Page 821 - the-brothers-karamazov
P. 821

to the steps, and hearing a noise in the garden, he made up
           his mind to go into it through the little gate which stood
            open, before he noticed you running, as you have told us
            already, in the dark from the open window where you saw
           your father, he, Grigory, glanced to the left, and, while no-
           ticing the open window, observed at the same time, much
           nearer  to  him,  the  door,  standing  wide  open-  that  door
           which you have stated to have been shut the whole time you
           were in the garden. I will not conceal from you that Grig-
            ory himself confidently affirms and bears witness that you
           must have run from that door, though, of course, he did not
            see you do so with his own eyes, since he only noticed you
           first some distance away in the garden, running towards the
           fence.’
              Mitya had leapt up from his chair half-way through this
            speech.
              ‘Nonsense!’ he yelled, in a sudden frenzy, ‘it’s a barefaced
            lie. He couldn’t have seen the door open because it was shut.
           He’s lying!’
              ‘I  consider  it  my  duty  to  repeat  that  he  is  firm  in  his
            statement. He does not waver. He adheres to it. We’ve cross-
            examined him several times.’
              ‘Precisely.  I  have  cross-examined  him  several  times,’
           Nikolay Parfenovitch confirmed warmly.
              ‘It’s false, false! It’s either an attempt to slander me, or
           the hallucination of a madman,’ Mitya still shouted. ‘He’s
            simply raving, from loss of blood, from the wound. He must
           have fancied it when he came to.... He’s raving.’
              ‘Yes, but he noticed the open door, not when he came to

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