"Part Three" "Come in." "May I?" "Yes." "I came to thank you." "And mother is worried." "It's nothing." " She listened to you." " Who did?" "You have influence over Nastasia Philipovna." "Evidently she came to insult us." "one cannot... dear friend." "forgive me." " I'll get down on my knees." " Don't!" "I never thought you were like that." "I thought you couldn't..." "Apologize?" "Why on earth did I think you were an idiot?" "You notice thing nobody else does." "no." "They are all enemies." "believe me." "I will." "And you'll go to Nastasia Philipovna's?" "If you insist." "What a part to play! but she laughed at you." "It's not worth 75 thousand!" "You are still capable of honorable feelings." "this may all end badly." "They're all like that." "As if I don't know all about it. if it's not worth the 75 thousand?" " Is it a disgrace to marry so?" " A terrible disgrace." "You're moralizing!" "I'm not marrying for money." "of attraction!" "I have an aim!" "You think if I get my hands on the 75 thousand." "I won't! I'll give up my club." "you're invited to dinner." "It's perseverance." "That's my aim!" "he slept in the steers." "He sold penknives." "Now he has 60 thousand!" "But what he did to get them!" "I'll start with a little capital." "king of the Jews!" "Does that make me a scoundrel?" "I shall never consider you a scoundrel. and now you come to apologize and tell me:" "I'll go down on my knees." "like children." "So you're quite capable of that." "Then you start talking of a mad project and the 75 thousand." "it's absurd and impossible. but quite weak." "And you are not the least bit original." "You tell me I'm not original. quite ordinary." "You haven't even called me a scoundrel! who thinks me capable of selling him my wife." "It has long annoyed me!" "I want a fortune." "I'll be an extremely original man. and it will do so as long as the world lasts." "But enough of this." "I forgot to ask." "You seem to be struck with Nastasia Philipovna yourself." "it's true." "Are you in love with her?" "No." "And yet you flushed." "I won't laugh at you." "thank you." "I had a good lunch at General Epanchin's." "he's sitting over a bottle." "don't tell them I brought you the note." "I also have an idea." "I want to see you father over a certain matter." "Let's go." " What time is it?" " Half past nine." "would you like some champagne?" "it will cheer us up." "I'll drink three glasses today." "You seem to be a little feverish." "quite right." "That's why I put on this shawl." "Maybe we should let our hostess retire?" "gentlemen." "Tonight your presence is absolutely essential." "why don't we?" "I know a new and most delightful game." "What is it?" "Each of us should tell what he believes is the worst action he has ever committed." "The main thing is to be honest." " A strange idea." " That's the beauty of it." "let's try it!" "We are not quite so happy as we might be. he is free to do so." "it'll be quite original." "My dear young friend! you were a witness: a gentle and indulgent father. you shall see what happens." "Could you lend me a 10-rouble note?" "A 10-rouble note?" "No." "Here's a 25." "or I'll be left penniless." "I'll do it immediately... general." "Could you show me the way to Nastasia Philipovna's tonight?" "I must go there tonight." "but I wasn't invited. only to get in somehow." "my friend." "It was not for this trifle I asked you to come here." "I wanted to invite you alliance against Nastasia Philipovna." "in the campaign against Nastasia Philipovna." "General Ivolgin and prince Muishkin - that'll impress her!" " Do you know where she lives?" " Near the Bolshoi." "We'll set off at 10." "We still have some time." "prince." "I'm not a thief. and spent it at a restaurant the same evening." "I didn't feel much remorse either then or afterwards." "as you please." "that's all!" "Only that's not nearly your worst action." "How mean you are! and expect it to be magnificent!" "but I won't tell you anything." " You don't care to oblige us?" " I cannot." "I don't understand how one can play this game." "Why don't we end it then?" "it's your turn." "the whole game will fall apart." "for I wanted to tell my own story." "She has never lived near the Bolshoi." "Father's never been there." "She lives near the Five Corners." "I'm glad we met. son of the captain's widow to whom my father took you." "He's consumptive." "since it concerns my father and that makes a difference." "So Nastasia Philipovna invited you to see her?" " I'm afraid not." " Then how do you intend to go?" "And in that costume!" "She's giving a soiree." "I'm not sure I'll be allowed." "if not - the matter's closed." "As for my costume... or just as a way of getting into her society?" "I... but it's hard to explain." "Then it's your