the trial--the indictment.

the indictment ran as follows: on the 17th of january, 18--, in the lodging-house mauritania, occurred the sudden death of the second guild merchant, therapont emilianovich smelkoff, of kourgan.

the local police doctor of the fourth district certified that death was due to rupture of the heart, owing to the excessive use of alcoholic liquids. the body of the said smelkoff was interred. after several days had elapsed, the merchant timokhin, a fellow-townsman and companion of the said smelkoff, returned from st. petersburg, and hearing the circumstances that accompanied the death of the latter, notified his suspicions that the death was caused by poison, given with intent to rob the said smelkoff of his money. this suspicion was corroborated on inquiry, which proved:

1. that shortly before his death the said smelkoff had received the sum of 3,800 roubles from the bank. when an inventory of the property of the deceased was made, only 312 roubles and 16 copecks were found.

2. the whole day and night preceding his death the said smelkoff spent with lubka (alias katerina maslova) at her home and in the lodging-house mauritania, which she also visited at the said smelkoff's request during his absence, to get some money, which she took out of his portmanteau in the presence of the servants of the lodging-house mauritania, euphemia botchkova and simeon kartinkin, with a key given her by the said smelkoff. in the portmanteau opened by the said maslova, the said botchkova and kartinkin saw packets of 100-rouble bank-notes.

3. on the said smelkoff's return to the lodging-house mauritania, together with lubka, the latter, in accordance with the attendant kartinkin's advice, gave the said smelkoff some white powder given to her by the said kartinkin, dissolved in brandy.

4. the next morning the said lubka (alias katerina maslova) sold to her mistress, the witness kitaeva, a brothel-keeper, a diamond ring given to her, as she alleged, by the said smelkoff.

5. the housemaid of the lodging-house mauritania, euphemia botchkova, placed to her account in the local commercial bank 1,800 roubles. the postmortem examination of the body of the said smelkoff and the chemical analysis of his intestines proved beyond doubt the presence of poison in the organism, so that there is reason to believe that the said smelkoff's death was caused by poisoning.

when cross-examined, the accused, maslova, botchkova, and kartinkin, pleaded not guilty, deposing--maslova, that she had really been sent by smelkoff from the brothel, where she "works," as she expresses it, to the lodging-house mauritania to get the merchant some money, and that, having unlocked the portmanteau with a key given her by the merchant, she took out 40 roubles, as she was told to do, and that she had taken nothing more; that botchkova and kartinkin, in whose presence she unlocked and locked the portmanteau, could testify to the truth of the statement.

she gave this further evidence--that when she came to the lodging-house for the second time she did, at the instigation of simeon kartinkin, give smelkoff sonic kind of powder, which she thought was a narcotic, in a glass of brandy, hoping he would fall asleep and that she would be able to get away from him; and that smelkoff, having beaten her, himself gave her the ring when she cried and threatened to go away.

the accused, euphemia botchkova, stated that she knew nothing about the missing money, that she had not even gone into smelkoff's room, but that lubka had been busy there all by herself; that if anything had been stolen, it must have been done by lubka when she came with the merchant's key to get his money.

at this point maslova gave a start, opened her mouth, and looked at botchkova. "when," continued the secretary, "the receipt for 1,800 roubles from the bank was shown to botchkova, and she was asked where she had obtained the money, she said that it was her own earnings for 12 years, and those of simeon, whom she was going to marry. the accused simeon kartinkin, when first examined, confessed that he and botchkova, at the instigation of maslova, who had come with the key from the brothel, had stolen the money and divided it equally among themselves and maslova." here maslova again started, half-rose from her seat, and, blushing scarlet, began to say something, but was stopped by the usher. "at last," the secretary continued, reading, "kartinkin confessed also that he had supplied the powders in order to get smelkoff to sleep. when examined the second time he denied having had anything to do with the stealing of the money or giving maslova the powders, accusing her of having done it alone."

concerning the money placed in the bank by botchkova, he said the same as she, that is, that the money was given to them both by the lodgers in tips during 12 years' service.

the indictment concluded as follows:

in consequence of the foregoing, the peasant of the village borki, simeon kartinkin, 33 years of age, the meschanka euphemia botchkova, 43 years of age, and the meschanka katerina maslova, 27 years of age, are accused of having on the 17th day of january, 188--, jointly stolen from the said merchant, smelkoff, a ring and money, to the value of 2,500 roubles, and of having given the said merchant, smelkoff, poison to drink, with intent of depriving him of life, and thereby causing his death. this crime is provided for in clause 1,455 of the penal code, paragraphs 4 and 5.

