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056 - Book Nine Chapter Two · Brothers Karamazov

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty six of the Brothers Karametzov by Fayodor Dostoyevsky,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Constance Garnet. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain recording by Tony Addison, Chapter two, The Alarm
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  Speaker 1: A Please. Captain Mihail Makarovitch. Makaroff, a retired lieutenant colonel,
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  Speaker 1: was a widower and an excellent man. He had only
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  Speaker 1: come to us three years previously, but had one general
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  Speaker 1: esteem cheaply because he knew how to keep society together.
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  Speaker 1: He was never without visitors and could not have got
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  Speaker 1: on without them. Some one or other was always dining
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  Speaker 1: with him. He never sat down to table without guests.
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  Speaker 1: He gave regular dinners too, on all sorts of occasions,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes most surprising ones. Though the fare was not a rachechet,
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  Speaker 1: it was abundant, the fish pies were excellent, and the
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  Speaker 1: wine made up in quantity for what it lacked in quality.
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  Speaker 1: The first room his guests entered was a well fitted
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  Speaker 1: billiard room with pictures of English race horses in black
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  Speaker 1: frames on the walls, an essential decoration, as we all
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  Speaker 1: know for a bachelor's billiard room. There was card playing
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  Speaker 1: every evening at his house, if only at one table,
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  Speaker 1: but at frequent intervals all the society of Atan, with
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  Speaker 1: the mamas and young ladies, assembled at his house to dance.
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  Speaker 1: Though Mihail Makarovitch was a widower, he did not live alone.
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  Speaker 1: His widowed daughter lived with him with her two unmarried daughters,
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  Speaker 1: grown up girls who had finished their education. They were
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  Speaker 1: of agreeable appearance and lively character. And though Eberon knew
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  Speaker 1: they would have no dowry, they attracted all the young
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  Speaker 1: men of fashion to their grandfather's house. Mihail Makarovitch or
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  Speaker 1: was by no means very efficient in his work, though
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  Speaker 1: he performed his duties no worse than many others. To
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  Speaker 1: speak plainly, he was a man of rather narrow education.
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  Speaker 1: His understanding of the limits of his administrative power could
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  Speaker 1: not always be realed upon. It was not so much
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  Speaker 1: that he failed to grasp certain reforms enacted during the
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  Speaker 1: present reign, as that he made the conspicuous blunders in
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  Speaker 1: his interpretation of them. This was not from any special
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  Speaker 1: lack of intelligence, but from carelessness, for he was always
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  Speaker 1: in too great a hurry to go into the subject.
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  Speaker 1: I have the heart of a soldier rather than of
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  Speaker 1: a civilian. He used to say of himself, he had
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  Speaker 1: not even formed a definite idea of the fundamental principles
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  Speaker 1: of the reforms connected with the emancipation of the serfs,
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  Speaker 1: and only picked it up, so to speak, from year
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  Speaker 1: to year, involuntarily increasing his knowledge by practice. And yet
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  Speaker 1: he was himself a landowner. Ilyitch knew for certain that
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  Speaker 1: he would meet a sum of Mihail Makarovitch's visitors there
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  Speaker 1: that evening, but he didn't know which. As it happened,
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  Speaker 1: at that moment, the prosecutor and Varvinsky, our district doctor,
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  Speaker 1: a young man who had only just come to us
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  Speaker 1: from Petersburg after taking a brilliant degree at the Academy
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  Speaker 1: of Medicine, were playing whist at the police captain's epolet Ikirillovitch.
