the doorway. She screamed,
and ran towards the kitchen. Lebedeff stamped his foot angrily;
then, seeing the prince regarding him with amazement, he murmured
apologetically--"Pardon to show respect!... he-he!"

"You are quite wrong..." began the prince.

"At once... at once... in one moment!"

He rushed like a whirlwind from the room, and Muishkin looked
inquiringly at the others.

They were all laughing, and the guest joined in the chorus.

"He has gone to get his coat," said the boy.

"How annoying!" exclaimed the prince. "I thought... Tell me, is he..."

"You think he is drunk?" cried the young man on the sofa. "Not in the
least. He's only had three or four small glasses, perhaps five; but what
is that? The usual thing!"

As the prince opened his mouth to answer, he was interrupted by the
girl, whose sweet face wore an expression of absolute frankness.

"He never drinks much in the morning; if you have come to talk business
with him, do it now. It is the best time. He sometimes comes back drunk
in the evening; but just now he passes the greater part of the evening
in tears, and reads passages of Holy Scripture aloud, because our mother
died five weeks ago."

"No doubt he ran off because he did not know what to say to you,"
said the youth on the divan. "I bet he is trying to cheat you, and is
thinking how best to do it."

Just then Lebedeff returned, having put on his coat.

"Five weeks!" said he, wiping his eyes. "Only five weeks! Poor orphans!"

"But why wear a coat in holes," asked the girl, "when your new one is
hanging behind the door? Did you not see it?"

"Hold your tongue, dragon-fly!" he scolded. "What a plague you are!" He
stamped his foot irritably, but she only laughed, and answered:

"Are you trying to frighten me? I am not Tania, you know, and I don't
intend to run away. Look, you are waking Lubotchka, and she will have
convulsions again. Why do you shout like that?"

"Well, well! I won't again," said the master of the house his anxiety
getting the better of his temper. He went up to his daughter, and looked
at the child in her arms, anxiously making the sign of the cross over
her three times. "God bless her! God bless her!" he cried with emotion.
"This little creature is my daughter Luboff," addressing the prince. "My
wife, Helena, died--at her birth; and this is my big daughter Vera, in
mourning, as you see; and this, this, oh, this pointing to the young man
on the divan...

"Well,