"Why do you stop short?" cried the young man. "Go on, don't be embarrassed."
"Your Highness!" Lebedev suddenly exclaimed in a sort of transport, "have you been following the murder of the Zhemarin family 7in the newspapers?"
"I have," the prince said in some surprise.
"Well, this is the true murderer of the Zhemarin family, the man himself!"
"What do you mean?" said the prince.
"That is, allegorically speaking, the future second murderer of the future second Zhemarin family, if one turns up. He's headed for that ..."
Everybody laughed. It occurred to the prince that Lebedev might indeed be squirming and clowning only because, anticipating his questions, he did not know how to answer them and was gaining time.
"He's a rebel! A conspirator!" Lebedev shouted, as if no longer able to control himself. "Well, and can I, do I have the right to regard such a slanderer, such a harlot, one might say, and monster, as my own nephew, the only son of my late sister Anisya?"
"Oh, stop it, you drunkard! Would you believe, Prince, he's now decided to become a lawyer, to plead in the courts; he waxes
eloquent and talks in high-flown style with his children at home. Five days ago he spoke before the justices of the peace. And who do you think he defended? Not the old woman who implored, who begged him, because she'd been fleeced by a scoundrel of a moneylender who took five hundred roubles from her, everything she had, but the moneylender himself, some Zeidler or other, a Yid, because he promised him fifty roubles for it . . ."
"Fifty roubles if I win and only five if I lose," Lebedev suddenly explained in a completely different voice than before, as if he had never been shouting.
"Well, it was a washout, of course, the old rules have been changed, they only laughed at him there. But he remained terribly pleased with himself. Remember, he said, impartial gentlemen of the court, that an old man of sorrows, a cripple, who lives by honest labor, is being deprived of his last crust of bread. Remember the wise words of the lawgiver: 'Let mercy reign in the courts.' 8And believe me: every morning he repeats this speech for us here, exactly as he said it there; this is the fifth day; he was reciting it just before you came, he likes it so much. He drools over himself. And he's getting ready to defend somebody else. You're Prince Myshkin, I believe? Kolya told me about you. He says he's never met anyone in the world more intelligent than you ..."
"And there is no one! No one! No one more intelligent in the world!" Lebedev picked up at once.
"Well, I suppose this one's just babbling. The one loves you, and the other fawns on you; but I have no intention of flattering you, let that be known to you. You must have some sense, so decide between him and me. Well, do you want the prince to decide between us?" he said to his uncle. "I'm even glad you've turned up, Prince."
"Let him!" Lebedev cried resolutely, looking around involuntarily at his audience, which had again begun to advance upon him.
"What's going on with you here?" the prince said, making a wry face.
He really had a headache, and besides, he was becoming more and more convinced that Lebedev was duping him and was glad that the business could be put off.
"Here's how things stand. I am his nephew, he wasn't lying about that, though everything he says is a lie. I haven't finished my studies, but I want to finish them, and I'll get my way because I have character. And meanwhile, in order to exist, I'm taking a job
with the railways that pays twenty-five roubles. I'll admit, besides, that he has already helped me two or three times. I had twenty roubles and lost them gambling. Would you believe it, Prince, I was so mean, so low, that I gambled them away!"
"To a blackguard, a blackguard, who shouldn't have been paid!" cried Lebedev.
"Yes, to a blackguard, but who still had to be paid," the young man went on. "And that he's a blackguard, I, too, will testify, not only because he gave you a beating. He's a rejected officer, Prince, a retired lieutenant from Rogozhin's former band, who teaches boxing. They're all wandering about now, since Rogozhin scattered them. But the worst thing is that I knew he was a blackguard, a scoundrel, and a petty thief, and I still sat down to play with him, and that, as I bet my last rouble (we were playing cribbage), I thought to myself: I'll lose, go to Uncle Lukyan, bow to him—he won't refuse. That was meanness, that was real meanness! That was conscious baseness!"
"Yes, there you have conscious baseness!" repeated Lebedev.
"Well, don't triumph, wait a moment," the touchy nephew cried, "don't be so glad. I came to see him, Prince, and admitted everything; I acted nobly, I didn't spare myself; I denounced myself before him as much as I could, everybody here is a witness. To take this job with the railways, I absolutely must outfit myself at least somehow, because I'm all in rags. Here, look at my boots! Otherwise I can't show up for work, and if I don't show up at the appointed time, somebody else will take the job, and I'll be left hanging again, and who knows when I'll find another job? Now I'm asking him for only fifteen roubles, and I promise that I'll never ask again, and on top of that I'll repay the whole debt to the last kopeck during the first three months. I'll keep my word. I can live on bread and kvass for months at a time, because I have a strong character. For three months I'll get seventy-five roubles. With the previous debt, I'll owe him only thirty-five roubles, so I'll have enough to pay him. Well, he can ask as much interest as he likes, devil take it! Doesn't he know me? Ask him, Prince: when he helped me out before, did I pay him back or not? Why doesn't he want to now? He's angry that I paid that lieutenant; there's no other reason! That's how this man is—doesn't eat himself and won't let others!"
"And he won't go away," Lebedev cried, "he lies here and won't go away!"
"That's what I told you. I won't go away till you give it to me.
You're smiling at something, Prince? Apparently you think I'm in the wrong?"
"I'm not smiling, but in my opinion you actually are somewhat in the wrong," the prince answered reluctantly.
"No, just say outright that I'm totally wrong, don't dodge! What is this 'somewhat'?"
"If you wish, you're totally wrong."
"If I wish! Ridiculous! Can you possibly think I don't know that it's ticklish to act this way, that the money's his, the will is his, and it comes out as violence on my part? But you, Prince . . . you don't know life. If you don't teach them, they'll be of no use. They have to be taught. My conscience is clear; in all conscience, I won't cause him any loss, I'll pay him back with interest. He's already received moral satisfaction as welclass="underline" he has seen my humiliation. What more does he want? What good is he, if he can't be useful? For pity's sake, what does he do himself? Ask him what he does to others and how he dupes people. How did he pay for this house? I'll bet my life that he has already duped you and has already made plans for how to dupe you further! You're smiling. You don't believe me?"
"It seems to me that all this is quite unconnected with your affair," observed the prince.
"I've been lying here for three days, and the things I've seen!" the young man went on shouting without listening. "Imagine, he suspects this angel, this young girl, now an orphan, my cousin, his own daughter; every night he searches for her sweethearts! He comes here on the sly and also searches for something under my sofa. He's gone crazy from suspiciousness; he sees thieves in every corner. All night he keeps popping out of bed to see whether the windows are well latched, to check the doors, to peek into the stove, as much as seven times a night. He defends swindlers in court, and he gets up three times in the night to pray, here in the living room, on his knees, pounding his head on the floor for half an hour, and who doesn't he pray for, what doesn't he pray for, the drunken mumbler! He prayed for the repose of the soul of the countess Du Barry, 9I heard it with my own ears; Kolya also heard it: he's gone quite crazy!"