XVI.
"It's good business," said Ptitsin, at last, folding the letter
and handing it back to the prince. "You will receive, without the
slightest trouble, by the last will and testament of your aunt, a
very large sum of money indeed."
"Impossible!" cried the general, starting up as if he had been
shot.
Ptitsin explained, for the benefit of the company, that the
prince's aunt had died five months since. He had never known her,
but she was his mother's own sister, the daughter of a Moscow
merchant, one Paparchin, who had died a bankrupt. But the elder
brother of this same Paparchin, had been an eminent and very rich
merchant. A year since it had so happened that his only two sons
had both died within the same month. This sad event had so
affected the old man that he, too, had died very shortly after.
He was a widower, and had no relations left, excepting the
prince's aunt, a poor woman living on charity, who was herself
at the point of death from dropsy; but who had
time, before she died, to set Salaskin to work to find her
nephew, and to make her will bequeathing her newly-acquired
fortune to him.
It appeared that neither the prince, nor the doctor with whom he
lived in Switzerland, had thought of waiting for further
communications; but the prince had started straight away with
Salaskin's letter in his pocket.
"One thing I may tell you, for certain," concluded Ptitsin,
addressing the prince, "that there is no question about the
authenticity of this matter. Anything that Salaskin writes you as
regards your unquestionable right to this inheritance, you may
look upon as so much money in your pocket. I congratulate you,
prince; you may receive a million and a half of roubles, perhaps
more; I don't know. All I DO know is that Paparchin was a very
rich merchant indeed."
"Hurrah!" cried Lebedeff, in a drunken voice. "Hurrah for the
last of the Muishkins!"
"My goodness me! and I gave him twenty-five roubles this morning
as though he were a beggar," blurted out the general, half
senseless with amazement. "Well, I congratulate you, I
congratulate you!" And the general rose from his seat and
solemnly embraced the prince. All came forward with
congratulations; even those of Rogojin's party who had retreated
into the next room, now crept softly back to look on. For the
moment even Nastasia Philipovna was forgotten.
But gradually the consciousness crept back into the minds of each
one present that the prince had just made her an offer of
marriage. The situation had, therefore, become three times as
fantastic as before.
Totski sat and shrugged his shoulders, bewildered. He was the
only guest left sitting at this time; the others had thronged
round the table in disorder, and were all talking at once.
It was generally agreed, afterwards, in recalling that evening,
that from this moment Nastasia Philipovna seemed entirely to lose
her senses. She continued to sit still in her place, looking
around at her guests with a strange, bewildered expression, as
though she were trying to collect her thoughts, and could not.
Then she suddenly turned to the prince, and glared at him with
frowning brows; but this only lasted one moment. Perhaps it
suddenly struck her that all this was a jest, but his face seemed
to reassure her. She reflected, and smiled again, vaguely.
"So I am really a princess," she whispered to herself,
ironically, and glancing accidentally at Daria Alexeyevna's face,
she burst out laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha!" she cried, "this is an unexpected climax, after
all. I didn't expect this. What are you all standing up for,
gentlemen? Sit down; congratulate me and the prince! Ferdishenko,
just step out and order some more champagne, will you? Katia,
Pasha," she added suddenly, seeing the servants at the door,
"come here! I'm going to be married, did you hear? To the prince.
He has a million and a half of roubles; he is Prince Muishkin,
and has asked me to marry him. Here, prince, come and sit by me;
and here comes the wine. Now then, ladies and gentlemen, where
are your congratulations?"
"Hurrah!" cried a number of voices. A rush was made for the wine
by Rogojin's followers, though, even among them, there seemed
some sort of realization that the situation had changed. Rogojin
stood and looked on, with an incredulous smile, screwing up one
side of his mouth.
"Prince, my dear fellow, do remember what you are about," said
the general, approaching Muishkin, and pulling him by the coat
sleeve.
Nastasia Philipovna overheard the remark, and burst out laughing.
