Page 824 - the-brothers-karamazov
P. 824

ecutor  observed,  still  speaking  with  the  same  restraint,
       though with a note of triumph, ‘that there was no need to
       give  the  signal  if  the  door  already  stood  open  when  you
       were there, while you were in the garden..’
         ‘The  door,  the  door,’  muttered  Mitya,  and  he  stared
       speechless at the prosecutor. He sank back helpless in his
       chair. All were silent.
         ‘Yes, the door!... It’s a nightmare! God is against me!’ he
       exclaimed, staring before him in complete stupefaction.
         ‘Come,  you  see,’  the  prosecutor  went  on  with  dignity,
       ‘and you can judge for yourself, Dmitri Fyodorovitch. On
       the one hand, we have the evidence of the open door from
       which you ran out, a fact which overwhelms you and us. On
       the other side, your incomprehensible, persistent, and, so
       to speak, obdurate silence with regard to the source from
       which you obtained the money which was so suddenly seen
       in your hands, when only three hours earlier, on your own
       showing, you pledged your pistols for the sake of ten rou-
       bles! In view of all these facts, judge for yourself. What are
       we to believe, and what can we depend upon? And don’t
       accuse  us  of  being  ‘frigid,  cynical,  scoffing  people,’  who
       are incapable of believing in the generous impulses of your
       heart.... Try to enter into our position..’
          Mitya was indescribably agitated. He turned pale.
         ‘Very  well!’  he  exclaimed  suddenly,  ‘I  will  tell  you  my
       secret. I’ll tell you where I got the money!... I’ll reveal my
       shame, that I may not have to blame myself or you hereaf-
       ter.’
         ‘And believe me, Dmitri Fyodorovitch,’ put in Nikolay
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