Page 253 - the-brothers-karamazov

considering something.
‘Do you know, angel lady,’ she suddenly drawled in an
even more soft and sugary voice, ‘do you know, after all, I
think I won’t kiss your hand?’ And she laughed a little mer-
ry laugh.
‘As you please. What’s the matter with you?’ said Kateri-
na Ivanovna, starting suddenly.
‘So that you may be left to remember that you kissed my
hand, but I didn’t kiss yours.’
There was a sudden gleam in her eyes. She looked with
awful intentness at Katerina Ivanovna.
‘Insolent creature!’ cried Katerina Ivanovna, as though
suddenly grasping something. She flushed all over and leapt
up from her seat.
Grushenka too got up, but without haste.
‘So I shall tell Mitya how you kissed my hand, but I didn’t
kiss yours at all. And how he will laugh!’
‘Vile slut! Go away!’
‘Ah, for shame, young lady! Ah, for shame! That’s unbe-
coming for you, dear young lady, a word like that.’
‘Go away! You’re a creature for sale’ screamed Katerina
Ivanovna. Every feature was working in her utterly distort-
ed face.
‘For sale indeed! You used to visit gentlemen in the dusk
for money once; you brought your beauty for sale. You see,
I know.’
Katerina Ivanovna shrieked, and would have rushed at
her, but Alyosha held her with all his strength.
‘Not a step, not a word! Don’t speak, don’t answer her.

The Brothers Karamazov