passed through the corridor and ascended to the office. The inspector
was in the corridor, and, busying himself with some affair, had forgot
to send for Bogodukhovskaia. He only called it to mind when Nekhludoff
entered the office.

"I will send for her immediately. Take a seat," he said.




CHAPTER LII.


The office consisted of two rooms. In the first room, which had two
dirty windows and the plastering on the walls peeled off, a black
measuring rod, for determining the height of prisoners, stood in one
corner, while in another hung a picture of Christ. A few wardens stood
around in this room. In the second room, in groups and pairs, about
twenty men and women were sitting along the walls, talking in low
voices. A writing table stood near one of the windows.

The inspector seated himself at the writing table and offered
Nekhludoff a chair standing near by. Nekhludoff seated himself and
began to examine the people in the room.

His attention was first of all attracted by a young man with a
pleasant face, wearing a short jacket, who was standing before a man
prisoner and a girl, gesticulating and talking to them in a heated
manner. Beside them sat an old man in blue eye-glasses, immovably
holding the hand of a woman in prison garb and listening to her. A boy