The Cossacks: A Tale of 1852

by graf Leo Tolstoy

  Chapter XXIII

  Olenin's life went on with monotonous regularity. He had littleintercourse with the commanding officers or with his equals. Theposition of a rich cadet in the Caucasus was peculiarly advantageous inthis respect. He was not sent out to work, or for training. As a rewardfor going on an expedition he was recommended for a commission, andmeanwhile he was left in peace. The officers regarded him as anaristocrat and behaved towards him with dignity. Cardplaying and theofficers' carousals accompanied by the soldier-singers, of which he hadhad experience when he was with the detachment, did not seem to himattractive, and he also avoided the society and life of the officers inthe village. The life of officers stationed in a Cossack village haslong had its own definite form. Just as every cadet or officer when ina fort regularly drinks porter, plays cards, and discusses the rewardsgiven for taking part in the expeditions, so in the Cossack villages heregularly drinks chikhir with his hosts, treats the girls tosweet-meats and honey, dangles after the Cossack women, and falls inlove, and occasionally marries there. Olenin always took his own pathand had an unconscious objection to the beaten tracks. And here, too,he did not follow the ruts of a Caucasian officer's life.

  It came quite naturally to him to wake up at daybreak. After drinkingtea and admiring from his porch the mountains, the morning, andMaryanka, he would put on a tattered ox-hide coat, sandals of soakedraw hide, buckle on a dagger, take a gun, put cigarettes and some lunchin a little bag, call his dog, and soon after five o'clock would startfor the forest beyond the village. Towards seven in the evening hewould return tired and hungry with five or six pheasants hanging fromhis belt (sometimes with some other animal) and with his bag of foodand cigarettes untouched. If the thoughts in his head had lain like thelunch and cigarettes in the bag, one might have seen that during allthose fourteen hours not a single thought had moved in it. He returnedmorally fresh, strong, and perfectly happy, and he could not tell whathe had been thinking about all the time. Were they ideas, memories, ordreams that had been flitting through his mind? They were frequentlyall three. He would rouse himself and ask what he had been thinkingabout; and would see himself as a Cossack working in a vineyard withhis Cossack wife, or an abrek in the mountains, or a boar running awayfrom himself. And all the time he kept peering and watching for apheasant, a boar, or a deer.

  In the evening Daddy Eroshka would be sure to be sitting with him.Vanyusha would bring a jug of chikhir, and they would converse quietly,drink, and separate to go quite contentedly to bed. The next day hewould again go shooting, again be healthily weary, again they would sitconversing and drink their fill, and again be happy. Sometimes on aholiday or day of rest Olenin spent the whole day at home. Then hischief occupation was watching Maryanka, whose every movement, withoutrealizing it himself, he followed greedily from his window or hisporch. He regarded Maryanka and loved her (so he thought) just as heloved the beauty of the mountains and the sky, and he had no thought ofentering into any relations with her. It seemed to him that between himand her such relations as there were between her and the CossackLukashka could not exist, and still less such as often existed betweenrich officers and other Cossack girls. It seemed to him that if hetried to do as his fellow officers did, he would exchange his completeenjoyment of contemplation for an abyss of suffering, disillusionment,and remorse. Besides, he had already achieved a triumph ofself-sacrifice in connexion with her which had given him greatpleasure, and above all he was in a way afraid of Maryanka and wouldnot for anything have ventured to utter a word of love to her lightly.

  Once during the summer, when Olenin had not gone out shooting but wassitting at home, quite unexpectedly a Moscow acquaintance, a very youngman whom he had met in society, came in.

  'Ah, mon cher, my dear fellow, how glad I was when I heard that youwere here!' he began in his Moscow French, and he went on interminglingFrench words in his remarks. 'They said, "Olenin". What Olenin? and Iwas so pleased.... Fancy fate bringing us together here! Well, and howare you? How? Why?' and Prince Beletski told his whole story: how hehad temporarily entered the regiment, how the Commander-in-Chief hadoffered to take him as an adjutant, and how he would take up the postafter this campaign although personally he felt quite indifferent aboutit.

  'Living here in this hole one must at least make a career--get across--or a rank--be transferred to the Guards. That is quiteindispensable, not for myself but for the sake of my relations andfriends. The prince received me very well; he is a very decent fellow,'said Beletski, and went on unceasingly. 'I have been recommended forthe St. Anna Cross for the expedition. Now I shall stay here a bituntil we start on the campaign. It's capital here. What women! Well,and how are you getting on? I was told by our captain, Startsev youknow, a kind-hearted stupid creature.... Well, he said you were livinglike an awful savage, seeing no one! I quite understand you don't wantto be mixed up with the set of officers we have here. I am so glad nowyou and I will be able to see something of one another. I have put upat the Cossack corporal's house. There is such a girl there. Ustenka! Itell you she's just charming.'

  And more and more French and Russian words came pouring forth from thatworld which Olenin thought he had left for ever. The general opinionabout Beletski was that he was a nice, good-natured fellow. Perhaps hereally was; but in spite of his pretty, good-natured face, Oleninthought him extremely unpleasant. He seemed just to exhale thatfilthiness which Olenin had forsworn. What vexed him most was that hecould not--had not the strength--abruptly to repulse this man who camefrom that world: as if that old world he used to belong to had anirresistible claim on him. Olenin felt angry with Beletski and withhimself, yet against his wish he introduced French phrases into his ownconversation, was interested in the Commander-in-Chief and in theirMoscow acquaintances, and because in this Cossack village he andBeletski both spoke French, he spoke contemptuously of their fellowofficers and of the Cossacks, and was friendly with Beletski, promisingto visit him and inviting him to drop in to see him. Olenin however didnot himself go to see Beletski. Vanyusha for his part approved ofBeletski, remarking that he was a real gentleman.

  Beletski at once adopted the customary life of a rich officer in aCossack village. Before Olenin's eyes, in one month he came to be likean old resident of the village; he made the old men drunk, arrangedevening parties, and himself went to parties arranged by thegirls--bragged of his conquests, and even got so far that, for someunknown reason, the women and girls began calling him grandad, and theCossacks, to whom a man who loved wine and women was clearlyunderstandable, got used to him and even liked him better than they didOlenin, who was a puzzle to them.