The Idiot | Page 5

to
have no answer to my letter. I expected as much."
"H'm! you spent your postage for nothing, then. H'm! you are candid,
however--and that is commendable. H'm! Mrs. Epanchin--oh yes! a
most eminent person. I know her. As for Mr. Pavlicheff, who supported
you in Switzerland, I know him too--at least, if it was Nicolai
Andreevitch of that name? A fine fellow he was--and had a property of
four thousand souls in his day."
"Yes, Nicolai Andreevitch--that was his name," and the young fellow
looked earnestly and with curiosity at the all-knowing gentleman with

the red nose.
This sort of character is met with pretty frequently in a certain class.
They are people who know everyone--that is, they know where a man
is employed, what his salary is, whom he knows, whom he married,
what money his wife had, who are his cousins, and second cousins, etc.,
etc. These men generally have about a hundred pounds a year to live on,
and they spend their whole time and talents in the amassing of this style
of knowledge, which they reduce--or raise--to the standard of a science.
During the latter part of the conversation the black-haired young man
had become very impatient. He stared out of the window, and fidgeted,
and evidently longed for the end of the journey. He was very absent; he
would appear to listen-and heard nothing; and he would laugh of a
sudden, evidently with no idea of what he was laughing about.
"Excuse me," said the red-nosed man to the young fellow with the
bundle, rather suddenly; "whom have I the honour to be talking to?"
"Prince Lef Nicolaievitch Muishkin," replied the latter, with perfect
readiness.
"Prince Muishkin? Lef Nicolaievitch? H'm! I don't know, I'm sure! I
may say I have never heard of such a person," said the clerk,
thoughtfully. "At least, the name, I admit, is historical. Karamsin must
mention the family name, of course, in his history- -but as an
individual--one never hears of any Prince Muishkin nowadays."
"Of course not," replied the prince; "there are none, except myself. I
believe I am the last and only one. As to my forefathers, they have
always been a poor lot; my own father was a sublieutenant in the army.
I don't know how Mrs. Epanchin comes into the Muishkin family, but
she is descended from the Princess Muishkin, and she, too, is the last of
her line."
"And did you learn science and all that, with your professor over
there?" asked the black-haired passenger.

"Oh yes--I did learn a little, but--"
"I've never learned anything whatever," said the other.
"Oh, but I learned very little, you know!" added the prince, as though
excusing himself. "They could not teach me very much on account of
my illness. "
"Do you know the Rogojins?" asked his questioner, abruptly.
"No, I don't--not at all! I hardly know anyone in Russia. Why, is that
your name?"
"Yes, I am Rogojin, Parfen Rogojin."
"Parfen Rogojin? dear me--then don't you belong to those very
Rogojins, perhaps--" began the clerk, with a very perceptible increase
of civility in his tone.
"Yes--those very ones," interrupted Rogojin, impatiently, and with
scant courtesy. I may remark that he had not once taken any notice of
the blotchy-faced passenger, and had hitherto addressed all his remarks
direct to the prince.
"Dear me--is it possible?" observed the clerk, while his face assumed
an expression of great deference and servility--if not of absolute alarm:
"what, a son of that very Semen Rogojin-- hereditary honourable
citizen--who died a month or so ago and left two million and a half of
roubles?"
"And how do YOU know that he left two million and a half of
roubles?" asked Rogojin, disdainfully, and no deigning so much as to
look at the other. "However, it's true enough that my father died a
month ago, and that here am I returning from Pskoff, a month after,
with hardly a boot to my foot. They've treated me like a dog! I've been
ill of fever at Pskoff the whole time, and not a line, nor farthing of
money, have I received from my mother or my confounded brother!"

"And now you'll have a million roubles, at least--goodness gracious
me!" exclaimed the clerk, rubbing his hands.
"Five weeks since, I was just like yourself," continued Rogojin,
addressing the prince, "with nothing but a bundle and the clothes I wore.
I ran away from my father and came to Pskoff to my aunt's house,
where I caved in at once with fever, and he went and died while I was
away. All honour to my respected father's memory--but he
uncommonly nearly killed me, all the same. Give you my word, prince,
if I hadn't cut and run then, when I did, he'd have murdered me like a