He is such a tiny bit of a fellow, such a wretched-looking thing, like a bit of broken china.

It seems as if he had slipped on something and fallen, and there he lies!" At dinner Pavel suddenly dropped his spoon and exclaimed: "That's what I don't understand!" "What ?" asked the Little Russian, who had been sitting at the table dismal and silent.
"To kill anything living because one wants to eat, that's ugly enough.
To kill a beast--a beast of prey--that I can understand.

I think I myself could kill a man who had turned into a beast preying upon mankind.

But to kill such a disgusting, pitiful creature--I don't understand how anyone could lift his hand for an act like that!" The Little Russian raised his shoulders and dropped them again; then said: "He was no less noxious than a beast." "I know." "We kill a mosquito for sucking just a tiny bit of our blood," the Little Russian added in a low voice.
"Well, yes, I am not saying anything about that.

I only mean to say it's so disgusting." "What can you do ?" returned Andrey with another shrug of his shoulders.
After a long pause Pavel asked: "Could you kill a fellow like that ?" The Little Russian regarded him with his round eyes, threw a glance at the mother, and said sadly, but firmly: "For myself, I wouldn't touch a living thing.