"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

"So you do not plead guilty of having stolen the money and the

ring from the merchant Smelkoff, but confess that you gave him

the powder?" said the president.