The Idiot - Full Audiobook (Fyodor Dostoevsky) | Part 4 of 4 - The Idiot [Gold Edition]

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Radamski said of you that you had read a lot
of poetry and were extremely cultivated for your position, that
you were a bookish woman with lily white hands. Add
to that your vanity, and there are all your motives,
and aren't your hands lily white? Things had reached this

(00:20):
unexpected juncture much too quickly and crudely unexpected, because Nastasia Philipovna,
on her way to Padlovsk, still cherished certain dreams, though
of course she anticipated things to turn out badly rather
than otherwise. Aglaia was really carried away by the emotional
surge of the moment, as if rushing down a mountain side,

(00:40):
and couldn't resist the dreadful satisfaction of revenge. It was
strange for Nastasia Philipovna to see Aglaia like this. She
was looking at her as if she couldn't believe her eyes,
and was decidedly at a loss for the first moment
or two whether she was a woman who had read
too much poetry, as Radumsky had supposed, or simply mad,

(01:03):
as the Prince was convinced. At all events, this woman,
whose behavior was sometimes cynical and insolent, was in reality
far more shy, gentle, and trusting than might have been assumed. True.
There was in her a good deal that was bookish, dreamy,
self enclosed and fantastical, but it existed along with qualities

(01:24):
of strength and profundity. The Prince understood this. His distress
showed in his face. Aglaiya noticed it and quivered with hatred.
How dare you speak to me like that? She said,
with an indescribably imperious air as she responded to Nastasia
Philipovna's remark, you must have misheard, marveled Nastasia Philipovna. How

(01:51):
have I spoken to you? If you had wanted to
be an honest woman, then why didn't you get rid
of your seducer? Toat's just without historyonics said Aglia, suddenly,
out of the blue. What do you know of my
situation that lets you presume to sit in judgment on me?

(02:12):
Nastasia Philipovna trembled and went pale. All I know is
that you didn't go to work. You went off with
a rich man like Rogisin, so you could play the
fallen angel. I'm not surprised Totsky wanted to shoot himself
to escape a fallen angel. Stop it, Nastasia Philipovna said,

(02:35):
with revulsion and seeming anguish. You understand me no better
then Darya Alexeyevna's maid servant, who took her fiance to
court the other day for breach of promise. She'd have
understood better than you. Most likely she's an honest girl

(02:56):
and works for a living. How can someone like you
speak of a maidservant with contempt. I don't regard work
with contempt. Just you when you talk of work. If
you'd wanted to be an honest woman, you'd have taken
in washing. Both rose to their feet and stared at

(03:16):
one another ashen faced. Aglia, stop it, this is unfair,
the prince cried despairingly. Roguson listened with lips pursed, in
arms folded, no longer smiling. There. Just look at her,
said Nestasia Philipovna, shaking with anger at that noble young lady.

(03:40):
And I used to think she was an angel. Have
you come visiting without your governess, Aglaya Ivanovna, do you
want Do you want me to tell you now, bluntly,
without mincing words, why you've come here? You were afraid,
That's why you came to see me afraid of you,

(04:02):
asked Toglia, beside herself with naive and haughty amazement that
the other should address her in this fashion. Of course,
of me, if you've made up your mind to come
and see me, it means you're afraid of me. If
you fear someone, you don't despise them to think. I've

(04:23):
respected you up to this very moment, And let me
tell you why you're afraid of me and what your
chief anxiety is. Now. You wanted to make sure personally
whether he loved me more than you or not, because
you're dreadfully jealous. He's already told me he hates you.
Aglia just managed to falter. Perhaps he has perhaps I'm

(04:47):
not worthy of him, But but you're lying. I think
he can't possibly hate me, and he couldn't have said that. However,
I'm willing to let it pass. Bearing in mind your situation.
I did think better of you, though I thought you
were more intelligent and prettier too. Honestly I did well

(05:10):
take your treasure. Then there he is looking at you.
He can't take it all in. Take him home with you,
but on one condition, get out of here at once.
This very minute, she fell into a chair and dissolved
into tears. But all of a sudden something new glittered
in her eyes. She stared fixedly at Aglia and rose

(05:33):
to her feet. Or would you like me to order
him this minute? You hear one order from me, and
he'll leave you at once and stay with me forever
and marry me while you run home on your own.
You want that? You want that? She shouted, like a
mad creature, perhaps not fully believing herself capable of uttering

(05:55):
such words. Agliah made to rush for the door, but
on the threshold as if rooted to the spot and
went on listening. If you like, I'll get rid of rogasin.
Did you think I was going to marry him to
suit you? I'll shout out now in front of you,

(06:15):
go away, rogasin, And I'll say to the Prince, remember
what you promised? Lord? Why have I humiliated myself so
before them? Wasn't it You Prince assured me that you'd
marry me whatever happened to me, and would never leave me,
that you loved me and forgave me everything, and that

(06:37):
you res r sp Yes, you said that as well,
and I ran away from you just to set you free.
But now I don't want to. Why has she treated
me like some loose woman? Ask Rogasin whether I'm a
loose woman. He'll tell you now that she has put

(06:58):
me to shame before you're very will you two spurn
me and walk away arm in arm with her? Well,
curse you then, because you were the only one I trusted.
Go away, Rogison, You're not wanted, she shouted, frenzied, forcing
the words out of her breast, face contorted and lips parched,

(07:18):
clearly not believing a word of her tirade, but at
the same time wanting to prolong the scene, if only
by a second, and keep up the self deception. The
paroxysm was so intense that she might have died, so
at least, thought the Prince. There he is. Look, she
cried at last to Aglia, pointing to the Prince. If

(07:40):
he doesn't come up to me, now take me and
give you up, then you can have him. I'll let
you have him. I don't want him. Both she and
Eglia stood still, seemingly in suspense. Then both looked at
him as though demented. He, however, perhaps did not comprehend

(08:01):
the full force of that challenge. Indeed, he certainly did not.
All he saw before him was the distracted, despairing face, which,
as he had let slip to Aglia, once pierced his
heart forever. He could bear it no longer, and he
turned to Aglia with a look at once beseeching and reproachful,

(08:22):
as he pointed to Nestasia Philipovna, how could you She's
really so unhappy? But that was all he managed to
utter as he was struck dumb by a terrible look
from Aglia. It contained so much anguish and at the
same time such limitless hatred that he threw up his arms,

(08:44):
uttered an exclamation, and darted towards her. But it was
already too late. She had not been able to endure
even an instant of hesitation. She covered her face with
her hands, cried out, oh my God, and rushed out
of the room, followed by Rogason to unbolt the front
door for her. The Prince also pursued her, but was

(09:06):
clasped on the threshold by two arms. The ravaged, contorted
face of Nastasia Philipovna was staring at him, and her
bluish lips stirred, asking him after her after her, she
fell unconscious into his arms. He raised her and bore

(09:28):
her into the room and stood over her in numb suspense.
There was a glass of water on the table. On
his return to the room, Rogasin seized it and sprinkled
some water in her face. She opened her eyes and
for a moment failed to realize what had happened. Then
she suddenly looked round, gave a start, cried out, and

(09:48):
rushed to the prince. Mine, mine, she cried. The proud
young lady has gone. Ah, she laughed hysterically. Ah. I
was giving him up to that noble lady. But why

(10:10):
should I? Why mad mad getautrovotsin Ah. Rogason stared at
them wordlessly, picked up his hat and left. Ten minutes later,
the Prince was sitting beside Nastasia Philipovna, his eyes fixed

(10:33):
on her as he stroked her head and face with
both hands like a little child. He laughed when she laughed,
and was ready to cry when she cried. He said
nothing but listen intently to her jerky, rapturous, incoherent babbling,
barely understanding anything but smiling gently. As soon as he

(10:53):
thought she was starting to fret or weep, reproach or complain,
he immediately began stroking her headache again in passing his
hands tenderly over her cheeks, comforting and soothing her like
a child. Nine a fortnight had passed since the events

(11:15):
related in the last chapter, and the situation of the
characters in our story had altered to such an extent
that we should find it difficult to continue without making
certain things clear. We feel, however, that we should confine
ourselves to a simple recital of the facts without any
particular elaboration, as far as that is possible. The reason

(11:38):
is a simple one. We ourselves find it difficult to
explain what happened. In many cases, such a statement on
our part must appear very vague and strange. How can
one tell a story if one has no clear notion
of events or personal opinion regarding them. To avoid placing
ourselves in a still more false position, it be best

(12:00):
if we attempted to clarify matters by giving an example,
and then perhaps the indulgent reader will understand where our
precise difficulty lies, particularly as this example will not be
a digression. On the contrary, it will be a direct
continuation of our story during the subsequent two weeks, bringing

(12:21):
us to the beginning of July, the tale of our hero,
particularly the latest episode, had become transformed into a strange,
vastly entertaining story of scandal, almost incredible and yet plain
for all to see. This story had gradually spread through
all the streets close to the villas belonging to Lebedev,

(12:42):
the Titsons, Darya, Alexeyevna and the Apankins. In short, it
was all round the town and even the surrounding districts.
Virtually every element in society, locals, villa, folk music, visitors
began telling one another the same story in a thousand
different versions. How a certain prince, after creating a scandalous

(13:03):
scene in a well known and respectable household, had thrown
over the daughter of the family to whom he was
already engaged and was now besotted with a cocotte. He
had severed all his former ties, and despite everything, regardless
of threats and universal public indignation, intended to marry this
fallen woman in the next few days. Here in Pavlovsk,

(13:25):
openly in public, with head erect in looking everyone in
the eye. The story became so embellished with scandalous details,
so many celebrated and important figures were involved in it,
and so various were the fantastic and mysterious nuances given
to it. While on the other hand, it was presented
in such incontrovertible and concrete detail that the general curiosity

(13:49):
and gossip were of course very pardonable. The most subtle,
ingenious and at the same time most plausible interpretation of
the event was left to a few really serious gossip
mongers from that judicious section of the population, who were
invariably eager to explain events to others. Whatever level of
society they move in, this is where they find their

(14:12):
vocation and often their consolation too. According to their version,
a young man of good family, a prince, very nearly
a rich man, something of a booby, but a democrat
and crazy over the modern nihilism revealed by mister Turgenieff
asterisk and barely able to speak Russian, had fallen in
love with one of general Lyupankin's daughters and had reached

(14:34):
the point of being regarded in the household as the
girl's fiancee. However, it was like that French seminarist in
the papers recently, who deliberately allowed himself to be consecrated
as a priest. Having begged to be thus consecrated, he
had then gone through all the rites, genuflections, kissings, vows,

(14:55):
and so on, only to declare publicly in a letter to
his bishop the very next day that, as he didn't
believe in God, he regarded it as dishonorable to deceive
the people and live at their expense. He therefore renounced
the priesthood he had assumed the day before he had
published his letter in the liberal newspapers. The prince had

(15:19):
seemingly perpetrated some such subterfuge, as had this atheist the
story that he had deliberately waited for the formal engagement
party at his fiance's parents' house, where he was presented
to great numbers of extremely important persons, only to trumpet
his opinions, abuse the respectable dignitaries, reject his fiance publicly

(15:41):
and insultingly, and, while resisting his ejection by the servants,
smash a beautiful Chinese vase. They added, as an illustration
of his contemporary mores, that the blockhead young man really
did love his fiancee, the General's daughter, but had renounced
her purely out of of nihilism and for the sake
of the subsequent scandal, so as not to forego the

(16:04):
pleasure of marrying a fallen woman in front of the world,
thus demonstrating his conviction that there were no such things
as fallen women or virtuous women. There were only free women.
That he did not believe in old fashioned society divisions.
All he believed in was the woman question. In his eyes,

(16:25):
a fallen woman stood, if anything slightly higher than one
who was not. This explanation seemed wholly plausible and was
accepted by the majority of the villa community, particularly as
it was confirmed by day to day events. True, numerous
things were left unaccounted for. It was said that the

(16:46):
poor girl loved her fiance, her seducer. Some called him
so much that the very next day, after he had
rejected her, she ran to see him when he was
sitting with his mistress. Others asserted that, on the contrary,
she had been lured on on purpose to his mistress's
house purely out of nihilism, that is, to heap shame
and insult upon her. However that might be, interest in

(17:09):
the affair increased daily, especially when there remained no shred
of doubt that the scandalous marriage really was going ahead.
And so if we had been asked for an explanation
not about the nihilistic aspects of the affair, but just
about how far the forthcoming wedding accorded with the prince's
actual desires, what his desires actually were at any given moment,

(17:33):
how one might describe our hero's state of mind, and
so on and so forth, we should have had great
difficulty in replying. We know only one thing, that the
wedding was definitely fixed, and that the Prince himself had
entrusted Lebedev, Keller and some acquaintance of Lebedev's, whom the
latter had introduced to the Prince for the purpose to

