Page 126 - the-idiot

didn’t you give her the note, you—‘
‘Excuse me; I was able to deliver it almost immediately
after receiving your commission, and I gave it, too, just as
you asked me to. It has come into my hands now because
Aglaya Ivanovna has just returned it to me.’
‘How? When?’
‘As soon as I finished writing in her album for her, and
when she asked me to come out of the room with her (you
heard?), we went into the dining-room, and she gave me
your letter to read, and then told me to return it.’
‘To READ?’ cried Gania, almost at the top of his voice;
‘to READ, and you read it?’
And again he stood like a log in the middle of the pave-
ment; so amazed that his mouth remained open after the
last word had left it.
‘Yes, I have just read it.’
‘And she gave it you to read herself—HERSELF?’
‘Yes, herself; and you may believe me when I tell you that
I would not have read it for anything without her permis-
sion.’
Gania was silent for a minute or two, as though thinking
out some problem. Suddenly he cried:
‘It’s impossible, she cannot have given it to you to read!
You are lying. You read it yourself!’
‘I am telling you the truth,’ said the prince in his former
composed tone of voice; ‘and believe me, I am extremely
sorry that the circumstance should have made such an un-
pleasant impression upon you!’
‘But, you wretched man, at least she must have said some-

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