Page 503 - the-idiot

day and night and another day again! He thought of the
mountains-and especially of a certain spot which he used
to frequent, whence he would look down upon the distant
valleys and fields, and see the waterfall, far off, like a little
silver thread, and the old ruined castle in the distance. Oh!
how he longed to be there now—alone with his thoughts—
to think of one thing all his life—one thing! A thousand
years would not be too much time! And let everyone here
forget him—forget him utterly! How much better it would
have been if they had never known him—if all this could
but prove to be a dream. Perhaps it was a dream!
Now and then he looked at Aglaya for five minutes at a
time, without taking his eyes off her face; but his expression
was very strange; he would gaze at her as though she were
an object a couple of miles distant, or as though he were
looking at her portrait and not at herself at all.
‘Why do you look at me like that, prince?’ she asked sud-
denly, breaking off her merry conversation and laughter
with those about her. ‘I’m afraid of you! You look as though
you were just going to put out your hand and touch my face
to see if it’s real! Doesn’t he, Evgenie Pavlovitch—doesn’t he
look like that?’
The prince seemed surprised that he should have been
addressed at all; he reflected a moment, but did not seem to
take in what had been said to him; at all events, he did not
answer. But observing that she and the others had begun to
laugh, he too opened his mouth and laughed with them.
The laughter became general, and the young officer, who
seemed a particularly lively sort of person, simply shook

0 The Idiot