hall in trepidation the whole time, for fear
she should break into sobs or fall on her knees.

After her, Kish made his appearance. Then Kostya came in with his
photographic apparatus. Of late he had been attracted by photography
and took photographs of every one in the house several times a day.
This new pursuit caused him many disappointments, and he had actually
grown thinner.

Before evening tea Fyodor arrived. Sitting in a corner in the study,
he opened a book and stared for a long time at a page, obviously
not reading. Then he spent a long time drinking tea; his face turned
red. In his presence Laptev felt a load on his heart; even his
silence was irksome to him.

"Russia may be congratulated on the appearance of a new author,"
said Fyodor. "Joking apart, though, brother, I have turned out a
little article--the firstfruits of my pen, so to say--and I've
brought it to show you. Read it, dear boy, and tell me your opinion
--but sincerely."

He took a manuscript out of his pocket and gave it to his brother.
The article was called "The Russian Soul"; it was written tediously,
in the colourless style in which people with no talent, but full
of secret vanity, usually write. The leading idea of it was that
the intellectual man has the right to disbelieve in the supernatural,
but it is his duty to conceal his lack of faith, that he may not
be a stumbling-block and shake the faith of others. Without faith
there is no idealism, and idealism is destined to save Europe and
guide humanity into the true path.

"But you don't say what Europe has to be saved from," said Laptev.

"That's intelligible of itself."

"Nothing is intelligible," said Laptev, and he walked about the
room in agitation. "It's not intelligible to me why you wrote it.
But that's your business."

"I want to publish it in pamphlet form."

"That's your affair."

They were silent for a minute. Fyodor sighed and said:

"It's an immense regret to me, dear brother, that we think differently.
Oh, Alyosha, Alyosha, my darling brother! You and I are true Russians,
true believers, men of broad nature; all of these German and Jewish
crochets are not for us. You and I are not wretched upstarts, you
know, but representatives of a distinguished merchant family."

"What do you mean by a distinguished family?" said Laptev, restraining
his irritation. "A distinguished family! The landowners beat our
grandfather and every low little government clerk punched him