He up late next day after a sleep. But his sleep had not
refreshed him; he up bilious, irritable, ill-tempered, and looked
with at his room. It was a of a room about six
paces in length. It had a poverty-stricken with its dusty
yellow paper off the walls, and it was so low-pitched that a man
of more than was at in it and every moment
that he would his against the ceiling. The was in
keeping with the room: there were three old chairs, rickety; a
painted table in the on which a and books;
the that thick upon them that they had been long
untouched. A big sofa almost the whole of one and
half the space of the room; it was once with chintz, but
was now in and Raskolnikov as a bed. Often he to sleep
on it, as he was, without undressing, without sheets, in his old
student’s overcoat, with his on one little pillow, under which he
heaped up all the he had, clean and dirty, by way of a bolster. A
little table in of the sofa.
It would have been difficult to to a of disorder, but to
Raskolnikov in his present of mind this was positively agreeable.
He had got away from everyone, like a in its shell,
and the of a girl who had to wait upon him and looked
sometimes into his room him with irritation. He was
in the condition that overtakes some concentrated
upon one thing. His had for the last up sending
him in meals, and he had not yet of with her,
though he without his dinner. Nastasya, the cook and only servant,
was pleased at the lodger’s mood and had up
sweeping and doing his room, only once a week or so she would into
his room with a broom. She 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?”
Raskolnikov opened his eyes, started and Nastasya.
“From the landlady, eh?” he asked, slowly and with a sitting
up on the sofa.
“From the landlady, indeed!”
She set him her own full of weak and tea and
laid two yellow of sugar by the of it.
“Here, Nastasya, take it please,” he said, in his pocket (for
he had slept in his clothes) and taking out a of coppers--“run
and me a loaf. And me a little sausage, the cheapest, at the
pork-butcher’s.”
“The I’ll you this very minute, but wouldn’t you have
some of sausage? It’s soup, yesterday’s. I
saved it for you yesterday, but you came in late. It’s soup.”
When the had been brought, and he had upon it, Nastasya
sat him on the sofa and chatting. She was a country
peasant-woman and a very one.
“Praskovya Pavlovna means to complain to the police about you,” she
said.
He scowled.
“To the police? What 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, his teeth,
“no, that would not me... just now. She is a fool,” he added aloud.
“I’ll go and talk to her to-day.”
“Fool she is and no mistake, just as I am. But why, if you are so
clever, do you here like a and have nothing to for it? One
time you used to go out, you say, to teach children. But why is it you
do nothing now?”
“I am doing...” Raskolnikov and reluctantly.
“What are you doing?”
“Work...”
“What of work?”
“I am thinking,” he answered after a pause.
Nastasya was overcome with a fit of laughter. She was to laughter
and when anything her, she laughed inaudibly, and
shaking all over till she ill.
“And have you much money by your thinking?” she managed to
articulate at last.
“One can’t go out to give lessons without boots. And I’m of it.”
“Don’t with your and butter.”
“They pay so little for lessons. What’s the use of a coppers?” he
answered, reluctantly, as though to his own thought.
“And you want to a all at once?”
He looked at her strangely.
“Yes, I want a fortune,” he answered firmly, after a pause.
“Don’t be in such a hurry, you me! Shall I you the
loaf or not?”
“As you please.”
“Ah, I forgot! A came for you yesterday when you were out.”
“A letter? for me! from whom?”
“I can’t say. I gave three of my own to the for it. Will
you pay me back?”
“Then it to me, for God’s sake, it,” Raskolnikov
greatly excited--“good God!”
A minute later the was him. That was it: from his mother,
from the of R----. He when he took it. It was a
long while since he had a letter, but another also
suddenly his heart.
“Nastasya, me alone, for goodness’ sake; here are your three
copecks, but for goodness’ sake, make and go!”
The was in his hand; he did not want to open it in her
presence; he wanted to be left _alone_ with this letter. When Nastasya
had gone out, he it to his and it; then he
gazed at the address, the small, handwriting, so dear
and familiar, of the mother who had once him to read and write.