business." "So you're not going there just generals and usurers." "I should despise you. my little old lady passed away. swear bloody hell at her" "about a soup bowl." "I was to blame!" "And I couldn't get rid of that feeling till 15 years ago" "I put a couple of old ladies in an almshouse and kept them there at my expense." "That's all. is the worst action in my entire life." "Instead of a bad action you have told us about one of your noblest deeds." "Ferdishenko is 'done'! I never imagined you had such a kind heart." "I feel sorry for you." "Sorry?" "Prince Muishkin." "he did this out of pure innocence. but he may enliven us a little." "Prince Muishkin must pay a toll for his entrance!" "Sing a popular song." "prince Muishkin is no Ferdishenko." "I'm admitted here because that's the way I speak." "Could one imagine Ferdishenko sitting next to you?" "that's why I'm here." "I was sorry I've forgotten to invite you to come." "And I am delighted you give me the pleasure to praise your resolution." "You are altogether perfection." "Even your pallor." "One could not wish you looked any other way." "I so very much wished to come see you." "you'll spoil the originality of it." "do you?" "Yes." "You are wrong there." "I'll remind you of this tonight." "I didn't expect anything like that from you." "What's so surprising?" "and speaks for itself!" "prince." "It's quite a clear case. from the moment he first saw" "Nastasia Philipovna's portrait. what I am now pretty sure of." "The prince confessed to me himself." "I just answered your question." "Bravo!" "and cunning." "gentlemen." "It's Afanasy Ivanovich's turn." "we are telling stories of our vilest actions." "Do you have anything to say?" "There are far more thieves in the world than honest people." "who has never stolen anything at least once." "What do you think?" "I think what you say is true." "But don't exaggerate." "have not stolen anything?" "Ferdishenko!" " I'm quiet. who has long prepared his story." "What simplifies my duty is the fact that I have to recall and relate the very worst action of my life." "there can be no doubt:" "one's conscience and memory inform one what is the proper story." "This happened about 20 years ago. had just come into fashion in high society. especially about alternating white and red camellias." "All the ladies were in raptures over it. was desperately in love with a certain Anfisa Alexeyevna." "they gave a ball." "The poor fellow desperately wanted to get her a bouquet of camellias for the ball." "All knew that Julia Bespalova and countess Sotskaya were coming with bouquets of white camellias." "wished for red ones. he would have made great strides." "a woman's gratitude is boundless." "but it was quite impossible." "Nothing to say here." "The night before the ball I met him at 11 o'clock." "He's looking radiant." "What happened?" "What is it?" "I've found them!" "how?" "some 15 miles off. lives there with his old wife." "Both are devoted to flowers." "He's got some camellias." " "When are you going?" - "Tomorrow morning at 5." "Good luck to you!" I was so happy for him. when I had a very original idea! gave him 15 roubles and told him to get the carriage." "I got in and by 5 I was in Ekshaisk." "I took out a hundred roubles." "don't insult me this way." "give the hundred to the village hospital to improve things there." "That's very good and generous of you." "I'll donate it with pleasure." "I took another road home to avoid meeting Peter." "I sent a bouquet for Anfisa to see when she woke." "her gratitude. wept on my shoulder." "all husbands are like that." "after this poor Peter had no chance at all." "In a month he asked to be sent to the Caucasus." "where he was shot." "This business left me no peace for many years." "Why did I do it?" "I wasn't even in love with this Anfisa. and would have never gone to fight the Turks." "Ferdishenko's 'done'!" "' all right!" "And who asked you to talk nonsense?" "let's stop it." "I'll tell you my story and then we'll play cards." "but let's have the story first." "Prince!" "Totski and the general wish to marry me off." "Tell me what you think:" "should I marry or not?" "I'll do as you decide." "Marry whom?" "Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin." "don't marry him." " So it shall be then." "You've heard the prince's decision?" "Take it as my decision." "We've settled this matter once and for all." "gentlemen?" "You've given a promise quite voluntarily." "before company." "but..." "This is not serious." "I don't follow you." "What do you mean by saying "before company"?" "Isn't this company good enough?" "and I told you one." "Don't you like it?" "Why do you say it's not serious?" "The prince decided my fate." "I'd have given my consent." "My whole life was hanging