“It was evident that he had followed us, listened to our conversation, and overheard the declaration I had made regarding our marriage! I felt certain that sooner or later he would betray us.
“On my return home that night the Count was unusually gracious towards me, and, after watching him narrowly, I came to the conclusion that Artem had not informed him of the incident. In the course of the evening, however, my father’s habitual moroseness returned, and he sat smoking and thinking. Suddenly he grew confidential, and said—
“‘Vassilii, will you do me a favour? I am in a financial difficulty, and I want you to take a letter to our friend Mikhailovitch, at Vasilova, and bring back the money he will give you.’
“‘Very well,’ I replied. ‘When shall I start?’
“‘At daybreak. You must be in Vasilova by the day after to-morrow, otherwise he will have departed for Petersburg.’
“I announced my readiness to go, and he wrote the letter. At dawn I set out on horseback for Mikhailovitch’s, distant two days’ journey by road. Unsuspicious of any double dealing, I had not told Natiónka of my departure, for as I should only be absent four days I knew she would not feel any uneasiness.
“It was not before noon that the suspicion crossed my mind that I had been sent on the errand for an ulterior purpose. Try how I would I could not get rid of the thought that I had left Natiónka unprotected. Indeed, a strange presage of evil seemed to possess me, forcing me at last to turn and ride with all speed back to Nagorskoie. The afterglow was in the sky when I spurred my horse into the village. Something unusual had evidently happened, for all the inhabitants had collected in the tiny market-place.
“As I dismounted and turned the corner into the open space a shrill scream broke upon my ear. Looking round upon the white, scared faces of the assembled moujiks, I saw that the cause of the commotion was a public knouting.
“Elbowing my way to the centre of the throng, I reached the whipping-post, where a scene of inhuman brutality met my eyes, causing the spirit of murder to enter my soul.