Book 1 Chapter 42 Visiting Day - The Womens Ward

"Yes, sir."

At this moment heart-rending sobs were heard coming from some one
near the net.

Everything here seemed strange to Nekhludoff; but strangest of
all was that he should have to thank and feel obligation towards
the inspector and the chief warders, the very men who were
performing the cruel deeds that were done in this house.

The corporal showed Nekhludoff through the corridor, out of the
men's into the women's interviewing-room.

This room, like that of the men, was divided by two wire nets;
but it was much smaller, and there were fewer visitors and fewer
prisoners, so that there was less shouting than in the men's
room. Yet the same thing was going on here, only, between the
nets instead of soldiers there was a woman warder, dressed in a
blue-edged uniform jacket, with gold cords on the sleeves, and a
blue belt. Here also, as in the men's room, the people were
pressing close to the wire netting on both sides; on the nearer
side, the townspeople in varied attire; on the further side, the
prisoners, some in white prison clothes, others in their own
coloured dresses. The whole length of the net was taken up by the
people standing close to it. Some rose on tiptoe to be heard
across the heads of others; some sat talking on the floor.

The most remarkable of the prisoners, both by her piercing
screams and her appearance, was a thin, dishevelled gipsy. Her
kerchief had slipped off her curly hair, and she stood near a
post in the middle of the prisoner's division, shouting
something, accompanied by quick gestures, to a gipsy man in a
blue coat, girdled tightly below the waist. Next the gipsy man, a
soldier sat on the ground talking to prisoner; next the soldier,
leaning close to the net, stood a young peasant, with a fair
beard and a flushed face, keeping back his tears with difficulty.
A pretty, fair-haired prisoner, with bright blue eyes, was
speaking to him. These two were Theodosia and her husband. Next
to them was a tramp, talking to a broad-faced woman; then two
women, then a man, then again a woman, and in front of each a
prisoner. Maslova was not among them. But some one stood by the
window behind the prisoners, and Nekhludoff knew it was she. His
heart began to beat faster, and his breath stopped. The decisive
moment was approaching. He went up to the part of the net where
he could see the prisoner, and recognised her at once. She stood
behind the blue-eyed Theodosia, and smiled, listening to what
Theodosia was saying. She did not wear the prison cloak now, but
a white dress, tightly drawn in at the waist by a belt, and very
full in the bosom. From under her kerchief appeared the black
ringlets of her fringe, just the same as in the court.