what for!"

"Though you were so excited and were running away?"

"Yes, though I was excited and running away."

"You wanted to help him?"

"Help!... Yes, perhaps I did want to help him.... I don't remember."

"You don't remember? Then you didn't quite know what you were doing?"

"Not at all. I remember everything--every detail. I jumped down to look at
him, and wiped his face with my handkerchief."

"We have seen your handkerchief. Did you hope to restore him to
consciousness?"

"I don't know whether I hoped it. I simply wanted to make sure whether he
was alive or not."

"Ah! You wanted to be sure? Well, what then?"

"I'm not a doctor. I couldn't decide. I ran away thinking I'd killed him.
And now he's recovered."

"Excellent," commented the prosecutor. "Thank you. That's all I wanted.
Kindly proceed."

Alas! it never entered Mitya's head to tell them, though he remembered it,
that he had jumped back from pity, and standing over the prostrate figure
had even uttered some words of regret: "You've come to grief, old
man--there's no help for it. Well, there you must lie."

The prosecutor could only draw one conclusion: that the man had jumped
back "at such a moment and in such excitement simply with the object of
ascertaining whether the _only_ witness of his crime were dead; that he
must therefore have been a man of great strength, coolness, decision and
foresight even at such a moment," ... and so on. The prosecutor was
satisfied: "I've provoked the nervous fellow by 'trifles' and he has said
more than he meant to."

With painful effort Mitya went on. But this time he was pulled up
immediately by Nikolay Parfenovitch.

"How came you to run to the servant, Fedosya Markovna, with your hands so
covered with blood, and, as it appears, your face, too?"

"Why, I didn't notice the blood at all at the time," answered Mitya.

"That's quite likely. It does happen sometimes." The prosecutor exchanged
glances with Nikolay Parfenovitch.

"I simply didn't notice. You're quite right there, prosecutor," Mitya
assented suddenly.

Next came the account of Mitya's sudden determination to "step aside" and
make way for their happiness. But he could not make up his mind to open
his heart to them as before, and tell them about "the queen of his soul."
He disliked speaking of her before these chilly persons "who were
fastening on him like bugs." And so in response to their reiterated
questions he answered briefly and abr