by Maxim Gorky
“And when he dies?” Yevsey inquired warily.
“That probably won’t be soon. Smear your head with oil to keep your hair from sticking out.”
About noon the uncle made Yevsey bid farewell to their hosts, and taking him firmly by the hand led him to the city. They walked for a long time. It was sultry. Often they asked the passersby how to get to the Circle. Yevsey regarded everything with his owl-like eyes, pressing close up to his uncle. The doors of shops slammed, pulleys squeaked, carriages rattled, wagons rumbled heavily, traders shouted, and feet scraped and tramped. All these sounds jumbled together were tangled up in the stifling dusty atmosphere. The people walked quickly, and hurried across the streets under the horses’ noses as if afraid of being too late for something. The bustle tired the boy’s eyes. Now and then he closed them, whereupon he would stumble and say to his uncle:
“Come, faster!”
Yevsey wanted to get to some place in a corner where it was not so stirring, not so noisy and hot. Finally they reached a little open place hemmed in by a narrow circle of old houses, which seemed to support one another solidly and firmly. In the center of the Circle was a fountain about which moist shadows hovered on the soil. It was more tranquil here, and the noise was subdued.
“Look,” said Yevsey, “there are only houses and no ground around them at all.”
The blacksmith answered with a sigh:
“It’s pretty crowded. Read the signs. Where is Raspopov’s shop?”
They walked to the center of the Circle, and stopped at the fountain. There were many signs, which covered every house like the motley patches of a beggar’s coat. When Yevsey saw the name his uncle had mentioned, a chill shiver ran through his body, and he examined it carefully without saying anything. It was small and eaten by rust, and was placed on the door of a dark basement. On either side the door there was an area between the pavement and the house, which was fenced in by a low iron railing. The house, a dirty yellow with peeling plaster, was narrow with four stories and three windows to each floor. It looked blind as a mole, crafty, and uncozy.
“Well,” asked the smith, “can’t you see the sign?”
“There it is,” said the boy, indicating the place with a nod of his head.
“Let’s cross ourselves and go.”
They descended to the door at the bottom of five stone steps. The blacksmith raised his cap from his head, and looked cautiously into the shop.
“Come in,” said a clear voice.
The master, wearing a black silk cap without a visor, was sitting at a table by the window drinking tea.
“Take a chair, peasant, and have some tea. Boy, fetch a glass from the shelf.”
The master pointed to the other end of the shop. Yevsey looked in the same direction, but saw no boy there. The master turned toward him.
“Well, what’s the matter? Aren’t you the boy?”
“He’s not used to it yet,” said Uncle Piotr quietly.
The old man again waved his hand.
“The second shelf on the right. A master must be understood when he says only half. That’s the rule.”
The blacksmith sighed. Yevsey groped for the glass in the dim light, and stumbled over a pile of books on the floor in his haste to hand it to the master.
“Put it on the table. And the saucer?”
“Oh, you!” exclaimed Uncle Piotr. “What’s the matter with you? Get the saucer.”
“It will take a long time to teach him,” said the old man with an imposing look at the blacksmith. “Now, boy, go around the shop, and fix the place where everything stands in your memory.”
Yevsey felt as if something commanding had entered his body, which impelled him powerfully to move as it pleased. He shrank together, drew his head in his shoulders, and straining his eyes began to look around the shop, all the time listening to the words of his master. It was cool, dusky, and quiet. The noise of the city entered reluctantly, like the muffled swashing of a stream. Narrow and long as a grave the shop was closely lined with shelves holding books in compact rows. Large piles of books cluttered the floor, and barricaded the rear wall, rising almost to the ceiling. Besides the books Yevsey found only a ladder, an umbrella, galoshes, and a white pot whose handle was broken off. There was a great deal of dust, which probably accounted for the heavy odor.
“I’m a quiet man. I am all alone, and if he suits me, maybe I will make him perfectly happy.”
“Of course it lies with you,” said Uncle Piotr.
“I am fifty-seven years old. I lived an honest and straightforward life, and I will not excuse dishonesty. If I notice any such thing I’ll hand him over to the court. Nowadays they sentence minors, too. They have founded a prison to frighten them called the Junior Colony of Criminals—for little thieves, you know.”
His colorless, drawling words enveloped Yevsey tightly, evoking a timorous desire to soothe the old man and please him.
“Now, good-bye. The boy must get at the work.”
Uncle Piotr rose and sighed.
“Well, Orphan, so you live here now. Obey your master. He won’t want to do you any harm. Why should he? He is going to buy you city clothes. Now don’t be downcast, will you?”
“No,” said Yevsey.
“You ought to say ‘No, sir,’” corrected the master.
“No, sir,” repeated Yevsey.
“Well, good-bye,” said the blacksmith putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder, and giving his nephew a little shake he walked out as if suddenly grown alarmed.
