Chapter 20 one

About two days after a strange and unusual incident at Nastasia Filippovna's party, which we were talking about at the end of the first part of the book, Prince Myshkin He hurried to Moscow to handle the matter of receiving the unexpected inheritance.At that time, it was rumored that he was in a hurry and was eager to leave, and there might be other reasons.But here, as we know so little about the unexpected and thrilling events that took place throughout the time the prince was in Moscow and his absence from Petersburg, we have nothing to say.The Duke had been away from Beijing for a full six months, and even those who had some reason to be concerned about his fate shut their eyes and heard nothing about what he had done during this time.It is true that some rumors have reached some people's ears now and then, but these rumors are also mostly outlandish and almost always contradictory.The Yepanchins were most concerned about the Duke's whereabouts, but the Duke was in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to say goodbye to the Yepanchins.But the general had seen him then, even two or three times, and they had discussed some serious matters.Although Ye Panqin met him personally, he did not tell his wife and daughter about it.In short, during the first period, that is, for almost a full month after the prince left, the Yepanchins were taboo to speak of him.Only the general's wife, Lizaveta Prokofievna, said at the outset that she was quite mistaken about the prince.Then, two or three days later, another sentence was added, but this time without naming the duke, but in general terms: the chief characteristic of her life was her constant erroneous opinions about people.Finally, some ten days later, after she was angry with her daughters for some unknown reason, she came to the following conclusion in the form of a family maxim: "There are too many mistakes, and it is better not to make them again!" , for quite a long time, there was an unpleasant atmosphere in their home.There is some kind of unspeakable secret of heaviness, tension, and disagreement, and everyone is frowning.The general is busy day and night, and it is rare to see him as busy and energetic as he is now, especially when dealing with official duties.The family almost never saw him.As for the young ladies of Ye Panqin's family, they naturally didn't say anything clearly verbally.Perhaps, even in private, they rarely talked about it.These young ladies are very self-respecting and arrogant, even in private, they look at each other and are ashamed to speak, but they understand each other, not only understand each other as soon as they speak, even a quick glance, it is self-evident, so sometimes Needless to say.

If a bystander had been present, the onlooker would have been able to see from it that, from what has been said, it is not difficult to see, although the evidence is insufficient, that although the prince visited the Yepanchins only once, and came and went quickly, he still gave him a visit. The Yepanchins had made a particularly deep impression, and perhaps this impression was nothing more than ordinary curiosity aroused by the prince's strange experience.Nevertheless, the impression remained. Gradually, the rumors that had once spread throughout the city also faded into obscurity.It is true that at one time it was rumored that a duke and fool (whose name no one can pinpoint with certainty) had suddenly received a large inheritance and married a Frenchwoman visiting from abroad, who was in Paris. Huagong is a famous dancer who dances the Cancan dance.But others say that the one who got the inheritance was a general, and that the one who married the famous French dancer who came here for sightseeing was a poor Russian businessman who got drunk for the sake of showing off at his own wedding. , actually burned seven hundred thousand rubles worth of newly issued bonus bonds with candles.However, all these rumors died down very quickly, probably because circumstances changed and the rumors were self-defeating.For example, many of Rogozhin's gang will tell the truth, and Rogozhin's gang, after going to the Catherine Palace playground to drink wildly (Nastasia Fay Lipovna also participated) After that, almost a full week later, Rogozhin led the team and drove to Moscow in great strength.According to certain rumors (that is to say, few who cared), Nastasya Filippovna fled the day after going to Catherine's Palace, and with She was missing, and it was later found out that she had gone to Moscow, so Rogozhin's trip to Moscow did not have nothing to do with this rumor.

Rumors had also circulated about Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivorkin, who was quite well known in business circles.But he also had an unexpected situation, which quickly cooled some of the stories that were not good for him, and finally disappeared completely.This meant that he had a serious illness, not only could not show his face in any social occasions, he could not even go to work.He was ill for almost a month, then recovered, but for unknown reasons completely resigned from the joint stock company, and his position had to be taken by someone else.After he recovered from his illness, he never went to Ye Panqin's house, so another official took over from him to the general's house to handle official business.Many of Gavrila Ardalionovitch's enemies might even surmise that he was so embarrassed by what had happened that he was too ashamed to go out into the streets.But he did suffer from a little illness, and even suffered from depression. He was thoughtful and in a bad mood all day long.Varvara Ardalionovna had married Ptitsyn that winter, and everyone who knew them said that the marriage was the result of Ganya's reluctance to return to the company, and that he not only I can't support my family, and I even need help from others, and I almost need someone to take care of me.

