Yevsay, girt with a leather strap and all covered with dust, was exchanging greetings with the servants; they all surrounded him in a circle. He gave them presents from
Petersburg; to one a silver ring, to another a birchwood snuffbox. When he saw Agrafena he stood still as though turned to stone, and gazed at her mutely in stupid rapture. She gave him a doubtful side-long look, but suddenly, in spite of herself, she was transformed; she laughed with delight, then cried a little, but suddenly turned away while her face worked.
" Why don't you speak ? " she said; " what a dummy; he never even says how do you do !"
But he could not say a word. With the same stupid smile he went up to her. She hardly let him embrace her.
"An evil spirit has brought him/' she said angrily, looking at him stealthily from time to time; but immense delight was expressed in her eyes and her smile. " Pray, did the Petersburg girls .... turn your head and the master's? Just look, what whiskers he has grown!"
He pulled out of his pocket a small card-board box and gave it to her. In it were some bronze earrings. Then he took out of a bag a parcel, in which a large handkerchief was folded up.
She seized it, and quickly, without looking at them, stuffed both the presents in the cupboard.
" Show us your presents, Agrafena Ivanovna," said one of the servants.
" Eh, what are you looking at here ? What do you want to see ? Get along! Why are you huddling in here ? " she screamed at them.
" See, something more !" said Yevsay, giving her another ^-parcel. k) 1 " Show us, show us !" persisted several of them. Agrafena
>>
,v- I tore open the paper, and out of it scattered a few cards of a
(V I used but still almost new pack. " —
0 1" Well, he's hit on something! " said Agrafena ; " do you
Ssuppose I have nothing to do but play ? what next! I've
got a notion. I'll play with you!"
She put away the cards too. Within an hour Yevsay was again sitting in his old place between the table and the store.
" Good Lord! what peace !" he said, now crossing and then stretching his legs, " how different it is here ! But our existence there in Petersburg is simply slavery! Isn't there
a snack of anything, Agrafena Ivanovna? we have had nothing to eat since the last station."
" You've not got out of your old habits then ? There ! My word, how he falls upon it; it seems they didn't feed you at all there."
XAlexandr walked through all the rooms, then through the garden, stopping at every bush and every garden-seat His mother accompanied him. She sighed as she looked at his pale face, but she did not dare to weep; Anton Ivanitch had scared her out of that. She questioned her son about his way of living, but could not in any way arrive at the reason he had become thin and pale and what had become of his hair. She pressed him to eat and drink, but he, declining everything, said he was tired with the journey and wanM like to have some sleep.
Anna Pavlovna looked to see whether the bed was well made, scolded the girl rather roughly, forced her to make it again in her presence, and did not go away till Alexandr had lain down to sleep. She went away on tiptoe, and warned the household not to dare to speak and even breathe aloud, and to walk about without shoes. Then she gave orders that Yevsay should be sent to her. With him came also Agrafena. Yevsay bowed down to the ground and kissed her hand.
"What has happened to Sashenka?" she asked in a menacing voice; " why is he like this—pray!"
Yevsay made no answer.
" Why don't you answer ? " said Agrafena; " do you hear what the mistress asks you ? "
" Why has he grown so thin LI' said Anna Pavlovna; " what has hapfSSneil lb Ins' lia'u i 1 '
" I can't tell, madam !" said Yevsay; " that's the master's business."
"You can't tell! But what have you been thinking about?"
Yevsay did not know what to say, and still did not answer.
"You have found some one here you could trust, madam!" murmured Agrafena, looking with affection at Yevsay. " It's a pity you trusted such a fellow; is he to be trusted ? What were you doing there ? Tell the mistress! you'll catch it by and by!"
" Me not to be trusted, madam!" said^e ysayT) timidly, looking first at his mistress and then at< fc AgraTeffa " I was a true and faithful servant, if you will condescend to ask Arhipytch."
"What! Arhipytch?"
" The porter there."
"You see what nonsense he's talking!" observed Agrafena; " why do you listen to him, madam ? You should lock him up ... . then he'd soon be able to say!"
