Page 520 - the-idiot

general was hurrying away to talk to someone upon some
important subject. Meanwhile he talked incessantly but
disconnectedly to the prince, and continually brought in
the name of Lizabetha Prokofievna.
If the prince had been in a condition to pay more at-
tention to what the general was saying, he would have
discovered that the latter was desirous of drawing some
information out of him, or indeed of asking him some ques-
tion outright; but that he could not make up his mind to
come to the point.
Muishkin was so absent, that from the very first he could
not attend to a word the other was saying; and when the
general suddenly stopped before him with some excited
question, he was obliged to confess, ignominiously, that he
did not know in the least what he had been talking about.
The general shrugged his shoulders.
‘How strange everyone, yourself included, has become
of late,’ said he. ‘I was telling you that I cannot in the least
understand Lizabetha Prokofievna’s ideas and agitations.
She is in hysterics up there, and moans and says that we
have been ‘shamed and disgraced.’ How? Why? When? By
whom? I confess that I am very much to blame myself; I do
not conceal the fact; but the conduct, the outrageous be-
haviour of this woman, must really be kept within limits,
by the police if necessary, and I am just on my way now to
talk the question over and make some arrangements. It can
all be managed quietly and gently, even kindly, and with-
out the slightest fuss or scandal. I foresee that the future
is pregnant with events, and that there is much that needs

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