"I'll come," Shatov muttered, looking down thoughtfully.

Pyotr Stepanovitch glanced askance at him from his place.

"Will Stavrogin be there?" Shatov asked suddenly, raising his head.

"He is certain to be."

"Ha ha!"

Again they were silent for a minute. Shatov grinned disdainfully and
irritably.

"And that contemptible 'Noble Personality' of yours, that I wouldn't
print here. Has it been printed?" he asked.

"Yes."

"To make the schoolboys believe that Herzen himself had written it in
your album?"

"Yes, Herzen himself."

Again they were silent for three minutes. At last Shatov got up from the
bed.

"Go out of my room; I don't care to sit with you."

"I'm going," Pyotr Stepanovitch brought out with positive alacrity,
getting up at once. "Only one word: Kirillov is quite alone in the lodge
now, isn't he, without a servant?"

"Quite alone. Get along; I can't stand being in the same room with you."

"Well, you are a pleasant customer now!" Pyotr Stepanovitch reflected
gaily as he went out into the street, "and you will be pleasant this
evening too, and that just suits me; nothing better could be wished,
nothing better could be wished! The Russian God Himself seems helping
me."

VII

He had probably been very busy that day on all sorts of errands and
probably with success, which was reflected in the self-satisfied
expression of his face when at six o'clock that evening he turned up at
Stavrogin's. But he was not at once admitted: Stavrogin had just locked
himself in the study with Mavriky Nikolaevitch. This news instantly made
Pyotr Stepanovitch anxious. He seated himself close to the study door
to wait for the visitor to go away. He could hear conversation but could
not catch the words. The visit did not last long; soon he heard a noise,
the sound of an extremely loud and abrupt voice, then the door opened
and Mavriky Nikolaevitch came out with a very pale face. He did not
notice Pyotr Stepanovitch, and quickly passed by. Pyotr Stepanovitch
instantly ran into the study.

I cannot omit a detailed account of the very brief interview that had
taken place between the two "rivals"--an interview which might well
have seemed impossible under the circumstances, but which had yet taken
place.

This is how it had come about. Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch had been enjoying
an after-dinner nap on the couch in his study when Alexey Yegorytch had
announced the unexpected visitor. Hearing the name, he had positive