GRIGORY and Smerdyakov ran into the room after Dmitri. They had been struggling with him in the passage, refusing to admit him, acting1 on instructions given them by Fyodor Pavlovitch some days before. Taking advantage of the fact that Dmitri stopped a moment on entering the room to look about him, Grigory ran round the table, closed the double doors on the opposite side of the room leading to the inner apartments, and stood before the closed doors, stretching wide his arms, prepared to defend the entrance, so to speak, with the last drop of his blood. Seeing this, Dmitri uttered a scream rather than a shout and rushed at Grigory.
“Then she’s there! She’s hidden there! Out of the way, scoundrel!”
He tried to pull Grigory away, but the old servant pushed him back. Beside himself with fury, Dmitri struck out, and hit Grigory with all his might. The old man fell like a log, and Dmitri, leaping over him, broke in the door. Smerdyakov remained pale and trembling at the other end of the room, huddling2 close to Fyodor Pavlovitch.
“She’s here!” shouted Dmitri. “I saw her turn towards the house just now, but I couldn’t catch her. Where is she? Where is she?”
That shout, “She’s here!” produced an indescribable effect on Fyodor Pavlovitch. All his terror left him.
“Hold him! Hold him!” he cried, and dashed after Dmitri. Meanwhile Grigory had got up from the floor, but still seemed stunned3. Ivan and Alyosha ran after their father. In the third room something was heard to fall on the floor with a ringing crash: it was a large glass vase — not an expensive one — on a marble pedestal which Dmitri had upset as he ran past it.
“At him!” shouted the old man. “Help!”
Ivan and Alyosha caught the old man and were forcibly bringing him back.
“Why do you run after him? He’ll murder you outright,” Ivan cried wrathfully at his father.
“Ivan! Alyosha! She must be here. Grushenka’s here. He said he saw her himself, running.”
He was choking. He was not expecting Grushenka at the time, and the sudden news that she was here made him beside himself. He was trembling all over. He seemed frantic4.
“But you’ve seen for yourself that she hasn’t come,” cried Ivan.
“But she may have come by that other entrance.”
“You know that entrance is locked, and you have the key.”
Dmitri suddenly reappeared in the drawing-room. He had, of course, found the other entrance locked, and the key actually was in Fyodor Pavlovitch’s pocket. The windows of all rooms were also closed, so Grushenka could not have come in anywhere nor have run out anywhere.
“Hold him!” shrieked5 Fyodor Pavlovitch, as soon as he saw him again. “He’s been stealing money in my bedroom.” And tearing himself from Ivan he rushed again at Dmitri. But Dmitri threw up both hands and suddenly clutched the old man by the two tufts of hair that remained on his temples, tugged6 at them, and flung him with a crash on the floor. He kicked him two or three times with his heel in the face. The old man moaned shrilly7. Ivan, though not so strong as Dmitri, threw his arms round him, and with all his might pulled him away. Alyosha helped him with his slender strength, holding Dmitri in front.
“Madman! You’ve killed him!” cried Ivan.
“Serve him right!” shouted Dmitri breathlessly. “If I haven’t killed him, I’ll come again and kill him. You can’t protect him!”
“Dmitri! Go away at once!” cried Alyosha commandingly.
“Alexey! You tell me. It’s only you I can believe; was she here just now, or not? I saw her myself creeping this way by the fence from the lane. I shouted, she ran away.”
“I swear she’s not been here, and no one expected her.”
“But I saw her. . . . So she must . . . I’ll find out at once where she is. . . . Good-bye, Alexey! Not a word to Aesop about the money now. But go to Katerina Ivanovna at once and be sure to say, ‘He sends his compliments to you!’ Compliments, his compliments! just compliments and farewell! Describe the scene to her.”
Meanwhile Ivan and Grigory had raised the old man and seated him in an arm-chair. His face was covered with blood, but he was conscious and listened greedily to Dmitri’s cries. He was still fancying that Grushenka really was somewhere in the house. Dmitri looked at him with hatred8 as he went out.
“I don’t repent9 shedding your blood!” he cried. “Beware, old man, beware of your dream, for I have my dream, too. I curse you, and disown you altogether.”
He ran out of the room.
“She’s here. She must be here. Smerdyakov! Smerdyakov!” the old man wheezed10, scarcely audibly, beckoning11 to him with his finger.
“No, she’s not here, you old lunatic!” Ivan shouted at him angrily. “Here, he’s fainting? Water! A towel! Make haste, Smerdyakov!”
Smerdyakov ran for water. At last they got the old man undressed, and put him to bed. They wrapped a wet towel round his head. Exhausted12 by the brandy, by his violent emotion, and the blows he had received, he shut his eyes and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Ivan and Alyosha went back to the drawing-room. Smerdyakov removed the fragments of the broken vase, while Grigory stood by the table looking gloomily at the floor.
“Shouldn’t you put a wet bandage on your head and go to bed, too?” Alyosha said to him. “We’ll look after him. My brother gave you a terrible blow — on the head.”
“He’s insulted me!” Grigory articulated gloomily and distinctly.
“He’s ‘insulted’ his father, not only you,” observed Ivan with a forced smile.
“I used to wash him in his tub. He’s insulted me,” repeated Grigory.
“Damn it all, if I hadn’t pulled him away perhaps he’d have murdered him. It wouldn’t take much to do for Aesop, would it?” whispered Ivan to Alyosha.
“God forbid!” cried Alyosha.
“Why should He forbid?” Ivan went on in the same whisper, with a malignant13 grimace14. “One reptile15 will devour16 the other. And serve them both right, too.”
