e in (I
was tired you know: the funeral service, the funeral ceremony, the lunch
afterwards. At last I was left alone in my study. I lighted a cigar and
began to think), she came in at the door. 'You've been so busy to-day,
Arkady Ivanovitch, you have forgotten to wind the dining-room clock,'
she said. All those seven years I've wound that clock every week, and if
I forgot it she would always remind me. The next day I set off on my way
here. I got out at the station at daybreak; I'd been asleep, tired out,
with my eyes half open, I was drinking some coffee. I looked up and
there was suddenly Marfa Petrovna sitting beside me with a pack of
cards in her hands. 'Shall I tell your fortune for the journey, Arkady
Ivanovitch?' She was a great hand at telling fortunes. I shall never
forgive myself for not asking her to. I ran away in a fright, and,
besides, the bell rang. I was sitting to-day, feeling very heavy after a
miserable dinner from a cookshop; I was sitting smoking, all of a sudden
Marfa Petrovna again. She came in very smart in a new green silk dress
with a long train. 'Good day, Arkady Ivanovitch! How do you like my
dress? Aniska can't make like this.' (Aniska was a dressmaker in the
country, one of our former serf girls who had been trained in Moscow, a
pretty wench.) She stood turning round before me. I looked at the dress,
and then I looked carefully, very carefully, at her face. 'I wonder
you trouble to come to me about such trifles, Marfa Petrovna.' 'Good
gracious, you won't let one disturb you about anything!' To tease her
I said, 'I want to get married, Marfa Petrovna.' 'That's just like you,
Arkady Ivanovitch; it does you very little credit to come looking for a
bride when you've hardly buried your wife. And if you could make a good
choice, at least, but I know it won't be for your happiness or hers, you
will only be a laughing-stock to all good people.' Then she went out and
her train seemed to rustle. Isn't it nonsense, eh?"

"But perhaps you are telling lies?" Raskolnikov put in.

"I rarely lie," answered Svidrigailov thoughtfully, apparently not
noticing the rudeness of the question.

"And in the past, have you ever seen ghosts before?"

"Y-yes, I have seen them, but only once in my life, six years ago. I had
a serf, Filka; just after his burial I called out forgetting 'Filka, my
pipe!' He came in and went to the cupboard where my pipes were. I sat
still and thought 'he is doing it out of revenge,' b