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Alyosha told him she had been hysterical, and that she was now, he heard, unconscious and delirious. Isnt Madame Hohlakov laying it on? I think not. I must find out. Nobody dies of hysterics though. They dont matter. God gave woman hysterics as a relief. I wont go to her at all. Why push myself forward again? But you told her that she had never cared for you. I did that on purpose. Alyosha, shall I call for some champagne? Let us drink to my freedom. Ah, if only you knew how glad I am! No, brother, we had better not drink, said Alyosha suddenly. Besides I feel somehow depressed. Yes, youve been depressed a long time, Ive noticed it. Have you settled to go to-morrow morning then? Morning? I didnt say I should go in the morning. But perhaps it may be the morning. Would you believe it, I dined here to-day only to avoid dining with the old man, I loathe him so. I should have left long ago, so far as he is concerned. But why are you so worried about my going away? Weve plenty of time before I go, an eternity! If you are going away to-morrow, what do you mean by an eternity? But what does it matter to us? laughed Ivan, weve time enough for our talk, for what brought us here. Why do you look so surprised? Answer: why have we met here? To talk of my love for Katerina Ivanovna, of the old man and Dmitri? of foreign travel? of the fatal position of Russia? of the Emperor Napoleon? Is that it? No. Then you know what for. Its different for other people; but we in our green youth have to settle the eternal questions first of all. Thats what we care about. Young Russia is talking about nothing but the eternal questions now. Just when the old folks are all taken up with practical questions. Why have you been looking at me in expectation for the last three months? To ask me what do you believe, or dont you believe at all? Thats what your eyes have been meaning for these three months, havent they? Perhaps so, smiled Alyosha. You are not laughing at me, now, Ivan? Me laughing! I dont want to wound my little brother who has been watching me with such expectation for three months. Alyosha, look straight at me! Of course I am just such a little boy as you are, only not a novice. And what have Russian boys been doing up till now, some of them, I mean? In this stinking tavern, for instance, here, they meet and sit down in a corner. Theyve never met in their lives before and, when they go out of the tavern, they wont meet again for forty years. And what do they talk about in that momentary halt in the tavern? Of the eternal questions, of the existence of God and immortality. And those who do not believe in God talk of socialism or anarchism, of the transformation of all humanity on a new pattern, so that it all comes to the same, theyre the same questions turned inside out. And masses, masses of the most original Russian boys do nothing but talk of the eternal questions! Isnt it so? Yes, for real Russians the questions of Gods existence and of immortality, or, as you say, the same questions turned inside out, come first and foremost, of course, and so they should, said Alyosha, still watching his brother with the same gentle and inquiring smile. |
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