白痴 英文版 The Idiot
陀思妥耶夫斯基 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Idiot III. Page 1
THE occurrence at the Vauxhall had filled both mother anddaughters with something like horror. In their excitementLizabetha Prokofievna and the girls were nearly running all theway home.
In her opinion there was so much disclosed and laid bare by theepisode, that, in spite of the chaotic condition of her mind, shewas able to feel more or less decided on certain points which, upto now, had been in a cloudy condition.
However, one and all of the party realized that somethingimportant had happened, and that, perhaps fortunately enough,something which had hitherto been enveloped in the obscurity ofguess-work had now begun to come forth a little from the mists.In spite of Prince S.'s assurances and explanations, EvgeniePavlovitch's real character and position were at last coming tolight. He was publicly convicted of intimacy with "thatcreature." So thought Lizabetha Prokofievna and her two elderdaughters.
But the real upshot of the business was that the number ofriddles to be solved was augmented. The two girls, though ratherirritated at their mother's exaggerated alarm and haste to departfrom the scene, had been unwilling to worry her at first withquestions.
Besides, they could not help thinking that their sister Aglayaprobably knew more about the whole matter than both they andtheir mother put together.
Prince S. looked as black as night, and was silent and moody.Mrs. Epanchin did not say a word to him all the way home, and hedid not seem to observe the fact. Adelaida tried to pump him alittle by asking, "who was the uncle they were talking about, andwhat was it that had happened in Petersburg?" But he had merelymuttered something disconnected about "making inquiries," andthat "of course it was all nonsense." "Oh, of course," repliedAdelaida, and asked no more questions. Aglaya, too, was veryquiet; and the only remark she made on the way home was that theywere "walking much too fast to be pleasant."
Once she turned and observed the prince hurrying after them.Noticing his anxiety to catch them up, she smiled ironically, andthen looked back no more. At length, just as they neared thehouse, General Epanchin came out and met them; he had only justarrived from town.
His first word was to inquire after Evgenie Pavlovitch. ButLizabetha stalked past him, and neither looked at him noranswered his question.
kill each other at duels.
He immediately judged from the faces of his daughters and PrinceS. that there was a thunderstorm brewing, and he himself alreadybore evidences of unusual perturbation of mind.
He immediately button-holed Prince S., and standing at the frontdoor, engaged in a whispered conversation with him. By thetroubled aspect of both of them, when they entered the house, andapproached Mrs. Epanchin, it was evident that they had beendiscussing very disturbing news.
Little by little the family gathered together upstairs inLizabetha Prokofievna's apartments, and Prince Muishkin foundhimself alone on the verandah when he arrived. He settled himselfin a corner and sat waiting, though he knew not what he expected.It never struck him that he had better go away, with all thisdisturbance in the house. He seemed to have forgotten all theworld, and to be ready to sit on where he was for years on end.From upstairs he caught sounds of excited conversation every nowand then.
He could not say how long he sat there. It grew late and becamequite dark.
Suddenly Aglaya entered the verandah. She seemed to be quitecalm, though a little pale.
Observing the prince, whom she evidently did not expect to seethere, alone in the corner, she smiled, and approached him:
"What are you doing there?" she asked.
The prince muttered something, blushed, and jumped up; but Aglayaimmediately sat down beside him; so he reseated himself.
She looked suddenly, but attentively into his face, then at thewindow, as though thinking of something else, and then again athim.
"Perhaps she wants to laugh at me," thought the prince, "but no;for if she did she certainly would do so."
"Would you like some tea? I'll order some," she said, after aminute or two of silence.
"N-no thanks, I don't know--"
"Don't know! How can you not know? By-the-by, look here--ifsomeone were to challenge you to a duel, what should you do? Iwished to ask you this--some time ago--"
"Why? Nobody would ever challenge me to a duel!"
"But if they were to, would you be dreadfully frightened?"
"I dare say I should be--much alarmed!"
"Seriously? Then are you a coward?"
"N-no!--I don't think so. A coward is a man who is afraid andruns away; the man who is frightened but does not run away, isnot quite a coward," said the prince with a smile, after amoment's thought.
"And you wouldn't run away?"
"No--I don't think I should run away," replied the prince,laughing outright at last at Aglaya's questions.
"Though I am a woman, I should certainly not run away foranything," said Aglaya, in a slightly pained voice. "However, Isee you are laughing at me and twisting your face up as usual inorder to make yourself look more interesting. Now tell me, theygenerally shoot at twenty paces, don't they? At ten, sometimes? Isuppose if at ten they must be either wounded or killed, mustn'tthey?"
"I don't think they often kill each other at duels."
"They killed Pushkin that way."
"That may have been an accident."
"Not a bit of it; it was a duel to the death, and he was killed."
"The bullet struck so low down that probably his antagonist wouldnever have aimed at that part of him--people never do; he wouldhave aimed at his chest or head; so that probably the bullet hithim accidentally. I have been told this by competentauthorities."
"Well, a soldier once told me that they were always ordered toaim at the middle of the body. So you see they don't aim at thechest or head; they aim lower on purpose. I asked some officerabout this afterwards, and he said it was perfectly true."
"That is probably when they fire from a long distance."
"Can you shoot at all?"
"No, I have never shot in my life."
"Can't you even load a pistol?"
"No! That is, I understand how it's done, of course, but I havenever done it."
"Then, you don't know how, for it is a matter that needspractice. Now listen and learn; in the first place buy goodpowder, not damp (they say it mustn't be at all damp, but verydry), some fine kind it is--you must ask for PISTOL powder, notthe stuff they load cannons with. They say one makes the bulletsoneself, somehow or other. Have you got a pistol?"
"No--and I don't want one," said the prince, laughing.
"Oh, what NONSENSE! You must buy one. French or English are thebest, they say. Then take a little powder, about a thimbleful, orperhaps two, and pour it into the barrel. Better put plenty. Thenpush in a bit of felt (it MUST be felt, for some reason orother); you can easily get a bit off some old mattress, or off adoor; it's used to keep the cold out. Well, when you have pushedthe felt down, put the bullet in; do you hear now? The bulletlast and the powder first, not the other way, or the pistol won'tshoot. What are you laughing at? I wish you to buy a pistol andpractise every day, and you must learn to hit a mark for CERTAIN;will you?"
The prince only laughed. Aglaya stamped her foot with annoyance.
Her serious air, however, during this conversation had surprisedhim considerably. He had a feeling that he ought to be asking hersomething, that there was something he wanted to find out farmore important than how to load a pistol; but his thoughts hadall scattered, and he was only aware that she was sitting by,him, and talking to him, and that he was looking at her; as towhat she happened to be saying to him, that did not matter in theleast.
The general now appeared on the verandah, coming from upstairs.He was on his way out, with an expression of determination on hisface, and of preoccupation and worry also.
"Ah! Lef Nicolaievitch, it's you, is it? Where are you off tonow?" he asked, oblivious of the fact that the prince had notshowed the least sign of moving. "Come along with me; I want tosay a word or two to you."
"Au revoir, then!" said Aglaya, holding out her hand to theprince.
It was quite dark now, and Muishkin could not see her faceclearly, but a minute or two later, when he and the general hadleft the villa, he suddenly flushed up, and squeezed his righthand tightly.
It appeared that he and the general were going in the samedirection. In spite of the lateness of the hour, the general washurrying away to talk to someone upon some important subject.Meanwhile he talked incessantly but disconnectedly to the prince,and continually brought in the name of Lizabetha Prokofievna.
If the prince had been in a condition to pay more attention towhat the general was saying, he would have discovered that thelatter was desirous of drawing some information out of him, orindeed of asking him some question outright; but that he couldnot make up his mind to come to the point.
Muishkin was so absent, that from the very first he could notattend to a word the other was saying; and when the generalsuddenly stopped before him with some excited question, he wasobliged to confess, ignominiously, that he did not know in theleast what he had been talking about.
The general shrugged his shoulders.
