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drunk on it, and all the women and girls. I sent the thou-
sands flying. In three days’ time I was stripped bare, but a
hero. Do you suppose the hero had gained his end? Not a
sign of it from her. I tell you that rogue, Grushenka, has a
supple curve all over her body. You can see it in her little
foot, even in her little toe. I saw it, and kissed it, but that
was all, I swear! ‘I’ll marry you if you like,’ she said, ‘you’re
a beggar, you know. Say that you won’t beat me, and will
let me do anything I choose, and perhaps I will marry you.’
She laughed, and she’s laughing still!’
Dmitri leapt up with a sort of fury. He seemed all at once
as though he were drunk. His eyes became suddenly blood-
shot.
‘And do you really mean to marry her?’
‘At once, if she will. And if she won’t, I shall stay all the
same. I’ll be the porter at her gate. Alyosha!’ he cried. He
stopped short before him, and taking him by the shoulders
began shaking him violently. ‘Do you know, you innocent
boy, that this is all delirium, senseless delirium, for there’s
a tragedy here. Let me tell you, Alexey, that I may be a low
man, with low and degraded passions, but a thief and a
pickpocket Dmitri Karamazov never can be. Well, then; let
me tell you that I am a thief and a pickpocket. That very
morning, just before I went to beat Grushenka, Katerina
Ivanovna sent for me, and in strict secrecy (why I don’t
know, I suppose she had some reason) asked me to go to the
chief town of the province and to post three thousand rou-
bles to Agafya Ivanovna in Moscow, so that nothing should
be known of it in the town here. So I had that three thou-