Dowd Siobhan - The London Eye Mystery 3 page

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-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. The door leading to the other

rooms, or rather cupboards, into which Amalia Lippevechsel'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.

Raskolnikov recognised Katerina Ivanovna 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; 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

Marmeladov.... She had not heard them and did not notice them coming in.

She seemed to be lost in thought, hearing and seeing nothing. The room

was close, but she had not opened the window; a stench rose from the

staircase, but the door on to 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. Beside him stood a girl of nine years old, tall and thin,

wearing a thin and ragged chemise with an ancient cashmere pelisse 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 thinness 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 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!"

And she fell to searching him. Marmeladov submissively and obediently

held up both arms to facilitate the search. Not a farthing was there.

"Where is the money?" she cried--"Mercy on us, can he have drunk it all?

There were twelve silver roubles 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 con-so-la-tion, ho-nou-red 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 rushed

to his sister in violent terror, almost in a fit. The eldest girl was

shaking like a leaf.

"He's drunk it! he's drunk it all," the poor woman screamed in

despair--"and his clothes are gone! And they are hungry, hungry!"--and

wringing her hands she pointed to the children. "Oh, accursed life!

And you, are you not ashamed?"--she pounced all at once upon

Raskolnikov--"from the tavern! Have you been drinking with him? You have

been drinking with him, too! Go away!"

The young man was hastening away without uttering a word. The inner door

was thrown wide open and 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

Marmeladov, dragged about by his hair, shouted that it was a consolation

to him. They even began to come into the room; at last a sinister shrill

outcry was heard: this came from Amalia Lippevechsel 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, to snatch up the

coppers he had received in exchange for his rouble 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.

"Sonia wants pomatum too," he said as he walked along the street, and he

laughed malignantly--"such smartness costs money.... Hm! And maybe Sonia

herself will be bankrupt to-day, for there is always a risk, hunting

big game... digging for gold... then they would all be without a crust

to-morrow except for my money. Hurrah for Sonia! What a mine they've dug

there! And they're making the most 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.

"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."

CHAPTER III

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; 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 Raskolnikov 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

heaped up all the linen he had, clean and dirty, by way of a bolster. A

little table stood in front of the sofa.

It would have been difficult to sink to a lower ebb of disorder, 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 looked

sometimes into his room made him writhe with nervous irritation. He was

in the condition that overtakes 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. Nastasya, 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. 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?"

Raskolnikov opened his eyes, started and recognised Nastasya.

"From the landlady, eh?" he asked, slowly and with a sickly face sitting

up on the sofa.

"From the landlady, indeed!"

She set 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, Nastasya, 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-butcher's."

"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. 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, Nastasya

sat down beside him on the sofa and began chatting. She was a country

peasant-woman and a very talkative one.

"Praskovya Pavlovna means to complain to the police about you," she

said.

He scowled.

"To the police? 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 to-day."

"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? 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.

Nastasya was overcome with a fit of laughter. 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?" he

answered, reluctantly, as though replying to his own thought.

"And you want 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 you 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 whom?"

"I can't say. I gave three copecks 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 Raskolnikov

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.

"Nastasya, leave me alone, for goodness' sake; here are your three

copecks, but 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 this letter. When Nastasya

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, 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 letter, weighing over two ounces, two large sheets

of note paper were covered with very small handwriting.

"My dear Rodya," 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 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 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,

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 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 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 Dounia had a great

deal to put up with in the Svidrigrailovs' house, when you wrote that

and asked me to tell you all about it--what could I write in 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 Dounia 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.

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 Dounia'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 Dounia loves

you and what a heart she has. At first indeed Mr. Svidrigailov treated

her very rudely and used to make disrespectful and jeering remarks 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 kind and generous behaviour of Marfa Petrovna, Mr. Svidrigailov's

wife, and all the rest of the household, Dounia 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 Dounia 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, considering his years and

his being the father of a family; and that made him angry with Dounia.

And possibly, too, he hoped by his rude and sneering behaviour to hide

the truth from others. But at last he lost all control and had the face

to make Dounia 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: and then Dounia

would have been the cause of a rupture in the family. And it would

have meant a terrible scandal for Dounia too; that would have been

inevitable. There were various other reasons owing to which Dounia could

not hope to escape from that awful house for another six weeks. You know

Dounia, of course; you know how clever she is and what a strong will she

has. Dounia 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 imploring Dounia in the

garden, and, putting quite a wrong interpretation on the position, threw

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 Dounia, refused to hear 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 linen and her clothes, all pell-mell, without

folding it up and packing it. And a heavy shower of rain came on, too,

and Dounia, insulted and put to shame, had to drive with a peasant in an

open cart all the seventeen versts into town. 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 dared 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, Dounia 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 that Dounia and I dared 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 learnt that some shopmen and clerks were intending 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 Dounia and throw dirt at

her in every family. She knows everyone in the neighbourhood, and that

month she was continually coming into the town, and as she is

rather talkative and fond of gossiping about her family affairs and

particularly of complaining to all and 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

Dounia 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.

Svidrigailov returned to his senses and repented and, probably

feeling sorry for Dounia, he laid before Marfa Petrovna a complete and

unmistakable proof of Dounia's innocence, in the form of a letter Dounia

had been forced to write and give to him, before Marfa Petrovna

came upon them in the garden. This letter, which remained in Mr.

Svidrigailov'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 behaviour 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 defenceless girl,

unhappy enough already. 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 Dounia'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

Dounia's innocence. The very next day, being Sunday, she went straight

to the Cathedral, knelt down and 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 Dounia 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 Dounia's innocence and the nobility of

her feelings and her behavior. What was more, she showed and read to

everyone the letter in Dounia's own handwriting to Mr. Svidrigailov and

even allowed them to take copies of it--which I must say I think was

superfluous. In this way she was busy for several days in driving about

the whole town, because some people had taken offence 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 people's. 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 Dounia's

reputation and the whole ignominy 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. Dounia 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 Dounia 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 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

was how it happened. He is already of the rank of a counsellor, Pyotr

Petrovitch Luzhin, and is distantly related to Marfa Petrovna, who

has been very active in bringing the match about. It 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 and begged for a

speedy and decided answer. He is 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 depended 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.

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 like in him at first sight. I give you this

warning, although I feel sure that he will make a favourable 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 Pyotr

Petrovitch, judging by many indications, is a thoroughly estimable man.

At his first visit, indeed, he told us that he was a practical man, but

still he shares, as he expressed it, many of the convictions 'of our

most 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 Dounia 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, Rodya. She is a resolute, sensible, patient and

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 572