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And when I had finished, I'd pick out one from the fifth and one

from the second thousand and take them again to the light and ask

again, 'Change them, please,' and put the clerk into such a stew

that he would not know how to get rid of me. When I'd finished

and had gone out, I'd come back, 'No, excuse me,' and ask for

some explanation. That's how I'd do it."

"Foo! what terrible things you say!" said Zametov, laughing. "But

all that is only talk. I dare say when it came to deeds you'd

make a slip. I believe that even a practised, desperate man

cannot always reckon on himself, much less you and I. To take an

example near home--that old woman murdered in our district. The

murderer seems to have been a desperate fellow, he risked

everything in open daylight, was saved by a miracle--but his

hands shook, too. He did not succeed in robbing the place, he

couldn't stand it. That was clear from the..."

Raskolnikov seemed offended.