The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (grave mercy TXT) đ
- Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Performer: 014044792X
Book online «The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (grave mercy TXT) đ». Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky
âOh, dear, no! Why, they donât even know him! Anyone can come in, you know. Why do you look so amazed? I often meet him; Iâve seen him at least four times, here at Pavlofsk, within the last week.â
âI havenât seen him onceâsince that day!â the prince murmured.
As Nastasia Philipovna had not said a word about having met Rogojin since âthat day,â the prince concluded that the latter had his own reasons for wishing to keep out of sight. All the day of the funeral our hero, was in a deeply thoughtful state, while Nastasia Philipovna was particularly merry, both in the daytime and in the evening.
Colia had made it up with the prince before his fatherâs death, and it was he who urged him to make use of Keller and Burdovsky, promising to answer himself for the formerâs behaviour. Nina Alexandrovna and Lebedeff tried to persuade him to have the wedding in St. Petersburg, instead of in the public fashion contemplated, down here at Pavlofsk in the height of the season. But the prince only said that Nastasia Philipovna desired to have it so, though he saw well enough what prompted their arguments.
The next day Keller came to visit the prince. He was in a high state of delight with the post of honour assigned to him at the wedding.
Before entering he stopped on the threshold, raised his hand as if making a solemn vow, and cried:
âI wonât drink!â
Then he went up to the prince, seized both his hands, shook them warmly, and declared that he had at first felt hostile towards the project of this marriage, and had openly said so in the billiard-rooms, but that the reason simply was that, with the impatience of a friend, he had hoped to see the prince marry at least a Princess de Rohan or de Chabot; but that now he saw that the princeâs way of thinking was ten times more noble than that of âall the rest put together.â For he desired neither pomp nor wealth nor honour, but only the truth! The sympathies of exalted personages were well known, and the prince was too highly placed by his education, and so on, not to be in some sense an exalted personage!
âBut all the common herd judge âdifferently; in the town, at the meetings, in the villas, at the band, in the inns and the billiard-rooms, the coming event has only to be mentioned and there are shouts and cries from everybody. I have even heard talk of getting up a âcharivariâ under the windows on the wedding-night. So if âyou have need of the pistolâ of an honest man, prince, I am ready to fire half a dozen shots even before you rise from your nuptial couch!â
Keller also advised, in anticipation of the crowd making a rush after the ceremony, that a fire-hose should be placed at the entrance to the house; but Lebedeff was opposed to this measure, which he said might result in the place being pulled down.
âI assure you, prince, that Lebedeff is intriguing against you. He wants to put you under control. Imagine that! To take âfrom you the use of your free-will and your moneyâthatâ is to say, the two things that distinguish us from the animals! I have heard it said positively. It is the sober truth.â
The prince recollected that somebody had told him something of the kind before, and he had, of course, scoffed at it. He only laughed now, and forgot the hint at once.
Lebedeff really had been busy for some little while; but, as usual, his plans had become too complex to succeed, through sheer excess of ardour. When he came to the princeâthe very day before the weddingâto confess (for he always confessed to the persons against whom he intrigued, especially when the plan failed), he informed our hero that he himself was a born Talleyrand, but for some unknown reason had become simple Lebedeff. He then proceeded to explain his whole game to the prince, interesting the latter exceedingly.
According to Lebedeffâs account, he had first tried what he could do with General Epanchin. The latter informed him that he wished well to the unfortunate young man, and would gladly do what he could to âsave him,â but that he did not think it would be seemly for him to interfere in this matter. Lizabetha Prokofievna would neither hear nor see him. Prince S. and Evgenie Pavlovitch only shrugged their shoulders, and implied that it was no business of theirs. However, Lebedeff had not lost heart, and went off to a clever lawyer,âa worthy and respectable man, whom he knew well. This old gentleman informed him that the thing was perfectly feasible if he could get hold of competent witnesses as to Muishkinâs mental incapacity. Then, with the assistance of a few influential persons, he would soon see the matter arranged.
Lebedeff immediately procured the services of an old doctor, and carried the latter away to Pavlofsk to see the prince, by way of viewing the ground, as it were, and to give him (Lebedeff) counsel as to whether the thing was to be done or not. The visit was not to be official, but merely friendly.
Muishkin remembered the doctorâs visit quite well. He remembered that Lebedeff had said that he looked ill, and had better see a doctor; and although the prince scouted the idea, Lebedeff had turned up almost immediately with his old friend, explaining that they had just met at the bedside of Hippolyte, who was very ill, and that the doctor had something to tell the prince about the sick man.
The prince had, of course, at once received him, and had plunged into a conversation about Hippolyte. He had given the doctor an account of Hippolyteâs attempted suicide; and had proceeded thereafter to talk of his own malady,âof Switzerland, of Schneider, and so on; and so deeply was the old man interested by the princeâs conversation and his description of Schneiderâs system, that he sat on for two hours.
