Dowd Siobhan - The London Eye Mystery 38 page

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 agonising. A lethargy had come upon

him at times. From the moment of the scene with Nikolay at Porfiry's he

had been suffocating, penned in without hope of escape. After Nikolay's

confession, on that very day had come the scene with Sonia; his

behaviour 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 Razumihin, had explained it

_psychologically_. He had begun bringing in his damned psychology again!

Porfiry? But to think that Porfiry should for one moment believe that

Nikolay was guilty, after what had passed between them before Nikolay's

appearance, after that tete-a-tete interview, which could have only

_one_ explanation? (During those days Raskolnikov had often recalled

passages in that scene with Porfiry; he could not bear to let his mind

rest on it.) Such words, such gestures had passed between them, they

had exchanged such glances, things had been said in such a tone and had

reached such a pass, that Nikolay, whom Porfiry had seen through at the

first word, at the first gesture, could not have shaken his conviction.

"And to think that even Razumihin had begun to suspect! 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 Razumihin off with Nikolay? 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...."

Raskolnikov 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; 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. Raskolnikov was

dumbfounded for a minute, but only for one minute. 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 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 one cigarette."

"Sit down, Porfiry Petrovitch, sit down." Raskolnikov gave his visitor

a seat with so pleased and friendly an expression that he would have

marvelled 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 Porfiry, 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 Raskolnikov's

heart. "Come, why don't you speak?"

CHAPTER II

"Ah these cigarettes!" Porfiry Petrovitch 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. You know I am a coward, I went lately to

Dr. B----n; 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,

he-he-he, that I don't. Everything is relative, Rodion Romanovitch,

everything is relative!"

"Why, he's playing his professional tricks again," Raskolnikov thought

with disgust. All the circumstances of their last interview suddenly

came back to him, and he felt a rush of the feeling that had come upon

him then.

"I came to see you the day before yesterday, in the evening; you didn't

know?" Porfiry Petrovitch went on, looking round the room. "I came into

this very room. I was passing by, just as I did to-day, 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. Porfiry seemed to guess

his state of mind.

"I've come to have it out with you, Rodion Romanovitch, my dear fellow!

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! 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 behaviour

was unseemly, even ungentlemanly. And yet we are gentlemen, above all,

in any case, gentlemen; that must be understood. Do you remember what we

came to?... and it was quite indecorous."

"What is he up to, what does he take me for?" Raskolnikov asked himself

in amazement, raising his head and looking with open eyes on Porfiry.

"I've decided openness is better between 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.

"Yes, such suspicions and such scenes cannot continue for long. Nikolay

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 realise

that? You know that, of course; and I am aware that he 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 ask 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,

Rodion Romanovitch. 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, Rodion 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. I was capable of

realising that. If I only 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 on 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?" Raskolnikov 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 speak. I want to make clear to you how the whole business,

the whole misunderstanding arose. 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 disliked 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 can to efface that impression and to show that I am a man of heart

and conscience. I speak sincerely."

Porfiry Petrovitch made a dignified pause. Raskolnikov 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

Petrovitch went on. "Indeed, I could scarcely attempt it. To begin with

there were rumours. Through whom, how, and when those rumours came to

me... and how they affected you, I need not go into. My suspicions

were aroused by a complete accident, which might just as easily not have

happened. What was it? Hm! I believe there is no need to go into that

either. Those rumours 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. 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 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 recognised long before. I, too, have felt

the same, so that your article seemed familiar to me. 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 literary

amateur, I am awfully fond of such first essays, full of the heat of

youth. There is a mistiness and a chord 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 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

Nikolay on my hands with actual evidence against him--you may think what

you like of it, but it's evidence. 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 behaviour on that occasion. It was not malicious, I assure

you, he-he! Do you suppose I didn't come to search your room at the

time? I did, I did, he-he! 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 _umsonst_! 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. Razumihin began discussing the

subject with you? We arranged that to excite you, so we purposely spread

rumours, that he might discuss the case with you, and Razumihin is not a

man to restrain his indignation. Mr. Zametov 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 bowled Zametov 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. Ach!

"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, I should not have noticed anything in your laughter. You

see what influence a mood has! Mr. Razumihin then--ah, that stone, that

stone under which the things were hidden! I seem to see it somewhere

in a kitchen garden. It was in a kitchen garden, you told Zametov and

afterwards you repeated that in my office? 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, Rodion 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 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. '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

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-ringing in your illness, in semi-delirium?

"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 Nikolay had not parted us... and do you

remember Nikolay at the time? Do you remember him clearly? It was a

thunderbolt, a regular thunderbolt! And how I met him! 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, _Morgenfrueh_. What has Nikolay

got to do with it!"

"Razumihin told me just now that you think Nikolay 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. Razumihin!" cried Porfiry Petrovitch, seeming glad of a question

from Raskolnikov, who had till then been silent. "He-he-he! But I had to

put Mr. Razumihin off; two is company, three is none. Mr. Razumihin 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 Nikolay, 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. 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. 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[*] in his family, and he was for two years in his

village under the spiritual guidance of a certain elder. I learnt all

this from Nikolay and from his fellow villagers. And what's more, he

wanted to run into the wilderness! He was full of fervour, prayed at

night, read the old books, 'the true' ones, and read himself crazy.

[*] A religious sect.--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

"Petersburg had a great effect upon him, especially the women and the

wine. He responds to everything and he forgot the elder and all that. I

learnt that 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' frightens 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.' 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, apropos 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 Nikolay wants to take his suffering or something

of the sort. 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,

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 Nikolay and am

studying him in detail. And what do you think? He-he! 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, Nikolay doesn't come in! This is a fantastic,

gloomy business, a modern case, an incident of to-day 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, 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 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 Nikolay, my

dear Rodion Romanovitch!"

All that had been said before had sounded so like a recantation that

these words were too great a shock. Raskolnikov shuddered as though he

had been stabbed.

"Then... who then... is the murderer?" he asked in a breathless voice,

unable to restrain himself.

Porfiry Petrovitch 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," he added,

almost in a whisper, in a voice of genuine conviction.

Raskolnikov 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 Petrovitch

observed almost sympathetically. "You've been misunderstanding me, I

think, Rodion Romanovitch," he added after a brief pause, "that's why

you are so surprised. I came on purpose to tell you everything and deal

openly with you."

"It was not I murdered her," Raskolnikov 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. Raskolnikov put his elbow on the table and passed his fingers

through his hair. Porfiry Petrovitch sat quietly waiting. Suddenly

Raskolnikov looked scornfully at Porfiry.

"You are at your old tricks again, Porfiry Petrovitch! 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 hare.

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?" Raskolnikov 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. In the

first place, to arrest you so directly is not to my interest."

"How so? If you are convinced you ought...."

"Ach, 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 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 probable, 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?" Raskolnikov was listening breathless.

"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?"

Raskolnikov thought a minute.

"Listen, Porfiry Petrovitch. 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?"

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 773