Page 514 - the-idiot

III

HE occurrence at the Vauxhall had filled both mother
Tand daughters with something like horror. In their ex-
citement Lizabetha Prokofievna and the girls were nearly
running all the way home.
In her opinion there was so much disclosed and laid bare
by the episode, that, in spite of the chaotic condition of her
mind, she was able to feel more or less decided on certain
points which, up to now, had been in a cloudy condition.
However, one and all of the party realized that something
important had happened, and that, perhaps fortunately
enough, something which had hitherto been enveloped in
the obscurity of guess-work had now begun to come forth
a little from the mists. In spite of Prince S.’s assurances and
explanations, Evgenie Pavlovitch’s real character and posi-
tion were at last coming to light. He was publicly convicted
of intimacy with ‘that creature.’ So thought Lizabetha Pro-
kofievna and her two elder daughters.
But the real upshot of the business was that the num-
ber of riddles to be solved was augmented. The two girls,
though rather irritated at their mother’s exaggerated alarm
and haste to depart from the scene, had been unwilling to
worry her at first with questions.
Besides, they could not help thinking that their sister
Aglaya probably knew more about the whole matter than

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