Demons: Part 1, Chapter 2, Section 4 Summary & Analysis

After those events, Nikolay travels abroad for three years. He travels throughout Europe and makes a trip to Iceland. He resurfaces in Paris. Praskovya Drozdov, a childhood friend of Varvara who lives in Paris, writes Varvara to say that they have recently been seeing a lot of Nikolay, who has formed a close friendship with her daughter Liza. They plan to travel together to Switzerland. Varvara immediately decides to travel to France and then Switzerland with her close confidant Darya (Shatov’s sister). After Varvara leaves for France, Stepan grows concerned. He owes money and won’t be able to settle the debt without Varvara’s help. Moreover, a new governor comes into power.

People say that the new governor’s wife is enemies with Varvara. When Varvara returns to Skvoreshniki, she’s in high spirits. She agrees to help Stepan with the debt and tells him that she heard about the intrigue regarding her and the governor’s wife while abroad. She tells Stepan that there’s nothing to it because the governor’s wife is a striver with no real power. They shouldn’t be afraid of her. But, Varvara says, she wants Stepan to act properly so that he can be welcomed by the new governor and any esteemed guests he might have with him. She also tells Stepan that she doesn’t like his friends or the rumors about him that he’s an atheist. She says that she left Darya in Switzerland to stay with Praskovya, and Darya will return with Nikolay to the provincial town in a couple of months.