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So she wouldnt kiss her hand! So she didnt kiss it; so she ran away! he kept exclaiming with hysterical delight; insolent delight it might have been called, if it had not been so spontaneous. So the other one called her tigress! And a tigress she is! So she ought to be flogged on a scaffold! Yes, Yes, so she ought. Thats just what I think; she ought to have been long ago. Its like this, brother, let her be punished, but I must get better first. I understand the queen of impudence. Thats her all over! You saw her all over in that hand-kissing, the she-devil! Shes the queen of all she-devils you can imagine in the world! Shes magnificent in her own line! So she ran home? Ill goahIll run to her! Alyosha, dont blame me, I agree that hanging is too good for her. But Katerina Ivanovna! exclaimed Alyosha sorrowfully. I see her, too! I see right through her, as Ive never done before! Its a regular discovery of the four continents of the world, that is, of the five! What a thing to do! Thats just like Katya, who was not afraid to face a coarse, unmannerly officer and risk a deadly insult on a generous impulse to save her father! But the pride, the recklessness, the defiance of fate, the unbounded defiance! You say that aunt tried to stop her? That aunt, you know, is overbearing, herself. Shes the sister of the generals widow in Moscow, and even more stuck-up than she. But her husband was caught stealing government money. He lost everything, his estate and all, and the proud wife had to lower her colours, and hasnt raised them since. So she tried to prevent Katya, but she wouldnt listen to her! She thinks she can overcome everything, that everything will give way to her. She thought she could bewitch Grushenka if she liked, and she believed it herself; she plays a part to herself, and whose fault is it? Do you think she kissed Grushenkas hand first, on purpose, with a motive? No, she really was fascinated by Grushenka, thats to say, not by Grushenka, but by her own dream, her own delusionbecause it was her dream, her delusion! Alyosha, darling, how did you escape from them, those women? Did you pick up your cassock and run? Ha,ha, ha! Brother, you dont seem to have noticed how youve insulted Katerina Ivanovna by telling Grushenka about that day. And she flung it in her face just now that she had gone to gentlemen in secret to sell her beauty! Brother, what could be worse than that insult? What worried Alyosha more than anything was that, incredible as it seemed, his brother appeared pleased at Katerina Ivanovnas humiliation. Bah! Dmitri frowned fiercely, and struck his forehead with his hand. He only now realised it, though Alyosha had just told him of the insult, and Katerina Ivanovnas cry: Your brother is a scoundrel! Yes, perhaps, I really did tell Grushenka about that fatal day, as Katya calls it. Yes, I did tell her, I remember! It was that time at Mokroe. I was drunk, the gipsies were singing. But I was sobbing. I was sobbing then, kneeling and praying to Katyas image, and Grushenka understood it. She understood it all then. I remember, she cried herself. Damn it all! But its bound to be so now. Then she cried, but now the dagger in the heart! Thats how women are. He looked down and sank into thought. Yes, I am a scoundrel, a thorough scoundrel! he said suddenly, in a gloomy voice. It doesnt matter whether I cried or not, Im a scoundrel! Tell her I accept the name, if thats any comfort. Come, thats enough. Good-bye. Its no use talking! Its not amusing. You go your way and I mine. And I dont want to see you again except as a last resource. Good-bye, Alexey! He warmly pressed Alyoshas hand, and still looking down, without raising his head, as though tearing himself away, turned rapidly towards the town. Alyosha looked after him, unable to believe he would go away so abruptly. |
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