The Brothers Karamazov (Ignat Avsey) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Author:Fyodor Dostoyevsky [Dostoyevsky, Fyodor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780199536375
Amazon: 0199536376
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2008-08-01T23:00:00+00:00

5

A SUDDEN DECISION

FENYA and her grandmother were sitting in the kitchen together, and were about to go to bed. Relying on Nazar Ivanovich, they had not bothered to lock the door on the inside. Mitya burst in, ran towards Fenya, and grabbed her tightly by the throat.

‘Tell me this instant! Where is she, who’s she gone to Mokroye with?’ he yelled, quite beside himself.

Both women let out a shriek.

‘Oh, I will, oh, Dmitry Fyodorovich dear, I’ll tell you everything, I won’t keep anything back from you,’ spluttered Fenya, in fear for her life. ‘She’s gone to Mokroye, to the officer.’

‘What officer?’ yelled Mitya.

‘The one she used to know, that same officer of hers she knew five years ago, the one that left her and went away,’ Fenya spluttered on.

Dmitry Fyodorovich released his grip on her throat. He stood before her, pale as death, without saying a word, but from his eyes one could tell that he had understood everything in a flash, absolutely everything, down to the last detail; as soon as she opened her mouth, he had guessed everything. Of course, poor Fenya was in no state at that moment to notice whether he had guessed or not. She remained petrified, sitting on the wooden chest, as she had been when he had just burst in, and was trembling all over, both her arms outstretched as if to protect herself. She stared at him motionless, her pupils dilated in terror. To make matters worse, both his hands were covered in blood. And while running, he must have kept touching his forehead and wiping the sweat off his face, with the result that both his forehead and his right cheek were smeared with blood. Fenya was close to hysterics. The old cook had leapt to her feet and was looking at him as though stupefied, almost out of her mind. Dmitry Fyodorovich stood still for about a minute, and then suddenly slumped down into the chair next to Fenya.

He sat, not like one lost in thought, but as though terrified out of his wits. Now everything was as clear as daylight: this officer—he knew about him, he knew absolutely everything, for Grushenka herself had told him that he had sent her a letter a month ago. And so for a month, a whole month, this affair had been conducted completely on the quiet, right up to the arrival of the officer, and he had not even given him a moment’s thought! But how, how was it possible that he had not even considered him? Why had he simply disregarded this officer, forgotten him as soon as he had found out about him? This was the question that confronted him now in all its enormity. And, as he contemplated the awesome nature of the question, he grew cold from fear.

But suddenly he addressed Fenya softly, patiently, like a gentle, friendly child, as though he had completely forgotten that he had frightened and insulted her and caused her so much distress just a moment ago.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.