Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/303

Rh 'Listen, Afanasy Vassilyevitch, tell me—you are the only man I know to be an honest man—how is it you have this passion for defending every sort of scoundrel?'

'Your Excellency,' said Murazov, 'whoever the man may be whom you call a scoundrel, still he is a man. How can one help defending a man when half the evil deeds that he commits are due to coarseness and ignorance. We do unjust things at every step and not with evil intention. Why, your Excellency, you too have been guilty of great injustice.'

'What!' cried the prince in amazement, completely taken aback by this unexpected turn in the conversation.

Murazov paused as though considering something, and said at last: 'Well, in the case of Derpennikov for instance.'

'Why, do you mean to say that I was unjust? a crime against the fundamental laws of the realm, equivalent to a betrayal of his country! …'

'I am not justifying him. But is it just to condemn a youth who has been seduced and led astray by others through inexperience, as though he were one of the instigators? Why, the same punishment has been given to Derpennikov as to Voronov-Dryanov; and yet their crimes are not the same.'

For God's sake,' said the prince with visible emotion. 'Do you know something about it? Tell me. I have only lately sent to Petersburg to mitigate his punishment.'