me.
The gentleman known as the "boxer" now confronted the enraged officer.

"Keller is my name, sir; ex-lieutenant," he said, very loud. "If you
will accept me as champion of the fair sex, I am at your disposal.
English boxing has no secrets from me. I sympathize with you for the
insult you have received, but I can't permit you to raise your hand
against a woman in public. If you prefer to meet me--as would be more
fitting to your rank--in some other manner, of course you understand me,
captain."

But the young officer had recovered himself, and was no longer
listening. At this moment Rogojin appeared, elbowing through the crowd;
he took Nastasia's hand, drew it through his arm, and quickly led her
away. He appeared to be terribly excited; he was trembling all over,
and was as pale as a corpse. As he carried Nastasia off, he turned and
grinned horribly in the officer's face, and with low malice observed:

"Tfu! look what the fellow got! Look at the blood on his cheek! Ha, ha!"

Recollecting himself, however, and seeing at a glance the sort of people
he had to deal with, the officer turned his back on both his opponents,
and courteously, but concealing his face with his handkerchief,
approached the prince, who was now rising from the chair into which he
had fallen.

"Prince Muishkin, I believe? The gentleman to whom I had the honour of
being introduced?"

"She is mad, insane--I assure you, she is mad," replied the prince in
trembling tones, holding out both his hands mechanically towards the
officer.

"I cannot boast of any such knowledge, of course, but I wished to know
your name."

He bowed and retired without waiting for an answer.

Five seconds after the disappearance of the last actor in this scene,
the police arrived. The whole episode had not lasted more than a couple
of minutes. Some of the spectators had risen from their places, and
departed altogether; some merely exchanged their seats for others a
little further off; some were delighted with the occurrence, and talked
and laughed over it for a long time.

In a word, the incident closed as such incidents do, and the band began
to play again. The prince walked away after the Epanchin party. Had
he thought of looking round to the left after he had been pushed so
unceremoniously into the chair, he would have observed Aglaya standing
some twenty yards away. She had stayed to watch the scandalous scene in
spite of her mother's and sisters' anxious cries