The Idiot Read online

havealways been a poor lot; my own father was a sublieutenant in the army. Idon’t know how Mrs. Epanchin comes into the Muishkin family, but she isdescended from the Princess Muishkin, and she, too, is the last of herline.”

  “And did you learn science and all that, with your professor overthere?” asked the black-haired passenger.

  “Oh yes--I did learn a little, but--”

  “I’ve never learned anything whatever,” said the other.

  “Oh, but I learned very little, you know!” added the prince, as thoughexcusing himself. “They could not teach me very much on account of myillness.”

  “Do you know the Rogojins?” asked his questioner, abruptly.

  “No, I don’t--not at all! I hardly know anyone in Russia. Why, is thatyour name?”

  “Yes, I am Rogojin, Parfen Rogojin.”

  “Parfen Rogojin? dear me--then don’t you belong to those very Rogojins,perhaps--” began the clerk, with a very perceptible increase of civilityin his tone.

  “Yes--those very ones,” interrupted Rogojin, impatiently, and with scantcourtesy. I may remark that he had not once taken any notice of theblotchy-faced passenger, and had hitherto addressed all his remarksdirect to the prince.

  “Dear me--is it possible?” observed the clerk, while his face assumed anexpression of great deference and servility--if not of absolutealarm: “what, a son of that very Semen Rogojin--hereditary honourablecitizen--who died a month or so ago and left two million and a half ofroubles?”

  “And how do _you_ know that he left two million and a half of roubles?” asked Rogojin, disdainfully, and not deigning so much as to look at theother. “However, it’s true enough that my father died a month ago, andthat here am I returning from Pskoff, a month after, with hardly a bootto my foot. They’ve treated me like a dog! I’ve been ill of fever atPskoff the whole time, and not a line, nor farthing of money, have Ireceived from my mother or my confounded brother!”

  “And now you’ll have a million roubles, at least--goodness gracious me!” exclaimed the clerk, rubbing his hands.

  “Five weeks since, I was just like yourself,” continued Rogojin,addressing the prince, “with nothing but a bundle and the clothes Iwore. I ran away from my father and came to Pskoff to my aunt’s house,where I caved in at once with fever, and he went and died while I wasaway. All honour to my respected father’s memory--but he uncommonlynearly killed me, all the same. Give you my word, prince, if I hadn’tcut and run then, when I did, he’d have murdered me like a dog.”

  “I suppose you angered him somehow?” asked the prince, looking at themillionaire with considerable curiosity. But though there may have beensomething remarkable in the fact that this man was heir to millions ofroubles there was something about him which surprised and interestedthe prince more than that. Rogojin, too, seemed to have taken up theconversation with unusual alacrity it appeared that he was still in aconsiderable state of excitement, if not absolutely feverish, and wasin real need of someone to talk to for the mere sake of talking, assafety-valve to his agitation.

  As for his red-nosed neighbour, the latter--since the information as tothe identity of Rogojin--hung over him, seemed to be living on thehoney of his words and in the breath of his nostrils, catching at everysyllable as though it were a pearl of great price.

  “Oh, yes; I angered him--I certainly did anger him,” replied Rogojin.“But what puts me out so is my brother. Of course my mother couldn’t doanything--she’s too old--and whatever brother Senka says is law for her!But why couldn’t he let me know? He sent a telegram, they say. What’sthe good of a telegram? It frightened my aunt so that she sent it backto the office unopened, and there it’s been ever since! It’s only thanksto Konief that I heard at all; he wrote me all about it. He says mybrother cut off the gold tassels from my father’s coffin, at night‘because they’re worth a lot of money!’ says he. Why, I can get himsent off to Siberia for that alone, if I like; it’s sacrilege. Here,you--scarecrow!” he added, addressing the clerk at his side, “is itsacrilege or not, by law?”

  “Sacrilege, certainly--certainly sacrilege,” said the latter.

  “And it’s Siberia for sacrilege, isn’t it?”

  “Undoubtedly so; Siberia, of course!”

