Page 368 - the-idiot

looked intently into one another’s eyes.
The prince remarked that Evgenie Pavlovitch’s plain
clothes had evidently made a great impression upon the
company present, so much so that all other interests seemed
to be effaced before this surprising fact.
His change of dress was evidently a matter of some im-
portance. Adelaida and Alexandra poured out a stream of
questions; Prince S., a relative of the young man, appeared
annoyed; and Ivan Fedorovitch quite excited. Aglaya alone
was not interested. She merely looked closely at Evgenie
for a minute, curious perhaps as to whether civil or mili-
tary clothes became him best, then turned away and paid
no more attention to him or his costume. Lizabetha Pro-
kofievna asked no questions, but it was clear that she was
uneasy, and the prince fancied that Evgenie was not in her
good graces.
‘He has astonished me,’ said Ivan Fedorovitch. ‘I near-
ly fell down with surprise. I could hardly believe my eyes
when I met him in Petersburg just now. Why this haste?
That’s what I want to know. He has always said himself that
there is no need to break windows.’
Evgenie Pavlovitch remarked here that he had spoken of
his intention of leaving the service long ago. He had, how-
ever, always made more or less of a joke about it, so no one
had taken him seriously. For that matter he joked about
everything, and his friends never knew what to believe, es-
pecially if he did not wish them to understand him.
‘I have only retired for a time,’ said he, laughing. ‘For a
few months; at most for a year.’