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Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Part 2/2 · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What could it be? I saw my phete Se nikolaitch,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: his head bandaged up in a vinegar compress, frowning, sighing
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and moaning, My dear boy, my son. He said, if
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I die, to whom shall I leave you? My darlings?
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: His wife trailed in with all his children. Mushenka was
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: in tears, and I blubbered too. Oh no, he said,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: God will be merciful. He will not visit my transgressions
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: on you. Then he dismissed them all, told me to
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: shut the door after them, and we were left alone.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Tete a tete, I have a favor to ask of you?
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: What favor? Well, my dear boy, there is no rest
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: for me, even on my deathbed. I am in want
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: how so I positively flushed, Crimson. I could hardly speak
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: why I had to pay some of my own money
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: into the treasury. I grudge nothing for the public wheel,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: my boy, I don't grudge my life. Don't you imagine
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: any ill? I am sad to think that slanderers have
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: blackened my name to you, you were mistaken. My hair
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: has gone white from grief. The inspector is coming down
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: upon us, and matveyev Is seven thousand roubles short, and
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I shall have to answer for it. Who else it
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: will be visited upon me? My boy? Where were my eyes?
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And how can we get it from Matveev? He has
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: had trouble enough already. Why should I bring the poor
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: fellow to ruin? Holy Saints? I thought, what a just man,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: what a heart? And I don't want to take my
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: daughter's money, which has been set aside for her dowry.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: That sum is sacred. I have money of my own,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: it's true, but I have lent it all to friends.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: How is one to collect it all in a minute.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I simply fell on my knees before him, my benefactor.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I cried, I've wronged you, I have injured you. It
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: was slanderers who wrote against you. Don't break my heart.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Take back your money. He looked at me, and there
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: were tears in his eyes. That was just what I
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: expected from you, My son. Get up. I forgave you
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: at the time for the sake of my daughter's tears.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Now my heart forgives you freely. You have healed my wounds.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I bless you for all time. Well. When he blessed me, gentlemen,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I skirted home as soon as I could. I got
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the money. Here, father, here's the money. I've only spent
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: fifty roubles. Well that's all right, he said, But now
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: every trifle may count. The time is short. Write a
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: report dated some days ago that you were short of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: money and had taken fifty roubles on account. I'll tell
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the authorities you had it in advance. Well, gentlemen, what
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: do you think I did write that report too? Well?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: What then? What happened? How did it end? As soon
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: as I had written the report, gentlemen, this is how
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: it ended. The next day, in the early morning, an
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: envelope with a government seal arrived. I looked at it
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and what had I got? The sack? That is, instructions
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to hand over my work, to deliver the accounts, and
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to go about my business. How so, that's just what
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I cried at the top of my voice. How so, gentlemen,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: there was a ringing in my ears. I thought there
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: was no special reason for it, but no, the inspector
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: had arrived in the town. My heart sank. It's not
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: for nothing, I thought, And just as I was, I
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: rushed off to Fetisi Nikolaitch. How is this? I said,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: What do you mean? He said, Why? I am dismissed, dismissed.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: How I look at this? Well, what of it? Why?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: But I didn't ask for it? Yes you did. You
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: sent in your papers on the first of April. I
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: had never taken that letter back. Pheta se Nicolach. I
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: can't believe my ears. I can't believe my eyes. Is
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: this you? It is me? Why? My god? I am sorry, sir,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I am very sorry that you made up your mind
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: to retire from the service so early. A young man
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: ought to be in the service, and you've begun to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: be a little lightheaded of late. And as for your character,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: set your mind at rest. I'll see to that. Your
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: behavior has always been so exemplary. But that was a
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: little joke, Phetis Nicolach. I didn't mean it. I just
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: gave you the letter for your fatherly, that's all. That's
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: all A queer joke, Sir. Does one jest with documents
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: like that? Why you are sometimes sent to Siberia for
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: such jokes. Now goodbye. I am busy. We have the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: inspector here, the duties of the service before everything. You
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: can kick up your heels, but we have to sit
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: here at work. But I'll get you a character Oh,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: another thing. I've just bought a house from Matveyev. We
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: are moving in in a day or two, so I
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: expect I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: at our new residence. Bon voyage. I ran home. We
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: are lost, Granny, she wailed, poor dear. And then I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: saw the page from Phetasy Nicolach's running up with a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: note and a bird cage, And in the cage there
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: was a starling. In the fullness of my heart, I
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: had given her the starling, And in the note there
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: were the words April first and nothing more. What do
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: you think of that? Gentlemen? What happened then? What happened? Then? What? Then?
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I met Phetisi Nikolaitch once. I meant to tell him
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: to his face he was a scoundrel well, but somehow
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I couldn't bring myself to it, gentlemen, A little hero
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: a story. At that time, I was nearly eleven. I
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: had been sent in July to spend the holiday in
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: a village near Moscow with a relation of mine called Tea,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: whose house was full of guests fifty or perhaps more,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: I don't remember. I didn't count. The house was full
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of noise and gayety. It seemed as though it were
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a continual holiday which would never end. It seemed as
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: though our host had taken a vow to squander all
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: his vast fortune as rapidly as possible, and he did
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: indeed succeed not long ago in justifying this surmise, that is,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: in making a clean sweep of it all to the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: last stick. Fresh visitors used to drive up every minute
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Moscow was close by in sight, so that those who
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: drove away only made room for others, and the everlasting
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: holiday went on its course. Festivities succeeded one another, and
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: there was no end in sight to the entertainments. There
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: were riding parties about the environs, excursions to the forest
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: or the river, picnics, dinners in the open air, suppers
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: on the great terrace of the house, bordered with three
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: rows of gorgeous flowers that flooded with their fragrance the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: fresh night air and illuminated the brilliant lights, which made
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: our ladies, who were almost every one of them pretty
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: at all times, seemed still more charming, with their faces
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: excited by the impressions of the day, with their sparkling eyes,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: with their interchange of sprightly conversation, their peals of ringing, laughter, dancing, music,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: singing if the sky were overcast, tableaux vivans, charades, proverbs
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: were arranged, private theatricals were got up. There were good talkers,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: story tellers, wits. Certain persons were prominent in the foreground.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Of course, backbiting and slander ran their course, as without
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: them the world could not get on, and millions of
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: persons would perish of boredom like flies. But as I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: was at that time eleven, I was absorbed by very
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: different interests and either failed to observe these people, or
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: if I noticed anything, did not see at all. It
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: was only afterwards that some things came back to my mind.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: My childish eyes could only see the brilliant side of
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the picture and the general animation, splendor and bustle. All
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: that seen and heard for the first time made such
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: an impression upon me that for the first few days
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I was completely bewildered, and my little head was in
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: a whirl. I keep speaking of my age, and of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: course I was a child, nothing more than a child.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Many of these lovely ladies petted me without dreaming of
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: considering my age. But strange to say a sensation which
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I did not myself understand, already had possession of me.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Something was already whispering in my heart, of which till
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: then it had had no knowledge, no conception, And for
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: some reason it began all at once to burn and throb,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and often my face glowed with a sudden flush. At
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: times I felt as it were abashed and even resentful
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: of the various privileges of my childish years. At other
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: times a sort of wonder overwhelmed me, and I would
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: go off into some corner where I could sit unseen,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: as though to take breath and remember something, something which
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: it seemed to me I had remembered perfectly till then,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: and now had suddenly forgotten something without which I could
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: not show myself anywhere and could not exist at all.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: At last, it seemed to me as though I were
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: hiding something from every one, but nothing would have induced
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: me to speak of it to any one, Because small
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: boy that I was, I was ready to weep with shame.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Soon in the midst of the vortex around me, I
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: was conscious of a certain loneliness. There were other children,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: but all were either much older or younger than I. Besides,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I was in no mood for them. Of course, nothing
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: would have happened to me if I had not been
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: in an exceptional position. In the eyes of those charming ladies.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I was still the little unformed creature whom they had
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: once liked to pet, and with whom they could play
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: as though he were a little dull. One of them, particularly,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: a fascinating fair woman with very thick, luxuriant hair, such
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: as I had never seen before and probably shall never
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: see again, seemed to have taken a vow never to
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: leave me in peace. I was confused, while she was
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: amused by the laughter which she continually provoked from all
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: around us by her wild, giddy pranks with me, and
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: this apparently gave her immense enjoyment at school. Among her schoolfellows,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: she was probably nicknamed the teas she was wonderfully good looking,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: and there was something in her beauty which drew one's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: eyes from the first moment. And certainly she had nothing
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: in common with the ordinary modest, little fair girls, white
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: as down and soft as white mice, or pastor's daughters.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: She was not very tall and was rather plump, but
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: had soft, delicate, exquisitely cut features. There was something quick
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: as lightning in her face, and indeed she was like
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: fire all over, light, swift alive. Her big open eyes
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: seemed to flash sparks, they glittered like diamonds, and I
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: would never exchange such blue, sparkling eyes for any black ones.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Were they blacker than any Andalusian orb And indeed my
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: blonde was fully a match for the famous brunette, whose
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: praises were sung by a great and well known poet, who,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: in a superb poem, vowed by all castile that he
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: was ready to break his bones to be permitted only
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: to touch the mantle of his divinity with the tip
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of his finger. Add to that that my charmer was
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the merriest in the world, the wildest giggler, playful as
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a child. Although she had been married for the last
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: five years, there was a continual laugh upon her lips,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: fresh as the morning rose, that with the first ray
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: of sunshine opens its fragrant crimson bud, with the cool
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: dewdrops still hanging heavy upon it. I remember that the
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: day after my arrival, private theatricals were being got up.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: The drawing room was, as they say, packed to overflowing.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: There was not a seat empty, and as I was
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: somehow late. I had to enjoy the performance standing, but
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the amusing play attracted me to move forwarder and forward her,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and unconsciously I made my way to the first row,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: where I stood at last, leaning my elbows on the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: back of an arm chair in which a lady was sitting.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: It was my blonde divinity, but we had not yet
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: made acquaintance, and I gazed, as it happened, at her marvelous,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: fascinating shoulders, plump and white as milk. Though it did
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: not matter to me in the least whether I stared
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: at a woman's exquisite shoulders or at the cap with
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: flaming ribbons that covered the gray locks of a venerable lady.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: In the front row, near my blonde divinity sat a
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: spinster lady, not in her first youth, one of those who,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: as I chanced to observe later, always take refuge in
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the immediate neighborhood of young and pretty women, selecting such
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: as are not fond of cold shouldering young men. But
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: that is not the point. Only this lady, noting my
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: fixed gaze, bent down to her neighbor and with a simper,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: whispered something in her ear. The blond lady turned at once,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and I remember that her glowing eyes so flashed upon
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: me in the half dark that, not prepared to meet them,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I started, as though I were scalded. The beauty smiled.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Do you like what they are acting, she asked, looking
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: into my face with a shy and mocking expression. Yes,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I answered, still gazing at her with a sort of
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: wonder that evidently pleased her. But why are you standing?
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: You'll get tired. Can't you find a seat? That's just it?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I can't, I answered, more occupied with my grievance than
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: with the beauty sparkling eyes, and rejoicing in earnest at
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: having found a kind heart to whom I could confide
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: my troubles. I have looked everywhere, but all the chairs
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: are taken, I added, as though complaining to her that
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: all the chairs were taken. Come here, she said, briskly,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: quick to act on every decision, and indeed on every
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: mad idea that flashed on her giddy brain, Come here
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: and sit on my knee. On your knee, I repeated,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: taken aback. I have mentioned already that I had begun
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to resent the privileges of childhood and to be ashamed
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: of them. In earnest, this lady, as though in derision,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: had gone ever so much further than the others. Moreover,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I had always been a shy and bashful boy, and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: of late had begun to be particularly shy with women.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Why yes, on my knee? Why don't you want to
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: sit on my knee? She persisted, beginning to laugh more
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: and more, so that at last she was simply giggling.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Goodness knows at what, perhaps at her freak, or perhaps
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: at my confusion, but that was just what she wanted.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I flushed, and, in my confusion, looked round, trying to
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: find where to escape, But seeing my intentions, she managed
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to catch hold of my hand to prevent me from
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: going away, and pulling it towards her. Suddenly, quite unexpectedly,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to my intense astonishment, squeezed it in her mischievous warm
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: fingers and began to pinch my fingers till they hurt
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: so much that I had to do my very utmost
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: not to cry out, and in my effort to control myself,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: made the most absurd grimaces. I was, besides, moved to
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the greatest amazement, perplexity, and even horror at the discovery
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: that there were ladies so absurd and spiteful as to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: talk nonsense to boys and even pinch their fingers for
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: no earthly reason, and before everybody. Probably my unhappy face
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: reflected my bewilderment, for the mischievous creature laughed in my
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: face as though she were crazy, and meantime she was
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: pinching my fingers more and more vigorously. She was highly
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: delighted in playing such a mischievous prank and completely mystifying
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and embarrassing a poor boy. My position was desperate. In
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the first place. I was hot with shame, because almost
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: every one near had turned round to look at us,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: some in wonder, others with laughter, Grasping at once that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the beauty was up to some mischief. I dreadfully wanted
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to scream, too, for she was wringing my fingers with
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: positive fury, just because I didn't scream, while I, like
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a spartan, made up my mind to endure the agony,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: afraid by crying out of causing a general fuss, which
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: was more than I could face. In utter despair, I
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: began at last struggling with her, trying with all my
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: might to pull away my hand, but my persecutor was
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: much stronger than I was. At last, I could bear
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: it no longer and uttered a shriek. That was all
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: she was waiting for. Instantly she let me go and
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: turned away as though nothing had happened, as though it
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: was not she who had played the trick, but some
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: one else, exactly like some schoolboy who, as soon as
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: the master's back is turned, plays some trick on some
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: one near him, pinches some small weak boy, gives him
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: a flip, a kick or another with his elbows, and
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: instantly turns again, buries himself in his book and begins
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: repeating his lesson, and so makes a fool of the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: infuriated teacher, who flies down like a hawk at the noise.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: But luckily for me, the general attention was distracted at
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the moment by the masterly acting of our host, who
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: was playing the chief part in the performance some comedy
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: of scribes. Everyone began to applaud. Under cover of the noise.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I stole away and hurried to the furthest end of
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the room, from which concealed behind a column, I looked
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: with horror towards the place where the treacherous beauty was sitting.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: She was still laughing, holding her handkerchief to her lips,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: And for a long time she was continually turning round,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: looking for me in every direction, probably regretting that our
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: silly tussle was so soon over, and hatching some other
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: trick to play on me. That was the beginning of
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: our acquaintance, and from that evening she would never let
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: me alone. She persecuted me without consideration or conscience. She
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: became my tyrant and tormentor. The whole absurdity of her
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: jokes with me lay in the fact that she pretended
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to be head over ears in love with me, and
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: teased me before every one. Of course, for a wild
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: creature as I was. All this was so tiresome and
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: vexatious that it almost reduced me to tears. And I
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: was sometimes put in such a difficult position that I
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: was on the point of fighting with my treacherous admirer.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: My naive confusion, my desperate distress seemed to egg her
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: on to persecute me more. She knew no mercy, while
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I did not know how to get away from her.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: The laughter which always accompanied us, and which she knew
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: so well how to excite, roused her to fresh pranks.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: But at last people began to think that she went
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: a little too far in her jests. And indeed, as
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I remember now, she did take out rageous liberties with
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: a child such as I was. But that was her character.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: She was a spoilt child in every respect. I heard
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: afterwards that her husband, a very short, very fat, and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: very red faced man, very rich, and apparently very much
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: occupied with business, spoilt her more than any one. Always
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: busy in flying round, he could not stay two hours
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: in one place every day. He drove into Moscow sometimes
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: twice in the day, and always, as he declared himself,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: on business. It would be hard to find a livelier,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: more good natured face than his facetious but always well
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: bred countenance. He not only loved his wife to the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: point of weakness softness, he simply worshiped her like an idol.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: He did not restrain her in anything. She had masses
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: of friends, male and female. In the first place, almost
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: everybody liked her, And secondly, the feather headed creature was
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: not herself over particular in the choice of her friends.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Though there was a much more serious foundation to her
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: character than might be supposed from what I have just
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: said about her. But of all her friends she liked
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: best of all one young lady, a distant relige, who
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: was also of our party. Now there existed between them
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: a tender and subtle affection, one of those attachments which
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: sometimes spring up at the meeting of two dispositions, often
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: the very opposite of each other, of which one is deeper, purer,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: and more austere, while the other, with lofty humility and
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: generous self criticism, lovingly gives way to the other, conscious
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: of the friend's superiority in cherishing the friendship as a happiness.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Then begins that tender and noble subtlety in the relations
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: of such characters, love and infinite indulgence on the one side,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: on the other, love and respect, a respect approaching awe
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: approaching anxiety as to the impression made on the friends
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: so highly prized, and an eager, jealous desire to get
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: closer and closer to that friend's heart in every step
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: in life. These two friends were of the same age,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: but there was an immense difference between them in everything.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: In looks. To begin with, Madame m was also very handsome,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: but there was something special in her beauty that strikingly
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: distinguished her from the crowd of pretty women. There was
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: something in her face that at once drew the affection
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: of all to her, or rather which aroused a generous
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and lofty feeling of kindliness in every one who met her.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: There are such happy faces at her side, everyone grew,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: as it were, better, freer, more cordial. And yet her
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: big mournful eyes, full of fire and vigor, had a
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: timid and anxious look, as though every minute dreading something
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: antagonistic and menacing. And this strange timidity at times cast
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: so mournful a shade over her mild, gentle features, which
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: recalled the serene faces of Italian madonnas, that looking at her,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: one soon became oneself sad, as though for some trouble
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: of one's own. The pale, thin face in which through
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the irreproachable beauty of the pure regular lines and the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: mournful severity of some mute hidden grief, there often flitted
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: the clear looks of early childhood, telling of trustful years
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: and perhaps simple hearted, happyesiness in the recent past. The
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: gentle but diffident, hesitating smile all aroused such unaccountable sympathy
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: for her that every heart was unconsciously stirred with a
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: sweet and warm anxiety that powerfully interceded on her behalf,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: even at a distance, and made even strangers feel akin
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to her. But the lovely creature seems silent and reserved,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: though no one could have been more attentive and loving
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: if any one needed sympathy. There are women who are
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: like sisters of mercy in life. Nothing can be hidden
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: from them, nothing at least that is a sore or
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: wound of the heart. Anyone who is suffering may go
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: boldly and hopefully to them without fear of being a burden.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: For few men know the infinite patience of love, compassion,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: and forgiveness that may be found in some women's hearts.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Perfect treasures of sympathy, consolation, and hope are laid up
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: in these pure hearts, so often full of suffering of
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: their own. For a heart which loves much grieves much.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Though their wounds are carefully hidden from the curious eye,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: for deep sadness is most often mute and concealed, they
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: are not dismayed by the depth of the wound, nor
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: by its foulness and its stench. Any One who comes
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: to them is deserving of help. They are as it
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: were born for heroism. Madame m was tall, supple and graceful,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: but rather thin. All her movements seemed somehow irregular, at
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: times slow, smooth and even dignified, at times childishly hasty.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: And yet at the same time there was a sort
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of timid humility in her gestures, something tremulous and defenseless,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: though it neither desired nor asked for protection. I have
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: mentioned already that the outrageous teasing of the treacherous fair
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: lady abashed me, flabbergasted me, and wounded me to the quick.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: But there was for that another secret, strange and foolish reason,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: which I concealed, at which I shuddered as at a
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: skeleton at the very thought of it. Brooding utterly alone
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and overwhelmed in some dark, mistane, serious corner to which
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the inquisitorial, mocking eye of the blue eyed rogue could
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: not penetrate, I almost gasped with confusion, shame, and fear.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: In short, I was in love. That perhaps is nonsense,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that could hardly have been. But why was it, of
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: all the faces surrounding me, only her face caught my attention?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Why was it that it was only she whom I
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: cared to? Follow with my eyes. Though I certainly had
