# Book Eight Chapter One, 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, 40 min.

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: CHAPTER XLVII. but dimitri to whom grushenka flying away to
[0:40] Speaker 1: a new life had left her last greetings bidding him
[0:46] Speaker 1: remember the hour of her love for ever knew nothing
[0:51] Speaker 1: of what had happened to her and was at that
[0:53] Speaker 1: moment in a condition of feverish agitation and activity For
[0:59] Speaker 1: the last two days he had been in such an
[1:02] Speaker 1: inconceivable state of mind that he might easily have fallen
[1:06] Speaker 1: ill with brain-fever, as he said himself afterwards. Alyosha had
[1:12] Speaker 1: not been able to find him the morning before, and
[1:16] Speaker 1: Ivan had not succeeded in meeting him at the tavern
[1:19] Speaker 1: on the same day. The people at his lodgings, by
[1:23] Speaker 1: his orders, concealed his movements. He had spent those two
[1:29] Speaker 1: days literally rushing in all directions, struggling with his destiny
[1:36] Speaker 1: and trying to save himself, as he expressed it himself afterwards,
[1:42] Speaker 1: and for some hours he even made a dash out
[1:46] Speaker 1: of the town on urgent business, terrible as it was
[1:50] Speaker 1: to him to lose sight of Gushenka for a moment.
[1:55] Speaker 1: All this was explained afterwards in detail and confirmed by
[2:00] Speaker 1: documentary evidence, but for the present we will only note
[2:06] Speaker 1: the most essential incidents of those two terrible days immediately
[2:12] Speaker 1: preceding the awful catastrophe that broke so suddenly upon him.
[2:20] Speaker 1: Though Grushenka had, it is true, loved him for an hour,
[2:26] Speaker 1: genuinely and sincerely, yet she tortured him sometimes, cruelly and mercilessly.
[2:35] Speaker 1: The worst of it was that he could never tell
[2:38] Speaker 1: what she meant to do. To prevail upon her by
[2:41] Speaker 1: force or kindness was also impossible. She would yield to nothing.
[2:47] Speaker 1: She would only have become angry and turned away from
[2:50] Speaker 1: him altogether. He knew that well already. he suspected quite
[2:55] Speaker 1: correctly that she too was passing through an inward struggle,
[3:01] Speaker 1: and was in a state of extraordinary indecision, that she
[3:06] Speaker 1: was making up her mind to something, and unable to
[3:10] Speaker 1: determine upon it. And so, not without good reason, he divined,
[3:18] Speaker 1: with a sinking heart, that at moments she must simply
[3:22] Speaker 1: hate him, and his passion. And so perhaps it was,
[3:28] Speaker 1: but what was distressing Grishenka he did not understand. For
[3:34] Speaker 1: him the whole tormenting question lay between him and Fyodor Pavlovich.
[3:43] Speaker 1: Here we must note, by the way, one certain fact.
[3:49] Speaker 1: He was firmly persuaded that that Fyodor Pavlovich would offer,
[3:54] Speaker 1: or perhaps had offered, Grushenka lawful wedlock, and did not
[4:00] Speaker 1: for a moment believe that the old voluptuary hoped to
[4:04] Speaker 1: gain his object for three thousand roubles. Mitya had reached
[4:11] Speaker 1: this conclusion from his knowledge of Grushenka and her character.
[4:18] Speaker 1: That was how it was that he could believe at
[4:21] Speaker 1: times that all Grushenka's uneasiness rose from not knowing which
[4:26] Speaker 1: of them to choose, which was most to her advantage.
[4:31] Speaker 1: Strange to say, during those days, it never occurred to
[4:37] Speaker 1: him to think of the approaching return of the officer,
[4:41] Speaker 1: that is, of the man who had been such a
[4:45] Speaker 1: fatal influence in Grushenka's life. and whose arrival she was
[4:50] Speaker 1: expecting with such emotion and dread. It is true that
[4:55] Speaker 1: of late Grushenka had been very silent about it, yet
[5:00] Speaker 1: he was perfectly aware of a letter she had received
[5:03] Speaker 1: a month ago from her seducer, and had heard of
[5:07] Speaker 1: it from her own lips. He partly knew, too, what
[5:12] Speaker 1: the letter contained. In a moment of spite, Grushenka had
[5:17] Speaker 1: shown him that letter, but to her astonishment he attached
[5:22] Speaker 1: hardly any consequence to it. It would be hard to
[5:26] Speaker 1: say why this was. Perhaps, weighed down by all the
[5:31] Speaker 1: hideous horror of his struggle with his own father for
[5:36] Speaker 1: this woman, he was incapable of imagining any danger more
[5:41] Speaker 1: terrible at any rate for the time. He simply did
[5:45] Speaker 1: not believe in a suitor who suddenly turned up again
[5:50] Speaker 1: after five years' disappearance, still less in his speedy arrival. Moreover,
[5:58] Speaker 1: in the officer's first letter, which had been shown to Meecha,
[6:03] Speaker 1: the possibility of his new rival's visit was very vaguely suggested.
