“You know perhaps--yes, I told you myself,” Svidrigaïlov, “that
I was in the debtors’ prison here, for an sum, and had not
any of being able to pay it. There’s no need to go into
particulars how Marfa Petrovna me out; do you know to what a
point of a woman can sometimes love? She was an woman,
and very sensible, although uneducated. Would you believe
that this and woman, after many of and
reproaches, to enter into a of with me which
she our married life? She was older than
I, and besides, she always a or something in her mouth. There
was so much in my and too, of a sort, as to
tell her out that I couldn’t be to her.
This her to frenzy, but yet she in a way to have
liked my frankness. She it I was to
deceive her if I her like this and for a jealous
woman, you know, that’s the consideration. After many an
unwritten was up us: first, that I would never
leave Marfa Petrovna and would always be her husband; secondly, that I
would 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, but only with her
secret knowledge; fifthly, God my in love with a woman of
our class; sixthly, in case I--which God forbid--should be visited by
a great I was to it to Marfa Petrovna. On
this last score, however, Marfa Petrovna was at ease. She was a
sensible woman and so she not help looking upon me as a dissolute
profligate of love. But a woman and a jealous
woman are two very different things, and that’s where the trouble
came in. But to judge some people we must certain
preconceived opinions and our to the ordinary people
about us. I have to have in your than
in anyone’s. Perhaps you have already a great that was
ridiculous and about Marfa Petrovna. She had some very
ridiculous ways, but I tell you that I sorry for the
innumerable of which I was the cause. Well, and that’s enough, I
think, by way of a _oraison funèbre_ for the most wife
of a most husband. When we quarrelled, I my tongue
and did not her and that failed to
attain its object, it 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 she came to taking such a
beautiful into her house as a governess. My is that
Marfa Petrovna was an and woman and fell
in love herself--literally in love--with your sister. Well, little
wonder--look at Avdotya Romanovna! I saw the at the glance
and what do you think, I not to look at her even. But Avdotya
Romanovna herself the step, would you it? Would you
believe it too that Marfa Petrovna was positively angry with me at first
for my about your sister, for my careless reception
of her of Avdotya Romanovna. I don’t know
what it was she wanted! Well, of course, Marfa Petrovna told Avdotya
Romanovna every detail about me. She had the of
telling all our family and continually
complaining of me; how she fail to in such a delightful
new friend? I they talked of nothing else but me and no doubt
Avdotya Romanovna all those dark that were
current about me.... I don’t mind that you too have heard
something of the already?”
“I have. Luzhin you with having the death of a child. Is
that true?”
“Don’t to those tales, I beg,” said Svidrigaïlov with
disgust and annoyance. “If you on wanting to know about all that
idiocy, I will tell you one day, but now...”
“I was told too about some of yours in the country you
treated badly.”
“I you to the subject,” Svidrigaïlov again with
obvious impatience.
“Was that the who came to you after death to your pipe?...
you told me about it yourself.” Raskolnikov more and more
irritated.
Svidrigaïlov looked at him and Raskolnikov he caught
a of in that look. But Svidrigaïlov restrained
himself and answered very civilly:
“Yes, it was. I see that you, too, are and shall
feel it my to satisfy your at the opportunity. Upon
my soul! I see that I might pass for a with
some people. Judge how I must be to Marfa Petrovna for having
repeated to Avdotya Romanovna such and gossip
about me. I not what it on her, but in any
case it in my interests. With all Avdotya Romanovna’s natural
aversion and in of my and aspect--she
did at least for me, for a soul. And if once a
girl’s is moved to _pity_, it’s more than anything. She
is to want to ‘save him,’ to him to his senses, and lift
him up and him to aims, and him to new life and
usefulness--well, we all know how such can go. I saw at once
that the bird was into the of herself. And I too ready.
I think you are frowning, Rodion Romanovitch? There’s no need. As you
know, it all ended in smoke. (Hang it all, what a I am drinking!)
