Selected short stories -1888-1892- translated by Constance Garnett

by Anton Chekhov

  "I thought you meant to kill him . . ." he muttered. "How contrary to human nature it is! How utterly unnatural it is!"

  "But how did you come here?" asked the zoologist.

  "Don't ask," said the deacon, waving his hand. "The evil one tempted me, saying: 'Go, go. . . .' So I went and almost died of fright in the maize. But now, thank God, thank God. . . . I am awfully pleased with you," muttered the deacon. "Old Grandad Tarantula will be glad. . . . It's funny, it's too funny! Only I beg of you most earnestly don't tell anybody I was there, or I may get into hot water with the authorities. They will say: 'The deacon was a second.' "

  "Gentlemen," said Von Koren, "the deacon asks you not to tell any one you've seen him here. He might get into trouble."

  "How contrary to human nature it is!" sighed the deacon. "Excuse my saying so, but your face was so dreadful that I thought you were going to kill him."

  "I was very much tempted to put an end to that scoundrel," said Von Koren, "but you shouted close by, and I missed my aim. The whole procedure is revolting to any one who is not used to it, and it has exhausted me, deacon. I feel awfully tired. Come along. . . ."

  "No, you must let me walk back. I must get dry, for I am wet and cold."

  "Well, as you like," said the zoologist, in a weary tone, feeling dispirited, and, getting into the carriage, he closed his eyes. "As you like. . . ."

  While they were moving about the carriages and taking their seats, Kerbalay stood in the road, and, laying his hands on his stomach, he bowed low, showing his teeth; he imagined that the gentry had come to enjoy the beauties of nature and drink tea, and could not understand why they were getting into the carriages. The party set off in complete silence and only the deacon was left by the duhan.

  "Come to the duhan, drink tea," he said to Kerbalay. "Me wants to eat."

  Kerbalay spoke good Russian, but the deacon imagined that the Tatar would understand him better if he talked to him in broken Russian. "Cook omelette, give cheese. . . ."

  "Come, come, father," said Kerbalay, bowing. "I'll give you everything. . . . I've cheese and wine. . . . Eat what you like."

  "What is 'God' in Tatar?" asked the deacon, going into the duhan.

  "Your God and my God are the same," said Kerbalay, not understanding him. "God is the same for all men, only men are different. Some are Russian, some are Turks, some are English -- there are many sorts of men, but God is one."

  "Very good. If all men worship the same God, why do you Mohammedans look upon Christians as your everlasting enemies?"

  "Why are you angry?" said Kerbalay, laying both hands on his stomach. "You are a priest; I am a Mussulman: you say, 'I want to eat' -- I give it you. . . . Only the rich man distinguishes your God from my God; for the poor man it is all the same. If you please, it is ready."

  While this theological conversation was taking place at the duhan, Laevsky was driving home thinking how dreadful it had been driving there at daybreak, when the roads, the rocks, and the mountains were wet and dark, and the uncertain future seemed like a terrible abyss, of which one could not see the bottom; while now the raindrops hanging on the grass and on the stones were sparkling in the sun like diamonds, nature was smiling joyfully, and the terrible future was left behind. He looked at Sheshkovsky's sullen, tear-stained face, and at the two carriages ahead of them in which Von Koren, his seconds, and the doctor were sitting, and it seemed to him as though they were all coming back from a graveyard in which a wearisome, insufferable man who was a burden to others had just been buried.

  "Everything is over," he thought of his past. cautiously touching his neck with his fingers.

  On the right side of his neck was a small swelling, of the length and breadth of his little finger, and he felt a pain, as though some one had passed a hot iron over his neck. The bullet had bruised it.

  Afterwards, when he got home, a strange, long, sweet day began for him, misty as forgetfulness. Like a man released from prison or from hospital, he stared at the long-familiar objects and wondered that the tables, the windows, the chairs, the light, and the sea stirred in him a keen, childish delight such as he had not known for long, long years. Nadyezhda Fyodorovna, pale and haggard, could not understand his gentle voice and strange movements; she made haste to tell him everything that had happened to her. . . . It seemed to her that very likely he scarcely heard and did not understand her, and that if he did know everything he would curse her and kill her, but he listened to her, stroked her face and hair, looked into her eyes and said:

  "I have nobody but you. . . ."

