d (as opposed to the Socialist one), in which he
had been unwittingly and heedlessly carried "by the vortex of combined
circumstances." His conduct at the time of the murder has been put in
a favourable light, and I imagine that he too may reckon on some
mitigation of his sentence. That at least is what is asserted in the
town.

But I doubt whether there is any hope for mercy in Erkel's case. Ever
since his arrest he has been obstinately silent, or has misrepresented
the facts as far as he could. Not one word of regret has been wrung
from him so far. Yet even the sternest of the judges trying him has
been moved to some compassion by his youth, by his helplessness, by the
unmistakable evidence that he is nothing but a fanatical victim of a
political impostor, and, most of all, by his conduct to his mother,
to whom, as it appears, he used to send almost the half of his small
salary. His mother is now in the town; she is a delicate and ailing
woman, aged beyond her years; she weeps and positively grovels on the
ground imploring mercy for her son. Whatever may happen, many among us
feel sorry for Erkel.

Liputin was arrested in Petersburg, where he had been living for a
fortnight. His conduct there sounds almost incredible and is difficult
to explain. He is said to have had a passport in a forged name and quite
a large sum of money upon him, and had every possibility of escaping
abroad, yet instead of going he remained in Petersburg. He spent some
time hunting for Stavrogin and Pyotr Stepanovitch. Suddenly he took to
drinking and gave himself up to a debauchery that exceeded all bounds,
like a man who had lost all reason and understanding of his position. He
was arrested in Petersburg drunk in a brothel. There is a rumour that he
has not by any means lost heart, that he tells lies in his evidence and
is preparing for the approaching trial hopefully (?) and, as it
were, triumphantly. He even intends to make a speech at the trial.
Tolkatchenko, who was arrested in the neighbourhood ten days after his
flight, behaves with incomparably more decorum; he does not shuffle
or tell lies, he tells all he knows, does not justify himself, blames
himself with all modesty, though he, too, has a weakness for rhetoric;
he tells readily what he knows, and when knowledge of the peasantry and
the revolutionary elements among them is touched upon, he positively
attitudinises and is eager to produce an effect. He, too, is meaning, I
am told,