The Weight of Suspicion — The Idiot

Three days and no word. The prince expected punishment and still thought Mrs Epanchin was angrier with herself. He has begun to blame himself for two opposite faults: almost senseless trust, and a vile gloomy suspicion. The letters N.P.B. he treats as a child's joke, too small to honour with belief. Adelaida and Prince S. call by accident, and talk about a tree she wants to paint. They do not ask him to walk back. At the door Prince S. remembers the lady in the carriage. Nastasia, the prince says. She spoke of notes Rogozhin had bought. Prince S. finds that absurd. A man of property. No intimacy possible. They have come for explanations, and they suspect the prince. There is no stopping her once she has set her mind.

Gania arrives after dinner. Nastasia has been four days in Pavlofsk and already has a following, a carriage, a girl who sings. Yesterday's scene was arranged in advance. The prince does not ask how he knows. Varia adds that Aglaya has quarrelled with her whole family. It is not a good sign. He walks into the park to decide a step. He wants to leave without farewell, go anywhere, at once. In a few minutes he decides that running would be cowardly. The walk lasts less than a quarter of an hour. He comes home thoroughly unhappy.

Keller stays to tell the story of his life. He has ceased to believe, lost morality, committed a theft. He has no emeralds. He is bathed in tears, then boastful, then both of them laugh like madmen. The prince asks why he came. Then you wanted me to lend you money. Keller thumps the table. The idea from hell arrived at dawn, after the sobbing: why not, after confessing, borrow a hundred and fifty. The prince fears double motives in himself as well. He lends twenty-five. Lebedeff arrives and calls the repentance words and nothing more, then admits the same jumble: truth and falsehood, perfectly sincere. He helped the carriage only indirectly. He begins a name. Aglaya Ivanovna. The prince tells him to be silent at once. Colia brings the house news. Aglaya has fought her people over Gania. Varia has been turned out once for all. At the station the general seizes the prince's hand. His house is a hell. A sphinx has taken up its abode. Evgenie's uncle is rich, a gourmand, Heaven preserve him. Something nasty is in the air, like a bat. The formal reconciliation waits until the third day.