A Laceration In The Cottage — The Brothers Karamazov

Still burning with shame from the drawing-room disaster, Alyosha carries Katerina's money to Lake Street, stops to find Dmitri, and eats his father's roll while Zossima's death weighs on him every step.

At Captain Snegiryov's cottage he meets a frantic, half-drunk patriarch, a proud sick wife, bitter Varvara, gentle crippled Nina, and Ilusha behind the curtain, the boy who bit him. The captain offers to chop off four fingers rather than thrash his son; Alyosha sees the attack was loyalty to a humiliated father.

When Alyosha says Dmitri will apologize publicly and even kneel in the marketplace if required, Snegiryov is pierced to the heart. The mad wife sobs, the children snap at their father's performance, and the captain seizes Alyosha's hand and pulls him into the street for a private word.