The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (best e book reader for android txt) đ
- Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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very disagreeable impression on the public; hundreds of contemptuous
eyes were fixed upon her, as she finished giving her evidence and
sat down again in the court, at a good distance from Katerina
Ivanovna. Mitya was silent throughout her evidence. He sat as though
turned to stone, with his eyes fixed on the ground.
Ivan was called to give evidence.
A Sudden Catastrophe
I MAY note that he had been called before Alyosha. But the usher
of the court announced to the President that, owing to an attack of
illness or some sort of fit, the witness could not appear at the
moment, but was ready to give his evidence as soon as he recovered.
But no one seemed to have heard it and it only came out later.
His entrance was for the first moment almost unnoticed. The
principal witnesses, especially the two rival ladies, had already been
questioned. Curiosity was satisfied for the time; the public was
feeling almost fatigued. Several more witnesses were still to be
heard, who probably had little information to give after all that
had been given. Time was passing. Ivan walked up with extraordinary
slowness, looking at no one, and with his head bowed, as though
plunged in gloomy thought. He was irreproachably dressed, but his face
made a painful impression, on me at least: there was an earthy look in
it, a look like a dying manâs. His eyes were lustreless; he raised
them and looked slowly round the court. Alyosha jumped up from his
seat and moaned âAh!â I remember that, but it was hardly noticed.
The President began by informing him that he was a witness not
on oath, that he might answer or refuse to answer, but that, of
course, he must bear witness according to his conscience, and so on,
and so on. Ivan listened and looked at him blankly, but his face
gradually relaxed into a smile, and as soon as the President,
looking at him in astonishment, finished, he laughed outright.
âWell, and what else?â he asked in a loud voice.
There was a hush in the court; there was a feeling of something
strange. The President showed signs of uneasiness.
âYou⊠are perhaps still unwell?â he began, looking everywhere
for the usher.
âDonât trouble yourself, your excellency, I am well enough and can
tell you something interesting,â Ivan answered with sudden calmness
and respectfulness.
âYou have some special communication to make?â the President
went on, still mistrustfully.
Ivan looked down, waited a few seconds and, raising his head,
answered, almost stammering:
âNo⊠I havenât. I have nothing particular.â
They began asking him questions. He answered, as it were,
reluctantly, with extreme brevity, with a sort of disgust which grew
more and more marked, though he answered rationally. To many questions
he answered that he did not know. He knew nothing of his fatherâs
money relations with Dmitri. âI wasnât interested in the subject,â
he added. Threats to murder his father he had heard from the prisoner.
Of the money in the envelope he had heard from Smerdyakov.
âThe same thing over and over again,â he interrupted suddenly,
with a look of weariness. âI have nothing particular to tell the
court.â
âI see you are unwell and understand your feelings,â the President
began.
He turned to the prosecutor and the counsel for the defence to
invite them to examine the witness, if necessary, when Ivan suddenly
asked in an exhausted voice:
âLet me go, your excellency, I feel very ill.â
And with these words, without waiting for permission, he turned to
walk out of the court. But after taking four steps he stood still,
as though he had reached a decision, smiled slowly, and went back.
âI am like the peasant girl, your excellency⊠you know. How does
it go? âIâll stand up if I like, and I wonât if I donât.â They were
trying to put on her sarafan to take her to church to be married,
and she said, âIâll stand up if I like, and I wonât if I donât.ââŠ
Itâs in some book about the peasantry.â
âWhat do you mean by that?â the President asked severely.
âWhy, this,â Ivan suddenly pulled out a roll of notes. âHereâs the
money⊠the notes that lay in that envelopeâ (he nodded towards the
table on which lay the material evidence), âfor the sake of which
our father was murdered. Where shall I put them? Mr. Superintendent,
take them.â
The usher of the court took the whole roll and handed it to the
President.
âHow could this money have come into your possession if it is
the same money?â the President asked wonderingly.
âI got them from Smerdyakov, from the murderer, yesterdayâŠ. I
was with him just before he hanged himself. It was he, not my brother,
killed our father. He murdered him and I incited him to do it⊠Who
doesnât desire his fatherâs death?â
âAre you in your right mind?â broke involuntarily from the
President.
âI should think I am in my right mind⊠in the same nasty mind as
all of you⊠as all these⊠ugly faces.â He turned suddenly to the
audience. âMy father has been murdered and they pretend they are
horrified,â he snarled, with furious contempt. âThey keep up the
sham with one another. Liars! They all desire the death of their
fathers. One reptile devours anotherâŠ. If there hadnât been a
murder, theyâd have been angry and gone home ill-humoured. Itâs a
spectacle they want! Panem et circenses.* Though I am one to talk!
Have you any water? Give me a drink for Christâs sake!â He suddenly
clutched his head.
* Bread and circuses.
The usher at once approached him. Alyosha jumped up and cried, âHe
is ill. Donât believe him: he has brain fever.â Katerina Ivanovna rose
impulsively from her seat and, rigid with horror, gazed at Ivan. Mitya
stood up and greedily looked at his brother and listened to him with a
wild, strange smile.
