Having captured hundreds that were evidently guiltless,and that could not be dangerous to the government, they left themimprisoned for years, where they became consumptive, went out oftheir minds or committed suicide, and kept them only because theyhad no inducement to set them free, while they might be of use toelucidate some question at a judicial inquiry, safe in prison.The fate of these persons, often innocent even from thegovernment point of view, depended on the whim, the humour of, orthe amount of leisure at the disposal of some police officer orspy, or public prosecutor, or magistrate, or governor, orminister. These people were dealt with likefish caught with a net everything that gets into the nets ispulled ashore, and then the big fish which are required aresorted out and the little ones are left to perish unheeded on theshore. Terrible and endless as were the torments which were inflicted onthe criminals, there was at least some semblance of justice shownthem before and after they were sentenced, but in the case of thepolitical prisoners there was not even that semblance, asNekhludoff saw in the case of Sholostova and that of many andmany of his new acquaintances. Evenafter that they had had no serious conversation with each other,but Maslova felt that when he spoke in her presence his wordswere addressed to her, and that he spoke for her sake, trying toexpress himself as plainly as he could but it was when hestarted walking with the criminal prisoners that they grewspecially near to one another. Though they had not uttered a word, theirlooks told plainly that they had understood one another. She saw him again in Tomsk, where she joined thepolitical prisoners. Even then she had noticed that this was apeculiar man, and that he was looking at her in a peculiarmanner, and had also noticed the striking combination ofsternnessthe unruly hair and the frowning forehead gave himthis appearancewith the childlike kindness and innocence ofhis look. This had begun while they werestill in prison, when on a common visiting day she had noticedhis kindly dark blue eyes gazing fixedly at her from under hisprojecting brow. Shedid not quite know what the qualities he attributed to her were,but in order to be on the safe side and that he should not bedisappointed in her, she tried with all her might to awaken inherself all the highest qualities she could conceive, and shetried to be as good as possible. And she felt that Simonson considered her to be anexceptional woman, having peculiarly high moral qualities. It was Nekhludoff's magnanimity and what had been inthe past that made him offer to marry her, but Simonson loved hersuch as she was now, loved her simply because of the love he boreher. And the fact that she couldawaken love in a man of that kind raised her in her ownestimation. With a woman's instinct Maslova verysoon found out that he loved her. And this man had a decided influence on Maslovathrough his love for her. With all this Simonson was very shy andmodest and yet when he had once made up his mind nothing couldmake him waver. He applied a theory of his own to all practicalbusiness, had rules relating to the number of hours for rest andfor work, to the kind of food to eat, the way to dress, to heatand light up the rooms. Not only moral, but also most practical questions he decided inhis own way.
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