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Pavlovitch, who was among them, sprang forward and de-
clared that it was by no means impossible, and that, indeed,
there was a certain piquancy about it, and so on.... It is true
that at that time he was overdoing his part as a buffoon. He
liked to put himself forward and entertain the company,
ostensibly on equal terms, of course, though in reality he
was on a servile footing with them. It was just at the time
when he had received the news of his first wife’s death in
Petersburg, and, with crape upon his hat, was drinking and
behaving so shamelessly that even the most reckless among
us were shocked at the sight of him. The revellers, of course,
laughed at this unexpected opinion; and one of them even
began challenging him to act upon it. The others repelled
the idea even more emphatically, although still with the ut-
most hilarity, and at last they went on their way. Later on,
Fyodor Pavlovitch swore that he had gone with them, and
perhaps it was so, no one knows for certain, and no one ever
knew. But five or six months later, all the town was talking,
with intense and sincere indignation, of Lizaveta’s condi-
tion, and trying to find out who was the miscreant who had
wronged her. Then suddenly a terrible rumour was all over
the town that this miscreant was no other than Fyodor Pav-
lovitch. Who set the rumour going? Of that drunken band
five had left the town and the only one still among us was
an elderly and much respected civil councillor, the father
of grown-up daughters, who could hardly have spread the
tale, even if there had been any foundation for it. But ru-
mour pointed straight at Fyodor Pavlovitch, and persisted
in pointing at him. Of course this was no great grievance