1 The Brothers Karamazov
‘He is a nervous man.’
‘We laugh, but what must the prisoner be feeling?’
‘Yes, what must it be for Mitya?’
In a third group:
‘What lady is that, the fat one, with the lorgnette, sitting
at the end?’
‘She is a general’s wife, divorced, I know her.’
‘That’s why she has the lorgnette.’
‘She is not good for much.’
‘Oh no, she is a piquante little woman.’
‘Two places beyond her there is a little fair woman, she
is prettier.’
‘They caught him smartly at Mokroe, didn’t they, eh?’
‘Oh, it was smart enough. We’ve heard it before, how of-
ten he has told the story at people’s houses!
‘And he couldn’t resist doing it now. That’s vanity.’
‘He is a man with a grievance, he he!’
‘Yes, and quick to take offence. And there was too much
rhetoric, such long sentences.’
‘Yes, he tries to alarm us, he kept trying to alarm us. Do
you remember about the troika? Something about ‘They
have Hamlets, but we have, so far, only Karamazovs!’ That
was cleverly said!’
‘That was to propitiate the liberals. He is afraid of them.’
‘Yes, and he is afraid of the lawyer, too.’
‘Yes, what will Fetyukovitch say?’
‘Whatever he says, he won’t get round our peasants.’
‘Don’t you think so?’
A fourth group: