th
me, but c'est mon opinion bien arretee," he added, repeating the
opinion that had been reiterated during the past year by a retrograde,
conservative newspaper. "I know you are a liberal."

"I don't know whether I am a liberal or something else," smilingly
said Nekhludoff, who always wondered at being joined to some party, or
called a liberal only because he held that a man must not be judged
without being heard; that all are equal before the law; that it is
wrong to torture and beat people generally, especially those that are
not convicted. "I don't know whether I am a liberal or not, but I do
know that our present courts, bad as they are, are nevertheless better
than those that preceded them."

"And what lawyer have you retained?"

"I have retained Fanarin."

"Ah, Fanarin!" Maslenikoff said, frowning as he recalled how Fanarin,
examining him as a witness the year before, in the most polite manner
made him the butt of ridicule.

"I would not advise you to have anything to do with him. Fanarin est
un homme tare."

"I have another request to make of you," Nekhludoff said, without
answering him. "A long time ago I made the acquaintance of a girl
teacher, a very wretched creature. She is now in jail and desires to
see me. Can you give me a pass to her?"

Maslenikoff leaned his head to one side and began to reflect.

"She is a political."

"Yes, I was told so."

"You know politicals can only be seen by their relatives, but I will
give you a general pass. Je sais que vous n'abuserez pas----"

"What is the name of this your protege? Bogodukhovskaia? Elle est
jolie?"

"Hideuse."

Maslenikoff disapprovingly shook his head, went to the table and on a
sheet of paper with a printed letter-head wrote in a bold hand: "The
bearer, Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff, is hereby permitted to
visit the prisoners, Maslova and Bogodukhovskaia, now detained in the
prison," and signed his name to it with a broad flourish.

"You will see now what order there is in prison. And to keep order
there is very difficult, because it is overcrowded, especially by
those to be transported. But I watch over them, and like the
occupation. You will see there are very many there, but they are
content, and are faring well. It is necessary to know how to deal with
them. Some unpleasantness occurred there a few days ago--disobedience.
Another man in my place would have treated it as a riot and made many
people miserable, but we arranged i