The Brothers Karamazov
ous. ‘I’ve been a fool, a fool, to have been miserable these
five years! And it wasn’t for his sake, it was my anger made
me miserable. And this isn’t he at all! Was he like this? It
might be his father! Where did you get your wig from? He
was a falcon, but this is a gander. He used to laugh and sing
to me.... And I’ve been crying for five years, damned fool,
abject, shameless I was!
She sank back in her low chair and hid her face in her
hands. At that instant the chorus of Mokroe began singing
in the room on the left — a rollicking dance song.
‘A regular Sodom!’ Vrublevsky roared suddenly. ‘Land-
lord, send the shameless hussies away!’
The landlord, who had been for some time past inquisi-
tively peeping in at the door, hearing shouts and guessing
that his guests were quarrelling, at once entered the room.
‘What are you shouting for? D’you want to split your
throat?’ he said, addressing Vrublevsky, with surprising
rudeness.
‘Animal!’ bellowed Pan Vrublevsky.
‘Animal? And what sort of cards were you playing with
just now? I gave you a pack and you hid it. You played with
marked cards! I could send you to Siberia for playing with
false cards, d’you know that, for it’s just the same as false
banknotes...
And going up to the sofa he thrust his fingers between
the sofa back and the cushion, and pulled out an unopened
pack of cards.
‘Here’s my pack unopened!’
He held it up and showed it to all in the room. ‘From