पृष्ठ 876 / 1294

"It might be, but we will talk of it later. We might begin it

to-day, we will talk it over this evening and lay the foundation

so to speak. Come to me at seven o'clock. Mr. Lebeziatnikov, I

hope, will assist us. But there is one circumstance of which I

ought to warn you beforehand and for which I venture to trouble

you, Sofya Semyonovna, to come here. In my opinion money cannot

be, indeed it's unsafe to put it into Katerina Ivanovna's own

hands. The dinner to-day is a proof of that. Though she has not,

so to speak, a crust of bread for to-morrow and... well, boots or

shoes, or anything; she has bought to-day Jamaica rum, and even,

I believe, Madeira and... and coffee. I saw it as I passed

through. To-morrow it will all fall upon you again, they won't

have a crust of bread. It's absurd, really, and so, to my

thinking, a subscription ought to be raised so that the unhappy

widow should not know of the money, but only you, for instance.

Am I right?"