We must incidentally note that Gavrila Ardalionovich was never even mentioned in the Yepanchins—it seemed as if he did not exist not only in their family, but even in the world.But everyone in the Epanchins knew (and learned very quickly) one very remarkable thing about him: on that very unfortunate night for him, in the presence of Nastasya Filippovna After that unpleasant accident at home, Ganya returned home and did not lie down to sleep, but was very excited and impatiently awaiting the prince's return, but the prince had gone to the Catherine Palace, and had already returned from there. It was more than five o'clock in the morning.At this moment Ganya went into his room and put on the table in front of him the bag of money that Nastasya Filippovna had given him after he fainted.He firmly begged the prince to return the package to Nastasya Filippovna at the first opportunity.When Ganya first went to see the prince, he was antagonized and almost desperate, but after speaking to the prince a few words, he sat in the prince's room for two hours and wept all the time, utterly devastated.The relationship between the two was amicable when they parted.

After the news reached Ye Panqin's house, everyone knew about it, and it was later confirmed that the news was completely true.Of course, it was a little strange that news of this kind should travel so quickly, and that they should know so quickly.For example, the Epanchins knew almost the next day what had happened in Nastasya Filippovna's house, and they were not sure about the details.We can presume that Varvara Ardalionovna brought all the news about Gavrila Ardalionovitch to the Epanchins: she suddenly became Lizaveta Prokofievna was greatly surprised at the fact that she became the guest of the Yepanchins' three daughters and soon became intimate with them.But then again, although Varvara Ardalionovna felt compelled for some reason to be on good terms with the Epanchins, she never mentioned her brother to them, and she was also a rather haughty woman, But the so-called arrogance is just a certain point. Look at her brother who was almost driven out by Ye Panqin's family, but she still salivated and made friends with them.Before that, although she knew Sanqianjin from Ye Panqin's family, she seldom saw each other.Even now, however, she seldom shows up in the living room, but slips in through the back door.Lizaveta Prokofievna never admired her, neither then nor now, though she had great respect for Varvara Ardalionovna's mother, Nina Alexandrovna.She was surprised and angry, thinking that her daughters' dealings with Varya were fooling around and acting on their own initiative, thinking that they were "trying to fight against her".Nevertheless Varvara Ardalionovna continued to associate with the ladies, as before the marriage and more intimately afterward.

However, about a month after the prince's departure, General Yepanchin's wife received a letter from the old woman, Princess Belokonskaya (the princess had left Beijing about two weeks ago to visit her married grandparents in Moscow). daughter's).The letter had a noticeable effect on the General's wife.Although she said nothing about the contents of the letter, and told neither the daughters nor Ivan Fyodorovitch, the family could tell from all signs that she was excited for some reason, even very excited.She babbled on to her daughters in some strange and strange way, and said things that made no sense.She obviously wanted to say something, but for some reason she swallowed it back.On the day of receiving the letter, she was very kind to everyone, and even kissed Aglaya and Adelaida, telling them that she was wrong, but they could not understand what it was.Even Ivan Fyodorovitch, who had been out of favor for a whole month, suddenly forgave the past and showed mercy.Needless to say, the next day, she suddenly became very angry with her sentimentality and sentimentality of yesterday, and quarreled with everyone before lunch, but in the evening, the rain passed and the sky was clear. bright colors.All in all, for a whole week she was in a more cheerful mood than she had been in for a long time.

But a week later, she received another letter from Belokonskaya, and this time the general's wife had made up her mind to tell the story.She declared solemnly: "Old woman Belokonskaya (she always calls her an old woman when she refers to the princess behind her back) has given her very comforting news about that . . . , that is, the prince's! The old woman searched and inquired about his whereabouts in Moscow, and finally found out very good news. He was always invited to her house, from one to two, and the duke was always there, and he hasn't bored her so far—that's obvious!" concluded the General's wife from this, and added: I would add that the duke had been received by two or three noble families by the "old woman" and had become their guest. "He's no longer reclusive, and doesn't blush like a fool when he sees people--that's good." When the ladies were told all this, they found that there was a lot more in the letter that Mother kept from them. .Perhaps they knew this through Varvara Ardalionovna, for whatever Ptitsyn knew about the prince and his whereabouts in Moscow Varvara probably knew, and certainly knew. .And Ptitsyn probably knew more than anyone else.Although he was a man who never kept his mouth shut in business matters, there were certain things which, needless to say, he would tell Varya.That was why the general's wife disliked Varvara Ardalionovna at once and still more.

