Crime and Punishment Page #8

but things are different now.

We can be married and go away together.

We'd be happier than you've ever dreamed.

- Antonia, please...

- Keep away from me.

That's the toy you used to keep

in my home, isn't it?

Keep away.

Please let me go.

Here's the key.

- I hope you had time to search the place.

- Not thoroughly.

- Find what you were looking for?

- Not here.

But downstairs in the porter's room,

I found this poker.

I'm pretty sure it's the death weapon.

You see that bend?

It left an irregular stain on the apron,

which could have been made

only with a poker like this.

The porter tells me it was missing

on the night of the murder.

It was returned later in his absence.

Furthermore, I'm certain

when I have it examined,

I'll find blood stains on it.

You know perfectly well

that isn't evidence enough.

I know that perfectly well.

Anyway, if that is the poker,

you have a confession

of a man who says he used it.

He doesn't know what he's saying.

He belongs in a hospital, not a prison.

You're the murderer. You and nobody else.

You can't prove it. You can never prove it.

Maybe I can. Maybe I can't.

But I'll make a deal with you.

If you admit your crime now,

I'll stage it so that your confession

will come as a complete surprise,

one of those last-minute affairs

to clear an innocent man.

There are plenty

of extenuating circumstances.

- The most you can get is a few years.

- I didn't do it.

How long do you think

you can keep up this pretence?

Forever? For all eternity?

You're wasting your time.

Then I'm afraid I'll have to send

an innocent man to Siberia,

very likely to his death.

It's not my doing after all. It's yours.

I don't know how you feel about it,

but it's a worse crime than the other,

in its way, more cold-blooded and fiendish.

Now, Napoleon might be able

to carry that off,

but you are not a Napoleon, my friend.

You're not hard enough,

and I'm sorry for you.

I wouldn't be in your place

for anything in the world.

Oh, by the way, you once told me

if you had committed the crime,

you would have looked for a big stone

with a hollow underneath

to hide what you stole.

If at some future time,

your nerves get the better of you,

and you're driven to

some desperate measure,

leave a little note behind

telling me where the stone is.

I'd consider it a personal favour.

I took the liberty

of coming through that door.

You really ought to keep it locked.

What's that for?

I suppose I owe you an explanation,

but I prefer not to give any.

You probably need the money. I don't.

All I want to say is that

I'm doing this for myself.

I overheard him telling his troubles to you.

Tell him he need fear nothing from me.

What has he to fear from you

or anybody else?

The only one he has to fear now is himself.

You're right, my child.

The only one a man ever need fear

is himself.

I must find him. I must find him.

Where is he? Do you know?

Do you know where he is?

Probably with his sister

at the Alexander Street Hotel.

Have you been crying?

No, Mother.

The wind blew something to my eyes.

You have been crying. What happened?

Did you quarrel with Dmitri?

- No.

- Is it Roderick?

Roderick, something's happened to you.

Antonia knows and is afraid to tell me.

What is it?

Do you know?

What are you going to do?

I'm going away, leaving the country tonight.

- Have you money enough?

- Yes.

Oh, Roderick, why did you do it?

Why did you do it?

- You'll take good care of Mother,

won't you? - Yes.

You are going to marry Dmitri?

Yes.

Tony, after I'm gone, be a friend to Sonya.

You haven't come to me like this

since you were a little boy.

Remember? When you were about six,

the day your schoolbooks

fell out of your hands?

They fell on one of the kittens.

Remember how you nursed it

back to health?

You were such a sensitive boy,

so afraid of causing pain.

Remember how you asked me to tell God

you didn't mean to do it?

And when I told God,

you were so comforted

you fell into a peaceful sleep.

Roderick, the greatest happiness

a mother knows

is when her children come to her

for comfort.

You believe that I'm good, don't you?

I know you are.

You know that I always wanted to help

you and Tony.

You've always been good to us, Roderick.

No, Mother, I haven't.

When I wanted to help you most,

I forgot you most.

- When will I see you again?

- Tomorrow, perhaps.

- I know I shouldn't come here,

but I must... - Then you know it, too.

He's in trouble. What is it?

I can only tell you that he needs help,

if it isn't too late.

- Where did he go?

- Sonya.

You must stay here tonight.

I want to be your friend.

I can't stay here.

It may be too late. I must find him.

Antonia, what has Roderick done?

You must tell me!

He can't have done anything wrong. Tell me!

He's only your brother, but he's my son!

You must tell me!

Mother, you remember that night

we arrived?

- That's when it happened.

- What happened?

Remember what the inspector said

that day he was here?

Mother, he did it for us. He did it for us.

Roderick!

What are you doing here?

I've been looking everywhere for you.

Roderick, what are you doing here?

I don't know.

Thinking of escape.

Not that way.

No, that way seems too easy.

Roderick, last night you wanted to kiss me,

but I didn't want you to.

The sinner and the saint.

Don't call me a saint.

I'm only someone who loves you.

And you're not a sinner.

You didn't do it for yourself.

It's no sin to destroy an ugly thing

like a black beetle.

You wanted to help others.

It was wrong for me to tell you

to give yourself up.

Let's go away to a different country,

to some place far off

where people won't know us.

We've got money enough. It'll be

easy to forget all we've been through.

I'll help you to forget.

You'll become famous, Roderick,

and I'll be so proud of you.

- Forget it.

- Everything!

Even the man who is going to be

condemned instead of me?

He's no man, he's an animal.

It won't make any difference to him.

You're giving me back my own words,

and they're ugly. They sound false.

They're not. I believe them now.

You made me see myself.

Napoleon,

a weakling who thought himself brave,

who committed a cowardly deed

and called it an act of humanity.

You were going to pray, weren't you?

You'd like to pray but you can't.

The prayers won't come.

You know why?

Because you've taken my sin on yourself.

I won't let you throw away your soul for me.

But I love you.

Sonya, if I go to Siberia,

will you wait for me?

Please let me go with you.

I'd go anywhere on earth with you.

Years will pass like a day.

I've been waiting for you.

THE END:

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