Iregardyouinanycaseasamanofnoblecharacterandnotwithoutelementsofmagnanimity,thoughIdon\'tagreewithallyourconvictions。Iwantedtotellyouthisfirst,franklyandquitesincerely,foraboveallIdon\'twanttodeceiveyou。WhenImadeyouracquaintance,Ifeltattractedbyyou。Perhapsyouwilllaughatmysayingso。Youhavearightto。Iknowyoudislikedmefromthefirstandindeedyou\'venoreasontolikeme。Youmaythinkwhatyoulike,butIdesirenowtodoallIcantoeffacethatimpressionandtoshowthatIamamanofheartandconscience。Ispeaksincerely。“
PorfiryPetrovitchmadeadignifiedpause。Raskolnikovfeltarushofrenewedalarm。ThethoughtthatPorfirybelievedhimtobeinnocentbegantomakehimuneasy。
“It\'sscarcelynecessarytogoovereverythingindetail,“PorfiryPetrovitchwenton。“IndeedIcouldscarcelyattemptit。Tobeginwiththerewererumours。Throughwhom,how,andwhenthoserumourscametome……andhowtheyaffectedyou,Ineednotgointo。Mysuspicionswerearousedbyacompleteaccident,whichmightjustaseasilynothavehappened。Whatwasit?Hm!Ibelievethereisnoneedtogointothateither。Thoserumoursandthataccidentledtooneideainmymind。Iadmititopenly-foronemayaswellmakeacleanbreastofit-Iwasthefirsttopitchonyou。Theoldwoman\'snotesonthepledgesandtherestofit-thatallcametonothing。
Yourswasoneofahundred。Ihappened,too,tohearofthesceneattheoffice,fromamanwhodescribeditcapitally,unconsciouslyreproducingthescenewithgreatvividness。Itwasjustonethingafteranother,RodionRomanovitch,mydearfellow!HowcouldIavoidbeingbroughttocertainideas?Fromahundredrabbitsyoucan\'tmakeahorse,ahundredsuspicionsdon\'tmakeaproof,astheEnglishproverbsays,butthat\'sonlyfromtherationalpointofview-
youcan\'thelpbeingpartial,forafterallalawyerisonlyhuman。