Page 361 - the-idiot

ered her temper; in fact, from certain signs, it was fair to
conclude that she was delighted to see this joke going so far;
and a careful observer might have remarked that her satis-
faction dated from the moment when the fact of the prince’s
confusion became apparent to all.
‘Profoundest respect!’ What nonsense! First, insane gig-
gling, and then, all of a sudden, a display of ‘profoundest
respect.’ Why respect? Tell me at once, why have you sud-
denly developed this ‘profound respect,’ eh?’
‘Because,’ replied Aglaya gravely, ‘in the poem the knight
is described as a man capable of living up to an ideal all his
life. That sort of thing is not to be found every day among
the men of our times. In the poem it is not stated exactly
what the ideal was, but it was evidently some vision, some
revelation of pure Beauty, and the knight wore round his
neck, instead of a scarf, a rosary. A device—A. N. B.—the
meaning of which is not explained, was inscribed on his
shield—‘
‘No, A. N. D.,’ corrected Colia.
‘I say A. N. B., and so it shall be!’ cried Aglaya, irrita-
bly. ‘Anyway, the ‘poor knight’ did not care what his lady
was, or what she did. He had chosen his ideal, and he was
bound to serve her, and break lances for her, and acknowl-
edge her as the ideal of pure Beauty, whatever she might
say or do afterwards. If she had taken to stealing, he would
have championed her just the same. I think the poet desired
to embody in this one picture the whole spirit of medieval
chivalry and the platonic love of a pure and high-souled
knight. Of course it’s all an ideal, and in the ‘poor knight’

0 The Idiot