Page 63 - the-idiot

course, have been the simplest possible matter to take steps
which would rid him at once from all annoyance; while it
was obviously impossible for Nastasia Philipovna to harm
him in any way, either legally or by stirring up a scandal,
for, in case of the latter danger, he could so easily remove
her to a sphere of safety. However, these arguments would
only hold good in case of Nastasia acting as others might in
such an emergency. She was much more likely to overstep
the bounds of reasonable conduct by some extraordinary
eccentricity.
Here the sound judgment of Totski stood him in good
stead. He realized that Nastasia Philipovna must be well
aware that she could do nothing by legal means to injure
him, and that her flashing eyes betrayed some entirely dif-
ferent intention.
Nastasia Philipovna was quite capable of ruining her-
self, and even of perpetrating something which would send
her to Siberia, for the mere pleasure of injuring a man for
whom she had developed so inhuman a sense of loathing
and contempt. He had sufficient insight to understand that
she valued nothing in the world—herself least of all—and
he made no attempt to conceal the fact that he was a cow-
ard in some respects. For instance, if he had been told that
he would be stabbed at the altar, or publicly insulted, he
would undoubtedly have been frightened; but not so much
at the idea of being murdered, or wounded, or insulted, as
at the thought that if such things were to happen he would
be made to look ridiculous in the eyes of society.
He knew well that Nastasia thoroughly understood him

The Idiot