Pagina 555 van 1294

"Legal? Yes, it's just legal--business language--not so very

uneducated, and not quite educated--business language!"

"Pyotr Petrovitch makes no secret of the fact that he had a cheap

education, he is proud indeed of having made his own way,"

Avdotya Romanovna observed, somewhat offended by her brother's

tone.

"Well, if he's proud of it, he has reason, I don't deny it. You

seem to be offended, sister, at my making only such a frivolous

criticism on the letter, and to think that I speak of such

trifling matters on purpose to annoy you. It is quite the

contrary, an observation apropos of the style occurred to me that

is by no means irrelevant as things stand. There is one

expression, 'blame yourselves', put in very significantly and

plainly, and there is besides a threat that he will go away at

once if I am present. That threat to go away is equivalent to a

threat to abandon you both if you are disobedient, and to abandon

you now after summoning you to Petersburg. Well, what do you

think? Can one resent such an expression from Luzhin, as we

should if he (he pointed to Razumihin) had written it, or

Zossimov, or one of us?"