to prison in itself, but being shut up
there for a cause in which you have no faith is unthinkable. It was
not fear of prison that drove me to this, Mariana. Goodbye! goodbye! my
dear, pure girl."

Mariana and Solomin each read the letter in turn. She then put her
own portrait and the two letters into her pocket and remained standing
motionless.

"Let us go, Mariana; everything is ready. We must fulfil his wish,"
Solomin said to her.

Mariana drew near to Nejdanov and pressed her lips against his forehead
which was already turning cold.

"Come," she said, turning to Solomin. They went out, hand in hand.

When the police arrived at the factory a few hours later, they found
Nejdanov's corpse. Tatiana had laid out the body, put a white pillow
under his head, crossed his arms, and even placed a bunch of flowers
on a little table beside him. Pavel, who had been given all the needful
instructions, received the police officers with the greatest respect and
as great a contempt, so that those worthies were not quite sure whether
to thank or arrest him. He gave them all the details of the suicide,
regaled them with Swiss cheese and Madeira, but as for the whereabouts
of Vassily Fedotitch and the young lady, he knew nothing of that. He was
most effusive in his assurances that Vassily Fedotitch was never away
for long at a time on account of his work, that he was sure to be back
either today or tomorrow, and that he would let them know as soon as he
arrived. They might depend on him!

So the officers went away no wiser than they had come, leaving a guard
in charge of the body and promising to send a coroner.

XXXVIII

Two days after these events, a cart drove up the courtyard of the worthy
Father Zosim, containing a man and woman who are already known to the
reader. The following day they were legally married. Soon afterwards
they disappeared, and the good father never regretted what he had done.
Solomin had left a letter in Pavel's charge, addressed to the proprietor
of the factory, giving a full statement of the condition of the business
(it turned out most flourishing) and asking for three months' leave. The
letter was dated two days before Nejdanov's death, from which might be
gathered that Solomin had considered it necessary even then to go away
with him and Mariana and hide for a time. Nothing was revealed by the
inquiry held over the suicide. The body was buried. Sipiagin gave up
searching for his niece.