0 The Brothers Karamazovthat there was at least a temporary change for the better in
his condition. Even five minutes before his death, they said
afterwards wonderingly, it was impossible to foresee it. He
seemed suddenly to feel an acute pain in his chest, he turned
pale and pressed his hands to his heart. All rose from their
seats and hastened to him. But though suffering, he still
looked at them with a smile, sank slowly from his chair on
to his knees, then bowed his face to the ground, stretched
out his arms and as though in joyful ecstasy, praying and
kissing the ground, quietly and joyfully gave up his soul
to God.
The news of his death spread at once through the her-
mitage and reached the monastery. The nearest friends of
the deceased and those whose duty it was from their posi-
tion began to lay out the corpse according to the ancient
ritual, and all the monks gathered together in the church.
And before dawn the news of the death reached the town.
By the morning all the town was talking of the event, and
crowds were flocking from the town to the monastery. But
this subject will be treated in the next book; I will only add
here that before a day had passed something happened so
unexpected, so strange, upsetting, and bewildering in its ef-
fect on the monks and the townspeople, that after all these
years, that day of general suspense is still vividly remem-
bered in the town.