Chapter 25 three

The main thing was that, until the last minute, he hadn't in any way expected such an ending.His arrogance was at its height, and it never occurred to him that it was possible for these two poor and helpless women to escape his control.Vanity and an overconfidence which might be called smugness has largely contributed to this belief in him.Pyotr Petrovich, who came from a poor background, had an almost morbid habit of admiring himself when he rose to prominence, overestimating his own intelligence and talents, and sometimes even looking at himself in the mirror.But what he cherishes and values ​​most in the world is the money he gets by labor and by all means, because money enables him to rank among people with a higher social status.

Pyotr Petrovich had just reminded Dounia with bitterness of heart that he was determined to marry her despite her bad reputation, and he had said this with complete sincerity, and was even deeply indignant at such "ungratefulness."In fact, when he proposed to Dunya, he was completely convinced that all these rumors were absurd, because Marfa Petrovna herself had publicly refuted them, the whole town had long since stopped talking about them, and was still in the Warmly defend Dounia.And he himself does not deny now that he already knew all this at the time.However, it was his decision to raise Dounia to his own level, a decision which he thought highly of as an act of heroism.He had just mentioned this to Dounia, that is to say, he had expressed this thought that was hidden in his heart, that he cherished so much, that he had admired it more than once, and he could not understand how others could not appreciate him. This heroic act.When he visited Raskolnikov, he was quite the benefactor, ready to reap the ripe fruit and hear sweet compliments.Now, of course, when he came downstairs, he thought he had been greatly insulted, that his exploits had not been recognized.

To him Dounia was simply indispensable; it was inconceivable to him to give her up.For a long time, for years, he had been dreaming sweetly of marriage, but he had been saving money, he had been waiting.In the depths of his heart, he has been thinking intoxicatedly, there will be such a girl who has good moral character, poor family background (it must be poor family background), very young, very beautiful, noble-minded, well-educated, very timid, and has experienced a lot. Tribulations, obedience and obedience, all his life thinks that he is his benefactor, worships him, obeys him, praises him, and only has him in his heart.How many moving scenes, how many sweet episodes he has created in his imagination with this fascinating and unpredictable theme in his spare time and quiet repose!No, the dream of so many years had almost become a reality: Avdotya Romanovna's beauty and education had amazed him; her helplessness had satisfied him immensely.There was even more than he had fancied: a girl of self-respect, strength of character, high morals, better educated and cultured than he (he recognized it), and a woman like this, For his heroic deeds, to be grateful to him like a slave for life, to bow the knee in awe before him, while he has unlimited and complete power over her! ...It seems to be a coincidence that not long ago, after long consideration and waiting, he finally decided to completely change his family and enter a wider range of activities, so as to slowly penetrate into a higher upper class, which is what he has been fascinated for a long time , dreamed of... In short, he wanted to try his luck in Petersburg.He knew that a woman would win "many, many" things.The charm of a beautiful, virtuous, and educated woman would do amazing things, create a bright future for him, attract attention to him, bring him honor... But now it's all in vain!Now this unexpected and unreasonable break was like a thunderbolt to him from the blue sky.This is really unreasonable, extremely absurd!He had only been a little arrogant; he hadn't even spoken frankly;And he had even loved Dounia in his own way, he had exercised power over her in his fantasies—and suddenly! ……No!Tomorrow, tomorrow, to make things right again, to iron out our differences, to right our mistakes, and above all, to get rid of this conceited brat who was the cause of it all.He couldn't help but think of Razumihin very painfully... But he quickly relieved him: "How can this fellow be compared with him!" But it was this Svidrigailo who really frightened him. Husband... In short, there will be many troubles...

"No, it's me, I'm the one who's most at fault!" said Dounia, embracing her mother and kissing her. "I wanted his money, but I swear, brother, I didn't think he was such a vile man." If I had seen him through earlier, I would have done nothing to him! Don't blame me, brother!" "God saved us! God saved us!" murmured Pulcheria Alexandrovna, but more or less unconsciously, as if she had not fully understood what had happened. Everyone cheered up and was even laughing five minutes later.Only Dounia sometimes turned pale and frowned when she thought of what had just happened.Pulcheria Alexandrovna could not imagine that she would be happy; in the morning she still thought that the break with Luzhin would be a terrible disaster.Razumihin was ecstatic.He did not yet dare to express his joy fully, but he was trembling like a fever, as if a five-pound weight that was hanging on his heart suddenly fell down.Now he has the right to give his whole life to them, to serve them... who knows what will happen now!But he was even more afraid to continue thinking about it, he was afraid of his own fantasy.Only Raskolnikov remained in his old seat, almost melancholy and absent-minded.Originally he was the most adamant about severing ties with Lu Ren, but now he seems to be the least interested in what happened.Dunya could not help thinking that he was still very angry with her, and that Pulcheria Alexandrovna looked at him timidly from time to time.

"What did Svidrigailov say to you?" asked Dunya, going up to him. "Oh, yes, yes!" cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna. Raskolnikov looked up: "He will definitely give you ten thousand rubles, and at the same time declare that he wishes to see you once in my presence." "Meet me! Not at all!" cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna. "How dare he offer her money!" Then Raskolnikov related (quite dryly) the contents of his conversation with Svidrigailov, omitting the words about the apparition of Marfa Petrovna so as not to go into too much detail, He disliked any conversation but the most necessary.

"How did you answer him?" asked Dounia. "At first I said that I would not tell you anything. So he declared that he would use all means to try to meet you. He convinced me that his love for you before was wishful thinking, and now he has no love for you. Any unreasonable thoughts... He doesn't want you to marry Luzhin... Generally speaking, he talks very wildly." "Rodya, what do you think he means? What do you think of him?" "To tell you the truth, I don't quite understand him. He offered you ten thousand rubles, but said he was not rich. He said he wanted to go somewhere, and ten minutes later he forgot to say it. He suddenly said that he wanted to get married, and that someone had already proposed a marriage for him...Of course, he has a purpose, and the biggest possibility is a shady purpose. But for some reason, he said very strangely, if he has no feelings for you Good intentions, then he would be foolish to do so... Of course I declined the grant for you, once and for all. Anyway, I find him a very strange person, and... even... seems a little deranged But I may be mistaken; perhaps it is only a hoax. Marfa Petrovna's death must have had some effect on him..."

"God, let her soul rest in peace!" cried Pulcheria Alexandrovna, "I will always, always pray to God for her! Oh, Dunya, if it hadn't been for the three thousand Rubles, what are we going to do now! God, the money just fell from the sky! Oh, Rodya, we have only three rubles left this morning, and Dunya and I were just trying to figure out what to do with it. Take the watch somewhere as a mortgage and borrow some money, so as not to speak to this person before he thinks about it." For some reason, Dunya was very surprised by Svidrigailov's proposal. She just stood there, lost in thought.

"He must be planning to do something terrible!" She trembled slightly, almost muttering to herself. Raskolnikov saw this look of extraordinary terror. "It seems that I will have to see him again, and more than once," he said to Dunia. "Let's watch him! I'll follow him!" Razumihin shouted resolutely. "I'll keep an eye on him! Rodya allowed me to do that. He said to me not long ago: 'You will protect my sister'. Will you allow me to do that, Avdotya Romanovna ?” Dounia smiled and held out her hand to him, but the worry did not disappear from her face.Pulcheria Alexandrovna looked at her timidly; but she was visibly reassured by the three thousand rubles.

After a quarter of an hour, everyone chatted excitedly.Even Raskolnikov, although he did not take part in the conversation, listened for a while.Razumihin was talking loudly. "Why, why are you leaving!" he said cheerfully, enthusiastically, and eloquently. "What can you do in that small city? The main thing is that you are here, you are all together, you need each other, and you are too It is necessary,—please understand me! Well, stay together for a while at least... Treat me as a friend, we are all in partnership, I promise, we can do a very good thing. Listen to me Say, I'll tell you all about it, about the whole plan! In the morning, before anything happened, a thought flashed through my mind... It's like this: I have an uncle (I'm going to introduce him and You get to know him; he is a very nice and respectable old man!), he has a thousand ruble property, he lives on a pension and does not need it. He has been pestering him for more than a year Lend it to me, and pay him only six per cent a year. I see what he means: he just wants to help me; but last year I didn't need the money, but this year, as soon as he comes, I will It was decided to borrow the money. Then you take out a thousand out of your three thousand rubles, and that is enough as a first step, and we will do it together. So what shall we do?"

Razumihin then expanded on his plan and explained that almost all of our booksellers and publishers are ignorant and therefore usually not good at business, while good publications generally maintain their capital and can Make money, sometimes quite a profit.Razumihin's dream was to run a publishing business; Razumihin had already worked for another publisher for two years and knew three European languages, although he had said to Raskolnikov six days earlier, His German is "not good", but that is to persuade Raskolnikov to take half of the translation task and accept an advance payment of three rubles. At that time, he lied, and Raskolnikov also knew that he was lying .

