Book 1 Chapter 58 The Vice-Governor Suspicious

"That's all that Victor. He is wonderfully sharp when he is in
the right vein," said Maslennikoff.

"The next thing I wanted to tell you," said Nekhludoff, "is that
130 persons are imprisoned only because their passports are
overdue. They have been kept here a month."

And he related the circumstances of the case.

"How have you come to know of this?" said Maslennikoff, looking
uneasy and dissatisfied.

"I went to see a prisoner, and these men came and surrounded me
in the corridor, and asked . . ."

"What prisoner did you go to see?"

"A peasant who is kept in prison, though innocent. I have put his
case into the hands of a lawyer. But that is not the point."

"Is it possible that people who have done no wrong are imprisoned
only because their passports are overdue? And . . ."

"That's the Procureur's business," Maslennikoff interrupted,
angrily. "There, now, you see what it is you call a prompt and
just form of trial. It is the business of the Public Prosecutor
to visit the prison and to find out if the prisoners are kept
there lawfully. But that set play cards; that's all they do."

"Am I to understand that you can do nothing?" Nekhludoff said,
despondently, remembering that the advocate had foretold that the
Governor would put the blame on the Procureur.

"Oh, yes, I can. I shall see about it at once."

"So much the worse for her. _C'est un souffre douleur_," came the
voice of a woman, evidently indifferent to what she was saying,
from the drawing-room.