Loading chat...
Book VI. The Russian Monk
playing.”
that is conspicuous and is noticed, but the inner man is unseen. Their
curious stories were still extant in the monastery and the neighborhood.
the background that the fatal end might still be far off, that not till
and ran staggering across the passage into the forester’s room. The
again, with a bleeding heart, I have learnt a great deal this night. I
knowing what he was doing. But they were not allowed to come together,
growing gradually more marked, and by three o’clock it was quite
said. “Take it home and keep it for yourself. And I’ll let you go back to
jesting?”
little room with one window, next beyond the large room in which they had
those who were left behind, but she interrupted him before he had
him.
death. I was impressed by all this at the time, but not too much so,
impatience to search the rooms, to see whether she hasn’t escaped him on
“Listen, listen, monks, to the parricide!” cried Fyodor Pavlovitch,
disease, I was told, arising from exhausting toil too soon after hard,
“You ask what were my exact sensations at the moment when I asked my
himself to steal, it would not be regular stealing, but simply taking what
way,” which led between the back gardens of the houses, with hurdles on
cheese, Strasburg pies, smoked fish, ham, caviare, and everything,
even. And how is it we went on then living, getting angry and not
different. The strange resemblance flashed like an arrow through Alyosha’s
young official, Perhotin, had become a regular visitor at the house.
would stay there till midnight.
moment flew by like a spark. The horses galloped on, “devouring space,”
“And I’ll bring you as much powder as you like, Ilusha. We make the powder
baby in her arms.
“Good evening. You’re here, too! How glad I am to find you here, too!
and life. They live upon their vindictive pride like a starving man in the
I am constantly wondering at him—with this awful thing hanging over him,
ridicule. But Mitya had no time to pause over such trifles. He hurried,
heart was open even to the simple, artless merrymaking of some obscure and
but even the torments of conscience. For a moment, oh, only for a moment!
“Hang it! How can you be so sure you are going to have a fit, confound
instant, but you know a ray of light from the sun takes full eight
The prosecutor dropped the examination at this point. The impression left
Fyodor Pavlovitch waited another two minutes.
examined, the counsel for the defense positively fastened upon him when
he cried, ‘and will be christened.’ And so he was. Princess Dashkov was
that you are to blame for every one and for all things. But throwing your
must hide this first.”
persistent burning sensation made itself felt continually, “like a red‐hot
very important,” a request which, for certain reasons, had interest for
interest in him at the time, and I took him into the country, but he keeps
suddenly went back to the entrance.
have nothing left of all that was sacred of old. But they have only
on occasion, and in his relations with the teachers he never overstepped
should be accused of pride and rebellious ideas. People said that some of
For know, dear ones, that every one of us is undoubtedly responsible for
inquiring specially after his health, though he did not wait to hear his
“All I understand is that you are mad.”
seemed to be staring at him with perfectly unruffled attention. A sort of
“If the court doesn’t believe all I’ve said to you just now, the public
your observing it in yourself. Avoid fear, too, though fear is only the
considered so superior to her own. But the sternly virtuous girl did not
life. My heart has chosen you, to unite our lives, and pass them together
howled with regret all the rest of my life, only to have played that
he often is—he’s only doing it to amuse us all. There’s no harm in that,
no resisting it; as though I should act like a bug, like a venomous
Don’t worry about him! I don’t want to just now!” Mitya snapped out,
would play a prominent part of some sort, but Alyosha, who was attached to
laughing at him at that moment—took his breath away. And it was not mere
whose expense he was living. In that respect he was a striking contrast to
Katya. “My forgiveness is no good to you, nor yours to me; whether you
charged me to do it, and went away knowing all about it. And so I want to
it in his eyes, ‘You came of yourself, though.’ Oh, he didn’t understand,
truth.”
Alyosha wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find a word. His heart
“Unfortunately I feel myself compelled to go to this confounded dinner,”
was still preserved and Father Païssy, with a stern face, continued firmly
“_Panie_, we’re here in private. There are other rooms.”
“No, it’s not excessive,” he answered; “believe me, such a course of
seemed at times ready to obey his son, though often extremely and even
“Do you suppose, gentlemen, that our children as they grow up and begin to
dressed up as bears, and a lively girl, called Stepanida, with a stick in
any one. If he doesn’t believe in people, of course, he does despise
he evidently felt a real and deep affection for him, such as he had never
“Yes, loves it; every one loves it! Everybody says it’s so awful, but
and though you’re hasty‐tempered, sir, yet God will forgive you for your
depression so vexatious and irritating was that it had a kind of casual,
“Who knows it? Who counted the money? Did I let any one count it?”
steadfast, but still I am not going to apologize for him.”
understand why you have had such an influence on this generous, morbidly
The old man started, jerked up his head, and, jumping up quickly, ran to
Katerina Ivanovna flushed hotly.
torn kaftan and bark shoes. He stands, as it were, lost in thought. Yet he
laying two hundred‐rouble notes on the table. “I want to lose a lot to
yours. What does money matter? We shall waste it anyway.... Folks like us
they will drink blood instead of wine, they are being led on to it. I ask
he did not kiss his hand. But when he saw all this bowing and kissing on
as the tomb. I only wanted, in view of “possibilities,” to add, that when
not mad, but only rather weak, Ivan only evoked from the old man a subtle
overcome with astonishment. He looked at Smerdyakov again with alarm.
“Alyosha, we must put off kissing. We are not ready for that yet, and we
one then, it would have been on you, not on Dmitri, and I swear I did
intimate friend, who is privileged to give orders in the house.
streamed down in bucketfuls. Mitya gazed blankly out of the window.
FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT
had drunk two cups of chocolate. His face was red, and his nose was
Grigory was fond of children, and was not ashamed of showing it. When
possibly the illegitimate son, of Fyodor Pavlovitch, Smerdyakov. At the
“But don’t ever forget me, father,” Ilusha went on, “come to my grave ...
lenders and devourers of the commune are rising up. Already the merchant
result has been only grotesque. Remember this especially, young man, since
“That’s enough! I don’t want you to play any more. Don’t!”
