that others saw it.
The old woman, on seeing this, immediately begged money of me also. It
afforded me such pleasure to give, that, without finding out whether it
was necessary to give or not, I gave something to the old woman too. The
old woman accompanied me to the door, and the people standing in the
corridor heard her blessing me. Probably the questions which I had put
with regard to poverty, had aroused expectation, and several persons
followed us. In the corridor also, they began to ask me for money. Among
those who begged were some drunken men, who aroused an unpleasant feeling
in me; but, having once given to the old woman, I had no might to refuse
these people, and I began to give. As long as I continued to give,
people kept coming up; and excitement ran through all the lodgings.
People made them appearance on the stairs and galleries, and followed me.
As I emerged into the court-yard, a little boy ran swiftly down one of
the staircases thrusting the people aside. He did not see me, and
exclaimed hastily: "He gave Agashka a ruble!" When he reached the
ground, the boy joined the crowd which was following me. I went out into
the street: various descriptions of people followed me, and asked for
money. I distributed all my small change, and entered an open shop with
the request that the shopkeeper would change a ten-ruble bill for me. And
then the same thing happened as at the Lyapinsky house. A terrible
confusion ensued. Old women, noblemen, peasants, and children crowded
into the shop with outstretched hands; I gave, and interrogated some of
them as to their lives, and took notes. The shopkeeper, turning up the
furred points of the collar of his coat, sat like a stuffed creature,
glancing at the crowd occasionally, and then fixing his eyes beyond them
again. He evidently, like every one else, felt that this was foolish,
but he could not say so.

The poverty and beggary in the Lyapinsky house had horrified me, and I
felt myself guilty of it; I felt the desire and the possibility of
improvement. But now, precisely the same scene produced on me an
entirely different effect; I experienced, in the first place, a
malevolent feeling towards many of those who were besieging me; and in
the second place, uneasiness as to what the shopkeepers and porters would
think of me.

On my return home that day, I was troubled in my soul. I felt that what
I had done was foolish and immoral. But, as is always the res