Page 517 - the-brothers-karamazov

he always had a great gathering, everyone in the town went
to it. It was the same this time. After dinner he walked into
the middle of the room, with a paper in his hand — a formal
declaration to the chief of his department who was present.
This declaration he read aloud to the whole assembly. It con-
tained a full account of the crime, in every detail.
‘I cut myself off from men as a monster. God has visited
me,’ he said in conclusion. ‘I want to suffer for my sin!’
Then he brought out and laid on the table all the things
he had been keeping for fourteen years, that he thought
would prove his crime, the jewels belonging to the mur-
dered woman which he had stolen to divert suspicion, a
cross and a locket taken from her neck with a portrait of her
betrothed in the locket, her notebook and two letters; one
from her betrothed, telling her that he would soon be with
her, and her unfinished answer left on the table to be sent off
next day. He carried off these two letters — what for? Why
had he kept them for fourteen years afterwards instead of
destroying them as evidence against him?
And this is what happened: everyone was amazed and
horrified, everyone refused to believe it and thought that
he was deranged, though all listened with intense curios-
ity. A few days later it was fully decided and agreed in every
house that the unhappy man was mad. The legal authorities
could not refuse to take the case up, but they too dropped
it. Though the trinkets and letters made them ponder, they
decided that even if they did turn out to be authentic, no
charge could be based on those alone. Besides, she might
have given him those things as a friend, or asked him to

1 The Brothers Karamazov