Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com him in the face in his own house, and brag of murdering
him outright — all in the presence of witnesses. If I liked, I
could crush him and could have him locked up at once for
what he did yesterday.’
‘Then you don’t mean to take proceedings?’
‘Ivan has dissuaded me. I shouldn’t care about Ivan, but
there’s another thing.’
And bending down to Alyosha, he went on in a confiden-
tial half-whisper.
‘If I send the ruffian to prison, she’ll hear of it and run
to see him at once. But if she hears that he has beaten me, a
weak old man, within an inch of my life, she may give him
up and come to me... For that’s her way, everything by con-
traries. I know her through and through! Won’t you have a
drop of brandy? Take some cold coffee and I’ll pour a quar-
ter of a glass of brandy into it, it’s delicious, my boy.’
‘No, thank you. I’ll take that roll with me if I may,’ said
Alyosha, and taking a halfpenny French roll he put it in the
pocket of his cassock. ‘And you’d better not have brandy,
either,’ he suggested apprehensively, looking into the old
man’s face.
‘You are quite right, it irritates my nerves instead of
soothing them. Only one little glass. I’ll get it out of the
cupboard.’
He unlocked the cupboard, poured out a glass, drank it,
then locked the cupboard and put the key back in his pock-
et.
‘That’s enough. One glass won’t kill me.’
‘You see you are in a better humour now,’ said Alyosha,