(17:54):
undertake all the arrangements religious and otherwise, that money was
not to be stinted, that Nestasia Philipovna was insisting on
the wedding and hurrying things along, That Keller had been
chosen as the Prince's best man at his own ardent request,
that Burdovski, ecstatic at his appointment, was to give the

(18:15):
bride away, and that the day of the wedding had
been fixed for early July. But apart from these perfectly
precise details, We know of several other facts which we
are at a loss to account for, since they run
counter to the previous ones. We strongly suspect that after
intrusting Lebedev and the others to oversee all the arrangements,

(18:38):
the Prince almost forgot the very same day that he
actually had a master of ceremonies, a best man, or
a wedding, and that if he had been in such
a hurry to arrange for others to undertake the bothersome details,
it was solely because he did not want to think
about it himself, indeed, wanted perhaps to forget all about
it as quickly as might be. What was he thinking

(19:01):
of himself in that case? Then? What did he prefer
to remember? In what was he trying to achieve? Undoubtedly
there was no question of any coercion involved either from
Nastasia Philipovna, for example, She really did want the wedding
to take place as soon as possible, and it was
her idea, and certainly not the princes. But the Prince

(19:25):
had acquiesced of his own free will, almost absetly, in fact,
as if he had been asked to do something quite usual.
We have a great many such odd facts before us,
but so far from clarifying matters in our view, they
actually cloud the issue, no matter how many are reduced. However,
let us consider another example. Thus, we know for a

(19:48):
fact that during that fortnight the Prince passed whole days
in evenings with Nastasia Philipovna, that she took him with
her for walks and to listen to the music, that
he wrote about with her every day in her carriage,
That he began to get anxious about her if an
hour passed without seeing her, which meant to all appearances
that he genuinely loved her. That he listened to whatever

(20:10):
she had to say for hours on end, with a
meek and gentle smile, saying almost nothing himself. But we
also know that during those same days he went off several,
indeed many times to the Yapenkins, without concealing the fact
from Nastasia Philipovna, which drove the latter almost to despair.

(20:32):
We know that while they remained in Padlovsk, the Upennkins
did not receive him and steadily refused to allow a
meeting with Aglaia. That he would go away without a word,
then return the very next day as though completely forgetting
the previous day's refusal, end of course, receive another refusal.
We know too that an hour after Aglaya Ivanovna had

(20:55):
run out of Nastasia Philipovna's house, or perhaps even sooner,
the Prince was already at the Yapenkins, naturally confident of
finding Aglia there, and that his appearance had occasioned considerable
alarm and dismay in the household, because Aglia had not
yet returned home, and it was only through him that
they even learned she had gone out with him to

(21:16):
Nastasia Philipovna's. It was said that Lizavita Prokofievna, her daughters
and even princess had been hostile and dealt harshly with
the Prince, and it was at this point that they
denied him their further acquaintance and friendship in the strongest terms,
especially when Varius suddenly appeared and announced that Aglaya Ivanovna

(21:36):
had been in their house for an hour or more
in a dreadful state and seemed reluctant to return home.
This last piece of news shocked Lizaveta Prokofida most of all,
and was perfectly true. Coming out from Nastasia Philipovna. Aglia
really would have consented to die rather than face the
people at home, and so it rushed to see Nina Alexandrovna. Veria,

(22:01):
for her part, had at once found it incumbent upon
her to inform Lizavita Prokofievna of all this without delay.
Mother and daughters at once rushed round to Nina Alexandrovna,
with the head of the household, General Yupenkin, who had
just arrived home, following on behind Prince left. Nikolayevitch trailed

(22:23):
after them as well, notwithstanding his expulsion in the hard words.
By Varia's orders, however, he was not allowed to see
Aglaia there either. The upshot was that when Aglia saw
her mother and sisters weeping over her, without a word
of reproach, she flung herself into their arms and returned
home with them at once. The story went, though the

(22:46):
rumors were not precisely accurate either, that Gania was very
unlucky on this occasion too. Seizing the opportunity after Verya
had run off to the Yapenkins to be alone with Aglia,
he had thought to broach the subject of his love
in spite of all her anguish and tears, Aglia had
burst out laughing as she listened, and suddenly made him

(23:06):
a strange proposition. Would he prove his love by burning
his finger in the candle? There and then? It was
said that Genya was dumbfounded by this proposal, and was
so disconcerted and registered such bewilderment that Eglia had burst
into hysterical giggles at the sight and fled upstairs to
Nina Alexandrovna, where her parents found her. This story reached

(23:30):
the Prince through Whippolet. Next day. Ippolet, now confined to bed,
deliberately sent for the Prince to pass on the news.
How Hippolet had come to hear of it we do
not know. But when the Prince heard about the candle
and the finger, he laughed so much that he surprised Ippolet.
Then he suddenly began to tremble and dissolved in tears altogether.

(23:54):
At that time he was in a state of considerable
agitation and vague but agonizing distress. Hipple had bluntly declared
that he considered him to be out of his mind,
but that could not yet be said with any certainty.
In presenting all these facts and refusing to explain them,
we are, by no means trying to justify our hero

(24:17):
in the eyes of our readers. Moreover, we are quite
willing to share the indignation he aroused against himself, even
among his friends. Even Vera Labdiva was angry with him
for some time, even Kolia was indignant. Even Keller was
two until such time as he was chosen to be
best man. Not to mention Lebedev, who even began scheming

(24:40):
against the Prince, also out of a perfectly sincere indignation,
but we will speak of that later. In general, then
we are wholly in sympathy with certain forceful and psychologically
profound remarks of Ratumsky's which he made to the Prince
bluntly and without mincing words, to ring a friendly conversation

(25:01):
on the sixth or seventh day after the episode at
Nestasia Philipovna's. We should mention, incidentally, that not only the
Eupankins themselves, but everyone who had any connection with the
Yupenkin household, either directly or indirectly, found it necessary to
sever completely all relations with the Prince Princess. For example,

(25:25):
even turned away on meeting the Prince and refrained from
returning his bow. But Radomski was not afraid of compromising
himself by going to see the Prince, despite the fact
that he had begun to frequent the Yupenkin household again
every day and was received with noticeably increased cordiality. He
came to see the Prince the day after all the

(25:47):
Yupankins had left Pavlovsk. When he entered, he was already
aware of all the rumors that were circulating, and might
well have had some hand in assisting the process. The
Prince Prince was terribly glad to see him and at
once started talking about the Yapankins. Such a direct and
artless beginning put Yevgeny Pavlovitch completely at his ease, so

(26:10):
he came straight to the point, without beating about the bush.
The Prince did not yet know that the Yupannkins had gone.
He was startled and went pale. A minute later, however,
he shook his head, bemused and thoughtful, and admitted it
was to be expected. Then he quickly inquired where they
had gone to. Yevgeny Pavlovitch, meanwhile was watching him closely

(26:34):
all of this, the swift series of ingenuous questions, the
embarrassment coupled with an odd sort of candor, the agitation
and excitability, all this surprised him a good deal. However,
he told the Prince everything in detail in a very
amiable fashion. There was a lot the latter did not know,
and Radumsky was the first bearer of news from the Yapannkins.

(26:58):
He confirmed that Aglaia really had been ill, that she
had not slept for three days on end, and had
been running a high temperature. That she was feeling better
now and out of all danger, though still in a
nervous and hysterical condition. It's a good thing. There's perfect
peace in the household, he said. They try not to

(27:18):
refer to the past at all, even among themselves, not
just in a Glia's presence. The parents have already talked
between themselves about a trip abroad in the autumn, straight
after Adelaide's wedding. Aglia said nothing when she heard the
first mention of that he Radomski would also go abroad.

(27:40):
Possibly even Princess intended to go for a month or
two with Adelaida if work permitted. The General himself would
remain behind. They had all gone over to Calmino, their
estate about fifteen miles out of Petersburg, where there was
a large manor house. Princess Belikinskaya had not yet left

(28:03):
for Moscow and had apparently stayed behind. Deliberately. Lizavita Prokofievna
had strongly insisted that it was impossible to remain in
Pavlovsk after all that had happened. He Yevgeny Pavlovitch had
kept her informed every day about the rumors circulating in
the town. They had not found it possible to go

(28:25):
to their Datchya on Yelogen Island either, and really added Radamski,
you have to admit they could hardly have hung on,
particularly when they knew everything that was going on in
your house here all the time, and after your daily
trips over there, despite being turned away. Yes, yes, yes,

(28:46):
you're right, I wanted to see Aglaya Ivanovna. The prince
nodded again. Oh, my dear prince, exclaimed Yevgeny Pavlovitch suddenly,
with heartfelt sadness. How could you have allowed all that
to happen? Of course, of course, it was all so
unexpected for you. I agree, you were bound to lose

(29:09):
your head, and you certainly couldn't have stopped that mad girl.
That was beyond your capabilities. But you must have realized,
mustn't you, how intensely and seriously that girl felt towards you.
She didn't want to share you with another woman. But
you could throw away and smash a treasure like that. Yes, yes,

(29:32):
you're right, Yes it's my fault. The Prince began again
in great anguish. And you know she was the only one.
Aglayah was the only one who looked on Nastasia Philipovna
in that light. Nobody else did, did they? But that's
what makes all this so exasperating, that there was nothing

(29:53):
serious in it, cried Yevgeny Pavlovitch, carried away in real earnest.
I'm so Prince, but I have been thinking. I've thought
it over a lot. I know everything that took place earlier,
I know all that happened six months ago, everything, And
it was all to do with your head, not your heart,

(30:14):
A figment, a fantasy passing clouds. Only the frightened jealousy
of a completely inexperienced girl could regard it as anything serious.
At this point, Yevgeny Pavlovitch, dispensing with the niceties altogether,
gave full vent to his indignation. Clearly, insensibly, and we repeat,

(30:36):
with great psychological insight, he unfolded before the Prince the
whole story of his former relationship with Nastasia Philipovna. Radomsky
had always had a way with words, but now he
rose to real eloquence. From the very start he declared,
it was a lie. What begins with a lie must

(30:57):
end with a lie. That is a law of nature.
I don't agree. In fact, I feel positively indignant when somebody, oh,
whoever it might be, calls you idiot. You are too
intelligent for a name like that, but you are sufficiently odd.
You must admit not to be like other people. I
have decided that the fundamental cause of what has happened

(31:19):
is due, in the first instance, to your inherent inexperience,
as it were, note the word inherent, Prince. Secondly to
your extraordinarily ingenuous nature, thirdly to a phenomenal lack of
any sense of proportion, which you have admitted yourself several times.
And lastly to that enormous secretion of intellectual convictions which

(31:40):
you with that amazing honesty of yours have hitherto taken
to be genuine, natural and spontaneous. You must admit, Prince,
that in your relationship with Nastasia Philipovna, from the very beginning,
there was something conventionally democratic, to put it shortly, some infatuation,

(32:01):
so to speak, with the woman question. To put it
even more briefly, You see, I know all the details
of that strange and scandalous scene that took place at
Neastasia Philipovna's when Rogasin brought his money. If you like,
I'll analyze you to yourself, point by point. I'll show
you to yourself in a mirror. So accurately do I

(32:24):
know how it was and how it turned out the
way it did. You, a young man in Switzerland, were
homesick for your native country. You longed for Russia as
an unknown but promised land. You read a lot of
books about Russia, perhaps excellent books, but for you pernicious.
You arrived in the first flush of eagerness for action,
so to speak, and flung yourself into it. And then

(32:48):
on your very first day you are told the sad
and heartrending tale of a wronged woman to you, A
chasse knight errant and about a woman. The very same
day you see the woman, your activated by her beauty,
her fantastic, demonic beauty. I do agree, she's a beautiful woman.
Add to your nervous state, your epilepsy. Add in our

(33:11):
Petersburg thawing weather, which can be such a shock to
the system. Add to it the whole of that day
in an unknown and to you almost fantastic city, a
day of encounters and scenes, a day of unexpected acquaintances,
the day of the three you pankin beauties among the migliath.
Add to that fatigue, lightheadedness, Neastasia Philipovna's drawing room and

(33:32):
the atmosphere there, and what else could you have expected
of yourself at pat moment? Do you think? Yes, yes, yes, yes.
The Prince was nodding his head beginning to flush. That's
almost how it was, you know. And do you know
I really had hardly slept it all the night before

(33:52):
on the train or the night before that either, and
I was feeling very unsettled. Well, of course you That's
what I'm trying to say. Yev Genny Pavlovitch pursued eagerly. Obviously,
intoxicated by the thrill of it all. So to speak,
you clutched at the opportunity to proclaim publicly your noble

(34:13):
hearted notion that, as a prince of lineage and a
man without staying, you did not regard a woman as
dishonored who had been shamed by a disgusting high society libertine,
and not through any fault of her own. Why Heavens,
of course it's understandable. But that's not the point, dear Prince.
The point is whether the emotion you experienced was genuine

(34:36):
and authentic. Did it come from nature? Or was it
simply a mental transport of enthusiasm? What do you think
the woman taken in adultery was forgiven the same kind
of woman? But she wasn't told she had done well?
Was she that she was worthy of honor and esteem? Surely,

(34:56):
after three months, your own common sense must have suggested
to you what the real situation was. Suppose she is innocent.
Now I won't press the point, as I don't wish to,
But could all her adventures justify such intolerable, demonic pride,
such brazen, such voracious selfishness. I'm sorry, Prince, I'm getting

(35:18):
carried away. But yes, all that may well be so,
you may well be right, the prince began murmuring again.
She really is very prone to anger, of course, but
deserving of compassion. That's what you mean to say, my
soft hearted prince. But for the sake of compassion and

(35:40):
dissatisfy her, How could you have put to shame another girl,
high minded and pure and degrade her in those arrogant
and hatefilled eyes. What lengths will compassion go to after that? Why?
It's incredibly out of proportion. How could you if you
loved a girl, you humiliate her in front of her rival,

(36:02):
reject her in favor of the other after you proposed
to her yourself. And you did propose to her, didn't you.
You told her in the presence of her parents and
her sisters after that? May I ask if you are
an honorable man, prince, and didn't you deceive that heavenly

(36:22):
girl by telling her you loved her? Yes? Yes, you're right.
Oh I do feel it's my fault, said the prince,
inexpressibly anguished. Is that really enough, cried Yevgeny Pavlovitch indignantly.
Is it really enough just to cry out? Ah? I
am to blame and then persist in what you're doing.

