posse! I must write up a protocol. Get up and come over here!
Akím (to the officer). You, bright-buttons, so to speak, wait awhile, so to speak! Give him a chance, so to speak, to tell everything!
Officer (to Akím). You, old man, look out, and don't interfere! I must write up a protocol.
Akím. What a queer fellow, so to speak, you are! Wait, I say! Don't talk now about the protocol! God's business, so to speak, is being done here—a man is making his confession, so to speak, and he talks about the protocol, so to speak—
Officer. Send for the elder!
Akím. Let him first attend to God's business, so to speak, and then you may attend to yours, so to speak!
Nikíta. Akulína, there is another sin I have committed toward you. I have seduced you,—forgive me, for Christ's sake! (Bows to the ground before her.)
Akulína (coming out from behind the table). Let me go,—I will not be married! He compelled me to,—but now I won't!
Officer. Repeat what you have said!
Nikíta. Wait, Mr. Officer! Let me finish first!
Akím (in transport). Speak, my child! Tell everything, and you will feel better! Repent you before God, and don't be afraid of people! God is the main thing, God!
Nikíta. I killed your father, and I, dog, have ruined his daughter. I had the power over her, and I killed also her baby.
Akulína. That is true, that is true!
Nikíta. I choked the baby to death with a board. I sat down upon it. I choked it and its bones crunched. (Weeping.) Then I buried it in the ground. I did it, all by myself.
Akulína. He is lying. I told him to.
