The Jew and Other Stories | Page 7

closed
his eyes.
The smoking-cap had slipped back on to his neck; his reddish hair was
soaked with cold sweat, and hung in tails; his lips were blue, and
working convulsively; his brows were contracted painfully; his face
was drawn....
Soldiers came up round us. I had at first meant to give Girshel a good
fright, and to tell Siliavka to hold his tongue, but now the affair had
become public, and could not escape 'the cognisance of the authorities.'
'Take him to the general,' I said to the sergeant.
'Your honour, your honour!' the Jew shrieked in a voice of despair. 'I
am not guilty... not guilty.... Tell him to let me go, tell him...'
'His Excellency will decide about that,' said Siliavka. 'Come along.'
'Your honour!' the Jew shrieked after me--'tell him! have mercy!'
His shriek tortured me; I hastened my pace. Our general was a man of

German extraction, honest and good-hearted, but strict in his adherence
to military discipline. I went into the little house that had been hastily
put up for him, and in a few words explained the reason of my visit. I
knew the severity of the military regulations, and so I did not even
pronounce the word 'spy,' but tried to put the whole affair before him as
something quite trifling and not worth attention. But, unhappily for
Girshel, the general put doing his duty higher than pity.
'You, young man,' he said to me in his broken Russian, 'inexperienced
are. You in military matters yet inexperienced are. The matter, of which
you to me reported have, is important, very important.... And where is
this man who taken was? this Jew? where is he?'
I went out and told them to bring in the Jew. They brought in the Jew.
The wretched creature could scarcely stand up.
'Yes,' pronounced the general, turning to me; 'and where's the plan
which on this man found was?'
I handed him the paper. The general opened it, turned away again,
screwed up his eyes, frowned....
'This is most as-ton-ish-ing...' he said slowly. 'Who arrested him?'
'I, your Excellency!' Siliavka jerked out sharply.
'Ah! good! good!... Well, my good man, what do you say in your
defence?'
'Your... your... your Excellency,' stammered Girshel, 'I... indeed,... your
Excellency... I'm not guilty... your Excellency; ask his honour the
officer.... I'm an agent, your Excellency, an honest agent.'
'He ought to be cross-examined,' the general murmured in an undertone,
wagging his head gravely. 'Come, how do you explain this, my friend?'
'I'm not guilty, your Excellency, I'm not guilty.'
'That is not probable, however. You were--how is it said in
Russian?--taken on the fact, that is, in the very facts!'
'Hear me, your Excellency; I am not guilty.'
'You drew the plan? you are a spy of the enemy?'
'It wasn't me!' Girshel shrieked suddenly; 'not I, your Excellency!'
The general looked at Siliavka.
'Why, he's raving, your Excellency. His honour the officer here took the
plan out of his slipper.'
The general looked at me. I was obliged to nod assent.
'You are a spy from the enemy, my good man....'

'Not I... not I...' whispered the distracted Jew.
'You have the enemy with similar information before provided?
Confess....'
'How could I?'
'You will not deceive me, my good man. Are you a spy?'
The Jew closed his eyes, shook his head, and lifted the skirts of his
gown.
'Hang him,' the general pronounced expressively after a brief
silence,'according to the law. Where is Mr. Fiodor Schliekelmann?'
They ran to fetch Schliekelmann, the general's adjutant. Girshel began
to turn greenish, his mouth fell open, his eyes seemed starting out of his
head. The adjutant came in. The general gave him the requisite
instructions. The secretary showed his sickly, pock-marked face for an
instant. Two or three officers peeped into the room inquisitively.
'Have pity, your Excellency,' I said to the general in German as best I
could; 'let him off....'
'You, young man,' he answered me in Russian, 'I was saying to you, are
inexperienced, and therefore I beg you silent to be, and me no more to
trouble.'
Girshel with a shriek dropped at the general's feet.
'Your Excellency, have mercy; I will never again, I will not, your
Excellency; I have a wife... your Excellency, a daughter... have
mercy....'
'It's no use!'
'Truly, your Excellency, I am guilty... it's the first time, your
Excellency, the first time, believe me!'
'You furnished no other documents?'
'The first time, your Excellency,... my wife... my children... have
mercy....'
'But you are a spy.'
'My wife... your Excellency... my children....'
The general felt a twinge, but there was no getting out of it.
'According to the law, hang the Hebrew,' he said constrainedly, with the
air of a man forced to do violence