"What, are you off already?" asked Porphyrius, kindly offering the young man his hand with extreme affability. "I am delighted to have made your acquaintance. And as for your application, don't be uneasy about it. Write in the way I suggested. Or, perhaps, you had better do this. Come and see me before long--to-morrow, if you like. I shall be here without fail at eleven o'clock. We can make everything right--we'll have a chat--and as you were one of the last that went THERE, you might be able to give some further particulars?" he added, with his friendly smile.
"Do you wish to examine me formally?" Raskolnikoff inquired, in an uncomfortable tone.
"Why should I? Such a thing is out of the question. You have misunderstood me. I ought to tell you that I manage to make the most of every opportunity. I have already had a chat with every single person that has been in the habit of pledging things with the old woman--several have given me very useful information--and as you happen to be the last one-- By the by," he exclaimed with sudden pleasure, "how lucky I am thinking about it, I was really going to forget it!" (Saying which he turned to Razoumikhin.)"You were almost stunning my ears, the other day, talking about Mikolka. Well, I am certain, quite certain, as to his innocence,"he went on, once more addressing himself to Raskolnikoff. "But what was to be done? It has been necessary to disturb Dmitri.
Now, what I wanted to ask was: On going upstairs--was it not between seven and eight you entered the house?""Yes," replied Raskolnikoff and he immediately regretted an answer he ought to have avoided.
"Well, in going upstairs, between seven and eight, did you not see on the second floor, in one of the rooms, when the door was wide open--you remember, I dare say?--did you not see two painters or, at all events, one of the two? They were whitewashing the room, Ibelieve; you must have seen them! The matter is of the utmost importance to them!""Painters, you say? I saw none," replied Raskolnikoff slowly, trying to sound his memory: for a moment he violently strained it to discover, as quickly as he could, the trap concealed by the magistrate's question. "No, I did not see a single one; I did not even see any room standing open," he went on, delighted at having discovered the trap, "but on the fourth floor I remember noticing that the man lodging on the same landing as Alena Ivanovna was in the act of moving. I remember that very well, as I met a few soldiers carrying a sofa, and I was obliged to back against the wall; but, as for painters, I don't remember seeing a single one--Idon't even remember a room that had its door open. No, I saw nothing.""But what are you talking about?" all at once exclaimed Razoumikhin, who, till that moment, had attentively listened; "it was on the very day of the murder that painters were busy in that room, while he came there two days previously! Why are you asking that question?""Right! I have confused the dates!" cried Porphyrius, tapping his forehead. "Deuce take me! That job makes me lose my head!" he added by way of excuse, and speaking to Raskolnikoff. "It is very important that we should know if anybody saw them in that room between seven and eight. I thought I might have got that information from you without thinking any more about it. I had positively confused the days!""You ought to be more attentive!" grumbled Razoumikhin.
These last words were uttered in the anteroom, as Porhyrius very civilly led his visitors to the door. They were gloomy and morose on leaving the house, and had gone some distance before speaking.
Raskolnikoff breathed like a man who had just been subjected to a severe trial.
When, on the following day, precisely at eleven o'clock, Raskolnikoff called on the examining magistrate, he was astonished to have to dance attendance for a considerable time. According to his idea, he ought to have been admitted immediately; ten minutes, however, elapsed before he could see Porphyrius Petrovitch. In the outer room where he had been waiting, people came and went without heeding him in the least. In the next room, which was a kind of office, a few clerks were at work, and it was evident that not one of them had even an idea who Raskolnikoff might be. The young man cast a mistrustful look about him. "Was there not," thought he, "some spy, some mysterious myrmidon of the law, ordered to watch him, and, if necessary, to prevent his escape?" But he noticed nothing of the kind; the clerks were all hard at work, and the other people paid him no kind of attention. The visitor began to become reassured. "If," thought he, "this mysterious personage of yesterday, this specter which had risen from the bowels of the earth, knew all, and had seen all, would they, I should like to know, let me stand about like this? Would they not rather have arrested me, instead of waiting till I should come of my own accord? Hence this man has either made no kind of revelation as yet about me, or, more probably, he knows nothing, and has seen nothing (besides how could he have seen anything?): consequently Ihave misjudged, and all that happened yesterday was nothing but an illusion of my diseased imagination." This explanation, which had offered itself the day before to his mind, at the time he felt most fearful, he considered a more likely one.
