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for some time to pay off old scores, and now he could not let
the opportunity slip. Bending over his shoulder he began
teasing him again in a whisper.
‘Why didn’t you go away just now, after the ‘courteously
kissing’? Why did you consent to remain in such unseemly
company? It was because you felt insulted and aggrieved,
and you remained to vindicate yourself by showing off your
intelligence. Now you won’t go till you’ve displayed your in-
tellect to them.’
‘You again?... On the contrary, I’m just going.’
‘You’ll be the last, the last of all to go!’ Fyodor Pavlovitch
delivered him another thrust, almost at the moment of Fa-
ther Zossima’s return.
The discussion died down for a moment, but the elder,
seating himself in his former place, looked at them all as
though cordially inviting them to go on. Alyosha, who
knew every expression of his face, saw that he was fearfully
exhausted and making a great effort. Of late he had been
liable to fainting fits from exhaustion. His face had the pal-
lor that was common before such attacks, and his lips were
white. But he evidently did not want to break up the party.
He seemed to have some special object of his own in keep-
ing them. What object? Alyosha watched him intently.
‘We are discussing this gentleman’s most interesting ar-
ticle,’ said Father Iosif, the librarian, addressing the elder,
and indicating Ivan. ‘He brings forward much that is new,
but I think the argument cuts both ways. It is an article
written in answer to a book by an ecclesiastical authority
on the question of the ecclesiastical court, and the scope of