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: no inclination in those days to watch ladies and seek
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: their acquaintance. This happened most frequently on the evenings when
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: we were all kept indoors by bad weather, and when lonely,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: hiding in some corner of the big drawing room, I
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: stared about me aimlessly, unable to find anything to do
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: for except my teasing ladies. Few people ever addressed me,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and I was insufferably bored on such evenings. Then I
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: stared at the people round me, listened to the conversation
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: of which I often did not understand one word, and
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: at that time the mild eyes, the gentle smile and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: lovely face of Madame m for she was the object
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: of my passion. For some reason, caught my fascinated attention,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: and the strange, vague but unutterably sweet impression remained with me,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: often for hours together. I could not tear myself away
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: from her. I studied every gesture, every movement she made,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: listened to every vibration of her rich, silvery but rather
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: muffled voice. But strange to say, as the result of
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: all my observations, I felt mixed with a sweet and
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: timid impression, a feeling of intense curiosity. It seemed as
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: though I were on the verge of some mystery. Nothing
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: distressed me so much as being mocked at in the
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: presence of Madame M. This mockery and humorous persecution, as
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I thought, humiliated me. And when there was a general
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: burst of laughter at my expense, in which Madame M
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: sometimes could not help joining in despair, beside myself with misery,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I used to tear myself from my tormentor and run
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: away upstairs, where I remained in solitude the rest of
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: the day, not daring to show my face in the
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: drawing room. I did not yet, however, understand my shame
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: nor my agitation. The whole process went on in me unconsciously.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I had hardly said two words to Madame M, and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: indeed I should not have dared to. But one evening,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: after an unbearable day, I turned back from an expedition
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: with the rest of the company. I was horribly tired,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and made my way home across the garden. On a
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: seat in a secluded avenue, I saw Madame M. She
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: was sitting quite alone, as though she had purposely chosen
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: this solitary spot. Her head was drooping and she was
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: mechanically twisting her handkerchief. She was so lost in thought
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: that she did not hear me till I reached her.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Noticing me, she got up quickly from her seat, turned round,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: and I saw her hurriedly wipe her eyes with her handkerchief.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: She was crying, drying her eyes. She smiled to me
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: and walked back with me to the house. I don't
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: remember what we talked about, but she frequently sent me
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: off on one pretext or another, to pick a flower
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: or to see who was riding in the next avenue.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: And when I walked away from her, she at once
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: put her handkerchief to her eyes again and wiped away
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: rebellious tears which would persist in rising again and again
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: from her heart and dropping from her poor eyes. I
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: realized that I was very much in her way when
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: she sent me off so often, and indeed she saw
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: herself that I noticed it all, but yet could not
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: control herself, and that made my heart ache more and
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: more for her. I raged at myself at that moment,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and was almost in despair, cursed myself for my awkwardness
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: and lack of resource, and at the same time, did
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: not know how to leave her tactfully without betraying that
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I had noticed her distress, but walked beside her in
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: mournful bewilderment, almost in alarm, utterly at a loss, and
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: unable to find a single word to keep up our
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: scanty conversation. This meeting made such an impression on me
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: that I stealth watched Madame m the whole evening with
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: eager curiosity, and never took my eyes off her. But
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: it happened that she twice caught me unawares watching her,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and on the second occasion, noticing me, she gave me
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: a smile. It was the only time she smiled that evening.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: The look of sadness had not left her face, which
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: was now very pale. She spent the whole evening talking
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: to an ill natured and quarrelsome old lady whom nobody
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: liked owing to her spying and backbiting habits, but of
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: whom every one was afraid, and consequently every one felt
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: obliged to be polite to her. At ten o'clock, Madame
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: m S husband arrived. Till that moment, I watched her
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: very attentively, never taking my eyes off her mournful face. Now,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: at the unexpected entrance of her husband, I saw her start,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and her pale face turned suddenly as white as a handkerchief.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: It was so noticeable that other people observed it. I
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: overheard a fragmentary conversation from which I guessed at Madame
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: m was not quite happy. They said her husband was
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: as jealous as an Arab, not from love, but from vanity.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: He was, before all things, a European, a modern man
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: who sampled the newest ideas and prided himself upon them.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: In appearance, he was a tall, dark haired, particularly thick
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: set man, with European whiskers, with a self satisfied red face,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: with teeth white as sugar, and with an irreproachably gentlemanly deportment.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: He was called a clever man. Such is the name
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: given in certain circles to a peculiar species of mankind,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: which grows fat at other people's expense, which does absolutely
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: nothing and has no desire to do anything, and whose
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: heart has turned into a lump of fat from everlasting
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: slothfulness and idleness. You continually hear from such men that
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: there is nothing they can do. Owing to certain very
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: complicated and hostile circumstances which thwart their genius, and that
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: it was sad to see the waste of their talents.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: This is a fine phrase of theirs, their mot de order,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: their watchword, a phrase which these well fed fat friends
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: of ours bring out at every minute, so that it
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: has long ago bored us as an errand tartufism, an
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: empty form of words. Some, however, of these amusing creatures,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: who cannot succeed in finding anything to do, though indeed
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: they never seek it, try to make every one believe
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: that they have not a lump of fat for a heart,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: but on the contrary, something very deep, though what precisely
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the greatest surgeon would hardly venture to decide From civility,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: of course, these gentlemen make their way in the world
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: through the fact that all their instincts are bent in
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the direction of coarse sneering, short sighted censure, and immense conceit.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Since they have nothing else to do but note and
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: emphasize the mistakes and weaknesses of others, and as they
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: have precisely as much good feeling as an oyster, it
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: is not difficult for them, with such powers of self
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: preservation to get on with people. Fairly successfully. They pride
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: themselves extremely upon that they are, for instance, as good
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: as persuaded, that almost the whole world owes them something,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: that it is theirs like an oyster, which they keep
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: in reserve, that all are fools except themselves, that every
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: one is like an orange or a sponge, which they
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: will squeeze as soon as they want the juice, That
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: they are the masters everywhere, and that all this acceptable
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: state of affairs is solely due to the fact that
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: they are people of so much intellect and character. In
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: their measureless conceit, they do not admit any defects in themselves.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: They are like that species of practical rogues, innate tartuffs
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: and falstaffs, who are such thorough rogues that at last
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: they have come to believe that that is as it
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: should be, that is that they should spend their lives
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: in knavishness. They have so often assured every one that
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: they are honest men, that they have come to believe
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: that they are honest men, and that their roguery is honesty.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: They are never capable of inner judgment before their conscience
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: of generous self criticism. For some things. They are too
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: fat their own priceless personality, their ball and Moloch, their
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: magnificent ego is always in their foreground, everywhere, all nature,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: the whole world for them is no more than a
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: splendid mirror created for the little God to admire himself
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: continually in it, and to see no one and nothing
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: behind himself. So it is not strange that he sees
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: everything in the world in such a hideous light. He
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: has a phrase in readiness for everything, and the acme
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: of ingenuity on his part, the most fashionable phrase. It
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: is just these people, indeed, who help to make the fashion,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: proclaiming at every cross road an idea in which they
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: sent success. A fine nose is just what they have
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: for sniffing a fashionable phrase and making it their own
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: before other people get hold of it, so that it
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: seems to have originated with them. They have a particular
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: store of phrases for proclaiming their profound sympathy for humanity,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: for defining what is the most correct and rational form
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: of philanthropy, and continue only attacking romanticism. In other words,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: everything fine and true, each atom of which is more
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: precious than all their mollusk tribe. But they are too
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: coarse to recognize the truth in an indirect round about
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: an unfinished form, and they reject everything that is immature,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: still fermenting, and unstable. The well nourished man has spent
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: all his life in merrymaking with everything provided, has done
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: nothing himself, and does not know how hard every sort
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: of work is. And so woe betide you if you
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: jar upon his fat feelings by any sort of roughness.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: He'll never forgive you for that. He will always remember it,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: and will gladly avenge it. The long and short of
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: it is that my hero is neither more nor less
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: than a gigantic, incredibly swollen bagged full of sentences, fashionable phrases,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: and labels of all sorts and kinds. M M, however,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: had a speciality and was a very remarkable man. He
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: was a wit, good talker and story teller, and there
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: was always a circle round him in every drawing room
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: that evening. He was particularly successful in making an impression.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: He took possession of the conversation. He was in his
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: best form, gay, pleased at something, and he compelled the
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: attention of all. But Madame m looked all the time
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: as though she were ill. Her face was so sad
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: that I fancied every minute that tears would begin quivering
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: on her long eyelashes. All this, as I have said,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: impressed me extremely and made me wonder. I went away
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: with a feeling of strange curiosity and dreamed all night
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: of m m though till then I had rarely had dreams.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Next day, early in the morning, I was summoned to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: a rehearsal of some tableau's vivance, in which I had
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: to take part. The tableau's vivance, theatricals and afterwards a
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: dance were all fixed for the same evening five days later,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the birthday of our host's younger daughter. To this entertainment,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: which was almost improvised, another hundred guests were invited from
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: moss Scow and from surrounding villas, so that there was
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: a great deal of fuss, bustle and commotion. The rehearsal,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: or rather review of the costumes was fixed so early
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: in the morning because our manager, a well known artist,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: a friend of our hosts, who had consented through affection
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: for him to undertake the arrangement of the tableaus and
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: the training of us for them, was in haste now
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: to get to Moscow to purchase properties and to make
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: final preparations for the fate. As there was no time
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: to lose, I took part in one tableau with Madame M.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: It was a scene from medieval life, and was called
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the Lady of the Castle and her Page. I felt
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: unutterably confused on meeting Madame M at the rehearsal. I
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: kept feeling that she would at once read in my
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: eyes all the reflections, the doubts, the surmises that had
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: arisen in my mind since the previous day. I fancied, too,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: that I was, as it were, to blame in regard
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: to her, for having come upon her tears the day
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: before and hindered her grieving, so that she could hardly
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: help looking at me askance as an unpleasant witness and
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: unforgiven sharer of her secret. But thank goodness, it went
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: off without any great trouble. I was simply not noticed.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: I think she had no thoughts to spare for me
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: or for the rehearsal. She was absent, minded, sad, and
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: gloomily thoughtful. It was evident that she was worried by
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: some great anxiety. As soon as my part was over,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: I ran away to change my clothes, and ten minutes
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: later came out on the verandah into the garden. Almost
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: at the same time Madame M came out by another door,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: and immediately afterwards, coming towards us, appeared her self satisfied husband,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: who was returning from the garden after just escorting into
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: it quite a crowd of ladies and their handing them
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: over to a competent cavalier servant. The meeting of the
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: husband and wife was evidently unexpected. Madame M. I don't
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: know why, grew suddenly confused, and a faint trace of
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: vexation was betrayed in her impatient movement. The husband, who
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: had been carelessly whistling an air and with an air
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: of profundity stroking his whiskers, now on meeting his wife,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: frowned and scrutinized her, as I remember now, with a
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: markedly inquisitorial Stare you are going into the garden, he asked,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: noticing the parasol and book in her hand. No, into
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the copse, she said, with a slight flush Alone with him,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: said Madame M, pointing to me. I always go a
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: walk alone in the morning, she added, speaking in an uncertain,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: hesitating voice, as people do when they tell their first lie. Hum,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: and I have just taken the whole party there. They
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: have all met there together in the flower arbor to
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: see an off. He is going away. You know something
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: has gone wrong in Odessa, your cousin, He meant, the
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: fair beauty is laughing and crying at the same time.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: There is no making her out. She says, though, that
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: you are angry with n about something and so wouldn't
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: go and see him off. Nonsense. Of course she's laughing,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: said Madame M, coming down the veranda steps. So this
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: is your daily cavalier servant, aded M M with a
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: wry smile, turning his lorgnette upon me. Page I cried,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: angered by the lorgnette and the jeer, and laughing straight
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: in his face. I jumped down the three steps of
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: the veranda at one bound a pleasant walk, muttered M M,
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: and went on his way. Of course, I immediately joined
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Madame M as soon as she indicated me to her husband,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: and looked as though she had invited me to do
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: so an hour before, and as though I had been
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: accompanying her on her walks every morning for the last month.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: But I could not make out why she was so confused,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: so embarrassed, and what was in her mind when she
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: brought herself to have recourse to her little lie? Why
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: had she not simply said that she was going alone.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I did not know how to look at her, but
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed with wonder, I began by degrees very naively, peeping
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: into her face. But just as an hour before at
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the rehearsal, she did not notice either my looks or
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: my mute question. The same anxiety, only more intense and
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: more distinct, was apparent in her face, in her agitation,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: in her walk. She was in haste, and walked more
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: and more quickly, and kept looking uneasily down every avenue,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: down every path in the wood that led in the
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: direction of the garden, And I too was expecting something.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Suddenly there was the sound of horses hoofs behind us.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: It was the whole party of ladies and gentlemen on horseback,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: escorting in. The gentleman who was so suddenly deserting us.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Among the ladies was my fair Tormentor, of whom M. M.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Had told us that she was in tears. But characteristically
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: she was laughing like a child, and was galloping riskly
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: on a splendid bay Horse. On reaching us end, took
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: off his hat, but did not stop nor say one
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: word to Madame M. Soon all the cavalcade disappeared from
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: our sight. I glanced at Madame M and almost cried
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: out in wonder. She was standing as white as a handkerchief,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: and big tears were gushing from her eyes. By chance
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: our eyes met, Madame M suddenly flushed and turned away
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: for an instant, and a distinct look of uneasiness and
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: vexation flitted across her face. I was in the way,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: worse even than last time. That was clearer than day.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: But how was I to get away? And as though
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: guessing my difficulty, Madame M opened the book, which she
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: had in her hand and coloring, and evidently trying not
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to look at me. She said, as though she had
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: only suddenly realized it. Ah, it is the second part.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: I've made a mistake. Please bring me the first. I
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: could not but understand my part was over, and I
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: could not have been more directly dismissed. I ran off
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: with her book and did not come back. The first
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: part lay undisturbed on the table that morning, but I
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: was not myself. In my heart, there was a sort
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of haunting terror. I did my utmost not to meet
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: Madame M. But I looked with wild curiosity at the
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: self satisfied person of M M, as though there must
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: be something special about him. Now I don't understand what
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: was the meaning of my absurd curiosity. I only remember
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: that I was strangely perplexed by all that I had
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: chanced to see that morning. But the day was only
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: just beginning, and it was fruitful in events for me.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Dinner was very early that day. An expedition to a
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: neighboring hamlet to see a village festival that was taking
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: place there had been fixed for the evening, and so
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: it was necessary to be in time to get ready.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I had been dreaming for the last three days of
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: this excursion, anticipating all sorts of delights. Almost all the
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: company gathered together on the verandah for coffee. I cautiously
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: followed the others and concealed myself behind the third row
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of chairs. I was attracted by curiosity, and yet I
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: was very anxious not to be seen by Madame M.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: But as luck would have it, I was not far
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: from my fair tormentor something miraculous and incredible was happening
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: to her that day, she looked twice as handsome. I
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: don't know how and why this happens, but such miracles
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: are by no means rare with women. There was with
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: us at this moment a new guest, a tall, pale
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: faced young man, the official admirer of our fair beauty,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: who had just arrived from Moscow, as though on purpose
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: to replace n of whom rumor said that he was
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: desperately in love with the same lady as for the
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: newly arrived guest. He had for a long time past
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: been on the same terms as Benedict with Beatrice in
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. In short, the fair Beauty
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: was in her very best form that day. Her chatter
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: and her jests were so full of grace, so trustfully naive,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: so innocently careless. She was persuaded of the general enthusiasm
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: with such graceful self confidence that she really was all
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: the time the center of peculiar adoration. A throng of
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: surprised and admiring listeners was continually round her, and she
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: had never been so fascinating. Every word she uttered was
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: marvelous and seductive. Was caught up and handed round in
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: a circle, and not one word, one jest one Sally
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: was lost. I fancy no one had expected from her
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: such taste, such brilliance, such wit. Her best qualities were,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: as a rule, buried under the most harum scarum wilfulness,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: the most schoolboyish pranks, almost verging on buffoonery. They were
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: rarely noticed, and when they were, were hardly believed in,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: so that now her extraordinary brilliancy was accompanied by an
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: eager whisper of amazement among all. There was, however, one
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: peculiar and rather delicate circuitsance, judging at least by the
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: part in it played by Madame m s husband, which
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: contributed to her success. The madcap ventured, and I must
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: add to the satisfaction of almost every one, or at
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: any rate, to the satisfaction of all the young people,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: to make a furious attack upon him, Owing to many causes,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: probably of great consequence in her eyes, she carried on
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: with him a regular cross fire of witticisms, of mocking
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: and sarcastic sallies of that most elusive and treacherous kind
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: that smoothly wrapped up on the surface, hit the mark
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: without giving the victim anything to lay hold of and
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: exhaust him in fruitless efforts to repel the attack, reducing
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: him to fury in comic despair. I don't know for certain,
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: but I fancy the whole proceeding was not improvised but premeditated.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: This desperate duel had begun earlier at dinner. I call
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: it desperate because m them was not quick to surrender.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: He had to call upon all his presence of mind,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: all his sharp wits and rare resourcefulness. Not to be
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: completely covered with ignominy. The conflict was accompanied by the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: continual and irrepressible laughter of all who witnessed and took
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: part in it. That day was for him very different
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: from the day before. It was noticeable that Madame m
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: several times did her utmost to stop her indiscreet friend,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: who was certainly trying to depict the jealous husband in
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the most grotesque and absurd guise, in the guise of
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: a blue beard. It must be supposed, judging from all probabilities,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: from what has remained in my memory, and finally from
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: the part which I myself was destined to play in
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the affair, I was drawn into it in a most
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: absurd manner, quite unexpectedly, and as ill luck would have it,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: at that moment, I was standing where I could be seen,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: suspecting no evil, and actually forgetting the precautions I had
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: so long practiced. Suddenly I was brought into the foreground
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: as a sworn foe and natural rival of M. M
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: As desperately in love with his wife, of which my
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: Perseuicuitrius vowed and swore that she had proofs saying that
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: only that morning she had seen in the copse. But
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: before she had time to finish, I broke in at
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: the most desperate minute. That minute was so diabolically calculated,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: was so treacherously prepared to lead up to its finale,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: its ludicrous Daynima, and was brought out with such killing
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: humor that a perfect outburst of irrepressible mirth saluted this
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: last sally. And though even at the time I guessed
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: that mine was not the most unpleasant part in the performance,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: yet I was so confused, so irritated, and alarmed, that
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: full of misery and despair. Gasping with shame and tears,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: I dashed through two rows of chairs, stepped forward, and
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: addressing my tormentor, cried in a voice broken with tears
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: and indignation. Aren't you ashamed aloud before all the ladies
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: to tell such a wicked lie like a small child
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: before all these men? What will they say? A big
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: girl like you and married? But I could not go on.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: There was a deafening roar of applause. My outburst created
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: a perfect furore. My naive gesture, my tears, and especially
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: the fact that I seemed to be defending m m
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: all this provoked such fiendish laughter that even now I
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: cannot help laughing at the mere recollection of it. I
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: was overcome with confusion, senseless with horror, and burning with shame.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: Hiding my face in my hands, rushed away, knocked a
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: tray out of the hands of a footman who was
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: coming in at the door, and flew upstairs to my
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: own room. I pulled out the key, which was on
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: the outside of the door, and locked myself in. I
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: did well, for there was a hue and cry after me.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Before a minute had passed, my door was besieged by
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: a mob of the prettiest ladies. I heard their ringing, laughter,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: their incessant chatter, their trilling voices. They were all twittering
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: at once like swallows. All of them, every one of
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: them begged and besought me to open the door, if
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: only for a moment. Swore that no harm should come
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: to me, only that they wanted to smother me with kisses.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: But what could be more horrible than this novel threat?
