Page 948 - the-brothers-karamazov

face a look of concentrated thought, almost austere at the
first glance. There was scarcely a trace of her former frivol-
ity.
It seemed strange to Alyosha, too, that in spite of the ca-
lamity that had overtaken the poor girl, betrothed to a man
who had been arrested for a terrible crime, almost at the
instant of their betrothal, in spite of her illness and the al-
most inevitable sentence hanging over Mitya, Grushenka
had not yet lost her youthful cheerfulness. There was a soft
light in the once proud eyes, though at times they gleamed
with the old vindictive fire when she was visited by one dis-
turbing thought stronger than ever in her heart. The object
of that uneasiness was the same as ever — Katerina Iva-
novna, of whom Grushenka had even raved when she lay
in delirium. Alyosha knew that she was fearfully jealous
of her. Yet Katerina Ivanovna had not once visited Mitya
in his prison, though she might have done it whenever she
liked. All this made a difficult problem for Alyosha, for he
was the only person to whom Grushenka opened her heart
and from whom she was continually asking advice. Some-
times he was unable to say anything.
Full of anxiety he entered her lodging. She was at home.
She had returned from seeing Mitya half an hour before,
and from the rapid movement with which she leapt up
from her chair to meet him he saw that she had been ex-
pecting him with great impatience. A pack of cards dealt
for a game of ‘fools’ lay on the table. A bed had been made
up on the leather sofa on the other side and Maximov lay,
half reclining, on it. He wore a dressing-gown and a cotton