Maslova and Nekhlyudov met again for the first time. Who could have done Maslova’s behavior?

Maslova turned around, raised her head, puffed out her chest, and with a meek expression that Nekhludoff was familiar with, she walked to the iron fence, squeezed between the two female prisoners, and was surprised. He stared at Nekhludoff, but did not recognize him. However, she saw from his clothes that he was a rich man, so she smiled brightly. "Are you looking for me?" she asked, leaning her smiling face with sideways eyes close to the iron fence. "I want to meet..." Nekhludoff didn't know whether to use "you" or "you", but then he decided to use "you". His voice was no higher than usual. "I want to see you...I..." "Stop trying to talk to me," the ragged man next to him shouted. "Have you ever taken it?" "I tell you, people are dying, what else do you want?" shouted a person from the other side. Maslova couldn't hear clearly what Nekhludoff was saying, but the look on his face when he spoke reminded her of him suddenly. But she didn't believe her eyes. However, her smile disappeared and her brows furrowed in pain. "I can't hear what you said," she shouted, squinting her eyes and frowning even more tightly. "I'm here..." "Yes, I'm doing what I have to do, I'm pleading guilty," Nekhludoff thought. When he thought of this, tears welled up in his eyes and his throat became choked. He gripped the iron bars with his fingers, unable to speak, trying to control his emotions so as not to cry. "I'm telling you: Why are you meddling in other people's business..." someone shouted here. "For God's sake, I didn't even know," a female prisoner over there said loudly. Maslova saw Nekhludoff's excited expression and recognized him. "You seem to be... but I dare not recognize you," Maslova cried without looking at him. Her flushed face suddenly turned gloomy. "I have come to ask for your forgiveness," Nekhludoff said loudly, but his tone was as flat as an endorsement. He said this aloud, feeling ashamed, and looked around. But it occurred to him at once that it was a good thing if he felt ashamed, for he was shameful. So he loudly continued: "Please forgive me, I am guilty before you..." he shouted again. She stood motionless, looking sideways at him. He couldn't talk anymore, so he left the iron fence, trying his best to hold back the tears that were rolling around him and prevent himself from crying. The deputy warden who had brought Nekhludoff to the women's prison, obviously interested in him, came over. When he saw that Nekhludoff was not at the iron fence, he asked him why he did not talk to the female prisoner he wanted to visit. Nekhludoff blew his nose, pulled himself together, tried his best to calm down, and replied: "I can't talk through the iron fence, I can't hear anything." The deputy warden thought for a moment. "Well, well, just bring her here for a while." "Maria Karlovna!" he turned to the female guard. "Bring Maslova outside." After a minute, Maslova came out of the side door. She walked lightly to Nekhludoff, stopped, and looked at him with a frown. Her black curly hair was floating in circles on her forehead like the day before yesterday; her pale and slightly swollen face was a bit sickly, but very cute and very calm; her pair of black and shiny squinting eyes looked special under the swollen eyelids. There is God. "You can talk here," the deputy warden said and walked away. Nekhludoff went to the bench against the wall. Maslova glanced at the deputy warden in confusion, then shrugged her shoulders as if surprised, followed Nekhludoff to the bench, straightened her skirts, and sat down next to him. "I know it is difficult for you to forgive me," Nekhludoff started to say, but stopped and felt his throat was choked. "Since the past can't be undone, I am willing to do my best to do it now. Tell me..." "How did you find me?" She ignored his words and asked. Her squinting eyes seemed to be looking at him, but also seemed not to look at him. "God! Help me and teach me what to do!" Nekhlyudov said to himself, looking at her ugly face. "I was on the jury during your trial the day before yesterday," he said. "You didn't recognize me, did you?" "No, not. I didn't have time to recognize him. I didn't even look at him at the time," Maslova said.

