Page 621 - the-idiot

been earlier in the night.
‘I suppose you will go to the sufferer’s bedside now?’ he
added.
‘Yes, I am afraid...’ began the prince.
‘Oh, you needn’t fear! He’ll live another six weeks all
right. Very likely he will recover altogether; but I strongly
advise you to pack him off tomorrow.’
‘I think I may have offended him by saying nothing just
now. I am afraid he may suspect that I doubted his good
faith,—about shooting himself, you know. What do you
think, Evgenie Pavlovitch?’
‘Not a bit of it! You are much too good to him; you
shouldn’t care a hang about what he thinks. I have heard of
such things before, but never came across, till tonight, a man
who would actually shoot himself in order to gain a vulgar
notoriety, or blow out his brains for spite, if he finds that
people don’t care to pat him on the back for his sanguinary
intentions. But what astonishes me more than anything is
the fellow’s candid confession of weakness. You’d better get
rid of him tomorrow, in any case.
‘Do you think he will make another attempt?’
‘Oh no, not he, not now! But you have to be very careful
with this sort of gentleman. Crime is too often the last re-
source of these petty nonentities. This young fellow is quite
capable of cutting the throats of ten people, simply for a
lark, as he told us in his ‘explanation.’ I assure you those
confounded words of his will not let me sleep.’
‘I think you disturb yourself too much.’
‘What an extraordinary person you are, prince! Do you

0 The Idiot