Crime and Punishment Page #7

to say instead of hounding me?

I don't hound a man I think is guilty.

I leave him alone.

I sit back and wait.

But I give him just a little hint

that I know all about his crime,

that I'm watching him night and day.

The chances are, he'll try to escape,

and that's when I like to catch him.

If he's in continual fear and suspicion,

he's bound to lose his head and

do something that'll make his guilt as plain

as the fact

that there's no poker in this room.

I must get back to my duties.

This isn't getting the murderer.

I wonder how far away from me

he is at this moment.

Speaking of nerves,

I actually know of cases

where the criminal has returned

to the scene of the crime

as if he were drawn by a magnet,

do something foolish and impulsive

like ringing a bell and running away.

Strange, isn't it?

I must say for a great specialist in crime,

you're not helping me very much.

If you arrive at a conclusion,

come in to see me.

I'm always in at 4:00.

You're early.

I didn't expect you for an hour.

Oh, I forgot. You haven't your watch.

Stop playing this cat-and-mouse game

with me.

If you have a case against me,

arrest me, bring me up for trial!

- My dear fellow...

- Don't "dear fellow" me.

I won't allow you to keep on torturing me!

I won't allow it!

I'm afraid your nerves are going to pieces.

You remind me of certain types

connected with every important crime.

Awful nuisances, they get to

thinking about it, brooding over it.

By some peculiar mental twist, they

convince themselves that they're guilty,

and then they come here like you

and insist that we put them in jail.

Get out in the open, take a walk,

watch the clouds,

let peace enter your troubled mind.

There's no greater blessing

on this earth than peace.

If you are guilty, the very last thing to do

would be to throw you in prison,

because that puts you out of suspense.

I'd let your mind regain its strength.

I might even deprive myself of the chance

of getting further evidence against you.

No, in a case like this,

I can afford to wait.

Sooner or later, the man will come to me

and confess because he wants peace.

Did you know that when a man

voluntarily confesses,

his sentence is reduced?

I may sound like a preacher,

but the truth remains

that there's no prison as steel-bound

as a man's conscience.

Nothing that we could devise

is as horrible as the torture

conscience will inflict on a man.

Conscience, day and night,

waking and dreaming.

Take your hands off me!

Why should it be my lot

to break down a man?

What a profession!

I should like nothing better than to

get away from this clearing-house of crime,

take a walk in the country.

- Excuse me, Inspector...

- Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?

Get out of here!

Get out before I break your neck!

But the man has just confessed.

I confess. I'm guilty!

I'm the murderer! Punish me!

- You're lying. You didn't kill her!

- I tied those knots, I tell you.

I hit her on the head with a poker.

I'm the murderer! I hated her!

Why, you idiot, you didn't even

know about it until we arrested you!

You didn't know anything about it

until we beat it into you.

Take him away

if he wants to go to Siberia that badly.

I killed her, I tell you!

Punish me! I want to die!

Well, I didn't expect that.

Good work, Inspector.

What a triumph for your methods.

First, you make him confess,

and then you try to make him believe

he's innocent.

Marvellous police department.

Let the man alone. Let his mind be at rest.

Let his conscience be his prison.

What was that beautiful expression?

"Steel-bound."

You should have been a writer.

Better take that walk in the country,

Inspector. You need it.

- Are you in a hurry?

- No.

Sonya, I must talk to you.

I may never see you again.

- You're going away?

- Yes.

Where are you going?

- I don't know.

- Then, why?

- Because I'm free now.

- Free from what?

From the police.

They suspected me of murder.

But that's all over now.

Sonya, come away with me.

Let's leave all this.

We'll get out into the open

where there's peace.

- Did they find the guilty man?

- He confessed this morning.

- Who was it?

- The painter who worked in the house.

Why all these questions? Leave me alone.

I've been questioned enough!

Put that away!

I don't want to be reminded of that old hag!

"And it was a cave and a stone

lay against it and He said,

- "'Take away the stone."'

- What stone?

What stone are you talking about?

How do you know there was a stone?

It's the stone under which

Lazarus was buried.

"And Martha, the sister of Lazarus said,

'But he's been dead for four days.'

"And He said to her 'lf thou believest,

thou will see the glory of God.'

"And so they took away the stone,

and He lifted up his eyes and said,

"'Father, I thank Thee

that Thou has heard me.'

"And when He had thus spoken,

He cried in a loud voice,

"'Lazarus, come forth.'

And he that was dead came forth."

- Sonya! Sonya!

- You shouldn't kneel to me!

Have mercy on me! I killed her!

I killed her.

- Why did you do it?

- I was mad, Sonya.

I was mad. What shall I do now?

I don't know what to tell you

because you have no faith.

And if I did have faith?

Then I would tell you to confess

and atone for what you've done.

Confess to the police?

How else can you save the one

who is being punished instead of you?

Confess to the police? And rot in prison?

Is that fool's life so valuable to you?

It's his life.

You've no right to take it away from him.

Why do you think of him?

- Why don't you think of me?

- I am thinking of you.

You can't carry such a burden.

It'll be a greater punishment

than any the law can give you.

You couldn't stand it.

I'll get used to it.

I'm not as weak as you think.

I was strong enough to commit a crime.

I'll be strong enough to live with it.

Will you let me kiss you before I go?

"Antonia, I must see you at once.

"If you value your brother's safety,

comply with my request. Grilov."

"P.S. my address is..."

Antonia, do you see that door?

Sonya lives on the other side of it.

I listened and I heard your brother tell her

that he committed a murder.

You can't make me believe that.

You made it up.

It's another one

of your contemptible schemes.

No, Antonia, I'm not lying.

Ask the girl yourself.

Do you want me to call her in?

But you know it's true.

You must have noticed how strangely

your brother's been behaving?

The other day, I went to see him,

and he was frightened out of his wits

because he thought I was from the police.

Antonia, I'll help you get him

out of the country, anywhere you say.

I have money and friends.

- I'd do anything for you. Anything.

- I don't believe it.

- I don't believe it.

- All right, then.

It's my duty to inform the police.

Open that door.

If you really loved your brother,

you wouldn't force me to go to the police.

But you love your brother,

and you could love me, too.

I know I made a bad start with you,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes