Marie; a story of Russian love

by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin

  "Ah! it is your lordship! how are you? What brings you here?"

  I replied that I was traveling about my private business, when his people arrested me.

  "What business?" asked he. I did not know what to answer. Pougatcheff thinking that I would not speak before witnesses gave a sign to his comrades to leave. All obeyed except two. "Speak before these," said he; "conceal nothing from them."

  I glanced at these intimates of the usurper. One was an old man frail and bent, remarkable for nothing but a blue riband crossed over his coarse gray cloth cafetan; but I shall never forget his companion. He was tall, of powerful build, and seemed about forty-five. A thick red beard, piercing gray eyes, a nose without nostrils, marks of the searing irons on his forehead and cheeks, gave to his broad face, pitted by small-pox a most fierce expression. He wore a red shirt, a Kirghis robe, and wide Cossack pantaloons. Although wholly pre-occupied by my own feelings, yet this company deeply impressed me. Pougatcheff recalled me to myself quickly.

  "What business brought you from Orenbourg?"

  A bold idea suggested itself to my mind. It seemed to me that Providence, leading me a second time before this robber, gave me the means of accomplishing my work. I decided to seize the chance, and without reflecting on the step, I replied:

  "I am on the way to the fortress of Belogorsk to liberate an oppressed orphan there."

  Pougatcheff's eyes flashed. "Who dares to oppress an orphan? Were he seven feet high, he shall not escape my vengeance. Speak, who is the guilty one?"

  "Alexis; he holds in slavery that same young girl whom you saw at Father Garasim's, and wants to force her to marry him."

  "I shall give Alexis a lesson! I'll teach him to oppress my subjects. I shall hang him."

  "Permit me a word," said the man without nostrils. "You were too hasty giving the command to Alexis. You offended the Cossacks by giving them a noble as chief; do not offend the gentlemen by hanging one of them on the first accusation."

  "There is no need to pardon nor pity," said the man with the blue riband. "It would be no harm to hang Alexis, nor to question this gentleman. Why does he visit us? If he does not acknowledge you as Czar he has no justice to get at your hands; if he acknowledge you, why did he stay at Orenbourg with your enemies? Will you not order him to prison, and have a fire lighted there?"

  The old rascal's logic seemed plausible even to myself. I shuddered when I remembered into whose hands I had fallen. Pougatcheff saw my trouble.

  "Eh! eh! your lordship," said he, winking, "it seems my field-marshal is right. What do you think?"

  The jesting tone of the chief restored my courage. I replied calmly that I was in his power.

  "Well," said Pougatcheff, "tell me now the condition of your city?"

  "It is, thank God, in a good state."

  "A good condition," repeated the brigand, "when the people are dying of hunger."

  The usurper was right, but according to the duty imposed by my oath, I affirmed that it was a false report, and that the fort was sufficiently provisioned.

  "You see he deceives you," interrupted the man with the riband. "All the deserters are unanimous in saying that famine and pestilence are at Orenbourg; that thistles are eaten as dainties there. If you wish to hang Alexis, hang on the same gibbet this young fellow, that they may be equal."

  These words seemed to shake the chief. Happily the other wretch opposed this view.

  "Silence," said this powerful fellow. "You think of nothing but hanging and strangling. It becomes you to play the hero. To look at you, no one knows where your soul is."

  "And which of the saints are you?" replied the old man.

  "Generals," said Pougatcheff, with dignity, "an end to your quarrels. It would be no great loss if all the mangy dogs from Orenbourg were dangling their legs under the same cross-beam; but it would be a misfortune if our own good dogs should bite each other."

  Feeling the necessity of changing the conversation, I turned to Pougatcheff with a smile, and said:

  "Ah! I forgot to thank you for the horse and touloup. Without your aid I should not have reached the city. I would have died from cold on the journey." My trick succeeded. Pougatcheff regained his good humor.

  "The beauty of debt is the payment thereof," said he, winking. "Tell me your story. What have you to do with the young girl that Alexis persecutes? Has she caught your heart, too?"

  "She is my promised bride," said I, seeing no risk in speaking the truth.

