hough I didn't make him sit down by the fence.
Don't take that notion into your head. I am afraid of him, now. You talk
about my droshky, but I simply dashed by.... What if he has a revolver?
It's a good thing I brought mine. Here it is." He brought a revolver out
of his pocket, showed it, and hid it again at once. "I took it as I
was coming such a long way.... But I'll arrange all that for you in a
twinkling: her little heart is aching at this moment for Mavriky; it
should be, anyway.... And, do you know, I am really rather sorry for
her? If I take her to Mavriky she will begin about you directly; she
will praise you to him and abuse him to his face. You know the heart of
woman! There you are, laughing again! I am awfully glad that you are so
cheerful now. Come, let's go. I'll begin with Mavriky right away, and
about them... those who've been murdered... hadn't we better keep quiet
now? She'll hear later on, anyway."

"What will she hear? Who's been murdered? What were you saying about
Mavriky Nikolaevitch?" said Liza, suddenly opening the door.

"Ah! You've been listening?"

"What were you saying just now about Mavriky Nikolaevitch? Has he been
murdered?"

"Ah! Then you didn't hear? Don't distress yourself, Mavriky Nikolaevitch
is alive and well, and you can satisfy yourself of it in an instant,
for he is here by the wayside, by the garden fence... and I believe he's
been sitting there all night. He is drenched through in his greatcoat!
He saw me as I drove past."

"That's not true. You said 'murdered.'... Who's been murdered?" she
insisted with agonising mistrust.

"The only people who have been murdered are my wife, her brother
Lebyadkin, and their servant," Stavrogin brought out firmly.

Liza trembled and turned terribly pale.

"A strange brutal outrage, Lizaveta Nikolaevna. A simple case of
robbery," Pyotr Stepanovitch rattled off at once "Simply robbery, under
cover of the fire. The crime was committed by Fedka the convict, and it
was all that fool Lebyadkin's fault for showing every one his
money.... I rushed here with the news... it fell on me like a
thunderbolt. Stavrogin could hardly stand when I told him. We were
deliberating here whether to tell you at once or not?"

"Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch, is he telling the truth?" Liza articulated
faintly.

"No; it's false."

"False?" said Pyotr Stepanovitch, starting. "What do you mean by that?"

"Heavens! I shall go mad!" cried Liza.

"Do you understa