Chapter 3 Gold Mines

Grushenka, hoping to avoid Dmitri, sends him to escort her to Samsonov’s and dismisses him with a promise to return at midnight. Relieved yet still suspicious, Dmitri rushes off to secure money and watch for any visit to Fyodor Pavlovitch.

Needing cash, Dmitri pawns his cherished duelling pistols for ten roubles with a weapon-enthusiast official. He then goes by Fyodor Pavlovitch’s, where Marya Kondratyevna reports Smerdyakov’s sudden illness and Ivan’s departure for Moscow. Dmitri resolves to pursue a new plan: borrow three thousand from Madame Hohlakov, pledging his Tchermashnya rights as security.

At Madame Hohlakov’s, Dmitri begs urgently for the loan. She digresses about realism, Zossima’s death, and grand schemes, “promising” far more than three thousand through success at the gold mines. She places a Kiev ikon on Dmitri’s neck, but ultimately admits she has no money and would not lend it even if she did.

Crushed, Dmitri storms out, consumed by shame over a secret debt to Katerina Ivanovna and fearing ruin if he cannot pay. In the square he meets Samsonov’s servant, who says Grushenka only visited briefly and left at once. Panicking, Dmitri runs to Grushenka’s house, arriving just after she has departed for Mokroe.

In the kitchen, Dmitri collapses before Fenya, who insists she does not know Grushenka’s whereabouts. Convinced she is lying, Dmitri bolts, but first snatches a small brass pestle from the table and pockets it, then runs into the night to pursue Grushenka.