The Idiot by Dostoyevsky
PART IV

Dostoyevsky PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV

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[21372]     PART IV
[21373]     
[21374]     I.
[21375]     
[21376]     A WEEK had elapsed since the rendezvous of our two friends on the
[21377]     green bench in the park, when, one fine morning at about half-
[21378]     past ten o'clock, Varvara Ardalionovna, otherwise Mrs. Ptitsin,
[21379]     who had been out to visit a friend, returned home in a state of
[21380]     considerable mental depression.
[21381]     
[21382]     There are certain people of whom it is difficult to say anything
[21383]     which will at once throw them into relief--in other words,
[21384]     describe them graphically in their typical characteristics. These
[21385]     are they who are generally known as "commonplace people," and this
[21386]     class comprises, of course, the immense majority of mankind.
[21387]     Authors, as a rule, attempt to select and portray types rarely
[21388]     met with in their entirety, but these types are nevertheless more
[21389]     real than real life itself.
[21390]     
[21391]     "Podkoleosin" [A character in Gogol's comedy, The Wedding.] was
[21392]     perhaps an exaggeration, but he was by no means a non-existent
[21393]     character; on the contrary, how many intelligent people, after
[21394]     hearing of this Podkoleosin from Gogol, immediately began to find
[21395]     that scores of their friends were exactly like him! They knew,
[21396]     perhaps, before Gogol told them, that their friends were like
[21397]     Podkoleosin, but they did not know what name to give them. In
[21398]     real life, young fellows seldom jump out of the window just
[21399]     before their weddings, because such a feat, not to speak of its
[21400]     other aspects, must be a decidedly unpleasant mode of escape; and
[21401]     yet there are plenty of bridegrooms, intelligent fellows too, who
[21402]     would be ready to confess themselves Podkoleosins in the depths
[21403]     of their consciousness, just before marriage. Nor does every
[21404]     husband feel bound to repeat at every step, "Tu l'as voulu,
[21405]     Georges Dandin!" like another typical personage; and yet how many
[21406]     millions and billions of Georges Dandins there are in real life
[21407]     who feel inclined to utter this soul-drawn cry after their
[21408]     honeymoon, if not the day after the wedding! Therefore, without
[21409]     entering into any more serious examination of the question, I
[21410]     will content myself with remarking that in real life typical
[21411]     characters are "watered down," so to speak; and all these Dandins
[21412]     and Podkoleosins actually exist among us every day, but in a
[21413]     diluted form. I will just add, however, that Georges Dandin might
[21414]     have existed exactly as Moliere presented him, and probably does
[21415]     exist now and then, though rarely; and so I will end this
[21416]     scientific examination, which is beginning to look like a
[21417]     newspaper criticism. But for all this, the question remains,--
[21418]     what are the novelists to do with commonplace people, and how are
[21419]     they to be presented to the reader in such a form as to be in the
[21420]     least degree interesting? They cannot be left out altogether, for
[21421]     commonplace people meet one at every turn of life, and to leave
[21422]     them out would be to destroy the whole reality and probability of
[21423]     the story. To fill a novel with typical characters only, or with
[21424]     merely strange and uncommon people, would render the book unreal
[21425]     and improbable, and would very likely destroy the interest. In my
[21426]     opinion, the duty of the novelist is to seek out points of
[21427]     interest and instruction even in the characters of commonplace
[21428]     people.
[21429]     
[21430]     For instance, when the whole essence of an ordinary person's
[21431]     nature lies in his perpetual and unchangeable commonplaceness;
[21432]     and when in spite of all his endeavours to do something out of
[21433]     the common, this person ends, eventually, by remaining in his
[21434]     unbroken line of routine--. I think such an individual really
[21435]     does become a type of his own--a type of commonplaceness which
[21436]     will not for the world, if it can help it, be contented, but
[21437]     strains and yearns to be something original and independent,
[21438]     without the slightest possibility of being so. To this class of
[21439]     commonplace people belong several characters in this novel;--
[21440]     characters which--I admit--I have not drawn very vividly up to
[21441]     now for my reader's benefit.
[21442]     
[21443]     Such were, for instance, Varvara Ardalionovna Ptitsin, her
[21444]     husband, and her brother, Gania.
[21445]     
[21446]     There is nothing so annoying as to be fairly rich, of a fairly
[21447]     good family, pleasing presence, average education, to be "not
[21448]     stupid," kind-hearted, and yet to have no talent at all, no
[21449]     originality, not a single idea of one's own--to be, in fact,
[21450]     "just like everyone else."
[21451]     
[21452]     Of such people there are countless numbers in this world--far
[21453]     more even than appear. They can be divided into two classes as
[21454]     all men can--that is, those of limited intellect, and those who
[21455]     are much cleverer. The former of these classes is the happier.
[21456]     
[21457]     To a commonplace man of limited intellect, for instance, nothing
[21458]     is simpler than to imagine himself an original character, and to
[21459]     revel in that belief without the slightest misgiving.
[21460]     
[21461]     Many of our young women have thought fit to cut their hair short,
[21462]     put on blue spectacles, and call themselves Nihilists. By doing
[21463]     this they have been able to persuade themselves, without further
[21464]     trouble, that they have acquired new convictions of their own.
[21465]     Some men have but felt some little qualm of kindness towards
[21466]     their fellow-men, and the fact has been quite enough to persuade
[21467]     them that they stand alone in the van of enlightenment and that
[21468]     no one has such humanitarian feelings as they. Others have but to
[21469]     read an idea of somebody else's, and they can immediately
[21470]     assimilate it and believe that it was a child of their own brain.
[21471]     The "impudence of ignorance," if I may use the expression, is
[21472]     developed to a wonderful extent in such cases;--unlikely as it
[21473]     appears, it is met with at every turn.
[21474]     
[21475]     This confidence of a stupid man in his own talents has been
[21476]     wonderfully depicted by Gogol in the amazing character of
[21477]     Pirogoff. Pirogoff has not the slightest doubt of his own
[21478]     genius,--nay, of his SUPERIORITY of genius,--so certain is he of
[21479]     it that he never questions it. How many Pirogoffs have there not
[21480]     been among our writers--scholars--propagandists? I say "have
[21481]     been," but indeed there are plenty of them at this very day.
[21482]     
[21483]     Our friend, Gania, belonged to the other class--to the "much
[21484]     cleverer" persons, though he was from head to foot permeated and
[21485]     saturated with the longing to be original. This class, as I have
[21486]     said above, is far less happy. For the "clever commonplace"
[21487]     person, though he may possibly imagine himself a man of genius
[21488]     and originality, none the less has within his heart the deathless
[21489]     worm of suspicion and doubt; and this doubt sometimes brings a
[21490]     clever man to despair. (As a rule, however, nothing tragic
[21491]     happens;--his liver becomes a little damaged in the course of
[21492]     time, nothing more serious. Such men do not give up their
[21493]     aspirations after originality without a severe struggle,--and
[21494]     there have been men who, though good fellows in themselves, and
[21495]     even benefactors to humanity, have sunk to the level of base
[21496]     criminals for the sake of originality.
[21497]     
[21498]     Gania was a beginner, as it were, upon this road. A deep and
[21499]     unchangeable consciousness of his own lack of talent, combined
[21500]     with a vast longing to be able to persuade himself that he was
[21501]     original, had rankled in his heart, even from childhood.
[21502]     
[21503]     He seemed to have been born with overwrought nerves, and in his
[21504]     passionate desire to excel, he was often led to the brink of some
[21505]     rash step; and yet, having resolved upon such a step, when the
[21506]     moment arrived, he invariably proved too sensible to take it. He
[21507]     was ready, in the same way, to do a base action in order to
[21508]     obtain his wished-for object; and yet, when the moment came to do
[21509]     it, he found that he was too honest for any great baseness. (Not
[21510]     that he objected to acts of petty meanness--he was always ready
[21511]     for THEM.) He looked with hate and loathing on the poverty and
[21512]     downfall of his family, and treated his mother with haughty
[21513]     contempt, although he knew that his whole future depended on her
[21514]     character and reputation.
[21515]     
[21516]     Aglaya had simply frightened him; yet he did not give up all
[21517]     thoughts of her--though he never seriously hoped that she would
[21518]     condescend to him. At the time of his "adventure" with Nastasia
[21519]     Philipovna he had come to the conclusion that money was his only
[21520]     hope--money should do all for him.
[21521]     
[21522]     At the moment when he lost Aglaya, and after the scene with
[21523]     Nastasia, he had felt so low in his own eyes that he actually
[21524]     brought the money back to the prince. Of this returning of the
[21525]     money given to him by a madwoman who had received it from a
[21526]     madman, he had often repented since--though he never ceased to be
[21527]     proud of his action. During the short time that Muishkin remained
[21528]     in Petersburg Gania had had time to come to hate him for his
[21529]     sympathy, though the prince told him that it was "not everyone
[21530]     who would have acted so nobly" as to return the money. He had
[21531]     long pondered, too, over his relations with Aglaya, and had
[21532]     persuaded himself that with such a strange, childish, innocent
[21533]     character as hers, things might have ended very differently.
[21534]     Remorse then seized him; he threw up his post, and buried himself
[21535]     in self-torment and reproach.
[21536]     
[21537]     He lived at Ptitsin's, and openly showed contempt for the latter,
[21538]     though he always listened to his advice, and was sensible enough
[21539]     to ask for it when he wanted it. Gavrila Ardalionovitch was angry
[21540]     with Ptitsin because the latter did not care to become a
[21541]     Rothschild. "If you are to be a Jew," he said, "do it properly--
[21542]     squeeze people right and left, show some character; be the King
[21543]     of the Jews while you are about it."
[21544]     
[21545]     Ptitsin was quiet and not easily offended--he only laughed. But
[21546]     on one occasion he explained seriously to Gania that he was no
[21547]     Jew, that he did nothing dishonest, that he could not help the
[21548]     market price of money, that, thanks to his accurate habits, he
[21549]     had already a good footing and was respected, and that his
[21550]     business was flourishing.
[21551]     
[21552]     "I shan't ever be a Rothschild, and there is no reason why I
[21553]     should," he added, smiling; "but I shall have a house in the
[21554]     Liteynaya, perhaps two, and that will be enough for me." "Who
[21555]     knows but what I may have three!" he concluded to himself; but
[21556]     this dream, cherished inwardly, he never confided to a soul.
[21557]     
[21558]     Nature loves and favours such people. Ptitsin will certainly have
[21559]     his reward, not three houses, but four, precisely because from
[21560]     childhood up he had realized that he would never be a Rothschild.
[21561]     That will be the limit of Ptitsin's fortune, and, come what may,
[21562]     he will never have more than four houses.
[21563]     
[21564]     Varvara Ardalionovna was not like her brother. She too, had
[21565]     passionate desires, but they were persistent rather than
[21566]     impetuous. Her plans were as wise as her methods of carrying them
[21567]     out. No doubt she also belonged to the category of ordinary
[21568]     people who dream of being original, but she soon discovered that
[21569]     she had not a grain of true originality, and she did not let it
[21570]     trouble her too much. Perhaps a certain kind of pride came to her
[21571]     help. She made her first concession to the demands of practical
[21572]     life with great resolution when she consented to marry Ptitsin.
[21573]     However, when she married she did not say to herself, "Never mind
[21574]     a mean action if it leads to the end in view," as her brother
[21575]     would certainly have said in such a case; it is quite probable
[21576]     that he may have said it when he expressed his elder-brotherly
[21577]     satisfaction at her decision. Far from this; Varvara Ardalionovna
[21578]     did not marry until she felt convinced that her future husband
[21579]     was unassuming, agreeable, almost cultured, and that nothing on
[21580]     earth would tempt him to a really dishonourable deed. As to small
[21581]     meannesses, such trifles did not trouble her. Indeed, who is free
[21582]     from them? It is absurd to expect the ideal! Besides, she knew
[21583]     that her marriage would provide a refuge for all her family.
[21584]     Seeing Gania unhappy, she was anxious to help him, in spite of
[21585]     their former disputes and misunderstandings. Ptitsin, in a
[21586]     friendly way, would press his brother-in-law to enter the army.
[21587]     "You know," he said sometimes, jokingly, "you despise generals
[21588]     and generaldom, but you will see that 'they' will all end by
[21589]     being generals in their turn. You will see it if you live long
[21590]     enough!"
[21591]     
[21592]     "But why should they suppose that I despise generals?" Gania
[21593]     thought sarcastically to himself.
[21594]     
[21595]     To serve her brother's interests, Varvara Ardalionovna was
[21596]     constantly at the Epanchins' house, helped by the fact that in
[21597]     childhood she and Gania had played with General Ivan
[21598]     Fedorovitch's daughters. It would have been inconsistent with her
[21599]     character if in these visits she had been pursuing a chimera; her
[21600]     project was not chimerical at all; she was building on a firm
[21601]     basis--on her knowledge of the character of the Epanchin family,
[21602]     especially Aglaya, whom she studied closely. All Varvara's
[21603]     efforts were directed towards bringing Aglaya and Gania together.
[21604]     Perhaps she achieved some result; perhaps, also, she made the
[21605]     mistake of depending too much upon her brother, and expecting
[21606]     more from him than he would ever be capable of giving. However
[21607]     this may be, her manoeuvres were skilful enough. For weeks at a
[21608]     time she would never mention Gania. Her attitude was modest but
[21609]     dignified, and she was always extremely truthful and sincere.
[21610]     Examining the depths of her conscience, she found nothing to
[21611]     reproach herself with, and this still further strengthened her in
[21612]     her designs. But Varvara Ardalionovna sometimes remarked that she
[21613]     felt spiteful; that there was a good deal of vanity in her,
[21614]     perhaps even of wounded vanity. She noticed this at certain times
[21615]     more than at others, and especially after her visits to the
[21616]     Epanchins.
[21617]     
[21618]     Today, as I have said, she returned from their house with a
[21619]     heavy feeling of dejection. There was a sensation of bitterness,
[21620]     a sort of mocking contempt, mingled with it.
[21621]     
[21622]     Arrived at her own house, Varia heard a considerable commotion
[21623]     going on in the upper storey, and distinguished the voices of her
[21624]     father and brother. On entering the salon she found Gania pacing
[21625]     up and down at frantic speed, pale with rage and almost tearing
[21626]     his hair. She frowned, and subsided on to the sofa with a tired
[21627]     air, and without taking the trouble to remove her hat. She very
[21628]     well knew that if she kept quiet and asked her brother nothing
[21629]     about his reason for tearing up and down the room, his wrath
[21630]     would fall upon her head. So she hastened to put the question:
[21631]     
[21632]     "The old story, eh?"
[21633]     
[21634]     "Old story? No! Heaven knows what's up now--I don't! Father has
[21635]     simply gone mad; mother's in floods of tears. Upon my word,
[21636]     Varia, I must kick him out of the house; or else go myself," he
[21637]     added, probably remembering that he could not well turn people
[21638]     out of a house which was not his own.
[21639]     
[21640]     "You must make allowances," murmured Varia.
[21641]     
[21642]     "Make allowances? For whom? Him--the old blackguard? No, no,
[21643]     Varia--that won't do! It won't do, I tell you! And look at the
[21644]     swagger of the man! He's all to blame himself, and yet he puts on
[21645]     so much 'side' that you'd think--my word!--'It's too much
[21646]     trouble to go through the gate, you must break the fence for me!'
[21647]     That's the sort of air he puts on; but what's the matter with
[21648]     you, Varia? What a curious expression you have!"
[21649]     
[21650]     "I'm all right," said Varia, in a tone that sounded as though she
[21651]     were all wrong.
[21652]     
[21653]     Gania looked more intently at her.
[21654]     
[21655]     "You've been THERE?" he asked, suddenly.
[21656]     
[21657]     "Yes."
[21658]     
[21659]     "Did you find out anything?"
[21660]     
[21661]     "Nothing unexpected. I discovered that it's all true. My husband
[21662]     was wiser than either of us. Just as he suspected from the
[21663]     beginning, so it has fallen out. Where is he?"
[21664]     
[21665]     "Out. Well--what has happened?--go on."
[21666]     
[21667]     "The prince is formally engaged to her--that's settled. The elder
[21668]     sisters told me about it. Aglaya has agreed. They don't attempt
[21669]     to conceal it any longer; you know how mysterious and secret they
[21670]     have all been up to now. Adelaida's wedding is put off again, so
[21671]     that both can be married on one day. Isn't that delightfully
[21672]     romantic? Somebody ought to write a poem on it. Sit down and
[21673]     write an ode instead of tearing up and down like that. This
[21674]     evening Princess Bielokonski is to arrive; she comes just in
[21675]     time--they have a party tonight. He is to be presented to old
[21676]     Bielokonski, though I believe he knows her already; probably the
[21677]     engagement will be openly announced. They are only afraid that he
[21678]     may knock something down, or trip over something when he comes
[21679]     into the room. It would be just like him."
[21680]     
[21681]     Gania listened attentively, but to his sister's astonishment he
[21682]     was by no means so impressed by this news (which should, she
[21683]     thought, have been so important to him) as she had expected.
[21684]     
[21685]     "Well, it was clear enough all along," he said, after a moment's
[21686]     reflection. "So that's the end," he added, with a disagreeable
[21687]     smile, continuing to walk up and down the room, but much slower
[21688]     than before, and glancing slyly into his sister's face.
[21689]     
[21690]     "It's a good thing that you take it philosophically, at all
[21691]     events," said Varia. "I'm really very glad of it."
[21692]     
[21693]     "Yes, it's off our hands--off YOURS, I should say."
[21694]     
[21695]     "I think I have served you faithfully. I never even asked you
[21696]     what happiness you expected to find with Aglaya."
[21697]     
[21698]     "Did I ever expect to find happiness with Aglaya?"
[21699]     
[21700]     "Come, come, don't overdo your philosophy. Of course you did. Now
[21701]     it's all over, and a good thing, too; pair of fools that we have
[21702]     been! I confess I have never been able to look at it seriously. I
[21703]     busied myself in it for your sake, thinking that there was no
[21704]     knowing what might happen with a funny girl like that to deal
[21705]     with. There were ninety to one chances against it. To this moment
[21706]     I can't make out why you wished for it."
[21707]     
[21708]     "H'm! now, I suppose, you and your husband will never weary of
[21709]     egging me on to work again. You'll begin your lectures about
[21710]     perseverance and strength of will, and all that. I know it all by
[21711]     heart," said Gania, laughing.
[21712]     
[21713]     "He's got some new idea in his head," thought Varia. "Are they
[21714]     pleased over there--the parents?" asked Gania, suddenly.
[21715]     
[21716]     "N--no, I don't think they are. You can judge for yourself. I
[21717]     think the general is pleased enough; her mother is a little
[21718]     uneasy. She always loathed the idea of the prince as a HUSBAND;
[21719]     everybody knows that."
[21720]     
[21721]     "Of course, naturally. The bridegroom is an impossible and
[21722]     ridiculous one. I mean, has SHE given her formal consent?"
[21723]     
[21724]     "She has not said 'no,' up to now, and that's all. It was sure to
[21725]     be so with her. You know what she is like. You know how absurdly
[21726]     shy she is. You remember how she used to hide in a cupboard as a
[21727]     child, so as to avoid seeing visitors, for hours at a time. She
[21728]     is just the same now; but, do you know, I think there is
[21729]     something serious in the matter, even from her side; I feel it,
[21730]     somehow. She laughs at the prince, they say, from morn to night
[21731]     in order to hide her real feelings; but you may be sure she finds
[21732]     occasion to say something or other to him on the sly, for he
[21733]     himself is in a state of radiant happiness. He walks in the
[21734]     clouds; they say he is extremely funny just now; I heard it from
[21735]     themselves. They seemed to be laughing at me in their sleeves--
[21736]     those elder girls--I don't know why."
[21737]     
[21738]     Gania had begun to frown, and probably Varia added this last
[21739]     sentence in order to probe his thought. However, at this moment,
[21740]     the noise began again upstairs.
[21741]     
[21742]     "I'll turn him out!" shouted Gania, glad of the opportunity of
[21743]     venting his vexation. "I shall just turn him out--we can't have
[21744]     this."
[21745]     
[21746]     "Yes, and then he'll go about the place and disgrace us as he did
[21747]     yesterday."
[21748]     
[21749]     "How 'as he did yesterday'? What do you mean? What did he do
[21750]     yesterday?" asked Gania, in alarm.
[21751]     
[21752]     "Why, goodness me, don't you know?" Varia stopped short.
[21753]     
[21754]     "What? You don't mean to say that he went there yesterday!" cried
[21755]     Gania, flushing red with shame and anger. "Good heavens, Varia!
[21756]     Speak! You have just been there. WAS he there or not, QUICK?" And
[21757]     Gania rushed for the door. Varia followed and caught him by both
[21758]     hands.
[21759]     
[21760]     "What are you doing? Where are you going to? You can't let him go
[21761]     now; if you do he'll go and do something worse."
[21762]     
[21763]     "What did he do there? What did he say?" "They couldn't tell me
[21764]     themselves; they couldn't make head or tail of it; but he
[21765]     frightened them all. He came to see the general, who was not at
[21766]     home; so he asked for Lizabetha Prokofievna. First of all, he
[21767]     begged her for some place, or situation, for work of some kind,
[21768]     and then he began to complain about US, about me and my husband,
[21769]     and you, especially YOU; he said a lot of things."
[21770]     
[21771]     "Oh! couldn't you find out?" muttered Gania, trembling
[21772]     hysterically.
[21773]     
[21774]     "No--nothing more than that. Why, they couldn't understand him
[21775]     themselves; and very likely didn't tell me all."
[21776]     
[21777]     Gania seized his head with both hands and tottered to the window;
[21778]     Varia sat down at the other window.
[21779]     
[21780]     "Funny girl, Aglaya," she observed, after a pause. "When she left
[21781]     me she said, 'Give my special and personal respects to your
[21782]     parents; I shall certainly find an opportunity to see your father
[21783]     one day,' and so serious over it. She's a strange creature."
[21784]     
[21785]     "Wasn't she joking? She was speaking sarcastically!" "Not a bit of
[21786]     it; that's just the strange part of it."
[21787]     
[21788]     "Does she know about father, do you think--or not?"
[21789]     
[21790]     "That they do NOT know about it in the house is quite certain,
[21791]     the rest of them, I mean; but you have given me an idea. Aglaya
[21792]     perhaps knows. She alone, though, if anyone; for the sisters were
[21793]     as astonished as I was to hear her speak so seriously. If she
[21794]     knows, the prince must have told her."
[21795]     
[21796]     "Oh! it's not a great matter to guess who told her. A thief! A
[21797]     thief in our family, and the head of the family, too!"
[21798]     
[21799]     "Oh! nonsense!" cried Varia, angrily. "That was nothing but a
[21800]     drunkard's tale. Nonsense! Why, who invented the whole thing--
[21801]     Lebedeff and the prince--a pretty pair! Both were probably
[21802]     drunk."
[21803]     
[21804]     "Father is a drunkard and a thief; I am a beggar, and the husband
[21805]     of my sister is a usurer," continued Gania, bitterly. "There was
[21806]     a pretty list of advantages with which to enchant the heart of
[21807]     Aglaya."
[21808]     
[21809]     "That same husband of your sister, the usurer--"
[21810]     
[21811]     "Feeds me? Go on. Don't stand on ceremony, pray."
[21812]     
[21813]     "Don't lose your temper. You are just like a schoolboy. You think
[21814]     that all this sort of thing would harm you in Aglaya's eyes, do
[21815]     you? You little know her character. She is capable of refusing
[21816]     the most brilliant party, and running away and starving in a
[21817]     garret with some wretched student; that's the sort of girl she
[21818]     is. You never could or did understand how interesting you would
[21819]     have seen in her eyes if you had come firmly and proudly through
[21820]     our misfortunes. The prince has simply caught her with hook and
[21821]     line; firstly, because he never thought of fishing for her, and
[21822]     secondly, because he is an idiot in the eyes of most people. It's
[21823]     quite enough for her that by accepting him she puts her family
[21824]     out and annoys them all round--that's what she likes. You don't
[21825]     understand these things."
[21826]     
[21827]     "We shall see whether I understand or no!" said Gania,
[21828]     enigmatically. "But I shouldn't like her to know all about
[21829]     father, all the same. I thought the prince would manage to hold
[21830]     his tongue about this, at least. He prevented Lebedeff spreading
[21831]     the news--he wouldn't even tell me all when I asked him--"
[21832]     
[21833]     "Then you must see that he is not responsible. What does it
[21834]     matter to you now, in any case? What are you hoping for still? If
[21835]     you HAVE a hope left, it is that your suffering air may soften
[21836]     her heart towards you."
[21837]     
[21838]     "Oh, she would funk a scandal like anyone else. You are all
[21839]     tarred with one brush!"
[21840]     
[21841]     "What! AGLAYA would have funked? You are a chicken-hearted
[21842]     fellow, Gania!" said Varia, looking at her brother with contempt.
[21843]     "Not one of us is worth much. Aglaya may be a wild sort of a
[21844]     girl, but she is far nobler than any of us, a thousand times
[21845]     nobler!"
[21846]     
[21847]     "Well--come! there's nothing to get cross about," said Gania.
[21848]     
[21849]     "All I'm afraid of is--mother. I'm afraid this scandal about
[21850]     father may come to her ears; perhaps it has already. I am
[21851]     dreadfully afraid."
[21852]     
[21853]     "It undoubtedly has already!" observed Gania.
[21854]     
[21855]     Varia had risen from her place and had started to go upstairs to
[21856]     her mother; but at this observation of Gania's she turned and
[21857]     gazed at him attentively.
[21858]     
[21859]     "Who could have told her?"
[21860]     
[21861]     "Hippolyte, probably. He would think it the most delightful
[21862]     amusement in the world to tell her of it the instant he moved
[21863]     over here; I haven't a doubt of it."
[21864]     
[21865]     "But how could he know anything of it? Tell me that. Lebedeff and
[21866]     the prince determined to tell no one--even Colia knows nothing."
[21867]     
[21868]     "What, Hippolyte? He found it out himself, of course. Why, you
[21869]     have no idea what a cunning little animal he is; dirty little
[21870]     gossip! He has the most extraordinary nose for smelling out other
[21871]     people's secrets, or anything approaching to scandal. Believe it
[21872]     or not, but I'm pretty sure he has got round Aglaya. If he
[21873]     hasn't, he soon will. Rogojin is intimate with him, too. How the
[21874]     prince doesn't notice it, I can't understand. The little wretch
[21875]     considers me his enemy now and does his best to catch me
[21876]     tripping. What on earth does it matter to him, when he's dying?
[21877]     However, you'll see; I shall catch HIM tripping yet, and not he
[21878]     me."
[21879]     
[21880]     "Why did you get him over here, if you hate him so? And is it
[21881]     really worth your while to try to score off him?"
[21882]     
[21883]     "Why, it was yourself who advised me to bring him over!"
[21884]     
[21885]     "I thought he might be useful. You know he is in love with Aglaya
[21886]     himself, now, and has written to her; he has even written to
[21887]     Lizabetha Prokofievna!"
[21888]     
[21889]     "Oh! he's not dangerous there!" cried Gania, laughing angrily.
[21890]     "However, I believe there is something of that sort in the air;
[21891]     he is very likely to be in love, for he is a mere boy. But he
[21892]     won't write anonymous letters to the old lady; that would be too
[21893]     audacious a thing for him to attempt; but I dare swear the very
[21894]     first thing he did was to show me up to Aglaya as a base deceiver
[21895]     and intriguer. I confess I was fool enough to attempt something
[21896]     through him at first. I thought he would throw himself into my
[21897]     service out of revengeful feelings towards the prince, the sly
[21898]     little beast! But I know him better now. As for the theft, he may
[21899]     have heard of it from the widow in Petersburg, for if the old man
[21900]     committed himself to such an act, he can have done it for no
[21901]     other object but to give the money to her. Hippolyte said to me,
[21902]     without any prelude, that the general had promised the widow four
[21903]     hundred roubles. Of course I understood, and the little wretch
[21904]     looked at me with a nasty sort of satisfaction. I know him; you
[21905]     may depend upon it he went and told mother too, for the pleasure
[21906]     of wounding her. And why doesn't he die, I should like to know?
[21907]     He undertook to die within three weeks, and here he is getting
[21908]     fatter. His cough is better, too. It was only yesterday that he
[21909]     said that was the second day he hadn't coughed blood."
[21910]     
[21911]     "Well, turn him out!"
[21912]     
[21913]     "I don't HATE, I despise him," said Gania, grandly. "Well, I do
[21914]     hate him, if you like!" he added, with a sudden access of rage,
[21915]     "and I'll tell him so to his face, even when he's dying! If you
[21916]     had but read his confession--good Lord! what refinement of
[21917]     impudence! Oh, but I'd have liked to whip him then and there,
[21918]     like a schoolboy, just to see how surprised he would have been!
[21919]     Now he hates everybody because he--Oh, I say, what on earth are
[21920]     they doing there! Listen to that noise! I really can't stand this
[21921]     any longer. Ptitsin!" he cried, as the latter entered the room,
[21922]     "what in the name of goodness are we coming to? Listen to that--"
[21923]     
[21924]     But the noise came rapidly nearer, the door burst open, and old
[21925]     General Ivolgin, raging, furious, purple-faced, and trembling
[21926]     with anger, rushed in. He was followed by Nina Alexandrovna,
[21927]     Colia, and behind the rest, Hippolyte.
[21928]     
[21929]     II.
[21930]     
[21931]     HIPPOLYTE had now been five days at the Ptitsins'. His flitting
[21932]     from the prince's to these new quarters had been brought about
[21933]     quite naturally and without many words. He did not quarrel with
[21934]     the prince--in fact, they seemed to part as friends. Gania, who
[21935]     had been hostile enough on that eventful evening, had himself
[21936]     come to see him a couple of days later, probably in obedience to
[21937]     some sudden impulse. For some reason or other, Rogojin too had
[21938]     begun to visit the sick boy. The prince thought it might be
[21939]     better for him to move away from his (the prince's) house.
