Notes from Underground — Part II A Propos the Wet Snow — Chapter X

The narrator paces in turmoil while Liza sits weeping behind a screen, realizing his earlier passion was revenge and that he cannot love. Oppressed by her presence and craving his “underground” isolation, he taps the screen; Liza hurriedly prepares to leave. As she reaches the door, he forces money into her hand to humiliate her further.

He immediately flees to the corner, then, ashamed, calls after Liza in the stairwell. Returning to the room, he finds the same five-rouble note crumpled on the table—Liza has rejected his money. Shocked and anguished, he rushes out into the snowy night to pursue her, intending to beg forgiveness and kiss her feet.

At the crossroads he hesitates, doubting his capacity to love without tyranny and fearing he would only torture Liza later. Retreating home, he soothes himself with a rationalization that her enduring resentment might “purify” her more than reconciliation would, even as he suffers intense remorse. He never meets Liza again.

Years later, he calls the memory evil and questions the value of his Notes. He ends with a sweeping denunciation of alienation, secondhand living through books, and cowardice disguised as prudence, claiming he merely carried such tendencies to an extreme. An editorial aside states the notes continue but will be stopped here.