Latest / Brothers Karamazov / 055 - Book Nine Chapter One

Transcript

055 - Book Nine Chapter One · Brothers Karamazov

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty five of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Tony Addison, Book nine, The Preliminary Investigation, Chapter one, the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: beginning of Perhouten's official career. A payoto Iliitch. Perhouten, whom
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: we left knocking at the strong locked gates of the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: widow Morozov's house, ended, of course, by making himself heard. Fenyev,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: who was still excited by the fright she had had
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: two hours before, and too much upset to go to bed,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: was almost frightened into hysterics on him. Caring the furious
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: knocking at the gate, though she had herself seen him
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: drive away, she fancied that it must be Dmitri Fyodorovitch
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: knocking again. No one else could knock so savagely. She
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: ran to the house porter, who had already waked up
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and gone out to the gate, and began imploring him
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: not to open it. But having questioned pyotor Ilitch and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: learned that he wanted to see Fenya on very important business,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the man made up his mind at last to open.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Pyotor Ilyitch was admitted into Fenya's kitchen, but the girl
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: begged him to allow the house porter to be present
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: because of her misgivings. He began questioning her and at
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: once learned the most vital fact, that is that when
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Dmitri Pyodorovitch had run out to look for Grushenka, he
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: had snatched up a puzzle from the mortar, and that
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: when he returned, the puzzle was not with him, and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: his hands were smeared with blood, and the blood was
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: simply flowing, dripping from him, dripping. Fenya kept exclaiming this
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: horrible detail was simply the product of her disordered imagination,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: But although not dripping, pyoto Ilitch had himself seen those
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: hands stained with blood and had helped to wash them. Moreover,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the question he had to decide was not how soon
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: the blood had dried, but word Dmitri Fyodorovitch had run
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: with the pestle, or rather whether it really was to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Fyodor Pavlovitch's, and how he could satisfactorily ascertain. Payoto Ilitch
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: persisted in returning to this point, and though he found
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: out nothing conclusive yet, he carried away a conviction that
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Dmitri Fyodorovitch could have gone nowhere but to his father's house,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and that therefore something must have happened there. And when
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: he came back, Fenya added with excitement, I told him
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the whole story, and then I began asking him, why
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: have you got blood on your hands, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, And
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: he answered that that was human blood and that he
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: had just killed some one. He confessed it all to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: me and suddenly run off like a madman. I sat
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: down and began thinking, where's he run off to? Now?
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Like a madman, he'll go to Mokro, I thought, and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: kill my mistress there. I ran out to beg him
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: not to kill her. I was running to his lodgings,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: but I looked at Plotnikoff's shop and saw him just
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: setting off, and there was no blood on his hands.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Then Fenya had noticed this and remembered it. Fenya's old
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: grandmother confirmed her evidence as far as she was capable.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: After asking some further questions. A pyoto Ilitch laffaus even
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: more upset and uneasy than he had been when he
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: entered it. The most direct and the easiest thing for
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: him to do would have been to go straight to
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Fyodor Pavlovic's to find out whether anything had happened there,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and if so, what, and only to go to the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: police captain, as Pyoto Ilitch firmly intended doing when he
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: had satisfied himself of the fact. But the night was dark,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Fyodor Pavlovitch's gates were strong, and he would have to
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: knock again. His acquaintance with Fyodor Pavlovitch was of the slightest,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: and what if after he had been knocking, they opened
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to him and nothing had happened. Then Fyodor Pavlovitch, in
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: his jeering way, would go telling the story all over
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the town how a stranger, Copehoten, had broken in upon
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: him at midnight to ask if anyone had killed him.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: It would make a scandal, and scandal was what Pyoto
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Ilyitch dreaded more than anything in the world. Yet the
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: feeling that possessed him was so strong that though he
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: stamped his foot angrily and swore at himself, he set
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: off again, not to Fyodor Pavlovitch's but to Madame Hohlakov's.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: He decided that if she denied, having just given Dmitri
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Fyodorovitch three thousand roubles, he would go straight to the
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: police captain. But if she admitted having given him the money,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: he would go home and let the matter rest till
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: next morning. It is, of course, a perfectly evident that
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: there was even more likelihood of causing scandal by going
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: at eleven o'clock at night to a fashionable lady, a
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: complete stranger, and perhaps rousing her from her bed to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: ask her an amazing question, than by going to Feyodor Pavlovitch.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: But that is just how it is sometimes, especially in
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: cases like the present one, with the decisions of the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: most precise and phlegmatic people. Payoto Ilitch, who was by
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: no means phlegmatic at that moment, he remembered all his
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: life how a haunting uneasiness gradually gained possession of him,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: growing more and more painful and driving him on against
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: his will. Yet he kept cursing himself, of course, all
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the way, for going to this lady. But I will
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: get to the bottom of it. I will, he repeated
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: for the tenth time, grinding his teeth, and he carried
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: out his intention. It was exactly eleven o'clock when he
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: entered Madame Hohlakov's house. He was admitted into the yard
