Page 129 - the-brothers-karamazov

old man, your father, is standing in Mitya’s way now. He has
suddenly gone crazy over Grushenka. His mouth waters at
the sight of her. It’s simply on her account he made that
scene in the cell just now, simply because Miusov called her
an ‘abandoned creature.’ He’s worse than a tom-cat in love.
At first she was only employed by him in connection with
his taverns and in some other shady business, but now he
has suddenly realised all she is and has gone wild about her.
He keeps pestering her with his offers, not honourable ones,
of course. And they’ll come into collision, the precious fa-
ther and son, on that path! But Grushenka favours neither
of them, she’s still playing with them, and teasing them both,
considering which she can get most out of. For though she
could filch a lot of money from the papa he wouldn’t mar-
ry her, and maybe he’ll turn stingy in the end, and keep
his purse shut. That’s where Mitya’s value comes in; he has
no money, but he’s ready to marry her. Yes, ready to mar-
ry her! to abandon his betrothed, a rare beauty, Katerina
Ivanovna, who’s rich, and the daughter of a colonel, and to
marry Grushenka, who has been the mistress of a dissolute
old merchant, Samsonov, a coarse, uneducated, provincial
mayor. Some murderous conflict may well come to pass
from all this, and that’s what your brother Ivan is waiting
for. It would suit him down to the ground. He’ll carry off
Katerina Ivanovna, for whom he is languishing, and pocket
her dowry of sixty thousand. That’s very alluring to start
with, for a man of no consequence and a beggar. And, take
note, he won’t be wronging Mitya, but doing him the great-
est service. For I know as a fact that Mitya only last week,

1 The Brothers Karamazov