Classic Audiobook Collection - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~ Full Audiobook [drama]

Starting point is 00:00:00 Rime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Part 1, Chapter 1 On an exceptionally hot evening early in July, a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place, and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. Bridge. He had successfully avoided meeting his landlady on the staircase. His garret was under the roof of a high, five-storied house, and was more like a cupboard than a room, The landlady who provided him with Garrett, dinners, and attendance lived on the floor below, and every time he went out he was obliged to pass her kitchen, the door of which invariably stood open.

Starting point is 00:00:43 And each time he passed the young man had a sick, frightened feeling, which made him scowl and feel ashamed. He was hopelessly in debt to his landlady, and was afraid of meeting her. This was not because he was cowardly and abject, quite the contrary. But for some time past, he had been in an overstrained, irritable condition, verging on hypochondria. He had become so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows, that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all. He was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him. He had given up attending to matters of practical importance.

Starting point is 00:01:28 He lost all desire to do so. Nothing that any landlady could do had a real terror for him. But to be stopped on the stairs, to be forced to listen to her trivial, irrelevant gossip, to pestering demands for payment, threats and complaints, and to rack his brains for excuses, to prevaricate, to lie. No, rather than that, he would creep down the stairs like a cat and slip out unseen. This evening, however, on coming out into the street, he became a kid. acutely aware of his fears.

Starting point is 00:02:03 I want to attempt a thing like that, and am frightened by these trifles, he thought with an odd smile. Hmm, yes, all is in a man's hands, and he lets it all slip from cowardice. That's an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most. But I am talking too much. It's because I chatter that I do nothing.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Or perhaps it is that I chatter because I do nothing. I've learned to chatter this last month, lying for days together in my den thinking, of Jack the Giant Killer. Why am I going there now? Am I capable of that? Is that serious? It is not serious at all. It's simply a fantasy to amuse myself.

Starting point is 00:02:55 A plaything. Yes. Maybe it is a plaything. The heat in the street was terrible, and the airlessness, the bustle and the plaster, scaffolding, bricks and dust all about him, and that special Petersburg stench, so familiar to all who are unable to get out of town in summer, all worked painfully upon the young man's already overwrought nerves. The insufferable stench from the pothouses, which are particularly numerous in that part

Starting point is 00:03:25 of the town, and the drunken men who were in the young men who were in the poor enough, whom he met continually, although it was a working day, completed the revolting misery of the picture. An expression of the profoundest disgust gleamed for a moment in the young man's refined face. He was, by the way, exceptionally handsome, above the average in height, slim, well-built, with beautiful dark eyes and dark brown hair. Soon he sank into deep thought, or more accurately speaking, into a complete blankness of mind. He walked along not observing what was about him, and not caring to observe it. From time to time he would mutter something, from the habit of talking to himself, to which he had just confessed.

Starting point is 00:04:11 At these moments he would become conscious that his ideas were sometimes in a tangle, and that he was very weak. For two days he had scarcely tasted food. He was so badly dressed that even a man accustomed to shabbiness would have been ashamed to be seen in the street in such rags. In that quarter of the town, however, scarcely any shortcoming and dress would have created surprise. Owing to the proximity of the haymarket, the number of establishments of bad character, the preponderance of the trading and working-class population crowded in these streets and alleys in the heart of Petersburg, types so various were to be seen in the streets that no figure, however queer, would have caused surprise. But there was such a

Starting point is 00:04:59 accumulated bitterness and contempt in the young man's heart, that, in spite of all the fastidiousness of youth, he minded his rags least of all in the street. It was a different matter when he met with acquaintances or with former fellow-students, whom, indeed, he disliked meeting at any time. And yet, when a drunken man, who, for some unknown reason, was being taken somewhere in a huge wagon dragged by a heavy dray horse, suddenly shouted at him as he drove past, "'Hey there! German Hatter!' bawling at the top of his voice and pointing at him. The young man stopped suddenly and clutched tremulously at his hat. It was a tall round hat from Zimmerman's, but completely worn out, rusty with age, all torn and bespattered, brimeless and bent on one

Starting point is 00:05:48 side in a most unseemly fashion. Not shame, however, but quite another feeling akin to terror had overtaken him. I knew it, he muttered in confusion. I thought so. That's the worst of all. Why, a stupid thing like this, the most trivial detail might spoil the whole plan. Yes, my hat is too noticeable. It looks absurd, and that makes it noticeable. With my rags I ought to wear a cap, any sort of old pancake, but not this grotesque thing. Nobody wears such a hat. hat. It would be noticed a mile off. It would be remembered. What matters is that people would

Starting point is 00:06:33 remember it, and that would give them a clue. For this business, one should be as little conspicuous as possible. Triples, trifles are what matter. Why, it's just such trifles that always ruin everything. He had not far to go. He knew indeed how many steps it was from the gate of lodging-house, exactly seven hundred and thirty. He had counted them once when he had been lost in dreams. At the time he had put no faith in those dreams, and was only tantalizing himself by their hideous but daring recklessness. Now, a month later, he had begun to look upon them differently, and in spite of the monologues in which he jeered at his own impotence and indecision, he had involuntarily come to regard this hideous dream as an exploit to be attempted,

Starting point is 00:07:26 although he still did not realize this himself. He was positively going now for a rehearsal of his project, and at every step his excitement grew more and more violent. With a sinking heart and a nervous tremor, he went up to a huge house which on one side looked on to the canal and on the other into the street. This house was let out in tiny tenements and was inhabited by working people of all kinds, tailors, locksmiths, cooks, Germans of sorts, girls picking up a living as best they could, petty clerks, etc. There was a continual coming and going through the two gates and in the two courtyards of the house. Three or four doorkeepers were employed on the building. The young man was very glad to meet none of them, and at once slid.

Starting point is 00:08:17 slipped unnoticed through the door on the right and up the staircase. It was a back staircase, dark and narrow, but he was familiar with it already and knew his way, and he liked all these surroundings. In such darkness, even the most inquisitive eyes were not to be dreaded. If I am so scared now, what would it be if it somehow came to pass that I were really going to do it? He could not help asking himself as he reached the fourth story. There, his progress was barred by some porters who were engaged in moving furniture out of a flat. He knew that the flat had been occupied by a German clerk in the Civil Service and his family. This German was moving out then, and so the fourth floor on this staircase would be untenanted

Starting point is 00:09:03 except by the old woman. That's a good thing anyway, he thought to himself, as he rang the bell of the old woman's flat. The bell gave a faint tinkle as though it were made of tin and not of copper. The little flats in such houses always have bells that ring like that. He had forgotten the note of that bell, and now its peculiar tinkle seemed to remind him of something and to bring it clearly before him. He started, his nerves were terribly overstrained by now.

Starting point is 00:09:34 In a little while the door was opened a tiny crack. The old woman eyed her visitor with evident distrust through the crack, and nothing could be seen but her little eyes, glittering in the darkness. But seeing a number of people on the landing, she grew bolder and opened the door wide. The young man stepped into the dark entry, which was partitioned off from the tiny kitchen. The old woman stood facing him in silence and looking inquiringly at him. She was a diminutive, withered-up old woman of sixty, with sharp malignant eyes and a sharp little nose.

Starting point is 00:10:10 Her colorless, somewhat grizzled hair was thickly smeared with oil, and she wore no kerchief. beef over it. Round her thin, long neck, which looked like a hen's leg, was not at some sort of flannel rag, and in spite of the heat, there hung flapping on her shoulders, a mangy fur cape, yellow with age. The old woman coughed and groaned at every instant. The young man must have looked at her with a rather peculiar expression, for a gleam of mistrust came into her eyes again. "'Ras Kalnikov, a student. I came here a month ago?' The young man made haste to mutter with a half-bow, remembering that he ought to be more polite.

Starting point is 00:10:52 "'I remember it, my good, sir. I remember quite well you're coming here,' the old woman said distinctly, still keeping her inquiring eyes on his face. "'And here, I am again on the same errand,' Ruskalnikov continued, a little disconcerted and surprised at the old woman's mistrust. Perhaps she is always like that, though, only I did not notice it the other time, he thought with an uneasy feeling. The old woman paused, as though hesitating, then stepped on one side, and pointing to the door of the room, she said, letting her visit her pass in front of her,

Starting point is 00:11:30 Step in, my good sir. The little room into which the young man walks, with yellow paper on the walls, geraniums, and muslin curtains in the windows, was brightly lighted up at that moment by the setting sun. So, the sun will shine like this then, too, flashed as it were by chance through Raskolnikov's mind, and with a rapid glance he scanned everything in the room, trying as far as possible to notice and remember its arrangement. But there was nothing special in the room. The furniture, all very old and of yellow wood, consisted of a sofa with a huge bent

Starting point is 00:12:07 wooden back, an oval table in front of the sofa, a dressing table with a dressing table with a looking-glass fixed on it between the windows, chairs along the walls, and two or three half-penny prints in yellow frames, representing German damsels with birds in their hands. That was all. In the corner a light was burning before a small icon. Everything was very clean. The floor and the furniture were brightly polished. Everything shone. Lysavetta's work, thought the young man. There was not a speck of dust to be seen in the whole flat. It's in the houses of spiteful old widows that one finds such cleanliness, Raskolnikov thought again, and he stole a curious glance at the cotton curtain over the door

Starting point is 00:12:53 leading into another tiny room, in which stood the old woman's bed and chest of drawers, and into which he had never looked before. These two rooms made up the whole flat. "'What do you want?' the old woman said severely, coming into the room, and as before, standing in front of him so as to look him straight in the face. "'I've brought something to pawn here,' and he drew out of his pocket an old-fashioned flat silver watch, on the back of which was engraved a globe. The chain was of steel. "'But the time is up for your last pledge. The month was up the day before yesterday.' "'I will bring you the interest for another month. Wait a little. But that's for me to do as I

Starting point is 00:13:38 please, my good sir, to wait or to sell your pledge at once. How much will you give me for the watch, Alyona Ivanovna? You come with such trifles, my good sir. It's scarcely worth anything. I gave you two roubles last time for your ring, and one could buy it quite new at a jewellers for a ruble and a half. Give me four roubles for it. I shall redeem it. It was my father's. I shall be getting some money soon. A ruble and a half, an interest in advance, if you like. A ruble and a half, cried the young man. Please yourself, and the old woman handed him back the watch. The young man took it, and was so angry that he was on the point of going away,

Starting point is 00:14:27 but checked himself at once, remembering that there was nowhere else he could go, and that he had had another object also in coming. Handed over, he said roughly. The old woman fumbled in her pocket for her keys and disappeared behind the curtain into the other room. The young man, left standing alone in the middle of the room, listened inquisitively, thinking. He could hear her unlocking the chest of drawers.

Starting point is 00:14:55 It must be the top drawer, he reflected. So she carries the keys in a pocket on the right, all in one bunch on a steel ring. And there's one key there, three times as big as all the others, with deep notches. That can't be the key of the chest of drawers. Then there must be some other chest or a strong-box. That's worth knowing.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Strong-boxes always have keys like that. But how degrading it all is? The old woman came back. Here, sir, as we say, ten copex the ruble a month. So I must take fifteen kopeks from a ruble and a half for the month in advance. But for the two roubles I lent you before, you owe me now twenty kopeks on the same reckoning in advance. That makes thirty-five kopeks altogether. So I must give you a ruble and fifteen copex for the watch. Here it is. What? Only a ruble and fifteen kopeks now? Just so.

Starting point is 00:15:58 The young man did not dispute it and took the money. He looked at the old woman and was in no hurry to get away, as though there was still something he wanted to say or to do, but he did not himself quite know what. "'I may be bringing you something else in a day or two, Alyona Ivanovna, a valuable thing, silver, a cigarette-box, as soon as I get it back from a friend.' He broke off in confusion. "'Well, we will talk about it then, sir.' "'Good-bye.

Starting point is 00:16:30 Are you always at home alone? Your sister is not here with you?' He asked her as casually as possible as he went out into the passage. "'What business is she of yours, my good, sir?' "'Oh, nothing particular,' I simply asked. "'You are too quick. Good day, Alyona Ivanovna.' Ruskalnikov went out in complete confusion. This confusion became more and more intense. As he went down the stairs, he even stopped short two or three times, as though suddenly

Starting point is 00:17:03 struck by some thought. When he was in the street, he cried out, Oh, God, how loathsome it all is! And can I, can I possibly? No, it's nonsense, it's rubbish, he added resolutely. And how could such an atrocious thing come into my head? What filthy things my heart is capable of! Yes, filthy above all!

Starting point is 00:17:30 Disgusting, loathsome, loathsome! and for a whole month I've been—' But no words, no exclamations could express his agitation. The feeling of intense repulsion, which had begun to oppress and torture his heart while he was on his way to the old woman, had by now reached such a pitch and had taken such a definite form that he did not know what to do with himself to escape from its wretchedness. He walked along the pavement like a drunken man, regardless of the passers-by, and jostling against them, and only came to his senses when he was in the next street. Looking round, he noticed that he was standing close to a tavern which was entered

Starting point is 00:18:10 by steps leading from the pavement to the basement. At that instant, two drunken men came out at the door, and abusing and supporting one another, they mounted the steps. Without stopping to think, Ruskalnikov went down the steps at once. Till that moment, he had never been into a tavern, but now he felt giddy and was tormented by a burning thirst. He longed for a drink of cold beer, and attributed his sudden weakness to the one of food. He sat down at a sticky little table in a dark and dirty corner, ordered some beer, and eagerly drank off the first glassful. At once he felt easier, and his thoughts became

Starting point is 00:18:50 clear. "'All that's nonsense,' he said hopefully, and there's nothing in it at all to worry about. It's simply physical derangement. just a glass of beer, a piece of dry bread, and in one moment the brain is stronger, the mind is clearer, and the will is firm. Few, how utterly petty it all is! But in spite of this scornful reflection, he was by now looking cheerful as though he were suddenly set free from a terrible burden, and he gazed round in a friendly way at the people in the room.

Starting point is 00:19:27 But even at that moment he had a dim foreboding that this happier frame of mind was also not normal. There were few people at the time in the tavern. Besides the two drunken men he had met on the steps, a group consisting of about five men and a girl with a concertina had gone out at the same time. Their departure left the room quiet and rather empty. The person still in the tavern were a man who appeared to be an artisan,

Starting point is 00:19:54 drunk, but not extremely so, sitting before a pot of beer, and his companion, a huge stout man. with a gray beard, in a short, full-skirted coat. He was very drunk, and had dropped asleep on the bench. Every now and then he began as though in his sleep, cracking his fingers, with his arms wide apart and the upper part of his body bounding about on the bench, while he hummed some meaningless refrain, trying to recall some such lines as these. "'His wife a year he fondly loved. His wife a—a year he—' fondly loved.

Starting point is 00:20:33 Or suddenly, waking up again, Walking along the crowded row, he met the one he used to know. But no one shared his enjoyment. His silent companion looked with positive hostility and mistrust at all these manifestations. There was another man in the room who looked somewhat like a retired government clerk.

Starting point is 00:20:54 He was sitting apart, now and then sipping from his pot and looking round at the company. He, too, appeared to be in song. Magitation. End of Part 1, Chapter 1. Part 1, Chapter 2 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 1, Chapter 2 Russ Kalnikov was not used to crowds, and, as we said before, he avoided society of every sort, more especially of late. But now all at once he felt a desire to be with other people.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Something new seemed to be taking place within him, and with it he felt a sort of thirst for company. He was so weary after a whole month of concentrated wretchedness and gloomy excitement that he longed to rest, if only for a moment, in some other world, whatever it might be. and in spite of the filthiness of the surroundings, he was glad now to stay in the tavern. The master of the establishment was in another room, but he frequently came down some steps into the main room, his jaunty, tarred boots with red turnover tops, coming into view each time before the rest of his person. He wore a full coat and a horribly greasy black satin waistcoat, with no cravat,

Starting point is 00:22:30 and his whole face seemed smeared with oil like an iron lock. At the counter stood a boy of about fourteen, and there was another boy somewhat younger who handed whatever was wanted. On the counter lay some sliced cucumber, some pieces of dried black bread, and some fish, chopped up small, all smelling very bad. It was insufferably close, and so heavy with the fumes of spirits that five minutes in such an atmosphere might well make a man drunk. are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.

Starting point is 00:23:10 Such was the impression made on Ruskalnikov by the person sitting a little distance from him, who looked like a retired clerk. The young men often recall this impression afterwards, and even ascribed it to presentiment. He looked repeatedly at the clerk, partly no doubt, because the latter was staring persistently at him, obviously anxious to enter into conversation. At the other persons in the room, including the tavern-keeper, the clerk looked as though he were used to their company and weary of it, showing a shade of condescending contempt for them as persons of station and culture inferior to his own, with whom it would be useless

Starting point is 00:23:51 for him to converse. He was a man over fifty, bald and grizzled, of medium height and stoutly built. His face, bloated from continual drinking, was of a yellow, even greenish tinge, with swollen eyelids out of which keen reddish eyes gleamed like little chinks. But there was something very strange in him. There was a light in his eyes as though of intense feeling, perhaps there were even thought and intelligence, but at the same time there was a gleam of something like madness. He was wearing an old and hopelessly ragged black dresscoat, with all its buttons missing

Starting point is 00:24:31 except one, and that one he had buttoned, evidently clinging to this last trace of respectability. A crumpled shirt-front, covered with spots and stains, protruded from his canvas waistcoat. Like a clerk, he wore no beard nor mustache, but had been so long unshaven that his chin looked like a stiff, grayish brush. And there was something respectable and like an official about his manner, too. But he was restless. He ruffled up his hair, and from time to time let his head drop into his hands dejectedly, resting his ragged elbows on the stained and sticky table. At last he looked straight at Ruskalnikov, and said loudly and resolutely, "'May I venture, honored, sir, to engage you in polite conversation? For as much as,

Starting point is 00:25:22 though your exterior would not command respect, my experience admonishes me that you are a man of education and not accustomed to drinking. I have always respected education when in conjunction with genuine sentiments, and am besides a titular counselor in rank. Marmeledov, such is my name, titular counselor. I make bold to inquire, have you been in the service?' "'No, I am studying,' answered the young man. surprised at the grandiloquent style of the speaker, and also at being so directly addressed. In spite of the momentary desire he had just been feeling for company of any sort,

Starting point is 00:26:03 on being actually spoken to, he felt immediately his habitual, irritable, and uneasy aversion for any stranger who approached or attempted to approach him. "'A student, then, or formerly a student,' cried the clerk, "'just what I thought. I'm a man of experience. immense experience, sir, and he tapped his forehead with his fingers in self-approval. You've been a student or have attended some learned institution. But allow me! He got up, staggered, took up his jug and glass, and sat down beside the young man, facing him a little sideways. He was drunk, but spoke fluently and boldly,

Starting point is 00:26:45 only occasionally losing the thread of his sentences and drawling his words. He pounced upon Raskolnikov as greedily as though he too had not spoken to a soul for a month. Honored, sir, he began almost with solemnity. Poverty is not a vice. That's a true saying. Yet I know, too, that drunkenness is not a virtue, and that that's even truer. But beggary, honored sir, beggary is a vice. In poverty you may still retain your innate nobility of soul, But in beggary, never, no one. For beggary, a man is not chased out of human society with a stick. He has swept out with a broom, so as to make it as humiliating as possible. And quite right, too, for as much as in beggary, I am ready to be the first to humiliate myself.

Starting point is 00:27:39 Hence the pothouse. Honored, sir, a month ago, Mr. Lebeziatnov gave my wife a beating, and my wife is a very different matter for me. Do you understand? Allow me to ask you another question out of simple curiosity. Have you ever spent a night on a hay barge on the Neva?" No, I have not happened to, answer Russ Kalnakov. What do you mean? Well, I've just come from one, and it's the fifth night I've slept so. He filled his glass, emptied it, and paused. Bits of hay were in fact clinging to his clothes and sticking to his hair. It seemed quite probable that he had not undressed or washed for the last five days.

Starting point is 00:28:23 His hands, particularly, were filthy. They were fat and red, with black nails. His conversation seemed to excite a general, though languid, interest. The boys at the counter fell to sniggering. The innkeeper came down from the upper room, apparently on purpose to listen to the funny fellow, and sat down at a little distance, yawning lazily, but with dignity. Evidently, Marmeledov was a familiar figure here, and he had most likely acquired his

Starting point is 00:28:53 weakness for high-flown speeches from the habit of frequently entering into conversation with strangers of all sorts in the tavern. This habit develops into a necessity in some drunkards, and especially in those who have looked after sharply and kept in order at home. Hence, in the company of other drinkers they try to justify themselves and even if possible obtain consideration. Funny fellow, pronounced the innkeeper. And why don't you work? Why aren't you at your duty, if you're in the service?' "'Why am I not at my duty, honored sir?'

Starting point is 00:29:30 Marmeladov went on, addressing himself exclusively to Ruskalnikov, as though it had been he who put that question to him. "'Why am I not at my duty? Does not my heart ache to think what a useless worm I am?' A month ago, when Mr. Lebeziatnikov beat my first of my own. wife with his own hands, and I lay drunk, didn't I suffer? Excuse me, young man. Has it ever happened to you? Hmm, well, to petition hopelessly for a loan? Yes, it has. But what do you mean by hopelessly?

Starting point is 00:30:05 Hopelessly, in the fullest sense, when you know beforehand that you will get nothing by it. You know, for instance, beforehand with positive certainty that this man, this most reputable an exemplary citizen, will, on no consideration, give you money. And indeed, I ask you, why should he? For he knows, of course, that I shan't pay it back. From compassion? But Mr. Lebeziatnikov, who keeps up with modern ideas, explain the other day that compassion is forbidden nowadays by science itself, and that that's what is done now in England, where there is political economy. Why, I ask you, should you? Should he give it to me?

Starting point is 00:30:48 And yet, though I know beforehand that he won't, I said off to him, and Why do you go? Put in Raskolnikov. Well, when one has no one, nowhere else one can go. For every man must have somewhere to go, since there are times when one absolutely must go somewhere. When my own daughter first went out with a yellow ticket, then I had to go, for my daughter has a yellow passport, he added in parentheses, looking with a certain uneasiness

Starting point is 00:31:22 at the young man. "'No matter, sir, no matter.' He went on hurriedly, and with apparent composure when both the boys of the counter gaffed, and even the innkeeper smiled. "'No matter! I am not confounded by the wagging of their heads, for everyone knows everything about it already, and all that is secret is made open. And I accept it all, not with the same.

Starting point is 00:31:46 contempt, but with humility. So be it, so be it! Behold the man! Excuse me, young man, can you— Not to put it more strongly and more distinctly. Not can you, but dare you, looking upon me, assert that I am not a pig? The young man did not answer a word. Well, the orator began again stolidly and with even increased dignity,

Starting point is 00:32:13 after waiting for the laughter in the room to subside. Well, so be it. I am a pig, but she is a lady. I have the semblance of a beast, but Katerina Ivanovna, my spouse, is a person of education and an officer's daughter. Granted, granted, I am a scoundrel, but she is a woman of a noble heart, full of sentiments, refined by education. And yet, oh, if only she felt for me, "'honored, sir, honored sir, you know every man ought to have at least one place where people feel for him.' But, Katerina Ivanovna, though she is magnanimous, she is unjust, and yet, although I realize that when she pulls my hair, she only does it out of pity, for I repeat, without being ashamed,

Starting point is 00:33:04 she pulls my hair, young man,' he declared with redouble dignity, hearing the sniggering again. But, by God, if she would but once. But no, no, it's all in vain, and it's no use talking, no use talking. For more than once my wish did come true, and more than once she has fell for me, but such is my fate, and I am a beast by nature.' "'Rather,' assented the innkeeper yawning, Marmeladov struck his fist resolutely on the table. Such is my fate.

Starting point is 00:33:43 Do you know, sir, do you know, I have sold her very stockings for drink? Not her shoes, that would be more or less in the order of things, but her stockings. Her stockings I have sold for drink. Her Mohair shawl I sold for drink. A present to her long ago, her own property, not mine. And we live in a cold room, and she caught cold this winter, and has begun coughing and spitting blood, too. We have three little children, and Katerina Ivanovna is at work from morning till night. She is scrubbing and cleaning and washing the children, for she's been used to cleanliness

Starting point is 00:34:21 from a child. But her chest is weak, and she has a tendency to consumption, and I feel it. Do you suppose I don't feel it? And the more I drink, the more I feel it. That's why I drink, too. I try to find sympathy and feeling in drink. I drink so that I may suffer twice as much. And as though in despair he laid his head down on the table. Young man, he went on, raising his head again. In your face I seemed to read some trouble of mind. When you came in I read it, and that was why I dressed you at once. For in unfolding to you the story of my life, I do not wish to make myself a laughingstock before these idle listeners, who indeed know all about it already.

Starting point is 00:35:10 But I am looking for a man of feeling and education. Know, then, that my wife was educated in a high-class school for the daughters of nobleman, and on leaving she danced the shawl dance before the governor and other personages for which she was presented with a gold medal and a certificate of merit. The medal—well, the medal, of course, was sold long ago—hmm. But the certificate of merit is in her trunk still, and not long ago she showed it to our landlady. And, although she is most continually on bad terms with the landlady, yet she wanted to tell

Starting point is 00:35:47 someone or other of her past honors and of the happy days that are gone. I don't condemn her for it, I don't blame her, for the one thing left her is recollection of the past, and all the rest is dust and ashes. Yes, yes, she is a lady of spirit, proud and determined. She scrubs the floors herself and has nothing but black bread to eat, but won't allow herself to be treated with disrespect. That's why she would not overlook Mr. Lebeziatnikov's rudeness to her, and so when he gave her a beating for it, she took to her bed more from the hurt to her feelings

Starting point is 00:36:26 than from the blows. She was a widow when I married her, with three children. children, one smaller than the other. She married her first husband, an infantry officer, for love, and ran away with him from her father's house. She was exceedingly fond of her husband, but he gave way to cards, got into trouble, and with that he died. He used to beat her at the end, and although she paid him back, of which I have authentic documentary evidence, to this day she speaks of him with tears, and she throws him up to me. And I am glad. I am glad that, though only in imagination, she should think of herself as having

Starting point is 00:37:08 once been happy. And she was left at his death with three children in a wild and remote district, where I happened to be at the time. And she was left in such hopeless poverty that, although I have seen many ups and downs of all sort, I don't feel equal to describing it even. Her relations had all thrown her off. And she was proud, too, excessively proud. And then, honored sir, and then, I, being at the time a widower, with a daughter of fourteen, left me by my first wife, offered her my hand, for I could not bear the sight of such suffering. You can judge the extremity of her calamities that she, a woman of education and culture and distinguished

Starting point is 00:37:53 family, should have consented to be my wife. But she did, weeping and sobbing and sobbing, wringing her hands she married me. For she had nowhere to turn. Do you understand, sir? Do you understand what it means when you have absolutely nowhere to turn? No, that you don't understand yet. And for a whole year I performed my duties conscientiously and faithfully, and did not touch this, he tapped the jug with his finger, for I have feelings. But even so, I could not please her. And then I lost my place, too, and that through no fault of mine but through the changes in the office. And then I did touch it. It will be a year and a half ago soon, since we found ourselves at last after many wanderings and numerous calamities in this magnificent capital, adorned

Starting point is 00:38:49 with innumerable monuments. Here I obtained a situation. I obtained it, and I lost it again. Do you understand? This time it was a number of my own. It was through my own fault I lost it, for my weakness had come out. We have now part of a room at Amalia Fyodorovna Lipavetchals. And what we live upon and what we pay our rent with, I could not say. There are a lot of people living there besides ourselves. Dirt and disorder, a perfect bedlam. Hmm, yes.

Starting point is 00:39:22 And meanwhile, my daughter by my first wife has grown up. And what my daughter has had to put up with from her stepmother whilst she was growing up, I won't speak of. For, though Katerina Ivanovna is full of generous feelings, she is a spirited lady, irritable, and short-tempered. Yes, but it's no use going over that. Sonia, as you may well fancy, has had no education. I did make an effort four years ago to give her a course of geography and universal history,

Starting point is 00:39:54 but, as I was not very well up in those subjects myself, and we had no suitable books, and what books we had—hmm, anyway, we have not even those now, so all our instruction came to an end. We stopped at Cyrus of Persia. Since she has attained years of maturity, she has read other books of romantic tendency, and of late she had read with great interest a book she got through Mr. Lebeziatnikov, Lowe's physiology, do you know it, and even recounted extracts from it to us. And that's the whole of her education. And now may I venture to address you, honored sir, on my own account with a private question?

Starting point is 00:40:37 Do you suppose that a respectable poor girl can earn much by honest work? Not fifteen farthings a day can she earn, if she is respectable and has no special talent, and that without putting her work down for an instant. And what's more, Ivan Ivanovich Klopstock, the civil counsellor, have you heard of him, has not to this day paid her for the half-dozen linen shirt she made him, and drove her roughly away, stamping and reviling her, on the pretext that the shirt-collars were not made like the pattern and were put in askew. And there are the little ones hungry.

Starting point is 00:41:14 At Katerina Ivanovna walking up and down and wringing her hands, her cheeks flushed red, as they always are in that disease. "'Here you live with us,' says she. "'You eat and drink and are kept warm, and you do nothing to help.' "'And much she gets to eat and drink when there is not a crust for the little ones for three days.' "'I was lying at the time. "'Well, what of it?' "'I was lying drunk, and I heard my Sonia speaking.

Starting point is 00:41:42 "'She is a gentle creature with a soft little voice, "'fair hair and such a pale, thin little face.' She said, Katerina Ivanovna, am I really to do a thing like that? And Darya Franzovna, a woman of evil character and very well known to the police, had two or three times tried to get at her through the landlady. And why not? said Katerina Ivanovna with a jeer. You are something mighty precious to be so careful of.

Starting point is 00:42:12 But don't blame her, don't blame her, honoured sir, don't blame her. She was not herself when she spoke, but driven to distraction by her illness and the crying of the hungry children. And it is said more to wound her than anything else. For that's Katerina Ivanovna's character, and when children cry, even from hunger, she falls to beating them at once. At six o'clock I saw Sonia get up, put on her kerchief and her cape, and go out of the room, and about nine o'clock she came back.

Starting point is 00:42:43 She walked straight up to Katerina Ivanovna, and she laid thirty rubles on the table before her in silence. She did not utter a word. She did not even look at her. She simply picked up our big green drop-da-dam shawl. We have a shawl, made of dropped-a-dam, put it over her head and face, and lay down on the bed with her face to the wall. Only her little shoulders and her body kept shuddering. And I went on lying there, just as before. Then I saw, young man, I saw Katerina Ivanovna, in the same silence, go up to Sonia's little bed. She was on her knees all the evening kissing Sonia's feet and would not get up, and then they both fell asleep in each other's arms.

Starting point is 00:43:29 Together, together, together, yes, and I, lay drunk. Marmeladov stopped short, as though his voice had failed him. Then he hurriedly filled his glass, drank and cleared his throat. Since then, sir, he went on after a brief pause. Since then, owing to an unfortunate occurrence and through information given by evil-intentioned persons, in all which Darya Franzovna took a leading part on the pretext that she had been treated with want of respect. Since then, my daughter Sophia Semyonovna has been forced to take a yellow ticket, and

Starting point is 00:44:09 owing to that she is unable to go on living with us. For our landlady, Amelia Fyodorovna, would not hear of it. No, she had backed up Darya Franzovna before, and Mr. Lebeziatnikov, too. Hmm. All the trouble between him and Katerina Ivanovna was on Sonia's account. At first he was for making up to Sonia himself, and then all of a sudden he stood on his dignity. How, said he, can a highly educated man like me live in the same rooms with a girl like that? And Katerina Ivanovna would not let it pass. She stood up for her. And so that's how it happened.

Starting point is 00:44:50 And Sonia comes to us now, mostly after dark. She comforts Katerina Ivanovna and gives her all she can. She has a room at the Kapernaovs, the tailors. She lodges with them. Kepernimov is a lame man with a cleft palate, and all of his numerous family have cleft palates too. And his wife, too, has a cleft palate. They all live in one room, but Sonia has her own, partitioned off. Hmm, yes. Very poor people, and all with cleft palettes. Yes.

Starting point is 00:45:23 Then I got up in the morning and put on my rags, lifted up my hands to heaven, and set off to His Excellency Ivan Afanasovich. His Excellency Ivan Afanasovich, do you know him? No. Well, then, it's a man of God, don't you know? He is wax. Wax before the face of the Lord, even as wax melteth. His eyes were dim when he heard my story.

Starting point is 00:45:49 Marmeladov, once already you have deceived my expectations. I'll take you once more on my own responsibility. That's what he said. Remember, he said, and now you can go. I kiss the dust at his feet, in thought only, for in reality he would not have allowed me to do it, being a statesman and a man of modern political and enlightened ideas. I returned home, and when I announced that I'd been taken back into the service and should receive a salary, heavens, what a to-do there was!'

Starting point is 00:46:22 Marmeladoff stopped again in violent excitement. At that moment a whole party of revelers already drunk came in from the street, and the sounds of a hired concertina and the cracked piping voice of a child of seven singing the hamlet were heard in the entry. The room was filled with noise. The tavern keeper and the boys were busy with the newcomers. Marmeladov, paying no attention to the new arrivals, continued his story. He appeared by now to be extremely weak, but as he became more and more drunk, he became more and more talkative. The recollection of his recent success in getting the situation seemed to revive him, and was positively reflected in a sort of radiance on

Starting point is 00:47:04 his face. Ross Kalnikov listened attentively. That was five weeks ago, sir. Yes. As soon as Katerina Ivanovna and Sonia heard of it, mercy on us, it was as though I stepped into the kingdom of heaven. It used to be, you can lie like a beast, nothing but abuse. Now they were walking on tiptoe, hushing the children. Semyon Saharovic is tired with his work at the office. He is resting. They made me coffee before I went to work and boiled cream for me. They began to get real cream for me. Do you hear that? And how they managed to get together the money for a decent outfit?

Starting point is 00:47:47 Eleven rubles, fifty kopecks, I can't guess. Boots, cotton shirt fronts, most magnificent, a uniform. They got it all up in splendid style, for eleven roubles and a half. The first morning I came back from the office, I found Katerina Ivanovna had cooked. took two courses for dinner, soup and salt meat with horseradish, which we had never dreamed of till then. She had not any dresses, none at all, but she got herself up as though she were going on a visit. And not that she'd anything to do it with, she smirred herself up with nothing at all.

Starting point is 00:48:24 She'd done her hair nicely, put on a clean collar of some sort, cuffs, and there she was, quite a different person. She was younger and better-looking. Sonia, my little darling, had only helped with money for the time, she said. It won't do for me to come and see you too often, after dark maybe, when no one can see. Do you hear? Do you hear? I laid down for a nap after dinner, and what do you think?

Starting point is 00:48:51 Though Katerina Ivanovna had quarreled to the last degree with our landlady, Amelia Fyodorovna, only a week before, she could not resist then asking her into coffee. For two hours they were sitting, whispering together. "'Semian Zaharovitch is in the service again now and receiving a salary,' says she. And he went himself to his excellency, and his excellency himself came out to him, made all the others wait and led Semyon Saharovitch by the hand before everybody into his study. "'Do you hear? Do you hear?'

Starting point is 00:49:23 "'To be sure,' says he, "'Semian Zaharovitch, remembering your past service,' says he, in spite of your propensity to that foolish weakness, since you promise now, and since, moreover, we've got on badly without you. Do you hear? Do you hear? And so, says he, I rely now on your word as a gentleman. And all that, let me tell you, she has simply made up for herself, not simply out of wantonness, for the sake of bragging. No, she believes at all herself.

Starting point is 00:49:56 She amuses herself with her own fancies. upon my word she does. And I don't blame her for it. No, I don't blame her. Six days ago, when I brought her my first earnings in full, 23 rubles, 40 copax altogether, she called me her puppet. Puppet, said she, my little puppet. And when we were by ourselves, you understand, you would not think me a beauty, you would not think much of me as a husband, would you?

Starting point is 00:50:26 Well, she pinched my cheek, My little puppet, said she. Marmeledov broke off, tried to smile, but suddenly his chin began to twitch. He controlled himself, however. The tavern, the degraded appearance of the man, the five knights in the hay barge, and the pot of spirits, and yet this poignant love for his wife and children bewildered his listener. Raskolnikov listened intently but with a sick sensation. He felt vexed that he had come here.

Starting point is 00:50:58 "'honored, sir, honored sir!' cried Marmeledov, recovering himself. "'Oh, sir, perhaps all this seems a laughing matter to you, as it does to others, and perhaps I am only worrying you with the stupidity of all the trivial details of my home life, but it is not a laughing matter to me. For I can feel it all. And the whole of that heavenly day of my life and the whole of that evening I passed in fleeting dreams of how I would arrange at all, and how I would dress all the children, and how I should give her rest, and how I should rescue my own daughter from dishonor and restore her to the bosom of her family, and a great deal more.

Starting point is 00:51:41 Quite excusable, sir. Well, then, sir. Marmeledov suddenly gave a sort of start, raised his head, and gazed intently at his listener. Well, on the very next day, after all those dreams, that is to say, exactly five days ago, in the evening, by a cunning trick, like a thief in the night. I stole from Katerina Ivanovna the key of her box, took out what was left of my earnings, how much it was I have forgotten, and now look at me, all of you. It's the fifth day since I left home, and they are looking for me there, and it's the end of my employment, and my uniform is lying in a tavern

Starting point is 00:52:21 on the Egyptian bridge. I exchanged it for the garments I have on, and it's the end of everything. Marmeledov struck his forehead with his fist, clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, and leaned heavily with his elbow on the table. But a minute later, his face suddenly changed, and with a certain assumed sliness and affection of bravado, he glanced at Raskolnikov, laughed and said, This morning I went to see Sonia. I went to ask her for a pick-me-up. He-ha-ha. You don't say she gave it to you. cried one of the newcomers. He shouted the words and went off into a gaffa. "'This very quart was bought with her money,' Marmeladov declared, addressing himself

Starting point is 00:53:10 exclusively to Rus Kalnikov. "'Thirty Kopeck she gave me with her own hands. Her last, all she had as I saw. She said nothing. She only looked at me without a word. Not on earth, but up yonder. They grieve over men, they weep, but they weep, but they They don't blame them. They don't blame them. But it hurts more. It hurts more when they don't blame. Thirty COPEX, yes. And maybe she needs them now, eh? What do you think, my dear sir? For now she's got to keep up her appearance. It costs money. That smartness, that special smartness, you know. Do you understand? And there's pomatum, too, you see. She must have things. Petticoats, starched ones, shoes, too, real jaunty ones to show off her foot when she has to step over a puddle.

Starting point is 00:54:03 Do you understand, sir? Do you understand what all that smartness means? And here I, her own father, here I took thirty copeks of that money for a drink. And I am drinking it, and I have already drunk it. Come, who will have pity on a man like me, eh? Are you sorry for me, sir, or not? Tell me, sir, are you sorry or not? He would have filled his glass, but there was no drink left. The pot was empty. What are you to be pitied for?

Starting point is 00:54:39 shouted the tavern-keeper, who was again near them. Shouts of laughter and even oaths followed. The laughter and the oaths came from those who were listening, and also from those who had heard nothing, but were simply looking at the figure of the discharged government clerk. "'To be pitied! Why am I to be pitied?' Marmeladov suddenly declaimed, standing up with his arm outstretched, as though he had been only waiting for that question. "'Why am I to be pitied, you say?'

Starting point is 00:55:10 "'Yes. There's nothing to pity me for. I ought to be crucified, crucified on a cross, not pitied. Crucify me, O judge. Crucify me, but pity me. And then I will go of myself to be crucified, for it's not merry-making I seek, but tears and tribulation. Do you suppose, you that sell, that this pint of yours has been sweet to me? It was tribulation I sought at the bottom of it, tears and tribulation, and have found it, and I have tasted it. But he will pity us who has pity on all men, who has understood all men and all things. He is the one, he too is the judge.

Starting point is 00:55:54 He will come in that day, and he will ask, Where is the daughter who gave herself for her cross-consumptive stepmother, and for the little children of another? Where is the daughter, who had pity upon the filthy drunkard, her earthly father, undismayed by his beastliness? And he will say, Come to me, I have already forgiven thee once, I have forgiven thee once,

Starting point is 00:56:19 Thy sins which are many are forgiven thee, for thou hast loved much. And he will forgive my Sonia. He will forgive, I know it. I felt it in my heart when I was with her just now. And he will judge and will forgive all, the good and the evil, the wise and the meek. And when he has done with all of them,

Starting point is 00:56:42 then he will summon us. You too come forth, he will say. Come forth ye drunkards. Come forth ye weak ones. Come forth ye children of shame. And we shall all come forth, without shame, and shall stand before him. And he will say unto us, ye are swine, made in the image of the beast, and with his mark, but come ye also. And the wise ones, and those of understanding, will say,

Starting point is 00:57:10 O Lord, why dost thou receive these men? And he will say, this is why I receive them, O ye wise, this is why I receive them, O ye of understanding, that not thou thou. Not one of them believed himself to be worthy of this. And he will hold out his hands to us, and we shall fall down before him, and we shall weep, and we shall understand all things. Then we shall understand all, and all will understand. Katerina Ivanovna even, she will understand. Lord, thy kingdom come!"

Starting point is 00:57:46 And he sank down on the bench exhausted and helpless, looking at no one, apparently oblivious of his surroundings and plunged in deep thought. His words had created a certain impression. There was a moment of silence, but soon laughter and oaths were heard again. That's his notion. Talked himself silly. A fine clerk he is. And so on and so on. Let us go, sir, said Marmelovedov all at once, raising his head and addressing Ruskalnikov. Come along with me. Kozel's house, looking out into the yard. I'm going to Katerina Ivanovna.

Starting point is 00:58:26 Time I did. Ruskalnikov had for some time been wanting to go, and he had met to help him. Marmeladov was much unsteadyer on his legs than in his speech, and leaned heavily on the young man. They had two or three hundred paces to go. The drunken man was more and more overcome by dismay and confusion as they drew nearer the house. It's not Katerina Ivanovna I'm afraid of now, he muttered in agitation, and that she will begin pulling my hair. What does my hair matter?

Starting point is 00:59:01 Bother my hair! That's what I say. Indeed, it will be better if she does begin pulling it. That's not what I'm afraid of. It's her eyes I am afraid of. Yes, her eyes. The red on her cheeks, too, frightens me, and her breathing, too. Have you noticed how people in that disease breathe when they are excited?

Starting point is 00:59:22 I am frightened of the children's crying, too, for if Sonia has not taken them food, I don't know what's happened, I don't know, but blows I am not afraid of. No, sir, that such blows are not a pain to me, but even an enjoyment. In fact, I can't get on without it. It's better so. Let her strike me, it relieves her heart. It's better so. There is the house. The house of Kozel, the cabinetmaker, a German, well-to-do. Lead the way.

Starting point is 00:59:57 They went in from the yard and up to the fourth story. The staircase got darker and darker as they went up. It was nearly eleven o'clock, and although in summer in Petersburg there is no real night, yet it was quite dark at the top of the stairs. A grimy little door at the very top of the stairs stood ajar. A very poor-looking room about ten paces long was lighted up by a candle-end. The whole of it was visible from the entrance. It was all in disorder, littered up with rags of all sorts, especially children's garments.

Starting point is 01:00:31 Across the furthest corner was stretched a ragged sheet. Behind it probably was the bed. There was nothing in the room except two chairs and a sofa covered with American leather, full of holes, before which stood an old-deal kitchen-tenthed. table, unpainted and uncovered. At the edge of the table stood a smoldering tallow candle in an iron candlestick. It appeared that the family had a room to themselves, not part of a room, but their room was practically a passage.

Starting point is 01:01:01 The door leading to the other rooms, or rather cupboards, into which Amelia Lepershevel's flat was divided, stood half open, and there was shouting, uproar, and laughter within. People seemed to be playing cards and drinking tea there. Words of the most unceremonious kind flew out from time to time. Ruskalnikov recognized Katerina Avanovna at once. She was a rather tall, slim, and graceful woman, terribly emaciated, with magnificent dark brown hair and with a hectic flush in her cheeks. She was pacing up and down in her little room, pressing her hands against her chest.

Starting point is 01:01:39 Her lips were parched, and her breathing came in nervous, broken gasps. Her eyes glittered as in fever and looked about with a harsh, immovable stare. And that consumptive and excited face with the last flickering light of the candle-end playing upon it made a sickening impression. She seemed to Raskolnikov about thirty years old, and was certainly a strange wife for Marmolodov. She had not heard them and did not notice them coming in. She seemed to be lost in thought, hearing and seeing nothing.

Starting point is 01:02:13 The room was close, but she had not opened the window. A stench rose from the staircase, but the door onto the stairs was not closed. From the inner rooms clouds of tobacco smoke floated in. She kept coughing, but did not close the door. The youngest child, a girl of six, was asleep, sitting curled up on the floor with her head on the sofa. A boy a year older stood crying and shaking in the corner. Probably he had just had a beating.

Starting point is 01:02:41 beside him stood a girl of nine years old, tall and thin, wearing a thin and ragged chemise with an ancient Kashmir police flung over her bare shoulders, long outgrown and barely reaching her knees. Her arm, as thin as a stick, was round her brother's neck. She was trying to comfort him, whispering something to him, and doing all she could to keep him from whimpering again. At the same time, her large dark eyes, which looked larger still from the thin of her frightened face, were watching her mother with alarm. Marmeladov did not enter the door, but dropped on his knees in the very doorway, pushing Raskolnikov in front of him. The woman seeing a stranger stopped indifferently facing him, coming to herself for a moment and apparently

Starting point is 01:03:28 wondering what he had come for. But evidently she decided that he was going into the next room, as he had to pass through hers to get there. Taking no further notice of him, she walked towards the outer door to close it and uttered a sudden scream on seeing her husband on his knees in the doorway. Ah! she cried out in a frenzy. He has come back! The criminal, the monster! And where is the money? What's in your pocket? Show me! And your clothes are all different! Where are your clothes? Where is the money? Speak! She fell to searching him. Marmeladov submissively and obediently held up both arms to facilitate the search. Not a far. Arthing was there.

Starting point is 01:04:12 "'Where is the money?' she cried. "'Mercy on us! Can he have drunk it all? There were twelve silver rubles left in the chest.' And in a fury she seized him by the hair and dragged him into the room. Marmeladov seconded her efforts by meekly crawling along on his knees. "'And this is a consolation to me. This does not hurt me, but is a positive consolation, "'honored, sir!' he called out, shaken to and fro by his hair, and even once, striking the ground with his forehead. The child asleep on the floor woke up and began to cry. The boy in the corner, losing all control, began trembling and screaming and rushing to his sister in violent terror,

Starting point is 01:04:56 almost in a fit. The eldest girl was shaking like a leaf. "'He's drunk it! He's drunk at all!' The poor woman screamed in despair, and his clothes are gone, and they're hungry, hungry! And wringing her hands she pointed to the children. Oh, a curse at life! And you, are you not ashamed? She pounced all at once upon Roskalnikov. From the tavern! Have you been drinking with him? Have you been drinking with him, too? Go away!

Starting point is 01:05:30 The young man was hastening away without uttering a word. The inner door was thrown wide open, and he was thrown wide open, and he was, inquisitive faces were peering in at it. Coarse-laughing faces with pipes and cigarettes and heads wearing caps thrust themselves in at the doorway. Further in could be seen figures in dressing-gowns flung open, in costumes of unseemly scantiness, some of them with cards in their hands. They were particularly diverted when Marmelodov, dragged about by his hair, shouted that it

Starting point is 01:06:00 was a consolation to him. They even began to come into the room. At last a sinister shrill outcry was heard. This came from Amelia Leposhevel herself, pushing her way amongst them and trying to restore order after her own fashion, and for the hundredth time to frighten the poor woman by ordering her with coarse abuse to clear out of the room next day. As he went out, Raskolnikov had time to put his hand into his pocket,

Starting point is 01:06:26 to snatch up the coppers he had received in exchange for his rubble in the tavern, and to lay them unnoticed on the window. Afterwards on the stairs he changed his mind and would have gone back. "'What a stupid thing I've done,' he thought to himself. "'They have Sonia and I want it myself.' But reflecting that it would be impossible to take it back now and that in any case he would not have taken it, he dismissed it with a wave of his hand and went back to his lodging.

Starting point is 01:06:56 Sonia once pomatum too, he said as he walked along the street, and he laughed malignantly. And such smartness costs money. Hmm. And maybe Sonia herself will be bankrupt today, for there is always a risk, hunting big game, digging for gold. Then they would all be without a crust tomorrow, except for my money. Hurrah for Sonia!

Starting point is 01:07:19 What a mind they've dug there! And they're making the best of it. Yes, they are making the most of it. They've wept over it and grown used to it. Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel. He sank into thought. And what if I am wrong? He cried suddenly, after a moment's thought.

Starting point is 01:07:40 What if man is not really a scoundrel? Man in general, I mean, the whole race of mankind. Then all the rest is prejudice, simply artificial terrors, and there are no barriers, and it's all as it should be. End of Part 1, Chapter 2. Part 1, Chapter 3, of Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Slibervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 01:08:25 Part 1, Chapter 3 He waked up late next day after a broken sleep, but his sleep had not refreshed him. He waked up bilious, irritable, ill-tempered, and looked with hatred at his room. It was a tiny cupboard of a room about six paces. in length. It had a poverty-stricken appearance, with its dusty yellow paper peeling off the walls, and it was so low-pitched that a man of more than average height was ill at ease in it and felt every moment that he would knock his head against the ceiling. The furniture was in keeping with the room. There were three old chairs, rather rickety,

Starting point is 01:09:04 a painted table in the corner on which lay a few manuscripts and books. The dust that lay thick upon them showed that they had been long untouched. A big clumsy sofa occupied almost the whole of one wall and half the floor space of the room. It was once covered with chintz, but was now in rags and served Ruskalnikov as a bed. Often he went to sleep on it, as he was, without undressing, without sheets, wrapped in his old student's overcoat, with his head on one little pillow, under which he he heaped up all the linen he had, clean and dirty by way of a bolster. A little table stood in his own little table stood in in front of the sofa. It would have been difficult to sink to a lower ebb of disorder,

Starting point is 01:09:49 but to Raskolnikov, in his present state of mind, this was positively agreeable. He had got completely away from everyone, like a tortoise in its shell, and even the sight of a servant girl who had to wait upon him and look sometimes into his room made him writhe with nervous irritation. He was in the condition that overtake some monomaniacs entirely concentrated upon one thing. His landlady had for the last fortnight given up sending him in meals, and he had not yet thought of expostulating with her, though he went without his dinner. Nastassia, the cook and only servant, was rather pleased at the lodger's mood, and had entirely given up sweeping and doing his room. Only once a week or so she would stray into his room with a broom.

Starting point is 01:10:36 She waked him up that day. "'Get up! Why are you asleep?' she called to him. It's past nine. I have brought you some tea. Will you have a cup? I should think you're fairly starving." Russ Kalnikov opened his eyes, started, and recognized Nastassia. "'From the landlady, eh?' he asked, slowly and with a sickly face sitting up on the sofa. "'From the landlady, indeed!'

Starting point is 01:11:04 She sat before him her own cracked teapot full of weak and stale tea, and laid two yellow lumps of sugar by the side of it. "'Here, Nastassia, take it, please,' he said, fumbling in his pocket, for he had slept in his clothes, and taking out a handful of coppers. "'Run and buy me a loaf, and get me a little sausage, the cheapest at the pork-butchers.' "'The loaf I'll fetch you this very minute, but wouldn't you rather have some cabbage soup instead of sausage? It's capital soup yesterday's.

Starting point is 01:11:37 I saved it for you yesterday, but you came in late. It's fine soup.' When the soup had been brought and he had begun upon it, Nastassia sat down beside him on the sofa and began chatting. She was a country peasant woman and a very talkative one. Prescovia Pavlovna means to complain to the police about you, she said. He scowled. To the police?

Starting point is 01:12:03 What does she want? You don't pay her money and you won't turn out of the room. That's what she wants to be sure. The devil, that's the last straw, he muttered, grinding his teeth. No, that would not suit me, just now. She is a fool, he added aloud. I'll go and talk to her today. Fool she is, and no mistake, just as I am. But why, if you are so clever, do you lie here like a sack and have nothing to show for it?

Starting point is 01:12:34 One time you used to go out, you say, to teach children. But why is it you do nothing now? I am doing," Raskolnikov began sullenly and reluctantly. What are you doing? Work. What sort of work? I am thinking, he answered seriously, after a pause. Nastassia was overcome with a fit of laughter.

Starting point is 01:13:00 She was given to laughter, and when anything amused her, she laughed inaudibly, quivering and shaking all over till she felt ill. And, have you made much money by your thinking? She managed to articulate at last. One can't go out to give lessons without boots, and I'm sick of it. Don't quarrel with your bread and butter. They pay so little for lessons. What's the use of a few coppers?

Starting point is 01:13:28 He answered, reluctantly, as though replying to his own thought. And you went to get a fortune all at once? He looked at her strangely. Yes, I want a fortune," he answered firmly, after a brief pause. "'Don't be in such a hurry. You quite frighten me. Shall I get the loaf or not?' "'As you please.' "'Ah, I forgot. A letter came for you yesterday when you were out.' "'A letter? For me? From home?'

Starting point is 01:14:00 "'I can't say. I gave three copes of my own to the postman for it. Will you pay me back?' Then bring it to me, for God's sake, bring it!" cried Ruskalnikov, greatly excited. Good God!" A minute later the letter was brought him. That was it, from his mother, from the province of R. He turned pale when he took it. It was a long while since he had received a letter, but another feeling also suddenly stabbed his heart.

Starting point is 01:14:31 Nastassia, leave me alone for goodness sake. Here are your three Kopecks. for goodness sake, make haste and go!" The letter was quivering in his hand. He did not want to open it in her presence. He wanted to be left alone with his letter. When Nastassia had gone out, he lifted it quickly to his lips and kissed it. Then he gazed intently at the address, the small, sloping handwriting, so dear and familiar,

Starting point is 01:14:59 of the mother who had once taught him to read and write. He delayed. He seemed almost afraid. of something. At last he opened it. It was a thick, heavy ladder, weighing over two ounces. Two large sheets of note-paper were covered with very small handwriting. "'My dear Roja,' wrote his mother, "'it's two months since I last had a talk with you by letter which has distressed me, and even kept me awake at night, thinking. But I am sure you will not blame me for my inevitable silence.' "'You know how I love you. You are all we have. You are all we have.

Starting point is 01:15:37 to look to, Donya and I. You are our all, our one hope, our one stay. What a grief it was to me when I heard that you had given up the university some months ago, for want of means to keep yourself, and that you had lost your lessons and your other work. How could I help you out of my hundred and twenty roubles a year pension? The fifteen roubles I sent you four months ago I borrowed, as you know, on security of my pension, Vasily Ivanovach, Varushkin, a merchant of this town. He is a kind-hearted man, and was a friend of your father's too. But having giving him the right to receive the pension, I had to wait till the debt was paid off, and that is only just done, so that I've been unable to send you

Starting point is 01:16:24 anything all this time. But now, thank God, I believe I shall be able to send you something more, and in fact we may congratulate ourselves on our good fortune now, of which I hasten to inform you. In the first place, would you have guessed, dear Rodya, that your sister has been living with me for the last six weeks, and we shall not be separated in the future? Thank God her sufferings are over, but I will tell you everything in order, so that you may know just how everything has happened and all that we have hitherto concealed from you. When you wrote to me two months ago that you had heard that Donya had a great deal to put up with in the Svidre Gailov's house, when you wrote that and asked me to tell you all

Starting point is 01:17:07 about it, what could I write an answer to you? If I had written the whole truth to you, I dare say you would have thrown up everything and have come to us, even if you had to walk all the way, for I know your character and your feelings, and you would not let your sister be insulted. I was in despair myself, but what could I do? And besides, I did not know the whole truth myself then. What made it all so difficult was that Donya received a hundred roubles in advance when she took the place as governess in their family, on condition of part of her salary being deducted every month. And so it was impossible to throw up the situation without repaying the debt.

Starting point is 01:17:51 This sum, now I can explain it all to you, my precious Rodya, she took chiefly in order to send you sixty roubles, which you needed so terribly then and which you received from us last year. We deceived you then, writing that this money came from Donya's savings, but that was not so. And now I tell you all about it, because, thank God, things have suddenly changed for the better. And that you may know how Donya loves you and what a heart she has. At first, indeed, Mr. Svidra Gailov treated her very rudely, and used to make disrespectful, enduring remarks at table. But I don't want to go into all these painful details. so as not to worry you for nothing when it is now all over.

Starting point is 01:18:36 In short, in spite of the kind and generous behavior of Marfa Petrovna, Mr. Svidrigailov's wife and all the rest of the household, Donya had a very hard time, especially when Mr. Svidrigailov, relapsing into his old regimental habits, was under the influence of Bacchus. And how do you think it was all explained later on? Would you believe that the crazy fellow had conceived a passion for Doniolns? from the beginning, but had concealed it under a show of rudeness and contempt. Possibly he was ashamed and horrified himself at his own flighty hopes,

Starting point is 01:19:12 considering his years and his being the father of a family, and that made him angry with Donya, and possibly too he hoped by his rude and sneering behavior to hide the truth from others. But at last he lost all control and had the face to make Donya an open and shameful proposal, promising her all sorts of inducements and offering besides to throw up everything and take her to another estate of his, or even abroad. You can imagine all she went through. To leave her situation at once was impossible, not only on account of the money debt, but also to spare the feelings of Marfa Petrovna, whose suspicions would have been aroused,

Starting point is 01:19:56 and then Donya would have been the cause of a rupture in the family. and it would have meant a terrible scandal for Donya, too. That would have been inevitable. There were various other reasons owing to which Donya could not hope to escape from that awful house for another six weeks. You know Donya, of course. You know how clever she is and what a strong will she has. Donya can endure a great deal, and even in the most difficult cases she has the fortitude to maintain her firmness. She did not even write to me about everything for fear of upsetting me, although we were constantly in communication. It all ended very unexpectedly. Marfa Petrovna accidentally overheard her husband

Starting point is 01:20:41 imploring Doña in the garden, and putting quite a wrong interpretation on the position, through the blame upon her, believing her to be the cause of it all. An awful scene took place between them on the spot in the garden. Marfa Petrovna went so far as to strike Donya, refused to hear anything, and was shouting at her for a whole hour, and then gave orders that Donya should be packed off at once to me in a plain peasant's cart, into which they flung all her things, her linen and her clothes, all pell-mell without folding it up and packing it. And a heavy shower of rain came on too, and Donya, insulted and put to shame, had to drive with a peasant in an open cart all the seventeen verses into town.

Starting point is 01:21:26 Only think now what answer could I have sent to the letter I received from you two months ago, and what could I have written? I was in despair. I dare not write to you the truth, because you would have been very unhappy, mortified, and indignant, and yet what could you do? You could only, perhaps, ruin yourself, and besides, Donya would not allow it, and fill up my letter with trifles when my heart was so full of sorrow I could not. For a whole month the town was full of gossip about this scandal, and it came to such a pass

Starting point is 01:22:02 that Donya and I dare not even go to church on account of the contemptuous looks, whispers, and even remarks made aloud about us. All our acquaintances avoided us. Nobody even bowed to us in the street. And I learned that some shopmen and clerks were in tenets. to insult us in a shameful way, smearing the gates of our house with pitch, so that the landlord began to tell us we must leave. All this was set going by Marfa Petrovna, who managed to slander Donia and throw dirt at her in every family. She knows everyone in the neighborhood, and that month she was continually coming into the town, and as she is rather talkative and fond

Starting point is 01:22:43 of gossiping about her family affairs, and particularly of complaining to all in each of her husband, which is not at all right, so in a short time she had spread her story not only in the town, but over the whole surrounding district. It made me ill, but Donya bore it better than I did, and if only you could have seen how she endured it all and tried to comfort me and cheer me up. She is an angel, but by God's mercy our sufferings were cut short. Mr. Svidra Gailov returned to his senses and repented, and, probably feeling sorry for Donya, he laid before Marfa Petrovna a complete and unmistakable

Starting point is 01:23:23 proof of Donya's innocence. In the form of a letter Donya had been forced to write and give to him, before Marfa Petrovna came upon them in the garden. This letter, which remained in Mr. Svidra Geylov's hands after her departure, she had written to refuse personal explanations and secret interviews for which he was entreating her. In that letter she reproached him with great heat and indignation for the baseness of his behavior in regard to Marfa Petrovna, reminding him that he was the father and head of a family, and telling him how infamous it was of him to torment and make unhappy a defenseless girl, unhappy enough already.

Starting point is 01:24:03 Indeed, dear Rodya, the letter was so nobly and touchingly written that I sobbed when I read it, and to this day I cannot read it without tears. Moreover, the evidence of the servants, too, cleared Donya's reputation. They had seen and known a great deal more than Mr. Svidrigailov had himself supposed, as indeed is always the case with servants. Marfa Petrovna was completely taken aback and again crushed, as she said herself to us, but she was completely convinced of Donya's innocence. The very next day, being Sunday, she went straight to the cathedral, knelt down and

Starting point is 01:24:43 prayed with tears to our lady to give her strength to bear this new trial and to do her duty. Then she came straight from the cathedral to us, told us the whole story, wept bitterly and fully penitent, she embraced Donya and besought her to forgive her. The same morning, without any delay, she went round to all the houses in the town and everywhere, shedding tears. She asserted in the most flattering terms Donya's innocence, and the nobility of her feelings and her behavior. What was more, she showed and read to everyone the letter in Donia's own handwriting to Mr. Svidra Gailov, and even allowed them to take copies of it, which, I must say, I think was superfluous.

Starting point is 01:25:26 In this way she was busy for several days in driving about the whole town, because some people had taken offense through precedence having been given to others. And therefore they had to take turns, so that in every house she was expected before she arrived, and everyone knew that on such-and-such-a-day Marfa Petrovna would be reading the letter in such-and-such-a-place, and people assembled for every reading of it, even many who had heard it several times already, both in their own houses and in other peoples. In my opinion, a great deal, a very great deal of all this was unnecessary. But that's Marfa Petrovna's character. Anyway, she succeeded in completely re-establishing Donya's reputation, and the whole ignom

Starting point is 01:26:12 many of this affair rested as an indelible disgrace upon her husband, as the only person to blame, so that I really began to feel sorry for him. It was really treating the crazy fellow too harshly. Donya was at once asked to give lessons in several families, but she refused. All of a sudden, everyone began to treat her with marked respect, and all this did much to bring about the event by which, one may say, our whole fortunes are now transformed. You must know, dear Rodya, that Donya has a suitor, and that she has already consented to marry him. I hasten to tell you all about the matter, and though it has been arranged without asking

Starting point is 01:26:54 your consent, I think you will not be aggrieved with me or with your sister on that account, for you will see that we could not wait and put off our decision till we heard from you. And you could not have judged all the facts without being on the spot. This is how it happened. He is already of the rank of a counsellor, Petrovich Luzon, and is distantly related to Marfa Petrovna, who has been very active in bringing the match about. He began with his expressing through her his desire to make our acquaintance. He was properly received, drank coffee with us, and the very next day he sent us a letter in which he very courteously made an offer,

Starting point is 01:27:34 and begged for a speedy and decided answer. He is a very busy man, and is in a very busy man, and is in a great hurry to get to Petersburg, so that every moment is precious to him. At first, of course, we were greatly surprised, as it had all happened so quickly and unexpectedly. We thought and talked it over the whole day. He is a well-to-do man, to be dependent upon. He has two posts in the government, and has already made his fortune. It is true that he is forty-five years old, but he is of a fairly prepossessing appearance, and might still be thought attractive by women. And he is altogether a very respectable and presentable man, only he seems a little morose and somewhat conceited. But possibly that may only be the impression he makes at first sight.

Starting point is 01:28:25 And beware, dear Rodya, when he comes to Petersburg, as he shortly will do. Beware of judging him too hastily and severely as your way is, if there is anything you do not love. like in him at first sight. I give you this warning, although I feel sure that he will make a favorable impression upon you. Moreover, in order to understand any man, one must be deliberate and careful to avoid forming prejudices and mistaken ideas, which are very difficult to correct and get over afterwards. And Piotr Petrovich, judging by many indications, is a thoroughly estimable man. At his first visit, indeed, he told us that he was a practical man, but he still shares, as he expressed it, many of the convictions of our most

Starting point is 01:29:12 rising generation, and he is an opponent of all prejudices. He said a good deal more, for he seems a little conceited and likes to be listened to, but this is scarcely a vice. I, of course, understood very little of it, but Donya explained to me that, though he is not a man of great education, He is clever and seems to be good-natured. You know your sister's character, Rodia. She is a resolute, sensible, patient and generous girl, but she has a passionate heart, as I know very well. Of course there is no great love either on his side or on hers,

Starting point is 01:29:49 but Donia is a clever girl and has the heart of an angel, and will make it her duty to make her husband happy, who on his side will make her happiness his care. Of that we have no good. reason to doubt, though it must be admitted the matter has been arranged in great haste. Besides, he is a man of great prudence, and will see to be sure of himself that his own happiness will be the more secure, the happier Donya is with him. And as for some defects of character, for some habits and even certain differences of

Starting point is 01:30:22 opinion, which indeed are inevitable even in the happiest marriages, Donya has said that, as regards all that, she relies on herself, that there is nothing to be uneasy about, and that she is ready to put up with a great deal, if only their future relationship can be an honorable and straightforward one. He struck me, for instance, at first, as rather abrupt, but that may well come from his being an outspoken man, and that is no doubt how it is. For instance, at his second visit, after he had received Donya's consent, in the course of of conversation, he declared that, before making Donya's acquaintance, he had made up his mind

Starting point is 01:31:01 to marry a girl of good reputation, without dowry, and above all, one who had experienced poverty, because, as he explained, a man ought not to be indebted to his wife, but that it is better for a wife to look upon her husband as her benefactor. I must add that he expressed it more nicely and politely than I have done, for I have forgotten his actual phrases and only remember the meaning. And besides, it was obviously not said of a design, but slipped out in the heat of conversation, so that he tried afterwards to correct himself and smooth it over, but all the same it did strike me as somewhat rude, and I said so afterwards to Donya. But Donya was vexed, and answered that, words are not deeds, and that, of course, is perfectly true.

Starting point is 01:31:48 Donya did not sleep all night before she made up her mind, and thinking that I was asleep, she got out of bed and was walking up and down the room all night. At last she knelt down before the icon and prayed long and fervently, and in the morning she told me that she had decided. I have mentioned already that Piotr Petrovich is just setting off for Petersburg, where he has a great deal of business, and he wants to open a legal bureau. He has been occupied for many years in conducting civil and commercial litigation, and only the other day he won an important case. He has to be in Petersburg because he has an important case before the Senate. So, Rodyear, he may be of greatest use to you in every way indeed, and Donya and I have agreed

Starting point is 01:32:35 that from this very day you could definitely enter upon your career and might consider that your fortune is marked out and assured for you. Oh, if only this comes to pass, this would be such a benefit that we could only look upon it as a providential blessing. Donya is dreaming of nothing else. We have even ventured already to drop a few words on the subject to Pieter Petrovich. He was cautious in his answer, and said that, of course, as he could not get on without a secretary, it would be better to be paying a salary to a relation than to a stranger, if only the former were fitted for the duties, as though there could be doubt of your being fitted.

Starting point is 01:33:16 But then he expressed doubts whether your studies at the university would leave you time for work at his office. The matter dropped for the time, but Donya is thinking of nothing else now. She has been in a sort of fever for the last few days, and has already made a regular plan for your becoming, in the end, an associate and even a partner in Piotr Petrovitch's business, which might well be, seeing that you're a student of law. I am in complete agreement with her, Roja, and share all her plans and hopes, and think there is every probability of realizing them. And in spite of Pieter Petrovitch's evasiveness, very natural at present, since he does not know you, Donya is firmly persuaded that she will gain everything by her good influence over

Starting point is 01:34:03 her future husband. This she is reckoning upon. Of course we are careful not to talk of any of these more remote plans to Pieter Petrovich, especially of your becoming his partner. He is a practical man and might take this very coldly. It might all seem to him simply a daydream. Nor has either Donya or I breathed a word to him of the great hopes we have of his helping us to pay for your university studies. We have not spoken of it in the first place, because it will come to pass of itself later on, and he will no doubt, without wasting words, offer to do it of himself, as though

Starting point is 01:34:41 he could refuse Donya that. The more readily, since you may be by your own efforts, become his right hand in the office, and received this assistance, not as a charity, but as a salary earned by your own work. Donya wants to arrange it all like this, and I quite agree with her. And we have not spoken of our plans for another reason, that is, because I particularly wanted you to feel on equal footing when you first meet him. When Donya spoke to him with enthusiasm about you, he answered that one could never judge of a man without seeing him close, for oneself, and that he looked forward to forming his own

Starting point is 01:35:16 opinion when he makes your acquaintance. Do you know, my precious Rodya? I think that, perhaps for some reasons, nothing to do with Piatur Petrovich, though, simply for my own personal, perhaps old-womanish fancies, I should do better to go on living by myself, apart, than with them after the wedding. I am convinced that he will be generous and delicate enough to invite me and to urge me to remain with my daughter for the future. And if he has said nothing about it hitherto, it is simply a very good enough.

Starting point is 01:35:45 it is simply because it has been taken for granted, but I shall refuse. I have noticed more than once in my life that husbands don't quite get on with their mothers-in-law, and I don't want to be the least bid in anyone's way, and for my own sake too would rather be quite independent, so long as I have a crust of bread of my own and such children as you and Donya. If possible I would settle somewhere near you. For the most joyful piece of news, dear Rodia, I have kept for the end of my letter. Know then, my dear boy, that we may perhaps be altogether in a very short time, and may embrace one another again after a separation of almost three years.

Starting point is 01:36:27 It is settled for certain that Donya and I are to set off for Petersburg, exactly when I don't know, but very, very soon, possibly in a week. It all depends on Pieter Petrovitch, who will let us know when he has had time to look round him in Petersburg. To suit his own arrangements he is anxious to have his ceremony as soon as possible, even before the fast of Our Lady, if it could be managed, or if that is too soon to be ready, immediately after. Oh, with what happiness I shall press you to my heart!

Starting point is 01:36:59 Donya is all excitement at the joyful thought of seeing you. She said one day in joke that she would be ready to marry Pieter Petrovich for that alone. She is an angel. She is not writing anything to you now. and has only told me to write that she has so much, so much to tell you that she is not going to take up her pen now, for a few lines that would tell you nothing, and it would only mean upsetting herself. She bids me send you her love and innumerable kisses. But although we shall be meeting so soon, perhaps I shall send you as much money as I can in a day or two.

Starting point is 01:37:36 Now that everyone has heard that Donya is to marry Piotr Petrovitch, my credit has suddenly improved, and I know that Afanasi Avanovich will trust me now even to 75 rubles on the security of my pension, so that perhaps I shall be able to send you 25 or even 30 rubles. I would send you more, but I am uneasy about our traveling expenses, for though Piotr Petrovich has been so kind as to undertake part of the expenses of the journey, that is to say he has taken upon himself the conveyance of our bags and big trunk, which will be conveyed through some acquaintances of our own. of his, we must reckon upon some expense on our arrival in Petersburg, where we can't be

Starting point is 01:38:17 left without a half-penny, at least for the first few days. But we have calculated it all, Donya and I, to the last penny, and we see that the journey will not cost very much. It is only ninety-versed from us to the railway, and we have come to an agreement with a driver we know, so as to be in readiness. And from there, Donya and I can travel quite comfortably third class. So that I may very likely be able to send to you not twenty-five, but thirty roubles. But enough, I have covered two sheets already, and there is no space left for more. Our whole history, but so many events have happened.

Starting point is 01:38:56 And now, my precious, Rodya, I embrace you and send you a mother's blessing till we meet. Love Donya, your sister, Rodya. Love her as she loves you and understand that she loves you beyond everything, more than herself. She is an angel, and you, Rodya, you are everything to us, our one hope, our one consolation. If only you are happy, we shall be happy. Do you still say your prayers, Rodya, and believe in the mercy of our Creator and our Redeemer? I am afraid in my heart that you may have been visited by the new spirit of infidelity that is abroad today. If it is so, I pray for you. Remember, dear boy, how in your childhood, when your father was living, you used to

Starting point is 01:39:43 lisp your prayers at my knee, and how happy we all were in those days. Goodbye till we meet then. I embrace you warmly, warmly with many kisses. Yours till death, Pocheria Raskolnikov. Almost from the first, when he read the letter, Raskolnikov's face was wet with tears. But when he finished it, his face was pale and distorted and abhorred. bitter, wrathful, and malignant smile was on his lips. He had laid his head down on his threadbare dirty pillow and pondered, pondered a long time. His heart was beating violently, and his brain was in a turmoil. At last, he felt cramped and stifled in the little yellow room

Starting point is 01:40:27 that was like a cupboard or a box. His eyes and his mind craved for space. He took up his hat and went out, this time without dread of meeting anyone. He had forgotten. He had forgotten. He had forgotten his dread. He turned in the direction of the Vassolievsky Ostrov, walking along Vasolievsky prospect, as though hastening on some business. But he walked, as his habit was, without noticing his way, muttering and even speaking aloud to himself, to the astonishment of the passers-by. Many of them took him to be drunk. End of Part 1, Chapter 3. Part 1 Chapter 4 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 01:41:32 Part 1, Chapter 4 His mother's letter had been a torture to him, but as regards the chief fact in it, he had felt not one moment's hesitation, even whilst he was reading the letter. The essential question was settled, and irrevocably settled. in his mind. Never such a marriage while I am alive and Mr. Lusion be damned. The thing is perfectly clear, he muttered to himself, with a malignant smile anticipating the triumph of his decision. No, mother, no, don't you, you won't deceive me. And then they apologize for not asking my advice and for taking the decision without me. I dare say,

Starting point is 01:42:15 they imagine it is arranged now and can't be broken off. But what are you? We will see whether it can or not. A magnificent excuse. Piotr Petrovitch is such a busy man that even his wedding has to be in post-haste, almost by express. No, Donya, I see it all, and I know what you want to say to me, and I know, too, what you were thinking about, when you walked up and down all night, and what your prayers were like before the Holy Mother of Kazan who stands in Mother's

Starting point is 01:42:45 bedroom. Bitter is the ascent to Golgotha. So it is finally settled. You have determined to marry a sensible businessman, Avdotya Romanovna, one who has a fortune, has already made his fortune. That is so much more solid and impressive, a man who holds two government posts and who shares the ideas of our more rising generation, as Mother writes, and who seems to be kind, as Donya herself observes. That seems beats everything. and that very Donia for that very seams is marrying him. Splendid! Splendid! But I should like to know why Mother has written to me about our most rising generation,

Starting point is 01:43:30 simply as a descriptive touch, or with the idea of prepossessing me in favor of misdelusion. Oh, the cunning of them! I should like to know one more thing. How far they were open with one another that day and night and all this time since! Was it put into words, or did both understand that they had the same thing at heart and in their minds, so that there was no need to speak of it aloud, and better not to speak of it? Most likely it was partly like that. For Mother's letter, it's evident. He struck her as rude a little, and Mother in her simplicity took her observations to Donya, and she was sure to be vexed and answered her angrily. I should think so. Who would not be angered when it was

Starting point is 01:44:17 quite clear without any naive questions, and when it was understood that it was useless to discuss it. And why does she write to me, Love Donya, Rodya, and she loves you more than herself? Has she a secret conscience prick at sacrificing her daughter to her son? You are our one comfort, you are everything to us. Oh, mother! His bitterness grew more and more intense, and if he happened to meet Mr. Luzon at the moment, He might have murdered him."

Starting point is 01:44:48 "'Hem. Yes, that's true,' he continued, pursuing the whirling ideas that chased each other in his brain. It is true that it needs time and care to get to know a man. But there is no mistake about Mr. Lusion. The chief thing is he is a man of business and seems kind. That was something, wasn't it, to send the bags and big box for them? A kind man, no doubt after that. But his bride and her mother are to drive in a peasant's cart covered with sacking. I know I have been driven in it. No matter. It is only ninety versts, and then they can travel very comfortably third class, for a thousand versts. Quite right, too.

Starting point is 01:45:36 One must cut one's coat according to one's cloth, but what about you, Mr. Lusion? She is your bride, and you must be aware that her mother has to her mother has to be, to raise money on her pension for the journey. To be sure it's a matter of business, a partnership for mutual benefit, with equal shares and expenses. Food and drink provided, but pay for your tobacco. The businessman has got the better of them, too. The luggage will cost less than their fares, and very likely go for nothing. How is it that they don't both see all that, or is it that they don't want to see? And they are pleased, pleased! and to think that this is only the first blossoming, and that the real fruits are to come.

Starting point is 01:46:22 But what really matters is not the stinginess, is not the meanness, but the tone of the whole thing. For that will be the tone after marriage. It's a foretaste of it. And mother, too, why should she be so lavish? What will she have by the time she gets to Petersburg? Three silver roubles or two paper ones, as she says. That old woman. Hmm. What does she expect to live upon in Petersburg afterwards? She has her reasons already for guessing that she could not live with Donia after the marriage, even for the first few months. The good man has no doubt let slip something on that subject also, though mother would deny it. I shall refuse, says she. On whom is she reckoning then?

Starting point is 01:47:10 Is she counting on what is left of her 120 rubles of pension when Afanasi Ivanovich's debt is paid? She knits woolen shawls and embroideres cuffs, ruining her old eyes. And all her shawls don't add more than 20 rubles a year to her 120, I know that. So she is building all her hopes all the time by Mr. Lusion's generosity. He will offer it of himself. He will press it on me. You may wait a long time for that. That's how it always is with these shiller-esque noble hearts. Till the last moment every goose is a swan with them. Till the last moment they hope for the best and will see nothing wrong,

Starting point is 01:47:54 and although they have an inkling of the other side of the picture, yet they won't face the truth till they are forced to. The very thought of it makes them shiver. They thrust the truth away with both hands, until the man they deck out in false colors puts a fool's cap on them with his own hands. I should like to know whether Mr. Lusion has any orders of merit. I bet he has the Anna in his buttonhole, and that he puts it on when he goes to dine with contractors or merchants. He will be sure to have it for his wedding, too.

Starting point is 01:48:25 Enough of him, confound him. Well, mother I don't wonder at. It's like her, God bless her, but how could Donya? Donya, darling, as though I did not know you. You were nearly twenty when I saw you last. I understood you then. Mother writes that Donya can put up with a great deal. I know that very well. I knew that two years and a half ago, and for the last two and a half years,

Starting point is 01:48:53 I have been thinking about it, thinking of just that, that Donya can put up with a great deal. If she could put up with Mr. Svidra Gailov and all the rest of it, she certainly can put up with a great deal. And now, Mother and she have taken it into their heads that she can put up with misdilusion, who propounds the theory of the superiority of wives raised from destitution, and owing everything to their husband's bounty, who propounds it too, almost at the first interview. Granted that he let it slip, though he is a sensible man, yet maybe it was not a slip at all,

Starting point is 01:49:30 but he meant to make himself clear as soon as possible. But Donya? Donya? She understands the man, of course, but she will have to live with the man. Why? She'd live on black bread and water. She would not sell her soul. She would not barter her moral freedom for comfort?

Starting point is 01:49:49 She would not barter it for all Schleswig Holstein, much less Mr. Luzian's money. No, Donia was not that sort when I knew her, and... She is still the same, of course. Yes, there's no denying. The Svidrigailovs are a bitter pill. It's a bitter thing to spend one's life a governess in the provinces for two hundred roubles.

Starting point is 01:50:13 But I know she would rather be a nigger on a plantation or a let with a German master than degrade her soul, and her moral dignity, by binding herself forever to a man whom she does not respect, and with whom she has nothing in common, for her own advantage. And if Mr. Lusion had been of unalloyed gold or one huge diamond, she would never have consented to become his legal concubine. Why is she consenting then? What's the point of it? What's the answer?

Starting point is 01:50:45 It's clear enough. For herself, for her comfort. To save her life she would not sell herself, but for someone else she is doing it. For one she loves, for one she adores, she will sell herself. That's what it all amounts to. For her brother, for her mother she will sell herself. She will sell everything. In such cases, we overcome our moral feeling if necessary.

Starting point is 01:51:12 Freedom, peace, conscience even, all, all are brought into the market. Let my life go, if only my dear ones may be happy. More than that, we become casuists. We learn to be Jesuitical, and for a time maybe we can soon. ourselves, we can persuade ourselves that it is one's duty for a good object. That's just like us. It's as clear as daylight. It's clear that Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the central figure in the business, and no one else. Oh, yes, she can ensure his happiness, keep him in the university, make him a partner in the office, make his whole future

Starting point is 01:51:53 secure. Perhaps he may even be a rich man later on, prosperous, respect, and may even end his life a famous man. But my mother? It's all Rodya, precious Rodya, her firstborn. For such a son, who would not sacrifice such a daughter? Oh, loving, over-partial hearts! Why, for his sake, we would not shrink even from Sonia's fate. Sonia, Sonia, Sonia Marmeladov, the eternal victim so long as the world lasts. Have you taken the measure of the matter of of your sacrifice, both of you? Is it right? Can you bear it? Is it any use? Is there sense in it? And let me tell you, Donya, Sonia, Sonia's life is no worse than life with misdelusion. There can be no question of love, mother writes. And what if there can be no respect either,

Starting point is 01:52:48 if, on the contrary, there is aversion, contempt, repulsion? What then? So you will have to keep up your appearance, too. Is not that so? Do you understand what that smartness means? Do you understand that the Luzon's smartness is just the same thing as Sonia's and may be worse, viler, baser, because in your case, Donya, it's a bargain for luxuries, after all, but with Sonia it's simply a question of starvation. It has to be paid for, it has to be paid for, Donya, this smartness.

Starting point is 01:53:24 And what if it's more than you can bear afterwards, if you regret it? bitterness, the misery, the curses, the tears hidden from all the world, for you are not a Marfa Petrovna. And how will your mother feel then? Even now she is uneasy, she is worried, but then when she sees it all clearly? And I? Yes, indeed. What have you taken me for? I won't have your sacrifice, don't you? I won't have it, Mother. It shall not be, so long as I am alive. It shall not. It shall not. It shall not. I won't accept it!' He suddenly paused in his reflection and stood still. "'It shall not be? But what are you going to do to prevent it? You'll forbid it? And what right have you?

Starting point is 01:54:13 What can you promise them on your side to give you such a right? Your whole life, your whole future, you will devote to them when you have finished your studies and obtained a post? Yes, we've heard all that before, and that's all work. words. But now, something must be done now, do you understand that? And what are you going to do now? You are living upon them. They borrow on their hundred roubles pension.

Starting point is 01:54:40 They borrow from the Svidrigailovs. How are you going to save them from the Svidrigailovs, from Afanase Ivanovanovanovich Verushen, O future millionaire Zeus, who had arranged their lives for them? In another ten years? In another ten years, mother would be blind with knitting shawl. maybe with weeping, too. She will be worn to a shadow with fasting. And my sister?

Starting point is 01:55:06 Imagine for a moment what may have become of your sister in ten years. What may happen to her during those ten years? Can you fancy?" So he tortured himself, fretting himself with such questions and finding a kind of enjoyment in it. And yet all these questions were not new ones suddenly confronting him. They were old, familiar aches. It was long since they had first begun to grip and rend his heart.

Starting point is 01:55:33 Long, long ago his present anguish had its first beginnings. It had waxed and gathered strength. It had matured and concentrated, until it had taken the form of a fearful, frenzied and fantastic question, which tortured his heart and mind, clamoring insistently for an answer. Now his mother's letter had burst on him like a thunder-clap. It was clear that he must not now suffer passively, worrying himself over unsolved questions, but that he must do something, do it at once, and do it quickly. Anyway, he must decide on something or else.

Starting point is 01:56:12 Or, throw up life altogether, he cried suddenly in a frenzy. Except one's lot humbly as it is, once for all and stifle everything in oneself, giving up all claim to activity, life and love. Do you understand, sir, do you understand what it means when you have absolutely nowhere to turn?" Marmeladov's question came suddenly into his mind, "'For every man must have somewhere to turn.' He gave a sudden start. Another thought that he had had yesterday slipped back into his mind. But he did not start at the thought recurring to him, for he knew he had felt beforehand that

Starting point is 01:56:54 it must come back. He was expecting it. Besides, it was not only yesterday's thought. The difference was that a month ago, yesterday even, the thought was a mere dream. But now, now it appeared not a dream at all. It had taken a new menacing and quite unfamiliar shape, and he suddenly became aware of this himself. He felt a hammering in his head, and there was a darkness before his eyes. He looked round hurriedly. He was searching for something. He wanted to sit down and he was looking for a seat. He was walking along the K. Boulevard. There was a seat about a hundred paces in front of him. He walked towards it as fast as he could, but on the way he met with a little adventure which absorbed all his attention. Looking for the seat, he had noticed a woman walking some

Starting point is 01:57:45 twenty paces in front of him. But at first he took no more notice of her than of other objects that crossed his path. It had happened to him many times going home not to notice the road by which he was going, and he was accustomed to walk like that. But there was at first sight something so strange about the woman in front of him that gradually his attention was riveted upon her, at first reluctantly and, as it were, resentfully, and then more and more intently. He felt a sudden desire to find out what it was that was so strange about the woman. In the first place, she appeared to be a girl quite young, and she was walking in the great heat bareheaded and with no parasol or gloves,

Starting point is 01:58:29 waving her arms about in an absurd way. She had on a dress of some light silky material, but put on strangely awry, not properly hooked up, and torn open at the top of the skirt, close to the waist. A great piece was rent and hanging loose. A little kerchief was flung about her bare throat, but lay slanting on one side. The girl was walking unsteadily, too, stumbling and staggering from side to side. She drew Ruskolnikov's whole attention at last.

Starting point is 01:59:02 He overtook the girl at the seat, but on reaching it she dropped down on it in the corner. She let her head sink on the back of the seat and closed her eyes, apparently in extreme. exhaustion. Looking at her closely, he saw at once that she was completely drunk. It was a strange and shocking sight. He could hardly believe that he was not mistaken. He saw before him the face of a quite young, fair-haired girl, sixteen, perhaps not more than fifteen years old, pretty little face, but flushed and heavy-looking, and, as it were, swollen. The girl seemed hardly to know what she was doing. She crossed one leg over the other, lifting it indecorously, and showed every sign of being unconscious that she was in the street. Raskolnikov did not sit down,

Starting point is 01:59:53 but he felt unwilling to leave her, and stood facing her in perplexity. This boulevard was never much frequented, and now at two o'clock in the stifling heat it was quite deserted. And yet, on the further side of the boulevard, about fifteen paces away, a gentleman was standing on edge of the pavement. He, too, would apparently have liked to approach the girl with some object of his own. He, too, had probably seen her in the distance and had followed her, but found Ruskolnikov in his way. He looked angrily at him, though he tried to escape his notice. He stood impatiently biting his time, till the unwelcome man in rags should have moved away. His intentions were unmistakable. The gentleman was a plump, thickly set man, about thirty,

Starting point is 02:00:40 fashionably dressed, with a high color, red lips and mustaches. Raskolnikov felt furious. He had a sudden longing to insult this fat dandy in some way. He left the girl for a moment and walked towards the gentleman. Hey, you, Svindigailov! What do you want here? he shouted, clenching his fists and laughing, spluttering with rage. What do you mean? The gentleman asked sternly, scowling in haughty astonishment. said, "'Get away! That's what I mean!' "'How dare you, you low fellow!' He raised his cane.

Starting point is 02:01:17 Russ Kalnikov rushed at him with his fists, without reflecting that the stout gentleman was a match for two men like himself. But at that instant someone seized him from behind, and a police constable stood between them. "'That's enough, gentlemen, no fighting pleas in a public place. What do you want? Who are you?' he asked Ruskalnikov sternly, noticing his rags. Ruskalnikov looked at him intently. He had a straightforward, sensible, soldierly face, with gray mustaches and whiskers. "'You are just the man I want,' Ruskalnikov cried, catching at his arm.

Starting point is 02:01:54 "'I am a student, Ruskalnikov. You may as well know that, too,' he added, addressing the gentleman. "'Come along, I have something to show you.' And taking the policeman by the hand, he drew him towards the seat. Look here, hopelessly drunk, and she has just come down the boulevard. There is no telling who and what she is. She does not look like a professional. It's more likely she has been given drink and deceived somewhere, for the first time, you understand? And they've put her out into the street like that. Look at the way her dress is torn, and the way it has been put on. She has been dressed by somebody, she has not dressed herself, and dressed by unpracticed hands, by a man's hands. That's evident.

Starting point is 02:02:38 And now look there. I don't know that dandy with whom I was going to fight. I see him for the first time. But he too has seen her on the road, just now, drunk, not knowing what she is doing. And now he is very eager to get hold of her, to get her away somewhere while she is in this state. That's certain, believe me, I am not wrong. I saw him myself watching her and following her, but I prevented him, and he is just waiting for me to go away. Now he has walked away a little, and is standing still, pretending to make a cigarette. Think how we can keep her out of his hands, and how are we going to get her home? The policeman saw it all in a flash. The stout gentleman was easy to understand. He turned

Starting point is 02:03:22 to consider the girl. The policeman bent over to examine her more closely, and his face worked with genuine compassion. Ah, what a pity, he said, shaking his head. Why, she is quite a child. She has been deceived. You can see that at once. Listen, lady, he began addressing her. Where do you live?

Starting point is 02:03:45 The girl opened her weary and sleepy-looking eyes, gazed blankly at the speaker, and waved her hand. Here, said Ruskalnikov, feeling in his pocket and finding twenty kopeks. Here, call a cab and tell you. him to drive her to her address. The only thing is to find out her address." "'Missie, Missy,' the policeman began again, taking the money. "'I'll fetch you a cab and take you home myself. Where shall I take you, eh? Where do you live?' "'Go away. They won't let me alone,' the girl muttered and once more waved her hand.

Starting point is 02:04:21 "'Ack, ah, how shocking. It's shameful, Missy. It's a shame.' He shook his head again, shocked, sympathetic and indignant. "'It's a difficult job,' the policeman said to Rus Kolnikov, and as he did so he looked him up and down in a rapid glance. He too must have seemed a strange figure to him, dressed in rags and handing him money. "'Did you meet her far from here?' he asked him. "'I tell you, she was walking in front of me, staggering, just here in the boulevard. She only just reached the seat and sank down on it.'

Starting point is 02:04:58 Ah, the shameful things that are done in the world nowadays. God have mercy on us. An innocent creature like that, drunk already. She has been deceived, that's a sure thing. See how her dress has been torn, too. Ah, the vice one sees nowadays. And as likely as not she belongs to gentlefolk, too, poor ones maybe. There are many like that nowadays.

Starting point is 02:05:23 She looks refined, too, as though she were a lady. he bent over her once more. Perhaps he had daughters growing up like that, looking like ladies and refined, with pretensions to gentility and smartness. "'The chief thing is,' Ruskalnikov persisted, to keep her out of this scoundrel's hands. Why should he outrage her? It's as clear as day what he is after. Ah, the brute, he is not moving off!' Raskolnikov spoke aloud and pointed to him. The gentleman heard of him. heard him and seemed about to fly into a rage again, but thought better of it, and confined

Starting point is 02:06:02 himself to a contemptuous look. He then walked slowly another ten paces away and again halted. "'Keep her out of his hands we can,' said the constable thoughtfully. "'If only she'd tell us where to take her. But as it is—' "'Missy! Hey, Missy!' he bent over her once more. She opened her eyes fully all of a sudden, looked at him intently, as though realizing something got up from the seat and walked away in the direction from which she had come. "'Oh, shameful wretches! They won't let me alone,' she said, waving her hand again. She walked quickly, though staggering as before. The dandy followed her, but along another avenue,

Starting point is 02:06:45 keeping his eye on her. "'Don't be anxious. I won't let him have her,' the policeman said resolutely, and he set off after them. Ah, the vice one sees nowadays. He remembered. repeated aloud, sighing. At that moment, something seemed to sting Raskolnikov. In an instant, a complete revulsion of feeling came over him. "'Hey, here!' he shouted after the policeman. The latter turned round. "'Let them be! What is it to do with you? Let her go. Let him amuse himself!' He pointed at the dandy. "'What is it to do with you?'

Starting point is 02:07:22 The policeman was bewildered and stared at him open-eyed. Raskolnikov laughed. Well, ejaculated the policeman with a gesture of contempt, and he walked after the dandy and the girl, probably taking Raskolnikov for a madman or something even worse. He has carried off my twenty kopecks, Raskolnikov murmured angrily when he was left alone. Well, let him take as much from the other fellow to allow him to have the girl, and so let it end. And why did I want to interfere? Is it for me to help?

Starting point is 02:07:56 Have I any right to help? Let them devour each other alive. What is it to me? How did I dare to give him twenty Kopecks? Were they mine? In spite of those strange words, he felt very wretched. He sat down on the deserted seat. His thoughts strayed aimlessly.

Starting point is 02:08:16 He found it hard to fix his mind on anything at that moment. He longed to forget himself altogether, to forget everything, and then to wake up and begin life anew. "'Poor girl,' he said, looking at the empty corner where she had sat. "'She will come to herself and weep, and then her mother will find out. She will give her a beating, a horrible, shameful beating, and then maybe turn her out of doors. And even if she does not, the Darya Francovna's will get wind of it, and the girl will soon be slipping out on the sly here and there. Then there will be the hospital directly.

Starting point is 02:08:53 That's always the luck of those girls with respectable mothers who go wrong on the sly, and then, again the hospital, drink, the taverns, and more hospital, in two or three years, a wreck and her life over at eighteen or nineteen. Have I not seen cases like that? And how have they been brought to it? Why, they've all come to it like that. Ugh. But what does it matter?

Starting point is 02:09:22 as it should be, they tell us. A certain percentage they tell us must every year go, that way, to the devil, I suppose, so that the rest may remain chaste and not be interfered with. A percentage! What splendid words they have! They are so scientific, so consolatory. Once you've said percentage, there's nothing more to worry about. If we had any other word, maybe we might feel more uneasy. But what if Donya were one of the percentage? If another one, if not that one. But where am I going?

Starting point is 02:10:01 He thought suddenly. Strange, I came out for something. As soon as I had read the letter I came out. I was going to Vasilyevsky Ostrov, to Razumian. That's what it was. Now I remember. What for, though? And what put the idea of going to Razumian into my head just now?

Starting point is 02:10:22 That's curious. He wondered at himself. Razumian was one of his old comrades at the university. It was remarkable that Ruskalnikov had hardly any friends at the university. He had kept aloof from everyone, went to see no one, and did not welcome anyone who came to see him, and indeed everyone soon gave him up. He took no part in the student's gatherings, amusements, or conversations. He worked with great intensity without sparing himself, and he was respected.

Starting point is 02:10:52 for this, but no one liked him. He was very poor, and there was a sort of haughty pride and reserve about him, as though he were keeping something to himself. He seemed to some of his comrades to look down upon them all as children, as though he were superior in development, knowledge and convictions, as though their beliefs and interests were beneath him. With Razumian he had got on, or at least he was more unreserved and communicative with him. Indeed, it was impossible to be on any other terms with Rezumian. He was an exceptionally good-humored and candid youth, good nature to the point of simplicity, though both depth and dignity lay concealed under that simplicity.

Starting point is 02:11:35 The better of his comrades understood this, and all were fond of him. He was extremely intelligent, though he was certainly rather a simpleton at times. He was of striking appearance, tall, thin, black-haired, and always badly-shadowed. shaved. He was sometimes uproarious and was reputed to be of great physical strength. One night, when out in a festive company, he had with one blow laid a gigantic policeman on his back. There was no limit to his drinking powers, but he could abstain from drink altogether. He sometimes went too far in his pranks, but he could do without pranks altogether. Another thing striking about Rezumian, no failure distressed him, and it seemed as though no

Starting point is 02:12:19 unfavorable circumstances could crush him. He could lodge anywhere, and bear the extremes of cold and hunger. He was very poor, and kept himself entirely on what he could earn by work of one sort or another. He knew of no end of resources by which to earn money. He spent one whole winter without lighting his stove, and used to declare that he liked it better, because one slept more soundly in the cold. For the present, he too had been obliged to give up the university, but it was only for a time, and he was working with all his might to save enough to return to his studies again. Raskolnikov had not been able to see him for the last four months, and Rzumian did not even

Starting point is 02:13:01 know his address. About two months before, they had met in the street, but Raskolnikov had turned away and even crossed to the other side that he might not be observed. And though Rzumian noticed him, he passed him by, as he did not want to annoy him. End of Part 1, Chapter 4. Part 1, Chapter 5 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 1, Chapter 5

Starting point is 02:13:48 Of course I've been meaning lately to go to Resumians to ask for work, to ask him to get me lessons or something, Ruskalnikov thought, but what help can he be to me now? Suppose he gets me lessons. Suppose he shares his last farthing with me, if he has any farthings, so that I could get some boots and make myself tidy enough to give lessons. Hmm. Well, and what then? What shall I do with the few coppers I earn?

Starting point is 02:14:17 That's not what I want now. It's really absurd for me to go to Razumian. The question why he was now going to Resumian agitated him even more than he was himself aware. He kept uneasily seeking for some sense. sinister significance in this apparently ordinary action. Could I have expected to set it all straight, and to find a way out by means of of Resumian alone?

Starting point is 02:14:41 He asked himself in perplexity. He pondered and rubbed his forehead, and, strange to say, after long musing, suddenly, as if it were spontaneously and by chance, a fantastic thought came into his head. Hmm, to Resumians, he said all at once, calmly, as though he had reached a final determination. I shall go to Resumians, of course, but not now. I shall go to him, on the next day after it, when it will be over and everything will begin afresh. And suddenly he realized what he was thinking.

Starting point is 02:15:20 After it, he shouted, jumping up from the seat, but is it really going to happen? Is it possible it really will happen? He left the seat and went off. almost at a run. He meant to turn back, homewards, but the thought of going home suddenly filled him with intense loathing. In that hole, in that awful little cupboard of his, all this had for a month past been growing up in him, and he walked on at random. His nervous shudder had passed into a fever that made him feel shivering, in spite of the heat he felt cold. With a kind of effort he began almost unconsciously, from some inner craving.

Starting point is 02:16:01 to stare at all the objects before him, as though looking for something to distract his attention. But he did not succeed, and kept dropping every moment into brooding. When with a start he lifted his head again and looked round, he forgot at once what he had just been thinking about, and even where he was going. In this way he walked right across Vasselyevsky Ostrov, came out onto the Lesser Neva, crossed the bridge, and turned towards the islands. The greenness and freshness were at first restful to his weary eyes, after the dust of the town and the huge houses that hemmed him in and weighed upon him.

Starting point is 02:16:39 Here there were no taverns, no stifling closeness, no stench. But soon these new pleasant sensations passed into morbid irritability. Sometimes he stood still before a brightly painted summer villa standing among green foliage. He gazed through the fence. He saw in the distance smartly dressed women on the verandas and balconies, and children running in the gardens. The flowers especially caught his attention. He gazed at them longer than at anything. He was met, too, by luxurious carriages and by men and women on horseback. He watched them with curious eyes and forgot about them before they had vanished from his sight.

Starting point is 02:17:21 Once he stood still and counted his money. He found he had thirty copecks. Twenty to the policeman, three to Nastassia for the letter. So I must have given forty-seven or fifty to the Marmaldovs yesterday, he thought, reckoning it up for some unknown reason, but he soon forgot with what object he had taken the money out of his pocket. He recalled it on passing an eating-house or tavern, and felt that he was hungry. Going into the tavern he drank a glass of vodka and ate a pie of some sort. He finished eating it as he walked away.

Starting point is 02:17:55 It was a long while since he had taken vodka and it had an effect upon him at once, though he only drank a wine-glass fall. His legs felt suddenly heavy and a great drowsiness came upon him. He turned homewards, but reaching Petrovsky Ostrov, he stopped, completely exhausted, turned off the road into the bushes, sank down upon the grass and instantly fell asleep. In a morbid condition of the brain, dreams often have a singular actual vitality, vividness and extraordinary semblance of reality. At times, monstrous images are created, but the setting and the whole picture are so truth-like and filled with detail so delicate, so unexpectedly, but so artistically consistent,

Starting point is 02:18:41 that the dreamer, were he an artist like Pushkin or Turgenev even, could never have invented them in the waking state. Such sick dreams always remain long in the memory and make a powerful impression on the overwrought and deranged nervous system. Raskolnikov had a fearful dream. He dreamt he was back in his childhood in the little town of his birth. He was a child about seven years old, walking into the country with his father on the evening of a holiday.

Starting point is 02:19:10 It was a gray and heavy day. The country was exactly as he remembered it. Indeed, he recalled it far more vividly in his dream than he had done in memory. The little town stood on a level flat at the world. as bare as the hand, not even a willow near it. Only in the far distance a copse lay, a dark blur on the very edge of the horizon. A few paces beyond the last market garden stood a tavern, a big tavern, which had always aroused in him a feeling of aversion, even of fear, when he walked by it with his father. There was always a crowd there, always

Starting point is 02:19:47 shouting, laughter and abuse, hideous horse singing and often fighting. Drunken and horrible-looking figures were hanging about the tavern. He used to cling close to his father, trembling all over when he met them. Near the tavern the road became a dusty track, the dust of which was always black. It was a winding road, and about a hundred paces further on, it turned to the right to the graveyard. In the middle of the graveyard stood a stone church with a green cupula, where he used to go to mass two or three times a year with his father and mother, when a service was held in memory of his grandmother, who had long been dead and whom he had never seen. On these occasions they used to take on a white dish tied up in a table napkin a special sort

Starting point is 02:20:34 of rice pudding, with raisins stuck in it in the shape of a cross. He loved that church, the old-fashioned, unadorned icons, and the old priest with the shaking head. Near his grandmother's grave, which was marked by a stone, was the little grave of his younger brother who had died at six months old. He did not remember him at all, but he had been told about his little brother, and whenever he visited the graveyard, he used religiously and reverently to cross himself and to bow down and kiss the little grave. And now he dreamt that he was walking with his father past the tavern on the way to the graveyard. He was holding his father's hand and looking with dread at the tavern. A peculiar circumstance attracted his attention.

Starting point is 02:21:18 There seemed to be some kind of festivity going on. There were crowds of gaily dressed townspeople, peasant women, their husbands, and riffraff of all sorts, all singing and all more or less drunk. Near the entrance of the tavern stood a cart, but a strange cart. It was one of those big carts usually drawn by heavy cart-horses, and laden with casks of wine or other heavy goods. He always liked looking at those great cart-horses with their long mains, thick legs and slow even pace, drawing along a perfect mountain with no appearance of effort,

Starting point is 02:21:55 as though it were easier going with a load than without it. But now, strange to say, in the shafts of such a cart, he saw a thin little sorrel beast, one of those peasant nags which he had often seen straining their utmost under a heavy load of wood or hay, especially when the wheels were stuck in the mud or in a rut. And the peasants would beat them so cruelly. sometimes even about the nose and eyes, and he felt so sorry, so sorry for them that he almost cried, and his mother always used to take him away from the window. All of a sudden there was a great uproar of shouting, singing and the Balalaika, and from

Starting point is 02:22:34 the tavern a number of big and very drunken peasants came out, wearing red and blue shirts and coats thrown over their shoulders. "'Get in! Get in!' shouted one of them, a young, thick-necked peasant, with a fleshy face red as a carrot. "'I'll take you all! Get in!' But at once there was an outbreak of laughter and exclamations in the crowd.

Starting point is 02:22:57 "'Take us all with a beast like that?' "'Why, McColka, are you crazy to put a nag like that in such a cart?' "'And this mare is twenty if she is a day, mates.' "'Get in! I'll take you all!' Milkoika shouted again, leaping first into the cart, seizing the reins and standing straight up in front. "'The bay is gone with Matve,' he shouted from the cart.

Starting point is 02:23:21 "'And this brute, mates, is just breaking my heart. I feel as if I could kill her. She's just eating her head off. Get in, I tell you. I'll make her gallop. She'll gallop!' And he picked up the whip, preparing himself with relish to flog the little mare. "'Get in! Come along!' the crowd laughed. "'Do you hear? She'll gallop! Gallop indeed!' She has not had a gallop in her for the last ten years. She'll jog along. Don't you mind her, mates. Bring a whip each of you. Get ready.

Starting point is 02:23:57 All right, give it to her. They all clambered into McColka's cart, laughing and making jokes. Six men got in and there was still room for more. They hauled in a fat, rosy-cheeked woman. She was dressed in red cotton, in a pointed, beaded headdress, and thick leather shoes. She was cracking nuts and laughing. The crowd round them was laughing, too, and indeed, how could they help laughing? That wretched nag was to drag all the cartload of them at a gallop.

Starting point is 02:24:27 Two young fellows in the cart were just getting whips ready to help McColka. With the cry of, Now! The mare tugged with all her might, but far from galloping, could scarcely move forward. She struggled with their legs, gasping and shrinking from the blows of the three whips which were showered upon her like hail. The laughter in the cart and in the crowd was redoubled, but Mikolka flew into a rage and furiously thrashed the mare, as though he supposed she really could gallop. "'Let me get in, too, mates!' shouted a young man in the crowd, whose appetite was aroused. "'Get in! All get in!' cried McColka. "'She will draw you all! I'll beat her to death!'

Starting point is 02:25:08 And he thrashed and thrashed at the mare, beside himself with fury. "'Father! Father!' he cried. "'Father, what are they doing? Father, they're beating the poor horse!' "'Come along, come along,' said his father. "'They are drunken and foolish. They are in fun. Come away, don't look.' And he tried to draw him away, but he tore himself away from his hand, and, beside himself with horror, ran to the horse. The poor beast was in a bad way. She was gasping, standing still, then tugging again and almost falling.

Starting point is 02:25:45 "'Beed her to death!' cried McColka. "'It's come to that. I'll do for her!' "'What are you about? Are you a Christian, you devil?' shouted an old man in the crowd. "'Did anyone ever see the like? A wretched nag like that, pulling such a cartload,' said another. "'You'll kill her!' shouted the third. "'Don't meddle! It's my property. I'll do what I choose. Get in, more of you! Get in all of you! I will have her go at a gallop!' All at once, laughter broke into a roar and covered everything. The mare, roused by the

Starting point is 02:26:23 shower of blows, began feebly kicking. Even the old man could not help smiling. To think of a wretched little beast like that trying to kick! Two lads in the crowd snatched up whips and ran to the mare to beat her about the ribs. One ran each side. In the face! In the eyes! In the eyes! cried McColka. "'Give us a song, mates!' shouted someone in the cart, and everyone in the cart joined in a riotous song, jingling a tambourine and whistling. The woman went on cracking nuts and laughing. He ran beside the mare, ran in front of her, saw her being whipped across the eyes, right in the eyes. He was crying, he felt choking, his tears were streaming. One of the men gave

Starting point is 02:27:10 him a cut with the whip across the face. He did not feel it. Ringing his hands and screaming, he rushed up to the gray-headed old man with the gray beard, who was shaking his head in disapproval. One woman seized him by the hand and would have taken him away, but he tore himself from her and ran back to the mare. She was almost at the last gasp, but began kicking once more. "'I'll teach you to kick!' Nicolka shouted ferociously. He threw down the whip, bent forward and picked up from the bottom of the cart a long, thick shaft. He took hold of one end with both hands, and with an effort brandished it over the mare. "'He'll crush her!' was shouted round him. "'He'll kill her!'

Starting point is 02:27:52 "'It's my property!' shouted Mikulka, and brought the shaft down with a swinging blow. There was a sound of a heavy thud. "'Thresher! Thresher! Why have you stopped?' shouted voices in the crowd. And Mikolka swung the shaft a second time, and it fell a second time on the spine of the luckless mare. She sank back on her haunches, but lurched forward and tugged forward with all her force, tugged first on one side and then on the other, trying to move the cart. But the six whips were attacking her in all directions, and the shaft was raised again and fell upon her a third time, then a fourth, with heavy measured blows. Mikulka was in a fury that he could not kill her at one below. "'She's a tough one,' was shouted in the crowd.

Starting point is 02:28:40 "'She'll fall in a minute, mates. There will soon be an end of her,' said an admiring spectator in the crowd. "'Fetch an axe to her! Finish her off!' shouted a third. "'I'll show you! Stand off!' Milcocca screamed frantically. He threw down the shaft, stooped down in the cart, and picked up an iron crowbar. "'Look out!' he shouted, and with all his might he dealt a stunning blow at the poor mare. The blow fell. The mare staggered, sank back, tried to pull, but the bar fell again with a swinging blow on her back and she fell on the ground like a log. "'Fenish her off!' shouted Mikolka, and he leapt beside himself out of the cart. Several young men, also flushed with drink, seized anything they could come across, whips,

Starting point is 02:29:28 sticks, poles, and ran to the dying mare. Bikolka stood on one side. and began dealing random blows with the crowbar. The mare stretched out her head, drew a long breath, and died. "'You butchered her!' someone shouted in the crowd. "'Why would she gallop then?' "'My property!' shouted Mikolka, with bloodshot eyes, brandishing the bar in his hands. He stood as though regretting that he had nothing more to beat. "'No mistake about it. You are not a Christian!' Many voices were shouting in the crowd. But the poor boy, beside himself, made his way screaming through the crowd to the sorrel nag, put his arms around her bleeding dead head and kissed it, kissed the eyes and kissed the lips.

Starting point is 02:30:14 Then he jumped up and flew in a frenzy with his little fists out at Mikolka. At that instant his father, who had been running after him, snatched him up and carried him out of the crowd. "'Come along, come, let us go home,' he said to him. Father, why did they kill the poor horse? He sobbed, but his voice broke and the words came in shrieks from his panting chest. They are drunk, they are brutal, it's not our business, said his father. He put his arms around his father, but he felt choked, choked. He tried to draw a breath to cry out and woke up.

Starting point is 02:30:53 He waked up, gasping for breath, his hair soaked with perspiration and stood up terror. Thank God that was only a dream, he said, sitting down under a tree and drawing deep breaths. But what is it? Is it some fever coming on? Such a hideous dream! He felt utterly broken. Darkness and confusion were in his soul.

Starting point is 02:31:17 He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned his head on his hands. Good God! he cried. Can it be, can it be that I shall really take an action? that I shall strike her on the head, split her skull open, that I shall tread in the sticky warm blood, break the lock, steal and tremble, hide, all spattered in the blood, with the axe? Good God, can it be? He was shaking like a leaf as he said this. But why am I going on like this? He continued sitting up again, as it were in profound amazement. I knew that I could never bring myself to it, so what have I?

Starting point is 02:31:58 I've been torturing myself for till now. Yesterday, yesterday, when I went to make that experiment, yesterday I realized completely that I could never bear to do it. Why am I going over it again, then? Why am I hesitating? As I came down the stairs yesterday, I said myself that it was base, loathsome, vile, vile. The very thought of it made me sick and filled me with horror. No, I couldn't do it! I couldn't do it! Granted, granted that there is no flaw in all that reasoning, that all that I have concluded this last month is clear as day, true as arithmetic. My God! Anyway, I couldn't bring myself to it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it! I couldn't do it! Why, why then, am I still? He rose to his feet, looked round in wonder,

Starting point is 02:32:53 as though surprised at finding himself in this place, and went towards the bridge. He was pale, his eyes glowed, he was exhausted in every limb, but he seemed suddenly to breathe more easily. He felt he had cast off that fearful burden that had so long been weighing upon him, and all at once there was a sense of relief and peace in his soul. "'Lord,' he prayed, "'show me my path, I renounced that a cursed dream of mine.' Crossing the bridge, he gazed quietly and calmly at the Neva, at the never, at the the glowing red sun, setting in the glowing sky. In spite of his weakness, he was not conscious of fatigue. It was as though an abscess that had been forming for a month past in his heart

Starting point is 02:33:38 had suddenly broken. Freedom! Freedom! He was free from that spell, that sorcery, that obsession. Later on, when he recalled that time and all that happened to him during those days, minute by minute, point by point, he was superstitiously impressed by one's circumstance, which, though in itself, not very exceptional, always seemed to him afterwards the predestined turning-point of his fate. He could never understand and explain to himself why, when he was tired and worn out, when it would have been more convenient for him to go home by the shortest and most direct way, he had returned by the haymarket where he had no need to go. It was obviously and quite unnecessarily out of his way, though not much so. It is true that it

Starting point is 02:34:25 happened to him dozens of times to return home without noticing what streets he passed through. But why, he was always asking himself, why had such an important, such a decisive, and at the same time such an absolutely chance meeting happened in the haymarket? Where he had, moreover, no reason to go, at the very hour, the very minute of his life, when he was just in the very mood and in the very circumstances in which that meeting was able to exert the gravest and most decisive influence on his whole destiny, as though it had been lying in wait for him on purpose. It was about nine o'clock when he crossed the haymarket. At the tables and the barrels, at the booths and the shops, all the market people were closing their establishments or clearing away

Starting point is 02:35:12 in packing up their wares, and, like their customers, were going home. Rag-pickers and costermongers of all kinds were crowding round the taverns in the dirty and stinking courtyards of the haymarket. Ruskolnikov particularly liked this place and the neighboring alleys when he wandered aimlessly in the streets. Here his rags did not attract contemptuous attention, and one could walk about in any attire without scandalizing people. At the corner of an alley, a huckster and his wife had two tables set out with tapes, thread,

Starting point is 02:35:44 cotton handkerchiefs, etc. They too had got up to go home, but were lingering in conversation with a friend who had just come up to them. This friend was Lizavetna Ivanova, or as everyone called her Lysavetna, the younger sister of the old pawnbroker Eliona Ivanovna, whom Raskolnikov had visited the previous day to pawn his watch and make his experiment. He already knew all about Lizavetna and she knew him a little too. She was a single woman of about thirty-five, tall, clumsy,

Starting point is 02:36:15 timid, submissive, and almost idiotic. She was a complete slave and went in fear and trembling of her sister, who made her work day and night and even beat her. She was standing with a bundle before the huckster and his wife, listening earnestly and doubtfully. They were talking of something with special warmth. The moment Russ Kalnikov caught sight of her, he was overcome by a strange sensation, as it were, of intense astonishment, though there was nothing astonishing about this meeting. You could make up your mind for yourself, Lisaventna Ivanova, the Huckster was saying aloud.

Starting point is 02:36:53 Come round to-morrow about seven. They will be here, too. Tomorrow? said Liza Vettna slowly and thoughtfully, as though unable to make up her mind. Upon my word, what a fright you are of Alyona Ivanovna, gabbled the Huxter's wife, a lively little woman. I look at you, you are like some little babe, and she is not your own. own sister either, nothing but a step-sister, and what a hand she keeps over you." "'But this time don't say a word to Alyona Ivanovna,' her husband interrupted.

Starting point is 02:37:25 "'That's my advice, but come round to us without asking. It will be worth your while. Later on, your sister herself may have a notion.' "'Am I to come?' "'About seven o'clock tomorrow, and they will be here. You will be able to decide for yourself." "'And we'll have a cup of tea,' added his wife. "'All right, I'll come,' said Lisaventna, still pondering, and she began slowly moving away.

Starting point is 02:37:54 Ross Kolnikov had just passed and heard no more. He passed softly, unnoticed, trying not to miss a word. His first amazement was followed by a thrill of horror, like a shiver running down his spine. He had learned, he had suddenly, quite unexpectedly learnt, that the next day at seven o'clock, Lizavetna, the old woman's sister and only companion, would be away from home, and that therefore at seven o'clock precisely the old woman would be left alone. He was only a few steps from his lodging. He went in like a man condemned to death. He thought of nothing and was incapable of thinking, but he felt suddenly in his whole being that he had no more freedom of thought, no will, and that everything was suddenly and irrevocably decided.

Starting point is 02:38:44 Certainly, if he had to wait whole years for a suitable opportunity, he could not reckon on a more certain step towards the success of the plan than that which had just presented itself. In any case, it would have been difficult to find out beforehand and with certainty, and with greater exactness and less risk, and without dangerous inquiries and investigations, that next day at a certain time an old woman on whose life an attempt was contemplated would be at home and entirely alone. End of Part 1, Chapter 5. Part 1, Chapter 6 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 1, Chapter 6.

Starting point is 02:39:40 Later on, Rus Kalnikov happened to find out why the Huckster and his wife had invited Lizavetta. It was a very ordinary matter, and there was nothing exceptional about it. A family who had come to the town and been reduced to poverty were selling their household goods and clothes, all women's things. As the things would have fetch little in the market, they were looking for a dealer. This was Lizavetta's business. She undertook such jobs and was frequent employed, as she was very honest and always fixed a fair price and stuck to it. She spoke as a rule little, and, as we have said already, she was very submissive and timid. But Raskolnikov had become superstitious of late. The traces of superstition remained in him long after, and were almost

Starting point is 02:40:31 ineradicable. And in all this he was always afterwards disposed to see something strange and mysterious, as it were, the presence of some peculiar influences and coincidences. In the previous winter, a student he knew called Pokorev, who had left for Harkov, had chanced in conversation to give him the address of Alyona Ivanovna, the old pawnbroker, in case he might want to pawn anything. For a long while he did not go to her, for he had lessons and managed to get along somehow. Six weeks ago, he had remembered the address. He had two articles that could be pawned, his father's old silver watch and a little gold ring with three red stones, a present from his sister at parting.

Starting point is 02:41:16 He decided to take the ring. When he found the old woman, he had felt an insurmountable repulsion for her at the first glance, though he knew nothing special about her. He got two rubles from her and went into a miserable little tavern on his way home. He asked for tea, sat down, and sank into deep thought. thought. A strange idea was pecking at his brain like a chicken in the egg, and very, very much absorbed him. Almost beside him at the next table there was sitting a student, whom he did not know and had never seen, and with him a young officer. They had played a game of billiards and began drinking

Starting point is 02:41:55 tea. All at once he heard the student mention to the officer the pawnbroker Aljona Ivanovna and gave him her address. This of itself seemed to be a little. strange to Ruskolnakov. He had just come from her, and here at once he heard her name. Of course it was a chance, but he could not shake off a very extraordinary impression, and here someone seemed to be speaking expressly for him. The student began telling his friend various details about Alyona Ivanovna. She is first-rate, he said. You can always get money from her. She is as rich as a Jew. She can give you five thousand roubles at a time, and she is not above taking a pledge for a ruble.

Starting point is 02:42:39 Lots of our fellows have had dealings with her. But she is an awful old harpy. And he began describing how spiteful and uncertain she was, how, if you were only a day late with your interest, the pledge was lost, how she gave a quarter of the value of an article, and took five and even seven percent a month on it and so on. The student chattered on, saying that she had a sister Lizavetta, whom the wretched little creature was continually beating,

Starting point is 02:43:07 and kept in complete bondage like a small child, though Lizavetta was at least six feet high. "'There's a phenomenon for you,' cried the student, and he laughed. They began talking about Lizavetta. The student spoke about her with a peculiar relish, and was continually laughing, and the officer listened with great interest and asked him to send Lizavetta to do some mending for him.

Starting point is 02:43:33 Raskolnikov did not miss a word and learned everything about her. Lizavetta was younger than the old woman and was her half-sister, being the child of a different mother. She was thirty-five. She worked day and night for her sister, and besides doing the cooking and the washing, she did the sewing and worked as a charwoman and gave her sister all she earned. She did not dare to accept an order or job of any kind without her sister's permission. The old woman had already made her will, and Lizavetta knew of it, and by this will she would

Starting point is 02:44:06 not get a farthing, nothing but the movables, chairs and so on. All the money was left to a monastery in the province of N, that prayers might be said for her in perpetuity. Lizavetta was of lower rank than her sister, unmarried and awfully uncouth in appearance, remarkably tall, with long feet, that looked as if they were bent outwards. She always wore battered goat-skin shoes and was clean in her person. What the student expressed most surprise and amusement about was the fact that Lizavetta was continually with child. "'But you say she is hideous?' observed the officer.

Starting point is 02:44:46 "'Yes, she is so dark-skinned and looks like a soldier dressed up, but you know she is not at all hideous. She is such a good-natured face and eyes, strikingly so. And the proof of it is that lots of people are attracted by her. She's such a soft, gentle creature, ready to put up with anything, always willing, willing to do anything. And her smile is really very sweet. You seem to find her attractive yourself, laughed the officer.

Starting point is 02:45:18 From her queerness, No, I'll tell you what. I could kill that damned old woman and make off with her money, I assure you, without the faintest conscience prick. The student added with warmth. The officer laughed again while Ruskalnikov shuddered. How strange it was. Listen, I want to ask you a serious question, the student said hotly.

Starting point is 02:45:42 I was joking, of course, but look here. On one side we have a stupid, senseless, worthless, spiteful, ailing, horrid old woman. Not simply useless, but doing actual mischief, who has not an idea what she is living for herself. and who will die in a day or two in any case. You understand? You understand? Yes, yes, I understand, answered the officer, watching his excited companion attentively. Well, listen then. On the other side, fresh young lives thrown away for one of help and by thousands on every side. A hundred thousand good deeds could be done and helped

Starting point is 02:46:22 on that old woman's money which will be buried in a monastery. Hundreds, thousands perhaps, might be set on the right path. Dozens of families save from destitution, from ruin, from vice, from the lock hospitals, and all with her money. Kill her, take her money, and with the help of it, devote oneself to the service of humanity and the good of all. What do you think? Would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?