[21940]     Hippolyte informed him, as he took his leave, that Ptitsin "had
[21941]     been kind enough to offer him a corner," and did not say a word
[21942]     about Gania, though Gania had procured his invitation, and
[21943]     himself came to fetch him away. Gania noticed this at the time,
[21944]     and put it to Hippolyte's debit on account.
[21945]     
[21946]     Gania was right when he told his sister that Hippolyte was
[21947]     getting better; that he was better was clear at the first glance.
[21948]     He entered the room now last of all, deliberately, and with a
[21949]     disagreeable smile on his lips.
[21950]     
[21951]     Nina Alexandrovna came in, looking frightened. She had changed
[21952]     much since we last saw her, half a year ago, and had grown thin
[21953]     and pale. Colia looked worried and perplexed. He could not
[21954]     understand the vagaries of the general, and knew nothing of the
[21955]     last achievement of that worthy, which had caused so much
[21956]     commotion in the house. But he could see that his father had of
[21957]     late changed very much, and that he had begun to behave in so
[21958]     extraordinary a fashion both at home and abroad that he was not
[21959]     like the same man. What perplexed and disturbed him as much as
[21960]     anything was that his father had entirely given up drinking
[21961]     during the last few days. Colia knew that he had quarrelled with
[21962]     both Lebedeff and the prince, and had just bought a small bottle
[21963]     of vodka and brought it home for his father.
[21964]     
[21965]     "Really, mother," he had assured Nina Alexandrovna upstairs,
[21966]     "really you had better let him drink. He has not had a drop for
[21967]     three days; he must be suffering agonies--The general now entered
[21968]     the room, threw the door wide open, and stood on the threshold
[21969]     trembling with indignation.
[21970]     
[21971]     "Look here, my dear sir," he began, addressing Ptitsin in a very
[21972]     loud tone of voice; "if you have really made up your mind to
[21973]     sacrifice an old man--your father too or at all events father of
[21974]     your wife--an old man who has served his emperor--to a wretched
[21975]     little atheist like this, all I can say is, sir, my foot shall
[21976]     cease to tread your floors. Make your choice, sir; make your
[21977]     choice quickly, if you please! Me or this--screw! Yes, screw,
[21978]     sir; I said it accidentally, but let the word stand--this screw,
[21979]     for he screws and drills himself into my soul--"
[21980]     
[21981]     "Hadn't you better say corkscrew?" said Hippolyte.
[21982]     
[21983]     "No, sir, NOT corkscrew. I am a general, not a bottle, sir. Make
[21984]     your choice, sir--me or him."
[21985]     
[21986]     Here Colia handed him a chair, and he subsided into it,
[21987]     breathless with rage.
[21988]     
[21989]     "Hadn't you better--better--take a nap?" murmured the stupefied
[21990]     Ptitsin.
[21991]     
[21992]     "A nap?" shrieked the general. "I am not drunk, sir; you insult
[21993]     me! I see," he continued, rising, "I see that all are against me
[21994]     here. Enough--I go; but know, sirs--know that--"
[21995]     
[21996]     He was not allowed to finish his sentence. Somebody pushed him
[21997]     back into his chair, and begged him to be calm. Nina Alexandrovna
[21998]     trembled, and cried quietly. Gania retired to the window in
[21999]     disgust.
[22000]     
[22001]     "But what have I done? What is his grievance?" asked Hippolyte,
[22002]     grinning.
[22003]     
[22004]     "What have you done, indeed?" put in Nina Alexandrovna. "You
[22005]     ought to be ashamed of yourself, teasing an old man like that--
[22006]     and in your position, too."
[22007]     
[22008]     "And pray what IS my position, madame? I have the greatest
[22009]     respect for you, personally; but--"
[22010]     
[22011]     "He's a little screw," cried the general; "he drills holes my
[22012]     heart and soul. He wishes me to be a pervert to atheism. Know,
[22013]     you young greenhorn, that I was covered with honours before ever
[22014]     you were born; and you are nothing better than a wretched little
[22015]     worm, torn in two with coughing, and dying slowly of your own
[22016]     malice and unbelief. What did Gavrila bring you over here for?
[22017]     They're all against me, even to my own son--all against me."
[22018]     
[22019]     "Oh, come--nonsense!" cried Gania; "if you did not go shaming us
[22020]     all over the town, things might be better for all parties."
[22021]     
[22022]     "What--shame you? I?--what do you mean, you young calf? I shame
[22023]     you? I can only do you honour, sir; I cannot shame you."
[22024]     
[22025]     He jumped up from his chair in a fit of uncontrollable rage.
[22026]     Gania was very angry too.
[22027]     
[22028]     "Honour, indeed!" said the latter, with contempt.
[22029]     
[22030]     "What do you say, sir?" growled the general, taking a step
[22031]     towards him.
[22032]     
[22033]     "I say that I have but to open my mouth, and you--"
[22034]     
[22035]     Gania began, but did not finish. The two--father and son--stood
[22036]     before one another, both unspeakably agitated, especially Gania.
[22037]     
[22038]     "Gania, Gania, reflect!" cried his mother, hurriedly.
[22039]     
[22040]     "It's all nonsense on both sides," snapped out Varia. "Let them
[22041]     alone, mother."
[22042]     
[22043]     "It's only for mother's sake that I spare him," said Gania,
[22044]     tragically.
[22045]     
[22046]     "Speak!" said the general, beside himself with rage and
[22047]     excitement; "speak--under the penalty of a father's curse
[22048]     
[22049]     "Oh, father's curse be hanged--you don't frighten me that way!"
[22050]     said Gania. "Whose fault is it that you have been as mad as a
[22051]     March hare all this week? It is just a week--you see, I count the
[22052]     days. Take care now; don't provoke me too much, or I'll tell all.
[22053]     Why did you go to the Epanchins' yesterday--tell me that? And you
[22054]     call yourself an old man, too, with grey hair, and father of a
[22055]     family! H'm--nice sort of a father."
[22056]     
[22057]     "Be quiet, Gania," cried Colia. "Shut up, you fool!"
[22058]     
[22059]     "Yes, but how have I offended him?" repeated Hippolyte, still
[22060]     in the same jeering voice. " Why does he call me a screw? You all
[22061]     heard it. He came to me himself and began telling me about some
[22062]     Captain Eropegoff. I don't wish for your company, general. I
[22063]     always avoided you--you know that. What have I to do with
[22064]     Captain Eropegoff? All I did was to express my opinion that
[22065]     probably Captain Eropegoff never existed at all!"
[22066]     
[22067]     "Of course he never existed!" Gania interrupted.
[22068]     
[22069]     But the general only stood stupefied and gazed around in a dazed
[22070]     way. Gania's speech had impressed him, with its terrible candour.
[22071]     For the first moment or two he could find no words to answer him,
[22072]     and it was only when Hippolyte burst out laughing, and said:
[22073]     
[22074]     "There, you see! Even your own son supports my statement that
[22075]     there never was such a person as Captain Eropegoff!" that the old
[22076]     fellow muttered confusedly:
[22077]     
[22078]     "Kapiton Eropegoff--not Captain Eropegoff!--Kapiton--major
[22079]     retired--Eropegoff--Kapiton."
[22080]     
[22081]     "Kapiton didn't exist either!" persisted Gania, maliciously.
[22082]     
[22083]     "What? Didn't exist?" cried the poor general, and a deep blush
[22084]     suffused his face.
[22085]     
[22086]     "That'll do, Gania!" cried Varia and Ptitsin.
[22087]     
[22088]     "Shut up, Gania!" said Colia.
[22089]     
[22090]     But this intercession seemed to rekindle the general.
[22091]     
[22092]     "What did you mean, sir, that he didn't exist? Explain yourself,"
[22093]     he repeated, angrily.
[22094]     
[22095]     "Because he DIDN'T exist--never could and never did--there! You'd
[22096]     better drop the subject, I warn you!"
[22097]     
[22098]     "And this is my son--my own son--whom I--oh, gracious Heaven!
[22099]     Eropegoff--Eroshka Eropegoff didn't exist!"
[22100]     
[22101]     "Ha, ha! it's Eroshka now," laughed Hippolyte.
[22102]     
[22103]     "No, sir, Kapitoshka--not Eroshka. I mean, Kapiton Alexeyevitch--
[22104]     retired major--married Maria Petrovna Lu--Lu--he was my friend
[22105]     and companion--Lutugoff--from our earliest beginnings. I closed
[22106]     his eyes for him--he was killed. Kapiton Eropegoff never existed!
[22107]     tfu!"
[22108]     
[22109]     The general shouted in his fury; but it was to be concluded that
[22110]     his wrath was not kindled by the expressed doubt as to Kapiton's
[22111]     existence. This was his scapegoat; but his excitement was caused
[22112]     by something quite different. As a rule he would have merely
[22113]     shouted down the doubt as to Kapiton, told a long yarn about his
[22114]     friend, and eventually retired upstairs to his room. But today,
[22115]     in the strange uncertainty of human nature, it seemed to require
[22116]     but so small an offence as this to make his cup to overflow. The
[22117]     old man grew purple in the face, he raised his hands. "Enough of
[22118]     this!" he yelled. "My curse--away, out of the house I go! Colia,
[22119]     bring my bag away!" He left the room hastily and in a paroxysm of
[22120]     rage.
[22121]     
[22122]     His wife, Colia, and Ptitsin ran out after him.
[22123]     
[22124]     "What have you done now?" said Varia to Gania. "He'll probably be
[22125]     making off THERE again! What a disgrace it all is!"
[22126]     
[22127]     "Well, he shouldn't steal," cried Gania, panting with fury. And
[22128]     just at this moment his eye met Hippolyte's.
[22129]     
[22130]     "As for you, sir," he cried, "you should at least remember that
[22131]     you are in a strange house and--receiving hospitality; you should
[22132]     not take the opportunity of tormenting an old man, sir, who is
[22133]     too evidently out of his mind."
[22134]     
[22135]     Hippolyte looked furious, but he restrained himself.
[22136]     
[22137]     "I don't quite agree with you that your father is out of his
[22138]     mind," he observed, quietly. "On the contrary, I cannot help
[22139]     thinking he has been less demented of late. Don't you think so?
[22140]     He has grown so cunning and careful, and weighs his words so
[22141]     deliberately; he spoke to me about that Kapiton fellow with an
[22142]     object, you know! Just fancy--he wanted me to--"
[22143]     
[22144]     "Oh, devil take what he wanted you to do! Don't try to be too
[22145]     cunning with me, young man!" shouted Gania. "If you are aware of
[22146]     the real reason for my father's present condition (and you have
[22147]     kept such an excellent spying watch during these last few days
[22148]     that you are sure to be aware of it)--you had no right whatever
[22149]     to torment the--unfortunate man, and to worry my mother by your
[22150]     exaggerations of the affair; because the whole business is
[22151]     nonsense--simply a drunken freak, and nothing more, quite
[22152]     unproved by any evidence, and I don't believe that much of it!"
[22153]     (he snapped his fingers). "But you must needs spy and watch over
[22154]     us all, because you are a-a--"
[22155]     
[22156]     "Screw!" laughed Hippolyte.
[22157]     
[22158]     "Because you are a humbug, sir; and thought fit to worry people
[22159]     for half an hour, and tried to frighten them into believing that
[22160]     you would shoot yourself with your little empty pistol,
[22161]     pirouetting about and playing at suicide! I gave you hospitality,
[22162]     you have fattened on it, your cough has left you, and you repay
[22163]     all this--"
[22164]     
[22165]     "Excuse me--two words! I am Varvara Ardalionovna's guest, not
[22166]     yours; YOU have extended no hospitality to me. On the contrary,
[22167]     if I am not mistaken, I believe you are yourself indebted to Mr.
[22168]     Ptitsin's hospitality. Four days ago I begged my mother to come
[22169]     down here and find lodgings, because I certainly do feel better
[22170]     here, though I am not fat, nor have I ceased to cough. I am
[22171]     today informed that my room is ready for me; therefore, having
[22172]     thanked your sister and mother for their kindness to me, I intend
[22173]     to leave the house this evening. I beg your pardon--I interrupted
[22174]     you--I think you were about to add something?"
[22175]     
[22176]     "Oh--if that is the state of affairs--" began Gania.
[22177]     
[22178]     "Excuse me--I will take a seat," interrupted Hippolyte once more,
[22179]     sitting down deliberately; "for I am not strong yet. Now then, I
[22180]     am ready to hear you. Especially as this is the last chance we
[22181]     shall have of a talk, and very likely the last meeting we shall
[22182]     ever have at all."
[22183]     
[22184]     Gania felt a little guilty.
[22185]     
[22186]     "I assure you I did not mean to reckon up debits and credits," he
[22187]     began, "and if you--"
[22188]     
[22189]     "I don't understand your condescension," said Hippolyte. "As for
[22190]     me, I promised myself, on the first day of my arrival in this
[22191]     house, that I would have the satisfaction of settling accounts
[22192]     with you in a very thorough manner before I said good-bye to you.
[22193]     I intend to perform this operation now, if you like; after you,
[22194]     though, of course."
[22195]     
[22196]     "May I ask you to be so good as to leave this room?"
[22197]     
[22198]     "You'd better speak out. You'll be sorry afterwards if you
[22199]     don't."
[22200]     
[22201]     "Hippolyte, stop, please! It's so dreadfully undignified," said
[22202]     Varia.
[22203]     
[22204]     "Well, only for the sake of a lady," said Hippolyte, laughing. "I
[22205]     am ready to put off the reckoning, but only put it off, Varvara
[22206]     Ardalionovna, because an explanation between your brother and
[22207]     myself has become an absolute necessity, and I could not think of
[22208]     leaving the house without clearing up all misunderstandings
[22209]     first."
[22210]     
[22211]     "In a word, you are a wretched little scandal-monger," cried
[22212]     Gania, "and you cannot go away without a scandal!"
[22213]     
[22214]     "You see," said Hippolyte, coolly, " you can't restrain yourself.
[22215]     You'll be dreadfully sorry afterwards if you don't speak out now.
[22216]     Come, you shall have the first say. I'll wait."
[22217]     
[22218]     Gania was silent and merely looked contemptuously at him.
[22219]     
[22220]     "You won't? Very well. I shall be as short as possible, for my
[22221]     part. Two or three times to-day I have had the word 'hospitality'
[22222]     pushed down my throat; this is not fair. In inviting me here you
[22223]     yourself entrapped me for your own use; you thought I wished to
[22224]     revenge myself upon the prince. You heard that Aglaya Ivanovna
[22225]     had been kind to me and read my confession. Making sure that I
[22226]     should give myself up to your interests, you hoped that you might
[22227]     get some assistance out of me. I will not go into details. I
[22228]     don't ask either admission or confirmation of this from yourself;
[22229]     I am quite content to leave you to your conscience, and to feel
[22230]     that we understand one another capitally."
[22231]     
[22232]     "What a history you are weaving out of the most ordinary
[22233]     circumstances!" cried Varia.
[22234]     
[22235]     "I told you the fellow was nothing but a scandalmonger," said
[22236]     Gania.
[22237]     
[22238]     "Excuse me, Varia Ardalionovna, I will proceed. I can, of course,
[22239]     neither love nor respect the prince, though he is a good-hearted
[22240]     fellow, if a little queer. But there is no need whatever for me
[22241]     to hate him. I quite understood your brother when he first
[22242]     offered me aid against the prince, though I did not show it; I
[22243]     knew well that your brother was making a ridiculous mistake in
[22244]     me. I am ready to spare him, however, even now; but solely out of
[22245]     respect for yourself, Varvara Ardalionovna.
[22246]     
[22247]     "Having now shown you that I am not quite such a fool as I look,
[22248]     and that I have to be fished for with a rod and line for a good
[22249]     long while before I am caught, I will proceed to explain why I
[22250]     specially wished to make your brother look a fool. That my motive
[22251]     power is hate, I do not attempt to conceal. I have felt that
[22252]     before dying (and I am dying, however much fatter I may appear to
[22253]     you), I must absolutely make a fool of, at least, one of that
[22254]     class of men which has dogged me all my life, which I hate so
[22255]     cordially, and which is so prominently represented by your much
[22256]     esteemed brother. I should not enjoy paradise nearly so much
[22257]     without having done this first. I hate you, Gavrila
[22258]     Ardalionovitch, solely (this may seem curious to you, but I
[22259]     repeat)--solely because you are the type, and incarnation, and
[22260]     head, and crown of the most impudent, the most self-satisfied,
[22261]     the most vulgar and detestable form of commonplaceness. You are
[22262]     ordinary of the ordinary; you have no chance of ever fathering
[22263]     the pettiest idea of your own. And yet you are as jealous and
[22264]     conceited as you can possibly be; you consider yourself a great
[22265]     genius; of this you are persuaded, although there are dark
[22266]     moments of doubt and rage, when even this fact seems uncertain.
[22267]     There are spots of darkness on your horizon, though they will
[22268]     disappear when you become completely stupid. But a long and
[22269]     chequered path lies before you, and of this I am glad. In the
[22270]     first place you will never gain a certain person."
[22271]     
[22272]     "Come, come! This is intolerable! You had better stop, you little
[22273]     mischief-making wretch!" cried Varia. Gania had grown very pale;
[22274]     he trembled, but said nothing.
[22275]     
[22276]     Hippolyte paused, and looked at him intently and with great
[22277]     gratification. He then turned his gaze upon Varia, bowed, and
[22278]     went out, without adding another word.
[22279]     
[22280]     Gania might justly complain of the hardness with which fate
[22281]     treated him. Varia dared not speak to him for a long while, as he
[22282]     strode past her, backwards and forwards. At last he went and
[22283]     stood at the window, looking out, with his back turned towards
[22284]     her. There was a fearful row going on upstairs again.
[22285]     
[22286]     "Are you off?" said Gania, suddenly, remarking that she had risen
[22287]     and was about to leave the room. "Wait a moment--look at this."
[22288]     
[22289]     He approached the table and laid a small sheet of paper before
[22290]     her. It looked like a little note.
[22291]     
[22292]     "Good heavens!" cried Varia, raising her hands.
[22293]     
[22294]     This was the note:
[22295]     
[22296]     "GAVRILA ARDOLIONOVITCH,--persuaded of your kindness of heart, I
[22297]     have determined to ask your advice on a matter of great
[22298]     importance to myself. I should like to meet you tomorrow morning
[22299]     at seven o'clock by the green bench in the park. It is not far
[22300]     from our house. Varvara Ardalionovna, who must accompany you,
[22301]     knows the place well.
[22302]     
[22303]     "A. E."
[22304]     
[22305]     "What on earth is one to make of a girl like that?" said Varia.
[22306]     
[22307]     Gania, little as he felt inclined for swagger at this moment,
[22308]     could not avoid showing his triumph, especially just after such
[22309]     humiliating remarks as those of Hippolyte. A smile of self-
[22310]     satisfaction beamed on his face, and Varia too was brimming over
[22311]     with delight.
[22312]     
[22313]     "And this is the very day that they were to announce the
[22314]     engagement! What will she do next?"
[22315]     
[22316]     "What do you suppose she wants to talk about tomorrow?" asked
[22317]     Gania.
[22318]     
[22319]     "Oh, THAT'S all the same! The chief thing is that she wants to
[22320]     see you after six months' absence. Look here, Gania, this is a
[22321]     SERIOUS business. Don't swagger again and lose the game--play
[22322]     carefully, but don't funk, do you understand? As if she could
[22323]     possibly avoid seeing what I have been working for all this last
[22324]     six months! And just imagine, I was there this morning and not a
[22325]     word of this! I was there, you know, on the sly. The old lady did
[22326]     not know, or she would have kicked me out. I ran some risk for
[22327]     you, you see. I did so want to find out, at all hazards."
[22328]     
[22329]     Here there was a frantic noise upstairs once more; several people
[22330]     seemed to be rushing downstairs at once.
[22331]     
[22332]     "Now, Gania," cried Varia, frightened, "we can't let him go out!
[22333]     We can't afford to have a breath of scandal about the town at
[22334]     this moment. Run after him and beg his pardon--quick."
[22335]     
[22336]     But the father of the family was out in the road already. Colia
[22337]     was carrying his bag for him; Nina Alexandrovna stood and cried
[22338]     on the doorstep; she wanted to run after the general, but Ptitsin
[22339]     kept her back.
[22340]     
[22341]     "You will only excite him more," he said. "He has nowhere else to
[22342]     go to--he'll be back here in half an hour. I've talked it all
[22343]     over with Colia; let him play the fool a bit, it will do him
[22344]     good."
[22345]     
[22346]     "What are you up to? Where are you off to? You've nowhere to go
[22347]     to, you know," cried Gania, out of the window.
[22348]     
[22349]     "Come back, father; the neighbours will hear!" cried Varia.
[22350]     
[22351]     The general stopped, turned round, raised his hands and remarked:
[22352]     "My curse be upon this house!"
[22353]     
[22354]     "Which observation should always be made in as theatrical a tone
[22355]     as possible," muttered Gania, shutting the window with a bang.
[22356]     
[22357]     The neighbours undoubtedly did hear. Varia rushed out of the
[22358]     room.
[22359]     
[22360]     No sooner had his sister left him alone, than Gania took the note
[22361]     out of his pocket, kissed it, and pirouetted around.
[22362]     
[22363]     III.
[22364]     
[22365]     As a general rule, old General Ivolgin's paroxysms ended in
[22366]     smoke. He had before this experienced fits of sudden fury, but
[22367]     not very often, because he was really a man of peaceful and
[22368]     kindly disposition. He had tried hundreds of times to overcome
[22369]     the dissolute habits which he had contracted of late years. He
[22370]     would suddenly remember that he was "a father," would be
[22371]     reconciled with his wife, and shed genuine tears. His feeling for
[22372]     Nina Alexandrovna amounted almost to adoration; she had pardoned
[22373]     so much in silence, and loved him still in spite of the state of
[22374]     degradation into which he had fallen. But the general's struggles
[22375]     with his own weakness never lasted very long. He was, in his way,
[22376]     an impetuous man, and a quiet life of repentance in the bosom of
[22377]     his family soon became insupportable to him. In the end he
[22378]     rebelled, and flew into rages which he regretted, perhaps, even
[22379]     as he gave way to them, but which were beyond his control. He
[22380]     picked quarrels with everyone, began to hold forth eloquently,
[22381]     exacted unlimited respect, and at last disappeared from the
[22382]     house, and sometimes did not return for a long time. He had given
[22383]     up interfering in the affairs of his family for two years now,
[22384]     and knew nothing about them but what he gathered from hearsay.
[22385]     
[22386]     But on this occasion there was something more serious than usual.
[22387]     Everyone seemed to know something, but to be afraid to talk about
[22388]     it.
[22389]     
[22390]     The general had turned up in the bosom of his family two or three
[22391]     days before, but not, as usual, with the olive branch of peace in
[22392]     his hand, not in the garb of penitence--in which he was usually
[22393]     clad on such occasions--but, on the contrary, in an uncommonly
[22394]     bad temper. He had arrived in a quarrelsome mood, pitching into
[22395]     everyone he came across, and talking about all sorts and kinds of
[22396]     subjects in the most unexpected manner, so that it was impossible
[22397]     to discover what it was that was really putting him out. At
[22398]     moments he would be apparently quite bright and happy; but as a
[22399]     rule he would sit moody and thoughtful. He would abruptly
[22400]     commence to hold forth about the Epanchins, about Lebedeff, or
[22401]     the prince, and equally abruptly would stop short and refuse to
[22402]     speak another word, answering all further questions with a stupid
[22403]     smile, unconscious that he was smiling, or that he had been asked
[22404]     a question. The whole of the previous night he had spent tossing
[22405]     about and groaning, and poor Nina Alexandrovna had been busy
[22406]     making cold compresses and warm fomentations and so on, without
[22407]     being very clear how to apply them. He had fallen asleep after a
[22408]     while, but not for long, and had awaked in a state of violent
[22409]     hypochondria which had ended in his quarrel with Hippolyte, and
[22410]     the solemn cursing of Ptitsin's establishment generally. It was
[22411]     also observed during those two or three days that he was in a
[22412]     state of morbid self-esteem, and was specially touchy on all
[22413]     points of honour. Colia insisted, in discussing the matter with
[22414]     his mother, that all this was but the outcome of abstinence from
[22415]     drink, or perhaps of pining after Lebedeff, with whom up to this
[22416]     time the general had been upon terms of the greatest friendship;
[22417]     but with whom, for some reason or other, he had quarrelled a few
[22418]     days since, parting from him in great wrath. There had also been
[22419]     a scene with the prince. Colia had asked an explanation of the
[22420]     latter, but had been forced to conclude that he was not told the
[22421]     whole truth.
[22422]     
[22423]     If Hippolyte and Nina Alexandrovna had, as Gania suspected, had
[22424]     some special conversation about the general's actions, it was
[22425]     strange that the malicious youth, whom Gania had called a
[22426]     scandal-monger to his face, had not allowed himself a similar
[22427]     satisfaction with Colia.
[22428]     
[22429]     The fact is that probably Hippolyte was not quite so black as
[22430]     Gania painted him; and it was hardly likely that he had informed
[22431]     Nina Alexandrovna of certain events, of which we know, for the
[22432]     mere pleasure of giving her pain. We must never forget that human
[22433]     motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to
[22434]     suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the
[22435]     motives of another. It is much better for the writer, as a rule,
[22436]     to content himself with the bare statement of events; and we
[22437]     shall take this line with regard to the catastrophe recorded
[22438]     above, and shall state the remaining events connected with the
[22439]     general's trouble shortly, because we feel that we have already
[22440]     given to this secondary character in our story more attention
[22441]     than we originally intended.
[22442]     
[22443]     The course of events had marched in the following order. When
[22444]     Lebedeff returned, in company with the general, after their
[22445]     expedition to town a few days since, for the purpose of
[22446]     investigation, he brought the prince no information whatever. If
[22447]     the latter had not himself been occupied with other thoughts and
[22448]     impressions at the time, he must have observed that Lebedeff not
[22449]     only was very uncommunicative, but even appeared anxious to avoid
[22450]     him.
[22451]     
[22452]     When the prince did give the matter a little attention, he
[22453]     recalled the fact that during these days he had always found
[22454]     Lebedeff to be in radiantly good spirits, when they happened to
[22455]     meet; and further, that the general and Lebedeff were always
[22456]     together. The two friends did not seem ever to be parted for a
[22457]     moment.
[22458]     
[22459]     Occasionally the prince heard loud talking and laughing upstairs,
[22460]     and once he detected the sound of a jolly soldier's song going on
[22461]     above, and recognized the unmistakable bass of the general's
[22462]     voice. But the sudden outbreak of song did not last; and for an
[22463]     hour afterwards the animated sound of apparently drunken
[22464]     conversation continued to be heard from above. At length there
[22465]     was the clearest evidence of a grand mutual embracing, and
[22466]     someone burst into tears. Shortly after this, however, there was
[22467]     a violent but short-lived quarrel, with loud talking on both
[22468]     sides.
[22469]     
[22470]     All these days Colia had been in a state of great mental
[22471]     preoccupation. Muishkin was usually out all day, and only came
[22472]     home late at night. On his return he was invariably informed that
[22473]     Colia had been looking for him. However, when they did meet,
[22474]     Colia never had anything particular to tell him, excepting that
[22475]     he was highly dissatisfied with the general and his present
[22476]     condition of mind and behaviour.
[22477]     
[22478]     "They drag each other about the place," he said, and get drunk
[22479]     together at the pub close by here, and quarrel in the street
[22480]     on the way home, and embrace one another after it, and don't seem
[22481]     to part for a moment."
[22482]     
[22483]     When the prince pointed out that there was nothing new about
[22484]     that, for that they had always behaved in this manner together,
[22485]     Colia did not know what to say; in fact he could not explain what
[22486]     it was that specially worried him, just now, about his father.
[22487]     
[22488]     On the morning following the bacchanalian songs and quarrels
[22489]     recorded above, as the prince stepped out of the house at about
[22490]     eleven o'clock, the general suddenly appeared before him, much
[22491]     agitated.
[22492]     
[22493]     "I have long sought the honour and opportunity of meeting you--
[22494]     much-esteemed Lef Nicolaievitch," he murmured, pressing the
[22495]     prince's hand very hard, almost painfully so; "long--very long."
[22496]     
[22497]     The prince begged him to step in and sit down.
[22498]     
[22499]     "No--I will not sit down,--I am keeping you, I see,--another
[22500]     time!--I think I may be permitted to congratulate you upon the
[22501]     realization of your heart's best wishes, is it not so?"
[22502]     
[22503]     "What best wishes?"
[22504]     
[22505]     The prince blushed. He thought, as so many in his position do,
[22506]     that nobody had seen, heard, noticed, or understood anything.
[22507]     
[22508]     "Oh--be easy, sir, be easy! I shall not wound your tenderest
[22509]     feelings. I've been through it all myself, and I know well how
[22510]     unpleasant it is when an outsider sticks his nose in where he is
[22511]     not wanted. I experience this every morning. I came to speak to
[22512]     you about another matter, though, an important matter. A very
[22513]     important matter, prince."
[22514]     
[22515]     The latter requested him to take a seat once more, and sat down
[22516]     himself.
[22517]     
[22518]     "Well--just for one second, then. The fact is, I came for advice.
[22519]     Of course I live now without any very practical objects in life;
[22520]     but, being full of self-respect, in which quality the ordinary
[22521]     Russian is so deficient as a rule, and of activity, I am
[22522]     desirous, in a word, prince, of placing myself and my wife and
[22523]     children in a position of--in fact, I want advice."
[22524]     
[22525]     The prince commended his aspirations with warmth.
[22526]     
[22527]     "Quite so--quite so! But this is all mere nonsense. I came here
[22528]     to speak of something quite different, something very important,
[22529]     prince. And I have determined to come to you as to a man in whose
[22530]     sincerity and nobility of feeling I can trust like--like--are you
[22531]     surprised at my words, prince?"
[22532]     
[22533]     The prince was watching his guest, if not with much surprise, at
[22534]     all events with great attention and curiosity.