起诉书全文如下：

“一八八×年一月十七日摩尔旅馆有一名旅客突然死亡，经查明该旅客乃库尔干二等商人费拉邦特·叶密里央内奇·斯梅里科夫。

“经第四警察分局法医验明，死亡乃因饮酒过量、心力衰竭所致。斯梅里科夫尸体当即入土掩埋。

“案发数日后，斯梅里科夫同乡好友商人季莫兴自彼得堡归来，获悉斯梅里科夫死亡一事，疑有人谋财害命。

“关于此项怀疑，已由预审查明下列事实：（一）斯梅里科夫死亡前不久曾向银行提取现款三千八百银卢布。然在封存死者遗物清单中只开列现金三百一十二卢布十六戈比。（二）斯梅里科夫临死前一日曾在妓院和摩尔旅馆同妓女柳波芙（叶卡吉琳娜·玛丝洛娃）相处达一昼夜之久。叶卡吉琳娜·玛丝洛娃曾受斯梅里科夫之托，自妓院径赴摩尔旅馆取款。该玛丝洛娃即会同摩尔旅馆茶房叶菲米雅·包奇科娃和西蒙·卡尔津金，使用斯梅里科夫交与之钥匙，打开皮箱，取出现款。玛丝洛娃开箱时，包奇科娃和卡尔津金在场目睹箱内装有百卢布钞票若干叠。（三）斯梅里科夫偕同妓女玛丝洛娃自妓院回到摩尔旅馆后，玛丝洛娃受茶房卡尔津金怂恿，将彼交与的白色药粉掺入一杯白兰地中，使斯梅里科夫饮下。（四）次日早晨该妓女玛丝洛娃即将斯梅里科夫钻石戒指一枚售与女掌班，即妓院女老板和本案证人基达耶娃，声称戒指系斯梅里科夫所赠。（五）斯梅里科夫死后第二日，摩尔旅馆女茶房叶菲米雅·包奇科娃即至本地商业银行，在本人活期存款户中存入一千八百银卢布。

“经法医解剖尸体，化验内脏，查明死者体内确有毒药，据此足以断定该斯梅里科夫系中毒身亡。

“被告玛丝洛娃、包奇科娃与卡尔津金在受审时均不承认犯有罪行。玛丝洛娃供称，在彼所谓‘工作’的妓院中，斯梅里科夫确曾令彼到摩尔旅馆为该商人取款，彼即用交与之钥匙打开商人皮箱，并遵嘱取出四十银卢布，未曾多取分文，此点包奇科娃和卡尔津金都能证明，因开箱、取款、锁箱之际两人均在场目睹。玛丝洛娃又供称，彼第二次到商人斯梅里科夫房间后，确曾受卡尔津金教唆使商人饮下掺有药粉之白兰地，以为此药粉是安眠药，使商人服后熟睡，彼可及早脱身。戒指一枚确系商人斯梅里科夫所赠，因彼受到商人殴打，放声痛哭，且欲离去，该商人即以此戒指相赠。

“叶菲米雅·包奇科娃供称，失款一节彼毫无所知，彼从未踏进该商人房间，一切勾当均系玛丝洛娃一人所为，因此该商人如有失窃情事，定系玛丝洛娃持商人钥匙取款时谋财所致。”玛丝洛娃听到这里，全身打了个哆嗦，张开嘴巴，回头瞧了一眼包奇科娃。“当法庭向叶菲米雅·包奇科娃出示一千八百银卢布存款单并查询该存款来源时，彼供称：此乃彼同西蒙·卡尔津金二人十二年积攒所得，彼并准备同西蒙·卡尔津金结婚。又据西蒙·卡尔津金第一次受审时供称，玛丝洛娃持钥匙自妓院来旅馆，教唆彼与包奇科娃共同窃取现款，然后三人分赃。”玛丝洛娃听到这里身子又哆嗦了一下，甚至跳起来，脸涨得通红，嘴里嘀咕着什么，但被民事执行吏所制止。“最后卡尔津金还供认，彼曾将药粉交给玛丝洛娃，使该商人安眠；但在第二次审讯时又推翻前供，声称并未参与谋财案件，亦未曾将药粉交与玛丝洛娃，而将全部罪责推到玛丝洛娃一人身上。至于包奇科娃在银行存款一节，彼同包奇科娃供词相同，声称系彼二人十二年来在旅馆听差所得之小费。”

接着，起诉书列举被告对质记录、证人供词、法院鉴定人意见，等等。

起诉书结尾如下：

“综上所述，包尔基村农民西蒙·彼得罗夫·卡尔津金，年三十三岁，小市民叶菲米雅·伊凡诺娃·包奇科娃，年四十三岁，小市民叶卡吉琳娜·米哈依洛娃·玛丝洛娃，年二十七岁，被控于一八八×年一月十七日经过预谋，窃取商人斯梅里科夫现款和戒指一枚，共值二千五百银卢布，谋财害命，以毒药掺酒灌醉斯梅里科夫，致彼死亡。

“查此项罪行触犯刑法第一四五三条第四款和第五款。据此按《刑事诉讼程序条例》第二○一条规定，农民西蒙·卡尔津金、叶菲米雅·包奇科娃和小市民叶卡吉琳娜·玛丝洛娃应交由地方法院会同陪审员审理。”

书记官这才念完长篇起诉书，收拾好文件，坐下来，双手理理长头发。大家都轻松地舒了一口气，愉快地感觉到审讯就要开始，一切都会水落石出，正义就可得到伸张。只有聂赫留朵夫一人没有这样的感觉。他想到十年前他所认识的天真可爱的姑娘玛丝洛娃竟会犯下这样的罪行，不由得大惊失色。