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: I simply burned with shame the other side of the door,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: hiding my face in the pillows, and did not open,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: did not even respond. The ladies kept up their knocking
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: for a long time, but I was deaf and obdurate,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: as only a boy of eleven could be. But what
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: could I do? Now? Everything was laid bare, Everything had
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: been exposed, everything I had so jealously guarded and concealed.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: Everlasting disgrace and shame had fallen on me. But it
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: is true that I could not myself have said why
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: I was frightened and what I wanted to hide. Yet
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: I was frightened of something, and had trembled like a
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: leaf at the thought of that something's being discovered. Only
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: till that minute I had not known what it was,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: whether it was good or bad, splendid or shameful, praiseworthy
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: or reprehensible. Now, in my distress, in the misery that
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: had been forced upon me. I learned that it was
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: absurd and shameful. Instinctively, I felt at the same time
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: that this verdict was false, inhuman and coarse. But I
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: was crushed, annihilated. Consciousness seemed checked in me, and thrown
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: into confusion. I could not stand up against that verdict
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: nor criticize it properly. I was befogged. I only felt
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: that my heart had been inhumanly and shamelessly wounded, and
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: was brimming over with impotent tears. I was irritated, but
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: I was boiling with indignation and hate such as I
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: had never felt before. For it was the first time
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: in my life that I had known real sorrow, insult,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: and injury. And it was truly that, without any exaggeration,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: the first untried, unformed feeling had been so coarsely handled
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: in me a child, the first fragrant virginal modesty had
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: been so soon exposed and insulted, and the first and
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: perhaps very real and esthetic impression had been so outraged.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: Of course, there was much my persecutors did not know
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and did not divine in my sufferings. One circumstance which
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I had not succeeded in analyzing till then, of which
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: I had been, as it were, afraid, partly entered into it.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: I went on lying on my bed in despair and misery,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: hiding my face in my pillow, and I was alternately
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: feverish and shivery. I was tormented by two questions. First,
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: what had the wretched fair beauty seen, and in fact,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: what could she have seen that morning in the copse
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: between Madame M and me? And secondly, how could I
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: now look Madame M in the face without dying on
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: the spot of shame and despair. An extraordinary noise in
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: the yard roused me at last from the state of
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: semi consciousness into which I had fallen. I got up
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: and went to the window. The whole yard was packed
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: with carriages, saddle horses, and bustling servants. It seemed that
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: they were all setting off. Some of the gentlemen had
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: already mounted their horses, others were taking their places in
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: the carriage. Then I remembered the expedition to the village fate,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: and little by little an uneasiness came over me. I
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: began anxiously looking for my pony in the yard, but
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: there was no pony there, so they must have forgotten me.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: I could not restrain myself and rushed headlong downstairs, thinking
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: no more of unpleasant meetings or my recent ignominy. Terrible
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: news awaited me. There was neither a horse nor seat
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: in any of the carriages to spare for me. Everything
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: had been arranged, all the seats were taken, and I
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: was forced to give place to others. Overwhelmed by this
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: fresh blow, I stood on the steps and looked mournfully
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: at the long rows of coaches, carriages and chaises, in
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: which there was not the tiniest corner left for me,
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: and at the smartly dressed ladies whose horses were restlessly curvetting.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: One of the gentlemen was late. They were only waiting
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: for his arrival to set off. His horse was standing
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: at the door, champing the bit, pawing the earth with
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: his hoofs, and at every moment starting in rearing, two
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: stable boys were carefully holding him by the bridle, and
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: every one else apprehensively stood at a respectful distance from him.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: A most vexatious circumstance had occurred which prevented my going.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: In addition to the fact that new visitors had arrived,
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: filling up all the seats. Two of the horses had
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: fallen ill, one of them being my pony. But I
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: was not the only person to suffer. It appeared that
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: there was no horse for our new visitor, the pale
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: faced young man of whom I have spoken already. To
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: get over this difficulty, our host had been obliged to
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: have recourse to the extreme step of offering his fiery,
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: unbroken stallion, adding to satisfy his conscience that it was
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: impossible to ride him, and that they had long intended
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: to sell the beast for its vicious character, if only
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: a purchaser could be found. But in spite of his warning,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: the visitor declared that he was a good horseman, and
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: in any case, ready to mount anything rather than not go.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Our host said no more. But now I fancied that
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: a sly and ambiguous smile was straying on his lips.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: He waited for the gentleman who had spoken so well
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: of his own horsemanship, and stood without mounting his horse,
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: impatiently rubbing his hands and continually glancing towards the door.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Some similar feeling seemed shared by the two stable boys,
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: who were holding the stallion, almost breathless with pride. At
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: seeing themselves before the whole company in charge of a
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: horse which might any minute kill a man for no
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: reason whatever. Something akin to their master's sly smile gleamed
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: two in their eyes, which were round with expectation, and
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: fixed upon the door from which the bold visitor was
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: to appear. The horse himself, too, behaved as though he
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: were in league with our host and the stable boys.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: He bore himself proudly and haughtily, as though he felt
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: that he were being watched by several dozen curious eyes,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: and were glorying in his evil reputation, exactly as some
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: incorrigible rogue might glory in his criminal exploits. He seemed
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: to be defying the bold man, who would venture to
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: curb his independence. That bold man did at last make
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: his appearance, conscience stricken at having kept every one waiting.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: Hurriedly drawing on his gloves, he came forward, without looking
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: at anything, ran down the steps, and only raised his
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: eyes as he stretched out his hand to seize the
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: mane of the waiting horse. But he was at once
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: disconcerted by his frantic rearing, and a warning scream from
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: the frightened spectators. The young man stepped back and looked
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: in perplexity at the vicious horse, which was quivering all over,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: snorting with anger, and rolling his bloodshot eyes ferociously, continually
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: rearing on his hind legs and flinging up his four
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: legs as though he meant to bolt into the air
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: and carry the two stable boys with him. For a minute,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: the young man stood completely nonplussed. Then, flushing slightly with
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: some embarrassment, he raised his eyes and looked at the
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: frightened ladies. A very fine horse, he said, as though
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: to himself and to my thinking, it ought to be
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: a great pleasure to ride him. But but do you know,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: I think I won't go, he concluded, turning to our
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: host with a broad, good natured smile which so suited
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: his kind and clever face. Yet I consider you are
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: an excellent horseman, I assure you, answered the owner of
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: the unapproachable horse delighted, and he warmly and even gratefully
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: pressed the young man's hand, just because from the first
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: moment you saw the sort of brute you had to
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: deal with, he added, with dignity. Would you believe me,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: though I have served twenty three years in the Hussars,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: Yet I've had the pleasure of being laid on the
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: ground three times thanks to that beast. That is, as
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: often as I mounted the useless animal Tancred, My boy,
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: there's no one here fit for you, your rider. It
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: seems must be some illiu muromats, and he must be
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: sitting quiet now in the village of Capacharovo, waiting for
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: your teeth to fall out. Come take him away. He
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: has frightened people enough. It was a waste of time
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: to bring him out, he cried, rubbing his hands complacently.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: It must be observed that Tancred was no sort of
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: use to his master, and simply ate corn for nothing Moreover,
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the old Huzar had lost his reputation for a knowledge
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: of horse flesh by paying a fabulous sum for the
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: worthless beast, which he had purchased only for his beauty.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: Yet he was delighted now that Tancred had kept up
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: his reputation, had disposed of another rider, and so had
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: drawn closer on himself fresh senseless laurels. So you are
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: not going, cried the blond beauty, who was particularly anxious
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: that her cavalier servant should be in attendance on this occasion.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: Surely you are not frightened upon my word? I am,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: answered the young man. Are you in earnest? Why do
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: you want me to break my neck? Then make haste
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: and get on my horse. Don't be afraid. It is
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: very quiet. We won't delay them. They can change the
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: saddles in a minute. I'll try to take your Surely,
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: Tankred can't always be so unruly. No sooner said than done.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: The madcap leaped out of the saddle and was standing
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: before us as she finished the last sentence. You don't know,
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: Tankred if you think you will allow your wretched side
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: saddle to be put on him. Besides, I would not
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: let you break your neck. It would be a pity,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: said our host at that moment of inward gratification. Affecting
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: as his habit was a study brusqueness and even coarseness
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: of speech, which he thought in keeping with a jolly
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: good fellow and an old soldier, and which he imagined
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: to be particularly attractive to the ladies. This was one
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: of his favorite fancies, his favorite whim with which we
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: were all familiar. Well, cry baby, wouldn't you like to
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: have a try? You wanted so much to go said
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: the valiant horsewoman, noticing me and pointing tauntingly at Tankred,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: because I had been so imprudent as to catch her eye,
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: and she would not let me go without abiding word
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: that she might not have dismounted from her horse. Absolutely
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: for nothing. I expect you are not such a We
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: all know you are a hero, and would be ashamed
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: to be afraid, especially when you will be looked at
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: you find page, she added, with a fleeting glance at
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Madame M, whose carriage was the nearest to the entrance.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: A rush of hatred and vengeance had flooded my heart
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: when the fair amazon had approached us with the intention
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: of mounting Tancred. But I cannot describe what I felt
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: at this unexpected challenge from the madcap. Everything was dark
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: before my eyes when I saw her glance at Madame M.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: For an instant, an idea flashed through my mind, But
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: it was only a moment, less than a moment, like
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: a flash of gunpowder. Perhaps it was the last straw,
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: and I suddenly now was moved to rage, as my
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: spirit rose so that I longed to put all my
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: enemies to utter confusion, and to revenge myself on all
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: of them, and before every one, by showing the sort
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: of person I was, or whether by some miracle, some
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: prompting from medieval history of which I had known nothing
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: till then, sent whirling through my giddy brain images of tournaments, paladins, heroes,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: lovely ladies, the clash of swords, shouts and the applause
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: of the crowd, and amidst those shouts, the timid cry
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: of a frightened heart, which moves the crowd soul more
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: sweetly than victory and fame. I don't know whether all
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: this romantic nonsense was in my head at the time,
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: or whether, more likely, only the first dawning of the
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: inevitable nonsense that was in store for me in the future. Anyway,
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: I felt that my hour had come. My heart leaped
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: and shuddered, and I don't remember how at one bound
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: I was down the steps and beside tancred. You think
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: I am afraid. I cried boldly and proudly, in such
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: a fever that I could hardly see, breathless with excitement,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: and flushing till the tears scalded my cheeks, well you
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: shall see, and clutching at Tankard's mane, I put my
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: foot in the stirrup before they had time to make
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: a movement to stop me. But at that instant Tankred reared,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: jerked his head, and with a mighty bound forward, wrenched
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: himself out of the hands of the petrified stable boys,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: and dashed off like a hurricane, while every one cried
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: out in horror. Goodness knows how I got my other
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: leg over the horse while it was in full gallop.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine either, how I did not lose hold
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: of the reins Tancred bore me beyond the trellis gate,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: turned sharply to the right, and flew along beside the fence,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: regardless of the road. Only at that moment I heard
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: behind me a shout from fifty voices, and that shout
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: was echoed in my swooning heart with such a feeling
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: of pride and pleasure that I shall never forget that
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: mad moment of my boyhood. All the blood rushed to
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: my head, bewildering me in overpowering my fears. I was
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: beside myself. There certainly was, as I remember it now,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: something of the knight errant about the exploit. My nightly exploits, however,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: were all over in an instant, or it would have
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: gone badly with the night. And indeed I do not
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: know how I escaped. As it was. I did know
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: how to ride, I had been taught, but my pony
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: was more like a sheep than a riding horse. No
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: doubt I should have been thrown off Tankred if he
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: had had time to throw me. But after galloping fifty paces,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: he suddenly took fright at a huge stone which lay
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: across the road, and bolted back. He turned sharply, galloping
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: at full speed. So that it is a puzzle to
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: me even now that I was not sent spinning out
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: of the saddle and flying like a ball for twenty feet,
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: that I was not dashed to pieces, and that Tankred
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: did not dislocate his leg by such a sudden turn.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: He rushed back to the gate, tossing his head furiously,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: bounding from side to side as though drunk with rage,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: flinging his legs at random in the air, and at
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: every leap, trying to shake me off his back, as
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: though a tiger had leaped on him and were thrusting
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: its teeth and claws into his back. In another instant,
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: I should have flown off. I was falling, but several
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: gentlemen flew to my rescue. Two of them intercepted the
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: way into the open country. Two others galloped up, closing
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: in upon Tancred so that their horses sides almost crushed
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: my legs, and both of them caught him by the bridle.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: A few seconds later we were back at the steps.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: They lifted me down from the horse. Pale and scarcely breathing,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: I was shaking like a blade of grass in the wind.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: It was the same with Tancred, who was standing his
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: hoofs as it were thrust into the earth, and his
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: whole body thrown back, puffing his fiery breath from red
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: and streaming nostrils, twitching and quivering all over, seeming overwhelmed
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: with wounded pride and anger at a child's being so
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: bold with impunity. All around me, I heard cries of bewilderment, surprise,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: and alarm. At that moment, my straying eyes caught those
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: of Madame m who looked pale and agitated, And I
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: can never forget that moment. In one instant, my face
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: was flooded with color, glowed and burned like fire. I
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: don't know what happened to me. But confused and frightened
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: by my own feelings, I timidly dropped my eyes to
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: the ground, But my glance was noticed, It was caught,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: it was stolen from me. All eyes turned on Madame M, and,
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: finding herself, unawares, the center of attention, she too flushed
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: like a child from some naive and involuntary feeling, and
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: made an unsuccessful effort to cover her confusion by laughing.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: All this, of course, was very absurd looking from outside,
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: but at that moment an extremely naive and unexpected circumstance
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: saved me from being laughed at by every one, and
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: gave a special color to the whole adventure. The lovely persecutor,
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: who was the instigator of the whole escapade, and who
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: till then had been my irreconcilable foe, suddenly rushed up
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: to embrace and kiss me. She had hardly been able
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: to believe her eyes when she saw me dare to
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: accept her challenge and pick up the gauntlet she had
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: flung at me By glancing at Madame M. She had
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: almost died of terror and self approach when I had
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: flown off on tancred. Now, when it was all over,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: and particularly when she caught the glance at Madame m
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: my confusion and my sudden flush of color, when the
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: romantic strain in her frivolous little head had given a
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: new secret, unspoken significance to the moment she was moved
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: to such enthusiasm over my knightliness that touched joyful and
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: proud of me. She rushed up and pressed me to
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: her bosom. She lifted the most naive, stern looking little face,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: on which there quivered and gleamed two little crystal tears,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: and gazing at the crowd that thronged about her, said
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: in a grave, earnest voice such as they had never
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: heard her use before, pointing to me, may say, trace
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: seru messr's ennyree's paw. She did not notice that all
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: were standing as though fascinated admiring her bright enthusiasm, her swift,
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: unexpected action, her earnest little face, the simple hearted naivete,
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: the unexpected feeling betrayed by the tears that welled in
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: her invariably laughter loving eyes were such a surprise that
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: everyone stood before her as though electrified by her expression,
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: her rapid, fiery words and gestures. It seemed as though
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: no one could take his eyes off her for fear
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: of missing that rare moment in her enthusiastic face. Even
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: our host flushed Crimson as a tulip, and people declared
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: that they heard him confess afterwards that, to his shame,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: he had been in love for a whole minute with
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: his charming guest. Well, of course, after this, I was
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: a knight, a hero de Lorge Toggenberg, was heard in
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: the crowd. There was a sound of applause, Hurrah for
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: the rising generation, added the host. But he is coming
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: with us. He certainly must come with us, said the beauty.
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: We will find him a place. We must find him
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: a place. He shall sit beside me on my knee.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: But no, no, that's a mistake, she corrected herself, laughing,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: unable to restrain her mirth at our first encounter. But
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: as she laughed, she stroked my hand tenderly, doing all
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: she could to soften me that I might not be offended.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course, several voices chimed in, he must go,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: he has won his place. The matter was settled in
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: a trice. The same old maid who had brought about
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: my acquaintance with the blonde beauty was at once besieged
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: with entreaties from all the younger people to remain at
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: home and let me have her seat. She was forced
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: to consent to her intense vexation with a smile and
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: a stealthy hiss of anger. Her protectress, who was her
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: usual refuge, my former foe and new friend, called to
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: her as she galloped off on her spirited horse, laughing
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: like a child, that she envied her and would have
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: been glad to stay at home herself, for it was
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: just going to reign and we should all get soaked.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: And she was right in predicting rain. A regular downpour
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: came on within an hour, and the expedition was done,
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: for we had to take shelter for some hours in
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: the huts of the village, and had to return home
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: between nine and ten in the evening. In the damp
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: mist that followed the rain, I began to be a
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: little feverish at the minute when I was starting. Madame
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: m came up to me and expressed surprise that my
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: neck was uncovered and that I had nothing on over
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: my jacket. I answered that I had not had time
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: to get my coat. She took out a pin and
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: pinned up the turned down collar of my shirt, took
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: off her own neck a crimson gauze kerchief and put
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: it round my neck that I might not get a
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: sore throat. She did this so hurriedly that I had
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: not time even to thank her. But when we got home,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: I found her in the little drawing room with the
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: blond beauty and the pale faced young man who had
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: gained glory for horsemanship that day by refusing to ride Tancred.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: I went up to thank her and give back the scarf.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: But now, after all my adventures, I felt somehow ashamed.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: I wanted to make haste and get upstairs. They're at
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: my leisure to reflect and consider. I was brimming over
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: with impressions. As I gave back the kerchief. I blushed
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: up to my ears as usual. I bet he would
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: like to keep the kerchief, said the young man, laughing.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: One can see that he is sorry to part with
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: your scarf. That's it, that's it. The fair lady put in,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: what a boy, oh, she said, shaking her head with
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: obvious vexation. But she stopped in time at a grave
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: glance from Madame m who did not want to carry
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: the jest too far, I made haste to get away. Well,
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: you are a boy, said the mad cap, overtaking me
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: in the next room and affectionately taking me by both hands.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: Why you should have simply not returned the kerchief? If
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: you wanted so much to have it, you should have
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: said you put it down somewhere, and that would have
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: been the end of it. What a simpleton couldn't even
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: do that? What a funny boy? And she tapped me
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: on the chin with her finger, laughing at my having
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: flushed as red as a poppy. I am your friend,
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: now you know? Am I not? Our enmity is over,
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: isn't it? Yes? Or no? I laughed and pressed her
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: fingers without a word. Oh why are you so? Why
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: are you so pale and shivering? Have you caught a chill? Yes?
