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lovitch’s by the back way, to his arbour, to get hold of
Smerdyakov as soon as possible. In this way the fact was
established that three or four hours before a certain event,
of which I shall speak later on, Mitya had not a farthing,
and pawned for ten roubles a possession he valued, though,
three hours later, he was in possession of thousands.... But
I am anticipating. From Marya Kondratyevna (the woman
living near Fyodor Pavlovitch’s) he learned the very dis-
turbing fact of Smerdyakov’s illness. He heard the story of
his fall in the cellar, his fit, the doctor’s visit, Fyodor Pavlov-
itch’s anxiety; he heard with interest, too, that his brother
Ivan had set off that morning for Moscow.
‘Then he must have driven through Volovya before
me,’ thought Dmitri, but he was terribly distressed about
Smerdyakov. ‘What will happen now? Who’ll keep watch
for me? Who’ll bring me word?’ he thought. He began
greedily questioning the women whether they had seen
anything the evening before. They quite understood what
he was trying to find out, and completely reassured him.
No one had been there. Ivan Fyodorovitch had been there
that night; everything had been perfectly as usual. Mitya
grew thoughtful. He would certainly have to keep watch to-
day, but where? Here or at Samsonov’s gate? He decided that
he must be on the lookout both here and there, and mean-
while... meanwhile... The difficulty was that he had to carry
out the new plan that he had made on the journey back. He
was sure of its success, but he must not delay acting upon it.
Mitya resolved to sacrifice an hour to it: ‘In an hour I shall
know everything, I shall settle everything, and then, then,