by a thread." "Surely that's serious enough!" "What has he got to do with this?" "Who the deuce is the prince?" "!" "I trusted him as a man of real truthfulness of spirit." "and I still do." "There's nothing left for me to do but to thank Nastasia Philipovna for the delicacy with which she has treated me." "But the prince!" "He's after the 75 thousand?" "Is that what you mean?" "take the money back." "I let you go free for nothing." "take your necklace." "Give it to your wife. there'll be no more soirees." "At last!" "But I ask you to stay." "a group of ten men or so has come in!" "Let them in!" "Champagne?" "What's this?" "A hundred thousand." "he kept his word." "gentlemen." "my dear?" "!" "Do you think she has gone mad?" "but in the medical sense." "This a 100 thousand roubles." "In this dirty parcel." "He was bargaining for me. these 100!" "He's kept his word." "he is so pale!" " Nastasia Philipovna!" " It's indecent or what?" "Nonsense!" "As if I've been sitting virtuously at the theatre?" "A statue of inaccessible virtue?" "What a silly little idiot I was!" "And this man put down a 100 thousand on the table!" "After five years of innocence!" "He must have his troika sledge waiting for me." "He values me at a 100 thousand." "please!" "in spite of his money!" "and kick him out." "That's the way to treat him! why I wanted to enter an honest family like this." "you're still angry with me." "Rogojin's mistress? just to see how much you could swallow." "Surely you could never marry me?" "who accepts jewelry from your general just before she marries." "And Rogojin?" "He bargained for me in your house!" "And you came to ask for my hand!" "Surely what Rogojin said about you must be true:" "that you'd crawl on your hands and knees for 3 roubles." "He would." "If you were dying of hunger then I'd understand." "But they say you get a good salary." "And you wanted to take a wife you hate into your family." "You must hate me." "I know it." "You're so shameless!" "and you're even worse!" "Is it really you?" "and delicate of speech." "What language!" "How dreadful!" "I'm intoxicated!" "I'm having a day out!" "my special day!" "I been waiting for it so long!" "do you see that man over there? who's laughing at us." "but listening quite attentively." "Why have I tortured him for five years?" "Was he worth it?" "He's only what he ought to be." "too:" "kept me like a countess." "And all the money he spent!" "Found me a husband." "And what do you think?" "but took his money." "And considered it justified." "I was completely lost. and kick the man out." "It's an awful business." "and not to Gania." "too. four years ago I wanted to marry my Afanasy Ivanovich!" "I would have had him!" "he can't help it." "I thought:" "is he worth taking advantage of? I wouldn't have done it." "where I should be." "or become a washerwoman! who'd have me without anything?" "would he?" "Even Ferdishenko wouldn't have me!" "I'm a candid fellow." "But the prince would." "See how he's looking at you!" "Is that true?" "Quite true." "with nothing?" "Nastasia Philipovna." "Here's a pretty business!" "He does it from the pure kindness of his heart." "What a benefactor!" "what they say is true: he's not quite?" "if you take Rogojin's mistress?" "not as Rogojin's mistress." "Who?" "Me?" "Honest?" "you." "You get these ideas from novels!" "times have changed now. not a wife." "you're right." "not I you. you've passed through hell and come out so pure." "Why do you shame yourself by going with Rogojin?" "You're delirious." "You've returned to Totski his 75 thousand." "You say you'll leave this house and everything here." "No other person here would do that." "I love you." "I'll die for you." "I won't let anyone say a word against you." "I will work." "but very rich." "I don't know for certain." "I've received a letter from Moscow from a Mr. Salazkin." "He tells me I'm entitled to a very large inheritance." "Here's the letter." "Is he raving?" "It's a mad house!" "You say the letter is from Mr. Salazkin?" "a famous solicitor." "You can trust him." "I know his handwriting." "Let me have a look." "What's all this?" "Is he really an heir?" "gentlemen." "Certain enough! a million an a half at least." "And could be more." "prince!" "I'm really a princess? thought he was a beggar." "An unexpected climax." "dear." "Fantastic!" "Congratulations!" "Congratulations!" "gentlemen." "Congratulations!" "come sit beside me." "why don't you all congratulate me and the prince." "remember what you are." "you'd better look out:" "I'm a princess now." "The prince won't let you insult me." "I'll be able to sit with your new wife now." "See what I gain by marrying the prince?" "and a prince they say is an idiot." "Now the real life begins." "take your parcel away." "I'm