Page 349 - the-idiot

At that moment Colia appeared on the terrace; he an-
nounced that Lizabetha Prokofievna and her three daughters
were close behind him.
Moved by this news, Lebedeff hurried up to the prince.
‘Shall I call the Ptitsins, and Gavrila Ardalionovitch?
Shall I let the general in?’ he asked.
‘Why not? Let in anyone who wants to see me. I assure
you, Lebedeff, you have misunderstood my position from
the very first; you have been wrong all along. I have not the
slightest reason to hide myself from anyone,’ replied the
prince gaily.
Seeing him laugh, Lebedeff thought fit to laugh also, and
though much agitated his satisfaction was quite visible.
Colia was right; the Epanchin ladies were only a few steps
behind him. As they approached the terrace other visitors
appeared from Lebedeff’s side of the house-the Ptitsins, Ga-
nia, and Ardalion Alexandrovitch.
The Epanchins had only just heard of the prince’s illness
and of his presence in Pavlofsk, from Colia; and up to this
time had been in a state of considerable bewilderment about
him. The general brought the prince’s card down from
town, and Mrs. Epanchin had felt convinced that he himself
would follow his card at once; she was much excited.
In vain the girls assured her that a man who had not
written for six months would not be in such a dreadful
hurry, and that probably he had enough to do in town with-
out needing to bustle down to Pavlofsk to see them. Their
mother was quite angry at the very idea of such a thing, and
announced her absolute conviction that he would turn up

The Idiot