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said, ‘don’t touch anything; leave it all as it is; I shall live
with your mother when I marry you.’
‘I took her to see my mother, and she was as respectful
and kind as though she were her own daughter. Mother has
been almost demented ever since father died—she’s an old
woman. She sits and bows from her chair to everyone she
sees. If you left her alone and didn’t feed her for three days, I
don’t believe she would notice it. Well, I took her hand, and
I said, ‘Give your blessing to this lady, mother, she’s going
to be my wife.’ So Nastasia kissed mother’s hand with great
feeling. ‘She must have suffered terribly, hasn’t she?’ she said.
She saw this book here lying before me. ‘What! have you be-
gun to read Russian history?’ she asked. She told me once in
Moscow, you know, that I had better get Solovieff’s Russian
History and read it, because I knew nothing. ‘That’s good,’
she said, ‘you go on like that, reading books. I’ll make you a
list myself of the books you ought to read first—shall I?’ She
had never once spoken to me like this before; it was the first
time I felt I could breathe before her like a living creature.’
‘I’m very, very glad to hear of this, Parfen,’ said the prince,
with real feeling. ‘Who knows? Maybe God will yet bring
you near to one another.’
‘Never, never!’ cried Rogojin, excitedly.
‘Look here, Parfen; if you love her so much, surely you
must be anxious to earn her respect? And if you do so wish,
surely you may hope to? I said just now that I considered
it extraordinary that she could still be ready to marry you.
Well, though I cannot yet understand it, I feel sure she must
have some good reason, or she wouldn’t do it. She is sure

10 The Idiot