Works of Ivan Turgenev (Illustrated) (50 page)

XIV

The next day, at two o’clock, Elena was standing in the garden before a small kennel, where she was rearing two puppies. (A gardener had found them deserted under a hedge, and brought them to the young mistress, being told by the laundry - maids that she took pity on beasts of all sorts. He was not wrong in his reckoning. Elena had given him a quarter - rouble.) She looked into the kennel, assured herself that the puppies were alive and well, and that they had been provided with fresh straw, turned round, and almost uttered a cry; down an alley straight towards her was walking Insarov, alone.

‘Good - morning,’ he said, coming up to her and taking off his cap. She noticed that he certainly had got much sunburnt during the last three days. ‘I meant to have come here with Andrei Petrovitch, but he was rather slow in starting; so here I am without him. There is no one in your house; they are all asleep or out of doors, so I came on here.’

‘You seem to be apologising,’ replied Elena. ‘There’s no need to do that. We are always very glad to see you. Let us sit here on the bench in the shade.’

She seated herself. Insarov sat down near her.

‘You have not been at home these last days, I think?’ she began.

‘No,’ he answered. ‘I went away. Did Andrei Petrovitch tell you?’

Insarov looked at her, smiled, and began playing with his cap. When he smiled, his eyes blinked, and his lips puckered up, which gave him a very good - humoured appearance.

‘Andrei Petrovitch most likely told you too that I went away with some — unattractive people,’ he said, still smiling.

Elena was a little confused, but she felt at once that Insarov must always be told the truth.

‘Yes,’ she said decisively.

‘What did you think of me?’ he asked her suddenly.

Elena raised her eyes to him.

‘I thought,’ she said, ‘I thought that you always know what you’re doing, and you are incapable of doing anything wrong.’

‘Well — thanks for that. You see, Elena Nikolaevna,’ he began, coming closer to her in a confidential way, ‘there is a little family of our people here; among us there are men of little culture; but all are warmly devoted to the common cause. Unluckily, one can never get on without dissensions, and they all know me, and trust me; so they sent for me to settle a dispute. I went.’

‘Was it far from here?’

‘I went about fifty miles, to the Troitsky district. There, near the monastery, there are some of our people. At any rate, my trouble was not thrown away; I settled the matter.’

‘And had you much difficulty?’

‘Yes. One was obstinate through everything. He did not want to give back the money.’

‘What? Was the dispute over money?’

‘Yes; and a small sum of money too. What did you suppose?’

‘And you travelled over fifty miles for such trifling matters? Wasted three days?’

‘They are not trifling matters, Elena Nikolaevna, when my countrymen are involved. It would be wicked to refuse in such cases. I see here that you don’t refuse help even to puppies, and I think well of you for it. And as for the time I have lost, that’s no great harm; I will make it up later. Our time does not belong to us.’

‘To whom does it belong then?’

‘Why, to all who need us. I have told you all this on the spur of the moment, because I value your good opinion. I can fancy how Andrei Petrovitch must have made you wonder!’

‘You value my good opinion,’ said Elena, in an undertone, ‘why?’

Insarov smiled again.

‘Because you are a good young lady, not an aristocrat... that’s all.’

A short silence followed.

‘Dmitri Nikanorovitch,’ said Elena, ‘do you know that this is the first time you have been so unreserved with me?’

‘How’s that? I think I have always said everything I thought to you.’

‘No, this is the first time, and I am very glad, and I too want to be open with you. May I?’

Insarov began to laugh and said: ‘You may.’

‘I warn you I am very inquisitive.’

‘Never mind, tell me.’

‘Andrei Petrovitch has told me a great deal of your life, of your youth. I know of one event, one awful event.... I know you travelled afterwards in your own country.... Don’t answer me for goodness sake, if you think my question indiscreet, but I am fretted by one idea.... Tell me, did you meet that man?’