  Then they sat a long while in the garden, huddled close together, saying nothing, or dreaming aloud of their happy life in the future, in brief, broken sentences, while it seemed to him that he had never spoken at such length or so eloquently.

  XXI

  More than three months had passed.

  The day came that Von Koren had fixed on for his departure. A cold, heavy rain had been falling from early morning, a north-east wind was blowing, and the waves were high on the sea. It was said that the steamer would hardly be able to come into the harbour in such weather. By the time-table it should have arrived at ten o'clock in the morning, but Von Koren, who had gone on to the sea-front at midday and again after dinner, could see nothing through the field-glass but grey waves and rain covering the horizon.

  Towards the end of the day the rain ceased and the wind began to drop perceptibly. Von Koren had already made up his mind that he would not be able to get off that day, and had settled down to play chess with Samoylenko; but after dark the orderly announced that there were lights on the sea and that a rocket had been seen.

  Von Koren made haste. He put his satchel over his shoulder, and kissed Samoylenko and the deacon. Though there was not the slightest necessity, he went through the rooms again, said good-bye to the orderly and the cook, and went out into the street, feeling that he had left something behind, either at the doctor's or his lodging. In the street he walked beside Samoylenko, behind them came the deacon with a box, and last of all the orderly with two portmanteaus. Only Samoylenko and the orderly could distinguish the dim lights on the sea. The others gazed into the darkness and saw nothing. The steamer had stopped a long way from the coast.

  "Make haste, make haste," Von Koren hurried them. "I am afraid it will set off."

  As they passed the little house with three windows, into which Laevsky had moved soon after the duel, Von Koren could not resist peeping in at the window. Laevsky was sitting, writing, bent over the table, with his back to the window.

  "I wonder at him!" said the zoologist softly. "What a screw he has put on himself!"

  "Yes, one may well wonder," said Samoylenko. "He sits from morning till night, he's always at work. He works to pay off his debts. And he lives, brother, worse than a beggar!"

  Half a minute of silence followed. The zoologist, the doctor, and the deacon stood at the window and went on looking at Laevsky.

  "So he didn't get away from here, poor fellow," said Samoylenko. "Do you remember how hard he tried?"

  "Yes, he has put a screw on himself," Von Koren repeated. "His marriage, the way he works all day long for his daily bread, a new expression in his face, and even in his walk -- it's all so extraordinary that I don't know what to call it."

  The zoologist took Samoylenko's sleeve and went on with emotion in his voice:

  "You tell him and his wife that when I went away I was full of admiration for them and wished them all happiness . . . and I beg him, if he can, not to remember evil against me. He knows me. He knows that if I could have foreseen this change, then I might have become his best friend."

  "Go in and say good-bye to him."

  "No, that wouldn't do."

  "Why? God knows, perhaps you'll never see him again."

  The zoologist reflected, and said:

  "That's true."

  Samoylenko tapped softly at the window. Laevsky started and looked round.

  "Vanya, Nikolay Vassilitch wants
to say goodbye to you," said Samoylenko. "He is just going away."

  Laevsky got up from the table, and went into the passage to open the door. Samoylenko, the zoologist, and the deacon went into the house.

  "I can only come for one minute," began the zoologist, taking off his goloshes in the passage, and already wishing he had not given way to his feelings and come in, uninvited. "It is as though I were forcing myself on him," he thought, "and that's stupid."

  "Forgive me for disturbing you," he said as he went into the room with Laevsky, "but I'm just going away, and I had an impulse to see you. God knows whether we shall ever meet again."

  "I am very glad to see you. . . . Please come in," said Laevsky, and he awkwardly set chairs for his visitors as though he wanted to bar their way, and stood in the middle of the room, rubbing his hands.

