Page 379 - the-idiot

edeff, wishing to ingratiate himself with the great lady, had
pulled this paper from his pocket, and presented it to her,
indicating a few columns marked in pencil. Lizabetha Pro-
kofievna had had time to read some of it, and was greatly
upset.
‘Would it not be better to peruse it alone ...’ later asked
the prince, nervously.
‘No, no, read it—read it at once directly, and aloud, aloud!’
cried she, calling Colia to her and giving him the journal.—‘
Read it aloud, so that everyone may hear it!’
An impetuous woman, Lizabetha Prokofievna sometimes
weighed her anchors and put out to sea quite regardless of
the possible storms she might encounter. Ivan Fedorovitch
felt a sudden pang of alarm, but the others were merely cu-
rious, and somewhat surprised. Colia unfolded the paper,
and began to read, in his clear, high-pitched voice, the fol-
lowing article:
‘Proletarians and scions of nobility! An episode of the
brigandage of today and every day! Progress! Reform! Jus-
tice!’
‘Strange things are going on in our so-called Holy Rus-
sia in this age of reform and great enterprises; this age of
patriotism in which hundreds of millions are yearly sent
abroad; in which industry is encouraged, and the hands of
Labour paralyzed, etc.; there is no end to this, gentlemen,
so let us come to the point. A strange thing has happened
to a scion of our defunct aristocracy. (DE PROFUNDIS!)
The grandfathers of these scions ruined themselves at the
gaming-tables; their fathers were forced to serve as officers

The Idiot