Page 378 - the-brothers-karamazov

ing at all.’
‘Brother Ivan invited Dmitri to the restaurant to-day?’
repeated Alyosha quickly.
‘That’s so.’
‘The Metropolis tavern in the marketplace?’
‘The very same.’
‘That’s quite likely,’ cried Alyosha, much excited. ‘Thank
you, Smerdyakov; that’s important. I’ll go there at once.’
‘Don’t betray me,’ Smerdyakov called after him.
‘Oh, no, I’ll go to the tavern as though by chance. Don’t
be anxious.’
‘But wait a minute, I’ll open the gate to you,’ cried Marya
Kondratyevna.
‘No; it’s a short cut, I’ll get over the fence again.’
What he had heard threw Alyosha into great agitation.
He ran to the tavern. It was impossible for him to go into
the tavern in his monastic dress, but he could inquire at the
entrance for his brothers and call them down. But just as
he reached the tavern, a window was flung open, and his
brother Ivan called down to him from it.
‘Alyosha, can’t you come up here to me? I shall be aw-
fully grateful.’
‘To be sure I can, only I don’t quite know whether in this
dress — ‘
‘But I am in a room apart. Come up the steps; I’ll run
down to meet you.’
A minute later Alyosha was sitting beside his brother.
Ivan was alone dining.