Dounia's eyes shone.

　　"And why, why should you go away?" he flowed on ecstatically. "Andwhat are you to do in a little town? The great thing is, you are allhere together and you need one another- you do need one another,believe me. For a time, anyway.... Take me into partnership and Iassure you we'll plan a capital enterprise. Listen! I'll explain itall in detail to you, the whole project! It all flashed into my headthis morning, before anything had happened... I tell you what; Ihave an uncle, I must introduce him to you (a most accommodating andrespectable old man). This uncle has got a capital of a thousandroubles, and he lives on his pension and has no need of that money.For the last two years he has been bothering me to borrow it fromhim and pay him six per cent. interest. I know what that means; hesimply wants to help me. Last year I had no need of it, but thisyear I resolved to borrow it as soon as he arrived. Then you lend meanother thousand of your three and we have enough for a start, sowe'll go into partnership, and what are we going to do?"

　　Then Razumihin began to unfold his project, and he explained atlength that almost all our publishers and booksellers know nothingat all of what they are selling, and for that reason they areusually bad publishers, and that any decent publications pay as a ruleand give a profit, sometimes a considerable one. Razumihin had,indeed, been dreaming of setting up as a publisher. For the last twoyears he had been working in publishers' offices, and knew threeEuropean languages well, though he had told Raskolnikov six daysbefore that he was "schwach" in German with an object of persuadinghim to take half his translation and half the payment for it. He hadtold a lie, then, and Raskolnikov knew he was lying.

　　"Why, why should we let our chance slip when we have one of thechief means of success- money of our own!" cried Razumihin warmly. "Ofcourse there will be a lot of work, but we will work, you, AvdotyaRomanovna, I, Rodion.... You get a splendid profit on some booksnowadays! And the great point of the business is that we shall knowjust what wants translating, and we shall be translating,publishing, learning all at once. I can be of use because I haveexperience. For nearly two years I've been scuttling about among thepublishers, and now I know every detail of their business. You neednot be a saint to make pots, believe me! And why, why should we letour chance slip! Why, I know- and I kept the secret- two or threebooks which one might get a hundred roubles simply for thinking oftranslating and publishing. Indeed, and I would not take fivehundred for the very idea of one of them. And what do you think? IfI were to tell a publisher, I dare say he'd hesitate- they are suchblockheads! And as for the business side, printing, paper, selling,you trust to me, I know my way about. We'll begin in a small way andgo on to a large. In any case it will get us our living and we shallget back our capital."

　　Dounia's eyes shone.

　　"I like what you are saying, Dmitri Prokofitch!" she said.

　　"I know nothing about it, of course," put in Pulcheria Alexandrovna,"it may be a good idea, but again God knows. It's new and untried.Of course, we must remain here at least for a time." She looked atRodya.

　　"What do you think, brother?" said Dounia.

　　"I think he's got a very good idea," he answered. "Of course, it'stoo soon to dream of a publishing firm, but we certainly might bringout five or six books and be sure of success. I know of one bookmyself which would be sure to go well. And as for his being able tomanage it, there's no doubt about that either. He knows thebusiness.... But we can talk it over later...."