*THE INTRUDER.[*]*
[*] In the original Italian, this novel is entitled "L'Innocente."
Should I go before the judge and say: "I have committed a crime. He
would not be dead if I had not killed him. It is I, Tullio Hermil, who
am his assassin. I premeditated that assassination in my house. I
committed it with perfect lucidity of conscience, methodically, in all
security. And I have gone on living in my house with my secret for a
whole year, until to-day. To-day is the anniversary I deliver myself
into your hands. Listen to me, judge me."
Can I go before the judge? Can I speak to him like that?
I cannot, and I will not. The justice of men does not reach as far as
me. There is no tribunal on earth competent to judge me.
And yet I feel a desire to accuse myself, to confess. I feel a desire
to reveal my secret to someone.