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him to mass. Perhaps the slanting sunlight and the holy image to which his
cannot solve himself. If he murdered him, he murdered him, and what’s the
accustomed to rely upon himself alone and to cut himself off from the
was nothing to laugh at. He showed continual and inexplicable
bread already and that it was in his pocket. He instantly pulled it out
“I wouldn’t tell him for anything,” said Alyosha, smiling.
old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed.
come of themselves!”
Plotnikov’s shop was at the corner of the street, next door but one to
Within the hour the “miracle” was of course known to the whole monastery,
ever.
lot of them, and all little. You put them in the mouth and crack.”
beforehand, just as he committed the murder after. A complete program of
he were afraid of getting dirty. He cast a cursory glance round the
will see to it all herself.”
But with every instant he felt clearly and, as it were, tangibly, that
talk with Katya in Moscow. I told her about myself—sincerely, honorably.
given it!” And then we shall finish building their tower, for he finishes
forgotten her, that no one treated her with respect, that she was
that another man, a fellow creature, made in the likeness and image of
your chickens too easily, madam. Two hundred, if you like, with all my
any one, but I wanted to send an angel. And here you are on your way to
a riot. At first they could scarcely believe their ears. Then suddenly the
Pavlovitch’s house, crossing the lane, running down Dmitrovsky Street,
am a scoundrel myself. I shall choke there!” he exclaimed, his eyes
helpless tears, and lie there shaking till dawn. In the morning I would
Twice already he’s threatened me with death.”
pillow, snoring heavily. Mitya stood in perplexity.
envelope now on the table before us, and that the witness had received
neighbors as though they were dependents and buffoons. He has kennels of
had made him feel most ashamed was that he had given in too soon and
haste and they walked as far as Captain Snegiryov’s lodging, a
“What makes you think that?” observed Nikolay Parfenovitch.
favor, drove Ivan to perfect frenzy. Strange to say, until that last scene
this question to you in earnest; when was the moment when Smerdyakov could
any love and harmony in the family at all. Indeed, precious memories may
“I would advise you,” Alyosha went on warmly, “not to send him to school
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg™
of prosperity! But he had at home an old silver watch which had long
before her very eyes he is dancing attendance on a certain enchantress.
‘fundamental and essential’ propositions of his opponent, who is, you must
He took the notes, and for a minute he was almost unable to answer, quite
“Grushenka at Katerina Ivanovna’s.”
Katerina Ivanovna pointed out to the court with venomous and malignant
“but I have come to you on a matter of great importance.... On a matter of
“Why are you so afraid of Mitya to‐day?” inquired Rakitin. “I should have
they may be wonderful at machinery, every one of them, damn them, they are
to pray for the peace of a living soul? And his own mother too! It’s a
vanished as quickly as it appeared. He was always well and even
Then he was completely aghast.
“_Did_ it? Why, did you murder him?” Ivan turned cold.
tavern, at his own ingenuous public avowal that all he had got out of
blood cries out against you!” the old captain of police roared suddenly,
shall be a prisoner, but now, for the last time, as a free man, Dmitri
was empty: the money had been removed. They found also on the floor a
bring you to me. Stay, Rakitin, wait!”
Book V. Pro And Contra
timidly. It was impossible to tell from her face that she was agitated;
“Never mind. If you won’t have it, we will,” said Fyodor Pavlovitch,
Pavlovitch, and discerning at once that he could extract nothing from him
poor dear, he’s drunk.”
her husband, her big brown eyes moved from one speaker to the other with
about the troika? Something about ‘They have Hamlets, but we have, so far,
I said this, though I felt almost dismayed, so greatly was I impressed
stupid excitement and brandished his fist at Kolya.
to a room next to Grigory’s and Marfa Ignatyevna’s.
talked to him, and he made a very different impression on me. He was weak
her face was beaming with spontaneous good‐natured kindliness, and direct
transfer the powers of their spirit and the warmth of their heart to the
“Why? Isn’t it funny?” asked Fyodor Pavlovitch.
presence and felt an irresistible impulse to knock him down. At that
time, civilly and obsequiously persuading Mitya not to give away “cigars
“That’s quite likely,” cried Alyosha, much excited. “Thank you,
million. ‘Take it, _panie_, this is your gain.’ There was a million in the
immortality.”
came, he brought me a sealed envelope, which I was to open at once, if
bench. Pressing his fists against his head, he began sobbing with absurd
down to hell from the Cross, and set free all sinners that were in agony.
clever man of the world of established position can hardly help taking
speaking strangely, disconnectedly. At last he sat down, put his elbows on
while she established in him a boundless belief in her fidelity. The old
as before.... But wait: don’t let them forget dessert, sweets, pears,
Chapter I. Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov
voice, “that I was coming to my native place with the angel of my heart,
come?’—as though I were to blame for it. On the other side it’s no better.
pleasure, his sallies were always innocent and in good taste. He was
and didn’t repay it. I preferred to remain a thief in her eyes rather than
used to say that he was more drawn to those who were more sinful, and the
the prisoner was now, and had been all along, in a perfectly normal
did for instance, if he’d seen those notes before, and perhaps had put
the lower jaw was set a trifle forward. Her upper lip was thin, but the
of which peeped the chain of a silver watch. Mitya looked at his face with
roadway through the forest, in absolute solitude, stands a peasant in a
frightfully stupid, Alyosha, frightfully stupid.” Ivan laughed suddenly
Ilyitch. Do you remember Hamlet? ‘I am very sorry, good Horatio! Alas,
Katerina Ivanovna snapped. Her face was white and her lips were moving
one of them might be lost.’ Let not a man’s soul be lost through us!
three years passed. I am sitting one morning in my study, a white‐haired
conclusion, and the worst of it was that a sort of triumphant satisfaction
false to Katya ... Katerina Ivanovna I should say.... Oh, I’ve behaved
so powerful and clever, that we have been able to subdue such a turbulent
clever man of the world of established position can hardly help taking
skinned face, and splendid thick, fair hair. From his fair face looked out
and that he would not sit down or say a word, till he had driven out the
always silent. It’s God that’s worrying me. That’s the only thing that’s
it’s his doing, his doing; there’s no doubt about it, he murdered him,
send for the doctor?”
talking of aberration. This doctor has come. You know a doctor has come?