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: I don't feel well. Ah, poor fellow, that's the result
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: of over excitement. Do you know what? You had better
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: go to bed without sitting up for supper, and you
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: will be all right in the morning. Come along. She
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: took me upstairs, and there was no end to the
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: care she lavished on me. Leaving me to undress, she
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: ran downstairs, got me some tea and brought it up herself.
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: When I was in bed, she brought me up a
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: warm quilt as well. I was much impressed and touched
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: by all the care and attention lavished on me, or
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: perhaps I was affected by the whole day, the expedition,
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: and feverishness. As I said good night to her, I
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: hugged her warmly, as though she were my dearest and
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: nearest friend. And in my exhausted state, all the emotions
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: of the day came back to me in a rush.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: I almost shed tears as I nestled to her bosom.
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: She noticed my overwrought condition, and I believe my madcap
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: herself was a little touched. You are a very good boy,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: she said, looking at me with gentle eyes. Please don't
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: be angry with me. You won't, will you. In fact,
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: we became the warmest and truest of friends. It was
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: rather early when I woke up, but the sun was
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: already flooding the whole room with brilliant light. I jumped
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: out of bed, feeling perfectly well and strong, as though
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: I had had no fever the day before. Indeed, I
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: felt now unutterably joyful. I recalled the previous day and
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: felt that I would have given any happiness if I could,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: at that minute have embraced my new friend, the fair
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: haired beauty, again, as I had the night before. But
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: it was very early and everyone was still asleep. Hurriedly dressing,
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: I went out into the garden, and from there into
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: the copse. I made my way where the leaves were thickest,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: where the fragrance of the trees was more resinous, and
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: where the sun peeped in most gaily, rejoicing that it
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: could penetrate the dense darkness of the foliage. It was
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: a lovely morning, going on further and further. Before I
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: was aware of it, I had reached the further end
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: of the copse and came out on the river mosk Vaw.
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: It flowed at the bottom of the hill two hundred
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: paces below. On the opposite bank of the river, they
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: were mowing. I watched whole rows of sharp sides gleam
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: altogether in the sunlight at every swing of the mower,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: and then vanish again, like little fiery snakes going into hiding.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: I watched the cut grass flying on one side in dense,
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: rich swathes, and being laid in long straight lines. I
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: don't know how long I spent in contemplation. At last
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: I was roused from my reverie by hearing a horse
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: snorting and impatiently pawing the ground twenty paces from me,
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: in the track which ran from the high road to
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: the manor house. I don't know whether I heard this
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: horse as soon as the rider rode up and stopped there,
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: or whether the sound had long been in my ears
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: without rousing me from my dreaming. Moved by curiosity, I
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: went into the copse, and before I had gone many steps,
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: I caught the sound of voices speaking rapidly, though in
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: subdued tones. I went up closer, carefully parting the branches
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: of the bushes that edged the path, and at once
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: sprang back in amazement. I caught a glimpse of a
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: familiar white dress, and a soft feminine voice resounded like
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: music in my heart. It was Madame m She was
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: standing beside a man on horseback, who, stooping down from
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: the saddle, was hurriedly talking to her, and to my amazement,
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: I recognized him as Anne, the young man who had
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: gone away the morning before, and over whose departure m
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: M had been so busy. But people had said at
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: the time that he was going far away, to somewhere
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: in the south of Russia, and so I was very
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: much surprised at seeing him with us again so early,
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: and alone with Madame M. She was moved and agitated
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: as I had never seen her before, and tears were
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: glistening on her cheeks. The young man was holding her
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: hand and stooping down to kiss it. I had come
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: upon them at the moment of parting, they seemed to
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: be in haste. At last, he took out of his
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: pocket a sealed envelope, gave it to Madame M, put
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: one arm round her, still not dismounting, and gave her
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: a long, fervent kiss. A minute later, he lashed his
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: horse and flew past me like an arrow. Madame M
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: looked after him for some moments, then pensively and disconsolately
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: turned homewards, But after going a few steps along the track,
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: she seemed suddenly to recollect herself, hurriedly parted the bushes
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: and walked on through the copse. I followed her, surprised
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: and perplexed by all that I had seen. My heart
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: was beating violently, as though from terror. I was, as
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: it were, benumbed and befogged. My ideas were shattered and
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: turned upside down. But I remember I was, for some
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: reason very sad. I got glimpses from time to time
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: through the green foliage of her white dress before me.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: I followed her mechanically, never losing sight of her, though
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: I trembled at the thought that she might notice me.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: At last, she came out on the little path that
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: led to the house. After waiting half a minute, eye
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: too emerged from the bushes. But what was my amazement
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: when I saw lying on the red sand of the
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: path a sealed packet, which I recognized from the first
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: glance as the one that had been given to Madame
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: m ten minutes before. I picked it up. On both
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: sides the paper was blank. There was no address on it.
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: The envelope was not large, but it was fat and heavy,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: as though there were three or more sheets of notepaper
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: in it. What was the meaning of this envelope? No
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: doubt it would explain the whole misas perhaps in it
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: there was said all that End had scarcely hoped to
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: express in their brief, hurried interview. He had not even
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: dismounted whether he had been in haste, or whether he
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: had been afraid of being false to himself at the
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: hour of parting, God only knows. I stopped, without coming
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: out on the path, through the envelope in the most
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: conspicuous place on it, and kept my eyes upon it,
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: supposing that Madame m would notice the loss and come
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: back and look for it. But after waiting four minutes,
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: I could stand it no longer. I picked up my
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: find again, put it in my pocket, and set off
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: to overtake Madame M. I came upon her in the
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: big avenue in the garden. She was walking straight towards
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: the house with a swift and hurried step, though she
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: was lost in thought and her eyes were on the ground.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: I did not know what to do. Go up to
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: her give it her. That would be as good as
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: saying that I knew everything, that I had seen it all,
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: I should betray myself. But the first word, and how
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: should I look at her? How would she look at me?
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: I kept expecting that she would discover her loss and
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: return on her tracks. Then I could, unnoticed have flung
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: the envelope on the path and she would have found it.
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: But no, we were approaching the house. She had already
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: been noticed. As ill luck would have it, every one
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: had got up very early that day, because after the
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: unsuccessful expedition of the evening before, they had arranged something
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: new of which I had heard nothing. All were preparing
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: to set off and were having breakfast in the verandah.
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: I waited for ten minutes that I might not be
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: seen with Madame m and, making a circuit of the garden,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: approached the house from the other side. A long time
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: after her. She was walking up and down the verandah
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: with her arms folded, looking pale and agitated, and was
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: obviously trying her utmost to suppress the agonizing, despairing misery
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: which could be plainly discerned in her eyes her walk,
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: her every movement. Sometimes she went down the veranda steps
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: and walked a few paces among the flower beds in
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: the direction of the garden. Her eyes were impatiently, greedily,
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: even incautiously, seeking something on the sand of the path
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: and on the floor of the verandah. There could be
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: no doubt she had discovered her loss, and imagined she
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: had dropped the letter somewhere here near the house. Yes,
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: that must be so, she was convinced of it. Some
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: one noticed that she was pale and agitated, and others
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: made the same remark. She was besieged with questions about
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: her health and condolences. She had to laugh to jest
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: to appear lively. From time to time she looked at
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: her husband, who was standing at the end of the
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: terrace talking to two ladies, and the poor woman was
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: overcome by the same shudder, the same embarrassment as on
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: the day of his first arrival. Thrusting my hand into
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: my pocket and holding the letter tight in it, I
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: stood at a little distance from them, all praying to
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: fate that Madame m should notice me. I longed to
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: cheer her up, to relieve her anxiety, if only by
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: a glance, to say a word to her on the sly.
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: But when she did chance to look at me, I
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: dropped my eyes. I saw her distress, and I was
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: not mistaken. To this day, I don't know her secret.
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: I know nothing but what I saw, and what I
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: have just described. The intrigue was not such, perhaps as
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: one might suppose at the first glance. Perhaps that kiss
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: was the kiss of farewell. Perhaps it was the last
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: slight reward for the sacrifice made to her peace and honor,
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: and was going away. He was leaving her, perhaps forever.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: Even that letter I was holding in my hand. Who
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: can tell what it contained? How can one judge? And
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: who can condemn? And yet there is no doubt that
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: the sudden discovery of her secret would have been terrible,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: would have been a fatal blow for her. I still
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: remember her face at that minute. It could not have
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: shown more suffering, to feel, to know, to be convinced,
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: to expect, as though it were one's execution, that in
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: a quarter of an hour, in a minute, perhaps all
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: might be discovered. The letter might be found by some
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: one picked up there was no address on it, It
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: might be opened. And then what then, what torture could
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: be worse than what was awaiting her. She moved about
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: among those who would be her judges. In another minute,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: their smiling, flattering faces would be menacing and merciless. She
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: would read mockery, malice, and icy contempt on those faces,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: and then her life would be plunged in everlasting darkness,
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: with no dawn to follow. Yes, I did not understand
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: it then as I understand it now. I could only
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: have vague suspicions and misgivings, and a heart ache at
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: the thought of her danger, which I could not fully understand.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: But whatever lay hidden in her secret, much was expiated,
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: if expiation were needed, by those moments of anguish of
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: which I was witness and which I shall never forget.
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: But then came a cheerful summons to set off. Immediately
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: every one was bustling about gaily, laughter and lively chatter
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: were heard on all sides. Within two minutes, the veranda
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: was deserted. Madame m declined to join the party, acknowledging
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: at last that she was not well, But thank god,
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: all the others set off. Every One was in haste,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: and there was no time to worry her with commiseration,
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: inquiries and advice. A few remained at home. Her husband
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: said a few words to her. She answered that she
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: would be all right, directly, that he need not be uneasy,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: that there was no occasion for her to lie down,
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: that she would go into the garden alone with me.
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: Here she glanced at me. Nothing could be more fortunate.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: I flushed with pleasure, with delight. A minute later we
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: were on the way. She walked along the same avenues
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: and paths by which she had returned from the copse,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: instinctively remembering the way she had come, gazing before her,
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: with her eyes fixed on the ground, looking about intently,
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: without answering me, possibly forgetting that I was walking beside her.
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: But when we had already reached the place where I
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: had picked up the letter and the path ended, Madame
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: m suddenly stopped and, in a voice faint and weak
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: with misery, said that she felt worse and that she
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: would go home. But when she reached the garden fence,
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: she stopped again and thought a minute, a smile of
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: despair came on her lips, and utterly worn out and exhausted,
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: resigned and making up her mind to the worst, she
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: turned without a word and retraced her steps, even forgetting
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: to tell me of her intention. My heart was torn
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: with sympathy, and I did not know what to do.
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: We went, or rather I led her, to the place
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: from which an hour before I had heard the tramp
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: of a horse and their conversation. Here, close to a
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: shady elm tree, was a seat hewn out of one
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: huge stone, about which grew ivy, wild jasmine and dog rows.
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: The whole wood was dotted with little bridges, arbors, grottoes,
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: and similar surprises. Madame m sat down on the bench
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: and glanced unconsciously at the marvelous view that lay open
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: before us. A minute later, she opened her book and
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: fixed her eyes upon it, without reading, without turning the pages,
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: almost unconscious of what she was doing. It was about
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: half past nine. The sun was already high and was
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: floating gloriously in the deep, dark blue sky, as though
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: melting away in its own light. The moors were by
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: now far away. They were scarcely visible from our side
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: of the river. Endless ridges of mowan grass crept after
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: them in unbroken succession, and from time to time the
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: faintly stirring breeze wafted their fragrance to us. The never
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: ceasing concert of those who so not neither do they reap,
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: and are free as the air they cleave with their
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: sportive wings, was all about us. It seemed as though
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: at that moment, every flower, every blade of grass, was
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: exhaling the aroma of sacrifice, was saying to its creator, Father,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: I am blessed and happy. I glanced at the poor woman,
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: who alone was like one dead. Amidst all this joyous life,
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: two big tears hung motionless on her lashes wrung from
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: her heart by bitter grief. It was in my power
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: to relieve and console this poor fainting heart. Only I
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: did not know how to approach the subject, how to
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: take the first step. I was in agonies a hundred times.
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: I was on the point of going up to her,
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: but every time my face glowed like fire. Suddenly a
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: bright idea dawned upon me. I had found a way
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: of doing it. I revived. Would you like me to
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: pick you a nosegay, I said, in such a joyful
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: voice that Madame m immediately raised her head and looked
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: at me intently. Yes do, she said at last, in
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: a weak voice, with a faint smile, at once dropping
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: her eyes on the book again. Or soon they will
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: be mowing the grass here and there will be no flowers,
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: I cried, eagerly, setting to work. I had soon picked
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: my nosegay, a poor, simple one. I should have been
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: ashamed to take it indoors, But how light my heart was.
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: As I picked the flowers and tied them up, the
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: dog rose and the wild jasmine I picked closer to
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: the seat, I knew that not far off there was
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: a field of rye. Not yet ripe. I ran there
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: for corn flowers. I mixed them with tall ears of rye,
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: picking out the finest and most golden. Close by, I
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: came upon a perfect nest of forget me nots, and
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: my nosegay was almost complete. Farther away in the meadow
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: there were dark blue campanulas and wild pinks, and I
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: ran down to the very edge of the river to
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: get yellow water lilies. At last making my way back,
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: and going for an instant into the wood to get
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: some bright green, fan shaped leaves of the maple to
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: put round the nosegay. I happened to come across a
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: whole family of pansies, close to which, luckily for me,
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: the fragrant scent of violets betrayed the little flower. Hiding
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: in a thick, lush grass and still glistening with drops
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: of dew. The nosegay was complete. I bounded round with
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: fine long grass, which twisted into a rope, and I
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: carefully lay the letter in the center, hiding it with
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: the flowers, but in such a way that it could
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: be very easily noticed if the slightest attention were bestowed
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: upon my nosegay. I carried it to Madame m on
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: the way. It seemed to me that the letter was
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: lying too much in view. I hid it a little more.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: As I got nearer, I thrust it still further in
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: the flowers, and finally, when I was on the spot,
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: I suddenly poked it so deeply into the center of
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: the nosegay that it could not be noticed at all
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: from outside. My cheeks were positively flaming. I wanted to
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: hide my face in my hands and run away at once,
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: but she glanced at my flowers as though she had
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: completely forgotten that I had gathered them mechanically. Almost without looking.
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: She held out her hand and took my present, but
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: at once laid it on the seat, as though I
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: had handed it to her for that purpose, and dropped
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: her eyes to her book, again, seeming lost in thought.
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: I was ready to cry at this mischance. If only
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: my nosegay were close to her, I thought, if only
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: she had not forgotten it. I laid down on the
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: grass not far off, put my right arm under my head,
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: and closed my eyes as though I were overcome by drowsiness.
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: But I waited, keeping my eyes fixed on her. Ten
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: minutes passed. It seemed to me that she was getting
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: paler and paler. Fortunately, a blessed chance came to my aid.
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: This was a big golden bee brought by a kindly breeze.
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: Luckily for me, it first buzzed over my head and
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: then flew up to Madame m. She waved it off
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: once or twice, but the bee grew more and more persistent.
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: At last, Madame m snatched up my nosegay and waved
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: it before my face. At that instant, the letter dropped
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: out from among the flowers and fell straight upon the
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: open book. I started for some time. Madame m mute
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: with amazement, stared first at the letter and then at
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: the flowers, which she was holding in her hands, and
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: she seemed unable to believe her eyes. All at once.
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: She flushed, started and glanced at me. But I caught
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: her movement, and I shut my eyes tight, pretending to
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: be asleep. Nothing would have induced me to look her
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: straight in the face. At that moment my heart was
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: throbbing and leaping like a bird in the grasp of
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: some village boy. I don't remember how long I lay
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: with my eyes shut, two or three minutes. At last
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: I ventured to open them. Madame em was greedily reading
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: the letter, and from her glowing cheeks, her sparkling, tearful eyes,
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: her bright face, every feature of which was quivering with
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: joyful emotion. I guessed that there was happiness in the letter,
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: and all her misery was dispersed like smoke. An agonizing
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: eat feeling gnawed at my heart. It was hard for
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: me to go on pretending I shall never forget that minute. Suddenly,
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: a long way off, we heard voices, Madame M, Natalie Natalie.
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: Madame M did not answer, but she got up quickly
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: from the seat, came up to me, and bent over me.
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: I felt that she was looking straight into my face.
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: My eyelashes quivered, but I controlled myself and did not
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: open my eyes. I tried to breathe more evenly and quietly,
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: but my heart smothered me with its violent throbbing. Her
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: burning breath scorched my cheeks. She bent close down to
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: my face, as though trying to make sure at last
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: a kiss, and tears fell on my hand, the one
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: which was lying on my breast. Natalie, Natalie, where are you?
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: We heard again, this time quite close coming, said Madame
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: M in her mellow, silvery voice, which was so choked
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: and quivering with tears, and so subdued that no one
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: but I could hear that coming. But at that instant
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: my heart at last betrayed me and seemed to send
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: all my blood rushing to my face. At that instant,
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: a swift, burning, kissed, scalded my lips. I uttered a
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: faint cry. I opened my eyes, but at once the
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: same gauze kerchief fell upon them, as though she meant
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: to screen me from the sun. An instant later she
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: was gone. I heard nothing but the sound of rapidly
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: retreating steps. I was alone. I pulled off her kerchief
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: and kissed it beside myself with rapture. For some moments,
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: I was almost frantic, hardly able to breathe. Leaning on
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: my elbow on the grass, I stared unconsciously before me
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: at the surrounding slopes streaked with cornfields, at the river
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: that flowed, twisting and winding far away as far as
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: the eye could see, between fresh hills and villages that
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: gleamed like dots all over the sunlit distance. At the
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: dark blue, hardly visible forests which seemed as though smoking
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: at the edge of the burning sky, And the sweet
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: stillness inspired by the triumphant peacefulness of the picture gradually
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: brought calm to my troubled heart. I felt more at ease,
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: and breathed more freely. But my whole soul was full
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: of a dumb, sweet yearning, as though a veil had
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: been drawn from my eyes, as though at a foretaste
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: of something. My frightened heart, faintly, quivering with expectation, was
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: groping timidly and joyfully towards some conjecture, and all at
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: once my bosom heaved, began aching, as though something had
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: pierced it, and tears, sweet tears, gushed from my eyes.
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: I hid my face in my hands, and, quivering like
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: a blade of grass, gave myself up to the first
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: consciousness and revelation of my heart, the first vague glimpse
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: of my nature. My childhood was over from that moment,
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: astrous gastrous, gastrous, gastrous, gastrisk. When two hours later I
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: returned home, I did not find Madame m Through some
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: sudden chance, she had gone back to Moscow with her husband.
