nd, anyway, that he is mad now!" Pyotr Stepanovitch
cried at the top of his voice. "After all, his wife has just been
murdered. You see how white he is.... Why, he has been with you the
whole night. He hasn't left your side a minute. How can you suspect
him?"

"Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch, tell me, as before God, are you guilty or not,
and I swear I'll believe your word as though it were God's, and I'll
follow you to the end of the earth. Yes, I will. I'll follow you like a
dog."

"Why are you tormenting her, you fantastic creature?" cried Pyotr
Stepanovitch in exasperation. "Lizaveta Nikolaevna, upon my oath, you
can crush me into powder, but he is not guilty. On the contrary, it has
crushed him, and he is raving, you see that. He is not to blame in
any way, not in any way, not even in thought!... It's all the work of
robbers who will probably be found within a week and flogged.... It's
all the work of Fedka the convict, and some Shpigulin men, all the town
is agog with it. That's why I say so too."

"Is that right? Is that right?" Liza waited trembling for her final
sentence.

"I did not kill them, and I was against it, but I knew they were
going to be killed and I did not stop the murderers. Leave me, Liza,"
Stavrogin brought out, and he walked into the drawing-room.

Liza hid her face in her hands and walked out of the house. Pyotr
Stepanovitch was rushing after her, but at once hurried back and went
into the drawing-room.

"So that's your line? That's your line? So there's nothing you are
afraid of?" He flew at Stavrogin in an absolute fury, muttering
incoherently, scarcely able to find words and foaming at the mouth.

Stavrogin stood in the middle of the room and did not answer a word.
He clutched a lock of his hair in his left hand and smiled helplessly.
Pyotr Stepanovitch pulled him violently by the sleeve.

"Is it all over with you? So that's the line you are taking? You'll
inform against all of us, and go to a monastery yourself, or to the
devil.... But I'll do for you, though you are not afraid of me!"

"Ah! That's you chattering!" said Stavrogin, noticing him at last.
"Run," he said, coming to himself suddenly, "run after her, order the
carriage, don't leave her.... Run, run! Take her home so that no one
may know... and that she mayn't go there... to the bodies... to the
bodies.... Force her to get into the carriage... Alexey Yegorytch!
Alexey Yegorytch!"

"Stay, don't shout! By now she is in Mavrik