And Katerina Ivanovna walking up and down and wringing her hands, her cheeks flushed red, as they always are in that disease: 'Here you live with us,' says she, 'you eat and drink and are kept warm and you do nothing to help.' And much she gets to eat and drink when there is not a crust for the little ones for three days! I was lying at the time...

well, what of it! I was lying drunk and I heard my Sonia speaking (she is a gentle creature with a soft little voice...

fair hair and such a pale, thin little face).

She said: 'Katerina Ivanovna, am I really to do a thing like that ?' And Darya Frantsovna, a woman of evil character and very well known to the police, had two or three times tried to get at her through the landlady.

'And why not ?' said Katerina Ivanovna with a jeer, 'you are something mighty precious to be so careful of!' But don't blame her, don't blame her, honoured sir, don't blame her! She was not herself when she spoke, but driven to distraction by her illness and the crying of the hungry children; and it was said more to wound her than anything else....