"No, no, general!" she cried. "You had better look out! I am the
princess now, you know. The prince won't let you insult me.
Afanasy Ivanovitch, why don't you congratulate me? I shall be
able to sit at table with your new wife, now. Aha! you see what I
gain by marrying a prince! A million and a half, and a prince,
and an idiot into the bargain, they say. What better could I wish
for? Life is only just about to commence for me in earnest.
Rogojin, you are a little too late. Away with your paper parcel!
I'm going to marry the prince; I'm richer than you are now."
But Rogojin understood how things were tending, at last. An
inexpressibly painful expression came over his face. He wrung his
hands; a groan made its way up from the depths of his soul.
"Surrender her, for God's sake!" he said to the prince.
All around burst out laughing.
"What? Surrender her to YOU?" cried Daria Alexeyevna. "To a
fellow who comes and bargains for a wife like a moujik! The
prince wishes to marry her, and you--"
"So do I, so do I! This moment, if I could! I'd give every
farthing I have to do it."
"You drunken moujik," said Daria Alexeyevna, once more. "You
ought to be kicked out of the place."
The laughter became louder than ever.
"Do you hear, prince?" said Nastasia Philipovna. "Do you hear how
this moujik of a fellow goes on bargaining for your bride?"
"He is drunk," said the prince, quietly, "and he loves you very
much."
"Won't you be ashamed, afterwards, to reflect that your wife very
nearly ran away with Rogojin?"
"Oh, you were raving, you were in a fever; you are still half
delirious."
"And won't you be ashamed when they tell you, afterwards, that
your wife lived at Totski's expense so many years?"
"No; I shall not be ashamed of that. You did not so live by your
own will."
"And you'll never reproach me with it?"
"Never."
"Take care, don't commit yourself for a whole lifetime."
"Nastasia Philipovna." said the prince, quietly, and with deep
emotion, "I said before that I shall esteem your consent to be my
wife as a great honour to myself, and shall consider that it is
you who will honour me, not I you, by our marriage. You laughed
at these words, and others around us laughed as well; I heard
them. Very likely I expressed myself funnily, and I may have
looked funny, but, for all that, I believe I understand where
honour lies, and what I said was but the literal truth. You were
about to ruin yourself just now, irrevocably; you would never
have forgiven yourself for so doing afterwards; and yet, you are
absolutely blameless. It is impossible that your life should be
altogether ruined at your age. What matter that Rogojin came
bargaining here, and that Gavrila Ardalionovitch would have
deceived you if he could? Why do you continually remind us of
these facts? I assure you once more that very few could find it
in them to act as you have acted this day. As for your wish to go
with Rogojin, that was simply the idea of a delirious and
suffering brain. You are still quite feverish; you ought to be in
bed, not here. You know quite well that if you had gone with
Rogojin, you would have become a washer-woman next day, rather
than stay with him. You are proud, Nastasia Philipovna, and
perhaps you have really suffered so much that you imagine
yourself to be a desperately guilty woman. You require a great
deal of petting and looking after, Nastasia Philipovna, and I
will do this. I saw your portrait this morning, and it seemed
quite a familiar face to me; it seemed to me that the portrait-
face was calling to me for help. I-I shall respect you all my
life, Nastasia Philipovna," concluded the prince, as though
suddenly recollecting himself, and blushing to think of the sort
of company before whom he had said all this.
Ptitsin bowed his head and looked at the ground, overcome by a
mixture of feelings. Totski muttered to himself: "He may be an
idiot, but he knows that flattery is the best road to success
here."
The prince observed Gania's eyes flashing at him, as though they
would gladly annihilate him then and there.
"That's a kind-hearted man, if you like," said Daria Alexeyevna,
whose wrath was quickly evaporating.
"A refined man, but--lost," murmured the general.
Totski took his hat and rose to go. He and the general exchanged
glances, making a private arrangement, thereby, to leave the
house together.
