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"Poverty is not a vice, my friend, but we know you go off like

powder, you can't bear a slight, I daresay you took offence at

something and went too far yourself," continued Nikodim Fomitch,

turning affably to Raskolnikov. "But you were wrong there; he is

a capital fellow, I assure you, but explosive, explosive! He gets

hot, fires up, boils over, and no stopping him! And then it's all

over! And at the bottom he's a heart of gold! His nickname in the

regiment was the Explosive Lieutenant...."

"And what a regiment it was, too," cried Ilya Petrovitch, much

gratified at this agreeable banter, though still sulky.