  "Your promised bride! Why did you not tell me sooner? We'll marry you, and be at your wedding. Listen, Field-marshal," said he. "We are old friends, his lordship and I. Lets us go to supper. Tomorrow we shall see what is to be done with him. Night brings wisdom, and the morning is better than the evening."

  I would gladly have excused myself from proposed honor, but it was impossible. Two Cossacks girls covered the table with a white cloth, and brought bread, soup made of fish, and pitchers of wine and beer. Thus, for the second time, I was at table with Pougatcheff and his terrible companions. The orgie lasted far into the night. Drunkenness at last triumphed. Pougatcheff fell asleep in his place, and his companions signed to me to leave him. I went out with them. The sentry locked me up in a dark hole, where I found Saveliitch. He was so surprised by all that he saw and heard, that he asked no questions. Lying in darkness, he soon fell asleep.

  The next morning Pougatcheff sent for me. Before his door stood a kibitka, with three horses abreast. The street was crowded. Pougatcheff, whom I met in the entry of his hut, was dressed for a journey, in a pelisse and Kirghis cap. His guests of the previous night surrounded him, and wore a look of submission which contrasted strongly with what I had seen on the preceding evening. Pougatcheff bade me good-morning gaily, and ordered me to sit beside him in the kibitka. We took our places.

  "To the fortress of Belogorsk," said Pougatcheff to the robust Tartar, who, standing, drove his horses. My heart beat violently. The Tartar horses shot off, the bells tinkled, the kibitka flew over the snow.

  "Stop! stop!" cried a voice I knew too well. "O Peter! do not abandon me in my old age, in the midst of the rob—"

  "Ah, you old owl!" said Pougatcheff, "sit up there in front."

  "Thanks, Czar, may God give you a long life."

  The horses set off again. The people in the streets stopped and bowed low, as the usurper passed. Pougatcheff saluted right and left. In an instant we were out of the town, taking our way over a well-defined road. I was silent. Pougatcheff broke in upon my reverie. "Why so silent, my lord?" said he.

  "I can not help thinking," said I, "of the chain of events. I am an officer, noble, yesterday at war with you; today I ride in the same carriage with you, and all the happiness of my life depends on you."

  "Are you afraid?"

  "You have already given me my life!"

  "You say truly. You know how my fellows looked upon you; only today they wanted to try you as a spy. The old one wanted to torture and then hang you; but I would not, because I remembered your glass of wine and your touloup. I am not bloodthirsty, as your friends say." I remembered the taking of our fortress, but I did not contradict him.

  "What do they say of me at Orenbourg?"

  "It is said there, that you will not be easily vanquished. It must be confessed that you have given us some work."

  "Yes; I am a great warrior. Do you think the King Prussia is as strong as I?"

  "What do you think yourself? Can you beat Frederick?"

  "Frederick the Great? Why not? Wait till I march to Moscow!"

  "You really intend to march on Moscow?"

  "God knows," said he, reflecting; "my road is narrow—my boys do not obey—they are thieves—I must listen—keep my ears open; at the first reverse they would save their own necks by my head."

  "Would it not be better," I said, "to abandon them now, before it is too late, and have recourse to the clemency of the Empress?"

  He smiled bitterly. "No; the time is passed. I shall end as I began. Who
knows?"

  Our Tartar was humming a plaintive air; Saveliitch, sound asleep, swayed from side to side; our kibitka was gliding rapidly over the winter road. I saw in the distance a village well known to my eyes, with its palisade and church spire on the steep bank of the river Iaik. A quarter of an hour after we entered the fortress of Belogorsk.

  XII. MARIE.

  The kibitka stopped before the Commandant's house. The inhabitants had recognized the usurper's bells and equipage, and had come out in crowds to meet him. Alexis, dressed like a Cossack, and bearded like one, helped the brigand to descend from his kibitka. The sight of me troubled him, but soon recovering himself, he said: "You are one of us?" I turned my head away without replying. My heart was wrung when we entered the room that I know so well, where still upon the wall hung, like an epitaph, the diploma of the deceased Commandant. Pougatcheff seated himself upon the same sofa where many a time Ivan Mironoff had dozed to the hum of his wife's voice. Alexis' own hand presented the brandy to his chief. Pougatcheff drank a glass and said, pointing to me: "Offer a glass to his lordship." Alexis approached me, and again I turned my back upon him. Pougatcheff asked him a few questions about the condition of the fortress, and then, in an unpremeditated manner, said: "Tell me, who is this young girl that you have under guard?"

