THE JUDGES.
The president, who had to take the chair, had arrived early. The president was a tall, stout man, with long grey whiskers. Though married, he led a very loose life, and his wife did the same, so they did not stand in each other's way. This morning he had received a note from a Swiss girl, who had formerly been a governess in his house, and who was now on her way from South Russia to St. Petersburg. She wrote that she would wait for him between five and six p.m. in the Hotel Italia. This made him wish to begin and get through the sitting as soon as possible, so as to have time to call before six p.m. on the little red-haired Clara Vasilievna, with whom he had begun a romance in the country last summer. He went into a private room, latched the door, took a pair of dumb-bells out of a cupboard, moved his arms 20 times upwards, downwards, forwards, and sideways, then holding the dumb-bells above his head, lightly bent his knees three times.
"Nothing keeps one going like a cold bath and exercise," he said, feeling the biceps of his right arm with his left hand, on the third finger of which he wore a gold ring. He had still to do the moulinee movement (for he always went through those two exercises before a long sitting), when there was a pull at the door. The president quickly put away the dumb-bells and opened the door, saying, "I beg your pardon."
One of the members, a high-shouldered, discontented-looking man, with gold spectacles, came into the room. "Matthew Nikitich has again not come," he said, in a dissatisfied tone.
"Not yet?" said the president, putting on his uniform. "He is always late."
"It is extraordinary. He ought to be ashamed of himself," said the member, angrily, and taking out a cigarette.
This member, a very precise man, had had an unpleasant encounter with his wife in the morning, because she had spent her allowance before the end of the month, and had asked him to give her some money in advance, but he would not give way to her, and they had a quarrel. The wife told him that if he were going to behave so, he need not expect any dinner; there would be no dinner for him at home. At this point he left, fearing that she might carry out her threat, for anything might be expected from her. "This comes of living a good, moral life," he thought, looking at the beaming, healthy, cheerful, and kindly president, who, with elbows far apart, was smoothing his thick grey whiskers with his fine white hands over the embroidered collar of his uniform. "He is always contented and merry while I am suffering."
The secretary came in and brought some document.
"Thanks, very much," said the president, lighting a cigarette. "Which case shall we take first, then?"
"The poisoning case, I should say," answered the secretary, with indifference.
"All right; the poisoning case let it be," said the president, thinking that he could get this case over by four o'clock, and then go away. "And Matthew Nikitich; has he come?"
"Not yet."
"And Breve?"
"He is here," replied the secretary.
"Then if you see him, please tell him that we begin with the poisoning case." Breve was the public prosecutor, who was to read the indictment in this case.
In the corridor the secretary met Breve, who, with up lifted shoulders, a portfolio under one arm, the other swinging with the palm turned to the front, was hurrying along the corridor, clattering with his heels.
"Michael Petrovitch wants to know if you are ready?" the secretary asked.
"Of course; I am always ready," said the public prosecutor. "What are we taking first?"
"The poisoning case."
"That's quite right," said the public prosecutor, but did not think it at all right. He had spent the night in a hotel playing cards with a friend who was giving a farewell party. Up to five in the morning they played and drank, so he had no time to look at this poisoning case, and meant to run it through now. The secretary, happening to know this, advised the president to begin with the poisoning case. The secretary was a Liberal, even a Radical, in opinion.
Breve was a Conservative; the secretary disliked him, and envied him his position.
"Well, and how about the Skoptzy?" [a religious sect] asked the secretary.
"I have already said that I cannot do it without witnesses, and so I shall say to the Court."
"Dear me, what does it matter?"
"I cannot do it," said Breve; and, waving his arm, he ran into his private room.
He was putting off the case of the Skoptzy on account of the absence of a very unimportant witness, his real reason being that if they were tried by an educated jury they might possibly be acquitted.
By an agreement with the president this case was to be tried in the coming session at a provincial town, where there would be more peasants, and, therefore, more chances of conviction.
The movement in the corridor increased. The people crowded most at the doors of the Civil Court, in which the case that the dignified man talked about was being heard.
An interval in the proceeding occurred, and the old woman came out of the court, whose property that genius of an advocate had found means of getting for his client, a person versed in law who had no right to it whatever. The judges knew all about the case, and the advocate and his client knew it better still, but the move they had invented was such that it was impossible not to take the old woman's property and not to hand it over to the person versed in law.
The old woman was stout, well dressed, and had enormous flowers on her bonnet; she stopped as she came out of the door, and spreading out her short fat arms and turning to her advocate, she kept repeating. "What does it all mean? just fancy!"
The advocate was looking at the flowers in her bonnet, and evidently not listening to her, but considering some question or other.
