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cannot stand alone; otherwise he would have behaved like
a scoundrel in this matter. But I feel certain that he does
not understand it! I was just the same myself before I went
to Switzerland; I stammered incoherently; one tries to
express oneself and cannot. I understand that. I am all the
better able to pity Mr. Burdovsky, because I know from
experience what it is to be like that, and so I have a right
to speak. Well, though there is no such person as
‘Pavlicheff’s son,’ and it is all nothing but a humbug, yet I
will keep to my decision, and I am prepared to give up ten
thousand roubles in memory of Pavlicheff. Before Mr.
Burdovsky made this claim, I proposed to found a school
with this money, in memory of my benefactor, but I shall
honour his memory quite as well by giving the ten
thousand roubles to Mr. Burdovsky, because, though he
was not Pavlicheff’s son, he was treated almost as though
he were. That is what gave a rogue the opportunity of
deceiving him; he really did think himself Pavlicheff’s son.
Listen, gentlemen; this matter must be settled; keep calm;
do not get angry; and sit down! Gavrila Ardalionovitch
will explain everything to you at once, and I confess that I
am very anxious to hear all the details myself. He says that
he has even been to Pskoff to see your mother, Mr. The Idiot
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Burdovsky; she is not dead, as the article which was just
read to us makes out. Sit down, gentlemen, sit down!’
The prince sat down, and at length prevailed upon
Burdovsky’s company to do likewise. During the last ten
or twenty minutes, exasperated by continual interruptions,
he had raised his voice, and spoken with great vehemence.
Now, no doubt, he bitterly regretted several words and
expressions which had escaped him in his excitement. If
he had not been driven beyond the limits of endurance, he
would not have ventured to express certain conjectures so
openly. He had no sooner sat down than his heart was
torn by sharp remorse. Besides insulting Burdovsky with
the supposition, made in the presence of witnesses, that he
was suffering from the complaint for which he had himself
been treated in Switzerland, he reproached himself with
the grossest indelicacy in having offered him the ten
thousand roubles before everyone. ‘I ought to have waited
till to-morrow and offered him the money when we were
alone,’ thought Muishkin. ‘Now it is too late, the mischief
is done! Yes, I am an idiot, an absolute idiot!’ he said to
himself, overcome with shame and regret.
Till then Gavrila Ardalionovitch had sat apart in silence.
When the prince called upon him, he came and stood by
his side, and in a calm, clear voice began to render an The Idiot
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account of the mission confided to him. All conversation
ceased instantly. Everyone, especially the Burdovsky party,
listened with the utmost curiosity. The Idiot
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IX
‘You will not deny, I am sure,’ said Gavrila
Ardalionovitch, turning to Burdovsky, who sat looking at
him with wide-open eyes, perplexed and astonished. You
will not deny, seriously, that you were born just two years
after your mother’s legal marriage to Mr. Burdovsky, your
father. Nothing would be easier than to prove the date of
your birth from well-known facts; we can only look on
Mr. Keller’s version as a work of imagination, and one,
moreover, extremely offensive both to you and your
mother. Of course he distorted the truth in order to
strengthen your claim, and to serve your interests. Mr.
Keller said that he previously consulted you about his
article in the paper, but did not read it to you as a whole.
Certainly he could not have read that passage. .…
‘As a matter of fact, I did not read it,’ interrupted the
boxer, ‘but its contents had been given me on
unimpeachable authority, and I …’
‘Excuse me, Mr. Keller,’ interposed Gavrila
Ardalionovitch. ‘Allow me to speak. I assure you your
article shall be mentioned in its proper place, and you can
then explain everything, but for the moment I would The Idiot
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rather not anticipate. Quite accidentally, with the help of
my sister, Varvara Ardalionovna Ptitsin, I obtained from
one of her intimate friends, Madame Zoubkoff, a letter
written to her twenty-five years ago, by Nicolai
Andreevitch Pavlicheff, then abroad. After getting into
communication with this lady, I went by her advice to
Timofei Fedorovitch Viazovkin, a retired colonel, and one
of Pavlicheff’s oldest friends. He gave me two more letters
written by the latter when he was still in foreign parts.
