his life and that of Maslova if she were freed.

The door-keeper at the hospital, recognizing Nekhludoff, immediately
informed him that Maslova was no longer there.

"Where is she, then?"

"Why, again in the prison."

"Why was she transferred?" asked Nekhludoff.

"Your Excellency knows their kind," said the door-keeper, with a
contemptuous smile. "She was making love to the assistant, so the
chief physician sent her back."

Nekhludoff did not suspect that Maslova and her spiritual condition
were so close to him. This news stunned him. The feeling he
experienced was akin to that which people experience when hearing
suddenly of some great misfortune. He was deeply grieved. The first
feeling he experienced was that of shame. His joyful portraying of her
spiritual awakening now seemed to him ridiculous. Her reluctance to
accept his sacrifice, the reproaches and the tears, were the mere
cunning, he thought, of a dissolute woman who wished to make the most
use of him. It seemed to him now that at his last visit he had seen in
her the symptoms of incorrigibility which were now evident. All this
flashed through his mind at the time he instinctively donned his hat
and left the hospital.

"But what's to be done now?" he asked himself. "Am I bound to her? Am
I not released now by this, her act?"

But no sooner did he form the question than he understood that in
considering himself released and leaving her to her fate he would be
punishing not her, which he desired, but himself, and he was
terrified.

"No! That will not alter my decision--it will only strengthen it. Let
her do whatever her soul prompts her to do; if she would make love to
the assistant, let her do so. It is her business. It is my business to
do what my conscience demands," he said to himself. "And my conscience
demands that I sacrifice my liberty in expiation of my sin, and my
decision to marry her, although but fictitiously, and follow her
wherever she may be sent, remains unaltered," he said to himself, with
spiteful obstinacy, and, leaving the hospital, he made his way with
resolute step to the prison gate.

Coming to the gate, he asked the officer on duty to tell the
inspector that he wished to see Maslova. The officer knew Nekhludoff,
and told him an important piece of prison news. The captain had
resigned, and another man, who was very strict, had taken his place.

The inspector, who was in the prison at the time, soon made his
appearance. He