I can't bear it any longer.

One always has to relieve oneself some day or other." Was it his complaint that he desired to relieve; or was he anxious to break his long silence in order that it might not stifle him?
This at first remained uncertain.

He immediately asked for an account of the steps that Pierre had lately taken, and became yet more restless when he heard how the other had been received by Cardinal Sarno, Monsignor Fornaro, and Father Dangelis.

"Yes, that's quite it," he repeated, "nothing astonishes me nowadays, and yet I feel indignant on your account.

Yes, it doesn't concern me, but all the same it makes me ill, for it reminds me of all my own troubles.