Next to the old woman, out of the door of the Civil Court, his broad, starched shirt front glistening from under his low-cut waistcoat, with a self-satisfied look on his face, came the celebrated advocate who had managed to arrange matters so that the old woman lost all she had, and the person versed in the law received more than 100,000 roubles. The advocate passed close to the old woman, and, feeling all eyes directed towards him, his whole bearing seemed to say: "No expressions of deference are required."
庭長一早就來到法庭。他體格魁偉，留著一大把花白的絡(luò)腮胡子。他是個有妻室的人，可是生活十分放蕩，他的妻子也是這樣。他們互不干涉。今天早晨他收到瑞士籍家庭女教師——去年夏天她住在他們家里，最近從南方來到彼得堡——來信，說她下午三時至六時在城里的“意大利旅館”等他。因此他希望今天早點開庭，早點結(jié)束，好趕在六點鐘以前去看望那個紅頭發(fā)的克拉拉。去年夏天在別墅里他跟她可有過一段風流韻事啊。
他走進辦公室，扣上房門，從文件柜的最下層拿出一副啞鈴，向上，向前，向兩邊和向下各舉了二十下，然后又把啞鈴舉過頭頂，身子毫不費力地蹲下來三次。
“要鍛煉身體，再沒有比洗淋浴和做體操更好的辦法了，”他邊想邊用無名指上戴著金戒指的左手摸摸右臂上隆起的一大塊肌肉。他還要練一套擊劍動作（他在長時間審理案子以前總要做這兩種運動），這時房門動了一下。有人想推門進來。
庭長慌忙把啞鈴放回原處，開了門。
“對不起，”他說。
一個身材不高的法官，戴一副金絲邊眼鏡，聳起肩膀，臉色陰沉，走了進來。
“瑪特維又沒有來，”那個法官不高興地說。
“還沒有來，”庭長一邊穿制服，一邊回答?！八偸沁t到?！?BR> “真弄不懂，他怎么不害臊，”法官說，怒氣沖沖地坐下來，掏出一支香煙。
這個法官是個古板君子，今天早晨同妻子吵過嘴，因為妻子不到時候就把這個月的生活費用光了。妻子要求他預支給她一些錢，他說決不通融。結(jié)果就鬧了起來。妻子說，既然這樣，那就不開伙，他別想在家里吃到飯。他聽了這話轉(zhuǎn)身就走，唯恐妻子真的照她威脅的那樣辦，因為她這人是什么事都做得出來的?！昂?，規(guī)規(guī)矩矩過日子就落得如此下場，”他心里想，眼睛瞧著那容光煥發(fā)、和藹可親的庭長，庭長正寬寬地叉開兩臂，用細嫩的白手理著繡花領(lǐng)子兩邊又長又密的花白絡(luò)腮胡子，“他總是揚揚得意，可我卻在活受罪?！?BR> 書記官走進來，拿來一份卷宗。
“多謝，”庭長說著，點上一支煙?！跋葘從膫€案？”
“我看就審毒死人命案吧，”書記官若無其事地說。
“好，毒死人命案就毒死人命案吧，”庭長說。他估計這個案四時以前可以結(jié)束，然后他就可以走，“瑪特維還沒有來嗎？”
“還沒有來。”
“那么勃列威來了嗎？”
“他來了，”書記官回答。
“您要是看見他，就告訴他，我們先審毒死人命案?！?BR> 勃列威是在這個案子中負責提出公訴的副檢察官。
書記官來到走廊里，遇見勃列威。勃列威聳起肩膀，敞開制服，腋下夾一個公文包，沿著走廊象跑步一般匆匆走來，鞋后跟踩得咯咯發(fā)響，那只空手拚命前后擺動。
“米哈伊爾·彼得羅維奇要我問一下，您準備好了沒有，”
書記官說。
“當然，我隨時都可以出庭，”副檢察官說?！跋葘從膫€案？”
“毒死人命案。”
“太好了，”副檢察官嘴里這樣說，其實他一點也不覺得好，因為他通宵沒有睡覺。他們給一個同事餞行，喝了許多酒，打牌一直打到半夜兩點鐘，又到正好是瑪絲洛娃六個月前待過的那家妓院去玩女人，因此他沒有來得及閱讀毒死人命案的案卷，此刻想草草翻閱一遍。書記官明明知道他沒有看過這案的案卷，卻有意刁難，要庭長先審這個案。就思想來說，書記官是個自由派，甚至是個激進派。勃列威卻思想保守，而且也象一切在俄國做官的德國人那樣，特別篤信東正教。書記官不喜歡他，但又很羨慕他這個位置。
“那么，閹割派①教徒一案怎么樣了？”書記官問。
--------
①基督教的一個教派，認為生育是罪惡，因而閹割自己。
“我說過我不能審理這個案子，”副檢察官說，“因為缺乏證人，我也將這樣向法庭聲明?！?BR> “那有什么關(guān)系……”
“我不能審理，”副檢察官說完，又這樣擺動手臂，跑到自己的辦公室去了。
他借口一個證人沒有傳到而推遲審理閹割派教徒的案子，其實這個證人對本案無足輕重，他之所以推遲審理只是擔心由受過教育的陪審員組成的法庭來審理，被告很可能被宣告無罪釋放。但只要同庭長商量妥當，這個案子就可以轉(zhuǎn)到縣法庭去審理，那里陪審員中農(nóng)民較多，判罪的機會也就大得多。
走廊里熙熙攘攘，越來越熱鬧。人群多半聚集在民事法庭附近，那里正在審理那個喜歡打聽案情的相貌堂堂的先生向陪審員們講述的案子。在審訊休息時，民事法庭里走出一位老太太，就是她被那個天才律師硬敲出一大筆錢給一個生意人，而那個生意人本來是根本無權(quán)得到這筆錢的。這一點法官們都很清楚，原告和他的律師當然更清楚；可是律師想出來的辦法太狠毒了，逼得那老太太非拿出這筆錢來不可。老太太身體肥胖，衣著講究，帽子上插著幾朵很大的鮮花。她從門里出來，攤開兩條又短又粗的胳膊，嘴里不斷地對她的律師說：“這究竟是怎么一回事？請您幫個忙！究竟是怎么一回事？”律師望著她帽子上的鮮花，自己想著心事，根本沒有聽她。
那位名律師跟在老太太后面，敏捷地從民事法庭走出來。他敞開背心，露出漿得筆挺的雪白硬胸，臉上現(xiàn)出得意揚揚的神色，因為他使頭上戴花的老太太傾家蕩產(chǎn)，而那個付給他一萬盧布的生意人卻得到了十萬以上。大家的目光都集中在律師身上，他也察覺到這一點。他那副神氣仿佛在說：“我沒什么值得大家崇拜的?！彼杆俚貜娜巳号赃呑哌^去了。
The president, who had to take the chair, had arrived early. The president was a tall, stout man, with long grey whiskers. Though married, he led a very loose life, and his wife did the same, so they did not stand in each other's way. This morning he had received a note from a Swiss girl, who had formerly been a governess in his house, and who was now on her way from South Russia to St. Petersburg. She wrote that she would wait for him between five and six p.m. in the Hotel Italia. This made him wish to begin and get through the sitting as soon as possible, so as to have time to call before six p.m. on the little red-haired Clara Vasilievna, with whom he had begun a romance in the country last summer. He went into a private room, latched the door, took a pair of dumb-bells out of a cupboard, moved his arms 20 times upwards, downwards, forwards, and sideways, then holding the dumb-bells above his head, lightly bent his knees three times.
"Nothing keeps one going like a cold bath and exercise," he said, feeling the biceps of his right arm with his left hand, on the third finger of which he wore a gold ring. He had still to do the moulinee movement (for he always went through those two exercises before a long sitting), when there was a pull at the door. The president quickly put away the dumb-bells and opened the door, saying, "I beg your pardon."
One of the members, a high-shouldered, discontented-looking man, with gold spectacles, came into the room. "Matthew Nikitich has again not come," he said, in a dissatisfied tone.
"Not yet?" said the president, putting on his uniform. "He is always late."
"It is extraordinary. He ought to be ashamed of himself," said the member, angrily, and taking out a cigarette.
This member, a very precise man, had had an unpleasant encounter with his wife in the morning, because she had spent her allowance before the end of the month, and had asked him to give her some money in advance, but he would not give way to her, and they had a quarrel. The wife told him that if he were going to behave so, he need not expect any dinner; there would be no dinner for him at home. At this point he left, fearing that she might carry out her threat, for anything might be expected from her. "This comes of living a good, moral life," he thought, looking at the beaming, healthy, cheerful, and kindly president, who, with elbows far apart, was smoothing his thick grey whiskers with his fine white hands over the embroidered collar of his uniform. "He is always contented and merry while I am suffering."
The secretary came in and brought some document.
"Thanks, very much," said the president, lighting a cigarette. "Which case shall we take first, then?"
"The poisoning case, I should say," answered the secretary, with indifference.
