ose tension
was relaxed by that unexpected and discursive turn, murmured with gloomy
discontent--

"That man, Haldin, believed in God."

"Ah! You are aware," breathed out Councillor Mikulin, making the point
softly, as if with discretion, but making it nevertheless plainly
enough, as if he too were put off his guard by Razumov's remark.
The young man preserved an impassive, moody countenance, though he
reproached himself bitterly for a pernicious fool, to have given thus an
utterly false impression of intimacy. He kept his eyes on the floor.
"I must positively hold my tongue unless I am obliged to speak," he
admonished himself. And at once against his will the question, "Hadn't
I better tell him everything?" presented itself with such force that he
had to bite his lower lip. Councillor Mikulin could not, however, have
nourished any hope of confession. He went on--

"You tell me more than his judges were able to get out of him. He was
judged by a commission of three. He would tell them absolutely nothing.
I have the report of the interrogatories here, by me. After every
question there stands 'Refuses to answer--refuses to answer.' It's like
that page after page. You see, I have been entrusted with some further
investigations around and about this affair. He has left me nothing to
begin my investigations on. A hardened miscreant. And so, you say, he
believed in...."

Again Councillor Mikulin glanced down his beard with a faint grimace;
but he did not pause for long. Remarking with a shade of scorn that
blasphemers also had that sort of belief, he concluded by supposing that
Mr. Razumov had conversed frequently with Haldin on the subject.

"No," said Razumov loudly, without looking up. "He talked and I
listened. That is not a conversation."

"Listening is a great art," observed Mikulin parenthetically.

"And getting people to talk is another," mumbled Razumov.

"Well, no--that is not very difficult," Mikulin said innocently,
"except, of course, in special cases. For instance, this Haldin. Nothing
could induce him to talk. He was brought four times before the delegated
judges. Four secret interrogatories--and even during the last, when your
personality was put forward...."

"My personality put forward?" repeated Razumov, raising his head
brusquely. "I don't understand." Councillor Mikulin turned squarely to
the table, and taking up some sheets of grey foolscap dropped them one
after another, retaining only the la