Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 1‘But why suppress it?’ asked Ivan.
‘That Truth may prevail. That’s why.’
‘Well, if Truth were to prevail, you know, you’d be the
first to be robbed and suppressed.’
‘Ah! I dare say you’re right. Ah, I’m an ass!’ burst out Fy-
odor Pavlovitch, striking himself lightly on the forehead.
‘Well, your monastery may stand then, Alyosha, if that’s
how it is. And we clever people will sit snug and enjoy our
brandy. You know, Ivan, it must have been so ordained by
the Almighty Himself. Ivan, speak, is there a God or not?
Stay, speak the truth, speak seriously. Why are you laugh-
ing again?’
‘I’m laughing that you should have made a clever remark
just now about Smerdyakov’s belief in the existence of two
saints who could move mountains.’
‘Why, am I like him now, then?’
‘Very much.’
‘Well, that shows I’m a Russian, too, and I have a Rus-
sian characteristic. And you may be caught in the same way,
though you are a philosopher. Shall I catch you? What do
you bet that I’ll catch you to-morrow? Speak, all the same,
is there a God, or not? Only, be serious. I want you to be se-
rious now.’
‘No, there is no God.’
‘Alyosha, is there a God?’
‘There is.’
‘Ivan, and is there immortality of some sort, just a little,
just a tiny bit?’
‘There is no immortality either.’