Page 52 - the-idiot

‘but I positively haven’t another moment now. I shall just
tell Elizabetha Prokofievna about you, and if she wishes to
receive you at once—as I shall advise her—I strongly rec-
ommend you to ingratiate yourself with her at the first
opportunity, for my wife may be of the greatest service to
you in many ways. If she cannot receive you now, you must
be content to wait till another time. Meanwhile you, Gania,
just look over these accounts, will you? We mustn’t forget to
finish off that matter—‘
The general left the room, and the prince never succeed-
ed in broaching the business which he had on hand, though
he had endeavoured to do so four times.
Gania lit a cigarette and offered one to the prince. The
latter accepted the offer, but did not talk, being unwilling to
disturb Gania’s work. He commenced to examine the study
and its contents. But Gania hardly so much as glanced at
the papers lying before him; he was absent and thought-
ful, and his smile and general appearance struck the prince
still more disagreeably now that the two were left alone to-
gether.
Suddenly Gania approached our hero who was at the
moment standing over Nastasia Philipovna’s portrait, gaz-
ing at it.
‘Do you admire that sort of woman, prince?’ he asked,
looking intently at him. He seemed to have some special
object in the question.
‘It’s a wonderful face,’ said the prince, ‘and I feel sure that
her destiny is not by any means an ordinary, uneventful
one. Her face is smiling enough, but she must have suffered

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