The Brothers Karamazov

Chapter 3

The Brothers Make Friends

I

VAN was not, however, in a separate room, but only in a

place shut off by a screen, so that it was unseen by other

people in the room. It was the first room from the entrance

with a buffet along the wall. Waiters were continually dart-

ing to and fro in it. The only customer in the room was an

old retired military man drinking tea in a corner. But there

was the usual bustle going on in the other rooms of the tav-

ern; there were shouts for the waiters, the sound of popping

corks, the click of billiard balls, the drone of the organ. Aly-

osha knew that Ivan did not usually visit this tavern and

disliked taverns in general. So he must have come here, he

reflected, simply to meet Dmitri by arrangement. Yet Dmi-

tri was not there.

‘Shall I order you fish, soup, or anything. You don’t live

on tea alone, I suppose,’ cried Ivan, apparently delighted at

having got hold of Alyosha. He had finished dinner and was

drinking tea.

‘Let me have soup, and tea afterwards, I am hungry,’ said

Alyosha gaily.

‘And cherry jam? They have it here. You remember how