He looked at me, all of a tremble. ‘Well,’ thought I, ‘if he’s so
frightened she’s so sure he will get well.”
rational and philanthropic....”
myself why.... Oh, of course, I was furious then about that creature, and
had this fatal pestle in his hand, he would have only knocked his father
shall turn gray, fretting for Russia. I dare say they won’t recognize us.
Kolbasnikov, was particularly shocked about it, but Dardanelov got me off
completely recovered his dignity, though he was still a little uneasy. He
But, before God, I repeat to you, I am innocent of my father’s blood! For
much pleasant as distinguished sometimes to be insulted—that you had
“Excuse me, madam, then you did not give him money? You remember for a
tired again, had gone back to bed, he thought of Alyosha as he was closing
man evidently wanted to tell him something at once and had come to meet
fishermen in the fable! Listen, Alyosha, listen, brother! Now I mean to
to kill him, made a sinister impression on the court, especially as the
who had foreseen this, and purposely brought pencil and paper with him,
Grigory out of pity. ‘No,’ he says, ‘such sensibility is impossible at
So it was settled. The priest rode off on the forester’s horse, delighted
would have all been put down to Dmitri Fyodorovitch. I could reckon upon
you are a scoundrel.’ That’s what he said. A chivalrous spirit indeed! I
But what is most important is that the majority of our national crimes of
indeed, why should Ivan Fyodorovitch have kept silence till now? And so,
suffering every year from Good Friday till Trinity Day, and the sinners at
them. ‘I’m to be pulled out, not you. It’s my onion, not yours.’ As soon
harmony of the future? I understand solidarity in sin among men. I
the light.
Thou didst increase it, and burdened the spiritual kingdom of mankind with
no one there, I can tell you that for certain. We will expect you,” he
slammed the door with all her might, pinching her finger. Ten seconds
“Oh, no, not at all. I was quite serious in what I said,” Alyosha declared
unenviable future? Is it our cynicism, is it the premature exhaustion of
it with indignation. “But perhaps I haven’t got a clever face?” he
faintly.
sometimes astounded and almost alarmed his visitors by his knowledge of
garden grew up and everything came up that could come up, but what grows
over. First an elegant open carriage, drawn by two valuable horses, drove
nature, for many senseless and foolish desires and habits and ridiculous
woman. Though he knew little of women, he had spent his life, from early
monastery. As for our age we will wait for the time fixed by the law. By
man,’ eh?” snarled Ivan.
runaway bride her dowry, the husband and wife began to lead a most
“Not Zhutchka?” Alyosha looked at Kolya with eyes full of pity. “Is she
you see!”
hazarded.
As he fell asleep he prayed for Mitya and Ivan. He began to understand
amusing. Another thing, one could never think of her as a young lady. She
for only one rouble and included a receipt signed by both.
bring up his children. His behavior as a father was exactly what might be
you don’t understand that! No one is wise from another man’s woe.”
teacher; but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to acquire,
and whom he honored above every one in the world. He went into Father
more about the “mischief” he had done, and not to torture himself with
“Here he is! Here he is!” yelled Fyodor Pavlovitch, highly delighted at
Zossima. And now the news had reached him in his hut that “God’s judgment
and there was no one near. The notes seemed to produce a tremendous
condition of Russia, due to the lack of appropriate institutions. He was,
ardently resolved that in spite of his promises to his father, the
talking in our mansion without mamma and the girls taking part in it.
that. What he wanted to know was where she was. But his father, his
make me some sort of wart on my face—what’s the use of their being so
“Yes, perhaps, I really did tell Grushenka about that ‘fatal day,’ as
Smerdyakov did not speak.
says.”
I loved you.... When you fell down and were carried out ... All my life!
as cheerful as ever. I was intimate with her, not in ‘that’ way, it was
with three seals. On it is written in his own hand, ‘To my angel
give my full consent, gentlemen, only ... do you see?... Stay, stay, write
it were not for all these trivial details, we should understand one
Chapter II. Lizaveta
had happened a year before, when he accidentally fell from the garret.
“Will my brother Dmitri soon be back?” asked Alyosha with as much
evidence. But the prosecutor was triumphant. When all the evidence had
woman’s voice was more and more insinuating.
sudden death, of which an official statement from the police was
master’s death, not a rouble, for Agrafena Alexandrovna would marry him
fortnight she’ll be dancing a quadrille. I’ve called in Doctor
centuries ago. He came down to the ‘hot pavements’ of the southern town in
think of the gold‐mines, Dmitri Fyodorovitch?”
he thought, an extraordinary being, our celebrated elder, Zossima, to whom
farther away, in the rain and mist, a row of poor, black, dismal huts,
are not laughing?”
sought to cling to the ‘ideas of the people,’ or to what goes by that name
expect some wickedness from you ... at the time.... I remember my
indeed than Russians. And he was very fond of using Russian proverbs,
Alyosha at last looked at him, but vaguely, as though scarcely
and never of what he really wanted to say. He looked sometimes with a face
serfdom at the beginning of the century, and long live the Liberator of
tendency to consumption, was taken ill. He was tall but thin and delicate‐
Smerdyakov lifted the book off the notes and laid it on one side.
that we have facts, witnesses, and his own words. I confess, gentlemen of
on the first day of his arrival, then he had visited him once more, a
Famusov in the last scene of _Sorrow from Wit_. You are Tchatsky and she
When he was half‐way there, the keen dry wind that had been blowing early
smile.
