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064 - Book Ten Chapter One · Brothers Karamazov

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  Speaker 1: Chapter sixty four of The Brothers Karamatzov by Bayodor 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, Book ten, The Boys,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Kolier Krassotkin. It was the beginning of November.
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  Speaker 1: There had been a hard frost eleven degrees, a ray
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  Speaker 1: uma without snow, but a little dry snow had fallen
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  Speaker 1: on the frozen ground during the night, and a keen,
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  Speaker 1: dry wind was lifting and blowing it along the dreary
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  Speaker 1: streets of our town, especially about the market place. It
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  Speaker 1: was a dull morning, but the snow had ceased. Not
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  Speaker 1: far from the market place, close to Plotnikoff's shop, there
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  Speaker 1: stood a small house, very clean, both without and within.
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  Speaker 1: It belonged to Madame Krassotkin, the widow of a former
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  Speaker 1: provincial secretary who had been dead for fourteen years. His widow,
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  Speaker 1: still a nice looking woman of thirty two, was living
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  Speaker 1: in her neat little house on her private means. She
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  Speaker 1: lived in respectable seclusion. She was of a soft but
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  Speaker 1: fairly cheerful disposition. She was about eighteen at the time
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  Speaker 1: of her husband's death. She had been married only a
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  Speaker 1: year and had just borne him a son. From the
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  Speaker 1: day of his death, she had devoted herself heart and
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  Speaker 1: soul to the bringing up of her precious treasure, her
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  Speaker 1: boy Collier. Though she had loved him passionate those fourteen years,
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  Speaker 1: he had caused her far more suffering than happiness. She
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  Speaker 1: had been trembling and fainting with terror almost every day,
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  Speaker 1: afraid he would fall ill, would catch cold, do something naughty,
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  Speaker 1: climb on a chair and fall off it, and so
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  Speaker 1: on and so on. When Collier began going to school,
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  Speaker 1: the mother devoted herself to studying all the sciences with him,
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  Speaker 1: so as to help him and go through his lessons
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  Speaker 1: with him. She hastened to make the acquaintance of the
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  Speaker 1: teachers and their wives, even made up to Collier's schoolfellows
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  Speaker 1: and fawned upon them in the hope of thus saving
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  Speaker 1: Collier from being teased, laughed at, or beaten by them.
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  Speaker 1: She went so far that the boys actually began to
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  Speaker 1: mock at him on her account and taunt him with
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  Speaker 1: being a mother's darling. But the boy could take his
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  Speaker 1: own part. He was a resolute boy, tremendously strong, as
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  Speaker 1: was rumored in his class, and soon proved to be
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  Speaker 1: the fact. He was agile, strong willed, and of an
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  Speaker 1: audacious and enterprising temper. He was good at lessons, and
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  Speaker 1: there was a rumor in the school that he could
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  Speaker 1: beat the teacher Dardenilov at arithmetic and universal history. Though
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  Speaker 1: we looked down upon everyone, he was a good comrade
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  Speaker 1: and not supercilious. He accepted his schoolfellow's respect as his due,
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  Speaker 1: but was friendly with them. Above all, he knew where
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  Speaker 1: to draw the line. He could restrain himself on occasion,
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  Speaker 1: and in his relations with the teachers. He never overstepped
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  Speaker 1: that last mystic limit beyond which a prank becomes an
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  Speaker 1: unpardonable breach of discipline. But he was as fond of
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  Speaker 1: mischief on every possible occasion as the smallest boy in
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  Speaker 1: the school, And not so much for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: mischief as for creating a sensation, inventing something, something effective
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  Speaker 1: and conspicuous. He was extremely vain. He knew how to
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  Speaker 1: make even his mother give way to him. He was
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  Speaker 1: almost despotic in his control of her. Oh she gave
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  Speaker 1: way to him, Oh she had given way to him
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  Speaker 1: for years. The one thought unendurable to her was that
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  Speaker 1: her boy had no great love for her. She was
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  Speaker 1: always fancying that Collier was unfeeling to her, and at
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  Speaker 1: times dissolving into hysterical tears. She used to reproach him
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  Speaker 1: with his coldness. The boy disliked this, and the more
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  Speaker 1: demonstrations of feeling were demanded of him, the more he
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  Speaker 1: seemed intentionally to avoid them. Yet it was not intentional
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  Speaker 1: on his part, but instinctive. It was his character. His
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  Speaker 1: mother was mistaken. He was very fond of her. He
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  Speaker 1: only disliked sheepish sentimentality, as he expressed it in his
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  Speaker 1: schoolboy language. There was a bookcase in the house containing
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  Speaker 1: a few books that had been his father's. Collier was
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  Speaker 1: fond of reading, and had read several of them by himself.
