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I see, I see, Rodion Romanovitch, you are laughing at a civilian

like me, taking examples out of military history! But I can't

help it, it's my weakness. I am fond of military science. And I'm

ever so fond of reading all military histories. I've certainly

missed my proper career. I ought to have been in the army, upon

my word I ought. I shouldn't have been a Napoleon, but I might

have been a major, he-he! Well, I'll tell you the whole truth, my

dear fellow, about this special case, I mean: actual fact and a

man's temperament, my dear sir, are weighty matters and it's

astonishing how they sometimes deceive the sharpest calculation!

I--listen to an old man--am speaking seriously, Rodion

Romanovitch" (as he said this Porfiry Petrovitch, who was

scarcely five-and-thirty, actually seemed to have grown old; even

his voice changed and he seemed to shrink together) "Moreover,

I'm a candid man... am I a candid man or not? What do you say?