âDonât disturb yourselves. I am not mad, I am only a murderer,â
Ivan began again. âYou canât expect eloquence from a murderer,â he
added suddenly for some reason and laughed a queer laugh.
The prosecutor bent over to the President in obvious dismay. The
two other judges communicated in agitated whispers. Fetyukovitch
pricked up his ears as he listened: the hall was hushed in
expectation. The President seemed suddenly to recollect himself.
âWitness, your words are incomprehensible and impossible here.
Calm yourself, if you can, and tell your story⊠if you really have
something to tell. How can you confirm your statement⊠if indeed you
are not delirious?â
âThatâs just it. I have no proof. That cur Smerdyakov wonât send
you proofs from the other world⊠in an envelope. You think of
nothing but envelopes-one is enough. Iâve no witnesses⊠except one,
perhaps,â he smiled thoughtfully.
âWho is your witness?â
âHe has a tail, your excellency, and that would be irregular! Le
diable nâexiste point! Donât pay attention: he is a paltry, pitiful
devil,â he added suddenly. He ceased laughing and spoke as it were,
confidentially. âHe is here somewhere, no doubt-under that table with
the material evidence on it, perhaps. Where should he sit if not
there? You see, listen to me. I told him I donât want to keep quiet,
and he talked about the geological cataclysm⊠idiocy! Come,
release the monster⊠heâs been singing a hymn. Thatâs because his
heart is light! Itâs like a drunken man in the street bawling how
âVanka went to Petersburg,â and I would give a quadrillion
quadrillions for two seconds of joy. You donât know me! Oh, how stupid
all this business is! Come, take me instead of him! I didnât come
for nothingâŠ. Why, why is everything so stupid?âŠâ
And he began slowly, and as it were reflectively, looking round
him again. But the court was all excitement by now. Alyosha rushed
towards him, but the court usher had already seized Ivan by the arm.
âWhat are you about?â he cried, staring into the manâs face, and
suddenly seizing him by the shoulders, he flung him violently to the
floor. But the police were on the spot and he was seized. He
screamed furiously. And all the time he was being removed, he yelled
and screamed something incoherent.
The whole court was thrown into confusion. I donât remember
everything as it happened. I was excited myself and could not
follow. I only know that afterwards, when everything was quiet again
and everyone understood what had happened, the court usher came in for
a reprimand, though he very reasonably explained that the witness
had been quite well, that the doctor had seen him an hour ago, when he
had a slight attack of giddiness, but that, until he had come into the
court, he had talked quite consecutively, so that nothing could have
been foreseen-that he had, in fact, insisted on giving evidence.
But before everyone had completely regained their composure and
recovered from this scene, it was followed by another. Katerina
Ivanovna had an attack of hysterics. She sobbed, shrieking loudly, but
refused to leave the court, struggled, and besought them not to remove
her. Suddenly she cried to the President:
âThere is more evidence I must give at once ⊠at once! Here is a
document, a letter⊠take it, read it quickly, quickly! Itâs a letter
from that monster⊠that man there, there!â she pointed to Mitya. âIt
was he killed his father, you will see that directly. He wrote to me
how he would kill his father! But the other one is ill, he is ill,
he is delirious!â she kept crying out, beside herself.
The court usher took the document she held out to the President,
and she, dropping into her chair, hiding her face in her hands,
began convulsively and noiselessly sobbing, shaking all over, and
stifling every sound for fear she should be ejected from the court.
The document she had handed up was that letter Mitya had written at
the Metropolis tavern, which Ivan had spoken of as a âmathematical
proof.â Alas! its mathematical conclusiveness was recognised, and
had it not been for that letter, Mitya might have escaped his doom or,
at least, that doom would have been less terrible. It was, I repeat,
difficult to notice every detail. What followed is still confused to
my mind. The President must, I suppose, have at once passed on the
document to the judges, the jury, and the lawyers on both sides. I
only remember how they began examining the witness. On being gently
asked by the President whether she had recovered sufficiently,
Katerina Ivanovna exclaimed impetuously:
âI am ready, I am ready! I am quite equal to answering you,â she
added, evidently still afraid that she would somehow be prevented from
giving evidence. She was asked to explain in detail what this letter
was and under what circumstances she received it.
âI received it the day before the crime was committed, but he
wrote it the day before that, at the tavern-that is, two days
before he committed the crime. Look, it is written on some sort of
bill!â she cried breathlessly. âHe hated me at that time, because he
had behaved contemptibly and was running after that creature ⊠and
because he owed me that three thousandâŠ. Oh! he was humiliated by
that three thousand on account of his own meanness! This is how it
happened about that three thousand. I beg you, I beseech you, to
hear me. Three weeks before he murdered his father, he came to me
one morning. I knew he was in want of money, and what he wanted it
for. Yes, yes-to
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