Sergei Rachmaninoff

“ Rodion Romanovitch! My good friend! What on earth is the matter with you?"
"I will not permit it!" repeated Raskolnikoff once again.
"Batuchka! not so loud, I must request! Someone will hear you, someone may come; and then, what shall we say? Just reflect one moment!" murmured Porphyrius Petrovitch, whose face had approached that of his visitor.
"I will not permit it, I will not permit it!" mechanically pursued Raskolnikoff, but in a minor key, so as to be heard by Porphyrius only.
The latter moved away to open the window. "Let us air the room! ”

“ Raskolnikoff kept silent. Pale and immovable, he continued to watch Porphyrius's face with a labored effort of attention. "The lesson is a good one!" he reflected. "But it is not, as yesterday, a case of the cat playing with the mouse. Of course, he does not talk to me in this way for the mere pleasure of showing me his hand; he is much too intelligent for that. He must have something else in view—what can it be? Come, friend, what you do say is only to frighten me. You have no kind of evidence, and the man of yesterday does not exist! ”

“ This, at all events, was Raskolnikoff's hope.
"I see you don't believe, you think I am jesting," continued Porphyrius, more and more at his ease, without ceasing to indulge in his little laugh, whilst continuing his perambulation about the room. "You may be right. God has given me a face which only arouses comical thoughts in others. I'm a buffoon. But excuse an old man's cackle. You, Rodion Romanovitch, you are in your prime, and, like all young people, you appreciate, above all things, human intelligence. Intellectual smartness and abstract rational deductions entice you. ”

“ And Raskolnikoff felt suddenly seized as with a general paralysis, the same as happens when a person has the nightmare and fancies himself pursued by enemies; they are on the point of catching him, they will kill him, and yet he remains spellbound, unable to move a limb. ”

“ I am not pale. On the contrary, I am very well!" answered Raskolnikoff in a tone of voice which had all at once become brutal and violent. He felt rising within him uncontrollable anger. "Anger will make me say some foolish thing," he thought. "But why do they exasperate me?"
"He was rather unwell! A pretty expression, to be sure!" exclaimed Razoumikhin. "The fact is that up to yesterday he has been almost unconscious. Would you believe it, Porphyrius? ”

“ And such a line of conduct may occur to a person of keen intellect, yes, even to a man of psychologic mind! Nature, my friend, is the most transparent of mirrors. To contemplate her is sufficient. But why do you grow pale, Rodion Romanovitch? Perhaps you are too hot; shall I open the window?"
"By no means, I beg!" cried Raskolnikoff, bursting out laughing. "Don't heed me, pray!" Porphyrius stopped short, waited a moment, and burst out laughing himself. Raskolnikoff, whose hilarity had suddenly died out, rose. ”

“ Raskolnikoff.
"I wish to hire some rooms. I came to look at these."
"People don't take lodgings in the night. Why don't you apply to the porter?"
"The floor has been washed. Are you going to paint it?" remarked
Raskolnikoff. "Where is the blood?"
"What blood?"
"The old woman's and her sister's. There was quite a pool."
"Who are you?" cried the workman uneasily.
"I am Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikoff, ex-student. I live at the house Schilla, in a lane not far from here, No. 14. Ask the porter there—he knows me," Raskolnikoff replied indifferently, without turning to his questioner. ”

“ It is the thing, but somehow people of the middle-class, like you and I, seem constrained and taciturn. How does that come about, batuchka? Have we no social interests? Or is it, rather, owing to our being too straightforward to mislead one another? I don't know. What is your opinion, pray? But do, I beg, remove your cap; one would really fancy that you wanted to be off, and that pains me. I, you must know, am so contented."
Raskolnikoff laid his cap down. He did not, however, become more loquacious; and, with knit brows, listened to Porphyrius's idle chatter. ”

“ This fellow would carry his sister to the Tsar’s terem that she may be inspected among those who are candidates in the bride-choosing, she being one who has entered the exclusive service of Christ, having withdrawn from the world and its wickedness.’
‘It’s a lie!’ cried Rachmanof. ‘She escaped from home but a week since in order to avoid her duty as a Russian maiden—namely, to offer herself for the Tsar’s consideration. She is no nun, her hair is unshorn; she is but a postulant, and has no rights such as this old hag claims for her. ”

