he met Alyosha in the street. He stopped him at once, and put a question to him:
“Do you remember when Dmitri burst in after dinner and beat father, and afterwards I told you in the yard that I reserved ‘the right to desire’? … Tell me, did you think then that I desired father’s death or not?”
“I did think so,” answered Alyosha, softly.
“It was so, too; it was not a matter of guessing. But didn’t you fancy then that what I wished was just that ‘one reptile should devour another’; that is, just that Dmitri should kill father, and as soon as possible … and that I myself was even prepared to help to bring that about?”
Alyosha turned rather pale, and looked silently into his brother’s face.
“Speak!” cried Ivan, “I want above everything to know what you thought then. I want the truth, the truth!”
He