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"What then?" Raskolnikov smiled in reply; "that's not my fault.

So it is and so it always will be. He said just now (he nodded at

Razumihin) that I sanction bloodshed. Society is too well

protected by prisons, banishment, criminal investigators, penal

servitude. There's no need to be uneasy. You have but to catch

the thief."

"And what if we do catch him?"

"Then he gets what he deserves."

"You are certainly logical. But what of his conscience?"

"Why do you care about that?"

"Simply from humanity."

"If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will

be his punishment--as well as the prison."

"But the real geniuses," asked Razumihin frowning, "those who

have the right to murder? Oughtn't they to suffer at all even for

the blood they've shed?"