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: I never saw her again. A marked proharchin a story
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: in the darkest and humblest corner of Astinya Fyodorovna's flat
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: lived Semyon Ivanovitch Proharchin, a well meaning elderly man who
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: did not drink. Since mister Proharchin was of a very
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: humble grade in the service and received a salary strictly
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: proportionate to his official capacity, Ostinya Fyodorovna could not get
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: more than five roubles a month from him for his lodging.
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: Some people said that she had her own reasons for
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: accepting him as a lodger. But be that as it may,
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: as though in despite of all his detractors, mister Proharchin
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: actually became her favorite in an honorable and virtuous sense.
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: Of course, it must be observed that Astinya Fyodorovna, a
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: very respectable woman who had a special partiality for meat
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: and coffee, and found it difficult to keep the fasts
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: let rooms to several other boarders who paid twice as
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: much as Semyon Ivanovitch, yet not being quiet lodgers. But
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: on the contrary, all of them spiteful scoffers at her
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: feminine ways and her forlorn helplessness, stood very low in
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: her good opinion, so that if it had not been
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: for the rent they paid, she would not have cared
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: to let them stay, nor indeed to see them in
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: her flat at all. Semyon Ivanovitch had become her favorite
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: from the day when a retired or perhaps more correctly speaking,
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: discharged clerk with a weakness for strong drink was carried
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: to his last resting place in Volkovo. Though this gentleman
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: had only one eye, having had the other knocked out,
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: owing in his own words to his valiant behavior, and
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: only one leg, the other having been broken in the
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: same way owing to his valor, yet he had succeeded
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: in winning all the kindly feeling of which Astinya Fyodorovna
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: was capable, and took the fullest advantage of it, and
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: would probably have gone on for years living as her
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: devoted satellite and tody if he had not finally drunk
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: himself to death in the most pitiable way. All this
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: had happened at Pesky, where Astinya Fyodorovna only had three lodgers,
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: of whom when she moved into a new flat and
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: set up on a larger scale, lting to about a
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: dozen new boorders, mister Proharchin was the only one who remained.
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: Whether mister Proharchin had certain incorrigible defects, or whether his
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: companions were every one of them to blame. There seemed
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: to be misunderstandings on both sides. From the first. We
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: must observe here that all Astinya Fyodorovna's new lodgers, without exception,
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: got on together like brothers. Some of them were in
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: the same office. Each one of them, by turns lost
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: all his money to the others at pharaoh preference and bicks.
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: They all liked in a merry hour to enjoy what
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: they called the fizzing moments of life in a crowd.
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: Together they were fond two at times of discussing lofty subjects,
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: and though in the end things rarely passed off without
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: a dispute, yet as all prejudices were banished from the
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: whole party, the general harmony was not in the least disturbed. Thereby,
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: the most remarkable among the lodgers were Mark Ivanovitch, an
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: intelligent and well read man, then a Plevinev, then pri Polawenko,
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: also a nice and modest person. Then there was a
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: certain Zeneviy Prokofayevitch, whose object in life was to get
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: into aristocratic society. Then there was Okyanov, the copying clerk,
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: who had in his time almost rested the distinction of
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 1: prime favorite from Semyon Ivanovitch. Then another copying clerk called Sebben,
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: the Plebeian cantarif there were others too. But to all
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: these people, Semyon Ivanovitch was, as it were, not one
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: of themselves. No one wished him harm, of course, for
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: all had from the very first done Proharchin justice, and
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: had decided, in mark Ivanovitch's words, that he Prohartchen was
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: a good and harmless fellow, though by no means a
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: man of the world, trustworthy and not a flatterer, who had,
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: of course his failings, but that if he were sometimes unhappy,
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: it was due to nothing else but lack of imagination.
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: What is more, mister Proharchin, though deprived in this way
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: of imagination, could never have made a particularly favorable impression
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: from his figure or manners upon which scoffers are fond
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: of fastening. Yet his figure did not put people against him.
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: Mark Ivanovich, who was an intelligent person, formerly undertook semyon
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch's defense and declared, in rather happy in flowery language
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: that Proharchin was an elderly and respectable man who had
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: long long ago passed the age of romance, and so
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: if Semyon Ivanovitch did not know how to get on
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: with people, it must have been entirely his own fault.
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: The first thing they noticed was the unmistakable parsimony and
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: niggardliness of Semyon Ivanovitch. That was at once observed and noted.
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: For Semyon Ivanovitch would never lend anyone his teapot, even
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: for a moment, and that was the more unjust as
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: he himself hardly ever drank tea, but when he wanted anything, drank,
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: as a rule, rather a pleasant decoction of wild flowers
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: in das certain medicinal herbs, of which he always had
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: a considerable store. His meals, too, were quite different from
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: the other lodgers. He never, for instance, permitted himself to
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: partake of the whole dinner provided daily by Astinya Fyodorovna.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: For the other borders, the dinner cost half a rouble.
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch paid only twenty five copecks in copper, and
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: never exceeded it, and so took either a plate of
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: soup with pie or a plate of beef. Most frequently
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: he ate neither soup nor beef, but he partook in
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: moderation of white bread with onion curd, salted cucumber, or
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: something similar, which was a great deal cheaper, and he
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: would only go back to his half rouble dinner when
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: he could stand it no longer. Here the biographer confesses
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: that nothing would have induced him to allude to such
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: realistic and low details, positively shocking and offensive to some
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: lovers of the heroic style, if it were not that
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: these details exhibit one peculiarity, one characteristic in the hero
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: of this story. For mister Prohartchen was by no means
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: so poor as to be unable to have regular and
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: sufficient meals, though he sometimes made out that he was.
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: But he acted as he did, regardless of obloquy in
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: people's prejudices, simply to satisfy his strange whims, and from
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: frugality in excessive carefulness. All this, however, will be much
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: clearer later on, but we will beware of boring the
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: reader with the description of all semyon Ivanovitch's whims and
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: will omit. For instance, the curious and very amusing description
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: of his attire, and in fact, if it were not
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: for Astinya Fyodorovna's own reference to it, we should hardly
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: have alluded even to the fact that Semyon Ivanovitch never
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: could make up his mind to send his linen to
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: the wash, or if he ever did so, it was
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: so rarely that in the intervals one might have completely
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: forgotten the existence of linen on Semyon Ivanovitch. From the
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: landlady's evidence, it appeared that Semyon Ivanovitch, bless his soul,
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: poor lamb for tree twenty years, had been tucked away
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: in his corner without caring what folks thought. For all
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: the days of his life on earth. He was a
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: stranger to socks, handkerchiefs and all such things. And what
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: is more, Ostinya Fyodorovna had seen with her own eyes,
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: thanks to the decrepitude of the screen, that the poor
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: dear man sometimes had had nothing to cover his bare skin.
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: Such were the rumors in circulation after Semyon Ivanovitch's death.
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: But in his lifetime, and this was one of the
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: most frequent occasions of dissension, he could not endure it.
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: If any one, even somebody on friendly terms with him
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: poked his inquisitive nose uninvited into his corner, even through
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: an aperture in the decrepit screen. He was a taciturn man,
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: difficult to deal with, and prone to ill health. He
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: did not like people to give him advice. He did
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: not care for people who put themselves forward either, and
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: if any one jeered at him or gave him advice unasked,
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: he would fall foul of him at once, put him
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: to shame and settle his business. Are a puppy, you
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: are a featherhead. You are not one to give advice.
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: So there, you mind your own business, sir. You'd better
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: count the stitches in your own socks, sir, So there.
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch was a plain man and never used the
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: formal mode of address to any one. He could not
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: bear it either when some one who knew his little
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: ways would begin from pure sport pestering him with questions
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: such as what he had in his little trunk? Semyon
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch had one little trunk. It stood under his bed
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: and was guarded like the apple of his eye. And
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: though every one knew that there was nothing in it
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: except old rags, two or three pairs of damaged boots
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: and all sorts of rubbish. Yet mister Perhartchin prized his
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: property very highly, and they used even to hear him
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: at one time expressed dissatisfaction with his old but still
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: sound lock and talk of getting a new one of
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: a special German pattern with a secret spring in various complications.
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: When on one occasion Zenevy Prokofieva, carried away by the
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: thoughtlessness of youth, gave expression to the very coarse and
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: unseemly idea that Semyon Ivanovitch was probably hiding and treasuring
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: something in his box to leave to his descendants. Everyone
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: who happened to be by was stupefied at the extraordinary
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: effects of Zenevi Prokofayevitch as sally. At first, mister Prohartchin
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: could not find suitable terms for such a crude and
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: coarse idea. For a long time, words dropped from his
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: lips quite incoherently, and it was only after a while
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: they made out that Semyon Ivanovitch was reproaching Zeneviy Prokofayevitch
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: for some shabby action in the remote past. Then they
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: realized that Semyon Ivanovitch was predicting that Zenevi Prokofyevitch would
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: never get into aristocratic society, and that the tailor to
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: whom he owed a bill for his suits would beat him,
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: would certainly beat him because the puppy had not paid
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: him for so long. And finally, you, puppy, you, Semyon
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch added, here, you want to get into the Hussars,
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: but you won't. I tell you, you'll make a fool
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: of yourself. And I tell you what, you, puppy, when
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: your superiors know all about it, they will take and
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: make you a copying clerk. So that will be the
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: end of it, do you hear, puppy? Then Semyon Ivanovitch subsided,
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: but after lying down for five hours, to the intense
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: astonishment of everyone, he seemed to have reached a decision
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: and began suddenly reproaching and abusing the young man again,
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: at first to himself and afterwards addressing Zeneviy Prokofayevitch. But
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: the matter did not end there, and in the evening,
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: when Mark Ivanovich and pri Pawlawnko made tea and asked
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: Okianov to drink it with them, Semyon Ivanovitch got up
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: from his bed purposely joined them, subscribing his fifteen or
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: twenty kopecks, and on the pretext of a sudden desire
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: for a cup of tea, began at great length going
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: into the subject and explaining that he was a poor man,
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: nothing but a poor man, and that a poor man
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: like him had nothing to save. Mister Prohartchin confessed that
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: he was a poor man on this occasion, he said,
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: simply because the subject had come up. That the day
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: before yesterday he had meant to borrow a rouble from
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: that impudent fellow, but now he should not borrow it
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: for fear the puppy should brag. That that was the
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: fact of the matter, and that his salary was such
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: that one could not buy enough to eat, and that finally,
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: a poor man, as you see, he sent his sister
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: in law in for five roubles every month. That if
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: he did not send his sister in law in for
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: five roubles every month, his sister in law would die.
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: And if his sister in law, who was dependent on him,
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: were dead, he, Semyon Ivanovitch, would long ago have bought
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: himself a new suit, And Semyon Ivanovitch went on talking
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: in this way at great length, about being a poor man,
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: about his sister in law, and about roubles, and kept
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: repeating the same thing over and over again to impress
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: it on his audience, till he got into a regular
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: muddle and relapsed into silence. Only three days later, when
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: they had all forgotten about him and no one was
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: thinking of it attacking him, he added something in conclusion
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: to the effect that when Zenevi Prokofayevitch went into the Hussars,
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: the impudent fellow would have his leg cut off in
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: the war, and then he would come with a wooden
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: leg and say, Semyon Ivanovitch, kind friend, give me something
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: to eat. And then Semyon Ivanovitch would not give him
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: something to eat and would not look at the insolent fellow,
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: And that's how it would be, and he could just
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: make the best of it. All. This naturally seemed very
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: curious and at the same time fearfully amusing. Without much reflection,
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: all the lodgers joined together for further investigation, and simply
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: from curiosity, determined to make a final onslaught on Semyon
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch and mass And as mister Prohartchin too had of late,
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: that is, ever since he had begun living in the
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: same flat with them, been very fond of finding out
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: everything about them and asking inquisitive questions, probably for private
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: reasons of his own. Relations sprang up between the opposed
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: parties without any preparation or effort on either side, as
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: it were by chance and of itself. To get into relations,
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch always had in reserve his peculiar, rather sly
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: and very ingenuous maneuver, of which the reader has learned
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: something already. He would get off his bed about tea time,
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: and if he saw the others gathered together in a
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: group to make tea, he would go up to them
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: like a quiet, sensible and friendly person, hand over his
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: twenty kopeks, as he was entitled to do, and announced
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: that he wished to join them. Then the young men
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: would wink at one another, and so indicating that they
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: were in league together against Semyon Ivanovitch would begin a conversation,
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: at first strictly proper and decorous. Then one of the
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: wittier of the party would propos of nothing fall to
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: telling them news consisting most usually of entirely false and
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: quite incredible details. He would say, for instance, that some
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: one had heard his excellency that day telling DamID Vassilyevitch
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: that in his opinion, married clerks were more trustworth than
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: unmarried and more suitable for promotion, for they were steady,
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: and that their capacities were considerably improved by marriage, and
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: that therefore he that is the speaker, in order to
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: improve and be better fitted for promotion, was doing his
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: utmost to enter the bonds of matrimony as soon as
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: possible with a certain Favronia Prokofayevna. Or he would say
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: that it had more than once been remarked about certain
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: of his colleagues, that they were entirely devoid of social
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: graces and of well bred, agreeable manners, and consequently unable
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: to please ladies in good society, and that therefore, to
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: eradicate this defect, it would be suitable to deduct something
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: from their salary, and with the sum so obtained, to
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: hire a hall where they could learn to dance, acquire
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: the outward signs of gentlemanliness and good breeding, courtesy, respect
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: for their seniors, strength of will, a good and grateful heart,
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: and various agreeable qualities, or he would say that it
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: was being arranged that some of the clerks, beginning, but
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: the most elderly, were to be put through an examination
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: in all sorts of subjects to raise their standard of culture.
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: And in that way, the speaker would add, all sorts
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: of things would come to light, and certain gentlemen would
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: have to lay their cards on the table. In short,
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: thousands of similar, very absurd rumors were discussed. To keep
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: it up. Everyone believed the story at once, showed interest
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: in it, asked questions, applied it to themselves, and some
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: of them, assuming a despondent air, began shaking their heads
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: and asking everyone's advice, saying what were they to do
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: if they were to come under it? It need hardly
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: be said that a man far less credulous and simple
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: hearted than mister Prohartchen would have been puzzled and carried
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: away by a rumor so unanimously believed. Moreover, from all appearances,
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: it might be safely concluded that Semyon Ivanovitch was exceedingly
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: stupid and slow to grasp any new unusual idea, and
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: that when he heard anything new, he had always first,
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: as it were, to chew it over and digest it,
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: to find out the meaning, and struggling with it in bewilderment,
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: at last perhaps to overcome it, though even then in
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: a quite special manner, peculiar to himself alone in this way,
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: curious and hitherto unexpected qualities began to show themselves in
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch, talk and tittle tattle followed, and by devious
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: ways it all reached the office at last. With additions.
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: What increased the sensation was the fact that mister Prohartchin,
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 1: who had looked almost exactly the same from time immemorial,
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: suddenly a propos of nothing or quite a different countenance.
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: His face was uneasy, his eyes were timid and had
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: a scared and rather suspicious expression. He took to walking softly,
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: starting and listening, and to put the finishing touch to
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: his new characteristics, developed a passion for investigating the truth.
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: He carried his love of truth at last to such
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: a pitch as to venture, on two occasions to inquire
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: of DamID Vassilyevitch himself concerning the credibility of the strange
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: rumors that reached him daily by dozens. And if we
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: say nothing here of the consequence of the action of
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch, it is for no other reason but a
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: sensitive regard for his reputation. It was in this way
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: people came to consider him as misanthropic, and regardless of
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: the proprieties. Then they began to discover that there was
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: a great deal that was fantastical about him. And in
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: this they were not altogether mistaken. For it was observed
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: on more than one occasion that Semyon Ivanovitch completely forgot himself, and,
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: sitting in his seat with his mouth open, in his
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: pen in the air, as though frozen or petrified, looked
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: more like the shadow of a rational being than that
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: rational being itself. It sometimes happened that some innocently gaping gentleman,
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: on suddenly catching his straying, lustreless questioning eyes, was scared
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: and all of a tremor, and at once inserted into
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: some important document, either a smudge or some quite inappropriate word.
• 1:48:57
  Speaker 1: The impropriety of Semyon Ivanovitch's behavior embarrassed and annoyed all
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: really well bred people. At last, no one could feel
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: any doubt of the eccentricity of Semyon Ivanovitch's mind. When
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: one fine morning, the rumor was all over the office
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: that mister Prohartchin had actually frightened Demid Vasilyevitch himself for
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: meeting him in the corridor. Semyon Ivanovitch had been so
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: strange and peculiar that he had forced his superior to
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: beat a retreat. The news of Semyon Ivanovitch's behavior reached
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: him himself at last. Hearing of it, he got up
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: at once, made his way carefully between the chairs and tables,
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: reached the entry, took down his overcoat with his own hand,
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: put it on, went out, and disappeared for an indefinite period.
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: Whether he was led into this by alarm or some
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: other impulse, we cannot say, but no trace was seen
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: of him for a time, either at home or at
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: the office. We will not attribute Semyon Ivanovitch's fate simply
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: to his eccentricity. Yet we must observe to the reader
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: that our hero was a very retiring man, unaccustomed to society,
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: and had, until he made the acquaintance of the new Lodgers,
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: lived in complete unbroken solitude, and had been marked by
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: his quietness and even a certain mysteriousness. For he had
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: spent all the time that he lodged at Pesky, lying
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: on his bed behind the screen, without talking or having
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: any sort of relations with any one. Both his old
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: fellow lodgers lived exactly as he did. They too, were
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: somehow mysterious people, and spent fifteen years lying behind their screens,
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: the happy, drowsy hours and days trailed by one after
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: the other in patriarchal stagnation, and as everything around them
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: went its way in the same happy fashion, Neither Semyon
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch nor Ostinya Fyodorovna could remember exactly when fate had
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: brought them together. It may be ten years, it may
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: be twenty, it may be even twenty five altogether, she
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: would say at times to her new lodgers, since he
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: settled with me, poor dear man, bless his heart. And
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: so it was very natural that the hero of our story,
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: being so unaccustomed to society, was disagreeably surprised when a
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: year before he, a respectable and modest man, had found
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: himself suddenly in the midst of a noisy and boisterous
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: crew consisting of a dozen young fellows, his colleagues at
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: the office, and his new housemates. The disappearance of Semyon
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch made no little stir in the lodgings. One thing
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: was that he was the favorite. Another that his passport,
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: which had been in the landlady's keeping, appeared to have
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: been accidentally mislaid. Ostinya Fyodorovna raised a howl, as was
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: her invariable habit on all critical occasions. She spent two
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: days in abusing and upbraiding the lodgers. She wailed that
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: they had chased away her lodger like a chicken, and
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: all those spiteful scoffers had been the ruin of him.
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: And on the third day she sent them all out
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: to hunt for the fugitive and at all costs to
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: bring him back dead or alive. Towards evening, Sudben first
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: came back with the news that traces had been discovered,
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: that he had himself seen the runaway in Tolkachie Market
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: and other places, had followed and stood close to him,
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: but had not dared to speak to him. He had
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: been near him in a crowd watching a house on
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: fire in Crooked Lane. Half an hour later, Okanov and
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: Cantaref came in and confirmed Sudbin's story word for word.
