguments on all subjects he accepted as +unanswerable truths. + +He had an indefinite contempt for women, whom he looked upon as a +hindrance in all necessary business. But he pitied Maslova and was +gentle with her, for he considered her an example of the way the lower +are exploited by the upper classes. The same reason made him dislike +Nekhludoff, so that he talked little with him, and never pressed +Nekhludoff's hand, but only held out his own to be pressed when greeting +him. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LOVE AFFAIRS OF THE EXILES. + +The stove had burned up and got warm, the tea was made and poured out +into mugs and cups, and milk was added to it; rusks, fresh rye and wheat +bread, hard-boiled eggs, butter, and calf's head and feet were placed on +the cloth. Everybody moved towards the part of the shelf beds which took +the place of the table and sat eating and talking. Rintzeva sat on a box +pouring out the tea. The rest crowded round her, only Kryltzoff, who had +taken off his wet cloak and wrapped himself in his dry plaid and lay in +his own place talking to Nekhludoff. + +After the cold and damp march and the dirt and disorder they had found +here, and after the pains they had taken to get it tidy, after having +drunk hot tea and eaten, they were all in the best and brightest of +spirits. + +The fact that the tramp of feet, the screams and abuse of the criminals, +reached them through the wall, reminding them of their surroundings, +seemed only to increase the sense of coziness. As on an island in the +midst of the sea, these people felt themselves for a brief interval not +swamped by the degradation and sufferings which surrounded them; this +made their spirits rise, and excited them. They talked about everything +except their present position and that which awaited them. Then, as it +generally happens among young men, and women especially, if they are +forced to remain together, as these people were, all sorts of agreements +and disagreements and attractions, curiously blended, had sprung up +among them. Almost all of them were in love. Novodvoroff was in love +with the pretty, smiling Grabetz. This Grabetz was a young, thoughtless +girl who had gone in for a course of study, perfectly indifferent to +revolutionary questions, but succumbing to the influence of the day, she +compromised herself in some way and was exiled. The chief interest of +her life during the time of her trial in prison and in exile was her +success with men, just as it had been when she was free. Now on the way +she comforted herself with the fact that Novodvoroff had taken a fancy +to her, and she fell in love with him. Vera Doukhova, who was very prone +to fall in love herself, but did not awaken love in others, though she +was always hoping for mutual love, was sometimes drawn to Nabatoff, then +to Novodvoroff. Kryltzoff felt something like love for Mary Pavlovna. He +loved her with a man's love, but knowing how she regarded this sort of +love, hid his feelings under the guise of friendship and gratitude +for the tenderness with which she attended to his wants. Nabatoff and +Rintzeva were attached to each other by very complicated ties. Just as +Mary Pavlovna was a perfectly chaste maiden, in the same way Rintzeva +was perfectly chaste as her own husband's wife. When only a schoolgirl +of sixteen she fell in love with Rintzeff, a student of the Petersburg +University, and married him before he left the university, when she was +only nineteen years old. During his fourth year at the university her +husband had become involved in the students' rows, was exiled from +Petersburg, and turned revolutionist. She left the medical courses she +was attending, followed him, and also turned revolutionist. If she had +not considered her husband the cleverest and best of men she would not +have fallen in love with him; and if she had not fallen in love would +not have married; but having fallen in love and married him whom she +thought the best and cleverest of men, she naturally looked upon life +and its aims in the way the best and cleverest of men looked at them. At +first he thought the aim of life was to learn, and she looked upon study +as the aim of life. He became a revolutionist, and so did she. She could +demonstrate very clearly that the existing state of things could not go +on, and that it was everybody's duty to fight this state of things and +to try to bring about conditions in which the individual could develop +freely, etc. And she imagined that she really thought and felt all +this, but in reality she only regarded everything her husband thought +as absolute truth, and only sought for perfect agreement, perfect +identification of her own soul with his which alone could give her full +moral satisfaction. The parting with her husband and their child, whom +her mother had taken, was very hard to bear; but she bore it firmly and +quietly, since it was for her husband's sake and for that cause which +she had not the slightest doubt was true, since he served it. She was +always with her husband in thoughts, and did not love and could not love +any other any more than she had done before. But Nabatoff's devoted and +pure love touched and excited her. This moral, firm man, her husband's +friend, tried to treat her as a sister, but something more appeared in +his behaviour to her, and this something frightened them both, and yet +gave colour to their life of hardship. + +So that in all this circle only Mary Pavlovna and Kondratieff were quite +free from love affairs. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CONVERSATIONS IN PRISON. + +Expecting to have a private talk with Katusha, as usual, after tea, +Nekhludoff sat by the side of Kryltzoff, conversing with him. Among +other things he told him the story of Makar's crime and about his +request to him. Kryltzoff listened attentively, gazing at Nekhludoff +with glistening eyes. + +"Yes," said Kryltzoff suddenly, "I often think that here we are going +side by side with them, and who are they? The same for whose sake we +are going, and yet we not only do not know them, but do not even wish to +know them. And they, even worse than that, they hate us and look upon us +as enemies. This is terrible." + +"There is nothing terrible about it," broke in Novodvoroff. "The masses +always worship power only. The government is in power, and they worship +it and hate us. To-morrow we shall have the power, and they will worship +us," he said with his grating voice. At that moment a volley of abuse +and the rattle of chains sounded from behind the wall, something was +heard thumping against it and screaming and shrieking, some one was +being beaten, and some one was calling out, "Murder! help!" + +"Hear them, the beasts! What intercourse can there be between us and +such as them?" quietly remarked Novodvoroff. + +"You call them beasts, and Nekhludoff was just telling me about such an +action!" irritably retorted Kryltzoff, and went on to say how Makar was +risking his life to save a fellow-villager. "That is not the action of a +beast, it is heroism." + +"Sentimentality!" Novodvoroff ejaculated ironically; "it is difficult +for us to understand the emotions of these people and the motives on +which they act. You see generosity in the act, and it may be simply +jealousy of that other criminal." + +"How is it that you never wish to see anything good in another?" Mary +Pavlovna said suddenly, flaring up. + +"How can one see what does not exist!" + +"How does it not exist, when a man risks dying a terrible death?" + +"I think," said Novodvoroff, "that if we mean to do our work, the first +condition is that" (here Kondratieff put down the book he was reading by +the lamplight and began to listen attentively to his master's words) "we +should not give way to fancy, but look at things as they are. We should +do all in our power for the masses, and expect nothing in return. +The masses can only be the object of our activity, but cannot be our +fellow-workers as long as they remain in that state of inertia they are +in at present," he went on, as if delivering a lecture. "Therefore, to +expect help from them before the process of development--that process +which we are preparing them for--has taken place is an illusion." + +"What process of development?" Kryltzoff began, flushing all over. "We +say that we are against arbitrary rule and despotism, and is this not +the most awful despotism?" + +"No despotism whatever," quietly rejoined Novodvoroff. "I am only saying +that I know the path that the people must travel, and can show them that +path." + +"But how can you be sure that the path you show is the true path? +Is this not the same kind of despotism that lay at the bottom of the +Inquisition, all persecutions, and the great revolution? They, too, knew +the one true way, by means of their science." + +"Their having erred is no proof of my going to err; besides, there is a +great difference between the ravings of idealogues and the facts based +on sound, economic science." Novodvoroff's voice filled the room; he +alone was speaking, all the rest were silent. + +"They are always disputing," Mary Pavlovna said, when there was a +moment's silence. + +"And you yourself, what do you think about it?" Nekhludoff asked her. + +"I think Kryltzoff is right when he says we should not force our views +on the people." + +"And you, Katusha?" asked Nekhludoff with a smile, waiting anxiously for +her answer, fearing she would say something awkward. + +"I think the common people are wronged," she said, and blushed scarlet. +"I think they are dreadfully wronged." + +"That's right, Maslova, quite right," cried Nabatoff. "They are terribly +wronged, the people, and they must not be wronged, and therein lies the +whole of our task." + +"A curious idea of the object of revolution," Novodvoroff remarked +crossly, and began to smoke. + +"I cannot talk to him," said Kryltzoff in a whisper, and was silent. + +"And it is much better not to talk," Nekhludoff said. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +NOVODVOROFF. + +Although Novodvoroff was highly esteemed of all the revolutionists, +though he was very learned, and considered very wise, Nekhludoff +reckoned him among those of the revolutionists who, being below the +average moral level, were very far below it. His inner life was of a +nature directly opposite to that of Simonson's. Simonson was one of +those people (of an essentially masculine type) whose actions follow +the dictates of their reason, and are determined by it. Novodvoroff +belonged, on the contrary, to the class of people of a feminine type, +whose reason is directed partly towards the attainment of aims set by +their feelings, partly to the justification of acts suggested by their +feelings. The whole of Novodvoroff's revolutionary activity, though +he could explain it very eloquently and very convincingly, appeared +to Nekhludoff to be founded on nothing but ambition and the desire +for supremacy. At first his capacity for assimilating the thoughts of +others, and of expressing them correctly, had given him a position of +supremacy among pupils and teachers in the gymnasium and the university, +where qualities such as his are highly prized, and he was satisfied. +When he had finished his studies and received his diploma he suddenly +altered his views, and from a modern liberal he turned into a rabid +Narodovoletz, in order (so Kryltzoff, who did not like him, said) to +gain supremacy in another sphere. + +As he was devoid of those moral and aesthetic qualities which call +forth doubts and hesitation, he very soon acquired a position in the +revolutionary world which satisfied him--that of the leader of a party. +Having once chosen a direction, he never doubted or hesitated, and was +therefore certain that he never made a mistake. Everything seemed quite +simple, clear and certain. And the narrowness and one-sidedness of his +views did make everything seem simple and clear. One only had to be +logical, as he said. His self-assurance was so great that it either +repelled people or made them submit to him. As he carried on his work +among very young people, his boundless self-assurance led them to +believe him very profound and wise; the majority did submit to him, +and he had a great success in revolutionary circles. His activity was +directed to the preparation of a rising in which he was to usurp the +power and call together a council. A programme, composed by him, should +be proposed before the council, and he felt sure that this programme of +his solved every problem, and that it would be impossible not to carry +it out. + +His comrades respected but did not love him. He did not love any one, +looked upon all men of note as upon rivals, and would have willingly +treated them as old male monkeys treat young ones if he could have done +it. He would have torn all mental power, every capacity, from other men, +so that they should not interfere with the display of his talents. He +behaved well only to those who bowed before him. Now, on the journey he +behaved well to Kondratieff, who was influenced by his propaganda; to +Vera Doukhova and pretty little Grabetz, who were both in love with him. +Although in principle he was in favour of the woman's movement, yet in +the depth of his soul he considered all women stupid and insignificant +except those whom he was sentimentally in love with (as he was now in +love with Grabetz), and such women he considered to be exceptions, whose +merits he alone was capable of discerning. + +The question of the relations of the sexes he also looked upon as +thoroughly solved by accepting free union. He had one nominal and +one real wife, from both of whom he was separated, having come to the +conclusion that there was no real love between them, and now he thought +of entering on a free union with Grabetz. He despised Nekhludoff +for "playing the fool," as Novodvoroff termed it, with Maslova, but +especially for the freedom Nekhludoff took of considering the defects +of the existing system and the methods of correcting those defects in a +manner which was not only not exactly the same as Novodvoroff's, but was +Nekhludoff's own--a prince's, that is, a fool's manner. Nekhludoff felt +this relation of Novodvoroff's towards him, and knew to his sorrow that +in spite of the state of good will in which he found himself on this +journey he could not help paying this man in his own coin, and could not +stifle the strong antipathy he felt for him. