Chapter 24 Fives

It was late, almost two-thirty in the afternoon, and the prince did not meet the general at Yepanchin's.After leaving his card he decided to look for Kolya at the Balance Hotel and leave him a note if he wasn't there.The people at the Balance Hotel told him that Nikolai Ardalionovitch "had gone out early in the morning, but he was on his way out, and if anyone came to him, please tell this gentleman that he might be there in the afternoon." Come back before three o'clock. If he doesn't come back by three-thirty, it means he's gone by train to the dacha of General Yepanchin's wife in Pavlovsk, which means he won't be back until after dinner there ".After hearing this, the Duke sat down and waited, and ordered something for himself for lunch.

At half past three, or even four, Kolya had not returned.The Duke went out the door, walking unconsciously.Early summer in Petersburg is sometimes beautiful—the sun is shining, the wind is sunny, and it is quiet.Coincidentally, this day happened to catch up with such a rare good weather.The Duke wandered aimlessly.He is not very familiar with the city.He stopped and walked, sometimes standing at the crossroads of the street, stopping in front of some houses, sometimes standing on squares and bridges, and once he went into a food store to take a break.Sometimes, he looked at the passers-by very curiously, but most of the time he didn't pay attention to the pedestrians or where he was walking.He was in a state of painful tension and anxiety, and at the same time he felt a great need to be alone.He wanted to be alone for a while, to allow this painful tension to continue in complete passivity, without making any effort to find a way out of it.Many problems came to his soul and heart, and he did not want to solve them, and hated to solve them. "What, am I wrong about all of this?" he murmured, barely realizing what he was talking about.

Just before six o'clock, he appeared on the platform of the Huangcun Railway.He soon became overwhelmed with being alone and alone, and a new impulse came over him and made him feel warm.Originally, his soul felt depressed and sore in the darkness, but now, a bright light suddenly appeared, illuminating the darkness.He bought a ticket to Pavlovsk and was impatient to get going, but, of course, something must be troubling him, and it was reality, and not, as he might have liked to think, a A kind of fantasy.But as soon as he got on the train, he suddenly threw the ticket he just bought on the ground and walked out of the station, full of thoughts and thoughts.A while later, on the street, he suddenly remembered something, as if he suddenly understood something. He remembered a very strange thing that made him feel uneasy for a long time.He suddenly and clearly realized that he was doing something, and he had been doing it for a long time, but he had not noticed it until then: it had been hours, even at the Balance Hotel, and even seemed to be going to the Balance Hotel Before, he suddenly began to look around him as if he was looking for something. After searching for something, he forgot again, and even forgot for a long time, even half an hour after he forgot. Look around, look around.

But as soon as he discovered in himself this morbid, hitherto completely unconscious, but which had long dominated his actions, a flash of memory flashed before his eyes which interested him very much: he remembered that just as he found himself surrounded by When he was looking for something, he happened to be standing in front of the window of a shop on the sidewalk, looking very curiously at an item displayed in the window.He wanted to check, had to check: had he really been standing in front of the window of this shop just now, maybe five minutes ago, had it been an illusion of his, had he mixed something up ?Does this store and this item really exist?You know, he really felt himself today in a peculiarly morbid state of mind, almost the same as he had felt before when his old malady began.He knew that, before the onset of the attack, he had often been so absent-minded that if he was not particularly focused he would often confuse things with faces.But there was a special reason why he was so eager to check whether he was standing in front of the shop at the time: among the objects displayed in the shop window, he had once seen and even valued one thing. , worth sixty silver kopecks, he remembered it in spite of his very absent-mindedness and restlessness.Therefore, if the shop really existed and this item was among the items on display, it was for this item that he had stopped.This showed that there was something in the object which aroused his keen interest, and which therefore attracted his attention after he had stepped out of the railway station, even in a state of severe agitation.As he walked, he looked to the right from time to time almost annoyed, and his heart was beating violently because of his irritability.But lo, there's the shop up ahead, and he's found it at last!When he wanted to turn back, he was only five hundred paces away from the shop.Look, this is the thing that costs sixty kopecks. "Of course, it's only worth sixty kopecks, and nothing more!" he confirmed now, and then laughed.But he was laughing hysterically, and he felt heavy.He remembered clearly now that it was here, standing in front of this window, that he suddenly turned his head, as if he suddenly found Rogozhin's eyes looking at him early this morning.After checking, he believed that he was not mistaken (in fact, he was convinced of it without checking), left the shop, and hurried away.All this should be considered hastily, and must be considered carefully.It was now clear that at the train station, too, he was not delusional, that something real must have happened to him, something that must have had something to do with his past unease.But again he felt an irrepressible disgust, which again overwhelmed his original intentions: he didn't want to think about anything, and without thinking about it, he began to think about something quite irrelevant.