Elena caught her breath. She felt both shame and dismay at her own audacity. Insarov looked at her intently, slightly knitting his brows, and stroking his chin with his fingers.

‘Elena Nikolaevna,’ he began at last, and his voice was much lower than usual, which almost frightened Elena, ‘I understand what man you are referring to. No, I did not meet him, and thank God I did not! I did not try to find him. I did not try to find him: not because I did not think I had a right to kill him — I would kill him with a very easy conscience — but because now is not the time for private revenge, when we are concerned with the general national vengeance — or no, that is not the right word — when we are concerned with the liberation of a people. The one would be a hindrance to the other. In its own time that, too, will come... that too will come,’ he repeated, and he shook his head.

Elena looked at him from the side.

‘You love your country very dearly?’ she articulated timidly.

‘That remains to be shown,’ he answered. ‘When one of us dies for her, then one can say he loved his country.’

‘So that, if you were cut off all chance of returning to Bulgaria,’ continued Elena, ‘would you be very unhappy in Russia?’

Insarov looked down.

‘I think I could not bear that,’ he said.

‘Tell me,’ Elena began again, ‘is it difficult to learn Bulgarian?’

‘Not at all. It’s a disgrace to a Russian not to know Bulgarian. A Russian ought to know all the Slavonic dialects. Would you like me to bring you some Bulgarian books? You will see how easy it is. What ballads we have! equal to the Servian. But stop a minute, I will translate to you one of them. It is about... But you know a little of our history at least, don’t you?’

‘No, I know nothing of it,’ answered

Elena.

‘Wait a little and I will bring you a book. You will learn the principal facts at least from it. Listen to the ballad then.... But I had better bring you a written translation, though. I am sure you will love us, you love all the oppressed. If you knew what a land of plenty ours is! And, meanwhile, it has been downtrodden, it has been ravaged,’ he went on, with an involuntary movement of his arm, and his face darkened; ‘we have been robbed of everything; everything, our churches, our laws, our lands; the unclean Turks drive us like cattle, butcher us —
 
— ’

‘Dmitri Nikanorovitch!’ cried Elena.

He stopped.

‘I beg your pardon. I can’t speak of this coolly. But you asked me just now whether I love my country. What else can one love on earth? What is the one thing unchanging, what is above all doubts, what is it — next to God — one must believe in? And when that country needs. ... Think; the poorest peasant, the poorest beggar in Bulgaria, and I have the same desire. All of us have one aim. You can understand what strength, what confidence that gives!’

Insarov was silent for an instant; then he began again to talk of Bulgaria. Elena listened to him with absorbed, profound, and mournful attention. When he had finished, she asked him once more:

‘Then you would not stay in Russia for anything?’

And when he went away, for a long time she gazed after him. On that day he had become a different man for her. When she walked back with him through the garden, he was no longer the man she had met two hours before.

From that day he began to come more and more often, and Bersenyev less and less often. A strange feeling began to grow up between the two friends, of which they were both conscious, but to which they could not give a name, and which they feared to analyse. In this way a month passed.