[22535]     
[22536]     The old man was very pale; every now and then his lips trembled,
[22537]     and his hands seemed unable to rest quietly, but continually
[22538]     moved from place to place. He had twice already jumped up from
[22539]     his chair and sat down again without being in the least aware of
[22540]     it. He would take up a hook from the table and open it--talking
[22541]     all the while,--look at the heading of a chapter, shut it and put
[22542]     it back again, seizing another immediately, but holding it
[22543]     unopened in his hand, and waving it in the air as he spoke.
[22544]     
[22545]     "But enough!" he cried, suddenly. "I see I have been boring you
[22546]     with my--"
[22547]     
[22548]     "Not in the least--not in the least, I assure you. On the
[22549]     contrary, I am listening most attentively, and am anxious to
[22550]     guess-"
[22551]     
[22552]     "Prince, I wish to place myself in a respectable position--I wish
[22553]     to esteem myself--and to--"
[22554]     
[22555]     "My dear sir, a man of such noble aspirations is worthy of all
[22556]     esteem by virtue of those aspirations alone."
[22557]     
[22558]     The prince brought out his "copy-book sentence" in the firm
[22559]     belief that it would produce a good effect. He felt instinctively
[22560]     that some such well-sounding humbug, brought out at the proper
[22561]     moment, would soothe the old man's feelings, and would be
[22562]     specially acceptable to such a man in such a position. At all
[22563]     hazards, his guest must be despatched with heart relieved and
[22564]     spirit comforted; that was the problem before the prince at this
[22565]     moment.
[22566]     
[22567]     The phrase flattered the general, touched him, and pleased him
[22568]     mightily. He immediately changed his tone, and started off on a
[22569]     long and solemn explanation. But listen as he would, the prince
[22570]     could make neither head nor tail of it.
[22571]     
[22572]     The general spoke hotly and quickly for ten minutes; he spoke as
[22573]     though his words could not keep pace with his crowding thoughts.
[22574]     Tears stood in his eyes, and yet his speech was nothing but a
[22575]     collection of disconnected sentences, without beginning and
[22576]     without end--a string of unexpected words and unexpected
[22577]     sentiments--colliding with one another, and jumping over one
[22578]     another, as they burst from his lips.
[22579]     
[22580]     "Enough!" he concluded at last, "you understand me, and that is
[22581]     the great thing. A heart like yours cannot help understanding the
[22582]     sufferings of another. Prince, you are the ideal of generosity;
[22583]     what are other men beside yourself? But you are young--accept my
[22584]     blessing! My principal object is to beg you to fix an hour for a
[22585]     most important conversation--that is my great hope, prince. My
[22586]     heart needs but a little friendship and sympathy, and yet I
[22587]     cannot always find means to satisfy it."
[22588]     
[22589]     "But why not now? I am ready to listen, and--"
[22590]     
[22591]     "No, no--prince, not now! Now is a dream! And it is too, too
[22592]     important! It is to be the hour of Fate to me--MY OWN hour. Our
[22593]     interview is not to be broken in upon by every chance comer,
[22594]     every impertinent guest--and there are plenty of such stupid,
[22595]     impertinent fellows"--(he bent over and whispered mysteriously,
[22596]     with a funny, frightened look on his face)--"who are unworthy to
[22597]     tie your shoe, prince. I don't say MINE, mind--you will
[22598]     understand me, prince. Only YOU understand me, prince--no one
[22599]     else. HE doesn't understand me, he is absolutely--ABSOLUTELY
[22600]     unable to sympathize. The first qualification for understanding
[22601]     another is Heart."
[22602]     
[22603]     The prince was rather alarmed at all this, and was obliged to end
[22604]     by appointing the same hour of the following day for the
[22605]     interview desired. The general left him much comforted and far
[22606]     less agitated than when he had arrived.
[22607]     
[22608]     At seven in the evening, the prince sent to request Lebedeff to
[22609]     pay him a visit. Lebedeff came at once, and "esteemed it an
[22610]     honour," as he observed, the instant he entered the room. He
[22611]     acted as though there had never been the slightest suspicion of
[22612]     the fact that he had systematically avoided the prince for the
[22613]     last three days.
[22614]     
[22615]     He sat down on the edge of his chair, smiling and making faces,
[22616]     and rubbing his hands, and looking as though he were in delighted
[22617]     expectation of hearing some important communication, which had
[22618]     been long guessed by all.
[22619]     
[22620]     The prince was instantly covered with confusion; for it appeared
[22621]     to be plain that everyone expected something of him--that
[22622]     everyone looked at him as though anxious to congratulate him, and
[22623]     greeted him with hints, and smiles, and knowing looks.
[22624]     
[22625]     Keller, for instance, had run into the house three times of late,
[22626]     "just for a moment," and each time with the air of desiring to
[22627]     offer his congratulations. Colia, too, in spite of his
[22628]     melancholy, had once or twice begun sentences in much the same
[22629]     strain of suggestion or insinuation.
[22630]     
[22631]     The prince, however, immediately began, with some show of
[22632]     annoyance, to question Lebedeff categorically, as to the
[22633]     general's present condition, and his opinion thereon. He
[22634]     described the morning's interview in a few words.
[22635]     
[22636]     "Everyone has his worries, prince, especially in these strange
[22637]     and troublous times of ours," Lebedeff replied, drily, and with
[22638]     the air of a man disappointed of his reasonable expectations.
[22639]     
[22640]     "Dear me, what a philosopher you are!" laughed the prince.
[22641]     
[22642]     Philosophy is necessary, sir--very necessary--in our day. It is
[22643]     too much neglected. As for me, much esteemed prince, I am
[22644]     sensible of having experienced the honour of your confidence in a
[22645]     certain matter up to a certain point, but never beyond that
[22646]     point. I do not for a moment complain--"
[22647]     
[22648]     "Lebedeff, you seem to be angry for some reason!" said the
[22649]     prince.
[22650]     
[22651]     "Not the least bit in the world, esteemed and revered prince! Not
[22652]     the least bit in the world!" cried Lebedeff, solemnly, with his
[22653]     hand upon his heart. "On the contrary, I am too painfully aware
[22654]     that neither by my position in the world, nor by my gifts of
[22655]     intellect and heart, nor by my riches, nor by any former conduct
[22656]     of mine, have I in any way deserved your confidence, which is far
[22657]     above my highest aspirations and hopes. Oh no, prince; I may
[22658]     serve you, but only as your humble slave! I am not angry, oh no!
[22659]     Not angry; pained perhaps, but nothing more.
[22660]     
[22661]     "My dear Lebedeff, I--"
[22662]     
[22663]     "Oh, nothing more, nothing more! I was saying to myself but now...
[22664]     'I am quite unworthy of friendly relations with him,' say I;
[22665]     'but perhaps as landlord of this house I may, at some future date,
[22666]     in his good time, receive information as to certain imminent and
[22667]     much to be desired changes--'"
[22668]     
[22669]     So saying Lebedeff fixed the prince with his sharp little eyes,
[22670]     still in hope that he would get his curiosity satisfied.
[22671]     
[22672]     The prince looked back at him in amazement.
[22673]     
[22674]     "I don't understand what you are driving at!" he cried, almost
[22675]     angrily, "and, and--what an intriguer you are, Lebedeff!" he
[22676]     added, bursting into a fit of genuine laughter.
[22677]     
[22678]     Lebedeff followed suit at once, and it was clear from his radiant
[22679]     face that he considered his prospects of satisfaction immensely
[22680]     improved.
[22681]     
[22682]     "And do you know," the prince continued, "I am amazed at your
[22683]     naive ways, Lebedeff! Don't he angry with me--not only yours,
[22684]     everybody else's also! You are waiting to hear something from me
[22685]     at this very moment with such simplicity that I declare I feel
[22686]     quite ashamed of myself for having nothing whatever to tell you.
[22687]     I swear to you solemnly, that there is nothing to tell. There!
[22688]     Can you take that in?" The prince laughed again.
[22689]     
[22690]     Lebedeff assumed an air of dignity. It was true enough that he
[22691]     was sometimes naive to a degree in his curiosity; but he was also
[22692]     an excessively cunning gentleman, and the prince was almost
[22693]     converting him into an enemy by his repeated rebuffs. The prince
[22694]     did not snub Lebedeff's curiosity, however, because he felt any
[22695]     contempt for him; but simply because the subject was too delicate
[22696]     to talk about. Only a few days before he had looked upon his own
[22697]     dreams almost as crimes. But Lebedeff considered the refusal as
[22698]     caused by personal dislike to himself, and was hurt accordingly.
[22699]     Indeed, there was at this moment a piece of news, most
[22700]     interesting to the prince, which Lebedeff knew and even had
[22701]     wished to tell him, but which he now kept obstinately to himself.
[22702]     
[22703]     "And what can I do for you, esteemed prince? Since I am told you
[22704]     sent for me just now," he said, after a few moments' silence.
[22705]     
[22706]     "Oh, it was about the general," began the prince, waking abruptly
[22707]     from the fit of musing which he too had indulged in "and-and
[22708]     about the theft you told me of."
[22709]     
[22710]     "That is--er--about--what theft?"
[22711]     
[22712]     "Oh come! just as if you didn't understand, Lukian Timofeyovitch!
[22713]     What are you up to? I can't make you out! The money, the money,
[22714]     sir! The four hundred roubles that you lost that day. You came
[22715]     and told me about it one morning, and then went off to
[22716]     Petersburg. There, NOW do you understand?"
[22717]     
[22718]     "Oh--h--h! You mean the four hundred roubles!" said Lebedeff,
[22719]     dragging the words out, just as though it had only just dawned
[22720]     upon him what the prince was talking about. "Thanks very much,
[22721]     prince, for your kind interest--you do me too much honour. I
[22722]     found the money, long ago!"
[22723]     
[22724]     "You found it? Thank God for that!"
[22725]     
[22726]     "Your exclamation proves the generous sympathy of your nature,
[22727]     prince; for four hundred roubles--to a struggling family man like
[22728]     myself--is no small matter!"
[22729]     
[22730]     "I didn't mean that; at least, of course, I'm glad for your sake,
[22731]     too," added the prince, correcting himself, " but--how did you
[22732]     find it?"
[22733]     
[22734]     "Very simply indeed! I found it under the chair upon which my
[22735]     coat had hung; so that it is clear the purse simply fell out of
[22736]     the pocket and on to the floor!"
[22737]     
[22738]     "Under the chair? Impossible! Why, you told me yourself that you
[22739]     had searched every corner of the room? How could you not have
[22740]     looked in the most likely place of all?"
[22741]     
[22742]     "Of course I looked there,--of course I did! Very much so! I
[22743]     looked and scrambled about, and felt for it, and wouldn't believe
[22744]     it was not there, and looked again and again. It is always so in
[22745]     such cases. One longs and expects to find a lost article; one
[22746]     sees it is not there, and the place is as hare as one's palm; and
[22747]     yet one returns and looks again and again, fifteen or twenty
[22748]     times, likely enough!"
[22749]     
[22750]     "Oh, quite so, of course. But how was it in your case?--I don't
[22751]     quite understand," said the bewildered prince. "You say it wasn't
[22752]     there at first, and that you searched the place thoroughly, and
[22753]     yet it turned up on that very spot!"
[22754]     
[22755]     "Yes, sir--on that very spot." The prince gazed strangely at
[22756]     Lebedeff. "And the general?" he asked, abruptly.
[22757]     
[22758]     "The--the general? How do you mean, the general?" said Lebedeff,
[22759]     dubiously, as though he had not taken in the drift of the
[22760]     prince's remark.
[22761]     
[22762]     "Oh, good heavens! I mean, what did the general say when the
[22763]     purse turned up under the chair? You and he had searched for it
[22764]     together there, hadn't you?"
[22765]     
[22766]     "Quite so--together! But the second time I thought better to say
[22767]     nothing about finding it. I found it alone."
[22768]     
[22769]     "But--why in the world--and the money? Was it all there?"
[22770]     
[22771]     "I opened the purse and counted it myself; right to a single
[22772]     rouble."
[22773]     
[22774]     "I think you might have come and told me," said the prince,
[22775]     thoughtfully.
[22776]     
[22777]     "Oh--I didn't like to disturb you, prince, in the midst of your
[22778]     private and doubtless most interesting personal reflections.
[22779]     Besides, I wanted to appear, myself, to have found nothing. I
[22780]     took the purse, and opened it, and counted the money, and shut it
[22781]     and put it down again under the chair."
[22782]     
[22783]     "What in the world for?"
[22784]     
[22785]     "Oh, just out of curiosity," said Lebedeff, rubbing his hands and
[22786]     sniggering.
[22787]     
[22788]     "What, it's still there then, is it? Ever since the day before
[22789]     yesterday?"
[22790]     
[22791]     "Oh no! You see, I was half in hopes the general might find it.
[22792]     Because if I found it, why should not he too observe an object
[22793]     lying before his very eyes? I moved the chair several times so as
[22794]     to expose the purse to view, but the general never saw it. He is
[22795]     very absent just now, evidently. He talks and laughs and tells
[22796]     stories, and suddenly flies into a rage with me, goodness knows
[22797]     why."
[22798]     
[22799]     "Well, but--have you taken the purse away now?"
[22800]     
[22801]     "No, it disappeared from under the chair in the night."
[22802]     
[22803]     "Where is it now, then?"
[22804]     
[22805]     "Here," laughed Lebedeff, at last, rising to his full height and
[22806]     looking pleasantly at the prince, "here, in the lining of my
[22807]     coat. Look, you can feel it for yourself, if you like!"
[22808]     
[22809]     Sure enough there was something sticking out of the front of the
[22810]     coat--something large. It certainly felt as though it might well
[22811]     be the purse fallen through a hole in the pocket into the lining.
[22812]     
[22813]     "I took it out and had a look at it; it's all right. I've let it
[22814]     slip back into the lining now, as you see, and so I have been
[22815]     walking about ever since yesterday morning; it knocks against my
[22816]     legs when I walk along."
[22817]     
[22818]     "H'm! and you take no notice of it?"
[22819]     
[22820]     "Quite so, I take no notice of it. Ha, ha! and think of this,
[22821]     prince, my pockets are always strong and whole, and yet, here in
[22822]     one night, is a huge hole. I know the phenomenon is unworthy of
[22823]     your notice; but such is the case. I examined the hole, and I
[22824]     declare it actually looks as though it had been made with a pen-
[22825]     knife, a most improbable contingency."
[22826]     
[22827]     "And--and--the general?"
[22828]     
[22829]     "Ah, very angry all day, sir; all yesterday and all today. He
[22830]     shows decided bacchanalian predilections at one time, and at
[22831]     another is tearful and sensitive, but at any moment he is liable
[22832]     to paroxysms of such rage that I assure you, prince, I am quite
[22833]     alarmed. I am not a military man, you know. Yesterday we were
[22834]     sitting together in the tavern, and the lining of my coat was--
[22835]     quite accidentally, of course--sticking out right in front. The
[22836]     general squinted at it, and flew into a rage. He never looks me
[22837]     quite in the face now, unless he is very drunk or maudlin; but
[22838]     yesterday he looked at me in such a way that a shiver went all
[22839]     down my back. I intend to find the purse tomorrow; but till then
[22840]     I am going to have another night of it with him."
[22841]     
[22842]     "What's the good of tormenting him like this?" cried the prince.
[22843]     
[22844]     "I don't torment him, prince, I don't indeed!" cried Lebedeff,
[22845]     hotly. "I love him, my dear sir, I esteem him; and believe it or
[22846]     not, I love him all the better for this business, yes--and value
[22847]     him more."
[22848]     
[22849]     Lebedeff said this so seriously that the prince quite lost his
[22850]     temper with him.
[22851]     
[22852]     "Nonsense! love him and torment him so! Why, by the very fact
[22853]     that he put the purse prominently before you, first under the
[22854]     chair and then in your lining, he shows that he does not wish to
[22855]     deceive you, but is anxious to beg your forgiveness in this
[22856]     artless way. Do you hear? He is asking your pardon. He confides
[22857]     in the delicacy of your feelings, and in your friendship for him.
[22858]     And you can allow yourself to humiliate so thoroughly honest a
[22859]     man!"
[22860]     
[22861]     "Thoroughly honest, quite so, prince, thoroughly honest!" said
[22862]     Lebedeff, with flashing eyes. "And only you, prince, could have
[22863]     found so very appropriate an expression. I honour you for it,
[22864]     prince. Very well, that's settled; I shall find the purse now and
[22865]     not tomorrow. Here, I find it and take it out before your eyes!
[22866]     And the money is all right. Take it, prince, and keep it till
[22867]     tomorrow, will you? Tomorrow or next day I'll take it back again.
[22868]     I think, prince, that the night after its disappearance it was
[22869]     buried under a bush in the garden. So I believe--what do you
[22870]     think of that?"
[22871]     
[22872]     "Well, take care you don't tell him to his face that you have
[22873]     found the purse. Simply let him see that it is no longer in the
[22874]     lining of your coat, and form his own conclusions."
[22875]     
[22876]     "Do you think so? Had I not just better tell him I have found it,
[22877]     and pretend I never guessed where it was?"
[22878]     
[22879]     "No, I don't think so," said the prince, thoughtfully; "it's too
[22880]     late for that--that would be dangerous now. No, no! Better say
[22881]     nothing about it. Be nice with him, you know, but don't show him
[22882]     --oh, YOU know well enough--"
[22883]     
[22884]     "I know, prince, of course I know, but I'm afraid I shall not
[22885]     carry it out; for to do so one needs a heart like your own. He is
[22886]     so very irritable just now, and so proud. At one moment he will
[22887]     embrace me, and the next he flies out at me and sneers at me, and
[22888]     then I stick the lining forward on purpose. Well, au revoir,
[22889]     prince, I see I am keeping you, and boring you, too, interfering
[22890]     with your most interesting private reflections."
[22891]     
[22892]     "Now, do be careful! Secrecy, as before!"
[22893]     
[22894]     "Oh, silence isn't the word! Softly, softly!"
[22895]     
[22896]     But in spite of this conclusion to the episode, the prince
[22897]     remained as puzzled as ever, if not more so. He awaited next
[22898]     morning's interview with the general most impatiently.
[22899]     
[22900]     IV.
[22901]     
[22902]     THE time appointed was twelve o'clock, and the prince, returning
[22903]     home unexpectedly late, found the general waiting for him. At the
[22904]     first glance, he saw that the latter was displeased, perhaps
[22905]     because he had been kept waiting. The prince apologized, and
[22906]     quickly took a seat. He seemed strangely timid before the general
[22907]     this morning, for some reason, and felt as though his visitor
[22908]     were some piece of china which he was afraid of breaking.
[22909]     
[22910]     On scrutinizing him, the prince soon saw that the general was
[22911]     quite a different man from what he had been the day before; he
[22912]     looked like one who had come to some momentous resolve. His
[22913]     calmness, however, was more apparent than real. He was courteous,
[22914]     but there was a suggestion of injured innocence in his manner.
[22915]     
[22916]     "I've brought your book back," he began, indicating a book lying
[22917]     on the table. "Much obliged to you for lending it to me."
[22918]     
[22919]     "Ah, yes. Well, did you read it, general? It's curious, isn't
[22920]     it?" said the prince, delighted to be able to open up
[22921]     conversation upon an outside subject.
[22922]     
[22923]     "Curious enough, yes, but crude, and of course dreadful nonsense;
[22924]     probably the man lies in every other sentence."
[22925]     
[22926]     The general spoke with considerable confidence, and dragged his
[22927]     words out with a conceited drawl.
[22928]     
[22929]     "Oh, but it's only the simple tale of an old soldier who saw the
[22930]     French enter Moscow. Some of his remarks were wonderfully
[22931]     interesting. Remarks of an eye-witness are always valuable,
[22932]     whoever he be, don't you think so
[22933]     
[22934]     "Had I been the publisher I should not have printed it. As to the
[22935]     evidence of eye-witnesses, in these days people prefer impudent
[22936]     lies to the stories of men of worth and long service. I know of
[22937]     some notes of the year 1812, which--I have determined, prince, to
[22938]     leave this house, Mr. Lebedeff's house."
[22939]     
[22940]     The general looked significantly at his host.
[22941]     
[22942]     "Of course you have your own lodging at Pavlofsk at--at your
[22943]     daughter's house," began the prince, quite at a loss what to say.
[22944]     He suddenly recollected that the general had come for advice on a
[22945]     most important matter, affecting his destiny.
[22946]     
[22947]     "At my wife's; in other words, at my own place, my daughter's
[22948]     house."
[22949]     
[22950]     "I beg your pardon, I--"
[22951]     
[22952]     "I leave Lebedeff's house, my dear prince, because I have
[22953]     quarrelled with this person. I broke with him last night, and am
[22954]     very sorry that I did not do so before. I expect respect, prince,
[22955]     even from those to whom I give my heart, so to speak. Prince, I
[22956]     have often given away my heart, and am nearly always deceived.
[22957]     This person was quite unworthy of the gift."
[22958]     
[22959]     "There is much that might be improved in him," said the prince,
[22960]     moderately, "but he has some qualities which--though amid them
[22961]     one cannot but discern a cunning nature--reveal what is often a
[22962]     diverting intellect."
[22963]     
[22964]     The prince's tone was so natural and respectful that the general
[22965]     could not possibly suspect him of any insincerity.
[22966]     
[22967]     "Oh, that he possesses good traits, I was the first to show, when
[22968]     I very nearly made him a present of my friendship. I am not
[22969]     dependent upon his hospitality, and upon his house; I have my own
[22970]     family. I do not attempt to justify my own weakness. I have drunk
[22971]     with this man, and perhaps I deplore the fact now, but I did not
[22972]     take him up for the sake of drink alone (excuse the crudeness of
[22973]     the expression, prince); I did not make friends with him for that
[22974]     alone. I was attracted by his good qualities; but when the fellow
[22975]     declares that he was a child in 1812, and had his left leg cut
[22976]     off, and buried in the Vagarkoff cemetery, in Moscow, such a
[22977]     cock-and-bull story amounts to disrespect, my dear sir, to--to
[22978]     impudent exaggeration."
[22979]     
[22980]     "Oh, he was very likely joking; he said it for fun."
[22981]     
[22982]     "I quite understand you. You mean that an innocent lie for the
[22983]     sake of a good joke is harmless, and does not offend the human
[22984]     heart. Some people lie, if you like to put it so, out of pure
[22985]     friendship, in order to amuse their fellows; but when a man makes
[22986]     use of extravagance in order to show his disrespect and to make
[22987]     clear how the intimacy bores him, it is time for a man of honour
[22988]     to break off the said intimacy., and to teach the offender his
[22989]     place."
[22990]     
[22991]     The general flushed with indignation as he spoke.
[22992]     
[22993]     "Oh, but Lebedeff cannot have been in Moscow in 1812. He is much
[22994]     too young; it is all nonsense."
[22995]     
[22996]     "Very well, but even if we admit that he was alive in 1812, can
[22997]     one believe that a French chasseur pointed a cannon at him for a
[22998]     lark, and shot his left leg off? He says he picked his own leg up
[22999]     and took it away and buried it in the cemetery. He swore he had a
[23000]     stone put up over it with the inscription: 'Here lies the leg of
[23001]     Collegiate Secretary Lebedeff,' and on the other side, 'Rest,
[23002]     beloved ashes, till the morn of joy,' and that he has a service
[23003]     read over it every year (which is simply sacrilege), and goes to
[23004]     Moscow once a year on purpose. He invites me to Moscow in order
[23005]     to prove his assertion, and show me his leg's tomb, and the very
[23006]     cannon that shot him; he says it's the eleventh from the gate of
[23007]     the Kremlin, an old-fashioned falconet taken from the French
[23008]     afterwards."
[23009]     
[23010]     "And, meanwhile both his legs are still on his body," said the
[23011]     prince, laughing. "I assure you, it is only an innocent joke, and
[23012]     you need not be angry about it."
[23013]     
[23014]     "Excuse me--wait a minute--he says that the leg we see is a
[23015]     wooden one, made by Tchernosvitoff."
[23016]     
[23017]     "They do say one can dance with those!"
[23018]     
[23019]     "Quite so, quite so; and he swears that his wife never found out
[23020]     that one of his legs was wooden all the while they were married.
[23021]     When I showed him the ridiculousness of all this, he said, 'Well,
[23022]     if you were one of Napoleon's pages in 1812, you might let me
[23023]     bury my leg in the Moscow cemetery.'
[23024]     
[23025]     "Why, did you say--" began the prince, and paused in confusion.
[23026]     
[23027]     The general gazed at his host disdainfully.
[23028]     
[23029]     "Oh, go on," he said, "finish your sentence, by all means. Say
[23030]     how odd it appears to you that a man fallen to such a depth of
[23031]     humiliation as I, can ever have been the actual eye-witness of
[23032]     great events. Go on, I don't mind! Has he found time to tell you
[23033]     scandal about me?"
[23034]     
[23035]     "No, I've heard nothing of this from Lebedeff, if you mean
[23036]     Lebedeff."
[23037]     
[23038]     "H'm; I thought differently. You see, we were talking over this
[23039]     period of history. I was criticizing a current report of
[23040]     something which then happened, and having been myself an eye-
[23041]     witness of the occurrence--you are smiling, prince--you are
[23042]     looking at my face as if--"
[23043]     
[23044]     "Oh no! not at all--I--"
[23045]     
[23046]     "I am rather young-looking, I know; but I am actually older than
[23047]     I appear to be. I was ten or eleven in the year 1812. I don't
[23048]     know my age exactly, but it has always been a weakness of mine to
[23049]     make it out less than it really is.
[23050]     
[23051]     "I assure you, general, I do not in the least doubt your
[23052]     statement. One of our living autobiographers states that when he
[23053]     was a small baby in Moscow in 1812 the French soldiers fed him
[23054]     with bread."
[23055]     
[23056]     "Well, there you see!" said the general, condescendingly. "There
[23057]     is nothing whatever unusual about my tale. Truth very often
[23058]     appears to be impossible. I was a page--it sounds strange, I dare
[23059]     say. Had I been fifteen years old I should probably have been
[23060]     terribly frightened when the French arrived, as my mother was
[23061]     (who had been too slow about clearing out of Moscow); but as I
[23062]     was only just ten I was not in the least alarmed, and rushed
[23063]     through the crowd to the very door of the palace when Napoleon
[23064]     alighted from his horse."
[23065]     
[23066]     "Undoubtedly, at ten years old you would not have felt the sense
[23067]     of fear, as you say," blurted out the prince, horribly
[23068]     uncomfortable in the sensation that he was just about to blush.
[23069]     
[23070]     "Of course; and it all happened so easily and naturally. And yet,
[23071]     were a novelist to describe the episode, he would put in all
[23072]     kinds of impossible and incredible details."
[23073]     
[23074]     "Oh," cried the prince, "I have often thought that! Why, I know
[23075]     of a murder, for the sake of a watch. It's in all the papers now.
[23076]     But if some writer had invented it, all the critics would have
[23077]     jumped down his throat and said the thing was too improbable for
[23078]     anything. And yet you read it in the paper, and you can't help
[23079]     thinking that out of these strange disclosures is to be gained
[23080]     the full knowledge of Russian life and character. You said that
[23081]     well, general; it is so true," concluded the prince, warmly,
[23082]     delighted to have found a refuge from the fiery blushes which had
[23083]     covered his face.
[23084]     
[23085]     "Yes, it's quite true, isn't it?" cried the general, his eyes
[23086]     sparkling with gratification. "A small boy, a child, would
[23087]     naturally realize no danger; he would shove his way through the
[23088]     crowds to see the shine and glitter of the uniforms, and
[23089]     especially the great man of whom everyone was speaking, for at
[23090]     that time all the world had been talking of no one but this man
[23091]     for some years past. The world was full of his name; I--so to
[23092]     speak--drew it in with my mother's milk. Napoleon, passing a
[23093]     couple of paces from me, caught sight of me accidentally. I was
[23094]     very well dressed, and being all alone, in that crowd, as you
[23095]     will easily imagine...
[23096]     
[23097]     "Oh, of course! Naturally the sight impressed him, and proved to
[23098]     him that not ALL the aristocracy had left Moscow; that at least
[23099]     some nobles and their children had remained behind."
[23100]     
[23101]     Just so just so! He wanted to win over the aristocracy! When his
[23102]     eagle eye fell on me, mine probably flashed back in response.'
[23103]     Voila un garcon bien eveille! Qui est ton pere?' I immediately
[23104]     replied, almost panting with excitement, 'A general, who died on
[23105]     the battle-fields of his country! "Le fils d'un boyard et d'un
[23106]     brave, pardessus le marche. J'aime les boyards. M'aimes-tu,
[23107]     petit?' To this keen question I replied as keenly, 'The Russian
[23108]     heart can recognize a great man even in the bitter enemy of his
[23109]     country.' At least, I don't remember the exact words, you know,
[23110]     but the idea was as I say. Napoleon was struck; he thought a
[23111]     minute and then said to his suite: 'I like that boy's pride; if
[23112]     all Russians think like this child', then he didn't finish, hut
[23113]     went on and entered the palace. I instantly mixed with his suite,
[23114]     and followed him. I was already in high favour. I remember when
[23115]     he came into the first hall, the emperor stopped before a
[23116]     portrait of the Empress Katherine, and after a thoughtful glance
[23117]     remarked, 'That was a great woman,' and passed on.
[23118]     
[23119]     "Well, in a couple of days I was known all over the palace and
[23120]     the Kremlin as 'le petit boyard.' I only went home to sleep. They
[23121]     were nearly out of their minds about me at home. A couple of days
[23122]     after this, Napoleon's page, De Bazancour, died; he had not been
[23123]     able to stand the trials of the campaign. Napoleon remembered me;
[23124]     I was taken away without explanation; the dead page's uniform was
[23125]     tried on me, and when I was taken before the emperor, dressed in
[23126]     it, he nodded his head to me, and I was told that I was appointed
[23127]     to the vacant post of page.
[23128]     
[23129]     "Well, I was glad enough, for I had long felt the greatest
[23130]     sympathy for this man; and then the pretty uniform and all that--
[23131]     only a child, you know--and so on. It was a dark green dress coat
[23132]     with gold buttons--red facings, white trousers, and a white silk
[23133]     waistcoat--silk stockings, shoes with buckles, and top-boots if I
[23134]     were riding out with his majesty or with the suite.
