RAKITIN. Wasn’t it you I saw here half an hour ago with Vera Alexandrovna?
BELIAYEV. Yes. .. . We were having a walk.
RAKITIN. Ah! [Takes his arm.] Well, how do you like living in the country?
BELIAYEV. I like the country. The only thing is, the shooting is not good here.
RAKITIN. You’re fond of shooting then?
BELIAYEV. Yes. . . . Aren’t you?
RAKITIN. I? No; I’m a poor shot. I’m too lazy.
BELIAYEV. I’m lazy too . . . but not in that way.
RAKITIN. Oh! Are you lazy about reading then?
BELIAYEV. No, I love reading. But I’m too lazy to work long at a time, especially too lazy to go on doing the same thing.
RAKITIN [Smiling.] Talking to ladies, for instance?
BELIAYEV. Ah, you’re laughing at me. . . . I’m frightened of ladies.
RAKITIN [Slightly embarrassed]. What an idea! Why should I laugh at you?
BELIAYEV. Oh, that’s all right. ... I don’t mind!
[A pause.] Tell me where can I get gunpowder about here?
RAKITIN. You can get it no doubt in the town; it is sold there. But do you want good powder?
BELIAYEV. No, it’s not for shooting, it’s for making fireworks.
RAKITIN. Oh, can you make them?
BELIAYEV. Yes; I’ve picked out the right place already, the other side of the pond. I heard it’s Natalya Petrovna’s name - day next week, so they will come in for that.
RAKITIN. Natalya Petrovna will be pleased at such an attention from you. She likes you, Alexey Nikolaitch, I may tell you.
BELIAYEV. I’m very much flattered. . . . Ah, by the way, Mihail Alexandritch, I believe you take a magazine. Could you let me have it to read?
RAKITIN. Certainly, with pleasure. . . . There’s good poetry in it.
BELIAYEV. I’m not fond of poetry.
RAKITIN. How’s that?
BELIAYEV. I don’t know. Comic verses strike me as far - fetched, besides there aren’t many; and sentimental ones. ... I don’t know. There’s something unreal in them somehow.
RAKITIN. You prefer novels?
BELIAYEV. Yes. I like good novels; but critical articles - - they appeal to me - - - - - -
RAKITIN. Oh, why?
BELIAYEV. It’s a fine man that writes them.
RAKITIN. And you don’t go in for authorship yourself?
BELIAYEV. Oh no! It’s silly to write if you’ve no talent. It only makes people laugh at you. Besides, it’s a queer thing, I wish you would explain it to me, sometimes a man seems sensible enough, but when he takes up a pen he’s perfectly hopeless. No, writing’s not for us, we must thank God if we understand what’s written.
RAKITIN. Do you know, Alexey Nikolaitch, not many young men have as much common sense as you have.
BELIAYEV. Thank you for the compliment. [A pause.] I’m going to let off the fireworks the other side of the pond, because I can make Roman candles, and they will be reflected in the water....
RAKITIN. That will be beautiful. . , . Excuse me, Alexey Nikolaitch, by the way, do you know French?
BELIAYEV. No, I translated a novel of Paul de Kock’s, ‘La Laitiere de Montfermeil,’ perhaps you’ve heard of it, for fifty roubles; but I didn’t know a word of French. For instance: quatre - vingt - dix I translated four - twenty - ten. . . . Being hard - up drove me to it, you know. But it’s a pity. I should like to know French. It’s my cursed laziness. I should like to read Georges Sand in French. But the accent . . . how is one to get over the accent? An, on, en, in, isn’t it awful?
RAKITIN. Well, that’s a difficulty that can be got over. . . .
BELIAYEV. Please tell me, what’s the time?
RAKITIN [looking at his watch]. Half - past one.
BELIAYEV. Lizaveta Bogdanovna is keeping Kolya a long time at the piano. ... I bet he’s dying to be running about.
RAKITIN [cordially]. But one has to study too, you know, Alexey Nikolaitch. . . .
BELIAYEV [with a sigh]. You oughtn’t to have to say that, Mihail Alexandritch, and I oughtn’t to have to hear it. . . . Of course, it would never do for everyone to be a loafer like me.
RAKITIN. Oh, nonsense. . . .
BELIAYEV. But I know that only too well.
