She had been struck at once by Raskolnikov’s poor surroundings, and now these words broke out spontaneously. A silence followed. There was a light in Dunia’s eyes, and even Pulcheria Alexandrovna looked kindly at Sonia.
All these questions about crime, environment, children, remind me of an article of yours which interested me at the time. ‘On crime’ … or something of the sort, I forget the title, I read it with pleasure two months ago in the Periodical Review.
Because only peasants, or the most inexperienced novices deny everything flatly at examinations. If a man is undeveloped and inexperienced, he will certainly try to admit all the external facts that can’t be avoided, but seek other explanations of them, introduce some special, unexpected turn that will lend them another meaning and put them in another light. Porfiry might well reckon that I should be sure to answer so, and say I had seen them to give an air of truth, and then make some explanation.