XV

Anna Vassilyevna, as the reader knows already, liked staying at home; but at times she manifested, quite unexpectedly, an irresistible longing for something out of the common, some extraordinary
partie du plaisir
, and the more troublesome the
partie du plaisir
was, the more preparations and arrangements it required, and the greater Anna Vassilyevna’s own agitation over it, the more pleasure it gave her. If this mood came upon her in winter, she would order two or three boxes to be taken side by side, and, inviting all her acquaintances, would set off to the theatre or even to a masquerade; in summer she would drive for a trip out of town to some spot as far off as possible. The next day she would complain of a headache, groan and keep her bed; but within two months the same craving for something ‘out of the common’ would break out in her again. That was just what happened now. Some one chanced to refer to the beautiful scenery of Tsaritsino before her, and Anna Vassilyevna suddenly announced an intention of driving to Tsaritsino the day after tomorrow. The household was thrown into a state of bustle; a messenger galloped off to Moscow for Nikolai Artemyevitch; with him galloped the butler to buy wines, pies, and all sorts of provisions; Shubin was commissioned to hire an open carriage — the coach alone was not enough — and to order relays of horses to be ready; a page was twice despatched to Bersenyev and Insarov with two different notes of invitation, written by Zoya, the first in Russian, the second in French; Anna Vassilyevna herself was busy over the dresses of the young ladies for the expedition. Meanwhile the
partie du plaisir
was very near coming to grief. Nikolai Artemyevitch arrived from Moscow in a sour, ill - natured,
frondeurish
frame of mind. He was still sulky with Augustina Christianovna; and when he heard what the plan was, he flatly declared that he would not go; that to go trotting from Kuntsovo to Moscow and from Moscow to Tsaritsino, and then from Tsaritsino again to Moscow, from Moscow again to Kuntsovo, was a piece of folly; and, ‘in fact,’ he added, ‘let them first prove to my satisfaction, that one can be merrier on one spot of the globe than another spot, and I will go.’ This, of course, no one could prove to his satisfaction, and Anna Vassilyevna was ready to throw up the
partie du plaisir
for lack of a solid escort; but she recollected Uvar Ivanovitch, and in her distress she sent to his room for him, saying: ‘a drowning man catches at straws.’ They waked him up; he came down, listened in silence to Anna Vassilyevna’s proposition, and, to the general astonishment, with a flourish of his fingers, he consented to go. Anna Vassilyevna kissed him on the cheek, and called him a darling; Nikolai Artemyevitch smiled contemptuously and said:
quelle bourde!
(he liked on occasions to make use of a ‘smart’ French word); and the following morning the coach and the open carriage, well - packed, rolled out of the Stahovs’ court - yard. In the coach were the ladies, a maid, and Bersenyev; Insarov was seated on the box; and in the open carriage were Uvar Ivanovitch and Shubin. Uvar Ivanovitch had himself beckoned Shubin to him; he knew that he would tease him the whole way, but there existed a queer sort of attachment, marked by abusive candour, between the ‘primeval force’ and the young artist. On this occasion, however, Shubin left his fat friend in peace; he was absent - minded, silent, and gentle.

The sun stood high in a cloudless blue sky when the carriage drove up to the ruins of Tsaritsino Castle, which looked gloomy and menacing, even at mid - day. The whole party stepped out on to the grass, and at once made a move towards the garden. In front went Elena and Zoya with Insarov; Anna Vassilyevna, with an expression of perfect happiness on her face, walked behind them, leaning on the arm of Uvar Ivanovitch. He waddled along panting, his new straw hat cut his forehead, and his feet twinged in his boots, but he was content; Shubin and Bersenyev brought up the rear. ‘We will form the reserve, my dear boy, like veterans,’ whispered Shubin to Bersenyev. ‘Bulgaria’s in it now!’ he added, indicating Elena with his eyebrows.

The weather was glorious. Everything around was flowering, humming, singing; in the distance shone the waters of the lakes; a light - hearted holiday mood took possession of all. ‘Oh, how beautiful; oh, how beautiful!’ Anna Vassilyevna repeated incessantly; Uvar Ivanovitch kept nodding his head approvingly in response to her enthusiastic exclamations, and once even articulated: ‘To be sure! to be sure!’ From time to time Elena exchanged a few words with Insarov; Zoya held the brim of her large hat with two fingers while her little feet, shod in light grey shoes with rounded toes, peeped coquettishly out from under her pink barege dress; she kept looking to each side and then behind her. ‘Hey!’ cried Shubin suddenly in a low voice, ‘Zoya Nikitishna is on the lookout, it seems. I will go to her. Elena Nikolaevna despises me now, while you, Andrei Petrovitch, she esteems, which comes to the same thing. I am going; I’m tired of being glum. I should advise you, my dear fellow, to do some botanising; that’s the best thing you could hit on in your position; it might be useful, too, from a scientific point of view. Farewell!’ Shubin ran up to Zoya, offered her his arm, and saying: ‘
Ihre Hand, Madame
’ caught hold of her hand, and pushed on ahead with her. Elena stopped, called to Bersenyev, and also took his arm, but continued talking to Insarov. She asked him the words for lily - of - the - valley, clover, oak, lime, and so on in his language... ‘Bulgaria’s in it!’ thought poor Andrei Petrovitch.

