mmoned. He was conducted to a room in which
several convicts were seated writing; through this a long passage led to
the governor's room.

"You are known as Ivan Holstoff," the governor said when the warder had
retired.

"Yes, sir."

"Age?"

"Seventeen."

"Charged with being a vagabond, found without papers or documents, and
unable to give a satisfactory account of yourself."

Godfrey bowed. The colonel glanced through the paper by his side signed
by the governor at Kiakhta, and saying that the prisoner had been most
favourably reported upon by a wealthy Buriat, a government contractor
with whom he had been living out on the plains.

"You persist in giving no further account of yourself?" the governor
asked.

"I would rather say nothing further, sir," Godfrey replied.

"You are not a Russian," the governor said sharply.

"I am a Russian born," the lad replied.

"You speak with a slight accent."

"I was away for some years from my country," Godfrey replied.

"I suppose you would call yourself a student?"

"Yes, sir, I was a student until lately."

"You are a young lad to have got yourself into trouble. How was it? Do
not tell me what crime you are charged with, but you can tell me
anything else. It will go no farther, and there will be no record of
what you say."

Godfrey liked the officer's face. It was stern, but sternness is a
necessity when a man is in charge of some three thousand prisoners, the
greater proportion of whom are desperate men; but there was a kindness
in the half-smile with which he spoke.

"I am here, sir, from pure misfortune. I have no doubt most people you
question declare they are innocent, and I do not expect you to believe
me. The facts against me were very strong, so strong that I believe any
jury would have convicted me upon them, but in spite of that I was
innocent. I behaved like a fool, and was made the dupe of others, but
beyond that I have nothing whatever to blame myself for or to regret."

"It may be as you say," Colonel Konovovitch said. "I am not here to
revise sentences, but to see them carried out. Conduct yourself well,
lad, and in two years you will get a permit to reside outside the
prison. Three years later you will be practically free, and can go where
you like in Siberia and earn your living in any way you choose. Many of
the richest men in the country have been convicts. I shall keep an eye
on you, and shall make matters as easy for you as I can."

H