Zossimov was a tall, man with a puffy, colourless, clean-shaven face
and hair. He spectacles, and a big gold ring on
his finger. He was twenty-seven. He had on a light fashionable
loose coat, light trousers, and about him loose,
fashionable and and span; his was irreproachable, his
watch-chain was massive. In manner he was slow and, as it were,
nonchalant, and at the same time free and easy; he made
efforts to his self-importance, but it was at every
instant. All his him tedious, but said he was clever
at his work.
“I’ve been to you twice to-day, brother. You see, he’s come to himself,”
Razumihin.
“I see, I see; and how do we now, eh?” said Zossimov to
Raskolnikov, him and, at the of the
sofa, he settled himself as as he could.
“He is still depressed,” Razumihin on. “We’ve just his
linen and he almost cried.”
“That’s very natural; you might have put it off if he did not wish
it.... His is first-rate. Is your still aching, eh?”
“I am well, I am perfectly well!” Raskolnikov positively
and irritably. He himself on the sofa and looked at them with
glittering eyes, but on to the pillow at once and to
the wall. Zossimov him intently.
“Very good.... Going on all right,” he said lazily. “Has he eaten
anything?”
They told him, and asked what he might have.
“He may have anything... soup, tea... and cucumbers, of
course, you must not give him; he’d not have meat either, and...
but no need to tell you that!” Razumihin and he looked at each
other. “No more medicine or anything. I’ll look at him again to-morrow.
Perhaps, to-day even... but mind...”
“To-morrow I shall take him for a walk,” said Razumihin. “We are
going to the Yusupov garden and then to the Palais de Cristal.”
“I would not him to-morrow at all, but I don’t know... a little,
maybe... but we’ll see.”
“Ach, what a nuisance! I’ve got a house-warming party to-night; it’s
only a step from here. Couldn’t he come? He on the sofa. You
are coming?” Razumihin said to Zossimov. “Don’t forget, you promised.”
“All right, only later. What are you going to do?”
“Oh, nothing--tea, vodka, herrings. There will be a pie... just our
friends.”
“And who?”
“All here, almost all new friends, my old uncle, and
he is new too--he only in Petersburg yesterday to see to some
business of his. We meet once in five years.”
“What is he?”
“He’s been all his life as a postmaster; a
little pension. He is sixty-five--not talking about.... But I
am of him. Porfiry Petrovitch, the of the Investigation
Department here... But you know him.”
“Is he a relation of yours, too?”
“A very one. But why are you scowling? Because you quarrelled
once, won’t you come then?”
“I don’t a for him.”
“So much the better. Well, there will be some students, a teacher, a
government clerk, a musician, an officer and Zametov.”
“Do tell me, please, what you or he”--Zossimov at
Raskolnikov--“can have in common with this Zametov?”
“Oh, you particular gentleman! Principles! You are by principles,
as it were by springs; you won’t to turn on your own
account. If a man is a fellow, that’s the only I go upon.
Zametov is a person.”
“Though he take bribes.”
“Well, he does! and what of it? I don’t if he take bribes,”
Razumihin with irritability. “I don’t him for
taking bribes. I only say he is a man in his own way! But if one
looks at men in all ways--are there many good ones left? Why, I am sure
I shouldn’t be a myself... with you thrown
in.”
“That’s too little; I’d give two for you.”
“And I wouldn’t give more than one for you. No more of your jokes!
Zametov is no more than a boy. I can his and one must him
not him. You’ll a man by him, especially
a boy. One has to be twice as with a boy. Oh, you progressive
dullards! You don’t understand. You yourselves another man
down.... But if you want to know, we have something in common.”
“I should like to know what.”
“Why, it’s all about a house-painter.... We are him out of
a mess! Though there’s nothing to now. The is
absolutely self-evident. We only put on steam.”
“A painter?”
“Why, haven’t I told you about it? I only told you the then
about the of the old pawnbroker-woman. Well, the painter is mixed
up in it...”
“Oh, I about that and was in it...
partly... for one reason.... I read about it in the papers, too....”
“Lizaveta was murdered, too,” Nastasya out, addressing
Raskolnikov. She in the room all the time, by the door
listening.
“Lizaveta,” Raskolnikov audibly.
“Lizaveta, who old clothes. Didn’t you know her? She used to come
here. She a shirt for you, too.”
Raskolnikov to the where in the dirty, yellow paper he
picked out one clumsy, white flower with lines on it and began
examining how many there were in it, how many in the
petals and how many lines on them. He his arms and as lifeless
as though they had been cut off. He did not attempt to move, but stared
obstinately at the flower.