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SIMONSON SPEAKS TO NEKHLUDOFF. + +The voices of officials sounded from the next room. All the prisoners +were silent, and a sergeant, followed by two convoy soldiers, entered. +The time of the inspection had come. The sergeant counted every one, and +when Nekhludoff's turn came he addressed him with kindly familiarity. + +"You must not stay any longer, Prince, after the inspection; you must go +now." + +Nekhludoff knew what this meant, went up to the sergeant and shoved a +three-rouble note into his hand. + +"Ah, well, what is one to do with you; stay a bit longer, if you like." +The sergeant was about to go when another sergeant, followed by a +convict, a spare man with a thin beard and a bruise under his eye, came +in. + +"It's about the girl I have come," said the convict. + +"Here's daddy come," came the ringing accents of a child's voice, and a +flaxen head appeared from behind Rintzeva, who, with Katusha's and Mary +Pavlovna's help, was making a new garment for the child out of one of +Rintzeva's own petticoats. + +"Yes, daughter, it's me," Bousovkin, the prisoner, said softly. + +"She is quite comfortable here," said Mary Pavlovna, looking with pity +at Bousovkin's bruised face. "Leave her with us." + +"The ladies are making me new clothes," said the girl, pointing to +Rintzeva's sewing--"nice red ones," she went on, prattling. + +"Do you wish to sleep with us?" asked Rintzeva, caressing the child. + +"Yes, I wish. And daddy, too." + +"No, daddy can't. Well, leave her then," she said, turning to the +father. + +"Yes, you may leave her," said the first sergeant, and went out with the +other. + +As soon as they were out of the room Nabatoff went up to Bousovkin, +slapped him on the shoulder, and said: "I say, old fellow, is it true +that Karmanoff wishes to exchange?" + +Bousovkin's kindly, gentle face turned suddenly sad and a veil seemed to +dim his eyes. + +"We have heard nothing--hardly," he said, and with the same dimness +still over his eyes he turned to the child. + +"Well, Aksutka, it seems you're to make yourself comfortable with the +ladies," and he hurried away. + +"It's true about the exchange, and he knows it very well," said +Nabatoff. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"I shall tell the authorities in the next town. I know both prisoners by +sight," said Nekhludoff. + +All were silent, fearing a recommencement of the dispute. + +Simonson, who had been lying with his arms thrown back behind his head, +and not speaking, rose, and determinately walked up to Nekhludoff, +carefully passing round those who were sitting. + +"Could you listen to me now?" + +"Of course," and Nekhludoff rose and followed him. + +Katusha looked up with an expression of suspense, and meeting +Nekhludoff's eyes, she blushed and shook her head. + +"What I want to speak to you about is this," Simonson began, when they +had come out into the passage. In the passage the din of the criminal's +voices and shouts sounded louder. Nekhludoff made a face, but Simonson +did not seem to take any notice. + +"Knowing of your relations to Katerina Maslova," he began seriously and +frankly, with his kind eyes looking straight into Nekhludoff's face, +"I consider it my duty"--He was obliged to stop because two voices were +heard disputing and shouting, both at once, close to the door. + +"I tell you, blockhead, they are not mine," one voice shouted. + +"May you choke, you devil," snorted the other. + +At this moment Mary Pavlovna came out into the passage. + +"How can one talk here?" she said; "go in, Vera is alone there," and she +went in at the second door, and entered a tiny room, evidently meant for +a solitary cell, which was now placed at the disposal of the political +women prisoners, Vera Doukhova lay covered up, head and all, on the bed. + +"She has got a headache, and is asleep, so she cannot hear you, and I +will go away," said Mary Pavlovna. + +"On the contrary, stay here," said Simonson; "I have no secrets from any +one, certainly none from you." + +"All right," said Mary Pavlovna, and moving her whole body from side to +side, like a child, so as to get farther back on to the bed, she settled +down to listen, her beautiful hazel eyes seeming to look somewhere far +away. + +"Well, then, this is my business," Simonson repeated. "Knowing of your +relations to Katerina Maslova, I consider myself bound to explain to you +my relations to her." + +Nekhludoff could not help admiring the simplicity and truthfulness with +which Simonson spoke to him. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that I should like to marry Katerina Maslova--" + +"How strange!" said Mary Pavlovna, fixing her eyes on Simonson. + +"--And so I made up my mind to ask her to be my wife," Simonson +continued. + +"What can I do? It depends on her," said Nekhludoff. + +"Yes; but she will not come to any decision without you." + +"Why?" + +"Because as long as your relations with her are unsettled she cannot +make up her mind." + +"As far as I am concerned, it is finally settled. I should like to do +what I consider to be my duty and also to lighten her fate, but on no +account would I wish to put any restraint on her." + +"Yes, but she does not wish to accept your sacrifice." + +"It is no sacrifice." + +"And I know that this decision of hers is final." + +"Well, then, there is no need to speak to me," said Nekhludoff. + +"She wants you to acknowledge that you think as she does." + +"How can I acknowledge that I must not do what I consider to be my duty? +All I can say is that I am not free, but she is." + +Simonson was silent; then, after thinking a little, he said: "Very +well, then, I'll tell her. You must not think I am in love with her," +he continued; "I love her as a splendid, unique, human being who has +suffered much. I want nothing from her. I have only an awful longing to +help her, to lighten her posi--" + +Nekhludoff was surprised to hear the trembling in Simonson's voice. + +"--To lighten her position," Simonson continued. "If she does not wish +to accept your help, let her accept mine. If she consents, I shall ask +to be sent to the place where she will be imprisoned. Four years are +not an eternity. I would live near her, and perhaps might lighten her +fate--" and he again stopped, too agitated to continue. + +"What am I to say?" said Nekhludoff. "I am very glad she has found such +a protector as you--" + +"That's what I wanted to know," Simonson interrupted. + +"I wanted to know if, loving her and wishing her happiness, you would +consider it good for her to marry me?" + +"Oh, yes," said Nekhludoff decidedly. + +"It all depends on her; I only wish that this suffering soul should find +rest," said Simonson, with such childlike tenderness as no one could +have expected from so morose-looking a man. + +Simonson rose, and stretching his lips out to Nekhludoff, smiled shyly +and kissed him. + +"So I shall tell her," and he went away. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +"I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY." + +"What do you think of that?" said Mary Pavlovna. "In love--quite in +love. Now, that's a thing I never should have expected, that Valdemar +Simonson should be in love, and in the silliest, most boyish manner. It +is strange, and, to say the truth, it is sad," and she sighed. + +"But she? Katusha? How does she look at it, do you think?" Nekhludoff +asked. + +"She?" Mary Pavlovna waited, evidently wishing to give as exact an +answer as possible. "She? Well, you see, in spite of her past she +has one of the most moral natures--and such fine feelings. She loves +you--loves you well, and is happy to be able to do you even the negative +good of not letting you get entangled with her. Marriage with you would +be a terrible fall for her, worse than all that's past, and therefore +she will never consent to it. And yet your presence troubles her." + +"Well, what am I to do? Ought I to vanish?" + +Mary Pavlovna smiled her sweet, childlike smile, and said, "Yes, +partly." + +"How is one to vanish partly?" + +"I am talking nonsense. But as for her, I should like to tell you that +she probably sees the silliness of this rapturous kind of love (he has +not spoken to her), and is both flattered and afraid of it. I am not +competent to judge in such affairs, you know, still I believe that on +his part it is the most ordinary man's feeling, though it is masked. He +says that this love arouses his energy and is Platonic, but I know that +even if it is exceptional, still at the bottom it is degrading." + +Mary Pavlovna had wandered from the subject, having started on her +favourite theme. + +"Well, but what am I to do?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"I think you should tell her everything; it is always best that +everything should be clear. Have a talk with her; I shall call her. +Shall I?" said Mary Pavlovna. + +"If you please," said Nekhludoff, and Mary Pavlovna went. + +A strange feeling overcame Nekhludoff when he was alone in the little +room with the sleeping Vera Doukhova, listening to her soft breathing, +broken now and then by moans, and to the incessant dirt that came +through the two doors that separated him from the criminals. What +Simonson had told him freed him from the self-imposed duty, which had +seemed hard and strange to him in his weak moments, and yet now he felt +something that was not merely unpleasant but painful. + +He had a feeling that this offer of Simonson's destroyed the exceptional +character of his sacrifice, and thereby lessened its value in his own +and others' eyes; if so good a man who was not bound to her by any kind +of tie wanted to join his fate to hers, then this sacrifice was not so +great. There may have also been an admixture of ordinary jealousy. He +had got so used to her love that he did not like to admit that she loved +another. + +Then it also upset the plans he had formed of living near her while +she was doing her term. If she married Simonson his presence would be +unnecessary, and he would have to form new plans. + +Before he had time to analyse his feelings the loud din of the +prisoners' voices came in with a rush (something special was going on +among them to-day) as the door opened to let Katusha in. + +She stepped briskly close up to him and said, "Mary Pavlovna has sent +me." + +"Yes, I must have a talk with you. Sit down. Valdemar Simonson has been +speaking to me." + +She sat down and folded her hands in her lap and seemed quite calm, but +hardly had Nekhludoff uttered Simonson's name when she flushed crimson. + +"What did he say?" she asked. + +"He told me he wanted to marry you." + +Her face suddenly puckered up with pain, but she said nothing and only +cast down her eyes. + +"He is asking for my consent or my advice. I told him that it all +depends entirely on you--that you must decide." + +"Ah, what does it all mean? Why?" she muttered, and looked in his eyes +with that peculiar squint that always strangely affected Nekhludoff. + +They sat silent for a few minutes looking into each other's eyes, and +this look told much to both of them. + +"You must decide," Nekhludoff repeated. + +"What am I to decide? Everything has long been decided." + +"No; you must decide whether you will accept Mr. Simonson's offer," said +Nekhludoff. + +"What sort of a wife can I be--I, a convict? Why should I ruin Mr. +Simonson, too?" she said, with a frown. + +"Well, but if the sentence should be mitigated." + +"Oh, leave me alone. I have nothing more to say," she said, and rose to +leave the room. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +NEVEROFF'S FATE. + +When, following Katusha, Nekhludoff returned to the men's room, he found +every one there in agitation. Nabatoff, who went about all over the +place, and who got to know everybody, and noticed everything, had +just brought news which staggered them all. The news was that he had +discovered a note on a wall, written by the revolutionist Petlin, who +had been sentenced to hard labour, and who, every one thought, had long +since reached the Kara; and now it turned out that he had passed this +way quite recently, the only political prisoner among criminal convicts. + +"On the 17th of August," so ran the note, "I was sent off alone with +the criminals. Neveroff was with me, but hanged himself in the lunatic +asylum in Kasan. I am well and in good spirits and hope for the best." + +All were discussing Petlin's position and the possible reasons of +Neveroff's suicide. Only Kryltzoff sat silent and preoccupied, his +glistening eyes gazing fixedly in front of him. + +"My husband told me that Neveroff had a vision while still in the +Petropavlovski prison," said Rintzeva. + +"Yes, he was a poet, a dreamer; this sort of people cannot stand +solitary confinement," said Novodvoroff. "Now, I never gave my +imagination vent when in solitary confinement, but arranged my days most +systematically, and in this way always bore it very well." + +"What is there unbearable about it? Why, I used to be glad when they +locked me up," said Nabatoff cheerfully, wishing to dispel the general +depression. + +"A fellow's afraid of everything; of being arrested himself and +entangling others, and of spoiling the whole business, and then he gets +locked up, and all responsibility is at an end, and he can rest; he can +just sit and smoke." + +"You knew him well?" asked Mary Pavlovna, glancing anxiously at the +altered, haggard expression of Kryltzoff's face. + +"Neveroff a dreamer?" Kryltzoff suddenly began, panting for breath as +if he had been shouting or singing for a long time. "Neveroff was a man +'such as the earth bears few of,' as our doorkeeper used to express it. +Yes, he had a nature like crystal, you could see him right through; he +could not lie, he could not dissemble; not simply thin skinned, but +with all his nerves laid bare, as if he were flayed. Yes, his was a +complicated, rich nature, not such a-- But where is the use of talking?" +he added, with a vicious frown. "Shall we first educate the people +and then change the forms of life, or first change the forms and then +struggle, using peaceful propaganda or terrorism? So we go on disputing +while _they_ kill; _they_ do not dispute--they know their business; they +don't care whether dozens, hundreds of men perish--and what men! No; +that the best should perish is just what they want. Yes, Herzen said +that when the Decembrists were withdrawn from circulation the average +level of our society sank. I should think so, indeed. Then Herzen +himself and his fellows were withdrawn; now is the turn of the +Neveroffs." + +"They can't all be got rid off," said Nabatoff, in his cheerful tones. +"There will always be left enough to continue the breed. No, there +won't, if we show any pity to _them_ there," Nabatoff said, raising his +voice; and not letting himself be interrupted, "Give me a cigarette." + +"Oh, Anatole, it is not good for you," said Mary Pavlovna. "Please do +not smoke." + +"Oh, leave me alone," he said angrily, and lit a cigarette, but at once +began to cough and to retch, as if he were going to be sick. Having +cleared his throat though, he went on: + +"What we have been doing is not the thing at all. Not to argue, but for +all to unite--to destroy them--that's it." + +"But _they_ are also human beings," said Nekhludoff. + +"No, _they_ are not human, they who can do what they are +doing--No--There, now, I heard that some kind of bombs and balloons have +been invented. Well, one ought to go up in such a balloon and sprinkle +bombs down on _them_ as if _they_ were bugs, until _they_ are all +exterminated--Yes. Because--" he was going to continue, but, flushing +all over, he began coughing worse than before, and a stream of blood +rushed from his mouth. + +Nabatoff ran to get ice. Mary Pavlovna brought valerian drops and +offered them to him, but he, breathing quickly and heavily, pushed her +away with his thin, white hand, and kept his eyes closed. When the ice +and cold water had eased Kryltzoff a little, and he had been put to +bed, Nekhludoff, having said good-night to everybody, went out with the +sergeant, who had been waiting for him some time. + +The criminals were now quiet, and most of them were asleep. Though the +people were lying on and under the bed shelves and in the space between, +they could not all be placed inside the rooms, and some of them lay in +the passage with their sacks under their heads and covered with their +cloaks. The moans and sleepy voices came through the open doors and +sounded through the passage. Everywhere lay compact heaps of human +beings covered with prison cloaks. Only a few men who were sitting in +the bachelors' room by the light of a candle end, which they put out +when they noticed the sergeant, were awake, and an old man who sat naked +under the lamp in the passage picking the vermin off his shirt. The +foul air in the political prisoners' rooms seemed pure compared to the +stinking closeness here. The smoking lamp shone dimly as through a mist, +and it was difficult to breathe. Stepping along the passage, one had to +look carefully for an empty space, and having put down one foot had to +find place for the other. Three persons, who had evidently found no +room even in the passage, lay in the anteroom, close to the stinking and +leaking tub. One of these was an old idiot, whom Nekhludoff had often +seen marching with the gang; another was a boy about twelve; he lay +between the two other convicts, with his head on the leg of one of them. + +When he had passed out of the gate Nekhludoff took a deep breath and +long continued to breathe in deep draughts of frosty air. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +WHY IS IT DONE? + +It had cleared up and was starlight. Except in a few places the mud was +frozen hard when Nekhludoff returned to his inn and knocked at one of +its dark windows. The broad-shouldered labourer came barefooted to open +the door for him and let him in. Through a door on the right, leading +to the back premises, came the loud snoring of the carters, who slept +there, and the sound of many horses chewing oats came from the yard. The +front room, where a red lamp was burning in front of the icons, smelt +of wormwood and perspiration, and some one with mighty lungs was snoring +behind a partition. Nekhludoff undressed, put his leather travelling +pillow on the oilcloth sofa, spread out his rug and lay down, thinking +over all he had seen and heard that day; the boy sleeping on the liquid +that oozed from the stinking tub, with his head on the convict's leg, +seemed more dreadful than all else. + +Unexpected and important as his conversation with Simonson and Katusha +that evening had been, he did not dwell on it; his situation in relation +to that subject was so complicated and indefinite that he drove the +thought from his mind. But the picture of those unfortunate beings, +inhaling the noisome air, and lying in the liquid oozing out of the +stinking tub, especially that of the boy, with his innocent face asleep +on the leg of a criminal, came all the more vividly to his mind, and he +could not get it out of his head. + +To know that somewhere far away there are men who torture other men +by inflicting all sorts of humiliations and inhuman degradation and +sufferings on them, or for three months incessantly to look on while men +were inflicting these humiliations and sufferings on other men is a very +different thing. And Nekhludoff felt it. More than once during these +three months he asked himself, "Am I mad because I see what others do +not, or are they mad that do these things that I see?" + +Yet they (and there were many of them) did what seemed so astonishing +and terrible to him with such quiet assurance that what they were doing +was necessary and was important and useful work that it was hard to +believe they were mad; nor could he, conscious of the clearness of his +thoughts, believe he was mad; and all this kept him continually in a +state of perplexity. + +This is how the things he saw during these three months impressed +Nekhludoff: From among the people who were free, those were chosen, by +means of trials and the administration, who were the most nervous, +the most hot tempered, the most excitable, the most gifted, and the +strongest, but the least careful and cunning. These people, not a wit +more dangerous than many of those who remained free, were first locked +in prisons, transported to Siberia, where they were provided for and +kept months and years in perfect idleness, and away from nature, their +families, and useful work--that is, away from the conditions necessary +for a natural and moral life. This firstly. Secondly, these people +were subjected to all sorts of unnecessary indignity in these different +Places--chains, shaved heads, shameful clothing--that is, they were +deprived of the chief motives that induce the weak to live good lives, +the regard for public opinion, the sense of shame and the consciousness +of human dignity. Thirdly, they were continually exposed to dangers, +such as the epidemics so frequent in places of confinement, exhaustion, +flogging, not to mention accidents, such as sunstrokes, drowning or +conflagrations, when the instinct of self-preservation makes even the +kindest, most moral men commit cruel actions, and excuse such actions +when committed by others. + +Fourthly, these people were forced to associate with others who +were particularly depraved by life, and especially by these very +institutions--rakes, murderers and villains--who act on those who are +not yet corrupted by the measures inflicted on them as leaven acts on +dough. + +And, fifthly, the fact that all sorts of violence, cruelty, inhumanity, +are not only tolerated, but even permitted by the government, when it +suits its purposes, was impressed on them most forcibly by the inhuman +treatment they were subjected to; by the sufferings inflicted on +children, women and old men; by floggings with rods and whips; by +rewards offered for bringing a fugitive back, dead or alive; by the +separation of husbands and wives, and the uniting them with the wives +and husbands of others for sexual intercourse; by shooting or hanging +them. To those who were deprived of their freedom, who were in want +and misery, acts of violence were evidently still more permissible. +All these institutions seemed purposely invented for the production of +depravity and vice, condensed to such a degree that no other conditions +could produce it, and for the spreading of this condensed depravity and +vice broadcast among the whole population. + +"Just as if a problem had been set to find the best, the surest means +of depraving the greatest number of persons," thought Nekhludoff, while +investigating the deeds that were being done in the prisons and halting +stations. Every year hundreds of thousands were brought to the highest +pitch of depravity, and when completely depraved they were set free to +carry the depravity they had caught in prison among the people. In +the prisons of Tamen, Ekaterinburg, Tomsk and at the halting stations +Nekhludoff saw how successfully the object society seemed to have set +itself was attained. + +Ordinary, simple men with a conception of the demands of the social and +Christian Russian peasant morality lost this conception, and found a +new one, founded chiefly on the idea that any outrage or violence was +justifiable if it seemed profitable. After living in a prison those +people became conscious with the whole of their being that, judging by +what was happening to themselves, all the moral laws, the respect and +the sympathy for others which church and the moral teachers preach, +was really set aside, and that, therefore, they, too, need not keep the +laws. Nekhludoff noticed the effects of prison life on all the convicts +he knew--on Fedoroff, on Makar, and even on Taras, who, after two months +among the convicts, struck Nekhludoff by the want of morality in his +arguments. Nekhludoff found out during his journey how tramps, escaping +into the marshes, persuade a comrade to escape with them, and then kill +him and feed on his flesh. (He saw a living man who was accused of this +and acknowledged the fact.) And the most terrible part was that this was +not a solitary, but a recurring case. + +Only by a special cultivation of vice, such as was perpetrated in these +establishments, could a Russian be brought to the state of this tramp, +who excelled Nietzsche's newest teaching, and held that everything was +possible and nothing forbidden, and who spread this teaching first among +the convicts and then among the people in general. + +The only explanation of all that was being done was the wish to put +a stop to crime by fear, by correction, by lawful vengeance as it was +written in the books. But in reality nothing in the least resembling any +of these results came to pass. Instead of vice being put a stop to, it +only spread further; instead of being frightened, the criminals were +encouraged (many a tramp returned to prison of his own free will). +Instead of being corrected, every kind of vice was systematically +instilled, while the desire for vengeance did not weaken by the measures +of the government, but was bred in the people who had none of it. + +"Then why is it done?" Nekhludoff asked himself, but could find no +answer. And what seemed most surprising was that all this was not being +done accidentally, not by mistake, not once, but that it had continued +for centuries, with this difference only, that at first the people's +nostrils used to be torn and their ears cut off; then they were branded, +and now they were manacled and transported by steam instead of on the +old carts. The arguments brought forward by those in government service, +who said that the things which aroused his indignation were simply due +to the imperfect arrangements of the places of confinement, and that +they could all be put to rights if prisons of a modern type were built, +did not satisfy Nekhludoff, because he knew that what revolted him was +not the consequence of a better or worse arrangement of the prisons. +He had read of model prisons with electric bells, of executions by +electricity, recommended by Tard; but this refined kind of violence +revolted him even more. + +But what revolted Nekhludoff most was that there were men in the law +courts and in the ministry who received large salaries, taken from the +people, for referring to books written by men like themselves and with +like motives, and sorting actions that violated laws made by themselves +according to different statutes; and, in obedience to these statutes, +sending those guilty of such actions to places where they were +completely at the mercy of cruel, hardened inspectors, jailers, convoy +soldiers, where millions of them perished body and soul. + +Now that he had a closer knowledge of prisons, Nekhludoff found out +that all those vices which developed among the prisoners--drunkenness, +gambling, cruelty, and all these terrible crimes, even cannibalism--were +not casual, or due to degeneration or to the existence of monstrosities +of the criminal type, as science, going hand in hand with the +government, explained it, but an unavoidable consequence of the +incomprehensible delusion that men may punish one another. Nekhludoff +saw that cannibalism did not commence in the marshes, but in the +ministry. He saw that his brother-in-law, for example, and, in fact, all +the lawyers and officials, from the usher to the minister, do not care +in the least for justice or the good of the people about whom they +spoke, but only for the roubles they were paid for doing the things that +were the source whence all this degradation and suffering flowed. This +was quite evident. + +"Can it be, then, that all this is done simply through misapprehension? +Could it not be managed that all these officials should have their +salaries secured to them, and a premium paid them, besides, so that +they should leave off, doing all that they were doing now?" Nekhludoff +thought, and in spite of the fleas, that seemed to spring up round him +like water from a fountain whenever he moved, he fell fast asleep. