quiet,Aglaya! Be quiet, Alexandra! It is none of your business! Don’t fussround me like that, Evgenie Pavlovitch; you exasperate me! So, my dear,” she cried, addressing the prince, “you go so far as to beg theirpardon! He says, ‘Forgive me for offering you a fortune.’ And you, youmountebank, what are you laughing at?” she cried, turning suddenly onLebedeff’s nephew. “‘We refuse ten thousand roubles; we do not beseech,we demand!’ As if he did not know that this idiot will call on themtomorrow to renew his offers of money and friendship. You will, won’tyou? You will? Come, will you, or won’t you?”
“I shall,” said the prince, with gentle humility.
“You hear him! You count upon it, too,” she continued, turning uponDoktorenko. “You are as sure of him now as if you had the money in yourpocket. And there you are playing the swaggerer to throw dust in oureyes! No, my dear sir, you may take other people in! I can see throughall your airs and graces, I see your game!”
“Lizabetha Prokofievna!” exclaimed the prince.
“Come, Lizabetha Prokofievna, it is quite time for us to be going,we will take the prince with us,” said Prince S. with a smile, in thecoolest possible way.
The girls stood apart, almost frightened; their father was positivelyhorrified. Mrs. Epanchin’s language astonished everybody. Some who stooda little way off smiled furtively, and talked in whispers. Lebedeff worean expression of utmost ecstasy.
“Chaos and scandal are to be found everywhere, madame,” remarkedDoktorenko, who was considerably put out of countenance.
“Not like this! Nothing like the spectacle you have just given us, sir,” answered Lizabetha Prokofievna, with a sort of hysterical rage. “Leaveme alone, will you?” she cried violently to those around her, who weretrying to keep her quiet. “No, Evgenie Pavlovitch, if, as you saidyourself just now, a lawyer said in open court that he found it quitenatural that a man should murder six people because he was in misery,the world must be coming to an end. I had not heard of it before. NowI understand everything. And this stutterer, won’t he turn out amurderer?” she cried, pointing to Burdovsky, who was staring at her withstupefaction. “I bet he will! He will have none of your money, possibly,he will refuse it because his conscience will not allow him to acceptit, but he will go murdering you by night and walking off with yourcashbox, with a clear conscience! He does not call it a dishonest actionbut ‘the impulse of a noble despair’; ‘a negation’; or the devil knowswhat! Bah! everything is upside down, everyone walks head downwards. Ayoung girl, brought up at home, suddenly jumps into a cab in themiddle of the street, saying: ‘Good-bye, mother, I married Karlitch, orIvanitch, the other day!’ And you think it quite right? You call suchconduct estimable and natural? The ‘woman question’? Look here,” shecontinued, pointing to Colia, “the other day that whippersnapper toldme that this was the whole meaning of the ‘woman question.’ But evensupposing that your mother is a fool, you are none the less, bound totreat her with humanity. Why did you come here tonight so insolently?‘Give us our rights, but don’t dare to speak in our presence. Show usevery mark of deepest respect, while we treat you like the scum ofthe earth.’ The miscreants have written a tissue of calumny in theirarticle, and these are the men who seek for truth, and do battle for theright! ‘We do not beseech, we demand, you will get no thanks fromus, because you will be acting to satisfy your own conscience!’What morality! But, good heavens! if you declare that the prince’sgenerosity will, excite no gratitude in you, he might answer that he isnot, bound to be grateful to Pavlicheff, who also was only satisfyinghis own conscience. But you counted on the prince’s, gratitude towardsPavlicheff; you never lent him any money; he owes you nothing; then whatwere you counting upon if not on his gratitude? And if you appeal tothat sentiment in others, why should you expect to be exempted fromit? They are mad! They say society is savage and inhuman because itdespises a young girl who has been seduced. But if you call societyinhuman you imply that the young girl is made to suffer by its censure.How then, can you hold her up to the scorn of society in the newspaperswithout realizing that you are making her suffering, still greater?Madmen! Vain fools! They don’t believe in God, they don’t believe inChrist! But you are so eaten up by pride and vanity, that you will endby devouring each other--that is my prophecy! Is not this absurd? Is itnot monstrous chaos? And after all this, that shameless creature willgo and beg their pardon! Are there many people like you? What areyou smiling at? Because I am not ashamed to disgrace myself beforeyou?--Yes, I am disgraced--it can’t be helped now! But don’t you jeer atme, you scum!” (this was aimed at Hippolyte). “He is almost at his lastgasp, yet he corrupts others. You have got hold of this lad--” (shepointed to Colia); “you, have turned his head, you have taught him tobe an atheist, you don’t believe in God, and you are not too old to bewhipped, sir! A plague upon you! And so, Prince Lef Nicolaievitch,you will call on them tomorrow, will you?” she asked the princebreathlessly, for the second time.
