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008 - 08 Chapter 8 The Unexpected Visit · Daughter of the Commandant

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of the Daughter of the Commandant by Alexander Pushkin,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Missus Milner Home. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain recording by Kevin Davidson. The Unexpected Visit
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  Speaker 1: the square remained empty. I stood in the same place,
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  Speaker 1: unable to collect my thoughts, disturbed by so many terrible events.
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  Speaker 1: My uncertainty about Marya Ivanovna's fate tormented me more than
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  Speaker 1: I can say. Where was she? What had become of her?
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  Speaker 1: Had she had time to hide herself? Was her place
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  Speaker 1: of refuge? Safe and sure? Full of these oppressive thoughts,
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  Speaker 1: I went to the Commandant's house. All was empty, The chairs,
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  Speaker 1: the tables, the presses were burned, and the crockery in bits.
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  Speaker 1: The place was in dreadful disorder. I quickly ran up
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  Speaker 1: the little stair which led to Marya's room, where I
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  Speaker 1: was about to enter for the first time in my life.
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  Speaker 1: Her bed was topsy turvy, the press opened and ransacked,
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  Speaker 1: the lamp still burned. For the kivote equally empty, but
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  Speaker 1: a small looking glass hanging between the door and window
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  Speaker 1: had not been taken down. What had become of the
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  Speaker 1: inmate of this simple maiden, cell A terrible apprehension crossed
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  Speaker 1: my mind. I thought of Marya in the hands of
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  Speaker 1: the robbers. My heart failed me. I burst into tears
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  Speaker 1: and murmured the name of my beloved one. At this
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  Speaker 1: moment I heard a slight noise, and Pulashka, very pale,
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  Speaker 1: came out from behind the press. Oh, Pyotrandrovitch said, she
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  Speaker 1: wringing her hands, What a day, What horrors? Mari Ifanovna,
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  Speaker 1: cried I impatiently. Where is mary Ifanovna, The young lady
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  Speaker 1: is alive, replied Polashka. She is hidden at a Kuliina
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  Speaker 1: Pamfylovna's in the Pope's house, I exclaimed, affrighted, Good God,
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  Speaker 1: Pukuchov is there. I rushed out of the room in
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  Speaker 1: two jumps. I was in the street and running wildly
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  Speaker 1: toward the Pope's house. From within, their resounded song, shouts
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  Speaker 1: and bursts laughter. Pugatchov was at the table with his companions.
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  Speaker 1: Palashka had followed me. I sent her secretly to call
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  Speaker 1: aside Akulina Pamfilovna. The next moment, the Pope's wife came
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  Speaker 1: out into the ante room, an empty bottle in her hand.
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  Speaker 1: In Heaven's name. Where is Mary Ivanovna, I asked her,
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  Speaker 1: with indescribable agitation. She is in bed, the little dove, replied,
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  Speaker 1: the Pope's wife, in my bed behind the partition, ap
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  Speaker 1: pyotrandraetch A misfortune very nearly happened, but thank God, all
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  Speaker 1: has passed happily over. The villain had scarcely sat down
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  Speaker 1: to table before the poor darling began to moan. I
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  Speaker 1: nearly died of fright. He heard her. Woo's that moaning,
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  Speaker 1: old woman said he. I saluted the robberer down to
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  Speaker 1: the ground. My niece, sar, she has been ill and
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  Speaker 1: in bed for more than a week. And your niece
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  Speaker 1: is she young? She is young? Tar. Let us see,
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  Speaker 1: old woman, show me your niece. I felt my heart
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  Speaker 1: would fail me, but what could I do? Very well? Sah,
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  Speaker 1: but the girl is not strong enough to rise and
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  Speaker 1: come before your grace. That's nothing, old woman. I'll go
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  Speaker 1: myself and see her, And would you believe it? The
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  Speaker 1: rascal actually went behind the partition. He drew aside the curtain,
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  Speaker 1: looked at her with his hawk's eyes, and nothing more.
