登陆注册
5215100000248

第248章

IvanChapter 1

At Grushenka'sALYOSHA went towards the cathedral square to the widow Morozov's house to see Grushenka, who had sent Fenya to him early in the morning with an urgent message begging him to come.Questioning Fenya, Alyosha learned that her mistress had been particularly distressed since the previous day.During the two months that had passed since Mitya's arrest, Alyosha had called frequently at the widow Morozov's house, both from his own inclination and to take messages for Mitya.Three days after Mitya's arrest, Grushenka was taken very ill and was ill for nearly five weeks.For one whole week she was unconscious.She was very much changed- thinner and a little sallow, though she had for the past fortnight been well enough to go out.But to Alyosha her face was even more attractive than before, and he liked to meet her eyes when he went in to her.A look of firmness and intelligent purpose had developed in her face.There were signs of a spiritual transformation in her, and a steadfast, fine and humble determination that nothing could shake could be discerned in her.

There was a small vertical line between her brows which gave her charming face a look of concentrated thought, almost austere at the first glance.There was scarcely a trace of her former frivolity.

It seemed strange to Alyosha, too, that in spite of the calamity that had overtaken the poor girl, betrothed to a man who had been arrested for a terrible crime, almost at the instant of their betrothal, in spite of her illness and the almost inevitable sentence hanging over Mitya, Grushenka had not yet lost her youthful cheerfulness.There was a soft light in the once proud eyes, though at times they gleamed with the old vindictive fire when she was visited by one disturbing thought stronger than ever in her heart.The object of that uneasiness was the same as ever- Katerina Ivanovna, of whom Grushenka had even raved when she lay in delirium.Alyosha knew that she was fearfully jealous of her.Yet Katerina Ivanovna had not once visited Mitya in his prison, though she might have done it whenever she liked.All this made a difficult problem for Alyosha, for he was the only person to whom Grushenka opened her heart and from whom she was continually asking advice.Sometimes he was unable to say anything.

Full of anxiety he entered her lodging.She was at home.She had returned from seeing Mitya half an hour before, and from the rapid movement with which she leapt up from her chair to meet him he saw that she had been expecting him with great impatience.A pack of cards dealt for a game of "fools" lay on the table.A bed had been made up on the leather sofa on the other side and Maximov lay, half reclining, on it.He wore a dressing-gown and a cotton nightcap, and was evidently ill and weak, though he was smiling blissfully.When the homeless old man returned with Grushenka from Mokroe two months before, he had simply stayed on and was still staying with her.He arrived with her in rain and sleet, sat down on the sofa, drenched and scared, and gazed mutely at her with a timid, appealing smile.

Grushenka, who was in terrible grief and in the first stage of fever, almost forgot his existence in all she had to do the first half hour after her arrival.Suddenly she chanced to look at him intently: he laughed a pitiful, helpless little laugh.She called Fenya and told her to give him something to eat.All that day he sat in the same place, almost without stirring.When it got dark and the shutters were closed, Fenya asked her mistress:

"Is the gentleman going to stay the night, mistress?""Yes; make him a bed on the sofa," answered Grushenka.

Questioning him more in detail, Grushenka learned from him that he had literally nowhere to go, and that "Mr.Kalganov, my benefactor, told me straight that he wouldn't receive me again and gave me five roubles.""Well, God bless you, you'd better stay, then," Grushenka decided in her grief, smiling compassionately at him.Her smile wrung the old man's heart and his lips twitched with grateful tears.

And so the destitute wanderer had stayed with her ever since.He did not leave the house even when she was ill.Fenya and her grandmother, the cook, did not turn him out, but went on serving him meals and making up his bed on the sofa.Grushenka had grown used to him, and coming back from seeing Mitya (whom she had begun to visit in prison before she was really well) she would sit down and begin talking to "Maximushka" about trifling matters, to keep her from thinking of her sorrow.The old man turned out to be a good story-teller on occasions, so that at last he became necessary to her.

Grushenka saw scarcely anyone else beside Alyosha, who did not come every day and never stayed long.Her old merchant lay seriously ill at this time, "at his last gasp" as they said in the town, and he did, in fact, die a week after Mitya's trial.Three weeks before his death, feeling the end approaching, he made his sons, their wives and children, come upstairs to him at last and bade them not leave him again.From that moment he gave strict orders to his servants not to admit Grushenka and to tell her if she came, "The master wishes you long life and happiness and tells you to forget him." But Grushenka sent almost every day to inquire after him.

