been a fly. And who will believe you, and what single proof have you got?”
“Listen, you showed me those notes just now to convince me.”
Smerdyakov lifted the book off the notes and laid it on one side.
“Take that money away with you,” Smerdyakov sighed.
“Of course, I shall take it. But why do you give it to me, if you committed the murder for the sake of it?” Ivan looked at him with great surprise.
“I don’t want it,” Smerdyakov articulated in a shaking voice, with a gesture of refusal. “I did have an idea of beginning a new life with that money in Moscow or, better still, abroad. I did dream of it, chiefly because ‘all things are lawful.’ That was quite right what you taught me, for you talked a lot to me about that. For if there’s no everlasting God, there’s no such thing as virtue, and there’s no need of it. You were right there. So that’s how I looked at it.”