"How strange everyone, yourself included, has become of late,"said he. "I was telling you that I cannot in the least understandLizabetha Prokofievna's ideas and agitations. She is in hystericsup there, and moans and says that we have been 'shamed anddisgraced.' How? Why? When? By whom? I confess that I am verymuch to blame myself; I do not conceal the fact; but the conduct,the outrageous behaviour of this woman, must really be keptwithin limits, by the police if necessary, and I am just on myway now to talk the question over and make some arrangements. Itcan all be managed quietly and gently, even kindly, and withoutthe slightest fuss or scandal. I foresee that the future ispregnant with events, and that there is much that needsexplanation. There is intrigue in the wind; but if on one sidenothing is known, on the other side nothing will be explained. IfI have heard nothing about it, nor have YOU, nor HE, nor SHE--who HAS heard about it, I should like to know? How CAN all thisbe explained except by the fact that half of it is mirage ormoonshine, or some hallucination of that sort?"
"SHE is insane," muttered the prince, suddenly recollecting allthat had passed, with a spasm of pain at his heart.
"I too had that idea, and I slept in peace. But now I see thattheir opinion is more correct. I do not believe in the theory ofmadness! The woman has no common sense; but she is not only notinsane, she is artful to a degree. Her outburst of this eveningabout Evgenie's uncle proves that conclusively. It was VILLAINOUS,simply jesuitical, and it was all for some special purpose."
"What about Evgenie's uncle?"
"My goodness, Lef Nicolaievitch, why, you can't have heard asingle word I said! Look at me, I'm still trembling all over withthe dreadful shock! It is that that kept me in town so late.Evgenie Pavlovitch's uncle--"
Well?" cried the prince.
"Shot himself this morning, at seven o'clock. A respected,eminent old man of seventy; and exactly point for point as shedescribed it; a sum of money, a considerable sum of governmentmoney, missing!"
"Why, how could she--"
"What, know of it? Ha, ha, ha! Why, there was a whole crowd roundher the moment she appeared on the scenes here. You know whatsort of people surround her nowadays, and solicit the honour ofher 'acquaintance.' Of course she might easily have heard thenews from someone coming from town. All Petersburg, if not allPavlofsk, knows it by now. Look at the slyness of her observationabout Evgenie's uniform! I mean, her remark that he had retiredjust in time! There's a venomous hint for you, if you like! No,no! there's no insanity there! Of course I refuse to believe thatEvgenie Pavlovitch could have known beforehand of thecatastrophe; that is, that at such and such a day at seveno'clock, and all that; but he might well have had a presentimentof the truth. And I--all of us--Prince S. and everybody, believedthat he was to inherit a large fortune from this uncle. It'sdreadful, horrible! Mind, I don't suspect Evgenie of anything, bequite clear on that point; but the thing is a little suspicious,nevertheless. Prince S. can't get over it. Altogether it is avery extraordinary combination of circumstances."
"What suspicion attaches to Evgenie Pavlovitch?"
"Oh, none at all! He has behaved very well indeed. I didn't meanto drop any sort of hint. His own fortune is intact, I believe.Lizabetha Prokofievna, of course, refuses to listen to anything.That's the worst of it all, these family catastrophes orquarrels, or whatever you like to call them. You know, prince,you are a friend of the family, so I don't mind telling you; itnow appears that Evgenie Pavlovitch proposed to Aglaya a monthago, and was refused."
"Why? Do you know anything about it? Look here," continued thegeneral, more agitated than ever, and trembling with excitement,"maybe I have been letting the cat out of the bag too freely withyou, if so, it is because you are--that sort of man, you know!Perhaps you have some special information?"
"I know nothing about Evgenie Pavlovitch!" said the prince.
"Nor do I! They always try to bury me underground when there'sanything going on; they don't seem to reflect that it isunpleasant to a man to be treated so! I won't stand it! We havejust had a terrible scene!--mind, I speak to you as I would to myown son! Aglaya laughs at her mother. Her sisters guessed aboutEvgenie having proposed and been rejected, and told Lizabetha.
"I tell you, my dear fellow, Aglaya is such an extraordinary,such a self-willed, fantastical little creature, you wouldn'tbelieve it! Every high quality, every brilliant trait of heartand mind, are to be found in her, and, with it all, so muchcaprice and mockery, such wild fancies--indeed, a little devil!She has just been laughing at her mother to her very face, and ather sisters, and at Prince S., and everybody--and of course shealways laughs at me! You know I love the child--I love her evenwhen she laughs at me, and I believe the wild little creature hasa special fondness for me for that very reason. She is fonder ofme than any of the others. I dare swear she has had a good laughat YOU before now! You were having a quiet talk just now, Iobserved, after all the thunder and lightning upstairs. She wassitting with you just as though there had been no row at all."