getting married to the prince." "I'll be richer than you are." "prince." "Surrender her!" "To you?" "like a moujik!" "and you only..." "So do I!" "prince!" "I'll marry you!" "This moment!" "I'll take you!" "Surrender her!" " He's bargaining for your wife." " He's drunk." "He loves you very much." "I nearly went off with him?" "you are still delirious. that your wife was in Totski's keep?" "You did not do so by your own free will." " And never reproach me?" " I won't." "don't commit yourself for your whole lifetime. not I to you." "You laughed." "And those around us laughed." "I'm funny." "But I think I understand what honor is." "You were about to ruin yourself." "You would never have forgiven yourself for doing so." "But you are not to blame." "You are proud. that you believe yourself to be guilty." "and I'll do that." "and it seemed quite familiar to me." "It seemed to me you had already called me for help." "I will respect you all my life." "That's a kind-hearted man." "prince." "Nobody has ever talked to me this way." "They all bargained for me." "No one asked to marry him." "Afanasy Ivanovich?" "What do you think of the prince's words?" "They're almost immodest." "wait!" "after all." "Where did you want to take me?" "To Ekaterinhof." "What a row!" "Have you gone mad?" "And you thought I'd actually ruin this child?" "he likes children." "Rogojin!" "Where's your packet?" "!" " Are you actually leaving?" " And you thought I wouldn't?" "You called me perfection." "I'm not that perfect!" "I threw up a prince and a million and a half." "What sort of wife would I make you? I've really thrown away a million roubles." "And you thought I'd consider your 75 thousand and Gania a paradise of bliss?" "And now I must be off!" "I've been in prison for ten years." "we're going!" "Let's go!" "Wine!" "I haven't taken your money yet!" "Where is it?" "Give it to me!" "It looks so awful! because she's disreputable." "Why are you crying?" "Are you bitter?" "like I do." "it will pass." "than afterwards." "You'd have contempt for me." "I don't believe you." "We'd better part like good friends." "Wasn't it you I dreamed of?" "when I was still in his estate." "dream and think." "I imagined someone like you. who'd come and tell me "You are an innocent woman." "I adore you." "I nearly went mad. and then leave." "I longed to throw myself into the pond a million times." "But I didn't have the heart to do it." "But now... my love!" "my queen!" "The troikas with bells are ready!" "Give me the money." "Let's go!" "is this my money?" "my love." "It's a 100 thousand!" "Gania." "With your bare hands and turn your sleeves up. when you put your hands into the fire for my money." "the whole packet is yours!" "it'll burn." "it's my money." "Put in your hands!" "we should secure her?" "it's a 100 thousand!" "I saw it packed!" "Let me get into the fire." "I'll put my gray head into it!" "and 13 children!" "Last week I buried my father!" "Starvation!" "My lady!" " Go away!" " Out of the way!" "That's like it!" "A real queen!" "Who of you would think of a joke like that?" "! and you'll hang yourself afterwards." "She's mad!" "She's surely mad!" "I told you she was an extraordinary woman." "Good heavens!" "It's burning!" "I'll pull it out with my teeth for one thousand!" "dummy!" "Or everything will burn!" "He's fainted!" "Katia!" "Ammonia!" "or they'll burn!" "Burn for nothing!" "And it's a lot of money!" "It's intact!" "Some little thousand or so may be touched by fire." "The rest is all intact." "It's all his." "all of you?" "let's go!" "Let's go!" "you're the first real man I've seen." "prince." "You see what sort of woman she is!" "I'm speaking like a father now!" "To Ekaterinhof!" "Go!" "To Ekaterinhof!" "Moscow." "March." "You promised to marry me in church." "You're entering an honest family." "Know what you are?" "A lecherous bitch!" "Just a lecherous bitch!" "I wouldn't take you even as a servant now." "To say nothing of being your wife." "I won't leave here." "The end is all the same." "he'll throw you out." "Keller!" "Trash!" "Animal!" "Nastasia Philipovna." "Get out." "Get out!" "I won't till you forgive me." "I'll drown myself." "What will I now do without you?" "Take a look." "Parfen has decided to spend the rest of his life this way." "Out!" "Where are you all going?" "I'm the mistress of the house." "shouldn't forget yourself." "Out!" "Let's go to the theater." "if he doesn't want to go." "You'll be served tea while I'm out." "You must be very hungry." "Cowards and scoundrels." "and try to frighten me too." "he'll stab you." "But I'll go to my bedroom and leave the door unlocked." "just so you know." " Did you have tea?" " I didn't and I don't intend to." "You're playing off your pride." "And it doesn't become you at all."