by force. 'Don't dare to believe in God, don't dare to possess any
individuality, any property! Fraternite ou la Mort; two million heads.
'By their works ye shall know them'--we are told. And we must not
suppose that all this is harmless and without danger to ourselves. Oh,
no; we must resist, and quickly, quickly! We must let out Christ shine
forth upon the Western nations, our Christ whom we have preserved
intact, and whom they have never known. Not as slaves, allowing
ourselves to be caught by the hooks of the Jesuits, but carrying our
Russian civilization to THEM, we must stand before them, not letting it
be said among us that their preaching is 'skilful,' as someone expressed
it just now."

"But excuse me, excuse me;" cried Ivan Petrovitch considerably
disturbed, and looking around uneasily. "Your ideas are, of course, most
praiseworthy, and in the highest degree patriotic; but you exaggerate
the matter terribly. It would be better if we dropped the subject."

"No, sir, I do not exaggerate, I understate the matter, if anything,
undoubtedly understate it; simply because I cannot express myself as I
should like, but--"

"Allow me!"

The prince was silent. He sat straight up in his chair and gazed
fervently at Ivan Petrovitch.

"It seems to me that you have been too painfully impressed by the news
of what happened to your good benefactor," said the old dignitary,
kindly, and with the utmost calmness of demeanour. "You are excitable,
perhaps as the result of your solitary life. If you would make up your
mind to live more among your fellows in society, I trust, I am sure,
that the world would be glad to welcome you, as a remarkable young man;
and you would soon find yourself able to look at things more calmly. You
would see that all these things are much simpler than you think; and,
besides, these rare cases come about, in my opinion, from ennui and from
satiety."

"Exactly, exactly! That is a true thought!" cried the prince. "From
ennui, from our ennui but not from satiety! Oh, no, you are wrong there!
Say from THIRST if you like; the thirst of fever! And please do not
suppose that this is so small a matter that we may have a laugh at it
and dismiss it; we must be able to foresee our disasters and arm against
them. We Russians no sooner arrive at the brink of the water, and
realize that we are really at the brink, than we are so delighted with
the outlook that in we plunge and swim to the farthest point we can