Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/284

Tales from Tolstoi you kill him, and how much money did you rob him of?"

Aksenov took God to witness that he had not done this deed. He protested that he had never seen the merchant since he had drunk tea with him; that the money upon him was only his own 1,000 roubles; that the knife was not his. But his voice faltered, his face was pale, and he trembled like a guilty man, but it was from fear.

The magistrate called the soldiers and bade them bind him and carry him to the wagon. When they threw him, with his feet bound, on to the wagon, Aksenov crossed himself and began to weep. They took Aksenov's things and money away from him, and sent him to the prison of the town hard by. They sent to Vladimir to find out what manner of man Aksenov was, and all the merchants and dwellers in Vladimir testified that Aksenov from his youth up had been given to drinking and idling about, but was a very good sort of fellow too. Then they sat in judgment upon him, and the judges found that he had murdered the merchant and stolen 20,000 roubles from him.

His wife grieved over her husband, and didn't know what to think. All her children were still young, and one was at the breast. She took them all with her and went to that town where her husband was kept in prison. At first they would not let her in, but she begged and prayed the police-officers, and they led her to her husband. When she saw him in his prison garb, in fetters, along with highwaymen, she sank to the ground, and for a long time would 234