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Andrew Steinmetz - "The Gaming Table, Its Votaries and Victims Volume #2"

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Resurrection

C >> Count Leo Tolstoy >> Resurrection




The figures of the president and the members in their uniforms,
with gold-embroidered collars, looked very imposing. They seemed
to feel this themselves, and, as if overpowered by their own
grandeur, hurriedly sat down on the high backed chairs behind the
table with the green cloth, on which were a triangular article
with an eagle at the top, two glass vases--something like those
in which sweetmeats are kept in refreshment rooms--an inkstand,
pens, clean paper, and good, newly-cut pencils of different
kinds.

The public prosecutor came in with the judges. With his portfolio
under one arm, and swinging the other, he hurriedly walked to his
seat near the window, and was instantly absorbed in reading and
looking through the papers, not wasting a single moment, in hope
of being ready when the business commenced. He had been public
prosecutor but a short time, and had only prosecuted four times
before this. He was very ambitious, and had firmly made up his
mind to get on, and therefore thought it necessary to get a
conviction whenever he prosecuted. He knew the chief facts of the
poisoning case, and had already formed a plan of action. He only
wanted to copy out a few points which he required.

The secretary sat on the opposite side of the platform, and,
having got ready all the papers he might want, was looking
through an article, prohibited by the censor, which he had
procured and read the day before. He was anxious to have a talk
about this article with the bearded member, who shared his views,
but wanted to look through it once more before doing so.



CHAPTER VIII.

SWEARING IN THE JURY.

The president, having looked through some papers and put a few
questions to the usher and the secretary, gave the order for the
prisoners to be brought in.

The door behind the grating was instantly opened, and two
gendarmes, with caps on their heads, and holding naked swords in
their hands, came in, followed by the prisoners, a red-haired,
freckled man, and two women. The man wore a prison cloak, which
was too long and too wide for him. He stuck out his thumbs, and
held his arms close to his sides, thus keeping the sleeves, which
were also too long, from slipping over his hands. Without looking
at the judges he gazed steadfastly at the form, and passing to
the other side of it, he sat down carefully at the very edge,
leaving plenty of room for the others. He fixed his eyes on the
president, and began moving the muscles of his cheeks, as if
whispering something. The woman who came next was also dressed in
a prison cloak, and had a prison kerchief round her head. She had
a sallow complexion, no eyebrows or lashes, and very red eyes.
This woman appeared perfectly calm. Having caught her cloak
against something, she detached it carefully, without any haste,
and sat down.

The third prisoner was Maslova.

As soon as she appeared, the eyes of all the men in the court
turned her way, and remained fixed on her white face, her
sparklingly-brilliant black eyes and the swelling bosom under the
prison cloak. Even the gendarme whom she passed on her way to her
seat looked at her fixedly till she sat down, and then, as if
feeling guilty, hurriedly turned away, shook himself, and began
staring at the window in front of him.

The president paused until the prisoners had taken their seats,
and when Maslova was seated, turned to the secretary.

Then the usual procedure commenced; the counting of the jury,
remarks about those who had not come, the fixing of the fines to
be exacted from them, the decisions concerning those who claimed
exemption, the appointing of reserve jurymen.

Having folded up some bits of paper and put them in one of the
glass vases, the president turned up the gold-embroidered cuffs
of his uniform a little way, and began drawing the lots, one by
one, and opening them. Nekhludoff was among the jurymen thus
drawn. Then, having let down his sleeves, the president requested
the priest to swear in the jury.

The old priest, with his puffy, red face, his brown gown, and his
gold cross and little order, laboriously moving his stiff legs,
came up to the lectern beneath the icon.

The jurymen got up, and crowded towards the lectern.

"Come up, please," said the priest, pulling at the cross on his
breast with his plump hand, and waiting till all the jury had
drawn near. When they had all come up the steps of the platform,
the priest passed his bald, grey head sideways through the greasy
opening of the stole, and, having rearranged his thin hair, he
again turned to the jury. "Now, raise your right arms in this
way, and put your fingers together, thus," he said, with his
tremulous old voice, lifting his fat, dimpled hand, and putting
the thumb and two first fingers together, as if taking a pinch of
something. "Now, repeat after me, 'I promise and swear, by the
Almighty God, by His holy gospels, and by the life-giving cross
of our Lord, that in this work which,'" he said, pausing between
each sentence--"don't let your arm down; hold it like this," he
remarked to a young man who had lowered his arm--"'that in this
work which . . . '"

The dignified man with the whiskers, the colonel, the merchant,
and several more held their arms and fingers as the priest
required of them, very high, very exactly, as if they liked doing
it; others did it unwillingly and carelessly. Some repeated the
words too loudly, and with a defiant tone, as if they meant to
say, "In spite of all, I will and shall speak." Others whispered
very low, and not fast enough, and then, as if frightened,
hurried to catch up the priest. Some kept their fingers tightly
together, as if fearing to drop the pinch of invisible something
they held; others kept separating and folding theirs. Every one
save the old priest felt awkward, but he was sure he was
fulfilling a very useful and important duty.

After the swearing in, the president requested the jury to choose
a foreman, and the jury, thronging to the door, passed out into
the debating-room, where almost all of them at once began to
smoke cigarettes. Some one proposed the dignified man as foreman,
and he was unanimously accepted. Then the jurymen put out their
cigarettes and threw them away and returned to the court. The
dignified man informed the president that he was chosen foreman,
and all sat down again on the high-backed chairs.

Everything went smoothly, quickly, and not without a certain
solemnity. And this exactitude, order, and solemnity evidently
pleased those who took part in it: it strengthened the impression
that they were fulfilling a serious and valuable public duty.
Nekhludoff, too, felt this.

As soon as the jurymen were seated, the president made a speech
on their rights, obligations, and responsibilities. While
speaking he kept changing his position; now leaning on his right,
now on his left hand, now against the back, then on the arms of
his chair, now putting the papers straight, now handling his
pencil and paper-knife.

According to his words, they had the right of interrogating the
prisoners through the president, to use paper and pencils, and to
examine the articles put in as evidence. Their duty was to judge
not falsely, but justly. Their responsibility meant that if the
secrecy of their discussion were violated, or communications were
established with outsiders, they would be liable to punishment.
Every one listened with an expression of respectful attention.
The merchant, diffusing a smell of brandy around him, and
restraining loud hiccups, approvingly nodded his head at every
sentence.



CHAPTER IX.

THE TRIAL--THE PRISONERS QUESTIONED.

When he had finished his speech, the president turned to the male
prisoner.

"Simeon Kartinkin, rise."

Simeon jumped up, his lips continuing to move nervously and
inaudibly.

"Your name?"

"Simon Petrov Kartinkin," he said, rapidly, with a cracked voice,
having evidently prepared the answer.

"What class do you belong to?"

"Peasant."

"What government, district, and parish?"

"Toula Government, Krapivinskia district, Koupianovski parish,
the village Borki."

"Your age?"

"Thirty-three; born in the year one thousand eight--"

"What religion?"

"Of the Russian religion, orthodox."

"Married?"

"Oh, no, sir."

"Your occupation?"

"I had a place in the Hotel Mauritania."

"Have you ever been tried before?"

"I never got tried before, because, as we used to live
formerly--"

"So you never were tried before?"

"God forbid, never."

"Have you received a copy of the indictment?"

"I have."

"Sit down."

"Euphemia Ivanovna Botchkova," said the president, turning to the
next prisoner.

But Simon continued standing in front of Botchkova.

"Kartinkin, sit down!" Kartinkin continued standing.

"Kartinkin, sit down!" But Kartinkin sat down only when the
usher, with his head on one side, and with preternaturally
wide-open eyes, ran up, and said, in a tragic whisper, "Sit down,
sit down!"

Kartinkin sat down as hurriedly as he had risen, wrapping his
cloak round him, and again began moving his lips silently.

"Your name?" asked the president, with a weary sigh at being
obliged to repeat the same questions, without looking at the
prisoner, but glancing over a paper that lay before him. The
president was so used to his task that, in order to get quicker
through it all, he did two things at a time.

Botchkova was forty-three years old, and came from the town of
Kalomna. She, too, had been in service at the Hotel Mauritania.

"I have never been tried before, and have received a copy of the
indictment." She gave her answers boldly, in a tone of voice as
if she meant to add to each answer, "And I don't care who knows
it, and I won't stand any nonsense."

She did not wait to be told, but sat down as soon as she had
replied to the last question.

"Your name?" turning abruptly to the third prisoner. "You will
have to rise," he added, softly and gently, seeing that Maslova
kept her seat.

Maslova got up and stood, with her chest expanded, looking at the
president with that peculiar expression of readiness in her
smiling black eyes.

"What is your name?"

"Lubov," she said.

Nekhludoff had put on his pince-nez, looking at the prisoners
while they were being questioned.

