“Yes, it is better.”

“That’s what your monk taught you. That’s not true. Let me be rich and all the rest poor, I’ll est sweets and drink cream and not give any to any one else. Ach, don’t speak, don’t say anything,” she shook her hand at him, though Alyosha had not opened his mouth. “You’ve told me all that before, I know it all by heart. It bores me. If I am ever poor, I shall murder somebody, and even if I am rich, I may murder some one, perhaps—why do nothing! But do you know, I should like to reap, cut the rye? I’ll marry you, and you shall become a peasant, a real peasant; we’ll keep a colt shall we? Do you know Kalganov?”

“Yes.”

“He is always wandering about, dreaming. He says, why live in real life, it’s better to dream. One can dream the most delightful things, but real life is a bore. But he’ll be married soon for all that, he’s been making love to me already. Can you spin tops?”

“Yes.”

“Well, he’s just like a top: he wants to be wound up and set spinning and then to be lashed, lashed with a whip. If I marry him. I’ll keep him spinning all his life. You are not ashamed to be with me?”

“No.”

“You are awfully cross, because I don’t talk about holy things. I don’t want to be holy. What will they do to one in the next world for the greatest sin? You must know all about that.”

“God will censure you.” Alyosha was watching her steadily.

“That’s just what I should like. I would go up and they would censure me and I would burt out laughing in their faces. I should dreadfully like to set fire to the house, Alyosha, to our house, you still don’t believe me?”

“Why? There are children of twelve years old, who have a longing to set fire to something and they do set things or fire to. It’s a sort of disease.”

“That’s not true, that’s not true, there may be children, but that’s not what I mean.”

“You take evil for good; it’s a passing crisis, its the result of your illness perhaps.”

“You do despise me though! It’s simply that I don’t want to do good, I want to do evil, and it has nothing to do with illness.”

“Why do evil?”

“So that everything might be destroyed. Ah, how nice it would be if everything were destroyed! You know, Alyosha, I sometimes think of doing a fearful lost of harm and everything bad, and I should do it for a long while on the sly and suddenly every one would find it out. Every one will stand round and point their fingers at me and I would look at them all. That would be awfully nice. Why would it be so nice, Alyosha?”

“I don’t know. It’s a craving to destroy something good or as you say, to set fire to something. It happens sometimes.”

“I not only say it, I shall do it.”

“I believe you.”