It occurred to him in passing that when he had an epileptic seizure, there was a preparatory phase almost immediately before the seizure (if, however, the seizure occurred while he was awake), when he felt melancholy, dull, oppressed in his heart. , his brain will suddenly become clear and clear, and all his vitality will be mobilized at once, turning into an extraordinary impulse.In those moments of flashing lightning, his sense of life and self-awareness will increase almost tenfold, his intellect and heart will suddenly be illuminated by an extraordinary light, and all agitation, all doubts, all restlessness, will appear as if It will return to Taihe in an instant, turning into a high degree of tranquility, full of clear and harmonious joy and hope, full of rationality and the light of Tai Chi.But these moments, these flashes, were but a premonition of that last second (never more than a second) from which the illness had struck.Of course, this second is very uncomfortable.Later, after his recovery, as he contemplated this moment, he often said to himself: You know, this heightened sense of self and self-awareness, and therefore all these fleeting flashes of the Supreme Being, are nothing more than It is nothing more than a morbid state, a violation of the normal state of human beings. If this is correct, then this is not the highest existence at all, on the contrary, it can only be regarded as the lowest state.However, then again, he ended up with a very strange paradox: "So what if it's an illness?" He finally decided that "if the result itself, if the moment recalled and examined after recovery The feeling is a high degree of harmony and beauty, and it gives people an unprecedented and unexpected fullness, just right and peace of mind, and if it is warmly and piously integrated with the highest complex of life, even if This kind of tension is not normal, so what does it matter?" He himself felt very clear about this kind of vague and ambiguous statement, although the words were not expressive, and could not express his intentions in case.As for saying that this is indeed a "beauty and prayer", a "highest synthesis of life", he has no doubts about this, and he will not allow any doubts.At this moment, he was not dreaming of phantoms, like the abnormal, non-existent phantoms that often occur after taking cannabis, opium, or drunkenness, is it not?For this, he was able to judge correctly after the morbid termination.These moments are nothing more than an extraordinary intensification of self-awareness (if I had to describe this state in one word, it would be self-awareness), and at the same time, a highly immediate sense of self, so to speak.If in that second, the last moment of consciousness before the epileptic attack, he could clearly and consciously say to himself: "Yes, for this moment, I can give my whole life!" , this moment itself is worth a whole life.He does not, however, subscribe to the dialectical part of this conclusion: his ensuing delirious, bewildered, idiotic state is a palpable consequence of these "most sublime moments."Needless to say, he has no intention of arguing seriously about this.This conclusion, his assessment of the moment, was undoubtedly erroneous, but the reality of the feeling puzzled him a little.Seriously, how was he supposed to make sense of this reality?You know, it does happen to him often, and at that very second, he has said to himself more than once, that this second, in view of the boundless happiness he fully feels, is worth a whole life.In Moscow, when they were together, he once said to Rogozhin: "At this moment, I seem to understand a little bit about the unusual phrase 'there will be no more days'." He added with a smile: "This is about the second that the epileptic Muhammad, before the overturned pitcher overflowed, observed all the abodes of Allah." Yes, in Moscow he and Rogozhin often met and talked about more than that. "Rogozhin just said that I was his brother, and that's the first time he's said that today," thought the prince.

