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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Leo Tolstoy</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October, 1996 [eBook #689]<br /> +[Most recently updated: September 21, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Judith Boss</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KREUTZER SONATA ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="cover " /> +</div> + +<h1>The Kreutzer Sonata</h1> + +<h3>and Other Stories</h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Leo Tolstoy</h2> + +<h4>Translated by Benj. R. Tucker</h4> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto"> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part01"><b>THE KREUTZER SONATA.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part02"><b>LESSON OF “THE KREUTZER SONATA.”</b></a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part03"><b>IVAN THE FOOL.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap29">CHAPTER I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap30">CHAPTER II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap31">CHAPTER III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap32">CHAPTER IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap33">CHAPTER V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap34">CHAPTER VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap35">CHAPTER VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap36">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap37">CHAPTER IX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap38">CHAPTER X.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap39">CHAPTER XI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap40">CHAPTER XII.</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part04"><b>A LOST OPPORTUNITY.</b></a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part05"><b>“POLIKUSHKA.”</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap41">CHAPTER I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap42">CHAPTER II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap43">CHAPTER III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap44">CHAPTER IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap45">CHAPTER V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap46">CHAPTER VI.</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part06"><b>THE CANDLE.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.</h2> + +<p> +On comparing with the original Russian some English translations of Count +Tolstoy’s works, published both in this country and in England, I +concluded that they were far from being accurate. The majority of them were +retranslations from the French, and I found that the respective transitions +through which they had passed tended to obliterate many of the beauties of the +Russian language and of the peculiar characteristics of Russian life. A +satisfactory translation can be made only by one who understands the language +and <i>spirit</i> of the Russian people. As Tolstoy’s writings contain so many +idioms it is not an easy task to render them into intelligible English, and the +one who successfully accomplishes this must be a native of Russia, commanding +the English and Russian languages with equal fluency. +</p> + +<p> +The story of “Ivan the Fool” portrays Tolstoy’s communistic +ideas, involving the abolition of military forces, middlemen, despotism, and +money. Instead of these he would establish on earth a kingdom in which each and +every person would become a worker and producer. The author describes the +various struggles through which three brothers passed, beset as they were by +devils large and small, until they reached the ideal state of existence which +he believes to be the only happy one attainable in this world. +</p> + +<p> +On reading this little story one is surprised that the Russian censor passed +it, as it is devoted to a narration of ideas quite at variance with the present +policy of the government of that country. +</p> + +<p> +“A Lost Opportunity” is a singularly true picture of peasant life, +which evinces a deep study of the subject on the part of the writer. Tolstoy +has drawn many of the peculiar customs of the Russian peasant in a masterly +manner, and I doubt if he has given a more comprehensive description of this +feature of Russian life in any of his other works. In this story also he has +presented many traits which are common to human nature throughout the world, +and this gives an added interest to the book. The language is simple and +picturesque, and the characters are drawn with remarkable fidelity to nature. +The moral of this tale points out how the hero Ivan might have avoided the +terrible consequences of a quarrel with his neighbor (which grew out of +nothing) if he had lived in accordance with the scriptural injunction to +forgive his brother’s sins and seek not for revenge. +</p> + +<p> +The story of “Polikushka” is a very graphic description of the life +led by a servant of the court household of a certain nobleman, in which the +author portrays the different conditions and surroundings enjoyed by these +servants from those of the ordinary or common peasants. It is a true and +powerful reproduction of an element in Russian life but little written about +heretofore. Like the other stories of this great writer, +“Polikushka” has a moral to which we all might profitably give +heed. He illustrates the awful consequences of intemperance, and concludes that +only kind treatment can reform the victims of alcohol. +</p> + +<p> +For much valuable assistance in the work of these translations, I am deeply +indebted to the bright English scholarship of my devoted wife. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part01"></a>THE KREUTZER SONATA.</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p> +Travellers left and entered our car at every stopping of the train. Three +persons, however, remained, bound, like myself, for the farthest station: a +lady neither young nor pretty, smoking cigarettes, with a thin face, a cap on +her head, and wearing a semi-masculine outer garment; then her companion, a +very loquacious gentleman of about forty years, with baggage entirely new and +arranged in an orderly manner; then a gentleman who held himself entirely +aloof, short in stature, very nervous, of uncertain age, with bright eyes, not +pronounced in color, but extremely attractive,—eyes that darted with +rapidity from one object to another. +</p> + +<p> +This gentleman, during almost all the journey thus far, had entered into +conversation with no fellow-traveller, as if he carefully avoided all +acquaintance. When spoken to, he answered curtly and decisively, and began to +look out of the car window obstinately. +</p> + +<p> +Yet it seemed to me that the solitude weighed upon him. He seemed to perceive +that I understood this, and when our eyes met, as happened frequently, since we +were sitting almost opposite each other, he turned away his head, and avoided +conversation with me as much as with the others. At nightfall, during a stop at +a large station, the gentleman with the fine baggage—a lawyer, as I have +since learned—got out with his companion to drink some tea at the +restaurant. During their absence several new travellers entered the car, among +whom was a tall old man, shaven and wrinkled, evidently a merchant, wearing a +large heavily-lined cloak and a big cap. This merchant sat down opposite the +empty seats of the lawyer and his companion, and straightway entered into +conversation with a young man who seemed like an employee in some commercial +house, and who had likewise just boarded the train. At first the clerk had +remarked that the seat opposite was occupied, and the old man had answered that +he should get out at the first station. Thus their conversation started. +</p> + +<p> +I was sitting not far from these two travellers, and, as the train was not in +motion, I could catch bits of their conversation when others were not talking. +</p> + +<p> +They talked first of the prices of goods and the condition of business; they +referred to a person whom they both knew; then they plunged into the fair at +Nijni Novgorod. The clerk boasted of knowing people who were leading a gay life +there, but the old man did not allow him to continue, and, interrupting him, +began to describe the festivities of the previous year at Kounavino, in which +he had taken part. He was evidently proud of these recollections, and, probably +thinking that this would detract nothing from the gravity which his face and +manners expressed, he related with pride how, when drunk, he had fired, at +Kounavino, such a broadside that he could describe it only in the other’s +ear. +</p> + +<p> +The clerk began to laugh noisily. The old man laughed too, showing two long +yellow teeth. Their conversation not interesting me, I left the car to stretch +my legs. At the door I met the lawyer and