before in the corner, and asked abruptly, in quite a different voice:"You have come no doubt with some object. What do you want?"
I told him everything immediately, in its exact historical order, and added that though I had time to think it over coolly after the
first excitement was over, I was more puzzled than ever. I saw that it meant something very important to Lizaveta Nikolaevna. I was extremely anxious to help her, but the trouble was that I didn't know how to keep the promise I had made her, and didn't even quite understand now what I had promised her. Then I assured him impressively once more that she had not meant to deceive him, and had had no thought of doing so; that there had been some misunderstanding, and that she had been very much hurt by the extraordinary way in which he had gone off that morning.
He listened very attentively.
"Perhaps I was stupid this morning, as I usually am.... Well, if she didn't understand why I went away like that... so much the better for her."
He got up, went to the door, opened it, and began listening on the stairs. "Do you want to see that person yourself ?"
"That's just what I wanted, but how is it to be done?" I cried, delighted.
"Let's simply go down while she's alone. When he comes in he'll beat her horribly if he finds out we've been there. I often go in on
the sly. I went for him this morning when he began beating her again." "What do you mean?"
"I dragged him off her by the hair. He tried to beat me, but I frightened him, and so it ended. I'm afraid he'll come back drunk, and won't forget it--he'll give her a bad beating because of it."
We went downstairs at once.
The Lebyadkins' door was shut but not locked, and we were able to go in. Their lodging consisted of two nasty little rooms, with
smoke-begrimed walls on which the filthy wall-paper literally hung in tatters. It had been used for some years as an eating-house,
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