CHAPTER II
It would be difficult to explain exactly what could have originated theidea of that senseless dinner in Katerina Ivanovna's disordered brain.Nearly ten of the twenty roubles, given by Raskolnikov for Marmeladov'sfuneral, were wasted upon it. Possibly Katerina Ivanovna felt obliged tohonour the memory of the deceased "suitably," that all the lodgers,and still more Amalia Ivanovna, might know "that he was in no way theirinferior, and perhaps very much their superior," and that no one had theright "to turn up his nose at him." Perhaps the chief element was thatpeculiar "poor man's pride," which compels many poor people to spendtheir last savings on some traditional social ceremony, simply in orderto do "like other people," and not to "be looked down upon." It is veryprobable, too, that Katerina Ivanovna longed on this occasion, atthe moment when she seemed to be abandoned by everyone, to show those"wretched contemptible lodgers" that she knew "how to do things, howto entertain" and that she had been brought up "in a genteel, she mightalmost say aristocratic colonel's family" and had not been meant forsweeping floors and washing the children's rags at night. Even thepoorest and most broken-spirited people are sometimes liable to theseparoxysms of pride and vanity which take the form of an irresistiblenervous craving. And Katerina Ivanovna was not broken-spirited; shemight have been killed by circumstance, but her spirit could not havebeen broken, that is, she could not have been intimidated, her willcould not be crushed. Moreover Sonia had said with good reason that hermind was unhinged. She could not be said to be insane, but for a yearpast she had been so harassed that her mind might well be overstrained.The later stages of consumption are apt, doctors tell us, to affect theintellect.
There was no great variety of wines, nor was there Madeira; but winethere was. There was vodka, rum and Lisbon wine, all of the poorestquality but in sufficient quantity. Besides the traditional rice andhoney, there were three or four dishes, one of which consisted ofpancakes, all prepared in Amalia Ivanovna's kitchen. Two samovars wereboiling, that tea and punch might be offered after dinner. KaterinaIvanovna had herself seen to purchasing the provisions, with the helpof one of the lodgers, an unfortunate little Pole who had somehow beenstranded at Madame Lippevechsel's. He promptly put himself at KaterinaIvanovna's disposal and had been all that morning and all the day beforerunning about as fast as his legs could carry him, and very anxiousthat everyone should be aware of it. For every trifle he ran to KaterinaIvanovna, even hunting her out at the bazaar, at every instant calledher "_Pani_." She was heartily sick of him before the end, thoughshe had declared at first that she could not have got on without this"serviceable and magnanimous man." It was one of Katerina Ivanovna'scharacteristics to paint everyone she met in the most glowing colours.Her praises were so exaggerated as sometimes to be embarrassing; shewould invent various circumstances to the credit of her new acquaintanceand quite genuinely believe in their reality. Then all of a sudden shewould be disillusioned and would rudely and contemptuously repulse theperson she had only a few hours before been literally adoring. Shewas naturally of a gay, lively and peace-loving disposition, but fromcontinual failures and misfortunes she had come to desire so _keenly_that all should live in peace and joy and should not _dare_ to break thepeace, that the slightest jar, the smallest disaster reduced her almostto frenzy, and she would pass in an instant from the brightest hopes andfancies to cursing her fate and raving, and knocking her head againstthe wall.
Amalia Ivanovna, too, suddenly acquired extraordinary importance inKaterina Ivanovna's eyes and was treated by her with extraordinaryrespect, probably only because Amalia Ivanovna had thrown herself heartand soul into the preparations. She had undertaken to lay the table,to provide the linen, crockery, etc., and to cook the dishes in herkitchen, and Katerina Ivanovna had left it all in her hands and goneherself to the cemetery. Everything had been well done. Even thetable-cloth was nearly clean; the crockery, knives, forks and glasseswere, of course, of all shapes and patterns, lent by different lodgers,but the table was properly laid at the time fixed, and Amalia Ivanovna,feeling she had done her work well, had put on a black silk dress anda cap with new mourning ribbons and met the returning party with somepride. This pride, though justifiable, displeased Katerina Ivanovna forsome reason: "as though the table could not have been laid except byAmalia Ivanovna!" She disliked the cap with new ribbons, too. "Could shebe stuck up, the stupid German, because she was mistress of the house,and had consented as a favour to help her poor lodgers! As a favour!Fancy that! Katerina Ivanovna's father who had been a colonel and almosta governor had sometimes had the table set for forty persons, and thenanyone like Amalia Ivanovna, or rather Ludwigovna, would not have beenallowed into the kitchen."
