and unkind. When he asked her
about her prison conditions, or whether she wanted anything, she
became confused and answered evasively and, as it seemed to him, with
that hostile feeling of reproach which she had manifested before. And
this gloomy temper, due only to the persecutions to which she was
being subjected by the men, tormented him.

But at their very first meeting in Tomsk she became again as she was
before her departure. She no longer frowned or became confused when
she saw him, but, on the contrary, met him cheerfully and simply,
thanking him for what he had done for her, especially for bringing her
in contact with her present company.

After two months of journey from prison to prison, this change also
manifested itself in her appearance. She became thin, sun-burnt and
apparently older; wrinkles appeared on her temples and around her
mouth; she no longer curled her hair on her forehead, but wore a
'kerchief on her head, and neither in her dress, coiffure, nor in her
conduct were there any signs of her former coquetry. And this change
called forth in Nekhludoff a particularly joyous feeling. The feeling
he now experienced toward her was unlike any he had experienced
before. It had nothing in common with his first poetic impulse, nor
with that sentimental love which he felt afterward, nor even with that
consciousness of a duty performed, coupled with self-admiration, which
impelled him, after the trial, to resolve on marrying her. It was that
same simple feeling of pity and contrition which he experienced at
their first meeting in the prison and afterward, with greater force,
when he conquered his disgust and forgave her conduct with the
physician's assistant in the hospital (the injustice he had done her
had subsequently become plain). It was the same feeling with the
difference that, while it was temporary then, now it was permanent.

During this period, because of Maslova's transfer to the politicals,
Nekhludoff became acquainted with many political prisoners. On closer
acquaintance he was convinced that they were not all villains, as many
people imagined them to be, nor all heroes, as some of them considered
the members of their party, but that they were ordinary people, among
whom, as in other parties, some were good, some bad, the others
indifferent.

He became particularly attached to a consumptive young man who was on
his way to a life term at hard labor. The story of the young man was a
very sh