“What’s all this? You’ve broken the window?” “Yes,” said I; “why haven’t you proper fastenings, so that they could be opened?” “Well, you will suffer for it; you will be frozen with cold to-night.” And in fact there was a sharp November frost. He then turned to the two ladies, and bade them go away, as it was entirely against rules to wait about at the door. Here, however, he met his match; for the two turned on him, requesting him to be off himself, and not disturb us. Paraskovya Shebalina especially was most energetic in her treatment of him. She was a lively and charming young lady, whom the atmosphere of a prison had rendered so nervously excitable that the mere sight of an official would send her into a passion, which led to endless contests. Vitolda Rechnyèvskaia shared the captivity of her husband. They were a very young couple, married only a few days before their arrest. Thaddeus Rechnyèvsky[45] was twenty-one years of age; he had just left the school of jurisprudence in Petersburg University when he was arrested, and was now (1884) under examination as to his association with the Polish Socialist “proletarian” party, whose members were prosecuted at Warsaw in 1885. Footnote 45: See portraits, pp. 259 and 260. Besides the above mentioned, who were either condemned to banishment or still under examination, there were in the prison a number of people who were to be exiled by “administrative methods.” There had been riots in Kiëv University shortly before this, in consequence of which the University was closed, and many of the students were imprisoned. New facts and impressions crowded upon me, and it was late before I lay down. I threw over the plank-bed the sheepskin that had been given me, and covered myself with my great-coat. The night was frightfully cold, and the wind whistled through the broken window. I put my bag under my head, but the French and German classics it contained did not make a very comfortable pillow, and it was long ere I slept. Suddenly I was awakened by a terrific hullabaloo. I ran to the door, and called to the warder to know what was happening. After some time he turned up, and I learned that the criminals in the next room had been having a tussle; one of them had hidden away a few roubles, and the others having seen it, had tried to murder and rob him. He had succeeded in keeping them at bay and calling for help. “That’s the way that lot always go on!” remarked the warder composedly, and returned to his post and his nap. There were no further consequences of the scrimmage; with an “I’ll teach you!” the warder had separated the combatants, and the thing was at an end. He never even reported the occurrence, it was such an everyday event.