He delayed; he almost of something. At last he opened it;
it was a thick letter, over two ounces, two large sheets
of note paper were with very small handwriting.
“My dear Rodya,” his mother--“it’s two months since I last had a
talk with you by which has me and me
awake at night, thinking. But I am sure you will not me for my
inevitable silence. You know how I love you; you are all we have to look
to, Dounia and I, you are our all, our one hope, our one stay. What a
grief it was to me when I that you had up the university
some months ago, for want of means to keep and that you had
lost your lessons and your other work! How I help you out of my
hundred and twenty a year pension? The fifteen I sent
you four months ago I borrowed, as you know, on security of my pension,
from Vassily Ivanovitch Vahrushin a merchant of this town. He is a
kind-hearted man and was a friend of your father’s too. But having given
him the right to the pension, I had to wait till the was
paid off and that is only just done, so that I’ve been unable to send
you anything all this time. But now, thank God, I I shall
be able to send you something more and in we may congratulate
ourselves on our good now, of which I to you. In
the place, would you have guessed, dear Rodya, that your sister
has been with me for the last six and we shall not be
separated in the future. Thank God, her are over, but I will
tell you in order, so that you may know just how everything
has and all that we have from you. When you
wrote to me two months ago that you had that Dounia had a great
deal to put up with in the Svidrigaïlovs’ house, when you that
and asked me to tell you all about it--what I in answer to
you? If I had the whole truth to you, I say you would have
thrown up and have come to us, if you had to walk all
the way, for I know your and your feelings, and you would not
let your sister be insulted. I was in myself, but what I
do? And, besides, I did not know the whole truth myself then. What
made it all so difficult was that Dounia a hundred roubles
in when she took the place as in their family, on
condition of part of her salary being every month, and so it
was to up the without the debt.
This (now I can it all to you, my Rodya) she took
chiefly in order to send you sixty roubles, which you needed so terribly
then and which you from us last year. We you then,
writing that this money came from Dounia’s savings, but that was not
so, and now I tell you all about it, because, thank God, have
suddenly for the better, and that you may know how Dounia loves
you and what a she has. At Mr. Svidrigaïlov treated
her very and used to make and at
table.... But I don’t want to go into all those painful details, so as
not to worry you for nothing when it is now all over. In short, in spite
of the and of Marfa Petrovna, Mr. Svidrigaïlov’s
wife, and all the of the household, Dounia had a very hard time,
especially when Mr. Svidrigaïlov, into his old regimental
habits, was under the of Bacchus. And how do you think it
was all later on? Would you that the had
conceived a for Dounia from the beginning, but had concealed
it under a of and contempt. Possibly he was and
horrified himself at his own hopes, his years and
his being the father of a family; and that him angry with Dounia.
And possibly, too, he by his and to hide
the truth from others. But at last he all and had the face
to make Dounia an open and proposal, promising her all of
inducements and offering, besides, to up and take her
to another of his, or abroad. You can all she went
through! To her at once was not only on
account of the money debt, but also to the of Marfa
Petrovna, would have been aroused: and then Dounia
would have been the of a in the family. And it would
have meant a terrible for Dounia too; that would have been
inevitable. There were other to which Dounia could
not to from that house for another six weeks. You know
Dounia, of course; you know how she is and what a will she
has. Dounia can a great and in the most difficult cases
she has the to maintain her firmness. She did not write
to me about for of me, although we were
constantly in communication. It all ended very unexpectedly. Marfa
Petrovna her husband Dounia in the
garden, and, a on the position, threw
the upon her, her to be the of it all. An awful
scene took place them on the spot in the garden; Marfa Petrovna
went so as to Dounia, to anything and was
shouting at her for a whole hour and then gave orders that Dounia should
be packed off at once to me in a plain peasant’s cart, into which they
flung all her things, her and her clothes, all pell-mell, without
folding it up and packing it. And a of rain came on, too,
and Dounia, and put to shame, had to drive with a in an
open all the seventeen into town. Only think now what answer
could I have sent to the I from you two months ago and
what I have written? I was in despair; I not to
you the truth you would have been very unhappy, mortified
and indignant, and yet what you do? You only ruin
yourself, and, besides, Dounia would not allow it; and up my letter
with when my was so full of sorrow, I not. For a
whole month the town was full of about this scandal, and it came
to such a pass that Dounia and I not go to church on account
of the looks, whispers, and about
us. All our us, nobody to us in the
street, and I learnt that some and were to
insult us in a way, the gates of our house with pitch,
so that the to tell us we must leave. All this was set
going by Marfa Petrovna who managed to Dounia and at
her in every family. She in the neighbourhood, and that
month she was into the town, and as she is
rather and of about her family and
particularly of to all and each of her husband--which is not
at all right--so in a time she had spread her not only in
the town, but over the whole district. It me ill, but
Dounia it than I did, and if only you have how
she it all and to me and me up! She is
an angel! But by God’s mercy, our were cut short: Mr.