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  Speaker 1: His mother did not mind that, and only wondered sometimes
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  Speaker 1: at seeing the boy stand for hours by the bookcase,
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  Speaker 1: poring over a book instead of going to play. And
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  Speaker 1: in that way a Collier read some things unsuitable for
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  Speaker 1: his age. Though the boy, as a rule and knew
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  Speaker 1: where to draw the line in his mischief, he had,
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  Speaker 1: of leg begun to play pranks that caused his mother's
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  Speaker 1: serious alarm. It is true there was nothing vicious in
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  Speaker 1: what he did, but a wild, mad recklessness. It happened
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  Speaker 1: that July, during the summer holidays, that the mother and
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  Speaker 1: son went to another district a forty five miles away,
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  Speaker 1: to spend a week with a distant relative whose husband
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  Speaker 1: was an official at the railway station, the very station,
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  Speaker 1: the nearest one to Atam, from which a month later
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  Speaker 1: Ivan Fyodorovitch Karamtzov set off for Moscow. There Collier began
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  Speaker 1: by carefully investigating every detail connected with the railways, knowing
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  Speaker 1: that he could impress his school follows when he got
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  Speaker 1: home with his newly acquired knowledge. But there happened to
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  Speaker 1: be some other boys in the place, with whom he
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  Speaker 1: soon made friends. Some of them were living at the station,
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  Speaker 1: others in the neighborhood. There were six or seven of them,
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  Speaker 1: all between twelve and fifteen, and two of them came
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  Speaker 1: from our town. The boys played together, and on the
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  Speaker 1: fourth or fifth day of collier stay at the station,
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  Speaker 1: a mad bet was made by the foolish boys. Collier,
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  Speaker 1: who was almost the youngest of the party and rather
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  Speaker 1: looked down upon by the others, in consequence, was moved
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  Speaker 1: by vanity or by reckless Bravado to bet them two
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  Speaker 1: roubles that he would lie down between the rails at
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  Speaker 1: night when the eleven o'clock train was due, and would
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  Speaker 1: lie there without moving, while the train rolled over him
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  Speaker 1: at full speed. It is true they made a preliminary investigation,
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  Speaker 1: from which it appeared that it was possible to lie
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  Speaker 1: so flat between the rails that the train could pass
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  Speaker 1: over without touching. But to lie there was no joke.
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  Speaker 1: Collier maintained stoutly that he would. At first they laughed
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  Speaker 1: at him, called him a little liar, a bragget, but
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  Speaker 1: that only Egdimon. What pequed him most was that these
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  Speaker 1: boys of fifteen turned up their noses at him two superciliously,
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  Speaker 1: and were at first disposed to treat him as a
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  Speaker 1: small boy not fit to associate with them. And that
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  Speaker 1: was an unendurable insult. And so it was resolved to
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  Speaker 1: go in the evening, half a mile from the station,
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  Speaker 1: so that the train might have time to get up
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  Speaker 1: full speed. After leaving the station, the boys assembled. It
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  Speaker 1: was a pitch dark night without a moon at the
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  Speaker 1: time fixed Collier lay down between the rails. The five
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  Speaker 1: others who had taken the bed waited among the bushes
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  Speaker 1: below the embankment, their hearts beating with suspense, which was
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  Speaker 1: followed by alarm and remorse. At last they heard in
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  Speaker 1: the distance the rumble of the train leaving the station.
