Page 494 - the-idiot

II

T HE prince suddenly approached Evgenie Pavlovitch.
‘Evgenie Pavlovitch,’ he said, with strange excitement
and seizing the latter’s hand in his own, ‘be assured that I
esteem you as a generous and honourable man, in spite of
everything. Be assured of that.’
Evgenie Pavlovitch fell back a step in astonishment. For
one moment it was all he could do to restrain himself from
bursting out laughing; but, looking closer, he observed that
the prince did not seem to be quite himself; at all events, he
was in a very curious state.
‘I wouldn’t mind betting, prince,’ he cried, ‘that you did
not in the least mean to say that, and very likely you meant
to address someone else altogether. What is it? Are you feel-
ing unwell or anything?’
‘Very likely, extremely likely, and you must be a very
close observer to detect the fact that perhaps I did not in-
tend to come up to YOU at all.’
So saying he smiled strangely; but suddenly and excit-
edly he began again:
‘Don’t remind me of what I have done or said. Don’t! I am
very much ashamed of myself, I—‘
‘Why, what have you done? I don’t understand you.’
‘I see you are ashamed of me, Evgenie Pavlovitch; you
are blushing for me; that’s a sign of a good heart. Don’t be