Chapter 4 one

At the end of November, when the cold was still warm, at about nine o'clock in the morning, a train on the Petersburg-Warsaw Railway was approaching Petersburg at full power.The weather was very humid and there was heavy fog, so that it was hard to see the light of dawn, revealing a little bright color.Looking out from the car window, on both sides of the railway, ten paces away, it was foggy and I couldn't see anything.Some of the passengers came back from abroad, but the third-class carriages were full. The passengers were all small people who did not come from afar, and came out to do business or run errands.As usual, everyone was tired because they hadn't closed their eyes all night, and their eyelids felt heavy. They were also terribly cold, and their faces were gray and yellow, the same color as the thick fog.

In a third-class carriage, next to the window, since dawn, two passengers have been sitting opposite each other—both are young men, both are almost lightly dressed, both are not particular about their clothes, and both are The faces of the people are quite attractive, and finally, both of them have a desire to talk to each other.If they had known each other and what it was about them that stood out at this moment, they would have been amazed at this strange encounter sitting opposite each other in a third-class carriage on the Petersburg-Warsaw railway.One of them was not tall, about twenty-seven years old, with curly, almost black hair, and a pair of gray, small but piercing eyes.His nose was broad and flat; his cheekbones protruded; his thin lips always wore a presumptuous, mocking, even mean smile; Short-mouthed monkey cheeks and ugly appearance.Particularly striking in this face was the deathly pallor which gave an air of weakness to the young man's features, in spite of his rather robust constitution.At the same time, there was an expression of fanaticism bordering on pain on his face, which was at odds with his impertinent and presumptuous smile, his piercing eyes and his pretentious demeanor.He was warmly dressed, in a lambskin cloak with a black tweed lining, so he didn't get cold at night, but his neighbor, obviously unprepared for the wet and cold November night in Russia, had to cover himself Trembling, having tasted all its beauties.He wore a large, thick cloak, with a large hood, such as is often worn by passers-by in winter, in Switzerland, or, for example, in northern Italy, in distant foreign countries, Of course, they were wearing cloaks, and they had no intention of making the long journey to such a distant destination: from Ed Kooning to Petersburg.But what is useful and quite satisfactory in Italy may not be entirely useful in Russia.The owner of this hooded cloak was a young man, about twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, of medium height, with light but thick hair, sunken cheeks, and a thin A sparse, almost white goatee.His eyes are big, blue, and focused; there is a seemingly calm but heavy expression in his eyes, and his expression is weird. Anyone with a discerning eye can understand that this person suffers from epilepsy.However, this young man's face is still pleasing, although it is a bit pale, but has delicate features, but there is no blood on his face, and even now, his face is still blue from the cold.He was holding a small bag wrapped in faded old silk, and it seemed that all his luggage was wrapped in it.He had on a pair of platform shoes with boot covers—these were not Russian attire at all.His black-haired neighbor in a woolen cloak saw all this, and because of his idleness, at last he asked in an impolite mocking tone:

"Is it cold?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders. It is sometimes used in this sarcastic tone, a disrespectful and careless gesture of schadenfreude when other people are unlucky. "It's very cold," the neighbor replied enthusiastically. "Look, it's a relatively warm weather. What should we do if we catch up with the cold weather? I really didn't expect it to be so cold in our country. got used to." "Have you come back from abroad?" "Yes! From Switzerland." "Hush! No wonder! . . . " The black hair whistled and laughed.

Chatterbox opened.The light-haired man in a Swiss cloak answered all the questions of the dark-faced neighbor with great enthusiasm, and he didn't mind some questions being too casual, too abrupt, and too boring.When he replied, he revealed that he had indeed been abroad for a long time, maybe more than four years. He went abroad because of an illness, a strange neurological disease, similar to epilepsy or chorea.Heilian laughed several times while listening to him.When he asked, "How is it, is it cured?" When the light-haired man replied "No, it's not cured", he couldn't help but laugh even more.

"Hey! Probably spent a lot of money in vain, we just trust them here." Hei Lian sarcastically said. "Indeed!" interrupted a gentleman sitting nearby.He is poorly dressed, looks like a petty official who has been in the yamen for a long time, and knows "wait for it". Let them hug Yin Caibao for nothing!" "Oh, you're wrong about me," said the Swiss patient in a low, calm voice, "of course I don't want to argue, because I don't know the whole situation. But my doctor gave everything he had to help me return to China, and I was supported by him for almost two years abroad.”

