Page 228 - the-idiot
P. 228

whom was the lively actress, who was not easily frightened,
       and the other the silent German beauty who, it turned out,
       did not understand a word of Russian, and seemed to be as
       stupid as she was lovely.
          Her  acquaintances  invited  her  to  their  ‘At  Homes’  be-
       cause she was so decorative. She was exhibited to their guests
       like a valuable picture, or vase, or statue, or firescreen. As
       for the men, Ptitsin was one of Rogojin’s friends; Ferdishen-
       ko was as much at home as a fish in the sea, Gania, not yet
       recovered from his amazement, appeared to be chained to
       a pillory. The old professor did not in the least understand
       what was happening; but when he noticed how extremely
       agitated the mistress of the house, and her friends, seemed,
       he  nearly  wept,  and  trembled  with  fright:  but  he  would
       rather have died than leave Nastasia Philipovna at such a
       crisis, for he loved her as if she were his own granddaugh-
       ter. Afanasy Ivanovitch greatly disliked having anything to
       do with the affair, but he was too much interested to leave,
       in spite of the mad turn things had taken; and a few words
       that had dropped from the lips of Nastasia puzzled him so
       much, that he felt he could not go without an explanation.
       He resolved therefore, to see it out, and to adopt the atti-
       tude of silent spectator, as most suited to his dignity. Genera
       Epanchin alone determined to depart. He was annoyed at
       the manner in which his gift had been returned, an though
       he  had  condescended,  under  the  influence  of  passion,  to
       place himself on a level with Ptitsin and Ferdishenko, his
       self-respect and sense of duty now returned together with
       a consciousness of what was due to his social rank and offi-
   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233