LEBEDEFF'S country-house was not large, but it was pretty and
convenient, especially the part which was let to the prince.
A row of orange and lemon trees and jasmines, planted in green
tubs, stood on the fairly wide terrace. According to Lebedeff, these trees gave the house a most delightful aspect. Some were there when he bought it, and he was so charmed with the effect that he promptly added to their number. When the tubs containing these plants arrived at the villa and were set in their places, Lebedeff kept running into the street to enjoy the view of the house, and every time he did so the rent to be demanded from the future tenant went up with a bound.
This country villa pleased the prince very much in his state of
physical and mental exhaustion. On the day that they left for
Pavlofsk, that is the day after his attack, he appeared almost
well, though in reality he felt very far from it. The faces of
those around him for the last three days had made a pleasant
impression. He was pleased to see, not only Colia, who had become
his inseparable companion, but Lebedeff himself and all the
family, except the nephew, who had left the house. He was also
glad to receive a visit from General Ivolgin, before leaving St. Petersburg.
It was getting late when the party arrived at Pavlofsk, but
several people called to see the prince, and assembled in the
verandah. Gania was the first to arrive. He had grown so pale and
thin that the prince could hardly recognize him. Then came Varia
and Ptitsin, who were rusticating in the neighbourhood. As to
General Ivolgin, he scarcely budged from Lebedeff's house, and
seemed to have moved to Pavlofsk with him. Lebedeff did his best
to keep Ardalion Alexandrovitch by him, and to prevent him from
invading the prince's quarters. He chatted with him
confidentially, so that they might have been taken for old
friends. During those three days the prince had noticed that they
frequently held long conversations; he often heard their voices
raised in argument on deep and learned subjects, which evidently
pleased Lebedeff. He seemed as if he could not do without the
general. But it was not only Ardalion Alexandrovitch whom
Lebedeff kept out of the prince's way. Since they had come to the
villa, he treated his own family the same. Upon the pretext that
his tenant needed quiet, he kept him almost in isolation, and
Muishkin protested in vain against this excess of zeal. Lebedeff
stamped his feet at his daughters and drove them away if they
attempted to join the prince on the terrace; not even Vera was
excepted.
"They will lose all respect if they are allowed to be so free and
easy; besides it is not proper for them," he declared at last, in
answer to a direct question from the prince.
"Why on earth not?" asked the latter. "Really, you know, you are
making yourself a nuisance, by keeping guard over me like this. I
get bored all by myself; I have told you so over and over again, and you get on my nerves more than ever by waving your hands and creeping in and out in the mysterious way you do."
It was a fact that Lebedeff, though he was so anxious to keep
everyone else from disturbing the patient, was continually in and
out of the prince's room himself. He invariably began by opening
the door a crack and peering in to see if the prince was there, or if he had escaped; then he would creep softly up to the arm-chair, sometimes making Muishkin jump by his sudden appearance. He always asked if the patient wanted anything, and when the latter replied that he only wanted to be left in peace, he would turn away obediently and make for the door on tip-toe, with deprecatory gestures to imply that he had only just looked in, that he would not speak a word, and would go away and not intrude again; which did not prevent him from reappearing in ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. Colia had free access to the prince, at which Lebedeff was quite disgusted and indignant. He would listen at the door for half an hour at a time while the two were talking. Colia found this out, and naturally told the prince of his discovery.
"Do you think yourself my master, that you try to keep me under
lock and key like this?" said the prince to Lebedeff. "In the
country, at least, I intend to be free, and you may make up your
mind that I mean to see whom I like, and go where I please."