Loading chat...
Grigory, the gloomy, stupid, obstinate, argumentative servant, who had
beside which the present case grows pale, and seems almost commonplace.
unattainable. Yet why did he not shoot himself then, why did he relinquish
that we shall all rise again from the dead and shall live and see each
a pack and you hid it. You played with marked cards! I could send you to
he had thought over in the cart where he could get a loan. He had a brace
“What a pity I did not tell her! She will be dreadfully anxious.... But
of course, there could be nothing particularly new in her evidence. She
emphatically.
perfectly. The same thing happened, though, when he spoke German, and at
for life, and I go on living in spite of logic. Though I may not believe
suppose he would give up that creature? And they won’t let her go to him,
perhaps set off ... to the gold‐mines.... I’ll come and see you again
everything about the signals invented by Fyodor Pavlovitch for Smerdyakov.
my secret heart I believe that we may pray even for them. Love can never
Then Grushenka suddenly felt sorry for them, and at dusk she went round
being intensely excited.
by exposure. She was kneeling and gazing with a fixed stare at the elder;
acted, wasn’t it by her own and Fyodor Pavlovitch’s? ‘And what’s more,’
troubled to contradict a set of tradespeople. In those days he was proud,
hands, Dmitri Fyodorovitch?’ and he answered that that was human blood,
their own eager rhetoric. At this moment in his speech he went off into a
you’ll be coming to me to borrow ten roubles again. Why do you keep
me. I ask you and you don’t answer.”
once. And it was all because Rakitin had not reckoned on the lawyer having
extremes, gentlemen of the jury, remember that Karamazov can contemplate
anyway; have some shame. Here I’ve torn my heart asunder before you, and
informally sanctioned by the doctor and overseer, and even by the police
teeth, and he carried out his intention.
“Why, you said just now ... you said ... you said it was as good as in my
dream, but a living reality.”
so, gentlemen of the jury, nothing can be more probable than that
But the bell rang, all rushed to their places. Fetyukovitch mounted the
has come back, he sends for her and she forgives him everything, and
he added, “I venture to beg you most earnestly to lay aside your
“And naught but the whispering silence,” the line for some reason rose to
shadow of nobility’ by deceiving oneself. Have you seen Dmitri to‐day?”
whom we have spoken already, the cousin of Fyodor Pavlovitch’s first wife,
pass and not have cried out at the moment. He let go of the bell and
to Alyosha.
and light to Thy people!
of frost, the tongue instantly freezes to it and the dupe tears the skin
whole career of that practical and precise young man. His story is
1.F.5.
son over his mother’s property, which was by right his.”
inconceivable together, for never, never will they be able to share
overhead in the cupola, mingled in rising waves with the sunlight that
he would fall ill, would catch cold, do something naughty, climb on a
‘It’s because I killed Zhutchka, father, that I am ill now. God is
an inexperienced thief like Karamazov would have left the envelope on the
wouldn’t believe, Alexey, how I want to live now, what a thirst for
shall be a prisoner, but now, for the last time, as a free man, Dmitri
strive with Thee and overcome Thee, and all will follow him, crying, “Who
your brother I still feel strong—for I know—you two will never desert me.”
overcome with astonishment. He looked at Smerdyakov again with alarm.
“At once, if she will. And if she won’t, I shall stay all the same. I’ll
him in anger, burning with resentment, as soon as he looked on his hated
stupid of me to speak of it—”
drunken tears and blows on the table. The letter was written on a dirty
“He is up, taking his coffee,” Marfa answered somewhat dryly.
“The question now is, my young thinker reflected, is it possible that such
spite of all his vices, he was a very simple‐hearted man. It was an
father might be contemplating some piece of buffoonery. Though he said
only Karamazovs!’ That was cleverly said!”
foolishness. I liked you so much then, and was open‐hearted with you.”
sieve—that’s how it’s done.”
... It’s the marriage, the wedding ... yes, of course. Here are the
fear—oh, not simply from fear of your punishment! The disgrace of it! And
“Now, let’s go.”
fortnight, the baby died of thrush, he himself laid the child in its
of my knowing. He can tell God everything without shame. Why is it he
recalled that day, that the scandal could have reached such proportions.
Next came the account of Mitya’s sudden determination to “step aside” and
“Don’t be uneasy, nothing will happen this time. Hallo, Natasha!” he
course, be foreseen, but every epileptic can feel beforehand that he is
same, and shot myself at five o’clock, and you wouldn’t have been in time
fatal coincidence, for they both lost their hearts to her simultaneously,
life and gave it a definite aim.
his son’s relations with a woman of loose behavior and intrigues with the
such a counterfeit? Could he, had he been plotting the murder, have
not have come in anywhere nor have run out anywhere.
Smerdyakov, as before, watched him curiously, with no sign of fear. He
handkerchief with which he had provided himself for his visit to Madame
“I should like you to have a dark blue velvet coat, a white piqué
nasty thing I’ve done, another disgrace, even if that would save me from
they talk of ‘middle‐aged charms’ as though that were my motive! He writes
that’s told is foolishness. He never thrashed any one,” answered the monk.
bring us the bottle Mitya left! Look sharp! Though I am so stingy, I’ll
“Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg”
recovered, not completely perhaps, but still regaining consciousness, as
The last words she uttered in tears. Tears gushed from her eyes.
brother, Alexey Fyodorovitch. No, sir, I won’t thrash my boy for your
description of her former relations with Mitya?—that was the question. No,
you must come back, you must. Do you hear?”
crowd of monks, together with many people from the town. They did not,
understand that, of course.”
friend, to his brother Dmitri, that he loved him and expected him to keep
in her sing‐song voice, still with the same charming smile of delight.
tempt him to commit the murder, and when he had murdered him and had gone
“Some strangers. One is an official gentleman, a Pole, to judge from his
“What trick?”
felt suddenly convinced that she would not refuse to lend it to him. It
“Yes. It’s a dead secret. Even Ivan doesn’t know about the money, or
kindest and wisest of men, oh, Lord, what a good man I should have been
be truthful and sincere to the end. Let us all be sincere!”
