第781页 / 共1294页

CHAPTER V

When next morning at eleven o'clock punctually Raskolnikov went

into the department of the investigation of criminal causes and

sent his name in to Porfiry Petrovitch, he was surprised at being

kept waiting so long: it was at least ten minutes before he was

summoned. He had expected that they would pounce upon him. But he

stood in the waiting-room, and people, who apparently had nothing

to do with him, were continually passing to and fro before him.

In the next room which looked like an office, several clerks were

sitting writing and obviously they had no notion who or what

Raskolnikov might be. He looked uneasily and suspiciously about

him to see whether there was not some guard, some mysterious

watch being kept on him to prevent his escape. But there was

nothing of the sort: he saw only the faces of clerks absorbed in

petty details, then other people, no one seemed to have any

concern with him. He might go where he liked for them.