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  Speaker 1: Two red lights gleamed out of the darkness. The monster
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  Speaker 1: roared as it approached. Run, Run away from the rails.
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  Speaker 1: The boys cried to Collier from the bushes, breathless with terror,
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  Speaker 1: but it was too late. The train darted up and
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  Speaker 1: flew past. The boys rushed to Collier. He lay without moving.
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  Speaker 1: They began pulling at him, lifting him up. He suddenly
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  Speaker 1: got up and walked away without a word. Then he
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  Speaker 1: explained that he had lain there as though we were insensible,
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  Speaker 1: to frighten them. But the fact was that he really
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  Speaker 1: had lost consciousness, as he confessed long after to his mother.
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  Speaker 1: In this way, his reputation as a desperate character was
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  Speaker 1: established forever. He returned home to the station as white
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  Speaker 1: as a sheep, and next day he had a slight
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  Speaker 1: attack of nervous fever, but he was in high spirits
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  Speaker 1: and well pleased with himself. The incident did not become
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  Speaker 1: known at once, but when they came back to the town,
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  Speaker 1: it penetrated to the school, and even reached the ears
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  Speaker 1: of the masters. But then a Collier's mother hastened to
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  Speaker 1: entreat the masters on her boy's behalf, and in the
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  Speaker 1: end Dardanelov, a respected and influential teacher, exerted himself in
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  Speaker 1: his favor and the affair was ignored. Dard Danlov was
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  Speaker 1: a middle aged bachelor who had been passionately in love
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  Speaker 1: with Madame Krassotkin for many year years passed, and had
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  Speaker 1: once already about a year previously ventured, trembling with fear
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  Speaker 1: and the delicacy of his sentiments, to offer her most
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  Speaker 1: respectfully his hand in marriage. But she refused him, resolutely,
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  Speaker 1: feeling that to accept him would be an act of
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  Speaker 1: treachery to her son. Though Dardunilov had to judge from
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  Speaker 1: certain mysterious symptoms reason for believing that he was not
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  Speaker 1: an object of aversion to the charming but too chaste
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  Speaker 1: and tender hearted widow, Collier's mad prank seemed to have
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  Speaker 1: broken the ice, and Dardanilov was rewarded for his intercession
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  Speaker 1: by a suggestion of hope. The suggestion, it is true,
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  Speaker 1: was a faint one, but then Dardunilov was such a
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  Speaker 1: paragon of purity and delicacy, that it was enough for
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  Speaker 1: the time being to make him perfectly happy. He was
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  Speaker 1: fond of the boy, though we would have felt it
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  Speaker 1: beneath them to try and win him ober, and was
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  Speaker 1: severe and strict with them in class. Collier, too, kept
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  Speaker 1: him at a respectful distance. He learned his lessons perfectly.
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  Speaker 1: He was second in his class, was reserved with Dardanilov,
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  Speaker 1: and the whole class firmly believed that Collier was so
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  Speaker 1: good at a universal history that he could beat even Dardanilov.