He sat on a bench in the shade of the summer garden and thought about it.It was about seven o'clock in the evening.There was no one in the garden, and a black shadow instantly covered the setting sun.The weather was very stuffy, with the prospect of a thunderstorm, though not immediately.His current state of introspection and meditation has an intoxicating attraction for him.Every thing he sees in the outside world, he has a lot of imagination and thoughts, he likes to reverie: he always wants to forget the immediate problem at present, but when he takes a quick look around, his own gloomy thoughts come back to his mind at once, How he wanted to get rid of these thoughts.He remembered that when he was having dinner in the hotel, he had talked to a waiter about a sensational and very strange murder that happened not long ago.However, as soon as he thought of this, he suddenly had a special idea.

An extraordinary, irresistible, almost seductive desire suddenly seized all his will.He got up from the bench, walked out of the summer garden, and walked straight to the Petersburg area.Just now, on the riverside street of the Neva River, he asked a passerby how to get to the Petersburg area across the Neva River.The man showed him the way, but he did not cross the river to the other side.Taking a step back, there is no need to go today, and he knows this.He already had her address and could easily find Lebedev's relatives, but he knew that it was almost certain that he would never meet her there. "She must have gone to Pavlovsk. Otherwise, Kolya will definitely leave a message for the Balance Hotel." It can be seen that he is not going to see her now.Another dark, tormenting curiosity tempted him.A sudden new idea came to his mind...

But it was enough for him to start walking and know where he was going: a minute later he was walking recklessly, hardly looking at the road again.He immediately felt that it was not only extremely disgusting, but also almost impossible to continue thinking about that "sudden idea".Trying desperately to concentrate, he looked at everything that came before his eyes, he looked at the sky, at the Neva.He also spoke a few words to a child who was walking towards him.Perhaps, his epileptic seizures were getting worse.It seems that the thunderstorm is really coming, although it is coming very slowly.Thunder has begun to strike in the distance, and the weather has become very stuffy.

For some reason, he was now thinking of Lebedev's nephew whom he had seen this morning, just as he sometimes thought of a lingering, annoying musical melody.Strangely enough, whenever he thought of him, he thought of the murderer whom Lebedev had mentioned this morning when he had introduced his nephew.Yes, he had only recently seen the murderer's murder.He had seen and heard a great deal about this in the papers since he had set foot on Russian soil, and he had watched it closely.At noon today, when he talked to the waiter about the murder of Remarin's family, he even became very interested.He remembered that the waiter agreed with him, and he remembered the waiter again, the boy was not stupid, he was steady in his work and cautious in his words, but, "then again, only God knows what kind of man he is. Newcomer, It's hard to see through people you meet by chance."However, he had come to believe passionately in the Russian soul.Oh, what a new, unseen, unheard, unexpected thing he had been through during those six months!But knowing people, knowing faces but not knowing the heart, the soul of the Russians is also unpredictable, and many people are unpredictable.For example, he and Rogozhin are no longer acquaintances, they are "brothers" - but does he know Rogozhin?But here, in the midst of it all, what confusion, what disorganization, what disgrace!Besides, what an annoying, self-righteous brat was this Lebedev's nephew whom I met not long ago!Then again, what's the matter with me? (The duke continues to fantasize) Did he kill these men, these six?I seem to get mixed up... how strange!I'm a little dizzy... What a lovely face, how lovely the face of Lebedev's eldest daughter, that is, the girl with the baby, how innocent her expression is!Almost childish, she laughed almost like a child too!Oddly enough, he'd almost forgotten about the face and didn't think about it until now.Although Lebedev stomped at them, he probably loved them very much.But the surest thing, as sure as two two makes four, is that Lebedev must be very fond of his nephew!

