* * * * *

The lawyer received him immediately on his arrival, although it was not his turn.  The lawyer expressed himself strongly on the detention of the Menshovs, declaring that there was not a particle of evidence against them on record.

“If the case is tried here, and not in the district, I will stake anything on their discharge.  And the petition in behalf of Theodosia Brinkova is ready.  You had better take it with you to St. Petersburg and present it there.  Otherwise there will begin an inquiry which will have no end.  Try to reach some people who have influence with the commission on petitions.  Well, that’s all, isn’t it?”

“No.  Here they write me——­”

“You seem to be the funnel into which all the prison complaints are poured.  I fear you will not hold them all.”

“But this case is simply shocking,” said Nekhludoff, and related the substance of it.

“What is it that surprises you?”

“Everything.  I can understand the orderly who acted under orders, but the assistant prosecutor who drew the indictment is an educated man——­”

“That is the mistake.  We are used to think that the prosecuting officers—­the court officers generally—­are a kind of new, liberal men.  And so they were at one time, but not now.  The only thing that concerns these officers is to draw their salaries on the 20th of every month.  Their principles begin and end with their desire to get more.  They will arrest, try and convict anybody——.  I am always telling these court officers that I never look upon them without gratitude,” continued the lawyer, “because it is due to their kindness that I, you and all of us are not in jail.  To deprive any one of us of all civil rights and send him to Siberia is the easiest thing imaginable.”

“But if everything depends on the pleasure of the prosecutor, who can enforce the law or not, then what is the use of the courts?”

The lawyer laughed merrily.

“That is the question you are raising.  Well, my dear sir, that is philosophy.  However, we can discuss that.  Come to my house next Saturday.  You will find there scholars, litterateurs, artists.  We will have a talk on social questions,” said the lawyer, pronouncing the words “social questions” with ironical pathos.  “Are you acquainted with my wife?  Call on Saturday.”

“I will try,” answered Nekhludoff, feeling that he was saying an untruth; that if there was anything he would try hard to do it was not to be present at the lawyer’s amid the scholars, litterateurs and artists.

The laughter with which the lawyer met Nekhludoff’s remark concerning the uselessness of courts if the prosecutors can do what they please, and the intonation with which he pronounced the words “philosophy” and “social questions,” showed how utterly unlike himself were the lawyer and the people of his circle, both in character and in views of life.