  "I should have done better to have left my audience in the street," thought Von Koren, and he said firmly: "Don't remember evil against me, Ivan Andreitch. To forget the past is, of course, impossible -- it is too painful, and I've not come here to apologise or to declare that I was not to blame. I acted sincerely, and I have not changed my convictions since then. . . . It is true that I see, to my great delight, that I was mistaken in regard to you, but it's easy to make a false step even on a smooth road, and, in fact, it's the natural human lot: if one is not mistaken in the main, one is mistaken in the details. Nobody knows the real truth."

  "No, no one knows the truth," said Laevsky.

  "Well, good-bye. . . . God give you all happiness."

  Von Koren gave Laevsky his hand; the latter took it and bowed.

  "Don't remember evil against me," said Von Koren. "Give my greetings to your wife, and say I am very sorry not to say good-bye to her."

  "She is at home."

  Laevsky went to the door of the next room, and said:

  "Nadya, Nikolay Vassilitch wants to say goodbye to you."

  Nadyezhda Fyodorovna came in; she stopped near the doorway and looked shyly at the visitors. There was a look of guilt and dismay on her face, and she held her hands like a schoolgirl receiving a scolding.

  "I'm just going away, Nadyezhda Fyodorovna," said Von Koren, "and have come to say good-bye."

  She held out her hand uncertainly, while Laevsky bowed.

  "What pitiful figures they are, though!" thought Von Koren. "The life they are living does not come easy to them. I shall be in Moscow and Petersburg; can I send you anything?" he asked.

  "Oh!" said Nadyezhda Fyodorovna, and she looked anxiously at her husband. "I don't think there's anything. . . ."

  "No, nothing . . ." said Laevsky, rubbing his hands. "Our greetings."

  Von Koren did not know what he could or ought to say, though as he went in he thought he would say a very great deal that would be warm and good and important. He shook hands with Laevsky and his wife in silence, and left them with a depressed feeling.

  "What people!" said the deacon in a low voice, as he walked behind them. "My God, what people! Of a truth, the right hand of God has planted this vine! Lord! Lord! One man vanquishes thousands and another tens of thousands. Nikolay Vassilitch," he said ecstatically, "let me tell you that to-day you have conquered the greatest of man's enemies -- pride."

  "Hush, deacon! Fine conquerors we are! Conquerors ought to look like eagles, while he's a pitiful figure, timid, crushed; he bows like a Chinese idol, and I, I am sad. . . ."

  They heard steps behind them. It was Laevsky, hurrying after them to see him off. The orderly was standing on the quay with the two portmanteaus, and at a little distance stood four boatmen.

  "There is a wind, though. . . . Brrr!" said Samoylenko. "There must be a pretty stiff storm on the sea now! You are not going off at a nice time, Koyla."

  "I'm not afraid of sea-sickness."

  "That's not the point. . . . I only hope these rascals won't upset you. You ought to have crossed in the agent's sloop. Where's the agent's sloop?" he shouted to the boatmen.

  "It has gone, Your Excellency."

  "And the Customs-house boat?"

  "That's gone, too."

  "Why didn't you let us know," said Samoylenko angrily. "You dolts!"

  "It's all the same, don't worry yourself . . ." said Von Koren. "Well, good-bye. God keep you."

  Samoylenko embraced Von Koren and made the sign of the cross over him three times.

  "Don't forget us, Kolya. . . . Write. . . . We shall look out for you next spring."

  "Good-bye, deacon," said Von Koren, shaking hands with the deacon. "Thank you for your company and for your pleasant conversation. Think about the expedition."

  "Oh Lord, yes! to the ends of the earth," laughed the deacon. "I've nothing against it."

  Von Koren recognised Laevsky in the darkness, and held out his hand without speaking. The boatmen were by now below, holding the boat, which was beating against the piles, though the breakwater screened it from the breakers. Von Koren went down the ladder, jumped into the boat, and sat at the helm.

  "Write!" Samoylenko shouted to him. "Take care of yourself."

  "No one knows the real truth," thought Laevsky, turning up the collar of his coat and thrusting his hands into his sleeves.

  The boat turned briskly out of the harbour into the open sea. It vanished in the waves, but at once from a deep hollow glided up onto a high breaker, so that they could distinguish the men and even the oars. The boat moved three yards forward and was sucked two yards back.

