Page 427 - the-idiot

at me?’ said Hippolyte irritably to Evgenie Pavlovitch, who
certainly was laughing.
‘I only want to know, Mr. Hippolyte—excuse me, I forget
your surname.’
‘Mr. Terentieff,’ said the prince.
‘Oh yes, Mr. Terentieff. Thank you prince. I heard it just
now, but had forgotten it. I want to know, Mr. Terentieff, if
what I have heard about you is true. It seems you are con-
vinced that if you could speak to the people from a window
for a quarter of an hour, you could make them all adopt
your views and follow you?’
‘I may have said so,’ answered Hippolyte, as if trying
to remember. ‘Yes, I certainly said so,’ he continued with
sudden animation, fixing an unflinching glance on his
questioner. ‘What of it?’
‘Nothing. I was only seeking further information, to put
the finishing touch.’ Evgenie Pavlovitch was silent, but Hip-
polyte kept his eyes fixed upon him, waiting impatiently for
more.
‘Well, have you finished?’ said Lizabetha Prokofievna to
Evgenie. ‘Make haste, sir; it is time he went to bed. Have you
more to say?’ She was very angry.
‘Yes, I have a little more,’ said Evgenie Pavlovitch, with
a smile. ‘It seems to me that all you and your friends have
said, Mr. Terentieff, and all you have just put forward with
such undeniable talent, may be summed up in the triumph
of right above all, independent of everything else, to the
exclusion of everything else; perhaps even before having
discovered what constitutes the right. I may be mistaken?’

The Idiot