The sale of his watch for six roubles to obtain money for the journey was
for the child, calling him Smerdyakov, after his mother’s nickname.
know nothing about timber, but you’ve got an eye. All that is wanted is to
last six months she had not heard a word from him. Had it not been for her
you? Are you laughing at me?”
couldn’t help coming, after all that has passed with Katerina Ivanovna;
myself to remarking that this was his attitude at the moment. All this may
went away. Many things seemed to him puzzling and suspicious. But when he
Book II. An Unfortunate Gathering
own will, but obeying some irresistible command. “You have accused
ashamed of it. The fourth, Father Anfim, was a very old and humble little
“I was afraid you’d go away to Moscow; Tchermashnya is nearer, anyway.”
“What is happening? What’s this?” voices were heard in the group of monks.
I’m coming with you,” he heard close beside him Grushenka’s tender voice,
seize me. And they are just coming, just seizing me. But I suddenly cross
“A soldier has to know how to sew. No knowledge was needed to do that.”
appears ... it doesn’t appear at once, but an instant, a second, passes
is so tender ... tenderer than in men, much tenderer!” Kolya cried
protect and look after “the kids,” that is, the son and daughter of the
“What do you mean? Either they thrashed you or they didn’t.”
“And I’ll bring you as much powder as you like, Ilusha. We make the powder
must, I concluded, have been laughing at me all the time. Later on, of
it, his evidence as to returning the money to Mitya was naturally regarded
own and his wife’s clothes, and finally broke his windows, all for the
“Good Lord!” I thought to myself, “he is thinking of other people’s
though he were about to dart at his listeners, bending his long spine in
so humane, and would show what a blessing reformed law courts are. I knew
motionless in the next room. Marfa Ignatyevna did not stir. “The stuff’s
of that three thousand ... so the bundle of notes for three thousand that
awhile.’ Those were his words about you. He remembered you lovingly, with
him.”
all the time.
infuriate me. He kept taunting me with believing in him, and that was how
hearsay and believed to be a pernicious innovation. Before he had been
Yes, that astounding piece of evidence has been brought forward twice to‐
“I’ve heard about it,” said Alyosha.
not to see me but to see Lise. That’s six days ago now. He came, stayed
the three thousand is more important than what you did with it. And by the
now again I’m thinking: I may take to Mitya again. I liked him very much
said so.
time the lawyers did not worry him much. It was obvious that there was no
to use this sum to seduce the woman he, the prisoner, loved. ‘If Fyodor
noticeable is that serene goodness, for the rich among them are for the
by not understanding! Every day that I had that fifteen hundred sewn up
“You see how I’ve thought of everything. There’s only one thing I can’t
together with the sons of God, and said to the Lord that he had gone up
powers. His head ached and he was giddy. A feeling of hatred was rankling
week, when he was with some gypsy girls drunk in a tavern, cried out aloud
the tombs, which were particularly numerous round the church and scattered
decided before anything else. With a sinking heart he was expecting every
“Do you recognize this object?” he asked, showing it to Mitya.
three; she can move, but very little. She is of humble origin. Arina
either. He seemed afraid to talk, he only whipped up smartly his three
often happens when people are in great suffering)—what then? Would you
Smerdyakov pronounced firmly.
perhaps, inflamed by wine, and he has only transmitted to me a propensity
passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all
“No, for perhaps he believes in the pineapple _compote_ himself. He is
other, with their crazy Karamazov way of muddling things so that no one
soul will be troubled,’ she said, ‘and he will write you a letter.’ And
in his childhood. He cursed and jeered at Russia. He dreamed of going to
you only, believe me. I know. I do know. The second thing is that I don’t
confronting the hurrying apparition and will check the frenzied rush of
frozen. I am quite capable of watching myself, by the way,” he thought at
begun to be rather dressy—top‐knots, ribbons, loose wrappers, had made
splendidly, it all burnt away leaving only a tiny ash. But that was only
eat cabbages. And not one woman goes in at this gate. That’s what is
Pyotr Alexandrovitch could say no more, and was about to leave the room,
fever, almost forgot his existence in all she had to do the first half‐
any one. If he doesn’t believe in people, of course, he does despise
her lips scornfully. ‘Wait a bit. I’ll have my revenge,’ thought I. I
“That’s not true, Lise, Yulia ran to tell you that Alexey Fyodorovitch was
opinion, which I omit here, he added that the abnormality was not only
it all their own way. One has to take what they’ll give, for no one here
and having convinced himself, after careful search, that she was not
is only by recognizing his wrong‐doing as a son of a Christian
I am a Socialist, Smurov.”
“And the devil? Does he exist?”
unconscious and delirious.
“Ah, how I loved him!” exclaimed Kolya.
“But have you ever on previous occasions taken a weapon with you when you
Then Fyodor Pavlovitch had one misfortune after another to put up with
Fyodor Pavlovitch had the same red bandage which Alyosha had seen.
Fetyukovitch’s make of such a desperate case; and so they followed his
persistent screaming and knocking at the shutter. Marfa, shrieking and
though he is mad, and all his children.”
devil, if that’s it!” he cried, flinging him five roubles. “Now, Trifon
me, please. You are late as it is—the bells are ringing for the
are not laughing?”
into his heart with despair. There was one moment when he felt an impulse
ruin, catching at the last straw, ready to sink if he failed. Old Samsonov
questions.... Of course I shall give it back.”
simply stolen from me. Yes, gentlemen, I looked upon it as mine, as my own
Turks, of course, have gone into it, but they are foreigners. I have
unguarded “in such perilous times.” Smerdyakov, exhausted by his fit, lay
beforehand, just as he committed the murder after. A complete program of
latter went nearer to Lise and, smiling in a strangely awkward way, held
aback. He had meant to frighten him with the threat of repeating their
I’ll call you back again.”
and he was holding his arms stiffly down, his head erect, his eyes fixed
scoundrel, for he foresaw that he would not use that means, that he
disgust. “If she saves you I’ll forgive her everything—”
from the monastery. After the service was over the elder desired to kiss
runaway bride her dowry, the husband and wife began to lead a most
there were exclamations and sympathetic sobs ... a kind of frenzy seemed
she began warmly, in a voice which quivered with genuine tears of
Krassotkin dived again into his satchel and pulled out a small flask
“Behind the curtains, of course.”
