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hand; I’ve told you so already. You ask for a certain sum,
for three thousand, but I can give you more, immeasurably
more; I will save you, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, but you must
listen to me.’
Mitya started from his seat again.
‘Madam, will you really be so good!’ he cried, with strong
feeling. ‘Good God, you’ve saved me! You have saved a man
from a violent death, from a bullet.... My eternal gratitude
‘I will give you more, infinitely more than three thousand!’
cried Madame Hohlakov, looking with a radiant smile at
Mitya’s ecstasy.
‘Infinitely? But I don’t need so much. I only need that fa-
tal three thousand, and on my part I can give security for
that sum with infinite gratitude, and I propose a plan which-
.’
‘Enough, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, it’s said and done.’ Ma-
dame Hohlakov cut him short, with the modest triumph
of beneficence. ‘I have promised to save you, and I will save
you. I will save you as I did Belmesov. What do you think of
the gold mines, Dmitri Fyodorovitch?’
‘Of the gold mines, madam? I have never thought any-
thing about them.’
‘But I have thought of them for you. Thought of them
over and over again. I have been watching you for the last
month. I’ve watched you a hundred times as you’ve walked
past, saying to myself: That’s a man of energy who ought to
be at the gold mines. I’ve studied your gait and come to the
conclusion: that’s a man who would find gold.’
‘From my gait, madam?’ said Mitya, smiling.

The Brothers Karamazov