case be decided."

"I am not the commander. I do not know anything."

"No matter. Tell them, the authorities, or somebody," said an
indignant voice, "to look into our case. We are guilty of no offense,
and have been in prison the second month now."

"How so? Why?" asked Nekhludoff.

"We don't know ourselves why, but we have been here the second month."

"That is true," said the assistant inspector. "They were taken because
they had no passports, and they were to be transported to their
district, but the prison had burned down there, and the authorities
asked us to keep them here. Those belonging to other districts were
transported, but these we keep here."

"Is that the only reason?" asked Nekhludoff, stopping in the doorway.

The crowd, consisting of about forty men, all in prison garb,
surrounded Nekhludoff and the assistant. Several voices began talking
at once. The assistant stopped them.

"Let one of you speak."

A tall old man of good mien came forward. He told Nekhludoff that they
were all imprisoned on the ground that they had no passports, but
that, as a matter of fact, they had passports which had expired and
were not renewed for about two weeks. It happened every year, but they