he last time, although you refused,
so we've been sitting and waiting on that bench till you should pass on
your way home."

"Did she bring you with her of her own accord?"

"Of course she did!" said Rogojin, showing his teeth; "and I saw for
myself what I knew before. You've read her letters, I suppose?"

"Did you read them?" asked the prince, struck by the thought.

"Of course--she showed them to me herself. You are thinking of the
razor, eh? Ha, ha, ha!"

"Oh, she is mad!" cried the prince, wringing his hands. "Who knows?
Perhaps she is not so mad after all," said Rogojin, softly, as though
thinking aloud.

The prince made no reply.

"Well, good-bye," said Rogojin. "I'm off tomorrow too, you know.
Remember me kindly! By-the-by," he added, turning round sharply again,
"did you answer her question just now? Are you happy, or not?"

"No, no, no!" cried the prince, with unspeakable sadness.

"Ha, ha! I never supposed you would say 'yes,'" cried Rogojin, laughing
sardonically.

And he disappeared, without looking round again.

PART IV

I.

A WEEK had elapsed since the rendezvous of our two friends on the
green bench in the park, when, one fine morning at about half-past ten
o'clock, Varvara Ardalionovna, otherwise Mrs. Ptitsin, who had been
out to visit a friend, returned home in a state of considerable mental
depression.

There are certain people of whom it is difficult to say anything which
will at once throw them into relief--in other words, describe them
graphically in their typical characteristics. These are they who are
generally known as "commonplace people," and this class comprises, of
course, the immense majority of mankind. Authors, as a rule, attempt to
select and portray types rarely met with in their entirety, but these
types are nevertheless more real than real life itself.

"Podkoleosin" [A character in Gogol's comedy, The Wedding.] was perhaps
an exaggeration, but he was by no means a non-existent character; on the
contrary, how many intelligent people, after hearing of this Podkoleosin
from Gogol, immediately began to find that scores of their friends were
exactly like him! They knew, perhaps, before Gogol told them, that their
friends were like Podkoleosin, but they did not know what name to give
them. In real life, young fellows seldom jump out of the window just
before their weddings, because such a feat, not to speak of its other
aspects, must be a decidedly unpleasant mode