[23135]     
[23136]     "Though the position of all of us at that time was not
[23137]     particularly brilliant, and the poverty was dreadful all round,
[23138]     yet the etiquette at court was strictly preserved, and the more
[23139]     strictly in proportion to the growth of the forebodings of
[23140]     disaster."
[23141]     
[23142]     "Quite so, quite so, of course!" murmured the poor prince, who
[23143]     didn't know where to look. "Your memoirs would be most
[23144]     interesting."
[23145]     
[23146]     The general was, of course, repeating what he had told Lebedeff
[23147]     the night before, and thus brought it out glibly enough, but here
[23148]     he looked suspiciously at the prince out of the corners of his
[23149]     eyes.
[23150]     
[23151]     "My memoirs!" he began, with redoubled pride and dignity. "Write
[23152]     my memoirs? The idea has not tempted me. And yet, if you please,
[23153]     my memoirs have long been written, but they shall not see the
[23154]     light until dust returns to dust. Then, I doubt not, they will be
[23155]     translated into all languages, not of course on account of their
[23156]     actual literary merit, but because of the great events of which I
[23157]     was the actual witness, though but a child at the time. As a
[23158]     child, I was able to penetrate into the secrecy of the great
[23159]     man's private room. At nights I have heard the groans and
[23160]     wailings of this 'giant in distress.' He could feel no shame in
[23161]     weeping before such a mere child as I was, though I understood
[23162]     even then that the reason for his suffering was the silence of
[23163]     the Emperor Alexander."
[23164]     
[23165]     "Yes, of course; he had written letters to the latter with
[23166]     proposals of peace, had he not?" put in the prince.
[23167]     
[23168]     "We did not know the details of his proposals, but he wrote
[23169]     letter after letter, all day and every day. He was dreadfully
[23170]     agitated. Sometimes at night I would throw myself upon his breast
[23171]     with tears (Oh, how I loved that man!). 'Ask forgiveness, Oh, ask
[23172]     forgiveness of the Emperor Alexander!' I would cry. I should have
[23173]     said, of course, 'Make peace with Alexander,' but as a child I
[23174]     expressed my idea in the naive way recorded. 'Oh, my child,' he
[23175]     would say (he loved to talk to me and seemed to forget my tender
[23176]     years), 'Oh, my child, I am ready to kiss Alexander's feet, but I
[23177]     hate and abominate the King of Prussia and the Austrian Emperor,
[23178]     and--and--but you know nothing of politics, my child.' He would
[23179]     pull up, remembering whom he was speaking to, but his eyes would
[23180]     sparkle for a long while after this. Well now, if I were to
[23181]     describe all this, and I have seen greater events than these, all
[23182]     these critical gentlemen of the press and political parties--Oh,
[23183]     no thanks! I'm their very humble servant, but no thanks!"
[23184]     
[23185]     "Quite so--parties--you are very right," said the prince. "I was
[23186]     reading a book about Napoleon and the Waterloo campaign only the
[23187]     other day, by Charasse, in which the author does not attempt to
[23188]     conceal his joy at Napoleon's discomfiture at every page. Well
[23189]     now, I don't like that; it smells of 'party,' you know. You are
[23190]     quite right. And were you much occupied with your service under
[23191]     Napoleon?"
[23192]     
[23193]     The general was in ecstasies, for the prince's remarks, made, as
[23194]     they evidently were, in all seriousness and simplicity, quite
[23195]     dissipated the last relics of his suspicion.
[23196]     
[23197]     "I know Charasse's book! Oh! I was so angry with his work! I
[23198]     wrote to him and said--I forget what, at this moment. You ask
[23199]     whether I was very busy under the Emperor? Oh no! I was called
[23200]     'page,' but hardly took my duty seriously. Besides, Napoleon very
[23201]     soon lost hope of conciliating the Russians, and he would have
[23202]     forgotten all about me had he not loved me--for personal reasons--
[23203]     I don't mind saying so now. My heart was greatly drawn to him,
[23204]     too. My duties were light. I merely had to be at the palace
[23205]     occasionally to escort the Emperor out riding, and that was about
[23206]     all. I rode very fairly well. He used to have a ride before
[23207]     dinner, and his suite on those occasions were generally Davoust,
[23208]     myself, and Roustan."
[23209]     
[23210]     "Constant?" said the prince, suddenly, and quite involuntarily.
[23211]     
[23212]     "No; Constant was away then, taking a letter to the Empress
[23213]     Josephine. Instead of him there were always a couple of
[23214]     orderlies--and that was all, excepting, of course, the generals
[23215]     and marshals whom Napoleon always took with him for the
[23216]     inspection of various localities, and for the sake of
[23217]     consultation generally. I remember there was one--Davoust--nearly
[23218]     always with him--a big man with spectacles. They used to argue
[23219]     and quarrel sometimes. Once they were in the Emperor's study
[23220]     together--just those two and myself--I was unobserved--and they
[23221]     argued, and the Emperor seemed to be agreeing to something under
[23222]     protest. Suddenly his eye fell on me and an idea seemed to flash
[23223]     across him.
[23224]     
[23225]     "'Child,' he said, abruptly. 'If I were to recognize the Russian
[23226]     orthodox religion and emancipate the serfs, do you think Russia
[23227]     would come over to me?'"
[23228]     
[23229]     "'Never!' I cried, indignantly."
[23230]     
[23231]     "The Emperor was much struck."
[23232]     
[23233]     "'In the flashing eyes of this patriotic child I read and accept
[23234]     the fiat of the Russian people. Enough, Davoust, it is mere
[23235]     phantasy on our part. Come, let's hear your other project.'"
[23236]     
[23237]     "'Yes, but that was a great idea," said the prince, clearly
[23238]     interested. "You ascribe it to Davoust, do you?"
[23239]     
[23240]     "Well, at all events, they were consulting together at the time.
[23241]     Of course it was the idea of an eagle, and must have originated
[23242]     with Napoleon; but the other project was good too--it was the
[23243]     'Conseil du lion!' as Napoleon called it. This project consisted
[23244]     in a proposal to occupy the Kremlin with the whole army; to arm
[23245]     and fortify it scientifically, to kill as many horses as could be
[23246]     got, and salt their flesh, and spend the winter there; and in
[23247]     spring to fight their way out. Napoleon liked the idea--it
[23248]     attracted him. We rode round the Kremlin walls every day, and
[23249]     Napoleon used to give orders where they were to be patched, where
[23250]     built up, where pulled down and so on. All was decided at last.
[23251]     They were alone together--those two and myself.
[23252]     
[23253]     "Napoleon was walking up and down with folded arms. I could not
[23254]     take my eyes off his face--my heart beat loudly and painfully.
[23255]     
[23256]     "'I'm off,' said Davoust. 'Where to?' asked Napoleon.
[23257]     
[23258]     "'To salt horse-flesh,' said Davoust. Napoleon shuddered--his
[23259]     fate was being decided.
[23260]     
[23261]     "'Child,' he addressed me suddenly, 'what do you think of our
[23262]     plan?' Of course he only applied to me as a sort of toss-up, you
[23263]     know. I turned to Davoust and addressed my reply to him. I said,
[23264]     as though inspired:
[23265]     
[23266]     "'Escape, general! Go home!--'
[23267]     
[23268]     "The project was abandoned; Davoust shrugged his shoulders and
[23269]     went out, whispering to himself--'Bah, il devient superstitieux!'
[23270]     Next morning the order to retreat was given."
[23271]     
[23272]     "All this is most interesting," said the prince, very softly, "if
[23273]     it really was so--that is, I mean--" he hastened to correct
[23274]     himself.
[23275]     
[23276]     "Oh, my dear prince," cried the general, who was now so
[23277]     intoxicated with his own narrative that he probably could not
[23278]     have pulled up at the most patent indiscretion.
[23279]     
[23280]     "You say, if it really was so!' There was more--much more, I
[23281]     assure you! These are merely a few little political acts. I tell
[23282]     you I was the eye-witness of the nightly sorrow and groanings of
[23283]     the great man, and of that no one can speak but myself. Towards
[23284]     the end he wept no more, though he continued to emit an
[23285]     occasional groan; but his face grew more overcast day by day, as
[23286]     though Eternity were wrapping its gloomy mantle about him.
[23287]     Occasionally we passed whole hours of silence together at night,
[23288]     Roustan snoring in the next room--that fellow slept like a pig.
[23289]     'But he's loyal to me and my dynasty,' said Napoleon of him.
[23290]     
[23291]     "Sometimes it was very painful to me, and once he caught me with
[23292]     tears in my eyes. He looked at me kindly. 'You are sorry for me,'
[23293]     he said, 'you, my child, and perhaps one other child--my son,
[23294]     the King of Rome--may grieve for me. All the rest hate me; and my
[23295]     brothers are the first to betray me in misfortune.' I sobbed and
[23296]     threw myself into his arms. He could not resist me--he burst into
[23297]     tears, and our tears mingled as we folded each other in a close
[23298]     embrace.
[23299]     
[23300]     "'Write, oh, write a letter to the Empress Josephine!' I cried,
[23301]     sobbing. Napoleon started, reflected, and said, 'You remind me of
[23302]     a third heart which loves me. Thank you, my friend;' and then and
[23303]     there he sat down and wrote that letter to Josephine, with which
[23304]     Constant was sent off next day."
[23305]     
[23306]     "You did a good action," said the prince, "for in the midst of
[23307]     his angry feelings you insinuated a kind thought into his heart."
[23308]     
[23309]     "Just so, prince, just so. How well you bring out that fact!
[23310]     Because your own heart is good!" cried the ecstatic old
[23311]     gentleman, and, strangely enough, real tears glistened in his
[23312]     eyes." Yes, prince, it was a wonderful spectacle. And, do you
[23313]     know, I all but went off to Paris, and should assuredly have
[23314]     shared his solitary exile with him; but, alas, our destinies were
[23315]     otherwise ordered! We parted, he to his island, where I am sure
[23316]     he thought of the weeping child who had embraced him so
[23317]     affectionately at parting in Moscow; and I was sent off to the
[23318]     cadet corps, where I found nothing but roughness and harsh
[23319]     discipline. Alas, my happy days were done!
[23320]     
[23321]     "'I do not wish to deprive your mother of you, and, therefore, I
[23322]     will not ask you to go with me,' he said, the morning of his
[23323]     departure, 'but I should like to do something for you.' He was
[23324]     mounting his horse as he spoke. 'Write something in my sister's
[23325]     album for me,' I said rather timidly, for he was in a state of
[23326]     great dejection at the moment. He turned, called for a pen, took
[23327]     the album. 'How old is your sister?' he asked, holding the pen in
[23328]     his hand. 'Three years old,' I said. 'Ah, petite fille alors!'
[23329]     and he wrote in the album:
[23330]     
[23331]     'Ne mentes jamais!
[23332]     NAPOLEON (votre ami sincere).'
[23333]     
[23334]     "Such advice, and at such a moment, you must allow, prince, was--"
[23335]     
[23336]     "Yes, quite so; very remarkable."
[23337]     
[23338]     "This page of the album, framed in gold, hung on the wall of my
[23339]     sister's drawing-room all her life, in the most conspicuous place,
[23340]     till the day of her death; where it is now, I really don't know.
[23341]     Heavens! it's two o'clock! HOW I have kept you, prince! It is
[23342]     really most unpardonable of me.
[23343]     
[23344]     The general rose.
[23345]     
[23346]     "Oh, not in the least," said the prince. " On the contrary, I
[23347]     have been so much interested, I'm really very much obliged to
[23348]     you."
[23349]     
[23350]     "Prince,", said the general, pressing his hand, and looking at
[23351]     him with flashing eyes, and an expression as though he were under
[23352]     the influence of a sudden thought which had come upon him with
[23353]     stunning force. "Prince, you are so kind, so simple-minded, that
[23354]     sometimes I really feel sorry for you! I gaze at you with a
[23355]     feeling of real affection. Oh, Heaven bless you! May your life
[23356]     blossom and fructify in love. Mine is over. Forgive me, forgive
[23357]     me!"
[23358]     
[23359]     He left the room quickly, covering his face with his hands.
[23360]     
[23361]     The prince could not doubt the sincerity of his agitation. He
[23362]     understood, too, that the old man had left the room intoxicated
[23363]     with his own success. The general belonged to that class of
[23364]     liars, who, in spite of their transports of lying, invariably
[23365]     suspect that they are not believed. On this occasion, when he
[23366]     recovered from his exaltation, he would probably suspect Muishkin
[23367]     of pitying him, and feel insulted.
[23368]     
[23369]     "Have I been acting rightly in allowing him to develop such vast
[23370]     resources of imagination?" the prince asked himself. But his
[23371]     answer was a fit of violent laughter which lasted ten whole
[23372]     minutes. He tried to reproach himself for the laughing fit, but
[23373]     eventually concluded that he needn't do so, since in spite of it
[23374]     he was truly sorry for the old man. The same evening he received
[23375]     a strange letter, short but decided. The general informed him
[23376]     that they must part for ever; that he was grateful, but that even
[23377]     from him he could not accept "signs of sympathy which were
[23378]     humiliating to the dignity of a man already miserable enough."
[23379]     
[23380]     When the prince heard that the old man had gone to Nina
[23381]     Alexandrovna, though, he felt almost easy on his account.
[23382]     
[23383]     We have seen, however, that the general paid a visit to Lizabetha
[23384]     Prokofievna and caused trouble there, the final upshot being that
[23385]     he frightened Mrs. Epanchin, and angered her by bitter hints as
[23386]     to his son Gania.
[23387]     
[23388]     He had been turned out in disgrace, eventually, and this was the
[23389]     cause of his bad night and quarrelsome day, which ended in his
[23390]     sudden departure into the street in a condition approaching
[23391]     insanity, as recorded before.
[23392]     
[23393]     Colia did not understand the position. He tried severity with his
[23394]     father, as they stood in the street after the latter had cursed
[23395]     the household, hoping to bring him round that way.
[23396]     
[23397]     "Well, where are we to go to now, father?" he asked. "You don't
[23398]     want to go to the prince's; you have quarrelled with Lebedeff;
[23399]     you have no money; I never have any; and here we are in the
[23400]     middle of the road, in a nice sort of mess."
[23401]     
[23402]     "Better to be of a mess than in a mess! I remember making a joke
[23403]     something like that at the mess in eighteen hundred and forty--
[23404]     forty--I forget. 'Where is my youth, where is my golden youth?'
[23405]     Who was it said that, Colia?"
[23406]     
[23407]     "It was Gogol, in Dead Souls, father," cried Colia, glancing at
[23408]     him in some alarm.
[23409]     
[23410]     "'Dead Souls,' yes, of course, dead. When I die, Colia, you must
[23411]     engrave on my tomb:
[23412]     
[23413]     "'Here lies a Dead Soul,
[23414]     Shame pursues me.'
[23415]     
[23416]     "Who said that, Colia?"
[23417]     
[23418]     "I don't know, father."
[23419]     
[23420]     "There was no Eropegoff? Eroshka Eropegoff?" he cried, suddenly,
[23421]     stopping in the road in a frenzy. "No Eropegoff! And my own son
[23422]     to say it! Eropegoff was in the place of a brother to me for
[23423]     eleven months. I fought a duel for him. He was married
[23424]     afterwards, and then killed on the field of battle. The bullet
[23425]     struck the cross on my breast and glanced off straight into his
[23426]     temple. 'I'll never forget you,' he cried, and expired. I served
[23427]     my country well and honestly, Colia, but shame, shame has pursued
[23428]     me! You and Nina will come to my grave, Colia; poor Nina, I
[23429]     always used to call her Nina in the old days, and how she
[23430]     loved.... Nina, Nina, oh, Nina. What have I ever done to deserve
[23431]     your forgiveness and long-suffering? Oh, Colia, your mother has an
[23432]     angelic spirit, an angelic spirit, Colia!"
[23433]     
[23434]     "I know that, father. Look here, dear old father, come back home!
[23435]     Let's go back to mother. Look, she ran after us when we came out.
[23436]     What have you stopped her for, just as though you didn't take in
[23437]     what I said? Why are you crying, father?"
[23438]     
[23439]     Poor Colia cried himself, and kissed the old man's hands
[23440]     
[23441]     "You kiss my hands, MINE?"
[23442]     
[23443]     "Yes, yes, yours, yours! What is there to surprise anyone in that?
[23444]     Come, come, you mustn't go on like this, crying in the middle of
[23445]     the road; and you a general too, a military man! Come, let's go
[23446]     back."
[23447]     
[23448]     "God bless you, dear boy, for being respectful to a disgraced
[23449]     man. Yes, to a poor disgraced old fellow, your father. You shall
[23450]     have such a son yourself; le roi de Rome. Oh, curses on this
[23451]     house!"
[23452]     
[23453]     "Come, come, what does all this mean?" cried Colia beside himself
[23454]     at last. "What is it? What has happened to you? Why don't you
[23455]     wish to come back home? Why have you gone out of your mind, like
[23456]     this?"
[23457]     
[23458]     "I'll explain it, I'll explain all to you. Don't shout! You shall
[23459]     hear. Le roi de Rome. Oh, I am sad, I am melancholy!
[23460]     
[23461]     "'Nurse, where is your tomb?'"
[23462]     
[23463]     "Who said that, Colia?"
[23464]     
[23465]     "I don't know, I don't know who said it. Come home at once; come
[23466]     on! I'll punch Gania's head myself, if you like--only come. Oh,
[23467]     where are you off to again?" The general was dragging him away
[23468]     towards the door a house near. He sat down on the step, still
[23469]     holding Colia by the hand.
[23470]     
[23471]     "Bend down--bend down your ear. I'll tell you all--disgrace--bend
[23472]     down, I'll tell you in your ear."
[23473]     
[23474]     "What are you dreaming of?" said poor, frightened Colia, stooping
[23475]     down towards the old man, all the same.
[23476]     
[23477]     "Le roi de Rome," whispered the general, trembling all over.
[23478]     
[23479]     "What? What DO you mean? What roi de Rome?"
[23480]     
[23481]     "I-I," the general continued to whisper, clinging more and more
[23482]     tightly to the boy's shoulder. "I--wish--to tell you--all--Maria-
[23483]     -Maria Petrovna--Su--Su--Su......."
[23484]     
[23485]     Colia broke loose, seized his father by the shoulders, and stared
[23486]     into his eyes with frenzied gaze. The old man had grown livid--
[23487]     his lips were shaking, convulsions were passing over his
[23488]     features. Suddenly he leant over and began to sink slowly into
[23489]     Colia's arms.
[23490]     
[23491]     "He's got a stroke!" cried Colia, loudly, realizing what was the
[23492]     matter at last.
[23493]     
[23494]     V.
[23495]     
[23496]     IN point of fact, Varia had rather exaggerated the certainty of
[23497]     her news as to the prince's betrothal to Aglaya. Very likely,
[23498]     with the perspicacity of her sex, she gave out as an accomplished
[23499]     fact what she felt was pretty sure to become a fact in a few
[23500]     days. Perhaps she could not resist the satisfaction of pouring
[23501]     one last drop of bitterness into her brother Gania's cup, in
[23502]     spite of her love for him. At all events, she had been unable to
[23503]     obtain any definite news from the Epanchin girls--the most she
[23504]     could get out of them being hints and surmises, and so on.
[23505]     Perhaps Aglaya's sisters had merely been pumping Varia for news
[23506]     while pretending to impart information; or perhaps, again, they
[23507]     had been unable to resist the feminine gratification of teasing a
[23508]     friend--for, after all this time, they could scarcely have helped
[23509]     divining the aim of her frequent visits.
[23510]     
[23511]     On the other hand, the prince, although he had told Lebedeff,--as
[23512]     we know, that nothing had happened, and that he had nothing to
[23513]     impart,--the prince may have been in error. Something strange
[23514]     seemed to have happened, without anything definite having
[23515]     actually happened. Varia had guessed that with her true feminine
[23516]     instinct.
[23517]     
[23518]     How or why it came about that everyone at the Epanchins' became
[23519]     imbued with one conviction--that something very important had
[23520]     happened to Aglaya, and that her fate was in process of
[23521]     settlement--it would be very difficult to explain. But no sooner
[23522]     had this idea taken root, than all at once declared that they had
[23523]     seen and observed it long ago; that they had remarked it at the
[23524]     time of the "poor knight" joke, and even before, though they had
[23525]     been unwilling to believe in such nonsense.
[23526]     
[23527]     So said the sisters. Of course, Lizabetha Prokofievna had
[23528]     foreseen it long before the rest; her "heart had been sore" for a
[23529]     long while, she declared, and it was now so sore that she
[23530]     appeared to be quite overwhelmed, and the very thought of the
[23531]     prince became distasteful to her.
[23532]     
[23533]     There was a question to be decided--most important, but most
[23534]     difficult; so much so, that Mrs. Epanchin did not even see how to
[23535]     put it into words. Would the prince do or not? Was all this good
[23536]     or bad? If good (which might be the case, of course), WHY good?
[23537]     If bad (which was hardly doubtful), WHEREIN, especially, bad?
[23538]     Even the general, the paterfamilias, though astonished at first,
[23539]     suddenly declared that, "upon his honour, he really believed he
[23540]     had fancied something of the kind, after all. At first, it seemed
[23541]     a new idea, and then, somehow, it looked as familiar as
[23542]     possible." His wife frowned him down there. This was in the
[23543]     morning; but in the evening, alone with his wife, he had given
[23544]     tongue again.
[23545]     
[23546]     "Well, really, you know"--(silence)--"of course, you know all
[23547]     this is very strange, if true, which I cannot deny; but"--
[23548]     (silence).--" But, on the other hand, if one looks things in the
[23549]     face, you know--upon my honour, the prince is a rare good fellow--
[23550]     and--and--and--well, his name, you know--your family name--all
[23551]     this looks well, and perpetuates the name and title and all that--
[23552]     which at this moment is not standing so high as it might--from
[23553]     one point of view--don't you know? The world, the world is the
[23554]     world, of course--and people will talk--and--and--the prince has
[23555]     property, you know--if it is not very large--and then he--he--"
[23556]     (Continued silence, and collapse of the general.)
[23557]     
[23558]     Hearing these words from her husband, Lizabetha Prokofievna was
[23559]     driven beside herself.
[23560]     
[23561]     According to her opinion, the whole thing had been one huge,
[23562]     fantastical, absurd, unpardonable mistake. "First of all, this
[23563]     prince is an idiot, and, secondly, he is a fool--knows nothing of
[23564]     the world, and has no place in it. Whom can he be shown to? Where
[23565]     can you take him to? What will old Bielokonski say? We never
[23566]     thought of such a husband as THAT for our Aglaya!"
[23567]     
[23568]     Of course, the last argument was the chief one. The maternal
[23569]     heart trembled with indignation to think of such an absurdity,
[23570]     although in that heart there rose another voice, which said: "And
[23571]     WHY is not the prince such a husband as you would have desired
[23572]     for Aglaya?" It was this voice which annoyed Lizabetha
[23573]     Prokofievna more than anything else.
[23574]     
[23575]     For some reason or other, the sisters liked the idea of the
[23576]     prince. They did not even consider it very strange; in a word,
[23577]     they might be expected at any moment to range themselves strongly
[23578]     on his side. But both of them decided to say nothing either way.
[23579]     It had always been noticed in the family that the stronger Mrs.
[23580]     Epanchin's opposition was to any project, the nearer she was, in
[23581]     reality, to giving in.
[23582]     
[23583]     Alexandra, however, found it difficult to keep absolute silence
[23584]     on the subject. Long since holding, as she did, the post of
[23585]     "confidential adviser to mamma," she was now perpetually called
[23586]     in council, and asked her opinion, and especially her assistance,
[23587]     in order to recollect "how on earth all this happened?" Why did
[23588]     no one see it? Why did no one say anything about it? What did all
[23589]     that wretched "poor knight" joke mean? Why was she, Lizabetha
[23590]     Prokofievna, driven to think, and foresee, and worry for
[23591]     everybody, while they all sucked their thumbs, and counted the
[23592]     crows in the garden, and did nothing? At first, Alexandra had
[23593]     been very careful, and had merely replied that perhaps her
[23594]     father's remark was not so far out: that, in the eyes of the
[23595]     world, probably the choice of the prince as a husband for one of
[23596]     the Epanchin girls would be considered a very wise one. Warming
[23597]     up, however, she added that the prince was by no means a fool,
[23598]     and never had been; and that as to "place in the world," no one
[23599]     knew what the position of a respectable person in Russia would
[23600]     imply in a few years--whether it would depend on successes in the
[23601]     government service, on the old system, or what.
[23602]     
[23603]     To all this her mother replied that Alexandra was a freethinker,
[23604]     and that all this was due to that "cursed woman's rights
[23605]     question."
[23606]     
[23607]     Half an hour after this conversation, she went off to town, and
[23608]     thence to the Kammenny Ostrof, ["Stone Island," a suburb and park
[23609]     of St. Petersburg] to see Princess Bielokonski, who had just
[23610]     arrived from Moscow on a short visit. The princess was Aglaya's
[23611]     godmother.
[23612]     
[23613]     "Old Bielokonski"listened to all the fevered and despairing
[23614]     lamentations of Lizabetha Prokofievna without the least emotion;
[23615]     the tears of this sorrowful mother did not evoke answering sighs--
[23616]     in fact, she laughed at her. She was a dreadful old despot, this
[23617]     princess; she could not allow equality in anything, not even in
[23618]     friendship of the oldest standing, and she insisted on treating
[23619]     Mrs. Epanchin as her protegee, as she had been thirty-five years
[23620]     ago. She could never put up with the independence and energy of
[23621]     Lizabetha's character. She observed that, as usual, the whole
[23622]     family had gone much too far ahead, and had converted a fly into
[23623]     an elephant; that, so far as she had heard their story, she was
[23624]     persuaded that nothing of any seriousness had occurred; that it
[23625]     would surely be better to wait until something DID happen; that
[23626]     the prince, in her opinion, was a very decent young fellow,
[23627]     though perhaps a little eccentric, through illness, and not quite
[23628]     as weighty in the world as one could wish. The worst feature was,
[23629]     she said, Nastasia Philipovna.
[23630]     
[23631]     Lizabetha Prokofievna well understood that the old lady was angry
[23632]     at the failure of Evgenie Pavlovitch--her own recommendation. She
[23633]     returned home to Pavlofsk in a worse humour than when she left,
[23634]     and of course everybody in the house suffered. She pitched into
[23635]     everyone, because, she declared, they had 'gone mad.' Why were
[23636]     things always mismanaged in her house? Why had everybody been in
[23637]     such a frantic hurry in this matter? So far as she could see,
[23638]     nothing whatever had happened. Surely they had better wait and
[23639]     see what was to happen, instead of making mountains out of
[23640]     molehills.
[23641]     
[23642]     And so the conclusion of the matter was that it would be far
[23643]     better to take it quietly, and wait coolly to see what would turn
[23644]     up. But, alas! peace did not reign for more than ten minutes. The
[23645]     first blow dealt to its power was in certain news communicated to
[23646]     Lizabetha Prokofievna as to events which bad happened during her
[23647]     trip to see the princess. (This trip had taken place the day
[23648]     after that on which the prince had turned up at the Epanchins at
[23649]     nearly one o'clock at night, thinking it was nine.)
[23650]     
[23651]     The sisters replied candidly and fully enough to their mother's
[23652]     impatient questions on her return. They said, in the first place,
[23653]     that nothing particular had happened since her departure; that
[23654]     the prince had been, and that Aglaya had kept him waiting a long
[23655]     while before she appeared--half an hour, at least; that she had
[23656]     then come in, and immediately asked the prince to have a game of
[23657]     chess; that the prince did not know the game, and Aglaya had
[23658]     beaten him easily; that she had been in a wonderfully merry mood,
[23659]     and had laughed at the prince, and chaffed him so unmercifully
[23660]     that one was quite sorry to see his wretched expression.
[23661]     
[23662]     She had then asked him to play cards--the game called "little
[23663]     fools." At this game the tables were turned completely, for the
[23664]     prince had shown himself a master at it. Aglaya had cheated and
[23665]     changed cards, and stolen others, in the most bare-faced way,
[23666]     but, in spite of everything the prince had beaten her hopelessly
[23667]     five times running, and she had been left "little fool" each
[23668]     time.
[23669]     
[23670]     Aglaya then lost her temper, and began to say such awful things
[23671]     to the prince that he laughed no more, but grew dreadfully pale,
[23672]     especially when she said that she should not remain in the house
[23673]     with him, and that he ought to be ashamed of coming to their
[23674]     house at all, especially at night, "AFTER ALL THAT HAD HAPPENED."
[23675]     
[23676]     So saying, she had left the room, banging the door after her, and
[23677]     the prince went off, looking as though he were on his way to a
[23678]     funeral, in spite of all their attempts at consolation.
[23679]     
[23680]     Suddenly, a quarter of an hour after the prince's departure,
[23681]     Aglaya had rushed out of her room in such a hurry that she had
[23682]     not even wiped her eyes, which were full of tears. She came back
[23683]     because Colia had brought a hedgehog. Everybody came in to see
[23684]     the hedgehog. In answer to their questions Colia explained that
[23685]     the hedgehog was not his, and that he had left another boy,
[23686]     Kostia Lebedeff, waiting for him outside. Kostia was too shy to
[23687]     come in, because he was carrying a hatchet; they had bought the
[23688]     hedgehog and the hatchet from a peasant whom they had met on the
[23689]     road. He had offered to sell them the hedgehog, and they had paid
[23690]     fifty copecks for it; and the hatchet had so taken their fancy
[23691]     that they had made up their minds to buy it of their own accord.