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: They too had stood near, had followed him quite close,
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: had stood not more than ten paces from him, But
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: they also had not ventured to speak to him. But
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: both observed that Semyon Ivanovitch was walking with a drunken kajer.
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: The other lodgers were all back and together at last,
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: and after listening attentively, they made up their minds that
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: Prohartchin could not be far off and would not be
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: long in returning. But they said that they had all
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: known beforehand that he was about with a drunken kadjer.
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: This drunken kadjir was a thoroughly bad lot, insolent and cringing,
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: and it seemed evident that he had got round Semyon
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch in some way. He had turned up just a
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 1: week before Semyon Ivanovitch's disappearance, in company with Remnev, had
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: spent a little time in the flat, telling them that
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 1: he had suffered in the cause of justice, that he
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: had formerly been in the service in the provinces, that
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: an inspector had come down on them, that he and
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 1: his associates had somehow suffered in a good cause, that
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: he had come to Petersburg and fallen at the feet
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: of porfry Grigorovitch, that he had been got by interest
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: into a department, but through the cruel persecution of fate,
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: he had been discharged from there too, and that afterwards,
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: through reorganization, the office itself had ceased to exist, and
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: that he had not been included in the new revised
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: staff of clerks, owing as much to direct incapacity for
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: official work as to capacity for something else quite irrelevant.
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: All this mixed up with his passion for justice, and
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: of course the trickery of his enemies. After finishing his story,
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: in the course of which mister Zimoviikin more than once
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: kissed his sullen and unshaven friend Remnev, he bowed down
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: to all in the room. In turn, not for getting
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: off Doosha. The servant called them all his benefactors and
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: explained that he was an undeserving, troublesome, mean, insolent and
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: stupid man, and that good people must not be hard
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: on his pitiful plight and simplicity. After begging for their
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: kind protection, mister Zimovikin showed his livelier side, grew very cheerful,
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 1: kissed Austinya Fyodorovna's hands in spite of her modest protests
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 1: that her hand was coarse and not like a lady's,
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: and towards evening promised to show the company his talent
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: in a remarkable character dance. But next day his visit
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: ended in a lamentable dnuma, either because there had been
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: too much character in the character dance or because he had,
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 1: in Astinya Fyodorovna's own words, somehow insulted her and treated
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: her as no lady, though she was on friendly terms
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: with yuoslav Ilyitch himself and if she liked might long
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: ago have been an officer's wife. Zimoviken had to steer
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: for home. Next day, he went away, came back again,
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: was again turned out with ignominy, then wormed his way
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: into Semyon Ivanovitch's good graces, robbed him incidentally of his
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: new breeches, and now it appeared he had led Semyon
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch astray. As soon as the landlady knew that Semyon
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch was alive and well, and that there was no
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: need to hunt for his passport, she promptly left off
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: grieving and was pacified. Meanwhile, some of the lodgers determined
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: to give the runaway a triumphal reception. They broke the
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: bolt and moved away the screen from mister Proharchin's bed,
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 1: rumpled up the bed a little, took the famous box,
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 1: put it at the foot of the bed, and on
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: the bed laid the sister in law. That is a
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: dummy made up of an old kerchief, a cap and
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: a mantle of the landladies, such an exact counterfeit of
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: a sister in law that it might have been mistaken
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: for one. Having finished their work, they waited for Semyon
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch to return, meaning to tell him that his sister
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: in law had arrived from the country and was there
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: behind his screen. Poor thing. But they waited and waited.
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: Already while they waited, mark Ivanovitch had staked and lost
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: half a month's salary to pre Polawenko and cantaref Already,
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: Okianov's nose had grown red and swollen, playing flips on
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: the nose, and three cards already off. Doosha of the
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: servant had almost had her sleep out and had twice
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: been on the point of getting up to fetch the
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: wood and light the stove, and Zeneviy Prokofayevitch who kept
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 1: running out every minute to see whether Semyon Ivanovitch were coming,
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 1: was wet to the skin, but there was no sign
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: of any one yet, neither Semyon Ivanovitch nor the drunken cadger.
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: At last every one went to bed, leaving the sister
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: in law behind the screen in readiness for any emergency.
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: And it was not till four o'clock that a knock
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: was heard at the gate. But when it did come,
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 1: it was so loud that it quite made up to
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: the expectant lodgers for all the wearisome trouble they had
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: been through. It was he he himself, Semyon Ivanovitch, mister Prohartchin,
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: but in such a condition that they all cried out
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: in dismay, and no one thought about the sister in law.
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: The lost man was unconscious. He was brought in, or
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: more correctly carried in by a sopping and tattered night cabman.
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: To the landlady's question where the poor dear man had
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: got so groggy. The cabman answered, why he is not
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: drunk and has not had a drop, that I can
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 1: tell you for sure, But seemingly a faintness has come
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: over him, or some sort of a fit, or maybe
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: he's been knocked down by a blow. They began examining him,
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: propping the culprit against the stove to do so more conveniently,
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: and saw that it really was not a case of drunkenness,
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: nor had he had a blow, but that something else
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 1: was wrong. For Semyon Ivanovitch could not utter a word,
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: but seemed twitching in a sort of convulsion, and only blinked,
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: fixing his eyes in bewilderment, first on one and then
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: on another of the spectators, who were all attired in
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 1: night array. Then they began questioning the cabman, asking where
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: he had got him from. Why, from folks out kolonn away?
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: He answered, deuce knows what. They are, not exactly gentry,
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: but merry, rollicking gentlemen. So he was like this when
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: they gave him to me. Whether they had been fighting
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: or whether he was in some sort of a fit,
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: goodness knows what it was, but they were nice, jolly gentlemen.
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch was taken lifted high on the shoulders of
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: two or three sturdy fellows, and carried to his bed.
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 1: When Semyon Ivanovitch, on being put in bed, felt the
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: sister in law, and put his feet on his sacred box.
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: He cried out at the top of his voice, squatted
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: up almost on his heels, and trembling and shaking all
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: over with his hands and his body. He cleared a
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: space as far as he could in his bed, while
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: gazing with a tremulous but strangely resolute look at those present.
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: He seemed, as it were, to protest that he would
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: sooner die than give up the hundredth part of his
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 1: poor belongings to any one. Semyon Ivanovitch lay for two
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: or three days, closely barricaded by the screen, and so
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: cut off from all the world and all its vain anxieties.
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 1: Next morning, of course, every one had forgotten about him.
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: Time meanwhile flew by as usual, hour followed hour, and
• 1:59:12
  Speaker 1: day followed day. The sick man's heavy, feverish brain was
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: plunged in something between sleep and delirium. But he lay
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: quietly and did not moan nor complain. On the contrary,
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: he kept still and silent and controlled himself, lying low
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: in his bed, just as the hare lies close to
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: the earth when it hears the hunter. At times, a
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 1: long depressing stillness prevailed in the flat, a sign that
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: the lodgers had all gone to the office, and Semyon Ivanovitch,
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 1: waking up, could relieve his depression by listening to the
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: bustle in the kitchen, where the landlady was busy close by,
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: or to the regular flop of Avdosha's downtrodden slippers, as
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: sighing and moaning, she cleared away, rubbed and polished, tidying
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: all the rooms in the flat. Whole hours passed by
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: in that way, drowsy, languid, sleepy, wearisome, like the water
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: that dripped with a regular sound from the locker into
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 1: the basin in the kitchen. At last, the lodgers would arrive,
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: one by one or in groups, and Semyon Ivanovitch could
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 1: very conveniently hear them abusing the weather, saying they were hungry,
• 2:00:16
  Speaker 1: making a noise, smoking, quarreling and making friends, playing cards
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 1: and clattering the cups as they got ready for tea.
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch mechanically made an effort to get up and
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: join them, as he had a right to do at tea,
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 1: but he at once sank back into drowsiness and dreamed
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: that he had been sitting a long time at the
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: tea table, having tea with them and talking, and that
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: Zeneviy Prokofayevitch had already seized the opportunity to introduce into
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: the conversation some scheme concerning sisters in law and the
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: moral relation of various worthy people to them. At this
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: point Semyon Ivanovitch was in haste to defend himself and reply.
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: But the mighty formula that flew from every tongue it
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: has more than once been observed, cut short all his objections,
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: and Semyon Ivanovitch could do nothing better than begin dreaming
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: again that today was the first of the month, and
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 1: that he was receiving money in his office. Undoing the
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 1: paper round it on the stairs, he looked about him
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: quickly and made haste as fast as he could to
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: subtract half of the lawful wages he had received and
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: conceal it in his boot, then on the spot on
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: the stairs, Quite regardless of the fact that he was
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 1: in bed and asleep, he made up his mind when
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: he reached home to give his landlady what was due
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: for board and lodging, then to buy certain necessities, and
• 2:01:33
  Speaker 1: to show anyone it might concern, as it were, casually
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 1: and unintentionally, that some of his salary had been deducted,
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 1: that now he had nothing left to send his sister
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: in law. Then to speak with commiseration of his sister
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 1: in law, to say a great deal about her the
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: next day, and the day after, and ten days later,
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: to say something casually again about her poverty. That his
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: companions might not forget making this determination. He observed that
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: Andrey Efimovitch, that everlastingly silent, bald little man, who sat
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 1: in the office three rooms from where Semyon Ivanovitch sat
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: and hadn't said a word to him for twenty years,
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: was standing on the stairs that he too, was counting
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 1: his silver roubles and shaking his head. He said to
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: him money. If there's no money, there will be no porridge,
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 1: he added grimly, as he went down the stairs, and
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: just at the door he ended, and I have seven children, sir.
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 1: Then the little bald man, probably equally unconscious that he
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: was acting as a phantom and not as a substantial reality,
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: held up his hand about thirty inches from the floor,
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: and waving it vertically, muttered that the eldest was going
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 1: to school. Then, glancing with indignation at Semyon Ivanovitch, as
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 1: though it were mister Prohartchin's fault that he was the
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: father of seven, pulled his old hat down over his eyes,
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 1: and with a whisk of his overcoat, he turned to
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: the left and disappeared. Semyon Ivanovitch was quite frightened, and
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 1: though he was fully convinced of his own innocence in
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: regard to the unpleasant accumulation of seven under one roof,
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 1: yet it seemed to appear that, in fact, no one
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: else was to blame. But Semyon Ivanovitch. Panic stricken, he
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: set off running, for it seemed to him that the
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 1: bald gentleman had turned back, was running after him, and
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: meant to search him and take away all his salary.
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: Insisting upon the indisputable number seven, and resolutely denying any
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: possible claim of any sort of sisters in law. Upon
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch, Prohartchen ran and ran, gasping for breath. Beside
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 1: him was running two an immense number of people, and
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: all of them were jingling their money in the tail
• 2:03:36
  Speaker 1: pockets of their skimpy little dress coats. At last every
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: one ran up. There was the noise of fire engines,
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: and whole masses of people carried him, almost on their shoulders,
• 2:03:46
  Speaker 1: up to that same house on fire which he had
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 1: watched last time in company with the drunken Kajir. The
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: drunken Cajir alias mister Zimovaikin was there now too. He
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: met Semyon Ivanovitch, made a fearful fuss, took him by
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: the arm, and led him into the thickest part of
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 1: the crowd, just as then, In reality, all about them
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 1: was the noise and uproar of an immense crowd of
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: people flooding the whole of Fontenka embankment between the two bridges,
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: as well as all the surrounding streets and alleys. Just
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 1: as then, Semyon Ivanovitch, in company with the drunken Cadger,
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: was carried along behind a fence, where they were squeezed
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 1: as though in pincers in a huge timber yard full
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: of spectators who had gathered from the street, from Tokuchi
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: Market and from all the surrounding houses, taverns and restaurants.
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch saw all this and felt, as he had
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 1: done at the time, in the whirl of fever and delirium,
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: all sorts of strange figures began flitting before him. He
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 1: remembered some of them. One of them was a gentleman
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: who had impressed every one extremely, a man seven feet
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: high with whiskers half a yard long, who had been
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: standing behind semyon Ivanovitch's back during the fire, and had
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: given him encouragement from behind when our hero had felt
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: something like ecstasy and had stamped, as though intending thereby
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: to applaud the gallant work of the fireman, from which
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: he had an excellent view from his elevated position. Another
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: was the sturdy lad from whom our hero had received
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: a shove by way of a lift on to another
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: fence when he had been disposed to climb over it,
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: possibly to save some one. He had a glimpse two
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: of the figure of the old man with a sickly
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: face in an old wadded dressing gown tied round the waist,
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: who had made his appearance before the fire in a
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: little shop buying sugar and tobacco for his lodger, and
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: who now with a milk can and a quart pot
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: in his hands, made his way through the crowd to
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: the house in which his wife and daughter were burning
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: together with thirteen and a half roubles in the corner
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: under the bed. But most distinct of all was the poor,
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: sinful woman of whom he had dreamed more than once
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 1: during his illness. She stood before him now as she
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: had done then, in wretched bark shoes and rags, with
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 1: a crutch and a wicker basket on her back. She
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: was shouting more loudly than the fireman or the crowd,
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: waving her crutch and her arms, saying that her own
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: children had turned her out, and that she had lost
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: two coppers in consequence. The children and the coppers. The
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: coppers and the children were mingled together in an utterly
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: incomprehensible muddle from which every one withdrew baffled after vain
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: efforts to understand. But the woman would not desist. She
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: kept wailing, shouting, and waving her arms, seeming to pay
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: no attention either to the fire up to which she
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: had been carried by the crowd from the street, or
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 1: to the people about her, or to the misfortune of strangers,
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 1: or even to the sparks and red hot embers which
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: were beginning to fall in showers on the crowd standing near.
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: At last, mister Perhartchin felt that a feeling of terror
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 1: was coming upon him, for he saw clearly that all
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 1: this was not, so to say, an accident, and that
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 1: he would not get off scot free. And indeed, upon
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: the wood stack close to him was a peasant in
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: a torn smock that hung loose about him with his
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: hair and beard singed, and he began stirring up all
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: the people against Semyon Ivanovitch. The crowd pressed closer and closer.
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: The peasant shouted and foaming at the mouth with horror.
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: Mister Proharchin suddenly realized that this peasant was a cabman
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: whom he had cheated five years before in the most
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: inhuman way, slipping away from him without paying through a
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: side gate and jerking up his heels as he ran
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: as though he were barefoot on hot bricks. In despair,
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 1: mister Proharchin tried to speak to scream, but his voice
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: failed him. He felt that the infuriated crowd was twining
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: round him like a many colored snake, strangling him, crushing him.
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 1: He made an incredible effort and awoke. Then he saw
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 1: that he was on fire, that all his corner was
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: on fire, that his screen was on fire, that the
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: whole flat was on fire, together with Astinya Fyodorovna and
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: all her lodgers. That his bed was burning, his pillow,
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: his quilt, his box, and last of all, his precious mattress.
• 2:08:05
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch jumped up, clutched at the mattress and ran,
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: dragging it after him. But in the landlady's room, into
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 1: which regardless of decorum, our hero ran, just as he
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: was barefoot and in his shirt, he was seized, held tight,
• 2:08:19
  Speaker 1: and triumphantly carried back behind the screen, which meanwhile was
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: not on fire. It seemed that it was rather Semyon
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch's head that was on fire, and was put back
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: to bed. It was just as some tattered, unshaven, ill
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 1: humored organ grinder puts away in his traveling box the punch,
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: who has been making an upset, drubbing all the other puppets,
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: selling his soul to the devil, and who at last
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: ends his existence till the next performance in the same
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 1: box with the devil, the negroes, the Piero, and Mademoiselle
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: Katerina with her fortunate lover the Captain. Immediately, every one,
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: old and young, surrounded Semyon Ivanovitch, standing in a row
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: round his bed and fastening eyes full of expectation on
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: the invalid meantime, he had come to himself, but from
• 2:09:07
  Speaker 1: shame or some other feeling, began pulling up the quilt
• 2:09:10
  Speaker 1: over him, apparently wishing to hide himself under it from
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: the attention of his sympathetic friends. At last, Mark Ivanovitch
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: was the first to break silence, and as a sensible man,
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 1: he began saying in a very friendly way that Semyon
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch must keep calm, that it was too bad and
• 2:09:26
  Speaker 1: ashamed to be ill, that only little children behaved like that,
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: that he must get well and go to the office.
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 1: Mark Ivanovitch ended by a little joke, saying that no
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: regular salary had yet been fixed for invalids, and as
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 1: he knew for a fact that their grade would be
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 1: very low in the service to his thinking. Anyway, their
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 1: calling or condition did not promise great and substantial advantages.
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: In fact, it was evident that they were all taking
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: genuine interest in Semyon Ivanovitch's fate and were very sympathetic,
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 1: but with incomprehensible rudeness, Semyon Ivanovitch persisted in lying in
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 1: bed in silence and obstinately pulling the quilt higher and
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 1: higher over his head. Mark Ivanovitch, however, would not be gainsaid, and,
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 1: restraining his feelings, said something very honey to Semyon Ivanovitch, again,
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: knowing that that was how he ought to treat a
• 2:10:17
  Speaker 1: sick man. But Semyon Ivanovitch would not feel this. On
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: the contrary, he muttered something between his teeth with the
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 1: most distrustful air, and suddenly began glancing askance from right
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: to left in a hostile way, as though he would
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 1: have reduced his sympathetic friends to ashes with his eyes.
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: It was no use letting it stop there. Mark Ivanovitch
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: lost patience, and, seeing that the man was offended and
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 1: completely exasperated and had simply made up his mind to
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 1: be obstinate, told him straight out, without any softening suavity,
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 1: that it was time to get up, That it was
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: no use lying there that shouting day and night about
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 1: houses on fire, sisters in law, drunken cadgers, locks, boxes,
• 2:10:59
  Speaker 1: and goodness knows what was all stupid, improper and degrading.
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 1: For if Semyon Ivanovitch did not want to sleep, himself,
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: he should not hinder other people, and please would he
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 1: bear it in mind. This speech produced its effects for
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch, turning promptly to the orator, articulated firmly, though
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: in a hoarse voice, you hold your tongue, puppy, you
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: idle speaker, you foul mouthed man. Do you hear? Young dandy?
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 1: Are you a prince? Ed? Do you understand what I say?
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 1: Hearing such insults, mark Ivanovitch fired up, but, realizing that
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 1: he had to deal with a sick man, magnanimously overcame
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: his resentment and tried to shame him out of his humor,
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 1: but was cut short in that too, For Semyon Ivanovitch
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 1: observed at once that he would not allow people to
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 1: play with him. For all that, Mark Ivanovitch wrote poetry,
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 1: then followed a silence of two minutes. At last, recovering
• 2:11:55
  Speaker 1: from his amazement, Mark Ivanovich plainly, clearly, in well chosen language,
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 1: but with firmness, declared that Semyon Ivanovitch ought to understand
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 1: that he was among gentlemen, and you ought to understand, sir,
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: how to behave with gentlemen. Mark Ivanovitch could on occasion
• 2:12:13
  Speaker 1: speak effectively and liked to impress his hearers, But probably
• 2:12:16
  Speaker 1: from the habit of years of silence, Semyon Ivanovitch talked
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 1: and acted somewhat abruptly, and moreover. When he did, on
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 1: occasion begin a long sentence, as he got further into it,
• 2:12:27
  Speaker 1: every word seemed to lead to another word, that other
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: word to a third word, that third to a fourth,
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: and so on, so that his mouth seemed brimming over.
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 1: He began stuttering, and the crowding words took to flying
• 2:12:40
  Speaker 1: out in picturesque disorder. That was why Semyon Ivanovitch, who
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 1: was a sensible man, sometimes talked terrible nonsense. You are lying,
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 1: he said, now, you booby, you lose fellow. You'll come
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 1: to want, You'll go begging, you seditious fellow. You you loafer,
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 1: Take that, you poet. Why you are still raving, aren't you,
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch. I tell you what, answered Semyon Ivanovitch. Fool's rave,
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 1: drunkard's rave, dog's rave. But a wise man acts sensibly.
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 1: I tell you you don't know your own business, you loafer.
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 1: You educated gentlemen, you learned book here. You'll get on
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: fire and not notice your head's burning off. What do
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 1: you think of that? Why you mean, how do you
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: mean burn my head off? Semyon Ivanovitch. Mark Ivanovitch said
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: no more, for every one saw clearly that Semyon Ivanovitch
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 1: was not yet in his sober senses, but delirious. But
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: the landlady could not resist remarking at this point that
• 2:13:48
  Speaker 1: the house in Crooked Lane had been burnt owing to
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 1: a bald wench, that there was a bald headed wench
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 1: living there, that she had lighted a candle and set
• 2:13:55
  Speaker 1: fire to the lumber room, but nothing would happen in
• 2:13:58
  Speaker 1: her place, and everything would be all right in the flats.
• 2:14:02
  Speaker 1: But look here, Semyon Ivanovitch, cried zeneby Prokofyevitch, losing patience
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 1: and interrupting the landlady. You old fogey, you old krok,
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 1: you silly fellow. Are they making jokes with you now
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 1: about your sister in law or examinations in dancing? Is that?
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: It is that? What you think? Now? I tell you what?
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: Answered our hero, sitting up in bed and making a
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 1: last effort in a paroxysm of fury with his sympathetic friends.
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 1: Who's the fool? You? Are the fool. A dog is
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: a fool? You joking, gentleman, But I am not going
• 2:14:37
  Speaker 1: to make jokes to please you, sir. Do you hear, puppy,
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 1: I am not your servant, sir. Semyon Ivanovitch would have
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 1: said something more, but he fell back in bed helpless.
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 1: His sympathetic friends were left gaping in perplexity, for they
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: understood now what was wrong with Semyon Ivanovitch, and did
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 1: not know how to begin. Suddenly, the kitchen door or
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 1: creaked and opened, and the drunken cadger alias mister Zimovkin
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 1: timidly thrust in his head, cautiously sniffing round the place.
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 1: As his habit was. It seemed as though he had
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 1: been expected. Every One waved to him at once to
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: come quickly, and Zimovikeen, highly delighted with the utmost readiness
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: and haste, jostled his way to Semyon Ivanovitch's bedside. It
• 2:15:23
  Speaker 1: was evident that zim of Ikeen had spent the whole
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 1: night in vigil and in great exertions of some sort.
• 2:15:29
  Speaker 1: The right side of his face was plastered up, his
• 2:15:32
  Speaker 1: swollen eyelids were wet from his running eyes. His coat
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 1: and all his clothes were torn, while the whole left
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: side of his attire was bespattered with something extremely nasty,
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: possibly mud from a puddle. Under his arm was somebody's violin,
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 1: which he had been taking somewhere to sell. Apparently they
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 1: had not made a mistake in summoning him to their assistance.
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: For seeing the position of affairs, he addressed the delinquent
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: at once, and with the air of a man who
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: knows what he is about and feels that he has
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: the upper hand, said, what are you thinking about? Get up, senka,
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: what are you doing a clever chap like you be sensible,
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 1: or I shall pull you out of bed if you
• 2:16:12
  Speaker 1: are obstreperous. Don't be obstreperous. This brief but forcible speech
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 1: surprised them all. Still more were they surprised when they
• 2:16:21
  Speaker 1: noticed that Semyon Ivanovitch, hearing all this and seeing this
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 1: person before him, was so flustered and reduced to such
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: confusion and dismay that he could scarcely mutter through his
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: teeth in a whisper, the inevitable protest. Go away, you wretch,
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: he said, you are a wretched creature. You are a thief.
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 1: Do you hear. Do you understand you are a great swell,
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: my fine gentleman, you regular swell. No, my boy, Zimovkeen
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: answered emphatically, retaining all his presence of mind. You're wrong there,
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 1: you wise fellow, you regular proheartchan Zimoken went on Semyon Ivanovitch,
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: and looking round gleefully. Don't be obstreperous, behave yourself, Senka,
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 1: behave yourself, or I'll give you away. I'll tell them
• 2:17:10
  Speaker 1: all about it, my lad. Do you understand? Apparently Semyon
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch did understand, for he started when he heard the
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 1: conclusion of the speech, and began looking rapidly about him
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 1: with an utterly desperate air. Satisfied with the effect, mister
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 1: Zimoviichen would have continued, but Mark Ivanovitch checked his zeal and,
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: waiting till Semyon Ivanovitch was still and almost calm again,
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 1: began judiciously impressing on the uneasy invalid at great length
• 2:17:37
  Speaker 1: that to harbor ideas such as he now had in
• 2:17:40
  Speaker 1: his head was first useless, and secondly not only useless,
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 1: but harmful, and in fact not so much harmful as
• 2:17:49
  Speaker 1: positively immoral. And the cause of it all was that
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch was not only a bad example, but led
• 2:17:55
  Speaker 1: them all into temptation. Everyone expected satisfactory was results from
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 1: this speech. Moreover, by now, Semyon Ivanovitch was quite quiet
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: and replied in measured terms. A quiet discussion followed. They
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 1: appealed to him in a friendly way, inquiring what he
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 1: was so frightened of. Semyon Ivanovitch answered, but his answers
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 1: were irrelevant, They answered him. He answered them there were
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 1: one or two more observations on both sides, and then
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 1: everyone rushed into discussion, for suddenly such a strange and
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 1: amazing subject cropped up that they did not know how
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 1: to express themselves. The argument at last led to impatience.
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 1: Impatience led to shouting and shouting even to tears, and
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: Mark Ivanovitch went away at last, foaming at the mouth
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 1: and declaring that he had never known such a blockhead.
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 1: A Plevinyev spat in disgust. Okanov was frightened, Zeneviy Prokofyevitch
• 2:18:52
  Speaker 1: became tearful, while Astinya Fyodorovna positively howled, wailing that her
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: lodger was leaving them and had gone off his head.
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 1: That he would die, poor dear man, without a passport
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: and without telling any one while she was alone, lorn woman,
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: and that she would be dragged from pillar to post.
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 1: In fact, they all saw clearly at last that the
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 1: seed they had sown had yielded a hundredfold, that the
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: soil had been too productive, and that in their company
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch had succeeded in overstraining his wits completely, and
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 1: in the most irrevocable manner. Everyone subsided into silence. For
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 1: though they saw that Semyon Ivanovitch was frightened, the sympathetic
• 2:19:32
  Speaker 1: friends were frightened too, What cried Mark Ivanovitch? But what
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 1: are you afraid of? What have you gone off your
• 2:19:40
  Speaker 1: head about? Who's thinking about you? My good sir? Have
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 1: you the right to be afraid? Who are you? What
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 1: are you? Nothing? Sir? Around not sir, that is what
• 2:19:54
  Speaker 1: you are. What are you making a fuss about? A
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 1: woman has been run over in the street, So ye
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 1: going to be run over? Some drunkard did not take
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: care of his pocket. But is that any reason why
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 1: your coat tails should be cut off? A house is
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 1: burnt down, so your head is to be burnt off?
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 1: Is it is that it, sir? Is that it? You? You?
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 1: You stupid, muttered Semyon Ivanovitch. If your nose were cut off,
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 1: you would eat it up with a bit of bread
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 1: and not notice it. I may be a dandy, shouted
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: Mark Ivanovich, not listening. I may be a regular dandy,
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: but I have not to pass an examination to get married,
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 1: to learn dancing. The ground is firm under me, sir, Why,
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 1: my good man, haven't you room enough? Is the floor
• 2:20:41
  Speaker 1: giving way under your feet? Or what? Well? They won't
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 1: ask you, will they They'll shut one up and that
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: will be the end of it, the end of it.
• 2:20:52
  Speaker 1: That's what's up. What's your idea now? Eh? Why they
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: kicked out the drunken cadger? Yes, but you see that
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: was a drunkard. And you are a man, and so
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 1: am I? Yes, I am a man. It's there all
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 1: right one day and then it's gone gone. But what
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 1: do you mean by it? Why the office, the off
• 2:21:17
  Speaker 1: off ice, Yes, you blessed man, But of course the
• 2:21:21
  Speaker 1: office is wanted and necessary. It is wanted. I tell you,
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 1: it's wanted to day, and it's wanted to morrow. But
• 2:21:28
  Speaker 1: the day after tomorrow it will not be wanted. You
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 1: have heard what happened. Why but they'll pay you your
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: salary for the year, you doubting Thomas, you man of
• 2:21:38
  Speaker 1: little faith. They'll put you into another job on account
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 1: of your age salary. But what if I have spent
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 1: my salary? If thieves come and take my money? And
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: I have a sister in law? Do you hear a
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 1: sister in law? You battering ram? A sister in law?
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: You are a man, Yes I am, I am a man.
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: But you are a well read gentleman and a fool.
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 1: Do you hear you? Battering Ram? You regular battering ram,
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 1: that's what you are. I am not talking about your jokes.
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: But there are jobs such that all of a sudden
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 1: they are done away with. And dmit, do you hear damit?
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 1: Vassilyevitch says that the post will be done away with? Ah,
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: bless you with your demit, you sinner. Why you know
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 1: in a twinkling of an eye you'll be left without
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 1: a post. Then you'll just have to make the best
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 1: of it. Why you are simply raving or clean off
• 2:22:39
  Speaker 1: your head? Tell us plainly, what have you done? Own up?
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 1: If you have done something wrong, it's no use being ashamed.
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 1: Are you off your head, my good man. Eh, he's
• 2:22:52
  Speaker 1: off his head. He's gone off his head. They all
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 1: cried and wrung their hands in despair, while the landlady
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 1: threw both her arms round Mark Ivanovitch for fear he
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 1: should tear Semyon Ivanovitch to pieces. You heathen, you heathenish soul,
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 1: you wise man, Zimoviken besought him, Senka, you are not
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 1: a man to take offense. You are a polite, prepossessing man.
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 1: You are simple, you are good. Do you hear? It
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 1: all comes from your goodness. Here. I am a ruffian
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 1: and a fool. I am a beggar. But good people
• 2:23:27
  Speaker 1: haven't abandoned me, no fear. You see they treat me
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 1: with respect. I thank them and the landlady here you see,
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 1: I bow down to the ground to them. Here, see see,
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 1: I am paying what is due to you, landlady. At
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 1: this point, Szimovkin swung off, with pedantic dignity, a low bow,
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 1: right down to the ground. After that, Semyon Ivanovitch would
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 1: have gone on talking, but this time they would not
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 1: let him. They all intervened, began in treating him, assuring him,
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 1: comforting him, and succeeded in making Semyon Ivanofitch, thoroughly ashamed
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 1: of himself, and at last, in a faint voice, he
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: asked leave to explain himself very well. Then he said,
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 1: I am prepossessing, I am quiet, I am good, faithful
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: and devoted to the last drop of my blood. You know,
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 1: do you hear? You? Puppy? You swell? Granted the job
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 1: is going on, but you see I am poor? And
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: what if they take it? Do you hear? You? Swell?
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: Hold your tongue and try to understand. They'll take it.
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: And that's all about it. It's going on, brother, and
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 1: then not going on? Do you understand? And I shall
• 2:24:38
  Speaker 1: go begging my bread? Do you hear? Senka Zimovikein bawled frantically,
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 1: drowning the general hubbub with his voice. You are seditious.
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: I'll inform against you. What are you saying? Who are you?
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 1: Are you a rebel? Ye sheep's head, a rowdy stupid man?
• 2:24:59
  Speaker 1: They would turn off without a character. But what are you? Well?
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 1: That's just it? What? Well? There it is? How do
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: you mean? Why I am free? He's free? And here
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 1: one lies and thinks, what what if they say I'm seditious?
• 2:25:20
  Speaker 1: Say d tius. Senka you seditious, stay, cried mister Perhartchin,
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 1: waving his hand and interrupting the rising uproar. That's not
• 2:25:31
  Speaker 1: what I mean. Try to understand, only try to understand, you, sheep.
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 1: I am law abiding. I am law abiding to day,
• 2:25:40
  Speaker 1: I am law abiding tomorrow, and then all of a
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 1: sudden they kick me out and call me seditious? What
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 1: are you saying? Mark Ivanovitch thundered at last, jumping up
• 2:25:51
  Speaker 1: from the chair on which he had sat down to rest,
• 2:25:53
  Speaker 1: running up to the bed and in a frenzy, shaking
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 1: with vexation and fury. What do you mean, you sheep?
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 1: You've nothing to call your own? Why are you the
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 1: only person in the world? Was the world made for you?
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: Do you suppose are you a napoleon? What are you?
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 1: Who are you? Are you a napoleon? Ed? Tell me
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: are you a napoleon? But mister Prohartchin did not answer
• 2:26:22
  Speaker 1: this question, not because he was overcome with shame at
• 2:26:25
  Speaker 1: being a napoleon and was afraid of taking upon himself
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 1: such a responsibility. No, he was incapable of disputing further
• 2:26:33
  Speaker 1: or saying anything. His illness had reached a crisis. Tiny
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 1: teardrops gushed suddenly from his glittering, feverish gray eyes. He
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: hid his burning head in his bony hands that were
• 2:26:46
  Speaker 1: wasted by illness, sat up in bed and sobbing, began
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 1: to say that he was quite poor, that he was
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 1: a simple, unlucky man, that he was foolish and unlearned.
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 1: He begged kind folks to forgive him, to take care
• 2:26:59
  Speaker 1: of him, to protect him, to give him food and drink,
• 2:27:03
  Speaker 1: not to leave him in want, and goodness knows what
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 1: Elseemyon Ivanovitch said. As he uttered this appeal, he looked
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: about him in wild terror, as though he were expecting
• 2:27:12
  Speaker 1: the ceiling to fall or the floor to give way.
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 1: Every One felt his heart soften and moved to pity
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 1: as he looked at the poor fellow. The landlady, sobbing
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: and wailing like a peasant woman at her forlorn condition,
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: laid the invalid back in bed with her own hands.
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 1: Mark Ivanovitch, seeing the uselessness of touching upon the memory
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: of Napoleon, instantly relapsed into kindliness and came to her assistance.
• 2:27:38
  Speaker 1: The others in order to do something, suggested Raspberry Tea,
• 2:27:42
  Speaker 1: saying that it always did good at once, and that
• 2:27:44
  Speaker 1: the invalid would like it very much. But Zimavikin contradicted
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 1: them all, saying there was nothing better than a good
• 2:27:50
  Speaker 1: dose of camomile or something of the sort. As for
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 1: Zeneviy Prokofayevitch having a good heart, he sobbed and shed
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 1: tears in his remorse for having frightened Semyon Ivanovitch with
• 2:28:02
  Speaker 1: all sorts of absurdities, and gathering from the invalid's last
• 2:28:05
  Speaker 1: words that he was quite poor and needing assistance, he
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 1: proceeded to get up a subscription for him, confining it
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: for a time to the tenants of the flat. Every
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 1: one was sighing and moaning. Every one felt sorry and grieved,
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: and yet all wondered how it was a man could
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 1: be so completely panic stricken, and what was he frightened about.
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: It would have been all very well if he had
• 2:28:28
  Speaker 1: had a good post, had had a wife a lot
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: of children. It would have been excusable if he were
• 2:28:33
  Speaker 1: being hauled up before the court on some charge or other.
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 1: But he was a man, utterly insignificant, with nothing but
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 1: a trunk and a German lock. He had been lying
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: more than twenty years behind his screen saying nothing, knowing
• 2:28:46
  Speaker 1: nothing of the world nor of trouble, saving his halfpence,
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 1: and now at a frivolous, idle word, the man had
• 2:28:52
  Speaker 1: actually gone off his head, was utterly panic stricken at
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 1: the thought he might have a hard time of it,
• 2:28:58
  Speaker 1: and it never occurred to him that everyone has a
• 2:29:00
  Speaker 1: hard time of it. If he would only take that
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: into consideration, Okanov said afterwards, that we all have a
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 1: hard time. Then the man would have kept his head,
• 2:29:10
  Speaker 1: would have given up his antics, and would have put
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 1: up with things one way or another. All day long,
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 1: nothing was talked of but Semyon Ivanovitch. They went up
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 1: to him, inquired after him, tried to comfort him. But
• 2:29:23
  Speaker 1: by the evening he was beyond that. The poor fellow
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: began to be delirious, feverish. He sank into unconsciousness, so
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 1: that they almost thought of sending for a doctor. The
• 2:29:35
  Speaker 1: lodgers all agreed together and undertook to watch over Semyon
• 2:29:38
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch and soothe him by turns through the night, and
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 1: if anything happened, to wake all the rest immediately. With
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 1: the object of keeping awake. They sat down to cards,
• 2:29:48
  Speaker 1: setting beside the invalid his friend, the drunken Cadger, who
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 1: had spent the whole day in the flat and had
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 1: asked leave to stay the night. As the game was
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 1: played on credit and was not at all interesting, they
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 1: soon got bored. They gave up the game, then got
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 1: into an argument about something, then began to be loud
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 1: and noisy, finally dispersed to their various corners. Went on
• 2:30:10
  Speaker 1: for a long time, angrily, shouting and wrangling, and as
• 2:30:13
  Speaker 1: all of them felt suddenly ill humored, they no longer
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: cared to sit up, so went to sleep. Soon it
• 2:30:19
  Speaker 1: was as still in the flat as in an empty cellar,
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 1: and it was the more like one because it was
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 1: horribly cold. The last to fall asleep was Okanov, and
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 1: it was between sleeping and waking. As he said afterwards,
• 2:30:32
  Speaker 1: I fancied. Just before morning, two men kept talking close
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 1: by me. Okeanov said that he recognized Zimo Iken, and
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: that zim of Ikeen began waking his old friend Remnev
• 2:30:42
  Speaker 1: just beside him. That they talked for a long time
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 1: in a whisper. Then zim of Iken went away and
• 2:30:48
  Speaker 1: could be heard trying to unlock the door into the kitchen.