  "Write! " shouted Samoylenko; "it's devilish weather for you to go in."

  "Yes, no one knows the real truth . . ." thought Laevsky, looking wearily at the dark, restless sea.

  "It flings the boat back," he thought; "she makes two steps forward and one step back; but the boatmen are stubborn, they work the oars unceasingly, and are not afraid of the high waves. The boat goes on and on. Now she is out of sight, but in half an hour the boatmen will see the steamer lights distinctly, and within an hour they will be by the steamer ladder. So it is in life. . . . In the search for truth man makes two steps forward and one step back. Suffering, mistakes, and weariness of life thrust them back, but the thirst for truth and stubborn will drive them on and on. And who knows? Perhaps they will reach the real truth at last."

  "Go--o--od-by--e," shouted Samoylenko.

  "There's no sight or sound of them," said the deacon. "Good luck on the journey!"

  It began to spot with rain.

  NOTES

  cap of a clerk: Russian civil service workers were supposed to wear uniforms

  shashlik: a dish of marinated cubes of lamb or beef grilled on a spit, often with slices of eggplant, onion, and tomato

  Vereshtchagin: the Russian painter V. V. Vereshchagin (1842-1904) who frequently painted battle scenes

  Vladimir cross: one of the many Russian decorations for distinction

  Circassians: people who lived in the northern Caucasus

  Anna Karenin: the chief character in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina; see Part I, Chapter 30

  Prince Vorontsov: Field Marshal M. S. Vorontsov (1782-1856), Russian General in war of 1812; Viceroy of the Caucasus

  superfluous man: a common Russian literary type; see, for example, Turgenev's The Diary of a Superfluous Man (1850)

  Onyegin, Petchorin, Byron's Cain, and Bazarov: all examples of "superfluous men"; Onyegin is the hero of Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin; Petchorin is the hero of Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time; "Cain" is a poem by the English poet Byron; Bazarov is the hero of Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons

  Faust: legendary figure and the subject of many literary treatments; Chekhov probably has in mind the character in Goethe's poetic drama Faust

  Tolstoy: the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

  Schopenhauer: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German philosopher known for his gloomy outlook

  Spencer: Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher whose writings on evolution were influential

  aubergines: eggplants

&nb
sp; thirty degrees: about 99 degrees F.

  duhan: a lodge

  hut on hen's legs: in the Russian fairy tale a witch lives in the hut

  Night in the Ukraine: a famous descriptive passage in the second canto of Pushkin's narrative poem "Poltava"

  ikon on his breast: panagia, an image of Mary and Jesus worn by bishops around their necks

  Thy Hand has planted: Psalms 80:15-16

  His beaver collar is silver with hoar-frost: from verse 16 of Chapter 1 of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin

  cocotte: prostitute

  peace: phrases from the Russian Orthodox funeral service

  Stanley: Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904), an English explorer

  who so offendeth one of these little ones: Mark 9:42

  kalii bromati: potassium bromide, used as a sedative

  tincturæ gentianæ: tincture of gentia, used to improve digestion

  aquæ foeniculi: fennel water, used as a sentative and laxative

  William I.: Wilhelm I (1797-1888) was King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany

  Rudin: the hero of Turgenev's novel of the same name; another superfluous man

  Russification: the state policy of Tsar Alexander III, that non-Russian ethnic groups should be assimilated

  consistory: an administrative and judicial institution set up under the archbishop

  train: in Tolstoy's novel, Anna Karenina kills herself because of an unhappy adulterous love affair

  smear the gates with tar: to mark where a woman lived who was involved in an immoral love affair

  fives and fours: A's and B's

  post: game were participants write anonymous notes addressed to someone present

  art for art's sake: idea in Cours de Philosophie (1818) by Victor Cousin

  Kant or Hegel: the German philosophers Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831)

  Leskov: Nikolay Leskov (1831-1895), a Russian novelist and short story writer; the story is "Conscientious Daniel," first published in 1888

  knees of the gods: more accurately, "in the laps of the gods"