Page 901 - the-idiot

‘Go nearer,’ suggested Rogojin, softly.
The prince took a step forward—then another—and
paused. He stood and stared for a minute or two.
Neither of the men spoke a word while at the bedside.
The prince’s heart beat so loud that its knocking seemed to
be distinctly audible in the deathly silence.
But now his eyes had become so far accustomed to the
darkness that he could distinguish the whole of the bed.
Someone was asleep upon it—in an absolutely motionless
sleep. Not the slightest movement was perceptible, not the
faintest breathing could be heard. The sleeper was covered
with a white sheet; the outline of the limbs was hardly dis-
tinguishable. He could only just make out that a human
being lay outstretched there.
All around, on the bed, on a chair beside it, on the floor,
were scattered the different portions of a magnificent white
silk dress, bits of lace, ribbons and flowers. On a small table
at the bedside glittered a mass of diamonds, torn off and
thrown down anyhow. From under a heap of lace at the
end of the bed peeped a small white foot, which looked as
though it had been chiselled out of marble; it was terribly
still.
The prince gazed and gazed, and felt that the more he
gazed the more death-like became the silence. Suddenly a
fly awoke somewhere, buzzed across the room, and settled
on the pillow. The prince shuddered.
‘Let’s go,’ said Rogojin, touching his shoulder. They left
the alcove and sat down in the two chairs they had occupied
before, opposite to one another. The prince trembled more

00 The Idiot