ant had happened to
Aglaya, and that her fate was in process of settlement--it would be very
difficult to explain. But no sooner had this idea taken root, than all
at once declared that they had seen and observed it long ago; that they
had remarked it at the time of the "poor knight" joke, and even before,
though they had been unwilling to believe in such nonsense.

So said the sisters. Of course, Lizabetha Prokofievna had foreseen it
long before the rest; her "heart had been sore" for a long while,
she declared, and it was now so sore that she appeared to be quite
overwhelmed, and the very thought of the prince became distasteful to
her.

There was a question to be decided--most important, but most difficult;
so much so, that Mrs. Epanchin did not even see how to put it into
words. Would the prince do or not? Was all this good or bad? If good
(which might be the case, of course), WHY good? If bad (which was
hardly doubtful), WHEREIN, especially, bad? Even the general, the
paterfamilias, though astonished at first, suddenly declared that, "upon
his honour, he really believed he had fancied something of the kind,
after all. At first, it seemed a new idea, and then, somehow, it looked
as familiar as possible." His wife frowned him down there. This was
in the morning; but in the evening, alone with his wife, he had given
tongue again.

"Well, really, you know"--(silence)--"of course, you know all this is
very strange, if true, which I cannot deny; but"--(silence).--"But,
on the other hand, if one looks things in the face, you know--upon my
honour, the prince is a rare good fellow--and--and--and--well, his name,
you know--your family name--all this looks well, and perpetuates the
name and title and all that--which at this moment is not standing so
high as it might--from one point of view--don't you know? The world,
the world is the world, of course--and people will talk--and--and--the
prince has property, you know--if it is not very large--and then
he--he--" (Continued silence, and collapse of the general.)

Hearing these words from her husband, Lizabetha Prokofievna was driven
beside herself.

According to her opinion, the whole thing had been one huge,
fantastical, absurd, unpardonable mistake. "First of all, this prince is
an idiot, and, secondly, he is a fool--knows nothing of the world, and
has no place in it. Whom can he be shown to? Where can you take him to?
What will old Bielokonski say? We never thought of s