Page 422 - the-idiot

al conviction.
Keller suddenly left his seat, and approached Lizabetha.
Prokofievna.
‘It was only out of generosity, madame,’ he said in a reso-
nant voice, ‘and because I would not betray a friend in an
awkward position, that I did not mention this revision be-
fore; though you heard him yourself threatening to kick us
down the steps. To clear the matter up, I declare now that
I did have recourse to his assistance, and that I paid him
six roubles for it. But I did not ask him to correct my style;
I simply went to him for information concerning the facts,
of which I was ignorant to a great extent, and which he was
competent to give. The story of the gaiters, the appetite in
the Swiss professor’s house, the substitution of fifty roubles
for two hundred and fifty—all such details, in fact, were got
from him. I paid him six roubles for them; but he did not
correct the style.’
‘I must state that I only revised the first part of the ar-
ticle,’ interposed Lebedeff with feverish impatience, while
laughter rose from all around him; ‘but we fell out in the
middle over one idea, so I never corrected the second part.
Therefore I cannot be held responsible for the numerous
grammatical blunders in it.’
‘That is all he thinks of!’ cried Lizabetha Prokofievna.
‘May I ask when this article was revised?’ said Evgenie
Pavlovitch to Keller.
‘Yesterday morning,’ he replied, ‘we had an interview
which we all gave our word of honour to keep secret.’
‘The very time when he was cringing before you and mak-

1