[23692]     On hearing this, Aglaya urged Colia to sell her the hedgehog; she
[23693]     even called him "dear Colia," in trying to coax him. He refused
[23694]     for a long time, but at last he could hold out no more, and went
[23695]     to fetch Kostia Lebedeff. The latter appeared, carrying his
[23696]     hatchet, and covered with confusion. Then it came out that the
[23697]     hedgehog was not theirs, but the property of a schoolmate, one
[23698]     Petroff, who had given them some money to buy Schlosser's History
[23699]     for him, from another schoolfellow who at that moment was driven
[23700]     to raising money by the sale of his books. Colia and Kostia were
[23701]     about to make this purchase for their friend when chance brought
[23702]     the hedgehog to their notice, and they had succumbed to the
[23703]     temptation of buying it. They were now taking Petroff the
[23704]     hedgehog and hatchet which they had bought with his money,
[23705]     instead of Schiosser's History. But Aglaya so entreated them that
[23706]     at last they consented to sell her the hedgehog. As soon as she
[23707]     had got possession of it, she put it in a wicker basket with
[23708]     Colia's help, and covered it with a napkin. Then she said to
[23709]     Colia: "Go and take this hedgehog to the prince from me, and ask
[23710]     him to accept it as a token of my profound respect." Colia
[23711]     joyfully promised to do the errand, but he demanded explanations.
[23712]     "What does the hedgehog mean? What is the meaning of such a
[23713]     present?" Aglaya replied that it was none of his business. " I am
[23714]     sure that there is some allegory about it," Colia persisted.
[23715]     Aglaya grew angry, and called him "a silly boy." "If I did not
[23716]     respect all women in your person," replied Colia, "and if my own
[23717]     principles would permit it, I would soon prove to you, that I
[23718]     know how to answer such an insult!" But, in the end, Colia went
[23719]     off with the hedgehog in great delight, followed by Kostia
[23720]     Lebedeff. Aglaya's annoyance was soon over, and seeing that Colia
[23721]     was swinging the hedgehog's basket violently to and fro, she
[23722]     called out to him from the verandah, as if they had never
[23723]     quarrelled: "Colia, dear, please take care not to drop him!"
[23724]     Colia appeared to have no grudge against her, either, for he
[23725]     stopped, and answered most cordially: "No, I will not drop him!
[23726]     Don't be afraid, Aglaya Ivanovna!" After which he went on his
[23727]     way. Aglaya burst out laughing and ran up to her room, highly
[23728]     delighted. Her good spirits lasted the whole day.
[23729]     
[23730]     All this filled poor Lizabetha's mind with chaotic confusion.
[23731]     What on earth did it all mean? The most disturbing feature was
[23732]     the hedgehog. What was the symbolic signification of a hedgehog?
[23733]     What did they understand by it? What underlay it? Was it a
[23734]     cryptic message?
[23735]     
[23736]     Poor General Epanchin "put his foot in it" by answering the above
[23737]     questions in his own way. He said there was no cryptic message at
[23738]     all. As for the hedgehog, it was just a hedgehog, which meant
[23739]     nothing--unless, indeed, it was a pledge of friendship,--the sign
[23740]     of forgetting of offences and so on. At all events, it was a
[23741]     joke, and, of course, a most pardonable and innocent one.
[23742]     
[23743]     We may as well remark that the general had guessed perfectly
[23744]     accurately.
[23745]     
[23746]     The prince, returning home from the interview with Aglaya, had
[23747]     sat gloomy and depressed for half an hour. He was almost in
[23748]     despair when Colia arrived with the hedgehog.
[23749]     
[23750]     Then the sky cleared in a moment. The prince seemed to arise from
[23751]     the dead; he asked Colia all about it, made him repeat the story
[23752]     over and over again, and laughed and shook hands with the boys in
[23753]     his delight.
[23754]     
[23755]     It seemed clear to the prince that Aglaya forgave him, and that
[23756]     he might go there again this very evening; and in his eyes that
[23757]     was not only the main thing, but everything in the world.
[23758]     
[23759]     "What children we are still, Colia!" he cried at last,
[23760]     enthusiastically,--"and how delightful it is that we can be
[23761]     children still!"
[23762]     
[23763]     "Simply--my dear prince,--simply she is in love with you,--that's
[23764]     the whole of the secret!" replied Colia, with authority.
[23765]     
[23766]     The prince blushed, but this time he said nothing. Colia burst
[23767]     out laughing and clapped his hands. A minute later the prince
[23768]     laughed too, and from this moment until the evening he looked at
[23769]     his watch every other minute to see how much time he had to wait
[23770]     before evening came.
[23771]     
[23772]     But the situation was becoming rapidly critical.
[23773]     
[23774]     Mrs. Epanchin could bear her suspense no longer, and in spite of
[23775]     the opposition of husband and daughters, she sent for Aglaya,
[23776]     determined to get a straightforward answer out of her, once for
[23777]     all.
[23778]     
[23779]     "Otherwise," she observed hysterically, "I shall die before
[23780]     evening."
[23781]     
[23782]     It was only now that everyone realized to what a ridiculous dead-
[23783]     lock the whole matter had been brought. Excepting feigned
[23784]     surprise, indignation, laughter, and jeering--both at the prince
[23785]     and at everyone who asked her questions,--nothing could be got
[23786]     out of Aglaya.
[23787]     
[23788]     Lizabetha Prokofievna went to bed and only rose again in time for
[23789]     tea, when the prince might be expected.
[23790]     
[23791]     She awaited him in trembling agitation; and when he at last
[23792]     arrived she nearly went off into hysterics.
[23793]     
[23794]     Muishkin himself came in very timidly. He seemed to feel his way,
[23795]     and looked in each person's eyes in a questioning way,--for
[23796]     Aglaya was absent, which fact alarmed him at once.
[23797]     
[23798]     This evening there were no strangers present--no one but the
[23799]     immediate members of the family. Prince S. was still in town,
[23800]     occupied with the affairs of Evgenie Pavlovitch's uncle.
[23801]     
[23802]     "I wish at least HE would come and say something!" complained
[23803]     poor Lizabetha Prokofievna.
[23804]     
[23805]     The general sat still with a most preoccupied air. The sisters
[23806]     were looking very serious and did not speak a word, and Lizabetha
[23807]     Prokofievna did not know how to commence the conversation.
[23808]     
[23809]     At length she plunged into an energetic and hostile criticism of
[23810]     railways, and glared at the prince defiantly.
[23811]     
[23812]     Alas Aglaya still did not come--and the prince was quite lost. He
[23813]     had the greatest difficulty in expressing his opinion that
[23814]     railways were most useful institutions,--and in the middle of his
[23815]     speech Adelaida laughed, which threw him into a still worse state
[23816]     of confusion.
[23817]     
[23818]     At this moment in marched Aglaya, as calm and collected as could
[23819]     be. She gave the prince a ceremonious bow and solemnly took up a
[23820]     prominent position near the big round table. She looked at the
[23821]     prince questioningly.
[23822]     
[23823]     All present realized that the moment for the settlement of
[23824]     perplexities had arrived.
[23825]     
[23826]     "Did you get my hedgehog?" she inquired, firmly and almost
[23827]     angrily.
[23828]     
[23829]     Yes, I got it," said the prince, blushing.
[23830]     
[23831]     "Tell us now, at once, what you made of the present? I must have
[23832]     you answer this question for mother's sake; she needs pacifying,
[23833]     and so do all the rest of the family!"
[23834]     
[23835]     "Look here, Aglaya--" began the general.
[23836]     
[23837]     "This--this is going beyond all limits!" said Lizabetha
[23838]     Prokofievna, suddenly alarmed.
[23839]     
[23840]     "It is not in the least beyond all limits, mamma!" said her
[23841]     daughter, firmly. "I sent the prince a hedgehog this morning, and
[23842]     I wish to hear his opinion of it. Go on, prince."
[23843]     
[23844]     "What--what sort of opinion, Aglaya Ivanovna?"
[23845]     
[23846]     "About the hedgehog."
[23847]     
[23848]     "That is--I suppose you wish to know how I received the hedgehog,
[23849]     Aglaya Ivanovna,--or, I should say, how I regarded your sending
[23850]     him to me? In that case, I may tell you--in a word--that I--in
[23851]     fact--"
[23852]     
[23853]     He paused, breathless.
[23854]     
[23855]     "Come--you haven't told us much!" said Aglaya, after waiting some
[23856]     five seconds. "Very well, I am ready to drop the hedgehog, if you
[23857]     like; but I am anxious to be able to clear up this accumulation
[23858]     of misunderstandings. Allow me to ask you, prince,--I wish to
[23859]     hear from you, personally--are you making me an offer, or not?"
[23860]     
[23861]     "Gracious heavens!" exclaimed Lizabetha Prokofievna. The prince
[23862]     started. The general stiffened in his chair; the sisters frowned.
[23863]     
[23864]     "Don't deceive me now, prince--tell the truth. All these people
[23865]     persecute me with astounding questions--about you. Is there any
[23866]     ground for all these questions, or not? Come!"
[23867]     
[23868]     "I have not asked you to marry me yet, Aglaya Ivanovna," said the
[23869]     prince, becoming suddenly animated; "but you know yourself how
[23870]     much I love you and trust you."
[23871]     
[23872]     "No--I asked you this--answer this! Do you intend to ask for my
[23873]     band, or not?"
[23874]     
[23875]     "Yes--I do ask for it!" said the prince, more dead than alive
[23876]     now.
[23877]     
[23878]     There was a general stir in the room.
[23879]     
[23880]     "No--no--my dear girl," began the general. "You cannot proceed
[23881]     like this, Aglaya, if that's how the matter stands. It's
[23882]     impossible. Prince, forgive it, my dear fellow, but--Lizabetha
[23883]     Prokofievna!"--he appealed to his spouse for help--"you must
[23884]     really--"
[23885]     
[23886]     "Not I--not I! I retire from all responsibility," said Lizabetha
[23887]     Prokofievna, with a wave of the hand.
[23888]     
[23889]     "Allow me to speak, please, mamma," said Aglaya. "I think I ought
[23890]     to have something to say in the matter. An important moment of my
[23891]     destiny is about to be decided"--(this is how Aglaya expressed
[23892]     herself)--"and I wish to find out how the matter stands, for my
[23893]     own sake, though I am glad you are all here. Allow me to ask you,
[23894]     prince, since you cherish those intentions, how you consider that
[23895]     you will provide for my happiness?"
[23896]     
[23897]     "I--I don't quite know how to answer your question, Aglaya
[23898]     Ivanovna. What is there to say to such a question? And--and must
[23899]     I answer?"
[23900]     
[23901]     "I think you are rather overwhelmed and out of breath. Have a
[23902]     little rest, and try to recover yourself. Take a glass of water,
[23903]     or--but they'll give you some tea directly."
[23904]     
[23905]     "I love you, Aglaya Ivanovna,--I love you very much. I love only
[23906]     you--and--please don't jest about it, for I do love you very
[23907]     much."
[23908]     
[23909]     "Well, this matter is important. We are not children--we must look
[23910]     into it thoroughly. Now then, kindly tell me--what does your
[23911]     fortune consist of?"
[23912]     
[23913]     "No--Aglaya--come, enough of this, you mustn't behave like this,"
[23914]     said her father, in dismay.
[23915]     
[23916]     "It's disgraceful," said Lizabetha Prokofievna in a loud whisper.
[23917]     
[23918]     "She's mad--quite!" said Alexandra.
[23919]     
[23920]     "Fortune--money--do you mean?" asked the prince in some surprise.
[23921]     
[23922]     "Just so."
[23923]     
[23924]     "I have now--let's see--I have a hundred and thirty-five thousand
[23925]     roubles," said the prince, blushing violently.
[23926]     
[23927]     "Is that all, really?" said Aglaya, candidly, without the
[23928]     slightest show of confusion. "However, it's not so bad,
[23929]     especially if managed with economy. Do you intend to serve?"
[23930]     
[23931]     "I--I intended to try for a certificate as private tutor."
[23932]     
[23933]     "Very good. That would increase our income nicely. Have you any
[23934]     intention of being a Kammer-junker?"
[23935]     
[23936]     "A Kammer-junker? I had not thought of it, but--"
[23937]     
[23938]     But here the two sisters could restrain themselves no longer, and
[23939]     both of them burst into irrepressible laughter.
[23940]     
[23941]     Adelaida had long since detected in Aglaya's features the
[23942]     gathering signs of an approaching storm of laughter, which she
[23943]     restrained with amazing self-control.
[23944]     
[23945]     Aglaya looked menacingly at her laughing sisters, but could not
[23946]     contain herself any longer, and the next minute she too had burst
[23947]     into an irrepressible, and almost hysterical, fit of mirth. At
[23948]     length she jumped up, and ran out of the room.
[23949]     
[23950]     "I knew it was all a joke!" cried Adelaida. "I felt it ever
[23951]     since--since the hedgehog."
[23952]     
[23953]     "No, no! I cannot allow this,--this is a little too much," cried
[23954]     Lizabetha Prokofievna, exploding with rage, and she rose from her
[23955]     seat and followed Aglaya out of the room as quickly as she could.
[23956]     
[23957]     The two sisters hurriedly went after her.
[23958]     
[23959]     The prince and the general were the only two persons left in the
[23960]     room.
[23961]     
[23962]     "It's--it's really--now could you have imagined anything like it,
[23963]     Lef Nicolaievitch?" cried the general. He was evidently so much
[23964]     agitated that he hardly knew what he wished to say. "Seriously
[23965]     now, seriously I mean--"
[23966]     
[23967]     "I only see that Aglaya Ivanovna is laughing at me," said the
[23968]     poor prince, sadly.
[23969]     
[23970]     "Wait a bit, my boy, I'll just go--you stay here, you know. But
[23971]     do just explain, if you can, Lef Nicolaievitch, how in the world
[23972]     has all this come about? And what does it all mean? You must
[23973]     understand, my dear fellow; I am a father, you see, and I ought
[23974]     to be allowed to understand the matter--do explain, I beg you!"
[23975]     
[23976]     "I love Aglaya Ivanovna--she knows it,--and I think she must have
[23977]     long known it."
[23978]     
[23979]     The general shrugged his shoulders.
[23980]     
[23981]     "Strange--it's strange," he said, "and you love her very much?"
[23982]     
[23983]     "Yes, very much."
[23984]     
[23985]     "Well--it's all most strange to me. That is--my dear fellow, it
[23986]     is such a surprise--such a blow--that... You see, it is not
[23987]     your financial position (though I should not object if you were a
[23988]     bit richer)--I am thinking of my daughter's happiness, of course,
[23989]     and the thing is--are you able to give her the happiness she
[23990]     deserves? And then--is all this a joke on her part, or is she in
[23991]     earnest? I don't mean on your side, but on hers."
[23992]     
[23993]     At this moment Alexandra's voice was heard outside the door,
[23994]     calling out "Papa!"
[23995]     
[23996]     "Wait for me here, my boy--will you? Just wait and think it all
[23997]     over, and I'll come back directly," he said hurriedly, and made
[23998]     off with what looked like the rapidity of alarm in response to
[23999]     Alexandra's call.
[24000]     
[24001]     He found the mother and daughter locked in one another's arms,
[24002]     mingling their tears.
[24003]     
[24004]     These were the tears of joy and peace and reconciliation. Aglaya
[24005]     was kissing her mother's lips and cheeks and hands; they were
[24006]     hugging each other in the most ardent way.
[24007]     
[24008]     "There, look at her now--Ivan Fedorovitch! Here she is--all of
[24009]     her! This is our REAL Aglaya at last!" said Lizabetha
[24010]     Prokofievna.
[24011]     
[24012]     Aglaya raised her happy, tearful face from her mother's breast,
[24013]     glanced at her father, and burst out laughing. She sprang at him
[24014]     and hugged him too, and kissed him over and over again. She then
[24015]     rushed back to her mother and hid her face in the maternal bosom,
[24016]     and there indulged in more tears. Her mother covered her with a
[24017]     corner of her shawl.
[24018]     
[24019]     "Oh, you cruel little girl! How will you treat us all next, I
[24020]     wonder?" she said, but she spoke with a ring of joy in her voice,
[24021]     and as though she breathed at last without the oppression which
[24022]     she had felt so long.
[24023]     
[24024]     "Cruel?" sobbed Aglaya. "Yes, I AM cruel, and worthless, and
[24025]     spoiled--tell father so,--oh, here he is--I forgot Father,
[24026]     listen!" She laughed through her tears.
[24027]     
[24028]     "My darling, my little idol," cried the general, kissing and
[24029]     fondling her hands (Aglaya did not draw them away); "so you love
[24030]     this young man, do you?"
[24031]     
[24032]     "No, no, no, can't BEAR him, I can't BEAR your young man!" cried
[24033]     Aglaya, raising her head. "And if you dare say that ONCE more,
[24034]     papa--I'm serious, you know, I'm,--do you hear me--I'm serious!"
[24035]     
[24036]     She certainly did seem to be serious enough. She had flushed up
[24037]     all over and her eyes were blazing.
[24038]     
[24039]     The general felt troubled and remained silent, while Lizabetha
[24040]     Prokofievna telegraphed to him from behind Aglaya to ask no
[24041]     questions.
[24042]     
[24043]     "If that's the case, darling--then, of course, you shall do
[24044]     exactly as you like. He is waiting alone downstairs. Hadn't I
[24045]     better hint to him gently that he can go?" The general
[24046]     telegraphed to Lizabetha Prokofievna in his turn.
[24047]     
[24048]     "No, no, you needn't do anything of the sort; you mustn't hint
[24049]     gently at all. I'll go down myself directly. I wish to apologize
[24050]     to this young man, because I hurt his feelings."
[24051]     
[24052]     "Yes, SERIOUSLY," said the general, gravely.
[24053]     
[24054]     "Well, you'd better stay here, all of you, for a little, and I'll
[24055]     go down to him alone to begin with. I'll just go in and then you
[24056]     can follow me almost at once. That's the best way."
[24057]     
[24058]     She had almost reached the door when she turned round again.
[24059]     
[24060]     "I shall laugh--I know I shall; I shall die of laughing," she
[24061]     said, lugubriously.
[24062]     
[24063]     However, she turned and ran down to the prince as fast as her
[24064]     feet could carry her.
[24065]     
[24066]     "Well, what does it all mean? What do you make of it?" asked the
[24067]     general of his spouse, hurriedly.
[24068]     
[24069]     "I hardly dare say," said Lizabetha, as hurriedly, "but I think
[24070]     it's as plain as anything can be."
[24071]     
[24072]     "I think so too, as clear as day; she loves him."
[24073]     
[24074]     "Loves him? She is head over ears in love, that's what she is,"
[24075]     put in Alexandra.
[24076]     
[24077]     "Well, God bless her, God bless her, if such is her destiny,"
[24078]     said Lizabetha, crossing herself devoutly.
[24079]     
[24080]     "H'm destiny it is," said the general, "and there's no getting
[24081]     out of destiny."
[24082]     
[24083]     With these words they all moved off towards the drawing-room,
[24084]     where another surprise awaited them. Aglaya had not only not
[24085]     laughed, as she had feared, but had gone to the prince rather
[24086]     timidly, and said to him:
[24087]     
[24088]     "Forgive a silly, horrid, spoilt girl"--(she took his hand here)--
[24089]     "and be quite assured that we all of us esteem you beyond all
[24090]     words. And if I dared to turn your beautiful, admirable
[24091]     simplicity to ridicule, forgive me as you would a little child
[24092]     its mischief. Forgive me all my absurdity of just now, which, of
[24093]     course, meant nothing, and could not have the slightest
[24094]     consequence." She spoke these words with great emphasis.
[24095]     
[24096]     Her father, mother, and sisters came into the room and were much
[24097]     struck with the last words, which they just caught as they
[24098]     entered--"absurdity which of course meant nothing"--and still
[24099]     more so with the emphasis with which Aglaya had spoken.
[24100]     
[24101]     They exchanged glances questioningly, but the prince did not seem
[24102]     to have understood the meaning of Aglaya's words; he was in the
[24103]     highest heaven of delight.
[24104]     
[24105]     "Why do you speak so?" he murmured. "Why do you ask my
[24106]     forgiveness?"
[24107]     
[24108]     He wished to add that he was unworthy of being asked for
[24109]     forgiveness by her, but paused. Perhaps he did understand
[24110]     Aglaya's sentence about "absurdity which meant nothing," and like
[24111]     the strange fellow that he was, rejoiced in the words.
[24112]     
[24113]     Undoubtedly the fact that he might now come and see Aglaya as
[24114]     much as he pleased again was quite enough to make him perfectly
[24115]     happy; that he might come and speak to her, and see her, and sit
[24116]     by her, and walk with her--who knows, but that all this was quite
[24117]     enough to satisfy him for the whole of his life, and that he
[24118]     would desire no more to the end of time?
[24119]     
[24120]     (Lizabetha Prokofievna felt that this might be the case, and she
[24121]     didn't like it; though very probably she could not have put the
[24122]     idea into words.)
[24123]     
[24124]     It would be difficult to describe the animation and high spirits
[24125]     which distinguished the prince for the rest of the evening.
[24126]     
[24127]     He was so happy that "it made one feel happy to look at him," as
[24128]     Aglaya's sisters expressed it afterwards. He talked, and told
[24129]     stories just as he had done once before, and never since, namely
[24130]     on the very first morning of his acquaintance with the Epanchins,
[24131]     six months ago. Since his return to Petersburg from Moscow, he
[24132]     had been remarkably silent, and had told Prince S. on one
[24133]     occasion, before everyone, that he did not think himself
[24134]     justified in degrading any thought by his unworthy words.
[24135]     
[24136]     But this evening he did nearly all the talking himself, and told
[24137]     stories by the dozen, while he answered all questions put to him
[24138]     clearly, gladly, and with any amount of detail.
[24139]     
[24140]     There was nothing, however, of love-making in his talk. His ideas
[24141]     were all of the most serious kind; some were even mystical and
[24142]     profound.
[24143]     
[24144]     He aired his own views on various matters, some of his most
[24145]     private opinions and observations, many of which would have
[24146]     seemed rather funny, so his hearers agreed afterwards, had they
[24147]     not been so well expressed.
[24148]     
[24149]     The general liked serious subjects of conversation; but both he
[24150]     and Lizabetha Prokofievna felt that they were having a little too
[24151]     much of a good thing tonight, and as the evening advanced, they
[24152]     both grew more or less melancholy; but towards night, the prince
[24153]     fell to telling funny stories, and was always the first to burst
[24154]     out laughing himself, which he invariably did so joyously and
[24155]     simply that the rest laughed just as much at him as at his
[24156]     stories.
[24157]     
[24158]     As for Aglaya, she hardly said a word all the evening; but she
[24159]     listened with all her ears to Lef Nicolaievitch's talk, and
[24160]     scarcely took her eyes off him.
[24161]     
[24162]     "She looked at him, and stared and stared, and hung on every word
[24163]     he said," said Lizabetha afterwards, to her husband, "and yet,
[24164]     tell her that she loves him, and she is furious!"
[24165]     
[24166]     "What's to be done? It's fate," said the general, shrugging his
[24167]     shoulders, and, for a long while after, he continued to repeat:
[24168]     "It's fate, it's fate!"
[24169]     
[24170]     We may add that to a business man like General Epanchin the
[24171]     present position of affairs was most unsatisfactory. He hated the
[24172]     uncertainty in which they had been, perforce, left. However, he
[24173]     decided to say no more about it, and merely to look on, and take
[24174]     his time and tune from Lizabetha Prokofievna.
[24175]     
[24176]     The happy state in which the family had spent the evening, as
[24177]     just recorded, was not of very long duration. Next day Aglaya
[24178]     quarrelled with the prince again, and so she continued to behave
[24179]     for the next few days. For whole hours at a time she ridiculed
[24180]     and chaffed the wretched man, and made him almost a laughing-
[24181]     stock.
[24182]     
[24183]     It is true that they used to sit in the little summer-house
[24184]     together for an hour or two at a time, very often, but it was
[24185]     observed that on these occasions the prince would read the paper,
[24186]     or some book, aloud to Aglaya.
[24187]     
[24188]     "Do you know," Aglaya said to him once, interrupting the reading,
[24189]     "I've remarked that you are dreadfully badly educated. You never
[24190]     know anything thoroughly, if one asks you; neither anyone's name,
[24191]     nor dates, nor about treaties and so on. It's a great pity, you
[24192]     know!"
[24193]     
[24194]     "I told you I had not had much of an education," replied the
[24195]     prince.
[24196]     
[24197]     "How am I to respect you, if that's the case? Read on now. No--
[24198]     don't! Stop reading!"
[24199]     
[24200]     And once more, that same evening, Aglaya mystified them all.
[24201]     Prince S. had returned, and Aglaya was particularly amiable to
[24202]     him, and asked a great deal after Evgenie Pavlovitch. (Muishkin
[24203]     had not come in as yet.)
[24204]     
[24205]     Suddenly Prince S. hinted something about "a new and approaching
[24206]     change in the family." He was led to this remark by a
[24207]     communication inadvertently made to him by Lizabetha Prokofievna,
[24208]     that Adelaida's marriage must be postponed a little longer, in
[24209]     order that the two weddings might come off together.
[24210]     
[24211]     It is impossible to describe Aglaya's irritation. She flared up,
[24212]     and said some indignant words about "all these silly
[24213]     insinuations." She added that "she had no intentions as yet of
[24214]     replacing anybody's mistress."
[24215]     
[24216]     These words painfully impressed the whole party; but especially
[24217]     her parents. Lizabetha Prokofievna summoned a secret council of
[24218]     two, and insisted upon the general's demanding from the prince a
[24219]     full explanation of his relations with Nastasia Philipovna. The
[24220]     general argued that it was only a whim of Aglaya's; and that, had
[24221]     not Prince S. unfortunately made that remark, which had confused
[24222]     the child and made her blush, she never would have said what she
[24223]     did; and that he was sure Aglaya knew well that anything she
[24224]     might have heard of the prince and Nastasia Philipovna was merely
[24225]     the fabrication of malicious tongues, and that the woman was
[24226]     going to marry Rogojin. He insisted that the prince had nothing
[24227]     whatever to do with Nastasia Philipovna, so far as any liaison
[24228]     was concerned; and, if the truth were to be told about it, he
[24229]     added, never had had.
[24230]     
[24231]     Meanwhile nothing put the prince out, and he continued to be in
[24232]     the seventh heaven of bliss. Of course he could not fail to
[24233]     observe some impatience and ill-temper in Aglaya now and then;
[24234]     but he believed in something else, and nothing could now shake
[24235]     his conviction. Besides, Aglaya's frowns never lasted long; they
[24236]     disappeared of themselves.
[24237]     
[24238]     Perhaps he was too easy in his mind. So thought Hippolyte, at all
[24239]     events, who met him in the park one day.
[24240]     
[24241]     "Didn't I tell you the truth now, when I said you were in love?"
[24242]     he said, coming up to Muishkin of his own accord, and stopping
[24243]     him.
[24244]     
[24245]     The prince gave him his hand and congratulated him upon "looking
[24246]     so well."
[24247]     
[24248]     Hippolyte himself seemed to be hopeful about his state of health,
[24249]     as is often the case with consumptives.
[24250]     
[24251]     He had approached the prince with the intention of talking
[24252]     sarcastically about his happy expression of face, but very soon
[24253]     forgot his intention and began to talk about himself. He began
[24254]     complaining about everything, disconnectedly and endlessly, as
[24255]     was his wont.
[24256]     
[24257]     "You wouldn't believe," he concluded, "how irritating they all
[24258]     are there. They are such wretchedly small, vain, egotistical,
[24259]     COMMONPLACE people! Would you believe it, they invited me there
[24260]     under the express condition that I should die quickly, and they
[24261]     are all as wild as possible with me for not having died yet, and
[24262]     for being, on the contrary, a good deal better! Isn't it a
[24263]     comedy? I don't mind betting that you don't believe me!"
[24264]     
[24265]     The prince said nothing.
[24266]     
[24267]     "I sometimes think of coming over to you again," said Hippolyte,
[24268]     carelessly. "So you DON'T think them capable of inviting a man on
[24269]     the condition that he is to look sharp and die?"
[24270]     
[24271]     "I certainly thought they invited you with quite other views."
[24272]     
[24273]     "Ho, ho! you are not nearly so simple as they try to make you
[24274]     out! This is not the time for it, or I would tell you a thing or
[24275]     two about that beauty, Gania, and his hopes. You are being
[24276]     undermined, pitilessly undermined, and--and it is really
[24277]     melancholy to see you so calm about it. But alas! it's your
[24278]     nature--you can't help it!"
[24279]     
[24280]     "My word! what a thing to be melancholy about! Why, do you think
[24281]     I should be any happier if I were to feel disturbed about the
[24282]     excavations you tell me of?"
[24283]     
[24284]     "It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy
[24285]     in a fool's paradise! I suppose you don't believe that you have a
[24286]     rival in that quarter?"
[24287]     
[24288]     "Your insinuations as to rivalry are rather cynical, Hippolyte.
[24289]     I'm sorry to say I have no right to answer you! As for Gania, I
[24290]     put it to you, CAN any man have a happy mind after passing
[24291]     through what he has had to suffer? I think that is the best way
[24292]     to look at it. He will change yet, he has lots of time before
[24293]     him, and life is rich; besides--besides..." the prince
[24294]     hesitated. "As to being undermined, I don't know what in the
[24295]     world you are driving at, Hippolyte. I think we had better drop
[24296]     the subject!"
[24297]     
[24298]     "Very well, we'll drop it for a while. You can't look at anything
[24299]     but in your exalted, generous way. You must put out your finger
[24300]     and touch a thing before you'll believe it, eh? Ha! ha! ha! I
[24301]     suppose you despise me dreadfully, prince, eh? What do you
[24302]     think?"
[24303]     
[24304]     "Why? Because you have suffered more than we have?"
[24305]     
[24306]     "No; because I am unworthy of my sufferings, if you like!"
[24307]     
[24308]     "Whoever CAN suffer is worthy to suffer, I should think. Aglaya
[24309]     Ivanovna wished to see you, after she had read your confession,
[24310]     but--"
[24311]     
[24312]     "She postponed the pleasure--I see--I quite understand!" said
[24313]     Hippolyte, hurriedly, as though he wished to banish the subject.
[24314]     "I hear--they tell me--that you read her all that nonsense aloud?
