THE prince observed with great surprise, as he approached his villa, accompanied by Rogojin, that a large number of people were assembled on his verandah, which was brilliantly lighted up. The company seemed merry and were noisily laughing and talking--even quarrelling, to judge from the sounds. At all events they were clearly enjoying themselves, and the prince observed further on closer investigation--that all had been drinking champagne. To judge from the lively condition of some of the party, it was to be supposed that a considerable quantity of champagne had been consumed already.
All the guests were known to the prince; but the curious part of the matter was that they had all arrived on the same evening, as though with one accord, although he had only himself recollected the fact that it was his birthday a few moments since.
"You must have told somebody you were going to trot out the champagne, and that's why they are all come!" muttered Rogojin, as the two entered the verandah. "We know all about that! You've only to whistle and they come up in shoals!" he continued, almost angrily. He was doubtless thinking of his own late experiences with his boon companions.
All surrounded the prince with exclamations of welcome, and, on hearing that it was his birthday, with cries of congratulation and delight; many of them were very noisy.
The presence of certain of those in the room surprised the prince vastly, but the guest whose advent filled him with the greatest wonder--almost amounting to alarm--was Evgenie Pavlovitch. The prince could not believe his eyes when he beheld the latter, and could not help thinking that something was wrong.
Lebedeff ran up promptly to explain the arrival of all these gentlemen. He was himself somewhat intoxicated, but the prince gathered from his long-winded periods that the party had assembled quite naturally, and accidentally.
First of all Hippolyte had arrived, early in the evening, and feeling decidedly better, had determined to await the prince on the verandah. There Lebedeff had joined him, and his household had followed--that is, his daughters and General Ivolgin. Burdovsky had brought Hippolyte, and stayed on with him. Gania and Ptitsin had dropped in accidentally later on; then came Keller, and he and Colia insisted on having champagne. Evgenie Pavlovitch had only dropped in half an hour or so ago. Lebedeff had served the champagne readily.
"My own though, prince, my own, mind," he said, "and there'll be some supper later on; my daughter is getting it ready now. Come and sit down, prince, we are all waiting for you, we want you with us. Fancy what we have been discussing! You know the question, 'to be or not to be,'--out of Hamlet! A contemporary theme! Quite up-to-date! Mr. Hippolyte has been eloquent to a degree. He won't go to bed, but he has only drunk a little champagne, and that can't do him any harm. Come along, prince, and settle the question. Everyone is waiting for you, sighing for the light of your luminous intelligence..."
The prince noticed the sweet, welcoming look on Vera Lebedeff's face, as she made her way towards him through the crowd. He held out his hand to her. She took it, blushing with delight, and wished him "a happy life from that day forward." Then she ran off to the kitchen, where. her presence was necessary to help in the preparations for supper. Before the prince's arrival she had spent some time on the terrace, listening eagerly to the conversation, though the visitors, mostly under the influence of wine, were discussing abstract subjects far beyond her comprehension. In the next room her younger sister lay on a wooden chest, sound asleep, with her mouth wide open; but the boy, Lebedeff's son, had taken up his position close beside Colia and Hippolyte, his face lit up with interest in the conversation of his father and the rest, to which he would willingly have listened for ten hours at a stretch.
"I have waited for you on purpose, and am very glad to see you arrive so happy," said Hippolyte, when the prince came forward to press his hand, immediately after greeting Vera.
"And how do you know that I am 'so happy'?
"I can see it by your face! Say 'how do you do' to the others, and come and sit down here, quick--I've been waiting for you!" he added, accentuating the fact that he had waited. On the prince's asking, "Will it not be injurious to you to sit out so late?" he replied that he could not believe that he had thought himself dying three days or so ago, for he never had felt better than this evening.
Burdovsky next jumped up and explained that he had come in by accident, having escorted Hippolyte from town. He murmured that he was glad he had "written nonsense" in his letter, and then pressed the prince's hand warmly and sat down again.
The prince approached Evgenie Pavlovitch last of all. The latter immediately took his arm.
"I have a couple of words to say to you," he began, "and those on a very important matter; let's go aside for a minute or two."
"Just a couple of words!" whispered another voice in the prince's other ear, and another hand took his other arm. Muishkin turned, and to his great surprise observed a red, flushed face and a droll-looking figure which he recognized at once as that of Ferdishenko. Goodness knows where he had turned up from!
"Do you remember Ferdishenko?" he asked.
"Where have you dropped from?" cried the prince.
"He is sorry for his sins now, prince," cried Keller. "He did not want to let you know he was here; he was hidden over there in the corner,--but he repents now, he feels his guilt."
"Why, what has he done?"
"I met him outside and brought him in--he's a gentleman who doesn't often allow his friends to see him, of late--but he's sorry now."
"Delighted, I'm sure!--I'll come back directly, gentlemen,--sit down there with the others, please,--excuse me one moment," said the host, getting away with difficulty in order to follow Evgenie.
"You are very gay here," began the latter, "and I have had quite a pleasant half-hour while I waited for you. Now then, my dear Lef Nicolaievitch, this is what's the matter. I've arranged it all with Moloftsoff, and have just come in to relieve your mind on that score. You need be under no apprehensions. He was very sensible, as he should be, of course, for I think he was entirely to blame himself."
"What Moloftsoff?"
"The young fellow whose arms you held, don't you know? He was so wild with you that he was going to send a friend to you tomorrow morning."
"What nonsense!"
"Of course it is nonsense, and in nonsense it would have ended, doubtless; but you know these fellows, they--"
"Excuse me, but I think you must have something else that you wished to speak about, Evgenie Pavlovitch?"
"Of course, I have!" said the other, laughing. "You see, my dear fellow, tomorrow, very early in the morning, I must be off to town about this unfortunate business(my uncle, you know!). Just imagine, my dear sir, it is all true--word for word--and, of course, everybody knew it excepting myself. All this has been such a blow to me that I have not managed to call in at the Epanchins'. Tomorrow I shall not see them either, because I shall be in town. I may not be here for three days or more; in a word, my affairs are a little out of gear. But though my town business is, of course, most pressing, still I determined not to go away until I had seen you, and had a clear understanding with you upon certain points; and that without loss of time. I will wait now, if you will allow me, until the company departs; I may just as well, for I have nowhere else to go to, and I shall certainly not do any sleeping tonight; I'm far too excited. And finally, I must confess that, though I know it is bad form to pursue a man in this way, I have come to beg your friendship, my dear prince. You are an unusual sort of a person; you don't lie at every step, as some men do; in fact, you don't lie at all, and there is a matter in which I need a true and sincere friend, for I really may claim to be among the number of bona fide unfortunates just now."
