Pagina 799 van 1294

"Well, then it is a precedent for you for the future--though

don't suppose I should venture to instruct you after the articles

you publish about crime! No, I simply make bold to state it by

way of fact, if I took this man or that for a criminal, why, I

ask, should I worry him prematurely, even though I had evidence

against him? In one case I may be bound, for instance, to arrest

a man at once, but another may be in quite a different position,

you know, so why shouldn't I let him walk about the town a bit?

he-he-he! But I see you don't quite understand, so I'll give you

a clearer example. If I put him in prison too soon, I may very

likely give him, so to speak, moral support, he-he! You're

laughing?"

Raskolnikov had no idea of laughing. He was sitting with

compressed lips, his feverish eyes fixed on Porfiry Petrovitch's.