“The devil only knows, what if he deceives us?” thought Miüsov, still
beginning of the twenties, so that the dates don’t fit. He couldn’t have
“And so on, gentlemen, and so on. Enough! I’ve heard that rigmarole
singular event. Madame Krassotkin had let two little rooms, separated from
them all boldly in the face. “They thought I had gone, and here I am
sick man and sitting by him day and night. Varvinsky and Herzenstube were
Did she send for you or did you come of yourself?”
forward by the prosecution was again discredited.
“any question relating to the facts of the case, and we are, I repeat,
three thousand roubles belonging to some one else, and, of course, only
moment. She spoke softly but clearly, so that she was heard all over the
conscience at rest about the theft, and it’s a remarkable fact that for a
worked on the old man, I can’t tell. But at the instant when Mitya stood
d’une brosse frottait l’ombre d’une carrosse._’ How do you know there are
decided I would ask you for my letter, and if you brought it out calmly
though it were a surplice, and sang, and waved some object over the dead
“Are you leaving the hermitage? What, without asking leave, without asking
audience burst like an irresistible storm. It was out of the question to
it becomes earth—and the same sequence may have been repeated endlessly
very thick hair and a full beard, both of which had once been black. His
his own for himself, and will worship deeds of sorcery and witchcraft,
“But maybe they’re not in bed!” Andrey went on after a pause. “Timofey
the unseen finger which had guided me so clearly to it. But I remember in
confusion not saying good‐by, or bowing to their host. Only the monks went
all over the court in a strange, unnatural voice unlike his own. From the
account. And that’s why it’s so base of you. For I didn’t kill him, I
“I’ve had a good dream, gentlemen,” he said in a strange voice, with a new
hidden, for as soon as he shows his face, love is gone.”
not present at the funeral, which took place the day before he came back.
laughing, ‘_Gott der Vater, Gott der Sohn_, and _Gott der heilige Geist_.
wondering how he, after all a man of intelligence, could have yielded to
it was all still far away and misty; it was all floating, and I was so
Man will be lifted up with a spirit of divine Titanic pride and the man‐
I have been watching you for the last month. I’ve watched you a hundred
anything.”
but with whom he had evidently had a feud.
She stopped speaking, as though suppressing something. She could not yet
voice, trembling with emotion. He had been silent till that moment.
so far as to speak somewhat contemptuously of Agrafena Alexandrovna as
lot of women, a whole row, all thin and wan, with their faces a sort of
the father of twelve children. Think of that!”
to reject him even as the civil law rejects him and cuts him off? What
unhappy brother. Intense, infinite compassion overwhelmed him instantly.
his son a bow as low in return. His face was suddenly solemn and
amazing question, than by going to Fyodor Pavlovitch. But that is just how
generation—to develop them, to be of use to them, and I assure you this
God, you are rebelling against Him; He hasn’t given promotion, He hasn’t
“Excuse me,” Dmitri cried suddenly; “if I’ve heard aright, crime must not
for the goose, and the fellow to have the goose. And he was warned not to
“What did it mean, falling at his feet like that? Was it symbolic or
important,” Madame Hohlakov cried, suddenly bursting into tears. “God
“And what if I hadn’t gone away then, but had informed against you?”
“When the day of the murder planned by Smerdyakov came, we have him
“God forbid!” cried Alyosha.
and the young novice Porfiry, who, exhausted by the previous night’s
tired. It was a wretched morning, the whole sky was overcast, and the rain
conceal from you that it is highly individual and contradicts all the
as though only just recollecting and understanding something.
He’ll be drunk, you know.”
father’s, he ate it. It made him feel stronger.
“Yes, formally and solemnly betrothed. It was all done on my arrival in
Another idea, too, forced itself upon him: “What if she loved neither of
killed a man, an old servant; and he flung away the pestle with a curse,
out and laid it on the table.
company and therefore could not have divided the three thousand in half
“This is the one who is a saint! This is the one who is a holy man!” some
“Oh, the devil!”
copecks. Give them, dear Father, to some one poorer than me. I thought as
forgotten what it’s called. A pound of what children are very fond of,
before Alyosha’s arrival; his visitors had gathered together in his cell
he really did shoot himself.
“And where did you get the needle and thread?”
with skepticism.
Agrafena Alexandrovna comes to see his father while I am ill, his honor
how well I know all about it! On the envelope is written: ‘To my angel,
perhaps have been saved by your light from his sin. And even though your
house. She spent only half an hour in the town but she did a great deal.
your sins to yourself unceasingly. Be not afraid of your sins, even when
Chapter I. The Fatal Day
mean Russia. _Tout cela c’est de la cochonnerie_.... Do you know what I
added, putting in the bullet and driving it home with the ramrod. “Pyotr
that the great idea may not die.”
had only just escaped a sound thrashing through Grigory’s intervention,
more from you, Rakitin.”
been extinguished long ago. Mihail Makarovitch and Kalganov, who had been
effect of the closing scene of the criminal’s acquittal. That he would be
same thought and the same hope, even those whose intellects Alyosha
him I told you. Don’t tell him, for anything.”
Mitya seized ten roubles and handed it to Pyotr Ilyitch, then tossed
the journey, and as a first installment, and two thousand five hundred to‐
had predicted he would. And afterwards Katerina Ivanovna, learning more
new principles. In that sense, ‘all things are lawful’ for him. What’s
looking at the bottle. “The old woman’s poured it out in the kitchen and
dirty trick, and ever since I have hated him.”
silence who has been mentioned already, as antagonistic to Father Zossima
So you see the miracles you were looking out for just now have come to
“I ask you for the second time—need I take off my shirt or not?” he said,
water, Alexey Fyodorovitch, I remember the name now, but it’s a splendid
I want my money myself,” cried the old man, waving his hand. “I’ll crush
sausage....”
downwards on the ground, he sobbed like a little child, shaken by his
expenses. I will only say that this business took a whole hour, but Ivan
intellect to them.”
repulsion. I won’t enlarge on this fact or analyze it here, but confine
“Ah! You wanted to be sure? Well, what then?”
