第783页 / 共1294页

His indignation was such that he ceased trembling at once; he

made ready to go in with a cold and arrogant bearing and vowed to

himself to keep as silent as possible, to watch and listen and

for once at least to control his overstrained nerves. At that

moment he was summoned to Porfiry Petrovitch.

He found Porfiry Petrovitch alone in his study. His study was a

room neither large nor small, furnished with a large

writing-table, that stood before a sofa, upholstered in checked

material, a bureau, a bookcase in the corner and several

chairs--all government furniture, of polished yellow wood. In the

further wall there was a closed door, beyond it there were no

doubt other rooms. On Raskolnikov's entrance Porfiry Petrovitch

had at once closed the door by which he had come in and they

remained alone. He met his visitor with an apparently genial and

good-tempered air, and it was only after a few minutes that

Raskolnikov saw signs of a certain awkwardness in him, as though

he had been thrown out of his reckoning or caught in something

very secret.