"No, it is impossible," he thought, not taking his eyes off the
prisoner. "Lubov! How can it be?" he thought to himself, after
hearing her answer. The president was going to continue his
questions, but the member with the spectacles interrupted him,
angrily whispering something. The president nodded, and turned
again to the prisoner.

"How is this," he said, "you are not put down here as Lubov?"

The prisoner remained silent.

"I want your real name."

"What is your baptismal name?" asked the angry member.

"Formerly I used to be called Katerina."

"No, it cannot be," said Nekhludoff to himself; and yet he was
now certain that this was she, that same girl, half ward, half
servant to his aunts; that Katusha, with whom he had once been in
love, really in love, but whom he had betrayed and then
abandoned, and never again brought to mind, for the memory would
have been too painful, would have convicted him too clearly,
proving that he who was so proud of his integrity had treated
this woman in a revolting, scandalous way.

Yes, this was she. He now clearly saw in her face that strange,
indescribable individuality which distinguishes every face from
all others; something peculiar, all its own, not to be found
anywhere else. In spite of the unhealthy pallor and the fulness
of the face, it was there, this sweet, peculiar individuality; on
those lips, in the slight squint of her eyes, in the voice,
particularly in the naive smile, and in the expression of
readiness on the face and figure.

"You should have said so," remarked the president, again in a
gentle tone. "Your patronymic?"

"I am illegitimate."

"Well, were you not called by your godfather's name?"

"Yes, Mikhaelovna."

"And what is it she can be guilty of?" continued Nekhludoff, in
his mind, unable to breathe freely.

"Your family name--your surname, I mean?" the president went on.

"They used to call me by my mother's surname, Maslova."

"What class?"

"Meschanka." [the lowest town class or grade]

"Religion--orthodox?"

"Orthodox."

"Occupation. What was your occupation?"

Maslova remained silent.

"What was your employment?"

"You know yourself," she said, and smiled. Then, casting a
hurried look round the room, again turned her eyes on the
president.

There was something so unusual in the expression of her face, so
terrible and piteous in the meaning of the words she had uttered,
in this smile, and in the furtive glance she had cast round the
room, that the president was abashed, and for a few minutes
silence reigned in the court. The silence was broken by some one
among the public laughing, then somebody said "Ssh," and the
president looked up and continued:

"Have you ever been tried before?"

"Never," answered Maslova, softly, and sighed.

"Have you received a copy of the indictment?"

"I have," she answered.

"Sit down."

The prisoner leant back to pick up her skirt in the way a fine
lady picks up her train, and sat down, folding her small white
hands in the sleeves of her cloak, her eyes fixed on the
president. Her face was calm again.

The witnesses were called, and some sent away; the doctor who was
to act as expert was chosen and called into the court.

Then the secretary got up and began reading the indictment. He
read distinctly, though he pronounced the "I" and "r" alike, with
a loud voice, but so quickly that the words ran into one another
and formed one uninterrupted, dreary drone.

The judges bent now on one, now on the other arm of their chairs,
then on the table, then back again, shut and opened their eyes,
and whispered to each other. One of the gendarmes several times
repressed a yawn.

The prisoner Kartinkin never stopped moving his cheeks.
Botchkova sat quite still and straight, only now and then
scratching her head under the kerchief.

Maslova sat immovable, gazing at the reader; only now and then
she gave a slight start, as if wishing to reply, blushed, sighed
heavily, and changed the position of her hands, looked round, and
again fixed her eyes on the reader.

Nekhludoff sat in the front row on his high-backed chair, without
removing his pince-nez, and looked at Maslova, while a
complicated and fierce struggle was going on in his soul.



CHAPTER X.

THE TRIAL--THE INDICTMENT.

The indictment ran as follows: On the 17th of January, 18--, in
the lodging-house Mauritania, occurred the sudden death of the
Second Guild merchant, Therapont Emilianovich Smelkoff, of
Kourgan.

The local police doctor of the fourth district certified that
death was due to rupture of the heart, owing to the excessive use
of alcoholic liquids. The body of the said Smelkoff was interred.
After several days had elapsed, the merchant Timokhin, a
fellow-townsman and companion of the said Smelkoff, returned from
St. Petersburg, and hearing the circumstances that accompanied
the death of the latter, notified his suspicions that the death
was caused by poison, given with intent to rob the said Smelkoff
of his money. This suspicion was corroborated on inquiry, which
proved:

1. That shortly before his death the said Smelkoff had received
the sum of 3,800 roubles from the bank. When an inventory of the
property of the deceased was made, only 312 roubles and 16
copecks were found.