But anyway, the ice has been broken, and now it's suddenly possible to talk openly about the Duke.Moreover, once again the extraordinary impression and the incomparable intensity of interest which the prince had aroused at the Yepanchins and which had left him after his departure were clearly revealed.The general's wife was also very surprised that the news from Moscow would have such a big impact on the general's wife's three thousand gold.The daughters were also surprised by their mother. On the one hand, she solemnly announced to them that the main characteristic of her life was to constantly make mistakes in her views on people. The old woman Belokonskaya took good care of the prince in Moscow, and besides, it is not easy to ask for the care of the "old woman", you have to beg like a grandpa to a grandmother, because the "old woman" in some cases The next is not very please move.

However, when the ice had just been broken and a new wind was blowing, the general was eager to speak out.It turned out that he was also very concerned about this matter.But he was speaking only of the "business side of the matter."It turned out that, for the prince's benefit, he had entrusted two very reliable, and in a certain, very influential gentlemen in Moscow, to keep a close eye on him, and especially his legal adviser, Sarazkin. .The various rumors about the inheritance, "that is, whether there is a real inheritance", have been investigated and found to be true, but the inheritance itself, after all, is not at all as impressive as it was first rumored.Half the property was complicated, with debts, coveted, and more than one person, and the duke, despite his advice, had misbehaved and done some very unprofessional things. "Of course, God bless him."Now, when the "ice of silence" has been broken, the general is more than happy to point it out "in all sincerity," because "the lad is a bit of that," but he's worth worrying about.But then again, in this respect, after all, he has done a lot of stupid things: for example, several creditors of the deceased businessman appeared, produced some controversial and even worthless evidence, and some Very clever, I found out that the duke was a man of treachery, and he came to ask for debts without any evidence——what happened?The duke gave almost everything he wanted, despite his friends' persuasion that these were villains, that these creditors had no right to come to pay, etc.And the reason why the duke complied with their request was that some of them did suffer losses.

The general's wife reacted to this (Belokonskaya also mentioned this in her letter): "It's stupid, it's stupid, it's beyond redemption," she added bluntly , but it can be seen from her face that she likes what this "fool" does.At last the general found that his lady cared as much for the prince as for her own son, and for some reason she became extraordinarily kind to Aglaya.When Ivan Fyodorovich saw this, he assumed for a moment the attitude of weighing the pros and cons and thinking twice about everything. But the whole happy mood didn't last long after all.Just two weeks later, the situation suddenly changed again. The general's wife was frowning deeply, and after the general shrugged his shoulders a few times, he succumbed to the rule of the "silent ice" and fell silent like a cicada.It happened as follows: about two weeks ago, by accident, he received a news, though brief and unclear, but true, that Nastasya Filippovna had been in Moscow at first. After she disappeared, she was found by Rogozhin in Moscow, and later disappeared, and was found by him again, and finally she almost agreed to marry him.But after a total of two weeks, His Excellency suddenly received another report that Nastasya Filippovna had escaped for the third time, and almost at the time of the wedding, which was a great surprise. Once she went somewhere in the provinces and disappeared, and at the same time Prince Myshkin left Moscow, entrusting all his affairs to Sarazkin. "Whether they went with her, or went after her—I don't know, but there must be ghosts here," said the general at last.Lizaveta Prokofievna also received some unpleasant news.Finally, two months after the prince left, almost any rumors about the prince in Petersburg were completely quiet, and the "ice of silence" in the Yepanchin family could no longer be broken.Varvara Ardalionovna, however, often visited the three daughters.

