Page 346 - the-idiot

cupboard that you had at the head of your bed with you
here?’
‘No, I left it where it was.’
‘Impossible!’
‘It cannot be moved; you would have to pull the wall
down, it is so firmly fixed.’
‘Perhaps you have one like it here?’
‘I have one that is even better, much better; that is really
why I bought this house.’
‘Ah! What visitor did you turn away from my door, about
an hour ago?’
‘The-the general. I would not let him in; there is no need
for him to visit you, prince... I have the deepest esteem for
him, he is a—a great man. You don’t believe it? Well, you
will see, and yet, most excellent prince, you had much bet-
ter not receive him.’
‘May I ask why? and also why you walk about on tiptoe
and always seem as if you were going to whisper a secret in
my ear whenever you come near me?’
‘I am vile, vile; I know it!’ cried Lebedeff, beating his
breast with a contrite air. ‘But will not the general be too
hospitable for you?’
‘Too hospitable?’
‘Yes. First, he proposes to come and live in my house.
Well and good; but he sticks at nothing; he immediately
makes himself one of the family. We have talked over our
respective relations several times, and discovered that we
are connected by marriage. It seems also that you are a sort
of nephew on his mother’s side; he was explaining it to me