# Book 9 Chapter 8 - The Evidences of the Witnesses. The Babe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Librivox Audiobook

An episode of [Brothers Karamazov, The by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1795736404), 11 Sep 2026, 23 min.

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: CHAPTER VIII. THE EVIDENCES OF THE WITNESSES. THE BABE. The
[0:31] Speaker 1: examination of the witnesses began, but we will not continue
[0:34] Speaker 1: our story in such detail as before, and so we
[0:37] Speaker 1: will not dwell on how Nikolai Parfenovitch impressed on every
[0:41] Speaker 1: witness called that he must give his evidence in accordance
[0:44] Speaker 1: with truth and conscience, and that he would afterwards have
[0:47] Speaker 1: to repeat his evidence on oath, how every witness was
[0:50] Speaker 1: called upon to sign the protocol of his evidence, and
[0:53] Speaker 1: so on. We will only note that the point principally
[0:56] Speaker 1: insisted upon in the examination was the question of the
[0:59] Speaker 1: three thousand roubles. That is, was the sum spent here,
[1:03] Speaker 1: at Mokroi, by Mitya on the first occasion a month before,
[1:08] Speaker 1: three thousand or fifteen hundred? And again had he spent
[1:11] Speaker 1: three thousand or fifteen hundred yesterday? Alas, all the evidence
[1:16] Speaker 1: given by everyone turned out to be against Mitya. There
[1:20] Speaker 1: was not one in his favor, and some witnesses introduced new,
[1:24] Speaker 1: almost crushing facts, in contradiction of his, Mitya's, story. The
[1:29] Speaker 1: first witness examined was Trifon Barisovich. He was not in
[1:33] Speaker 1: the least abashed as he stood before the lawyers. He had,
[1:36] Speaker 1: on the contrary, an air of stern and severe indignation
[1:39] Speaker 1: with the accused, which gave him an appearance of truthfulness
[1:42] Speaker 1: and personal dignity. He spoke little and with reserve, waited
[1:46] Speaker 1: to be questioned, answered precisely and deliberately. Firmly and unhesitatingly
[1:52] Speaker 1: he bore witness that the sum spent a month before
[1:54] Speaker 1: could not have been less than three thousand. that all
[1:58] Speaker 1: the peasants about here would testify that they had heard
[2:00] Speaker 1: the sum of three thousand mentioned by Dmitri Fyodorovich himself.
[2:05] Speaker 1: What a lot of money he flung away on the
[2:07] Speaker 1: gypsy girls alone. He wasted a thousand, I dare say,
[2:10] Speaker 1: on them alone. I don't believe I gave them five hundred,
[2:14] Speaker 1: was Mitya's gloomy comment on this. It's a pity I
[2:17] Speaker 1: didn't count the money at the time, but I was drunk.
[2:21] Speaker 1: Mitya was sitting sideways with his back to the curtains.
[2:24] Speaker 1: He listened gloomily, with a melancholy and exhausted air, as
[2:28] Speaker 1: though he would say, Oh, say what you like. It
[2:31] Speaker 1: makes no difference now. More than a thousand went on them,
[2:35] Speaker 1: Dmitri Fyodorovich, retorted Trifon Borisovich firmly. You flung it about
[2:40] Speaker 1: at random and they picked it up. They were a rascally,
[2:43] Speaker 1: thievish lot, horse-stealers. They've been driven away from here, or
[2:47] Speaker 1: maybe they'd bear witness themselves how much they got from you.
[2:50] Speaker 1: I saw the sum in your hands, myself. Count it
[2:53] Speaker 1: I didn't. You didn't let me, that's true enough. But
[2:56] Speaker 1: by the look of it, I should say it was
[2:57] Speaker 1: far more than fifteen hundred. Fifteen hundred, indeed. We've seen money, too.
