Page 683 - the-idiot

all thoughts of her—though he never seriously hoped that
she would condescend to him. At the time of his ‘adventure’
with Nastasia Philipovna he had come to the conclusion that
money was his only hope—money should do all for him.
At the moment when he lost Aglaya, and after the scene
with Nastasia, he had felt so low in his own eyes that he
actually brought the money back to the prince. Of this re-
turning of the money given to him by a madwoman who had
received it from a madman, he had often repented since—
though he never ceased to be proud of his action. During
the short time that Muishkin remained in Petersburg Gania
had had time to come to hate him for his sympathy, though
the prince told him that it was ‘not everyone who would
have acted so nobly’ as to return the money. He had long
pondered, too, over his relations with Aglaya, and had per-
suaded himself that with such a strange, childish, innocent
character as hers, things might have ended very differently.
Remorse then seized him; he threw up his post, and buried
himself in self-torment and reproach.
He lived at Ptitsin’s, and openly showed contempt for
the latter, though he always listened to his advice, and was
sensible enough to ask for it when he wanted it. Gavrila Ar-
dalionovitch was angry with Ptitsin because the latter did
not care to become a Rothschild. ‘If you are to be a Jew,’ he
said, ‘do it properly— squeeze people right and left, show
some character; be the King of the Jews while you are about
it.’
Ptitsin was quiet and not easily offended—he only
laughed. But on one occasion he explained seriously to Ga-

The Idiot