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had seen him herself—and that he would murder her in the
night—that he would cut her throat. She was terribly agi-
tated all day. But it so happened that the prince called at
Hippolyte’s house later on, and heard from his mother that
she had been in town all day, and had there received a visit
from Rogojin, who had made inquiries about Pavlofsk. On
inquiry, it turned out that Rogojin visited the old lady in
town at almost the same moment when Nastasia declared
that she had seen him in the garden; so that the whole thing
turned out to be an illusion on her part. Nastasia immedi-
ately went across to Hippolyte’s to inquire more accurately,
and returned immensely relieved and comforted.
On the day before the wedding, the prince left Nasta-
sia in a state of great animation. Her wedding-dress and all
sorts of finery had just arrived from town. Muishkin had
not imagined that she would be so excited over it, but he
praised everything, and his praise rendered her doubly hap-
py.
But Nastasia could not hide the cause of her intense
interest in her wedding splendour. She had heard of the in-
dignation in the town, and knew that some of the populace
was getting up a sort of charivari with music, that verses
had been composed for the occasion, and that the rest of
Pavlofsk society more or less encouraged these prepara-
tions. So, since attempts were being made to humiliate her,
she wanted to hold her head even higher than usual, and to
overwhelm them all with the beauty and taste of her toilette.
‘Let them shout and whistle, if they dare!’ Her eyes flashed
at the thought. But, underneath this, she had another mo-