Pagina 817 di 1294

"Yes, I hear and understand. You said yesterday you were not

delirious, you were particularly emphatic about it! I understand

all you can tell me! A-ach!... Listen, Rodion Romanovitch, my

dear fellow. If you were actually a criminal, or were somehow

mixed up in this damnable business, would you insist that you

were not delirious but in full possession of your faculties? And

so emphatically and persistently? Would it be possible? Quite

impossible, to my thinking. If you had anything on your

conscience, you certainly ought to insist that you were

delirious. That's so, isn't it?"

There was a note of slyness in this inquiry. Raskolnikov drew

back on the sofa as Porfiry bent over him and stared in silent

perplexity at him.

"Another thing about Razumihin--you certainly ought to have said

that he came of his own accord, to have concealed your part in

it! But you don't conceal it! You lay stress on his coming at

your instigation."

Raskolnikov had not done so. A chill went down his back.