"Thank you, prince; no one has ever spoken to me like that
before," began Nastasia Philipovna. "Men have always bargained
for me, before this; and not a single respectable man has ever
proposed to marry me. Do you hear, Afanasy Ivanovitch? What do
YOU think of what the prince has just been saying? It was almost
immodest, wasn't it? You, Rogojin, wait a moment, don't go yet! I
see you don't intend to move however. Perhaps I may go with you
yet. Where did you mean to take me to?"
"To Ekaterinhof," replied Lebedeff. Rogojin simply stood staring,
with trembling lips, not daring to believe his ears. He was
stunned, as though from a blow on the head.
"What are you thinking of, my dear Nastasia?" said Daria
Alexeyevna in alarm. "What are you saying?" "You are not going
mad, are you?"
Nastasia Philipovna burst out laughing and jumped up from the
sofa.
"You thought I should accept this good child's invitation to ruin
him, did you?" she cried. "That's Totski's way, not mine. He's
fond of children. Come along, Rogojin, get your money ready! We
won't talk about marrying just at this moment, but let's see the
money at all events. Come! I may not marry you, either. I don't
know. I suppose you thought you'd keep the money, if I did! Ha,
ha, ha! nonsense! I have no sense of shame left. I tell you I
have been Totski's concubine. Prince, you must marry Aglaya
Ivanovna, not Nastasia Philipovna, or this fellow Ferdishenko
will always be pointing the finger of scorn at you. You aren't
afraid, I know; but I should always be afraid that I had ruined
you, and that you would reproach me for it. As for what you say
about my doing you honour by marrying you-well, Totski can tell
you all about that. You had your eye on Aglaya, Gania, you know
you had; and you might have married her if you had not come
bargaining. You are all like this. You should choose, once for
all, between disreputable women, and respectable ones, or you are
sure to get mixed. Look at the general, how he's staring at me!"
"This is too horrible," said the general, starting to his feet.
All were standing up now. Nastasia was absolutely beside herself.
"I am very proud, in spite of what I am," she continued. "You
called me 'perfection' just now, prince. A nice sort of
perfection to throw up a prince and a million and a half of
roubles in order to be able to boast of the fact afterwards! What
sort of a wife should I make for you, after all I have said?
Afanasy Ivanovitch, do you observe I have really and truly thrown
away a million of roubles? And you thought that I should consider
your wretched seventy-five thousand, with Gania thrown in for a
husband, a paradise of bliss! Take your seventy-five thousand
back, sir; you did not reach the hundred thousand. Rogojin cut a
better dash than you did. I'll console Gania myself; I have an
idea about that. But now I must be off! I've been in prison for
ten years. I'm free at last! Well, Rogojin, what are you waiting
for? Let's get ready and go."
"Come along!" shouted Rogojin, beside himself with joy. "Hey! all
of you fellows! Wine! Round with it! Fill the glasses!"
"Get away!" he shouted frantically, observing that Daria
Alexeyevna was approaching to protest against Nastasia's conduct.
"Get away, she's mine, everything's mine! She's a queen, get
away!"
He was panting with ecstasy. He walked round and round Nastasia
Philipovna and told everybody to "keep their distance."
All the Rogojin company were now collected in the drawing-room;
some were drinking, some laughed and talked: all were in the
highest and wildest spirits. Ferdishenko was doing his best to
unite himself to them; the general and Totski again made an
attempt to go. Gania, too stood hat in hand ready to go; but
seemed to be unable to tear his eyes away from the scene before
him
"Get out, keep your distance!" shouted Rogojin.
"What are you shouting about there!" cried Nastasia "I'm not
yours yet. I may kick you out for all you know I haven't taken
your money yet; there it all is on the table Here, give me over
that packet! Is there a hundred thousand roubles in that one
packet? Pfu! what abominable stuff it looks! Oh! nonsense, Daria
Alexeyevna; you surely did not expect me to ruin HIM?"
