ruck her
that surely that conceited boy, Colia, had not been the one chosen
correspondent of the prince all this while. She determined to ask him,
and did so with an exaggerated show of carelessness. He informed her
haughtily that though he had given the prince his permanent address when
the latter left town, and had offered his services, the prince had never
before given him any commission to perform, nor had he written until the
following lines arrived, with Aglaya's letter. Aglaya took the note, and
read it.

"DEAR COLIA,--Please be so kind as to give the enclosed sealed letter to
Aglaya Ivanovna. Keep well--Ever your loving,

"PR. L. MUISHKIN."

"It seems absurd to trust a little pepper-box like you," said Aglaya,
as she returned the note, and walked past the "pepper-box" with an
expression of great contempt.

This was more than Colia could bear. He had actually borrowed Gania's
new green tie for the occasion, without saying why he wanted it, in
order to impress her. He was very deeply mortified.

IT was the beginning of June, and for a whole week the weather in
St. Petersburg had been magnificent. The Epanchins had a luxurious
country-house at Pavlofsk, [One of the fashionable summer resorts near
St. Petersburg.] and to this spot Mrs. Epanchin determined to proceed
without further delay. In a couple of days all was ready, and the family
had left town. A day or two after this removal to Pavlofsk, Prince
Muishkin arrived in St. Petersburg by the morning train from Moscow. No
one met him; but, as he stepped out of the carriage, he suddenly became
aware of two strangely glowing eyes fixed upon him from among the crowd
that met the train. On endeavouring to re-discover the eyes, and see
to whom they belonged, he could find nothing to guide him. It must have
been a hallucination. But the disagreeable impression remained, and
without this, the prince was sad and thoughtful already, and seemed to
be much preoccupied.

His cab took him to a small and bad hotel near the Litaynaya. Here
he engaged a couple of rooms, dark and badly furnished. He washed and
changed, and hurriedly left the hotel again, as though anxious to
waste no time. Anyone who now saw him for the first time since he
left Petersburg would judge that he had improved vastly so far as his
exterior was concerned. His clothes certainly were very different; they
were more fashionable, perhaps even too much so, and anyone inclined to
mockery might have