11 The Brothers Karamazovcried Dmitri indignantly. He too leapt up. ‘Forgive it, rev-
erend Father,’ he added, addressing the elder. ‘I am not a
cultivated man, and I don’t even know how to address you
properly, but you have been deceived and you have been too
good-natured in letting us meet here. All my father wants is
a scandal. Why he wants it only he can tell. He always has
some motive. But I believe I know why — ‘
‘They all blame me, all of them!’ cried Fyodor Pavlovitch
in his turn. ‘Pyotr Alexandrovitch here blames me too. You
have been blaming me, Pyotr Alexandrovitch, you have!’
he turned suddenly to Miusov, although the latter was not
dreaming of interrupting him. ‘They all accuse me of hav-
ing hidden the children’s money in my boots, and cheated
them, but isn’t there a court of law? There they will reckon
out for you, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, from your notes, your
letters, and your agreements, how much money you had,
how much you have spent, and how much you have left.
Why does Pyotr Alexandrovitch refuse to pass judgment?
Dmitri is not a stranger to him. Because they are all against
me, while Dmitri Fyodorovitch is in debt to me, and not
a little, but some thousands of which I have documenta-
ry proof. The whole town is echoing with his debaucheries.
And where he was stationed before, he several times spent a
thousand or two for the seduction of some respectable girl;
we know all about that, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, in its most
secret details. I’ll prove it.... Would you believe it, holy Fa-
ther, he has captivated the heart of the most honourable of
young ladies of good family and fortune, daughter of a gal-
lant colonel, formerly his superior officer, who had received