himself—which, of course, meant satisfying everybody all
round, although half the claims were absolutely fraudulent.
Mrs. Epanchin confirmed all this. She said the princess
had written to much the same effect, and added that there
was no curing a fool. But it was plain, from her expression
of face, how strongly she approved of this particular young
fool’s doings. In conclusion, the general observed that his
wife took as great an interest in the prince as though he
were her own son; and that she had commenced to be
especially affectionate towards Aglaya was a self-evident
fact. The Idiot
331 of 1149
All this caused the general to look grave and important.
But, alas! this agreeable state of affairs very soon changed
once more.
A couple of weeks went by, and suddenly the general
and his wife were once more gloomy and silent, and the
ice was as firm as ever. The fact was, the general, who had
heard first, how Nastasia Philipovna had fled to Moscow
and had been discovered there by Rogojin; that she had
then disappeared once more, and been found again by
Rogojin, and how after that she had almost promised to
marry him, now received news that she had once more
disappeared, almost on the very day fixed for her wedding,
flying somewhere into the interior of Russia this time, and
that Prince Muishkin had left all his affairs in the hands of
Salaskin and disappeared also—but whether he was with
Nastasia, or had only set off in search of her, was
unknown.
Lizabetha Prokofievna received confirmatory news
from the princess—and alas, two months after the prince’s
first departure from St. Petersburg, darkness and mystery
once more enveloped his whereabouts and actions, and in
the Epanchin family the ice of silence once more formed
over the subject. Varia, however, informed the girls of The Idiot
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what had happened, she having received the news from
Ptitsin, who generally knew more than most people.
To make an end, we may say that there were many
changes in the Epanchin household in the spring, so that it
was not difficult to forget the prince, who sent no news of
himself.
The Epanchin family had at last made up their minds to
spend the summer abroad, all except the general, who
could not waste time in ‘travelling for enjoyment,’ of
course. This arrangement was brought about by the
persistence of the girls, who insisted that they were never
allowed to go abroad because their parents were too
anxious to marry them off. Perhaps their parents had at last
come to the conclusion that husbands might be found
abroad, and that a summer’s travel might bear fruit. The
marriage between Alexandra and Totski had been broken
off. Since the prince’s departure from St. Petersburg no
more had been said about it; the subject had been dropped
without ceremony, much to the joy of Mrs. General,
who, announced that she was ‘ready to cross herself with
both hands’ in gratitude for the escape. The general,
however, regretted Totski for a long while. ‘Such a
fortune!’ he sighed, ‘and such a good, easy-going fellow!’ The Idiot
333 of 1149
After a time it became known that Totski had married
a French marquise, and was to be carried off by her to
Paris, and then to Brittany.
‘Oh, well,’ thought the general, ‘he’s lost to us for
good, now.’
So the Epanchins prepared to depart for the summer.
But now another circumstance occurred, which
changed all the plans once more, and again the intended
journey was put off, much to the delight of the general
and his spouse.
A certain Prince S— arrived in St. Petersburg from
Moscow, an eminent and honourable young man. He was
one of those active persons who always find some good
work with which to employ themselves. Without forcing
himself upon the public notice, modest and unobtrusive,
this young prince was concerned with much that
happened in the world in general.
He had served, at first, in one of the civil departments,
had then attended to matters connected with the local
government of provincial towns, and had of late been a
corresponding member of several important scientific
societies. He was a man of excellent family and solid
means, about thirty-five years of age. The Idiot
334 of 1149
Prince S— made the acquaintance of the general’s
family, and Adelaida, the second girl, made a great
impression upon him. Towards the spring he proposed to
her, and she accepted him. The general and his wife were
delighted. The journey abroad was put off, and the
wedding was fixed for a day not very distant.
The trip abroad might have been enjoyed later on by
Mrs. Epanchin and her two remaining daughters, but for
another circumstance.