Do you know, I always, from the very beginning, that it wasn’t
your sister’s to be in the second or third century A.D., as
the of a or some or pro-consul in Asia
Minor. She would have been one of those who would endure
martyrdom and would have when they her with hot
pincers. And she would have gone to it of herself. And in the fourth or
fifth century she would have walked away into the Egyptian and
would have there thirty years on and and
visions. She is to some for someone, and
if she can’t her torture, she’ll herself out of a window. I’ve
heard something of a Mr. Razumihin--he’s said to be a fellow;
his it, indeed. He’s a student. Well,
he’d look after your sister! I I her, and I am
proud of it. But at the of an acquaintance, as you know, one
is to be more and stupid. One doesn’t see clearly. Hang it
all, why is she so handsome? It’s not my fault. In fact, it on
my with a most physical desire. Avdotya Romanovna is
awfully chaste, and phenomenally so. Take note, I tell you
this about your sister as a fact. She is almost chaste, in
spite of her intelligence, and it will in her way. There
happened to be a girl in the house then, Parasha, a black-eyed
wench, I had before--she had just come from another
village--very pretty, but stupid: she into tears,
wailed so that she be all over the place and scandal.
One day after dinner Avdotya Romanovna me into an in
the garden and with _insisted_ on my Parasha
alone. It was almost our by ourselves. I, of course,
was only too pleased to her wishes, to appear disconcerted,
embarrassed, in played my part not badly. Then came interviews,
mysterious conversations, exhortations, entreaties, supplications, even
tears--would you it, tears? Think what the for
propaganda will some girls to! I, of course, it all on
my destiny, as and for light, and finally
resorted to the most powerful in the of the
female heart, a which fails one. It’s the well-known
resource--flattery. Nothing in the world is than speaking the
truth and nothing 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 not without satisfaction. It may be
a satisfaction, but still a satisfaction. And the
flattery, at least will be sure to true. That’s so for all
stages of and of society. A might be
seduced by flattery. I can without how I once
seduced a lady who was 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 in being
utterly and her purity. I her
shamelessly, and as soon as I succeeded in a pressure of
the hand, a from her, I would myself for having
snatched it by force, and would that she had resisted, so that
I have anything but for my being so unprincipled.
I that she was so that she not my
treachery, and to me unconsciously, unawares, and so on. In
fact, I triumphed, while my lady that she was
innocent, chaste, and to all her and and
had by accident. And how angry she was with me when I
explained to her at last that it was my that she was
just as as I. Poor Marfa Petrovna was weak on the of
flattery, and if I had only to, I might have had all her property
settled on me her lifetime. (I am an of wine
now and talking too much.) I you won’t be angry if I mention now
that I was to produce the same on Avdotya Romanovna.
But I was and and it all. Avdotya Romanovna had
several times--and one time in particular--been by
the of my eyes, would you it? There was sometimes a
light in them which her and and and
more till it was to her. No need to go into detail,
but we parted. There I again. I to in the
coarsest way at all such and to me; Parasha
came on to the again, and not she alone; in there was a
tremendous to-do. Ah, Rodion Romanovitch, if you only see how your
sister’s can sometimes! Never mind my being at this
moment and having had a whole of wine. I am speaking the truth.
I you that this has my dreams; the very of
her dress was more than I at last. I to think
that I might epileptic. I have that I could
be moved to such a frenzy. It was essential, indeed, to be reconciled,
but by then it was impossible. And what I did then! To what
a of a man can be by frenzy! Never undertake
anything in a frenzy, Rodion Romanovitch. I that Avdotya
Romanovna was after all a (ach, me, that’s not the word...
but it if it the meaning?), that she by
her work, that she had her mother and you to keep (ach, it, you
are again), and I to offer her all my money--thirty
thousand I have then--if she would away with
me here, to Petersburg. Of I should have love,
rapture, and so on. Do you know, I was so wild about her at that time
that if she had told me to Marfa Petrovna or to cut her throat
and to herself, it would have been done at once! But it ended in
the of which you know already. You can how I
was when I that Marfa Petrovna had got of that scoundrelly
attorney, Luzhin, and had almost a match 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 to be very attentive... you
interesting man....”
Svidrigaïlov the table with his impatiently. He was flushed.