[3:02] Speaker 1: We can judge of amounts. As for the sum spent yesterday,
[3:06] Speaker 1: he asserted that Dmitri Fyodorovich had told him, as soon
[3:09] Speaker 1: as he arrived, that he had brought three thousand with him.
[3:13] Speaker 1: Come now, is that so, Trifon Borisovich? replied Mitya. Surely
[3:17] Speaker 1: I didn't declare so positively that I'd brought three thousand.
[3:21] Speaker 1: You did say so, Dmitri Fyodorovich. You said it before Andrei.
[3:26] Speaker 1: Andrei himself is still here. Send for him. And in
[3:28] Speaker 1: the hall, when you were treating the chorus, you shouted
[3:31] Speaker 1: straight out that you would leave your six thousand here.
[3:34] Speaker 1: That is, with what you spent before, we must understand.
[3:38] Speaker 1: Stepan and Semyon heard it. And Pyotr Fomitch-Kaganov, too, was
[3:41] Speaker 1: standing beside you at the time. Maybe he'd remember it.
[3:45] Speaker 1: The evidence as to the six thousand made an extraordinary
[3:49] Speaker 1: impression on the two lawyers. They were delighted with this
[3:52] Speaker 1: new mode of reckoning. Three and three made six. Three
[3:56] Speaker 1: thousand then, and three now, made six. That was clear.
[4:00] Speaker 1: They questioned all the peasants suggested by Trifon Barisovitch. Stepan
[4:04] Speaker 1: and Semyon, the driver Andrei, and Kalganov. The peasants and
[4:08] Speaker 1: the driver unhesitatingly confirmed Trifon Barisovitch's evidence. They noted down,
[4:13] Speaker 1: with particular care, Andrei's account of the conversation he had
[4:17] Speaker 1: had with Mitya on the road. Where, says he, am I,
[4:21] Speaker 1: Dmitri Fyodorovich, going, to heaven or to hell? And shall
[4:25] Speaker 1: I be forgiven in the next world or not? The
[4:28] Speaker 1: psychological Ippolit Kirillovich heard this with a subtle smile, and
[4:33] Speaker 1: ended by recommending that these remarks as to where Dmitri
[4:36] Speaker 1: Fyodorovich would go should be included in the case. Kalganov,
[4:42] Speaker 1: when called, came in reluctantly. frowning and ill-humoured, and he
[4:46] Speaker 1: spoke to the lawyers as though he had never met
[4:48] Speaker 1: them before in his life, though they were acquaintances whom
[4:51] Speaker 1: he had been meeting every day for a long time past.
[4:55] Speaker 1: He began by saying that he knew nothing about it
[4:57] Speaker 1: and didn't want to. But it appeared that he had
[5:00] Speaker 1: heard of the six thousand, and he admitted that he
[5:03] Speaker 1: had been standing close by at the moment. As far
[5:06] Speaker 1: as he could see, he didn't know how much money
[5:08] Speaker 1: Mitya had in his hands. He affirmed that the Poles
[5:11] Speaker 1: had cheated at cards— In reply to reiterated questions, he
[5:15] Speaker 1: stated that after the polls had been turned out, Mitya's
[5:18] Speaker 1: position with Agrafena Alexandrovna had certainly improved, and that she
[5:22] Speaker 1: had said that she loved him. He spoke of Agrafena
[5:26] Speaker 1: Alexandrovna with reserve and respect, as though she had been
[5:29] Speaker 1: a lady of the best society, and did not once
[5:32] Speaker 1: allow himself to call her Grushenka. In spite of the
[5:36] Speaker 1: young man's obvious repugnance at giving evidence, Ippolit Kirillovich examined
[5:40] Speaker 1: him at great length and only from him learnt all
[5:43] Speaker 1: the details of what made up Mitya's romance, so to say,
[5:46] Speaker 1: on that night. Mitya did not once pull Kalganov up.
[5:50] Speaker 1: At last they let the young man go, and he
[5:53] Speaker 1: left the room with unconcealed indignation. The poles, too, were examined.
