conversations , who knows whether they’ll be as good! It will reach the governor’s ears, maybe, and⁠—you never can tell!⁠—he may take it into his head to have a look at it himself. There’s no theatre in the town.⁠ ⁠…” In fact the prisoners’ imagination was so worked up during the holidays, especially after the first success, that they were ready to fancy they might receive rewards or have their term of imprisonment shortened, though at the same time they were almost at once ready to laugh very good-naturedly at their own expense. They were children, in fact, perfect children, though some of these children were over forty.

But though there was no regular programme I already knew in outline what the performance would consist of. The first piece was called Filatka and Miroshka, or the Rivals