The Strange Period — Crime and Punishment

Part VI Chapter I opens in retrospective fog: Raskolnikov’s mind clouds after Katerina Ivanovna’s death, dates blur, and he is permanently thinking of Svidrigailov after those menacing words in Sonia’s room. He wanders taverns, wakes on Krestovsky Island in fever, and drifts through apathy like a dying man's insensibility, unable to face what he owes Sonia, his family, or the law.

Svidrigailov arranges the funeral and orphan placements; they meet on the stairs and avoid the vital subject, though both know it waits. He urges fresh air and promises a talk soon while priests climb for the requiem. Raskolnikov follows the priest into Sonia’s room for the requiem, Give rest, oh Lord, while Polenka weeps and Sonia prays. These last two days she hasn’t said a word to him; her hand on his shoulder shows no disgust, only exhausted charity. He leaves more miserable than before.

He skips the funeral, eats greedily after fever, and receives Razumihin, who swears he is not mad though his conduct looks monstrous. Mother is in bed with fever after waiting at his door; Razumihin saw the coffin and mourning children at Sonia’s. Raskolnikov entrusts mother and sister to him, praises his love for Dounia, and sends him toward Svidrigailov and fresh air instead of drink. Dounia’s letter has upset her; Razumihin guesses political conspirator nonsense yet stays loyal.

Crowds and taverns only sharpen his sense of someone near him; loneliness in company replaces solitude. He remembers the corridor lamp scene and fears even Razumihin has begun to suspect.

Then Razumihin drops the bomb: the murderer has been found, Nikolay the painter confessed with cunning staging on the stairs. He heard it from Porfiry, who explained it psychologically. Raskolnikov’s panic returns: if Porfiry pushed that story on Razumihin, what is his design? A means of escape had come, yet the tangle tightens. He resolves we shall see, we shall see, and sets out to settle Svidrigailov.

He opens the door onto Porfiry in the passage. Porfiry laughs that he did not expect a visitor, asks for a cigarette, and Raskolnikov, with false warmth, says Sit down, Porfiry Petrovitch. Terror becomes numb readiness; the last drops must be drained. Porfiry lights up; Raskolnikov’s heart seems to cry Speak, speak, while the chapter ends before a word of the interview. Razumihin runs off to Dounia still parsing letters, fresh air, and secrets.

This is not Svidrigailov’s suicide or Porfiry’s gentle confession offer. It is post-funeral fog, requiem silence, family crisis, Nikolay’s false closure, and the detective’s sudden arrival on the threshold of Part VI Chapter II, where the long interview finally begins.