When Nekhludoff had finished, the General took a book off the table, and, wetting his finger, quickly turned over the pages and found the statute relating to marriage.
“What is she sentenced to?” he asked, looking up from the book.
“She? To hard labour.”
“Well, then, the position of one sentenced to that cannot be bettered by marriage.”
“Yes, but—”
“Excuse me. Even if a free man should marry her, she would have to serve her term. The question in such cases is, whose is the heavier punishment, hers or his?”
“They are both sentenced to hard labour.”
“Very well; so they are quits,” said the General, with a laugh. “She’s got what he has, only as he is sick he may be left behind, and of course what can be done to lighten his fate shall be done. But as for her, even if she did marry him, she could not remain behind.”
“The Generaless is having her coffee,” the footman announced.
The General nodded and continued: