- cid
- bafkreidzpoeaqqwfnuln2wkeaafm3kxma5njnhavzguriss66t3v3bjdxy
- content_type
- image/jpeg
- filename
- crimepunishment00dostiala_page_0329.jpg
- key
- pdf-page-1768923151895-hlw3f1v9y0t
- page_number
- 329
- pdf_type
- born_digital
- size
- 214498
- text
- L
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 321
silence with a serious frowning face to the vague and empty
chatter of Porfiry Petrovitch. "Does he really want to distract
my attention with his silly babble?"
"I can't offer you coffee here; but why not spend five minutes
with a friend," Porfiry pattered on, "and you know all these
official duties . . . please don't mind my running up and down,
excuse it, my dear fellow, I am very much afraid of offending
you, but exercise is absolutely indispensable for me. I'm always
sitting and so glad to be moving about for five minutes ... 1
suffer from my sedentary life ... I always intend to join a gym-
nasium; they say that officials of all ranks, even Privy Council-
lors may be seen skipping gaily there; there you have it, modern
science . . . yes, yes. , . . But as for my duties here, inquiries
and all such formalities . . . you mentioned inquiries yourself
just now ... I assure you these interrogations are sometime."
more embarrassing for the interrogator than for the interro'-
gated. . . . You made the observation yourself just now very
aptly and wittily. (Raskolnikov had made no observation of the
kind.) One gets into a muddle! A regular muddle! One keeps
harping on the same note, like a drum! There is to be a reform
and we shall be called by a different name, at least, he-he-he!
And as for our legal tradition, as you so wittily called it, I
thoroughly agree with you. Every prisoner on trial, even the
rudest peasant knows, that they begin by disarming him with
irrelevant questions (as you so happily put it) and then deal him
a knock-down blow, he-he-he! — your felicitous comparison, he-
he! So you really imagined that I meant by government quarters
. . . he-he! You are an ironical person. Come, I won't go on! Ah,
by the way, yes! One word leads to another. You spoke of for-
mality just now, apropos of th^ inquiry, you know. But what's
the use of formality? In many cases it's nonsense. Sometimes
one has a friendly chat and gets a good deal more out of it. One
can always fall back on formality, allow me to assure you. And
after all, what does it amount to? An examining lawyer cannot
be bounded by formality at every step. The work of investiga-
tion is,so to speak, a free art in its own way, he-he-he!"
Porfiry Petrovitch took breath a moment. He had simply
babbled on uttering empty phrases, letting slip a few enigmatic
words and again reverting to incoherence. He was almost run-
ning about the room, moving his fat little legs quicker and
- text_extracted_at
- 2026-01-20T15:32:31.895Z
- text_extracted_by
- pdf-processor
- text_has_content
- true
- text_source
- born_digital
- uploaded
- true