  Alexis became pale as death. "Czar," said he, a tremor in his voice, "she is in her own room; she is not locked up."

  "Take me to her room," said the usurper, rising.

  Hesitation was impossible. Alexis led the way to Marie's room. I followed. On the stairs Alexis stopped: "Czar, demand of me what you will, but do not permit a stranger to enter my wife's room."

  "You are married?" I shouted, ready to tear him to pieces.

  "Silence!" interrupted the brigand, "this is my business. And you," said he, turning to Alexis, "do not be too officious. Whether she be your wife or not, I shall take whom I please into her room. Your lordship, follow me."

  At the door of the room Alexis stopped again: "Czar, she has had a fever these three days; she is delirious."

  "Open," said Pougatcheff.

  Alexis fumbled in his pockets, and at last said that he had forgotten the key. Pougatcheff kicked the door; the lock yielded, the door opened and we entered.

  I glanced into the room, and nearly fainted. On the floor, in the coarse dress of a peasant, Marie was seated, pale, thin, her hair in disorder; before her on the floor stood a pitcher of water covered by a piece of bread. Upon seeing me, she started, and uttered a piercing shriek. Pougatcheff glanced at Alexis, smiled bitterly, and said: "Your hospital is in nice order?"

  "Tell me, my little dove, why does your husband punish you in this way?"

  "My husband! he is not my husband. I am resolved to die rather than marry him; and I shall die, if not soon released."

  Pougatcheff gave a furious look at Alexis, and said: "Do you dare to deceive me, knave?"

  Alexis fell on his knees. Contempt stifled all my feelings of hatred and vengeance. I saw with disgust, a gentleman kneeling at the feet of a Cossack deserter.

  "I pardon you, this time," said the brigand, "but remember, your next fault will recall this one." He turned to Marie, and said, gently: "Come out, my pretty girl, you are free. I am the Czar!"

  Marie looked at him, hid her face in her hands and fell on the floor unconscious. She had no doubt divined that he had caused her parents' death. I rushed to aid her, when my old acquaintance, Polacca, boldly entered, and hastened to revive her mistress. Pougatcheff, Alexis and I went down to the reception room.

  "Now, your lordship, we have released the pretty girl, what say you? Shall we not send for Father Garasim, and have him perform the marriage ceremony for his niece? If you like, I will be your father by proxy, Alexis your groomsman; then we'll shut the gates and make merry!"

  As I anticipated, Alexis, hearing this speech, lost his self-control.

  "Czar," said he, in a fury, "I am guilty; I have lied to you, but Grineff also deceives you. This young girl is not Father Garasim's niece. She is Ivan Mironoff's daughter."

  Pougatcheff glared at me. "What does that mean?" said he to me.

  "Alexis says truly," I replied, firmly.

  "You did not tell me that," said the usurper, whose face darkened.

  "Judge of it yourself. Could I declare before your people that Marie was Captain Mironoff's daughter? They would have torn her to pieces. No one could have saved her."

  "You are right," said Pougatcheff, "my drunkards would not have spared the child. Accoulina did well to deceive them."

  "Listen," I said, seeing his good humor, "I do not know your real name, and I do not want to know it. But before God, I am ready to pay you with my life, for what you have done for me. Only, ask me nothing contrary to honor, and my conscience as a Christian. You are my benefactor. Let me go with this orphan, and we, whatever happens to you, wherever you may be, we shall pray God to save your soul."

  "Be it as you desire," said he, "punish to the end, or pardon completely, that's my way. Take your promised bride wherever you choose, and may God give you love and happiness." He turned to Alexis, and ordered him to write me a passport for all the forts subject to his power. Alexis was petrified with astonishment. Pougatcheff went off to inspect the fortress; Alexis followed him; I remained.

  I ran up to Marie's room. The door was closed. I knocked.