He laughed again.
"But the trouble is," said the prince, after a slight pause for reflection, "that goodness only knows when this party will break up. Hadn't we better stroll into the park? I'll excuse myself, there's no danger of their going away."
"No, no! I have my reasons for wishing them not to suspect us of being engaged in any specially important conversation. There are gentry present who are a little too much interested in us. You are not aware of that perhaps, prince? It will be a great deal better if they see that we are friendly just in an ordinary way. They'll all go in a couple of hours, and then I'll ask you to give me twenty minutes-half an hour at most."
"By all means! I assure you I am delighted--you need not have entered into all these explanations. As for your remarks about friendship with me--thanks, very much indeed. You must excuse my being a little absent this evening. Do you know, I cannot somehow be attentive to anything just now?"
"I see, I see," said Evgenie, smiling gently. His mirth seemed very near the surface this evening.
"What do you see?" said the prince, startled.
"I don't want you to suspect that I have simply come here to deceive you and pump information out of you!" said Evgenie, still smiling, and without making any direct reply to the question.
"Oh, but I haven't the slightest doubt that you did come to pump me," said the prince, laughing himself, at last; "and I dare say you are quite prepared to deceive me too, so far as that goes. But what of that? I'm not afraid of you; besides, you'll hardly believe it, I feel as though I really didn't care a scrap one way or the other, just now!--And-and-and as you are a capital fellow, I am convinced of that, I dare say we really shall end by being good friends. I like you very much Evgenie Pavlovitch; I consider you a very good fellow indeed."
"Well, in any case, you are a most delightful man to have to deal with, be the business what it may," concluded Evgenie. "Come along now, I'll drink a glass to your health. I'm charmed to have entered into alliance with you. By-the-by," he added suddenly, has this young Hippolyte come down to stay with you
"Yes."
"He's not going to die at once, I should think, is he?"
"Why?"
"Oh, I don't know. I've been half an hour here with him, and he--"
Hippolyte had been waiting for the prince all this time, and had never ceased looking at him and Evgenie Pavlovitch as they conversed in the corner. He became much excited when they approached the table once more. He was disturbed in his mind, it seemed; perspiration stood in large drops on his forehead; in his gleaming eyes it was easy to read impatience and agitation; his gaze wandered from face to face of those present, and from object to object in the room, apparently without aim. He had taken a part, and an animated one, in the noisy conversation of the company; but his animation was clearly the outcome of fever. His talk was almost incoherent; he would break off in the middle of a sentence which he had begun with great interest, and forget what he had been saying. The prince discovered to his dismay that Hippolyte had been allowed to drink two large glasses of champagne; the one now standing by him being the third. All this he found out afterwards; at the moment he did not notice anything, very particularly.
"Do you know I am specially glad that today is your birthday!" cried Hippolyte.
"Why?"
"You'll soon see. D'you know I had a feeling that there would be a lot of people here tonight? It's not the first time that my presentiments have been fulfilled. I wish I had known it was your birthday, I'd have brought you a present--perhaps I have got a present for you! Who knows? Ha, ha! How long is it now before daylight?"
"Not a couple of hours," said Ptitsin, looking at his watch. What's the good of daylight now? One can read all night in the open air without it," said someone.
"The good of it! Well, I want just to see a ray of the sun," said Hippolyte. Can one drink to the sun's health, do you think, prince?"
"Oh, I dare say one can; but you had better be calm and lie down, Hippolyte--that's much more important.
"You are always preaching about resting; you are a regular nurse to me, prince. As soon as the sun begins to 'resound' in the sky --what poet said that? 'The sun resounded in the sky.' It is beautiful, though there's no sense in it!--then we will go to bed. Lebedeff, tell me, is the sun the source of life? What does the source, or 'spring,' of life really mean in the Apocalypse? You have heard of the 'Star that is called Wormwood,' prince?"
"I have heard that Lebedeff explains it as the railroads that cover Europe like a net."
Everybody laughed, and Lebedeff got up abruptly.
"No! Allow me, that is not what we are discussing!" he cried, waving his hand to impose silence. "Allow me! With these gentlemen ... all these gentlemen," he added, suddenly addressing the prince, "on certain points ... that is ..." He thumped the table repeatedly, and the laughter increased. Lebedeff was in his usual evening condition, and had just ended a long and scientific argument, which had left him excited and irritable. On such occasions he was apt to evince a supreme contempt for his opponents.
"It is not right! Half an hour ago, prince, it was agreed among us that no one should interrupt, no one should laugh, that each person was to express his thoughts freely; and then at the end, when everyone had spoken, objections might be made, even by the atheists. We chose the general as president. Now without some such rule and order, anyone might be shouted down, even in the loftiest and most profound thought. . . ."
"Go on! Go on! Nobody is going to interrupt you!" cried several voices.
"Speak, but keep to the point!"
"What is this 'star'?" asked another.
I have no idea," replied General Ivolgin, who presided with much gravity.
"I love these arguments, prince," said Keller, also more than half intoxicated, moving restlessly in his chair. "Scientific and political." Then, turning suddenly towards Evgenie Pavlovitch, who was seated near him: "Do you know, I simply adore reading the accounts of the debates in the English parliament. Not that the discussions themselves interest me; I am not a politician, you know; but it delights me to see how they address each other 'the noble lord who agrees with me,' 'my honourable opponent who astonished Europe with his proposal,' 'the noble viscount sitting opposite'--all these expressions, all this parliamentarism of a free people, has an enormous attraction for me. It fascinates me, prince. I have always been an artist in the depths of my soul, I assure you, Evgenie Pavlovitch."
"Do you mean to say," cried Gania, from the other corner, "do you mean to say that railways are accursed inventions, that they are a source of ruin to humanity, a poison poured upon the earth to corrupt the springs of life?"
Gavrila Ardalionovitch was in high spirits that evening, and it seemed to the prince that his gaiety was mingled with triumph. Of course he was only joking with Lebedeff, meaning to egg him on, but he grew excited himself at the same time.
"Not the railways, oh dear, no!" replied Lebedeff, with a mixture of violent anger and extreme enjoyment. "Considered alone, the railways will not pollute the springs of life, but as a whole they are accursed. The whole tendency of our latest centuries, in its scientific and materialistic aspect, is most probably accursed."
"Is it certainly accursed? ... or do you only mean it might be? That is an important point," said Evgenie Pavlovitch.
"It is accursed, certainly accursed!" replied the clerk, vehemently.
"Don't go so fast, Lebedeff; you are much milder in the morning," said Ptitsin, smiling.