[5:59] Speaker 1: Though they had gone to bed in their room, they
[6:01] Speaker 1: had not slept all night, and on the arrival of
[6:03] Speaker 1: the police officers they hastily dressed and got ready, realizing
[6:07] Speaker 1: that they would certainly be sent for. They gave their
[6:10] Speaker 1: evidence with dignity. though not without some uneasiness. The little
[6:14] Speaker 1: Pole turned out to be a retired official of the
[6:16] Speaker 1: twelfth class, who had served in Siberia as a veterinary surgeon.
[6:21] Speaker 1: His name was Musialovitch. Pan Vruvelsky turned out to be
[6:25] Speaker 1: an uncertified dentist. Although Nikolai Parfenovitch asked them questions on
[6:30] Speaker 1: entering the room, they both addressed their answers to Mikhail Mikharovitch,
[6:34] Speaker 1: who was standing on one side, taking him in their
[6:36] Speaker 1: ignorance for the most important person and in command. and
[6:40] Speaker 1: addressed him at every word as Pan Colonel. Only after
[6:45] Speaker 1: several reproofs from Mikhail Makarovitch himself, they grasped that they
[6:48] Speaker 1: had to address their answers to Nikolai Parfenovitch only. It
[6:52] Speaker 1: turned out that they could speak Russian quite correctly, except
[6:55] Speaker 1: for their accent in some words. Of his relations with Grushenka,
[6:59] Speaker 1: past and present, Pan Musialovitch spoke proudly and warmly, so
[7:03] Speaker 1: that Mitya was roused at once and declared that he
[7:06] Speaker 1: would not allow the scoundrel to speak like that in
[7:09] Speaker 1: his presence. Pan Musialovitch at once called attention to the
[7:12] Speaker 1: word scoundrel and begged that it should be put down
[7:15] Speaker 1: in the protocol. Mitya fumed with rage. He's a scoundrel,
[7:20] Speaker 1: a scoundrel! You can put that down, and put down too,
[7:23] Speaker 1: then in spite of the protocol I still declare that
[7:25] Speaker 1: he's a scoundrel, he cried. Though Nikolai Parfenovitch did insert
[7:30] Speaker 1: this in the protocol, he showed the most praiseworthy tact
[7:33] Speaker 1: and management. After sternly reprimanding Mitya, he cut short all
[7:37] Speaker 1: further inquiry into the romantic aspect of the case. and
[7:41] Speaker 1: hastened to pass to what was essential. One piece of
[7:44] Speaker 1: evidence given by the Poles roused special interest in the lawyers.
[7:48] Speaker 1: That was how, in that very room, Mitya had tried
[7:50] Speaker 1: to buy off Pan Musialovitch, and had offered him three
[7:54] Speaker 1: thousand roubles to resign his claims, seven hundred roubles down,
[7:58] Speaker 1: and the remaining two thousand three hundred to be paid
[8:01] Speaker 1: next day in the town. He had sworn at the
[8:04] Speaker 1: time that he had not the whole sum with him
[8:06] Speaker 1: at McCroy, but that his money was in the town.
[8:10] Speaker 1: Mitya observed hotly that he had not said that he
[8:12] Speaker 1: would be sure to pay him the remainder next day
[8:14] Speaker 1: in the town. But Pan Vrublevsky confirmed the statement, and Mitya,
[8:19] Speaker 1: after thinking for a moment, admitted, frowning, that it must
[8:22] Speaker 1: have been, as the poll stated, that he had been
[8:24] Speaker 1: excited at the time, and might indeed have said so.
