Brothers -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Russia -- Social life and customs -- 1533-1917 -- Fiction
He did in fact find his father still at table. Though there was a
dining-room in the house, the table was laid as usual in the
drawing-room, which was the largest room, and furnished with
old-fashioned ostentation. The furniture was white and very old,
upholstered in old, red, silky material. In the spaces between the
windows there were mirrors in elaborate white and gilt frames, of
old-fashioned carving. On the walls, covered with white paper, which
was torn in many places, there hung two large portraits—one of some
prince who had been governor of the district thirty years before, and
the other of some bishop, also long since dead. In the corner opposite
the door there were several ikons, before which a lamp was lighted at
nightfall ... not so much for devotional purposes as to light the room.
Fyodor Pavlovitch used to go to bed very late, at three or four o’clock
in the morning, and would wander about the room at night or sit in an
arm-chair, thinking. This had become a habit with him. He often slept
quite alone in the house, sending his servants to the lodge; but
usually Smerdyakov remained, sleeping on a bench in the hall.
When Alyosha came in, dinner was over, but coffee and preserves had
been served. Fyodor Pavlovitch liked sweet things with brandy after
dinner. Ivan was also at table, sipping coffee. The servants, Grigory
and Smerdyakov, were standing by. Both the gentlemen and the servants
seemed in singularly good spirits. Fyodor Pavlovitch was roaring with
laughter. Before he entered the room, Alyosha heard the shrill laugh he
knew so well, and could tell from the sound of it that his father had
only reached the good-humored stage, and was far from being completely
drunk.
“Here he is! Here he is!” yelled Fyodor Pavlovitch, highly delighted at
seeing Alyosha. “Join us. Sit down. Coffee is a lenten dish, but it’s
hot and good. I don’t offer you brandy, you’re keeping the fast. But
would you like some? No; I’d better give you some of our famous
liqueur. Smerdyakov, go to the cupboard, the second shelf on the right.
Here are the keys. Look sharp!”
Alyosha began refusing the liqueur.
“Never mind. If you won’t have it, we will,” said Fyodor Pavlovitch,
beaming. “But stay—have you dined?”
“Yes,” answered Alyosha, who had in truth only eaten a piece of bread
and drunk a glass of kvas in the Father Superior’s kitchen. “Though I
should be pleased to have some hot coffee.”
“Bravo, my darling! He’ll have some coffee. Does it want warming? No,
it’s boiling. It’s capital coffee: Smerdyakov’s making. My Smerdyakov’s
an artist at coffee and at fish patties, and at fish soup, too. You
must come one day and have some fish soup. Let me know beforehand....
But, stay; didn’t I tell you this morning to come home with your
mattress and pillow and all? Have you brought your mattress? He he he!”
“No, I haven’t,” said Alyosha, smiling, too.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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