his lady. +</p> + +<p> +“You have no more time,” the lawyer said to me. “The second +bell is about to ring.” +</p> + +<p> +Indeed I had scarcely reached the rear of the train when the bell sounded. As I +entered the car again, the lawyer was talking with his companion in an animated +fashion. The merchant, sitting opposite them, was taciturn. +</p> + +<p> +“And then she squarely declared to her husband,” said the lawyer +with a smile, as I passed by them, “that she neither could nor would live +with him, because” . . . +</p> + +<p> +And he continued, but I did not hear the rest of the sentence, my attention +being distracted by the passing of the conductor and a new traveller. When +silence was restored, I again heard the lawyer’s voice. The conversation +had passed from a special case to general considerations. +</p> + +<p> +“And afterward comes discord, financial difficulties, disputes between +the two parties, and the couple separate. In the good old days that seldom +happened. Is it not so?” asked the lawyer of the two merchants, evidently +trying to drag them into the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the train started, and the old man, without answering, took off his +cap, and crossed himself three times while muttering a prayer. When he had +finished, he clapped his cap far down on his head, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, that happened in former times also, but not as often. In the +present day it is bound to happen more frequently. People have become too +learned.” +</p> + +<p> +The lawyer made some reply to the old man, but the train, ever increasing its +speed, made such a clatter upon the rails that I could no longer hear +distinctly. As I was interested in what the old man was saying, I drew nearer. +My neighbor, the nervous gentleman, was evidently interested also, and, without +changing his seat, he lent an ear. +</p> + +<p> +“But what harm is there in education?” asked the lady, with a smile +that was scarcely perceptible. “Would it be better to marry as in the old +days, when the bride and bridegroom did not even see each other before +marriage?” she continued, answering, as is the habit of our ladies, not +the words that her interlocutor had spoken, but the words she believed he was +going to speak. “Women did not know whether they would love or would be +loved, and they were married to the first comer, and suffered all their lives. +Then you think it was better so?” she continued, evidently addressing the +lawyer and myself, and not at all the old man. +</p> + +<p> +“People have become too learned,” repeated the last, looking at the +lady with contempt, and leaving her question unanswered. +</p> + +<p> +“I should be curious to know how you explain the correlation between +education and conjugal differences,” said the lawyer, with a slight +smile. +</p> + +<p> +The merchant wanted to make some reply, but the lady interrupted him. +</p> + +<p> +“No, those days are past.” +</p> + +<p> +The lawyer cut short her words:— +</p> + +<p> +“Let him express his thought.” +</p> + +<p> +“Because there is no more fear,” replied the old man. +</p> + +<p> +“But how will you marry people who do not love each other? Only animals +can be coupled at the will of a proprietor. But people have inclinations, +attachments,” the lady hastened to say, casting a glance at the lawyer, +at me, and even at the clerk, who, standing up and leaning his elbow on the +back of a seat, was listening to the conversation with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“You are wrong to say that, madam,” said the old man. “The +animals are beasts, but man has received the law.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, nevertheless, how is one to live with a man when there is no +love?” said the lady, evidently excited by the general sympathy and +attention. +</p> + +<p> +“Formerly no such distinctions were made,” said the old man, +gravely. “Only now have they become a part of our habits. As soon as the +least thing happens, the wife says: ‘I release you. I am going to leave +your house.’ Even among the moujiks this fashion has become acclimated. +‘There,’ she says, ‘here are your shirts and drawers. I am +going off with Vanka. His hair is curlier than yours.’ Just go talk with +them. And yet the first rule for the wife should be fear.” +</p> + +<p> +The clerk looked at the lawyer, the lady, and myself, evidently repressing a +smile, and all ready to deride or approve the merchant’s words, according +to the attitude of the others. +</p> + +<p> +“What fear?” said the lady. +</p> + +<p> +“This fear,—the wife must fear her husband; that is what +fear.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that, my little father, that is ended.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, madam, that cannot end. As she, Eve, the woman, was taken from +man’s ribs, so she will remain unto the end of the world,” said the +old man, shaking his head so triumphantly and so severely that the clerk, +deciding that the victory was on his side, burst into a loud laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, you men think so,” replied the lady, without surrendering, +and turning toward us. “You have given yourself liberty. As for woman, +you wish to keep her in the seraglio. To you, everything is permissible. Is it +not so?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, man,—that’s another affair.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, according to you, to man everything is permissible?” +</p> + +<p> +“No one gives him this permission; only, if the man behaves badly +outside, the family is not increased thereby; but the woman, the wife, is a +fragile vessel,” continued the merchant, severely. +</p> + +<p> +His tone of authority evidently subjugated his hearers. Even the lady felt +crushed, but she did not surrender. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but you will admit, I think, that woman is a human being, and has +feelings like her husband. What should she do if she does not love her +husband?” +</p> + +<p> +“If she does not love him!” repeated the old man, stormily, and +knitting his brows; “why, she will be made to love him.” +</p> + +<p> +This unexpected argument pleased the clerk, and he uttered a murmur of +approbation. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, she will not be forced,” said the lady. “Where there +is no love, one cannot be obliged to love in spite of herself.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if the wife deceives her husband, what is to be done?” said +the lawyer. +</p> + +<p> +“That should not happen,” said the old man. “He must have his +eyes about him.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if it does happen, all the same? You will admit that it does +happen?” +</p> + +<p> +“It happens among the upper classes, not among us,” answered the +old man. “And if any husband is found who is such a fool as not to rule +his wife, he will not have robbed her. But no scandal, nevertheless. Love or +not, but do not disturb the household. Every husband can govern his wife. He +has the necessary power. It is only the imbecile who does not succeed in doing +so.” +</p> + +<p> +Everybody was silent. The clerk moved, advanced, and, not wishing to lag behind +the others in the conversation, began with his eternal smile: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, in the house of our employer, a scandal has arisen, and it is very +difficult to view the matter clearly. The wife loved to amuse herself, and +began to go astray. He is a capable and serious man. First, it was with the +book-keeper. The husband tried to bring her back to reason through kindness. +She did not change her conduct. She plunged into all sorts of beastliness. She +began to steal his money. He beat her, but she grew worse and worse. To an +unbaptized, to a pagan, to a Jew (saving your permission), she went in +succession for her caresses. What could the employer do? He has dropped her +entirely, and now he lives as a bachelor. As for her, she is dragging in the +depths.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is an imbecile,” said the old man. “If from the first he +had not allowed her to go in her own fashion, and had kept a firm hand upon +her, she would be living honestly, no danger. Liberty must be taken away from +the beginning. Do not trust yourself to your horse upon the highway. Do not +trust yourself to your wife at home.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the conductor passed, asking for the tickets for the next +station. The old man gave up his. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, the feminine sex must be dominated in season, else all will +perish.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you yourselves, at Kounavino, did you not lead a gay life with the +pretty girls?” asked the lawyer with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that’s another matter,” said the merchant, severely. +“Good-by,” he added, rising. He wrapped himself in his cloak, +lifted his cap, and, taking his bag, left the car. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p> +Scarcely had the old man gone when a general conversation began. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a little Old Testament father for you,” said the +clerk. +</p> + +<p> +“He is a Domostroy,”[*] said the lady. “What savage ideas +about a woman and marriage!” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] The Domostroy is a matrimonial code of the days of Ivan the Terrible. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, gentlemen,” said the lawyer, “we are still a long way +from the European ideas upon marriage. First, the rights of woman, then free +marriage, then divorce, as a question not yet solved.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“The main thing, and the thing which such people as he do not +understand,” rejoined the lady, “is that only love consecrates +marriage, and that the real marriage is that which is consecrated by +love.” +</p> + +<p> +The clerk listened and smiled, with the air of one accustomed to store in his +memory all intelligent conversation that he hears, in order to make use of it +afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +“But what is this love that consecrates marriage?” said, suddenly, +the voice of the nervous and taciturn gentleman, who, unnoticed by us, had +approached. +</p> + +<p> +He was standing with his hand on the seat, and evidently agitated. His face was +red, a vein in his forehead was swollen, and the muscles of his cheeks +quivered. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this love that consecrates marriage?” he repeated. +</p> + +<p> +“What love?” said the lady. “The ordinary love of husband and +wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how, then, can ordinary love consecrate marriage?” continued +the nervous gentleman, still excited, and with a displeased air. He seemed to +wish to say something disagreeable to the lady. She felt it, and began to grow +agitated. +</p> + +<p> +“How? Why, very simply,” said she. +</p> + +<p> +The nervous gentleman seized the word as it left her lips. +</p> + +<p> +“No, not simply.” +</p> + +<p> +“Madam says,” interceded the lawyer indicating his companion, +“that marriage should be first the result of an attachment, of a love, if +you will, and that, when love exists, and in that case only, marriage +represents something sacred. But every marriage which is not based on a natural +attachment, on love, has in it nothing that is morally obligatory. Is not that +the idea that you intended to convey?” he asked the lady. +</p> + +<p> +The lady, with a nod of her head, expressed her approval of this translation of +her thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +“Then,” resumed the lawyer, continuing his remarks. +</p> + +<p> +But the nervous gentleman, evidently scarcely able to contain himself, without +allowing the lawyer to finish, asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir. But what are we to understand by this love that alone +consecrates marriage?” +</p> + +<p> +“Everybody knows what love is,” said the lady. +</p> + +<p> +“But I don’t know, and I should like to know how you define +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“How? It is very simple,” said the lady. +</p> + +<p> +And she seemed thoughtful, and then said: +</p> + +<p> +“Love . . . love . . . is a preference for one man or one woman to the +exclusion of all others. . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“A preference for how long? . . . For a month, two days, or half an +hour?” said the nervous gentleman, with special irritation. +</p> + +<p> +“No, permit me, you evidently are not talking of the same thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I am talking absolutely of the same thing. Of the preference for +one man or one woman to the exclusion of all others. But I ask: a preference +for how long?” +</p> + +<p> +“For how long? For a long time, for a life-time sometimes.” +</p> + +<p> +“But that happens only in novels. In life, never. In life this preference +for one to the exclusion of all others lasts in rare cases several years, +oftener several months, or even weeks, days, hours. . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sir. Oh, no, no, permit me,” said all three of us at the same +time. +</p> + +<p> +The clerk himself uttered a monosyllable of disapproval. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I know,” he said, shouting louder than all of us; “you +are talking of what is believed to exist, and I am talking of what is. Every +man feels what you call love toward each pretty woman he sees, and very little +toward his wife. That is the origin of the proverb,—and it is a true +one,—‘Another’s wife is a white swan, and ours is bitter +wormwood.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, but what you say is terrible! There certainly exists among human +beings this feeling which is called love, and which lasts, not for months and +years, but for life.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, that does not exist. Even if it should be admitted that Menelaus had +preferred Helen all his life, Helen would have preferred Paris; and so it has +been, is, and will be eternally. And it cannot be otherwise, just as it cannot +happen that, in a load of chick-peas, two peas marked with a special sign +should fall side by side. Further, this is not only an improbability, but it is +certain that a feeling of satiety will come to Helen or to Menelaus. The whole +difference is that to one it comes sooner, to the other later. It is only in +stupid novels that it is written that ‘they loved each other all their +lives.’ And none but children can believe it. To talk of loving a man or +woman for life is like saying that a candle can burn forever.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you are talking of physical love. Do you not admit a love based upon +a conformity of ideals, on a spiritual affinity?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not? But in that case it is not necessary to procreate together +(excuse my brutality). The point is that this conformity of ideals is not met +among old people, but among young and pretty persons,” said he, and he +began to laugh disagreeably. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I affirm that love, real love, does not consecrate marriage, as we +are in the habit of believing, but that, on the contrary, it ruins it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Permit me,” said the lawyer. “The facts contradict your +words. We see that marriage exists, that all humanity—at least the larger +portion—lives conjugally, and that many husbands and wives honestly end a +long life together.” +</p> + +<p> +The nervous gentleman smiled ill-naturedly. +</p> + +<p> +“And what then? You say that marriage is based upon love, and when I give +voice to a doubt as to the existence of any other love than sensual love, you +prove to me the existence of love by marriage. But in our day marriage is only +a violence and falsehood.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, pardon me,” said the lawyer. “I say only that marriages +have existed and do exist.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how and why do they exist? They have existed, and they do exist, for +people who have seen, and do see, in marriage something sacramental, a +sacrament that is binding before God. For such people marriages exist, but to +us they are only hypocrisy and violence. We feel it, and, to clear ourselves, +we preach free love; but, really, to preach free love is only a call backward +to the promiscuity of the sexes (excuse me, he said to the lady), the haphazard +sin of certain <i>raskolniks</i>. The old foundation is shattered; we must +build a new one, but we must not preach debauchery.” +</p> + +<p> +He grew so warm that all became silent, looking at him in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“And yet the transition state is terrible. People feel that haphazard sin +is inadmissible. It is necessary in some way or other to regulate the sexual +relations; but there exists no other foundation than the old one, in which +nobody longer believes? People marry in the old fashion, without believing in +what they do, and the result is falsehood, violence. When it is falsehood +alone, it is easily endured. The husband and wife simply deceive the world by +professing to live monogamically. If they really are polygamous and +polyandrous, it is bad, but acceptable. But when, as often happens, the husband +and the wife have taken upon themselves the obligation to live together all +their lives (they themselves do not know why), and from the second month have +already a desire to separate, but continue to live together just the same, then +comes that infernal existence in which they resort to drink, in which they fire +revolvers, in which they assassinate each other, in which they poison each +other.” +</p> + +<p> +All were silent, but we felt ill at ease. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, these critical episodes happen in marital life. For instance, there +is the Posdnicheff affair,” said the lawyer, wishing to stop the +conversation on this embarrassing and too exciting ground. “Have you read +how he killed his wife through jealousy?” +</p> + +<p> +The lady said that she had not read it. The nervous gentleman said nothing, and +changed color. +</p> + +<p> +“I see that you have divined who I am,” said he, suddenly, after a +pause. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I have not had that pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is no great pleasure. I am Posdnicheff.” +</p> + +<p> +New silence. He blushed, then turned pale again. +</p> + +<p> +“What matters it, however?” said he. “Excuse me, I do not +wish to embarrass you.” +</p> + +<p> +And he resumed his old seat. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p> +I resumed mine, also. The lawyer and the lady whispered together. I was sitting +beside Posdnicheff, and I maintained silence. I desired to talk to him, but I +did not know how to begin, and thus an hour passed until we reached the next +station. +</p> + +<p> +There the lawyer and the lady went out, as well as the clerk. We were left +alone, Posdnicheff and I. +</p> + +<p> +“They say it, and they lie, or they do not understand,” said +Posdnicheff. +</p> + +<p> +“Of what are you talking?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, still the same thing.” +</p> + +<p> +He leaned his elbows upon his knees, and pressed his hands against his temples. +</p> + +<p> +“Love, marriage, family,—all lies, lies, lies.” +</p> + +<p> +He rose, lowered the lamp-shade, lay down with his elbows on the cushion, and +closed his eyes. He remained thus for a minute. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it disagreeable to you to remain with me, now that you know who I +am?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have no desire to sleep?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then do you want me to tell you the story of my life?” +</p> + +<p> +Just then the conductor passed. He followed him with an ill-natured look, and +did not begin until he had gone again. Then during all the rest of the story he +did not stop once. Even the new travellers as they entered did not stop him. +</p> + +<p> +His face, while he was talking, changed several times so completely that it +bore positively no resemblance to itself as it had appeared just before. His +eyes, his mouth, his moustache, and even his beard, all were new. Each time it +was a beautiful and touching physiognomy, and these transformations were +produced suddenly in the penumbra; and for five minutes it was the same face, +that could not be compared to that of five minutes before. And then, I know not +how, it changed again, and became unrecognizable. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p> +“Well, I am going then to tell you my life, and my whole frightful +history,—yes, frightful. And the story itself is more frightful than the +outcome.” +</p> + +<p> +He became silent for a moment, passed his hands over his eyes, and +began:— +</p> + +<p> +“To be understood clearly, the whole must be told from the beginning. It +must be told how and why I married, and what I was before my marriage. First, I +will tell you who I am. The son of a rich gentleman of the steppes, an old +marshal of the nobility, I was a University pupil, a graduate of the law +school. I married in my thirtieth year. But before talking to you of my +marriage, I must tell you how I lived formerly, and what ideas I had of +conjugal life. I led the life of so many other so-called respectable +people,—that is, in debauchery. And like the majority, while leading the +life of a <i>débauché</i>, I was convinced that I was a man of irreproachable +morality. +</p> + +<p> +“The idea that I had of my morality arose from the fact that in my family +there was no knowledge of those special debaucheries, so common in the +surroundings of land-owners, and also from the fact that my father and my +mother did not deceive each other. In consequence of this, I had built from +childhood a dream of high and poetical conjugal life. My wife was to be +perfection itself, our mutual love was to be incomparable, the purity of our +conjugal life stainless. I thought thus, and all the time I marvelled at the +nobility of my projects. +</p> + +<p> +“At the same time, I passed ten years of my adult life without hurrying +toward marriage, and I led what I called the well-regulated and reasonable life +of a bachelor. I was proud of it before my friends, and before all men of my +age who abandoned themselves to all sorts of special refinements. I was not a +seducer, I had no unnatural tastes, I did not make debauchery the principal +object of my life; but I found pleasure within the limits of society’s +rules, and innocently believed myself a profoundly moral being. The women with +whom I had relations did not belong to me alone, and I asked of them nothing +but the pleasure of the moment. +</p> + +<p> +“In all this I saw nothing abnormal. On the contrary, from the fact that +I did not engage my heart, but paid in cash, I supposed that I was honest. I +avoided those women who, by attaching themselves to me, or presenting me with a +child, could bind my future. Moreover, perhaps there may have been children or +attachments; but I so arranged matters that I could not become aware of them. +</p> + +<p> +“And living thus, I considered myself a perfectly honest man. I did not +understand that debauchery does not consist simply in physical acts, that no +matter what physical ignominy does not yet constitute debauchery, and that real +debauchery consists in freedom from the moral bonds toward a woman with whom +one enters into carnal relations, and I regarded <i>this freedom</i> as a merit. I +remember that I once tortured myself exceedingly for having forgotten to pay a +woman who probably had given herself to me through love. I only became tranquil +again when, having sent her the money, I had thus shown her that I did not +consider myself as in any way bound to her. Oh, do not shake your head as if +you were in agreement with me (he cried suddenly with vehemence). I know these +tricks. All of you, and you especially, if you are not a rare exception, have +the same ideas that I had then. If you are in agreement with me, it is now +only. Formerly you did not think so. No more did I; and, if I had been told +what I have just told you, that which has happened would not have happened. +However, it is all the same. Excuse me (he continued): the truth is that it is +frightful, frightful, frightful, this abyss of errors and debaucheries in which +we live face to face with the real question of the rights of woman.” . . +. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean by the ‘real’ question of the rights of +woman?” +</p> + +<p> +“The question of the nature of this special being, organized otherwise +than man, and how this being and man ought to view the wife. . . .” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p> +“Yes: for ten years I lived the most revolting existence, while dreaming +of the noblest love, and even in the name of that love. Yes, I want to tell you +how I killed my wife, and for that I must tell you how I debauched myself. I +killed her before I knew her. +</p> + +<p> +“I killed <i>the</i> wife when I first tasted sensual joys without love, +and then it was that I killed <i>my</i> wife. Yes, sir: it is only after having +suffered, after having tortured myself, that I have come to understand the root +of things, that I have come to understand my crimes. Thus you will see where +and how began the drama that has led me to misfortune. +</p> + +<p> +“It is necessary to go back to my sixteenth year, when I was still at +school, and my elder brother a first-year student. I had not yet known women +but, like all the unfortunate children of our society, I was already no longer +innocent. I was tortured, as you were, I am sure, and as are tortured +ninety-nine one-hundredths of our boys. I lived in a frightful dread, I prayed +to God, and I prostrated myself. +</p> + +<p> +“I was already perverted in imagination, but the last steps remained to +be taken. I could still escape, when a friend of my brother, a very gay +student, one of those who are called good fellows,—that is, the greatest +of scamps,—and who had taught us to drink and play cards, took advantage +of a night of intoxication to drag us <small>THERE</small>. We started. My +brother, as innocent as I, fell that night, and I, a mere lad of sixteen, +polluted myself and helped to pollute a sister-woman, without understanding +what I did. Never had I heard from my elders that what I thus did was bad. It +is true that there are the ten commandments of the Bible; but the commandments +are made only to be recited before the priests at examinations, and even then +are not as exacting as the commandments in regard to the use of <i>ut</i> in +conditional propositions. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus, from my elders, whose opinion I esteemed, I had never heard that +this was reprehensible. On the contrary, I had heard people whom I respected +say that it was good. I had heard that my struggles and my sufferings would be +appeased after this act. I had heard it and read it. I had heard from my elders +that it was excellent for the health, and my friends have always seemed to +believe that it contained I know not what merit and valor. So nothing is seen +in it but what is praiseworthy. As for the danger of disease, it is a foreseen +danger. Does not the government guard against it? And even science corrupts +us.” +</p> + +<p> +“How so, science?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, the doctors, the pontiffs of science. Who pervert young people by +laying down such rules of hygiene? Who pervert women by devising and teaching +them ways by which not to have children? +</p> + +<p> +“Yes: if only a hundredth of the efforts spent in curing diseases were +spent in curing debauchery, disease would long ago have ceased to exist, +whereas now all efforts are employed, not in extirpating debauchery, but in +favoring it, by assuring the harmlessness of the consequences. Besides, it is +not a question of that. It is a question of this frightful thing that has +happened to me, as it happens to nine-tenths, if not more, not only of the men +of our society, but of all societies, even peasants,—this frightful thing +that I had fallen, and not because I was subjected to the natural seduction of +a certain woman. No, no woman seduced me. I fell because the surroundings in +which I found myself saw in this degrading thing only a legitimate function, +useful to the health; because others saw in it simply a natural amusement, not +only excusable, but even innocent in a young man. I did not understand that it +was a fall, and I began to give myself to those pleasures (partly from desire +and partly from necessity) which I was led to believe were characteristic of my +age, just as I had begun to drink and smoke. +</p> + +<p> +“And yet there was in this first fall something peculiar and touching. I +remember that straightway I was filled with such a profound sadness that I had +a desire to weep, to weep over the loss forever of my relations with woman. +Yes, my relations with woman were lost forever. Pure relations with women, from +that time forward, I could no longer have. I had become what is called a +voluptuary; and to be a voluptuary is a physical condition like the condition +of a victim of the morphine habit, of a drunkard, and of a smoker. +</p> + +<p> +“Just as the victim of the morphine habit, the drunkard, the smoker, is +no longer a normal man, so the man who has known several women for his pleasure +is no longer normal? He is abnormal forever. He is a voluptuary. Just as the +drunkard and the victim of the morphine habit may be recognized by their face +and manner, so we may recognize a voluptuary. He may repress himself and +struggle, but nevermore will he enjoy simple, pure, and fraternal relations +toward woman. By his way of glancing at a young woman one may at once recognize +a voluptuary; and I became a voluptuary, and I have remained one.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p> +“Yes, so it is; and that went farther and farther with all sorts of +variations. My God! when I remember all my cowardly acts and bad deeds, I am +frightened. And I remember that ‘me’ who, during that period, was +still the butt of his comrades’ ridicule on account of his innocence. +</p> + +<p> +“And when I hear people talk of the gilded youth, of the officers, of the +Parisians, and all these gentlemen, and myself, living wild lives at the age of +thirty, and who have on our consciences hundreds of crimes toward women, +terrible and varied, when we enter a parlor or a ball-room, washed, shaven, and +perfumed, with very white linen, in dress coats or in uniform, as emblems of +purity, oh, the disgust! There will surely come a time, an epoch, when all +these lives and all this cowardice will be unveiled! +</p> + +<p> +“So, nevertheless, I lived, until the age of thirty, without abandoning +for a minute my intention of marrying, and building an elevated conjugal life; +and with this in view I watched all young girls who might suit me. I was buried +in rottenness, and at the same time I looked for virgins, whose purity was +worthy of me! Many of them were rejected: they did not seem to me pure enough! +</p> + +<p> +“Finally I found one that I considered on a level with myself. She was +one of two daughters of a landed proprietor of Penza, formerly very rich and +since ruined. To tell the truth, without false modesty, they pursued me and +finally captured me. The mother (the father was away) laid all sorts of traps, +and one of these, a trip in a boat, decided my future. +</p> + +<p> +“I made up my mind at the end of the aforesaid trip one night, by +moonlight, on our way home, while I was sitting beside her. I admired her +slender body, whose charming shape was moulded by a jersey, and her curling +hair, and I suddenly concluded that <i>this was she</i>. It seemed to me on +that beautiful evening that she understood all that I thought and felt, and I +thought and felt the most elevating things. +</p> + +<p> +“Really, it was only the jersey that was so becoming to her, and her +curly hair, and also the fact that I had spent the day beside her, and that I +desired a more intimate relation. +</p> + +<p> +“I returned home enthusiastic, and I persuaded myself that she realized +the highest perfection, and that for that reason she was worthy to be my wife, +and the next day I made to her a proposal of marriage. +</p> + +<p> +“No, say what you will, we live in such an abyss of falsehood, that, +unless some event strikes us a blow on the head, as in my case, we cannot +awaken. What confusion! Out of the thousands of men who marry, not only among +us, but also among the people, scarcely will you find a single one who has not +previously married at least ten times. (It is true that there now exist, at +least so I have heard, pure young people who feel and know that this is not a +joke, but a serious matter. May God come to their aid! But in my time there was +not to be found one such in a thousand.) +</p> + +<p> +“And all know it, and pretend not to know it. In all the novels are +described down to the smallest details the feelings of the characters, the +lakes and brambles around which they walk; but, when it comes to describing +their <i>great</i> love, not a word is breathed of what <i>He</i>, the +interesting character, has previously done, not a word about his frequenting of +disreputable houses, or his association with nursery-maids, cooks, and the +wives of others. +</p> + +<p> +“And if anything is said of these things, such <i>improper</i> novels are +not allowed in the hands of young girls. All men have the air of believing, in +presence of maidens, that these corrupt pleasures, in which <i>everybody</i> +takes part, do not exist, or exist only to a very small extent. They pretend it +so carefully that they succeed in convincing themselves of it. As for the poor +young girls, they believe it quite seriously, just as my poor wife believed it. +</p> + +<p> +“I remember that, being already engaged, I showed her my +‘memoirs,’ from which she could learn more or less of my past, and +especially my last <i>liaison</i> which she might perhaps have discovered +through the gossip of some third party. It was for this last reason, for that +matter, that I felt the necessity of communicating these memoirs to her. I can +still see her fright, her despair, her bewilderment, when she had learned and +understood it. She was on the point of breaking the engagement. What a lucky +thing it would have been for both of us!” +</p> + +<p> +Posdnicheff was silent for a moment, and then resumed:— +</p> + +<p> +“After all, no! It is better that things happened as they did, +better!” he cried. “It was a good thing for me. Besides, it makes +no difference. I was saying that in these cases it is the poor young girls who +are deceived. As for the mothers, the mothers especially, informed by their +husbands, they know all, and, while pretending to believe in the purity of the +young man, they act as if they did not believe in it. +</p> + +<p> +“They know what bait must be held out to people for themselves and their +daughters. We men sin through ignorance, and a determination not to learn. As +for the women, they know very well that the noblest and most poetic love, as we +call it, depends, not on moral qualities, but on the physical intimacy, and +also on the manner