upon you, Ivan Mihailovitch,
as our governor!' When I... when..." she coughed violently, "oh, cursed
life," she cried, clearing her throat and pressing her hands to her
breast, "when I... when at the last ball... at the marshal's...
Princess Bezzemelny saw me--who gave me the blessing when your father
and I were married, Polenka--she asked at once 'Isn't that the pretty
girl who danced the shawl dance at the breaking-up?' (You must mend
that tear, you must take your needle and darn it as I showed you, or
to-morrow--cough, cough, cough--he will make the hole bigger," she
articulated with effort.) "Prince Schegolskoy, a kammerjunker, had just
come from Petersburg then... he danced the mazurka with me and wanted to
make me an offer next day; but I thanked him in flattering expressions
and told him that my heart had long been another's. That other was your
father, Polya; papa was fearfully angry.... Is the water ready? Give me
the shirt, and the stockings! Lida," said she to the youngest one, "you
must manage without your chemise to-night... and lay your stockings out
with it... I'll wash them together.... How is it that drunken vagabond
doesn't come in? He has worn his shirt till it looks like a dish-clout,
he has torn it to rags! I'd do it all together, so as not to have to
work two nights running! Oh, dear! (Cough, cough, cough, cough!) Again!
What's this?" she cried, noticing a crowd in the passage and the men,
who were pushing into her room, carrying a burden. "What is it? What are
they bringing? Mercy on us!"

"Where are we to put him?" asked the policeman, looking round when
Marmeladov, unconscious and covered with blood, had been carried in.

"On the sofa! Put him straight on the sofa, with his head this way,"
Raskolnikov showed him.

"Run over in the road! Drunk!" someone shouted in the passage.

Katerina Ivanovna stood, turning white and gasping for breath. The
children were terrified. Little Lida screamed, rushed to Polenka and
clutched at her, trembling all over.

Having laid Marmeladov down, Raskolnikov flew to Katerina Ivanovna.

"For God's sake be calm, don't be frightened!" he said, speaking
quickly, "he was crossing the road and was run over by a carriage, don't
be frightened, he will come to, I told them bring him here... I've been
here already, you remember? He will come to; I'll pay!"

"He's done it this time!" Katerina Ivanovna cried despairingly and she
rushed to her husband.

Raskolnikov not