Suddenly a shriek was heard in front; every one looked up. Shubin’s cigar - case fell into a bush, flung by Zoya’s hand. ‘Wait a minute, I’ll pay you out!’ he shouted, as he crept into the bushes; he found his cigar - case, and was returning to Zoya; but he had hardly reached her side when again his cigar - case was sent flying across the road. Five times this trick was repeated, he kept laughing and threatening her, but Zoya only smiled slyly and drew herself together, like a little cat. At last he snatched her fingers, and squeezed them so tightly that she shrieked, and for a long time afterwards breathed on her hand, pretending to be angry, while he murmured something in her ears.

‘Mischievous things, young people,’ Anna Vassilyevna observed gaily to Uvar Ivanovitch.

He flourished his fingers in reply.

‘What a girl Zoya Nikitishna is!’ said Bersenyev to Elena.

‘And Shubin? What of him?’ she answered.

Meanwhile the whole party went into the arbour, well known as Pleasant View arbour, and stopped to admire the view of the Tsaritsino lakes. They stretched one behind the other for several miles, overshadowed by thick woods. The bright green grass, which covered the hill sloping down to the largest lake, gave the water itself an extraordinarily vivid emerald colour. Even at the water’s edge not a ripple stirred the smooth surface. One might fancy it a solid mass of glass lying heavy and shining in a huge font; the sky seemed to drop into its depths, while the leafy trees gazed motionless into its transparent bosom. All were absorbed in long and silent admiration of the view; even Shubin was still; even Zoya was impressed. At last, all with one mind, began to wish to go upon the water. Shubin, Insarov, and Bersenyev raced each other over the grass. They succeeded in finding a large painted boat and two boatmen, and beckoned to the ladies. The ladies stepped into the boat; Uvar Ivanovitch cautiously lowered himself into it after them. Great was the mirth while he got in and took his seat. ‘Look out, master, don’t drown us,’ observed one of the boatmen, a snubnosed young fellow in a gay print shirt. ‘Get along, you swell!’ said Uvar Ivanovitch. The boat pushed off. The young men took up the oars, but Insarov was the oniy one of them who could row. Shubin suggested that they should sing some Russian song in chorus, and struck up: ‘Down the river Volga’... Bersenyev, Zoya, and even Anna Vassilyevna, joined in — Insarov could not sing — but they did not keep together; at the third verse the singers were all wrong. Only Bersenyev tried to go on in the bass, ‘Nothing on the waves is seen,’ but he, too, was soon in difficulties. The boatmen looked at one another and grinned in silence.

‘Eh?’ said Shubin, turning to them, ‘the gentlefolks can’t sing, you say?’ The boy in the print shirt only shook his head. ‘Wait a little snubnose,’ retorted Shubin, ‘we will show you. Zoya Nikitishna, sing us
Le lac
of Niedermeyer. Stop rowing!’ The wet oars stood still, lifted in the air like wings, and their splash died away with a tuneful drip; the boat drifted on a little, then stood still, rocking lightly on the water like a swan. Zoya affected to refuse at first.... ‘
Allons
’ said Anna Vassilyevna genially.... Zoya took off her hat and began to sing: ‘
O lac, l’annee a peine a fini sa carriere
!’

