relessly, with vexation and
impatience. He said that he had been taken ill at Gaganov's lodging,
where he had happened to go early in the morning. Alas, the poor woman
was so anxious to be deceived again! The chief question which I found
being discussed was whether the ball, that is, the whole second half of
the fete, should or should not take place. Yulia Mihailovna could not be
induced to appear at the ball "after the insults she had received that
morning"; in other words, her heart was set on being compelled to do so,
and by him, by Pyotr Stepanovitch. She looked upon him as an oracle, and
I believe if he had gone away she would have taken to her bed at once.
But he did not want to go away; he was desperately anxious that the ball
should take place and that Yulia Mihailovna should be present at it.

"Come, what is there to cry about? Are you set on having a scene? On
venting your anger on somebody? Well, vent it on me; only make haste
about it, for the time is passing and you must make up your mind. We
made a mess of it with the matinee; we'll pick up on the ball. Here, the
prince thinks as I do. Yes, if it hadn't been for the prince, how would
things have ended there?"

The prince had been at first opposed to the ball (that is, opposed to
Yulia Mihailovna's appearing at it; the ball was bound to go on in any
case), but after two or three such references to his opinion he began
little by little to grunt his acquiescence.

I was surprised too at the extraordinary rudeness of Pyotr
Stepanovitch's tone. Oh, I scout with indignation the contemptible
slander which was spread later of some supposed liaison between Yulia
Mihailovna and Pyotr Stepanovitch. There was no such thing, nor could
there be. He gained his ascendency over her from the first only by
encouraging her in her dreams of influence in society and in the
ministry, by entering into her plans, by inventing them for her, and
working upon her with the grossest flattery. He had got her completely
into his toils and had become as necessary to her as the air she
breathed. Seeing me, she cried, with flashing eyes:

"Here, ask him. He kept by my side all the while, just like the prince
did. Tell me, isn't it plain that it was all a preconcerted plot, a
base, designing plot to damage Andrey Antonovitch and me as much as
possible? Oh, they had arranged it beforehand. They had a plan! It's a
party, a regular party."

"You are exaggerating as usual. You've always som