"Peter!" cried the baron, "you have lost your senses. Why, you know the judge as well as I do."
"This is sufficient," said Taras. "Be silent now, till I require you to speak. Say, judge, has this man taken unlawful possession of part of the common field?"
"He has," replied the man, adding a minute statement.
"What have you to say to this, Baron?" inquired Taras, of the nobleman, when the accuser had finished.
"It is false," reiterated Zukowski--"a whole web of falsehood. I have told you that this man is not the judge, but that good-for-nothing Dimitri. If you, indeed, are bent on justice, Taras, I pray you send to the village for the real judge. Do not soil your hands with innocent blood."
"It is you that are bent on lying," said Taras, scornfully. "Other scoundrels have endeavoured to deceive me, and to stay me in the performance of my sacred duty; but a man of such brazen face I have never yet set eyes upon. It is a pity that you seem willing to die as you have lived.... But we have yet other witnesses--bring them in."
The peasant Wassilj entered, followed by the reluctant girl; her father had almost to drag her in.
"Do you know these two?" said Taras.
"The man is a stranger to me," replied the baron, unhesitatingly; "I have never set eyes on him. But that girl was in my house this morning, with a message from my poor Stephen's dying sister, entreating him to come.... Taras!" he added, excitedly; "now I see all this wretched plot. They have made up this tale of the dying sister to decoy my good old Stephen away, who would rather have died than betray me, and I suppose they have bribed my coachman. They are deceiving you, so that you should order me to be murdered!"
"This is cleverly put together," said Taras, coldly, "it is lamentable, indeed, that, gifted as you seem to be, you did not make better use of your life; it might have saved you from this hour. Answer me, Marinia, as in the presence of God Almighty. Is it true that you were in this house this morning for the first time in your life?"