WHEN the widow hurried away to Pavlofsk, she went straight to Daria Alexeyevna's house, and telling all she knew, threw her into a state of great alarm. Both ladies decided to communicate at once with Lebedeff, who, as the friend and landlord of the prince, was also much agitated. Vera Lebedeff told all she knew, and by Lebedeff's advice it was decided that all three should go to Petersburg as quickly as possible, in order to avert "what might so easily happen."
This is how it came about that at eleven o'clock next morning Rogojin's flat was opened by the police in the presence of Lebedeff, the two ladies, and Rogojin's own brother, who lived in the wing.
The evidence of the porter went further than anything else towards the success of Lebedeff in gaining the assistance of the police. He declared that he had seen Rogojin return to the house last night, accompanied by a friend, and that both had gone upstairs very secretly and cautiously. After this there was no hesitation about breaking open the door, since it could not be got open in any other way.
Rogojin suffered from brain fever for two months. When he recovered from the attack he was at once brought up on trial for murder.
He gave full, satisfactory, and direct evidence on every point; and the prince's name was, thanks to this, not brought into the proceedings. Rogojin was very quiet during the progress of the trial. He did not contradict his clever and eloquent counsel, who argued that the brain fever, or inflammation of the brain, was the cause of the crime; clearly proving that this malady had existed long before the murder was perpetrated, and had been brought on by the sufferings of the accused.
But Rogojin added no words of his own in confirmation of this view, and as before, he recounted with marvellous exactness the details of his crime. He was convicted, but with extenuating circumstances, and condemned to hard labour in Siberia for fifteen years. He heard his sentence grimly, silently, and thoughtfully. His colossal fortune, with the exception of the comparatively small portion wasted in the first wanton period of his inheritance, went to his brother, to the great satisfaction of the latter.
The old lady, Rogojin's mother, is still alive, and remembers her favourite son Parfen sometimes, but not clearly. God spared her the knowledge of this dreadful calamity which had overtaken her house.
Lebedeff, Keller, Gania, Ptitsin, and many other friends of ours continue to live as before. There is scarcely any change in them, so that there is no need to tell of their subsequent doings.
Hippolyte died in great agitation, and rather sooner than he expected, about a fortnight after Nastasia Phiipovna's death. Colia was much affected by these events, and drew nearer to his mother in heart and sympathy. Nina Alexandrovna is anxious, because he is "thoughtful beyond his years," but he will, we think, make a useful and active man.
The prince's further fate was more or less decided by Colia, who selected, out of all the persons he had met during the last six or seven months, Evgenie Pavlovitch, as friend and confidant. To him he made over all that he knew as to the events above recorded, and as to the present condition of the prince. He was not far wrong in his choice. Evgenie Pavlovitch took the deepest interest in the fate of the unfortunate "idiot," and, thanks to his influence, the prince found himself once more with Dr. Schneider, in Switzerland.
Evgenie Pavlovitch, who went abroad at this time, intending to live a long while on the continent, being, as he often said, quite superfluous in Russia, visits his sick friend at Schneider's every few months.
But Dr. Schneider frowns ever more and more and shakes his head; he hints that the brain is fatally injured; he does not as yet declare that his patient is incurable, but he allows himself to express the gravest fears.
Evgenie takes this much to heart, and he has a heart, as is proved by the fact that he receives and even answers letters from Colia. But besides this, another trait in his character has become apparent, and as it is a good trait we will make haste to reveal it. After each visit to Schneider's establishment, Evgenie Pavlovitch writes another letter, besides that to Colia, giving the most minute particulars concerning the invalid's condition. In these letters is to be detected, and in each one more than the last, a growing feeling of friendship and sympathy.
The individual who corresponds thus with Evgenie Pavlovitch, and who engages so much of his attention and respect, is Vera Lebedeff. We have never been able to discover clearly how such relations sprang up. Of course the root of them was in the events which we have already recorded, and which so filled Vera with grief on the prince's account that she fell seriously ill. But exactly how the acquaintance and friendship came about, we cannot say.
We have spoken of these letters chiefly because in them is often to be found some news of the Epanchin family, and of Aglaya in particular. Evgenie Pavlovitch wrote of her from Paris, that after a short and sudden attachment to a certain Polish count, an exile, she had suddenly married him, quite against the wishes of her parents, though they had eventually given their consent through fear of a terrible scandal. Then, after a six months' silence, Evgenie Pavlovitch informed his correspondent, in a long letter, full of detail, that while paying his last visit to Dr. Schneider's establishment, he had there come across the whole Epanchin family (excepting the general, who had remained in St. Petersburg) and Prince S. The meeting was a strange one. They all received Evgenie Pavlovitch with effusive delight; Adelaida and Alexandra were deeply grateful to him for his "angelic kindness to the unhappy prince."