Zhutchka, your Zhutchka! Mamma, this is Zhutchka!” He was almost weeping.
open it over his victim’s corpse, for he would have known for certain that
“But he gained that glory not because he was an elder, but because he was
had found the missing word. His remark that the prisoner ought to have
the next room. The room in which they had been sitting till that moment
brought his fist violently on the table. “What do you mean by ‘something
hand. But Grushenka was continually sending him away from her.
everybody. The Tsar will reward me, I will come back here and then no one
on the eve of his departure for the next world, old Kuzma must sincerely
“He’s a brick, he’s a brick!” cried the other boys, and they began
“If I were able to play such a trick, that is, pretend to have a fit—and
she, too, was passing through an inward struggle, and was in a state of
At last it struck eleven and he made up his mind, once for all, that if
easy. Besides, every one in the prison, down to the humblest warder, had
loved her madly, though at times he hated her so that he might have
make your acquaintance. I’ve long been hoping for an opportunity, and have
pictures of English race‐horses, in black frames on the walls, an
old morality, and everything will begin anew. Men will unite to take from
arrest, Grushenka was taken very ill and was ill for nearly five weeks.
were simply dejected, not wanting him to be acquitted. Fetyukovitch
kill myself, because I loathe everything! I don’t want to live, because I
spitefully perverse.
talked to him, and he made a very different impression on me. He was weak
addressing the boy directly. “You’re not a human being. You grew from the
sometimes as a blue‐tit.”
preserved in writing. Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov wrote it down from
large chest covered with a rug, and instantly fell asleep.
“Doctor, doctor! But you see!” The captain flung wide his hands again
elders abused the sacrament of confession and so on and so on—absurd
wakes up he is perfectly well after it, but Marfa Ignatyevna always has a
dreams and, later on, in waking moments, by visions of evil spirits. When
his face; from time to time he raised his hand, as though to check the
that every one was in a bustle at the Plotnikovs’; “They’re carrying down
of many of them. The path Alyosha chose was a path going in the opposite
combing his hair just now; his hair’s like flax, and so thick....”
deep a reverence to them, and asked their blessing. The whole ceremony was
certainly not have killed any one. How then can I look upon the pestle as
small boy,” not fit to associate with them, and that was an unendurable
Karamazov whose copse you are buying.”
will cry, be with father,” Ilusha had told them as he lay dying, and the
him before he had thought about him at all. Suddenly he realized his
had now the strongest armor to protect him from every lust and temptation.
days. She was positively thinner. She did not hold out her hand to him. He
angel. It’s your decision will decide it. Perhaps it’s you that is
of shudder. “I had a hard life with my husband. He was an old man. He used
beautiful pale blue eyes, with an intelligent and sometimes even deep
his life, did any one dream of suspecting that he was the criminal. No one
“So that everything might be destroyed. Ah, how nice it would be if
not drunk, we know for a fact he’s had nothing to drink to‐day, but he
what stone is that?” Mitya persisted, like a peevish child.
And the old man almost climbed out of the window, peering out to the
themselves. And so I omit all the hypotheses. For what are we aiming at
“No, I was never such a flunkey! How then could my soul beget a flunkey
exceedingly excited state before his arrest, this might have been due to
“This is a mortal insult!” The little Pole turned as red as a crab, and he
he tells another person—and a person most closely interested, that is, the
prosecutor, Ippolit Kirillovitch, began his speech.
feeling.
and come to me there with Krassotkin in the evening ... and Perezvon ... I
your present kindness to me, an unprecedented kindness, worthy of your
“And do you really mean to marry her?”
“Stay,” cried Ivan, pondering. “What about the door? If he only opened the
“Then he’s expecting Grushenka to‐day?”
benefactor. But this strange trait in Alyosha’s character must not, I
“It ... it must be that envelope of my father’s, the envelope that
his affections in the town, suspecting that she would go to Fyodor
“He’s been drinking the whole day,” the forester chimed in.
could be so dishonorable, so inhuman! Why, he told that creature what
existence,’ the old man goes on, ‘the great spirit talked with Thee in the
for months. They said that he wore irons weighing thirty pounds under his
This was the third time that Ivan had been to see Smerdyakov since his
“You were not altogether joking. That’s true. The question is still
“Why should He forbid?” Ivan went on in the same whisper, with a malignant
Grushenka was the first to call for wine.
that you have to clear yourself, so she mustn’t hinder you, must not
Ivan walked on without stopping. Alyosha followed him.
embrace his murderer. I want to be there when every one suddenly
They began a third game, and by degrees the talk about Mitya died away.
with three horses harnessed abreast with bells, and with Andrey, the
“That’s how they ride in. They get on each other’s shoulders in the
mildness to be seen in it. Are you angry with some one? Have they been
he had really been a guilty accomplice, would he so readily have made this
foot forward, and playing with the tip of his polished boot.
there! I would have proposed to raise a subscription in his honor!
blamed himself for his outbursts of temper with his father on several
his elbow on the table, and laid his right cheek against his hand. Mitya
necessary to announce the fact to Smerdyakov beforehand. And if there is
must be noted that he really had meant to go home, and really had felt the
“You are mistaken about that woman. Dmitri—despises her,” said Alyosha,
the same, the thought was unendurable that you were alive knowing
their birth.
own will and yield it to him in complete submission, complete self‐
was admitted into the yard pretty quickly, but, in response to his inquiry
“Witness, your words are incomprehensible and impossible here. Calm
opportunity. Tea really was ready below, and was soon brought up. Mitya at
and a number of holy pictures in the corner. Before one huge ancient ikon
with insane hatred.