“What, don’t you believe in God?”
mind. Grusha keeps looking at me. She understands. My God, calm my heart:
direction, but he chose it with the same thirst for swift achievement. As
by his words.
grow old and have death to look forward to. Well, so be it! I am weary.
contrary. I speak to you now as though you were my father—mother’s quite
“And when would you get it, your three thousand? You’re not of age,
never return. She was ashamed, and from her eyes he could see now whom she
greedily looked at his brother and listened to him with a wild, strange
retreating figure. “He was sitting here, laughing and cheerful, and all at
penny this time, for the general’s widow was furious. She gave them
“Well, let them! Let them!” said Grushenka sententiously, with an ecstatic
live so and perhaps cannot help living so. Are you referring to what I
been going on, had now both gone out again. The lawyers, too, looked very
despicable wretch, Fyodor Pavlovitch, too much to have been upset by him
But by now Ivan had apparently regained his self‐control.
hours of sleep he does not remember, he only remembers the moments of
depart “with nothing but a respectful bow.” It was hinted that something
But he had hardly uttered the name, when the lady’s face showed signs of
something hurried and scattered. Greeting his father affably, and even
wilderness, and we are told in the books that he “tempted” Thee. Is that
you see there, and what you find out ... what comes to light ... how
do you know it all beforehand? Ah, here’s the doctor. Goodness! What will
laughing. Any one who had seen his face at that moment would have known
fancying how the little thing cried and moaned (a child of four years old
was young and would not have been bad‐looking, but that her face was so
“Are you leaving the hermitage? What, without asking leave, without asking
visited by the Queen of Heaven herself. But the devil did not slumber, and
“It’s not your business, brother, if I am at my saucy pranks again,” said
be roused. He waked up for five minutes, sent his blessing to the
“Did you really mean to send me?” cried Alyosha with a distressed
said to have told it fluently and consecutively, but he seemed to make it
went to Egypt leaving his own country, and died in a foreign land,
play such pranks again. And the fellow kept blubbering like a woman. ‘It
he became trustful and generous, and positively despised himself for his
“Oh, that’s all nonsense about Troy, a trivial matter. I consider this an
one little time, without going up to him, without speaking, if I could be
Alyosha stood rooted to the spot, watching the scene in silence.
things he asked about Rakitin and the twenty‐five roubles “you paid him
But still they cannot mend her.
dress, but he could inquire at the entrance for his brothers and call them
from his bedroom. There were already in the cell, awaiting the elder, two
Mitya cried loudly:
“Good‐by, old man, mother expects me back to dinner,” he said quickly.
Smerdyakov slowly raised his head and looked intently at his visitor
don’t know. I only know that I, too, am a Karamazov.... Me a monk, a monk!
healed and come back again. And I will wait for you. I feel that you’re
looked at Alyosha as he came in with an undefined expression, but there
perhaps set off ... to the gold‐mines.... I’ll come and see you again
and almost Christ‐like love. I know that myself, Ivan.”
overtaken with such intense curiosity that she promptly dispatched Rakitin
just now, ‘The Karamazovs are not blackguards, but philosophers; for all
been clear till then. Here we have a different psychology. I have
“I—I’ll ask him,” muttered Alyosha. “If you would give him three thousand,
Grushenka’s mood and the enigmatic tone of some of her words he completely
‘laceration.’... But I don’t know how to speak now. I’ve said
succeeded in wakening the man, he would still be drunk and incapable of
Varvinsky, maintained to all of them that it was just the thought of it
time past, and not only in you. Nowadays the very children have begun to
during which he had been ill and lost the use of his swollen legs, he had
“Four days, what nonsense! Listen. Did you laugh at me very much?”
So Mitya began, and broke down at the first sentence. We will not
“What’s the matter?” he went on; but the surprise in his face gradually
he cut short all further inquiry into the romantic aspect of the case, and
“Listen. Legally he owes me nothing. I’ve had it all from him, I know
he had, of course, set off post‐haste to our town. The first to meet him
ten roubles a possession he valued, though, three hours later, he was in
you have made a very just remark about the mutual confidence, without
He was rather courteous than open, as Frenchmen know how to be courteous,
“Ah, dear boy, how can you talk of joy when you lie feverish at night,
driver, with three horses, they are just putting in fresh horses.... A
main part of the goods ordered would be packed and sent off, as on the
women in such cases. I am always on the side of the men.”
and that he would be driven at once to the town, and there shut up in a
“Then followed the document, the prisoner’s letter written two days before
nobleman) why not be friendly and courteous with them? I won’t argue, I’ll
disinterestedness. Observe that. Those are the most fatal people! Who the
out, he he he! And who has provided it all? The Russian peasant, the
the higher conscience—the secret is so important that I can’t settle it
though trying to conceal it from every one, he moved right up and crossed
his mind was preoccupied with his face and his height. On the contrary,
approaching, yet it was difficult to imagine that it would come so
“Speak!” cried Ivan, “I want above everything to know what you thought
lofty heart capable of such suffering; of thinking and seeking higher
money on such an orgy that the new major was obliged to reprimand me.
a farthing.”
“But, gentlemen of the jury, why do I tell you all this, all these
“Fear nothing and never be afraid; and don’t fret. If only your penitence
relationship, though you really are a relation in spite of your shuffling.
“And for the last time there is not.”
deceived his master, whom he loved as his benefactor. Persons severely
hastens joyfully to meet him and she won’t take a knife with her. She
be roused. He waked up for five minutes, sent his blessing to the
“you may not believe me, but as God is holy, and as Christ is God, I swear
passed into a smile that became more and more ironical.
them, but it happened, it happened. But I always liked side‐paths, little
crime. Look, it is written on some sort of bill!” she cried breathlessly.
end, however, the institution of elders has been retained and is becoming
For the last fortnight Ilusha had not left his little bed under the ikons
“What next! Come answer, answer, I insist: what was it ... what could I
a joke! Here’s mamma, very _à propos_, perhaps. Mamma, how slow you always
contrary, he was angry and proudly scornful of the charges against him; he
gun in his hands: ‘Look out, you rogue, you soup‐maker. If you miss her
It has cost me many bitter tears. You used to set my wife, the crazy one,
‘How did he seem then?’ he asked me. He must have been in a state of
first and foremost, of course, and so they should,” said Alyosha, still
she had not intentionally slandered him when she cried that Mitya despised
near the fence, was sleeping soundly in her bed and might well have slept
picturesque, if there had been a prosaic flat bank in its place, most
back to reason. But I swear, by God, Alyosha, I never insulted the poor
always talking about? He talks and talks and I can make nothing of it. I
he should guard that sum of money as the apple of his eye, why he
with wild eyes.
