Page 298 - the-brothers-karamazov

had seized his left hand with both of his and bit his middle
finger. He fixed his teeth in it and it was ten seconds before
he let go. Alyosha cried out with pain and pulled his finger
away with all his might. The child let go at last and retreated
to his former distance. Alyosha’s finger had been badly bit-
ten to the bone, close to the nail; it began to bleed. Alyosha
took out his handkerchief and bound it tightly round his
injured hand. He was a full minute bandaging it. The boy
stood waiting all the time. At last Alyosha raised his gentle
eyes and looked at him.
‘Very well,’ he said, ‘You see how badly you’ve bitten me.
That’s enough, isn’t it? Now tell me, what have I done to
you?’
The boy stared in amazement.
‘Though I don’t know you and it’s the first time I’ve seen
you,’ Alyosha went on with the same serenity, ‘yet I must
have done something to you — you wouldn’t have hurt
me like this for nothing. So what have I done? How have I
wronged you, tell me?’
Instead of answering, the boy broke into a loud tearful
wail and ran away. Alyosha walked slowly after him to-
wards Mihailovsky Street, and for a long time he saw the
child running in the distance as fast as ever, not turning
his head and no doubt still keeping up his tearful wail. He
made up his mind to find him out as soon as he had time,
and to solve this mystery. just now he had not the time.