Starting point is 02:46:52 For one life, thousands would be saved from corruption and, decay. One death and a hundred lives in exchange. It's simple arithmetic. Besides, what value has the life of that sickly, stupid, ill-natured old woman in the balance of existence? No more than the life of a louse, of a black beetle, less, in fact, because the old woman is doing harm. She is wearing out the lives of others. The other day, she bit Lizavetta's finger out of spite. It almost had to be amputated. Of course she does not deserve to live, remarked the officer. But there it is, it's nature.

Starting point is 02:47:33 Oh, well, brother, but we have to correct and direct nature, and but for that we should drown in an ocean of prejudice. But for that, there would never have been a single great man. Talk of duty, conscience, I don't want to say anything against duty and conscience, but the point is, what do we mean by them? Stay. I have another question to ask you. Listen. No, you stay. I'll ask you a question. Listen. Well? You are talking and speechifying away. But tell me, would you kill the old woman yourself?

Starting point is 02:48:09 Of course not. I was only arguing the justice of it. It's nothing to do with me. But I think, if you would not do it yourself, there's no justice about it. Let us have another game. Raskolnikov was violently agitated. Of course it was all ordinary youthful talk and thought, such as he had often heard before in different forms and on different themes. But why had he happened to hear such a discussion and such ideas at the very moment when his own brain was just conceiving the very same ideas? And why, just at the moment when he had brought away the embryo of his idea from the old woman,

Starting point is 02:48:51 had he dropped at once upon a conversation about her. This coincidence always seemed strange to him. This trivial talk in a tavern had an immense influence on him in his later action, as though there had really been in it something preordained, some guiding hint. On returning from the haymarket, he flung himself on the sofa and sat for a whole hour without stirring. Meanwhile it got dark. He had no candle, and indeed it did not occur. heard to him to light up. He could never recollect whether he had been thinking about anything

Starting point is 02:49:27 at that time. At last he was conscious of his former fever and shivering, and he realized with relief that he could lie down on the sofa. Soon, heavy, leaden sleep came over him, as it were crushing him. He slept in extraordinarily long time and without dreaming. Nastassia, coming into his room at ten o'clock the next morning, had difficulty in rousing him. She brought him in tea and bread. The tea was again the second brew and again in her own teapot. My goodness, how he sleeps, she cried indignantly. And he is always asleep. He got up with an effort. His head ached, he stood up, took a turn in his garret, and sank back on the sofa again. Going to sleep again, cried Nastassia. Are you ill, eh? He made no

Starting point is 02:50:18 reply. Do you want some tea? "'Afterwards,' he said with an effort, closing his eyes again and turning to the wall. Nastassia stood over him. "'Perhaps he really is ill,' she said, turned and went out. She came in again at two o'clock with soup. He was lying as before. The tea stood untouched. Nastassia felt positively offended and began wrathfully rousing him. "'Why are you lying like a log?' she shouted, looking at it. him with repulsion. He got up and sat down again, but said nothing and stared at the floor.

Starting point is 02:50:57 "'Are you ill or not?' asked Nastasha, and again receive no answer. "'You'd better go out and get a breath of air,' she said after a pause. "'Will you eat it or not?' "'Afterwards,' he said weakly, "'you can go.' And he motioned her out. She remained a little longer, looked at him with compassion, and went out. A few minutes afterwards, he raised his eyes and looked for a long while at the tea and the soup. Then he took up the bread, took up a spoon, and began to eat. He ate a little, three or four spoonfuls, without appetite, as it were mechanically. His head ached less. After his meal, he stretched

Starting point is 02:51:40 himself on the sofa again, but now he could not sleep. He lay without stirring, with his face in the pillow. He was haunted by daydreams. and such strange daydreams. In one that kept recurring, he fancied that he was in Africa, in Egypt, in some sort of oasis. The caravan was resting. The camels were peacefully lying down. The palms stood all around in a complete circle.

Starting point is 02:52:07 All the party were at dinner. But he was drinking water from a spring which flowed gurgling close by. And it was so cool, it was wonderful, wonderful, blue, cold water running among the party-colored stones, and over the clean sand which glistened here and there like gold. Suddenly he heard a clock strike. He started, roused himself, raised his head, looked out of the window, and seeing how late it was, suddenly jumped up wide awake as though someone had pulled him off the sofa. He crept on tiptoe to the door, stealthily opened it, and began listening on the staircase. His heart beat terribly, but all was quiet on the stairs as if he was,

Starting point is 02:52:48 everyone was asleep. It seemed to him strange and monstrous that he could have slept in such forgetfulness from the previous day and had done nothing, had prepared nothing yet. And meanwhile, perhaps it had struck six, and his drowsiness and stupefaction were followed by an extraordinary, feverish, as it were, distracted haste. But the preparations to be made were few. He concentrated all his energies on thinking of everything and forgetting nothing, and his heart kept beating and thumping so that he could hardly breathe. First, he had to make a noose and sew it into his overcoat, a work of a moment. He rummaged under his pillow and picked out amongst the linen stuffed away under it,

Starting point is 02:53:32 a worn-out, old, unwashed shirt. From its rags he tore a long strip, a couple of inches wide and about sixteen inches long. He folded this strip in two, took off his wide, strong summer overcoat of some stout cotton material, his only outer garment, and began sewing the two ends of the rag on the inside, under the left armhole. His hands shook as he sewed, but he did it successfully so that nothing showed outside when he put on the coat again. The needle and thread he had got ready long before, and they lay on his table in a piece of paper. As for the noose, it was a very ingenious device of his own. The noose was intended for the axe. It was impossible for him to

Starting point is 02:54:17 carry the axe through the street in his hands. And if hidden under his coat, he would still have had to support it with his hand, which would have been noticeable. Now he only had to put the head of the axe in the noose, and it would hang quietly under his arm on the inside. Putting his hand in his coat pocket, he could hold the end of the handle all the way, so that it did not swing, and as the coat was very full, a regular sack, in fact, it would not be seen from outside that he was holding something with the hand that was in the pocket. This news, too, he had designed a fortnight before. When he had finished with this, he thrust his hand into a little opening between his sofa and the floor,

Starting point is 02:54:59 fumbled in the left corner, and drew out the pledge, which he had got ready long before and hidden there. This pledge was, however, only a smoothly play. plain piece of wood the size and thickness of a silver cigarette case. He picked up this piece of wood in one of his wanderings in a courtyard where there was some sort of a workshop. Afterwards, he had added to the wood a thin, smooth piece of iron, which he had also picked up at the same time in the street. Putting the iron which was a little the smaller on the piece of wood, he fastened them very firmly, crossing and recrossing the thread round them, then wrapped them carefully and daintily in clean white paper, and tied up the parcel so that it would be very difficult to untie it.

Starting point is 02:55:44 This was in order to divert the attention of the old woman for a time, while she was trying to undo the knot, and so to gain a moment. The iron strip was added to give weight, so that the woman might not guess the first minute that the thing was made of wood. All this had been stored by him beforehand under the sofa. He had only just got the pledge out when he heard someone suddenly about in the yard. It struck six long ago. Long ago! My God!

Starting point is 02:56:14 He rushed to the door, listened, caught up his hat and began to descend his thirteen steps cautiously, noiselessly, like a cat. He had still the most important thing to do, to steal the axe from the kitchen. That the deed must be done with an axe he had decided long ago. He had also a pocket pruning knife, but he could not rely on the knife and still less on his own strength, and so resolved finally on the axe. We may note in passing one peculiarity in regard to all the final resolutions taken by him in the matter. They had one strange characteristic. The more final they were, the more hideous and the more absurd they at once became

Starting point is 02:56:54 in his eyes. In spite of all his agonizing inward struggle, he never for a single instant all that time could believe in the carrying out of his plans. And indeed, if it had ever happened that everything to the least point could have been considered and finally settled, and no uncertainty of any kind had remained, he would, it seems, have renounced it all as something absurd, monstrous, and impossible. But a whole mass of unsettled points and uncertainties remained. As for getting the axe, that trifling business cost him no anxiety, for nothing could be easier. Nastassia was continually out of the house, especially in the evenings. She would run into the neighbors or to a shop, and always left the door

Starting point is 02:57:42 ajar. It was the one thing the landlady was always scolding her about. And so, when the time came, he would only have to go quietly into the kitchen and to take the axe, and an hour later, when everything was over, go in and put it back again. But these were doubtful points. Supposing he returned an hour later to put it back, and Nastassia had come back and was on the spot. He would, of course, have to go by and wait till she went out again. But supposing she were in the meantime to miss the axe, look for it, make an outcry. That would mean suspicion, or at least grounds for suspicion. But those were all trifles which he had not even begun to consider, and indeed he had no time. He was thinking of the chief point, and put

Starting point is 02:58:31 off trifling details until he could believe in it all. But that seemed utterly unattainable. So it seemed to himself, at least. He could not imagine, for instance, that he would sometime leave off thinking, get up and simply go there. Even his late experiment, that is, his visit with the object of a final survey of the place, was simply an attempt at an experiment, far from being the real thing, as though one should say,

Starting point is 02:58:58 Come, let us go and try it. Why dream about it? And at once he had broken down and had run away cursing, in a frenzy with himself. Meanwhile it would seem, as regards the moral question, that his analysis was complete. His casuistry had become keen as a razor, and he could not find rational objections in himself. But in the last resort he simply ceased to believe in himself, and doggedly, slavishly sought arguments in all directions, fumbling for them, as though someone were forcing and drawing him to it.

Starting point is 02:59:34 At first, long before, indeed, he had been much occupied with one question, why almost all crimes are so badly concealed and so easily detected, and why almost all criminals leave such obvious traces. He had come gradually to many different and curious conclusions, and in his opinion the chief reason lay not so much in the material impossibility of concealing the crime, as in the criminal himself. Almost every criminal is subject to a failure of will and reasoning power by a childish and phenomenal heedlessness, at the very instant when prudence and caution are most essential.

Starting point is 03:00:16 It was his conviction that this eclipse of reason and failure of willpower attacked a man like a disease, developed gradually and reached its highest point just before the perpetration of the crime, continued with equal violence at the moment of the crime, and for longer or shorter time after, according to the individual case, and then passed off like any other disease. The question whether the disease gives rise to the crime, or whether the crime from its own peculiar nature is always accompanied by something of the nature of disease, he did not yet feel able to decide. When he reached these conclusions, he decided that in his own case there could not be such a morbid reaction, that his reason and will would remain unimpaired at the time

Starting point is 03:01:02 of carrying out his design, for the simple reason that his design was not a crime. We will omit all the process by means of which he arrived at this last conclusion. We have run too far ahead already. We may add only that the practical, purely material difficulties of the affair occupied a secondary position in his mind. One has but to keep all one's willpower and reason to deal with them, and they will all be overcome at the time when once one has familiarized oneself with the minuteness details of the business. But this preparation had never been begun. His final decisions were what he came to trust least, and when the hour struck, it all came to pass quite differently, as it were accidentally

Starting point is 03:01:48 and unexpectedly. One trifling circumstance upset his calculations, before he had even left the staircase. When he reached the landlady's kitchen, the door of which was open as usual, he glanced cautiously in to see whether, in Nastassia's absence, the landlady herself was there, or if not, whether the door to her own room was closed, so that she might not peep out when he went in for the axe. But what was his amazement when he suddenly saw that Nastassia was not only at home in the kitchen, but was occupied there, taking linen out of a basket and hanging it on a line? Seeing him, she left off hanging the clothes, turned to him and stared at him all the time he was passing. He turned away his eyes and walked past as though he noticed nothing.

Starting point is 03:02:37 But it was the end of everything. He had not the axe. He was overwhelmed. "'What made me think,' he reflected as he went under the gateway, what made me think that she would be sure not to be at home at that moment? Why, why, why did I see? this so certainly! He was crushed and even humiliated. He could have laughed at himself in his anger, a dull animal rage boiled within him. He stood hesitating in the gateway. To go into the street, to go a walk for appearance's sake, was revolting, to go back to his room, even more revolting. "'And what a chance I have lost forever!' he muttered, standing aimlessly in the gateway, just opposite the porter's little dark room, which was also open.

Starting point is 03:03:28 Suddenly he started. From the porter's room, two paces away from him, something shining under the bench to the right caught his eye. He looked about him, nobody. He approached the room on tiptoe, went down two steps into it, and in a faint voice called the porter. "'Yes, not at home. Somewhere near, though, in the yard, for the door is wide open.'

Starting point is 03:03:51 He dashed to the axe. It was an axe, and pulled it out from under the bench, where it lay between two chunks of wood. At once, before going out, he made it fast in the noose. He thrust both hands into his pockets and went out of the room. No one had noticed him. When reason fails, the devil helps, he thought with a strange grin. This chance raised his spirits extraordinarily. He walked along quietly and sedately, without hurry, to avoid a wake

Starting point is 03:04:23 weakening suspicion. He scarcely looked at the passers-by, tried to escape looking at their faces at all, and to be as little noticeable as possible. Suddenly he thought of his hat. "'Good heavens! I had the money the day before yesterday and did not get a cap to wear instead!' A curse rose from the bottom of his soul. Glancing out of the corner of his eye into a shop, he saw by a clock on the wall that it was ten minutes past seven. He had to be had to make haste, and at the same time go some way round, so as to approach the house from the other side. When he had happened to imagine all this beforehand, he had sometimes thought that he would be very much afraid. But he was not very much afraid now, was not afraid

Starting point is 03:05:11 at all, indeed. His mind was even occupied by irrelevant matters, but by nothing for long. As he passed the Yusupov garden, he was deeply absorbed in considering the building of great fountains, and of their refreshing effect on the atmosphere in all the squares. By degrees he passed to the conviction that, if the summer garden were extended to the field of Mars, and perhaps joined to the garden of the Mihailovsky Palace, it would be a splendid thing and a great benefit to the town. Then he was interested by the question why in all great towns men are not simply driven by necessity, but in some peculiar way inclined to live in those parts of the town where there

Starting point is 03:05:52 are no gardens nor fountains, where there is most dirt and smell and all sorts of nastiness. Then his own walks through the haymarket came back to his mind, and for a moment he waked up to reality. What nonsense, he thought, better think of nothing at all! So probably men led to execution clutch mentally at every object that meets them on the way, flashed through his mind but simply flashed, like lightning. made haste to dismiss this thought. And by now he was near. Here was the house. Here was the gate. Suddenly, a clock somewhere struck once. What? Can it be half past seven? Impossible. It must be fast.

Starting point is 03:06:38 Luckily for him, everything went well again at the gates. At that very moment, as though expressly for his benefit, a huge wagon of hay had just driven in at the gate, completely screening him as he passed under the gateway, and the wagon had scarcely had time to drive through into the yard before he had slipped in a flash to the right. On the other side of the wagon he could hear shouting and quarreling, but no one noticed him and no one met him. Many windows looking into that huge quadrangular yard were open at that moment, but he did not raise his head. He had not the strength to. The staircase leading to the old woman's room was close by, just on the right of the gateway. He was already on the stairs. Drawing a breath, pressing his hand against his throbbing heart, and once more feeling

Starting point is 03:07:27 for the axe and setting it straight, he began softly and cautiously ascending the stairs, listening every minute. But the stairs too were quite deserted. All the doors were shut. He met no one. One flat indeed on the first floor was wide open, and painters were at work in it, but they did not glance at him. He stood still, thought of it. He stood still, thought, a minute and went on. Of course, it would be better if they had not been here, but it's two stories above them. And there was the fourth story. Here was the door. Here was the flat opposite, the empty one. The flat underneath the old woman's was apparently empty also. The visiting card nailed on the door had been torn off. They had gone away. He was out of breath. For one instant,

Starting point is 03:08:18 the thought floated through his mind, "'Shall I go back?' But he made no answer and began listening at the old woman's door, a dead silence. Then he listened again on the staircase, listened long and intently, then looked about him for the last time, pulled himself together, drew himself up, and once more tried the axe in the noose. "'Am I very pale?' he wondered. "'Am I not evidently agitated?'

Starting point is 03:08:47 She is mistrustful. Had I better wait a little longer till my heart leaves off thumping?" But his heart did not leave off. On the contrary, as though despite him it throbbed more and more violently. He could stand it no longer. He slowly put out his hand to the bell and rang. Half a minute later, he rang again, more loudly. No answer. To go on ringing was useless and out of place. The old woman was, of course, at home, but she was suspicious and alone. He had some knowledge of her habits, and once more he put his ear to the door. Either his senses were peculiarly keen, which it is difficult to suppose, or the sound was really very distinct. Anyway, he suddenly heard something like the cautious touch of a hand on the lock and the rustle

Starting point is 03:09:39 of a skirt at the very door. Someone was standing stealthily close to the lock and just he was doing on the outside, was secretly listening within, and seemed to have her ear to the door. He moved a little on purpose, and muttered something aloud that he might not have the appearance of hiding, then rang a third time, but quietly, soberly, and without impatience. Recalling it afterwards, that moment stood out in his mind vividly, distinctly forever. He could not make out how he had had such cunning, for his mind was, as it were, clouding, at moments, and he was almost unconscious of his body. An instant later, he heard the latch unfastened.

Starting point is 03:10:24 End of Part 1, Chapter 6. Part 1, Chapter 7 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 1, Chapter 7 The door was, as before, opened a tiny crack, and again, too sharp and suspicious eye stared at him out of the darkness. Then Raskolnikov lost his head and nearly made a great mistake. Fearing the old woman would be frightened by their being alone, and not hoping that the sight of him would disarm her suspicions, he took hold of the door and drew it towards him to prevent

Starting point is 03:11:14 the old woman from attempting to shut it again. Seeing this, she did not pull the door back, but she did not let go the handle, so that he almost dragged her out with it onto the stairs. Seeing that she was standing in the doorway, not allowing him to pass, he advanced straight upon her. She stepped back in alarm, tried to say something, but seemed unable to speak and stared with open eyes at him. "'Good evening, Alyona Avanovna,' he began, trying to speak easily, but his voice would not obey him. It broke and shook.

Starting point is 03:11:47 I have come. I have brought something. But we'd better come in, to the light. And leaving her, he passed straight into the room uninvited. The old woman ran after him. Her tongue was unloosed. Good heavens! What is it? Who is it? What do you want? Why, Alyona Ivanovna, you know me, Ruskalnikov. Here, I brought you the pledge I promised the other day. And he held out the pledge. The old woman glanced for a moment at the pledge, but at once stared in the eyes of her uninvited visitor. She looked intently, maliciously, and mistrustfully. A minute passed. He even fancied something like a sneer in her eyes, as though she had already guessed everything. He felt that he was losing his head, that he was almost frightened, so frightened that if she

Starting point is 03:12:42 were to look like that and not say a word for another half-minute, he thought he would have run away from her." "'Why do you look at me as though you did not know me?' he said suddenly, also with malice. "'Take it if you like. If not, I'll go elsewhere. I am in a hurry.' He had not even thought of saying this, but it was suddenly said of itself.

Starting point is 03:13:06 The old woman recovered herself, and her visitor's resolute tone evidently restored her confidence. "'But why, my good sir, all of a minute? What is it? She asked, looking at the pledge. The silver cigarette case. I spoke of it last time, you know. She held out her hand. But how pale you are to be sure, and your hands are trembling too.

Starting point is 03:13:32 Have you been bathing or what? Fever, he answered abruptly. You can't help getting pale, if you've nothing to eat, he added, with difficulty articulating the words. His strength was failing him again. But his answer sounded like truth. The old woman took the pledge. "'What is it?' she asked once more,

Starting point is 03:13:54 scanning Raskolnikov intently and weighing the pledge in her hand. "'A thing! Cigarette case! Silver! Look at it!' "'It does not seem somehow like silver. How has he wrapped it up?' Trying to untie the string and turning to the window, to the light, All her windows were shut, in spite of the stifling heat. She left him altogether for some seconds and stood with her back to him. He unbuttoned his coat and freed the axe from the noose, but did not yet take it out altogether, simply holding it in his right hand under the coat.

Starting point is 03:14:31 His hands were fearfully weak. He felt them every moment growing more numb and more wooden. He was afraid he would let the axe slip and fall. A sudden giddiness came over him. But what has he tied it up like this for?' The old woman cried with vexation and moved towards him. He had not a minute more to lose. He pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself,

Starting point is 03:14:58 and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head. He seemed not to use his own strength in this, but as soon as he had once brought the axe down, his strength returned to him. The old woman was always bareheaded. Her thin, light hair, streaked with gray, thickly smeared with grease, was plated in a rat's tail and fastened by a broken horncomb which stood out on the nape of her neck. As she was so short, the blow fell on the very top of her skull. She cried out, but very faintly, and suddenly sank all of a heap on the floor, raising her hands to her head.

Starting point is 03:15:37 In one hand she still held the pledge. Then he dealt her another and another blow with the blunt side and on the same spot. The blood gushed is from an overturned glass. The body fell back. He stepped back, let it fall, and at once bent over her face. She was dead. Her eyes seemed to be staring out of their sockets. The brow and the whole face were drawn and contorted convulsively. He laid the axe on the ground near the dead body and felt at once in her pocket, trying to avoid the streaming body, the same right-hand pocket from which she had taken the key on his last visit. He was in full possession of his faculties, free from confusion or giddiness, but his hands

Starting point is 03:16:21 were still trembling. He remembered afterwards that he had been particularly collected and careful, trying all the time not to get smeared with blood. He pulled out the keys at once, they were all as before, in one bunch on a steel ring. He ran at once into the bedroom with them. It was a was a very small room with a whole shrine of holy images. Against the other wall stood a big bed, very clean and covered with a silk patchwork-wotted quilt. Against a third wall was a chest of drawers. Strange to say, so soon as he began to fit the keys into the chest, so soon as he heard their jingling, a convulsive shudder passed over him. He suddenly felt tempted again to give it all up and go away. But that was only for an instant. It was too late. It was too late.

Starting point is 03:17:09 to go back. He positively smiled at himself when suddenly another terrifying idea occurred to his mind. He suddenly fancied that the old woman might still be alive and might recover her senses. Leaving the keys in the chest, he ran back to the body, snatched up the axe and lifted it once more over the old woman, but did not bring it down. There was no doubt that she was dead. bending down and examining her again more closely, he saw clearly that the skull was broken and even battered in on one side. He was about to feel it with his finger, but drew back his hand, and indeed it was evident without that. Meanwhile, there was a perfect pool of blood. All at once he noticed a string on her neck. He tugged at it, but the string was strong and

Starting point is 03:17:59 did not snap, and besides it was soaked with blood. He tried to pull it out from the front of the dress, but something held it and prevented its coming. In his impatience, he raised the axe again to cut the string from above on the body, but did not dare, and with difficulty, smearing his hand and the axe in the blood, after two minutes hurried effort, he cut the string and took it off without touching the body with the axe. He was not mistaken, it was a purse. On the string were two crosses, one of cypress wood and one of copper, and an image in silver filigree, and with them a small, greasy chamois leather purse with a steel rim and ring. The purse was stuffed very full.

Starting point is 03:18:43 Ruskalnikov thrust it in his pocket without looking at it, flung the crosses on the old woman's body, and rushed back into the bedroom, this time taking the axe with him. He was in terrible haste. He snatched the keys, and began trying them again. But he was unsuccessful. They would not fit in the locks. It was not so much that his hands were shaking, but that he kept making mistakes. Though he saw, for instance, that a key was not the right one and would not fit, still he tried to put it in. Suddenly, he remembered and realized that the big key with the deep notches, which was hanging there with the small keys, could not possibly belong to the chest of drawers. On his last visit, this had

Starting point is 03:19:26 struck him, but to some strong box, and that everything perhaps was hidden in that box. He left the chest of drawers, and at once felt under the bedstead, knowing that old women usually keep boxes under their beds. And so it was. There was a good-sized box under the bed, at least a yard in length, with an arched lid covered with red leather and studded with steel nails. The notched key fitted at once and unlocked it. At the top, under a wide, white sheet was a coat of red brocade lined with hairskin. Under it was a silk dress. Then a shawl, and it seemed as though there was nothing below but clothes. The first thing he did was to wipe his blood-stained hands on the red brocade. It's red, and on red blood will be less

Starting point is 03:20:15 noticeable, the thought passed through his mind. Then he suddenly came to himself. "'Good God, am I going out of my senses?' he thought with terror. But no sort of Sooner did he touch the clothes, than a gold watch slipped from under the fur coat. He made haste to turn them all over. There turned out to be various articles made of gold among the clothes, probably all pledges, unredeemed or waiting to be redeemed, bracelets, chains, earrings, pins, and such things. Some were in cases, others simply wrapped in newspaper, carefully and exactly folded and tied round with tape. Without any delay, he began filling up the pockets of his trousers and overcoat without examining or undoing the parcels and

Starting point is 03:21:01 cases, but he had not time to take many. He suddenly heard steps in the room where the old woman lay. He stopped short and was still as death. But all was quiet, so it must have been his fancy. All at once he heard distinctly a faint cry, as though someone had uttered a low, broken moan. Then again dead silence for a minute or two. He sat squatting on his heels by the box and waited holding his breath. Suddenly he jumped up, seized the axe, and ran out of the bedroom. In the middle of the room stood Lizavetta with a big bundle in her arms. She was gazing in stupefaction at her murdered sister, white as a sheet and seeming not

Starting point is 03:21:47 to have the strength to cry out. Seeing him run out of the bedroom, she began faintly quivering all over like a leaf. A shudder ran down her face. He lifted her hand, opened her mouth, but still did not scream. She began slowly backing away from him into the corner, staring intently at him, but still uttered no sound, as though she could not get breath to scream. He rushed at her with the axe. Her mouth twitched piteously, as one sees baby's mouths, when they begin to be frightened,

Starting point is 03:22:20 stare intently at what frightens them and are on the point of screaming. And this hapless Lizavetta was so simple. and had been so thoroughly crushed and scared, that she did not even raise a hand to guard her face, though that was the most necessary and natural action at the moment, for the axe was raised over her face. She only put up her empty left hand, but not to her face, slowly holding an out before her as though motioning him away. The axe fell with the sharp edge just on the skull and split at one blow all the top of the head. She fell heavily at once.

Starting point is 03:22:55 Ross Kalnikov completely lost his head, snatching up her bundle, dropped it again, and ran into the entry. Fear gained more and more mastery over him, especially after this second, quite unexpected murder. He longed to run away from the place as fast as possible, and if at that moment he had been capable of seeing and reasoning more correctly, if he had been able to realize all the difficulties of his position, the hopelessness, the hideousness, and the absurdity of it, if he could have understood how

Starting point is 03:23:27 many obstacles and perhaps crimes he had still to overcome or to commit, to get out of that place and to make his way home, it is very possible that he would have flung up everything, and would have gone to give himself up, and not from fear, but from simple horror and loathing of what he had done. The feeling of loathing especially surged up within him and grew stronger every minute. He would not now have gone to the box or even into the room for anything in the world. But a sort of blankness, even dreaminess, had begun by degrees to take possession of him. At moments he forgot himself, or rather forgot what was of importance, and caught at trifles. Glancing, however, into the kitchen and seeing a bucket half full of water on a bench,

Starting point is 03:24:15 he bethought him of washing his hands on the axe. His hands were sticky with blood. He dropped the axe with the blade in the water, snatched a piece of soap that lay in a broken saucer on the window, and began washing his hands in the bucket. When they were clean, he took out the axe, washed the blade and spent a long time, about three minutes, washing the wood where there were spots of blood rubbing them with soap. Then he wiped it all with some linen that was hanging to dry on a line in the kitchen, and then he was a long while attentively examining the axe at the window. There was no trace left on it, only the wood was still damp. He carefully hung the axe in the noose under his coat. Then, as far as was possible, in the dim light in the kitchen, he looked over his overcoat, his trousers, and his boots.

Starting point is 03:25:05 At the first glance there seemed to be nothing but stains on the boots. He wetted the rag and rubbed the boots. But he knew he was not looking thoroughly, that there might be something quite noticeable that he was overlooking. He stood in the middle of the room, lost in thought. Dark agonizing ideas rose in his mind, the idea that he was mad, and that at that moment he was incapable of reasoning, of protecting himself, that he ought perhaps to be doing something utterly different from what he was now doing.

Starting point is 03:25:36 "'Good God!' he muttered. "'I must fly! Fly!' and he rushed into the entry. But here a shock of terror awaited him, such as he had never known before. He stood and gazed and could not believe his eyes. The door, the outer door from the stairs, at which he had not long before waited and rung, was standing unfastened and at least six inches open. No lock, no bolt, all the time, all that time. The old woman had not shut it after him, perhaps, as a precaution.

Starting point is 03:26:09 But good God, why, he had seen Lizavetta afterwards. And how could he, how could he have failed to reflect that she must have come in somehow? She could not have come through the wall. He dashed to the door and fastened the latch. But no, the wrong thing again. I must get away! Get away! He unfastened the latch, opened the door, and began listening on the staircase. He listened a long time. Somewhere far away, it might be in the gateway, two voices were loudly and shrilly

Starting point is 03:26:43 shouting, quarreling and scolding. What are they about? He waited patiently. At last all was still, as though suddenly cut off. They had separated. He was meaning to go out, but suddenly, on the floor below, a door was noisely opened and someone began going downstairs humming a tune. How is it they all make such a noise?

Starting point is 03:27:08 Flash through his mind. Once more he closed the door and waited. At last all was still, not a soul stirring. He was just taking a step towards the stairs when he heard fresh footsteps. The steps sounded very far off, at the very bottom of the stairs. But he remembered quite clearly and distinctly that from the first sound he began for some reason to suspect that this was someone coming there, to the fourth floor, to the old woman. Why?

Starting point is 03:27:40 Were the sounds somehow peculiar, significant? The steps were heavy, even and unhurried. Now he had passed the first floor, now he was mounting higher. It was growing more and more distinct. He could hear his heavy breathing, and now the third story had been reached, coming here. And it seemed to him all at once that he was turned to stone, that it was like a dream in which one was being pursued, nearly caught and will be killed, and is rooted to the spot and cannot even move one's arms. At last, when the unknown was mounting to the fourth floor, he suddenly started, and succeeded in slipping neatly and quickly back into the flat and closing the door behind him.

Starting point is 03:28:24 Then he took the hook, and softly, noiselessly, fixed it in the catch. Instinct helped him. When he had done this, he crouched holding his breath by the door. The unknown visitor was by now also at the door. They were now standing opposite one another, as he had just before been standing with the old woman, when the door divided them and he was listening. The visitor panted several times. He must be a big fat man, thought Ruskalnikov, squeezing the axe in his hand.

Starting point is 03:28:56 It seemed like a dream indeed. The visitor took hold of the bell and rang it loudly. As soon as the tin bell tinkled, Ruskalnikov seemed to be aware of something moving in the room. For some seconds he listened quite seriously. The unknown rang again. waited and suddenly tugged violently and impatiently at the handle of the door. Rus Kalnikov gazed in horror at the hook shaking in its fastening, and in blank terror expected every minute that the fastening would be pulled out. It certainly did seem possible, so violently was he shaking it. He was tempted to hold the fastening, but he might be aware of it.

Starting point is 03:29:36 A giddiness came over him again. "'I shall fall down,' flashed through his mind, but the unknown began to speak, and he recovered himself at once. "'What's up? Are they asleep or murdered?' "'Damn them,' he bawled in a thick voice. "'Hey, Alyona Ivanovna, old witch! Liza Vena! Ivanovna! Hey, my beauty! Open the door! Oh, damn them! Are they asleep or what!'

Starting point is 03:30:05 And again enraged, he tugged with all his might a dozen times at the bell. He must certainly be a man of authority and an intimate acquaintance. At this moment, light-hurried steps were heard not far off on the stairs. Someone else was approaching. Ross Kaldikov had not heard them at first. You don't say there's no one at home, the newcomer cried in a cheerful, ringing voice, addressing the first visitor, who still went on pulling the bell. Good evening, Coke!

Starting point is 03:30:37 From his voice, he must be quite young. thought Roskalnikov. "'Who the devil can tell? I've almost broken the lock,' answered Coke. "'But how do you come to know me?' "'Why, the day before yesterday I beat you three times running at billiards at Gumbrinos.' "'Oh!' "'So they are not at home?

Starting point is 03:30:59 That's queer. It's awfully stupid, though. Where could the old woman have gone? I've come on business.' "'Yes, and I have business with her, too.' Well, what can we do? Go back, I suppose. I, and I was hoping to get some money, cried the young man. We must give it up, of course, but what did she fix this time for? The old witch fixed the time for me to come myself. It's out of my way. And where the devil she can have got to, I can't make out.

Starting point is 03:31:32 She sits here from years end to years end, the old hag. Her legs are bad, and yet here all of a sudden she's out for a walk. Hadn't we better ask the porter? What? Where she's gone and when she'll come back. Hmm. Damn it all. We might ask.

Starting point is 03:31:50 But you know she never does go anywhere. And he once more tugged at the door handle. Damn it all, there's nothing to be done. We must go. Stay, cried the young man suddenly. Do you see how the door shakes if you pull it? Well, that shows it's not locked, but fastened with the hook. Do you hear how the hook clanks? Well? Why, don't you see? That proved that one of them is at home.

Starting point is 03:32:18 If they were all out, they would have locked the door from the outside with the key and not with the hook from the inside. There, do you hear how the hook is clanking? To fasten the hook on the inside, they must be at home, don't you see? So there they are sitting inside and don't open the door. Well, and so they must be. cried Coke, astonished. "'What are they about in there?' And he began furiously shaking the door. "'Stay!' cried the young man again.

Starting point is 03:32:48 "'Don't pull at it. There must be something wrong here. Here you've been ringing and pulling at the door, and still they don't open. So either they both fated or—' "'What?' "'I tell you what. Let's go fetch the porter. Let him wake them up.' "'All right.' Both were going down. "'Stay. You stop here while I run down for the porter.'

Starting point is 03:33:12 "'What for?' "'Well, you'd better. All right.' "'I'm studying the law, you see. It's evident. Evident there's something wrong here!' The young man cried hotly, and he ran downstairs. Coke remained. Once more, he softly touched the bell, which gave one tinkle, then gently, as though reflecting and looking about him, began touching the door-handle. pulling it and letting it go to make sure once more that it was only fastened by the hook. Then puffing and panting, he bent down and began looking at the keyhole.

Starting point is 03:33:48 But the key was in the lock on the inside, and so nothing could be seen. Roskalnikov stood keeping tight hold of the axe. He was in a sort of delirium. He was even making ready to fight when they should come in. While they were knocking and talking together, the idea several times occurred to him to end it all at risk. once and shouted them through the door. Now and then he was tempted to swear at them, to jeer at them, while they could not open the door. Only make haste was the thought that flashed through

Starting point is 03:34:20 his mind. But what the devil is he about? Time was passing, one minute and another. No one came. Coke began to be restless. "'What the devil!' he cried suddenly, and in impatience, deserting his sentry duty, he too went down, hurrying and thumping with his heavy boots on the stairs. The steps died away. "'Good heavens! What am I to do?' Russ Kalnikov unfastened the hook, opened the door. There was no sound. Abruptly, without any thought at all, he went out, closing the door as thoroughly as he could and went downstairs. He had gone down three flights, when he suddenly heard a loud voice below.

Starting point is 03:35:04 Where could he go? There was nowhere to hide. He was just going back to the flat. Hey there! Catch the brute! Somebody dashed out of a flat below, shouting, and rather fell than ran down the stairs, bawling at the top of his voice. Mitka! Mitka! Mitka! Mitka! Blast him! The shout ended in a shriek. The last sounds came from the yard. All was still. But at the At the same instant, several men talking loud and fast began noisily mounting the stairs. There were three or four of them. He distinguished the ringing voice of the young man. "'Hey!'

Starting point is 03:35:46 Filled with despair, he went straight to meet them, feeling come what must. If they stopped him, all was lost. If they let him pass, all was lost, too. They would remember him. They were approaching. They were only a flight from him, and suddenly delivered him. A few steps from him on the right there was an empty flat with the door wide open, the flat on the second floor where the painters had been at work, and which, as though for his benefit,

Starting point is 03:36:15 they had just left. It was they, no doubt, who had just run down, shouting. The floor had only just been painted. In the middle of the room stood a pail and a broken pot with paint and brushes. In one instant he had whist in at the open door and hidden behind the wall, and only in the nick of time. They had already reached the landing. Then they turned and went on up to the fourth floor, talking loudly. He waited, went out on tiptoe, and ran down the stairs. No one was on the stairs, nor in the gateway. He passed quickly through the gateway and turned to the left in the street.

Starting point is 03:36:54 He knew, he knew perfectly well, that at that moment they were at the flat, that they were greatly astonished at finding it unlocked, as the door had just been fastened, that by now they were looking at the bodies, that before another minute had passed, they would guess and completely realize that the murderer had just been there, and had succeeded in hiding somewhere, slipping by them and escaping. They would guess most likely that he had been in the empty flat, while they were going downstairs. And meanwhile, he dared not quicken his pace much, though the next turning was still

Starting point is 03:37:29 nearly a hundred yards away. Should he slip through some gateway and wait somewhere in an unknown street? No, hopeless. Should he fling away the axe? Should he take a cab? Hopeless, hopeless! At last he reached the turning. He turned down it more dead than alive. Here he was halfway to safety, and he understood it. It was less risky because there was a great crowd of people, and he was lost in it like a grain of sand. But all he had suffered had so weakened him that he could scarcely move. Perspiration ran down him in drops. His neck was all wet. "'My word! He has been going it!'

Starting point is 03:38:11 Someone shouted at him when he came out on the canal bank. He was only dimly conscious of himself now, and the farther he went the worse it was. He remembered, however, that on coming out onto the canal bank he was alarmed at finding few people there, and so being more conspicuous, and he had the thought of turning back. Though he was almost falling from fatigue, he went a long way round so as to get home from quite a different direction. He was not fully conscious when he passed through the gateway of his house. He was already on the staircase before he recollected the axe, and yet he had a very grave problem before him, to put it back and to escape observation as far as possible in

Starting point is 03:38:54 doing so. He was, of course, incapable of reflecting that it might perhaps be far better not to restore the axe at all, but to drop it later on in somebody's yard. But it all happened fortunately, the door of the porter's room was closed but not locked, so that it seemed most likely that the porter was at home. But he had so completely lost all power of reflection that he walked straight to the door and opened it. If the porter had asked him, what do you want? He would perhaps have simply handed him the axe. But again the porter was not at home, and he succeeded in putting the axe back under the bench, and even covering it with the chunk of wood as before. He met no one, not a soul afterwards, on the way to his room. The landlady's door was shut.

Starting point is 03:39:41 When he was in his room, he flung himself on the sofa just as he was. He did not sleep, but sank into blank forgetfulness. If anyone had come into his room then, he would have jumped up at once and screamed. Scraps and shreds of thoughts were simply swarming in his brain, but he could not catch at one, he could not rest on one, in spite of all his efforts. End of Part 1, Chapter 7. Part 2, Chapter 1 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. 2. Chapter 1. So he lay a very long while. Now and then he seemed to wake up, and at such moments he noticed that it was far into the night, but it did not occur to him to get up. At last he noticed

Starting point is 03:40:44 that it was beginning to get light. He was lying on his back, still dazed from his recent oblivion. Fearful, despairing cries rose shrilly from the street, sounds which he heard every night, indeed, under his window after two o'clock. They woke him up now. Ah, the drunken men are coming out of the taverns, he thought. It's past two o'clock. And at once he leaped up, as though someone had pulled him from the sofa. What? Past two o'clock! He sat down on the sofa, and instantly recollected everything. All at once, in one flash, he recollected everything. For the first moment he thought he was going mad. A dreadful chill came over him, but the chill was from the fever that had begun long before in his sleep. Now he was suddenly taken with

Starting point is 03:41:37 violent shivering, so that his teeth chattered and all his limbs were shaking. He opened the door and began listening. Everything in the house was asleep. With amazement he gazed at himself and everything in the room around him, wondering how he could have come in the night before without fastening the door, and have flung himself on the sofa without undressing, without even taking his hat off. It had fallen off and was lying on the floor near his pillow. If anyone had come in, what would he have thought? That I'm drunk, but— He rushed to the window. There was light enough, and he began hurriedly looking himself all over from head to foot, all his clothes. Were there no traces? But there was no doing it

Starting point is 03:42:23 Like that, shivering with the cold, he began taking off everything and looking over again. He turned everything over to the last threads and rags, and mistrusting himself, went through his search three times. But there seemed to be nothing, no trace, except in one place, where some thick drops of congealed blood were clinging to the frayed edge of his trousers. He picked up a big clasp-knife and cut off the frayed threads. There seemed to be nothing more. Suddenly he remembered that the purse and the things he had taken out of the old woman's box were still in his pockets.

Starting point is 03:43:03 He had not thought till then of taking them out and hiding them. He had not even thought of them while he was examining his clothes. What next? Instantly he rushed to take them out and flinged them on the table. When he had pulled out everything and turned the pocket inside out to be sure there was nothing left, He carried the whole heap to the corner. The paper had come off the bottom of the wall and hung there in tatters. He began stuffing all the things into the hole under the paper.

Starting point is 03:43:33 They're in, all out of sight, and the purse too, he thought gleefully, getting up and gazing blankly at the hole which bulged out more than ever. Suddenly he shuddered all over with horror. "'My God!' he whispered in despair. "'What's the matter with me?' Is that hidden? Is that the way to hide things?" He had not reckoned on having trinkets to hide. He had only thought of money, and so had not prepared a hiding-place.

Starting point is 03:44:04 But now, now what am I glad of?" he thought. Is that hiding things? My reasons deserting me, simply. He sat down on the sofa in exhaustion and was at once shaken by another unbearable fit of shivering. Mechanically he drew from a chair beside him his old student's winter coat, which was still warm, though almost in rags, covered himself up with it and once more sank into drowsiness and delirium. He lost consciousness.

Starting point is 03:44:34 Not more than five minutes had passed when he jumped up a second time, and at once pounced in a frenzy on his clothes again. How could I go to sleep again with nothing done? Yes, yes, I have not taken the loop off the armhole. I forgot. Forgot a thing like that! Such a piece of evidence!' He pulled off the noose, hurriedly cut it to pieces, and threw the bits among his linen under the pillow. Pieces of torn linen couldn't rouse suspicion, whatever happened. I think not. I think not anyway. He repeated, standing in the middle of the room, and with painful concentration,

Starting point is 03:45:15 he fell to gazing about him again, at the floor and everywhere, trying to make sure he had not forgotten anything. The conviction that all his faculties, even memory, and the simplest power of reflection were failing him, began to be an insufferable torture. Surely it isn't beginning already. Surely it isn't my punishment coming upon me. It is. The frayed rags he had cut off his trousers were actually lying on the floor in the middle of the room, where anyone coming in would see them. "'What is the matter with me?' he cried again, like one distraught. Then a strange idea entered his head. That perhaps all his clothes were covered with blood,

Starting point is 03:46:01 that perhaps there were a great many stains, but that he did not see them, did not notice them because his perceptions were failing, were going to pieces. His reason was clouded. Suddenly he remembered that there had been blood. on the purse, too. Ah, then there must be blood in the pocket, too, for I put the wet purse in my pocket. In a flash he had turned the pocket inside out, and, yes, there were traces, stains on the lining of the pocket. So my reason has not quite deserted me, so I still have some sense and memory since I guessed it of myself, he thought triumphantly, with a deep sigh of relief. It's simply the weakness of fever, a moment's delirium.

Starting point is 03:46:48 And he tore the whole lining out of the left pocket of his trousers. At that instant the sunlight fell on his left boot. On the sock which poked out from the boot, he fancied there were traces. He flung off his boots. Traces indeed. The tip of the sock was soaked with blood. He must have unwearily stepped into that pool. But what am I to do with this now? Where am I to put the sock and rags and pocket?'

Starting point is 03:47:14 He gathered them all up in his hands and stood in the middle of the room. "'In the stove?' "'But they would ransack the stove first of all. Burn them? But what can I burn them with? There are no matches even.' "'No. Better go out and throw it all away somewhere.'

Starting point is 03:47:32 "'Yes, better throw it away,' he repeated, sitting down on the sofa again. "'And at once, this minute, without lingering. But his head sank on the pillow instead. Again the unbearable icy shivering came over him. Again he drew his coat over him. And for a long while, for some hours, he was haunted by the impulse to go off somewhere at once, this moment, and fling it all away, so that it may be out of sight and done with, at once, at once!

Starting point is 03:48:05 Several times he tried to rise from the sofa but could not. He was thoroughly waked up at last by a little. a violent knocking at his door. "'Open, do! Are you dead or alive?' He keeps sleeping here, shouted Nastassia, banging with her fist on the door. For whole days together he's snoring here like a dog. A dog he is, too. Open, I tell you, it's past ten!' "'Maybe he's not at home,' said a man's voice.

Starting point is 03:48:35 "'Ha! That's the porter's voice. What does he want?' He jumped up and sat on the sofa. The beating of his heart was a positive pain. "'Then who could have latched the door?' retorted Nastassia. "'He's taken to bolting himself in, as if he were worth stealing. "'Open, you stupid! Wake up!' "'What do they want? Why the porter?' "'All's discovered. Resist or open?'

Starting point is 03:49:03 "'Come what may.' He half rose, stooped forward, and unlatched the door. His room was so small that he could undo the latch without leaving the bed. Yes, the porter and Nastassia were standing there. Nastassia stared at him in a strange way. He glanced with defiant and desperate air at the porter, who, without a word, held out a gray-folded paper sealed with bottle-wax. A notice from the office, he announced, as he gave him the paper. From what office?

Starting point is 03:49:36 A summons to the police office, of course. You know which office. To the police? What for? How can I tell? You're sent for, so you go. The man looked at him attentively, looked round the room, and turned to go away. He's downright ill, observed Nastassia, not taking her eyes off him.

Starting point is 03:50:00 The porter turned his head for a moment. He's been in a fever since yesterday, she added. Roskalnikov made no response and held the paper in his hand. without opening it. "'Don't you get up, then,' Nastassia went on compassionately, seeing that he was letting his feet down from the sofa. "'You're ill, so don't go. There's no such hurry.' "'What have you got there?'

Starting point is 03:50:24 He looked. In his right hand he held the shreds he had cut from his trousers, the sock and the rags of the pocket. So he had been asleep with them in his hand. Afterwards, reflecting upon it, he remembered that half waking up in his fever, he had grasped all this tightly in his hand and so fallen asleep again. Look at the rags he's collected and sleeps with them, as though he has got hold of a treasure, and Nastassia went off into her hysterical giggle. Instantly he thrust them all under his gray coat and fixed his eyes intently upon her. Far as he was from being capable of rational reflection at that moment,

Starting point is 03:51:04 he felt that no one would behave like that with a person who was going to be arrested. But the police?" "'You'd better have some tea. Yes? I'll bring it. There's some left. No, I'm going. I'll go at once,' he muttered, getting to his feet.

Starting point is 03:51:22 "'Why, you'll never get downstairs.' "'Yes, I'll go.' "'As you please?' She followed the porter out. At once he rushed to the light to examine the sock and rags. "'There are stains, but not very noticeable. all covered with dirt, and rubbed and already discolored. No one who had no suspicion could distinguish anything.

Starting point is 03:51:47 Nastassia from a distance could not have noticed, thank God. Then with a tremor he broke the seal of the notice and began reading. He was a long while reading, before he understood. It was an ordinary summons from the district police station to appear that day at half-past nine at the office of the district superintendent. it. But when has such a thing happened? I never have anything to do with the police. And why just today? He thought in agonizing bewilderment. Good God, only get it over soon. He was flinging himself on his knees to pray, but broke into

Starting point is 03:52:26 laughter, not at the idea of prayer, but at himself. He began hurriedly dressing. If I'm lost, I am lost, I don't care. Shall I put it? Shall I put the sock on?" He suddenly wondered. It will get dustier still and the traces will be gone. But no sooner had he put it on than he pulled it off again in loathing and horror. He pulled it off, but reflecting that he had no other socks, he picked it up and put it on again. And again he laughed. "'That's all conventional, that's all relative, merely a way of looking at it,' He thought in a flash, but only on the top surface of his mind while he was shuddering all over. There, I've got it on. I finished by getting it on.

Starting point is 03:53:13 But his laughter was quickly followed by despair. No, it's too much for me, he thought. His legs shook. From fear, he muttered. His head swam and ached with fever. It's a trick. They want to decoy me there and confound me over every. everything, he mused as he went out onto the stairs. "'The worst of it is I'm almost light-headed. I may blurt out something stupid.' On the stairs he remembered that he was leaving all the things just as they were in the hole in the wall. And very likely it's on purpose to search when I'm out, he thought and

Starting point is 03:53:53 stopped short. But he was possessed by such despair, such cynicism of misery, if one might so call it, that with a wave of his hand he went on. Only to get it over. In the street the heat was insufferable again. Not a drop of rain had fallen all those days. Again dust, bricks and mortar. Again the stench from the shops and pothouses. Again the drunken men, the finished peddlers and half-broken-down cabs.

Starting point is 03:54:24 The sun shone straight in his eyes, so that it hurt him to look out of them. And he felt his head going round, as a man in fever is apt to feel when he comes out into the street on a bright sunny day. When he reached the turning into THE street, in an agony of trepidation he looked down it, at THE house, and at once averted his eyes. If they question me, perhaps I'll simply tell, he thought, as he drew near the police station. The police station was about a quarter of a mile off.

Starting point is 03:54:57 It had lately been moved to new rooms on the fourth floor of a new house. He had been once for a moment in the old office but long ago. Turning in at the gateway he saw on the right a flight of stairs which a peasant was mounting with a book in his hand. A house porter, no doubt, so then the office is here, and he began ascending the stairs on the chance. He did not want to ask questions of anyone. I'll go in, fall on my knees and confess everything, he thought as he reached the fourth floor.

Starting point is 03:55:32 The staircase was steep, narrow and all sloppy with dirty water. The kitchens of the flats opened onto the stairs and stood open almost the whole day. So there was a fearful smell and heat. The staircase was crowded with porters going up and down with their books under their arms, policemen and persons of all sorts and both sexes. The door of the office, too, stood wide open. Peasants stood waiting within. There, too, the heat was stifling, and there was a,

Starting point is 03:56:02 sickening smell of fresh paint and stale oil from the newly decorated rooms. After a little while he decided to move forward into the next room. All the rooms were small and low-pitched. A fearful impatience drew him on and on. No one paid attention to him. In the second room some clerk sat writing, dressed hardly better than he was, and rather a queer-looking set. He went up to one of them. What is it?" He showed the notice he had received. "'You are a student?' the man asked, glancing at the notice. "'Yes, formerly a student.'

Starting point is 03:56:41 The clerk looked at him, but without the slightest interest. He was a particularly unkempt person with a look of a fixed idea in his eye. There would be no getting anything out of him, because he has no interest in anything, thought Rus Kalnikov. "'Go in there to the head clerk,' said the clerk, pointing towards the furthest room. He went into that room, the fourth in order. It was a small room and packed full of people, rather better dressed than in the outer rooms. Among them were two ladies. One, poorly dressed in mourning, sat at the table opposite the chief clerk, writing something at his dictation.

Starting point is 03:57:22 The other, a very stout, buxom woman with a purplish-red, blotchy, face, excessively smartly dressed with a brooch on her bosom as big as a saucer, was standing on one side, apparently waiting for something. Voskalnikov thrust his notice upon the head clerk. The latter glanced at it, said, Wait a minute, and went on attending to the lady in mourning. He breathed more freely. It can't be that. By degrees he began to regain confidence. He kept urging himself to have courage and be calm. Some foolishness, some trifling carelessness, and I may betray myself. Hmm, it's a pity there's no air here," he added. It's stifling, it makes one's

Starting point is 03:58:09 head dizzier than ever, and one's mind, too. He was conscious of a terrible inner turmoil. He was afraid of losing his self-control. He tried to catch it something and fix his mind on it, something quite irrelevant, but he could not succeed in this at all. Yet the head clerk greatly interested him. He kept hoping to see through him and guess something from his face. He was a very young man, about two and twenty, with a dark, mobile face that looked older than his ears. He was fashionably dressed and foppish, with his hair parted in the middle, well combed and pomated, and wore a number of rings on his well-scrubbed fingers and a gold chain on his waistcoat. He said a couple of words in French to a foreigner who was in the room,

Starting point is 03:58:58 and said them fairly correctly. Louise Ivanovna, you can sit down, he said casually to the gaily dressed, purple-faced lady, who was still standing as though not venturing to sit down, though there was a chair beside her. "'Igh, danka,' said the latter, and softly, with a rustle of silk she sank into the chair. Her light blue dress trimmed with white lace, floated about the table like an air balloon, and filled almost half the room. She smelt of scent. But she was obviously embarrassed at filling half the room and smelling so strongly of scent,

Starting point is 03:59:35 and though her smile was impudent as well as cringing, it betrayed evident uneasiness. The Lady in Morning had done at last and got up. All at once, with some noise, an officer walked in very jauntily, with a peculiar swing of his shoulders at each step. He tossed his cockated cap on the table and sat down in an easy chair. The small lady positively skipped from her seat on seeing him and fell to curtseying in a sort of ecstasy. But the officer took not the smallest notice of her,

Starting point is 04:00:08 and she did not venture to sit down again in his presence. He was the assistant superintendent. He had a reddish mustache that stood out horizontally on each side of his feet, face, and extremely small features, expressive of nothing much except a certain insolence. He looked askance and rather indignantly at Raskolnikov. He was so very badly dressed, in spite of his humiliating position, his bearing was by no means in keeping with his clothes. Raskolnikov had unwarily fixed a very long and direct look on him, so that he felt positively affronted.

Starting point is 04:00:46 "'What do you want?' he shouted. astonished that such a ragged fellow was not annihilated by the majesty of his glance. "'I was summoned. By a notice,' Ruskalnikov faltered. "'For the recovery of money due from the student,' the head clerk interfered hurriedly, tearing himself from his papers. Here,' and he flung Ruskalnikov a document and pointed out the place. Read that. "'Money? What money?' thought Ruscalnikov. But then it's certainly not that."

Starting point is 04:01:23 And he trembled with joy. He felt sudden, intense, indescribable relief. A load was lifted from his back. "'And pray, what time were you directed to appear, sir?' shouted the assistant superintendent, seeming for some unknown reason more and more aggrieved. "'You are told to come at nine, and now it's twelve!' The notice was only brought me a quarter of an hour ago. Raskolnikov answered loudly over his shoulder. To his own surprise, P.2 grew suddenly angry

Starting point is 04:01:56 and found a certain pleasure in it. And it's enough that I have to come here ill with a fever. Kindly refrain from shouting. I'm not shouting. I'm speaking very quietly. It's you who are shouting at me. I'm a student and allow no one to shout at me. The assistant superintendent was so furious, that for the first minute he can only splutter inarticulately. He leaped up from his seat. Be silent! You are in a government office. Don't be impudent, sir! You're in a government office, too, cried Russ Kolnikov. And you're smoking a cigarette as well as shouting, so you are showing disrespect to all

Starting point is 04:02:41 of us! He felt an indescribable satisfaction at having said this. The head clerk looked at him with a smile. The angry assistant superintendent was obviously disconcerted. "'That's not your business!' he shouted at last, with unnatural loudness. "'Kindly make the declaration demanded of you. Show him! Alexander Gregorovich! There is a complaint against you. You don't pay your debts. You're a fine bird!' But Ruskonikov was not listening now. He had eagerly clutched at the paper, and

Starting point is 04:03:16 haste to find an explanation. He read it once and a second time, and still did not understand. What is this? he asked the head clerk. It is for the recovery of money on an IOU, a writ. You must either pay it, with all expenses, cost, and so on, or give a written declaration when you can pay it, and at the same time an undertaking not to leave the capital without payment, and nor to sell or conceal your property. The creditor is at liberty to sell you, your property and proceed against you according to the law." "'But I... I am not in debt to anyone!'

Starting point is 04:03:54 "'That's not our business. Here, an IOU for a hundred and fifteen roubles, legally attested and due for payment, has been brought us for recovery, given by you to the widow of the assessor Zarnitsyn, nine months ago, and paid over by the widow Zarnetson to one Mr. Cheberov. We therefore summon you hereupon.' "'But she is my landlady.' And what if she is your landlady?" The head clerk looked at him with a condescending smile of compassion, and at the same time with a certain triumph, as at a novice under fire for the first time, as though he would

Starting point is 04:04:30 say, "'Well, how do you feel now?' But what did he care now for an IOU for a writ of recovery? Was that worth worrying about now? Was it worth attention even?' He stood, he read, he listened, he answered. He even asked questions himself, but all mechanically. The triumphant sense of security, of deliverance from overwhelming danger, that was what filled his whole soul that moment without thought for the future, without analysis, without suppositions

Starting point is 04:05:02 or surmises, without doubts and without questioning. It was an instant of full, direct, purely instinctive joy. But at that very moment something like a thunderstorm took place in the office. The assistant superintendent, still shaken by Raskolnikov's disrespect, still fuming and obviously anxious to keep up his wounded dignity, pounced on the unfortunate, smart lady, who been gazing at him ever since he came in with an exceedingly silly smile. "'You shameful hussy!' he shouted suddenly at the top of his voice. The lady in mourning had left the office.

Starting point is 04:05:40 "'What was going on at your house last night, eh? A disgrace again! You're a scandal to the whole street, fighting and drinking again. Do you want the house of correction? Why, I have warned you ten times over that I would not let you off the eleventh. And here you are again, again, you! You! The paper fell out of Ruskonikov's hands, and he looked wildly at the smart lady who was so unceremoniously treated. But he soon saw what it meant, and at once began to find positive amusement in the scandal. He listened with pleasure, so that he was a little bit of the pleasure, so that he longed to laugh and laugh. All his nerves were on edge." "'Ilya Petrovitch!' the head clerk was beginning anxiously, but stopped short, for he knew from

Starting point is 04:06:27 experience that the enraged assistant could not be stopped except by force. As for the smart lady, at first she positively trembled before the storm. But strange to say, the more numerous and violent the terms of abuse became, the more amiable she looked, and the more seductive the smile she lavished on the terrible assistant. She moved uneasily and curtsied incessantly, waiting impatiently for a chance of putting in her word, and at last she found it. There was no sort of noise or fighting in my house, Mr. Captain. She pattered all at once, like peas dropping, speaking Russian confidently, though with a strong German accent. And no sort of scandal, and his honor came to him.

Starting point is 04:07:14 drunk, and it's the whole truth I am telling, Mr. Captain, and I am not to blame. Mine is an Honorable House, Mr. Captain, and Honorable Behavior, Mr. Captain, and I always, always dislike any scandal myself. But he came quite tipsy, and asked for three bottles again, and then he lifted up one leg, and began playing the Piano Forte with one foot, and that is not at all right in an honorable house. And he gons broke the piano, and it was very bad manners indeed, and I said so. And he took up a bottle and began hitting everyone with it. And then I called the porter, and Carl came, and he took Carl and hit him in the eye, and he hit Henriette in the eye too, and gave me five slaps on the cheek.

Starting point is 04:07:59 And it was so ungentlely in an honourable house, Mr. Captain, and I screamed, and he opened the window over the canal and stood in the window, squeaning like a little pig. It was a disgrace. The idea of squeaning like a little pig at the window into the street, fire upon him, and Carr pulled him away from the window by his coat, and it is true, Mr. Captain, he tore a sign rock, and then he shouted that, man must pay him fifteen roubles damages. And I did pay him, Mr. Captain, five roubles for a sign rock, and he is an ungentlemanly visitor, and caused all the scandal. I will show you up, he said, for I can write to all the papers about you. Then he was an author?

Starting point is 04:08:41 "'Yes, Mr. Captain, and what an ungentlely visitor in an honorable house! Now then, enough! I have told you already!' "'Ilya Petrovich!' the head clerk repeated significantly. The assistant glanced rapidly at him. The head clerk slightly shook his head. "'So I tell you this, most respectable Louise Ivanova, and I tell it you for the last time,' the assistant went on. If there is a scandal in your Honorable House once again, I will put you yourself in the lock-up, as it is called in polite society. Do you hear? So, a literary man, an author took five

Starting point is 04:09:23 rubles for his coattailed in an honorable house. A nice set these authors. And he cast a contemptuous glance at Raskolnikov. There was a scandal the other day in a restaurant, too. An author had eaten his dinner and would not pay. "'I'll write a satire on you,' says he. "'And there was another of them on a steamer last week used the most disgraceful language to the respectable family of a civil counsellor, his wife and daughter. And there was one of them turned out of a confectioner shop the other day.

Starting point is 04:09:57 They are all like that, authors, literary men, students, town criers, "'Foo! You get along. I shall look in upon you myself one day.' Then you had better be careful. Do you hear?" With hurried deference, Louise Ivanova fell to curtseying in all directions, and so curtsied herself to the door. But at the door she stumbled backwards against a good-looking officer with a fresh, open face and splendid, thick, fair whiskers. This was the superintendent of the district himself, Nicodim Fomwich. Louise Ivanova made haste to curtsy almost to the ground,

Starting point is 04:10:35 and with mincing little steps she fluttered out of the office. "'Again! Thunder and lightning! A hurricane!' said Nicodine Fomitch to Ilya Petrovich in a civil and friendly tone. "'You are aroused again. You are fuming again. I heard it on the stairs.' "'Well, what then?' Ilia Petrovich drawled with gentlemanly nonchalance, and he walked with some papers to another table, with a jaunty swing of his shoulders at each step. Here, if you will kindly look. An author, or a student, has been one at least, does not pay his debts, has given an IOU, won't clear out of his room, and complaints are constantly being lodged against him, and here he is pleased to make a protest against my smoking in his presence.

Starting point is 04:11:25 He behaves like a cad himself, and just look at him, please. Here's the gentleman, and very attractive he is. "'Poverty is not a vice, my friend. But we know you go off like powder. You can't bear a slight. I dare say you took offense at something and went too far yourself,' continued Nicodim Fomitch, turning affably to Ruskalnikov. "'But you were wrong there. He is a capital fellow, I assure you, but explosive, explosive. He gets hot, fires up, boils over, and no stopping him. And then it's all over. and at the bottom he's a heart of gold.

Starting point is 04:12:06 His nickname in the regiment was the explosive lieutenant. "'And what a regiment it was, too!' cried Ilya Petrovich, much gratified at this agreeable banter, though still sulky. Ross Kalnikov had a sudden desire to say something exceptionally pleasant to them all. "'Excuse me, Captain,' he began easily, suddenly addressing Nicodim Fomitch. "'Will you enter in my position?' I am ready to ask pardon, if I have been ill-mannered. I am a poor student, sick and shattered. Shattered was the word he used, by poverty. I am not studying, because I cannot keep

Starting point is 04:12:45 myself now, but I shall get money. I have a mother and sister in the province of X. They will send it to me, and I will pay. My landlady is a good-hearted woman, but she is so exasperated at my having lost my lessons, and not paying her for the last four months, that she does not even send up my dinner. And I don't understand this IOU at all. She is asking me to pay her on this IOU. How am I to pay her? Judge for yourselves." "'But that is not our business, you know,' the head clerk was observing. "'Yes, yes, I perfectly agree with you. But allow me to explain,' Ruskhalnikov put in again, still addressing Nikodin Fomitch, but trying his best to address

Starting point is 04:13:32 Ilya Petrovich also, though the latter persistently appeared to be rummaging among his papers and to be contemptuously oblivious of him. Allow me to explain that I had been living with her for nearly three years, and at first, at first, for why should I not confess it? At the very beginning I promised to marry her daughter. It was a verbal promise freely given. She was a girl, indeed I don't. liked her, though I was not in love with her. A youthful affair, in fact. That is, I mean to say that my landlady gave me credit freely in those days, and I led a life of—I was very heedless. Nobody asks you for these personal details, sir. We've no time to waste." Ilia Petrovich

Starting point is 04:14:17 interposed roughly and with a note of triumph. But Ruskonikov stopped him hotly, though he suddenly found it exceedingly difficult to speak. But, excuse me, excuse me, it is for me to explain, how it all happened. In my turn, though I agree with you, it is unnecessary. But a year ago, the girl died of typhus. I remained lodging there as before, and when my landlady moved into her present quarters, she said to me, and in a friendly way, that she had complete trust in me, but still, would I not give her an IOU for 115 rubles, all the dead I owed her. She said, if only I gave her that, she would trust me again, as much as I liked, and that she would never, never, those were her

Starting point is 04:15:04 own words, make use of that IOU till I could pay of myself. And now, when I have lost my lessons and have nothing to eat, she takes action against me. What am I to say to that?' "'All these affecting details are no business of ours,' Ilya Petrovich interrupted. it rudely. You must give a written undertaking, but as for your love affairs and all these tragic events, we have nothing to do with that. "'Come now, you are harsh,' muttered Nicodine Fomitch, sitting down at the table and also beginning to write. He looked a little ashamed. "'Right,' said the head clerk to Raskolnikov.

Starting point is 04:15:45 "'Write what?' the latter asked gruffly. "'I will dictate to you.' Raskolnikov fancied that the head clerk treated him more casually and contemptuously after his speech, but strange to say he suddenly felt completely indifferent to anyone's opinion, and this revulsion took place in a flash in one instant. If he had cared to think a little, he would have been amazed indeed that he could have talked to them like that a minute before, forcing his feelings upon them. And where had those feelings come from?

Starting point is 04:16:18 Now, if the whole room had been filled, not with police officers, but with those nearest and dearest to him, he would not have found one human word for them, so empty was his heart. A gloomy sensation of agonizing, everlasting solitude and remoteness, took conscious form in his soul. It was not the meanness of his sentimental effusions before Ilya Petrovich, nor the meanness of the latter's triumph over him that had caused this sudden revulsion in his heart. Oh, what had he to do now with his own baseness, with all these petty vanities, officers, German women, debts, police officers? If he had been sentenced to be burned at that moment, he would not have stirred,

Starting point is 04:17:02 would hardly have heard the sentence to the end. Something was happening to him entirely new, sudden and unknown. It was not that he understood, but he felt clearly with all the intensity of sensation that he could never more appeal to these people in the police office with sentimental effusions like his recent outburst, or with anything whatever, and that if they had been his own brothers and sisters and not police officers, it would have been utterly out of the question to appeal to them in any circumstance of life. He had never experienced such a strange and awful sensation. And what was most agonizing? It was more a sensation than a conception or idea, a direct

Starting point is 04:17:44 sensation, the most agonizing of all the sensations he had known in his life. The head clerk began dictating to him the usual form of declaration, that he could not pay, that he undertook to do so at a future date, that he would not leave the town, nor sell his property, and so on. But you can't write. You can hardly hold the pen, observed the head clerk, looking with a curiosity at Rusconikov. Are you ill? Yes, I'm giddy. Go on.

Starting point is 04:18:16 That's all. Sign it. The head clerk took the paper and turned to attend to others. Raskolnikov gave back the pen. But instead of getting up and going away, he put his elbows on the table and pressed his head in his hands. He felt as if a nail were being driven into his skull. A strange idea suddenly occurred to him, to get up at once, to go to Nicodim Fomitch and tell him everything that had happened yesterday, and then to go with him to his lodgings and to show him the things in the hole in the corner. The impulse was so strong that he got up from his seat

Starting point is 04:18:53 to carry it out. Hadn't I better think a minute? Flash through his mind. No, better cast off the burden without thinking. But all at once he stood still, rooted to the spot. Nicodeme Fomitch was talking eagerly with Ilya Petrovich, and the words reached him. It's impossible. They'll both be released. To begin with, the whole story contradicts itself. Why should they have called the porter if it had been their doing? To inform against themselves? Or as a blind? No, that would be too cunning. Besides, Pestrichov, the student, was seen at the gate by both the porters and a woman as he went in. He was walking with three friends, who left him only at the gate, and he asked the porters to direct him,

Starting point is 04:19:42 in the presence of the friends. Now, would he have asked his way if he had been going with such an object? As for Coke, he spent half an hour at the silversmiths below, before he went up to the old woman and left him in exactly quarter to eight. Now just consider. But, excuse me, how do you explain this contradiction? They state themselves that they knocked and the door was locked. Yet, three minutes later, when they went up with the porter,

Starting point is 04:20:09 it turned out the door was unfastened. That's just it. The murderer must have been there and bolted himself in, and they'd have caught him for certainty if Coke had not been an ass and gone to look for the porter, too. He must have seized the interval to get downstairs and slip by them somehow. Cope keeps crossing himself and saying, If I had been there, he would have jumped out and killed me with his axe. He is going to have a Thanksgiving service. Ha! ha!

Starting point is 04:20:37 And no one saw the murderer? They might well not see him. The house is a regular Noah's Ark," said the head clerk, who was listening. "'It's clear, quite clear,' Nicodine Fomitch repeated warmly. "'No, it's anything but clear,' Ilya Petrovitch maintained. Raskolnikov picked up his hat and walked towards the door, but he did not reach it. When he recovered consciousness he found himself sitting in a chair supported by someone on the right side, while someone else was standing on the left, holding a yellowish glass filled

Starting point is 04:21:12 with yellow water, and Nicodeme Fomitch standing before him, looking intently at him. He got up from the chair. "'What's this? Are you ill?' Nicodeme Fomitch asked, rather sharply. "'He could hardly hold his pen when he was signing,' said the head clerk, settling back in his place and taking up his work again. "'Have you been ill long?' cried Ilya Petrovich from his place, where he, too, was looking through papers. He had, of course, come to look at the sick man when he fainted, but retired at once when he recovered. "'Since yesterday,' muttered Ruskonikov in reply. "'Did you go out yesterday?' "'Yes.'

Starting point is 04:21:53 "'Though you were ill?' "'Yes.' "'At what time?' "'About seven.' "'And where did you go, may I ask?' "'Along the street.' "'Short and clear.' Raskolnikov, wide as a handkerchief, had answered sharply, jerkily without dropping

Starting point is 04:22:12 his black feverish eyes before Ilya Petrovitch's stare. "'He can scarcely stand upright. And you,' Nicodine Fomitch was beginning. "'No matter!' Ilia Petrovich pronounced rather peculiarly. Nicotine Fomitch would have made some further protest, but glancing at the head clerk who was looking very hard at him he did not speak. There was a sudden silence. It was strange. Very well, then, concluded Ilya Petrovich. We will not detain you.

Starting point is 04:22:47 Ruskonikov went out. He caught the sound of eager conversation on his departure, and above the rest rose the questioning voice of Nicodeme Fomitch. In the street, his faintness passed off completely. A search! There will be a search at once, he repeated to himself, hurrying home. The brutes, they suspect. His former terror mastered him completely again. End of Part 2, Chapter 2 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 2, Chapter 2

Starting point is 04:23:43 And what if there has been a search already? What if I find them in my room? But here was his room. Nothing and no one in it. No one had peeped in. Even Nastassia had not touched it. But heavens, how could he have left all those things in the hole? He rushed to the corner, slipped his hand under the paper,

Starting point is 04:24:05 pulled the things out, and lined his pockets with them. There were eight articles in all. two little boxes with earrings or something of the sort. He hardly looked to see. Then four small leather cases. There was a chain, too, merely wrapped in newspaper and something else in newspaper that looked like a decoration. He put them all in the different pockets of his overcoat,

Starting point is 04:24:28 and the remaining pocket of his trousers, trying to conceal them as much as possible. He took the purse, too. Then he went out of his room, leaving the door open. He walked quickly and resolutely, and though he felt shattered, he had his senses about him. He was afraid of pursuit. He was afraid that in another half-hour, another quarter of an hour, instructions would be issued for his pursuit, and so at all costs he must hide all traces before then. He must clear everything up while he still had some strength, some reasoning power

Starting point is 04:25:03 left him. Where was he to go? That had long been settled. Fling them into the canal, and all traces hidden in the water, the thing would be in an end. So he had decided in the night of his delirium when several times he had had the impulse to get up and go away, to make haste and get rid of it all. But to get rid of it turned out to be a very difficult task. He wandered along the bank of the Akaterininsky Canal for half an hour or more, and looked several times at the steps running down to the water, but he could not think of carrying out his plan. Either rafts stood at the steps' edge, and women were washing clothes on them, or boats were moored there, and people were swarming everywhere. Moreover, he could be seen and noticed

Starting point is 04:25:49 from the banks on all sides. It would look suspicious for a man to go down on purpose, stop, and throw something into the water. And what if the boxes were to float instead of sinking? And of course they would. Even as it was, everyone he met seemed to stare and look round, as if they had nothing to do but to watch him. Why is it, or can it be my fancy, he thought? At last the thought struck him that it might be better to go to the Neva. There were not so many people there, he would be less observed, and it would be more convenient in every way, above all it was further off.

Starting point is 04:26:28 He wondered how he could have been wandering for a good half-hour, worried and anxious in this dangerous past, without thinking of it before. And that half-hour he had lost over an irrational plan, simply because he had thought of it in delirium. He had become extremely absent and forgetful, and he was aware of it. He certainly must make haste. He walked towards the Neva along V prospect, but on the way another idea struck him. Why to the Neva?

Starting point is 04:26:59 Would it not be better to go somewhere far off, to the islands again, and there hide the things in some solitary place, in a wood or under a bush and mark the spot perhaps? And, though he felt incapable of clear judgment, the idea seemed to him a sound one. But he was not destined to go there. For coming out of V prospect towards the square, he saw on the left a passage leaving between two blank walls to a courtyard. On the right hand, the blank, unwhitewashed wall of a four-storied house stretched far into the court. On the left, a wooden hoarding ran parallel with it for twenty paces into the court, and then turned sharply to the left. Here was a deserted fenced-off place where rubbish of

Starting point is 04:27:45 different sorts was lying. At the end of the court, the corner of a low, smutty stone shed, apparently part of some workshop, peeped from behind the hoarding. It was probably a carriage builders or carpenter's shed. The whole place from the entrance was black with coal dust. Here would be the place to throw it, he thought. Not seeing anyone in the yard, he slipped in, and at once saw near the gate a sink, such as is often put in yards where there are many workmen or cab drivers, and on the hoarding above had been scribbled in chalk the time-honored witticism, standing here strictly forbidden.

Starting point is 04:28:23 This was all the better, for there would be nothing suspicious about his going in. Here I could throw it all in a heap and get away. Looking round once more, with his hand already in his pocket, he noticed against the outer wall between the entrance and the sink, a big unhewn stone, weighing perhaps sixty pounds. The other side of the wall was a street. He could hear passers-by, always numerous in that part, but he could not be seen from the entrance, unless someone came in from the street, which might well happen indeed, so there was need of haste. He bent down over the stone, seized the top of it firmly in both hands, and, using all his strength, turned it over.

Starting point is 04:29:07 Under the stone was a small hollow in the ground, and he immediately emptied his pocket into it. The purse lay at the top, and yet the hollow was not filled up. Then he seized the stone again, and with one twist, turned it back, so that it was in the same position again, though it stood a very little higher. But he scraped the earth about it and pressed it at the edges with his full, What? Nothing could be noticed. Then he went out and turned into the square.

Starting point is 04:29:37 Again an intense, almost unbearable joy overwhelmed him for an instant, as it had in the police office. I have buried my tracks. And who, who can think of looking under that stone? It has been lying there most likely ever since the house was built and will lie as many years more. And if it were found, who would think of me? It is all over. No clue! And he laughed. Yes, he remembered that he began laughing a thin, nervous,

Starting point is 04:30:09 noiseless laugh, and went on laughing all the time he was crossing the square. But when he reached the K. Boulevard, where two days before he had come upon that girl, his laughter suddenly ceased. Other ideas crept into his mind. He felt all at once that it would be loathsome to pass that seat on which after the girl was gone, he had sat and pondered, and that it would be hateful, too, to meet that whiskered policeman to whom he had given the twenty Kopex. Damn him! He walked, looking about him, angrily and distractedly. All his ideas now seemed to be circling round some single point, and he felt that there

Starting point is 04:30:50 really was such a point, and that now, now he was left facing that point, and for the first time indeed during the last two months. Damn it all! He thought suddenly, in a fit of ungovernable fury. If it has begun, then it has begun. Hang the new life! Good Lord, how stupid it is! And what lies I told today!

Starting point is 04:31:16 How despicably I fawned upon that wretched Ily Petrovich! But that is all folly! What do I care for them all? Am I fawning upon them? It is not that at all. It is not that at all. Suddenly he stopped. A new, utterly unexpected and exceedingly simple question perplexed and bitterly confounded him. If it all has really been done deliberately and not idiotically, if I really had a certain

Starting point is 04:31:45 and definite object, how is it I did not even glance into the purse and don't know what I had there, for which I have undergone these agonies and have deliberately undertaken in this base, filthy degrading business. And here I wanted at once to throw into the water the purse together with all the things which I had not seen either. How's that?" Yes, that was so, that was all so. Yet he had known it all before, and it was not a new question for him, even when it was decided

Starting point is 04:32:17 in the night without hesitation and consideration, as though so it must be, as though it could not possibly be otherwise. Yes, he had known it all and understood it all. It surely had been all settled even yesterday at the moment when he was bending over the box and pulling the jewel-cases out of it. Yes, so it was. It is because I am very ill, he decided grimly at last. I have been worrying and fretting myself, and I don't know what I am doing. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, and all this time I have been worrying myself. I shall get well and I shall not worry. But what if I don't get well at all? Good God, how sick I am of it all!' He walked on without resting. He had a terrible longing for some distraction, but he did not know

Starting point is 04:33:11 what to do, what to attempt. A new overwhelming sensation was gaining more and more mastery over him every moment. This was an immeasurable, almost physical repulsion for everything surrounding him, an obstinate, malignant feeling of hatred. All who met him were loathsome to him. He lolled their faces, their movements, their gestures. If anyone had addressed him, he felt that he might have spat at him or bitten him. He stopped suddenly on coming out on the bank of the Little Neva near the bridge to Vassel Yevsky-Ostrov. Why, he lives here in that house, he thought. Why, I have not come to resume him of my own accord.

Starting point is 04:33:55 Here it's the same thing over again. Very interesting to know, though, have I come on purpose, or have I simply walked here by chance? Never mind, I said the day before yesterday that I would go and see him the day after. Well, and so I will. Besides, I really cannot go further now. He went up to Rezumian's room on the fifth floor. The latter was at home in his garret, busily writing at the moment, and he opened the door himself. It was four months since they had

Starting point is 04:34:27 seen each other. Resumian was sitting in a ragged dressing-gown, with slippers on his bare feet, unkempt, unshaven, and unwashed. His face showed surprise. "'Is it you?' he cried. He looked his comrade up and down. Then, after a brief pause, he was a little pause, he whistled. As hard up as all that. Why, brother, you've cut me out, he added, looking at Raskolnikov's rags. Come, sit down, you are tired, I'll be bound. And when he had sunk down on the American leather sofa, which was an even worse condition than his own, Resumian saw at once that his visitor was ill. Why, you are seriously ill, do you know that? He began feeling

Starting point is 04:35:12 his pulse. Raskolnikov pulled away his hand. "'Never mind,' he said. "'I have come for this. I have no lessons. I wanted, but I don't really want lessons.' "'But I say, you are delirious, you know,' Resumian observed, watching him carefully. "'No, I am not,' Kraskalnikov got up from the sofa. As he had mounted the stairs to Resumians, he had not realized that he would be meeting his friend

Starting point is 04:35:43 face to face. Now, in a flash, he knew that what he was least of all disposed for at that moment was to be face to face with anyone in the wide world. His spleen rose within him. He almost choked with rage at himself as soon as he crossed Resumian's threshold. Goodbye, he said abruptly, and walked to the door. Stop! Stop, you queer fish! I don't want to, said the other, again pulling away his hand. Then why the devil have you come? Are you mad or what? Why, this is almost insulting.

Starting point is 04:36:21 I won't let you go like that. Well, then, I came to you because I know no one but you who could help. To begin, because you are kinder than anyone, cleverer, I mean, and can judge. And now I see that I want nothing. Do you hear? Nothing at all. No one's services, no one's sympathy.

Starting point is 04:36:43 I am by myself, alone. Come, that's enough. Leave me alone. Stay a minute, you sweep. You are a perfect madman. As you like for all I care. I have no lessons, do you see, and I don't care about that. But there's a bookseller, Haruvimov, and he takes the place of a lesson. I would not exchange him for five lessons. He's doing publishing of a kind, and issuing natural science manuals

Starting point is 04:37:13 and what a circulation they have. The very titles are worth the money. You always maintain that I was a fool, but, by Jove, my boy, there are greater fools than I am. Now he is setting up for being advanced, not that he has an inkling of anything, but of course I encourage him. Here are two signatures of the German text, in my opinion the crudest charlatanism. It discusses the question, is woman a human being? And, of course, triumphantly proves that she is. is. Heruvimov is going to bring out this work as a contribution to the woman question. I am translating it. He will expand these two and a half signatures into six. We shall make up a gorgeous title half a page long and bring it out at half a ruble. It will do. He pays me six rubles the

Starting point is 04:38:02 signature. It works out to about fifteen roubles for the job, and I've had six already in advance. When we have finished this, we are going to begin a translation about Wales, and then some of the dullest scandals out of the second part of Les Confessions we have marked for translation. Somebody has told Heruvimov that Rousseau was a kind of Radicev. You may be sure I don't contradict him, hang him. Well, would you like to do the second signature of Is Woman a Human Being? If you would, take the German and pens and paper.

Starting point is 04:38:36 all those are provided, and take three rubles. For, as I have had six rubles in advance on the whole thing, three roubles come to you for your share. And when you have finished the signature, there will be another three roubles for you. And please don't think I'm doing you a service. Quite the contrary. As soon as you came in, I saw how you could help me.

Starting point is 04:38:57 To begin with, I am weak in spelling, and secondly, I am sometimes utterly adrift in German, so that I make it up as I go along for the most part. The only comfort is that it's bound to be a change for the better. Though, who can tell? Maybe it's sometimes for the worse. Will you take it?' Raskolnikov took the German sheets in silence, took the three rubles, and without a word, went out. Resumian gazed after him in astonishment.

Starting point is 04:39:26 But when Raskolnikov was in the next street, he turned back, mounted the stairs to Rzumians again, and laying on the table the German article and the three roubles, went out again, still without a hundred hundred hundred. uttering a word. "'Are you raving or what?' Resumian shouted, roused to fury at last. "'What farce is this? You'll drive me crazy, too. What did you come to see me for, damn you?' "'I don't want—' Translation,' muttered Ruskalnikov from the stairs.

Starting point is 04:39:58 "'Then what the devil do you want?' shouted Razumian from above. Raskolnikov continued descending the staircase in silence. "'Hey there! Where are you living?' No answer. "'Well, confound you then!' But Ruskalnikov was already stepping into the street. On the Nikolovsky Bridge he was roused of full consciousness again by an unpleasant incident. A coachman, after shouting at him two or three times, gave him a violent lash on the

Starting point is 04:40:28 back with his whip, for having almost fallen under the horse's hoofs. The lash so infuriated him that he dashed away to the railing, for some of his own. Some unknown reason he had been walking in the very middle of the bridge in the traffic. He angrily clenched and ground his teeth. He heard laughter, of course. Serves him right! A pickpocket, I dare say. Pretending to be drunk for sure, and getting under the wheels on purpose. And you have to answer for him. It's a regular profession, that's what it is.

Starting point is 04:41:00 But while he stood at the railing, still looking angry and bewildered after the retreating carriage, and, rubbing his back, he suddenly felt someone thrust money into his hand. He looked. It was an elderly woman in a kerchief and goat-skin shoes, with a girl, probably her daughter, wearing a hat and carrying a green parasol. Take it, my good man, in Christ's name. He took it, and they passed on. It was a piece of twenty copex. From his dress and appearance, they might well have taken him for a beggar, asking alms in the streets, and the gift of twenty kopeks he doubtless owed to the blow, which made them feel sorry for him. He closed his hand on the twenty kopeks, walked on for ten

Starting point is 04:41:45 paces, and turned, facing the Neva, looking towards the palace. The sky was without a cloud, and the water was almost bright blue, which is so rare in the Neva. The cupola of the cathedral, which is seen at its best from the bridge about twenty paces from the chapel, glittered in the sunlight, and in the pure air every ornament on it could be clearly distinguished. The pain from the lash went off, and Raskolnikov forgot about it. One uneasy and not quite definite idea occupied him now completely. He stood still, and gazed long and intently into the distance. This spot was especially familiar to him. When he was attending the university, he had hundreds of times, generally on his way home, stood still on this spot,

Starting point is 04:42:32 Gazed at this truly magnificent spectacle and almost always marveled at a vague and mysterious emotion it roused in him. It left him strangely cold. This gorgeous picture was for him blank and lifeless. He wondered every time at his somber and enigmatic impression, and, mistrusting himself, put off finding the explanation of it. He vividly recalled those old doubts and perplexities, and it seemed to him that it was no mere chance that he recalled them.

Starting point is 04:43:02 now. It struck him as strange and grotesque, that he should have stopped at the same spot as before, as though he actually imagined he could think the same thoughts, be interested in the same theories and pictures that had interested him so short a time ago. He felt it almost amusing, and yet it wrung his heart. Deep down, hidden far away out of sight, all that seemed to him now, all his old past, his old thoughts, his old problems and theories, his old impressions, and that picture and himself and all, all. He felt as though he were flying upwards, and everything were vanishing from his sight.

Starting point is 04:43:46 Making an unconscious movement with his hand, he suddenly became aware of the piece of money in his fist. He opened his hand, stared at the coin, and with a sweep of his arm, flung it into the water. Then he turned and went home. It seemed to him, he had cut himself off from everyone and from everything at that moment. Evening was coming on when he reached home, so that he must have been walking about six hours. How and where he came back he did not remember. Undressing and quivering like an over-driven horse, he laid down on the sofa, drew his great coat over him, and at once sank into oblivion.

Starting point is 04:44:26 It was dusk when he was waked up by a fearful scream. Good God, what a scream! Such unnatural sounds, such howling, wailing, whaling, grinding, tears, blows and curses he had never heard. He could never have imagined such brutality, such frenzy. In terror he sat up in bed, almost swooning with agony. But the fighting, wailing and cursing grew louder and louder. And then, to his intense amazement, he caught the voice of his landlady. She was howling. shrieking and wailing, rapidly, hurriedly, incoherently, so that he could not make out what she was talking about. She was beseeching, no doubt, not to be beaten, for she was being mercilessly

Starting point is 04:45:11 beaten on the stairs. The voice of her assailant was so horrible, from spite and rage, that it was almost a croak. But he too was saying something, and just as quickly and indistinctly, hurrying and spluttering. All at once, Raskolnikov trembled. He recognized the voice. It was the voice of Ilya Petrovich. Ilya Petrovich here and beating the landlady. He is kicking her, banging her head against the steps. That's clear that can be told from the sounds, from the cries and the thuds.

Starting point is 04:45:46 How is it? Is the world topsy-turvy? He could hear people running in crowds from all the stories and all the staircases. He heard voices, exclamations, knocking, doors banging. But why, why, and how could it be? He repeated, thinking seriously that he had gone mad. But no, he heard too distinctly. And they would come to him then next.

Starting point is 04:46:11 For, no doubt, it's all about that, about yesterday. Good God! He would have fastened his door with the latch, but he could not lift his hand. Besides, it would be useless. Terror gripped his heart like ice, tortured him, him and numbed him. But at last all this uproar, after continuing about ten minutes, began gradually to subside. The landlady was moaning and groaning. Ilya Petrovich was still uttering threats and curses. But at last he too seemed to be silent, and now he could not be heard.

Starting point is 04:46:47 "'Can he have gone away? Good Lord!' "'Yes, and now the landlady was going too, still weeping and moaning, and then her door swammed. Now the crowd was going from the stairs to their rooms, exclaiming, disputing, calling to one another, raising their voices to a shout, dropping them to a whisper. There must have been numbers of them, almost all the inmates of the block. But good God, how could it be? And why, why had he come here? Ruskalnikov sank, worn out on the sofa, but could not close his eyes. He lay for half an hour in such anger. such an intolerable sensation of infinite terror as he had never experienced before.

Starting point is 04:47:34 Suddenly, a bright light flashed into his room. Nastassia came in with a candle and a plate of soup. Looking at him carefully and ascertaining that he was not asleep, she set the candle on the table and began to lay out what she had brought, bread, salt, a plate, a spoon. You've eaten nothing since yesterday, I warrant. You've been trudging about all day, and you're shaking with you. fever. Nostasia, what were they beating the landlady for? She looked intently at him.

Starting point is 04:48:06 Who beat the landlady? Just now, half an hour ago, Ilya Petrovich, the assistant superintendent, on the stairs. Why was he ill-treating her like that, and—why was he here? Nastassia scrutinized him, silent and frowning, and her scrutiny lasted a long time. He fell out of un-easy, even frightened at her searching eyes. "'Nastasia, why don't you speak?' he said timidly at last in a weak voice. "'It's the blood,' she answered at last softly, as though speaking to herself. "'Bud? What blood?' he muttered, growing white and turning towards the wall. Nastassia still looked at him without speaking.

Starting point is 04:48:53 "'Nobody has been beating the landlady,' she declared at last. in a firm, resolute voice. He gazed at her, hardly able to breathe. I heard it myself. I was not asleep. I was sitting up, he said still more timidly. I listened a long while. The assistant superintendent came.

Starting point is 04:49:16 Everyone ran out onto the stairs from all the flats. No one has been here. That's the blood crying in your ears. When there's no outlet for it and it gets clobes, it, you begin fancying things. Will you eat something?' He made no answer. Nastassia still stood over him, watching him.

Starting point is 04:49:37 "'Give me something to drink, Nastassia.' She went downstairs and returned with a white earthenware jug of water. He remembered only swallowing one sip of the cold water and spilling some on his neck. Then followed forgetfulness. End of Part 2 Chapter 2. Part 2, Chapter 3 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 04:50:17 Part 2, Chapter 3 He was not completely unconscious, however, all the time he was ill. He was in a feverish state, sometimes delirious, sometimes half-conscious. He remembered a great deal afterwards. Sometimes it seemed as though there were a number of people around him. They wanted to take him away somewhere. There was a great deal of squabbling and discussing about him. Then he would be alone in the room.

Starting point is 04:50:45 They had all gone away afraid of him, and only now and then opened the door a crack to look at him. They threatened him, plotted something together, laughed and mocked at him. He remembered Nastassia often at his bedside. He distinguished another person, too, whom he seemed to know very well, though he could not remember who he was, and this fretted him, even made him cry. Sometimes he fancied he had been lying there a month, at other times it all seemed part of the same day. But of that, of that, he had no recollection, and yet every minute he felt that he had forgotten something he ought

Starting point is 04:51:25 to remember. He worried and tormented himself, trying to remember, moaned, flew into a rage, or sank into awful, intolerable terror. Then he struggled to get up, would have run away, but someone always prevented him by force, and he sank back into impotence and forgetfulness. At last he returned to complete consciousness. It happened at ten o'clock in the morning. On fine days the sun shone into the room at that hour, throwing a streak of light on the right wall and the corner near the door. door. Nastassia was standing beside him with another person, a complete stranger, who was looking at him very inquisitively. He was a young man with a beard, wearing a full, short-waisted

Starting point is 04:52:11 coat, and looked like a messenger. The landlady was peeping in at the half-open door. Raskolnikov sat up. "'Who is this, Nastassia?' he asked, pointing to the young man. "'I say, he's himself again,' she said. He is himself, echoed the man. Concluding that he had returned to his senses, the landlady closed the door and disappeared. She was always shy and dreaded conversations or discussions. She was a woman of forty, not at all bad-looking, fat and buxom, with black eyes and eyebrows,

Starting point is 04:52:48 good-natured from fatness and laziness, and absurdly bashful. "'Who are you?' he went on, addressing the man. But at that moment the door was flung open, and, stooping a little, as he was so tall, Razumian came in. "'What a cabin it is!' he cried. "'I am always knocking my head. You call this a lodging. "'So, you're a conscious, brother. I just heard the news from Pashenka.' "'He has just come too,' said Nastassia.

Starting point is 04:53:21 "'Just come too,' echoed the man again with a smile. "'And who are you?' Razumian asked, suddenly addressing him. "'My name is Vrazumian, at your service. Not Razumian, as I am always called, but Vrazumian, a student and a gentleman. And he is my friend. And who are you?' "'I am the messenger from our office, from the merchant Sheppelov, and I've come on business.' "'Please sit down,' Resumian seated himself on the other side of the table. It's a good thing you've come too, brother, he went on to Ruskalnikov.

Starting point is 04:53:58 For the last four days you have scarcely eaten or drunk anything. We had to give you tea and spoonfuls. I brought Zossamov to see you twice. You remember Zossomov. He examined you carefully and said at once it was nothing serious. Something seemed to have gone to your head. Some nervous nonsense. The result of bad feeling, he says you have not had enough beer and radish.

Starting point is 04:54:23 but it's nothing much. It will pass, and you will be all right." Zossamov is a first-rate fellow. He is making quite a name. "'Come, I won't keep you,' he said, addressing the man again. "'Will you explain what you want? You must know, Raja, that this is the second time they have sent from the office. But it was another man last time, and I talked to him. Who was it came before?' "'That was the day before yesterday, I ventured to say, if you please, sir. that was Alexei Semyonovitch. He is in our office, too. He was more intelligent than you,

Starting point is 04:54:59 don't you think so? Yes, indeed, sir. He is of more weight than I am. Quite so. Go on. At your mama's request, through Afanazi Avinovich, Varushen, of whom I presume you have heard more than once, a remittance is sent to you from our office. The man began addressing Raskolnikov. If you are in an intelligible condition, I've thirty-five roubles to remit to you, as Semyon Semyonovitch has received from Afanazi Ivanovich at your mama's request instructions to that effect, as on previous occasions. Do you know him, sir? Yes, I remember.

Starting point is 04:55:37 Varushan, Raskolnikov said dreamily. You hear, he knows Verushen, cried Rizumian. He is in an intelligible condition. And I see you are an intelligent man, too. Well, it's always pleasant to hear words of wisdom. That's the gentleman, Verushin, Afanazi Avanovich. And at the request of your mama, who has sent you a remittance once before in the same manner through him, he did not refuse this time also, and sent instructions to Semyon Semyonovitch

Starting point is 04:56:08 some days since to hand you thirty-five roubles in the hope of better to come. That hoping for better to come is the best thing you've said, though your mama is not bad either. Come then. What do you say? Is he fully conscious, eh? That's all right. If only he can sign this little paper. He can scrawl his name. Have you got the book? Yes, here's the book. Give it to me. Hiroda, sit up. I'll hold you. Take the pen and scribble Ruskalnikov for him. For just now, brother, money is sweeter to us than Trickel. I don't want it, said Ruskalnikov, pushing away the pen. "'Not want it? I won't sign it.'

Starting point is 04:56:50 "'How the devil can you do without signing it?' "'I don't want the money.' "'Don't want the money.' "'Come, brother. That's nonsense, I bear witness. Don't trouble, please. It's only that he is on his travels again. But that's pretty common with him at all times, though. You are a man of judgment, and we will take him in hand, that is, more simply, take his hand, and he will sign it.

Starting point is 04:57:16 Here. But I can come another time. No, no! Why should we trouble you? You are a man of judgment. Now, Rodya, don't keep your visitor. You see he is waiting. And he made ready to hold Roskalnikov's hand in earnest. Stop, I'll do it alone, said the latter, taking the pen and signing his name. The messenger took out the money and went away. Bravo! And now, brother, are you hungry?

Starting point is 04:57:46 "'Yes,' answered Ruskalnikov. "'Is there any soup?' "'Some of yesterdays,' answered Nastassia, "'who was still standing there. "'With potatoes and rice in it?' "'Yes. "'I know it by heart. "'Bring soup and give us some tea.'

Starting point is 04:58:02 "'Very well.' "'Raskolnikov looked at all this "'with profound astonishment "'and a dull, unreasoning terror. "'He made up his mind to keep quiet "'and see what would happen. "'I believe I am not wandering, I believe it's reality, he thought.

Starting point is 04:58:20 In a couple of minutes, Nastassia returned with the soup, and announced that the tea would be ready directly. With the soup she brought two spoons, two plates, salt, pepper, mustard for the beef, and so on. The table was set as it had not been for a long time. The cloth was clean. It would not be amiss, Nastassia, if Praskovia Pavlovna were to send up a couple bottles of beer,

Starting point is 04:58:45 We could empty them." "'Well, you are a cool hand,' muttered Nastassia, and she departed to carry out his orders. Raskolnikov still gazed wildly with strained attention. Meanwhile, Razumian sat down on the sofa beside him. As clumsily as a bear put his left arm round Raskolnikov's head, although he was able to sit up, and with his right hand gave him a spoonful of soup, blowing on it that it might not burn him. But the soup was only just warm. Raskolnikov swallowed one spoonful greedily, then a second, then a third.

Starting point is 04:59:21 But after giving him a few more spoonfuls of soup, Razumian suddenly stopped and said that he must ask Zossamov whether he ought to have more. Nastassia came in with two bottles of beer. And will you have tea? Yes. Cut along, Nastassia, and bring some tea, for tea we may venture on without the faculty. But here is the beer. He moved back to his chair, pulled the soup and meat in front of him, and began eating

Starting point is 04:59:48 as though he had not touched food for three days. "'I must tell you, Rodia, I dine like this here every day now,' he mumbled with his mouth full of beef. "'And it's all Pashenka, you dear little landlady, who sees to that. She loves to do anything for me. I don't ask for it, but of course I don't object. And here's Nastassia with the tea. She's a quick girl.

Starting point is 05:00:12 Nastassia, my dear, won't you have some beer? Get along with your nonsense. A cup of tea, then? A cup of tea, maybe. Pour it out. Stay. I'll pour it out myself. Sit down. He poured out two cups, left his dinner, and sat on the sofa again. As before, he put his left arm round the sick man's head,

Starting point is 05:00:34 raised him up and gave him tea in spoonfuls, again, blowing each spoonful steadily and earnestly. as though this process was the principal and most effective means towards his friend's recovery. Raskolnikov said nothing and made no resistance, though he felt quite strong enough to sit up on the sofa without support, and could not merely have held a cup or a spoon, but even perhaps could have walked about. But from some queer, almost animal cunning, he conceived the idea of hiding his strength and lying low for a time, pretending if necessary not to be yet in full possession of his faculties,

Starting point is 05:01:11 and meanwhile listening to find out what was going on. Yet he could not overcome his sense of repugnance. After sipping a dozen spoonfuls of tea, he suddenly released his head, pushed the spoon away capriciously, and sank back on the pillow. There were actually real pillows under his head now, down pillows in clean cases.

Starting point is 05:01:32 He observed that too and took note of it. Pashenka must give us some raspberry jam today, to make him some raspberry tea, said Razumian, going back to his chair and attacking his soup and beer again. "'And where is she to get raspberries for you?' asked Nastassia, balancing a saucer on her five outspread fingers and sipping tea through a lump of sugar. "'She'll get it at the shop, my dear. You see, Rodia, all sorts of things have been happening while you have been laid up. When you decamped in that rascally way without leaving your address,

Starting point is 05:02:04 I felt so angry that I resolved to find you out and punish you. I set to work that very day. How I ran about making inquiries for you. This lodging of yours I had forgotten, though I never remembered it, indeed because I did not know it. And as for your old lodgings, I could only remember it was at the five corners, Harlamov's house. I kept trying to find that Harlamov's house, and afterwards it turned out that it was not Harlamovs, but books. How one muddles up sound sometimes. So I lost my temper, and I went on the

Starting point is 05:02:41 chance to the Address Bureau next day, and only fancy, in two minutes they looked you up. Your name is down there. My name? I should think so, and yet a General Kobolev they could not find while I was there. Well, it's a long story. But as soon as I did land on this place, I soon got to know all your affairs. All, all, brother, I know everything. Nastassia here will tell you. I made the acquaintance of Nicodim Fomitch and Ilya Petrovich, and the house porter and Mr. Zemitov, Alexander Grigorevich, the head clerk in the police office, and last but not least of Pashenka. Nastassia here knows. He's got rounder, Nastassia murmured, smiling slyly. Why don't you put the sugar in your tea, Nastassia Nikofovna?

Starting point is 05:03:33 You are a one, Nastassia cried suddenly, going off into a giggle. I am not Nikaferovna, but Petrovna, she said suddenly, recovering from her mirth. I'll make a note of it. Well, brother, to make a long story short, I was going in for a regular explosion here to uproot all malignant influences in the locality, but Pashenka won the day. I had not expected, brother, to find her so prepossessing. Eh? What do you think?"

Starting point is 05:04:04 Raskolnikov did not speak, but he still kept his eyes fixed upon him, full of alarm. And all that could be wished indeed in every respect, Resumian went on, not at all embarrassed by his silence. Ah, the sly dog! Nastassia shrieked again. This conversation afforded her unspeakable delight. It's a pity, brother, that you did not set to work in the right way at first. You ought to have approached her differently.

Starting point is 05:04:34 She is, so to speak, a most unaccountable character. But we will talk about her character later. How could you let things come to such a past that she gave up sending you your dinner? And that I owe you! You must have been mad to sign an IOU! And that promise of marriage when her daughter, Natalia Yegorovna, was alive? I know all about it. But I see that's a delicate matter, and I am an ass.

Starting point is 05:05:00 Forgive me. But talking of foolishness, do you know Prescovia Pavlovna is not nearly so foolish as you would think at first sight? No, mumbled Ruskalnikov looking away, but feeling that it was better to keep up the conversation. She isn't, is she? cried Resumian, delighted to get an answer out of him. But she is not very clever either, eh?

Starting point is 05:05:26 She is essentially—ecentally an unaccountable character. I am sometimes quite at a loss, I assure you. She must be forty. She says she is thirty-six, and of course she has every right to say so. But I swear I judge her intellectually, simply from the metaphysical point of view. There is a sort of symbolism sprung up between us, a sort of algebra or whatnot. I don't understand it. Well, that's all nonsense.

Starting point is 05:05:56 Only, seeing that you are not a student now and have lost your lessons and your clothes, and that through the young lady's death she has no need to treat you as a relation, she suddenly took fright. And as you hid in your den and dropped all your old relations with her, she planned to get rid of you. And she's been cherishing that design a long time, but she was sorry to lose the IOU, for you assured her yourself that your mother would pay. It was base of me to say that.

Starting point is 05:06:24 My mother herself is almost a beggar. And I told a lie to keep my lodging and be fed,' Ruskolnikov said loudly and distinctly. Yes, you did very sensibly. But the worst of it is that, at that point, Mr. Chebberov turns up a businessman. Pashenko would never have thought of doing anything on her own account. She is too retiring. But the businessman is by no means retiring, and first thing, he puts the question, is there any hope of realizing the IOU?

Starting point is 05:06:56 Answer, there is, because he has a mother who would save her Rodya with her hundred and twenty-five roubles pension if she has to starve herself, and a sister, too, who would go into bondage for his sake. That's what he was building upon. Why do you start? I know all the ins and outs of your affairs now, my dear boy. It's not for nothing that you were so open with Pashenka when you were her prospective son-in-law, and I say all this as a friend. But I tell you what it is. An honest and sensitive man is open,

Starting point is 05:07:28 and a businessman listens and goes on eating you up. Well, then she gave the IOU by way of payment to this Chebirov, and without hesitation he made a formal demand for payment. When I heard of all this I wanted to blow him up too, to clear my conscience. But by that time, harmony reigned between me and Pashenka, and I insisted on stopping the whole affair, engaging that you will. would pay." I went security for you, brother.

Starting point is 05:07:55 Do you understand?" We called Chiborov, flung him ten rubles and got the IOU back from him, and here I have the honor of presenting it to you. She trusts your word now. Here, take it. You see, I have torn it." Resumian put the note on the table. Raskolnikov looked at him and turned to the wall without uttering a word.

Starting point is 05:08:15 Even Rzumian felt a twinge. "'I see, brother,' he said a moment later. That I have been playing the fool again. I thought I should amuse you with my chatter, and I believe I have only made you cross. Was it you I did not recognize when I was delirious? Ruskalnikov asked, after a moment's pause without turning his head. Yes, and you flew into a rage about it, especially when I brought Zamatov one day. Zamatov? The head clerk?

Starting point is 05:08:46 What for? Ruskalnikov turned round quickly and fixed his eyes on Resumian. What's the matter with you? What are you upset about? He wanted to make your acquaintance because I talked to him a lot about you. How could I have found out so much except from him? He is a capital fellow-brother, first-rate. In his own way, of course.

Starting point is 05:09:07 Now we are friends. See each other almost every day." I have moved into this part, you know. I have only just moved. I've been with him to Louise Ivanovna once or twice. Do you remember Louise, Louise Ivanovna? Did I say anything in delirium? I should think so.

Starting point is 05:09:25 You were beside yourself. What did I rave about? What next? What did you rave about? What people do rave about? Well, brother, now I must not lose time. To work. He got up from the table and took up his cap.

Starting point is 05:09:41 What did I rave about? How he keeps on. Are you afraid of having let out some secret? Don't worry yourself. You said nothing. about a countess. But you said a lot about a bulldog, and about earrings and chains,

Starting point is 05:09:57 and about Krestovsky Island, and some porter, and Nikodim Fomitch and Ilya Petrovich, the assistant superintendent. And another thing that was of special interest to you was your own sock. You whined, Give me my sock!

Starting point is 05:10:11 Zamatov hunted all about your room for your socks, and with his own scented, ring-bedecked fingers he gave you the rag. And only then were you comforted, and for the next twenty-four hours you held the wretched thing in your hand. We could not get it from you. It is most likely somewhere under your quilt at this moment. And then you asked so piteously for fringe for your trousers. We tried to find out what sort of fringe, but we could not make it out. Now to business. Here are thirty-five roubles. I take ten of them,

Starting point is 05:10:44 and shall give you an account of them in an hour or two. I will let Zossimov know at the same time, though he ought to have been here long ago, for it is nearly twelve. And you, Nastassia, look in pretty often while I am away, to see whether he wants a drink or anything else, and I will tell Pashenka what has wanted myself. Goodbye! He calls her Pashenka. Ah, he's a deep one, said Nastassia, as he went out. Then she opened the door and stood listening, but could not resist running downstairs after him.

Starting point is 05:11:16 She was very eager to hear what he would say to the landlady. She was evidently quite fascinated by Rezumian. No sooner had she left the room than the sick man flung off the bedclothes and leapt out of the bed like a madman. With burning, twitching impatience, he had waited for them to be gone so that he might set to work. But to what work? Now, as though to spite him, it eluded him. Good God, only tell me one thing. Do they know of it yet or not?

Starting point is 05:11:46 What if they know it and are only pretending, mocking me while I am laid up, and then they will come in and tell me that it's been discovered long ago, and that they have only— "'What am I to do now? That's what I've forgotten, as though on purpose. Forgotten it all at once I remembered a minute ago!' He stood in the middle of the room and gazed in miserable bewilderment about him. He walked to the door, opened it, listened. But that was not what he wanted.

Starting point is 05:12:18 Suddenly, as though recalling something, he rushed to the corner where there was a hole under the paper, began examining it, put his hand into the hole, fumbled, but that was not it. He went to the stove, opened it, and began rummaging in the ashes. The frayed edges of his trousers and the rags cut off his pocket were lying there just as he had thrown them. No one had looked then. Then he remembered the sock about which Razumian had just been telling us. him. Yes, there it lay on the sofa under the quilt, but it was so covered with dust and

Starting point is 05:12:51 grime that Zamatov could not have seen anything on it. "'Bah, Zamatov, the police office. And why am I sent for to the police office? Where's the notice?' "'Bah! I am mixing it up. That was then.' I looked at my sock then too, but now—now I have been ill.

Starting point is 05:13:12 But what did Zametov come for? I did resume me and bring him," he muttered, helplessly sitting on the sofa again. "'What does it mean? Am I still in delirium, or is it real? I believe it is real. Ah, I remember. I must escape. Make haste to escape. Yes, I must. I must escape. Yes. But where? And where are my clothes? I have no boots. They've taken them away. They've hidden them. I understand. Ah, here is my coat. They passed that over. And here is money on the table, thank God. And here's the IOU. I'll take the money and go and take another lodging. They won't find me. Yes, but the address bureau. They'll find me, resume me and will find me. Better escape altogether,

Starting point is 05:14:04 far away, to America, and let them do their worst. And take the IOU. It would be of use there. What else shall I take? They think I am ill. They don't know that I can walk. Ha, ha, ha. I could see by their eyes that they don't know all about it. If only I could get downstairs. And what if they have set a watch there, policeman? What's this tea?

Starting point is 05:14:29 Ah, and here is beer left. Half a bottle, cold. He snatched up the bottle, which still contained a glass full of beer, and gulped it down with a relish, as though quenching a flame in his breast. But in another minute the beer had gone to his head, and a faint and even pleasant shiver ran down his spine. He laid down and pulled a quilt over him. His sick and incoherent thoughts grew more and more disconnected, and soon a light, pleasant drowsiness

Starting point is 05:14:58 came upon him. With a sense of comfort he nestled his head into the pillow, wrapped more closely about him the soft, wadded quilt which had replaced the old ragged gray coat, sighed softly and sank into a deep, sound, refreshing sleep. He woke up hearing someone come in. He opened his eyes and saw Razumian standing in the doorway, uncertain whether to come in or not. Raskolnikov sat up quickly on the sofa and gazed at him, as though trying to recall something. Ah, you are not asleep. Here I am. Nastassia, bring in the parcel! Razumian shouted down the stairs. You shall have the account directly.

Starting point is 05:15:42 What time is it? asked Raskolnikov, looking at it. round uneasily. Yes, you had a fine sleep, brother. It's almost evening. It will be six o'clock directly. You have slept more than six hours. Good heavens, have I? And why not?

Starting point is 05:15:59 It will do you good. What's the hurry? A trist, is it? We've all the time before us. I've been waiting for the last three hours for you. I've been up twice and found you asleep. I've called on Zossamov twice. Not at home, only for you.

Starting point is 05:16:15 fancy. But no matter, he will turn up. And I've been out of my own business, too. You know I've been moving today, moving with my uncle. I have an uncle living with me now. But that's no matter, to business. Give me the parcel, Nastassia. We will open it directly. And how do you feel now, brother? I am quite well. I am not ill. Resumian, have you been here long? I tell you, I've been waiting for the last three hours. No, before. How do you mean? How long have you been coming here? Why, I told you all about it this morning. Don't you remember? Raskolnikov pondered. The morning seemed like a dream to him. He could not remember alone, and looked inquiringly at Rezumian. Hmm, said the latter. He has forgotten. I fancied then that you were not quite yourself. Now you are

Starting point is 05:17:12 better for your sleep. You really look much better. First rate. Well, to business. Look here, my dear boy. He began on tying the bundle, which evidently interested him. Believe me, brother, this is something specially near my heart, for we must make a man of you. Let's begin from the top. Do you see this cap? He said, taking out of the bundle a fairly good, though cheap and ordinary cap. Let me try it on. Presently, afterwards, said Raskolnikov, waving it off pettishly. "'Come, Rodya, my boy, don't oppose it. Afterwards will be too late. And I shan't sleep all night, for I bought it by guess, without measure. Just right,' he cried triumphantly, fitting it on. Just your size. A proper head covering is the first thing in dress,

Starting point is 05:18:04 and a recommendation in its own way. Tolstiakov, a friend of mine, is always obliged to take off his pudding basin when he goes into any public place where other people wear their hats or caps. People think he does it from slavish politeness, but it's simply because he is ashamed of his bird's nest. He is such a boastful fellow. Look, Nastassia, here are two specimens of headgear. This Palmerston—he took from the corner Raskolnikov's old battered hat, which for some unknown reason he called a Palmerston. Or this jewel. Guess the price, Roger? "'What do you suppose I paid for it, Nastassia?' he said, turning to her, seeing that Raskolnikov did not speak.

Starting point is 05:18:47 "'Twenty kopex, no more, I dare say,' answered Nastassia. "'Twenty kopex, silly!' he cried offended. "'Why, nowadays you would cost more than that. "'80 kopex!' "'And that only because it has been worn. "'And it's bought unconditioned that when it's worn out, they will give you another next year. "'Yes, on my word!' Well, now let us pass to the United States of America as they called them at school.

Starting point is 05:19:16 I assure you I am proud of these breaches, and he exhibited to Rusconigov a pair of light, summer trousers of gray woolen material. No holes, no spots, and quite respectable, although a little worn, and no waistcoat to match, quite in the fashion. And it's being worn really as an improvement, it's softer, smoother. You see, Rodia, to my thinking, the great thing for getting on. in the world is always to keep to the seasons. If you don't insist on having asparagus in January, you keep your money in your purse, and it's the same with this purchase. It's summer now, so I've been buying summer things. Warmer materials will be wanted for autumn, so you'll have

Starting point is 05:19:56 to throw these away in any case, especially, as they will be done for by then from their own lack of coherence, if not your higher standard of luxury. Come, price them. What do you say? Two rubles, 25 Kopecks. And remember the condition. If you wear these out, you will have another suit for nothing. They only do business on that system at Fadievs. If you bought a thing once, you are satisfied for life, for you will never go there again of your own free will.

Starting point is 05:20:25 Now for the boots. What do you say? You see that they are a bit worn, but they'll last a couple of months, for its foreign work and foreign leather. The Secretary of the English Embassy sold them last week. He had only warned them six days, but he was very short of cash. Price? A ruble and a half. A bargain? But perhaps they won't fit, observed Nastassia.

Starting point is 05:20:50 Not fit, just look! And he pulled out of his pocket Ruskalnikov's old broken boot, stiffly coated with dry mud. I did not go empty-handed. They took the size from this monster. We all did our best. And as to your linen, your landlady has seen to that. Here, to begin with, are three shirts, hempen, but with a fashionable front. Well, now, then, eighty kopex the cap, two rubles, twenty-five kopex the suit.

Starting point is 05:21:19 Together, three rubles, five kopex. A ruble and a half for the boots. For you see they are very good, and that makes four rubles fifty-five kopex. Five rubles for the underclothes. They were bought in the low, which makes exactly nine rubles, 55 copex. Fifty-five copics change in copers. Will you take it? And so, Rodia, you are set up with a complete new rigout, for your overcoat will serve, and even has a style of its own. That comes from getting one's clothes from charmers. As for your socks and other things, I leave them to you. We've 25 rubles left. And as for Pashenka and paying for your lodging, don't you worry. I tell you, she'll trust you for anything.

Starting point is 05:22:03 And now, brother, let me change your linen, for I dare say you will throw off your illness with your shirt. Let me be. I don't want to. Raskolnikov waved him off. He had listened with disgust to Rasmian's efforts to be playful about his purchases. Come, brother, don't tell me I've been trudging around for nothing, Rizumian insisted. Nastassia, don't be bashful, but help me.

Starting point is 05:22:28 That's it. And in spite of Raskolnikov's resistance, he changed his linen. The latter sank back on the pillows, and for a minute or two said nothing. "'It will be long before I get rid of them,' he thought. "'What money was all that bought with?' he asked at last, gazing at the wall. "'Money? Why, your own. What the messenger brought from Verushen? Your mother sent it. Have you forgotten that, too?' "'I remember now,' said Ruskonikov after a long, sullen silence.

Starting point is 05:23:00 Resumian looked at him, frowning and uneasy. The door opened, and a tall stout man whose apparent seemed familiar to Raskolnikov came in. End of Part 2, Chapter 3. Part 2, Chapter 4 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Part 2. Chapter 4 Zossimov was a tall, fat man, with a puffy, colorless, clean-shaven face and straight flaxen hair. He wore spectacles, and a big gold ring on his fat finger. He was twenty-seven.

Starting point is 05:23:54 He had on a light gray, fashionable loose coat, light summer trousers, and everything about him loose, fashionable, and spick and span. His linen was irreproachable, his watch-chain was was massive. In manner he was slow and, as it were, nonchalant, and at the same time studiously free and easy. He made efforts to conceal his self-importance, but it was apparent at every instant. All his acquaintances found him tedious, but said he was clever at his work. "'I've been to see you twice to-day, brother. You see, he's come to himself,' cried Razumian. "'I see, I see. I see.

Starting point is 05:24:36 And how do we feel now, eh? said Zossamov to Rus Kolnikov, watching him carefully, and sitting down at the foot of the sofa. He settled himself as comfortably as he could. He is still depressed, Resumian went on. We've just changed his linen, and he almost cried. That's very natural. You might have put it off if he did not wish it. His pulse is first-rate. Is her head still aching, eh? I am well, I am perfectly well, Ruskolnakov declared positively and irritably. He raised himself on the sofa and looked at them with glittering eyes, but sank back to the pillow at once and turned to the wall. Zossomov watched him intently.

Starting point is 05:25:23 Very good. Going on all right, he said lazily. Has he eaten anything? They told him and asked what he might have. He may have anything. soup, tea, mushrooms and cucumbers, of course, you must not give him. He better not have meat either, but no need to tell you that. Resumian and he looked at each other. No more medicine or anything. I'll look at him again tomorrow, perhaps today even. But never mind. Tomorrow evening I shall take him for a walk, said Rezumian. We are going to the Yusuf Garden and then to the Palais de Christal. I would not disturb him tomorrow at all, but—I don't know. A little maybe, but we'll see.

Starting point is 05:26:12 Ah, what a nuisance! I've got a housewarming party tonight. It's only a step from here. Couldn't he come? He could lie on the sofa. You are coming, Resumian said to Zossimov. Don't forget, you promised. All right, only rather later. What are you going to do? Oh, nothing, tea, vodka, herrings. There will be a pie, just our friends. And who? All neighbors here, almost all new friends, except my old uncle, and he is new too.

Starting point is 05:26:48 He only arrived in Petersburg yesterday to see to some business of his. We meet once in five years. What is he? He's been stagnating all his life as a district postmaster. Gets a little pension. He is sixty-five. Not worth talking about. But I am fond of him. Porfiry Petrovich, the head of the investigation department here. But you know him. Is he a relation of yours, too? A very distant one. But why are you scowling? Because you quarreled once? Won't you come then? I don't care a damn for him.

Starting point is 05:27:25 So much the better. Well, there will be some students, a teacher, a government clerk, a musician, an officer, and Zamatov. Do tell me, please, what you or he, Zossamov nodded at Ruskonikov, can have in common with this Zamatov. Oh, you particular gentleman, principles! You are worked by principles, as it were, by springs. You won't venture to turn round on your own account.

Starting point is 05:27:54 If a man is a nice fellow, that's the only principle I go upon. Zammatov is a delightful person. Though he does take bribes. Well, he does, and what of it? I don't care if he does take bribes,' Presumian cried with unnatural irritability. I don't praise him for taking bribes. I only say he is a nice man in his own way. But if one looks at men in all ways, are there many good ones left?

Starting point is 05:28:23 Why, I am sure I shouldn't be worth a baked onion myself, perhaps with you thrown in. That's too little. I'd give two for you. And I wouldn't give more than one for you. No more of your jokes. Zammatov is no more than a boy. I can pull his hair and one must draw him, not repel him. You'll never improve a man by repelling him, especially a boy. One has to be twice as careful with a boy. Oh, you progressive dullards, you don't understand. You harm yourselves running another man down. But if you want to know, we really have something in common. I should like to know what. Why, it's all about a house-painter. We're getting him out of a mess. Though indeed, there's nothing

Starting point is 05:29:10 to fear now. The matter is absolutely self-evident. We only put on steam. A painter? Why, haven't I told you about it? I only told you the beginning, then, about the murder of the old pawnbroker woman. Well, the painter is mixed up in it. Oh, I heard about that murder before and was rather interested in it. Partly, for one reason, I read about it in the papers, too. Lizavetta was murdered too, Nastassia blurted out, suddenly addressing Raskolnikov. She remained in the room all the time, standing by the door listening. "'Lizavetta,' murmured Raskolnikov hardly audibly.

Starting point is 05:29:52 Lizavetta, who sold old clothes. Didn't you know her? She used to come here. She mended a shirt for you, too. Ruskolnikov turned to the wall, wearing the dirty yellow paper, he picked out one clumsy, white flower with brown lines on it, and began examining how many petals there were in it,

Starting point is 05:30:12 how many scallops in the petals, and how many lines on them. He felt his arms and legs as lifeless as though they had been cut off. He did not attempt to move, but stared on. obstinately at the flower. But what about the painter? Zossomov interrupted Nastassius chatter with marked displeasure. She sighed and was silent. Why, he was accused of the murder, Resumian went on hotly.

