clearly expressed himself in favour of leaving the decision of the Court unaltered, as he considered all the reasons for appealing inadequate.  After this the Senators went out into the debating-room.  They were divided in their opinions.  Wolf was in favour of altering the decision.  Bay, when he had understood the case, took up the same side with fervour, vividly presenting the scene at the court to his companions as he clearly saw it himself.  Nikitin, who always was on the side of severity and formality, took up the other side.  All depended on Skovorodnikoff’s vote, and he voted for rejecting the appeal, because Nekhludoff’s determination to marry the woman on moral grounds was extremely repugnant to him.

Skovorodnikoff was a materialist, a Darwinian, and counted every manifestation of abstract morality, or, worse still, religion, not only as a despicable folly, but as a personal affront to himself.  All this bother about a prostitute, and the presence of a celebrated advocate and Nekhludoff in the Senate were in the highest degree repugnant to him.  So he shoved his beard into his mouth and made faces, and very skilfully pretended to know nothing of this case, excepting that the reasons for an appeal were insufficient, and that he, therefore, agreed with the chairman to leave the decision of the Court unaltered.

So the sentence remained unrepealed.

CHAPTER XXII.

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.”