Page 296 - the-idiot

agreeably impressed to find that he had actually done so.
The house was a large gloomylooking structure, without
the slightest claim to architectural beauty, in colour a dirty
green. There are a few of these old houses, built towards
the end of the last century, still standing in that part of St.
Petersburg, and showing little change from their original
form and colour. They are solidly built, and are remarkable
for the thickness of their walls, and for the fewness of their
windows, many of which are covered by gratings. On the
ground-floor there is usually a money-changer’s shop, and
the owner lives over it. Without as well as within, the hous-
es seem inhospitable and mysterious—an impression which
is difficult to explain, unless it has something to do with the
actual architectural style. These houses are almost exclu-
sively inhabited by the merchant class.
Arrived at the gate, the prince looked up at the legend
over it, which ran:
‘House of Rogojin, hereditary and honourable citizen.’
He hesitated no longer; but opened the glazed door at
the bottom of the outer stairs and made his way up to the
second storey. The place was dark and gloomy-looking; the
walls of the stone staircase were painted a dull red. Rogojin
and his mother and brother occupied the whole of the sec-
ond floor. The servant who opened the door to Muishkin
led him, without taking his name, through several rooms
and up and down many steps until they arrived at a door,
where he knocked.
Parfen Rogojin opened the door himself.
On seeing the prince he became deadly white, and ap-