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"No doubt you think, like everyone, that I was too severe with

him," she went on, addressing Raskolnikov. "But that's not so! He

respected me, he respected me very much! He was a kind-hearted

man! And how sorry I was for him sometimes! He would sit in a

corner and look at me, I used to feel so sorry for him, I used to

want to be kind to him and then would think to myself: 'Be kind

to him and he will drink again,' it was only by severity that you

could keep him within bounds."

"Yes, he used to get his hair pulled pretty often," roared the

commissariat clerk again, swallowing another glass of vodka.

"Some fools would be the better for a good drubbing, as well as

having their hair pulled. I am not talking of my late husband

now!" Katerina Ivanovna snapped at him.