Page 788 - the-idiot

were not having a party at all; that these people must have
been here always, and that he himself was one of them—re-
turned among them after a long absence, but one of them,
naturally and indisputably.
It never struck him that all this refined simplicity and
nobility and wit and personal dignity might possibly be no
more than an exquisite artistic polish. The majority of the
guests—who were somewhat empty-headed, after all, in
spite of their aristocratic bearing—never guessed, in their
self-satisfied composure, that much of their superiority was
mere veneer, which indeed they had adopted unconsciously
and by inheritance.
The prince would never so much as suspect such a thing
in the delight of his first impression.
He saw, for instance, that one important dignitary, old
enough to be his grandfather, broke off his own conversa-
tion in order to listen to HIM—a young and inexperienced
man; and not only listened, but seemed to attach value to
his opinion, and was kind and amiable, and yet they were
strangers and had never seen each other before. Perhaps
what most appealed to the prince’s impressionability was
the refinement of the old man’s courtesy towards him. Per-
haps the soil of his susceptible nature was really predisposed
to receive a pleasant impression.
Meanwhile all these people-though friends of the family
and of each other to a certain extent—were very far from
being such intimate friends of the family and of each other
as the prince concluded. There were some present who nev-
er would think of considering the Epanchins their equals.