“As I listened to him then I learned that the same word has thousands of shades of meaning according to the tone in which it is pronounced, and the form which is given to the sentence.  Of course I cannot reproduce the tone or the form; I can only say that as I listened to my friend and walked up and down the room, I was moved to resentment, indignation, and contempt together with him.  I even believed him when with tears in his eyes he informed me that I was a great man, that I was worthy of a better fate, that I was destined to achieve something in the future which marriage would hinder!

“‘My friend!’ he exclaimed, pressing my hand.  ’I beseech you, I adjure you:  stop before it is too late.  Stop!  May Heaven preserve you from this strange, cruel mistake!  My friend, do not ruin your youth!’

“Believe me or not, as you choose, but the long and the short of it was that I sat down to the table and wrote to my fiancee, breaking off the engagement.  As I wrote I felt relieved that it was not yet too late to rectify my mistake.  Sealing the letter, I hastened out into the street to post it.  The lawyer himself came with me.

“‘Excellent!  Capital!’ he applauded me as my letter to Natasha disappeared into the darkness of the box.  ’I congratulate you with all my heart.  I am glad for you.’

“After walking a dozen paces with me the lawyer went on: 

“’Of course, marriage has its good points.  I, for instance, belong to the class of people to whom marriage and home life is everything.’

“And he proceeded to describe his life, and lay before me all the hideousness of a solitary bachelor existence.

“He spoke with enthusiasm of his future wife, of the sweets of ordinary family life, and was so eloquent, so sincere in his ecstasies that by the time we had reached his door, I was in despair.

“‘What are you doing to me, you horrible man?’ I said, gasping.  ’You have ruined me!  Why did you make me write that cursed letter?  I love her, I love her!’

“And I protested my love.  I was horrified at my conduct which now seemed to me wild and senseless.  It is impossible, gentlemen, to imagine a more violent emotion than I experienced at that moment.  Oh, what I went through, what I suffered!  If some kind person had thrust a revolver into my hand at that moment, I should have put a bullet through my brains with pleasure.

“‘Come, come . . .’ said the lawyer, slapping me on the shoulder, and he laughed.  ’Give over crying.  The letter won’t reach your fiancee.  It was not you who wrote the address but I, and I muddled it so they won’t be able to make it out at the post-office.  It will be a lesson to you not to argue about what you don’t understand.’

“Now, gentlemen, I leave it to the next to speak.”

The fifth juryman settled himself more comfortably, and had just opened his mouth to begin his story when we heard the clock strike on Spassky Tower.