Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 1without mamma and the girls taking part in it. What’s
more, the girls had heard about it the very first day. Varvara
had begun snarling. ‘You fools and buffoons, can you ever
do anything rational?’ ‘Quite so,’ I said,’can we ever do any-
thing rational?’ For the time I turned it off like that. So in
the evening I took the boy out for a walk, for you must know
we go for a walk every evening, always the same way, along
which we are going now — from our gate to that great stone
which lies alone in the road under the hurdle, which marks
the beginning of the town pasture. A beautiful and lonely
spot, sir. Ilusha and I walked along hand in hand as usu-
al. He has a little hand, his fingers are thin and cold — he
suffers with his chest, you know. ‘Father,’ said he, ‘father!’
‘Well?’ said I. I saw his eyes flashing. ‘Father, how he treated
you then!’ ‘It can’t be helped, Ilusha,’ I said. ‘Don’t forgive
him, father, don’t forgive him! At school they say that he has
paid you ten roubles for it.’ ‘No Ilusha,’ said I, ‘I would not
take money from him for anything.’ he began trembling all
over, took my hand in both his and kissed it again. ‘Father,’
he said, ‘father, challenge him to a duel, at school they say
you are a coward and won’t challenge him, and that you’ll
accept ten roubles from him.’ ‘I can’t challenge him to a duel,
Ilusha,’ I answered. And I told briefly what I’ve just told you.
He listened. ‘Father,’ he said, anyway don’t forgive it. When
I grow up I’ll call him out myself and kill him.’ His eyes
shone and glowed. And of course I am his father, and I had
to put in a word: ‘It’s a sin to kill,’ I said, ‘even in a duel.’ ‘Fa-
ther,’ he said, ‘when I grow up, I’ll knock him down, knock
the sword out of his hand, I’ll fall on him, wave my sword