“I did.”
“Did you drink much? Roughly speaking, a wine‐glass or two?”
“It might have been a tumbler‐full.”
“A tumbler‐full, even. Perhaps a tumbler and a half?”
Grigory did not answer. He seemed to see what was meant.
“A glass and a half of neat spirit—is not at all bad, don’t you think? You might see the gates of heaven open, not only the door into the garden?”
Grigory remained silent. There was another laugh in the court. The President made a movement.
“Do you know for a fact,” Fetyukovitch persisted, “whether you were awake or not when you saw the open door?”
“I was on my legs.”
“That’s not a proof that you were awake.” (There was again laughter in the court.) “Could you have answered at that moment, if any one had asked you a question—for instance, what year it is?”