RAKITIN. Well, I know too, on the contrary, that just what you regard as a defect, your impulsiveness, your freedom from constraint is what’s attractive.
BELIAYEV. To whom, for instance?
RAKITIN. Well, to Natalya Petrovna, for example.
BELIAYEV. Natalya Petrovna? With her I don’t feel that I am free, as you call it.
RAKITIN. Ah! Is that really so?
BELIAYEV. And after all, Mihail Alexandritch, isn’t education the thing that matters most in a man? It’s easy for you to talk.... I can’t make you out, really. [Suddenly looking round.] What’s that? I thought I heard a corncrake calling in the garden. [Is about to go]
RAKITIN. Perhaps. . . . But where are you off to?
BELIAYEV. To fetch my gun. . . . [Goes to Left; NATALYA PETROVNA comes in, meeting him.]
NATALYA PETROVNA [seeing him, suddenly smiles]. Where are you going, Alexey Nikolaitch? BELIAYEV. I was . . . RAKITIN. To fetch his gun. . .. He heard a corncrake in the garden. . . .
NATALYA PETROVNA. No, please don’t shoot in the garden. . . . Let the poor bird live. . . . Besides, you may startle Granny.
BELIAYEV. I obey, madam.
NATALYA PETROVNA [laughing]. Oh, Alexey Nikolaitch, aren’t you ashamed? ‘I obey, madam,’ what a way to speak! How can you . . . talk like that? But wait, you see Mihail Alexandritch and I will see to your education. . . . Yes, yes ... we have talked together about you more than once already. . . . There’s a plot against you, I warn you. . . . You will let me have a hand in your education, won’t you?
BELIAYEV. Why, of course. ... I shall be only too . . .
NATALYA PETROVNA. To begin with, don’t be shy, it doesn’t suit you at all. Yes, we will look after you. [Indicating RAKITIN.] We are old people, you know, he and I, while you are young. You are, aren’t you? You will see how good it will be. You will look after Kolya and I .. . we . . , will look after you.
BELIAYEV. I shall be very grateful. NATALYA PETROVNA. That’s right. What have Mihail Alexandritch and you been talking about?
RAKITIN [smiling]. He has been telling me how he translated a French book without knowing a word of French.
NATALYA PETROVNA. Ah! Now there, we will teach you French. What have you done with your kite, by the way?
BELIAYEV. I’ve taken it indoors. I thought you didn’t like it.
NATALYA PETROVNA [with some embarrassment]. What made you think that? Was it because of Vera . . . because I took Vera indoors? No, that . . No, you were mistaken. [Eagerly.] I tell you what . . . Kolya must have finished his lesson by now. Let us take him and Vera and the kite, shall we? . . . and all of us together fly it in the meadow? Yes?
BELIAYEV. With pleasure, Natalya Petrovna.
NATALYA PETROVNA. That’s right then. Come, let us go, let us go. [Ho/ding out her arm to him.] But take my arm, how awkward you are! Come along . . . make haste. [They go off quickly to Left.]
RAKITIN [looking after them]. What eagerness . . . what gaiety. ... I have never seen a look like that on her face. And what a sudden transformation! [A pause.] Souvent femme varie. . . . But ... I am certainly not in her good books to - day. That’s clear. [A pause.] Well, we shall see what will come later. [Slowly] Is it possible? . . . [With a gesture of dismissal] It can’t be! ... But that smile, that warm, soft, bright look in her eyes. ... O God spare me from knowing the tortures of jealousy, especially a senseless jealousy! [Suddenly looking round.] Hullo, what do I see? [SHPIGELSKY and BOLSHINTSOV enter from Left. RAKITIN goes to meet them] Good day, gentlemen. ... I confess I didn’t expect to see you to - day, Shpigelsky.... [Shakes hands.]
SHPIGELSKY. Well, I didn’t expect it myself. ... I never imagined. . . . But you see I called in on him [Indicating BOLSHI
NTSOV] and he was already sitting in his carriage, coming here. So I turned round and came back with him.
RAKITIN. Well, you are very welcome.
BOLSHINTSOV. I certainly was intending ...
SHPIGELSKY [cutting him short]. The servants told us you were all in the garden. . . . Anyway there was nobody in the drawing - room. . .
RAKITIN. But didn’t you meet Natalya Petrovna?