Yevsey shivered, oppressed by a chill sorrow. He went to the door, and fixed his round eyes questioningly on the yellow face of the master. The old man twirling the grey tuft on his chin looked down upon the boy. Yevsey thought he could discern large dim black eyes behind the glasses. As the two stood thus for a few minutes apparently expecting something from each other, the boy’s breast began to beat with a vague terror; but the old man merely took a book from a shelf, and pointed to the cover.
“What number is this?”
“1873,” replied Yevsey lowering his head.
“That’s it.”
The master touched Yevsey’s chin with his dry finger.
“Look at me.”
The boy straightened his neck and, closing his eyes, quickly mumbled:
“Little uncle, I shall always obey you. I don’t need beatings.” His eyes grew dim, his heart sank within him.
“Come here.”
The old man seated himself resting his hands on his knees. He removed his cap and wiped his bald spot with his handkerchief. His spectacles slid to the end of his nose, and he looked over them at Yevsey. Now he seemed to have two pairs of eyes. The real eyes were small, immobile, and dark grey with red lids. Without the glasses the master’s face looked thinner, more wrinkled, and less stern. In fact it wore an injured and downcast expression, and there was nothing in the least formidable in his eyes. The bump over his forehead got larger.
“Have you been beaten often?”
“Yes, sir, often.”
“Who beat you?”
“The boys.”
“Oh!”
The master drew his glasses close to his eyes and mumbled his lips.
“The boys are scrappers here, too,” he said. “Don’t have anything to do with them, do you hear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Be on your guard against them. They are impudent rascals and thieves. I want you to know I am not going to teach you anything bad. Don’t be afraid of me. I am a good man. You ought to get to love me. You will love me. You’ll have it very good with me, you understand?”
“Yes, sir. I will.”
The master’s face assumed its former expression. He rose, and taking Yevsey by the hand led him to the further end of the shop.
“Here’s work for you. You see these book
s? On every book the date is marked. There are twelve books to each year. Arrange them in order. How are you going to do it?”
Yevsey thought a while, and answered timidly:
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I am not going to tell you. You can read and you ought to be able to find out by yourself. Go, get to work.”
The old man’s dry even voice seemed to lash Yevsey, driving away the melancholy feeling of separation from his uncle and replacing it with the anxious desire to begin to work quickly. Restraining his tears the boy rapidly and quietly untied the packages. Each time a book dropped to the floor with a thud he started and looked around. The master was sitting at the table writing with a pen that scratched slightly. As the people hastened past the door, their feet flashed and their shadows jerked across the shop. Tears rolled from Yevsey’s eyes one after the other. In fear lest they be detected he hurriedly wiped them from his face with dusty hands, and full of a vague dread went tensely at his work of sorting the books.
At first it was difficult for him, but in a few minutes he was already immersed in that familiar state of thoughtlessness and emptiness which took such powerful hold of him when, after beatings and insults, he sat himself down alone in some corner. His eye caught the date and the name of the month, his hand mechanically arranged the books in a row, while he sat on the floor swinging his body regularly. He became more and more deeply plunged in the tranquil state of half-conscious negation of reality. As always at such times the dim hope glowed in him of something different, unlike what he saw around him. Sometimes the all-comprehending, capacious phrase uttered by Yashka dimly glimmered in his memory:
“It will pass away.”
The thought pressed his heart warmly and softly with a promise of something unusual. The boy’s hands involuntarily began to move more quickly, and he ceased to notice the lapse of time.
“You see, you knew how to do it,” said the master.
Yevsey, who had not heard the old man approach him, started from his reverie. Glancing at his work, he asked:
“Is it all right?”
“Absolutely. Do you want tea?”
“No.”
“You ought to say, ‘No, thank you.’ Well, keep on with your work.”
He walked away. Yevsey looking after him saw a man carrying a cane enter the door. He had neither a beard nor mustache, and wore a round hat shoved back on the nape of his neck. He seated himself at the table, at the same time putting upon it some small black and white objects. When Yevsey again started to work, he every once in a while heard abrupt sounds from his master and the newcomer.
“Castle.”
“King.”
“Soon.”
The confused noise of the street penetrated the shop wearily, with strange words quacking in it, like frogs in a marsh.
“What are they doing?” thought the boy, and sighed. He experienced a soft sensation, that from all directions something unusual was coming upon him, but not what he timidly awaited. The dust settled upon his face, tickled his nose and eyes, and set his teeth on edge. He recalled his uncle’s words:
“You will live with him as behind a bush.”
It grew dark.
“King and checkmate!” cried the guest in a thick voice. The master clucking his tongue called out:
“Boy, close up the shop!”
The old man lived in two small rooms in the fourth story of the same house. In the first room, which had one window, stood a large chest and a wardrobe.
“This is where you will sleep.”
The two windows in the second room gave upon the street, with a view over an endless vista of uneven roofs and rosy sky. In the corner, in front of the ikons, flickered a little light in a blue glass lamp. In another corner stood a bed covered with a red blanket. On the walls hung gaudy portraits of the Czar and various generals. The room was close and smelt like a church, but it was clean.