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  Speaker 1: God helped us. You may believe me when I say
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  Speaker 1: the father and I were already prepared to die the
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  Speaker 1: death of martyrs. Luckily the little dove did not recognize him. O,
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  Speaker 1: Lord God, what we have lived to see? Poor Ivan Kuzmitch,
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  Speaker 1: who would have thought it? And Vassilisi Goorovna and Ivan Ignatvitch,
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  Speaker 1: why him too? And you? How came it that you
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  Speaker 1: were spared? And what do you think of shribding of
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  Speaker 1: alexey Ignatitch. He has cut his hair short, and he
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  Speaker 1: is there having a spree with them. He is a
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  Speaker 1: sly fox, shall agree. And when I spoke of my
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  Speaker 1: sick niece, would you believe it? He looked at me
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  Speaker 1: as though he would like to run me through with
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  Speaker 1: his knife. Still he did not betray us, and I
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  Speaker 1: am thankful to him for that. At this moment up
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  Speaker 1: rose the venus, shouts of the guests and the voice
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  Speaker 1: of Father Gharisim. The guest wanted more wine, and the
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  Speaker 1: pope was calling his wife. Go home. Pyotranrovitch, she said
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  Speaker 1: to me, in great agitation, I have something else to
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  Speaker 1: do than chatter to you. Some ill will befall you
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  Speaker 1: if you come across any of them. Now, good bye, Pyotranrovitch.
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  Speaker 1: What must be must be, and it may be God
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  Speaker 1: will not forsake us. The pope's wife went in a
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  Speaker 1: little relieved. I returned to my quarters. Crossing the square,
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  Speaker 1: I saw several bashkirs crowding around the gallows in order
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  Speaker 1: to tear off the high boots of the hanged men
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  Speaker 1: with difficulty. I forebore showing my anger, which I knew
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  Speaker 1: would be wholly useless. The robbers pervaded the fort and
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  Speaker 1: were plundering the officer's quarters, and the shouts of rebels
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  Speaker 1: making merry was heard everywhere. I went home. Seviyelitch met
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  Speaker 1: me on the threshold. Thank Heaven, cried he. Upon seeing me,
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  Speaker 1: I thought the villains had again laid hold on you. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: my father, Pyotrandretch, would you believe it? The robbers have
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  Speaker 1: taken everything from us, clothes, linen, crockery and goods. They
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  Speaker 1: have left nothing. But what does it matter? Thank God
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  Speaker 1: that they have at least left you your life. But, oh,
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  Speaker 1: my master, did you recognize her Ataman? No? I did
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  Speaker 1: not recognize him. Who is he? What? My little father,
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  Speaker 1: you have already forgotten the drunkard? Who did you out
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  Speaker 1: of your tuloup? The day of the snowstorm, a hair
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  Speaker 1: skinned tuloop ran new and he the rascal who split
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  Speaker 1: all the seams putting it on. I was dumbfounded. The
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  Speaker 1: likeness of Pugatchov to my guide was indeed striking. I
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  Speaker 1: ended by feeling certain that he and Pugachov were one
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  Speaker 1: in the same man. And then I understood why he
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  Speaker 1: had shown me mercy. I was filled with astonishment at
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  Speaker 1: the extraordinary collection of events. A boy's tuloup given to
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  Speaker 1: a vagabond saved my neck from the hangman, and a
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  Speaker 1: drunken frequenter of pothouses besieged forts and shook the empire.
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  Speaker 1: Would you not eat anything, asked Saviyelvich, faithful to his
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  Speaker 1: old habits. There is nothing in the house, it is true.
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  Speaker 1: But I shall look about everywhere and I will get
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  Speaker 1: something ready for you. Left alone, I began to reflect.
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  Speaker 1: What could I do? To stay in the fort, which
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  Speaker 1: was now in the hands of the robber, or to
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  Speaker 1: join his band, were courses alike unworthy. An officer duty
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  Speaker 1: prompted me to go where I could still be useful
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  Speaker 1: to my country in the critical circumstances of which it
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  Speaker 1: was now situated. But my love urged me no less
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  Speaker 1: strongly to stay by marya Ivanovna to be her protector
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  Speaker 1: and her champion. Although I foresaw a new and inevitable
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  Speaker 1: change in the state of things, yet I could not
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  Speaker 1: help trembling as I thought of the dangers of her situation.
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  Speaker 1: My reflections were broken by the arrival of a Cossack,
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  Speaker 1: who came running to tell me that the great Tsar
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  Speaker 1: summoned me to his presence. Where is he, I asked,
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  Speaker 1: hastening to obey. In the commandant's house, replied the cossack.