  “They will think that I’m still ill,” continued Rogojin to the prince,“but I sloped off quietly, seedy as I was, took the train and came away.Aha, brother Senka, you’ll have to open your gates and let me in, myboy! I know he told tales about me to my father--I know that well enoughbut I certainly did rile my father about Nastasia Philipovna that’s verysure, and that was my own doing.”

  “Nastasia Philipovna?” said the clerk, as though trying to think outsomething.

  “Come, you know nothing about _her_,” said Rogojin, impatiently.

  “And supposing I do know something?” observed the other, triumphantly.

  “Bosh! there are plenty of Nastasia Philipovnas. And what an impertinentbeast you are!” he added angrily. “I thought some creature like youwould hang on to me as soon as I got hold of my money.”

  “Oh, but I do know, as it happens,” said the clerk in an aggravatingmanner. “Lebedeff knows all about her. You are pleased to reproach me,your excellency, but what if I prove that I am right after all? NastasiaPhillpovna’s family name is Barashkoff--I know, you see--and she is avery well known lady, indeed, and comes of a good family, too. She isconnected with one Totski, Afanasy Ivanovitch, a man of considerableproperty, a director of companies, and so on, and a great friend ofGeneral Epanchin, who is interested in the same matters as he is.”

  “My eyes!” said Rogojin, really surprised at last. “The devil take thefellow, how does he know that?”

  “Why, he knows everything--Lebedeff knows everything! I was a month ortwo with Lihachof after his father died, your excellency, and while hewas knocking about--he’s in the debtor’s prison now--I was with him,and he couldn’t do a thing without Lebedeff; and I got to know NastasiaPhilipovna and several people at that time.”

  “Nastasia Philipovna? Why, you don’t mean to say that she andLihachof--” cried Rogojin, turning quite pale.

  “No, no, no, no, no! Nothing of the sort, I assure you!” said Lebedeff,hastily. “Oh dear no, not for the world! Totski’s the only man with anychance there. Oh, no! He takes her to his box at the opera at the Frenchtheatre of an evening, and the officers and people all look at her andsay, ‘By Jove, there’s the famous Nastasia Philipovna!’ but no one evergets any further than that, for there is nothing more to say.”

  “Yes, it’s quite true,” said Rogojin, frowning gloomily; “so Zaleshofftold me. I was walking about the Nefsky one fine day, prince, in myfather’s old coat, when she suddenly came out of a shop and steppedinto her carriage. I swear I was all of a blaze at once. Then I metZaleshoff--looking like a hair-dresser’s assistant, got up as fine as Idon’t know who, while I looked like a tinker. ‘Don’t flatter yourself,my boy,’ said he; ‘she’s not for such as you; she’s a princess, sheis, and her name is Nastasia Philipovna Barashkoff, and she liveswith Totski, who wishes to get rid of her because he’s growing ratherold--fifty-five or so--and wants to marry a certain beauty, theloveliest woman in all Petersburg.’ And then he told me that I couldsee Nastasia Philipovna at the opera-house that evening, if I liked, anddescribed which was her box. Well, I’d like to see my father allowingany of us to go to the theatre; he’d sooner have killed us, any day.However, I went for an hour or so and saw Nastasia Philipovna, and Inever slept a wink all night after. Next morning my father happened togive me two government loan bonds to sell, worth nearly five thousandroubles each. ‘Sell them,’ said he, ‘and then take seven thousand fivehundred roubles to the office, give them to the cashier, and bring meback the rest of the ten thousand, without looking in anywhere on theway; look sharp, I shall be waiting for you.’ Well, I sold the bonds,but I didn’t take the seven thousand roubles to the office; I wentstraight to the English shop and chose a pair of earrings, with adiamond the size of a nut in each. They
cost four hundred roubles morethan I had, so I gave my name, and they trusted me. With the earringsI went at once to Zaleshoff’s. ‘Come on!’ I said, ‘come on to NastasiaPhilipovna’s,’ and off we went without more ado. I tell you I hadn’t anotion of what was about me or before me or below my feet all the way;I saw nothing whatever. We went straight into her drawing-room, and thenshe came out to us.