These three documents, their dates, and the facts
mentioned in them, prove in the most undeniable manner,
that eighteen months before your birth, Nicolai
Andreevitch went abroad, where he remained for three
consecutive years. Your mother, as you are well aware, has
never been out of Russia…. It is too late to read the letters
now; I am content to state the fact. But if you desire it,
come to me tomorrow morning, bring witnesses and
writing experts with you, and I will prove the absolute
truth of my story. From that moment the question will be
decided.’
These words caused a sensation among the listeners,
and there was a general movement of relief. Burdovsky
got up abruptly. The Idiot
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‘If that is true,’ said he, ‘I have been deceived, grossly
deceived, but not by Tchebaroff: and for a long time past,
a long time. I do not wish for experts, not I, nor to go to
see you. I believe you. I give it up.... But I refuse the ten
thousand roubles. Good-bye.’
‘Wait five minutes more, Mr. Burdovsky,’ said Gavrila
Ardalionovitch pleasantly. ‘I have more to say. Some
rather curious and important facts have come to light, and
it is absolutely necessary, in my opinion, that you should
hear them. You will not regret, I fancy, to have the whole
matter thoroughly cleared up.’
Burdovsky silently resumed his seat, and bent his head
as though in profound thought. His friend, Lebedeff’s
nephew, who had risen to accompany him, also sat down
again. He seemed much disappointed, though as self-
confident as ever. Hippolyte looked dejected and sulky, as
well as surprised. He had just been attacked by a violent fit
of coughing, so that his handkerchief was stained with
blood. The boxer looked thoroughly frightened.
‘Oh, Antip!’ cried he in a miserable voice, ‘I did say to
you the other day—the day before yesterday—that
perhaps you were not really Pavlicheff’s son!’
There were sounds of half-smothered laughter at this. The Idiot
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‘Now, that is a valuable piece of information, Mr.
Keller,’ replied Gania. ‘However that may be, I have
private information which convinces me that Mr.
Burdovsky, though doubtless aware of the date of his
birth, knew nothing at all about Pavlicheff’s sojourn
abroad. Indeed, he passed the greater part of his life out of
Russia, returning at intervals for short visits. The journey
in question is in itself too unimportant for his friends to
recollect it after more than twenty years; and of course
Mr. Burdovsky could have known nothing about it, for he
was not born. As the event has proved, it was not
impossible to find evidence of his absence, though I must
confess that chance has helped me in a quest which might
very well have come to nothing. It was really almost
impossible for Burdovsky or Tchebaroff to discover these
facts, even if it had entered their heads to try. Naturally
they never dreamt...
Here the voice of Hippolyte suddenly intervened.
‘Allow me, Mr. Ivolgin,’ he said irritably. ‘What is the
good of all this rigmarole? Pardon me. All is now clear,
and we acknowledge the truth of your main point. Why
go into these tedious details? You wish perhaps to boast of
the cleverness of your investigation, to cry up your talents
as detective? Or perhaps your intention is to excuse The Idiot
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Burdovsky, by roving that he took up the matter in
ignorance? Well, I consider that extremely impudent on
your part! You ought to know that Burdovsky has no
need of being excused or justified by you or anyone else!
It is an insult! The affair is quite painful enough for him
without that. Will nothing make you understand?’
‘Enough! enough! Mr. Terentieff,’ interrupted Gania.
