The Brothers Karamazov‘Oh, that’s all nonsense about Troy, a trivial matter. I
consider this an unimportant question,’ said Kolya with
haughty humility. He had by now completely recovered his
dignity, though he was still a little uneasy. He felt that he
was greatly excited and that he had talked about the goose,
for instance, with too little reserve, while Alyosha had
looked serious and had not said a word all the time. And
the vain boy began by degrees to have a rankling fear that
Alyosha was silent because he despised him, and thought he
was showing off before him. If he dared to think anything
like that, Kolya would-
‘I regard the question as quite a trivial one,’ he rapped out
again, proudly.
‘And I know who founded Troy,’ a boy, who had not spo-
ken before, said suddenly, to the surprise of everyone. He
was silent and seemed to be shy. He was a pretty boy of
about eleven, called Kartashov. He was sitting near the door.
Kolya looked at him with dignified amazement.
The fact was that the identity of the founders of Troy
had become a secret for the whole school, a secret which
could only be discovered by reading Smaragdov, and no
one had Smaragdov but Kolya. One day, when Kolya’s back
was turned, Kartashov hastily opened Smaragdov, which
lay among Kolya’s books, and immediately lighted on the
passage relating to the foundation of Troy. This was a good
time ago, but he felt uneasy and could not bring himself to
announce publicly that he too knew who had founded Troy,
afraid of what might happen and of Krassotkin’s somehow
putting him to shame over it. But now he couldn’t resist say-