2. The whole day and night preceding his death the said Smelkoff
spent with Lubka (alias Katerina Maslova) at her home and in the
lodging-house Mauritania, which she also visited at the said
Smelkoff's request during his absence, to get some money, which
she took out of his portmanteau in the presence of the servants
of the lodging-house Mauritania, Euphemia Botchkova and Simeon
Kartinkin, with a key given her by the said Smelkoff. In the
portmanteau opened by the said Maslova, the said Botchkova and
Kartinkin saw packets of 100-rouble bank-notes.

3. On the said Smelkoff's return to the lodging-house Mauritania,
together with Lubka, the latter, in accordance with the attendant
Kartinkin's advice, gave the said Smelkoff some white powder
given to her by the said Kartinkin, dissolved in brandy.

4. The next morning the said Lubka (alias Katerina Maslova) sold
to her mistress, the witness Kitaeva, a brothel-keeper, a diamond
ring given to her, as she alleged, by the said Smelkoff.

5. The housemaid of the lodging-house Mauritania, Euphemia
Botchkova, placed to her account in the local Commercial Bank
1,800 roubles. The postmortem examination of the body of the said
Smelkoff and the chemical analysis of his intestines proved
beyond doubt the presence of poison in the organism, so that
there is reason to believe that the said Smelkoff's death was
caused by poisoning.

When cross-examined, the accused, Maslova, Botchkova, and
Kartinkin, pleaded not guilty, deposing--Maslova, that she had
really been sent by Smelkoff from the brothel, where she "works,"
as she expresses it, to the lodging-house Mauritania to get the
merchant some money, and that, having unlocked the portmanteau
with a key given her by the merchant, she took out 40 roubles, as
she was told to do, and that she had taken nothing more; that
Botchkova and Kartinkin, in whose presence she unlocked and
locked the portmanteau, could testify to the truth of the
statement.

She gave this further evidence--that when she came to the
lodging-house for the second time she did, at the instigation of
Simeon Kartinkin, give Smelkoff sonic kind of powder, which she
thought was a narcotic, in a glass of brandy, hoping he would
fall asleep and that she would be able to get away from him; and
that Smelkoff, having beaten her, himself gave her the ring when
she cried and threatened to go away.

The accused, Euphemia Botchkova, stated that she knew nothing
about the missing money, that she had not even gone into
Smelkoff's room, but that Lubka had been busy there all by
herself; that if anything had been stolen, it must have been done
by Lubka when she came with the merchant's key to get his money.

At this point Maslova gave a start, opened her mouth, and looked
at Botchkova. "When," continued the secretary, "the receipt for
1,800 roubles from the bank was shown to Botchkova, and she was
asked where she had obtained the money, she said that it was her
own earnings for 12 years, and those of Simeon, whom she was
going to marry. The accused Simeon Kartinkin, when first
examined, confessed that he and Botchkova, at the instigation of
Maslova, who had come with the key from the brothel, had stolen
the money and divided it equally among themselves and Maslova."
Here Maslova again started, half-rose from her seat, and,
blushing scarlet, began to say something, but was stopped by the
usher. "At last," the secretary continued, reading, "Kartinkin
confessed also that he had supplied the powders in order to get
Smelkoff to sleep. When examined the second time he denied having
had anything to do with the stealing of the money or giving
Maslova the powders, accusing her of having done it alone."

Concerning the money placed in the bank by Botchkova, he said the
same as she, that is, that the money was given to them both by
the lodgers in tips during 12 years' service.

The indictment concluded as follows:

In consequence of the foregoing, the peasant of the village
Borki, Simeon Kartinkin, 33 years of age, the meschanka Euphemia
Botchkova, 43 years of age, and the meschanka Katerina Maslova,
27 years of age, are accused of having on the 17th day of
January, 188--, jointly stolen from the said merchant, Smelkoff,
a ring and money, to the value of 2,500 roubles, and of having
given the said merchant, Smelkoff, poison to drink, with intent
of depriving him of life, and thereby causing his death. This
crime is provided for in clause 1,455 of the Penal Code,
paragraphs 4 and 5.



CHAPTER XI.

THE TRIAL--MASLOVA CROSS-EXAMINED.

When the reading of the indictment was over, the president, after
having consulted the members, turned to Kartinkin, with an
expression that plainly said: Now we shall find out the whole
truth down to the minutest detail.

