persons who had
been in such haste to conceal the Lebyadkins was timely. But Lizaveta
Nikolaevna's fainting certainly took the foremost place in the story,
and "all society" was interested, if only because it directly concerned
Yulia Mihailovna, as the kinswoman and patroness of the young lady.
And what was there they didn't say! What increased the gossip was the
mysterious position of affairs; both houses were obstinately closed;
Lizaveta Nikolaevna, so they said, was in bed with brain fever. The
same thing was asserted of Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch, with the revolting
addition of a tooth knocked out and a swollen face. It was even
whispered in corners that there would soon be murder among us, that
Stavrogin was not the man to put up with such an insult, and that he
would kill Shatov, but with the secrecy of a Corsican vendetta. People
liked this idea, but the majority of our young people listened with
contempt, and with an air of the most nonchalant indifference, which
was, of course, assumed. The old hostility to Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch
in the town was in general strikingly manifest. Even sober-minded people
were eager to throw blame on him though they could not have said
for what. It was whispered that he had ruined Lizaveta Nikolaevna's
reputation, and that there had been an intrigue between them in
Switzerland. Cautious people, of course, restrained themselves, but
all listened with relish. There were other things said, though not
in public, but in private, on rare occasions and almost in secret,
extremely strange things, to which I only refer to warn my readers of
them with a view to the later events of my story. Some people, with
knitted brows, said, God knows on what foundation, that Nikolay
Vsyevolodovitch had some special business in our province, that he
had, through Count K., been brought into touch with exalted circles in
Petersburg, that he was even, perhaps, in government service, and might
almost be said to have been furnished with some sort of commission from
some one. When very sober-minded and sensible people smiled at this
rumour, observing very reasonably that a man always mixed up with
scandals, and who was beginning his career among us with a swollen face
did not look like a government official, they were told in a whisper
that he was employed not in the official, but, so to say, the
confidential service, and that in such cases it was essential to be as
little like an official as possible. This rema