nd waving his hand, ran to
his office.

He was postponing the case against the Skoptzy, although the absent
witness was an entirely unnecessary one. The real reason of the
postponement was that the prosecutor feared that their trial before an
intelligent jury might end in their acquittal. By an understanding
with the presiding justice their case was to be transferred to the
session of the District Court, where the preponderance of peasants on
the jury would insure their conviction.

The commotion in the corridor increased. The greatest crowd was before
the Civil Court, where the case of which the portly gentleman was
telling the jurymen was being tried. During a recess the same old lady
from whom the ingenious attorney managed to win her property in favor
of his shrewd client, came out of the court-room. That he was not
entitled to the property was known to the judges as well as to the
claimant and his attorney, but the mode of their procedure was such
that it was impossible to dismiss their claim. The old lady was stout,
in smart attire, and with large flowers on her hat. As she passed
into the corridor she stopped, and turning to her lawyer, kept
repeating:

"How can it be? Great heavens! I don't understand it!"

The lawyer did not listen to her, but looked at the flowers on her
hat, making mental calculations.

Behind the old lady, beaming in his wide-open vest, and with a
self-sufficient smile on his face, came that same famous lawyer who so
managed the case that the lady with the large flowers lost all her
property, while his shrewd client, who paid him ten thousand rubles,
received over a hundred thousand. All eyes were directed toward him.
He was conscious of it and seemed to say by his demeanor:

"Never mind your expressions of devotion," and brushed past the crowd.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: A sect of eunuchs.]

CHAPTER VII.

Finally Matvei Nikitich arrived, and the usher, a long-necked and lean
man, with a sideling gait and protruding lower lip, entered the
jury-room.

The usher was an honest man, with a university education, but he could
not hold any employment on account of his tippling habit. A countess,
his wife's patroness, had obtained him his present position three
months ago; he still retained it, and was exceedingly glad.

"Are you all here, gentlemen?" he asked, putting on his pince-nez and
looking through it.

"I think so," said the cheerful merchant.

"Let us see," said t