Page 492 - the-idiot

has not felt so well for the last six months, and has coughed
much less, too.’
The prince observed that Aglaya came out of her corner
and approached the table at this point.
He did not dare look at her, but he was conscious, to the
very tips of his fingers, that she was gazing at him, perhaps
angrily; and that she had probably flushed up with a look of
fiery indignation in her black eyes.
‘It seems to me, Mr. Colia, that you were very foolish to
bring your young friend down—if he is the same consump-
tive boy who wept so profusely, and invited us all to his own
funeral,’ remarked Evgenie Pavlovitch. ‘He talked so elo-
quently about the blank wall outside his bedroom window,
that I’m sure he will never support life here without it. ‘
‘I think so too,’ said Mrs. Epanchin; ‘he will quarrel with
you, and be off,’ and she drew her workbox towards her with
an air of dignity, quite oblivious of the fact that the family
was about to start for a walk in the park.
‘Yes, I remember he boasted about the blank wall in an
extraordinary way,’ continued Evgenie, ‘and I feel that with-
out that blank wall he will never be able to die eloquently;
and he does so long to die eloquently!’
‘Oh, you must forgive him the blank wall,’ said the prince,
quietly. ‘He has come down to see a few trees now, poor fel-
low.’
‘Oh, I forgive him with all my heart; you may tell him so
if you like,’ laughed Evgenie.
‘I don’t think you should take it quite like that,’ said the
prince, quietly, and without removing his eyes from the

1