"Peasant Simeon Kartinkin," he said, stooping to the left.

Simeon Kartinkin got up, stretched his arms down his sides, and
leaning forward with his whole body, continued moving his cheeks
inaudibly.

"You are accused of having on the 17th January, 188--, together
with Euphemia Botchkova and Katerina Maslova, stolen money from a
portmanteau belonging to the merchant Smelkoff, and then, having
procured some arsenic, persuaded Katerina Maslova to give it to
the merchant Smelkoff in a glass of brandy, which was the cause
of Smelkoff's death. Do you plead guilty?" said the president,
stooping to the right.

"Not nohow, because our business is to attend on the lodgers,
and--"

"You'll tell us that afterwards. Do you plead guilty?"

"Oh, no, sir. I only,--"

"You'll tell us that afterwards. Do you plead guilty?" quietly
and firmly asked the president.

"Can't do such a thing, because that--"

The usher again rushed up to Simeon Kartinkin, and stopped him
in a tragic whisper.

The president moved the hand with which he held the paper and
placed the elbow in a different position with an air that said:
"This is finished," and turned to Euphemia Botchkova.

"Euphemia Botchkova, you are accused of having, on the 17th of
January, 188-, in the lodging-house Mauritania, together with
Simeon Kartinkin and Katerina Maslova, stolen some money and a
ring out of the merchant Smelkoff's portmanteau, and having
shared the money among yourselves, given poison to the merchant
Smelkoff, thereby causing his death. Do you plead guilty?"

"I am not guilty of anything," boldly and firmly replied the
prisoner. "I never went near the room, but when this baggage went
in she did the whole business."

"You will say all this afterwards," the president again said,
quietly and firmly. "So you do not plead guilty?"

"I did not take the money nor give the drink, nor go into the
room. Had I gone in I should have kicked her out."

"So you do not plead guilty?"

"Never."

"Very well."

"Katerina Maslova," the president began, turning to the third
prisoner, "you are accused of having come from the brothel with
the key of the merchant Smelkoff's portmanteau, money, and a
ring." He said all this like a lesson learned by heart, leaning
towards the member on his left, who was whispering into his car
that a bottle mentioned in the list of the material evidence was
missing. "Of having stolen out of the portmanteau money and a
ring," he repeated, "and shared it. Then, returning to the
lodging house Mauritania with Smelkoff, of giving him poison in
his drink, and thereby causing his death. Do you plead guilty?"

"I am not guilty of anything," she began rapidly. "As I said
before I say again, I did not take it--I did not take it; I did
not take anything, and the ring he gave me himself."

"You do not plead guilty of having stolen 2,500 roubles?" asked
the president.

"I've said I took nothing but the 40 roubles."

"Well, and do you plead guilty of having given the merchant
Smelkoff a powder in his drink?"

"Yes, that I did. Only I believed what they told me, that they
were sleeping powders, and that no harm could come of them. I
never thought, and never wished. . . God is my witness; I say, I
never meant this," she said.

"So you do not plead guilty of having stolen the money and the
ring from the merchant Smelkoff, but confess that you gave him
the powder?" said the president.

"Well, yes, I do confess this, but I thought they were sleeping
powders. I only gave them to make him sleep; I never meant and
never thought of worse."

"Very well," said the president, evidently satisfied with the
results gained. "Now tell us how it all happened," and he leaned
back in his chair and put his folded hands on the table. "Tell us
all about it. A free and full confession will be to your
advantage."

Maslova continued to look at the president in silence, and
blushing.

"Tell us how it happened."

"How it happened?" Maslova suddenly began, speaking quickly. "I
came to the lodging-house, and was shown into the room. He was
there, already very drunk." She pronounced the word _he_ with a
look of horror in her wide-open eyes. "I wished to go away, but
he would not let me." She stopped, as if having lost the thread,
or remembered some thing else.

"Well, and then?"

"Well, what then? I remained a bit, and went home again."

At this moment the public prosecutor raised himself a little,
leaning on one elbow in an awkward manner.

"You would like to put a question?" said the president, and
having received an answer in the affirmative, he made a gesture
inviting the public prosecutor to speak.

"I want to ask, was the prisoner previously acquainted with
Simeon Kartinkin?" said the public prosecutor, without looking at
Maslova, and, having put the question, he compressed his lips and
frowned.

The president repeated the question. Maslova stared at the public
prosecutor, with a frightened look.

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