his eyes, and with
the same smile, staggered towards Burdovsky and Doktorenko, who stood at
the entrance to the verandah. He had decided to go with them.

"There! that is what I feared!" cried the prince. "It was inevitable!"

Hippolyte turned upon him, a prey to maniacal rage, which set all the
muscles of his face quivering.

"Ah! that is what you feared! It was inevitable, you say! Well, let me
tell you that if I hate anyone here--I hate you all," he cried, in a
hoarse, strained voice--"but you, you, with your jesuitical soul, your
soul of sickly sweetness, idiot, beneficent millionaire--I hate you
worse than anything or anyone on earth! I saw through you and hated you
long ago; from the day I first heard of you. I hated you with my whole
heart. You have contrived all this! You have driven me into this state!
You have made a dying man disgrace himself. You, you, you are the cause
of my abject cowardice! I would kill you if I remained alive! I do not
want your benefits; I will accept none from anyone; do you hear? Not
from any one! I want nothing! I was delirious, do not dare to triumph! I
curse every one of you, once for all!"

Breath failed him here, and he was obliged to stop.

"He is ashamed of his tears!" whispered Lebedeff to Lizabetha
Prokofievna. "It was inevitable. Ah! what a wonderful man the prince is!
He read his very soul."

But Mrs. Epanchin would not deign to look at Lebedeff. Drawn up
haughtily, with her head held high, she gazed at the "riff-raff,"
with scornful curiosity. When Hippolyte had finished, Ivan Fedorovitch
shrugged his shoulders, and his wife looked him angrily up and down, as
if to demand the meaning of his movement. Then she turned to the prince.

"Thanks, prince, many thanks, eccentric friend of the family, for the
pleasant evening you have provided for us. I am sure you are quite
pleased that you have managed to mix us up with your extraordinary
affairs. It is quite enough, dear family friend; thank you for giving us
an opportunity of getting to know you so well."

She arranged her cloak with hands that trembled with anger as she waited
for the "riff-raff" to go. The cab which Lebedeff's son had gone to
fetch a quarter of an hour ago, by Doktorenko's order, arrived at that
moment. The general thought fit to put in a word after his wife.

"Really, prince, I hardly expected after--after all our friendly
intercourse--and you see, Lizabetha Prokofievna--"

"Papa, how can you?" c