"Why, no one paid for you?" Hei Lian asked. "Yes, I was brought up there by Mr. Pavlishev, but he died two years ago; then I wrote to General Yepanchin's wife here, who is a distant relative of mine, but no I got a reply. So I just came here." "You are here, where do you want to go?" "Where do you mean I live? . . . I don't know, really, . . . that's true . . . " "Haven't made up your mind yet?" The two listeners laughed again. "Your most important things are probably in this small bag?" Hei Lian asked. "I bet it must be so," put in the little red-nosed official with a smug look on his face, "and besides, there must be no luggage in the luggage cart for you, although I must point out: Gentleman. Poverty is solid, but poverty is not a crime.”

It turned out that he was right, too: the light-haired man admitted it immediately and very readily. "After all, your little bag has some meaning." They both had a good laugh (the funny thing is, after laughing, the owner of the little bag, seeing them like that, laughed himself, which made them even more overjoyed ), at which point the petty official continued: "Although I can wager that there will be no bags of foreign gold coins in them, neither Napoleon gold coins nor Frederick gold coins, nor even Holland blackheads, you can draw the above conclusion just by looking at the boots on your foreign leather shoes... Then again... If you add to your small bag, for example, someone like General Yepanchin's wife If it is your so-called relative, then this packet has a special meaning. Of course, this is because we assume that Mrs. General Yepanchin is indeed your relative. If you have not mistaken your imagination... Sometimes, a person, um... ...Because the imagination is too rich, it is inevitable, it is inevitable to make such a mistake."

"Oh, you guessed it right again." The light-haired man interjected, "I did almost make a mistake, that is to say, they are hardly relatives, and I'm not even surprised that they didn't reply to my letter. It was expected to happen.” "The mailing insurance you paid in advance is in vain. Well...at least, you are honest and sincere in your dealings with others, and you have a good character! Well...as for General Ye Panqin, we know each other well. To put it bluntly, I know him only because he is famous and everyone knows him; as for the late Mr. Pavlichev who once provided you with living in Switzerland, he is also a well-known figure. If he Nikolai Andreevich Pavlischev, because the Pavlischevs had two cousins. The other one still lives in the Crimea, and the late Nikolai Andreevich, however, was a respectable man, had a close relationship with the nobility, and owned four thousand serfs..."

"Exactly, he is Nikolai Andreevich Pavlishev," replied the young man, and, having finished speaking, he looked the know-it-all gentleman carefully and curiously. Fan. We sometimes come across this type of Mr. Know-it-All, and in a certain class of society it is not uncommon to see such people.They are well-informed and know everything.Their intellect and talents, their incessant inquisitiveness, their inquisitiveness in everything, are so irresistibly employed in this direction, that contemporary thinkers might say that it is only because they lack a more important taste and outlook on life.As for the so-called "omniscient", it is limited to a rather limited field: where a person works, who he knows, how much property he has, where he was governor, who he married, what his wife brought. How much dowry, who is his aunt and cousin, who is his distant relative, etc., etc., are nothing more than such things.Most of these know-it-alls are disheveled and hard-pressed, and receive a salary of seventeen rubles a month.Of course, those people who they know the bottom line can't think of their motives for doing this. However, many of them feel very relieved to have such knowledge (equal to a university question), and they have improved their lives. Their self-esteem even reaches a high level of spiritual satisfaction.And the science is fascinating.I have seen literati, poets, and political activists who have sought and found a high degree of comfort and lofty purpose in this science, and have even achieved great success entirely by virtue of this ability.Throughout the conversation, the black-faced man yawned and looked out the window aimlessly, impatiently waiting for the end of the journey.He seemed a little absent-minded, even out of his mind, almost frightened and restless, so that his expression was very strange: sometimes he didn't hear what he heard, he didn't see what he saw, he kept giggling, sometimes he didn't know what he was laughing at.

"May I ask your surname..." the acne-prone gentleman suddenly asked the light-haired young man holding a small bag. "Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin," he answered immediately and with great enthusiasm. "Prince Myshkin? Lev Nikolaevich? I don't know. You might even say that you've never heard of it," answered the petty official thoughtfully. Yes, you can find it in Karamzin's "History", and you should be able to find it, I mean specific people. Besides, the family of Prince Myshkin seems to have never been met anywhere, and it is almost like a yellow crane. No sound at all."

