Kostia were about to
make this purchase for their friend when chance brought the hedgehog
to their notice, and they had succumbed to the temptation of buying it.
They were now taking Petroff the hedgehog and hatchet which they had
bought with his money, instead of Schiosser's History. But Aglaya so
entreated them that at last they consented to sell her the hedgehog. As
soon as she had got possession of it, she put it in a wicker basket with
Colia's help, and covered it with a napkin. Then she said to Colia: "Go
and take this hedgehog to the prince from me, and ask him to accept it
as a token of my profound respect." Colia joyfully promised to do the
errand, but he demanded explanations. "What does the hedgehog mean? What
is the meaning of such a present?" Aglaya replied that it was none of
his business. "I am sure that there is some allegory about it," Colia
persisted. Aglaya grew angry, and called him "a silly boy." "If I did
not respect all women in your person," replied Colia, "and if my own
principles would permit it, I would soon prove to you, that I know how
to answer such an insult!" But, in the end, Colia went off with the
hedgehog in great delight, followed by Kostia Lebedeff. Aglaya's
annoyance was soon over, and seeing that Colia was swinging the
hedgehog's basket violently to and fro, she called out to him from the
verandah, as if they had never quarrelled: "Colia, dear, please take
care not to drop him!" Colia appeared to have no grudge against her,
either, for he stopped, and answered most cordially: "No, I will not
drop him! Don't be afraid, Aglaya Ivanovna!" After which he went on his
way. Aglaya burst out laughing and ran up to her room, highly delighted.
Her good spirits lasted the whole day.

All this filled poor Lizabetha's mind with chaotic confusion. What on
earth did it all mean? The most disturbing feature was the hedgehog.
What was the symbolic signification of a hedgehog? What did they
understand by it? What underlay it? Was it a cryptic message?

Poor General Epanchin "put his foot in it" by answering the above
questions in his own way. He said there was no cryptic message at
all. As for the hedgehog, it was just a hedgehog, which meant
nothing--unless, indeed, it was a pledge of friendship,--the sign of
forgetting of offences and so on. At all events, it was a joke, and, of
course, a most pardonable and innocent one.

We may as well remark that the general had guessed perfectly accurately.