Page 853 - the-idiot

Lebedeff and the others, as above, the prince immediately
forgot all about masters of ceremonies and even the cere-
mony itself; and we feel quite certain that in making these
arrangements he did so in order that he might absolutely
escape all thought of the wedding, and even forget its ap-
proach if he could, by detailing all business concerning it
to others.
What did he think of all this time, then? What did he
wish for? There is no doubt that he was a perfectly free agent
all through, and that as far as Nastasia was concerned, there
was no force of any kind brought to bear on him. Nastasia
wished for a speedy marriage, true!—but the prince agreed
at once to her proposals; he agreed, in fact, so casually that
anyone might suppose he was but acceding to the most sim-
ple and ordinary suggestion.
There are many strange circumstances such as this be-
fore us; but in our opinion they do but deepen the mystery,
and do not in the smallest degree help us to understand the
case.
However, let us take one more example. Thus, we know
for a fact that during the whole of this fortnight the prince
spent all his days and evenings with Nastasia; he walked
with her, drove with her; he began to be restless whenever
he passed an hour without seeing her—in fact, to all ap-
pearances, he sincerely loved her. He would listen to her for
hours at a time with a quiet smile on his face, scarcely say-
ing a word himself. And yet we know, equally certainly, that
during this period he several times set off, suddenly, to the
Epanchins’, not concealing the fact from Nastasia Philipov-

The Idiot