But then again, he only arrived today, so why rush to make a conclusion and read such a sentence to them?Besides, Lebedev asked him a question today: Well, how could he expect Lebedev to be such a person?Had he known before that Lebedev was such a man?Lebedev and Dubari, — Lord!Then again, even if Rogozhin wanted to kill people, at least he wouldn't kill people indiscriminately like this.Customize the murder weapon according to the drawings and kill six people completely in a state of confusion!Does Rogozhin also have a custom-made murder weapon according to the blueprint... But he has... But... Are you sure that Rogozhin will kill?The Duke shuddered suddenly. "Aren't I being a fellow criminal and shameless when I openly make such a shameless assumption!" he exclaimed, flushing with shame all over his face.He was stunned, and he stood blankly in the middle of the road.He suddenly remembered the Pavlovsk station he had just been to, the Nikolai station he had been to just now, the straightforward question he had asked Rogozhin about his eyes, the Rogozhin cross he was wearing now, his mother (and he himself took him to see his mother), Rogozhin's last convulsive embrace just now on the stairs, and his final announcement that he would henceforth give up Nastasya Filippovna,— —and after all this, he found himself looking around for something, and that shop, and that object... How despicable and shameless!And after all this, he is now walking forward with some "special purpose" and some special "sudden idea" in his heart!Despair and pain began to seize his whole soul.The prince wanted to go back at once, to the hotel where he was staying, and he had even turned around and started off.But after walking for a while, he stopped again, and after thinking about it, he returned to the original road. ">

He had already arrived in the Petersburg area, he was already very close to the building, but he was not going there now with the former purpose, nor with some "special idea"!How could that be!Yes, his illness was about to strike again, there was no doubt about it, maybe it would happen today, and it would definitely happen today.His whole dark psychology is because this disease is going to happen again, and that "thought" is also because the old problem is going to happen again!Now that the dark mind had dissipated, the devil had been cast out, doubts were no more, and his heart was filled with joy!Besides, he hadn't seen her for a long time, he had to see her, and... yes, he really hoped to meet Rogozhin now, and if he could, he would definitely take his hand and go hand in hand... He has no shame in his heart.How could he be Rogozhin's rival in love?To-morrow he would go to the door himself and tell Rogozhin that he had seen Nastasya Filippovna, and that he had come here in such a hurry, as Rogozhin just said, not just to see To her!He might meet her, you know, she might not just go to Pavlovsk! Yes, now all this must be cleared up, we should be honest with each other, we should not voluntarily give up like Rogozhin did just now—this renunciation is against our will, we can’t let it go, we should let things take their course, and... Be aboveboard.Couldn't Rogozhin be aboveboard?He said he loved her, but not in the right way, that he had no compassion, "any such pity" in his heart.By the way, he added later, "Your pity may be stronger than my love"—but he was denigrating himself. , Rogozhin is reading - isn't this the beginning of "pity"?Doesn't the very existence of the book prove that he has fully realized what his relationship to her should be?So what about all the things he just said?No, it's not just lust, it's deeper than lust.Does her face only arouse lust?Even, can this face arouse lust now?It evokes pain, pain that fills the heart, pain...and burning, heart-wrenching memories, suddenly flooding the prince's heart. Yes, heartbroken.How it had pained him not so long ago when he first saw her showing signs of insanity.What he felt at the time was almost despair.How could he leave her alone when she left him and ran to Rogozhin?He should have run to her himself instead of waiting for news from her.But . . . had Rogozhin not detected signs of insanity in her so far? ... Rogozhin sees everything for another reason, for lust!What insane jealousy!What does his assumption just now mean? (The Duke blushes