1 The Brothers Karamazov
‘Here the question arises, if it’s true that they did exist,
and that Smerdyakov had seen them, when did he see them
for the last time? What if his master had taken the notes
from under his bed and put them back in his cash-box with-
out telling him? Note, that according to Smerdyakov’s story
the notes were kept under the mattress; the prisoner must
have pulled them out, and yet the bed was absolutely un-
rumpled; that is carefully recorded in the protocol. How
could the prisoner have found the notes without disturbing
the bed? How could he have helped soiling with his blood-
stained hands the fine and spotless linen with which the
bed had been purposely made?
‘But I shall be asked: What about the envelope on the
floor? Yes, it’s worth saying a word or two about that enve-
lope. I was somewhat surprised just now to hear the highly
talented prosecutor declare of himself — of himself, ob-
serve — that but for that envelope, but for its being left on
the floor, no one in the world would have known of the ex-
istence of that envelope and the notes in it, and therefore of
the prisoner’s having stolen it. And so that torn scrap of pa-
per is, by the prosecutor’s own admission, the sole proof on
which the charge of robbery rests, ‘otherwise no one would
have known of the robbery, nor perhaps even of the money.’
But is the mere fact that that scrap of paper was lying on
the floor a proof that there was money in it, and that that
money had been stolen? Yet, it will be objected, Smerdya-
kov had seen the money in the envelope. But when, when
had he seen it for the last time, I ask you that? I talked to
Smerdyakov, and he told me that he had seen the notes two