âListen, Razumihin,â Raskolnikov began quietly, apparently calmâ ââcanât you see that I donât want your benevolence? A strange desire you have to shower benefits on a man whoâ ââ ⌠curses them, who feels them a burden in fact! Why did you seek me out at the beginning of my illness? Maybe I was very glad to die. Didnât I tell you plainly enough today that you were torturing me, that I wasâ ââ ⌠sick of you! You seem to want to torture people! I assure you that all that is seriously hindering my recovery, because itâs continually irritating me. You saw Zossimov went away just now to avoid irritating me. You leave me alone too, for goodnessâ sake! What right have you, indeed, to keep me by force? Donât you see that I am in possession of all my faculties now? How, how can I persuade you not to persecute me with your kindness? I may be ungrateful, I may be mean, only let me be, for Godâs sake, let me be! Let me be, let me be!â
He began calmly, gloating beforehand over the venomous phrases he was about to utter, but finished, panting for breath, in a frenzy, as he had been with Luzhin.
Razumihin stood a moment, thought and let his hand drop.