[8:28] Speaker 1: The prosecutor positively pounced on this piece of evidence. It
[8:32] Speaker 1: seemed to establish for the prosecution, and they did in
[8:34] Speaker 1: fact base this deduction on it, that half or a
[8:38] Speaker 1: part of the three thousand that had come into Mitya's
[8:40] Speaker 1: hands might really have been left somewhere hidden in the town,
[8:44] Speaker 1: or even perhaps somewhere here in McCroy. This would explain
[8:48] Speaker 1: the circumstance so baffling for the prosecution that only eight
[8:52] Speaker 1: hundred rubles were to be found in Mitya's hands. This
[8:55] Speaker 1: circumstance had been the one piece of evidence which, insignificant
[8:59] Speaker 1: as it was, had hitherto told, to some extent, in
[9:02] Speaker 1: Mitya's favour. Now this one piece of evidence in his
[9:05] Speaker 1: favour had broken down, In answer to the prosecutor's inquiry
[9:10] Speaker 1: where he would have got the remaining 2,300 rubles, since
[9:13] Speaker 1: he himself had denied having more than 1,500, Mitya confidently
[9:17] Speaker 1: replied that he had meant to offer the little chap
[9:20] Speaker 1: not money, but a formal deed of conveyance of his
[9:23] Speaker 1: rights to the village of Chermashnya, those rights which he
[9:26] Speaker 1: had already offered to Samsonov and Madame Holokov. The prosecutor
[9:31] Speaker 1: positively smiled at the innocence of this subterfuge. And you
[9:36] Speaker 1: imagine he would have accepted such a deed as a
[9:38] Speaker 1: substitute for 2,300 rubles in cash? He certainly would have
[9:43] Speaker 1: accepted it, Mitya declared warmly. Why, look here, he might
[9:47] Speaker 1: have grabbed not 2,000, but four or six for it.
[9:50] Speaker 1: He would have put his lawyers, Poles, and Jews on
[9:53] Speaker 1: to the job, and might have got not three thousand,
[9:55] Speaker 1: but the whole property out of the old man. The
[9:59] Speaker 1: evidence of Pan Musialovitch was, of course, entered into the
[10:02] Speaker 1: protocol in the fullest detail. Then they let the poles go.
[10:06] Speaker 1: The incident of the cheating at cards was hardly touched upon.
[10:10] Speaker 1: Nikolai Parfenovitch was too well pleased with them, as it was,
[10:13] Speaker 1: and did not want to worry them with trifles. Moreover,
[10:16] Speaker 1: it was nothing but a foolish drunken quarrel over cards.
[10:20] Speaker 1: There had been drinking and disorder enough that night. So
[10:23] Speaker 1: the two hundred rubles remained in the pockets of the Poles.
[10:27] Speaker 1: Then old Maximoff was summoned. He came in timidly, approached
[10:31] Speaker 1: with little steps, looking very dishevelled and depressed. He had,
[10:35] Speaker 1: all this time, taken refuge below with Grushenka, sitting dumbly
[10:38] Speaker 1: beside her, and now and then he'd begin blubbering over
[10:42] Speaker 1: her and wiping his eyes with blue-check handkerchief, as Mihail
[10:45] Speaker 1: Makarovitch described afterwards. so that she herself began trying to
[10:49] Speaker 1: pacify and comfort him. The old man at once confessed
[10:53] Speaker 1: that he had done wrong, that he had borrowed ten
[10:55] Speaker 1: rubles in my poverty from Dmitri Fyodorovich, and that he
[10:59] Speaker 1: was ready to pay it back. To Nikolai Parfenovich's direct question,
[11:03] Speaker 1: had he noticed how much money Dmitri Fyodorovich held in
[11:06] Speaker 1: his hand, as he must have been able to see
[11:08] Speaker 1: the sum better than anyone when he took the note
[11:10] Speaker 1: from him, Maximoff, in the most positive manner, declared that
[11:14] Speaker 1: there was twenty thousand. Have you ever seen so much
[11:18] Speaker 1: as twenty thousand before, then? inquired Nikolai Parfenovitch with a smile.
[11:22] Speaker 1: To be sure I have. Not twenty, but seven, when
[11:25] Speaker 1: my wife mortgaged my little property. She'd only let me
[11:29] Speaker 1: look at it from a distance, boasting of it to me.
[11:32] Speaker 1: It was a very thick bundle, all rainbow-coloured notes, and
[11:35] Speaker 1: Dmitri Fyodorovich's were all rainbow-coloured. He was not kept long.
[11:40] Speaker 1: At last it was Grushenka's turn. Nikolai Parfenovitch was obviously
[11:44] Speaker 1: apprehensive of the effect her appearance might have on Mitya
[11:47] Speaker 1: and he muttered a few words of admonition to him.
[11:50] Speaker 1: But Mitya bowed his head in silence, giving him to
[11:53] Speaker 1: understand that he would not make a scene. Mikhail Makarovitch
[11:57] Speaker 1: himself led Grushenka in. She entered with a stern and
[12:00] Speaker 1: gloomy face that looked almost composed, and sat down quietly
[12:05] Speaker 1: on the chair offered her by Nikolai Parfenovitch. She was
[12:08] Speaker 1: very pale, she seemed to be cold, and wrapped herself
[12:11] Speaker 1: closely in her magnificent black shawl. She was suffering from
[12:15] Speaker 1: a slight feverish chill, the first symptom of the long
[12:18] Speaker 1: illness which followed that night. Her grave air, her direct,
[12:23] Speaker 1: earnest look, and quiet manner made a very favorable impression
[12:26] Speaker 1: on everyone. Nikolai Parfenovich was even a little bit fascinated.
[12:31] Speaker 1: He admitted himself, when talking about it afterwards, that only
[12:34] Speaker 1: then had he seen how handsome the woman was, for,
[12:38] Speaker 1: though he had seen her several times, he had always
[12:40] Speaker 1: looked upon her as something of a provincial hetaira. She
[12:44] Speaker 1: has the manners of the best society, he said enthusiastically,
[12:47] Speaker 1: gossiping about her in a circle of ladies. But this
[12:50] Speaker 1: was received with positive indignation by the ladies, who immediately
[12:54] Speaker 1: called him a naughty man, to his great satisfaction. As
[12:58] Speaker 1: she entered the room, Grushenka only glanced for an instant
[13:01] Speaker 1: at Mitya, who looked at her uneasily. But her face
[13:04] Speaker 1: reassured him at once. After the first inevitable inquiries and warnings,
[13:09] Speaker 1: Nikolai Parfenovich asked her, hesitating a little, but preserving the
[13:13] Speaker 1: most courteous manner, on what terms she was with the
[13:16] Speaker 1: retired lieutenant, Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov. To this Grushenka firmly and
[13:22] Speaker 1: quietly replied, He was an acquaintance. He came to see
[13:26] Speaker 1: me as an acquaintance during the last month. To further
[13:30] Speaker 1: inquisitive questions she answered plainly and with complete frankness, that though,
[13:34] Speaker 1: at times, she had thought him attractive, she had not
[13:37] Speaker 1: loved him, but had won his heart as well as
[13:39] Speaker 1: his old father's, in my nasty spite, that she had
[13:43] Speaker 1: seen that Mitya was very jealous of Fyodor Pavlovich and
[13:46] Speaker 1: everyone else, but that had only amused her. She had
[13:50] Speaker 1: never meant to go to Fyodor Pavlovich, she had simply
[13:52] Speaker 1: been laughing at him. I had no thoughts for either
[13:55] Speaker 1: of them all this last month. I was expecting another
[13:59] Speaker 1: man who had wronged me. But I think, she said
[14:02] Speaker 1: in conclusion, that there's no need for you to inquire
[14:05] Speaker 1: about that, nor for me to answer you, for that's
[14:08] Speaker 1: my own affair. Nikolai Parfenovitch immediately acted upon this hint.
[14:13] Speaker 1: He again dismissed the romantic aspect of the case and
[14:16] Speaker 1: passed to the serious one, that is, to the question
[14:19] Speaker 1: of most importance concerning the three thousand roubles. Grishyka confirmed
[14:24] Speaker 1: the statement that three thousand roubles had certainly been spent
[14:27] Speaker 1: on the first carousal at McCroy, and though she had
[14:30] Speaker 1: not counted the money herself, she had heard that it
[14:32] Speaker 1: was three thousand from Dmitri Fyodorovitch's own lips. Did he
[14:36] Speaker 1: tell you that alone or before someone else? Or did
[14:39] Speaker 1: you only hear him speak of it to others in
[14:40] Speaker 1: your presence? the prosecutor inquired immediately. To which Grushenka replied
[14:45] Speaker 1: that she had heard him say so before other people,
[14:48] Speaker 1: and had heard him say so when they were alone.
[14:50] Speaker 1: Did he say it to you alone once or several times?
[14:53] Speaker 1: inquired the prosecutor, and learned that he had told Grushenka
[14:56] Speaker 1: so several times. Ippolit Kirillovich was very well satisfied with
[15:01] Speaker 1: this piece of evidence. Further examination elicited that Grushenka knew, too,
[15:06] Speaker 1: where that money had come from. and that Dmitri Fyodorovich
[15:09] Speaker 1: had got it from Katerina Ivanovna. And did you never
[15:13] Speaker 1: once hear that the money spent a month ago was
[15:15] Speaker 1: not three thousand, but less, and that Dmitri Fyodorovich has
[15:18] Speaker 1: saved half that sum for his own use? No, I
[15:22] Speaker 1: never heard that, answered Grushenka. It was explained further that
[15:26] Speaker 1: Mitya had, on the contrary, often told her that he
[15:28] Speaker 1: hadn't a farthing. He was always expecting to get some
[15:31] Speaker 1: from his father, said Grushenka in conclusion. Did he never
[15:35] Speaker 1: say before you, casually or in a moment of irritation,
[15:39] Speaker 1: Nikolai Parfenovitch put in suddenly, that he intended to make
[15:42] Speaker 1: an attempt on his father's life? Ach, he did say so,
[15:46] Speaker 1: sighed Grushenka. Once or several times? He mentioned it several times,
[15:52] Speaker 1: always in anger. And did you believe he would do it? No,
[15:56] Speaker 1: I never believed it, she answered firmly. I had faith
[16:00] Speaker 1: in his noble heart. Gentlemen, allow me, cried Mitya suddenly,
[16:04] Speaker 1: allow me to say one word to Agrafena Alexandrovna in
[16:07] Speaker 1: your presence. You can speak, Nikolai Parfenovitch assented. Agrafena Alexandrovna,
[16:14] Speaker 1: Mitya got up from his chair, have faith in God
[16:17] Speaker 1: and in me. I am not guilty of my father's murder.
[16:21] Speaker 1: Having uttered these words, Mitya sat down again on his chair.
[16:25] Speaker 1: Grushenka stood up and crossed herself devoutly before the icon.
[16:29] Speaker 1: Thanks be to thee, O Lord! she said, in a
[16:32] Speaker 1: voice thrilled with emotion. And still standing, she turned to
[16:36] Speaker 1: Nikolai Parfenovitch and added, As he has spoken, now believe it.
[16:40] Speaker 1: I know him. He'll say anything, as a joke or
[16:43] Speaker 1: from obstinacy, but he'll never deceive you against his conscience.
[16:48] Speaker 1: He's telling the whole truth. You may believe it. Thanks,
[16:51] Speaker 1: Agrafena Alexandrovna. You've given me fresh courage, Mitya responded in
[16:56] Speaker 1: a quivering voice. As to the money spent the previous day,
[17:00] Speaker 1: she declared that she did not know what sum it was,
[17:02] Speaker 1: but had heard him tell several people that he had
[17:04] Speaker 1: three thousand with him. And to the question where he
[17:08] Speaker 1: got the money, she said that he had told her
[17:10] Speaker 1: that he had stolen it from Katerina Ivanovna, and that
[17:14] Speaker 1: she had replied to that that he hadn't stolen it,
[17:16] Speaker 1: and that he must pay the money back next day.