Katerina Ivanovna, however, put off expressing her feelings for thetime and contented herself with treating her coldly, though she decidedinwardly that she would certainly have to put Amalia Ivanovna downand set her in her proper place, for goodness only knew what she wasfancying herself. Katerina Ivanovna was irritated too by the fact thathardly any of the lodgers invited had come to the funeral, exceptthe Pole who had just managed to run into the cemetery, while to thememorial dinner the poorest and most insignificant of them had turnedup, the wretched creatures, many of them not quite sober. The olderand more respectable of them all, as if by common consent, stayed away.Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin, for instance, who might be said to be the mostrespectable of all the lodgers, did not appear, though Katerina Ivanovnahad the evening before told all the world, that is Amalia Ivanovna,Polenka, Sonia and the Pole, that he was the most generous,noble-hearted man with a large property and vast connections, who hadbeen a friend of her first husband's, and a guest in her father'shouse, and that he had promised to use all his influence to secure hera considerable pension. It must be noted that when Katerina Ivanovnaexalted anyone's connections and fortune, it was without any ulteriormotive, quite disinterestedly, for the mere pleasure of adding tothe consequence of the person praised. Probably "taking his cue" fromLuzhin, "that contemptible wretch Lebeziatnikov had not turned upeither. What did he fancy himself? He was only asked out of kindnessand because he was sharing the same room with Pyotr Petrovitch and was afriend of his, so that it would have been awkward not to invite him."
Among those who failed to appear were "the genteel lady and herold-maidish daughter," who had only been lodgers in the house for thelast fortnight, but had several times complained of the noise and uproarin Katerina Ivanovna's room, especially when Marmeladov had comeback drunk. Katerina Ivanovna heard this from Amalia Ivanovna who,quarrelling with Katerina Ivanovna, and threatening to turn the wholefamily out of doors, had shouted at her that they "were not worth thefoot" of the honourable lodgers whom they were disturbing. KaterinaIvanovna determined now to invite this lady and her daughter, "whosefoot she was not worth," and who had turned away haughtily when shecasually met them, so that they might know that "she was more noble inher thoughts and feelings and did not harbour malice," and might seethat she was not accustomed to her way of living. She had proposed tomake this clear to them at dinner with allusions to her late father'sgovernorship, and also at the same time to hint that it was exceedinglystupid of them to turn away on meeting her. The fat colonel-major (hewas really a discharged officer of low rank) was also absent, but itappeared that he had been "not himself" for the last two days. The partyconsisted of the Pole, a wretched looking clerk with a spotty face anda greasy coat, who had not a word to say for himself, and smeltabominably, a deaf and almost blind old man who had once been in thepost office and who had been from immemorial ages maintained by someoneat Amalia Ivanovna's.
A retired clerk of the commissariat department came, too; he wasdrunk, had a loud and most unseemly laugh and only fancy--was withouta waistcoat! One of the visitors sat straight down to the table withouteven greeting Katerina Ivanovna. Finally one person having no suitappeared in his dressing-gown, but this was too much, and the efforts ofAmalia Ivanovna and the Pole succeeded in removing him. The Pole broughtwith him, however, two other Poles who did not liv
e at Amalia Ivanovna'sand whom no one had seen here before. All this irritated KaterinaIvanovna intensely. "For whom had they made all these preparationsthen?" To make room for the visitors the children had not even been laidfor at the table; but the two little ones were sitting on a bench in thefurthest corner with their dinner laid on a box, while Polenka as a biggirl had to look after them, feed them, and keep their noses wiped likewell-bred children's.
Katerina Ivanovna, in fact, could hardly help meeting her guests withincreased dignity, and even haughtiness. She stared at some of them withspecial severity, and loftily invited them to take their seats. Rushingto the conclusion that Amalia Ivanovna must be responsible for those whowere absent, she began treating her with extreme nonchalance, which thelatter promptly observed and resented. Such a beginning was no good omenfor the end. All were seated at last.