Her small, but pure voice, seemed to dart over the surface of the lake; every word echoed far off in the woods; it sounded as though some one were singing there, too, in a distinct, but mysterious and unearthly voice. When Zoya finished, a loud bravo was heard from an arbour near the bank, from which emerged several red - faced Germans who were picnicking at Tsaritsino. Several of them had their coats off, their ties, and even their waistcoats; and they shouted ‘
bis!
’ with such unmannerly insistence that Anna Vassilyevna told the boatmen to row as quickly as possible to the other end of the lake. But before the boat reached the bank, Uvar Ivanovitch once more succeeded in surprising his friends; having noticed that in one part of the wood the echo repeated every sound with peculiar distinctness, he suddenly began to call like a quail. At first every one was startled, but they listened directly with real pleasure, especially as Uvar Ivanovitch imitated the quail’s cry with great correctness. Spurred on by this, he tried mewing like a cat; but this did not go off so well; and after one more quail - call, he looked at them all and stopped. Shubin threw himself on him to kiss him; he pushed him off. At that instant the boat touched the bank, and all the party got out and went on shore.

Meanwhile the coachman, with the groom and the maid, had brought the baskets out of the coach, and made dinner ready on the grass under the old lime - trees. They sat down round the outspread tablecloth, and fell upon the pies and other dainties. They all had excellent appetites, while Anna Vassilyevna, with unflagging hospitality, kept urging the guests to eat more, assuring them that nothing was more wholesome than eating in the open air. She even encouraged Uvar Ivanovitch with such assurances. ‘Don’t trouble about me!’ he grunted with his mouth full. ‘Such a lovely day is a God - send, indeed!’ she repeated constantly. One would not have known her; she seemed fully twenty years younger. Bersenyev said as much to her. ‘Yes, yes.’ she said; ‘I could hold my own with any one in my day.’ Shubin attached himself to Zoya, and kept pouring her out wine; she refused it, he pressed her, and finished by drinking the glass himself, and again pressing her to take another; he also declared that he longed to lay his head on her knee; she would on no account permit him ‘such a liberty.’ Elena seemed the most serious of the party, but in her heart there was a wonderful sense of peace, such as she had not known for long. She felt filled with boundless goodwill and kindness, and wanted to keep not only Insarov, but Bersenyev too, always at her side.... Andrei Petrovitch dimly understood what this meant, and secretly he sighed.

The hours flew by; the evening was coming on. Anna Vassilyevna suddenly took alarm. ‘Ah, my dear friends, how late it is!’ she cried. ‘All good things must have an end; it’s time to go home.’ She began bustling about, and they all hastened to get up and walk towards the castle, where the carriages were. As they walked past the lakes, they stopped to admire Tsaritsino for the last time. The landscape on all sides was glowing with the vivid hues of early evening; the sky was red, the leaves were flashing with changing colours as they stirred in the rising wind; the distant waters shone in liquid gold; the reddish turrets and arbours scattered about the garden stood out sharply against the dark green of the trees. ‘Farewell, Tsaritsino, we shall not forget to - day’s excursion!’ observed Anna Vassilyevna.... But at that instant, and as though in confirmation of her words, a strange incident occurred, which certainly was not likely to be forgotten.

This was what happened. Anna Vassilyevna had hardly sent her farewell greeting to Tsaritsino, when suddenly, a few paces from her, behind a high bush of lilac, were heard confused exclamations, shouts, and laughter; and a whole mob of disorderly men, the same devotees of song who had so energetically applauded Zoya, burst out on the path. These musical gentlemen seemed excessively elevated. They stopped at the sight of the ladies; but one of them, a man of immense height, with a bull neck and a bull’s goggle eyes, separated from his companions, and, bowing clumsily and staggering unsteadily in his gait, approached Anna Vassilyevna, who was petrified with alarm.

‘
Bonzhoor, madame
,’ he said thickly, ‘how are you?’

Anna Vassilyevna started back.

‘Why wouldn’t you,’ continued the giant in vile Russian, ‘sing again when our party shouted
bis
, and bravo?’

‘Yes, why?’ came from the ranks of his comrades.