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  Speaker 1: The prosecutor, he was really the deputy prosecutor, but we
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  Speaker 1: always called him the prosecutor, was rather a peculiar man
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  Speaker 1: of about five and thirty, inclined to be consumptive and
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  Speaker 1: married to a fat and childless woman. He was vain
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  Speaker 1: and irritable. Though we had a good intellect and even
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  Speaker 1: a kind heart, it seemed that all that was wrong
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  Speaker 1: with him was that he had a better opinion of
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  Speaker 1: himself than his ability warranted, and that made him seem
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  Speaker 1: constantly uneasy. He had, moreover, certain higher, even artistic leanings
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  Speaker 1: towards psychology, for instance, a special study of the human heart,
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  Speaker 1: a special knowledge of the criminal and his crime. He
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  Speaker 1: cherished a grievance on this ground, considering that he had
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  Speaker 1: been passed over in the service, and being firmly persuaded
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  Speaker 1: that in higher spheres he had not been properly appreciated
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  Speaker 1: and had enemies. In gloomy moments, he even threatened to
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  Speaker 1: give up his post and practice as a barrister in
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  Speaker 1: criminal cases. The unexpected tid Karamatzov case agitated him profoundly.
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  Speaker 1: It was a case that might well be talked about
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  Speaker 1: all over Russia. But I am anticipating, and Nikolay Parfenovitch
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  Speaker 1: in Nelyuda, the young investigating lawyer who had only come
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  Speaker 1: from Petersburg two months before, was sitting in the next
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  Speaker 1: room with the young ladies. People talked about it afterwards
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  Speaker 1: and wondered that all the gentlemen should, as though intentionally,
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  Speaker 1: on the evening of the crime, have been gathered together
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  Speaker 1: at the house of the executive authority. Yet it was
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  Speaker 1: perfectly simple and happened quite naturally. Epolit Kirillovitch's wife had
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  Speaker 1: had toothache for the last two days, and he was
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  Speaker 1: obliged to go out to escape from her groans. The doctor,
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  Speaker 1: from the very nature of his being, could not spend
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  Speaker 1: an evening except at cards. And Nikolay Parfenovitch Nelyudov had
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  Speaker 1: been intending for three days past to drop in that
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  Speaker 1: evening at Mihail Makarovitch's so to speak, casually, so as
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  Speaker 1: slyly to startle the eldest granddaughter, Olga Mihailovna, by showing
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  Speaker 1: that he knew her secret, that he knew it was
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  Speaker 1: her birthday, and that she was trying to conceal it
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  Speaker 1: on purpose so as not to be obliged to give
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  Speaker 1: a dance. He anticipated a great deal of merriment, many
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  Speaker 1: playful jests about her age and her being afraid to
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  Speaker 1: reveal it, about his knowing her secret and telling everybody,
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  Speaker 1: and so on. The charming young man was a great
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  Speaker 1: adept at such teasing. The ladies had christened him the
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  Speaker 1: Naughty Man, and he seemed to be delighted at the name.
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  Speaker 1: He was extremely well bred, however, of good family education
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  Speaker 1: and feelings, and though leading a life of pleasure, his
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  Speaker 1: sallies were always innocent and in good taste. He was
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  Speaker 1: short and delicate, looking on his white, slender little fingers.
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  Speaker 1: He always wore a number of big, glittering rings. When
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  Speaker 1: he was engaged in his official duties, he always became
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  Speaker 1: extraordinarily grave, as though realizing his position and the sanctity
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  Speaker 1: of the obligations laid upon him. He had a special
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  Speaker 1: gift for mystifying murderers and other criminals of the peasant
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  Speaker 1: class during interrogation, and if he did not win their respect,
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  Speaker 1: he certainly succeeded in arousing their wonder. Pyoto Ilyitch was
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  Speaker 1: simply dumbfounded when he went into the police captain's He
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  Speaker 1: saw instantly that every one knew they had positively thrown
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  Speaker 1: down their cards. All were standing up and talking. Even
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  Speaker 1: Nikolay Parfenovitch had left the young ladies and run in,
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  Speaker 1: looking strenuous and ready for action. Pyoto Ilyitch was met
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  Speaker 1: with the astounding news that all old Fayodor Pavlovitch really
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  Speaker 1: had been murdered that evening in his own house, murdered
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  Speaker 1: and robbed. The news had only just reached them in
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  Speaker 1: the following manner. Marfa Ignatyevna, the wife of old Gregory,
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  Speaker 1: who had been knocked senseless near the fence, was sleeping
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  Speaker 1: soundly in her bed and might well have slept till
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  Speaker 1: morning after the draft she had taken. But all of
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  Speaker 1: a sudden she waked up, no doubt roused by a fearful,
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  Speaker 1: epileptic scream from Smadayaka, who was lying in the next
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  Speaker 1: room unconscious. That scream always preceded his fits, and always
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  Speaker 1: terrified and upset Marfa Ignatyevna. She could never get a
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  Speaker 1: cat to it. She jumped up and ran half awake
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  Speaker 1: to Smerdyakov's room, but it was dark there and she
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  Speaker 1: could only hear the invalid beginning to gasp and struggle.