She’ll scrape up all the scrapings and load them on your head. They are
him, was distressed to see that his friend Rakitin was dishonorable, and
“Write it down, by all means. I know that’s another fact that tells
one laughed. You must forgive me, Alexey Fyodorovitch, I cannot think
Father Païssy’s heart. He was in haste to arm the boy’s mind for conflict
in the twenties married Polish women. That’s awful rot, isn’t it?”
syllables. It was, of course, only a bad, underbred habit that showed bad
him before he had thought about him at all. Suddenly he realized his
days. She was positively thinner. She did not hold out her hand to him. He
that if he could only obtain ready money he would be satisfied, although
and turning his inquiring eyes to each as he spoke, as though there were
expression with which he had entered vanished completely, and a look of
sought to cling to the ‘ideas of the people,’ or to what goes by that name
were not at Grushenka’s or in hiding at Foma’s (Alyosha spoke so freely on
from others. No doubt he liked to do so. Possibly his youthful imagination
mine. We will go out. I have a word to say to you in earnest, but not
him start, because half waking up towards daybreak that night he had cried
Fathers and teachers, I ponder, “What is hell?” I maintain that it is the
whole story, he completely changed his view of her. And strange to say,
Iosif in conclusion.
me.”
happened there last night, whether, by any chance, she went to Fyodor
make yourself responsible for all men’s sins, that is the truth, you know,
personal dignity. A supercilious and condescending smile played on his
“My dear fellow,” observed the visitor sententiously, “it’s better to get
Ways
for them all, so that the babe should weep no more, so that the dark‐
“Oh, yes, wandering, that’s what I say. Well, his wits went wandering and
am going away, and I was just thinking as I sat here how I could see you
least, a quarter of an hour ago, you exclaimed that you wanted to kill
Astounding news has reached the class,
“Strange, extremely strange!” Miüsov pronounced, not so much with heat as
But that he did not add. Did his conscience lead him to suicide and not to
the game they play when it’s light all night in summer.”
that you knew not the Lord, when you coveted the pigs’ food and were
it, but you may have sown an evil seed in him and it may grow, and all
friend. I have the honor to be his only friend!” she cried suddenly with a
and beating himself on the breast, on the spot where he had struck himself
time, of that conversation. He put that off till he had seen Smerdyakov,
fantastic notions took possession of his brain immediately after he had
there, and if so, what; and only to go to the police captain, as Pyotr
Miüsov severely. “That personage has granted us an audience, so to speak,
then he got up and went on.”
for on such occasions she leaves some for herself, and drinks it herself.
Mokroe two months before, he had simply stayed on and was still staying
sides. He was sitting in a parti‐colored, wadded dressing‐gown, rather
by to Ilusha. But on seeing that precious little face, which for the last
whether they would love him:
Perezvon,” said Smurov, with a sigh. “You know his father, the captain,
her old merchant, who’s lying ill now, paralyzed; but he’s leaving her a
Fyodor Pavlovitch has not only given over employing me, for another
neck. “My officer is coming, Rakitin, my officer is coming.”
know you went yesterday to that doctor ... well, what about your health?
began again, and every one concluded that the same thing would happen, as
people don’t know that side of me. I wrote a letter to the author,
money, he would go home and let the matter rest till next morning.
the Pole with the pipe observed to Maximov.
sideways to them and gazed at the wall, struggling against a feeling of
of a sudden he behaved so warmly, openly, and youthfully, with such
“You’re quite right in saying it’s characteristic of the people’s faith,”
lay snoring. The candle guttered and was about to go out. Mitya cried out,
stupid boy, good for nothing, and that I am ruined. But you left the
evidence.
pay the money back next day. On the prosecutor’s asking her emphatically
checked himself at once. “Forgive me, _panie_, it’s my fault again, he
blood!... But yet it was easier for him then. Then everything was over: he
when I had to make jokes for my living in noblemen’s families. I am an
should think it dishonorable to say. Ech! you can write it; you’ve nothing
thought. The thought that his victim might have become the wife of another
wanted to repay it me. He wanted to, that’s true; but he needed money for
house.... You know all that story, don’t you?”
approach.
“No, no, you really must see him ... it will amuse you. I brought him on
when every instinct of self‐preservation rises up in him at once and he
the window. Mitya slipped away into the shadow. Fyodor Pavlovitch opened
“And you don’t even suspect him?”
that smiled in greedy expectation, were all brightly lighted up by the
attribute to the prisoner conscious premeditation. I was firmly convinced
he was “going of himself” to see Ilusha. He felt that there must be some
“I’ll tell you. This Katya ... Ah! she is a charming, charming creature,
Do not love gold and silver, do not hoard them.... Have faith. Cling to
Distributed Proofreading Team at . (This
He could not go on. His eyes were glittering and he breathed with
“What of it?” Kolya thought fit to defend himself, though the praise was
one had pointed out something else, it was said that Alyosha had gathered
lips that were at times curved into something between a sneer and a smile.
he had property, and that he would be independent on coming of age. He
whenever he was absent at school, and when he came in, whined with
called frequently at the widow Morozov’s house, both from his own
himself, “I am a scoundrel”? And now he almost fancied that these
hermitage to the monastery, suddenly noticed Alyosha, lying face downwards
was aiming at; he must know for certain what was best for each, and having
reach his heart and instantly faded out of his mind and was forgotten.
brother, for there has been no presence in my life more precious, more
efforts to borrow the money. He described his visit to Samsonov, his
woman was suddenly repeated with Alyosha. He jumped up from his seat
“One picture, only one more, because it’s so curious, so characteristic,
“And you imagine he would have accepted such a deed as a substitute for
long ago. She will give you some lunch, too. You’ll give them something,
seemed at times ready to obey his son, though often extremely and even
it was some one’s tears, or my mother prayed to God, or a good angel
suddenly began staggering. “It’s something physical,” he thought with a
beating now ... or killing, perhaps?”
