"Hideuse."

Maslenikoff disapprovingly shook his head, went to the table and on a
sheet of paper with a printed letter-head wrote in a bold hand: "The
bearer, Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff, is hereby permitted to
visit the prisoners, Maslova and Bogodukhovskaia, now detained in the
prison," and signed his name to it with a broad flourish.

"You will see now what order there is in prison. And to keep order
there is very difficult, because it is overcrowded, especially by
those to be transported. But I watch over them, and like the
occupation. You will see there are very many there, but they are
content, and are faring well. It is necessary to know how to deal with
them. Some unpleasantness occurred there a few days ago--disobedience.
Another man in my place would have treated it as a riot and made many
people miserable, but we arranged it all pleasantly. What is necessary
is solicitude on the one hand, and prompt and vigorous dealing on the
other," he said, clenching his soft, white fist projecting from under
a white, starched cuff and adorned with a turquoise ring--"solicitude
and vigorous dealing."

"Well, I don't know about that," said Nekhludoff. "I was there twice,
and I was very much distressed by the sight."

"You know what I will tell you? You ought to get acquainted with
Princess Passek," continued Maslenikoff, who had become talkative;
"she has entirely devoted herself to this cause. Elle fait beaucoup
de bien. Thanks to her and, without false modesty, to myself,
everything has been changed, and changed so that none of the old