[6:10] Speaker 1: The letter was very indefinite, high-flown, and full of sentimentality.
[6:17] Speaker 1: It must be noted that Grushenka had concealed from him
[6:22] Speaker 1: the last lines of the letter, in which his return
[6:26] Speaker 1: was alluded to more definitely. He had, besides, noticed at
[6:32] Speaker 1: that moment, he remembered afterwards, a certain involuntary proud contempt
[6:40] Speaker 1: for this missive from Siberia on Grushenka's face. Grushenka told
[6:46] Speaker 1: him nothing of what had passed later between her and
[6:51] Speaker 1: his rival, so that by degrees he had completely forgotten
[6:56] Speaker 1: the officer's existence. He felt that whatever might come later,
[7:04] Speaker 1: whatever turn things might take, his final conflict with Fyodor
[7:09] Speaker 1: Pavlovich was close upon him, and must be decided before
[7:13] Speaker 1: anything else. with a sinking heart he was expecting every
[7:19] Speaker 1: moment grushenka's decision always believing that it would come suddenly
[7:25] Speaker 1: on the impulse of the moment all of a sudden
[7:29] Speaker 1: she would say to him take me i'm yours for
[7:32] Speaker 1: ever and it would all be over he would seize
[7:36] Speaker 1: her and bear her away at once to the ends
[7:40] Speaker 1: of the earth ah He would bear her away at once,
[7:45] Speaker 1: as far, far away as possible, to the farthest end
[7:49] Speaker 1: of Russia, if not of the earth. Then he would
[7:52] Speaker 1: marry her, and settle down with her incognito, so that
[7:56] Speaker 1: no one would know anything about them, there, here, or anywhere. Then,
[8:01] Speaker 1: oh then, a new life would begin at once, of
[8:05] Speaker 1: this different, reformed, and virtuous life. it must it must
[8:12] Speaker 1: be virtuous he dreamed feverishly at every moment he thirsted
[8:21] Speaker 1: for that reformation and renewal the filthy morass in which
[8:27] Speaker 1: he had sunk of his own free will was too
[8:31] Speaker 1: revolting to him and like very many men in such
[8:35] Speaker 1: cases he put faith above all in change of place
[8:40] Speaker 1: if only it were not for these people if only
[8:44] Speaker 1: it were not for these circumstances if only he could
[8:48] Speaker 1: fly away from this accursed place he would be altogether
[8:53] Speaker 1: regenerated would enter on a new path that was what
[8:58] Speaker 1: he believed in and what he was yearning for but
[9:03] Speaker 1: all this could only be on condition of the first
[9:07] Speaker 1: the happy solution of the question There was another possibility,
[9:13] Speaker 1: a different and awful ending. Suddenly she might say to him,
[9:18] Speaker 1: Go away. I have just come to terms with Fyodor Pavlovich.
[9:22] Speaker 1: I am going to marry him and don't want you.
[9:25] Speaker 1: And then... But then... But Mitya did not know what
[9:30] Speaker 1: would happen then. Up to the last hour he didn't know.
[9:35] Speaker 1: That must be said to his credit. He had no
[9:39] Speaker 1: definite intentions. had planned no crime he was simply watching
[9:44] Speaker 1: and spying in agony while he prepared himself for the
[9:49] Speaker 1: first happy solution of his destiny he drove away any
[9:55] Speaker 1: other idea in fact but for that ending a quite
[9:59] Speaker 1: different anxiety arose, a new incidental, but yet fatal and
[10:06] Speaker 1: insoluble difficulty presented itself. If she were to say to him,
[10:14] Speaker 1: I'm yours, take me away, how could he take her away?
[10:19] Speaker 1: Where had he the means, the money, to do it?
[10:22] Speaker 1: It was just at this time that all sources of
[10:26] Speaker 1: revenue from Fyodor Pavlovich, doles which had gone on without
[10:30] Speaker 1: interruption for so many years, ceased. Grushenka had money, of course,
[10:37] Speaker 1: but with regard to this, Mitya suddenly evinced extraordinary pride.
[10:43] Speaker 1: He wanted to carry her away and begin the new
[10:46] Speaker 1: life with her himself. at his own expense, not at hers.