(36:46):
And where was your heart that time? You're so Christian heart.
You could see her face at that moment, couldn't you.
Was she suffering less than the other one, your other woman,
the one who was come between you? How could you
see that and let it happen? How? But you see

(37:08):
I didn't mumble the wretched prince. What do you mean
you didn't? Honestly, I didn't let anything happen. I still
don't know how it all came about. I did run
after Aglaya Ivanovna, but Nastasia Philipovna fainted, and after that

(37:29):
they won't let me see Aglaia. It doesn't matter. You
should have run after Aglaia even if the other one
was lying in a faint. Yes, yes, I should have,
But she would have died, She would have killed herself.
You don't know her, And anyway, I'd have told Aglaia

(37:51):
everything afterwards. En you see, Yevgeny Pavlovitch, I can see that.
Apparently you don't know everything. Tell me why they won't
let me in to see Aglia. I would explain everything
to her. You see, at the time, neither of them
were talking about what mattered. Absolutely not, That's why things

(38:14):
turned out as they did. I'm afraid I can't explain
it to you at all, But I could have explained
it to Aglia perhaps. Oh dear, oh dear, you talk
of her face at the moment she ran out. Oh heavens,
I remember. Let's go. Let's go. He tugged at Radomsky's

(38:36):
sleeve as he jumped up hurriedly from his chair. Where
to Let's go to Aglaya Ivanovna. Let's go at once.
But she's not in Pavlovsk, is she? I was telling you?
And why go anyway? She'll understand, She'll understand, mumbled the

(38:59):
princeaping his hands beseechingly. She'll understand that all this is
beside the point. What matters is something quite quite different,
something quite different. But you are still getting married, aren't you.
So you're persisting? Are you getting married or not? Oh? Yes,

(39:25):
I'm getting married. Yes, I am getting married. So how
is it beside the point? Oh no, that's what it is.
That's just what it is. It doesn't matter my getting married.
That means nothing. What do you mean? It doesn't matter
and it doesn't mean anything. It's hardly a trifle, is it?

(39:50):
You're marrying a woman you love to make her happy,
and Aglia Ivanovna sees that and knows it, So how
can it not matter happy? Oh no, I'm just getting married.
She wants that, and what does it matter if I do? Ay?
But it's all of no consequence. She would certainly have died.

(40:14):
That's all I can see now that her marrying Rogason
was madness. I realized now what I didn't before. And
you see, when they were both standing facing each other,
I couldn't bear to see Nastasia Philipovna's face. You don't know,
yef Genny Pavlovitch. He lowered his voice mysteriously. I've never

(40:36):
told this to anyone, never, not even Aglaia. But I
cannot bear Nastasia Philipovna's face. You were right just now
when you were talking about that evening at Nastasia Philipovna's.
But there was one other thing you missed because you
don't know about it. I was looking at her face
even that morning, looking at her portrait. I couldn't bear it.

(41:01):
Now Vera Vera Labdiva has quite different eyes. I I'm
afraid of her face, he added greatly terrified afraid. Yes
she's mad, he whispered, ashen pale. You're sure about that,
asked Yevgeny Pavlovitch with keen curiosity. Yes I am, now,

(41:25):
I'm really sure. Now over these last days, I've found
out for certain. Then what are you doing to yourself?
Cried Yevgeny Pavlovitch in alarm. You mean you're getting married
out of fear of some kind. It's absolutely incomprehensible. Not
even loving her, I dare say, Oh no, I love

(41:50):
her with all my soul. You see, she's an absolute child.
Oh you just don't know. And at the same time
you were assuring Aglia of your love. Oh yes, yes,
But how you mean you want to love both of them?

(42:13):
Oh yes, yes, Please Prince think what you're saying. Do
come to your senses. Without Aglia, I simply have to
see her. I I shall soon die in my sleep.
I thought I was going to do it last night.

(42:34):
Oh if only Agliah were to know everything, absolutely everything.
I mean, what matters here is to know everything. Why
can't we ever know everything about another person when we
ought to, when that other person is to blame. Really,
I don't know what I'm saying I'm all muddled up.

(42:55):
You've shaken me terribly. Surely her face can't be the
same now was when she ran out. Oh, yes, I'm
to blame. I'm most probably to blame for everything. I
still don't know what for. But I'm to blame. There's
something involved here which I cannot explain to you, Yevgeny Pavlovitch.

(43:18):
And I don't have the words. But Aglaiya would understand. Oh,
I always believe she would understand. No, Prince, she wouldn't.
Aglaya Ivanovna loved you like a woman, a human being,
not like some disembodied spirit. Look here, my poor prince.

(43:42):
Most probably you've never loved either of them. I don't know.
Perhaps perhaps you're right about many things, Yevgeny Pavlovitch. Oh,
my head is starting to ache again. Let's go to
her for God's sake. For God's sake, But I'm telling
you aren't I She isn't in Pavlovsk, She's in Kolmino.

(44:06):
Let's go to Komino. Then straight away, it's I'm possible
drawled Yevgeny Pavlovitch getting to his feet. Listen, I'll write
a letter. Take a letter for me. No, Prince, no
spare me such commissions. I can't do it. They parted.

(44:30):
Radomsky left with some odd impressions. In his opinion too,
the prince was not entirely in control of his faculties.
And what did this face mean that he was so
much afraid of and yet so loved at the same time.
He might actually die without Aglaia, so that perhaps Agliya

(44:50):
would never know he loved her so much? Ah? And
what was that about loving two of them different kinds
of love? Somehow that was interesting, poor idiot? And what
would become of him now ten. The Prince, however, did

(45:14):
not die before his wedding, awake or in his sleep,
as he had predicted to Radomski. Perhaps he really did
sleep poorly and have bad dreams, but during the day,
in the company of other people, he appeared kindly and
even content. At times he was somewhat pensive, but that
was when he was alone. The arrangements for the wedding

(45:36):
proceeded apace. It was fixed for a week or so
after Yevgeny Pavlovitch's visit. In view of such haste, even
the prince's best friends, if he had any such must
have despaired of their efforts to save the foolish wretch.
It was rumored that General Yupankin and his wife Lizavita
Prokofievna were partly responsible for Yevgeny pavlova visit. But even

(46:02):
had they both desired, out of the limitless goodness of
their hearts, to rescue the pitiful madman from the abyss,
they were bound, of course, to restrict themselves to this
feeble attempt. Any more serious attempt would not have been
appropriate to their position, nor even perhaps to their heart's inclination.
Naturally enough, we have mentioned that even those closest to

(46:25):
the prince had to some extent turned against him. Vera Labdiva, however,
confined herself to solitary weeping and stayed more in her
part of the house, looking in on the prince less
frequently than before. Kolia, meanwhile, was occupied with his father's funeral.
The old man had died from a second stroke about

(46:47):
a week after the first. The Prince had participated fully
in the family morning, and in the first few days
spent several hours at a time with Nina Alexandrovna. He
was at the funeral and the church service, many people
noticed that the church congregation couldn't help whispering at the
prince's arrival and departure. The same thing happened in the

(47:10):
street and the park. Whenever he walked or drove by,
conversation would well up. His name would be mentioned, people
would point. Nastasia Philipovna's name would be heard. People looked
out for her at the funeral too, but she was
not there. The captain's widow was not there either. Lebedev,
having succeeded in catching her in time and preventing her

(47:33):
from coming the funeral service, made a powerful and painful
impression on the Prince. He whispered to Lebedev while still
in the church, in answer to some query of his
that it was the first time he had attended an
Orthodox funeral service, and the only other such service he
could recall had been in some country church when he

(47:53):
had been a child. Yes, sir, it doesn't seem to
be the same man in the coffe that we chose
to be our chairman not so long ago, remember, sir,
Lebedev hissed to the Prince, who are you looking for? Sir?
It's nothing, I just thought, not rogasin he's not here.

(48:17):
Is he in the church? Sir? That's why I thought
I saw his eyes? Muttered the Prince, perturbed. But what
why is he here? Was he invited? They never thought
of it, sir. They don't know him at all, sir.

(48:39):
All sorts of people are here, sir, the public, Sir.
Why are you so surprised? I often meet him nowadays.
I've run across him three or four times in the
last week here in Pavlovsk. I've never once seen him
since that time, muttered the Prince. Since Nastasia Philipovna had

(49:02):
also not once mentioned meeting Ragasin since that time, the
Prince concluded that Rogazin was keeping himself out of sight
for some reason all the day he was plunged in thought.
Nastasia Philipovna, on the other hand, was unusually cheerful all
that day and evening. Kolia, who had been reconciled with

(49:25):
the Prince before his father's death, suggested he choose Keller
in Berdovsky to assist at the ceremony as the matter
was vital and pressing. He could vouch for Keller's behaving properly,
adding that he might come in handy. There was no
difficulty about Birtovsky, who was a quiet and unassuming individual.

(49:47):
Nina Alexandrovna and Lebedev kept pointing out to the Prince
that if the wedding was indeed decided upon, then why
have it in Pavlovsk at the height of the fashionable
holiday season, Why so public? Would it not be better
in Petersburg or even at the house. The Prince knew

(50:08):
perfectly well what prompted all these misgivings, but responded briefly
and simply that such was Nastasia Philipovna's express wish. The
next day, Keller came to see the Prince, after being
informed that he was to be best man. Before entering,
he halted in the doorway, and as soon as he

(50:29):
saw the Prince, raised his right hand with the index
finger away from the rest, as if taking a vow,
and cried, I won't drink. Then he went up to
the Prince, squeezed and shook both hands firmly, and announced
that when he had first heard of the wedding, he

(50:50):
was against it, of course, and had declared as much
over billiards, and for no other reason than that he
had hoped and waited daily with a friend's impatience for
him to meet Mary, a princess de Rowan no less.
But now he could see for himself that the Prince's
view of things was at least ten times as high
minded as the rest of them put together, because what

(51:12):
he wanted was not glitter, not riches, not even honor,
but simply the truth. The sympathies of exalted persons were
very well known, but the Prince, because of his education,
was too exalted not to be an exalted person himself,
taking it all in all. But the rabble and various

(51:32):
sorts of riff raff look at it differently. In the town,
in the houses, at the assemblies, in the villas, at
the music in the taverns and billiard halls, all the
talk and shouting is of nothing else but the forthcoming event.
I've heard they even want to organize a tin pan
serenade under your windows, and that on your so to speak,

(51:53):
first night, if you need the pistol of an honorable man, Prince,
I'm ready to exchange a good half dozen shots of
honor before you rise the morning after from your honeymoon couch.
He also counseled the prince to have a fire hose
ready in the yard in the event of a sizeable
invasion of dry throats after the church ceremony. Lebedev had

(52:15):
opposed this. However, if you turn the fire hose on them,
says he, they'll smash the house to matchwood. This Lebedev
is scheming against you, Prince, I swear he is. They
want you put under legal restraint. If you can imagine
such a thing involving everything, your freedom of action and

(52:35):
your money, the two things that distinguish every one of
us from the quadrupeds. I've heard it, heard it for
a fact. It's the honest truth, the Prince recalled, having
already heard something of the sort himself, but had ignored it.
Of course, now too, He merely burst out laughing and

(52:57):
forgot about it immediately. Lebedev really had been active for
some time. The man's calculations were invariably conceived as the
fruit of inspiration, and out of an excess of zeal,
grew steadily more complicated and ramified as they spread away
in all directions from their original starting point. That is
why he had had so little success in life. When

(53:21):
almost on the wedding day he came along to the
Prince to confess his guilt. It was his invariable habit
to come and confess his guilt to those against whom
he had been scheming, particularly if he had been unsuccessful.
He declared that he had been born at Talleyrand, but
for some unaccountable reason, had remained a mere Lebedev. He

(53:42):
then proceeded to disclose his entire strategy, at the same time,
intriguing the Prince enormously. According to him, he had started
out by seeking the good offices of highly placed persons
on whom he could depend in case of need, and
had gone to see generally a pancin. The General was
much perplexed. He wished the young man well, but stated that,

(54:06):
despite his willingness to save him, it would be improper
for him to act in the matter. Lizavida Prokofievda wished
neither to see nor to listen to him. Radomski and
Princess simply waved him away. Lebedev, however, had not lost
heart and consulted a certain shrewd lawyer, a venerable old man,

(54:27):
a good friend and quasi benefactor to him. The latter
concluded that the business was perfectly feasible, provided that competent
people could be found to testify to the Prince's mental
derangement and undoubted insanity, with the involvement of eminent persons
to lend their support, this last being the most important thing.

