The following day, the literary festival begins in chaotic fashion. The narrator notes that many “lower-class types” (523) were unexpectedly in attendance. The size of the festival has altered several times already, with Yulia expanding, then reducing, and then expanding the scale of the event in defiance of people’s expectations that they should be served food and drink without necessarily paying anything. Furthermore, the division of the festival into both daytime and evening events means that people are paying a great deal of money to afford two separate outfits to attend both. People believe that “an enormous sum of money” (528) has been raised for the charitable cause of governesses in Russia and people come from far and wide to attend.

The narrator is one of the ushers who runs the event. The narrator says that Liza turns heads at the events with her “dazzling” (531) appearance. He also notes that Yulia and Von Lembke settled their differences the previous day, though Von Lembke does not attend the morning event.

The first person to appear on the stage is Captain Lebyadkin, much to the crowd’s surprise. He is quickly taken away by Liputin—also working as an usher—who then takes the captain’s place on the stage.