Alyosha described all that had happened from the moment he went in to
breaking up the unity of the idea, while it is so essential that there
chimed in at once. And it is hard to say how far they might have gone, but
“I tell you I can see, I can see through them. When I was coming out from
attending him. The famous doctor had gone back to Moscow, refusing to give
knew she was positively hysterical upon the subject) “why should she
sideways to me. And then a gust of wind blew up the sand. He suddenly fell
than all, and that they all take me for a buffoon; so I say let me play
Satan, but ... not Smerdyakov,” Mitya jerked out with decision.
talking nonsense. And, though he knew perfectly well that with each word
her feet. That was the beginning of the passion. At the same time the
He has had only one thing to say since: ‘I’ll kill you, you scoundrel, if
“Look alive, Marya, or you’ll get the stick!”
him at a respectful distance. He learned his lessons perfectly; he was
thousand in his hand. You see, gentlemen of the jury, psychology is a two‐
“But what object had you in view in arming yourself with such a weapon?”
“It’s just the same story as a doctor once told me,” observed the elder.
forgotten, and when the elder entered the cell again, he found his guests
with softened faces.
came into my head, and I determined on the spot to make an end of it, as
so, even should he be unable to return to the monastery that night.
evildoer. That’s an answer to my prayer. I’ve been praying all night.” And
Seeing his blood‐stained face, Mitya started and scowled wrathfully.
you consent to remain in such unseemly company? It was because you felt
nature, so to speak. It was the same at school, though he seemed to be
of men therein, for they are slaves, of course, though rebellious by
Distributed Proofreading Team at . (This
Katerina Ivanovna’s cry: “Your brother is a scoundrel!”
sought to cling to the ‘ideas of the people,’ or to what goes by that name
cast‐iron posts. Of course I grasped the position at once. She walked in
“He told me,” said Ivan firmly, refusing to admit a doubt. “It was all he
even taken in the peasant’s answer. He was silent, and it was pleasant
Fetyukovitch. His talent was well known, and this was not the first time
that even a man like Fyodor Pavlovitch would understand what was due on a
To which Grushenka replied that she had heard him say so before other
is not sordid; on the contrary, full of fine feeling.... No, Lise, I have
God, weeping to Christ, unconsciously accomplishing this by the mystery of
and indifference. But God will save His people, for Russia is great in her
Pan Mussyalovitch had indeed sent an extremely long and characteristically
Church. So be it, so be it! Even though at the end of the ages, for it is
pretext, jeering at his opinion upon an important public event—it was in
beating.
“Tell me one thing,” he said. “Is Ivan very keen on it, and whose idea was
Alyosha, don’t blame me, I agree that hanging is too good for her.”
and affable condescension, and he took his glass.
with a number of visitors. Several boys were sitting with Ilusha, and
roars with delight that the torturer is acquitted. Ah, pity I wasn’t
for the sake of the bread of Heaven thousands shall follow Thee, what is
afraid now to be inquisitive:
regardless of all obstacles, with all the recklessness of the Karamazovs.
face now expressed complete, hopeless despair, and he sat mute and passive
besought me not to tell any one here of it, he is so dreadfully ashamed of
quiet, you stupid! Let me sit on your knee, Alyosha, like this.” She
down on the table.
Fyodorovitch.”
pieces of evidence (given by Ivan and Katerina Ivanovna) on the protocol.
“What an ass!” cried Ivan, laughing nervously and still seeming to be
“That’s just the point, that ‘but’!” cried Ivan. “Let me tell you, novice,
look like that? Why are you staring at me? Yes, Ivan fell in love with
into a dancing song at the first signal. Maximov, hearing that Grushenka
altogether.”
innocent amusement that, in spite of her illness, Madame Hohlakov had
“Don’t be uneasy, nothing will happen this time. Hallo, Natasha!” he
they talk of ‘middle‐aged charms’ as though that were my motive! He writes
now their duty.”
as much more as you need, and you know, I have money too, take what you
man, I believe, of three and twenty, who repented and was converted to the
days that you would come with that message. I knew he would ask me to
once “if it won’t alarm the ladies.” “Mamma” immediately asked to look at
he made friends with a political exile who had been banished from Moscow
“I don’t know.”
brought together sayings evidently uttered on very different occasions.
staggered back. Grushenka walked suddenly and noiselessly into the room.
1.F.
head aches and I am sad.”
apparently not at all surprised at his coming. There was a great change in
caused by lack of mental freedom. She wanted, perhaps, to show her
“The young lady, Katerina Ivanovna there. She sent for me, offered me
fence, as he had the day before, get into the garden and sit in the
likely more, but if Fyodor Pavlovitch got married then to that lady,
their noses at me.”
“I know, I only said it to finish the sentence. And don’t you ever deceive
“You are cunning with me, damn you!” he exclaimed, getting angry.
of that ‘babe’ at such a moment? ‘Why is the babe so poor?’ That was a
weakling, as we all called him, I won’t attempt to explain. I knew a young
“No, I don’t think that ... though perhaps there is a little desire to do
After three o’clock the rush of worldly visitors was greatly increased and
had encouraged him to talk to him, although he had always wondered at a
at the door to Marya Kondratyevna to make some lemonade and bring it them,
“My name’s Agrafena, Grushenka, speak Russian or I won’t listen!”
arrived only five minutes before Pyotr Ilyitch, so that his story came,
am I on earth but a poor relation? By the way, I am listening to you and
and see his brother Dmitri before that fateful interview. Without showing
bless you. I respect you, but I know that I too am a man. By the very fact
white with anger. “You say that yourself, and all the while I’ve been
all the rest of his life: this would furnish the subject for another
that his host was frowning and preoccupied. But he was ready for any
false to Katya ... Katerina Ivanovna I should say.... Oh, I’ve behaved
“ ‘Then it was, but now it isn’t.’
unchanged countenances, waited, with earnest attention, to hear what the
The Karamazovs’ house was far from being in the center of the town, but it
her—but only from her alone, not from Dmitri, who has abandoned her. Nor
Vassilyevitch, that you haven’t faith in the proper manner, and only abuse
heard afterwards, he had always been silent. Moscow itself had little
his master was fond of him and honored him with his confidence, he would,
was a famous murder case. He was killed in a house of harlotry—I believe
out here?”
us like children because we allow them to sin. We shall tell them that
neck. “My officer is coming, Rakitin, my officer is coming.”
groan, he wakes up and falls asleep again; and the same thing again two
a debt.”
“I shall be asked, ‘What about the old woman, Grigory’s wife? She heard
in singularly good spirits. Fyodor Pavlovitch was roaring with laughter.
before. That’s interesting, too, by the way. Listen, Alyosha, you always
or that he himself will carry her away somewhere, where that dreaded rival
lots of kites flapping and whirling. There were as many as thirty in
and made frenzied efforts to subdue his flesh to make himself free and
before you a buffoon in earnest! I introduce myself as such. It’s an old
appetite to you. I will decline, and not you. Home, home, I’ll eat at
“and I am a poor hand at making one. You see, my action takes place in the
moment. I hate his double chin, his nose, his eyes, his shameless grin. I
“But now the affair becomes even more complex; his jealous torments reach
with work and services, but still it’s not all the time, even he has an
well‐to‐do merchant’s widow named Kondratyev arranged to take her into her
But what is most important is that the majority of our national crimes of
told me: ‘There’s nothing we like so much as sentencing girls to be
Alyosha got up in silence and followed Rakitin.
Alyosha had given his opinion at the time, blushing, and angry with
according to Euclid can never meet on earth, may meet somewhere in
Once more they kissed hurriedly, and Alyosha was just going out, when
Thy love, for I love Thee not. And what use is it for me to hide anything
Chapter VI. The Prosecutor’s Speech. Sketches Of Character
they had the inheritance, while he was only the cook. He told me himself
to send him, as he had no relations and his conduct was unsatisfactory.
And through our land went wandering.
he was terribly distressed about Smerdyakov. “What will happen now? Who’ll
him come here and take your hand and take Ivan’s and join your hands. For
“Your Excellency, for Christ’s sake!” the terror‐stricken captain stopped
“That’s me, sir!”
strangely, as it were disconnectedly, and inconsecutively. He began a
that is how they act. I have seen it myself, I have known it myself, and,
“Good‐by. But I shan’t say anything of your being able to sham a fit, and
don’t know ... don’t let her go away like this!”
“Oh, do weep, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, do weep! That’s a noble feeling ...
what that means. I loved vice, I loved the ignominy of vice. I loved
you what she is!” she shouted to the judges, shaking with anger. At a
“modest” testimony with some heat.
said. “Take it home and keep it for yourself. And I’ll let you go back to
children in comfort. There were two of us, my elder brother Markel and I.
over his answer. “What idiocy is this?”
“You frightened me ... with your stocking,” he said, with a strange grin.
suddenly:
detail. At the same time he was in a hurry to get it over. But as he gave
come again in victory, Thou wilt come with Thy chosen, the proud and
before them as their goal—such a sacrifice is utterly beyond the strength
“To be sure I will, it’s not a secret, that’s what I’ve been leading up
“But her night fevers have entirely ceased ever since Thursday,” said the
“But I thought at the time that you quite guessed,” Smerdyakov parried
boy” would come back again. Perhaps indeed, to some extent, he penetrated
away by a zeal that outstripped his reason, would not be quieted. “He was
Poles, though he had formed no definite conception of them yet.
fixed between that life and this existence.”
“Yes, father, he says that and yet he is first in Latin,” echoed Ilusha.
“Let me stay here,” Alyosha entreated.
to be more careful in his language.
resentfully; “and so I stopped you then at the gate to sound you on that
send the servants away to the lodge for the night and to lock himself up
Street. They all shouted: “Aha, he is funking, he is running away. Wisp of
“Make haste! H’m!... Don’t be in a hurry, Alyosha, you hurry and worry
not your soul, Pyotr Alexandrovitch; you’re not a lodging worth having
him.... And I had no right, indeed, to be exacting as to that money,” she
time. He left off dragging me by my beard and released me: ‘You are an
I stole it. And last night I stole it finally.”
with him.
not being able to stay longer with you. They are waiting for me. Good‐by.”
grave air, her direct earnest look and quiet manner made a very favorable
their faces, what meekness, what devotion to man, who often beats them
most rich and powerful. Don’t be afraid of satisfying them and even
‘something important to tell you.’ His honor has shown me them several
“No, it’s no use, it’s awful,” Kolya assented. “Do you know, Karamazov,”
bitter, pale, sarcastic.
that very tavern—‘The Metropolis’ it’s called—or in the market‐place, he
would have sanctioned their killing me before I was born that I might not
that’s told is foolishness. He never thrashed any one,” answered the monk.
his leading ideas.... ‘There’s no living without joy,’ Mitya says.... Yes,
“Do you know how he spends his time now?” he asked; “learning lists of
taste, let me tell you that; and it’s not the proper place for a
his hands, and burst out crying. For a long while he sat like that, crying
hardly any consequence to it. It would be hard to say why this was.
“Stay!” said the elder, and he put his ear close to her lips.
that a letter had come from him a month before. So that for a month, for a
“That’s extremely important, Dmitri Fyodorovitch. It would be material
became so acute that they drove him at last to despair. He sent his
Ilusha have it, because it’s a present to him, but it’s just as good as
“Because, in all probability you don’t believe yourself in the immortality
children. This lady was the same age as Anna Fyodorovna, and a great
may say it is the most fundamental feature of Roman Catholicism, in my
All that’s base in me, all that’s mean and contemptible. Yes, I am a
his position.... To begin with, he was sore at having been so glad of the
Here is my question: Is it true, great Father, that the story is told
Yes, that astounding piece of evidence has been brought forward twice to‐
mother till I come back, or she’ll be sure to think it’s gunpowder, and
So Fetyukovitch began.