"But, on the other hand, more frank in the evening! In the evening sincere and frank," repeated Lebedeff, earnestly. "More candid, more exact, more honest, more honourable, and ... although I may show you my weak side, I challenge you all; you atheists, for instance! How are you going to save the world? How find a straight road of progress, you men of science, of industry, of cooperation, of trades unions, and all the rest? How are you going to save it, I say? By what? By credit? What is credit? To what will credit lead you?"
"You are too inquisitive," remarked Evgenie Pavlovitch.
"Well, anyone who does not interest himself in questions such as this is, in my opinion, a mere fashionable dummy."
"But it will lead at least to solidarity, and balance of interests," said Ptitsin.
"You will reach that with nothing to help you but credit? Without recourse to any moral principle, having for your foundation only individual selfishness, and the satisfaction of material desires? Universal peace, and the happiness of mankind as a whole, being the result! Is it really so that I may understand you, sir?"
"But the universal necessity of living, of drinking, of eating-- in short, the whole scientific conviction that this necessity can only be satisfied by universal co-operation and the solidarity of interests--is, it seems to me, a strong enough idea to serve as a basis, so to speak, and a 'spring of life,' for humanity in future centuries," said Gavrila Ardalionovitch, now thoroughly roused.
"The necessity of eating and drinking, that is to say, solely the instinct of self-preservation..."
"Is not that enough? The instinct of self-preservation is the normal law of humanity..."
"Who told you that?" broke in Evgenie Pavlovitch.
"It is a law, doubtless, but a law neither more nor less normal than that of destruction, even self-destruction. Is it possible that the whole normal law of humanity is contained in this sentiment of self-preservation?"
"Ah!" cried Hippolyte, turning towards Evgenie Pavlovitch, and looking at him with a queer sort of curiosity.
Then seeing that Radomski was laughing, he began to laugh himself, nudged Colia, who was sitting beside him, with his elbow, and again asked what time it was. He even pulled Colia's silver watch out of his hand, and looked at it eagerly. Then, as if he had forgotten everything, he stretched himself out on the sofa, put his hands behind his head, and looked up at the sky. After a minute or two he got up and came back to the table to listen to Lebedeff's outpourings, as the latter passionately commentated on Evgenie Pavlovitch's paradox.
"Another excellent idea, and worth considering!" replied Lebedeff. "But, again, that is not the question. The question at this moment is whether we have not weakened 'the springs of life' by the extension ..."
"Of railways?" put in Colia eagerly.
"Not railways, properly speaking, presumptuous youth, but the general tendency of which railways may be considered as the outward expression and symbol. We hurry and push and hustle, for the good of humanity! 'The world is becoming too noisy, too commercial!' groans some solitary thinker. 'Undoubtedly it is, but the noise of waggons bearing bread to starving humanity is of more value than tranquillity of soul,' replies another triumphantly, and passes on with an air of pride. As for me, I don't believe in these waggons bringing bread to humanity. For, founded on no moral principle, these may well, even in the act of carrying bread to humanity, coldly exclude a considerable portion of humanity from enjoying it; that has been seen more than once.
"What, these waggons may coldly exclude?" repeated someone.
"That has been seen already," continued Lebedeff, not deigning to notice the interruption. "Malthus was a friend of humanity, but, with ill-founded moral principles, the friend of humanity is the devourer of humanity, without mentioning his pride; for, touch the vanity of one of these numberless philanthropists, and to avenge his self-esteem, he will be ready at once to set fire to the whole globe; and to tell the truth, we are all more or less like that. I, perhaps, might be the first to set a light to the fuel, and then run away. But, again, I must repeat, that is not the question."
"What is it then, for goodness' sake?"
"He is boring us!"
"The question is connected with the following anecdote of past times; for I am obliged to relate a story. In our times, and in our country, which I hope you love as much as I do, for as far as I am concerned, I am ready to shed the last drop of my blood...
"Go on! Go on!"
"In our dear country, as indeed in the whole of Europe, a famine visits humanity about four times a century, as far as I can remember; once in every twenty-five years. I won't swear to this being the exact figure, but anyhow they have become comparatively rare."
"Comparatively to what?"
"To the twelfth century, and those immediately preceding and following it. We are told by historians that widespread famines occurred in those days every two or three years, and such was the condition of things that men actually had recourse to cannibalism, in secret, of course. One of these cannibals, who had reached a good age, declared of his own free will that during the course of his long and miserable life he had personally killed and eaten, in the most profound secrecy, sixty monks, not to mention several children; the number of the latter he thought was about six, an insignificant total when compared with the enormous mass of ecclesiastics consumed by him. As to adults, laymen that is to say, he had never touched them."
The president joined in the general outcry.
"That's impossible!" said he in an aggrieved tone. "I am often discussing subjects of this nature with him, gentlemen, but for the most part he talks nonsense enough to make one deaf: this story has no pretence of being true."
"General, remember the siege of Kars! And you, gentlemen, I assure you my anecdote is the naked truth. I may remark that reality, although it is governed by invariable law, has at times a resemblance to falsehood. In fact, the truer a thing is the less true it sounds."
"But could anyone possibly eat sixty monks?" objected the scoffing listeners.
"It is quite clear that he did not eat them all at once, but in a space of fifteen or twenty years: from that point of view the thing is comprehensible and natural..."
"Natural?"
"And natural," repeated Lebedeff with pedantic obstinacy. "Besides, a Catholic monk is by nature excessively curious; it would be quite easy therefore to entice him into a wood, or some secret place, on false pretences, and there to deal with him as said. But I do not dispute in the least that the number of persons consumed appears to denote a spice of greediness."
"It is perhaps true, gentlemen," said the prince, quietly. He had been listening in silence up to that moment without taking part in the conversation, but laughing heartily with the others from time to time. Evidently he was delighted to see that everybody was amused, that everybody was talking at once, and even that everybody was drinking. It seemed as if he were not intending to speak at all, when suddenly he intervened in such a serious voice that everyone looked at him with interest.
"It is true that there were frequent famines at that time, gentlemen. I have often heard of them, though I do not know much history. But it seems to me that it must have been so. When I was in Switzerland I used to look with astonishment at the many ruins of feudal castles perched on the top of steep and rocky heights, half a mile at least above sea-level, so that to reach them one had to climb many miles of stony tracks. A castle, as you know, is, a kind of mountain of stones--a dreadful, almost an impossible, labour! Doubtless the builders were all poor men, vassals, and had to pay heavy taxes, and to keep up the priesthood. How, then, could they provide for themselves, and when had they time to plough and sow their fields? The greater number must, literally, have died of starvation. I have sometimes asked myself how it was that these communities were not utterly swept off the face of the earth, and how they could possibly survive. Lebedeff is not mistaken, in my opinion, when he says that there were cannibals in those days, perhaps in considerable numbers; but I do not understand why he should have dragged in the monks, nor what he means by that."