" I'm ready to die on the spot—if I didn't always say yes to doing for my master whatever was his respected will!" continued Yevsay; " I will take the holy image from the wall and "
" You are all good enough in words!" said Anna Pavlovna, " but when it comes to doing anything, then you're nowhere! It seems you took fine care of your master; you let him go till he—my poor darling—lost his health! You looked after him! Here I'll teach you "
She threatened him.
" Didn't I look after him, madam ? In seven years of the master's linen only one shirt has been lost, and except for me they would all have been worn out."
"And where was it lost?" asked Anna Pavlovna angrily.
"At the laundress's. I told Alexandr Fedoritch at the time to deduct for it from her, but he never said anything."
" Only think, the wretch," observed Anna Pavlovna, " to filch fine linen."
" In what way didn't I look after him !" continued Yevsay, " God grant every one to do his duty as I did. Sometimes the master would want to be later in bed, and I run to the baker."
" What kind of loaves did he eat ? "
" White bread, good."
" I know it was white; but was it milk-bread ? "
" What a post, to be sure !" said Agrafena, " he doesn't know how to utter a word sensibly; and now he's a Peters-burger !"
" No, not a bit!" said Yevsay. " Lenten bread."
" Lenten bread! Oh, what a wretch you are, robber, murderer!" said Anna Pavlovna, growing red with anger.
" You did not hesitate to buy Lenten bread for him ? You call that looking after him!"
" But the master gave no orders, madam!"
" Gave no orders! He, poor darling, does not care what you put before him, he will eat it just the same. And did it never occur to you ? Did you forget that here he always ate milk-bread ? Buy Lenten bread ! I suppose you took the money somewhere else ? I will show you ! Well, what more ? tell me."
" After he had drunk some tea," Yevsay went on, losing courage, " he would go to his duty, and I to my shoes; I clean them the whole morning, I always clean them over again, sometimes even three times; in the evening the master takes them off, I clean them again. How did I not look after him, madam; why, I never saw on any gentleman such boots. Piotr Ivanitch's were worse polished though he kept three men."
"Why is he like this?" said Anna Pavlovna somewhat appeased.
" It must be from writing, madam."
u Did he write much ? "
" Yes; every day."
" What did he write ? papers of some sort ? "
" Yes, it must have been papers."
" And you, why didn't you try to stop him ? "
" I did try to prevent him, madam; ' don't be sitting so,' says I, ' Alexandr Fedoritch; condescend to take a walk; the weather is fine, many gentlemen are out walking. What's the good of writing ? you tire yourself a lot; your mamma will be angry.'"
" And what did he say ? "
" Go away," he says ; " you're a fool!"
" And that's just what you are—a fool!" added Agra-fena.
On this Yevsay looked at her, then again continued to gaze at his mistress.
" Well, and didn't his uncle try to prevent him ? " asked Anna Pavlovna.
" How should he, madam 1 he would come, and if he found the master without work, he would fall upon him. 'Why,' he would say, 'are you doing nothing? Here,' he says
, 'you're not in the country, you must work,' he says, ' and not
lie on the shelf! You are always dreaming,' he says! And he would even give him a scolding."
" How a scolding ? "
" The provinces ! " he would say, and he'd go on and go on .... he would scold as I would not have believed my ears."
" Oh the wretch !" said Anna Pavlovna with a gesture of disgust. " He ought to get children of his own to abuse ! Instead of trying to restrain him, he ... . Oh Lord my God, merciful Tzar!" she shrieked, " whom can one trust in these days when one's own kin are worse than savage brutes ? Even a beast cares for its whelps, but here an uncle has been the ruin of his own nephew! And you, great idiot, could not you have said a word to his uncle to beg him not to rate your master like that, and he would have left off directly. He should have rated at his wife, wretch that she is ! He had some one to abuse with ' work, work!' Serve him right if he killed himself with work! A brute, upon my word what a brute, God forgive me for saying so."
After this followed a pause.
"Is it long since Sashenka has bee n so thin? " she
inquired at last. •—»
"It's three years now," replied Yevsay, "since Alexandr | Fedoritch began to be sadly depressed and took little food; suddenly he began to grow thin and thinner, he wasted like a candle."
