Page 787 - the-idiot

Twice during the day a messenger came to Nina Alexan-
drovna from the Epanchins to inquire after the invalid.
When—late in the evening—the prince made his appear-
ance in Lizabetha Prokofievna’s drawing-room, he found
it full of guests. Mrs. Epanchin questioned him very ful-
ly about the general as soon as he appeared; and when old
Princess Bielokonski wished to know ‘who this general was,
and who was Nina Alexandrovna,’ she proceeded to explain
in a manner which pleased the prince very much.
He himself, when relating the circumstances of the gen-
eral’s illness to Lizabetha Prokofievna, ‘spoke beautifully,’
as Aglaya’s sisters declared afterwards—‘modestly, quietly,
without gestures or too many words, and with great dignity.’
He had entered the room with propriety and grace, and he
was perfectly dressed; he not only did not ‘fall down on the
slippery floor,’ as he had expressed it, but evidently made a
very favourable impression upon the assembled guests.
As for his own impression on entering the room and tak-
ing his seat, he instantly remarked that the company was
not in the least such as Aglaya’s words had led him to fear,
and as he had dreamed of—in nightmare form—all night.
This was the first time in his life that he had seen a little
corner of what was generally known by the terrible name
of ‘society.’ He had long thirsted, for reasons of his own, to
penetrate the mysteries of the magic circle, and, therefore,
this assemblage was of the greatest possible interest to him.
His first impression was one of fascination. Somehow or
other he felt that all these people must have been born on
purpose to be together! It seemed to him that the Epanchins

The Idiot