00 The Brothers Karamazov
you?’
‘Delighted to see you, dear... and precious fellow, I always
thought a lot of you.’ Mitya responded, joyfully and eagerly,
at once holding out his hand across the table.
‘Aie! How tight you squeeze! You’ve quite broken my fin-
gers,’ laughed Kalganov.
‘He always squeezes like that, always,’ Grushenka put
in gaily, with a timid smile, seeming suddenly convinced
from Mitya’s face that he was not going to make a scene. She
was watching him with intense curiosity and still some un-
easiness. She was impressed by something about him, and
indeed the last thing she expected of him was that he would
come in and speak like this at such a moment.
‘Good evening,’ Maximov ventured blandly on the left.
Mitya rushed up to him, too.
‘Good evening. You’re here, too! How glad I am to find
you here, too! Gentlemen, gentlemen, I — ‘ (He addressed
the Polish gentleman with the pipe again, evidently taking
him for the most important person present.) ‘I flew here.... I
wanted to spend my last day, my last hour in this room, in
this very room ... where I, too, adored... my queen.... Forgive
me, Panie,’ he cried wildly, ‘I flew here and vowed — Oh,
don’t be afraid, it’s my last night! Let’s drink to our good
understanding. They’ll bring the wine at once.... I brought
this with me.’ (Something made him pull out his bundle
of notes.) ‘Allow me, panie! I want to have music, singing,
a revel, as we had before. But the worm, the unnecessary
worm, will crawl away, and there’ll be no more of him. I will
commemorate my day of joy on my last night.’