prince’s part. He left the church quite calm, toall appearances, as many witnesses were found to declare afterwards. Heseemed anxious to reach home and be left alone as quickly as possible;but this was not to be. He was accompanied by nearly all the invitedguests, and besides this, the house was almost besieged by excited bandsof people, who insisted upon being allowed to enter the verandah. Theprince heard Keller and Lebedeff remonstrating and quarrelling withthese unknown individuals, and soon went out himself. He approachedthe disturbers of his peace, requested courteously to be told what wasdesired; then politely putting Lebedeff and Keller aside, he addressedan old gentleman who was standing on the verandah steps at the head ofthe band of would-be guests, and courteously requested him to honour himwith a visit. The old fellow was quite taken aback by this, but entered,followed by a few more, who tried to appear at their ease. The restremained outside, and presently the whole crowd was censuring those whohad accepted the invitation. The prince offered seats to his strangevisitors, tea was served, and a general conversation sprang up.Everything was done most decorously, to the considerable surprise of theintruders. A few tentative attempts were made to turn the conversationto the events of the day, and a few indiscreet questions were asked; butMuishkin replied to everybody with such simplicity and good-humour, andat the same time with so much dignity, and showed such confidence in thegood breeding of his guests, that the indiscreet talkers were quicklysilenced. By degrees the conversation became almost serious. Onegentleman suddenly exclaimed, with great vehemence: “Whatever happens,I shall not sell my property; I shall wait. Enterprise is better thanmoney, and there, sir, you have my whole system of economy, if youwish!” He addressed the prince, who warmly commended his sentiments,though Lebedeff whispered in his ear that this gentleman, who talked somuch of his “property,” had never had either house or home.
Nearly an hour passed thus, and when tea was over the visitors seemed tothink that it was time to go. As they went out, the doctor and the oldgentleman bade Muishkin a warm farewell, and all the rest took theirleave with hearty protestations of good-will, dropping remarks to theeffect that “it was no use worrying,” and that “perhaps all would turnout for the best,” and so on. Some of the younger intruders would haveasked for champagne, but they were checked by the older ones. When allhad departed, Keller leaned over to Lebedeff, and said:
“With you and me there would have been a scene. We should have shoutedand fought, and called in the police. But he has simply made some newfriends--and such friends, too! I know them!”
Lebedeff, who was slightly intoxicated, answered with a sigh:
“Things are hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes.I have applied those words to him before, but now I add that God haspreserved the babe himself from the abyss, He and all His saints.”
At last, about half-past ten, the prince was left alone. His head ached.Colia was the last to go, after having helped him to change his weddingclothes. They parted on affectionate terms, and, without speaking ofwhat had happened, Colia promised to come very early the next day. Hesaid later that the prince had given no hint of his intentions when theysaid good-bye, but had hidden them even from him. Soon there was hardlyanyone left in the house. Burdovsky had gone to see Hippolyte; Kellerand Lebedeff had wandered off together somewhere.
Only Vera Lebedeff remained hurriedly rearranging the furniture inthe rooms. As she left the verandah, she glanced at the prince. He wasseated at the table, with both elbows upon it, and his head restingon his hands. She approached him, and touched his shoulder gently.The prince started and looked at her in perplexity; he seemed to becollecting his senses for a minute or so, before he could remember wherehe was. As recollection dawned upon him, he became violently agitated.All he did, however, was to ask Vera very earnestly to knock at his doorand awake him in time for the first train to Petersburg next morning.Vera promised, and the prince entreated her not to tell anyone of hisintention. She promised this, too; and at last, when she had half-closedthe door, he called her back a third time, took her hands in his, kissedthem, then kissed her forehead, and in a rather peculiar manner said toher, “Until tomorrow!”
Such was Vera’s story afterwards.
She went away in great anxiety about him, but when she saw him in themorning, he seemed to be quite himself again, greeted her with a smile,and told her that he would very likely be back by the evening. Itappears that he did not consider it necessary to inform anyone exceptingVera of his departure for town.
