, but all reserve their
comments till afterwards. There were some present--Varvara Ardalionovna,
for instance--who would have willingly sat there till morning without
saying a word. Varvara had sat apart all the evening without opening her
lips, but she listened to everything with the closest attention; perhaps
she had her reasons for so doing.

"My dear," said the general, "it seems to me that a sick-nurse would be
of more use here than an excitable person like you. Perhaps it would be
as well to get some sober, reliable man for the night. In any case we
must consult the prince, and leave the patient to rest at once. Tomorrow
we can see what can be done for him."

"It is nearly midnight; we are going. Will he come with us, or is he to
stay here?" Doktorenko asked crossly of the prince.

"You can stay with him if you like," said Muishkin.

"There is plenty of room here."

Suddenly, to the astonishment of all, Keller went quickly up to the
general.

"Excellency," he said, impulsively, "if you want a reliable man for the
night, I am ready to sacrifice myself for my friend--such a soul as he
has! I have long thought him a great man, excellency! My article showed
my lack of education, but when he criticizes he scatters pearls!"

Ivan Fedorovitch turned from the boxer with a gesture of despair.

"I shall be delighted if he will stay; it would certainly be difficult
for him to get back to Petersburg," said the prince, in answer to the
eager questions of Lizabetha Prokofievna.

"But you are half asleep, are you not? If you don't want him, I will
take him back to my house! Why, good gracious! He can hardly stand up
himself! What is it? Are you ill?"

Not finding the prince on his death-bed, Lizabetha Prokofievna had been
misled by his appearance to think him much better than he was. But his
recent illness, the painful memories attached to it, the fatigue of this
evening, the incident with "Pavlicheff's son," and now this scene with
Hippolyte, had all so worked on his oversensitive nature that he was now
almost in a fever. Moreover, anew trouble, almost a fear, showed itself
in his eyes; he watched Hippolyte anxiously as if expecting something
further.

Suddenly Hippolyte arose. His face, shockingly pale, was that of a man
overwhelmed with shame and despair. This was shown chiefly in the look
of fear and hatred which he cast upon the assembled company, and in the
wild smile upon his trembling lips. Then he cast down