(54:48):
Even this did not dampen Lebedev's spirits, and he went
so far as to fetch a doctor, a villa resident
along to the Prince on one occasion, another worthy old
gentleman with the saint and ribbon asterisk. He was to
spy out the land, so to speak, make the Prince's
acquaintance and let him Lebedev know what his conclusion was,

(55:10):
not officially for the moment, but as a friend so
to speak. The Prince recalled the doctor's visit. He remembered
Lebedev kept telling him the day before that he looked unwell,
and when the Prince refused any treatment, he had suddenly
appeared with the doctor, under the pretext that they had
both just come from mister Tarantiev, who was very poorly,

(55:32):
and that the doctor had something to tell the Prince
about the sick man. The Prince thanked Lebedev and greeted
the doctor with the utmost geniality. They at once got
talking about Ippolite's illness, and the doctor asked the Prince
for a detailed account of the suicide scene. The Prince
utterly captivated him with his description and interpretation of the incident.

(55:58):
They went on to talk about the peace Petersburg climate,
the Prince's own illness, about Switzerland, and about Schneider. The
doctor became so interested in the Prince's stories in his
description of Schneider's system of treatment, that he sat there
for two hours smoking the Prince's excellent cigars. Lebedev, for

(56:18):
his part, regaled them with the most delicious liqueur which
Vera brought in here. The doctor, a married man with
a family, began paying her such high flown compliments that
he provoked her intense indignation. They parted friends. As he
was leaving, the doctor informed Lebedev that if every such

(56:39):
person was placed under restraint, who on earth would be
left to do the supervising. In answer to Lebedev's tragic
account of the forthcoming marriage, the doctor wagged his head
knowingly roguish and remarked at length that, leaving aside the
fact that there's no knowing who will marry whom, the
seductive creature at least as far as he had heard tell,

(57:01):
apart from her matchless beauty, which might of itself attract
a man of fortune, possessed means of her own from
totsky and ragas in pearls and diamonds, shawls and furniture,
so that the dear Prince's choice, so far from being,
as it were, evidence of any outstanding foolishness, rather testified
to a shrewd and calculating worldly intelligence. It therefore pointed

(57:26):
to the opposite conclusion, one highly favorable to the Prince.
This idea had impressed Lebedev as well. That was the
end result of his labors. And now he added to
the Prince, now you will see nothing from me apart
from devotion and the readiness to shed my blood. That
is what I came to tell you. Ippolit Io helped

(57:47):
to take the Prince's mind off things during these last days.
He sent for him on many occasions. The family was
living in a little house close by. At least the
little children Hippolit's brother and sister were glad of the
country existence because they could escape from their ailing brother
into the garden. His poor mother, however, was always at

(58:08):
his beck and call, and had no life with him.
It was the Prince's task to separate and pacify them
every day, and the sick man went on calling him
nanny at the same time, apparently not daring to despise
him for his role as peacemaker. He had a considerable
grievance against Kolia for hardly coming to see him of late,

(58:29):
first staying by the sight of his dying father and
then with his widowed mother. At length, he made the
prince his imminent marriage to Nastasia Philipovna, the target of
his sneers, ending up by offending the prince and eventually
causing him to lose his temper. The Prince stopped visiting him.

(58:50):
Two days later, Ippolit's mother came trailing along in the
morning and tearfully beseeched the Prince to visit them, otherwise
he would eat her alive. She added that he wanted
to disclose a great secret. The prince went Ippole had
wanted to make it up, and started crying. But after

(59:10):
the tears, of course, he was more spiteful than ever,
though afraid to give vent to his ill humor. He
was very ill, and all the signs indicated that he
would now soon die. There was no secret at all,
apart from intense appeals gasping with emotion, so to speak.
Perhaps put on to beware of Rogasin. He's the sort

(59:33):
of man who will never give up what is his.
We're no match for a man like him, Prince. If
he wants something, he wouldn't bat an eyelid, and so
on and so forth. The Prince began questioning him further,
trying to elicit some facts, but there were no facts
beyond Ippolet's own feelings and impressions. To his own immense gratification,

(59:55):
Hippolet ended up by scaring the Prince thoroughly. First, the
Prince refused to answer some of his peculiar questions and
only smiled at his advice to run away abroad if necessary.
There are Russian priests everywhere, Hippolot went on, and you
can get married there. But at length, Hippolet concluded with

(01:00:17):
the following thought, the only person I'm afraid for Isaglia.
Rogasin knows how much you love her, a love for
a love. You've taken Nastasia Philipovna away from him, and
he'll kill Aglaya Ivanovna. She's not yours now of course,
but it would be a heavy blow for you, wouldn't
it He had achieved his object. The Prince left with

(01:00:40):
his mind in turmoil. These warnings about Rogazin came on
the day before the wedding. That evening, the Prince son
Nastasia Philipovna for the last time before the ceremony. She, however,
was in no mood to reassure him. On the contrary, recently,
she had been making him more and more distraught before that,

(01:01:05):
several days earlier, that is, she had done all she
could to cheer him up during their meetings, and greatly
feared his mournful looks. She even tried singing to him.
Above all, she tried recounting to him every funny story
she could think of. The Prince almost always pretended to
be vastly amused, and indeed he did occasionally laugh at

(01:01:26):
her brilliant wit and the vivacious manner of the telling
when she was carried away by the subject, as she
often was, seeing the Prince laugh and seeing the effect
she had on him, she would go into ecstasies and
begin to feel proud of herself. But these last days,
her musing sadness intensified almost by the hour. His opinions

(01:01:49):
Aboutnastasia Philipovna's state were by now firmly fixed. Otherwise everything
about her would have seemed to him puzzling and incomprehensible,
but he genuinely believed that she could still recover. He
had been perfectly truthful when he had told Radumsky that
he loved her genuinely and wholeheartedly, and his love for

(01:02:11):
her really did contain the kind of bond one as
with some pitiful ailing child whom it is difficult, if
not impossible, to leave to its own devices. He had
never explained his feelings for her to anyone unless it
was inescapable. When he was alone with Nastasia Philipovna, they
never spoke of their feelings. It was as if they

(01:02:32):
had agreed not to do so anyone could participate in
their normal, cheerful and lively conversation. Darya Alexeyevna used to
say afterwards that all this time she did nothing but
marvel and be glad just looking at them. But it
was this view he had of Nastasia Philipovna's spiritual and

(01:02:54):
mental state which relieved him, to some extent of many
another perplexity. Now she was a totally different woman from
the one he had known three months before. He no
longer brooded, for example, over why she had run away
from marrying him back then with tears, imprecations and reproaches,

(01:03:14):
and was now herself insisting on having the wedding as
soon as possible. She mustn't be afraid any longer as
she was then that marriage to me would mean my
ruin thought the Prince, such as swiftly restored self confidence,
could not, to his way of thinking, be natural to her.

(01:03:34):
It couldn't simply have arisen out of her hatred for
Aglaia alone. Nastasia Philipovna was capable of feeling more deeply
than that. Could it stem from her fear of a
future with Rogason. In fact, all those reasons, together with others,
might have contributed to it. But what was most obvious

(01:03:54):
to him was what he had suspected for a long time,
that her poor sick mind had given all this. Though
it did in a way save him from worrying about
other possibilities, could not give him rest or peace of mind.
Throughout this period, sometimes he seemed to try not to
think about anything. He certainly regarded his marriage as a

(01:04:16):
sort of minor formality. He felt little concern about his
own future. As for objections and discussions like the one
with Radomski, he would most certainly have been unable to
answer them, and felt himself totally incompetent to do so,
and for that reason he steered clear of any discussion
of that sort. Still, he did observe that Nastasia Philipovna

(01:04:40):
knew and understood very well what Aglia had meant to him.
She didn't say anything, but he saw her face at
times when she came across him, at the very beginning,
getting ready to go to the Aupenkins when the Eupenkins left.
She was literally radiant, however observant in lacking an intuition

(01:05:02):
he might have been. The idea had begun to nag
At him that Nastasia Philipovna would make her mind up
to create some sort of scandalous scene in order to
drive Aglaia out of Pavlovsk. The uproar and commotion among
the villas about the wedding was to some extent kept
going by Nastasia Philipovna herself in order to exasperate her rival.

(01:05:25):
Since it was difficult actually to meet thea Pankins. Nastasia Philipovna,
on one occasion had sat the Prince in her carriage
and given orders for him to be driven past the
very windows of their villa. This had been a dreadful
surprise for the Prince. As usual, he had realized what
was going on too late to avert it, and the

(01:05:45):
carriage was already driving past the windows. He had said nothing,
but was ill for two days afterwards. Nastasia Philipovna did
not repeat the experiment. In the final days before the wedding,
she was beginning to brood a great deal. She always
ended by overcoming her melancholy mood and recovering her cheerfulness,

(01:06:09):
but was somehow more subdued, not so noisy, not so
happily cheerful as she had been before not so long ago.
The Prince redoubled his attentiveness. He found it curious that
she would never speak to him about Rogasin. Just once.
About five days before the wedding, Daria Alexeievna sent for

(01:06:32):
him to come at once, as Nastasia Philipovna was feeling
very unwell. He found her in a state bordering on
complete derangement. She was crying out, shuddering, shouting that Rogasin
was hiding in the garden of their house, that she
had just now seen him, and that he was going
to kill her in the night cut her throat. She

(01:06:54):
was unable to calm down all day. But that same evening,
when the Prince had dropped in to see Eppulet for
a minute or two, his mother, the Captain's widow, who
had just returned from town after attending to some small
matters of her own, told him that Rogazin had called
at her flat that day and questioned her about Pavlovsk.

(01:07:15):
In response to the Prince's question, she said that Rogazin
had been there at virtually the same time when he
was supposed to have been seen by Nastasia Philipovna in
the garden. The whole business was therefore a simple case
of imagining things. Nastasia Philipovna went to see the captain's

(01:07:36):
widow herself to inquire in more detail, and was greatly reassured.
On the eve of the wedding, the Prince left Nastasia
Philipovna in a great flutter. Her finery for the morrow
had arrived from the Petersburg dressmakers, the bridle gown, the veil,
and so on. The Prince had not anticipated that she

(01:07:57):
would be so excited by the garments. For his part,
he praised everything, and that made her happier still. But
she did let something slip. She had already heard that
there was indignation in the town, and that some scallywags
were going to organize a tin pan serenade with music
and possibly even verses specially composed for the occasion, and

(01:08:19):
that this more or less had the support of the
rest of the townsfolk. Thus it was that now she
was even keener to hold her head high before them
and eclipse them all with the splendor and style of
her wedding finery. Let them shout all they like, let
them whistle if they dare. The mere idea made her
eyes sparkle. She also cherished one more secret dream, but

(01:08:43):
did not speak it aloud. She hoped that Aglia, or
at least some emissary of hers, would be in the
throng incognito in the church and would be watching and
noting everything. She was inwardly preparing herself for that. She
parted from the Prince much exercise by these and similar
thoughts at about eleven in the evening. Midnight had not

(01:09:06):
yet struck, however, when a messenger from Darya Alexandrovna came
hotfoot to the Prince, asking him to come as fast
as he could. It was very bad. The Prince found
his bride locked in her bedroom and floods of tears
and hysterical despair. For a long time, she could hear
nothing said to her through the locked door, but she

(01:09:28):
finally opened it to admit just the Prince then closed
it after him and fell on her knees before him. Such,
at least was the story. Darya Alexeyevna, who had contrived
to catch a glimpse, gave out later. What am I doing?
What am I doing? What am I doing to you?

