10 The Brothers Karamazovhe, smiling sadly, stroked it with his thin, pale, wasted hand.
Clearly he liked the puppy, but... it wasn’t Zhutchka; if he
could have had Zhutchka and the puppy, too, then he would
have been completely happy.
‘Krassotkin!’ cried one of the boys suddenly. He was the
first to see him come in.
Krassotkin’s entrance made a general sensation; the boys
moved away and stood on each side of the bed, so that he
could get a full view of Ilusha. The captain ran eagerly to
meet Kolya.
‘Please come in... you are welcome!’ he said hurriedly.
‘Ilusha, Mr. Krassotkin has come to see you!
But Krassotkin, shaking hands with him hurriedly, in-
stantly showed his complete knowledge of the manners of
good society. He turned first to the captain’s wife sitting in
her armchair, who was very ill-humoured at the moment,
and was grumbling that the boys stood between her and
Ilusha’s bed and did not let her see the new puppy. With the
greatest courtesy he made her a bow, scraping his foot, and
turning to Nina, he made her, as the only other lady pres-
ent, a similar bow. This polite behaviour made an extremely
favourable impression on the deranged lady.
‘There,.you can see at once he is a young man that has
been well brought up,’ she commented aloud, throwing up
her hands; ‘But as for our other visitors they come in one on
the top of another.’
‘How do you mean, mamma, one on the top of another,
how is that?’ muttered the captain affectionately, though a
little anxious on her account.