Hippolyte into the cab, and it haddriven off.
“Well, how much longer is this going to last, Ivan Fedorovitch? What doyou think? Shall I soon be delivered from these odious youths?”
“My dear, I am quite ready; naturally... the prince.”
Ivan Fedorovitch held out his hand to Muishkin, but ran after his wife,who was leaving with every sign of violent indignation, before he hadtime to shake it. Adelaida, her fiance, and Alexandra, said good-bye totheir host with sincere friendliness. Evgenie Pavlovitch did the same,and he alone seemed in good spirits.
“What I expected has happened! But I am sorry, you poor fellow, thatyou should have had to suffer for it,” he murmured, with a most charmingsmile.
Aglaya left without saying good-bye. But the evening was not to endwithout a last adventure. An unexpected meeting was yet in store forLizabetha Prokofievna.
She had scarcely descended the terrace steps leading to the high roadthat skirts the park at Pavlofsk, when suddenly there dashed by a smartopen carriage, drawn by a pair of beautiful white horses. Having passedsome ten yards beyond the house, the carriage suddenly drew up, and oneof the two ladies seated in it turned sharp round as though she had justcaught sight of some acquaintance whom she particularly wished to see.
“Evgenie Pavlovitch! Is that you?” cried a clear, sweet voice, whichcaused the prince, and perhaps someone else, to tremble. “Well, I _am_glad I’ve found you at last! I’ve sent to town for you twice todaymyself! My messengers have been searching for you everywhere!”
Evgenie Pavlovitch stood on the steps like one struck by lightning.Mrs. Epanchin stood still too, but not with the petrified expression ofEvgenie. She gazed haughtily at the audacious person who had addressedher companion, and then turned a look of astonishment upon Evgeniehimself.
“There’s news!” continued the clear voice. “You need not be anxiousabout Kupferof’s IOU’s--Rogojin has bought them up. I persuaded himto!--I dare say we shall settle Biscup too, so it’s all right, yousee! _Au revoir_, tomorrow! And don’t worry!” The carriage moved on, anddisappeared.
“The woman’s mad!” cried Evgenie, at last, crimson with anger, andlooking confusedly around. “I don’t know what she’s talking about! WhatIOU’s? Who is she?” Mrs. Epanchin continued to watch his face for acouple of seconds; then she marched briskly and haughtily away towardsher own house, the rest following her.
A minute afterwards, Evgenie Pavlovitch reappeared on the terrace, ingreat agitation.
“Prince,” he said, “tell me the truth; do you know what all this means?”
“I know nothing whatever about it!” replied the latter, who was,himself, in a state of nervous excitement.
“No?”
“No!”
“Well, nor do I!” said Evgenie Pavlovitch, laughing suddenly. “I haven’tthe slightest knowledge of any such IOU’s as she mentioned, I swear Ihaven’t--What’s the matter, are you fainting?”
“Oh, no--no--I’m all right, I assure you!”
XI.
The anger of the Epanchin family was unappeased for three days. As usualthe prince reproached himself, and had expected punishment, but he wasinwardly convinced that Lizabetha Prokofievna could not be seriouslyangry with him, and that she probably was more angry with herself. Hewas painfully surprised, therefore, when three days passed with no wordfrom her. Other things also troubled and perplexed him, and one of thesegrew more important in his eyes as the days went by. He had begun toblame himself for two opposite tendencies--on the one hand to extreme,almost “senseless,” confidence in his fellows, on the other to a “vile,gloomy suspiciousness.”
By the end of the third day the incident of the eccentric lady andEvgenie Pavlovitch had attained enormous and mysterious proportions inhis mind. He sorrowfully asked himself whether he had been the cause ofthis new “monstrosity,” or was it... but he refrained from saying whoelse might be in fault. As for the letters N.P.B., he looked on that asa harmless joke, a mere childish piece of mischief--so childish thathe felt it would be shameful, almost dishonourable, to attach anyimportance to it.
