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- 34 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Rodya, when he comes to Petersburg, as he shortly will do, be-
ware ofjudging him too hastily and severely, as your way is, if
there is anything you do not like in him at first sight. I give you
this warning, although I feel sure that he will make a favourable
impression upon you. Moreover, in order to understand any
man one must be deliberate and careful to avoid forming preju-
dices and mistaken ideas, which are very difficult to correct and
get over afterwards. And Pyotr Petrovitch, judging by many
indications, is a thoroughly estimable man. At his first visit,
indeed, he told us that he was a practical man, but still he
shares, as he expressed it, many of the convictions 'of our most
rising generation' and he is an opponent of all prejudices. He
said a good deal more, for he seems a little conceited and likes
to be listened to, but this is scarcely a vice. I, of course, under-
stood very little of it, but Dounia explained to me that, though
he is not a man of great education, he is clever and seems to be
good-natured. You know your sister's character, Rodya. She
is a resolute, sensible, patient and generous girl, but she has a
passionate heart, as I know very well. Of course, there is no
great love either on his side, or on hers, but Dounia is a clever
girl and has the heart of an angel, and will make it her duty to
make her husband happy who on his side will make her happi-
ness his care. Of that we have no good reason to doubt, though
it must be admitted the matter has been arranged in great haste.
Besides he is a man of great prudence and he will see, to be sure,
of himself, that his own happiness will be the more secure, the
happier Dounia is with him. And as for some defects of charac-
ter, for some habits and even certain differences of opinion —
which indeed are inevitable even in the happiest marriages —
Dounia has said that, as regards all that, she relies on herself,
that there is nothing to be uneasy about, and that she is ready
to put up with a great deal, if only their future relationship can
be an honourable and straightforward one. He struck me, for
instance, at first, as rather abrupt, but that may well come from
his being an outspoken man, and that is no doubt how it is. For
instance, at his second visit, after he had received Dounia's
consent, in the course of conversation, he declared that before
making Dounia's acquaintance, he had made up his mind to
marry a girl of good reputation, without dowry and, above all,
one who had experienced poverty, because, as he explained, z
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