"Didn't you have a child?" asked Nekhludoff, blushing. "Praise God, he was dead then," she replied simply angrily, turning her eyes away from him. "Really? How did he die?" "I was sick myself and almost died," Maslova said without raising her eyes. "How could aunt and others let you go?" "Who would leave a maid at home with a child? As soon as they found out about it, they kicked me out. What are you talking about! I don't know anything. Remember, it's all over. " "No, it's not over. I have to atone for my sins even today. , it’s all over,” Maslova said. Then, completely to his surprise, she suddenly glanced at him and smiled disgustingly, coquettishly, and pitifully. Maslova had never expected to see him, especially here and now, so for the first moment his appearance shocked her and reminded her of a past she had never recalled. For the first moment she recalled vaguely the new world of feeling and ideals that had been opened to her by that charming young man who loved her and was loved by her. Then she thought of his incomprehensible cruelty, of the succession of humiliations and sufferings that followed and resulted from those intoxicating happiness. She was in pain, but she couldn't understand it. As usual she pushed these memories out of her mind, trying to cover them up with the peculiar fog of fallen life. That's what she's doing now. For the first moment she associated the man sitting before her with the young man she had once loved, but then it became too painful and she stopped doing so. To her, this well-dressed, rosy-faced man with perfumed beard was no longer the Nekhludoff she had loved, but a completely different person. The kind of people who could play with women like her when they wanted, and women like her always tried to get as much out of them as possible. For this reason, she smiled seductively at him. She was silent for a moment, thinking about how she could use him to her advantage. "That was over a long time ago," she said. "Now I have been sentenced to hard labor." Her lips trembled when she said these sad words. "I know, I believe, that you are not guilty," said Nekhludoff. "Of course I'm not guilty. I'm not a thief or a robber. Everyone here says it all depends on the lawyer," she continued. "Everyone says we should appeal, but it will cost a lot of money..." "Yes, we must appeal," Nekhludoff said. "I have already found a lawyer." "Don't be reluctant to spend money, you have to hire a good lawyer," she said. "I will try my best to do it." Then there was silence. She smiled again as before. "I would like to ask you... to give me some money, if you agree. Not much... just ten rubles," she said suddenly. "Okay, okay," Nekhludoff said awkwardly, reaching for his wallet. She glanced sharply at the deputy warden, who was pacing the room. "Don't give it to him in front of him. Wait until he walks away, otherwise he will take it away." As soon as the deputy warden turned around, Nekhludoff took out his wallet, but he Before he could hand her the ten-ruble note, the deputy warden turned back to them. He gathered the banknotes in his hand. "This woman has lost her life," he thought to himself, looking at the once kind and lovely face that was now weather-beaten and swollen, and at the charming black and squinting eyes that stared at the deputy. The hands of the warden and Nekhludoff clutched the banknotes. His heart was shaken instantly. The devil that had bewitched Nekhludoff last night was now speaking in his heart again, trying to prevent him from thinking about how to act, but letting him think about the consequences of his actions and how to benefit him. "This woman is hopeless," said the devil. "You will only hang a stone around your neck and drown her alive. You will never be able to do anything useful to others. Give her some money and keep her around you." Wouldn't it be better to give all the money to her and break up with her forever?" He thought in his heart.

However, he also felt that his soul was about to complete an extremely important change at this moment. His spiritual world seemed to be resting on an unstable balance. As long as he exerted a little effort, it would move this way or It's tilted over there. He spent a little effort to cry out for help to the God who had felt the presence in his soul yesterday, and sure enough, God responded to him immediately. He decided to tell her everything now. "Katyusha! I came to ask for your forgiveness, but you didn't answer me, will you forgive me, or when will you forgive me," he said, suddenly addressing Maslova as "you". She did not listen to him, but looked now at his hand, now at the deputy warden. When the deputy warden turned around, she quickly reached over, grabbed the banknote, and stuffed it into her belt. "What you say is strange," she said, smiling disdainfully - he felt it - with a smile. Nekhludoff felt that there was something in her that was incompatible with him, that kept her like this forever and prevented him from breaking into her inner world. But, strange to say, this situation, instead of alienating him from her, gave rise to a special new power that drew him closer to her. Nekhludoff felt that he should awaken her mentally, which, although extremely difficult, attracted him precisely because of its difficulty. The feeling he had for her now was something he had never felt before, or for anyone else, and there was no selfishness in it. He wanted nothing from her, he just hoped that she would not be like this, that she would wake up and return to her true nature. "Katyusha, why do you say such things? You have to understand that I know you. I remember how you were in Banov..." "Why mention those old things," she said coldly. "I remember these things in order to correct my mistakes and atone for my sins, Katyusha," Nekhlyudov began. He originally wanted to say that he wanted to marry her, but when he caught her eyes, he realized that There was a rough, scary, and distant look on his face, and he didn't dare to speak. At this time, the visitors to the prison went out one after another. The deputy warden went up to Nekhludoff and said that the visiting hours were over. Maslova stood up and waited patiently for them to be taken back to the cell. "Goodbye, I have much more to say to you, but, you see, there is no time now," said Nekhludoff, holding out his hand. "I'm coming again." "It seems like everything has been said..." She stretched out a hand, but didn't shake it. "No, I will try to find a place where I can talk to you again. I have something very important to say to you," Nekhludoff said. "Okay, then come on," she said, smiling in a charming way to please men. "You are dearer to me than my sister!" said Nekhludoff. "How weird!" she said again, then shook her head and walked towards the iron fence.