  "Who is there?" asked Polacca.

  I gave my name. I heard Marie say: "In an instant, Peter, I shall join you at Accoulina's."

  Father Garasim and Accoulina came out to welcome me. I was honored with everything at the command of the hostess, whose voluble tongue never ceased. It was not long before Marie entered, quite pale; she had laid aside the peasant's dress, and was, as usual, clad in simplicity, but with neatness and taste. I seized her hand, unable to utter a word. We were both silent from full hearts. Our hosts left us, and I could now speak of plans for her safety. It was impossible that she should stay in a fortress subject to Pougatcheff, and commanded by the infamous Alexis. Neither could she find refuge at Orenbourg, suffering all the horrors of siege. I proposed that she should go to my father's country-seat. This surprised her. But I assured her that my father would hold it a duty and an honor to receive the daughter of a veteran who had died for his country. In conclusion, I said: "My dear Marie; I consider thee as my wife; these strange events have bound us for ever to each other."

  Marie listened with dignity; she felt as I did, but repeated that without my parents' consent she would never be my wife. I could not reply to this objection. I folded her to my heart, and my project became our mutual resolve.

  An hour after, the Corporal brought me my passport, having the scratch which served as Pougatcheff's sign-manual, and told me that the Czar awaited me. I found him ready for his journey. To this man—why not tell the truth?—cruel and terrible to all but me, I was drawn by strong sympathy. I wanted to snatch him from the horde of robbers, whose chief he was; but the presence of Alexis and the crowd around him prevented any expression of these feelings. Our parting was that of friends. As the horses were moving, he leaned out of the kibitka and said to me: "Adieu, again, your lordship; perhaps we may meet once more."

  We did meet again, but under what circumstances!

  I returned to Father Garasim's, where our preparations were soon completed. Our baggage was put into the Commandant's old equipage. The horses were harnessed. Marie went, before setting off, to visit once more the tomb in the church-yard, and soon returned, having wept in silence over all that remained to her of her parents. Father Garasim and Accoulina stood on the steps. Marie, Polacca, and I sat in the interior of the kibitka. Saveliitch perched himself up in front.

  "Adieu, Marie, sweet little dove! Adieu, Peter, our handsome falcon!" exclaimed the kind Accoulina.

  Passing the Commandant's house, I saw Alexis, whose face expressed determined hate.

  XIII. THE ARREST.

  In two hours we reached the neighboring fortress, which a
lso belonged to Pougatcheff. We there changed horses. By the celerity with which they served us, and the eager zeal of the bearded Cossack, whom Pougatcheff had made Commandant, I perceived that, thanks to the talk of our postilion, I was supposed to be a favorite with their master. When we started off again, it was dusk; we were drawing near a town where, according to the bearded Commandant, there ought to be a very strong detachment of Pougatcheff's forces. The sentinels stopped us and to the demand: "Who goes there?" our postilion answered in a loud voice: "A friend of the Czar, traveling with his wife."

  We were at once surrounded by a detachment of Russian hussars, who swore frightfully.

  "Come out," said a Russian officer, heavily mustached; "We'll give you a bath!"

  I requested to be taken before the authorities. Perceiving that I was an officer, the soldiers ceased swearing, and the officer took me to the Major's. Saveliitch followed, growling out: "We fall from the fire into the flame!"

  The kibitka came slowly after us. In five minutes we reached a small house, all lighted up. The officer left me under a strong guard, and entered to announce my capture. He returned almost instantly, saying that I was ordered to prison, and her ladyship to the presence of the Major.

  "Is he mad?" I cried.

  "I can not tell, your lordship."

  I jumped up the steps—the sentinels had not time to stop me—and burst into the room where six hussar officers were playing faro. The Major kept the bank. I instantly recognized the Major as Ivan Zourine, who had so thoroughly emptied my purse at Simbirsk. "Is it possible? is this you Ivan Zourine?"

  "Halloo! Peter; what luck? where are you from? will you take a chance?"

  "Thanks; I would rather have some apartments assigned me."

  "No need of apartments, stay with me."

  "I can not; I am not alone."

  "Bring your comrade with you."