The Lost Dog — The Brothers Karamazov

Kolya waits by the fence in dignity, afraid Alyosha will think him thirteen and a boy, obsessed with height though his face is fine. Alyosha comes out coatless, cropped hair, glad at once, and Kolya blurts his long hope of this meeting while they speak of Ilusha dying and medicine as fraud.

Kolya tells the whole story: protecting proud Ilusha, hating sheepish sentiment, training him colder when he grew tender, the Smerdyakov bread-and-pin trick on Zhutchka, pretended outrage and Coventry, Ilusha's vow to throw pinned bread at every dog, the wisp-of-tow fights, and the penknife in Kolya's leg which he hid even from his mother. Alyosha says Ilusha in fever names Kolya and believes God punishes him for killing Zhutchka; the town hopes Kolya will find the dog. Kolya asks why they trusted him; Alyosha explains the crushed captain's buffoonery and tragedy.

Touched, Kolya hates his ordinary name Nikolay, confesses the robbers libel, and finds Alyosha treats him exactly like an equal. He will show a theatrical performance with Perezvon dead in the passage, then whistle him into Ilusha's room, hoping what he has prepared may heal what his righteous coldness broke.