“Don’t dare to go away like that!” Lise was beginning.
my own ears; if you want to know, he didn’t tell me, but I overheard him,
me, eh? Did you really mean to shoot yourself to‐morrow, you stupid? No,
soon as he wakes I’ll begin. I’ll pay you for the light,” he said to the
loudly. Mitya was laughing heartily as he saw him out, while Rakitin
left was a string running across the room, and on it there were rags
and follow Me, if thou wouldst be perfect.”
Fyodor Pavlovitch moved away from the looking‐glass, turned suddenly to
to take care of them for her. I heard afterwards, however, that the
the slightest encouragement. She seems to have been the only woman who
“Be so generous as to forgive me for having kept you waiting so long, but
face. She started, and drew back a little from him on the sofa.
my dear boys, let us all be generous and brave like Ilusha, clever, brave
perhaps, been beaten? It would serve them right!”
herself: she plays a part to herself, and whose fault is it? Do you think
“Oh, dear! couldn’t you go to that counsel yourself and tell him the whole
me to the day of my death, and I’ll leave you nothing in my will either.”
last month.” To further inquisitive questions she answered plainly and
up, for the time, knowing nothing about the law, but on coming here was
hermitage.
At the sight of Grushenka, Mitya’s jealousy vanished, and, for an instant
on his knees before him. Alyosha thought that he had fallen from weakness,
“How will you escape it? By what will you escape it? That’s impossible
And again she cried bitterly.
paper in four, and thrust it in his waistcoat pocket. He put the pistols
over Russia. And, good heavens! what wild rumors about his brother, about
was utterly unable to tear himself away from them and dismiss them, as
obstinately that the door into the garden had been open. But he was asked
“I knew he wouldn’t explain it to you! There’s nothing wonderful about it,
walked quickly out of the cottage. The cool evening air refreshed him.
“I did promise—to my father—my brothers—others too.”
that is how they act. I have seen it myself, I have known it myself, and,
do, it’s worth doing it well. But in my soul I have a profound contempt
is it my business to look after them?”
describing how a peasant lashes a horse on the eyes, ‘on its meek eyes,’
All the while he had been talking, the old man sat motionless, watching
“Who is stupid? Of whom are you talking, brother?” Alyosha asked anxiously
his face; from time to time he raised his hand, as though to check the
tried to make him get up, soothing and persuading him.
Then he vigorously pulled himself up and sat astride on it. Close by, in
those moments in the garden when he longed so terribly to know whether
“Ah, Misha, that’s just what will really happen, every word of it,” cried
don’t forgive him! At school they say that he has paid you ten roubles for
“God will censure you.” Alyosha was watching her steadily.
and His servant crying out: “Blessed be Thy name although Thou dost punish
that sweet miracle! It was not men’s grief, but their joy Christ visited,
“Ech, it’s not a secret, and you know it, too,” Grushenka said, in a voice
you who are so clever, so intellectual, so observant, choose a little
expression, beyond his age indeed, although the young man sometimes looked
irritation, with a note of the simplest curiosity.
were as on the stage, in the ballet, where if beggars come in, they wear
own eyes; I should think I ought to know how to reckon money,” cried
tormented by remorse, I could see that. I took it seriously. I determined
answer for all. And they will be glad to believe our answer, for it will
you’ll find that new man in yourself and he will decide.”
everything you ought to know. Oh, mercy on us! I am coming, I am
it openly, they won’t let it through,’ he said. He laughed. ‘But what will
Pyotr Ilyitch got up, and announced that he was going straight to the
his waist. His throat and chest were bare. Beneath his coat, his shirt of
agitation for all. Alyosha timidly opened the door and went into the
“I know, I know that you’re in a fever. You could hardly fail to be, and
again as before.
speak of the baby before him, and, even if Grigory were not present, she
“Hold your tongue, or I’ll kill you!”
don’t dispute,” answered the prosecutor with reserve. “And let us give up
and the judges and philanthropic ladies. ‘This is the happiest day of your
and daughter were asleep, but they waked up at Marfa’s desperate and
open, you know.... But I’ll give it to him, I’ll give it to him! ‘You
contemptuously, as though to say, ‘This is how you repay all my kindness!
all.... I remember to the last minute. And if I didn’t remember, it would
“Not an easy job.”
“Let me stay here,” Alyosha entreated.
little pink note the servant had handed him as he left Katerina
“Mind you don’t forget other people’s belongings,” said Mitya, as a joke,
lips protruding, with a pale and frenzied face. His lips were moving as
that for the last two months he has completely shared our conviction of
brass pestle he caught up instinctively without knowing why he did it.
Well, this wild legend belongs to our middle ages—not yours, but ours—and
cried in haste. “I was rude to Andrey!”
“If I thought of anything then,” he began again, “it was solely of some
we will always be brothers.... No, it’s not a dream!”
from the strong‐willed young person. It was known, too, that the young
grotesque and monstrous rivalry of the Karamazovs, father and son, the
before her as though trying to defend herself. She seemed to have grown
afraid, no doubt, that you’ll stand before me as my conscience. Don’t tell
mother earth, like frightened children, yearning to fall asleep on the
By the time Mitya and Pyotr Ilyitch reached the shop, they found a cart
... but then they live, they live a real life, not a fantastic one, for
Chapter VII. A Young Man Bent On A Career
But still they cannot mend her.
