Page 458 - the-idiot

a quarrel. You see, prince, I’ll tell you privately, Evgenie
and ourselves have not said a word yet, we have no formal
understanding, we are in no way bound on either side, but
the word may be said very soon, don’t you see, VERY soon,
and all this is most injurious, and is meant to be so. Why?
I’m sure I can’t tell you. She’s an extraordinary woman, you
see, an eccentric woman; I tell you I am so frightened of
that woman that I can’t sleep. What a carriage that was, and
where did it come from, eh? I declare, I was base enough to
suspect Evgenie at first; but it seems certain that that cannot
be the case, and if so, why is she interfering here? That’s the
riddle, what does she want? Is it to keep Evgenie to herself?
But, my dear fellow, I swear to you, I swear he doesn’t even
KNOW her, and as for those bills, why, the whole thing is
an invention! And the familiarity of the woman! It’s quite
clear we must treat the impudent creature’s attempt with
disdain, and redouble our courtesy towards Evgenie. I told
my wife so.
‘Now I’ll tell you my secret conviction. I’m certain that
she’s doing this to revenge herself on me, on account of the
past, though I assure you that all the time I was blameless. I
blush at the very idea. And now she turns up again like this,
when I thought she had finally disappeared! Where’s Rogo-
jin all this time? I thought she was Mrs. Rogojin, long ago.’
The old man was in a state of great mental perturbation.
The whole of the journey, which occupied nearly an hour,
he continued in this strain, putting questions and answer-
ing them himself, shrugging his shoulders, pressing the
prince’s hand, and assuring the latter that, at all events, he