It so happened that Prince S— introduced a distant
relation of his own into the Epanchin family—one
Evgenie Pavlovitch, a young officer of about twenty-eight
years of age, whose conquests among the ladies in
Moscow had been proverbial. This young gentleman no
sooner set eyes on Aglaya than he became a frequent
visitor at the house. He was witty, well-educated, and
extremely wealthy, as the general very soon discovered.
His past reputation was the only thing against him.
Nothing was said; there were not even any hints
dropped; but still, it seemed better to the parents to say
nothing more about going abroad this season, at all events.
Aglaya herself perhaps was of a different opinion.
All this happened just before the second appearance of
our hero upon the scene. The Idiot
335 of 1149
By this time, to judge from appearances, poor Prince
Muishkin had been quite forgotten in St. Petersburg. If he
had appeared suddenly among his acquaintances, he would
have been received as one from the skies; but we must just
glance at one more fact before we conclude this preface.
Colia Ivolgin, for some time after the prince’s
departure, continued his old life. That is, he went to
school, looked after his father, helped Varia in the house,
and ran her errands, and went frequently to see his friend,
Hippolyte.
The lodgers had disappeared very quickly—
Ferdishenko soon after the events at Nastasia Philipovna’s,
while the prince went to Moscow, as we know. Gania and
his mother went to live with Varia and Ptitsin immediately
after the latter’s wedding, while the general was housed in
a debtor’s prison by reason of certain IOU’s given to the
captain’s widow under the impression that they would
never be formally used against him. This unkind action
much surprised poor Ardalion Alexandrovitch, the victim,
as he called himself, of an ‘unbounded trust in the nobility
of the human heart.’
When he signed those notes of hand,he never dreamt
that they would be a source of future trouble. The event
showed that he was mistaken. ‘Trust in anyone after this! The Idiot
336 of 1149
Have the least confidence in man or woman!’ he cried in
bitter tones, as he sat with his new friends in prison, and
recounted to them his favourite stories of the siege of Kars,
and the resuscitated soldier. On the whole, he
accommodated himself very well to his new position.
Ptitsin and Varia declared that he was in the right place,
and Gania was of the same opinion. The only person who
deplored his fate was poor Nina Alexandrovna, who wept
bitter tears over him, to the great surprise of her
household, and, though always in feeble health, made a
point of going to see him as often as possible.
Since the general’s ‘mishap,’ as Colia called it, and the
marriage of his sister, the boy had quietly possessed himself
of far more freedom. His relations saw little of him, for he
rarely slept at home. He made many new friends; and was
moreover, a frequent visitor at the debtor’s prison, to
which he invariably accompanied his mother. Varia, who
used to be always correcting him, never spoke to him now
on the subject of his frequent absences, and the whole
household was surprised to see Gania, in spite of his
depression, on quite friendly terms with his brother. This
was something new, for Gania had been wont to look
upon Colia as a kind of errand-boy, treating him with
contempt, threatening to ‘pull his ears,’ and in general The Idiot
337 of 1149
driving him almost wild with irritation. It seemed now
that Gania really needed his brother, and the latter, for his
part, felt as if he could forgive Gania much since he had
returned the hundred thousand roubles offered to him by
Nastasia Philipovna. Three months after the departure of
the prince, the Ivolgin family discovered that Colia had
made acquaintance with the Epanchins, and was on very
friendly terms with the daughters. Varia heard of it first,
though Colia had not asked her to introduce him. Little
by little the family grew quite fond of him. Madame
Epanchin at first looked on him with disdain, and received
him coldly, but in a short time he grew to please her,
because, as she said, he ‘was candid and no flatterer’ — a
very true description. From the first he put himself on an
equality with his new friends, and though he sometimes
read newspapers and books to the mistress of the house, it
was simply because he liked to be useful.
