Aliosha fixed his eyes on the figure of a stuffed bird, and became lost in thought.
“Well, I declare—” muttered Belayeff. “So, that’s what you do, you hold meetings at a confectioner’s? And your mamma doesn’t know it?”
“N-no. How could she? Pelagia wouldn’t tell her for the world. Day before yesterday papa gave us pears. They were as sweet as sugar. I ate two!”
“H’m. But—listen to me, does papa ever say anything about me?”
“About you? What shall I say?” Aliosha looked searchingly into Belayeff’s face and shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing special,” he answered.
“Well, what does he say, for instance?”
“You won’t be angry if I tell you?”
“What an idea! Does he abuse me?”
“No, he doesn’t abuse you, but, you know, he is angry with you. He says that it is your fault that mamma is unhappy, and that you have ruined mamma. He is such a funny man! I tell him that you are kind and that you never scold mamma, but he only shakes his head.”
“So he says I have ruined her?”