onger a secret--first Liputin, then
Virginsky himself, then Shigalov (a gentleman with long ears, the
brother of Madame Virginsky), Lyamshin, and lastly a strange person
called Tolkatchenko, a man of forty, who was famed for his vast
knowledge of the people, especially of thieves and robbers. He used
to frequent the taverns on purpose (though not only with the object of
studying the people), and plumed himself on his shabby clothes, tarred
boots, and crafty wink and a flourish of peasant phrases. Lyamshin had
once or twice brought him to Stepan Trofimovitch's gatherings, where,
however, he did not make a great sensation. He used to make his
appearance in the town from time to time, chiefly when he was out of a
job; he was employed on the railway.

Every one of these fine champions had formed this first group in the
fervent conviction that their quintet was only one of hundreds and
thousands of similar groups scattered all over Russia, and that they all
depended on some immense central but secret power, which in its turn was
intimately connected with the revolutionary movement all over Europe.
But I regret to say that even at that time there was beginning to
be dissension among them. Though they had ever since the spring been
expecting Pyotr Verhovensky, whose coming had been heralded first
by Tolkatchenko and then by the arrival of Shigalov, though they had
expected extraordinary miracles from him, and though they had responded
to his first summons without the slightest criticism, yet they had no
sooner formed the quintet than they all somehow seemed to feel insulted;
and I really believe it was owing to the promptitude with which they
consented to join. They had joined, of course, from a not ignoble
feeling of shame, for fear people might say afterwards that they had
not dared to join; still they felt Pyotr Verhovensky ought to have
appreciated their heroism and have rewarded it by telling them some
really important bits of news at least. But Verhovensky was not at all
inclined to satisfy their legitimate curiosity, and told them nothing
but what was necessary; he treated them in general with great sternness
and even rather casually. This was positively irritating, and Comrade
Shigalov was already egging the others on to insist on his "explaining
himself," though, of course, not at Virginsky's, where so many outsiders
were present.

I have an idea that the above-mentioned members of the first quintet
were disposed to