money! I won’t press the point that Smerdyakov could hardly have reckoned
truth in the last letter he left behind, knowing that the innocent
Russia. There were stories, too, about our prosecutor and about the
were not so well satisfied, though even they were pleased with his
Moscow. It came to pass that, settling permanently in Paris he, too,
they teased him all the more. The worst of it was he was horribly dressed
expressed it. Profound dejection clung about his soul like a heavy mist. A
for it was always kindly and not spiteful laughter. These conversations
off without quarreling. And I never gave them away. I never bragged of one
“In my pocket? Yes, in my pocket. All right.... But, I say, that’s all
invite me to be my natural self. Don’t risk it.... I will not go so far as
the career of an archimandrite in the immediate future and don’t become a
Smerdyakov’s, was “no better than dish‐water,” and the fowl was so dried
“What if it is so! At last you have guessed it. It’s perfectly true, it’s
Snegiryov.] Those who heard the prisoner began to think at last that he
all sorts of things, that every one is laughing at me, the whole world,
“Why? It’s absurd to ask. Because I had condemned myself to die at five
“Every day, every day!” said the captain quickly, seeming cheered at the
He held it up and showed it to all in the room. “From where I stood I saw
how it shall be!”
to pay back? That’s just it. I shan’t shoot myself. I haven’t the strength
for a long while forbidden to do so, above all by his wife.
Chapter VIII. The Scandalous Scene
“Your nerves are out of order,” observed the gentleman, with a carelessly
The body of Father Zossima was prepared for burial according to the
ask you, do you think me like Dmitri capable of shedding Æsop’s blood,
Distributed Proofreading Team at . (This
he is doing in the intoxication of cruelty, thrashes it mercilessly over
no matter; if not he, then another in his place will understand and
Ivan lost consciousness completely at last. He still went on talking,
I fancy that in telling you about my inner conflict I have laid it on
other. Hush, Rakitin, it’s not for you to judge me, I am not speaking to
“captain’s” excited face, or the foolish conviction of the “rake and
impressively:
do without him. They get on so well together!”
That was a fortnight before this Sunday. That was why Alyosha had not been
had time to thank him when in comes Pyotr Ilyitch, and Rakitin suddenly
“Terrible are your words, most holy and blessed Father,” the monk shook
last ‘I am yours,’ and to fly with her far from their fatal surroundings.
fatigued. Several more witnesses were still to be heard, who probably had
lost for ever?”
that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for
up the embers of Thy fire. Knowest Thou that? Yes, maybe Thou knowest it,’
effect of the closing scene of the criminal’s acquittal. That he would be
they understand clearly enough with their “noble hearts” the shameful
the catastrophe. Then why not imagine that old Fyodor Pavlovitch, locked
And so, covered with his brothers’ kisses, Richard is dragged on to the
“Ivan, Ivan! Water, quickly! It’s like her, exactly as she used to be
“He is no great talker, but so much the better. There’s no need for the
Gentle Father Iosif, the librarian, a great favorite of the dead man’s,
He had spent those two days literally rushing in all directions,
feeling and sympathy with Mitya, of whom Alyosha, as Ivan knew, was very
expect an impossible restraint from a young mind. ‘Drive nature out of the
company with a Jew. Though Fyodor Pavlovitch was a drunkard and a vicious
it.
altogether. But he was thinking at that moment of one thing only—where was
Katerina Ivanovna’s. He was ten minutes telling his story. He can’t be
house is hateful to you? To whom is he to go if he find you not together,
means of regaining his honor, that that means was here, here on his
laughing, “the old man was ninety, and he might well be crazy over his set
fascinating!’
together, mixed into a paste with water and rubbed through a tammy
felt suddenly dejected, or, as he said, “bored.” He was intensely
Oh! in his rapture he was weeping even over those stars, which were
clothes.”
in our power, and you can see for yourself how we are conducting the case.
tell her to take them. And you, Alyosha, be sure to tell Mitya that I did
now he needed money more than ever. Karamazov would die, Karamazov would
with me and on me all the insults which she has been continually receiving
men, though I’ve long ceased perhaps to have faith in them, yet from old
three to arrive. It is of that brother Alexey I find it most difficult to
facts about him, without which I could not begin my story.
be pleased to have some hot coffee.”
thief, because he brought back fourteen hundred roubles. Then another time
immediately by Nikolay Parfenovitch.
there is something else, gentlemen of the jury, something that cries out
“That’s true,” assented Pan Vrublevsky.
Man his loathsomeness displays.”
she’ll come. And if she does go to the old man, can I marry her after
“You cast out the evil spirit, but perhaps you are serving him yourself,”
scrupulously. Sofya Ivanovna was the daughter of an obscure deacon, and
“There! you say that,” the old man observed suddenly, as though it had
alarm, came suddenly into her face.
jumping from the top of a house. “Call Dmitri; I will fetch him—and let
the authorities took no notice of it, because my antagonist was a near
never happened, recall everything, forget nothing, add something of her
irresistible impulse he held out both hands to Katya. Seeing it, she flew
account of the agonies of jealousy he endured on Grushenka’s account.
myself.... And how, and since when, I began to think about you like that,
this moment! What’s more, perhaps, that one memory may keep him from great
death for the faith. When the Church, regarding him as a saint, was
was the first time he had seen so much money in the hands of one man. The
are not a fool, you are far cleverer than I thought....”
ago. If you can waste another ten minutes on me, I’ll tell it to you.”
to twenty‐five thousand roubles as soon as she received it, so that those
caught his breath. He could not bear it for a minute, he put the pistol‐
his practice of silence he scarcely spoke a word to any one. What made him
early to decide now, for we must wait for the verdict. As soon as the
carry off the three thousand that lay under the master’s mattress in the
When Fetyukovitch had to cross‐examine him, he scarcely tried to refute
none of them gave them anything, except young Kalganov, who took a ten‐
stood on each side of the bed, so that he could get a full view of Ilusha.
Smerdyakov pronounced firmly.
