20

BUT, as if to spite him, the case dragged on for a long time: after each witness had been examined separately, and the expert last of all, and after the assistant prosecuting counsel and the lawyers for the defence with their customary air of importance had put a number of irrelevant questions, the presiding judge invited the jurors to inspect the exhibits brought into court as material evidence. They consisted of an enormous ring with a cluster of diamonds, which had evidently been worn on a very fat forefinger, and a test-tube containing the poison which had been analysed. These things had seals and labels attached to them.

Just as the jurors were about to look at these objects the assistant prosecutor rose again and demanded that the medical examiner’s report should be read before passing to the inspection of the exhibits.

The presiding judge, who was hustling the business through as fast as he could in order to get to his Swiss girl, though he knew very well that the reading of the document could be nothing but a bore and delay the luncheon recess, and that the assistant prosecutor only wanted it read because he knew he had the right to demand it, could not refuse however, and expressed his consent. The secretary got out the report and again began to read in his doleful voice, slurring all the l’s and r’s.

‘The external examination showed that:

‘1. Ferapont Smelkov was six feet five inches tall.’

(‘I say – what a strapping fellow!’ whispered the merchant, impressed, into Nekhlyudov’s ear.)

‘2. Judging from outward appearances his age could be determined as, roughly, forty years.

‘3. The body had a swollen appearance.

‘4. The flesh was of a greenish hue and showed dark spots in places.

‘5. The skin was variously blistered and in places had peeled off and in places hung in large strips.

‘6. The hair was dark brown and easily detached from the skin.

‘7. The eyeballs protruded from their sockets and the cornea looked dull.

‘8. Frothy serous fluid oozed from the nostrils, both ears and the mouth cavity; the mouth was half open.

‘9. The face and chest were swollen to such an extent that practically no neck was to be seen.’

And so on, and so on.

This description of the terrible, enormous, fat, swollen and decomposing body of the merchant who had been making merry in the city continued on through twenty-seven paragraphs and occupied four pages of medical report. The indefinable disgust which Nekhlyudov felt was intensified by this description of the condition of the corpse. Katusha’s life, the serum oozing from the nostrils of the dead body, the eyes protruding from their sockets and his own treatment of her – all seemed to belong to the same order of things, and he was surrounded and engulfed by things of this nature. When, at last, the reading of the external examination was over, the presiding judge heaved a sigh and raised his head, hoping that was the end. But the secretary immediately proceeded to read the report concerning the internal organs.

The president’s head again dropped into his hand and he closed his eyes. The merchant who sat beside Nekhlyudov could hardly keep awake, and now and then swayed to and fro; the defendants and the gendarmes behind them sat perfectly still.

‘Examination of the internal organs revealed that:

‘1. The skin over the skull was easily separated from the cranial bones, and there was no sign of bruising.

‘2. The bones of the skull were of average thickness and in sound condition.

‘3. Two small pigmented patches about four inches long showed on the hard cerebral membrane, the membrane itself being mat and pallid.’

And so on, and so on, for another thirteen paragraphs.

Then came the names and signatures of the coroner’s jury, and the doctor’s conclusion showing that the changes observed in the stomach, and to a lesser degree in the intestines and kidneys, as revealed at the post-mortem examination and described in the official report, lent great probability to the conclusion that Smelkov’s death was caused by poison which had found its way into the stomach with the wine. To determine from the state of the stomach and intestines exactly what kind of poison it was that had been introduced was difficult; but that the poison entered the stomach with the wine must be surmised from the fact that a large quantity of wine was found in Smelkov’s stomach.

‘He knew how to drink, and no mistake,’ whispered the merchant again, having just woken up.

But even the reading of this report, which took nearly an hour, did not satisfy the assistant prosecutor. When it was over the president turned to him and said:

‘I presume it will not be necessary to read the documents referring to the investigation of the internal organs.’

‘I must request to have them read,’ said the assistant prosecutor severely, without looking at the president. He drew himself up sideways in his chair and showed by his tone of voice that he had a right to have the report read and would insist on this right, and that if it were not granted there would be grounds for an appeal.

The member of the court with the big beard and kindly drooping eyes, who suffered from catarrh, feeling quite done up, turned to the president:

‘What is the use of reading all this? You only drag the business out. These new brooms don’t sweep any cleaner, they take longer about it, that’s all.’

The member with the gold spectacles said nothing but stared gloomily in front of him, expecting no good either from his wife or from life in general.

The reading of the document began:

‘On the fifteenth of February in the year 188–I, the undersigned, on instructions from the Medical Department, reference No. 638 –’ the secretary started off again in resolute tones, raising the pitch of his voice in the hope, apparently, of dispelling the sleepiness that had overtaken all present – ‘in the presence of the assistant medical inspector made an examination of the following internal organs:

‘1. The right lung and heart (contained in a 6 lb. glass jar).

‘2. The contents of the stomach (in a 6 lb. glass jar).

‘3. The stomach itself (in a 6 lb. glass jar).

‘4. The liver, the spleen and the kidneys (in a 3 lb. glass jar).

‘5. The intestines (in a 6 lb. earthenware jar).’

As the reading began the presiding judge leaned over to one of the members and whispered something to him; then he leaned over to another and, having received their consent, at this point interrupted the secretary.

‘The Court finds the reading of this document to be superfluous,’ he said.

The secretary stopped and gathered up his papers. The assistant prosecutor angrily made a note of something.

‘The gentlemen of the jury may now examine the material evidence,’ said the presiding judge.

The foreman and a few of the jurymen rose and went to the table, not quite knowing what to do with their hands. In turn they looked at the ring, the glass jars and the test-tube. The merchant even tried the ring on his finger.

‘That was something like a finger,’ he said, returning to his seat. ‘As big as a cucumber,’ he added, obviously enjoying the Hercules image he had formed in his mind of the poisoned merchant.