Page 475 - the-idiot

none—none!’
But Lizabetha Prokofievna felt somewhat consoled when
she could say that one of her girls, Adelaida, was settled
at last. ‘It will be one off our hands!’ she declared aloud,
though in private she expressed herself with greater tender-
ness. The engagement was both happy and suitable, and was
therefore approved in society. Prince S. was a distinguished
man, he had money, and his future wife was devoted to
him; what more could be desired? Lizabetha Prokofievna
had felt less anxious about this daughter, however, although
she considered her artistic tastes suspicious. But to make up
for them she was, as her mother expressed it, ‘merry,’ and
had plenty of ‘common-sense.’ It was Aglaya’s future which
disturbed her most. With regard to her eldest daughter, Al-
exandra, the mother never quite knew whether there was
cause for anxiety or not. Sometimes she felt as if there was
nothing to be expected from her. She was twenty-five now,
and must be fated to be an old maid, and ‘with such beauty,
too!’ The mother spent whole nights in weeping and la-
menting, while all the time the cause of her grief slumbered
peacefully. ‘What is the matter with her? Is she a Nihilist, or
simply a fool?’
But Lizabetha Prokofievna knew perfectly well how un-
necessary was the last question. She set a high value on
Alexandra Ivanovna’s judgment, and often consulted her in
difficulties; but that she was a ‘wet hen’ she never for a mo-
ment doubted. ‘She is so calm; nothing rouses her—though
wet hens are not always calm! Oh! I can’t understand it!’ Her
eldest daughter inspired Lizabetha with a kind of puzzled

The Idiot