At last the president finished his speech, and lifting the list
of questions with a graceful movement of his arm he handed it to
the foreman, who came up to take it. The jury, glad to be able to
get into the debating-court, got up one after the other and left
the room, looking as if a bit ashamed of themselves and again not
knowing what to do with their hands. As soon as the door was
closed behind them a gendarme came up to it, pulled his sword out
of the scabbard, and, holding it up against his shoulder, stood
at the door. The judges got up and went away. The prisoners were
also led out. When the jury came into the debating-room the first
thing they did was to take out their cigarettes, as before, and
begin smoking. The sense of the unnaturalness and falseness of
their position, which all of them had experienced while sitting
in their places in the court, passed when they entered the
debating-room and started smoking, and they settled down with a
feeling of relief and at once began an animated conversation.
"'Tisn't the girl's fault. She's got mixed up in it," said the
kindly merchant. "We must recommend her to mercy."
"That's just what we are going to consider," said the foreman.
"We must not give way to our personal impressions."
"The president's summing up was good," remarked the colonel.
"Good? Why, it nearly sent me to sleep!"
"The chief point is that the servants could have known nothing
about the money if Maslova had not been in accord with them,"
said the clerk of Jewish extraction.
"Well, do you think that it was she who stole the money?" asked
one of the jury.
"I will never believe it," cried the kindly merchant; "it was all
that red-eyed hag's doing."
"They are a nice lot, all of them," said the colonel.
"But she says she never went into the room."
"Oh, believe her by all means."
"I should not believe that jade, not for the world."
"Whether you believe her or not does not settle the question,"
said the clerk.
"The girl had the key," said the colonel.
"What if she had?" retorted the merchant.
"And the ring?"
"But didn't she say all about it?" again cried the merchant. "The
fellow had a temper of his own, and had had a drop too much
besides, and gave the girl a licking; what could be simpler?
Well, then he's sorry--quite naturally. 'There, never mind,' says
he; 'take this.' Why, I heard them say he was six foot five high;
I should think he must have weighed about 20 stones."
"That's not the point," said Peter Gerasimovitch. "The question
is, whether she was the instigator and inciter in this affair, or
the servants?"