And it is not because you have killed a dealer, but because you are Markheim, that I offer to forward your escape.' 'I will lay my heart open to you,' answered Markheim.

'This crime on which you find me is my last.

On my way to it I have learned many lessons; itself is a lesson, a momentous lesson.

Hitherto I have been driven with revolt to what I would not; I was a bond-slave to poverty, driven and scourged.

There are robust virtues that can stand in these temptations; mine was not so: I had a thirst of pleasure.