Lebyadkins the same day, you
know; did you get my note with their address?"

"I received it at the time."

"I didn't do that by way of 'stupidity.' I did it genuinely, to serve
you. If it was stupid, anyway, it was done in good faith."

"Oh, all right, perhaps it was necessary...." said Nikolay
Vsyevolodovitch dreamily, "only don't write any more letters to me, I
beg you."

"Impossible to avoid it. It was only one."

"So Liputin knows?"

"Impossible to help it: but Liputin, you know yourself, dare not... By
the way, you ought to meet our fellows, that is, _the_ fellows not _our_
fellows, or you'll be finding fault again. Don't disturb yourself,
not just now, but sometime. Just now it's raining. I'll let them know,
they'll meet together, and we'll go in the evening. They're waiting,
with their mouths open like young crows in a nest, to see what present
we've brought them. They're a hot-headed lot. They've brought out
leaflets, they're on the point of quarrelling. Virginsky is a universal
humanity man, Liputin is a Fourierist with a marked inclination for
police work; a man, I assure you, who is precious from one point of
view, though he requires strict supervision in all others; and, last of
all, that fellow with the long ears, he'll read an account of his own
system. And do you know, they're offended at my treating them casually,
and throwing cold water over them, but we certainly must meet."

"You've made me out some sort of chief?" Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch dropped
as carelessly as possible.

Pyotr Stepanovitch looked quickly at him.

"By the way," he interposed, in haste to change the subject, as though
he had not heard. "I've been here two or three times, you know, to see
her excellency, Varvara Petrovna, and I have been obliged to say a great
deal too."

"So I imagine."

"No, don't imagine, I've simply told her that you won't kill him, well,
and other sweet things. And only fancy; the very next day she knew I'd
moved Marya Timofyevna beyond the river. Was it you told her?"

"I never dreamed of it!"

"I knew it wasn't you. Who else could it be? It's interesting."

"Liputin, of course."

"N-no, not Liputin," muttered Pyotr Stepanovitch, frowning; "I'll find
out who. It's more like Shatov.... That's nonsense though. Let's leave
that! Though it's awfully important.... By the way, I kept expecting
that your mother would suddenly burst out with the great question....
Ach! yes, she was horribly glum at