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048 - Book Eight Chapter Two · Brothers Karamazov

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Speaker 1: Chapter forty eight of The Brother's Karametza by Fayodor Dostoyevsky,
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Speaker 1: transplated by Constance Garnet. This LibriVox recording is in the
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Speaker 1: public domain recording by Tony Addison, Chapter two a LIAGAVII.
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Speaker 1: So he must drive at full speed, and yet not
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Speaker 1: the money for horses. He had forty kopecks, and that
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Speaker 1: was all all that was left after so many years
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Speaker 1: of prosperity. But he had at home an old silver
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Speaker 1: watch which had long ceased to go. He snatched it
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Speaker 1: up and carried it to a Jewish watchmaker who had
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Speaker 1: a shop in the market place. That you gave him
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Speaker 1: six rubles for it, and I didn't expect that, cried
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Speaker 1: Mitya ecstatically. He was still in a state of ecstasy.
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Speaker 1: He seized his six rubles and ran home. At home,
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Speaker 1: he borrowed three rubles from the people of the house,
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Speaker 1: who loved him so much that they were pleased to
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Speaker 1: give it him, though it was all they had. Mitya,
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Speaker 1: in his excitement, told them on the spot that his
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Speaker 1: fate were be decided that day, and he described in
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Speaker 1: desperate haste the whole scheme he had put before Samsonov.
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Speaker 1: The latter's decision, his own hopes for the future unsown.
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Speaker 1: These people had been told many of their lodger's secrets before,
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Speaker 1: and so looked upon him as a gentleman who was
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Speaker 1: not at all proud, and almost one of themselves. Having
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Speaker 1: thus collected nine rubles, Mitya sent for posting horses to
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Speaker 1: take him to the Vlovia station. This was how the
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Speaker 1: fact came to be remembered and established that at midday
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Speaker 1: on the day before the event, Mitya had not a farthing,
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Speaker 1: and that he had sold his watch to get money
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Speaker 1: and had borrowed three roubles from his landlord, all in
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Speaker 1: the presence of witnesses. I note this fact. Later on
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Speaker 1: it will be apparent why I do so. Though he
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Speaker 1: was radiant with the joyful anticipation that he would at
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Speaker 1: last solve all his difficulties, yet as he drew near
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Speaker 1: Volovya station, he trembled at the thought of what Grushenka
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Speaker 1: might be doing in his absence. What if she made
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Speaker 1: up her mind to day to go to Fyodor Pavlovitch.
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Speaker 1: This was why he had gone up without telling her,
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Speaker 1: and why he left orders with his landlady not to
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Speaker 1: let out where he had gone. If any one came
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Speaker 1: to inquire, then I must I must get back to night,
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Speaker 1: he repeated, as he was jolted along in the cart.
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Speaker 1: And I daresay I shall have to bring this Biagabi
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Speaker 1: back here to draw up the deed, so mused Mitya
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Speaker 1: with a throbbing heart. But alas his dreams were not
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Speaker 1: fated to be carried out to begin with, he was late,
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Speaker 1: taking a short cut from Bolovia station, which turned out
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Speaker 1: to be eighteen versts instead of twelve. Secondly, he did
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Speaker 1: not find the priest at home at Ilyinskoe. He had
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Speaker 1: gone off to a neighboring village. While Mitya, setting off
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Speaker 1: there and with the same exhausted horses, was looking for him.
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Speaker 1: It was almost dark. The priest, a shy and amiable
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Speaker 1: looking little man, informed him at once that though Leagavi
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Speaker 1: had been staying with him at first, he was now
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Speaker 1: at Suhoi Passiolok, that he was staying the night in
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Speaker 1: the forester's cottage as he was buying timber there too.
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Speaker 1: At Mitya's urgent request, that he would take him to
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Speaker 1: Leagavi at once, and by so doing save him, so
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Speaker 1: to speak, the priest agreed, after some demurb to conduct
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Speaker 1: him to Suhoi Passiolo. His curiosity was obviously aroused, but
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Speaker 1: unluckily he advised their going on foot, as it would
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Speaker 1: not be much over averse. Mitya, of course agreed and
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Speaker 1: marched off with his yard long strides, so that the
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Speaker 1: poor priest almost ran after him. He was a very
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Speaker 1: cautious man, though not old. Mitya at once began talking
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Speaker 1: to him too, of his plans, nervously and excitedly, asking
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Speaker 1: advice in regard to Lea Gavi, and talking all the way.
