"Let one of you speak."
A tall old man of good mien came forward. He told Nekhludoff that they were all imprisoned on the ground that they had no passports, but that, as a matter of fact, they had passports which had expired and were not renewed for about two weeks. It happened every year, but they were never even fined. And now they were imprisoned like criminals.
"We are all masons and belong to the same association. They say that the prison has burned down, but that isn't our fault. For God's sake, help us!"
Nekhludoff listened, but scarcely understood what the old man was saying.
"How is that? Can it be possible that they are kept in prison for that sole reason?" said Nekhludoff, turning to the assistant.
"Yes, they ought to be sent to their homes," said the assistant.
At that moment a small-sized man, also in prison attire, pushed his way through the crowd and began to complain excitedly that they were being tortured without any cause.
"Worse than dogs——" he began.
"Tut, tut! do not talk too much, or else you know——"
"Know what?" said the little man desperately. "Are we guilty of anything?"