Page 667 - the-idiot

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HE prince understood at last why he shivered with dread
Tevery time he thought of the three letters in his pocket,
and why he had put off reading them until the evening.
When he fell into a heavy sleep on the sofa on the veran-
dah, without having had the courage to open a single one
of the three envelopes, he again dreamed a painful dream,
and once more that poor, ‘sinful’ woman appeared to him.
Again she gazed at him with tears sparkling on her long
lashes, and beckoned him after her; and again he awoke, as
before, with the picture of her face haunting him.
He longed to get up and go to her at once—but he COULD
NOT. At length, almost in despair, he unfolded the letters,
and began to read them.
These letters, too, were like a dream. We sometimes have
strange, impossible dreams, contrary to all the laws of na-
ture. When we awake we remember them and wonder at
their strangeness. You remember, perhaps, that you were
in full possession of your reason during this succession of
fantastic images; even that you acted with extraordinary
logic and cunning while surrounded by murderers who hid
their intentions and made great demonstrations of friend-
ship, while waiting for an opportunity to cut your throat.
You remember how you escaped them by some ingenious
stratagem; then you doubted if they were really deceived,

The Idiot