Chapter 10 Part 1 - Seven

Matvey finally came.And the long-necked, thin civil servant, with his lower lip turned aside, staggered into the jury room. The civil magistrate was a man of integrity and a high education, but he could not keep his position wherever he went, because he was addicted to alcohol.A countess, his wife's protector, had secured him the post three months before, and he was glad to have kept it till now. "Well, gentlemen, is everyone here?" he said, putting on his pince-nez, and looking around over them. "It looks like it's all here," said the merry merchant. "Let's check it out," said the civil marshal.He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and began to roll the roll, sometimes looking over and sometimes through his glasses at the people being called.

"Nikiforov, fifth-class civil servant." "It's me," agreed the handsome gentleman who was familiar with all kinds of cases. "Retired Colonel Ivanov." "Yes," replied the thin man in the uniform of a retired officer. "Second Class Merchant Baklashov." "Yes," replied the genial, grinning businessman. "It's all ready!" "Prince Nekhludoff, Lieutenant of the Guards." "It's me," answered Nekhludoff. The magistrate looked at him over his spectacles, and bowed to him with special respect and pleasure, as a sign of Nekhludoff's distinction.

"Captain Danchenko, merchant Kuleshov," and so on and so on. Two people were missing and the rest arrived. "Gentlemen, please appear now," said the bailiff, pointing cheerfully to the door. Everyone got up one after another, gave way to each other at the door, entered the corridor, and then came to the court from the corridor. The court is a rectangular hall.At one end of the hall is a high platform, and there are three steps to go up.In the middle of the stage was a table covered with a green cloth cloth and fringed with dark green tassels.Behind the table stood three armchairs in linen oak with high backs and carved patterns.On the wall behind the chair hung a full-length, brightly colored portrait of the General in a gold-rimmed mirror.The general, with a ribbon on his uniform, stepped forward with one foot, and rested his hand on the hilt of his saber.There is a shrine hanging on the right corner, in which there is a statue of Christ wearing a crown of thorns, and a reading table stands in front of the shrine.On the right stands the prosecutor's high desk.On the left, symmetrical to the high desk, there is a small desk for the clerk in the distance, and there is a smooth linen oak railing near the auditorium, and behind the railing is the bench where the defendant sits.Now the stool is still empty and no one is sitting on it.There are two rows of high-backed chairs on the right side of the high platform, which are for jurors, and several tables under the high platform are for lawyers.The hall is divided in two by a railing, all this in the front half of the hall.The back half of the hall was filled with benches, one row higher than the other, up to the back wall.On the front benches in the back part of the courtroom sat four women who looked like factory workers or housemaids, and two men who were also workers.Clearly locked in by the solemnity of the courtroom, they spoke timidly in lowered voices.

-------- ① Refers to the image of the Tsar. As soon as the jurors were seated, the magistrate staggered into the middle of the courtroom, and, as if to frighten those present, cried out at the top of his voice: "The court is open!" All rise.The judges streamed onto the stage: first the heavyset, bearded President, then the sullen judge with the gold-rimmed spectacles.His face was even more gloomy at this moment, because he met his brother-in-law who was a trainee judge before he appeared in court. His brother-in-law told him that he had just been to his sister's place, and her sister announced to him that there would be no meals at home.

"Looks like we have to go to a small restaurant to eat," my brother-in-law said with a smile. "What's ridiculous," said the sullen judge, who grew even more sullen. The last judge to go up was Matvey who was always late.He had a big beard and big, kind eyes drooping down.The judge, who had suffered from gastritis for a long time, had started this morning on a new remedy as ordered by his doctor, so he stayed at home today longer than usual.Now he walked up to the stage with a look of concentration on his face, because he had a habit of anticipating various problems in various ways.Now he was divining that if the number of steps from the office to the court armchair seat could be divided by three, the new cure would cure his gastritis, and if not, it would not.It was twenty-six steps, but he narrowed the last step so that it was exactly twenty-seven.

Wearing uniforms with gold threads on the collars, the president and judges stepped onto the high platform with a very dignified aura.They were aware of this themselves, and, as if ashamed of their majesty, they lowered their eyes hastily and modestly, and seated themselves in carved armchairs behind a green baize tablecloth.On the table stood a triangular striker with an eagle carved on it, glass jars and inkwells for sweets in grocery stores, pens, white paper, and a few sharpened pencils, thick and thin.The deputy prosecutor entered with the judges.He was still in such a hurry, with the briefcase under his arm, and still waving his hand desperately, he quickly walked to his seat by the window, and as soon as he sat down, he immersed himself in flipping through the documents, making full use of every minute he had to do for the case. Get ready.This is the fourth time that the Deputy Public Prosecutor has filed an indictment.He is keen on fame and fame, and he is determined to climb up, so any case that he prosecutes must be sentenced in the end.He generally knew the nature of this poisoning murder case, and he had already drawn up a speech outline, but he still needed some information, and he was hurriedly extracting from the file at the moment.

The clerk was sitting in the other corner of the stage, having prepared the documents that might need to be read, and then reread a banned article that he got and read yesterday.He wanted to talk about the article with the bearded judge who agreed with him, and read it carefully before talking about it.