Page 1142 - the-brothers-karamazov

Chapter 4

Fortune Smiles on Mitya

T came quite as a surprise even to Alyosha himself. He
Iwas not required to take the oath, and I remember that
both sides addressed him very gently and sympathetically.
It was evident that his reputation for goodness had pre-
ceded him. Alyosha gave his evidence modestly and with
restraint, but his warm sympathy for his unhappy brother
was unmistakable. In answer to one question, he sketched
his brother’s character as that of a man, violent-tempered
perhaps and carried away by his passions, but at the same
time honourable, proud and generous, capable of self-sacri-
fice, if necessary. He admitted, however, that, through his
passion for Grushenka and his rivalry with his father, his
brother had been of late in an intolerable position. But he
repelled with indignation the suggestion that his broth-
er might have committed a murder for the sake of gain,
though he recognised that the three thousand roubles had
become almost an obsession with Mitya; that upon them as
part of the inheritance he had been cheated of by his father,
and that, indifferent as he was to money as a rule, he could
not even speak of that three thousand without fury. As for

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