t Selenin, in
spite of his characteristic reserve, argued in favor of affirming the
judgment with unexpected fervor. The cause of Selenin's ardor lay in
the fact that he knew the president of the stock company to be
dishonest in money affairs, while he accidentally learned that Wolf,
almost on the eve of the hearing of the case, had attended a sumptuous
dinner at the president's house. And now, when Wolf, though with great
caution, showed undoubted partiality, Selenin became excited and
expressed his opinion with more nervousness than an ordinary case
would justify. Wolf was evidently offended by the speech; he twitched
nervously, changed color, made silent gestures of wonder, and with an
haughty air of being offended he departed with the other Senators into
the deliberation-room.

"What case are you interested in?" the usher again asked Fanirin, as
soon as the Senators had left the room.

"I have already told you that I am here in behalf of Maslova."

"That is so. The case will be heard to-day. But----"

"What is that?" asked the lawyer.

"You see, the case was to be argued without counsel, so that the
Senators would hardly consider it in open session. But--I will
announce----" and he made a note on the piece of paper.

The Senators really intended, after announcing their decision in the
libel case, to consider the other cases, including Maslova's, while
drinking their tea and smoking cigarettes in the consultation-room.

CHAPTER XIII.

As soon as the Senators seated themselves at the table in the
consultation-room, Wolf began to set forth in an animated manner the
grounds upon which he thought the case ought to be reversed.

The President, always an ill-natured man, was in a particularly bad
humor to-day. While listening to the case during the session he formed
his opinion, and sat, absorbed in his thoughts, without listening to
Wolf. These thoughts consisted in a recollection of what note he had
made the other day in his memoirs anent the appointment of Velianoff
to an important post which he desired for himself. The President,
Nikitin, quite sincerely thought that the officials with whom his
duties brought him in contact were worthy of a place in history.
Having written an article the other day in which some of these
officials were vehemently denounced for interfering with his plan to
save Russia from ruin, as he put it, but in reality for interfering
with his getting a larger salary than he was n