Page 795 - the-idiot

VII

HILE he feasted his eyes upon Aglaya, as she talked
Wmerrily with Evgenie and Prince N., suddenly the old
anglomaniac, who was talking to the dignitary in anoth-
er corner of the room, apparently telling him a story about
something or other—suddenly this gentleman pronounced
the name of ‘Nicolai Andreevitch Pavlicheff’ aloud. The
prince quickly turned towards him, and listened.
The conversation had been on the subject of land, and
the present disorders, and there must have been something
amusing said, for the old man had begun to laugh at his
companion’s heated expressions.
The latter was describing in eloquent words how, in
consequence of recent legislation, he was obliged to sell a
beautiful estate in the N. province, not because he wanted
ready money—in fact, he was obliged to sell it at half its
value. ‘To avoid another lawsuit about the Pavlicheff estate,
I ran away,’ he said. ‘With a few more inheritances of that
kind I should soon be ruined!’
At this point General Epanchin, noticing how interested
Muishkin had become in the conversation, said to him, in
a low tone:
‘That gentleman—Ivan Petrovitch—is a relation of your
late friend, Mr. Pavlicheff. You wanted to find some of his
relations, did you not?’

The Idiot