Before we put an end to all these rumors and news, we must add that with all the changes in the Yepanchins before the beginning of spring, it was difficult not to forget about the Duke, who neither had nor probably wanted to be known about him. whereabouts.After much discussion throughout the winter, they finally decided to go abroad for the summer, that is to say, Lizaveta Prokofievna took the daughters out.Naturally, the general would not waste his time on such "useless pastimes".This decision was made because the ladies were clamoring to go, and they fought hard for it.The ladies were absolutely convinced that the reason their parents refused to take them abroad was because they wanted to marry them off and they were looking for fiancés everywhere for them.Maybe the parents finally realized that they can find their fiancés abroad. Going abroad for summer is nothing more than going for a summer. .We must note here in passing that the previously proposed marriage of Afanasy Ivanovich to the Epanchin lady had been completely blown up, and that he had never formally proposed marriage to them.It seemed to happen naturally, without any fanfare or family strife.Ever since the Duke left Beijing, both parties suddenly stopped talking about the marriage.This situation was also one of the many reasons that caused Ye Panqin's family to feel depressed at that time, although the general's wife said at the time that she was celebrating and wished to "raise her hands and make a sign of the cross".Although the general fell out of favor with his wife and felt that he was at fault, he sulked for a long time.He was very sorry to lose such a fast-moving son-in-law as Afanasy Ivanovich: "The rich and powerful are also smart and capable!" After a while, the general found out that Afanasy Ivanovich Chi was charmed by an upper-class Frenchwoman visiting from abroad, who was said to be a marquise and royal legitimist.They were married and were to take Afanasy Ivanovich to Paris and then to some place in Brittany. "Alright, let him go with the French woman." The general decided secretly. Ye Panqin's mother and daughter planned to go abroad before summer.At this time, another situation happened suddenly, which changed everything again, and the trip abroad had to be postponed again, which made the general and his wife feel very relieved.There was a prince, surnamed Hi, who came to Petersburg from Moscow, but he was a celebrity, in a very, very good point of view, even famous.He is one of the many aboveboard and modest figures (even activists) of our time, who have a sincere and conscious desire to benefit the people, who have always worked hard and have a high moral character, which is rare in the world, so they work day and night, Busy Work.The duke was not a publicity-loving or publicity-loving duke, avoiding partisan rhetoric and rhetoric as much as possible.He never pretends to be a leader, but he knows many things happening in the contemporary era well, and has subtle insights.He used to be an official, and later participated in local self-government activities.In addition, he was an accomplished corresponding member of several Russian academic societies.He once cooperated with a friend who was a technician, and used the collected materials and surveyed data to help determine the correct direction of a very important railway under design.He was about thirty-five years of age.He was a man of "the best society," and besides, as the General said, he owned a number of "good, important, undisputed" properties.The general had the opportunity of making the acquaintance of the duke with the count, as he had a rather important business in sight with one of his superiors (he was an earl).Out of a special curiosity, the prince never missed an opportunity to make acquaintance with Russian "businessmen".Coincidentally, the Duke was also fortunate to meet the general's family members.Adelaida Ivanovna, the second of the three sisters, made a rather deep impression on him.Before spring, the Duke confessed his love to her.Adelaida liked him very much, and Lizaveta Prokofievna liked him too, and the general was very pleased.Needless to say, the trip abroad can only be postponed.The wedding is scheduled for spring. In fact, the trip abroad might as well have taken place in mid-summer and late summer, even if Lizaveta Prokofievna and her two daughters who were still with her went abroad to play with it for a month or two. It can dispel a little parting sorrow about Adelaida's marriage.But then a new thing happened: it was late spring (Adelaida's wedding was postponed a little to midsummer), and the Duke of Hessie sent a distant relative and a very good friend of his A friend of mine led him into Ye Panqin's house.He is a young man named Yevgeny Pavlovich P. He is twenty-seven or eight years old. He is the emperor's attendant and military officer. He is also a handsome man like a painting. , witty, brilliant, "new", "very educated", and rich, unheard of.On this last point the General is always cautious.After some investigation, he said: "It is true that there is such a thing-but it needs to be verified." Once it is rendered, it becomes even more valuable.But his reputation was a bit tricky: there were a few affairs, and he was said to have "conquered" the hearts of unfortunate women.After he saw Aglaya, he stayed at Yepanqin's house and did not leave.True, he hadn't said anything, or even hinted at it, but the parents still thought that this summer's trip abroad was out of the question.As for Aglaya herself, she may have thought otherwise. This happens almost immediately before the protagonist of the book reappears in this book.Until then, it seemed at first glance that poor Prince Myshkin had been completely forgotten in Petersburg.If he suddenly appeared among those who knew him now, they would think he had fallen from the sky.However, there is one more thing we should add to wrap up our opening remarks. Kolya Ivolkin, since the prince left, at first still lived the life he had before, going to school, going to see his friend Hippolyte, looking after the general, and helping Vanessa. Ria does a little housework, which means running errands for her.But the tenants moved out one by one.On the third day after the incident at Nastasya Filippovna's, Fedsenko moved elsewhere, and soon disappeared without a trace.Some people said that they saw him drinking somewhere, but they were not sure.The prince went to Moscow.The tenants left clean.Later