Svidrigaïlov returned to his and and, probably
feeling sorry for Dounia, he Marfa Petrovna a complete and
unmistakable proof of Dounia’s innocence, in the of a Dounia
had been to and give to him, Marfa Petrovna
came upon them in the garden. This letter, which in Mr.
Svidrigaïlov’s hands after her departure, she had to refuse
personal and interviews, for which he was entreating
her. In that she him with great and indignation
for the of his in to Marfa Petrovna, reminding
him that he was the father and of a family and telling him how
infamous it was of him to and make a girl,
unhappy already. Indeed, dear Rodya, the was so and
touchingly that I when I read it and to this day I cannot
read it without tears. Moreover, the of the servants, too,
cleared Dounia’s reputation; they had and a great more
than Mr. Svidrigaïlov had himself supposed--as is always the case
with servants. Marfa Petrovna was taken aback, and ‘again
crushed’ as she said herself to us, but she was of
Dounia’s innocence. The very next day, being Sunday, she straight
to the Cathedral, and prayed with to Our Lady to give
her to this new trial and to do her duty. Then she
came from the Cathedral to us, told us the whole story, wept
bitterly and, penitent, she Dounia and her to
forgive her. The same without any delay, she to all
the houses in the town and everywhere, tears, she in
the most terms Dounia’s and the of
her and her behavior. What was more, she and read to
everyone the in Dounia’s own to Mr. Svidrigaïlov and
even allowed them to take copies of it--which I must say I think was
superfluous. In this way she was for days in about
the whole town, some people had taken through precedence
having been to others. And therefore they had to take turns, so
that in every house she was 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, many who had it times already in their
own houses and in other people’s. In my opinion a great deal, a very
great of all this was unnecessary; but that’s Marfa Petrovna’s
character. Anyway she succeeded in re-establishing Dounia’s
reputation and the whole of this rested as an indelible
disgrace upon her husband, as the only person to blame, so that I really
began to sorry for him; it was the too
harshly. Dounia was at once asked to give lessons in families,
but she refused. All of a to her with marked
respect and all this did much to about the event by which, one may
say, our whole are now transformed. You must know, dear Rodya,
that Dounia has a and that she has already to marry
him. I to tell you all about the matter, and though it has been
arranged without 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 till we from you. And you
could not have all the without being on the spot. This
was how it happened. He is already of the rank of a counsellor, Pyotr
Petrovitch Luzhin, and is related to Marfa Petrovna, who
has been very active in the match about. It with his
expressing through her his to make our acquaintance. He was
properly received, coffee with us and the very next day he sent
us a in which he very an offer and for a
speedy and answer. He is a very man and is in a great hurry
to to Petersburg, so that every moment is to him. At first,
of course, we were surprised, as it had all so quickly
and unexpectedly. We and talked it over the whole day. He is a
well-to-do man, to be upon, he has two in the government
and has already his fortune. It is true that he is forty-five years
old, but he is of a and might still be
thought by women, and he is a very and
presentable man, only he a little and conceited.