‘Don’t excite yourself; you seem very ill, and I am sorry
for that. I am almost done, but there are a few facts to
which I must briefly refer, as I am convinced that they
ought to be clearly explained once for all….’ A movement
of impatience was noticed in his audience as he resumed:
‘I merely wish to state, for the information of all
concerned, that the reason for Mr. Pavlicheff’s interest in
your mother, Mr. Burdovsky, was simply that she was the
sister of a serf-girl with whom he was deeply in love in his
youth, and whom most certainly he would have married
but for her sudden death. I have proofs that this
circumstance is almost, if not quite, forgotten. I may add
that when your mother was about ten years old, Pavlicheff
took her under his care, gave her a good education, and
later, a considerable dowry. His relations were alarmed,
and feared he might go so far as to marry her, but she gave
her hand to a young land-surveyor named Burdovsky The Idiot
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when she reached the age of twenty. I can even say
definitely that it was a marriage of affection. After his
wedding your father gave up his occupation as land-
surveyor, and with his wife’s dowry of fifteen thousand
roubles went in for commercial speculations. As he had
had no experience, he was cheated on all sides, and took
to drink in order to forget his troubles. He shortened his
life by his excesses, and eight years after his marriage he
died. Your mother says herself that she was left in the
direst poverty, and would have died of starvation had it
not been for Pavlicheff, who generously allowed her a
yearly pension of six hundred roubles. Many people recall
his extreme fondness for you as a little boy. Your mother
confirms this, and agrees with others in thinking that he
loved you the more because you were a sickly child,
stammering in your speech, and almost deformed—for it is
known that all his life Nicolai Andreevitch had a partiality
for unfortunates of every kind, especially children. In my
opinion this is most important. I may add that I discovered
yet another fact, the last on which I employed my
detective powers. Seeing how fond Pavlicheff was of
you,—it was thanks to him you went to school, and also
had the advantage of special teachers—his relations and
servants grew to believe that you were his son, and that The Idiot
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your father had been betrayed by his wife. I may point out
that this idea was only accredited generally during the last
years of Pavlicheff’s life, when his next-of-kin were
trembling about the succession, when the earlier story was
quite forgotten, and when all opportunity for discovering
the truth had seemingly passed away. No doubt you, Mr.
Burdovsky, heard this conjecture, and did not hesitate to
accept it as true. I have had the honour of making your
mother’s acquaintance, and I find that she knows all about
these reports. What she does not know is that you, her
son, should have listened to them so complaisantly. I
found your respected mother at Pskoff, ill and in deep
poverty, as she has been ever since the death of your
benefactor. She told me with tears of gratitude how you
had supported her; she expects much of you, and believes
fervently in your future success...’
‘Oh, this is unbearable!’ said Lebedeff’s nephew
impatiently. ‘What is the good of all this romancing?’
‘It is revolting and unseemly!’ cried Hippolyte, jumping
up in a fury.
Burdovsky alone sat silent and motionless.
‘What is the good of it?’ repeated Gavrila
Ardalionovitch, with pretended surprise. ‘Well, firstly,
because now perhaps Mr. Burdovsky is quite convinced The Idiot
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that Mr. Pavlicheff’s love for him came simply from
generosity of soul, and not from paternal duty. It was most
necessary to impress this fact upon his mind, considering
that he approved of the article written by Mr. Keller. I
speak thus because I look on you, Mr. Burdovsky, as an
honourable man. Secondly, it appears that there was no
intention of cheating in this case, even on the part of
Tchebaroff. I wish to say this quite plainly, because the
prince hinted a while ago that I too thought it an attempt
at robbery and extortion. On the contrary, everyone has
been quite sincere in the matter, and although Tchebaroff
may be somewhat of a rogue, in this business he has acted
simply as any sharp lawyer would do under the
circumstances. He looked at it as a case that might bring
him in a lot of money, and he did not calculate badly;
because on the one hand he speculated on the generosity
of the prince, and his gratitude to the late Mr. Pavlicheff,
and on the other to his chivalrous ideas as to the
obligations of honour and conscience. As to Mr.
Burdovsky, allowing for his principles, we may
acknowledge that he engaged in the business with very
little personal aim in view. At the instigation of Tchebaroff
and his other friends, he decided to make the attempt in
the service of truth, progress, and humanity. In short, the The Idiot
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conclusion may be drawn that, in spite of all appearances,
Mr. Burdovsky is a man of irreproachable character, and
thus the prince can all the more readily offer him his
friendship, and the assistance of which he spoke just
now...’
‘Hush! hush! Gavrila Ardalionovitch!’ cried Muishkin
in dismay, but it was too late.
‘I said, and I have repeated it over and over again,’