"It is undoubtedly because, in the twelfth century, monks were the only people one could eat; they were the fat, among many lean," said Gavrila Ardalionovitch.
"A brilliant idea, and most true!" cried Lebedeff, "for he never even touched the laity. Sixty monks, and not a single layman! It is a terrible idea, but it is historic, it is statistic; it is indeed one of those facts which enables an intelligent historian to reconstruct the physiognomy of a special epoch, for it brings out this further point with mathematical accuracy, that the clergy were in those days sixty times richer and more flourishing than the rest of humanity. and perhaps sixty times fatter also..."
"You are exaggerating, you are exaggerating, Lebedeff!" cried his hearers, amid laughter.
"I admit that it is an historic thought, but what is your conclusion?" asked the prince.
He spoke so seriously in addressing Lebedeff, that his tone contrasted quite comically with that of the others. They were very nearly laughing at him, too, but he did not notice it.
"Don't you see he is a lunatic, prince?" whispered Evgenie Pavlovitch in his ear. "Someone told me just now that he is a bit touched on the subject of lawyers, that he has a mania for making speeches and intends to pass the examinations. I am expecting a splendid burlesque now."
"My conclusion is vast," replied Lebedeff, in a voice like thunder. "Let us examine first the psychological and legal position of the criminal. We see that in spite of the difficulty of finding other food, the accused, or, as we may say, my client, has often during his peculiar life exhibited signs of repentance, and of wishing to give up this clerical diet. Incontrovertible facts prove this assertion. He has eaten five or six children, a relatively insignificant number, no doubt, but remarkable enough from another point of view. It is manifest that, pricked by remorse--for my client is religious, in his way, and has a conscience, as I shall prove later--and desiring to extenuate his sin as far as possible, he has tried six times at least to substitute lay nourishment for clerical. That this was merely an experiment we can hardly doubt: for if it had been only a question of gastronomic variety, six would have been too few; why only six? Why not thirty? But if we regard it as an experiment, inspired by the fear of committing new sacrilege, then this number six becomes intelligible. Six attempts to calm his remorse, and the pricking of his conscience, would amply suffice, for these attempts could scarcely have been happy ones. In my humble opinion, a child is too small; I should say, not sufficient; which would result in four or five times more lay children than monks being required in a given time. The sin, lessened on the one hand, would therefore be increased on the other, in quantity, not in quality. Please understand, gentlemen, that in reasoning thus, I am taking the point of view which might have been taken by a criminal of the middle ages. As for myself, a man of the late nineteenth century, I, of course, should reason differently; I say so plainly, and therefore you need not jeer at me nor mock me, gentlemen. As for you, general, it is still more unbecoming on your part. In the second place, and giving my own personal opinion, a child's flesh is not a satisfying diet; it is too insipid, too sweet; and the criminal, in making these experiments, could have satisfied neither his conscience nor his appetite. I am about to conclude, gentlemen; and my conclusion contains a reply to one of the most important questions of that day and of our own! This criminal ended at last by denouncing himself to the clergy, and giving himself up to justice. We cannot but ask, remembering the penal system of that day, and the tortures that awaited him--the wheel, the stake, the fire!--we cannot but ask, I repeat, what induced him to accuse himself of this crime? Why did he not simply stop short at the number sixty, and keep his secret until his last breath? Why could he not simply leave the monks alone, and go into the desert to repent? Or why not become a monk himself? That is where the puzzle comes in! There must have been something stronger than the stake or the fire, or even than the habits of twenty years! There must have been an idea more powerful than all the calamities and sorrows of this world, famine or torture, leprosy or plague--an idea which entered into the heart, directed and enlarged the springs of life, and made even that hell supportable to humanity! Show me a force, a power like that, in this our century of vices and railways! I might say, perhaps, in our century of steamboats and railways, but I repeat in our century of vices and railways, because I am drunk but truthful! Show me a single idea which unites men nowadays with half the strength that it had in those centuries, and dare to maintain that the 'springs of life' have not been polluted and weakened beneath this 'star,' beneath this network in which men are entangled! Don't talk to me about your prosperity, your riches, the rarity of famine, the rapidity of the means of transport! There is more of riches, but less of force. The idea uniting heart and soul to heart and soul exists no more. All is loose, soft, limp--we are all of us limp.... Enough, gentlemen! I have done. That is not the question. No, the question is now, excellency, I believe, to sit down to the banquet you are about to provide for us!"
Lebedeff had roused great indignation in some of his auditors (it should be remarked that the bottles were constantly uncorked during his speech); but this unexpected conclusion calmed even the most turbulent spirits. "That's how a clever barrister makes a good point!" said he, when speaking of his peroration later on. The visitors began to laugh and chatter once again; the committee left their seats, and stretched their legs on the terrace. Keller alone was still disgusted with Lebedeff and his speech; he turned from one to another, saying in a loud voice:
"He attacks education, he boasts of the fanaticism of the twelfth century, he makes absurd grimaces, and added to that he is by no means the innocent he makes himself out to be. How did he get the money to buy this house, allow me to ask?"
In another corner was the general, holding forth to a group of hearers, among them Ptitsin, whom he had buttonholed. "I have known," said he, "a real interpreter of the Apocalypse, the late Gregory Semeonovitch Burmistroff, and he--he pierced the heart like a fiery flash! He began by putting on his spectacles, then he opened a large black book; his white beard, and his two medals on his breast, recalling acts of charity, all added to his impressiveness. He began in a stern voice, and before him generals, hard men of the world, bowed down, and ladies fell to the ground fainting. But this one here--he ends by announcing a banquet! That is not the real thing!"
Ptitsin listened and smiled, then turned as if to get his hat; but if he had intended to leave, he changed his mind. Before the others had risen from the table, Gania had suddenly left off drinking, and pushed away his glass, a dark shadow seemed to come over his face. When they all rose, he went and sat down by Rogojin. It might have been believed that quite friendly relations existed between them. Rogojin, who had also seemed on the point of going away now sat motionless, his head bent, seeming to have forgotten his intention. He had drunk no wine, and appeared absorbed in reflection. From time to time he raised his eyes, and examined everyone present; one might have imagined that he was expecting something very important to himself, and that he had decided to wait for it. The prince had taken two or three glasses of champagne, and seemed cheerful. As he rose he noticed Evgenie Pavlovitch, and, remembering the appointment he had made with him, smiled pleasantly. Evgenie Pavlovitch made a sign with his head towards Hippolyte, whom he was attentively watching. The invalid was fast asleep, stretched out on the sofa.