[17:19] Speaker 1: On the prosecutors asking her emphatically whether the money he
[17:22] Speaker 1: said he had stolen from Katerina Ivanovna was what he
[17:25] Speaker 1: had spent yesterday, or what he had squandered here a
[17:28] Speaker 1: month ago, she declared that he meant the money spent
[17:31] Speaker 1: a month ago, and that that was how she understood him.
[17:35] Speaker 1: Grushenko was at last released, and Nikolai Parfenovitch informed her
[17:39] Speaker 1: impulsively that she might at once return to the town,
[17:43] Speaker 1: and that if he could be of any assistance to her,
[17:45] Speaker 1: with horses, for example, or if she would care for
[17:48] Speaker 1: an escort, he would be... I thank you sincerely, said Grushenko,
[17:53] Speaker 1: bowing to him. I'm going with this old gentleman. I
[17:56] Speaker 1: am driving him back to town with me, and meanwhile,
[17:59] Speaker 1: if you'll allow me, I'll wait below to hear what
[18:01] Speaker 1: you decide about Dmitri Fyodorovich. She went out. Mitya was calm,
[18:07] Speaker 1: and even looked more cheerful, but only for a moment.
[18:10] Speaker 1: He felt more and more oppressed by a strange physical weakness.
[18:14] Speaker 1: His eyes were closing with fatigue. The examination of the
[18:18] Speaker 1: witnesses was, at last, over. They proceeded to a revision
[18:23] Speaker 1: of the protocol. Mitya got up, moved from his chair
[18:26] Speaker 1: to the corner by the curtain, lay down on a
[18:29] Speaker 1: large chest covered with a rug, and instantly fell asleep.
[18:33] Speaker 1: He had a strange dream, utterly out of keeping with
[18:36] Speaker 1: the place and the time. He was driving somewhere in
[18:40] Speaker 1: the steps, where he had been stationed long ago, and
[18:43] Speaker 1: a peasant was driving him in a cart with a
[18:45] Speaker 1: pair of horses, through snow and sleet. He was cold.
[18:50] Speaker 1: It was early in November, and the snow was falling
[18:52] Speaker 1: in big wet flakes. melting as soon as it touched
[18:55] Speaker 1: the earth. And the peasant drove him smartly. He had
[18:59] Speaker 1: a fair, long beard. He was not an old man,
[19:03] Speaker 1: somewhere about fifty, and he had on a grey peasant smock.
[19:07] Speaker 1: Not far off was a village. He could see the
[19:10] Speaker 1: black huts, and half the huts were burnt down. There
[19:13] Speaker 1: were only the charred beams sticking up. And as they
[19:16] Speaker 1: drove in, there were peasant women drawn up along the road,
[19:20] Speaker 1: a lot of women, a whole row, all thin and wan.
[19:24] Speaker 1: with their faces a sort of brownish color, especially one
[19:27] Speaker 1: at the edge, a tall bony woman who looked forty
[19:31] Speaker 1: but might have been only twenty, with a long thin face,
[19:35] Speaker 1: and in her arms was a little baby crying, and
[19:38] Speaker 1: her breasts seemed so dried up that there was not
[19:41] Speaker 1: a drop of milk in them, and the child cried
[19:44] Speaker 1: and cried and held out its little bare arms with
[19:47] Speaker 1: its little fists blue from cold. Why are they crying?
[19:52] Speaker 1: Why are they crying? Mitya asked as they dashed gaily by.
[19:56] Speaker 1: It's the babe, answered the driver, the babe weeping. And
[20:01] Speaker 1: Mitya was struck by his saying in his peasant way,
[20:04] Speaker 1: the babe. And he liked the peasants calling it a babe.
