The next man, Vasily Kashirin, was torn between a terrible, dominating
fear of death and a desperate desire to restrain the fear and not
betray it to the judges. From early morning, from the time they had
been led into court, he had been suffocating from an intolerable
palpitation of his heart. Perspiration came out in drops all along his
forehead; his hands were also perspiring and cold, and his cold,
sweat-covered shirt clung to his body, interfering with the freedom of
his movements. With a supernatural effort of will-power he forced his
fingers not to tremble, his voice to be firm and distinct, his eyes to
be calm. He saw nothing about him; the voices came to him as through a
mist, and it was to this mist that he made his desperate efforts to
answer firmly, to answer loudly. But having answered, he immediately
forgot question as well as answer, and was again struggling with
himself silently and terribly. Death was disclosed in him so clearly
that the judges avoided looking at him. It was hard to define his age,
as is the case with a corpse which has begun to decompose. According
to his passport, he was only twenty-three years old. Once or twice
Werner quietly touched his knee with his hand, and each time Kashirin
spoke shortly:

"Nevermind!"

The most terrible sensation was when he was suddenly seized with an
insufferable desire to cry out, without words, the desperate cry of a
beast. He touched Werner quickly, and Werner, without lifting his
eyes, said softly:

"Never mind, Vasya. It will soon be over."

And embracing them all with a motherly, anxious look, the fifth