He slowly ceased speaking; then suddenly, as though on reflection, added:
“And look here again. He wants to throw it on me and make out that it is the work of my hands—I’ve heard that already. But as to my being clever at shamming a fit: should I have told you beforehand that I could sham one, if I really had had such a design against your father? If I had been planning such a murder could I have been such a fool as to give such evidence against myself beforehand? And to his son, too! Upon my word! Is that likely? As if that could be, such a thing has never happened. No one hears this talk of ours now, except Providence itself, and if you were to tell of it to the prosecutor and Nikolay Parfenovitch you might defend me completely by doing so, for who would be likely to be such a criminal, if he is so openhearted beforehand? Anyone can see that.”
“Well,” and Ivan got up to cut short the conversation, struck by Smerdyakov’s last