Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 1
‘I’ll obey you! I won’t think of it... I worship you!’ mut-
tered Mitya. ‘Yes, it’s nasty here, it’s abominable.’
And still holding her in his arms, he sank on his knees
by the bedside.
‘I know, though you’re a brute, you’re generous,’ Grush-
enka articulated with difficulty. ‘It must be honourable... it
shall be honourable for the future... and let us be honest, let
us be good, not brutes, but good... take me away, take me
far away, do you hear? I don’t want it to be here, but far, far
away..’
‘Oh, yes, yes, it must be!’ said Mitya, pressing her in his
arms. ‘I’ll take you and we’ll fly away.... Oh, I’d give my
whole life for one year only to know about that blood!’
‘What blood?’ asked Grushenka, bewildered.
‘Nothing,’ muttered Mitya, through his teeth. ‘Grusha,
you wanted to be honest, but I’m a thief. But I’ve stolen
money from Katya.... Disgrace, a disgrace!’
‘From Katya, from that young lady? No, you didn’t steal
it. Give it back to her, take it from me.... Why make a fuss?
Now everything of mine is yours. What does money mat-
ter? We shall waste it anyway.... Folks like us are bound to
waste money. But we’d better go and work the land. I want
to dig the earth with my own hands. We must work, do you
hear? Alyosha said so. I won’t be your mistress, I’ll be faith-
ful to you, I’ll be your slave, I’ll work for you. We’ll go to the
young lady and bow down to her together, so that she may
forgive us, and then we’ll go away. And if she won’t forgive
us, we’ll go, anyway. Take her money and love me.... Don’t
love her.... Don’t love her any more. If you love her, I shall