“But I appeal to you again and again from the depths of my soul; did this
had led. Besides the long fleshy bags under his little, always insolent,
conceited coxcomb, but he has no particular learning ... nor education
The old man persisted. He had reached that state of drunkenness when the
“What a saint he was! I will remember him, mother, and your grief in my
crying and calling for her, went into the garden in silence. There he
them to take out of the box the presents for the girls, the sweets, the
“Here, dear young lady, I’ll take your hand and kiss it as you did mine.
occasionally, even the wicked can.
floated through Alyosha’s head as it lay on the pillow, “yes, if
likely. If only I could see him, if I could meet him again, I’d pay him
refused more vodka, smashed up his own crockery and furniture and tore his
and say good‐by to him, he would not have believed perhaps even in death,
justice of the peace, and one other. The prosecutor, of course, entered
magazine as a reviewer, that I shall write for the next ten years, and in
and ignorance?” And I wondered at the time that such simple and self‐
and summer alike, the dishes were carried in across the courtyard. The
captain again?” Pyotr Ilyitch asked him reproachfully. “Whom have you been
Book IV. Lacerations
“My brothers are destroying themselves,” he went on, “my father, too. And
cruel insult to him and stood up for him. And so in the first place, we
both there.”
Ivan all day. He was as much worried about Ivan as about Mitya, and more
began calling Fyodor Pavlovitch. But peeping in at the window, she saw a
It’s enough for me that you are somewhere here, and I shan’t lose my
suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on his
“I don’t agree,” said Alyosha, with a faint smile.
point to the little bag, in the darkness, too. We shall rejoice at the new
went to Madame Hohlakov’s. Alas! he had built his hopes on her. He had
seemed grumbling. Rakitin did not like meeting Alyosha, especially of
If necessary, tell them I’ll never abandon them.... Now leave me, leave
what you don’t agree to we’ll alter as you like. But now I’ll ask you one
The little pig says—umph! umph! umph!
have a drop of brandy? Take some cold coffee and I’ll pour a quarter of a
with both sides and hoodwinking the fools. According to your brother’s
reviling Thee, “Come down from the cross and we will believe that Thou art
Each blade towards the light
between them! They will be convinced, too, that they can never be free,
or torment a man, or any kind of creature, for every creature is created
of logic, and it’s only then one will understand the meaning of it. I have
Dostoyevsky
comfort the heart.... Without them, sorrow would be too heavy for men to
yet it was she who had betrayed him. “Perhaps because she feels how she’s
heard she was here. I didn’t, of course, expect him to come often, knowing
Poles stated, that he had been excited at the time, and might indeed have
with him, of such gravity that he dare not defer it for a moment, and
“Of course.”
wasn’t it?”
“No doubt. But there’s no proving it, though you can be convinced of it.”
Her lodge consisted of three rooms furnished with mahogany furniture in
said he’d find the dog and here he’s found him.”
before with Andrey’s three horses, two carts stood in readiness. Mavriky
“Nothing special, except one little remark,” Ivan replied at once.
seduced by sweetmeats, ladies brought them to him in their pockets, he
forties and fifties, a freethinker and atheist, he may have been led on by
in that way would have been almost impossible, for only after I have faced
The body of Father Zossima was prepared for burial according to the
such vehemence! Then, instead of laughing, your friend flew into a rage.
Though Mitya spoke sullenly, it was evident that he was trying more than
“Yes; make him a bed on the sofa,” answered Grushenka.
sight, a young girl of about twenty, but hunchback and crippled “with
his claims to the wood‐cutting and fishery rights at once. He was the more
surprised him greatly. He spoke as they left the cell together.
timidly. It was impossible to tell from her face that she was agitated;
perhaps caught some sound, and, glancing to the left he saw his master’s
Kolya had a great inclination to say something even warmer and more
“Oh, my goodness! What has meanness to do with it? If she were listening
perhaps already knew everything, positively everything. And yet, in spite
“But do you know, Karamazov, you must admit that you are a little ashamed
off his socks. He felt unbearably awkward. All were clothed, while he was
“That’s how they ride in. They get on each other’s shoulders in the
“So he will perish an innocent victim!” exclaimed Kolya; “though he is
away.’ So he thought it all out beforehand how he would kill him,”
he muttered to himself, “and you,” he added, addressing his visitor, “I
you know, Ilusha, he is just married, got a dowry of a thousand roubles,
sort of defiance, and her eyes flashed. “He had been twice to see
“What lady is that, the fat one, with the lorgnette, sitting at the end?”
can be fired with real gunpowder.”
from what I am,” he added, suddenly gloomy and dejected. “You have to deal
generosity and sacrifice for her father, and I—a bug! And, scoundrel as I
“Well, if I must—” muttered Mitya, and sitting down on the bed, he took
Siberia for playing with false cards, d’you know that, for it’s just the
“We made it up. We had a row—and made it up. In a place I know of. We
Friends and teachers, I have heard more than once, and of late one may
finished at the gymnasium and entered the university. As Yefim Petrovitch
excitement. She had a presentiment of the reason why Alyosha had come to
“He had, besides, a strong presentiment that something terrible would be
voice, “that I was coming to my native place with the angel of my heart,
Alyosha remained for some time irresolute after hearing the command his
the elder and every one else, Alyosha succeeded, however, in supporting
up alone in impatient and hysterical expectation of the object of his
that pocket. I’ve been regretting that joke all night. Give me back the
Miüsov would come from curiosity, perhaps of the coarsest kind, while his
Alyosha had been struck by Katerina Ivanovna’s beauty when, three weeks
men’s hearts on other grounds much more natural. And as for rights—who has
prosecutor, and learned that he had told Grushenka so several times.
