Page 353 - the-idiot

Epanchin.
‘All the summer, and perhaps longer.’
‘You are alone, aren’t you,—not married?’
‘No, I’m not married!’ replied the prince, smiling at the
ingenuousness of this little feeler.
‘Oh, you needn’t laugh! These things do happen, you
know! Now then—why didn’t you come to us? We have a
wing quite empty. But just as you like, of course. Do you
lease it from HIM?—this fellow, I mean,’ she added, nod-
ding towards Lebedeff. ‘And why does he always wriggle
so?’
At that moment Vera, carrying the baby in her arms as
usual, came out of the house, on to the terrace. Lebedeff
kept fidgeting among the chairs, and did not seem to know
what to do with himself, though he had no intention of go-
ing away. He no sooner caught sight of his daughter, than he
rushed in her direction, waving his arms to keep her away;
he even forgot himself so far as to stamp his foot.
‘Is he mad?’ asked Madame Epanchin suddenly.
‘No, he ...’
‘Perhaps he is drunk? Your company is rather peculiar,’
she added, with a glance at the other guests....
‘But what a pretty girl! Who is she?’
‘That is Lebedeff’s daughter—Vera Lukianovna.’
‘Indeed? She looks very sweet. I should like to make her
acquaintance.’
The words were hardly out of her mouth, when Lebedeff
dragged Vera forward, in order to present her.
‘Orphans, poor orphans!’ he began in a pathetic voice.

The Idiot