Page 689 - the-idiot

for it.’
‘H’m! now, I suppose, you and your husband will never
weary of egging me on to work again. You’ll begin your lec-
tures about perseverance and strength of will, and all that. I
know it all by heart,’ said Gania, laughing.
‘He’s got some new idea in his head,’ thought Varia. ‘Are
they pleased over there—the parents?’ asked Gania, sud-
denly.
‘N—no, I don’t think they are. You can judge for yourself.
I think the general is pleased enough; her mother is a little
uneasy. She always loathed the idea of the prince as a HUS-
BAND; everybody knows that.’
‘Of course, naturally. The bridegroom is an impossible
and ridiculous one. I mean, has SHE given her formal con-
sent?’
‘She has not said ‘no,’ up to now, and that’s all. It was sure
to be so with her. You know what she is like. You know how
absurdly shy she is. You remember how she used to hide
in a cupboard as a child, so as to avoid seeing visitors, for
hours at a time. She is just the same now; but, do you know,
I think there is something serious in the matter, even from
her side; I feel it, somehow. She laughs at the prince, they
say, from morn to night in order to hide her real feelings;
but you may be sure she finds occasion to say something or
other to him on the sly, for he himself is in a state of radiant
happiness. He walks in the clouds; they say he is extremely
funny just now; I heard it from themselves. They seemed
to be laughing at me in their sleeves— those elder girls—I
don’t know why.’

The Idiot