Not one of them would have entered alone. With the rest, each one is brave enough. The hall fills first, shouting on the stairs, furs and caps, and two "ladies" who only put their heads in. Colia bangs the door and locks it. Rogozhin comes in gloomy, with an end in view, and the rest are only chorus. Gania stands at the door like a block. Judas, they call him. Blackguard. He puts no obstacle in the way.
Then Rogozhin sees her. He had not dreamed of meeting her here. His lips go actually blue. So that is the end of it. Are you going to marry this man, or not? Nobody in the room has heard her say yes. She looks from Nina to Varia to Gania and changes her tone. Certainly not. What could have induced you to ask? He shouts with joy. They told him she had promised. He would buy Gania off for a hundred, a thousand, three, and throws a packet of notes, tied in white paper, on the table: eighteen thousand. Lebedeff clutches his arm. Try less first. Forty thousand, then a hundred thousand this very day, a good share to stick to Ptitsin's fingers. Ptitsin seizes his hand. He is mad. The police will be sent for. Think where you are. She laughs and does not go. She came, she says, like a fool, to invite them for the evening.
Varia asks if someone will turn this shameless creature out. That is me, I suppose, Nastasia says. Gania springs at his sister. She spits in his face. He aims a blow that would have laid her low. Another hand catches his. The prince is between them. Gania slaps the prince's face with all his force. The prince goes pale, tries to speak, and his mouth twists into a smile that does not fit. Very well, never mind about me, but I shall not allow you to strike her. Then he covers his face and turns to the wall. How ashamed you will be of this afterwards. Rogozhin calls him a sheep and wants him to come away. The prince turns to Nastasia. Is she really the sort of woman she is trying to represent? She looks surprised, conceals something, and leaves. She has not reached the hall when she comes back, lifts Nina Alexandrovna's hand to her lips, and whispers that he guessed quite right. She is not that sort of woman. She is gone before Gania can show her out. Au revoir, till the evening. Rogozhin goes ahead with Ptitsin, insisting on something important. You've lost the game, Gania, he cries as he passes. Gania gazes after him and says nothing.
Coming Up in Chapter 11
The aftermath of Rogojin's dramatic offer and the prince's moral intervention leaves everyone shaken. As the dust settles, the true cost of the evening's revelations becomes clear, and new alliances begin to form in unexpected ways..
