Page 408 - the-idiot

has acted simply as any sharp lawyer would do under the
circumstances. He looked at it as a case that might bring
him in a lot of money, and he did not calculate badly; be-
cause on the one hand he speculated on the generosity of
the prince, and his gratitude to the late Mr. Pavlicheff, and
on the other to his chivalrous ideas as to the obligations
of honour and conscience. As to Mr. Burdovsky, allowing
for his principles, we may acknowledge that he engaged in
the business with very little personal aim in view. At the
instigation of Tchebaroff and his other friends, he decided
to make the attempt in the service of truth, progress, and
humanity. In short, the conclusion may be drawn that, in
spite of all appearances, Mr. Burdovsky is a man of irre-
proachable character, and thus the prince can all the more
readily offer him his friendship, and the assistance of which
he spoke just now...’
‘Hush! hush! Gavrila Ardalionovitch!’ cried Muishkin in
dismay, but it was too late.
‘I said, and I have repeated it over and over again,’ shout-
ed Burdovsky furiously, ‘that I did not want the money. I
will not take it... why...I will not... I am going away!’
He was rushing hurriedly from the terrace, when Lebe-
deff’s nephew seized his arms, and said something to him
in a low voice. Burdovsky turned quickly, and drawing an
addressed but unsealed envelope from his pocket, he threw
it down on a little table beside the prince.
‘There’s the money!... How dare you?...The money!’
‘Those are the two hundred and fifty roubles you dared
to send him as a charity, by the hands of Tchebaroff,’ ex-

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