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however small a degree, in saving him, by creating a strong
impression in his favour. And, indeed, the figure of the
young officer who, with a respectful bow to the innocent
girl, handed her his last four thousand roubles — all he had
in the world — was thrown into a very sympathetic and at-
tractive light, but... I had a painful misgiving at heart! I felt
that calumny might come of it later (and it did, in fact, it
did). It was repeated all over the town afterwards with spite-
ful laughter that was perhaps not quite complete — that is,
in the statement that the officer had let the young lady de-
part ‘with nothing but a respectful bow.’ It was hinted that
something was here omitted.
‘And even if nothing had been omitted, if this were the
whole story,’ the most highly respected of our ladies main-
tained, ‘even then it’s very doubtful whether it was creditable
for a young girl to behave in that way, even for the sake of
saving her father.’
And can Katerina Ivanovna, with her intelligence, her
morbid sensitiveness, have failed to understand that peo-
ple would talk like that? She must have understood it, yet
she made up her mind to tell everything. Of course, all
these nasty little suspicions as to the truth of her story only
arose afterwards and at the first moment all were deeply
impressed by it. As for the judges and the lawyers, they lis-
tened in reverent, almost shamefaced silence to Katerina
Ivanovna. The prosecutor did not venture upon even one
question on the subject. Fetyukovitch made a low bow to
her. Oh, he was almost triumphant! Much ground had been
gained. For a man to give his last four thousand on a gener-

11 0 The Brothers Karamazov