Page 852 - the-idiot

Of course much was said that could not be determined
absolutely. For instance, it was reported that the poor girl
had so loved her future husband that she had followed him
to the house of the other woman, the day after she had been
thrown over; others said that he had insisted on her coming,
himself, in order to shame and insult her by his taunts and
Nihilistic confessions when she reached the house. Howev-
er all these things might be, the public interest in the matter
grew daily, especially as it became clear that the scandalous
wedding was undoubtedly to take place.
So that if our readers were to ask an explanation, not of
the wild reports about the prince’s Nihilistic opinions, but
simply as to how such a marriage could possibly satisfy his
real aspirations, or as to the spiritual condition of our hero
at this time, we confess that we should have great difficulty
in giving the required information.
All we know is, that the marriage really was arranged,
and that the prince had commissioned Lebedeff and Keller
to look after all the necessary business connected with it;
that he had requested them to spare no expense; that Nas-
tasia herself was hurrying on the wedding; that Keller was
to be the prince’s best man, at his own earnest request; and
that Burdovsky was to give Nastasia away, to his great de-
light. The wedding was to take place before the middle of
July.
But, besides the above, we are cognizant of certain other
undoubted facts, which puzzle us a good deal because they
seem flatly to contradict the foregoing.
We suspect, for instance, that having commissioned

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