The possessed or, The devils
must only listen... in case anything dreadful happens. If anything very
bad happens, then run in."
"I understand. I've another rouble. Here it is. I meant to have a fowl
to-morrow, but now I don't want to, make haste, run with all your might.
There's a samovar all the night."
Kirillov knew nothing of the present design against Shatov, nor had he
had any idea in the past of the degree of danger that threatened him.
He only knew that Shatov had some old scores with "those people,"
and although he was to some extent involved with them himself through
instructions he had received from abroad (not that these were of
much consequence, however, for he had never taken any direct share in
anything), yet of late he had given it all up, having left off doing
anything especially for the "cause," and devoted himself entirely to a
life of contemplation. Although Pyotr Stepanovitch had at the meeting
invited Liputin to go with him to Kirillov's to make sure that the
latter would take upon himself, at a given moment, the responsibility
for the "Shatov business," yet in his interview with Kirillov he had
said no word about Shatov nor alluded to him in any way--probably
considering it impolitic to do so, and thinking that Kirillov could
not be relied upon. He put off speaking about it till next day, when it
would be all over and would therefore not matter to Kirillov; such at
least was Pyotr Stepanovitch's judgment of him. Liputin, too, was
struck by the fact that Shatov was not mentioned in spite of what Pyotr
Stepanovitch had promised, but he was too much agitated to protest.
Shatov ran like a hurricane to Virginsky's house, cursing the distance
and feeling it endless.
He had to knock a long time at Virginsky's; every one had been asleep a
long while. But Shatov did not scruple to bang at the shutters with
all his might. The dog chained up in the yard dashed about barking
furiously. The dogs caught it up all along the street, and there was a
regular babel of barking.
"Why are you knocking and what do you want?" Shatov heard at the window
at last Virginsky's gentle voice, betraying none of the resentment
appropriate to the "outrage." The shutter was pushed back a little and
the casement was opened.
"Who's there, what scoundrel is it?" shrilled a female voice which
betrayed all the resentment appropriate to the "outrage." It was the old
maid, Virginsky's relation.
"I am Shatov, my wife has come back to me and she is just confined...."
"Well, let her be, get along."
"I've come for Arina Prohorovna; I won't go without Arina Prohorovna!"
"She can't attend to every one. Practice at night is a special line.
Take yourself off to Maksheyev's and don't dare to make that din,"
rattled the exasperated female voice. He could hear Virginsky checking
her; but the old maid pushed him away and would not desist.
"I am not going away!" Shatov cried again.
"Wait a little, wait a little," Virginsky cried at last, overpowering
the lady. "I beg you to wait five minutes, Shatov. I'll wake Arina
Prohorovna. Please don't knock and don't shout.... Oh, how awful it all
is!"
After five endless minutes, Arina Prohorovna made her appearance.
"Has your wife come?" Shatov heard her voice at the window, and to his
surprise it was not at all ill-tempered, only as usual peremptory, but
Arina Prohorovna could not speak except in a peremptory tone.
"Yes, my wife, and she is in labour."
"Marya Ignatyevna?"
"Yes, Marya Ignatyevna. Of course it's Marya Ignatyevna."
A silence followed. Shatov waited. He heard a whispering in the house.
"Has she been here long?" Madame Virginsky asked again.
"She came this evening at eight o'clock. Please make haste."
Again he heard whispering, as though they were consulting. "Listen, you
are not making a mistake? Did she send you for me herself?"
"No, she didn't send for you, she wants a peasant woman, so as not to
burden me with expense, but don't be afraid, I'll pay you."
"Very good, I'll come, whether you pay or not. I always thought highly
of Marya Ignatyevna for the independence of her sentiments, though
perhaps she won't remember me. Have you got the most necessary things?"
"I've nothing, but I'll get everything, everything."
"There is something generous even in these people," Shatov reflected,
as he set off to Lyamshin's. "The convictions and the man are two very
different things, very likely I've been very unfair to them!... We are
all to blame, we are all to blame... and if only all were convinced of
it!"
He had not to knock long at Lyamshin's; the latter, to Shatov's
surprise, opened his casement at once, jumping out of bed, barefoot
and in his night-clothes at the risk of catching cold; and he was
hypochondriacal and always anxious about his health. But there was
a special cause for such alertness and haste: Lyamshin had been in a
tremor all the evening, and had not been able to sleep for excitement
after the meeting of the quintet; he was haunted by the dread
of uninvited and undesired visitors. The news of Shatov's giving
information tormented him more than anything.... And suddenly there
was this terrible loud knocking at the window as though to justify his
fears.
He was so frightened at seeing Shatov that he at once slammed the
casement and jumped back into bed. Shatov began furiously knocking and
shouting.
"How dare you knock like that in the middle of the night?" shouted
Lyamshin, in a threatening voice, though he was numb with fear, when at
least two minutes later he ventured to open the casement again, and was
at last convinced that Shatov had come alone.
"Here's your revolver for you; take it back, give me fifteen roubles."
"What's the matter, are you drunk? This is outrageous, I shall simply
catch cold. Wait a minute, I'll just throw my rug over me."
"Give me fifteen roubles at once. If you don't give it me, I'll knock
and shout till daybreak; I'll break your window-frame."