"Oh, that goes without saying!" replied the prince at once. "Prince Myshkin's family is now alone apart from me; I think I am the last. As for my parents and grandparents, They were all peasants from small households. But my father was a second lieutenant in the army, and he was a cadet. As for how General Yepanchin's wife also became a member of the Myshkin family, I don't know, she It can also be said that she is the last woman in the clan..." "Hee hee hee! The last woman in this family! Hee hee! You can really talk." The little official laughed. The black face also smiled slightly.The light-haired young man was a little surprised: he could say such an unrefined pun. "You know, I didn't mean anything when I said that," he finally explained in surprise. "Naturally, naturally, you." The little official nodded happily. "Duke, have you learned a lot from that professor abroad?" Hei Lian asked suddenly. "Yes... learned..." "I never learn anything." "I've only scratched the surface," the Duke added almost apologetically. "Because of my illness, they think it's impossible to give me a systematic education." "Do you know the Rogozhin family?" asked the black face hurriedly. "No, no, not at all. I know very few people in Russia. Is your honor Mr. Rogozhin?" "Yes, this is Rogozhin, named Parfin." "Parfen? The Rogozhin family you are talking about is just..." the little official put on a dignified appearance and said. "Yes, it's this one, this one." Hei Lian interrupted him quickly, impolitely and impatiently.But he never once addressed the pimple-faced magistrate, and from the first he spoke only to the duke. "But... what's going on here?" The little official was stunned, his eyes almost popped out, and his whole face immediately wore an expression of admiration, flattery, and even trepidation, "You are the hereditary honor The citizen, the young master of Semyon Parfinovich Rogozhin's family who died a month ago and left a fortune of about two and a half million?" "How do you know that he left two and a half million net assets?" Hei Lian interrupted him again, this time without even looking at the little official, "It's really unreasonable! (He pointed to the Duke with his eyes He) come to flirt right away, what good will he get? My father is dead, it's true, and I came home from Pskov for the funeral in a month, and I almost didn't even have a pair of boots. Regardless of my bastard My brother, and my mother, don’t send me any money, don’t even tell me! Treat me like a dog! I lay down in Pskov for a whole month with a high fever!  …” "But now you can get a million coins in a few minutes. It's still a matter of time, oh, my lord!" The little official raised his hands and clapped lightly. "It's none of his business, what a joke!" Rogozhin pointed at him angrily and viciously again, "I won't give you a kopek anyway, even if you walk back and forth in front of me with your feet up. .” "Sure, definitely do it." "Fuck you! Even if you dance in front of me for a week, I won't give it, just won't give it!" "If you don't give it, I won't give it! What I want is that you don't give it. But I've decided to dance this dance. Leaving aside my wife and children, I want to dance in front of you. I'm sure I'm sure about this flattery!" "Bah, get away!" Heimian spat. "Five weeks ago, like you," he said to the prince, "I left my father with a small bag and ran away to my aunt in Pskov; there I fell ill with a fever, and he I died when I was not with him. I had a sudden stroke and died of a sudden illness. May the dead be forever! I think he almost killed me in the past! Believe it or not, duke, I swear to God! If it weren't for me Run fast, and you'll beat me to death." "You must have something to annoy him?" asked the prince, looking at the millionaire in his fur cloak with special curiosity.Although there was something special about the millions and the inheritance, there was something else that surprised and interested the prince; to talk, though his need for someone to talk to seemed to be more mechanical than spiritual; more out of trance than kindness; , open your mouth and say something casually.It seems that he still has a high fever, at least he is still shaking.As for the little official, he looked intently at Rogozhin, not daring to breathe, grasping and weighing every word he said, as if looking for a diamond. "He was really angry, but then again, there was a reason for it," Rogozhin replied, "but it was my brother who bothered me the most. As for my mother, an elderly woman, I have nothing to say. Yes, reading "Monthly Chanting Collection" all day long, and sitting with the old women, it was not my brother who made the decision first. Why did he hide it from me at that time and not let me know? I know it perfectly, you Wow! I was in a coma, that's true. It is said that the telegram was sent, but it was sent to my aunt. She has been a widow there for thirty years, and she has been fooling around with crazy religious people from morning to night. Said the nun Not like a nun, but more nun than a nun. When she received the telegram, she was terrified and handed it to the police station without opening it. The telegram is still there. But Konev, Vasily V. Cilic, who was very helpful, he wrote me everything. One night my brother ripped off all the gold tassels from my father's brocade coffin and said: 'These things are worth a lot A lot of money!' For that alone, he deserves to be sent to Siberia, if only I can sue, because it's