Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com eyes are mistrustful. They’re contemptuous.... You’ve come
here with some design. Alyosha, here, looks at me and his
eyes shine. Alyosha doesn’t despise me. Alexey, you mustn’t
love Ivan.’
‘Don’t be ill-tempered with my brother. Leave off attack-
ing him,’ Alyosha said emphatically.
‘Oh, all right. Ugh, my head aches. Take away the brandy,
Ivan. It’s the third time I’ve told you.’
He mused, and suddenly a slow, cunning grin spread
over his face.
‘Don’t be angry with a feeble old man, Ivan. I know you
don’t love me, but don’t be angry all the same. You’ve noth-
ing to love me for. You go to Tchermashnya. I’ll come to you
myself and bring you a present. I’ll show you a little wench
there. I’ve had my eye on her a long time. She’s still running
about bare-foot. Don’t be afraid of bare-footed wenches —
don’t despise them — they’re pearls!’
And he kissed his hand with a smack.
‘To my thinking,’ he revived at once, seeming to grow
sober the instant he touched on his favourite topic. ‘To my
thinking... Ah, you boys! You children, little sucking-pigs,
to my thinking... I never thought a woman ugly in my life
— that’s been my rule! Can you understand that? How could
you understand it? You’ve milk in your veins, not blood.
You’re not out of your shells yet. My rule has been that you
can always find something devilishly interesting in every
woman that you wouldn’t find in any other. Only, one must
know how to find it, that’s the point! That’s a talent! To my
mind there are no ugly women. The very fact that she is a