Pagina 909 de 1294

"Listen to the owl!" Katerina Ivanovna whispered at once, her

good-humour almost restored, "she meant to say he kept his hands

in his pockets, but she said he put his hands in people's

pockets. (Cough-cough.) And have you noticed, Rodion Romanovitch,

that all these Petersburg foreigners, the Germans especially, are

all stupider than we! Can you fancy anyone of us telling how

'Karl from the chemist's' 'pierced his heart from fear' and that

the idiot, instead of punishing the cabman, 'clasped his hands

and wept, and much begged.' Ah, the fool! And you know she

fancies it's very touching and does not suspect how stupid she

is! To my thinking that drunken commissariat clerk is a great

deal cleverer, anyway one can see that he has addled his brains

with drink, but you know, these foreigners are always so well

behaved and serious.... Look how she sits glaring! She is angry,

ha-ha! (Cough-cough-cough.)"