Page 715 - the-idiot

contrary, I am listening most attentively, and am anxious
to guess-”
‘Prince, I wish to place myself in a respectable position—
I wish to esteem myself—and to—‘
‘My dear sir, a man of such noble aspirations is worthy of
all esteem by virtue of those aspirations alone.’
The prince brought out his ‘copy-book sentence’ in the
firm belief that it would produce a good effect. He felt in-
stinctively that some such well-sounding humbug, brought
out at the proper moment, would soothe the old man’s
feelings, and would be specially acceptable to such a man
in such a position. At all hazards, his guest must be des-
patched with heart relieved and spirit comforted; that was
the problem before the prince at this moment.
The phrase flattered the general, touched him, and
pleased him mightily. He immediately changed his tone,
and started off on a long and solemn explanation. But lis-
ten as he would, the prince could make neither head nor
tail of it.
The general spoke hotly and quickly for ten minutes; he
spoke as though his words could not keep pace with his
crowding thoughts. Tears stood in his eyes, and yet his
speech was nothing but a collection of disconnected sen-
tences, without beginning and without end—a string of
unexpected words and unexpected sentiments—colliding
with one another, and jumping over one another, as they
burst from his lips.
‘Enough!’ he concluded at last, ‘you understand me, and
that is the great thing. A heart like yours cannot help un-

1 The Idiot