"All right; the poisoning case let it be," said the president, thinking that he could get this case over by four o'clock, and then go away. "And Matthew Nikitich; has he come?"
"Not yet."
"And Breve?"
"He is here," replied the secretary.
"Then if you see him, please tell him that we begin with the poisoning case." Breve was the public prosecutor, who was to read the indictment in this case.
In the corridor the secretary met Breve, who, with up lifted shoulders, a portfolio under one arm, the other swinging with the palm turned to the front, was hurrying along the corridor, clattering with his heels.
"Michael Petrovitch wants to know if you are ready?" the secretary asked.
"Of course; I am always ready," said the public prosecutor. "What are we taking first?"
"The poisoning case."
"That's quite right," said the public prosecutor, but did not think it at all right. He had spent the night in a hotel playing cards with a friend who was giving a farewell party. Up to five in the morning they played and drank, so he had no time to look at this poisoning case, and meant to run it through now. The secretary, happening to know this, advised the president to begin with the poisoning case. The secretary was a Liberal, even a Radical, in opinion.
Breve was a Conservative; the secretary disliked him, and envied him his position.
"Well, and how about the Skoptzy?" [a religious sect] asked the secretary.
"I have already said that I cannot do it without witnesses, and so I shall say to the Court."
"Dear me, what does it matter?"
"I cannot do it," said Breve; and, waving his arm, he ran into his private room.
He was putting off the case of the Skoptzy on account of the absence of a very unimportant witness, his real reason being that if they were tried by an educated jury they might possibly be acquitted.
By an agreement with the president this case was to be tried in the coming session at a provincial town, where there would be more peasants, and, therefore, more chances of conviction.
The movement in the corridor increased. The people crowded most at the doors of the Civil Court, in which the case that the dignified man talked about was being heard.
An interval in the proceeding occurred, and the old woman came out of the court, whose property that genius of an advocate had found means of getting for his client, a person versed in law who had no right to it whatever. The judges knew all about the case, and the advocate and his client knew it better still, but the move they had invented was such that it was impossible not to take the old woman's property and not to hand it over to the person versed in law.
The old woman was stout, well dressed, and had enormous flowers on her bonnet; she stopped as she came out of the door, and spreading out her short fat arms and turning to her advocate, she kept repeating. "What does it all mean? just fancy!"