Raskolnikov came in almost at the moment of their return from thecemetery. Katerina Ivanovna was greatly delighted to see him, in thefirst place, because he was the one "educated visitor, and, as everyoneknew, was in two years to take a professorship in the university," andsecondly because he immediately and respectfully apologised for havingbeen unable to be at the funeral. She positively pounced upon him, andmade him sit on her left hand (Amalia Ivanovna was on her right). Inspite of her continual anxiety that the dishes should be passed roundcorrectly and that everyone should taste them, in spite of the agonisingcough which interrupted her every minute and seemed to have grown worseduring the last few days, she hastened to pour out in a half whisper toRaskolnikov all her suppressed feelings and her just indignation atthe failure of the dinner, interspersing her remarks with lively anduncontrollable laughter at the expense of her visitors and especially ofher landlady.
"It's all that cuckoo's fault! You know whom I mean? Her, her!" KaterinaIvanovna nodded towards the landlady. "Look at her, she's making roundeyes, she feels that we are talking about her and can't understand.Pfoo, the owl! Ha-ha! (Cough-cough-cough.) And what does she put on thatcap for? (Cough-cough-cough.) Have you noticed that she wants everyoneto consider that she is patronising me and doing me an honour by beinghere? I asked her like a sensible woman to invite people, especiallythose who knew my late husband, and look at the set of fools she hasbrought! The sweeps! Look at that one with the spotty face. And thosewretched Poles, ha-ha-ha! (Cough-cough-cough.) Not one of them has everpoked his nose in here, I've never set eyes on them. What have they comehere for, I ask you? There they sit in a row. Hey, _pan_!" she criedsuddenly to one of them, "have you tasted the pancakes? Take some more!Have some beer! Won't you have some vodka? Look, he's jumped up and ismaking his bows, they must be quite starved, poor things. Never mind,let them eat! They don't make a noise, anyway, though I'm really afraidfor our landlady's silver spoons... Amalia Ivanovna!" she addressed hersuddenly, almost aloud, "if your spoons should happen to be stolen,I won't be responsible, I warn you! Ha-ha-ha!" She laughed turning toRaskolnikov, and again nodding towards the landlady, in high glee at hersally. "She didn't understand, she didn't understand again! Look howshe sits with her mouth open! An owl, a real owl! An owl in new ribbons,ha-ha-ha!"
Here her laugh turned again to an insufferable fit of coughing thatlasted five minutes. Drops of perspiration stood out on her foreheadand her handkerchief was stained with blood. She showed Raskolnikovthe blood in silence, and as soon as she could get her breath beganwhispering to him again with extreme animation and a hectic flush on hercheeks.
"Do you know, I gave her the most delicate instructions, so to speak,for inviting that lady and her daughter, you understand of whom I amspeaking? It needed the utmost delicacy, the greatest nicety, but shehas managed things so that that fool, that conceited baggage, thatprovincial nonentity, simply because she is the widow of a major, andhas come to try and get a pension and to fray out her skirts in thegovernment offices, because at fifty she paints her face (everybodyknows it)... a creature like that did not think fit to come, and hasnot even answered the invitation, which the most ordinary good mannersrequired! I can't understand why Pyotr Petrovitch has not come? Butwhere's Sonia? Where has she gone? Ah, there she is at last! what is it,Sonia, where have you been? It's odd that even at your father's funeralyou should be so unpunctual. Rodion Romanovitch, make room for herbeside you. That's your place, Sonia... take what you like. Have some ofthe cold entree with jelly, that's the best. They'll bring the pancakesdirectly. Have they given the children some? Polenka, have you goteverything? (Cough-cough-cough.) That's all right. Be a good girl, Lida,and, Kolya, don't fidget with your feet; sit like a little gentleman.What are you saying, Sonia?"
Sonia hastened to give her Pyotr Petrovitch's apologies, trying tospeak loud enough for everyone to hear and carefully choosing the mostrespectful phrases which she attributed to Pyotr Petrovitch. She addedthat Pyotr Petrovitch had particularly told her to say that, as soon ashe possibly could, he would come immediately to discuss _business_ alonewith her and to consider what could be done for her, etc., etc.