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: pretty quickly, but in response to his inquiry whether the
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: lady was still up, The porter could give no answer
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: except that she was usually in bed by that time.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Ask at the top of the stairs, if the lady
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: wants to receive you, she'll receive you. If she won't,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: she won't. Pyoto Ilioch went up, but did not find
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: things so easy here. The footman was unwilling to take
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: in his name, but finally called a maid. Pyoto Ilitch
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: politely but insistently begged her to inform her lady that
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: an official living in the town called Perhotin had called
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: on particular business, and that if it or not of
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the greatest importance, he would not have ventured to come.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Tell her in those words. In those words exactly, he
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: asked the girl. She went away. He remained waiting in
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the entry. Madame Hohlakov herself was already in her bedroom,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: though not yet asleep. She had felt upset ever since
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Mitchy's visit, and had a presentiment that she would not
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: get through the night. With that the sick headache which
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: always with her followed such excitement, she was surprised on
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: hearing the announcement from the maid. She irritably declined to
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: see him However, though the unexpected visit at such an
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: hour of an official living in the town who was
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: a total stranger, roused her feminine curiosity intensely. But this
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: time payoto Ilyitch was as obstinate as a mule. He
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: begged the maid most earnestly to take another message, in
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: these very words, that he had come on business of
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the greatest importance, and that Madame Hohlakov might have cause
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: to regret it later if she refused to see him. Now.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I plunged headlong, he described it. Afterwards, the maid, gazing
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: at him in amazement, went to take his message again.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Madame Hohlakov was impressed. She thought a little, asked what
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: he looked like, and learned that he was very well dressed, young,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and so polite. We may note a parenthetically that payoto
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Ilyitch was a rather good looking young man, and well
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: aware of the fact, Madame Hohlakov made up her mind
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to see him. She was in her dressing gown and slippers,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: but she flung a black shawl over her shoulders. The
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: official was asked to walk into the drawing room, the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: very room in which Mitya had been received shortly before.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: The lady came to meet her visitor with a sternly
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: inquiring countenance, and without asking him to sit down, began
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: at once with the question, what do you want? I
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: have ventured to disturb you, madam, on a matter concerning
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: our common acquaintance, Dmitri of Fyodorovitch Karamatzov Perhotin began, but
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: he had hardly uttered the name. When the lady's face
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: showed signs of acute irritation. She almost shrieked and interrupted
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: him in a fury. How much longer am I to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: be worried by that arf l man? She cried? Eyed
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: he directly, how dare you, sir? How could you venture
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: to disturb a lady who was a stranger to you
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: in her own house at such an hour, and to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: force yourself upon her to talk of a man who
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: came here through this very drawing room only three hours ago,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to murder me. And when stamping out of the room,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: as no one would go out of a decent house,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: let me tell you, sir, that I shall lodge a
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: complaint against you, that I will not let it pass,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and kindly leave me at once. I am a mother,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I I murder. Then he tried to murder you too.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Why has he killed somebody else, Madame Hohlakov asked impulsively,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: If you would kindly listen, madam for half a moment,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I'll explain it all in a couple of words, answered
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Bohotin firmly. At five o'clock this afternoon, Dmitri Fyodorovitch borrowed
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: ten roubles from me, and I know for a fact
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: he had no money. Yet at nine o'clock he came
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to see me with a bundle of hundred rouble notes
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: in his hand, about two or three thousand roubles. His
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: hands and face were all covered with blood, and he
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: looked like a madman. When I asked him where he
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: had got so much money, he answered that he had
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: just received it from you, that you had given him
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: a sum of three thousand to go to the gold mines.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Madame Hohlakov's face assumed an expression of intense and painful excitement.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Good God, he must have killed his old father, she cried,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: clasping her hands. I have never given him money. Never
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: or run. Run, don't say another word, save the old man,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Run to his father. Run Excuse me, madam. Then you
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: did not give him money. You rem for a fact
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: that you did not give him any money. No, I didn't.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't. I refused to give it him, for he
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: could not appreciate it. He ran out in a fury, stamping.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: He rushed at me, but I stepped away, and let
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: me tell you as I wished to hide nothing from you.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Now that he positively spat at me, can you fancy that?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: But why are we standing? Ah? Sit down? Excuse me
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I or better run? Run? He must run and save
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the poor old man from an awful death. But if
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: he has killed him already, hah, good heavens, yes, then
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: what are we to do? Now? What do you think
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: we must do? Now? Meantime, she had made pyoto Ilitch
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: sit down and sat down herself, facing him. Briefly, but
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: fairly clearly, pyoto Ilitch told her the history of the affair,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: of that part of it at least which he had
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: himself witnessed. He descried too, his visit to Fenya, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: told her about the pursle. All these details produced an
