The possessed or, The devils
taking it into your head to betray your secret to every one. Well, I
won't go into that... that's your affair... your chivalry, but I must
own I was amazed, it was a knock-down blow. And forasmuch as I was
exceeding weary of these tragic stories--and let me tell you, I talk
seriously though I do use Biblical language--as it was all upsetting
my plans in fact, I made up my mind at any cost, and without your
knowledge, to pack the Lebyadkins off to Petersburg, especially as he
was set on going himself. I made one mistake: I gave the money in your
name;--was it a mistake or not? Perhaps it wasn't a mistake, eh? Listen
now, listen how it has all turned out...."
In the heat of his talk he went close up to Stavrogin and took hold of
the revers of his coat (really, it may have been on purpose). With a
violent movement Stavrogin struck him on the arm.
"Come, what is it... give over... you'll break my arm... what matters
is the way things have turned out," he rattled on, not in the least
surprised at the blow. "I forked out the money in the evening on
condition that his sister and he should set off early next morning; I
trusted that rascal Liputin with the job of getting them into the train
and seeing them off. But that beast Liputin wanted to play his schoolboy
pranks on the public--perhaps you heard? At the matinée? Listen, listen:
they both got drunk, made up verses of which half are Liputin's; he
rigged Lebyadkin out in a dress-coat, assuring me meanwhile that he had
packed him off that morning, but he kept him shut somewhere in a back
room, till he thrust him on the platform at the matinée. But Lebyadkin
got drunk quickly and unexpectedly. Then came the scandalous scene you
know of, and then they got him home more dead than alive, and Liputin
filched away the two hundred roubles, leaving him only small change. But
it appears unluckily that already that morning Lebyadkin had taken that
two hundred roubles out of his pocket, boasted of it and shown it in
undesirable quarters. And as that was just what Fedka was expecting, and
as he had heard something at Kirillov's (do you remember, your hint?) he
made up his mind to take advantage of it. That's the whole truth. I
am glad, anyway, that Fedka did not find the money, the rascal was
reckoning on a thousand, you know! He was in a hurry and seems to have
been frightened by the fire himself.... Would you believe it, that fire
came as a thunderbolt for me. Devil only knows what to make of it! It is
taking things into their own hands.... You see, as I expect so much of
you I will hide nothing from you: I've long been hatching this idea of a
fire because it suits the national and popular taste; but I was keeping
it for a critical moment, for that precious time when we should all rise
up and... And they suddenly took it into their heads to do it, on their
own initiative, without orders, now at the very moment when we ought to
be lying low and keeping quiet! Such presumption!... The fact is, I've
not got to the bottom of it yet, they talk about two Shpigulin men, but
if there are any of _our_ fellows in it, if any one of them has had a hand
in it--so much the worse for him! You see what comes of letting people
get ever so little out of hand! No, this democratic rabble, with
its quintets, is a poor foundation; what we want is one magnificent,
despotic will, like an idol, resting on something fundamental and
external.... Then the quintets will cringe into obedience and be
obsequiously ready on occasion. But, anyway, though, they are all crying
out now that Stavrogin wanted his wife to be burnt and that that's what
caused the fire in the town, but..."
"Why, are they all saying that?"
"Well, not yet, and I must confess I have heard nothing of the sort, but
what one can do with people, especially when they've been burnt out! _Vox
populi vox Dei_. A stupid rumour is soon set going. But you really have
nothing to be afraid of. From the legal point of view you are all right,
and with your conscience also. For you didn't want it done, did you?
There's no clue, nothing but the coincidence.... The only thing is Fedka
may remember what you said that night at Kirillov's (and what made you
say it?) but that proves nothing and we shall stop Fedka's mouth. I
shall stop it to-day...."
"And weren't the bodies burnt at all?"
"Not a bit; that ruffian could not manage anything properly. But I am
glad, anyway, that you are so calm... for though you are not in any way
to blame, even in thought, but all the same.... And you must admit that
all this settles your difficulties capitally: you are suddenly free and
a widower and can marry a charming girl this minute with a lot of money,
who is already yours, into the bargain. See what can be done by crude,
simple coincidence--eh?"
"Are you threatening me, you fool?"
"Come, leave off, leave off! Here you are, calling me a fool, and what
a tone to use! You ought to be glad, yet you... I rushed here on purpose
to let you know in good time.... Besides, how could I threaten you?
As if I cared for what I could get by threats! I want you to help from
goodwill and not from fear. You are the light and the sun.... It's
I who am terribly afraid of you, not you of me! I am not Mavriky
Nikolaevitch.... And only fancy, as I flew here in a racing droshky I
saw Mavriky Nikolaevitch by the fence at the farthest corner of your
garden... in his greatcoat, drenched through, he must have been sitting
there all night! Queer goings on! How mad people can be!"
"Mavriky Nikolaevitch? Is that true?"
"Yes, yes. He is sitting by the garden fence. About three hundred paces
from here, I think. I made haste to pass him, but he saw me. Didn't you
know? In that case I am glad I didn't forget to tell you. A man like
that is more dangerous than anyone if he happens to have a revolver
about him, and then the night, the sleet, or natural irritability--for
after all he is in a nice position, ha ha! What do you think? Why is he
sitting there?"