" Why was he depressed ? "
" God knows why, madam. Piotr Ivanitch was pleased to say something to him about this; I happened to hear it, but it was strange; I did not understand it."
" But what did he say ? "
Yevsay thought a minute, trying apparently to recollect something while his lips moved.
" He called him something or other, but I have forgotten."
Anna Pavlovna and Agrafena looked at him and awaked his reply with impatience.
" Well ? " said Anna Pavlovna.
Yevsay did not speak.
"Well, gaby, say something," added Agrafena, "the mistress is waiting."
})>'<"
" Dis .... I think .... disily — usioned," Yevsay brought out at last.
Anna Pavlovna looked in perplexity at Agrafena, Agrafena at Yevsay, and Yevsay at both of them, and all were silent.
"What? " asked Anna Pavlovna.
" Disill—disillusioned, that was exactly it, I remember !" replied Yevsay in a tone of decision.
" Is it some sort of misfortune ? Good Heavens, is it a disease ? " said Anna Pavlovna in anxiety.
" Ah, hasn't he been bewitched; does'nt it mean, madam ?" put in Agrafena hastily.
Anna Pavlovna grew pale and made a gesture of horror.
" A curse on your tongue ! " she said. " Did he go to church?"
Yevsay was somewhat taken aback.
" One could not say, madam, that he went very much," he answered hesitatingly; " one might almost say that he did not go ... . there the gentry go very little to church."
" Ah, that's why it is!" said Anna Pavlovna, crossing herself with a sigh. *' It seems my prayers alone were not sufficient in God's eyes. My dream was not a lying one; you have really been torn from the abyss, my darling !"
At this point Anton Ivanitch entered.
" Dinner is getting cold, Anna Pavlovna," he said; " isn't it time to wake Alexandr Fedoritch ? "
" No, no, God forbid!" she answered, " he gave orders not to be waked. ' You can dine alone,' he said ; ' I have no appetite; I had better sleep a little; sleep will restore me; perhaps I shall be ready for something in the evening.' So this is what you must do, Anton Ivanitch; now don't be vexed with an old woman like me; I will go and light a lamp and pray while Sashenka is asleep; I could not eat; and you dine alone."
" Very good, ma'am, very good, I will do so; you may reckon on me."
" And do me another favour," she continued ; " you are our friend, you love us so, call Yevsay to you and question him skilfully why it is Sashenka has grown so melancholy and thin and what has become of his hair ? You are a man ; it will be more fitting for you .... whether he has had some trouble there. You know there are such wicked creatures in the world .... find out everything."
" Very good, ma'am, very good: I will find out, I will
learn the whole secret. Send Yevsay to me, while I am at dinner .... I will do it all!"
" Good health to you, Yevsay! " he said, taking his seat at the table and sticking a napkin over his cravat " How do you do ? "
" Your servant, sir. What was my life like ? Why, a poor sort of living. See, you have been growing fat here."
Anton Ivanitch spat.
"No words of ill omen, my friend; is it far to misfortune ?" he observed, and began to eat some cabbage soup.
" Well, how did you get on there ? " he asked.
" Oh ! not over well."
" Tell me, were the provisions good ? what did you have to eat ? "
" Why, you get a jelly and a cold pie at the shop, and that's your dinner !"
" At the shop ? but hadn't you a kitchen of your own ? "
"They did not cook at home. Unmarried gentlemen there don't have cooking in the house."
" What are you saying!" said Anton Ivanitch, laying down his spoon.
" 'Tis so, on my word; they sent the master's dinner in too from the cookshop."
" What a gypsy's life ! oh ! he may well get thin ! Come, take a glass ! "
" I humbly thank you, sir! to your health !"
A silence followed. Anton Ivanitch was eating.
" What's the price of cucumbers there ? " he asked, laying a cucumber on his plate.
" Forty pence a dozen."
" As much as that ? "
" My goodness, yes; and, shameful to relate, sir, they sometimes bring salted cucumbers from Moscow."