“No, not to say every word.”
inveterate buffoon, and have been from birth up, your reverence, it’s as
“Well, suddenly I received by post four thousand five hundred roubles. I
there are no meals provided for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. For Tuesday
in at us. But he had time to whisper to me:
surprised to hear that he had a little son in the house. The story may
made by their hands from them, to give it to them, without any miracle.
you. I understand, of course, in what character I am sitting before you.
of many of them. The path Alyosha chose was a path going in the opposite
put mamma and your sisters inside, we will cover them up and we’ll walk,
Grushenka, angel, give me your hand. Look at that charming soft little
“No, they’re all alike,” he added, and again he looked inquiringly at
You’re a quiet one, Alyosha, you’re a saint, I know, but the devil only
God, should serve me?” For the first time in my life this question forced
crime” have been gathered together at the house of the executive
a new expression came into his face.
of his soul, seeking for immediate action, and ready to sacrifice
far from being so simple as every one thought him. He awaited the day with
language, but Rakitin was done for. Captain Snegiryov’s evidence was a
So it’s a fortnight since he’s been here, and I kept wondering whether he
“You are lying. The object of your visit is to convince me of your
me that, Alexey. Goodness is one thing with me and another with a
honorably, so to speak, and that nobody would or could know. For though
smeared myself all over and it did me no good at all. In despair I wrote
catastrophe. ‘To‐morrow I shall try and borrow the money from every one,’
copecks. Give them, dear Father, to some one poorer than me. I thought as
me better, nothing to make me a man. These people have not given me to eat
muttered vaguely, but firmly, and obviously unwilling to say more.
thinking the old man really has a keen nose; he sniffed a crime. Your
inhabitants, and he would not come to harm, he would not die of cold and
he was not beside her in bed. She ran back to the bedstead and began
A strange grin contorted his lips.
to me—”
Sohn!”
Hamlets, but we still have our Karamazovs!”
road. And they did not speak again all the way home.
a long while betrothed to her, and I had met him indeed many times in her
you expect me to be open with such scoffers as you, who see nothing and
himself rather seriously. At the first moment he did not like Zossima.
was a shade of something like dread discernible in it. He had become
the Department of Finance, which is so badly off at present. The
did), and then from the Acts of the Apostles the conversion of St. Paul
to drive the second cart was pulling on his smock, stoutly maintaining
my own measures. You see, Alyosha, perhaps it really may happen that if I
triviality, the incompleteness, and the fantastic character of the
but I have taken life.” Children came. “How dare I love them, teach and
of his guilt. What’s more, I believe they would have been mortified if his
1.F.6.
habit one’s heart prizes them. Here they have brought the soup for you,
blood of the father murdered by his son, with the base motive of robbery!
altogether to my talented colleague from Petersburg. I will speak the
who’s just come with me; he’s always ready to do anything for me—‘whether
laughed blandly.
hands.
then I shall lose it of myself, I fancy. Some driveling consumptive
jealousy—and of whom? His father! And the worst of it was that the crazy
Book X. The Boys
cases, he put faith above all in change of place. If only it were not for
taken from his own words by Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov.
and drove all the disorderly women out of the house. In the end this
President reminded her, though very politely, that she must answer the
have sinned too much here. I’ve always been thinking who would pray for
“I’ve heard about that too, it’s dangerous. Krassotkin is an official
and take leave of every one. As the cell was so small the earlier visitors
despises Alyosha. But he doesn’t steal, that’s one thing, and he’s not a
“No, I’m not wrong, not at all!” Mitya flared up again, though his
token of sympathy, of a desire to assist him from me, Dmitri
was informed that Grigory, who had not been well for the last three days,
orator went on.
at the time.”
right, where the trunks and packages were kept, and there were two large
frightened at it. He wasn’t walking away from me with a resolute step, but
it she informed Alyosha of a strange and very opportune incident. It
reverence, both my cheeks feel as though they were drawn down to the lower
unavenged suffering and unsatisfied indignation, _even if I were wrong_.
leave their coats in there, because the room is small and hot.”
is not on that part of the breast, but below, and that he struck himself
shall open all your letters and read them, so you may as well be
a change in Trifon Borissovitch’s face and voice. So neither Mitya nor any
“I’ll do the business with you at a notary’s, or whatever it is ... in
the defense deigns to call only ‘the crucified lover of humanity,’ in
and I have only just read it in some collection of Russian antiquities.
Fenya. He sat, not reflecting but, as it were, terror‐stricken, benumbed.
and give it.” Alyosha smiled softly. “God will conquer!” he thought. “He
worse than a tom‐cat in love. At first she was only employed by him in
pale, she seemed to be cold, and wrapped herself closely in her
“But what if he did not kill him, but only knocked him down?”
to pack his trunk. At last his trunk and bag were ready. It was about nine
“I know, I only said it to finish the sentence. And don’t you ever deceive
public was restless: there were even exclamations of indignation.
of the skull with the corner of it. He didn’t even cry out. He only sank
_tête‐à‐tête_.
French words by heart. He has an exercise‐book under his pillow with the
almost believing it himself. He was so touched he was almost weeping. But
off, but you, even in an exceptional case, did not dare.”
the coat turned out to be really tight in the shoulders.
tells me that beforehand—warns me. He is planning to throw me over, that’s
would pray to the birds too, consumed by an all‐embracing love, in a sort
she said again ecstatically, taking his cold hand in her hot one, “I
“But I heard that the day before yesterday at Katerina Ivanovna’s he was
Nothing! To life, and to one queen of queens!”
praise, but of reproach. You didn’t understand it.”
sometimes calling you Alyosha; an old woman like me may take liberties,”
reason, simply at my word, it shows that you must have expected something
and I took it, although I could not at that time foresee that I should
“It’s here, sir, here, sir,” he muttered cringingly; “it’s here, you’ve
a failing voice, weak with happiness. “Listen, Alyosha. What will you wear
hand to be kissed.”
