y of the merchant who amused himself in the city. The
loathing which Nekhludoff felt increased with the reading of the
description. Katiousha's life, the sanies running from the nostrils,
the eyes that came out of their sockets, and his conduct toward
her--all seemed to him to belong to the same order, and he was
surrounded and swallowed up by these things. When the reading was
finally over, the justiciary sighed deeply and raised his head in the
hope that it was all over, but the secretary immediately began to read
the report on the internal condition of the body.

The justiciary again bent his head, and, leaning on his hand, closed
his eyes. The merchant, who sat near Nekhludoff, barely kept awake,
and from time to time swayed his body. The prisoners as well as the
gendarmes behind them sat motionless.

The internal examination disclosed:

1. The skin covering of the skull easily detached, and no hemorrhage
was noticeable. 2. The skull bones were of average thickness and
uninjured. 3. On the hard membrane of the skull there were two small
discolored spots of about the size of four centimetres, the membrane
itself being of a dull gray color, et cetera, et cetera, to the end of
thirteen more clauses.

Then came the names of the witnesses, the signature and deduction of
the physician, from which it appeared that the changes found in the
stomach, intestines and kidneys justified the conclusion "to a large
degree probable" that the death of Smelkoff was due to poison taken
into the stomach with a quantity of wine. That it was impossible to
tell by the changes in the stomach and intestines the name of the
poison; and that the poison came into the stomach mixed with wine
could be inferred from the fact that Smelkoff's stomach contained a
large quantity of wine.

"He must have drank like a fish," again whispered the awakened
merchant.

The reading of this official report, which lasted about two hours, did
not satisfy, however, the prosecutor. When it was over the justiciary
turned to him, saying:

"I suppose it is superfluous to read the record of the examination of
the intestines."

"I would ask that it be read," sternly said the prosecutor without
looking at the justiciary, sidewise raising himself, and impressing by
the tone of his voice that it was his right to demand it, that he
would insist on it, and that a refusal would be ground for appeal.

The associate with the long beard and kind, drooping eyes, who w