What fascinates him is the inner thought process that led him to commit this crime, and in this context he notes two things. First, the desire to help Verrat avoid going hungry was a good motive for his action. Rousseau was not driven by greed or a desire for personal gain. His sin was thus not the result of him being an intrinsically bad person. On the contrary, it speaks to an extent of his sympathy for another in need. Second, he mentions that he was also lured into committing the crime by Verrat flattering him as a talented young man. It was the fact that he liked to be liked, not that he
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