Part 37 (1/2)
Skinner in very bad Latin, to eschew such light and irrelevant conversation; and the court commenced forthwith to examine the prisoner.
Viola replied calmly and simply to the questions which were put to him; and at last, as though wearied by the length of the examination, he said:
”What is the use of all this questioning? It is a pity the gentlemen should lose their time with me. Mr. Skinner has told me that I am to be hanged; why, then, should I waste my words in an attempt to save my life? I'll confess any thing you like, I don't care what it is; for, believe me, if it had not been for my family, I would never have waited till this day. I would have hanged myself in the forest, to make an end of it, I a.s.sure you.”
”But how can you possibly confess, when you are ignorant of what you are accused of?” said Volgyeshy. ”You stand before righteous judges. Speak out, man, honestly and freely, as you would speak to G.o.d; for, believe me, the judges are by no means agreed upon your sentence.”
”Thanks to you for your good will,” said the culprit; ”but I know there is no help. I am a robber; I have been taken in arms; they will hang me.
They may do it; but let them make haste; and spare me your questions!”
Mr. Catspaw, who showed some uneasiness, interposed, and said:
”If he refuses to confess, we cannot force him: it is expressly set forth in the articles, that no violence is to be used to obtain a confession. Our best plan is to read the questions to him, and if he refuses to answer to them, why it's his own business, not ours.”
”No!” said Volgyeshy; ”this man ought to know that his fate does not depend on the decision of the wors.h.i.+pful Mr. Paul Skinner; that the court are prepared to listen to his defence, and that the verdict will be dictated neither by hate nor revenge, but by pure and impartial justice. If the prisoner knows all this, which it appears he does not, he may possibly be induced to reply to the charges.”
He turned to Viola, and continued:
”Speak out, my man. Your life is in the hands of these gentlemen, who have to answer for it to G.o.d, your judge and theirs. Pray consider that unless you speak, there is no hope for you. Think of your family; and, tell us plainly, is there any thing you have to say for yourself?”
Kishlaki was deeply moved; Mr. Catspaw cast an angry look at the speaker; and Zatonyi yawned.
”I will not speak in my own defence!” said the prisoner.
”Pray consider,” urged the young lawyer; ”the court will listen to any thing you may say. These gentlemen have a painful duty to fulfil; but they are far from wis.h.i.+ng to take your life. If you can give us any excuses, do so, by all means.”
”It is provided, in Chapter 6. of the Articles, that the prisoner shall not be wheedled into a confession,” said Zatonyi, with an expression of profound wisdom.
”Gentlemen,” said Viola, at length, ”may G.o.d bless you for your kindness, and for your wis.h.i.+ng to help me! but, you see, it's all in vain. There are, indeed, many things I might say in defence; and when I go to my G.o.d, who knows all and every thing, I am sure He'll judge me leniently; but there is no salvation for me in this world. You see, your wors.h.i.+ps, there is no use of my telling you that, once upon a time, I was an honest man, as every man in the village of Tissaret can prove.
What is the use of my saying that I became a robber not from my own free will, but because I was forced to it; that I never harmed any poor man; that I never took more from the gentry, in the way of robbing, than what was necessary to keep life in my body; and that I never killed any one, unless it was in self-defence? Am I the less punishable for saying all this? No. Whatever my comrades may have done is scored down to _my_ account. I am a robber, and a dead man.”
”All this may serve to modify the sentence. But what do you mean by saying that you were _forced_ to be a robber?”
”Ask his wors.h.i.+p, the justice of the district,” said the prisoner, looking at Mr. Skinner: ”he knows what made me a robber.” And he proceeded to tell the tale of his first crime.
”It's true; it's as true as Gospel,” sighed Kishlaki. ”I came to Tissaret on the day after the thing had happened, when the sheriff told me all about it.”
”_Nihil ad rem!_” said Zatonyi.
”But what does it avail me?” continued the prisoner, whose pale face became flushed as he spoke: ”what can it avail me to tell you all the revolting cruelties which were practised against me, and which to think of gives me pain? Am I the less a robber? Will these things cause you to spare me? No; I ought to have suffered the stripes, and kissed the hands of my tyrant; or I ought to have left my wife in her darkest hour, because nothing would serve my lady but that _I_ should drive her to Dustbury. How, then, could I, a good-for-nothing peasant[26], dare to love my wife! How could I dare to resist when the justice told them to tie me to the whipping-post! But I dared to do it. I was fool enough to fancy that I, though a peasant, had a right to remain with my wife; I could not understand that a poor man is a dog, which any body may beat and kick. Here I am, and you may hang me.”
[Footnote 26: See Note IX.]
”I'll tell you what, you'll swing fast enough, my fine fellow!” said Zatonyi, whose cynicism was not proof against the prisoner's last words.
”What, man! hanging's too good for you; that's all I have to say!”
”You see, sir,” said Viola, appealing to Volgyeshy, ”you see, I told you there is nothing that can excuse me in the eyes of mankind. But there's a request I have to address to the court.”
Mr. Catspaw trembled, as the prisoner went on.
”When I left the burning hut in which Ratz Andor shot himself, I held some papers in my hands, which were stolen from the house of the notary of Tissaret.”