Page 722 - the-idiot

‘What, it’s still there then, is it? Ever since the day before
yesterday?’
‘Oh no! You see, I was half in hopes the general might
find it. Because if I found it, why should not he too observe
an object lying before his very eyes? I moved the chair sev-
eral times so as to expose the purse to view, but the general
never saw it. He is very absent just now, evidently. He talks
and laughs and tells stories, and suddenly flies into a rage
with me, goodness knows why.’
‘Well, but—have you taken the purse away now?’
‘No, it disappeared from under the chair in the night.’
‘Where is it now, then?’
‘Here,’ laughed Lebedeff, at last, rising to his full height
and looking pleasantly at the prince, ‘here, in the lining of
my coat. Look, you can feel it for yourself, if you like!’
Sure enough there was something sticking out of the
front of the coat—something large. It certainly felt as
though it might well be the purse fallen through a hole in
the pocket into the lining.
‘I took it out and had a look at it; it’s all right. I’ve let
it slip back into the lining now, as you see, and so I have
been walking about ever since yesterday morning; it knocks
against my legs when I walk along.’
‘H’m! and you take no notice of it?’
‘Quite so, I take no notice of it. Ha, ha! and think of this,
prince, my pockets are always strong and whole, and yet,
here in one night, is a huge hole. I know the phenomenon
is unworthy of your notice; but such is the case. I examined
the hole, and I declare it actually looks as though it had been

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