after all, and I went home feeling like one of the damned.’ ‘My goodness!’ shivered the clerk. ‘And his father,’ he
added, for the prince’s instruction, ‘and his father would have given a man a ticket to the other world for ten roubles any day—not to speak of ten thousand!’
The prince observed Rogojin with great curiosity; he seemed paler than ever at this moment.
‘What do you know about it?’ cried the latter. ‘Well, my father learned the whole story at once, and Zaleshoff blabbed it all over the town besides. So he took me upstairs and locked me up, and swore at me for an hour. ‘This is only a foretaste,’ says he; ‘wait a bit till night comes, and I’ll come back and talk to you again.’
‘Well, what do you think? The old fellow went straight off to Nastasia Philipovna, touched the floor with his forehead, and began blubbering and beseeching her on his knees to give him back the diamonds. So after awhile she brought the box and flew out at him. ‘There,’ she says, ‘take your ear-rings, you wretched old miser; although they are ten times dearer than their value to me now that I know what it must have cost Parfen to get them! Give Parfen my compliments,’ she says, ‘and thank him very much!’ Well, I meanwhile had
borrowed twenty-five roubles from a friend, and off I went to Pskoff to my aunt’s. The old woman there lectured me so that I left the house and went on a drinking tour round the public-houses of the place. I was in a high fever when I got to Pskoff, and by nightfall I was lying delirious in the streets somewhere or other!’
‘Oho! we’ll make Nastasia Philipovna sing another song now!’ giggled Lebedeff, rubbing his hands with glee. ‘Hey, my boy, we’ll get her some proper earrings now! We’ll get her such earrings that—‘
‘Look here,’ cried Rogojin, seizing him fiercely by the arm, ‘look here, if you so much as name Nastasia Philipov-na again, I’ll tan your hide as sure as you sit there!’
‘Aha! do—by all means! if you tan my hide you won’t turn me away from your society. You’ll bind me to you, with your lash, for ever. Ha, ha! here we are at the station, though.’
Sure enough, the train was just steaming in as he spoke. Though Rogojin had declared that he left Pskoff secretly,
a large collection of friends had assembled to greet him, and did so with profuse waving of hats and shouting.
‘Why, there’s Zaleshoff here, too!’ he muttered, gazing at the scene with a sort of triumphant but unpleasant smile. Then he suddenly turned to the prince: ‘Prince, I don’t know why I have taken a fancy to you; perhaps because I met you just when I did. But no, it can’t be that, for I met this fellow
‘ (nodding at Lebedeff) ‘too, and I have not taken a fancy to him by any means. Come to see me, prince; we’ll take off those gaiters of yours and dress you up in a smart fur coat, the best we can buy. You shall have a dress coat, best quality,
white waistcoat, anything you like, and your pocket shall be full of money. Come, and you shall go with me to Nastasia Philipovna’s. Now then will you come or no?’
‘Accept, accept, Prince Lef Nicolaievitch’ said Lebedef solemnly; ‘don’t let it slip! Accept, quick!’
Prince Muishkin rose and stretched out his hand courte-ously, while he replied with some cordiality:
‘I will come with the greatest pleasure, and thank you very much for taking a fancy to me. I dare say I may even come today if I have time, for I tell you frankly that I like you very much too. I liked you especially when you told us about the diamond earrings; but I liked you before that as well, though you have such a dark-clouded sort of face. Thanks very much for the offer of clothes and a fur coat; I certainly shall require both clothes and coat very soon. As for money, I have hardly a copeck about me at this moment.’
‘You shall have lots of money; by the evening I shall have plenty; so come along!’
‘That’s true enough, he’ll have lots before evening!’ put in Lebedeff.
‘But, look here, are you a great hand with the ladies? Let’s know that first?’ asked Rogojin.
‘Oh no, oh no! said the prince; ‘I couldn’t, you know—my illness—I hardly ever saw a soul.’
