1 The Brothers Karamazov
battalion. The old lieutenant-colonel was taken ill at once,
couldn’t leave his room for two days, and didn’t hand over
the government money. Dr. Kravchenko declared that he
really was ill. But I knew for a fact, and had known for a
long time, that for the last four years the money had nev-
er been in his hands except when the Commander made
his visits of inspection. He used to lend it to a trustworthy
person, a merchant of our town called Trifonov, an old wid-
ower, with a big beard and gold-rimmed spectacles. He used
to go to the fair, do a profitable business with the money,
and return the whole sum to the colonel, bringing with it a
present from the fair, as well as interest on the loan. But this
time (I heard all about it quite by chance from Trifonov’s
son and heir, a drivelling youth and one of the most vicious
in the world) — this time, I say, Trifonov brought nothing
back from the fair. The lieutenant-colonel flew to him. ‘I’ve
never received any money from you, and couldn’t possi-
bly have received any.’ That was all the answer he got. So
now our lieutenant-colonel is confined to the house, with
a towel round his head, while they’re all three busy putting
ice on it. All at once an orderly arrives on the scene with
the book and the order to ‘hand over the battalion money
immediately, within two hours.’ He signed the book (I saw
the signature in the book afterwards), stood up, saying he
would put on his uniform, ran to his bedroom, loaded his
double-barrelled gun with a service bullet, took the boot
off his right foot, fixed the gun against his chest, and began
feeling for the trigger with his foot. But Agafya, remember-
ing what I had told her, had her suspicions. She stole up and