I think I understand it all now, said Alyosha gently and sorrowfully, still keeping his seat. So your boy is a good boy, he loves his father, and he attacked me as the brother of your assailant. Now I understand it, he repeated thoughtfully. But my brother Dmitri Fyodorovitch regrets his action, I know that, and if only it is possible for him to come to you, or better still, to meet you in that same place, he will ask your forgiveness before every oneif you wish it.
After pulling out my beard, you mean, he will ask my forgiveness? And he thinks that will be a satisfactory finish, doesnt he?
Oh, no! On the contrary, he will do anything you like and in any way you like.
So if I were to ask his highness to go down on his knees before me in that very tavernThe Metropolis its calledor in the marketplace, he would do it?
Yes, he would even go down on his knees.
Youve pierced me to the heart, sir. Touched me to tears and pierced me to the heart! I am only too sensible of your brothers generosity. Allow me to introduce my family, my two daughters and my sonmy litter. If I die, who will care for them, and while I live who but they will care for a wretch like me? Thats a great thing the Lord has ordained for every man of my sort, sir. For there must be some one able to love even a man like me.
Ah, thats perfectly true! exclaimed Alyosha.
Oh, do leave off playing the fool! Some idiot comes in, and you put us to shame! cried the girl by the window, suddenly turning to her father with a disdainful and contemptuous air.
Wait a little, Varvara! cried her father, speaking peremptorily but looking at her quite approvingly. Thats her character, he said, addressing Alyosha again.
And in all nature there was naught
That could find favor in his eyes
or rather in the feminine: that could find favor in her eyes. But now let me present you to my wife, Arina Petrovna. She is crippled, she is fortythree; she can move, but very little. She is of humble origin. Arina Petrovna, compose your countenance. This is Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov. Get up, Alexey Fyodorovitch. He took him by the hand and with unexpected force pulled him up. You must stand up to be introduced to a lady. Its not the Karamazov, mamma, who hm etcetera, but his brother, radiant with modest virtues. Come, Arina Petrovna, come, mamma, first your hand to be kissed.
Ah, thats perfectly true! exclaimed Alyosha.
Oh, do leave off playing the fool! Some idiot comes in, and you put us to shame! cried the girl by the window, suddenly turning to her father with a disdainful and contemptuous air.
Wait a little, Varvara! cried her father, speaking peremptorily but looking at her quite approvingly. Thats her character, he said, addressing Alyosha again.
And in all nature there was naught
That could find favor in his eyes
or rather in the feminine: that could find favor in her eyes. But now let me present you to my wife, Arina Petrovna. She is crippled, she is fortythree; she can move, but very little. She is of humble origin. Arina Petrovna, compose your countenance. This is Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov. Get up, Alexey Fyodorovitch. He took him by the hand and with unexpected force pulled him up. You must stand up to be introduced to a lady. Its not the Karamazov, mamma, who hm etcetera, but his brother, radiant with modest virtues. Come, Arina Petrovna, come, mamma, first your hand to be kissed.
And he kissed his wifes hand respectfully and even tenderly. The girl at the window turned her back indignantly on the scene; an expression of extraordinary cordiality came over the haughtily inquiring face of the woman.
Good morning! Sit down, Mr. Tchernomazov, she said.
Karamazov, mamma, Karamazov. We are of humble origin, he whispered again.
Well, Karamazov, or whatever it is, but I always think of Tchernomazov. Sit down. Why has he pulled you up? He calls me crippled, but I am not, only my legs are swollen like barrels, and I am shriveled up myself. Once I used to be so fat, but now its as though I had swallowed a needle.
We are of humble origin, the captain muttered again.
Oh, father, father! the hunchback girl, who had till then been silent on her chair, said suddenly, and she hid her eyes in her handkerchief.
Buffoon! blurted out the girl at the window.
Have you heard our news? said the mother, pointing at her daughters. Its like clouds coming over; the clouds pass and we have music again. When we were with the army, we used to have many such guests. I dont mean to make any comparisons; every one to their taste. The deacons wife used to come then and say, Alexandr Alexandrovitch is a man of the noblest heart, but Nastasya Petrovna, she would say, is of the brood of hell. Well, I said, thats a matter of taste; but you are a little spitfire. And you want keeping in your place, says she. You black sword, said I, who asked you to teach me? But my breath, says she, is clean, and yours is unclean. You ask all the officers whether my breath is unclean. And ever since then I had it in my mind. Not long ago I was sitting here as I am now, when I saw that very general come in who came here for Easter, and I asked him: Your Excellency, said I, can a ladys breath be unpleasant? Yes, he answered; you ought to open a windowpane or open the door, for the air is not fresh here. And they all go on like that! And what is my breath to them? The dead smell worse still! I wont spoil the air, said I, Ill order some slippers and go away. My darlings, dont blame your own mother! Nikolay Ilyitch, how is it I cant please you? Theres only Ilusha who comes home from school and loves me. Yesterday he brought me an apple. Forgive your own motherforgive a poor lonely creature! Why has my breath become unpleasant to you?
And the poor mad woman broke into sobs, and tears streamed down her cheeks. The captain rushed up to her.
Mamma, mamma, my dear, give over! You are not lonely. Every one loves you, every one adores you. He began kissing both her hands again and tenderly stroking her face; taking the dinnernapkin, he began wiping away her tears. Alyosha fancied that he too had tears in his eyes. There, you see, you hear? he turned with a sort of fury to Alyosha, pointing to the poor imbecile.
I see and hear, muttered Alyosha.
Father, father, how can youwith him! Let him alone! cried the boy, sitting up in his bed and gazing at his father with glowing eyes.
Do give over fooling, showing off your silly antics which never lead to anything! shouted Varvara, stamping her foot with passion.
Your anger is quite just this time, Varvara, and Ill make haste to satisfy you. Come, put on your cap, Alexey Fyodorovitch, and Ill put on mine. We will go out. I have a word to say to you in earnest, but not within these walls. This girl sitting here is my daughter Nina; I forgot to introduce her to you. She is a heavenly angel incarnate who has flown down to us mortals,if you can understand.
There he is shaking all over, as though he is in convulsions! Varvara went on indignantly.
And she there stamping her foot at me and calling me a fool just now, she is a heavenly angel incarnate too, and she has good reason to call me so. Come along, Alexey Fyodorovitch, we must make an end.
And, snatching Alyoshas hand, he drew him out of the room into the street.
Chapter VII.
And in the Open Air
The air is fresh, but in my apartment it is not so in any sense of the word. Let us walk slowly, sir. I should be glad of your kind interest.
I too have something important to say to you, observed Alyosha, only I dont know how to begin.
To be sure you must have business with me. You would never have looked in upon me without some object. Unless you come simply to complain of the boy, and thats hardly likely. And, by the way, about the boy: I could not explain to you in there, but here I will describe that scene to you. My tow was thicker a week agoI mean my beard. Thats the nickname they give to my beard, the schoolboys most of all. Well, your brother Dmitri Fyodorovitch was pulling me by my beard, Id done nothing, he was in a towering rage and happened to come upon me. He dragged me out of the tavern into the marketplace; at that moment the boys were coming out of school, and with them Ilusha. As soon as he saw me in such a state he rushed up to me. Father, he cried, father! He caught hold of me, hugged me, tried to pull me away, crying to my assailant, Let go, let go, its my father, forgive him!yes, he actually cried forgive him. He clutched at that hand, that very hand, in his little hands and kissed it. I remember his little face at that moment, I havent forgotten it and I never shall!
I swear, cried Alyosha, that my brother will express his most deep and sincere regret, even if he has to go down on his knees in that same marketplace. Ill make him or he is no brother of mine!
Aha, then its only a suggestion! And it does not come from him but simply from the generosity of your own warm heart. You should have said so. No, in that case allow me to tell you of your brothers highly chivalrous soldierly generosity, for he did give expression to it at the time. He left off dragging me by my beard and released me: You are an officer, he said, and I am an officer, if you can find a decent man to be your second send me your challenge. I will give satisfaction, though you are a scoundrel. Thats what he said. A chivalrous spirit indeed! I retired with Ilusha, and that scene is a family record imprinted for ever on Ilushas soul. No, its not for us to claim the privileges of noblemen. Judge for yourself. Youve just been in our mansion, what did you see there? Three ladies, one a cripple and weakminded, another a cripple and hunchback and the third not crippled but far too clever. She is a student, dying to get back to Petersburg, to work for the emancipation of the Russian woman on the banks of the Neva. I wont speak of Ilusha, he is only nine. I am alone in the world, and if I die, what will become of all of them? I simply ask you that. And if I challenge him and he kills me on the spot, what then? What will become of them? And worse still, if he doesnt kill me but only cripples me: I couldnt work, but I should still be a mouth to feed. Who would feed it and who would feed them all? Must I take Ilusha from school and send him to beg in the streets? Thats what it means for me to challenge him to a duel. Its silly talk and nothing else.
He will beg your forgiveness, he will bow down at your feet in the middle of the marketplace, cried Alyosha again, with glowing eyes.
I did think of prosecuting him, the captain went on, but look in our code, could I get much compensation for a personal injury? And then Agrafena Alexandrovna[3] sent for me and shouted at me: Dont dare to dream of it! If you proceed against him, Ill publish it to all the world that he beat you for your dishonesty, and then you will be prosecuted. I call God to witness whose was the dishonesty and by whose commands I acted, wasnt it by her own and Fyodor Pavlovitchs? And whats more, she went on, Ill dismiss you for good and youll never earn another penny from me. Ill speak to my merchant too (thats what she calls her old man) and he will dismiss you! And if he dismisses me, what can I earn then from any one? Those two are all I have to look to, for your Fyodor Pavlovitch has not only given over employing me, for another reason, but he means to make use of papers Ive signed to go to law against me. And so I kept quiet, and you have seen our retreat. But now let me ask you: did Ilusha hurt your finger much? I didnt like to go into it in our mansion before him.