without chains, their heads not shaved.

The prison church had been rebuilt and ornamented by a rich

merchant, who spent several tens of thousands of roubles on it,

and it glittered with gay colours and gold. For a time there was

silence in the church, and only coughing, blowing of noses, the

crying of babies, and now and then the rattling of chains, was

heard. But at last the convicts that stood in the middle moved,

pressed against each other, leaving a passage in the centre of