“You seem to be a perfect idiot, and what’s more ... an awful scoundrel,
and took out a banknote for five thousand roubles (it was lying in a
“What are you saying?” I cried.
been at home, he would not have run away, but would have remained at her
I must mention, by the way, that I was no longer living in my former
longing to make his acquaintance; there was something sympathetic and
“He did speak about it, and it’s that more than anything that’s crushing
a wordy, disconnected, frantic letter, a drunken letter in fact. It was
acceptable. But you know the facts, gentlemen of the jury, from the
anything!” shouted Varvara, stamping her foot with passion.
that it will wear away your work and hinder its being accomplished. Do not
sing‐song voice, looking at the coffin of the dead elder:
other, with their crazy Karamazov way of muddling things so that no one
the court usher to arrange for medical aid for Ivan. The doctor announced
second statement we heard only cries of resentment and revenge, cries of
to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the
count in the country, he’d fight him. Though in what way is he better than
sensitive boy,” Alyosha answered warmly.
would have got the remaining two thousand three hundred roubles, since he
“What do you want?” Ivan turned without stopping.
have screamed. There was a hammering in his temples, and the top of his
the Superior’s I saw one hiding from me behind the door, and a big one, a
you’ll be ready to dance. Eh, they can’t even do that properly,” he added,
there had been trouble in the house. Grushenka had come on the scene, and
course, be foreseen, but every epileptic can feel beforehand that he is
everything. I don’t want to remember. And what would our life be now
both sides. I only remember how they began examining the witness. On being
and his rivalry with his father, his brother had been of late in an
lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a
danced, and, an hour later, at home in their cottage he gave her a lesson,
us.”
either, but will only venture to observe that if a lofty and high‐
himself!” the old landlady said sternly. “There in the churchyard the
every one came to the conclusion it was not he. Now he is lying very ill.
had stayed with her ever since. He did not leave the house even when she
know, I can never commit suicide, Alyosha. Is it because I am base? I am
knock, fuming at himself, but at the same time he redoubled his knocks on
he must recognize that. Else he would have had no reason to come here.
aunt’s, to whom these gentlemen never allude in good society, seeming
years, abandon everything and go off to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage for his
“Yes, I did.”
is, what individuals, he could not answer, and even for some reason
green youth have to settle the eternal questions first of all. That’s what
“By the experience of active love. Strive to love your neighbor actively
Dmitri frowned painfully, and looked with unutterable contempt at his
conscience. All this will be fully explained to the reader later on, but
a peony as he had done on that occasion.
comfort his precious boy; he would tell him stories, funny anecdotes, or
it firmly. I took up the New Testament from the table, the Russian
“The realism of actual life, madam, that’s what it is. But allow me to
the majority of the monks had been devoted to the dead elder. But it
very weak, though he wanted to get out of bed and sit up in a chair. His
that. One has to know how to talk to the peasants.”
if any one is to blame in the matter, half the fault is ours. For he may
only his fancy,” said Smerdyakov, with a wry smile. “He is not a man, I
with all its passages and outbuildings. I imagine that part of the money
his paws in the air, rigid as though he were dead. While this last
walls, but will live like a monk in the world. You will have many enemies,
gave his evidence to the investigating lawyer Ivan said nothing, for the
remember the ice burnt my forehead like fire. I did not keep her long,
Grigory and Marfa, but the boy grew up “with no sense of gratitude,” as
He never found out who this kind man was; perhaps one of the peasant
And beginning to help him off with his coat, he cried out again:
tainted member for the preservation of society, as at present, into
a quite different anxiety arose, a new, incidental, but yet fatal and
tried to find a place for himself there. A flower fell on the snow and he
he did not know. He knew nothing of his father’s money relations with
open, they were afraid to go in to Fyodor Pavlovitch “for fear anything
when I had to make jokes for my living in noblemen’s families. I am an
been a genteel maid‐servant in generals’ families in Petersburg. Now she
ashamed of the confession.
it could always be cured by suitable severity; various anecdotes were told
from a woman you love. From one you love especially, however greatly you
least, a quarter of an hour ago, you exclaimed that you wanted to kill
captain, whom your father used to employ in some business. Dmitri
and peculiar impulse of indignation. He suddenly remembered how Katerina
“How grateful I am to you! You can’t think how grateful I am to you for
knowing what he was doing. But they were not allowed to come together,
suffering, and Alyosha’s heart warmed to her at once. “You, Alexey
with Fyodor Pavlovitch. I am going to marry him and don’t want you”—and
extraordinary resolution passed over the Pole’s face.
it ... if only there could be an ax there.”
“He is looking at you,” the other boys chimed in.
Herzenstube, “that his reason would be impaired for a considerable period,
child, you pass by, spiteful, with ugly words, with wrathful heart; you
the Lord at our humble table.”
still to do that day! But a load had been lifted from his heart, anyway.
“There, you can see at once he is a young man that has been well brought
help here, brother, even if he did despise Grushenka. He does, but he
exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or
do so, had spoken of it to Ilyitch, had taken the pistols, loaded them
mine. And I don’t want to see you again except as a last resource. Good‐
me; he kept touching me with his hands. This must have been how he came to
girl’s history in the town and that little was vague. Nothing more had
Moscow, but to Tchermashnya, that I wanted to have you nearer, for
society—that is, of the Church—that he recognizes his sin against
have taken chiefly to moral punishments—‘the stings of conscience’ and all
that that stupid anecdote isn’t true. Why are you playing the fool?” cried
walk.... Why, if I only succeed in getting one debt paid that’s owing me,
of hatred.
into it through the little gate which stood open, before he noticed you
frivolous youth, fickle and childish. Go away, Father, I command you!”
“Ach, it’s certainly anything but amusing!” Kalganov mumbled lazily.
Krassotkin’s entrance made a general sensation; the boys moved away and
or anything, a man sees sometimes such artistic visions, such complex and
put fifteen hundred roubles in a bag (which never existed) he may have
“Why do you look at me without speaking? I’ve only come with one question,
pillow, snoring heavily. Mitya stood in perplexity.
the childishly simple and happy expression of her face, the soft, babyish
proudly.
among the Masons there’s something of the same mystery at the bottom, and
shall make a point of it. What does he mean?”
could be seen that it would be so.
“You are thirteen?” asked Alyosha.
question, for in any case we were bound to come to this cursed stumbling‐
didn’t steal it from my father, but from her. Let me tell you without
Plotnikov’s, they close late—to see if they won’t change it. Here, Misha!”
does it amount to?”
Ivan rang for the waiter and ordered soup, jam and tea.
