Page 246 - the-idiot

few could find it in them to act as you have acted this day.
As for your wish to go with Rogojin, that was simply the
idea of a delirious and suffering brain. You are still quite
feverish; you ought to be in bed, not here. You know quite
well that if you had gone with Rogojin, you would have be-
come a washer-woman next day, rather than stay with him.
You are proud, Nastasia Philipovna, and perhaps you have
really suffered so much that you imagine yourself to be a
desperately guilty woman. You require a great deal of pet-
ting and looking after, Nastasia Philipovna, and I will do
this. I saw your portrait this morning, and it seemed quite
a familiar face to me; it seemed to me that the portraitface
was calling to me for help. I-I shall respect you all my life,
Nastasia Philipovna,’ concluded the prince, as though sud-
denly recollecting himself, and blushing to think of the sort
of company before whom he had said all this.
Ptitsin bowed his head and looked at the ground, over-
come by a mixture of feelings. Totski muttered to himself:
‘He may be an idiot, but he knows that flattery is the best
road to success here.’
The prince observed Gania’s eyes flashing at him, as
though they would gladly annihilate him then and there.
‘That’s a kind-hearted man, if you like,’ said Daria Alex-
eyevna, whose wrath was quickly evaporating.
‘A refined man, but—lost,’ murmured the general.
Totski took his hat and rose to go. He and the general ex-
changed glances, making a private arrangement, thereby, to
leave the house together.
‘Thank you, prince; no one has ever spoken to me like