suddenly, as if something clicked in his heart.) Then again, why even think about it?It's a little crazy on both sides.As for the fact that he (the duke) loved this woman passionately—it was almost inconceivable, almost cruel and inhuman.Yes Yes!No, Rogozhin was discrediting himself.He has a big heart, capable of both pain and compassion.When he learns the whole truth, when he is convinced of what a wretched creature this ravaged, half-mad woman is--won't he then forgive her for all that has been, all his own pain? ?Wouldn't he be her servant, brother, friend, and protector?Compassion will make Rogozhin understand, will teach him the truth of life.Compassion is the chief, perhaps the only, law of human existence.Oh, how sorry he was to Rogozhin!His mistakes were unforgivable, and his actions were not aboveboard.No, not that "the Russian mind is unpredictable," but his own, because he could imagine such a terrible thing.Because he said a few warm and heartfelt words in Moscow, Rogozhin actually looked at him with admiration and called him his brother, and he... But this is sickness and nonsense!It will all work out! ... Just now, Rogozhin said that he himself was "losing faith", and when he said this, he was completely disillusioned!This man must have been in great pain.He said he "liked to look at this painting", not that he liked it, but that he felt the need to do so.Rogozhin was not only a very passionate man, he was also, after all, a fighter: he was trying to restore his lost faith.He needs faith so badly now, to the point of pain... yes!Be sure to believe in a doctrine and a god!Then again, how strange is this picture of Holbein... Ah, this is the street!It might be this house, that's it, No. 16, "Mrs. Filisova, the tenth civil servant!" The prince rang the bell and said that he wanted to see Nastasya Filippovna. The mistress of the mansion herself came out and answered him that Nastasya Filippovna had gone early in the morning to Pavlovsk to see Darya Alexandrovna, and "may even stay there." some days".Filisova was a small, sharp-eyed, monkey-cheeked woman of about forty, with sly and piercing eyes.She asked his surname, which she asked as if on purpose to give it an air of mystery—the duke did not want to answer the question at first, but he returned immediately and begged her to convey his name to the prince. Stasia Filippovna.Filisova paid special attention to the word "must" he said, and there was a very secret look on her face.Obviously I want to use this to express: "Don't worry, I know what to do."The duke's name evidently made a very strong impression on her.The prince looked at her absently, then turned away and walked back to his hotel.But he came out in a different manner than he had when he went to the doorbell of Rafilisova's house.As if in an instant, another special change occurred in his heart: as he walked, his face became pale, weak, painful and agitated again, his knees trembled, his lips were blue, and a vague, unknown How to be a good smile: His "sudden idea" was confirmed in an instant, which showed that his idea was reasonable, so - he believed in the devil in his heart again! But has it really been proven?But does it really make sense?Why was he trembling all over again, why was he sweating again, and why was there this darkness and shudder in his heart?Is it because he saw those eyes again just now?But didn't he walk out of the summer garden just to see those eyes!His "sudden idea" should be like this.He desperately wanted to see "the eyes he saw early this morning" again, just to be sure that he would be there, that he would meet them near that building.This was an irresistible desire of his, and he had indeed seen these eyes just now, so why did he feel so depressed and fussed now?As if out of the blue!Yes, it was those eyes (there was no doubt about them now!), the same eyes that flashed at him from the crowd early this morning when he got off the train at the Nikolai station, These were the same eyes (and indeed those eyes!) that he found suddenly behind Rogozhin when he took his seat in Rogozhin's study.At that time, Rogozhin categorically denied it: he gave a cold wry smile, and asked: "Whose eyes are these?" It was the third time that day that he saw those eyes suddenly—he wanted to go straight to Rogozhin and say to him: "Whose eyes are these, yours!" But