"Do not be afraid," he added, glancing cun-
ningly at Grushnitski; "everything in this world
is nonsense. . . Nature is a fool, fate a turkey-
hen, and life a copeck!"[1]

[1] Popular phrases, equivalent to: "Men are fools, fortune
is blind, and life is not worth a straw."


After that tragic phrase, uttered with becoming
gravity, he went back to his place. Ivan Ignate-
vich, with tears, also embraced Grushnitski, and
there the latter remained alone, facing me. Ever
since then, I have been trying to explain to myself
what sort of feeling it was that was boiling within
my breast at that moment: it was the vexation
of injured vanity, and contempt, and wrath en-
gendered at the thought that the man now look-
ing at me with such confidence, such quiet inso-
lence, had, two minutes before, been about to kill
me like a dog, without exposing himself to the
least danger, because had I been wounded a little
more severely in the leg I should inevitably have
fallen over the cliff.

For a few moments I looked him fixedly in the
face, trying to discern thereon even a slight trace
of repentance. But it seemed to me that he was
restraining a smile.