XI.
An hour later he was in St. Petersburg, and by ten o’clock he had rungthe bell at Rogojin’s.
He had gone to the front door, and was kept waiting a long while beforeanyone came. At last the door of old Mrs. Rogojin’s flat was opened, andan aged servant appeared.
“Parfen Semionovitch is not at home,” she announced from the doorway.“Whom do you want?”
“Parfen Semionovitch.”
“He is not in.”
The old woman examined the prince from head to foot with greatcuriosity.
“At all events tell me whether he slept at home last night, and whetherhe came alone?”
The old woman continued to stare at him, but said nothing.
“Was not Nastasia Philipovna here with him, yesterday evening?”
“And, pray, who are you yourself?”
“Prince Lef Nicolaievitch Muishkin; he knows me well.”
“He is not at home.”
The woman lowered her eyes.
“And Nastasia Philipovna?”
“I know nothing about it.”
“Stop a minute! When will he come back?”
“I don’t know that either.”
The door was shut with these words, and the old woman disappeared. Theprince decided to come back within an hour. Passing out of the house, hemet the porter.
“Is Parfen Semionovitch at home?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Why did they tell me he was not at home, then?”
“Where did they tell you so,--at his door?”
“No, at his mother’s flat; I rang at Parfen Semionovitch’s door and nobody came.”
“Well, he may have gone out. I can’t tell. Sometimes he takes the keyswith him, and leaves the rooms empty for two or three days.”
“Do you know for certain that he was at home last night?”
“Yes, he was.”
“Was Nastasia Philipovna with him?”
“I don’t know; she doesn’t come often. I think I should have known ifshe had come.”
The prince went out deep in thought, and walked up and down the pavementfor some time. The windows of all the rooms occupied by Rogojin wereclosed, those of his mother’s apartments were open. It was a hot, brightday. The prince crossed the road in order to have a good look at thewindows again; not only were Rogojin’s closed, but the white blinds wereall down as well.
He stood there for a minute and then, suddenly and strangely enough, itseemed to him that a little corner of one of the blinds was lifted,and Rogojin’s face appeared for an instant and then vanished. He waitedanother minute, and decided to go and ring the bell once more; however,he thought better of it again and put it off for an hour.
The chief object in his mind at this moment was to get as quickly ashe could to Nastasia Philipovna’s lodging. He remembered that, not longsince, when she had left Pavlofsk at his request, he had begged herto put up in town at the house of a respectable widow, who hadwell-furnished rooms to let, near the Ismailofsky barracks. ProbablyNastasia had kept the rooms when she came down to Pavlofsk this lasttime; and most likely she would have spent the night in them, Rogojinhaving taken her straight there from the station.
The prince took a droshky. It struck him as he drove on that he oughtto have begun by coming here, since it was most improbable that Rogojinshould have taken Nastasia to his own house last night. He rememberedthat the porter said she very rarely came at all, so that it was stillless likely that she would have gone there so late at nig
ht.
Vainly trying to comfort himself with these reflections, the princereached the Ismailofsky barracks more dead than alive.
To his consternation the good people at the lodgings had not only heardnothing of Nastasia, but all came out to look at him as if he were amarvel of some sort. The whole family, of all ages, surrounded him, andhe was begged to enter. He guessed at once that they knew perfectly wellwho he was, and that yesterday ought to have been his wedding-day; andfurther that they were dying to ask about the wedding, and especiallyabout why he should be here now, inquiring for the woman who in allreasonable human probability might have been expected to be with him inPavlofsk.
He satisfied their curiosity, in as few words as possible, with regardto the wedding, but their exclamations and sighs were so numerous andsincere that he was obliged to tell the whole story--in a short form,of course. The advice of all these agitated ladies was that the princeshould go at once and knock at Rogojin’s until he was let in: and whenlet in insist upon a substantial explanation of everything. If Rogojinwas really not at home, the prince was advised to go to a certain house,the address of which