The advocate was looking at the flowers in her bonnet, and evidently not listening to her, but considering some question or other.
Next to the old woman, out of the door of the Civil Court, his broad, starched shirt front glistening from under his low-cut waistcoat, with a self-satisfied look on his face, came the celebrated advocate who had managed to arrange matters so that the old woman lost all she had, and the person versed in the law received more than 100,000 roubles. The advocate passed close to the old woman, and, feeling all eyes directed towards him, his whole bearing seemed to say: "No expressions of deference are required."
庭長一早就來到法庭。他體格魁偉，留著一大把花白的絡(luò)腮胡子。他是個有妻室的人，可是生活十分放蕩，他的妻子也是這樣。他們互不干涉。今天早晨他收到瑞士籍家庭女教師——去年夏天她住在他們家里，最近從南方來到彼得堡——來信，說她下午三時至六時在城里的“意大利旅館”等他。因此他希望今天早點開庭，早點結(jié)束，好趕在六點鐘以前去看望那個紅頭發(fā)的克拉拉。去年夏天在別墅里他跟她可有過一段風流韻事啊。
他走進辦公室，扣上房門，從文件柜的最下層拿出一副啞鈴，向上，向前，向兩邊和向下各舉了二十下，然后又把啞鈴舉過頭頂，身子毫不費力地蹲下來三次。
“要鍛煉身體，再沒有比洗淋浴和做體操更好的辦法了，”他邊想邊用無名指上戴著金戒指的左手摸摸右臂上隆起的一大塊肌肉。他還要練一套擊劍動作（他在長時間審理案子以前總要做這兩種運動），這時房門動了一下。有人想推門進來。
庭長慌忙把啞鈴放回原處，開了門。
“對不起，”他說。
一個身材不高的法官，戴一副金絲邊眼鏡，聳起肩膀，臉色陰沉，走了進來。
“瑪特維又沒有來，”那個法官不高興地說。
“還沒有來，”庭長一邊穿制服，一邊回答?！八偸沁t到?！?BR> “真弄不懂，他怎么不害臊，”法官說，怒氣沖沖地坐下來，掏出一支香煙。
這個法官是個古板君子，今天早晨同妻子吵過嘴，因為妻子不到時候就把這個月的生活費用光了。妻子要求他預支給她一些錢，他說決不通融。結(jié)果就鬧了起來。妻子說，既然這樣，那就不開伙，他別想在家里吃到飯。他聽了這話轉(zhuǎn)身就走，唯恐妻子真的照她威脅的那樣辦，因為她這人是什么事都做得出來的?！昂?，規(guī)規(guī)矩矩過日子就落得如此下場，”他心里想，眼睛瞧著那容光煥發(fā)、和藹可親的庭長，庭長正寬寬地叉開兩臂，用細嫩的白手理著繡花領(lǐng)子兩邊又長又密的花白絡(luò)腮胡子，“他總是揚揚得意，可我卻在活受罪?！?BR> 書記官走進來，拿來一份卷宗。
“多謝，”庭長說著，點上一支煙?！跋葘從膫€案？”
“我看就審毒死人命案吧，”書記官若無其事地說。
“好，毒死人命案就毒死人命案吧，”庭長說。他估計這個案四時以前可以結(jié)束，然后他就可以走，“瑪特維還沒有來嗎？”
“還沒有來。”
“那么勃列威來了嗎？”
“他來了，”書記官回答。
“您要是看見他，就告訴他，我們先審毒死人命案?！?BR> 勃列威是在這個案子中負責提出公訴的副檢察官。
書記官來到走廊里，遇見勃列威。勃列威聳起肩膀，敞開制服，腋下夾一個公文包，沿著走廊象跑步一般匆匆走來，鞋后跟踩得咯咯發(fā)響，那只空手拚命前后擺動。
“米哈伊爾·彼得羅維奇要我問一下，您準備好了沒有，”
書記官說。
“當然，我隨時都可以出庭，”副檢察官說?！跋葘從膫€案？”
“毒死人命案。”
“太好了，”副檢察官嘴里這樣說，其實他一點也不覺得好，因為他通宵沒有睡覺。他們給一個同事餞行，喝了許多酒，打牌一直打到半夜兩點鐘，又到正好是瑪絲洛娃六個月前待過的那家妓院去玩女人，因此他沒有來得及閱讀毒死人命案的案卷，此刻想草草翻閱一遍。書記官明明知道他沒有看過這案的案卷，卻有意刁難，要庭長先審這個案。就思想來說，書記官是個自由派，甚至是個激進派。勃列威卻思想保守，而且也象一切在俄國做官的德國人那樣，特別篤信東正教。書記官不喜歡他，但又很羨慕他這個位置。
“那么，閹割派①教徒一案怎么樣了？”書記官問。
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①基督教的一個教派，認為生育是罪惡，因而閹割自己。
“我說過我不能審理這個案子，”副檢察官說，“因為缺乏證人，我也將這樣向法庭聲明?！?BR> “那有什么關(guān)系……”
“我不能審理，”副檢察官說完，又這樣擺動手臂，跑到自己的辦公室去了。
他借口一個證人沒有傳到而推遲審理閹割派教徒的案子，其實這個證人對本案無足輕重，他之所以推遲審理只是擔心由受過教育的陪審員組成的法庭來審理，被告很可能被宣告無罪釋放。但只要同庭長商量妥當，這個案子就可以轉(zhuǎn)到縣法庭去審理，那里陪審員中農(nóng)民較多，判罪的機會也就大得多。
走廊里熙熙攘攘，越來越熱鬧。人群多半聚集在民事法庭附近，那里正在審理那個喜歡打聽案情的相貌堂堂的先生向陪審員們講述的案子。在審訊休息時，民事法庭里走出一位老太太，就是她被那個天才律師硬敲出一大筆錢給一個生意人，而那個生意人本來是根本無權(quán)得到這筆錢的。這一點法官們都很清楚，原告和他的律師當然更清楚；可是律師想出來的辦法太狠毒了，逼得那老太太非拿出這筆錢來不可。老太太身體肥胖，衣著講究，帽子上插著幾朵很大的鮮花。她從門里出來，攤開兩條又短又粗的胳膊，嘴里不斷地對她的律師說：“這究竟是怎么一回事？請您幫個忙！究竟是怎么一回事？”律師望著她帽子上的鮮花，自己想著心事，根本沒有聽她。
那位名律師跟在老太太后面，敏捷地從民事法庭走出來。他敞開背心，露出漿得筆挺的雪白硬胸，臉上現(xiàn)出得意揚揚的神色，因為他使頭上戴花的老太太傾家蕩產(chǎn)，而那個付給他一萬盧布的生意人卻得到了十萬以上。大家的目光都集中在律師身上，他也察覺到這一點。他那副神氣仿佛在說：“我沒什么值得大家崇拜的?！彼杆俚貜娜巳号赃呑哌^去了。