SHPIGELSKY. When?
RAKITIN. Why, just now.
SHPIGELSKY. No. We didn’t come here straight from the house. Afanasy Ivanovitch wanted to see whether there were any mushrooms in the copse.
BOLSHINTSOV [surprised]. I really . . .
SHPIGELSKY. Oh, there, we know how fond you are of mushrooms. So Natalya Petrovna has gone in? Well then, we can go back again.
BOLSHINTSOV. Of course.
RAKITIN. Yes, she has gone in to fetch them all out for a walk.... They are going to fly a kite, I believe.
SHPIGELSKY. Ah! That’s capital. It’s just the weather for a walk.
RAKITIN. You can stay here. . . I’ll go in and tell her you have come.
SHPIGELSKY. Why should you trouble. . . . Really, Mihail Alexandritch . . .
RAKITIN. No trouble. . . . I’m going in anyway. . . .
SHPIGELSKY. Oh, well, in that case we won’t keep you. . . No ceremony, you know. . . .
RAKITIN. Good - bye for the present. . . . [Goes out to Left.]
SHPIGELSKY. Good - bye. [To BOLSHINTSOV.] Well, Afanasy Ivanovitch. . . .
BOLSHINTSOV [interrupting him]. What did you mean about mushrooms, Ignaty Ilyitch? . . . I’m amazed, what mushrooms?
SHPIGELSKY. Upon my soul, would you have had me say my Afanasy Ivanovitch was overcome with shyness; he wouldn’t go straight in, and insisted on taking another turn?
BOLSHINTSOV. That’s so ... but all the same, mushrooms. ... I don’t know, may be I’m mistaken....
SHPIGELSKY. You certainly are, my dear fellow. I’ll tell you what you’d better be thinking about. You see we’ve come here . . . done as you wished. Look out now and don’t make a mess of it.
BOLSHINTSOV. But, Ignaty Ilyitch, you know you. . . . You told me, I mean ... I should like to know for certain what answer . . .
SHPIGELSKY. My honoured friend! It’s reckoned over fifteen miles from your place here; at least three times every mile you put that very question to me. . . . Isn’t that enough for you? Now listen; but this is the last time I give way to you. This is what Natalya Petrovna said to me: ‘I . . .’
BOLSHINTSOV [nodding]. Yes.
SHPIGELSKY [with annoyance]. Yes! Why, what do you mean by ‘yes’? I’ve told you nothing yet. ... ‘I don’t know,’ says she, ‘Mr. Bolshintsov very well, but he seems to me a good man; on the other hand, I don’t intend to force Vera’s inclinations; and so, let him visit us, and if he wins . . .’
BOLSHINTSOV. Wins? She said ‘wins’?
SHPIGELSKY. ‘If he wins her affections, Anna Semyon - ovna and I will not oppose . ..’
BOLSHINTSOV. Will not oppose? Is that what she said? Will not oppose?
SHPIGELSKY. Yes, yes, yes. What a queer fellow you are! ‘We will not oppose their happiness.’
BOLSHINTSOV. Hm.
SHPIGELSKY. ‘Their happiness.’ . . . Yes, but observe, Afanasy Ivanitch, what your task is now. . . . You have now to persuade Vera Alexandrovna herself that marrying you really will be happiness for her; you have to win her affection.
BOLSHINTSOV [blinking]. Yes, yes, win . . . exactly so. I agree with you.
SHPIGELSKY. You insisted on my bringing you here. .. . Well, let’s see how you will act.
BOLSHINTSOV. Act? Yes, yes, we must act, we must win . . . exactly so. Only you see, Ignaty Ilyitch . . . May I confess, admit to you, as to my best friend, one of my weaknesses: I did, as you truly say, wish you to bring me here to - day. . . .
SHPIGELSKY. You didn’t wish it, you insisted, absolutely insisted on it....
BOLSHINTSOV. Oh, well, we’ll grant that. ... I agree with you. But you see ... at home ... I certainly .,. at home I felt I was ready for anything; but now you know I feel overcome with fears.
SHPIGELSKY. But what are you afraid of?
BOLSHINTSOV [glancing at him from under his brows]. The risk, sir.
SHPIGELSKY. Wha - at?
BOLSHINTSOV. The risk. There’s a great risk. I must, Ignaty Ilyitch, I must confess to you that. . .
