Page 893 - the-idiot

mechanically in the affirmative, he sat down and waited;
but it was not long before it struck him that dining would
delay him. Enraged at this idea, he started up, crossed the
dark passage (which filled him with horrible impressions
and gloomy forebodings), and set out once more for Rogo-
jin’s. Rogojin had not returned, and no one came to the door.
He rang at the old lady’s door opposite, and was informed
that Parfen Semionovitch would not return for three days.
The curiosity with which the old servant stared at him again
impressed the prince disagreeably. He could not find the
porter this time at all.
As before, he crossed the street and watched the win-
dows from the other side, walking up and down in anguish
of soul for half an hour or so in the stifling heat. Nothing
stirred; the blinds were motionless; indeed, the prince be-
gan to think that the apparition of Rogojin’s face could have
been nothing but fancy. Soothed by this thought, he drove
off once more to his friends at the Ismailofsky barracks. He
was expected there. The mother had already been to three
or four places to look for Nastasia, but had not found a trace
of any kind.
The prince said nothing, but entered the room, sat down
silently, and stared at them, one after the other, with the air
of a man who cannot understand what is being said to him.
It was strange— one moment he seemed to be so obser-
vant, the next so absent; his behaviour struck all the family
as most remarkable. At length he rose from his seat, and
begged to be shown Nastasia’s rooms. The ladies reported
afterwards how he had examined everything in the apart-

The Idiot