[24315]     Stupid @ bosh it was--written in delirium. And I can't understand
[24316]     how anyone can be so I won't say CRUEL, because the word would be
[24317]     humiliating to myself, but we'll say childishly vain and
[24318]     revengeful, as to REPROACH me with this confession, and use it as
[24319]     a weapon against me. Don't be afraid, I'm not referring to
[24320]     yourself."
[24321]     
[24322]     "Oh, but I'm sorry you repudiate the confession, Hippolyte--it is
[24323]     sincere; and, do you know, even the absurd parts of it--and these
[24324]     are many" (here Hippolyte frowned savagely) "are, as it were,
[24325]     redeemed by suffering--for it must have cost you something to
[24326]     admit what you there say--great torture, perhaps, for all I know.
[24327]     Your motive must have been a very noble one all through. Whatever
[24328]     may have appeared to the contrary, I give you my word, I see this
[24329]     more plainly every day. I do not judge you; I merely say this to
[24330]     have it off my mind, and I am only sorry that I did not say it
[24331]     all THEN--"
[24332]     
[24333]     Hippolyte flushed hotly. He had thought at first that the prince
[24334]     was "humbugging" him; but on looking at his face he saw that he
[24335]     was absolutely serious, and had no thought of any deception.
[24336]     Hippolyte beamed with gratification.
[24337]     
[24338]     "And yet I must die," he said, and almost added: "a man like me @
[24339]     
[24340]     "And imagine how that Gania annoys me! He has developed the idea
[24341]     --or pretends to believe--that in all probability three or four
[24342]     others who heard my confession will die before I do. There's an
[24343]     idea for you--and all this by way of CONSOLING me! Ha! ha! ha! In
[24344]     the first place they haven't died yet; and in the second, if they
[24345]     DID die--all of them--what would be the satisfaction to me in
[24346]     that? He judges me by himself. But he goes further, he actually
[24347]     pitches into me because, as he declares, 'any decent fellow'
[24348]     would die quietly, and that 'all this' is mere egotism on my
[24349]     part. He doesn't see what refinement of egotism it is on his own
[24350]     part--and at the same time, what ox-like coarseness! Have you
[24351]     ever read of the death of one Stepan Gleboff, in the eighteenth
[24352]     century? I read of it yesterday by chance."
[24353]     
[24354]     "Who was he?"
[24355]     
[24356]     He was impaled on a stake in the time of Peter."
[24357]     
[24358]     "I know, I know! He lay there fifteen hours in the hard frost,
[24359]     and died with the most extraordinary fortitude--I know--what of
[24360]     him?"
[24361]     
[24362]     "Only that God gives that sort of dying to some, and not to
[24363]     others. Perhaps you think, though, that I could not die like
[24364]     Gleboff?"
[24365]     
[24366]     "Not at all!" said the prince, blushing. "I was only going to
[24367]     say that you--not that you could not be like Gleboff--but that
[24368]     you would have been more like @
[24369]     
[24370]     "I guess what you mean--I should be an Osterman, not a Gleboff--
[24371]     eh? Is that what you meant?"
[24372]     
[24373]     "What Osterman?" asked the prince in some surprise.
[24374]     
[24375]     "Why, Osterman--the diplomatist. Peter's Osterman," muttered
[24376]     Hippolyte, confused. There was a moment's pause of mutual
[24377]     confusion.
[24378]     
[24379]     Oh, no, no!" said the prince at last, "that was not what I was
[24380]     going to say--oh no! I don't think you would ever have been like
[24381]     Osterman."
[24382]     
[24383]     Hippolyte frowned gloomily.
[24384]     
[24385]     "I'll tell you why I draw the conclusion," explained the prince,
[24386]     evidently desirous of clearing up the matter a little. "Because,
[24387]     though I often think over the men of those times, I cannot for
[24388]     the life of me imagine them to be like ourselves. It really
[24389]     appears to me that they were of another race altogether than
[24390]     ourselves of today. At that time people seemed to stick so to
[24391]     one idea; now, they are more nervous, more sensitive, more
[24392]     enlightened--people of two or three ideas at once--as it were.
[24393]     The man of today is a broader man, so to speak--and I declare I
[24394]     believe that is what prevents him from being so self-contained
[24395]     and independent a being as his brother of those earlier days. Of
[24396]     course my remark was only made under this impression, and not in
[24397]     the least @
[24398]     
[24399]     "I quite understand. You are trying to comfort me for the
[24400]     naiveness with which you disagreed with me--eh? Ha! ha! ha! You
[24401]     are a regular child, prince! However, I cannot help seeing that
[24402]     you always treat me like--like a fragile china cup. Never mind,
[24403]     never mind, I'm not a bit angry! At all events we have had a very
[24404]     funny talk. Do you know, all things considered, I should like to
[24405]     be something better than Osterman! I wouldn't take the trouble to
[24406]     rise from the dead to be an Osterman. However, I see I must make
[24407]     arrangements to die soon, or I myself--. Well--leave me now! Au
[24408]     revoir. Look here--before you go, just give me your opinion: how
[24409]     do you think I ought to die, now? I mean--the best, the most
[24410]     virtuous way? Tell me!"
[24411]     
[24412]     "You should pass us by and forgive us our happiness," said the
[24413]     prince in a low voice.
[24414]     
[24415]     "Ha! ha! ha! I thought so. I thought I should hear something like
[24416]     that. Well, you are--you really are--oh dear me! Eloquence,
[24417]     eloquence! Good-bye!"
[24418]     
[24419]     VI.
[24420]     
[24421]     As to the evening party at the Epanchins' at which Princess
[24422]     Bielokonski was to be present, Varia had reported with accuracy;
[24423]     though she had perhaps expressed herself too strongly.
[24424]     
[24425]     The thing was decided in a hurry and with a certain amount of
[24426]     quite unnecessary excitement, doubtless because "nothing could be
[24427]     done in this house like anywhere else."
[24428]     
[24429]     The impatience of Lizabetha Prokofievna "to get things settled"
[24430]     explained a good deal, as well as the anxiety of both parents for
[24431]     the happiness of their beloved daughter. Besides, Princess
[24432]     Bielokonski was going away soon, and they hoped that she would
[24433]     take an interest in the prince. They were anxious that he should
[24434]     enter society under the auspices of this lady, whose patronage
[24435]     was the best of recommendations for any young man.
[24436]     
[24437]     Even if there seems something strange about the match, the
[24438]     general and his wife said to each other, the "world" will accept
[24439]     Aglaya's fiance without any question if he is under the patronage
[24440]     of the princess. In any case, the prince would have to be "shown"
[24441]     sooner or later; that is, introduced into society, of which he
[24442]     had, so far, not the least idea. Moreover, it was only a question
[24443]     of a small gathering of a few intimate friends. Besides Princess
[24444]     Bielokonski, only one other lady was expected, the wife of a high
[24445]     dignitary. Evgenie Pavlovitch, who was to escort the princess,
[24446]     was the only young man.
[24447]     
[24448]     Muishkin was told of the princess's visit three days beforehand,
[24449]     but nothing was said to him about the party until the night
[24450]     before it was to take place.
[24451]     
[24452]     He could not help observing the excited and agitated condition of
[24453]     all members of the family, and from certain hints dropped in
[24454]     conversation he gathered that they were all anxious as to the
[24455]     impression he should make upon the princess. But the Epanchins,
[24456]     one and all, believed that Muishkin, in his simplicity of mind,
[24457]     was quite incapable of realizing that they could be feeling any
[24458]     anxiety on his account, and for this reason they all looked at
[24459]     him with dread and uneasiness.
[24460]     
[24461]     In point of fact, he did attach marvellously little importance to
[24462]     the approaching event. He was occupied with altogether different
[24463]     thoughts. Aglaya was growing hourly more capricious and gloomy,
[24464]     and this distressed him. When they told him that Evgenie
[24465]     Pavlovitch was expected, he evinced great delight, and said that
[24466]     he had long wished to see him--and somehow these words did not
[24467]     please anyone.
[24468]     
[24469]     Aglaya left the room in a fit of irritation, and it was not until
[24470]     late in the evening, past eleven, when the prince was taking his
[24471]     departure, that she said a word or two to him, privately, as she
[24472]     accompanied him as far as the front door.
[24473]     
[24474]     "I should like you," she said, "not to come here tomorrow until
[24475]     evening, when the guests are all assembled. You know there are to
[24476]     be guests, don't you?"
[24477]     
[24478]     She spoke impatiently and with severity; this was the first
[24479]     allusion she had made to the party of tomorrow.
[24480]     
[24481]     She hated the idea of it, everyone saw that; and she would
[24482]     probably have liked to quarrel about it with her parents, but
[24483]     pride and modesty prevented her from broaching the subject.
[24484]     
[24485]     The prince jumped to the conclusion that Aglaya, too, was nervous
[24486]     about him, and the impression he would make, and that she did not
[24487]     like to admit her anxiety; and this thought alarmed him.
[24488]     
[24489]     "Yes, I am invited," he replied.
[24490]     
[24491]     She was evidently in difficulties as to how best to go on. "May I
[24492]     speak of something serious to you, for once in my life?" she
[24493]     asked, angrily. She was irritated at she knew not what, and could
[24494]     not restrain her wrath.
[24495]     
[24496]     "Of course you may; I am very glad to listen," replied Muishkin.
[24497]     
[24498]     Aglaya was silent a moment and then began again with evident
[24499]     dislike of her subject:
[24500]     
[24501]     "I do not wish to quarrel with them about this; in some things
[24502]     they won't be reasonable. I always did feel a loathing for the
[24503]     laws which seem to guide mamma's conduct at times. I don't speak
[24504]     of father, for he cannot be expected to be anything but what he
[24505]     is. Mother is a noble-minded woman, I know; you try to suggest
[24506]     anything mean to her, and you'll see! But she is such a slave to
[24507]     these miserable creatures! I don't mean old Bielokonski alone.
[24508]     She is a contemptible old thing, but she is able to twist people
[24509]     round her little finger, and I admire that in her, at all events!
[24510]     How mean it all is, and how foolish! We were always middle-class,
[24511]     thoroughly middle-class, people. Why should we attempt to climb
[24512]     into the giddy heights of the fashionable world? My sisters are
[24513]     all for it. It's Prince S. they have to thank for poisoning their
[24514]     minds. Why are you so glad that Evgenie Pavlovitch is coming?"
[24515]     
[24516]     "Listen to me, Aglaya," said the prince, "I do believe you are
[24517]     nervous lest I shall make a fool of myself tomorrow at your
[24518]     party?"
[24519]     
[24520]     "Nervous about you?" Aglaya blushed. "Why should I be nervous
[24521]     about you? What would it matter to me if you were to make ever
[24522]     such a fool of yourself? How can you say such a thing? What do
[24523]     you mean by 'making a fool of yourself'? What a vulgar
[24524]     expression! I suppose you intend to talk in that sort of way
[24525]     tomorrow evening? Look up a few more such expressions in your
[24526]     dictionary; do, you'll make a grand effect! I'm sorry that you
[24527]     seem to be able to come into a room as gracefully as you do;
[24528]     where did you learn the art? Do you think you can drink a cup of
[24529]     tea decently, when you know everybody is looking at you, on
[24530]     purpose to see how you do it?"
[24531]     
[24532]     "Yes, I think I can."
[24533]     
[24534]     "Can you? I'm sorry for it then, for I should have had a good
[24535]     laugh at you otherwise. Do break SOMETHING at least, in the
[24536]     drawing-room! Upset the Chinese vase, won't you? It's a valuable
[24537]     one; DO break it. Mamma values it, and she'll go out of her
[24538]     mind--it was a present. She'll cry before everyone, you'll see! Wave
[24539]     your hand about, you know, as you always do, and just smash it.
[24540]     Sit down near it on purpose."
[24541]     
[24542]     "On the contrary, I shall sit as far from it as I can. Thanks for
[24543]     the hint."
[24544]     
[24545]     "Ha, ha! Then you are afraid you WILL wave your arms about! I
[24546]     wouldn't mind betting that you'll talk about some lofty subject,
[24547]     something serious and learned. How delightful, how tactful that
[24548]     will be!"
[24549]     
[24550]     "I should think it would be very foolish indeed, unless it
[24551]     happened to come in appropriately."
[24552]     
[24553]     "Look here, once for all," cried Aglaya, boiling over, "if I hear
[24554]     you talking about capital punishment, or the economical condition
[24555]     of Russia, or about Beauty redeeming the world, or anything of
[24556]     that sort, I'll--well, of course I shall laugh and seem very
[24557]     pleased, but I warn you beforehand, don't look me in the face
[24558]     again! I'm serious now, mind, this time I AM REALLY serious." She
[24559]     certainly did say this very seriously, so much so, that she
[24560]     looked quite different from what she usually was, and the prince
[24561]     could not help noticing the fact. She did not seem to be joking
[24562]     in the slightest degree.
[24563]     
[24564]     "Well, you've put me into such a fright that I shall certainly
[24565]     make a fool of myself, and very likely break something too. I
[24566]     wasn't a bit alarmed before, but now I'm as nervous as can be."
[24567]     
[24568]     "Then don't speak at all. Sit still and don't talk."
[24569]     
[24570]     "Oh, I can't do that, you know! I shall say something foolish out
[24571]     of pure 'funk,' and break something for the same excellent
[24572]     reason; I know I shall. Perhaps I shall slip and fall on the
[24573]     slippery floor; I've done that before now, you know. I shall
[24574]     dream of it all night now. Why did you say anything about it?"
[24575]     
[24576]     Aglaya looked blackly at him.
[24577]     
[24578]     "Do you know what, I had better not come at all tomorrow! I'll
[24579]     plead sick-list and stay away," said the prince, with decision.
[24580]     
[24581]     Aglaya stamped her foot, and grew quite pale with anger.
[24582]     
[24583]     Oh, my goodness! Just listen to that! 'Better not come,' when the
[24584]     party is on purpose for him! Good Lord! What a delightful thing
[24585]     it is to have to do with such a--such a stupid as you are!"
[24586]     
[24587]     "Well, I'll come, I'll come," interrupted the prince, hastily,
[24588]     "and I'll give you my word of honour that I will sit the whole
[24589]     evening and not say a word."
[24590]     
[24591]     "I believe that's the best thing you can do. You said you'd
[24592]     'plead sick-list' just now; where in the world do you get hold of
[24593]     such expressions? Why do you talk to me like this? Are you trying
[24594]     to irritate me, or what?"
[24595]     
[24596]     "Forgive me, it's a schoolboy expression. I won't do it again. I
[24597]     know quite well, I see it, that you are anxious on my account
[24598]     (now, don't be angry), and it makes me very happy to see it. You
[24599]     wouldn't believe how frightened I am of misbehaving somehow, and
[24600]     how glad I am of your instructions. But all this panic is simply
[24601]     nonsense, you know, Aglaya! I give you my word it is; I am so
[24602]     pleased that you are such a child, such a dear good child. How
[24603]     CHARMING you can be if you like, Aglaya."
[24604]     
[24605]     Aglaya wanted to be angry, of course, but suddenly some quite
[24606]     unexpected feeling seized upon her heart, all in a moment.
[24607]     
[24608]     "And you won't reproach me for all these rude words of mine--some
[24609]     day--afterwards?" she asked, of a sudden.
[24610]     
[24611]     "What an idea! Of course not. And what are you blushing for
[24612]     again? And there comes that frown once more! You've taken to
[24613]     looking too gloomy sometimes, Aglaya, much more than you used to.
[24614]     I know why it is."
[24615]     
[24616]     "Be quiet, do be quiet!"
[24617]     
[24618]     "No, no, I had much better speak out. I have long wished to say
[24619]     it, and HAVE said it, but that's not enough, for you didn't
[24620]     believe me. Between us two there stands a being who--"
[24621]     
[24622]     "Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet!" Aglaya struck in,
[24623]     suddenly, seizing his hand in hers, and gazing at him almost in
[24624]     terror.
[24625]     
[24626]     At this moment she was called by someone. She broke loose from
[24627]     him with an air of relief and ran away.
[24628]     
[24629]     The prince was in a fever all night. It was strange, but he had
[24630]     suffered from fever for several nights in succession. On this
[24631]     particular night, while in semi-delirium, he had an idea: what if
[24632]     on the morrow he were to have a fit before everybody? The thought
[24633]     seemed to freeze his blood within him. All night he fancied
[24634]     himself in some extraordinary society of strange persons. The
[24635]     worst of it was that he was talking nonsense; he knew that he
[24636]     ought not to speak at all, and yet he talked the whole time; he
[24637]     seemed to be trying to persuade them all to something. Evgenie
[24638]     and Hippolyte were among the guests, and appeared to be great
[24639]     friends.
[24640]     
[24641]     He awoke towards nine o'clock with a headache, full of confused
[24642]     ideas and strange impressions. For some reason or other he felt
[24643]     most anxious to see Rogojin, to see and talk to him, but what he
[24644]     wished to say he could not tell. Next, he determined to go and
[24645]     see Hippolyte. His mind was in a confused state, so much so that
[24646]     the incidents of the morning seemed to be imperfectly realized,
[24647]     though acutely felt.
[24648]     
[24649]     One of these incidents was a visit from Lebedeff. Lebedeff came
[24650]     rather early--before ten--but he was tipsy already. Though the
[24651]     prince was not in an observant condition, yet he could not avoid
[24652]     seeing that for at least three days--ever since General Ivolgin
[24653]     had left the house Lebedeff had been behaving very badly. He
[24654]     looked untidy and dirty at all times of the day, and it was said
[24655]     that he had begun to rage about in his own house, and that his
[24656]     temper was very bad. As soon as he arrived this morning, he began
[24657]     to hold forth, beating his breast and apparently blaming himself
[24658]     for something.
[24659]     
[24660]     "I've--I've had a reward for my meanness--I've had a slap in the
[24661]     face," he concluded, tragically.
[24662]     
[24663]     "A slap in the face? From whom? And so early in the morning?"
[24664]     
[24665]     "Early?" said Lebedeff, sarcastically. "Time counts for nothing,
[24666]     even in physical chastisement; but my slap in the face was not
[24667]     physical, it was moral."
[24668]     
[24669]     He suddenly took a seat, very unceremoniously, and began his
[24670]     story. It was very disconnected; the prince frowned, and wished
[24671]     he could get away; but suddenly a few words struck him. He sat
[24672]     stiff with wonder--Lebedeff said some extraordinary things.
[24673]     
[24674]     In the first place he began about some letter; the name of Aglaya
[24675]     Ivanovna came in. Then suddenly he broke off and began to accuse
[24676]     the prince of something; he was apparently offended with him. At
[24677]     first he declared that the prince had trusted him with his
[24678]     confidences as to "a certain person" (Nastasia Philipovna), but
[24679]     that of late his friendship had been thrust back into his bosom,
[24680]     and his innocent question as to "approaching family changes" had
[24681]     been curtly put aside, which Lebedeff declared, with tipsy tears,
[24682]     he could not bear; especially as he knew so much already both
[24683]     from Rogojin and Nastasia Philipovna and her friend, and from
[24684]     Varvara Ardalionovna, and even from Aglaya Ivanovna, through his
[24685]     daughter Vera. "And who told Lizabetha Prokofievna something in
[24686]     secret, by letter? Who told her all about the movements of a
[24687]     certain person called Nastasia Philipovna? Who was the anonymous
[24688]     person, eh? Tell me!"
[24689]     
[24690]     "Surely not you?" cried the prince.
[24691]     
[24692]     "Just so," said Lebedeff, with dignity; "and only this very
[24693]     morning I have sent up a letter to the noble lady, stating that I
[24694]     have a matter of great importance to communicate. She received
[24695]     the letter; I know she got it; and she received ME, too."
[24696]     
[24697]     "Have you just seen Lizabetha Prokofievna?" asked the prince,
[24698]     scarcely believing his ears.
[24699]     
[24700]     "Yes, I saw her, and got the said slap in the face as mentioned.
[24701]     She chucked the letter back to me unopened, and kicked me out of
[24702]     the house, morally, not physically, although not far off it."
[24703]     
[24704]     "What letter do you mean she returned unopened?"
[24705]     
[24706]     "What! didn't I tell you? Ha, ha, ha! I thought I had. Why, I
[24707]     received a letter, you know, to be handed over--"From whom? To
[24708]     whom?"
[24709]     
[24710]     But it was difficult, if not impossible, to extract anything from
[24711]     Lebedeff. All the prince could gather was, that the letter had
[24712]     been received very early, and had a request written on the
[24713]     outside that it might be sent on to the address given.
[24714]     
[24715]     "Just as before, sir, just as before! To a certain person, and
[24716]     from a certain hand. The individual's name who wrote the letter
[24717]     is to be represented by the letter A.--"
[24718]     
[24719]     "What? Impossible! To Nastasia Philipovna? Nonsense!" cried the
[24720]     prince.
[24721]     
[24722]     "It was, I assure you, and if not to her then to Rogojin, which
[24723]     is the same thing. Mr. Hippolyte has had letters, too, and all
[24724]     from the individual whose name begins with an A.," smirked
[24725]     Lebedeff, with a hideous grin.
[24726]     
[24727]     As he kept jumping from subject to subject, and forgetting what
[24728]     he had begun to talk about, the prince said nothing, but waited,
[24729]     to give him time.
[24730]     
[24731]     It was all very vague. Who had taken the letters, if letters
[24732]     there were? Probably Vera--and how could Lebedeff have got them?
[24733]     In all probability, he had managed to steal the present letter
[24734]     from Vera, and had himself gone over to Lizabetha Prokofievna
[24735]     with some idea in his head. So the prince concluded at last.
[24736]     
[24737]     "You are mad!" he cried, indignantly.
[24738]     
[24739]     "Not quite, esteemed prince," replied Lebedeff, with some
[24740]     acerbity. "I confess I thought of doing you the service of
[24741]     handing the letter over to yourself, but I decided that it would
[24742]     pay me better to deliver it up to the noble lady aforesaid, as I
[24743]     had informed her of everything hitherto by anonymous letters; so
[24744]     when I sent her up a note from myself, with the letter, you know,
[24745]     in order to fix a meeting for eight o'clock this morning, I
[24746]     signed it 'your secret correspondent.' They let me in at once--
[24747]     very quickly--by the back door, and the noble lady received me."
[24748]     
[24749]     "Well? Go on."
[24750]     
[24751]     "Oh, well, when I saw her she almost punched my head, as I say;
[24752]     in fact so nearly that one might almost say she did punch my
[24753]     head. She threw the letter in my face; she seemed to reflect
[24754]     first, as if she would have liked to keep it, but thought better
[24755]     of it and threw it in my face instead. 'If anybody can have been
[24756]     such a fool as to trust a man like you to deliver the letter,'
[24757]     says she,' take it and deliver it! 'Hey! she was grandly
[24758]     indignant. A fierce, fiery lady that, sir!"
[24759]     
[24760]     "Where's the letter now?"
[24761]     
[24762]     "Oh, I've still got it, here!"
[24763]     
[24764]     And he handed the prince the very letter from Aglaya to Gania,
[24765]     which the latter showed with so much triumph to his Sister at a
[24766]     later hour.
[24767]     
[24768]     "This letter cannot be allowed to remain in your hands."
[24769]     
[24770]     "It's for you--for you! I've brought it you on purpose!" cried
[24771]     Lebedeff, excitedly. "Why, I'm yours again now, heart and hand,
[24772]     your slave; there was but a momentary pause in the flow of my
[24773]     love and esteem for you. Mea culpa, mea culpa! as the Pope of
[24774]     Rome says.
[24775]     
[24776]     "This letter should be sent on at once," said the prince,
[24777]     disturbed. "I'll hand it over myself."
[24778]     
[24779]     "Wouldn't it be better, esteemed prince, wouldn't it be better--
[24780]     to--don't you know--"
[24781]     
[24782]     Lebedeff made a strange and very expressive grimace; he twisted
[24783]     about in his chair, and did something, apparently symbolical,
[24784]     with his hands.
[24785]     
[24786]     "What do you mean?" said the prince.
[24787]     
[24788]     "Why, open it, for the time being, don't you know?" he said, most
[24789]     confidentially and mysteriously.
[24790]     
[24791]     The prince jumped up so furiously that Lebedeff ran towards the
[24792]     door; having gained which strategic position, however, he stopped
[24793]     and looked back to see if he might hope for pardon.
[24794]     
[24795]     "Oh, Lebedeff, Lebedeff! Can a man really sink to such depths of
[24796]     meanness?" said the prince, sadly.
[24797]     
[24798]     Lebedeff's face brightened.
[24799]     
[24800]     "Oh, I'm a mean wretch--a mean wretch!" he said, approaching the
[24801]     prince once more, and beating his breast, with tears in his eyes.
[24802]     
[24803]     "It's abominable dishonesty, you know!"
[24804]     
[24805]     "Dishonesty--it is, it is! That's the very word!"
[24806]     
[24807]     "What in the world induces you to act so? You are nothing but a
[24808]     spy. Why did you write anonymously to worry so noble and generous
[24809]     a lady? Why should not Aglaya Ivanovna write a note to whomever
[24810]     she pleases? What did you mean to complain of today? What did
[24811]     you expect to get by it? What made you go at all?"
[24812]     
[24813]     "Pure amiable curiosity,--I assure you--desire to do a service.
[24814]     That's all. Now I'm entirely yours again, your slave; hang me if
[24815]     you like!"
[24816]     
[24817]     "Did you go before Lizabetha Prokofievna in your present
[24818]     condition?" inquired the prince.
[24819]     
[24820]     "No--oh no, fresher--more the correct card. I only became this
[24821]     like after the humiliation I suffered there,
[24822]     
[24823]     "Well--that'll do; now leave me."
[24824]     
[24825]     This injunction had to be repeated several times before the man
[24826]     could be persuaded to move. Even then he turned back at the door,
[24827]     came as far as the middle of the room, and there went through his
[24828]     mysterious motions designed to convey the suggestion that the
[24829]     prince should open the letter. He did not dare put his suggestion
[24830]     into words again.
[24831]     
[24832]     After this performance, he smiled sweetly and left the room on
[24833]     tiptoe.
[24834]     
[24835]     All this had been very painful to listen to. One fact stood out
[24836]     certain and clear, and that was that poor Aglaya must be in a
[24837]     state of great distress and indecision and mental torment ("from
[24838]     jealousy," the prince whispered to himself). Undoubtedly in this
[24839]     inexperienced, but hot and proud little head, there were all
[24840]     sorts of plans forming, wild and impossible plans, maybe; and the
[24841]     idea of this so frightened the prince that he could not make up
[24842]     his mind what to do. Something must be done, that was clear.
[24843]     
[24844]     He looked at the address on the letter once more. Oh, he was not
[24845]     in the least degree alarmed about Aglaya writing such a letter;
[24846]     he could trust her. What he did not like about it was that he
[24847]     could not trust Gania.
[24848]     
[24849]     However, he made up his mind that he would himself take the note
[24850]     and deliver it. Indeed, he went so far as to leave the house and
[24851]     walk up the road, but changed his mind when he had nearly reached
[24852]     Ptitsin's door. However, he there luckily met Colia, and
[24853]     commissioned him to deliver the letter to his brother as if
[24854]     direct from Aglaya. Colia asked no questions but simply delivered
[24855]     it, and Gania consequently had no suspicion that it had passed
[24856]     through so many hands.
[24857]     
[24858]     Arrived home again, the prince sent for Vera Lebedeff and told
[24859]     her as much as was necessary, in order to relieve her mind, for
[24860]     she had been in a dreadful state of anxiety since she had missed
[24861]     the letter. She heard with horror that her father had taken it.
[24862]     Muishkin learned from her that she had on several occasions
[24863]     performed secret missions both for Aglaya and for Rogojin,
[24864]     without, however, having had the slightest idea that in so doing
[24865]     she might injure the prince in any way.
[24866]     
[24867]     The latter, with one thing and another, was now so disturbed and
[24868]     confused, that when, a couple of hours or so later, a message
[24869]     came from Colia that the general was ill, he could hardly take
[24870]     the news in.
[24871]     
[24872]     However, when he did master the fact, it acted upon him as a
[24873]     tonic by completely distracting his attention. He went at once to
[24874]     Nina Alexandrovna's, whither the general had been carried, and
[24875]     stayed there until the evening. He could do no good, but there
[24876]     are people whom to have near one is a blessing at such times.
[24877]     Colia was in an almost hysterical state; he cried continuously,
[24878]     but was running about all day, all the same; fetching doctors, of
[24879]     whom he collected three; going to the chemist's, and so on.
[24880]     
[24881]     The general was brought round to some extent, but the doctors
[24882]     declared that he could not be said to be out of danger. Varia and
[24883]     Nina Alexandrovna never left the sick man's bedside; Gania was
[24884]     excited and distressed, but would not go upstairs, and seemed
[24885]     afraid to look at the patient. He wrung his hands when the prince
[24886]     spoke to him, and said that "such a misfortune at such a moment"
[24887]     was terrible.
[24888]     
[24889]     The prince thought he knew what Gania meant by "such a moment."
[24890]     
[24891]     Hippolyte was not in the house. Lebedeff turned up late in the
[24892]     afternoon; he had been asleep ever since his interview with the
[24893]     prince in the morning. He was quite sober now, and cried with
[24894]     real sincerity over the sick general--mourning for him as though
[24895]     he were his own brother. He blamed himself aloud, but did not
[24896]     explain why. He repeated over and over again to Nina Alexandrovna
[24897]     that he alone was to blame--no one else--but that he had acted
[24898]     out of "pure amiable curiosity," and that "the deceased," as he
[24899]     insisted upon calling the still living general, had been the
[24900]     greatest of geniuses.
[24901]     
[24902]     He laid much stress on the genius of the sufferer, as if this
[24903]     idea must be one of immense solace in the present crisis.
[24904]     
[24905]     Nina Alexandrovna--seeing his sincerity of feeling--said at last,
[24906]     and without the faintest suspicion of reproach in her voice:
[24907]     "Come, come--don't cry! God will forgive you!"
[24908]     
[24909]     Lebedeff was so impressed by these words, and the tone in which
[24910]     they were spoken, that he could not leave Nina Alexandrovna all
[24911]     the evening--in fact, for several days. Till the general's death,
[24912]     indeed, he spent almost all his time at his side.
