Chapter 9, Part 4 Summary

Yakov's chains are removed from his cell and he sits on his bed and thinks about his situation. He wonders why he has been chosen to be a political symbol in unsettled times. He thinks if he had stayed in the shtetl this would not have happened, but remembers if he had stayed there nothing at all would have happened. He also reflects that his parents stayed in the shtetl and were still murdered for being Jewish.

The new lawyer, Suslov-Smirnov, comes to see Yakov several times and warns him to walk on eggshells and tread softly while they try to hurry the trial along. Yakov asks if they know the government killed Bibikov and is warned again to tread softly, that this type of talk will get him into more trouble. Suslov-Smirnov writes down the detail about Bibikov and never...