The old man did not rise and only smiled contemptuously.
“Thy servants are standing before thee. I am not thy servant. Thou bearest the seal—” The old man pointed to the inspector’s forehead.
“Wha-a-t?” said the inspector threateningly, and made a step towards him.
“I know this man,” Nekhludoff hastened to say; “what is he imprisoned for?”
“The police have sent him here because he has no passport. We ask them not to send such, but they will do it,” said the inspector, casting an angry side look at the old man.
“And so it seems thou, too, art one of Antichrist’s army?” the old man said to Nekhludoff.
“No, I am a visitor,” said Nekhludoff.
“What, hast thou come to see how Antichrist tortures men? There, look, he has locked them up in a cage, a whole army of them. Men should eat bread in the sweat of their brow. And he has locked them up with no work to do, and feeds them like swine, so that they should turn into beasts.”
“What is he saying?” asked the Englishman.
Nekhludoff told him the old man was blaming the inspector for keeping men imprisoned.