R. “I met him there by chance.”
Q. “And why did you choose to return at the time that Semenov was going to Rybinsk?”
R. “In order to save my money.”
Q. “Why did you give to the servant of Semenov, and to the first sailor, a poison, which produced cholic and vomiting?”
R. “They were very fond of brandy—they were like a cask without bottom; to play them a trick I put snuff into the liquor: is it my fault they have such delicate stomachs?”
Q. “Why did you provoke Hortinja to assassinate the cornet?”
R. “I did not. The quarter-master is subject to visions, he dreams so many other things, that he may have dreamed that also.”
Q. “Why, then, did you not defend him?”
R. “The cornet was in citizen’s dress, the quarter-master in uniform, and I am a soldier.”
Q. “What do you mean by that?”