“Get along with you, Jesuits!” he cried to the servants. “Go away, Smerdyakov. I’ll send you the gold piece I promised you today, but be off! Don’t cry, Grigory. Go to Marfa. She’ll comfort you and put you to bed. The rascals won’t let us sit in peace after dinner,” he snapped peevishly, as the servants promptly withdrew at his word.
“Smerdyakov always pokes himself in now, after dinner. It’s you he’s so interested in. What have you done to fascinate him?” he added to Ivan.
“Nothing whatever,” answered Ivan. “He’s pleased to have a high opinion of me; he’s a lackey and a mean soul. Raw material for revolution, however, when the time comes.”
“For revolution?”
“There will be others and better ones. But there will be some like him as well. His kind will come first, and better ones after.”
“And when will the time come?”
“The rocket will go off and fizzle out, perhaps. The peasants are not very fond of listening to these soup-makers, so far.”
“Ah, brother, but a Balaam’s ass like that thinks and thinks, and the devil knows where he gets to.”
“He’s storing up ideas,” said Ivan, smiling.
“You see, I know he can’t bear me, nor anyone else, even you, though you fancy that he has a high opinion of you. Worse still with Alyosha, he despises Alyosha. But he doesn’t steal, that’s one thing, and he’s not a gossip, he holds his tongue, and doesn’t wash our dirty linen in public. He makes capital fish pasties too. But, damn him, is he worth talking about so much?”
“Of course he isn’t.”