THE ENGLISH VISITOR
PASSING through the ante-room and the sickening, foul corridor, in which to their astonishment they saw two prisoners making water on the floor, the Englishman and Nekhlyudov accompanied by the inspector entered the first ward, where those sentenced to hard labour were confined. The prisoners were already lying on the bed-shelves, which occupied the middle of the ward. They lay head to head and side by side. There were about seventy of them. When the visitors entered, all the prisoners jumped up and stood by the beds, excepting two: a young man in a state of high fever, and an old man who did nothing but groan.
The Englishman asked if the young man had been ill long. The inspector replied that he had been taken ill that morning, but that the old man had been suffering with pains in the stomach for a long time, but could not be removed as the infirmary was over-full. The Englishman shook his head disapprovingly, said he would like to say a few words to these people, and asked Nekhlyudov to interpret. It turned out that besides studying the places of exile and the prisons of Siberia, the Englishman had another object in view, that of preaching salvation by faith and the Redemption.
“Tell them,” he said, “that Christ pitied and loved them and died for them. If they believe in this they will be saved.” While he spoke all the prisoners stood silent with their arms at their sides. “This book, tell them,” he continued, “tells all about it. Can any of them read?”
There were more than twenty who could.
The Englishman took several bound Testaments out of a hang-bag, and many strong hands, with their hard, black nails, stretched out towards him from beneath the coarse shirt sleeves, jostling one another. He gave away two Testaments in this ward.
The same thing happened in the second ward. There was the same foul air, the same icon hanging between the windows, the same tub to the left of the door; they were all lying side by side close to one another, and jumped up in the same manner and stood erect with their arms by their sides – all but three, two of whom sat up, while one remained lying and did not even look at the new-comers. These three were also ill. The Englishman made the same speech, and again gave away two Testaments.