Page 844 - the-idiot

a fallen angel. I don’t wonder that Totski was nearly driven
to suicide by such a fallen angel.’
‘Silence!’ cried Nastasia Philipovna. ‘You are about as fit
to understand me as the housemaid here, who bore witness
against her lover in court the other day. She would under-
stand me better than you do.’
‘Probably an honest girl living by her own toil. Why do
you speak of a housemaid so contemptuously?’
‘I do not despise toil; I despise you when you speak of
toil.’
‘If you had cared to be an honest woman, you would have
gone out as a laundress.’
Both had risen, and were gazing at one another with pal-
lid faces.
‘Aglaya, don’t! This is unfair,’ cried the prince, deeply dis-
tressed.
Rogojin was not smiling now; he sat and listened with
folded arms, and lips tight compressed.
‘There, look at her,’ cried Nastasia, trembling with pas-
sion. ‘Look at this young lady! And I imagined her an angel!
Did you come to me without your governess, Aglaya Iva-
novna? Oh, fie, now shall I just tell you why you came here
today? Shall I tell you without any embellishments? You
came because you were afraid of me!’
‘Afraid of YOU?’ asked Aglaya, beside herself with naive
amazement that the other should dare talk to her like this.
‘Yes, me, of course! Of course you were afraid of me, or
you would not have decided to come. You cannot despise
one you fear. And to think that I have actually esteemed you