private purpose.’
‘It’s also, of course, a great pleasure for me, too, but life is not all enjoyment, after all - sometimes business must be attended to ... What is more, I still cannot perceive between us any common ... pretext, as it were.’
‘No pretext, indisputably, and little in common, of course. For, if I am Prince Myshkin and your spouse is of our family, that is of course not a pretext. I understand that very well. Yet, none the less, all of my reason for coming to see you lies in the fact that I haven’t been in Russia for more than four years; and when I left, I wasn’t really in my right mind! Back then I knew nothing, and now I know even less. I’m in need of good people; I even have a certain item of business to attend to and don’t know where to start. Back in Berlin I thought: “They’re almost relatives, I’ll start with them; perhaps we shall be of use to one another, they to me and I to them - if they’re good people.” And I’d heard that you are good people.’
‘I’m very grateful to you, sir,’ the general said in surprise. ‘May one ask where you are staying?’
‘I’m not staying anywhere yet.’
‘You mean, straight off the train, and to me? And ... with luggage?’
‘My luggage is only one small bundle of linen, and that’s all; I usually carry it in my hand. I shall manage to rent a room this evening.’
‘So you still intend to rent a room?’
‘Oh yes, of course.’
‘To judge from what you said, I almost thought you had come straight to me.’
‘That might have been possible, but not unless you’d invited me. I admit that I wouldn’t have stayed even if you’d invited me, not for any special reason, but ... because that’s what I’m like.’
‘Well, in that case it’s just as well I didn’t invite you and do not invite you now. Allow me also, Prince, to clear the matter up once and for all: as we have just agreed that there can be no more talk of family kinship between us - though it would, of course, have been most flattering for me - it follows that...’
‘It follows that I should get up and go away?’ the prince said, half rising, and even with a cheerful laugh, in spite of all the evident difficulty of his circumstances. ‘And to be quite honest, General, though I know practically nothing of either the local customs or of how people live here, things have worked out between us exactly as I thought they would. Who knows, perhaps it’s best that way ... And I received no reply to the letter I wrote then, either ... Well, goodbye, and forgive me for troubling you.’
So affectionate was the prince’s gaze at that moment, his smile so devoid of even the slightest nuance of concealed hostility, that the general suddenly paused and saw his guest, as it were, in a different light; the entire change in his expression took place in a single instant.
‘Listen, Prince,’ he said in an almost entirely different voice, ‘the fact remains that I don’t know you, and it may be that Yelizaveta Prokofyevna would like to take a look at someone who shares her family’s name ... Wait awhile, if you like, and if you have time.’
‘Oh, I’ve plenty of that; my time is completely my own (and the prince at once placed his soft, round hat on the table). I will admit that I was counting on the possibility that Yelizaveta Prokofyevna might perhaps remember I wrote to her. Just now, while I was waiting for you out there, your servant thought I’d come to beg money from you; I noticed it, and I expect you’ve given strict instructions in that regard; but truly, I haven’t come for that, I really have come only in order to make people’s acquaintance. Only I have a slight feeling that I’ve disturbed you, and that troubles me.’
‘I tell you what, Prince,’ the general said with a jovial smile, ‘if you are indeed the man you seem to be, I think it will be nice to make your acquaintance; only you see, I’m a busy man, and very soon I must sit
‘It’s also, of course, a great pleasure for me, too, but life is not all enjoyment, after all - sometimes business must be attended to ... What is more, I still cannot perceive between us any common ... pretext, as it were.’
‘No pretext, indisputably, and little in common, of course. For, if I am Prince Myshkin and your spouse is of our family, that is of course not a pretext. I understand that very well. Yet, none the less, all of my reason for coming to see you lies in the fact that I haven’t been in Russia for more than four years; and when I left, I wasn’t really in my right mind! Back then I knew nothing, and now I know even less. I’m in need of good people; I even have a certain item of business to attend to and don’t know where to start. Back in Berlin I thought: “They’re almost relatives, I’ll start with them; perhaps we shall be of use to one another, they to me and I to them - if they’re good people.” And I’d heard that you are good people.’
‘I’m very grateful to you, sir,’ the general said in surprise. ‘May one ask where you are staying?’
‘I’m not staying anywhere yet.’
‘You mean, straight off the train, and to me? And ... with luggage?’
‘My luggage is only one small bundle of linen, and that’s all; I usually carry it in my hand. I shall manage to rent a room this evening.’
‘So you still intend to rent a room?’
‘Oh yes, of course.’
‘To judge from what you said, I almost thought you had come straight to me.’
‘That might have been possible, but not unless you’d invited me. I admit that I wouldn’t have stayed even if you’d invited me, not for any special reason, but ... because that’s what I’m like.’
‘Well, in that case it’s just as well I didn’t invite you and do not invite you now. Allow me also, Prince, to clear the matter up once and for all: as we have just agreed that there can be no more talk of family kinship between us - though it would, of course, have been most flattering for me - it follows that...’
‘It follows that I should get up and go away?’ the prince said, half rising, and even with a cheerful laugh, in spite of all the evident difficulty of his circumstances. ‘And to be quite honest, General, though I know practically nothing of either the local customs or of how people live here, things have worked out between us exactly as I thought they would. Who knows, perhaps it’s best that way ... And I received no reply to the letter I wrote then, either ... Well, goodbye, and forgive me for troubling you.’
So affectionate was the prince’s gaze at that moment, his smile so devoid of even the slightest nuance of concealed hostility, that the general suddenly paused and saw his guest, as it were, in a different light; the entire change in his expression took place in a single instant.
‘Listen, Prince,’ he said in an almost entirely different voice, ‘the fact remains that I don’t know you, and it may be that Yelizaveta Prokofyevna would like to take a look at someone who shares her family’s name ... Wait awhile, if you like, and if you have time.’
‘Oh, I’ve plenty of that; my time is completely my own (and the prince at once placed his soft, round hat on the table). I will admit that I was counting on the possibility that Yelizaveta Prokofyevna might perhaps remember I wrote to her. Just now, while I was waiting for you out there, your servant thought I’d come to beg money from you; I noticed it, and I expect you’ve given strict instructions in that regard; but truly, I haven’t come for that, I really have come only in order to make people’s acquaintance. Only I have a slight feeling that I’ve disturbed you, and that troubles me.’
‘I tell you what, Prince,’ the general said with a jovial smile, ‘if you are indeed the man you seem to be, I think it will be nice to make your acquaintance; only you see, I’m a busy man, and very soon I must sit
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