(01:09:49):
She cried out, embracing his legs convulsively. The Prince sat
with her for a whole hour. We don't know what
they talked about. Daria Alexeyevna said that they parted an
hour later, reconciled and happy. The Prince set again to
inquire after her during the night, but Nestasia Philipovna was

(01:10:12):
asleep by then. In the morning, before she woke, two
more messengers arrived at Daria Alexeyevna's and a third was
instructed to convey to the Prince that Nestasia Philipovna was
surrounded by a veritable swarm of dressmakers and hairstylists from Petersburg,
that there was no sign of the previous night's alarms,

(01:10:32):
that she was busy with her toilet, as only a
beauty like her could be on her wedding morning, and
that at this very moment a grave conference was taking
place about which of her diamonds she should where and
how best they should be displayed. The Prince was completely reassured.
The whole of the succeeding account was given by people

(01:10:55):
present at the wedding and appears to be accurate. The
the ceremony was due to take place at eight in
the evening, Nestasia Philipovna was ready by seven, since as
early as six o'clock, gaping crowds had gradually started congregating
around Lebedev's villa, but more particularly near Daria Alexeyevna's house.

(01:11:17):
From seven onwards, the church too began filling up. Via
Labdiva and Kolia were extremely concerned on the Prince's account, however,
they had a good many chores to see to at home.
They were organizing the reception and hospitality arrangements in the
Prince's rooms. In fact, nothing much in the way of

(01:11:38):
a reception was planned for after the ceremony. In addition
to the essential people who were assisting at the ceremony,
Lebedev had invited the titsins Ganya, the Saint and doctor
and Daria Alexeyevna. When the Prince inquired of Lebedev why
he had thought to invite the doctor, whom he hardly knew,
Lebedev replied complacently, he wears a decoration a respectable man, Sir,

(01:12:03):
for the look of the thing, Sir, and made the
Prince laugh. Keller and Burdovski looked very smart in their
evening dress and gloves. But Keller still worried the Prince
and his well wishers by a certain unconcealed readiness to
do battle, as he regarded the onlookers who had gathered
near the house with considerable hostility. Finally, at half past seven,

(01:12:27):
the Prince set off in his carriage for the church.
We should observe, incidentally, that the Prince made a deliberate
point of abiding by all the accepted ceremonies and customs.
Everything was done properly out in the open for all
to see. Inside the church, having somehow or other made
his way through the crowd amid ceaseless whispering and comments

(01:12:50):
from the public, the Prince, escorted by Keller, who was
glowering menacingly to right and left, concealed himself temporarily in
the sanctuary. Keller set off to fetch the bride, where
by the porch of Darya Alexeyevna's house he found a
gathering not only two or three times as numerous as
at the princess, but perhaps three times as free and easy.

(01:13:14):
As he went up the porch steps, he heard such
comments that he could no longer restrain himself, and was
about to address the public in appropriate language, when he
was fortunately prevented by Birdevski and Darya Alexeyevna herself, who
ran down from the porch and dragged him inside by
main force. Keller was irritable and in a hurry. Nastasia

(01:13:37):
Philipovna rose glanced at herself in the mirror remarked with
a wry smile. As Keller later recounted that she was
as pale as death, bowed reverently before the icon, and
went out onto the porch. A hubbub of voices greeted
her appearance. True, there was some initial laughter, applause, and

(01:13:59):
something like his, but in an instant other voices were raised.
How beautiful she is, came from summon the crowd. She's
not the first, and she won't be the last. A
wedding ring hushes everything up, fools. No, try finding a

(01:14:19):
beauty like that anywhere, Hurrah, cried those in front. A princess.
I'd sell my soul for a princess like that, shout
at some clerk, My life for just one night, he sang.
Nastasia Philipovna was certainly as white as a sheet when
she emerged, but her great black eyes blazed out at

(01:14:42):
the crowd like burning coals. The crowd could not withstand
a look like that. Their indignation turned to rapturous shouting.
The carriage doors were already opened, and Keller had already
offered the bride his arm when she suddenly screamed and
rushed straight down from the porch into the throng al
Those accompanying her frozen astonishment. The crowd parted before her,

(01:15:06):
and half a dozen paces from the porch appeared Rogasin.
It was his eye among the crowd that Nastasia Philipovna
had caught. She ran to him like a mad thing
and seized both his hands. Save me, take me away
wherever you like. Now Rogason took her in his arms

(01:15:30):
and almost lifted her into the carriage in an instant.
He took out a hundred rouble note from his purse
and proffered it to the coachman the railway station, and
if we're on time, there's another one hundred in it
for you. Then he sprang into the carriage after Nastasia
Philipovna and closed the doors. The coachman didn't hesitate for

(01:15:55):
an instant and lashed his horses forward kill her. Afterwards,
blamed the unexpectedness of it all. Another second and I'd
have recovered my wits and stopped them, he explained when
recounting the incident. He and Burdovski were about to take
another carriage which chanced to be standing there, and hurdle
off in pursuit, but had second thoughts, as it was

(01:16:18):
too late. In any case, we couldn't very well bring
her back by force, and the Prince wouldn't want that either, decided,
as stunned Burdovski. Meanwhile, Rogason and Nastasia Philipovna reached the
station in time. As he got out of the carriage

(01:16:38):
and was about to board the train, Rogasin managed to
stop a girl wearing an old but presentable dark shawl
and a silk kerchief over her hair fifty two for
the shawl. He suddenly held out money to the girl.
Before she had time to be astonished or realize what
was happening, he had thrust the fish ifty roubles into

(01:17:01):
her hand, removed the shawl and kerchief and thrown them
over Nastasia Philipovna's head and shoulders. Her magnificent gown was
too conspicuous and would have arrested everyone's attention on the train.
Only afterwards did the girl realize why her old rags
had been purchased at so much profit to herself. News

(01:17:22):
of the incident was noised abroad and reached the church
with extraordinary rapidity. When Keller was making his way through
to the Prince, great numbers of total strangers rushed up
to question him. A loud hubbub of voices rose with
wagging of heads and even laughter. No one left the church.
Everyone was waiting to see how the groom would take

(01:17:45):
the news. He turned pale, but received the news quietly enough,
saying in a barely audible voice, I was afraid it
might happen, but I didn't think it would all the same,
adding after a pause, still in her state of mind,
it might well have been expected. Keller himself later described

(01:18:07):
the comment as unprecedented philosophy. The prince left the church
apparently common in good spirits, that, at any rate, is
what many people observed in afterwards recounted he seemed very
anxious to get home and be alone as soon as possible. This, however,
was denied him. Several of those invited followed him in,

(01:18:31):
among them titsen Gania and the doctor, who also had
no plans to leave. Besides which, the whole house was
literally besieged by a festive crowd. Even from the veranda,
the Prince caught the sound of Keller and Lebedev commencing
a fierce argument with several complete strangers, respectable looking people

(01:18:52):
who were determined at all costs to reach the verandah.
The Prince went up to the disputants inquired what was
the matter, politely dismissed leveedevn Keller and tactfully addressed as
stout gray haired gentlemen standing on the steps at the
head of a number of other desirous individuals, inviting him
to do him the honor of paying him a visit.

(01:19:15):
The gentleman sheepishly did so, followed by another and a third.
Out of the whole crowd, about seven or eight people
came in, trying to appear as much at ease as
they were able. No more volunteers came forward, and the
crowd even started criticizing the intruders. The newcomers were seated

(01:19:36):
and conversation got under way as tea was served. All
of this was done very decorously and modestly, to the
surprise of the newcomers. There were attempts made, of course,
to enliven the talk and turn it towards the topic
of the moment. Several tactless questions were asked, and a
few pointed remarks passed. The prince answered everyone so simply

(01:20:00):
and genually, and at the same time with such dignity
and faith in the integrity of his guests that the
indiscreet questions subsided of themselves. Gradually the conversation took an
almost grave turn. One gentleman, picking up someone else's remark,
vowed with great indignation that he would not sell his property.

(01:20:22):
Whatever happened. He would wait and see business. Assets are
better than money. There, sir, is my economic system, and
I don't care who knows it. Since he was addressing
his remarks to the Prince, the latter warmly applauded him,
despite Lebedev whispering in his ear that the gentleman had
neither house nor home, and had never possessed an estate

(01:20:44):
of any sort. Almost an hour had passed, the tea
had been drunk, and after that the guests began to
feel embarrassed at staying any longer. The doctor and the
gray headed man said a cordial goodbye to the Prince,
and indeed they all took their leave cordially and noisily.
Good wishes were expressed in opinions passed to the effect

(01:21:07):
that it was no use crying over spilt milk. Perhaps
it was all for the best, and so forth true.
There were attempts made to request champagne, but the older
guests restrained the younger ones. When they had all gone,
Keller leaned over to Lebedev and said, you and I
would have had a shouting match, got into a fight,

(01:21:28):
disgraced ourselves, and had the police brought in. But here
he's made some new friends, and what friends I know them. Lebedev,
who was well primed, sighed and said, thou hast hidden
these things from the wise and prudent and vouchsafed them
to babes Asterisk have said that before about him, but
I'm adding now that God has preserved the babe himself,

(01:21:50):
saved him from the abyss he and all his saints.
At last, around half past ten, the prince was left alone.
He had a headache. Kolia had been the last to leave.
After helping the prince change out of his wedding clothes
into his everyday garments, they parted very affectionately. Kolia did

(01:22:14):
not talk much about what had happened, but promised to
call early on the following day. He testified later that
at their last parting, the Prince had not forewarned him
of anything, so must have been concealing his intentions even
from him. Soon there was almost no one left in
the house, Burdovski had gone to whippolets Keller and Lebedev

(01:22:37):
had also set off somewhere. Only Vera Labediva remained for
a little while in his rooms, hurriedly setting everything to
rights after the reception. As she left, she glanced into
the Prince's room. He was seated at the table, leaning
his elbows on it, his head buried in his hands.

(01:22:59):
She went softly up to him and touched him on
the shoulder. The Prince looked at her bemusedly, and spent
almost a minute, apparently trying to recall something once he
had done so, when it had all sunk in, he
suddenly became extremely agitated. All he did, however, was to
implore Vera earnestly to knock on his door the following

(01:23:19):
morning at seven o'clock as soon as the train started running.
She promised to do so. The Prince began begging her
earnestly not to tell anyone about it. She promised again,
and when at length she opened the door to leave,
he stopped her for the third time, took her hands,
kissed them, then kissed her on the forehead, and with

(01:23:40):
a sort of peculiar expression, uttered the words till tomorrow.
This was Vera's account afterwards. At any rate, she left
greatly concerned about him. Next morning, she felt somewhat more
cheerful when she knocked on his door a little after
seven is arranged and informed him that the Petersburg train

(01:24:01):
would be leaving in a quarter of an hour. When
he opened the door, she thought he looked perfectly cheerful
and even smiling. He had hardly undressed that night, however,
he had slept. He thought he might be coming back
that day. It would appear, therefore, that she was the
only person he had considered it possible and necessary to

(01:24:24):
tell at that moment that he was setting off for town.
Eleven an hour later, he was already in Petersburg and
was ringing at Rogson's house. Some time after nine, he
went in by the main entrance, and for a long
time no one opened the door. At length, the door

(01:24:46):
of Rogusin's old mother opened, and a pleasant faced old
maidservant appeared. Parfy and Semyonovitch is not at home, she
announced from the doorway. Who is it you want? Parfyin Semyonovitch,
He's not at home, sir. The maid was regarding him

(01:25:09):
with intense curiosity. At least tell me whether he spent
the night at home and did he come back alone
last night? The maid kept on staring at him, but
made no reply. Wasn't Nastasia Philipovna here with him yesterday evening?

(01:25:32):
May I inquire, sir, who you may be yourself? Prince
lev Nikolayevitch Michigan. We know one another very well. He's
not at home, sir. The maid dropped her eyes and
Neastasia Philipovna, I don't know about that, sir. Wait, wait,

(01:25:57):
when will he be back? I don't know that either, sir.
The door closed, the Prince decided to return in an hour.
Glancing into the courtyard, he encountered the porter is Parfy
and Semyonovitch in yes, sir, Then why was I told

(01:26:23):
just now he was out? Did his servant tell you that? No?
The mother's maid. I rang Parfy and Semyonovitch's bell, but
nobody answered. Perhaps he has gone out, then, decided the porter.
He doesn't say, sir. You know sometimes he takes the

(01:26:45):
key with him and the flat stays locked for three days.
You're certain he was at home yesterday? Yes he was.
Sometimes he uses the front entrance, though, and you don't
see him. Nastasia Philipovna wasn't with him yesterday, was she that?

