Page 821 - the-idiot

VIII

HIS same morning dawned for the prince pregnant with
Tno less painful presentiments,—which fact his physical
state was, of course, quite enough to account for; but he was
so indefinably melancholy,—his sadness could not attach it-
self to anything in particular, and this tormented him more
than anything else. Of course certain facts stood before him,
clear and painful, but his sadness went beyond all that he
could remember or imagine; he realized that he was power-
less to console himself unaided. Little by little he began to
develop the expectation that this day something important,
something decisive, was to happen to him.
His attack of yesterday had been a slight one. Except-
ing some little heaviness in the head and pain in the limbs,
he did not feel any particular effects. His brain worked all
right, though his soul was heavy within him.
He rose late, and immediately upon waking remem-
bered all about the previous evening; he also remembered,
though not quite so clearly, how, half an hour after his fit, he
had been carried home.
He soon heard that a messenger from the Epanchins’
had already been to inquire after him. At half-past eleven
another arrived; and this pleased him.
Vera Lebedeff was one of the first to come to see him and
offer her services. No sooner did she catch sight of him than

0 The Idiot