âMurdered but not burnt, thatâs the trouble, but I give you my word of honour that itâs not been my fault, however much you may suspect me, eh? Do you want the whole truth: you see the idea really did cross my mindâ âyou hinted it yourself, not seriously, but teasing me (for, of course, you would not hint it seriously), but I couldnât bring myself to it, and wouldnât bring myself to it for anything, not for a hundred roublesâ âand what was there to be gained by it, I mean for me, for me.â ââ âŚâ (He was in desperate haste and his talk was like the clacking of a rattle.) âBut what a coincidence of circumstances: I gave that drunken fool Lebyadkin two hundred and thirty roubles of my own money (do you hear, my own money, there wasnât a rouble of yours and, whatâs more, you know it yourself) the day before yesterday, in the eveningâ âdo you hear, not yesterday after the matinĂŠe, but the day before yesterday, make a note of it: itâs a very important coincidence for I did not know for certain at that time whether Lizaveta Nikolaevna would come to you or not; I gave my own money simply because you distinguished yourself by taking it into your head to betray your secret to everyone. Well, I wonât go into thatâ ââ ⌠thatâs your affairâ ââ ⌠your chivalry, but I must own I was amazed, it was a knockdown blow.
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