“ I told Vera the story of my encounter with Rachmanof, and of his sister’s attempted abduction from the convent, and how the Superior had expressed gratitude for the service I rendered this lady in preventing her brother in his designs.
‘Oh, Chelminsky!’ exclaimed Vera, flushing and seizing me by the arm, ‘beware, I beseech you, after this. I know him, this Rachmanof: he is a man of evil temper; he will kill you at sight. His sister is beautiful. ”

“ Ravana smiled grimly and shouted to Lakshmana: “Slayer of my son, I welcome thee! Thou hast protected Bibhishana; now protect, if thou canst, thine own self.”
Having spoken thus he flung a great dart, which pierced the heart of Lakshmana and pinned him to the earth.
Rama stooped over the fallen hero and cried: “Alas! art thou fallen, my gallant brother? Thy weapons have dropped from thy hands; death claims thee, but, O Lakshmana, thou wilt not die alone. I am weary of battle and of glory, and when my task is ended, I will follow in thy footsteps.... ”

“ All was once more silent; but scarcely was this alarm over than a fresh one succeeded it: several individuals talking together in a loud tone of voice were noisily coming up the stairs. There were three or four of them. Raskolnikoff recognized the young man's sonorous accents. "It is they!" No longer hoping to escape them, he advanced boldly to meet them: "Let happen what will!" said he to himself: "if they stop me, all is over; if they let me pass, all is over just the same: they will remember passing me on the stairs." ”

“ Beholding him rise up from the seat with bow in his hand and greatly wrought up with anger and hearing him thus announce his intention about the destruction of Sugriva, Rāma, the slayer of foes, spake unto him the following humble words worthy of being spoken on that occasion. "Persons like thee on this earth do not perpetrate the crime of destroying their friends. He is truly a great hero and an excellent person who subdues anger by his right understanding, O Lakshmana, it is not proper for thee to bring about the destruction of thy friend ”

“ In the twinkling of an eye, Raskolnikoff glided into the deserted apartment and hid himself as best he could up against the wall. It was none too soon: his pursuers were already on the landing; they did not stop there, however, but went on up to the fourth floor, talking loudly among themselves. After waiting till they had got some distance off, he left the room on tiptoe and hurried down as fast as his legs would carry him. No one on the stairs! No one either at the street door! ”

“ I shall live here, awaiting the autumn and abiding by thy words and awaiting as well Sugriva's pleasure and the clear currents of the rivers. Heroes receiving favours always return them; the ungrateful lose the friendship of the honest." Considering Rāma's words as highly sound and welcoming them therefore, Lakshmana, with folded hands, spake unto Rāma of graceful appearance, displaying his own intelligence—"O lord of men, I fully approve of all thou hast said. ”

“ There dwelleth the famous lord of monkeys, Sugrivā, the heroic son of the great Rikshyaraja. O best of men, do thou approach the chief of monkeys." Rāma, having truth for his prowess, again spake unto Lakshmana, saying, "O Lakshmana, how shall I live without Sitā, who have been deprived of my kingdom, who am poorly and have Sitā for my life?" Having said this unto Lakshmana, who had nothing else in view, that best of Raghus, racked with sorrow and grief and oppressed by Cupid, entered the lake Pampā graced with lotuses. ”

“ He often lay down on it in his clothes, without any sheets, covering himself with his old student's coat, and using instead of a pillow a little cushion, which he raised by keeping under it all his clean or dirty linen. Before the sofa stood a small table.
Raskolnikoff's misanthropy did not take offense at the dirty state of his den. Human faces had grown so distasteful to him, that the very sight of the servant whose business it was to clean the rooms produced a feeling of exasperation. To such a condition may monomaniacs come by continually brooding over one idea. ”

“ O paragon among damsels, O supremely charming lady, what man possessed of discernment, passing by such grace, would bear affection to a human female?" Thus accosted by Lakshmana, that hideous one having a lean abdomen being incapable of understanding jest, took his words as true. Thereupon as that subduer of enemies, the irrepressible Rāma, was seated in the cottage in company with Sitā, the Rākshasi, transported with lust, said unto him, "Forsaking this deformed, unchaste, horrible old wife of thine possessed of a lean abdomen, thou dost not regard me. ”