"Tell me, prince, why on earth did this boy intrude himself upon you?" he asked, with such annoyance and irritation in his voice that the prince was quite surprised. "I wouldn't mind laying odds that he is up to some mischief."
"I have observed," said the prince, "that he seems to be an object of very singular interest to you, Evgenie Pavlovitch. Why is it?"
"You may add that I have surely enough to think of, on my own account, without him; and therefore it is all the more surprising that I cannot tear my eyes and thoughts away from his detestable physiognomy."
"Oh, come! He has a handsome face."
"Why, look at him--look at him now!"
The prince glanced again at Evgenie Pavlovitch with considerable surprise.
当公爵与罗戈任走近自己的别墅时，他异常惊讶地发现，在他的露台灯火通明，人声喧哗，聚集着许多人。大伙儿兴高采烈，哈哈大笑，高声讲话；好像还争执得近乎喊叫；一眼便能觉察到正是欢度时光的兴头上。等登上露台以后，他确实看见，大家都在开怀畅饮，在喝香槟，好像已经喝相当久了，因而许多人精神颇为振奋，情绪非常活跃。客人们全是公爵的熟人，但奇怪的是，他们就像受邀请似的，一下子就都聚集在这里了，虽然公爵没有邀请任可人，对于自己的生日他自己也是无意间才想起的。
“大概，你宣布过要拿香槟出来，所以他们就都跑来了，”罗戈任嘀咕着说，跟在公爵后面走上了露台，“我们知道这一点；对他们只要打个唿哨……”他几乎是恶狠狠地补充说，当然是回忆起自己不久前的过去。
大家呼喊着迎接他，向他表示祝愿，包围着他。有的人十分喧闹，有人却安宁得多，但是当听说是公爵的生日后，大家都急忙走近前来，每个人都等着轮到自己向他表示祝贺。（有些人在场使公爵颇为注意，如布尔多夫基）但是最令人惊讶的是，在这一伙人中忽然冒出个叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇，看见他也在，公爵几乎不相信自己，甚至差点吓了一跳。
这时，满脸通红，几乎是兴高采烈的列别杰夫跑到跟前来解释；他己醉得相当厉害。从他絮絮叨叨的话中知道，大家完全是自然而然地聚集在这的，甚至纯属巧合。傍晚前最先来的是伊波利特，他觉得自己比过去好多了，愿意在露台上等候公爵，他在沙发上安顿下来；后来列别杰夫走来陪他，接着是他的一家，即他的女儿们及伊沃尔京将军。布尔多夫斯基是陪伊波利特一起来的，加尼亚和普季岑好像是路过这里， 顺便来这里不久（他们的出现与车站上发生的事正好吻合）；后来凯勒尔来，宣布了公爵的生日并要求拿香槟来庆贺。叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇半个小时前才来，科利亚也竭力主张喝香槟和安排庆祝。列别杰夫乐意送上了酒。
“但是是我自己的酒，我自己的！”他对公爵嘟哝着说，“我用自己的钱为您祝贺，为您增光，还会有酒菜点心，我女儿正在忙着呢；但是，公爵，假如您知道他们在议论什么时兴的话题就好了。您记得哈姆雷特的话：‘活着还是不活。”这是现代的时髦话题，时髦活题！有问有答……连捷连季耶夫先生也极为兴奋……不想睡觉！而香槟酒他只喝了一口，喝了一口，不会伤身的……请过来，公爵，您来做决定吧！大家都等着您，大家都只是等着听您的妙主意……”
公爵发觉了维拉·列别杰娃投来的亲切温柔的目光，她也急忙从人堆挤到他这边来。他避开所有的人，向她第一个递过手去；她高兴得满脸飞红，祝愿他“从今天起终生幸福”。然后她飞快地奔去厨房；她在那里做菜；但在公爵来到前，只要有一会儿能脱身，她就来到露台上，竭办用心地听着醉醺醺的客人之间不停进行的热烈争论，他们听说的内容对她来说是极为抽象和新奇的。她的妹妹张大着嘴，在隔壁房间里一只大箱子上面睡着了，而列别杰夫的儿子站在科利亚和伊波利特的身边，光是脸上那神采弈弈的样子显示出，他就打算这么站在原地，聆听谈话并感到满足，即使一一连站上１０个小时也愿意。
公爵在接受维拉的祝贺以后，立即走到伊波利特跟前与他握手。“我特别等您，看到您这样幸福地回来，我高兴得不得了，”伊波利特说。
“您怎么知道我是‘这样幸福’的呢？”
“从脸上看得出来。您去跟先生们打招呼吧，然后快点坐到我们这儿来，我特别等您，”他又补了一句，意味深长地强调他在等他这一点。对于公爵提醒“这么晚还坐在这里是否有碍身体？”的话，他回答说，他自己也觉得惊奇，三天前怎么会想到死，而今天晚上他却感到身体从来也没有这样好过。
布尔多夫斯基跳起身，喃喃着说，他“就这么……”，他与伊波利特在一起“陪他”，并且也表示很高兴：还说他在信中“写了胡话”，而现在“只觉得很高兴……”他没说完话便紧紧握了握公爵的手，然后坐到椅子上。
在跟所有的人打了招呼以后，公爵才走到叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇面前。后者立即挽住了他的手臂。
“我有两句话要对您说，”他轻声低语说，“有非常重要的情况；我们走开一会儿。”
“我也有两句话，”另一个声音在公爵的另一只耳朵边悄悄说，而且另外一只手从另一边挽起公爵的手臂。公爵惊诧地发现了一个头发蓬乱得可怕、满脸绯红、挤眉弄眼、嬉皮笑脸的人，即刻他便认出这个人是费尔迪先科，天知道他是从哪儿冒出来的。
“还记得费尔迪先科吗。”他问。
“您从哪里冒出来的？”公爵大声说。