  “I didn’t say right out who I was, but Zaleshoff said: ‘From ParfenRogojin, in memory of his first meeting with you yesterday; be so kindas to accept these!’

  “She opened the parcel, looked at the earrings, and laughed.

  “‘Thank your friend Mr. Rogojin for his kind attention,’ says she, andbowed and went off. Why didn’t I die there on the spot? The worst of itall was, though, that the beast Zaleshoff got all the credit of it! Iwas short and abominably dressed, and stood and stared in her face andnever said a word, because I was shy, like an ass! And there was he allin the fashion, pomaded and dressed out, with a smart tie on, bowing andscraping; and I bet anything she took him for me all the while!

  “‘Look here now,’ I said, when we came out, ‘none of your interferencehere after this--do you understand?’ He laughed: ‘And how are you goingto settle up with your father?’ says he. I thought I might as well jumpinto the Neva at once without going home first; but it struck me that Iwouldn’t, after all, and I went home feeling like one of the damned.”

  “My goodness!” shivered the clerk. “And his father,” he added, for theprince’s instruction, “and his father would have given a man a ticket tothe other world for ten roubles any day--not to speak of ten thousand!”

  The prince observed Rogojin with great curiosity; he seemed paler thanever at this moment.

  “What do you know about it?” cried the latter. “Well, my father learnedthe whole story at once, and Zaleshoff blabbed it all over the townbesides. So he took me upstairs and locked me up, and swore at me for anhour. ‘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 NastasiaPhilipovna, touched the floor with his forehead, and began blubberingand beseeching her on his knees to give him back the diamonds. So afterawhile she brought the box and flew out at him. ‘There,’ she says,‘take your earrings, you wretched old miser; although they are ten timesdearer than their value to me now that I know what it must have costParfen to get them! Give Parfen my compliments,’ she says, ‘and thankhim very much!’ Well, I meanwhile had borrowed twenty-five roubles froma friend, and off I went to Pskoff to my aunt’s. The old woman therelectured me so that I left the house and went on a drinking tour roundthe public-houses of the place. I was in a high fever when I got toPskoff, and by nightfall I was lying delirious in the streets somewhereor other!”

  “Oho! we’ll make Nastasia Philipovna sing another song now!” giggledLebedeff, rubbing his hands with glee. “Hey, my boy, we’ll get her someproper 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 Philipovna again, I’ll tan your hide assure as you sit there!”

  “Aha! do--by all means! if you tan my hide you won’t turn me away fromyour 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 largecollection of friends had assembled to greet him, and did so withprofuse waving of hats and shouting.

  “Why, there’s Zaleshoff here, too!” he muttered, gazing at the scenewith a sort of triumphant but unpleasant smile. Then he suddenly turnedto 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, forI met this fellow” (nodding at Lebedeff) “too, and I have not taken afancy to him by any means. Come to see me, prince; we’ll take off thosegaiters of yours and dress you up in a smart fur coat, the best wecan buy. You shall have a dress coat, best quality, white waistcoat,anything you like, and your pocket shall be full of money. Come, andyou shall go with me to Nastasia Philipovna’s. Now then will you come orno?”

  “Accept, accept, Prince Lef Nicolaievitch” said Lebedef solemnly; “don’tlet it slip! Accept, quick!”

  Prince Muishkin rose and stretched out his hand courteously, while hereplied with some cordiality:

  “I will come with the greatest pleasure, and thank you very much fortaking 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 youespecially when you told us about the diamond earrings; but I liked youbefore 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 certainlyshall require both clothes and coat very soon. As for money, I havehardly a copeck about me at this moment.”

  “You shall have lots of money; by the evening I shall have plenty; socome 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 thatfirst?” asked Rogojin.

  “Oh no, oh no!” said the prince; “I couldn’t, you know--my illness--Ihardly ever saw a soul.”

  “H’m! well--here, you fellow--you can come along with me now if youlike!” cried Rogojin to Lebedeff, and so they all left the carriage.