[10:51] Speaker 1: He could not conceive of taking her money, and the
[10:55] Speaker 1: very idea caused him a pang of intense repulsion. I
[11:00] Speaker 1: won't enlarge on this fact, or analyse it here, but
[11:05] Speaker 1: confine myself to remarking that this was his attitude at
[11:09] Speaker 1: the moment. All this may have arisen indirectly and unconsciously
[11:17] Speaker 1: from the secret stings of his conscience for the money
[11:21] Speaker 1: of katerina ivanovna that he had dishonestly appropriated i've been
[11:28] Speaker 1: a scoundrel to one of them and i shall be
[11:31] Speaker 1: a scoundrel again to the other directly was his feeling
[11:35] Speaker 1: then as he explained after and when grushenka knows she
[11:40] Speaker 1: won't care for such a scoundrel where then was he
[11:46] Speaker 1: to get the means Where was he to get the
[11:48] Speaker 1: fateful money? Without it all would be lost, and nothing
[11:53] Speaker 1: could be done, and only because I hadn't the money. Oh,
[11:59] Speaker 1: the shame of it! To anticipate things, he did, perhaps,
[12:08] Speaker 1: know where to get the money, knew, perhaps, where it
[12:15] Speaker 1: lay at that moment. i will say no more of
[12:18] Speaker 1: this here as it will all be clear later but
[12:23] Speaker 1: his chief trouble i must explain however obscurely lay in
[12:29] Speaker 1: the fact that to have that sum he knew of
[12:33] Speaker 1: to have the right to take it he must first
[12:37] Speaker 1: restore katerina ivanovna's three thousand if not i'm a common
[12:42] Speaker 1: pickpocket i'm a scoundrel and I don't want to begin
[12:45] Speaker 1: a new life as a scoundrel, Mitya decided. And so
[12:51] Speaker 1: he made up his mind to move heaven and earth
[12:56] Speaker 1: to return Ekaterina Ivanovna, that three thousand, and that first
[13:02] Speaker 1: of all. The final stage of this decision, so to say,
[13:09] Speaker 1: had been reached only during the last hours, that is,
[13:13] Speaker 1: after his last interview with Alyosha, two days before, on
[13:18] Speaker 1: the high road, on the evening when Grushenka had insulted
[13:22] Speaker 1: Katerina Ivanovna, and Mitya, after hearing Alyosha's account of it,
[13:28] Speaker 1: had admitted that he was a scoundrel, and told him
[13:32] Speaker 1: to tell Katerina Ivanovna so, if it could be any
[13:36] Speaker 1: comfort to her. After parting from his brother on that night,
[13:41] Speaker 1: he had felt in his frenzy, that it would be
[13:44] Speaker 1: better to murder and rob someone than fail to pay
[13:48] Speaker 1: my debt to Katya. I'd rather everyone thought me a
[13:52] Speaker 1: robber and a murderer. I'd rather go to Siberia than
[13:56] Speaker 1: that Katya should have the right to say that I
[13:58] Speaker 1: deceived her and stole her money and used her money
[14:02] Speaker 1: to run away with Grushenka and begin a new life.
[14:05] Speaker 1: That I can't do. So Mitya decided, grinding his teeth,
[14:13] Speaker 1: and he might well fancy at times that his brain
[14:16] Speaker 1: would give way. But meanwhile he went on struggling. Strange
[14:23] Speaker 1: to say, though one would have supposed there was nothing
[14:27] Speaker 1: left for him but despair, for what chance had he,
[14:31] Speaker 1: with nothing in the world, to raise such a sum?
[14:36] Speaker 1: Yet to the very end he persisted in hoping that
[14:40] Speaker 1: he would get that three thousand that the money would
[14:45] Speaker 1: somehow come to him of itself, as though it might
[14:48] Speaker 1: drop from heaven. That is just how it is with
[14:53] Speaker 1: people who, like Dimitri, have never had anything to do
[14:57] Speaker 1: with money, except to squander what has come to them
[15:00] Speaker 1: by inheritance, without any effort of their own, and have
[15:04] Speaker 1: no notion how money is obtained. A whirl of the
[15:09] Speaker 1: most fantastic notions took possession of his brain immediately after
[15:15] Speaker 1: he had parted with Alyosha two days before, and threw
[15:19] Speaker 1: his thoughts into a tangle of confusion. This is how
[15:25] Speaker 1: it was, he pitched first, on a perfectly wild enterprise.
[15:32] Speaker 1: And perhaps to men of that kind, in such circumstances,
[15:36] Speaker 1: the most impossible, fantastic schemes occur first, and seem most practical.
