"Why did you give it him?"
She did not answer, but sighed deeply and heavily.
"He would not let me go," she said, after a moment's silence,
"and I was quite tired out, and so I went out into the passage
and said to Simeon, 'If he would only let me go, I am so tired.'
And he said, 'We are also sick of him; we were thinking of giving
him a sleeping draught; he will fall asleep, and then you can
go.' So I said all right. I thought they were harmless, and he
gave me the packet. I went in. He was lying behind the partition,
and at once called for brandy. I took a bottle of 'fine
champagne' from the table, poured out two glasses, one for him
and one for myself, and put the powders into his glass, and gave
it him. Had I known how could I have given them to him?"
"Well, and how did the ring come into your possession?" asked the
president. "When did he give it you?"
"That was when we came back to his lodgings. I wanted to go away,
and he gave me a knock on the head and broke my comb. I got angry
and said I'd go away, and he took the ring off his finger and
gave it to me so that I should not go," she said.
Then the public prosecutor again slightly raised himself, and,
putting on an air of simplicity, asked permission to put a few
more questions, and, having received it, bending his head over
his embroidered collar, he said: "I should like to know how long
the prisoner remained in the merchant Smelkoff's room."
Maslova again seemed frightened, and she again looked anxiously
from the public prosecutor to the president, and said hurriedly: "I do not remember how long."
"Yes, but does the prisoner remember if she went anywhere else in
the lodging-house after she left Smelkoff?"
Maslova considered for a moment. "Yes, I did go into an empty
room next to his."
"Yes, and why did you go in?" asked the public prosecutor,
forgetting himself, and addressing her directly.
"I went in to rest a bit, and to wait for an isvostchik."
"And was Kartinkin in the room with the prisoner, or not?"
"He came in."
"Why did he come in?"
"There was some of the merchant's brandy left, and we finished it
together."
"Oh, finished it together. Very well! And did the prisoner talk
to Kartinkin, and, if so, what about?"
Maslova suddenly frowned, blushed very red, and said, hurriedly,
"What about? I did not talk about anything, and that's all I
know. Do what you like with me; I am not guilty, and that's all."