“From Katya, from that young lady? No, you didn’t steal it. Give it her
prosecutor, and the investigating lawyer.
hour after her arrival. Suddenly she chanced to look at him intently: he
and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with any one for two
Grushenka, confused and suddenly blushing. “Stay, Alyosha, hush! Since
“Don’t cry, mother,” he would answer, “life is paradise, and we are all in
market‐place, it was a long way round. Though our town is small, it is
seemed as though God had in this case let the minority get the upper hand
that’s it, isn’t it? And therefore I tell you that I accept God simply.
so much. To Father Païssy’s sorrowful question, “Are you too with those of
sobbing and screaming. She was carried out. At that moment Grushenka, with
“What terrible tragedies real life contrives for people,” said Mitya, in
you. You told me yourself you could sham a fit. What did you say that
in the drawing‐room directly he went in, he shouted to him, waving his
his son’s relations with a woman of loose behavior and intrigues with the
His voice broke. They were all three silent, still embracing. Nina was
tease me with trifles, but only ask me about facts and what matters, and I
and how to knock) the door must be opened at once. She must not be a
Marfa Ignatyevna was by no means foolish; she was probably, indeed,
Character set encoding: UTF‐8
calling, and so on. Mitya answered sharply, and his voice was so
intently, however.
“Infinitely? But I don’t need so much. I only need that fatal three
me how you did it. Tell me all about it.”
exclamations were heard from the gallery, where the ladies were sitting.
criminal actively. She does not excommunicate him but simply persists in
Alyosha.
approaching, yet it was difficult to imagine that it would come so
“I’m in an awful position, Ivan Fyodorovitch. I don’t know how to help
distance, came the seats for the public. But in front of the balustrade a
to find it, where his master kept it. And the covering of the money—the
the notes were in the envelope—they had been put in and sealed up in his
rose. At such moments Kolya would either stare out of the window scowling,
frighten them, but the fact was that he really had lost consciousness, as
am more unworthy than all.’ With tears of penitence and poignant, tender
Kolya, standing still and scanning him.
the district than Katerina Ivanovna. They had already seen “the woman who
“You are quite right, it irritates my nerves instead of soothing them.
It is an article written in answer to a book by an ecclesiastical
“I tell you you are silly, Alyosha. You know nothing about it, with all
amazement, that she proposed to bring a child into the world before
carrying off his confusion with a swagger. “That will come in very handy;
to say, you can see for yourselves how truthful I am, so you’ll believe
It was only later that we learned that Ivan had come partly at the request
the time of the duel it was easier for me, for I had made a beginning
the fiercest opponents of the institution of elders added in a malicious
Pyotr Alexandrovitch. You are the principal person left now—for ten
Chapter II. At His Father’s
asked them all to sit down. The blood rushed to Alyosha’s cheeks. He was
very learned and professional language.) “All his actions are in
afterwards have to repeat his evidence on oath, how every witness was
and of listening to such avowals. I remember hearing them say to her, “We
‘Will you preach this in your reviews?’ I asked him. ‘Oh, well, if I did
his shot at the distance of twelve paces could my words have any
“I’ve been coveting this thing for a long while; it’s for you, old man,
strong decoction, had drunk what was left of the mixture while his wife
may be a two‐edged weapon and it may lead some not to humility and
attention, loving the words himself, only stopping from time to time to
And so it was resolved to go in the evening, half a mile from the station,
the same day, from your own confession—”
way. I fascinated poor Dmitri Fyodorovitch that day simply for fun.”
captain, as a military man, undertook to load it, putting in a minute
dropping into her chair, hiding her face in her hands, began convulsively
night spent in the stifling hut, and so on, he came to his return to the
with her children begging alms. Porfiry hastened to reply that he had
fence of a neighbor’s kitchen‐garden, on the other the strong high fence,
won’t enlarge upon that now, as I shall have much to tell later of Fyodor
She waved her hand with a look of repulsion.
“Don’t mention it; it doesn’t matter. Keep it up as long as you like....”
to think, and wondered greatly at this afterwards, especially as he
him any one would have perceived that Alyosha was one of those youths,
Going in to Lise, he found her half reclining in the invalid‐chair, in
perhaps, she was unable to keep her mind fixed on any one subject at that
“You don’t believe? What is the matter?” said Lise quietly and gently. But
a two‐sided nature, fluctuating between two extremes, that even when moved
shameless hussy. You mustn’t go to her, you mustn’t!”
just as he is; you love him for insulting you. If he reformed, you’d give
“I swear that all I told you is the truth,” cried Alyosha.
Chapter VI. The First Interview With Smerdyakov
screamed out, ‘I hate Ivan Fyodorovitch. I insist on your never letting
in a supplicating voice.
tragic? And if only one such stood at the head of the whole army ‘filled
angels, but together, especially in schools, they are often merciless.
made by a good tailor though, and of a fashion at least three years old,
a word to you about the chief thing. Yes, the trial is to‐morrow; but it
either, but will only venture to observe that if a lofty and high‐
“I know you!” he cried angrily, “I know you!”
though it’s forty years ago, I recall it now with shame and pain. I went
one before you.”
time honorable, proud and generous, capable of self‐sacrifice, if
must frankly own that it would be very difficult for me to give a clear
money on such an orgy that the new major was obliged to reprimand me.
The little duck says—quack, quack, quack,
honor and duty and something higher—I don’t know what—but higher perhaps
_compote_ haunted me. In the morning I wrote a letter to a certain person,
Moor, so to speak, while this son who has just come in, Dmitri, against
Dmitri. “I wasn’t interested in the subject,” he added. Threats to murder
“I cannot answer for all my acquaintances.... I am a young man ... and who
young lady, a word like that.”
and all creatures, every leaf is striving to the Word, singing glory to
made for happiness, and any one who is completely happy has a right to say
taking out the notes. ‘What’s the use of the envelope?’ he may have asked
a ringing, happy voice, and bending down he seized the dog and lifted him
she was now at that stage of unbearable suffering when even the proudest
impressively, with a peculiarly majestic air. “Some years ago, soon after
in. He walked in, somewhat irritated.
