12 Here nearly a whole page is carelessly blotted out. Only a few words are spared, which give no clue to the meaning of what is obliterated.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
13 The last sentence is written above some erased lines in which, however, one can decipher: “would have torn his head from his shoulders and broken all the windows.”—A. Ch. [↩︎]
14 Here follows a pretentiously-plastic explanation of the spiritual endurance of the author. The sight of human affliction, blood, post-mortem examinations, etc., etc., he maintains, produce no effect on him. The whole of this passage bears the imprint of boastful naïveté and insincerity. It astonishes by its coarseness, and I have deleted it. As a characterization of Kamyshev it has no importance.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
15 Here two lines are blotted out.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
16 I draw the reader's attention to a certain circumstance. Kamyshev, who loved on every occasion, even in his disputes with Polycarp, to descant on the condition of his soul, says not a word of the impression made on him by the sight of the dying Olga. I think this omission was intentional.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
17 I must draw the reader's attention to a very important circumstance. During from two to three hours M. Kamyshev only walks about from room to room, shares the doctor's indignation about the servants, boxes their ears to right and left, and so on. Can you recognize in him an examining magistrate? He evidently was in no hurry, and was only trying to kill time. Evidently he knew who the murderer was. Besides, there are the quite unnecessary searches made in the Scops-Owl's room and the examination of the gipsies, that appear more like banter than cross-questioning, and could only have been undertaken to pass the time.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
18 This avoidance of questions of the first importance could only have had one object, to gain time and to await a loss of consciousness, when Olga would be unable to name the murderer. It is a characteristic process and it is astonishing that the doctors did not set the right value on it.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
19 At the first glance all this appears naîve. It is evident Kamyshev wanted to make Olga understand what serious consequences her declaration would have for the murderer. If the murderer was dear to her, ergo—she must remain silent.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
20 If all this was necessary for M. Kamyshev, would it not have been easier to question the coachmen who had driven the gipsies.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
21 Why? We can admit that all this was done by the examining magistrate in a drunken or sleepy condition, but why write about it. Would it not have been better to hide from the reader these gross mistakes?—A. Ch. [↩︎]