“他是表示悔过！”凯勒尔跑到跟前大声说，“他刚才躲着，不想出来见您。他躲在那边角落里，他表示悔过，公爵，他觉得自己有错。”
“错在什么地方？什么地方？”
“是我遇见他的，公爵，我刚才遇见他就把他带来了；这是我朋友中不可多得的一位；但是他现在表示悔过。”
“我很高兴，诸位；去吧，坐到大家那儿去，我马上就来，”公爵终于脱开身，急忙走到叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇这边来。
“您这里很有意思，”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇指出，“我挺愉快地等了您半小时。是这么回事，最亲爱的列夫·尼古拉那维奇，我跟库尔梅舍夫全谈妥了；您没什么可担心的，他非常非常理智地对待这件事，何况，据我看，主要是他自己有错。”
“哪个库尔梅舍夫。”
“就是刚才您抓住他胳膊的那个……他曾经怒不可遏，已经打算明天派人来找您要求做出解释。”
“够了，多么荒唐！”
“当然是荒唐，而且大概会以荒唐而告终；但是我们这些人……”
“也许，您还有别的事才到这里来的吧，叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇？”
“噢，当然还句别的事，”他笑着说，“亲爱的公爵，明天天一亮我就要为这不幸的事（喏，就是伯父的事）去彼得堡；您瞧，这一切是确实的，而除了我大家却都已知道了。这一切真使我震惊万分，因此我都不急于去那里（叶潘钦家）了；明天我也不在，因为在彼得堡，明白吗？也许，我将有三天不在这里，总之，我的事挺糟的。虽不是什么十分了不起的事，但是我认为，有些问题我需要跟您开诚布公地解释清楚，我不想放过时间，也就是想在离开前谈谈，如果您允许，我现在就坐这儿等一会，等大伙儿散去；再说我也没有别的地方可去：我非常激动，难以人睡，最后，尽管这样直接纠缠一个人是不像话的，不正当的，但我还是要直截了当地对您说：我是来寻求您的友谊的，我亲爱的公爵；您是个无比卓越的人，也就是是个从来不说假话的人，也许，根本就不会说假话，而我有一件事需要一位朋友，一位忠告者帮助出主意，因为我现在完全成了不幸的人……”
他又笑了起来。
“糟糕在什么地方，”公爵想了片刻说，“您想等到他们散去，可是天知道这要到什么时候。我们最好还是现在就到公园去；确实，他们在等着，我去道个歉。……”
“千万不要这样，我有自己的理由，免得人家怀疑我们有什么目的进行紧急谈话；这里有些人对我们的关系非常感兴趣，您不知道这一点吗，公爵？如果他们看到我们本来就有非常友好的关系，而不只是有急事才找您，那就好得多，明白吗？过两小时他们就会散去；我只占您２０分钟，顶多半小时……”
“欢迎您，请吧；就是不做解释我也十分高兴；而对您说的友好关系的话，我很感谢。请原谅，我今天有点心不在焉；您知道吗，此刻我怎么也无法集中注意力。”
“我看得出来，看得出来，”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇微微笑着低声咕噜着。今天晚上他很可笑。
“你看出什么来了？”公爵力之一惊。
“亲爱的公爵，您难道没有怀疑，”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇没有直接回答公爵的问题，依然微笑着说，“难道您不怀疑，我来只不过是蒙骗您，顺便从您这儿刺探点情况，啊？”
“您来是要探听什么，这一点是没有疑问的，”公爵终于笑了起来说，“甚至也怀疑到，也许，您还打走主意来稍微欺骗我一下。但是要知道，我并不怕您；何况现在我对一切都似乎感到无所谓，您相信吗？还有……还有……还因为我首先确信，您毕竟是个超尘拔俗的人，因而我们最终也许真的能成为朋友。我很喜欢您，叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇，您……据我看，是非常非常正派的人！”
“好吧，不论怎么样跟您打交道是很愉快的，无论是什么交道，”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇最后说，“我们走吧，我要为您的健康干一杯；我能接近您感到十分满意。啊！”他突然停住步，说，“这位伊波利特先生是不是搬到您这儿来住了？”
“是的。”
“我想，他不会马上就死吧？”
“怎么啦？”
“没什么，就这么问问；我在这里与他呆了半小时……”
这一段时间里伊波利特一直等着公爵，就在他和叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇在一旁谈话的时候，伊波利特不时朝他们扫上一眼。当他们走近桌子的时候，他显得很振奋，甚至有些狂热。他心神不宁，非常激动；额头上渗出了汗水。从他那双闪亮的眼睛里，除了流露出一种经常徘徊心间的不安，还显示出某种捉摸不定的急不可耐；他的目光无目的他从一样东西移到另一样东西，从一张脸移到另一张脸。虽然在此以前他积极参加了大家的热列谈话，但是他的振奋只是狂热的冲动；其实对于谈话本身他并不全身心投入；他的争辩是下连贯的、嘲弄人的，随便得离奇；一分钟前他自己慷慨激昂地开始谈论的话，不等说完他就弃之脑后了。公爵惊讶而又怜惜地了解到，这个晚上他在无人阻拦的情况下已经喝了满满两大杯香槟、现在放在他面前开始喝的已经是第三杯了。但公爵只是后来才知道这一点；此刻他不太注意这些。
“知道吗，今天正好是您的生日，我高兴得不得了！”伊波利特嚷道。
“为什么？”
“您会明白的；快坐下；第一，是因为聚集在这里的是您的全体……人马。我就估计到会有人来的；这是我一生中第一次估计对了！遗憾的是，我不知道是您生日，不然我会带礼物来的……哈－哈！对了，也许，我已经带礼物来了！到天亮还有多少时间？”
“到天亮不到二小时了，”普季芩看了一下表，说。
“何必现在要等黎明呢？现在外面也亮得可以看书，”有人指出。
“因为我需要看到太阳的一条边儿。可以为太阳的健康喝一杯吗，公爵，您认为怎样？”
伊波利特毫不客气地转向大家生硬地问，就像是发号施令一样，但是，他自己好像没有发觉这一点。
“好吧，喝吧；只不过您最好安静些，伊波利特，好吗？”