Muishkin gave him excellent cigars to smoke, and Lebedeff, for his part, regaled him with liqueurs, brought in by Vera, to whom the doctorâa married man and the father of a familyâaddressed such compliments that she was filled with indignation. They parted friends, and, after leaving the prince, the doctor said to Lebedeff: âIf all such people were put under restraint, there would be no one left for keepers.â Lebedeff then, in tragic tones, told of the approaching marriage, whereupon the other nodded his head and replied that, after all, marriages like that were not so rare; that he had heard that the lady was very fascinating and of extraordinary beauty, which was enough to explain the infatuation of a wealthy man; that, further, thanks to the liberality of Totski and of Rogojin, she possessedâso he had heardânot only money, but pearls, diamonds, shawls, and furniture, and consequently she could not be considered a bad match. In brief, it seemed to the doctor that the princeâs choice, far from being a sign of foolishness, denoted, on the contrary, a shrewd, calculating, and practical mind. Lebedeff had been much struck by this point of view, and he terminated his confession by assuring the prince that he was ready, if need be, to shed his very lifeâs blood for him.
Hippolyte, too, was a source of some distraction to the prince at this time; he would send for him at any and every hour of the day. They lived,âHippolyte and his mother and the children,âin a small house not far off, and the little ones were happy, if only because they were able to escape from the invalid into the garden. The prince had enough to do in keeping the peace between the irritable Hippolyte and his mother, and eventually the former became so malicious and sarcastic on the subject of the approaching wedding, that Muishkin took offence at last, and refused to continue his visits.
A couple of days later, however, Hippolyteâs mother came with tears in her eyes, and begged the prince to come back, âor HE would eat her up bodily.â She added that Hippolyte had a great secret to disclose. Of course the prince went. There was no secret, however, unless we reckon certain pantings and agitated glances around (probably all put on) as the invalid begged his visitor to âbeware of Rogojin.â
âHe is the sort of man,â he continued,. âwho wonât give up his object, you know; he is not like you and me, princeâhe belongs to quite a different order of beings. If he sets his heart on a thing he wonât be afraid of anythingââ and so on.
Hippolyte was very ill, and looked as though he could not long survive. He was tearful at first, but grew more and more sarcastic and malicious as the interview proceeded.
The prince questioned him in detail as to his hints about Rogojin. He was anxious to seize upon some facts which might confirm Hippolyteâs vague warnings; but there were none; only Hippolyteâs own private impressions and feelings.
However, the invalidâto his immense satisfactionâended by seriously alarming the prince.
At first Muishkin had not cared to make any reply to his sundry questions, and only smiled in response to Hippolyteâs advice to ârun for his lifeâabroad, if necessary. There are Russian priests everywhere, and one can get married all over the world.â
But it was Hippolyteâs last idea which upset him.
âWhat I am really alarmed about, though,â he said, âis Aglaya Ivanovna. Rogojin knows how you love her. Love for love. You took Nastasia Philipovna from him. He will murder Aglaya Ivanovna; for though she is not yours, of course, now, still such an act would pain you,âwouldnât it?â
He had attained his end. The prince left the house beside himself with terror.
These warnings about Rogojin were expressed on the day before the wedding. That evening the prince saw Nastasia Philipovna for the last time before they were to meet at the altar; but Nastasia was not in a position to give him any comfort or consolation. On the contrary, she only added to his mental perturbation as the evening went on. Up to this time she had invariably done her best to cheer himâshe was afraid of his looking melancholy; she would try singing to him, and telling him every sort of funny story or reminiscence that she could recall. The prince nearly always pretended to be amused, whether he were so actually or no; but often enough he laughed sincerely, delighted by the brilliancy of her wit when she was carried away by her narrative, as she very often was. Nastasia would be wild with joy to see the impression she had made, and to hear his laugh of real amusement; and she would remain the whole evening in a state of pride and happiness. But this evening her melancholy and thoughtfulness grew with every hour.
The prince had told Evgenie Pavlovitch with perfect sincerity that he loved Nastasia Philipovna with all his soul. In his love for her there was the sort of tenderness one feels for a sick, unhappy child which cannot be left alone. He never spoke of his feelings for Nastasia to anyone, not even to herself. When they were together they never discussed their âfeelings,â and there was nothing in their cheerful, animated conversation which an outsider could not have heard. Daria Alexeyevna, with whom Nastasia was staying, told afterwards how she had been filled with joy and delight only to look at them, all this time.
Thanks to the manner in which he regarded Nastasiaâs mental and moral condition, the prince was to some extent freed from other perplexities. She was now quite different from the woman he had known three months before. He was not astonished, for instance, to see
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