"He did so. He was so tortured that he begged forgiveness, too. He did everything, he did."
"And even if he did, he was wrong. You ask forgiveness once, you see your father does not forgive you, you ask again!"
"Oh, you!"
At this Petenka suddenly ceased swaying his chair, turned about, faced the table and rested both elbows on it.
"And here I, too——" he whispered.
His face gradually became disfigured.
"And here I too——" he repeated, and burst into hysterical sobbing.
"Whose fault——"
But Yudushka had no chance to finish his sermon. At that moment something quite unexpected took place. During their skirmish the man had almost forgotten about Arina Petrovna. But she had not remained an indifferent spectator. On the contrary, you could tell at a glance that something quite unusual was taking place within her, and that the moment perhaps had arrived when the ruthless vision of her entire life appeared before her spiritual eye in a glaring light. Her face livened up, her eyes widened and glittered, her lips moved as if they were struggling to utter some word and could not. Suddenly, just at the moment when Petenka's bitter weeping resounded in the dining-room she rose heavily from her arm-chair, stretched her arms forward, and a loud wail broke out from her breast.
"My cu-r-r-se upon you!"