Page 871 - the-idiot

The prince recollected that somebody had told him some-
thing of the kind before, and he had, of course, scoffed at it.
He only laughed now, and forgot the hint at once.
Lebedeff really had been busy for some little while;
but, as usual, his plans had become too complex to suc-
ceed, through sheer excess of ardour. When he came to the
prince—the very day before the wedding—to confess (for
he always confessed to the persons against whom he in-
trigued, especially when the plan failed), he informed our
hero that he himself was a born Talleyrand, but for some
unknown reason had become simple Lebedeff. He then pro-
ceeded to explain his whole game to the prince, interesting
the latter exceedingly.
According to Lebedeff’s account, he had first tried what
he could do with General Epanchin. The latter informed
him that he wished well to the unfortunate young man,
and would gladly do what he could to ‘save him,’ but that
he did not think it would be seemly for him to interfere in
this matter. Lizabetha Prokofievna would neither hear nor
see him. Prince S. and Evgenie Pavlovitch only shrugged
their shoulders, and implied that it was no business of
theirs. However, Lebedeff had not lost heart, and went off to
a clever lawyer,—a worthy and respectable man, whom he
knew well. This old gentleman informed him that the thing
was perfectly feasible if he could get hold of competent wit-
nesses as to Muishkin’s mental incapacity. Then, with the
assistance of a few influential persons, he would soon see
the matter arranged.
Lebedeff immediately procured the services of an old

0 The Idiot