Page 62 - the-idiot

yet she had decided to prevent this marriage—for no par-
ticular reason, but that she chose to do so, and because she
wished to amuse herself at his expense for that it was ‘quite
her turn to laugh a little now!’
Such were her words—very likely she did not give her
real reason for this eccentric conduct; but, at all events, that
was all the explanation she deigned to offer.
Meanwhile, Totski thought the matter over as well as
his scattered ideas would permit. His meditations lasted a
fortnight, however, and at the end of that time his resolu-
tion was taken. The fact was, Totski was at that time a man
of fifty years of age; his position was solid and respectable;
his place in society had long been firmly fixed upon safe
foundations; he loved himself, his personal comforts, and
his position better than all the world, as every respectable
gentleman should!
At the same time his grasp of things in general soon
showed Totski that he now had to deal with a being who
was outside the pale of the ordinary rules of traditional
behaviour, and who would not only threaten mischief but
would undoubtedly carry it out, and stop for no one.
There was evidently, he concluded, something at work
here; some storm of the mind, some paroxysm of romantic
anger, goodness knows against whom or what, some insa-
tiable contempt—in a word, something altogether absurd
and impossible, but at the same time most dangerous to be
met with by any respectable person with a position in soci-
ety to keep up.
For a man of Totski’s wealth and standing, it would, of

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