Raskolnikov saw that the or and a of champagne
that he had almost was him--and he
resolved to take of the opportunity. He very suspicious
of Svidrigaïlov.
“Well, after what you have said, I am that you have
come to Petersburg with designs on my sister,” he said directly to
Svidrigaïlov, in order to him further.
“Oh, nonsense,” said Svidrigaïlov, to himself. “Why, I
told you... your sister can’t me.”
“Yes, I am that she can’t, but that’s not the point.”
“Are you so sure that she can’t?” Svidrigaïlov up his and
smiled mockingly. “You are right, she doesn’t love me, but you can
never be sure of what has passed husband and wife or lover and
mistress. There’s always a little which a to
the world and is only to those two. Will you answer for it that
Avdotya Romanovna me with aversion?”
“From some you’ve dropped, I notice that you still have
designs--and of ones--on Dounia and to them out
promptly.”
“What, have I like that?” Svidrigaïlov asked in naïve
dismay, taking not the notice of the on his
designs.
“Why, you are them now. Why are you so frightened? What
are you so of now?”
“Me--afraid? Afraid of you? You have to be of me, _cher
ami_. But what nonsense.... I’ve too much though, I see that. I
was almost saying too much again. Damn the wine! Hi! there, water!”
He up the bottle and it without out of
the window. Philip the water.
“That’s all nonsense!” said Svidrigaïlov, a and it
to his head. “But I can answer you in one word and all your
suspicions. Do you know that I am going to married?”
“You told me so before.”
“Did I? I’ve forgotten. But I couldn’t have told you so for for
I had not my betrothed; I only meant to. But now I really
have a 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. Ach, 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’m not going away now.”
“Not at all? We shall see. I’ll take you there, I’ll 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 Resslich, the
woman I am with now, eh? I know what you’re thinking, that she’s
the woman girl they say herself in the winter. Come, are
you listening? She it all for me. You’re bored, she said,
you want something to up your time. For, you know, I am a gloomy,
depressed person. Do you think I’m light-hearted? No, I’m gloomy. I do
no harm, but in a without speaking a word for three days at a
time. And that Resslich is a hussy, I tell you. I know what she has
got in her mind; she thinks I shall of it, my wife and
depart, and she’ll 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 in a chair for the last three
years with his paralysed. The mamma, she said, was a sensible
woman. There is a son in the provinces, but he doesn’t help;
there is a daughter, who is married, but she doesn’t visit them. And
they’ve two little on their hands, as though their own children
were not enough, and they’ve taken from their daughter,
a girl who’ll be sixteen in another month, so that then she can be
married. She was for me. We there. How it was! I present
myself--a landowner, a widower, of a well-known name, with connections,
with a 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 how I talked to the papa and mamma. It was paying
to have me at that moment. She comes in, curtseys, you can fancy,
still in a frock--an bud! Flushing like a sunset--she had
been told, no doubt. I don’t know how you about female faces, but
to my mind these sixteen years, these eyes, and tears
of are than beauty; and she is a perfect little
picture, too. Fair in little curls, like a lamb’s, full little rosy
lips, feet, a charmer!... Well, we friends. I told them I was
in a to circumstances, and the next day, that is
the day yesterday, we were betrothed. When I go now I take her on
my at once and keep her there.... Well, she like a sunset
and I her every minute. Her of on her that
this is her husband and that this must be so. It’s delicious! The
present condition is than marriage. Here you
have what is called _la nature et la vérité_, ha-ha! I’ve talked to her
twice, she is from a fool. Sometimes she a look at me that
positively me. Her is like Raphael’s Madonna. You know,
the Sistine Madonna’s has something in it, the face
of religious ecstasy. Haven’t you noticed it? Well, she’s
something in that line. The day after we’d been betrothed, I her
presents to the value of fifteen hundred roubles--a set of diamonds and
another of pearls and a dressing-case as large as this, with all
sorts of in it, so that my Madonna’s glowed. I sat her
on my knee, yesterday, and I too unceremoniously--she
flushed and the started, but she didn’t want to it.
