Chapter 55 Part One - Fifty Two

"Can I look inside?" asked Nekhludoff. "Please," said the deputy warden, smiling, and asked the guard something.Nekhludoff leaned into a small hole and looked in: in the cell was a tall young man, wearing only a shirt and trousers, with a black beard, walking quickly up and down.As soon as he heard the rustling outside the door, he looked up, frowned, and continued to pace. Nekhludoff looked in through another small hole, and his eye just met a big frightened eye looking out from it, and he hurriedly avoided it.He leaned closer to the third small hole, and saw a short man lying on the bed, curled up, with his prison robe covering his head.In the fourth cell sat a broad-faced, pale man, with his head bowed and his elbows resting on his knees.At the sound of footsteps the man raised his head and looked ahead.His whole face, and especially his large eyes, had a look of despair.He obviously didn't care who was looking at him.He obviously didn't expect anything good from anyone who came to see him.Nekhludoff was frightened, and without looking at the other cells, he went straight to cell No. 21, where Minshov was imprisoned.The guard unlocked the lock with a clang and pushed open the cell door.A slender-necked, muscular young man with kindly round eyes and a small beard stood beside the bunk.He showed a frightened expression, hurriedly put on his prison robe, and stared at the person coming.What particularly struck Nekhludoff was his kind, round eyes, which looked at him in confusion and horror, then at the warden, then at the superintendent, and then back at him.

"Here, this gentleman wants to know about your case." "Thank you very much." "Yes, I have been told about your case," said Nekhludoff, going into the cell, and standing by the dirty barred window, "I should like to hear from you yourself." Minshoff also went to the window and immediately began to tell about him.He looked at the deputy warden timidly at first, and then gradually became more courageous.When the deputy warden came out of the cell and went into the corridor to order something, he had no scruples.Judging from language and gestures, the story is told by an extremely simple and kind-hearted rural boy.But listening to a prisoner in prison uniform telling Nekhludoff in prison was particularly awkward.Nekhludoff listened and looked at the low straw beds, the windows with thick iron bars, the damp and dirty walls, and the prisoner's shoes and prison uniform. The unfortunate man who has been tortured, his face and body in pain, feel more and more uncomfortable in his heart.He did not want to believe that what this extremely good man told was true.He shuddered at the thought of a man being taken up for no reason, forced into a prison uniform, and kept in this dreadful place, just because someone wanted to abuse him at will.But he was still more terrified at the thought that what the good-looking man might tell was a lie and a fabrication.It happened like this: not long after his marriage, a hotel owner took his wife away.He complained everywhere.But the hotel owner bribed the chief, and the officials have been protecting him.Once Minshoff dragged his wife home, but she ran away the next day.So he went to ask for it.The hotel owner said his wife was not there (he saw her there when he entered), and ordered him to go away.He won't go.The owner of the hotel teamed up with a hired worker to beat him to the point of bleeding.The next day, the hotel owner's yard caught fire.Minshoff, along with his mother, was accused of setting the fire, but he was in his godfather's house at the time, and there was no way he could have set the fire.

"Then you really didn't set fire?" "My lord, I never even thought of that. The rascal must have set the fire himself. They said he had just taken insurance. But he said me and my mother went to his house and frightened him. Yes, my The first time I scolded him, I was really angry. As for setting the fire, I did not let it go. Besides, I was not there when the fire broke out. He insisted that my mother and I were there. He was greedy for insurance money. He set the fire himself and put the blame on us." "Is there such a thing?" "My lord, I can say it in front of God, it's all true. You can be considered my own father!" He said as he knelt down.Nekhludoff stopped him with difficulty. "Get me out of here, and I'll be ruined if it's not wronged me," he went on.

Suddenly Minshoff's cheeks trembled, and he wept.Then he rolled up the sleeves of his prison robe and wiped his eyes with the dirty shirtsleeve. "Have you finished talking?" asked the deputy warden. "The talk is over. Then don't be discouraged, we will try to find a way," Nekhludoff said, and went out.Minshov was standing at the door, so that when the guard closed the cell door it hit him.While the guard locked the door, Minshoff looked out through the small hole in the door.