He knows that for certain!
But his soul is dirty: he knows and yet hesitates; he knows and still asks for a guarantee.
He's unable to make a decision on faith.
Instead of a hundred thousand, he wants me to give him hope in me.
As for the previous word he talks about in his letter and which supposedly lit up his whole life, there he's lying brazenly.
I simply felt sorry for him once.
But he's bold and shameless: the thought of a possible hope immediately flashed in him; I realized it at once.
After that he began trying to trap me; he does it still.
But enough. Take the note and give it back to him, right now, when you've left our house, naturally, not before."
"And what shall I tell him in reply?"
"Nothing, of course.
That's the best reply.
So you intend to live in his house?"
"Ivan Fyodorovich himself recommended it to me earlier," said the prince.
"Beware of him, I'm warning you; he won't forgive you for giving him back the note."
Aglaya pressed the prince's hand lightly and left.
Her face was serious and frowning, she did not even smile as she nodded goodbye to the prince.
"One moment, I'll just fetch my bundle," the prince said to Ganya, "and we can go."
Ganya stamped his foot in impatience.
His face even darkened with rage.
Finally the two men went outside, the prince carrying his bundle.
"The reply?
The reply?" Ganya fell upon him. "What did she say to you?
Did you give her the letter?"
The prince silently handed him his note.
Ganya was dumbfounded.
"What?
My note?" he cried. "He didn't give it to her!
Oh, I should have guessed!
Oh, cur-r-rse it ... I see why she didn't understand anything just now!
But why, why, why didn't you give it to her, oh, cur-r-rse it . . ."
"Excuse me, but, on the contrary, I managed to deliver your note at once, the moment you gave it to me and exactly as you asked me to.
It ended up with me again, because Aglaya Ivanovna gave it back to me just now."
"When?
When?"
"As soon as I finished writing in the album and she asked me to go with her. (Didn't you hear?) We went to the dining room, she gave me the note, told me to read it, and then told me to give it back to you."
"To re-e-ead it!" Ganya shouted almost at the top of his lungs. "To read it!
You read it?"
And he again stood petrified in the middle of the sidewalk, so astonished that he even opened his mouth wide.
"Yes, I read it just now."
"And she, she herself gave it to you to read?
She herself?"
"She herself, and, believe me, I wouldn't have read it without her invitation."
Ganya was silent for a moment, making painful efforts to figure something out, but suddenly he exclaimed:
"That can't be!
She couldn't have told you to read it.
You're lying!
You read it yourself!"
"I'm telling you the truth," the prince replied in the same completely imperturbable tone, "and, believe me, I'm very sorry that it makes such an unpleasant impression on you."
"But, you wretch, did she at least say anything as she did it?