Page 413 - the-idiot

ing the swaggerer to throw dust in our eyes! No, my dear sir,
you may take other people in! I can see through all your airs
and graces, I see your game!’
‘Lizabetha Prokofievna!’ exclaimed the prince.
‘Come, Lizabetha Prokofievna, it is quite time for us to be
going, we will take the prince with us,’ said Prince S. with a
smile, in the coolest possible way.
The girls stood apart, almost frightened; their father was
positively horrified. Mrs. Epanchin’s language astonished
everybody. Some who stood a little way off smiled furtively,
and talked in whispers. Lebedeff wore an expression of ut-
most ecstasy.
‘Chaos and scandal are to be found everywhere, ma-
dame,’ remarked Doktorenko, who was considerably put
out of countenance.
‘Not like this! Nothing like the spectacle you have just
given us, sir,’ answered Lizabetha Prokofievna, with a sort
of hysterical rage. ‘Leave me alone, will you?’ she cried vi-
olently to those around her, who were trying to keep her
quiet. ‘No, Evgenie Pavlovitch, if, as you said yourself just
now, a lawyer said in open court that he found it quite nat-
ural that a man should murder six people because he was
in misery, the world must be coming to an end. I had not
heard of it before. Now I understand everything. And this
stutterer, won’t he turn out a murderer?’ she cried, pointing
to Burdovsky, who was staring at her with stupefaction. ‘I
bet he will! He will have none of your money, possibly, he
will refuse it because his conscience will not allow him to
accept it, but he will go murdering you by night and walk-

1 The Idiot