of doing the hair, and the color and shape. +</p> + +<p> +“Ask an experienced coquette, who has undertaken to seduce a man, which +she would prefer,—to be convicted, in presence of the man whom she is +engaged in conquering, of falsehood, perversity, cruelty, or to appear before +him in an ill-fitting dress, or a dress of an unbecoming color. She will prefer +the first alternative. She knows very well that we simply lie when we talk of +our elevated sentiments, that we seek only the possession of her body, and that +because of that we will forgive her every sort of baseness, but will not +forgive her a costume of an ugly shade, without taste or fit. +</p> + +<p> +“And these things she knows by reason, where as the maiden knows them +only by instinct, like the animal. Hence these abominable jerseys, these +artificial humps on the back, these bare shoulders, arms, and throats. +</p> + +<p> +“Women, especially those who have passed through the school of marriage, +know very well that conversations upon elevated subjects are only +conversations, and that man seeks and desires the body and all that ornaments +the body. Consequently, they act accordingly? If we reject conventional +explanations, and view the life of our upper and lower classes as it is, with +all its shamelessness, it is only a vast perversity. You do not share this +opinion? Permit me, I am going to prove it to you (said he, interrupting me). +</p> + +<p> +“You say that the women of our society live for a different interest from +that which actuates fallen women. And I say no, and I am going to prove it to +you. If beings differ from one another according to the purpose of their life, +according to their <i>inner life</i>, this will necessarily be reflected also +in their <i>outer life</i>, and their exterior will be very different. Well, +then, compare the wretched, the despised, with the women of the highest +society: the same dresses, the same fashions, the same perfumeries, the same +passion for jewelry, for brilliant and very expensive articles, the same +amusements, dances, music, and songs. The former attract by all possible means; +so do the latter. No difference, none whatever! +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and I, too, was captivated by jerseys, bustles, and curly +hair.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p> +“And it was very easy to capture me, since I was brought up under +artificial conditions, like cucumbers in a hothouse. Our too abundant +nourishment, together with complete physical idleness, is nothing but +systematic excitement of the imagination. The men of our society are fed and +kept like reproductive stallions. It is sufficient to close the +valve,—that is, for a young man to live a quiet life for some +time,—to produce as an immediate result a restlessness, which, becoming +exaggerated by reflection through the prism of our unnatural life, provokes the +illusion of love. +</p> + +<p> +“All our idyls and marriage, all, are the result for the most part of our +eating. Does that astonish you? For my part, I am astonished that we do not see +it. Not far from my estate this spring some moujiks were working on a railway +embankment. You know what a peasant’s food is,—bread, +<i>kvass</i>,[*] onions. With this frugal nourishment he lives, he is alert, he +makes light work in the fields. But on the railway this bill of fare becomes +<i>cacha</i> and a pound of meat. Only he restores this meat by sixteen hours +of labor pushing loads weighing twelve hundred pounds. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] <i>Kvass</i>, a sort of cider. +</p> + +<p> +“And we, who eat two pounds of meat and game, we who absorb all sorts of +heating drinks and food, how do we expend it? In sensual excesses. If the valve +is open, all goes well; but close it, as I had closed it temporarily before my +marriage, and immediately there will result an excitement which, deformed by +novels, verses, music, by our idle and luxurious life, will give a love of the +finest water. I, too, fell in love, as everybody does, and there were +transports, emotions, poesy; but really all this passion was prepared by mamma +and the dressmakers. If there had been no trips in boats, no well-fitted +garments, etc., if my wife had worn some shapeless blouse, and I had seen her +thus at her home, I should not have been seduced.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p> +“And note, also, this falsehood, of which all are guilty; the way in +which marriages are made. What could there be more natural? The young girl is +marriageable, she should marry. What simpler, provided the young person is not +a monster, and men can be found with a desire to marry? Well, no, here begins a +new hypocrisy. +</p> + +<p> +“Formerly, when the maiden arrived at a favorable age, her marriage was +arranged by her parents. That was done, that is done still, throughout +humanity, among the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Mussulmans, and among our common +people also. Things are so managed in at least ninety-nine per cent. of the +families of the entire human race. +</p> + +<p> +“Only we riotous livers have imagined that this way was bad, and have +invented another. And this other,—what is it? It is this. The young girls +are seated, and the gentlemen walk up and down before them, as in a bazaar, and +make their choice. The maidens wait and think, but do not dare to say: +‘Take me, young man, me and not her. Look at these shoulders and the +rest.’ We males walk up and down, and estimate the merchandise, and then +we discourse upon the rights of woman, upon the liberty that she acquires, I +know not how, in the theatrical halls.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what is to be done?” said I to him. “Shall the woman +make the advances?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know. But, if it is a question of equality, let the equality be +complete. Though it has been found that to contract marriages through the +agency of match-makers is humiliating, it is nevertheless a thousand times +preferable to our system. There the rights and the chances are equal; here the +woman is a slave, exhibited in the market. But as she cannot bend to her +condition, or make advances herself, there begins that other and more +abominable lie which is sometimes called <i>going into society</i>, sometimes +<i>amusing one’s self</i>, and which is really nothing but the hunt for a +husband. +</p> + +<p> +“But say to a mother or to her daughter that they are engaged only in a +hunt for a husband. God! What an offence! Yet they can do nothing else, and +have nothing else to do; and the terrible feature of it all is to see sometimes +very young, poor, and innocent maidens haunted solely by such ideas. If only, I +repeat, it were done frankly; but it is always accompanied with lies and babble +of this sort:— +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ah, the descent of species! How interesting it is!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, Lily is much interested in painting.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Shall you go to the Exposition? How charming it is!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And the troika, and the plays, and the symphony. Ah, how +adorable!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘My Lise is passionately fond of music.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And you, why do you not share these convictions?’ +</p> + +<p> +“And through all this verbiage, all have but one single idea: ‘Take +me, take my Lise. No, me! Only try!’” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p> +“Do you know,” suddenly continued Posdnicheff, “that this +power of women from which the world suffers arises solely from what I have just +spoken of?” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean by the power of women?” I said. “Everybody, +on the contrary, complains that women have not sufficient rights, that they are +in subjection.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it; that’s it exactly,” said he, vivaciously. +“That is just what I mean, and that is the explanation of this +extraordinary phenomenon, that on the one hand woman is reduced to the lowest +degree of humiliation and on the other hand she reigns over everything. See the +Jews: with their power of money, they avenge their subjection, just as the +women do. ‘Ah! you wish us to be only merchants? All right; remaining +merchants, we will get possession of you,’ say the Jews. ‘Ah! you +wish us to be only objects of sensuality? All right; by the aid of sensuality +we will bend you beneath our yoke,’ say the women. +</p> + +<p> +“The absence of the rights of woman does not consist in the fact that she +has not the right to vote, or the right to sit on the bench, but in the fact +that in her affectional relations she is not the equal of man, she has not the +right to abstain, to choose instead of being chosen. You say that that would be +abnormal. Very well! But then do not let man enjoy these rights, while his +companion is deprived of them, and finds herself obliged to make use of the +coquetry by which she governs, so that the result is that man chooses +‘formally,’ whereas really it is woman who chooses. As soon as she +is in possession of her means, she abuses them, and acquires a terrible +supremacy.