Page 911 - the-idiot

years,’ but he will, we think, make a useful and active man.
The prince’s further fate was more or less decided by Co-
lia, who selected, out of all the persons he had met during
the last six or seven months, Evgenie Pavlovitch, as friend
and confidant. To him he made over all that he knew as to
the events above recorded, and as to the present condition
of the prince. He was not far wrong in his choice. Evgenie
Pavlovitch took the deepest interest in the fate of the unfor-
tunate ‘idiot,’ and, thanks to his influence, the prince found
himself once more with Dr. Schneider, in Switzerland.
Evgenie Pavlovitch, who went abroad at this time, in-
tending to live a long while on the continent, being, as he
often said, quite superfluous in Russia, visits his sick friend
at Schneider’s every few months.
But Dr. Schneider frowns ever more and more and shakes
his head; he hints that the brain is fatally injured; he does
not as yet declare that his patient is incurable, but he allows
himself to express the gravest fears.
Evgenie takes this much to heart, and he has a heart, as is
proved by the fact that he receives and even answers letters
from Colia. But besides this, another trait in his character
has become apparent, and as it is a good trait we will make
haste to reveal it. After each visit to Schneider’s establish-
ment, Evgenie Pavlovitch writes another letter, besides that
to Colia, giving the most minute particulars concerning the
invalid’s condition. In these letters is to be detected, and in
each one more than the last, a growing feeling of friendship
and sympathy.
The individual who corresponds thus with Evgenie Pav-

10 The Idiot