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lovitch, and who engages so much of his attention and
respect, is Vera Lebedeff. We have never been able to dis-
cover clearly how such relations sprang up. Of course the
root of them was in the events which we have already re-
corded, and which so filled Vera with grief on the prince’s
account that she fell seriously ill. But exactly how the ac-
quaintance and friendship came about, we cannot say.
We have spoken of these letters chiefly because in them is
often to be found some news of the Epanchin family, and of
Aglaya in particular. Evgenie Pavlovitch wrote of her from
Paris, that after a short and sudden attachment to a certain
Polish count, an exile, she had suddenly married him, quite
against the wishes of her parents, though they had eventu-
ally given their consent through fear of a terrible scandal.
Then, after a six months’ silence, Evgenie Pavlovitch in-
formed his correspondent, in a long letter, full of detail, that
while paying his last visit to Dr. Schneider’s establishment,
he had there come across the whole Epanchin family (ex-
cepting the general, who had remained in St. Petersburg)
and Prince S. The meeting was a strange one. They all re-
ceived Evgenie Pavlovitch with effusive delight; Adelaida
and Alexandra were deeply grateful to him for his ‘angelic
kindness to the unhappy prince.’
Lizabetha Prokofievna, when she saw poor Muishkin, in
his enfeebled and humiliated condition, had wept bitterly.
Apparently all was forgiven him.
Prince S. had made a few just and sensible remarks. It
seemed to Evgenie Pavlovitch that there was not yet perfect
harmony between Adelaida and her fiance, but he thought

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