sacrilege, it's disrespectful. Hey, you buffoon!" he asked the little magistrate. Blasphemy artifact?" "Desecrate the artifact! Blaspheme the artifact!" The little official immediately nodded in agreement. "Should I be sent to Siberia for committing such a serious crime?" "Send to Siberia! Send to Siberia! Send to Siberia immediately!" "They always think I'm still sick," Rogozhin went on to the prince, "but I got on the train sick without saying a word, and started home; Myonitch, open the door! I know, he said all the bad things about me to my late father. It is true that I annoyed my late father because of Nastasya Filippovna. One person does one thing. Well. I'm in a trance." "Because of Nastasya Filippovna?" said the little magistrate obsequiously, as if thinking of something. "Come on, you don't know!" Rogozhin shouted to him impatiently. "I just know him!" The little official replied triumphantly. "Go away! Nastasya Filippovna is full of people! Tell you, you are a shameless beast! Well, I knew that there would always be some damned beast who would come to pester you at once." Yes!" he went on to the Duke. "Perhaps I know it!" said the little official, scratching his ear and cheek. "Lebedev knows it! Your Excellency, please prick me, and what if I tell you the whole story? As for Nastasya Filippovna, that's Nastasya Filippovna for whom your lordship wants to beat you with a cane, her name is Balashko The child, so to speak, is a lady, or a princess, and her lover is Totsky, whose name is Afanasy Ivanovitch, and she is only with him. He is He is a landowner and big capitalist, he is a director of many companies and firms, so he has a close relationship with General Yepanchin..." "Hey, it's really you!" Rogozhin finally got really surprised. "Bah, hell, he really knows." "I know everything, Lebedev knows everything. To tell you the truth, my lord, I was Alexashka Likhachev's servant for two months, after the death of his old lady, and I know everything." , all the streets and alleys were known, and in the end he couldn't move without me, Lebedev. Now he is in prison for debts. At that time, I had the opportunity to know Armans, Ko Lalia, Princess Patskaya, and Nastasya Filippovna, and had the opportunity to learn many things." "Nastasya Filippovna? ​​Could it be that she and Likhachev..." Rogozhin glared at him so fiercely that his lips turned pale and he trembled. "No-nothing, no-no-nothing! It's nothing!" the little official came to his senses, and hurriedly explained, "Likhachev can't get her for any money! No, she's not A woman like Armans. She had only one friend, Totsky. In the evenings she went to the Grand Theater or the French Theater and sat in her own box. The officers could gossip in private, but they took Without any evidence, just say 'This is that Nastasya Filippovna', that's all, and then there is nothing to say! Because there is really nothing." "That's all it is," Rogozhin frowned, affirming with a straight face, "Zaryozhev told me the same thing at the time. Prince, I thought I was wearing my father's three-year-old clothes. She was walking through the Nevsky Prospekt with an old overcoat from the year 2000, when she came out of the shop and got into a carriage. When I saw her, I felt like I was on fire. At that moment, I happened to meet Zaryozhev, I can't compare him; he looks like a barber's clerk, with a monocle on his nose, but I wear oiled canvas boots with my late father and eat vegetable soup without meat. He said, Well, you can't get too high, she is a princess, her name is Nastasya Filippovna, her name is Balashkova, she lives with Totsky, and now Totsky wants to get rid of her, He was wondering what to do, because he was already very old, that is to say, fifty-five years old, and he wanted to marry a beautiful and beautiful Petersburg beauty. At that time, he Tell me that today you can meet Nastasya Filippovna at the ballet at the Bolshoi, she must be sitting in her own box on the downstairs side. When my late father was alive, Anyone in our family who goes to the ballet will be punished and killed! But I sneaked there for an hour and saw Nastasya Filippovna again. I didn't sleep all that night. The next morning, my late father gave me two five-percent bonds, five thousand rubles each, and told me to sell them and hand over seven thousand five hundred rubles to Andreev's office, saying, Don’t go anywhere after you’ve settled the bills, bring it back to me as much as you have left over from the ten thousand rubles, and I’ll wait for you at home. I sold the bonds and got the money, but I didn’t go to Andrei Yev's office, but ran into a British store without looking back, picked out a pair of earrings with all I had, each with a diamond about the size of a walnut, and owed four hundred rubles, I told I agreed to credit them with my last name. I went to Zaryozhev with my earrings in my ear: I told him everything that happened, and then said to him: 'Come on, buddy, let's go here. Just go to Nastasya Filippovna.' And off we went. At that time, what was under my feet, what was on my side—I don't know, I don't remember. We went straight into her living room , she came out to meet us in person. I didn't say my name or that this was me; but Zarezhev said for me: 'This is what Parvin Rogozhin gave you yesterday. Thank you for your kindness, please accept it.” She opened it, looked at it, smiled slightly, and said, “Thank you, Mr. Rogozhin, for your kindness.” After saying that, she bowed and left the living room. Oh, why didn’t I die there What! I went because I thought: 'Anyway, I'm not coming back alive!' At that time, I felt that the most annoying thing was that liar Zaryozhev, who took all the money and put it on his face. Kim. I'm small and poorly dressed like a footman, and I stand silent and stare at her because I'm embarrassed. But he's well-dressed, greasy, permed, full of flushed, and wearing a checked tie,—hePicking nice words and flattering people, she must have taken him for me at the time!As soon as we went out, I said to him: 'Listen, from now on, you're not allowed to have any wild thoughts, you understand! ’ he laughed: ‘but how are you going to account to Semyon Parfenitch now? 