Starting point is 05:30:39 Was there evidence against him then? Evidence indeed! Evidence that was no evidence, and that's what we have to prove. It was just as they pitched on those fellows, Koch and Pestricov at first. Foo! How stupidly it's all done! It makes one sick! Though it's not one's business! Pestrikov may be coming tonight. By the way, Rodya, you've heard about the business already. It happened before you were ill, the day before you fainted at the police office while they were

Starting point is 05:31:09 talking about it. Zossimov looked curiously at Raskolnikov. He did not stir. But I say, Rizumian, I wonder at you. What a busy body you are! Mav observed. "'Maybe I am, but we will get him off anyway,' shouted Resumian, bringing his fist down on the table. "'What's the most offensive is not their lying. One can always forgive lying. Lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to the truth. What is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying. I respect Porphyry, but—' What threw them out at first? The door was locked, and when they came back with the porter,

Starting point is 05:31:51 it was open. So it followed that Coke and Pestrachov were the murderers. That was their logic. But don't excite yourself. They simply detained them. They could not help that. And by the way, I've met with that man, Coke. He used to buy unredeemed pledges from the old woman, eh? Yes, he is a swindler. He buys up bad debts, too. He makes a profession of it. But enough of him. Do you know what makes me angry? It's their sickening, rotten, petrified routine. And this case might be the means of introducing a new method. One can show from the psychological data alone how to get on the track of the real man.

Starting point is 05:32:35 We have the facts, they say. But facts are not everything. At least half the business lies in how you interpret them. Can you interpret them then? Anyway, one can't hold one's tongue when one has a feeling, a tangible feeling, that one might be a help, if only... A, do you know the details of the case? I am waiting to hear about the painter. Oh, yes, well, here's the story.

Starting point is 05:33:02 Early on the third day after the murder, when they were still dandling coke and Pestrikov, though they accounted for every step they took and it was plain as a Pikesaff, an unexpected fact turned up. A peasant called Duskin, who keeps a dram shop facing the house, brought to the police office a jeweller's case containing some gold earrings, and told him a long rigmarole. The day before yesterday, just after eight o'clock, marked the day and the hour, a journeyman house painter, Nikolai, who had been in to see me already that day, brought me this box of gold earrings and stones, and asked me to give him two rubles for them. When I asked him where he got them, he said that he picked them up in the street.

Starting point is 05:33:44 I did not ask him anything more. I am telling you Dushkin's story. I gave him a note, a rubble that is, for I thought if he did not pawn it with me, he would with another. It would all come to the same thing. He'd spent it on drink, so the thing had better be with me. The further you hide it, the quicker you will find it, and if anything turns up, if I hear any rumors, I'll take it to the police.

Starting point is 05:34:10 Of course, that's all taradiddle. He lies like a horse. for I know this Duskhan. He is a pawnbroker and a receiver of stolen goods, and he did not cheat Nikolai out of a thirty-rouble trinket in order to give it to the police. He was simply afraid. But no matter. To return to Duskkin's story. I have known this peasant Nikolai Dementia from a child. He comes from the same province and district of Zaraizk. We are both Riazin men. And though Nikolai is not a drunkard, he drinks. And I knew he had a job in that house, painting work. with Dmitri, who comes from the same village, too. As soon as he got the rubble, he changed

Starting point is 05:34:49 it, had a couple of glasses, took his change and went out. But I did not see Dmitri with him then. And the next day I heard that someone had murdered Aljona Ivanovna and her sister, Lizavetta Ivanovna, with an axe. I knew them, and I felt suspicious about the earrings at once, for I knew the murdered woman let money on pledges. I went to the house and began to make careful inquiries without saying a word to anyone. First of all I asked, Is Nicolai here? Dmitri told me that Nicolai had gone off on the spree. He had come home at daybreak, drunk, stayed in the house about ten minutes and went out again. Dmitri didn't see him again and is finishing the job alone. And their job is on the same staircase

Starting point is 05:35:34 as the murder, on the second floor. When I heard all that, I did not say a word to anyone. That's Dushkin's tale. But I found out when I was a little bit of the same staircase. I could about the murder and went home feeling as suspicious as ever. And at eight o'clock this morning—that was the third day, you understand. I saw Nikolai coming in, not sober, though not to say very drunk. He could understand what was said to him. He sat down on the bench and did not speak. There was only one stranger in the bar and a man I knew asleep on a bench and our two boys. "'Have you seen Dimitri?' said I. "'No, I haven't,' said he.

Starting point is 05:36:11 "'And you've not been here either.' "'Not since the day before yesterday,' said he. "'And where did you sleep last night?' "'Been Pesky, with the Kulaminsky men.' "'And where did you get those earrings?' I asked. "'I found them on the street.' "'And the way he said it was a bit queer. He did not look at me.' "'Did you hear what happened that very evening at that very hour on that same staircase?'

Starting point is 05:36:36 "'said I. "'No,' said he. "'I had not heard. and all the while he was listening. His eyes were staring out of his head, and he turned as white as chalk. I told him all about it, and he took his hat and began getting up. I wanted to keep him. "'Wait a bit, Nikolai,' said I.

Starting point is 05:36:54 "'Won't you have a drink?' And I signed to the boy to hold the door, and I came out from behind the bar. But he darted out and down the street to the turning at a run. I have not seen him since. Then my doubts were at an end. It was his doing as clear as could be." "'I should think so,' said Zossamov. "'Wait, hear the end. Of course they sought high and low for Nikolai. They detained

Starting point is 05:37:20 Dushkin and searched his house. Dmitri too was arrested. The Kalaminsky men also were turned inside out. And the day before yesterday they arrested Nikolai in a tavern at the end of town. He had gone there, taken the silver cross off his neck and asked for a dram for it. They gave it to A few minutes afterwards, the woman went to the cow shed, and through a crack in the wall she saw in the stable adjoining he had made a noose of his sash from the beam, stood on a block of wood and was trying to put his neck in the noose. The woman screeched her hardest. People ran in. "'So that's what you are up to.'

Starting point is 05:37:58 "'Take me,' he says, "'to such and such a police officer, I'll confess everything.' "'Well, they took him to that police station, that is here, with a suitable escort. So they asked him this and that, how old he is, 22 and so on. At the question, when you were working with Dimitri, did you see anyone on the staircase at such and such a time? Answer, to be sure, folks may have gone up and down, but I did not notice them. And didn't you hear anything, any noise, and so on? We heard nothing special.

Starting point is 05:38:29 And did you hear, Nikolai, that on the same day widows so-and-so and her sister were murdered and robbed? I never knew a thing about it. The first I heard of it was from Afanasi Pavlovich the day before yesterday. And where did you find the earrings? I found them on the pavement. Why did you go to work with Dmitri the other day? Because I was drinking. And where were you drinking? Oh, in such and such a place. Why do you run away from Dushkins? Because I was awfully frightened.

Starting point is 05:39:00 What were you frightened of? That I should be accused. How could you be frightened if you felt free from guilt? Now Zossamov, you may not believe me, that question was put literally in those words. I know it for a fact. It was repeated to me exactly. What do you say to that?' "'Well, anyway, there's the evidence.' "'I'm not talking of the evidence now. I am talking about that question, of their own idea of themselves. Well, so they squeezed and squeezed him, and he confessed. I did not find it in the street, but in the flat where I was painting with Dmitri.

Starting point is 05:39:39 And how was that? Why, Dmitri and I were painting there all day, and we were just getting ready to go, and Dmitri took a brush and painted my face, and he ran off and I after him. I ran after him, shouting my hardest, and at the bottom of the stairs I ran right against the porter and some gentlemen, and how many gentlemen there were I don't remember. And the porter swore at me, and the other porter swore too. and the porter's wife came out and swore at us too. And a gentleman came into the entry with the lady, and he swore at us too, for Dimitri and I lay right across their way. I got hold of Demetri's hair and knocked him down

Starting point is 05:40:17 and began beating him, and Demetri too caught me by the hair and began beating me. But we did it all, not for temper, but in a friendly way, for sport. And then Dimitri escaped and ran into the street, and I ran after him. But I did not do not. to catch him and went back to the flat alone. I had to clear up my things. I began putting them together, expecting Dmitri to come, and there in the passage, in the corner by the door, I stepped on the box. I saw it lying there wrapped up in paper. I took off the paper, saw some little hooks, undid them, and in the box were the earrings. "'Behind the door? Lying behind the door? Behind the door!' Rus Kalnikov cried suddenly,

Starting point is 05:41:01 staring with a blank look of terror at Razumian, and he slowly sat up on the sofa, leaning on his hand. "'Yes, why? What's the matter? What's wrong?' Resumian, too, got up from his seat. "'Nothing,' Ruskalnikov answered faintly, turning to the wall. All were silent for a while. "'He must have waked from a dream,' Razumian said at last, looking inquiringly at Zossamov. The latter slightly shook his head. "'Well, go on,' said Zossimov. "'What next?'

Starting point is 05:41:36 "'What next?' As soon as he saw the earrings, forgetting Dmitri and everything, he took up his cap and ran to Dushkin, and, as we know, got a rubble from him. He told a lie saying he found them in the street and went off drinking. He keeps repeating his old story about the murder. I know nothing of it, never heard of it till the day before yesterday. And why did you come to the police till now? I was frightened.

Starting point is 05:42:02 And why did you try to hang yourself? From anxiety. What anxiety? That I should be accused of it. Well, that's the whole story. And now what do you suppose they deduce from that? Why, there's no supposing. There's a clue, such as it is, a fact.

Starting point is 05:42:19 You wouldn't have your painter set free. Now they've simply taken him for the murderer. They haven't a shadow of doubt. That's nonsense. You are excited. But what about the earrings? You must admit that if on the very same day and hour, earrings from the old woman's box have come into Nikolai's hands, they must have come there somehow.

Starting point is 05:42:43 That's a good deal in such a case. How did they get there? How did they get there? cried Resumian. How can you, a doctor, whose duty it is to study man and who has more opportunity than anyone else for studying human nature. How can you fail to see the character of the man in the whole story? Don't you see at once that the answer he is given in the examination or the Holy Truth? They came into his hand precisely as he has told us.

Starting point is 05:43:12 He stepped on the box and picked it up. The Holy Truth. But didn't he own himself that he told a lie at first? Listen to me. Listen attentively. The porter, and Koch, and Pestriakov, and the other porter, and the wife of the first porter, and the woman who was sitting in the porter's lodge, and the man Krukov, who had just got out of a cab at that minute, and went in at the entry with a lady on his arm, that as eight or ten witnesses agree, that Nikolai had Dmitri on the ground, was lying on him beating him, while Dmitri hung on to his hair,

Starting point is 05:43:48 beating him too. They lay right across the way, blocking the thoroughfare. They were sworn at on all sides, while they, like children, the very words of the witnesses, were falling over one another, squealing, fighting, and laughing with the funniest faces, and chasing one another like children they ran into the street. Now take careful note. The bodies upstairs were warm, you understand, warm when they found them. If they, or Nikolai alone, had murdered them and broken open the boxes, or simply taken part in the robbery, allow me to ask you, one question. Do their state of mind, their squeals and giggles and childish scuffling at the

Starting point is 05:44:30 gate fit in with axes, bloodshed, fiendish cunning, robbery? They just killed them, not five or ten minutes before, for the bodies were still warm, and at once, leaving the flat open, knowing that people would go there at once, flinging away their booty, they rolled about like children, laughing and attracting general attention. And there are a dozen witnesses to swear to that. Of course, it is strange. It's impossible indeed, but—no, brother, no buts. And if the earrings being found in Nikolai's hands at the very day and hour of the murder constitutes an important piece of circumstantial evidence against him, although the explanation given by him accounts for it, and therefore it does not tell seriously against him, one must take into consideration

Starting point is 05:45:19 the facts which prove him innocent, especially as they are facts that cannot be denied. And do you suppose, from the character of our legal system, that they will accept or that they are in the position to accept this fact, resting simply on a psychological impossibility, as irrefutable and conclusively breaking down the circumstantial evidence for the prosecution? No, they won't accept it. They certainly won't, because they found the jewel case and the man tried to hang himself, which he could not have done if he hadn't felt guilty. That's the point. That's what excites me, you must understand. Oh, I see you're excited.

Starting point is 05:45:58 Wait a bit. I forgot to ask you. What proof is there that the box came from the old woman? That's been proved, said Razumian, with apparent reluctance, frowning. Koch recognized the jewel case and gave the name of the owner, who proved conclusively that it was his. That's bad. Now, another point.

Starting point is 05:46:19 Did anyone see Nikolai at the time that Koch and Pestrikov were going upstairs at first, and is there no evidence about that?' "'Nobody did see him,' Resumian answered with vexation. "'That's the worst of it. Even Koke and Pestrikov did not notice them on their way upstairs, though, indeed their evidence could not have been worth much. They said they saw the flat was open, and that there must be work going on in it, but they took no special notice and could not remember whether there actually were men at work in it. Hmm.

Starting point is 05:46:53 So the only evidence for the defense is that they were beating one another and laughing. That constitutes a strong presumption, but... How do you explain the facts yourself? How do I explain them? What is there to explain? It's clear. At any rate, the direction which explanation is to be sought is clear, and the jewel case points to it.

Starting point is 05:47:16 The real murderer dropped those earrings. The murderer was upstairs, locked in when Coke and Pestrachikov knocked at the door. Coke, like an ass, did not stay at the door, so the murderer popped out and ran down, too, for he had no other way of escape. He hid from Coke, Pestrikov, and the porter in the flat, when Nikolai and Dmitri had just run out of it. He stopped there while the porter and the others were going upstairs, waited till they were out of hearing, and then went calmly downstairs at the very minute when Dimitri and Nikolai ran out into the street and there was no one in the entry. Possibly he was seen, but not noticed. There are lots of people going in and out.

Starting point is 05:47:57 He must have dropped the earrings out of his pocket when he stood behind the door, and did not notice he dropped them, because he had other things to think of. The jewel case is a conclusive proof that he did stand there. That's how I explain it. Too clever. No, my boy, you're too clever. That beats every. But why? Why? Why? Because everything fits too well. It's too melodramatic. Ah! Rezumian was exclaiming, but at that moment the door opened and a personage came in who was a stranger to all present. End of Part 2, Chapter 4. Part 2, Chapter 5 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 18-Sing

Starting point is 05:48:53 to 1946. This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Part 2, Chapter 5. This gentleman was no longer young, of a stiff and portly appearance, and a cautious and sour countenance. He began by stopping short in the doorway, staring about him with offensive and undisguised astonishment, as though asking himself what sort of place he had come to. mistrustfully, and with an affectation of being alarmed and almost affronted, he scanned Raskolnikov's low and narrow cabin. With the same amazement he stared at Raskolnikov,

Starting point is 05:49:33 who lay undressed, dishevelled, unwashed, on his miserable dirty sofa, looking fixedly at him. Then, with the same deliberation, he scrutinized the uncouth, unkempt figure, an unshaven face of Rasmian, who looked him boldly and inquiringly in the face without rising from his seat. A constrained silence lasted for a couple of minutes, and then, as might be expected, some scene-shifting took place. Reflecting, probably from certain fairly unmistakable signs, that he would get nothing in this cabin by attempting to overaw them,

Starting point is 05:50:08 the gentleman softened somewhat, and civilly, though with some severity, emphasizing every syllable of his question, addressed Zossimov. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a student or formerly a student. Zossomov made a slight movement, and would have answered, had not Resumian anticipated him. He is lying on the sofa. What do you want? This familiar What Do You Want seemed to cut the ground from the feet of the pompous gentleman. He was turning to Rezumian, but checked himself in time and turned to Zossimov again.

Starting point is 05:50:46 This is Raskolnikov, mumbled Zossamov, nodding towards him. Then he gave a prolonged yawn, opening his mouth as wide as possible. Then he lazily put his hand into his waistcoat pocket, pulled out a huge gold watch in a round hunter's case, opened it, looked at it, and as slowly and lazily proceeded to put it back. Raskolnikov himself lay without speaking on his back, gazing persistently, though without understanding at the stranger. Now that his face was turned away from the strange flower on the paper, it was extremely pale and wore a look of anguish, as though he had just undergone an agonizing operation, or just been taken from the rack. But the newcomer gradually began to arouse his

Starting point is 05:51:33 attention, then his wonder, then suspicion, and even alarm. When Zossomov said, This is Raskolnikov. He jumped up quickly, sat on the sofa, and with an an almost defiant, but weak and breaking voice, articulated, "'Yes, I am Raskolnikov. What do you want?' The visitor scrutinized him and pronounced impressively, "'Pyodor Petrovitch-Lusion. I believe I have reason to hope that my name is not wholly unknown to you.' But Raskolnikov, who had expected something quite different, gazed blankly and dreamily at him, making no reply, as though he heard the name of Piotr-Petrov

Starting point is 05:52:15 Petrovich for the first time. "'Is it possible that you can up to the present have received no information?' asked Pieter Petrovich, somewhat disconcerted. In reply, Raskolnikov sank languidly back on the pillow, put his hands behind his head and gazed at the ceiling. A look of dismay came into Lusion's face. Zossomov and Rizumian stared at him more inquisitively than ever, and at last he showed unmistakable signs of embarrassment. I had presumed and calculated, he faltered, that a letter posted more than ten days,

Starting point is 05:52:52 if not a fortnight ago. I say, why are you standing in the doorway? Resumian interrupted suddenly. If you've something to say, sit down. Nastassia and you are so crowded. Nastassia, make room. Here's a chair. Thread your way in.

Starting point is 05:53:09 He moved his chair back from the table, made a little space between. the table and his knees, and waited in a rather cramped position for the visitor to threat his way in. The minute was so chosen that it was impossible to refuse, and the visitor squeezed his way through, hurrying and stumbling. Reaching the chair he sat down, looking suspiciously at Rezumian. "'No need to be nervous,' the latter blurted out. "'Rodya has been ill for the last five days and delirious for three, but now he is recovering and has got an appetite. This is his doctor, who has just had a look at him.

Starting point is 05:53:48 I am a comrade of Rodyas, like him, formerly a student, and now I am nursing him. So don't you take any notice of us, but go on with your business. Thank you. But shall I not disturb the invalid by my presence and conversation?' Pietro Petrovich asked of Zossamov. "'No,' mumbled Zossimov. "'You may amuse him.' He yawned again.

Starting point is 05:54:12 He has been conscious a long time, since the morning," went on Resumian, whose familiarity seemed so much like unaffected good nature that Pieter Petrovitch began to be more cheerful, partly perhaps, because this shabby and impudent person had introduced himself as a student. "'Your Mama,' began Lusian. "'Hem, Rizumian cleared his throat loudly. Lusian looked at him inquiringly. "'That's all right. Go on."

Starting point is 05:54:42 Lusion shrugged his shoulders. Your Mama had commenced a letter to you while I was sojourning in her neighborhood. On my arrival here I purposely allowed a few days to elapse before coming to see you, in order that I might be fully assured that you were in full possession of the tidings. But now, to my astonishment—' "'I know, I know!' Russ Kolnikov cried suddenly with impatient vexation. So you are the fiatian.

Starting point is 05:55:11 I know and that's enough." There was no doubt about Piotr Petrovich's being offended this time, but he said nothing. He made a violent effort to understand what it all meant. There was a moment's silence. Meanwhile, Ruskalnikov, who had turned a little towards him when he answered, began suddenly staring at him again with marked curiosity, as though he had not had a good look at him yet, or as though something new had struck him. He rose from his pillow on purpose to stare at him. There certainly was something peculiar in Pieter Petrovich's whole appearance, something

Starting point is 05:55:49 which seemed to justify the title of fiancée so unceremoniously applied to him. In the first place it was evident, far too much so indeed, that Pieter Petrovich had made eager use of his few days in the capital to get himself up and rig himself out in expectation of his betrothed, a perfectly innocent and perfectly innocent and presently. permissible proceeding indeed. Even his own, perhaps too complacent consciousness of the agreeable improvement in his appearance, might have been forgiven in such circumstances, seeing that Pieter Petrovich had taken up the role of fiancée. All his clothes were fresh from the tailors, and were all right, except for being too new and too distinctly appropriate. Even the

Starting point is 05:56:34 stylish new round hat had the same significance. Piotr Petrovich treated it too respect for and held it too carefully in his hands. The exquisite pair of lavender gloves, real Louvann, told the same tale, if only from the fact of his not wearing them, but carrying them in his hand for show. Light and youthful colors predominated in Pieter Petrovich's attire. He wore a charming summer jacket of a fawn shade, light thin trousers, a waistcoat of the same, new and fine linen, a cravat of the lightest cambric with pink stripes on it, and the best of it was, this all suited Pieter Petrovich. His very fresh and even handsome face looked younger than his forty-five years at all times. His dark mutton-chop whiskers made an agreeable setting on both sides, growing thickly

Starting point is 05:57:26 upon his shining, clean-shaven chin. Even his hair, touched here and there with grey, though it had been combed and curled at a hairdressers, did not give him a stupid appearance, as curled hair usually does, by inevitably suggesting a German on his wedding day. If there really was something unpleasing and repulsive in his rather good-looking and imposing countenance, it was due to quite other causes. After scanning Mr. Luzon unceivomiously, Ruskolnikov smiled malignantly, sank back on the pillow, and stared at the ceiling as before. But Mr. Lusion hardened his heart and seemed to determine to take no notice of their oddities. I feel the greatest regret at finding you in this situation. He began again breaking the silence

Starting point is 05:58:16 with an effort. If I had been aware of your illness, I should have come earlier. But you know what business is. I have, too, a very important legal affair in the Senate, not to mention other preoccupations which you may well conjecture. I am exceive. expecting your mama and sister any minute." Ruskalnikov made a movement and seemed about to speak. His face showed some excitement. Pietor Petrovitch paused, waited, but as nothing followed, he went on. Any minute.

Starting point is 05:58:49 I have found a lodging for them on their arrival. Where? asked Ruskalnikov weekly. Very near here, in Bakaliev's house. That's in Voskrasnsky, put in Resumian. There are two stories of rooms, let by a merchant called Eushan. I've been there. Yes, rooms.

Starting point is 05:59:10 A disgusting place, filthy, stinking, and what's more of doubtful character. Things have happened there, and there are all sorts of queer people living there. And I went there about a scandalous business. It's cheap, though. I could not, of course, find out so much about it, for I am a stranger in Petersburg myself. Piotr Petrovich replied Huffington. However, the two rooms are exceedingly clean, and, as it is for so short a time, I have already taken a permanent, that is, our future flat,' he said addressing Raskolnikov,

Starting point is 05:59:45 and I am having it done up. And meanwhile, I am myself cramped for room in a lodging with my friend, Andrei Samyanovich Lebeziatnikov, in the flat of Madame Lepewegevijal. It was he who told me of Bachelov's house, too. Lebeziatnikov, said Raskolnikov slowly, as if recalling something. Yes, Andrei Semyonovich Lebezayotnikov, a clerk in the ministry. Do you know him? Yes, no, Raskolnikov answered. Excuse me, I fancied so from your inquiry. I was once his guardian, a very nice young man and advanced. I like to meet young people. One learns new things.

Starting point is 06:00:30 from them. Luzon looked round, hopefully at them all. "'How do you mean?' asked Resumian. "'In the most serious and essential matters,' Piotr Petrovich replied, as though delighted at the questioned. "'You see, it's ten years since I visited Petersburg. All the novelties, reforms, ideas have reached us in the provinces, but to see it all more clearly one must be in Petersburg. And it's my notion that you observe and learn most by why watching the younger generation. And I confess, I am delighted.

Starting point is 06:01:06 At what? Your question is a wide one. I may be mistaken, but I fancy I find clearer views, more, so to say, criticism, more practicality. That's true, Zossamov let drop. Nonsense! There's no practicality, resuming flew at him. Practicality is a difficult thing to find.

Starting point is 06:01:29 It does not drop down from heaven, and for the last two hundred years we have been divorced from all practical life. Ideas, if you like, are fermenting, he said to Pieter Petrovich. And desire for good exists, though it's in a childish form, and honesty you may find, although there are crowds of brigands. Anyway, there's no practicality. Practicality goes well shod." I don't agree with you, Piotr Petrovitch replied, with evident enjoyment. Of course, people do get carried away and make mistakes, but one must have indulgence. Those mistakes are merely evidence of enthusiasm for the cause and of abnormal external

Starting point is 06:02:13 environment. If little has been done, the time has been but short. Of means I will not speak. It's my personal view, if you care to know, that something has been. has been accomplished already. New valuable ideas, new valuable works are circulating in the place of our old, dreamy, and romantic authors. Literature is taking a maturer form. Many injurious prejudices have been rooted up and turned into ridicule. In a word, we have cut ourselves off irrevocably from the past, and that, to my thinking, is a great thing." He's learned it by heart to show off," Raskolnikov pronounced suddenly. What?" asked Pieter Petrovitch, not catching his words, but he received no reply.

Starting point is 06:03:01 "'That's all true,' Zossamov hastened to interpose. "'Isn't it so?' Piotr Petrov went on, glancing affably at Zossimov. "'You must admit,' he went on, addressing Razumian with a shade of triumph and superciliousness. He almost added, young man. "'That there is an advance, or, as they say now, progress in the name of science and economic truth. A commonplace. No, not a commonplace. Hitherto, for instance, if I were told, love thy neighbor, what came of it? Pietro Petrovich went on, perhaps with excessive haste.

Starting point is 06:03:39 It came to my tearing my coat in half to share with my neighbor, and we both were left half-naked. As a Russian proverb has it, catch several hairs and you won't catch one. Science now tells us, love yourself before all men. for everything in the world rests on self-interest. You love yourself and manage your own affairs property, and your coat remains whole. Economic truth adds that the better private affairs are organized in society, the more whole coats, so to say, the firmer are its foundations, and the better is the common welfare organized too. Therefore, in acquiring wealth solely and exclusively for myself, I am acquiring, so to speak, for all, and helping to bring to pass my

Starting point is 06:04:25 neighbors getting a little more than a torn coat, and that not from private, personal liberality, but as a consequence of the general advance. The idea is simple, but unhappily it has been a long time reaching us, being hindered by idealism and sentimentality, and yet it would seem to want very little wit to perceive it. "'Excuse me, I very little wit myself, resumiant cut in sharply, and so let us drop it. I began this discussion with an object, but I've grown so sick during the last three years of this chattering to amuse oneself, of this incessant flow of commonplaces, always the same, that, by Jove, I blush even when other people talk like that. You are in a hurry, no doubt, to exhibit your requirements,

Starting point is 06:05:13 and I don't blame you. That's quite pardonable. I only wanted to find out what sort of a man you are, For so many unscrupulous people have got hold of the progressive cause of late, and have so distorted in their own interests everything they touched, that the whole cause has been dragged in the mire. That's enough." "'Excuse me, sir,' said Lusin, affronted, and speaking with excessive dignity. "'Do you mean to suggest, so unceremoniously, that I, too? Oh, my dear sir, how could I?

Starting point is 06:05:46 Come, that's enough,' resumion concluded. and he turned abruptly to Zasimov to continue their previous conversation. Pieter Petrovich had the good sense to accept the disavowal. He made up his mind to take leave in another minute or two. "'I trust our acquaintance,' he said addressing Raskolnikov, may upon your recovery and in view of the circumstances of which you are aware become closer. Above all, I hope for your return to health.' Ruskalnikov did not even turn his head.

Starting point is 06:06:19 Piotr Petrovich began getting up from his chair. "'One of her customers must have killed her,' Zossomov declared positively. "'Not a doubt of it,' replied Rizumian. Porfiry doesn't give his opinion, but is examining all who have left pledges with her there. "'Examining them?' Ruskalnikov asked aloud. "'Yes. What then?' "'Nothing.' "'How does he get hold of them?' asked Zossimov.

Starting point is 06:06:49 Coke has given the names of some of them. Other names are on the rappers of the pledges, and some have come forward of themselves. It must have been a cunning and practiced ruffian, the boldness of it, the coolness. That's just what it wasn't,' interposed Resumian. That's what throws you all off the scent. But I maintain that he is not cunning, not practiced, and probably this was his first crime. The supposition that it was a calculated crime and a cunning criminal doesn't work. Suppose him to have been inexperienced, and it's clear that it was only a chance that saved him, and chance may do anything. Why,

Starting point is 06:07:30 he did not foresee obstacles, perhaps, and how did he set to work? He took jewels worth ten or twenty roubles, stuffing his pockets with them, ransacked the old woman's trunks, her rags, and they found fifteen hundred roubles, besides notes, in a box in the top drawer of the chest. He did not know how to rob. He could only murder. It was his first crime, I assure you, his first crime. He lost his head, and he got off more by luck than good counsel. You were talking of the murder of the old pawnbroker, I believe, Pieter Petrovich put in, addressing Zossamov. He was standing, hat and gloves in hand, but before departing he felt disposed to throw off a few more intellectual phrases.

Starting point is 06:08:16 He was evidently anxious to make a favorable impression, and his vanity overcame his prudence. "'Yes, you've heard of it?' "'Oh, yes, being in the neighborhood.' "'Do you know the details?' "'I can't say that. But another circumstance interests me in the case. The whole question, so to say. Not to speak of the fact that crime has been greatly on the increase among the lower classes during the last five years, not to speak of the cases of robbery and arson everywhere,

Starting point is 06:08:48 what strikes me is the strangest thing is that in the higher classes too, crime is increasing proportionately. In one place one hears of a student's robbing the mail on the high road. In another place, people of good social position forge false banknotes. In Moscow of late, a whole gang has been captured who used to forge lottery tickets, and one of the ringleaders was a lecturer in universal history. Then our secretary abroad was murdered from some obscure motive of gain. And if this old woman, the pawnbroker, has been murdered by someone of a higher class in society, for peasants don't pawn gold trinkets, how are we to explain this demoralization of the

Starting point is 06:09:30 civilized part of our society? There are many economic changes, put in Zossimov. How are we to explain it? Resumium caught him up. It might be explained by our inveterate impracticality. How do you mean? What answer had your lecture in Moscow to make to the question why he was forging notes? Everybody is getting rich one way or another, so I want to make haste to get rich, too. I don't remember the exact words, but the upshot was that he wants money for nothing, without waiting or working. We've grown used to having everything ready-made, to walking, to walking

Starting point is 06:10:10 on crutches, to having our food chewed for us. Then the great hour struck. The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 is meant, and every man showed himself in his true colors. But morality, and so to speak, principles? But why do you worry about it? Raskolnikov interposed suddenly. It's in accordance with your theory. In accordance with my theory? Why, carry out logically the theory you are advocating just now, and it follows that people may be killed. "'Upon my word!' cried Lusian. "'No, that's not so,' put in Zossimov. Raskolnikov lay with a white face and twitching upper lip, breathing painfully.

Starting point is 06:10:58 "'There's a measure in all things,' Lusion went on superciliously. Economic ideas are not an incitement to murder, and one has but to suppose—and is it true? Russ Kalnikov interposed once more suddenly, again in a voice quivering with fury and delight in insulting him. "'Is it true that you told your fiancé, within an hour of her acceptance, that what pleased you most, was that she was a beggar, because it was better to raise a wife from poverty, so that you may have complete control over her and reproach her with your being her benefactor?' "'Upon my word!' Lusion cried wrathfully,

Starting point is 06:11:40 irritably, crimson with confusion. To distort my words in this way— Excuse me, allow me to assure you that the report which has reached you, or rather, let me say, has been conveyed to you, has no foundation in truth, and I suspect who, in a word, this arrow, in a word, your mama. She seemed to me in other things, with all her excellent qualities, of a somewhat high-flown and romantic way of thinking. But I, was a thousand miles from supposing that she would misunderstand and misrepresent things in so fanciful a way. And indeed, indeed! I tell you what, cried Ruskonikov, raising himself on his pillow and fixing his piercing, glittering eyes upon him. I tell you what.

Starting point is 06:12:28 What? Lusion stood still, waiting with a defiant and offended face. Silence lasted for some seconds. Why, if ever again, you dare to mention a single word about my mother, I shall send you flying downstairs. What's the matter with you? cried Rezumian. So, that's how it is? Lusion turned pale and bit his lip. Let me tell you, sir. He began deliberately doing his utmost to restrain himself, but breathing hard. At the first moment I saw you, You were ill-disposed to me, but I remained here on purpose to find out more. I could forgive a great deal in a sick man and a connection, but you, never after this. I am not ill, cried Rus Kolnikov.

Starting point is 06:13:22 So much the worse! Go to hell!' But Lusian was already leaving without finishing his speech, squeezing between the table and the chair. Razumian got up this time to let him pass. Without glancing at anyone, and not even nodding to Zossamov, who had for some time been making signs to him to let the sick man alone, he went out, lifting his hat to the level of his shoulders to avoid crushing it as he stooped to go out of the door. And even the curve of his spine was expressive of the horrible insult he had received. "'How could you? How could you?' Resumian said, shaking his head in perplexity.

Starting point is 06:14:02 "'Let me alone. Let me alone, all of you. Ruskalnikov cried in a frenzy, "'Will you ever leave off tormenting me? I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid of anyone, anyone now. Get away from me. I want to be alone, alone, alone!' "'Come along,' said Zossamov, nodding to Rezumian.

Starting point is 06:14:24 "'But we can't leave him like this.' "'Come along!' Zossimov repeated insistently, and he went out. Rezumian thought a minute and ran to overtake him. It might be worse not to obey him, said Zossimo on the stairs. He mustn't be irritated. What's the matter with him? If only he could get some favorable shock, that's what would do it.

Starting point is 06:14:49 At first he was better. You know he has got something on his mind, some fixed idea weighing on him. I am very much afraid so. He must have. Perhaps it's that gentleman, Piotr Petrovich. From his conversation, I gather he is going to marry his sister, and that he had received a letter about it just before his illness. Yes, confound the man. He may have upset the case altogether.

Starting point is 06:15:17 But have you noticed he takes no interest in anything? He does not respond to anything except one point on which he seems excited. That's the murder? Yes, yes, resuming agreed. I noticed that, too. He is interested, frightened. It gave him a shock on the day he was ill in the police office. He fainted.

Starting point is 06:15:42 Tell me more about that this evening, and I'll tell you something afterwards. He interests me very much. In half an hour I'll go and see him again. There'll be no inflammation, though. Thanks, and I'll wait with Pashenka meantime and will keep watching him through Nastassia. Raskolnikov, left alone, looked with impatience and misery at Nastassia. Nastassia, but she still lingered. "'Won't you have some tea now?' she asked.

Starting point is 06:16:10 "'Later, I am sleepy. Leave me.' He turned abruptly to the wall. Nastassia went out. End of Part 2, Chapter 5. Part 2, Chapter 6 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 2, Chapter 6

Starting point is 06:16:45 But as soon as she went out, he got up, latched the door, undid the parcel which Razumian had brought in that evening, and had tied up again, and began dressing. Strange to say, he seemed immediately to have become perfectly calm, not a trace of his recent delirium, nor of the panic fear that had haunted him of late. It was the first moment of a strange, sudden calm. His movements were precise and definite. A firm purpose was evident in them. Today, today, today, he muttered to himself.

Starting point is 06:17:20 He understood that he was still weak, but his intense spiritual concentration gave him strength and self-confidence. He hoped, moreover, that he would not fall down in the street. When he had dressed in entirely new clothes, he looked at the money lying on the table, and after a moment's thought, put it in his pocket. It was twenty-five roubles. He took also all the copper change from the ten rubles spent by Rezumian on the close. Then he softly unlatched the door, went out, slipped downstairs, and glanced in at the open kitchen door. Nastassia was standing with her back to him,

Starting point is 06:17:56 blowing up the landlady Samovar. She heard nothing. Who would have dreamed of his going out indeed? A minute later he was in the street. It was nearly eight o'clock. The sun was setting. It was as stifling as before, but he eagerly drank in the stinking, dusty town air. His head felt rather dizzy. A sort of savage energy gleamed suddenly in his feverish eyes and his wasted, pale and yellow face. He did not know and did not think where he was going. He had one thought only, that all this must be ended today. once and for all, immediately. That he would not return home without it, because he would not go on living like that. How, with what to make an end? He had not an idea about it. He did not

Starting point is 06:18:46 even want to think of it. He drove away thought. Thought tortured him. All he knew, all he felt, was that everything must be changed one way or another. He repeated with desperate and immovable self-confidence and determination. From old habit he took his usual walk in the direction of the haymarket. A dark-haired young man with a barrel organ was standing in the road in front of a little general shop and was grinding out a very sentimental song. He was accompanying a girl of fifteen who stood on the pavement in front of him. She was dressed up in a crinoline, a mantle and a straw hat with a flame-colored feather

Starting point is 06:19:27 in it, all very old and shabby. In a strong and rather agreeable voice, cracked and coarsened by street singing, she sang in hope of getting a copper from the shop. Ruskalnikov joined two or three listeners, took out a five-copac piece, and put it in the girl's hand. She broke off abruptly on a sentimental high note, shouted sharply to the organ-grinder, Come on! And both moved on to the next shop.

Starting point is 06:19:55 Do you like street music? said Ruskalnikov, addressing a middle-aged man standing idly by him. The man looked at him, startled and wondering. "'I love to hear singing to a street organ,' said Ruskanikov, and his manner seemed strangely out of keeping with the subject. "'I like it on cold, dark, damp autumn evenings. They must be damp, when all the passers-by have pale green, sickly faces, or better still, when the wet snow is falling straight down,

Starting point is 06:20:27 when there's no wind. You know what I mean?" And the street-lamp shined through it. "'I don't know. Excuse me,' muttered the stranger, frightened by the question and Raskolnikov's strange manner, and he crossed over to the other side of the street. Roskolnikov walked straight on and came out at the corner of the haymarket, where the Huckster and his wife had talked with Lisveta. But they were not there now. Recognizing the place he stopped, looked round, and addressed a young fellow in a red shirt, who stood gaping before a corn-chandler's shop. "'Isn't there a man who keeps a booth with his wife at this corner?'

Starting point is 06:21:07 "'All sorts of people keep booths here,' answered the young man, glancing superciliously at Raskolnikov. "'What's his name?' "'What he was christened?' "'Arjou a Zariiski man, too? "'Which province?' The young man looked at Raskolnikov again. "'It's not a province, your excellency, but a district.

Starting point is 06:21:30 Graciously, forgive me, your excellency.' "'Is that a tavern at the top there?' "'Yes, it's an eating-house, and there's a billiard room, and you'll find princesses there, too. La-la!' Ruskalnikov crossed the square. In that corner there was a dense crowd of peasants. He pushed his way into the thickest part of it, looking at the faces. He felt an unaccountable inclination to enter into a crowd of peasants.

Starting point is 06:21:56 conversation with people. But the peasants took no notice of him. They were all shouting in groups together. He stood and thought a little and took a turning to the right in the direction of V. He had often crossed that little street which turns at an angle, leading from the marketplace to Sadovi Street. Of late, he had often felt drawn to wander about this district, when he felt depressed, that he might feel more so. Now he walked along, thinking of nothing. At that point, there is a great block of buildings, entirely let out in dram shops and eating houses. Women were continually running in and out, bareheaded and in their indoor clothes. Here and there they gathered in groups on the pavement, especially about the entrances

Starting point is 06:22:43 to various festive establishments in the lower stories. For one of these a loud din, sounds of singing, the tinkling of a guitar, and shouts of merriment floated into the street. A crowd of women were thronging round the door. Some were sitting on the steps, others on the pavement, others were standing talking. A drunken soldier, smoking a cigarette, who was walking near them in the road, swearing. He seemed to be trying to find his way somewhere, but had forgotten where. One beggar was quarreling with another, and a man dead drunk was lying right across the road. Roskalnikov joined the throng of women who were talking in husky voices. They were bareheaded and wore cotton dresses and goat-skin shoes.

Starting point is 06:23:28 There were women of forty, and some not more than seventeen. Almost all had blackened eyes. He felt strangely attracted by the singing and all the noise and uproar in the saloon below. Someone could be heard within dancing frantically, marking time with his heels to the sounds of the guitar and of a thin falsetto voice, singing a jaunty air. He listened intently, gloomily and dreamily, bending down at the entrance and peeping inquisitively in from the pavement.

Starting point is 06:23:59 "'Oh, my handsome soldier, don't beat me for nothing!' trilled the thin voice of the singer. Roskalnikov felt a great desire to make out what he was singing, as though everything depended on that. "'Shall I go in?' he thought. "'They are laughing, from drink. Shall I get drunk?' "'Won't you come in?' One of the women asked him.

Starting point is 06:24:22 Her voice was still musical and less thick than the others. She was young and not repulsive, the only one of the group. Why, she's pretty, he said, drawing himself up and looking at her. She smiled, much pleased at the compliment. You're very nice looking yourself, she said. Isn't he thin, though, observed another woman in a deep base. Have you just come out of a hospital? They're all general's daughters, it seems, but they have all snub noses, interposed a

Starting point is 06:24:56 tipsy peasant with a sly smile on his face, wearing a loose coat. See how jolly they are. Go along with you. I'll go, sweetie. And he darted down into the saloon below. Ruskalnikov moved on. I say, sir, the girl shouted after him. What is it?

Starting point is 06:25:16 She hesitated. I'll always be pleased to spend an hour with. you, kind gentleman, but now I feel shy. Give me six copeks for a drink. There's a nice young man." Raskolnikov gave her what came first. Fifteen Kopecks. Ah, what a good-natured gentleman. What's your name? Ask for Duclida. Well, that's too much," one of the women observed, shaking her head at Duclita. I don't know how you can ask like that. I believe I should drop with Shane. Raskolnikov looked curiously at the speaker.

Starting point is 06:25:55 She was a pock-marked wench of thirty, covered with bruises, with her upper lip swollen. She made her criticism quietly and earnestly. "'Where is it?' thought Raskolnikov. "'Where is it? I've read that someone condemned a death says or thinks an hour before his death that if he had to live on some high rock, on such a narrow ledge that he'd only room to stand, and the ocean everlasting darkness, everlasting solitude, everlasting tempest around him. If he had to remain standing on a square yard of space all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so

Starting point is 06:26:34 than to die at once. Only to live, to live and live. Life, whatever it may be. How true it is! Good God, how true! Man is a vile creature! And vile is he who calls he. vile for that," he added a moment later. He went into another street. "'Bah, the Palais de Cristal. Rezumian was just talking of the Palais de Cristal. But what on earth was it I wanted?' "'Yes, the newspapers.' Sossamov said he read it in the papers. "'Have you the papers?' he asked, going into a very spacious and positively clean restaurant,

Starting point is 06:27:14 consisting of several rooms, which were, however, rather empty. Two or three people were drinking tea, and in a room further away were sitting four men drinking champagne. Russ Kalnikov fancied that Zamatov was one of them, but he could not be sure at that distance. What if it is, he thought. Will you have vodka? asked the waiter. Give me some tea and bring me the papers, the old ones for the last five days, and I'll give you something. Yes, sir, here's to-day's.

Starting point is 06:27:48 No vodka? The old newspapers and the tea were brought. Ruskalnikov sat down and began to look through them. Oh, damn, these are the items of intelligence. An accident on a staircase. A spontaneous combustion of a shopkeeper from alcohol. A fire in pesky. A fire in the Petersburg quarter.

Starting point is 06:28:10 Another fire in the Petersburg quarter. And another fire in the Petersburg quarter. Ah, here it is. He found at last what he was seeking and began to read it. The lines danced before his eyes, but he read it all and began eagerly seeking later editions in the following numbers. His hands shook with nervous impatience as he turned the sheets. Suddenly, someone sat down beside him at his table. He looked up. It was the head clerk Zamatov, looking just the same, with the rings on his fingers and the watch chain, with the curly black hair, parted,

Starting point is 06:28:46 and pomaded, with a smart waistcoat, rather shabby coat, and doubtful linen. He was in a good humor, at least he was smiling very gaily and good-humoredly. His dark face was rather flushed from the champagne he had drunk. "'What, you hear?' he began in surprise, speaking as though he'd known him all his life. "'Why, Resumian told me only yesterday you were unconscious. "'How strange! "'And do you know I've been to see you?' Raskolnikov knew he would come up to him. He laid aside the papers and turned to

Starting point is 06:29:22 Zamatov. There was a smile on his lips, and a new shade of irritable impatience was apparent in that smile. "'I know you have,' he answered. "'I've heard it. You looked for my sock. And you know Razumian has lost his heart to you. He says you've been with him to Louise Ivanovna's. You know, the woman you tried to befriend, for whom you winked to the explosive lieutenant and he would not understand? Do you remember? How could he fail to understand?

Starting point is 06:29:52 It was quite clear, wasn't it? What a hothead he is. The explosive one? No, your friend Razumian. You must have a jolly life, Mr. Zamatov, entrance fee to the most agreeable places. Who's been pouring champagne into you just now? We've just been having a drink together. You talk about pouring it into me. By way of a fee. You profit by everything, Raskolnikov laughed.

Starting point is 06:30:24 It's all right, my dear boy, he added, slapping Zemitov on the shoulder. I am not speaking from temper, but in a friendly way, for sport, as that workman of yours said when he was scuffling with Dmitri, in the case of the old woman. How do you know about it? Perhaps I know more about it than you do. How strange you are. I am sure you are still very unwell. You oughtn't to have come out.

Starting point is 06:30:53 Oh, do I seem strange to you? Yes. What are you doing, reading the papers? Yes. There's a lot about the fires. No, I am not reading about the fires. Here he looked mysteriously at the papers. at Zamatov. His lips were twisted again in a mocking smile.

Starting point is 06:31:13 "'No, I am not reading about the fires,' he went on weaking at Zamitov. "'But confess now, my dear fellow, you're awfully anxious to know what I am reading about.' "'I am not in the least. Mayn't I ask a question? Why do you keep on?' "'Listen. You are a man of culture and education?' "'I was in the sixth class at the gymnasium,' said Zamest. Zametov with some dignity. "'Sixth class! Ah, my cocksparrow! With your parting and your rings! You are a gentleman of fortune! Foo! What a charming boy!' Here Rus Konnikov broke into a nervous laugh right in Zammatov's face. The latter drew back, more amazed than offended.

Starting point is 06:32:01 "'Foo! How strange you are!' Zammatov repeated very seriously. "'I can't help you are still delirious.' I am delirious. You are fibbing, my cocks sparrow. So I am strange. You find me curious, do you?" Yes, curious. Shall I tell you what I was reading about, what I was looking for?

Starting point is 06:32:25 See what a lot of papers I've made them bring me. Suspicious, eh?" Well, what is it? You prick up your ears? How do you mean, prick up my ears? I'll explain that afterwards. But now, my boy, I declare to you, no, better, I confess, no, that's not right either. I make a deposition and you take it. I deposed that I was reading, that I was looking and searching. He screwed up his eyes and paused.

Starting point is 06:32:58 I was searching and came here on purpose to do it, for news of the murder of the old pawnbroker woman. He articulated at last, almost in a whisper, bringing his face exceedingly close to the face of Zamatov. Zammatov looked at him steadily, without moving or drawing his face away. What struck Zamatov afterwards as the strangest part of it all was that silence followed for exactly a minute, and that they gazed at one another all the while. "'What if you have been reading about it?' he cried at last, perplexed and impatient.

Starting point is 06:33:35 "'That's no business of mine. What of it?' The same old woman, Ruskalnikov went on in the same whisper, not heeding Zamatov's explanation. About whom you were talking in the police office. You remember when I fainted. Well, do you understand now? What do you mean? Understand what? Sametov brought out, almost alarmed. Ruskolnikov's set and Ernest face was suddenly transformed, and he suddenly went off into the same nervous lab. as before, as though utterly unable to restrain himself. And in one flash he recalled with extraordinary vividness of sensation a moment in the recent past, that moment when he stood with

Starting point is 06:34:22 the axe behind the door, while the latch trembled and the men outside swore and shook it, and he had a sudden desire to shout at them, to swear at them, to put out his tongue at them, to mock them, to laugh and laugh, to laugh and laugh. You are either mad or— began Zamatov, and he broke off, as though stunned by the idea that had suddenly flashed into his mind. "'Or? Or what? What? Come, tell me!' "'Nothing,' said Zametov, getting angry. "'It's all nonsense!' Both were silent. After his sudden fit of laughter, Roskalnikov became suddenly thoughtful and melancholy. He put his elbow on the table and leaned his head on his hand. He seemed to have

Starting point is 06:35:09 completely forgotten Zamatov. The silence lasted for some time. "'Why don't you drink your tea? It's getting cold,' said Zamatov. "'What? Tea? Oh, yes.' Ruskalnikov sipped the glass, put a morsel of bread in his mouth, and suddenly, looking at Zamatov, seemed to remember everything and pulled himself together. At the same moment, his face resumed its original mocking expression. He went on drinking tea. There have been a great many of these crimes lately, said Zemitov.

Starting point is 06:35:46 Only the other day I read in the Moscow news that a whole gang of false coiners have been caught in Moscow. It was a regular society. They used to forge tickets. Oh, but it was a long time ago. I read about it a month ago, Ruskalnikov answered calmly. So you consider them criminals? He added, smiling.

Starting point is 06:36:08 Of course they are criminals. They? They are children, simpletons, not criminals. Why, half a hundred people meeting for such an object, what an idea. Three would be too many, and then they want to have more faith in one another than in themselves. One has only to blab in his cups and it all collapses. Simpletons! They engaged untrustworthy people to change the notes.

Starting point is 06:36:35 What a thing to trust to a casual strut. stranger. Well, let us suppose that these simpletons succeed and each makes a million, and what follows for the rest of their lives. Each is dependent on the others for the rest of his life. Better hang oneself at once. And they did not know how to change the notes either. The man who changed the notes took five thousand roubles, and his hands trembled. He counted the first four thousand, but did not count the fifth thousand. He was in such a hurry to get the money into his pocket and ran away. Of course he roused suspicion. And the whole thing came to a crash through one fool. Is it possible?' "'That his hands trembled?' observed Zamadov.

Starting point is 06:37:20 "'Yes, that's quite possible. That, I feel quite sure, is possible. Sometimes one can't stand things.' "'Can't stand that?' "'Why, could you stand it then? No, I couldn't. For the sake of a hundred rubles to face such a terrible experience? To go with false notes into a bank where it's their business to spot that sort of thing? No, I should not have the face to do it. Would you?' Raskolnikov had an intense desire again to put his tongue out. Shivers kept running down his spine. "'I should do it quite differently,' Ruskalnikov began. This is how I would change the notes. I'd count the first thousand three or four times backwards and forwards, looking at every note, and then I'd set to the second thousand.

Starting point is 06:38:14 I'd count that halfway through, and then hold some fifty-ruble note to the light, then turn it, then hold it to the light again, to see whether it was a good one. I am afraid, I would say, a relation of mine lost twenty-five roubles the other day through a false note, and then I'd tell them the whole story. And after I began counting the third, no, excuse me, I would say, I fancy I made a mistake in the seventh hundred in that second thousand, I'm not sure. And so I would give up the third thousand, and go back to the second, and so on to the end. And when I had finished, I'd pick out one from the fifth and one from the second thousand,

Starting point is 06:38:54 and take them again to the light, and ask again, change them, please, and put the clerk into such a stew that he would not know how to get rid of me. When I'd finished and gone out, I'd come back. No, excuse me, and ask for some explanation. That's how I'd do it. Foo! What terrible things you say, said Zammatov laughing. But all that is only talk.

Starting point is 06:39:20 I dare say when it came to deeds you'd make a slip. I believe that even a practiced, desperate man cannot always reckon on himself, much less you and I. To take an example near home. That old woman murdered in our district. The murderer seemed to have been a desperate fellow. He risked everything in open daylight, was saved by a miracle. But his hands shook, too.

Starting point is 06:39:45 He did not succeed in robbing the place. He couldn't stand it. That was clear from the— Ruskalnikov seemed offended. Clear? Why don't you catch him then? He cried, maliciously jiving at Zametov. Well, they will catch him.

Starting point is 06:40:03 Who? You? Do you suppose you could catch him? You've a tough job. A great point for you is whether a man is spending money or not. If he had no money and suddenly begins spending, he must be the man, so that any child can mislead you. The fact is they always do that, though, answered Zammatov. A man will commit a clever murder at the risk of his life, and then at once he goes drinking in a tavern. They are caught spending money. They are not all as cunning as you are. You wouldn't go to a tavern, of course." Ruskalnikov frowned and looked steadily at Zamatov. "'You seem to enjoy the subject and would like to know how I should behave in that case, too?'

Starting point is 06:40:48 He asked with displeasure. "'I should like to,' Zamitov answered firmly and seriously. Somewhat too much earnestness began to appear in his words and looks. "'Very much?' Very much. All right, then. This is how I should behave. Russ Kalnigov began, again bringing his face close to Zamatov's, again staring at him

Starting point is 06:41:13 and speaking in a whisper, so that the latter positively shuddered. This is what I should have done. I should have taken the money and jewels. I should have walked out of there and have gone straight to some deserted place with fences round it, and scarcely anyone to be seen. some kitchen garden or place of that sort. I should have looked out beforehand some stone weighing a hundredweight or more which had been lying in the corner from the time the house was built.

Starting point is 06:41:41 I would lift that stone, there would sure to be a hollow under it, and I would put the jewels and money in that hole. Then I'd roll the stone back so that it would look as before, would press it down with my foot and walk away. And for a year or two, three maybe, I would not touch it. And, well, they could search. There be no trace. You are a madman, said Zammatov, and for some reason he too spoke in a whisper and moved away from Ruskonikov, whose eyes were glittering. He had turned fearfully pale and his upper

Starting point is 06:42:17 lip was twitching and quivering. He bent down as close as possible to Zammatov, and his lips began to move without uttering a word. This lasted for half a minute. He knew what he was was doing, but could not restrain himself. The terrible word trembled on his lips, like the latch on that door. In another moment it will break out. In another moment he will let it go. He will speak out. And what if it was I who murdered the old woman and his Evetta? He said suddenly, and realized what he had done. Zamatov looked wildly at him and turned white as the tablecloth. His face wore a contorted smile. But is it possible?

Starting point is 06:43:04 He brought out faintly. Ruskalnikov looked wrathfully at him. Own up that you believed it. Yes, you did? Not a bit of it. I believe it less than ever now, Zametov cried hastily. I've caught my cocksbarrow. So you did believe it before, if now you believe it less than ever. "'Not at all,' cried Zametov, obviously embarrassed.

Starting point is 06:43:31 "'Have you been frightening me so as to lead up to this?' "'You don't believe it, then. What were you talking about behind my back when I went out of the police office? And why did the explosive lieutenant question me after I fainted?' "'Hey there!' he shouted to the waiter, getting up and taking his cap. "'How much?' "'Thirty Kopex,' the latter replied, running up. And there is twenty kopeks for vodka. See what a lot of money! He held on his shaking hand to Zametov with notes in it.

Starting point is 06:44:04 Red notes and blue, twenty-five roubles! Where did I get them? And where did my new clothes come from? You know I had not a kopek. You've cross-examined my landlady I'll be bound. Well, that's enough. As a cooze. Till we meet again!'

Starting point is 06:44:20 He went out, trembling all over, from a sort of wild hysterical. sensation, in which there was an element of insufferable rapture. Yet he was gloomy and terribly tired. His face was twisted as after a fit. His fatigue increased rapidly. Any shock, any irritating sensation stimulated and revived his energies at once, but his strength failed as quickly when the stimulus was removed. Zamatov, left alone, sat for a long time in the same place, plunged in thought. Roskalnikov had unwittingly worked a revolution in his brain on a certain point, and had made up his mind for him conclusively.

Starting point is 06:45:03 Ilya Petrovich is a blockhead, he decided. Roskolnikov had hardly opened the door of the restaurant when he stumbled against Resumian on the steps. They did not see each other till they almost knocked against each other. For a moment they stood looking each other up and down. Rezumian was greatly astounded. Then anger, real anger, gleamed fiercely in his eyes. "'So here you are!' he shouted at the top of his voice.

Starting point is 06:45:32 "'You ran away from your bed! And here I've been looking for you under the sofa! We went up to the garret. I almost beat Nastassia on your account. And here he is after all. Rodia! What is the meaning of it? Tell me the whole truth. Confess! Do you hear?' It means that I'm sick to death of you all and I want to be alone, Raskolnikov answered calmly. Alone? When you are not able to walk, when your face is as white as a sheet, and you are gasping for breath? Idiot! What have you been doing in the Palais de Cristal?

Starting point is 06:46:09 Own up at once! Let me go, said Raskolnikov and tried to pass him. This was too much for Azumian. He gripped him firmly by the... shoulder. Let you go? You dare tell me to let you go? Do you know what I'll do with you directly? I'll pick you up, tie you in a bundle, carry you home under my arm, and lock you up." Listen, Resumian. Ruskalnikov began quietly, apparently calm. Can't you see that I don't want your benevolence? A strange desire you have to shower benefits on a man who curses them,

Starting point is 06:46:46 who feels them a burden, in fact. Why did you seek me out at the same? You're not a woman? You're the beginning of my illness. Maybe I was very glad to die. Didn't I tell you plainly enough today that you were torturing me, that I was sick of you? You seem to want to torture people. I assure you that all that is seriously hindering my recovery, because it's continually irritating me. You saw Zossamov went away just now to avoid irritating me. You leave me alone, too, for goodness sake. What right have you, indeed, to keep me? by force. Don't you see that I am in possession of all my faculties now? How? How can I persuade you, not to persecute me with your kindness? I may be ungrateful,

Starting point is 06:47:32 I may be mean. Only let me be, for God's sake, let me be! Let me be! Let me be! He began calmly, gloating beforehand over the venomous phrases he was about to utter, but finished, panting for breath in a frenzy, as he had been with illusion. Resumian stood a moment, thought, and let his hand drop. "'Well, go to hell then,' he said gently and thoughtfully. "'Stay!' he roared as Ruskonikov was about to move. "'Listen to me. Let me tell you that you are all a set of babbling, posing idiots. If you've any little trouble, you brood over it like a hen over an egg.

Starting point is 06:48:17 And your plagiarists even at that! There isn't a sign of independent life in you. You are made of spermaceti ointment, and you've lymph in your veins instead of blood. I don't believe in any one of you. In any circumstances, the first thing for all of you is to be unlike a human being. Stop! He cried with redoubled fury, noticing that Rusconikov was again making a movement. Hear me out!

Starting point is 06:48:41 You know I'm having a housewarming this evening. I dare say they've arrived by now. But I left my uncle there. I just ran in to receive the guests. And if you weren't a fool, a common fool, a perfect fool, if you were an original instead of a translation... You see, Rodya, I recognize you're a clever fellow, but you're a fool. And if you were to fool, you'd come round to me this evening

Starting point is 06:49:07 instead of wearing out your boots in the street. Since you have gone out, there's no help for it. I'd give you a snug easy chair. My landlady has one. A cup of tea. company. Or you could lie on the sofa. Any way you would be with us. Zossimov will be there, too. Will you come? No. Rubbish, Resumian shouted, out of patience.

Starting point is 06:49:33 How do you know? You can't answer for yourself. You don't know anything about it. Thousands of times I fought tooth and nail with people and run back to them afterwards. One feels ashamed and goes back to a man. So remember, Potchinkov's house on the third story. Why, Mr. Resumian, I do believe you'd let anybody beat you from sheer benevolence. Beat? Whom? Me? I twist off his nose at the mere idea. Pachinkov's house, 47 Babushkin's Flat.

Starting point is 06:50:09 I shall not come, Resumian. Rusconikov turned and walked away. I'll bet you will! "'Rasumian shouted after him. "'I refuse to know you if you don't. "'Stay! Hey! Is Zamatov in there?' "'Yes.' "'Did you see him?'

Starting point is 06:50:28 "'Yes.' "'Talk to him?' "'Yes.' "'What about?' "'Confound you, don't tell me then. "'Potchenkov's house, 47, Babushkin's flat, remember!' Raskolnikov walked on and turned the corner into Sadovi Street. Resumian looked after him thoughtfully.

Starting point is 06:50:49 Then, with a wave of his hand, he went into the house but stopped short of the stairs. Confound it? He went on almost aloud. He talked sensibly, but yet... I am a fool. As if Mad Men didn't talk sensibly. And this was just what Zossamov seemed afraid of. He struck his finger on his forehead.

Starting point is 06:51:13 What if? How could I let him go off of? alone! He may drown himself! Ah, what a blunder! I can't! And he ran back to overtake Raskolnikov, but there was no trace of him. With a curse he returned with rapid steps to the Palais de Christal to question Zammatov. Raskolnikov walked straight to X bridge, stood in the middle, and, leaning both elbows on the rail, stared into the distance. On parting with Razumian, he felt so much weaker that he could scarcely reach this place. He longed to sit or lie down somewhere in the street.

Starting point is 06:51:52 Bending over the water, he gazed mechanically at the last pink flush of the sunset, at the row of houses growing dark in the gathering twilight, at one distant attic window on the left bank, flashing as though on fire in the last rays of the setting sun, at the darkening water of the canal, and the water seemed to catch his attention. At last red circles flashed before his eyes. The houses seemed moving, the passers-by, the canal banks, the carriages all danced before his eyes. Suddenly he started, saved again perhaps from swooning by an uncanny and hideous sight.

Starting point is 06:52:31 He became aware of someone standing on the right side of him. He looked and saw a tall woman with a kerchief on her head, with a long, yellow, wasted face and red sunken eyes. She was looking straight at him, but obviously she saw nothing. and recognized no one. Suddenly, she leaned her right hand on the parapet, lifted her right leg over the railing, then her left and threw herself into the canal.

Starting point is 06:52:57 The filthy water parted and swaddled up its victim for a moment. Then an instant later the drowning woman floated to the surface, moving slowly with the current, her head and legs in the water, her skirt inflated like a balloon over her back. "'A woman drowning! A woman drowning!' shounded dozens of voices. People ran up. Both banks were thronged with spectators. On the bridge, people crowded about Raskolnikov, pressing up behind him.

Starting point is 06:53:27 "'Mercy on it. It's our Afrosinia!' a woman cried tearfully close by. "'Mercy! Save her! Kind people pull her out!' "'A boat! A boat!' was shouted in the crowd. But there was no need of a boat. A policeman and ran down the steps to the canal, threw off his gray coat and his boots, and rushed into the water. It was easy to reach her. She floated within a couple of yards of the steps. He caught hold of her clothes with his right hand, and with his left seized a pole which a comrade held out to him. The drowning woman was pulled out at once. They laid her on the granite pavement of the embankment. She soon recovered consciousness, raised her head, sat up and began sneezing and coughing,

Starting point is 06:54:12 stupidly wiping her wet dress with her hands. She said nothing. She's drunk herself out of her senses. The same woman's voice wailed at her side. Out of her senses! The other day she tried to hang herself. We cut her down. I ran out to the shop just now, left my little girl to look after her, and here she's in trouble again. A neighbor, gentlemen, a neighbor, we live close by. The second house from the end, see yonder! The crowd broke up. The police still remained round the woman.

Starting point is 06:54:48 Someone mentioned the police station. Raskolnikov looked on with a strange sensation of indifference and apathy. He felt disgusted. No, that's loathsome. Water. It's not good enough. He muttered to himself. Nothing will come of it, he added.

Starting point is 06:55:06 No use to wait. What about the police office? And why isn't Zamotov? at the police office. The police office is open till ten o'clock. He turned his back to the railing and looked about him. Very well then, he said resolutely. He moved from the bridge and walked in the direction of the police office. His heart felt hollow and empty. He did not want to think. Even his depression had passed. There was not a trace now of the energy with which he had set out to make an end of it all. Complete apathy had succeeded to it.

Starting point is 06:55:43 Well, it's a way out of it, he thought, walking slowly and listlessly along the canal bank. Anyway, I'll make an end, for I want to. But is it a way out? What does it matter? There'll be the square yard of space. Ha! But what an end! Is it really the end? Shall I tell them or not? Ah, damn, how tired I am! If I could find somewhere to sit or lie down soon. What I am most ashamed of is it's being so stupid. But I don't care about that either.

Starting point is 06:56:23 What idiotic ideas come into one's head! To reach the police office, he had to go straight forward and take the second turning to the left. It was only a few paces away. But at the first turning, he stopped, and, after a minute's thought, turned into a side street and went two streets out of his way, possibly without any object, or possibly to delay a minute and gain time. He walked, looking at the ground. Suddenly, someone seemed to whisper in his ear. He lifted his head and saw that he was standing

Starting point is 06:56:57 at the very gate of the house. He had not passed it. He had not been near it since that evening. An overwhelming, unaccountable prompting drew him on. He went into the house, passed through the gateway, then into the first entrance on the right, and began mounting the familiar staircase to the fourth story. The narrow, steep staircase was very dark. He stopped at each landing and looked round him with curiosity. On the first landing the framework of the window had been taken out. "'That wasn't so, then,' he thought.

Starting point is 06:57:33 Here was the flat on the second story where Nikolai and Dimitri had been working. It shut up, and the door newly painted. So it's to let. Then the third story, and the fourth. Here. He was perplexed to find the door of the flat wide open. There were men there. He could hear voices. He had not expected that. After brief hesitation, he mounted the last stairs and went into the flat. It too was being done up. There were workmen in it.

Starting point is 06:58:05 This seemed to amaze him. He somehow fancied that he would find everything as he had left it, even perhaps the corpses in the same places on the floor. And now, bare walls, no furniture. It seemed strange. He walked to the window and sat down on the window-sill. There were two workmen, both young fellows, but one much younger than the other.

Starting point is 06:58:30 They were papering the walls with a new white paper covered with lilac flowers, instead of the old, dirty yellow one. Raskolnikov, for some reason, felt horribly annoyed by this. He looked at the new paper with dislike, as though he felt sorry to have it all so changed. The workmen had obviously stayed beyond their time, and now they were hurriedly rolling up their paper and getting ready to go home. They took no notice of Raskolnikov's coming in. They were talking.

Starting point is 06:59:00 Raskolnikov folded his arms and listened. "'She comes to me in the morning,' said the elder to the younger. "'Very early, all dressed up. "'Why are you preening and prinking?' says I. "'I am ready to do anything to please you, Tit Vasselich. "'That's a way of going on, and she dressed up like a regular fashion book.' "'And what is a fashion book?' the younger one asked. He obviously regarded the other as an authority.

Starting point is 06:59:29 "'A fashion book is a lot of pictures, colored, and they can't. come to the tailors here every Saturday by post from abroad to show folks how to dress, the male sex as well as the female. They're pictures. The gentlemen are generally wearing fur coats, and for the ladies' fluffles, they're beyond anything you can fancy. "'There's nothing you can't find in Petersburg,' the younger cried enthusiastically. "'Except father and mother, there's everything.' "'Except them, there's everything to be found, my boy,' the elder declared sententiously. Raskolnikov got up and walked into the other room where the strong box, the bed, and the

Starting point is 07:00:08 chest of drawers had been. The room seemed to him very tiny without furniture in it. The paper was the same. The paper in the corner showed where the case of icons had stood. He looked at it and went to the window. The elder workman looked at him askance. "'What do you want?' he asked suddenly. Instead of answering, Raskolnikov went into the passage and pulled the bell. The same bell, the same cracked note. He rang at a second and a third time. He listened and remembered. The hideous and agonizingly fearful sensation he had felt then began to come back more and more vividly. He shuddered at every ring and it gave him more and more satisfaction. "'Well, what do you want? Poor are you!' the workman shouted, going out to him.

Starting point is 07:00:58 Kraskalnikov went inside again. I want to take a flat, he said. I am looking round. It's not the time to look at rooms at night, and you ought to come up with the porter. The floors have been washed. Will they be painted? Raskolnikov went on.

Starting point is 07:01:16 Is there no blood? What blood? Why, the old woman and her sister were murdered here. There was a perfect pool there. But who are you? The workman cried. uneasy. Who am I?

Starting point is 07:01:33 Yes. You want to know? Come to the police station. I'll tell you. The workman looked at him in amazement. It's time for us to go. We're late. Come along, Alyosha.

Starting point is 07:01:46 We must lock up, said the elder workman. Very well, come along, said Russ Kalnikov indifferently, and, going out first, he went slowly downstairs. Hey, Porter! He cried in the gateway. At the entrance, several people were standing, staring at the passers-by. The two porters, a peasant woman, a man in a long coat, and a few others. Roskalnikov went straight up to them.

Starting point is 07:02:14 What do you want? asked one of the porters. Have you been to the police office? I've just been there. What do you want? Is it open? Of course. Is the assistant there? He was there for a time. What do you want?"

Starting point is 07:02:31 Raskolnikov made no reply, but stood beside them, lost in thought. "'He's been to look at the flat,' said the elder workman, coming forward. "'Which flat?' "'Where we are at work. Why have you washed away the blood?' says he. "'There has been a murder here,' says he. "'And I've come to take it.' And he began ringing at the bell, all but broke it.

Starting point is 07:02:56 "'Come to the police station,' says he. "'I'll tell you everything there.' He wouldn't leave us." The porter looked at Raskolnikov, frowning and perplexed. "'Who are you?' he shouted as impressively as he could. "'I am Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, formerly a student. I live in Shield's house, not far from here, flat number 14. Asked the porter, he knows me.'

Starting point is 07:03:23 Roskolnikov said all this in a lazy, dreamy voice, not turning round, but looking intently into the darkening Street. Why have you been to the flat? To look at it? What is there to look at? Take him straight to the police station. The man in the long coat jerked in abruptly. Russ Kalnikov looked intently at him over his shoulder and said in the same, slow, lazy tones, Come along. Yes, take him, the man went on more confidently. Why was he going into that? What's in his mind, "'He's not drunk, but God knows what's the matter with him,' muttered the workman. "'But what do you want?' the porter shouted again, beginning to get angry in earnest.

Starting point is 07:04:12 "'Why are you hanging about?' "'You funked the police station then,' said Raskolnikov jeeringly. "'How funk it? Why are you hanging about?' "'He's a rogue,' shouted the peasant woman. "'Why waste time talking to him?' cried the other port. a huge peasant in a full open coat and with keys on his belt. Get along! He is a rogue and no mistake. Get along! In seizing Rus Kalnikov by the shoulder, he flung him into the street.

Starting point is 07:04:44 He lurched forward, but recovered his footing, looked at the spectators in silence, and walked away. Strange man, observed the workman. There are strange folks about nowadays, said the woman. You should have taken him to the police-stakes. all the same, said the man in the long coat. Better have nothing to do with him, decided the big porter. A regular rogue. Just what he wants, you may be sure, but once you take him up you won't get

Starting point is 07:05:14 rid of him. We know the sort. Shall I go there or not? Thought Ruskonikov, standing in the middle of the thoroughfare at the crossroads, and he looked about him as though expecting from someone a decisive word. But no sound came. all was dead and silent, like the stones on which he walked, dead to him, to him alone. All at once at the end of the street, two hundred yards away, in the gathering dusk, he saw a crowd and heard talk and shouts. In the middle of the crowd stood a carriage. A light gleamed in the middle of the street. What is it? Ruskolnikov turned to the right and went up to the crowd.

Starting point is 07:05:55 He seemed to clutch at everything, and smiled coldly when he recognized it. for he had fully made up his mind to go to the police station and knew that it would all soon be over. End of Part 2, Chapter 6. Part 2, Chapter 7 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 2, Chapter 7 An elegant carriage stood in the middle of the road with a pair of spirited gray horses. There was no one in it, and the coachman had got off his box and stood by.

Starting point is 07:06:46 The horses were being held by the bridle. A mass of people had gathered round, the police standing in front. One of them held a lighted lantern, which he was turning on something lying close to the wheels. Everyone was talking, shouting, exclaiming. The coachman seemed at a loss and kept repeating, "'What a misfortune! Good Lord! What a misfortune!' Ruskolnikov pushed his way in as far as he could, and succeeded at last in seeing the object of the commotion and interest.

Starting point is 07:07:17 On the ground a man who had been run over lay apparently unconscious, and covered with blood. He was very badly dressed, but not like a workman. Blood was flowing from his head and face. His face was crushed, mutilated, and disfigured. He was evidently, badly injured. "'Merciful Heaven!' wailed the coachman. "'What more could I do?

Starting point is 07:07:41 If I had been driving fast or had not shouted to him, but I was going quietly, not in a hurry. Everyone could see I was going along just like everybody else. A drunken man can't walk straight, we all know. I saw him crossing the street, staggering and almost falling. I shouted again, and a second and a third time. Then I held the horses in, but he fell straight under their feet. Either he did it on purpose, or he was very tipsy.

Starting point is 07:08:10 The horses are young and ready to take fright. They started. He screamed. That made them worse. That's how it happened. That's just how it was, a voice in the crowd confirmed. He shouted, that's true. He shouted three times, another voice declared. Three times it was, we all heard it, shouted a third. third. But the coachman was not very much distressed and frightened. It was evident that the carriage belonged to a rich and important person who was awaiting it somewhere. The police, of course, were in no little anxiety to avoid upsetting his arrangements. All they had to do was to take

Starting point is 07:08:49 the injured man to the police station and the hospital. No one knew his name. Meanwhile, Ruskalnikov had squeezed in and stooped closer over him. The lantern suddenly lighted up the unfortunate man's face. He recognized him. I know him, I know him, he shouted, pushing to the front. It's a government clerk retired from the service, Marmeladov. He lives close by in Kozl's house. Make haste for a doctor. I will pay, see? He pulled money out of his pocket and showed it to the policeman. He was in violent agitation. The police were glad that they had found out who the man was. Russ Kalnikov gave his own name and address, and as earnestly as if it had been his father, he besought the police to carry the unconscious Marmeladov to his lodging at once.

Starting point is 07:09:41 "'Just here, three houses away,' he said eagerly. "'The house belongs to Kozel, a rich German. He was going home, no doubt drunk. I know him. He is a drunkard. He has a family there, a wife, children. He has one daughter. It will take time to take him to the hospital, and they're assured to be a doctor in the house. I'll pay, I'll pay! At least he will be looked after at home. They will help him at once.

Starting point is 07:10:09 But he'll die before you get him to the hospital. He managed to slip something unseen into the policeman's hand. But the thing was straightforward and legitimate, and in any case, help was closer here. They raised the injured man, people volunteered to help. Kozel's house was thirty yards away. Raskolnikov walked behind, carefully holding Marmeldov's head and showing the way. This way! This way! We must take him upstairs head foremost. Turn round. I'll pay. I'll make it worth your while, he muttered.

Starting point is 07:10:44 Katerina Ivanovna had just begun, as she always did at every free moment, walking to and fro in her little room from window to stove and back again, with her arms folded across her chest, talking to herself and coughing. Of late she had begun to talk more than ever to her eldest girl, Polenka, a child of ten, who, though there was much she did not understand, understood very well that her mother needed her, and so always watched her with her big, clever eyes, and strove her utmost to appear to understand. This time Polenka was undressing her little brother, who had been unwell all day and was going to bed. The boy was waiting for her to take off his shirt, which had to be washed at night.

Starting point is 07:11:29 He was sitting straight and motionless on a chair, with a silent, serious face, with his legs stretched out straight before him, heels together, and toes turned out. He was listening to what his mother was saying to his sister, sitting perfectly still with pouting lips and wide open eyes, just as all good little boys have to sit when they are undressed to go to bed. A little girl, still younger, dressed literally in rags, stood at the screen, waiting for her turn. The door onto the stairs was open to relieve them a little from the clouds of tobacco smoke, which floated in from the other rooms, and brought on long, terrible fits of coughing in the poor,

Starting point is 07:12:10 consumptive woman. Katerina Ivanovna seemed to have grown even thinner during that week, and the hectic flush on her face was brighter than ever. You wouldn't believe, you can't imagine Polinka, she said, walking about the room. What a happy, luxurious life we had in my Papa's house, and how this drunkard has brought me and will bring you all to ruin. Papa was a civil colonel, and only a step from being a governor, so that everyone who came to see him said, we look upon you, Ivan Miholovich, as our governor.

Starting point is 07:12:44 When I—when—' She coughed violently. Oh, cursed life! she cried, clearing her throat and pressing her hands to her breast. When I, when at the last ball, at the marshals, Princess Besmelny saw me, who gave me the blessing when your father and I were married, Polenka. She asked at once, Isn't that the pretty girl who danced the shawl dance at the breaking up? You must mend that tear. You must take your needle and darn it as I showed you, or to-morrow, "'Coff, cough, cough, cough, he will make the whole bigger,' she articulated with effort.

Starting point is 07:13:23 "'Prince Shagolskoy, a hammer-junker, had just come from Pittsburgh then. He danced the mazurka with me and wanted to make me an offer next day. But I thanked him in flattering expressions and told him that my heart had long been another's. "'That other was your father, Poya.' Papa was fearfully angry. "'Is the water ready? "'Give me the shirt and the stockings. "'Lida,' said she to the youngest one,

Starting point is 07:13:50 "'you must manage without your chemise tonight, "'and lay your stockings out with it. "'I'll wash them together. "'How is it that drunken vagabond doesn't come in? "'He has worn his shirt till it looks like a dish clout. "'He has torn it to rags. "'I do it all together, so as to not have to work two nights running. "'Oh, dear!'

Starting point is 07:14:11 "'Coff, cough, cough, cough!' "'Again! "'What's this?' She cried, noticing a crowd in the passage, and the men who are pushing into her room carrying a burden. What is it? What are they bringing? Mercy on us. Where are we to put him? asked the policeman, looking round when Marmeladov, unconscious and covered with blood, had been carried in. On the sofa. Put him straight on the sofa with his head this way. Ruskalnikov showed him.

Starting point is 07:14:42 Run over in the road, drunk! Someone shouted. in the passage. Katerina Ivanovna stood, turning white and gasping for breath. The children were terrified. Little Leida screamed, rushed to Polenka and clutched at her, trembling all over. Having laid Marmelo-dav down, Ruskalnikov flew to Katerina Ivanovna. "'For God's sake, be calm, don't be frightened,' he said, speaking quickly. He was crossing the road and was run over by a carriage. Don't be frightened. He will come too. I told them to bring here. I've been here already, you remember?

Starting point is 07:15:20 He will come, too. I'll pay. He's done it this time! Katerina Ivanovna cried despairingly, and she rushed to her husband. Raskolnikov noticed at once that she was not one of those women who swoon easily. She instantly placed under the luckless man's head a pillow, which no one had thought of and began undressing and examining him. She kept her head, forgetting herself.

Starting point is 07:15:45 biting her trembling lips and stifling the screams which were ready to break from her. Raskolnikov, meanwhile, induced someone to run for a doctor. There was a doctor, it appeared, next door but one. "'I've sent for a doctor,' he kept assuring Katerina Ivanovna. "'Don't be uneasy, I'll pay. Haven't you water? And give me a napkin or a towel, anything, as quick as you can. He is injured, but not killed, believe me.

Starting point is 07:16:14 We shall see what the doctor says. Katerina Ivanovna ran to the window. There, on a broken chair in the corner, a large earthenware basin full of water had been stood, in readiness for washing her children's and husband's linen that night. This washing was done by Katerina Ivanovna at night, at least twice a week, if not oftener. For the family had come to such a past that they were practically without change of linen, and Katerina Ivanovna could not endure uncleannliness, and rather than see dirt in the house, She preferred to wear herself out at night, working beyond her strength when the rest were asleep,

Starting point is 07:16:51 so as to get the wet linen hung on a line and dry by the morning. She took up the basin of water at Raskolnikov's request, but almost fell down with her burden. But the latter had already succeeded in finding a towel, wetted it, and began washing the blood off Marmelovedov's face. Katerina Ivanovna stood by, breathing painfully and pressing her hands to her breast. She was in need of attention herself. Ruskolnikov began to realize that he might have made a mistake in having the injured man brought here. The policeman, too, stood in hesitation.

Starting point is 07:17:27 Polinka, cried Katerina Ivanovna. Run to Sonia. Make haste. If you don't find her at home, leave word that her father has been run over and that she is to come here at once, when she comes in. Run, Polenka. There, put on the shawl. "'Run your fastest!' cried the little boy on the chair suddenly, after which he relapsed into the same dumb rigidity, with round eyes, his heels thrust forward, and his toes spread out. Meanwhile, the room had become so full of people that you couldn't have dropped a pin. The policeman left, all except one, who remained for a time, trying to drive out the people

Starting point is 07:18:06 who came in from the stairs. Almost all Madame Lipavetel's lodgers had streamed in from the inner rooms of of the flat. At first they were squeezed together in the doorway, but afterwards they overflowed into the room. Katerina Ivanovna flew into a fury. "'You might let him die in peace at least,' she shouted at the crowd. "'Is it a spectacle for you to gape at? With cigarettes? Cough, cough, cough! You might as well keep your hats on, and there is one in his hat. Get away. You should

Starting point is 07:18:39 respect the dead at least.' Her cough choked her, but her reproaches were not without result. They evidently stood in some awe of Katerina Ivanovna. The lodgers, one after another, squeezed back into the doorway with that strange inner feeling of satisfaction, which may be observed in the presence of a sudden accident, even in those nearest and dearest to the victim, from which no living man is exempt, even in spite of the sincerest sympathy and compassion. Voices outside were heard, however, speaking of the hospital and saying that they'd no business to make a disturbance here. "'No business to die!' cried Katerina Ivanovna, and she was rushing to the door to vent her wrath upon them,

Starting point is 07:19:26 but in the doorway came face to face with Madame Lipaveschel, who had only just heard of the accident and ran in to restore order. She was a particularly quarrelsome and irresponsible German. Ah, my God! she cried, clasping her hands. Your husband drunken horses have trampled. To the hospital with him. I am the landlady. Amelia Ludwigovna, I beg you to recollect what you are saying. Katerina Ivanovna began haughtily. She always took a haughty tone with the landlady that she might remember her place, and even now could not deny herself this satisfaction. "'Amelia Ludwigovna—'

Starting point is 07:20:06 "'I have you once before told you, "'to call me Amalia Ludwigovna may not dare. "'I am Amalia Ivanovna.' "'You are not Amelia Ivanovna, "'but Amelia Ludwigovna. "'And as I am not one of your despicable flatterers, "'like Mr. Lebesiatnikov, "'who's laughing behind the door at this moment—'

Starting point is 07:20:27 "'A laugh and a cry of, "'They are at it again!' "'was in fact audible at the door. So I shall always call you Amelia Ludwigovna, though I fail to understand why you dislike that name. You can see for yourself what has happened to Semyon Saharovich. He is dying. I beg you to close that door at once and to admit no one. Let him at least die in peace. Or, I warn you, the Governor-General himself shall be informed of your conduct tomorrow. The prince knew me as a girl. He remembers Semyon Zahovitch well, and has all

Starting point is 07:21:02 often been a benefactor to him. Everyone knows that Semyon Zaharovitch has many friends and protectors, whom he abandoned himself from an honorable pride, knowing his unhappy weakness. But now, she pointed to Raskolnikov, a generous young man has come to our assistance, who has wealth and connections and whom Semyon Saharovitch has known from a child. You may rest assured, Amelia Ludwigovna. All this was uttered with extreme rapidity, getting quicker and quicker. but a cough suddenly cut short Katerina Ivanovna's eloquence. At that instant, the dying man recovered consciousness and uttered a groan.

Starting point is 07:21:41 She ran to him. The injured man opened his eyes, and without recognition or understanding, gazed at Ruskalnikov, who was bending over him. He drew deep, slow, painful breaths. Blood oozed at the corners of his mouth and drops of perspiration came out on his forehead. Not recognizing Ruskalnikov, he began looking round. ground uneasily. Katerina Ivanovna looked at him with a sad but stern face, and tears trickled from her eyes.

Starting point is 07:22:11 "'My God! His whole chest is crushed! How he is bleeding!' she said in despair. "'We must take off his clothes. Turn a little, Semyon Zaharov if you can,' she cried to him. Marmeladov recognized her. "'A priest!' he articulated huskily. Katerina Ivanovna walked to the window, laid her head against the window frame, and exclaimed in despair, "'Oh, cursed life!' "'A priest!' the dying man said again, after a moment's silence. "'They have gone for him!' Katerina Ivanovna shouted to him. He obeyed her shout and

Starting point is 07:22:50 was silent. With sad and timid eyes, he looked for her. She returned and stood by his pillow. He seemed a little easier, but not for long. Soon his eyes rested on Little Leida, his favorite, who was shaking in the corner, as though she were in a fit, and staring at him with her wondering, childish eyes. Ah! He signed towards her uneasily. He wanted to say something. What now?

Starting point is 07:23:19 cried Katerina Ivanovna. Barefoot! Barefoot! He muttered, indicating with frenzied eyes that child bare feet. Be silent! Katerina Ivanovna cried irritably. You know why she is barefooted!

Starting point is 07:23:35 Thank God, the doctor! exclaimed Raskolnikov, relieved. The doctor came in, a precise little old man, a German, looking about him mistrustfully. He went up to the sick man, took his pulse, carefully felt his head, and with the help of Katerina Ivanovna, he unbuttoned the blood-stained shirt, and bared the injured man's chest. It was gashed, crushed, and fractured. Several ribs on the right side were broken. On the left side, just over the heart, was a large, sinister-looking yellowish-black bruise, a cruel kick from the horse's hoof. The doctor frowned. The policeman told him that he was caught in the

Starting point is 07:24:16 wheel and turned round with it for thirty yards on the road. "'It's wonderful that he has recovered consciousness,' the doctor whispered softly to Kolnakov. What do you think of him? He asked. He will die immediately. Is there really no hope? Not the faintest.

Starting point is 07:24:34 He is at the last gasp. His head is badly injured, too. I could bleed him, if you like, but it would be useless. He is bound to die within the next five or ten minutes. Better bleed him, then. If you like, but I've warned you, it will be perfectly useless. At that moment other steps were heard. The crowd in the passage parted, and the priest, a little gray old man,

Starting point is 07:25:01 appeared in the doorway bearing the sacrament. A policeman had gone for him at the time of the accident. The doctor changed places with him, exchanging glances with him. Kraskalnikov begged the doctor to remain a little while. He shrugged his shoulders and remained. All stepped back. The confession was soon over. The dying man probably understood little.

Starting point is 07:25:23 He could only utter indistinct, broken sounds. Katerina Ivanovna took Little Leida, lifted the boy from the chair, knelt down in the corner by the stove, and made the children kneel in front of her. The little girl was still trembling, but the boy, kneeling on his little bare knees, lifted his hand rhythmically, crossing himself with precision and bowed down, touching the floor with his forehead, which seemed to afford him a special satisfaction. Katerina Ivanovna bit her lips and held back her tears. She prayed too now, and then pulling straight the boy's shirt, and managed to cover the girls' bare shoulders with a kerchief,

Starting point is 07:26:03 which she took from the chest without rising from her knees or ceasing to pray. Meanwhile, the door from the inner rooms was opened inquisitively again. In the passage, the crowd of spectators from all the flats on the staircase grew denser and denser, but they did not venture beyond the threshold. A single candle-end lighted up the scene. At that moment Polenka forced her way through the crowd at the door. She came in panting from running so fast, took off her kerchief, looked for her mother, went up to her and said, "'She is coming! I met her in the street!' Her mother made her kneel beside her. Timidly and noiselessly, a young girl made her way through the crowd,

Starting point is 07:26:44 and strange was her appearance in that room. in the midst of want, rags, death, and despair. She too was in rags. Her attire was all of the cheapest, but decked out in gutter finery of a special stamp, unmistakably betraying its shameful purpose. Sonia stopped short in the doorway and looked about her bewildered, unconscious of everything. She forgot her fourth-hand gaudy silk dress, so unseemly here with its ridiculous long train, and her immense crinoline that filled up the whole doorway, and her light-colored shoes, and the parasol she brought with her, though it was no use at night, and the absurd round straw hat with its flaring, flame-colored feather. Under this rakishly tilted

Starting point is 07:27:31 hat was a pale, frightened little face, with lips parted and eyes staring in terror. Sonia was a small, thin girl of eighteen, with fair hair, rather pricked, pretty, with wonderful blue eyes. She looked intently at the bed and the priest. She, too, was out of breath with running. At last, whispers, some words in the crowd probably reached her. She looked down and took a step forward into the room, still keeping close to the door. The service was over. Katerina Ivanovna went up to her husband again. The priest stepped back and turned to say a few words of admonition and consolation to Katerina Ivanovna. on leaving.

Starting point is 07:28:15 "'What am I to do with these?' she interrupted sharply and irritably, pointing to the little ones. "'God is merciful. Look to the most high for succor,' the priest began. "'Ah, he is merciful, but not to us.' "'That's a sin, a sin, madam,' observed the priest, shaking his head. "'And isn't that a sin?' cried Katerina Ivanovna, pointing to the dying man. Perhaps those who have involuntarily caused the accident will agree to compensate you, at least for the loss of his earnings. "'You don't understand!' cried Katerina Ivanovna, angrily waving her hand.

Starting point is 07:28:56 "'And why should they compensate me? Why, he was drunk and threw himself under the horses. What earnings! He brought us nothing but misery! He drank everything away, the drunkard. He robbed us to get drink. He wasted their lives and mine for drinking. He wastes. drink! And thank God he's dying! One less to keep!" You must forgive in the hour of death. That's a sin, madam. Such feelings are a great sin!" Katerina Ivanovna was busy with the dying man. She was giving him water, wiping the blood and sweat from his head, setting his pillow straight and had only turned now and then for a moment to address the priest. Now she flew at him almost in a frenzy.

Starting point is 07:29:40 Ah, father, that's words, and only words. Forgive! If he'd not been run over, he'd have come home today drunk, and his only shirt dirty, and in rags, and he'd have fallen asleep like a log, and I should have been sousing and rinsing till daybreak, washing his rags and the children's, and then drying them by the window, and as soon as it was daylight I should have been darning them. That's how I spend my nights. What's the use of talking of forgiveness? I have forgiven as it is!" A terrible hollow cough interrupted her words.

Starting point is 07:30:16 She put her handkerchief to her lips and showed it to the priest, pressing her other hand to her aching chest. The handkerchief was covered with blood. The priest bowed his head and said nothing. Marmeledov was in the last agony. He did not take his eyes off the face of Katerina Ivanovna, who was bending over him again. He kept trying to say something to her. began moving his tongue with difficulty and articulating indistinctly, but Katerina Ivanovna,

Starting point is 07:30:45 understanding that he wanted to ask her forgiveness, called peremptorily to him, "'Be silent. No need. I know what you want to say.' And the sick man was silent, but at the same instant his wandering eyes strayed to the doorway and he saw Sonia. Till then he had not noticed her. She was standing in the shadow in a corner. "'Who's that? Who's that?' he said suddenly in a thick, gasping voice, in agitation, turning his eyes in horror towards the door, where his daughter was standing and trying to sit up. "'Lie down! Lie down!' cried Katerina Ivanovna. With unnatural strength he had succeeded in propping himself on his elbow. He looked wildly

Starting point is 07:31:31 and fixedly for some time on his daughter, as though not recognizing her. He had never ever seen her before in such attire. Suddenly he recognized her, crushed and ashamed in her humiliation and gaudy finery, meekly awaiting her turn to say goodbye to her dying father. His face showed intense suffering. "'Sonia! Daughter! Forgive!' he cried, and he tried to hold out his hand to her, but losing his balance he fell off the sofa, face downwards on the floor. They rushed to pick him up, They put him on the sofa. But he was dying.

Starting point is 07:32:09 Sonia, with a faint cry, ran up, embraced him, and remained so without moving. He died in her arms. "'He's got what he wanted!' Katerina Ivanovna cried, seeing her husband's dead body. "'Well, what's to be done now? How am I to bury him? What can I give them tomorrow to eat?' Raskolnikov went up to Katerina Ivanovna.

Starting point is 07:32:33 "'Katerina Ivanovna,' he began, "'last week your husband told me all his life and circumstances. "'Believe me, he spoke of you with passionate reverence. "'From that evening, when I learned how devoted he was to you all "'and how he loved and respected you especially, Katerina Ivanovna, "'in spite of his unfortunate weakness, from that evening we became friends. "'Allow me now to do something, to repay my debt to my dead friend.' Here are twenty roubles, I think.

Starting point is 07:33:06 And if that can be of any assistance to you, then—I—in short, I will come again, and I will be sure to come again. I shall perhaps come again tomorrow. Goodbye." And he went quickly out of the room, squeezing his way through the crowd to the stairs. But in the crowd he suddenly jostled against Nicodim Fomitch, who had heard of the accident and had come to give instructions in person. They had not met since the scene at the police station, but Nicodim Fomitch knew him instantly.

Starting point is 07:33:38 "'Ah, is that you?' he asked him. "'He's dead,' answered Ruskalnikov. "'The doctor and the priest have been, and all as it should have been. Don't worry the poor woman too much. She is in consumption as it is. Try and cheer her up, if possible. You are a kind-hearted man, I know,' he added with a smile, looking straight in his face. But you are spattered with blood," observed Nicodine Fomitch, noticing in the lamplight some fresh stains on Ruskalnikov's waistcoat.

Starting point is 07:34:10 "'Yes, I'm covered with blood,' Ruskalnikov said with a peculiar air. Then he smiled, nodded, and went downstairs. He walked down slowly and deliberately, feverish but not conscious of it, entirely absorbed in a new overwhelming sensation of life and strength that's still. surged up suddenly within him. This sensation might be compared to that of a man condemned to death who has suddenly been pardoned. Halfway down the staircase, he was overtaken by the priest on his way home. Raskolnikov let him pass, exchanging a silent greeting with him. He was just descending the last steps, when he heard rapid footsteps behind him. Someone overtook him. It was

Starting point is 07:34:55 Polenka. She was running after him, calling, wait, wait! He turned round. She was at the bottom of the staircase and stopped short a step above him. A dim light came in from the yard. Raskolnikov could distinguish the child's thin but pretty little face, looking at him with a bright, childish smile. She had run after him with a message which she was evidently glad to give.

Starting point is 07:35:21 "'Tell me, what is your name? And where do you live?' she said hurriedly in a breathless voice. He laid both hands on her shoulders and looked at her with a sort of rapture. It was such a joy to him to look at her he could not have said why. Who sent you? Sister Sonia sent me, answered the girl, smiling still more brightly. I knew it was Sister Sonia sent you. Mama sent me too.

Starting point is 07:35:49 When Sister Sonia was sending me, Mama came up too and said, Run fast, Polenka. Do you love Sister Sonia? "'I love her more than anyone,' Polenka answered with a peculiar earnestness, and her smile became graver. "'And will you love me?' By way of answer he saw the little girl's face approaching him, her full lips naively held out to kiss him. Suddenly her arms as thin as sticks held him tightly, her head rested on

Starting point is 07:36:19 his shoulder, and the little girl wept softly, pressing her face against him. "'I am sorry for father. She said a moment later, raising her tear-stained face and brushing away the tears with her hands. "'It's nothing but misfortunes now,' she added suddenly, with that peculiarly sedate air which children try hard to assume when they try to speak like grown-up people. "'Did your father love you?' "'He loved Light of most.'

Starting point is 07:36:49 She went on very seriously, without a smile, exactly like grown-up people. He loved her because she is little and because she is ill, too. And he always used to bring her presence. But he taught us to read, and me grammar and scripture, too. She added with dignity. And Mother never used to say anything, but we knew that she liked it, and Father knew it too. And Mother wants to teach me French, for its time my education began. And do you know your prayers?

Starting point is 07:37:19 Of course we do. We knew them long ago. I say my prayers to myself, as I'm a big girl now, but Coya and Lida say them aloud with mother. First they repeat the Ave Maria, and then another prayer. Lord forgive and bless Sister Sonia. And then another, Lord, forgive and bless our second father. For our elder father is dead, and this is another one, but we do pray for the other as well. Polenka, my name is Rodian. Pray sometimes for me, too. And thy servant, Rodian, nothing more. I'll pray for you all the rest of my life. The little girl declared hotly, and suddenly smiling again, she rushed at him and hugged him

Starting point is 07:38:03 warmly once more. Raskolnikov told her his name and address and promised to be sure to come next day. The child went away quite enchanted with him. It was past ten when he came out into the street. In five minutes he was standing on the bridge at the spot where the woman had jumped in. Enough, he pronounced resolutely and triumphantly. I've done with fancies, imaginary terrors and phantoms. Life is real.

Starting point is 07:38:33 Haven't I live just now? My life has not yet died with that old woman. The kingdom of heaven to her. And now enough, madam, leave me in peace. Now for the reign of reason and light, and of will and of strength. And now we will see. We will try our strength. He added defiantly as though challenging some power of darkness.

Starting point is 07:38:56 And I was ready to consent to live in a square of space. I am weak at this moment, but... I believe my illness is all over. I knew it would be over when I went out. By the way, Pachinkov's house is only a few steps away. I certainly must go to Resumian, even if it were not close by. Let him win his bet. Let us give him some satisfaction, too, no matter.

Starting point is 07:39:23 Strength, strength is what one wants. You can get nothing without it. And strength must be won by strength. That's what they don't know. He added proudly and self-confidently, and he walked with flagging footsteps from the bridge. Pride and self-confidence grew continually stronger in him. He was becoming a different man every moment.

Starting point is 07:39:45 What was it had happened to work this revolution in him? He did not know himself. Like a man catching at a straw, he suddenly felt that he too could live. that there was still life for him, that his life had not died with the old woman. Perhaps he was in too great a hurry with his conclusions, but he did not think of that. But I did ask her to remember Thy servant Rodian in her prayers, the idea struck him. Well, that was, in case of emergency, he added, and laughed himself at his boyish Sally.

Starting point is 07:40:21 He was in the best of spirits. He easily found Rezumian. The new lodger was already known at Pachinkov's, and the porter at once showed him the way. Halfway upstairs he could hear the noise and animated conversation of a big gathering of people. The door was wide open on the stairs. He could hear exclamations and discussion. Razumian's room was fairly large. The company consisted of fifteen people. Askalnikov stopped in the entry, where two of the landlady servants were busy behind his screen. with two samovars, bottles, plates and dishes of pie and savories, brought up from the landlady's kitchen.

Starting point is 07:41:00 Raskolnikov sent in for Rzumian. He ran out, delighted. At the first glance it was apparent that he had had a great deal to drink, and, though no amount of liquor made Rizumian quite drunk, this time he was perceptibly affected by it. Listen, Raskolnikov hastened to say, "'I've only just come to tell you, you've won your bet, and that no one really knows what may not happen to him. I can't come in. I am so weak that I shall fall down directly. And so good evening and good-bye. Come and see me tomorrow."

Starting point is 07:41:32 Do you know what? I'll see you home. If you say you're weak yourself, you must. And your visitors? Who is the curly-headed one who has just peeped out? He? Goodness only knows. Some friend of uncles, I expect, or perhaps he has come without being invited. I'll leave Uncle with them. He is an invaluable person. Pity I can't introduce you to him now. But confound them all now. They won't notice me, and I need a little fresh air, for you've come just in the nick of time. Another two minutes, and I should have come to blows. They are talking such a lot of wild stuff. You simply can't imagine what men will say. Though, why shouldn't you imagine? Don't we talk nonsense ourselves? And let them. That's the way to learn not to.

Starting point is 07:42:23 Wait a minute. I'll fetch Zossamov. Zossimov pounced upon Raskolnikov almost greedily. He showed a special interest in him. Soon his face brightened. You must go to bed at once, he pronounced, examining the patient as far as he could, and take something for the night. Will you take it?

Starting point is 07:42:43 I've got it ready some time ago. A powder. Two, if you like, answered Raskolnikov. The powder was taking. it once." "'It's a good thing you are taking him home,' observed Zossamov to Rizumian. We shall see how he is tomorrow. Today he's not at all amiss, a considerable change since the afternoon.

Starting point is 07:43:04 Live and learn. Do you know what Zossamov whispered to me when we were coming out?" Brzeumian blurted out as soon as they were in the street. "'I won't tell you everything, brother, because they are such fools. Zossimov told me to talk freely to you on the way and get you to talk freely to me, and afterwards I am to tell him about it, for he's got a notion in his head that you are mad or close on it. Only fancy. In the first place, you've three times the brains he has. In the second, if you are not mad, you needn't care a hang that he has got

Starting point is 07:43:40 such a wild idea. And thirdly, that piece of beef whose specialty is surgery has gone mad on mental diseases, and what's brought him to this conclusion about you was your conversation today with Zamatov." "'Zamatov told you all about it?' "'Yes, and he did well. Now I understand what it all means, and so does Zamatov. Well, the fact is, Rodya, the point is—I'm a little drunk now, but that's—no matter. The point is that this idea, you understand, was just being hatched in their brains, you understand?

Starting point is 07:44:17 That is, no one ventured to say it aloud, because the idea is too absurd, and especially, since the arrest of that painter, that bubbles burst and gone forever. But why are they such fools? I gave Zametov a bit of thrashing at the time. That's between ourselves, brother. Please don't let out a hint that you know of it. I've noticed he is a ticklish subject. It was at Louise Ivanovna's.

Starting point is 07:44:42 But today, today it's all cleared up. That Ilya Petrovich is at the bottom of it. He took advantage of your feigning at the police station, but he is ashamed of it himself now. I know that." Raskolnikov listened greedily. Razumian was drunk enough to talk too freely. "'I fainted then because it was so close and the smell of paint,' said Raskolnikov. "'No need to explain that. And it wasn't the pain only. The fever had been coming on for a month.' Zossamov testifies to that. But how crushed that boy is now you wouldn't believe.

Starting point is 07:45:21 I am not worth his little finger, he says. Yours he means. He has good feelings at times, brother. But the lesson, the lesson you gave him today in the Palais de Cristal, that was too good for anything. You frighten him at first, you know. He nearly went into convulsions. You almost convinced him again of the truth of all that hideous nonsense,

Starting point is 07:45:42 and then you suddenly put out your tongue at him. There now, what do you make of it? It was perfect. He is crushed, annihilated now. It was masterly by Jove. It's what they deserve. Ah, that I wasn't there. He was hoping to see you awfully.

Starting point is 07:46:01 Porfiry too wants to make your acquaintance. Ah, he too. But why did they put me down as mad? Oh, not mad. must have said too much, brother. What struck him, you see, was that only that subject seemed to interest you. Now it's clear why it did interest you, knowing all the circumstances, and how that irritated you and worked in with your illness. I am a little drunk, brother, only confound him, he has some idea of his own. I tell you he's mad on mental diseases,

Starting point is 07:46:37 but don't you mind him?' For half a minute both were silent. "'Listen, Resumian,' began Roskalnikov. "'I want to tell you plainly. "'I've just been at a deathbed, a clerk who died. "'I gave him all my money, and besides, I've just been kissed by someone "'who, if I had killed anyone, would just the same. "'In fact, I saw someone else there, with a flame-colored feather. "'But I am talking nonsense. I am very weak. Support me.

Starting point is 07:47:09 "'We shall be at the stairs directly.' "'What's the matter? What's the matter with you?' Resumian asked anxiously. "'I am a little giddy, but that's not the point. I am so sad, so sad, like a woman. "'Look, what's that? Look, look. What is it? Don't you see? A light in my room, you see. Through the crack!' They were already at the foot of the last flight of stairs, at the level of the landlady's door, and they could, as a fact, see from below. that there was a light in Ruskalnikov's Garrett." "'Queer—Nastasia, perhaps,' observed Razumian.

Starting point is 07:47:51 "'She is never in my room at this time, and she must be in bed long ago, but—I don't care. Goodbye. What do you mean? I am coming with you. We'll come in together.' "'I know we are going in together, but I want to shake hands here and say goodbye to you here. So give me your hand. Goodbye.' What's the matter with you, Rodya?" Nothing. Come along.

Starting point is 07:48:17 You shall be witness. They began mounting the stairs, and the idea struck Razumian that perhaps Zossamov might be right after all. Ah, I've upset him with my chatter, he muttered to himself. When they reached the door, they heard voices in the room. What is it? cried Razumian. Ruskalnikov was the first to open the door.

Starting point is 07:48:39 He flung it wide and stood still in the doorway. dumbfounded. His mother and sister were sitting on his sofa and had been waiting an hour and a half for him. Why had he never expected, never thought of them, though the news that they had started were on their way and would arrive immediately had been repeated to him only that day. They had spent that hour and a half plying Nastassia with questions. She was standing before them and had told them everything by now. They were beside themselves with alarm when they heard of his running away today, ill, and as they understood from her story, delirious. "'Good heavens! What had become of him!' Both had been weeping. Both had been in anguish for

Starting point is 07:49:22 that hour and a half. A cry of joy, of ecstasy, greeted Raskolnikov's entrance. Both rushed to him. But he stood like one dead. A sudden, intolerable sensation struck him like a thunderbolt. He did not lift his arms to embrace them. He could not. His mother and sister clasped him in their arms, kissed him, laughed and cried. He took a step, tottered, and fell to the ground, fainting. Anxiety, cries of horror, moans. Razumian, who was standing in the doorway, flew into the room, seized the sick man in his strong arms, and in a moment had laid him on the sofa.

Starting point is 07:50:03 "'It's nothing, nothing,' he cried to the mother and sister. "'It's only a faint, a mere trifle. Only just now the doctor said he was much better, that he is perfectly well. Water! See, he is coming to himself. He is all right again. And, seizing Donya by the arm so that he almost dislocated it, he made her bend down to see that he is all right again. The mother and sister looked on him with emotion and gratitude as their providence. They had heard already from Nastassia all that had been done for their Rodya during his illness by this very competent young man, as Pulcheria,

Starting point is 07:50:43 Alexandrovna Raskolnikov called him that evening in conversation with Donya. End of Part 2, Chapter 7. Part 3, Chapter 1 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 3. Chapter 1 Russ Kalnikov got up and sat down on the sofa. He waved his hand weekly to Resumian to cut short the flow of warm and incoherent consolations he was addressing to his mother and sister, took them both by the hand, and for a minute or two gazed from one to the other without speaking. His mother was alarmed by his expression. It revealed an emotion agonizingly

Starting point is 07:51:40 poignant, and at the same time something immovable, almost insane. Pulcheria Alexandrovna began to cry. Evdodia Romanovna was pale. Her hand trembled in her brothers. "'Go home. With him,' he said in a broken voice, pointing to Resumian. "'Good-bye till tomorrow. Tomorrow, everything. Is it long since you arrived?' "'This evening, Rodya,' answered Poceria Alexandrovna. The train was awfully late. "'But, Rodya, nothing would induce me to leave you now.

Starting point is 07:52:19 I will spend the night here, near you.' "'Don't torture me,' he said with a gesture of irritation. "'I will stay with him,' cried Rzumian. "'I won't leave him for a moment. "'Bother all my visitors. Let them rage to their heart's content. My uncle is presiding there." "'How, how can I thank you?' Pulcheria Alexandrovna was beginning, once more pressing Resumian's hands.

Starting point is 07:52:47 But Raskolnikov interrupted her again. "'I can't have it! I can't have it!' he repeated irritably. "'Don't worry me! Enough! Go away! I can't stand it!' "'Come, Mama, come out of the room, at least for a minute. whispered in dismay. We are distressing him. That's evident. May I look at him after three years? Wept Pulcheria Alexandrovna.

Starting point is 07:53:17 Stay! He stopped them again. You keep interrupting me, and my ideas get muddled. Have you seen Lusion? No, Rodya, but he knows already of our arrival. We have heard, Rodya, that Piotr Petrovich was so kind as to visit you today, Pulcheria Alexandrovna added somewhat timidly. "'Yes, he was so kind. Donya, I promised Lusian I'd throw him downstairs and told him to go to hell.' "'Rodya, what are you saying?

Starting point is 07:53:49 Surely you don't mean to tell us!' Poceria Alexandrovna began in alarm, but she stopped looking at Donya. Avdotya Romanovna was looking attentively at her brother, waiting for what would come next. Both of them had heard of the quarrel from Nastassia, so far as she had succeeded in understanding and reporting it, and were in painful perplexity and suspense. Donya?

Starting point is 07:54:15 Ruskalnikov continued with an effort. I don't want that marriage. So at the first opportunity tomorrow you must refuse illusion, so that we may never hear his name again. Good heavens! cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. "'Brother, think what you are saying,' F. Dodia Romanovna began impetuously, but immediately checked herself.

Starting point is 07:54:39 "'You are not fit to talk now. Perhaps you are tired,' she added gently. "'You think I am delirious? No, you are marrying illusion for my sake. But I won't accept the sacrifice. And so write a letter before tomorrow, to refuse him. Let me read it in the morning, and that will be the end of it." "'That I can't do,' the girl cried offended. "'What right have you?' "'Donia, you are hasty, too. Be quiet. Tomorrow. Don't you see?' the mother interposed in dismay.

Starting point is 07:55:15 "'Better come away.' "'He is raving,' Resumian cried tipsily. "'Or how would he dare? Tomorrow all this nonsense will be over. Today he certainly did drive him away. That was so. And Luzian got angry, too. He made speeches here, wanted to show off his learning, and he went out crestfallen. Then it's true, cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna. "'Good-bye till tomorrow, brother,' said Donya, compassionately.

Starting point is 07:55:48 "'Let us go, mother. Goodbye, Rodia.' "'Do you hear, sister?' he repeated after them, making a laugh. effort. I am not delirious. This marriage is an infamy. Let me act like a scoundrel, but you mustn't. One is enough. And though I am a scoundrel, I wouldn't own such a sister. It's me or illusion. Go now." "'But you're out of your mind, despot,' roared Razumian. But Raskolnikov did not and perhaps could not answer. He laid down on the sofa, and turned to the wall, utterly exhausted.

Starting point is 07:56:29 Avdotya Romanovna looked with interest at Rezumian. Her black eyes flashed. Resumian positively started at her glance. Pulchuria Alexandrovna stood overwhelmed. Nothing would induce me to go, she whispered in despair to Rezumian. I will stay somewhere here, escort Donya home. You'll spoil everything, Rezumian answered in the same whisper, losing patients.

Starting point is 07:56:57 Come out onto the stairs anyway. Nastassia, show a light. I assure you, he went on a half-whisper on the stairs, that he was almost beating the doctor in me this afternoon. Do you understand? The doctor himself. Even he gave way and left him, so as not to irritate him. I remained downstairs on guard, but he dressed at once and slipped off.

Starting point is 07:57:22 And he will slip off again if you irritate him, at this time of night, and will do himself some mischief. What are you saying?' And Avadotya Romanovna can't possibly be left in those lodgings without you. Just think where you are staying. That blaggard Piotr Petrovich couldn't find you better lodgings. But you know I've had a little to drink, and that's what makes me swear. Don't mind it.

Starting point is 07:57:51 But I'll go to the landlady here, Pulcheria Alexander. Rovna insisted. I'll beseech her to find some corner for Donya and me for the night. I can't leave him like that. I cannot! This conversation took place on the landing just before the landlady's door. Nastassia lighted them from a step below. Razumian was in extraordinary excitement.

Starting point is 07:58:15 Half an hour earlier, while he was bringing Raskolnikov home, he had indeed talked to freely, but he was aware of it himself, and his head was clear in spite of the vast quantities he had imbibed. Now he was in a state bordering on ecstasy, and all that he had drunk seemed to fly to his head with redoubled effect. He stood with the two ladies, seizing both by their hands, persuading them and giving them reasons with astonishing plainness of speech, and at almost every word he uttered,

Starting point is 07:58:47 probably to emphasize his arguments, he squeezed their hands painfully as in a vice. He stared at Avodia Romanovna without the least regard for good manners. They sometimes pulled their hands out of his huge, bony paws, but far from noticing what was the matter, he drew them all the closer to him. If they told him to jump head foremost from the staircase, he would have done it without thought or hesitation in their service. Though Pulcheria Alexandrovna felt that the young man was really too eccentric and pinched her hand too much. In her anxiety over Herodia, she looked on his presence as providential,

Starting point is 07:59:25 and was unwilling to notice all his peculiarities. But though Avdotya Romanovna shared her anxiety, and was not of timorous disposition, she could not see the glowing light in his eyes without wonder and almost alarm. It was only the unbounded confidence inspired by Nastassi's account of her brother's queer friend, which prevented her from trying to run away from him, and to persuade her mother to do the same. She realized, too, that even running away was perhaps impossible now. Ten minutes later, however, she was considerably reassured. It was characteristic of Razumian that he showed his true nature at once, whatever mood he might be in, so that people quickly saw the sort of man they had to deal with. "'You can't go to the landlady? That's perfect

Starting point is 08:00:15 nonsense, he cried. If you stay, though you are his mother, you'll drive him to a frenzy, and then goodness knows what will happen. Listen, I'll tell you what I'll do. Nastasha will stay with him now, and I'll conduct you both home. You can't be in the streets alone. Petersburg is an awful place in that way. But no matter.

Starting point is 08:00:39 Then I'll run straight back here, and a quarter of an hour later, on my word of honor, I'll bring you news how he is, whether he is asleep and all that. Then listen. Then I'll run home in a twinkling. I've a lot of friends there, all drunk. I'll fetch his awesome off. That's the doctor who's looking after him. He is there too.

Starting point is 08:01:02 But he is not drunk. He is not drunk. He is never drunk. I'll drag him to Rode you and then to you, so that you'll get two reports in the hour. From the doctor you understand. stand, from the doctor himself. That's a very different thing from my account of him. If there's anything wrong, I swear I'll bring you here myself. But if it's all right, you go to bed,

Starting point is 08:01:27 and I'll spend the night here in the passage. He won't hear me, and I'll tell Zossimov to sleep at the landlady's, to be at hand. Which is better for him, you are the doctor? So come home then. But the landlady is out of the question. It's all right for me, but it's out of the question for you. She wouldn't take you, for she's... For she's a fool. She'd be jealous on my account of Avdotya Romanovna, and of you, too, if you want to know, of Avdotya Romanovna, certainly. She is an absolutely, absolutely unaccountable character. But I am a fool, too. No matter. Come along. Do you You trust me?

Starting point is 08:02:15 Come, do you trust me or not?" "'Let's go, Mother,' said Avdotya Romanovna. He will certainly do what he has promised. He has saved Rodya already, and if the doctor really will consent to spend the night here, what could be better?' "'You see, you—you—you understand me, because you are an angel,' resumian cried in ecstasy. "'Let us go.

Starting point is 08:02:43 Nastasia. Fly upstairs and sit with him with a light. I'll come in a quarter of an hour." Though Pulchuria Alexandrovna was not perfectly convinced, she made no further resistance. Razumian gave an arm to each and drew them down the stairs. He still made her uneasy, as though he was competent and good-natured, was he capable of carrying out his promise?

Starting point is 08:03:08 He seemed in such a condition. "'Ah, I see you think I'm in such a condition.' Resumian broke in upon her thoughts, guessing them as he strolled along the pavement with huge steps, so that the two ladies could hardly keep up with him, a fact he did not observe, however. "'Nonsense! That is, I am drunk like a fool, but that's not it. I am not drunk from wine.

Starting point is 08:03:34 It seeing you has turned my head. But don't mind me. Don't take any notice. I am talking nonsense. I am not worthy of you. I am utterly unworthy of you. The minute I've taken you home, I'll pour a couple of pailfuls of water over my head in the gutter here, and then I shall be all right.

Starting point is 08:03:55 If only you knew how I love you both. Don't laugh, and don't be angry. You may be angry with anyone, but not with me. I am his friend, and therefore I am your friend too. I want to be. I had a presentiment. Last year there was a moment, though it wasn't a presentiment really, for you seem to have fallen from heaven.

Starting point is 08:04:20 And I expect I shan't sleep all night. Zossamov was afraid a little time ago that he would go mad. That's why he mustn't be irritated. What did you say? cried the mother. Did the doctor really say that? asked Abdoghya Romanovna alarmed. Yes, but it's not so.

Starting point is 08:04:41 Not a bit of it. He gave him some medicine, a powder. I saw it, and then you're coming here. Ah, it would have been better if you had come tomorrow. It's a good thing we went away. And in an hour, Zossamov himself will report to you about everything. He is not drunk, and I shot be drunk. And what made me get so tight?

Starting point is 08:05:05 Because they got me into an argument, damned them. I've sworn never to argue. They talk such trash. I almost came to blows. I've left my uncle to preside. Would you believe they insist on complete absence of individualism, and that's just what they relish? Not to be themselves, to be as unlike themselves as they can.

Starting point is 08:05:30 That's what they regard as the highest point of progress. If only their nonsense were their own, but as it is. Listen, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, interrupted timidly, but it only added fuel to the flames. "'What do you think?' shouted Razumian, louder than ever. "'You think I am attacking them for talking nonsense? Not a bit. I'd like them to talk nonsense. That's man's one privilege over all creation.

Starting point is 08:06:00 Through error you come to the truth. I am a man because I err. You never reach any truth without making fourteen mistakes, and very likely a hundred and fourteen. And a fine thing too in its way. But we can't even make mistakes on our own account. Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.

Starting point is 08:06:28 In the first case, you are a man. In the second, you're no better than a bird. Truth won't escape you, but life can be cramped. There have been examples. And what are we doing now? In science, development, thought, invention, ideals, aims, liberalism, judgment, experience, and everything, everything, everything we are still in the preparatory class at school. We prefer to live on other people as ideas.

Starting point is 08:07:00 It's what we are used to. Am I right? Am I right? cried Resumian, pressing and shaking the two ladies' hands. "'Oh, mercy, I do not know,' cried poor Pocheria Alexandrovna. "'Yes, yes, though I don't agree with you in everything,' added Avdotya Romanovna earnestly, and at once uttered a cry, for he squeezed her hand so painfully. "'Yes, you say yes. Well, after that you—you—' he cried in a transport.

Starting point is 08:07:34 "'You are a fount of goodness, purity! sense, and perfection. Give me your hand. You give me yours, too. I want to kiss your hands, here at once, on my knees! And he fell on his knees on the pavement. Fortunately at that time deserted. Leave off, I entreat you.

Starting point is 08:07:57 What are you doing? Pulcheria Alexandrovna cried, greatly distressed. Get up, get up! said Donya laughing, though she too was upset. Not for anything till you let me kiss your hands. That's it. Enough. I get up and we'll go on. I am a luckless fool.

Starting point is 08:08:18 I am unworthy of you and drunk. And I am ashamed. I am not worthy to love you, but to do homage to you is the duty of every man who is not a perfect beast. And I've done homage. Here are your lodgings, and for that alone Rodya was right in driving your Piotr-Petrovich. away. How dare he! How dare he put you in such lodgings! It's a scandal! Do you know the sort

Starting point is 08:08:45 of people they take in here? And you his betrothed? You are his betrothed? Yes, well then, I'll tell you. Your fiancée is a scoundrel!' "'Excuse me, Mr. Rezumian. You are forgetting,' Pulcheria Alexandrovna was beginning. "'Yes, yes, you are right. I did forget myself.' I am ashamed of it, resumed me and made haste to apologize. But—but you can't be angry with me for speaking so, for I speak sincerely, and not because— Hmm, hmm, that would be disgraceful. In fact, not because I'm in— Hmm, well, anyway, I won't say why, I dare it. But we all saw today when he came in that that man is not of our sort.

Starting point is 08:09:37 Not because he had his hair curled at the barbers, not because he was in such a hurry to show his wit, but because he is a spy, a speculator, because he is a skinflint and a buffoon. That's evident. Do you think him clever? No, he is a fool, a fool. And is he a match for you? Good heavens! Do you see, ladies?

Starting point is 08:10:02 He stopped suddenly on the way upstairs to their rooms. Though all my friends there are drunk, yet they are all honest, and though we do talk a lot of trash, and I do too, yet we shall talk our way to the truth at last, for we are on the right path, while Pieter Petrovich is not on the right path. Though I've been calling them all sorts of names just now, I do respect them all. Though I don't respect Zamatov, I like him, for he is a puppy, and that Bullock Zossamov because he is an honest man and knows his work. But, enough, it's all said and forgiven. Is it forgiven?

Starting point is 08:10:44 Well, then, let's go on. I know this corridor. I've been here. There was a scandal here at number three. Where are you here? Which number? Eight? Well, lock yourselves in for the night, then. Don't let anybody in. In a quarter of an hour I'll come back with news, and half an hour later I'll bring Zossamov. You'll see.

Starting point is 08:11:07 Goodbye, I'll run. Good heavens, Donya, what is going to happen? said Pulcheria Alexandrovna, addressing her daughter with anxiety and dismay. Don't worry yourself, mother, said Donya, taking off her hat and cape. God has sent this gentleman to our aid, though he has come from a drinking party. We can depend on him, I assure you, and all that he has done for Rodia? Ah, Donya, goodness knows whether he will come. How could I bring myself to leave Rodya? And how different, how different I had fancied our meeting! How sullen he was, as though

Starting point is 08:11:48 not pleased to see us! Tears came into her eyes. No, it's not that, mother. You didn't see. You were crying all the time. He is quite unhinged by serious illness. That's the reason. Ah, that's a-oh, that's a good. illness. What will happen? What will happen? And how he talked to you, Donya," said the mother, looking timidly at her daughter, trying to read her thoughts and already half-consoled by Donia standing up for her brother, which meant that she had already forgiven him. "'I am sure he will think better of it tomorrow,' she added, probing her further. "'And I am sure that he will say the same tomorrow, about that,' Evdodia Romanovna said finally.

Starting point is 08:12:34 And, of course, there was no going beyond that, for this was a point which Pulcheria Alexandrovna was afraid to discuss. Donya went up and kissed her mother. The latter warmly embraced her without speaking. Then she sat down to wait anxiously for Asumian's return, timidly watching her daughter who walked up and down the room with her arms folded, lost in thought. This walking up and down when she was thinking was a habit of Avdotya Romanovna. and the mother was always afraid to break in on her daughter's mood at such moments.

