or the other--I do not wish to); but can her
whole career justify such intolerable pride, such insolent, rapacious
egotism as she has shown? Forgive me, I am too violent, perhaps, but--"

"Yes--I dare say it is all as you say; I dare say you are quite right,"
muttered the prince once more. "She is very sensitive and easily put
out, of course; but still, she..."

"She is worthy of sympathy? Is that what you wished to say, my good
fellow? But then, for the mere sake of vindicating her worthiness of
sympathy, you should not have insulted and offended a noble and generous
girl in her presence! This is a terrible exaggeration of sympathy! How
can you love a girl, and yet so humiliate her as to throw her over for
the sake of another woman, before the very eyes of that other woman,
when you have already made her a formal proposal of marriage? And you
DID propose to her, you know; you did so before her parents and sisters.
Can you be an honest man, prince, if you act so? I ask you! And did you
not deceive that beautiful girl when you assured her of your love?"

"Yes, you are quite right. Oh! I feel that I am very guilty!" said
Muishkin, in deepest distress.

"But as if that is enough!" cried Evgenie, indignantly. "As if it is
enough simply to say: 'I know I am very guilty!' You are to blame, and
yet you persevere in evil-doing. Where was your heart, I should like to
know, your CHRISTIAN HEART, all that time? Did she look as though she
were suffering less, at that moment? You saw her face--was she suffering
less than the other woman? How could you see her suffering and allow it
to continue? How could you?"

"But I did not allow it," murmured the wretched prince.

"How--what do you mean you didn't allow?"

"Upon my word, I didn't! To this moment I don't know how it all
happened. I--I ran after Aglaya Ivanovna, but Nastasia Philipovna fell
down in a faint; and since that day they won't let me see Aglaya--that's
all I know."

"It's all the same; you ought to have run after Aglaya though the other
was fainting."

"Yes, yes, I ought--but I couldn't! She would have died--she would
have killed herself. You don't know her; and I should have told Aglaya
everything afterwards--but I see, Evgenie Pavlovitch, you don't know
all. Tell me now, why am I not allowed to see Aglaya? I should have
cleared it all up, you know. Neither of them kept to the real point, you
see. I could never explain what I mean to you, but I think I could to