"And I'll shout police and you'll be taken to the lock-up."
"And am I dumb? Can't I shout 'police' too? Which of us has most reason
to be afraid of the police, you or I?"
"And you can hold such contemptible opinions! I know what you are
hinting at.... Stop, stop, for God's sake don't go on knocking! Upon my
word, who has money at night? What do you want money for, unless you are
drunk?"
"My wife has come back. I've taken ten roubles off the price, I haven't
fired it once; take the revolver, take it this minute!"
Lyamshin mechanically put his hand out of the casement and took the
revolver; he waited a little, and suddenly thrusting his head out of the
casement, and with a shiver running down his spine, faltered as though
he were beside himself.
"You are lying, your wife hasn't come back to you.... It's... it's
simply that you want to run away."
"You are a fool. Where should I run to? It's for your Pyotr Verhovensky
to run away, not for me. I've just been to the midwife, Madame
Virginsky, and she consented at once to come to me. You can ask them. My
wife is in agony; I need the money; give it me!"
A swarm of ideas flared up in Lyamshin's crafty mind like a shower of
fireworks. It all suddenly took a different colour, though still panic
prevented him from reflecting.
"But how... you are not living with your wife?"
"I'll break your skull for questions like that."
"Oh dear, I understand, forgive me, I was struck all of a heap.... But I
understand, I understand... is Arina Prohorovna really coming? You said
just now that she had gone? You know, that's not true. You see, you see,
you see what lies you tell at every step."
"By now, she must be with my wife... don't keep me... it's not my fault
you are a fool."
"That's a lie, I am not a fool. Excuse me, I really can't..."
And utterly distraught he began shutting the casement again for the
third time, but Shatov gave such a yell that he put his head out again.
"But this is simply an unprovoked assault! What do you want of me, what
is it, what is it, formulate it? And think, only think, it's the middle
of the night!"
"I want fifteen roubles, you sheep's-head!"
"But perhaps I don't care to take back the revolver. You have no right
to force me. You bought the thing and the matter is settled, and you've
no right.... I can't give you a sum like that in the night, anyhow.
Where am I to get a sum like that?"
"You always have money. I've taken ten roubles off the price, but every
one knows you are a skinflint."
"Come the day after to-morrow, do you hear, the day after to-morrow at
twelve o'clock, and I'll give you the whole of it, that will do, won't
it?"
Shatov knocked furiously at the window-frame for the third time.
"Give me ten roubles, and to-morrow early the other five."
"No, the day after to-morrow the other five, to-morrow I swear I shan't
have it. You'd better not come, you'd better not come."
"Give me ten, you scoundrel!"
"Why are you so abusive. Wait a minute, I must light a candle; you've
broken the window.... Nobody swears like that at night. Here you are!"
He held a note to him out of the window.
Shatov seized it--it was a note for five roubles.
"On my honour I can't do more, if you were to murder me, I couldn't; the
day after to-morrow I can give you it all, but now I can do nothing."
"I am not going away!" roared Shatov.
"Very well, take it, here's some more, see, here's some more, and I
won't give more. You can shout at the top of your voice, but I won't
give more, I won't, whatever happens, I won't, I won't."
He was in a perfect frenzy, desperate and perspiring. The two notes
he had just given him were each for a rouble. Shatov had seven roubles
altogether now.
"Well, damn you, then, I'll come to-morrow. I'll thrash you, Lyamshin,
if you don't give me the other eight."
"You won't find me at home, you fool!" Lyamshin reflected quickly.
"Stay, stay!" he shouted frantically after Shatov, who was already
running off. "Stay, come back. Tell me please, is it true what you said
that your wife has come back?"
"Fool!" cried Shatov, with a gesture of disgust, and ran home as hard as
he could.
IV
I may mention that Anna Prohorovna knew nothing of the resolutions
that had been taken at the meeting the day before. On returning home
overwhelmed and exhausted, Virginsky had not ventured to tell her of the
decision that had been taken, yet he could not refrain from telling her
half--that is, all that Verhovensky had told them of the certainty of
Shatov's intention to betray them; but he added at the same time that
he did not quite believe it. Arina Prohorovna was terribly alarmed. This
was why she decided at once to go when Shatov came to fetch her, though
she was tired out, as she had been hard at work at a confinement all the
night before. She had always been convinced that "a wretched creature
like Shatov was capable of any political baseness," but the arrival of
Marya Ignatyevna put things in a different light. Shatov's alarm, the
despairing tone of his entreaties, the way he begged for help, clearly
showed a complete change of feeling in the traitor: a man who was ready
to betray himself merely for the sake of ruining others would, she
thought, have had a different air and tone. In short, Arina Prohorovna
resolved to look into the matter for herself, with her own eyes.
Virginsky was very glad of her decision, he felt as though a
hundredweight had been lifted off him! He even began to feel
hopeful: Shatov's appearance seemed to him utterly incompatible with
Verhovensky's supposition.
Shatov was not mistaken: on getting home he found Arina Prohorovna
already with Marie. She had just arrived, had contemptuously dismissed
Kirillov, whom she found hanging about the foot of the stairs, had