and hurriedly produced three letters.
But the door opened again, and out came Colia.
The prince actually felt glad that he had been
interrupted,—and might return the letters to his pocket.
He was glad of the respite.
‘Well,’ said Colia, plunging in medias res, as he always
did, ‘here’s a go! What do you think of Hippolyte now?
Don’t respect him any longer, eh?’
‘Why not? But look here, Colia, I’m tired; besides, the
subject is too melancholy to begin upon again. How is he,
though?’
‘Asleep—he’ll sleep for a couple of hours yet. I quite
understand—you haven’t slept—you walked about the
park, I know. Agitation—excitement—all that sort of
thing—quite natural, too!’
‘How do you know I walked in the park and didn’t
sleep at home?’
‘Vera just told me. She tried to persuade me not to
come, but I couldn’t help myself, just for one minute. I
have been having my turn at the bedside for the last two
hours; Kostia Lebedeff is there now. Burdovsky has gone.
Now, lie down, prince, make yourself comfortable, and
sleep well! I’m awfully impressed, you know.’ The Idiot
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‘Naturally, all this—‘
‘No, no, I mean with the ‘explanation,’ especially that
part of it where he talks about Providence and a future
life. There is a gigantic thought there.’
The prince gazed affectionately at Colia, who, of
course, had come in solely for the purpose of talking about
this ‘gigantic thought.’
‘But it is not any one particular thought, only; it is the
general circumstances of the case. If Voltaire had written
this now, or Rousseau, I should have just read it and
thought it remarkable, but should not have been so
IMPRESSED by it. But a man who knows for certain that
he has but ten minutes to live and can talk like that—
why—it’s—it’s PRIDE, that is! It is really a most
extraordinary, exalted assertion of personal dignity, it’s—
it’s DEFIANT! What a GIGANTIC strength of will, eh?
And to accuse a fellow like that of not putting in the cap
on purpose; it’s base and mean! You know he deceived us
last night, the cunning rascal. I never packed his bag for
him, and I never saw his pistol. He packed it himself. But
he put me off my guard like that, you see. Vera says you
are going to let him stay on; I swear there’s no danger,
especially as we are always with him.’
‘Who was by him at night?’ The Idiot
817 of 1149
‘I, and Burdovsky, and Kostia Lebedeff. Keller stayed a
little while, and then went over to Lebedeff’s to sleep.
Ferdishenko slept at Lebedeff’s, too; but he went away at
seven o’clock. My father is always at Lebedeff’s; but he has
gone out just now. I dare say Lebedeff will be coming in
here directly; he has been looking for you; I don’t know
what he wants. Shall we let him in or not, if you are
asleep? I’m going to have a nap, too. By-the- by, such a
curious thing happened. Burdovsky woke me at seven,
and I met my father just outside the room, so drunk, he
didn’t even know me. He stood before me like a log, and
when he recovered himself, asked hurriedly how
Hippolyte was. ‘Yes,’ he said, when I told him, ‘that’s all
very well, but I REALLY came to warn you that you
must be very careful what you say before Ferdishenko.’
Do you follow me, prince?’
‘Yes. Is it really so? However, it’s all the same to us, of
course.’
‘Of course it is; we are not a secret society; and that
being the case, it is all the more curious that the general
should have been on his way to wake me up in order to
tell me this.’
‘Ferdishenko has gone, you say?’ The Idiot
818 of 1149
‘Yes, he went at seven o’clock. He came into the room
on his way out; I was watching just then. He said he was
going to spend ‘the rest of the night’ at Wilkin’s; there’s a
tipsy fellow, a friend of his, of that name. Well, I’m off.
Oh, here’s Lebedeff himself! The prince wants to go to
sleep, Lukian Timofeyovitch, so you may just go away
again.’
‘One moment, my dear prince, just one. I must
absolutely speak to you about something which is most
grave,’ said Lebedeff, mysteriously and solemnly, entering
the room with a bow and looking extremely important.
He had but just returned, and carried his hat in his hand.
He looked preoccupied and most unusually dignified.
The prince begged him to take a chair.
‘I hear you have called twice; I suppose you are still
worried about yesterday’s affair.’
‘What, about that boy, you mean? Oh dear no,
yesterday my ideas were a little—well—mixed. Today, I
assure you, I shall not oppose in the slightest degree any
suggestions it may please you to make.’
