The Brothers Karamazovlittle house, sunk on one side, with three windows looking
into the street, and with a muddy yard, in the middle of
which stood a solitary cow. He crossed the yard and found
the door opening into the passage. On the left of the pas-
sage lived the old woman of the house with her old daughter.
Both seemed to be deaf. In answer to his repeated inquiry
for the captain, one of them at last understood that he was
asking for their lodgers, and pointed to a door across the
passage. The captain’s lodging turned out to be a simple cot-
tage room. Alyosha had his hand on the iron latch to open
the door, when he was struck by the strange hush within.
Yet he knew from Katerina Ivanovna’s words that the man
had a family. ‘Either they are all asleep or perhaps they have
heard me coming and are waiting for me to open the door.
I’d better knock first,’ and he knocked. An answer came,
but not at once, after an interval of perhaps ten seconds.
‘Who’s there?’ shouted someone in a loud and very an-
gry voice.
Then Alyosha opened the door and crossed the thresh-
old. He found himself in a regular peasant’s room. Though
it was large, it was cumbered up with domestic belongings
of all sorts, and there were several people in it. On the left
was a large Russian stove. From the stove to the window
on the left was a string running across the room, and on it
there were rags hanging. There was a bedstead against the
wall on each side, right and left, covered with knitted quilts.
On the one on the left was a pyramid of four print-covered
pillows, each smaller than the one beneath. On the other
there was only one very small pillow. The opposite corner