Page 614 - the-idiot

‘Yes, my bones, I—‘
‘Quite so, I see; because, you know, little mistakes have
occurred now and then. There was a case—‘
Why do you tease him?’ cried the prince, suddenly.
‘You’ve moved him to tears,’ added Ferdishenko. But
Hippolyte was by no means weeping. He was about to move
from his place, when his four guards rushed at him and
seized him once more. There was a laugh at this.
‘He led up to this on purpose. He took the trouble of writ-
ing all that so that people should come and grab him by the
arm,’ observed Rogojin. ‘Good-night, prince. What a time
we’ve sat here, my very bones ache!’
‘If you really intended to shoot yourself, Terentieff,’ said
Evgenie Pavlovitch, laughing, ‘if I were you, after all these
compliments, I should just not shoot myself in order to vex
them all.’
‘They are very anxious to see me blow my brains out,’
said Hippolyte, bitterly.
‘Yes, they’ll be awfully annoyed if they don’t see it.’
‘Then you think they won’t see it?’
‘I am not trying to egg you on. On the contrary, I think
it very likely that you may shoot yourself; but the principal
thing is to keep cool,’ said Evgenie with a drawl, and with
great condescension.
‘I only now perceive what a terrible mistake I made in
reading this article to them,’ said Hippolyte, suddenly, ad-
dressing Evgenie, and looking at him with an expression of
trust and confidence, as though he were applying to a friend
for counsel.

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