[15:45] Speaker 1: He suddenly determined to go to Samsonov, the merchant who
[15:51] Speaker 1: was Grushenka's protector, and to propose a scheme to him,
[15:57] Speaker 1: and by means of it to obtain from him at
[16:01] Speaker 1: once the whole of the sum required. Of the commercial
[16:06] Speaker 1: value of his scheme he had no doubt, not the slightest,
[16:11] Speaker 1: and was only uncertain how Samsonov would look upon his freak,
[16:16] Speaker 1: supposing he were to consider it from any but the
[16:19] Speaker 1: commercial point of view. Though Mitya knew the merchant by sight,
[16:25] Speaker 1: he was not acquainted with him, and had never spoken
[16:28] Speaker 1: a word to him. But for some unknown reason he
[16:33] Speaker 1: had long entertained the conviction that the old reprobate who
[16:38] Speaker 1: was lying at death's door would perhaps not at all
[16:43] Speaker 1: object now to Grushenka's securing a respectable position, and marrying
[16:50] Speaker 1: a man to be depended upon. And he believed not
[16:55] Speaker 1: only that he would not object, but that this was
[16:58] Speaker 1: what he desired, and if opportunity arose, that he would
[17:04] Speaker 1: be ready to help. From some rumour, or perhaps from
[17:09] Speaker 1: some stray word of Grushenka's, he had gathered further that
[17:14] Speaker 1: the old man would perhaps prefer him to Fyodor Pavlovich
[17:19] Speaker 1: for Grushenka. Possibly many of the readers of my novel
[17:25] Speaker 1: will feel that in reckoning on such assistance, and being
[17:30] Speaker 1: ready to take his bride, so to speak, from the
[17:33] Speaker 1: hands of her protector, Dmitri showed great coarseness and want
[17:39] Speaker 1: of delicacy. I will only observe that Mitya looked upon
[17:45] Speaker 1: Grushenka's past as something completely over. He looked on that
[17:50] Speaker 1: past with infinite pity, and resolved with all the fervour
[17:55] Speaker 1: of his passion, that when once Grushenka told him she
[17:59] Speaker 1: loved him, and would marry him, it would mean the
[18:03] Speaker 1: beginning of a new Grushenka, and a new Dmitri, free
[18:08] Speaker 1: from every vice. They would forgive one another, and would
[18:12] Speaker 1: begin their lives afresh. As for Kuzma Samsonov, Dmitri looked
[18:19] Speaker 1: upon him as a man who had exercised a fateful
[18:23] Speaker 1: influence in that remote past of Grushenka's, though she had
[18:28] Speaker 1: never loved him, and who was now himself a thing
[18:31] Speaker 1: of the past, completely done with, and, so to say, non-existent. Besides,
[18:39] Speaker 1: Mitya hardly looked upon him as a man at all,
[18:42] Speaker 1: for it was known to every one in the town
[18:44] Speaker 1: that he was only a shattered wreck, whose relations with
[18:48] Speaker 1: Grushenka had changed their character, and were now simply paternal,
[18:53] Speaker 1: and that this had been so for a long time.
[18:57] Speaker 1: In any case, there was much simplicity on Mitya's part
[19:02] Speaker 1: in all this, for in spite of all his vices,
[19:05] Speaker 1: he was a very simple-hearted man it was an instance
[19:11] Speaker 1: of this simplicity that mitya was seriously persuaded that being
[19:16] Speaker 1: on the eve of his departure for the next world
[19:20] Speaker 1: old kutzma must sincerely repent of his past relations with
[19:26] Speaker 1: grushenka and that she had no more devoted friend and
[19:30] Speaker 1: protector in the world than this now harmless old man
[19:38] Speaker 1: after his conversation with alyosha at the cross-roads he hardly
[19:43] Speaker 1: slept all night and at ten o'clock next morning he
[19:47] Speaker 1: was at the house of samsonov and telling the servant
[19:51] Speaker 1: to announce him it was a very large and gloomy
[19:55] Speaker 1: old house of two stories with a lodge and outhouses
[20:00] Speaker 1: in the lower story lived samsonov's two married sons with
[20:04] Speaker 1: their families his old sister and his unmarried daughter In
[20:10] Speaker 1: the lodge lived two of his clerks, one of whom
[20:14] Speaker 1: also had a large family. Both the lodge and the
[20:19] Speaker 1: lower storey were overcrowded, but the old man kept the
[20:23] Speaker 1: upper floor to himself, and would not even let the
[20:26] Speaker 1: daughter live there with him, though she waited upon him,
[20:30] Speaker 1: and in spite of her asthma, was obliged at certain
[20:34] Speaker 1: fixed hours, and at any time he might call her,
[20:38] Speaker 1: to run upstairs to him from below. This upper floor
[20:43] Speaker 1: contained a number of large rooms, kept purely for show,
[20:48] Speaker 1: furnished in the old-fashioned merchant style, with long, monotonous rows
[20:55] Speaker 1: of clumsy mahogany chairs along the walls, with glass chandeliers
[21:00] Speaker 1: under shades, and gloomy mirrors on the walls. All these
[21:06] Speaker 1: rooms were entirely empty and unused, for the old man
[21:10] Speaker 1: kept to one room, a small remote bedroom, where he
[21:15] Speaker 1: was waited upon by an old servant with a kerchief
[21:19] Speaker 1: on her head, and by a lad who used to
[21:22] Speaker 1: sit on the locker in the passage. Owing to his
[21:26] Speaker 1: swollen legs, the old man could hardly walk at all,
[21:31] Speaker 1: and was only rarely lifted from his leather armchair. when
[21:35] Speaker 1: the old woman supporting him led him up and down
[21:39] Speaker 1: the room once or twice. He was morose and taciturn,
[21:46] Speaker 1: even with this old woman. When he was informed of
[21:52] Speaker 1: the arrival of the captain, he at once refused to
[21:57] Speaker 1: see him. But Mitya persisted and sent his name up again,
[22:04] Speaker 1: Samsonov questioned the lad minutely. What he looked like, whether
[22:09] Speaker 1: he was drunk, was he going to make a row?