he ran out of the station, and did not wake up until he was standing in front of the knife shop, estimating the price of a pocket knife with an antler handle at sixty kopecks.A strange and terrible demon haunted him, and he would never leave him.He was sitting under the linden tree in the summer garden, and when he was in a trance, the devil came to his ear and whispered: If Rogozhin has been watching him from early morning, pay attention to his every move , then now, when Rogozhin learns that he is not going to Pavlovsk (this is, of course, bad news for Rogozhin), Rogozhin will definitely go there, to the Petersburg region. He will go upstairs, and will be waiting there for him, for the prince, who had promised him this morning that he would "never see her again" and that "that's not why he came to Petersburg."But the prince rushed to the building in a convulsion, and if he did meet Rogozhin there, what would it matter?He sees only one unfortunate person, who is understandably depressed, though depressed.The unfortunate man is not even evasive now.Yes, this morning Rogozhin for some reason denied it and lied, but at the station he stood openly and did not hide.In fact, it was he, not Rogozhin, who was hiding.And now, beside that building, he was standing on the sidewalk across the street, some fifty paces diagonally away, arms folded, waiting.This time, he was completely standing in the light, as if deliberately wanting others to see him.He stood there like a whistleblower and a judge, not like...not like what? Then why doesn't the duke go up to him now himself, but turn away as if he didn't see anything, though their eyes met (yes, they met, and they met) looked at each other), didn’t he just want to hold his hand and go there hand in hand with him?Didn't he want to go to him himself tomorrow and tell him that he has been to her?Had he not cut himself off from his own demons on the way there, when joy suddenly filled his whole being?Or there was something in Rogozhin, in the whole image of the man today, in the sum of his words, manners, actions, and glances, which attested to the prince's dire foreboding, Was there a reason for the devil in him to whisper in anger?Or there is something, though self-evident, difficult to analyse, express, and impossible to defend with sufficient reason, which, with all its difficulties and impossibilities, gives a whole, strong sense of impression, and this impression is involuntarily transformed into the fullest conviction.Is that so? ... "Faith—what faith? (Oh, how this belief and the ugliness and 'indecentness' of 'this vile foreboding' tormented the Duke, and how he continually reproached himself!) You But tell me, if you have the guts, what kind of belief is it?" He kept saying to himself reproachfully and challengingly, "Think about how to say it, be bold, say what you think, be clear , Exactly. Don't hesitate! Ah, I'm so dishonorable!" he repeated angrily, his face flushed, "what face should I have in my life to see this man again! Oh, what a shame! What an absurd day! Oh God, what a nightmare!" Returning from the Petersburg region, at the end of this long and painful journey, for a moment, a strong desire suddenly filled the prince's heart-to go to Rogozhin at once, and wait for him to return, with a face full of shame. He hugged him tearfully, told him everything, and made a clean break with it from now on.But he was already standing in front of the hotel where he was staying... How he didn't like the hotel, the corridors, the whole building, and the room where he lived this morning, and didn't like it at first sight.He had thought several times in disgust that he would have to come back here in the end... "What's the matter with me, like a sick woman, why do I believe in all kinds of premonitions today!" He stood At the gate, thought with an angry sneer on his face.As soon as he entered the gate, he felt an unbearable shame that was close to despair, and this shame made him stand still in the same place, motionless.He lingered for a moment at the gate.And this is human nature: whenever someone suddenly recalls an unbearable past, especially if it is mixed with shame, it usually makes the person stop, stand still, and think for a moment, "Yes, I A heartless man and a coward!" He repeated glumly what was in his mind, and hurried on again, but . . . he