then the jailers, then the convicts, pushing and abusing each

other in whispers. The priest, talking to the inspector, pushed

the cross and his hand now against the mouths and now against the

noses of the convicts, who were trying to kiss both the cross and

the hand of the priest. And thus ended the Christian service,

intended for the comfort and the teaching of these strayed

And none of those present, from the inspector down to Maslova,

seemed conscious of the fact that this Jesus, whose name the