"why do i wish to unite you two? for your sakes or my own? for my own sake, naturally. all the problems of my life would thus be solved; i have thought so for a long time. i know that once when your sister adelaida saw my portrait she said that such beauty could overthrow the world. but i have renounced the world. you think it strange that i should say so, for you saw me decked with lace and diamonds, in the company of drunkards and wastrels. take no notice of that; i know that i have almost ceased to exist. god knows what it is dwelling within me now it is not myself. i can see it every day in two dreadful eyes which are always looking at me, even when not present. these eyes are silent now, they say nothing; but i know their secret. his house is gloomy, and there is a secret in it. i am convinced that in some box he has a razor hidden, tied round with silk, just like the one that moscow murderer had. this man also lived with his mother, and had a razor hidden away, tied round with white silk, and with this razor he intended to cut a throat.