Page 973 - the-brothers-karamazov

it. I read that lately, and all the doctors confirm it. The doc-
tors are always confirming; they confirm, — anything. Why,
my Lise is in a state of aberration. She made me cry again
yesterday, and the day before, too, and to-day I suddenly re-
alised that it’s all due to aberration. Oh, Lise grieves me so!
I believe she’s quite mad. Why did she send for you? Did she
send for you or did you come of yourself?’
‘Yes, she sent for me, and I am just going to her.’ Alyosha
got up resolutely.
‘Oh, my dear, dear Alexey Fyodorovitch, perhaps that’s
what’s most important,’ Madame Hohlakov cried, sudden-
ly bursting into tears. ‘God knows I trust Lise to you with
all my heart, and it’s no matter her sending for you on the
sly, without telling her mother. But forgive me, I can’t trust
my daughter so easily to your brother Ivan Fyodorovitch,
though I still consider him the most chivalrous young man.
But only fancy, he’s been to see Lise and I knew nothing
about it!’
‘How? What? When?’ Alyosha was exceedingly surprised.
He had not sat down again and listened standing.
‘I will tell you; that’s perhaps why I asked you to come,
for I don’t know now why I did ask you to come. Well, Ivan
Fyodorovitch has been to see me twice, since he came back
from Moscow. First time he came as a friend to call on me,
and the second time Katya was here and he came because he
heard she was here. I didn’t, of course, expect him to come
often, knowing what a lot he has to do as it is, vous com-
prenez, cette affaire et la mort terrible de votre papa. (You
know, this affair and your father’s terrible death.) But I sud-

The Brothers Karamazov