Page 515 - the-idiot

both they and their mother put together.
Prince S. looked as black as night, and was silent and
moody. Mrs. Epanchin did not say a word to him all the
way home, and he did not seem to observe the fact. Adelai-
da tried to pump him a little by asking, ‘who was the uncle
they were talking about, and what was it that had happened
in Petersburg?’ But he had merely muttered something dis-
connected about ‘making inquiries,’ and that ‘of course it
was all nonsense.’ ‘Oh, of course,’ replied Adelaida, and
asked no more questions. Aglaya, too, was very quiet; and
the only remark she made on the way home was that they
were ‘walking much too fast to be pleasant.’
Once she turned and observed the prince hurrying af-
ter them. Noticing his anxiety to catch them up, she smiled
ironically, and then looked back no more. At length, just as
they neared the house, General Epanchin came out and met
them; he had only just arrived from town.
His first word was to inquire after Evgenie Pavlovitch.
But Lizabetha stalked past him, and neither looked at him
nor answered his question.
He immediately judged from the faces of his daughters
and Prince S. that there was a thunderstorm brewing, and
he himself already bore evidences of unusual perturbation
of mind.
He immediately button-holed Prince S., and stand-
ing at the front door, engaged in a whispered conversation
with him. By the troubled aspect of both of them, when
they entered the house, and approached Mrs. Epanchin, it
was evident that they had been discussing very disturbing

1 The Idiot