[24913]     
[24914]     Twice during the day a messenger came to Nina Alexandrovna from
[24915]     the Epanchins to inquire after the invalid.
[24916]     
[24917]     When--late in the evening--the prince made his appearance in
[24918]     Lizabetha Prokofievna's drawing-room, he found it full of guests.
[24919]     Mrs. Epanchin questioned him very fully about the general as soon
[24920]     as he appeared; and when old Princess Bielokonski wished to know
[24921]     "who this general was, and who was Nina Alexandrovna," she
[24922]     proceeded to explain in a manner which pleased the prince very
[24923]     much.
[24924]     
[24925]     He himself, when relating the circumstances of the general's
[24926]     illness to Lizabetha Prokofievna, "spoke beautifully," as
[24927]     Aglaya's sisters declared afterwards--"modestly, quietly, without
[24928]     gestures or too many words, and with great dignity." He had
[24929]     entered the room with propriety and grace, and he was perfectly
[24930]     dressed; he not only did not "fall down on the slippery floor,"
[24931]     as he had expressed it, but evidently made a very favourable
[24932]     impression upon the assembled guests.
[24933]     
[24934]     As for his own impression on entering the room and taking his
[24935]     seat, he instantly remarked that the company was not in the least
[24936]     such as Aglaya's words had led him to fear, and as he had dreamed
[24937]     of--in nightmare form--all night.
[24938]     
[24939]     This was the first time in his life that he had seen a little
[24940]     corner of what was generally known by the terrible name of
[24941]     "society." He had long thirsted, for reasons of his own, to
[24942]     penetrate the mysteries of the magic circle, and, therefore, this
[24943]     assemblage was of the greatest possible interest to him.
[24944]     
[24945]     His first impression was one of fascination. Somehow or other he
[24946]     felt that all these people must have been born on purpose to be
[24947]     together! It seemed to him that the Epanchins were not having a
[24948]     party at all; that these people must have been here always, and
[24949]     that he himself was one of them--returned among them after a long
[24950]     absence, but one of them, naturally and indisputably.
[24951]     
[24952]     It never struck him that all this refined simplicity and nobility
[24953]     and wit and personal dignity might possibly be no more than an
[24954]     exquisite artistic polish. The majority of the guests--who were
[24955]     somewhat empty-headed, after all, in spite of their aristocratic
[24956]     bearing--never guessed, in their self-satisfied composure, that
[24957]     much of their superiority was mere veneer, which indeed they had
[24958]     adopted unconsciously and by inheritance.
[24959]     
[24960]     The prince would never so much as suspect such a thing in the
[24961]     delight of his first impression.
[24962]     
[24963]     He saw, for instance, that one important dignitary, old enough to
[24964]     be his grandfather, broke off his own conversation in order to
[24965]     listen to HIM--a young and inexperienced man; and not only
[24966]     listened, but seemed to attach value to his opinion, and was kind
[24967]     and amiable, and yet they were strangers and had never seen each
[24968]     other before. Perhaps what most appealed to the prince's
[24969]     impressionability was the refinement of the old man's courtesy
[24970]     towards him. Perhaps the soil of his susceptible nature was
[24971]     really predisposed to receive a pleasant impression.
[24972]     
[24973]     Meanwhile all these people-though friends of the family and of
[24974]     each other to a certain extent--were very far from being such
[24975]     intimate friends of the family and of each other as the prince
[24976]     concluded. There were some present who never would think of
[24977]     considering the Epanchins their equals. There were even some who
[24978]     hated one another cordially. For instance, old Princess
[24979]     Bielokonski had all her life despised the wife of the
[24980]     "dignitary," while the latter was very far from loving Lizabetha
[24981]     Prokofievna. The dignitary himself had been General Epanchin's
[24982]     protector from his youth up; and the general considered him so
[24983]     majestic a personage that he would have felt a hearty contempt
[24984]     for himself if he had even for one moment allowed himself to pose
[24985]     as the great man's equal, or to think of him--in his fear and
[24986]     reverence-as anything less than an Olympic God! There were others
[24987]     present who had not met for years, and who had no feeling
[24988]     whatever for each other, unless it were dislike; and yet they met
[24989]     tonight as though they had seen each other but yesterday in some
[24990]     friendly and intimate assembly of kindred spirits.
[24991]     
[24992]     It was not a large party, however. Besides Princess Bielokonski
[24993]     and the old dignitary (who was really a great man) and his wife,
[24994]     there was an old military general--a count or baron with a German
[24995]     name, a man reputed to possess great knowledge and administrative
[24996]     ability. He was one of those Olympian administrators who know
[24997]     everything except Russia, pronounce a word of extraordinary
[24998]     wisdom, admired by all, about once in five years, and, after
[24999]     being an eternity in the service, generally die full of honour
[25000]     and riches, though they have never done anything great, and have
[25001]     even been hostile to all greatness. This general was Ivan
[25002]     Fedorovitch's immediate superior in the service; and it pleased
[25003]     the latter to look upon him also as a patron. On the other hand,
[25004]     the great man did not at all consider himself Epanchin's patron.
[25005]     He was always very cool to him, while taking advantage of his
[25006]     ready services, and would instantly have put another in his place
[25007]     if there had been the slightest reason for the change.
[25008]     
[25009]     Another guest was an elderly, important-looking gentleman, a
[25010]     distant relative of Lizabetha Prokofievna's. This gentleman was
[25011]     rich, held a good position, was a great talker, and had the
[25012]     reputation of being "one of the dissatisfied," though not
[25013]     belonging to the dangerous sections of that class. He had the
[25014]     manners, to some extent, of the English aristocracy, and some of
[25015]     their tastes (especially in the matter of under-done roast beef,
[25016]     harness, men-servants, etc.). He was a great friend of the
[25017]     dignitary's, and Lizabetha Prokofievna, for some reason or other,
[25018]     had got hold of the idea that this worthy intended at no distant
[25019]     date to offer the advantages of his hand and heart to Alexandra.
[25020]     
[25021]     Besides the elevated and more solid individuals enumerated, there
[25022]     were present a few younger though not less elegant guests.
[25023]     Besides Prince S. and Evgenie Pavlovitch, we must name the
[25024]     eminent and fascinating Prince N.--once the vanquisher of female
[25025]     hearts all over Europe. This gentleman was no longer in the first
[25026]     bloom of youth--he was forty-five, but still very handsome. He
[25027]     was well off, and lived, as a rule, abroad, and was noted as a
[25028]     good teller of stories. Then came a few guests belonging to a
[25029]     lower stratum of society--people who, like the Epanchins
[25030]     themselves, moved only occasionally in this exalted sphere. The
[25031]     Epanchins liked to draft among their more elevated guests a few
[25032]     picked representatives of this lower stratum, and Lizabetha
[25033]     Prokofievna received much praise for this practice, which proved,
[25034]     her friends said, that she was a woman of tact. The Epanchins
[25035]     prided themselves upon the good opinion people held of them.
[25036]     
[25037]     One of the representatives of the middle-class present today was
[25038]     a colonel of engineers, a very serious man and a great friend of
[25039]     Prince S., who had introduced him to the Epanchins. He was
[25040]     extremely silent in society, and displayed on the forefinger of
[25041]     his right hand a large ring, probably bestowed upon him for
[25042]     services of some sort. There was also a poet, German by name, but
[25043]     a Russian poet; very presentable, and even handsome-the sort of
[25044]     man one could bring into society with impunity. This gentleman
[25045]     belonged to a German family of decidedly bourgeois origin, but he
[25046]     had a knack of acquiring the patronage of "big-wigs," and of
[25047]     retaining their favour. He had translated some great German poem
[25048]     into Russian verse, and claimed to have been a friend of a famous
[25049]     Russian poet, since dead. (It is strange how great a multitude of
[25050]     literary people there are who have had the advantages of
[25051]     friendship with some great man of their own profession who is,
[25052]     unfortunately, dead.) The dignitary's wife had introduced this
[25053]     worthy to the Epanchins. This lady posed as the patroness of
[25054]     literary people, and she certainly had succeeded in obtaining
[25055]     pensions for a few of them, thanks to her influence with those in
[25056]     authority on such matters. She was a lady of weight in her own
[25057]     way. Her age was about forty-five, so that she was a very young
[25058]     wife for such an elderly husband as the dignitary. She had been a
[25059]     beauty in her day and still loved, as many ladies of forty-five
[25060]     do love, to dress a little too smartly. Her intellect was nothing
[25061]     to boast of, and her literary knowledge very doubtful. Literary
[25062]     patronage was, however, with her as much a mania as was the love
[25063]     of gorgeous clothes. Many books and translations were dedicated
[25064]     to her by her proteges, and a few of these talented individuals
[25065]     had published some of their own letters to her, upon very weighty
[25066]     subjects.
[25067]     
[25068]     This, then, was the society that the prince accepted at once as
[25069]     true coin, as pure gold without alloy.
[25070]     
[25071]     It so happened, however, that on this particular evening all
[25072]     these good people were in excellent humour and highly pleased
[25073]     with themselves. Every one of them felt that they were doing the
[25074]     Epanchins the greatest possible honour by their presence. But
[25075]     alas! the prince never suspected any such subtleties! For
[25076]     instance, he had no suspicion of the fact that the Epanchins,
[25077]     having in their mind so important a step as the marriage of their
[25078]     daughter, would never think of presuming to take it without
[25079]     having previously "shown off" the proposed husband to the
[25080]     dignitary--the recognized patron of the family. The latter, too,
[25081]     though he would probably have received news of a great disaster
[25082]     to the Epanchin family with perfect composure, would nevertheless
[25083]     have considered it a personal offence if they had dared to marry
[25084]     their daughter without his advice, or we might almost say, his
[25085]     leave.
[25086]     
[25087]     The amiable and undoubtedly witty Prince N. could not but feel
[25088]     that he was as a sun, risen for one night only to shine upon the
[25089]     Epanchin drawing-room. He accounted them immeasurably his
[25090]     inferiors, and it was this feeling which caused his special
[25091]     amiability and delightful ease and grace towards them. He knew
[25092]     very well that he must tell some story this evening for the
[25093]     edification of the company, and led up to it with the inspiration
[25094]     of anticipatory triumph.
[25095]     
[25096]     The prince, when he heard the story afterwards, felt that he had
[25097]     never yet come across so wonderful a humorist, or such remarkable
[25098]     brilliancy as was shown by this man; and yet if he had only known
[25099]     it, this story was the oldest, stalest, and most worn-out yarn,
[25100]     and every drawing-room in town was sick to death of it. It was
[25101]     only in the innocent Epanchin household that it passed for a new
[25102]     and brilliant tale--as a sudden and striking reminiscence of a
[25103]     splendid and talented man.
[25104]     
[25105]     Even the German poet, though as amiable as possible, felt that he
[25106]     was doing the house the greatest of honours by his presence in
[25107]     it.
[25108]     
[25109]     But the prince only looked at the bright side; he did not turn
[25110]     the coat and see the shabby lining.
[25111]     
[25112]     Aglaya had not foreseen that particular calamity. She herself
[25113]     looked wonderfully beautiful this evening. All three sisters were
[25114]     dressed very tastefully, and their hair was done with special
[25115]     care.
[25116]     
[25117]     Aglaya sat next to Evgenie Pavlovitch, and laughed and talked to
[25118]     him with an unusual display of friendliness. Evgenie himself
[25119]     behaved rather more sedately than usual, probably out of respect
[25120]     to the dignitary. Evgenie had been known in society for a long
[25121]     while. He had appeared at the Epanchins' today with crape on his
[25122]     hat, and Princess Bielokonski had commended this action on his
[25123]     part. Not every society man would have worn crape for "such an
[25124]     uncle." Lizabetha Prokofievna had liked it also, but was too
[25125]     preoccupied to take much notice. The prince remarked that Aglaya
[25126]     looked attentively at him two or three times, and seemed to be
[25127]     satisfied with his behaviour.
[25128]     
[25129]     Little by little he became very happy indeed. All his late
[25130]     anxieties and apprehensions (after his conversation with
[25131]     Lebedeff) now appeared like so many bad dreams--impossible, and
[25132]     even laughable.
[25133]     
[25134]     He did not speak much, only answering such questions as were put
[25135]     to him, and gradually settled down into unbroken silence,
[25136]     listening to what went on, and steeped in perfect satisfaction
[25137]     and contentment.
[25138]     
[25139]     Little by little a sort of inspiration, however, began to stir
[25140]     within him, ready to spring into life at the right moment. When
[25141]     he did begin to speak, it was accidentally, in response to a
[25142]     question, and apparently without any special object.
[25143]     
[25144]     VII.
[25145]     
[25146]     WHILE he feasted his eyes upon Aglaya, as she talked merrily with
[25147]     Evgenie and Prince N., suddenly the old anglomaniac, who was
[25148]     talking to the dignitary in another corner of the room,
[25149]     apparently telling him a story about something or other--suddenly
[25150]     this gentleman pronounced the name of "Nicolai Andreevitch
[25151]     Pavlicheff" aloud. The prince quickly turned towards him, and
[25152]     listened.
[25153]     
[25154]     The conversation had been on the subject of land, and the present
[25155]     disorders, and there must have been something amusing said, for
[25156]     the old man had begun to laugh at his companion's heated
[25157]     expressions.
[25158]     
[25159]     The latter was describing in eloquent words how, in consequence
[25160]     of recent legislation, he was obliged to sell a beautiful estate
[25161]     in the N. province, not because he wanted ready money--in
[25162]     fact, he was obliged to sell it at half its value. "To avoid
[25163]     another lawsuit about the Pavlicheff estate, I ran away," he
[25164]     said. "With a few more inheritances of that kind I should soon be
[25165]     ruined!"
[25166]     
[25167]     At this point General Epanchin, noticing how interested Muishkin
[25168]     had become in the conversation, said to him, in a low tone:
[25169]     
[25170]     "That gentleman--Ivan Petrovitch--is a relation of your late
[25171]     friend, Mr. Pavlicheff. You wanted to find some of his relations,
[25172]     did you not?"
[25173]     
[25174]     The general, who had been talking to his chief up to this moment,
[25175]     had observed the prince's solitude and silence, and was anxious
[25176]     to draw him into the conversation, and so introduce him again to
[25177]     the notice of some of the important personages.
[25178]     
[25179]     "Lef Nicolaievitch was a ward of Nicolai Andreevitch Pavlicheff,
[25180]     after the death of his own parents," he remarked, meeting Ivan
[25181]     Petrovitch's eye.
[25182]     
[25183]     "Very happy to meet him, I'm sure," remarked the latter. "I
[25184]     remember Lef Nicolaievitch well. When General Epanchin introduced
[25185]     us just now, I recognized you at once, prince. You are very
[25186]     little changed, though I saw you last as a child of some ten or
[25187]     eleven years old. There was something in your features, I
[25188]     suppose, that--"
[25189]     
[25190]     "You saw me as a child!" exclaimed the prince, with surprise.
[25191]     
[25192]     "Oh! yes, long ago," continued Ivan Petrovitch, "while you were
[25193]     living with my cousin at Zlatoverhoff. You don't remember me? No,
[25194]     I dare say you don't; you had some malady at the time, I
[25195]     remember. It was so serious that I was surprised--"
[25196]     
[25197]     "No; I remember nothing!" said the prince. A few more words of
[25198]     explanation followed, words which were spoken without the
[25199]     smallest excitement by his companion, but which evoked the
[25200]     greatest agitation in the prince; and it was discovered that two
[25201]     old ladies to whose care the prince had been left by Pavlicheff,
[25202]     and who lived at Zlatoverhoff, were also relations of Ivan
[25203]     Petrovitch.
[25204]     
[25205]     The latter had no idea and could give no information as to why
[25206]     Pavlicheff had taken so great an interest in the little prince,
[25207]     his ward.
[25208]     
[25209]     "In point of fact I don't think I thought much about it," said
[25210]     the old fellow. He seemed to have a wonderfully good memory,
[25211]     however, for he told the prince all about the two old ladies,
[25212]     Pavlicheff's cousins, who had taken care of him, and whom, he
[25213]     declared, he had taken to task for being too severe with the
[25214]     prince as a small sickly boy--the elder sister, at least; the
[25215]     younger had been kind, he recollected. They both now lived in
[25216]     another province, on a small estate left to them by Pavlicheff.
[25217]     The prince listened to all this with eyes sparkling with emotion
[25218]     and delight.
[25219]     
[25220]     He declared with unusual warmth that he would never forgive
[25221]     himself for having travelled about in the central provinces
[25222]     during these last six months without having hunted up his two old
[25223]     friends.
[25224]     
[25225]     He declared, further, that he had intended to go every day, but
[25226]     had always been prevented by circumstances; but that now he would
[25227]     promise himself the pleasure--however far it was, he would find
[25228]     them out. And so Ivan Petrovitch REALLY knew Natalia Nikitishna!-
[25229]     -what a saintly nature was hers!--and Martha Nikitishna! Ivan
[25230]     Petrovitch must excuse him, but really he was not quite fair on
[25231]     dear old Martha. She was severe, perhaps; but then what else
[25232]     could she be with such a little idiot as he was then? (Ha, ha.)
[25233]     He really was an idiot then, Ivan Petrovitch must know, though he
[25234]     might not believe it. (Ha, ha.) So he had really seen him there!
[25235]     Good heavens! And was he really and truly and actually a cousin
[25236]     of Pavlicheff's?
[25237]     
[25238]     "I assure you of it," laughed Ivan Petrovitch, gazing amusedly at
[25239]     the prince.
[25240]     
[25241]     "Oh! I didn't say it because I DOUBT the fact, you know. (Ha,
[25242]     ha.) How could I doubt such a thing? (Ha, ha, ha.) I made the
[25243]     remark because--because Nicolai Andreevitch Pavlicheff was such a
[25244]     splendid man, don't you see! Such a high-souled man, he really
[25245]     was, I assure you."
[25246]     
[25247]     The prince did not exactly pant for breath, but he "seemed almost
[25248]     to CHOKE out of pure simplicity and goodness of heart," as
[25249]     Adelaida expressed it, on talking the party over with her fiance,
[25250]     the Prince S., next morning.
[25251]     
[25252]     "But, my goodness me," laughed Ivan Petrovitch, "why can't I be
[25253]     cousin to even a splendid man?"
[25254]     
[25255]     "Oh, dear!" cried the prince, confused, trying to hurry his words
[25256]     out, and growing more and more eager every moment: "I've gone and
[25257]     said another stupid thing. I don't know what to say. I--I didn't
[25258]     mean that, you know--I--I--he really was such a splendid man,
[25259]     wasn't he?"
[25260]     
[25261]     The prince trembled all over. Why was he so agitated? Why had he
[25262]     flown into such transports of delight without any apparent
[25263]     reason? He had far outshot the measure of joy and emotion
[25264]     consistent with the occasion. Why this was it would be difficult
[25265]     to say.
[25266]     
[25267]     He seemed to feel warmly and deeply grateful to someone for
[25268]     something or other--perhaps to Ivan Petrovitch; but likely enough
[25269]     to all the guests, individually, and collectively. He was much
[25270]     too happy.
[25271]     
[25272]     Ivan Petrovitch began to stare at him with some surprise; the
[25273]     dignitary, too, looked at him with considerable attention;
[25274]     Princess Bielokonski glared at him angrily, and compressed her
[25275]     lips. Prince N., Evgenie, Prince S., and the girls, all broke off
[25276]     their own conversations and listened. Aglaya seemed a little
[25277]     startled; as for Lizabetha Prokofievna, her heart sank within
[25278]     her.
[25279]     
[25280]     This was odd of Lizabetha Prokofievna and her daughters. They had
[25281]     themselves decided that it would be better if the prince did not
[25282]     talk all the evening. Yet seeing him sitting silent and alone,
[25283]     but perfectly happy, they had been on the point of exerting
[25284]     themselves to draw him into one of the groups of talkers around
[25285]     the room. Now that he was in the midst of a talk they became more
[25286]     than ever anxious and perturbed.
[25287]     
[25288]     "That he was a splendid man is perfectly true; you are quite
[25289]     right," repeated Ivan Petrovitch, but seriously this time. "He
[25290]     was a fine and a worthy fellow--worthy, one may say, of the
[25291]     highest respect," he added, more and more seriously at each
[25292]     pause; " and it is agreeable to see, on your part, such--"
[25293]     
[25294]     "Wasn't it this same Pavlicheff about whom there was a strange
[25295]     story in connection with some abbot? I don't remember who the
[25296]     abbot was, but I remember at one time everybody was talking about
[25297]     it," remarked the old dignitary.
[25298]     
[25299]     "Yes--Abbot Gurot, a Jesuit," said Ivan Petrovitch. "Yes, that's
[25300]     the sort of thing our best men are apt to do. A man of rank, too,
[25301]     and rich--a man who, if he had continued to serve, might have
[25302]     done anything; and then to throw up the service and everything
[25303]     else in order to go over to Roman Catholicism and turn Jesuit--
[25304]     openly, too--almost triumphantly. By Jove! it was positively a
[25305]     mercy that he died when he did--it was indeed--everyone said so
[25306]     at the time."
[25307]     
[25308]     The prince was beside himself.
[25309]     
[25310]     "Pavlicheff?--Pavlicheff turned Roman Catholic? Impossible!" he
[25311]     cried, in horror.
[25312]     
[25313]     "H'm! impossible is rather a strong word," said Ivan Petrovitch.
[25314]     "You must allow, my dear prince... However, of course you
[25315]     value the memory of the deceased so very highly; and he certainly
[25316]     was the kindest of men; to which fact, by the way, I ascribe,
[25317]     more than to anything else, the success of the abbot in
[25318]     influencing his religious convictions. But you may ask me, if you
[25319]     please, how much trouble and worry I, personally, had over that
[25320]     business, and especially with this same Gurot! Would you believe
[25321]     it," he continued, addressing the dignitary, "they actually tried
[25322]     to put in a claim under the deceased's will, and I had to resort
[25323]     to the very strongest measures in order to bring them to their
[25324]     senses? I assure you they knew their cue, did these gentlemen--
[25325]     wonderful! Thank goodness all this was in Moscow, and I got the
[25326]     Court, you know, to help me, and we soon brought them to their
[25327]     senses.
[25328]     
[25329]     "You wouldn't believe how you have pained and astonished me,"
[25330]     cried the prince.
[25331]     
[25332]     "Very sorry; but in point of fact, you know, it was all nonsense
[25333]     and would have ended in smoke, as usual--I'm sure of that. Last
[25334]     year,"--he turned to the old man again,--"Countess K. joined some
[25335]     Roman Convent abroad. Our people never seem to be able to offer
[25336]     any resistance so soon as they get into the hands of these--
[25337]     intriguers--especially abroad."
[25338]     
[25339]     "That is all thanks to our lassitude, I think," replied the old
[25340]     man, with authority. "And then their way of preaching; they have
[25341]     a skilful manner of doing it! And they know how to startle one,
[25342]     too. I got quite a fright myself in '32, in Vienna, I assure you;
[25343]     but I didn't cave in to them, I ran away instead, ha, ha!"
[25344]     
[25345]     "Come, come, I've always heard that you ran away with the
[25346]     beautiful Countess Levitsky that time--throwing up everything in
[25347]     order to do it--and not from the Jesuits at all," said Princess
[25348]     Bielokonski, suddenly.
[25349]     
[25350]     "Well, yes--but we call it from the Jesuits, you know; it comes
[25351]     to the same thing," laughed the old fellow, delighted with the
[25352]     pleasant recollection.
[25353]     
[25354]     "You seem to be very religious," he continued, kindly, addressing
[25355]     the prince," which is a thing one meets so seldom nowadays among
[25356]     young people."
[25357]     
[25358]     The prince was listening open-mouthed, and still in a condition
[25359]     of excited agitation. The old man was evidently interested in
[25360]     him, and anxious to study him more closely.
[25361]     
[25362]     "Pavlicheff was a man of bright intellect and a good Christian, a
[25363]     sincere Christian," said the prince, suddenly. "How could he
[25364]     possibly embrace a faith which is unchristian? Roman Catholicism
[25365]     is, so to speak, simply the same thing as unchristianity," he
[25366]     added with flashing eyes, which seemed to take in everybody in
[25367]     the room.
[25368]     
[25369]     "Come, that's a little TOO strong, isn't it?" murmured the old
[25370]     man, glancing at General Epanchin in surprise.
[25371]     
[25372]     "How do you make out that the Roman Catholic religion is
[25373]     UNCHRISTIAN? What is it, then?" asked Ivan Petrovitch, turning to
[25374]     the prince.
[25375]     
[25376]     "It is not a Christian religion, in the first place," said the
[25377]     latter, in extreme agitation, quite out of proportion to the
[25378]     necessity of the moment. "And in the second place, Roman
[25379]     Catholicism is, in my opinion, worse than Atheism itself. Yes--
[25380]     that is my opinion. Atheism only preaches a negation, but
[25381]     Romanism goes further; it preaches a disfigured, distorted
[25382]     Christ--it preaches Anti-Christ--I assure you, I swear it! This
[25383]     is my own personal conviction, and it has long distressed me. The
[25384]     Roman Catholic believes that the Church on earth cannot stand
[25385]     without universal temporal Power. He cries 'non possumus!' In my
[25386]     opinion the Roman Catholic religion is not a faith at all, but
[25387]     simply a continuation of the Roman Empire, and everything is
[25388]     subordinated to this idea--beginning with faith. The Pope has
[25389]     seized territories and an earthly throne, and has held them with
[25390]     the sword. And so the thing has gone on, only that to the sword
[25391]     they have added lying, intrigue, deceit, fanaticism,
[25392]     superstition, swindling;--they have played fast and loose with
[25393]     the most sacred and sincere feelings of men;--they have exchanged
[25394]     everything--everything for money, for base earthly POWER! And is
[25395]     this not the teaching of Anti-Christ? How could the upshot of all
[25396]     this be other than Atheism? Atheism is the child of Roman
[25397]     Catholicism--it proceeded from these Romans themselves, though
[25398]     perhaps they would not believe it. It grew and fattened on hatred
[25399]     of its parents; it is the progeny of their lies and spiritual
[25400]     feebleness. Atheism! In our country it is only among the upper
[25401]     classes that you find unbelievers; men who have lost the root or
[25402]     spirit of their faith; but abroad whole masses of the people are
[25403]     beginning to profess unbelief--at first because of the darkness
[25404]     and lies by which they were surrounded; but now out of
[25405]     fanaticism, out of loathing for the Church and Christianity!"
[25406]     
[25407]     The prince paused to get breath. He had spoken with extraordinary
[25408]     rapidity, and was very pale.
[25409]     
[25410]     All present interchanged glances, but at last the old dignitary
[25411]     burst out laughing frankly. Prince N. took out his eye-glass to
[25412]     have a good look at the speaker. The German poet came out of his
[25413]     corner and crept nearer to the table, with a spiteful smile.
[25414]     
[25415]     "You exaggerate the matter very much," said Ivan Petrovitch, with
[25416]     rather a bored air. "There are, in the foreign Churches, many
[25417]     representatives of their faith who are worthy of respect and
[25418]     esteem."
[25419]     
[25420]     "Oh, but I did not speak of individual representatives. I was
[25421]     merely talking about Roman Catholicism, and its essence--of Rome
[25422]     itself. A Church can never entirely disappear; I never hinted at
[25423]     that!"
[25424]     
[25425]     "Agreed that all this may be true; but we need not discuss a
[25426]     subject which belongs to the domain of theology."
[25427]     
[25428]     "Oh, no; oh, no! Not to theology alone, I assure you! Why,
[25429]     Socialism is the progeny of Romanism and of the Romanistic
[25430]     spirit. It and its brother Atheism proceed from Despair in
[25431]     opposition to Catholicism. It seeks to replace in itself the
[25432]     moral power of religion, in order to appease the spiritual thirst
[25433]     of parched humanity and save it; not by Christ, but by force.
[25434]     'Don't dare to believe in God, don't dare to possess any
[25435]     individuality, any property! Fraternite ou la Mort; two million
[25436]     heads. 'By their works ye shall know them'--we are told. And we
[25437]     must not suppose that all this is harmless and without danger to
[25438]     ourselves. Oh, no; we must resist, and quickly, quickly! We must
[25439]     let out Christ shine forth upon the Western nations, our Christ
[25440]     whom we have preserved intact, and whom they have never known.
[25441]     Not as slaves, allowing ourselves to be caught by the hooks of
[25442]     the Jesuits, but carrying our Russian civilization to THEM, we
[25443]     must stand before them, not letting it be said among us that
[25444]     their preaching is 'skilful,' as someone expressed it just now."
[25445]     
[25446]     "But excuse me, excuse me;" cried Ivan Petrovitch considerably
[25447]     disturbed, and looking around uneasily. "Your ideas are, of
[25448]     course, most praiseworthy, and in the highest degree patriotic;
[25449]     but you exaggerate the matter terribly. It would be better if we
[25450]     dropped the subject."
[25451]     
[25452]     "No, sir, I do not exaggerate, I understate the matter, if
[25453]     anything, undoubtedly understate it; simply because I cannot
[25454]     express myself as I should like, but--"
[25455]     
[25456]     "Allow me!"
[25457]     
[25458]     The prince was silent. He sat straight up in his chair and gazed
[25459]     fervently at Ivan Petrovitch.
[25460]     
[25461]     "It seems to me that you have been too painfully impressed by the
[25462]     news of what happened to your good benefactor," said the old
[25463]     dignitary, kindly, and with the utmost calmness of demeanour.
[25464]     "You are excitable, perhaps as the result of your solitary life.
[25465]     If you would make up your mind to live more among your fellows in
[25466]     society, I trust, I am sure, that the world would be glad to
[25467]     welcome you, as a remarkable young man; and you would soon find
[25468]     yourself able to look at things more calmly. You would see that
[25469]     all these things are much simpler than you think; and, besides,
[25470]     these rare cases come about, in my opinion, from ennui and from
[25471]     satiety."
[25472]     
[25473]     "Exactly, exactly! That is a true thought!" cried the prince.
