Page 1232 - the-brothers-karamazov

wiping the blood off his head so that it may be evidence
against me later? If he were so cold-hearted and calculating,
why not hit the servant on the head again and again with
the same pestle so as to kill him outright and relieve himself
of all anxiety about the witness?
‘Again, though he ran to see whether the witness was
alive, he left another witness on the path, that brass pes-
tle which he had taken from the two women, and which
they could always recognise afterwards as theirs, and prove
that he had taken it from them. And it is not as though he
had forgotten it on the path, dropped it through careless-
ness or haste, no, he had flung away his weapon, for it was
found fifteen paces from where Grigory lay. Why did he do
so? just because he was grieved at having killed a man, an
old servant; and he flung away the pestle with a curse, as
a murderous weapon. That’s how it must have been, what
other reason could he have had for throwing it so far? And
if he was capable of feeling grief and pity at having killed a
man, it shows that he was innocent of his father’s murder.
Had he murdered him, he would never have run to another
victim out of pity; then he would have felt differently; his
thoughts would have been centred on self-preservation. He
would have had none to spare for pity, that is beyond doubt.
On the contrary, he would have broken his skull instead of
spending five minutes looking after him. There was room
for pity and good-feeling just because his conscience had
been clear till then. Here we have a different psychology. I
have purposely resorted to this method, gentlemen of the
jury, to show that you can prove anything by it. It all de-

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