“In spirit.”
“Why are your fits getting worse?” asked Fyodor Pavlovitch, looking
voice as though she were chanting a dirge, swaying her head from side to
the one inevitable way out of his terrible position. That way out was
be admitted without difficulty. Things were managed in our little town, as
alone with the peasants, who stood in silence, never taking their eyes off
told him of those signals by which he could enter the house. Did he do
preceding the awful catastrophe, that broke so suddenly upon him.
Dmitri Fyodorovitch, in less than no time. I’ll make you a present of the
agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from both the Project
the rest of her life, I should be torturing and killing her too. I lay
disrespectful to the servant Grigory and his wife, who had cared for him
knowledge, even mamma’s, and I know how wrong it is. But I cannot live
Lion and the Sun. Don’t you know it?”
regarding it would inevitably change, not all at once of course, but
that he was solemnly asking his consent as his father. The old man knew
She clasped her hands.
“So that’s what you’re after! No, brother, that won’t do!”
fortnight later. But his visits had ended with that second one, so that it
comes to see a youngster like me and treats me as his equal.” And I
young man called Smerdyakov. Of these three we must say a few words. Of
“Oh, don’t take her name in vain! I’m a scoundrel to bring her into it.
question, and would you believe it, his resentment was genuine! But they
“It’s not a question of dreams now, gentlemen—this is realism, this is
“Look how pretty he is,” said Grushenka, taking Mitya up to him. “I was
“Well, I’m going away. You’ve had too much brandy.”
“Yes, together, together! Henceforward we shall be always together, all
clear to him. At last Miüsov felt completely humiliated and disgraced.
another with a transparent bright yellow stone, of great brilliance. And
Nikolay Parfenovitch immediately acted upon this hint. He again dismissed
head ached. It was a long time before he could wake up fully and
scoundrel to you. Forgive me! No, better not forgive me, you’ll be
“Yes, a brat. What is it to you if I’m late; if I’m late, you may be sure
a moment. He felt more and more oppressed by a strange physical weakness.
to them, if not far more, in the social relations of men, their
Rakitin evidently had something he was eager to speak of.
“It’s not a question of dreams now, gentlemen—this is realism, this is
them for it, no one raised his voice in protest, which was strange, for
“On the double!” shouted Mitya furiously.
pestle dropped in a most conspicuous place on the garden path. There were
And taking the topmost note from the bundle he held it out to Pyotr
“This is a mortal insult!” The little Pole turned as red as a crab, and he
drank little, only one glass of punch, and kept a sharp look‐out on
in defense of such natures, so often and so cruelly misunderstood—these
that Fyodor Pavlovitch went at night to the lodge to wake Grigory and
any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution
with her about it, telling her quite openly that it would not be at all a
since he had been lying unconscious till that moment? But there’s a limit
“The doctor has come!” cried Nina, who had been silent till then.
society, and did not once allow himself to call her Grushenka. In spite of
“Confound his sorrow! Well, where now? Am I to go on sitting here?”
only vouchsafed to the righteous man. Fear not the great nor the mighty,
but without waiting for a reply, burst in himself and ended by beating the
through which his soul has passed or will pass.
think of it! Ah, but you were here only four days ago, on Wednesday. You
“I was lieutenant in a line regiment, but still I was under supervision,
that creature, too. So he murdered his father, but he didn’t repay me, and
by his words.
comes from her. She is this and that, and that means that I am not. He
taken her for her daughter.”
if love does not gain the upper hand in a boy’s heart at such an
treachery to her son, though Dardanelov had, to judge from certain
with warm and bitter reproachfulness. “What I said, I repeat. I must have
entreaty.
been accepted by him as his ideal, that all his young strength and energy
that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are
“You’ve said so to yourself many times, when you’ve been alone during
She closed her eyes, exhausted, and suddenly fell asleep for an instant.
pale, with quivering voice and flashing eyes. “_Ici_, Perezvon!”
loved, that she was no more, that in killing her he had killed his love,
“You are awfully cross, because I don’t talk about holy things. I don’t
forbidding.
Chapter I. In The Servants’ Quarters
hour, according to our provincial notions. They passed through the “back‐
Alyosha, finding a clean towel, folded up and unused, by Ivan’s dressing‐
hands.
“Get along with you!” retorted Agafya, really angry this time. “Ridiculous
the station house, looked round, glanced at the overseer’s wife, and
his practice of silence he scarcely spoke a word to any one. What made him
the high school. I made up that anecdote and told it to a schoolfellow
give my full consent, gentlemen, only ... do you see?... Stay, stay, write
cause. The salvation of Russia comes from the people. And the Russian monk
“The fact is I didn’t give it to him, and it’s a long story,” answered
“The pestle was in my hand.”
“I don’t agree,” said Alyosha, with a faint smile.
Thursday: ‘It is unseemly by remitting the fast on the Holy Thursday to
bench, and from that action alone, Ivan knew instantly that he wanted
but what if he slandered him unconsciously? What if, finally unhinged by
“To be sure. Mitri here will.”
that is, not a husband but a baby.”
created a rebel; and how can rebels be happy? Thou wast warned,’ he says
began. I would not give an explanation, I could not ask forgiveness. I
“Why, you said just now ... you said ... you said it was as good as in my
Alyosha, tell your young lady not to be angry with me for what happened
room and it was extremely hot. The walls were gay with blue paper, which
“Karamazov,” cried Kolya, “can it be true what’s taught us in religion,
your character.... Even admitting that it was an action in the highest
towering rage and happened to come upon me. He dragged me out of the
“On the contrary, I am very happy. I’ve only just been reflecting for the
noble heart.’ And add, too, that Grushenka loved him only one hour, only
Chapter I. The Fatal Day
humbly at our feet. But that has been our doing. Was this what Thou didst?
secretly they simply love it. I for one love it.”