‘What’s up with you this morning, Lebedeff? You look
so important and dignified, and you choose your words so
carefully,’ said the prince, smiling. The Idiot
819 of 1149
‘Nicolai Ardalionovitch!’ said Lebedeff, in a most
amiable tone of voice, addressing the boy. ‘As I have a
communication to make to the prince which concerns
only myself—‘
‘Of course, of course, not my affair. All right,’ said
Colia, and away he went.
‘I love that boy for his perception,’ said Lebedeff,
looking after him. ‘My dear prince,’ he continued, ‘I have
had a terrible misfortune, either last night or early this
morning. I cannot tell the exact time.’
‘What is it?’
‘I have lost four hundred roubles out of my side
pocket! They’re gone!’ said Lebedeff, with a sour smile.
‘You’ve lost four hundred roubles? Oh! I’m sorry for
that.’
‘Yes, it is serious for a poor man who lives by his toil.’
‘Of course, of course! How was it?’
‘Oh, the wine is to blame, of course. I confess to you,
prince, as I would to Providence itself. Yesterday I
received four hundred roubles from a debtor at about five
in the afternoon, and came down here by train. I had my
purse in my pocket. When I changed, I put the money
into the pocket of my plain clothes, intending to keep it The Idiot
820 of 1149
by me, as I expected to have an applicant for it in the
evening.’
‘It’s true then, Lebedeff, that you advertise to lend
money on gold or silver articles?’
‘Yes, through an agent. My own name doesn’t appear.
I have a large family, you see, and at a small percentage—‘
‘Quite so, quite so. I only asked for information—
excuse the question. Go on.’
‘Well, meanwhile that sick boy was brought here, and
those guests came in, and we had tea, and—well, we made
merry—to my ruin! Hearing of your birthday afterwards,
and excited with the circumstances of the evening, I ran
upstairs and changed my plain clothes once more for my
uniform [Civil Service clerks in Russia wear uniform.]—
you must have noticed I had my uniform on all the
evening? Well, I forgot the money in the pocket of my
old coat— you know when God will ruin a man he first
of all bereaves him of his senses—and it was only this
morning at half-past seven that I woke up and grabbed at
my coat pocket, first thing. The pocket was empty—the
purse gone, and not a trace to be found!’
‘Dear me! This is very unpleasant!’ The Idiot
821 of 1149
‘Unpleasant! Indeed it is. You have found a very
appropriate expression,’ said Lebedeff, politely, but with
sarcasm.
‘But what’s to be done? It’s a serious matter,’ said the
prince, thoughtfully. ‘Don’t you think you may have
dropped it out of your pocket whilst intoxicated?’
‘Certainly. Anything is possible when one is
intoxicated, as you neatly express it, prince. But
consider—if I, intoxicated or not, dropped an object out
of my pocket on to the ground, that object ought to
remain on the ground. Where is the object, then?’
‘Didn’t you put it away in some drawer, perhaps?’
‘I’ve looked everywhere, and turned out everything.’
‘I confess this disturbs me a good deal. Someone must
have picked it up, then.’
‘Or taken it out of my pocket—two alternatives.’
‘It is very distressing, because WHO—? That’s the
question!’
‘Most undoubtedly, excellent prince, you have hit it—
that is the very question. How wonderfully you express
the exact situation in a few words!’
‘Come, come, Lebedeff, no sarcasm! It’s a serious—‘ The Idiot
822 of 1149
‘Sarcasm!’ cried Lebedeff, wringing his hands. ‘All right,
all right, I’m not angry. I’m only put out about this.
Whom do you suspect?’
‘That is a very difficult and complicated question. I
cannot suspect the servant, for she was in the kitchen the
whole evening, nor do I suspect any of my children.’
‘I should think not. Go on.’
‘Then it must be one of the guests.’
‘Is such a thing possible?’
‘Absolutely and utterly impossible—and yet, so it must
be. But one thing I am sure of, if it be a theft, it was
committed, not in the evening when we were all together,
but either at night or early in the morning; therefore, by
one of those who slept here. Burdovsky and Colia I
except, of course. They did not even come into my
room.’
‘Yes, or even if they had! But who did sleep with you?’
‘Four of us, including myself, in two rooms. The general,
myself, Keller, and Ferdishenko. One of us four it must
have been. I don’t suspect myself, though such cases have
been known.’
‘Oh! DO go on, Lebedeff! Don’t drag it out so.’