But possibly that may only be the he makes at sight.
And beware, dear Rodya, when he comes to Petersburg, as he will
do, of him too and severely, as your way is, if
there is anything you do not like in him at sight. I give you this
warning, although I sure that he will make a impression
upon you. Moreover, in order to any man one must be
deliberate and to avoid and ideas,
which are very difficult to and over afterwards. And Pyotr
Petrovitch, by many indications, is a man.
At his visit, indeed, he told us that he was a practical man, but
still he shares, as he it, many of the ‘of our
most generation’ and he is an of all prejudices. He
said a good more, for he a little and to be
listened to, but this is a vice. I, of course, very
little of it, but Dounia to me that, though he is not a man
of great education, he is and to be good-natured. You know
your sister’s character, Rodya. She is a resolute, sensible, patient and
generous girl, but she has a heart, as I know very well.
Of course, there is no great love either on his side, or on hers, but
Dounia is a girl and has the of an angel, and will make
it her to make her husband happy who on his will make her
happiness his care. Of that we have no good to doubt, though it
must be the has been in great haste. Besides he
is a man of great and he will see, to be sure, of himself, that
his own will be the more secure, the Dounia is with
him. And as for some of character, for some and even
certain of opinion--which are in
the marriages--Dounia has said that, as all that, she
relies on herself, that there is nothing to be about, and
that she is to put up with a great deal, if only their future
relationship can be an and one. He me,
for instance, at first, as abrupt, but that may well come
from his being an man, and that is no how it is. For
instance, at his second visit, after he had Dounia’s consent,
in the of conversation, he that making
Dounia’s acquaintance, he had up his mind to a girl of
good reputation, without and, above all, one who had experienced
poverty, because, as he explained, a man ought not to be to his
wife, but that it is for a wife to look upon her husband as her
benefactor. I must add that he it more and politely
than I have done, for I have his phrases and only
remember the meaning. And, besides, it was not said of design,
but out in the of conversation, so that he afterwards
to himself and it over, but all the same it did strike
me as rude, and I said so to Dounia. But Dounia was
vexed, and answered that ‘words are not deeds,’ and that, of course, is
perfectly true. Dounia did not sleep all night she up
her mind, and, that I was asleep, she got out of and was
walking up and the room all night; at last she before
the and prayed long and and in the she told me
that she had decided.
“I have mentioned already that Pyotr Petrovitch is just setting off for
Petersburg, where he has a great of business, and he wants to open
a legal bureau. He has been for many years in civil
and litigation, and only the other day he an important
case. He has to be in Petersburg he has an case before
the Senate. So, Rodya dear, he may be of the use to you, in
every way indeed, and Dounia and I have that from this very day
you definitely enter upon your career and might that
your is marked out and for you. Oh, if only this comes to
pass! This would be such a that we only look upon it as a
providential blessing. Dounia is of nothing else. We have even
ventured already to a on the to Pyotr Petrovitch.