  Lebedeff had his desire. He went off with the noisy group of Rogojin’sfriends towards the Voznesensky, while the prince’s route lay towardsthe Litaynaya. It was damp and wet. The prince asked his way ofpassers-by, and finding that he was a couple of miles or so from hisdestination, he determined to take a droshky.

  II.

  General Epanchin lived in his own house near the Litaynaya. Besides thislarge residence--five-sixths of which was let in flats and lodgings--thegeneral was owner of another enormous house in the Sadovaya bringing ineven more rent than the first. Besides these houses he had a delightfullittle estate just out of town, and some sort of factory in another partof the city. General Epanchin, as everyone knew, had a good deal todo with certain government monopolies; he was also a voice, and animportant one, in many rich public companies of various descriptions;in fact, he enjoyed the reputation of being a well-to-do man of busyhabits, many ties, and affluent means. He had made himself indispensablein several quarters, amongst others in his department of the government;and yet it was a known fact that Fedor Ivanovitch Epanchin was a man ofno education whatever, and had absolutely risen from the ranks.

  This last fact could, of course, reflect nothing but credit upon thegeneral; and yet, though unquestionably a sagacious man, he had his ownlittle weaknesses--very excusable ones,--one of which was a dislike toany allusion to the above circumstance. He was undoubtedly clever. Forinstance, he made a point of never asserting himself when he wouldgain more by keeping in the background; and in consequence many exaltedpersonages valued him principally for his humility and simplicity, andbecause “he knew his place.” And yet if these good people could onlyhave had a peep into the mind of this excellent fellow who “knew hisplace” so well! The fact is that, in spite of his knowledge of the worldand his really remarkable abilities, he always liked to appear to becarrying out other people’s ideas rather than his own. And also, hisluck seldom failed him, even at cards, for which he had a passion thathe did not attempt to conceal. 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, whenreal enjoyment of life begins. His healthy appearance, good colour,sound, though discoloured teeth, sturdy figure, preoccupied air duringbusiness hours, and jolly good humour during his game at cards in theevening, all bore witness to his success in life, and combined to makeexistence a bed of roses to his exce
llency. The general was lord of aflourishing family, consisting of his wife and three grown-up daughters.He had married young, while still a lieutenant, his wife being a girl ofabout his own age, who possessed neither beauty nor education, and whobrought him no more than fifty souls of landed property, whichlittle estate served, however, as a nest-egg for far more importantaccumulations. The general never regretted his early marriage, orregarded it as a foolish youthful escapade; and he so respected andfeared his wife that he was very near loving her. Mrs. Epanchin came ofthe princely stock of Muishkin, which if not a brilliant, was, at allevents, a decidedly ancient family; and she was extremely proud of herdescent.

  With a few exceptions, the worthy couple had lived through their longunion very happily. While still young the wife had been able to makeimportant friends among the aristocracy, partly by virtue of her familydescent, and partly by her own exertions; while, in after life, thanksto their wealth and to the position of her husband in the service, shetook her place among the higher circles as by right.

  During these last few years all three of the general’sdaughters--Alexandra, Adelaida, and Aglaya--had grown up and matured. Ofcourse they were only Epanchins, but their mother’s family was noble;they might expect considerable fortunes; their father had hopes ofattaining to very high rank indeed in his country’s service--all of whichwas satisfactory. All three of the girls were decidedly pretty, eventhe eldest, Alexandra, who was just twenty-five years old. The middledaughter was now twenty-three, while the youngest, Aglaya, was twenty.This youngest girl was absolutely a beauty, and had begun of late toattract considerable attention in society. But this was not all, forevery one of the three was clever, well educated, and accomplished.

  It was a matter of general knowledge that the three girls were very fondof one another, and supported each other in every way; it was even saidthat the two elder ones had made certain sacrifices for the sake ofthe idol of the household, Aglaya. In society they not only dislikedasserting themselves, but were actually retiring. Certainly no one couldblame them for being too arrogant or haughty, and yet everybody was