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cried out — I know, I was told it — that he considered it the
most disgraceful act of his life that when he had the means
of repaying Katerina Ivanovna half (half, note!) what he
owed her, he yet could not bring himself to repay the money
and preferred to remain a thief in her eyes rather than part
with it. And what torture, what torture that debt has been
to him!’ Alyosha exclaimed in conclusion.
The prosecutor, of course, intervened. He asked Alyosha
to describe once more how it had all happened, and several
times insisted on the question, ‘Had the prisoner seemed
to point to anything? Perhaps he had simply struck himself
with his fist on the breast?’
‘But it was not with his fist,’ cried Alyosha; ‘he point-
ed with his fingers and pointed here, very high up.... How
could I have so completely forgotten it till this moment?’
The President asked Mitya what he had to say to the last
witness’s evidence. Mitya confirmed it, saying that he had
been pointing to the fifteen hundred roubles which were on
his breast, just below the neck, and that that was, of course,
the disgrace, ‘A disgrace I cannot deny, the most shameful
act of my whole life,’ cried Mitya. ‘I might have repaid it
and didn’t repay it. I preferred to remain a thief in her eyes
rather than give it back. And the most shameful part of it
was that I knew beforehand I shouldn’t give it back! You are
right, Alyosha! Thanks, Alyosha!’
So Alyosha’s cross-examination ended. What was im-
portant and striking about it was that one fact at least had
been found, and even though this were only one tiny bit of
evidence, a mere hint at evidence, it did go some little way

11 The Brothers Karamazov