11 0 The Brothers Karamazov
he wouldn’t remember it.’ But, as he had denied the incident
of the hundred roubles till the peasants had been called to
prove it, his evidence as to returning the money to Mitya
was naturally regarded with great suspicion. So one of the
most dangerous witnesses brought forward by the prosecu-
tion was again discredited.
The same thing happened with the Poles. They took up an
attitude of pride and independence; they vociferated loudly
that they had both been in the service of the Crown, and
that ‘Pan Mitya’ had offered them three thousand ‘to buy
their honour,’ and that they had seen a large sum of mon-
ey in his hands. Pan Mussyalovitch introduced a terrible
number of Polish words into his sentences, and seeing that
this only increased his consequence in the eyes of the Pres-
ident and the prosecutor, grew more and more pompous,
and ended by talking in Polish altogether. But Fetyukov-
itch caught them, too, in his snares. Trifon Borissovitch,
recalled, was forced, in spite of his evasions, to admit that
Pan Vrublevsky had substituted another pack of cards for
the one he had provided, and that Pan Mussyalovitch had
cheated during the game. Kalgonov confirmed this, and
both the Poles left the witness-box with damaged reputa-
tions, amidst laughter from the public.
Then exactly the same thing happened with almost all
the most dangerous witnesses. Fetyukovitch succeeded in
casting a slur on all of them, and dismissing them with a
certain derision. The lawyers and experts were lost in ad-
miration, and were only at a loss to understand what good
purpose could be served by it, for all, I repeat, felt that the