‘Well, there are three left, then—Keller firstly. He is a
drunkard to begin with, and a liberal (in the sense of other The Idiot
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people’s pockets), otherwise with more of the ancient
knight about him than of the modern liberal. He was with
the sick man at first, but came over afterwards because
there was no place to lie down in the room and the floor
was so hard.’
‘You suspect him?’
‘I DID suspect him. When I woke up at half-past seven
and tore my hair in despair for my loss and carelessness, I
awoke the general, who was sleeping the sleep of
innocence near me. Taking into consideration the sudden
disappearance of Ferdishenko, which was suspicious in
itself, we decided to search Keller, who was lying there
sleeping like a top. Well, we searched his clothes
thoroughly, and not a farthing did we find; in fact, his
pockets all had holes in them. We found a dirty
handkerchief, and a love- letter from some scullery-maid.
The general decided that he was innocent. We awoke him
for further inquiries, and had the greatest difficulty in
making him understand what was up. He opened his
mouth and stared—he looked so stupid and so absurdly
innocent. It wasn’t Keller.’
‘Oh, I’m so glad!’ said the prince, joyfully. ‘I was so
afraid.’ The Idiot
824 of 1149
‘Afraid! Then you had some grounds for supposing he
might be the culprit?’ said Lebedeff, frowning.
‘Oh no—not a bit! It was foolish of me to say I was
afraid! Don’t repeat it please, Lebedeff, don’t tell anyone I
said that!’
‘My dear prince! your words lie in the lowest depth of
my heart— it is their tomb!’ said Lebedeff, solemnly,
pressing his hat to the region of his heart.
‘Thanks; very well. Then I suppose it’s Ferdishenko;
that is, I mean, you suspect Ferdishenko?’
‘Whom else?’ said Lebedeff, softly, gazing intently into
the prince s face.
‘Of course—quite so, whom else? But what are the
proofs?’
‘We have evidence. In the first place, his mysterious
disappearance at seven o’clock, or even earlier.’
‘I know, Colia told me that he had said he was off to—
I forget the name, some friend of his, to finish the night.’
‘H’m! then Colia has spoken to you already?’
‘Not about the theft.’
‘He does not know of it; I have kept it a secret. Very
well, Ferdishenko went off to Wilkin’s. That is not so
curious in itself, but here the evidence opens out further.
He left his address, you see, when he went. Now prince, The Idiot
825 of 1149
consider, why did he leave his address? Why do you
suppose he went out of his way to tell Colia that he had
gone to Wilkin’s? Who cared to know that he was going
to Wilkin’s? No, no! prince, this is finesse, thieves’ finesse!
This is as good as saying, ‘There, how can I be a thief
when I leave my address? I’m not concealing my
movements as a thief would.’ Do you understand, prince?’
‘Oh yes, but that is not enough.’
‘Second proof. The scent turns out to be false, and the
address given is a sham. An hour after—that is at about
eight, I went to Wilkin’s myself, and there was no trace of
Ferdishenko. The maid did tell me, certainly, that an hour
or so since someone had been hammering at the door, and
had smashed the bell; she said she would not open the
door because she didn’t want to wake her master; probably
she was too lazy to get up herself. Such phenomena are
met with occasionally!’
‘But is that all your evidence? It is not enough!’
‘Well, prince, whom are we to suspect, then?
Consider!’ said Lebedeff with almost servile amiability,
smiling at the prince. There was a look of cunning in his
eyes, however. The Idiot
826 of 1149
‘You should search your room and all the cupboards
again,’ said the prince, after a moment or two of silent
reflection.
‘But I have done so, my dear prince!’ said Lebedeff,
more sweetly than ever.
‘H’m! why must you needs go up and change your coat
like that?’ asked the prince, banging the table with his fist,
in annoyance.
‘Oh, don’t be so worried on my account, prince! I
assure you I am not worth it! At least, not I alone. But I
see you are suffering on behalf of the criminal too, for
wretched Ferdishenko, in fact!’
‘Of course you have given me a disagreeable enough
thing to think about,’ said the prince, irritably, ‘but what
are you going to do, since you are so sure it was
Ferdishenko?’
‘But who else COULD it be, my very dear prince?’
repeated Lebedeff, as sweet as sugar again. ‘If you don’t
wish me to suspect Mr. Burdovsky?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Nor the general? Ha, ha, ha!’
