Chapter 6 “I Am Coming, Too!”

Dmitri Karamazov gallops through the night toward Mokroe, revived by the speed and the cool air yet riven by turmoil. Fixated on seeing Grushenka “for the last time,” he feels no jealousy toward her first lover, imagining instead that her prior claim supersedes his own. He clings to a plan to punish himself at dawn, with a loaded pistol and a written confession in his pocket.

On the road, Dmitri swings between despair and exaltation, momentarily tempted to end his life at once. He prays feverishly, begging God not to condemn him, vowing to love even in hell, and pleading for a few hours more to love “the queen” of his soul. He questions the driver Andrey about sin and hell, seeking absolution from a “simple peasant heart.”

Near Mokroe, Dmitri panics that the company might be asleep, then learns from Andrey that several “gentlefolk” are at Plastunov’s inn, playing cards. On arrival, he greets the innkeeper, Trifon Borissovitch, and urgently inquires after Grushenka. Trifon reports she is with an official-sounding Pole, the Pole’s companion, the young gentleman Kalganov, and the pilgrim Maximov.

Determined to stage a revel, Dmitri brandishes a roll of notes, orders champagne, food, and village musicians in place of expelled gypsies, and demands the presence of certain singing girls. He pays Andrey, rebuffs the driver’s fear, and has Trifon hide him so he can observe unnoticed.

From the darkened adjoining room, Dmitri sees Grushenka beside Kalganov, holding his hand as Maximov laughs, with the two Polish strangers nearby. Overcome, he sets down his pistol case and, heart pounding, strides into the blue room. Grushenka, first to notice him, cries out.