Sonia knew that this would comfort Katerina Ivanovna, would flatter herand gratify her pride. She sat down beside Raskolnikov; she made him ahurried bow, glancing curiously at him. But for the rest of the timeshe seemed to avoid looking at him or speaking to him. She seemedabsent-minded, though she kept looking at Katerina Ivanovna, tryingto please her. Neither she nor Katerina Ivanovna had been able to getmourning; Sonia was wearing dark brown, and Katerina Ivanovna had on heronly dress, a dark striped cotton one.
The message from Pyotr Petrovitch was very successful. Listening toSonia with dignity, Katerina Ivanovna inquired with equal dignity howPyotr Petrovitch was, then at once whispered almost aloud toRaskolnikov that it certainly would have been strange for a man ofPyotr Petrovitch's position and standing to find himself in such"extraordinary company," in spite of his devotion to her family and hisold friendship with her father.
"That's why I am so grateful to you, Rodion Romanovitch, that you havenot disdained my hospitality, even in such surroundings," she addedalmost aloud. "But I am sure that it was only your special affection formy poor husband that has made you keep your promise."
Then once more with pride and dignity she scanned her visitors, andsuddenly inquired aloud across the table of the deaf man: "Wouldn't hehave some more meat, and had he been given some wine?" The old man madeno answer and for a long while could not understand what he was asked,though his neighbours amused themselves by poking and shaking him. Hesimply gazed about him with his mouth open, which only increased thegeneral mirth.
"What an imbecile! Look, look! Why was he brought? But as to PyotrPetrovitch, I always had confidence in him," Katerina Ivanovnacontinued, "and, of course, he is not like..." with an extremely sternface she addressed Amalia Ivanovna so sharply and loudly that the latterwas quite disconcerted, "not like your dressed up draggletails whommy father would not have taken as cooks into his kitchen, and my latehusband would have done them honour if he had invited them in thegoodness of his heart."
"Yes, he was fond of drink, he was fond of it, he did drink!" cried thecommissariat clerk, gulping down his twelfth glass of vodka.
"My late husband certainly had that weakness, and everyone knowsit," Katerina Ivanovna attacked him at once, "but he was a kind andhonourable man, who loved and respected his family. The worst of it washis good nature made him trust all sorts of disreputable people, and hedrank with fellows who were not worth the sole of his shoe. Would youbelieve it, Rodion Romanovitch, they found a gingerbread cock in hispocket; he was dead drunk, but he did not forget the children!"
"A cock? Did you say a cock?" shouted the commissariat clerk.
Katerina Ivanovna did not vouchsafe a reply. She sighed, lost inthought.
"No doubt you think, like everyone, that I was too severe with him," shewent on, addressing Raskolnikov. "But that's not so! He respected me, herespected me very much! He was a kind-hearted man! And how sorry I wasfor him sometimes! He would sit in a corner and look at me, I used tofeel so sorry for him, I used to want to be
kind to him and then wouldthink to myself: 'Be kind to him and he will drink again,' it was onlyby severity that you could keep him within bounds."
"Yes, he used to get his hair pulled pretty often," roared thecommissariat clerk again, swallowing another glass of vodka.
"Some fools would be the better for a good drubbing, as well as havingtheir hair pulled. I am not talking of my late husband now!" KaterinaIvanovna snapped at him.
The flush on her cheeks grew more and more marked, her chest heaved. Inanother minute she would have been ready to make a scene. Many of thevisitors were sniggering, evidently delighted. They began poking thecommissariat clerk and whispering something to him. They were evidentlytrying to egg him on.
"Allow me to ask what are you alluding to," began the clerk, "that isto say, whose... about whom... did you say just now... But I don't care!That's nonsense! Widow! I forgive you.... Pass!"
And he took another drink of vodka.