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 1: The key the landlady declared afterwards was lying under her
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 1: pillow and was lost that night. Finally, Okanov testified he
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 1: had fancied he had heard them go behind the screen
• 2:31:03
  Speaker 1: to the invalid and light a candle there, And I
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 1: know nothing more, he said. I fell asleep and woke
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 1: up as everybody else did. When every one in the
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: flat jumped out of bed at the sound behind the
• 2:31:13
  Speaker 1: screen of a shriek that would have roused the dead,
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: and it seemed to many of them that a candle
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 1: went out. At that moment, a great hubbub arose. Every
• 2:31:23
  Speaker 1: one's heart stood still. They rushed pellmell at the shriek,
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: but at that moment there was a scuffle, with shouting,
• 2:31:29
  Speaker 1: swearing and fighting. They struck a light and saw that
• 2:31:33
  Speaker 1: zim of Ikeen and Remnev were fighting together, that they
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 1: were swearing and abusing one another, And as they turned
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 1: the light on them, one of them shouted, it's not me,
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 1: it's this ruffian, and the other, who was zim of Ikeen,
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 1: was shouting, don't touch me. I've done nothing. I'll take
• 2:31:49
  Speaker 1: my oath any minute. Both of them looked hardly like
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 1: human beings, but for the first minute they had no
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 1: attention to spare for them. The invalid was not where
• 2:31:58
  Speaker 1: he had been behind the screen. They immediately parted the
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 1: combatants and dragged them away, and saw that mister Proharchin
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 1: was lying under the bed. He must, while completely unconscious,
• 2:32:09
  Speaker 1: have dragged the quilt and pillow after him, so that
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 1: there was nothing left on the bedstead but the bare mattress,
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: old and greasy. He never had sheets. They pulled Semyon
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch out stretched him on the mattress, but soon realized
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 1: that there was no need to make trouble over him,
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 1: that he was completely done for His arms were stiff,
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 1: and he seemed all to pieces. They stood over him,
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 1: He still faintly shuddered and trembled all over, made an
• 2:32:36
  Speaker 1: effort to do something with his arms, could not utter
• 2:32:38
  Speaker 1: a word, but blinked his eyes, as they say heads
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 1: do when still warm and bleeding. After being just chopped
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 1: off by the executioner. At last, the body grew more
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 1: and more still, the last faint convulsions died away. Mister
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 1: Proharchin had set off with his good deeds and his sins.
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 1: Whether Semyon Ivanovitch had been frightened by something, whether he
• 2:33:00
  Speaker 1: had had a dream, as Rennev maintained afterwards, or there
• 2:33:04
  Speaker 1: had been some other mischief nobody knew. All that can
• 2:33:07
  Speaker 1: be said is that if the head clerk had made
• 2:33:10
  Speaker 1: his appearance at that moment in the flat and had
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 1: announced that Semyon Ivanovitch was dismissed for sedition, insubordination and drunkenness.
• 2:33:18
  Speaker 1: If some old, draggle tailed beggar woman had come in
• 2:33:21
  Speaker 1: at the door calling herself Semyon Ivanovitch's sister in law,
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 1: or if Semyon Ivanovitch had just received two hundred roubles
• 2:33:29
  Speaker 1: as a reward, or if the house had caught fire
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: and Semyon Ivanovitch's head had been really burning, he would,
• 2:33:34
  Speaker 1: in all probability not have deigned to stir a finger
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 1: in any of these eventualities. While the first stupefaction was
• 2:33:41
  Speaker 1: passing over, while all present were regaining their powers of speech,
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 1: were working themselves up into a fever of excitement, shouting
• 2:33:49
  Speaker 1: and flying to conjectures and suppositions, while Astinya Fyodorovna was
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 1: pulling the box from under his bed, was rummaging in
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 1: a fluster under the mattress, and even in semyon Ivana
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 1: Vitch's boots while they cross questioned Remnev and Zimoviikin. Okanov,
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 1: who had hitherto been the quietest, humblest and least original
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 1: of the lodgers, suddenly plucked up all his presence of
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 1: mind and displayed all his latent talents by taking up
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 1: his hat and under cover of the general uproar, slipping
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 1: out of the flat. And just when the horrors of
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 1: disorder and anarchy had reached their height in the agitated flat,
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 1: till then so tranquil the door opened, and suddenly there
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 1: descended upon them, like snow upon their heads a personage
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 1: of gentlemanly appearance with a severe and displeased looking face
• 2:34:36
  Speaker 1: behind him Yuoslav Iliitch, behind Yuoslav Iliach, his subordinates and
• 2:34:40
  Speaker 1: the functionaries whose duty it is to be present on
• 2:34:42
  Speaker 1: such occasions, and behind them, all much embarrassed mister Okanov,
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: the severe looking personage of gentlemanly appearance, went straight up
• 2:34:51
  Speaker 1: to Semyon Ivanovitch, examined him, made a wry face, shrugged
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 1: his shoulders, and announced what everybody knew, that is that
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 1: the dead man was dead, only adding that the same
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 1: thing had happened a day or two ago to a
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 1: gentleman of consequence, highly respected, who had died suddenly in
• 2:35:09
  Speaker 1: his sleep. Then the personage of gentlemanly but displeased looking
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 1: appearance walked away, saying that they had troubled him for nothing,
• 2:35:17
  Speaker 1: and took himself off. His place was at once filled,
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 1: while Remnev and Zimoviichen were handed over to the custody
• 2:35:24
  Speaker 1: of the proper functionaries by Yuoslav Ilyitch, who questioned some
• 2:35:28
  Speaker 1: one adroitly took possession of the box which the landlady
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 1: was already trying to open, put the boots back in
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: their proper place, observing that they were all in holes
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 1: and no use, asked for the pillow to be put back.
• 2:35:41
  Speaker 1: Called up Okyanov, asked for the key of the box,
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 1: which was found in the pocket of the drunken cadger,
• 2:35:46
  Speaker 1: and solemnly, in the presence of the proper officials, unlocked
• 2:35:50
  Speaker 1: semyon Ivanovitch's property. Everything was displayed two rags, a pair
• 2:35:55
  Speaker 1: of socks, half a handkerchief, an old hat, several buttons,
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: some old sauls, and the uppers of a pair of boots,
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 1: that is, all sorts of odds and ends, scraps, rubbish trash,
• 2:36:07
  Speaker 1: which had a stale smell. The only thing of any
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 1: value was the German lock. They called up Okanov and
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 1: cross questioned him sternly, but Okanov was ready to take
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 1: his oath. They asked for the pillow. They examined it.
• 2:36:21
  Speaker 1: It was extremely dirty, but in other respects it was
• 2:36:24
  Speaker 1: like all other pillows. They attacked the mattress. They were
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 1: about to lift it up, but stopped for a moment's consideration,
• 2:36:32
  Speaker 1: when suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, something heavy fell with a
• 2:36:35
  Speaker 1: clink on the floor. They bent down and saw on
• 2:36:38
  Speaker 1: the floor a screw of paper, and in the screw
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 1: some dozen rubles. A hey, said Yuoslav Ilyitch, pointing to
• 2:36:46
  Speaker 1: a slit in the mattress from which hare and stuffing
• 2:36:49
  Speaker 1: were sticking out. They examined the slit and found that
• 2:36:52
  Speaker 1: it had only just been made with a knife and
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 1: was half a yard in length. They thrust hands into
• 2:36:57
  Speaker 1: the gap and pulled out a kitchen knife, probably hurriedly
• 2:37:00
  Speaker 1: thrust in there after slitting the mattress. Before Yuuslav Ilyitch
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: had time to pull the knife out of the slit
• 2:37:07
  Speaker 1: and to say a hay again, another screw of money
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 1: fell out and after it, one at a time, two
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 1: half roubles, a quarter ruble, then some small change, and
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 1: an old fashioned solid five copeck piece. All this was
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 1: seized upon. At this point it was realized that it
• 2:37:24
  Speaker 1: would not be amiss to cut up the whole mattress
• 2:37:26
  Speaker 1: with scissors. They asked for scissors. Meanwhile, the guttering candle
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 1: lighted up a scene that would have been extremely curious
• 2:37:34
  Speaker 1: to a spectator. About a dozen lodgers were grouped round
• 2:37:38
  Speaker 1: the bed in the most picturesque costumes, all unbrushed, unshaven, unwashed, sleepy,
• 2:37:44
  Speaker 1: looking just as they had gone to bed. Some were
• 2:37:47
  Speaker 1: quite pale, while others had drops of sweat upon their brows.
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 1: Some were shuddering, while others looked feverish. The landlady, utterly stupefied,
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 1: was standing quietly with her hands folded, waiting for yuoslav
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: Ilyitch's good pleasure from the stove above. The heads of Avdosha,
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 1: the servant, and the landlady's favorite cat looked down with
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 1: frightened curiosity. The torn and broken screen lay cast on
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 1: the floor. The open box displayed its uninviting contents. The
• 2:38:17
  Speaker 1: quilt and pillow lay tossed at random, covered with fluff
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 1: from the mattress, and on the three legged wooden table
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 1: gleamed the steadily growing heap of silver and other coins.
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 1: Only Semyon Ivanovitch preserved his composure, lying calmly on the
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: bed and seeming to have no foreboding of his ruin.
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 1: When the scissors had been brought in, Yuoslav Ilyitch's assistant,
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: wishing to be of service, shook the mattress rather impatiently
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 1: to ease it from under the back of its owner.
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 1: Semyon Ivanovitch, with his habitual civility, made room a little,
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 1: rolling on his side with his back to the searchers.
• 2:38:50
  Speaker 1: Then at a second shake, he turned on his face,
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 1: finally gave way still further, and as the last slap
• 2:38:57
  Speaker 1: in the bedstead was missing, he suddenly, quite unexpectedly plunged
• 2:39:01
  Speaker 1: head downward, leaving in view only two bony, thin blue legs,
• 2:39:05
  Speaker 1: which stuck upwards like two branches of a charred tree.
• 2:39:09
  Speaker 1: As this was the second time that morning that mister
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 1: Prohartchin had poked his head under his bed, it at
• 2:39:14
  Speaker 1: once aroused suspicion, and some of the lodgers, headed by
• 2:39:17
  Speaker 1: Zenevi Prokofayevitch, crept under it, with the intention of seeing
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 1: whether there were something hidden there too. But they knocked
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 1: their heads together for nothing. And as yuoslav Ilyitch shouted
• 2:39:28
  Speaker 1: to them, bidding them release Semyon Ivanovitch at once from
• 2:39:31
  Speaker 1: his unpleasant position, two of the more sensible seized each
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 1: a leg, dragged the unsuspected capitalist into the light of day,
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 1: and laid him across the bed. Meanwhile, the hare and
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 1: flock were flying about. The heap of silver grew, and
• 2:39:45
  Speaker 1: my goodness, what a lot there was, noble silver rubles,
• 2:39:50
  Speaker 1: stout solid ruble and a half pieces, pretty half ruble coins,
• 2:39:54
  Speaker 1: Plebeian quarter rubles, twenty copeck pieces, even the unpromising old
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 1: thrown small fry of ten five copeck silver pieces, all
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 1: done up in separate bits of paper in the most
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 1: methodical and systematic way. There were curiosities also, two counters
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 1: of some sort, one Napoleon do'or one very rare coin
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 1: of some unknown kind. Some of the roubles were of
• 2:40:17
  Speaker 1: the greatest antiquity. They were rubbed and hacked coins of
• 2:40:20
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth German kreutzers, coins of Peter of Catherine. There were,
• 2:40:25
  Speaker 1: for instance, old fifteen copeck pieces, now very rare pierced
• 2:40:29
  Speaker 1: for wearing as ear rings, all much worn, yet with
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 1: the requisite number of dots. There was even copper, but
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 1: all of that was green and tarnished. They found one
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 1: red note, but no more. At last, when the dissection
• 2:40:44
  Speaker 1: was quite over and the mattress case had been shaken
• 2:40:46
  Speaker 1: more than once without a clink, they piled all the
• 2:40:49
  Speaker 1: money on the table and set to work to count it.
• 2:40:52
  Speaker 1: At the first glance, one might well have been deceived
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 1: and have estimated it at a million. It was such
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 1: an immense heap, but it was not a million, though
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 1: it did turn out to be a very considerable sum,
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 1: exactly two thousand, four hundred and ninety seven roubles and
• 2:41:06
  Speaker 1: a half, so that if Zenevi Prokofayevitch's subscription had been
• 2:41:10
  Speaker 1: raised the day before, there would perhaps have been just
• 2:41:12
  Speaker 1: two thousand, five hundred roubles. They took the money. They
• 2:41:16
  Speaker 1: put a seal on the dead man's box. They listened
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 1: to the landlady's complaints and informed her when and where
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 1: she ought to lodge information in regard to the dead
• 2:41:24
  Speaker 1: man's little debt to her. A receipt was taken from
• 2:41:28
  Speaker 1: the proper person. At that point, hints were dropped in
• 2:41:31
  Speaker 1: regard to the sister in law, but being persuaded that
• 2:41:34
  Speaker 1: in a certain sense the sister in law was a myth,
• 2:41:37
  Speaker 1: that is a product of the defective imagination with which
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 1: they had more than once reproached Semyon Ivanovitch, they abandoned
• 2:41:43
  Speaker 1: the idea as useless, mischievous, and disadvantageous to the good
• 2:41:48
  Speaker 1: name of mister Prohartchen, And so the matter ended. When
• 2:41:52
  Speaker 1: the first shock was over, When the lodgers had recovered
• 2:41:55
  Speaker 1: themselves and realized the sort of person their late companion
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 1: had been, they all subsided, relapsed into silence, and began
• 2:42:02
  Speaker 1: looking distrustfully at one another. Some seemed to take Semyon
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 1: Ivanovitch's behavior very much to heart, and even to feel
• 2:42:10
  Speaker 1: affronted by it. What a fortune, so the man had
• 2:42:14
  Speaker 1: saved up like this. Not losing his composure, Mark Ivanovitch
• 2:42:19
  Speaker 1: proceeded to explain why Semyon Ivanovitch had been so suddenly
• 2:42:22
  Speaker 1: panic stricken, but they did not listen to him. Zeneviy
• 2:42:27
  Speaker 1: Prokofayevitch was very thoughtful, Okanov had had a little to drink.
• 2:42:31
  Speaker 1: The others seemed rather crestfallen, while a little man called
• 2:42:34
  Speaker 1: kantarref with a nose like a sparrow's beak, left the
• 2:42:37
  Speaker 1: flat that evening, after very carefully packing up and courting
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 1: all his boxes and bags, and coldly explaining to the
• 2:42:44
  Speaker 1: curious that times were hard and that the terms here
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: were beyond his means. The landlady wailed without ceasing, lamenting
• 2:42:52
  Speaker 1: for Semyon Ivanovitch and cursing him for having taken advantage
• 2:42:56
  Speaker 1: of her loan lorn state. Mark Ivanovitch was asked why
• 2:43:00
  Speaker 1: the dead man had not taken his money to the bank.
• 2:43:03
  Speaker 1: He was too simple, my good soul. He hadn't enough imagination,
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 1: answered Mark Ivanovitch. Yes, and you have been too simple too,
• 2:43:13
  Speaker 1: my good woman. Okianov put in for twenty years the
• 2:43:17
  Speaker 1: man kept himself close here in your flat, and here
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 1: he's been knocked down by a feather, while you went
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 1: on cooking cabbage soup and had no time to notice it. Ah,
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 1: my good woman, Oh the poor dear. The landlady went on,
• 2:43:31
  Speaker 1: what need of a bank if he'd brought me his
• 2:43:34
  Speaker 1: pile and said to me take it astnyushka, poor dear,
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 1: here is all I have keep and board me in
• 2:43:40
  Speaker 1: my helplessness, so long as I am on earth. Then,
• 2:43:43
  Speaker 1: by the Holy Ikon, I would have fed him, I
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 1: would have given him drink. I would have looked after him.
• 2:43:50
  Speaker 1: Ah the sinner, Ah the deceiver. He deceived me, he
• 2:43:55
  Speaker 1: cheated me, a poor, lone woman. They went up to
• 2:43:59
  Speaker 1: the bed again. Semyon Ivanovitch was lying properly, now dressed
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 1: in his best though indeed it was his only suit,
• 2:44:07
  Speaker 1: hiding his rigid chin behind the cravat, which was tied
• 2:44:10
  Speaker 1: rather awkwardly. Washed, brushed, but not quite shaven, because there
• 2:44:15
  Speaker 1: was no razor in the flat. The only one which
• 2:44:17
  Speaker 1: had belonged to Zenevi Prokofayevitch, had lost its edge a
• 2:44:22
  Speaker 1: year ago and had been very profitably sold at Tokachi market.
• 2:44:25
  Speaker 1: The others used to go to the barbers. They had
• 2:44:28
  Speaker 1: not yet had time to clear up the disorder. The
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 1: broken screen lay as before, and exposing Semyon Ivanovitch's seclusion
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 1: seemed like an emblem of the fact that death tears
• 2:44:39
  Speaker 1: away the veil from all our secrets, our shifty dodges
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 1: and intrigues. The stuffing from the mattress lay about in heaps.
• 2:44:47
  Speaker 1: The whole room suddenly so still might well have been
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 1: compared by a poet to the ruined nest of a swallow,
• 2:44:53
  Speaker 1: broken down and torn to pieces by the storm, the
• 2:44:56
  Speaker 1: nestlings and their mother killed, and their warm little bed
• 2:44:59
  Speaker 1: of flow uff, feather and flocks scattered about them. Semyon Ivanovitch, however,
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 1: looked more like a conceited thievish old cocksparrow. He kept
• 2:45:10
  Speaker 1: quite quiet now, seemed to be lying low, as though
• 2:45:13
  Speaker 1: he were not guilty, as though he had had nothing
• 2:45:15
  Speaker 1: to do with the shameless, conscienceless and unseemly duping in
• 2:45:19
  Speaker 1: deception of all these good people. He did not heed
• 2:45:23
  Speaker 1: now the sobs and wailing of his bereaved and wounded landlady.
• 2:45:27
  Speaker 1: On the contrary, like a wary, callous capitalist, anxious not
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 1: to waste a minute in idleness. Even in the coffin,
• 2:45:34
  Speaker 1: he seemed to be wrapped up in some speculative calculation.
• 2:45:38
  Speaker 1: There was a look of deep reflection in his face,
• 2:45:40
  Speaker 1: while his lips were drawn together with a significant air
• 2:45:43
  Speaker 1: of which Semyon Ivanovitch, during his lifetime, had not been
• 2:45:47
  Speaker 1: suspected of being capable. He seemed, as it were, to
• 2:45:51
  Speaker 1: have grown shrewder. His right eye was, as it were,
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 1: slyly screwed up. Semyon Ivanovitch seemed wanting to say something,
• 2:45:59
  Speaker 1: to make some very important communication and explanation and without
• 2:46:03
  Speaker 1: loss of time, because things were complicated and there was
• 2:46:06
  Speaker 1: not a minute to lose, and it seemed as though
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: they could hear him. What is it? Give over? Do
• 2:46:13
  Speaker 1: you hear? You stupid woman, don't whine? Go to bed
• 2:46:18
  Speaker 1: and sleep it off, My good woman? Do you hear?
• 2:46:22
  Speaker 1: I am dead? There's no need of a fuss, now,
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 1: what's the use of it? Really? It's nice to lie here,
• 2:46:30
  Speaker 1: though I don't mean that. Do you hear? You are
• 2:46:33
  Speaker 1: a fine lady, You are a regular fine lady. Understand
• 2:46:37
  Speaker 1: that here I am dead now? But look here? What
• 2:46:40
  Speaker 1: if that is? Perhaps it can't be so, But I say,
• 2:46:43
  Speaker 1: what if I'm not dead? What if I get up?
• 2:46:46
  Speaker 1: Do you hear? What would happen? Then? The end? Thanks
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 1: for listening, Thanks for listening this audio book