or something different....
And does Shatov know about Fedka?"

"I don't talk to Shatov, and I don't see him."

"Is he angry?"

"No, we are not angry, only we shun one another. We lay too long side by
side in America."

"I am going to him directly."

"As you like."

"Stavrogin and I may come and see you from there, about ten o'clock."

"Do."

"I want to talk to him about something important.... I say, make me
a present of your ball; what do you want with it now? I want it for
gymnastics too. I'll pay you for it if you like."

"You can take it without."

Pyotr Stepanovitch put the ball in the back pocket of his coat.

"But I'll give you nothing against Stavrogin," Kirillov muttered after
his guest, as he saw him out. The latter looked at him in amazement but
did not answer.

Kirillov's last words perplexed Pyotr Stepanovitch extremely; he had not
time yet to discover their meaning, but even while he was on the stairs
of Shatov's lodging he tried to remove all trace of annoyance and to
assume an amiable expression. Shatov was at home and rather unwell. He
was lying on his bed, though dressed.

"What bad luck!" Pyotr Stepanovitch cried out in the doorway. "Are you
really ill?"

The amiable expression of his face suddenly vanished; there was a gleam
of spite in his eyes.

"Not at all." Shatov jumped up nervously. "I am not ill at all... a
little headache..."

He was disconcerted; the sudden appearance of such a visitor positively
alarmed him.

"You mustn't be ill for the job I've come about," Pyotr Stepanovitch
began quickly and, as it were, peremptorily. "Allow me to sit down." (He
sat down.) "And you sit down again on your bedstead; that's right. There
will be a party of our fellows at Virginsky's to-night on the pretext of
his birthday; it will have no political character, however--we've seen
to that. I am coming with Nikolay Stavrogin. I would not, of course,
have dragged you there, knowing your way of thinking at present...
simply to save your being worried, not because we think you would betray
us. But as things have turned out, you will have to go. You'll meet
there the very people with whom we shall finally settle how you are
to leave the society and to whom you are to hand over what is in your
keeping. We'll do it without being noticed; I'll take you aside into a
corner; there'll be a lot of people and there's no need for every one to
know. I must confess I've had to keep my tongue wagging on