It was not that he had been terrified or crushed by misfortune, but that for some time past he had fallen into a state of nervous depression akin to hypochondria.  He had withdrawn from society and shut himself up, till he was ready to shun, not merely his landlady, but every human face.  Poverty had once weighed him down, though, of late, he had lost his sensitiveness on that score.  He had given up all his daily occupations.  In his heart of hearts he laughed scornfully at his landlady and the extremities to which she might proceed.  Still, to be waylaid on the stairs, to have to listen to all her jargon, hear her demands, threats, and complaints, and have to make excuses and subterfuges in return—­no, he preferred to steal down without attracting notice.  On this occasion, however, when he had gained the street, he felt surprised himself at this dread of meeting the woman to whom he was in debt.

“Why should I be alarmed by these trifles when I am contemplating such a desperate deed?” thought he, and he gave a strange smile.  “Ah, well, man holds the remedy in his own hands, and lets everything go its own way, simply through cowardice—­that is an axiom.  I should like to know what people fear most:—­whatever is contrary to their usual habits, I imagine.  But I am talking too much.  I talk and so I do nothing, though I might just as well say, I do nothing and so I talk.  I have acquired this habit of chattering during the last month, while I have been lying for days together in a corner, feeding my mind on trifles.  Come, why am I taking this walk now?  Am I capable of that?  Can that really be serious?  Not in the least.  These are mere chimeras, idle fancies that flit across my brain!”

The heat in the streets was stifling.  The crowd, the sight of lime, bricks, scaffolding, and the peculiar odor so familiar to the nostrils of the inhabitant of St. Petersburg who has no means of escaping to the country for the summer, all contributed to irritate the young man’s already excited nerves.  The reeking fumes of the dram shops, so numerous in this part of the city, and the tipsy men to be seen at every point, although it was no holiday, completed the repulsive character of the scene.  Our hero’s refined features betrayed, for a moment, an expression of bitter disgust.  We may observe casually that he was not destitute of personal attractions; he was above middle height, with a slender and well-proportioned figure, and he had dark auburn hair and fine dark eyes.  In a little while he sank into a deep reverie, or rather into a sort of mental torpor.  He walked on without noticing, or trying to notice, his surroundings.  Occasionally he muttered a few words to himself; as if, as he himself had just perceived, this had become his habit.  At this moment it dawned upon him that his ideas were becoming confused and that he was very feeble; he had eaten nothing worth mentioning for the last two days.