Page 733 - the-idiot

it, he nodded his head to me, and I was told that I was ap-
pointed to the vacant post of page.
‘Well, I was glad enough, for I had long felt the greatest
sympathy for this man; and then the pretty uniform and
all that— only a child, you know—and so on. It was a dark
green dress coat with gold buttons—red facings, white trou-
sers, and a white silk waistcoat—silk stockings, shoes with
buckles, and top-boots if I were riding out with his majesty
or with the suite.
‘Though the position of all of us at that time was not par-
ticularly brilliant, and the poverty was dreadful all round,
yet the etiquette at court was strictly preserved, and the
more strictly in proportion to the growth of the forebod-
ings of disaster.’
‘Quite so, quite so, of course!’ murmured the poor prince,
who didn’t know where to look. ‘Your memoirs would be
most interesting.’
The general was, of course, repeating what he had told
Lebedeff the night before, and thus brought it out glibly
enough, but here he looked suspiciously at the prince out of
the corners of his eyes.
‘My memoirs!’ he began, with redoubled pride and dig-
nity. ‘Write my memoirs? The idea has not tempted me. And
yet, if you please, my memoirs have long been written, but
they shall not see the light until dust returns to dust. Then, I
doubt not, they will be translated into all languages, not of
course on account of their actual literary merit, but because
of the great events of which I was the actual witness, though
but a child at the time. As a child, I was able to penetrate

The Idiot