I
did try to dissuade you yesterday; I tried to because I foresaw it. To
foresee everything was, of course, impossible; he probably did not know
himself a minute before what he would fire off--these nervous old men
can't be reckoned on like other people. But you can still save
the situation: to satisfy the public, send to him to-morrow by
administrative order, and with all the ceremonies, two doctors to
inquire into his health. Even to-day, in fact, and take him straight to
the hospital and apply cold compresses. Every one would laugh, anyway,
and see that there was nothing to take offence at. I'll tell people
about it in the evening at the ball, as I am his son. Karmazinov is
another story. He was a perfect ass and dragged out his article for a
whole hour. He certainly must have been in the plot with me! 'I'll make
a mess of it too,' he thought, 'to damage Yulia Mihailovna.'"

"Oh, Karmazinov! _Quelle honte!_ I was burning, burning with shame for his
audience!"

"Well, I shouldn't have burnt, but have cooked him instead. The audience
was right, you know. Who was to blame for Karmazinov, again? Did I foist
him upon you? Was I one of his worshippers? Well, hang him! But the
third maniac, the political--that's a different matter. That was every
one's blunder, not only my plot."

"Ah, don't speak of it! That was awful, awful! That was my fault,
entirely my fault!"

"Of course it was, but I don't blame you for that. No one can control
them, these candid souls! You can't always be safe from them, even in
Petersburg. He was recommended to you, and in what terms too! So you
will admit that you are bound to appear at the ball to-night. It's an
important business. It was you put him on to the platform. You must make
it plain now to the public that you are not in league with him, that
the fellow is in the hands of the police, and that you were in some
inexplicable way deceived. You ought to declare with indignation that
you were the victim of a madman. Because he is a madman and nothing
more. That's how you must put it about him. I can't endure these people
who bite. I say worse things perhaps, but not from the platform, you
know. And they are talking about a senator too."

"What senator? Who's talking?"

"I don't understand it myself, you know. Do you know anything about a
senator, Yulia Mihailovna?"

"A senator?"

"You see, they are convinced that a senator has been appointed to be
governor here, and that you are bei