Lizabetha Prokofievna, when she saw poor Muishkin, in his enfeebled and humiliated condition, had wept bitterly. Apparently all was forgiven him.
Prince S. had made a few just and sensible remarks. It seemed to Evgenie Pavlovitch that there was not yet perfect harmony between Adelaida and her fiance, but he thought that in time the impulsive young girl would let herself be guided by his reason and experience. Besides, the recent events that had befallen her family had given Adelaida much to think about, especially the sad experiences of her younger sister. Within six months, everything that the family had dreaded from the marriage with the Polish count had come to pass. He turned out to be neither count nor exile--at least, in the political sense of the word--but had had to leave his native land owing to some rather dubious affair of the past. It was his noble patriotism, of which he made a great display, that had rendered him so interesting in Aglaya's eyes. She was so fascinated that, even before marrying him, she joined a committee that had been organized abroad to work for the restoration of Poland; and further, she visited the confessional of a celebrated Jesuit priest, who made an absolute fanatic of her. The supposed fortune of the count had dwindled to a mere nothing, although he had given almost irrefutable evidence of its existence to Lizabetha Prokofievna and Prince S.
Besides this, before they had been married half a year, the count and his friend the priest managed to bring about a quarrel between Aglaya and her family, so that it was now several months since they had seen her. In a word, there was a great deal to say; but Mrs. Epanchin, and her daughters, and even Prince S., were still so much distressed by Aglaya's latest infatuations and adventures, that they did hot care to talk of them, though they must have known that Evgenie knew much of the story already.
Poor Lizabetha Prokofievna was most anxious to get home, and, according to Evgenie's account, she criticized everything foreign with much hostility.
"They can't bake bread anywhere, decently; and they all freeze in their houses, during winter, like a lot of mice in a cellar. At all events, I've had a good Russian cry over this poor fellow," she added, pointing to the prince, who had not recognized her in the slightest degree. "So enough of this nonsense; it's time we faced the truth. All this continental life, all this Europe of yours, and all the trash about 'going abroad' is simply foolery, and it is mere foolery on our part to come. Remember what I say, my friend; you'll live to agree with me yourself."
So spoke the good lady, almost angrily, as she took leave of Evgenie Pavlovitch.
