On exactly such a night, according to him, one of his friends,
a student who had just taken the place of tutor to two orphans and was
sleeping with them in a lodge in the garden, saw a woman's figure
bending over their beds and next day recognised the figure in a
portrait of the mother of the orphans which he had not previously
noticed. Then Tyeglev told me that his parents had heard for several
days before their death the sound of rushing water; that his
grandfather had been saved from death in the battle of Borodino
through suddenly stooping down to pick up a simple grey pebble at the
very instant when a volley of grape-shot flew over his head and broke
his long black plume. Tyeglev even promised to show me the very pebble
which had saved his grandfather and which he had mounted into a
medallion. Then he talked of the lofty destination of every man and of
his own in particular and added that he still believed in it and that
if he ever had any doubts on that subject he would know how to be rid
of them and of his life, as life would then lose all significance for
him. "You imagine perhaps," he brought out, glancing askance at me,
"that I shouldn't have the spirit to do it? You don't know me ... I
have a will of iron." "Well said," I thought to myself. Tyeglev pondered, heaved a deep sigh and dropping his chibouk out of
his hand, informed me that that day was a very important one for him. "This is the prophet Elijah's day--my name day.... It is ... it is
always for me a difficult time." I made no answer and only looked at him as he sat facing me, bent,
round-shouldered, and clumsy, with his drowsy, lustreless eyes fixed
on the ground. "An old beggar woman" (Tyeglev never let a single beggar pass without
giving alms) "told me to-day," he went on, "that she would pray for my
soul.... Isn't that strange?" "Why does the man want to be always bothering about himself!" I
thought again. I must add, however, that of late I had begun noticing
an unusual expression of anxiety and uneasiness on Tyeglev's face, and
it was not a "fatal" melancholy: something really was fretting and
worrying him. On this occasion, too, I was struck by the dejected
expression of his face. Were not those very doubts of which he had
spoken to me beginning to assail him? Tyeglev's comrades had told me
that not long before he had sent to the authorities a project for some
reforms in the artillery department and that the project had been
returned to him "with a comment," that is, a reprimand. Knowing his
character, I had no doubt that such contemptuous treatment by his
superior officers had deeply mortified him. But the change that I
fancied I saw in Tyeglev was more like sadness and there was a more
personal note about it. "It's getting damp, though," he brought out at last and he shrugged
his shoulders. "Let us go into the hut--and it's bed-time, too." He
had the habit of shrugging his shoulders and turning his head from
side to side, putting his right hand to his throat as he did so, as
though his cravat were constricting it. Tyeglev's character was
expressed, so at least it seemed to me, in this uneasy and nervous
movement. He, too, felt constricted in the world. We went back into the hut, and both lay down on benches, he in the
corner facing the door and I on the opposite side. VII

Tyeglev was for a long time turning from side to side on his bench and
I could not get to sleep, either. Whether his stories had excited my
nerves or the strange night had fevered my blood--anyway, I could not
go to sleep. All inclination for sleep disappeared at last and I lay
with my eyes open and thought, thought intensely, goodness knows of
what; of most senseless trifles--as always happens when one is
sleepless. Turning from side to side I stretched out my hands.... My
finger hit one of the beams of the wall. It emitted a faint but
resounding, and as it were, prolonged note.... I must have struck a
hollow place. I tapped again ... this time on purpose. The same sound was repeated. I knocked again.... All at once Tyeglev raised his head. "Ridel!" he said, "do you hear? Someone is knocking under the window." I pretended to be asleep. The fancy suddenly took me to play a trick
at the expense of my "fatal" friend. I could not sleep, anyway. He let his head sink on the pillow. I waited for a little and again
knocked three times in succession. Tyeglev sat up again and listened. I tapped again. I was lying facing
him but he could not see my hand.... I put it behind me under the
bedclothes. "Ridel!" cried Tyeglev. I did not answer. "Ridel!" he repeated loudly. "Ridel!" "Eh? What is it?" I said as though just waking up. "Don't you hear, someone keeps knocking under the window, wants to
come in, I suppose." "Some passer-by," I muttered. "Then we must let him in or find out who it is." But I made no answer, pretending to be asleep. Several minutes passed.... I tapped again. Tyeglev sat up at once and
listened. "Knock ... knock ... knock! Knock ... knock ... knock!" Through my half-closed eyelids in the whitish light of the night I
could distinctly see every movement he made. He turned his face first
to the window then to the door. It certainly was difficult to make out
where the sound came from: it seemed to float round the room, to glide
along the walls. I had accidentally hit upon a kind of sounding board. "Ridel!" cried Tyeglev at last, "Ridel! Ridel!" "Why, what is it?" I asked, yawning. "Do you mean to say you don't hear anything? There is someone
knocking." "Well, what if there is?" I answered and again pretended to be asleep
and even snored. Tyeglev subsided. "Knock ... knock ... knock!" "Who is there?" Tyeglev shouted. "Come in!" No one answered, of course. "Knock ... knock ... knock!" Tyeglev jumped out of bed, opened the window and thrusting out his
head, cried wildly, "Who is there? Who is knocking?" Then he
opened the door and repeated his question. A horse neighed in the
distance--that was all. He went back towards his bed. "Knock ... knock ... knock!" Tyeglev instantly turned round and sat down. "Knock ... knock ... knock!" He rapidly put on his boots, threw his overcoat over his shoulders and
unhooking his sword from the wall, went out of the hut. I heard him
walk round it twice, asking all the time, "Who is there? Who goes
there? Who is knocking?" Then he was suddenly silent, stood still
outside near the corner where I was lying and without uttering another
word, came back into the hut and lay down without taking off his boots
and overcoat. "Knock ... knock ... knock!" I began again. "Knock ... knock ... knock!" But Tyeglev did not stir, did not ask who was knocking, and merely
propped his head on his hand. Seeing that this no longer acted, after an interval I pretended to
wake up and, looking at Tyeglev, assumed an air of astonishment. "Have you been out?" I asked. "Yes," he answered unconcernedly. "Did you still hear the knocking?" "Yes." "And you met no one?" "No." "And did the knocking stop?" "I don't know.