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  Speaker 1: Collier did indeed ask him the question who founded Troy,
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  Speaker 1: to which Dardanilov had made a very vague reply, referring
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  Speaker 1: to the movements and migrations of races, to the remoteness
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  Speaker 1: of the period, to the mythical legends. But the question
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  Speaker 1: who had founded Troy, that is what individuals he could
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  Speaker 1: not answer, and even for some reason regarded the question
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  Speaker 1: as idle and frivolous. But the boys remained convinced that
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  Speaker 1: dard Danilov did not know who founded Troy. Colia had
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  Speaker 1: read of the founders of Troy in Smaragdov, whose history
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  Speaker 1: was among the books in his father's bookcase. In the end,
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  Speaker 1: all the boys became interested in the question who it
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  Speaker 1: was that had founded Troy, but Krassotkin would not tell
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  Speaker 1: his secret, and his reputation for knowledge remained unshaken. After
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  Speaker 1: the incident on the railway, a certain change came over
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  Speaker 1: Kolia's attitude to his mother. When Anna Fyodorovna and Madame
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  Speaker 1: Krassotkin heard of her son's exploit, she almost went out
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  Speaker 1: of her mind with horror. She had such terrible attacks
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  Speaker 1: of hysterics, lasting with intervals for several days, that Collier,
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  Speaker 1: seriously alarmed, at last promised on his honor that such
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  Speaker 1: pranks should never be repeated. He swore on his knees
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  Speaker 1: before the Holy image, and swore by the memory of
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  Speaker 1: his father. At Madame Grassatkin's instance, and the manly Collier
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  Speaker 1: burst into tears like a boy of six, And all
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  Speaker 1: that day the mother and son were constantly rushing into
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  Speaker 1: each other's arms, sobbing. Next day a Collier woke up
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  Speaker 1: as unfeeling as before, but he had become more silent,
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  Speaker 1: more modest, sterner, and more thoughtful. Six weeks later, it
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  Speaker 1: is true he got into another scrape which even brought
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  Speaker 1: his name to the ears of our justice of the peast.
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  Speaker 1: But it was a scrape of quite another kind, amusing, foolish,
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  Speaker 1: and he did, not, as it turned out, take the
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  Speaker 1: leading part in it, but was only implicated in it.
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  Speaker 1: But of this later his mother still fretted and trembled.
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  Speaker 1: But the more uneasy she became, the greater were the
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  Speaker 1: hopes of Dardanilov. It must be noted that Collier understood
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  Speaker 1: and divined what was in Dardanilov's heart, and of course
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  Speaker 1: despised him profoundly for his feelings. He had in the
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  Speaker 1: past been so tactless as to show this contempt before
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  Speaker 1: his mother, hinting vaguely that he knew what Dardanilov was after.
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  Speaker 1: But from the time of the railway incident, his behavior
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  Speaker 1: in this respect also was changed. He did not allow
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  Speaker 1: himself the remotest allusion to the subject, and began to
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  Speaker 1: speak more respectfully of Dardanilov before his mother, which the
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  Speaker 1: sensitive woman at wa appreciated with boundless gratitude. But at
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  Speaker 1: the slightest mention of Dardanelov by a visitor in Colia's presence,
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  Speaker 1: she would flush as pink as a rose. At such moments,
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  Speaker 1: Collier would either stare out of the window scowling, or
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  Speaker 1: would investigate the state of his boots, or would shout
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  Speaker 1: angrily for Parasbom, the big shaggy mangy dog, which he
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  Speaker 1: had picked up a month before, brought home and kept
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  Speaker 1: for some reason secretly indoors, not showing him to any
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  Speaker 1: of his schoolfellows. He bullied him frightfully, teaching him all
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  Speaker 1: sorts of tricks, so that the poor dog howled for
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  Speaker 1: him whenever he was absent at school, and when he
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  Speaker 1: came in whined with delight, rushed about as if he
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  Speaker 1: were crazy, begged, lay down on the ground, pretending to
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  Speaker 1: be dead, and so on. In fact, showed all the
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  Speaker 1: tricks he had taught him, not of the word of command,
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  Speaker 1: but simply from the zeal of his excited and grateful heart.
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  Speaker 1: I have forgotten, by the way, to mention that Collier
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  Speaker 1: Krazotkin was the boy stabbed with a pen knit by
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  Speaker 1: the boy already known to the reader as the son
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  Speaker 1: of Captain snegiryav Ilusha, had been defending his father when
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  Speaker 1: the schoolboys jeered at him, shouting the nickname weisperb Tao,
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  Speaker 1: end of chapter sixty four,