as though intentionally, by vexatious interruptions about “trifling points.” Scarcely had Mitya described how, sitting on the wall, he had struck Grigory on the head with the pestle, while the old man had hold of his left leg, and how he had then jumped down to look at him, when the prosecutor stopped him to ask him to describe exactly how he was sitting on the wall. Mitya was surprised.
“Oh, I was sitting like this, astride, one leg on one side of the wall and one on the other.”
“And the pestle?”
“The pestle was in my hand.”
“Not in your pocket? Do you remember that precisely? Was it a violent blow you gave him?”
“It must have been a violent one. But why do you ask?”
“Would you mind sitting on the chair just as you sat on the wall then and showing