“Doctor ... your Excellency ... and will it be soon, soon?”
pick things up for at such moments? I don’t know what for. I snatched it
He bent his head, and hid his face in his hands. The lawyers were silent.
devils show them their horns from the other world. That, they say, is a
number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
Euclid’s geometry; they even dare to dream that two parallel lines, which
latter, anyway, noticed it at the same moment, started, and shrank back.
wrong place, a handkerchief on the floor, a book not replaced on the
Moscow by a fantastic notion of Katerina Ivanovna’s to which I have
exception, wondered how father and son could be so in love with “such a
none to spare for pity, that is beyond doubt. On the contrary, he would
“To Russia as she was before 1772.”
“You’re still asking whether she has been here or not?” Alyosha said
if you’ll allow me, I’ll wait below to hear what you decide about Dmitri
“How ‘naught’? You say that with all those thousands!”
“Women are often dishonorable,” she snarled. “Only an hour ago I was
Nina, Ilusha’s gentle, crippled sister, did not like her father’s
with some one,” he muttered.
the value of the letter, quite the contrary; he wrote when drunk what he
“Lise, I have a real sorrow! I’ll be back directly, but I have a great,
nurse the afflicted. I would be ready to kiss such wounds.”
“Now, listen and remember. In an hour’s time the wine will arrive,
out—am I going to wake up the household and make a scandal? Fooh! damn it,
again, I yield to no one the defense of the criminal. I am here to accuse
that legend, but let it be so, let us suppose it for a moment. Gentlemen,
eloquence of the defense, but yet weigh the arguments. Remember that there
And besides, how many of those elect, those mighty ones who could become
“No, thank you. I’ll take that roll with me if I may,” said Alyosha, and
of anything. He went once to the theater, but returned silent and
anything. I’ll tell you what I want from you. I want to know your own last
He who created them rebels must have meant to mock at them. They will say
thought she could bewitch Grushenka if she liked, and she believed it
not to admit him.
man going to love then? To whom will he be thankful? To whom will he sing
“He aimed it at you, he meant it for you. You are Karamazov, Karamazov!”
all—the publicity. The story has been told a million times over in all the
a difference, you know. And how do you know? I may not be going to make it
even began challenging him to act upon it. The others repelled the idea
been serious. Alyosha listened with distress, and was beginning to
“What strikes you as so strange?” Father Iosif inquired cautiously.
hands on his shoulders. His face became suddenly quite pale, so that it
suspected it was because of that! Oh, he is a brute! He was always
Then he got up and went away. He was only here five minutes. Did he
scene), and he is able to forgive infidelity almost conclusively proved,
window. I remember that very well. I ran across the garden to the fence
eyes of the President and the prosecutor, grew more and more pompous, and
Chapter VI. Precocity
“_And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have
it.” Smerdyakov looked resolutely at Ivan. He was very weak and spoke
an incredible degree of nervous curiosity. His eyes looked starting out of
after we are thirty, indeed, there may be nothing else to stand on.... But
lying on a truckle‐bed in a separate ward. There was only one other bed in
the world)—this time, I say, Trifonov brought nothing back from the fair.
always wore a number of big, glittering rings. When he was engaged in his
“Yes. But not from my father. Not from my father, don’t be uneasy. I
she sent for me a month ago, gave me three thousand roubles to send off to
“All right, all right....”
Katerina Ivanovna went into a fit of hysterics. She sobbed, and was shaken
“But if he has killed him already?”
Compromise between the Church and State in such questions as, for
share his elder brother’s gloomy and destructive theory of life. He has
to‐day! Do you hear?”
sensitively conscious of his insignificance in the presence of the
of robbery is an absurdity, as I proved before. And it was not to murder
such passionate faith in their work, their truth, their struggle and their
lived in, and rarely entered any of the other rooms in his abode.
feeling. Can a Russian peasant be said to feel, in comparison with an
dark. Alyosha came out of the town and walked across the fields to the
mother actually was the mother of Ivan too.
Here Ippolit Kirillovitch described at length the prisoner’s fatal passion
Once it went on for three days. I fell from the garret that time. The
unconsoled, hiding his face in his hands in an agony of remorse for his
quite exceptional and almost approaching ecstasy.
say more of the stinking son of Stinking Lizaveta! God will kill him, you
that there is no one else at all? We’ve heard the prosecutor count on his
She could not control herself before Alyosha; perhaps she did not care to,
it, since he’s been ill, I’ve three times heard him repeat with tears,
straight out,” said Ivan, irritably. “I must wait till sentence is passed
for he knew the men surrounding him, well. He was not shaken by it, but
Poles, though he had formed no definite conception of them yet.
The prosecutor started like a war‐horse at the sound of a trumpet.
of the skull with the corner of it. He didn’t even cry out. He only sank
his meat, and everything he ate. He would hold a piece on his fork to the
you a few minutes,” he said, addressing all his guests. “I have visitors
communicates a copy of this same “Committal” to the deputy prosecutor, and
so, even should he be unable to return to the monastery that night.
P.P.S.—I kiss your feet, farewell! P.P.P.S.—Katya, pray to God
Alyosha showed no particular emotion at the sight of his mother’s grave.
with her forehead to the floor. She jumped up and ran away. I was wearing
led, that the poor blind creatures may at least on the way think
his mistrustfulness.
“Dear, dear!” kept exclaiming the captain. Kolya sat down again on the
Andrey was, as a rule, a talkative peasant, he did not utter a word,
loved. She was ready to drown herself then, but the old merchant saved
To this I reply again, “Yes! my hero had faith, a faith holy and
stifle them in myself, to still them, to smother them. Ivan is not
smile.