The prince blushed painfully in the darkness, and closed hisright hand tightly, but he said nothing.
"My dear good Prince Lef Nicolaievitch," began the general again,suddenly, "both I and Lizabetha Prokofievna--(who has begun torespect you once more, and me through you, goodness knows why!)--we both love you very sincerely, and esteem you, in spite of anyappearances to the contrary. But you'll admit what a riddle itmust have been for us when that calm, cold, little spitfire,Aglaya--(for she stood up to her mother and answered herquestions with inexpressible contempt, and mine still more so,because, like a fool, I thought it my duty to assert myself ashead of the family)--when Aglaya stood up of a sudden andinformed us that 'that madwoman' (strangely enough, she usedexactly the same expression as you did) 'has taken it into herhead to marry me to Prince Lef Nicolaievitch, and therefore isdoing her best to choke Evgenie Pavlovitch off, and rid the houseof him.' That's what she said. She would not give the slightestexplanation; she burst out laughing, banged the door, and wentaway. We all stood there with our mouths open. Well, I was toldafterwards of your little passage with Aglaya this afternoon,and-and--dear prince--you are a good, sensible fellow, don't beangry if I speak out--she is laughing at you, my boy! She isenjoying herself like a child, at your expense, and therefore,since she is a child, don't be angry with her, and don't thinkanything of it. I assure you, she is simply making a fool of you,just as she does with one and all of us out of pure lack ofsomething better to do. Well--good-bye! You know our feelings,don't you--our sincere feelings for yourself? They areunalterable, you know, dear boy, under all circumstances, but--Well, here we part; I must go down to the right. Rarely have Isat so uncomfortably in my saddle, as they say, as I now sit. Andpeople talk of the charms of a country holiday!"
Left to himself at the cross-roads, the prince glanced aroundhim, quickly crossed the road towards the lighted window of aneighbouring house, and unfolded a tiny scrap of paper which hehad held clasped in his right hand during the whole of hisconversation with the general.
He read the note in the uncertain rays that fell from the window.It was as follows:
"Tomorrow morning, I shall be at the green bench in the park atseven, and shall wait there for you. I have made up my mind tospeak to you about a most important matter which closely concernsyourself.
"P.S.--I trust that you will not show this note to anyone. ThoughI am ashamed of giving you such instructions, I feel that I mustdo so, considering what you are. I therefore write the words, andblush for your simple character.
"P.P.S.--It is the same green bench that I showed you before.There! aren't you ashamed of yourself? I felt that it wasnecessary to repeat even that information."
The note was written and folded anyhow, evidently in a greathurry, and probably just before Aglaya had come down to theverandah.
In inexpressible agitation, amounting almost to fear, the princeslipped quickly away from the window, away from the light, like afrightened thief, but as he did so he collided violently withsome gentleman who seemed to spring from the earth at his feet.
"I was watching for you, prince," said the individual.
"Is that you, Keller?" said the prince, in surprise.
"Yes, I've been looking for you. I waited for you at theEpanchins' house, but of course I could not come in. I dogged youfrom behind as you walked along with the general. Well, prince,here is Keller, absolutely at your service--command him!--readyto sacrifice himself--even to die in case of need."
"But-why?"
"Oh, why?--Of course you'll be challenged! That was youngLieutenant Moloftsoff. I know him, or rather of him; he won'tpass an insult. He will take no notice of Rogojin and myself,and, therefore, you are the only one left to account for. You'llhave to pay the piper, prince. He has been asking about you, andundoubtedly his friend will call on you tomorrow--perhaps he isat your house already. If you would do me the honour to have mefor a second, prince, I should be happy. That's why I have beenlooking for you now."
"Duel! You've come to talk about a duel, too!" The prince burstout laughing, to the great astonishment of Keller. He laughedunrestrainedly, and Keller, who had been on pins and needles, andin a fever of excitement to offer himself as "second," was verynear being offended.