“Of course I won’t let him be murdered as I didn’t just now. Stay here, Alyosha, I’ll go for a turn in the yard. My head’s begun to ache.”
Alyosha went to his father’s bedroom and sat by his bedside behind the screen for about an hour. The old man suddenly opened his eyes and gazed for a long while at Alyosha, evidently remembering and meditating18. All at once his face betrayed extraordinary excitement.
“Alyosha,” he whispered apprehensively19, “where’s Ivan?”
“In the yard. He’s got a headache. He’s on the watch.”
“Give me that looking-glass. It stands over there. Give it me.”
Alyosha gave him a little round folding looking-glass which stood on the chest of drawers. The old man looked at himself in it; his nose was considerably20 swollen21, and on the left side of his forehead there was a rather large crimson22 bruise23.
“What does Ivan say? Alyosha, my dear, my only son, I’m afraid of Ivan. I’m more afraid of Ivan than the other. You’re the only one I’m not afraid of. . . . ”
“Don’t be afraid of Ivan either. He is angry, but he’ll defend you.”
“Alyosha, and what of the other? He’s run to Grushenka. My angel, tell me the truth, was she here just now or not?”
“No one has seen her. It was a mistake. She has not been here.”
“You know Mitya wants to marry her, to marry her.”
“She won’t marry him.”
“She won’t. She won’t. She won’t. She won’t on any account!”
The old man fairly fluttered with joy, as though nothing more comforting could have been said to him. In his delight he seized Alyosha’s hand and pressed it warmly to his heart. Tears positively24 glittered in his eyes.
“That image of the Mother of God of which I was telling you just now,” he said. “Take it home and keep it for yourself. And I’ll let you go back to the monastery25. . . . I was joking this morning, don’t be angry with me. My head aches, Alyosha. . . . Alyosha, comfort my heart. Be an angel and tell me the truth!”
“You’re still asking whether she has been here or not?” Alyosha said sorrowfully.
“No, no, no. I believe you. I’ll tell you what it is: you go to Grushenka yourself, or see her somehow; make haste and ask her; see for yourself, which she means to choose, him or me. Eh? What? Can you?”
“If I see her I’ll ask her,” Alyosha muttered, embarrassed.
“No, she won’t tell you,” the old man interrupted, “she’s a rogue26. She’ll begin kissing you and say that it’s you she wants. She’s a deceitful, shameless hussy. You mustn’t go to her, you mustn’t!”
“No father, and it wouldn’t be suitable, it wouldn’t be right at all.”
“Where was he sending you just now? He shouted ‘Go’ as he ran away.”
“For money? To ask her for money?”
“No. Not for money.”
“He’s no money; not a farthing. I’ll settle down for the night, and think things over, and you can go. Perhaps you’ll meet her. . . . Only be sure to come to me to-morrow in the morning. Be sure to. I have a word to say to you to-morrow. Will you come?”
“When you come, pretend you’ve come of your own accord to ask after me. Don’t tell anyone I told you to. Don’t say a word to Ivan.”
“Very well.”
“Good-bye, my angel. You stood up for me, just now. I shall never forget it. I’ve a word to say to you to-morrow — but I must think about it.”
“And how do you feel now?”
“I shall get up to-morrow and go out, perfectly27 well, perfectly well!”
Crossing the yard Alyosha found Ivan sitting on the bench at the gateway28. He was sitting writing something in pencil in his notebook. Alyosha told Ivan that their father had waked up, was conscious, and had let him go back to sleep at the monastery.
“Alyosha, I should be very glad to meet you to-morrow morning,” said Ivan cordially, standing29 up. His cordiality was a complete surprise to Alyosha.
“I shall be at the Hohlakovs’ to-morrow,” answered Alyosha, “I may be at Katerina Ivanovna’s, too, if I don’t find her now.”
“But you’re going to her now, anyway? For that ‘compliments and farewell,’” said Ivan smiling. Alyosha was disconcerted.
“I think I quite understand his exclamations30 just now, and part of what went before. Dmitri has asked you to go to her and say that he — well, in fact — takes his leave of her?”
“Brother, how will all this horror end between father and Dmitri?” exclaimed Alyosha.
“One can’t tell for certain. Perhaps in nothing: it may all fizzle out. That woman is a beast. In any case we must keep the old man indoors and not let Dmitri in the house.”
“Brother, let me ask one thing more: has any man a right to look at other men and decide which is worthy31 to live?”
“Why bring in the question of worth? The matter is most often decided32 in men’s hearts on other grounds much more natural. And as for rights — who has not the right to wish?”
“Not for another man’s death?”
“What even if for another man’s death? Why lie to oneself since all men live so and perhaps cannot help living so. Are you referring to what I said just now — that one reptile will devour the other? In that case let me ask you, do you think me like Dmitri capable of shedding Aesop’s blood, murdering him, eh?”
“What are you saying, Ivan? Such an idea never crossed my mind. I don’t think Dmitri is capable of it, either.”
“Thanks, if only for that,” smiled Ivan. “Be sure, I should always defend him. But in my wishes I reserve myself full latitude33 in this case. Good-bye till to-morrow. Don’t condemn34 me, and don’t look on me as a villain,” he added with a smile.
They shook hands warmly as they had never done before. Alyosha felt that his brother had taken the first step towards him, and that he had certainly done this with some definite motive35.
收听单词发音 |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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huddling
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| n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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wheezed
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| v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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12
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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17
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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18
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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22
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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28
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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29
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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30
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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31
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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32
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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33
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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34
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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35
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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