Page 709 - the-idiot

III

s a general rule, old General Ivolgin’s paroxysms ended
Ain smoke. He had before this experienced fits of sud-
den fury, but not very often, because he was really a man of
peaceful and kindly disposition. He had tried hundreds of
times to overcome the dissolute habits which he had con-
tracted of late years. He would suddenly remember that he
was ‘a father,’ would be reconciled with his wife, and shed
genuine tears. His feeling for Nina Alexandrovna amounted
almost to adoration; she had pardoned so much in silence,
and loved him still in spite of the state of degradation into
which he had fallen. But the general’s struggles with his
own weakness never lasted very long. He was, in his way, an
impetuous man, and a quiet life of repentance in the bosom
of his family soon became insupportable to him. In the end
he rebelled, and flew into rages which he regretted, perhaps,
even as he gave way to them, but which were beyond his
control. He picked quarrels with everyone, began to hold
forth eloquently, exacted unlimited respect, and at last dis-
appeared from the house, and sometimes did not return for
a long time. He had given up interfering in the affairs of his
family for two years now, and knew nothing about them but
what he gathered from hearsay.
But on this occasion there was something more serious
than usual. Everyone seemed to know something, but to be

0 The Idiot