(01:27:07):
I don't know, sir, she doesn't come visiting often. At
that think i'd have known if she'd come. The Prince
left and spent some time walking the pavements, sunk in thought.
The windows of Rogusin's rooms were all shut. The windows
of his mother's flat were all open. It was a
hot and sunny day. The Prince crossed the street onto

(01:27:30):
the opposite pavement and stopped to look again at the windows.
Not only were they closed, but white curtains were drawn
almost everywhere. He stood for a moment, and, strangely enough,
all of a sudden he thought he saw a corner
of one of the curtains being lifted, and for a
moment caught a fleeting glimpse of Rogasin's face, one fleeting

(01:27:50):
glimpse that had vanished instantly. He waited for a while
and was on the point of going over and ringing again,
but changed his mind. In postpone owned it for an hour.
Who knows, perhaps I just imagined it. What decided him
was that he was in a hurry to get to
the Izmolovsky Regiment district to the flat Nastasia Philipovna had

(01:28:13):
occupied recently. He knew that when she had left Pavlovsk
at his request three weeks previously, she had gone to
live with an old friend of hers, a schoolmaster's widow,
a respectable woman with a family who rented out a
well furnished room and virtually lived on the proceeds. Most
likely Nastasia Philipovna had kept the flat on after moving

(01:28:36):
to Padlovsk. At any rate, it was perfectly conceivable that
she had spent the night there, where Rogazin, of course,
had brought her the previous evening. The Prince took a
cab on the way. It occurred to him that he
should have started here in any case, as it was
highly unlikely that she had gone straight to Rogazin's that night.

(01:28:58):
Now the porters were came back to him too, that
Nastasia Philipovna did not often go there. If she didn't
go there often, in any case, why should she be
staying with Rogasin. Now cheering himself with reflections of this kind,
he arrived in Ismaolovsky at length, in a state of
fearful anxiety. To his absolute amazement. No one at the

(01:29:24):
widows had heard of Nastasia Philipovna either that day or
the previous one, but they all ran out to peer
at him, as if he were some sort of prodigy.
All the widow's numerous family, all eight girls from seven
to fifteen, spilled out after their mother and surrounded him
open mouthed. Behind them came a gaunt, sallow ant in

(01:29:46):
a black kerchief, and finally the grandmother put in an appearance,
a little old lady in spectacles. The widow earnestly requested
him to go in and sit down, which he accordingly did.
He realized at once that they were perfectly well aware
of who he was, and knew that his wedding should
have taken place the day before. They were dying to

(01:30:08):
ask him both about the wedding and the extraordinary fact
that he was inquiring about the woman who should have
been nowhere else but with him in Padlovsk, but were
too tactful to mention it. He briefly satisfied their curiosity
about the wedding. There followed a chorus of astonishment, cries
and groans, so that he felt obliged to tell them

(01:30:30):
practically everything else in broad terms. Of course, at length
the advice of the sage and agitated ladies was that
he should first of all knock up Rogasen and find
out definitely what was going on. If he was really
not at home, which he must ascertain or refuse to
say anything, then he must go to the Semionovsky quarter

(01:30:52):
and see a German lady, a friend Ofnastasia Philipovna, who
lived with her mother. Perhaps, in her excitement and anxiynxiety
to conceal herself, she might have spent the night with him.
The Prince got up feeling absolutely crushed. They said afterwards
that he had gone terribly pale. Indeed his legs were
almost giving way. At length, through the terrific babble of voices,

(01:31:18):
he made out that they were agreeing among themselves to
act in his interest, and were asking him for his
address in town. As it turned out that he didn't
have one, they advised him to put up at a hotel.
The prince thought for a moment and gave them the
address of his former hotel, the one where he had
had his seizure some five weeks previously. After that, he

(01:31:42):
set off for Rogasins again, this time not only Rogasin's door,
but even that of his mother remained shut. The Prince
went down to seek out the porter and found him
after some difficulty in the yard. The porter was busy
with some task and would barely answer or even look
at him, but he did announce positively that Ragazin had

(01:32:04):
gone out very early that morning to Pavlovsk and would
not be back that day. I'll wait, Perhaps he'll be
back this evening, and perhaps not for a week. Who
can tell. So he must have spent the night here,
then spent the night. Yes, Indeed, all of this was

(01:32:27):
suspicious and sinister. It was highly likely that the porter
had had time to get fresh instructions in the meantime.
Earlier he had been quite talkative, but now he simply
turned his back. Still, the Prince decided to call again
in a couple of hours, and even keep watch on
the house if necessary. Now there remained the hope of

(01:32:49):
the German lady, and he set off posthaste for the
Semyonovsky Regiment district. But at the German ladies they didn't
even understand him. Gleaning a few words here and there,
he was able to gather that about a fortnight previously
the beautiful German lady had quarreled violently with Nastasia Philipovna,

(01:33:12):
and so had heard nothing of her, even if she
had married all the princes in the world. The prince
left hastily. It had crossed his mind meanwhile, that she
might have gone to Moscow as before, and rogison, of course,
after her, or perhaps with her. At least let me

(01:33:34):
find some trace of her. He remembered, however, that he
had to stay in some hotel, so he hurried off
to lydy Andea, where he found a room. At once
the servant inquired if he would like something to eat.
He replied absently that he would then recollecting himself. Was
furious because the meal delayed him half an hour, and

(01:33:56):
it was only afterwards that he realized that nothing had
prevented him leaving untouched what they brought him. An odd
feeling possessed him in that dim and stuffy corridor, a
sensation that strove tantalizingly to take the form of thought,
but he just could not grasp what the insistent notion was.
He emerged from the hotel at last, feeling dizzy and

(01:34:19):
thoroughly out of sorts. But where could he go now.
He rushed round to Rogasin's again. Rogasin had not returned.
No one answered the bell. He rang the old mother.
The door was opened, and he was informed that parfy
and Semyonovitch was not at home and might not be
back for three days or more. It disturbed the prince that,

(01:34:43):
as before he was scrutinized with such avid curiosity, on
this occasion, the porter was nowhere to be found. As
he had done earlier, he crossed over to the opposite pavement,
looked at the windows, and walked about in the stifling
heat for half an hour or more. This time nothing stirred.

(01:35:03):
The windows had not been opened, the white curtains were motionless.
He came to the definite conclusion that he had been
imagining things earlier. It was obvious that the windows were
so griming and long unwashed, that it would have been
hard to make out even if someone actually did peer
through the panes. Cheered by this reflection, he drove back

(01:35:25):
to the widows in Izmolovsky. They were already expecting him there.
The widow had been to three or four places, and
had even called in at Ragazon's no trace. The prince
listened in silence went in, sat down on the sofa
and began looking at them, seemingly unable to understand what

(01:35:47):
they were talking about. It was odd one moment he
was sharply observant, the next he would become incredibly absent minded.
The whole family stated later that he was an asta
fishingly strange person that day, so that perhaps all the
signs were there already. He finally got to his feet

(01:36:08):
and asked them to show him Nastasia Philipovna's rooms. These
were two spacious, light, high ceiling rooms, very decently furnished,
and not cheap. All these ladies said afterwards that the
Prince went round examining every object in the rooms. He
noticed an open library book on the little table, the

(01:36:28):
French novel Madame Bovary. Bent the corner of the open
page and asked their permission to take it with him,
Ignoring their objections that it was a library book, he
slipped it into his pocket. He sat down by the
open window, and, seeing a card table with chalk marks,
asked who played. They told him that Nastasia Philipovna used

(01:36:50):
to play cards with Ragason every evening fools preference. Miller's
whist on trumps all the games, and that they had
started playing just lately. On their return to Petersburg from Pavlovsk.
Because Nastasia Philipovna kept complaining of being bored, and Ragazon
sat all evening without saying a word and couldn't talk

(01:37:12):
about anything, she often wept. The following evening, Rogazin suddenly
brought out a pack of cards from his pocket. Nastasia
Philipovna had laughed at this, and they had started to play.
The Prince asked where the cards were that they had
played with, but they could not be found. Rogasin always
used to bring the cards in himself a new pack

(01:37:34):
every day, then take them away with him. The ladies
advised him to go and try Rogasin again and give
a good hard knock. Not now, but during the evening,
perhaps he'll be there. The widow volunteered to go to
Darya Alexeyevna's in Pavlovsk and find out if they knew anything.

(01:37:54):
They asked the Prince to call again at ten that evening,
if only to make arrangements for the next day. In
spite of all their heartening and reassuring words, the Prince
was overwhelmed by despair. He reached his hotel in a
state of unutterable despondency. The dust and heat of a

(01:38:15):
Petersburg summer crushed him like a vice. He had been
jostled by hard faced or drunken men as he stared
aimlessly at passing faces, and perhaps walked much further than
he need have done. It was almost evening by the
time he entered his room. He decided to rest for
a while before following the lady's advice and going to
Rogazin's again. He sat down on the sofa, and, leaning

(01:38:39):
his elbows on the table, began to ponder the situation.
Goodness knows how long he sat there or what he
was thinking about. There were many things he dreaded, and
he sensed painfully and poignantly that he was horribly afraid.
He thought of Vera Labdiva. Then it struck him the

(01:39:00):
perhaps Levedev knew something about all this, and if he didn't,
he could find out quicker and more easily than he
the Prince could. Then he remembered Ippolet and that Rogasin
used to go and visit him. Then he recalled Rogason
himself recently at the memorial service. Then in the park
then suddenly here in the corridor, when he had hidden

(01:39:23):
that time in the corner and waited for him with
a knife. He was remembering the eyes now, the eyes
watching in the darkness. He shuddered. The tantalizing thought of
earlier in the day now suddenly entered his mind. It
was partly that if Rogasin was in Petersburg, then even

(01:39:43):
if he did conceal himself for a while, the inevitable
upshot would be that he would come to him, the prince,
with good or evil intent, as he had done then
at least, if Rogusin wanted to see him for any reason,
there was nowhere for him to come but here to
this self same corridor. Rogasin didn't know his address, so

(01:40:04):
he might very well assume that the Prince would be
staying at the same hotel. At any rate, he would
try looking for him here if he needed him badly enough.
And who knew, perhaps he would need him badly so
his thoughts ran, and the idea seemed quite a plausible one.
For some reason, he would not have been able to

(01:40:26):
say why, had he tried to explore his thinking, Why,
for instance, should Rogasin need him all of a sudden,
and why was it out of the question that they
should never meet at all, But the thought was a
painful one. If he's all right, he won't come. The
Prince pursued his train of thought. He's more likely to

(01:40:48):
come if he's unhappy, and he will surely be unhappy.
Of course, if he was convinced of that, he ought
to wait for Rogasin at home in his hotel room.
But this new thought of his wouldn't let him sit still.
He seized his hat and ran out in the corridor.
It was already almost dark. What if he suddenly comes

(01:41:08):
out of that corner and stops me by the stairs,
flashed through his mind as he was approaching the familiar spot,
but no one emerged. He went down and out through
the gates onto the pavement and stood astonished at the
dense crowds of people spilling out into the street at sundown,
as always in Petersburg at holiday time, and walked in

(01:41:31):
the direction of gorri Koveya Street, fifty yards from the hotel.
At the first crossroads, someone in the throne suddenly touched
his elbow and spoke in an undertone just by his ear.
Lev Nikolayevitch, come this way, friend, I need you, It
was Ragasin. It was odd. The Prince was so pleased

(01:41:54):
to see him that he suddenly started babbling and hardly
finishing his words as he told him of how he
had expected to see him just now in the corridor.
I was there, Rogasin replied, unexpectedly. Come along. The Prince
was taken aback by this answer, but that was at

(01:42:15):
least two minutes later, when he had absorbed its import.
When he did, he took fright and started flicking glances
at Rogasen, who was already walking half a yard ahead,
staring straight in front of him, without glancing at passers
by as he let them go past him with automatic consideration.

(01:42:35):
Then why didn't you ask for my room if you
were in the hotel, the Prince asked. Suddenly, Rogason halted,
looked at him, fought for a moment, and said, as
if he hadn't understood the question at all. Now, then
leed Nikolayevitch. You go straight onto the house, you know,

(01:42:56):
and I'll go on the other side. Just watch that
we keep together, So saying, he crossed the street onto
the opposite pavement, glancing over to see whether the Prince
was proceeding. Seeing him standing gaping at him. He waved
his arm in the direction of Gorkovea street and walked on,
turning every minute to look at the Prince and urge

(01:43:19):
him on to follow. He was evidently relieved to see
that he had understood him and wasn't coming over to
his pavement. It occurred to the Prince that Rogasin was
looking out for someone and had crossed over so as
not to miss them. Only why on earth didn't he
say who it was? They went on in this way

(01:43:40):
some five hundred yards, and all of a sudden the
Prince began shaking. Rogasin had not stopped glancing back, though
we did it less often. The Prince could contain himself
no longer and beckon to him. Rogasin at once crossed
the street. Nastasia Philipovna. Isn't it your house? Is she? Yes?