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE JOURNEY RESUMED. + +The carters had left the inn long before Nekhludoff awoke. The landlady +had had her tea, and came in wiping her fat, perspiring neck with +her handkerchief, and said that a soldier had brought a note from +the halting station. The note was from Mary Pavlovna. She wrote that +Kryltzoff's attack was more serious than they had imagined. "We wished +him to be left behind and to remain with him, but this has not been +allowed, so that we shall take him on; but we fear the worst. Please +arrange so that if he should be left in the next town, one of us might +remain with him. If in order to get the permission to stay I should be +obliged to get married to him, I am of course ready to do so." + +Nekhludoff sent the young labourer to the post station to order horses +and began packing up hurriedly. Before he had drunk his second tumbler +of tea the three-horsed postcart drove up to the porch with ringing +bells, the wheels rattling on the frozen mud as on stones. Nekhludoff +paid the fat-necked landlady, hurried out and got into the cart, +and gave orders to the driver to go on as fast as possible, so as to +overtake the gang. Just past the gates of the commune pasture ground +they did overtake the carts, loaded with sacks and the sick prisoners, +as they rattled over the frozen mud, that was just beginning to be +rolled smooth by the wheels (the officer was not there, he had gone in +advance). The soldiers, who had evidently been drinking, followed by the +side of the road, chatting merrily. There were a great many carts. In +each of the first carts sat six invalid criminal convicts, close packed. +On each of the last two were three political prisoners. Novodvoroff, +Grabetz and Kondratieff sat on one, Rintzeva, Nabatoff and the woman to +whom Mary Pavlovna had given up her own place on the other, and on one +of the carts lay Kryltzoff on a heap of hay, with a pillow under his +head, and Mary Pavlovna sat by him on the edge of the cart. Nekhludoff +ordered his driver to stop, got out and went up to Kryltzoff. One of +the tipsy soldiers waved his hand towards Nekhludoff, but he paid no +attention and started walking by Kryltzoff's side, holding on to the +side of the cart with his hand. Dressed in a sheepskin coat, with a fur +cap on his head and his mouth bound up with a handkerchief, he seemed +paler and thinner than ever. His beautiful eyes looked very large and +brilliant. Shaken from side to side by the jottings of the cart, he lay +with his eyes fixed on Nekhludoff; but when asked about his health, he +only closed his eyes and angrily shook his head. All his energy seemed +to be needed in order to bear the jolting of the cart. Mary Pavlovna was +on the other side. She exchanged a significant glance with Nekhludoff, +which expressed all her anxiety about Kryltzoff's state, and then began +to talk at once in a cheerful manner. + +"It seems the officer is ashamed of himself," she shouted, so as to be +heard above the rattle of the wheels. "Bousovkin's manacles have +been removed, and he is carrying his little girl himself. Katusha and +Simonson are with him, and Vera, too. She has taken my place." + +Kryltzoff said something that could not be heard because of the noise, +and frowning in the effort to repress his cough shook his head. Then +Nekhludoff stooped towards him, so as to hear, and Kryltzoff, freeing +his mouth of the handkerchief, whispered: + +"Much better now. Only not to catch cold." + +Nekhludoff nodded in acquiescence, and again exchanged a glance with +Mary Pavlovna. + +"How about the problem of the three bodies?" whispered Kryltzoff, +smiling with great difficulty. "The solution is difficult." + +Nekhludoff did not understand, but Mary Pavlovna explained that he meant +the well-known mathematical problem which defined the position of the +sun, moon and earth, which Kryltzoff compared to the relations between +Nekhludoff, Katusha and Simonson. Kryltzoff nodded, to show that Mary +Pavlovna had explained his joke correctly. + +"The decision does not lie with me," Nekhludoff said. + +"Did you get my note? Will you do it?" Mary Pavlovna asked. + +"Certainly," answered Nekhludoff; and noticing a look of displeasure on +Kryltzoff's face, he returned to his conveyance, and holding with both +hands to the sides of the cart, got in, which jolted with him over the +ruts of the rough road. He passed the gang, which, with its grey cloaks +and sheepskin coats, chains and manacles, stretched over three-quarters +of a mile of the road. On the opposite side of the road Nekhludoff +noticed Katusha's blue shawl, Vera Doukhova's black coat, and Simonson's +crochet cap, white worsted stockings, with bands, like those of sandals, +tied round him. Simonson was walking with the woman and carrying on a +heated discussion. + +When they saw Nekhludoff they bowed to him, and Simonson raised his hat +in a solemn manner. Nekhludoff, having nothing to say, did not stop, and +was soon ahead of the carts. Having got again on to a smoother part of +the road, they drove still more quickly, but they had continually to +turn aside to let pass long rows of carts that were moving along the +road in both directions. + +The road, which was cut up by deep ruts, lay through a thick pine +forest, mingled with birch trees and larches, bright with yellow leaves +they had not yet shed. By the time Nekhludoff had passed about half the +gang he reached the end of the forest. Fields now lay stretched along +both sides of the road, and the crosses and cupolas of a monastery +appeared in the distance. The clouds had dispersed, and it had cleared +up completely; the leaves, the frozen puddles and the gilt crosses and +cupolas of the monastery glittered brightly in the sun that had risen +above the forest. A little to the right mountains began to gleam white +in the blue-grey distance, and the trap entered a large village. +The village street was full of people, both Russians and other +nationalities, wearing peculiar caps and cloaks. Tipsy men and women +crowded and chattered round booths, traktirs, public houses and carts. +The vicinity of a town was noticeable. Giving a pull and a lash of the +whip to the horse on his right, the driver sat down sideways on the +right edge of the seat, so that the reins hung over that side, and with +evident desire of showing off, he drove quickly down to the river, which +had to be crossed by a ferry. The raft was coming towards them, and +had reached the middle of the river. About twenty carts were waiting to +cross. Nekhludoff had not long to wait. The raft, which had been pulled +far up the stream, quickly approached the landing, carried by the swift +waters. The tall, silent, broad-shouldered, muscular ferryman, dressed +in sheepskins, threw the ropes and moored the raft with practised hand, +landed the carts that were on it, and put those that were waiting on +the bank on board. The whole raft was filled with vehicles and horses +shuffling at the sight of the water. The broad, swift river splashed +against the sides of the ferryboats, tightening their moorings. + +When the raft was full, and Nekhludoff's cart, with the horses taken out +of it, stood closely surrounded by other carts on the side of the raft, +the ferryman barred the entrance, and, paying no heed to the prayers of +those who had not found room in the raft, unfastened the ropes and set +off. + +All was quiet on the raft; one could hear nothing but the tramp of the +ferryman's boots and the horses changing from foot to foot. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"JUST A WORTHLESS TRAMP." + +Nekhludoff stood on the edge of the raft looking at the broad river. Two +pictures kept rising up in his mind. One, that of Kryltzoff, unprepared +for death and dying, made a heavy, sorrowful impression on him. The +other, that of Katusha, full of energy, having gained the love of such a +man as Simonson, and found a true and solid path towards righteousness, +should have been pleasant, yet it also created a heavy impression on +Nekhludoff's mind, and he could not conquer this impression. + +The vibrating sounds of a big brass bell reached them from the town. +Nekhludoff's driver, who stood by his side, and the other men on the +raft raised their caps and crossed themselves, all except a short, +dishevelled old man, who stood close to the railway and whom Nekhludoff +had not noticed before. He did not cross himself, but raised his head +and looked at Nekhludoff. This old man wore a patched coat, cloth +trousers and worn and patched shoes. He had a small wallet on his back, +and a high fur cap with the fur much rubbed on his head. + +"Why don't you pray, old chap?" asked Nekhludoff's driver as he replaced +and straightened his cap. "Are you unbaptized?" + +"Who's one to pray to?" asked the old man quickly, in a determinately +aggressive tone. + +"To whom? To God, of course," said the driver sarcastically. + +"And you just show me where he is, that god." There was something so +serious and firm in the expression of the old man, that the driver felt +that he had to do with a strong-minded man, and was a bit abashed. And +trying not to show this, not to be silenced, and not to be put to shame +before the crowd that was observing them, he answered quickly. + +"Where? In heaven, of course." + +"And have you been up there?" + +"Whether I've been or not, every one knows that you must pray to God." + +"No one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in +the bosom of the Father he hath declared him," said the old man in the +same rapid manner, and with a severe frown on his brow. + +"It's clear you are not a Christian, but a hole worshipper. You pray +to a hole," said the driver, shoving the handle of his whip into his +girdle, pulling straight the harness on one of the horses. + +Some one laughed. + +"What is your faith, Dad?" asked a middle-aged man, who stood by his +cart on the same side of the raft. + +"I have no kind of faith, because I believe no one--no one but myself," +said the old man as quickly and decidedly as before. + +"How can you believe yourself?" Nekhludoff asked, entering into a +conversation with him. "You might make a mistake." + +"Never in your life," the old man said decidedly, with a toss of his +head. + +"Then why are there different faiths?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"It's just because men believe others and do not believe themselves that +there are different faiths. I also believed others, and lost myself as +in a swamp,--lost myself so that I had no hope of finding my way out. +Old believers and new believers and Judaisers and Khlysty and Popovitzy, +and Bespopovitzy and Avstriaks and Molokans and Skoptzy--every faith +praises itself only, and so they all creep about like blind puppies. +There are many faiths, but the spirit is one--in me and in you and in +him. So that if every one believes himself all will be united. Every one +be himself, and all will be as one." + +The old man spoke loudly and often looked round, evidently wishing that +as many as possible should hear him. + +"And have you long held this faith?" + +"I? A long time. This is the twenty-third year that they persecute me." + +"Persecute you? How?" + +"As they persecuted Christ, so they persecute me. They seize me, and +take me before the courts and before the priests, the Scribes and the +Pharisees. Once they put me into a madhouse; but they can do nothing +because I am free. They say, 'What is your name?' thinking I shall name +myself. But I do not give myself a name. I have given up everything: +I have no name, no place, no country, nor anything. I am just myself. +'What is your name?' 'Man.' 'How old are you?' I say, 'I do not count my +years and cannot count them, because I always was, I always shall be.' +'Who are your parents?' 'I have no parents except God and Mother Earth. +God is my father.' 'And the Tsar? Do you recognise the Tsar?' they say. +I say, 'Why not? He is his own Tsar, and I am my own Tsar.' 'Where's the +good of talking to him,' they say, and I say, 'I do not ask you to talk +to me.' And so they begin tormenting me." + +"And where are you going now?" asked Nekhludoff. + +"Where God will lead me. I work when I can find work, and when I can't +I beg." The old man noticed that the raft was approaching the bank and +stopped, looking round at the bystanders with a look of triumph. + +Nekhludoff got out his purse and offered some money to the old man, but +he refused, saying: + +"I do not accept this sort of thing--bread I do accept." + +"Well, then, excuse me." + +"There is nothing to excuse, you have not offended me. And it is not +possible to offend me." And the old man put the wallet he had taken +off again on his back. Meanwhile, the post-cart had been landed and the +horses harnessed. + +"I wonder you should care to talk to him, sir," said the driver, when +Nekhludoff, having tipped the bowing ferryman, got into the cart again. +"He is just a worthless tramp." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +NEKHLUDOFF SEES THE GENERAL. + +When they got to the top of the hill bank the driver turned to +Nekhludoff. + +"Which hotel am I to drive to?" + +"Which is the best?" + +"Nothing could be better than the Siberian, but Dukeoff's is also good." + +"Drive to whichever you like." + +The driver again seated himself sideways and drove faster. The town +was like all such towns. The same kind of houses with attic windows +and green roofs, the same kind of cathedral, the same kind of shops and +stores in the principal street, and even the same kind of policemen. +Only the houses were almost all of them wooden, and the streets were not +paved. In one of the chief streets the driver stopped at the door of an +hotel, but there was no room to be had, so he drove to another. And here +Nekhludoff, after two months, found himself once again in surroundings +such as he had been accustomed to as far as comfort and cleanliness +went. Though the room he was shown to was simple enough, yet Nekhludoff +felt greatly relieved to be there after two months of post-carts, +country inns and halting stations. His first business was to clean +himself of the lice which he had never been able to get thoroughly rid +of after visiting a halting station. When he had unpacked he went to the +Russian bath, after which he made himself fit to be seen in a town, +put on a starched shirt, trousers that had got rather creased along the +seams, a frock-coat and an overcoat, and drove to the Governor of the +district. The hotel-keeper called an isvostchik, whose well-fed Kirghiz +horse and vibrating trap soon brought Nekhludoff to the large porch of +a big building, in front of which stood sentinels and a policeman. The +house had a garden in front, and at the back, among the naked branches +of aspen and birch trees, there grew thick and dark green pines and +firs. The General was not well, and did not receive; but Nekhludoff +asked the footman to hand in his card all the same, and the footman came +back with a favourable reply. + +"You are asked to come in." + +The hall, the footman, the orderly, the staircase, the dancing-room, +with its well-polished floor, were very much the same as in Petersburg, +only more imposing and rather dirtier. Nekhludoff was shown into the +cabinet. + +The General, a bloated, potato-nosed man, with a sanguine disposition, +large bumps on his forehead, bald head, and puffs under his eyes, sat +wrapped in a Tartar silk dressing-gown smoking a cigarette and sipping +his tea out of a tumbler in a silver holder. + +"How do you do, sir? Excuse my dressing-gown; it is better so than if I +had not received you at all," he said, pulling up his dressing-gown over +his fat neck with its deep folds at the nape. "I am not quite well, and +do not go out. What has brought you to our remote region?" + +"I am accompanying a gang of prisoners, among whom there is a person +closely connected with me, said Nekhludoff, and now I have come to +see your Excellency partly in behalf of this person, and partly about +another business." The General took a whiff and a sip of tea, put +his cigarette into a malachite ashpan, with his narrow eyes fixed on +Nekhludoff, listening seriously. He only interrupted him once to offer +him a cigarette. + +The General belonged to the learned type of military men who believed +that liberal and humane views can be reconciled with their profession. +But being by nature a kind and intelligent man, he soon felt the +impossibility of such a reconciliation; so as not to feel the inner +discord in which he was living, he gave himself up more and more to the +habit of drinking, which is so widely spread among military men, and +was now suffering from what doctors term alcoholism. He was imbued +with alcohol, and if he drank any kind of liquor it made him tipsy. Yet +strong drink was an absolute necessity to him, he could not live without +it, so he was quite drunk every evening; but had grown so used to this +state that he did not reel nor talk any special nonsense. And if he +did talk nonsense, it was accepted as words of wisdom because of the +important and high position which he occupied. Only in the morning, just +at the time Nekhludoff came to see him, he was like a reasonable being, +could understand what was said to him, and fulfil more or less aptly a +proverb he was fond of repeating: "He's tipsy, but he's wise, so he's +pleasant in two ways." + +The higher authorities knew he was a drunkard, but he was more educated +than the rest, though his education had stopped at the spot where +drunkenness had got hold of him. He was bold, adroit, of imposing +appearance, and showed tact even when tipsy; therefore, he was +appointed, and was allowed to retain so public and responsible an +office. + +Nekhludoff told him that the person he was interested in was a woman, +that she was sentenced, though innocent, and that a petition had been +sent to the Emperor in her behalf. + +"Yes, well?" said the General. + +"I was promised in Petersburg that the news concerning her fate should +be sent to me not later than this month and to this place-" + +The General stretched his hand with its stumpy fingers towards the +table, and rang a bell, still looking at Nekhludoff and puffing at his +cigarette. + +"So I would like to ask you that this woman should be allowed to remain +here until the answer to her petition comes." + +The footman, an orderly in uniform, came in. + +"Ask if Anna Vasilievna is up," said the General to the orderly, "and +bring some more tea." Then, turning to Nekhludoff, "Yes, and what else?" + +"My other request concerns a political prisoner who is with the same +gang." + +"Dear me," said the General, with a significant shake of the head. + +"He is seriously ill--dying, and he will probably be left here in the +hospital, so one of the women prisoners would like to stay behind with +him." + +"She is no relation of his?" + +"No, but she is willing to marry him if that will enable her to remain +with him." + +The General looked fixedly with twinkling eyes at his interlocutor, and, +evidently with a wish to discomfit him, listened, smoking in silence. + +When Nekhludoff had finished, the General took a book off the table, +and, wetting his finger, quickly turned over the pages and found the +statute relating to marriage. + +"What is she sentenced to?" he asked, looking up from the book. + +"She? To hard labour." + +"Well, then, the position of one sentenced to that cannot be bettered by +marriage." + +"Yes, but--" + +"Excuse me. Even if a free man should marry her, she would have to +serve her term. The question in such cases is, whose is the heavier +punishment, hers or his?" + +"They are both sentenced to hard labour." + +"Very well; so they are quits," said the General, with a laugh. "She's +got what he has, only as he is sick he may be left behind, and of course +what can be done to lighten his fate shall be done. But as for her, even +if she did marry him, she could not remain behind." + +"The Generaless is having her coffee," the footman announced. + +The General nodded and continued: + +"However, I shall think about it. What are their names? Put them down +here." + +Nekhludoff wrote down the names. + +Nekhludoff's request to be allowed to see the dying man the General +answered by saying, "Neither can I do that. Of course I do not suspect +you, but you take an interest in him and in the others, and you have +money, and here with us anything can be done with money. I have been +told to put down bribery. But how can I put down bribery when everybody +takes bribes? And the lower their rank the more ready they are to be +bribed. How can one find it out across more than three thousand miles? +There any official is a little Tsar, just as I am here," and he laughed. +"You have in all likelihood been to see the political prisoners; you +gave money and got permission to see them," he said, with a smile. "Is +it not so?" + +"Yes, it is." + +"I quite understand that you had to do it. You pity a political prisoner +and wish to see him. And the inspector or the convoy soldier accepts, +because he has a salary of twice twenty copecks and a family, and he +can't help accepting it. In his place and yours I should have acted +in the same way as you and he did. But in my position I do not permit +myself to swerve an inch from the letter of the law, just because I am +a man, and might be influenced by pity. But I am a member of the +executive, and I have been placed in a position of trust on certain +conditions, and these conditions I must carry out. Well, so this +business is finished. And now let us hear what is going on in the +metropolis." And the General began questioning with the evident desire +to hear the news and to show how very human he was. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE SENTENCE COMMUTED. + +"By-the-way, where are you staying?" asked the General as he was taking +leave of Nekhludoff. "At Duke's? Well, it's horrid enough there. Come +and dine with us at five o'clock. You speak English?" + +"Yes, I do." + +"That's good. You see, an English traveller has just arrived here. He +is studying the question of transportation and examining the prisons of +Siberia. Well, he is dining with us to-night, and you come and meet him. +We dine at five, and my wife expects punctuality. Then I shall also +give you an answer what to do about that woman, and perhaps it may be +possible to leave some one behind with the sick prisoner." + +Having made his bow to the General, Nekhludoff drove to the post-office, +feeling himself in an extremely animated and energetic frame of mind. + +The post-office was a low-vaulted room. Several officials sat behind +a counter serving the people, of whom there was quite a crowd. One +official sat with his head bent to one side and kept stamping the +envelopes, which he slipped dexterously under the stamp. Nekhludoff had +not long to wait. As soon as he had given his name, everything that had +come for him by post was at once handed to him. There was a good deal: +letters, and money, and books, and the last number of Fatherland Notes. +Nekhludoff took all these things to a wooden bench, on which a soldier +with a book in his hand sat waiting for something, took the seat by +his side, and began sorting the letters. Among them was one registered +letter in a fine envelope, with a distinctly stamped bright red seal. He +broke the seal, and seeing a letter from Selenin and some official paper +inside the envelope, he felt the blood rush to his face, and his heart +stood still. It was the answer to Katusha's petition. What would that +answer be? Nekhludoff glanced hurriedly through the letter, written +in an illegibly small, hard, and cramped hand, and breathed a sigh of +relief. The answer was a favourable one. + +"Dear friend," wrote Selenin, "our last talk has made a profound +impression on me. You were right concerning Maslova. I looked carefully +through the case, and see that shocking injustice has been done her. It +could be remedied only by the Committee of Petitions before which you +laid it. I managed to assist at the examination of the case, and I +enclose herewith the copy of the mitigation of the sentence. Your aunt, +the Countess Katerina Ivanovna, gave me the address which I am sending +this to. The original document has been sent to the place where she was +imprisoned before her trial, and will from there he probably sent +at once to the principal Government office in Siberia. I hasten to +communicate this glad news to you and warmly press your hand. + + "Yours, + + "SELENIN." + +The document ran thus: "His Majesty's office for the reception +of petitions, addressed to his Imperial name"--here followed the +date----"by order of the chief of his Majesty's office for the reception +of petitions addressed to his Imperial name. The meschanka Katerina +Maslova is hereby informed that his Imperial Majesty, with reference to +her most loyal petition, condescending to her request, deigns to order +that her sentence to hard labour should be commuted to one of exile to +the less distant districts of Siberia." + +This was joyful and important news; all that Nekhludoff could have hoped +for Katusha, and for himself also, had happened. It was true that the +new position she was in brought new complications with it. While she was +a convict, marriage with her could only be fictitious, and would have +had no meaning except that he would have been in a position to alleviate +her condition. And now there was nothing to prevent their living +together, and Nekhludoff had not prepared himself for that. And, +besides, what of her relations to Simonson? What was the meaning of her +words yesterday? If she consented to a union with Simonson, would it +be well? He could not unravel all these questions, and gave up thinking +about it. "It will all clear itself up later on," he thought; "I must +not think about it now, but convey the glad news to her as soon as +possible, and set her free." He thought that the copy of the document he +had received would suffice, so when he left the post-office he told the +isvostchik to drive him to the prison. + +Though he had received no order from the governor to visit the prison +that morning, he knew by experience that it was easy to get from the +subordinates what the higher officials would not grant, so now he meant +to try and get into the prison to bring Katusha the joyful news, and +perhaps to get her set free, and at the same time to inquire about +Kryltzoff's state of health, and tell him and Mary Pavlovna what the +general had said. The