Page 231 - the-idiot

that he was in a dazed, wild condition, which almost re-
sembled drunkenness.
He had kept but one idea before him all day, and for that
he had worked in an agony of anxiety and a fever of suspense.
His lieutenants had worked so hard from five o’clock until
eleven, that they actually had collected a hundred thousand
roubles for him, but at such terrific expense, that the rate of
interest was only mentioned among them in whispers and
with bated breath.
As before, Rogojin walked in advance of his troop, who
followed him with mingled self-assertion and timidity.
They were specially frightened of Nastasia Philipovna her-
self, for some reason.
Many of them expected to be thrown downstairs at
once, without further ceremony, the elegant arid irresist-
ible Zaleshoff among them. But the party led by the athlete,
without openly showing their hostile intentions, silently
nursed contempt and even hatred for Nastasia Philipovna,
and marched into her house as they would have marched
into an enemy’s fortress. Arrived there, the luxury of the
rooms seemed to inspire them with a kind of respect, not
unmixed with alarm. So many things were entirely new to
their experience—the choice furniture, the pictures, the
great statue of Venus. They followed their chief into the sa-
lon, however, with a kind of impudent curiosity. There, the
sight of General Epanchin among the guests, caused many
of them to beat a hasty retreat into the adjoining room, the
‘boxer’ and ‘beggar’ being among the first to go. A few only,
of whom Lebedeff made one, stood their ground; he had

0 The Idiot