Page 774 - the-idiot

She spoke impatiently and with severity; this was the
first allusion she had made to the party of tomorrow.
She hated the idea of it, everyone saw that; and she would
probably have liked to quarrel about it with her parents, but
pride and modesty prevented her from broaching the sub-
ject.
The prince jumped to the conclusion that Aglaya, too,
was nervous about him, and the impression he would make,
and that she did not like to admit her anxiety; and this
thought alarmed him.
‘Yes, I am invited,’ he replied.
She was evidently in difficulties as to how best to go on.
‘May I speak of something serious to you, for once in my
life?’ she asked, angrily. She was irritated at she knew not
what, and could not restrain her wrath.
‘Of course you may; I am very glad to listen,’ replied
Muishkin.
Aglaya was silent a moment and then began again with
evident dislike of her subject:
‘I do not wish to quarrel with them about this; in some
things they won’t be reasonable. I always did feel a loathing
for the laws which seem to guide mamma’s conduct at times.
I don’t speak of father, for he cannot be expected to be any-
thing but what he is. Mother is a noble-minded woman, I
know; you try to suggest anything mean to her, and you’ll
see! But she is such a slave to these miserable creatures! I
don’t mean old Bielokonski alone. She is a contemptible old
thing, but she is able to twist people round her little finger,
and I admire that in her, at all events! How mean it all is,