[22:13] Speaker 1: The answer he received was that he was sober, but
[22:17] Speaker 1: wouldn't go away. The old man again refused to see him.
[22:24] Speaker 1: Then Mitya, who had foreseen this, and purposely brought pencil
[22:28] Speaker 1: and paper with him, wrote clearly on the piece of
[22:32] Speaker 1: paper the words, ON MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS CLOSELY CONCERNING AGRAFINA ALEXANDROVNA,
[22:41] Speaker 1: AND SENT IT UP TO THE OLD MAN. AFTER THINKING
[22:47] Speaker 1: A LITTLE, ASAMSONOV TOLD THE LAD TO TAKE THE VISITOR
[22:52] Speaker 1: TO THE DRAWING-ROOM, AND SENT THE OLD WOMAN DOWNSTAIRS WITH
[22:56] Speaker 1: A SUMMONS TO HIS YOUNGER SON TO COME UPSTAIRS TO
[23:00] Speaker 1: HIM AT ONCE. THIS YOUNGER SON a man over six
[23:05] Speaker 1: foot and of exceptional physical strength, who was closely shaven
[23:10] Speaker 1: and dressed in the European style, though his father still
[23:14] Speaker 1: wore a cap down and a beard, came at once
[23:18] Speaker 1: without a comment. All the family trembled before the father.
[23:24] Speaker 1: The old man had sent for this giant not because
[23:28] Speaker 1: he was afraid of the captain. He was by no
[23:32] Speaker 1: means of a timorous temper, but in order to have
[23:35] Speaker 1: a witness in case of any emergency. Supported by his
[23:41] Speaker 1: son and the servant-lad, he waddled at last into the drawing-room.
[23:48] Speaker 1: It may be assumed that he felt considerable curiosity. The
[23:54] Speaker 1: drawing-room in which Mietje was awaiting him was a vast,
[24:00] Speaker 1: dreary room, that laid a weight of depression on the heart.
[24:06] Speaker 1: It had a double row of windows, a gallery, marbled walls,
[24:13] Speaker 1: and three immense chandeliers with glass lusters covered with shades.
[24:22] Speaker 1: Mietje was sitting on a little chair at the entrance,
[24:27] Speaker 1: awaiting his fate with nervous impatience. WHEN THE OLD MAN
[24:33] Speaker 1: APPEARED AT THE OPPOSITE DOOR, SEVENTY FEET AWAY, MEECHER JUMPED
[24:38] Speaker 1: UP AT ONCE, AND WITH HIS LONG MILITARY STRIDE, WALKED
[24:44] Speaker 1: TO MEET HIM. MEECHER WAS WELL-DRESSED, IN A FROTH COAT,
[24:48] Speaker 1: BUTTONED UP, WITH A ROUND HAT AND BLACK GLOVES IN
[24:52] Speaker 1: HIS HANDS, JUST AS HE HAD BEEN THREE DAYS BEFORE
[24:56] Speaker 1: AT THE ELDER'S, AT THE FAMILY MEETING WITH HIS FATHER
[25:00] Speaker 1: AND BROTHERS. The old man waited for him, standing dignified
[25:06] Speaker 1: and unbending, and Mitya felt at once that he had
[25:10] Speaker 1: looked him through and through as he advanced. Mitya was
[25:15] Speaker 1: greatly impressed, too, with Samsonov's immensely swollen face. His lower lip,
[25:23] Speaker 1: which had always been thick, hung down now, looking like
[25:27] Speaker 1: a bun. He bowed to his guest in dignified silence,
[25:32] Speaker 1: motioned him to a low chair by the sofa, and,
[25:37] Speaker 1: leaning on his son's arm, he began lowering himself onto
[25:43] Speaker 1: the sofa opposite, groaning painfully, so that Michit, seeing his
[25:49] Speaker 1: painful exertions, immediately felt remorseful and sensitively conscious of his insignificance.