“您老是要我睡觉；公爵，您简直就是我的保姆！等太阳一出来，在天空中发出轰响。谁在诗里这么写的：‘太阳在天空中发出轰响？’虽然没有意义，但是很好！我们就睡觉。列别杰夫！太阳不是生活的源泉吗？在《启示录》中‘生命的源泉，是什么意思？您听说过‘茵陈星’吗，公爵？”
“我听说，列别杰夫认为这颗‘茵陈星’是分布在欧洲的铁路网。”
“不，对不起，不能这样！”列别杰夫跳了起来，一边摆着手，一边喊道，似乎是想阻止大家刚开始发出的笑声，“对不起！跟这几位先生……所有这些先生，”他突然转身对公爵说，“要知道，在某些方面，这是这么回事……”他不讲礼貌地敲了两下桌子，因而大家笑得更厉害了。
列别杰夫虽然处于其通常的“晚间”状态，但是这一次他已激昂得过分，而且破前面长时间进行的“学术性”争论激得性起，在这种情况下他对自己争辨的对于表现出无比的轻蔑和极为露骨的不尊重。
“这样可不行！半小时前我们曾约法在先：有人在说话的时候，不能打断，不能哈哈大笑，要让人自由地充分发表意见，然后，即使是无神论者，如果他愿意，也可以进行反驳；我们让将军当主席，就这样！否则会怎么样？人家在发表高见，阐述深刻的思想，就这么可以随便打断……”
“您说吧，说吧，谁也不会打断您！”响起了好几个声音。
“您说吧，可别说过了头。”
“‘茵陈星’是怎么回事？”有人探问道。
“我一点也不知道。”伊沃尔京将军回答说，一本正经地坐在不久前推举他当主席的座位上。
“我异常喜爱这些争论和抬杠，公爵，当然是指学术上的，”这时凯勒尔嘀咕着说。他完全陶醉于这种情境，坐在椅子上显得焦躁不耐和辗转不安。“是学术的和政治的争论，”他突然又出人意料地转向叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇说，他几乎就坐在他旁边。“您要知道，我特别喜欢看报纸上有关英国国会的报导，不过我感兴趣的不是他们在那里议论的事情（要知道，我不是政治家），而是他们彼此间怎样说明解释，这么说吧，作为政治家他们是怎样谈吐的：‘坐在对面的高贵的公爵”，‘同意我想法的高贵的伯爵，’‘我这位高贵的论敌提出的提案震惊了全欧洲’，也就是说，所有这些用语，自由民族的所有这一套议会制度，对于我辈兄弟来说颇有吸引力！公爵，我就很赞赏。我在心灵深处总是个演员，我向您发誓，叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇。”
“说了这一通后又怎么呢？”加尼亚在另一个角落里急躁地说，“照您看来，结果是铁路是该诅咒的，它们给人类带来毁灭，它们是降到地面的瘟疫，污染了‘生命的源泉、”
加夫里拉·阿尔达利翁诺维奇今天晚上情绪特别激昂，公爵觉得，他心境愉快，几乎是洋洋得意。当然，他跟列别杰夫是开玩笑，是激他，但很快自己也激奋起来了。
“不是铁路，不是！”列别杰夫反驳说。他一方面失去了自制力，与此同时又感到异常满足。“其实光是铁路还污染不了生命的源泉，而这一切总的来说都该受到诅咒，而近几个世纪的这一切思想情绪，总体而言，在科学和实践方面来看，也许确实应该诅咒。”
“是肯定受到诅咒还是仅仅是可能？在这种情况下这点可是重要的，”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇询问道。
“该咒，该咒，肯定该咒。”列别杰夫激昂地重复着说。
“别忙，列别杰夫，每到早晨您就善良得多，”普季岑微笑着指出。
“而一到晚上却要坦率得多！晚上比较坦诚和直率！”列别杰夫转向他激动地说，“也比较单纯和明确，比较诚实和受人敬重，尽管这样我会受到你们的攻击，但我不在乎；我现在向你们大家，向所有的无神论者挑战：你们，从事科学、办工业、搞团体、拿工资和其他等等的人们，用什么来拯救世界，在哪儿为它寻找到一条正常发展的道路？靠什么？靠信市？信货是什么？信贷会把我们引向何方？”
“您可真好奇！”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇指出。
“而我认为，谁对这样的问题不感兴趣，准就是上流社会游手好闲的人。至少会导致共同团结和利益平衡，”普季岑指出。
“仅此而已！仅此而已！除了满足个人的私利和物质的需要，不承受任何道德的基础？普遍的和平，普遍的幸福，这是因为需要！我斗胆请问，是该这样理解您的意思吗，我的阁下？”
“可是要活、要吃、要喝是普遍的需要，没有普遍的合作和利益的一致您是不能满足这种需要的，说到底，这样一种理由极为充分的科学的信念，似乎就是一种相当坚实的思想，足以成为人类未来世纪的支撑点和‘生命的源泉’，”当真已经非常激昂的加尼亚指出。
“必须要吃和喝，这仅仅是一种自我保存的感觉……”
“难道仅有自我保存的感觉还少吗？要知道，自我保存的感觉是人类生活的正常规律……”
“这是谁对您说的？”突然叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇喊着说，“规律，这话可错，但是它的正常与毁灭的规律，也许还有自我毁灭的规律是一样的，难道人类整个正常的规律就只是自我保存吗？”
“哎！”伊波利特喊了一声，很快地转向叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇，并用一种异常的好奇心打量着他；但在看到他在笑以后，他自己也笑了起来。他推了一下站在旁边的科利亚，又问他几点钟了，甚至动手把科利亚的银表移到自己眼前，贪婪地看了一下指针。然后，就像忘了一切，在沙发上躺着，将双手枕在脑下，开始望着天花板；过了半分钟他又坐到桌子旁，挺直身子，倾听着已经激奋到极点的列别杰夫。
“真是个狡猾和有讽刺意味的思想，嘲弄人的思想！”列别杰夫急切地抓住叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇的怪论说，“说出这个思想目的是要煽起对方进行较量，但是这个思想倒是正确的！因为您作为上流社会的一个爱讽刺嘲笑的人和骑兵军官（尽管不无才能！），连自己也不知道，您的思想深刻和确切到什么地步！是的。自我毁灭的规律和自我保存的规律在人类身上是同样有力量的！魔鬼同样控制人类一直要到我们也不知道的时代。您在笑？您不相信魔鬼？不信魔鬼是法国的思想，是轻率的思想。您知道吗，谁是魔鬼？您知道吗，他叫什么名字？您连他的名字也不知道，却在嘲笑他的形状，照伏尔泰那样，嘲笑他的蹄子，尾巴和头角，这些是您自己想出来的；因为魔鬼是伟大而威严的神灵，而不是您为他杜撰那样的又长蹄子又生头角的。但现在的问题不在魔鬼身上！……”
