Great article @alexandraioana26! I needed a few days to re-read the chapters and refresh my memories out of it :) There are so many climaxes and revelations in those three chapters that it's really a great end to the first part of the book.

I feel kind of sorry for Ferdischenko, who is the only one who told a really awful story about himself without trying to redeem it, while the others obviously felt bad about themselves.

As always in XIXth century movies, a sudden expected inheritance is thrown into the lap of the hero, and I can't help but think that the Prince should have kept that secret and Nastasia would have been his!

Nastasia is really a piece of work... She is really bigger than life... The courtesane who is playing all the guys around her, and - tired of pretending - shows her true colours. However, by refusing the Prince proposal, it shows she still has a good side... She does not consider herself worthy of the Prince, who is too innocent, while she is - she thinks - beyond redemption.

I guess that now we are going to see how the Prince can bring her back from the depth of her self-esteem and fight Rogojine for her.