“ Meanwhile, Zametoff remained in the restaurant where Raskolnikoff had left him, deeply buried in thought, considering the different points Raskolnikoff had placed before him.
His heart was empty and depressed, and he strove again to drive off thought. No feeling of anguish came, neither was there any trace of that fierce energy which moved him when he left the house to "put an end to it all."
"What will be the end of it? The result lies in my own will. What kind of end? Ah, we are all alike, and accept the bit of ground for our feet and live. Must this be the end? ”

“ The next morning Raskolnikoff awoke late, after disturbed and unrefreshing slumbers. He felt very cross and glanced angrily round his room. It was a tiny place, not more than six feet in length, and its dirty buff paper hung in shreds, giving it a most miserable aspect; besides which, the ceiling was so low that a tall man would have felt in danger of bumping his head. ”

“ You are always alone—is your sister never with you?" asked he with as indifferent an air as he could assume, as he entered the anteroom.
"What have you to do with my sister, batuchka?"
"Nothing. I had no reason for asking. You will—well, good-by,
Alena Ivanovna."
Raskolnikoff made his exit in a perturbed state of mind. As he went downstairs, he stopped from time to time, as if overcome by violent emotion. When he had at length emerged upon the street, he exclaimed to himself: "How loathsome it all is! Can I, can I ever?—no, it is absurd, preposterous!" added he mentally. ”

“ Satisfying Sugriva with words pointing out his welfare, they sitting by him, spake unto that lord of wind resembling the king of celestials, saying:—"Of those two great and truthful brothers Rāma and Lakshmana, who are born as men, worthy of attaining to kingdom and who have gained for thee thy kingdom, Lakshmana, with a bow in his hand, is waiting at thy gate. And afraid of whom, the monkeys, trembling, are setting up terrible roars. That Lakshmana, Rāghava's brother, having words for his charioteer, and perseverance for his chariot, hath approached thee at his brother's command. ”

“ Raskolnikoff noticed, or fancied he noticed, that, whilst running round and round the room, he had twice stopped near the door, seeming to listen. "Does he expect something?" he asked himself.
"You're perfectly right," resumed Porphyrius cheerily, whilst looking at the young man with a kindliness which immediately awoke the latter's distrust. "Our judicial customs deserve your satire. Our proceedings, which are supposed to be inspired by a profound knowledge of psychology, are very ridiculous ones, and very often useless. ”

“ If, for instance, I should be too quick in issuing a writ, I provide him in doing so with a species of moral support or mainstay—I see you are laughing?" (Raskolnikoff, on the contrary, had no such desire; his lips were set, and his glaring look was not removed from Porphyrius's eyes.) "I assure you that in actual practice such is really the case; men vary much, although, unfortunately, our methods are the same for all. But you will ask me: Supposing you are certain of your proofs? ”

“ Rāvana will for certain sally out, hearing his son brought down. That unconquerable lord of Rākshasas, aggrieved for the destruction of his son, marching out,—shall I slay, environed with a mighty force. O Lakshmana, the conqueror of Sakra having in battle been slain by thee—who art my lord—Sitā and the (entire) earth are not incapable of being obtained by me". Having thus soothed and embraced his brother, Raghu's son—Rāma—highly rejoiced, calling Sushena, said,—"Do thou so act that this highly wise son of Sumitrā, devoted to his friends, may be healed and be eased. ”

“ It's eleven o'clock."
"Perhaps he is not in," said a man's voice.
"The porter's voice. What does he want?" Raskolnikoff rose, and sat on the couch listening. His heart throbbed violently. "Who has bolted the door then?" exclaimed the servant. "Open, will you?"
"All must be discovered?" He rose a little and undid the bolt, and fell back again on his bed. There stood the porter and Nastasia. The servant looked strangely at Raskolnikoff, while he fixed a despairing glance upon the porter.
"Here is a notice for you from the office," said the latter. ”