Mrs. General Epanchin was a jealous woman, and a proud woman by nature. What must her feelings have been when she heard that Prince Muishkin, the last of his and her own line, had arrived in beggar’s guise, a wretched idiot, a recipient of charity—all of which details the general gave out for greater effect; he was anxious to steal her interest at the first swoop, so as to distract her thoughts from other matters nearer home.
