How do you mean, the general?
Oh, good heavens!
l mean, what did the general
say when the purse turned up
under the chair?
l thought better to say nothing
about finding it.
l found it alone.
And the money?
Was it all there?
Right to a single rouble.
l wanted to appear, myself,
to have found nothing.
l took the purse, and opened it,
and counted the money,
and shut it and put it down
again under the chair.
What in the world for?
l was half in hopes the general
might find it.
l moved the chair several times
so as to expose the purse to view,
but the general never saw it.
Well, but have you taken
the purse away now?
No, it disappeared from under
the chair in the night.
Where is it now, then?
Here, in the lining of my coat.
Look, you can feel it
for yourself, if you like!
''l took it out and had a look at it;
it's all right.''
l've let it slip back into the lining now,
as you see,
''and so l have been walking
about ever since yesterday morning;''
it knocks against my legs
when l walk along.
-And you take no notice of it?
-Quite so, l take no notice of it.
And the general?
''Ah, very angry all day, sir;
all yesterday and all today.''
He shows decided bacchanalian
predilections at one time,
and at another is tearful and sensitive,
but at any moment he is liable
to paroxysms of such rage that
l assure you, prince, l am quite alarmed.
l am not a military man, you know.
Yesterday we were sitting together
in the tavern,
and the lining of my coat was
quite accidentally, of course
sticking out right in front.
The general squinted at it,
and flew into a rage.
''l intend to find the purse tomorrow;''
but till then l am going
to have another night of it with him.
What's the good of
tormenting him like this?
l don't torment him,
prince, l don't indeed!
l love him, my dear sir,
l esteem him.
And believe it or not,l love him all the better
for this business, yes and value him more.
-Love him and torment him so!
-Yes.
And tormenting him like this?
Why, by the very fact that
he put the purse prominently
before you, first under the chair
and then in your lining,
he shows that he does not wish
to deceive you, but is anxious
to beg your forgiveness
in this artless way.
Do you hear?
He is asking your pardon.
He confides in the delicacy
of your feelings,
and in your friendship for him.
And you can allow yourself
to humiliate so thoroughly
honest a man!
Thoroughly honest, quite so, prince,
thoroughly honest!
And only you, prince, could have found
so very appropriate an expression.
l honour you for it, prince.
Very well, that's settled
l shall find the purse now
and not tomorrow.
Well, take care, you don't tell him
to his face that you
have found the purse.
Simply let him see that it is
no longer in the lining
of your coat,
and form his own conclusions.
l know, prince, of course
l know, but l'm afraid
l shall not carry it out.
for to do so one
needs a heart like your own.
He is so very irritable
just now, and so proud.
At one moment he will embrace me,
and the next he flies out at me
and sneers at me, and then l stick
the lining forward on purpose.
Well, au revoir, prince,
l see l am keeping you,
and boring you, too,
interfering with your most interesting
private reflections.
Go and take this hedgehog
to the prince from me,
and ask him to accept it
as a token of my profound respect.
Certainly l shall pass.
Colia, dear, please
take care not to drop him!
No, l will not drop him!
Don't be afraid, Aglaya lvanovna!
What does the hedgehog mean?
What is the meaning of such a present.
Mum - a hedgehog its simply a hedgehog
Good afternoon general.
l have determined, prince,
to leave this house,
Mr. Lebedeff's house.
Why?
l do not need his hospitality.
having my own family at Pavlofsk.
l leave Lebedeff's house,
my dear prince,
because l have quarreled
with this person.
l broke with him last night,
and am very sorry that
l