(01:44:04):
And was it you I saw earlier on looking at
me from behind the curtain. Yes? Then why on earth
did you? But the Prince didn't know what more to
ask her, how to finish his question, Besides, his heart
was pounding so violently that he could scarcely speak. Rogasin

(01:44:26):
said nothing either, and regarded him as before, almost pensively well,
I'm going, he said, abruptly, making as if to cross
the street again, And you walk on this side. Just
as long as we aren't together in the street, it'll
be better for us on opposite sides. You'll see. When

(01:44:48):
they finally turned off on their opposite pavements into Gorikovea
Street and got closer to Rogasin's house, the Prince's legs
began to give way, making it quite difficult to walk.
It was ten o'clock in the evening by now. The
windows on the old woman's side stood open, as they

(01:45:09):
had earlier in the day. Those on Rogasin's were closed,
and the white curtain seemed even more conspicuous than the
fading light. The Prince approached the house from the opposite pavement.
Rogasin on his side, went up onto the porch and
waved to him. The Prince crossed over and joined him
on the porch. Even the porter doesn't know I've come back,

(01:45:34):
I said earlier on I was going to Padlofsk and
told mother's servants too. He hissed, with a crafty smile,
almost pleased. We'll go in and no one will hear anything.
By now there was a key in his hands as
he went up the stairs. He turned round to warn
the Prince to walk more quietly, then gently opened the

(01:45:57):
door to his rooms, admitted the prince caught viciously entered
after him, then closed the door behind him, pocketing the key.
Come on, he whispered. Ever since the Lydionaa pavement, he
had been speaking in whispers. Despite his apparent composure, he

(01:46:17):
was inwardly in a state of profound agitation. When they
had entered the drawing room, prior to going on into
the study, Rogasin went over to the window and beckoned
the Prince mysteriously over to him. You see, when you
started ringing this morning, I realized it was you straight away.
I tiptoed to the door and heard you talking to Pathnutvna.

(01:46:40):
I'd given her orders at first light that if you,
or anyone sent by you, or anybody at all, was
to start knocking on my door. She was under no
circumstances to say I was in, especially if you had
come in person asking for me. I told her your name.
Then after you went, it crossed my mind, what if
he's standing there now keeping a lookout, or patrolling the street.

(01:47:03):
So I went over to this very window drew back
the curtain, and there you were standing and looking straight
at me. That's the way it was. But where is
Nastasia Philipovna, the prince brought out, gasping. She's here, said Rogasin, slowly,
seeming to hesitate for the faintest instant. But where Rogasin

(01:47:30):
raised his eyes and stared at the prince, come on.
He still spoke in whispers, slowly, unhurriedly, and as before,
strangely thoughtful. Even when he was talking about the curtains,
it was as if he had wanted to say something else.
For all the seeming spontaneity of the story, they entered

(01:47:52):
the study. The room had undergone a change since the
last time the Prince had been in it. A green
damas curtain with gaps at both sides, was suspended across
the entire breadth of the room, cutting off the study
from the alcove where Rogasin's bed was. The heavy curtain
was drawn right across and the gaps closed, But it

(01:48:15):
was very dark in the room. The white knights of
the Petersburg summer had begun to get darker, and had
there not been a full moon, it would have been
difficult to make anything out in Rogasin's darkened rooms. It
was still possible to pick out one another's faces, but
very indistinctly. Rogasins bore its habitual pallor. The eyes were

(01:48:37):
fixed on the Prince, intent and shining brightly. Couldn't you
light a candle? No, no need for that, replied Rogasin,
and taking the Prince by the hand, pressed him into
a chair. He seated himself opposite, shifting his own chair
forward so that the two set almost kneat to knee.

(01:49:00):
There was a small circular table between them, a little
to one side. Sit down, Let's sit here for a while,
he said, as though trying to persuade the Prince to
remain where he was. They were silent for a minute
or so. I knew you'd be staying at that hotel.
He began, the way people sometimes prepare the ground for

(01:49:22):
the main issue by starting with irrelevant details off the point.
As soon as I got to the corridor, I thought
to myself, you know, maybe he's sitting waiting for me now,
just as I'm waiting for him at this same moment.
Have you been to the teacher's widow? Yes? The Prince

(01:49:43):
could hardly speak for the fierce thudding of his heart.
I thought of that too. People will start talking, I thought.
Then I had another thought. I'll bring him here for
the night. So this night together, rag is, Where is
Neastasia Philipovna. The prince whispered suddenly, as he rose to

(01:50:06):
his feet, his whole body shaking. Rogasin also got up. There,
he whispered, nodding towards the curtain. Asleep, whispered the prince again.
Ragasin stared at him intently as he had earlier. All right,

(01:50:27):
come on then, but you well come on. Then he
half raised the curtain, halted and turned again to the prince.
Come through. He nodded at the curtain, inviting the Prince
to pass him. He did so. It's darken here, he said,

(01:50:51):
you can see, muttered Rogasin. I can just make out
the bed. Go closer, then, Rogason suggested softly. The Prince
walked still, closer, one step another, then stopped. He stood there,
taking it in for a minute or two. Neither uttered

(01:51:12):
a word. All the time they were standing by the bed.
The Prince's heart was beating so loudly it seemed to
be audible in the deathly silence of the room. But
he had by now peered closely enough to make out
the whole of the bed. Someone lay asleep upon it,
absolutely motionless. Not the slightest rustle could be heard, not

(01:51:32):
the faintest breath. The sleeper was shrouded from head to
toe in a white sheet, but the limbs were somehow
only vaguely discernible. All that could be seen from the
raised outlines was that a human figure was stretched out
there all about in disordered heaps on the bed, the
foot of the bed, the armchairs, the floor, Even discarded

(01:51:56):
garments were scattered. The rich white silk gown flowers, ribbons
on the small table by the headboard, glittering diamonds lay
discarded and scattered about. At the foot of the bed,
lace of some kind had been crumpled up, And on
this white lace the end of a barefoot peeped out
from under the sheet. It looked as if it had

(01:52:17):
been carved out of marble, and was horribly still. As
he gazed, the Prince felt that the longer he went
on looking, the more still and death like the room became.
Suddenly a fly began buzzing and flew about over the bed,
before settling down near the headboard. The Prince shuddered, Let's

(01:52:39):
go back. Rogasin touched his hand. They went out and
sat down in the same chairs, again facing one another.
The Prince was trembling with increasing violence and kept his
eyes fixed questioningly on Rogasin's face. I see you're trembling there, Levnikolayevitch,

(01:53:00):
said Rogason at length, almost the way you do when
you're ill. Remember how it was in Moscow or once
just before a fit. I can't think what I would
do with you. The Prince listened hard, straining his utmost
to understand. His questioning expression unaltered. It was you, he

(01:53:25):
finally got out, nodding towards the curtain. It was me,
whispered rogusin and dropped his eyes. They were silent for
some five minutes because Rogasin resumed as if the interruption
had not occurred. Because if you were to be ill
now and have a fit and shout out, someone might

(01:53:47):
hear you in the street or the yard and realize
there's someone spending the night in here. Then they'll come
knocking and come in. Because they all think I'm not
at home. I haven't lit a candle, so they won't
guess out there in the street or the yard because
when I go out, I take the keys with me
as well, and nobody comes in too tidy up if

(01:54:07):
I'm not here for three or four days. That's how
I've arranged things so nobody finds out we're here for
the night. Wait a moment, said the prince. Earlier on,
I asked the porter and the maid whether Nastasia Philipovna
had spent the night here. They must know already. I

(01:54:30):
know you asked them. I told Patnatevna Thatnastasia Philipovna called
in yesterday and only stayed ten minutes before she went
back to Pavlovsk the same evening. They don't know she
stayed the night here. Nobody does. Last night, we came
in as quietly as you and I did today. On

(01:54:51):
the way here, I thought she'd never come in on
the quiet. But not a bit of it. Whispers, walks
on tiptoe, gathers up her skirts round her, holds them
in her hands to stop them rustling, wags her finger
at me on the stairs. It was all because she
was afraid of you. On the train. She was out
of her mind. She was so scared, and it was

(01:55:13):
she who wanted to spend the night at my place.
At first I thought to take her to the widow's flat.
Not a bit of it. He'll find me their first
thing in the morning. You can hide me in first
thing tomorrow it's off to Moscow. Then she wanted to
go to Oriole for some reason. As she was going
to bed, she was still saying, we'd go to Oriole.

(01:55:38):
Wait a moment. What are you going to do now, Parfian,
What is it you want to do? You see, I'm
not sure about you. You're roll of a tremble. We'll
spend the night here together. There's no bed in here
besides that one. So I thought we'd take the cushions
off the two sofas and I'll make them up here

(01:55:59):
by the curtain for you and me so we can
be together. Because if they get in, they'll start looking
round or searching. They'll see her at once and take
her away. They'll start questioning me, and I'll tell them
it was me and they'll take me away straight away
as well. So let her lie there near us, near

(01:56:19):
you and me. Yes, yes, the Prince assented fervently. So
no confessions and no taking her away, and not for
anything resolved. The Prince no certainly not. So I've decided
not to give her up on any account, my lad,

(01:56:42):
not to anybody. We'll spend a quiet night. I've just
been out for an hour this morning. The rest of
the time I've been with her, and then I went
to fetch you this evening. The only thing is the
smell in this hot weather. Can you smell anything or not?

(01:57:04):
Perhaps I do, I don't know. There'll probably be a
smell by morning. I've wrapped her in oilcloth, good quality,
and a sheet on top of that, and put four
open bottles of Jadana fluid by her there there now,
like they did in Moscow. It's because of the smell, friend,

(01:57:26):
And you see how she's lying in the morning when
it gets light, have a look. What's the matter? Can't
you even stand up? Rogason asked in nervous surprise, seeing
the Prince trembling so badly that he couldn't get to
his feet. My legs won't carry me, mumbled the prince.

(01:57:49):
It's from fright, I know. Once the fear passes, then
I'll get up. Wait a minute, though, you just wait
there till I'm make our bed up. Then you can
lie down both of us and we'll listen, because I
still don't know, lad, I still don't know everything yet,
so I'm telling you in good time so that you

(01:58:11):
know all about it. In advance. Mumbling these obscure words,
Rogazin started making up the bed. It was evident that
he'd thought up the idea of the beds, possibly as
early as that morning. He had lain down on the
sofa the previous night, but the sofa couldn't accommodate too,

(01:58:33):
and he was resolved they should lie side by side,
which was why, with much effort, he now dragged cushions
of all shapes and sizes from the two sofas right
across the room and placed them right by the end
of the curtain. Somehow or other, the bed was made ready.
He then went over to the Prince, took him tenderly

(01:58:54):
and rapturously by the hand, raised him up, and led
him over to the bed. It seemed, however, that the
Prince was able to walk by himself, so his fear
was passing. However, he still continued to shake because friend
Rogason began abruptly placing the Prince on the left in
better cushion, while himself stretching out on the right side.

(01:59:17):
Hands clasped behind his head, but without undressing. It's hot now,
and of course there'll be a smell. I'm afraid to
open the windows. Mamma has some vases of flowers. They
smell lovely. I thought I might bring them in, but
path Nativna would guess something because she's inquisitive. Yes, she

(01:59:37):
is ascended the Prince. Should I buy some set bouquets
and flowers all round her? But I think it would
be a pitiful sight, all flowers. Eh. Listen, said the Prince,
seeming to get muddled as he sought the right question
to put and kept forgetting it at once. Listen, tell

(01:59:59):
me how did you do it to her? A knife?
That knife? That knife? Wait, wait, I want to ask
you something else, Parfian. I want to ask you a
lot of things about everything, but better tell me to

(02:00:20):
begin with first and foremost, so that I know. Did
you mean to kill her before my wedding, before the
ceremony at the church door with the knife? Did you
or not? I don't know whether I did or not,
Rogazin replied coldly, seemingly rather surprised at the question and
not understanding its import. Did you never take the knife?

