“He’ll be a huge dog!” cried one of the boys.
“Of course he will,” “a mastiff,” “large,” “like this,” “as big as a calf,” shouted several voices.
“As big as a calf, as a real calf,” chimed in the captain. “I got one like that on purpose, one of the fiercest breed, and his parents are huge and very fierce, they stand as high as this from the floor.... Sit down here, on Ilusha’s bed, or here on the bench. You are welcome, we’ve been hoping to see you a long time.... You were so kind as to come with Alexey Fyodorovitch?”
Krassotkin sat on the edge of the bed, at Ilusha’s feet. Though he had perhaps prepared a free‐and‐easy opening for the conversation on his way, now he completely lost the thread of it.
“No ... I came with Perezvon. I’ve got a dog now, called Perezvon. A Slavonic name. He’s out there ... if I whistle, he’ll run in. I’ve brought a dog, too,” he said, addressing Ilusha all at once. “Do you remember Zhutchka, old man?” he suddenly fired the question at him.
Ilusha’s little face quivered. He looked with an agonized expression at Kolya. Alyosha, standing at the door, frowned and signed to Kolya not to speak of Zhutchka, but he did not or would not notice.
“Where ... is Zhutchka?” Ilusha asked in a broken voice.
“Oh, well, my boy, your Zhutchka’s lost and done for!”
Ilusha did not speak, but he fixed an intent gaze once more on Kolya. Alyosha, catching Kolya’s eye, signed to him vigorously again, but he turned away his eyes pretending not to have noticed.
“It must have run away and died somewhere. It must have died after a meal like that,” Kolya pronounced pitilessly, though he seemed a little breathless. “But I’ve got a dog, Perezvon ... A Slavonic name.... I’ve brought him to show you.”