Page 637 - the-idiot

moment of your life. I know what moment that was!’ she
added softly, looking at the ground again.
‘Oh, if you could know all!’
‘I DO know all!’ she cried, with another burst of indig-
nation. ‘You were living in the same house as that horrible
woman with whom you ran away.’ She did not blush as she
said this; on the contrary, she grew pale, and started from
her seat, apparently oblivious of what she did, and imme-
diately sat down again. Her lip continued to tremble for a
long time.
There was silence for a moment. The prince was taken
aback by the suddenness of this last reply, and did not know
to what he should attribute it.
‘I don’t love you a bit!’ she said suddenly, just as though
the words had exploded from her mouth.
The prince did not answer, and there was silence again. ‘I
love Gavrila Ardalionovitch,’ she said, quickly; but hardly
audibly, and with her head bent lower than ever.
‘That is NOT true,’ said the prince, in an equally low
voice.
‘What! I tell stories, do I? It is true! I gave him my prom-
ise a couple of days ago on this very seat.’
The prince was startled, and reflected for a moment.
‘It is not true,’ he repeated, decidedly; ‘you have just in-
vented it!’
‘You are wonderfully polite. You know he is greatly im-
proved. He loves me better than his life. He let his hand
burn before my very eyes in order to prove to me that he
loved me better than his life!’

The Idiot