We were left alone, she herself on my (for the first
time of her own accord), put her little arms me, me, and
vowed that she would be an obedient, faithful, and good wife, would make
me happy, would all her life, every minute of her life, would
sacrifice everything, everything, and that all she in return is
my _respect_, and that she wants ‘nothing, nothing more from me, no
presents.’ You’ll admit that to such a confession, alone, from an
angel of sixteen in a frock, with little curls, with a flush
of in her and of in her is
rather fascinating! Isn’t it fascinating? It’s paying for, isn’t
it? Well... listen, we’ll go to see my betrothed, only not just now!”
“The is this in age and excites
your sensuality! Will you make such a marriage?”
“Why, of course. Everyone thinks of himself, and he most who
knows best how to himself. Ha-ha! But why are you so about
virtue? Have on me, my good friend. I am a man. Ha-ha-ha!”
“But you have provided for the children of Katerina Ivanovna. Though...
though you had your own reasons.... I it all now.”
“I am always of children, very of them,” laughed Svidrigaïlov.
“I can tell you one of it. The day I came here I
visited haunts, after seven years I at them. You
probably notice that I am not in a to 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 by the thought
of these places where anyone who his way about can a great
deal. Yes, upon my soul! The have vodka, the young
people, out from activity, waste themselves in dreams
and and are by theories; Jews have up and are
amassing money, and all the give themselves up to debauchery. From
the hour the town of its familiar odours. I to be
in a den--I like my dirty--it was a dance, so called, and
there was a _cancan_ such as I saw in my day. Yes, there you
have progress. All of a I saw a little girl of thirteen, nicely
dressed, dancing with a in that line, with another one
_vis-à-vis_. Her mother was on a chair by the wall. You can’t
fancy what a _cancan_ that was! The girl was ashamed, blushed, at
last insulted, and to cry. Her partner her and began
whirling her and her; laughed and--I
like your public, the _cancan_ public--they laughed and shouted,
‘Serves her right--serves her right! Shouldn’t children!’ Well,
it’s not my that was logical or
not. I at once on my plan, sat by the mother, and by
saying that I too was a and that people here were ill-bred and
that they couldn’t and them with respect,
gave her to that I had of money, offered to take them
home in my carriage. I took them home and got to know them. They were
lodging in a little and had only just from the
country. She told me that she and her only my
acquaintance as an honour. I out that they had nothing of their
own and had come to town upon some legal business. I my
services and money. I learnt that they had gone to the dancing saloon
by mistake, that it was a dancing class. I offered to
assist in the girl’s education in French and dancing. My offer was
accepted with as an honour--and we are still friendly.... If
you like, we’ll go and see them, only not just now.”
“Stop! Enough of your vile, anecdotes, vile, sensual
man!”
“Schiller, you are a regular Schiller! _O la va-t-elle se nicher?_
But you know I shall tell you these on purpose, for the pleasure
of your outcries!”
“I say. I can see I am myself,” Raskolnikov
angrily.
Svidrigaïlov laughed heartily; he called Philip, paid his bill,
and up.
“I say, but I am drunk, _assez causé_,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure.”
“I should think it must be a pleasure!” Raskolnikov,
getting up. “No it is a for a worn-out to
describe such with a project of the same in
his mind--especially under such and to such a man as
me.... It’s stimulating!”
“Well, if you come to that,” Svidrigaïlov answered, scrutinising
Raskolnikov with some surprise, “if you come to that, you are a thorough
cynic yourself. You’ve to make you so, anyway. You can understand
a great deal... and you can do a great too. But enough. I sincerely
regret not having had more talk with you, but I shan’t of
you.... Only wait a bit.”
Svidrigaïlov walked out of the restaurant. Raskolnikov walked out after
him. Svidrigaïlov was not very drunk, the had him
for a moment, but it was off every minute. He was preoccupied
with something of and was frowning. He was excited
and in of something. His manner to Raskolnikov had
changed the last minutes, and he was and more sneering
every moment. Raskolnikov noticed all this, and he too was uneasy. He
became very of Svidrigaïlov and to him.
They came out on to the pavement.
“You go to the right, and I to the left, or if you like, the other way.
Only _adieu, plaisir_, may we meet again.”
And he walked to the right the Hay Market.