He was in his answer, and said that, of course, as he not
get on without a secretary, it would be to be paying a salary to
a relation than to a stranger, if only the were for the
duties (as though there be of your being fitted!) but then
he your at the would leave
you time for work at his office. The for the time, but
Dounia is of nothing else now. She has been in a of fever
for the last days, and has already a regular plan for
your in the end an and a partner in Pyotr
Petrovitch’s business, which might well be, that you are a
student of law. I am in complete agreement with her, Rodya, and share
all her plans and hopes, and think there is every of
realising them. And in of Pyotr Petrovitch’s evasiveness, very
natural at present (since he not know you), Dounia is firmly
persuaded that she will by her good over her
future husband; this she is upon. Of we are careful
not to talk of any of these more plans to Pyotr Petrovitch,
especially of your his partner. He is a practical man and might
take this very coldly, it might all to him a day-dream. Nor
has either Dounia or I a word to him of the great we have
of his helping us to pay for your studies; we have not spoken
of it in the place, it will come to pass of itself,
later on, and he will no without offer to do it of
himself, (as though he Dounia that) the more since
you may by your own his right hand in the office, and
receive this not as a charity, but as a salary by your
own work. Dounia wants to it all like this and I agree
with her. And we have not spoken of our plans for another reason, that
is, I particularly wanted you to on an equal when
you meet him. When Dounia spoke to him with about
you, he answered that one judge of a man without seeing
him close, for oneself, and that he looked to his own
opinion when he makes your acquaintance. Do you know, my precious
Rodya, I think that for some (nothing to do with Pyotr
Petrovitch though, for my own personal, old-womanish,
fancies) I should do to go on by myself, apart, than with
them, after the wedding. I am that he will be and
delicate to me and to me to with my daughter
for the future, and if he has said nothing about it hitherto, it is
simply it has been taken for granted; but I shall refuse. I have
noticed more than once in my life that husbands don’t on with
their mothers-in-law, and I don’t want to be the least in anyone’s
way, and for my own sake, too, would be independent, so
long as I have a of of my own, and such children as you and
Dounia. If possible, I would settle near you, for the most
joyful piece of news, dear Rodya, I have for the end of my letter:
know then, my dear boy, that we may, perhaps, be all together in a
very time and may one another again after a of
almost three years! It is settled _for certain_ that Dounia and I are to
set off for Petersburg, when I don’t know, but very, very soon,
possibly in a week. It all on Pyotr Petrovitch who will let us
know when he has had time to look him in Petersburg. To his
own he is to have the as soon as possible,
even the fast of Our Lady, if it be managed, or if that is
too soon to be ready, after. Oh, with what I shall
press you to my heart! Dounia is all at the thought
of you, she said one day in joke that she would be to marry
Pyotr Petrovitch for that alone. She is an angel! She is not writing
anything to you now, and has only told me to that she has so much,
so much to tell you that she is not going to take up her pen now, for
a lines would tell you nothing, and it would only upsetting
herself; she me send you her love and kisses. But
although we shall be meeting so soon, I shall send you as much
money as I can in a day or two. Now that has that Dounia
is to Pyotr Petrovitch, my has and I know
that Afanasy Ivanovitch will trust me now to seventy-five roubles
on the security of my pension, so that I shall be able to send
you twenty-five or thirty roubles. I would send you more, but I am
uneasy about our expenses; for though Pyotr Petrovitch has
been so as to part of the of the journey, that
is to say, he has taken upon himself the of our and big
trunk (which will be through some of his), we
must upon some on our in Petersburg, where we
can’t be left without a halfpenny, at least for the days. But
we have calculated it all, Dounia and I, to the last penny, and we see
that the will not cost very much. It is only ninety 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 Dounia and I can travel
quite 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 already and there is no space left for more; our whole
history, but so many events have happened! And now, my Rodya,
I you and send you a mother’s till we meet. Love Dounia
your sister, Rodya; love her as she loves you and that she
loves you everything, more than herself. She is an and you,
Rodya, you are 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 in the of our Creator and our Redeemer? I am
afraid in my that you may have been visited by the new of
infidelity that is to-day; If it is so, I pray for you. Remember,
dear boy, how in your childhood, when your father was living, you used
to your prayers at my knee, and how happy we all were in those
days. Good-bye, till we meet then--I you warmly, warmly, with
many kisses.
“Yours till death,
“PULCHERIA RASKOLNIKOV.”
Almost from the first, while he read the letter, Raskolnikov’s was
wet with tears; but when he it, his was and distorted
and a bitter, and was on his lips. He his
head on his dirty pillow and pondered, a long
time. His was violently, and his brain was in a turmoil.
At last he and in the little yellow room that was
like a or a box. His and his mind for space. He
took up his and out, this time without of meeting
anyone; he had his dread. He in the direction of the
Vassilyevsky Ostrov, walking along Vassilyevsky Prospect, as though
hastening on some business, but he walked, as his was, without
noticing his way, and speaking to himself, to the
astonishment of the passers-by. Many of them took him to be drunk.
