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Chapter 8

The Evidences of the

Witnesses. The Babe

HE examination of the witnesses began. But we will
Tnot continue our story in such detail as before. And so
we will not dwell on how Nikolay Parfenovitch impressed
on every witness called that he must give his evidence in
accordance with truth and conscience, and that he would
afterwards have to repeat his evidence on oath, how every
witness was called upon to sign the protocol of his evidence,
and so on. We will only note that the point principally in-
sisted upon in the examination was the question of the
three thousand roubles; that is, was the sum spent here, at
Mokroe, by Mitya on the first occasion, a month before,
three thousand or fifteen hundred? And again had he spent
three thousand or fifteen hundred yesterday? Alas, all the
evidence given by everyone turned out to be against Mitya.
There was not one in his favour, and some witnesses intro-
duced new, almost crushing facts, in contradiction of his,
Mitya’s, story.
The first witness examined was Trifon Borissovitch. He