“But what about the painter?” Zossimov Nastasya’s chatter
with marked displeasure. She and was silent.
“Why, he was of the murder,” Razumihin on hotly.
“Was there against him then?”
“Evidence, indeed! Evidence that was no evidence, and that’s what we
have to prove. It was just as they on those fellows, Koch and
Pestryakov, at first. Foo! how it’s all done, it makes one
sick, though it’s not one’s business! Pestryakov may be coming
to-night.... By the way, Rodya, you’ve about the already;
it you were ill, the day you at the
police office while they were talking about it.”
Zossimov looked at Raskolnikov. He did not stir.
“But I say, Razumihin, I wonder at you. What a you are!”
Zossimov observed.
“Maybe I am, but we will him off anyway,” Razumihin,
bringing his on the table. “What’s the most is not
their lying--one can always lying--lying is a thing,
for it leads to truth--what is is that they and worship
their own lying.... I respect Porfiry, but... What them out at
first? The door was locked, and when they came with the porter
it was open. So it that Koch and Pestryakov were the
murderers--that was their logic!”
“But don’t yourself; they them, they not
help that.... And, by the way, I’ve met that man Koch. He used to buy
unredeemed pledges from the old woman? Eh?”
“Yes, he is a swindler. He up debts, too. He makes a profession
of it. But of him! Do you know what makes me angry? It’s their
sickening rotten, routine.... And this case might be the means
of a new method. One can from the data
alone how to on the of the man. ‘We have facts,’ they
say. But are not everything--at least the in
how you them!”
“Can you them, then?”
“Anyway, one can’t one’s when one has a feeling, a tangible
feeling, that one might be a help if only.... Eh! Do you know the
details of the case?”
“I am waiting to about the painter.”
“Oh, yes! Well, here’s the story. Early on the third day after the
murder, when they were still Koch and Pestryakov--though they
accounted for every step they took and it was as plain as a pikestaff--an
unexpected up. A called Dushkin, who a
dram-shop the house, to the police office a jeweller’s
case some gold ear-rings, and told a long rigamarole. ‘The
day yesterday, just after eight o’clock’--mark the day and the
hour!--‘a house-painter, Nikolay, who had been in to see me
already that day, me this box of gold ear-rings and stones, and
asked me to give him two for them. When I asked him where he got
them, he said that he them up in the street. I did not ask him
anything more.’ I am telling you Dushkin’s story. ‘I gave him a note’--a
rouble that is--‘for I if he did not it with me he would
with another. It would all come to the same thing--he’d it on
drink, so the thing had be with me. The you it
the you will it, and if anything up, if I any
rumours, I’ll take it to the police.’ Of course, that’s all taradiddle;
he like a horse, for I know this Dushkin, he is a and
a of goods, and he did not Nikolay out of a
thirty-rouble in order to give it to the police. He was simply
afraid. But no matter, to return to Dushkin’s story. ‘I’ve known
this peasant, Nikolay Dementyev, from a child; he comes from the same
province and of Zaraïsk, we are Ryazan men. And though
Nikolay is not a drunkard, he drinks, and I he had a job in that
house, painting work with Dmitri, who comes from the same village, too.
As soon as he got the he it, had a of glasses,
took his and out. But I did not see Dmitri with him then.
And the next day I that someone had Alyona Ivanovna and
her sister, Lizaveta Ivanovna, with an axe. I them, and I felt
suspicious about the ear-rings at once, for I the woman
lent money on pledges. I to the house, and to make careful
inquiries without saying a word to anyone. First of all I asked, “Is
Nikolay here?” Dmitri told me that Nikolay had gone off on the spree; he
had come home at drunk, in the house about ten minutes,
and out again. Dmitri didn’t see him again and is the
job alone. And their job is on the same as the murder, on
the second floor. When I all that I did not say a word to
anyone’--that’s Dushkin’s tale--‘but I out what I about
the murder, and home as as ever. And at eight
o’clock this morning’--that was the third day, you understand--‘I saw
Nikolay in, not sober, though not to say very drunk--he could
understand what was said to him. He sat on the bench and did not
speak. There was only one in the and a man I asleep
on a bench and our two boys. “Have you Dmitri?” said I. “No, I
haven’t,” said he. “And you’ve not been here either?” “Not since the day
before yesterday,” said he. “And where did you sleep last night?”
