Chapter 36 Chapter 08

Not far away is to sell and buy bridges.At first we were relatively silent.I kept thinking: See how he speaks to me?I think he will definitely test me around and touch my bottom.But he didn't make any detours at all, he just got down to business . "I'm very worried about a situation, Ivan Petrovitch," he began, "and I want to talk to you about it first, and give me some advice: I've decided long ago to give up the case I won, Return the disputed ten thousand rubles to Ikhmenev.What do you think should be done? " "It's impossible for you not to know what to do," my mind flashed, "Aren't you joking with me?"

"I don't know, Prince," I replied as honestly as I could; "the other thing, about Natalya Nikolaevna, I can tell you something both of you and I must know. situation, but of course you are better than me in this matter clear. " "No, no, of course I'm not as good as you. You know them, and Natalia Nikolaevna herself has probably told you more than once what she thinks about the matter; and that's what I do. main guideline. You can do me a great favor; this Things are very difficult.I'm going to give it back to him, I'm even determined to give it back to him no matter what else happens; you understand?But how to withdraw and in what way, this becomes a problem?The old man is proud and obstinate; my kindness will not get

Well done, he'll throw the money back at me. " "But I'm sorry, what do you think of the money? Does it belong to you, or is it his?" "I won the lawsuit, so it should belong to me." "But what about asking yourself?" "Needless to say, I think it rightfully mine," he replied, somewhat provocatively irritated by my brusqueness, "but I don't think you understand the whole point of the matter. I have no intention of accusing the old man of deliberate deceit." , to tell you the truth, I can get from Never said that before.He deliberately pretended to be wronged by the boss, that's because he wanted to.He was at fault for dereliction of duty, for dereliction of duty, and according to our former agreement he was responsible for some of these things.but do you know

, and even the problem is not here: the problem is our rivalry and quarrel, at that time, each said some hurtful things to each other; in a word, the self-esteem of both parties was hurt.At that time, I probably didn't care about the mere ten thousand rubles; but Of course, you know exactly why this happened and how it happened.I admit that I'm suspicious by nature, I may have done it wrong (that is, it wasn't right at the time), but I didn't realize it at the time, and I was annoyed that he was rude, and I I felt insulted and couldn't miss this opportunity, so I filed a lawsuit.You may think that I am not very noble.I don't mean to argue; what I want to point out to you is that anger is mainly pricked self-esteem - which cannot be said to be lacking in noble

It's a very natural thing, it's human nature, I'll tell you, I repeat, I don't know Ikhmenev at all, since I completely believe the story about Alyosha and his daughter All kinds of rumors, so I believed him Deliberate misappropriation of money...but that's out of the question.Mainly what should I do now?I don't need the money; but at the same time I want to say that I still think my lawsuit is right, so this does not mean: I donated the money to him.If this is added to the delicate state of Natalya Nikolaevna...he must throw the money back and throw it back at me. "

"Look, you said you'd throw it back yourself; so you think he's an honest man yourself, so you know he didn't steal your money. If that's the case, why don't you go to him, straight up declare that you believe that you Is the prosecution a false accusation?That would be noble, and perhaps Ikhmenev would not be embarrassed at that time, since the money he had accepted was his own in the first place. " "Well... the money was his own; isn't that the problem; what have you got me into? Go to him and declare to him that I think my suit is a false accusation. Now that you know yours It's a false accusation, so why sue?

——Everyone will point to my nose and say so.But it does me wrong, because my prosecution is justified; I have never said or written anywhere that he embezzled my money; but for his negligence, carelessness, Bad management, even now, I believe in it.The money should belong to me, so it is difficult to impose the false accusation on myself. Finally, I will say again, the old man pretends to be wronged, you It would be too much for me to ask him to forgive me. " "I think, if two people are willing to reconcile, then..." "That would be easy, don't you think so?"

"right." "No, sometimes it's not easy, especially..." "Especially in connection with this and other circumstances. I agree with you on that, prince. The question of Natalia Nikolaevna and her son should be taken into account in everything that depends on you." It's up to you to solve it, and it's up to you to solve it The Khmenevs are completely satisfied.Only then will you be able to explain the matter of the lawsuit to Ikhmenev in all sincerity.Now, since nothing is settled, you have only one course to go: to admit that your prosecution is unjustified,

To admit it publicly, and if necessary, to admit it in public—this is my humble opinion; I say one thing and another, because you have come to ask me for your own opinion, and you probably don't want me to confuse you.It also gave me courage, I I would like to ask your Excellency: Why do you have to worry about returning this money to Ikhmenev?Why send it back to him when you think you are right to sue?Forgive my curiosity, as this is the case with other It has a lot to do with..." "What do you think?" he asked suddenly, as if he hadn't heard my question at all, "are you sure that old Ikhmenev will really refuse the ten thousand rubles if I give him back the money?" without saying anything incidental, and...

And... without any such apologies? " "Definitely refuse!" I blushed all of a sudden, and even shivered with anger.This presumptuously suspicious question made me as angry as if the duke had spat in my face.What's even more exasperating is that it doesn't stop there: when he answered my question Putting on a rude upper-society air, as if he didn't agree with my question at all, and interrupted with another question, presumably he wanted me to understand that I was too presumptuous and self-indulgent to be Dare to ask him such a question. I don't like this kind of high-society style very much, and I hate it deeply. I used to try my best to persuade Alyosha to get rid of this bad habit.

"Hmph... you are too angry, some things in the world cannot be done according to your imagination," the Duke said calmly in response to my exclamation, "However, I think part of this problem can also be solved. By Natalya Nikolaevna to settle it; please tell her the matter.She can also come up with ideas. " "Don't think so," I replied roughly, "you interrupted me by refusing to listen to what I just said to you. Natalya Nikolaevna will understand, if you still Money doesn't come from the heart, and doesn't do anything like that When you say an apology, it means that you are paying the father for the daughter and the land for Alyosha—in a word, compensation with money..." "Hmph... So, my dear Ivan Petrovitch, that's how you understand me." The prince laughed.Why is he laughing? "However," he continued, "we still have many things, many things need to be discussed together. quantity.But now there is no time.I just ask you to understand one thing: Natalya Nikolaevna and her whole future are directly at stake in this matter, and it all depends more or less on how we solve this problem and what kind of countermeasures we take.This It's up to you -- you'll see for yourself.Therefore, as long as you do not lose yourself in Natalya Nikolaevna, you cannot refuse to talk to me, although you have little affection for me.But here we are... See you soon. "