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The steps sounded very far off, at the very bottom of the stairs,

but he remembered quite clearly and distinctly that from the

first sound he began for some reason to suspect that this was

someone coming there, to the fourth floor, to the old woman. Why?

Were the sounds somehow peculiar, significant? The steps were

heavy, even and unhurried. Now he had passed the first floor, now

he was mounting higher, it was growing more and more distinct! He

could hear his heavy breathing. And now the third storey had been

reached. Coming here! And it seemed to him all at once that he

was turned to stone, that it was like a dream in which one is

being pursued, nearly caught and will be killed, and is rooted to

the spot and cannot even move one's arms.