There is something
comical...but never mind. And there are secret motives of conduct. A
man's most open actions have a secret side to them. That is interesting
and so unfathomable! For instance, a man goes out of a room for a walk.
Nothing more trivial in appearance. And yet it may be momentous. He
comes back--he has seen perhaps a drunken brute, taken particular notice
of the snow on the ground--and behold he is no longer the same man. The
most unlikely things have a secret power over one's thoughts--the grey
whiskers of a particular person--the goggle eyes of another."

Razumov's forehead was moist. He took a turn or two in the room, his
head low and smiling to himself viciously.

"Have you ever reflected on the power of goggle eyes and grey whiskers?
Excuse me. You seem to think I must be crazy to talk in this vein at
such a time. But I am not talking lightly. I have seen instances. It has
happened to me once to be talking to a man whose fate was affected by
physical facts of that kind. And the man did not know it. Of course, it
was a case of conscience, but the material facts such as these brought
about the solution.... And you tell me, Victor Victorovitch, not to
be anxious! Why! I am responsible for you," Razumov almost shrieked.

He avoided with difficulty a burst of Mephistophelian laughter. Haldin,
very pale, raised himself on his elbow.

"And the surprises of life," went on Razumov, after glancing at the
other uneasily. "Just consider their astonishing nature. A mysterious
impulse induces you to come here. I don't say you have done wrong.
Indeed, from a certain point of view you could not have done better. You
might have gone to a man with affections and family ties. You have
such ties yourself. As to me, you know I have been brought up in an
educational institute where they did not give us enough to eat. To talk
of affection in such a connexion--you perceive yourself.... As
to ties, the only ties I have in the world are social. I must get
acknowledged in some way before I can act at all. I sit here working....
And don't you think I am working for progress too? I've got to find
my own ideas of the true way.... Pardon me," continued Razumov, after
drawing breath and with a short, throaty laugh, "but I haven't inherited
a revolutionary inspiration together with a resemblance from an uncle."

He looked again at his watch and noticed with sickening disgust that
there were yet a good many minutes to midnight.