[25474]     "From ennui, from our ennui but not from satiety! Oh, no, you are
[25475]     wrong there! Say from THIRST if you like; the thirst of fever!
[25476]     And please do not suppose that this is so small a matter that we
[25477]     may have a laugh at it and dismiss it; we must be able to foresee
[25478]     our disasters and arm against them. We Russians no sooner arrive
[25479]     at the brink of the water, and realize that we are really at the
[25480]     brink, than we are so delighted with the outlook that in we
[25481]     plunge and swim to the farthest point we can see. Why is this?
[25482]     You say you are surprised at Pavlicheff's action; you ascribe it
[25483]     to madness, to kindness of heart, and what not, but it is not so.
[25484]     
[25485]     "Our Russian intensity not only astonishes ourselves; all Europe
[25486]     wonders at our conduct in such cases! For, if one of us goes over
[25487]     to Roman Catholicism, he is sure to become a Jesuit at once, and
[25488]     a rabid one into the bargain. If one of us becomes an Atheist, he
[25489]     must needs begin to insist on the prohibition of faith in God by
[25490]     force, that is, by the sword. Why is this? Why does he then
[25491]     exceed all bounds at once? Because he has found land at last, the
[25492]     fatherland that he sought in vain before; and, because his soul
[25493]     is rejoiced to find it, he throws himself upon it and kisses it!
[25494]     Oh, it is not from vanity alone, it is not from feelings of
[25495]     vanity that Russians become Atheists and Jesuits! But from
[25496]     spiritual thirst, from anguish of longing for higher things, for
[25497]     dry firm land, for foothold on a fatherland which they never
[25498]     believed in because they never knew it. It is easier for a
[25499]     Russian to become an Atheist, than for any other nationality in
[25500]     the world. And not only does a Russian 'become an Atheist,' but
[25501]     he actually BELIEVES IN Atheism, just as though he had found a
[25502]     new faith, not perceiving that he has pinned his faith to a
[25503]     negation. Such is our anguish of thirst! 'Whoso has no country
[25504]     has no God.' That is not my own expression; it is the expression
[25505]     of a merchant, one of the Old Believers, whom I once met while
[25506]     travelling. He did not say exactly these words. I think his
[25507]     expression was:
[25508]     
[25509]     "'Whoso forsakes his country forsakes his God.'
[25510]     
[25511]     "But let these thirsty Russian souls find, like Columbus'
[25512]     discoverers, a new world; let them find the Russian world, let
[25513]     them search and discover all the gold and treasure that lies hid
[25514]     in the bosom of their own land! Show them the restitution of lost
[25515]     humanity, in the future, by Russian thought alone, and by means
[25516]     of the God and of the Christ of our Russian faith, and you will
[25517]     see how mighty and just and wise and good a giant will rise up
[25518]     before the eyes of the astonished and frightened world;
[25519]     astonished because they expect nothing but the sword from us,
[25520]     because they think they will get nothing out of us but barbarism.
[25521]     This has been the case up to now, and the longer matters go on as
[25522]     they are now proceeding, the more clear will be the truth of what
[25523]     I say; and I--"
[25524]     
[25525]     But at this moment something happened which put a most unexpected
[25526]     end to the orator's speech. All this heated tirade, this outflow
[25527]     of passionate words and ecstatic ideas which seemed to hustle and
[25528]     tumble over each other as they fell from his lips, bore evidence
[25529]     of some unusually disturbed mental condition in the young fellow
[25530]     who had "boiled over" in such a remarkable manner, without any
[25531]     apparent reason.
[25532]     
[25533]     Of those who were present, such as knew the prince listened to
[25534]     his outburst in a state of alarm, some with a feeling of
[25535]     mortification. It was so unlike his usual timid self-constraint;
[25536]     so inconsistent with his usual taste and tact, and with his
[25537]     instinctive feeling for the higher proprieties. They could not
[25538]     understand the origin of the outburst; it could not be simply the
[25539]     news of Pavlicheff's perversion. By the ladies the prince was
[25540]     regarded as little better than a lunatic, and Princess
[25541]     Bielokonski admitted afterwards that "in another minute she would
[25542]     have bolted."
[25543]     
[25544]     The two old gentlemen looked quite alarmed. The old general
[25545]     (Epanchin's chief) sat and glared at the prince in severe
[25546]     displeasure. The colonel sat immovable. Even the German poet grew
[25547]     a little pale, though he wore his usual artificial smile as he
[25548]     looked around to see what the others would do.
[25549]     
[25550]     In point of fact it is quite possible that the matter would have
[25551]     ended in a very commonplace and natural way in a few minutes. The
[25552]     undoubtedly astonished, but now more collected, General Epanchin
[25553]     had several times endeavoured to interrupt the prince, and not
[25554]     having succeeded he was now preparing to take firmer and more
[25555]     vigorous measures to attain his end. In another minute or two he
[25556]     would probably have made up his mind to lead the prince quietly
[25557]     out of the room, on the plea of his being ill (and it was more
[25558]     than likely that the general was right in his belief that the
[25559]     prince WAS actually ill), but it so happened that destiny had
[25560]     something different in store.
[25561]     
[25562]     At the beginning of the evening, when the prince first came into
[25563]     the room, he had sat down as far as possible from the Chinese
[25564]     vase which Aglaya had spoken of the day before.
[25565]     
[25566]     Will it be believed that, after Aglaya's alarming words, an
[25567]     ineradicable conviction had taken possession of his mind that,
[25568]     however he might try to avoid this vase next day, he must
[25569]     certainly break it? But so it was.
[25570]     
[25571]     During the evening other impressions began to awaken in his mind,
[25572]     as we have seen, and he forgot his presentiment. But when
[25573]     Pavlicheff was mentioned and the general introduced him to Ivan
[25574]     Petrovitch, he had changed his place, and went over nearer to the
[25575]     table; when, it so happened, he took the chair nearest to the
[25576]     beautiful vase, which stood on a pedestal behind him, just about
[25577]     on a level with his elbow.
[25578]     
[25579]     As he spoke his last words he had risen suddenly from his seat
[25580]     with a wave of his arm, and there was a general cry of horror.
[25581]     
[25582]     The huge vase swayed backwards and forwards; it seemed to be
[25583]     uncertain whether or no to topple over on to the head of one of
[25584]     the old men, but eventually determined to go the other way, and
[25585]     came crashing over towards the German poet, who darted out of the
[25586]     way in terror.
[25587]     
[25588]     The crash, the cry, the sight of the fragments of valuable china
[25589]     covering the carpet, the alarm of the company--what all this
[25590]     meant to the poor prince it would be difficult to convey to the
[25591]     mind of the reader, or for him to imagine.
[25592]     
[25593]     But one very curious fact was that all the shame and vexation and
[25594]     mortification which he felt over the accident were less powerful
[25595]     than the deep impression of the almost supernatural truth of his
[25596]     premonition. He stood still in alarm--in almost superstitious
[25597]     alarm, for a moment; then all mists seemed to clear away from his
[25598]     eyes; he was conscious of nothing but light and joy and ecstasy;
[25599]     his breath came and went; but the moment passed. Thank God it was
[25600]     not that! He drew a long breath and looked around.
[25601]     
[25602]     For some minutes he did not seem to comprehend the excitement
[25603]     around him; that is, he comprehended it and saw everything, but
[25604]     he stood aside, as it were, like someone invisible in a fairy
[25605]     tale, as though he had nothing to do with what was going on,
[25606]     though it pleased him to take an interest in it.
[25607]     
[25608]     He saw them gather up the broken bits of china; he heard the loud
[25609]     talking of the guests and observed how pale Aglaya looked, and
[25610]     how very strangely she was gazing at him. There was no hatred in
[25611]     her expression, and no anger whatever. It was full of alarm for
[25612]     him, and sympathy and affection, while she looked around at the
[25613]     others with flashing, angry eyes. His heart filled with a sweet
[25614]     pain as he gazed at her.
[25615]     
[25616]     At length he observed, to his amazement, that all had taken their
[25617]     seats again, and were laughing and talking as though nothing had
[25618]     happened. Another minute and the laughter grew louder--they were
[25619]     laughing at him, at his dumb stupor--laughing kindly and merrily.
[25620]     Several of them spoke to him, and spoke so kindly and cordially,
[25621]     especially Lizabetha Prokofievna--she was saying the kindest
[25622]     possible things to him.
[25623]     
[25624]     Suddenly he became aware that General Epanchin was tapping him on
[25625]     the shoulder; Ivan Petrovitch was laughing too, but still more
[25626]     kind and sympathizing was the old dignitary. He took the prince
[25627]     by the hand and pressed it warmly; then he patted it, and quietly
[25628]     urged him to recollect himself--speaking to him exactly as he
[25629]     would have spoken to a little frightened child, which pleased the
[25630]     prince wonderfully; and next seated him beside himself.
[25631]     
[25632]     The prince gazed into his face with pleasure, but still seemed to
[25633]     have no power to speak. His breath failed him. The old man's face
[25634]     pleased him greatly.
[25635]     
[25636]     "Do you really forgive me?" he said at last. "And--and Lizabetha
[25637]     Prokofievna too?" The laugh increased, tears came into the
[25638]     prince's eyes, he could not believe in all this kindness--he was
[25639]     enchanted.
[25640]     
[25641]     "The vase certainly was a very beautiful one. I remember it here
[25642]     for fifteen years--yes, quite that!" remarked Ivan Petrovitch.
[25643]     
[25644]     "Oh, what a dreadful calamity! A wretched vase smashed, and a man
[25645]     half dead with remorse about it," said Lizabetha Prokofievna,
[25646]     loudly. "What made you so dreadfully startled, Lef
[25647]     Nicolaievitch?" she added, a little timidly. "Come, my dear boy!
[25648]     cheer up. You really alarm me, taking the accident so to heart."
[25649]     
[25650]     "Do you forgive me all--ALL, besides the vase, I mean?" said the
[25651]     prince, rising from his seat once more, but the old gentleman
[25652]     caught his hand and drew him down again--he seemed unwilling to
[25653]     let him go.
[25654]     
[25655]     "C'est tres-curieux et c'est tres-serieux," he whispered across
[25656]     the table to Ivan Petrovitch, rather loudly. Probably the prince
[25657]     heard him.
[25658]     
[25659]     "So that I have not offended any of you? You will not believe how
[25660]     happy I am to be able to think so. It is as it should be. As if I
[25661]     COULD offend anyone here! I should offend you again by even
[25662]     suggesting such a thing."
[25663]     
[25664]     "Calm yourself, my dear fellow. You are exaggerating again; you
[25665]     really have no occasion to be so grateful to us. It is a feeling
[25666]     which does you great credit, but an exaggeration, for all that."
[25667]     
[25668]     "I am not exactly thanking you, I am only feeling a growing
[25669]     admiration for you--it makes me happy to look at you. I dare say
[25670]     I am speaking very foolishly, but I must speak--I must explain,
[25671]     if it be out of nothing better than self-respect."
[25672]     
[25673]     All he said and did was abrupt, confused, feverish--very likely
[25674]     the words he spoke, as often as not, were not those he wished to
[25675]     say. He seemed to inquire whether he MIGHT speak. His eyes
[25676]     lighted on Princess Bielokonski.
[25677]     
[25678]     "All right, my friend, talk away, talk away!" she remarked. "Only
[25679]     don't lose your breath; you were in such a hurry when you began,
[25680]     and look what you've come to now! Don't be afraid of speaking--
[25681]     all these ladies and gentlemen have seen far stranger people than
[25682]     yourself; you don't astonish THEM. You are nothing out-of-the-way
[25683]     remarkable, you know. You've done nothing but break a vase, and
[25684]     give us all a fright."
[25685]     
[25686]     The prince listened, smiling.
[25687]     
[25688]     "Wasn't it you," he said, suddenly turning to the old gentleman,
[25689]     "who saved the student Porkunoff and a clerk called Shoabrin from
[25690]     being sent to Siberia, two or three months since?"
[25691]     
[25692]     The old dignitary blushed a little, and murmured that the prince
[25693]     had better not excite himself further.
[25694]     
[25695]     "And I have heard of YOU," continued the prince, addressing Ivan
[25696]     Petrovitch, "that when some of your villagers were burned out you
[25697]     gave them wood to build up their houses again, though they were
[25698]     no longer your serfs and had behaved badly towards you."
[25699]     
[25700]     "Oh, come, come! You are exaggerating," said Ivan Petrovitch,
[25701]     beaming with satisfaction, all the same. He was right, however,
[25702]     in this instance, for the report had reached the prince's ears in
[25703]     an incorrect form.
[25704]     
[25705]     "And you, princess," he went on, addressing Princess Bielokonski,
[25706]     "was it not you who received me in Moscow, six months since, as
[25707]     kindly as though I had been your own son, in response to a letter
[25708]     from Lizabetha Prokofievna; and gave me one piece of advice,
[25709]     again as to your own son, which I shall never forget? Do you
[25710]     remember?"
[25711]     
[25712]     "What are you making such a fuss about?" said the old lady, with
[25713]     annoyance. "You are a good fellow, but very silly. One gives you
[25714]     a halfpenny, and you are as grateful as though one had saved your
[25715]     life. You think this is praiseworthy on your part, but it is not
[25716]     --it is not, indeed."
[25717]     
[25718]     She seemed to be very angry, but suddenly burst out laughing,
[25719]     quite good-humouredly.
[25720]     
[25721]     Lizabetha Prokofievna's face brightened up, too; so did that of
[25722]     General Epanchin.
[25723]     
[25724]     "I told you Lef Nicolaievitch was a man--a man--if only he would
[25725]     not be in such a hurry, as the princess remarked," said the
[25726]     latter, with delight.
[25727]     
[25728]     Aglaya alone seemed sad and depressed; her face was flushed,
[25729]     perhaps with indignation.
[25730]     
[25731]     "He really is very charming," whispered the old dignitary to Ivan
[25732]     Petrovitch.
[25733]     
[25734]     "I came into this room with anguish in my heart," continued the
[25735]     prince, with ever-growing agitation, speaking quicker and
[25736]     quicker, and with increasing strangeness. "I--I was afraid of you
[25737]     all, and afraid of myself. I was most afraid of myself. When I
[25738]     returned to Petersburg, I promised myself to make a point of
[25739]     seeing our greatest men, and members of our oldest families--the
[25740]     old families like my own. I am now among princes like myself, am
[25741]     I not? I wished to know you, and it was necessary, very, very
[25742]     necessary. I had always heard so much that was evil said of you
[25743]     all--more evil than good; as to how small and petty were your
[25744]     interests, how absurd your habits, how shallow your education,
[25745]     and so on. There is so much written and said about you! I came
[25746]     here today with anxious curiosity; I wished to see for myself
[25747]     and form my own convictions as to whether it were true that the
[25748]     whole of this upper stratum of Russian society is WORTHLESS, has
[25749]     outlived its time, has existed too long, and is only fit to die--
[25750]     and yet is dying with petty, spiteful warring against that which
[25751]     is destined to supersede it and take its place--hindering the
[25752]     Coming Men, and knowing not that itself is in a dying condition.
[25753]     I did not fully believe in this view even before, for there never
[25754]     was such a class among us--excepting perhaps at court, by
[25755]     accident--or by uniform; but now there is not even that, is
[25756]     there? It has vanished, has it not?"
[25757]     
[25758]     "No, not a bit of it," said Ivan Petrovitch, with a sarcastic
[25759]     laugh.
[25760]     
[25761]     "Good Lord, he's off again!" said Princess Bielokonski,
[25762]     impatiently.
[25763]     
[25764]     "Laissez-le dire! He is trembling all over," said the old man, in
[25765]     a warning whisper.
[25766]     
[25767]     The prince certainly was beside himself.
[25768]     
[25769]     "Well? What have I seen?" he continued. "I have seen men of
[25770]     graceful simplicity of intellect; I have seen an old man who is
[25771]     not above speaking kindly and even LISTENING to a boy like
[25772]     myself; I see before me persons who can understand, who can
[25773]     forgive--kind, good Russian hearts--hearts almost as kind and
[25774]     cordial as I met abroad. Imagine how delighted I must have been,
[25775]     and how surprised! Oh, let me express this feeling! I have so
[25776]     often heard, and I have even believed, that in society there was
[25777]     nothing but empty forms, and that reality had vanished; but I now
[25778]     see for myself that this can never be the case HERE, among us--it
[25779]     may be the order elsewhere, but not in Russia. Surely you are not
[25780]     all Jesuits and deceivers! I heard Prince N.'s story just now.
[25781]     Was it not simple-minded, spontaneous humour? Could such words
[25782]     come from the lips of a man who is dead?--a man whose heart and
[25783]     talents are dried up? Could dead men and women have treated me so
[25784]     kindly as you have all been treating me to-day? Is there not
[25785]     material for the future in all this--for hope? Can such people
[25786]     fail to UNDERSTAND? Can such men fall away from reality?"
[25787]     
[25788]     "Once more let us beg you to be calm, my dear boy. We'll talk of
[25789]     all this another time--I shall do so with the greatest pleasure,
[25790]     for one," said the old dignitary, with a smile.
[25791]     
[25792]     Ivan Petrovitch grunted and twisted round in his chair. General
[25793]     Epanchin moved nervously. The latter's chief had started a
[25794]     conversation with the wife of the dignitary, and took no notice
[25795]     whatever of the prince, but the old lady very often glanced at
[25796]     him, and listened to what he was saying.
[25797]     
[25798]     "No, I had better speak," continued the prince, with a new
[25799]     outburst of feverish emotion, and turning towards the old man
[25800]     with an air of confidential trustfulness." Yesterday, Aglaya
[25801]     Ivanovna forbade me to talk, and even specified the particular
[25802]     subjects I must not touch upon--she knows well enough that I am
[25803]     odd when I get upon these matters. I am nearly twenty-seven years
[25804]     old, and yet I know I am little better than a child. I have no
[25805]     right to express my ideas, and said so long ago. Only in Moscow,
[25806]     with Rogojin, did I ever speak absolutely freely! He and I read
[25807]     Pushkin together--all his works. Rogojin knew nothing of
[25808]     Pushkin, had not even heard his name. I am always afraid of
[25809]     spoiling a great Thought or Idea by my absurd manner. I have no
[25810]     eloquence, I know. I always make the wrong gestures--
[25811]     inappropriate gestures--and therefore I degrade the Thought, and
[25812]     raise a laugh instead of doing my subject justice. I have no
[25813]     sense of proportion either, and that is the chief thing. I know
[25814]     it would be much better if I were always to sit still and say
[25815]     nothing. When I do so, I appear to be quite a sensible sort of a
[25816]     person, and what's more, I think about things. But now I must
[25817]     speak; it is better that I should. I began to speak because you
[25818]     looked so kindly at me; you have such a beautiful face. I
[25819]     promised Aglaya Ivanovna yesterday that I would not speak all the
[25820]     evening."
[25821]     
[25822]     "Really?" said the old man, smiling.
[25823]     
[25824]     "But, at times, I can't help thinking that I am. wrong in feeling
[25825]     so about it, you know. Sincerity is more important than
[25826]     elocution, isn't it?"
[25827]     
[25828]     "Sometimes."
[25829]     
[25830]     "I want to explain all to you--everything--everything! I know you
[25831]     think me Utopian, don't you--an idealist? Oh, no! I'm not,
[25832]     indeed--my ideas are all so simple. You don't believe me? You are
[25833]     smiling. Do you know, I am sometimes very wicked--for I lose my
[25834]     faith? This evening as I came here, I thought to myself, 'What
[25835]     shall I talk about? How am I to begin, so that they may be able
[25836]     to understand partially, at all events?' How afraid I was--
[25837]     dreadfully afraid! And yet, how COULD I be afraid--was it not
[25838]     shameful of me? Was I afraid of finding a bottomless abyss of
[25839]     empty selfishness? Ah! that's why I am so happy at this moment,
[25840]     because I find there is no bottomless abyss at all--but good,
[25841]     healthy material, full of life.
[25842]     
[25843]     "It is not such a very dreadful circumstance that we are odd
[25844]     people, is it? For we really are odd, you know--careless,
[25845]     reckless, easily wearied of anything. We don't look thoroughly
[25846]     into matters--don't care to understand things. We are all like
[25847]     this--you and I, and all of them! Why, here are you, now--you are
[25848]     not a bit angry with me for calling you odd,' are you? And, if
[25849]     so, surely there is good material in you? Do you know, I
[25850]     sometimes think it is a good thing to be odd. We can forgive one
[25851]     another more easily, and be more humble. No one can begin by
[25852]     being perfect--there is much one cannot understand in life at
[25853]     first. In order to attain to perfection, one must begin by
[25854]     failing to understand much. And if we take in knowledge too
[25855]     quickly, we very likely are not taking it in at all. I say all
[25856]     this to you--you who by this time understand so much--and
[25857]     doubtless have failed to understand so much, also. I am not
[25858]     afraid of you any longer. You are not angry that a mere boy
[25859]     should say such words to you, are you? Of course not! You know
[25860]     how to forget and to forgive. You are laughing, Ivan Petrovitch?
[25861]     You think I am a champion of other classes of people--that I am
[25862]     THEIR advocate, a democrat, and an orator of Equality?" The
[25863]     prince laughed hysterically; he had several times burst into
[25864]     these little, short nervous laughs. "Oh, no--it is for you, for
[25865]     myself, and for all of us together, that I am alarmed. I am a
[25866]     prince of an old family myself, and I am sitting among my peers;
[25867]     and I am talking like this in the hope of saving us all; in the
[25868]     hope that our class will not disappear altogether--into the
[25869]     darkness--unguessing its danger--blaming everything around it,
[25870]     and losing ground every day. Why should we disappear and give
[25871]     place to others, when we may still, if we choose, remain in the
[25872]     front rank and lead the battle? Let us be servants, that we may
[25873]     become lords in due season!"
[25874]     
[25875]     He tried to get upon his feet again, but the old man still
[25876]     restrained him, gazing at him with increasing perturbation as he
[25877]     went on.
[25878]     
[25879]     "Listen--I know it is best not to speak! It is best simply to
[25880]     give a good example--simply to begin the work. I have done this--
[25881]     I have begun, and--and--oh! CAN anyone be unhappy, really? Oh!
[25882]     what does grief matter--what does misfortune matter, if one knows
[25883]     how to be happy? Do you know, I cannot understand how anyone can
[25884]     pass by a green tree, and not feel happy only to look at it! How
[25885]     anyone can talk to a man and not feel happy in loving him! Oh, it
[25886]     is my own fault that I cannot express myself well enough! But
[25887]     there are lovely things at every step I take--things which even
[25888]     the most miserable man must recognize as beautiful. Look at a
[25889]     little child--look at God's day-dawn--look at the grass growing--
[25890]     look at the eyes that love you, as they gaze back into your
[25891]     eyes!"
[25892]     
[25893]     He had risen, and was speaking standing up. The old gentleman was
[25894]     looking at him now in unconcealed alarm. Lizabetha Prokofievna
[25895]     wrung her hands. "Oh, my God!" she cried. She had guessed the
[25896]     state of the case before anyone else.
[25897]     
[25898]     Aglaya rushed quickly up to him, and was just in time to receive
[25899]     him in her arms, and to hear with dread and horror that awful,
[25900]     wild cry as he fell writhing to the ground.
[25901]     
[25902]     There he lay on the carpet, and someone quickly placed a cushion
[25903]     under his head.
[25904]     
[25905]     No one had expected this.
[25906]     
[25907]     In a quarter of an hour or so Prince N. and Evgenie Pavlovitch
[25908]     and the old dignitary were hard at work endeavouring to restore
[25909]     the harmony of the evening, but it was of no avail, and very soon
[25910]     after the guests separated and went their ways.
[25911]     
[25912]     A great deal of sympathy was expressed; a considerable amount of
[25913]     advice was volunteered; Ivan Petrovitch expressed his opinion
[25914]     that the young man was "a Slavophile, or something of that sort";
[25915]     but that it was not a dangerous development. The old dignitary
[25916]     said nothing.
[25917]     
[25918]     True enough, most of the guests, next day and the day after, were
[25919]     not in very good humour. Ivan Petrovitch was a little offended,
[25920]     but not seriously so. General Epanchin's chief was rather cool
[25921]     towards him for some while after the occurrence. The old
[25922]     dignitary, as patron of the family, took the opportunity of
[25923]     murmuring some kind of admonition to the general, and added, in
[25924]     flattering terms, that he was most interested in Aglaya's future.
[25925]     He was a man who really did possess a kind heart, although his
[25926]     interest in the prince, in the earlier part of the evening, was
[25927]     due, among other reasons, to the latter's connection with
[25928]     Nastasia Philipovna, according to popular report. He had heard a
[25929]     good deal of this story here and there, and was greatly
[25930]     interested in it, so much so that he longed to ask further
[25931]     questions about it.
[25932]     
[25933]     Princess Bielokonski, as she drove away on this eventful evening,
[25934]     took occasion to say to Lizabetha Prokofievna:
[25935]     
[25936]     "Well--he's a good match--and a bad one; and if you want my
[25937]     opinion, more bad than good. You can see for yourself the man is
[25938]     an invalid."
[25939]     
[25940]     Lizabetha therefore decided that the prince was impossible as a
[25941]     husband for Aglaya; and during the ensuing night she made a vow
[25942]     that never while she lived should he marry Aglaya. With this
[25943]     resolve firmly impressed upon her mind, she awoke next day; but
[25944]     during the morning, after her early lunch, she fell into a
[25945]     condition of remarkable inconsistency.
[25946]     
[25947]     In reply to a very guarded question of her sisters', Aglaya had
[25948]     answered coldly, but exceedingly haughtily:
[25949]     
[25950]     "I have never given him my word at all, nor have I ever counted
[25951]     him as my future husband--never in my life. He is just as little
[25952]     to me as all the rest."
[25953]     
[25954]     Lizabetha Prokofievna suddenly flared up.
[25955]     
[25956]     "I did not expect that of you, Aglaya," she said. "He is an
[25957]     impossible husband for you,--I know it; and thank God that we
[25958]     agree upon that point; but I did not expect to hear such words
[25959]     from you. I thought I should hear a very different tone from you.
[25960]     I would have turned out everyone who was in the room last night
[25961]     and kept him,--that's the sort of man he is, in my opinion!"
[25962]     
[25963]     Here she suddenly paused, afraid of what she had just said. But
[25964]     she little knew how unfair she was to her daughter at that
[25965]     moment. It was all settled in Aglaya's mind. She was only waiting
[25966]     for the hour that would bring the matter to a final climax; and
[25967]     every hint, every careless probing of her wound, did but further
[25968]     lacerate her heart.
[25969]     
[25970]     VIII.
[25971]     
[25972]     THIS same morning dawned for the prince pregnant with no less
[25973]     painful presentiments,--which fact his physical state was, of
[25974]     course, quite enough to account for; but he was so indefinably
[25975]     melancholy,--his sadness could not attach itself to anything in
[25976]     particular, and this tormented him more than anything else. Of
[25977]     course certain facts stood before him, clear and painful, but his
[25978]     sadness went beyond all that he could remember or imagine; he
[25979]     realized that he was powerless to console himself unaided. Little
[25980]     by little he began to develop the expectation that this day
[25981]     something important, something decisive, was to happen to him.
[25982]     
[25983]     His attack of yesterday had been a slight one. Excepting some
[25984]     little heaviness in the head and pain in the limbs, he did not
[25985]     feel any particular effects. His brain worked all right, though
[25986]     his soul was heavy within him.
[25987]     
[25988]     He rose late, and immediately upon waking remembered all about
[25989]     the previous evening; he also remembered, though not quite so
[25990]     clearly, how, half an hour after his fit, he had been carried
[25991]     home.
[25992]     
[25993]     He soon heard that a messenger from the Epanchins' had already
[25994]     been to inquire after him. At half-past eleven another arrived;
[25995]     and this pleased him.
[25996]     
[25997]     Vera Lebedeff was one of the first to come to see him and offer
[25998]     her services. No sooner did she catch sight of him than she burst
[25999]     into tears; but when he tried to soothe her she began to laugh.
[26000]     He was quite struck by the girl's deep sympathy for him; he
[26001]     seized her hand and kissed it. Vera flushed crimson.
[26002]     
[26003]     "Oh, don't, don't!" she exclaimed in alarm, snatching her hand
[26004]     away. She went hastily out of the room in a state of strange
[26005]     confusion.
[26006]     
[26007]     Lebedeff also came to see the prince, in a great hurry to get
[26008]     away to the "deceased," as he called General Ivolgin, who was
[26009]     alive still, but very ill. Colia also turned up, and begged the
[26010]     prince for pity's sake to tell him all he knew about his father
[26011]     which had been concealed from him till now. He said he had found
[26012]     out nearly everything since yesterday; the poor boy was in a
[26013]     state of deep affliction. With all the sympathy which he could
[26014]     bring into play, the prince told Colia the whole story without
[26015]     reserve, detailing the facts as clearly as he could. The tale
[26016]     struck Colia like a thunderbolt. He could not speak. He listened
[26017]     silently, and cried softly to himself the while. The prince
[26018]     perceived that this was an impression which would last for the
[26019]     whole of the boy's life. He made haste to explain his view of the
[26020]     matter, and pointed out that the old man's approaching death was
[26021]     probably brought on by horror at the thought of his action; and
[26022]     that it was not everyone who was capable of such a feeling.
[26023]     
[26024]     Colia's eyes flashed as he listened.
[26025]     
[26026]     "Gania and Varia and Ptitsin are a worthless lot! I shall not
[26027]     quarrel with them; but from this moment our feet shall not travel
[26028]     the same road. Oh, prince, I have felt much that is quite new to
[26029]     me since yesterday! It is a lesson for me. I shall now consider
[26030]     my mother as entirely my responsibility; though she may be safe
[26031]     enough with Varia. Still, meat and drink is not everything."
[26032]     
[26033]     He jumped up and hurried off, remembering suddenly that he was
[26034]     wanted at his father's bedside; but before he went out of the
[26035]     room he inquired hastily after the prince's health, and receiving
[26036]     the latter's reply, added:
[26037]     
[26038]     "Isn't there something else, prince? I heard yesterday, but I
[26039]     have no right to <