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: overwhelming effect on the distracted lady, who kept uttering shrieks
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and covering her face with her hands. Would you believe it?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I foresaw all this. I had that special faculty, whatever
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I imagine comes to pass. Until often I've looked at that
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: awful man and always thought that man will end by
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: murdering me. And now it's happened. That is, if he
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: hasn't murdered me, but only his own father, it's only
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: because the finger of God preserved me. And what's more,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: he was ashamed to murder me because in this very
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: place I put the Holy icon from the relics of
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the Holy Martyr Saint Pavara on his neck. And to
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: think how near I was to death at that minute.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I went close up to him, and he stretched out
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: his neck to me. Do you know, Pyoto Ilitch? I
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: think you said your name was Pyotto Ilioch. I don't
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: believe in my miracles, but that icon and this unmistakable
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: miracle with me, now that shakes me, and I'm ready
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: to believe in anything you like. Have you heard about
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: bather Zossima? But I don't know what I'm saying, and
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: only fancy with the icon on his neck, he spat
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: at me. He only spatted, true, he didn't murder me,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and he dashed away. But what shall we do? What
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: must we do? Now? What do you think? Pyoto Ilitch
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: got up and announced that he was going straight to
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the police captain to tell him all about it and
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: leave him to do what he thought fit. Oh he's
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: an excellent man, excellent Mihail Makarovitch. I know him, of course,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: he's the person to go to. How practical you are,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: pyoto Ilitch. How well you've thought of ever a thing.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I should never have thought of it in your place,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: especially as I know the police captain very well, too,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: observed pyoto Ilitch, who still continued to stand and was
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: obvious the anxious to escape as quickly as possible from
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: the impulsive lady who would not let him say goodbye
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and go away and be sure, be sure, she prattled on,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to come back and tell me what you see there
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and what you find out, what comes to light, how
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: they'll try him, and what he's contempted. Tell me we
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: have no capital punishment, have we? But be sure to come,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: even if it's at three o'clock at night, at forward
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: half past four. Tell them to wake me, to wake me,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to shake me if I don't get up, how but
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: good heavens, I sha'n't sleep. But wait, hadn't I better
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: come with you? No, but if you would write three
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: lines with your own hand, stating that you did not
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: give Dmitri Fyodorovitch money. It might perhaps be of use
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: in case it's needed to be sure. Madame Hohlakov skipped
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: delighted to her bureau. And you know, I'm simply struck
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: amazed at your resourcefulness, your good sense in affairs. Are
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: you in the service here? I'm delighted to think that
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: you're in the service here. And still speaking, she scribbled
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: on half a sheet of notepaper the following lines, I've
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: never in my life lent to that unhappy man Dmitri
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Byodorovitch karamats up for in spite of all he is
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: unhappy three thousand rubles to day. I've never given him money,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: never that, I swear by all that's holy ka holaka.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Here's the note. She turned quickly to py Otto eliotch
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: go save him. It's a noble deed on your part,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and she made the sign of the cross three times
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: over him. She ran out to accompany him to the passage.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: How grateful I am to you. You can't think how
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: grateful I am to you for having come to me first.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: How is it I haven't met you before? I shall
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: feel flattered at seeing you at my house in the future.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: How delightful it is that you are living here, or
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: such precision, such practical ability. They must appreciate you, they
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: must understand you. If there's anything I can do, believe me. Oh,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I love young people. I'm in love with young people,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the younger generation of the one prop of our suppering
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: country of one hope, Oh, go go. But Payoto Ilyitch
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: had already run away, or she would not have let
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: him go so soon. Yet Madame Hohlakov had made a
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: rather agreeable impression on him, which had somewhat softened his
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: anxiety at being drawn into such an unpleasant affair. Tastes differ,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: as we all know. She's by no means so elderly,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: he thought, feeling pleased. On the contrary, I should have
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: taken her for her daughter. As for Madame Hohlakov, she
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: was simply enchanted by the young man, such sense, such
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: exactness in so young a man. In our day, and
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: all that, with such manners and appearance. People say the
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: young people up to day are no good for anything,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: but here as an example, et cetera. So she simply
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: forgot this dreadful affair, and it was only as she
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: was getting into bed that, suddenly recalling how near death
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: she had been, she exclaimed, Ah, it is awful, awful,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: butchepa at once into a sound, sweet sleep. I would not, however,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: have dwelt on such trivial and irrelevant details, if this
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: eccentric meeting of the young official with the by no
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: means elderly widow had not subsequently turned out to be
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the foundation of the whole career of that practical and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: precise young man. His story is remembered to this day
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: with amazement in our tan, and I shall perhaps have
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: something to say about it when I have finished my
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: long history of the brothers Karamatzo. End of chapter fifty
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: five