Varya married, and Nina Alexandrovna and Ganya moved with her to live with the Ptitsyns of the Izmailov regiment.As for General Iworkin, almost at the same time, something completely unexpected happened: he was thrown into a debt prison.It was his good friend, the captain's wife, who got him into prison, on the basis of the promissory notes he had issued to her at various times, worth about two thousand rubles.All this happened completely beyond his expectations, and the poor general, because of his "infinite trust in the nobility of the human heart", ended up simply becoming a "victim" of this trust.In order to make himself feel at ease, he has developed a habit of issuing IOUs and promissory notes to people at every turn. He has no idea when these IOUs will be effective, although he always thinks that they are nothing.But the result is not insignificant, "I see how you dare to trust people in the future, and how you dare to show noble trust in people in the future!" He sighed sadly. At this time, he was sitting in the tower with his new friend in prison Rasov's cell was drinking away his sorrows and was telling them the story of the siege of Kars and the resurrection of a soldier from the dead.Then again, he had a good time there.This is where he should be, Ptitsyn and Varya say, and Ganya fully agrees.Only poor Nina Alexandrovna wept secretly (to the surprise of her own family), and often went to the Izmailov regiment to visit her husband in prison and to see her husband. But after what Kolya called the "general incident", in short, since his sister got married, Kolya almost stopped obeying their control, and it has developed to the point where he rarely even goes home or stays at home recently.He was rumored to have made many new friends, and besides, he was well known in debt prison.Nina Alexandrovna could not do without him whenever she visited the prison.Now the family didn't even bother him with curiosity, they asked him this and that.Varya, who used to be tough on him, now doesn't question him as he wanders around.To the great amazement of the family, Ganya, in spite of his melancholia, now spoke to Kolya in a friendly way, and sometimes even sympathized with him, which had never happened before, since Ganya was already twenty. Seven years old, naturally he will not show any kindness to his fifteen-year-old brother. In the past, he has always been rough with him, and asked everyone in the family to strictly control him, and often threatened to "pull his ears" , which made Kolya "unbearable".It is conceivable that Ganya cannot do without Kolya now, even at times.Kolya was very surprised that Ganya should return the money, and for that alone he was ready to forgive him in many things. About three months after the prince left Beijing, the Ivolkins heard that Kolya had suddenly become a guest at the Ye family, and that the ladies welcomed him very much.Varya soon learned of the news.However, Kolya did not get to know Yepanchin's family through Varya's introduction, but he "visited the door by himself".Gradually, everyone in the Ye family fell in love with him.The general's wife was very dissatisfied with him at first, but she became kind to him after a while, "because he is frank and doesn't like flattery."It is absolutely correct to say that Kolya does not like flattery.Although he sometimes reads books and newspapers to the general's wife (because he is always responsive and helpful), he is good at being neither humble nor overbearing in Yefu, and is completely equal to them.But two or three times he quarreled violently with Lizaveta Prokofievna and told her openly that she was a despot and never came to her house again.The first quarrel was over the "women's question" and the second over a dispute about the best season to catch orioles.It was unbelievable, but on the third day after the quarrel, the general's wife still sent a servant to deliver a note to him, asking him to come to the humble house.Kolya left without putting on airs.Only Aglaya didn't know why she often treated him badly, was superior, and dismissed him.But by a strange coincidence, it was he who surprised her a lot.Once (this happened at Easter), Kolya seized the opportunity of just the two of them together and handed Aglaya a letter, saying only that he had been asked to deliver it.Aglaya sternly looked at the "self-righteous bastard", but Kolya left without waiting for a reply after saying this.She opened the letter and it read: After Aglaya finished reading this brief, inaccurate letter, she blushed suddenly and fell into deep thought.It's hard for us to convey what she was thinking at the time.By the way, she asked herself at the time: "Should I show it to others?" She seemed a little embarrassed.At last, however, she threw the letter into her little table with a mocking, bewildered smile.The next day she took the letter out again and tucked it into a thick hardcover book (as she always did with her letters, so they were easy to find when needed).After another week, she wanted to see what book it was.This is actually a "Don Quixote".Aglaya laughed, flung herself back and forth--I don't know what she was laughing at. I don't know if she has shown her collection to any of her sisters. However, when she read the letter again, she suddenly had an idea: This self-righteous brat and cowhide king was not picked by the Duke to be a correspondent, maybe he was his only correspondent here? Although she had a disdainful look on her face, she finally brought Kolya in for interrogation.But this "dumb boy", who was always angry, didn't care about her contempt this time.He explained to Aglaya very curtly and rather coldly that, before the prince was about to leave Petersburg, he had informed the prince of his permanent correspondence in case he needed it, and offered to be at his service, but that was still the matter he had received. The Duke's first request was also the first letter the Duke wrote to him. In order to prove the truth of his words, he also showed a letter he had personally received.Aglaya didn't feel embarrassed, and actually read the letter.The Duke wrote to Kolya: "After all, it's too ridiculous to invite such a hairy child to do business." Aglaya said angrily when returning the letter to Kolya, and then turned her head away contemptuously. Kolya couldn't stand this attitude: he borrowed a new green scarf from Ganya (without explaining the reason) and put it on for the purpose.Therefore, he was very angry.