Starting point is 08:13:11 Razumian, of course, was ridiculous in his sudden, drunken infatuation for Avdotya Romanovna. Yet, apart from his eccentric condition, many people would have thought it justified if they had seen Avdotya Romanovna, especially at that moment when she was walking to and fro with folded arms, pensive and melancholy. Evdótya Romanovna was remarkably good-looking. She was tall, strikingly well-proportioned, strong and self-reliant. The latter quality was apparent in every gesture, though it did not in the least detract from the grace and softness of her movements. In face she resembled her brother, but she might be described as really beautiful. Her hair was dark brown, a little lighter

Starting point is 08:13:57 than her brothers. There was a proud light in her almost black eyes. and yet at times a look of extraordinary kindness. She was pale, but it was a healthy pallor. Her face was radiant with freshness and vigor. Her mouth was rather small. The full red lower lip projected a little, as did her chin. It was the only irregularity in her beautiful face, but it gave it a peculiarly individual and almost haughty expression.

Starting point is 08:14:28 Her face was always more serious and thoughtful than gay. But how well smiles, how well youthful, light-hearted, irresponsible laughter suited her face. It was natural enough that a warm, open, simple-hearted, honest giant like Rezumian, who had never seen anyone like her and was not quite sober at the time, should lose his head immediately. Besides, as chance would have it, he saw Donya for the first time transfigured by her love for her brother, and her joy at meeting him. Afterwards, he saw her lower lip quiver with indignation at her brother's insolent, cruel, and ungrateful words, and his fate was sealed. He had spoken the truth, moreover, when he blurted out in his drunken talk on the stairs,

Starting point is 08:15:15 that Praskovya Pavlovna, Raskolnikov's eccentric landlady, would be jealous of Pulcheria Alexandrovna, as well as of Avdotna Romanovna on his account. Although Pulcheria Alexandrovna was forty-three, her face still retained traces of her former beauty. She looked much younger than her age, indeed, which is almost always the case with women who retained serenity of spirit, sensitiveness, and pure, sincere warmth of heart to old age. We may add in parenthesis that to preserve all this is the only means of retaining beauty to old age. Her hair had begun to grow gray and thin.

Starting point is 08:15:56 There had long been little crow's foot wrinkles around her eyes. Her cheeks were hollow and sunken from anxiety and grief, and yet it was a handsome face. She was Donya over again, twenty years older, but without the projecting under lip. Pulcheria Alexandrovna was emotional, but not sentimental, timid and yielding, but only to a certain point. She could give way and accept a great deal

Starting point is 08:16:24 even of what was contrary to her convictions. But there was a certain barrier fixed by honesty, principle and the deepest convictions which nothing would induce her to cross. Exactly twenty minutes after Azumian's departure, there came too subdued but hurried knocks at the door. He had come back. "'I won't come in, I haven't time,' he hastened to say when the door was opened. He sleeps like a top, soundly, quietly, and God grant he may sleep ten hours. Nastassia is with him. I told her not to leave till I came. Now I am fetching Zossamov.

Starting point is 08:17:02 He will report to you and then you'd better turn in. I can see you are too tired to do anything." And he ran off down the corridor. "'What a very competent and devoted young man!' cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna, exceedingly delighted. He seems a splendid person. Evdottya Romanovna replied with some warmth, resuming her walk up and down the room. It was nearly an hour later when they heard footsteps in the corridor, and another knock at the door. Both women waited this time, completely relying on Resumian's promise. He actually had succeeded in bringing Zossomov.

Starting point is 08:17:46 Zossimov had agreed at once to desert the drinking party to go to Raskolnikov's, but he came reluctantly and with the greatest suspicion to see the later. Mastrusting Resumian in his exhilarated condition. But his vanity was at once reassured and flattered. He saw that they were really expecting him as an oracle. He stayed just ten minutes and succeeded in completely convincing and comforting Pulcheria Alexandrovna. He spoke with marked sympathy, but with the reserve and extreme seriousness of a young

Starting point is 08:18:20 doctor at an important consultation. He did not utter a word on any other subject. and did not display the slightest desire to enter into more personal relations with the two ladies. Remarking at his first entrance, the dazzling beauty of Avdotya Romanovna, he endeavored not to notice her at all during his visit, and addressed himself solely to Pulcheria Alexandrovna. All this gave him extraordinary inward satisfaction. He declared that he thought the invalid at this moment going on very satisfactorily. According to his observations, The patient's illness was due partly to his unfortunate material surroundings during the last

Starting point is 08:19:00 few months, but it had partly also a moral origin. Was, so to speak, the product of several material and moral influences, anxieties, apprehensions, troubles, certain ideas, and so on. Noticing stealthily that Avdotya Romanovna was following his words with close attention, Zossamov allowed himself to enlarge on this theme. On Pulcheria Alexandrovna's anxiously and timidly inquiring as to some suspicion of insanity, he replied with a composed and candid smile that his words had been exaggerated, that certainly the patient had some fixed idea, something approaching a monomania.

Starting point is 08:19:44 He, Zossamov, was now particularly studying this interesting branch of medicine. But that it must be recollected that, until today, the patient had been in delinearion. and—and that no doubt the presence of his family would have a favorable effect on his recovery and distract his mind. If only all fresh shocks can be avoided, he added significantly. Then he got up, took leave with an impressive and affable bow, while blessings, warm gratitude, and entreaties were showered upon him, and Avadotya Romanovna spontaneously offered her hand to him.

Starting point is 08:20:21 He went out exceedingly pleased with his visit. and still more so with himself. "'We'll talk tomorrow. Go to bed at once,' Resumian said in conclusion, following Zossimov out. "'I'll be with you tomorrow morning as early as possible with my report.' "'That's a fetching little girl, Evdotya Romanovna,' remarked Zossimov, almost licking his lips as they both came out into the street. "'Fetching? You said fetching?' roared Razumian.

Starting point is 08:20:56 and he flew at Zossamov and seized him by the throat. "'If you ever dare! Do you understand? Do you understand?' he shouted, shaking him by the collar and squeezing him against the wall. "'Do you hear?' "'Let me go, you drunken devil,' said Zossamov, struggling, and when he had let him go, he stared at him and went off into a sudden guffaw. Rezumian stood facing him in gloomy and earnest reflection. Of course, I am an ass, he observed, somber as a storm-cloud.

Starting point is 08:21:31 But still, you are another. No, brother, not at all such another. I am not dreaming of any folly. They walked along in silence, and only when they were close to Ruskalnikov's lodgings, Brasumian broke the silence in considerable anxiety. Listen, he said. You're a first-rate foe, but a must-rate foe. but, among your other failings, you're a loose fish, that I know, and a dirty one too.

Starting point is 08:22:00 You're a feeble, nervous wretch, and a mass of whims. You're getting fat and lazy and can't deny yourself anything. And I call that dirty because it leads one straight into the dirt. You've let yourself get so slack that I don't know how it is you're still a good, even a devoted doctor. You, a doctor, sleep on a feather bed and get up at night to your patients. In another three or four years you won't get up for your patients. But hang it all, that's not the point. You are going to spend tonight in the landlady's flat here. Hard work I've had to persuade her. And I'll be in the kitchen. So here's a chance for you to get to know her better. It's not what you think. There's not a trace of her.

Starting point is 08:22:49 anything of the sort, brother." But I don't think. Here you have modesty, brother, silence, bashfulness, a savage virtue, and yet she's sighing and melting like wax, simply melting. Save me from her by all that's unholy. She's most prepossessing. I'll repay you. I'll do anything."

Starting point is 08:23:15 Zossamov laughed more violently than ever. Well, you are smitten. But what am I to do with her? It won't be much trouble, I assure you. Talk any rot you like to her, as long as you sit by her and talk. You're a doctor, too. Try curing her of something. I swear you won't regret it.

Starting point is 08:23:38 She has a piano, and, you know, I strum a little. I have a song there, a genuine Russian one. I shed hot tears. She likes the genuine article. And, well, it all began with that song. Now you're a regular performer, a matra, a Rubenstein. I assure you, you won't regret it. But have you made her some promise?

Starting point is 08:24:04 Something signed? A promise of marriage, perhaps? Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of the kind. Besides, she is not that sort at all. Chibrov tried that. Well, then, drop her. But I can't drop her like that. Why can't you?

Starting point is 08:24:25 Well, I can't. That's all about it. There's an element of attraction here, brother. Then why have you fascinated her? I haven't fascinated her. Perhaps I was fascinated myself in my folly. But she won't care a straw whether it's you or I, so long as somebody sits beside her, sighing.

Starting point is 08:24:47 I can't explain the position, brother. Look here. You are good at mathematics, and working at it now. Begin teaching her the integral calculus. Upon my soul, I'm not joking. I'm in earnest. It'll be just the same to her. She will gaze at you and sigh for a whole year together. I talked to her once for two days at a time about the Prussian House of Lords. For one must talk of something.

Starting point is 08:25:16 She just sighed and perspired. And you mustn't talk of love. She's bashful to hysterics. But just let her see you can't tear yourself away. That's enough. It's fearfully comfortable. You're quite at home. You can read, sit, lie about, write.

Starting point is 08:25:34 You may even venture on a kiss if you're careful. But what do I want with her? Ah, I can't make you understand. You see, you are made for each other. I have often been reminded of you. You'll come to it in the end. So, does it matter whether it's sooner or later? Here's the feather-bed element here, brother.

Starting point is 08:25:58 Ah, and not only that, there's an attraction here. Here you have the end of the world, an anchorage, a quiet haven, the navel of the earth, the three fishes that are the foundation of the world, the essence of pancakes, of savory fish pies, of the evening samovar, of soft size and warm shawls, and hot stoves to sleep on, as snug as though you were dead, and yet you're alive. The advantages of both at once. Well, hang it, brother, what stuff I'm talking. It's bedtime. Listen, I sometimes wake up at night, so I'll go in and look at him.

Starting point is 08:26:38 But there's no need. It's all right. Don't you worry yourself? Yet if you like, you might just look in once, too. But if you notice anything, delirium or fever, wake me at once. But there can't be. End of Part 3, Chapter 1. Part 3, Chapter 2 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Liberovach's recording is in the public domain. Part 3 Chapter 2 Rezumian waked up next morning at 8 o'clock, troubled and serious. He found himself confronted with many new and unlooked-for perplexities. He had never expected that he would ever wake

Starting point is 08:27:34 up feeling like that. He remembered every detail of the previous day, and he knew that a perfectly novel experience had befallen him, that he had received an impression unlike anything he had known before. At the same time, he recognized clearly that the dream which had fired his imagination was hopelessly unattainable, so unattainable that he felt positively ashamed of it, and he hastened to pass to the other more practical cares and difficulties bequeathed him by that thrice accursed yesterday. The most awful recollection of the previous day was the way he had shown himself base and mean, not only because he had been drunk, but because he had been drunk, but because he had taken advantage of the young girl's position to abuse her fiancée in his stupid jealousy,

Starting point is 08:28:22 knowing nothing of their mutual relations and obligations, and next to nothing of the man himself. And what right had he to criticize him in that hasty and unguarded manner, who had asked for his opinion? Was it thinkable that such a creature as Avdotya Romanovna would be marrying an unworthy man for money? So there must be something in him. The lodgings? But after all, how could he know the character of the lodgings? He was furnishing a flat. Foo! How despicable it all was! And what justification was it that he was drunk? Such a stupid excuse was even more degrading. In wine is truth, and the truth had all come out, that is, all the uncleanness of his coarse and envious heart. And would such a dream ever be permissible

Starting point is 08:29:13 to him, Resumian? What was he besides such a girl? He, the drunken, noisy, brackered of last night? Was it possible to imagine so absurd and cynical a juxtaposition? Rezumian blushed desperately at the very idea, and suddenly the recollection forced itself vividly upon him of how he had said last night on the stairs that the landlady would be jealous of Avdotya Romanovna. That was simply intolerable. He brought his fist down head, heavily on the kitchen stove, heard his hand and sent one of the bricks flying. "'Of course,' he muttered to himself a minute later with a feeling of self-abasement, "'of course all these infamies can never be wiped out or smoothed over,

Starting point is 08:29:59 and so it's useless even to think of it, and I must go to them in silence and do my duty, in silence too, and not ask forgiveness, and say nothing, for all is lost now.' And yet, as he dressed, he examined his attire more carefully than usual. He hadn't another suit. If he had had, perhaps he wouldn't have put it on. I would have made a point of not putting it on. But in any case, he could not remain a cynic and a dirty sloven. He had no right to offend the feelings of others,

Starting point is 08:30:33 especially when they were in need of his assistance and asking him to see them. He brushed his clothes carefully. His linen was always decent. In that respect, he was especially clean. He washed that morning scrupulously. He got some soap from Nastassia. He washed his hair, his neck, and especially his hands. When it came to the question whether to shave his stubby chin or not,

Starting point is 08:30:58 Praskovia Pavlovna had capital razors that had been left by her late husband, the question was angrily answered in the negative. Let it stay as it is. What if they think that I shaved on purpose, too? they certainly would think so, not on any account. And the worst of it was, he was so coarse, so dirty, he had the manners of a pothouse, and—and even admitting that he knew he had some of the essentials of a gentleman, what was there in that to be proud of? Everything ought to be a gentleman, and more than that.

Starting point is 08:31:33 And all the same, he remembered, he too had done little things, not exactly dishonest, and yet— And what thoughts he sometimes had? Hmm, and to set all that beside Avdotya Romanovna, confound it, so be it. Well, he'd make a point then of being dirty, greasy, pot-house in his manners, and he wouldn't care. He'd be worse. He was engaged in such monologues when Zossomov, who had spent the night in Proscov Pavlovla's parlor, came in.

Starting point is 08:32:06 He was going home and was in a hurry to look at the invalid first, Resumian informed him that Raskolnikov was sleeping like a dormouse. Sosomov gave orders that they shouldn't wake him and promised to see him again about eleven. If he is still at home, he added, Damn at all, if one can't control one's patience, how is one to cure them? Do you know whether he will go to them or whether they are coming here? They are coming, I think, said Rzumian, understanding the object of the question. and they will discuss their family affairs no doubt.

Starting point is 08:32:42 I'll be off. You as the doctor have more right to be there than I. But I am not a father confessor. I shall come and go away. I've plenty to do besides looking after them. One thing worries me, interposed Rezumian, frowning. On the way home I talked a lot of drunken nonsense to him, all sorts of things, and amongst them that you were afraid that he—

Starting point is 08:33:07 might become insane. You told the lady so, too. I know it was stupid. You may beat me if you like. Did you think so seriously? That's nonsense, I tell you. How could I think it seriously? You yourself described him as a monomaniac when you fetched me to him,

Starting point is 08:33:27 and we added fuel to the fire yesterday, you did, that is, with your story about the painter. It was a nice conversation, when he was, perhaps, mad on that very point. point. If only I'd known what happened then at the police station, and that some wretch had insulted him with this suspicion. Hmm, I would not have allowed that conversation yesterday. These monomaniacs will make a mountain out of a molehill, and see their fancies as solid realities. As far as I remember, it was Zamatov's story that cleared up half the mystery

Starting point is 08:34:02 to my mind. Why, I know one case in which a hypochondriac, a man of 40, cut the throat of a little boy of eight, because he couldn't endure the jokes he made every day at table. And in this case, his rags, the insolent police officer, the fever, and this suspicion. All that working upon a man half-frantic with hypochondria, and with his morbid exceptional vanity. That may well have been the starting point of illness. Well, bother it all. And by the way, that Zamatov certainly is a nice fellow, but—hmm. He shouldn't have told all that last night. He is an awful chatterbox. But whom did he tell it, too? You and me? And Porfiry? And what does that matter?

Starting point is 08:34:50 And, by the way, have you any influence on them, his mother and sister? Tell them to be more careful with him today. They'll get on all right, Resumian answered reluctantly. Why is he so set against this illusion? A man with money, and she doesn't doesn't seem to dislike him, and they haven't a farthing, I suppose, eh?" "'But what business is it of yours?' Resumian cried with annoyance. "'How can I tell whether they've a farthing? Ask them yourself, and perhaps you'll find out.'

Starting point is 08:35:23 "'Foo! What an ass you are sometimes! Last night's wine has not gone off yet. Goodbye. Thank your Praskovia Pavlovna from me for my night's lodging. She locked herself in, made no reply to my bonjour through the door. She was up at seven o'clock. The samovar was taken into her from the kitchen. I was not vouchsafed a personal interview. At nine o'clock precisely, Resumian reached the lodgings

Starting point is 08:35:51 at Bacoliev's house. Both ladies were waiting for him with nervous impatience. They had risen at seven o'clock or earlier. He entered looking as black as night, bowed awkwardly, and was at once furious with himself for it. He had reckoned without his host. Polcheria Alexandrovna. fairly rushed at him, seized him by both hands and was almost kissing them. He glanced timidly at Avdotya Romanovna, but her proud countenance wore at that moment an expression of such gratitude and friendliness, such complete and unlooked-for respect, in place of the sneering looks and ill-disguised contempt he had expected, that it threw him into greater confusion than if he had been met with abuse.

Starting point is 08:36:34 Fortunately, there was a subject for conversation, and he made haste to snatch at it. Hearing that everything was going well and that Rodya had not yet waked, Pulcheria Alexandrovna declared that she was glad to hear it, because she had something which it was very, very necessary to talk over beforehand. Then followed an inquiry about breakfast and an invitation to have it with them. They had waited to have it with him. Evdodia Romanovna rang the bell. It was answered by a ragged, dirty waiter,

Starting point is 08:37:05 and they asked him to bring tea which was served at last. but in such a dirty and disorderly way that the ladies were ashamed. Resumian vigorously attacked the lodgings, but, remembering Lusion, stopped in embarrassment and was greatly relieved by Pulcheria Alexandrovna's questions, which showered in a continual stream upon him. He talked for three-quarters of an hour, being constantly interrupted by their questions, and succeeded in describing to them all the most important facts he knew of the last year of Raskolnikov's life, concluding with a circumstantial account of his illness. He omitted, however, many things, which were better omitted, including the scene at the

Starting point is 08:37:46 police station with all its consequences. They listened eagerly to his story, and when he thought he had finished and satisfied to his listeners, he found that they considered he had hardly begun. "'Tell me, tell me, what do you think?' "'Excuse me, I still don't know your name,' Pulcheria Alexandrovna put in hastily. Dmitri Prokovich. I should like very, very much to know, Dmitri Prokovich, how he looks, on things in general now, that is, how can I explain, what are his likes and dislikes? Is he always so irritable?

Starting point is 08:38:23 Tell me, if you can, what are his hopes, and so to speak, his dreams. Under what influences has he now, in a word, I should like, "'Ah, mother, how can he answer all that at once?' observed Donya. "'Good heavens! I had not expected to find him in the least like this, Tmitri Prokovich.' "'Naturally,' answered Razumian, "'I have no mother, but my uncle comes every year, and almost every time he can scarcely recognize me, even in appearance, though he is a clever man, and your three-year

Starting point is 08:38:57 separation means a great deal.' "'What am I to tell you?' I have known Rhodian for a year and a half. He is morose, gloomy, proud, and haughty, and of late, and perhaps for a long time before, he has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind heart. He does not like showing his feelings, and would rather do a cruel thing than open his heart freely. Sometimes, though, he is not at all morbid, but simply cold and inhumanly callous. It's as though he were alternating between two characters. Sometimes he is fearfully reserved. He says he is so busy that everything is a hindrance, and yet he lies in bed

Starting point is 08:39:41 doing nothing. He doesn't jeer at things, not because he hasn't the wit, but as though he hadn't time to waste on such trifles. He never listens to what is said to him. He is never interested in what interests other people at any given moment. He thinks very highly, he thinks very highly of himself, and perhaps he is right. Well, what more. I think your arrival will have a most beneficial influence upon him. God granted May, cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna, distressed by Rezumian's account of Herodia. And Rezumian ventured to look more boldly at Avdotya Romanovna at last.

Starting point is 08:40:19 He glanced at her often while he was talking, but only for a moment and looked away again at once. Evdodia Romanovna sat at the table, listening attentively, then got up again and began walking to and fro with her arms folded and her lips compressed, occasionally putting in a question without stopping her walk. She had the same habit of not listening to what was said. She was wearing a dress of thin, dark stuff, and she had a white transparent scarf around her neck. Resumians soon detected signs of extreme poverty in their belongings. Had Avdotiaiote your Romanovna been dressed like a queen, he felt that he would not be afraid of her. But perhaps just because she was poorly dressed, and that he noticed all the misery of her surroundings,

Starting point is 08:41:05 his heart was filled with dread, and he began to be afraid of every word he uttered, every gesture he made, which was very trying for a man who already felt diffident. You've told us a great deal that is interesting about my brother's character, and have told it impartially. I am glad. I thought that you were too uncritically devoted to him, observed Avdotya Romanovna with a smile. I think you are right that he needs a woman's care, she added thoughtfully. I didn't say so, but I dare say you are right, only—' What? He loves no one, and perhaps he never will, Presumian declared decisively. You mean he is not capable of love?

Starting point is 08:41:51 Do you know, Avdotya Romanovna? You are awfully like your brother, in everything indeed!' he blurted out suddenly to his own surprise. But remembering at once what he had just before said of her brother, he turned as red as a crab and was overcome with confusion. Avdotya Romanovna couldn't help laughing when she looked at him. "'You may both be mistaken about Rodya,' Poceria Alexandrovna remarked, slightly peaked. "'I am not talking of our present difficulty, Donya. What Piotr Petrovich writes in his letter and what you and I have supposed may be mistaken,

Starting point is 08:42:27 but you can't imagine, Dmitri Prokovich, how moody and, so to say, capricious he is. I never could depend on what he would do when he was only fifteen, and I am sure that he might do something now that nobody else would think of doing. Well, for instance, do you know how a year and a half ago he astounded me and gave me a shock that nearly killed me when he had the idea of me, marrying that girl? What was her name? His landlady's daughter? Did you hear about that affair? asked Avdotya Romanovna. Do you suppose—Poceria Alexandrovna continued warmly.

Starting point is 08:43:05 Do you suppose that my tears, my entreaties, my illness, my possible death from grief, our poverty would have made him pause? No, he would calmly have disregarded all obstacles, and yet it isn't that he doesn't love us. "'He has never spoken a word of that affair to me,' Resumian answered cautiously. "'But I did hear something from Praskovia Pavlovna herself, though she is by no means a gossip. And what I heard certainly was rather strange.' "'And what did you hear?' both the ladies asked at once. "'Well, nothing very special. I only learned that the marriage, which only failed to take place

Starting point is 08:43:49 through the girl's death, was not at all to Praskovia Pavlov's liking. They say, too, the girl was not at all pretty. In fact, I am told, positively ugly. And such an invalid, and queer. But she seems to have had some good qualities. She must have had some good qualities, or it's quite inexplicable. She had no money either, and he wouldn't have considered her money, but it's always difficult to judge in such matters. I am sure that she was a good girl, Evdottia Romanovna observed briefly. "'God forgive me, I simply rejoiced at her death, though I don't know which of them would have caused most misery to the other, he to her or she to him,' Pulcheria Alexandrovna concluded.

Starting point is 08:44:37 Then she began tentatively questioning him about the scene on the previous day with illusion, hesitating and continually glancing at Donya, obviously to the latter's annoyance. This incident, more than all the rest, evidently caused her uneasiness, even consternation. Resumian described it in detail again, but this time he added his own conclusions. He openly blamed Raskolnikov for intentionally insulting Piotr Petrovich, not seeking to excuse him on the score of his illness. He had planned it before his illness, he added. I think so, too, Pulcheria Alexandrovna agreed.

Starting point is 08:45:17 with a dejected air. But she was very much surprised at hearing Resumian express himself so carefully, and even with a certain respect about Piotr Petrovich. Avdotya Romanovna, too, was struck by it. So, this is your opinion of Piotr Petrovich? Pocheria Alexandrovna could not resist asking. I can have no other opinion of your daughter's future husband,

Starting point is 08:45:42 Razumian answered firmly and with warmth. And I don't say it simply. from vulgar politeness, but because... Simply because, Avdotya Romanovna has, of her own free will, deign to accept this man. If I spoke so rudely of him last night, it was because I was disgustingly drunk, and... Mad besides. Yes, mad, crazy. I lost my head completely. And this morning, I am ashamed of it. He crimsoned and ceased speaking. Evdodia Romanovna flushed. but did not break the silence. She had not uttered a word from the moment they began to speak of illusion. Without her support, Pulcheria Alexandrovna obviously did not know what to do.

Starting point is 08:46:29 At last, faltering and continually glancing at her daughter, she confessed that she was exceedingly worried by one circumstance. "'You see, Dmitri Prokovitch,' she began. "'I'll be perfectly open with Dmitri Prokovitch, don't you?' "'Of course, mother,' said Avdotya Romeroero. Mnovna emphatically. "'This is what it is,' she began in haste, as though the permission to speak of her trouble lifted a weight off her mind.

Starting point is 08:46:57 Very early this morning we got a note from Piotr Petrovitch in reply to our letter announcing our arrival. He promised to meet us at the station, you know. Instead of that he sent a servant to bring us the address of these lodgings and to show us the way. And he sent a message that he would be there himself this morning. But this morning this note came from him. You'd better read it yourself.

Starting point is 08:47:19 There is one point in it which worries me very much. You will soon see what that is, and— Tell me your candid opinion, Dmitri Prokovich. You know Rodeus character better than anyone, and no one can advise us better than you can. Donia, I must tell you, made her decision at once. But I still don't feel sure how to act, and I—I've been waiting for your opinion. Resumian opened the note, which was dated the previous. evening, and read as follows.

Starting point is 08:47:50 Dear Madam Polcheria Alexandrovna, I have the honor to inform you that, owing to unforeseen obstacles, I was rendered unable to meet you at the railway station. I sent a very competent person with the same object in view. I likewise shall be deprived of the honor of an interview with you tomorrow morning, by business in the Senate that does not admit of delay, and also that I may not intrude on your family circle

Starting point is 08:48:16 while you are meeting your son, and Avdotya Romanovna her brother. I shall have the honor of visiting you and paying you my respects at your lodgings, not later than tomorrow evening at eight o'clock precisely. And herewith I venture to present my earnest, and I may add, imperative request that Rodian Romanovich may not be present at our interview, as he offered me a gross and unprecedented affront on the occasion of my visit to him in his illness yesterday. and, moreover, since I desire from you personally an indispensable and circumstantial explanation

Starting point is 08:48:50 upon a certain point, in regard to which I wish to learn your own interpretation. I have the honor to inform you, in anticipation, that if, in spite of my request, I meet Rodian Romanovitch, I shall be compelled to withdraw immediately, and then you have only yourself to blame. I write on the assumption that Rodian Romanovich, who appeared so ill at my visit, suddenly recovered two hours later, and so, being able to leave the house, may visit you also. I was confirmed in that belief by the testimony of my own eyes in the lodging of a drunken man who has run over and has since died, to whose daughter, a young woman of notorious behavior, he gave twenty-five roubles on the pretext of the funeral, which gravely surprised me,

Starting point is 08:49:38 knowing what pains you are at to raise that sum. Herewith expressing my special respect to your estimable daughter, Avdotya Romanovna, I beg you to accept the respectful homage of your humble servant, P. Lusion. What am I to do now, Dmitri Prokovich? began Poceria Alexandrovna, almost weeping. How can I ask Rodya not to come? Yesterday he insisted so earnestly on our refusing Piotr Petrovich, and now we are ordered not to receive Rodya.

Starting point is 08:50:12 He will come on purpose if he knows, and what will happen then?' Act on Avdotya Romanovna's decision, Resumian answered calmly at once. "'Oh, dear me! She says—' Goodness knows what she says. She doesn't explain her object. She says that it would be best—at least, not that it would be best, but that it's absolutely necessary that Rodya should make a point of being here at eight o'clock, and that they must meet. I didn't want even to show him the letter, but to prevent him from coming by some stratagem with your help, because he is so irritable.

Starting point is 08:50:52 Besides, I don't understand about that drunkard who died, and that daughter, and how he could have given the daughter all the money, which—which cost you such sacrifice, mother? put in Avdotya Romanovna. He was not himself yesterday, Resumian said thoughtfully. If you only knew what he was up to in a restaurant yesterday, though there was sense in it too, he did say something as we were going home yesterday evening, about a dead man and a girl, but I didn't understand a word. But last night, I myself... The best thing, Mother, will be for us to go to

Starting point is 08:51:33 him ourselves, and there, I assure you, we will see at once what's to be done. Besides, it's getting late. Good heavens, it's past ten, she cried, looking at a splendid gold enameled watch which hung round her neck on a thin Venetian chain, and looked entirely out of keeping with the rest of her dress. A present from her fiancé, thought Rezumian. "'We must start, Donya, we must start!' her mother cried in a flutter. He will be thinking we are still angry after yesterday, from our coming so late! Merciful heavens!' While she said this, she was hurriedly putting on her hat and mantle.

Starting point is 08:52:12 Donya, too, put on her things. Her gloves, as Rezumian noticed, were not merely shabby, but had holes in them, and yet this evident poverty gave the two ladies an air of special dignity, which is always found in people who know how to wear poor clothes. Resumian looked reverently at Donya and felt proud of escorting her. The queen who mended her stockings in prison, he thought, must have looked then every inch a queen and even more a queen than at sumptuous banquets and levees. "'My God!' exclaimed Pulcheria Alexandrovna.

Starting point is 08:52:47 "'Little did I think that I should ever fear seeing my son, my darling, darling Rodya!' "'I am afraid, Dmitri Prokovich,' she added, glancing at him timidly. "'Don't be afraid, mother,' said Donya, kissing her. "'Better have faith in him.' "'Oh, dear, I have faith in him, but I haven't slept all night,' exclaimed the poor woman. They came out into the street. "'Do you know, Donya, when I dozed a little this morning, I dreamed of Marfa Petrovna. She was all in white.

Starting point is 08:53:20 She came up to me, took my hand, and shook her head at me, but so sternly as though she were blaming me. Is that a good omen? Oh, dear me, you don't know, Dmitri Prokovich, that Marfa Petrovna's dead. No, I didn't know. Who is Marfa Petrovna? She died suddenly, and only fancy. Afterwards, Mama, put in Donya, he doesn't know who Marfa Petrovna is. Ah, you don't know? And I was thinking that you knew all about us. Forgive me, Dmitri Prokovitch. I don't know what I'm thinking about these last few days. I look upon you really as a providence for us, and so I took it for granted that you knew all about us. I look on you as a relation. Don't be angry with me for saying so.

Starting point is 08:54:10 Dear me, what's the matter with your right hand? Have you knocked it? Yes, I bruised it, muttered Razumian overjoyed. I sometimes speak too much from the heart, so that Donia finds fault with me. But dear me, what a cupboard he lives in! I wonder whether he is awake. Does this woman, this landlady, consider it a room? Listen, you say he does not like to show his feelings, so perhaps I shall annoy him with my weaknesses.

Starting point is 08:54:41 Do advise me, Dmitri Pruckovich. How am I to treat him? I feel quite distracted, you know. Don't question him too much about anything if you see him frown. Don't ask him too much about his health. He doesn't like that. Ah, Dmitri Prokovich, how hard it is to be a mother! But here are the stairs.

Starting point is 08:55:02 What an awful staircase! Mother, you are quite pale, don't distress yourself, darling, said Donya, caressing her. Then, with flashing eyes, she added, He ought to be happy at seeing you, and you are tormenting yourself so. Wait, I'll peep in and see whether he has waked up. The lady slowly followed Resumiant. who went on before, and when they reached the landlady's door in the fourth story, they noticed that her door was a tiny crack open, and that two keen black eyes were watching

Starting point is 08:55:34 them from the darkness within. When their eyes met, the door was suddenly shut with such a slam that Pulcheria Alexandrovna almost cried out. End of Part 3, Chapter 2. Part 3, Chapter 3 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 3, Chapter 3 He is well, quite well, Sossamov cried cheerfully as they entered. He had come in ten minutes earlier and was sitting in the same place as before on the sofa.

Starting point is 08:56:22 Ruskolnikov was sitting in the opposite corner, fully dressed and carefully washed and combed, as he had not been for some time past. The room was immediately crowded, yet Nastassia managed to follow the visitors in and stayed to listen. Raskolnikov really was almost well, as compared with his condition the day before, but he was still pale, listless, and somber. He looked like a wounded man, or one who has undergone some terrible physical suffering. His brows were knitted, his lips compressed, his eyes feverish. He spoke to him. He spoke of a wounded. He spoke of a woman. He little and reluctantly, as though performing a duty, and there was a restlessness in his movements. He only wanted a sling on his arm or a bandage on his finger to complete the impression of a

Starting point is 08:57:09 man with a painful abscess, or a broken arm. The pale, somber face lighted up for a moment when his mother and sister entered, but this only gave it a look of more intense suffering, in place of its listless dejection. The light soon died away, but the look of the look of suffering remained, and Zossimov, watching and studying his patient with all the zest of a young doctor beginning to practice, noticed in him no joy at the arrival of his mother and sister, but a sort of bitter, hidden determination to bear another hour or two of inevitable torture. He saw later that almost every word of the following conversation seemed to touch on some sore place and irritated. But at the same time he marveled at the power of controlling himself,

Starting point is 08:57:57 and hiding his feelings in a patient who the previous day had, like a monomaniac, fallen into a frenzy at the slightest word. "'Yes, I see myself now that I am almost well,' said Ruskolnkov, giving his mother and sister a kiss of welcome, which made Pulcheria Alexandrovna radiant at once. "'And I don't say this as I did yesterday,' he said, addressing Razumian, with a friendly pressure of his hand. Yes, indeed, I am quite surprised at him today, began Zossimov, much delighted at the ladies' entrance, for he had not succeeded in keeping up a conversation with his patient for ten minutes.

Starting point is 08:58:39 In another three or four days, if he goes on like this, he will be just as before, that is, as he was a month ago, or two, or perhaps even three. This has been coming on for a long while, eh? Confess now that it has been perhaps your own fault, he added, with a tentative smile, as though still afraid of irritating him. It is very possible, answered Ruskonikov coldly. "'I should say so, too,' continues Zossimov with zest, that your complete recovery depends solely on yourself. Now that one can talk to you, I should like to impress upon you that it is essential to avoid the elementary, so to speak, fundamental causes tending to produce your morbid condition. In that case you will be cured. If not,

Starting point is 08:59:28 it will go from bad to worse. These fundamental causes I don't know, but they must be known to you. You are an intelligent man, and must have observed yourself, of course. I fancy the first stage of your derangement coincides with your leaving the university. You must not be left without occupation, and so work and a definite aim set before you might, I fancy, be very beneficial. Yes, yes, you are perfectly right. I will make haste and return to the university, and then everything will go smoothly. Zossamov, who had begun his sage advice, partly to make an effect before the ladies, was certainly somewhat mystified, when, glancing at his patient,

Starting point is 09:00:15 he observed unmistakable mockery on his face. This lasted an instant, however. Pulcheria Alexandrovna began at once thanking Zossimov, especially for his visit to their lodging the previous night. "'What? He saw you last night?' Raskolnikov asked, as though startled. "'Then you have not slept either after your journey.' "'Ah, Rodya, that was only till two o'clock. Donya and I never go to bed before two at home.'

Starting point is 09:00:46 "'I don't know how to thank him either,' Raskolnikov. went on, suddenly frowning and looking down. Setting aside the question of payment. Forgive me for referring to it, he turned to Zossomov. I really don't know what I have done to deserve such special attention from you. I simply don't understand it. And—and—it weighs upon me, indeed, because I don't understand it. I tell you so candidly.

Starting point is 09:01:14 Don't be irritated, Zossomov forced himself to laugh. that you are my first patient. Well, we fellows just beginning to practice love our first patience as if they were our children, and some almost fall in love with them. And, of course, I am not rich in patience. I say nothing about him," added Ruskalnikov, pointing to Rezumian, though he has had nothing from me either but insult and trouble. What nonsense he is talking. Why you're in a sentimental mood today, are you? shouted Rezumian. If he had had more penetration, he would have seen that there was no trace of sentimentality in him, but something indeed quite the opposite.

Starting point is 09:01:58 But Avdotya Romanovia noticed it. She was intently and uneasily watching her brother. "'As for you, mother, I don't dare to speak,' he went on, as though repeating a lesson learned by heart. "'It is only to-day that I have been able to realize a little how distressed you must have been here yesterday, waiting for me to come back. When he had said this, he suddenly held out his hand to his sister, smiling without a word. But in this smile there was a flash of real, unfeigned feeling.

Starting point is 09:02:32 Donya caught it at once, and warmly pressed his hand, overjoyed and thankful. It was the first time he had addressed her since their dispute the previous day. The mother's face lighted up with ecstatic happiness at the sight of this conclusive unspoken reconciliation. "'Yes, that is what I love him for,' Presumian, exaggerating it all, muttered to himself, with a vigorous turn in his chair. He has these movements. "'And how well he does it all!'

Starting point is 09:03:03 The mother was thinking to herself. What generous impulses he has, and how simply, how delicately he put an end to all the misunderstanding with his sister, simply by holding out his hand at the right minute and looking at her like that. And what fine eyes he has, and how fine his whole face is. He is even better looking than Donya. But, good heavens, what a suit! How terribly he's dressed!

Starting point is 09:03:30 Vassia, the messenger boy in Afanasi Ivanitch's shop, is better dressed. I could rush at him and hug him, weep over him, but I'm afraid. Oh, dear, he's so strange. He's talking kindly, but I'm afraid. Why? What am I afraid of?" Oh, Rodya, you wouldn't believe! She began suddenly, in haste to answer his words to her.

Starting point is 09:03:56 How unhappy Donya and I were yesterday! Now that it's all over and done with, we are quite happy again, I can tell you. Fancy, we ran here almost straight from the train to embrace you, and that woman—ah, here she is. Good morning, Nastassia. She told us at once that you were lying in a high fever and had just run away from the doctor in delirium, and they were looking for you in the streets. You can't imagine how we felt. I couldn't help thinking of the tragic end of Lieutenant Potanchikov, a friend of your father's.

Starting point is 09:04:29 You can't remember him, Rodya, who ran out in the same way in a high fever and fell into the well in the courtyard and they couldn't pull him out till the next day. Of course we exaggerated things. We were on the point of rushing to find Pyotor Petrovitch to ask him to help. "'Because we were alone, utterly alone,' she said plaintively, and stopped short suddenly, recollecting it was still somewhat dangerous to speak of Piotr Petrovich, although we are quite happy again. "'Yes, yes, of course, it's very annoying,' Laskolnikov muttered in reply, but with such a preoccupied and inattentive air that Donya gazed at him in perplexity.

Starting point is 09:05:13 "'What else was it I wanted to say?' He went on trying to recollect. Oh, yes, Mother, and you too, Donya, please don't think that I didn't mean to come and see you today and was waiting for you to come first. What are you saying, Rodya? cried Poceria Alexandrovna. She too was surprised. Is he answering us as a duty?

Starting point is 09:05:36 Donya wondered. Is he being reconciled and asking forgiveness as though he were performing a right or repeating a lesson? I've only just waked up and wanted to go to you, but was delayed owing to my clothes. I forgot yesterday to ask her, Nastassia, to wash out the blood. I've only just dressed. Blood? What blood? Polcheria Alexandrovna asked in alarm. Oh, nothing. Don't be uneasy. It was when I was wandering about yesterday, rather delirious. I chanced upon a man who had been run over, a clerk.

Starting point is 09:06:13 Delirious! But you remember everything!" Resumian interrupted. "'That's true,' Ruskolnkov answered with special carefulness. "'I remember everything even to the slightest detail, and yet why I did that and went there and said that I can't clearly explain now.' "'A familiar phenomenon,' interposed Zossimov. Actions are sometimes performed in a masterly and most cunning way, while the direction of the

Starting point is 09:06:43 actions is deranged and depended on various morbid impressions. It's like a dream. Perhaps it's a good thing, really, that he should think me almost a madman, thought Raskolnikov. Why, people in perfect health act in the same way, too, observed Donya, looking uneasily at Zossimov. "'There is some truth in your observation,' the latter replied. In that sense, we are certainly all not infrequently like madmen, but with a slight difference that the deranged are somewhat matter, for we must draw a line. A normal man, it is true, hardly exists. Among dozens, perhaps hundreds of thousands,

Starting point is 09:07:25 hardly one is to be met with. At the word madman, carelessly dropped by Zossimov in his chatter on his favorite subject, everyone frowned. Raskolnikov sat, seeming not to pay attention, plunged in thought with a strange smile on his pale lips. was still meditating on something. "'Well, what about the man who was run over? I interrupted you,' Resumian cried hastily. "'What?' Muscalnikov seemed to wake up. Oh, I got spattered with blood, helping to carry him to his lodging. By the way, Mama, I did an unpardonable thing yesterday. I was literally out of my mind. I gave away all the money you sent me, to his wife for the funeral. She's a widow now,

Starting point is 09:08:13 in consumption, a poor creature. Three little children, starving, nothing in the house. There's a daughter, too. Perhaps you'd have given it yourself if you'd seen them. But I had no right to do it, I admit, especially as I knew how you needed the money yourself. To help others, one must have the right to do it, or else crevet, charm, si vous not not par content. He laughed. That's right, isn't it, don't you? No, it's not," answered Donya firmly. "'Bah, you two have ideals,' he muttered looking at her almost with hatred, and smiling

Starting point is 09:08:54 sarcastically. "'I ought to have considered that. Well, that's praiseworthy, and it's better for you, and if you reach a line you won't overstep, you will be unhappy, and if you overstep it, maybe you will be still unhappier.' But all that's nonsense." He added irritably, vexed at being carried away. "'I only meant to say that, I beg your forgiveness, mother,' he concluded shortly and abruptly. "'That's enough, Rodia. I am sure that everything you do is very good,' said his mother delighted.

Starting point is 09:09:29 "'Don't be too sure,' he answered, twisting his mouth into a smile. A silence followed. There was a certain constraint in all this conversation, and in the silence and in the reconciliation and in the forgiveness and all were feeling it. It is as though they were afraid of me, Raskolnikov was thinking to himself, looking askance at his mother and sister. Pulcheria Alexandrovna was indeed growing more timid the longer she kept silent. Yet in their absence I seemed to love them so much, flashed through his mind. Do you know, Rodia, Marfa Petrovna and her,

Starting point is 09:10:09 is dead?" Pulcheria Alexandrovna suddenly blurted out. What, Marfa Petrovna? Oh, mercy on us! Marfa Petrovna Svedra Gailov! I wrote you so much about her! Ah! Yes, I remember.

Starting point is 09:10:26 So she's dead. Oh, really? He roused himself up suddenly, as if waking up. What did she die of? Only imagine, quite suddenly! Aysa Alexandrovna answered hurriedly, encouraged by his curiosity. On the very day I was sending you that letter. Would you believe it, that awful man seems to have been the cause of her death?

Starting point is 09:10:50 They say he beat her dreadfully. Why were they on such bad terms? He asked, addressing his sister. Not at all. Quite the contrary, indeed. With her he was always very patient, consider it even. In fact, all those seven years of their marriage life, he gave way to her, too much so indeed, in many cases. All of a sudden, he seems to have lost

Starting point is 09:11:15 patience. Then he could not have been so awful if he controlled himself for seven years. You seem to be defending him, Donya. No, no, he's an awful man. I can imagine nothing more awful, Donya answered, almost with a shudder, knitting her brows and singing into thought. That had happened in the morning. Pulcheria Alexandrovna went on hurriedly. And directly afterwards, she ordered the horses to be harnessed, to drive to the town immediately after dinner. She always used to drive to the town in such cases.

Starting point is 09:11:52 She ate a very good dinner, I am told. After the beating? That was always her habit. And immediately after dinner, so as not to be late in starting, she went to the bathhouse. You see, she was undergoing some treatment with bath-house. They have a cold spring there, and she used to bathe in it regularly every day, and no sooner had she got into the water when she suddenly had a stroke."

Starting point is 09:12:18 "'I should think so,' said Zossamov. "'And did he beat her badly?' "'What does that matter?' put in Donya. "'Hemn, but I don't know why you want to tell us such gossip, mother,' said Ruskalnikov irritably, as it were in spite of himself. "'Ah, my dear, I don't know what you're in spite of him. my dear, I don't know what to talk about," broke from Pulchuria Alexandrovna. "'Why, are you all afraid of me?' he asked with a constrained smile.

Starting point is 09:12:48 "'That's certainly true,' said Donya, looking directly and sternly at her brother. Mother was crossing herself with terror as she came up the stairs. His face worked as though in convulsion. "'Ah, what are you saying, Donya? Don't be angry, please, Rodya. Why did you say that, Donya? Pulcheria Alexandrovna began, overwhelmed. You see, coming here, I was dreaming all the way, in the train, how we should meet,

Starting point is 09:13:17 how we should talk over everything together, and I was so happy I did not notice the journey. But what am I saying? I am happy now. You should not, Donya. I am happy now, simply in seeing you, Rodya. Hush, mother. He muttered in confusion, not looking at her, but pressing her hand. We shall have time to speak freely of everything.

Starting point is 09:13:43 As he said this, he was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion and turned pale. Again, that awful sensation he had known of late, passed with deadly chill over his soul. Again it became suddenly plain and perceptible to him that he had just told a fearful lie, that he would never now be able to speak freely of everything, that he would never again be able to speak of anything to anyone. The anguish of this thought was such that for a moment he almost forgot himself. He got up from his seat and not looking at anyone, walked towards the door. "'What are you about?' cried Rezumian, clutching him by the arm. He sat down again and began looking about him in silence. They were all looking at him in proportionate. They were all looking at

Starting point is 09:14:31 him in perplexity. "'But what are you all so dull for?' he shouted, suddenly and quite unexpectedly. "'Do say something. What's the use of sitting like this? Come, do speak. Let us talk. We meet together and sit in silence. Come, anything!' "'Thank God! I was afraid the same thing as yesterday was beginning again,' said Pulchiria Alexandrovna crossing herself." "'What is the matter, Rodya?' asked Avdotya Romanovna, distrustfully. "'Oh, nothing! I remembered something,' he answered, and suddenly laughed.

Starting point is 09:15:12 "'Well, if you remembered something, that's all right. I was beginning to think,' muttered Zossamov, getting up from the sofa. "'It is time for me to be off. I will look in again, perhaps, if I can. He made his bows and went out. What an excellent man, observed Pulcheria Alexandrovna. Yes, excellent, splendid, well-educated, intelligent, Ruskaldikov began, suddenly speaking with surprising rapidity, and a liveliness he had not shown till then. I can't remember where I met him before my illness. I believe I have met him somewhere. And this is a good man, too! He nodded at resumption. He nodded at

Starting point is 09:15:54 Rezumian. Do you like him, Donya?" he asked her. And suddenly, for some unknown reason, laughed. Very much, answered Donya. Foo! What a pig you are! Razumian protested, blushing in terrible confusion, and he got up from his chair. Pulcheria Alexandrovna smiled faintly, but Raskolnikov laughed aloud.

Starting point is 09:16:18 Where are you off to? I must go. You need not at all. Hey! Zossamov has gone, so you must. Don't go. What's the time? Is it twelve o'clock? What a pretty watch you have got, Donya. But why are you all silent again? I do all the talking." It was a present from Marfa Petrovna, answered Donya. And a very expensive one, added Pulcheria Alexandrovna. "'Ah, what a big one! Hardly like a ladies!'

Starting point is 09:16:51 "'I like that sort,' said Dona. Donia. So, it is not a present from her fiancée, thought Resumian and was unreasonably delighted. I thought it was Lusian's present, observed Ruskalnikov. No, he has not made Donya any presents yet. Ah! And do you remember, Mother, I was in love and wanted to get married? He said suddenly, looking at his mother, who was disconcerted by the sudden change of subject and the way he spoke of it. "'Oh, yes, my dear!' Pulcheria Alexandrovna exchanged glances with Donia and Rezumian. "'Hm, yes. What shall I tell you? I don't remember much indeed. She was such a sickly girl,' he went on, growing dreamy and looking down again. Quite an invalid. She was fond of giving alms to

Starting point is 09:17:46 the poor, and was always dreaming of a nunnery, and once she burst into tears when she began talking to me about it. Yes, yes, I remember. I remember very well. She was an ugly little thing. I really don't know what drew me to her then. I think it was because she was always ill. If she had been lame or hunchback, I believe I should have liked her better still. He smiled dreamily. Yes, it was a sort of spring delirium. No, it was not only spring delirium, said Donia, with warm. feeling. He fixed a strained intent look on his sister, but did not hear or did not understand her words. Then, completely lost in thought, he got up, went up to his mother, kissed her, went back to his place, and sat down.

Starting point is 09:18:37 "'You love her even now?' said Pulchiria Alexandrovna, touched. "'Her? Now? Oh, yes. You ask about her?' "'No.' "'That's all now, as it were. in another world, and so long ago. And indeed, everything happening here seems somehow far away. He looked attentively at them. You now, I seem to be looking at you from a thousand miles away. But goodness knows why we are talking of that. And what's the use of asking about it?

Starting point is 09:19:15 He added with annoyance, and biting his nails, fell into dreamy silence again. What a wretched lodging you have, Rodya. It's like a tomb, said Poceria Alexandrovna, suddenly breaking the oppressive silence. I am sure it's quite half through your lodging you have become so melancholy. My lodging, he answered listlessly. Yes, the lodging had a great deal to do with it. I thought that, too. If only you knew, though, what a strange thing you said just now, Mother.

Starting point is 09:19:48 He said, laughing strangely. A little more, and their companionship, this mother and this sister, with him after three years' absence, this intimate tone of conversation in face of the utter impossibility of really speaking about anything, would have been beyond his power of endurance. But there was one urgent matter which must be settled one way or the other that day, so he had decided when he woke. Now he was glad to remember it, as a means of escape. "'Listen, Donya,' he began gravely and dryly.

Starting point is 09:20:23 "'Of course I beg your pardon for yesterday, but I consider it my duty to tell you again that I do not withdraw my chief point. It is me or Lucian. If I am a scoundrel, you must not be. One is enough. If you marry Lucian, I cease at once to look on you as a sister.' "'Rodya, Rodeya! It is the same as yesterday again!'

Starting point is 09:20:48 Pocheria Alexandrovna cried mournfully. "'And why do you call yourself a scoundrel? I can't bear it. You said the same yesterday.' "'Brother?' Donya answered firmly and with the same dryness. "'In all this there is a mistake on your part. I thought it over at night and found out the mistake. It is all because you seem to fancy I am sacrificing myself to someone and for someone. That is not the case at all. I am simply marrying for my own sake, because things are hard for me. Though, of course, I shall be glad if I succeed in being useful to my family.

Starting point is 09:21:28 But that is not the chief motive for my decision. She is lying, he thought to himself, biting his nails vindictively. Proud creature! She won't admit she wants to do it out of charity. Too haughty! Oh, base characters! They even love as though they hate. Oh, how I... hate them all!

Starting point is 09:21:51 In fact, continued Donya, I am marrying Piotr Petrovich because of two evils I choose the less. I intend to do honestly all he expects of me, so I am not deceiving him. Why did you smile just now? She, too, flushed, and there was a gleam of anger in her eyes. All? he asked with a malignant grin.

Starting point is 09:22:17 Within certain limits, both the manner and form of Pieter Petrovich's courtship showed me at once what he wanted. He may, of course, think too well of himself, but I hope he esteems me too. Why are you laughing again? And why are you blushing again? You are lying, sister.

Starting point is 09:22:36 You are intentionally lying, simply from feminine obstinacy, simply to hold your own against me. You cannot respect illusion. I have seen him and talked with him. So you are selling yourself for money, and so in any case you are acting basely, and I am glad at least that you can blush for it. It is not true, I am not lying, cried Donya, losing her composure. I would not marry him if I were not convinced that he esteems me and thinks highly of me.

Starting point is 09:23:08 I would not marry him if I were not firmly convinced that I can respect him. Fortunately, I can have convincing proof of it this very day, and such a marriage is not a vileness, as you say. And even if you were right, if I really had determined on a vile action, is it not merciless on your part to speak to me like that? Why do you demand of me a heroism that perhaps you have not either? It is despotism. It is tyranny. If I ruin anyone, it is only myself. I am not committing a murder. Why do you look at me like that?

Starting point is 09:23:44 Why are you so pale? Rodea, darling, what's the matter? Good heavens, you have made him faint, cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. No, no, nonsense. It's nothing. A little giddiness. Not fainting. You have fainting on the brain.

Starting point is 09:24:04 Hmm. Yes, what was I saying? Oh, yes. In what way will you get convincing proof today that you can respect? him and that he esteems you as you said. I think you said today." Mother, show Rodya Piotr Petrovitch's letter," said Donya. With trembling hands, Pulcheria Alexandrovna gave him the letter. He took it with great interest, but before opening it he suddenly looked with a sort of wonder at Donya.

Starting point is 09:24:34 "'It is strange,' he said slowly, as though struck by a new idea. What am I making such a fuss for? What is it all about? Marry whom you like. He said this as though to himself, but said it aloud, and looked for some time at his sister, as though puzzled. He opened the letter at last, still with the same look of strange wonder on his face. Then slowly and attentively he began reading, and read it through twice.

Starting point is 09:25:06 Pulcheria Alexandrovna showed marked anxiety. and all indeed expected something particular. What surprises me, he began, after a short pause, handing the letter to his mother, but not addressing anyone in particular, is that he is a businessman, a lawyer, and his conversation is pretentious indeed. And yet he writes such an uneducated letter. They all started. They had expected something quite different.

Starting point is 09:25:38 But they all write like that, you know, Resumian observed abruptly. Have you read it? Yes. We showed him, Rodia. We consulted him just now. Pulcheria Alexandrovna began, embarrassed. That's just the jargon of the courts,

Starting point is 09:25:56 Razumian put in. Legal documents are written like that to this day. Legal? Yes, it's just legal. Business language. Not so very uneducated, and not quite educated. it. Business language. Piotr Petrovich makes no secret of the fact that he had a cheap education.

Starting point is 09:26:18 He is proud indeed of having made his own way, Evdodia Romanovna observed, somewhat offended by her brother's tone. Well, if he's proud of it, he has reason, I don't deny it. You seem to be offended, sister, at my making only such a frivolous criticism on the letter, and to think that I speak of such trifling matters on purpose to annoy you. It is quite the contrary. An observation apropos of the style occurred to me that is by no means irrelevant as things stand. There is one expression, blame yourselves, put in very significantly and plainly, and there is besides a threat that he will go away at once if I am present.

Starting point is 09:27:01 That threat to go away is equivalent to a threat to abandon you both if you are disobedient, and to abandon you now after summoning you to Petersburg. Well, what do you think? Can one resent such an expression from illusion as we should if he—he pointed to Resumian—had written it, or Zossimov or one of us? "'No,' answered Donya with more animation. I saw clearly that it was too naively expressed, and that perhaps he simply has no skill in writing. That is a true criticism, brother. I did not expect indeed. It is expressed in legal style, and sounds coarser than perhaps he intended, but I must disillusion

Starting point is 09:27:45 you a little. There is one expression in the letter, one slander about me, and a rather contemptible one. I gave the money last night to the widow, a woman in consumption, crushed with trouble, and not on the pretext of the funeral, but simply to pay for the funeral, and not to the daughter, a young woman, as he writes, of notorious behavior, whom I saw last night for the first time in my life, but to the widow. In all this I see a too hasty desire to slander me and to raise dissension between us. It is expressed again in legal jargon, that is to say, with a too obvious display of the aim, and with a very naive eagerness. He is a man of intelligence, but to act sensibly intelligence is not enough.

Starting point is 09:28:33 It all shows the man, and—I don't think he has a great esteem for you. I tell you this simply to warn you, because I sincerely wish for your good.' Donya did not reply. Her resolution had been taken. She was only awaiting the evening. "'Then what is your decision, Rodya?' asked Pulcheria Alexandrovna, who was more uneasy than ever at the sudden new business-like tone of his talk. What decision? You see, Piotr Petrovich writes that you are not to be

Starting point is 09:29:09 with us this evening, and that he will go away if you come. So will you come? That, of course, is not for me to decide, but for you, first, if you are not offended by such a request, and secondly, by Donya, if she too is not offended. I will do what you think best, He added dryly. Donya has already decided, and I fully agree with her. Pulchiria Alexandrovna hastened to declare. I decided to ask you, Rodya, to urge you not to fail to be with us at this interview, said Donia.

Starting point is 09:29:48 Will you come? Yes. I will ask you, too, to be with us at eight o'clock, she said, addressing resumean. Mother, I am inviting him, too. Quite right, Donya. Well, since you have decided, added Pulcheria Alexandrovna, so be it. I shall feel easier myself. I do not like concealment and deception.

Starting point is 09:30:14 Better let us have the whole truth. Piotr Petrovich may be angry or not now. End of Part 3, Chapter 3. Part 3, Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 3, Chapter 4 At that moment the door was softly opened, and a young girl walked into the room,

Starting point is 09:30:54 looking timidly about her. Everyone turned towards her with surprise and curiosity. At first sight, Raskolnikov did not recognize her. It was Sophia Semyonovna Marmeledov. He had seen her yesterday for the first time, but at such a moment, in such surroundings and in such a dress, that his memory retained a very different image of her. Now she was a modestly and poorly dressed young girl, very young indeed, almost like a child, with a modest and refined manner, with a candid but somewhat frightened-looking face.

Starting point is 09:31:29 She was wearing a very plain indoor dress and had on a shabby, old-fashioned hat, but she still carried a parasol. Unexpectedly finding the room full of people, she was not so much embarrassed as completely overwhelmed with shyness, like a little child. She was even about to retreat. "'Oh, it's you,' said Raskolnikov, extremely astonished, and he too was confused. He at once recollected that his mother and sister knew through Lusian's letter of some young woman of notorious behavior. He had only just been protesting against Luzon's calumny and declaring that he had seen the girl last night for the first time, and suddenly she had walked in.

Starting point is 09:32:14 He remembered, too, that he had not protested against the expression of notorious behavior. All this passed vaguely and fleetingly through his brain, but looking at the moment of the at her more intently, he saw that the humiliated creature was so humiliated that he felt suddenly sorry for her. When she made a movement to retreat in terror, it sent a pang to his heart. "'I did not expect you,' he said hurriedly, with a look that made her stop. "'Please, sit down. You come, no doubt, from Katerina Ivanovna. Allow me. Not there. Sit here.' At Sonia's entrance, Rezumian, who had been sitting on one of Raskolnikov's three chairs, close to the door, got up to allow her to enter.

Starting point is 09:33:00 Roskolnikov had at first shown her the place on the sofa where Zossamov had been sitting, but feeling that the sofa which served him as a bed was too familiar a place. He hurriedly motion her to Rizumian's chair. "'You sit here,' he said Rizumian, putting him on the sofa. Sonia sat down, almost shaking with terror, and looked timidly at the two ladies. It was evidently almost inconceivable to herself that she could sit down beside them. At the thought of it, she was so frightened that she hurriedly got up again, and in utter confusion addressed Raskolnikov.

Starting point is 09:33:38 "'I—I—I—have come for one minute. Forgive me for disturbing you,' she began falteringly. I come from Katerina Ivanovna, and she had no one to send. Katerina Ivanovna told me to beg you, to be at the service, in the morning, at Mitrovanovsky, and then, to us, to her, to do her the honor, she told me to beg you, Sonia stammered and ceased speaking. I will try, certainly, most certainly, answered Rus Konakoff. He too stood up, and he too faltered and could not finish his sentence. Please sit down, he said suddenly.

Starting point is 09:34:23 I want to talk to you. You are perhaps in a hurry, but please, be so kind, spare me two minutes. And he drew up a chair for her. Sonia sat down again, and again timidly she took a hurried, frightened look at the two ladies, and dropped her eyes. Roskalnikov's pale face flushed, a shudder passed over him, his eyes glowed. Mother, he said firmly and insistently. This is Sophia Semyanovna Marmelov, the daughter of that unfortunate Mr. Marmeladov,

Starting point is 09:34:56 who was run over yesterday before my eyes, and of whom I was just telling you. Pulchiria Alexandrovna glanced at Sonia, and slightly screwed up her eyes. In spite of her embarrassment before Rodya's urgent and challenging look, She could not deny herself that satisfaction. Donya gazed gravely and intently into the poor girl's face, and scrutinized her with perplexity. Sonia, hearing herself introduced, tried to raise her eyes again, but was more embarrassed than ever.

Starting point is 09:35:29 "'I wanted to ask you,' said Ruskalnikov hastily. "'How things were arranged yesterday. You were not worried by the police, for instance?' "'No, that was all right. It was too evident.' the cause of death. They did not worry us. Only the lodgers were angry. Why? At the bodies remaining so long. You see, it is hot now, so that today they will carry it to the cemetery into the chapel until tomorrow. At first, Katerina Ivanovna was unwilling, but now she sees herself

Starting point is 09:36:04 that it is necessary. Today, then? She begs you to do us the honor to be in the church tomorrow for the service, and then to be present at the funeral lunch. She is giving a funeral lunch? Yes, just a little. She told me to thank you very much for helping us yesterday. But for you, we should have had nothing for the funeral. All at once her lips and chin began trembling, but with an effort she controlled herself, looking down again.

Starting point is 09:36:34 During the conversation, Ruskalnikov watched her carefully. She had a thin, very thin, pale little furrow. face, rather irregular and angular, with sharp little nose and chin. She could not have been called pretty, but her blue eyes were so clear, and when they lighted up there was such a kindliness and simplicity in her expression that one could not help being attracted. Her face, and her whole figure indeed, had another peculiar characteristic. In spite of her eighteen years, she looked almost a little girl, almost a child. And in some of her gestures, she looked almost a little girl, almost a child. And in some of her gestures, this childishness seemed almost absurd.

Starting point is 09:37:15 But has Katerina Ivanovna been able to manage with such small means? Does she even mean to have a funeral lunch? Raskolnikov asked, persistently keeping up the conversation. The coffin will be plain, of course, and everything will be plain, so it won't cost much. Katerina Ivanovna and I have reckoned it all out, so that there will be enough left. And Katerina Ivanovna was very anxious it should be, sir. You know one can't. It's a comfort to her.

Starting point is 09:37:45 She is like that, you know. I understand, I understand, of course. Why do you look at my room like that? My mother has just said it was like a tomb. You gave us everything yesterday? Sonia said suddenly in reply, in a loud, rapid whisper, and again she looked down in confusion. Her lips and chin were trembling once more.

Starting point is 09:38:09 She had been struck at once by Rosco. Kalnikov's poor surroundings, and now these words broke out spontaneously. A silence followed. There was a light in Donya's eyes, and even Pulcheria Alexandrovna looked kindly at Sonia. "'Rodya,' she said, getting up. "'We shall have dinner together, of course. Come, Donya. And you, Rodia, had better go for a little walk, and then rest and lie down before you come to see us. I am afraid we have exhausted you.' "'Yes, yes, I'll come,' he answered, getting up fussily.

Starting point is 09:38:44 "'But I have something to see to.' "'But surely you'll have dinner together,' cried Razumian, looking in surprise at Ruskalnikov. "'What do you mean?' "'Yes, yes, I'm coming. Of course, of course. And you stay a minute. You do not want him just now, do you, mother, or perhaps I am taking him from you.' "'Oh, no, no. And will you, Dmitri Prokovich, do us the favor of dining with us? Please do, added Donya. Resumian bowed, positively radiant. For one moment they were all strangely embarrassed.

Starting point is 09:39:21 Goodbye, Rodia, that is, till we meet. I do not like saying goodbye. Goodbye, Nastassia. Ah, I have said goodbye again. Pulchiria Alexandrovna met to greet Sonia too, but it somehow failed to come off, and she went in a flutter out of the room. But Avdotya Romanovna seemed to await her turn, and, following her mother out, gave Sonia an attentive, courteous bow. Sonia, in confusion, gave a hurried, frightened curtsy. There was a look of poignant discomfort in her face, as though Evdotya Romanovna's courtesy and attention were oppressive and painful to her. "'Donya, good-bye,' called Ros Kalnikov in the passage.

Starting point is 09:40:06 "'Give me your hand.' Why, I did give it to you. Have you forgotten? said Donya, turning warmly and awkwardly to him. Never mind, give it to me again. And he squeezed her fingers warmly. Donia smiled, flushed, pulled her hand away, and went off quite happy. Come, that's capital, he said to Sonia, going back and looking brightly at her. God give peace to the dead. The living have still to live. That is right, isn't it? Donya looked surprised at the sudden brightness of his face. He looked at her for some moments in silence. The whole history of the dead father floated before his memory in those moments.

Starting point is 09:40:51 Heavens, Donia! Pocheria Alexandrovna began as soon as they were in the street. I really feel relieved myself at coming away, more at ease. How little did I think yesterday in the train that I could ever be glad of that? I tell you again, Mother, he is still very ill. Don't you see it? Perhaps worrying about us upset him. We must be patient, and much, much can be forgiven. Well, you were not very patient, Pulcheria Alexandrovna caught her up, hotly and jealously.

Starting point is 09:41:25 Do you know, Donya, I was looking at you, too. You are the very portrait of him, and not so much in face as in soul. You are both melancholy, both morose and hot-tempered, both haughty and both generous. Surely he can't be an egotist, Donya, eh? When I think of what is in store for us this evening, my heart sinks. Don't be uneasy, mother. What must be will be. Donya, only think what a position we are in.

Starting point is 09:41:56 What if Piotr Petrovich breaks it off! Poor Poceria Alexandrovna blurted out, incautiously. He won't be worth much if he does, answered Donia. sharply and contemptuously. We did well to come away, Pulcheria Alexandrovna hurriedly broke in. He was in a hurry about some business or other. If he gets out and has a breath of air,

Starting point is 09:42:21 it is fearfully close in his room. But where is one to get a breath of air here? The very streets here feel like shut up rooms. Good heavens! What a town! Stay, this side. They will crush you, carrying something. Why, it is a piano they have got, I declare. How they push. I am very much afraid of that young woman, too. What young woman, mother? Why, that Sophia Semyonovna, who was there just now. Why? I have a

Starting point is 09:42:54 presentiment, don't you? Well, you may believe it or not, but as soon as she came in, that very minute I felt that she was the chief cause of the trouble. "'Nothing of the sort!' cried Dona in vexation. "'What nonsense with your presentiment's mother! He only made her acquaintance the evening before, and he did not know her when she came in. "'Well, you will see. She worries me. But you will see, you will see—'

Starting point is 09:43:24 I was so frightened. She was gazing at me with those eyes. I could scarcely sit still in my chair when he began introducing her, Do you remember? It seems so strange, but Pietro Petrovitch writes like that about her, and he introduces her to us, to you, so he must think a great deal of her. People will write anything. We were talked about and written about, too.

Starting point is 09:43:51 Have you forgotten? I am sure that she is a good girl, and that it is all nonsense. God granted may be. And Pietro Petrovich is a contemptible slanderer. Donia snapped out suddenly. Pulcheria Alexandrovna was crushed. The conversation was not resumed. I will tell you what I want with you, said Raskolnikov, drawing Resumian to the window.

Starting point is 09:44:18 Then I will tell Katerina Ivanovna that you are coming, Sonia said hurriedly, preparing to depart. One minute, Sophia Semyonovna. We have no secrets. You are not in our way. I want to have another word or two with you. "'Listen,' he turned suddenly to Rezumian again. "'You know that—what's his name? Porphyry Petrovich?'

Starting point is 09:44:40 "'I should think so. He is a relation. Why?' added the latter with interest. "'Is not he managing that case? You know about that murder? You were speaking about it yesterday.' "'Yes.' Well,' Resumian's eyes opened wide. "'He was inquiring for people who had pawned things, and I have some pledges there, too. Triples. A ring my sister gave me as a keepsake when I left home, and my father's silver watch. They are only worth five or six roubles together. But I value them. So what am I to do now? I do not want to lose the things, especially the watch. I was quaking just now, for fear mother would ask to look at it when we spoke of Donya's watch. It is the only thing of fathers

Starting point is 09:45:29 left us. She would be ill if it were lost. You know what we're women are. So tell me what to do. I know I ought to have given notice at the police station, but would it not be better to go straight to Porphyry, eh? What do you think? The matter might be settled more quickly. You see, mother may ask for it before dinner. Certainly not to the police station, certainly to Porfiry, Resumian shouted in extraordinary excitement. Well, how glad I am! Let us go at once. It is a couple of steps. We shall be sure to find him. Very well. Let us go. And he will be very, very glad to make your acquaintance. I have often talked to him of you at different times. I was speaking of you yesterday.

Starting point is 09:46:15 Let us go. So you knew the old woman? So that's it. It is all turning out splendidly. Oh, yes, Sophia Ivanovna. Sophia Semyonovna, corrected Ruskalnikov. Sophia Semyonovna, this is my friend Rizumian, and he is a good man. "'If you have to go now,' Sonia was beginning, not looking at Resumian at all, and still more embarrassed. "'Let us go,' decided Raskolnikov. "'I will come to you today, Sophia Semyonovna. Only tell me where you live.'

Starting point is 09:46:48 He was not exactly ill at ease, but seemed hurried and avoided her eyes. Sonia gave her address and flushed as she did so. They all went out together. "'Don't you lock up?' asked Resumian, following him on to. the stairs. Never, answer Ruskalnikov. I have been meaning to buy a lock for these two years. People are happy who have no need of locks, he said, laughing to Sonia. They stood still in the gateway. Do you go to the right, Sophia Semyonovna? How did you find me, by the way? He added, as though he wanted to say something quite different. He wanted to look at her soft, clear eyes, but this was not easy. Why, you gave your address to Polenka,

Starting point is 09:47:33 yesterday. Polinka? Oh, yes, Polinka. That is the little girl. She is your sister? Did I give her the address? Why, had you forgotten? No, I remember. I had heard my father speak of you, only I did not know your name, and he did not know it. And now I came, and as I alert your name, I asked today, where does Mr. Ruskalnikov live? I did not know you had only a room, too. Goodbye, I will tell Katerina Ivanovna. She was extremely glad to escape at last. She went away looking down, hurrying to get out of sight as soon as possible, to walk the twenty steps to the turning on the right and to be at last alone,

Starting point is 09:48:17 and then, moving rapidly along, looking at no one, noticing nothing, to think, to remember to meditate on every word, every detail. Never, never had she felt anything like this. Dimly and unconsciously a whole new world was always. opening before her. She remembered suddenly that Raskolnikov meant to come to her that day, perhaps at once. Only, not today, please, not today, she kept muttering with a sinking heart, as though in treating someone like a frightened child. Mercy, to me, to that room, he will see, oh dear! She was not capable at that instant of noticing an unknown gentleman who was watching her

Starting point is 09:49:02 and following at her heels. He had accompanied her from the gateway. At the moment when Rzumian Raskolnikov and she stood still at parting on the pavement, this gentleman, who was just passing, started on hearing Sonia's words, and I asked where Mr. Raskolnikov lived. He turned on a rapid but attentive look upon all three, especially upon Raskolnikov, to whom Sonia was speaking, then looked back and noted the house. All this was done in an instant and as he passed, and trying not to betray his interest, he walked on more slowly as though waiting for something. He was waiting for Sonia. He saw that they were parting and that Sonia was going home. "'Home? Where? I've seen that face somewhere,' he thought. "'I must find out.'

Starting point is 09:49:52 At the turning he crossed over, looked round and saw Sonia coming the same way, noticing nothing. She turned the corner. He followed her on the other side. side. After about fifty paces he crossed over again, overtook her, and kept two or three yards behind her. He was a man about fifty, rather tall and thickly set, with broad high shoulders which made him look as though he stooped a little. He wore good and fashionable clothes, and looked like a gentleman of position. He carried a handsome cane, which he tapped on the pavement at each step. His gloves were spotless. He had a broad, rather place, and he had a broad, rather pleasant face, with high cheekbones and a fresh color, not often seen in Petersburg.

Starting point is 09:50:38 His flaxen hair was still abundant, and only touched here and there with gray, and his thick square beard was even lighter than his hair. His eyes were blue, and had a cold and thoughtful look. His lips were crimson. He was a remarkably well-preserved man, and looked much younger than his ears. When Sonia came out on the canal bank, they were the only two persons on the pavement. He observed her dreaminess and preoccupation. On reaching the house where she lodged, Sonia turned in at the gate. He followed her, seeming rather surprised. In the courtyard she turned to the right corner.

Starting point is 09:51:18 "'Bah!' muttered the unknown gentleman and mounted the stairs behind her. Only then Sonia noticed him. She reached the third story, turned down the passage, and rang at number nine. On the door was inscribed in chalk. Kepernomov, Taylor. Ba, the stranger repeated again, wondering at the strange coincidence, and he rang next door at number eight. The doors were two or three yards apart.

Starting point is 09:51:45 You lodge at Kapernaumovs, he said, looking at Sonia and laughing. He altered a waistcoat for me yesterday. I am staying close here at Madame Restlach's. How odd! So you looked at him attentively. We are neighbors. He went on gaily.

Starting point is 09:52:03 I only came to town the day before yesterday. Goodbye for the present. Sonia made no reply. The door opened and she slipped in. She fell for some reason, ashamed and uneasy. On the way to Porphyry's, Resumian was obviously excited. That's capital, brother, he repeated several times. And I am glad, I am glad.

Starting point is 09:52:28 What are you glad about? Raskolnikov thought to himself. I didn't know that you pledged things at the old woman's, too. And, was it long ago? I mean, was it long since you were there? What a simple-hearted fool he is. When was it? Russ Kornikov stopped still to recollect.

Starting point is 09:52:48 Two or three days before her death it must have been. But I am not going to redeem the things now. He put in with a sort of hurried and conspicuous solicitude about the things. I have not more than a silver rubble left, after last night's accursed delirium. He laid special emphasis on the delirium. Yes, yes, resumian hastened to agree, with what was not clear. Then that's why you were stuck, partly.

Starting point is 09:53:17 You know, in your delirium you are continually mentioning some rings or chains. Yes, yes, that's clear. It's all clear now. Hello, how that idea must have got about among them. Here this man will go to the stake for me, and I find him delighted at having it cleared up why I spoke of rings in my delirium. What a hole the idea must have on all of them!' "'Shall we find him?' he asked suddenly. "'Oh, yes,' Resumian answered quickly.

Starting point is 09:53:49 "'He is a nice fellow, you will see, brother. Rather clumsy, that is to say, he is a man of polished manners, but I mean clumsy in a different sense. He is an intelligent fellow, very much so indeed, but he has his own range of ideas. He is incredulous, skeptical, cynical. He likes to impose on people, or rather to make fun of them. His is the old circumstantial method, but he understands his work thoroughly. Last year he cleared up a case of murder in which the police had hardly a clue. He is very, very anxious to make your acquaintance. On what grounds is he so anxious? Oh, it's not exactly...

Starting point is 09:54:33 You see, since you've been ill, I happen to have mentioned you several times. So, when he heard about you, about your being a law student and not able to finish your studies, he said, what a pity! And so I concluded, from everything together, not only that. Yesterday, Zamatov, you know, Rodia, I talked some nonsense on the way home to you yesterday when I was drunk. I am afraid, brother, of your exaggerating it, you see. What? That they think I'm a madman? Maybe they are right, he said with a constrained smile. Yes, yes. That is, poo, no, but all that I said, and there was something else, too,

Starting point is 09:55:16 it was all nonsense, drunken nonsense. But why are you apologizing? I am so sick of it all, Raskolnikov cried with exaggerated irritability. It was partly assumed, however. I know, I know, I understand. Believe me, I understand. One's ashamed to speak of it. If you are ashamed, then don't speak of it. Both were silent. Razumian was more than ecstatic, and Raskolnikov perceived it with repulsion.

Starting point is 09:55:49 He was alarmed, too, by what Rizumian had just said about Porfiry. shall have to pull a long face with him, too, he thought, with a beating heart, and he turned white. And do it naturally, too. But the most natural thing would be to do nothing at all. Carefully do nothing at all. No, carefully would not be natural again. Oh, well, we shall see how it turns out. We shall see, directly. Is it a good thing to go or not? The butterfly flies to the light. My heart is beating. That's what's bad. in this gray house, said Rezumian. The most important thing, does Porfiry know that I was at the old Hags flat yesterday,

Starting point is 09:56:35 and asked about the blood? I must find out that instantly, as soon as I go in, find out from his face. Otherwise, I'll find out if it's my ruin. I say, brother, he said suddenly, addressing Rezumian with a sly smile. I have been noticing all day that you seem to be curiously excited. Isn't it so? Excited? Not a bit of it, said Resumian, stung to the quick.

Starting point is 09:57:04 Yes, brother, I assure you it's noticeable. Why, you sat on your chair in a way you never do sit, on the edge somehow, and you seemed to be writhing all the time. You kept jumping up for nothing. One moment you were angry, and the next your face looked like a sweetmeat. You even blushed. especially when you were invited to dinner. You blushed awfully. Nothing of the sort. Nonsense. What do you mean?

Starting point is 09:57:31 But why are you wriggling out of it, like a schoolboy? By Jove, there he's blushing again. What a pig you are! But why are you so shamefaced about it, Romeo? Stay, I'll tell you of today. Ha, ha, ha, I'll make mother laugh, and someone else laugh too. "'Listen, listen, listen, listen, this is serious. "'What next, you fiend?' "'Rizumian was utterly overwhelmed, turning cold with horror.

Starting point is 09:58:02 "'What will you tell them? "'Come, brother. "'Foo, what a pig you are!' "'You are like a summer rose. "'And if only you knew how it suits you. "'A Romeo over six foot high! "'And how you've washed today! "'You cleaned your nails, I declare, eh?

Starting point is 09:58:20 "'That's something unheard of. Why, I do believe you've got pomatum on your hair. Bend down. Pig! Raskolnikov laughed as though he could not restrain himself. So laughing, they entered Porfiry Petrovich's flat. This is what Raskolnikov wanted. From within, they could be heard laughing as they came in, still gaffawing in the passage. "'Not a word here, or I'll... Brain you!' Resumian whispered furiously, seizing Ruskalikov by the shoulder. End of Part 3, Chapter 4. Part 3, Chapter 5, of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervovok's recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 09:59:17 Part 3, Chapter 5 Russ Kolnikov was already entering the room. He came in looking as though he had the utmost difficulty not to burst out laughing again. Behind him, Rezumian strode in gawky and awkward, shame-faced and red as a peony, with an utterly crestfallen and ferocious expression. His face and whole figure really were ridiculous at that moment, and amply justified Raskolnikov's laughter. Raskolnikov, not waiting for an introduction, bowed to Porphyry Petrovich, who stood in the middle of the room, looking inquiringly at them. held out his hand and shook hands, still apparently making desperate efforts to subdue his

Starting point is 10:00:01 mirth and utter a few words to introduce himself. But he had no sooner succeeded in assuming a serious air and muttering something, when he suddenly glanced again as though accidentally at Rezumian, who could no longer control himself. His stifled laughter broke out the more irresistibly the more he tried to restrain it. The extraordinary ferocity with which Rezumian received this spontaneous mirth gave the whole scene the appearance of most genuine fun and naturalness. Resumian strengthened this impression as though on purpose. "'Fool! You fiend!' he roared, waving his arm, which at once struck a little round table with an empty tea-glass on it. Everything was sent flying and crashing.

Starting point is 10:00:48 "'But why break chairs, gentlemen? You know it's a loss to the crown!' Porfiry Petrovich quoted gaily. Russ Kalnikov was still laughing, with his hand in Porfiry Petrovich's, but, anxious not to overdo it, awaited the right moment to put a natural end to it. Razumian, completely put to confusion by upsetting the table and smashing the glass, gazed gloomily at the fragments, cursed and turned sharply to the window where he stood looking out with his back to the company, with a fiercely scowling countenance, seeing nothing. Porfiry Petrovich laughed and was ready to go on laughing, but obviously looked for explanations.

Starting point is 10:01:31 Zamatov had been sitting in the corner, but he rose at the visitor's entrance and was standing in expectation with a smile on his lips, though he looked with surprise and even it seemed incredulity at the whole scene and at Ruskonikov with a certain embarrassment. Zamatov's unexpected presence struck Ruskanikov unpleasantly. "'I've got to think of that,' he thought. "'Excuse me, please,' he began, affecting extreme embarrassment. "'Ras Kolnikov. "'Not at all. Very pleasant to see you.

Starting point is 10:02:06 "'And how pleasantly you've come in!' "'Why, won't he even say good morning?' Porfiry Petrovich nodded at Razumian. "'Upon my honor, I don't know why he is in such a rage with me. I only told him as we came along that he was like Romeo and proved it, And that was all, I think. Pig, ejaculated Rezumian, without turning round. There must have been very grave grounds for it, if he is so furious at the word,

Starting point is 10:02:35 Porfiry laughed. Oh, you sharp lawyer! Damn you all! snapped Rezumian, and suddenly, bursting out laughing himself, he went up to Porphyry with a more cheerful face, as though nothing had happened. That'll do. We are all fools. to come to business. This is my friend Rodian Romanovich Raskolnikov. In the first place, he has heard of you and wants to make your acquaintance, and secondly, he has a little matter of business with you. Bah, Zamitov, what brought you here? Have you met before? Have you known

Starting point is 10:03:11 each other long? What does this mean? thought Ruskanikov uneasily. Sametov seemed taken aback, but not very much so. "'Why, it was at your rooms we met yesterday,' he said easily. "'Then I have been spared the trouble. All last week he was begging me to introduce him to you. Porphyry and you have sniffed each other out without me. Where's your tobacco?' Porfiry Petrovich was wearing a dressing-gown, very clean linen, and trodden down slippers. He was a man of about five-and-thirty, short, stout, even to corpulence, and clean-shaven. He wore his hair cut short and had a large round head, particularly prominent at the back.

Starting point is 10:03:58 His soft, round, rather snub-nosed face was of a sickly yellowish color, but had a vigorous and rather ironical expression. It would have been good-natured, except for a look in the eyes, which shone with a watery, mawkish light under almost white blinking eyelashes. The expression of those eyes was strangely out of keeping with his somewhat warm. womanish figure, and gave it something far more serious than could be guessed at first sight. As soon as Porfiry Petrovich heard that his visitor had a little matter of business with him, he begged him to sit down on the sofa and sat down himself on the other end, waiting for him to explain his business, with that careful and over-serious attention,

Starting point is 10:04:42 which is at once oppressive and embarrassing, especially to a stranger, and especially if what you are discussing is, in your opinion, a far too little importance for such exceptional solemnity. But in brief and coherent phrases, Ruskalnikov explained his business clearly and exactly, and was so well satisfied with himself that he even succeeded in taking a good look at Porfiry. Porfiry Petrovich did not once take his eyes off him.

Starting point is 10:05:12 Razumian, sitting opposite at the same table, listened warmly and impatiently, looking from one to the other every moment with rather excessive of interest. Fool, Raskolnikov swore to himself. You have to give information to the police, Porfiry replied, with the most business-like air, that having learnt of this incident, that is of the murder, you beg to inform the lawyer in charge of the case that such and such things belong to you, and that you desire

Starting point is 10:05:42 to redeem them, or, but they were right to you. That's just the point, that, at the present moment... Ruskolnkov tried his utmost to feign embarrassment. "'I am not quite in funds, and even this trifling sum is beyond me. I only wanted, you see, for the present to declare that the things are mine, and that when I have money—' "'That's no matter,' answered Porphyry Petrovich, receiving his explanation of his pecuniary position coldly.

Starting point is 10:06:13 "'But you can, if you prefer, write straight to me, to say that having been informed of the matter, and claiming such a few. and such as your property, you beg. On an ordinary sheet of paper?" Raskolnikov interrupted eagerly, again interested in the financial side of the question. Oh, the most ordinary! And suddenly Perfiry Petrovich looked with obvious irony at him, screwing up his eyes and, as it were, winking at him.

Starting point is 10:06:41 But perhaps it was Raskolnikov's fancy, for it all lasted but a moment. There was certainly something of the sort. Raskolnikov could have sworn he winked at him. Goodness knows why. He knows, flashed through his mind like lightning. Forgive my troubling you about such trifles. He went on, a little disconcerted. The things are only worth five roubles,

Starting point is 10:07:07 but I prize them particularly for the sake of those from whom they came to me, and I must confess that I was alarmed when I heard. That's why you were so much struck when I mentioned to Zossamov, that Porfiry was inquiring for everyone who had pledges, Resumian put in with obvious intention. This was really unbearable. Raskolnikov could not help glancing at him with a flash of vindictive anger in his black eyes, but immediately recollected himself. "'You seem to be jeering at me, brother?' he said to him, with a well-faint irritability. "'I dare say, I do seem to you absurdly anxious about such trash.

Starting point is 10:07:49 But you mustn't think me selfish or grasping for that, and these two things may be anything but trash in my eyes. I told you just now that the silver watch, though it's not worth a cent, is the only thing left us of my father's. You may laugh at me, but my mother is here." He turned suddenly to Porphyry. And if she knew—he turned again hurriedly to Resumian, carefully making his voice tremble, the watch was lost, she would be in despair. You know what women are?'

Starting point is 10:08:22 "'Not a bit of it. I didn't mean that at all. Quite the contrary,' shouted Rizumian, distressed. "'Was it right? Was it natural? Did I overdo it?' Ruskalnikov asked himself in a tremor. "'Why did I say that about women?' "'Oh, your mother is with you?' Porfiry Petrovich inquired. "'Yes. When did she come? Last night.' Porfiry paused, as though reflecting. "'Your things would not in any case be lost.' He went on calmly and coldly. "'I have been expecting you here for some time.' And as though that was a matter of no importance, he carefully offered the ashtray to

Starting point is 10:09:08 Rezumian, who was ruthlessly scattering cigarette ash over the carpet. Askalnikov shuddered, but Porfiry did not. seemed to be looking at him, and was still concerned with Rezumian's cigarette. "'What? Expecting him? Why, did you know that he had pledges there?' cried Resumian. Porfiry Petrovitch addressed himself to Ruskalnikov. "'Your things, the ring and the watch, were wrapped up together, and on the paper your name was allegedly written in pencil, together with the date on which you left them with her.' "'How observant you are!'

Starting point is 10:09:44 Rusk Holnikov smiled awkwardly, doing his very utmost to look him straight in the face. But he failed, and suddenly added, "'I say that, because I suppose there were a great many pledges, that it must be difficult to remember them all, but you remember them all so clearly, and—and—' Stupid, feeble,' he thought. Why did I add that? But we know all who had pledges, and you are the only one who hasn't come forward.

Starting point is 10:10:14 forward," Porfiry answered with hardly perceptible irony. "'I haven't been quite well.' "'I heard that, too. I heard, indeed, that you were in great distress about something. You look pale still.' "'I am not pale at all. No, I am quite well,' Ruskalnikov snapped out rudely and angrily, completely changing his tone. His anger was mounting. He could not repress it. And, in my anger, I shall betray myself, flashed through his mind again. Why are they torturing me?'

Starting point is 10:10:51 "'Not quite well,' Resumian caught him up. "'What next? He was unconscious and delirious all yesterday. Would you believe, Porphyry, as soon as our backs were turned, he dressed, though he could hardly stand, and gave us the slip and went off on a spree somewhere till midnight, delirious all the time. Would you believe it? Extraordinary." "'Really delirious? You don't say so.' Porfiry shook his head in a womanish way. "'Nonsense. Don't you believe it? But you don't believe it, anyway.' Ruskalnikov let slip his anger. But Porfiry Petrovich did not seem to catch those strange words.

Starting point is 10:11:33 "'But how could you have gone out if you hadn't been delirious?' Razumian got hot suddenly. What did you go out for? What was the object of it? And why on the sly? Were you in your senses when you did it? Now that all the danger is over, I can speak plainly. I was awfully sick of them yesterday. Ruskhalnikov addressed Porfiry suddenly with a smile of insolent defiance.

Starting point is 10:11:59 I ran away from them to take lodgings where they wouldn't find me, and took a lot of money with me. Mr. Zamatov there saw it. I say, Mr. Zamatov, was I sensible or delirious yesterday? Settle our dispute. He could have strangled Zamatov at that moment, so hateful were his expression and his silence to him. In my opinion you talked sensibly and even artfully, but you were extremely irritable,

Starting point is 10:12:27 Zamotov pronounced dryly. And Nicodim Fomitch was telling me today, put in Porphyry Petrovich, that he met you very late last night in the lodging of a man who had been run over. "'And there,' said Rezumian, "'were't you mad then? You gave your last penny to the widow for the funeral. If you wanted to help, give fifteen or twenty even, but keep three rubles for yourself at least, but he flung away all the twenty-five at once.' "'Maybe I found a treasure somewhere, and you know nothing of it. So that's why I was

Starting point is 10:13:03 liberal yesterday. Mr. Zamatov knows I found a treasure. "'Excuse us, please, for disturbing you for half an hour with such trivialities,' he said, turning to Porfiry Petrovich with trembling lips. "'We are boring you, aren't we?' "'Oh, no, quite the contrary. Quite the contrary. If only you knew how you interest me. It's interesting to look on and listen. And I am really glad you have come forward at last.

Starting point is 10:13:35 But you might give us some tea. My throat's dry, cried Razumian. Capital idea. Perhaps we will all keep you company. Would you like something more essential before tea? Get along with you. Porfiry Petrovich went out to order tea. Ruskalnikov's thoughts were in a whirl.

Starting point is 10:13:55 He was in terrible exasperation. The worst of it is they don't disguise it. They don't care to stand on ceremony. And how, if you didn't know me at all, did you come to talk to Nicodem Fomwich about me? So they don't care to hide that they are tracking me like a pack of dogs. They simply spit in my face. He was shaking with rage. Come, strike me openly.

Starting point is 10:14:22 Don't play with me like a cat with a mouse. It's hardly civil, poor fairy Petrovich, but perhaps I won't allow it. I shall get up and throw the whole truth in your ugly face. faces, and you'll see how I despise you.' He could hardly breathe. And what if it's only my fancy? What if I am mistaken, and through inexperience I get angry, and don't keep up my nasty part? Perhaps it's all unintentional. All their phrases are the usual ones, but there is something about them. It all might be said, but there is something. Why did he say bluntly, with her?

Starting point is 10:15:03 Why did Zametov add that I spoke artfully? Why do they speak in that tone? Yes, the tone. Razumian is sitting here. Why does he see nothing? That innocent blockhead never does see anything. Feverish again. Did Porfiry wink at me just now?

Starting point is 10:15:23 Of course, it's nonsense. What could he wink for? Are they trying to upset? my nerves, or are they teasing me? Either it's ill fancy, or they know. Even Zamatov is rude. Is Zamatov rude? Zamatov has changed his mind. I foresaw he would change his mind. He is at home here, while it's my first visit. Porphyry does not consider him a visitor, sits with his back to him. They're as thick as thieves, no doubt over me. Not a doubt they were talking about me before we came. Do they know about the flat? If only they make haste. When I said

Starting point is 10:16:06 that I ran away to take a flat, he let it pass. I put that in cleverly about a flat. It may be of use afterwards. Delirious indeed. Ha, ha, ha, he knows all about last night. He didn't know of my mother's arrival. The hag had written the date on in pencil. You are wrong. You won't catch me. There are no facts. It's all supposition. You produce facts. The flat even isn't a fact, but delirium. I know what to say to them. Do they know about the flat? I won't go without finding out. What did I come for? But my being angry now maybe is a fact. Fool, how irritable I am. Perhaps that's right, to play the invalid. He is feeling me. He will try to catch me.

Starting point is 10:16:59 Why did I come? All this flashed like lightning through his mind. Porfiry Petrovich returned quickly. He became suddenly more jovial. "'Your party yesterday, brother, has left my head rather—' And I am out of sorts altogether.' He began in a quite different tone, laughing to resume in. "'Was it interesting?

Starting point is 10:17:23 I left you yesterday at the most interesting point. Who got the best of it? Oh, no one, of course. They got onto everlasting questions, floated off into space. Only fancy, Rodya, what we got on to yesterday, whether there is such a thing as crime. I told you that we talked our heads off. What is there strange? It's an everyday social question, Ruskalnikov answered casually.

Starting point is 10:17:53 The question wasn't put quite like that. observed Porfiry. "'Not quite, that's true,' resuming agreed at once, getting warm and hurried as usual. "'Listen, Rodion, and tell us your opinion. I want to hear it. I was fighting tooth and nail with them and wanted you to help me. I told them you were coming. It began with the socialist doctrine. You know their doctrine. Crime is a protest against the abnormality of the social organization and nothing more and nothing more, no other causes admitted. "'You are wrong there,' cried Porphyry Petrovich.

Starting point is 10:18:31 He was noticeably animated and kept laughing as he looked at Resumian, which made him more excited than ever. "'Nothing is admitted,' Resumian interrupted with heat. "'I am not wrong. I'll show you their pamphlets. Everything with them is the influence of the environment and nothing else. Their favour of their favour of the environment and nothing else. their favorite phrase, from which it follows that, if society is normally organized, all crime will cease at once, since there will be nothing to protest against, and all men will become righteous in one instant. Human nature is not taken into account. It is excluded. It is

Starting point is 10:19:09 not supposed to exist. They don't recognize that humanity, developing by a historical living process, will become at last a normal society. But they believe that a social system, that has come out of some mathematical brain is going to organize all humanity at once and make it just and sinless in an instant, quicker than any living process. That's why they instinctively dislike history, nothing but ugliness and stupidity in it, and they explain it all as stupidity. That's why they so dislike the living process of life. They don't want a living soul.

Starting point is 10:19:46 The living soul demands life. The soul won't obey the rules of mechanics. the soul is an object of suspicion. The soul is retrograde. But what they want, though it smells of death and can be made of India rubber, at least is not alive, has no will, is servile, and won't revolt. And it comes in the end to their reducing everything to the building of walls and the planning of rooms and passages in a philanstery. The philanstery is ready indeed, but your human nature is not ready for the philanstery. It wants life, it has incompletes. It has a completed its vital process. It's too soon for the graveyard. You can't skip over nature by

Starting point is 10:20:26 logic. Logic presupposes three possibilities, but there are millions. Cut away a million and reduce it all to the question of comfort. That's the easiest solution of the problem. It's seductively clear, and you mustn't think about it. That's the great thing. You mustn't think. The whole secret of life in two pages of print. Now he is all. He is all. You are all. You beating the drum. Catch hold of him do, laughed Porfiry. Can you imagine? He turned to Ruskonikov.

Starting point is 10:20:58 Six people holding forth like that last night, in one room, with punch as a preliminary. No, brother, you are wrong. Environment accounts for a great deal in crime. I can assure you of that. Oh, I know it does. But just tell me. A man of forty violates a child of ten. Was it environment drove him to it?

Starting point is 10:21:19 "'Well, strictly speaking, it did,' poor fairy observed with noteworthy gravity. A crime of that nature may be very well ascribed to the influence of environment. Resumian was almost in a frenzy. "'Oh, if you like,' he roared, "'I'll prove to you that your white eyelashes may very well be ascribed to the Church of Ivan the Great's being two hundred and fifty feet high, and I will prove it clearly, exactly, progressively, and even with a liberal tenet. I undertake to. Will you bet on it?"

Starting point is 10:21:53 "'Done. Let's hear, please. How will he prove it?' "'He has always humbugging, confound him,' cried Razumian, jumping up and gesticulating. "'What's the use of talking to you? He does all that on purpose. You don't know him, Rodian. He took their side yesterday, simply to make fools of them. And the things he said yesterday. And they were delighted. He can keep it up for a fortnight together. Last year, he persuaded us that he was going into a monastery. He stuck to it for two months. Not long ago, he took it into his head to declare he was going to get married, that he had everything ready for the wedding. He ordered new clothes indeed. We all began to congratulate him. There was no bride, nothing,

Starting point is 10:22:39 all pure fantasy. Ah, you are wrong. I got to be a good. I got to be a little bit of a good. I got to the clothes before. It was the new clothes, in fact, that made me think of taking you in." "'Are you such a good dissembler?' Ruskalnikov asked carelessly. "'You wouldn't have supposed it, eh? Wait a bit. I shall take you in, too. Ha, ha, ha. No, I'll tell you the truth. All these questions about crime, environment, children, recall to my mind an article of yours which interested me at the time. On crime, or some of the time. On crime, or some Something of the sort, I forget the title. I read it with pleasure two months ago in the periodical review.

Starting point is 10:23:21 My article? In the periodical review? Raskolnikov asked in astonishment. I certainly did write an article upon a book six months ago when I left the university, but I sent it to the weekly review. But it came out in the periodical. And the weekly review ceased to exist, so that's why it wasn't printed at the time. That's true, but when it ceased to exist, the weekly review was amalgamated with the periodical, and so your article appeared two months ago in the latter. Didn't you know?' Ruskolnikov had not known.

Starting point is 10:23:56 Why, you might get some money out of them for the article. What a strange person you are. You lead such a solitary life that you know nothing of matters that concern you directly. It's a fact, I assure you. Bravo, rode you. I knew nothing about it. either, cried Rezumian. I'll run today to the reading room and ask for the number. Two months ago? What was the date? It doesn't matter, though. I will find it. Think of not telling us.

Starting point is 10:24:25 How did you find out that the article was mine? It's only signed with an initial. I only learned it by chance the other day. Through the editor, I know him. I was very much interested. it. I analyzed, if I remember, the psychology of a criminal before and after the crime. Yes, and you maintain that the perpetration of a crime is always accompanied by illness. Very, very original. But... It was not that part of your article that interested me so much, but an idea at the end of the article which I regret to say you merely suggest it without working it out clearly. There is, if you recollect, a suggestion that there are certain persons who can, that is, not precisely are able to, but have a perfect

Starting point is 10:25:14 right to commit breaches of morality and crimes, and that the law is not for them. Russ Kolnikov smiled at the exaggerated and intentional distortion of his idea. What? What do you mean? A right to crime? But not because of the influence of environment, resuming inquired with some alarm even. No, not exactly because of it. Answered Porfiry. In his article, all men are divided into ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary men have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law,

Starting point is 10:25:49 because, don't you see, they are ordinary? But extraordinary men have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way, just because they are extraordinary. That was your idea, if I am not mistaken? What do you mean? That can't be right. Resumian muttered in bewilderment. Ruskalnikov smiled again. He saw the point at once and knew where they wanted to drive him.

Starting point is 10:26:16 He decided to take up the challenge. That wasn't quite my contention. He began simply and modestly. Yet, I admit, that you have stated it almost correctly. Perhaps, if you like, perfectly so. It almost gave him pleasure to admit this. The only difference is that the only difference is that I don't contend that extraordinary people are always bound to commit breaches of morals,

Starting point is 10:26:41 as you call it. In fact, I doubt whether such an argument could be published. I simply hinted that an extraordinary man has the right, that is not an official right, but an inner right, to decide in his own conscience to overstep certain obstacles, and only in case it is essential for the practical fulfillment of his idea, sometimes perhaps of benefit to the whole of humanity. You say that my article isn't definite. I am ready to make it as clear as I can. Perhaps I am right in thinking you want me to.

Starting point is 10:27:17 Very well. I maintain that if the discoveries of Kepler and Newton could not have been made known except by sacrificing the lives of one, a dozen, a hundred or more men, Newton would have had the right, would indeed have been in duty-bound to eliminate the dozen or the hundred men for the sake of making his discoveries known to the whole of humanity. But it does not follow from that that Newton had a right to murder people right and left,

Starting point is 10:27:44 and to steal every day in the market. Then, I remember, I maintained in my article that all, well, legislators and leaders of men, such as like Kyrgyz, Solan, Muhammad, Napoleon, and so on, were all without exception criminals, from the very fact that, that making a new law, they transgressed the ancient one, handed down from their ancestors, and held sacred by the people, and they did not stop short at bloodshed either, if that bloodshed, often of innocent persons fighting bravely in defense of ancient law, were of use to their cause. It's remarkable, in fact, that the majority, indeed of these benefactors and leaders of humanity were guilty of terrible carnage.

Starting point is 10:28:27 In short, I maintain that all great men, or even men a little out of the common, that is to say, capable of giving some new word, must, from their very nature, be criminals, more or less, of course. Otherwise, it's hard for them to get out of the common rut, and to remain in the common rut is what they can't submit to, from their very nature again, and to my mind they ought not, indeed, to submit to it. You see that there is nothing particularly new in our own all that. The same thing has been printed and read a thousand times before. As for my division of people into ordinary and extraordinary, I acknowledge that it's somewhat arbitrary, but I don't insist upon exact numbers. I only believe in my leading

Starting point is 10:29:13 idea that men are in general divided by a law of nature into two categories, inferior, ordinary, that is, so to say, material that serves only to reproduce its kind, and men who have the gift or the talent to utter a new word. There are, of course, innumerable subdivisions, but the distinguishing features of both categories are fairly well marked. The first category, generally speaking, are men conservative in temperament and law abiding. They live under control and love to be controlled. To my thinking, it is their duty to be controlled, because that's their vocation,

Starting point is 10:29:51 and there is nothing humiliating in it for them. The second category all transgressed the law. They are destroyers, are disposed to destruction according to their capacities. The crimes of these men are, of course, relative and varied. For the most part, they seek in very varied ways the destruction of the present for the sake of the better. But if such a one is forced, for the sake of his idea, to step over a corpse or wade through blood, he can, I maintain, find within himself, in his conscience, a sanction for waiting through blood. That depends on the idea and its dimensions. Note that. It's only in that sense I speak of their right to crime in my article. You remember it began with the legal question. There is no need

Starting point is 10:30:39 for such anxiety, however. The masses will scarcely ever admit this right. They punish them or hang them, more or less, and in doing so fulfill quite justly their conservative vocation. But the same masses set these criminals on a pedestal in the next generation, and worship them, more or less. The first category is always the man of the present, the second, the man of the future. The first preserved the world and people in it. The second move the world and lead it to its goal. Each class has an equal right to exist. In fact, all have equal rights with me, and vive la Guère Eternel, till the New Jerusalem, of course." Then you believe in the New Jerusalem, do you?

Starting point is 10:31:23 I do, Raskolnikov answered firmly. As he said these words and during the whole preceding tirade he kept his eyes on one spot on the carpet. And—and do you believe in God? Excuse my curiosity. I do, repeated Raskolnikov, raising his eyes to Porfiry. And—do you believe in Lazarus rising from the dead? I—I do. Why do you ask all this?

Starting point is 10:31:53 You believe it literally? Literally. You don't say so, I asked from curiosity. Excuse me. But let us go back to the question. They are not always executed. Some, on the contrary. Triumph in their lifetime?

Starting point is 10:32:10 Oh, yes. Some attain their ends in this life. and then... They begin executing other people. If it's necessary. Indeed, for the most part, they do. Your remark is very witty. Thank you.

Starting point is 10:32:24 But tell me this. How do you distinguish these extraordinary people from the ordinary ones? Are there signs at their birth? I feel there ought to be more exactitude, more external definition. Excuse the natural anxiety of a practical law-abiding citizen, but couldn't they adopt a special uniform, for instance? Couldn't they wear something, be branded in some way? For you know if confusion arises, and a member of one category imagines that he belongs to the other,

Starting point is 10:32:53 begins to eliminate obstacles, as you so happily express it, then— Oh, that very often happens. That remark is wittier than the other. Thank you. No reason to. But take note that the mistake can only arise in the first category, that is among the ordinary people, as I perhaps unfortunately called them. In spite of their predisposition to obedience, very many of them, through a playfulness of nature,

Starting point is 10:33:20 sometimes vouchsafed even to the cow, like to imagine themselves advanced people, destroyers, and to push themselves into the new movement, and this quite sincerely. Meanwhile, the really new people are very often unobserved by them, or even despised as reactionaries of groveling tendencies. But I don't think there is any considerable danger here, and you really need not be uneasy, for they never go very far. Of course, they might have a thrashing sometimes for letting their fancy run away with them and to teach them their place, but no more. In fact, even this isn't necessary as they castigate themselves, for they are very conscientious. Some perform this

Starting point is 10:34:01 service for one another, and others chastise themselves with their own hands. They will impose various public acts of penitence upon themselves with a beautiful and edifying effect. In fact, you've nothing to be uneasy about. It's a law of nature. Well, you have certainly set my mind more at rest on that score. But there's another thing worries me. Tell me, please, are there many people who have the right to kill others, these extraordinary people? I am ready to bow down to them, of course, but you must admit it's alarming if there are a great many of them, eh? Oh, you needn't worry about that either."

Starting point is 10:34:39 Ruskalnikov went on in the same tone. People with new ideas, people with the faintest capacity for saying something new, are extremely few in number, extraordinarily so, in fact. One thing only is clear that the appearance of all these grades and subdivisions of men must follow with unfailing regularity some law of nature. That law, of course, is unknown at present, but I am convinced that it exists, and one day may become known. The vast mass of mankind is mere material,

Starting point is 10:35:11 and only exists in order by some great effort, by some mysterious process, by means of some crossing of races and stocks, to bring into the world at last, perhaps one man out of a thousand with a spark of independence. One in ten thousand, perhaps, I speak roughly, approximately, is born with some independence,

Starting point is 10:35:32 and with still greater independence, one in a hundred thousand. The man of genius is one of millions, and the great geniuses, the crown of humanity, appear on earth perhaps one in many thousand millions. In fact, I have not peeped into the retort in which all this takes place, but there certainly is and must be a definite law. It cannot be a matter of chance. Why, are you both joking?' Resumian cried at last. There you sit, making fun of one another. Are you serious, Rodya?" Raskolnikov raised his pale and almost mournful face and made no reply. And the unconcealed, persistent, nervous, and discourteous sarcasm of Porphyry seemed strange to resume in,

Starting point is 10:36:19 beside that quiet and mournful face. "'Well, brother, if you are really serious. You are right, of course, in saying that it's not new, that it's like what we've read and heard a thousand times already. But what is really original in all this, and is exclusively your own, to my horror, is that you sanctioned bloodshed in the name of conscience, and, excuse my saying so, with such fanaticism. That, I take it, is the point of your article. But that sanction of bloodshed by conscience is, to my mind,

Starting point is 10:36:52 more terrible than the official legal sanction of bloodshed. You are quite right. It is more terrible, Porphyry agreed. Yes, you must have exaggerated. There is some mistake. I shall read it. You can't think that. I shall read it. All that is not in the article. There's only a hint of it, said Ruskonikov. Yes, yes, Porfiry couldn't sit still.

Starting point is 10:37:21 Your attitude to crime is pretty clear to me now, but— Excuse me for my impertinence. I am really ashamed to be worried. you like this. You see, you've removed my anxiety as to the two grades getting mixed, but there are various practical possibilities that make me uneasy. What if some man or youth imagines that he is a like Kyrgyz or Mahomet, a future one, of course, and suppose he begins to remove all obstacles? He has some great enterprise before him and needs money for it, and tries to get it. Do you see?' Zametov gave a sudden guffaw in his corner.

Starting point is 10:37:58 Raskolnikov did not even raise his eyes to him. "'I must admit,' he went on calmly, "'that such cases certainly must arise. The vain and foolish are particularly apt to fall into that snare, young people especially. "'Yes, you see. Well then?' "'What then?' Raskolnikov smiled in reply.

Starting point is 10:38:21 "'That's not my fault. So it is, and so it always will be.' He said just now,' he nodded resuming that I sanctioned bloodshed. Society is too well protected by prisons, banishment, criminal investigators, penal servitude. There's no need to be uneasy. You have but to catch the thief. And what if we do catch him? Then he gets what he deserves. You are certainly logical, but what of his conscience?

Starting point is 10:38:51 Why do you care about that? Simply from humanity. If he has a conscience, he will suffer for his mistake. that will be his punishment, as well as the prison." "'But the real geniuses?' asked Resumian, frowning. "'Those who have the right to murder. Oudn't they to suffer at all even for the blood they've shed?' "'Why the word ought? It's not a matter of permission or prohibition.

Starting point is 10:39:18 He will suffer if he is sorry for his victim. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. He added dreamily, not in the tone of the conversation. He raised his eyes, looked earnestly at them all, smiled and took his cap. He was too quiet by comparison with his manner at his entrance, and he felt this. Everyone got up. "'Well, you may abuse me, be angry with me if you like,' Porfiry Petrovich began again.

Starting point is 10:39:53 But I can't resist. Allow me one little question. I know I am troubling you. There is just one little notion I want to express, simply that I may not forget it. Very good. Tell me your little notion. Ruskalnikov stood waiting, pale and grave before him.

Starting point is 10:40:14 Well, you see, I really don't know how to express it properly. It's a playful, psychological idea. When you were writing your article, surely you couldn't have helped, fancying yourself, just a little, an extraordinary man, uttering a new word in your sense. That's so, isn't it? Quite possibly, Ruskalnikov answered contemptuously. Resumian made a movement. And, if so, could you bring yourself in case of worldly difficulties and hard

Starting point is 10:40:51 or for some service to humanity, to overstep obstacles? For instance, to rob and murder? And again he winked with his left eye, and laughed noiselessly just as before. If I did, I certainly should not tell you, Raskolnikov answered with defiant and haughty contempt. No, I was only interested on account of your article, from a literary point of view. "'Foo! How obvious and insolent that is!' Raskolnikov thought with repulsion. "'Allow me to observe,' he answered dryly,

Starting point is 10:41:31 "'that I don't consider myself a Muhammad or a Napoleon, nor any personage of that kind, and not being one of them I cannot tell you how I should act.' "'Oh, come! Don't we all think ourselves Napoleon's now in Russia?' Porfiry Petrovich said with alarming familiarity. Something peculiar betrayed itself in the very intonation of his voice. Perhaps it was one of these future Napoleons who did for Alyona Ivanovna last week, Zamitov blurted out from the corner. Raskolnikov did not speak, but looked firmly and intently at Porfiry.

Starting point is 10:42:09 Razumian was scowling gloomily. He seemed before this to be noticing something. He looked angrily around. There was a minute of gloomy silence. Raskolnikov turned to go. "'Are you going already?' Porfiry said amiably, holding out his hand with excessive politeness. "'Very, very glad of your acquaintance. As for your request, have no uneasiness.

Starting point is 10:42:35 Right, just as I told you. Or, better still, come to me there yourself in a day or two. Tomorrow, indeed. I shall be there at eleven o'clock for some sort of. We'll arrange it all. We'll have a talk. As one of the last to be there, you might perhaps be able to tell us something,' he added with a most good-natured expression. "'You want to cross-examine me officially in due form?' Ruskalnikov asked sharply. "'Oh, why? That's not necessary for the present. You misunderstand me. I lose no opportunity,

Starting point is 10:43:12 you see, and—I've talked with all. all who had pledges. I obtained evidence from some of them, and you are the last." "'Yes, by the way,' he cried, seemingly suddenly delighted. "'I just remembered what was I thinking of.' He turned to Rezumian. "'You were talking my ears off about that Nikolai. Of course, I know I know very well.' He turned to Raskolnikov, that the fellow is innocent, but what is one to do?

Starting point is 10:43:39 We had to trouble Dmitri, too. This is the point. this is all. When you went up the stairs it was past seven, wasn't it?' "'Yes,' answered Ruskonikov, with an unpleasant sensation at the very moment he spoke that he need not have said it. Then, when you went upstairs between seven and eight, didn't you see in a flat that stood open on a second story, do you remember, two workmen, or at least one of them? They were painting there. Didn't you notice them? It's very, very important for them.'

Starting point is 10:44:13 "'No, I didn't see them.' Raskolnikov answered slowly, as though ransacking his memory, while at the same instant he was racking every nerve, almost swooning with anxiety to conjecture as quickly as possible where the trap lay and not to overlook anything. "'No, I didn't see them, and I don't think I noticed a flat like that open. But on the fourth story—' He had mastered the trap now and was triumphant.

Starting point is 10:44:41 I remember now that someone was moving out of the flat opposite Alyona Ivanovna's. I remember. I remember it clearly. Some porters were carrying out a sofa, and they squeezed me against the wall. But painters? No, I don't remember that there were any painters, and I don't think there was a flat open anywhere. No, there wasn't. What do you mean? Resumian shouted suddenly, as though he had reflected and realized. Why, it was on the day of the murder the painters were at work, and he was there three days before. What are you asking?'

Starting point is 10:45:18 "'Foo! I have muddled it,' Porfiry slapped himself on the forehead. "'Deuce take it. This business is turning my brain,' he addressed Ruskalnikov somewhat apologetically. "'It would be such a great thing for us to find out whether anyone had seen them between seven and eight at the flat, so I fancy you could, perhaps, have told us something. I quite muddled it. Then you should be more careful, Resumian observed grimly. The last words were uttered in the passage. Porfiry Petrovich saw them to the door with excessive

Starting point is 10:45:56 politeness. They went out into the street gloomy and sullen, and for some steps they did not say a word. Raskolnikov drew a deep breath. End of Part 3, Chapter 5. Part 3, Chapter 6 of Crime and punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 3, Chapter 6 I don't believe it, I can't believe it, repeated Razumian, trying in perplexity to refute Raskolnikov's arguments. They were by now approaching Bakaliev's lodgings, where Pocheria Alexandrovna and Donya,

Starting point is 10:46:48 had been expecting them a long while. Razumian kept stopping on the way in the heat of discussion, confused and excited by the very fact that they were for the first time speaking openly about it. Don't believe it then, answered Roskalnikov with a cold, careless smile. You were noticing nothing as usual, but I was weighing every word. You are suspicious. That is why you weighed their words. "'Hm—'

Starting point is 10:47:17 "'Certainly, I agree. "'Poorfiry's tone was rather strange, "'and still more that wretch Zamatov. "'You are right. "'There was something about him. "'But why? Why?' "'He has changed his mind since last night. "'Quite the contrary.

Starting point is 10:47:35 "'If they had that brainless idea, "'they would do their utmost to hide it "'and conceal their cards, "'so as to catch you afterwards. "'But it was all impudent and careless. If they had had facts, I mean real facts, or at least grounds for suspicion, then they would certainly have tried to hide their game, in the hope of getting more. They would have made a search long ago besides. But they have no facts, not one. It is all mirage, all ambiguous,

Starting point is 10:48:06 simply a floating idea. So they tried to throw me out by impudence. And perhaps he was irritated it at having no facts, and blurted it out in his vexation. Or perhaps he has some plan. He seems an intelligent man. Perhaps he wanted to frighten me by pretending to know. They have a psychology of their own, brother. But it is loathsome explaining it all. Stop. And it's insulting. Insulting! I understand you. But, since we have spoken openly now, and it is an excellent thing that we have at last, I'm glad. I will own now, frankly, that I noticed it in them long ago, this idea. Of course, the merest hint only, an insinuation. But why an insinuation even? How dare they?

Starting point is 10:48:58 What foundation have they? If only you knew how furious I have been. Think only. Simply because a poor student, unhinged by poverty and hypochondria, on the eve of a serious delirious illness, Note that. Suspicious, vain, proud, who has not seen a soul to speak to for six months, in rags and in boots without souls, has to face some wretched policeman and put up with their insolence. And the unexpected debt thrust under his nose, the IOU presented by Chebirov, the new paint, 30 degrees reamure, and a stifling atmosphere, a crowd of people that talk about the murder of a person where he had been just before, and all that on an empty stomach. He might well have a fainting fit.

Starting point is 10:49:44 And that, that is what they found it all on. Damn them! I understand how annoying it is, but in your place, Rodea, I would laugh at them, or, better still, spit in their ugly faces, and spit a dozen times in all directions. I'd hid out in all directions, neatly too, and so I'd put an end to it. Damn them! Don't be downhearted. It's a shame.

Starting point is 10:50:09 He really has put it well, though, Raskolnikov thought. Damn them? But the cross-examination again, tomorrow, he said with bitterness. Must I really enter into explanations with them? I feel vexed as it is that I condescended to speak to Zamatov yesterday in the restaurant. Damn it, I will go myself to Porphyry. I will squeeze it out of him, as one of the family. He must let me know the ins and hours.

Starting point is 10:50:39 of it all? And as for Zamatov— At last he seized through him, thought Ruskonikov. "'Stay!' cried Rezumian, seizing him by the shoulder again. "'Stay! You are wrong! I have thought it out. You are wrong. How was that a trap? You say that the question about the workman was a trap. But if you had done that, could you have said you had seen them painting the flat, and the workman? On the contrary, you would have seen nothing, even if you had seen it. Who would own it against himself? If I had done that thing, I should certainly have said that I had seen the workman and the

Starting point is 10:51:19 flat, Roskalnikov answered, with reluctance and obvious disgust. But why speak against yourself? Because only peasants or the most inexperienced novices deny everything flatly at examinations. If a man is ever so little developed and experienced, he will certainly try to be to admit all the external facts that can't be avoided, but will seek other explanations of them, will introduce some special, unexpected turn, that will give them another significance and put them in another light. Porfiry might well reckon that I should be sure to answer so, and say I had seen them

Starting point is 10:51:57 to give an air of truth, and then make some explanation. But he would have told you at once that the workman could not have been there two days before, and that therefore you must have been there on the day of the day of the time. of the murder at eight o'clock, and so he would have caught you over a detail. Yes, that is what he was reckoning on, that I should not have time to reflect, and should be in a hurry to make the most likely answer, and so would forget that the workman could not have been there two days before. But how could you forget it?

Starting point is 10:52:29 Nothing easier. It is in just such stupid things clever people are most easily caught. The more cunning a man is, the less he suspects he will be caught. caught in a simple thing. The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in. Porfiry is not such a fool as you think. He is a knave, then, if that is so. Voskalnikov could not help laughing. But at the very moment he was struck by the strangeness of his own frankness, and the eagerness with which he had made this explanation, though he had kept up all the preceding conversation with gloomy repulsion, obviously with a

Starting point is 10:53:08 motive from necessity. I am getting a relish for certain aspects, he thought to himself. But almost at the same instant, he became suddenly uneasy, as though an unexpected and alarming idea had occurred to him. His uneasiness kept on increasing. They had just reached the entrance to Bakalievs. Going alone, said Raskolnikov suddenly, I will be back directly. Where are you going? Why, we are just here. I can't. can't help it. I will come in half an hour. Tell them. Say what you like. I will come with you.

Starting point is 10:53:44 You too want to torture me!' he screamed with such bitter irritation, such despair in his eyes that Rezumian's hands dropped. He stood for some time on the steps, looking gloomily at Raskolnikov, striding rapidly away in the direction of his lodging. At last, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, he swore he would squeeze Porphyry like a lemon that very day, and we would went up the stairs to reassure Pulchiria Alexandrovna, who was by now alarmed at their long absence. When Ruskalnikov got home, his hair was soaked with sweat, and he was breathing heavily. He went rapidly up the stairs, walked into his unlocked room, and at once fastened the latch. Then, in senseless terror, he rushed to the corner, to that hole under the paper where he had

Starting point is 10:54:33 put the things. He put his hand in, and for some minutes felt carefully in the hole. in every crack and fold of the paper. Finding nothing, he got up and drew a deep breath. As he was reaching the steps of Bacolievs, he suddenly fancied that something, a chain, a stud, or even a bit of paper in which they had been wrapped with the old woman's handwriting on it, might somehow have slipped out and been lost in some crack, and then might suddenly turn up as unexpected, conclusive evidence against him. He stood as though lost in thought, and a strange, humiliated, half-senseless smile straight on his lips. He took his cap at last and went quietly out of the room. His ideas

Starting point is 10:55:16 were all tangled. He went dreamily through the gateway. "'Here he is himself!' shouted a loud voice. He raised his head. The porter was standing at the door of his little room and was pointing him out to a short man who looked like an artisan, long coat and a waistcoat, and looking at a distance remarkably like a woman. He stooped, and his head in a greasy cap hung forward. From his wrinkled flabby face, he looked over fifty. His little eyes were lost in fat, and they looked out grimly, sternly, and disconnectedly. "'What is it?'

Starting point is 10:55:54 Asconikov asked, going up to the porter. The man stole a look at him from under his brows, and he looked at him attentively, deliberately. Then he turned slowly and went out of the gate into the street without saying a word. "'What is it?' cried Raskolnikov. "'Why, he there was asking whether a student lived here, mentioned your name and whom you lodged with. I saw you coming and pointed you out and he went away. It's funny.' The porter, too, seemed rather puzzled, but not much so, and after wondering for a moment, he turned and went back to his room.

Starting point is 10:56:30 Raskolnikov ran after the stranger, and at once caught sight of him walking along the other side of the street with the same even deliberate step, with his eyes fixed on the ground, as though in meditation. He soon overtook him, but for some time walked behind him. At last, moving on to a level with him, he looked at his face. The man noticed him at once, looked at him quickly, but dropped his eyes again, and so they walked for a minute side by side without uttering a word. "'You were inquiring for me, of the porter?' Raskolnikov said at last, but in a curiously quiet voice. The man made no answer. He didn't even look at him. Again, they were both silent. "'Why do you? Come and ask for me,

Starting point is 10:57:19 and say nothing. What's the meaning of it?' Ruskalnikov's voice broke, and he seemed unable to articulate the words clearly. The man raised his eyes this time, and turned a gloomy, sinister look at Ruskalnikov. "'Mur!' he said suddenly, in a quiet but clear and distinct voice. Raskolnikov went on walking beside him. His legs felt suddenly weak. A cold shiver ran down his spine, and his heart seemed to stand still for a moment, then suddenly began throbbing as though it were set free. So they walked for about a hundred paces, side by side in silence. The man did not look at him.

Starting point is 10:58:01 What do you mean? What is? Who is a murderer? muttered Ruskalnikov hardly audibly. You are a murderer. The man answered still more articulately and emphatically, with a smile of triumphant hatred, and again he looked straight into Ruskanikov's pale face and stricken eyes. They had just reached the crossroads.

