Page 782 - the-idiot

that it would pay me better to deliver it up to the noble lady
aforesaid, as I had informed her of everything hitherto by
anonymous letters; so when I sent her up a note from my-
self, with the letter, you know, in order to fix a meeting for
eight o’clock this morning, I signed it ‘your secret corre-
spondent.’ They let me in at once— very quickly—by the
back door, and the noble lady received me.’
‘Well? Go on.’
‘Oh, well, when I saw her she almost punched my head,
as I say; in fact so nearly that one might almost say she did
punch my head. She threw the letter in my face; she seemed
to reflect first, as if she would have liked to keep it, but
thought better of it and threw it in my face instead. ‘If any-
body can have been such a fool as to trust a man like you to
deliver the letter,’ says she,’ take it and deliver it! ‘Hey! she
was grandly indignant. A fierce, fiery lady that, sir!’
‘Where’s the letter now?’
‘Oh, I’ve still got it, here!’
And he handed the prince the very letter from Aglaya to
Gania, which the latter showed with so much triumph to
his Sister at a later hour.
‘This letter cannot be allowed to remain in your hands.’
‘It’s for you—for you! I’ve brought it you on purpose!’
cried Lebedeff, excitedly. ‘Why, I’m yours again now, heart
and hand, your slave; there was but a momentary pause in
the flow of my love and esteem for you. Mea culpa, mea cul-
pa! as the Pope of Rome says.
‘This letter should be sent on at once,’ said the prince, dis-
turbed. ‘I’ll hand it over myself.’

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