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  Speaker 1: Then Marfa Ignatyevna herself screamed out and was going to
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  Speaker 1: call her husband, but suddenly realized that when she had
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  Speaker 1: got up, he was not beside her in bed. She
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  Speaker 1: ran back to the bedstead and began groping with her hands,
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  Speaker 1: but the bed was really empty. Then he must have
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  Speaker 1: gone out where She ran to the steps and timidly
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  Speaker 1: called him. She got no answer, of course, but she
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  Speaker 1: caught the sound of groans far away in the garden.
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  Speaker 1: In the darkness. She listened. The groans were repeated, and
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  Speaker 1: it was evident they came from the garden, good Lord,
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  Speaker 1: just as it was with Lizabeta Smerdayatshaya, she thought distractedly.
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  Speaker 1: She went timidly down the steps and saw that the
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  Speaker 1: gate into the garden was open. He must be out there,
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  Speaker 1: poor dear, she thought. She went up to the gate,
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  Speaker 1: and all at once she distinctly heard Grigory calling her
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  Speaker 1: by name, Marfa MafA in a weak, moaning, dreadful voice.
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  Speaker 1: The lord preservers from harm. Marfa Ignatyevna murmured and ran
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  Speaker 1: towards the voice, and that was how she found Grigory.
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  Speaker 1: But she found him not by the fence where he
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  Speaker 1: had been knocked down, but about twenty paces off. It
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  Speaker 1: appeared later that he had crawled away on coming to himself,
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  Speaker 1: and probably had been a long time getting so far,
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  Speaker 1: losing consciousness several times. She noticed at once that he
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  Speaker 1: was covered with blood, and screamed at the top of
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  Speaker 1: her voice. Grigory was muttering incoherently.
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  Speaker 2: He has murdered his father, murdered. Why scream la sellie
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  Speaker 2: run fight someone, but Martha continued screaming, and seeing that
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  Speaker 2: her master's window was open and that there was a
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  Speaker 2: candle a light in the window, she ran there and
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  Speaker 2: began calling for Yodor Pavlovitch. But peeping in at the window,
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  Speaker 2: she saw a fearful sight. Her master was lying on
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  Speaker 2: his back, motionless on the floor. His light colored dressing
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  Speaker 2: gown and white shirt were soaked with blood. The candle
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  Speaker 2: on the table brightly lighted up the blood and the motionless,
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  Speaker 2: dead face of Fyodor Pavlovitch. Terror stricken, Marfa rushed away
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  Speaker 2: from the window, ran out of the garden, threw the
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  Speaker 2: bolt of the big gate, and ran headlong by the
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  Speaker 2: back way to the neighbor Maria Kandaratyevna. Both mother and.