“In Peski, with the Kolomensky men.” “And where did you those
ear-rings?” I asked. “I them in the street,” and the way he said
it was a queer; he did not look at me. “Did you what happened
that very evening, at that very hour, on that same staircase?” said I.
“No,” said he, “I had not heard,” and all the while he was listening,
his were out of his and he as white as chalk. I
told him all about it and he took his and up. I wanted
to keep him. “Wait a bit, Nikolay,” said I, “won’t you have a drink?”
And I to the boy to the door, and I came out from the
bar; but he out and the to the at a run.
I have not him since. Then my were at an end--it was his
doing, as clear as be....’”
“I should think so,” said Zossimov.
“Wait! Hear the end. Of they high and low for Nikolay;
they Dushkin and his house; Dmitri, too, was arrested;
the Kolomensky men also were out. And the day before
yesterday they Nikolay in a at the end of the town. He
had gone there, taken the off his and asked for a dram
for it. They gave it to him. A minutes the woman went
to the cowshed, and through a in the she saw in the stable
adjoining he had a of his from the beam, on a
block of wood, and was trying to put his in the noose. The woman
screeched her hardest; people ran in. ‘So that’s what you are up to!’
‘Take me,’ he says, ‘to such-and-such a police officer; I’ll confess
everything.’ Well, they took him to that police station--that is
here--with a escort. So they asked him this and that, how old
he is, ‘twenty-two,’ and so on. At the question, ‘When you were working
with Dmitri, didn’t you see anyone on the at such-and-such a
time?’--answer: ‘To be sure may have gone up and down, but I did
not notice them.’ ‘And didn’t you anything, any noise, and so on?’
‘We nothing special.’ ‘And did you hear, Nikolay, that on the same
day Widow So-and-so and her sister were and robbed?’ ‘I
never a thing about it. The I of it was from Afanasy
Pavlovitch the day yesterday.’ ‘And where did you the
ear-rings?’ ‘I them on the pavement.’ ‘Why didn’t you go to work
with Dmitri the other day?’ ‘Because I was drinking.’ ‘And where were
you drinking?’ ‘Oh, in such-and-such a place.’ ‘Why did you away
from Dushkin’s?’ ‘Because I was frightened.’ ‘What were
you of?’ ‘That I should be accused.’ ‘How you be
frightened, if you free from guilt?’ Now, Zossimov, you may not
believe me, that question was put in those words. I know it
for a fact, it was to me exactly! What do you say to that?”
“Well, anyway, there’s the evidence.”
“I am not talking of the now, I am talking about that question,
of their own idea of themselves. Well, so they and squeezed
him and he confessed: ‘I did not it in the street, but in the flat
where I was painting with Dmitri.’ ‘And how was that?’ ‘Why, Dmitri and
I were painting there all day, and we were just to go, and
Dmitri took a and painted my face, and he ran off and I after him.
I ran after him, my hardest, and at the of the stairs I
ran right against the and some gentlemen--and how many gentlemen
were there I don’t remember. And the at me, and the other
porter swore, too, and the porter’s wife came out, and at us, too;
and a came into the entry with a lady, and he at us,
too, for Dmitri and I right across the way. I got of Dmitri’s
hair and him and him. And Dmitri, too, caught
me by the and me. But we did it all not for temper
but in a way, for sport. And then Dmitri and ran into
the street, and I ran after him; but I did not catch him, and back
to the alone; I had to clear up my things. I them
together, Dmitri to come, and there in the passage, in the
corner by the door, I on the box. I saw it there wrapped
up in paper. I took off the paper, saw some little hooks, them,
and in the box were the ear-rings....’”
“Behind the door? Lying the door? Behind the door?” Raskolnikov
cried suddenly, with a blank look of terror at Razumihin, and he
slowly sat up on the sofa, on his hand.
“Yes... why? What’s the matter? What’s wrong?” Razumihin, too, got up
from his seat.
“Nothing,” Raskolnikov answered faintly, to the wall. All were
silent for a while.
“He must have from a dream,” Razumihin said at last, looking
inquiringly at Zossimov. The his head.
“Well, go on,” said Zossimov. “What next?”
“What next? As soon as he saw the ear-rings, Dmitri and
everything, he took up his cap and ran to Dushkin and, as we know, got
a from him. He told a saying he them in the street, and
went off drinking. He his old about the murder:
‘I know nothing of it, of it till the day yesterday.’
‘And why didn’t you come to the police till now?’ ‘I was frightened.’