in a literal sense. When he was given pocket‐money, which he never asked
darling, it’s time you were going,” he said, with a sudden haste. “There’s
“Where can we get it from? I say, I have two thousand. Ivan will give you
with a stern and gloomy face, that looked almost composed and sat down
whisper, clenching his teeth. “If I forget thee, Jerusalem, may my
very fond of emptying the pockets of a drunken guest, and remembering that
Remembering that now, he smiled quietly and malignantly, hesitating for a
as the smallest boy in the school, and not so much for the sake of
and apparently so cautious, should suddenly visit such an infamous house
“My dear fellow,” observed the visitor sententiously, “it’s better to get
“You spoke to Mr. Perhotin, I believe, of having received three thousand
They threw open the doors, opened a window and the chimney. Mitya brought
of Russia, was this time finally ruined. Fetyukovitch was satisfied: it
is grown up), and let us all be as modest, as clever and sweet as
lie!” he cried desperately.
note, an ecclesiastic. First, that ‘no social organization can or ought to
daughters was married to a petty official, and in one of the rooms of the
yours. What does money matter? We shall waste it anyway.... Folks like us
“I got it for you, for you! I’ve been keeping it for you a long time,” he
three thousand roubles to‐day. I’ve never given him money, never:
in surprise, “that is, that up to the last hour you were still
fallen greatly under the influence of his protégée, whom he had at first
I swear to you by all that’s holy, if it had not been his father, but an
found him.... You see, old man, he couldn’t have swallowed what you gave
told already; but I want to tell an angel on earth. You are an angel on
Father Païssy remembered Alyosha and that he had not seen him for some
man, I believe, of three and twenty, who repented and was converted to the
no echo, from it. To a new life, new places and no looking back!” But
“To whom, to whom?” cried Lise. “Mamma, you really want to be the death of
this moment was to solve a doubt, a harassing enigma which had for some
such a laugh, or perhaps he was crying—yes, I am sure he was crying, he
man’s alive? Oh, then the shame of the other disgrace I would wipe away. I
idea of his property. Fyodor Pavlovitch was very well satisfied with this,
candle. It was only a note, a few lines. She read it in one instant.
The President again and again warned Mitya impressively and very sternly
presence—and had he taken the envelope with him, no one would ever have
“What, do you suppose I’d shoot myself because I can’t get three thousand
episode occurred. The President, turning to the prisoner, asked him
them, he first took out his handkerchief, and as it turned out to be very
understood his action. For they knew he always did this wherever he went,
subject, though he would have done well to put into words his doubt
has no eye for business, he is a perfect child, a crow could deceive him.
bundle of hundred‐rouble notes in his hand, about two or three thousand
“Well, why are you blushing?”
case, but I can’t undertake to judge about it, because if Ivan and Katya
“He hears the bell, but where it is he cannot tell. Good‐by, we shall meet
day begin life in sober earnest, we must look at ourselves as a society;
know Katerina Ivanovna is here now?”
gradually impoverished on the abolition of serfdom, he had sunk into the
a welcome guest in local society. He never concealed his opinions, quite
“You see what silly tricks nature plays one. I am here in secret, and on
“I don’t want him, I don’t want him!” cried Ilusha, with a mournful break
servants’ quarters or in the kitchen on the ground‐floor. His passion
He must turn and cling for ever
have renounced your faith all the same in your own heart, and you say
“And to part from them, to leave them for ever? It’s for ever, you know,
“What’s the matter? I was joking,” cried Mitya. “Damn it all! They are all
than with Alyosha. It is true, he scarcely spoke to her at all, but as
ill‐treating you?”
perhaps he may, recalling his childhood, have driven away the loathsome
arms sobbing. Next day Kolya woke up as “unfeeling” as before, but he had
“You can go. There’s nothing for you to do here to‐day,” he snapped
it. Why, why does the prosecutor refuse to believe the evidence of Alexey
but at once leapt up and began ferociously returning their fire. Both
“I say! You are going it! Why, it’s a regular mutiny, with barricades!
him in such a guise and position; it made him shed tears.
new filenames and etext numbers.
was contorted and somber. He went away.
thinking ‘how any one like that must despise a nasty thing like me.’ I
to time, of course, not all the while. It’s impossible, I think, for the
She said she was the widow of a non‐commissioned officer, and lived close
Katerina Ivanovna’s character, that moment will last all her life. What
disdainful composure.
overtaken the poor girl, betrothed to a man who had been arrested for a
trying to assert himself. Or, better still, like a man who wants
that I should find here a talented opponent whose psychological insight
the usual time, at last he whistled to him. The dog jumped up and began
took it into his head to be jealous of Kuzma last week.”
Kolya warmly.
Chapter I. In The Servants’ Quarters
shop. There’s no time to lose. Last time I drove with Timofey, but Timofey
Sunday markets were naïvely called “fairs” in the town, and there were
them up to the brim._
“Oh, do leave off playing the fool! Some idiot comes in, and you put us to
she ran in to him, that he had perhaps been utterly mistaken. This time
white again.
thrilling with emotion. And his heart glowed, and he struggled forward
here in the hut. I’m Lieutenant Dmitri Karamazov, the son of the old
interesting in its own way, of course, as a variety. The worst of it is
was _he_ who had told the prisoner of the envelope of notes and of the
“No, it’s not funny; you are wrong there. There’s nothing funny in nature,
“On the double!” shouted Mitya furiously.
“It’s going into my brain, so it’s interesting to look and see what it’s
what they like! Besides, it’ll all come to nothing. They’re a set of
a third woman, who had hitherto been silent, listening gravely. “Alexey
the market women with a silly stare.
handkerchief; the handkerchief itself, stiff with blood and by now quite
considerably swollen, and on the left side of his forehead there was a
the room they both addressed their answers to Mihail Makarovitch, who was
“I wonder at you. But I’ll make it clearer. Perhaps it really is
on Ilusha’s soul. No, it’s not for us to claim the privileges of noblemen.
passion for Mitya, in spite of his crime. Her pride and “aristocratic
“ ‘This is the significance of the first question in the wilderness, and
know where to seat them, for every ticket had long since been eagerly
of all her doings.
began to fuss about. He would have kissed him, but Ivan made haste to hold
circumstance, so baffling for the prosecution, that only eight hundred
begging for his father, appealing to every one to defend him, while every
receive his discharge. Ten days after his funeral, Katerina Ivanovna, with
“Let’s play faro again, as we did just now,” Maximov tittered suddenly.
be handed down to remote times and the utmost ends of the earth, and Thou
“Can you really not have known till now?” Smerdyakov asked once more.
after, releasing her finger, she walked softly, slowly to her chair, sat
“Till to‐morrow,” cried Ivan, and moved to go out.
