not take anything, and the ring he gave me himself."

"You do not plead guilty of having stolen 2,500 roubles?" asked

"I've said I took nothing but the 40 roubles."

"Well, and do you plead guilty of having given the merchant

Smelkoff a powder in his drink?"

"Yes, that I did. Only I believed what they told me, that they

were sleeping powders, and that no harm could come of them. I

never thought, and never wished. . . God is my witness; I say, I