So they asked him this and that, how old he is, 'twenty-two,' and so on.

At the question, 'When you were working with Dmitri, didn't you see anyone on the staircase at such-and-such a time ?'--answer: 'To be sure folks may have gone up and down, but I did not notice them.' 'And didn't you hear anything, any noise, and so on ?' 'We heard nothing special.' 'And did you hear, Nikolay, that on the same day Widow So-and-so and her sister were murdered and robbed ?' 'I never knew a thing about it.

The first I heard of it was from Afanasy Pavlovitch the day before yesterday.' 'And where did you find the ear-rings ?' 'I found them on the pavement.' 'Why didn't you go to work with Dmitri the other day ?' 'Because I was drinking.' 'And where were you drinking ?' 'Oh, in such-and-such a place.' 'Why did you run away from Dushkin's ?' 'Because I was awfully frightened.' 'What were you frightened of ?' 'That I should be accused.' 'How could you be frightened, if you felt free from guilt ?' Now, Zossimov, you may not believe me, that question was put literally in those words.

I know it for a fact, it was repeated to me exactly! What do you say to that ?" "Well, anyway, there's the evidence." "I am not talking of the evidence now, I am talking about that question, of their own idea of themselves.

Well, so they squeezed and squeezed him and he confessed: 'I did not find it in the street, but in the flat where I was painting with Dmitri.' 'And how was that ?' 'Why, Dmitri and I were painting there all day, and we were just getting ready to go, and Dmitri took a brush and painted my face, and he ran off and I after him.
I ran after him, shouting my hardest, and at the bottom of the stairs I ran right against the porter and some gentlemen--and how many gentlemen were there I don't remember.