Page 303 - the-brothers-karamazov

‘Why, it’s nothing much,’ cried Alyosha, frightened at
this alarm.
Yulia ran in with water and Alyosha put his finger in it.
‘Some lint, mamma, for mercy’s sake, bring some lint
and that muddy caustic lotion for wounds, what’s it called?
We’ve got some. You know where the bottle is, mamma; it’s
in your bedroom in the right-hand cupboard, there’s a big
bottle of it there with the lint.’
‘I’ll bring everything in a minute, Lise, only don’t scream
and don’t fuss. You see how bravely Alexey Fyodorovitch
bears it. Where did you get such a dreadful wound, Alexey
Fyodorovitch?’
Madame Hohlakov hastened away. This was all Lise was
waiting for.
‘First of all, answer the question, where did you get hurt
like this?’ she asked Alyosha, quickly. ‘And then I’ll talk to
you about something quite different. Well?’
Instinctively feeling that the time of her mother’s ab-
sence was precious for her, Alyosha hastened to tell her of
his enigmatic meeting with the school boys in the fewest
words possible. Lise clasped her hands at his story.
‘How can you, and in that dress too, associate with school-
boys?’ she cried angrily, as though she had a right to control
him. ‘You are nothing but a boy yourself if you can do that,
a perfect boy! But you must find out for me about that hor-
rid boy and tell me all about it, for there’s some mystery in
it. Now for the second thing, but first a question: does the
pain prevent you talking about utterly unimportant things,
but talking sensibly?’

0 The Brothers Karamazov