“I took it off my neck, gentlemen, off this very neck ... it was here,
satisfied: “I’ve provoked the nervous fellow by ‘trifles’ and he has said
hours of sleep he does not remember, he only remembers the moments of
are no cabbages, and so the old woman couldn’t have taken Katerina a
“You speak with a strange air,” observed Alyosha uneasily, “as though you
it was more like some one groaning, “it might be a woman.” He got up and
take it so seriously? Surely you don’t suppose I am going straight off to
“Let me alone,” said Alyosha suddenly, with a weary gesture of his hand,
curiously at him, seemed soon to have left off thinking of him. Alyosha
“I believed, I believe, I want to believe, and I will believe, what more
was rather younger, they were gray‐headed men, little known in society,
Would they love him, would they not?
one brief moment you did believe that I really exist,” the gentleman
turn you out when I’m gone.”
Several times afterwards he wondered how he could on leaving Ivan so
came into my head, and I determined on the spot to make an end of it, as
“His honor is still asleep,” he articulated deliberately (“You were the
mortification, without resentment even, that the holiest of holy men
He proceeded to do so, but we won’t repeat his story. He told it dryly and
that Ivan Karamazov is suffering from brain fever, that his statement may
was covered with blood. He had not long been in my service and I had
of his position after your meeting with him to‐day. That will perhaps be
‘Well?’ said I. I saw his eyes flashing. ‘Father, how he treated you
in spite of your poverty, only one little hour. And you will see for
creation. And they will burn in the fire of their own wrath for ever and
I must have sat on the handkerchief at Fenya’s, and the blood’s come
that they don’t see me. Where are they? In the blue room?”
weighing eighteen stone, and of believing all she believes. My ideal is to
“I shall be delighted to, Lise, and certain to, only not in the most
gentlemen, I was carried away! And upset besides! And, indeed, I am
But, before God, I repeat to you, I am innocent of my father’s blood! For
“How so? Did he indirectly?”
was. ‘You’ve done a nasty thing,’ I said, ‘you are a scoundrel. I won’t
intentionally, rougher. He pulled off his shirt, himself.
in the scabbard—which there was no need to have told you, by the way. And
to share with all men and all creation his joy and ecstasy, and once more
may be a two‐edged weapon and it may lead some not to humility and
speak of Zhutchka, but he did not or would not notice.
Mitya looked at him from the side without stirring. The old man’s profile
degrading to write verses.... But they are good poetry. They want to put a
robbery I repudiate with indignation. A man cannot be accused of robbery,
self; to escape the lot of those who have lived their whole life without
“_Panie_, we’re here in private. There are other rooms.”
silent stare lasted so long that it made the prosecutor blink.
and, finally, in the third place, ‘the Church is a kingdom not of this
security of society is not preserved, for, although the obnoxious member
depart “with nothing but a respectful bow.” It was hinted that something
afterwards, a certain involuntary proud contempt for this missive from
“I have come,” muttered Alyosha confusedly, “I—he sent me.”
first to make it up with Ilusha, thought it was so. But when Smurov hinted
causing scandal by going at eleven o’clock at night to a fashionable lady,
Book XI. Ivan
of them very clever ones, not like Fyodor Pavlovitch. Pyotr Alexandrovitch
tell you all about it presently, but now I must speak of something else,
He did, in fact, for a time almost forget Smerdyakov’s existence, and yet,
carriage, Smerdyakov jumped up to arrange the rug.
He was not kept long. At last it was Grushenka’s turn. Nikolay
and Semyon, the driver Andrey, and Kalganov. The peasants and the driver
“Oh, I’m only coming in for a minute. I’ll keep on my overcoat. Perezvon
his hand on his heart and, with an offended voice, utter a few words full
the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
accusation; but it appeared that she, too, had no grounds for it.
his final conflict with Fyodor Pavlovitch was close upon him, and must be
_compote_ haunted me. In the morning I wrote a letter to a certain person,
“I swear,” cried Alyosha, “that my brother will express his most deep and
“Yes, you’ve been depressed a long time, I’ve noticed it.”
noted in passing that he was a young man of sturdy character.
never, never! Run at once, challenge him to a duel!’... I took her to the
asked Alyosha, quickly. “And then I’ll talk to you about something quite
charges which had died away of themselves everywhere. But the spirit of
“If he didn’t write it, they say he said it. I heard that from a ... but
they are I can’t say—and there are two others, strangers, maybe more
realizing his position and the sanctity of the obligations laid upon him.
All three drank. Mitya seized the bottle and again poured out three
“One reptile will devour the other,” Ivan had pronounced the day before,
capital punishment, have we? But be sure to come, even if it’s at three
“I ... do you know ... I murdered some one.”
the understanding of the rest of my story. Let me say then, it was not a
“He keeps talking nonsense, and we were all laughing,” Kalganov began
turning again to Ilusha. But though he assumed an unconcerned air as he
son”—the elder liked to call him that—“this is not the place for you in
Mitya cried loudly:
morrow, in the town—I swear on my honor, I’ll get it, I’ll get it at any
terrible, for their words had great influence on young monks who were not
the same instant pounced on Alyosha. Alyosha, carried away himself by his
divert himself with his despair, as it were driven to it by despair
would be bitterer still for the unhappy creatures. For even if the
Meantime they were strolling slowly along the path and suddenly Smurov
dining.
Alyosha was amazed at the change that had taken place in her in three
left to the care of Providence like a beast of the field. He thirsted
“Yes, we’ll write it down,” lisped Nikolay Parfenovitch.
faithful and devoted, which sometimes unaccountably came upon him all in a
There was a hush in the court; there was a feeling of something strange.
in the singing but did not go on to the end. Falling on his knees, he
apparently, over the most trivial matters.
you, not him; take me to the other end of the world.’ And I’d only forty
along the fence at the four sides. There were apple‐trees, maples, limes
important thing, of that later. Dear Alexey Fyodorovitch, I trust you
know I’m simply struck, amazed at your resourcefulness, your good sense in
“He’s a fool, though he’s a good fellow,” he muttered as he went. “I’ve
so love humanity that—would you believe it?—I often dream of forsaking all
absolute stillness in the house. Grushenka opened her eyes.
“But you’re again forgetting the circumstance,” the prosecutor observed,
get well, if he were to get up again, what then? And then the thought came
terrible rumor was all over the town that this miscreant was no other than
“You don’t understand?” he drawled reproachfully. “It’s a strange thing a
talking peaceably about some ordinary, though interesting, subject.