Raskolnikov sat in silence, listening with disgust. He only ate frompoliteness, just tasting the food that Katerina Ivanovna was continuallyputting on his plate, to avoid hurting her feelings. He watched Soniaintently. But Sonia became more and more anxious and distressed; she,too, foresaw that the dinner would not end peaceably, and saw withterror Katerina Ivanovna's growing irritation. She knew that she, Sonia,was the chief reason for the 'genteel' ladies' contemptuous treatment ofKaterina Ivanovna's invitation. She had heard from Amalia Ivanovna thatthe mother was positively offended at the invitation and had asked thequestion: "How could she let her daughter sit down beside _that youngperson_?" Sonia had a feeling that Katerina Ivanovna had already heardthis and an insult to Sonia meant more to Katerina Ivanovna than aninsult to herself, her children, or her father, Sonia knew thatKaterina Ivanovna would not be satisfied now, "till she had shown thosedraggletails that they were both..." To make matters worse someonepassed Sonia, from the other end of the table, a plate with two heartspierced with an arrow, cut out of black bread. Katerina Ivanovna flushedcrimson and at once said aloud across the table that the man who sent itwas "a drunken ass!"
Amalia Ivanovna was foreseeing something amiss, and at the same timedeeply wounded by Katerina Ivanovna's haughtiness, and to restore thegood-humour of the company and raise herself in their esteem she began,apropos of nothing, telling a story about an acquaintance of hers "Karlfrom the chemist's," who was driving one night in a cab, and that "thecabman wanted him to kill, and Karl very much begged him not to kill,and wept and clasped hands, and frightened and from fear pierced hisheart." Though Katerina Ivanovna smiled, she observed at once thatAmalia Ivanovna ought not to tell anecdotes in Russian; the latter wasstill more offended, and she retorted that her "_Vater aus Berlin_ was avery important man, and always went with his hands in pockets." KaterinaIvanovna could not restrain herself and laughed so much that AmaliaIvanovna lost patience and could scarcely control herself.
"Listen to the owl!" Katerina Ivanovna whispered at once, hergood-humour almost restored, "she meant to say he kept his hands inhis pockets, but she said he put his hands in people's pockets.(Cough-cough.) And have you noticed, Rodion Romanovitch, that all thesePetersburg foreigners, the Germans especially, are all stupider thanwe! Can you fancy anyone of us telling how 'Karl from the chemist's''pierced his heart from fear' and that the idiot, instead of punishingthe cabman, 'clasped his hands and wept, and much begged.' Ah, the fool!And you know she fancies it's very touching and does not suspect howstupid she is! To my thinking that drunken commissariat clerk is a greatdeal cleverer, anyway one can see that he has addled his brains withdrink, but you know, these foreigners are always so well behavedand serious.... Look how she sits glaring! She is angry, ha-ha!(Cough-cough-cough.)"
Regaining her good-humour, Katerina Ivanovna began at once tellingRaskolnikov that when she had obtained her pension, she intended to opena school for the daughters of gentlemen in her native town T----.This was the first time she had spoken to him of the project, and shelaunched out into the most alluring details. It suddenly appeared thatKaterina Ivanovna had in her hands the very certificate of honour ofwhich Marmeladov had spoken to Raskolnikov in the tavern, when he toldhim that Katerina Ivanovna, his wife, had danced the shawl dancebefore the governor and other great personages on leaving school. Thiscertificate of honour was obviously intended now to prove KaterinaIvanovna's right to open a boarding-school; but she had armed herselfwith it chiefly with the object of overwhelming "those two stuck-updraggletails" if they came to the dinner, and proving incontestablythat Katerina Ivanovna was of the most noble, "she might even sayaristocratic family, a colonel's daughter and was far superior tocertain adventuresses who have been so much to the fore of late." Thecertificate of honour immediately passed into the hands of the drunkenguests, and Katerina Ivanovna did not try to retain it, for it actuallycontained the statement _en toutes lettres_, that her father was of therank of a major, and also a companion of an order, so that she reallywas almost the daughter of a colonel.
Warming up, Katerina Ivanovna proceeded to enlarge on the peaceful andhappy life they would lead in T----, on the gymnasium teachers whomshe would engage to give lessons in her boarding-school, one a mostrespectable old Frenchman, one Mangot, who had taught Katerina Ivanovnaherself in old days and was still living in T----, and would no doubtteach in her school on moderate terms. Next she spoke of Sonia who wouldgo with her to T---- and help her in all her plans. At this someone atthe further end of the table gave a sudden guffaw.
