“He could drink, and no mistake,” again whispered the merchant, who had just waked up.

The reading of this report had taken a full hour, but it had not satisfied the public prosecutor, for, when it had been read through and the president turned to him, saying, “I suppose it is superfluous to read the report of the examination of the internal organs?” he answered in a severe tone, without looking at the president, “I shall ask to have it read.”

He raised himself a little, and showed by his manner that he had a right to have this report read, and would claim this right, and that if that were not granted it would serve as a cause of appeal.

The member of the Court with the big beard, who suffered from catarrh of the stomach, feeling quite done up, turned to the president: 

“What is the use of reading all this?  It is only dragging it out.  These new brooms do not sweep clean; they only take a long while doing it.”

The member with the gold spectacles said nothing, but only looked gloomily in front of him, expecting nothing good, either from his wife or life in general.  The reading of the report commenced.

“In the year 188-, on February 15th, I, the undersigned, commissioned by the medical department, made an examination, No. 638,” the secretary began again with firmness and raising the pitch of his voice as if to dispel the sleepiness that had overtaken all present, “in the presence of the assistant medical inspector, of the internal organs: 

“1.  The right lung and the heart (contained in a 6-lb. glass jar).

“2.  The contents of the stomach (in a 6-lb. glass jar).

“3.  The stomach itself (in a 6-lb. glass jar).

“4.  The liver, the spleen and the kidneys (in a 9-lb. glass jar).

5.  The intestines (in a 9-lb. earthenware jar).”

The president here whispered to one of the members, then stooped to the other, and having received their consent, he said:  “The Court considers the reading of this report superfluous.”  The secretary stopped reading and folded the paper, and the public prosecutor angrily began to write down something.  “The gentlemen of the jury may now examine the articles of material evidence,” said the president.  The foreman and several of the others rose and went to the table, not quite knowing what to do with their hands.  They looked in turn at the glass, the test tube, and the ring.  The merchant even tried on the ring.

“Ah! that was a finger,” he said, returning to his place; “like a cucumber,” he added.  Evidently the image he had formed in his mind of the gigantic merchant amused him.

CHAPTER XXI.

The trial—­the prosecutor and the advocates.