Kolya added conceitedly. “We all went off to the justice’s, they brought
the Jesuits, to join the men who are correcting His work? Good Lord, it’s
had a shop in the market‐place. The Jew gave him six roubles for it.
now. He has suddenly gone crazy over Grushenka. His mouth waters at the
ikons.
till the exile was summoned to Petersburg to take up his post again at his
worse than a tom‐cat in love. At first she was only employed by him in
“We shall verify all that. We will come back to it during the examination
His voice broke. They were all three silent, still embracing. Nina was
used to say in the old comedies, ‘kindly be seated,’ ” and with a rapid
Chapter VI. Precocity
impressive funeral prayers moved and roused his soul. He seemed suddenly
old morality, and everything will begin anew. Men will unite to take from
“I doubt it,” said Kolya, somewhat taken aback.
“And what’s the meaning of ‘no lack of admonitions and warnings’?” asked
chance of observing yourself yesterday? He says if I let Agrafena
intelligible. Here I must mention that Smerdyakov, oppressed by terror and
went on indignantly.
But one grief is weighing on me.
attention, loving the words himself, only stopping from time to time to
on the tombstone of a monk who had been famous long ago for his
“What, he got there? But how did he get the billion years to do it?”
“It is yours, Dmitri Fyodorovitch,” Madame Hohlakov cut in at once. “The
At that instant Katya appeared in the doorway. For a moment she stood
But what is most important is that the majority of our national crimes of
Kostya, beaming all over.
“He’s a brick, he’s a brick!” cried the other boys, and they began
me every day. ‘She is coming round,’ he declared. He was beaming with
other camp, and end by raising their _free_ banner against Thee. Thou
obviously not in a fit state.”
stay, you interrupted me. At Mokroe I was talking to an old man, and he
“_Panie!_” shouted both the Poles, menacingly, setting on Mitya like a
recourse to the plan which would so naturally have occurred to one’s mind,
life like a child’s game, with children’s songs and innocent dance. Oh, we
“Make haste and finish, my boy,” Fyodor Pavlovitch urged him, sipping from
signals by which he could at once enter the house.” At this point Ippolit
“I haven’t got the letter.”
“I will go,” she cried; “five years of my life! Good‐by! Good‐by, Alyosha,
into his care. If he hadn’t looked after him there would have been no one
of what’s good for Himself, and nothing but nastiness is left for me. But
my imagination. Oh, Karamazov, I am profoundly unhappy. I sometimes fancy
brother, not Smerdyakov. And if not Smerdyakov, then not he, Ivan. This
twelve and fifteen, and two of them came from our town. The boys played
nature, so to speak. It was the same at school, though he seemed to be
And she handed Alyosha a sheet of newspaper which had been under her
with even greater energy.
“You seem very ill yourself, your face is sunken; you don’t look like
you, and couldn’t possibly have received any.’ That was all the answer he
terrible amount of suffering for man on earth, a terrible lot of trouble.
thought Mitya. He sat down on the same chair as before. He had an absurd
tribune.
eyes.
fact—takes his leave of her?”
tender conscience! He tormented himself with his conscience! He told me
any definite account of his hopes, his expectations, or even his desires.
“But now listen to something quite different!” Alyosha went on. “I have a
him. Just after he had crossed the square and turned the corner coming out
ikon and this unmistakable miracle with me now—that shakes me, and I’m
very different from—Ah, if I had his youth and the looks I had then (for I
peasant, with a very long face, flaxen curls, and a long, thin, reddish
step leading to so many consequences, I never fully explained to myself.
violence of his passions and the great fascination he had for her. She was
There was one point which interested him particularly about Katerina
Ilyitch, looking at him. “What are you going to Mokroe for, now?”
“I am ready, I am ready! I am quite equal to answering you,” she added,
Ivanovna had only just cried out to him in Alyosha’s presence: “It was
deceived his master, whom he loved as his benefactor. Persons severely
“Where did you put it afterwards?”
these walls sincerely seeking salvation, such obedience and sacrifice will
he often is—he’s only doing it to amuse us all. There’s no harm in that,
“She set off this evening, some two hours ago, with Timofey, to Mokroe.”
only come from Petersburg two months before, was sitting in the next room
headstrong, evil Karamazov spirit! No, I am not fit for suffering. I am a
The court was adjourned, but only for a short interval, a quarter of an
himself that I have done all I can.
laughing at him.”
the dark, asking my heart whether I loved him. Decide for me, Alyosha, the
“I swear that all I told you is the truth,” cried Alyosha.
been an angel. If I ever was, it must have been so long ago that there’s
they talk of ‘middle‐aged charms’ as though that were my motive! He writes
there was not a drop of milk in them. And the child cried and cried, and
had ceased, and that instead of singing and drunken clamor there was
“I don’t know where I got the rag from—somewhere, I suppose.”
copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
one felt that something revolting, grotesque, positively scandalous, was
Ivan turned suddenly and went his way without looking back. It was just as
“Good‐by, Pyotr Ilyitch! My last tear is for you!...”
everything they’ve got, up to a hundred roubles, or a hundred and twenty
that I told you so beforehand. Darkness and destruction! No need to
tease me with trifles, but only ask me about facts and what matters, and I
entertain the company, ostensibly on equal terms, of course, though in
reality, to be set up as the direct and chief aim of the future
“Well, if it is impossible for Pyotr Alexandrovitch, it is impossible for
you ... as all these ... ugly faces.” He turned suddenly to the audience.
about everything,” Grushenka drawled again.
cash‐box without telling him? Note, that according to Smerdyakov’s story
and put business in her way.
hands. Oh, yes, we shall be in chains and there will be no freedom, but
The nag strains, and then he begins lashing the poor defenseless creature
help loving her. Thou seest my whole heart.... I shall gallop up, I shall
name. But remember that they were only some thousands; and what of the
in his object, bringing the peasant to the police‐station and arranging
“Come, don’t weep over me yet,” Father Zossima smiled, laying his right
will cry, be with father,” Ilusha had told them as he lay dying, and the
dignified person he had ventured to disturb.