Page 186 - the-idiot

now the scandal threatened to be more than he had bar-
gained for. By this time Ardalion Alexandrovitch was quite
intoxicated, and he kept his companion listening while he
discoursed eloquently and pathetically on subjects of all
kinds, interspersed with torrents of recrimination against
the members of his family. He insisted that all his troubles
were caused by their bad conduct, and time alone would put
an end to them.
At last they reached the Litaynaya. The thaw increased
steadily, a warm, unhealthy wind blew through the streets,
vehicles splashed through the mud, and the iron shoes of
horses and mules rang on the paving stones. Crowds of mel-
ancholy people plodded wearily along the footpaths, with
here and there a drunken man among them.
‘Do you see those brightly-lighted windows?’ said the
general. ‘Many of my old comrades-in-arms live about
here, and I, who served longer, and suffered more than any
of them, am walking on foot to the house of a woman of
rather questionable reputation! A man, look you, who has
thirteen bullets on his breast! ... You don’t believe it? Well, I
can assure you it was entirely on my account that Pirogoff
telegraphed to Paris, and left Sebastopol at the greatest risk
during the siege. Nelaton, the Tuileries surgeon, demanded
a safe conduct, in the name of science, into the besieged
city in order to attend my wounds. The government knows
all about it. ‘That’s the Ivolgin with thirteen bullets in
him!’ That’s how they speak of me.... Do you see that house,
prince? One of my old friends lives on the first floor, with
his large family. In this and five other houses, three over-

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