SHPIGELSKY [interrupting him]. As to ‘your best friend.’ We know all about it. ... Get on. ...
BOLSHINTSOV. Exactly so. ... I agree with you. I must confess to you, Ignaty Ilyitch, that I have had very little to do with ladies, with the female sex, in general, if I may say so; I will confess frankly, Ignaty Ilyitch, that I simply can’t imagine what one can talk about to a person of the female sex - - and alone with her too . . . and especially a young lady.
SHPIGELSKY. You surprise me. I really don’t know what one can’t talk about to a person of the female sex, especially a young lady, and particularly alone with her.
BOLSHINTSOV. Oh . .. you . .. Good gracious, but I’m not you. So you see it’s just in this case I want to appeal to you, Ignaty Ilyitch. They say that in these affairs it’s the first step that counts, so couldn’t you just ... to give me a start in the conversation . . . tell me of something to say, something agreeable in the way, for instance, of an observation ... and then I can get along. After that I could manage somehow by myself.
SHPIGELSKY. I won’t tell you anything to say, Afanasy Ivanovitch, because nothing I could tell you would be of any use to you . . . but I will give you some advice if you like.
BOLSHINTSOV. My dear sir, pray do. ... And as to my gratitude . . . you know . . .
SHPIGELSKY. Oh, come, come, I’m not bargaining with you, am I?
BOLSHINTSOV [dropping his voice]. You can reckon on the three horses.
SHPIGELSKY. Oh, that will do. ... You see, Afanasy Ivanovitch . . . You are unquestionably a capital fellow in every respect . . . [BOLSHINTSOV makes a slight bow] a man of excellent qualities. . . .
BOLSHINTSOV. Oh dear!
SHPIGELSKY. You are, besides, the owner, I believe, of three hundred serfs.
BOLSHINTSOV. Three hundred and twenty, sir.
SHPIGELSKY. Not mortgaged?
BOLSHINTSOV. I owe nobody a farthing.
SHPIGELSKY. There you are. I’ve been telling you, you’re an excellent man and the most eligible of suitors. But you say yourself you’ve had very little to do with ladies. ...
BOLSHINTSOV [with a sigh]. That’s just so. I may say, Ignaty Ilyitch, I’ve avoided the female sex from a child.
SHPIGELSKY [with a sigh]. Quite so. That’s not a vice in a husband; quite the contrary; but still in certain circumstances, at the first declaration of love, for instance, it is essential to be able to say something. . . isn’t it?
BOLSHINTSOV. I quite agree with you.
SHPIGELSKY. Or else, you know, Vera Alexandrovna may simply suppose that you feel unwell - - and nothing more. Besides, though your exterior figure is also perfectly presentable in all respects, it does not offer any feature very striking at first sight... not at first sight, you know, and that’s what’s wanted in this case.
BOLSHINTSOV [with a sigh]. That’s what’s wanted in this case.
SHPIGELSKY. Young ladies are attracted by it, anyway. And then, your age too ... in fact, it’s not for you and me to try to please. And so it’s no good for you to think of agreeable remarks. That’s a poor thing to depend on. But you have something else to count upon, far firmer and more reliable, and that’s virtues, my dear Afanasy Ivanovitch, and your three hundred and twenty serfs. In your place I should simply say to Vera Alexandrovna . . .
BOLSHINTSOV. Alone with her?
SHPIGELSKY. Oh, of course, alone with her! ‘Vera Alexandrovna!’ [From the movement of BOLSHINTSOV’S lips it is evident that he is repeating in a whisper every word after SHPIGELSKY.] ‘I love you and ask your hand in marriage. I’m a kind - hea
rted, good - natured, harmless man and I’m not poor. You will be perfectly free with me; I will do my best to please you in every way. And I beg you to find out about me, to take a little more notice of me than you have done hitherto, and to give me an answer as you please and when you please. I am ready to wait and shall consider it a pleasure to do so.’
BOLSHINTSOV [uttering the last words aloud]. To do so! Yes, yes, yes. ... I quite agree with you. Only I tell you what, Ignaty Ilyitch; I believe you used the word ‘harmless.’ . . . You said a harmless man. . . .
A Sportsman's Sketches: Works of Ivan Turgenev 1 Page 329