Page 74 - the-idiot

V

rs. General Epanchin was a proud woman by nature.
MWhat must her feelings have been when she heard that
Prince Muishkin, the last of his and her line, had arrived in
beggar’s guise, a wretched idiot, a recipient of charity—all
of which details the general gave out for greater effect! He
was anxious to steal her interest at the first swoop, so as to
distract her thoughts from other matters nearer home.
Mrs. Epanchin was in the habit of holding herself very
straight, and staring before her, without speaking, in mo-
ments of excitement.
She was a fine woman of the same age as her husband,
with a slightly hooked nose, a high, narrow forehead, thick
hair turning a little grey, and a sallow complexion. Her eyes
were grey and wore a very curious expression at times. She
believed them to be most effective—a belief that nothing
could alter.
‘What, receive him! Now, at once?’ asked Mrs. Epanchin,
gazing vaguely at her husband as he stood fidgeting before
her.
‘Oh, dear me, I assure you there is no need to stand on
ceremony with him,’ the general explained hastily. ‘He is
quite a child, not to say a pathetic-looking creature. He
has fits of some sort, and has just arrived from Switzerland,
straight from the station, dressed like a German and with-