VI

“Neither during my illness nor at any previous time had I ever seen an apparition;⁠—but I had always thought, both when I was a little boy, and even now, that if I were to see one I should die on the spot⁠—though I don’t believe in ghosts. And yet now , when the idea struck me that this was a ghost and not Rogojin at all, I was not in the least alarmed. Nay⁠—the thought actually irritated me. Strangely enough, the decision of the question as to whether this were a ghost or Rogojin did not, for some reason or other, interest me nearly so much as it ought to have done;⁠—I think I began to muse about something altogether different. For instance, I began to wonder why Rogojin, who had been in dressing-gown and slippers when I saw him at home, had now put on a dress-coat and white waistcoat and tie? I also thought to myself, I remember⁠—‘if this is a ghost, and I am not afraid of it, why don’t I approach it and verify my suspicions? Perhaps I am afraid⁠—’ And no sooner did this last idea enter my head than an icy blast blew over me; I felt a chill down my backbone and my knees shook. “At this very moment, as though divining my thoughts, Rogojin raised his head from his arm and began to part his lips as though he were going to laugh⁠—but he continued to stare at me as persistently as before. “I felt so furious with him at this moment that I longed to rush at him; but as I had sworn that he should speak first, I continued to lie still⁠—and the more willingly, as I was still by no means satisfied as to whether it really was Rogojin or not. “I cannot remember how long this lasted; I cannot recollect, either, whether consciousness forsook me at