One day, however, he and Lizabetha Prokofievna
quarrelled seriously about the ‘woman question,’ in the
course of a lively discussion on that burning subject. He
told her that she was a tyrant, and that he would never set
foot in her house again. It may seem incredible, but a day
or two after, Madame Epanchin sent a servant with a note The Idiot
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begging him to return, and Colia, without standing on his
dignity, did so at once.
Aglaya was the only one of the family whose good
graces he could not gain, and who always spoke to him
haughtily, but it so happened that the boy one day
succeeded in giving the proud maiden a surprise.
It was about Easter, when, taking advantage of a
momentary tete- a-tete Colia handed Aglaya a letter,
remarking that he ‘had orders to deliver it to her
privately.’ She stared at him in amazement, but he did not
wait to hear what she had to say, and went out. Aglaya
broke the seal, and read as follows:
‘Once you did me the honour of giving me your
confidence. Perhaps you have quite forgotten me now!
How is it that I am writing to you? I do not know; but I
am conscious of an irresistible desire to remind you of my
existence, especially you. How many times I have needed
all three of you; but only you have dwelt always in my
mind’s eye. I need you—I need you very much. I will not
write about myself. I have nothing to tell you. But I long
for you to be happy. ARE you happy? That is all I wished
to say to you—Your brother,
‘PR. L. MUISHKIN.’ The Idiot
339 of 1149
On reading this short and disconnected note, Aglaya
suddenly blushed all over, and became very thoughtful.
It would be difficult to describe her thoughts at that
moment. One of them was, ‘Shall I show it to anyone?’
But she was ashamed to show it. So she ended by hiding it
in her table drawer, with a very strange, ironical smile
upon her lips.
Next day, she took it out, and put it into a large book,
as she usually did with papers which she wanted to be able
to find easily. She laughed when, about a week later, she
happened to notice the name of the book, and saw that it
was Don Quixote, but it would be difficult to say exactly
why.
I cannot say, either, whether she showed the letter to
her sisters.
But when she had read it herself once more, it suddenly
struck her that surely that conceited boy, Colia, had not
been the one chosen correspondent of the prince all this
while. She determined to ask him, and did so with an
exaggerated show of carelessness. He informed her
haughtily that though he had given the prince his
permanent address when the latter left town, and had
offered his services, the prince had never before given him
any commission to perform, nor had he written until the The Idiot
340 of 1149
following lines arrived, with Aglaya’s letter. Aglaya took
the note, and read it.
‘DEAR COLIA,—Please be so kind as to give the
enclosed sealed letter to Aglaya Ivanovna. Keep well—
Ever your loving, "PR. L. MUISHKIN.’
‘It seems absurd to trust a little pepper-box like you,’
said Aglaya, as she returned the note, and walked past the
‘pepper- box’ with an expression of great contempt.
This was more than Colia could bear. He had actually
borrowed Gania’s new green tie for the occasion, without
saying why he wanted it, in order to impress her. He was
very deeply mortified.
IT was the beginning of June, and for a whole week
the weather in St. Petersburg had been magnificent. The
Epanchins had a luxurious country-house at Pavlofsk,
[One of the fashionable summer resorts near St.
Petersburg.] and to this spot Mrs. Epanchin determined to
proceed without further delay. In a couple of days all was
ready, and the family had left town. A day or two after this
removal to Pavlofsk, Prince Muishkin arrived in St.
Petersburg by the morning train from Moscow. No one
met him; but, as he stepped out of the carriage, he
suddenly became aware of two strangely glowing eyes
fixed upon him from among the crowd that met the train. The Idiot
341 of 1149
On endeavouring to re-discover the eyes, and see to
whom they belonged, he could find nothing to guide him.
It must have been a hallucination. But the disagreeable
impression remained, and without this, the prince was sad
and thoughtful already, and seemed to be much
preoccupied.
His cab took him to a small and bad hotel near the
Litaynaya. Here he engaged a couple of rooms, dark and
badly furnished. He washed and changed, and hurriedly
left the hotel again, as though anxious to waste no time.