“为什么您知道，现在的问题不在魔鬼身上呢？”突然伊波利特喊了一声并像毛病发作似的哈哈大笑起来。
“真是个敏捷而富有启示的思想！”列别杰夫称赞说，“但是问题又不在这里，我们的问题在于，‘生命的源泉’是否衰竭了，由于大力发展……”
“铁路？”科利亚嚷了一声。
“不是铁路交通，年轻但急躁的毛头小伙子，而是整个趋向，而铁路，这么说吧，可以作为这种趋向的一幅画，一种艺术性体现。轰隆轰隆，喀嚓喀嚓，赶来赶去，据说是为了人类的幸福！‘人类变得过分喧闹和追逐实利，缺少精神的安宁，’一位退隐的思想家抱怨说。‘让它去吧，但是给饥饿的人类运去粮食的辘辘车轮声，也许比精神的安宁更好。’另一位云游四方的思想家以胜利者的口吻回答他道，便神气活现地离他而去了。卑鄙的列别杰夫，我不相信给全人类运送粮食的大车！因为给全人类运送粮食的大车，缺少行为的道德基础，是会把相当一部分人类非常冷漠地排除在享用运来的粮食之外的，这种情况已经有过了……”
“是火车会非常冷漠地排除人类？”有人接着话茬问道。
“这种情况是已经有过了，”列别杰夫对所间的问题不予理睬，重复着说，“已经有过一个马尔萨斯，人类的朋友。但是这个道德基础不稳定的人类的朋友却是个吃人类的恶煞，不用说他的虚荣心了；因为您若凌辱了这些无数的人类朋友中哪一个的虚荣心，他马上便会出于卑劣的报复而从四面八方放火焚烧世界。不过，如果公正地说，那么我们中任何人，还有我，所有人中最卑劣的人，也会是这样的，因为我可能会第一个抱来柴火，而自己则逃之夭夭。但是，问题又不在于此！”
“到底是在哪里呢？”
“真讨厌。”
“问题在过去许多世纪的一桩轶闻，因为我必须讲过去许多世纪前的旧闻。在我们这个时代，在我们祖国--我希望，诸位，你们跟我一样都是祖国的，因为我自己甚至准备流尽自己的鲜血……，’
“说下去！说下去！”
“在我们祖国，就像在欧洲一样，遍及各地的可怕的饥荒正降临人类，据可能的统计和我所能忆及的，现在四分之一世纪不超过一次饥荒，换句话说，每二十五年一次。我不会去争论数字的确切性，但比较起来是相当少的。”
“跟什么比较？”
“跟十二世纪及与它相邻的前后那几个世纪相比。因为当时，如作家们所写和确信的那样，人间普遍的饥荒两年就要降临一次或者至少是三年一次，因此在这样的境况下人甚至吃起人来，虽然是保守秘密的。有这么一个不劳而食的人在临到老年的时候，没有受到任何逼迫自己供称，他在自己漫长贫困的一生中弄死了并以极为秘密的方式亲自吃掉了六十个僧侣和几个世俗的婴儿，一共是六个，但不多，就是说，与被他吃掉的僧侣数字来比是非常少的。对于世俗的成年人，他倒从来也没有怀着这种目的去碰过他们。”
“这不可能！”主席自己，即将军，甚至几乎用生气的口气喊了一声，“诸位，我常常跟他议论和争论，而且总是有关这一类的思想；但是他最常搬出来的便是这样的荒唐事，简直不堪入耳，没一点儿是真的！”
“将军！想想卡尔斯之围吧，而诸位，你们要知道，我讲的趣闻可纯粹是真实的。我还要指出，虽然几乎所有的事实都有自己确定不移的法则，但几乎总是不可思议的和异常离奇的。甚至越是真实，有时候越是离奇。”
“显然，他不是一下子吃下他们的，也许是在１５或２０年里吃掉的，那么已经完全可以理解和觉得自然了……”
“觉得自然？”
“是自然嘛！”列别杰夫带着一丝不让的固执态度回嘴说，“此外，天主教的僧侣就自己的本性而言本已是随和的和好奇的，把他诱到森林里去或是某个偏僻的地方是十分容易的，在那里就像上面说的那样对付他，但是我毕竟也不否认吃掉的人数是异常惊人的，甚至是难以想像的。”
“也许，这是真的，诸位，”突然公爵说道。
到回前为止他默默地听着争论，没有干预谈话，常常跟着大家爆发出的笑声由衷地笑着。看得出，他非常高兴这样喧闹，这样快活，甚至他们喝这么多。也许，整个晚上他一句活也不会说，全是忽然不知怎么的想要说话了。他一说起来就异常正经，因而大家一下子都好奇地转向了他。
“诸位，其实我说的是，当时是经常发生这样的饥荒。尽管我不太了解历史，但是我也听说过这种事，但是，‘在过去好像也必然是这样。当我身处瑞士山区的时候，那里有许多骑士时代的古堡废墟，使我惊诧万分。这些古堡建在陡崖峭壁的山坡上，垂直高度至少有半俄里（这就是说，要走好几俄里的山路）。众所周知，整座城堡就是石头垒起来的如山一般的宏伟建筑。工程是令人震惊的，简直是不可能的！当然，建造城堡的全是穷人，奴隶。此外，他们还得交纳各种各样的赋税，供养僧侣。在这种情况下又怎么养活自己和耕作田地？当时他们人数很少，想必饿死者多得不得了，大概实在没什么东西可吃。我有时甚至想：当时这些人怎么没有完全死绝，居然没有发生这种事，他们又是怎么挺下来，熬过来的？说有人吃人的事，也许，还很多，在这一点上，列别杰夫无疑是对的；只不过我不知道，为什么他偏偏要把僧侣扯到这里面去，他想以此说明什么？”
“一定是十二世纪时只有僧侣可以吃，因为只有僧侣长得肥，”加夫里拉·阿尔达利翁诺维奇指出。
“真是个绝妙而正确的思想！”列别杰夫喊道，“因为对于俗人他连碰也不碰一下。不吃一个俗人而吃了六十个僧侣，这是一个可怕的思想，一个历史学思想，一个统计学思想，说到底，根据这样的事实，有本事的人就会重新创建历史学；因为这建立在精确的数字上，僧侣比起当时所有其他的人类来至少幸福自在六十倍。还有，也许，他们比起所有其他的人类来至少要肥六十倍……”
“夸大了，夸大了，列别杰夫！”四周一片哈哈笑声。
“我同意这是个历史学思想，但是您要引出什么结论？”公爵继续问。（他说得非常认真，没有丝毫开玩笑和嘲笑列别杰夫的意思，可是大家却都在笑话列别杰夫，因此在大伙儿造成的总的氛围中，公爵的口吻不由地显得有些滑稽可笑，再过一会，大家便会对他也加以嘲笑的，但是他没有注意到这一点。）
“公爵，难道您看不出来，这是个神经错乱的人？”叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇俯身对公爵说，“刚才这里有人对我说，他是想当律师和发表律师演说想疯了，现在还在想通过考试。我等着看精彩的好戏。”
“我引出一个伟大的结论，”列别杰夫这时大声吼叫着，“但是首先要分析一