Starting point is 10:58:24 The man turned to the left without looking behind him. Raskolnikov remained standing, gazing after him. He saw him turn round fifty paces away and look back at him, still standing there. Raskolnikov could not see clearly, but he fancied that he was again smiling the same smile of cold hatred and triumph. With slow, faltering steps, with shaking knees, Raskolnikov made his way back to his little Garrett, feeling chilled all over. He took off his cap and put it on the table, and for ten minutes he stood.

Starting point is 10:58:57 stood without moving. Then he sank exhausted on the sofa, and with a weak moan of pain he stretched himself on it. So he lay for half an hour. He thought of nothing. Some thoughts or fragments of thoughts, some images without order or coherence, floated before his mind, faces of people he had seen in his childhood, or met somewhere once, whom he would never have recalled, the belfry of the church at V, the billiard table in a restaurant, and some officers playing billiards, the smell of cigars in some underground tobacco shop, a tavern room, a back staircase quite dark, all sloppy with dirty water and strewn with eggshells, and the Sunday bells floating in from somewhere. The images followed one another, whirling like a

Starting point is 10:59:45 hurricane. Some of them he liked and tried to clutch at, but they faded, and all the while there was an oppression within him, but it was not overwhelming. Sometimes it was even pleasant. The slight shivering still persisted, but that too was an almost pleasant sensation. He heard the hurried footsteps of Razumian. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. Razumian opened the door and stood for some time in the doorway, as though hesitating. Then he stepped softly into the room and went cautiously to the sofa. Ruskolnikov heard Nastassia's whisper, Don't disturb him. Let him sleep. He can have his dinner later."

Starting point is 11:00:25 Quite so, answered Rezumian. Both withdrew carefully and closed the door. Another half-hour passed. Raskolnikov opened his eyes, turned on his back again, clasping his hands behind his head. "'Who is he? Who is that man who sprang out of the earth? Where was he? What did he see? He has seen it all. That's clear. But where was he then? And from where did he see? Why has he only now sprung out of the earth?

Starting point is 11:00:57 And how could he see? Is it possible? Hmm, continued Ruskalnikov, turning cold and shivering. And the jewel-case Nikolai found behind the door. Was that possible? A clue? You miss an infinitesimal line and you can build it into a pyramid of evidence. A fly flew by and saw it.

Starting point is 11:01:20 Is it possible?" He felt with sudden loathing how weak, how physically weak he had become. I ought to have known it, he thought with a bitter smile. And how dared I, knowing myself, knowing how I should be, take up an axe and shed blood? I ought to have known beforehand. Ah, but I did know, he whispered in despair. At times he came to a standstill at some thought. No, those men are not made so. The real master, to whom all is permitted, storms Toulon,

Starting point is 11:01:56 makes a massacre in Paris, forgets an army in Egypt, wastes half a million men in the Moscow expedition, and gets off with a jest at Vilna. And altars are set up to him after his death, and so all is permitted. No, such people, it seems, are not of flesh, but of bronze. One sudden, irrelevant idea almost made him laugh. Napoleon, the pyramids, Waterloo, and a wretched, skinny old woman, a pawnbroker with a red trunk under her bed. It's a nice hash for Porfiry Petrovich to digest. How can they digest it?

Starting point is 11:02:34 It's too inartistic. A Napoleon creep under an old woman's bed. Ugh! How loathsome! At moments he felt he was a little bit of a lotistic. he felt he was raving. He sank into a state of feverish excitement. The old woman is of no consequence, he thought hotly and incoherently. The old woman was a mistake, perhaps, but she is not what matters. The old woman was only

Starting point is 11:03:00 an illness. I was in a hurry to overstep. I didn't kill a human being, but a principal. I killed the principal, but I didn't overstep. I stopped on this side. I was only capable of killing. And it seems I wasn't even capable of that. Principal? Why was that fool resuming in abusing the Socialists? They are industrious, commercial people. The happiness of all is their case.

Starting point is 11:03:27 No, life has only given to me once and I shall never have it again. I don't want to wait for the happiness of all. I want to live myself, or else better not live at all. I simply couldn't pass by my mother starving, keeping my rubble in my pocket. while I waited for the happiness of all. I am putting my little brick into the happiness of all, and so my heart is at peace. Ha ha! Why have you let me slip? I only live once. I too want—' "'Egh! I am an aesthetic louse, and nothing more!' he added suddenly, laughing like a madman. "'Yes, I am certainly a louse,' he went on, clutching at the idea,

Starting point is 11:04:12 gloating over it and playing with it with a vindictive pleasure. In the first place, because I can reason that I am one, and secondly, because, for a month past, I have been troubling benevolent providence, calling it to witness that, not for my own fleshly lust did I undertake it, but with a grand and noble object, ha, ha. Thirdly, because I aimed at carrying it out as justly as possible, weighing, measuring, and calculating.

Starting point is 11:04:40 Of all the lice I picked out the most useless one, and proposed to take from her only as much as I needed for the first step, no more, no less, so the rest would have gone to a monastery, according to her will. And what shows that I am utterly a louse, he added, grinding his teeth, is that I am perhaps viler and more loathsome than the louse I killed, and I felt beforehand that I should tell myself so, after killing her. Can anything be compared with the horror of that? The vulgarity, the abjectness.

Starting point is 11:05:16 I understand the prophet with his saber on his steed. Allah commands and trembling creation must obey. The prophet is right. He is right when he sets a battery across the street and blows up the innocent and the guilty without deigning to explain. It's for you to obey, trembling creation, and not to have desires, for that's not for you. I shall never, never forgive the old woman.

Starting point is 11:05:43 His hair was soaked with sweat, his quivering lips were parched, his eyes were fixed on the ceiling. Mother, sister, how I loved them. Why do I hate them now? Yes, I hate them. I feel a physical hatred for them. I can't bear them near me. I went up to my mother and kissed her. I remember. to embrace her and think if she only knew. Shall I tell her then? That's just what I might do. She must be the same as I am,' he added, straining himself to think as it were struggling with delirium.

Starting point is 11:06:22 Ah, how I hate the old woman now! I feel I should kill her again if she came to life. Poor Lizavetta! Why did she come in? It's strange, though. Why is it I scarcely ever think? think of her, as though I hadn't killed her. Lizavetta, Sonia, poor gentle things with gentle eyes. Dear women, why don't they weep? Why don't they moan? They give up everything.

Starting point is 11:06:51 Their eyes are soft and gentle. Sonia, Sonia, gentle Sonia. He lost consciousness. It seemed strange to him that he didn't remember how he got into the street. It was late evening. The Twilight had fallen, and the full moon was shining more and more brightly. But there was a peculiar breathlessness in the air. There were crowds of people in the street. Workmen and business people were making their way home. Other people had come out for a walk. There was a smell of mortar, dust, and stagnant water.

Starting point is 11:07:24 Raskolnikov walked along, mournful and anxious. He was distinctly aware of having come out with a purpose, of having to do something in a hurry. But what it was he had for example. forgotten. Suddenly he stood still and saw a man standing on the other side of the street beckoning to him. He crossed over to him, but at once the man turned and walked away with his head hanging, as though he had made no sign to him. "'Stay! Did he really beckon?' Raskolnikov wondered, but he tried to overtake him. When he was within ten paces,

Starting point is 11:07:59 he recognized him and was frightened. It was the same man with stooping shoulders in the long coat. Raskolnikov followed him at a distance. His heart was beating. They went down a turning. The man still did not look round. "'Does he know why I am following him?' thought Raskolnikov. The man went into the gateway of a big house. Roskolnikov hastened to the gate and looked in to see whether he would look round and sign to him. In the courtyard the man did turn round and again seemed to beckon him. Roskalnikov at once followed him into the yard, but the man was gone.

Starting point is 11:08:37 He must have gone up the first staircase. Raskolnikov rushed after him. He heard slow, measured steps two flights above. The staircase seemed strangely familiar. He reached the window on the first floor. The moon shone through the panes with a melancholy and mysterious light. Then he reached the second floor. Bah, this is the flat where the painters were at work.

Starting point is 11:09:00 But how was it he did not recognize it at once? The steps of the man above had died away. So he must have stopped or hidden somewhere. He reached the third story. Should he go on? There was a stillness that was dreadful. But he went on. The sound of his own footsteps scared and frightened him.

Starting point is 11:09:22 How dark it was! The man must be hiding in some corner here. Ah, the flat was standing wide open. He hesitated and wretched. went in. It was very dark and empty in the passage, as though everything had been removed. He crept on tiptoe into the parlor, which was flooded with moonlight. Everything there was as before, the chairs, the looking-glass, the yellow sofa, and the pictures in the frames. A huge, round, copper-red moon looked in at the windows. It's the moon that makes it so still,

Starting point is 11:09:56 weaving some mystery, thought Ruskalnikov. He said, he said, stood and waited, waited a long while, and the more silent the moonlight, the more violently his heartbeat, till it was painful, and still the same hush. Suddenly he heard a momentary sharp crack like the snapping of a splinter and all was still again. A fly flew up suddenly and struck the window-pane with a plaintive buzz. At that moment he noticed in the corner between the window and the little cupboard something like a cloak hanging on the wall. Why is that cloak here? He thought.

Starting point is 11:10:33 It wasn't there before. He went up to it quietly and felt that there was someone hiding behind it. He cautiously moved the cloak and saw, sitting on a chair in the corner, the old woman bent double so that he couldn't see her face. But it was she. He stood over her. She is afraid, he thought. He stealthily took the axe from the noose and struck her one blow, than another on the skull. But strange to say, she did not stir, as though she were made of wood.

Starting point is 11:11:05 He was frightened, bent down nearer and tried to look at her, but she too bent her head lower. He bent right down to the ground and peeped up into her face from below. He peeped and turned cold with horror. The old woman was sitting and laughing, shaking with noiseless laughter, doing her utmost that he should not hear it. Suddenly he felt. He found out of it. He felt fancied that the door from the bedroom was opened a little, and that there was laughter and whispering within. He was overcome with frenzy, and he began hitting the old woman on the head with all his force. But at every blow of the axe the laughter and whispering from the bedroom grew louder, and the old woman was simply shaking with mirth. He was rushing away, but the passage

Starting point is 11:11:49 was full of people. The doors of the flat stood open, and on the landing, on the stairs, and everywhere below there were people, rows of heads, all loll of heads, all loll of people, looking, but huddled together in silence and expectation. Something gripped his heart. His legs were rooted to the spot. They would not move. He tried to scream and woke up. He drew a deep breath, but his dream seemed strangely to persist. His door was flung open, and a man whom he had never seen stood in the doorway watching him intently. Roskolnikov had hardly opened his eyes, and he instantly closed them again. He lay on his back

Starting point is 11:12:27 without stirring. Is it still a dream? He wondered and again raised his eyelids hardly perceptibly. The stranger was standing in the same place, still watching him. He stepped cautiously into the room, carefully closing the door after him. He went up to the table, paused a moment, still keeping his eyes on Ruskalnikov, and, noiselessly seated himself on the chair by the sofa. He put his hat on the floor beside him, and leaned his hands on his cane and his

Starting point is 11:12:57 chin on his hands. It was evident that he was prepared to wait indefinitely. As far as Raskolnikov could make out from his stolen glances, he was a man no longer young, stout, with a full, fair, almost whitish beard. Ten minutes passed. It was still light, but beginning to get dusk. There was complete stillness in the room. Not a sound came from the stairs. Only a big fly buzzed and fluttered against the window-pane. It was unlawfulness. unbearable at last. Raskolnikov suddenly got up and sat on the sofa. Come, tell me what you want. I knew you were not asleep, but only pretending, the stranger answered oddly, laughing calmly.

Starting point is 11:13:43 Arkady Ivanovich, Sridra Gailov, allow me to introduce myself. End of Part 3, Chapter 6. Part 4, Chapter 1 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 4, Chapter 1 Can this be still a dream? Ruskalnikov thought once more.

Starting point is 11:14:20 He looked carefully and suspiciously at the unexpected visitor. Svidra Gailov! What nonsense! It can't be! He said at last, aloud in bewilderment. His visitor did not seem at all surprised. at this exclamation. I've come to you for two reasons. In the first place, I wanted to make your personal acquaintance,

Starting point is 11:14:42 as I have already heard a great deal about you that is interesting and flattering. Secondly, I cherish the hope that you may not refuse to assist me in a matter directly concerning the welfare of your sister, Avdotya Romanovna. For without your support, she might not let me come near her now, for she is prejudiced against me, but with your service, assistance, I reckon on—' You reckon wrongly,' interrupted Ruskalnikov. They only arrived yesterday, may I ask you? Ruskalnikov made no reply.

Starting point is 11:15:16 It was yesterday, I know. I only arrived myself the day before. Well, let me tell you this, Rodion Romanovitch. I don't consider it necessary to justify myself, but kindly tell me what was there particularly criminal on my part in all this business? speaking without prejudice, with common sense. Roskolnakov continued to look at him in silence. That in my own house, I persecuted a defenseless girl and insulted her with my infamous proposals. Is that it?

Starting point is 11:15:50 I am anticipating you. But you've only to assume that I, too, am a man at Neil Humannum, in a word that I am capable of being attracted and falling in love, which does not depend on our will. Then everything can be explained in the most natural manner. The question is, am I a monster, or am I myself a victim? And what if I am a victim? In proposing to the object of my passion to elope with me to America or Switzerland,

Starting point is 11:16:19 I may have cherished the deepest respect for her and may have thought that I was promoting our mutual happiness. Reason is the slave of passion, you know. Why, probably, I was doing more harm to myself than anyone. But that's not the point, Voskalnikov interrupted with disgust. It's simply that whether you are right or wrong, we dislike you. We don't want to have anything to do with you. We show you the door. Get out. Svidra Gailov broke into a sudden laugh. But you're—there's no getting round you, he said, laughing in the frankest way.

Starting point is 11:16:58 I hope to get round you, but you took up the right line at once. But you are trying to get round me still. What of it? What of it? cried Friedrichailov, laughing openly. But this is what the French call Bon Guère, and the most innocent form of deception. But still you have interrupted me. One way or another, I repeat again.

Starting point is 11:17:22 There would never have been any unpleasantness except for what happened in the garden. Marfa Petrovna. You have got rid of Marfa Petrovna too, so they say. Raskolnikov interrupted rudely. "'Oh, you've heard that, too, then. You'd be sure to, though. But as for your question, I really don't know what to say,

Starting point is 11:17:42 though my own conscience is quite at rest on that score. Don't suppose that I am in any apprehension about it. All was regular and in order. The medical inquiry diagnosed apoplexy due to bathing immediately after a heavy dinner and a bottle of wine, and indeed it could have proved nothing else. But I'll tell you what I have been thinking to myself of late, on my way here in the train, especially, didn't I contribute to all that calamity, morally in a way, by irritation or something of the sort?

Starting point is 11:18:16 But I came to the conclusion that that, too, was quite out of the question. Raskolnikov laughed. I wonder you trouble yourself about it. But what are you laughing at? Only consider, I struck her just twice with a switch. There were no marks even. Don't regard me as a cynic, please. I am perfectly aware how atrocious it was of me and all that.

Starting point is 11:18:40 But I know for certain, too, that Marfa Petrovna was very pleased at my, so to say, warmth. The story of your sister had been rung out to the last drop. For the last three days, Marfa Petrovna had been forced to sit at home. She had nothing to show herself within the town. Besides, she had bored them, so with that letter. you heard about her reading the letter, and all of a sudden those two switches fell from heaven.

Starting point is 11:19:07 Her first act was to order the carriage to be got out. Not to speak of the fact that there are cases when women are very, very glad to be insulted in spite of all their show of indignation. There are instances of it with everyone. Human beings in general, indeed, greatly love to be insulted. Have you noticed that? But it's particularly so with women. One might even say it's their only amusement.

Starting point is 11:19:33 At one time, Ruskalnikov thought of getting up and walking out and so finishing the interview, but some curiosity and even a sort of prudence made him linger for a moment. You are fond of fighting? he asked carelessly. No, not very, Svidra Gylov answered calmly. And Marfa Petrovna and I scarcely ever fought. We lived very harmoniously, and she was, was always pleased with me. I only used the whip twice in all our seven years, not counting a third occasion of a very ambiguous character. The first time, two months after our marriage,

Starting point is 11:20:10 immediately after we arrived in the country, and the last time was that of which we are speaking. Did you suppose I was such a monster, such a reactionary, such a slave driver? Ha-ha! By the way, do you remember, Rodian Romanovitch, how a few years ago, in those days of beneficent publicity. A nobleman, I've forgotten his name, was put to shame everywhere, in all the papers, for having thrashed a German woman in the railway train. You remember? It was in those days, that very year, I believe, the disgraceful action of the age took place. You know, the Egyptian knights, that public reading, you remember. The dark eyes, you know. Ah, the golden days of our youth, where are they? Well, as for the gentleman who thrashed the German,

Starting point is 11:20:58 I feel no sympathy with him, because, after all, what need is there for sympathy. But I must say that there are sometimes such provoking Germans that I don't believe there is a progressive who could quite answer for himself. No one looked at the subject from that point of view, then, but that's the truly humane point of view, I assure you." After saying this, Svidrigailov broke into a sudden laugh again. Raskolnikov saw clearly that this was a man with a firm purpose in his mind. and able to keep to himself.

Starting point is 11:21:31 "'I expect you've not talked to anyone for some days,' he asked. "'Scarcely anyone. "'I suppose you are wondering at my being such an adaptable man.' "'No, I am only wondering at your being too adaptable a man.' "'Because I am not offended at the rudeness of your questions? Is that it? But why take offense?' "'As you asked, so I answered,' he replied,

Starting point is 11:21:54 with a surprising expression of simplicity. You know, there's hardly anything I take interest in. He went on, as it were dreamily. Especially now, I have nothing to do. You are quite at liberty to imagine, though, that I am making up to you with a motive, particularly, as I told you I want to see your sister about something. But I'll confess, frankly, I am very much bored. The last three days especially, so I am delighted to see you.

Starting point is 11:22:24 Don't be angry, Rodion Romanovitch. But you seem to be somehow awfully strange yourself. Say what you like, there's something wrong with you. And now, too. Not this very minute, I mean, but now generally. Well, well, I won't, I won't, don't scow. I am not such a bear, you know, as you think. Raskolnikov looked gloomily at him.

Starting point is 11:22:48 You are not a bear perhaps at all, he said. I fancy indeed that you are a man of very good breeding, or at least know how on occasion to behave like one. I am not particularly interested in anyone's opinion, Svidrigailov answered dryly, and even with a shade of haughtiness. And therefore, why not be vulgar at times when vulgarity is such a convenient cloak for our climate, and especially if one has a natural propensity that way? He added laughing again.

Starting point is 11:23:19 But I've heard you have many friends here. You are, as they say, not without connections. What can you want with me, then, unless you have some special object?' "'That's true that I have friends here,' Svidrigailov admitted, not replying to the chief point. "'I've met some already. I've been lounging about for the last three days, and I've seen them or they've seen me. That's a matter of course.

Starting point is 11:23:45 I am well-dressed and reckoned not a poor man. The emancipation of the serfs hasn't affected me. My property consists chiefly of forests and water meadows. The revenue has not fallen off. But I am not going to see them. I was sick of them long ago. I've been here three days and have called on no one. What a town it is!

Starting point is 11:24:07 How has it come into existence among us? Tell me that! A town of officials and students of all sorts! Yes, there's a great deal I didn't notice when I was here eight years ago, kicking up my heels. My only hope now is in Anatomy, by Jove it is... Anatomy! But as for these clubs, Dousseau's, parades, or progress, indeed, maybe... Well, all that can go on without me.

Starting point is 11:24:35 He went on again without noticing the question. Besides, who wants to be a card-sharper? Why? Have you been a card-sharper, then? How could I help being? There was a regular set of us, men of the best society. Eight years ago. We had a fine time. And all men of breeding, you know, poets, men of property. And indeed, as a rule in our Russian society, the best manners are found among those who have been thrashed. Have you noticed that? I've deteriorated in the country. But I did get into prison for

Starting point is 11:25:09 debt, through a low Greek who came from Nesian. Then Marfa Petrovna turned up. She bargained with him and bought me off her thirty thousand silver pieces. I owed it. 70,000. We were united in lawful wedlock, and she bore me off into the country like a treasure. You know she was five years older than I. She was very fond of me. For seven years I never left the country. And, take note, that all my life she held a document over me, the IOU for $30,000 rubles, so if I were to elect to be restive about anything, I should be trapped at once. And she would have done it. Women find nothing incompatible in this. that. If it hadn't been for that, would you have given her the slip? I don't know what to say.

Starting point is 11:25:57 It was scarcely the document restrained me. I didn't want to go anywhere else. Marfa Petrovna herself invited me to go abroad, seeing I was bored, but I've been abroad before and always felt sick there. For no reason but the sunrise, the Bay of Naples, the sea, you look at them and it makes you sad. What's most revolting is that one is really sad. No, it's better at home. Here at least one blames others for everything and excuses oneself. I should have gone perhaps on an expedition to the North Pole, because I la vaudeau ma'é and hate drinking, and there's nothing left but wine. I have tried it. But I say, I've been told Old Berg is going up in a Great Balloon next Sunday from the Yusufov Garden, and we'll take up passengers at a fee.

Starting point is 11:26:50 Is it true? Why? Would you go up? I—no, no, oh no, muttered Svidrigailov, really seeming to be deep in thought. What does he mean? Is he in earnest? Roskalnikov wondered. No, the document didn't restrain me.

Starting point is 11:27:09 Svidra Gailov went on meditatively. It was my own doing, not leaving the country. And nearly a year ago, Marfa Batrovna gave me back the document on my name-day, and made me a present of a considerable sum of money, too. She had a fortune, you know. You see how I trust you, Arkady Ivanovich? That was actually her expression. You don't believe she used it? But do you know I managed the estate quite decently? They know me in the neighborhood. I ordered books, too. Marfa Batrovna at first approved, but afterwards she was afraid of my over-studying.

Starting point is 11:27:47 You seem to be missing Marfa Petrovna very much. Missing her? Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps I am. And, by the way, do you believe in ghosts? What ghosts? Why, ordinary ghosts. Do you believe in them? Perhaps not, poor Voupleur. I wouldn't say so exactly. Do you see them, then? Svidrigaillev looked at him, rather oddly.

Starting point is 11:28:13 "'Marfa Petrovna is pleased to visit me,' he said, twisting his mouth into a strange smile. "'How do you mean she is pleased to visit you?' She has been three times. I saw her first on the very day of the funeral, an hour after she was buried. It was the day before I'd left to come here. The second time was the day before yesterday, at daybreak, on the journey at the station of Malaya Vichera, and the third time was two hours ago in the room

Starting point is 11:28:42 where I am staying. I was alone. Were you awake? Quite awake. I was wide awake every time. She comes, speaks to me for a minute, and goes out at the door, always at the door. I can almost hear her. What made me think that something of the sort must be happening to you? Voskalnikov said suddenly. At the same moment he was surprised at having said it. He was much excited. "'What? Did you think so?' Svidriga. Milov asked in astonishment, "'Did you really? Didn't I say that there was something in common between us, eh?' "'You never said so,' Ruskalnikov cried sharply and with heat.

Starting point is 11:29:23 "'Didn't I? No.' I thought I did. When I came in and saw you lying with your eyes shut, pretending, I said to myself at once, "'Here's the man.' "'What do you mean by the man? What are you talking about?' cried Ruskalnikov. What do I mean? I really don't know." Svidrigailov muttered ingenuously, as though he too were puzzled. For a minute they were silent.

Starting point is 11:29:51 They stared in each other's faces. That's all nonsense, Raskolnikov shouted with vexation. What does she say when she comes to you? She, would you believe it, she talks of the silliest trifles and Man is a strange creature, it makes me angry. The first time she came in—I was tired, you know, the funeral service, the funeral ceremony, the lunch afterwards. At last I was left alone in my study. I'd lighted a cigar and began to think. She came in at the door. You've been so busy today, Arcadia Ivanovich, you have forgotten

Starting point is 11:30:28 to wind the dining-room clock, she said. All those seven years I've wound that clock every week, and if I forgot it, she would always remind me. The next day I set off on my luncheon way here. I gout out at the station at daybreak. I'd been asleep, tired out, with my eyes half open. I was drinking some coffee. I looked up, and there was suddenly Marfa Petrovna sitting beside me with a pack of cards in her hands. Shall I tell you your fortune for the journey, Arkady Ivanovitch? She was a great hand at telling fortunes. I shall never forgive myself for not asking her to. I ran away in a fright, and besides, the bell rang. I was sitting today, feeling very heavy after a miserable dinner from a cook-shop.

Starting point is 11:31:15 I was sitting smoking. All of a sudden, Marfa Petrovna again. She came in very smart in a new green silk dress with a long train. Good day, Arkady Ivanovitch. How do you like my dress? Aniska can't make like this. Aniska was a dressmaker in the country, one of our former surf girls who had been trained in Moscow, a pretty wench. She stood turning round. before me. I looked at the dress, and then I looked carefully, very carefully at her face. "'I wonder you troubled to come to me about such trifles, Marfa Petrovna.' "'Good gracious, you won't let one disturb you about anything.' To tease her, I said, "'I want to get married, Marfa Petrovna.'

Starting point is 11:31:59 "'That's just like you, Arcadia Ivanovitch. It does you very little credit to come looking for a bride when you've hardly buried your wife. And if you could make a good choice, choice at least, but I know it won't be for your happiness or hers. You will only be a laughing stock to all good people." Then she went out and her trains seemed to rustle. "'Isn't it, nonsense, eh?' "'But perhaps you are telling lies,' Roskalnikov put in. "'I rarely lie,' answered Svidrigailov thoughtfully, apparently not noticing the rudeness of the question.

Starting point is 11:32:36 "'And in the past, have you ever seen ghosts before?' Yes, I have seen them, but only once in my life six years ago. I had a serf, Filka. Just after his burial I called out forgetting, Filka, my pipe! He came in and went to the cupboard where my pipes were. I sat still and thought, He is doing it out of revenge, because we had a violent quarrel just before his death. How dare you come in with a hole in your elbow, I said.

Starting point is 11:33:07 Go away, you scamp! He turned and went out, and never came again. I didn't tell Marfa Petrovna at the time. I wanted to have a service sung for him, but I was ashamed. You should go to a doctor. I know I am not well, without your telling me, though I don't know what's wrong. I believe I am five times as strong as you are. I didn't ask you whether you believe that ghosts are seen,

Starting point is 11:33:33 but whether you believe that they exist. No, I won't believe. Leave it," Raskolnikov cried with positive anger. "'What do people generally say?' muttered Svidrigailov as though speaking to himself, looking aside and bowing his head. They say, you are ill, so what appears to you is only unreal fantasy. But that's not strictly logical. I agree that ghosts only appear to the sick, but that only proves that they are unable to appear except to the sick, not that they don't exist. Nothing of the sort, Roskolnikov insisted irritably.

Starting point is 11:34:10 No, you don't think so? Svidrigailov went on, looking at him deliberately. But what do you say to this argument? Help me with it. Ghosts are, as it were, shreds and fragments of other worlds, the beginning of them. A man in health has, of course, no reason to see them, because he is above all a man of this earth and is bound for the sake of completeness and order to live only in this. this life. But as soon as one is ill, as soon as the normal earthly order of the organism is broken, one begins to realize the possibility of another world, and the more seriously ill one is, the closer becomes one's contact with that other world, so that as soon as the man dies,

Starting point is 11:34:51 he steps straight into that world. I thought of that long ago. If you believe in a future life, you could believe in that, too. I don't believe in a future life, said Ruskalnikov. Gailov sat lost in thought. "'And what if there are only spiders there, or something of that sort?' He said suddenly. "'He is a madman,' thought Raskolnikov. "'We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast, vast. But why must it be vast?

Starting point is 11:35:26 Instead of all that, what if it's one little room, like a bathhouse in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that's all eternity is. I sometimes fancy it like that. Can it be you can imagine nothing juster and more comforting than that?' Ruskalnikov cried with a feeling of anguish. "'Juster? And how can we tell, perhaps, that it is just? And do you know it's what I would certainly have made it?' answered Svidrigailov with a vague smile. This horrible answer sent a cold chill through Ruskalnikov. Svidrigailov raised his head, looked at him, and suddenly began laughing. "'Only think,' he cried,

Starting point is 11:36:07 "'half an hour ago, we had never seen each other. We regarded each other as enemies. There is a matter unsettled between us. We've thrown it aside, and away we've gone into the abstract. Wasn't I right in saying that we were birds of a feather?' "'Kindly allow me,' Ruskalnikov went on irritably, to ask you to explain why you have honored me with your visit, and—and I am in a hurry. I have no time to waste. I want to go out.

Starting point is 11:36:35 By all means, by all means. Your sister, Avdotya Romanovna, is going to be married to Mr. Luzhen, Pietar Petrovich. Can you refrain from any question about my sister and from mentioning her name? I can't understand how you dare utter her name in my presence, if you really are Svidra Gailov. Why, but I've come here to speak about her. How can I avoid mentioning her? Very good, speak, but make haste. I am sure that you must have formed your own opinion of this Mr. Luzon, who is a connection of mine through my wife, if you have only seen him for half an hour or heard any facts about him. He is no match for Avdotya Romanovna. I believe Avdotya Romanovna is sacrificing herself generously and imprudently for the same.

Starting point is 11:37:24 sake of—for the sake of her family. I fancy from all I had heard of you that you would be very glad if the match could be broken off without the sacrifice of worldly advantages. Now I know you personally, I am convinced of it. All this is very naive, excuse me, I should have said impruded on your part, said Ruskalnikov. You mean to say that I am seeking my own ends? Don't be uneasy, Rodion Romanovitch. If I were working for my own advantage, I would not have spoken out so directly. I am not quite a fool. I will confess something psychologically curious about that. Just now, defending my love for Avdotya Romanovna, I said I was myself the victim. Well, let me tell you that I have no feeling of love now,

Starting point is 11:38:11 not the slightest, so that I wonder myself indeed, for I really did feel something. Through idleness and depravity, Roskalnikov put in, I certainly am idle and depraved, but your sister has such qualities that even I could not help being impressed by them. But that's all nonsense, as I see myself now. Have you seen that long? I began to be aware of it before, but was only perfectly sure of it the day before yesterday, almost at the moment I arrived in Petersburg.

Starting point is 11:38:44 I still fancied in Moscow, though, that I was coming to try to get Avadotya Romanovna's hand and to cut out misdilusion. Excuse me for interrupting you, kindly be brief, and come to the object of your visit. I am in a hurry. I want to go out. With the greatest pleasure. On arriving here and determining on a certain journey, I should like to make some necessary preliminary arrangements. I left my children with an aunt. They are well provided for, and they have no need of me personally. And a nice father I should make, too.

Starting point is 11:39:18 I have taken nothing but what Marfa Petrovna gave me a year ago. That's enough for me. Excuse me, I am just coming to the point. Before the journey, which may come off, I went to settle Mr. Lusion, too. It's not that I detest him so much, but it was through him I quarrelled with Marfa Petrovna when I learned that she had dished up this marriage. I want now to see Avdotya Romanovna through your mediation, and, if you like, in your presence, to explain to her that, in the first place, she will never gain anything but harm from Mr. Lusion.

Starting point is 11:39:53 Then, begging her pardon for all past unpleasantness, to make her a present of ten thousand roubles, and so assist the rupture with Mr. Lusion, a rupture to which I believe she is herself not disinclined, if she could see the way to it. "'You are certainly mad,' cried Raskolnikov, not so much angered as astonished. How dare you talk like that? I knew you would scream at me. But in the first place, though I am not rich, this ten thousand roubles is perfectly free. I have absolutely no need for it.

Starting point is 11:40:28 If Avdotya Romanovna does not accept it, I shall waste it in some more foolish way. That's the first thing. Secondly, my conscience is perfectly easy. I make the offer with no ulterior motive. You may not believe it, but in the end, Avdotya Romanovna and you will know. The point is that I did actually cause your sister, whom I greatly respect some trouble and unpleasantness.

Starting point is 11:40:54 And so, sincerely regretting it, I want, not to compensate, not to repay her for the unpleasantness, but simply to do something to her advantage, to show that I am not, after all, privileged to do nothing but harm. If there were a millionth fraction of self-interest in my offer, I should not have made it so openly, and I should not have offered her ten thousand only, when five weeks ago I offered her more. Besides, I may, perhaps, very soon, marry a young lady, and that alone ought to prevent suspicion of any design on a Dotya Romanovna.

Starting point is 11:41:30 In conclusion, let me say that in marrying Miss Illusion she is taking money just the same, only from another man. Don't be angry, Rodia and Romanovitch. Think it over coolly and quietly. Svidrigailov himself was exceedingly cool and quiet as he was saying this. I beg you to say no more, said Raskolnikov. In any case, this is unpardonable impertinence. Not in the least.

Starting point is 11:41:57 Then a man may do nothing but harm to his neighbor in this world, and is prevented from doing the tiniest bit of good by trivial conventional formalities. That's absurd. If I died, for instance, and left that sum to your sister in my will, surely she wouldn't refuse it. Very likely she would. Oh, no, indeed. However, if you refuse it, so be it, though ten thousand roubles is a capital thing to have on occasion. In any case, I beg you to repeat what I have said to Avdotya Romanovna. No, I won't. In that case, Rodion Romanovich, I shall be obliged to try and see her myself and worry her by doing so. And if I do tell her,

Starting point is 11:42:40 Will you not try to see her?" I don't know really what to say. I should very much like to see her once more. Don't hope for it. I'm sorry, but you don't know me. Perhaps we may become better friends. You think we may become friends? And why not?

Starting point is 11:42:59 Svidrigailov said, smiling. He stood up and took his hat. I didn't quite intend to disturb you, and I came here without reckoning on it, though I was very much struck by you. your face this morning. Where did you see me this morning? Russ Kalnikov asked uneasily.

Starting point is 11:43:17 I saw you by chance. I kept fancying there is something about you like me. But don't be uneasy. I am not intrusive. I used to get on all right with card-sharpers, and I never bored Prince Zverbe, a great personage who is a distant relation of mine, and I could write about Raphael's Madonna

Starting point is 11:43:36 in Madame Prilikov's album, and I never left Marfa Petrovna's album. and I never left Marfa Petrovna aside for seven years, and I used to stay the night at Viazemsky's house in the Haymarket in the old days, and I may go up in a balloon with Berg, perhaps. Oh, all right. Are you starting soon on your travels, may I ask? What travels? Why, on that journey you spoke of it yourself? A journey? Oh, yes, I did speak of a journey. Well, that's a wide subject. If only you knew what you were asking, he added and gave a sudden, loud, short laugh.

Starting point is 11:44:10 "'Perhaps I'll get married instead of the journey. They're making a match for me.' "'Here?' "'Yes.' "'How have you had time for that?' "'But I am very anxious to see Avdotya Romanovna once. I earnestly beg it. Well, good-bye for the present.

Starting point is 11:44:27 Oh, yes, I've forgotten something. Tell your sister, Rodion Romanovitch, that Marfa Petrovna remembered her in her will and left her three thousand roubles. That's absolutely certain. Martha Petrovna arranged it a week before her death, and it was done in my presence. Avadotya Romanovna will be able to receive the money in two or three weeks. Are you telling the truth? Yes, tell her.

Starting point is 11:44:52 Well, your servant. I'm staying very near you. As he went out, Svidrigailov ran up against Razumian in the doorway. End of Part 4, Chapter 1. Part 4 Chapter 2. of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 4, Chapter 2 It was nearly 8 o'clock. The two young men hurried to Bakalievs to arrive before Lusion.

Starting point is 11:45:34 Why, who was that? asked Razumian as soon as they were in the street. It was Svidra Gailov, that landowner in whose house my sister was insulted when he was their governess. Through his persecuting her with his attentions, she was turned out by his wife, Marfa Petrovna. This Marfa Petrovna begged O'Donya's forgiveness afterwards, and she's just died suddenly. It was of her we were talking this morning. I don't know why I am afraid of that man. He came here at once after his wife's funeral. He is very strange, and is to determined on doing something. We must guard Donya from him. That's what I wanted to tell you, do you hear?" Guard her? What can he do to harm Afdotya Romanovna?

Starting point is 11:46:19 Thank you, Rodia, for speaking to me like that. We will, we will guard her. Where does he live? I don't know. Why didn't you ask? What a pity. I'll find out, though. Did you see him? asked Raskolnikov after a pause. Yes, I noticed him. I noticed him well. You did really see him? You saw him clearly? Ruskolnikov insisted. Yes, I remember him perfectly. I should know him in a thousand. I have a good memory for faces. They were silent again.

Starting point is 11:46:55 Hmm, that's all right, muttered Ruskolnikov. Do you know, I fancied? I keep thinking that it may have been an hallucination. What do you mean? I don't understand you. Well, you all say, Russ Kolnikov went on, twisting his mouth into a smile, that I am mad. I thought just now that perhaps I really am mad

Starting point is 11:47:19 and have only seen a phantom. What do you mean? Why, who can tell? Perhaps I am really mad, and perhaps everything that happened all these days may be only imagination. Ah, Rodya, you have been upset again. But what did he say?

Starting point is 11:47:39 What did he come for? Vaskolnikov did not answer. Razumian thought a minute. Now let me tell you my story, he began. I came to you, you were asleep. Then we had dinner, and then I went to Porphyries. Zammatov was still with him. I tried to begin, but it was no use.

Starting point is 11:47:59 I couldn't speak in the right way. They don't seem to understand and can't understand, but are not a bit ashamed." I drew Porphyry to the window and began talking to him, but it was still no use. He looked away and I looked away. At last I shook my fist in his ugly face and told him as a cousin I'd brain him. He merely looked at me, I cursed and came away. That was all. It was very stupid.

Starting point is 11:48:28 To Zamatov I didn't say a word. You see, I thought I'd make a mess of it, but as I went downstairs a brilliant idea struck me. Why should we trouble? Of course, if you were in any danger or anything, but why need you care? You needn't care a hang for them. We shall have a laugh at them afterwards, and if I ring your place I'd mystify them more than ever. How ashamed they'll be afterwards! Hang them. We can thrash them afterwards, but let's laugh at them now." "'To be sure,' answered Raskolnikov. "'But what will you say tomorrow?' he thought to himself.

Starting point is 11:49:08 Strange to say, till that moment it had never occurred to him to wonder what Rizumian would think when he knew. As he thought it, Raskolnikov looked at him. Razumian's account of his visit to Porphyry had very little interest for him, so much had come and gone since then. In the corridor they came upon Luzon. He had arrived punctually at eight, and was looking for the number, so that all three went in together without greeting or looking at one another. The young men walked in first, while Piotr Petrovich, for good manners, lingered a little in the passage,

Starting point is 11:49:43 taking off his coat. Pultchuria Alexandrovna came forward at once to greet him in the doorway. Donya was welcoming her brother. Pieter Petrovich walked in, and quite amiably, though with redoubled dignity, bowed to the ladies. He looked, however, as though he were a little put out and could not yet recover himself. Pulcheria Alexandrovna, who seemed also a little embarrassed, hastened to make them all sit down at the round table where a samovar was boiling. Donya and Lusian were facing one another on opposite sides of the table. Rezumian and Raskolnikov were facing Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Rizumian was next to Luzian and Raskolnikov was beside his sister.

Starting point is 11:50:26 A moment's silence followed. Pietar Petrovich deliberately drew out a cambric handkerchief reeking of scent and blew his nose with an air of a benevolent man who felt himself slighted and was firmly resolved to insist on an explanation. In the passage the idea had occurred to him to keep on his overcoat and walk away, and so give the two ladies a sharp and emphatic lesson and make them feel the gravity of the position. But he could not bring himself to do this. Besides, he could not endure uncertainty, and he wanted an explanation.

Starting point is 11:51:00 If his request had been so openly disobeyed, there was something behind it, and in that case it was better to find it out beforehand. It rested with him to punish them, and there would always be time for that. "'I trust you had a favorable journey,' he inquired officially of Pulcheria Alexandrovna. "'Oh, very, Pietar Petrovich. I am gratified to hear it, and Avdotya Romanovna is not over-fatigued either. I am young and strong, I don't get tired, but it was a great strain for mother, answered Donya.

Starting point is 11:51:37 That's unavoidable. Our national railways are of terrible length. Mother Russia, as they say, is a vast country. In spite of all my desire to do so, I was unable to meet you yesterday. But I trust all passed off without inconvenience?" "'Oh no, Pieter Petrovitch, it was all terribly disheartening,' Pulcheria Alexandrova hastened to declare with peculiar intonation. "'And if Dmitri Prokovich had not been sent us, I really believe by God himself, we should have been utterly lost.

Starting point is 11:52:11 Here he is. Dmitri Prokovich Razumian,' she added, introducing him to Lusion. "'I had the pleasure yesterday. muttered Pietar Petrovitch with a hostile glance sidelong at Resumian. Then he scowled and was silent. Piotr Petrovich belonged to that class of persons, on the surface very polite in society, who make a great point of punctiliousness, but who, directly they are crossed in anything, are completely disconcerted, and become more like sacks of flour than elegant and lively men of society.

Starting point is 11:52:45 Again all was silent. Ruskalnikov was obstinately mute. Avdotya Romanovna was unwilling to open the conversation too soon. Razumian had nothing to say, so Pulcheria Alexandrovna was anxious again. Marfa Petrovna is dead, have you heard? She began having recourse to her leading item of conversation. To be sure, I heard so. I was immediately informed, and I have come to make you

Starting point is 11:53:15 acquainted with the fact that Arkady Ivanovich Sredegylov set off in haste for Petersburg immediately after his wife's funeral. So at least I have excellent authority for believing. To Petersburg? Here? Donya asked in alarm and looked at her mother. Yes, indeed, and doubtless, not without some design, having in view the rapidity of his departure, and all the circumstances preceding it. "'Good heavens! Won't he leave Donya in peace even here?' cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. "'I imagine that neither you nor Avdotya Romanovna have any grounds for uneasiness,

Starting point is 11:53:55 unless, of course, you are yourselves desirous of getting into communication with him. For my part I am on my guard, and am now discovering where he is lodging. "'Oh, Piotr Petrovich, you would not believe what a fright you have given me!' Pulcheria Alexandrovna went on. I've only seen him twice, but I thought him terrible, terrible! I am convinced that he was the cause of Marfa Petrovna's death. It's impossible to be certain about that. I have precise information. I do not dispute that he may have contributed to accelerate the course of events

Starting point is 11:54:33 by the moral influence, so to say, of the affront. But as to the general conduct and moral character of that personage, I am in agreement with you. I do not know whether he is well off now, and precisely what Marfa Petrovna left him. This will be known to me within a very short period. But no doubt, here in Petersburg, if he has any pecuniary resources, he will relapse at once into his old ways. He is the most depraved, an abjectly vicious specimen of that class of men. I have considerable reason to believe that Marfa Petrovna, who was so unfortunate as to fall in love with him and to pay his debts eight years ago, was of service to him

Starting point is 11:55:14 in another way. solely by her exertions and sacrifices, a criminal charge involving an element of fantastic and homicidal brutality for which he might well have been sentenced to Siberia, was hushed up. That's the sort of man he is, if you care to know. Good heavens! cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna. Raskolnikov listened attentively. Are you speaking the truth when you say that you have good evidence of this? Donya asked sternly and emphatically. I only repeat what I was told in secret by Marfa Petrovna.

Starting point is 11:55:50 I must observe that from the legal point of view the case was far from clear. There was, and I believe still is, living here a woman called Reslitch, a foreigner, who lent small sums of money at interest and did other commissions. And with this woman, Svidrigailov had a woman. for a long while close and mysterious relations. She had a relation, a niece, I believe, living with her, a deaf and dumb girl of fifteen, or perhaps not more than fourteen. Reslitch hated this girl, and grudged her every crust. She used to beat her mercilessly. One day the girl was found hanging in the garret. At the inquest the verdict was suicide.

Starting point is 11:56:32 After the usual proceedings, the matter ended. But later on, information was given, that the child had been cruellyged by Svidra Gailov. It is true this was not clearly established. The information was given by another German woman of loose character, whose word could not be trusted. No statement was actually made to the police, thanks to Marfa Petrovna's money and exertions. It did not get beyond gossip.

Starting point is 11:57:00 And yet, the story is a very significant one. You heard, no doubt, Avdotya Romanovna, when you were with them the story of the servant Philip who died of ill-treatment he received six years ago before the abolition of serfdom. I heard on the contrary that this Philip hanged himself. Quite so. But what drove him, or rather perhaps disposed him, to suicide was the systematic persecution and severity of Mr. Svidrigailov. I don't know that, answered Donia dryly. I only heard a queer story that Philip was a sort of hypochondriac, a sort of domestic philosopher, the servants used to say he read himself silly, and that he hanged himself partly on account

Starting point is 11:57:44 of Mr. Svidrigailov's mockery of him and not his blows. When I was there he behaved well to the servants, and they were actually fond of him, though they certainly did blame him for Philip's death. I perceive, Avdotya Romanovna, that you seem disposed to undertake his defense all of a sudden Lusian observed, twisting his lips into an ambiguous smile. There is no doubt that he is an astute man, and insinuating where ladies are concerned, of which Marfa Petrovna, who has died so strangely, is a terrible instance. My only desire has been to be of service to you and your mother with my advice,

Starting point is 11:58:23 in view of the renewed efforts which may certainly be anticipated from him. For my part, it's my firm conviction that he will end in a debtor's prison again. Marfa Petrovna had not the slightest intention of settling anything substantial on him, having regard for his children's interests, and if she left him anything it would only be the merest sufficiency, something insignificant and ephemeral, which would not last a year for a man of his habits. "'Pyatov Petrovitch, I beg you,' said Donya. "'Say no more of Mr. Svedroglylov.

Starting point is 11:58:57 It makes me miserable.' "'He has just been to see me,' said Ruskalnikov. breaking his silence for the first time. There were exclamations from all, and they all turned to him. Even Pietar Petrovich was roused. An hour and a half ago he came in when I was asleep, waked me, and introduced himself. Ruskalnikov continued. He was fairly cheerful and at ease, and quite hopes that we shall become friends. He is particularly anxious, by the way, Donya, for an interview with you, at which he asked me to assist. He has a proposition to to you, and he told me about it. He told me, too, that a week before her death, Marfa Petrovna

Starting point is 11:59:38 left you three thousand roubles in her will, Donya, and that you can receive the money very shortly. Thank God!' cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna, crossing herself. Pray for her soul, Donya. It's a fact, broke from illusion. Tell us what more, Donya urged Ruskonikov. Then he said that he wasn't rich, and all the estate was left to be. to his children, who are now with an aunt, then that he was staying somewhere not far from me, but where I don't know, I didn't ask. "'But what? What does he want to propose to Donya?' cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna in a fright. "'Did he tell you?'

Starting point is 12:00:18 "'Yes.' "'What was it?' "'I'll tell you afterwards.' Raskolnikov ceased speaking and turned his attention to his tea. Piotr Petrovitch looked at his watch. I am compelled to keep a business engagement, and so I shall not be in your way,' he added with an air of some peak, and he began getting up. "'Don't go, Pietro Petrovitch,' said Donya.

Starting point is 12:00:44 "'You intended to spend the evening. Besides, you wrote yourself that you wanted to have an explanation with mother.' "'Precisely so, Evdotya Romanovna,' Piotr Petrovich answered impressively, sitting down again, but still holding his hat. I certainly desired an explanation with you and your Honored Mother upon a very important point indeed. But as your brother cannot speak openly in my presence of some proposals of Mr. Svedra Gailov, I too do not desire and am not able to speak openly, in the presence of others, of certain

Starting point is 12:01:19 matters of the greatest gravity. Moreover, my most weighty and urgent request has been disregarded. Assuming an aggrieved air, illusion-relation. into dignified silence. Your request that my brother should not be present at our meeting was disregarded solely at my insistence, said Donya. You wrote that you had been insulted by my brother. I think that this must be explained at once, and you must be reconciled.

Starting point is 12:01:49 And if Rodia really has insulted you, then he should and will apologize. Pietar Petrovich took a stronger line. There are insults of Dotya Romanovna which no goodwill can make us forget. There is a line in everything which it is dangerous to overstep. And when it has been overstepped, there is no return. That wasn't what I was speaking of exactly, Piotr Petrovich, Donya interrupted with some impatience. Please understand that our whole future depends now

Starting point is 12:02:22 on whether all this is explained and set right as soon as possible. I tell you frankly at the start that I cannot look at it in any other light, and if you have the least regard for me, all this business must be ended today, however hard that may be. I repeat that if my brother is to blame, he will ask your forgiveness. I am surprised at you're putting the question like that, said Lusion, getting more and more irritated. Esteeming, and so to say, adoring you, I may at the same time, very well indeed, be able to dislike some member of your family.

Starting point is 12:03:01 Though I lay claim to the happiness of your hand, I cannot accept duties incompatible with— Oh, don't be so ready to take offense, Piotr Petrovich, Donya interrupted with feeling. And be the sensible and generous man I have always considered, and wish to consider you to be. I have given you a great promise. I am your betrothed. Trust me in this matter, and believe me, I shall be capable of judging impartially. My assuming the part of judge is as much a surprise for my brother as for you. When I insisted on his coming to our interview today after your letter, I told him nothing of what I meant to do.

Starting point is 12:03:40 Understand that, if you are not reconciled, I must choose between you. It must be either you or he. That is how the question rests on your side and on his. I don't want to be mistaken in my choice, and I must not be. "'For your sake I must break off with my brother. "'For my brother's sake, I must break off with you. "'I can find out for certain now whether he is a brother to me, and I want to know it, "'and of you, whether I am dear to you, whether you esteem me, whether you are the husband for me.'

Starting point is 12:04:14 "'Avdottio Romanovna,' Luzian declared hovily. "'Your words are of too much consequence to me. "'I will say more. "'They are offensive in view of the position.' I have the honor to occupy in relation to you. To say nothing of your strange and offensive setting me on a level with an impertinent boy, you admit the possibility of breaking your promise to me. You say, you or he, showing thereby of how little consequence I am in your eyes. I cannot let this pass considering the relationship and the obligations existing between us.'

Starting point is 12:04:49 "'What?' cried Donia, flushing. I set your interest beside all that has hitherto been most precious in my life, what has made up the whole of my life, and here you are offended at my making too little account of you!' Ruskonikov smiled sarcastically, resuming and fidgeted, but Pieter Petrovitch did not accept the reproof. On the contrary, at every word he became more persistent and irritable, as though he relished it. Love for the future partner of your life, for your husband, ought to outweigh your love for your brother,' he pronounced sententiously, "'and in any case I cannot be put on the same level.'

Starting point is 12:05:32 Although I said so emphatically that I would not speak openly in your brother's presence, nevertheless I intend now to ask your honored mother for a necessary explanation on a point of great importance closely affecting my dignity. Your son, he turned to Pulcheria Alexandrovna, yesterday in the presence of Mr. Razutkin, or I think that's it, excuse me, I have forgotten your surname, he bowed politely to Rezumian. Insulted me by misrepresenting the idea I expressed to you

Starting point is 12:06:05 in a private conversation drinking coffee, that is, that marriage with a poor girl who has had experience of trouble is more advantageous from the conjugal point of view than with one who has lived in luxury, since it is more profitable for the moral character. Your son intentionally exaggerated the significance of my words and made them ridiculous, accusing me of malicious intentions, and, as far as I could see, relied upon your correspondence with him. I shall consider myself happy, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, if it is possible for you to convince me

Starting point is 12:06:40 of an opposite conclusion, and thereby, considerately reassure me. Kindly let me know in what terms precisely you repeated my words in your letter to Rodion Romanovich. "'I don't remember,' faltered Pulchuria Alexandrovna. "'I repeated them as I understood them. I don't know how Rodya repeated them to you. Perhaps he exaggerated. He could not have exaggerated them, except at your instigation.' "'Pyodor Petrovich,' Pulcheria Alexandrovna, declared with dignity. "'The proof that Donya and I did not take your words in a very bad sense is the fact that we are here.'

Starting point is 12:07:20 "'Good, mother,' said Donya approvingly. "'Then this is my fault again,' said Lusian aggrieved. "'Well, Piotr Petrovich, you keep blaming Rodion, but you yourself have just written what was false about him,' Pulcheria Alexandrovna added, gaining courage. I don't remember writing anything false. You wrote, Ruskalnikov said sharply, not turning delusion,

Starting point is 12:07:49 that I gave money yesterday, not to the widow of the man who was killed, as was the fact, but to his daughter, whom I had never seen till yesterday. You wrote this to make dissension between me and my family, and for that object,

Starting point is 12:08:02 added coarse expressions about the conduct of a girl whom you don't know. All that is mean slander. "'Excuse me, sir,' said Lusion, quivering with fury. "'I enlarged upon your qualities and conduct in my letter solely in response to your sisters and mother's inquiries, how I found you and what impression you made on me. As for what you've alluded to in my letter, be so good as to point out one word of falsehood.

Starting point is 12:08:30 Show, that is, that you didn't throw away your money, and that there are not worthless persons in that family, however, unfortunately. To my thinking, you, with all your virtues, are not worth the little finger of that unfortunate girl at whom you throw stones. Would you go so far, then, as to let her associate with your mother and sister? I have done so already, if you care to know. I made her sit down to-day with Mother and Donya. Rodea!

Starting point is 12:08:59 cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. Donya crimsoned. Azumian knitted his brows. Solution smiled with lofty sarcasm. "'You may see for yourself, Avdotya Romanovna,' he said, "'whether it is possible for us to agree. I hope now that this question is at an end, once and for all. I will withdraw, that I may not hinder the pleasures of family intimacy,

Starting point is 12:09:24 and the discussion of secrets.' He got up from his chair and took his hat. But in withdrawing, I venture to request that for the future I may be spared similar meetings, and, so to say, compromises. I appeal particularly to you, honored Pulcheria Alexandrovna, on this subject, the more as my letter was addressed to you and to no one else.' Pulcheria Alexandrovna was a little offended. "'You seem to think we are completely under your authority, Piotr Petrovich.

Starting point is 12:09:56 Donya has told you the reason your desire was disregarded. She had the best intentions. And, indeed, you write as though you were laying commands upon me. Are we to consider every desire of yours as a command? Let me tell you on the contrary that you ought to show particular delicacy and consideration for us now, because we have thrown up everything and have come here relying on you, and so we are in any case, in a sense, in your hands. That is not quite true, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, especially at the present moment,

Starting point is 12:10:29 when the news has come of Marfa Patrovna's legacy, which seems indeed very apropos. "'Judging from the new tone you take to me,' he added sarcastically. "'Judging from that remark, we may certainly presume that you are reckoning on our helplessness,' Donya observed irritably. "'But now, in any case, I cannot reckon on it. And I particularly desire not to hinder your discussion of the secret proposals of our Katie Ivanovich Sfredegylov, which he is entrusted to your brother, and which have, I perceive, a great and possibly a very agreeable interest for you.

Starting point is 12:11:08 Good heavens, cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. Razumian could not sit still on his chair. Aren't you ashamed now, sister? asked Roskalnikov. I am ashamed, Rodia, said Donya. Piotr Petrovich, go away! She turned to him white with anger. Piotr Petrovitch had apparently not at all expected such a conclusion. He had too much confidence in himself, in his power and in the helplessness of his victims. He could not believe it even now. He turned pale and his lips quivered.

Starting point is 12:11:44 Avdotya Romanovna, if I go out of this door now after such a dismissal, then you may reckon on it, I will never come back. Consider what you are doing. My word is not to be shaken. "'What insolence!' cried Donya, springing up from her seat. "'I don't want you to come back again!' "'What? So, that's how it stands!' cried Lusion, utterly unable to the last moment to believe in the rupture, and so, completely thrown out of his reckoning now. "'So that's how it stands. But do you know, Avdotya Romanovna, that I might protest?' "'What right have you to speak to her like that?'

Starting point is 12:12:28 Pulcheria Alexandrovna intervened hotly. "'And what can you protest about? What rights have you? Am I to give Midonia to a man like you? Go away. Leave us all together. We are to blame for having agreed to a wrong action, an eye above all.'

Starting point is 12:12:46 "'But you have bound me, Pulcheria Alexandrovna,' Lucian stormed in a frenzy. By your promise. and now you deny it, and—Besides, I have been led on account of that into expenses. This last complaint was so characteristic of Piotr Petrovich that Raskolnikov, pale with anger and with the effort of restraining it, could not help breaking into laughter. But Polcheria Alexandrovna was furious. Expenses! What expenses!

Starting point is 12:13:21 Are you speaking of our trunk? But the conductor brought it for nothing for you. Mercy on us. We have bound you. What are you thinking about, Piotr Petrovitch? It was you bound us, hand and foot, not we. Enough, mother, no more please, Evdodia Romanovna implored. Piotr Petrovich, do be kind and go.

Starting point is 12:13:45 I am going, but one last word, he said, quite unable to control himself. Your Mama seems to have entirely forgotten that I made up my mind to take you, so to speak, after the gossip of the town had spread all over the district in regard to your reputation. Disregarding public opinion for your sake and reinstating your reputation, I certainly might very well reckon on a fitting return, and might indeed look for gratitude on your part. And my eyes have only now been opened. I see myself that I may have acted very, very recklessly in disregarding the universal verdict.

Starting point is 12:14:25 Does the fellow want his head smashed? cried Razumian, jumping up. You are a mean and spiteful man, cried Donya. Not a word, not a movement, cried Ruskalnikov, holding Rezumian back. Then, going close up to Lusion, kindly leave the room, he said quietly and distinctly. And not a word more, or— Piotr Petrovitch gazed at him for some seconds with a pale face that worked with anger. Then he turned, went out, and rarely has any men carried away in his heart such vindictive hatred as he felt against Ruskalnikov.

Starting point is 12:15:04 Him and him alone he blamed for everything. It is noteworthy that as he went downstairs he still imagined that his case was perhaps not utterly lost, and that, so he sort of. far as the ladies were concerned, all might very well indeed be set right again. End of Part 4, Chapter 2. Part 4, Chapter 3 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Part 4, Chapter 3. The fact was that, up to the last moment, he had never

Starting point is 12:15:51 expected such an ending. He had been overbearing to the last degree, never dreaming that two destitute and defenseless women could escape from his control. This conviction was strengthened by his vanity and conceit, a conceit to the point of fatuity. Piotr Petrovich, who had made his way up from insignificance, was morbidly given to self-admiration, had the highest opinion of his intelligence and capacities, and sometimes even gloated in solitude over his image in the glass. But what he loved and valued above all was the money he had amassed by his labor, and by all sorts of devices.

Starting point is 12:16:32 That money made him the equal of all who had been his superiors. When he had bitterly reminded Donya that he had decided to take her in spite of evil report, Pieter Petrovich had spoken with perfect sincerity, and had, indeed, felt genuinely indignant at such black ingratitude. And yet, when he made Donya his offer, he was fully aware of the groundlessness of all the gossip. The story had been everywhere contradicted by Marfa Petrovna, and was by then disbelieved by all the townspeople, who were warm in Donya's defense. And he would not have denied that he knew all that at the time. Yet he still thought highly of his own resolution in lifting Donya's

Starting point is 12:17:16 to his level, and regarded it as something heroic. In speaking of it to Donya, he had led out the secret feeling he cherished and admired, and he could not understand that others should fail to admire it too. He had called on Ruskalnikov with the feelings of a benefactor, who is about to reap the fruits of his good deeds and to hear agreeable flattery. And as he went downstairs now, he considered himself most undeservedly injured and unrecognized. Donya was simply essential to him. To do without her was unthinkable. For many years he had had voluptuous dreams of marriage, but he had gone on waiting and amassing money. He brooded with relish, in profound secret, over the image of a girl. Virtuous, poor, she must be poor, very young,

Starting point is 12:18:09 very pretty, of good birth and education, very timid, one who had suffered much, and and was completely humbled before him, one who would all her life look on him as her savior, worship him, admire him, and only him. How many scenes, how many amorous episodes he had imagined on this seductive and playful theme, when his work was over. And behold, the dream of so many years was all but realized. The beauty and education of Avdotya Romanovna had impressed him. Her helpless position had been a great allurement. In her he had found even more than he dreamed of. Here was a girl of pride, character, virtue, of education and breeding superior to his own. He felt that, and this creature would be slavishly grateful all her life for his

Starting point is 12:19:03 heroic condescension, and would humble herself in the dust before him, and he would have absolute, unbounded power over her. Not long before, he had, too, after long reflection and hesitation, made an important change in his career, and was now entering on a wider circle of business. With this change, his cherished dreams of rising into a higher class of society seemed likely to be realized. He was, in fact, determined to try his fortune in Petersburg. He knew that women could do a very great deal. The fascination of a charming, virtuous, highly-educated woman might make his way easier, might do wonders in attracting people to him, throwing an oriole round him, and now everything was in ruins. This sudden, horrible rupture affected him

Starting point is 12:19:54 like a clap of thunder. It was like a hideous joke, an absurdity. He had only been a tiny bit masterful, had not even time to speak out, had simply made a joke, been carried away, and it had ended so seriously. And of course, too, he did love Donya in his own way. He already possessed her in his dreams, and all at once. No, the next day, the very next day, it must all be set right, smoothed over, settled. Above all, he must crush that conceited milksop who was the cause of it all. With a sick feeling he could not help recalling Resumian, too, but he soon reassured himself on that score, as though a fellow like that could be put on a level with him. The man he really dreaded in earnest was Svidra Gailov. He had, in short,

Starting point is 12:20:50 a great deal to attend to. No, I, I am more to blame than anyone, said Donya, kissing and embracing her mother. I was tempted by his money, but on my honor, brother, I had no idea he was such a base man. If I had seen through him before, nothing would have tempted me. Don't blame me, brother. God has delivered us. God has delivered us! Pulcheria Alexandrovna muttered, but half-consciously, as though scarcely able to realize what had happened. They were all relieved, and in five minutes they were laughing. Only now and then Donia turned white and frowned, remembering what had passed. Pulcheria Alexandrovna was surprised to find that

Starting point is 12:21:40 she too was glad. She had only that morning thought rupture with Lusion a terrible misfortune. Resumian was delighted. He did not yet dare express his joy fully, but he was in a fever of excitement as though a tonne weight had fallen off his heart. Now he had the right to devote his life to them, to serve them. Anything might happen now. But he felt afraid to think of further possibilities, and dared not let his imagination range. But Raskolnikov sat still in the same place, almost sullen and indifferent. Though he had been the most insistent on getting rid of illusion, he seemed now the least concerned at what had happened. Dona could not help thinking that he was still angry with her, and Pulcheria Alexandrovna watched

Starting point is 12:22:29 him timidly. "'What did Svidrigailov say to you?' said Donya, approaching him. "'Yes, yes,' cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. Ruskalnikov raised his head. "'He wants to make you a present of ten thousand roubles, and he desires to see you once in my presence.' "'See her. "'On no account!' cried Pulchiria.

Starting point is 12:22:54 Alexandrovna. And how dare he offer her money? Then Ruskalnikov repeated, rather dryly, his conversation with Svedrgylov, omitting his account of the ghostly visitations of Marfa Petrovna, wishing to avoid all unnecessary talk. What answer did you give him? asked Donya. At first I said I would not take any message to you. Then he said that he would do his utmost to obtain an interview with you without my help. He assured me that his passion for you was a passing infatuation. Now he has no feeling for you. He doesn't want you to marry illusion. His talk was altogether rather muddled. How do you explain him to yourself, Rodia? How did he strike

Starting point is 12:23:40 you? I must confess, I don't quite understand him. He offers you ten thousand, and yet says he is not well off. He says he is going away, and in ten minutes he forgets he has said it. Then he says he is going to be married and has already fixed on the girl. No doubt he has a motive, and probably a bad one. But it's odd that he should be so clumsy about it if he had any designs against you. Of course, I refused his money on your account once for all. Altogether, I thought him very strange. One might almost think he was mad. But, I may be mistaken. That may only be the part he assumes. The death of Marfa Petrovna seems to have made a great impression on him. "'God rest her soul!' exclaimed Pulcheria Alexandrovna.

Starting point is 12:24:33 "'I shall always, always pray for her. Where should we be now, Donya, without this three thousand? It's as though it had fallen from heaven. Why, Rodia, this morning, we had only three rubles in our pocket, and Donia and I were just planning to pawn her watch, so as to avoid borrowing from that man until he offered help. Donya seemed strangely impressed by Svidrigailov's offer. She still stood meditating. He has got some terrible plan, she said in a half-whisper to herself, almost shuddering. Rus Kolnikov noticed this disproportionate terror. I fancy I shall have to see him more than once again.

Starting point is 12:25:17 He said to Donya. "'We will watch him. I will track him out,' cried Resumian vigorously. "'I won't lose sight of him. Rodia has given me leave. He said to me himself just now, take care of my sister. Will you give me leave to Avdotya Romanovna?' Donya smiled and held out her hand, but the look of anxiety did not leave her face. Pulchuria Alexandrovna gazed at her timidly, but the three thousand rubles had obviously a soothing effect on her. A quarter of an hour later, they were all engaged in a lively

Starting point is 12:25:53 conversation. Even Ruskalnikov listened attentively for some time, though he did not talk. Razumian was the speaker. "'And why, why should you go away?' he flowed on ecstatically. "'And what are you to do in a little town? The great thing is, you are all here together, and you need one another. You do need one another. believe me. For a time, anyway, take me into partnership, and I'll assure you we'll plan a capital enterprise. Listen, I'll explain it all in detail to you, the whole project. It all flashed into my head this morning, before anything had happened. I tell you what, I have an uncle. I must introduce him to

Starting point is 12:26:38 you, a most accommodating and respectable old man. This uncle has got a capital of a thousand and he lives on his pension and has no need of that money. For the last two years, he has been bothering me to borrow it from him and pay him six percent, interest. I know what that means. He simply wants to help me. Last year, I had no need of it, but this year I resolved to borrow it as soon as he arrived. Then you lend me another thousand of your three, and we have enough for a start. So we'll go into partnership, and what are we going to do? Resumian began to unfold his project, and he explained at length that almost all our publishers and booksellers know nothing at all of what they are selling. And for that reason they are

Starting point is 12:27:24 usually bad publishers, and that any decent publications pay as a rule and give a profit, sometimes a considerable one. Resumian had indeed been dreaming of setting up as a publisher. For the last two years he had been working in publishers' offices, and knew three European language as well, though he had told Raskolnikov six days before that he was a swatch in German with an object of persuading him to take half his translation and half the payment for it. He had told a lie then, and Raskolnikov knew he was lying. Why, why should we let our chance slip when we have one of the chief means of success, money of our own? cried Rasmian warmly.

Starting point is 12:28:08 Of course there will be a lot of work, but we will work. You, Avdotya Romanovna, I, Rodian, you get a splendid profit on some books nowadays. And the great point of the business is that we shall know just what wants translating, and we shall be translating, publishing, learning all at once. I can be of use because I have experience. For nearly two years I've been sculling about among the publishers, and now I know every detail of their business. You need not be a saint to make pots, believe me.

Starting point is 12:28:41 And why, why should we let our chance slip? Why, I know, and I kept the secret, two or three books which one might get a hundred rubles simply for thinking of translating and publishing. Indeed, and I would not take five hundred for the very idea of one of them. And what do you think? If I were to tell a publisher, I dare say he'd hesitate. They are such blockheads. And as for the business side, printing, paper, selling, you trust to me.

Starting point is 12:29:11 I know my way about. We'll begin in a small way and go on to a large. In any case, it will get us our living, and we shall get back our capital.' Donia's eyes shone. "'I like what you are saying, Dmitri Prokovich,' she said. "'I know nothing about it, of course,' put in Pulcheria Alexandrovna. It may be a good idea, but again, God knows. It's new and untried. of course we must remain here at least for a time.

Starting point is 12:29:43 She looked at Rodya. What do you think, brother? said Donya. I think he's got a very good idea, he answered. Of course it's too soon to dream of a publishing firm, but we certainly might bring out five or six books and be sure of success. I know of one book, myself, which would be sure to go well. And as for his being able to manage it, there's no doubt about that either. He knows the business.

Starting point is 12:30:11 But we can talk it over later. Hurrah! cried Razumian. Now stay. There's a flat here in this house, belonging to the same owner. It's a special flat apart, not communicating with these lodgings.

Starting point is 12:30:25 It's furnished, rent moderate, three rooms. Suppose you take them to begin with. I'll pawn your watch tomorrow and bring you the money, and everything can be arranged then. You can all three live together, and Rhodia will be with you. you. But where are you off to, Rodya?"

Starting point is 12:30:42 "'What, Rodya? You are going already?' Pulcheria Alexandrovna asked in dismay. "'At such a minute?' cried Rizumian. Donya looked at her brother with incredulous wonder. He held his cap in his hand. He was preparing to leave them. "'One would think you are bearing me or saying goodbye forever,' he said somewhat oddly. He attempted to smile, but it did not turn out a smile. But, who knows, perhaps it is the last time we shall see each other." He let slip accidentally.

Starting point is 12:31:17 It was what he was thinking, and it somehow was uttered aloud. "'What is the matter with you?' cried his mother. "'Where are you going, Roja?' asked Donya, rather strangely. "'Oh, I'm quite obliged to,' he answered vaguely, as though hesitating what he would say. but there was a look of sharp determination in his white face. I meant to say, as I was coming here, I meant to tell you, Mother, and you, Donya, that it would be better for us to part for a time.

Starting point is 12:31:51 I feel ill. I am not at peace. I will come afterwards. I will come of myself, when it's possible. I remember you and love you. Leave me, leave me alone. I decided this even before. I'm absolutely resolved on it. Whatever may come to me, whether I come to ruin or not, I want to be alone. Forget me altogether. It's better. Don't inquire about me. When I can, I'll come of myself, or I'll send for you. Perhaps it will all come back, but now, if you love

Starting point is 12:32:26 me, give me up, else I shall begin to hate you. I feel it. Goodbye. I. Good God! cried Pulchiria Alexandrovna. Both his mother and his sister were terribly alarmed. Resumian was also. Rodea, Rodea! Be reconciled with us! Let us be as before!

Starting point is 12:32:50 cried his poor mother. He turned slowly to the door and slowly went out of the room. Donya overtook him. Brother, what are you doing to mother? She whispered. her eyes flashing with indignation. He looked dully at her. No matter, I shall come. I'm coming, he muttered in an undertone, as though not fully conscious of what he was saying, and he went out of the room.

Starting point is 12:33:18 Wicked, heartless, egoist, cried Donya. He is insane, but not heartless. He is mad. Don't you see it? You're heartless after that. Resumian whispered in her ear, squeezing her hand tightly. I shall be back directly, he shouted to the horror-stricken mother, and he ran out of the room. Ruskalnikov was waiting for him at the end of the passage. I knew you would run after me, he said. Go back to them, be with them, be with them tomorrow and always.

Starting point is 12:33:52 I—perhaps I shall come, if I can. Goodbye. And without holding out his hand, he would. walked away. "'But where are you going? What are you doing? What's the matter with you? How can you go on like this?' Resumian muttered at his wits end. Raskolnikov stopped once more. "'Once for all, never ask me about anything. I have nothing to tell you. Don't come to see me. Maybe I'll come here. Leave me, but don't leave them. Do you understand me?'

Starting point is 12:34:30 It was dark in the corridor. They were standing near the lamp. For a minute they were looking at one another in silence. Razumian remembered that minute all his life. Raskolnikov's burning and intent eyes grew more penetrating every moment, piercing into his soul, into his consciousness. Suddenly, Rezumian started. Something strange, as it were, passed between them.

Starting point is 12:34:53 Some idea, some hint, as it were, slipped, something awful, hideous, and suddenly understood on both sides. Rezumian turned pale. Do you understand now? said Raskolnikov, his face twitching nervously. Go back, go to them, he said suddenly, and turning quickly, he went out of the house. I will not attempt to describe how Rezumian went back to the ladies, how he sued them, how he protested that Rodya needed rest in his illness,

Starting point is 12:35:26 protested that Rodya was sure to come, that he would come every day, that he was very, very much upset, that he must not be irritated, that he, Resumian would watch over him, would get him a doctor, the best doctor, a consultation. In fact, from that evening Rezumian took his place with them as a son and a brother. End of Part 4 Chapter 3 Part 4 Chapter 4 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostomian. translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 12:36:13 Part 4. Chapter 4 Ross Kolnikov went straight to the house on the canal bank where Sonia lived. It was an old greenhouse of three stories. He found the porter and obtained from him vague directions as to the whereabouts of Kapernaumov, the tailor. Having found in the corner of the courtyard the entrance to the dark and narrow staircase, he mounted to the second floor and came out into a gallery that ran round the whole second story over the yard.

Starting point is 12:36:43 While he was wandering in the darkness, uncertain where to turn for Kapernaumov's door, a door opened three paces from him. He mechanically took hold of it. "'Who is there?' a woman's voice asked uneasily. "'It's I. Come to see you,' answered Ruffer. Raskolnikov and he walked into the tiny entry. On a broken chair stood a candle in a battered copper candlestick. It's you! Good heavens! cried Sonia weakly and she stood rooted to the spot. Which is your room? This way? Enris Kalnikov, trying not to look at her, hastened in.

Starting point is 12:37:22 A minute later, Sonia, too, came in with the candle, set down the candlestick, and, completely disconcerted, stood before him, inexpressibly agitated and apparently frightened by his unexpected visit. The color rushed suddenly to her pale face and tears came into her eyes. She felt sick and ashamed and happy too. Ruskonikov turned away quickly and sat on a chair by the table. He scanned the room in a rapid glance. It was a large but exceedingly low-pitched room, the only one let by the Kapernaumovs, to whose rooms, a closed door led in the wall on the left. On the opposite side on the right-hand wall was another door, always kept locked.

Starting point is 12:38:07 That led to the next flat, which formed a separate lodging. Sonia's room looked like a barn. It was a very irregular quadrangle, and this gave it a grotesque appearance. A wall with three windows, looking out onto the canal, ran a slant, so that one corner formed a very acute angle, and it was difficult to see in it without very strong light. The other corner was disproportionately obtuse. There was scarcely any furniture in the big room. In the corner on the right was a bedstead. Beside it nearest the door a chair. A plain deal table covered by a blue cloth stood against the same wall, close to the door into the other flat.

Starting point is 12:38:49 Two rush-bottom chairs stood by the table. On the opposite wall, near the acute angle, stood a small, plain wooden chest of drawers, looking, as it were, lost in a desert. That was all there was in the room. The yellow, scratched and shabby wallpaper was black in the corners. It must have been damp and full of fumes in the winter. There was every sign of poverty. Even the bedstead had no curtain. Sonia looked in silence at her visitor, who was so attentively and unceremoniously scrutinizing her room, and even, even began at last to tremble with terror, as though she was standing before her judge and the arbiter of her destinies.

Starting point is 12:39:33 "'I am late. It's eleven, isn't it?' he asked, still not lifting his eyes. "'Yes,' muttered Sonia. "'Oh, yes, it is,' she added hastily, as though in that lay her means of escape. "'My landlady's clock has just struck. I heard it myself.' "'I have come to you for the last time.' Russ Kolnakov went on gloomily, although this was the first time. "'I may perhaps not see you again.' "'Are you going away?'

Starting point is 12:40:06 "'I don't know. Tomorrow.' "'Then you are not coming to Katerina Ivanovna tomorrow.' Sona's voice shook. "'I don't know. I shall know tomorrow morning. Never mind that. I've come to say one word.' He raised his brooding eyes to her, and suddenly noticed that he was sitting down while she was all the while standing before him. "'Why are you standing? Sit down,' he said in a changed voice, gentle and friendly.

Starting point is 12:40:37 She sat down. He looked kindly and almost compassionately at her. "'How thin you are! What a hand! Quite transparent, like a dead hand!' He took her hand. Sonia smiled faintly. I have always been like that, she said. Even when you lived at home? Yes. Of course you were. He added abruptly, and the expression of his face and the sound of his voice changed again suddenly.

Starting point is 12:41:09 He looked round him once more. You rent this room from the Kappernomovs? Yes. They live there, through that door? Yes, they have another room like this. All in one room? Yes. I should be afraid in your room at night," he observed gloomily.

Starting point is 12:41:29 "'They are very good people, very kind,' answered Sonia, who still seemed bewildered. And all the furniture, everything, everything is theirs. And they are very kind, and the children too often come to see me. They all stammer, don't they? Yes. He stammers and he's lame. and his wife, too. It's not exactly that she stammers, but she can't speak plainly. She is a very kind woman, and he used to be a house-surf, and there are seven children,

Starting point is 12:42:07 and it's only the eldest one that stammers and the others are simply ill, but they don't stammer. But where did you hear about them?' she added with some surprise. "'Your father told me, then. He told me all about you, and how you went out. out at six o'clock and came back at nine, and how Katerina Ivanovna knelt down by your bed." Sonia was confused. "'I fancied I saw him to-day,' she whispered hesitatingly. "'Whom?' "'Father.

Starting point is 12:42:38 I was walking in the street, out there at the corner, about ten o'clock, and he seemed to be walking in front. It looked just like him. I wanted to go to Katerina Ivanovna. "'You were walking in the streets?' "'Yes,' Sonia whispered abruptly, again overcome with confusion and looking down. "'Katerina Ivanovna used to beat you, I dare say.' "'Oh, no, what are you saying? No!'

Starting point is 12:43:07 Sonia looked at him almost with dismay. "'You love her, then?' "'Love her? Of course,' said Sonia with plaintive emphasis, as she clasped her hands in distress. "'Ah, you don't. If you only knew. You see, she is quite like a child. Her mind is quite unhinged, you see, from sorrow. And how clever she used to be. How generous. How kind. Ah, you don't understand. You don't understand. Sonia said this as though in despair, wringing her hands in excitement and distress. Her pale cheeks

Starting point is 12:43:46 flushed. There was a look of anguish in her eyes. It was clear that she was stirred to the very depths that she was longing to speak, to champion, to express something. A sort of insatiable compassion, if one may so express it, was reflected in every feature of her face. "'Beat me! How can you? Good heavens beat me! And if she did beat me, what then? What of it? You know nothing, nothing about it. She is so unhappy. Ah, how unhappy! And ill! She is is seeking righteousness. She is pure. She has such faith that there must be righteousness everywhere, and she expects it. And if you were to torture her, she wouldn't do wrong. She doesn't see that it's impossible for people to be righteous, and she is angry at it. Like a child, like a child,

Starting point is 12:44:40 she is good. And what will happen to you? Sonia looked at him inquiringly. They are left on your hands, you see. They were all on your hands, before, though, and your father came to you to beg for drink. Well, how will it be now? I don't know, Sonia articulated mournfully. Will they stay there? I don't know. They are in debt for the lodging, but the landlady I hear said today that she wanted to get rid of them,

Starting point is 12:45:13 and Katerina Ivanovna says that she won't stay another minute. How is it she is so bold? She relies upon you? Oh, no, don't talk like that. We are one. We live like one. Sonia was agitated again and even angry, as though a canary or some other little bird were to be angry. And what could she do? What, what could she do? She persisted, getting hot and excited. And how she cried today! Her mind is unhinged. Haven't you noticed it?

Starting point is 12:45:48 At one minute she is worrying like a child that everything should be right tomorrow. the lunch and all that. Then she is wringing her hands, spitting blood, weeping, and all at once she will begin knocking her head against the wall in despair. Then she will be comforted again. She builds all her hopes on you. She says that you will help her now, and that she will borrow a little money somewhere and go to her native town with me, and set up a boarding school for the daughters of gentlemen and take me to superintendent, and we will begin a new splendid life. And she kisses and hugs me, comforts me, and you know she has such faith, such faith in her fancies. One can't contradict her. And all the day long she has been washing, cleaning,

Starting point is 12:46:36 mending. She dragged the wash-tub into the room with her feeble hands and sank on the bed, gasping for breath. We went this morning to the shops to buy shoes for Polenka and Lyda, for theirs are quite worn out. Only the money we'd reckoned wasn't enough, not nearly enough. And she picked out such dear little boots, for she has taste you don't know. And there in the shop, she burst out crying before the shopman

Starting point is 12:47:03 because she hadn't enough. Ah, it was sad to see her. Well, after that, I can understand you're living like this, Roskolnikov said with a bitter smile. And aren't you sorry for them? Aren't you sorry? Sonia flew at him again.

Starting point is 12:47:23 Why, I know you gave your last penny yourself, though you'd seen nothing of it, and if you'd seen everything, oh dear, and how often, how often I've brought her to tears. Only last week. Yes, I, only a week before his death. I was cruel, and how often I've done it. Ah, I've been wretched at the thought of it all day. Sonia wrung her hands as she spoke at the pain of remembering it. You were cruel? Yes, I, I. I went to see them. She went on weeping.

Starting point is 12:48:01 And father said, read me something, Sonia. My head aches. Read to me. Here's a book. He had a book he had got from Andrei Semyonov, Lebeziatnikov. He lives there. He always used to get hold of such funny books. And I said, I can't stay, as I didn't want to read, and I'd gone in chiefly. to show Katerina Ivanovna some collars. Lizavetta, the peddler, sold me some collars and cuffs cheap, pretty, new, embroidered ones. Katerina Ivanovna liked them very much.

Starting point is 12:48:34 She put them on and looked at herself in the glass and was delighted with them. Make me a present of them, Sonia, she said. Please do. Please do, she said. She wanted them so much. And when could she wear them? They just reminded her of her old happy days. She looked at herself in the glass, admired herself, and she has no clothes at all,

Starting point is 12:48:57 no things of her own, hasn't had all these years. And she never asks anyone for anything. She is proud. She'd sooner give away everything. And these she asked for. She liked them so much. And I was sorry to give them. What use are they to you, Katerina Ivanovna, I said. I spoke to her like that. I ought not to have said that. She gave me such a a look. And she was so grieved, so grieved at my refusing her. And it was so sad to see. And she was not grieved for the collars, but for my refusing. I saw that. Ah, if only I could bring it all back, change it. Take back those words. Ah, if I... But it's nothing to you. Did you know Lizavetta, the peddler? Yes, did you know her? Sonia asked, with some surprise.

Starting point is 12:49:53 "'Katerina Ivanovna is in consumption, rapid consumption. "'She will soon die,' said Raskolnikov after a pause without answering her question. "'Oh, no, no, no!' And Sonia unconsciously clutched both his hands as though imploring that she should not. "'But it would be better if she does die.' "'No, not better, not at all better,' Sonia unconsciously repeated in dismay. And the children, what can you do except take them to live with you? Oh, I don't know, cried Sonia, almost in despair, and she put her hands to her head.

Starting point is 12:50:34 It was evident that that idea had very often occurred to her before, and he had only roused it again. And what, if even now, while Katerina Ivanovna is alive, you get ill and are taken to the hospital? What will happen then? He persisted pitilessly. "'How can you? That cannot be!' And Sonia's face worked with awful terror. "'Cannot be?' Raskolnikov went on with a harsh smile.

Starting point is 12:51:04 "'You are not insured against it, are you? What will happen to them then? They will be in the street, all of them. She will cough and beg and knock her head against some wall, as she did today, and the children will cry. Then she will fall down. be taken to the police station and to the hospital. She will die, and the children,

Starting point is 12:51:25 Oh, no, God will not let it be, broke at last from Sonia's overburden bosom. She listened, looking imploringly at him, clasping her hands in dumb entreaty, as though it all depended upon him. Russ Kalnikov got up and began to walk about the room. A minute passed. Sonia was standing with her hands and her head hanging in terrible dejection. "'And can't you save? Put by for a rainy day?' he asked, stopping suddenly before her. "'No,' whispered Sonia.

Starting point is 12:52:00 "'Of course not. Have you tried?' he added almost ironically. "'Yes.' "'And it didn't come off. Of course not. No need to ask.' And again he paced the room. Another minute passed. "'You don't get money every day?' Sonia was more confused than ever and color rushed into her face again. "'No,' she whispered with a painful effort. "'It will be the same with Polenka, no doubt,' he said suddenly.

Starting point is 12:52:33 "'No, no, it can't be, no!' Sonia cried aloud in desperation, as though she had been stabbed. God would not allow anything so awful. He lets others come to it. No, no, God will protect her. God! She repeated beside herself. But perhaps there is no God at all, Raskolnikov answered with a sort of malignates, laughed and looked at her. Sonia's face suddenly changed, a tremor passed over it.

Starting point is 12:53:06 She looked at him with unutterable reproach, tried to say something, but could not speak and broke into bitter, bitter sobs, hiding her face in her hands. You say Katerina Ivanovna's mind is unhinged. Your own mind is unhinged, he said after a brief silence. Five minutes passed. He still paced up and down the room in silence, not looking at her. At last he went up to her, his eyes glittered. He put his two hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her tearful face.

Starting point is 12:53:41 His eyes were hard, feverish and piercing. His lips were twitching. All at once he bent down quickly and dropping to the ground kissed her foot. Sonia drew back from him as from a madman, and certainly he looked like a madman. "'What are you doing to me?' she muttered, turning pale, and a sudden anguish clutched at her heart. He stood up at once. "'I did not bow down to you. I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity,' he said wildly and walked away to the window.

Starting point is 12:54:14 "'Listen,' he added, turning to her a minute later. "'I said just now to an insolent man that he was not worth your little finger, and that I did my sister, Honor, making her sit beside you.' "'Ah, you said that to them? And in her presence?' cried Sonia, frightened. "'Sit down with me, an honor? Why, I'm dishonorable. Ah, why did you say that?' "'It was not because of your dishonor and your sin, I said that of you, but because of your great suffering. But you are a great sinner, that's true,' he added almost solemnly.

Starting point is 12:54:54 "'And your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing. Isn't that fearful? Isn't it fearful that you are living in this filth which you loathe so, and at the same time you know yourself, you've only to open your eyes, that you are not helping anyone by it? not saving anyone from anything. Tell me, he went on almost in a frenzy. How this shame and degradation can exist in you side by side with other opposite holy feelings.

Starting point is 12:55:24 It would be better, a thousand times better and wiser, to leap into the water and end it all. But what would become of them? Sonia asked faintly, gazing at him with eyes of anguish, but not seeming surprised at his suggestion. Russ Kalnikov looked strangely at her. He read it all in her face. So she must have had that thought already, perhaps many times,

Starting point is 12:55:50 and earnestly she had thought out in her despair how to end it, and so earnestly that now she scarcely wondered at his suggestion. She had not even noticed the cruelty of his words. The significance of his reproaches and his peculiar attitude to her shame she had, of course, not noticed either, and that too was clear to him. But he saw how monstrously the thought of her disgraceful, shameful position was torturing her, and had long tortured her. What what, he thought, could hitherto have hindered her from putting an end to it?

Starting point is 12:56:27 Only then he realized what those poor little orphan children and that pitiful, half-crazy Katerina Ivanovna, knocking her head against the wall in her consumption, meant for Sonia. But nevertheless it was clear to him again that with her character and the amount of education she had after all received, she could not in any case remain so. He was still confronted by the question, how could she have remained so long in that position without going out of her mind, since she could not bring herself to jump into the water? Of course he knew that Sonia's position was an exceptional case, though unhappily not unique and not infrequent. indeed. But that very exceptionalness, her tinge of education, her previous life might, one would

Starting point is 12:57:14 have thought, have killed her at the first step on that revolting path. What held her up? Surely, not depravity. All that infamy had obviously only touched her mechanically. Not one drop of real depravity had penetrated to her heart. He saw that. He saw through her as she stood before him. There are three ways before her, he thought, the canal, the madhouse, or, at least to sink into depravity which obscures the mind and turns the heart to stone. The last idea was the most revolting, but he was a skeptic, he was young, abstract, and therefore cruel, and so he could not help believing that the last end was the most likely. But can that be true?

Starting point is 12:58:03 He cried to himself. Can that creature who has still preserved the purity of her spirit be consciously drawn at last into that sink of filth and iniquity? Can the process already have begun? Can it be that she has only been able to bear it till now because vice has begun to be less loathsome to her? No, no, that cannot be, he cried as Sonia had just before. No, what has kept her from the canal till now

Starting point is 12:58:32 is the idea of sin, and they, the children. And if she has not gone out of her mind, but who says she has not gone out of her mind? Is she in her senses? Can one talk, can one reason as she does? How can she sit on the edge of the abyss of loathsomeness into which she is slipping, and refuse to listen when she is told of danger? Does she expect a miracle? No, doubt she does. Doesn't that all mean madness? He stayed obstinately at that thought. He liked that explanation indeed better than any other. He began looking more intently at her.

Starting point is 12:59:12 "'So you pray to God a great deal, Sonia?' he asked her. Sonia did not speak. He stood beside her, waiting for an answer. "'What should I be without God?' she whispered rapidly, forcibly, glancing at him with suddenly flashing eyes and squeezing his hand. "'Ah, so that is it,' he thought. "'And what does God do for you?' he asked, probing her further. Sonia was silent a long while, as though she could not answer.

Starting point is 12:59:42 Her weak chest kept heaving with emotion. "'Be silent. Don't ask. You don't deserve!' she cried suddenly, looking sternly and wrathfully at him. "'That's it, that's it,' he repeated to himself. "'She does everything,' she whispered quickly, looking down again. That's the way out. That's the explanation, he decided, scrutinizing her with eager curiosity, with a new, strange, almost morbid feeling. He gazed at that pale, thin, irregular, angular little face, those soft blue eyes, which could flash with such fire, such stern energy,

Starting point is 13:00:24 that little body still shaking with indignation and anger, and it all seemed to him more and more strange, almost impossible. She is a religious maniac, he repeated to himself. There was a book lying on the chest of drawers. He had noticed it every time he paced up and down the room. Now he took it up and looked at it. It was the New Testament in the Russian translation. It was bound in leather, old and worn. Where did you get that? He called to her across the room. She was still standing in the same place, three steps from the table.

Starting point is 13:01:02 It was brought me, she answered, as it were unwillingly, not looking at him. Who brought it? Lizavetta, I asked her for it. Lizavetta, strange, he thought. Everything about Sonia seemed to him stranger and more wonderful every moment. He carried the book to the candle and began to turn over the pages. Where is the story of Lazarus? He asked suddenly.

Starting point is 13:01:29 Sonia looked obstinately at the ground and would not answer. She was standing sideways to the table. "'Where is the raising of Lazarus? Find it for me, Sonia.' She stole a glance at him. "'You are not looking in the right place. It's in the fourth gospel,' she whispered sternly, without looking at him. "'Find it and read it to me,' he said. He sat down with his elbow on the table, leaned his head on his hand, and looked away sullenly,

Starting point is 13:01:57 prepared to listen. In three weeks' time they'll welcome me in the madhouse. I shall be there if I am not in a worse place, he muttered to himself. Sonia heard Ruskalnikov's request distrustfully and moved hesitatingly to the table. She took the book, however. "'Haven't you read it?' she asked, looking up at him across the table. Her voice became sterner and sterner. Long ago, when I was at school, read.

Starting point is 13:02:26 "'And haven't you heard it in church?' I haven't been. Do you often go? No, whispered Sonia. Roskolnikov smiled. I understand, and you won't go to your father's funeral tomorrow? Yes, I shall. I was at church last week, too.

Starting point is 13:02:46 I had a requiem service. For whom? For Lizavetta. She was killed with an axe. His nerves were more and more strained. His head began to go round. Were you friends with Lizovetta? Yes.

Starting point is 13:03:02 She was good. She used to come. Not often. She couldn't. We used to read together and, talk. She will see God. The last phrase sounded strange in his ears, and here was something new again.

Starting point is 13:03:18 The mysterious meetings with Lizavetta, and both of them, religious maniacs. I shall be a religious maniac myself soon. It's infectious. Read, he cried irritably and insistently. Sonia still hesitated. Her heart was throbbing. She hardly dared to read to him.

Starting point is 13:03:39 He looked almost with exasperation at the unhappy lunatic. What for? You don't believe? She whispered softly, and as it were, breathlessly. Read, I want you to, he persisted. You used to read Elizabetha. Sonia opened the book and found the place. Her hands were shaking. Her voice failed her. Twice she tried to begin and could not bring out the first syllable. Now a certain man was sick named

Starting point is 13:04:11 Lazarus of Bethany. She forced herself at last to read, but at the third word her voice broke like an over-strained string. There was a catch in her breath. Roskalikov saw in part why Sonia could not bring herself to read to him, and the more he saw this the more roughly and irritably he insisted on her doing so. He understood only too well how painful it was for her to betray and unveil all that was her own. He understood that these feelings really were her secret treasure, which she had kept perhaps for years, perhaps from childhood,

Starting point is 13:04:47 while she lived with an unhappy father and a distracted stepmother crazed by grief, in the midst of starving children and unseemly abuse and reproaches. But at the same time he knew now and knew for certain that although it filled her with dread and suffering, yet she had a tormenting desire to read, and to read to him that he might hear it, and to read now whatever might come of it. He read this in her eyes, he could see it in her intense emotion. She mastered herself, controlled a spasm in her throat, and went on reading the eleventh chapter of St. John. She went on to the nineteenth verse. and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

Starting point is 13:05:35 Then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Then she stopped again with a shame-faced feeling. that her voice would quiver and break again. Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him,

Starting point is 13:06:07 I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Starting point is 13:06:26 Believest thou this? She saith unto him. And, drawing a painful breath, Sonia read distinctly and forcibly as though she were making a public confession of faith. "'Ye, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world!' She stopped and looked up quickly at him, but controlling herself went on reading. Muscalnikov sat without moving, his elbows on the table, and his eyes turned away. She read to the thirty-second verse.

Starting point is 13:07:01 Then, when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, she groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

Starting point is 13:07:26 Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man which open the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died? Ruskalikov turned and looked at her with emotion. Yes, he had known it.

Starting point is 13:07:48 She was trembling in a real physical fever. He had expected it. She was getting near the story of the greatest miracle. and a feeling of immense triumph came over her. Her voice rang out like a bell. Triumph and joy gave it power. The lines danced before her eyes, but she knew what she was reading by heart. At the last verse, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind, dropping her voice, she passionately reproduced the doubt, the reproach and censure of the blind disbelieving Jews, who in another moment would fall at his feet as though struck by thunder,

Starting point is 13:08:25 sobbing and believing. And he, he too is blinded and unbelieving. He too will hear. He too will believe. Yes, yes, at once now, was what she was dreaming, and she was quivering with happy anticipation. Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself,

Starting point is 13:08:47 cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. She laid emphasis on the word four. Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe,

Starting point is 13:09:13 thou shouldst see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken,

Starting point is 13:09:38 he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And he that was dead came forth. She read loudly, cold and trembling with ecstasy, as though she were seeing it before her eyes. eyes. Bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him. She could read no more,

Starting point is 13:10:13 close the book, and got up from her chair quickly. That is all about the raising of Lazarus, She whispered severely and abruptly, and turning away she stood motionless, not daring to raise her eyes to him. She still trembled feverishly. The candle-end was flickering out in the battered candlestick, dimly lighting up in the poverty-stricken room, the murderer and the harlot who had so strangely been reading together the eternal book. Five minutes or more passed. I came to speak of something, Ruskalnikov said aloud, frowning. He got up and went to Sonia. She lifted her eyes to him in silence.

Starting point is 13:10:53 His face was particularly stern, and there was a sort of savage determination in it. "'I have abandoned my family today,' he said. "'My mother and sister. I am not going to see them. I've broken with them completely.' "'What for?' asked Sonia, amazed. Her recent meeting with his mother and sister

Starting point is 13:11:15 had left a great impression which she could not analyze. She heard his news almost with horror. "'I have only you now,' he added. "'Let us go together. I've come to you. We are both accursed. Let us go our way together.' His eyes glittered, as though he were mad, Sonia thought, in her turn. "'Go where?' she asked in alarm, and she involuntarily stepped back. "'How do I know? I only know it's the same road. I know that and nothing more. It's the the same goal. She looked at him and understood nothing. She knew only that he was terribly,

Starting point is 13:11:54 infinitely unhappy. No one of them will understand, if you tell them, but I have understood. I need you. That is why I have come to you. I don't understand, whispered Sonia. You'll understand later. Haven't you done the same? You, too, have transgressed, have had the strength to transgress. have laid hands on yourself. You have destroyed a life. Your own. It's all the same. You might have lived in spirit and understanding, but you'll end in the haymarket. You won't be able to stand it, and if you remain alone, you'll go out of your mind like me. You are a mad creature already. So we must go together on the same road. Let us go. What for? What's all this for? said Sonia, strangely and violently agitated by his words.

Starting point is 13:12:49 "'What for? Because you can't remain like this, that's why. You must look things straight in the face at last, and not weep like a child and cry that God won't allow it. What will happen if you should really be taken to the hospital tomorrow? She is mad and in consumption. She'll soon die and the children. Do you mean to tell me Polenka won't come to grief? "'Haven't you seen children here at the street corner sent out by their mothers to beg? I found out where those mothers live and in what surroundings. Children can't remain children there. At seven the child is vicious and a thief. Yet children, you know, are the image of Christ. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Starting point is 13:13:31 He bade us honor and loved them. They are the humanity of the future.' "'What's to be done? What's to be done?' repeated Sonia, weeping hysterically. and wringing her hands. What's to be done? Break what must be broken, once for all. That's all. And take the suffering on oneself. What?

Starting point is 13:13:52 You don't understand? You'll understand later. Freedom and power, and above all, power. Overall trembling creation and all the ant-heap. That's the goal. Remember that. That's my farewell message. Perhaps it's the last time I shall speak to you.

Starting point is 13:14:11 If I don't come tomorrow, you'll hear of it all, and then remember these words. And some day, later on, and years to come, you'll understand, perhaps, what they meant. If I come tomorrow, I'll tell you who killed Lizavetta. Goodbye. Sonia started with terror. Why, do you know who killed her? She asked, chilled with horror, looking wildly at him. I know and will tell.

Starting point is 13:14:40 You, only you. I have chosen you out. I'm not coming to you to ask forgiveness, but simply to tell you. I chose you out long ago to hear this, when your father talked of you and when Lizavetta was alive, I thought of it. Goodbye, don't shake hands. Tomorrow. He went out. Sonia gazed at him as at a madman, but she herself was like one insane and felt it. Her head was going round. Good heavens! How does he know who killed Lizavetta? What did those words mean?

Starting point is 13:15:16 It's awful. But at the same time, the idea did not enter her head, not for a moment. Oh, he must be terribly unhappy. He has abandoned his mother and sister. What for? What has happened?

Starting point is 13:15:31 And what had he in his mind? What did he say to her? He had kissed her foot and said, said—yes, he had said it clearly, that he could not live without her. Oh, merciful heavens! Sonia spent the whole night feverish and delirious. She jumped up from time to time, wept and wrung her hands, then sank again into feverish sleep and dreamt of Polenka, Katerina Ivanovna, and Lizovetta, of reading the gospel, and him, him with pale face, with burning eyes, kissing her feet, weeping.

Starting point is 13:16:07 On the other side of the door on the right, which divided Sonia's room from Madame Restlich's flat, was a room which had long stood empty. A card was fixed on the gate and a notice stuck in the windows over the canal advertising it to let. Sonia had long been accustomed to the rooms being uninhabited. But all that time Mr. Svidrigaillev had been standing, listening at the door of the empty room. When Ruskonikov went out, he stood still, thought a moment, went on tiptoe to his own room which adjoined the empty one, brought a chair and noiselessly carried it to the door that led to Sonia's room. The conversation had struck him as interesting and remarkable, and he had greatly enjoyed it. So much so that he brought a chair

Starting point is 13:16:54 that he might not in the future, tomorrow, for instance, have to endure the inconvenience of standing a whole hour, but might listen in comfort. End of Part 4, Chapter 4. Part 4, Chapter 5 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 4, Chapter 5 When, next morning at 11 o'clock, punctually Russ Kalnikov went into the Department of Investigation of Criminal Causes, and sent his name into Porfiry Petrovich, he was surprised at being kept waiting so long. It was at least ten minutes before he was summoned. He had expected that they would pounce upon him,

Starting point is 13:17:51 but he stood in the waiting-room, and people, who apparently had nothing to do with him, were continually passing to and fro before him. In the next room, which looked like an office, several clerks were sitting writing, and obviously they had no notion who or what Ruskalnikov might be. He looked uneasily and suspiciously about him to see whether there was not some guard, some mysterious watch being kept on him to prevent his escape. But there was nothing of the sort. He saw only the faces of clerks absorbed in petty details, then other people, no one seemed to have any concern with him.

Starting point is 13:18:29 He might go where he liked for them. The conviction grew stronger in him that if that enigmatic man of yesterday that phantom sprung out of the earth, had seen everything, they would not have let him stand and wait like that. And would they have waited till he elected to appear at eleven? Either the man had not yet given information, or, or simply he knew nothing, had seen nothing, and how could he have seen anything? And so all that had happened to him the day before was again a phantom, exaggerated by his sick and overstrained imagination. This conjecture had begun to grow strong the day before, in the midst of all his alarm and despair.

Starting point is 13:19:11 Thinking it all over now and preparing for a fresh conflict, he was suddenly aware that he was trembling, and he felt a rush of indignation at the thought that he was trembling with fear at facing that hateful Porfiry Petrovich. What he dreaded above all was meeting that man again. He hated him with an intense, unmitigated hatred, and was afraid his hatred might betray him.

Starting point is 13:19:35 His indignation was such that he ceased trembling at once. He made ready to go in with a cold and arrogant bearing and vowed to himself to keep as silent as possible, to watch and listen, and for once at least to control his over-strained nerves. At that moment he was summoned to Porfiry Petrovich. He found Porfiry Petrovich alone in his study. His study was a room neither large nor small, furnished with a large writing-table that stood before a sofa, upholstered in checked material,

Starting point is 13:20:10 a bureau, a bookcase in the corner, and several chairs, all-government furniture, of polished yellow wood. In the further wall there was a closed door. Beyond it, there were no doubt other rooms. On Ruskalnikov's entrance, Porfiry Petrovich had at once closed the door by which he had come in, and they remained alone. He met his visitor with an appearance. He met his visitor with an apparently genial and good-tempered air, and it was only after a few minutes that Raskolnikov saw signs of a certain awkwardness in him, as though he had been thrown out of his reckoning, or caught in something very secret. "'Ah, my dear fellow, here you are! In our domain!' began Porphyry, holding out both hands

Starting point is 13:20:54 to him. "'Come, sit down, old man! Or perhaps you don't like to be called, my dear fellow, an old man. To-court? Please don't think it too familiar. here on the sofa. Ruskalnikov sat down, keeping his eyes fixed on him. In our domain, the apologies for familiarity, the French phrase Tutskor, were all characteristic signs.

Starting point is 13:21:19 He held out both hands to me, but he did not give me one. He drew it back in time, struck him suspiciously. Both were watching each other, but when their eyes met, quick as lightning, they looked away. I brought you this paper, about the watch. Here it is. Is it all right, or shall I copy it again?' "'What? A paper?' "'Yes, yes. Don't be uneasy. It's all right,' Porfiry Petrovitch said, as though in haste,

Starting point is 13:21:50 and after he had said it, he took the paper and looked at it. "'Yes, it's all right. Nothing more is needed,' he declared with the same rapidity, and he laid the paper on the table. A minute later, when he was talking of something else, he took it from the table and put it on his bureau. "'I believe you said yesterday you would like to question me, formally, about my acquaintance with the murdered woman?' Rus Kolnikov was beginning again.

Starting point is 13:22:19 "'Why did I put in, I believe, passed through his mind in a flash?' "'Why am I so uneasy at having put in that I believe came in a second flash?' And he suddenly felt that his uneasiness was the mere contact with Porfiry, at the first words, at the first looks, had grown in an instant to monstrous proportions, and that this was fearfully dangerous. His nerves were quivering, his emotion was increasing. "'It's bad, it's bad, I shall say too much again.' "'Yes, yes, yes, there's no hurry, there's no hurry,' muttered Porfiry Petrovich, moving to and fro about the table without any apparent aim, as it were making dashes towards the window,

Starting point is 13:23:03 the bureau and the table, at one moment avoiding Ruskalnikov's suspicious glance, then again standing still and looking him straight in the face. His fat, round little figure looked very strange, like a ball rolling from one side to the other and rebounding back. We've plenty of time. Do you smoke? Have you your own? Here, a cigarette. He went on, off from. He went on. Off offering his visitor a cigarette." "'You know I am receiving you here, but my own quarters are through there, you know, my government quarters. But I am living outside for the time.

Starting point is 13:23:38 I had to have some repairs done here. It's almost finished now. Government quarters, you know, are a capital thing. Eh? What do you think?' "'Yes, a capital thing,' answered Rusconikov, looking at him almost ironically. "'A capital thing! A capital thing!' repeated Porfiry Petrovich, as though he had just thought of something quite different.

Starting point is 13:24:03 "'Yes, a capital thing!' he almost shouted at last, suddenly staring at Raskolnikov and stopping short two steps from him. This stupid repetition was too incongruous in its ineptitude with the serious, bruning, and enigmatic glance he turned upon his visitor. But this stirred Ruskalnikov's spleen more than ever, and he could not resist an ironical and rather incautious challenge. "'Tell me, please,' he said suddenly, looking almost insolently at him and taking a kind of pleasure in his own insolence.

Starting point is 13:24:39 "'I believe it's a sort of legal rule, a sort of legal tradition, for all investigating lawyers, to begin their attack from afar, with a trivial or at least an irrelevant subject. so as to encourage, or rather to divert the man they are cross-examining, to disarm his caution, and then all at once to give him an unexpected knock-down blow with some fatal question. Isn't that so? It's a sacred tradition, mentioned I fancy, in all the manuals of the art? Yes, yes. Why do you imagine that was why I spoke about government quarters, eh? And as he said this, Porfiry Petrovich screwed up his eyes and winked. A good-humored, crafty look passed over his face. The wrinkles on his forehead were

Starting point is 13:25:26 smoothed out, his eyes contracted, his features broadened, and he suddenly went off into a nervous, prolonged laugh, shaking all over and looking Ruskalnikov straight in the face. The latter forced himself to laugh, too. But when Porfiry, seeing that he was laughing, broke into such a gaffa that he turned almost crimson, Ruskolnikov's repulsion overcame all precaution. He left off laughing, scowled and stared with hatred at Porfiry, keeping his eyes fixed on him while his intentionally prolonged laughter lasted. There was a lack of precaution on both sides, however, for Porfiry Petrovich seemed to be laughing in his visitor's face, and to be very little disturbed at the annoyance with which the visitor received it.

Starting point is 13:26:13 The latter fact was very significant in Ruskalnikov's eyes. He saw that Porfiry Petrovich had not been embarrassed just before either, but that he, Raskolnikov, had perhaps fallen into a trap. That there must be something, some motive here unknown to him, that perhaps everything was in readiness and in another moment would break upon him. He went straight to the point at once, rose from his seat and took his cap. Porphyry Petrovich, he began resolutely, though with considerable irritation. "'Yesterday you expressed a desire that I should come to you for some inquiries.' He laid special stress on the word inquiries.

Starting point is 13:26:56 "'I have come, and if you have anything to ask me, ask it. And if not, allow me to withdraw. I have no time to spare. I have to be at the funeral of that man who was run over, of whom you know also.' He added, feeling angry at once at having made this addition, and more irritated at his anger. I am sick of it all, do you hear? And have long been. It's partly made me ill. In short, he shouted, feeling that the phrase about his illness was still more out of place.

Starting point is 13:27:29 In short, kindly examine me or let me go at once. And if you must examine me, do so in the proper form. I will not be allowed to do so otherwise. And so meanwhile, goodbye, as we have evidently nothing to keep us now. "'Good heavens! What do you mean? What shall I question you about?' cackled Porfiry Petrovitch with a change of tone, instantly leaving off laughing. "'Please don't disturb yourself!' he began fidgeting from place to place and fussily making Raskolnikov sit down. "'There's no hurry! There's no hurry! It's all nonsense! Oh no, I'm very

Starting point is 13:28:09 glad you've come to see me at last. I look upon you simply as a visitor.' And as for my confounded laughter, please excuse it, Rodion Romanovitch." "'Rodion Romanovitch? That is your name?' "'It's my nerves. You tickle me so with your witty observation. I assure you, sometimes I shake with laughter like an India rubber ball for half an hour at a time. I'm often afraid of an attack of paralysis.

Starting point is 13:28:38 Do sit down. Please do. Or I shall think you are angry.' Raskolnikov did not speak. He listened, watching him, still frowning angrily. He did sit down, but still held his cap. "'I must tell you one thing about myself, my dear Rodeon Romanovitch,' Porfiry Petrovich continued, moving about the room and again avoiding his visitor's eyes. "'You see, I'm a bachelor, a man of no consequence, and not used to society.

Starting point is 13:29:09 Besides, I have nothing before me. I'm set. I'm set. I'm a bachelor. I'm a man of no consequence. I'm a I'm running to seed, and—and have you noticed, Rodion Romanovitch, that in our Petersburg circles, if two clever men meet who are not intimate, but respect each other, like you and me, it takes them half an hour before they can find a subject for conversation. They are dumb, they sit opposite each other and feel awkward. Everyone has subjects of conversation, ladies, for instance. People in high society always have their subjects of conversation, say de rigour, but—but People of the middle sort like us, thinking people, that is, are always tongue-tied and awkward. What is the reason of it? Whether it is the lack of public interest, or whether it is we who are so

Starting point is 13:29:54 honest, we don't want to deceive one another, I don't know. What do you think? Do put down your cap. It looks as if you're just going. It makes me uncomfortable. I am so delighted. Ruskalnikov put down his cap and continue listening in silence. with a serious frowning face to the vague and empty chatter of Porfiry Petrovich. Does he really want to distract my attention with his silly babble? I can't offer you coffee here, but why not spend five minutes with a friend? Porfiry pattered on. And you know all these official duties.

Starting point is 13:30:33 Please don't mind my running up and down. Excuse it, my dear fellow. I am very much afraid of offending you, but exercise is absolutely indispensable for me. I'm always sitting, and so glad to be moving about for five minutes. I suffer from my sedentary life. I always intend to join a gymnasium. They say that officials of all ranks, even privy councillors may be seen skipping gaily there. There you have it, modern science.

Starting point is 13:31:01 Yes, yes. But as for my duties here, inquiries and all such formalities, you mentioned inquiries yourself just now. I assure you these interrogations are sometimes more embarrassing for the interrogator than for the interrogated. You made the observation yourself just now very aptly and wittily. Ruskolnikov had made no observation of the kind. One gets into a muddle, a regular muddle.

Starting point is 13:31:29 One keeps harping on the same note, like a drum. There is to be reform, and we shall be called by a different name, at least. And as for our legal tradition, as you so wittily called it, I thoroughly agree with you. Every person on trial, even the rudest peasant, knows that they begin by disarming him with irrelevant questions, as you so happily put it, and then deal him a knock-down blow. Your felicious comparison, he-he. So you really imagine that I met by government quarters? You are an ironical person.

Starting point is 13:32:06 Come, I won't go on. Ah, by the way, yes. One word leads to another. You spoke of formality just now, apropos of the inquiry, you know. But what's the use of formality? In many cases, it's nonsense. Sometimes one has a friendly chat and gets a great deal more out of it.

Starting point is 13:32:25 One can always fall back on formality, allow me to assure you. And, after all, what does it amount to? An examining lawyer cannot be bounded by formality at every step. The work of investigation is, so to speak, a free art in its own way. He, ha, ha, ha. Porfiry Petrovich took breath a moment. He had simply babbled on uttering empty phrases, letting slip a few enigmatic words, and again reverting to incoherence.

Starting point is 13:32:53 He was almost running about the room, moving his fat little legs quicker and quicker, looking at the ground with his right hand behind his back, while with his left making gesticulations that were extraordinarily incongruous with his words. Ruskalnikov suddenly noticed that as he ran about the room, he seemed twice to stop for a moment near the door, as though he were listening. Is he expecting anything? You are certainly quite right about it, Porfiry began gaily, looking with extraordinary

Starting point is 13:33:26 simplicity at Ruskonikov, which startled him and instantly put him on his guard. Certainly quite right in laughing so wittedly at our legal forms. Some of these elaborate psychological methods are exceedingly ridiculous, and perhaps useless, if one adheres too closely to the forms. Yes, I am talking of forms again. Well, if I recognize, or more strictly speaking, if I suspect someone or other to be a criminal, in any case entrusted to me, you're reading for the law, of course, Rodion Romanovich? Yes, I was.

Starting point is 13:34:01 Well, then, it is a precedent for you for the future, though don't suppose I should venture to instruct you after the articles you publish about crime. No, I simply make bold to state it by way of fact. If I took this man or that for a criminal, why I ask should I worry him prematurely, even though I had evidence against him? In one case I may be bound, for instance, to arrest a man at once, but another may be in quite a different position, you know, so why shouldn't I let him walk about the town a bit?

Starting point is 13:34:32 He-he-ha. But I see you don't quite understand, so I'm not. So I'll give you a clearer example. If I put him in prison too soon, I may very likely give him, so to speak, moral support. He's laughing? Raskolnikov had no idea of laughing. He was sitting with compressed lips, his feverish eyes fixed on Porfiry Petrovich's. Yet that is the case, with some types especially, for men are so different.

Starting point is 13:35:00 You say evidence. Well, there may be evidence. but evidence, you know, can generally be taken two ways. I am an examining lawyer and a weak man, I confess it. I should like to make a proof, so to say, mathematically clear. I should like to make a chain of evidence, such as twice two or four. It ought to be a direct, irrefutable proof. And if I shut him up too soon, even though I might be convinced he was the man,

Starting point is 13:35:29 I should very likely be depriving myself of the means of getting further evidence against him. And how? By giving him, so to speak, a definite position, I shall put him out of suspense and set his mind at rest, so that he will retreat into his shell. They say that at Sevastopol, soon after Alma, the clever people ran a terrible fright that the enemy would attack openly and take Sevastopol at once. But when they saw that the enemy preferred a regular siege, They were delighted, I am told, and reassured, for the thing would drag on for two months at least. You're laughing.

Starting point is 13:36:06 You don't believe me again? Of course, you're right, too. You're right, you're right. These are special cases, I admit. But you must observe this, my dear Rodion Romanovitch, the general case, the case for which all legal forms and rules are intended, for which they are calculated and laid down in books, does not exist at all, for the reason that every reason that every reason that every one. Every case, every crime, for instance, so soon as it actually occurs, at once becomes a thoroughly

Starting point is 13:36:35 a special case, and sometimes a case unlike any that's gone before. Very common cases of that sort sometimes occur. If I leave one man quite alone, if I don't touch him and don't worry him, but let him know, or at least suspect every moment that I know all about it and I'm watching him day and night, and if he is in continual suspicion and terror, he'll be bound to lose his head. He'll come of himself, or maybe do something which will make it as plain as twice two or four. It's delightful. It may be so with a simple peasant, but with one of our sort, an intelligent man cultivated on a certain side, it's a dead certainty. For, my dear fellow, it's a very important matter to know on what side a man is cultivated.

Starting point is 13:37:22 And then there are nerves, there are nerves, you have overlooked them. Why, they are all sick, nervous, and irritable. And then how they all suffer from spleen. That, I assure you, is a regular goldmine for us. And it's no anxiety to me. He is running about the town free. Let him. Let him walk about for a bit.

Starting point is 13:37:44 I know well enough that I've caught him and that he won't escape me. Where could he escape, too, ha-ha? A broad, perhaps? A pole will escape abroad, but not here, especially, as I'll I am watching and have taken measures. Will he escape into the depths of the country, perhaps? But, you know, peasants live there, real, rude Russian peasants. A modern, cultivated man would prefer prison to living with such strangers as our peasants, but that's all nonsense, and on the surface. It's not merely that he has nowhere to run, too, he is psychologically

Starting point is 13:38:20 unable to escape me, huh? What an expression. Through a law of nature he can't escape me, if he had anywhere to go. Have you seen a butterfly round a candle? That's how he'll keep circling and circling round me. Freedom will lose its attractions. He'll begin to brood. He'll weave a tangle round himself. He'll worry himself to death.

Starting point is 13:38:43 What's more, he will provide me with a mathematical proof, if I only give him long enough interval. And he'll keep circling around me, getting nearer and nearer, and then flop. He'll fly straight into my mouth. mouth and I'll swallow him, and that will be very amusing, ha, ha, ha. You don't believe me?' Raskolnikov made no reply. He sat pale and motionless, still gazing with the same intensity into Porfiry's face. "'It's a lesson,' he thought, turning cold. This is beyond that cat

Starting point is 13:39:16 playing with a mouse like yesterday. He can't be showing off his power with no motive, prompting me. He is far too clever for that. He must have another object. What is it? It's all nonsense, my friend. You are pretending to scare me. You have no proofs, and the man I saw had no real existence. You simply want to make me lose my head, to work me up beforehand, and so to crush me. But you are wrong, you won't do it. But why give me such a hint? Is he reckoning on my shattered nerves? No, my friend, you are wrong. You won't do it even though you have some trap for me. Let us see what you have in store for me." And he braced himself to face a terrible and unknown ordeal. At times he longed to fall on Porfiry and strangle him. This anger was what he dreaded

Starting point is 13:40:09 from the beginning. He felt that his parched lips were flecked with foam, his heart was throbbing. But he was still determined not to speak till the right moment. He realized that this was the best policy in his position, because instead of saying too much he would be irritating his enemy by his silence and provoking him into speaking too freely. Anyhow, this was what he hoped for. "'No, I see you don't believe me. You think I am playing a harmless joke on you.' Porfiry began again, getting more and more lively, chuckling at every instant and again pacing round the room.

Starting point is 13:40:46 "'And to be sure you're right. God has given me a figure that can awaken none but comic ideas in other people, a buffoon. But let me tell you, and I repeat it. Excuse an old man, my dear Rodeon Romanovich. You are a man still young, so to say, in your first youth, and so you put intellect above everything, like all young people. Playful wits and abstract arguments fascinate you,

Starting point is 13:41:11 and that's for all the world like the old Austrian Hofkriegsgrath, as far as I can judge of military matters, that is, On paper they'd beat Napoleon and taken him prisoner, and there in their study they worked it all out in the cleverest fashion. But look you, General Max surrendered with all his army. I see. I see, Rodian Romanovitch, you are laughing at a civilian like me, taking examples out of military history.

Starting point is 13:41:38 But I can't help it. It's my weakness. I am fond of military science, and I'm ever so fond of reading all military histories. I've certainly missed my proper career. I ought to have been in the Army, upon my word I ought. I shouldn't have been a Napoleon, but I might have been a major. Well, I'll tell you the whole truth, my dear fellow, about this special case, I mean. Actual fact and a man's temperament, my dear sir, are weighty matters,

Starting point is 13:42:08 and it's astonishing how they sometimes deceive the sharpest calculation. I, listen to an old man, am speaking seriously, Rodion Romanovich. As he said this, Porfiry Petrovich, who with scarcely five and thirty, actually seemed to have grown old. Even his voice changed, and he seemed to shrink together. Moreover, I'm a candid man. Am I a candid man or not? What do you say? I fancy I really am. I tell you these things for nothing, and don't even expect a reward for it. it, ha. Well, to proceed, wit, in my opinion, is a splendid thing. It is, so to say, an adornment of nature and a consolation of life, and what tricks it can play.

Starting point is 13:42:55 So that it sometimes is hard for a poor examining lawyer to know where he is, especially when he's liable to be carried away by his own fancy, too, for, you know, he is a man, after all. But the poor fellow is saved by the criminal's temperament, Worst luck for him. But young people, carried away by their own wit, don't think of that when they overstep all obstacles, as you wittily and cleverly expressed it yesterday. He will lie, that is, the man who is a special case,

Starting point is 13:43:27 the incognito, and he will lie well, in the cleverest fashion. You might think he would triumph and enjoy the fruits of his wit, but at the most interesting, the most flagrant moment he will faint. Of course there may be illness and a stuffy room as well, but anyway. Anyway, he's given us the idea. He lied incomparably, but he did reckon on his temperament. That's what betrays him. Another time he will be carried away by his playful wit into making fun of the man who

Starting point is 13:43:58 suspects him. He will turn pale, as it were, on purpose to mislead, but his paleness will be too natural, too much like the real thing. Again, he has given us an idea. Though his questioner may be deceived at first, he will think differently next day if he is not a fool, and of course it is like that at every step. He puts himself forward where he is not wanted, speaks continually when he ought to keep silent, brings in all sorts of allegorical allusions, ha-ha.

Starting point is 13:44:29 Comes and asks why didn't you take me long ago, ha-ha-ha. And that can happen, you know, with the cleverest man, the psychology. the literary man. The temperament reflects everything like a mirror. Gaze into it and admire what you see. But why are you so pale, Rodion Romanovitch? Is the room stuffy? Shall I open the window? Oh, don't trouble, please, cried Rusconikov, and he suddenly broke into a laugh. Please don't trouble. Porphyry stood facing him, paused a moment, and suddenly he too laughed. Russ Kalnikov got up from the sofa, abruptly checking his hysterical laughter.

