“Brother Ivan invited Dmitri to the restaurant today?” repeated Alyosha quickly.
“That’s so.”
“The Metropolis tavern in the marketplace?”
“The very same.”
“That’s quite likely,” cried Alyosha, much excited. “Thank you, Smerdyakov; that’s important. I’ll go there at once.”
“Don’t betray me,” Smerdyakov called after him.
“Oh, no, I’ll go to the tavern as though by chance. Don’t be anxious.”
“But wait a minute, I’ll open the gate to you,” cried Marya Kondratyevna.
“No; it’s a shortcut, I’ll get over the fence again.”
What he had heard threw Alyosha into great agitation. He ran to the tavern. It was impossible for him to go into the tavern in his monastic dress, but he could inquire at the entrance for his brothers and call them down. But just as he reached the tavern, a window was flung open, and his brother Ivan called down to him from it.
“Alyosha, can’t you come up here to me? I shall be awfully grateful.”
“To be sure I can, only I don’t quite know whether in this dress—”
“But I am in a room apart. Come up the steps; I’ll run down to meet you.”
A minute later Alyosha was sitting beside his brother. Ivan was alone dining.