prison inspector was a tall, imposing-looking man, +with moustaches and whiskers that twisted towards the corners of his +mouth. He received Nekhludoff very gravely, and told him plainly that +he could not grant an outsider the permission to interview the prisoners +without a special order from his chief. To Nekhludoff's remark that he +had been allowed to visit the prisoners even in the cities he answered: + +"That may be so, but I do not allow it," and his tone implied, "You +city gentlemen may think to surprise and perplex us, but we in Eastern +Siberia also know what the law is, and may even teach it you." The copy +of a document straight from the Emperor's own office did not have any +effect on the prison inspector either. He decidedly refused to let +Nekhludoff come inside the prison walls. He only smiled contemptuously +at Nekhludoff's naive conclusion, that the copy he had received would +suffice to set Maslova free, and declared that a direct order from his +own superiors would be needed before any one could be set at liberty. +The only things he agreed to do were to communicate to Maslova that a +mitigation had arrived for her, and to promise that he would not detain +her an hour after the order from his chief to liberate her would arrive. +He would also give no news of Kryltzoff, saying he could not even tell +if there was such a prisoner; and so Nekhludoff, having accomplished +next to nothing, got into his trap and drove back to his hotel. + +The strictness of the inspector was chiefly due to the fact that an +epidemic of typhus had broken out in the prison, owing to twice the +number of persons that it was intended for being crowded in it. The +isvostchik who drove Nekhludoff said, "Quite a lot of people are dying +in the prison every day, some kind of disease having sprung up among +them, so that as many as twenty were buried in one day." + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE GENERAL'S HOUSEHOLD. + +In spite of his ineffectual attempt at the prison, Nekhludoff, still +in the same vigorous, energetic frame of mind, went to the Governor's +office to see if the original of the document had arrived for Maslova. +It had not arrived, so Nekhludoff went back to the hotel and wrote +without delay to Selenin and the advocate about it. When he had +finished writing he looked at his watch and saw it was time to go to the +General's dinner party. + +On the way he again began wondering how Katusha would receive the news +of the mitigation of her sentence. Where she would be settled? How he +should live with her? What about Simonson? What would his relations to +her be? He remembered the change that had taken place in her, and +this reminded him of her past. "I must forget it for the present," he +thought, and again hastened to drive her out of his mind. "When the time +comes I shall see," he said to himself, and began to think of what he +ought to say to the General. + +The dinner at the General's, with the luxury habitual to the lives +of the wealthy and those of high rank, to which Nekhludoff had been +accustomed, was extremely enjoyable after he had been so long deprived +not only of luxury but even of the most ordinary comforts. The mistress +of the house was a Petersburg grande dame of the old school, a maid of +honour at the court of Nicholas I., who spoke French quite naturally and +Russian very unnaturally. She held herself very erect and, moving her +hands, she kept her elbows close to her waist. She was quietly and, +somewhat sadly considerate for her husband, and extremely kind to +all her visitors, though with a tinge of difference in her behaviour +according to their position. She received Nekhludoff as if he were one +of them, and her fine, almost imperceptible flattery made him once again +aware of his virtues and gave him a feeling of satisfaction. She made +him feel that she knew of that honest though rather singular step of his +which had brought him to Siberia, and held him to be an exceptional man. +This refined flattery and the elegance and luxury of the General's house +had the effect of making Nekhludoff succumb to the enjoyment of the +handsome surroundings, the delicate dishes and the ease and pleasure +of intercourse with educated people of his own class, so that the +surroundings in the midst of which he had lived for the last months +seemed a dream from which he had awakened to reality. Besides those +of the household, the General's daughter and her husband and an +aide-de-camp, there were an Englishman, a merchant interested in gold +mines, and the governor of a distant Siberian town. All these people +seemed pleasant to Nekhludoff. The Englishman, a healthy man with a +rosy complexion, who spoke very bad French, but whose command of his own +language was very good and oratorically impressive, who had seen a great +deal, was very interesting to listen to when he spoke about America, +India, Japan and Siberia. + +The young merchant interested in the gold mines, the son of a peasant, +whose evening dress was made in London, who had diamond studs to his +shirt, possessed a fine library, contributed freely to philanthropic +work, and held liberal European views, seemed pleasant to Nekhludoff +as a sample of a quite new and good type of civilised European culture, +grafted on a healthy, uncultivated peasant stem. + +The governor of the distant Siberian town was that same man who had been +so much talked about in Petersburg at the time Nekhludoff was there. He +was plump, with thin, curly hair, soft blue eyes, carefully-tended white +hands, with rings on the fingers, a pleasant smile, and very big in the +lower part of his body. The master of the house valued this governor +because of all the officials he was the only one who would not be +bribed. The mistress of the house, who was very fond of music and a +very good pianist herself, valued him because he was a good musician and +played duets with her. + +Nekhludoff was in such good humour that even this man was not unpleasant +to him, in spite of what he knew of his vices. The bright, energetic +aide-de-camp, with his bluey grey chin, who was continually offering his +services, pleased Nekhludoff by his good nature. But it was the charming +young couple, the General's daughter and her husband, who pleased +Nekhludoff best. The daughter was a plain-looking, simple-minded young +woman, wholly absorbed in her two children. Her husband, whom she had +fallen in love with and married after a long struggle with her parents, +was a Liberal, who had taken honours at the Moscow University, a modest +and intellectual young man in Government service, who made up statistics +and studied chiefly the foreign tribes, which he liked and tried to save +from dying out. + +All of them were not only kind and attentive to Nekhludoff, but +evidently pleased to see him, as a new and interesting acquaintance. The +General, who came in to dinner in uniform and with a white cross round +his neck, greeted Nekhludoff as a friend, and asked the visitors to +the side table to take a glass of vodka and something to whet their +appetites. The General asked Nekhludoff what he had been doing since +he left that morning, and Nekhludoff told him he had been to the +post-office and received the news of the mitigation of that person's +sentence that he had spoken of in the morning, and again asked for a +permission to visit the prison. + +The General, apparently displeased that business should be mentioned at +dinner, frowned and said nothing. + +"Have a glass of vodka," he said, addressing the Englishman, who had +just come up to the table. The Englishman drank a glass, and said he had +been to see the cathedral and the factory, but would like to visit the +great transportation prison. + +"Oh, that will just fit in," said the General to Nekhludoff. "You will +be able to go together. Give them a pass," he added, turning to his +aide-de-camp. + +"When would you like to go?" Nekhludoff asked. + +"I prefer visiting the prisons in the evening," the Englishman answered. +"All are indoors and there is no preparation; you find them all as they +are." + +"Ah, he would like to see it in all its glory! Let him do so. I have +written about it and no attention has been paid to it. Let him find out +from foreign publications," the General said, and went up to the dinner +table, where the mistress of the house was showing the visitors their +places. Nekhludoff sat between his hostess and the Englishman. In front +of him sat the General's daughter and the ex-director of the Government +department in Petersburg. The conversation at dinner was carried on by +fits and starts, now it was India that the Englishman talked about, now +the Tonkin expedition that the General strongly disapproved of, now the +universal bribery and corruption in Siberia. All these topics did not +interest Nekhludoff much. + +But after dinner, over their coffee, Nekhludoff and the Englishman began +a very interesting conversation about Gladstone, and Nekhludoff thought +he had said many clever things which were noticed by his interlocutor. +And Nekhludoff felt it more and more pleasant to be sipping his coffee +seated in an easy-chair among amiable, well-bred people. And when at +the Englishman's request the hostess went up to the piano with the +ex-director of the Government department, and they began to play in +well-practised style Beethoven's fifth symphony, Nekhludoff fell into +a mental state of perfect self-satisfaction to which he had long been +a stranger, as though he had only just found out what a good fellow he +was. + +The grand piano was a splendid instrument, the symphony was well +performed. At least, so it seemed to Nekhludoff, who knew and liked that +symphony. Listening to the beautiful andante, he felt a tickling in his +nose, he was so touched by his many virtues. + +Nekhludoff thanked his hostess for the enjoyment that he had been +deprived of for so long, and was about to say goodbye and go when the +daughter of the house came up to him with a determined look and said, +with a blush, "You asked about my children. Would you like to see them?" + +"She thinks that everybody wants to see her children," said her mother, +smiling at her daughter's winning tactlessness. "The Prince is not at +all interested." + +"On the contrary, I am very much interested," said Nekhludoff, touched +by this overflowing, happy mother-love. "Please let me see them." + +"She's taking the Prince to see her babies," the General shouted, +laughing from the card-table, where he sat with his son-in-law, the mine +owner and the aide-de-camp. "Go, go, pay your tribute." + +The young woman, visibly excited by the thought that judgment was about +to be passed on her children, went quickly towards the inner apartments, +followed by Nekhludoff. In the third, a lofty room, papered with white +and lit up by a shaded lamp, stood two small cots, and a nurse with a +white cape on her shoulders sat between the cots. She had a kindly, true +Siberian face, with its high cheek-bones. + +The nurse rose and bowed. The mother stooped over the first cot, in +which a two-year-old little girl lay peacefully sleeping with her little +mouth open and her long, curly hair tumbled over the pillow. + +"This is Katie," said the mother, straightening the white and blue +crochet coverlet, from under which a little white foot pushed itself +languidly out. + +"Is she not pretty? She's only two years old, you know." + +"Lovely." + +"And this is Vasiuk, as 'grandpapa' calls him. Quite a different type. A +Siberian, is he not?" + +"A splendid boy," said Nekhludoff, as he looked at the little fatty +lying asleep on his stomach. + +"Yes," said the mother, with a smile full of meaning. + +Nekhludoff recalled to his mind chains, shaved heads, fighting +debauchery, the dying Kryltzoff, Katusha and the whole of her past, and +he began to feel envious and to wish for what he saw here, which now +seemed to him pure and refined happiness. + +After having repeatedly expressed his admiration of the children, +thereby at least partially satisfying their mother, who eagerly drank +in this praise, he followed her back to the drawing-room, where the +Englishman was waiting for him to go and visit the prison, as they had +arranged. Having taken leave of their hosts, the old and the young ones, +the Englishman and Nekhludoff went out into the porch of the General's +house. + +The weather had changed. It was snowing, and the snow fell densely in +large flakes, and already covered the road, the roof and the trees in +the garden, the steps of the porch, the roof of the trap and the back of +the horse. + +The Englishman had a trap of his own, and Nekhludoff, having told the +coachman to drive to the prison, called his isvostchik and got in with +the heavy sense of having to fulfil an unpleasant duty, and followed +the Englishman over the soft snow, through which the wheels turned with +difficulty. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MASLOVA'S DECISION. + +The dismal prison house, with its sentinel and lamp burning under the +gateway, produced an even more dismal impression, with its long row of +lighted windows, than it had done in the morning, in spite of the white +covering that now lay over everything--the porch, the roof and the +walls. + +The imposing inspector came up to the gate and read the pass that had +been given to Nekhludoff and the Englishman by the light of the lamp, +shrugged his fine shoulders in surprise, but, in obedience to the order, +asked the visitors to follow him in. He led them through the courtyard +and then in at a door to the right and up a staircase into the office. +He offered them a seat and asked what he could do for them, and when +he heard that Nekhludoff would like to see Maslova at once, he sent a +jailer to fetch her. Then he prepared himself to answer the questions +which the Englishman began to put to him, Nekhludoff acting as +interpreter. + +"How many persons is the prison built to hold?" the Englishman asked. +"How many are confined in it? How many men? How many women? Children? +How many sentenced to the mines? How many exiles? How many sick +persons?" + +Nekhludoff translated the Englishman's and the inspector's words without +paying any attention to their meaning, and felt an awkwardness he had +not in the least expected at the thought of the impending interview. +When, in the midst of a sentence he was translating for the Englishman, +he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and the office door opened, +and, as had happened many times before, a jailer came in, followed by +Katusha, and he saw her with a kerchief tied round her head, and in a +prison jacket a heavy sensation came over him. "I wish to live, I want +a family, children, I want a human life." These thoughts flashed through +his mind as she entered the room with rapid steps and blinking her eyes. + +He rose and made a few steps to meet her, and her face appeared hard +and unpleasant to him. It was again as it had been at the time when +she reproached him. She flushed and turned pale, her fingers nervously +twisting a corner of her jacket. She looked up at him, then cast down +her eyes. + +"You know that a mitigation has come?" + +"Yes, the jailer told me." + +"So that as soon as the original document arrives you may come away and +settle where you like. We shall consider--" + +She interrupted him hurriedly. "What have I to consider? Where Valdemar +Simonson goes, there I shall follow." In spite of the excitement she +was in she raised her eyes to Nekhludoff's and pronounced these words +quickly and distinctly, as if she had prepared what she had to say. + +"Indeed!" + +"Well, Dmitri Ivanovitch, you see he wishes me to live with him--" and +she stopped, quite frightened, and corrected herself. "He wishes me to +be near him. What more can I desire? I must look upon it as happiness. +What else is there for me--" + +"One of two things," thought he. "Either she loves Simonson and does not +in the least require the sacrifice I imagined I was bringing her, or she +still loves me and refuses me for my own sake, and is burning her ships +by uniting her fate with Simonson." And Nekhludoff felt ashamed and knew +that he was blushing. + +"And you yourself, do you love him?" he asked. + +"Loving or not loving, what does it matter? I have given up all that. +And then Valdemar Simonson is quite an exceptional man." + +"Yes, of course," Nekhludoff began. "He is a splendid man, and I +think--" + +But she again interrupted him, as if afraid that he might say too much +or that she should not say all. "No, Dmitri Ivanovitch, you must forgive +me if I am not doing what you wish," and she looked at him with those +unfathomable, squinting eyes of hers. "Yes, it evidently must be so. You +must live, too." + +She said just what he had been telling himself a few moments before, but +he no longer thought so now and felt very differently. He was not only +ashamed, but felt sorry to lose all he was losing with her. "I did not +expect this," he said. + +"Why should you live here and suffer? You have suffered enough." + +"I have not suffered. It was good for me, and I should like to go on +serving you if I could." + +"We do not want anything," she said, and looked at him. + +"You have done so much for me as it is. If it had not been for you--" +She wished to say more, but her voice trembled. + +"You certainly have no reason to thank me," Nekhludoff said. + +"Where is the use of our reckoning? God will make up our accounts," she +said, and her black eyes began to glisten with the tears that filled +them. + +"What a good woman you are," he said. + +"I good?" she said through her tears, and a pathetic smile lit up her +face. + +"Are you ready?" the Englishman asked. + +"Directly," replied Nekhludoff and asked her about Kryltzoff. + +She got over her emotion and quietly told him all she knew. Kryltzoff +was very weak and had been sent into the infirmary. Mary Pavlovna was +very anxious, and had asked to be allowed to go to the infirmary as a +nurse, but could not get the permission. + +"Am I to go?" she asked, noticing that the Englishman was waiting. + +"I will not say good-bye; I shall see you again," said Nekhludoff, +holding out his hand. + +"Forgive me," she said so low that he could hardly hear her. Their eyes +met, and Nekhludoff knew by the strange look of her squinting eyes and +the pathetic smile with which she said not "Good-bye" but "Forgive +me," that of the two reasons that might have led to her resolution, +the second was the real one. She loved him, and thought that by uniting +herself to him she would be spoiling his life. By going with Simonson +she thought she would be setting Nekhludoff free, and felt glad that she +had done what she meant to do, and yet she suffered at parting from him. + +She pressed his hand, turned quickly and left the room. + +Nekhludoff was ready to go, but saw that the Englishman was noting +something down, and did not disturb him, but sat down on a wooden seat +by the wall, and suddenly a feeling of terrible weariness came over him. +It was not a sleepless night that had tired him, not the journey, not +the excitement, but he felt terribly tired of living. He leaned against +the back of the bench, shut his eyes and in a moment fell into a deep, +heavy sleep. + +"Well, would you like to look round the cells now?" the inspector asked. + +Nekhludoff looked up and was surprised to find himself where he was. The +Englishman had finished his notes and expressed a wish to see the cells. + +Nekhludoff, tired and indifferent, followed him. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE ENGLISH VISITOR. + +When they had passed the anteroom and the sickening, stinking corridor, +the Englishman and Nekhludoff, accompanied by the inspector, entered the +first cell, where those sentenced to hard labour were confined. The beds +took up the middle of the cell and the prisoners were all in bed. There +were about 70 of them. When the visitors entered all the prisoners +jumped up and stood beside the beds, excepting two, a young man who was +in a state of high fever, and an old man who did nothing but groan. + +The Englishman asked if the young man had long been ill. The inspector +said that he was taken ill in the morning, but that the old man had long +been suffering with pains in the stomach, but could not be removed, as +the infirmary had been overfilled for a long time. The Englishman shook +his head disapprovingly, said he would like to say a few words to these +people, asking Nekhludoff to interpret. It turned out that besides +studying the places of exile and the prisons of Siberia, the Englishman +had another object in view, that of preaching salvation through faith +and by the redemption. + +"Tell them," he said, "that Christ died for them. If they believe in +this they shall be saved." While he spoke, all the prisoners stood +silent with their arms at their sides. "This book, tell them," he +continued, "says all about it. Can any of them read?" + +There were more than 20 who could. + +The Englishman took several bound Testaments out of a hang-bag, and many +strong hands with their hard, black nails stretched out from beneath the +coarse shirt-sleeves towards him. He gave away two Testaments in this +cell. + +The same thing happened in the second cell. There was the same foul air, +the same icon hanging between the windows, the same tub to the left of +the door, and they were all lying side by side close to one another, and +jumped up in the same manner and stood stretched full length with their +arms by their sides, all but three, two of whom sat up and one remained +lying, and did not even look at the newcomers; these three were also +ill. The Englishman made the same speech and again gave away two books. + +In the third room four were ill. When the Englishman asked why the sick +were not put all together into one cell, the inspector said that they +did not wish it themselves, that their diseases were not infectious, and +that the medical assistant watched them and attended to them. + +"He has not set foot here for a fortnight," muttered a voice. + +The inspector did not say anything and led the way to the next cell. +Again the door was unlocked, and all got up and stood silent. Again the +Englishman gave away Testaments. It was the same in the fifth and sixth +cells, in those to the right and those to the left. + +From those sentenced to hard labour they went on to the exiles. + +From the exiles to those evicted by the Commune and those who followed +of their own free will. + +Everywhere men, cold, hungry, idle, infected, degraded, imprisoned, were +shown off like wild beasts. + +The Englishman, having given away the appointed number of Testaments, +stopped giving any more, and made no speeches. The oppressing sight, and +especially the stifling atmosphere, quelled even his energy, and he went +from cell to cell, saying nothing but "All right" to the inspector's +remarks about what prisoners there were in each cell. + +Nekhludoff followed as in a dream, unable either to refuse to go on or +to go away, and with the same feelings of weariness and hopelessness. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +KRYLTZOFF AT REST. + +In one of the exiles' cells Nekhludoff, to his surprise, recognised the +strange old man he had seen crossing the ferry that morning. This old +man was sitting on the floor by the beds, barefooted, with only a dirty +cinder-coloured shirt on, torn on one shoulder, and similar trousers. +He looked severely and enquiringly at the newcomers. His emaciated body, +visible through the holes of his shirt, looked miserably weak, but in +his face was even more concentrated seriousness and animation than when +Nekhludoff saw him crossing the ferry. As in all the other cells, so +here also the prisoners jumped up and stood erect when the official +entered, but the old man remained sitting. His eyes glittered and his +brows frowned with wrath. + +"Get up," the inspector called out to him. + +The old man did not rise and only smiled contemptuously. + +"Thy servants are standing before thee. I am not thy servant. Thou +bearest the seal--" The old man pointed to the inspector's forehead. + +"Wha-a-t?" said the inspector threateningly, and made a step towards +him. + +"I know this man," Nekhludoff hastened to say; "what is he imprisoned +for?" + +"The police have sent him here because he has no passport. We ask them +not to send such, but they will do it," said the inspector, casting an +angry side look at the old man. + +"And so it seems thou, too, art one of Antichrist's army?" the old man +said to Nekhludoff. + +"No, I am a visitor," said Nekhludoff. + +"What, hast thou come to see how Antichrist tortures men? There, look, +he has locked them up in a cage, a whole army of them. Men should eat +bread in the sweat of their brow. And he has locked them up with no work +to do, and feeds them like swine, so that they should turn into beasts." + +"What is he saying?" asked the Englishman. + +Nekhludoff told him the old man was blaming the inspector for keeping +men imprisoned. + +"Ask him how he thinks one should treat those who do not keep to the +laws," said the Englishman. + +Nekhludoff translated the question. The old man laughed in a strange +manner, showing his teeth. + +"The laws?" he repeated with contempt. "He first robbed everybody, took +all the earth, all the rights away from men, killed all those who were +against him, and then wrote laws, forbidding robbery and murder. He +should have written these laws before." + +Nekhludoff translated. The Englishman smiled. "Well, anyhow, ask him how +one should treat thieves and murderers at present?" + +Nekhludoff again translated his question. + +"Tell him he should take the seal of Antichrist off himself," the +old man said, frowning severely; "then there will be no thieves and +murderers. Tell him so." + +"He is crazy," said the Englishman, when Nekhludoff had translated the +old man's words, and, shrugging his shoulders, he left the cell. + +"Do thy business and leave them alone. Every one for himself. God knows +whom to execute, whom to forgive, and we do not know," said the old man. +"Every man be his own chief, then the chiefs will not be wanted. Go, +go!" he added, angrily frowning and looking with glittering eyes at +Nekhludoff, who lingered in the cell. "Hast thou not looked on long +enough how the servants of Antichrist feed lice on men? Go, go!" + +When Nekhludoff went out he saw the Englishman standing by the open door +of an empty cell with the inspector, asking what the cell was for. The +inspector explained that it was the mortuary. + +"Oh," said the Englishman when Nekhludoff had translated, and expressed +the wish to go in. + +The mortuary was an ordinary cell, not very large. A small lamp hung on +the wall and dimly lit up sacks and logs of wood that were piled up in +one corner, and four dead bodies lay on the bedshelves to the right. The +first body had a coarse linen shirt and trousers on; it was that of a +tall man with a small beard and half his head shaved. The body was quite +rigid; the bluish hands, that had evidently been folded on the breast, +had separated; the legs were also apart and the bare feet were sticking +out. Next to him lay a bare-footed old woman in a white petticoat, her +head, with its thin plait of hair, uncovered, with a little, pinched +yellow face and a sharp nose. Beyond her was another man with something +lilac on. This colour reminded Nekhludoff of something. He came nearer +and looked at the body. The small, pointed beard sticking upwards, the +firm, well-shaped nose, the high, white forehead, the thin, curly hair; +he recognised the familiar features and could hardly believe his eyes. +Yesterday he had seen this face, angry, excited, and full of suffering; +now it was quiet, motionless, and terribly beautiful. Yes, it was +Kryltzoff, or at any rate the trace that his material existence had left +behind. "Why had he suffered? Why had he lived? Does he now understand?" +Nekhludoff thought, and there seemed to be no answer, seemed to be +nothing but death, and he felt faint. Without taking leave of the +Englishman, Nekhludoff asked the inspector to lead him out into the +yard, and feeling the absolute necessity of being alone to think over +all that had happened that evening, he drove back to his hotel. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A NEW LIFE DAWNS FOR NEKHLUDOFF. + +Nekhludoff did not go to bed, but went up and down his room for a long +time. His business with Katusha was at an end. He was not wanted, +and this made him sad and ashamed. His other business was not only +unfinished, but troubled him more than ever and demanded his activity. +All this horrible evil that he had seen and learned to know lately, and +especially to-day in that awful prison, this evil, which had killed +that dear Kryltzoff, ruled and was triumphant, and he could foreseen +possibility of conquering or even knowing how to conquer it. Those +hundreds and thousands of degraded human beings locked up in the noisome +prisons by indifferent generals, procureurs, inspectors, rose up in +his imagination; he remembered the strange, free old man accusing the +officials, and therefore considered mad, and among the corpses the +beautiful, waxen face of Kryltzoff, who had died in anger. And again the +question as to whether he was mad or those who considered they were in +their right minds while they committed all these deeds stood before him +with renewed force and demanded an answer. + +Tired of pacing up and down, tired of thinking, he sat down on the sofa +near the lamp and mechanically opened the Testament which the Englishman +had given him as a remembrance, and which he had thrown on the table +when he emptied his pockets on coming in. + +"It is said one can find an answer to everything here," he thought, and +opened the Testament at random and began reading Matt. xviii. 1-4: "In +that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in +the Kingdom of Heaven? And He called to Him a little child, and set him +in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn +and become as little children, ye shall in nowise enter into the Kingdom +of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child +the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." + +"Yes, yes, that is true," he said, remembering that he had known the +peace and joy of life only when he had humbled himself. + +"And whosoever shall receive one such little child in My name receiveth +Me, but whoso shall cause one of these little ones to stumble, it is +more profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about +his neck and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea." (Matt. +xviii. 5, 6.) + +"What is this for, 'Whosoever shall receive?' Receive where? And what +does 'in my name' mean?" he asked, feeling that these words did not tell +him anything. "And why 'the millstone round his neck and the depths of +the sea?' No, that is not it: it is not clear," and he remembered how +more than once in his life he had taken to reading the Gospels, and how +want of clearness in these passages had repulsed him. He went on to +read the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth verses about the occasions of +stumbling, and that they must come, and about punishment by casting men +into hell fire, and some kind of angels who see the face of the Father +in Heaven. "What a pity that this is so incoherent," he thought, "yet +one feels that there is something good in it." + +"For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost," he continued to +read. + +"How think ye? If any man have a hundred sheep and one of them go +astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the mountains +and seek that which goeth astray? And if so be that he find it, verily +I say unto you, he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety and nine +which have not gone astray. + +"Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one +of these little ones should perish." + +"Yes, it is not the will of the Father that they should perish, and +here they are perishing by hundreds and thousands. And there is no +possibility of saving them," he thought. + +"Then came Peter and said to him, How oft shall my brother offend me and +I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto +thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. + +"Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened unto a certain king which +made a reckoning with his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one +was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch +as he had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and +his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. +The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have +patience with me; I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant, +being moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. But +that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants which owed +him a hundred pence; and he laid hold on him and took him by the +throat, saying, Pay what thou owest. So his fellow-servant fell down and +besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee. And +he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay that +which was due. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were +exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. +Then his lord called him unto him and saith to him, Thou wicked servant, +I forgave thee all that debt because thou besought me; shouldst not thou +also have mercy on thy fellow-servant as I had mercy on thee?" + +"And is this all?" Nekhludoff suddenly exclaimed aloud, and the inner +voice of the whole of his being said, "Yes, it is all." And it happened +to Nekhludoff, as it often happens to men who are living a spiritual +life. The thought that seemed strange at first and paradoxical or +even to be only a joke, being confirmed more and more often by life's +experience, suddenly appeared as the simplest, truest certainty. In this +way the idea that the only certain means of salvation from the +terrible evil from which men were suffering was that they should always +acknowledge themselves to be sinning against God, and therefore unable +to punish or correct others, because they were dear to Him. It became +clear to him that all the dreadful evil he had been witnessing in +prisons and jails and the quiet self-satisfaction of the perpetrators of +this evil were the consequences of men trying to do what was impossible; +trying to correct evil while being evil themselves; vicious men were +trying to correct other vicious men, and thought they could do it by +using mechanical means, and the only consequence of all this was that +the needs and the cupidity of some men induced them to take up this +so-called punishment and correction as a profession, and have themselves +become utterly corrupt, and go on unceasingly depraving those whom they +torment. Now he saw clearly what all the terrors he had seen came from, +and what ought to be done to put a stop to them. The answer he could +not find was the same that Christ gave to Peter. It was that we should +forgive always an infinite number of times because there are no men who +have not sinned themselves, and therefore none can punish or correct +others. + +"But surely it cannot be so simple," thought Nekhludoff, and yet he saw +with certainty, strange as it had seemed at first, that it was not only +a theoretical but also a practical solution of the question. The usual +objection, "What is one to do with the evil doers? Surely not let them +go unpunished?" no longer confused him. This objection might have a +meaning if it were proved that punishment lessened crime, or improved +the criminal, but when the contrary was proved, and it was evident that +it was not in people's power to correct each other, the only reasonable +thing to do is to leave off doing the things which are not only useless, +but harmful, immoral and cruel. + +For many centuries people who were considered criminals have been +tortured. Well, and have they ceased to exist? No; their numbers have +been increased not alone by the criminals corrupted by punishment but +also by those lawful criminals, the judges, procureurs, magistrates +and jailers, who judge and punish men. Nekhludoff now understood +that society and order in general exists not because of these lawful +criminals who judge and punish others, but because in spite of men being +thus depraved, they still pity and love one another. + +In hopes of finding a confirmation of this thought in the Gospel, +Nekhludoff began reading it from the beginning. When he had read the +Sermon on the Mount, which had always touched him, he saw in it for the +first time to-day not beautiful abstract thoughts, setting forth for +the most part exaggerated and impossible demands, but simple, clear, +practical laws. If these laws were carried out in practice (and this +was quite possible) they would establish perfectly new and surprising +conditions of social life, in which the violence that filled Nekhludoff +with such indignation would cease of itself. Not only this, but the +greatest blessing that is obtainable to men, the Kingdom of Heaven on +Earth would be established. There were five of these laws. + +The first (Matt. v. 21-26), that man should not only do no murder, +but not even be angry with his brother, should not consider any one +worthless: "Raca," and if he has quarrelled with any one he should make +it up with him before bringing his gift to God--i.e., before praying. + +The second (Matt. v. 27-32), that man should not only not commit +adultery but should not even seek for enjoyment in a woman's beauty, and +if he has once come together with a woman he should never be faithless +to her. + +The third (Matt. 33-37), that man should never bind himself by oath. + +The fourth (Matt. 38-42), that man should not only not demand an eye for +an eye, but when struck on one cheek should hold out the other, should +forgive an offence and bear it humbly, and never refuse the service +others demand of him. + +The fifth (Matt. 43-48), that man should not only not hate his enemy and +not fight him, but love him, help him, serve him. + +Nekhludoff sat staring at the lamp and his heart stood still. Recalling +the monstrous confusion of the life we lead, he distinctly saw what that +life could be if men were brought up to obey these rules, and rapture +such as he had long not felt filled his soul, just as if after long days +of weariness and suffering he had suddenly found ease and freedom. + +He did not sleep all night, and as it happens to many and many a man who +reads the Gospels he understood for the first time the full meaning of +the words read so often before but passed by unnoticed. He imbibed all +these necessary, important and joyful revelations as a sponge imbibes +water. And all he read seemed so familiar and seemed to confirm, to form +into a conception, what he had known long ago, but had never realised +and never quite believed. Now he realised and believed it, and not +only realised and believed that if men would obey these laws they would +obtain the highest blessing they can attain to, he also realised and +believed that the only duty of every man is to fulfil these laws; that +in this lies the only reasonable meaning of life, that every stepping +aside from these laws is a mistake which is immediately followed by +retribution. This flowed from the whole of the teaching, and was most +strongly and clearly illustrated in the parable of the vineyard. + +The husbandman imagined that the vineyard in which they were sent to +work for their master was their own, that all that was in was made +for them, and that their business was to enjoy life in this vineyard, +forgetting the Master and killing all those who reminded them of his +existence. "Are we not doing the same," Nekhludoff thought, "when we +imagine ourselves to be masters of our lives, and that life is given us +for enjoyment? This evidently is an incongruity. We were sent here by +some one's will and for some reason. And we have concluded that we live +only for our own joy, and of course we feel unhappy as labourers do when +not fulfilling their Master's orders. The Master's will is expressed in +these commandments. If men will only fulfil these laws, the Kingdom of +Heaven will be established on earth, and men will receive the greatest +good that they can attain to. + +"'Seek ye first the Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things +shall be added unto you.' + +"And so here it is, the business of my life. Scarcely have I finished +one and another has commenced." And a perfectly new life dawned that +night for Nekhludoff, not because he had entered into new conditions of +life, but because everything he did after that night had a new and quite +different significance than before. How this new period of his life will +end time alone will prove. + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Corrected "Are we do not doing the same," to "Are +we not doing the same," in third last paragraph.] + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Resurrection, by Leo Tolstoy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RESURRECTION *** + +***** This file should be named 1938.txt or 1938.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/1938/ + +Produced by Jim Tinsley + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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