Resurrection

"But, gentlemen, do you know it is getting on towards five

o'clock?" said one of the jury.

"Well, gentlemen, what are we to say, then?" inquired the

foreman. "Shall we say she is guilty, but without intent to rob?

And without stealing any property? Will that do?" Peter

Gerasimovitch, pleased with his victory, agreed.

"But she must be recommended to mercy," said the merchant.

All agreed; only the old artelshik insisted that they should say

"Not guilty."

"It comes to the same thing," explained the foreman; "without

intent to rob, and without stealing any property. Therefore, 'Not

guilty,' that's evident."

"All right; that'll do. And we recommend her to mercy," said the

merchant, gaily.

They were all so tired, so confused by the discussions, that

nobody thought of saying that she was guilty of giving the powder

but without the intent of taking life. Nekhludoff was so excited

that he did not notice this omission, and so the answers were

written down in the form agreed upon and taken to the court.

Rabelais says that a lawyer who was trying a case quoted all

sorts of laws, read 20 pages of judicial senseless Latin, and

then proposed to the judges to throw dice, and if the numbers

proved odd the defendant would be right, if not, the plaintiff.

It was much the same in this case. The resolution was taken, not

because everybody agreed upon it, but because the president, who

had been summing up at such length, omitted to say what he always

said on such occasions, that the answer might be, "Yes, guilty,

but without the intent of taking life;" because the colonel had

related the story of his brother-in-law's wife at such great

length; because Nekhludoff was too excited to notice that the

proviso "without intent to take life" had been omitted, and

thought that the words "without intent" nullified the conviction;

because Peter Gerasimovitch had retired from the room while the

questions and answers were being read, and chiefly because, being

tired, and wishing to get away as soon as possible, all were

ready to agree with the decision which would bring matters to an

end soonest.

The jurymen rang the bell. The gendarme who had stood outside the

door with his sword drawn put the sword back into the scabbard

and stepped aside. The judges took their seats and the jury came

out one by one.

The foreman brought in the paper with an air of solemnity and

handed it to the president, who looked at it, and, spreading out

his hands in astonishment, turned to consult his companions. The

president was surprised that the jury, having put in a

proviso--without intent to rob--did not put in a second

proviso--without intent to take life. From the decision of the

jury it followed that Maslova had not stolen, nor robbed, and yet

poisoned a man without any apparent reason.