“And how do you know all this?” asked the young man. “Of that day it is written: Neither the Son, nor the angels know; but you seem to know.”
He yawned, and then after a moment’s silence asked:
“Do you belong to the heretics—the Raskolniks?”
“No, I am an Orthodox.”
“Why did you come to Petersburg?”
“I have been brought here from Moscow, together with my account books. An informer reported me for taking bribes.”
“Did you take them?”
“I did. I was not compelled to, neither did I do it for the sake of extortion, but in all fairness, and with a clean conscience, being satisfied with whatever was freely given me for the clerk-work I did.”
He said it so simply that it was evident he did not consider bribe-taking necessarily a fault.