“There is more evidence I must give at once ... at once! Here is a
reason, simply at my word, it shows that you must have expected something
Pavlovitch, with his son Ivan. Dmitri was late, though he had been
Ilyitch, though still unwilling to believe in it, threatened to tell some
Miüsov severely. “That personage has granted us an audience, so to speak,
before yesterday and told me that he was on the eve of brain fever—and all
her aunts, I and all of us, Lise, even—have been hoping and praying for
Troo‐roo‐roo‐roo‐roo, she’ll say!
boys, seeing I’d given him up, set on him and taunted him, shouting, ‘Wisp
But of this later. His mother still fretted and trembled, but the more
scarcely any one else beside Alyosha, who did not come every day and never
“And why were you so surly with Alyosha just now? He is a dear; I’ve
And through our land went wandering.
He stood before the holy image, and began to say grace, aloud. All bent
for me, I feel the hand of God upon me! The end has come to an erring man!
standing near Madame Hohlakov the previous day and had asked Father
... in case it’s needed....”
after we are thirty, indeed, there may be nothing else to stand on.... But
Alyosha bent a long wondering look upon her and a light seemed to dawn in
staircase and listened to Fyodor Pavlovitch stirring down below, had
younger than I am, yet he is half a head taller. But I have a clever face.
At that moment another unexpected scene followed. Though Grushenka had
the mind of a statesman, he talks so charmingly, and I shall certainly,
crimson. She was evidently ashamed of something, and, as people always do
see, let her wait. Gentlemen,” he said, turning to the two lawyers, “now
That’s just what you’re doing now. It’s just like that!”
wasn’t it?”
us.”
like women and children, but they will be just as ready at a sign from us
of it, though he was indignant at the too impatient expectation around
boiling. It’s capital coffee: Smerdyakov’s making. My Smerdyakov’s an
follow Thee freely, enticed and taken captive by Thee. In place of the
eyes cunningly.
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re‐use it under the terms of
simply stolen from me. Yes, gentlemen, I looked upon it as mine, as my own
called upon to render assistance and appeal to some one for help in the
Lord, in this judgment.’ Well, my poem would have been of that kind if it
seduction of some respectable girl; we know all about that, Dmitri
the good‐humored stage, and was far from being completely drunk.
was _he_ who had told the prisoner of the envelope of notes and of the
That unhappy man, that hero of honor and principle—not he, not Dmitri
interesting man in his house. This individual was not precisely a
of formal.... And yet you are not a bit formal really. Go to the door,
time, while their elder brother Dmitri was twenty‐seven. First of all, I
Father Zossima, lifting his eyes, looked at him, and said with a smile:
walls, but will live like a monk in the world. You will have many enemies,
tortured by your questions, but an honorable man, the honorable impulses
Troy, cried suddenly and unexpectedly, and he blushed up to his ears like
that’s due to men’s bad qualities or whether it’s inherent in their
tell her to take them. And you, Alyosha, be sure to tell Mitya that I did
Here, we must note, by the way, one certain fact: he was firmly persuaded
shut the whole time you were in the garden. I will not conceal from you
“Well,” and Ivan got up to cut short the conversation, struck by
prosecutor, smiling.
prophesied it!’ though it’s a poor sort of prophecy, flopping like that.
could have been capable that very day of setting apart half that sum, that
contempt for me for being in such a hurry to show off, and for a moment I
and over again. ‘However weak you are, you must pull, if you die for it.’
He would be a thief, I fear,
shabby and ragged leather. Under her head she had two white down pillows
have to you, and told him about the hymn, too. He told me he’d arrange it;
it could always be cured by suitable severity; various anecdotes were told
give it to him and bring an answer back, too. If you were forty, you would
For a long while I could not believe him, and I did not believe him at
“It’s not in my hands now,” said the doctor impatiently, “but h’m!...” he
and curse Thy name.” And God gave up the just man He loved so, to the
images that had been haunting it. Oh, how he longed to look upon her, if
And yet it is a question of life and death.
made him repeat things, and seemed pleased.
concealing this new rival and deceiving him, because he was anything but a
been applauded before! He had been all his life unable to get a hearing,
Chapter III. The Confession Of A Passionate Heart—In Verse
and the boys have been hunting all over the town for it. Would you believe
declaration he read aloud to the whole assembly. It contained a full
impressionable. He would put his whole soul into some case and work at it
another time!” Mavriky Mavrikyevitch snapped out savagely, as though glad
“God, can that too be false?” I thought as I wept. “In truth, perhaps, I
Poles stated, that he had been excited at the time, and might indeed have
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
I might as well be in my grave at once. And a more serious matter still,
a fortnight after his first visit to him, he began to be haunted by the
I love? I love one man here. Who is that man? That’s what you must tell
marvelous mingling of good and evil, he is a lover of culture and
unless you like to send me your young lady secretly. I’ve just had money
time.” “He thinks of me as a puppy,” thought Mitya, gnashing his teeth.
sententiously.
while. You can wrap yourself in a quilt from the bed, and I ... I’ll see
She was getting up from her place, but suddenly uttered a loud scream and
Sometimes she would stop one of the richest ladies in the town and give it
especially sometimes, and how glad I am again of everything! Dear Alexey
Of course, I don’t deny that there is sin in the peasants too. And the
it would not be difficult for a man accustomed to them—I should have a
He could not speak, he gasped for breath, he pressed my hand warmly,
pride. And he doesn’t love you.
go on.”
her, and Katya is mixed up in it, she thinks. No, my good Grushenka,
“You see, gentlemen, joking apart”—Mitya lifted his eyes and looked firmly
look at Grushenka, and relapsing into dignified silence he sucked his pipe