veux pas
de mal. But God forgive them. Now, go, and don't forget to come in the
evening; you will hear Kisiweather. We will also pray. And if you do
not resist, ca vous fera beaucoup de bien. I know that Hellen and all
of you are very backward in that respect. Now, au revoir."

CHAPTER X.

The man in whose power it was to lighten the condition of the
prisoners in St. Petersburg had earned a great number of medals,
which, except for a white cross in his button-hole, he did not wear,
however. The old general was of the German barons, and, as it was said
of him, had become childish. He had served in the Caucasus, where he
had received this cross; then in Poland and in some other place, and
now he held the office which gave him good quarters, maintenance and
honor. He always strictly carried out the orders of his superiors, and
considered their execution of great importance and significance, so
much so that while everything in the world could be changed, these
orders, according to him, were above the possibility of any
alteration.

As Nekhludoff was approaching the old general's house the tower clock
struck two. The general was at the time sitting with a young artist in
the darkened reception-room, at a table, the top of which was of
inlaid work, both of them turning a saucer on a sheet of paper.
Holding each others fingers over the saucer, placed face downward,
they pulled in different directions over the paper on which were
printed all the letters of the alphabet. The saucer was answering the
general's question. How would souls recognize each other after death?

At the moment one of the servants entered with Nekhludoff's card, the
soul of Jeanne D'Arc was speaking through the saucer. The soul had
already said, "They will recognize each other," which was duly entered
on a sheet of paper. When the servant entered, the saucer, stopping
first on the letter p, then on the letter o, reached the letter s and
began to jerk one way and another. That was because, as the general
thought, the next letter was to be l, that is to say, Jeanne D'Arc,
according to his idea, intended to say that souls would recognize each
other only after they had been purged of everything mundane, or
something to that effect, and that therefore the next letter ought to
be l (_posl, i. e._, after); the artist, on the other hand, thought
that the next letter would be v; that the soul intended to say that
souls would recognize each other by the