At an evening party at the Eropkins, Mahin, who was paying attentions to the two young daughters of the house—they were rich matches, both of them—having earned great applause for his fine singing and playing the piano, began telling the company about the strange convict who had converted the hangman. Mahin told his story very accurately, as he had a very good memory, which was all the more retentive because of his total indifference to those with whom he had to deal. He never paid the slightest attention to other people’s feelings, and was therefore better able to keep all they did or said in his memory. He got interested in Stepan Pelageushkine, and, although he did not thoroughly understand him, yet asked himself involuntarily what was the matter with the man? He could not find an answer, but feeling that there was certainly something remarkable going on in Stepan’s soul, he told the company at the Eropkins all about Stepan’s conversion of the hangman, and also about his strange behaviour in prison, his reading the Gospels and his great influence on the rest of the prisoners. All this made a special impression on the younger daughter of the family, Lisa, a girl of eighteen, who was just recovering from the artificial life she had been living in a boarding-school; she felt as if she had emerged out of water, and was taking in the fresh air of true life with ecstasy. She asked Mahin to tell her more about the man Pelageushkine, and to explain to her how such a great change had come over him. Mahin told her what he knew from the police official about Stepan’s last murder, and also what he had heard from Pelageushkine himself—how he had been conquered by the humility, mildness, and fearlessness of a kind woman, who had been his last victim, and how his eyes had been opened, while the reading of the Gospels had completed the change in him.
Lisa Eropkin no pudo dormir esa noche.
Durante un par de meses se había librado una lucha en su corazón entre la vida social, a la que su hermana la arrastraba, y su enamoramiento por Mahin, combinado con el deseo de reformarlo. Este segundo deseo se volvió ahora el más fuerte.
Ya había oído hablar de la pobre María Semiónovna. Pero, tras el espantoso asesinato de aquella bondadosa mujer, y después de que Mahin, al enterarse por Stepán, le hubiera comunicado todos los datos relativos a la vida de María Semiónovna, la propia Lisa deseó apasionadamente volverse como ella.
Era una muchacha rica y temía que Mahin la hubiera estado cortejando por su dinero. Así que resolvió dar todo lo que poseía a los pobres, y se lo contó a Mahin.
Mahin se alegró mucho de demostrar su desinterés, y le dijo a Lisa que la amaba a ella y no a su dinero. Tal prueba de su innata nobleza hizo que se admirara enormemente a sí mismo. Mahin ayudó a Lisa a llevar a cabo su decisión. Y cuanto más lo hacía, más llegaba a comprender el nuevo mundo de las ambiciones espirituales de Lisa, hasta entonces totalmente desconocido para él.