صفحة 296 من 1294

Raskolnikov looked at all this with profound astonishment and a

dull, unreasoning terror. He made up his mind to keep quiet and

see what would happen. "I believe I am not wandering. I believe

it's reality," he thought.

In a couple of minutes Nastasya returned with the soup, and

announced that the tea would be ready directly. With the soup she

brought two spoons, two plates, salt, pepper, mustard for the

beef, and so on. The table was set as it had not been for a long

time. The cloth was clean.

"It would not be amiss, Nastasya, if Praskovya Pavlovna were to

send us up a couple of bottles of beer. We could empty them."

"Well, you are a cool hand," muttered Nastasya, and she departed

to carry out his orders.