Strona 341 z 1294

"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 deal in such a case."

"How did they get there? How did they get there?" cried

Razumihin. "How can you, a doctor, whose duty it is to study man

and who has more opportunity than anyone else for studying human

nature--how can you fail to see the character of the man in the

whole story? Don't you see at once that the answers he has given

in the examination are the holy truth? They came into his hand

precisely as he has told us--he stepped on the box and picked it

up."

"The holy truth! But didn't he own himself that he told a lie at

first?"