Nastasia Philipovna looked keenly round at the prince.
“ Is that true?” she asked.
“ Quite true,” whispered the prince.
“ You’ll take me as I am, with nothing?”
“ I will, Nastasia Philipovna.”
“ Here’s a pretty business!” cried the general. “However, it might have been expected of him.”
The prince continued to regard Nastasia with a sorrowful, but intent and piercing, gaze.
“ Here’s another alternative for me,” said Nastasia, turning once more to the actress; “and he does it out of pure kindness of heart. I know him. I’ve found a benefactor. Perhaps, though, what they say about him may be true—that he’s an—we know what. And what shall you live on, if you are really so madly in love with Rogojin’s mistress, that you are ready to marry her—eh?”
“ I take you as a good, honest w