罗戈任挺过了两个月的脑炎，等他病愈后便接受了侦讯和审判，他对一切都供认不讳，做了确凿和完全肯定的证词，因而从一开始公爵就被免了诉讼。在审理过程中罗戈任一直保持沉默。他没有与自己精明的、能言善辩的律师产生矛盾，律师明确而又富有逻辑地证明，所犯的罪行是脑炎的结果，而被告由于忧伤在犯罪前很久就已开始患病，但是罗戈任自己并没有补充什么来证实之一点，他仍照先前一样明白确凿地肯定和回忆了事件发生的全部细微的情节。考虑到可以从轻判刑的情况，他被判流放西伯利亚服苦役１５年。他神色严峻、一声不吭、“若有所思”地听完了判决。他的全部巨大的财产，除了相对来说是很小部分被他早期纵酒狂饮耗费掉之外，转到了他兄长谢苗·谢苗诺维奇手中，令其大为满意。罗戈任娜老太仍然活在世上，有时似乎回忆起心爱的儿子帕尔芬，但是不太清楚：上帝拯救了她，使她的神智和心灵已意识不到降临到她这个阴郁的家的可怕灾祸。
列别杰夫、凯勒尔、加尼亚、普季岑和本故事其他许多人物像过去那样生活着，很少有变化，关于他们，我几乎没有要转告的。伊波利特在异常激动中比预料的要早去世，是在纳斯塔西娅·费利帕夫娜死后两个星期。科利来对发生的事件深为惊讶，他完全跟自己的母亲亲近了。尼娜·亚历山德罗夫娜则为他担心，因为他太多沉思，跟他的年龄不相称；也许，他能成为一个好人。顺便说一下，部分地是由于他的努力，公爵后来的命运有了安排：在近来他认识的所有人中间，他早就看出叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇·拉多姆斯基与众不同；他首先去找他，并把他所知道的所发生事件的全部详情告诉了他，也讲了公爵目前的状况。他没有错：叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇最热心地干预了不幸的“白痴”的命运，由于他的努力和操心，公爵重又到了国外施奈德的治疗中心。叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇本人也到了国外，打算在欧洲生活很长一段时间，并公然称自己“在俄罗斯完全是个多余人”，他相当经常去看望在施奈德那里治疗的患病的朋友，至少几个月就去一次；但施奈德却越来越紧锁眉头和摇头；他暗示公爵的大脑器官完全受到了损害，他还没有肯定说治不好，但是不隐讳做最悲观的暗示。叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇将此事很放在心上，他是个有心人，这样一个事实可以证明：他经常收到科利亚的来信，有时甚至还回来。除此以外，他还有一个奇怪的性格特征也为人所知；因为这是个好的性格特征，所以我急于要说出来。每次拜访过施奈德以后，除了给科利亚写信，他还给彼得堡的一个人寄信，最详尽和深表同情地叙述目前公爵的病况。除恭敬地表示忠诚外，在这些信中有时（而且愈来愈经常）开始出现一些坦率地陈述看法、概念、感情的文字——总之，开始表现出某种类似友好和亲近的感情。与叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇通信（虽然相当少）并赢得他如此关切和尊敬的人便是维拉·列别杰娃。我无论怎样也无法确切知道，这样的关系是以何种方式建立起来的；当然是因为公爵的整个事件引起的，当时维拉·列别杰娃被痛苦压倒了，甚至生起病来，但是他们相识并成为朋友的详情，我不知道，我之所以提到这些信，最主要的目的是，其中有些信包含了叶潘钦一家，特别关键是阿格拉娅·伊万诺夫娜·叶潘钦娜的消息。叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇在寄自巴黎的一封写得很不连贯的信里告知说，她对一位侨民、波兰的伯爵异常眷恋，经过短时间的交往以后便嫁给了他，此事违反其父母的意愿，但是最后他们还是同意了，因为不这样的话事情会有酿成非同一般的丑闻的危险。后来，几乎沉默半年之后，叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇又在一封冗长和详尽的来信中告诉自己的女通信人，在最近一次去瑞士施奈德教授那儿时，在他那儿遇见了叶潘钦一家人（当然，除了伊万·费奥多罗维奇，他因有事留在彼得堡）和ω公爵。这次会面很奇怪；他们见到叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇不知怎么地很是欢喜；阿杰莱达和亚历山德拉不知为什么甚至认为要感谢他“对不幸的公爵给予了天使般的关怀”。叶莉扎维塔·普罗科菲那夫娜看到公爵病成那副屈辱相，发自内心地哭了起来。看来，已经宽恕了他的一切。ω公爵在这时说了几句很好很聪明的真话。叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇觉得，他和阿杰莱达彼此还没有完全情投意台，但是在未来性格热烈的阿杰莱达完全自愿和心悦诚服地服从ω公爵的智慧和经验是不可避免的。加上家里经受的教训，主要是最近阿格拉娅与侨民伯爵的事，对她有着极大的影响。家里做出让步，答应阿格拉娅嫁给侨民伯爵，与此同时始终惴惴不安；她们所担扰的一切在半年里便变成了事实，还加上了许多甚至完全没有想到过的意外情况。原来这个伯爵根本不是伯爵，如果说是侨民倒确实不假，但是有令人怀疑、不清不白的经历。他为国忧伤心碎这种不同凡响的高尚精神使她倾心，而且迷恋到这个地步：在还没有嫁给他之前，她就成了国外某个复兴波兰委员会的成员，除此之外，她还进了天主教堂某个著名神父的忏悔室，这位神父的见解使她如痴如狂。伯爵曾向叶莉扎维塔·普罗科菲耶夫娜和ω公爵提供确凿证据表明拥有巨额财产，原来完全是不存在的。不仅如此，在婚后半年光景，伯爵和他的朋友、著名的忏悔神父已使阿格拉娅与家里完全吵翻了，因此他们已经好几个月没有见到她了……总之，要讲的事有许多，但是叶莉扎维塔·普罗科菲耶夫娜，她的女儿，甚至ω公爵已为所有这些“恐怖的消息”弄得惊恐不已，以致在与叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇的谈话中甚至怕提到别的事情，虽然他们知道，即使他们不讲，他对于阿格拉娅·伊万诺夫娜最近醉心热衷的事也知道得一清二楚。可怜的叶莉扎维塔·普罗科菲耶夫娜想回俄国去，据叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇证明，她在他面前剧烈而辛辣地把外国的一切批评了一通：“哪儿也烤不出好面包，冬天人们像地窖里的老鼠一般挨冻，”她说， “至少在这里算是照俄罗斯方式对这个可怜的女人哭了一场，”她激动地指着完全不认识她的公爵补了一句。“激动得够了，该是用理智的时候了。所有这一切，整个这外国，你们的整个这欧洲－－这一切都只是虚幻一场，我们大家在国外也是虚幻一场……记住我的话，您自己也会明白的！”她几乎气愤地结束说，便与叶甫盖尼·帕夫洛维奇分别了。