Page 150 - the-brothers-karamazov
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these three we must say a few words. Of old Grigory we
       have said something already. He was firm and determined
       and went blindly and obstinately for his object, if once be
       had been brought by any reasons (and they were often very
       illogical ones) to believe that it was immutably right. He
       was  honest  and  incorruptible.  His  wife,  Marfa  Ignatyev-
       na, had obeyed her husband’s will implicitly all her life, yet
       she had pestered him terribly after the emancipation of the
       serfs. She was set on leaving Fyodor Pavlovitch and open-
       ing a little shop in Moscow with their small savings. But
       Grigory decided then, once for all, that ‘the woman’s talk-
       ing nonsense, for every woman is dishonest,’ and that they
       ought not to leave their old master, whatever he might be,
       for ‘that was now their duty.’
         ‘Do  you  understand  what  duty  is?’  he  asked  Marfa  Ig-
       natyevna.
         ‘I  understand  what  duty  means,  Grigory  Vassilyevitch,
       but why it’s our duty to stay here I never shall understand,’
       Marfa answered firmly.
         ‘Well, don’t understand then. But so it shall be. And you
       hold your tongue.’
         And so it was. They did not go away, and Fyodor Pav-
       lovitch promised them a small sum for wages, and paid it
       regularly. Grigory knew, too, that he had an indisputable
       influence over his master. It was true, and he was aware of
       it.  Fyodor  Pavlovitch  was  an  obstinate  and  cunning  buf-
       foon, yet, though his will was strong enough ‘in some of
       the affairs of life,’ as he expressed it, he found himself, to
       his surprise, extremely feeble in facing certain other emer-

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