Page 904 - the-idiot

her away?’
‘Not for anything!’ cried the other; ‘no, no, no!’
‘So I had decided, my friend; not to give her up to anyone,’
continued Rogojin. ‘We’ll be very quiet. I have only been
out of the house one hour all day, all the rest of the time I
have been with her. I dare say the air is very bad here. It is
so hot. Do you find it bad?’
‘I don’t know—perhaps—by morning it will be.’
‘I’ve covered her with oil-cloth—best American oilcloth,
and put the sheet over that, and four jars of disinfectant, on
account of the smell—as they did at Moscow—you remem-
ber? And she’s lying so still; you shall see, in the morning,
when it’s light. What! can’t you get up?’ asked Rogojin, see-
ing the other was trembling so that he could not rise from
his seat.
‘My legs won’t move,’ said the prince; ‘it’s fear, I know.
When my fear is over, I’ll get up—‘
‘Wait a bit—I’ll make the bed, and you can lie down. I’ll
lie down, too, and we’ll listen and watch, for I don’t know
yet what I shall do... I tell you beforehand, so that you may
be ready in case I—‘
Muttering these disconnected words, Rogojin began to
make up the beds. It was clear that he had devised these
beds long before; last night he slept on the sofa. But there
was no room for two on the sofa, and he seemed anxious
that he and the prince should be close to one another; there-
fore, he now dragged cushions of all sizes and shapes from
the sofas, and made a sort of bed of them close by the cur-
tain. He then approached the prince, and gently helped him

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