‘H’m! well—here, you fellow-you can come along with me now if you like!’ cried Rogojin to Lebedeff, and so they all left the carriage.
Lebedeff had his desire. He went off with the noisy group of Rogojin’s friends towards the Voznesensky, while the
prince’s route lay towards the Litaynaya. It was damp and wet. The prince asked his way of passers-by, and finding that he was a couple of miles or so from his destination, he determined to take a droshky.
II
General Epanchin lived in his own house near the Lit-aynaya. Besides this large residence—five-sixths of
which was let in flats and lodgings-the general was own-er of another enormous house in the Sadovaya bringing in even more rent than the first. Besides these houses he had a delightful little estate just out of town, and some sort of factory in another part of the city. General Epanchin, as ev-eryone knew, had a good deal to do with certain government monopolies; he was also a voice, and an important one, in many rich public companies of various descriptions; in fact, he enjoyed the reputation of being a wellto-do man of busy habits, many ties, and afluent means. He had made him-self indispensable in several quarters, amongst others in his department of the government; and yet it was a known fact that Fedor Ivanovitch Epanchin was a man of no education whatever, and had absolutely risen from the ranks.
This last fact could, of course, reflect nothing but credit upon the general; and yet, though unquestionably a saga-cious man, he had his own little weaknesses-very excusable ones,—one of which was a dislike to any allusion to the above circumstance. He was undoubtedly clever. For in-stance, he made a point of never asserting himself when he would gain more by keeping in the background; and in con-sequence many exalted personages valued him principally
for his humility and simplicity, and because ‘he knew his place.’ And yet if these good people could only have had a peep into the mind of this excellent fellow who ‘knew his place’ so well! The fact is that, in spite of his knowledge of the world and his really remarkable abilities, he always liked to appear to be carrying out other people’s ideas rather than his own. And also, his luck seldom failed him, even at cards, for which he had a passion that he did not attempt to con-ceal. He played for high stakes, and moved, altogether, in very varied society.
As to age, General Epanchin was in the very prime of life; that is, about fifty-five years of age,—the flowering time of existence, when real enjoyment of life begins. His healthy appearance, good colour, sound, though discoloured teeth, sturdy figure, preoccupied air during business hours, and jolly good humour during his game at cards in the evening, all bore witness to his success in life, and combined to make existence a bed of roses to his excellency. The general was lord of a flourishing family, consisting of his wife and three grown-up daughters. He had married young, while still a lieutenant, his wife being a girl of about his own age, who possessed neither beauty nor education, and who brought him no more than fifty souls of landed property, which little estate served, however, as a nest-egg for far more important accumulations. The general never regretted his early mar-riage, or regarded it as a foolish youthful escapade; and he so respected and feared his wife that he was very near loving her. Mrs. Epanchin came of the princely stock of Muishkin, which if not a brilliant, was, at all events, a decidedly an-
cient family; and she was extremely proud of her descent. With a few exceptions, the worthy couple had lived
through their long union very happily. While still young the wife had been able to make important friends among the aristocracy, partly by virtue of her family descent, and part-ly by her own exertions; while, in after life, thanks to their wealth and to the position of her husband in the service, she took her place among the higher circles as by right.
During these last few years all three of the general’s daughtersAlexandra, Adelaida, and Aglaya—had grown up and matured. Of course they were only Epanchins, but their mother’s family was noble; they might expect considerable fortunes; their father had hopes of attaining to very high rank indeed in his country’s service-all of which was satis-factory. All three of the girls were decidedly pretty, even the eldest, Alexandra, who was just twenty-five years old. The middle daughter was now twenty-three, while the young-est, Aglaya, was twenty. This youngest girl was absolutely a beauty, and had begun of late to attract considerable at-tention in society. But this was not all, for every one of the three was clever, well educated, and accomplished.
It was a matter of general knowledge that the three girls were very fond of one another, and supported each oth-er in every way; it was even said that the two elder ones had made certain