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Speaker 1: The priest listened attentively, but gave little advice. He turned
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Speaker 1: off Mitya's questions with I don't know, ah, I can't say,
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Speaker 1: how can I tell? And so on. When Mitya began
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Speaker 1: to speak of his quarrel with his father over his inheritance,
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Speaker 1: the priest was positively alarmed, as he was in some
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Speaker 1: way dependent on Fayo door Pavlovitch. He inquired, however, with surprise,
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Speaker 1: why he called the peasant trader Gorstkin Lea Gavi, and
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Speaker 1: obligingly explained to Mitcha that though the man's name really
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Speaker 1: was Lea Ghavi, he was never called so as he
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Speaker 1: would be grievously offended at the name, and that he
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Speaker 1: must be sure to call him godskin Ah. You'll do
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Speaker 1: nothing with him. He won't even listen to you, said
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Speaker 1: the priest in conclusion. Mitya was somewhat surprised for a
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Speaker 1: moment and explained that that was what some Sonov had
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Speaker 1: called him. On hearing this fact, the priest dropped the subject,
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Speaker 1: though he would have done well to put into words
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Speaker 1: his doubt whether if sam Sonop had sent him to
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Speaker 1: that peasant calling him Leaghavi, there was not something wrong
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Speaker 1: about it, and he was turning him into ridicule. But
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Speaker 1: Mitya had no time to pause over such trifles. He
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Speaker 1: hurried striding along, and only when he reached suhoy Passo
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Speaker 1: Lack did he realize that they had come not one burst,
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Speaker 1: nor one and a half, but at least three. This
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Speaker 1: annoyed him, but he controlled himself. They went into the hut.
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Speaker 1: The forester lived in one half of the hut, and
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Speaker 1: Gerstkin was lodging in the other. The better room the
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Speaker 1: other side of the passage. They went into that room
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Speaker 1: and lighted a tallow candle. The hut was extremely overheated.
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Speaker 1: On the table there was a samovar, that a gun
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Speaker 1: at a tray with cups, an empty rum bottle, a
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Speaker 1: bottle of budger partly full, and some half eaten crusts
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Speaker 1: of wheaten bread. The visitor him himself lay stretched at
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Speaker 1: full length on the bench, with his coat crushed up
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Speaker 1: under his head for a pillow, snoring heavily. Mitya stood
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Speaker 1: in perplexity. Of course I must wake him. My business
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Speaker 1: is too important. I've come in such haste. I'm in
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Speaker 1: a hurry to get back to day, he said, in
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Speaker 1: great agitation. But the priest and the forester stood in silence,
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Speaker 1: not giving their opinion. Mitya went up and began trying
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Speaker 1: to wake him himself. He tried vigorously, but the sleeper
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Speaker 1: did not wake. He's drunk. Mitya decided, good Lord, what
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Speaker 1: am I to do? What am I to do? Unterribly impatient,
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Speaker 1: he began pulling him by the arms, by the legs,
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Speaker 1: shaking his head, lifting him up, and making him sit
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Speaker 1: on the bench. Yet, after prolonged exertions, he could only
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Speaker 1: succeed in getting the drunken man to utter absurd gunts
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Speaker 1: and violent but inarticulate oaths. No, you'd better wait a little,
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Speaker 1: the priest pronounced at last, for he's obviously not in
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Speaker 1: a fits state. He's been drinking the whole day. The
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Speaker 1: forester chimed in good heavens, cried Mitya, if only you
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Speaker 1: knew how important it is to me and how desperate
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Speaker 1: I am. No, you'd better wait till morning, the priest repeated,
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Speaker 1: till morning, Mercy, that's impossible, And in his despair, he
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Speaker 1: was on the point of attacking the sleeping man again,
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Speaker 1: but stopped hilt at once. Realizing the uselessness of his efforts.