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  Speaker 1: Daughter were asleep, but they waked up at Marfa's desperate
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  Speaker 1: and persistent screaming and knocking at the shutter. Marfa, shrieking
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  Speaker 1: and streaming incoherently, managed to tell them the main fact
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  Speaker 1: and to beg for assistance. It happened that Foma had
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  Speaker 1: come back from his wanderings and was staying the night
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  Speaker 1: with them. They got him up immediately and all three
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  Speaker 1: ran to the scene of the crime. On the way,
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  Speaker 1: Kandratyevna remembered that at about eight o'clock she heard a
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  Speaker 1: dreadful scream from their garden, and this was no doubt
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  Speaker 1: Gregory's scream. Paris eye uttered when he caught hold of
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  Speaker 1: Mitya's leg. Some one person screamed out and then was silent.
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  Speaker 1: Mariah Kandratyevna explained as she ran running to the place
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  Speaker 1: where Gregory lay. The two women, with the hope of Foma,
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  Speaker 1: carried him to the lodge. They lighted a candle and
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  Speaker 1: saw that Smerdyakov was no better, that he was writhing
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  Speaker 1: in convulsions, his eyes fixed in a squint, and that
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  Speaker 1: foam was flowing from his lips. They moistened Grigory's forehead
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  Speaker 1: with water mixed with vinegar, and the water revived him
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  Speaker 1: at once. He asked, immediately is the master murdered? Then
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  Speaker 1: Foma and both the women ran to the house and
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  Speaker 1: saw this time that not only the window, but also
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  Speaker 1: the door into the garden was wide open. Though a
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  Speaker 1: Fayodor Pavlovitch had for the last week locked himself in
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  Speaker 1: every night and did not allow even Grigory to come
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  Speaker 1: in on any pretext. Seeing that door open, they were
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  Speaker 1: afraid to go in to Fayodor Pavlovitch for fear anything
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  Speaker 1: should happen afterwards, And when they returned to Grigory, the
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  Speaker 1: old man told them to go straight to the police captain.
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  Speaker 1: Mariya Kandraatyevna ran there and gave the alarm to the
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  Speaker 1: whole party at the police captain's She arrived only five
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  Speaker 1: minutes before by Yoto Ilyitch, so that his story came
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  Speaker 1: not as his own surmise and theory, but as the
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  Speaker 1: direct confirmation by a witness of the theory held by
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  Speaker 1: all as to the identity of the criminal, a theory
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  Speaker 1: he had in the bottom of his heart refused to
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  Speaker 1: believe till that moment. It was resolved to act with energy.
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  Speaker 1: The deputy police inspector of the town was commissioned to
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  Speaker 1: take four witnesses to enter Fyodor Pavlovitch's house and there
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  Speaker 1: to open an inquiry on the spot, according to the
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  Speaker 1: regular forms, which I will not go into here. The
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  Speaker 1: district doctor, a zealous man new to his work, almost
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  Speaker 1: insisted on accompanying the police captain, the prosecutor and the
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  Speaker 1: investigating lawyer. I will note briefly that Fyodor Pavlovitch was
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  Speaker 1: found to be quite dead, with his skull battered in,
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  Speaker 1: but with what most likely with the same weapon with
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  Speaker 1: which Grigory had been attacked, And immediately that weapon was found. Grigory,
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  Speaker 1: to whom all possible medical assistance was at once given,
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  Speaker 1: described in a weak and breaking voice how he had
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  Speaker 1: been knocked down. They began looking with a lantern by
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  Speaker 1: the fence and found the brass bustle dropped in a
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  Speaker 1: most conspicuous place on the garden path. There were no
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  Speaker 1: signs of disturbance in the room where Fyodor Pavlovitch was lying,
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  Speaker 1: but by the bed behind the screen, they picked up
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  Speaker 1: from the floor a big and thick envelope with the
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  Speaker 1: inscription a present of three thousand roubles for my angel
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  Speaker 1: Grushenka if she is willing to come, and below had
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  Speaker 1: been added by Fyodor Pavlovitch from my little chicken. There
