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words about you. He remembered you lovingly, with anxi-
ety; do you understand how he honoured you? But how is
it that he has decided that you shall spend some time in the
world? He must have foreseen something in your destiny!
Understand, Alexey, that if you return to the world, it must
be to do the duty laid upon you by your elder, and not for
frivolous vanity and worldly pleasures.’
Father Paissy went out. Alyosha had no doubt that Fa-
ther Zossima was dying, though he might live another day
or two. Alyosha firmly and ardently resolved that in spite
of his promises to his father, the Hohlakovs, and Katerina
Ivanovna, he would not leave the monastery next day, but
would remain with his elder to the end. His heart glowed
with love, and he reproached himself bitterly for having
been able for one instant to forget him whom he had left in
the monastery on his death bed, and whom he honoured
above everyone in the world. He went into Father Zossima’s
bedroom, knelt down, and bowed to the ground before the
elder, who slept quietly without stirring, with regular, hard-
ly audible breathing and a peaceful face.
Alyosha returned to the other room, where Father Zossi-
ma received his guests in the morning. Taking off his boots,
he lay down on the hard, narrow, leathern sofa, which he
had long used as a bed, bringing nothing but a pillow. The
mattress, about which his father had shouted to him that
morning, he had long forgotten to lie on. He took off his cas-
sock, which he used as a covering. But before going to bed,
he fell on his knees and prayed a long time. In his fervent
prayer he did not beseech God to lighten his darkness but