同类推荐
  • 蕉叶帕

    蕉叶帕

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大周刊定众经目录

    大周刊定众经目录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 南本大般涅槃经

    南本大般涅槃经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 武编

    武编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 涉异志

    涉异志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 偷心换爱

    偷心换爱

    许攸是张灿曾今最爱的人,然而分手后的她却莫名其妙的爱上了他的兄弟李轩。安慧是许攸曾今的恋人,然而为了得到他,却屡屡针对小灿。面对一边是许攸的兄弟情,一边是小灿的爱情,李轩到底该作何选择呢?一直错把张灿作为情敌的安慧,又能为了爱情做出什么样的事呢?
  • 暮春之令

    暮春之令

    架空汉朝,和亲公主去世,公主身边大龄未婚女史归汉遇见真爱的故事。
  • 约翰王

    约翰王

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宇宙的秘密

    宇宙的秘密

    宇宙是怎样产生的?宇宙有多大?宇宙的中心在哪里?茫茫宇宙中是否存在着人类以外的智慧生命?人们对宇宙奥秘揭示得越多,人们就越发现宇宙的神秘与深不可测。无论浩瀚的宇宙多么壮阔,我们会渐渐了解它的奥秘,而不是迷失在它的广袤莫测之中。我们还必须回到地球——那在宇宙中渺小如一粒微尘,却又得天独厚的行星,以及它周围的世界——太阳系。了解人类的摇篮——地球,以及人类的家乡——太阳系,是我们最迫切的需要,也是我们探索宇宙奥秘,揭开宇宙神秘面纱的开始。
  • 无毒非良妻

    无毒非良妻

    穿越成爹不疼、母不亲的庶出呆子四小姐,三个嫡姐轮翻欺,那就陪你们玩一玩,给你茶里加点料,让你吐一吐、拉一拉,还能帮你排毒。定了亲,嫡母还欲将她配小厮,没事,最多来个狸猫换太子,把你心爱的女儿嫁过去。呆子又如何?她还不是做生意、开店铺,过得风生水起?谁说呆子配瘸子就一定是笑话?他们偏要甜甜蜜蜜,腻死你!
  • 逼良为妖

    逼良为妖

    那一年,素贞姐姐还在峨眉山养花种草;那一年,铁扇公主还是个害羞的萌妹子,一心想要找个如意郎君;那一年,八岁的聂小倩还在兰若寺树下看蚂蚁,天然呆的织女妹子还没遇到偷窥狂,隔壁的东海龙王三公主还在学习《打劫指南》;那一年,林太平端着方便面,华丽丽的穿越到黑山,还被一大群妖怪捡到,从此开始了行凶作恶强抢民女没羞没躁的……等会儿,黑山,这名字听起来好耳熟?
  • 仙尊有令

    仙尊有令

    统领三千世界的一代仙尊被人陷害,机缘巧合竟重回前世,自此开启了一个新世界的大门!!!《仙尊有令》全订群:722358933
  • 毒女重生:将门替身大小姐

    毒女重生:将门替身大小姐

    想报仇吗?好,做我试毒的工具,我助你复仇!从此,她带着将军府大小姐的面具,成为毒王手中的一把利剑。他,邪恶残忍,嗜血成瘾,每到月圆之时都要受蛊毒之苦;他是一抹魂魄,受千年轮回之苦,只为寻找前世爱人。他们,偶然相遇,却早已情根深种,奈何纠纠缠缠,不过一场阴谋。他为她,甘愿入魔,挖去半颗心,忘记前世今生记忆,只因,他爱她成痴,而她,寻他,从前世到今生。推荐新文《狼妃有毒:腹黑鬼帝心尖宠》连载更新中……
  • 让学生勤劳俭朴的故事

    让学生勤劳俭朴的故事

    一个最好的医生,一次昆虫长跑比赛,梦寐以求的金币,发愤努力的后进生,要拥有一颗坚强不屈的心,考拉尔和他的"思想者,使人心境平和的灵方,一个家庭主妇的梦想,魔鬼最有用的工具,一个种果树的农民和野兔。
  • 誓不为妃:娘子太腹黑

    誓不为妃:娘子太腹黑

    前世自己投错了胎,才会有那般恶毒的姨娘、狠辣的庶妹、冷情的夫君!今生能得重活一回,便应该活得风光又自在、扮猪吃老虎、各个都击破!可惩恶除渣不重要,要紧的是她终于找到此生良人。顾潇然一笑:无情最是帝王家,我誓不为妃,只选择你!某丞相紧握着她的手一叹:惆怅,该怎么继续宠你呢?--情节虚构,请勿模仿