Though Katerina Ivanovna tried to appear to be disdainfully unaware ofit, she raised her voice and began at once speaking with conviction ofSonia's undoubted ability to assist her, of "her gentleness, patience,devotion, generosity and good education," tapping Sonia on the cheek andkissing her warmly twice. Sonia flushed crimson, and Katerina Ivanovnasuddenly burst into tears, immediately observing that she was "nervousand silly, that she was too much upset, that it was time to finish, andas the dinner was over, it was time to hand round the tea."
At that moment, Amalia Ivanovna, deeply aggrieved at taking no part inthe conversation, and not being listened to, made one last effort,and with secret misgivings ventured on an exceedingly deep and weightyobservation, that "in the future boarding-school she would have to payparticular attention to _die Waesche_, and that there certainly must be agood _dame_ to look after the linen, and secondly that the young ladiesmust not novels at night read."
Katerina Ivanovna, who certainly was upset and very tired, as well asheartily sick of the dinner, at once cut short Amalia Ivanovna, saying"she knew nothing about it and was talking nonsense, that it was thebusiness of the laundry maid, and not of the directress of a high-classboarding-school to look after _die Waesche_, and as for novel-reading,that was simply rudeness, and she begged her to be silent." AmaliaIvanovna fired up and getting angry observed that she only "meant hergood," and that "she had meant her very good," and that "it was longsince she had paid her _gold_ for the lodgings."
Katerina Ivanovna at once "set her down," saying that it was a lie tosay she wished her good, because only yesterday when her dead husbandwas lying on the table, she had worried her about the lodgings. To thisAmalia Ivanovna very appropriately observed that she had invited thoseladies, but "those ladies had not come, because those ladies _are_ladies and cannot come to a lady who is not a lady." Katerina Ivanovnaat once pointed out to her, that as she was a slut she could not judgewhat made one really a lady. Amalia Ivanovna at once declared that her"_Vater aus Berlin_ was a very, very important man, and both hands inpockets went, and always used to say: 'Poof! poof!'" and she leaptup from the table to represent her father, sticking her hands in herpockets, puffing her cheeks, and uttering vague sounds resembling "poof!poof!" amid loud laughter from all the lodgers, who purposely encouragedAmalia Ivanovna, hoping for a fight.
But this was too much for Katerina Ivanovna, and she at once declared,so that all could hear, that Amalia Ivanovna probably never had afather, but was simply a drunken Petersburg Finn, and had certainly oncebeen
a cook and probably something worse. Amalia Ivanovna turned as redas a lobster and squealed that perhaps Katerina Ivanovna never had afather, "but she had a _Vater aus Berlin_ and that he wore a long coatand always said poof-poof-poof!"
Katerina Ivanovna observed contemptuously that all knew what her familywas and that on that very certificate of honour it was stated in printthat her father was a colonel, while Amalia Ivanovna's father--if shereally had one--was probably some Finnish milkman, but that probably shenever had a father at all, since it was still uncertain whether her namewas Amalia Ivanovna or Amalia Ludwigovna.
At this Amalia Ivanovna, lashed to fury, struck the table with her fist,and shrieked that she was Amalia Ivanovna, and not Ludwigovna, "thather _Vater_ was named Johann and that he was a burgomeister, and thatKaterina Ivanovna's _Vater_ was quite never a burgomeister." KaterinaIvanovna rose from her chair, and with a stern and apparently calm voice(though she was pale and her chest was heaving) observed that "if shedared for one moment to set her contemptible wretch of a father on alevel with her papa, she, Katerina Ivanovna, would tear her cap off herhead and trample it under foot." Amalia Ivanovna ran about the room,shouting at the top of her voice, that she was mistress of the house andthat Katerina Ivanovna should leave the lodgings that minute; then sherushed for some reason to collect the silver spoons from the table.There was a great outcry and uproar, the children began crying. Soniaran to restrain Katerina Ivanovna, but when Amalia Ivanovna shoutedsomething about "the yellow ticket," Katerina Ivanovna pushed Soniaaway, and rushed at the landlady to carry out her threat.
At that minute the door opened, and Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin appearedon the threshold. He stood scanning the party with severe and vigilanteyes. Katerina Ivanovna rushed to him.