‘And why did you try to yourself?’ ‘From anxiety.’ ‘What anxiety?’
‘That I should be of it.’ Well, that’s the whole story. And now
what do you they from that?”
“Why, there’s no supposing. There’s a clue, such as it is, a fact. You
wouldn’t have your painter set free?”
“Now they’ve taken him for the murderer. They haven’t a of
doubt.”
“That’s nonsense. You are excited. But what about the ear-rings? You
must admit that, if on the very same day and hour ear-rings from the old
woman’s box have come into Nikolay’s hands, they must have come there
somehow. That’s a good in such a case.”
“How did they there? How did they there?” Razumihin.
“How can you, a doctor, it is to study man and who has more
opportunity than anyone else for studying nature--how can you fail
to see the of the man in the whole story? Don’t you see at
once that the he has in the are the holy
truth? They came into his hand as he has told us--he stepped
on the box and it up.”
“The truth! But didn’t he own himself that he told a at first?”
“Listen to me, attentively. The and Koch and Pestryakov
and the other and the wife of the and the woman who
was in the porter’s and the man Kryukov, who had just got
out of a at that minute and in at the entry with a lady on his
arm, that is eight or ten witnesses, agree that Nikolay had Dmitri on
the ground, was on him him, while Dmitri on to his
hair, him, too. They right across the way, the
thoroughfare. They were at on all while they ‘like children’
(the very of the witnesses) were over one another,
squealing, and laughing with the faces, and, chasing
one another like children, they ran into the street. Now take careful
note. The were warm, you understand, warm when they
found them! If they, or Nikolay alone, had them and open
the boxes, or taken part in the robbery, allow me to ask you one
question: do their of mind, their and and childish
scuffling at the gate fit in with axes, bloodshed, cunning,
robbery? They’d just killed them, not five or ten minutes before, for
the were still warm, and at once, the open, knowing
that people would go there at once, away their booty, they
rolled about like children, laughing and attention.
And there are a dozen to to that!”
“Of it is strange! It’s impossible, indeed, but...”
“No, brother, no _buts_. And if the ear-rings being in Nikolay’s
hands at the very day and hour of the an important
piece of against him--although the explanation
given by him for it, and therefore it not tell seriously
against him--one must take into the which prove him
innocent, as they are that _cannot be denied_. And
do you suppose, from the of our legal system, that they will
accept, or that they are in a position to accept, this fact--resting
simply on a impossibility--as and conclusively
breaking the for the prosecution? No, they
won’t accept it, they won’t, they the jewel-case
and the man to himself, ‘which he not have done if he
hadn’t guilty.’ That’s the point, that’s what me, you must
understand!”
“Oh, I see you are excited! Wait a bit. I to ask you; what proof
is there that the box came from the old woman?”
“That’s been proved,” said Razumihin with reluctance, frowning.
“Koch the jewel-case and gave the name of the owner, who
proved that it was his.”
“That’s bad. Now another point. Did anyone see Nikolay at the time
that Koch and Pestryakov were going at first, and is there no
evidence about that?”
“Nobody did see him,” Razumihin answered with vexation. “That’s the
worst of it. Even Koch and Pestryakov did not notice them on their way
upstairs, though, indeed, their not have been much.
They said they saw the was open, and that there must be work going
on in it, but they took no special notice and not whether
there actually were men at work in it.”
“Hm!... So the only for the is that they were beating
one another and laughing. That a presumption, but...
How do you the yourself?”
“How do I them? What is there to explain? It’s clear. At any
rate, the direction in which is to be is clear, and
the jewel-case points to it. The those ear-rings.
The was upstairs, locked in, when Koch and Pestryakov knocked
at the door. Koch, like an ass, did not at the door; so the
murderer out and ran down, too; for he had no other way of
escape. He from Koch, Pestryakov and the in the when
Nikolay and Dmitri had just out of it. He stopped there while the
porter and others were going upstairs, waited till they were out of
hearing, and then at the very minute when Dmitri
and Nikolay ran out into the and there was no one in the entry;
possibly he was seen, but not noticed. There are of people going
in and out. He must have the ear-rings out of his pocket when
he the door, and did not notice he them, he
had other to think of. The jewel-case is a proof that
he did there.... That’s how I it.”
“Too clever! No, my boy, you’re too clever. That everything.”
“But, why, why?”
“Why, too well... it’s too melodramatic.”
“A-ach!” Razumihin was exclaiming, but at that moment the door opened
and a came in who was a to all present.
