herself--and that he would murder
her in the night--that he would cut her throat. She was terribly
agitated all day. But it so happened that the prince called at
Hippolyte's house later on, and heard from his mother that she had been
in town all day, and had there received a visit from Rogojin, who had
made inquiries about Pavlofsk. On inquiry, it turned out that Rogojin
visited the old lady in town at almost the same moment when Nastasia
declared that she had seen him in the garden; so that the whole thing
turned out to be an illusion on her part. Nastasia immediately went
across to Hippolyte's to inquire more accurately, and returned immensely
relieved and comforted.

On the day before the wedding, the prince left Nastasia in a state of
great animation. Her wedding-dress and all sorts of finery had just
arrived from town. Muishkin had not imagined that she would be so
excited over it, but he praised everything, and his praise rendered her
doubly happy.

But Nastasia could not hide the cause of her intense interest in her
wedding splendour. She had heard of the indignation in the town, and
knew that some of the populace was getting up a sort of charivari with
music, that verses had been composed for the occasion, and that the
rest of Pavlofsk society more or less encouraged these preparations. So,
since attempts were being made to humiliate her, she wanted to hold her
head even higher than usual, and to overwhelm them all with the beauty
and taste of her toilette. "Let them shout and whistle, if they dare!"
Her eyes flashed at the thought. But, underneath this, she had another
motive, of which she did not speak. She thought that possibly Aglaya,
or at any rate someone sent by her, would be present incognito at
the ceremony, or in the crowd, and she wished to be prepared for this
eventuality.

The prince left her at eleven, full of these thoughts, and went home.
But it was not twelve o'clock when a messenger came to say that Nastasia
was very bad, and he must come at once.

On hurrying back he found his bride locked up in her own room and could
hear her hysterical cries and sobs. It was some time before she could be
made to hear that the prince had come, and then she opened the door only
just sufficiently to let him in, and immediately locked it behind him.
She then fell on her knees at his feet. (So at least Dana Alexeyevna
reported.)

"What am I doing? What am I doing to you?" she sobbed convulsively,
embracing