{"product_id":"2940012096999","title":"THE IDIOT","description":"Towards the end of November, during a thaw, at nine o'clock one morning,\u003cbr\u003ea train on the Warsaw and Petersburg railway was approaching the latter\u003cbr\u003ecity at full speed. The morning was so damp and misty that it was only\u003cbr\u003ewith great difficulty that the day succeeded in breaking; and it was\u003cbr\u003eimpossible to distinguish anything more than a few yards away from the\u003cbr\u003ecarriage windows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome of the passengers by this particular train were returning from\u003cbr\u003eabroad; but the third-class carriages were the best filled, chiefly with\u003cbr\u003einsignificant persons of various occupations and degrees, picked up at\u003cbr\u003ethe different stations nearer town. All of them seemed weary, and\u003cbr\u003emost of them had sleepy eyes and a shivering expression, while their\u003cbr\u003ecomplexions generally appeared to have taken on the colour of the fog\u003cbr\u003eoutside.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen day dawned, two passengers in one of the third-class carriages\u003cbr\u003efound themselves opposite each other. Both were young fellows, both\u003cbr\u003ewere rather poorly dressed, both had remarkable faces, and both were\u003cbr\u003eevidently anxious to start a conversation. If they had but known why,\u003cbr\u003eat this particular moment, they were both remarkable persons, they would\u003cbr\u003eundoubtedly have wondered at the strange chance which had set them down\u003cbr\u003eopposite to one another in a third-class carriage of the Warsaw Railway\u003cbr\u003eCompany.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of them was a young fellow of about twenty-seven, not tall, with\u003cbr\u003eblack curling hair, and small, grey, fiery eyes. His nose was broad\u003cbr\u003eand flat, and he had high cheek bones; his thin lips were constantly\u003cbr\u003ecompressed into an impudent, ironical--it might almost be called a\u003cbr\u003emalicious--smile; but his forehead was high and well formed, and atoned\u003cbr\u003efor a good deal of the ugliness of the lower part of his face. A special\u003cbr\u003efeature of this physiognomy was its death-like pallor, which gave to\u003cbr\u003ethe whole man an indescribably emaciated appearance in spite of his hard\u003cbr\u003elook, and at the same time a sort of passionate and suffering expression\u003cbr\u003ewhich did not harmonize with his impudent, sarcastic smile and\u003cbr\u003ekeen, self-satisfied bearing. He wore a large fur--or rather\u003cbr\u003eastrachan--overcoat, which had kept him warm all night, while his\u003cbr\u003eneighbour had been obliged to bear the full severity of a Russian\u003cbr\u003eNovember night entirely unprepared. His wide sleeveless mantle with a\u003cbr\u003elarge cape to it--the sort of cloak one sees upon travellers during the\u003cbr\u003ewinter months in Switzerland or North Italy--was by no means adapted to\u003cbr\u003ethe long cold journey through Russia, from Eydkuhnen to St. Petersburg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe wearer of this cloak was a young fellow, also of about twenty-six or\u003cbr\u003etwenty-seven years of age, slightly above the middle height, very fair,\u003cbr\u003ewith a thin, pointed and very light coloured beard; his eyes were large\u003cbr\u003eand blue, and had an intent look about them, yet that heavy expression\u003cbr\u003ewhich some people affirm to be a peculiarity as well as evidence, of an\u003cbr\u003eepileptic subject. His face was decidedly a pleasant one for all that;\u003cbr\u003erefined, but quite colourless, except for the circumstance that at this\u003cbr\u003emoment it was blue with cold. He held a bundle made up of an old faded\u003cbr\u003esilk handkerchief that apparently contained all his travelling wardrobe,\u003cbr\u003eand wore thick shoes and gaiters, his whole appearance being very\u003cbr\u003eun-Russian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis black-haired neighbour inspected these peculiarities, having nothing\u003cbr\u003ebetter to do, and at length remarked, with that rude enjoyment of the\u003cbr\u003ediscomforts of others which the common classes so often show:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Cold?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Very,\" said his neighbour, readily, \"and this is a thaw, too. Fancy if\u003cbr\u003eit had been a hard frost! I never thought it would be so cold in the old\u003cbr\u003ecountry. I've grown quite out of the way of it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What, been abroad, I suppose?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, straight from Switzerland.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Wheugh! my goodness!\" The black-haired young fellow whistled, and then\u003cbr\u003elaughed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe conversation proceeded. The readiness of the fair-haired young\u003cbr\u003eman in the cloak to answer all his opposite neighbour's questions\u003cbr\u003ewas surprising. He seemed to have no suspicion of any impertinence\u003cbr\u003eor inappropriateness in the fact of such questions being put to him.\u003cbr\u003eReplying to them, he made known to the inquirer that he certainly had\u003cbr\u003ebeen long absent from Russia, more than four years; that he had been\u003cbr\u003esent abroad for his health; that he had suffered from some strange\u003cbr\u003enervous malady--a kind of epilepsy, with convulsive spasms. His\u003cbr\u003einterlocutor burst out laughing several times at his answers; and\u003cbr\u003emore than ever, when to the question, \"whether he had been cured?\" the\u003cbr\u003epatient replied:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No, they did not cure me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hey! that's it! You stumped up your money for nothing, and we\u003cbr\u003ebelieve in those fellows, here!\" remarked the black-haired individual,\u003cbr\u003esarcastically.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gosp","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069020094704,"sku":"2940012096999","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012096999_p0.jpg?v=1763552580","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012096999","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}