“Yes.”
“Then I will never speak to you again.” She made a sudden movement togo, and then turned quickly back. “And you will call on that atheist?” she continued, pointing to Hippolyte. “How dare you grin at me likethat?” she shouted furiously, rushing at the invalid, whose mockingsmile drove her to distraction.
Exclamations arose on all sides.
“Lizabetha Prokofievna! Lizabetha Prokofievna! Lizabetha Prokofievna!”
“Mother, this is disgraceful!” cried Aglaya.
Mrs. Epanchin had approached Hippolyte and seized him firmly by the arm,while her eyes, blazing with fury, were fixed upon his face.
“Do not distress yourself, Aglaya Ivanovitch,” he answered calmly; “yourmother knows that one cannot strike a dying man. I am ready to explainwhy I was laughing. I shall be delighted if you will let me--”
A violent fit of coughing, which lasted a full minute, prevented himfrom finishing his sentence.
“He is dying, yet he will not stop holding forth!” cried LizabethaProkofievna. She loosed her hold on his arm, almost terrified, as shesaw him wiping the blood from his lips. “Why do you talk? You ought togo home to bed.”
“So I will,” he whispered hoarsely. “As soon as I get home I will go tobed at once; and I know I shall be dead in a fortnight; Botkine told meso himself last week. That is why I should like to say a few farewellwords, if you will let me.”
“But you must be mad! It is ridiculous! You should take care ofyourself; what is the use of holding a conversation now? Go home to bed,do!” cried Mrs. Epanchin in horror.
“When I do go to bed I shall never get up again,” said Hippolyte, with asmile. “I meant to take to my bed yesterday and stay there till I died,but as my legs can still carry me, I put it off for two days, so as tocome here with them to-day--but I am very tired.”
“Oh, sit down, sit down, why are you standing?”
Lizabetha Prokofievna placed a chair for him with her own hands.
“Thank you,” he said gently. “Sit opposite to me, and let us talk. Wemust have a talk now, Lizabetha Prokofievna; I am very anxious for it.” He smiled at her once more. “Remember that today, for the last time, Iam out in the air, and in the company of my fellow-men, and that in afortnight I shall certainly be no longer in this world. So, in a way,this is my farewell to nature and to men. I am not very sentimental,but do you know, I am quite glad that all this has happened at Pavlofsk,where at least one can see a green tree.”
“But why talk now?” replied Lizabetha Prokofievna, more and morealarmed; “You are quite feverish. Just now you would not stop shouting, andnow you can hardly breathe. You are gasping.”
“I shall have time to rest. Why will you not grant my last wish? Do youknow, Lizabetha Prokofievna, that I have dreamed of meeting you for along while? I had often heard of you from Colia; he is almost the onlyperson who still comes to see me. You are an original and eccentricwoman; I have seen that for myself--Do you know, I have even been ratherfond of you?”
“Good heavens! And I very nearly struck h
im!”
“You were prevented by Aglaya Ivanovna. I think I am not mistaken? Thatis your daughter, Aglaya Ivanovna? She is so beautiful that I recognizedher directly, although I had never seen her before. Let me, at least,look on beauty for the last time in my life,” he said with a wry smile.“You are here with the prince, and your husband, and a large company.Why should you refuse to gratify my last wish?”
“Give me a chair!” cried Lizabetha Prokofievna, but she seized one forherself and sat down opposite to Hippolyte. “Colia, you must go homewith him,” she commanded, “and tomorrow I will come my self.”
“Will you let me ask the prince for a cup of tea?... I am exhausted. Doyou know what you might do, Lizabetha Prokofievna? I think you wanted totake the prince home with you for tea. Stay here, and let us spendthe evening together. I am sure the prince will give us all some tea.Forgive me for being so free and easy--but I know you are kind, andthe prince is kind, too. In fact, we are all good-natured people--it isreally quite comical.”
The prince bestirred himself
The Idiot Page 61