[25:58] Speaker 1: in the presence of the dignified person he had ventured
[26:03] Speaker 1: to disturb.' What is it you want of me, sir?'
[26:08] Speaker 1: said the old man, deliberately, distinctly, severely, but courteously, when
[26:14] Speaker 1: he was at last seated. Meechers started, leapt up, but
[26:19] Speaker 1: sat down again. Then he began at once speaking, with loud,
[26:24] Speaker 1: nervous haste, gesticulating, and in a positive frenzy. he was
[26:29] Speaker 1: unmistakably a man driven into a corner on the brink
[26:34] Speaker 1: of ruin catching at the last straw ready to sink
[26:39] Speaker 1: if he failed old sam sonoff probably grasped all this
[26:45] Speaker 1: in an instant though his face remained cold and immovable
[26:50] Speaker 1: as a statue's most honoured sir kutzma kutzmitch you have
[26:57] Speaker 1: no doubt Heard more than once of my disputes with
[27:00] Speaker 1: my father, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, who robbed me of my
[27:05] Speaker 1: inheritance from my mother. Seeing the whole town is gossiping
[27:08] Speaker 1: about it, for here everyone's gossiping of what they shouldn't.
[27:12] Speaker 1: And besides, it might have reached you through Grishenka. I
[27:14] Speaker 1: beg your pardon, through Agrafena Alexandrovna. Agrafena Alexandrovna, the lady
[27:20] Speaker 1: for whom I have the highest respect and esteem. So
[27:24] Speaker 1: Mitya began. and broke down at the first sentence. We
[27:31] Speaker 1: will not reproduce his speech word for word, but will
[27:35] Speaker 1: only summarise the gist of it. Three months ago, he said,
[27:41] Speaker 1: he had of express intention Amicia purposely used these words
[27:49] Speaker 1: instead of intentionally consulted a lawyer in the chief town
[27:55] Speaker 1: of the province, a distinguished lawyer, Kuzma Kuzmich, a Pavel,
[28:00] Speaker 1: a Pavlovich, a Konoplodov. You have perhaps heard of him,
[28:05] Speaker 1: a man of vast intellect, the mind of a statesman.
[28:07] Speaker 1: He knows you too, spoke of you in the highest terms.
[28:11] Speaker 1: Mitya broke down again, but these breaks did not deter him.
[28:17] Speaker 1: He leapt instantly over the gaps, and struggled on and on,
[28:25] Speaker 1: this kon pladoff after questioning him minutely and inspecting the
[28:31] Speaker 1: documents he was able to bring him mitya alluded somewhat
[28:36] Speaker 1: vaguely to these documents and slurred over the subject with
[28:40] Speaker 1: special haste reported that they certainly might take proceedings concerning
[28:46] Speaker 1: the village of chetmashnia which ought he said to have
[28:51] Speaker 1: come to him mitya from his mother and so checkmate
[28:55] Speaker 1: the old villain, his father, because every door was not closed,
[28:59] Speaker 1: and justice might still find a loophole. In fact, he
[29:04] Speaker 1: might reckon on an additional sum of six or even
[29:09] Speaker 1: seven thousand roubles from Fyodor Pavlovich, as Chermashnaya was worth
[29:15] Speaker 1: at least twenty-five thousand, he might say, Twenty-eight thousand, in fact. Thirty, thirty,
[29:21] Speaker 1: Kuzma Kuzmich, and would you believe it, I didn't get
[29:24] Speaker 1: seventeen from that heartless man. So he, Mitya, had thrown
[29:30] Speaker 1: the business up for the time, knowing nothing about the law,
[29:35] Speaker 1: but on coming here was struck dumb by a cross-claim
[29:39] Speaker 1: made upon him. Here Michi went adrift again, and again
[29:44] Speaker 1: took a flying leap forward.' So will not you, excellent
[29:49] Speaker 1: and honoured Kutzma Kutzmich, be willing to take up all
[29:52] Speaker 1: my claims against that unnatural monster, and pay me a
[29:56] Speaker 1: sum down of only three thousand?' you see you cannot
[30:00] Speaker 1: in any case lose over it on my honour on
[30:03] Speaker 1: my honour i swear that quite the contrary you may
[30:06] Speaker 1: make six or seven thousand instead of three above all
[30:11] Speaker 1: he wanted this concluded that very day i'll do the
[30:16] Speaker 1: business with you at a notary's or whatever it is
[30:19] Speaker 1: in fact i'm ready to do anything i'll hand over
[30:23] Speaker 1: all the deeds whatever you want sign anything AND WE
[30:27] Speaker 1: COULD DRAW UP THE AGREEMENT AT ONCE, AND IF IT
[30:30] Speaker 1: WERE POSSIBLE, IF IT WERE ONLY POSSIBLE, THAT VERY MORNING,
[30:33] Speaker 1: YOU COULD PAY ME THAT THREE THOUSAND, FOR THERE ISN'T
[30:37] Speaker 1: A CAPITALIST IN THIS TOWN TO COMPARE WITH YOU, AND
[30:40] Speaker 1: SO WOULD SAVE ME FROM, WOULD SAVE ME, IN FACT,
[30:44] Speaker 1: FOR A GOOD, I MIGHT SAY AN HONORABLE ACTION, FOR
[30:48] Speaker 1: I CHERISH THE MOST HONORABLE FEELINGS FOR A CERTAIN PERSON
[30:52] Speaker 1: WHOM YOU KNOW WELL AND CARE FOR AS A FATHER.
