Page 685 - the-idiot

said it when he expressed his elder-brotherly satisfaction at
her decision. Far from this; Varvara Ardalionovna did not
marry until she felt convinced that her future husband was
unassuming, agreeable, almost cultured, and that nothing
on earth would tempt him to a really dishonourable deed.
As to small meannesses, such trifles did not trouble her. In-
deed, who is free from them? It is absurd to expect the ideal!
Besides, she knew that her marriage would provide a refuge
for all her family. Seeing Gania unhappy, she was anxious
to help him, in spite of their former disputes and misun-
derstandings. Ptitsin, in a friendly way, would press his
brother-in-law to enter the army. ‘You know,’ he said some-
times, jokingly, ‘you despise generals and generaldom, but
you will see that ‘they’ will all end by being generals in their
turn. You will see it if you live long enough!’
‘But why should they suppose that I despise generals?’
Gania thought sarcastically to himself.
To serve her brother’s interests, Varvara Ardalionovna
was constantly at the Epanchins’ house, helped by the fact
that in childhood she and Gania had played with General
Ivan Fedorovitch’s daughters. It would have been incon-
sistent with her character if in these visits she had been
pursuing a chimera; her project was not chimerical at all;
she was building on a firm basis—on her knowledge of the
character of the Epanchin family, especially Aglaya, whom
she studied closely. All Varvara’s efforts were directed to-
wards bringing Aglaya and Gania together. Perhaps she
achieved some result; perhaps, also, she made the mistake
of depending too much upon her brother, and expecting

The Idiot