Page 498 - the-idiot

Some wicked person has been maligning me to you; but it’s
all right. Don’t worry about it.’
So saying, the prince approached Aglaya.
She took the handkerchief from her face, glanced keenly
at him, took in what he had said, and burst out laughing—
such a merry, unrestrained laugh, so hearty and gay, that.
Adelaida could not contain herself. She, too, glanced at the
prince’s panic-stricken countenance, then rushed at her sis-
ter, threw her arms round her neck, and burst into as merry
a fit of laughter as Aglaya’s own. They laughed together like
a couple of school-girls. Hearing and seeing this, the prince
smiled happily, and in accents of relief and joy, he exclaimed
‘Well, thank God—thank God!’
Alexandra now joined in, and it looked as though the
three sisters were going to laugh on for ever.
‘They are insane,’ muttered Lizabetha Prokofievna. ‘Ei-
ther they frighten one out of one’s wits, or else—‘
But Prince S. was laughing now, too, so was Evgenie Pav-
lovitch, so was Colia, and so was the prince himself, who
caught the infection as he looked round radiantly upon the
others.
‘Come along, let’s go out for a walk!’ cried Adelaida. ‘We’ll
all go together, and the prince must absolutely go with us.
You needn’t go away, you dear good fellow! ISN’T he a dear,
Aglaya? Isn’t he, mother? I must really give him a kiss for—
for his explanation to Aglaya just now. Mother, dear, I may
kiss him, mayn’t I? Aglaya, may I kiss YOUR prince?’ cried
the young rogue, and sure enough she skipped up to the
prince and kissed his forehead.