Page 449 - the-idiot

‘I should tell it to no one but yourself, prince, and I only
name it now as a help to my soul’s evolution. When I die,
that secret will die with me! But, excellency, if you knew, if
you only had the least idea, how difficult it is to get money
nowadays! Where to find it is the question. Ask for a loan,
the answer is always the same: ‘Give us gold, jewels, or dia-
monds, and it will be quite easy.’ Exactly what one has not
got! Can you picture that to yourself? I got angry at last,
and said, ‘I suppose you would accept emeralds?’ ‘Certain-
ly, we accept emeralds with pleasure. Yes!’ ‘Well, that’s all
right,’ said I. ‘Go to the devil, you den of thieves!’ And with
that I seized my hat, and walked out.’
‘Had you any emeralds?’ asked the prince.
‘What? I have emeralds? Oh, prince! with what simplicity,
with what almost pastoral simplicity, you look upon life!’
Could not something be made of this man under good
influences? asked the prince of himself, for he began to feel
a kind of pity for his visitor. He thought little of the value
of his own personal influence, not from a sense of humility,
but from his peculiar way of looking at things in general.
Imperceptibly the conversation grew more animated and
more interesting, so that neither of the two felt anxious to
bring it to a close. Keller confessed, with apparent sincerity,
to having been guilty of many acts of such a nature that it
astonished the prince that he could mention them, even to
him. At every fresh avowal he professed the deepest repen-
tance, and described himself as being ‘bathed in tears”; but
this did not prevent him from putting on a boastful air at
times, and some of his stories were so absurdly comical that

The Idiot