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  Speaker 1: After dinner, our father went to the bath. Now he
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  Speaker 1: is resting, Ah, Sir, You can see he is a
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  Speaker 1: person of importance. He deigned at dinner to eat two
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  Speaker 1: roast suckling pigs, and then he went to the upper
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  Speaker 1: part of the vapor bath. When it was o hot
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  Speaker 1: that Taras Kuratchkin himself could not stand it. He passed
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  Speaker 1: the room to Bigbyaf, who only recovered by dint of
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  Speaker 1: cold water. You must agree his manners are very majestic,
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  Speaker 1: And in the bath they say he showed his marks
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  Speaker 1: at Czar on one of his breasts, a double headed
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  Speaker 1: eagle as large as a petakh, and on the other
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  Speaker 1: his own face. I did not think it worth while
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  Speaker 1: to contradict the Cossack, and I followed him to the
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  Speaker 1: Commandant's house, trying to imagine beforehand my interview with Puguchov,
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  Speaker 1: and to guess how it would end. The reader will
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  Speaker 1: easily believe me when I say I did not feel
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  Speaker 1: wholly reassured. He was getting dark. When I reached the
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  Speaker 1: house of the commandant. The gallows with its victims stood
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  Speaker 1: out black and terrible. The body of the commandant's poor
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  Speaker 1: wife still lay beneath the porch. Close by. Two cossacks
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  Speaker 1: were on guard. He who had brought me went in
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  Speaker 1: to announce my arrival. He came back almost directly and
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  Speaker 1: ushered me into the room where the previous evening I
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  Speaker 1: had bidden good bye to marya Ivanovna. I saw a
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  Speaker 1: strange scene before me. At table covered with a cloth
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  Speaker 1: and laden with bottles and glasses, was seated Pugatchov, surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by ten Cossack chiefs in high caps and colored shirts,
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  Speaker 1: heated by wine, with flushed faces and sparkling eyes. I
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  Speaker 1: did not see among them the new confederates lately sworn
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  Speaker 1: in the trader Shrabrin and the yuryadnik Ah. So it
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  Speaker 1: is you, your lordship, said Pugatchov, upon seeing me, You
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  Speaker 1: are welcome, all honor to you and a place at
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  Speaker 1: our feast. The guests made room. I sat down in
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  Speaker 1: silence at the end of the table. My neighbor, a
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  Speaker 1: tall and slender young Cossack with a handsome face, poured
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  Speaker 1: me out a bumper of brandy, which I did not touch.
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  Speaker 1: I was busy noting the company. Pougachov was seated in
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  Speaker 1: the place of honor, his elbows on the table and
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  Speaker 1: resting his black beard on his broad fist. His features,
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  Speaker 1: regular and agreeable, wore no fierce expression. He often addressed
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  Speaker 1: a man of about fifty years old, calling him sometimes count,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes timifyeitch, sometimes uncle. Each man considered himself as good
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  Speaker 1: as his fellow, and none showed any particular deference to
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  Speaker 1: their chief. They were talking of the morning's assault, of
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  Speaker 1: the success of the revolt, and of their forthcoming operations.
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  Speaker 1: Each man bragged of his prowess, proclaimed his opinions, and
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  Speaker 1: freely contradicted Pugatchov. And it was decided to march upon Orenburg,
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  Speaker 1: a bold move which was nearly crowned with success. The
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  Speaker 1: departure was fixed for the next day. The guests drank
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  Speaker 1: yet another bumper, rose from table and took leave of Pugachov.
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  Speaker 1: I wished to follow them, but Pugachov said, stay here,
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  Speaker 1: I wish to speak to you. We remained alone together,
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  Speaker 1: and for a few moments neither spoke. Pugachov looked sharply
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  Speaker 1: at me, winking from time to time his left eye
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  Speaker 1: with an indefinable expression of slyness and mockery. At last
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  Speaker 1: he gave way to a long burst of laughter, and
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  Speaker 1: that with such unfeigned gaiety that I myself, regarding him,
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  Speaker 1: began to laugh without knowing why. Well, your lordship, he said,
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  Speaker 1: confess you were afraid when my fellows cast the rope
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  Speaker 1: around your neck. I warrant the sky seemed to you
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  Speaker 1: the size of a sheep skin, and you would certainly
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  Speaker 1: have swung beneath the cross beam. But for your old servant,
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  Speaker 1: I knew the old owl again directly. Well, would you
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  Speaker 1: have ever thought, sir, that the man who guided you
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  Speaker 1: to a lodging in the step was the great Tzar himself?
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  Speaker 1: As he said these words, he assumed a grave and
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  Speaker 1: mysterio air. You are very guilty as regards me, resumed he.
