The Brothers Karamazov
ing. It seemed almost miraculous to everyone that no one
had noticed the probability of it before. The astounded doc-
tor’s wife decided to move Katerina while there was still
time to an establishment in the town kept by a midwife for
such emergencies. As she set great store by her servant, she
promptly carried out this plan and remained there looking
after her. By the morning all Madame Krassotkin’s friendly
sympathy and energy were called upon to render assistance
and appeal to someone for help in the case.
So both the ladies were absent from home, the Kras-
sotkins’ servant, Agafya, had gone out to the market, and
Kolya was thus left for a time to protect and look after ‘the
kids,’ that is, the son and daughter of the doctor’s wife, who
were left alone. Kolya was not afraid of taking care of the
house, besides he had Perezvon, who had been told to lie flat,
without moving, under the bench in the hall. Every time
Kolya, walking to and fro through the rooms, came into the
hall, the dog shook his head and gave two loud and insinu-
ating taps on the floor with his tail, but alas! the whistle did
not sound to release him. Kolya looked sternly at the luck-
less dog, who relapsed again into obedient rigidity. The one
thing that troubled Kolya was ‘the kids.’ He looked, of course,
with the utmost scorn on Katerina’s unexpected adventure,
but he was very fond of the bereaved ‘kiddies,’ and had al-
ready taken them a picture-book. Nastya, the elder, a girl of
eight, could read, and Kostya, the boy, aged seven, was very
fond of being read to by her. Krassotkin could, of course,
have provided more diverting entertainment for them. He
could have made them stand side by side and played sol-