{"id":"01KFE0G1XBJV55Y5TR6N4JXAZT","cid":"bafkreifycwdy4gbuiwaq4pfoojpjsdabetlqvnke6ryuxzykqej7fdjsxu","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreialvlkyecd4kzfdxahdtjbxtze6bisvuq6czpn35mi7okk3dbb5gi","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"crimepunishment00dostiala_page_0460.jpg","key":"pdf-page-1768923071972-4173nsotd","label":"crimepunishment00dostiala_page_0460.jpg","page_number":460,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":223550,"text":"452 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT\nwoman. There is a son serving in the provinces, but he doesn't\nhelp; there is a daughter, who is married, but she doesn't visit\nthem. And they've two Httle nephews on their hands, as though\ntheir own children were not enough, and they've taken from\nschool their youngest daughter, a girl who'll be sixteen in an-\nother month, so that then she can be married. She was for me.\nWe went there. How funny it was! I present myself — a land-\nowner, awidower, of a well-known name, with connections,\nwith a fortune. What if I am fifty and she is not sixteen? Who\nthinks of that? But it's fascinating, isn't it? It is fascinating,\nha-ha! You should have seen how I talked to the papa and\nmamma. It was worth paying to have seen me at that moment.\nShe comes in, curtseys, you can fancy, still in a short frock —\nan unopened bud! Flushing like a sunset — she had been told, no\ndoubt. I don't know how you feel about female faces, but to my\nmind these sixteen years, these childish eyes, shyness and tears\nof bashfulness are better than beauty; and she is a perfect little\npicture, too. Fair hair in little curls, like a lamb's, full little rosy\nlips, tiny feet, a charmer! . . . Well, we made friends. I told them\nI was in a hurry owing to domestic circumstances, and the next\nday, that is the day before yesterday, we were betrothed. When\nI go now I take her on my knee at once and keep her there. . . .\nWell, she flushes like a sunset and I kiss her every minute. Her\nmamma of course impresses on her that this is her husband and\nthat this must be so. It's simply delicious! The present betrothed\ncondition is perhaps better than marriage. Here you have what\nis called la nature et la verite, ha-ha! I've talked to her twice,\nshe is far from a fool. Sometimes she steals a look at me that\npositively scorches me. Her face is like Raphael's Madonna. You\nknow, the Sistine Madonna's face has something fantastic in it,\nthe face of mournful religious ecstasy. Haven't you noticed it?\nWell, she's something in that line. The day after we'd been be-\ntrothed, Ibought her presents to the value of fifteen hundred\nroubles — a set of diamonds and another of pearls and a silver\ndressing-case as large as this, with all sorts of things in it, so\nthat even my Madonna's face glowed. I sat her on my knee, yes-\nterday, and I suppose rather too unceremoniously — she flushed\ncrimson and the tears started, but she didn't want to show it.\nWe were left alone, she suddenly flung herself on my neck (for\nthe first time of her own accord) , put her little arms round me.","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-20T15:31:11.972Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFCZZ05FKVDDMJJV3YE9Q4WH","peer_label":"crimepunishment00dostiala.pdf","peer_type":"file","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KESYJX0Z6XE0HWTS5N3SDG0B","peer_label":"The Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-20T15:31:12.652Z","ts":"2026-01-20T15:31:13.675Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFCZWTBNJH4WFMS8354919KY"}}