"Why, why should we miss our opportunity, since one of the most important means - our own money, already has?" Razumihin said passionately. "Of course it will take a lot of work, but we will all work hard, you, Avdotya Romanovna, me, Rodion . Know exactly what to translate. We translate, publish, study, all three together. Now I can use me because I have experience. I have been dealing with publishers for almost two years and know all about them: not only St. Believe me, believe me! Why, why miss the chance! I know of two or three books, and the idea of ​​translating and publishing them is worth a hundred rubles each , one of them, even if it costs 500 rubles, I will not tell anyone about the idea, so I have kept the idea of ​​​​translating these books a secret. Think about it, if I tell someone, he will probably Hesitating, they are all fools! As for the printing house, paper, distribution and other specific matters, you can leave it to me! I know all the secrets! Start with a small scale, and slowly expand the business, at least you can In any case, the capital can be earned back.” ①This is a proverb, which was originally: "God is not the only one who can burn crockpots", but here is a slight change.Meaning: Anyone can do this kind of thing. Dunya's eyes lit up. "I like what you say, Dmitry Prokofiitch," she said. "Of course I don't know anything about such things," answered Pulcheria Alexandrovna. "Perhaps it's a good idea, but again only God knows. It's a novel idea, and I don't know about it." Understood. Of course, we must stay here, at least for a while..." She looked at Rodya. "What do you think, brother?" said Dounia. "I think he's a good idea," he replied. "Of course, there's no need to fantasize about setting up a company first, but you can actually publish five or six books, and they will undoubtedly be successful. I also know that if a book is translated, it will be a bestseller. As for him being able to run a publishing business, there is no such thing as that." There is no doubt: he is proficient in business... However, you still need time to discuss it..." "Urrah!" cried Razumihin, "don't worry about it now, there's a room here, in this same house, also owned by the same landlord. It's a separate room, not like the ones in these hotels." Joining together, furnished for rent, moderate rent, three small rooms. You rent it first. Tomorrow I will go and give you the mortgage form, bring the money, then everything can be settled. The main thing is that you three One can live together, Rodya and you ... Hey, where are you going, Rodya?" "Why, Rodya, are you leaving?" Pulcheria Alexandrovna asked even in horror. "Go now!" cried Razumihin. Dounia looked at her brother with suspicious surprise.He had his hat in his hand, and was about to go. "Why do you seem to be burying me, or want to say goodbye to me forever," he said strangely for some reason. He seemed to be smiling, but it didn't seem like it was a smile. "Who knows, maybe this is the last time we see each other," he added inadvertently. This sentence was originally in his mind, but somehow he blurted it out and said it aloud. "What's wrong with you!" Mother exclaimed. "Where are you going, Rodya?" Dunya asked curiously. "It's nothing, I have to go, I need it very much," he replied vaguely, as if he had something to say but couldn't make up his mind.But the expression on his pale face spoke of the firmness of his resolution. "I want to say... when I come here... I want to say to you, mother... and you, Dounia, that I think it would be better for us to be apart for a while. I don't feel very well, and I don't Calm... I will come later, I will come by myself, when... I can come. I will not forget you, I love you... Please leave me alone! Let me live alone! It was still before, I So it was decided...it was decided...whatever happened to me, whether I died or not, I was going to be alone. Forget about me altogether. It's better that way...don't ask for news of me. If necessary, I will come myself, or... I will send you. Maybe everything will go back to the old way!... But now, if you love me, break with me... Or I will hate you, I think... stop it!" "My God!" exclaimed Pulcheria Alexandrovna. Mother and sister were terrified; Razumihin was terrified too. "Rodya, Rodya! Be reconciled with us, as before!" cried the poor mother. He turned slowly towards the door and walked out slowly from the room.Dunya caught up with him. "Brother! What are you doing? How can you do this to your mother!" She whispered, her eyes burning with anger. He looked at her painfully. "Nothing, I'll come, I'll come!" he whispered inarticulately, as if he didn't quite understand what he wanted to say, and went out of the room. "Ruthless and cruel selfish man!" cried Dounia. "He's crazy, not heartless! He's crazy! Can't you see that? You've treated him so cruelly! . . . " Razumihin gripped her hand tightly, excitedly. whispered into her ear. "I'll be right back!" he called, turning away to the pale Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and ran out of the room. Raskolnikov was waiting for him at the end of the corridor. "I knew you'd come out," he said. "Go back to them, please, and stay with them...and stay with them tomorrow...and forever. I...maybe come...if I can. Farewell!" He left Razumihin without shaking hands. "Where are you going? What is the matter with you? Has something happened to you? But is it possible! . . . " murmured Razumihin, completely bewildered. Raskolnikov stopped again. "I say one last time: please never ask me anything. I have nothing to answer you...don't you come to me. Maybe, I'll come here...leave me alone, but they...please don't leave them .do you understand me?" It was dark in the corridor; they stood by the lamp.They looked at each other in silence for about a minute.Razumihin remembered this minute all his life.Raskolnikov's radiant, intent eyes fixed on him, as if trying every moment to penetrate his soul, to lure him into his consciousness.Razumihin suddenly shuddered.Something strange seemed to pass between them... a thought, like a hint, was fleeting; and both sides suddenly understood that there was something terrible and unreasonable between them... Razumihin turned deathly pale. "Do you understand now?" said Raskolnikov suddenly, twisting his face in agony. "Go back, go back to them," he added abruptly, and turned quickly from the house. I will not now describe what happened that night at Pulcheria Alexandrovna's: how Razumihin came back to them, how he comforted them, how he swore that Rodya must recover from his illness, how he swore that Well, Rodya will definitely come back, come every day, say that he is very, very upset, that he should not be provoked; that he, Razumihin, will take good care of Rodya, get him a good doctor, get him a The best doctor, consult him... In short, Razumihin has been their son and brother since that night.