rator's speech. All this heated tirade, this outflow of passionate
words and ecstatic ideas which seemed to hustle and tumble over each
other as they fell from his lips, bore evidence of some unusually
disturbed mental condition in the young fellow who had "boiled over" in
such a remarkable manner, without any apparent reason.

Of those who were present, such as knew the prince listened to his
outburst in a state of alarm, some with a feeling of mortification. It
was so unlike his usual timid self-constraint; so inconsistent with his
usual taste and tact, and with his instinctive feeling for the higher
proprieties. They could not understand the origin of the outburst; it
could not be simply the news of Pavlicheff's perversion. By the ladies
the prince was regarded as little better than a lunatic, and Princess
Bielokonski admitted afterwards that "in another minute she would have
bolted."

The two old gentlemen looked quite alarmed. The old general (Epanchin's
chief) sat and glared at the prince in severe displeasure. The colonel
sat immovable. Even the German poet grew a little pale, though he wore
his usual artificial smile as he looked around to see what the others
would do.

In point of fact it is quite possible that the matter would have ended
in a very commonplace and natural way in a few minutes. The undoubtedly
astonished, but now more collected, General Epanchin had several times
endeavoured to interrupt the prince, and not having succeeded he was now
preparing to take firmer and more vigorous measures to attain his end.
In another minute or two he would probably have made up his mind to lead
the prince quietly out of the room, on the plea of his being ill (and it
was more than likely that the general was right in his belief that the
prince WAS actually ill), but it so happened that destiny had something
different in store.

At the beginning of the evening, when the prince first came into the
room, he had sat down as far as possible from the Chinese vase which
Aglaya had spoken of the day before.

Will it be believed that, after Aglaya's alarming words, an ineradicable
conviction had taken possession of his mind that, however he might try
to avoid this vase next day, he must certainly break it? But so it was.

During the evening other impressions began to awaken in his mind, as
we have seen, and he forgot his presentiment. But when Pavlicheff was
mentioned and the general introduced him to Ivan Petrovitch,