id you not ask for me at my room if you were in the hotel?" asked
the prince, suddenly.

Rogojin stopped and looked at him; then reflected, and replied as though
he had not heard the question:

"Look here, Lef Nicolaievitch, you go straight on to the house; I shall
walk on the other side. See that we keep together."

So saying, Rogojin crossed the road.

Arrived on the opposite pavement, he looked back to see whether the
prince were moving, waved his hand in the direction of the Gorohovaya,
and strode on, looking across every moment to see whether Muishkin
understood his instructions. The prince supposed that Rogojin desired to
look out for someone whom he was afraid to miss; but if so, why had he
not told HIM whom to look out for? So the two proceeded for half a mile
or so. Suddenly the prince began to tremble from some unknown cause. He
could not bear it, and signalled to Rogojin across the road.

The latter came at once.

"Is Nastasia Philipovna at your house?"

"Yes."

"And was it you looked out of the window under the blind this morning?"

"Yes."

"Then why did--"

But the prince could not finish his question; he did not know what to
say. Besides this, his heart was beating so that he found it difficult
to speak at all. Rogojin was silent also and looked at him as before,
with an expression of deep thoughtfulness.

"Well, I'm going," he said, at last, preparing to recross the road. "You
go along here as before; we will keep to different sides of the road;
it's better so, you'll see."

When they reached the Gorohovaya, and came near the house, the prince's
legs were trembling so that he could hardly walk. It was about ten
o'clock. The old lady's windows were open, as before; Rogojin's were
all shut, and in the darkness the white blinds showed whiter than ever.
Rogojin and the prince each approached the house on his respective side
of the road; Rogojin, who was on the near side, beckoned the prince
across. He went over to the doorway.

"Even the porter does not know that I have come home now. I told him,
and told them at my mother's too, that I was off to Pavlofsk," said
Rogojin, with a cunning and almost satisfied smile. "We'll go in quietly
and nobody will hear us."

He had the key in his hand. Mounting the staircase he turned and
signalled to the prince to go more softly; he opened the door very
quietly, let the prince in, followed him, locked the door behind him,
and put the key in his pocket.