(indicating the prince). "Fancy him nursing me! Why, he needs a
nurse himself! The general, there, will be his nurse now, you'll
see. Here, prince, look here! Your bride is accepting money. What
a disreputable woman she must be! And you wished to marry her!
What are you crying about? Is it a bitter dose? Never mind, you
shall laugh yet. Trust to time." (In spite of these words there
were two large tears rolling down Nastasia's own cheeks.) "It's
far better to think twice of it now than afterwards. Oh! you
mustn't cry like that! There's Katia crying, too. What is it,
Katia, dear? I shall leave you and Pasha a lot of things, I've
laid them out for you already; but good-bye, now. I made an
honest girl like you serve a low woman like myself. It's better
so, prince, it is indeed. You'd begin to despise me afterwards--
we should never be happy. Oh! you needn't swear, prince, I shan't
believe you, you know. How foolish it would be, too! No, no; we'd
better say good-bye and part friends. I am a bit of a dreamer
myself, and I used to dream of you once. Very often during those
five years down at his estate I used to dream and think, and I
always imagined just such a good, honest, foolish fellow as you,
one who should come and say to me: 'You are an innocent woman,
Nastasia Philipovna, and I adore you.' I dreamt of you often. I
used to think so much down there that I nearly went mad; and then
this fellow here would come down. He would stay a couple of
months out of the twelve, and disgrace and insult and deprave me,
and then go; so that I longed to drown myself in the pond a
thousand times over; but I did not dare do it. I hadn't the
heart, and now--well, are you ready, Rogojin?"
"Ready--keep your distance, all of you!"
"We're all ready," said several of his friends. "The troikas
[Sledges drawn by three horses abreast.] are at the door, bells
and all."
Nastasia Philipovna seized the packet of bank-notes.
"Gania, I have an idea. I wish to recompense you--why should you
lose all? Rogojin, would he crawl for three roubles as far as the
Vassiliostrof?
"Oh, wouldn't he just!"
"Well, look here, Gania. I wish to look into your heart once
more, for the last time. You've worried me for the last three
months--now it's my turn. Do you see this packet? It contains a
hundred thousand roubles. Now, I'm going to throw it into the
fire, here--before all these witnesses. As soon as the fire
catches hold of it, you put your hands into the fire and pick it
out--without gloves, you know. You must have bare hands, and you
must turn your sleeves up. Pull it out, I say, and it's all
yours. You may burn your fingers a little, of course; but then
it's a hundred thousand roubles, remember--it won't take you long
to lay hold of it and snatch it out. I shall so much admire you
if you put your hands into the fire for my money. All here
present may be witnesses that the whole packet of money is yours
if you get it out. If you don't get it out, it shall burn. I will
let no one else come; away--get away, all of you--it's my money!
Rogojin has bought me with it. Is it my money, Rogojin?"
"Yes, my queen; it's your own money, my joy."
"Get away then, all of you. I shall do as I like with my own--
don't meddle! Ferdishenko, make up the fire, quick!"
"Nastasia Philipovna, I can't; my hands won't obey me," said
Ferdishenko, astounded and helpless with bewilderment.
"Nonsense," cried Nastasia Philipovna, seizing the poker and
raking a couple of logs together. No sooner did a tongue of flame
burst out than she threw the packet of notes upon it.
Everyone gasped; some even crossed themselves.
"She's mad--she's mad!" was the cry.
"Oughtn't-oughtn't we to secure her?" asked the general of
Ptitsin, in a whisper; "or shall we send for the authorities?
Why, she's mad, isn't she--isn't she, eh?"
"N-no, I hardly think she is actually mad," whispered Ptitsin,
who was as white as his handkerchief, and trembling like a leaf.
He could not take his eyes off the smouldering packet.
"She's mad surely, isn't she?" the general appealed to Totski.
"I told you she wasn't an ordinary woman," replied the latter,
who was as pale as anyone.
"Oh, but, positively, you know--a hundred thousand roubles!"
"Goodness gracious! good heavens!" came from all quarters of the
room.
