"See, men make a row, and work, all that sort of thing. They call that living, and then all at once--bang! and the man's dead. What does that mean? What do you think, Ilya?"
"It doesn't mean anything, they're old and they've got to die."
"That won't do, young people die, and children--healthy people die too."
"That's a clever question!" cried Ilya, mockingly, since he felt able to reply to this. "They live, just to live; they work and try to be happy. Every one wants to live well, and tries to get on; they all look out for chances to get rich and live comfortably."
"Yes, poor people. But rich people, they've got everything to start with, they've nothing to look out for."
"Ain't you clever! Rich. If there weren't any rich, whom would the poor work for?"
"You think then that every one lives just to work?"
"Yes, certainly, that is--not quite all. Some work and the rest just live. They worked before, saved money, and now they just enjoy their life."
"Oh! get out with you! Because they want to. Perhaps you don't want to?" cried Ilya out of all patience. He could not have said exactly why he was annoyed, whether that Jakov raised these questions at all, or whether that he asked so stupidly. He felt definite doubts arise in him under the interrogations, and he could find no clear answer.
"Why do you live yourself? tell me that, then, why?" he shouted at Jakov.
"I don't know," answered Jakov resignedly. "I'd just as soon die. It must be beastly; still I'd like to know what it's like."
Then suddenly he began in a tone of friendly reproach:
"There's no reason to get cross. Just think; men live to work, and work comes because of men; it's just like turning a wheel, always in the same place, and you can't see why it goes round. But where does God come in? He's the axle of it all. He said to Adam and Eve, 'Be fruitful and multiply and people the earth,' but why?"
He bent over towards Ilya, and whispered mysteriously with an expression of fear in his blue eyes:
"Do you know, I believe the good God told them why; but then some one came and stole the explanation, stole it and hid it away, and that was Satan; who else could it be? and that's why no man knows why he is alive."
Ilya listened to the disconnected sentences, felt them possess his soul and was silent. But Jakov continued faster and more softly, fear quivered on his pale face, and his speech became more confused: