Page 711 - the-idiot

whom up to this time the general had been upon terms of
the greatest friendship; but with whom, for some reason or
other, he had quarrelled a few days since, parting from him
in great wrath. There had also been a scene with the prince.
Colia had asked an explanation of the latter, but had been
forced to conclude that he was not told the whole truth.
If Hippolyte and Nina Alexandrovna had, as Gania sus-
pected, had some special conversation about the general’s
actions, it was strange that the malicious youth, whom Ga-
nia had called a scandal-monger to his face, had not allowed
himself a similar satisfaction with Colia.
The fact is that probably Hippolyte was not quite so black
as Gania painted him; and it was hardly likely that he had
informed Nina Alexandrovna of certain events, of which
we know, for the mere pleasure of giving her pain. We must
never forget that human motives are generally far more
complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can
very rarely accurately describe the motives of another. It is
much better for the writer, as a rule, to content himself with
the bare statement of events; and we shall take this line with
regard to the catastrophe recorded above, and shall state
the remaining events connected with the general’s trouble
shortly, because we feel that we have already given to this
secondary character in our story more attention than we
originally intended.
The course of events had marched in the following or-
der. When Lebedeff returned, in company with the general,
after their expedition to town a few days since, for the pur-
pose of investigation, he brought the prince no information

10 The Idiot