She quieted down and calmly told him: 

“Kryltzoff became very weak on the road and was taken to the hospital.  Maria Pablovna wanted to become a nurse, but there is no answer yet.”

“Well, may I go?” she asked, noticing the Englishman who was waiting for him.

“I am not yet taking leave of you,” said Nekhludoff, holding out his hand to her.

“Pardon me,” she said in a low tone.

Their eyes met, and in that strange, stern look, and in that pitiful smile, with which she said not “good-by,” but “pardon me,” Nekhludoff understood, that of the two suppositions concerning her decision the latter was the right one.  She still loved him and thought she would mar his life by a union with him, and would free him by living with Simonson.

She pressed his hand, turned quickly, and left the room.

CHAPTER IX.

Passing through the hall and the ill-smelling corridors, the superintendent passed into the first building of the prison in which those condemned to hard labor were confined.  Entering the first room in that building they found the prisoners stretched on their berths, which occupied the middle of the room.  Hearing the visitors enter they all jumped down, and, clinking their chains, placed themselves beside their berths, while their half-shaven heads were distinctly set off against the gloom of the prison.  Only two of the prisoners remained at their places.  One of them was a young man whose face was evidently heated with fever; the other was an old man, who never left off groaning.

The Englishman asked whether the young man had been sick for a long time.  The superintendent replied that he had been taken sick that very same morning, that the old man had had convulsions for a long time, and that they kept him in prison because there was no place for him in the hospital.

The Englishman shook his head discontentedly, said that he would like to say a few words to the prisoners, and asked Nekhludoff to translate his remarks.  It turned out that, besides the aim of his journey, which was the description of the exile system—­he had another one—­the preaching of the gospel, of salvation through faith.

“Tell them that Christ pitied and loved them,” he said to Nekhludoff, “and that He died for them.  He who will believe in Him will be saved.”

While he was saying this, all the prisoners were standing erect with their hands by their sides.

“Tell them,” continued the Englishman, “that all I said will be found in this book.  Are there any among them who can read?” It turned out that there were more than twenty who could.

The Englishman took out a few leather-bound Bibles from his traveling bag, and soon a number of muscular hands, terminating in long black nails, were stretched out toward him, pushing each other aside in order to reach the Testaments.  He left two Testaments in this room, and went to the next one.