The day after these scandalous events, however, the prince had thehonour of receiving a visit from Adelaida and her fiance, Prince S. Theycame, ostensibly, to inquire after his health. They had wandered out fora walk, and called in “by accident,” and talked for almost the wholeof the time they were with him about a certain most lovely tree in thepark, which Adelaida had set her heart upon for a picture. This, and alittle amiable conversation on Prince S.’s part, occupied the time, andnot a word was said about last evening’s episodes. At length Adelaidaburst out laughing, apologized, and explained that they had comeincognito; from which, and from the circumstance that they said nothingabout the prince’s either walking back with them or coming to see themlater on, the latter inferred that he was in Mrs. Epanchin’s blackbooks. Adelaida mentioned a watercolour that she would much like to showhim, and explained that she would either send it by Colia, or bring itherself the next day--which to the prince seemed very suggestive.
At length, however, just as the visitors were on the point of departing,Prince S. seemed suddenly to recollect himself. “Oh yes, by-the-by,” hesaid, “do you happen to know, my dear Lef Nicolaievitch, who that ladywas who called out to Evgenie Pavlovitch last night, from the carriage?”
“It was Nastasia Philipovna,” said the prince; “didn’t you know that? Icannot tell you who her companion was.”
“But what on earth did she mean? I assure you it is a real riddleto me--to me, and to others, too!” Prince S. seemed to be under theinfluence of sincere astonishment.
“She spoke of some bills of Evgenie Pavlovitch’s,” said the prince,simply, “which Rogojin had bought up from someone; and implied thatRogojin would not press him.”
“Oh, I heard that much, my dear fellow! But the thing is so impossiblyabsurd! A man of property like Evgenie to give IOU’s to a money-lender,and to be worried about them! It is ridiculous. Besides, he cannotpossibly be on such intimate terms with Nastasia Philipovna as she gaveus to understand; that’s the principal part of the mystery! He has givenme his word that he knows nothing whatever about the matter, and ofcourse I believe him. Well, the question is, my dear prince, do you knowanything about it? Has any sort of suspicion of the meaning of it comeacross you?”
“No, I know nothing whatever about it. I assure you I had nothing at allto do with it.”
“Oh, prince, how strange you have become! I assure you, I hardly knowyou for your old self. How can you suppose that I ever suggested youcould have had a finger in such a business? But you are not quiteyourself today, I can see.” He embraced the prince, and kissed him.
“What do you mean, though,” asked Muishkin, “‘by such a business’? Idon’t see any particular ‘business’ about it at all!”
“Oh, undoubtedly, this person wished somehow, and for some reason, todo Evgenie Pavlovitch a bad turn, by attributing to him--beforewitnesses--qualities which he neither has nor can have,” replied PrinceS. drily enough.
Muiskhin looked disturbed, but continued to gaze intently andquestioningly into Prince S.’s face. The latter, however, remainedsilent.
“Then it was not simply a matter of bills?” Muishkin said at last, withsome impatience. “It was not as she said?”
“But I ask you, my dear sir, how can there be anything in common betweenEvgenie Pavlovitch, and--her, and again Rogojin? I tell you he is a manof immense wealth--as I know for a fact; and he has further expectationsfrom his uncle. Simply Nastasia Philipovna--”
Prince S. paused, as though unwilling to continue talking about NastasiaPhilipovna.
“Then at all events he knows her!” remarked the prince, after a moment’ssilence.
“Oh, that may be. He may have known her some time ago--two or threeyears, at least. He used to know Totski. But it is impossible thatthere should be any intimacy between them. She has not even been in theplace--many people don’t even know that she has returned from Moscow! Ihave only obse
rved her carriage about for the last three days or so.”
“It’s a lovely carriage,” said Adelaida.
“Yes, it was a beautiful turn-out, certainly!”
The visitors left the house, however, on no less friendly terms thanbefore. But the visit was of the greatest importance to the prince, fromhis own point of view. Admitting that he had his suspicions, fromthe moment of the occurrence of last night, perhaps even before, thatNastasia had some mysterious end in view, yet this visit confirmed hissuspicions and justified his fears. It was all clear to him; Prince S.was wrong, perhaps, in his view of the matter, but he was somewhere nearthe truth, and was right in so far as that he understood there to bean intrigue of some sort going on. Perhaps Prince S. saw it all moreclearly than he had allowed his hearers to understand. At all events,nothing could be plainer than that he and Adelaida had come for theexpress purpose of obtaining explanations, and that they suspected himof being concerned in the affair. And if all this were so, then _she_ musthave some terrible object in view! What was it? There was no stopping_her_, as Muishkin knew from experience, in the