Page 90 - the-idiot

‘I can’t understand why you always fly into a temper,’ said
Mrs. Epanchin, who had been listening to the conversation
and examining the faces of the speakers in turn. ‘I do not
understand what you mean. What has your little finger to
do with it? The prince talks well, though he is not amusing.
He began all right, but now he seems sad.’
‘Never mind, mamma! Prince, I wish you had seen an
execution,’ said Aglaya. ‘I should like to ask you a question
about that, if you had.’
‘I have seen an execution,’ said the prince.
‘You have!’ cried Aglaya. ‘I might have guessed it. That’s a
fitting crown to the rest of the story. If you have seen an ex-
ecution, how can you say you lived happily all the while?’
‘But is there capital punishment where you were?’ asked
Adelaida.
‘I saw it at Lyons. Schneider took us there, and as soon as
we arrived we came in for that.’
‘Well, and did you like it very much? Was it very edifying
and instructive?’ asked Aglaya.
‘No, I didn’t like it at all, and was ill after seeing it; but I
confess I stared as though my eyes were fixed to the sight. I
could not tear them away.’
‘I, too, should have been unable to tear my eyes away,’
said Aglaya.
‘They do not at all approve of women going to see an ex-
ecution there. The women who do go are condemned for it
afterwards in the newspapers.’
‘That is, by contending that it is not a sight for women
they admit that it is a sight for men. I congratulate them