‘Answer one question, but sincerely, and to me alone, only to me: if someone should forgive you for this’ (Tikhon indicated the pages) ‘and not any of those whom you respect or fear, but some unknown person, a person whom you will never know, silently, while reading your terrible confession — would this thought make it easier for you, or wouldn’t it matter?’ ‘Easier,’ Stavrogin answered in a low voice, dropping his eyes. ‘If you were to forgive me, I would find it much easier,’ he added unexpectedly and in a half-whisper. ‘Provided you also forgave me,’ Tikhon uttered in a voice full of
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