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The First Hearing

• Rubashov is being locked in his solitary prison cell, No. 404. He falls asleep and dreams of his arrest. He is awakened at seven in the morning with a bugle call.

• Rubashov wakes and wonders if he will be shot and realizes he is one of the last of the old guard. Rubashov is told he will get no breakfast.

• Rubashov begins a conversation with the prisoner in cell 402 by tapping out letters of the alphabet.

• Rubashov has a flashback to one of his foreign missions to southern Germany where the Communist Party is falling apart.

• Rubashov tells Richard, the leader of the communist party in Germany, that Richard is no longer a member of the party. Rubashov leaves Richard to a bleak fate.

• When Rubashov looks out the window he sees a man with a thin lip staring at him. Rubashov is told that the...

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