" O Lord ! well! no wonder he's thin !"
"Where would you see such a cucumber in town?" continued Yevsay, pointing to a cucumber, " you'd not see such a one in your dreams. Such wretched little things— you would not look at them here, but there even gentlemen eat them. It's in few houses, sir, they bake their own bread."
Anton Ivanitch shook his head, but said nothing because his mouth was quite full.
" How do they manage ? " said he .munching.
" It's all at the grocer's; and what isn't at the grocer's is somewhere at the ham and beef shop, and what is not there is at the confectioner's; and if it's not at the confectioner's, you must go to the English shop: these French have everything."
A pause.
"Well, and how much is sucking-pig?" asked Anton Ivanitch, taking on his plate almost half of one.
" I don't know; we didn't buy any; rather expensive, two roubles, I should say."
" Oh, oh, oh! no wonder he's thin ! such prices ! "
" Why, look what kvas we have here, but there even the beer is thin ; and the kvas seems to set up a ferment in your stomach all day! The only thing good is the blacking—ah, there's blacking, you see again! such a scent it has; one could almost eat it!"
" What are you saying! *'
" Yes, 'pon my soul."
A pause.
" Well, so is that how it is ?" asked Anton Ivanitch munching.
" Yes, just so."
"You fared badly?"
"Yes, very badly. Alexandr Fedoritch eat the least possible; he got quite out of the way of eating; he wouldn't eat a pound of bread for dinner."
"No wonder he's thin," said Anton Ivanitch. "Allbecause it was dear, was it."
" Yes, it was dear, and besides, he hadn't the habit of eating his fill every day. The gentry eat as it were on the sly, once a day, or else when they have time, at five, sometimes at six; or they snatch a morsel of something and with that they've done. That's the last consideration with them; they do everything else first and leave eating to the last."
" What a way of living !" said Anton Ivanitch. " No wonder he's thin ! it's a marvel that you didn't die there ! And was it like this all the time ? "
"No; on holidays when the gentry meet together sometimes, upon my soul, how they do eat
! They go to some German restaurant and they will dine for a hundred roubles I'm told. And they drink—God save us!— worse than a peasant! Sometimes there would be a party
at Piotr Ivanitch's; they would sit down to table at six o'clock, and get up at four in the morning."
Anton Ivanitch opened his eyes.
" What are you saying!" he said, " and they are eating all the while ?"
" They*are eating all the while !"
"I should like to see it; it's not our way! What do they eat ? "
" Oh, nothing worth seeing, sir ! You don't know what you are eating. God knows what the damned foreigners serve the victuals up with; I should not care to put them into my mouth. And their pepper is not like this ; they pour into the sauce something out of foreign bottles. Once Piotr Ivanitch's cook entertained me with the dishes from the master's table; I felt sick for three days after. I look, there's an olive in the dish, I thought it was an olive like they are here; I tasted it—look again; and there was a little fish; it was horrid, I spit it out, I took another .... and there it was the same; and in all alike .... ah, you damned foreigners."
" But did they put them there on purpose?"
" God knows. I asked them; the fellows laugh, and say, yes, they grew so. And what are their dishes ? To begin with, they serve soup, with dumplings as it should be and they're scarcely dumplings—as big as thimbles, you put six at once in your mouth, try to chew them,—and already they've gone, melted away. After the soup they serve something sweet at once, then beef, then ice-cream, and then some kind of vegetable, and then a roast, and you could not eat it!"
" So they didn't cook at home with you ? Well, no wonder he's thin !" said Anton Ivanitch, getting up from the table.
" I thank thee, my God," he began with a deep sigh, " for
Thy heavenly blessings What am I saying! my tongue
is wandering—earthly blessings, and do not let me lack Thy heavenly guidance." You can clear away; rhe master and mistress will not dine. For supper prepare another sucking-pig, or shouldn't it be a turkey ? Alexandr Fedoritch likes turkey: he will be hungry, I dare say. And now bring me some fresh hay in the attic, I will take a nap for the next hour; then wake me for tea. If Alexandr Fedoritch stirs, then wake me up.
A common story Page 29