trusting nature and generosity, had become a victim of a gang of
corrupt people, into whose hands he had fallen.

Simon Kartinkin was the atavistic production of serfdom, stupid,
without education, and even without religion. Euphemia was his
mistress, and a victim of heredity. All the symptoms of degenerate
life were in her. But the ruling spirit in this crime was Maslova, who
was the mouthpiece of the lowest phenomenon of decadence. "This
woman," said the prosecutor without looking at her, "received an
education--you have heard here the evidence of her mistress. Not only
can she read and write, but she can speak French. She is an orphan,
and probably bears the germs of criminality in her. She was raised in
an intelligent, noble family, and could make her living by honest
toil, but she leaves them, yields to her passions, and displays an
intelligence, and especially, as you have heard here, gentlemen of the
jury, an ability to exert influence on people by that mysterious,
lately discovered by science, especially by the school of Charcot,
power known by the name of hypnotic suggestion. By the aid of this
power she gets control over this hero--a kind, trustful, rich guest,
and uses his confidence first to rob him, and then to pitilessly
murder him."

"But he is wandering away," said the justiciary, smiling and leaning
over to the stern associate.

"What an awful blockhead!" said the stern associate.

"Gentlemen of the jury!" the prosecutor continued meanwhile,
gracefully swaying his slim body. "The fate of these people is in your
hands, as is to some extent the fate of society, which is influenced
by your verdict. You must fathom the significance of this crime, the
danger to society that lurks in such pathological, as it were,
individuals as Maslova. You must guard it against infection; it is
your duty to guard the innocent, healthy elements of society against
contagion, if not destruction."

And as if himself impressed with the importance of the verdict, and
evidently greatly delighted with his speech, the prosecutor took his
seat.

The burden of his speech, if we eliminate the flights of eloquence,
was to the effect that Maslova, after gaining the merchant's
confidence, hypnotized him, and that, arriving at the inn with the key
to the merchant's trunk, she intended to steal the money herself, but,
being discovered by Simon and Euphemia, was obliged to divide with
them. That afterward, desiring to conceal the t