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where do you see this exceptional power?” +</p> + +<p> +“Where? Why, everywhere, in everything. Go see the stores in the large +cities. There are millions there, millions. It is impossible to estimate the +enormous quantity of labor that is expended there. In nine-tenths of these +stores is there anything whatever for the use of men? All the luxury of life is +demanded and sustained by woman. Count the factories; the greater part of them +are engaged in making feminine ornaments. Millions of men, generations of +slaves, die toiling like convicts simply to satisfy the whims of our +companions. +</p> + +<p> +“Women, like queens, keep nine-tenths of the human race as prisoners of +war, or as prisoners at hard labor. And all this because they have been +humiliated, because they have been deprived of rights equal to those which men +enjoy. They take revenge for our sensuality; they catch us in their nets. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, the whole thing is there. Women have made of themselves such a +weapon to act upon the senses that a young man, and even an old man, cannot +remain tranquil in their presence. Watch a popular festival, or our receptions +or ball-rooms. Woman well knows her influence there. You will see it in her +triumphant smiles. +</p> + +<p> +“As soon as a young man advances toward a woman, directly he falls under +the influence of this opium, and loses his head. Long ago I felt ill at ease +when I saw a woman too well adorned,—whether a woman of the people with +her red neckerchief and her looped skirt, or a woman of our own society in her +ball-room dress. But now it simply terrifies me. I see in it a danger to men, +something contrary to the laws; and I feel a desire to call a policeman, to +appeal for defence from some quarter, to demand that this dangerous object be +removed. +</p> + +<p> +“And this is not a joke, by any means. I am convinced, I am sure, that +the time will come—and perhaps it is not far distant—when the world +will understand this, and will be astonished that a society could exist in +which actions as harmful as those which appeal to sensuality by adorning the +body as our companions do were allowed. As well set traps along our public +streets, or worse than that.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p> +“That, then, was the way in which I was captured. I was in love, as it is +called; not only did <i>she</i> appear to me a perfect being, but I considered +myself a white blackbird. It is a commonplace fact that there is no one so low +in the world that he cannot find some one viler than himself, and consequently +puff with pride and self-contentment. I was in that situation. I did not marry +for money. Interest was foreign to the affair, unlike the marriages of most of +my acquaintances, who married either for money or for relations. First, I was +rich, she was poor. Second, I was especially proud of the fact that, while +others married with an intention of continuing their polygamic life as +bachelors, it was my firm intention to live monogamically after my engagement +and the wedding, and my pride swelled immeasurably. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I was a wretch, convinced that I was an angel. The period of my +engagement did not last long. I cannot remember those days without shame. What +an abomination! +</p> + +<p> +“It is generally agreed that love is a moral sentiment, a community of +thought rather than of sense. If that is the case, this community of thought +ought to find expression in words and conversation. Nothing of the sort. It was +extremely difficult for us to talk with each other. What a toil of Sisyphus was +our conversation! Scarcely had we thought of something to say, and said it, +when we had to resume our silence and try to discover new subjects. Literally, +we did not know what to say to each other. All that we could think of +concerning the life that was before us and our home was said. +</p> + +<p> +“And then what? If we had been animals, we should have known that we had +not to talk. But here, on the contrary, it was necessary to talk, and there +were no resources! For that which occupied our minds was not a thing to be +expressed in words. +</p> + +<p> +“And then that silly custom of eating bon-bons, that brutal gluttony for +sweetmeats, those abominable preparations for the wedding, those discussions +with mamma upon the apartments, upon the sleeping-rooms, upon the bedding, upon +the morning-gowns, upon the wrappers, the linen, the costumes! Understand that +if people married according to the old fashion, as this old man said just now, +then these eiderdown coverlets and this bedding would all be sacred details; +but with us, out of ten married people there is scarcely to be found one who, I +do not say believes in sacraments (whether he believes or not is a matter of +indifference to us), but believes in what he promises. Out of a hundred men, +there is scarcely one who has not married before, and out of fifty scarcely one +who has not made up his mind to deceive his wife. +</p> + +<p> +“The great majority look upon this journey to the church as a condition +necessary to the possession of a certain woman. Think then of the supreme +significance which material details must take on. Is it not a sort of sale, in +which a maiden is given over to a <i>débauché</i>, the sale being surrounded with the +most agreeable details?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p> +“All marry in this way. And I did like the rest. If the young people who +dream of the honeymoon only knew what a disillusion it is, and always a +disillusion! I really do not know why all think it necessary to conceal it. +</p> + +<p> +“One day I was walking among the shows in Paris, when, attracted by a +sign, I entered an establishment to see a bearded woman and a water-dog. The +woman was a man in disguise, and the dog was an ordinary dog, covered with a +sealskin, and swimming in a bath. It was not in the least interesting, but the +Barnum accompanied me to the exit very courteously, and, in addressing the +people who were coming in, made an appeal to my testimony. ‘Ask the +gentleman if it is not worth seeing! Come in, come in! It only costs a +franc!’ And in my confusion I did not dare to answer that there was +nothing curious to be seen, and it was upon my false shame that the Barnum must +have counted. +</p> + +<p> +“It must be the same with the persons who have passed through the +abominations of the honeymoon. They do not dare to undeceive their neighbor. +And I did the same. +</p> + +<p> +“The felicities of the honeymoon do not exist. On the contrary, it is a +period of uneasiness, of shame, of pity, and, above all, of +<i>ennui</i>,—of ferocious <i>ennui</i>. It is something like the feeling +of a youth when he is beginning to smoke. He desires to vomit; he drivels, and +swallows his drivel, pretending to enjoy this little amusement. The vice of +marriage . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“What! <i>Vice?</i>” I said. “But you are talking of one of +the most natural things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Natural!” said he. “Natural! No, I consider on the contrary +that it is against nature, and it is I, a perverted man, who have reached this +conviction. What would it be, then, if I had not known corruption? To a young +girl, to every unperverted young girl, it is an act extremely unnatural, just +as it is to children. My sister married, when very young, a man twice her own +age, and who was utterly corrupt. I remember how astonished we were the night +of her wedding, when, pale and covered with tears, she fled from her husband, +her whole body trembling, saying that for nothing in the world would she tell +what he wanted of her. +</p> + +<p> +“You say natural? It is natural to eat; that is a pleasant, agreeable +function, which no one is ashamed to perform from the time of his birth. No, it +is not natural. A pure young girl wants one thing,—children. Children, +yes, not a lover.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“But,” said I, with astonishment, “how would the human race +continue?” +</p> + +<p> +“But what is the use of its continuing?” he rejoined, vehemently. +</p> + +<p> +“What! What is the use? But then we should not exist.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why is it necessary that we should exist?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, to live, to be sure.