[20:08] Speaker 1: There seemed more pity in it.' But why is it weeping?'
[20:12] Speaker 1: Mitya persisted stupidly.' Why are its little arms bare? Why
[20:16] Speaker 1: don't they wrap it up?'' The babe's cold. Its little
[20:20] Speaker 1: clothes are frozen and don't warm it.'' But why is it— why?'
[20:25] Speaker 1: foolish Mitya still persisted.' Why, they're poor people, burnt out.
[20:30] Speaker 1: They've no bread.' They' re begging because they've been burnt out.'' No, no,' Mitya,
[20:36] Speaker 1: as it were, still did not understand.' Tell me why
[20:39] Speaker 1: it is those poor mothers stand there. Why are people poor?
[20:43] Speaker 1: Why is the babe poor? Why is the step barren?
[20:47] Speaker 1: Why don't they hug each other and kiss? Why don't
[20:50] Speaker 1: they sing songs of joy? Why are they so dark
[20:53] Speaker 1: from black misery? Why don't they feed the babe? And
[20:58] Speaker 1: he felt that though his questions were unreasonable and senseless,
[21:01] Speaker 1: yet he wanted to ask just that, and he had
[21:04] Speaker 1: to ask it just in that way. and he felt
[21:07] Speaker 1: that a passion of pity such as he had never
[21:10] Speaker 1: known before was rising in his heart, that he wanted
[21:13] Speaker 1: to cry, that he wanted to do something for them
[21:16] Speaker 1: all so that the babe should weep no more, so
[21:20] Speaker 1: that the dark-faced, dried-up mother should not weep, that no
[21:24] Speaker 1: one should shed tears again from that moment, and he
[21:27] Speaker 1: wanted to do it at once, at once, regardless of
[21:30] Speaker 1: all obstacles, with all the recklessness of the Karamazovs. And
[21:35] Speaker 1: I am coming with you, I won't leave you now
[21:37] Speaker 1: for the rest of my life. I'm coming with you,
[21:41] Speaker 1: he heard close beside him Grushenka's tender voice, thrilling with emotion.
[21:46] Speaker 1: And his heart glowed, and he struggled forward towards the light,
[21:50] Speaker 1: and he longed to live, to live, to go on
[21:53] Speaker 1: and on towards the new, beckoning light, and to hasten, hasten, now,
[21:58] Speaker 1: at once. What? Where? he exclaimed, opening his eyes. and
[22:03] Speaker 1: sitting up on the chest as though he had revived
[22:05] Speaker 1: from a swoon, smiling brightly. Nikolai Parfenovich was standing over him,
[22:10] Speaker 1: suggesting that he should hear the protocol read aloud and
[22:13] Speaker 1: sign it. Mitya guessed that he had been asleep for
[22:17] Speaker 1: an hour or more, but he did not hear Nikolai Parfenovich.
[22:20] Speaker 1: He was suddenly struck by the fact that there was
[22:23] Speaker 1: a pillow under his head, which hadn't been there when
[22:25] Speaker 1: he had leant back, exhausted, on the chest.' Who put
[22:29] Speaker 1: that pillow under my head?' Who was so kind, he cried,
[22:33] Speaker 1: with a sort of ecstatic gratitude, and tears in his voice,
[22:36] Speaker 1: as though some great kindness had been shown him. He
[22:40] Speaker 1: had never found out who this kind man was. Perhaps
[22:43] Speaker 1: one of the peasant witnesses, or Nikolai Perfenovitch's little secretary,
[22:47] Speaker 1: had compassionately thought to put a pillow under his head.
[22:51] Speaker 1: But his whole soul was quivering with tears. He went
[22:54] Speaker 1: to the table and said that he would sign whatever
[22:57] Speaker 1: they liked. I've had a good dream, gentlemen, he said
[23:00] Speaker 1: in a strange voice, with a new light as of
[23:03] Speaker 1: joy in his face.

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