'To be honest, I really didn't want to go home at that time, I just jumped into the river, but then I thought: 'Anyway, that's the case', so I returned home like a ghost. " "Ah! Oh!" The little official made a strange face and even trembled, "His Xianyan, let alone ten thousand rubles, would send people into hell Yes." He shook his head at the prince, and directed him to look at Rogozhin.The duke looked at Rogozhin curiously. At this moment, Rogozhin's face seemed even paler. "Into hell!" repeated Rogozhin, imitating him. "What do you know?" He went on to the prince: "He found out right away, and besides, Zaryozhev talked about it everywhere he met. .My late father took me and locked me upstairs and lectured me for an hour. He said, 'I'm just giving you a taste and I'll come back later to say goodbye and good night.' Guess what? Old man She ran to Nastasya Filippovna, bowed deeply to her, begged and wept bitterly, and finally took out the box, threw it to him, and said: "Here's your earring, old man, since Parffin took such a big risk to get it, the value of this pair of earrings is now tenfold to me." She said: "For I greeted Parfen Semyonitch and thanked him. 'Well, then, with my mother's permission, I borrowed twenty rubles from Serozhka Protushin, got on the train, and got on the train. I went to Pskov, where I had a malaise as soon as I got there. There, the old ladies read to me endlessly from the "Church Calendar", while I sat drunk, and then I wrote the last few I took all the money to go to the tavern, and lay unconscious on the street all night. Before dawn, I developed a high fever, and that night, my whole body was eaten by dogs. It was difficult to wake up. " "Well, well, now Nastasya Filippovna will look at us with admiration!" said the little official, rubbing his hands, laughing, "and now, sir, what are earrings for? Now we can give her another pair of earrings like this..." "If you dare to talk nonsense about Nastasya Filippovna again, by God, I will give you a good beating, and it is useless for you to be a servant with Likhachev!" Roggo Ren grabbed his arm tightly and shouted. "If you hit me, you won't tell me to get out! Hit me, hit me, it's like stamping... Look, we've arrived!" Sure enough, the train pulled into the station.Although Rogozhin said that he came back quietly, several people came to meet him.They yelled and yelled and waved their hats at him. "Hey, Zalyozhev is here too!" Rogozhin murmured.He looked at the group with a smug smile that seemed to be resentful.At this time, he suddenly turned to the Duke and said, "Duke, I don't know why, but I like you very much. Maybe I just happened to meet you at this time, but then again, didn't I also meet him (he pointed I mean Lebedev), but I don't like him. Prince, please come to the house often. We can take these shoe covers off your feet and put you in the best mink coat; we will make you The best tuxedo, with a white waistcoat, or whatever, fill your pockets with money, and then... let's go see Nastasya Filippovna together. Will you come? ?” "Better obedience, Prince Lev Nikolayevich!" continued Lebedev solemnly and seriously. "Oh, don't miss it. Oh, don't miss this great opportunity! . . . " Prince Myshkin bowed, held out his hand politely to Rogozhin, and said to him politely: "Your Majesty would be more than happy to come to your house, and I am very grateful for your kindness. If I could, I might go today. Because, to tell you the truth, I like you very much, too, especially when you talked about the diamond earrings. You didn't even say Before the earrings, I liked you very much, even though my face was gloomy. I also thank you for the clothes and fur coat you promised me. For I will really need clothes and fur coats soon. As for money, I have almost a kopeck at the moment. nothing." "There will be money, and there will be money in the evening, come on!" "There will be, there will be," the little official said, "In the evening, there will be some before the sun goes down!" "As for women, Duke, are you a seasoned lover? Please tell me in advance!" "I, no, no, no! You know, I... You may not know that, because of my congenital illness, I have never touched a woman at all." "Well, if that's the case," Rogozhin exclaimed in surprise, "Prince, then you are exactly like a madman, and God likes you!" "God likes such people," said the little official. "Come with me, Mipian," Rogozhin said to Lebedev; and they all got off the train. Lebedev finally achieved his goal.Soon, this group of chatting and laughing people walked towards Shengtian Avenue.The duke had to turn into Turnshaw Street.It was humid and wet everywhere.The prince asked passers-by that there were still three versts to go to where he wanted to go, and he decided to call a cab.