listened; suddenly he
sprang back.

"He's coming here, I knew he would," he whispered furiously. "Now
there'll be no getting rid of him till midnight."

Several violent thumps of a fist on the door followed.

"Shatov, Shatov, open!" yelled the captain. "Shatov, friend!

'I have come, to thee to tell thee
That the sun doth r-r-rise apace,
That the forest glows and tr-r-rembles
In... the fire of...his...embrace.
Tell thee I have waked, God damn thee,
Wakened under the birch-twigs....'

("As it might be under the birch-rods, ha ha!")

'Every little bird...is...thirsty,
Says I'm going to...have a drink,
But I don't...know what to drink....'

"Damn his stupid curiosity! Shatov, do you understand how good it is to
be alive!"

"Don't answer!" Shatov whispered to me again.

"Open the door! Do you understand that there's something higher than
brawling... in mankind; there are moments of an hon-hon-honourable
man.... Shatov, I'm good; I'll forgive you.... Shatov, damn the
manifestoes, eh?"

Silence.

"Do you understand, you ass, that I'm in love, that I've bought a
dress-coat, look, the garb of love, fifteen roubles; a captain's love
calls for the niceties of style.... Open the door!" he roared savagely
all of a sudden, and he began furiously banging with his fists again.

"Go to hell!" Shatov roared suddenly..

"S-s-slave! Bond-slave, and your sister's a slave, a bondswoman... a
th... th... ief!"

"And you sold your sister."

"That's a lie! I put up with the libel though. I could with one word...
do you understand what she is?"

"What?" Shatov at once drew near the door inquisitively.

"But will you understand?"

"Yes, I shall understand, tell me what?"

"I'm not afraid to say! I'm never afraid to say anything in public!..."

"You not afraid? A likely story," said Shatov, taunting him, and nodding
to me to listen.

"Me afraid?"

"Yes, I think you are."

"Me afraid?"

"Well then, tell away if you're not afraid of your master's whip....
You're a coward, though you are a captain!"

"I... I... she's... she's..." faltered Lebyadkin in a voice shaking with
excitement.

"Well?" Shatov put his ear to the door.

A silence followed, lasting at least half a minute.

"Sc-ou-oundrel!" came from the other side of the door at last, and the
captain hurriedly beat a retreat downstairs, puffing like a samovar,
stumbling on every step.

"Yes, he's a sly one, a