But the official keeps on with his questions: “Where did you spend last night? Were you alone or with a merchant? Have you seen the merchant this morning? Why did you leave so early this morning?” Aksénof wondered why he was questioned so closely; but he told everything just as it was, and he asks: “Why do you ask me so many questions? I am not a thief or a murderer. I am on my own business; there is nothing to question me about.” Then the official called up the soldiers, and said: “I am the police inspector, and I have made these inquiries of you because the merchant with whom you spent last night has been stabbed. Show me your things, and you men search him.” They went into the tavern, brought in the trunk and bag, and began to open and search them. Suddenly the police inspector pulled out from the bag a knife, and demanded: “Whose knife is this?” Aksénof looked and saw a knife covered with blood taken from his bag, and he was frightened. “And whose blood is that on the knife?” Aksénof tried to answer, but he could not articulate his words: “I--I--don’t--know.--I.--That knife--it is--not mine--” Then the police inspector said: “This morning the merchant was found stabbed to death in his bed. No one except you could have done it. The tavern was locked on the inside, and there was no one in the tavern except yourself. And here is the bloody knife in your bag, and your guilt is evident in your face. Tell me how you killed him and how much money you took from him.” Aksénof swore that he had not done it, that he had not seen the merchant after he had drunken tea with him, that the only money that he had with him--eight thousand rubles--was his own, and that the knife was not his. But his voice trembled, his face was pale, and he was all quivering with fright, like a guilty person. The police inspector called the soldiers, commanded them to bind Aksénof and take him to the wagon. When they took him to the wagon with his feet tied, Aksénof crossed himself and burst into tears. They confiscated Aksénof’s possessions and his money, and took him to the next city and threw him into prison. They sent to Vladímir to make inquiries about Aksénof’s character, and all the merchants and citizens of Vladímir declared that Aksénof, when he was young, used to drink and was wild, but that now he was a worthy man. Then he was brought up for judgment. He was sentenced for having killed the merchant and for having robbed him of twenty thousand rubles. Aksénof’s wife was dumfounded by the event, and did not know what to think. Her children were still small, and there was one at the breast. She took them all with her and journeyed to the city where her husband was imprisoned. At first they would not grant her admittance, but afterward she got permission from the chief, and was taken to her husband.