AN OLD FRIEND.

"Terrible," said Nekhludoff, as he went out into the waiting-room with the advocate, who was arranging the papers in his portfolio. "In a matter which is perfectly clear they attach all the importance to the form and reject the appeal. Terrible!"

"The case was spoiled in the Criminal Court," said the advocate.

"And Selenin, too, was in favour of the rejection. Terrible! terrible!" Nekhludoff repeated. "What is to be done now?"

"We will appeal to His Majesty, and you can hand in the petition yourself while you are here. I will write it for you."

At this moment little Wolf, with his stars and uniform, came out into the waiting-room and approached Nekhludoff. "It could not be helped, dear Prince. The reasons for an appeal were not sufficient," he said, shrugging his narrow shoulders and closing his eyes, and then he went his way.

After Wolf, Selenin came out too, having heard from the Senators that his old friend Nekhludoff was there.

"Well, I never expected to see you here," he said, coming up to Nekhludoff, and smiling only with his lips while his eyes remained sad. "I did not know you were in Petersburg."

"And I did not know you were Public Prosecutor-in-Chief."

"How is it you are in the Senate?" asked Selenin. "I had heard, by the way, that you were in Petersburg. But what are you doing here?"

"Here? I am here because I hoped to find justice and save a woman innocently condemned."

"What woman?"

"The one whose case has just been decided."

"Oh! Maslova's case," said Selenin, suddenly remembering it. "The appeal had no grounds whatever."

"It is not the appeal; it's the woman who is innocent, and is being punished."

Selenin sighed. "That may well be, but----"

"Not _may be_, but is."

"How do you know?"

"Because I was on the jury. I know how we made the mistake."

Selenin became thoughtful. "You should have made a statement at the time," he said.

"I did make the statement."

"It should have been put down in an official report. If this had been added to the petition for the appeal--"

"Yes, but still, as it is, the verdict is evidently absurd."

"The Senate has no right to say so. If the Senate took upon itself to repeal the decision of the law courts according to its own views as to the justice of the decisions in themselves, the verdict of the jury would lose all its meaning, not to mention that the Senate would have no basis to go upon, and would run the risk of infringing justice rather than upholding it," said Selenin, calling to mind the case that had just been heard.

"All I know is that this woman is quite innocent, and that the last hope of saying her from an unmerited punishment is gone. The grossest injustice has been confirmed by the highest court."

"It has not been confirmed. The Senate did not and cannot enter into the merits of the case in itself," said Selenin. Always busy and rarely going out into society, he had evidently heard nothing of Nekhludoff's romance. Nekhludoff noticed it, and made up his mind that it was best to say nothing about his special relations with Maslova.

"You are probably staying with your aunt," Selenin remarked, apparently wishing to change the subject. "She told me you were here yesterday, and she invited me to meet you in the evening, when some foreign preacher was to lecture," and Selenin again smiled only with his lips.

"Yes, I was there, but left in disgust," said Nekhludoff angrily, vexed that Selenin had changed the subject.

"Why with disgust? After all, it is a manifestation of religious feeling, though one-sided and sectarian," said Selenin.

"Why, it's only some kind of whimsical folly."

"Oh, dear, no. The curious thing is that we know the teaching of our church so little that we see some new kind of revelation in what are, after all, our own fundamental dogmas," said Selenin, as if hurrying to let his old friend know his new views.

Nekhludoff looked at Selenin scrutinisingly and with surprise, and Selenin dropped his eyes, in which appeared an expression not only of sadness but also of ill-will.

"Do you, then, believe in the dogmas of the church?" Nekhludoff asked.

"Of course I do," replied Selenin, gazing straight into Nekhludoff's eyes with a lifeless look.

Nekhludoff sighed. "It is strange," he said.

"However, we shall have a talk some other time," said Selenin. "I am coming," he added, in answer to the usher, who had respectfully approached him. "Yes, we must meet again," he went on with a sigh. "But will it be possible for me to find you? You will always find me in at seven o'clock. My address is Nadejdinskaya," and he gave the number. "Ah, time does not stand still," and he turned to go, smiling only with his lips.

"I will come if I can," said Nekhludoff, feeling that a man once near and dear to him had, by this brief conversation, suddenly become strange, distant, and incomprehensible, if not hostile to him.

"岂有此理!"聂赫留朵夫同收拾好皮包的律师一起走进接待室时说."这样明明白白的案子,他们还要死扣形式,把它驳回.真是岂有此理!"

"这个案子是在原来的法庭上弄糟的,"律师说.

