1 The Brothers KaramazovMitya imagined, however, that his clothes would be ex-
amined and returned to him. But what was his indignation
when Nikolay Parfenovitch came back with quite different
clothes, brought in behind him by a peasant.
‘Here are clothes for you,’ he observed airily, seeming
well satisfied with the success of his mission. ‘Mr. Kalganov
has kindly provided these for this unusual emergency, as
well as a clean shirt. Luckily he had them all in his trunk.
You can keep your own socks and underclothes.’
Mitya flew into a passion.
‘I won’t have other people’s clothes!’ he shouted menac-
ingly, ‘give me my own!’
‘It’s impossible!’
‘Give me my own. Damn Kalganov and his clothes, too!’
It was a long time before they could persuade him. But
they succeeded somehow in quieting him down. They im-
pressed upon him that his clothes, being stained with blood,
must be ‘included with the other material evidence,’ and
that they ‘had not even the right to let him have them now...
taking into consideration the possible outcome of the case.’
Mitya at last understood this. He subsided into gloomy si-
lence and hurriedly dressed himself. He merely observed,
as he put them on, that the clothes were much better than
his old ones, and that he disliked ‘gaining by the change.’
The coat was, besides, ‘ridiculously tight. Am I to be dressed
up like a fool... for your amusement?’
They urged upon him again that he was exaggerating,
that Kalganov was only a little taller, so that only the trou-
sers might be a little too long. But the coat turned out to be