Starting point is 13:45:12 Porfiry Petrovich, he began speaking loudly and distinctly, though his legs trembled and he could scarcely stand. I see clearly at last that you actually suspect me of murdering that old woman and her sister Lizavetta. Let me tell you for my part that I am sick of this. If you find that you have a right to prosecute me legally, to arrest me, then prosecute me. Then prosecute you. me, arrest me. But I will not let myself be jeered at to my face and worried." His lips trembled, his eyes glowed with fury, and he could not restrain his voice. "'I won't allow it!' he shouted, bringing his fist down on the table. "'Do you hear that, Porfiry Petrovich? I won't allow it!'

Starting point is 13:45:56 "'Good heavens! What does it mean?' cried Porfiry Petrovich, apparently quite frightened. Rodion Romanovitch, my dear fellow, what is the matter with you? I won't allow it, Raskolnikov shouted again. Hush, my dear man, they'll hear and come in. Just think, what could we say to them? Porfiry Petrovich whispered in horror, bringing his face close to Raskolnikov's. I won't allow it, I won't allow it, Raskolnikov repeated mechanically, but he too spoke in a sudden whisper. Porfiry turned quickly and ran to open the window. "'Some fresh air, and you must have some water, my dear fellow. You're ill!'

Starting point is 13:46:41 And he was running to the door to call for some when he found a decanter of water in the corner. "'Come, drink a little,' he whispered, rushing up to him with the decanter. It will be sure to do you good.' Porfiry Petrovitch's alarm and sympathy were so natural that Rusconikov was silent and began looking at him with wild curiosity. He did not take the water, however. Rodian Romanovitch, my dear fellow, you'll drive yourself out of your mind. I assure you, ah, ha! Have some water, do drink a little.

Starting point is 13:47:15 He forced him to take the glass. Raskolnikov raised it mechanically to his lips, but set it on the table again with disgust. Yes, you've had a little attack. You'll bring back your illness again, my dear fellow. Porfiry Petrovich cackled with friendly sympathy, though he still looked rather, disconcerted. Good heavens! You must take more care of yourself!" Dmitri Prakovitch was here, came to see me yesterday.

Starting point is 13:47:41 I know, I know, I have a nasty, ironical temper, but what they made of it! Good heavens! He came yesterday after you'd been! We dined and he talked and talked away, and I could only throw up my hands in despair. Did he come from you?" But do sit down. For mercy's sake, sit down. No, not from me.

Starting point is 13:48:01 but I knew he went to you and why he went," Roskolnkov answered sharply. You knew? I knew. What of it? Why, this, Rodian Romanovitch, that I know more than that about you. I know about everything. I know how you went to take a flat at night when it was dark, and how you rang the bell, and asked about the blood, so that the workmen and the porter did not know what to make of it. Yes, I understand your state of mind at that time. But you'll drive yourself mad like that upon my word. You'll lose your head.

Starting point is 13:48:39 You're full of generous indignation at the wrongs you've received, first from destiny and then from the police officers, and so you rush from one thing to another to force them to speak out and make an end of it all, because you're sick of all this suspicion and foolishness. That's so, isn't it? I have guessed how you feel, haven't I? Only in that way you'll lose your head and resumeeans too.

Starting point is 13:49:03 He's too good a man for such a position. You must know that. You are ill, and he is good, and your illness is infectious for him. I'll tell you about it when you are more yourself. But do sit down, for goodness sake. Please rest. You look shocking. Do sit down.

Starting point is 13:49:22 Vosconikov sat down. He no longer shivered. He was hot all over. In amazement, he listened with statured. strained attention to Porfiry Petrovich, who still seemed frightened as he looked after him with friendly solicitude. But he did not believe a word he said, though he felt a strange inclination to believe. Porfiry's unexpected words about the flat had utterly overwhelmed him. How can it be? He knows about the flat then, he thought suddenly, and he tells it me himself.

Starting point is 13:49:54 Yes, in our legal practice there was a case almost exactly similar, a case of a case of of morbid psychology. Porfiry went on quickly. A man confessed to murder and how he kept it up. It was a regular hallucination. He brought forward facts. He imposed upon everyone and why. He had been partly, but only partly, unintentionally the cause of a murder, and when he knew that he had given the murder as the opportunity, he sank into dejection. It got on his mind and turned his brain, and he began imagining things, and he persuaded himself that he was the murder But at last the High Court of Appeal went into it, and the poor fellow was acquitted and put under proper care.

Starting point is 13:50:37 Thanks to the Court of Appeal, tut, tut, tut. Why, my dear fellow, you may drive yourself into a delirium if you have the impulse to work upon your nerves, to go ringing bells at night and asking about blood. I've studied all this morbid psychology in my practice. A man is sometimes tempted to jump out of a window or from a bell-free, just the same with bell-ringing. It's all illness, Rodian Romanovitch. You have begun to neglect your illness. You should consult and experience doctor. What's the good of that fat fellow? You are light-headed. You were delirious when you did all this. For a moment, Ruskalnikov felt everything going round.

Starting point is 13:51:18 Is it possible? Is it possible? Flash through his mind. That he is still lying? He can't be. He can't be. He rejected that idea, feeling too much. He was. He was a little. He was a what a degree of fury it might drive him, feeling that that fury might drive him mad. I was not delirious. I knew what I was doing, he cried, straining every faculty to penetrate Porphyry's game. I was quite myself. Do you hear? Yes, I hear and understand. You said yesterday you were not delirious. You are particularly emphatic about it. I understand all you can tell me. Ah, listen, Rodian Romanovitch, my dear fellow. If you were actually a criminal or were somehow mixed up in this damnable business, would you

Starting point is 13:52:04 insist that you were not delirious but in full possession of your faculties? And so emphatically and persistently? Would it be possible? Quite impossible to my thinking. If you had anything on your conscience, you certainly ought to insist that you were delirious. That's so, isn't it? There was a note of slyness in his inquiry. As Konikov drew back on the sofa as Porphyryry.

Starting point is 13:52:29 he bent over him and stared in silent perplexity at him. Another thing about Rezumian, you certainly ought to have said that he came of his own accord, to have concealed your part in it. But you don't conceal it. You lay stress on his coming at your instigation. Voskalikov had not done so. A chill went down his back. "'You keep telling lies,' he said slowly and weakly, twisting his lips into a sickly smile. You are trying again to show that you know all my game, that you know all I shall say beforehand, he said, conscious himself, that he was not weighing his words as he ought. You want to frighten me, or you are simply laughing at me.

Starting point is 13:53:15 He still stared at him as he said this, and again there was a light of intense hatred in his eyes. You keep lying, he said. You know perfectly well that the best policy for a criminal is to tell the truth as nearly as possible, to conceal as little as possible. I don't believe you." "'What a wily person you are!' Porfiry tittered. There's no catching you. You've a perfect monomania. So you don't believe me. But still you do believe me. You believe a quarter. I'll soon make you believe the whole, because I have a sincere liking for you and genuinely wish you good." Raskolnikov's lips trembled. "'Yes, I do,' went on Porphyry, touching Ros Kalnikov's arm genially.

Starting point is 13:54:03 "'You must take care of your illness. Besides, your mother and sister are here now. You must think of them. You must soothe and comfort them, and you do nothing but frighten them.' "'What has that to do with you? How do you know it? What concern is it of yours? You are keeping watching me and want to let me know it?' "'Good heavens! Why, I learned it all from you yourself!

Starting point is 13:54:27 You don't notice that in your excitement you tell me and others everything. From Resumian, too, I learned a number of interesting details yesterday. No, you interrupted me, but I must tell you that, for all your wit, your suspiciousness makes you lose the common sense of view of things. To return to bell-ringing, for instance, I, an examining lawyer, have betrayed a precious thing like that, a real fact, for it is a fact worth having, and you see nothing in it. Why, if I had the slightest suspicion of you, should I have acted like

Starting point is 13:55:02 that? No, I should first have disarmed your suspicions, and not let you see I knew of that fact, should have diverted your attention, and suddenly have dealt you a knock-down blow, your expression, saying, "'And what were you doing, sir, pray at ten or nearly eleven at the murdered woman's flat, and why did you ring the bell, and why did you ask about blood, and why did you ask about blood, and why did you invite the porters to go with you to the police station, to the lieutenant? That's how I ought to have acted if I had a grain of suspicion of you. I ought to have taken your evidence in due form, search your lodging, and perhaps have arrested you too. So I have no suspicion of you, since I have not done that.

Starting point is 13:55:45 But you can't look at it normally, and you see nothing, I say again. Raskolnikov started so that Porfiry Petrovich could not fail to perceive it. "'You are lying all the while,' he cried. "'I don't know your object, but you are lying. You did not speak like that just now, and I cannot be mistaken.' "'Am I lying?' Porfiry repeated, apparently incensed, but preserving a good-humored and ironical face, as though he were not in the least concerned at Ruskalnikov's opinion of him.

Starting point is 13:56:17 "'I am lying. But how did I treat you just now? I, the examining lawyer, prompting you and giving you every means for your defense. Illness, I said, delirium, injury, melancholy, and the police officers, and all the rest of it. Ah, ha, ha, ha. Though, indeed, all those psychological means of defense are not very reliable and cut both ways. Illness, delirium, I don't remember. That's all right, but why, my good sir, in your illness and in your delirium, were you haunted

Starting point is 13:56:49 by just those delusions and not by any others? There may have been others, eh? Ha, ha! Ha! Ha! Raskolnikov looked haughtily and contemptuously at him. Briefly, he said loudly and imperiously, rising to his feet and in so doing pushing Porfiry back a little. Briefly, I want to know. Do you acknowledge me perfectly free from suspicion or not? Tell me, Porfiry Petrovich. Tell me once for all, and make haste. What a business I'm having with you!

Starting point is 13:57:20 cried Porphyry, with a perfectly good-humored, sly, and composed face. And why do you want to know? Why do you want to know so much, since they haven't begun to worry you? Why, you are like a child asking for matches. And why are you so uneasy? Why do you force yourself upon us, eh? Ha, ha, ha. I repeat, Ruskalikov cried furiously, that I can't put up with it. With what? Uncertainly. certainty, interrupted Porfiry. "'Don't jeer at me. I won't have it. I tell you I won't have it. I can't and I won't. Do you hear? Do you hear?' he shouted, bringing his fist down on the table again.

Starting point is 13:58:05 "'Hush! Hush! They'll over here. I warn you seriously. Take care of yourself. I am not joking,' Porfiry whispered, but this time there was not the look of old womanish good nature and alarm in his face. Now he was peremptorily stern, frowning and for once laying aside all mystification. But this was only for an instant. Raskolnikov, bewildered, suddenly fell into actual frenzy. But strange to say, he again obeyed the command to speak quietly, though he was in a perfect paroxysm of fury. "'I will not allow myself to be tortured,' he whispered, instantly recognizing with hatred that he could not help obeying the command, and driven to even greater fury by the thought.

Starting point is 13:58:50 "'Arrest me, search me, but kindly act in due form, and don't play with me. Don't dare!' "'Don't worry about the form,' Porfiry interrupted with the same sly smile, as it were, gloating with enjoyment over Raskolnikov. I invited you to see me quite in a friendly way. "'I don't want your friendship, and I spit on it. Do you hear? And here, I take my my cap and go. What will you say now if you mean to arrest me?' He took up his cap and went to the door. "'And won't you see my little surprise?' chuckled Porfiry, again taking him by the arm and stopping him at the door. He seemed to become more playful and good-humored, which maddened

Starting point is 13:59:33 Ruskolnikov. "'What surprise?' he asked, standing still and looking at Porphyry in alarm. "'My little surprise! It's sitting there behind the door He pointed to the locked door. I locked him in that he should not escape. What is it? Where? What? Raskolnikov walked to the door and would have opened it, but it was locked. It's locked. Here is the key. And he brought a key out of his pocket.

Starting point is 14:00:03 You are lying, roared Ruskalnikov without restraint. You lie, you damned Punchinello! And he rushed at Porfiry, who retreated to the other door, not at all alarm. I understand it all. You are lying and mocking so that I may betray myself to you. Why, you could not betray yourself any further, my dear Rodeon Romanovitch. You are in a passion. Don't shout. I shall call the clerks. You are lying. Call the clerks. You knew I was ill and tried to work me into a frenzy to make me betray myself. That was your object. Produce your facts. I understand it all. You've no evidence. You have no evidence. You have of only wretched, rubbishly suspicions like Zametovs. You knew my character. You wanted to drive

Starting point is 14:00:50 me to fury, and then to knock me down with priests and deputies. Are you waiting for them, eh? What are you waiting for? Where are they? Produce them?' "'Why, deputies, my good man. What things people will imagine? And to do so would not be acting in form, as you say. You don't know the business, my dear fellow. And there's no escaping form as you see. Porfiry muttered, listening at the door through which a noise could be heard. "'Ah, they're coming!' cried Raskolnikov. You've sent for them. You expected them. Well, produce them all. Your deputies, your witnesses, what you like. I am ready.' But at this moment a strange incident occurred, something so unexpected that neither Raskolnikov

Starting point is 14:01:36 nor Porfiry Petrovich could have looked for such a conclusion to their interview. Part 4, Chapter 5. Part 4, Chapter 6 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Liberovach's recording is in the public domain. Part 4, Chapter 6 When he remembered the scene afterwards, this is how Rus Konakov saw it. The noise behind the door increased, and suddenly the door was opened a little. little. "'What is it?' cried Porfiry Petrovich, annoyed. "'Why, I gave orders.'

Starting point is 14:02:24 "'For an instant there was no answer, but it was evident that there were several persons at the door, and that they were apparently pushing somebody back. "'What is it?' Porfiry Petrovich repeated uneasily. "'The prisoner Nikolai has been brought,' someone answered. "'He is not wanted. Take him away. Let him wait. What's he doing here? How irisage! "'Tigular!' cried Porfiry, rushing to the door. "'But he—' began the same voice and suddenly ceased.

Starting point is 14:02:55 Two seconds, not more, were spent in actual struggle. Then someone gave a violent shove, and then a man, very pale, strode into the room. This man's appearance was at first sight very strange. He stared straight before him, as though seeing nothing. There was a determined gleam in his eyes. At the same time there was a deathly pallor in his face, as though he were being led to the scaffold. His white lips were faintly twitching. He was dressed like a workman and was of medium height, very young, slim, his hair cut in round

Starting point is 14:03:32 crop, with thin spare features. The man whom he had thrust back followed him into the room and succeeded in seizing him by the shoulder. He was a warder, but Nikolai pulled his arm away. Several persons crowded inquisitively into the doorway. Some of them tried to get in. All this took place almost instantaneously. Go away. It's too soon.

Starting point is 14:03:57 Wait till you are sent for. Why have you brought him so soon? Porfiry Petrovich muttered, extremely annoyed, and, as it were, thrown out of his reckoning. But Nikolai suddenly knelt down. What's the matter? cried Porfiry, surprised. I am guilty. Mine is the sin.

Starting point is 14:04:17 I am the murderer, Nikolai articulated suddenly, rather breathless, but speaking fairly loudly. For ten seconds there was silence as though all had been struck dumb. Even the warder stepped back, mechanically retreated to the door and stood immovable. "'What is it?' cried Porphyry Petrovich, recovering from his momentary stupefaction. "'I am the murderer!' repeated Nikolai, after a brief pause. "'What? You—what?

Starting point is 14:04:50 Whom did you kill?' Porfiry Petrovitch was obviously bewildered. Nikolai again was silent for a moment. Alyona Ivanovna and her sister Lizavetta Ivanovna, I—killed with an axe! Darkness came over me! He added suddenly, and was again silent. He still remained on his knees. Porfiry Petrovich stood for some moments as though meditating, but suddenly roused himself and waved back the uninvited spectators. They instantly vanished and closed the door.

Starting point is 14:05:24 Then he looked towards Raskolnikov, who was standing in the corner, staring wildly at Nikolai, and moved towards him, but stopped short, looked from Nikolai to Raskolnikov and then again at Nikolai, and, seeming unable to restrain himself darted at the latter. You're in too great a hurry, he shouted at him, almost angrily. I didn't ask you what came over you. Speak. Did you kill them? I am the murderer.

Starting point is 14:05:52 I want to give evidence, Nikolai pronounced. Ah, what did you kill them with? An axe. I had it ready. Ah, he is in a hurry. Alone? Nikolai did not understand the question. Did you do it alone?

Starting point is 14:06:10 Yes, alone. And Mitka is not guilty and had no share in it. "'Don't be in a hurry about Mitka. Ah! How was it you ran downstairs like that at the time? The porters met you both!' "'It was to put them off the scent. I ran after Mitka,' Nikolai replied hurriedly,

Starting point is 14:06:30 as though he had prepared the answer. "'I knew it,' cried Porphyry, with vexation. "'It's not his own tale he is telling. He muttered as though to himself, and suddenly his eyes rested on Ruskalnikov again. He was apparently so taken up with Nikolai that for a moment he had forgotten Ruskalnikov. He was a little taken aback. My dear Rodian Romanovitch, excuse me. He flew up to him.

Starting point is 14:06:58 This won't do. I'm afraid you must go. It's no good you're staying. I will. You see, what a surprise! Goodbye. And taking him by the arm, he showed him to the door.

Starting point is 14:07:11 "'I suppose you didn't expect it,' said Raskolnikov, who, though he had not yet fully grasped the situation, had regained his courage. "'You did not expect it either, my friend. See how your hand is trembling, ha-ha!' "'You're trembling, too, Porfiry Petrovich.' "'Yes, I am. I didn't expect it.' They were already at the door. Porfiry was impatient for Raskolnikov to be gone. "'And your little surprise, aren't you going to show it to me?' Ruskalnikov said sarcastically.

Starting point is 14:07:45 "'Why, his teeth are chattering as he asks. You are an ironical person. Come, till we meet.' "'I believe we can say goodbye.' "'That's in God's hands,' muttered Porfiry, with an unnatural smile. As he walked through the office, Roskalnikov noticed that many people were looking at him. Among them he saw the two porters from the house, whom he invited that night to the police station. They stood there waiting. But he was no sooner on the stairs than he heard the voice

Starting point is 14:08:19 of Porfiry Petrovich behind him. Turning round, he saw the latter running after him out of breath. "'One word, Rodion Romanovitch. As to all the rest, it's in God's hands, but as a matter of form there are some questions I shall have to ask you. So we shall meet again, shan't we?' And Porfiry stood still, facing him with a smile. "'Shan't we?' he added again. He seemed to want to say something more, but could not speak out. "'You must forgive me, Porfiry Petrovitch, for what has just passed. I'd lost my temper,' began Ruskonikov, who had so far regained his courage

Starting point is 14:08:59 that he felt irresistibly inclined to display his coolness. "'Don't mention it, don't mention it,' Porfiry replied, almost gleefully. I myself, too. I have a wicked temper, I admit it. But we shall meet again. If it's God's will we may see a great deal of one another." "'And we'll get to know each other through and through,' added Ruskalnikov.

Starting point is 14:09:25 "'Yes, know each other through and through,' assented Porfiry Petrovich, and he screwed up his eyes, looking earnestly at Ruskalnikov. "'Now you're going to a birthday party?' To a funeral. Of course, the funeral. Take care of yourself and get well. I don't know what to wish you, said Raskolnikov, who had begun to descend the stairs, but looked back again.

Starting point is 14:09:52 I should like to wish you success, but your office is such a comical one. Why comical, Porphyry Petrovich had turned to go, but he seemed to prick up his ears at this. Why, how you must have been torturing and hurt you? harassing that poor Nikolai psychologically, after your fashion, till he confessed. You must have been at him day and night, proving to him that he was the murderer, and now that he is confessed, you'll begin vivisecting him again. You are lying, you'll say. You are not the murderer. You can't be. It's not your own tale you are telling. You must admit it's a comical business.

Starting point is 14:10:32 You noticed then that I said to Nikolai just now that it was not his own tale he was telling, How could I help noticing it? Ha-ha! You are quick-witted. You notice everything. You've really a playful mind. And you always fasten on the comic side, ha-ha. They say that was the marked characteristic of Gogol among the writers.

Starting point is 14:10:56 Yes, of Gogol. Yes, of Gogol. I shall look forward to meeting you. So shall I. Ruskonikov walked straight home. He was so muddled and bewildered that on getting home he sat for a quarter of an hour on the sofa, trying to collect his thoughts. He did not attempt to think about Nikolai.

Starting point is 14:11:17 He was stupefied. He felt that his confession was something inexplicable, amazing, something beyond his understanding. But Nikolai's confession was an actual fact. The consequences of this fact were clear to him at once. Its falsehood could not fail to be discovered. and then they would be after him again. Till then, at least, he was free and must do something for himself, for the danger was imminent.

Starting point is 14:11:45 But how imminent? His position gradually became clear to him. Remembering, sketchily, the main outlines of his recent scene with Porfiry, he could not help shuddering again with horror. Of course, he did not yet know all Porfiry's aims. He could not see into all his calculations. But he had already partly shown his hand, and no one knew better than Raskolnikov how terrible Porfiry's lead had been for him. A little more, and he might have given himself away completely,

Starting point is 14:12:15 circumstantially. Knowing his nervous temperament and from the first glance seeing through him, Porfiry, though playing a bold game, was bound to win. There's no denying that Raskolnikov had compromised himself seriously, but no facts had come to light as he was. yet. There was nothing positive. But was he taking a true view of the position? Wasn't he mistaken? What had Porfiry been trying to get at? Had he really some surprise prepared for him? And what was it? Had he really been expecting something or not? How would they have parted if it had not been for the unexpected appearance of Nikolai? Porfiry had shown almost all his cards. Of course, he had risked something in showing them. And if he had really had anything up his sleeve,

Starting point is 14:13:06 Raskolnikov reflected, he would have shown that too. What was that surprise? Was it a joke? Had it meant anything? Could it have concealed anything like a fact, a piece of positive evidence? His yesterday's visitor? What had become of him? Where was he today? If Porfiry really had any evidence, it must be connected with him. He sat on the sofa with his elbows on his knees and his face hidden in his hands. He was still shivering nervously. At last he got up, took his cap, thought a minute, and went to the door. He had a sort of presentiment that, for today at least, he might consider himself out of danger.

Starting point is 14:13:50 He had a sudden sense almost of joy. He wanted to make haste to Katerina Ivanovna's. He would be too late for the funeral, of course, but he would be in time. for the memorial dinner, and there at once he would see Sonia." He stood still, thought a moment, and a suffering smile came for a moment on to his lips. "'Today, today,' he repeated to himself. "'Yes, today. So it must be.'

Starting point is 14:14:22 But as he was about to open the door, it began opening of itself. He started and moved back. door opened gently and slowly, and there suddenly appeared a figure, yesterday's visitor, from underground. The man stood in the doorway, looked at Ruskalnikov without speaking, and took a step forward into the room. He was exactly the same as yesterday, the same figure, the same dress, but there was a great change in his face.

Starting point is 14:14:52 He looked dejected and sighed deeply. If he had only put his hand up to his cheek and leaned his head on his head on his face, he looked, one side, he would have looked exactly like a peasant woman." "'What do you want?' asked Raskolnikov, numb with terror. The man was still silent, but suddenly he bowed down almost to the ground, touching it with his finger. "'What is it?' cried Raskolnikov. "'I have sinned,' the man articulated softly. "'How?'

Starting point is 14:15:25 "'By evil thoughts.' They looked at one another. I was vexed. When you came, perhaps in drink, and bade the porters go to the police station and asked about the blood, I was vexed that they let you go and took you for drunken. I was so vexed that I lost my sleep. And remembering the address, we came here yesterday and asked for you.

Starting point is 14:15:51 Who came? Russ Kalnikov interrupted, instantly beginning to recollect. I did. I've wronged you. Then you come from that house? I was standing at the gate with them. Don't you remember? We have carried on our trade in that house for years past.

Starting point is 14:16:11 We cure and prepare hides. We take work home. Most of all, I was vexed. And the whole scene of the day before yesterday in the gateway came clearly before Raskolnikov's mind. He recollected that there had been a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of been several people there besides the porters, women among them. He remembered one voice had suggested taking him straight to the police station. He could not recall the face of the speaker,

Starting point is 14:16:37 and even now he did not recognize it, but he remembered that he had turned round and made him some answer. So this was the solution of yesterday's horror. The most awful thought was that he had been actually almost lost, had almost done for himself on account of such a trivial circumstance. So this man could tell nothing except his asking about the flat and the bloodstains. So Porfiry too had nothing but that delirium, no facts but this psychology which cuts both ways, nothing positive. So if no more facts come to light, and they must not, they must not, then what can they do to him? How can they convict him, even if they arrest him? and Porfiry then had only just heard about the flat and had not known about it before.

Starting point is 14:17:33 "'Was it you who told Porfiry that I'd been there?' he cried, struck by a sudden idea. "'What, Porfiry?' "'The head of the detective department.' "'Yes, the porters did not go there, but I went. "'Today?' "'I got there two minutes before you. "'And I heard, I heard it all. worried you.

Starting point is 14:17:57 Where? What? When? Why, in the next room. I was sitting there all the time. What? Why, then you were the surprise? But how could it happen?

Starting point is 14:18:11 Upon my word. I saw that the porters did not want to do what I said, began the man. For it's too late, said they, and maybe he'll be angry that we did not come at the time. I was vexed and I lost my sleep. sleep, and I began making inquiries. And finding out yesterday where to go, I went today. The first time I went he wasn't there. When I came an hour later he couldn't see me. I went the third time and they showed me in. I informed him of everything, just as it happened, and he began skipping about the room and punching himself on the chest.

Starting point is 14:18:49 "'What do you scoundrels mean by it? If I'd known about it, I should have arrested him.' Then he ran out, called somebody, and began talking to him in the corner. Then he turned to me, scolding and questioning me. He scolded me a great deal, and I told him everything, and I told him that you didn't dare to say a word in answer to me yesterday, and that you didn't recognize me. And he fell to running about again and kept hitting himself on the chest, and getting angry and running about.

Starting point is 14:19:19 And when you were announced he told me to go into the next room. "'Sit there a bit,' he said. "'Don't move, whatever you may hear.' And he set a chair there for me and locked me in. Perhaps he said, I may call you. And when Nikolai had been brought he let me out as soon as you were gone. I shall send for you again and question you,' he said. "'And did he question Nikolai while you were there?'

Starting point is 14:19:45 He got rid of me as he did of you before he spoke to Nikolai. The man stood still, and again suddenly. bowed down, touching the ground with his finger. Forgive me for my evil thoughts and my slander. May God forgive you, answered Raskolnikov. And as he said this, the man bowed down again, but not to the ground, turned slowly and went out of the room. It all cuts both ways. Now it all cuts both ways,

Starting point is 14:20:18 repeated Raskolnikov, and he went out more confident than ever. Now we'll make a fight for it, he said with a malicious smile as he went down the stairs. His malice was aimed at himself. With shame and contempt, he recollected his cowardice. End of Part 4, Chapter 6. Part 5, Chapter 1 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 5. Chapter 1

Starting point is 14:21:02 The morning that followed the fateful interview with Donya and her mother brought sobering influences to bear on Pieter Petrovich. Intensely unpleasant as it was, he was forced little by little to accept as a fact beyond recall what had seemed to him only the day before, fantastic and incredible. The black snake of wounded vanity had been gnawing at his heart all night. When he got out of bed, Piotr Petrovitch immediately looked in the looking-glass. He was afraid that he had jaund us. However, his health seemed unimpaired so far, and, looking at his noble, clear-skinned countenance, which had grown faddish of late, Pieter Petrovich, for an instant, was positively comforted in the conviction that he would

Starting point is 14:21:48 find another bride, and perhaps even a better one. But coming back to the sense of his present position, he turned aside and spat vigorously, which excited a sarcastic smile in Andrei Semyonov, the young friend with whom he was staying. That smile, Pietrovich noticed, and at once set it down against his young friend's account. He had set down a good many points against him of late. His anger was redoubled when he reflected that he ought not to have told Andrei Semyonovitch about the result of yesterday's interview. That was the second mistake he had made in temper, through impulsiveness and irritability. Moreover, all that morning one unpleasantness followed another. He even found a hitch

Starting point is 14:22:36 awaiting him in his legal case in the Senate. He was particularly irritated by the owner of the flat, which had been taken in view of his approaching marriage, and was being redecorated at his own expense. The owner, a rich German tradesman, would not entertain the idea of breaking the contract which had just been signed, and insisted on the full forfeit money, though Pietro Petrovich would be giving him back the flat, practically redecorated. In the same way, the upholsterers refused to return a single ruble of the installment paid for the furniture purchased but not yet removed to the flat. Am I to get married simply for the sake of the furniture?

Starting point is 14:23:16 Pietro Petrovich ground his teeth, and at the same time, once more he had a gleam of desperate hope. Can all that be really so irrevocably over? Is it no use to make another effort? The thought of Donia sent a voluptuous pang through his heart. He endured anguish at that moment, and if it had been possible to slay Raskolnikov instantly by wishing it, Pietro Petrovich would promptly have uttered the wish.

Starting point is 14:23:42 It was my mistake, too, not to have given them money, he thought, as he returned dejectedly to Lebeziatnikov's room. And why on earth was I such a Jew? It was false economy. I meant to keep them without a penny so that they should turn to me as their providence, and look at them. Foo! If I had spent some fifteen hundred roubles on them for the trousseau and presents on knick-knacks, dressing-cases, jewelry, materials, and all that sort of trash from Knops and the English shop, my position would have been better, and stronger. They could not have refused me so easily. They are the sort of people that would feel bound to return money and presents if they broke it off,

Starting point is 14:24:24 and they would find it hard to do. And their conscience would prick them. How can we dismiss a man who has hitherto been so generous and delicate? Hmm, I've made a blunder. And grinding his teeth again, Pieter Petrovich called himself a fool, but not allowed, of course. He returned home, twice as irritated and angry as before. The preparations for the funeral dinner at Katerina Ivanovna's excited his curiosity as he passed. He had heard about it the day before. He fancied indeed that he had been invited, but absorbed in his own cares he had paid no attention. Inquiring of Madame Lepaveschel, who was busy laying the table while Katerina Ivanovna was away at the cemetery, he heard that the entertainment was to be a great affair, that all the

Starting point is 14:25:13 lodgers had been invited, among them some who had not known the dead man. That even André Semymyanovich Lebeziatnikov was invited in spite of his previous quarrel with Katerina Ivanovna, that he, Piotr Petrovich, was not only invited, but was eagerly expected as he was the most important of the lodgers. Amalia Ivanovna herself had been invited with great ceremony in spite of the recent unpleasantness, and so she was very busy with preparations and was taking a positive pleasure in them. She was, moreover, dressed up to the nines, all in new black silk, and she was proud of it. All this suggested an idea to Pietro Petrovich as he went into his room, or rather Lebeziatnikov's, somewhat thoughtful. He had learnt that Raskolnikov was to be one of

Starting point is 14:26:03 the guests. Andrei Semyonov had been at home all the morning. The attitude of Pieter Petrovich to this gentleman was strange, though perhaps natural. Pieter Petrovich had despised and hated him from the day he came to stay with him, and at the same time he seemed somewhat afraid of him. He had not come to stay with him on his arrival in Petersburg, simply from parsimony, though that had been perhaps his chief object. He had heard of Andrei Semyonovitch, who had once been his ward as a leading young progressive who was taking an important part in certain interesting circles, the doings of which were a legend in the provinces. It had impressed Piotr Petrovich. These powerful, omniscientific, these powerful, omniscientific.

Starting point is 14:26:47 circles, who despised everyone and showed everyone up, had long inspired in him a peculiar but quite vague alarm. He had not, of course, been able to form even an approximate notion of what they meant. He, like everyone, had heard that there were, especially in Petersburg, progressives of some sort, nihilists and so on, and, like many people, he exaggerated and distorted the significance of those words to an absurd degree. What for many years past he had feared more than anything was being shown up, and this was the chief ground for his continual uneasiness at the thought of transferring his business to Petersburg.

Starting point is 14:27:28 He was afraid of this as little children are sometimes panic-stricken. Some years before, when he was just entering on his own career, he had come upon two cases in which rather important personages in the province, patrons of his, have been cruelly shown up. One instance had ended in great scandal for the person attacked, and the other had very nearly ended in serious trouble. For this reason, Pietro Petrovitch intended to go into the subject as soon as they reached Petersburg, and, if necessary,

Starting point is 14:27:59 to anticipate contingencies by seeking the favor of our younger generation. He relied on Andrei Semyonov for this, and before his visit to Raskonnikov, he had succeeded in picking up some current phrases. He soon discovered that Andrei Semyonovitch was a commonplace simpleton, but that by no means reassured Piotr Petrovich. Even if he had been certain that all the progressives were fools like him, it would not have allayed his uneasiness. All the doctrines, the ideas, the systems with which Andrei Semyonovitch pestered him,

Starting point is 14:28:34 had no interest for him. He had his own object. He simply wanted to find out at once what was happening here. Had these people any power or not? Had he anything to fear from them? Would they expose any enterprise of his? And what precisely was now the object of their attacks? Could he somehow make up to them and get round them if they really were powerful?

Starting point is 14:28:57 Was this the thing to do or not? Couldn't he gain something through them? In fact, hundreds of questions presented them. themselves. Andre Semyanovich was an anemic, scrawfieless little man, with strangely flaxen mutton-chop whiskers, of which he was very proud. He was a clerk and had almost always something wrong with his eyes. He was rather soft-hearted, but self-confident, and sometimes extremely conceited in speech, which had an absurd effect, incongruous with his little figure. He was one of the lodgers most respected by Amalia Ivanovna, for he did not get drunk and paid

Starting point is 14:29:37 regularly for his lodgings. Andrei Semyonovitch really was rather stupid. He attached himself to the cause of progress and, our younger generation, from enthusiasm. He was one of the numerous and very legion of dullards, of half-animate abortions, conceded, half-educated coxcombs, who attached themselves to the idea most infestion. only to vulgarize it and who caricature every cause they serve, however sincerely. Though Lebeziatnikov was so good-natured, he too was beginning to dislike Piotr Petrovich. This happened on both sides unconsciously.

Starting point is 14:30:17 However simple Andrei Semyonovitch might be, he began to see that Piotr Petrovich was duping him and secretly despising him, and that he was not the right sort of man. He had tried expounding to him the system of Fourier and the Darwinian theory, but of late Pieter Petrovich began to listen too sarcastically and even to be rude. The fact was he had begun instinctively to guess that Lebeziatnikov was not merely a commonplace simpleton, but perhaps a liar too, and that he had no connections of any consequence even in his own circle, but had simply picked things up third-hand. and that very likely he did not even know much about his own work of propaganda, for he was

Starting point is 14:31:03 in too great a muddle. A fine person he would be to show anyone up. It must be noted, by the way, that Pieter Petrovitch had during those ten days eagerly accepted the strangest praise from Andrei Semyonovitch. He had not protested, for instance, when Andrei Semyonovitch be lauded him for being ready to contribute to the establishment of a new commune, or to abstain from christening his future children, or to acquiesce if Donya were to take a lover a month after marriage and so on. Piotr Petrovich so enjoyed hearing his own praises that he did not disdain even such virtues when they were attributed to him. Pietar Petrovich had had occasion that morning to realize some five percent bonds, and now

Starting point is 14:31:47 he sat down to the table and counted over bundles of notes. Andrei Semyonovitch, who hardly ever had any money, walked about the room pretending to himself to look at all those bank-notes with indifference and even contempt. Nothing would have convinced Pietro Petrovich that Andrei Semyonovitch could really look on the money unmoved, and the latter, on his side, kept thinking bitterly that Pieter Petrovich was capable of entertaining such an idea about him and was perhaps glad of the opportunity of teasing his young friend by reminding him of his inferiority and the great difference between them. He found him incredibly inattentive and irritable, though he, Andrei Semyonovitch, began enlarging

Starting point is 14:32:33 on his favorite subject, the foundation of a new special commune. The brief remarks that dropped from Pietro Petrovitch between the clicking of the beads on the reckoning frame, betrayed unmistakable and discourteous irony. But the humane Andrei Samyanovich ascribed Pietro Petrovich's ill-humor to his recent breach with Adonia, and he was burning with impatience to discourse on that theme. He had something progressive to say on the subject, which might console his worthy friend and could not fail to promote his development. There is some sort of festivity being prepared at that—at the widows, isn't there? Pietro Petrovich asked suddenly, interrupting Andrei Samyanovich at the most interesting passage.

Starting point is 14:33:18 Why, don't you know? Why, I was telling you last night what I think about all such ceremonies. And she invited you, too, I heard. You were talking to her yesterday. I should never have expected that beggarly fool would have spent on this feast all the money she got from that other fool, Raskolnikov. I was surprised just now as I came through at the preparations there, the wines. Several people are invited.

Starting point is 14:33:46 It's beyond everything. continued Pietar Petrovitch, who seemed to have some object in pursuing the conversation. "'What? You say I am asked, too? When was that? I don't remember. But I shan't go. Why should I?' I. I only said a word to her in passing yesterday of the possibility of her obtaining a year's salary as a destitute widow of a government clerk. I suppose she has invited me on that account, hasn't she? He-ha-ha. I don't intend. I don't intend. tend to go either," said Lebeziatnikov. I should think not, after giving her a thrashing.

Starting point is 14:34:24 You might well hesitate. He-ha! Who thrashed? Whom? cried Lebeziatnikov, flustered and blushing. Why, you thrashed Katerina Ivanovna a month ago. I heard so yesterday. So that's what your convictions amount to.

Starting point is 14:34:42 And the woman question, too, wasn't quite sound. He-he-ha. And Pietro Petrovich, as though comforted, went back to clicking his beads. "'It's all slander and nonsense,' cried Lebesiatnikov, who was always afraid of illusions to the subject. "'It was not like that at all. It was quite different. You've heard it wrong. It's a libel. I was simply defending myself. She rushed at me first with her nails. She pulled out all my whiskers. It's permissible for anyone I should hope to defend himself,

Starting point is 14:35:16 and I never allow anyone to use violence to me on principle, for it's an act of despotism. What was I to do? I simply pushed her back. He-ha-ha, lootion went on laughing maliciously. You keep on like that, because you are out of humor yourself. But that's nonsense, and it has nothing, nothing whatever to do with the woman question. You don't understand. I used to think, indeed, that if women are equal to men, in all respects, even in strength, as is maintained now, there ought to be equality in that, too.

Starting point is 14:35:53 Of course, I reflected afterwards that such a question ought not really to arise, for there ought not to be fighting, and in the future society, fighting is unthinkable, and that it would be a queer thing to seek for equality in fighting. I am not so stupid. Though, of course, there is fighting. There won't be later. But at present there is, confound it. How muddled one gets with you! It's not on that account that I am not going. I am not going on principle, not to take part in the revolting convention of memorial dinners, that's why.

Starting point is 14:36:27 Though, of course, one might go to laugh at it. I am sorry there won't be any priests at it. I should certainly go if there were. Then you would sit down at another man's table and insult it and those who invited you, eh? Certainly not insult, but protest. I should do it with a good object. I might indirectly assist the cause of enlightenment and propaganda.

Starting point is 14:36:53 It's a duty of every man to work for enlightenment and propaganda, and the more harshly perhaps the better. I might drop a seed, an idea, and something might grow up from that seed. How should I be insulting them? They might be offended at first, but afterwards they'd see I'd done them a service. You know, Teribieva, who is in the community, now, was blamed because when she left her family and, defoted herself, she wrote to her father and mother that she wouldn't go on living conventionally and was entering on a free marriage,

Starting point is 14:37:28 and it was said that that was too harsh, that she might have spared them and have written more kindly. I think that's all nonsense, and there's no need of softness. On the contrary, what's wanted is protest. Varence had been married seven years. She abandoned her two children, She told her husband straight out in a letter, "'I have realized that I cannot be happy with you. I can never forgive you that you have deceived me by concealing from me that there is another organization of society by means of the communities.

Starting point is 14:38:00 I have only lately learned it from a great-hearted man to whom I have given myself and with whom I am establishing a community. I speak plainly because I consider it dishonest to deceive you. Do as you think best. Do not hope to get me back. you are too late. I hope you will be happy." That's how letters like that ought to be written." Is that Teribyeva the one who said had made a third free marriage? No, it's only the second, really. But what if it were the fourth? What if it were the fifteenth? That's all nonsense.

Starting point is 14:38:35 And if ever I regretted the death of my father and mother, it is now. And I sometimes think if my parents were living, what a protest I would have aimed at them. I would have done something on purpose. I would have shown them. I would have astonished them. I am really sorry there is no one. To surprise. He, he.

Starting point is 14:38:55 Well, be that as you will, Pietro Petrovitch interrupted. But tell me this. Do you know the dead man's daughter, the delicate-looking little thing? It's true what they say about her, isn't it? What of it? I think, that is,

Starting point is 14:39:11 it is my own personal conviction that this is the normal condition of women. Why not? I mean distingon. In our present society, it is not altogether normal, because it is compulsory. But in the future society, it will be perfectly normal, because it will be voluntary. Even as it is, she was quite right. She was suffering, and that was her asset, so to speak, her capital which she had a perfect right to dispose of. Of course, in the future society, there will be no need of assets, but her part will have another significance, rational and in harmony with her environment. As to Sophia Semyonovna personally, I regard her action as a vigorous protest against

Starting point is 14:39:57 the organization of society, and I respect her deeply for it. I rejoice indeed when I look at her. I was told that you got her turned out of these lodgings." Lebeziatnikov was enraged. That's another slander, he yelled. It was not so at all. That was all Katerina Ivanovna's invention, for she did not understand. And I never made love to Sophia Semyonovna.

Starting point is 14:40:24 I was simply developing her, entirely disinterestedly, trying to arouse her to protest. All I wanted was her protest, and Sophia Semyonovna could not have remained here anyway. Have you asked her to join your community? You keep on laughing and very inappropriately, allow me to tell you. You don't understand. There is no such role in a community. The community is established that there should be no such roles. In a community, such a role is essentially transformed, and what is stupid here is sensible there. What, under present conditions, is unnatural, becomes perfectly natural in the community. It all depends on the environment. It's all the environment and man himself is nothing.

Starting point is 14:41:11 And I am on good terms with Sophia Semyonovna to this day, which is a proof that she never regarded me as having wronged her. I am trying now to attract her to the community, but on quite, quite a different footing. What are you laughing at? We are trying to establish a community of our own, a special one, on a broader basis. We have gone further in our convictions. We reject more. And meanwhile, I'm still developing Sophia Semyonovna.

Starting point is 14:41:40 She has a beautiful, beautiful character. And you take advantage of her fine character, eh? Ha, ha. No, no. Oh, no. On the contrary. Oh, on the contrary. Ha, ha, ha.

Starting point is 14:41:54 A queer thing to say. Believe me. Why should I disguise it? In fact, I feel it strange myself how timid, chaste, and modern she is with me. And you, of course, are developing her, trying to prove to her that all that modesty is nonsense. Not at all, not at all. How coarsely, how stupidly!

Starting point is 14:42:17 Excuse me saying so, you misunderstand the word development! Good heavens, how crude you still are! We are striving for the freedom of women, and you have only one idea in your head. Setting aside the general question of chastity and feminine and modesty as useless in themselves, and indeed prejudices, I fully accept her chastity with me, because that's for her to decide. Of course, if she were to tell me herself that she wanted me, I should think myself very lucky, because I like the girl very much. But as it is,

Starting point is 14:42:52 no one has ever treated her more courteously than I, with more respect for her dignity. I wait in hopes, that's all. You had much better make her a present of something. I bet you had much better to make her a present of something. I bet you never thought of that. You don't understand, as I've told you already. Of course she is in such a position, but it's another question. Quite another question. You simply despise her. Seeing a fact which you mistakenly consider deserving of contempt, you refuse to take a humane view of a fellow creature. You don't know what a character she is. I am only sorry that of late she has quite given up reading and borrowing books. I used to lend them to her. I am sorry, too, that, with all the energy

Starting point is 14:43:38 and resolution in protesting, which she has already shown once, she has little self-reliance, little, so to say, independence, so as to break free from certain prejudices and certain foolish ideas. Yet she thoroughly understands some questions, for instance, about kissing of hands, that is, that it's an insult to a woman for a man to kiss her hand, because it's a sign of inequality. We had a debate about it, and I described it to her. She listened attentively to an account of the workmen's associations in France, too. Now I am explaining the question of coming into the room in the future society. And what's that, pray? We had a debate lately on the question. Has a member of the community the right to enter another member's room,

Starting point is 14:44:25 whether man or woman, at any time? And we decided that he has. It might be at an inconvenient moment. He-he... Lebesiatnikov was really angry. You are always thinking of something unpleasant, he cried with aversion. Foo, how vexed I am that when I was expounding our system, I referred prematurely to the question of personal privacy.

Starting point is 14:44:52 It's always a stumbling-block to people like you. They turn it into ridicule before they understand it. And how proud they are of it, too. Foo! I've often maintained that that question should not be approached by a novice till he has a firm faith in the system. And tell me, please, what do you find so shameful even in cesspools? I should be the first to be ready to clean out any cesspool you like. And it's not a question of self-sacrifice, it's simply work, honorable, useful work, which is as good as any other and much better than the work of a Raphael and a Pushkin, because it is more useful.

Starting point is 14:45:30 And more honorable, more honorable. Ha, ha. What do you mean by more honorable? I don't understand such expressions to describe human activity. More honorable, nobler. All those are old-fashioned prejudices which I reject. Everything which is of use to mankind is honorable. I only understand one word, useful.

Starting point is 14:45:55 You can snigger as much as you like, but that's so. Pietro Petrovich laughed heartily. He had finished counting the money and was putting it away, but some of the notes he left on the table. The cesspool question had already been a subject of dispute between them. What was absurd was that it made Lebeziatnikov really angry, while it amused illusion, and at that moment he particularly wanted to anger his young friend. It's your ill-luck yesterday that makes you so ill-humored and annoying. Blurted out Levesiatnikov, who, in spite of his independence and his protests, did not venture to oppose Pietro Petrovich, and still behaved to him with some of the respect habitual

Starting point is 14:46:38 in earlier years. "'You'd better tell me this,' Pieter Petrovich interrupted with haughty displeasure. "'Can you? Or rather, are you really friendly enough with that young person to ask her to step in here for a minute? I think they've all come back from the cemetery. I heard the sound of steps. I want to see her, that young person. What for? Lebeziatnikov asked with surprise. Oh, I want to.

Starting point is 14:47:06 I am leaving here today or tomorrow, and therefore I wanted to speak to her about... However, you may be present during the interview. It's better you should be indeed, for there's no knowing what you might imagine. I shan't imagine anything. I only asked, and if you've anything to say to her, nothing is easier than to call her in. I'll go directly, and you may be sure I won't be in your way." Five minutes later, Lebeziatnikov came in with Sonia. She came in very much surprised and

Starting point is 14:47:37 overcome with shyness as usual. She was always shy in such circumstances, and was always afraid of new people. She had been as a child and was even more so now. Piotr Petrovich met her politely and affably, but with a certain shade of bantering familiarity, which, in his opinion, was suitable for a man of his respectability and weight in dealing with a creature so young and so interesting as she. He hastened to reassure her and made her sit down facing him at the table. Sonia sat down, looked about her, at Lebeziatnikov, at the notes lying on the table, and then again at Pieter Petrovich, and her eyes remained riveted on him. Lebezietnikov was moving to the door. Piatnikov signed to Sonia to

Starting point is 14:48:25 remain seated and stopped Levaziatnikov. "'Is Raskolnikov in there? Has he come?' he asked him in a whisper. "'Raskolnikov? Yes. Why? Yes, he is there. I saw him just come in. Why?' "'Well, I particularly beg you to remain here with us, and not to leave me alone with this young woman. I only want a few words with her, but God knows what they may make of it. I shouldn't like Raskolnikov to repeat anything. You understand what I mean?' I understand. Lebeziadnikov saw the point.

Starting point is 14:49:00 Yes, you are right. Of course, I am convinced personally that you have no reason to be uneasy, but still you are right. Certainly I'll stay. I'll stand at the window and not be in your way. I think you are right. Piotr Petrovich returned to the sofa, sat down opposite Sonia,

Starting point is 14:49:20 looked attentively at her and assumed an extremely dignified, even severe expression, as much as to say, Don't you make any mistake, madam. Sonia was overwhelmed with embarrassment. In the first place, Sophia Semyonovna, will you make my excuses to your respected mama? That's right, isn't it? Katerina Ivanovna stands in the place of a mother to you.

Starting point is 14:49:44 Piotr Petrovich began with great dignity, although affably. It was evident that his intentions were friendly. Quite so, yes. "'The place of a mother,' Sonia answered, timidly and hurriedly. "'Then will you make my apologies to her?' "'Through inevitable circumstances I am forced to be absent and shall not be at the dinner in spite of your mama's kind invitation.' "'Yes, I'll tell her, at once.'

Starting point is 14:50:13 And Sonia hastily jumped up from her seat. "'Wait, that's not all.' Piotr Petrovitch detained her, smiling at her simplicity and ignorance of good manners. And you know me little, my dear Sophia Semyonovna, if you suppose I would have venture to trouble a person like you for a matter of so little consequence affecting myself only. I have another object. Soya sat down hurriedly. Her eyes rested again for an instant on the gray and rainbow-colored notes that remained on the table, but she quickly looked away and fixed her eyes on Pietro Petrovich. She felt it horribly indecorous, especially for her, to look at another person's money.

Starting point is 14:50:56 She stared at the gold eyeglass which Pieter Petrovich held in his left hand, and at the massive and extremely handsome ring with a yellow stone on his middle finger. But suddenly she looked away, and, not knowing where to turn, ended by staring Pieter Petrovich again straight in the face. After a pause of still greater dignity, he continued. I chanced yesterday in passing to exchange a couple of words with Katerina Ivanovna, poor woman. That was sufficient to enable me to ascertain that she is in a position. Pretor-natural, if one may so express it.

Starting point is 14:51:33 Yes, preternatural, Sonia hurriedly assented. Or it would be simpler and more comprehensible to say, ill. Yes, simpler and more comprehend—yes, ill. Quite so. So then, from a feeling of human. humanity, and so to speak, compassion, I should be glad to be of service to her in any way, foreseeing her unfortunate position. I believe the whole of this poverty-stricken family depends now entirely on you.

Starting point is 14:52:03 Allow me to ask, Sonia rose to her feet. Did you say something to her yesterday of the possibility of a pension? Because she told me you had undertaken to get her one. Was that true? Not in the slightest, and indeed it's an abysmal. It's an abasement. absurdity. I merely hinted at her obtaining temporary assistance as the widow of an official who had died in the service, if only she has patronage, but apparently your late parent had not served his full term and had not indeed been in the service at all of late. In fact, if there could be any hope, it would be very ephemeral, because there would be no claim for assistance in that case, far from it. And she is dreaming of a pension already.

Starting point is 14:52:47 "'A go ahead, lady.' "'Yes, she is, for she is credulous and good-hearted, and she believes everything from the goodness of her heart, and—and—and she is like that. "'Yes, you must excuse her,' said Sonia, and again she got up to go. "'But you haven't heard what I have to say.' "'No, I haven't heard,' muttered Sonia. "'Then sit down.'

Starting point is 14:53:14 She was terribly confused. She sat down again a third time. Seeing her position with her unfortunate little ones, I should be glad, as I have said before, so far as lies in my power, to be of service, that is, so far as is in my power, not more. One might, for instance, get up a subscription for her, or a lottery, something of the sort, such as is always arranged in such cases by friends, or even outsiders, desirous of assisting people. It was of that I intended to speak to you.

Starting point is 14:53:48 It might be done. Yes, yes, God will repay you for it, faltered Sonia, gazing intently at Piotr Petrovich. It might be, but we will talk of it later. We might begin it today. We will talk it over this evening, and lay the foundation, so to speak. Come to me at seven o'clock. Mr. Lebesiatnikov, I hope, will assist us. But there is one circumstance of which I ought to warn you beforehand,

Starting point is 14:54:17 and for which I venture to trouble you, Sophia Semyonovna, to come here. In my opinion, money cannot be, indeed it's unsafe to put it into Katerina Ivanovna's own hands. The dinner today is a proof of that. Though she has not, so to speak, a crust of bread for tomorrow, and, well, boots or shoes or anything, she has bought today Jamaica rum, and even, I believe, Madeira, and coffee. I saw it as I passed through. Tomorrow it will all fall upon you again.

Starting point is 14:54:50 They won't have a crust of bread. It's absurd, really, and so, to my thinking, a subscription ought to be raised so that the unhappy widow should not know of the money, but only you, for instance. Am I right? I don't know. This is only today, once in her life. She was anxious to do honor to celebrate the memory,

Starting point is 14:55:11 and she is very sensible, but just as you think, and I shall be very, very, they will all be, and God will reward, and the orphans.' Sonia burst into tears. "'Very well, then. Keep it in mind. And now will you accept for the benefit of your relation the small sum that I am able to spare from me personally? I am very anxious that my name should not be mentioned in connection with it. Here, having so to speak, anxieties of my own, I cannot do more.

Starting point is 14:55:41 And Pieter Petrovich held out to Sonia a ten-ruble note carefully unfolded. Sonia took it, flushed crimson, jumped up, muttered something, and began taking leave. Pieter Petrovich accompanied her ceremoniously to the door. She got out of the room at last, agitated and distressed, and returned to Katerina Ivanovna, overwhelmed with confusion. All this time, Lebeziatnikov had stood at the window or walked about the room, anxious not to interrupt the conversation. When Sonia had gone, he walked up to Pietro Petrovich and solemnly held out his hand.

Starting point is 14:56:19 "'I heard and saw everything,' he said, laying stress on the last verb. "'That is honorable, I mean to say, it's humane. You wanted to avoid gratitude, I saw. And although I cannot, I confess, in principle, sympathize with private charity, for it not only fails to eradicate the evil but even promote. It, yet I must admit that I saw your action with pleasure. Yes, yes, I like it." That's all nonsense, muttered Piotr Petrovitch, somewhat disconcerted, looking carefully at

Starting point is 14:56:54 Lebezaatnikov. No, it's not nonsense. A man who has suffered distress and annoyance as you did yesterday, and who yet can sympathize with the misery of others, such a man, even though he is making a social mistake, is still deserving of respect. I did not expect it indeed of you, Pietro Petrovich, especially as according to your ideas. Oh, what a drawback your ideas are to you! How distressed you are, for instance, by your ill luck yesterday, cried the simple-hearted Lebeziatnikov, who felt a return of affection for Pietro Petrovich. And what do you want with marriage? With legal marriage,

Starting point is 14:57:35 my dear noble Pietro Petrovich? Why do you cling to this legality of marriage. Well, you may beat me if you like, but I am glad, positively glad it hasn't come off, that you are free, that you are not quite lost for humanity. You see, I've spoken my mind. Because I don't want in your free marriage to be made a fool of and to bring up another man's children. That's why I want legal marriage, Luzon replied in order to make some answer. He seemed preoccupied by something. Children. You referred to children.

Starting point is 14:58:12 The Bessiatnikov started off like a warhorse at the trumpet call. Children are a social question and a question of first importance, I agree. But the question of children has another solution. Some refuse to have children altogether, because they suggest the institution of the family. We'll speak of children later, but now as to the question of honor, I confess that's my weak point. That horrid, military, Pushkin expression is unthinkable in the dictionary of the future. What does it mean indeed? It's nonsense. There will be no deception in a free marriage. That is only the natural consequence of a legal marriage, so to say, it's correction, a protest.

Starting point is 14:58:56 So that indeed it's not humiliating. And if I ever, to suppose an absurdity, were to be legally married, I should be positively glad of it. I should say to my wife, My dear, hitherto I have loved you. Now I respect you, for you've shown you can protest. You laugh. That's because you're incapable of getting away from prejudices. Confound it all. I understand now where the unpleasantness is of being deceived in a legal marriage, but it's simply a despicable consequence of a despicable position in which both are humiliated. When the deception is open, as in a free marriage, then it does not exist. It's unthinkable. Your wife will only prove how she respects you by considering you incapable of opposing her happiness

Starting point is 14:59:44 and avenging yourself on her for her new husband. Damn at all! I sometimes dream if I were to be married—foo! I mean if I were to be married legally or not, it's just the same. I should present my wife with a lover, if she had not found one herself. My dear, I should say, I love love you, but even more than that, I desire you to respect me. See? Am I not right?" Pietro Petrovitch sniggered as he listened, but without much merriment. He hardly heard it indeed. He was preoccupied with something else, and even Lebeziatnikov at last noticed it. Pietro Petrov seemed excited and rubbed his hands. Lebeziatnikov remembered all this and reflected upon it afterwards.

Starting point is 15:00:28 End of Part 5, Chapter 1. Part 5, Chapter 2 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Part 5, Chapter 2 It would be difficult to explain exactly what could have originated the idea of that senseless dinner in Katerina Ivanovna's disordered brain. nearly ten of the twenty roubles, given by Ruskonikov for Marmaladov's funeral, were wasted upon it. Possibly, Katerina Ivanovna felt obliged to honor the memory of the deceased suitably that all the lodgers, and still more Amalia Ivanovna, might know that he was in no way their inferior, and perhaps very much their superior, and that no one had the right to turn up his

Starting point is 15:01:28 nose at him. Perhaps the chief element was that peculiar poor man's pride, which compelled many poor people to spend their last savings on some traditional social ceremony, simply in order to do like other people, and not to be looked down upon. It is very probable, too, that Katerina Ivanovna longed on this occasion at the moment when she seemed to be abandoned by everyone to show those wretched contemptible lodgers that she knew how to do things, how to entertain, and that she had been brought up in a genteel she might almost say aristocratic colonel's family, and had not been meant for sweeping floors and washing the children's rags at night. Even the poorest and most broken-spirited people are sometimes liable to these paroxysms

Starting point is 15:02:15 of pride and vanity, which take the form of an irresistible nervous craving. And Katerina Ivanovna was not broken-spirited. She might have been killed by circumstance, but her spirit could not have been broken. That is, she could not have been humiliated, her will could not be crushed. Moreover, Sonia had said with good reason that her mind was unhinged. She could not be said to be insane, but for a year past she had been so harassed that her mind might well be overstrained. The later stages of consumption are apt, doctors tell us, to affect the intellect. There was no great variety of wines, nor was there Medira, but wine there

Starting point is 15:02:57 was. There was vodka, rum, and Lisbon wine, all of the poorest quality, but in sufficient quantity. Besides the traditional rice and honey, there were three or four dishes, one of which consisted of pancakes, all prepared in Amalia Ivanovna's kitchen. Two samovars were boiling, that tea and punch might be offered after dinner. Katerina Ivanovna had herself seen to purchasing the provisions, with the help of one of the lodgers, an unfortunate little pole who had somehow been stranded at Madame Lepevessels. He promptly put himself at Katerina Ivanovna Ivanovna's disposal, and had been all that morning and all the day before, running about as fast as his legs could carry him, and very anxious that everyone should be aware of it.

Starting point is 15:03:44 For every trifle he ran to Katerina Ivanovna, even hunting her out at the bazaar, at every instant called her Pani. She was heartily sick of him before the end, though she had declared at first that she could not have got on without this serviceable and magnanimous man. It was one of Katerina Ivanovna's characteristics to paint everyone she met in the most glowing colors. Her praises were so exaggerated as sometimes to be embarrassing. She would invent various circumstances to the credit of her new acquaintance, and quite genuinely believe in their reality.

Starting point is 15:04:20 Then, all of a sudden, she would be disillusioned, and would rudely and contemptuously repulsed the person she had only a few hours before been literally adoring. She was naturally of a gay, lively, and peace-loving disposition, but from continual failures and misfortunes she had come to desire so keenly that all should live in peace and joy and should not dare to break the peace, that the slightest jar, the smallest disaster, reduced her almost to frenzy, and she would pass in an instant from the brightest hopes and fancies to cursing her fate and raving and knocking her head against the wall. Amalia Ivanovna too suddenly acquired extraordinary importance in Katerina Ivanovna's eyes,

Starting point is 15:05:04 and was treated by her with extraordinary respect, probably only because Amalia Ivanovna had thrown herself hard and soul into the preparations. She had undertaken to lay the table, to provide the linen, crockery, etc., and to cook the dishes in her kitchen, and Katerina Ivanovna had left it all in her hands and gone herself to the cemetery. Everything had been well done. Even the tablecloth was nearly clean. The crockery, knives, forks and glasses were, of course, of all shapes and patterns, lent by different lodgers. But the table was properly laid at the time fixed, and Amalia Ivanovna, feeling she had done her work well, had put on a black silk dress and a cap with new morning ribbons, and met the

Starting point is 15:05:50 returning party with some pride. This pride, though justifiable, displeased Katerita Ivanovna for some reason. As though the table could not have been laid except by Amalia Ivanovna. She disliked the cap with the new ribbons, too. Could she be stuck up, the stupid German, because she was a mistress of the house and had consented as a favor to help her poor lodgers? As a favor! Fancy that! Caterita Ivanovna's father, who had been a colonel and almost a governor, had sometimes had the table set for forty persons, and then anyone like Amalia Ivanovna, or rather Ludwigovna, would not have been allowed into the kitchen. Katerina Ivanovna, however, put off expressing her feelings for the time, and contented herself with treating her coldly, though she decided inwardly that

Starting point is 15:06:41 she would certainly have to put Amalia Ivanovna down and set her in her proper place, for goodness only knew what she was fancying herself. Katerina Ivanovna was irritated, too, by the fact that hardly any of the lodgers invited had come to the funeral, except the pole, who had just managed to run into the cemetery, while to the memorial dinner the poorest and most insignificant of them had turned up, the wretched creatures, many of them not quite sober. The older and more respectable of them all, as if by common consent,

Starting point is 15:07:15 stayed away. Pietar Petrovich-Lusian, for instance, who might be said to be the most respectable of all the lodgers, did not appear, though Katerina Ivanovna had the evening before, told all the world, that is, Amalia Ivanovna, Polenka, Sonia, and the Pole, that he was the most generous, noble-hearted man with a large property and vast connections, who had been a friend of her first husbands, and a guest in her father's house, and that he had promised to use all his influence to secure her a considerable pension. It must be noted that, when Katerina Ivanovna exalted anyone's connections and fortune,

Starting point is 15:07:52 it was without any ulterior motive, quite disinterestedly, for the mere pleasure of adding to the consequence of the person praised. Probably, taking his cue from Lusian, that contemptible wretch Lebeziatnikov had not turned up either. What did he fancy himself? He was only asked out of kindness, and because he was sharing the same room with Pietar Petrovich and was a friend of his, so that it would have been awkward not to invite him. Among those who failed to appear were the genteel lady and her old maidish daughter, who had only been lodgers in the house for the past fortnight, but had several times complained of the noise and uproar in Katerina Ivanovna's room, especially when

Starting point is 15:08:35 Marmeledov had come back drunk. Katerina Ivanovna heard this from Amalia Ivanovna, who, quarreling with Katerina Ivanovna, and threatening to turn the whole family out of doors, had shouted at her that they, "'Vare not worth the foot of the Honorable Lodgers whom they were disturbing.' Katerina Ivanovna determined now to invite this lady and her daughter, whose foot she was not worth, and who had turned away haughtily when she casually met them, so that they might know that she was more noble in her thoughts and feelings and did not harbor malice, and might see that she was not accustomed to her way of living.

Starting point is 15:09:12 She had proposed to make this clear to them at dinner with allusions to her late father's governorship, and also at the same time to hint that it was exceedingly stupid of them to turn away on meeting her. The fat Colonel Major, he was really a discharged officer of low rank, was also absent, but it appeared that he had been not himself for the last two days. The party consisted of the pole, a wretched-looking clerk with a spotty face and a greasy coat, who had not a word to say for himself, and smelt abominably, a deaf and almost blind old man who had once been in the post office, and who had been from immemorial ages maintained by someone at Amalia Ivanovna's. A retired clerk of the commissariat department came too. He was drunk,

Starting point is 15:10:00 had a loud and most unseemly laugh, and only fancy, was without a waistcoat. One of the visitors sat straight down to the table without even greeting Katerina Ivanovna. Finally, one person having no suit appeared in his dressing-gown, but this was too much, and the efforts of Amalia Ivanovna and the pole succeeded in removing him. The pole brought with him, however, two other Poles who did not live at Amalia Ivanovna's, and whom no one had seen here before. All this irritated Katerina Ivanovna intensely. For whom had they made all these preparations then? To make room for the visitors, the children had not even been laid for at the table. But the two little ones were sitting on a bench in the furthest corner with their dinner laid on a box,

Starting point is 15:10:47 while Polenka, as a big girl, had to look after them, feed them, and keep their noses wiped like well-bred children's. Katerina Ivanovna, in fact, could hardly help meeting her guests with increased dignity, and even haughtiness. She stared at some of them with special severity, and loftily invited them to take their seats. rushing to the conclusion that Amalia Ivanovna must be responsible for those who were absent, she began treating her with extreme nonchalance, which the latter promptly observed and resented. Such a beginning was no good omen for the end. All were seated at last. Raskolnikov came in almost at the moment of their return from the cemetery. Katerina Ivanovna was greatly delighted to see him, in the first place, because he was the one

Starting point is 15:11:35 educated visitor, and, as everyone knew, was in two years to take a professorship in the university. And secondly, because he immediately and respectfully apologized for having been unable to be at the funeral. She positively pounced upon him, and made him sit on her left hand. Amalia Ivanovna was on her right. In spite of her continual anxiety that the dishes should be passed round correctly and that everyone should taste them, in spite of the agonizing cough which interrupted her every minute and seemed to have grown worse during the last few days, she hastened to pour out in a half-whisper to Raskolnikov all her suppressed feelings and her just indignation at the failure of the dinner, interspersing her remarks with lively and uncontrollable laughter at the expense of her visitors, and especially of her landlady.

Starting point is 15:12:26 "'It's all that cuckoo's fault. You know whom I mean? Her! Her!' Katerina Ivanovna nodded towards the landlady. Look at her. She's making round eyes. She feels that we are talking about her and can't understand. Foo! The owl! Ha ha!

Starting point is 15:12:43 Cough! Cough! And what does she put on that cap for? Cough, cough, cough! Have you noticed that she wants everyone to consider that she is patronizing me and doing me an honor by being here? I asked her like a sensible woman to invite people, especially those who knew my late husband, and look at the set of fools she has brought.

Starting point is 15:13:04 The sweeps! Look at that one with the spotty face. And those wretched poles! Ha, ha, ha! cough! Not one of them has ever poked his nose in here. I've never set eyes on them. What have they come here for, I ask you? There they sit in a row. Hey, pan! she cried suddenly to one of them. Have you tasted the pancake? takes? Take some more. Have some beer. Won't you have some vodka? Look, he's jumped up and is making his boughs. They must be quite starved, poor things. Never mind. Let them eat. They don't make a noise anyway, though I'm really afraid for our landlady's silver spoons. Amalia Ivanovna, she addressed her suddenly, almost allowed.

Starting point is 15:13:51 If your spoon should happen to be stolen, I won't be responsible. I warn you. Ha, ha, ha. She laughed, turning to Ruskalnikov and again nodding towards the landlady in high glee at her sally. She didn't understand. She didn't understand again. Look how she sits with her mouth open. An owl, a real owl! An owl in new ribbons!

Starting point is 15:14:15 Ha ha ha! Here her laugh turned again to an insufferable fit of coughing that lasted five minutes. Drops of perspiration stood out on her forehead, and her handkerchief was stained with with blood. She showed Rus Kolnikov the blood in silence, and, as soon as she could get her breath, began whispering to him again with extreme animation and a hectic flush on her cheeks. "'Do you know I gave her the most delicate instructions, so to speak, for inviting that lady and her daughter? You understand of whom I am speaking?' It needed the utmost delicacy, the greatest nicety, but she has managed things so that that fool, that conceited baggage,

Starting point is 15:14:54 that provincial non-entity, simply because she is the widow of a major, and has come to try and get a pension and to fray out her skirts in the government offices, because at fifty she paints her face, everybody knows it. A creature like that did not think fit to come, and has not even answered the invitation, which the most ordinary good manners required. Can't understand why Pieter Petrovich has not come. But where's Sonia? Where has she gone? Ah, there she should. There she is at last. What is it, Sonia? Where have you been? It's odd that even at your father's funeral you should be so un-punctual. Rodion Romanovitch, make room for her beside you. That's your place, Sonia. Take what you like. Have some of the cold entree with jelly. That's the best. They'll

Starting point is 15:15:43 bring the pancakes directly. Have they given the children some? Palenka, have you got everything? Cough, cough, cough, cough. That's all right. Be a good girl, Leida, and Colia. Don't fidget with your feet. Sit like a little gentleman. What are you saying, Sonia? Sonia hastened to give her Pietro Petrovich's apologies, trying to speak loud enough for everyone to hear and carefully choosing the most respectful phrases which he attributed to Pieter Petrovich.

Starting point is 15:16:12 She added that Pieter Petrovich had particularly told her to say that, as soon as he possibly could, he would come immediately to discuss business alone with her, and to consider what could be done for her, etc., etc., etc. Sonia knew that this would comfort Katerina Ivanovna, would flatter her and gratify her pride. She sat down beside Raskolnikov. She made him a hurried bow, glancing curiously at him.

Starting point is 15:16:37 But for the rest of the time she seemed to avoid looking at him or speaking to him. She seemed absent-minded, though she kept looking at Katerina Ivanovna, trying to please her. Neither she nor Katerina Ivanovna had been able to get mourning. Sonia was wearing dark brown, and Katerina Ivanovna had on her only dress, a dark striped cotton one. The message from Piotr Petrovitch was very successful. Listening to Sonia with dignity, Katerina Ivanovna inquired with equal dignity how Piotr Petrovich was, then at once whispered almost aloud to Raskolnikov that it certainly would have been strange

Starting point is 15:17:17 for a man of Piotr Petrovich's position and standing to find himself in such extraordinary company, in spite of his devotion to her family and his old friendship with her father. That's why I am so grateful to you, Rodion Romanovich, that you have not disdain my hospitality even in such surroundings, she added almost aloud. But I am sure that it was only your special affection for my poor husband that has made you keep your promise. Then once more with pride and dignity she scanned her visitors, and suddenly inquired aloud across the table of the deaf man.

Starting point is 15:17:53 Wouldn't he have some more meat? And had he been given some wine? The old man made no answer, and for a long while could not understand what he was asked, though his neighbors amused themselves by poking and shaking him. He simply gazed about him with his mouth open, which only increased the general mirth. What an imbecile!

Starting point is 15:18:14 Look! Look! Why was he brought? But as to Pieter Petrovich, I always had confidence in him, Katerina Ivanovna continued. And, of course, he is not like... With an extremely stern face, she addressed Amalia Ivanovna so sharply and loudly that the latter was quite disconcerted.

Starting point is 15:18:34 Not like your dressed-up draggletails whom my father would not have taken as cooks into his kitchen, and my late husband would have done them on her if he had invited them in the goodness of his heart. Yes, he was fond of drink. He was fond of it. He did drink, cried the commissariat clerk, gulping down his twelfth glass of vodka. My late husband certainly had that weakness, and everyone knows it. Katerita Ivanovna attacked him at once. But he was a kind and honorable man, who loved

Starting point is 15:19:06 and respected his family. The worst of it was his good nature made him trust all sorts of disreputable people, and he drank with fellows who were not worth the soul of his shoe. Would you believe it, Rodian Romanovitch, they found a gingerbread cock in his pocket. He was dead drunk, but he did not forget the children. A cock! Did you say a cock? shouted the commissariat clerk. Katerina Ivanovna did not vouchsafe or reply. She sighed, lost in thought. No doubt, you think, like everyone, that I was too severe with him. She went on, addressing Raskolnikov.

Starting point is 15:19:45 But that's not so. He respected me. He respected me very much. He was a kind-hearted man. And how sorry I was for him sometimes. He would sit in a corner and look at me. I used to feel so sorry for him. I used to want to be kind to him, and then would think to myself,

Starting point is 15:20:03 be kind to him and he will drink again. It was only by severity that you could keep him within bounds. Yes. He used to get his hair pulled pretty often, roared the commissariat clerk again, swallowing another glass of vodka. Some fools would be better for a good drubbing, as well as having their hair pulled. I am not talking of my late husband now. Katerina Ivanovna snapped at him.

Starting point is 15:20:29 The flush on her cheeks grew more and more marked, her chest heaved. In another minute she would have been ready to make a scene. Many of the visitors were sniggering, evidently delighted. They began poking the commissariat clerk and whispering something to him. They were evidently trying to egg him on. "'Allow me to ask what you were alluding to,' began the clerk. "'That is to say, who's? About whom? Did you say just now?

Starting point is 15:20:57 But I don't care. That's nonsense. Widow, I forgive you. Pass!' And he took another drink of vodka. Raskolnikov sat in silence, listening with Dismundon. disgust. He only ate from politeness, just tasting the food that Katerina Ivanovna was continually putting on his plate to avoid hurting her feelings. He watched Sonia intently, but Sonia became more and more anxious and distressed. She too foresaw that the dinner would not end

Starting point is 15:21:28 peaceably, and saw with terror Katerina Ivanovna's growing irritation. She knew that she, Sonia, was the chief reason for the genteel lady's contemptuous treatment of Katerina Ivanovna invitation. She had heard from Amalia Ivanovna that the mutter was positively offended at the invitation, and had asked the question, How could she let her daughter sit down beside that young person? Sonia had a feeling that Katerina Ivanovna had already heard this, and an insult to Sonia met more to Katerina Ivanovna than an insult to herself, her children, or her father. Sonia knew that Katerina Ivanovna would not be satisfied now, till she had shown those dragletails that they were both. To make matters worse, someone passed Sonia, from the other end of

Starting point is 15:22:13 the table, a plate with two hearts pierced with an arrow, cut out of black bread. Katerina Ivanovna flushed crimson and at once said aloud across the table that the man who sent it was a drunken ass. Amalia Ivanovna was foreseeing something amiss, and at the same time, deeply wounded by Katerina Ivanovna's haughtiness, and to restore the good humor of the company and raise herself in their esteem, she began, apropos of nothing, telling a story about an acquaintance of hers, Carr from the chemists, who was driving one night in a cab, and that, the cabman wanted to kill, and Carl very much begged him not to kill, and vepped and clasped hands, and frightened, and from fear pierced his heart.

Starting point is 15:22:57 Though Katerina Ivanovna smiled, she observed at once that Amalia Ivanovna ought not to tell anecdotes in Russian. The latter was still more offended, and she retorted that, Waterausberdin was a very important man, and always vented with his hands in pockets. Katerina Ivanovna could not restrain herself and laughed so much that Amalia Ivanovna lost patience and could scarcely control herself. Listen to the owl, Katerina Ivanovna whispered at once, her good humor almost restored. She meant to say he kept his hands in his pockets, but she said he put his hands in people's pockets. Cough!

Starting point is 15:23:36 Cough! And have you noticed Rodion Romanovitch that all these Petersburg foreigners, the Germans especially, are all stupider than we? Can you fancy any one of us telling how Carr from the chemists pierced his heart from fear, and that the idiot, instead of punishing the cabman, clasped his hands and wept and much begged? Ah, the fool! And you know she fancies it's very touching, and does not suspect how stupid she is. To my thinking that drunken commissariat clerk is a great deal cleverer. Anyone can see that he has addled his brains with drink. But you know, these foreigners are always so well-behaved and

Starting point is 15:24:16 serious. Look how she sits glaring. She is angry, ha-ha. Cough, cough, cough! Regaining her good humor, Katerina Ivanovna began at once, telling Ruskalnikov that, when she had obtained her pension, she intended to open a school for the daughters of gentlemen in her native town, T. This was the first time she had spoken to him of the project, and she launched out into the most alluring details. It suddenly appeared that Katerina Ivanovna had in her hands the very certificate of honor, of which Marmelodov had spoken to Raskolnikov in the tavern,

Starting point is 15:24:52 when he told him that Katerina Ivanovna, his wife, had danced the Chal dance before the governor and other great personages on leaving school. This certificate of honor was obviously intended now to prove Kavinovna, to prove Katerina Ivanovna's right to open a boarding school. But she had armed herself with it chiefly with the object of overwhelming those two stuck-up draggletails if they came to the dinner, and proving incontestably that Katerina Ivanovna was of the most noble, she might even say aristocratic family, a colonel's daughter, and was far superior to certain adventurresses who have been so much to the fore of late.

Starting point is 15:25:29 The certificate of honor immediately passed into the hands of the drunken guests, and Katerina Ivanovna did not try to retain it, for it actually contained the statement on Tudletra that her father was of the rank of a major, and also a companion of an order, so that she really was almost the daughter of a colonel. Warming up, Katerina Ivanovna proceeded to enlarge on the peaceful and happy life they would lead in tea,

Starting point is 15:25:55 on the gymnasium teachers whom she would engage to give lessons in her boarding school, one a most respectable old Frenchman, one Mango, who had taught Katerina Ivanovna herself in old days and was still living in tea, and would no doubt teach in her school on moderate terms. Next, she spoke of Sonia, who would go with her to tea, and help her in all her plans. At this, someone at the further end of the table gave a sudden guffal. Though Katerina Ivanovna tried to appear to be disdainfully unaware of it, she raised her voice and began at once speaking with conviction of Sonia's undoubted ability

Starting point is 15:26:32 to assist her, of her greatness, patience, devotion, generosity, and good education, tapping Sonia on the cheek, and kissing her warmly twice. Sonia flushed crimson, and Katerina Ivanovna suddenly burst into tears, immediately observing that she was nervous and silly, that she was too much upset, that it was time to finish, and as the dinner was over, it was time to hand round the tea. At that moment, Amalia Ivanovna, deeply aggrieved at taking no part in the conversation, and not being listened to, made one last effort, and with secret misgivings, ventured on an exceedingly deep and weighty observation, that, in the future boarding school she would have to

Starting point is 15:27:16 pay particular attention to divasha, and that there certainly must be a good dama to look after the linen, and secondly that the young ladies must not novels at night read." Katerina Ivanovna, who certainly was upset and very tired, as well as hardly sick of the dinner, at once cut short Amalia Ivanovna, saying, she knew nothing about it and was talking nonsense, that it was the business of the laundry-made and not of the directress of a high-class boarding-school to look after Divasha, and as for novel reading, that was simply rudeness, and she begged her to be silent. Amalia Ivanovna fired up and getting very angry, observed that she, only met her good, and that she had met her very good, and that it was long since she had

Starting point is 15:28:01 paid her gold for the lodgings." Katerina Ivanovna at once set her down, saying that it was a lie to say she wished her good, because only yesterday, when her dead husband was lying on the table, she had worried her about the lodgings. To this Amalia Ivanovna very appropriately observed that she had invited those ladies, but those ladies had not come, because those ladies are ladies and cannot come to a lady who is not a lady. Katerina Ivanovna at once pointed out to her that, as she was a slut, she could not judge what made one really a lady.

Starting point is 15:28:36 Amalia Ivanovna at once declared that her, Watterhouse Berlin was a very, very important man, and both hands and pockets vent, and always used to say, poof, poof! And she leapt up from the table to represent her father, sticking her hands in her pockets, puffing her cheeks, and uttering vague sounds resembling, poof, poof, amid loud laughter from all the lodgers, who purposely encouraged Amalia Ivanovna hoping for a fight. But this was too much for Katerina Ivanovna, and she at once declared,

Starting point is 15:29:08 so that all could hear, that Amalia Ivanovna probably never had a father, but was simply a drunken Petersburg fin, and had certainly once been a cook and probably something worse. Amalia Ivanovna turned as red as a lobster, and squealed that, perhaps Katerina Ivanovna never had a father. But she had a father out Berlin and that he wore a long coat and always said poof, poof, poof, poof. Katerina Ivanovna observed contemptuously that all knew what her family was and that on that very certificate of honor it was stated in print that her father was a colonel, while Amalia Ivanovna's father, if she really had one, was probably some Finnish milkman, but that probably she never had a father at all, since it was still uncertain,

Starting point is 15:29:55 whether her name was Amalia Ivanovna or Amalia Ludwigovna. At this, Amalia Ivanovna, lashed to fury, struck the table with her fist, and shrieked that she was Amalia Ivanovna and not Ludwigovna, that her father was named Johan, and that he was a burgomaster, and that Katerina Ivanovna's father was quite never a burgomaster. Katerina Ivanovna rose from her chair, and with a stern and apparently calm voice, though she was pale and her chest was heaving, observed that, if she dared for one moment to set her contemptible wretch of a father on a level with her papa,

Starting point is 15:30:33 she, Katerina Ivanovna, would tear her cap off her head and trample it underfoot. Amalia Ivanovna ran about the room, shouting at the top of her voice, that she was mistress of the house and that Katerina Ivanovna should leave the lodgings that minute. Then she rushed for some reason to collect the silver spoons from the table. There was a great outcry and uproar. The children began crying. Sonia ran to restrain Katerina Ivanovna. But when Amalia Ivanovna shouted something about the yellow ticket, Katerina Ivanovna pushed Sonia away and rushed at the landlady to carry out her threat.

Starting point is 15:31:11 At that minute the door opened, and Piotr Petrovich Luzian appeared on the threshold. He stood scanning the party with severe and vigilant eyes. Katerina Ivanovna rushed to him. End of Part 5, Chapter 2. Part 5, Chapter 3 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 5, Chapter 3 Piotr Petrovich, she cried, Protect me, you at least! Make this foolish woman understand that you can't behave like this.

Starting point is 15:31:59 to a lady in misfortune, that there is a law for such things. I'll go to the Governor-General himself. She shall answer for it. Remembering my father's hospitality, protect these orphans." "'Allow me, madam, allow me,' Pietro Petrovitch waved her off. "'Your papa, as you are well aware, I had not the honor of knowing.' Someone laughed aloud. "'And I do not intend to take part in your everlasting squabbles with Amalia Ivanovna. have come here to speak of my own affairs, and I want to have a word with your stepdaughter, Sophia. Ivanovna, I think it is? Allow me to pass." Piotr Petrovitch, edging by her,

Starting point is 15:32:40 went to the opposite corner where Sonia was. Katerina Ivanovna remained standing where she was, as though thunderstruck. She could not understand how Pieter Petrovich could deny having enjoyed her father's hospitality. Though she had invented it herself, she believed in it firmly by this time. She was struck, too, by the businesslike, dry, and even contemptuous, menacing tone of Pietro Petrovich. All the clamor gradually died away at his entrance. Not only was this serious businessman strikingly incongruous with the rest of the party, but it was evident, too, that he had come upon some matter of consequence, that some exceptional cause must have brought him, and that therefore something was going to happen. Roskolnakov, standing beside Sonia,

Starting point is 15:33:29 moved aside to let him pass. Piotr Petrovitch did not seem to notice him. A minute later, Lebeziatnikov, too, appeared in the doorway. He did not come in, but stood still, listening with marked interest, almost wonder, and seemed for a time perplexed. "'Excuse me for possibly interrupting you, but it's a matter of some importance,' Piotr Petrovich observed, addressing the company generally. I am glad indeed to find other persons present. Amalia Ivanovna, I humbly beg you as mistress of the house to pay careful attention to what I have to say to Sophia Ivanovna. Sophia Ivanovna, he went on addressing Sonia, who was very much surprised and already alarmed.

Starting point is 15:34:16 Immediately after your visit, I found that a hundred-rouble note was missing from my table, in the room of my friend, Mr. Lebeziatnikov. If in any way whatever you know and will tell us where it is now, I assure you on my word of honor and call all present to witness that the matter shall end here. In the opposite case I shall be compelled to have recourse to very serious measures, and then you must blame yourself.' Complete silence reigned in the room. Even the crying children were still.

Starting point is 15:34:49 Sonia stood deadly pale, staring at Lusion and unable to say a word. She seemed not to understand. Some seconds passed. "'Well, how is it to be, then?' asked Lusian, looking intently at her. "'I don't know. I know nothing about it,' Sonia articulated faintly at last. "'No, you know nothing?' Lusian repeated, and again he paused for some seconds. "'Think a moment, mademoiselle. He began severely, but still, as it were, admonishing her. Reflect. I am prepared to give you time for consideration. Kindly observe this. If I were not so entirely convinced, I should not, you may be sure,

Starting point is 15:35:35 with my experience, venture to accuse you so directly. Seeing that, for such direct accusation before witnesses, if false or even mistaken, I should myself in a certain sense be made responsible. I am aware of that. This morning I changed, for my own purposes, several five years. percent securities for the sum of approximately three thousand roubles. The account is noted down in my pocketbook. On my return home, I proceeded to count the money, as Mr. Levesyatnikov will bear witness, and after counting two thousand three hundred roubles, I put the rest in my pocket-book in my coat-pocket.

Starting point is 15:36:14 About five hundred roubles remained on the table, and among them three notes of a hundred rubles each. At that moment you entered, at my invitation, and all the time you are present, you were exceedingly embarrassed, so that three times you jumped up in the middle of the conversation and tried to make off. Mr. Lebeziadnikov can bear witness to this. You, yourself, mademoiselle, probably will not refuse to confirm my statement that I invited you through Mr. Lebeziadnikov solely in order to discuss with you the hopeless and destitute position of your relative Katerina Ivanovna, whose dinner I was unable to attend, and the advisability of getting up something of the nature of a subscription, lottery or the like, for her benefit. You thanked me,

Starting point is 15:37:02 and even shed tears. I describe all this as it took place, primarily to recall it to your mind, and secondly, to show you that not the slightest detail has escaped my recollection. Then I took a ten-ruble note from the table, and handed it to you by way of it. a first installment on my part for the benefit of your relative. Mr. Lebeziatnikov saw all this. Then I accompanied you to the door, you being still in the same state of embarrassment. After which, being left alone with Mr. Lebeziatnikov, I talked to him for ten minutes. Then Mr. Lebeziatnikov went out and I returned to the table with the money lying on it,

Starting point is 15:37:43 intending to count it and to put it aside, as I proposed doing before. To my surprise, one hundred-ruble note had disappeared. Kindly considered the position. Mr. Lebeziatnikov I cannot suspect. I am ashamed to allude to such a supposition. I cannot have made a mistake in my reckoning. For the minute before your entrance, I had finished my accounts and found the total correct. You will admit that recollecting your embarrassment, your eagerness to get away,

Starting point is 15:38:14 and the fact that you kept your hands for some time on the table, and taking into consideration your social position and the habits associated with it, I was, so to say, with horror and positively against my will, compelled to entertain a suspicion, a cruel but justifiable suspicion. I will add further and repeat that in spite of my positive conviction, I realize that I run a certain risk in making this accusation, but as you see, I could not let it pass. I have taken action, and I will tell you why. Sully, madam, solely owing to your black ingratitude.

Starting point is 15:38:54 Why, I invite you for the benefit of your destitute relative. I present you with my donation of ten roubles, and you, on the spot, repay me for all that with such an action. It is too bad. You need a lesson. Reflect. Moreover, like a true friend, I beg you, and you could have not. no better friend at this moment. Think what you are doing. Otherwise, I shall be immovable.

Starting point is 15:39:21 Well, what do you say? I have taken nothing, Sonia whispered in terror. You gave me ten roubles. Here it is. Take it. Sonia pulled her handkerchief out of her pocket, untied a corner of it, took out the ten-ruble note, and gave a delusion. And the hundred roubles you do not confess to taking? He insisted reproachfully. not taking the note. Sonia looked about her. All were looking at her with such awful, stern, ironical, hostile eyes. She looked at Raskolnikov. He stood against the wall, with his arms crossed, looking at her with glowing eyes. "'Good God!' broke from Sonia.

Starting point is 15:40:07 "'Amalia Ivanovna, we shall have to send word to the police, and therefore, I humbly beg you, meanwhile, to send for the house porter. Lusian said softly and even kindly. "'God, dear Barm Herzegger! I knew she was to thief!' cried Amalia Ivanovna, throwing up her hands. "'You knew it?' Lusian caught her up. Then I suppose you had some reason before this for thinking so. I beg you, worthy Amalia Ivanovna, to remember your words which have been uttered before witnesses.

Starting point is 15:40:40 There was a buzz of loud conversation on all sides. All were in movement. "'What?' cried Katerina Ivanovna, suddenly realizing the position, and she rushed at Lusion. "'What? You accuse her of stealing? Sonia? Ah, the wretches! The wretches!'

Starting point is 15:40:58 And running to Sonia, she flung her wasted arms round her and held her as in a vice. "'Sonia! How dare you take ten roubles from him? Foolish girl! Give it to me! Give me the ten roubles at once! Here!' And snatching the note from Sonia.

Starting point is 15:41:15 Katerina Ivanovna crumpled it up and flung it straight into Lusion's face. It hit him in the eye and fell on the ground. Amalia Ivanovna hastened to pick it up. Piotr Petrovich lost his temper. "'Hold that mad woman!' he shouted. At that moment, several other persons, besides Lebezaatnikov, appeared in the doorway, among them the two ladies. "'What? Mad! I am mad! Idiot!'

Starting point is 15:41:44 shrieked Katerina Ivanovna. You are an idiot yourself, petty-fogging lawyer, base man! Sonia! Sonia, take his money! Sonia, a thief! Why? She'd give away her last penny! And Katerina Ivanovna broke into hysterical laughter. Did you ever see such an idiot? She turned from side to side. And you too?

Starting point is 15:42:08 She suddenly saw the landlady. And you too, sausage-eater! you declare that she is a thief, you trashy Prussian, handsleg and a crinoline. She hasn't been out of this room. She came straight from you, you wretch, and sat down beside me. Everyone saw her. She sat here by Rodian Romanovitch. Search her. Since she's not left the room, the money would have to be on her. Search her! Search her! But if you don't find it, then excuse me, my dear fellow, you'll answer for it. I'll go to our sovereign,

Starting point is 15:42:41 to our sovereign, to our gracious Tsar himself, and throw myself at his feet, today, this minute. I am alone in the world. They would let me in. Do you think they wouldn't? You're wrong. I will get in. I will get in. You reckoned on her meekness. You relied upon that. But I am not so submissive, let me tell you. You've gone too far yourself. Searcher! Searcher! And Katerina Ivanovna in a frenzy shook Luzian and dragged him towards Sonia. "'I am ready. I'll be responsible. But calm yourself, madam. Calm yourself. I see that you are not so submissive.' "'Well, well, but as to that,' Lusian muttered, "'that ought to be before the police, though indeed there are witnesses enough as it is. I am ready. But in any case, it's difficult for a man

Starting point is 15:43:36 on account of her sex. But with the help of Amalia Ivanovna, though, of course, it's not the way to do things. How is it to be done? As you will. Let anyone who likes search her, cried Katerina Ivanovna. Sonia, turn out your pockets. See?

Starting point is 15:43:55 Look, monster. The pocket is empty. Here was her handkerchief. Here is the other pocket. Look! Do you see? Do you see? And Katerina Ivanovna turned.

Starting point is 15:44:06 turned, or rather snatched, both pockets inside out. But from the right pocket a piece of paper flew out, and describing a parabola in the air fell at Lusian's feet. Everyone saw it, several cried out. Pieter Petrovitch stooped down, picked up the paper in two fingers, lifted it where all could see it, and opened it. It was a hundred-ruble note, folded in eight. Piotr Petrovich held up the note, showing it to everyone. "'Deaf, out of my lodging! Police! Police!

Starting point is 15:44:37 yelled Amalia Ivanovna. "'Tay must to Siberia be sent! Away!' Exclamations arose on all sides. Ruskalnikov was silent, keeping his eyes fixed on Sonia, except for an occasional rapid glance at Lusion. Sonia stood still, as though unconscious. She was hearty able to feel surprise.

Starting point is 15:44:58 Suddenly the color rushed to her cheeks. She uttered a cry and hid her face in her hands. No, it wasn't I. I didn't take it. I know nothing about it! She cried with a heart-rending wail, and she ran to Katerina Ivanovna, who clasped her tightly in her arms, as though she would shelter her from all the world. Sonia! Sonia, I don't believe it! You see, I don't believe it! She cried in the face of the obvious fact, swaying her to and fro in her arms like a baby, kissing her face continually, then snatching at her hands and kissing them too. "'You took it! How stupid these people are! Oh, dear! You are fools! Fools!' she cried,

Starting point is 15:45:43 addressing the whole room. "'You don't know! You don't know what a heart she has! What a girl she is! She take it? She? She'd sell her last rag. She go barefoot to help you if you needed it. That's what she is!' She has the yellow passport, because she'd, she'd be her last rag. She'd go barefoot to help you if you needed it. my children were starving. She sold herself for us. Ah, husband, husband, do you see, do you see? What a memorial dinner for you. Merciful heavens! Defender! Why are you all standing still? Rody and Romanovitch, why don't you stand up for her? Do you believe it, too? You are not worth her little finger, all of you together. Good God, defend her now, at least. The wail of the poor, consumptive, helpless woman seemed to produce a great effect on her audience.

Starting point is 15:46:35 The agonized, wasted, consumptive face, the parched, blood-stained lips, the hoarse voice, the tears unrestrained as a child's, the trustful, childish, and yet despairing prayer for help, were so piteous that everyone seemed to feel for her. Pieter Petrovich, at any rate, was at once moved to compassion. Madam, madam, this incident does not reflect upon you, He cried impressively. No one would take upon himself to accuse you of being an instigator, or even an accomplice in it, especially as you have proved her guilt by turning out her pockets, showing that you had no

Starting point is 15:47:12 previous idea of it. I am most ready, most ready to show compassion, if poverty, so to speak, drove Sophia Semyonovna to it. But why did you refuse to confess, mademoiselle? Were you afraid of the disgrace? The first step? You lost your head, perhaps? One can quite understand it.

Starting point is 15:47:32 But how could you have lowered yourself to such an action? Gentlemen, he addressed the whole company. Gentlemen, compassionate and, so to say, commiserating these people, I am ready to overlook it even now in spite of the personal insult lavished upon me. And may this disgrace be a lesson to you for the future, he said, addressing Sonia. And I will carry the matter no further. Enough. Pietar Petrovich stole a glance at Raskolnikov.

Starting point is 15:48:04 Their eyes met, and the fire in Raskolnikov seemed ready to reduce him to ashes. Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna apparently heard nothing. She was kissing and hugging Sonia like a madwoman. The children, too, were embracing Sonia on all sides, and Polenka, though she did not fully understand what was wrong, was drowned in tears and shaking with sobs, as she hid her pretty little face, swollen with weeping on Sonia's shoulder. How vile! A loud voice cried suddenly in the doorway.

Starting point is 15:48:37 Piotr Petrovitch looked round quickly. What vileness! Le Beziatnikov repeated, staring him straight in the face. Piatur Petrovich gave a positive start, all noticed it and recalled it afterwards. The Beziatnikov strode into the room. "'And you dare to call me as a witness,' he said, going up to Piotr Petrovich. "'What do you mean? What are you talking about?' muttered Lusian. "'I mean that you are a slanderer. That's what my words mean,' Lebeziatnikov said hotly,

Starting point is 15:49:13 looking sternly at him with his short-sighted eyes. He was extremely angry. Raskolnikov gazed intently at him, as though seizing and weighing each word. Again there was a silence. Pietro Petrovitch indeed seemed almost dumbfounded for the first moment. "'If you mean that for me,' he began stammering, "'but what's the matter with you? Are you out of your mind?' "'I'm in my mind, but you are a scoundrel. Ah, how vile! I have heard everything.

Starting point is 15:49:46 I kept waiting on purpose to understand it, for I must own even now it is not quite logical. What you have done it all for, I can't understand. Why, what have I done then? Give over talking your nonsensical riddles, or maybe you are drunk. You may be a drunkard, perhaps, vile man, but I am not. I never touch vodka, for it's against my convictions. Would you believe it, he, he himself, with his own hands, gave Sophia Semyonovna that hundred-rouble note. I saw it. I was a witness. I'll take my oath. He did it. He, repeated Lebesiatnikov, addressing all. Are you crazy, milksup? Squealed illusion. She is herself before you. She herself here declared just now before everyone that I gave her only ten roubles. How could I have given it to her?

Starting point is 15:50:44 I saw it, I saw it, Lebesyatnikov repeated. And though it is against my principles, I am ready this very minute to take any oath you like before the court, for I saw how you slipped it in her pocket. Only, like a fool, I thought you did it out of kindness. When you were saying goodbye to her at the door, while you held her hand in one hand, with the other, the left, you slipped the note into her pocket. I saw it, I saw it. Lusion turned pale. "'What lies!' he cried impudently. Why, how could you? Standing by the window see the note. You fancied it with your short-sided eyes.

Starting point is 15:51:27 You are raving. No, I didn't fancy it. And though I was standing some way off, I saw it all. And though it certainly would be hard to distinguish a note from the window, that's true. I knew for certain that it was a hundred-ruble note, because when you were going to give Sophia Semyonovna ten roubles, you took up from the table a hundred-ruble note. I saw it because I was standing near then, and an idea struck me at once, so that I did not forget you had it in your hand. You folded it and kept it in your hand all the time. I didn't think of it again until, when you were getting up, you changed it from your right hand to your left, and nearly dropped it. I noticed it because the same idea struck me again,

Starting point is 15:52:12 that you meant to do her a kindness without my seeing. You can fancy how I watched you, and I saw how you succeeded in slipping it into her pocket. I saw it. I saw it. I'll take my oath. Lebeziatnikov was almost breathless. Exclamations arose on all hands, chiefly expressive of wonder, but some were menacing in tone. The all crowded round Pieter Petrovich. Katerina Ivanovna flew to Lebezayatnikov. I was mistaken in you. Protect her. You are the only one to take her part. She is an orphan. God has sent you.

Starting point is 15:52:49 Katerina Ivanovna, hardly knowing what she was doing, sank on her knees before him. "'A pack of nonsense!' yelled Lusian, roused to fury. "'It's all nonsense you've been talking. An idea struck you. You didn't think. You noticed. What does it amount to? So I gave it to her on the sly.

Starting point is 15:53:10 On purpose? What for? With what object? What have I to do with this?' "'What for?' That's what I can't understand. but that what I am telling you is the fact that's certain. So far from my being mistaken, you infamous criminal man,

Starting point is 15:53:27 I remember how, on account of it, a question occurred to me at once, just when I was thanking you and pressing your hand. What made you put it secretly in her pocket? Why, you did it secretly, I mean. Could it simply be to conceal it for me, knowing that my convictions are opposed to yours and that I do not approve of private benevolence, which affects no radical cure?

Starting point is 15:53:50 Well, I decided that you really were ashamed of giving such a large sum before me. Perhaps, too, I thought, he wants to give her a surprise, when she finds a whole hundred-ruble note in her pocket. For I know some benevolent people are very fond of decking out their charitable actions in that way. Then the idea struck me, too, that you wanted to test her, to see whether, when she found it, she would come to thank you. then, too, that you wanted to avoid thanks, and that, as the saying is, your right hand should not know something of that sort, in fact. I thought of so many possibilities that I put off considering

Starting point is 15:54:28 it, but still thought it indelicate to show you that I knew your secret. But another idea struck me again that Sophia Semyonovna might easily lose the money before she noticed it. That was why I decided to come in here and call her out of the room and to tell her that you put a hundred rubles in her pocket. But on my way I went first to Madame Koboladnikov's, to take them the general treaties on the positive method, and especially to recommend Pederet's article and also Wagner's. Then I come on here, and what a state of things I find. Now could I, could I, could I, have all these ideas and reflections if I had not seen you put the hundred-rouble note in her pocket? When Lebesyadnikov finished his long-winded harangue, with the logical deduction at the end,

Starting point is 15:55:14 he was quite tired, and the perspiration streamed from his face. He could not, alas, even express himself correctly in Russian, though he knew no other language, so that he was quite exhausted, almost emaciated after this heroic exploit. But his speech produced a powerful effect. He had spoken with such vehemence, with such conviction that every other than he was a very much Everyone obviously believed him. Piotr Petrovitch felt that things were going badly with him. "'What is it to do with me if silly ideas did occur to you?' he shouted.

Starting point is 15:55:48 "'That's no evidence. You may have dreamt it, that's all. And I tell you, you are lying, sir. You are lying and slandering from some spite against me, simply from peak, because I did not agree with your free-thinking, godless social propositions.' But this retort did not benefit Piotr Petrovich. Murmurs of disapproval were heard on all sides. "'Ah, that's your line now, is it?' cried Lebesiatnikov.

Starting point is 15:56:16 "'That's nonsense. Call the police, and I'll take my oath. There's only one thing I can't understand. What made him risk such a contemptible action? Oh, pitiful, despicable man!' "'I can explain why he risked such an action, and if necessary, I too will swear to it,' Voskalnikov said at last in a firm voice, and he stepped forward. He appeared to be firm and composed. Everyone felt clearly, from the very look of him, that he really knew about it and that the mystery would be solved. "'Now I can explain it all to myself,' said Raskolnikov, addressing Labaziatnikov. From the very beginning of the business, I suspected that there was some

Starting point is 15:57:00 scoundrely intrigue at the bottom of it. I began to suspect it from some special circumstances known to me only, which I will explain at once to everyone. They account for everything. Your valuable evidence has finally made everything clear to me. I beg all, all to listen. This gentleman, he pointed to Lusion, was recently engaged to be married to a young lady, my sister, Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikov. But coming to Petersburg, he quarreled with me, the day before yesterday, at our first meeting, and I drove him out of my room. I have two witnesses to prove it. He is a very spiteful man.

Starting point is 15:57:40 The day before yesterday I did not know that he was staying here in your room, and that, consequently, on the very day we quarreled, the day before yesterday, he saw me give Katerina Ivanovna some money for the funeral, as a friend of the late Mr. Marmeledov. He at once wrote a note to my mother, and informed her that I had given away all my money, not to Katerina Ivanovna, but to Sophia Semyonovna, and referred in a most contemptible way to the character of Sophia Semyonovna, that is, hinted at the character of my attitude to Sophia Semyonovna. All this, you understand, was with the object of dividing me from my mother and sister,

Starting point is 15:58:22 by insinuating that I was squandering on unworthy objects the money which they had sent me and which was all they had. Yesterday evening, before my mother and sister and in his presence, I declared that I had given the money to Katerina Ivanovna for the funeral, and not to Sophia Semyonovna, and that I had no acquaintance with Sophia Semyonovna, and had never seen her before indeed. At the same time I added that he, Piotr Petrovich, Luzian, with all his virtues, was not worth Sophia Semyonovna's little finger, though he spoke so ill of her. To his question, would I let Sophia Semyonovna sit down beside my sister?

Starting point is 15:59:02 I answered that I had already done so that day. Irritated that my mother and sister were unwilling to quarrel with me at his insinuations, he gradually began being unpardonably rude to them. A final rupture took place, and he was turned out of the house. All this happened yesterday evening. Now I beg your special attention. Consider. If he had now successful.

Starting point is 15:59:27 in proving that Sophia Semyonovna was a thief, he would have shown to my mother and sister that he was almost right in his suspicions, that he had reason to be angry at my putting my sister on a level with Sophia Somenovna, that in attacking me he was protecting and preserving the honor of my sister his betrothed. In fact, he might even, through all this, have been able to estranged me from my family, and no doubt he hoped to be restored to favor with them. To say nothing of revenging himself on me personally, for he has grounds for supposing that the honor and happiness of Sophia Semyonovna are very precious to me. That was what he was working for. That's how I understand it. That's the whole reason for it, and there can be no other.

Starting point is 16:00:15 It was like this, or somewhat like this, that Raskolnikov wound up his speech, which was followed very attentively, though often interrupted by exclamations from his audience. But in spite of interruptions he spoke clearly, calmly, exactly, firmly. His decisive voice, his tone of conviction, and his stern face, made a great impression on everyone. "'Yes, yes, that's it!' Lebesyatnikov assented gleefully. "'That must be it, for he asked me, as soon as Sophia Semyonovna came into our room, whether you were here, whether I had seen you among Katerina Ivanovna's guests. He called me aside to the window and asked me in secret. It was essential for him that you should

Starting point is 16:01:00 be here. That's it! That's it! Lusian smiled contemptuously and did not speak, but he was very pale. He seemed to be deliberating on some means of escape. Perhaps he would have been glad to give up everything and get away, but at the moment this was scarcely possible. would have implied admitting the truth of the accusations brought against him. Moreover, the company, which had already been excited by drink, was now too much stir to allow it. The commissariat clerk, though indeed he had not grasped the whole position, was shouting louder than anyone, and was making some suggestions very unpleasant illusion. But not all those present were drunk. Lodgers came in from all the rooms.

Starting point is 16:01:44 The three Poles were tremendously excited and were continually shouting at him, The pan is a lejak! And muttering threats in Polish. Sonia had been listening with strained attention, though she too seemed unable to grasp it all. She seemed as though she had just returned to consciousness. She did not take her eyes off Ruskonikov, feeling that all her safety lay in him. Katerina Ivanovna breathed hard and painfully and seemed fearfully exhausted. Amalia Ivanovna stood looking more stupid than anyone, with her mouth wide open, unable to make out

Starting point is 16:02:20 what had happened. She only saw that Piotr Petrovich had somehow come to grief. Raskolnikov was attempting to speak again, but they did not let him. Everyone was crowding round Luzian with threats and shouts of abuse, but Piotr Petrovich was not intimidated. Seeing that his accusation of Sonia had completely failed, he had recourse to insolence. "'Allow me, gentlemen. Allow me. Don't squeeze me. Let me pass,' he said, making his way through the crowd. "'And no threats, if you please. I assure you it will be useless. You will gain nothing by it.' On the contrary, you'll have to answer, gentlemen, for violently obstructing the course of justice. The thief has been more than unmasked, and I shall prosecute. Our judges are not so blind and

Starting point is 16:03:08 not so drunk, and will not believe the testimony of two notorious infidels, agitators, and atheists who accuse me from motives of personal revenge which they are foolish enough to admit. Yes, allow me to pass. Don't let me find a trace of you in my room. Kindly leave at once, and everything is at an end between us. When I think of the trouble I've been taking, the way I've been expounding, all this fortnight, I told you myself today that I was going when you tried to keep me. Now I will simply add that you are a fool. I advise you to see a doctor for your brains and your short sight. Let me pass, gentlemen.

Starting point is 16:03:49 He forced his way through, but the commissariat clerk was unwilling to let him off so easily. He picked up a glass from the table, brandished it in the air, and flung it at Pieter Petrovich, but the glass flew straight at Amalia Ivanovna. She screamed, and the clerk, overbalancing, fell heavily under the table. Pietro Petrovitch made his way to his room, and half an hour later had left the house. Sonia, timid by nature, had felt before that day that she could be ill-treated more easily than anyone, and that she could be wronged with impunity. Yet till that moment she had fancied that she might escape misfortune by care,

Starting point is 16:04:28 gentleness, and submissiveness before everyone. Her disappointment was, too great. She could, of course, bear with patience and almost without murmur anything, even this. But for the first minute she felt it too bitter. In spite of her triumph and her justification, when her first terror and stupefaction had passed and she could understand it all clearly, the feeling of her helplessness and of the wrong done to her made her heart throb with anguish, and she was overcome with hysterical weeping. At last, unable to bear any more, she rushed out of the room and ran home, almost immediately after Luzon's departure. When amidst loud laughter the glass flew at Amalia Ivanovna, it was more than the landlady could endure.

Starting point is 16:05:14 With a shriek she rushed like a fury at Katerina Ivanovna, considering her to blame for everything. Out of my lodgings! At once! Quick, march! And with these words, she began snatching up everything she could lay her hands on that belonged to Katerina Ivanovna, and throwing it on the floor. Katerina Ivanovna, pale, almost fainting and gasping for breath, jumped up from the bed where she had sunk in exhaustion and darted at Amalia Ivanovna. But the battle was too unequal. The landlady waved her away like a feather. What? As though that godless calumny was not enough, this vile creature attacks me.

Starting point is 16:05:54 What? On the day of my husband's funeral I am turned out of my lodging. After eating my bread and salt, she turns me into the street with my orphans. Where am I to go? Whaled the poor woman, sobbing and gasping. Good God! she cried with flashing eyes. Is there no justice upon earth? Whom should you protect, if not us orphans? We shall see.

Starting point is 16:06:20 There is law and justice on earth. There is. I will find it. Wait a bit, godless creature. Polinka, stay with the children. I'll come back. Wait for me. If you have to wait in the street, we will see whether there is justice on earth." And throwing over her head that green shawl which Marmelodov had mentioned to Ruskolnakov, Katerina Ivanovna squeezed her way through the disorderly and drunken crowd of lodgers who still filled the room, and wailing and tearful, she ran into the street, with a vague intention

Starting point is 16:06:52 of going at once somewhere to find justice. Polenka, with the two little ones in her arms, crouched, terrified on the trunk in the corner of the room, where she waited trembling for her mother to come back. Amalia Ivanovna raged about the room, shrieking, lamenting, and throwing everything she came across on the floor. The lodgers talked incoherently. Some commented to the best of their ability on what had happened. Others quarreled and swore at one another, while others struck up a song. "'Now it's time for me to go,' thought Ruskonikov. Well, Sophia Semyonovna, we shall see what you'll say now. And he set off in the direction of Sonia's lodgings.

Starting point is 16:07:36 End of Part 5, Chapter 3. Part 5, Chapter 4 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 5, Chapter 4. Roskolnakov had been a vigorous and active champion of Sonia against Lusion, although he had such a load of horror and anguish in his own heart. But having gone through so much in the morning, he found a sort of relief in a change of

Starting point is 16:08:16 sensations, apart from the strong personal feeling which impelled him to defend Sonia. He was agitated, too, especially at some moments, by the thought of his approaching interview with Sonia. He had to tell her who had killed the Zavetta. He knew the terrible suffering it would be to him, and, as it were, brushed away the thought of it. So when he cried as he left Katerina Ivanovna's, well, Sophia Semyanovna, we shall see what you'll say now, he was still superficially excited, still vigorous and defiant from his triumph over illusion. But strange to say, by the time he reached Sonia's lodging, he felt

Starting point is 16:08:56 a sudden impotence and fear. He stood still in hesitation at the door, asking him, the strange question. Must he tell her who killed Isabetta? It was a strange question because he felt at the very time not only that he could not help telling her, but also that he could not put off the telling. He did not know why it must be so. He only felt it.

Starting point is 16:09:21 And the agonizing sense of his impotence before the inevitable almost crushed him. To cut short his hesitation and suffering, he quickly opened the door and looked at Sonia from the door She was sitting with her elbows on the table and her face in her hands, but seeing Raskolnikov, she got up at once and came to meet him as though she were expecting him. "'What would have become of me but for you?' she said quickly, meeting him in the middle of the room. Evidently she was in haste to say this to him. It was what she had been waiting for.

Starting point is 16:09:55 Raskolnikov went to the table and sat down on the chair, from which she had only just risen. She stood facing him two steps away, just as he had done the day before. "'Well, Sonia,' he said, and felt that his voice was trembling. "'It was all due to your social position and the habits associated with it. Did you understand that just now?' Her face showed her distress. "'Only don't talk to me as you did yesterday,' she interrupted him. "'Please don't begin it.

Starting point is 16:10:28 There is misery enough without that." She made haste to smile, afraid that he might not like the reproach. I was silly to come away from there. What is happening there now? I wanted to go back directly, but I kept thinking that you would come. He told her that Amalia Ivanovna was turning them out of their lodging, and that Katerina Ivanovna had run off somewhere to seek justice. "'My God!' cried Sonia.

Starting point is 16:10:57 Let's go at once." And she snatched up her cape. "'It's everlastingly the same thing,' said Rusconikov irritably. "'You've no thought except for them. Stay a little with me.' "'But, Katerina Ivanovna?' "'You won't lose Katerina Ivanovna. You may be sure. She'll come to you herself since she has run out,' he added peevishly. "'If she doesn't find you here, you'll be blamed for it.' Sonia sat down in painful suspense.

Starting point is 16:11:29 Ruskalnikov was silent, gazing at the floor and deliberating. This time, Lusian did not want to prosecute you. He began, not looking at Sonia. But if he wanted to, if it had suited his plans, he would have sent you to prison if it had not been for Labeziatnikov and me, ah? Yes, she assented in a faint voice. Yes, she repeated, preoccupied and distressed. But I might easily not have been there, and it was quite an accident, Lebeziatnikov turning up. Sonia was silent. And if you'd gone to prison, what then?

Starting point is 16:12:09 Do you remember what I said yesterday? Again she did not answer. He waited. I thought you would cry out again, don't speak of it, leave off. Russ Kalnikov gave a laugh, but a rather forced one. What, silence again? He asked a minute later. We must talk about something, you know. It would be interesting for me to know how you would decide a certain problem, as Lebeziatnikov would say. He was beginning to lose the thread.

Starting point is 16:12:42 No, really, I am serious. Imagine, Sonia, that you had known all Lusian's intentions beforehand, known that is, for a fact, that they would be the ruin of Katerina Ivanovna and the children and yourself thrown in, since you don't count yourself or anything, Polenka too, for she'll go the same way. Well, if suddenly it all depended on your decision whether he or they should go on living, that is, whether Luzon should go on living and doing wicked things, or Katerina Ivanovna should die. How would you decide which of them was to die? I ask you. Sonia looked uneasily at him.

Starting point is 16:13:24 There was something peculiar in his hesitating question, which seemed approaching something in a roundabout way. "'I felt that you were going to ask some question like that,' she said, looking inquisitively at him. "'I dare say you did. But how is it to be answered?' "'Why do you ask about what could not happen?' said Sonia reluctantly. "'Then it would be better for illusion

Starting point is 16:13:50 to go on living and doing wicked things? You haven't dared to decide even that. But I can't know the divine providence, and why do you ask what can't be answered? What's the use of such foolish questions? How could it happen that it should depend on my decision? Who has made me a judge to decide who is to live and who is not to live? Oh, if the divine providence is to be mixed up in it, there is no doing anything." Raskolnikov grumbled morosely. You'd better say straight out what you want. Sonia cried in distress.

Starting point is 16:14:27 You are leading up to something again. Can you have come simply to torture me? She could not control herself and began crying bitterly. He looked at her in gloomy misery. Five minutes passed. Of course, you're right, Sonia, he said softly at last. He was suddenly chained. His tone of assumed arrogance and helpless defiance was gone.

Starting point is 16:14:53 Even his voice was suddenly weak. "'I told you yesterday that I was not coming to ask forgiveness, and almost the first thing I've said is to ask forgiveness. I said that about illusion and providence for my own sake. I was asking forgiveness, Sonia.' He tried to smile, but there was something helpless and incomplete in his pale smile. He bowed his head and hid his face in his hands. And suddenly a strange, surprising sensation of a sort of bitter hatred for Sonia passed through

Starting point is 16:15:28 his heart. As it were, wondering and frightened of this sensation, he raised his head and looked intently at her, but he met her uneasy and painfully anxious eyes fixed on him. There was love in them. His hatred vanished like a phantom. It was not the real feeling. He had taken the one feeling for the other. It only meant that that minute had come. He hid his face in his hands again and bowed his head. Suddenly he turned pale, got up from his chair,

Starting point is 16:16:00 looked at Sonia, and without uttering a word, sat down mechanically on her bed. His sensations that moment were terribly like the moment when he had stood over the old woman with the axe in his hand and felt that he must not lose another minute. What's the matter?" asked Sonia, dreadfully frightened. He could not utter a word. This was not at all, not at all, the way he had intended to tell, and he did not understand what was happening to him now. She went up to him, softly, sat down on the bed beside him and waited,

Starting point is 16:16:35 not taking her eyes off him. Her heart throbbed and sank. It was unendurable. He turned his deadly pale face to her. His lips worked, helplessly. struggling to utter something. A pang of terror passed through Sonia's heart. "'What's the matter?' she repeated, drawing a little away from him. "'Nothing, Sonia. Don't be frightened. It's nonsense. It really is nonsense, if you think of it,'

Starting point is 16:17:04 he muttered, like a man in delirium. "'Why have I come to torture you?' he added suddenly, looking at her. "'Why, really? I keep asking myself that question, Sonia? He had perhaps been asking himself that question a quarter of an hour before, but now he spoke helplessly, hardly knowing what he said and feeling a continual tremor all over. "'Oh, how you are suffering!' she muttered in distress, looking intently at him. "'It's all nonsense.' "'Listen, Sonia,' he suddenly smiled, a pale, helpless smile for two seconds. "'You remember what I meant to tell you yesterday,

Starting point is 16:17:46 yesterday." Sonia waited uneasily. I said as I went away that perhaps I was saying goodbye forever, but that if I came today, I would tell you who—who killed Lizavetta. She began trembling all over. Well, here I've come to tell you. Then you really meant it yesterday? She whispered with difficulty. How do you know?

Starting point is 16:18:14 She asked quickly, as though suddenly regaining her reason. Sonia's face grew paler and paler. She breathed painfully. I know. She paused a minute. Have they found him? She asked timidly. No.

Starting point is 16:18:34 Then, how do you know about it? She asked again, hardly audibly, and again after a minute's pause. He turned to her and looked very intently at her. Guess, he said, with the same distorted, helpless smile. A shudder passed over her. "'But you—why do you frighten me like this?' she said, smiling like a child. "'I must be a great friend of his, since I know,' Ruskalnikov went on, still gazing into her face, as though he could not turn his eyes away.

Starting point is 16:19:11 He did not mean to kill that Lizavetta. He killed her accidentally. He meant to kill the old woman when she was alone, and he went there, and then Lizavetta came in. He killed her too. Another awful moment passed. Both still gazed at one another. You can't guess then?

Starting point is 16:19:37 He asked suddenly, feeling as though he were flinging himself down from a steeper. people." "'No,' whispered Sonia. "'Take a good look.' As soon as he had said this again, the same familiar sensation froze his heart. He looked at her and all at once seemed to see in her face the face of Lizavetta. He remembered clearly the expression in Lizavetta's face, when he approached her with the axe and she stepped back to the wall, putting out her hand with childish terror in her face, looking as little

Starting point is 16:20:11 children do when they begin to be frightened of something, looking intently and uneasily at what frightens them, shrinking back and holding out their little hands on the point of crying. Almost the same thing happened now to Sonia. With the same helplessness and the same terror, she looked at him for a while, and, suddenly, putting out her left hand, pressed her fingers faintly against his breast, and slowly began to get up from the bed, moving further from him and keeping her eyes fixed even more immovably on him. Her terror infected him. The same fear showed itself on his face.

Starting point is 16:20:50 In the same way, he stared at her, and almost with the same childish smile. Have you guessed? He whispered at last. Good God! broke in an awful wail from her bosom. She sank helplessly on the bed, with her face in the pillows, But a moment later she got up, moved quickly to him, seized both of his hands, and gripping them tight in her thin fingers, began looking into his face again with the same intense stare.

Starting point is 16:21:21 In this last desperate look she tried to look into him and catch some last hope. But there was no hope. There was no doubt remaining. It was all true. Later on, indeed, when she recalled that moment, she thought it strange and wondered why she had seen at once that there was no doubt. She could have not said, for instance, that she had foreseen something of the sort, and yet now, as soon as he told her, she suddenly fancied that she had really foreseen this very thing. Stop, Sonia, enough. Don't torture me! He begged her miserably. It was not at all, not at all like this he had thought of telling her, but this is how it happened.

Starting point is 16:22:05 She jumped up, seeming not to know what she was doing, and, wringing her hands, walked into the middle of the room, but quickly went back and sat down again beside him, her shoulder almost touching his. All of a sudden, she started as though she had been stabbed, uttered a cry, and fell on her knees before him. She did not know why. "'What have you done? What have you done to yourself?'

Starting point is 16:22:31 She said in despair, and jumping up, she flung herself on his neck, threw her arms around him, and held him tightly. Ruskalnikov drew back and looked at her with a mournful smile. "'You are a strange girl, Sonia. You kiss me and hug me when I tell you about that. You don't think what you were doing.' "'There is no one, no one in the whole world now so unhappy as you,' she cried in a frenzy, not hearing what he said, and she suddenly broke into the world. a violent hysterical weeping. A feeling, long unfamiliar to him, flooded his heart and softened it at once. He did not struggle against it.

Starting point is 16:23:12 Two tears started into his eyes and hung on his eyelashes. "'Then you won't leave me, Sonia?' he said, looking at her almost with hope. "'No, no, never, nowhere,' cried Sonia. "'I will follow you. I will follow you everywhere. Oh, my God! Oh, how miserable I am! Why, why didn't I know you before? Why didn't you come before? Oh, dear! Here I have come. Yes, now. What's to be done now? Together, together, together, she repeated, as it were, unconsciously, and she hugged him again. I'll follow you to Siberia. He recoiled at this, and the

Starting point is 16:23:59 same, hostile, almost haughty smile came to his lips. "'Perhaps I don't want to go to Siberia, yet, Sonia,' he said. Sonia looked at him quickly. Again, after her first passionate, agonizing sympathy for the unhappy man, the terrible idea of the murder overwhelmed her. In his changed tone, she seemed to hear the murderer speaking. She looked at him bewildered. She knew nothing as yet, why, how, with what object

Starting point is 16:24:29 it had been. Now all these questions rushed at once into her mind. And again she could not believe it. He, he is a murderer. Could it be true? What is the meaning of it? Where am I? She said in complete bewilderment, as though still unable to recover herself. How could you, you, a man like you, how could you bring yourself to it? What does it mean? Oh, well, to plunder. Leave off, Sonia, he answered wearily, almost with vexation. Sonia stood as though struck dumb, but suddenly she cried, "'You were hungry.