"连谢列宁都主张驳回.岂有此理,真是岂有此理!"聂赫留朵夫反复说."现在怎么办呢?"

"向皇上告御状.趁您在这里,亲自把状子递上去.我来给您起草."

这时候,个儿矮小的沃尔夫身穿制一服,佩着几枚星章,走进接待室,来到聂赫留朵夫跟前.

"有什么办法呢,亲一爱一的公爵.没有充足的理由哇,"他闭上眼睛,耸耸肩膀说,接着就走开了.

谢列宁也跟着沃尔夫出来了.他从枢密官那里得知他的旧友聂赫留朵夫也在这里.

"哦,真没想到会在这儿遇见你,"他走到聂赫留朵夫跟前说,嘴唇上露出笑意,但眼睛仍旧显得很忧郁."我根本不知道你来彼得堡."

"我也不知道你当上了检察官......"

"副检察官,"谢列宁更正说."你怎么会来枢密院的?"他忧郁而颓丧地瞧着朋友,问."我听说你在彼得堡.可你怎么会到这儿来?"

"我到这儿来是希望伸张正义,营救一个无辜判刑的女人."

"哪一个女人?"

"就是刚才裁决那个案子里的女人."

"啊,玛丝洛娃的案子,"谢列宁想起来,说."那个上诉状是完全缺乏根据的."

"问题不在于上诉状,而在于那个女人没有犯罪,却被判了刑."

谢列宁叹了一口气.

"这很可能,但是......"

"不是可能,而是确实......"

"你怎么知道?"

"因为我是审理那个案子的陪审员.我知道我们在什么地方犯了错误."

谢列宁沉思起来.

"当时就应该声明的呀,"他说.

"我声明过了."

"应该把它笔录下来,上诉时一起送上来就好了......"

谢列宁一向公务繁忙,很少参加社一交一活动,对聂赫留朵夫的风一流韵事显然毫无所闻.聂赫留朵夫注意到这一点,决定不提他同玛丝洛娃的关系.

"是的,不过就是现在这样,原判显然也是很荒谬的,"他说.

"枢密院是无权说这话的.要是枢密院认为原判不公正,因而把它撤销,那么姑且不说枢密院可能丧失立场,不能维护正义,反而有破坏正义的危险,"谢列宁一面回想刚才的案子,一面说,"姑且不说这一点,至少陪审员的裁决就会变得毫无意义."

"我只知道一点,那个女人是完全没有罪的,把她从不应得的惩罚中拯救出来的最后一线希望现在也丧失了.最高机构竟批准了完全非法的行为."

"枢密院没有批准,因为它没有审查,也无权审查案子本身,"谢列宁眯缝着眼睛说."你大概住在姨一妈一家里吧,"他加了一句,显然想改变话题."我昨天听她说你在这里.伯爵夫人约我跟你一起去参加一个聚会,听一个外国人讲道,"谢列宁嘴唇上露出一丝笑意说.

"是的,我去听过,实在讨厌,我听了一半就走掉了,"聂赫留朵夫怒气冲冲地说,谢列宁岔开话题使他很恼火.

"哦,那又何必讨厌呢?无非是一种宗教感情罢了,虽然有点过火,有点教派的味道,"谢列宁说.

"简直是一胡一闹,"聂赫留朵夫说.

"哦,那倒不能这样说.只有一点说来奇怪,我们对教会的教义知道得太少了,因此往往把一些基本道理当作什么新发现,"谢列宁说,仿佛急于要把自己的新见解告诉老朋友.

聂赫留朵夫惊奇地对谢列宁仔细瞧瞧.谢列宁没有垂下眼睛,他的眼神不仅忧郁,而且带有恶意.

"难道你相信教会的教义吗?"聂赫留朵夫问.

"当然相信,"谢列宁回答,直勾勾地盯住聂赫留朵夫的眼睛.

聂赫留朵夫叹了一口气.

"真奇怪,"他说.

"好吧,我们以后再谈,"谢列宁说."我这就去,"他转身回答那个毕恭毕敬地走到他跟前的民事执行吏说."一定得找个机会再见见面,"他不胜感慨地说,"我找得到你吗?至于我,晚上七点钟吃饭前总在家里.我住在纳杰日津街,"他说了他家的门牌号码."我们多少年没见面了!"他添了一句,嘴唇上又露出笑意,走了.

"要是有工夫,我会去看你的,"聂赫留朵夫说,觉得这个原来亲切可一爱一的人,经过这番简短的一交一谈,变得生疏,隔膜而难以理解,如果不说变成对头的话.