Chapter 3 A Meeting with the Schoolboys

Leaving his father’s house, Alyosha worries that both Fyodor and Dmitri have hardened their resolves since yesterday and that a new clash is imminent. Despite his urgency to find Dmitri, he is drawn to a commotion among schoolboys on Mihailovsky Street.

Alyosha encounters a group of boys arming themselves with stones against a single pale, undersized classmate across a ditch. A stone aimed from the solitary boy strikes Alyosha, prompting the group to retaliate. Alyosha interposes himself, rebuking the six-for-one assault and asking for reasons behind their feud, hearing claims that the lone boy stabbed Krassotkin and deserves a thrashing.

Determined to learn the truth, Alyosha approaches the solitary child. The boy is defiant, pockets heavy with stones, and admits to hitting Smurov. Though Alyosha refuses to threaten him, the boy strikes Alyosha again from behind, then hurls another stone.

When Alyosha still does not retaliate, the boy rushes him, seizes Alyosha’s hand, and bites his finger to the bone. Alyosha binds the wound and gently insists the child must have a reason for such hatred, asking what wrong he has done.

The boy, stunned by Alyosha’s forbearance, bursts into tears and runs away without answering. Alyosha follows at a distance and resolves to find the child later and uncover the cause of this hostility.