白痴 英文版 The Idiot
陀思妥耶夫斯基 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Idiot XII.
WHEN the widow hurried away to Pavlofsk, she went straight toDaria Alexeyevna's house, and telling all she knew, threw herinto a state of great alarm. Both ladies decided to communicateat once with Lebedeff, who, as the friend and landlord of theprince, was also much agitated. Vera Lebedeff told all she knew,and by Lebedeff's advice it was decided that all three should goto Petersburg as quickly as possible, in order to avert "whatmight so easily happen."
This is how it came about that at eleven o'clock next morningRogojin's flat was opened by the police in the presence ofLebedeff, the two ladies, and Rogojin's own brother, who lived inthe wing.
The evidence of the porter went further than anything elsetowards the success of Lebedeff in gaining the assistance of thepolice. He declared that he had seen Rogojin return to the houselast night, accompanied by a friend, and that both had goneupstairs very secretly and cautiously. After this there was nohesitation about breaking open the door, since it could not begot open in any other way.
Rogojin suffered from brain fever for two months. When herecovered from the attack he was at once brought up on trial formurder.
He gave full, satisfactory, and direct evidence on every point;and the prince's name was, thanks to this, not brought into theproceedings. Rogojin was very quiet during the progress of thetrial. He did not contradict his clever and eloquent counsel, whoargued that the brain fever, or inflammation of the brain, wasthe cause of the crime; clearly proving that this malady hadexisted long before the murder was perpetrated, and had beenbrought on by the sufferings of the accused.
But Rogojin added no words of his own in confirmation of thisview, and as before, he recounted with marvellous exactness thedetails of his crime. He was convicted, but with extenuatingcircumstances, and condemned to hard labour in Siberia forfifteen years. He heard his sentence grimly, silently, andthoughtfully. His colossal fortune, with the exception of thecomparatively small portion wasted in the first wanton period ofhis inheritance, went to his brother, to the great satisfactionof the latter.
The old lady, Rogojin's mother, is still alive, and remembers herfavourite son Parfen sometimes, but not clearly. God spared herthe knowledge of this dreadful calamity which had overtaken herhouse.
Lebedeff, Keller, Gania, Ptitsin, and many other friends of ourscontinue to live as before. There is scarcely any change in them,so that there is no need to tell of their subsequent doings.
Hippolyte died in great agitation, and rather sooner than heexpected, about a fortnight after Nastasia Phiipovna's death.Colia was much affected by these events, and drew nearer to hismother in heart and sympathy. Nina Alexandrovna is anxious,because he is "thoughtful beyond his years," but he will, wethink, make a useful and active man.
The prince's further fate was more or less decided by Colia, whoselected, out of all the persons he had met during the last sixor seven months, Evgenie Pavlovitch, as friend and confidant. Tohim he made over all that he knew as to the events aboverecorded, and as to the present condition of the prince. He wasnot far wrong in his choice. Evgenie Pavlovitch took the deepestinterest in the fate of the unfortunate "idiot," and, thanks tohis influence, the prince found himself once more with Dr.Schneider, in Switzerland.
Evgenie Pavlovitch, who went abroad at this time, intending tolive a long while on the continent, being, as he often said,quite superfluous in Russia, visits his sick friend atSchneider's every few months.
But Dr. Schneider frowns ever more and more and shakes his head;he hints that the brain is fatally injured; he does not as yetdeclare that his patient is incurable, but he allows himself toexpress the gravest fears.
Evgenie takes this much to heart, and he has a heart, as isproved by the fact that he receives and even answers letters fromColia. But besides this, another trait in his character hasbecome apparent, and as it is a good trait we will make haste toreveal it. After each visit to Schneider's establishment, EvgeniePavlovitch writes another letter, besides that to Colia, givingthe most minute particulars concerning the invalid's condition.In these letters is to be detected, and in each one more than thelast, a growing feeling of friendship and sympathy.
The individual who corresponds thus with Evgenie Pavlovitch, andwho engages so much of his attention and respect, is VeraLebedeff. We have never been able to discover clearly how suchrelations sprang up. Of course the root of them was in the eventswhich we have already recorded, and which so filled Vera withgrief on the prince's account that she fell seriously ill. Butexactly how the acquaintance and friendship came about, we cannotsay.
We have spoken of these letters chiefly because in them is oftento be found some news of the Epanchin family, and of Aglaya inparticular. Evgenie Pavlovitch wrote of her from Paris, thatafter a short and sudden attachment to a certain Polish count, anexile, she had suddenly married him, quite against the wishes ofher parents, though they had eventually given their consentthrough fear of a terrible scandal. Then, after a six months'silence, Evgenie Pavlovitch informed his correspondent, in a longletter, full of detail, that while paying his last visit to Dr.Schneider's establishment, he had there come across the wholeEpanchin family (excepting the general, who had remained in St.Petersburg) and Prince S. The meeting was a strange one. They allreceived Evgenie Pavlovitch with effusive delight; Adelaida andAlexandra were deeply grateful to him for his "angelic kindnessto the unhappy prince."
Lizabetha Prokofievna, when she saw poor Muishkin, in hisenfeebled and humiliated condition, had wept bitterly. Apparentlyall was forgiven him.
Prince S. had made a few just and sensible remarks. It seemed toEvgenie Pavlovitch that there was not yet perfect harmony betweenAdelaida and her fiance, but he thought that in time theimpulsive young girl would let herself be guided by his reasonand experience. Besides, the recent events that had befallen herfamily had given Adelaida much to think about, especially the sadexperiences of her younger sister. Within six months, everythingthat the family had dreaded from the marriage with the Polishcount had come to pass. He turned out to be neither count norexile--at least, in the political sense of the word--but had hadto leave his native land owing to some rather dubious affair ofthe past. It was his noble patriotism, of which he made a greatdisplay, that had rendered him so interesting in Aglaya's eyes.She was so fascinated that, even before marrying him, she joineda committee that had been organized abroad to work for therestoration of Poland; and further, she visited the confessionalof a celebrated Jesuit priest, who made an absolute fanatic ofher. The supposed fortune of the count had dwindled to a merenothing, although he had given almost irrefutable evidence of itsexistence to Lizabetha Prokofievna and Prince S.
Besides this, before they had been married half a year, the countand his friend the priest managed to bring about a quarrelbetween Aglaya and her family, so that it was now several monthssince they had seen her. In a word, there was a great deal tosay; but Mrs. Epanchin, and her daughters, and even Prince S.,were still so much distressed by Aglaya's latest infatuations andadventures, that they did hot care to talk of them, though theymust have known that Evgenie knew much of the story already.
Poor Lizabetha Prokofievna was most anxious to get home, and,according to Evgenie's account, she criticized everything foreignwith much hostility.
"They can't bake bread anywhere, decently; and they all freeze intheir houses, during winter, like a lot of mice in a cellar. Atall events, I've had a good Russian cry over this poor fellow,"she added, pointing to the prince, who had not recognized her inthe slightest degree. "So enough of this nonsense; it's time wefaced the truth. All this continental life, all this Europe ofyours, and all the trash about 'going abroad' is simply foolery,and it is mere foolery on our part to come. Remember what I say,my friend; you'll live to agree with me yourself."
So spoke the good lady, almost angrily, as she took leave ofEvgenie Pavlovitch.
Translated by Eva Martin