[30:55] Speaker 1: I would not have come, indeed, if it had not
[30:58] Speaker 1: been as a father. And, indeed, it's a struggle of
[31:02] Speaker 1: three in this business, for it's fate. That's a fearful thing,
[31:06] Speaker 1: Kuzma Kuzmich. A tragedy, Kuzma Kuzmich, a tragedy. And as
[31:12] Speaker 1: you've dropped out long ago, it's a tug-of-war between two.
[31:15] Speaker 1: I'm expressing it awkwardly, perhaps, but I'm not a literary man.
[31:20] Speaker 1: You see, I'm on the one side, and that monster
[31:24] Speaker 1: on the other. so you must choose it's either i
[31:28] Speaker 1: or the monster it all lies in your hands the
[31:32] Speaker 1: fate of three lives and the happiness of two excuse
[31:36] Speaker 1: me i'm making a mess of it but you understand
[31:39] Speaker 1: i see from your venerable eyes that you understand and
[31:42] Speaker 1: if you don't understand i'm done for so you see
[31:48] Speaker 1: meecher broke off his clumsy speech with that so you
[31:52] Speaker 1: see and, jumping up from his seat, awaited the answer
[31:58] Speaker 1: to his foolish proposal. At the last phrase he had
[32:03] Speaker 1: suddenly become hopelessly aware that it had all fallen flat,
[32:08] Speaker 1: above all, that he had been talking utter nonsense. How
[32:13] Speaker 1: strange it is! On the way here it seemed all right,
[32:16] Speaker 1: and now it's nothing but nonsense. The idea suddenly dawned
[32:21] Speaker 1: on his despairing mind. All the while he had been talking,
[32:26] Speaker 1: the old man sat motionless, watching him with an icy
[32:30] Speaker 1: expression in his eyes. After keeping him for a moment
[32:34] Speaker 1: in suspense, Kuzma Kuzmich pronounced at last in the most
[32:40] Speaker 1: positive and chilling tone, Excuse me, we don't undertake such business.
[32:48] Speaker 1: Mitya suddenly felt his legs growing weak under him. what
[32:53] Speaker 1: am i to do now kutzma kutzmitch he muttered with
[32:58] Speaker 1: a pale smile i suppose it's all up with me
[33:01] Speaker 1: what do you think excuse me mitya remained standing staring
[33:08] Speaker 1: motionless he suddenly noticed a movement in the old man's
[33:13] Speaker 1: face he started you see sir business of that sort's
[33:20] Speaker 1: not in our line said the old man slowly. There's
[33:27] Speaker 1: the court and the lawyers. It's a perfect misery. But
[33:33] Speaker 1: if you like, there is a man here you might
[33:37] Speaker 1: apply to. Good heavens! Who is it? You're my salvation,
[33:41] Speaker 1: Kutzma Kutzma? faltered Mitya. He doesn't live here, and he's
[33:51] Speaker 1: not here just now. He is a peasant. He does
[33:54] Speaker 1: business in timber. His name is Liagivit. He's been haggling
[34:02] Speaker 1: with Fyodor Pavlovich for the last year over your cops
[34:09] Speaker 1: at Chermashnaya. They can't agree on the price. Maybe you've heard.
[34:16] Speaker 1: Now he's come back again and is staying with the
[34:19] Speaker 1: priest at Ilyinskoe. about twelve bursts from the Volovya station.