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  Speaker 1: But I have pardoned you on the account of your courage,
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  Speaker 1: and because you did me a good turn when I
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  Speaker 1: was obliged to hide from my enemies. But you shall
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  Speaker 1: see better things. I will load you with other favors
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  Speaker 1: when I shall have recovered my empire. Will you promise
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  Speaker 1: to serve me zealously? The robber's question and his impudence
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  Speaker 1: appeared to be so absurd that I could not restrain
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  Speaker 1: a smile. Why do you laugh, he asked, frowning. Do
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  Speaker 1: you not believe me to be the great Czar? Answer
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  Speaker 1: me frankly. I did not know what to do. I
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  Speaker 1: could not recognize a vagabond as emperor. Such conduct was
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  Speaker 1: to me unpardonably base. To call him an impostor to
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  Speaker 1: his face was to devote myself to death, and the
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice for which I was prepared on the gallows before
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  Speaker 1: all the world, and in the first heat of my indignation,
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  Speaker 1: appeared to be a useless piece of bravado. I knew
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  Speaker 1: not what to say. Pogatchov awaited my reply in fierce
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  Speaker 1: silence at last, and I yet recall that moment with satisfaction.
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  Speaker 1: The feeling of duty triumphed in me over human weakness,
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  Speaker 1: and I made reply to Pugachov. Just listen and I
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  Speaker 1: will tell you the whole truth. You shall be judge.
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  Speaker 1: Can I recognize in you a tsar? You are a
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  Speaker 1: clever man. You would see directly that I was lying.
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  Speaker 1: Who them am I? According to you? God alone knows?
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  Speaker 1: But whoever you be, you are playing a dangerous game.
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  Speaker 1: Pugachov cast at me a quick, keen glance. You do
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  Speaker 1: not then think that I am Tsar Peter? Well, so
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  Speaker 1: let it be? Is there no chance of success? For
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  Speaker 1: the bold in former times did not Grishka or Triepyev reign.
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  Speaker 1: Think of me as you please, but do not leave me.
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  Speaker 1: What does it matter to you whether it be one
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  Speaker 1: or the other. He who is Pope is father. Serve
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  Speaker 1: me faithfully, and I will make you a field marshal
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  Speaker 1: and a prince. What do you say to this, no,
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  Speaker 1: I replied firmly. I am a gentleman. I have sworn
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  Speaker 1: fidelty to her Majesty that Tsareena. I cannot serve you.
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  Speaker 1: If you really wish me well, then send me back
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  Speaker 1: to Ugeenburgh. Pugatchov reflected, But if I send you away,
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  Speaker 1: said he, will you promise me at least not to
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  Speaker 1: bear arms against me. How can you expect me to
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  Speaker 1: promise you that, replied I you know yourself that that
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  Speaker 1: does not depend upon me. If I be ordered to
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  Speaker 1: march against you, I must submit. You are chief. Now
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  Speaker 1: you wish your subordinates to obey you. How can I
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  Speaker 1: refuse to serve? If I am wanted, My head is
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  Speaker 1: at your disposal. If you let me go free, I
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  Speaker 1: thank you. If you cause me to die, may God
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  Speaker 1: judge you. Howbeit I have told you the truth, my
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  Speaker 1: outspoken candor. Please Pugatchov e'en so let it be, said,
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  Speaker 1: he clapping me on the shoulder. Either entirely punish or
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  Speaker 1: entirely pardon. Go to the four winds and do what
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  Speaker 1: seems good in your eyes. But come tomorrow and bid
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  Speaker 1: me good bye, and now begone to bed. I am
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  Speaker 1: beat myself. I left Pugatchov and went out into the street.
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  Speaker 1: The night was still and cold. The moon and stars,
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  Speaker 1: sparkling with all their brightness, lit up the square and
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  Speaker 1: the gallows. All was quiet and dark in the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the fort. Only in the tavern were lights still
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  Speaker 1: to be seen, and from within arose the shouts of
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  Speaker 1: the lingering revelers. I threw a glance at the Pope's house.
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  Speaker 1: The doors and the shutters were closed, all seemed perfectly quiet. There.
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  Speaker 1: I went home and found Savyevitch deploring my absence. The
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  Speaker 1: news of my regained liberty overwhelmed it with joy. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: be to thee O Lord, said he, making the sign
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  Speaker 1: of the cross. We will leave for the fort tomorrow
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  Speaker 1: at break of day, and we will go in God's care.
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  Speaker 1: I have prepared something for you. Eat my father, and
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  Speaker 1: sleep till morning. Quietly, as though in the pocket of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: I took his advice, and after having supped with a
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  Speaker 1: good appetite, I went to sleep on the bare boards,
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  Speaker 1: as weary in mind as in body. End of chapter eight.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Kevin Davidson www dot blog Ordie dot com.