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Speaker 1: The priest said nothing. The sleepy forester looked gloomy. What
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Speaker 1: terrible Trageti's real life contrives for people, said Mitya, in
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Speaker 1: complete despair. The perspiration was streaming down his face. The
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Speaker 1: priest seized the moment to put before him very reasonably,
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Speaker 1: that even if he succeeded in wakening the man, he
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Speaker 1: would still be drunk and incapable of conversation. And your
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Speaker 1: business is important, he said, so you'd certainly better put
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Speaker 1: it off till morning. With a gesture of despair, Mitya agreed, Father,
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Speaker 1: I will stay here with the light and seize the
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Speaker 1: favorable moment. As soon as he wakes, I'll begin. I'll
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Speaker 1: pay you for the light, he said to the forester,
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Speaker 1: for the night's lodging too. You'll remember Dmitri Karamatzov only father.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what we to do with you. Where
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Speaker 1: will you sleep? No, I'm going home. I'll take his
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Speaker 1: horse and get home, he said, indicating the forester. And
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Speaker 1: now I'll say good bye. I wish you all success.
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Speaker 1: So it was subtled. The priest rode off on the
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Speaker 1: forester's horse, delighted to escape, though he shook his head uneasily,
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Speaker 1: wondering whether he ought not next day to inform his
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Speaker 1: benefactor Fyodor Pavlovitch of this curious incident, or he may,
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Speaker 1: in an unlucky hour hear of it, be angry and
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Speaker 1: withdraw his favor. The forester, scratching himself, went back to
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Speaker 1: his room without a word, and Mitya sat on the
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Speaker 1: bench to catch the favorable moment. As he expressed it,
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Speaker 1: propound dejection clung about his soul like a heavy mist,
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Speaker 1: a propound intense dejection. He sat thinking, but could reach
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Speaker 1: no conclusion. The candle burnt dimly a cricket chulked. It
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Speaker 1: became insufferably close in the overheated room. He suddenly pictured
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Speaker 1: the garden, the path behind the garden, the door of
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Speaker 1: his father's house mysteriously opening, and Grushenka running in. He
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Speaker 1: leapt up from the bench. It's a tragedy. He sat,
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Speaker 1: grinding his teeth mechanically. He went up to the sleeping
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Speaker 1: man and looked in his face. He was a lean,
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Speaker 1: middle aged peasant with a very long face, fluxen curls,
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Speaker 1: and a long, thin, reddish beard, wearing a blue cotton
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Speaker 1: shirt and a black waistcoat, from the pocket of which
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Speaker 1: peeped the chain of a silver watch. Mitya looked at
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Speaker 1: his face with intense hatred, and for some unknown reason,
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Speaker 1: his curly hair particularly irritated him. What was insufferably humiliating
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Speaker 1: was that, after leaving things of such importance and making
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Speaker 1: such sacrifices, he Mitya, utterly worn out, should, with business
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Speaker 1: of such urgency, be standing over this dolt on whom
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Speaker 1: his whole fate depended, while he snored as though there
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Speaker 1: were nothing the matter, as though he dropped from another planet. Oh,
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Speaker 1: the irony of fame, cried mitya, and quite losing his head,
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Speaker 1: he fell again to rousing the tipsy peasant. He roused
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Speaker 1: him with a sort of ferocity, pulled at him, pushed
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Speaker 1: him even beat n But after five minutes of vain exertions,
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Speaker 1: he returned to his bench in helpless despair and sat down. Stupid, stupid,
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Speaker 1: cried Mitra, And how dishonorable it all is. Something made
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Speaker 1: him add his head began to ache horribly. Should he
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Speaker 1: bling it up and go away altogether? He wondered, No,
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Speaker 1: wait till tomorrow. Now I'll stay on purpose. What else
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Speaker 1: did I come for? Besides I've no means of going.
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Speaker 1: How am I to get away from here? Now? Oh?
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Speaker 1: The idiocy of it? But his head ached more and more.
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Speaker 1: He sat without moving and unconsciously dozed off and fell asleep.