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  Speaker 1: were three seals of red ceiling wax on the envelope,
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  Speaker 1: but it had been torn open and was empty. The
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  Speaker 1: money had been removed. They found also on the floor
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  Speaker 1: a piece of narrow pink ribbon with which the envelope
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  Speaker 1: had been tied up one piece of payoto Iliach's evidence
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  Speaker 1: made a great impression on the prosecutor and the investigating magistrate,
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  Speaker 1: namely his idea that Dmitri Fyodorovitch would shoot himself before daybreak,
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  Speaker 1: that he had resolved do so, had spoken of it
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  Speaker 1: to Ilyitch, had taken the pistols, loaded them before him,
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  Speaker 1: written a letter, put it in his pocket, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: When payoto Ilitch, though still unwilling to believe in it,
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  Speaker 1: threatened to tell some one so as to prevent the suicide,
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  Speaker 1: Mitya had answered, grinning, you'll be too late, so they
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  Speaker 1: must make haste to Mokro to find the criminal before
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  Speaker 1: he really did shoot himself. That's clear, that's clear, repeated
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  Speaker 1: the prosecutor in great excitement. That's just the way with
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  Speaker 1: Matt Bollos, like that. I shall kill myself tomorrow, so
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  Speaker 1: I'll make merry till I die. The story of how
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  Speaker 1: we had bought the wine and provisions excited the prosecutor
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  Speaker 1: more than ever. Do you remember the follow that murdered
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  Speaker 1: a merchant called Olsufyev, gentlemen, he's until fifteen hundred, went
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  Speaker 1: at once to have his hair curled, and then without
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  Speaker 1: even hiding the money, carrying it almost in his hand
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  Speaker 1: in the same way he went up to the girls
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  Speaker 1: or were delayed, However, by the inquiry, the search and
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  Speaker 1: the formalities, et cetera in the house of Fyodor Pavlovitch.
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  Speaker 1: It all took time, and so two hours before starting
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  Speaker 1: they sent on a head to Mokro the officer of
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  Speaker 1: the rural police, a Mavariki Mavarikyevich Shnerseyov, who had arrived
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  Speaker 1: in the town the morning before to get his peg.
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  Speaker 1: He was instructed to avoid raising the alarm when he
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  Speaker 1: reached Mokro, but to keep constant watch over the criminal
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  Speaker 1: till the arrival of the proper authorities to procure also
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  Speaker 1: witnesses for the arrest, police constables and so on. Marvoriki
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  Speaker 1: Marvorikyevich did as he was told, preserving his incognito and
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  Speaker 1: giving no one but his old acquaintance Tryphon Borissovitch the
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  Speaker 1: slightest hint of his secret business. He had spoken to
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  Speaker 1: him just before Mitya met the landlord in the balcony
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  Speaker 1: looking for him in the dark, and noticed at once
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  Speaker 1: a change in Tryphon Borisovich's face and voice. So neither
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  Speaker 1: Mitya nor anyone else knew that he was being watched.
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  Speaker 1: The box with the pistols had been carried off by
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  Speaker 1: tryphon Borissovitch and put in a suitable place only after
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  Speaker 1: four o'clock, almost at sunrise or the officials, the police captain,
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  Speaker 1: the prosecutor the investigating lawyer drove up in two carriages,
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  Speaker 1: each drawn by three horses. The doctor remained at Fyodor
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  Speaker 1: Pavlo Butch's to make a post mortem next day on
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  Speaker 1: the body, but he was particularly interested in the condition
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  Speaker 1: of the servants Meddayakov. Such violent and protracted epileptic fits
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  Speaker 1: recurring continually for twenty four hours, are rarely to be
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  Speaker 1: met with and are of interest to science, he declared
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  Speaker 1: enthusiastically to his companions, and as they left they laughingly
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  Speaker 1: congratulated him on his find. The prosecutor and the investigating
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  Speaker 1: lawyer distinctly remembered the doctors saying that Smerdyakov of not
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  Speaker 1: outlive the night. After these long but I think necessary explanations,
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  Speaker 1: we will return to that moment of our tale at
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  Speaker 1: which we broke up end of chapter fifty six