Page 325 - the-idiot

V

T was late now, nearly half-past two, and the prince did
Inot find General Epanchin at home. He left a card, and
determined to look up Colia, who had a room at a small ho-
tel near. Colia was not in, but he was informed that he might
be back shortly, and had left word that if he were not in by
half-past three it was to be understood that he had gone to
Pavlofsk to General Epanchin’s, and would dine there. The
prince decided to wait till half-past three, and ordered some
dinner. At half-past three there was no sign of Colia. The
prince waited until four o’clock, and then strolled off me-
chanically wherever his feet should carry him.
In early summer there are often magnificent days in St.
Petersburg—bright, hot and still. This happened to be such
a day.
For some time the prince wandered about without aim
or object. He did not know the town well. He stopped to
look about him on bridges, at street corners. He entered a
confectioner’s shop to rest, once. He was in a state of ner-
vous excitement and perturbation; he noticed nothing and
no one; and he felt a craving for solitude, to be alone with
his thoughts and his emotions, and to give himself up to
them passively. He loathed the idea of trying to answer the
questions that would rise up in his heart and mind. ‘I am
not to blame for all this,’ he thought to himself, half uncon-

The Idiot