FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   669   670   671   672   673   674   675   676   677   678   679   680   681   682   683   684   685   686   687   688   689   690   691   692   693  
694   695   696   697   698   699   700   701   702   703   704   705   706   707   708   709   710   711   712   713   714   715   716   717   718   >>   >|  
the sly at Mokroe by Trifon Borissovitch; the envelope in which the three thousand roubles had been put ready for Grushenka, the narrow pink ribbon with which it had been tied, and many other articles I don't remember. In the body of the hall, at some distance, came the seats for the public. But in front of the balustrade a few chairs had been placed for witnesses who remained in the court after giving their evidence. At ten o'clock the three judges arrived--the President, one honorary justice of the peace, and one other. The prosecutor, of course, entered immediately after. The President was a short, stout, thick-set man of fifty, with a dyspeptic complexion, dark hair turning gray and cut short, and a red ribbon, of what Order I don't remember. The prosecutor struck me and the others, too, as looking particularly pale, almost green. His face seemed to have grown suddenly thinner, perhaps in a single night, for I had seen him looking as usual only two days before. The President began with asking the court whether all the jury were present. But I see I can't go on like this, partly because some things I did not hear, others I did not notice, and others I have forgotten, but most of all because, as I have said before, I have literally no time or space to mention everything that was said and done. I only know that neither side objected to very many of the jurymen. I remember the twelve jurymen--four were petty officials of the town, two were merchants, and six peasants and artisans of the town. I remember, long before the trial, questions were continually asked with some surprise, especially by ladies: "Can such a delicate, complex and psychological case be submitted for decision to petty officials and even peasants?" and "What can an official, still more a peasant, understand in such an affair?" All the four officials in the jury were, in fact, men of no consequence and of low rank. Except one who was rather younger, they were gray-headed men, little known in society, who had vegetated on a pitiful salary, and who probably had elderly, unpresentable wives and crowds of children, perhaps even without shoes and stockings. At most, they spent their leisure over cards and, of course, had never read a single book. The two merchants looked respectable, but were strangely silent and stolid. One of them was close-shaven, and was dressed in European style; the other had a small, gray beard, and wore a red ribbon with some sort
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   669   670   671   672   673   674   675   676   677   678   679   680   681   682   683   684   685   686   687   688   689   690   691   692   693  
694   695   696   697   698   699   700   701   702   703   704   705   706   707   708   709   710   711   712   713   714   715   716   717   718   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

remember

 

President

 
officials
 

ribbon

 

single

 

prosecutor

 

jurymen

 

peasants

 

merchants

 

complex


objected

 
decision
 
submitted
 

psychological

 
questions
 
continually
 

artisans

 

surprise

 

ladies

 

twelve


delicate

 

consequence

 

leisure

 

children

 

stockings

 

looked

 

shaven

 

dressed

 

stolid

 
respectable

strangely

 

silent

 
crowds
 

European

 

affair

 
understand
 

official

 
peasant
 

Except

 
salary

pitiful

 

elderly

 

unpresentable

 
vegetated
 

society

 

younger

 
headed
 

giving

 

evidence

 
remained