All now crowded round the fire and thronged to see what was going
on; everyone lamented and gave vent to exclamations of horror and
woe. Some jumped up on chairs in order to get a better view.
Daria Alexeyevna ran into the next room and whispered excitedly
to Katia and Pasha. The beautiful German disappeared altogether.
"My lady! my sovereign!" lamented Lebedeff, falling on his knees
before Nastasia Philipovna, and stretching out his hands towards
the fire; "it's a hundred thousand roubles, it is indeed, I
packed it up myself, I saw the money! My queen, let me get into
the fire after it--say the word-I'll put my whole grey head into
the fire for it! I have a poor lame wife and thirteen children.
My father died of starvation last week. Nastasia Philipovna,
Nastasia Philipovna!" The wretched little man wept, and groaned,
and crawled towards the fire.
"Away, out of the way!" cried Nastasia. "Make room, all of you!
Gania, what are you standing there for? Don't stand on ceremony.
Put in your hand! There's your whole happiness smouldering away,
look! Quick!"
But Gania had borne too much that day, and especially this
evening, and he was not prepared for this last, quite unexpected
trial.
The crowd parted on each side of him and he was left face to face
with Nastasia Philipovna, three paces from her. She stood by the
fire and waited, with her intent gaze fixed upon him.
Gania stood before her, in his evening clothes, holding his white
gloves and hat in his hand, speechless and motionless, with arms
folded and eyes fixed on the fire.
A silly, meaningless smile played on his white, death-like lips.
He could not take his eyes off the smouldering packet; but it
appeared that something new had come to birth in his soul--as
though he were vowing to himself that he would bear this trial.
He did not move from his place. In a few seconds it became
evident to all that he did not intend to rescue the money.
"Hey! look at it, it'll burn in another minute or two!" cried
Nastasia Philipovna. "You'll hang yourself afterwards, you know,
if it does! I'm not joking."
The fire, choked between a couple of smouldering pieces of wood,
had died down for the first few moments after the packet was
thrown upon it. But a little tongue of fire now began to lick the
paper from below, and soon, gathering courage, mounted the sides
of the parcel, and crept around it. In another moment, the whole
of it burst into flames, and the exclamations of woe and horror
were redoubled.
"Nastasia Philipovna!" lamented Lebedeff again, straining towards
the fireplace; but Rogojin dragged him away, and pushed him to
the rear once more.
The whole of Regojin's being was concentrated in one rapturous
gaze of ecstasy. He could not take his eyes off Nastasia. He
stood drinking her in, as it were. He was in the seventh heaven
of delight.
"Oh, what a queen she is!" he ejaculated, every other minute,
throwing out the remark for anyone who liked to catch it. "That's
the sort of woman for me! Which of you would think of doing a
thing like that, you blackguards, eh?" he yelled. He was
hopelessly and wildly beside himself with ecstasy.
The prince watched the whole scene, silent and dejected.
"I'll pull it out with my teeth for one thousand," said
Ferdishenko.
"So would I," said another, from behind, "with pleasure. Devil
take the thing!" he added, in a tempest of despair, "it will all
be burnt up in a minute--It's burning, it's burning!"
"It's burning, it's burning!" cried all, thronging nearer and
nearer to the fire in their excitement.
"Gania, don't be a fool! I tell you for the last time."
"Get on, quick!" shrieked Ferdishenko, rushing wildly up to
Gania, and trying to drag him to the fire by the sleeve of his
coat. "Get it, you dummy, it's burning away fast! Oh--DAMN the
thing!"
Gania hurled Ferdishenko from him; then he turned sharp round and
made for the door. But he had not gone a couple of steps when he
tottered and fell to the ground.
"He's fainted!" the cry went round.
"And the money's burning still," Lebedeff lamented.
"Burning for nothing," shouted others.
"Katia-Pasha! Bring him some water!" cried Nastasia Philipovna.
Then she took the tongs and fished out the packet.
