10 0 The Brothers Karamazovmust have killed him and taken the money.’ Then I began
groaning with suspense and impatience, so as to wake Mar-
fa Ignatyevna as soon as possible. At last she got up and she
rushed to me, but when she saw Grigory Vassilyevitch was
not there, she ran out, and I heard her scream in the garden.
And that set it all going and set my mind at rest.’
He stopped. Ivan had listened all the time in dead silence
without stirring or taking his eyes off him. As he told his
story Smerdyakov glanced at him from time to time, but for
the most part kept his eyes averted. When he had finished
he was evidently agitated and was breathing hard. The per-
spiration stood out on his face. But it was impossible to tell
whether it was remorse he was feeling, or what.
‘Stay,’ cried Ivan pondering. ‘What about the door? If he
only opened the door to you, how could Grigory have seen
it open before? For Grigory saw it before you went.’
It was remarkable that Ivan spoke quite amicably, in a
different tone, not angry as before, so if anyone had opened
the door at that moment and peeped in at them, he would
certainly have concluded that they were talking peaceably
about some ordinary, though interesting, subject.
‘As for that door and having seen it open, that’s only his
fancy,’ said Smerdyakov, with a wry smile. ‘He is not a man,
I assure you, but an obstinate mule. He didn’t see it, but fan-
cied he had seen it, and there’s no shaking him. It’s just our
luck he took that notion into his head, for they can’t fail to
convict Dmitri Fyodorovitch after that.’
‘Listen... ‘ said Ivan, beginning to seem bewildered again
and making an effort to grasp something. ‘Listen. There are