Page 316 - the-idiot

IV

HEY passed through the same rooms which the prince
Thad traversed on his arrival. In the largest there were
pictures on the walls, portraits and landscapes of little in-
terest. Over the door, however, there was one of strange and
rather striking shape; it was six or seven feet in length, and
not more than a foot in height. It represented the Saviour
just taken from the cross.
The prince glanced at it, but took no further notice. He
moved on hastily, as though anxious to get out of the house.
But Rogojin suddenly stopped underneath the picture.
‘My father picked up all these pictures very cheap at auc-
tions, and so on,’ he said; ‘they are all rubbish, except the
one over the door, and that is valuable. A man offered five
hundred roubles for it last week.’
‘Yes—that’s a copy of a Holbein,’ said the prince, looking
at it again, ‘and a good copy, too, so far as I am able to judge.
I saw the picture abroad, and could not forget it—what’s the
matter?’
Rogojin had dropped the subject of the picture and
walked on. Of course his strange frame of mind was suf-
ficient to account for his conduct; but, still, it seemed queer
to the prince that he should so abruptly drop a conversation
commenced by himself. Rogojin did not take any notice of
his question.

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