Nearly the whole of the outer covering was burned away, but it
was soon evident that the contents were hardly touched. The
packet had been wrapped in a threefold covering of newspaper, and
the, notes were safe. All breathed more freely.
"Some dirty little thousand or so may be touched," said Lebedeff,
immensely relieved, "but there's very little harm done, after
all."
"It's all his--the whole packet is for him, do you hear--all of
you?" cried Nastasia Philipovna, placing the packet by the side
of Gania. "He restrained himself, and didn't go after it; so his
self-respect is greater than his thirst for money. All right--
he'll come to directly--he must have the packet or he'll cut his
throat afterwards. There! He's coming to himself. General,
Totski, all of you, did you hear me? The money is all Gania's. I
give it to him, fully conscious of my action, as recompense for--
well, for anything he thinks best. Tell him so. Let it lie here
beside him. Off we go, Rogojin! Goodbye, prince. I have seen a
man for the first time in my life. Goodbye, Afanasy Ivanovitch--
and thanks!"
The Rogojin gang followed their leader and Nastasia Philipovna to
the entrance-hall, laughing and shouting and whistling.
In the hall the servants were waiting, and handed her her fur
cloak. Martha, the cook, ran in from the kitchen. Nastasia kissed
them all round.
"Are you really throwing us all over, little mother? Where, where
are you going to? And on your birthday, too!" cried the four
girls, crying over her and kissing her hands.
"I am going out into the world, Katia; perhaps I shall be a
laundress. I don't know. No more of Afanasy Ivanovitch, anyhow.
Give him my respects. Don't think badly of me, girls."
The prince hurried down to the front gate where the party were
settling into the troikas, all the bells tinkling a merry
accompaniment the while. The general caught him up on the stairs:
"Prince, prince!" he cried, seizing hold of his arm, "recollect
yourself! Drop her, prince! You see what sort of a woman she is.
I am speaking to you like a father."
The prince glanced at him, but said nothing. He shook himself
free, and rushed on downstairs.
The general was just in time to see the prince take the first
sledge he could get, and, giving the order to Ekaterinhof, start
off in pursuit of the troikas. Then the general's fine grey horse
dragged that worthy home, with some new thoughts, and some new
hopes and calculations developing in his brain, and with the
pearls in his pocket, for he had not forgotten to bring them
along with him, being a man of business. Amid his new thoughts
and ideas there came, once or twice, the image of Nastasia
Philipovna. The general sighed.
"I'm sorry, really sorry," he muttered. "She's a ruined woman.
Mad! mad! However, the prince is not for Nastasia Philipovna
now,--perhaps it's as well."
Two more of Nastasia's guests, who walked a short distance
together, indulged in high moral sentiments of a similar nature.
"Do you know, Totski, this is all very like what they say goes on
among the Japanese?" said Ptitsin. "The offended party there,
they say, marches off to his insulter and says to him, 'You
insulted me, so I have come to rip myself open before your eyes;'
and with these words he does actually rip his stomach open before
his enemy, and considers, doubtless, that he is having all
possible and necessary satisfaction and revenge. There are
strange characters in the world, sir!"
"H'm! and you think there was something of this sort here, do
you? Dear me--a very remarkable comparison, you know! But you
must have observed, my dear Ptitsin, that I did all I possibly
could. I could do no more than I did. And you must admit that
there are some rare qualities in this woman. I felt I could not
speak in that Bedlam, or I should have been tempted to cry out,
when she reproached me, that she herself was my best
justification. Such a woman could make anyone forget all reason--
everything! Even that moujik, Rogojin, you saw, brought her a
hundred thousand roubles! Of course, all that happened tonight
was ephemeral, fantastic, unseemly--yet it lacked neither colour
nor originality. My God! What might not have been made of such a
character combined with such beauty! Yet in spite of all efforts
--in spite of all education, even--all those gifts are wasted! She
is an uncut diamond.... I have often said so."
And Afanasy Ivanovitch heaved a deep sigh.
