is
words with difficulty. Suddenly he staggered violently; but Alyosha was in
time to support him. Ivan let him lead him to his bed. Alyosha undressed
him somehow and put him to bed. He sat watching over him for another two
hours. The sick man slept soundly, without stirring, breathing softly and
evenly. Alyosha took a pillow and lay down on the sofa, without
undressing.

As he fell asleep he prayed for Mitya and Ivan. He began to understand
Ivan's illness. "The anguish of a proud determination. An earnest
conscience!" God, in Whom he disbelieved, and His truth were gaining
mastery over his heart, which still refused to submit. "Yes," the thought
floated through Alyosha's head as it lay on the pillow, "yes, if
Smerdyakov is dead, no one will believe Ivan's evidence; but he will go
and give it." Alyosha smiled softly. "God will conquer!" he thought. "He
will either rise up in the light of truth, or ... he'll perish in hate,
revenging on himself and on every one his having served the cause he does
not believe in," Alyosha added bitterly, and again he prayed for Ivan.

Book XII. A Judicial Error

Chapter I. The Fatal Day

At ten o'clock in the morning of the day following the events I have
described, the trial of Dmitri Karamazov began in our district court.

I hasten to emphasize the fact that I am far from esteeming myself capable
of reporting all that took place at the trial in full detail, or even in
the actual order of events. I imagine that to mention everything with full
explanation would fill a volume, even a very large one. And so I trust I
may not be reproached, for confining myself to what struck me. I may have
selected as of most interest what was of secondary importance, and may
have omitted the most prominent and essential details. But I see I shall
do better not to apologize. I will do my best and the reader will see for
himself that I have done all I can.

And, to begin with, before entering the court, I will mention what
surprised me most on that day. Indeed, as it appeared later, every one was
surprised at it, too. We all knew that the affair had aroused great
interest, that every one was burning with impatience for the trial to
begin, that it had been a subject of talk, conjecture, exclamation and
surmise for the last two months in local society. Every one knew, too,
that the case had become known throughout Russia, but yet we had not
imagined that it had aroused such burning, such inte