The Stalker in the Shadows — The Idiot

Prince Myshkin spends a restless afternoon in St. Petersburg after failing to find General Epanchin or Colia. He wanders in nervous solitude, buys a ticket to Pavlofsk, then abandons it, haunted by the feeling that Rogojin's eyes are watching him from crowds and shop windows. He tests his sanity by hunting for a cutler's window marked sixty copecks, and the detail proves real, which only deepens his dread. His mind swings between epileptic aura and moral reasoning: he recalls Rogojin's cross, his mother's blessing, and his promise to step aside for Nastasia. Convinced compassion might save everyone, he visits her apartment on the Petersburg Side, learns she has gone to Pavlofsk, and sees Rogojin standing across the road like an accuser. Shame and suspicion war in him all the way back to his hotel. In the dark stairwell Rogojin waits with a glittering knife; the prince cries that he will not believe it, then collapses into a violent epileptic fit. Rogojin flees thinking he has killed him; Colia finds Myshkin bleeding at the bottom of the stairs and takes him to Lebedeff's. Three days later the whole party moves to Pavlofsk. The chapter shows how dread can sharpen perception and still drive a man toward the very danger he fears.