(02:00:44):
To Pavlovsk never. I can only tell you this about
that knife, lev Nikolayevitch, he added, after a pause, I
took it out of the locked drawer this morning, because
it all happened this morning, sometime after three. I had
kept it as a bookmark all this time. And and

(02:01:07):
there's another strange thing. The knife only went in about
three or four inches, just under the left breast, and
there was only about a spoonful of blood came out
on her chemise. No more than that. That. That that,
the Prince sat up in fearful agitation. That I know
I've read about it. It's called an internal hemorrhage. Sometimes

(02:01:31):
there isn't a drop, that's if the blow goes straight
to the heart. Wait, did you hear that? Rogasin broken swiftly,
sitting up fearfully on the cushions. Did you hear now?
The Prince replied, just as quickly and fearfully, looking at

(02:01:53):
rogasin footsteps you hear in the the drawing room. Both
strained their ears, I can hear, whispered the prince firmly footsteps. Yes,
shall I bolt the door or not bolt it? The

(02:02:18):
door was bolted, and both lay down again for a
long time. Neither spoke Ah, yes, hissed the Prince in
his former rapid and agitated whisper, as if he had
caught the thread of his thoughts and greatly feared to
lose it again. He even sprang up in bed. Yes,
that's what I wanted, those cards. Cards. They say you

(02:02:43):
played cards with her? Yes, I did, said Rogasin, after
a short silence. Where are those cards? Then here they are,
Rogasin said, after an even longer pause. Here he drew
out an old pack of cards, wrapped in paper and

(02:03:04):
held them out to the Prince. He took them, but
seemed bewildered. A new feeling, melancholy and desolate oppressed his heart.
All at once. He had become aware that at that moment,
and for some time past, he had not been saying
what he ought to have been saying, not doing what
he should have been doing, and that these cards he

(02:03:25):
held in his hands and had been so pleased about,
could avail nothing, nothing at all. Now he got to
his feet and flung up his arms. Rogasin was lying
stockstill and seemed not to hear or see his movements.
Yet his eyes shone brightly through the darkness and were
wide open. And unmoving. The Prince sat down in a

(02:03:46):
chair and began regarding him with terror. Half an hour passed.
All at once. Rogazin uttered aloud and abrupt shout and
began to laugh, apparently oblivious of the need to whisper
that officer, that officer, Remember how she lashed that officer
at the music with a riding crop. Remember ah, and

(02:04:11):
the cadet cadet that came running up. The Prince sprang
from his chair in fresh alarm when Rogasin subsided, which
happened suddenly. The Prince bent quietly over him, seated himself
close by, and with heart thumping and breathing heavily, began
to look closely at him. Rogasin did not turn his

(02:04:35):
head towards him, and indeed seemed oblivious of him altogether.
The Prince watched and waited. Time passed, and it began
to grow light. From time to time, Rogasin began muttering loudly, harshly, incoherently.
He began to utter short screams and laugh. The Prince
reached out his trembling hand and gently touched his head,

(02:04:57):
his hair, stroking them in his cheeks. There was nothing
more he could do. He began shaking again himself, and
his legs again suddenly gave way under him. A totally
new sensation of infinite anguish was oppressing his heart. Meanwhile,
it had grown quite light. At length, he lay down

(02:05:18):
on the cushions, as though in utter exhaustion or despair,
and pressed his face against the pale and motionless face
of Rogasin. Tears flowed from his eyes onto Rogasin's face,
but perhaps he was no longer aware of his tears
and knew nothing of them at all. Events, when many
hours later the door open and people came in, they

(02:05:39):
found the murderer totally unconscious and in a raging fever.
The Prince was sitting motionless beside him on the cushions,
And every time the sick man went into bouts of
delirium or shouting, he hurriedly passed his trembling hand gently
across his hair and cheeks, as though caressing and soothing him.
But he no longer sungker, understood the questions that were

(02:06:02):
put to him, and did not recognize the people who
had come into the room and surrounded him. And if
Schneider himself had arrived from Switzerland at this moment to
see his former pupil and patient. Remembering the state in
which the prince had sometimes been during his first year
of treatment, he would have washed his hands of him
and said as he had then an idiot. Twelve, the

(02:06:27):
teacher's widow, who had rushed off to Pavlovsk, went straight
to Darya Alexeyevna, still upset after the previous day's events,
and by telling her everything she knew, contrived to alarm
very thoroughly. Both ladies decided to get in touch with Lebedev,
who was also much agitated, being his tenant's friend as

(02:06:49):
well as his landlord. Vera Labedeva recounted everything she knew.
On Lebedev's advice, it was decided that all three of
us them should go to Petersburg in order to avert
as quickly as possible what might well happen. Thus it
came to pass that at around eleven o'clock the following morning,

(02:07:11):
Rogasin's apartment was opened in the presence of the police, Lebedev,
the ladies, and Rogasin's brother Semyon Semyonovich Rogazin, who lived
in one of the wings of the house. The greatest
assistance in the matter was furnished by the porter, who
stated that he had seen Parfi and Semyonovitch and a
friend entering by the porch. In would look like a

(02:07:33):
surreptitious manner. After this statement, there was no hesitation in
breaking down the door when it failed to open in
answer to their ringing. Rogasin suffered from brain fever for
two months, and when you recovered, the investigation and trial followed,
he gave straightforward, precise an entirely satisfactory evidence on all

(02:07:57):
points raised, as a result of which the case against
the Prince was dropped at once. Ragazin remained silent throughout
his trial. He did not contradict his skillful and eloquent lawyer,
who demonstrated clearly and logically that the crime was a
consequence of the brain fever occasioned by the prisoner's personal distress,

(02:08:19):
which had set in long before the perpetration of the crime.
He did, not, however, add anything on his own behalf
in confirmation of this view. As he had threw out,
he confirmed and recalled clearly and precisely every tiny circumstance
pertaining to what had taken place. In view of the
extenuating circumstances he was condemned to fifteen years hard labor

(02:08:44):
in Siberia, and heard his sentence thoughtfully and in grim silence.
The whole of his immense fortune, with the exception of
the comparatively insignificant portion he had squandered during his early debauches,
went to his brother Semyon Semiach, to the latter's considerable satisfaction.

(02:09:04):
Old missus ragas And is still alive and seems to
recall her favorite son Parfian from time to time, but
only vaguely. God has spared her mind and heart for
many awareness of the horror which has befallen her melancholy house,
leveedev Keller, Ganya, Titsen, and many other characters in our

(02:09:26):
tale are carrying on living as before, and there is
almost nothing for us to say about them. Ippol had
died in a state of dreadful agitation, somewhat earlier than
he had expected, about a fortnight after Nastasia Philipovna's death.
Kolia was profoundly shaken by what had happened and finally

(02:09:47):
grew very close to his mother, Nina Alexandrovna. Worries about
him being too thoughtful for his years. Perhaps he will
turn out a good man. It was partly due to
his efforts, incidentally, that the Prince's future was settled a
long time before. Kolia had singled out Yevgeny Pavlovitch Radomsky

(02:10:08):
from all the people he had recently got to know.
He was the first to go to him and give
him a fully detailed account of the crime and the
Prince's present condition. He had not been mistaken. Radamsky played
a most energetic part in the future of the unfortunate idiot,
and as a result of his care an effort, the

(02:10:28):
Prince once more found himself abroad in Schneider's Swiss clinic.
Yevgeny Pavlovitch, himself, who went abroad with the intention of
making a long stay in Europe, openly calling himself an
utterly superfluous man in Russia, quite often visits his sick
friend at the Schneider clinic at least once every few months.

(02:10:49):
But Schneider frowns more and more and shakes his head.
He hints at complete destruction of the reasoning faculties. He
does not definitely speak of incurability, but he allows himself
the gloomiest insinuations. Yevgeny Pavlovitch takes this very much to heart,
and he has a heart, as he has demonstrated by

(02:11:09):
receiving letters from Kolia and even answering them occasionally. But
besides this, an odd side of his character has become apparent,
and since it is a laudable side, we will hasten
to describe it after each visit to the Schneider clinic.
Besides the letter to Kolia, he sends off another one
to a certain person in Petersburg, in which he gives

(02:11:31):
the fullest and most sympathetic account of the Prince's present condition,
as well as the most respectful expressions of devotion. These letters,
sometimes and with increasing frequency, contains some candid statements of
his own opinions, ideas, and feelings, in short, something approaching
an expression of friendly and intimate feelings. This person who

(02:11:54):
corresponds with Yevgeny Pavlovitch, though the letters are rather infrequent,
and has one soul, how much of his attention and
respect is vera labdiva. We were unable to discover with
certainty how such a relationship could have grown up between them.
It arose, of course, in connection with what had happened
to the Prince when Vera had been grief stricken to

(02:12:16):
the point of falling ill. But the details of how
their acquaintance and friendship came about we do not know.
We have mentioned these letters mainly because some of them
contained news of the Yupenkin family, and in particular of
Aglaya Ivanovna Yepenkina. Radomski wrote of her in a rather
incoherent letter from Paris that after a brief and intense

(02:12:40):
attachment to a certain emigree, a Polish count, she suddenly
married him against her parents' wishes. If they eventually did
give their consent, it was only because the affair threatened
to develop into a full blown scandal. Then, after a
silence of almost six months, Radamaski informed his correspondent once

(02:13:02):
again in a long and circumstantial letter that during his
last visit to Professor Schneider in Switzerland, he had encountered
the holy Upenkin family there, except of course, for General Yupenkin,
who was detained in Petersburg by his business affairs, as
well as Princess. It was a strange reunion. They all

(02:13:22):
greeted Yevgeny Pavlovitch with something approaching rapture. Adalida and Alexandra
regarded themselves as being beholden to him for some reason
over his angelic's solicitude for the unfortunate Prince. Elizabeta Prokofievna
wept unrestrainedly at the sight of the Prince in his

(02:13:42):
sick and humiliated state. Evidently all had been forgiven him.
Princess uttered several opposite and intelligent truisms. Yevgeny Pavlovitch gained
the impression that he and Adelaide did not yet fully
see idea, but it seemed inevitable that in the future

(02:14:03):
Adelaide's spirited nature would submit voluntarily and wholeheartedly to Princess's
intellect and experience. Moreover, the lessons absorbed by the family,
particularly Aglia's affair with the emigrey Count, had made a
deep impression on her. Everything the family had feared in
giving Aglia to this count had come to pass within

(02:14:26):
six months, along with some surprising developments they had never
even thought of. This count turned out to be no
count at all, and if he really was an emigree,
he was one with a shady and dubious past history.
He had captivated Aglia by the extraordinary nobility of his soul,
tortured by anguish for his native land, so captivated her,

(02:14:49):
in fact, that before she married, she became a member
of some committee in exile for the re establishment of Poland,
and furthermore, had found her way into the Catholic confession
of a celebrated priest who had gained an almost fanatical
ascendancy over her mind. The Count's vast fortune, of which
he had furnished Lizaveta pro Kofievna and princess almost incontrovertible evidence,

(02:15:16):
turned out to be holy fictitious. Not only that, within
six months of the wedding, the Count and his friend,
the celebrated priest, had caused Eglia to quarrel violently with
her family, so that they had not seen her for
several months. In a word, there was a great deal
to talk about. But Lizavita Prokofievna, her daughters, and even

(02:15:40):
Princess had been so shaken by all this terror that
they were positively afraid to refer to certain matters when
talking to Yevgeny Pavlovitch, Though they were aware that he
knew of Aglaia's latest enthusiasms without their telling him. Poor
Elizaveta Prokofievna would have preferred to return to Russia, and
according to Yevgeny Pavlovitch, she criticized everything she saw abroad

(02:16:03):
bitterly and unfairly. They don't know how to bake decent
bread anywhere, and they freeze in winter like mice in
a cellar, she said. At least I've had a good
Russian cry over this poor fellow, she added, agitatedly, indicating
the prince who had not recognized her at all. There's
been enough getting carried away with things. It's time to

(02:16:26):
listen to common sense. And all this and all this abroad,
and all this Europe of yours, it's all just an illusion,
and all of us abroad are nothing but an illusion.
Mark my words, you'll see, she concluded, almost angrily, as
she took leave of Yevgeny Pavlovitch finess about the author.

(02:16:50):
Fyodor MII Heailovitch Dostoyevsky eighteen twenty one to eighteen eighty
one was a Russian novelist, essayist, and philosopher whose works
trends formed the landscape of world literature. Born in Moscow,
he experienced both privilege and hardship from his early education
in engineering to years of imprisonment and exile in Siberia

(02:17:13):
for his political beliefs. Out of these trials emerged a
writer of unparalleled insight into the human soul. Dostoyevsky's novels,
including Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamaziv, Demons, and The Idiot,
explore the darkest depths of moral struggle, the yearning for redemption,

(02:17:34):
and the mystery of faith amid suffering. His profound understanding
of psychology and his unflinching portrayal of conscience, guilt, and
grace influenced countless writers and thinkers, from Nietzsche and Freud
to Kemu and Kofka. Today, Dostoyevsky stands as one of
the most enduring voices in literature, an artists who illuminated

(02:17:57):
the eternal conflict between despair and hope that defines the
human condition. Pigeon Publishing House presented The Idiot author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Thank you for listening to this audio book. We hope

(02:18:18):
you enjoyed it. If you enjoyed this classic, follow the
show and leave a quick review and join us every
Tuesday and Thursday for more timeless stories,

All Episodes

The Idiot - Full Audiobook (Fyodor Dostoevsky) | Part 4 of 4

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Crime Junkie

The Breakfast Club

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Idiot - Full Audiobook (Fyodor Dostoevsky) | Part 4 of 4