Page 274 - the-idiot

of the fashionable summer resorts near St. Petersburg.] and
to this spot Mrs. Epanchin determined to proceed without
further delay. In a couple of days all was ready, and the fam-
ily had left town. A day or two after this removal to Pavlofsk,
Prince Muishkin arrived in St. Petersburg by the morning
train from Moscow. No one met him; but, as he stepped out
of the carriage, he suddenly became aware of two strangely
glowing eyes fixed upon him from among the crowd that
met the train. On endeavouring to re-discover the eyes, and
see to whom they belonged, he could find nothing to guide
him. It must have been a hallucination. But the disagree-
able impression remained, and without this, the prince was
sad and thoughtful already, and seemed to be much preoc-
cupied.
His cab took him to a small and bad hotel near the Lit-
aynaya. Here he engaged a couple of rooms, dark and badly
furnished. He washed and changed, and hurriedly left the
hotel again, as though anxious to waste no time. Anyone
who now saw him for the first time since he left Petersburg
would judge that he had improved vastly so far as his exteri-
or was concerned. His clothes certainly were very different;
they were more fashionable, perhaps even too much so, and
anyone inclined to mockery might have found something
to smile at in his appearance. But what is there that people
will not smile at?
The prince took a cab and drove to a street near the Na-
tivity, where he soon discovered the house he was seeking.
It was a small wooden villa, and he was struck by its at-
tractive and clean appearance; it stood in a pleasant little