[34:28] Speaker 1: He wrote to me, too, about the business of the cops,
[34:33] Speaker 1: asking my advice. Fyodor Pavlovich means to go and see
[34:39] Speaker 1: him himself. So if you were to be beforehand with
[34:44] Speaker 1: Fyodor Pavlovich and to make Leargevy the offer you've made me,
[34:52] Speaker 1: He might, possibly. A brilliant idea, Mitya interrupted ecstatically. He's
[34:59] Speaker 1: the very man. It would just suit him. He's haggling
[35:02] Speaker 1: with him for it, being asked too much, and here
[35:06] Speaker 1: he would have all the documents entitling him to the
[35:09] Speaker 1: property itself. Ha! Ha! Ha! And Mitya suddenly went off
[35:16] Speaker 1: into his short wooden laugh, startling Samsonov. How can I
[35:21] Speaker 1: thank you, Kutzma Kutzmich? cried Mitya effusively. Don't mention it,
[35:30] Speaker 1: said Samsonov, inclining his head. But you don't know you've
[35:36] Speaker 1: saved me. Oh, it was a true presentiment brought me
[35:39] Speaker 1: to you. So now to this priest. No need of thanks.
[35:45] Speaker 1: I'll make haste and fly back. I'm afraid I've overtaxed
[35:50] Speaker 1: your strength. I shall never forget it. It's a Russian,
[35:53] Speaker 1: says that Kutzma Kutzmich, a Russian, to be sure. Mitya
[36:01] Speaker 1: seized his hand to press it, but there was a
[36:04] Speaker 1: malignant gleam in the old man's eye. Mitya drew back
[36:09] Speaker 1: his hand, but at once blamed himself for his mistrustfulness.
[36:15] Speaker 1: It's because he's tired, he thought. For her sake! For
[36:19] Speaker 1: her sake, Kutzma Kutzmich, you understand that it's for her,
[36:23] Speaker 1: he cried, his voice ringing through the room. He bowed,
[36:29] Speaker 1: turned sharply round, and with the same long stride walked
[36:35] Speaker 1: to the door without looking back. He was trembling with delight.
[36:42] Speaker 1: Everything was on the verge of ruin, and my guardian
[36:46] Speaker 1: angel saved me. was the thought in his mind and
[36:50] Speaker 1: if such a business man as samsonov a most worthy
[36:55] Speaker 1: old man and to what dignity had suggested this course
[37:00] Speaker 1: then success was assured he would fly off immediately i
[37:05] Speaker 1: will be back before night i shall be back at
[37:08] Speaker 1: night and the thing is done could the old man
[37:11] Speaker 1: have been laughing at me exclaimed mitya as he strode
[37:15] Speaker 1: towards his lodging He could, of course, imagine nothing but
[37:20] Speaker 1: that the advice was practical from such a businessman, with
[37:25] Speaker 1: an understanding of the business, with an understanding of this Diagaby.
[37:31] Speaker 1: Curious surname. Org. The old man was laughing at him. Alas!
[37:38] Speaker 1: The second alternative was the correct one. Long afterwards, when
[37:44] Speaker 1: the catastrophe had happened, Old Samsonov himself confessed, laughing, that
[37:50] Speaker 1: he had made a fool of the captain. He was
[37:53] Speaker 1: a cold, spiteful, and sarcastic man, liable to violent antipathies.
[38:00] Speaker 1: Whether it was the captain's excited face, or the foolish
[38:04] Speaker 1: conviction of the rake and spendthrift, that he, Samsonov, could
[38:10] Speaker 1: be taken in by such a cock-and-bull story as his scheme,
[38:15] Speaker 1: All his jealousy of Grushenka, in whose name this scapegrace
[38:20] Speaker 1: had rushed in on him, with such a tale to
[38:23] Speaker 1: get money which worked on the old man, I can't tell.
[38:28] Speaker 1: But at the instant when Mitya stood before him, feeling
[38:31] Speaker 1: his legs grow weak under him, and frantically exclaiming that
[38:36] Speaker 1: he was ruined, at that moment the old man looked
[38:40] Speaker 1: at him with intense spite, and resolved to make a
[38:43] Speaker 1: laughing-stock of him. when Mietje had gone, a kutzma kutzmetsch,
[38:49] Speaker 1: white with rage, turned to his son, and bade him
[38:53] Speaker 1: see to it that that beggar be never seen again,
[38:57] Speaker 1: and never admitted even into the yard, or else hid.
[39:02] Speaker 1: He did not utter his threat, but even his son,
[39:06] Speaker 1: who often saw him enraged, trembled with fear. For a
[39:11] Speaker 1: whole hour afterwards, The old man was shaken with anger,
[39:17] Speaker 1: and by evening he was worse, and sent for the doctor.
[39:24] Speaker 1: End of chapter 47

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