"He is waiting for Lizaveta Nikolaevna, of course."
"Well! Why should she go out to him? And... in such rain too... what a
fool!"
"She is just going out to him!"
"Eh! That's a piece of news! So then... But listen, her position is
completely changed now. What does she want with Mavriky now? You
are free, a widower, and can marry her to-morrow. She doesn't know
yet--leave it to me and I'll arrange it all for you. Where is she? We
must relieve her mind too."
"Relieve her mind?"
"Rather! Let's go."
"And do you suppose she won't guess what those dead bodies mean?" said
Stavrogin, screwing up his eyes in a peculiar way.
"Of course she won't," said Pyotr Stepanovitch with all the confidence
of a perfect simpleton, "for legally... Ech, what a man you are! What
if she did guess? Women are so clever at shutting their eyes to such
things, you don't understand women! Apart from it's being altogether
to her interest to marry you now, because there's no denying she's
disgraced herself; apart from that, I talked to her of 'the boat' and I
saw that one could affect her by it, so that shows you what the girl is
made of. Don't be uneasy, she will step over those dead bodies without
turning a hair--especially as you are not to blame for them; not in the
least, are you? She will only keep them in reserve to use them against
you when you've been married two or three years. Every woman saves up
something of the sort out of her husband's past when she gets married,
but by that time... what may not happen in a year? Ha ha!"
"If you've come in a racing droshky, take her to Mavriky Nikolaevitch
now. She said just now that she could not endure me and would leave me,
and she certainly will not accept my carriage."
"What! Can she really be leaving? How can this have come about?" said
Pyotr Stepanovitch, staring stupidly at him.
"She's guessed somehow during this night that I don't love her... which
she knew all along, indeed."
"But don't you love her?" said Pyotr Stepanovitch, with an expression
of extreme surprise. "If so, why did you keep her when she came to you
yesterday, instead of telling her plainly like an honourable man that
you didn't care for her? That was horribly shabby on your part; and how
mean you make me look in her eyes!"
Stavrogin suddenly laughed.
"I am laughing at my monkey," he explained at once.
"Ah! You saw that I was putting it on!" cried Pyotr Stepanovitch,
laughing too, with great enjoyment. "I did it to amuse you! Only fancy,
as soon as you came out to me I guessed from your face that you'd been
'unlucky.' A complete fiasco, perhaps. Eh? There! I'll bet anything,"
he cried, almost gasping with delight, "that you've been sitting side by
side in the drawing-room all night wasting your precious time discussing
something lofty and elevated.... There, forgive me, forgive me; it's not
my business. I felt sure yesterday that it would all end in foolishness.
I brought her to you simply to amuse you, and to show you that you
wouldn't have a dull time with me. I shall be of use to you a hundred
times in that way. I always like pleasing people. If you don't want her
now, which was what I was reckoning on when I came, then..."
"So you brought her simply for my amusement?"
"Why, what else?"
"Not to make me kill my wife?"
"Come. You've not killed her? What a tragic fellow you are!
"It's just the same; you killed her."
"I didn't kill her! I tell you I had no hand in it.... You are beginning
to make me uneasy, though...."
"Go on. You said, 'if you don't want her now, then... '"
"Then, leave it to me, of course. I can quite easily marry her off to
Mavriky Nikolaevitch, though I didn't make him sit down by the fence.
Don't take that notion into your head. I am afraid of him, now. You talk
about my droshky, but I simply dashed by.... What if he has a revolver?
It's a good thing I brought mine. Here it is." He brought a revolver out
of his pocket, showed it, and hid it again at once. "I took it as I
was coming such a long way.... But I'll arrange all that for you in a
twinkling: her little heart is aching at this moment for Mavriky; it
should be, anyway.... And, do you know, I am really rather sorry for
her? If I take her to Mavriky she will begin about you directly; she
will praise you to him and abuse him to his face. You know the heart of
woman! There you are, laughing again! I am awfully glad that you are so
cheerful now. Come, let's go. I'll begin with Mavriky right away, and
about them... those who've been murdered... hadn't we better keep quiet
now? She'll hear later on, anyway."
"What will she hear? Who's been murdered? What were you saying about
Mavriky Nikolaevitch?" said Liza, suddenly opening the door.
"Ah! You've been listening?"
"What were you saying just now about Mavriky Nikolaevitch? Has he been
murdered?"
"Ah! Then you didn't hear? Don't distress yourself, Mavriky Nikolaevitch
is alive and well, and you can satisfy yourself of it in an instant,
for he is here by the wayside, by the garden fence... and I believe he's
been sitting there all night. He is drenched through in his greatcoat!
He saw me as I drove past."
"That's not true. You said 'murdered.'... Who's been murdered?" she
insisted with agonising mistrust.
"The only people who have been murdered are my wife, her brother
Lebyadkin, and their servant," Stavrogin brought out firmly.
Liza trembled and turned terribly pale.
"A strange brutal outrage, Lizaveta Nikolaevna. A simple case of
robbery," Pyotr Stepanovitch rattled off at once "Simply robbery, under
cover of the fire. The crime was committed by Fedka the convict, and it
was all that fool Lebyadkin's fault for showing every one his
money.... I rushed here with the news... it fell on me like a