Starting point is 16:25:14 It was to help your mother, yes?' "'No, Sonia, no,' he muttered, turning away and hanging his head. "'I was not so hungry. I certainly did not want to help my mother, but that's not the real thing either. Don't torture me, Sonia." Sonia clasped her hands. Could it? Could it all be true? Good God, what a truth! Who could believe it? And how could you give away your last farthing and yet rob and murder? Ah, she cried suddenly. That money you gave Katerina Ivanovna! That money! Can that money... No, Sonia, he broke in hurriedly. That money was

Starting point is 16:25:59 not it. Don't worry yourself. That money my mother sent me, and it came when I was ill, the day I gave it to you. Resumian saw it. He received it for me. That money was mine, my own. Sonia listened to him in bewilderment and did her utmost to comprehend. "'And that money? I don't even know really whether there was any money,' he added softly, as though reflecting. I took a purse off her neck, made of chamois leather, a purse stuffed full of something, but I didn't look in it. I suppose I hadn't time. And the things, chains and trinkets, I buried under a stone with the purse next morning in a yard off the V prospect. They are all there now. Sonia strained every nerve to listen.

Starting point is 16:26:52 Then why—why you said you did it to rob, but you took nothing? She asked Quist. quickly, catching at a straw. "'I don't know. I haven't yet decided whether to take that money or not,' he said, musing again, and seeming to wake up with a start, he gave a brief, ironical smile. Ah, what silly stuff I am talking, eh?' The thought flashed through Sonia's mind. Wasn't he mad? But she dismissed it at once.

Starting point is 16:27:23 No, it was something else. She could make nothing of it, nothing. Do you know, Sonia?" he said suddenly with conviction. "'Let me tell you, if I'd simply killed because I was hungry, laying stress on every word and looking enigmatically but sincerely at her, I should be happy now. You must believe that. What would it matter to you?' he cried a moment later, with a sort of despair. What would it matter to you if I were to confess that I did wrong? What do you gain by such a stupid triumph over me?

Starting point is 16:27:59 Ah, Sonia, was it for that I've come to you today? Again Sonia tried to say something, but did not speak. I asked you to go with me yesterday, because you are all I have left. Go where? asked Sonia timidly. Not to steal and not to murder, don't be anxious. He smiled bitterly. We are so different.

Starting point is 16:28:24 And you know, Sonia, it's only now, only this moment that I understand where I asked you to go with me yesterday. Yesterday, when I said it, I did not know where. I asked you for one thing. I came to you for one thing not to leave me. You won't leave me, Sonia. She squeezed his hand. And why, why did I tell her?

Starting point is 16:28:50 Why did I let her know? He cried a minute later, in despair, looking with her. with infinite anguish at her. Here you expect an explanation from me, Sonia. You are sitting and waiting for it. I see that. But what can I tell you? You won't understand and will only suffer, on my account.

Starting point is 16:29:10 Well, you are crying and embracing me again. Why do you do it? Because I couldn't bear my burden and have come to throw it on another. You suffer too, and I shall feel better. And can you love such a mean wretch? But aren't you suffering, too?" cried Sonia. Again a wave of the same feeling surged into his heart, and again for an instant softened it.

Starting point is 16:29:36 Sonia, I have a bad heart. Take note of that. It may explain a great deal. I have come because I am bad. There are men who wouldn't have come. But I am a coward and a mean wretch. "'Never mind. That's not the point. I must speak now, but I don't know how to begin.' He paused and sank into thought.

Starting point is 16:30:04 "'Ah, we are so different,' he cried again. "'We are not alike. And why, why did I come? I shall never forgive myself that.' "'No, no, it is a good thing you came,' cried Sonia. "'It's better I should know, far better.' He looked at her with anguish. "'What if it really were that?' he said as though reaching a conclusion. "'Yes, that's what it was. I wanted to become a Napoleon. That's why I killed her. Do you understand now?'

Starting point is 16:30:40 "'No,' Sonia whispered naively and timidly. "'Only speak, speak. I shall understand. I shall understand it in myself,' she kept begging him. You'll understand? Very well, we shall see." He paused and was for some time lost in meditation. It was like this. I asked myself one day this question. What if Napoleon, for instance, had happened to be in my place, and if he had not had

Starting point is 16:31:15 too long or Egypt nor the passage of Mount Blank to begin his career with, but instead of all those picturesque and monumental things, there had simply been some ridiculous old hag, a pawnbroker, who had to be murdered, too, to get money from her trunk, for his career, you understand. Well, would he have brought himself to that if there had been no other means? Wouldn't he have felt a pang at its being so far from monumental, and—and sinful, too? Well, I must tell you that I worried myself fearfully over that question, so that I was awfully ashamed when I guessed at last, all of a sudden, somehow, that it would not have given him the least pang, that it would not even have struck him that it was not monumental,

Starting point is 16:32:04 that he would not have seen that there was anything in it to pause over, and that, if he had had no other way, he would have strangled her in a minute without thinking about it. Well, I, too, left off thinking about it, murdered her, following his example. And that's exactly how it was. Do you think it funny? Yes, Sonia, the funniest thing of all is that perhaps that's just how it was. So you did not think it at all funny. You had better tell me straight out, without examples, she begged, still more timidly

Starting point is 16:32:42 and scarcely audible. He turned to her, looked sadly at her, and took her hands. "'You are right again, Sonia. Of course that's all nonsense. It's almost all talk. You see, you know, of course, that my mother has scarcely anything. My sister happened to have a good education and was condemned to drudge as a governess. All their hopes were centered on me. I was a student, but I couldn't keep myself at the university and was force for a time to leave it. Even if I'd lingered on like that, in ten or twelve years, I might, with luck, hope to be some sort of teacher or clerk with a salary of a thousand roubles.

Starting point is 16:33:28 He repeated it as though it were a lesson. And by that time, my mother would have been worn out with grief and anxiety, and I could not succeed in keeping her in comfort, while my sister, well, my sister might well have fared worse. And, in her. It's a hard thing to pass everything by all one's life, to turn one's back upon everything, to forget one's mother and decorously accept the insults inflicted on one's sister. Why should one? When one has buried them to burden oneself with others, wife and children, and to leave them again without a farthing.

Starting point is 16:34:04 So I resolved to gain possession of the old woman's money, and to use it for my first years without worrying my mother, to keep myself at the university, and for a while. a little while after leaving it, and to do this all on a broad, thorough scale, so as to build up a completely new career and enter upon a new life of independence. Well, that's all. Well, of course, in killing the old woman I did wrong, well, that's enough. He struggled to the end of his speech in exhaustion and let his head sink. Oh, that's not it. That's not it. Sonia cried in distress. How could one...

Starting point is 16:34:46 No, that's not right. Not right. You see yourself that it's not right. But I've spoken truly. It's the truth. As though that could be the truth. Good God! I've only killed a louse, Sonia, a useless, loathsome, harmful creature. A human being, a louse? I too know it wasn't a louse, he answered.

Starting point is 16:35:14 looking strangely at her. But I am talking nonsense, Sonia, he added. I've been talking nonsense a long time. That's not it. You are right there. There were quite, quite other causes for it. I haven't talked to anyone for so long, Sonia. My head aches dreadfully now.

Starting point is 16:35:34 His eyes shone with feverish brilliance. He was almost delirious. An uneasy smile strayed on his lips. His terrible exhaustion could be seen. seen through his excitement. Sonia saw how he was suffering. She too was growing dizzy, and he talked so strangely. It seemed somehow comprehensible, but yet... But how! How! Good God! And she wrung her hands in despair. No, Sonia, that's not it. He began again suddenly, raising his head, as though a new and sudden

Starting point is 16:36:11 train of thought had struck and as it were aroused him. That's not it. Better. Imagine. Yes, it's certainly better. Imagine that I am vain, envious, malicious, base, vindictive, and—well, perhaps with a tendency to insanity. Let's have it all out at once. They've talked of madness already, I noticed. I told you just now I could not keep myself at the university. But do you know that perhaps I might have done? My mother would have sent me what I needed for the fees, and I could have earned enough for clothes, boots and food, no doubt. Lessons had turned up at half a ruble. Resumian works. But I turned sulky and wouldn't. Yes, sulkiness, that's the right word for it. I sat in

Starting point is 16:37:02 my room like a spider. You've been in my den. You've seen it. And do you know, Sonia, that low ceilings and tiny rooms cramped the soul and the mind. Ah, how I hated that, Garrett. And yet I wouldn't go out of it. I wouldn't on purpose. I didn't go out for days together, and I wouldn't work. I wouldn't even eat. I just lay there doing nothing. If Nastassia brought me anything, I ate it. If she didn't, I went all day without. I wouldn't ask on purpose, from sulkiness. At night I had no light. I lay in the dark and I wouldn't earn money for candles. I ought to have studied, but I sold my books, and the dust lies an inch thick on the notebooks on my table. I preferred lying still and thinking. And I kept thinking. And I had dreams all the time, strange dreams of all sorts, no need to describe. Only then I began to fancy that, no, that's not it. Again, I'm telling you wrong. You see, I kept asking myself then,

Starting point is 16:38:12 Why am I so stupid that if others are stupid, and I know they are, yet I won't be wiser? Then I saw, Sonia, that if one waits for everyone to get wiser, it will take too long. Afterwards I understood that that would never come to pass, that men won't change, and that nobody can alter it, and that it's not worth wasting effort. over it. Yes, that's so. That's the law of their nature, Sonia. That's so. And I know now, Sonia, that whoever is strong in mind and spirit will have power over them. Anyone who is greatly daring is right in their eyes. He who despises most things will be a lawgiver among them, and he who dares most of all will be most in the right. So it has been till now, and so it will always be. A man

Starting point is 16:39:07 must be blind not to see it." Though Ruskalnikov looked at Sonia as he said this, he no longer cared whether she understood or not. The fever had complete hold of him. He was in a sort of gloomy ecstasy. He certainly had been too long without talking to anyone. Sonia felt that his gloomy creed had become his faith and code. "'I divined then, Sonia,' he went on eagerly, "'that power is only vouchsaf to the man

Starting point is 16:39:36 and who dares to stoop and pick it up. There is only one thing, one thing needful. One has only to dare. Then, for the first time in my life, an idea took shape in my mind which no one had ever thought of before me, no one. I saw clear as daylight how strange it is that not a single person living in this mad world has had the daring to go straight for it all and send it flying to the devil. I—I wanted to have the daring. And I killed her. I only wanted to have the daring, Sonia. That was the whole cause of it.

Starting point is 16:40:13 Oh, hush, hush! cried Sonia, clasping her hands. You turned away from God, and God has smitten you, has given you over to the devil. Then, Sonia, when I used to lie there in the dark and all this became clear to me, was it a temptation of the devil, eh? Hush, don't laugh, blasphemer.

Starting point is 16:40:34 You don't understand. You don't understand. Oh, God, he won't understand. Hush, Sonia, I am not laughing. I know myself that it was the devil leading me. Hush, Sonia, hush! He repeated with gloomy insistence. I know it all. I have thought it all over and over and whispered it all over to myself, lying there in the dark. I have argued it all over with myself, every point of it, and I know it all, all. And how sick! How sick I was then of going over it all!

Starting point is 16:41:09 I have kept wanting to forget it, and make a new beginning, Sonia, and leave off thinking. And don't you suppose that I went into it headlong like a fool? I went into it like a wise man, and that was just my destruction. And you mustn't suppose that I didn't know, for instance, that if I began to question myself whether I had the right to gain power, I certainly hadn't the right, or that if I asked myself whether a human being is a louse, it proved that it wasn't so for me, though it might be for a man who would go straight to

Starting point is 16:41:43 his goal without asking questions. If I worried myself all those days, wondering whether Napoleon would have done it or not, I felt clearly, of course, that I wasn't Napoleon. I had to endure all the agony of that battle of ideas, Sonia, and I'd long to throw it off. I wanted to murder without casuistry, to murder for my own sake, for myself alone. I didn't want to lie about it even to myself. It wasn't to help my mother I did the murder. That's nonsense.

Starting point is 16:42:14 I didn't do the murder to gain wealth and power and to become a benefactor of mankind. Nonsense. I simply did it. I did the murder for myself, for myself alone. And whether I became a benefactor to others or spent my life. life like a spider, catching men in my web, and sucking the life out of men, I couldn't have cared at that moment. And it was not the money I wanted, Sonia, when I did it. It was not so much the money I wanted, but something else. I know it all now. Understand me. Perhaps I should never

Starting point is 16:42:49 have committed a murder again. I wanted to find out something else. It was something else led me on. I wanted to find out then and quickly whether I was a louse like everybody else or a man, whether I can step over barriers or not, whether I dare stoop to pick it up or not, whether I am a trembling creature, or whether I have the right— To kill? Have the right to kill? Sonia clasped her hands. Ah, Sonia! He cried irritably and seemed about to make some retort, but was contemptuously silent.

Starting point is 16:43:24 Don't interrupt me, Sonia. I want to prove one thing only. That the devil led me on then, and he has shown me since that I had not the right to take that path, because I am just such a louse as all the rest. He was mocking me, and here I've come to you now. Welcome your guest. If I were not a louse, should I have come to you? Listen, when I went then to the old woman's, I only went to try.

Starting point is 16:43:52 You may be sure of that. And you murdered her. But how did I murder her? Is that how men do murders? Do men go to commit a murder as I went then? I will tell you someday how I went. Did I murder the old woman? I murdered myself, not her.

Starting point is 16:44:12 I crushed myself once for all, forever. But it was the devil that killed that old woman, not I. Enough, enough, Sonia, enough. Let me be, he cried in a sudden spasm of agony. Let me be! He leaned his elbows on his knees and squeezed his head in his hands as in a vice. What suffering! A wail of anguish broke from Sonia.

Starting point is 16:44:39 Well, what am I to do now? He asked, suddenly raising his head and looking at her with a face hideously distorted by despair. What are you to do? She cried, jumping up and her eyes. eyes that had been full of tears suddenly began to shine. Stand up! She seized him by the shoulder. He got up, looking at her almost bewildered. Go at once, this very minute. Stand at the crossroads. Bow down. First, kiss the earth which you have defiled, and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud,

Starting point is 16:45:14 I am a murderer. Then God will send you life again. Will you go? Will you go? She asked him, trembling all over, snatching his two hands, squeezing them tight in hers and gazing at him with eyes full of fire. He was amazed at her sudden ecstasy. "'You mean Siberia, Sonia? I must give myself up?' he asked gloomily. "'Suffer and expiate your sin by it. That's what you must do.' "'No, I am not going to them, Sonia.' "'But how will you go unliving? What will you live for?' cried Sonia. How is it possible now? Why, how can you talk to your mother? Oh, what will

Starting point is 16:45:58 become of them now? But what am I saying? You have abandoned your mother and your sister already. He has abandoned them already. Oh, God, she cried. Why, he knows it all himself. How, how can he live by himself? What will become of you now? Don't be a child, Sonia, he said softly. wrong have I done them? Why should I go to them? What should I say to them? That's only a phantom. They destroy men by millions themselves and look on it as a virtue. They're knaves and scoundrel, Sonia. I am not going to them. And what should I say to them? That I murdered her, but did not dare to take the money and hid it under a stone? He added with a bitter smile. Why, they would laugh at me. They would call me a fool for not

Starting point is 16:46:51 getting it. A coward and a fool. They wouldn't understand, and they don't deserve to understand. Why should I go to them? I won't. Don't be a child, Sonia. It will be too much for you to bear, too much, she repeated, holding out her hands in despairing supplication. Perhaps I've been unfair to myself, he observed gloomily, pondering. Perhaps, after all, I am a man and not a louse, and I've been in too great a hurry to condemn myself. I'll make another fight for it. A haughty smile appeared on his lips.

Starting point is 16:47:30 What a burden to bear! And your whole life! Your whole life! I shall get used to it, he said grimly and thoughtfully. Listen, he began a minute later. Stop crying. It's time to talk of the facts. I've come to tell you that the police are after me, on my track.

Starting point is 16:47:51 Ah, Sonia cried in terror. Well, why do you cry out? You want me to go to Siberia, and now you're frightened? But let me tell you, I shall not give myself up. I shall make a struggle for it, and they won't do anything to me. They've no real evidence. Yesterday I was in great danger and believed I was lost, but today things are going better. All the facts they know can be explained two ways. That's to say, I can turn their accusations to my credit. Do you understand? And I shall, for I've learnt my lesson. But they will certainly arrest me. If it had not been for something that happened, they would have done so today for certain.

Starting point is 16:48:35 Perhaps even now they will arrest me today. But that's no matter, Sonia. They'll let me out again, for there isn't any real proof against me, and there won't be. I give you my word for it. And they can't convict a man on what they have against me. Enough. I only tell you that you may know. I will try to manage somehow to put it to my mother and sister so that they won't be frightened. My sister's future is secure, however, now I believe, and my mother's must be too. Well, that's all. Be careful, though. Will you come and see me in prison when I am there? Oh, I will. I will. They sat side by side, both mournful and dejected, as though they had been cast up by the tempest alone

Starting point is 16:49:22 on some deserted shore. He looked at Sonia and felt how great was her love for him, and strange to say he felt it suddenly burdensome and painful to be so loved. Yes, it was a strange and awful sensation. On his way to see Sonia, he had felt that all his hopes rested on her. He expected to be rid of at least part of his suffering. And now, when all her heart turned towards him, he suddenly felt he was immeasurably unhappier than before. Sonia, he said, you'd better not come and see me when I am in prison. Sonia did not answer. She was crying. Several minutes passed. "'Have you across on you?' she asked, as though suddenly thinking of it. He did not at first understand the question.

Starting point is 16:50:11 No, of course not. Here, take this one of Cypress wood. I have another, a copper one that belonged to Lizavetta. I changed with Lizavetta. She gave me her cross, and I gave her my little icon. I will wear Lizavettas now and give you this. Take it. It's mine.

Starting point is 16:50:31 It's mine, you know, she begged him. We will go to suffer together, and together we will bear our cross. Give it me, said Rost. Kolnakov. He did not want to hurt her feelings, but immediately he drew back the hand he held out for the cross. Not now, Sonia, better later, he added to comfort her. Yes, yes, better, she repeated with conviction. When you go to meet your suffering, then put it on, you will come to me, I'll put it on you, we will pray and go together. At that moment someone knocked three times at the door.

Starting point is 16:51:11 "'Sovia Semyonovna, may I come in?' They heard in a very familiar and polite voice. Sonia rushed to the door in a fright. The flax and head of Mr. Lebeziatnikov appeared at the door. End of Part 5, Chapter 4. Part 5, Chapter 5 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946.

Starting point is 16:51:44 This Liberovox recording is in the public domain. Part 5, Chapter 5 Lebeziatnikov looked perturbed. I've come to you, Sophia Semyonovna, he began. Excuse me, I thought I should find you, he said, addressing Ruskalnikov suddenly. That is, I didn't mean anything, of that sort, but I just thought... Katerina Ivanovna has gone out of her mind. He blurted out suddenly, turning from Ruskanikov to Sonia.

Starting point is 16:52:18 Sonia screamed. At least it seemed so. But we don't know what to do, you see. She came back. She seems to have been turned out somewhere, perhaps beaten. So it seems at least. She had run to your father's former chief. She didn't find him at home.

Starting point is 16:52:36 He was dining at some other generals. Only fancy, she rushed off there to the other generals, and, imagine, she was so far. persistent that she managed to get the chief to see her, had him fetched out from dinner, it seems. You can imagine what happened. She was turned out, of course, but, according to her own story, she abused him and threw something at him.

Starting point is 16:52:59 One may well believe it. How it is she wasn't taken up, I can't understand. Now she is telling everyone, including Amalia Ivanovna, but it's difficult to understand her. She is screaming and flinging herself about. Oh, yes, she shouts that since everyone has abandoned her, she will take the children and go into the street with a barrel organ, and the children will sing and dance, and she too and collect money, and will go every day under the general's window to let everyone see well-born children whose father was an official begging in the street.

Starting point is 16:53:35 She keeps beating the children, and they are all crying. She is teaching Lida to sing My Village, the boy to dance, Polenka the same. She is tearing up all the clothes and making them little caps like actors. She means to carry a tin basin and make it tinkle instead of music. She won't listen to anything. Imagine the state of things. It's beyond anything. Lebeziatnikov would have gone on, but Sonia, who had heard him almost breathless,

Starting point is 16:54:04 snatched up her cloak and hat and ran out of the room, putting on her things as she went. Ruskalnikov followed her, and Lebeziatnikov came after him. She has certainly gone mad, he said to Ruskonikov as they went out into the street. I didn't want to frighten Sophia Semyonovna, so I said it seemed like, but there isn't a doubt of it. They say that in consumption the tubercles sometimes occur in the brain. It's a pity I know nothing of medicine. I did try to persuade her, but she wouldn't listen. Did you talk to her about the tubercles? Not precisely of the tubercles. she wouldn't have understood. But what I say is that if you convince a person logically

Starting point is 16:54:48 that he has nothing to cry about, he'll stop crying. That's clear. Is it your conviction that he won't?' "'Life would be too easy if it were so,' answered Russ Kolnikov. "'Excuse me. Excuse me. Of course it would be rather difficult for Katerina Ivanovna to understand, but do you know that in Paris they have been conducting serious experiments as to the possibility of curing the insane simply by logical argument? One professor there, a scientific man of standing, lately dead, believed in the possibility of such treatment. His idea was that there's really nothing wrong with the physical organism of the insane,

Starting point is 16:55:27 and that insanity is, so to speak, a logical mistake, an error of judgment, an incorrect view of things. He gradually showed the madman his error, and, would you believe it, they say he was successful? But as he made use of duchess, too, how far success was due to that treatment remains uncertain, so it seems at least. Ruskolnikov had long ceased to listen. Reaching the house where he lived, he nodded to Lebeziatnikov and went in at the gate. Lebeziatnikov woke up with a start, looked about him, and hurried on.

Starting point is 16:56:03 Ruskolnikov went into his little room and stood still in the middle of it. Why had he come back here? He looked at the yellow and tattered paper, at the dust, at his sofa. From the yard came a loud, continuous knocking. Someone seemed to be hammering. He went to the window, rose on tiptoe, and looked out into the yard for a long time with an air of absorbed attention. But the yard was empty, and he could not see who was hammering. In the house on the left he saw some open windows. On the window-sills were pots of sickly-looking geraniums. Linen was hung out of the windows.

Starting point is 16:56:39 He knew it all by heart. He turned away and sat down on the sofa. Never, never had he felt himself so fearfully alone. Yes, he felt once more that he would perhaps come to hate Sonia, now that he had made her more miserable. Why had he gone to her to beg for her tears? What need had he to poison her life? Oh, the meanness of it!

Starting point is 16:57:04 I will remain alone. He said resolutely, and she shall not come to the prison. Five minutes later he raised his head with a strange smile. That was a strange thought. Perhaps it really would be better in Siberia, he thought suddenly. He could not have said how long he sat there with vague thoughts surging through his mind. All at once the door opened and Donya came in. At first she stood still and looked at him from the doorway,

Starting point is 16:57:35 just as he had done at Sonia. Then she came in and sat down in the same place as yesterday, on the chair facing him. He looked silently and almost vacantly at her. Don't be angry, brother. I've only come for one minute, said Donya. Her face looked thoughtful, but not stern. Her eyes were bright and soft.

Starting point is 16:57:58 He saw that she too had come to him with love. Brother, now I know all, all. Dmitri Prokovich has explained and told me everything. They are worrying and persecuting you through a stupid and contemptible suspicion. Dmitri Prokovich told me that there is no danger, and that you are wrong in looking upon it with such horror. I don't think so, and I fully understand how indignant you must be, and that that indignation may have a permanent effect on you. That's what I am afraid of.

Starting point is 16:58:30 As for you're cutting yourself off from us, I don't judge you, I don't venture to judge you, I don't venture to judge you, and forgive me for having blamed you for it. I feel that I, too, if I had so great a trouble, should keep away from everyone. I shall tell Mother nothing of this, but I shall talk about you continually, and shall tell her from you that you will come very soon. Don't worry about her. I will set her mind at rest, but don't you try her too much. Come once at least. Remember that she is your mother. And now I have come simply to say, Donya began to get up, that if you should need me or should need, all my life or anything, call me and I'll come. Goodbye. She turned abruptly and went

Starting point is 16:59:18 towards the door. Donya, Ruskalnikov stopped her and went towards her. That, Razumian, Dmitri Prokovich, is a very good fellow. Donya flushed slightly. Well, she asked, waiting a moment. He is competent, hard-working, honest, and capable of real love. Goodbye, Donya. Donya flushed crimson, then suddenly she took alarm. But what does it mean, brother? Are we really party forever, that you... Give such a party message? Never mind. Goodbye. He turned away and walked to the window. She stood a moment, looked at him uneasily and went out troubled. No, he was not cold to her.

Starting point is 17:00:08 There was an instant, the very last one, when he had longed to take her in his arms and say goodbye to her, and even to tell her, but he had not dared even to touch her hand. Afterwards she may shudder when she remembers that I embraced her, and will feel that I stole her kiss. And would she stand that test? He went on a few minutes later to himself. No, she wouldn't. Girls like that can't stand things. They never do."

Starting point is 17:00:38 And he thought of Sonia. There was a breath of fresh air from the window. The daylight was fading. He took up his cap and went out. He could not, of course, and would not consider how ill he was. But all this continual anxiety and agony of mind could not but affect him. And if he were not lying in high fever, it was perhaps just because his his continual inner strain helped to keep him on his legs and in possession of his faculties. But this artificial excitement could not last long. He wandered aimlessly. The sun was setting. A special form of misery had begun to oppress him of late. There was nothing poignant, nothing acute about it, but there was a feeling of permanence, of eternity about it.

Starting point is 17:01:27 It brought a foretaste of hopeless years of this cold, leaden misery, a foretaste of an eternity on a square yard of space. Towards evening this sensation usually began to weigh on him more heavily. With this idiotic, purely physical weakness, depending on the sunset or something, one can't help doing something stupid. You'll go to Donya as well as to Sonia, he muttered bitterly. He heard his name called. He looked round. Lebeziadnikov rushed up to him. Only fancy.

Starting point is 17:02:04 I've been to your room looking for you. Only fancy. She's carried out her plan and taken away the children. Sophia Semyonovna and I have had a job to find them. She is wrapping on a frying-pen and making the children dance. The children are crying. They keep stopping at the crossroads and in front of shops. There's a crowd of fools running after them.

Starting point is 17:02:25 Come along. And Sonia?" Ruskolnakov asked anxiously, hurrying after Lebezatnikov. "'Simply frantic! That is, it's not Sophia Semyonovna's frantic, but Katerina Ivanovna, though Sophia Semyonovna's frantic too. But Katerina Ivanovna is absolutely frantic. I tell you, she is quite mad. They'll be taken to the police. You can fancy what an effect that will have. They are on the canal bank, near the bridge now, not far from Sophia's Semyanovna's, quite close. On the canal bank near the bridge, and not two houses away from the one where Sophia lodged,

Starting point is 17:03:04 there was a crowd of people, consisting principally of gutter children. The hoarse, broken voice of Katerina Ivanovna could be heard from the bridge, and it certainly was a strange spectacle likely to attract a street crowd. Katerina Ivanovna, in her old dress with the green shawl, wearing a torn straw hat, crushed in a hideous way on one side, was really frantic. She was exhausted and breathless. Her wasted, consumptive face looked more suffering than ever, and indeed out of doors in the sunshine, a consumptive always looks worse than at home. But her excitement did not flag, and every moment her irritation grew more intense.

Starting point is 17:03:46 She rushed at the children, shouted at them, coaxed them, told them before the crowd how to dance and what to sing, began explaining to them why it was necessary, and driven to desperation by their not understanding, beat them. Then she would make a rush at the crowd. If she noticed any decently dressed person stopping to look, she immediately appealed to him to see what these children, from a genteel, one may say aristocratic house, have been brought to. If she heard laughter or jeering in the crowd, she would rush at once at the scoffers and begin squabbling with them. Some people laughed, Others shook their heads, but everyone felt curious at the sight of the madwoman with the frightened children.

Starting point is 17:04:27 The frying-pan, of which Lebezaatnikov had spoken, was not there. At least Raskolnikov did not see it. But instead of wrapping on the pan, Katerina Ivanovna began clapping her wasted hands when she made Lida and Kolia dance and Polinka sing. She too joined in the singing, but broke down at the second note with a fearful cough, which made her curse in despair and even shed tears. What made her most furious was the weeping and terror of Koya and Lida. Some effort had been made to dress the children up as street singers are dressed. The boy had on a turban made of something red and white to look like a Turk. There had been no costume for Lida. She simply had a red-knitted cap, or rather a nightcap that had belonged to

Starting point is 17:05:14 Marmelodov, decorated with a broken piece of white ostrich feather, which had been Katerina Ivanovna's grandmothers and had been preserved as a family possession. Polenka was in her everyday dress. She looked in timid perplexity at her mother and kept at her side, hiding her tears. She dimly realized her mother's condition and looked uneasily about her. She was terribly frightened of the street and the crowd. Sonia followed Katerina Ivanovna, weeping and beseeching her to return home, but Katerina Ivanovna was not to be persuaded. "'Leave off, Sonia! Leave off!' she shouted, speaking fast, panting and coughing. "'You don't know what you ask. You are like a child. I've told you before that I am not coming

Starting point is 17:06:01 back to that drunken German. Let everyone, let all Petersburg see the children begging in the streets, though their father was an honorable man who served all his life in truth and fidelity, and one may say, died in the service.' Katerina Ivanova had by now invented this fantastic story and thoroughly believed it. "'Let that wretch of a general see it. You are silly, Sonia. What have we to eat? Tell me that.

Starting point is 17:06:28 We have worried you enough. I won't go on so. Ah, Rodian Romanovitch, is that you?' she cried, seeing Ruskalnikov and rushing up to him. "'Explain to this silly girl, please, that nothing better could be done. Even organ-grinders earn their living, and everyone will see at once that we are different, that we are an honorable and bereaved family reduced to beggary. And that general will lose his post, you'll see. We shall perform under his windows every day, and if the Tsar drives by,

Starting point is 17:07:01 I'll fall on my knees, put the children before me, show them to him, and say, Defend us, Father? He is the father of the fatherless. He is merciful. He'll protect us. you'll see, and that wretch of a general. Lida, tene vo-duer. Koria, you'll dance again. Why are you whimpering? Whimpering again? What are you afraid of, stupid? Goodness, what am I to do with them, Rodian Romanovitch? If you only knew how stupid they are,

Starting point is 17:07:32 what's one to do with such children?' And she, almost crying herself, which did not stop her uninterrupted, rapid flow of talk, pointed to the crying children. Ruskalnikov tried to persuade her to go home, and even said, hoping to work on her vanity, that it was unseemly for her to be wandering about the streets like an organ-grinder, as she was intending to become the principal of a boarding school. A boarding school! Ha! ha! ha! ha! A castle in the air! cried Katerina Ivanovna, her laugh ending in a cough. No, Rodian Romanovitch, that dream is over.

Starting point is 17:08:11 All have forsaken us. And that general! You know, Rodian Romanovitch, I threw an ink-pot at him. It happened to be standing in the waiting-room by the paper where you sign your name. I wrote my name, threw it at him, and ran away. Oh, the scoundrels! The scoundrels! But enough of them. Now I'll provide for the children myself.

Starting point is 17:08:34 I won't bow down to anybody. She has had to bear enough for us,' she pointed to Sonia. "'Polinka, how much have you got? Show me. What? Only two farthings? Oh, the mean wretches! They give us nothing, only run after us, putting their tongues out.

Starting point is 17:08:53 There, what is that blockhead laughing at?' She pointed to a man in the crowd. "'It's all because Kolia here is so stupid. I have such a bother with him. What do you want, Polenka? Tell me in French, part of my Francais. Why, I've taught you, you know some phrases. Else, how are you to show that you are of good family, well brought up children,

Starting point is 17:09:17 and not at all like other organ grinders? We aren't going to have a punch-in-juty show in the street, but to sing a genteel song. Ah, yes, what are we to sing? You keep putting me out, but we... You see, we are standing here, Rodion Romanovitch, to find something to see. and get money, something Koya can dance to. For, as you can fancy, our performance is all impromptu. We must talk it over and rehearse it all thoroughly, and then we shall go to Nevsky, where there are far more people of good society, and we shall be noticed at once.

Starting point is 17:09:54 Lida knows my village only, nothing but my village, and everyone sings that. We must sing something far more genteel. Well, have you thought of anything, Polenka? If only you'd help your mother. My memory's quite gone, or I should have thought of something. We really can't sing Anhusar. Ah, let us sing in French, Sink-Sou. I have taught it you, I have taught it you, and as it is in French,

Starting point is 17:10:22 people will see at once that you are children of good family, and that will be much more touching. You might sing Marlborough San Vatanguerre, for that's quite a children's song, and is sung as a lullaby in all the aristocratic. ocratic houses. Marlboro San Valtenguei, nese qua ravindra, she began singing.

Starting point is 17:10:45 But no, better sing Saksu. Now, Kolia, your hands on your hips, make haste. And you, Lida, keep turning the other way, and Polenka and I will sing and clap our hands. Saksu, Saksu, Pormantor nold manage. Cough, cough, cough, cough. "'Set your dress straight, Polenka. It slipped down on your shoulders,' she observed, panting from coughing. "'Now it's particularly necessary to behave nicely and genteelly, that all may see that you are

Starting point is 17:11:17 well-born children. I said at the time that the Bada should be cut longer and made of two wits. It was your fault, Sonia, with your advice to make it shorter, and now you see the child is quite deformed by it. Why, you're all crying again. What's the main? What's the man? matter, stupids! Come, Coya, begin! Make haste! Make haste! Oh, what an unbearable child! Sank-sou! Sank-sou! A policeman again! What do you want?' A policeman was indeed forcing his way through the crowd. But at that moment a gentleman in civilian uniform and an overcoat, a solid-looking official of about fifty with a decoration on his neck, which delighted Katerina Ivanovna and had its effect on the policeman.

Starting point is 17:12:04 and without a word handed her a green three-ruble note. His face wore a look of genuine sympathy. Katerina Ivanovna took it and gave him a polite, even ceremonious bow. "'I thank you, honored, sir,' she began loftily. "'The causes that have induced us. Take the money, Polenka. You see, there are generous and honorable people who are ready to help a poor gentlewoman in distress. You see, honored sir, these orphans of good family, I might even say of aristocratic connections, and that wretch of a general sat eating grouse, and stamped at my disturbing him. "'Your excellency,' I said, protect the orphans, for you knew my late husband,

Starting point is 17:12:50 Semyon Zaharevich, and on the very day of his death the basest of scoundrel slandered his only daughter. "'That policeman again!' "'Protect me!' she cried to the official. Why is that policeman edging up to me? We have only just run away from one of them. What do you want, fool?' "'It's forbidden in the streets. You mustn't make a disturbance.'

Starting point is 17:13:12 "'It's your making a disturbance. It's just the same as if I were grinding an organ. What business is it of yours?' "'You have to get a license for an organ, and you haven't got one. And in that way you collect a crowd. Where do you lodge?' "'What? A license!' wailed Katerina Ivanovna. "'I've buried my husband today! What need of a license!' "'Calm yourself, madam, calm yourself!' began the official.

Starting point is 17:13:41 "'Come along. I will escort you. This is no place for you in the crowd. You are ill.' "'Honored, sir! Honored sir! You don't know!' screamed Katerina Ivanovna. "'We are going to the Nevsky. Sonia! Sonia! Where is she?' She is crying, too. What's the matter with you all? Kulia, Lida, where are you going? She cried suddenly in alarm. Oh, silly children!

Starting point is 17:14:08 Kulia, Lida, where are they off to? Koliah and Lida, scared out of their wits by the crowd and their mother's mad pranks, suddenly seized each other by the hand and ran off at the sight of the policeman, who wanted to take them away somewhere. Weeping and wailing, poor Katerina Ivanovna ran after them. She was a piteous and unseemly spectacle as she ran, weeping and panting for breath.

Starting point is 17:14:34 Sonia and Polenka rushed after them. "'Bring them back! Bring them back, Sonia! Oh, stupid, ungrateful children! Polenka! Catch them! It's for your sakes I!' She stumbled as she ran and fell down. "'She's cut herself! She's bleeding! Oh, dear!' cried Sonia, bending over her. All ran up and crowded around.

Starting point is 17:14:58 Raskolnikov and Lebeziatnikov were the first at her side. The official too hastened up, and behind him the policeman who muttered, bother, with a gesture of impatience, feeling that the job was going to be a troublesome one. "'Pass on, pass on!' he said to the crowd that pressed forward. "'She's dying,' someone shouted. "'She's gone out of her mind,' said another. "'Lord have mercy upon us,' said a woman crossing herself. Have they caught the little girl and the boy? They're being brought back.

Starting point is 17:15:32 The elder ones got them. Ah, the naughty imps! When they examined Katerina Ivanovna carefully, they saw that she had not cut herself against a stone, as Sonia thought, but that the blood that stained the pavement red was from her chest. I've seen that before, muttered the official to Ruskolnikov and Lebeziatnikov. That's consumption. The blood flows and chokes the patient.

Starting point is 17:15:57 I saw the same thing with the relative of my own not long ago. Nearly a pint of blood, all in a minute. What's to be done, though? She is dying. This way, this way, to my room, Sonia implored. I live here. See that house the second from here? Come to me, make haste. She turned from one to the other. Send for the doctor. Oh, dear! Thanks to the official's efforts, this plan was adopted.

Starting point is 17:16:26 the policeman even helping to carry Katerina Ivanovna. She was carried to Sonia's room, almost unconscious, and laid on the bed. The blood was still flowing, but she seemed to be coming to herself. Roskolnikov, Lebeziatnikov, and the official accompanied Sonia into the room and were followed by the policeman, who first drove back the crowd which followed to the very door. Polenka came in holding Colia and Leida, who were trembling and weeping. Several persons came in two from the Kapernaumov's room. The landlord, a lame, one-eyed man of strange appearance, with whiskers and hair that stood

Starting point is 17:17:03 up like a brush, his wife, a woman with an everlastingly scared expression, and several open-mouthed children with wonder-struck faces. Among these, Svidrigailov suddenly made his appearance. Rus Kalnikov looked at him with surprise, not understanding where he had come from and not having noticed him in the crowd. A doctor and priest were spoken of. The official whispered to Raskolnikov that he thought it was too late now for the doctor, but he ordered him to be sent for. Kapernaumov ran himself. Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna had regained her breath. The bleeding ceased for a time. She looked with sick, but intent and penetrating eyes at

Starting point is 17:17:46 Sonia, who stood pale and trembling, wiping the sweat from her brow with a handkerchief. At last she asked to be raised. They sat her up on the bed, supporting her on both sides. "'Where are the children?' she said in a faint voice. "'You've brought them, Polinka. Oh, the sillies! Why did you run away? Ah!' Once more her parched lips were covered with blood. She moved her eyes, looking about her.

Starting point is 17:18:17 "'So that's how you live, Sonia. "'Never once have I been in your room.' She looked at her with a face of suffering. "'We have been your ruin, Sonia. Polenka, Lida, Coya, come here. Well, here they are, Sonia. Take them all. I hand them over to you. I've had enough. The ball is over.'

Starting point is 17:18:41 Cough. Lay me down. Let me die in peace. They laid her back on the pillow. What, the priest? I don't want him. You haven't got a ruble to spare. I have no sins. God must forgive me without that. He knows how I have suffered. And if he won't forgive me, I don't care." She sank more and more into uneasy delirium. At time she shuddered, turned her eyes from side to side, recognized everyone for a minute, but at once sank into delirium again. Her breathing was hoarse and difficult. There was a sort of rattle in her throat. I said, to him, Your Excellency, she ejaculated, gasping after each word.

Starting point is 17:19:30 That Amalia Ludwigovna! Ah! Leida, co, you, hands on your hips, make haste. Gleze, Gleze, Pard de Basque! Tap with your heels, be graceful, child. Do haste diamanton and pearlin. What next? That's the thing to sing. Do hastichungsten, augen-machon.

Starting point is 17:19:53 Vas Vils to mere? What an idea? Vas Vils to more. What things the fool invents? Ah, yes. In the heat of midday, in the Vale of Dagestan. Ah, how I loved it. I loved that song to distraction, Polenka.

Starting point is 17:20:12 Your father, you know, used to sing it when we were engaged. Oh, those days! Oh, that's the thing for us to sing. How does it go? I've forgotten. Remind me. How was it? She was violently excited and tried to sit up. At last, in a horribly hoarse, broken voice, she began, shrieking and gasping at every word with a look of growing terror. "'In the heat of midday, in the veil of Dagestan, with lead in my breast!' "'Your excellency!' she wailed suddenly with a heart-rending scream and a flood of tears. "'Protect the orphans! You have been their father's guest! One may say aristocratic!'

Starting point is 17:21:01 She started regaining consciousness and gazed it all with a sort of terror, but at once recognized Sonia. "'Sonia! Sonia! Sonia!' she articulated softly and caressingly, as though surprised to find her there. Sonia, darling, are you here too?" They lifted her up again. Enough! It's over! Farewell, poor thing!

Starting point is 17:21:28 I am done for! I am broken! She cried with vindictive despair, and her head fell heavily back on the pillow. She sank into unconsciousness again, but this time it did not last long. Her pale, yellow, wasted face dropped back. Her mouth fell open, her leg moved convulsively, she gave a deep, deep sigh and died. Sonia fell upon her, flung her arms about her, and remained motionless with her head pressed to the dead woman's wasted bosom. Polanka threw herself at her mother's feet, kissing them

Starting point is 17:22:03 and weeping violently. Though Koya and Lida did not understand what had happened, they had a feeling that it was something terrible. They put their hands on each other's little shoulders, stared straight at one another, and both at once opened their mouths and began screaming. They were both still in their fancy dress, one in a turban, the other in the cap with the ostrich feather. And how did the certificate of merit come to be on the bed beside Katerina Ivanovna? It lay there by the pillow. Raskolnikov saw it. He walked away to the window. Lebeziatnikov skipped up to him. She is dead, he said. Rodion Romanovitch, I must have two words with you, said Svedrigailov coming up to them.

Starting point is 17:22:50 Lebeziatnikov at once made room for him and delicately withdrew. Svidra-Gylov drew Raskolnikov further away. I will undertake all the arrangements, the funeral and all that. You know it's a question of money, and, as I told you, I have plenty to spare. I will put those two little ones and Polenka into some good orphan asylum, and I will settle fifteen hundred roubles to be paid to each on coming of age, so that Sophia Semyanovna need have no anxiety about them. And I will pull her out of the mud, too, for she is a good girl, isn't she? So tell Avdotya Romanovna that that is how I am spending her

Starting point is 17:23:30 ten thousand." "'What is your motive for such benevolence?' asked Raskolnikov. "'Ah, you skeptical person,' laughed Svedrgylov. I told you I had no need of that money. Would you admit it's simply done from humanity? She wasn't a louse, you know. He pointed to the corner where the dead woman lay. Was she, like some old pawnbroker woman?

Starting point is 17:23:58 Come, you'll agree. Is Lucian to go on living and doing wicked things, or is she to die? And if I didn't help them, Polenka would go the same way. He said this with an air of a sort of gay, winking slyness, keeping his eyes fixed on Raskolnikov, who turned white and cold, hearing his own phrases, spoken to Sonia. He quickly stepped back and looked wildly at Svidrigailov. "'How do you know?' he whispered, hardly able to breathe. "'Why, I lodge here at Madame Resslitch's, the other side of the wall.

Starting point is 17:24:35 Here is Kepernamov, and there lives Madame Resslitch, an old and devoted friend of mine. I am a neighbor. You? Yes, continued Svidrigailov, shaking with laughter. I assure you on my honor, dear Rodeon Romanovitch, that you have interested me enormously. I told you we should become friends.

Starting point is 17:24:59 I foretold it. Well, here we have. And you will see what an accommodating person I am. You will see that you can get on with me. End of Part 5, Chapter 5. Part 6, Chapter 1 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 1 A strange period began for Raskolnikov. It was as though a fog had fallen upon him and wrapped him

Starting point is 17:25:44 in a dreary solitude, from which there was no escape. Recalling that period long after, he believed that his mind had been clouded at times, and that it had continued so with intervals till the final catastrophe. He was convinced that he had been mistaken about many things at that time, for instance as to the date of certain events. Anyway, when he tried later on to piece his recollections together, he learned a great deal about himself from what other people told him. He had mixed up incidents and had explained events as due to circumstances which existed only in his imagination. At times he was a prey to agonies of morbid uneasiness, amounting sometimes to panic. But he remembered two moments, hours, perhaps whole days,

Starting point is 17:26:31 of complete apathy, which came upon him as a reaction from his previous terror and might be compared with the abnormal insensibility sometimes seen in the dying. He seemed to be trying in that latter state to escape from a full and clear understanding of his position. Certain essential facts which required immediate consideration were particularly irksome to him. How glad he would have been to be free from some cares, the neglect of which would have threatened him with complete, inevitable ruin. He was particularly worried about Svidrigailov.

Starting point is 17:27:07 He might be said to be permanently thinking of Svidra-Gylov. From the time of Svidrigailov's two menacing and unmistakable words in Sonia's room at the moment of Katerina Ivanovna's death, the normal working of his mind seemed to break down. But although this new fact caused him extreme uneasiness, Raskolnikov was in no hurry for an explanation of it. At times, finding himself in a solitary and remote part of the town, in some wretched eating-house, sitting alone lost in thought, hardly knowing how he had come there, he suddenly thought of Svidrigailov. He recognized suddenly, clearly, and with dismay that he ought at once to come to an understanding

Starting point is 17:27:51 with that man, and to make what terms he could. Walking outside the city gates one day, he positively fancied that they had fixed a meeting there, that he was waiting for Svidrigailov. Another time he woke up before daybreak lying on the ground under some bushes. and could not at first understand how he had come there. But during the two or three days after Katerina Ivanovna's death, he had two or three times met Svidrigailov at Sonia's lodging, where he had gone aimlessly for a moment.

Starting point is 17:28:23 They exchanged a few words and made no reference to the vital subject, as though they were tacitly agreed not to speak of it for a time. Katerina Ivanovna's body was still lying in the coffin. Svidra Gailov was busy making arrangements for the time. funeral. Sonia, too, was very busy. At their last meeting, Svidrigailov informed Raskolnikov that he had made an arrangement, and a very satisfactory one for Katerina Ivanovna's children. That he had, through certain connections, succeeded in getting hold of certain personages, by whose help the three orphans could at once be placed in very suitable institutions. That the

Starting point is 17:29:02 money he had settled on them had been of great assistance, as it is much easier to place orphans with some property than destitute once. He said something too about Sonia and promised to come himself in a day or two to see Ruskalnikov, mentioning that he would like to consult with him, that there were things they must talk over. This conversation took place in the passage on the stairs. Svidrigadov looked intently at Ruskalnikov, and suddenly, after a brief pause, dropping his voice, asked, "'But how is it, Rodion Romanovitch? You don't seem yourself. You look and you listen, but you don't seem to understand. Cheer up. We'll talk things over. I am only sorry I've so much to do of my own business and

Starting point is 17:29:48 other peoples. Ah, Rodian Romanovitch, he added suddenly, what all men need is fresh air, fresh air, more than anything. He moved to one side to make way for the priest and server, who were coming up the stairs. They had come for the Requiem service. By Svidrigailov's orders, it was sung twice a day punctually. Svidrigailov went his way. Ruskaldikov stood still a moment, thought, and followed the priest into Sonia's room. He stood at the door.

Starting point is 17:30:21 They began quietly, slowly and mournfully singing the service. From his childhood, the thought of death and the presence of death had something oppressive and mysteriously awful. And it was long since he had heard the Requiem service. And there was something else here as well, too awful and disturbing. He looked at the children. They were all kneeling by the coffin. Polenka was weeping.

Starting point is 17:30:47 Behind them, Sonia prayed, softly, and, as it were, timidly weeping. These last two days she hasn't said a word to me. She hasn't glanced at me, Vasconikov thought suddenly. The sunlight was bright in the room. The incense rose in clouds. The priest read, Give rest, O Lord. Ruskalnikov stayed all through the service.

Starting point is 17:31:13 As he blessed them and took his leave, the priest looked round strangely. After the service, Ruskalnikov went up to Sonia. She took both his hands and let her head sink on his shoulder. This slight friendly gesture bewildered Ruskalnikov. It seemed strange to him that there was no trace of repugnance, no trace of disgust, no tremor in her hand. hand. It was the furthest limit of self-abnegation, at least so he interpreted it. Sonia said nothing. Roskolnikov pressed her hand and went out. He felt very miserable.

Starting point is 17:31:50 If it had been possible to escape to some solitude, he would have thought himself lucky, even if he had to spend his whole life there. But although he had almost always been by himself of late, he had never been able to feel alone. Sometimes he was always. walked out of the town on to the high road, once he had even reached a little wood, but the lonelier the place was, the more he seemed to be aware of an uneasy presence near him. It did not frighten him, but greatly annoyed him, so that he made haste to return to the town, to mingle with the crowd, to enter restaurants and taverns, to walk in busy thoroughfares. There he felt easier and even more solitary.

Starting point is 17:32:32 One day at dusk he sat for an hour listening to songs in a tavern, and he remembered that he positively enjoyed it. But at last he had suddenly felt the same uneasiness again, as though his conscience smote him. "'Here I sit listening to singing. Is that what I ought to be doing?' he thought. Yet he felt at once that that was not the only cause of his uneasiness. There was something requiring immediate decision, but it was something he could. could not clearly understand or put into words. It was a hopeless tangle. No, better the struggle again. Better Porphyry again. Boris Vedrigailov. Better some

Starting point is 17:33:16 challenge again, some attack. Yes, yes, he thought. He went out of the tavern and rushed away almost at a run. The thought of Donya and his mother suddenly reduced him almost to a panic. That night he woke up before morning among some bushes in Khrostovsky Island, trembling all over with fever. He walked home, and it was early morning when he arrived. After some hours' sleep the fever left him, but he woke up late, two o'clock in the afternoon. He remembered that Katerina Ivanovna's funeral had been fixed for that day, and was glad he was not present at it. Nastassia brought him some food. He ate and drank with appetite, almost with greediness. His head was fresher, and he was calmer than he had been for the last

Starting point is 17:34:05 three days. He even felt a passing wonder at his previous attacks of panic. The door opened, and Razumian came in. Ah, he's eating. Then he's not ill, said Razumian. He took a chair and sat down at the table opposite Ruskalnikov. He was troubled and did not attempt to conceal it. He spoke with evident annoyance, but without hurry or raising his voice. He looked as though he had some special fixed determination. "'Listen,' he began resolutely. "'As far as I am concerned, you may all go to hell, but from what I see, it's clear to me that I can't make head or tail of it. Please don't think I've come to ask you questions. I don't want to know, hang it. If you begin telling me your secrets, I dare say I shouldn't stay to listen.

Starting point is 17:34:56 I should go away cursing. I have only come to find out once for all whether it's a fact that you are mad. There is a conviction in the air that you are mad, or very nearly so. I admit I've been disposed to that opinion myself, judging from your stupid, repulsive, and quite inexplicable actions, and from your recent behavior to your mother and sister. Only a monster or a madman could treat them as you have, so you must be mad. When did you see them last? Just now.

Starting point is 17:35:30 Haven't you seen them since then? What have you been doing with yourself? Tell me, please. I've been to you three times already. Your mother has been seriously ill since yesterday. She had made up her mind to come to you. Avdotya Romanovna tried to prevent her. She wouldn't hear a word.

Starting point is 17:35:49 If he is ill, if his mind is giving way, who can look after him like his mother, she said. We all came here together. We couldn't let her come alone all the way. We kept begging her to be calm. We came in, you weren't here. She sat down and stayed ten minutes, while we stood waiting in silence. She got up and said, If he's gone out, that is, if he is well and has forgotten his mother,

Starting point is 17:36:15 it's humiliating and unseemly for his mother to stand at his door begging for kindness. She returned home and took to her bed. now she is in a fever. I see, she said, that he has time for his girl. She means by your girl, Sophia Semyonovna, your betrothed or your mistress, I don't know. I went at once to Sophia Semyonovna's, for I wanted to know what was going on.

Starting point is 17:36:40 I looked round, I saw the coffin, the children crying, and Sophia Semyonovna trying them on morning dresses. No sign of you. I apologized, came away, and reported to Avdotya Romanovna. So, that's all nonsense, and you haven't got a girl. The most likely thing is that you are mad. But here you sit, guzzling boiled beef as though you not had a bite for three days. Though as far as that goes, madmen eat too, but though you have not said a word to me

Starting point is 17:37:11 yet, you are not mad. That I'd swear. Above all you are not mad. So you may go to hell all of you, for there's some mystery, some secret about it, and I don't intent to worry my brains over your secrets. So I've simply come to swear at you,' he finished getting up, to relieve my mind, and I know what to do now. "'What do you mean to do now? What business is of yours what I mean to do?' "'You are going in for a drinking bout. How—how did you know?' "'Why, it's pretty plain.' Resumian paused for a minute. You always have been a very rational person, and you've never been mad, never.

Starting point is 17:37:55 He observed suddenly with warmth. You're right, I shall drink. Goodbye. And he moved to go out. I was talking with my sister, the day before yesterday, I think it was. About you, Rezumian. About me? But where can you have seen her the day before yesterday?

Starting point is 17:38:16 Resumian stopped short and even turned a little pain. tail. One could see that his heart was throbbing slowly and violently. She came here by herself, sat there and talked to me. She did. Yes. What did you say to her? I mean about me. I told her, you were a very good, honest, and industrious man. I didn't tell her you love her because she knows that herself. She knows that herself? Well, it's pretty plain. Wherever I might might go, whatever happened to me, you would remain to look after them. I, so to speak, give them into your keeping, Resumian. I say this because I know quite well how you love her, and am convinced of the purity of your heart. I know that she too may love you, and perhaps does

Starting point is 17:39:07 love you already. Now, decide for yourself, as you know best, whether you need to go in for a drinking bout or not. Rodea, you see, well, I... "'Ah, damn it! But where do you mean to go? Of course, if it's all a secret, never mind. But I—I shall find out the secret, and I am sure that it must be some ridiculous nonsense and that you've made it all up. Anyway, you are a capital fellow, a capital fellow.' "'That was just what I wanted to add, only you interrupted, that that was a very good decision of yours not to find out these secrets. Leave it to time.

Starting point is 17:39:49 Don't worry about it. You'll know it all in time when it must be. Yesterday a man said to me that what a man needs is fresh air, fresh air, fresh air. I mean to go to him directly to find out what he met by that. Resumian stood lost in thought and excitement, making a silent conclusion. He's a political conspirator. He must be. And he's on the eve of some desperate step that's certain.

Starting point is 17:40:17 It can only be that. And Andonia knows, he thought suddenly. So Avdotya Romanovna comes to see you, he said, weighing each syllable. And you're going to see a man who says we need more air, and so, of course, that letter. That too must have something to do with it, he concluded to himself. What letter? She got a letter today. It upset her very much.

Starting point is 17:40:47 Very much indeed. Too much so. I began speaking of you. She begged me not to. Then— Then she said that, perhaps we should very soon have to part. Then she began warmly thanking me for something. Then she went to her room and locked herself in. She got a letter? Ruskhalnikov asked thoughtfully. Yes, and you didn't know? Hmm. They were both silent. "'Good-bye, Rodion. There was a time, brother, when I—' Never mind. Goodbye. You see, there was a time—' Well, goodbye. I must be off, too. I am not going to drink. There's no need now. That's

Starting point is 17:41:33 all stuff.' He hurried out, but when he had almost closed the door behind him, he suddenly opened it again and said, looking away, Oh, by the way, do you remember that murder, you know, Porfiris, that old woman? Do you know the murderer has been found, he has confessed and given the proofs? It's one of those very workmen, the painter, holy fancy. Do you remember I defended them here? Would you believe it? All that scene of fighting and laughing with his companions on the stairs,

Starting point is 17:42:06 while the porter and the two witnesses were going up, He got up on purpose to disarm suspicion. The cunning, the presence of mind of the young dog. One can hardly credit it. But it's his own explanation. He has confessed at all. And what a fool I was about it. Well, he's simply a genius of hypocrisy and resourcefulness

Starting point is 17:42:28 in disarming the suspicions of the lawyers. So there's nothing much to wonder at, I suppose. Of course, people like that are always possible. and the fact that he couldn't keep up the character, but confessed, makes him easier to believe in. But what a fool I was. I was frantic on their side. Tell me, please, from whom did you hear that, and why does it interest you so? Ruskalnikov asked with unmistakable agitation.

Starting point is 17:42:58 What next? You asked me why it interests me? Well, I heard it from Porphyry, among others. It was from him I heard almost all about it. "'From Porphyry?' "'From Porphyry.' "'What—what did he say?' "'Ras Kolnikov asked in dismay. "'He gave me a capital explanation of it, "'psychologically, after his fashion.

Starting point is 17:43:22 "'He explained it, explained it himself? "'Yes, yes, good-bye. "'I'll tell you all about it another time, "'but now I'm busy.' "'There was a time when I fancied, But no matter, another time. What need is there for me to drink now? You have made me drunk without wine.

Starting point is 17:43:44 I am drunk, Rodya. Goodbye. I'm going. I'll come again very soon.' He went out. He's a political conspirator. There's not a doubt about it, Resumian decided, as he slowly descended the stairs. And he's drawn his sister in. That's quite, quite in keeping with Avdotya Romanovna's character. There are interviews between them. She hinted at it, too. So many of her words, and hints,

Starting point is 17:44:14 bear that meaning. And how else can all this tangle be explained? Hmm. And I was almost thinking—' "'Good heavens, what I thought. Yes, I took leave of my senses, and I wronged him. It was his doing, under the lamp in the corridor that day. Foo! What a crude, nasty, vile idea on my part! Nikolai is a brick for confessing, and how clear it all is now. His illness then, all his strange actions? Before this in the university, how morose he used to be, how gloomy! But what's the meaning now of that letter?

Starting point is 17:44:53 There's something in that, too, perhaps. Whom was it from? I suspect—no, I must find out. He thought of Donya, realizing all he had heard and his heart dropped and And he suddenly broke into a run. As soon as Razumian went out, Raskolnikov got up, turned to the window, walked into one corner and then into another, as though forgetting the smallness of his room, and sat down again on the sofa.

Starting point is 17:45:22 He felt, so to speak, renewed. Again, the struggle, so a means of escape had come. Yes, a means of escape had come. It had been too stifling, too cramping, the burden had been too agonizing. A lethargy had come upon him at times. From the moment of the scene with Nikolai at Porphyries, he had been suffocating, penned in without hope of escape. After Nikolai's confession, on that very day had come the scene with Sonia,

Starting point is 17:45:52 his behavior and his last words had been utterly unlike anything he could have imagined beforehand. He had grown feebler, instantly and fundamentally. And he had agreed at the time with Sonia, he had agreed in his heart he could not go on living alone with such a thing on his mind. And Svidrigailov was a riddle. He worried him, that was true, but somehow not on the same point. He might still have a struggle to come with Svidrigailov. Svidrigailov, too, might be a means of escape, but Porfiry was a different matter. And so, Porfiry himself had explained it to resume in, had explained it psychologically. He had

Starting point is 17:46:34 begun bringing in his damn psychology again. Porfiry? But to think that Porphyry should for one moment believe that Nikolai was guilty, after what had passed between them before Nikolai's appearance, after that Teta-Ted interview, which could only have one explanation? During those days, Ruskalnikov had often recalled passages in that scene with Porphyry. He could not bear to let his mind rest on it. Such words, such gestures had passed between them. They had exchanged. changed such glances, things had been said in such a tone and had reached such a pass, that Nikolai, whom Porfiry had seen through at the first word, at the first gesture, could not have shaken his conviction. And to think that even Razumian had begun to suspect.

Starting point is 17:47:22 The scene in the corridor under the lamp had produced its effect then. He had rushed to Porfiry. But what had induced the latter to receive him like that? What had been his object in putting Resumian off with Nikolai. He must have some plan. There was some design. But what was it? It was true that a long time had passed since that morning. Too long a time. And no sight nor sound of Porfiry. Well, that was a bad sign. Roskalnikov took his cap and went out of the room, still pondering. It was the first time for a long while that he had felt clear in his mind at least. I must settle Svidrigailov, he thought, and as soon as possible.

Starting point is 17:48:08 He, too, seems to be waiting for me to come to him of my own accord. And at that moment there was such a rush of hate in his weary heart that he might have killed either of those two, Porfiry or Svidrigailov. At least he felt that he would be capable of doing it later, if not now. We shall see, we shall see, he repeated to himself. But no sooner had he opened the door than he stumbled upon Porfiry himself in the passage. He was coming in to see him. Roskalnikov was dumbfounded for a minute, but only for one minute.

Starting point is 17:48:45 Strange to say, he was not very much astonished at seeing Porfiry and scarcely afraid of him. He was simply startled, but was quickly, instantly on his guard. Perhaps this will mean the end. But how could Porfiry have approached so quietly like a careful. cat, so that he had heard nothing. Could he have been listening at the door?" "'You didn't expect a visitor, Rodion Romanovitch,' Porfiry explained, laughing. "'I've been meaning to look in a long time. I was passing by and thought, why not go in for five minutes? Are you going out? I won't keep you long. Just let me have

Starting point is 17:49:23 one cigarette.' "'Sit down, Porfiry Petrovich. Sit down.' Rus Kalikov gave his visitor a seat with so pleased and friends. friendly an expression that he would have marveled at himself if he could have seen it. The last moment had come. The last drops had to be drained. So a man will sometimes go through half an hour of mortal terror with a brigand, yet when the knife is at his throat at last, he feels no fear. Raskolnikov seated himself directly facing Porphyry, and looked at him without flinching. Porfiry screwed up his eyes and began lighting a cigarette. "'Speak! Speak!' seemed as though it would burst from Ruskalnikov's heart.

Starting point is 17:50:08 "'Come, why don't you speak?' "'End of Part 6, Chapter 1. Part 6, Chapter 2 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 2 "'Ah, these cigarettes!' "'Poor Ferry Petrovich ejaculated at last, having lighted one. "'They are pernicious, positively pernicious, and yet I can't give them up. "'I cough. I begin to have tickling in my throat and a difficulty in breathing.

Starting point is 17:50:55 "'You know I am a coward. I went lately to Dr. B. "'He always gives at least half an hour to each patient. "'He positively laughed looking at me. He sounded me. "'Tobacco's bad for you,' he said. "'Your lungs are affected.' "'But how am I to give it up? What is there to take its place? "'I don't drink. That's the mischief.

Starting point is 17:51:16 "'That I don't. "'Everything is relative, Rodion Romanovitch. "'Everything is relative.' "'Why, he's playing his professional tricks again,' "'Ras Kolnikov thought with disgust. "'All the circumstances of their last interview "'s suddenly came back to him, and he felt a rush of feeling that had come upon him then.

Starting point is 17:51:38 "'I came to see you the day before yesterday, in the evening. You didn't know?' Porfiry Petrovich went on, looking around the room. "'I came into this very room. I was passing by, just as I did today, and I thought I'd return your call. I walked in as your door was wide open. I looked round, waited, and went out without leaving my name with your servant. Don't you lock your door?' Raskolnikov's face grew more and more gloomy. Poor fairy seemed to guess his state of mind. "'I've come to have it out with you, Rodeon Romanovitch, my dear fellow.

Starting point is 17:52:15 I owe you an explanation and must give it to you.' He continued with a slight smile, just patting Raskolnikov's knee. But almost at the same instant, a serious and careworn look came into his face. To his surprise, Raskolnikov saw a touch of sadness in it. He had never seen and never suspected such an expression in his face. A strange scene passed between us last time we met, Rodion Romanovitch. Our first interview, too, was a strange one. But then, and one thing after another.

Starting point is 17:52:50 This is the point. I have perhaps acted unfairly to you. I feel it. Do you remember how we parted? Your nerves were unhinged, and your knees were shaking, and so were mine. And, you know, our behavior was unseemly, even ungentlemanly. And yet we are gentlemen, above all in any case, gentlemen. That must be understood.

Starting point is 17:53:15 Do you remember what we came to? And it was quite indecorous. What is he up to? What does he take me for? Ruskonikov asked himself in amazement, raising his head and looking with open eyes on Porphyry. I've decided openness is better between us. us." Porfiry Petrovitch went on, turning his head away and dropping his eyes, as though unwilling to disconcert his former victim, and as though disdaining his former wiles.

Starting point is 17:53:44 Yes, such suspicions and such scenes cannot continue for long. Nikolai put a stop to it, or I don't know what we might not have come to. That damned workman was sitting at the time in the next room. Can you realize that? You know that, of course. And I am aware that he can't. came to you afterwards. But what you supposed then was not true. I had not sent for anyone. I had made no kind of arrangements. You asked why I hadn't? What shall I say to you? It had all come upon me so suddenly. I had scarcely sent for the porters, you noticed them as you went out, I dare say. An idea flashed upon me. I was firmly convinced at the time, you see, Rodian Romanovitch.

Starting point is 17:54:30 Come, I thought, even if I let one thing slip for a time, I shall get hold of something else. I shan't lose what I want, anyway. You are nervously irritable, Rodian Romanovitch, by temperament. It's out of proportion with other qualities of your heart and character, which, I flatter myself I have to some extent divined. Of course, I did reflect even then that it does not always happen that a man gets up and blurts out his whole story. It does happen sometimes, if you make a man lose all patience, though even then it's rare.

Starting point is 17:55:04 I was capable of realizing that. If only I had a fact, I thought, the least little fact to go upon, something I could lay hold of, something tangible, not merely psychological. For if a man is guilty, you must be able to get something substantial out of him. One may reckon upon most surprising results indeed. I was reckoning upon your temperament, Rodion Romanovitch, on your temperament above all things. I had great hopes of you at that time. But what are you driving at now?

Starting point is 17:55:39 Ruskalnikov muttered at last, asking the question without thinking. What is he talking about? He wondered distractedly. Does he really take me to be innocent? What am I driving at? I've come to explain myself. I consider it my duty so to be. speak. I want to make clear to you how the whole business, the whole misunderstanding arose.

Starting point is 17:56:03 I've caused you a great deal of suffering, Rodion Romanovitch. I am not a monster. I understand what it must mean for a man who has been unfortunate, but who is proud, imperious, and above all impatient, to have to bear such treatment. I regard you in any case as a man of noble character, and not without elements of magnanimity, though I don't agree with all your convictions. I wanted to tell you this first, frankly, and quite sincerely, for above all, I don't want to deceive you. When I made your acquaintance, I felt attracted by you. Perhaps you will laugh at my saying so. You have a right to. I know you dislike me from the first, and indeed you've no reason to like me. You may think what you like, but I desire now to do all I'm.

Starting point is 17:56:52 can to efface that impression, and to show that I am a man of heart and conscience. I speak sincerely. Porfiry Petrovich made a dignified pause. Ruskhalnikov felt a rush of renewed alarm. The thought that Porfiry believed him to be innocent began to make him uneasy. It's scarcely necessary to go over everything in detail, Porfiry Petrovich went on. Indeed, I could scarcely attempt it. To begin with, there were rumors. through whom, how and when those rumors came to me, and how they affected you, I need not go

Starting point is 17:57:30 into. My suspicions were aroused by a complete accident, which might just as easily not have happened. What was it? Hmm. I believe there is no need to go into that either. Those rumors and that accident led to one idea in my mind. I admit it openly, for one may as well make a clean breast of it. I was the first to pitch on you. knew. The old woman's notes on the pledges and the rest of it, that all came to nothing. Yours was one of a hundred. I happened, too, to hear of the scene at the office, from a man who described it capitally, unconsciously reproducing the scene with great vividness. It was just one thing after another, Rodion Romanovitch, my dear fellow. How could I avoid

Starting point is 17:58:16 being brought to certain ideas? From a hundred rabbits you can't make a horse. A hundred suspicions don't make a proof, as the English proverb says, but that's only from the rational point of view. You can't help being partial, for after all, a lawyer is only human. I thought too of your article in that journal. Do you remember, on your first visit we talked of it? I jeered at you at the time, but that was only to lead you on. I repeat, Rodion Romanovitch, you are ill and impatient. that you were bold, headstrong, in earnest, and had felt a great deal I recognized long before. I too have felt the same, so that your article seemed familiar to me.

Starting point is 17:59:02 It was conceived on sleepless nights with a throbbing heart, in ecstasy and suppressed enthusiasm. And that proud suppressed enthusiasm in young people is dangerous. I jeered at you then, but let me tell you that, as a little bit of a little bit of literary amateur, I am awfully fond of such first essays, full of the heat of youth. There is a mistiness and a cord vibrating in the mist. Your article is absurd and fantastic, but there's a transparent sincerity, a youthful, incorruptible pride, and the daring of despair in it. It's a gloomy article, but that's what's fine in it. I read your article and put

Starting point is 17:59:43 it aside, thinking as I did so, that man won't go the common way. Well, I ask you, after that as a preliminary, how could I help being carried away by what followed? Oh, dear, I am not saying anything. I am not making any statement now. I simply noted it at the time. What is there in it, I reflected. There's nothing in it. That is really nothing, and perhaps absolutely nothing. And it's not at all the thing for the prosecutor to let himself be carried away by notions. Here I have Nikolai on my hands with actual evidence against him. You may think what you like of it, but it's evidence.

Starting point is 18:00:25 He brings in his psychology, too. One has to consider him, too, for it's a matter of life and death. Why am I explaining this to you? That you may understand, and not blame my malicious behavior on that occasion. It was not malicious, I assure you. Do you suppose I didn't come to search a room at the time? I did. I did.

Starting point is 18:00:48 I was here when you were lying ill in bed, not officially, not in my own person, but I was here. Your room was searched to the last thread at the first suspicion. But, omzance, I thought to myself, now that man will come, will come of himself and quickly too. If he's guilty, he's sure to come. Another man wouldn't, but he will. And you remember how Mr. Rezumian began discussing the subject with you. you. We arranged that to excite you, so we purposely spread rumors that he might discuss the

Starting point is 18:01:23 case with you, and Resumian is not a man to restrain his indignation. Mr. Zamatov was tremendously struck by your anger and your open daring. Think of blurting out in a restaurant, I killed her. It was too daring, too reckless. I thought so myself. If he is guilty, he will be a formidable opponent. That was what I thought at the time. I was expecting. you, but you simply bold Zamatov over, and—well, you see, it all lies in this, that this damnable psychology can be taken two ways. Well, I kept expecting you, and so it was. You came. My heart was fairly throbbing. Ah! Now, why need you have come? Your laughter, too, as you came in. Do you remember? I saw it all plain as daylight, but if I hadn't expected you so specially,

Starting point is 18:02:17 I should not have noticed anything in your laughter. You see what influence a mood has. Mr. Razumian, then. Ah, that stone. That stone under which the things were hidden. I seemed to see it somewhere in a kitchen garden. It was in a kitchen garden. You told Zammatov, and afterwards you repeated that in my office.

Starting point is 18:02:40 And when we began picking your article to pieces, how you explained it. One could take every word of yours in two senses, as though there were another meaning hidden. So in this way, Rodian Romanovitch, I reached the furthest limit, and knocking my head against a post, I pulled myself up, asking myself what I was about. After all, I said, you can take it all in another sense, if you like, and it's more natural so indeed. I couldn't help admitting it was more than natural. I was bothered. No, I'd better get hold of some little fact, I said. So when I heard of the bell ringing, I held my breath and was all in a tremor.

Starting point is 18:03:24 Here is my little fact, thought I, and I didn't think it over. I simply wouldn't. I would have given a thousand roubles at that minute to have seen you with my own eyes when you walked a hundred paces beside that workman, after he had called you a murderer to your face, and you did not dare to ask him a question all the way. And then what about your trembling? What about your bell-winging in your illness, in semi-delirium?

Starting point is 18:03:50 And so, Rodion Romanovitch, can you wonder that I played such pranks on you? And what made you come at that very minute? Someone seemed to have sent you by Jove. And if Nikolai had not parted us? And do you remember Nikolai at the time? Do you remember him clearly? It was a thunderbolt, a regular thunderbolt. and how I met him.

Starting point is 18:04:14 I didn't believe in the Thunderbolt, not for a minute. You could see it for yourself, and how could I? Even afterwards, when you had gone and he began making very, very plausible answers on certain points, so that I was surprised at him myself. Even then I didn't believe his story. You see what it is to be as firm as a rock? No, thought I, Morgan Fru. What has Nicolai got to do with it?

Starting point is 18:04:41 Resumian told me just now that you think Nikolai guilty and had yourself assured him of it. His voice failed him and he broke off. He had been listening in indescribable agitation, as this man who had seen through and through him went back upon himself. He was afraid of believing it and did not believe it. In those still ambiguous words he kept eagerly looking for something more definite and conclusive. Mr. Razumian, cried Porfiry Petrovich, seeming glad of a question for Ruskalnikov, who had till then been silent. He, ha, ha, but I had to put Mr. Rezumian off.

Starting point is 18:05:24 Two is company, three is none. Mr. Rezumian is not the right man. Besides, he is an outsider. He came running to me with a pale face. But never mind him. Why bring him in? To return to Nikolai, would you like to know what sort of a type he is, how I understand him that is? To begin with, he is still a child and not exactly a coward, but something by way of an artist.

Starting point is 18:05:52 Really, don't laugh at my describing him so. He is innocent and responsive to influence. He has a heart and is a fantastic fellow. He sings and dances. He tells stories, they say, so that people come from other villages to hear him. He attends school, too, and laughs till he cries if you hold up a finger to him. He will drink himself senseless, not as a regular vice, but at times, when people treat him like a child.

Starting point is 18:06:21 And he stole, too, then, without knowing it himself, for how can it be stealing if one picks it up? And do you know he is an old believer, or rather a dissenter? There have been wanderers, a religious sect, in his family, and he was for two years. years in his village under the spiritual guidance of a certain elder. I learned all this from Nikolai and from his fellow villagers. And what's more, he wanted to run into the wilderness. He was full of fervor, prayed at night, read the old books, the true ones, and read himself crazy. Petersburg had a great effect upon him, especially the women and the wine. He responds

Starting point is 18:07:02 to everything, and he forgot the elder and all that. I learnt then an artist here took a fancy to him and used to go and see him. And now this business came upon him. Well, he was frightened. He tried to hang himself. He ran away. How can one get over the idea the people have of Russian legal proceedings? The very word trial frightened some of them. Whose fault is it? We shall see what the new juries will do. God grant they do good. Well, in prison, it seems, he remembered the venerable elder. The Bible, too, made its appearance again. Do you know, Rodion Romanovitch, the force of the word suffering among some of these people? It's not a question of suffering for someone's benefit, but simply one must suffer.

Starting point is 18:07:50 If they suffer at the hands of the authorities, so much the better. In my time, there was a very meek and mild prisoner, who spent a whole year in prison, always reading his Bible on the stove at night, and he read himself crazy. And so crazy, do you know, that one day, apropro of nothing, he seized a brick and flung it at the governor, though he had done him no harm. And the way he threw it too, aimed it a yard on one side on purpose, for fear of hurting him. Well, we know what happens to a prisoner who assaults an officer with a weapon. So he took his suffering. So I suspect now that Nikolai wants to take his suffering or something of the sort.

Starting point is 18:08:34 I know it for certain from facts, indeed. Only he doesn't know that I know. What, you don't admit that there are such fantastic people among the peasants? Lots of them. The elder now has begun influencing him, especially since he tried to hang himself. But he'll come and tell me all himself. You think he'll hold out? Wait a bit.

Starting point is 18:08:57 He'll take his words back. I am waiting from hour to hour for him to come and abjure his evidence. I have come to like that, Nikolai, and I'm studying him in detail. And what do you think? He answered me very plausibly on some points. He obviously had collected some evidence and prepared himself cleverly. But on other points, he is simply at sea, knows nothing, and doesn't even suspect that he doesn't know. No, Rodion Romanovitch, Nikolai doesn't come in.

Starting point is 18:09:29 This is a fantastic, gloomy business, a modern case. An incident of today when the heart of man is troubled, when the phrase is quoted that blood renews, when comfort is preached as the aim of life. Here we have bookish dreams, a heart unhinged by theories. Here we see resolution in the first stage, but resolution of a special kind. He resolved to do it like jumping over a precipice or from a bell tower, and his legs shook as he went to the crime. He forgot to shut the door after him,

Starting point is 18:10:07 and murdered two people for a theory. He committed the murder and couldn't take the money, and what he did manage to snatch up, he hid under a stone. It wasn't enough for him to suffer agony behind the door while they battered at the door and rung the bell. No, he had to go to the empty lodging, half delirious, to recall the bell ringing. he wanted to feel the cold shiver over again. Well, that we grant was through illness. But consider

Starting point is 18:10:37 this. He is a murderer, but looks upon himself as an honest man, despises others, poses as injured innocence. No, that's not the work of a Nikolai, my dear Rodion Romanovitch. All that had been said before had sounded so like a recantation that these words were too great a shock. Roskalnikov's shuddered as though he had been stabbed. "'Then, who then? Is the murderer?' he asked in a breathless voice, unable to restrain himself. Porfiry Petrovich sank back in his chair, as though he were amazed at the question. "'Who is the murderer?' he repeated, as though unable to believe his ears. "'Why, you, Rodion Romanovitch. You are the murderer.'

Starting point is 18:11:30 He added, almost in a whisper, in a voice of genuine conviction. Ruskalnikov leapt from the sofa, stood up for a few seconds and sat down again without uttering a word. His face twitched convulsively. Your lip is twitching just as it did before, Porfiry Petrovich observed almost sympathetically. You've been misunderstanding me, I think, Rodion Romanovitch. He added after a brief pause. That's why you're so surprised. I came on purpose to tell you everything and deal openly with you. It was not I murdered her,

Starting point is 18:12:10 Ruskalnikov whispered like a frightened child caught in the act. No, it was you. You, Rodion Romanovitch, and no one else. Porfiry whispered sternly, with conviction. They were both silent, and the silence lasted strangely long, about ten minutes. Ruskalnikov put his elbow on the table and passed his fingers through his hair. Porfiry Petrovich sat quietly waiting. Suddenly, Ruskalnikov looked scornfully at Porfiry.

Starting point is 18:12:43 "'You are at your old tricks again, Porfiry Petrovich. Your old method again! I wonder you don't get sick of it!' Oh, stop that. What does that matter now? It would be a different matter if there were witnesses present, but we are whispering alone. You see yourself that I have not come to chase and capture you like a hair.

Starting point is 18:13:05 Whether you confess it or not is nothing to me now. For myself, I am convinced without it. If so, what did you come for? Ruskalnikov asked irritably. I ask you the same question again. If you consider me guilty, why don't you take me to prison? Oh, that's your question. I will answer you point for point.

Starting point is 18:13:27 in the first place, to arrest you so directly is not to my interest. How so? If you are convinced, you ought. Ah, what if I am convinced? That's only my dream for the time. Why should I put you in safety? You know that's it, since you ask me to do it. If I confront you with that workman, for instance, and you say to him, were you drunk or not, who saw me with you? I simply took you to be drunk, and you were drunk too. Well, what could I answer? Especially, as your story is a more likely one than his, for there's nothing but psychology to support his evidence. That's almost unseemly with his ugly mug, while you hit the mark exactly, for the rascal is an inveterate drunkard and notoriously

Starting point is 18:14:15 so. And I have myself admitted candidly several times already that that psychology can be taken in two ways, and that the second way is stronger and looks far more problem. and that apart from that I have as yet nothing against you. And though I shall put you in prison, and indeed have come, quite contrary to etiquette, to inform you of it beforehand, yet I tell you frankly, also contrary to etiquette, that it won't be to my advantage. Well, secondly, I've come to you because—' Yes, yes, secondly—' Ruskalnikov was listening breathless.

Starting point is 18:14:54 "'Because, as I told you just now, I consider I owe you an explanation. "'I don't want you to look upon me as a monster, as I have a genuine liking for you. "'You may believe me or not. "'And in the third place I've come to you with a direct and open proposition, "'that you should surrender and confess. "'It will be infinitely more to your advantage, and to my advantage too, "'for my task will be done. "'Well, is this open on my part or not?'

Starting point is 18:15:24 Raskolnikov thought a minute. "'Listen, Porfiry Petrovich, "'you said just now you have nothing but psychology to go on, yet now you've gone on mathematics. Well, what if you are mistaken yourself now?' "'No, Rodion Romanovitch, I am not mistaken. I have a little fact even then. Providence sent at me.' "'What little fact?'

Starting point is 18:15:49 "'I won't tell you what, Rodion Romanovitch. and in any case I haven't the right to put it off any longer. I must arrest you. So think it over. It makes no difference to me now, and so I speak only for your sake. Believe me, it will be better, Rodion Romanovich. Ruskonikov smiled malignantly. That's not simply ridiculous.

Starting point is 18:16:14 It's positively shameless. Why, even if I were guilty, which I don't admit, what reason should I have to confess when you tell me me yourself that I shall be in greater safety in prison." Ah, Rody and Romanovitch, don't put too much faith in words. Perhaps prison will not be altogether a restful place. That's only theory, and my theory. And what authority am I for you? Perhaps, too, even now I am hiding something from you. I can't lay bare everything, he-ha. And how can you ask what advantage? Don't you know how it would lessen your sentence?

Starting point is 18:16:52 You would be confessing at a moment when another man has taken the crime on himself, and so has muddled the whole case. Consider that. I swear before God that I will so arrange that your confession shall come as a complete surprise. We will make a clean sweep of all the psychological points, of a suspicion against you, so that your crime will appear to have been something like an aberration, for in truth it was an aberration. I am an honest man, Rodian Romanovitch, and will keep my word." Vos Kalnikov maintained a mournful silence and let his head sink dejectedly. He pondered a long while, and at last smiled again, but his smile was sad and gentle.

Starting point is 18:17:36 "'No,' he said, apparently abandoning all attempt to keep up appearances with Porphyry. It's not worth it. I don't care about lessening the sentence. "'That's just what I was afraid of,' Porphyry cried warmly, and as it seemed involuntarily. That's just what I feared, that you wouldn't care about the mitigation of sentence." Ruskalnikov looked sadly and expressively at him. "'Ah, don't disdain life,' Porphyry went on. "'You have a great deal of it still before you. How can you say you don't want a mitigation of sentence?

Starting point is 18:18:12 You are an impatient fellow.' "'A great deal of what lies before me?' "'Of life. What sort of profit are you? Do you know much about it? Seek and ye shall find. This may be God's means for bringing you to him. And it's not forever, the bondage. The time will be shortened, laughed Roskolnikov. Why, is it the bourgeois disgrace you are afraid of? It may be that you are afraid of it without knowing it, because you are young. But anyway, you shouldn't be afraid of giving yourself up

Starting point is 18:18:47 and confessing. Ah, hang it! Russ Kornikov whispered with loathing and contempt as though he did not want to speak aloud. He got up again as though he meant to go away, but sat down again in evident despair. Hang it if you like. You've lost faith, and you think that I am grossly flattering you. But how long has your life been? How much do you understand? You made up a theory, and then were ashamed that it broke down and turned out to be not at all original. It turned out something base that's true, but you are not hopelessly base. By no means base. At least you didn't deceive yourself for long. You went straight to the furthest point at one bound. How do I regard you? I regard you as one of

Starting point is 18:19:35 those men who would stand and smile at their torturer while he cuts their entrails out, if only they have found faith or God. Find it and you will live. You have long needed a change of air. Suffering too is a good thing. Suffer! Maybe Nikolai is right in wanting to suffer. I know you don't believe in it, but don't be overwise. Flean yourself straight into life, without deliberation. Don't be afraid. The flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again. What bank? How can I tell? I only believe that you have long life before you.

Starting point is 18:20:15 I know that you take all my words now for a set speech prepared beforehand, but maybe you will remember them after. They may be of you sometime. That's why I speak. It's as well that you only kill the old woman. If you'd invented another theory, you might perhaps have done something a thousand times more hideous. You ought to thank God, perhaps. How do you know? Perhaps God is saving you for something. But keep a good heart and have less fear. Are you afraid of the great expiation before you? No. It would be shameful to be afraid. of it. Since you have taken such a step, you must harden your heart. There is justice in it. You must fulfill the demands of justice. I know that you don't believe it, but indeed,

Starting point is 18:21:03 life will bring you through. You will live it down in time. What you need now is fresh air, fresh air, fresh air. Ross Kolnikov positively started. But who are you? What profit are you? From a the height of what majestic calm do you proclaim these words of wisdom? Who am I? I am a man with nothing to hope for, that's all. A man perhaps of feeling and sympathy, maybe of some knowledge too, but my day is over. But you are a different matter.

Starting point is 18:21:39 There is life waiting for you. Though, who knows, maybe your life too will pass off in smoke and come to nothing. Come, what does it matter, that you will pass into a little? another class of men? It's not comfort you regret, with your heart. What of it that perhaps no one will see you for so long? It's not time, but yourself that will decide that. Be the sun, and all will see you. The sun has before all to be the sun. Why are you smiling again? At my being such a shiller? I bet you're imagining that I'm trying to get round you by flattery. Well, perhaps I am. Perhaps you'd better not believe my word. Perhaps you'd better

Starting point is 18:22:24 never believe it altogether. I'm made that way. I confess it. But let me add, you can judge for yourself, I think, how far I am a base sort of man, and how far I am honest. When do you mean to arrest me? Well, I can let you walk about another day or two. Think it over, my dear fellow, and pray to God. it's more in your interest, believe me. And what if I run away? asked Raskolnikov with a strange smile. No, you won't run away. A peasant would run away.

Starting point is 18:22:59 A fashionable dissenter would run away. The flunky of another man's thought. For you've only to show him the end of your little finger and he'll be ready to believe in anything for the rest of his life. But you've ceased to believe in your theory already. What will you run away with? and what would you do in hiding? It would be hateful and difficult for you,

Starting point is 18:23:20 and what you need more than anything in life is a definite position, an atmosphere to suit you. And what sort of atmosphere would you have? If you ran away, you'd come back yourself. You can't get on without us. And if I put you in prison, say you've been there a month or two or three, remember my word, you'll confess of yourself, and perhaps to your own surprise.

Starting point is 18:23:45 You won't know an hour beforehand that you are coming with a confession. I am convinced that you will decide to take your suffering. You don't believe my words now, but you'll come to it of yourself. For suffering, Rodion Romanovitch is a great thing. Never mind my having grown fat. I know all the same. Don't laugh at it. There's an idea in suffering. Nikolai is right. No, you won't run away, Rodion Romanovich. Raskolnikov got up and took his cap.

Starting point is 18:24:18 Porfiry Petrovich also rose. Are you going for a walk? The evening will be fine. If only we don't have a storm. Though it would be a good thing to freshen the air. He too took his cap. Porfiry Petrovich, please don't take up the notion that I have confessed to you today, Roskolnikov pronounced with sullen insistence. You're a strange man, and I have listened to you from simple. curiosity. But I have admitted nothing. Remember that. Oh, I know that. I'll remember. Look at him. He's trembling. Don't be uneasy, my dear fellow. Have it your own way. Walk about a bit. You won't be able to

Starting point is 18:25:01 walk too far. If anything happens, I'll have one request to make of you,' he added, dropping his voice. "'It's an awkward one, but important. If anything were to happen, though indeed I don't believe in it, and think you quite incapable of it. Yet, in case you were taken during these 40 or 50 hours with the notion of putting an end to the business in some other way, in some fantastic fashion, laying hands on yourself, it's an absurd proposition, but you must forgive me for it. Do leave a brief but precise note, only two lines, and mention the stone.

Starting point is 18:25:37 It will be more generous. Come, till we meet. Good thoughts and sound decisions to you. Perfiry went out, stooping and avoiding looking at Raskolnikov. The latter went to the window and waited with irritable impatience till he calculated that Porfiry had reached the street and moved away. Then he too went hurriedly out of the room. End of Part 6, Chapter 2. Part 6 Chapter 3 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946.

Starting point is 18:26:21 This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 3 He hurried to Svidrigailov's. What he had to hope from that man he did not know, but that man had some hidden power over him. Having once recognized this, he could not rest, and now the time had come. On the way, one question particularly worried him.

Starting point is 18:26:47 Had Svidra Gailov been to Porphyrys? As far as he could judge, he would swear to it that he had not. He pondered again and again, went over Porfiri's visit. No, he hadn't been. Of course he hadn't. But if he had not been yet, would he go? Meanwhile, for the present, he fancied he couldn't. Why? He could not have explained. But if he could, he would not have wasted much thought over it at the moment.

Starting point is 18:27:17 It all worried him, and at the same time, he could not attend to it. Strange to say, none would have believed it, perhaps, but he only felt a faint, vague anxiety about his immediate future. Another much more important anxiety tormented him. It concerned himself, but in a different, more vital way. Moreover, he was conscious of immense moral fatigue, though his mind was working better that morning than it had done of late. And was it worthwhile, after all that had happened, to contend with these new, trivial difficulties? Was it worthwhile, for instance, to maneuver that Svidrigailov should not go to Porphyrys? Was it worthwhile to investigate, to ascertain the facts, to waste time over anyone like Svidra

Starting point is 18:28:02 Gylov? Oh, how sick he was of it all! And yet he was hastening to Svidra Gylov. Could he be expecting something new from him, information or means of escape? Men will catch at straws. Was it destiny or some instinct bringing them together? Perhaps it was only fatigue, despair. Perhaps it was not Svidrigailov, but some other whom he needed, and Svidrigailov had simply presented himself by chance. Sonia? But what should he go to Sonia for now?

Starting point is 18:28:36 To beg her tears again? He was afraid of Sonia, too. Sonia stood before him as an irrevocable sentence. He must go his own way. or hers. At that moment especially, he did not feel equal to seeing her. No, would it not be better to try Svidrigailov? And he could not help inwardly owning that he had long felt that he must see him for some reason. But what could they have in common? Their very evil-doing could not be of the same kind. The man, moreover, was very unpleasant, evidently depraved, undoubtedly cunning and

Starting point is 18:29:12 deceitful, possibly malignant. Such stories were told. about him. It is true he was befriending Katerina Ivanovna's children, but who could tell with what motive and what it meant? The man always had some design, some project. There was another thought which had been continually hovering of late about Ruskalnikov's mind, and causing him great uneasiness. It was so painful that he made distinct efforts to get rid of it. He sometimes thought that Svidrigailov was dogging his footsteps. Savidrigailov had found out his secret and had had designs on Donya. What if he had them still?

Starting point is 18:29:53 Wasn't it practically certain that he had? And what if, having learnt his secret and so having gained power over him, he were to use it as a weapon against Donya? This idea sometimes even tormented his dreams, but it had never presented itself so vividly to him as on his way to Savidragailov. The very thought moved him to gloomy rage. To begin with, this would transform everything, even his own position. He would half at once to confess his secret to Donya.

Starting point is 18:30:25 Would he have to give himself up, perhaps, to prevent Donya from taking some rash step? The letter? This morning Donya had received a letter. From whom could she get letters in Petersburg? Lusion, perhaps? It's true, Razumian was there to protect her, but Resumian knew nothing of the position. Perhaps it was his duty to tell Resumian. He thought of it with repugnance. In any case, he must see Svidrigailov as soon as possible, he decided finally.

Starting point is 18:30:56 Thank God the details of the interview were of little consequence, if only he could get at the root of the matter. But if Svidrigailov were capable, if he were intriguing against Donya, then... Ruskalnikov was so exhausted by what he had passed through that month that he could only decide such questions in one way. Then I shall kill him, he thought in cold despair. A sudden anguish oppressed his heart. He stood in the middle of the street and began looking about to see where he was

Starting point is 18:31:28 and which way he was going. He found himself an ex-prospect, thirty or forty paces from the haymarket, through which he had come. The whole second story of the house on the left was used as a tavern. All the windows were wide open. Judging from the figures moving at the windows, the rooms were full to overflowing. There were sounds of singing, of clarinet and violin, and the boom of a Turkish drum. He could hear women shrieking.

Starting point is 18:31:56 He was about to turn back, wondering why he had come to the ex-prospect, when suddenly, at one of the end windows, he saw Svidrigailov, sitting at a tea-table right in the open window with a pipe in his mouth. Ruskalnikov was dreadfully taken aback, almost terrified. Svidrigailov was silently watching and scrutinizing him, and what struck Raskolnikov at once seemed to be meaning to get up and slipped away unobserved. Raskolnikov at once pretended not to have seen him, but to be looking absent-mindedly away, while he watched him out of the corner of his eye. His heart was beating violently, yet it was evident that Svidrigailov did not want to be seen.

Starting point is 18:32:38 He took the pipe out of his mouth and was on the point of concealing himself, but as he got up and moved back his chair, he seemed to have become suddenly aware that Raskolnikov had seen him and was watching him. What had passed between them was much the same as what happened at their first meeting in Raskolnikov's room. A sly's smile came to Svidrigailov's face and grew broader and broader. Each knew that he was seen and watched by the other. At last, Svidrigailov broke into a loud laugh. Well, well, come in if you want me. I am here, he shouted from the window. Ruskalnikov went up into the tavern. He found Svidrigailov in a tiny back room, adjoining the saloon in which merchants, clerks, and numbers of people of all sorts,

Starting point is 18:33:26 were drinking tea at twenty little tables to the desperate bawling of a chorus of singers. The click of billiard balls could be heard in the distance. On the table before Svidrigailov stood an open bottle and a glass half full of champagne. In the room he found also a boy with a little hand organ, a healthy-looking red-cheeked girl of 18, wearing a tucked-up striped skirt and a tie-release hat with ribbons. In spite of the chorus in the other room, she was singing some servants' hall song in a rather husky contralto, to the accompaniment of the organ. "'Come, that's enough,' Svidrigailov stopped her at Raskolnikov's entrance. The girl at once broke off and stood waiting respectfully.

Starting point is 18:34:08 She had sung her guttural rhymes, too, with a serious and respectful expression in her face. "'Hey, Philippe, a glass!' shouted Svidrigailov. "'I won't drink anything,' said Raskolnikov. "'As you like, I didn't mean it for you. Drink, Katya. I don't want anything more today. You can go.' He poured her out a full glass and laid down a yellow note. Katya drank off her glass of wine, as women do, without putting it down.

Starting point is 18:34:38 in twenty gulps, took the note and kissed Svidrigailov's hand, which he allowed quite seriously. She went out of the room, and the boy trailed after her with the organ. Both had been brought in from the street. Svidrigailov had not been a week in Petersburg, but everything about him was already, so to speak, on a patriarchal footing. The waiter, Philippe, was by now an old friend and very obsequious. The door leading to the saloon had a lock on it. Svedrigailov was at home in this room, and perhaps spent whole days in it.

Starting point is 18:35:12 The tavern was dirty and wretched, not even second-rate. "'I was going to see you and looking for you,' Ruskalnikov began. But I don't know what made me turn from the haymarket into the ex-prospect just now. I never take this turning. I turn to the right from the haymarket. And this isn't the way to you. I simply turned and here you are. It is strange.

Starting point is 18:35:37 Why don't you say it once, it's a miracle? Because it may be only chance. Oh, that's the way with all you folk, laughed Svidrigailov. You won't admit it, even if you do inwardly believe it a miracle. Here you say that it may be only a chance. And what cowers they all are here, about having an opinion of their own you can't fancy Rodion Romanovitch? I don't mean you.

Starting point is 18:36:03 You have an opinion of your own and are not afraid to have it. That's how it was you attracted my curiosity." Nothing else? Well, that's enough, you know. Svidrigailov was obviously exhilarated, but only slightly so. He had not had more than a half-glass of wine. I fancy you came to see me before you knew that I was capable of having what you call an opinion of my own, observed Raskolnikov.

Starting point is 18:36:31 Oh, well, it was a different matter. Everyone has his own plans. And, apropos of the miracle, let me tell you that I think you have been asleep for the last two or three days. I told you of this tavern myself. There is no miracle in your coming straight here. I explained the way myself told you where it was, and the hours you could find me here. Do you remember?' "'I don't remember,' answered Raskolnikov with surprise. "'I believe you. I told you twice. The address has been stamped mechanically on your memory.'

Starting point is 18:37:05 You turned this way mechanically, and yet precisely according to the direction, though you were not aware of it. When I told you then, I hardly hoped you understood me. You give yourself away too much, Rodion Romanovitch. And another thing, I'm convinced there are lots of people in Petersburg who talk to themselves as they walk. This is a town of crazy people. If only we had scientific men, doctors, lawyers, and philosophers might make most valuable

Starting point is 18:37:34 investigations in Petersburg, each in his own line. There are few places where there are so many gloomy, strong, and queer influences on the soul of man, as in Petersburg. The mere influences of climate mean so much. And it's the administrative center of all Russia, and its character must be reflected on the whole country. But that's neither here nor there now. The point is that I have several times watched you. You walk out of your house, holding your head high, twenty paces from home, you let it sink, and fold your hands behind your back. You look and evidently see nothing before nor beside you. At last you begin moving your lips and talking to yourself, and

Starting point is 18:38:17 sometimes you wave one hand and declaim, and at last stand still in the middle of the road. That's not at all the thing. Someone may be watching you besides me, and it won't do you any good. It's nothing really to do with me, and I can't care you of it, but, of course, you understand me. Do you know that I am being followed? asked Raskolnikov, looking inquisitively at him. No, I know nothing about it, said Svidrigailov, seeming surprised. Well, then, let us leave me alone, Ruskolnikov muttered, frowning.

Starting point is 18:38:52 Very good, let us leave you alone. You had better tell me, if you come here to drink, and directed me twice to come here to you, Why did you hide, and tried to get away just now when I looked at the window from the street? I saw it. Ha, ha! And why wasn't you lay on your sofa with closed eyes and pretended to be asleep, though you were wide awake while I stood in your doorway? I saw it. I may have had reasons. You know that yourself. And I may have had my reasons, though you don't know them.

Starting point is 18:39:26 Raskolnikov dropped his right elbow on the table, leaned his chin in the fingers of his right hand, and stared intently at Svidrigailov. For a full minute he scrutinized his face, which had impressed him before. It was a strange face, like a mask, white and red, with bright red lips, with a flaxen beard and still thick flaxen hair. His eyes were somehow too blue, and their expression somehow too heavy and fixed. There was a flaxen beard. There was a flakson beard and still thick, was something awfully unpleasant in that handsome face, which looked so wonderfully young for his age. Svidrigalov was smartly dressed in light summer clothes and was particularly dainty in his linen. He wore a huge ring with a precious stone in it.

Starting point is 18:40:13 "'Have I got to bother myself about you too now?' said Ruskonikov suddenly, coming with nervous and patience straight to the point. "'Even though perhaps you are the most dangerous man if you care to injure me, I don't want to put myself out any more. I will show you at once that I don't prize myself as you probably think I do. I've come to tell you at once that if you keep to your former intentions with regard to my sister, and if you think to derive any benefit in that direction from what has been discovered of late, I will kill you before you get me locked up. You can reckon on my word. You know that I can keep it. And in the second place, if you want to tell me anything, for I keep fancying

Starting point is 18:40:53 all this time that you have something to tell me. Make haste and tell it, for time is precious, and very likely it will soon be too late. Why in such haste? asked Svidrigailov, looking at him curiously. Everyone has his plans, Ruskolnikov answered gloomily and impatiently. You urged me yourself to frankness just now, and at the first question you refused to answer, Savidroglyov observed with a smile. You keep fancying that I have aims of my own, and so you look at me with suspicion. Of course, it's perfectly natural in your position. But though I should like to be friends with you, I shan't trouble myself to convince you of the contrary. The game isn't worth the candle, and I wasn't

Starting point is 18:41:39 intending to talk to you about anything special. What do you want me for, then? It was you who came hanging about me. Why, simply as an interesting subject for observation? I'd like the fantastic nature of your position. That's what it was. Besides, you are the brother of a person who greatly interested me, and from that person I had in the past heard a very great deal about you, from which I gathered that you had a great influence over her. Isn't that enough? Ha, ha, ha. Still, I must admit that your question is rather complex, and is difficult for me to answer. "'Here you, for instance, have come to me not only for a definite object, but for the sake of hearing something new. "'Isn't that so? Isn't that so?' persisted Svidrigailov with a sly smile.

Starting point is 18:42:30 "'Well, can't you fancy then that I, too, on my way here in the train, was reckoning on you, on your telling me something new, and on my making some profit out of you? You see what rich men we are.' "'What profit could you make? How can I tell you?' How do I know? You see in what a tavern I spend all my time, and it's my enjoyment. That's to say, it's no great enjoyment, but one must sit somewhere. That poor Katya now, you saw her? If only I had been a glutton now, a club gourmand, but, you see, I can eat this.' He pointed to a little table in the corner where the remnants of a terrible-looking beefsteak and potatoes lay on a tin dish.

Starting point is 18:43:14 Have you dined, by the way? I've had something and want nothing more. I don't drink, for instance, at all. Except for champagne, I never touch anything, and not more than a glass of that all the evening, and even that is enough to make my headache. I ordered it just now to wind myself up, for I am just going off somewhere,

Starting point is 18:43:34 and you see me in a peculiar state of mind. That was why I hid myself just now like a schoolboy, for I was afraid you would hinder me. But I believe, he pulled out his watch, I can spend an hour with you. It's half past four now. If only I'd been something, a landowner, a father, a cavalry officer, a photographer, a journalist,

Starting point is 18:43:56 I am nothing, no specialty, and sometimes I am positively bored. I really thought you would tell me something new. But what are you, and why have you come here? What am I? You know, a gentleman. I served for two years in the cavalry. Then I knocked about here in Petersburg.

Starting point is 18:44:15 Then I married Marfa Petrovna and lived in the country. There, you have my biography. You are a gambler, I believe? No, a poor sort of gambler. A card-sharper, not a gambler. You have been a card-sharper then. Yes, I've been a card-sharper, too. Didn't you get thrash sometimes? It did happen. Why?

Starting point is 18:44:39 Why, you might have challenged them. Altogether, it must have been lively. I won't contradict you. And besides, I am no-handed philosophy. I confess that I hastened here for the sake of the women. As soon as you buried Marfa Petrovna? Quite so, Savitrogailov smiled with engaging candor. What of it?

Starting point is 18:45:02 You seem to find something wrong in my speaking like that about women. You ask whether I find anything wrong in vice? Vice—oh, that's what you were after. But I'll answer you in order. First, about women in general. You know I am fond of talking. Tell me, what should I restrain myself for? Why should I give up women, since I have a passion for them?

Starting point is 18:45:25 It's an occupation, anyway. So you hope for nothing here but vice? Oh, very well, for vice, then. You insist on it's being vice. But, anyway, I'd like a direct question. In this vice, at least, there is something permanent, founded indeed upon nature, and not depended on fantasy, something present in the blood like an ever-burning ember, forever setting one on fire, and maybe not to be quickly extinguished,

Starting point is 18:45:55 even with years. You'll agree it's an occupation of a sort. That's nothing to rejoice at. It's a disease and a dangerous one. Oh, that's what you think, is it? I agree that it is a disease like everything that exceeds moderation. And, of course, in this, one must exceed moderation. But in the first place, everybody does so in one way or another, and in the second place, of course, one ought to be moderate and prudent, however mean it may be. But what am I to do?

Starting point is 18:46:28 If I hadn't this, I might have to shoot myself. I am ready to admit that a decent man ought to put up with being bored, but yet... And could you shoot yourself? Oh, come! Svidrigailov parried with disgust. "'Please, don't speak of it!' He added hurriedly, and with none of the bragging tone he has shown in all the previous conversation.

Starting point is 18:46:50 His face quite changed. "'I admit it's an unpardonable weakness, but I can't help it. I am afraid of death, and I dislike it's being talked of. Do you know that I am to a certain extent a mystic?' "'Ah, the apparitions of Marfa Petrovna. Do they still go on visiting you?' Oh, don't talk of them. There have been no more in Petersburg, confound them.

Starting point is 18:47:15 He cried with an air of irritation. Let's rather talk of that. Though... Hmm. I have not much time and can't stay along with you. It's a pity. I should have found plenty to tell you. What's your engagement?

Starting point is 18:47:31 A woman? Yes, a woman. A casual incident. No, that's not what I want to talk of. And the hideousness, the filthy... of all your surroundings, doesn't that affect you? Have you lost the strength to stop yourself?" And do you pretend a strength, too? Ha, ha! You surprised me just now, Rodion Romanovitch, though I knew beforehand it would be so. You preached to me about vice and aesthetics.

Starting point is 18:47:58 You, a shiller, you, an idealist. Of course, that's all as it should be, and it would be surprising if it were not so. Yet it is strange in reality. Ah, what a pity I have no time, for you're a most interesting type. And, by the way, are you fond of Schiller? I am awfully fond of him. But what a braggard you are, Raskolnikov said with some disgust. Upon my word I am not, answered Svidrigailov laughing. However, I won't dispute it. Let me be a braggart.

Starting point is 18:48:33 Why not brag, if it hurts no one? I spent seven years in the country with Marfa Petrovna, So now when I come across an intelligent person like you, intelligent and highly interesting, I am simply glad to talk. And besides, I've drunk that half-glass of champagne and it's gone to my head a little. And besides, there's a certain fact that has wound me up tremendously. But about that I will keep quiet. Where are you off to? He asked in alarm. Raskolnikov had begun getting up. He felt oppressed and stifled, and as it were, ill at ease at having come here.

Starting point is 18:49:12 He felt convinced that Svedrigailov was the most worthless scoundrel on the face of the earth. "'Ah, sit down, stay a little,' Svidra Gailov begged. Let them bring you some tea anyway. Stay a little. I won't talk nonsense. About myself, I mean. I'll tell you something. If you like, I'll tell you how a woman tried to save me, as you would call it.

Starting point is 18:49:36 It will be an answer to your first question indeed. for the woman was your sister. May I tell you, it will help to spend the time. Tell me, but I trust that you, Oh, don't be uneasy. Besides, even in a worthless low fellow like me, Avadotya Romanovna can only excite the deepest respect. End of Part 6, Chapter 3.

Starting point is 18:50:08 Part 6, Chapter 4, of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 4 You know, perhaps, yes, I told you myself, began Svidrigailov, that I was in the debtor's prison here for an immense sum, and had not any expectation of being able to pay it.

Starting point is 18:50:40 There's no need to go into particulars how Marfa Petrovna bought me out. Do you know to what a point of insanity a woman can sometimes love? She was an honest woman, and very sensible, although completely uneducated. Would you believe that this honest and jealous woman, after many scenes of hysterics and reproaches, condescended to enter into a kind of contract with me which she kept throughout our married life? She was considerably older than I, and besides she always kept a clove or something in her mouth. There was so much swinishness in my soul, an honesty, too, of a sort, as to tell her straight

Starting point is 18:51:18 out that I couldn't be absolutely faithful to her. This confession drove her to frenzy, but yet she seems in a way to have liked my brutal frankness. She thought it showed I was unwilling to deceive her if I warned her like this beforehand, and for a jealous woman, you know, that's the first consideration. After many tears, an unwritten contract was drawn up between us. First, that I would never leave Marfa Petrovna and would always be her husband. Secondly, that I would never absent myself without her permission. Thirdly, that I would never set up a permanent mistress. Fourthly, in return for this, Marfa Petrovna gave me a free hand with the maidservants,

Starting point is 18:52:01 but only with her secret knowledge. Fifthly, God forbid my falling in love with a woman of our class. Sixthly, in case I, which God forbid, should be visited by a great serious passion, I was bound to reveal it to Marfa Petrovna. On this last score, however, Marfa Petrovna was fairly at ease. She was a sensible woman, and so she could not help looking upon me as a dissolute profligate, incapable of real love. But a sensible woman and a jealous woman are two very different things, and that's where

Starting point is 18:52:37 the trouble came in. But to judge some people impartially we must renounce certain preconceived opinions and our habitual attitude to the ordinary people about us. I have reason to have faith in your judgment rather than any one's. Perhaps you have already heard a great deal that was ridiculous and absurd about Marfa Petrovna. She certainly had some very ridiculous ways, but I tell you frankly that I feel really sorry for the innumerable woes of which I was the cause.

Starting point is 18:53:07 Well, and that's enough, I think, by way of a decorous or raison Funebra for the most tender wife of a most tender husband. When we quarreled, I usually held my tongue and did not irritate her, and that gentlemanly conduct rarely failed to attain its object. It influenced her, it pleased her indeed. These were times when she was positively proud of me. But your sister she couldn't put up with anyway. And however she came to risk taking her,

Starting point is 18:53:37 such a beautiful creature into her house as a governess. My explanation is that Marfa Petrovna was an ardent and impressionable woman, and simply fell in love herself, literally fell in love with your sister. Well, little wonder, look at Avdotya Romanovna. I saw the danger at the first glance, and what do you think? I resolved not to look at her even. But Avdotya Romanovna herself made the first step. Would you believe it? Would you believe it, too, that Marfa Petrovna was positively angry with me at first, for my persistent silence about your sister, for my careless reception of her continual adoring praises of Adotya Romanovna? I don't know what it was she wanted.

Starting point is 18:54:25 Well, of course, Marfa Petrovna told Avdotya Romanovna every detail about me. She had the unfortunate habit of telling literally everyone all our family secrets and continually complaining of me. How could she fail to confide in such a delightful new friend? I expect they talked of nothing else but me, and no doubt, Avdotya Romanovna heard all those dark, mysterious rumors that were current about me. I don't mind betting that you too have heard something of the sort already. I have.

Starting point is 18:54:57 I have. Luzon charged you with having caused the death of the death of you. of a child. Is that true?" "'Don't refer to those vulgar tales, I beg,' said Svedrigailov with disgust and annoyance. "'If you insist on wanting to know about all that idiocy, I will tell you one day. But now—' "'I was told, too, about some footman of yours in the country whom you treated badly.' "'I beg you to drop the subject,' Svidra Gailov interrupted again with obvious impatience. Was that the footman who came to you after death to fill your pipe?

Starting point is 18:55:32 You told me about it yourself. Raskolnikov felt more and more irritated. Svidrigailov looked at him intentively, and Raskolnikov fancied he caught a flash of spiteful mockery in that look. But Svidrigailov restrained himself and answered very civilly. Yes, it was. I see that you too are extremely interested, and shall feel it my duty to satisfy your curiosity at the first opportunity.

Starting point is 18:55:59 Upon my soul, I see that I really might pass for a romantic figure with some people. Judge how graceful I must be to Marfa Petrovna for having repeated to Avdotya Romanovna such mysterious and interesting gossip about me. I dare not guess what impression it made on her, but in any case it worked in my interests. With all Avdotya Romanovna's natural aversion and in spite of my invariably gloomeroly, loomy and repellent aspect. She did at least feel pity for me, pity for a lost soul. And if once a girl's heart is moved to pity, it's more generous than anything. She is bound to want to save him, to bring him to his senses, and lift him up and draw him to nobler aims, to restore him to

Starting point is 18:56:46 new life and usefulness. Well, we all know how far such dreams can go. I saw at once that the bird was flying into the cage of herself. And I, too, made ready. I think you are frowning, Rodian Romanovitch. There's no need. As you know, it all ended in smoke. Hang it all. What a lot I am drinking.

Starting point is 18:57:09 Do you know, I always, from the very beginning, regretted that it wasn't your sister's fate to be born in the second or third century A.D., as the daughter of a reigning prince, or some governor or pro-consul in Asia Minor. She would undoubtedly have been one of those who would endure martyrdom, and would have smiled when they branded her bosom with hot pincers, and she would have gone to it of herself, and in the fourth or fifth century she would have

Starting point is 18:57:36 walked away into the Egyptian desert, and would have stayed there thirty years living on roots and ecstasies and visions. She is simply thirsting to face some torture for someone, and if she can't get her torture, she'll throw herself out of a window. I've heard something of a Mr. Rezumian, he said to be a sensible fellow. His surname suggests it indeed. He's probably a divinity student. Well, he better look after your sister. I believe I understand her, and I am proud of it.

Starting point is 18:58:08 But at the beginning of an acquaintance, as you know, one is apt to be more heedless and stupid. One doesn't see clearly. Hang it all. Why is she so handsome? It's not my fault. In fact, it began on my side with the most irresistible physical desire. Avdotya Romanovna is awfully chaste, incredibly and phenomenally so.

Starting point is 18:58:32 Take note. I tell you this about your sister as a fact. She is almost morbidly chased, in spite of her broad intelligence, and it will stand in her way. There happened to be a girl in the house then, Parasha, a black-eyed wench whom I had never seen before. She had just come from another village. Very pretty, but incredibly stupid.

Starting point is 18:58:54 She burst into tears, wailed so that she could be heard all over the place and caused scandal. One day after dinner, Evdotya Romanovna followed me into an avenue in the garden, and with flashing eyes insisted on my leaving poor Parasha alone. It was almost our first conversation by ourselves. I, of course, was only too pleased to obey her wishes, tried to appear disconcerted, embarrassed, in fact, played my part not badly. Then came interviews, mysterious conversations, exhortations, entreaties, supplications, even tears! Would you believe it, even tears?

Starting point is 18:59:35 Think what the passion for propaganda will bring some girls to. I, of course, threw it all on my destiny, posed as hungering and thirsting for light, and finally resorted to the most powerful weapon in the subjection of the female heart, a weapon which never fails one. the well-known resource, flattery. Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth, and nothing easier than flattery. If there's the hundredth part of a false note in speaking the truth, it leads to a discord, and that leads to trouble. But if all, to the last note, is false in flattery, it is just as agreeable, and is heard not without satisfaction. It may be a

Starting point is 19:00:18 coarse satisfaction, but still a satisfaction. And however coarse the flattery, at least half will be sure to seem true. That's so for all stages of development and classes of society. A vestal virgin might be seduced by flattery. I can never remember without laughter how I once seduced a lady who was devoted to her husband, her children, and her principles. What fun it was, and how little trouble. And the lady really had principles, of her own anyway. All my tactics lay in simply being utterly annihilated and prostrate before her purity. I flattered her shamelessly, and as soon as I succeeded in getting a pressure of the hand, even a glance from her, I would reproach myself for having snatched it by force, and would declare that she had resisted, so that I could never

Starting point is 19:01:13 have gained anything but for my being so unprincipled. I maintained that she was so innocent that she could not foresee my treachery, and yielded to me unconsciously, unawares, and so on. In fact, I triumphed, while my lady remained firmly convinced that she was innocent, chased, and faithful to all her duties and obligations, and had succumbed quite by accident. And how angry she was with me when I explained to her at last that it was my sincere conviction that she was just as eager as I. Poor Marfa Petrovna was awfully weak on the side of flattery,

Starting point is 19:01:51 and if I had only cared to, I might have had all her property settled on me during her lifetime. I am drinking an awful lot of wine now and talking too much. I hope you won't be angry if I mention now that I was beginning to produce the same effect on Avdotya Romanovna. But I was stupid and impatient and spoiled it all. Evdoteya Romanovna had several times, and one time in particular, been greatly displeased by the expression of my eyes, would you believe it? There was sometimes a light in them which frightened

Starting point is 19:02:24 her, and grew stronger and stronger and more unguarded till it was hateful to her. No need to go into detail, but we parted. There I acted stupidly again. I fell to jeering in the coarsest way at all such propaganda and efforts to convert me. Rasha came on to the scene again, and not she alone. In fact, there was a tremendous to-do. Oh, Rody and Romanovitch, if you could only see how your sister's eyes can flash sometimes. Never mind my being drunk at this moment, and having had a whole glass of wine, I am speaking the truth. I assure you that this glance has haunted my dreams. The very rustle of her dress was more than I could stand at last. I really began to think that I might become epileptic.

Starting point is 19:03:12 I could never have believed that I could be moved to such a frenzy. It was essential, indeed, to be reconciled, but by then it was impossible. And imagine what I did then. To what a pitch of stupidity a man can be brought by frenzy. Never undertake anything in a frenzy, Rodian Romanovich. I reflected that Avdotya Romanovna was, after all, a beggar. Ah, excuse me, that's not the word. but does it matter if it expresses the meaning?

Starting point is 19:03:43 That she lived by her work, that she had her mother and you to keep. Ah, hang it, you are frowning again. And I resolved to offer her all my money. Thirty thousand roubles I could have realized then if she would run away with me here to Petersburg. Of course I should have vowed eternal love, rapture, and so on. Do you know I was so wild about her at that time that if she had told me to poison Marfa Petrovna or to cut her throat and to marry herself,

Starting point is 19:04:14 it would have been done at once. But it ended in the catastrophe of which you know already. You can fancy how frantic I was when I heard that Marfa Petrovna had got hold of that scoundrely attorney, Lusion and had almost made a match between them, which would really have been just the same thing as I was proposing. Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? I notice that you've begun to be very attentive, you interesting young man. Svidrigailov struck the table with his fist impatiently.

Starting point is 19:04:45 He was flushed. Ruskolnikov saw clearly that the glass or glass and a half of champagne that he had sipped almost unconsciously was affecting him, and he resolved to take advantage of the opportunity. He felt very suspicious of Svidrigailov. Well, after what you have said, I am forced to take advantage of the opportunity. fully convinced that you have come to Petersburg with designs on my sister," he said directly to Svidrigailov in order to irritate him further. "'Oh, nonsense,' said Svidrigailov, seeming to rouse himself.

Starting point is 19:05:17 "'Why, I told you. Besides, your sister can't endure me.' "'Yes, I am certain that she can't, but that's not the point.' "'Are you so sure that she can't?' Svidrigailov screwed up his eyes and smiled mockingly. You are right. She doesn't love me. But you can never be sure of what has passed between husband and wife or lover and mistress. There's always a little corner which remains a secret to the world, and is only known to those two. Will you answer for it that Avdotya Romanovna regarded me with aversion? From some words you've dropped, I noticed that you still have designs, and, of course evil ones, Ondonia, and me to carry them out promptly.

Starting point is 19:06:03 "'What? Have I dropped words like that?' Svidrigailov asked in naive dismay, taking not the slightest notice of the epithet bestowed on his designs. "'Why, you are dropping them even now? Why are you so frightened? What are you so afraid of now?' "'Me? Afraid? Afraid of you? You have rather to be afraid of me, Cherami. But what nonsense? I've drunk too much, though. I see that.' I was almost saying too much again. Damn the wine. Hi there, water!

Starting point is 19:06:39 He snatched up the champagne bottle and flung it without ceremony out of the window. Philippe brought the water. That's all nonsense, said Svidrigailov, wetting a towel and putting it to his head. But I can answer you in one word and annihilate all your suspicions. Do you know that I'm going to get married?

Starting point is 19:07:00 You told me so before. Did I? I've forgotten. But I couldn't have told you so for certain, for I had not even seen my betrothed. I only meant to. But now I really have a betrothed, and it's a settled thing. And if it weren't that I have business that can't be put off, I would have taken you to see them at once, for I should like to ask your advice.

Starting point is 19:07:22 Ah, hang it, only ten minutes left. See, look at the watch. But I must tell you, for it's an interesting story, my marriage, in its own way. "'Where are you off to? Going again?' "'No, I am not going away now.' "'Not at all? We shall see. I'll take you there. I'll show you my betrothed, only not now. For you'll soon have to be off. You have to go to the right and I to the left.' "'Do you know that, Madame Resslitch, the woman I am lodging with now, eh?'

Starting point is 19:07:54 "'I know what you're thinking, that she's the woman whose girl they say drowned herself in the winter. Come, are you listening? She arranged it all for me. You're bored, she said. You want something to fill up your time. For, you know, I am a gloomy, depressed person. Do you think I'm light-hearted? No, I'm gloomy.

Starting point is 19:08:15 I do no harm, but sit in a corner without speaking a word for three days at a time. And that restletch is a sly hussy, I tell you. I know what she has got in her mind. She thinks I shall get sick of it, abandoned my wife, and depart, and she'll get hold of her and make a profit out of her, in our class, of course, or higher. She told me the father was a broken-down retired official, who has been sitting in a chair for the last three years with his legs paralyzed. The mama, she said, was a sensible woman. There is a son serving in the provinces, but he doesn't help. There is a daughter,

Starting point is 19:08:51 who is married, but she doesn't visit them. And they've two little nephews on their hands, as though their own children were not enough, and they've taken to take them. And they've taken to from school their youngest daughter, a girl, who'll be sixteen in another month, so that then she can be married. She was for me. We went there. How funny it was! I present myself—a landowner, a widower of a well-known name with connections with a

Starting point is 19:09:16 fortune. What if I am fifty and she is not sixteen? Who thinks of that? But it's fascinating, isn't it? It is fascinating, ha! ha! You should have seen how I talked to you. to the Papa and Mama. It was worth paying to have seen me at that moment. She comes in, curtsies, you can fancy, still in a short frock, an unopened bud, flushing like a sunset, she had been

Starting point is 19:09:43 told, no doubt. I don't know how you feel about female faces, but to my mind these sixteen years, these childish eyes, shyness and tears of bashfulness are better than beauty, and she is a perfect little picture, too. Fair hair in little curls like a lamb's, full little rosy lips, tiny feet, a charmer. Well, we made friends. I told them I was in a hurry owing to domestic circumstances, and the next day, that is the day before yesterday, we were betrothed. When I go now, I take her on my knee at once and keep her there. Well, she flushes like a sunset, and I kiss her every minute. Her mama, of course, impresses on her that this is her husband and that this must be so. It's simply delicious.

Starting point is 19:10:33 The present-protrothed condition is perhaps better than marriage. Here you have what is called la nature et la veraeté. I've talked to her twice. She is far from a fool. Sometimes she steals a look at me that positively scorches me. Her face is like Raphael's Madonna. You know, the Sistine Madonna's. face has something fantastic in it, the face of mournful religious ecstasy. Have you noticed

Starting point is 19:11:00 it? Well, she's something in that line. The day after we'd been betrothed I bought her presents to the value of fifteen hundred roubles, a set of diamonds and another of pearls, and a silver dressing-case as large as this, with all sorts of things in it, so that even my Madonna's face glowed. I sat her on my knee yesterday, and I suppose rather too unceremoniously, She flushed crimson and the tears started, but she didn't want to show it. We were left alone. She suddenly flung herself on my neck, for the first time of her own accord. Put her little arms around me, kissed me, and vowed that she would be an obedient, faithful

Starting point is 19:11:41 and good wife, would make me happy, would devote all her life, every minute of her life, would sacrifice everything, everything, and that all she asks in return is my respect, and that she wants nothing, nothing more from me, no presence. You'll admit that to hear such a confession, alone from an angel of sixteen in a muslin frock, with little curls, with a flush of maiden shyness in her cheeks and tears of enthusiasm in her eyes, is rather fascinating. Isn't it fascinating? It's worth paying for, isn't it? Well, listen, we'll go to see my betrothed, only not just now. The fact is, this monster difference in age and development excites your sensuality. Will you really make such a marriage?

Starting point is 19:12:30 Why, of course. Everyone thinks of himself, and he lives most gaily who knows best how to deceive himself. Ha ha. But why are you so keen about virtue? Have mercy on me, my good friend. I am a sinful man, ha, ha, ha. But you have provided for the children of Katerina Ivanovna, though, though you had your own reasons. I understand it all now. I am always fond of children, very fond of them, laughed Svidrigailov. I can tell you one curious instance of it. The first day I came here I visited various haunts.

Starting point is 19:13:08 After seven years I simply rushed at them. You probably noticed that I am not in a hurry to renew acquaintance with my old friends. I shall do without them as long as I can. Do you know, when I was with Marfa Petrovna in the country, I was haunted by the thought of these places where anyone who knows his way about can find a great deal? Yes, upon my soul. The peasants have vodka. The educated young people, shut out from activity, waste themselves in impossible dreams and visions and are crippled by theories. Jews have sprung up and

Starting point is 19:13:43 are amassing money, and all the rest give themselves up to debauchery. From the first hour the town reeked of its familiar odors. I chanced to be in a frightful den. I like my den's dirty. It was a dance, so-called, and there was a can-can such as I never saw in my day. Yes, there you have progress. All of a sudden I saw a little girl of thirteen, nicely dressed, dancing with a specialist in that line, with another one vis-a-vis.

Starting point is 19:14:14 Her mother was sitting on a chair by the wall. You can't fancy what a can-can that was. The girl was ashamed, blushed, at last felt insulted and began to cry. Her partner seized her and began whirling her round and performing before her. Everyone laughed and, I like your public, even the can-can public. They laughed and shouted, Serves her right, serves her right, shouldn't bring children.

Starting point is 19:14:42 Well, it's not my business whether that consoling reflection was logical or not. I at once fixed on my plan, sat down by the mother, and began by saying that I too was a stranger, and that people here were ill-bred, and that they couldn't distinguish decent folks and treat them with respect, gave her to understand that I had plenty of money, offered to take them home in my carriage. I took them home and got to know them. They were lodging in a miserable little hall, and had only just arrived from the country. She told me that she inner daughter could only regard my acquaintance as an honor. I found out that they had nothing of their own and had come to town upon some legal business. I proffered my services and money.

Starting point is 19:15:25 I learned that they had gone to the dancing salooned by mistake, believing that it was a genuine dancing class. I offered to assist in the young girl's education in French and dancing. My offer was accepted with enthusiasm as an honor, and we are still friendly. If you like, we'll go and see them, only not just now. Stop! Enough of your vile, nasty anecdotes, depraved, vile, sensual man. Shiller! You are a regular shiller. Oh, la vertuvat tess anish! But you know I shall tell you these things on purpose, for the purpose of hearing your outcries. I dare say, I can see I'm ridiculous myself, muttered Ruskalnikov angrily. Savidrigailov laughed heartily.

Starting point is 19:16:15 Finally, he called Philippe, paid his bill, and began getting up. I say, but I am drunk as a cause, he said. It's been a pleasure. I should rather think it must be a pleasure, cried Russ Konakoff, getting up. No doubt it is a pleasure for a worn-out profligate to describe such adventures with a monstrous project of the same sort in his mind, especially under such circumstances and to such a man as me. It's stimulating." "'Well, if you come to that,' Svidrigailov answered, scrutinizing Raskolnikov with some

Starting point is 19:16:50 surprise. If you come to that, you are a thorough cynic yourself. You've plenty to make you so anyway. You can understand a great deal, and you can do a great deal, too. But enough. I sincerely regret not having had more talk with you, but I shan't lose sight of you. Only wait a bit. Svidrigailov walked out of the restaurant. Raskolnikov walked out after him. Svidrigailov was not, however, very drunk. The wine had affected him for a moment, but it was passing off every minute. He was preoccupied with something of importance and was frowning.

Starting point is 19:17:30 He was apparently excited and uneasy in anticipation of something. His manner to Raskolnikov had changed during the last few minutes, and he was ruder and more sneering every moment. Ruskolnikov noticed all this, and he too was uneasy. He became very suspicious of Svidrigailov and resolved to follow him. They came out onto the pavement. You go to the right and I to the left, or if you like, the other way. Only adieu, Montplacier, may we meet again.

Starting point is 19:18:03 And he walked to the right towards the haymarket. End of Part 6, Chapter 4. Part 6, Chapter 5 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Liberovac's recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 5 Raskolnikov walked after him. What's this?

Starting point is 19:18:38 cried Svidrigailov turning round. I thought I said, it means that I am not going to lose sight of you now. What? Both stood still and gazed at one another as though measuring their strength. "'From all your half-tipsy stories,' Rus Kalnikov observed harshly, "'I am positive that you have not given up your designs on my sister, but are pursuing them more actively than ever. I have learnt that my sister received a letter this morning.

Starting point is 19:19:07 You have hardly been able to sit still all this time. You may have unearthed a wife on the way, but that means nothing. I should like to make certain myself. Ruskalnikov could hardly have said himself what he wanted and of what he wished to make certain. Upon my word, I'll call the police. Call away. Again they stood for a minute facing each other. At last Svidrigailov's face changed.

Starting point is 19:19:36 Having satisfied himself that Raskolnikov was not frightened at his threat, he assumed a mirthful and friendly air. What a fellow! I purposely refrain from referring to your affair, though I am devoured by curiosity. It's a fantastic affair. I've put it off till another time, but you're enough to rouse the dead. Well, let us go. Only, I warn you beforehand, I am only going home for a moment, to get some money.

Starting point is 19:20:04 Then I shall lock up the flat, take a cab, and go to spend the evening at the islands. Now, now, are you going to follow me? I'm coming to your lodgings, not to see you but Sophia Semyanovna, to say I'm sorry not to have been at the funeral. That's as you like, but Sophia Semyonovna is not at home. She has taken the three children to an old lady of high rank, the patroness of some orphan asylums whom I used to know years ago. I charmed the old lady by depositing a sum of money with her to provide for the three children of Katerina Ivanovna, and subscribing to the institution as well. I told her, too, the story of Sophia Semyonovna in full detail, suppressing nothing. It produced an indescribable effect on her.

Starting point is 19:20:51 That's why Sophia Semyonovna has been invited to call today at the ex-hotel, where the lady is staying for the time. No matter, I'll come all the same. As you like, it's nothing to me, but I won't come with you. Here we are at home. By the way, I am convinced that you regard me with suspicely. just because I have shown such delicacy and have not so far troubled you with questions. You understand? It struck you as extraordinary.

Starting point is 19:21:21 I don't mind betting it's that. Well, it teaches one to show delicacy. And to listen at doors. Ah, that's it, is it? laughed Svidrigailov. Yes, I should have been surprised if you had let that pass after all that has happened. Ha! ha! Though I did understand something of the present.

Starting point is 19:21:41 pranks you have been up to and were telling Sophia Semyonovna about. What was the meaning of it? Perhaps I am quite behind the times and can't understand. For goodness sake, explain it, my dear boy. Expound the latest theories. You couldn't have heard anything. You're making it all up. But I'm not talking about that, though I did hear something. No, I'm talking of the way you keep sighing and groaning now. The shiller in you is in revolt every moment. and now you tell me not to listen at doors. If that's how you feel, go and inform the police that you had this mischance. You made a little mistake in your theory.

Starting point is 19:22:22 But if you are convinced that one mustn't listen at doors, but one may murder old women at one's pleasure, you'd better be off to America and make haste. Run, young men, there may still be time. I'm speaking sincerely. Haven't you the money? I'll give you the fare. "'I'm not thinking of that at all,' Ruskalnikov interrupted with disgust.

Starting point is 19:22:46 "'I understand. But don't put yourself out. Don't discuss it if you don't want to. I understand the questions you are worrying over—Moral ones, aren't they? Duties of citizen and man? Lay them all aside. They are nothing to you now, ha ha. You'll say you are still a man and a citizen. If so, you ought not to have got into this coil. It's no use taking up a job you are not fit for. Well, you'd better shoot yourself, or don't you want to.' "'You seem trying to enrage me, to make me leave you.' "'What a queer fellow! But here we are. Welcome to the staircase. You see, that's the way to Sophia Semyonov. Look, there is no one at home. Don't you believe me?'

Starting point is 19:23:34 Ask Kapernaumov. She leaves the key with him. Here is Madame to Kappernomov herself. "'Hey, what?' "'She is rather deaf. "'Has she gone out? Where? Did you hear? "'She is not in and won't be till late in the evening, probably.' "'Well, come to my room. You wanted to come and see me, didn't you? Here we are.' Madame Resslach is not at home. She is a woman who is always busy, an excellent woman, I assure you. She might have been of use to you if you had been a little more sensible.

Starting point is 19:24:07 Now see. I take this 5% bond out of the bureau. See what a lot I've got of them still. This one will be turned into cash today. I mustn't waste any more time. The bureau is locked, the flat is locked, and here we are again on the stairs. Shall we take a cab?

Starting point is 19:24:26 I'm going to the islands. Would you like a lift? I'll take this carriage. Ah, you refuse? You are tired of it. Come for a drive. I believe it will come on to rain. Never mind. We'll put down the hood." Svidrigailov was already in the carriage.

Starting point is 19:24:44 Ruskhalnikov decided that his suspicions were at least for that moment unjust. Without answering a word, he turned and walked back towards the haymarket. If he had only turned round on his way, he might have seen Svidrigailov get out not a hundred paces off, dismissed the cab, and walk along the pavement. But he had turned the corner and could see nothing. Intense disgust drew him away from Svidrigailov. "'To think that I could for one instant have looked for help from that coarse brute, that depraved, sensualist, and blackguard,' he cried.

Starting point is 19:25:21 Raskolnikov's judgment was uttered too lightly and hastily. There was something about Svedergylov which gave him a certain original, even a mysterious character. As concerned his sister, Raskolnikov was convinced that Sveder Geylov, would not leave her in peace. But it was too tiresome and unbearable to go on thinking and thinking about this. When he was alone, he had not gone twenty paces before he sank, as usual, into deep thought. On the bridge he stood by the railing and began gazing at the water, and his sister was standing close by him.

Starting point is 19:25:56 He met her at the entrance to the bridge, but passed by without seeing her. Donya had never met him like this in the street before and was struck with dismay. She stood still and did not know whether to call to him or not. Suddenly she saw Svidrigailov coming quickly from the direction of the haymarket. He seemed to be approaching cautiously. He did not go on to the bridge, but stood aside on the pavement, doing all he could to avoid Roskolnikov seeing him. He had observed Donia for some time and had been making signs to her.

Starting point is 19:26:30 She fancied he was signaling to beg her not to speak to her brother, but to come to him. That's what Donya did. She stole by her brother and went up to Svidrigailov. "'Let us make haste away,' Svidrigailov whispered to her. "'I don't want Rody and Romanovitch to know of our meeting. I must tell you I've been sitting with him in the restaurant close by, where he looked me up and I had great difficulty in getting rid of him. He has somehow heard of my letter to you and suspect something.

Starting point is 19:27:01 It wasn't you who told him, of course, but if not you, who then?' Well, we've turned the corner now, Donya interrupted, and my brother won't see us. I have to tell you that I am going no further with you. Speak to me here. You can tell it all in the street. In the first place, I can't say it in the street. Secondly, you must hear Sophia Semyonovna, too. And thirdly, I will show you some papers. Oh, well, if you won't agree to come with me, I shall refuse to give any explanation and go away at once. But I beg you not to forget that a very curious secret of your beloved brothers is entirely in my keeping. Donya stood still, hesitating, and looked at Svidrigailov with searching eyes.

Starting point is 19:27:50 "'What are you afraid of?' he observed quietly. "'The town is not the country, and even in the country you did me more harm than I did you.' "'Have you prepared Sophia Semyonovna?' "'No, I have not said a word to you. to her, and I'm not quite certain whether she is at home now, but most likely she is. She has buried her stepmother today. She is not likely to go visiting on such a day. For the time I don't want to speak to anyone about it, and I half regret having spoken to you. The slightest indiscretion is as bad as betrayal in a thing like this. I live in that house. We are

Starting point is 19:28:28 coming to it. That's the porter of our house. He knows me very well. You see, he's bowing. He sees I'm coming with a lady, and no doubt he has noticed your face already, and you will be glad of that if you are afraid of me and suspicious. Excuse my putting things so coarsely. I haven't a flat to myself. Sophia Semyonovna's room is next to mine. She lodges in the next flat. The whole floor is let out in lodgings.

Starting point is 19:28:56 Why are you frightened like a child? Am I really so terrible? Svidrigailov's lips were twisted in a condescending smile, but he was in no smiling mood. His heart was throbbing, and he could scarcely breathe. He spoke rather loud to cover his growing excitement. But Donia did not notice this peculiar excitement. She was so irritated by his remark that she was frightened of him like a child, and that he was so terrible to her. "'Though I know you are not a man of honor, I am not in the least afraid of you. Lead the way,' she said with apparent composure, but her face was very pale.

Starting point is 19:29:34 Svidrigailov stopped at Sonia's room. Allow me to inquire whether she is at home. She is not. How unfortunate! But I know she may come quite soon. If she's gone out, it can only be to see a lady about the orphans. Their mother is dead. I've been meddling and making arrangements for them.

Starting point is 19:29:56 If Sophia Semyonovna does not come back in ten minutes, I will send her to you, today if you like. This is my flat. These are my two rooms. Madame Resslitch, my landlady, has the next room. Now look this way. I will show you my chief piece of evidence. This door from my bedroom leads into two perfectly empty rooms, which are to let.

Starting point is 19:30:18 Here they are. You must look into them with some attention. Svidrigailov occupied two fairly large, furnished rooms. Donya was looking about her mistrustfully, but saw nothing special in the furniture or position of the rooms. Yet there was something to observe, for instance, that Svidrigailov's flat was exactly between two sets of almost uninhabited apartments. His rooms are not entered directly from the passage, but through the landlady's two almost empty rooms. Unlocking a door leading out of his bedroom,

Starting point is 19:30:51 Svidrigailov showed Donya the two empty rooms that were to let. Donya stopped in the doorway, not knowing what she was called to look upon, but Svidra Gailov hastened to explain. Look here at this second large room. Notice that door, it's locked. By the door stands a chair, the only one in the two rooms. I brought it from my room so as to listen more conveniently. Just the other side of the door is Sophia Semyonovna's table. She sat there talking to Rodian Romanovitch. And I sat here listening on two successive evenings, for two hours each time, and of course I was able to learn something. What do you think? You listened?

Starting point is 19:31:33 Yes, I did. Now come back to my room. We can't sit down here. He brought Avdotya Romanovna back into his sitting-room and offered her a chair. He sat down to the opposite side of the table, at least seven feet from her, but probably there was the same glow in his eyes which had once frightened Donya so much. She shuddered and once more looked about her distrustfully. It was an involuntary gesture.

Starting point is 19:31:59 She evidently did not wish to betray her uneasiness. But the secluded position of Svidrigadov's lodging had suddenly struck her. She wanted to ask whether his landlady at least were at home, but pride kept her from asking. Moreover, she had another trouble in her heart, incomparably greater than fear for herself. She was in great distress.

Starting point is 19:32:23 "'Here is your letter,' she said, laying it on the table. Can it be true what you write? You hint at a crime committed, you say, by my brother. You hint at it too clearly. You dare it deny it now. I must tell you that I'd heard of this stupid story before you wrote, and don't believe a word of it. It's a disgusting and ridiculous suspicion.

Starting point is 19:32:47 I know the story and why and how it was invented. You can have no proofs. You promise to prove it. Speak. But let me warn you, that I don't believe you. I don't believe you." Donya said this, speaking hurriedly, and for an instant the caller rushed to her face. If you didn't believe it, how could you risk coming alone to my rooms? Why have you come? Simply from curiosity? Don't torment me. Speak, speak, speak. There's no denying

Starting point is 19:33:20 that you were a brave girl. Upon my word, I thought you would have asked Mr. Rezumian to escort you here. but he was not with you, nor anywhere near. I was on the lookout. It's spirit of you. It proves you wanted to spare Rodian Romanovich. But everything is divine in you. About your brother, what am I to say to you? You've just seen him yourself. What did you think of him? Surely that's not the only thing you are building on? No, not that, but on his own words. He came here on two successive evenings to see Sophia Semyonovna. I've shown you where they sat. He made a full confession to her.

Starting point is 19:34:02 He is a murderer. He killed an old woman, a pawnbroker, with whom he had pawned things himself. He killed her sister, too, a peddler woman called Lizavetta, who happened to come in while he was murdering her sister. He killed them with an axe he brought with him. He murdered them to rob them, and he did rob them. He took money and various things. He told all this, word for word to Sophia Semyonovna,

Starting point is 19:34:28 the only person who knows his secret. But she has had no share by word or deed in the murder. She was as horrified at it as you are now. Don't be anxious. She won't betray him. It cannot be, muttered Donia with white lips. She gasped for breath. It cannot be.

Starting point is 19:34:49 There was not the slightest cause, no sort of ground. It's a lie, a lie. He robbed her. That was the cause. He took money in things. It's true that by his own admission he made no use of the money or things, but hid them under a stone, where they are now. But that was because he dared not make use of them. But how could he steal, Rob? How could he dream of it? cried Donya, and she jumped up from the chair. Why, you know him, and you've seen him. Can he be a thief? She seemed to be imploring Svidrigailov. She had entirely forgotten her fear. There are thousands and millions of combinations and possibilities, Avdotya Romanovna. A thief steals and knows he's a scoundrel,

Starting point is 19:35:38 but I've heard of a gentleman who broke open the mail. Who knows? Very likely he thought he was doing a gentlemanly thing. Of course, I should not have believed it myself. if I've been told of it as you have, but I believe my own ears. He explained all the causes of it to Sophia Semyonovna, too, but she did not believe her ears at first, yet she believed her own eyes at last. What were the causes? It's a long story of Donya Romanovna. Here's, how shall I tell you?

Starting point is 19:36:12 A theory of sort. The same one by which I, for instance, consider that a single misdeed, is permissible if the principal aim is right, a solitary wrongdoing and hundreds of good deeds. It's galling, too, of course, for a young man of gifts and overweening pride to know that, if he had, for instance, a paltry three thousand, his whole career, his whole future would be differently shaped, and yet not to have that three thousand. Add to that nervous irritability from hunger, from lodging in a hole, from rags, from a vivid sense of the charm of his social position, and his sisters and mother's position, too. Above all, vanity, pride and vanity,

Starting point is 19:36:55 though goodness knows he may have good qualities, too. I am not blaming him, please don't think it. Besides, it's not my business. A special little theory came in, too, a theory of a sort, dividing mankind, you see, into material and superior persons, that is, persons to whom the law does not apply, owing to their superiority, who make laws for the rest of mankind, the material, that is. It's all right as a theory, an theory com on another. Napoleon attracted him tremendously, that is, what affected him was that a great many men of genius have not hesitated at wrongdoing, but have overstepped the law without thinking about it. He seems to have fancied that he was a genius, too, that is, he was convinced of it for a time,

Starting point is 19:37:46 He has suffered a great deal, and is still suffering from the idea that he could make a theory but was incapable of boldly overstepping the law, and so he is not a man of genius. And that's humiliating for a young man of any pride, in our day especially. But remorse? You deny him any moral feeling then? Is he like that? Ah, Avdotya Romanovna. Everything is in a muddle now.

Starting point is 19:38:14 not that it was ever in very good order. Russians in general are broad in their ideas, Avdotya Romanovna, broad like their land, and exceedingly disposed to the fantastic, the chaotic. But it's a misfortune to be broad without a special genius. Do you remember what a lot of talk we had together on this subject, sitting in the evenings on the terrace after supper? Why, you used to reproach me with breadth.

Starting point is 19:38:41 Who knows? Perhaps we were talking, at the very time when he was lying here thinking over his plan. There are no sacred traditions amongst us, especially in the educated class of Dotya Romanovna. At the best, someone will make them up somehow for himself, out of books, or from some old chronicle. But those are, for the most part, the learned and all old fogies, so that it would be almost ill-bred in a man of society.

Starting point is 19:39:10 You know my opinions in general, though. I never blame anyone. I do nothing at all. I persevere in that. But we've talked of this more than once before. I was so happy indeed as to interest you in my opinions. You are very pale, I don't you Romanovna. I know his theory. I read that article of his about men to whom all is permitted. Resumian brought it to me. Mr. Rezumian? Your brother's article? In a magazine? Is there such an article? I didn't know. It must be interesting.

Starting point is 19:39:46 But where are you going, Avdotya Romanovna? I want to see Sophia Semyonovna, Donya articulated faintly. How do I get to her? She has come in, perhaps. I must see her at once. Perhaps she... Avdotya Romanovna could not finish. Her breath literally failed her.

Starting point is 19:40:07 Sophia Semyonovna will not be back till night. At least I believe not. She was to have been back at once, But if not, then she will not be in till quite late. Ah, then you are lying. I see. You were lying, lying all the time. I don't believe you. I don't believe you, cried Donya, completely losing her head. Almost fainting, she sank onto a chair which Svidrigailov made haste to give her. Evdonia Romanovna, what is it? Control yourself. Here is some water. Drink a little. He sprinkled some water.

Starting point is 19:40:43 her. Donya shuddered and came to herself. It has acted violently, Svidrigailov muttered to himself, frowning. Evdya Romanovna, calm yourself. Believe me, he has friends. We will save him. Would you like me to take him abroad? I have money. I can get a ticket in three days. And as for the murder, he will do all sorts of good deeds yet to atone for it. Calm yourself. He may become a great man yet. Well, how are you? How do you feel? Cruel man, to be able to jeer at it. Let me go. Where are you going? To him. Where is he? Do you know? Why is this door locked? We came in at that door and now it is locked. When did you manage to lock it? We couldn't be shouting all over the

Starting point is 19:41:36 flat on such a subject. I am far from jeering. It's simply that I'm sick of talking like this. But how can you go in such a state? Do you want to betray him? You will drive him to fury, and he will give himself up. Let me tell you, he is already being watched. They are already on his track. You will simply be giving him away. Wait a little.

Starting point is 19:42:00 I saw him and was talking to him just now. He can still be saved. Wait a bit. Sit down. Let us think it over together. I asked you to come in in order to discuss it alone with you and to consider it thoroughly. But do sit down. How can you save him? Can he really be saved? Donya sat down. Svidar Gailov sat down beside her. It all depends on you,

Starting point is 19:42:28 on you, on you alone. He began with glowing eyes, almost in a whisper and hardly able to utter the words for emotion. Donya drew back from him in alarm. He too was tremble. He too was trembling all over. You, one word from you, and he is saved. I, I'll save him. I have money and friends. I'll send him away at once. I'll get a passport, two passports, one for him and one for me.

Starting point is 19:43:00 I have friends, capable people. If you like, I'll take a passport for you, for your mother. What do you want with Resumian? I love you too. I love you beyond everything. Let me kiss the hem of your dress. Let me, let me. The very rustle of it is too much for me.

Starting point is 19:43:20 Tell me, do that, and I'll do it. I'll do everything. I will do the impossible. What you believe, I will believe. I'll do anything, anything. Don't, don't look at me like that. Do you know that you are killing me? He was almost beginning to rave.

Starting point is 19:43:39 something seemed suddenly to go in his head. Donia jumped up and rushed to the door. Open it! Open it! she called, shaking at the door. Open it! Is there no one there? Svidrigailov got up and came to himself. His still trembling lips slowly broke into an angry, mocking smile. There is no one at home, he said quietly and emphatically. The landlady has gone out, and it's a waste of time to shout like that.

Starting point is 19:44:08 You are only exciting yourself uselessly. Where is the key? Open the door at once, at once, base, man. I have lost the key and cannot find it. This is an outrage, cried Donia, turning pale as death. She rushed to the furthest corner, where she made haste to barricade herself with a little table. She did not scream, but she fixed her eyes on her tormentor

Starting point is 19:44:34 and watched every movement he made. Svidrigailov remained standing in the little table. at the other end of the room facing her. He was positively composed, at least in appearance, but his face was pale as before. The mocking smile did not leave his face. You spoke of outrage just now, Avdotya Romanovna. In that case, you may be sure I've taken measures. Sophia Semyonovna is not at home. The Kappernomovs are far away. There are five locked rooms between. I am at least twice as strong as you are, and I have nothing to fear besides. For you could not complain afterwards. You surely would not be willing actually to betray your

Starting point is 19:45:15 brother. Besides, no one would believe you. How should a girl have come alone to visit a solitary man in his lodgings, so that even if you do sacrifice your brother, you could prove nothing? It is very difficult to prove an assault, Avdotya Romanovna. "'Scoundrel!' whispered Donya indignantly. "'As you like. But observe I was only speaking by way of a general proposition. It's my personal conviction that you are perfectly right. Violence is hateful. I only spoke to show you that you need have no remorse, even if—' "'You were willing to save your brother of your own accord, as I suggest to you.

Starting point is 19:45:56 You would simply be submitting to circumstances, to violence, in fact, if we must use that word. Think about it. Your brothers and your mother's fate are in your hands. I will be your slave, all my life. I will wait here." Svidrigailov sat down on the sofa about eight steps from Donya. She had not the slightest doubt now of his unbending determination. Besides, she knew him. Suddenly she pulled out of her pocket a revolver, cocked it, and laid it in her hand on the table. Savedra Gailov jumped up. "'Aha! So that's it, is it?' he cried, surprised, but smiling maliciously. "'Well, that completely alters the aspect of affairs.

Starting point is 19:46:40 "'You've made things wonderfully easier for me, Abdotya Romanovna. "'But where did you get the revolver? "'Was it Mr. Rezumian? "'Why, it's my revolver, an old friend. "'And how I've hunted for it! "'The shooting lessons I've given you in the country have not been thrown away.' It's not your revolver. It belonged to Marfa Petrovna, whom you killed, wretch. There was nothing of yours in her house. I took it when I began to suspect what you were

Starting point is 19:47:09 capable of. If you dare to advance one step, I swear I'll kill you. She was frantic. "'But your brother?' I asked from curiosity, said Fridrigailov still standing where he was. "'Inform if you want to. Don't stir. Don't come. nearer. I'll shoot. You poisoned your wife. I know. You are a murderer yourself. She held the revolver ready. Are you so positive I poisoned Marfa Petrovna? You did. You hinted it yourself. You talked to me of poison. I know you went to get it. You had it in readiness. It was your doing. It must have been your doing. Scoundrel! Even if that were true, it would have been for your sake. You would have been the cause. You are lying. I hated you always, always.

Starting point is 19:48:07 Oh, ho, Avodya Romanovna. You seem to have forgotten how you soften to me in the heat of propaganda. I saw it in your eyes. Do you remember that moonlight night when the nightingale was singing? That's a lie. There was a flash of fury in Donia's eyes. That's a lie and a libel. A lie? Well, if you like, it's a lie. I made it up. Women ought not to be reminded of such things. He smiled.

Starting point is 19:48:37 I know you will shoot, you pretty wild creature. Well, shoot away. Donya raised the revolver, and deadly pale, gazed at him, measuring the distance and awaiting the first movement on his part. Her lower lip was white and quivering, and her big black eyes flashed like fire. He had never seen her so handsome. The fire glowing in her eyes at the moment she raised the revolver seemed to kindle him and there was a pang of anguish in his heart. He took a step forward

Starting point is 19:49:08 and a shot rang out. The bullet grazed his hair and flew into the wall behind. He stood still and laughed softly. The wasp has stung me. She aimed straight at my head. What's this? Blood? He pulled out his handkerchief to wipe the blouse. blood, which flowed in a thin stream down his right temple. The bullets seemed to have just grazed the skin. Donya lowered the revolver and looked at Svidrigailov, not so much in terror as in a sort of wild amazement. She seemed not to understand what she was doing and what was going on. "'Well, you missed. Fire again. I'll wait,' said Svidrigailov softly, still smiling, but gloomily. "'If you go on like that, I have to do.

Starting point is 19:49:56 shall have time to seize you before you cock again." Donia started, quickly cocked the pistol, and again raised it. "'Let me be!' she cried in despair. "'I swear I'll shoot again. I—I'll kill you.' "'Well, at three paces you can hardly help it. But if you don't—' Then—' his eyes flashed, and he took two steps forward. Donia shot again.

Starting point is 19:50:24 It missed fire. You haven't loaded it properly. Never mind. You have another charge there. Get it ready. I'll wait. He stood facing her two paces away, waiting and gazing at her with wild determination, with feverishly passionate, stubborn, set eyes. Donya saw that he would sooner die than let her go. And, now, of course, she would kill him, at two paces.

Starting point is 19:50:54 Suddenly she flung away the revolver. "'She's dropped it,' said Friedrichailov with surprise, and he drew a deep breath. A weight seemed to have rolled from his heart, perhaps not only the fear of death. Indeed, he may scarcely have felt it at that moment. It was the deliverance from another feeling, darker and more bitter, which he could not himself have defined. He went to Donya and gently put his arm around her waist. She did not resist, but, trembling like a leaf, looked at him with suppliant eyes. He tried to say something, but his lips moved without being able to utter a sound.

Starting point is 19:51:33 "'Let me go,' Donya implored. Savedra Gailov shuddered. Her voice was now quite different. "'Then you don't love me?' he asked softly. Donya shook her head. "'And—and you can't? Never?' he whispered in despair. "'Never.' There followed a moment. of terrible, dumb struggle in the heart of Svidrigailov. He looked at her with an indescribable

Starting point is 19:52:02 gaze. Suddenly, he withdrew his arm, turned quickly to the window, and stood facing it. Another moment passed. Here's the key. He took it out of the left pocket of his coat and laid it on the table behind him, without turning or looking at Donya. Take it, make haste. He looked stubbornly out of the window. Donya went up to the table to take the key. Make haste, make haste, repeated Svidrigailov, still without turning or moving. But there seemed a terrible significance in the tone of that, make haste. Donya understood it, snatched up the key, flew to the door, unlocked it quickly, and rushed out of the room. A minute later, beside herself, she ran out onto the canal bank

Starting point is 19:52:51 in the direction of X Bridge. Svidrigailov remained three minutes standing at the window. At last he slowly turned, looked about him, and passed his hand over his forehead. A strange smile contorted his face, a pitiful, sad, weak smile, a smile of despair. The blood, which was already getting dry, smeared his hand. He looked angrily at it, then wetted a towel and washed his temple. The revolver which Donya had flung away lay near the door. and suddenly caught his eye. He picked it up and examined it. It was a little pocket three-barrel revolver of old-fashioned construction. There were still two charges and one capsule left in it. It could

Starting point is 19:53:36 be fired again. He thought a little, put the revolver in his pocket, took his hat, and went out. End of Part 6, Chapter 5. Part 6 Chapter 6 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 6 He spent that evening till 10 o'clock, going from one low haunt to another. Katya too turned up and sang another gutter song. How a certain, villain and tyrant began kissing Katya.

Starting point is 19:54:25 Savidrigailov treated Katya and the organ-rider and some singers and the waiters and two little clerks. He was particularly drawn to these clerks by the fact that they both had crooked noses, one bent to the left and the other to the right. They took him finally to a pleasure garden, where he paid for their entrance. There was one lanky three-year-old pine tree and three bushes in the garden, besides a Vauxhall, which was in reality a drinking bar where tea too was served, and there were a few green tables and chairs standing round it.

Starting point is 19:54:58 a chorus of wretched singers and a drunken but exceedingly depressed German clown from Munich, with a red nose entertained the public. The clerks quarreled with some other clerks, and a fight seemed imminent. Svidra Gailov was chosen to decide the dispute. He listened to them for a quarter of an hour, but they shouted so loud that there was no possibility of understanding them. The only fact that seemed certain was that one of them had stolen something, and had even succeeded in selling it on the spot to a Jew, but would not share the spoil with his companion. Finally, it appeared that the stolen object was a teaspoon belonging to the Vox Hall. It was missed, and the affair began to seem troublesome. Svidrigailov paid for the spoon, got up and walked

Starting point is 19:55:42 out of the garden. It was about six o'clock. He had not drunk a drop of wine all this time, and had ordered tea more for the sake of appearances than anything. It was a dark and stifling evening. Threatening storm clouds came over the sky about ten o'clock. There was a clap of thunder, and the rain came down like a waterfall. The water fell not in drops, but beat on the earth in streams. There were flashes of lightning every minute, and each flash lasted while one could count five. Drenched to the skin, he went home, locked himself in, opened the bureau, took out all his money, and tore up two or three papers. Then, putting the money in his pocket, he was. He was about to change clothes, but looking out of the window and listening to the thunder

Starting point is 19:56:29 and the rain he gave up the idea, took up his hat and went out of the room without locking the door. He went straight to Sonia. She was at home. She was not alone. The four Kapernaumov children were with her. She was giving them tea. She received Svidrigailov in respectful silence, looking wonderingly at his soaking clothes.

Starting point is 19:56:52 The children all ran away at once. in indescribable terror. Svidrigailov sat down at the table and asked Sonia to sit beside him. She timidly prepared to listen. "'I may be going to America, Sophia Semyonov,' said Svidrygailov. "'And, as I am probably seeing you for the last time, I have come to make some arrangements. Well, did you see the lady today? I know what she said to you.

Starting point is 19:57:19 You need not tell me.' Sonia made a movement and blushed. Those people have their own way of doing things. As to your sisters and your brother, they are really provided for, and the money assigned to them I put into safekeeping and have received acknowledgments. You had better take charge of the receipts in case anything happens. Here, take them. Well, now, that's settled.

Starting point is 19:57:44 Here are three, five percent bonds to the value of three thousand roubles. Take those for yourself, entirely for yourself, and let that be strictly between ourselves, so that no one knows of it, whatever you hear. You will need the money, for to go on living in the old way, Sophia Semyonovna is bad, and besides, there is no need for it now.

Starting point is 19:58:06 I am so much indebted to you, and so are the children and my stepmother, said Sonia hurriedly. And if I said so little, please don't consider, that's enough, that's enough. But as for the money, Arkady Ivanovich, I am very grateful to you, but I don't need it now. I can always earn my own living.

Starting point is 19:58:27 Don't think me ungrateful. If you are so charitable, that money—it's for you, for you, Sophia Semyonovna, and please don't waste words over it. I haven't time for it. You will want it. Rodian Romanovitch has two alternatives, a bullet in the brain or Siberia. Sonia looked wildly at him and started. said, "'Don't be uneasy. I know all about it from himself, and I am not a gossip. I won't tell anyone.' It was good advice when you told him to give himself up and confess. It would be much better for him. Well, if it turns out to be Siberia, he will go and you will follow him. That's so, isn't it? And if so, you'll need money. You'll need it for him, do you understand?

Starting point is 19:59:14 Giving it to you is the same as my giving it to him. Besides, you're not you. You're not so you. You promised Amalia Ivanovna to pay what's owing. I heard you. How can you undertake such obligations so heedlessly, Sophia Suminovna? It was Katerina Ivanovna's debt and not yours, so you ought not to have taken any notice of the German woman. You can't get through the world like that. If you are ever questioned about me, tomorrow or the day after you'll be asked, don't say anything about my coming to see you now, and don't show the money to anyone or say a word about it. Now, good-bye."

Starting point is 19:59:49 He got up. My greetings to Rodion Romanovitch. By the way, you'd better put the money for the present in Mr. Resumian's keeping. You know Mr. Resumian? Of course you do. He's not a bad fellow. Take it to him tomorrow, or when the time comes. Until then, hide it carefully."

Starting point is 20:00:10 Sonia, too, jumped up from her chair and looked in dismay at Svidrigailov. She longed to speak to ask a question, but for the first of her chair. moments she did not dare and did not know how to begin. How can you—how can you be going now in such rain? Why, be starting for America and be stopped by rain? Ha, ha! Goodbye, Sophia Semyonovna, my dear. Live and live long.

Starting point is 20:00:36 You will be of use to others. By the way, tell Mr. Azumian I send my greetings to him. Tell him, Arkady Ivanovich Svedrigailov sends his greetings. Be sure to. He went out, leaving Sonia in a state of wondering anxiety and vague apprehension. It appeared afterwards that, on the same evening, at twenty past eleven, he made another very eccentric and unexpected visit. The rain still persisted. Drenched to the skin, he walked into the little flat where the parents of his betrothed lived, in Third Street, in Vasselyevsky

Starting point is 20:01:12 Island. He knocked some time before he was admitted, and his visit at first, caused great perturbation. But Svidrigailov could be very fascinating when he liked, so that the first, and indeed very intelligent surmise of the sensible parents, that Svidrigailov had probably had so much to drink that he did not know what he was doing, vanished immediately. The decrepit father was wheeled in to see Svindrgylov by the tender and sensible mother, who, as usual, began the conversation with various irrelevant questions. She never asked a direct question, but began by smiling and rubbing her hands, and then, if she were obliged to ascertain something, for instance when Svidrigailov would like to have the wedding, she would begin by interested

Starting point is 20:01:58 and almost eager questions about Paris and the court life there, and only by degrees brought the conversation round to Third Street. On other occasions this had, of course, been very impressive, but this time Arkady Ivanovitch seemed particularly impatient, and insisted on seeing his betrothed at once, though he had, he had been informed, to begin with, that she had already gone to bed. The girl, of course, appeared. Svidr Gailov informed her at once that he was obliged by very important affairs to leave Petersburg for a time, and therefore brought her fifteen thousand roubles and begged her accept them as a present from him, as he had long been intending to make her this trifling

Starting point is 20:02:39 present before their wedding. The logical connection of the present, with his immediate departure, and the absolute necessity of visiting them for that purpose in pouring rain at midnight was not made clear. But it all went off very well. Even the inevitable ejaculations of wonder and regret, the inevitable questions were extraordinarily few and restrained. On the other hand, the gratitude expressed was most glowing and was reinforced by tears from the most sensible of mothers. Zvidrigailov got up, laughed, kissed his betrothed, patted her cheek, declared he would soon come back, and, noticing in her eyes, together with childish curiosity, a sort of earnest dumb inquiry, reflected and kissed her again, though he felt

Starting point is 20:03:28 sincere anger inwardly at the thought that his present would be immediately locked up in the keeping of the most sensible of mothers. He went away, leaving them all in a state of extraordinary excitement. But the tender mama, speaking quietly in a half-whisper, settled some of the most important of their doubts, concluding that Svidrigailov was a great man, a man of great affairs and connections and of great wealth. There was no knowing what he had in his mind. He would start off on a journey and give away money just as the fancy took him, so that there was nothing surprising about it. Of course it was strange that he was wet through, but Englishmen, for instance, are even more eccentric, and all these people of high society didn't think of what was said

Starting point is 20:04:14 of them and didn't stand on ceremony. Possibly, indeed, he came like that on purpose to show that he was not afraid of anyone. Above all, not a word should be said about it, for God knows what might come of it, and the money must be locked up, and it was most fortunate that Fedosia, the cook, had not left the kitchen. And above all, not a word must be said to that old cat. at Madame Reslach, and so on and so on. They sat up whispering till two o'clock, but the girl went to bed much earlier, amazed and rather sorrowful. Zvedrgylov, meanwhile, exactly at midnight, crossed the bridge on the way back to the mainland. The rain had ceased, and there was a roaring

Starting point is 20:04:59 wind. He began shivering, and for one moment he gazed at the black waters of the little Neva with a look of special interest, even inquiry. but he soon felt it very cold, standing by the water. He turned and went towards Y Prospect. He walked along that endless street for a long time, almost half an hour, more than once stumbling in the dark on the wooden pavement, but continually looking for something on the right side of the street. He had noticed passing through this street lately

Starting point is 20:05:31 that there was a hotel somewhere towards the end, built of wood, but fairly large, and its name he remembered was something like Andrianople. He was not mistaken. The hotel was so conspicuous in that god-forsaken place that he could not fail to see it even in the dark. It was a long, blackened wooden building, and in spite of the late hour there were lights on in the windows and signs of life within. He went in and asked a ragged fellow who met him in the corridor for a room. The latter, scanning Svidrigailov, pulled himself together and led him at once to a close and tiny room in the distance at the end of the corridor, under the stairs. There was no other, all were occupied. The ragged fellow

Starting point is 20:06:15 looked inquiringly. "'Is there tea?' asked Svidrigailov. "'Yes, sir.' "'What else is there?' Ville, vodka, savories. Bring me tea and veal.' "'And you want nothing else?' he asked with apparent surprise. "'Nothing, nothing.' The ragged man went away, completely disillusioned. It must be a nice place, thought Svidrigailov. How was it I didn't know it? I expect I look as if I came from a Café Chantant and have had some adventure on the way. It would be interesting to know who stayed here.

Starting point is 20:06:55 He lighted the candle and looked at the room more carefully. It was a room so low-pitched that Svidra-Gyloff could only just stand up in it. It had one window. The bed, which was very dirty, and the plain stained chair and a chair and table almost filled it up. The walls looked as though they were made of planks, covered with shabby paper, so torn and dusty that the pattern was indistinguishable,

Starting point is 20:07:19 though the general color, yellow, could still be made out. One of the walls was cut short by the sloping ceiling, though the room was not an attic, but just under the stairs. Svidrigailov set down the candle, sat down on the bed, and sank into thought. But a strange, persistent murmur, which sometimes rose to a shout in the next room, attracted his attention. The murmur had not ceased from the moment he entered the room. He listened. Someone was uprating and

Starting point is 20:07:49 almost tearfully scolding, but he heard only one voice. Svidrigadov got up, shaded the light with his hand, and at once he saw light through a crack in the wall. He went up and peeped through. The room, which was somewhat larger than his, had two occupants. One of them, a very curly headed man with a red-inflamed face, was standing in the pose of an orator, without his coat, with his legs white apart to preserve his balance, and smiting himself on the breast. He reproached the other with being a beggar, with having no standing whatever. He declared that he had taken the other out of the gutter, and he could turn him out when he liked, and that only the finger of Providence sees it all. The object of his reproaches was sitting in a chair,

Starting point is 20:08:37 and had the air of a man who once dreadfully to sneeze but can't. He sometimes turned sheepish and befogged eyes on the speaker, but obviously had not the slightest idea what he was talking about, and scarcely heard it. A candle was burning down on the table. There were wine-glasses, a nearly empty bottle of vodka, bread and cucumber, and glasses with the dregs of stale tea. After gazing attentively at this, Svidrigaakov turned away indifferently and sat down on the bed.

Starting point is 20:09:09 The ragged attendant, returning with the tea, could not resist asking him again whether he didn't want anything more, and again, receiving a negative reply, finally withdrew. Svidrigailov made haste to drink a glass of tea to warm himself, but could not eat anything. He began to feel feverish.

Starting point is 20:09:28 He took off his coat, and, wrapping himself in the blanket, lay down on the bed. He was annoyed. It would have been, been better to be well for the occasion, he thought with a smile. The room was close, the candle burnt dimly, the wind was roaring outside. He heard a mouse scratching in the corner, and the room smelt of mice and of leather.

Starting point is 20:09:52 He lay in a sort of reverie. One thought followed another. He felt a longing to fix his imagination on something. It must be a garden under the window, he thought. There's a sound of trees. I disliked the sound of trees on a stormy night in the dark. They give one a horrid feeling. He remembered how he had disliked it when he passed Petrovsky Park just now. This reminded him of the bridge over the little Neva, and he felt cold again as he had when standing

Starting point is 20:10:23 there. I never have liked water, he thought, even in a landscape. And he suddenly smiled again at a strange idea. Surely now all these questions of taste and comfort ought not to matter, but I've become more particular, like an animal that picks out a special place for such an occasion. I ought to have gone into the Petrovsky Park. I suppose it seemed dark, cold, as though I were seeking pleasant sensations. By the way, why haven't I put out the candle? He blew it out. They've gone to bed next door.

Starting point is 20:11:03 he thought, not seeing the light at the crack. Well now, Marfa Petrovna, now is the time for you to turn up. It's dark, and the very time and place for you. But now you won't come. He suddenly recalled how, an hour before carrying out his design on Donya, he had recommended Raskolnikov to trust her to resume his keeping. I suppose I really did say it, as Raskolnikov guessed, to tease myself. But what a rogue that Ruskalnikov is.

Starting point is 20:11:35 He's gone through a good deal. He may be a successful rogue in time, when he's got over his nonsense, but now he's too eager for life. These young men are contemptible on that point. But hang the fellow. Let him please himself. It's nothing to do with me. He could not get to sleep.

Starting point is 20:11:57 By degrees, Donia's image rose before him, and a shudder ran over him. No, I must give up all that now, he thought rousing himself. I must think of something else. It's queer and funny. I never had a great hatred for anyone. I never particularly desired to avenge myself even, and that's a bad sign, a bad sign, a bad sign.

Starting point is 20:12:22 I never liked quarreling either and never lost my temper. That's a bad sign, too. And the promises I made her just now, too. Damnation, but who knows? Perhaps she would have made a new man of me somehow. He ground his teeth and sank into silence again. Again, Donya's image rose before him, just as she was when, after shooting the first time, she had lowered the revolver in terror and gazed blankly at him, so that he might have seized her twice over and she would not have lifted a hand to defend herself.

Starting point is 20:12:58 if he had not reminded her. He recall how at that instant he felt almost sorry for her, how he had felt a pang at his heart. "'Aye! Damnation! These thoughts again! I must put it away!' He was dozing off. The fever shiver had ceased, when suddenly something seemed to run over his arm and leg under the bedclothes. He started. "'Ugh! Hang it! I believe it's a little.

Starting point is 20:13:28 a mouse, he thought. That's the veal I left on the table. He felt fearfully disinclined to pull off the blanket, get up, get cold, but all at once something unpleasant ran over his leg again. He pulled off the blanket and lighted the candle. Shaking with feverish chill, he bent down to examine the bed. There was nothing. He shook the blanket, and suddenly a mouse jumped out on the sheet. He tried to catch it, but the mouse ran to and fro in zigzags without leaving the bed. slipped between his fingers, ran over his hand, and suddenly darted under the pillow. He threw down the pillow, but in one instant felt something leap on his chest and dart over his body and down his back under his shirt. He trembled nervously and woke up. The room was dark. He was lying

Starting point is 20:14:17 on the bed and wrapped up in the blanket as before. The wind was howling under the window. How disgusting, he thought with annoyance. He got up and sat on the edge of the bedstead with his back to the window. It's better not to sleep at all, he decided. There was a cold, damp draft from the window, however. Without getting up he drew the blanket over him and wrapped himself in it. He was not thinking of anything and did not want to think. But one image rose after another.

Starting point is 20:14:49 Incoherent scraps of thought without beginning or end passed through his mind. He sank into drowsiness. Perhaps the cold, or the dampness, or the dark, or the wind that howled under the window and tossed the trees, roused a sort of persistent craving for the fantastic. He kept dwelling on images of flowers. He fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday, Trinity Day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers. with flower beds going round the house. The porch, reed in climbers, was surrounded with beds

Starting point is 20:15:30 of roses. A light, cool staircase, carpeted with rich rugs, was decorated with rare plants in china pots. He noticed particularly in the windows, nosegays of tender, white, heavily fragrant narcissus bending over their bright, green, thick, long stalks. He was reluctant to move away from them. But he went up the stairs and came into a large, high drawing-room and again everywhere. At the windows, the doors on the balcony, and on the balcony itself, were flowers. The floors were strewn with freshly cut fragrant hay. The windows were open. A fresh, cool, light air came into the room. The birds were chirping under the window, and in the middle of the room, on a table covered with a white satin shroud, stood a coffin. The coffin was covered with

Starting point is 20:16:20 white silk and edged with a thick white frill. Reiths of flowers surrounded it on all sides. Among the flowers lay a girl in a white muslin dress, with her arms crossed and pressed on her bosom, as though carved out of marble. But her loose, fair hair was wet. There was a wreath of roses on her head. The stern and already rigid profile of her face looked as though chiseled of marble too, and the smile on her pale lips was full of an immense unchildish misery and sorrowful appeal. Zvidrigailov knew that girl. There was no holy image, no burning candle beside the coffin, no sound of prayers. The girl had drowned herself. She was only fourteen, but her heart was broken. And she had destroyed herself, crushed by an insult that had appalled and amazed that childish soul.

Starting point is 20:17:17 had smirched that angel purity with unmerited disgrace, and torn from her a last scream of despair, unheeded and brutally disregarded, on a dark night in the cold and wet while the wind howled. Svidriga Gailov came to himself, got up from the bed and went to the window. He felt for the latch and opened it. The wind lashed furiously into the little room and stung his face and chest, only covered with his shirt as though with frost. Under the window there must have been something like a garden, and apparently a pleasure garden. There, too, probably, there were tea tables and singing in the daytime. Now drops of rain flew in at the window from the trees and bushes. It was dark as in a cellar, so that he could

Starting point is 20:18:05 only just make out the dark blurs of objects. Svidrigailov, bending down with elbows on the window-sill, gaze for five minutes into the darkness. The boom of a cannon, followed by a second one, resounded in the darkness of the night. Ah, the signal! The river is overflowing, he thought. By morning it will be swirling down the street in the lower parts, flooding the basements and cellars. The cellar rats will swim out, and men will curse in the rain and wind as they drag their rubbish to the upper stories. What time is it now?" And he had hardly thought it when, somewhere near, a clock on the wall, ticking away hurriedly,

Starting point is 20:18:47 struck three. Aha! It will be light in an hour. Why wait? I'll go out at once straight to the park. I'll choose a great bush there drenched with rain, so that as soon as one shoulder touches it, millions of drops drip on one's head. He moved away from the window, shut it, lighted the candle, put on his waistcoat, his overcoat and his hat, and went out, carrying the candle into the passage to look for the ragged attendant, who would be asleep somewhere in the midst of candle-ends and all sorts of rubbish, to pay for the room and leave the hotel.

Starting point is 20:19:24 "'It's the best minute. I couldn't choose a better.' He walked for some time through a long, narrow corridor without finding anyone, and was just going to call out, when suddenly in a dark corner between an old cupboard and the door, he caught sight of a strange object which seemed to be alive. He bent down with the candle and saw a little girl, not more than five years old. cold, shivering and crying, with her clothes as wet as a soaking-house flannel. She did not seem afraid of Svidrigailov, but looked at him with blank amazement out of

Starting point is 20:19:58 her big black eyes. Now and then she sobbed as children do when they have been crying a long time, but are beginning to be comforted. The child's face was pale and tired. She was numb with cold. How can she have come here? She must have hidden here and not slept all night. night. He began questioning her. The child suddenly became animated, clattered away in her baby

Starting point is 20:20:23 language, something about Mammy and that Mammy would beat her, and about some cup she had broken. The child chattered on without stopping. He could only guess from what she said that she was a neglected child, whose mother, probably a drunken cook, in the service of the hotel, whipped and frightened her, that the child had broken a cup of her mother's and was so frightened that she had run away the evening before, had hidden for a long while somewhere outside in the rain, at last had made her way in here, hidden behind the cupboard and spent the night there, crying and trembling from the damp, the darkness and the fear that she would be badly beaten for it. He took her in his arms, went back to his room, sat her on the bed and began undressing her.

Starting point is 20:21:09 The torn shoes which she had on her stockingless feet were as wet as if she had been standing in a puddle all night. When he had undressed her, he put her on the bed, covered her up, and wrapped her in the blanket from her head downwards. She fell asleep at once. Then he sank into dreary musing again. "'What folly to trouble myself!' he decided suddenly with an oppressive feeling of annoyance. "'What idiocy!' In vexation he took up the candle to go and look for the ragged attendant again and make haste to go away. Damn the child, he thought as he opened the door, but he turned again to see whether the child

Starting point is 20:21:51 was asleep. He raised the blanket carefully. The child was sleeping soundly. She had got warm under the blanket, and her pale cheeks were flushed. But strange to say, that flush seemed brighter and coarser than the rosy cheeks of childhood. Flush of fever, thought Svidrigailov. It was like the flush from drinking, as though she had been given a full glass to drink. Her crimson lips were hot and glowing. But what was this? He suddenly fancied that her long black eyelashes were quivering,

Starting point is 20:22:25 as though the lids were opening, and a sly, crafty eye peeped out with an unchildlike wink, as though the little girl were not asleep but pretending. Yes, it was so. Her lips parted in a smile. The corners of her mouth quivered, as though she were trying to control them. But now she quite gave up all effort. Now it was a grin, a broad grin. There was something

Starting point is 20:22:51 shameless, provocative in that quite unchildish face. It was depravity. It was the face of a harlot, the shameless face of a French harlot. Now both eyes opened wide. They turned a glowing, shameless glance upon him. They laughed, invited him. There was something infinitely hideous and shocking in that laugh, in those eyes, in such nastiness in the face of a child. What, at five years old? Svidrigailov muttered in genuine horror. What does it mean? And now she turned to him, her little face all aglow, holding out her arms. A cursed child! Svidrigailov cried, raising his hand to strike her. But at that moment he woke up.

Starting point is 20:23:39 He was in the same bed, still wrapped in the blanket. The candle had not been lighted, and daylight was streaming in at the windows. "'I've had nightmare all night.' He got up angrily, feeling utterly shattered. His bones ached. There was a thick mist outside, and he could see nothing. It was nearly five. He had overslept himself. He got up, put on his still damp jacket and overcoat. Feeling the revolver in his pocket. He took it out, and then he sat down, took a notebook out of his pocket, and in the most conspicuous place on the title page, wrote a few lines in large letters. Reading them over,

Starting point is 20:24:21 he sank into thought with his elbows on the table. The revolver and the notebook lay beside him. Some flies woke up and settled on the untouched veal, which was still on the table. He stared at them, and at last, with his free right hand, began trying to catch one. He tried till he, was tired, but could not catch it. At last, realizing that he was engaged in this interesting pursuit, he started, got up, and walked resolutely out of the room. A minute later, he was in the street. A thick, milky mist hung over the town. Savitra Gailov walked along the slippery, dirty wooden pavement towards the Little Neva. He was picturing the waters of the Little Neva swollen in the night, Petrovsky Island, the wet paths, the wet,

Starting point is 20:25:09 grass, the wet trees and bushes, and at last the bush. He began ill-humoredly staring at the houses, trying to think of something else. There was not a cabman or a passer-by in the street. The bright yellow, wooden little houses looked dirty and ejected with their closed shutters. The cold and damp penetrated his whole body, and he began to shiver. From time to time he came across shop signs and read each carefully. At last he reached the end of the wooden pavement and came to a big stone house. A dirty, shivering dog crossed his path with its tail between its legs. A man in a greatcoat lay face downwards, dead drunk across the pavement. He looked at him and went on. A high tower stood up on the left.

Starting point is 20:26:01 "'Bah!' he shouted. "'Here is a place. Why should it be Petrovsky?' It will be in the presence of an official witness anyway." He almost smiled at this new thought, and turned into the street where there was the big house with the tower. At the great closed gates of the house, a little man stood with his shoulder leaning against them, wrapped in a gray soldier's coat, with a copper Achilles helmet on his head. He cast a drowsy in a different glance at Svedre Geylov. His face wore that perpetual look of peevish dejection,

Starting point is 20:26:35 which is so sourly printed on all the faces of Jewish race without exception. They both, Svidrigailov and Achilles, stared at each other for a few minutes without speaking. At last it struck Achilles as irregular for a man not drunk to be standing three steps from him, staring and not saying a word. "'What do you want here?' he said, without moving or changing his position. "'Nothing, brother, good morning,' answered Svidrigailov. This isn't the place." "'I am going to foreign parts, brother.'

Starting point is 20:27:11 "'To foreign parts?' To America.' "'America.' Svidrigailov took out the revolver and cocked it. Achilles raised his eyebrows. "'I say, this is not the place for such jokes.' "'Why shouldn't it be the place?' "'Because it isn't.'

Starting point is 20:27:31 "'Well, brother, I don't mind that. it's a good place. When you are asked, you just say he was going, he said, to America." He put the revolver to his right temple. "'You can't do it here. It's not the place!' cried Achilles, rousing himself, his eyes growing bigger and bigger. Zvedra Gailov pulled the trigger. End of Part 6, Chapter 6. Part 6 Chapter 7 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Starting point is 20:28:08 translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Part 6, Chapter 7 The same day, about 7 o'clock in the evening, Ruskalnikov was on his way to his mother's and sisters' lodging, the lodging at Bakaliev's house which Razumian had found for them. The stairs went up from the street. Ruskolnikov walked with lagging steps,

Starting point is 20:28:37 as though still hesitating whether to go or not. But nothing would have turned him back. His decision was taken. Besides, it doesn't matter. They still know nothing, he thought. And they are used to thinking of me as eccentric. He was appallingly dressed. His clothes torn and dirty, soaked with the night's rain.

Starting point is 20:29:00 His face was almost distorted from fatigue, exposure, the inward conflict that had lasted for 24 hours. He had spent all the previous night alone, God knows where. But anyway, he had reached a decision. He knocked at the door which was opened by his mother. Donia was not at home. Even the servant happened to be out. At first, Pulcheria Alexandrovna was speechless with joy and surprise.

Starting point is 20:29:28 Then she took him by the hand and drew him into the room. "'Here you are,' she began, faltering with joy. "'Don't be angry with me, rovna. you, for welcoming you so foolishly with tears. I am laughing, not crying. Did you think I was crying? No, I am delighted, but I've got into such a stupid habit of shedding tears. I've been like that ever since your father's death. I cry for anything. Sit down, dear boy. You must be tired. I see you are. Oh, how muddy you are. I was in the rain yesterday, Mother. Ruskolnikov began.

Starting point is 20:30:06 No, no, Polcheria Alexandrovna hurriedly interrupted. You thought I was going to cross-question you in the womanish way I used to. Don't be anxious. I understand. I understand it all. Now I've learned the ways here, and truly I see for myself that they are better. I've made up my mind once for all. How could I understand your plans and expect you to give an account of them? God knows what concerns and plans you may have, or what ideas you are. hatching, so it's not for me to keep nudging your elbow, asking you what you are thinking about.

Starting point is 20:30:42 But, my goodness, why am I running to and fro as though I were crazy? I'm reading your article in the magazine for the third time, Rode you. Dmitri Prokovich brought it to me. Directly, I saw it, I cried out to myself. There, foolish one, I thought, that's what he is busy about. That's the solution of the mystery. Lernet people are always like that. He may have some new ideas in his head just now.

Starting point is 20:31:08 He is thinking them over, and I worry him and upset him. I read it, my dear, and of course there was a great deal I did not understand, but that's only natural. How should I? Show me, Mother. Ruskolnikov took the magazine and glanced at his article. Incongruous as it was with his mood and his circumstances, he felt that strange and bittersweet sensation that every author experienced.

Starting point is 20:31:35 the first time he sees himself in print. Besides, he was only 23. It lasted only a moment. After reading a few lines, he frowned and his heart throbbed with anguish. He recalled all the inward conflict of the preceding months. He flung the article on the table with disgust and anger. "'But, however foolish I may be, Rodya, I can see for myself that you will very soon be one of the leading, if not the leading man, in the world of Russian thought. And they dared to think you were mad. You don't know, but they really thought that. Ah, the despicable creatures, how could they understand genius? And Donya, Donya was all but believing it. What do you say to that? Your father sent twice to magazines. The first time poems. I've got the manuscript and

Starting point is 20:32:27 will show you, and the second time a whole novel. I begged him to let me copy it out. out, and how we prayed that they should be taken. They weren't. I was breaking my heart, Rodya, six or seven days ago, over your food and your clothes and the way you were living. But now I see again how foolish I was, for you can attain any position you like by your intellect and talent. No doubt you don't care about that for the present, and you are occupied with much more important matters. Donya's not at home, mother? No, Rodia. I often don't see her. She leaves me alone. Dmitri Prakovitch comes to see me. It's so good of him, and he always talks about you. He loves you and respects you, my dear. I don't say that Donya is very

Starting point is 20:33:14 wanting in consideration. I am not complaining. She has her ways, and I have mine. She seems to have got some secrets of late, and I never have any secrets from you, too. Of course, I am sure that Donya has far too much sense, and besides, she loves you and me, but I don't know what it will all lead to. You've made me so happy by coming now, Rodya, but she has missed you by going out. When she comes in, I'll tell her. Your brother came in while you were out. Where have you been all this time? You mustn't spoil me, Rodya, you know.

Starting point is 20:33:51 Come when you can, but if you can't, it doesn't matter. I can wait. I shall know, anyway, that you are fond of me. That will be enough for me. I shall read what you write. I shall hear about you from everyone, and sometimes you'll come yourself to see me. What could be better? Here you've come now to comfort your mother. I see that.' Here Poceria Alexandrovna began to cry. "'Here I am again. Don't mind my foolishness. My goodness, why am I sitting here?' she cried jumping up. There is coffee, and I don't offer you any. Ah, that's the selfishness of old age.

Starting point is 20:34:30 I'll get it at once. Mother, don't trouble. I am going at once. I haven't come for that. Please listen to me. Polcheria Alexandrovna went up to him timidly. Mother, whatever happens, whatever you hear about me, whatever you are told about me, you will always love me as you do now? He asked suddenly, from the fullness of his heart, as though not thinking of his words and not weighing them. Rodya, Rodya, what is the matter? How can you ask me such a question? Why, who will tell me anything about you?

Starting point is 20:35:06 Besides, I shouldn't believe anyone. I should refuse to listen. I have come to assure you that I've always loved you, and I'm glad that we are alone, even glad Donya is out. He went on with the same impulse. I have come to tell you that, though you will be unhappy, you must believe that your son loves you now more than himself, and that all you thought about me, that I was cruel and didn't care about you, was all a mistake.

Starting point is 20:35:34 I shall never cease to love you. Well, that's enough. I thought I must do this and begin with this." Pulcheria Alexandrovna embraced him in silence, pressing him to her bosom and weeping gently. "'I don't know what is wrong with you, Rodya,' she said at last. I've been thinking all this time that we were simply boring you, and now I see that there is a great sorrow in store for you, and that's why you are miserable. I've foreseen it a long time, Rodia. Forgive me for speaking about it. I keep thinking about it and lie awake at nights.

Starting point is 20:36:12 Your sister lay talking in her sleep all last night, talking of nothing but you. I caught something, but I couldn't make it out. I felt all the morning as though I were going to be hanged, waiting for something, expecting something, and now it has come. Rodya, Rodea, where are you going? You are going away somewhere? Yes. That's what I thought.

Starting point is 20:36:38 I can come with you, you know, if you need me, and Donya too. She loves you, she loves you dearly, and Sophia Semyonovna may come with us if you like. You see, I am glad to look upon her as a daughter. even. Dmitriukovitch will help us to go together. But where are you going? Goodbye, mother. What? Today? She cried as though losing him forever. I can't stay. I must go now. And can't I come with you? No, but kneel down and pray to God for me. Your prayer perhaps will reach him. Let me bless you and sign you with the cross. That's right, that's right. That's Right. Oh, God, what are we doing? Yes, he was glad. He was very glad that there was no one there,

Starting point is 20:37:28 that he was alone with his mother. For the first time, after all those awful months, his heart was softened. He fell down before her. He kissed her feet, and both wept, embracing. And she was not surprised and did not question him this time. For some days she had realized that something awful was happening to her son, and that now some terrible minute had come for him. Rodia, my darling, my first-born, she said, sobbing. Now you are just as when you were little. You would run like this to me and hug me and kiss me.

Starting point is 20:38:04 When your father was living and we were poor, you comforted us simply by being with us, and when I buried your father, how often we wept together at his grave and embraced, as now. And if I've been crying lately, it's that my mother's heart had a forer boating of trouble. The first time I saw you, that evening, you remember, as soon as we arrived here, I guessed simply from your eyes. My heart sank at once, and today, when I opened the door and looked at you, I thought the fatal hour had come. Rodya, Rodia, you are not going away today? No. You'll come again? Yes, I'll come.

Starting point is 20:38:45 Rodya, don't be angry. I don't dare to question you. I know I mustn't. Only say two words to me. Is it far where you are going? Very far. What is awaiting you there? Some post or career for you? What God sends. Only pray for me. Ruskalnikov went to the door, but she clutched him and gazed despairingly into his eyes. Her face worked with terror. "'Enough, mother,' said Raskolnikov, deeply regretting that he had come. "'Not forever. Is it not forever? You'll come? You'll come tomorrow?' "'I will. I will. Goodbye.' He tore himself away at last. It was a warm, fresh, bright evening.

Starting point is 20:39:36 It had cleared up in the morning. Ruskalnikov went to his lodgings. He made haste. He wanted to finish all before sunset. He did not want to meet anyone till then. Going up the stairs, he noticed that Nastasha rushed from the samovar to watch him intently. "'Can anyone have come to see me?' he wondered. He had a disgusted vision of Porfiry. But opening his door, he saw Donya. She was sitting alone, plunged in deep thought, and looked as though she had been waiting a long time. He stopped short in the doorway. She rose from the sofa in dismay and stood up facing him. Her eyes, fixed upon him, betrayed horror and infinite grief.

Starting point is 20:40:22 And from those eyes alone he saw at once that she knew. Am I to come in or go away? he asked uncertainly. I've been all day with Sophia Semyonovna. We were both waiting for you. We thought that you would be sure to come there. Raskolnikov went into the room and sank exhausted on a chair. I feel weak, Donya. I am very tired, and I should have liked at this moment to be able to control myself." He glanced at her mistrustfully.

Starting point is 20:40:56 "'Where were you all night?' "'I don't remember clearly. You see, sister, I wanted to make up my mind once for all, and several times I walked by the Neva. I remember that I wanted to end it all there, but I couldn't make up my mind,' he whispered, looking at her mistrustfully. again. Thank God. That was just what we were afraid of, Sophia Semyonovna and I. Then you still have faith in life? Thank God. Thank God. Raskolnikov smiled bitterly. I haven't faith, but I have just been weeping in Mother's arms. I haven't faith, but I have just asked her to pray for me. I don't know how it is, Donya. I don't understand it. Have you been at Mother's? Have you told you

Starting point is 20:41:46 her?" cried Donya, horror-stricken. "'Surely you haven't done that?' "'No, I didn't tell her, in words. But she understood a great deal. She heard you talking in your sleep. I am sure she half understands it already. Perhaps I did wrong in going to see her. I don't know why I did go. I am a contemptible person, Donya?' A contemptible person, but ready to face suffering. You are, aren't you? Yes, I am going, at once.

Starting point is 20:42:23 Yes, to escape the disgrace, I thought of drowning myself, Donya. But as I looked into the water, I thought that if I had considered myself strong till now, I'd better not be afraid of disgrace, he said, hurrying on. It's pride, don't you? Pride, Rodya. There was a gleam of fire in his lustreless eyes. He seemed to be glad to think that he was still proud.

Starting point is 20:42:51 You don't think, sister, that I was simply afraid of the water? He asked, looking into her face with a sinister smile. Oh, Rodia, hush! cried Donya bitterly. Silence lasted for two minutes. He sat with his eyes fixed on the floor. Donya stood at the other end of the table, and looked at him with anguish. Suddenly he got up. It's late. It's time to go. I am going at once to give myself up. But I don't know why I am going to give myself up. Big tears fell from her

Starting point is 20:43:25 cheeks. You are crying, sister, but can you hold out your hand to me? You doubted it? She threw her arms around him. Aren't you half-expeating your crime by facing the suffering? She cried, holding him close and kissing him. Crime? What crime? He cried in sudden fury. That I killed a vile, noxious insect? An old pawnbroker woman of use to no one?

Starting point is 20:43:53 Killing her was an atonement for forty sins. She was sucking the life out of poor people. Was that a crime? I am not thinking of it, and I am not thinking of expiating it. And why are you all rubbing it in on all sides? A crime. A crime!

Starting point is 20:44:11 Only now I see clear the imbecility of my cowardice, now that I have decided to face this superfluous disgrace. It's simply because I am contemptible and have nothing in me that I have decided to, perhaps too for my advantage, as that, porphyry suggested. "'Brother, brother, what are you saying? Why, you have shed blood?' cried Donya in despair. Which all men shed, he put in almost frantically, which flows and has always flowed in streams,

Starting point is 20:44:46 which is spilt like champagne, and for which men are crowned in the capital and are called afterwards benefactors of mankind. Look into it more carefully and understand it. I, too, wanted to do good to men, and would have done hundreds, thousands of good deeds, to make up for that one piece of stupidity, not stupidity even, simply clumsiness, for the idea was by no means stupid, as it seems now that it has failed. Everything seems stupid when it fails. By that stupidity, I only wanted to put myself into an independent position, to take the first step, to obtain means, and then everything would have been smoothed over by benefits immeasurable in comparison. But I—I couldn't carry out even the first step. Because I am contemptible.

Starting point is 20:45:39 That's what's the matter. And yet I won't look at it as you do. If I had succeeded, I should have been crowned with glory. But now I'm trapped. But that's not so, not so. Brother, what are you saying? Ah, it's not picturesque, not aesthetically attractive. I fail to understand why bombarding people by regular siege is more honorable.

Starting point is 20:46:06 The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence. I've never, never recognized this more clearly than now, and I am further than ever from seeing that what I did was a crime. I've never, never been stronger and more convinced than now. The color had rushed into his pale, exhausted face, but as he uttered this last explanation, he happened to meet Donya's eyes, and he saw such anguish in them that he could not help being checked. He felt that he had, anyway, made these two poor women miserable, that he was, anyway, the cause. Donya, darling, if I am guilty, forgive me, though I cannot be forgiven if I am guilty. Goodbye. We won't dispute. It's time, high time to go. Don't follow me. I

Starting point is 20:46:58 beseech you. I have somewhere else to go. But you go at once and sit with Mother. I entreat you to. It's my last request of you. Don't leave her at all. I left her in a state of anxiety, that she is not fit to bear. She will die or go out of her mind. Be with her. Resumian will be with you. I've been talking to him. Don't cry about me. I'll try to be honest and manly all my life, even if I am a murderer. Perhaps I shall someday make a name. I won't disgrace you. You will see. I'll still show—now goodbye for the present—he concluded hurriedly, noticing again a strange expression in Donia's eyes at his last words and promises. "'Why are you crying? Don't cry! Don't cry! Don't cry! We are not parting forever!'

Starting point is 20:47:52 Ah, yes, wait a minute. I'd forgotten. He went to the table, took up a thick, dusty book, opened it, and took from between the pages a little watercolor portrait on ivory. It was the portrait of his landlady's daughter who had died of fever, that strange girl who had wanted to be a nun. For a minute he gazed at the delicate expressive face of his betrothed, kissed the portrait, and gave it to Donya. I used to talk a great deal about it to her, only to her, he said thoughtfully. To her heart I confided much of what has since been so hideously realized. Don't be uneasy. He returned to Donia.

Starting point is 20:48:35 She was as much opposed to it as you, and I am glad that she is gone. The great point is that everything now is going to be different, is going to be broken in two, he cried, suddenly returning to his dejection. Everything, everything, and am I prepared for it? Do I want it myself? They say it is necessary for me to suffer. What's the object of these senseless sufferings? Shall I know any better what they are for when I am.

Starting point is 20:49:03 I am crushed by hardships and idiocy and weak as an old man after twenty years penal servitude. And what shall I have to live for then? Why am I consenting to that life now? Oh, I knew I was contemptible when I stood looking at the Neva at daybreak today. At last they both went out. It was hard for Donia, but she loved him. She walked away, but after going fifty paces, she turned round to look at him again. He was still in sight. At the corner he too turned, and for the last time their eyes met, but noticing that she was looking at him, he motioned her away with impatience, an even vexation, and turned the corner abruptly.

Starting point is 20:49:47 "'I am wicked, I see that,' he thought to himself, feeling ashamed a moment later of his angry gesture to Donya. "'But why are they so fond of me if I don't deserve it? Oh, if only I were alone, and no one loved me, and I, too, had never loved anyone. Nothing of all this would have happened. But I wonder shall I in those fifteen or twenty years grow so meek that I shall humble myself before people, and whimper at every word that I am a criminal? Yes, that's it, that's it, that's what they are sending me there for, that's what they want. Look at them running to and fro about the streets,

Starting point is 20:50:27 every one of them a scoundrel and a criminal at heart, and worse still, an idiot, it. But try to get me off, and they'd be wild with righteous indignation. Oh, how I hate them all!' He felt amusing by what process it would come to pass, that he could be humbled before all of them, indiscriminately, humbled by conviction. And yet, why not? It must be so. Would not twenty years of continual bondage crush him utterly? Water wears out a stone. And why? Why should he live after that? Why should he go now when he knew that it would be so? It was the hundredth time, perhaps, that he had asked himself that question since the previous evening.

Starting point is 20:51:13 But still he went. End of Part 6, Chapter 7. Part 6 Chapter 8 of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Part 6. Chapter 8 When he went into Sonia's room, it was already getting dark. All days Sonia had been waiting for him in terrible anxiety.

Starting point is 20:51:52 Donia had been waiting with her. She had come to her that morning, remembering Svidar Gailov's words that Sonia knew. We will not describe the conversation and tears of the two girls, and how friendly they became. Donya gained one comfort at least from that interview, that her brother would not be alone. He had gone to her, Sonia, first with his confession. He had gone to her for human fellowship when he needed it. She would go with him wherever fate might send him. Donya did not ask, but she knew it was so. She looked at Sonia almost with reverence, and at first almost embarrassed her by it. Sonia was almost on the point of tears.

Starting point is 20:52:35 She felt herself, on the contrary, hardly worthy to look at Donya. Donia's gracious image when she had bowed to her so attentively and respectfully at their first meeting in Raskolnikov's room, had remained in her mind as one of the fairest visions of her life. Donia at last became impatient, and, leaving Sonia, went to her brother's room to await him there. She kept thinking that he would come there first. When she had gone, Sonia began to be tortured by the dread of his committing suicide, and

Starting point is 20:53:09 Donia too feared it. But they had spent the day trying to persuade each other that that could not be, and both were less anxious while they were together. As soon as they parted, each thought of nothing else. Sonia remembered how Svidra Gailov had said to her the day before that Raskolnikov had two alternatives, Siberia or... Besides, she knew his vanity, his pride, and his lack of faith. Is it possible that he has nothing but cowardice and fear of death to make him live?

Starting point is 20:53:43 She thought at last in despair. Meanwhile, the sun was setting. Sonia was standing in dejection, looking intently out of the window. But from it she could see nothing but the unwhitewashed blank wall of the next house. At last, when she began to feel sure of his death, he walked into the room. She gave a cry of joy, but looking carefully into his face she turned pale. Yes, said Raskolnikov, smiling. I have come for your cross, Sonia.

Starting point is 20:54:16 It was you told me to go to the crossroads. Why is it you are frightened now it's come to that? Sonia gazed at him astonished. His tone seemed strange to her. A cold shiver ran over her, but in a moment she guessed that the tone and the words were a mask. He spoke to her looking away, as though to avoid meeting her eyes. You see, Sonia, I've decided that it would be better so. There is one fact, but it's a long story, and there's no need to discuss it. But do you know what angers me? It annoys me that all

Starting point is 20:54:53 these stupid, brutish faces will be gaping at me directly, pestering me with their stupid questions, which I shall have to answer. They'll pull you. their fingers at me. Foo! You know, I am not going to Porphyry. I am sick of him. I'd rather go to my friend, the explosive lieutenant. How I shall surprise him!

Starting point is 20:55:15 What a sensation I shall make! But I must be cooler. I've become too irritable of late. You know, I was nearly shaking my fist at my sister just now, because she turned to take a last look at me. It's a brutal state to be in. Ah, what am I coming to? Well, where are the crosses?

Starting point is 20:55:37 He seemed hardly to know what he was doing. He could not stay still or concentrate his attention on anything. His ideas seemed to gallop after one another. He talked incoherently, his hands trembled slightly. Without a word, Sonia took out of the drawer two crosses, one of cypress wood and one of copper. She made the sign of the cross over herself and over him. and put the wooden cross on his neck.

Starting point is 20:56:04 "'It's the symbol of my taking up the cross,' he laughed. "'As though I had not suffered much till now. "'The wooden cross, that is the peasant one. "'The copper one, that is Lizavetta's. "'You will wear yourself. Show me.' "'So she had it on, at that moment?' "'I remember two things like these two, "'a silver one and a little icon.

Starting point is 20:56:29 I threw them back on the old woman's neck. Those would be appropriate now, really. Those are what I ought to put on now. But I am talking nonsense and forgetting what matters. I am somehow forgetful. You see, I have come to warn you, Sonia, so that you might know. That's all. That's all I came for.

Starting point is 20:56:51 But I thought I had more to say. You wanted me to go yourself. Well, now I am going to prison and you'll have your wish. Well, what are you crying for? You too? Don't. Leave off. Oh, how I hate it all. But his feeling was stirred. His heart ached as he looked at her. Why is she grieving, too, he thought to himself. What am I to her? Why does she weep? Why is she looking after me, like my mother, Ardonia? She'll be my nurse. Cross yourself. Say at least what.

Starting point is 20:57:29 One prayer, Sonia begged in a timid, broken voice. Oh, certainly, as much as you like. And sincerely, Sonia, sincerely. But he wanted to say something quite different. He crossed himself several times. Sonia took up her shawl and put it over her head. It was the green dropped Adam shawl of which Marmiladov had spoken, the family shawl.

Starting point is 20:57:56 Rus Kolnikov thought of that looking at it, but he did not ask. He began to feel himself that he was certainly forgetting things and was disgustingly agitated. He was frightened at this. He was suddenly struck too by the thought that Sonia meant to go with him. "'What are you doing? Where are you going? Stay here, stay. I'll go alone,' he cried in cowardly vexation, and almost resentful. He moved towards the door. What's the use of going in procession? He muttered going out. Sonia remained standing in the middle of the room.

Starting point is 20:58:34 He had not even said goodbye to her. He had forgotten her. A poignant and rebellious doubt surged in his heart. Was it right? Was it right all this? He thought again as he went down the stairs. Couldn't he stop and retract it all and not go? But still he went.

Starting point is 20:58:55 He felt suddenly once for all that he mustn't ask himself questions. As he turned into the street, he remembered that he had not said goodbye to Sonia, that he had left her in the middle of the room in her green shawl, not daring to stir after he had shouted at her, and he stopped short for a moment. At the same instant another thought dawned upon him, as though it had been lying in wait to strike him then. Why, with what object did I go to her just now? I told her, on business.

Starting point is 20:59:28 On what business? I had no sort of business. To tell her I was going. But where was the need? Do I love her? No, no, I drove her away just now like a dog. Did I want her crosses? Oh, how low I've sunk.

Starting point is 20:59:47 No, I wanted her tears. I wanted to see her terror, to see how her heart ached. I had to have something to cling to, something to delay me, some friendly face to see. And I dared to believe in myself, to dream of what I would do. I am a beggarly, contemptible wretch, contemptible. He walked along the canal bank, and he had not much further to go. But on reaching the bridge, he stopped and turning out of his way along it, went to the haymarket. He looked eagerly to right and left, gazed intently at every object, and could not fix

Starting point is 21:00:25 his attention on anything. Everything slipped away. In another week, another month, I shall be driven in a prison van over this bridge. How shall I look at the canal then? I should like to remember this, slipped into his mind. Look at that sign. How shall I read those letters then? It's written here, Campany.

Starting point is 21:00:49 That's a thing to remember, that letter A, and to look at it again in a month. How shall I look at it then? What shall I be feeling and thinking then? How trivial it all must be, what I am fretting about now. Of course it must all be interesting, in its way. Ha, ha, what am I thinking about? I am becoming a baby. I am showing off to myself.

Starting point is 21:01:15 Why am I ashamed? Foo! How people shove! That fat man! A German he must be! Who pushed against me! Does he know whom he pushed? There's a peasant woman with a baby begging.

Starting point is 21:01:30 It's curious that she thinks me happier than she is. I might give her something for the incongruity of it. Here's a five-copac piece left in my pocket. Where did I get it? Here! Here! Take it, my good woman! God bless you!" the beggar chanted in a lacrimo's voice. He went into the haymarket. It was distasteful, very distasteful to be in a crowd,

Starting point is 21:01:57 but he walked just where he saw most people. He would have given anything in the world to be alone, but he knew himself that he would not have remained alone for a moment. There was a man drunk and disorderly in the crowd. He kept trying to dance and falling down. There was a ring round him. Raskolnikov squeezed his way through the crowd, stared for some minutes at the drunken man, and suddenly gave a short, jerky laugh. A minute later he had forgotten him and did not see him,

Starting point is 21:02:28 though he still stared. He moved away at last, not remembering where he was. But when he got into the middle of the square, an emotion suddenly came over him, overwhelming him body and mind. He suddenly recalled Sonia's words, Go to the crossroads, bow down to the people, kiss the earth, for you have sinned against it too, and say aloud to the whole world, I am a murderer."

Starting point is 21:02:56 He trembled, remembering that. And the hopeless misery and anxiety of all that time, especially of the last hours, had weighed so heavily upon him that he positively clutched at the chance of this new, unmixed, complete sensation. It came over him like a fit. It was like a single spark kindled in his soul and spreading fire through him. Everything in him softened at once, and the tears started into his eyes. He fell to the earth on the spot.

Starting point is 21:03:27 He knelt down in the middle of the square, bowed down to the earth, and kissed that filthy earth with bliss and rapture. He got up, bowed down a second time. "'He's boozed!' a youth near him observed. There was a roar of laughter. "'He's going to Jerusalem, brothers, and saying goodbye to his children and his country. He's bowing down to all the world and kissing the great city of St. Petersburg and its pavement,' added a workman, who was a little drunk.

Starting point is 21:03:59 "'Quite a young man, too,' observed a third. "'And a gentleman,' someone observed soberly. "'There's no knowing who's a gentleman and who isn't nowadays.' These exclamations and remarks checked Rus Kolnikov and the words, I am a murderer, which were perhaps on the point of dropping from his lips, died away. He bore these remarks quietly, however, and without looking round he turned down a street leading to the police office. He had a glimpse of something on the way which did not surprise him. He had felt that it must be so. The second time he bowed down in the haymarket,

Starting point is 21:04:38 he saw, standing fifty paces from him on the left, Sonia. She was hiding from him behind one of the wooden shanties in the marketplace. She had followed him then on his painful way. Raskolnikov at that moment felt and knew once for all that Sonia was with him forever, and would follow him to the ends of the earth, wherever fate might take him. It wrung his heart, but he was just reaching the fatal place. He went into the yard fairly resolute. He had to mount to the third story. I shall be some time going up, he thought. He felt as though the fateful moment was still far off, as though he had plenty of time

Starting point is 21:05:20 left for consideration. Again the same rubbish, the same eggshells lying about on the spiral stairs, again the open doors of the flats, again the same kitchens and the same fumes and stench coming from them. Ruskalnikov had not been there since that day. His legs were numb and gave way under him, but still they moved forward. He stopped for a moment to take breath, to collect himself, so as to enter like a man. "'But why? What for?' he wondered, reflecting.

Starting point is 21:05:53 "'If I must drink the cup, what difference does it make? The more revolting the better.' He imagined for an instant the figure of the explosive lieutenant, Ilya Petrovich. Was he actually going to him? Couldn't he go to someone else? To Nicodeme Fomitch? Couldn't he turn back and go straight to Nicodeme Fomitch's lodgings? At least then it would be done privately.

Starting point is 21:06:18 No, no. To the explosive lieutenant. If he must drink it, drink it off at once. Turning cold and hardly conscious, he opened the door of the office. There were very few people in it this time, only a house porter and a peasant. The doorkeeper did not even peep out from behind his screen. Ruskalnikov walked into the next room. Perhaps I still need not speak, passed through his mind.

Starting point is 21:06:47 Some sort of clerk not wearing a uniform was settling himself at a bureau to write. In a corner another clerk was seating himself. Zametov was not there, nor of course Nicodem Fomitch. No one in? Roskolnikov asked, addressing the person at the bureau. "'Whom do you want?' "'Ah! Not a sound was heard, not a sight was seen, but I sent the Russian. "'How does it go on in the fairy tale? I've forgotten. At your service!'

Starting point is 21:07:18 A familiar voice cried suddenly. Raskolnikov shuddered. The explosive lieutenant stood before him. He had just come in from the third room. "'It is the hand of fate,' thought Raskolnikov. "'Why is he here?' "'You've come to see us? What about?' cried Ilya Petrovich. He was obviously in an exceedingly good humor and perhaps a trifle exhilarated. "'If it's on business, you are rather early. It's only chance that I am here. However, I'll do what I can. I must admit I—'

Starting point is 21:07:54 What is it? What is it? Excuse me.' Raskolnikov. Of course, Rus Kolnikov. You didn't imagine I'd forgotten. I don't think I am like that. Rodion... Roh-Rodionovitch. That's it, isn't it? Rodion Romanovich.

Starting point is 21:08:12 Yes, yes, of course. Rodion Romanovich. I was just getting at it. I made many inquiries about you. I assure you, I've been genuinely grieved since that, since I behaved like that. It was explained to me afterwards that you were a literary man, and a learned one, too,

Starting point is 21:08:30 and so to say the first step. Mercy on us. What literary or scientific man does not begin by some originality of conduct? My wife and I have the greatest respect for literature. In my wife it's a genuine passion. Literature and art. If only a man is a gentleman, all the rest can be gained by talents, learning, good sense, genius. As for a hat, well, what does a hat matter? I can buy a hat as easily as I can a bun. But what's under the hat, what the hat covers, I can't buy that. I was even meaning to come and apologize to you, but thought maybe you'd— But I am forgetting to ask you, is there anything you want, really? I hear your family have

Starting point is 21:09:15 come. Yes, my mother and sister. I've even had the honor and happiness of meeting your sister, a highly cultivated and charming person. I confess I was sorry I got to be. so hot with you. There it is. But as for my looking suspiciously at your fainting fit, that affair has been cleared up splendidly. Bigotry and fanaticism. I understand your indignation. Perhaps you are changing your lodging on account of your families arriving? No, I only looked in. I came to ask. I thought that I should find Zammatov here. Oh, yes, of course. You've made friends, I heard. Well, no, Zamatov is. is not here. Yes, we've lost Zamatov. He's not been here since yesterday. He quarreled with

Starting point is 21:10:05 everyone on leaving, in the rudest way. He is a feather-headed youngster, that's all. One might have expected something from him, but there, you know what they are. Our brilliant young men. He wanted to go in for some examination, but it's only to talk and boast about it. It will go no further than that. Of course, it's a very different matter with you or Mr. Rezumian there, friend, your career is an intellectual one and you won't be deterred by failure. For you, one may say, all the attractions of life Nile-est. You are an ascetic, a monk, a hermit. A book, a pen behind your ear, alerted research, that's where your spirit soars. I am that way myself. Have you read Livingstone's travels? No. Oh, I have. There are a great many nihilists about nowadays, you know,

Starting point is 21:10:58 and indeed it is not to be wondered at. What sort of days are they, I ask you. But we thought— You are not a nihilist, of course. Answer me openly, openly. No. Believe me, you can speak openly to me as you would to yourself. Official duty is one thing, but—

Starting point is 21:11:19 You are thinking I meant to say friendship is quite another? No, you're wrong. It's not friendship, but the feeling of a man and a citizen, the feeling of humanity and of love for the Almighty. I may be an official, but I am always bound to feel myself a man and a citizen. You are asking about Zamatov. Zammatov will make a scandal in the French style in a house of bad reputation, over a glass of champagne.

Starting point is 21:11:46 That's all your Zammatov is good for. Well, I'm perhaps, so to speak, burning with devotion and lofty feelings, and besides I have rank, consequence, a post, I am married and have children. I fulfill the duties of a man and a citizen. But who is he, may I ask? I appeal to you as a man ennobled by education. Then these midwives, too, have become extraordinarily numerous. Russ Konekov raised his eyebrows inquiringly. The words of Ilya Petrovich, who had obviously been dining, were, for the most part,

Starting point is 21:12:22 a stream of empty sounds for him. But some of them he understood. He looked at him inquiringly, not knowing how it would end. "'I mean those crop-headed wenches,' the talkative Ily Petrovich continued. Midwives is my name for them. I think it a very satisfactory one, ha-ha. They go to the academy, study anatomy. If I fall ill, am I to send for a young lady to treat me? What do you say? Hah! Ilya Petrovich laughed, quite pleased with his own wit. It's an immoderate zeal for education, but once you're educated, that's enough. Why abuse it? Why insult honorable people, as that scoundrel Zamatov does?

Starting point is 21:13:06 Why did he insult me, I ask you. Look at these suicides, too, how common they are. You can't fancy. People spend their last half-penny and kill themselves, boys and girls and old people. Only this morning we heard about a gentleman who had just come to town. Neil Pavlitch, I say, what was the name of that gentleman who shot himself? Svidrigailov, someone answered from the other room with the drowsy listlessness. Ruskonikov started. Svidrigailov?

Starting point is 21:13:37 Svidrigailov has shot himself? He cried. What? Do you know Svidrigailov? Yes, I knew him. He hadn't been here long. Yes, that's so. He had lost his wife.

Starting point is 21:13:51 Was a man of reckless habits. and all of a sudden shot himself, and in such a shocking way. He left in his notebook a few words, that he dies in full possession of his faculties and that no one is to blame for his death. He had money, they say. How did you come to know him? I was acquainted.

Starting point is 21:14:10 My sister was governess in his family. Ba, ba, bah, there no doubt you can tell us something about him. You had no suspicion? I saw him yesterday. He was drinking wine. I knew nothing. Ruskolnikov felt as though something had fallen on him and was stifling him. You've turned pale again. It's so stuffy here.

Starting point is 21:14:34 Yes, I must go, muttered Ruskolnikov. Excuse my troubling you. Oh, not at all, as often as you like. It's a pleasure to see you, and I am glad to say so. Ilya Petrovich held out his hand. I only wanted. I came to see Zamatov. I understand. I understand. And it's a pleasure to see you. I am very glad. Good-bye.

Starting point is 21:15:02 Roskolnikov smiled. He went out. He reeled. He was overtaken with giddiness and did not know what he was doing. He began going down the stairs, supporting himself with his right hand against the wall. He fancied that a porter pushed past him on his way upstairs to the police office. that a dog in the lower story kept up a shrill barking and that a woman flung a rolling-pin at it and shouted. He went down and out into the yard. There, not far from the entrance, stood Sonia, pale and horror-stricken. She looked wildly at him. He stood still before her. There was a look of poignant agony, of despair in her face. She clasped her hands. His lips worked in an ugly, meaningless smile. He stood still a minute, grinned, and went back to the police

Starting point is 21:15:54 office. Elia Petrovich had sat down and was rummaging among some papers. Before him stood the same peasant who had pushed by on the stairs. Hello, back again! Have you left something behind? What's the matter? Ruskonikov, with white lips and staring eyes, came slowly nearer. He walked right to the table, leaned his hand on it, tried to say something, but could not. Only incoherent sounds were audible. "'You are feeling ill! A chair! Here, sit down! Some water!' Ruskalnikov dropped onto a chair, but he kept his eyes fixed on the face of Ilya Petrovich, which expressed unpleasant surprise. Both looked at one another for a minute and waited. Water was brought. "'It was I—'

Starting point is 21:16:46 began Ruskalnikov. "'Drink some water!' Ruskalnikov refused the water with his hand, and softly and brokenly, but distinctly said, "'It was I, killed the old pawnbroker woman and her sister Lizavetta with an axe and robbed them.' Ilya Petrovich opened his mouth. People ran up on all sides.

Starting point is 21:17:10 Ruskalnikov repeated his statement. "'End of Part 6, Chapter 8. Epilogue of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, 1861 to 1946. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Epilogue 1 Siberia On the banks of a broad solitary river stands a town, one of the administrative centers of Russia.

Starting point is 21:17:48 In the town there is a fortress. In the fortress there is a prison. In the prison, the second-class convict Rodion Ruskonikov has been confined for nine months. Almost a year and a half has passed since his crime. There had been little difficulty about his trial. The criminal adhered exactly, firmly, and clearly to his statement. He did not confuse nor misrepresent the facts, nor soften them in his own interest, nor omit the smallest detail.

Starting point is 21:18:19 He explained every incident of the murder. the secret of the pledge, the piece of wood with a strip of metal, which was found in the murdered woman's hand. He described minutely how he had taken her keys, what they were like, as well as the chest and its contents. He explained the mystery of Lizavetta's murder, described how Coke, and after him the student knocked, and repeated all they had said to one another. How he had afterwards had run downstairs and heard Nikolai and Dmitri shouting, how he had hidden in the empty flat and afterwards gone home. He ended by indicating the stone in the yard off the Vosnesensky prospect, under which the purse and the trinkets were found. The whole thing,

Starting point is 21:19:04 in fact, was perfectly clear. The lawyers and the judges were very much struck, among other things, by the fact that he had hidden the trinkets and the purse under a stone, without making use of them, and that, what was more, he did not now remember what the trinkets were like, or even, how many there were. The fact that he had never opened the purse and did not even know how much was in it seemed incredible. There turned out to be in the purse three hundred and seventeen roubles and sixty copes. From being so long under the stone, some of the most valuable notes lying uppermost had suffered from the damp. They were a long while trying to discover why the accused man should tell a lie about this, when about everything else he had made a truthful and straightforward

Starting point is 21:19:50 confession. Finally, some of the lawyers more versed in psychology admitted that it was possible he had really not looked into the purse, and so didn't know what was in it when he hid it under the stone. But they immediately drew the deduction that the crime could only have been committed through temporary mental derangement, through homicidal mania, without object or the pursuit of gain. This fell in with the most recent fashionable theory of temporary insanity, so often applied in our days in criminal cases. Moreover, Rus Kalnikov's hypogundriical condition was proved by many witnesses, by Dr. Zossimov, his former fellow students, his landlady, and her servant. All this pointed strongly to the conclusion that Rus Kalnikov was not quite like an ordinary

Starting point is 21:20:40 murderer and robber, but that there was another element in the case. To the intense annoyance of those who maintained this opinion, the criminal scarcely attempted to defend himself. To the decisive question as to what motive impelled him to the murder and the robbery, he answered very clearly with the coarsest frankness that the cause was his miserable position, his poverty and helplessness, and his desire to provide for his first steps in life by the help of the three thousand roubles he had reckoned on finding. He had been led to the murder through his shallow and cowardly nature, exasperated, moreover, by privation and failure. To the question what led him to confess, he answered that it was his heartfelt repentance. All this

Starting point is 21:21:26 was almost coarse. The sentence, however, was more merciful than could have been expected, perhaps partly because the criminal had not tried to justify himself, but had rather shown a desire to exaggerate his guilt. All the strange and peculiar circumstances of the crime were taken into consideration. There could be no doubt of the abnormal and poverty-stricken condition of the criminal at the time. The fact that he had made no use of what he had stolen was put down partly to the effect of remorse, partly to his abnormal mental condition at the time of the crime. Incidentally, the murder of Lizavetta served indeed to confirm the last hypothesis. A man commits two murders and forgets that the door is open.

Starting point is 21:22:10 Finally, the confession. At the very moment when the case was hopelessly muddled by the false evidence given by Nikolai through melancholy and fanaticism, and when, moreover, there were no proofs against the real criminal, no suspicions even. Porfiry Petrovich fully kept his word. All this did much to soften the sentence. Other circumstances, too, in the prisoner's favor came out quite unexpectedly. Razumian somehow discovered and proved that while Russ Kalnikov was at the university, he had helped a poor consumptive fellow-student and had spent spent his last penny on supporting him for six months. And when this student died, leaving a decrepit old father whom he had maintained almost from his 13th year, Ruskolnikov had got the old

Starting point is 21:22:57 man into a hospital and paid for his funeral when he died. Roskolnikov's landlady bore witness, too, that when they had lived in another house at five corners, Ruskolnikov had rescued two little children from a house on fire and was burnt in doing so. This was investigated and fairly well confirmed by many witnesses. These facts made an impression in his favor. And in the end the criminal was, in consideration of extenuating circumstances, condemned to penal servitude in the second class for a term of eight years only. At the very beginning of the trial, Ruskalnikov's mother fell ill. Donya and Razumian found it possible to get her out of Petersburg during the trial.

Starting point is 21:23:44 Razumian chose a town on the railway not far from Petersburg, so as to be able to follow every step of the trial, and at the same time to see Avdotya Romanovna as often as possible. Pulchuria Alexandrovna's illness was a strange nervous one, and was accompanied by a partial derangement of her intellect. When Donia returned from her last interview with her brother, she had found her mother already ill, in feverish delirium. That evening, Resuming and she agreed what answers they must make to her mother's questions about Ruskolnakov, and made up a complete story for her mother's benefit of his having to go away to a distant part of Russia on a business commission, which would

Starting point is 21:24:25 bring him in the end money and reputation. But they were struck by the fact that Polcheria Alexandrovna never asked them anything on the subject, neither then nor thereafter. On the contrary, she had her own version of her son's sudden departure. She told them with tears how he had come to say goodbye to her, hinting that she alone knew many mysterious and important facts, and that Rodya had many very powerful enemies, so that it was necessary for him to be in hiding. As for his future career, she had no doubt that it would be brilliant when certain sinister influences could be removed. She assured Rezumian that her son would be one day a great statesman, that his article and brilliant literary talent proved it.

Starting point is 21:25:11 This article she was continually reading. She even read it aloud, almost took it to bed with her, but scarcely asked where Rodea was, though the subject was obviously avoided by the others, which might have been enough to awaken her suspicions. They began to be frightened at last at Pulcheria Alexandrovna's strange silence on certain subjects. She did not, for instance, complain of getting no letters from him, though in previous years she had only lived on the hope of letters from her beloved Rodya.

Starting point is 21:25:41 This was the cause of great uneasiness to Donya. The idea occurred to her that her mother suspected that there was something terrible in her son's fate, and was afraid to ask, for fear of hearing something still more awful. In any case, Donya saw clearly that her mother was not in full possession of her faculties. It happened once or twice, however, that Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Gavna gave such a turn to the conversation that it was impossible to answer her without mentioning where Rodya was, and on receiving unsatisfactory and suspicious answers, she became at once gloomy and silent, and this mood lasted for a long time. Donya saw at last that it was hard to deceive her and came to the conclusion that it was

Starting point is 21:26:27 better to be absolutely silent on certain points, but it became more and more evident that the poor mother suspected something terrible. Donya remembered her brothers telling her that her mother had overheard her talking in her sleep on the night after her interview with Svedrigailov and before the fatal day of the confession. Had not she made out something from that? Sometimes days and even weeks of gloomy silence and tears would be succeeded by a period of hysterical animation, and the invalid would begin to talk almost incessantly of her son, of her hopes of his future. Her fancies were sometimes very strange. They humored her, pretending to agree with her. She saw perhaps that they were pretending,

Starting point is 21:27:13 but she still went on talking. Five months after Ruskalnikov's confession, he was sentenced. Razumian and Sonia saw him in prison as often as it was possible. At last the moment of separation came. Donya swore to her brother that the separation should not be forever. Rezumian did the same. Rezumian, in his youth-forms, and his youthful, he was not, and he said, ardor, had firmly resolved to lay the foundations at least of a secure livelihood during the next three or four years, and saving up a certain sum to emigrate to Siberia, a country rich in every natural resource and in need of workers, active men and capital. There they would settle in the town where Rodya was, and altogether would begin a new life. They all wept at parting.

Starting point is 21:28:01 Roskolnikov had been very dreamy for a few days before. He asked a great deal about his mother and was constantly anxious about her. He worried so much about her that it alarmed Donya. When he heard about his mother's illness, he became very gloomy. With Sonia, he was particularly reserved all the time. With the help of the money left to her by Svidr Gailov, Sonia had long ago made her preparations to follow the party of convicts in which he was dispatched to Siberia. Not a word passed between Ruskalnikov and her on the subject, but both men who were not. knew it would be so. At the final leave-taking, he smiled strangely at his sisters and Resumian's fervent anticipations of their happy future together when he should come out of prison. He predicted

Starting point is 21:28:48 that their mother's illness would soon have a fatal ending. Sonia and he at last set off. Two months later, Donia was married to Resumian. It was a quiet and sorrowful wedding. Porfiry Petrovich and Zossimov were invited, however. During all, All this period, Resumian wore an air of resolute determination. Donia put implicit faith in his carrying out his plans, and indeed she could not but believe in him. He displayed a rare strength of will. Among other things, he began attending university lectures again in order to take his degree.

Starting point is 21:29:25 They were continually making plans for the future. Both counted on settling in Siberia within five years at least. Till then, they rested their hopes on Sonia. Pulcheria Alexandrovna was delighted to give her blessing to Donya's marriage with Rezumian. But after the marriage, she became even more melancholy and anxious. To give her pleasure, Rezumian told her how Rusconikov had looked after the poor student and his decrepit father, and how a year ago he had been burnt and injured in rescuing two little children from a fire. These two pieces of news excited Pulcheria Alexandrovna's disordered

Starting point is 21:30:04 imagination almost to ecstasy. She was continually talking about them, even entering into conversation with strangers in the street, though Donya always accompanied her. In public conveyances and shops, wherever she could capture a listener, she would begin the discourse about her son, his article, how he had helped the student, how he had been burnt at the fire, and so on. Donya did not know how to restrain her. Apart from the danger of her morbid excitement, there was the risk of someone recalling Raskolnikov's name and speaking of the recent trial. Pulcheria Alexandrovna found out the address of the mother of the two children her son had saved and insisted on going to see her.

Starting point is 21:30:46 At last, her restlessness reached an extreme point. She would sometimes begin to cry suddenly and was often ill and feverishly delirious. One morning she declared that, by her reckoning, Rodya ought soon to be home, that she remembered when he said goodbye to her, he said that they must expect him back in nine months. She began to prepare for his coming, began to do up her room for him, to clean the furniture, to wash and put up new hangings and so on. Donya was anxious, but said nothing and helped her to arrange the room. After a fatiguing day spent in continual fancies, in joyful daydreams and tears, Pulcheria Alexandrovna was taken

Starting point is 21:31:28 ill in the night, and by morning she was feverish and delirious. It was brain fever. She died within a fortnight. In her delirium, she dropped words which showed that she knew a great deal more about her son's terrible fate than they had supposed. For a long time, Russ Kalnikov did not know of his mother's death, though a regular correspondence had been maintained from the time he reached Siberia. It was carried on by means of Sonia, who wrote every month to the resumeans and received an answer with unfailing regularity. At first, found Sonia's letters dry and unsatisfactory. But later on, they came to the conclusion that the letters could not be better, for from these letters they received a complete picture of their

Starting point is 21:32:14 unfortunate brother's life. Sonia's letters were full of the most matter-of-fact detail, the simplest and clearest description of all Rus Kolnikov's surroundings as a convict. There was no word of her own hopes, no conjecture as to the future, no description of her feelings. Instead of any attempt to interpret his state of mind and inner life, she gave them the simple facts, that is, his own words, an exact account of his health, what he asked for at their interviews, what commission he gave her, and so on. All these facts she gave with extraordinary minuteness. The picture of their unhappy brother stood out at last with great clearness and precision. There could be no mistake, because nothing was given but facts.

Starting point is 21:32:58 But Donia and her husband could get little comfort out of the news, especially at first. Sonia wrote that he was constantly sullen and not ready to talk, that he scarcely seemed interested in the news she gave him from their letters, that he sometimes asked after his mother, and that when, seeing that he had guessed the truth, she told him at last of her death, she was surprised to find that he did not seem greatly affected by it, not externally at any rate. She told him that, although he seemed so wrapped up in himself and, as it were, shut himself off from everyone, he took a very direct and simple view of his new life, that he understood his position, expecting nothing better for the time, had no ill-founded hopes, as

Starting point is 21:33:44 is so common in his position, and scarcely seemed surprised at anything in his surroundings, so unlike anything he had known before. She wrote that his health was satisfactory. He He did his work without shirking or seeking to do more. He was almost indifferent about food, but except on Sundays and holidays the food was so bad that at last he had been glad to accept some money from her, Sonia, to have his own tea every day. He begged her not to trouble about anything else,

Starting point is 21:34:17 declaring that all this fuss about him only annoyed him. Sonia wrote further that in prison he shared the same room with the rest, that she had not seen the inside of their barracks, but concluded that they were crowded, miserable, and unhealthy, that he slept on a plank bed with a rug under him and was unwilling to make any other arrangement. But that he lived so poorly and roughly, not from any plan or design, but simply from inattention and indifference. Sonia wrote simply that he had at first shown no interest in her visits, had almost been vexed with her indeed for coming, unwilling to talk and rude to her. But that in the end these visits had become a habit and almost a

Starting point is 21:35:01 necessity for him, so that he was positively distressed when she was ill for some days and could not visit him. She used to see him on holidays at the prison gates or in the guardroom, to which he was brought for a few minutes to see her. On working days she would go to see him at work, either at the workshops or at the brick kilns or at the sheds on the banks of the Eirtish. About herself, Sonia wrote that she had succeeded in making some acquaintances in the town, that she did sewing, and as there was scarcely a dressmaker in the town, she was looked upon as an indispensable person in many houses. But she did not mention that the authorities were, through her, interested in Raskolnikov, that his task was lightened and so on. At last the news

Starting point is 21:35:47 came, Donya had indeed noticed signs of alarm and uneasiness in the preceding letters, That he held aloof from everyone, that his fellow prisoners did not like him, that he kept silent for days at a time and was becoming very pale. In the last letter, Sonia wrote that he had been taken very seriously ill and was in the convict ward of the hospital. Two. He was ill a long time, but it was not the horrors of prison life, not the hard labor, the bad food, the shaven head, or the patched clothes that crushed him. What did he care for all those trials and hardships? He was even glad of the hard work.

Starting point is 21:36:29 Physically exhausted, he could at least reckon on a few hours of quiet sleep. And what was the food to him, the thin cabbage soup with beetles floating in it? In the past as a student he had often not had even that. His clothes were warm and suited to his manner of life. He did not even feel the fetters. Was he ashamed of his shaven head? and party-colored coat? Before whom? Before Sonia? Sonia was afraid of him. How could he be ashamed before her? And yet he was ashamed even before Sonia, whom he tortured because of it with his

Starting point is 21:37:06 contemptuous rough manner. But it was not his shaven head and his fetters he was ashamed of. His pride had been stung to the quick. It was wounded pride that made him ill. Oh, how happy he would have been, if he could have blamed himself. He could have borne everything then, even shame and disgrace. But he judged himself severely, and his exasperated conscience found no particularly terrible fault in his past, except a simple blunder which might happen to anyone. He was ashamed just because he, Raskolnikov, had so hopelessly, stupidly come to grief through some decree of blind fate, and must humble himself and submit to the idiocy of a sentence if he were anyhow to be at peace.

Starting point is 21:37:54 Vague and objectless anxiety in the present, and in the future a continual sacrifice leading to nothing. That was all that lay before him. And what comfort was it to him that at the end of eight years he would only be thirty-two and able to begin a new life? What had he to live for? What had he to look forward to? Why should he strive?

Starting point is 21:38:17 To live in order to exist? Why, he had been ready a thousand times before to give up existence for the sake of an idea, for a hope, even for a fancy. Mere existence had always been too little for him. He had always wanted more. Perhaps it was just because of the strength of his desires that he had thought himself a man to whom more was permissible than to others. And if only fate would have sent him repentance.

Starting point is 21:38:44 burning repentance that would have torn his heart and robbed him of sleep, that repentance, the awful agony of which brings visions of hanging or drowning. Oh, he would have been glad of it. Tears and agonies would at least have been life, but he did not repent of his crime. At least he might have found relief in raging at his stupidity, as he had raged at the grotesque blunders that had brought him to prison. But now that he had found relief in raging at his stupidity, as he had raged at the grotesque blunders that had brought him to prison. But now in prison, in freedom, he thought over and criticized all his actions again, and by no means found them so blundering and so grotesque as they had seemed at the fatal time. In what way, he asked himself, was my theory stupider than others that have swarmed and clashed from the beginning of the world?

Starting point is 21:39:35 One has only to look the thing quite independently, broadly, and uninfluenced by commonplace ideas, and my eyes idea will by no means seem so strange. Oh, skeptics and half-penny philosophers, why do you halt halfway?" "'Why does my action strike them as so horrible?' he said to himself. "'Is it because it was a crime? What is meant by crime? My conscience is at rest.' "'Of course it was a legal crime. Of course the letter of the law was broken and blood was shed. Well, punish me for the letter of the law, and that's enough. Of course, in that case, many of the benefactors of mankind who snatched power for themselves, instead of inheriting it, ought to have been punished at their first steps. But those men succeeded, and so they were right,

Starting point is 21:40:27 and I didn't, and so I had no right to have taken that step. It was only in that that he recognized his criminality, only in the fact that he had been unsuccessful and had confirmed. He suffered, too, from the question, why had he not killed himself? Why had he stood looking at the river and preferred to confess? Was the desire to live so strong, and was it so hard to overcome it? Had not Svidrigailov overcome it, although he was afraid of death? In misery he asked himself this question, and could not understand that, at the very time he had been standing looking into the river, he had perhaps been dimly conscious of the fundamental falsity in himself and his convictions. He didn't understand that that consciousness might be the promise of a future crisis,

Starting point is 21:41:19 of a new view of life and of his future resurrection. He preferred to attribute it to the dead weight of instinct which he could not step over, again through weakness and meanness. He looked at his fellow prisoners and was amazed to see how they all loved life and prized it. It seemed to him that they loved and valued life more in prison than in freedom. What terrible agonies and privations some of them, the tramps, for instance, had endured. Could they care so much for a ray of sunshine, for the primeval forest? The cold spring hidden away in some unseen spot which the tramp had marked three years before

Starting point is 21:41:58 and longed to see again as he might to see his sweetheart, dreaming of the green grass round it and the birds singing in the bush? As he went on, he saw still more inexplicable examples. In prison, of course, there was a great deal he did not see and did not want to see. He lived, as it were, with downcast eyes. It was loathsome and unbearable for him to look. But in the end there was much that surprised him, and he began, as it were, involuntarily, to notice much that he had not suspected before.

Starting point is 21:42:32 What surprised him most of all was the terrible impossible gulf that lay between him and all the rest. They seemed to be a different species, and he looked at them and they at him with distrust and hostility. He felt and knew the reasons of his isolation, but he would never have admitted till then that those reasons were so deep and strong. There were some Polish exiles, political prisoners among them. They simply looked down upon all the rest as ignorant Churls, but Rus Kolnikov could not look upon them like that. He saw that these ignorant men were in many respects far wiser than the Poles. There were some Russians who were just as contemptuous, a former officer and two seminarists.

Starting point is 21:43:18 Ruskonikov saw their mistakes as clearly. He was disliked and avoided by everyone. They even began to hate him at last. Why, he could not tell. Men who had been far more guilty, despised, and laughed at his crime. "'You are a gentleman,' they used to say. You shouldn't hack about with an axe. That's not a gentleman's work. The second week in Lent, his turn came to take the sacrament with his gang. He went to church and prayed with the others. A quarrel broke out one day. He did not know how. All fell on him at once in a fury. "'You're an infidel. You don't believe in God!' they shouted. "'You ought to be

Starting point is 21:43:59 killed! He had never talked to them about God, nor his belief, but they wanted to kill him as an infidel. He said nothing. One of the prisoners rushed at him in a perfect frenzy. Raskolnikov awaited him calmly and silently. His eyebrows did not quiver. His face did not flinch. The guard succeeded in intervening between him and his assailant, or there would have been bloodshed. There was another question he could not decide. Why were they all so fond of Sonia. She did not try to win their favor. She rarely met them, sometimes only she came to see him at work for a moment. And yet everybody knew her. They knew that she had come out to follow him, knew how and where she lived. She never gave them money, did them no particular services.

Starting point is 21:44:50 Only once at Christmas she sent them all presents of pies and rolls. But by degrees, closer relations sprang up between them and Sonia. She would write and post letters for them to their relations. Relations of the prisoners who visited the town, at their instructions, left with Sonia, presents and money for them. Their wives and sweethearts knew her and used to visit her. And when she visited Ruskolnikov at work, or met a party of the prisoners on the road, they all took off their hats to her.

Starting point is 21:45:21 "'Little Mother Sophia Semyonovna, you are our dear good little mother,' course branded criminals said to that frail little creature. She would smile and bow to them, and everyone was delighted when she smiled. They even admired her gait and turned round to watch her walking. They admired her, too, for being so little, and, in fact, did not know what to admire her most for. They even came to her for help in their illnesses. He was in the hospital from the middle of Lent till after Easter. When he was better, he remembered the dreams he had had while he was feverish and delirious.

Starting point is 21:45:57 He dreamt that the whole world was condemned to a terrible new strange plague that had come to Europe from the depths of Asia. All were to be destroyed except a very few chosen. Some new sorts of microbes were attacking the bodies of men, but these microbes were endowed with intelligence and will. Men attacked by them became at once mad and furious. But never had men considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, Never had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions, so infallible. Whole villages, whole towns and peoples went mad from the infection. All were excited and did not understand one another. Each thought that he alone had the

Starting point is 21:46:45 truth, and was wretched looking at the others, beat himself on the breast, wept and wrung his hands. They did not know how to judge and could not agree what to consider evil and what good. They did not know whom to blame, whom to justify. Men killed each other in a sort of senseless spite. They gathered together in armies against one another, but even on the march the armies would begin attacking each other, the ranks would be broken, and the soldiers would fall on each other, stabbing and cutting, biting and devouring each other.

Starting point is 21:47:19 The alarm bell was ringing all day long in the towns. Men rushed together, but why they were summoned and who was summoning them no one knew. The most ordinary trades were abandoned, because everyone proposed his own ideas, his own improvements, and they could not agree. The land, too, was abandoned. Men met in groups, agreed on something, swore to keep together, but at once began on something quite different from what they had proposed. They accused one another, fought and killed each other. There were conflagrations and famine. All men and all things were involved in destruction. The plague spread, and all things were involved in destruction. The plague spread,

Starting point is 21:47:57 and moved further and further. Only a few men could be saved in the whole world. They were a pure chosen people, destined to found a new race and a new life, to renew and purify the earth, but no one had seen these men, no one had heard their words and their voices. Ruskolnikov was worried that this senseless dream haunted his memory so miserably. The impression of this feverish delirium persisted so long. The second week after, Easter had come. There were warm, bright spring days. In the prison ward, the grating windows under which the sentinel paste were opened. Sonia had only been able to visit him twice during his illness. Each time she had to obtain permission, and it was difficult. But she often used to come to the

Starting point is 21:48:45 hospital yard, especially in the evening, sometimes only to stand a minute and look up at the windows of the ward. One evening, when he was almost well again, Ruskonikov fell asleep. On waking up, he chanced to go to the window, and at once saw Sonia in the distance at the hospital gate. She seemed to be waiting for someone. Something stabbed him to the heart at that minute. He shuddered and moved away from the window. Next day, Sonia did not come, nor the day after. He noticed that he was expecting her uneasily. At last he was discharged. On reaching the prison, he learned from the convicts that Sophia Semyonovna was lying ill at home and was unable to go out.

Starting point is 21:49:29 He was very uneasy and sent to inquire after her. He soon learned that her illness was not dangerous. Hearing that he was anxious about her, Sonia sent him a penciled note, telling him that she was much better, that she had a slight cold and that she would soon, very soon, come and see him at his work.

Starting point is 21:49:48 His heart throbbed painfully as he read it. Again it was a warm, bright day. Early in the morning, at six o'clock, he went off to work on the riverbank, where they used to pound alabaster and where there was a kiln for baking it in a shed. There were only three of them set. One of the convicts went with the guard to the fortress to fetch a tool. The other began getting the wood ready and laying it in the kiln. Rus Kolnikov came out of the shed onto the riverbank, sat down on a heap of logs by the shed, and began gazing at the wide deserted river. From the high bank a broad landscape opened before him.

Starting point is 21:50:26 The sound of singing floated faintly audible from the other bank. In the vast step, bathed in sunshine, he could just see, like black specks, the nomads' tents. There there was freedom. There other men were living, utterly unlike those here. There, time itself seemed to stand still, as though the age of Abraham and his flocks had not passed. Raskolnikov sat gazing. His thoughts passed into daydreams, into contemplation. He thought of nothing, but a vague restlessness excited and troubled him. Suddenly he found Sonia beside him. She had come up noiselessly and sat down at his side. It was still quite early. The morning chill was still

Starting point is 21:51:13 keen. She wore her poor old Bernouz and the green shawl. Her face still showed signs of illness. It was thinner and paler. She gave him a joyful smile of welcome, but held out her hand with her usual timidity. She was always timid of holding out her hand to him, and sometimes did not offer it at all, as though afraid he would repel it. He always took her hand as though with repugnance, always seemed vexed to meet her, and was sometimes obstinately silent throughout her visit. Sometimes she trembled before him and went away deeply grieved. But she was, but she was, But now their hands did not part. He stole a rapid glance at her and dropped his eyes on the ground without speaking. They were alone. No one had seen them. The guard had turned away for the time.

Starting point is 21:52:02 How it happened he did not know. But all at once something seemed to seize him and fling him at her feet. He wept and threw his arms round her knees. For the first instant she was terribly frightened and she turned pale. She jumped up and looked at him trembling. But at the same moment she understood, and a light of infinite happiness came into her eyes. She knew and had no doubt that he loved her beyond everything, and that at last the moment had come. They wanted to speak, but could not. Tears stood in their eyes. They were both pale and thin, but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. There they were renewed by love. The heart of each held infinite sources of

Starting point is 21:52:52 life for the heart of the other. They resolved to wait and be patient. They had another seven years to wait, and what terrible suffering and what infinite happiness before them. But he had risen again, and he knew it and felt it in all his being, while she, she only lived in his life. On the evening of the same day, when the barracks were locked, Raskolnikov lay on his plank bed and thought of her. He had even fancied that day that all the convicts who had been his enemies looked at him differently. He had even entered into talk with them, and they answered him in a friendly way. He remembered that now, and thought it was bound to be so. Wasn't everything now bound to be changed? He thought of her. He remembered how continually he had tormenting

Starting point is 21:53:41 had tormented her and wounded her heart. He remembered her pale and thin little face. But these recollections scarcely troubled him now. He knew with what infinite love he would now repay all her sufferings. And what were all, all the agonies of the past? Everything, even his crime, his sentence and imprisonment seemed to him now in the first rush of feeling an external, strange fact with which he had no concern. But he could not think for long together of anything that evening, and he could not have analyzed anything consciously. He was simply feeling. Life had stepped into the place of theory and something quite different would work itself out in his mind. Under his pillow lay the New Testament. He took it up mechanically.

Starting point is 21:54:29 The book belonged to Sonia. It was the one from which she had read the raising of Lazarus to him. At first he was afraid that she would worry him about religion, would talk about the gospel, and pester him with books. But to his great surprise she had not once approached the subject and had not even offered him the testament. He had asked her for it himself, not long before his illness, and she brought him the book without a word. Till now he had not opened it. He did not open it now, but one thought passed through his mind. Can her convictions not be mine now? Her feelings, her aspirations at least? She, too, have been greatly agitated that day, and at night she was taken ill again. But she was so happy, and so unexpectedly happy, that she was almost

Starting point is 21:55:21 frightened of her happiness. Seven years. Only seven years. At the beginning of their happiness, at some moments, they were both ready to look on those seven years as though they were seven days. He did not know that the new life would not be given him for nothing, that he would have to pay dearly for it, that it would cost him great striving, great suffering. But that is the beginning of a new story, the story of the gradual renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from one world into another, of his initiation into a new, unknown life. That might be the subject of a new story, but, our present story is ended.

Starting point is 21:56:08 The end of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Classic Audiobook Collection - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~ Full Audiobook [drama]

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