Idiot (Translation: Famous Works Library) 007

Author: [Russian] Fyodor Dostoevsky [F.M. Dostoevsky]
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Late in November, the weather was warm, and the snow had melted. At around 9 a.m., a train was speeding toward St. Petersburg on the St. Petersburg–Warsaw railway line. The air was extremely humid, and dense fog blanketed the surroundings. It was hard to understand how the sky was so bright, considering the conditions. From the train window, nothing could be seen beyond about ten steps on either side of the tracks. Among the passengers were some who had returned from abroad, but the third-class carriage was the most crowded, filled mostly with petty bourgeoisie busy with their livelihoods, who usually boarded the train from nearby stations. After a night of travel, everyone was naturally tired, with heavy eyelids that couldn’t be lifted, a chill all over their bodies, and pale faces that had taken on a slight yellowish hue, somewhat resembling the color of the fog. In a window seat in a third-class carriage, two passengers had been seated facing each other since dawn. Both were young, with extremely simple luggage and attire that wasn’t particularly fashionable, yet both had striking appearances, and neither had any hesitation in starting a conversation. If they had known what made them particularly unusual at that moment, they would have been astonished at how fate had placed them face to face in the third-class carriage of the St. Petersburg–Warsaw train. One of the two was of short stature, around twenty-seven years old, with almost entirely black curly hair and small, but piercing, gray eyes. His nose was large and flat, his cheekbones prominent, and his thin lips were always slightly turned up...