"You keep telling lies, you are a very spiteful person. I proved to you just now the untenability of your position," the girl answered contemptuously, as though disdaining further explanations with such a man. "I told you just now that we've all been taught in the Catechism if you honour your father and your parents you will live long and have wealth. That's in the Ten Commandments. If God thought it necessary to offer rewards for love, your God must be immoral. That's how I proved it to you. It wasn't the second word, and it was because you asserted your rights. It's not my fault if you are stupid and don't understand even now. You are offended and you are spiteful--and that's what explains all your generation." "You're a goose!" said the major. "And you are a fool!" "You can call me names!" "Excuse me, Kapiton Maximitch, you told me yourself you don't believe in God," Liputin piped from the other end of the table. "What if I did say so--that's a different matter. I believe, perhaps, only not altogether. Even if I don't believe altogether, still I don't say God ought to be shot. I used to think about God before I left the hussars. From all the poems you would think that hussars do nothing but carouse and drink. Yes, I did drink, maybe, but would you believe it, I used to jump out of bed at night and stood crossing myself before the images with nothing but my socks on, praying to God to give me faith; for even then I couldn't be at peace as to whether there was a God or not. It used to fret me so! In the morning, of course, one would amuse oneself and one's faith would seem to be lost again; and in fact I've noticed that faith always seems to be less in the daytime." "Haven't you any cards?" asked Verhovensky, with a mighty yawn, addressing Madame Virginsky. "I sympathise with your question, I sympathise entirely," the girl-student broke in hotly, flushed with indignation at the major's words. "We are wasting precious time listening to silly talk," snapped out the lady of the house, and she looked reprovingly at her husband. The girl pulled herself together. "I wanted to make a statement to the meeting concerning the sufferings of the students and their protest, but as time is being wasted in immoral conversation..." "There's no such thing as moral or immoral," the schoolboy brought out, unable to restrain himself as soon as the girl began. "I knew that, Mr. Schoolboy, long before you were taught it." "And I maintain," he answered savagely, "that you are a child come from Petersburg to enlighten us all, though we know for ourselves the commandment 'honour thy father and thy mother,' which you could not repeat correctly; and the fact that it's immoral every one in Russia knows from Byelinsky."