'Nekhludoff! Can it be you?'
Nekhludoff's first feeling was one of pleasure. 'Ah, Schonbock!' he exclaimed joyfully; but he knew the next moment that there was nothing to be joyful about.
This was that Schonbock who had been in the house of Nekhludoff's aunts that day, and whom Nekhludoff had quite lost out of sight, but about whom he had heard that in spite of his debts he had somehow managed to remain in the cavalry, and by some means or other still kept his place among the rich. His gay, contented appearance corroborated this report.
'What a good thing that I have caught you. There is no one in town. Ah, old fellow; you have grown old,' he said, getting out of the trap and moving his shoulders about. 'I only knew you by your walk. Look here, we must dine together. Is there any place where they feed one decently?'
'I don't think I can spare the time,' Nekhludoff answered, thinking only of how he could best get rid of his companion without hurting him.
'And what has brought you here?' he asked.
'Business, old fellow. Guardianship business. I am a guardian now. I am managing Samanoff's affairs—the millionaire, you know. He has softening of the brain, and he's got fifty-four thousand desiatins of land,' he said, with peculiar pride, as if he had himself made all these desiatins. 'The affairs were terribly neglected. All the land was let to the peasants. They did not pay anything. There were more than eighty thousand roubles debts. I changed it all in one year, and have got 70 per cent. more out of it. What do you think of that?' he asked proudly.
Nekhludoff remembered having heard that this Schonbock, just because, he had spent all he had, had attained by some special influence the post of guardian to a rich old man who was squandering his property—and was now evidently living by this guardianship.
'How am I to get rid of him without offending him?' thought Nekhludoff, looking at this full, shiny face with the stiffened moustache and listening to his friendly, good-humoured chatter about where one gets fed best, and his bragging about his doings as a guardian.
'Well, then, where do we dine?'
'Really, I have no time to spare,' said Nekhludoff, glancing at his watch.
'Then, look here. To-night, at the races—will you be there?'
'No, I shall not be there.'
'Do come. I have none of my own now, but I back Grisha's horses. You remember; he has a fine stud. You'll come, won't you? And we'll have some supper together.'
'No, I cannot have supper with you either,' said Nekhludoff with a smile.
'Well, that's too bad! And where are you off to now? Shall I give you a lift?'
'I am going to see an advocate, close to here round the corner.'
'Oh, yes, of course. You have got something to do with the prisons—have turned into a prisoners' mediator, I hear,' said Schonbock, laughing. 'The Korchagins told me. They have left town already. What does it all mean? Tell me.'
'Yes, yes, it is quite true,' Nekhludoff answered; 'but I cannot tell you about it in the street.'
'Of course; you always were a crank. But you will come to the races?'
'No. I neither can nor wish to come. Please do not be angry with me.'
'Angry? Dear me, no. Where do you live?' And suddenly his face became serious, his eyes fixed, and he drew up his brows. He seemed to be trying to remember something, and Nekhludoff noticed the same dull expression as that of the man with the raised brows and pouting lips whom he had seen at the window of the eating-house.
'How cold it is! Is it not? Have you got the parcels?' said
Schonbock, turning to the isvostchik.
'All right. Good-bye. I am very glad indeed to have met you,' and warmly pressing Nekhludoff's hand, he jumped into the trap and waved his white-gloved hand in front of his shiny face, with his usual smile, showing his exceptionally white teeth.
'Can I have also been like that?' Nekhludoff thought, as he continued his way to the advocate's. 'Yes, I wished to be like that, though I was not quite like it. And I thought of living my life in that way.'
CHAPTER XI.
AN ADVOCATE'S VIEWS ON JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS.
Nekhludoff was admitted by the advocate before his turn. The advocate at once commenced to talk about the Menshoffs' case, which he had read with indignation at the inconsistency of the accusation.
'This case is perfectly revolting,' he said; 'it is very likely that the owner himself set fire to the building in order to get the insurance money, and the chief thing is that there is no evidence to prove the Menshoffs' guilt. There are no proofs whatever. It is all owing to the special zeal of the examining magistrate and the carelessness of the prosecutor. If they are tried here, and not in a provincial court, I guarantee that they will be acquitted, and I shall charge nothing. Now then, the next case, that of Theodosia Birukoff. The appeal to the Emperor is written. If you go to Petersburg, you'd better take it with you, and hand it in yourself, with a request of your own, or else they will only make a few inquiries, and nothing will come of it. You must try and get at some of the influential members of the Appeal Committee.'
'Well, is this all?'
'No; here I have a letter . . . I see you have turned into a pipe—a spout through which all the complaints of the prison are poured,' said the advocate, with a smile. 'It is too much; you'll not be able to manage it.'
'No, but this is a striking case,' said Nekhludoff, and gave a brief outline of the case of a peasant who began to read the Gospels to the peasants in the village, and to discuss them with his friends. The priests regarded this as a crime and informed the authorities. The magistrate examined him and the public prosecutor drew up an act of indictment, and the law courts committed him for trial.
'This is really too terrible,' Nekhludoff said. 'Can it be true?'
'What are you surprised at?'
'Why, everything. I can understand the police-officer, who simply obeys orders, but the prosecutor drawing up an act of that kind. An educated man . . .'
'That is where the mistake lies, that we are in the habit of considering that the prosecutors and the judges in general are some kind of liberal persons. There was a time when they were such, but now it is quite different. They are just officials, only troubled about pay-day. They receive their salaries and want them increased, and there their principles end. They will accuse, judge, and sentence any one you like.'
'Yes; but do laws really exist that can condemn a man to Siberia for reading the Bible with his friends?'
'Not only to be exiled to the less remote parts of Siberia, but even to the mines, if you can only prove that reading the Bible they took the liberty of explaining it to others not according to orders, and in this way condemned the explanations given by the Church. Blaming the Greek orthodox religion in the presence of the common people means, according to Statute . . . the mines.'
'Impossible!'
'I assure you it is so. I always tell these gentlemen, the judges,' the advocate continued, 'that I cannot look at them without gratitude, because if I am not in prison, and you, and all of us, it is only owing to their kindness. To deprive us of our privileges, and send us all to the less remote parts of Siberia, would be an easy thing for them.'
'Well, if it is so, and if everything depends on the Procureur and others who can, at will, either enforce the laws or not, what are the trials for?'
The advocate burst into a merry laugh. 'You do put strange questions. My dear sir, that is philosophy. Well, we might have a talk about that, too. Could you come on Saturday? You will meet men of science, literary men, and artists at my house, and then we might discuss these general questions,' said the advocate, pronouncing the words 'general questions' with ironical pathos. 'You have met my wife? Do come.'
'Thank you; I will try to,' said Nekhludoff, and felt that he was saying an untruth, and knew that if he tried to do anything it would be to keep away froth the advocate's literary evening, and the circle of the men of science, art,