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Speaker 1: As he said, he seemed to have slept for two
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Speaker 1: hours or more. He was waked up by his head
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Speaker 1: aching so unbearably that he could have screamed. There was
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Speaker 1: a hammering in his t imporse, and the top of
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Speaker 1: his head ached. It was a long time before he
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Speaker 1: could wake up fully and understand what had happened to him.
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Speaker 1: At last, he realized that the room was full of
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Speaker 1: charcoal fumes from the stove, and that he might die
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Speaker 1: of suffocation, And the drunken peasant, still lace gnoring the candle,
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Speaker 1: guttered and was about to go out. Mitya cried out
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Speaker 1: and ran, staggering across the passage into the forester's room.
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Speaker 1: The forester waked up at once, but, hearing that the
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Speaker 1: other room was full of fumes, at Timitya's surprise and annoyance,
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Speaker 1: accepted the fact with strange unconcern, though he did go
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Speaker 1: to see to it. But he's dead. He's dead, and
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Speaker 1: what am I to do? Then, cried Mitya frantically. They
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Speaker 1: threw open the doors, opened a window, and the chimney.
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Speaker 1: Mitya brought a pail of water from the passage. First
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Speaker 1: he wetted his own head, then, finding a rag of
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Speaker 1: some sort, dipped it into the water and put it
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Speaker 1: on Leogarve's head. The forester still treated the matter contemptuously,
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Speaker 1: and when he opened the window, said grumpily it'll be
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Speaker 1: all right now. He went back to sleep, leaving Mitya
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Speaker 1: a lighted lantern. Mitya fussed about the drunken peasant for
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Speaker 1: half an hour, wetting his head and gravely resolved not
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Speaker 1: to sleep all night. But he was so worn at
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Speaker 1: that when he sat down for a moment to take breath,
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Speaker 1: he closed his eyes unconsciously, stretched himself full length on
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Speaker 1: the bench, and slept like the dead. It was dreadfully
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Speaker 1: late when he waked. It was somewhere about nine o'clock.
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Speaker 1: The sun was shining brightly in the two little windows
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Speaker 1: of the hut. The curly headed peasant was sitting on
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Speaker 1: the bench and had his coat on. He had another
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Speaker 1: samovar and another bottle in front of him. Yesterday's bottle
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Speaker 1: had already been finished, and the new one was more
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Speaker 1: than half empty. Mitya jumped up and saw at once
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Speaker 1: that the Cassard peasant was drunk again, hopelessly unincurably. He
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Speaker 1: stared at him for a moment with wide opened eyes.
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Speaker 1: The peasant was silently and slyly watching him with insulting
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Speaker 1: composure and even a sort of contemptuous condescension. So Mitya
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Speaker 1: fancied he rushed up to him. Excuse me, you see
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Speaker 1: I you most likely heard from the forester here in
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Speaker 1: the hut. I'm Lieutenant Dmitri Karamatzov, the son of the
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Speaker 1: old Karamatzov, whose cops you're buying. That's a lie, said
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Speaker 1: the peasant, calmly and confidently, A lie. You know, Fyodor Pavlovitch.
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Speaker 1: I don't know any of your Fyodor Pavlovitches, said the peasant,
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Speaker 1: speaking thickly. You're bargaining with him for the copse, for
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Speaker 1: the cops to wake up and collect yourself. Father pabl
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Speaker 1: of Ilyinsko brought me here. You wrote to Samsunop, and
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Speaker 1: he has sent me to you. Mitya gasped breathlessly. H
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Speaker 1: lie Leogarvi blurted out again. Mitya's legs went cold. For
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Speaker 1: Mercy's it isn't a joke. You're drunk, perhaps that you
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Speaker 1: can speak and understand or else I understand nothing. You
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Speaker 1: are a painter, for Mercer's sake. I'm karamtzob Dmitry Karamtzob.
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Speaker 1: I have an offer to make you, an advantageous offer,
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Speaker 1: very advantageous offer, concerning the cops. The peasant stroked his
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Speaker 1: beard importantly. Now you've contracted for the job and tend
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Speaker 1: out a stamp. You're a scoundrel. I assure you you're mistaken,
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Speaker 1: cried Mitya, wringing his hands, in despair. The peasant still
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Speaker 1: stroked his beard and suddenly screwed up his eyes cunningly. No,
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Speaker 1: you show me this, you tell me the all that
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Speaker 1: allows roguery. Dear, hear your scandro, Do you understand that?
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Speaker 1: Mitya stepped back gloomily, and suddenly something seemed to hit
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Speaker 1: him on the head. As he sat afterwards, in an instant,
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Speaker 1: a light seemed to dawn in his mind. A light
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Speaker 1: was kindled, and I grasped it all. He stood, stupefied,
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Speaker 1: wondering how he, after all a man of intelligence, could
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Speaker 1: have yielded to such folly, have been led into such
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Speaker 1: an adventure, and have kept it up for almost twenty
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Speaker 1: four hours. Passing round this Leo Garvi wetting his head.
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Speaker 1: Why the man's drunk, dead drunk, and he'll go on
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Speaker 1: drinking now for a week. What's the use of waiting here?
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Speaker 1: And what if some sun up set me here on purpose?
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Speaker 1: What if she? Oh God, what have I done? The
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Speaker 1: peasant sat watching him and grinning. Another time Mitchya might
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Speaker 1: have killed the fool in a fury, But now he
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Speaker 1: felt as weak as a child. He went quietly to
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Speaker 1: the bench, took up his overcoat, put it on without
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Speaker 1: a word, and went out of the hut. He did
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Speaker 1: not find the forester in the next room, there was
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Speaker 1: no one there. He took fifty kopecks in small change
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Speaker 1: out of his pocket and put them on the table
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Speaker 1: for his night's lodging, the candle and the trouble he
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Speaker 1: had given. Coming out of the hut, he saw nothing
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Speaker 1: but forest or round. He walked at hazard, not knowing
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Speaker 1: which way to turn out of the hut, to the
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Speaker 1: right or to the left. Hurrying there the evening before
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Speaker 1: with the priest, he had not noticed the road. He
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Speaker 1: had no revengeful feeling for anybody, even for some son
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Speaker 1: off in his heart. He strode along a narrow forest path, aimless, dazed,
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Speaker 1: without heeding where he was going. A child could have
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Speaker 1: knocked him down, so weak was he in body and soul.
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Speaker 1: He got out of the forest somehow, however, and a
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Speaker 1: vista of fields bare after the harvest stretched as far
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Speaker 1: as the eye could see. What despair, what death? All
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Speaker 1: round he repeated, striding arm and arm. He was saved
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Speaker 1: by meeting an old merchant who was being driven across
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Speaker 1: country in a higher trap. When he overtook him. Mitya
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Speaker 1: asked the way, and it turned out that the old
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Speaker 1: merchant too was going to Volovya. After some discussion, Mitya
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Speaker 1: got into the trap. Three hours later they arrived at Volovia.
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Speaker 1: Mitya at one ordered posting horses to drive to the town,
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Speaker 1: and suddenly realized that he was appallingly hungry. While the
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Speaker 1: horses were being harnessed, an omelet was prepared for him.
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Speaker 1: He at it all in an instant, at a huge
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Speaker 1: hunk of bread at a sausage, and swallowed three glasses
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Speaker 1: of vodka. After eating his spirits and his heart grew lighter,
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Speaker 1: he flew towards the town, urging on the driver, and
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Speaker 1: suddenly made a new and unalterable plan to procure that
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Speaker 1: a cassed money before evening, and to think, only to
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Speaker 1: think that a man's life should be ruined for the
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Speaker 1: sake of that paltry three thousand, he cried contemptuously, I'll
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Speaker 1: settle it to day. And if it had not been
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Speaker 1: for the thought of Grushenka and of what might have
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Speaker 1: happened to her, which never left, he would perhaps have
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Speaker 1: become quite cheerful again. But the thought of her was
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Speaker 1: stabbing him to the heart. Every moment like a sharp night.
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Speaker 1: At last they arrived, and Mitya at once ran to Grushenka.
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Speaker 1: End of chapter forty eight.