SATINE. Come to your senses!
ZOB. Hold on! Not so fast!
VASSILISA [appearing] Well, Vaska, dear friend? You can’t escape your fate. . . . Police—Abram—whistle!
MIEDVIEDIEFF. Those devils tore my whistle off!
ALYOSHKA. Here it is! [Whistles, Miedviedieff runs after him]
SATINE [leading Pepel to Natasha] Don’t be afraid, Vaska! Killed in a row! That’s nonsense—only manslaughter—you won’t have to serve a long term . . .
VASSILISA. Hold Vaska—he killed him—I saw it!
SATINE. I, too, gave the old man a couple of blows—he was easily fixed . . . you call me as witness, Vaska!
PEPEL. I don’t need to defend myself . . . I want to drag Vassilisa into this mess—and I’ll do it—she was the one who wanted it . . . she was the one who urged me to kill him—she goaded me on . . .
NATASHA [sudden and loud] Oh—I understand—so that’s it, Vassily? Good people! They’re both guilty—my sister and he—they’re both guilty! They had it all planned! So, Vassily, that’s why you spoke to me a while ago—so that she should overhear everything—? Good people! She’s his mistress—you know it—everybody knows it—they’re both guilty! She—she urged him to kill her husband—he was in their way—and so was I! And now they’ve maimed me . . .