Yevsey remained at the door looking at his elderly master, who said:
“Mark the arrangement of everything here. I want it always to be the same as it is now.”
Against the wall stood a broad black sofa, a round table, and about the table chairs also black. This corner had a mournful, sinister aspect.
A tall, white-faced woman with eyes like a sheep’s entered the room, and asked in a low singing voice:
“Shall I serve supper?”
“Bring it in, Rayisa Petrovna.”
“A new boy?”
“Yes, new. His name is Yevsey.”
The woman walked out.
“Close the door,” ordered the old man. Yevsey obeyed, and he continued in a lower voice. “She is the landlady. I rent the rooms from her with dinner and supper. You understand?”
“I understand.”
“But you have one master—me. You understand?”
“Yes.”
“That is to say, you must listen only to me. Open the door, and go into the kitchen and wash yourself.”
The master’s voice echoed drily in the boy’s bosom, causing his alarmed heart to palpitate. The old man, it seemed to Yevsey, was hiding something dangerous behind his words, something of which he himself was afraid.
While washing in the kitchen he surreptitiously tried to look at the mistress of the apartment. The woman was preparing the supper noiselessly but briskly. As she arranged plates, knives, and bread on an ample tray her large round face seemed kind. Her smoothly combed dark hair; her unwinking eyes with thin lashes, and her broad nose made the boy think, “She looks to be a gentle person.”
Noticing that she, in her turn, was looking at him, the thin red lips of her small mouth tightly compressed, he grew confused, and spilt some water on the floor.
“Wipe it,” she said without anger. “There’s a cloth under the chair.”
When he returned, the old man looked at him and asked:
“What did she tell you?”
But Yevsey had no time to answer before the woman brought in the tray.
“Well, I’ll go,” she said after setting it on the table.
“Very well,” replied the master.
She raised her hand to smooth the hair over her temples—her fingers were long—and left.
The old man and the boy sat down to their supper. The master ate slowly, noisily munching his food and at times sighing wearily. When they began to eat the finely chopped roast meat, he said:
“You see what good food? I always have only good food.”
After supper he told Yevsey to carry the dishes into the kitchen, and showed him how to light the lamp.
“Now, go to sleep. You will find a piece of padding in the wardrobe and a pillow and a blanket. They belong to you. Tomorrow I’ll buy you new clothes, good clothes. Go, now.”
When he was half asleep the master came in to Yevsey.
“Are you comfortable?”
Though the chest made a hard bed, Yevsey answered:
“Yes.”
“If it is too hot, open the window.”
The boy at once opened the window, which looked out upon the roof of the next house. He counted the chimneys. There were four, all alike. He looked at the stars with the dim gaze of a timid animal in a cage. But the stars said nothing to his heart. He flung himself on the chest again, drew the blanket over his head, and closed his eyes tightly. He began to feel stifled, thrust his head out, and without opening his eyes listened. In his master’s room something rustled monotonously, then Yevsey heard a dry, distinct voice:
“Behold, God is mine helper; the Lord is with them that uphold—”
Yevsey realized that the old man was reciting the Psalter; and listening attentively to the familiar words of King David, which, however, he did not comprehend, the boy fell asleep.
CHAPTER III
Yevsey’s life passed smoothly and
evenly.
He wanted to please his master, even realized this would be of advantage to him, and he felt he would succeed, though he behaved with watchful circumspection and no warmth in his heart for the old man. The fear of people engendered in him a desire to suit them, a readiness for all kinds of services, in order to defend himself against the possibility of attack. The constant expectation of danger developed a keen power of observation, which still more deepened his mistrust.
He observed the strange life in the house without understanding it. From basement to roof people lived close packed, and every day, from morning until night, they crawled about in the tenement like crabs in a basket. Here they worked more than in the village, and, it seemed, were imbued with even keener bitterness. They lived restlessly, noisily, and hurriedly, as if to get through all the work as soon as possible in preparation of a holiday, which they wanted to meet as free people, washed, clean, peaceful, and tranquilly joyous. The heart of the boy sank within him, and the question constantly recurred:
“Will it pass away?”
But the holiday never came. The people spurred one another on, wrangled, and sometimes fought. Scarcely a day passed on which they did not speak ill of one another.
In the mornings the master went down to the shop, while Yevsey remained in the apartment to put it in order. This accomplished, he washed himself, went to the tavern for boiling water, and then returned to the shop, where he drank the morning tea with his master. While breakfasting the old man almost invariably asked him:
“Well, what now?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing is little.”
Once, however, Yevsey had a different answer.
“Today the watchmaker told the furrier’s cook that you received stolen articles.”
Yevsey said this unexpectedly to himself, and was instantly seized with a tremble of fear. He bowed his head. The old man laughed quietly, and said in a drawling voice without sincerity:
