Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 1me and bit my finger badly, I don’t know why.’
‘I’ll thrash him, sir, at once — this minute!’ The captain
jumped up from his seat.
‘But I am not complaining at all, I am simply telling you....
I don’t want him to be thrashed. Besides, he seems to be ill.’
‘And do you suppose I’d thrash him? That I’d take my Ilu-
sha and thrash him before you for your satisfaction? Would
you like it done at once, sir?’ said the captain, suddenly
turning to Alyosha, as though he were going to attack him.
‘I am sorry about your finger, sir; but instead of thrashing
Ilusha, would you like me to chop off my four fingers with
this knife here before your eyes to satisfy your just wrath? I
should think four fingers would be enough to satisfy your
thirst for vengeance. You won’t ask for the fifth one too?’ He
stopped short with a catch in his throat. Every feature in his
face was twitching and working; he looked extremely defi-
ant. He was in a sort of frenzy.
‘I think I understand it all now,’ said Alyosha gently and
sorrowfully, still keeping his seat. ‘So your boy is a good boy,
he loves his father, and he attacked me as the brother of your
assailant.... Now I understand it,’ he repeated thoughtfully.
‘But my brother Dmitri Fyodorovitch regrets his action, I
know that, and if only it is possible for him to come to you,
or better still, to meet you in that same place, he will ask
your forgiveness before everyone — if you wish it.’
‘After pulling out my beard, you mean, he will ask my
forgiveness? And he thinks that will be a satisfactory fin-
ish, doesn’t he?’
‘Oh, no! On the contrary, he will do anything you like