Page 1299 - the-brothers-karamazov

Chapter 3

Ilusha’s Funeral. The

Speech at the Stone

E really was late. They had waited for him and had al-
Hready decided to bear the pretty flower-decked little
coffin to the church without him. It was the coffin of poor
little Ilusha. He had died two days after Mitya was sen-
tenced. At the gate of the house Alyosha was met by the
shouts of the boys, Ilusha’s schoolfellows. They had all been
impatiently expecting him and were glad that he had come
at last. There were about twelve of them, they all had their
school-bags or satchels on their shoulders. ‘Father will cry,
be with father,’ Ilusha had told them as he lay dying, and
the boys remembered it. Kolya Krassotkin was the foremost
of them.
‘How glad I am you’ve come, Karamazov!’ he cried,
holding out his hand to Alyosha. ‘It’s awful here. It’s really
horrible to see it. Snegiryov is not drunk, we know for a fact
he’s had nothing to drink to-day, but he seems as if he were
drunk... I am always manly, but this is awful. Karamazov, if
I am not keeping you, one question before you go in?’

1 The Brothers Karamazov