Madame Hohlakov's house he
felt a shiver of fear run down his spine. At that moment he saw fully, as
a mathematical certainty, that this was his last hope, that if this broke
down, nothing else was left him in the world, but to "rob and murder some
one for the three thousand." It was half-past seven when he rang at the
bell.

At first fortune seemed to smile upon him. As soon as he was announced he
was received with extraordinary rapidity. "As though she were waiting for
me," thought Mitya, and as soon as he had been led to the drawing-room,
the lady of the house herself ran in, and declared at once that she was
expecting him.

"I was expecting you! I was expecting you! Though I'd no reason to suppose
you would come to see me, as you will admit yourself. Yet, I did expect
you. You may marvel at my instinct, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, but I was
convinced all the morning that you would come."

"That is certainly wonderful, madam," observed Mitya, sitting down limply,
"but I have come to you on a matter of great importance.... On a matter of
supreme importance for me, that is, madam ... for me alone ... and I
hasten--"

"I know you've come on most important business, Dmitri Fyodorovitch; it's
not a case of presentiment, no reactionary harking back to the miraculous
(have you heard about Father Zossima?). This is a case of mathematics: you
couldn't help coming, after all that has passed with Katerina Ivanovna;
you couldn't, you couldn't, that's a mathematical certainty."

"The realism of actual life, madam, that's what it is. But allow me to
explain--"

"Realism indeed, Dmitri Fyodorovitch. I'm all for realism now. I've seen
too much of miracles. You've heard that Father Zossima is dead?"

"No, madam, it's the first time I've heard of it." Mitya was a little
surprised. The image of Alyosha rose to his mind.

"Last night, and only imagine--"

"Madam," said Mitya, "I can imagine nothing except that I'm in a desperate
position, and that if you don't help me, everything will come to grief,
and I first of all. Excuse me for the triviality of the expression, but
I'm in a fever--"

"I know, I know that you're in a fever. You could hardly fail to be, and
whatever you may say to me, I know beforehand. I have long been thinking
over your destiny, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, I am watching over it and studying
it.... Oh, believe me, I'm an experienced doctor of the soul, Dmitri
Fyodorovitch."

"Madam, if you are an experienced doctor,