stopped again . . . The porch of the hotel door, which was already dark, was darker now: a thunderstorm was approaching, the clouds were thick, and the gleam of light at dusk was swallowed up, and when the Duke was almost approaching the building, the clouds burst open and the rain fell. .When he stopped for a moment and hurried away from his place, he happened to be standing at the front of the porch, which is the entrance to the gate from the street.Then suddenly, deep in the gate, in the half-light, next to the entrance of the stairs, he saw a person.The man seemed to be waiting for something, but disappeared in a flash.The duke didn't see the man clearly, and certainly couldn't tell who he was.Besides, there are a lot of people coming and going here. This is a hotel, and people are constantly coming and going in and out of the corridor in a hurry.But suddenly the fullest and irresistible conviction came to him that he recognized the man, and that it must be Rogozhin.Immediately afterwards the Duke ran up the stairs after the man.His heart stopped beating. "It will come out soon!" he murmured with a strange conviction. The staircase that the Duke ran up from under the porch led to the corridors on the first and second floors, and the various rooms of the hotel were distributed on both sides of the corridors.Like the stairs in all ancient buildings, this staircase is made of stone, dark and narrow, with a thick stone pillar in the middle, spiraling upwards.On the first landing at the turn of the stairs, this stone column also has a recess in the shape of a niche, about half a step deep and less than a step wide.However, there is room for one person here.Although it was very dark on the stairs, the Duke ran up the stairs and immediately found that there was a person hiding in the alcove here for some reason.The Duke suddenly wanted to walk over without looking to the right.He had already taken a step forward, but couldn't help but turned his head to look in again. Those two eyes that I had seen many times today, that is, those eyes, suddenly met his gaze.The man hiding in the alcove also took a step from inside.For a moment the two stood facing each other, almost close to each other, and the prince seized him sharply by the shoulders, and turned his head toward the stairs, so that he could get a better look at the face by drawing closer to the light. Rogozhin's eyes lit up suddenly, and there was a wild smile on his face.He raised his right hand, and there was a flash of something in his hand, which the Duke did not expect to resist.He only remembered that he seemed to shout: "Parfin, I don't believe it!..." Immediately afterwards, it suddenly opened up before his eyes: an extraordinary inner light illuminated his soul.The moment lasted perhaps half a second, but he remembered distinctly and consciously the beginning and the terrible first cry.This scream burst out naturally from his chest, and he couldn't restrain it no matter how hard he tried.Then, his consciousness was instantly extinguished, and darkness appeared in front of his eyes. The epilepsy that he hadn't had for a long time came back.As we all know, epilepsy is epilepsy, which occurs suddenly in an instant.At this moment, the face, especially the eyes, will suddenly distort, and the expression will change drastically.Twitches and spasms violently grip the body and the entire face.一阵可怕的、无法想象的、不成体统的号叫从胸膛里迸发出来，在这阵号叫中，似乎一切人之所以为人的东西都霎时灰飞烟灭，旁观者简直无法想象，起码是很难想象和设想，这是同一个人在喊叫。他甚至会以为，这个人里面似乎还应有一个人，是另一个人在喊叫。许多人起码都是这样解释自己的印象的。这个发羊痫风的人的模样，使许多人都产生一种难以忍受的绝大恐怖，甚至这种恐怖还含有某种神秘的东西。我们不妨设想，这时蓦然产生的这种恐怖印象，夹杂着其他形形色色的可怕印象，猛地使罗戈任大吃一惊，呆若木鸡，因而救了公爵，使他免受那已经向他身上落下来的、看来无法避免的一刀。紧接着，罗戈任还没来得及想到这是癫痫病发作，只看到公爵突然一个倒栽葱，脸朝上，摔倒在地，而且一直从楼梯上滚了下来，由于滚得太猛，后脑勺还撞到了石头楼梯上，罗戈任见状，便飞也似的跑下楼梯，绕过躺在地上的公爵，几乎丧魂失魄地跑出了旅馆。 由于抽搐、发抖和痉挛，病人的身体顺着楼梯（不超过十五级）滚下来，一直滚到楼梯尽头。很快，不超过五分钟，就有人发现这个躺在地上的人，接着就围上了一大群人。头旁的一大摊鲜血引起了人们的猜疑：究竟这人是自己摔伤的呢，还是“有人行凶”？但是很快就有人认出这是羊痫风，一名旅馆茶房认出了公爵就是那位刚来不久的旅客。由于偶然的巧合，这场骚乱终于非常完满地得到了解决。 科利亚·伊沃尔金本来说定四点前回天平旅馆的，可是他没回来，到帕夫洛夫斯克去了，由于某种突如其来的想法，他不肯在叶潘钦将军夫人家吃“便饭”，而是回到了彼得堡，并且急急忙忙赶往天平旅馆，大概在晚上七点钟左右回到了目的地。他见到留条后得知公爵已回彼得堡，便按条子上告诉他的地址急忙前来找他。他到这家旅馆后被告知，公爵出去了，于是他就下楼到小吃部等候，一面喝茶，一面听人摇风琴。他偶然听到有人突然发病，便凭着准确无误的预感，急忙来到现场，认出了公爵，立刻采取了必要的措施。大家七手八脚地把公爵抬进他的房间，他虽然醒过来了，但是相当长时间仍未完全恢复知觉。一位大夫被请了来检查摔伤的脑袋，给了点外敷的药水，声称碰伤之处毫无危险。又过了一小时，公爵的神志已经相当清楚了，科利亚便叫了辆四轮马车，把他从旅馆送到了列别杰夫家。列别杰夫非常热情和非常巴结地收留了病人。为了公爵，他也就加快了移居别墅的事，第三天，大家已经都在帕夫洛夫斯克了。