0 The Brothers Karamazov
than twenty paces away. Alyosha suddenly recollected that
on coming out of the summer-house the day before, he had
caught a glimpse of an old green low garden-seat among the
bushes on the left, by the fence. The people must be sitting
on it now. Who were they?
A man’s voice suddenly began singing in a sugary falset-
to, accompanying himself on the guitar:
With invincible force
I am bound to my dear.
O Lord, have mercy
On her and on me!
On her and on me!
On her and on me!
The voice ceased. It was a lackey’s tenor and a lackey’s
song. Another voice, a woman’s, suddenly asked insinuat-
ingly and bashfully, though with mincing affectation:
‘Why haven’t you been to see us for so long, Pavel Fyodo-
rovitch? Why do you always look down upon us?’
‘Not at all answered a man’s voice politely, but with em-
phatic dignity. It was clear that the man had the best of the
position, and that the woman was making advances. ‘I be-
lieve the man must be Smerdyakov,’ thought Alyosha, ‘from
his voice. And the lady must be the daughter of the house
here, who has come from Moscow, the one who wears the
dress with a tail and goes to Marfa for soup.’
‘I am awfully fond of verses of all kinds, if they rhyme,’
the woman’s voice continued. ‘Why don’t you go on?’
The man sang again:
What do I care for royal wealth