Chapter II. The End of the Fete

The narrator fails to calm Stepan Trofimovich, who bars his door, writes a fervent farewell letter to Darya Pavlovna, and declares he is leaving the town forever. Alarmed by Stepan’s composure yet missing the deeper crisis, the narrator goes to Yulia Mihailovna.

There, Pyotr Stepanovitch, brusque and controlling, insists the ball must proceed to repair the matinée’s disgrace. He reframes the fiasco as mere stupidity, blames “roughs,” and pressures Yulia to appear with Lembke. Mid-conference he “reveals” that Lizaveta Nikolaevna has abruptly driven off to Skvoreshniki, likely with Stavrogin; the narrator angrily accuses Pyotr of arranging the escape.

Late that night the ball proves a failure: respectable families stay away, while dubious guests crowd the refreshment room. Yulia, isolated and desperate, clings to a dazed Andrey Antonovitch. The much-hyped “literary quadrille” is crude and falls flat; when Lyamshin capers on his head, the crowd laughs and Lembke erupts, ordering people expelled. As panic rises, a cry of fire from the riverside scatters the guests; Lembke, delusional, accuses even Yulia before she faints and is carried home.

At the fire, a strong wind and multiple ignition points spread the blaze. Lembke, hatless and raving about nihilists, issues impossible orders and impulsively tries to help an old woman retrieve a feather bed; a falling board knocks him unconscious. By dawn, rain calms the flames.

Then a grimmer discovery emerges: in a newly built, isolated house first set ablaze, Captain Lebyadkin, his sister Marya Timofyevna, and their servant have been murdered, the captain robbed, and faggots piled to burn the scene. The house had been rented by Stavrogin. Rumors swirl that he abducted Liza and benefitted from his wife’s death, while arson is linked to a few Shpigulin men and Fedka the convict. The crowd seethes, but without clear instigators.