Page 330 - the-idiot

tree, and his mind dwelt on the matter. It was about seven
o’clock, and the place was empty. The stifling atmosphere
foretold a storm, and the prince felt a certain charm in the
contemplative mood which possessed him. He found plea-
sure, too, in gazing at the exterior objects around him. All
the time he was trying to forget some thing, to escape from
some idea that haunted him; but melancholy thoughts came
back, though he would so willingly have escaped from them.
He remembered suddenly how he had been talking to the
waiter, while he dined, about a recently committed murder
which the whole town was discussing, and as he thought of
it something strange came over him. He was seized all at
once by a violent desire, almost a temptation, against which
he strove in vain.
He jumped up and walked off as fast as he could towards
the ‘Petersburg Side.’ [One of the quarters of St. Petersburg.]
He had asked someone, a little while before, to show him
which was the Petersburg Side, on the banks of the Neva.
He had not gone there, however; and he knew very well that
it was of no use to go now, for he would certainly not find
Lebedeff’s relation at home. He had the address, but she
must certainly have gone to Pavlofsk, or Colia would have
let him know. If he were to go now, it would merely be out of
curiosity, but a sudden, new idea had come into his head.
However, it was something to move on and know where
he was going. A minute later he was still moving on, but
without knowing anything. He could no longer think out
his new idea. He tried to take an interest in all he saw; in
the sky, in the Neva. He spoke to some children he met. He