“Well, suddenly I received by post four thousand five hundred roubles. I
“Drink some water,” said the investigating lawyer softly, for the tenth
or salt cabbage and wholemeal stirabout. On Saturday white cabbage soup,
with our inquiry, I should like, if you will consent to answer, to hear
Grushenka an I.O.U. of mine for her to sue me for payment, so as to put an
rapidity, his wrathful, savage face changed, his tightly compressed lips
the same dream as me. You never lie to me, don’t lie now: is it true? You
any distance, it would begin, I think, flying round the earth without
my dear boys, let us all be generous and brave like Ilusha, clever, brave
Suddenly he let go of the bell, turned back with a curse, and walked with
about Ilusha, though all that day the boys had been jeering at him at
of course, did not think of this; but though he was fascinated, yet he
forehead, he read a short prayer over her, and she was at once soothed and
Mitya.... ‘Everything that is true and good is always full of
smile, and turning his face to Ivan again, he stared at him with a look of
Chapter V. The Third Ordeal
admitted to the cell felt that a great favor was being shown him. Many
to every one: Ilusha started, lurched violently forward, bent over
to press you to tell me what facts have led you to this conviction of your
He accepted his schoolfellows’ respect as his due, but was friendly with
had appeared at that time. He comes on the scene in my poem, but He says
terrible. It was, I repeat, difficult to notice every detail. What
“They don’t let convicts marry, do they?” he repeated for the third time
‘indulging.’ Sit down. I could take you in my arms, Alyosha, and press you
them.”
man, I believe, of three and twenty, who repented and was converted to the
pardon, to blame himself, to say something, for his heart was full and he
at him. “No fear. I am sending you to father, and I know what I’m saying.
and whom he honored above every one in the world. He went into Father
mankind, don’t you think so? Voltaire didn’t believe in God and loved
the lamp‐post this evening and shouted to him, ‘You learnt it from _him_!
Scripture history then with excellent pictures, called _A Hundred and Four
a shaking voice from Alyosha’s breast, and he raised his right hand in the
“This is the one who is a saint! This is the one who is a holy man!” some
minute and then cheerful and then irritable again. And you know, Alyosha,
was passing outside the cell, he gauged most of it correctly in his heart,
And Ivan, on parting from Alyosha, went home to Fyodor Pavlovitch’s house.
They crossed the market‐place, in which at that hour were many loaded
was the largest room, and furnished with old‐fashioned ostentation. The
staying at the hotel. Our visitors were at once surrounded by beggars, but
accursed, and am cut off from the Holy Church, exactly as though I were a
sentenced. At the gate of the house Alyosha was met by the shouts of the
further, but from Ippolit Kirillovitch’s eyes he saw that he had not given
helpless entreaty. “You will make me weep if you delay what you have so
“Do you know, Alyosha,” he peeped inquisitively into his eyes, absorbed in
“Yes, but he talked in the taverns of murdering his father, and two days
exclaimed frantically.
had this fatal pestle in his hand, he would have only knocked his father
letters from relations were habitually taken to the elder, to be opened
Ivan from where he stood. But the latter rose from his seat, went up to
learned a great deal that was profitable from him, for he was a man of
Euclid’s geometry; they even dare to dream that two parallel lines, which
lying in a box. And afterwards I suggested to Fyodor Pavlovitch, as I was
arrest him. He hadn’t time to prepare any line of defense in his mind. He
that exist of itself, or is it only an emanation of myself, a logical
too; cutting the unborn child from the mother’s womb, and tossing babies
have a drop of brandy? Take some cold coffee and I’ll pour a quarter of a
him strangest of all was that his brother Ivan, on whom alone he had
were ill. Thinks I, I’ll go and see him for myself. Now I see you, and
I can’t bear liqueurs. And best of all, you’ve come yourself. We were
“Who put that pillow under my head? Who was so kind?” he cried, with a
degree discreditable, still, discreditable is not ‘disgraceful.’... Many
dissolving into hysterical tears, she used to reproach him with his
comes to see a youngster like me and treats me as his equal.” And I
“Grushenka? I shall see her. I shall rush out and prevent it.”
“And does the shot burn?” he inquired.
else. Ach, don’t speak, don’t say anything,” she shook her hand at him,
to introduce her to you. She is a heavenly angel incarnate ... who has
great secret.”
to find out what his father had been doing above. Then he set off,
future ... and let us be honest, let us be good, not brutes, but good ...
I met in the town of K. my old orderly, Afanasy. It was eight years since
One day, quite unexpectedly indeed, after he had been talking with great
exception, wondered how father and son could be so in love with “such a
followed Ivan.
to laugh, for that’s not a thing to laugh at.’ ”
“What meanness? As for her spying on her daughter, it’s her right, it’s
filled his soul. “Shall I go at once and give information against
boys, from this day forth, I have a place in my heart for you all, and I
feeling. Can a Russian peasant be said to feel, in comparison with an
... that is like me alone. That was a mistake, like me alone, me alone!...
triumph. Oh! it was clear she had studied every line of that letter and
voice, a woman’s, suddenly asked insinuatingly and bashfully, though with
lay here, shut my eyes, and wondered, would it be the proper thing or not.
Mokroe had soon disappeared. But Grushenka was surprised at their meeting
but there was a resolute gleam in her dark and gloomy eyes. I may remark
you? Where have you been?”
down seemed burning and rankling in his soul. His pride above all suffered
little....”
up his unpaid debts to get him thrown into prison.
he is so open‐hearted beforehand? Any one can see that.”
scrupulously twice a day invariably, and was very fond of cleaning his
Ach, Vanka’s gone to Petersburg;
years. His linen and his long scarf‐like neck‐tie were all such as are
marvelous. Yet the whole still stands steadfast before their eyes, and the
the prisoner in the room set aside for the purpose were practically
dissipation of one night. But if he has not money, he will show what he is
glasses on a tray. Mitya snatched up the bottle, but he was so bewildered
Fyodor Pavlovitch got excited and pathetic, though it was perfectly clear
and recover his strength, but he was in a sort of ecstasy. They heard him
your character.... Even admitting that it was an action in the highest
“I could have done better than that. I could have known more than that, if
long been whispering. They had long before formulated this damning
actors, while in these games the young people are the actors themselves.