Page 374 - the-idiot

Don’t believe him, Lizabetha Prokofievna. I can assure you
Gorsky and Daniloff are exceptions—and that these are
only ... mistaken. However, I do not care about receiving
them here, in public. Excuse me, Lizabetha Prokofievna.
They are coming, and you can see them, and then I will take
them away. Please come in, gentlemen!’
Another thought tormented him: He wondered was this
an arranged business—arranged to happen when he had
guests in his house, and in anticipation of his humiliation
rather than of his triumph? But he reproached himself bit-
terly for such a thought, and felt as if he should die of shame
if it were discovered. When his new visitors appeared, he
was quite ready to believe himself infinitely less to be re-
spected than any of them.
Four persons entered, led by General Ivolgin, in a state of
great excitement, and talking eloquently.
‘He is for me, undoubtedly!’ thought the prince, with a
smile. Colia also had joined the party, and was talking with
animation to Hippolyte, who listened with a jeering smile
on his lips.
The prince begged the visitors to sit down. They were
all so young that it made the proceedings seem even more
extraordinary. Ivan Fedorovitch, who really understood
nothing of what was going on, felt indignant at the sight of
these youths, and would have interfered in some way had it
not been for the extreme interest shown by his wife in the af-
fair. He therefore remained, partly through curiosity, partly
through good-nature, hoping that his presence might be of
some use. But the bow with which General Ivolgin greeted