"Why don't you look around the rooms once more and in all the drawers!" the prince said worriedly, after some thought.
"I did, sir!" Lebedev sighed still more sweetly.
"Hm! . . . and why, why did you have to change that frock coat!" the prince exclaimed, pounding the table in vexation.
"A question from an old comedy, sir. But, my most good-natured Prince! You take my misfortune too much to heart! I don't deserve it. That is, by myself I don't deserve it; but you also suffer for the criminal . . . for the worthless Mr. Ferdyshchenko?"
"Well, yes, yes, you've really got me worried," the prince interrupted him absentmindedly and with displeasure. "And so, what do you intend to do ... if you're so sure it's Ferdyshchenko?"
"Prince, much-esteemed Prince, who else is there, sir?" Lebedev squirmed with ever-increasing sweetness. "The unavailability of anyone else to point to and the, so to speak, perfect impossibility of suspecting anyone besides Mr. Ferdyshchenko, is, so to speak, more evidence against Mr. Ferdyshchenko, a third piece! For, again, who else is there? Can I really suspect Mr. Burdovsky, heh, heh, heh?"
"Ah, no, what nonsense!"
"Or the general, finally, heh, heh, heh?"
"What a wild idea!" the prince said almost crossly, turning impatiently on his seat.
"Wild it is! Heh, heh, heh! And the man did make me laugh, the general, I mean, sir! He and I set out this morning hot on the trail to Vilkin, sir . . . and I must point out to you that the general was even more struck than I was when I woke him up first thing after the disappearance, so that he even changed countenance, turned red, then pale, and in the end suddenly arrived at such bitter and noble indignation that I even never expected such a degree, sir. A most noble man! He lies incessantly, out of weakness, but he's a man of the loftiest feelings, and with that a man of little understanding, inspiring complete trust by his innocence. I've already told you, my much-esteemed Prince, that I not only have a soft spot for him, but even love him, sir. He suddenly stops in the middle of the street, opens his frock coat, offers his chest: 'Search me,' he says, 'you searched Keller, why don't you search me? Justice demands it!' he says. The man's arms and legs are
trembling, he's even turning pale, he has a menacing look. I laughed and said: 'Listen, General,' I said, 'if somebody else said it about you, I'd take my head off with my own hands, put it on a big platter, and offer it myself to all who doubt: "Here," I'd say, "see this head, so with this same head of mine I vouch for him, and not only with the head, but I'd even go through fire." That's how ready I am to vouch for you!' At this point he threw himself into my arms, right in the middle of the street, sir, became tearful, trembled and pressed me to his heart so tightly I could hardly clear my throat: 'You,' he says, 'are the only friend I have left in my misfortunes!' A sentimental man, sir! Well, naturally, on our way he told me an appropriate story about how, in his youth, he had once been suspected of having stolen five hundred thousand roubles, but that the very next day he had thrown himself into the flames of a burning house and saved the count who suspected him and Nina Alexandrovna, who was a young girl then. The count embraced him, and thus his marriage to Nina Alexandrovna came about, and the very next day the box with the lost money was found in the ruins of the burned-down house; it was made of iron, after an English design, with a secret lock, and had somehow fallen through the floor, so that no one noticed, and it was found only owing to the fire. A complete lie, sir. But when he spoke of Nina Alexandrovna, he even started sniveling. A most noble person, Nina Alexandrovna, though she's cross with me."
"You're not acquainted?"
"Nearly not, sir, but I wish with my whole soul that I were, if only so as to vindicate myself before her. Nina Alexandrovna has a grudge against me for supposedly corrupting her husband with drink. But I not only don't corrupt him, but sooner curb him; it may be that I keep him away from more pernicious company. What's more, he's my friend, sir, and, I confess to you, I'm not ever going to leave him, sir, that is, even like this, sir: where he goes, I go, because you can't get anywhere with him except through sentimentality. He doesn't even visit his captain's widow at all now, though secretly he pines for her and even occasionally groans over her, especially each morning, when he gets up and puts his boots on—why precisely then I don't know. He has no money, sir, that's the trouble, and it's quite impossible to go to her without money. Has he asked you for money, my most-esteemed Prince?"
"No, he hasn't."
"He's ashamed. He was going to: he even confessed to me that
he intended to trouble you, but he's ashamed, sir, since you gave him a loan just recently, and he supposed, besides, that you wouldn't give him anything. He poured it all out to me as a friend."
"And you don't give him money?"
"Prince! Much-esteemed Prince! Not only money, but for this man even, so to speak, my life ... no, however, I don't want to exaggerate, not my life, but if, so to speak, it's a fever, or some abscess, or even a cough—then, by God, I'd be ready to endure it, if there's a very big need; for I consider him a great but lost man! There, sir; and not only money, sir!"
"So you give him money?"
"N-no, I've never given him money, sir, and he knows himself that I won't, but it's solely with a view to restraining and reforming him. Now he wants to tag after me to Petersburg; you see, I'm going to Petersburg, sir, hot on Ferdyshchenko's trail, because I know for certain that he's already there, sir. My general is just seething, sir; but I suspect he'll slip away from me in Petersburg in order to visit the captain's widow. I confess, I'll even let him go on purpose, since we've already arranged to go in different directions immediately upon arrival, the better to catch Mr. Ferdyshchenko. So I'll let him go and then suddenly, out of the blue, I'll find him with the captain's widow—essentially in order to shame him as a family man and a man generally speaking."
"Only don't make noise, Lebedev, for God's sake don't make noise," the prince said in a low voice, greatly worried.
"Oh, no, sir, essentially just so as to shame him and see what kind of face he makes—for one can learn a lot by the face, my much-esteemed Prince, and especially with such a man! Ah, Prince! Great as my own trouble is, even now I cannot help thinking about him and about the reforming of his morals. I have a special request to make of you, my much-esteemed Prince, I even confess that this is essentially why I have come, sir: you are already acquainted with the house and have even lived with them, sir; what if you, my most good-hearted Prince, should decide to assist me in this, essentially just for the sake of the general and his happiness . . ."
Lebedev even pressed his hands together as if in supplication.
"What is it? How can I assist? I assure you that I would like very much to understand you fully, Lebedev."
"It is solely in that assurance that I have come to you! It may be possible to work through Nina Alexandrovna; by observing
and, so to speak, keeping a constant watch on his excellency, in the bosom of his own family. I, unfortunately, am not acquainted, sir . . . then, too, Nikolai Ardalionovich, who adores you, so to speak, from the bosom of his young soul, could perhaps be of help here ..."
"N-no . . . Nina Alexandrovna in this business . . . God forbid! Not Kolya either . . . However, maybe I still haven't understood you, Lebedev."
"But there's nothing at all to understand here!" Lebedev even jumped in his chair. "Sensitivity and tenderness alone, alone— that's all the medicine our sick man needs. Will you allow me, Prince, to consider him a sick man?"