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why live? The Schopenhauers, the Hartmanns, and all the Buddhists, +say that the greatest happiness is Nirvana, Non-Life; and they are right in +this sense,—that human happiness is coincident with the annihilation of +‘Self.’ Only they do not express themselves well. They say that +Humanity should annihilate itself to avoid its sufferings, that its object +should be to destroy itself. Now the object of Humanity cannot be to avoid +sufferings by annihilation, since suffering is the result of activity. The +object of activity cannot consist in suppressing its consequences. The object +of Man, as of Humanity, is happiness, and, to attain it, Humanity has a law +which it must carry out. This law consists in the union of beings. This union +is thwarted by the passions. And that is why, if the passions disappear, the +union will be accomplished. Humanity then will have carried out the law, and +will have no further reason to exist.” +</p> + +<p> +“And before Humanity carries out the law?” +</p> + +<p> +“In the meantime it will have the sign of the unfulfilled law, and the +existence of physical love. As long as this love shall exist, and because of +it, generations will be born, one of which will finally fulfil the law. When at +last the law shall be fulfilled, the Human Race will be annihilated. At least +it is impossible for us to conceive of Life in the perfect union of +people.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p> +“Strange theory!” cried I. +</p> + +<p> +“Strange in what? According to all the doctrines of the Church, the world +will have an end. Science teaches the same fatal conclusions. Why, then, is it +strange that the same thing should result from moral Doctrine? ‘Let those +who can, contain,’ said Christ. And I take this passage literally, as it +is written. That morality may exist between people in their worldly relations, +they must make complete chastity their object. In tending toward this end, man +humiliates himself. When he shall reach the last degree of humiliation, we +shall have moral marriage. +</p> + +<p> +“But if man, as in our society, tends only toward physical love, though +he may clothe it with pretexts and the false forms of marriage, he will have +only permissible debauchery, he will know only the same immoral life in which I +fell and caused my wife to fall, a life which we call the honest life of the +family. Think what a perversion of ideas must arise when the happiest situation +of man, liberty, chastity, is looked upon as something wretched and ridiculous. +The highest ideal, the best situation of woman, to be pure, to be a vestal, a +virgin, excites fear and laughter in our society. How many, how many young +girls sacrifice their purity to this Moloch of opinion by marrying rascals that +they may not remain virgins,—that is, superiors! Through fear of finding +themselves in that ideal state, they ruin themselves. +</p> + +<p> +“But I did not understand formerly, I did not understand that the words +of the Gospel, that ‘he who looks upon a woman to lust after her has +already committed adultery,’ do not apply to the wives of others, but +notably and especially to our own wives. I did not understand this, and I +thought that the honeymoon and all of my acts during that period were virtuous, +and that to satisfy one’s desires with his wife is an eminently chaste +thing. Know, then, that I consider these departures, these isolations, which +young married couples arrange with the permission of their parents, as nothing +else than a license to engage in debauchery. +</p> + +<p> +“I saw, then, in this nothing bad or shameful, and, hoping for great +joys, I began to live the honeymoon. And very certainly none of these joys +followed. But I had faith, and was determined to have them, cost what they +might. But the more I tried to secure them, the less I succeeded. All this time +I felt anxious, ashamed, and weary. Soon I began to suffer. I believe that on +the third or fourth day I found my wife sad and asked her the reason. I began +to embrace her, which in my opinion was all that she could desire. She put me +away with her hand, and began to weep. +</p> + +<p> +“At what? She could not tell me. She was filled with sorrow, with +anguish. Probably her tortured nerves had suggested to her the truth about the +baseness of our relations, but she found no words in which to say it. I began +to question her; she answered that she missed her absent mother. It seemed to +me that she was not telling the truth. I sought to console her by maintaining +silence in regard to her parents. I did not imagine that she felt herself +simply overwhelmed, and that her parents had nothing to do with her sorrow. She +did not listen to me, and I accused her of caprice. I began to laugh at her +gently. She dried her tears, and began to reproach me, in hard and wounding +terms, for my selfishness and cruelty. +</p> + +<p> +“I looked at her. Her whole face expressed hatred, and hatred of me. I +cannot describe to you the fright which this sight gave me. ‘How? +What?’ thought I, ‘love is the unity of souls, and here she hates +me? Me? Why? But it is impossible! It is no longer she!’ +</p> + +<p> +“I tried to calm her. I came in conflict with an immovable and cold +hostility, so that, having no time to reflect, I was seized with keen +irritation. We exchanged disagreeable remarks. The impression of this first +quarrel was terrible. I say quarrel, but the term is inexact. It was the sudden +discovery of the abyss that had been dug between us. Love was exhausted with +the satisfaction of sensuality. We stood face to face in our true light, like +two egoists trying to procure the greatest possible enjoyment, like two +individuals trying to mutually exploit each other. +</p> + +<p> +“So what I called our quarrel was our actual situation as it appeared +after the satisfaction of sensual desire. I did not realize that this cold +hostility was our normal state, and that this first quarrel would soon be +drowned under a new flood of the intensest sensuality. I thought that we had +disputed with each other, and had become reconciled, and that it would not +happen again. But in this same honeymoon there came a period of satiety, in +which we ceased to be necessary to each other, and a new quarrel broke out. +</p> + +<p> +“It became evident that the first was not a matter of chance. ‘It +was inevitable,’ I thought. This second quarrel stupefied me the more, +because it was based on an extremely unjust cause. It was something like a +question of money,—and never had I haggled on that score; it was even +impossible that I should do so in relation to her. I only remember that, in +answer to some remark that I made, she insinuated that it was my intention to +rule her by means of money, and that it was upon money that I based my sole +right over her. In short, something extraordinarily stupid and base, which was +neither in my character nor in hers. +</p> + +<p> +“I was beside myself. I accused her of indelicacy. She made the same +accusation against me, and the dispute broke out. In her words, in the +expression of her face, of her eyes, I noticed again the hatred that had so +astonished me before. With a brother, friends, my father, I had occasionally +quarrelled, but never had there been between us this fierce spite. Some time +passed. Our mutual hatred was again concealed beneath an access of sensual +desire, and I again consoled myself with the reflection that these scenes were +reparable faults. +</p> + +<p> +“But when they were repeated a third and a fourth time, I understood that +they were not simply faults, but a fatality that must happen again. I was no +longer frightened, I was simply astonished that I should be precisely the one +to live so uncomfortably with my wife, and that the same thing did not happen +in other households. I did not know that in all households the same sudden +changes take place, but that all, like myself, imagine that it is a misfortune +exclusively reserved for themselves alone, which they carefully conceal as +shameful, not only to others, but to themselves, like a bad disease. +</p> + +<p> +“That was what happened to me. Begun in the early days, it continued and +increased with characteristics of fury that were ever more pronounced. At the +bottom of my soul, from the first weeks, I felt that I was in a trap, that I +had what I did not expect, and that marriage is not a joy, but a painful trial. +Like everybody else, I refused to confess it (I should not have confessed it +even now but for the outcome). Now I am astonished to think that I did not see +my real situation. It was so easy to perceive it, in view of those quarrels, +begun for reasons so trivial that afterwards one could not recall them. +</p> + +<p> +“Just as it often happens among gay young people that, in the absence of +jokes, they laugh at their own laughter, so we found no reasons for our hatred, +and we hated each other because hatred was naturally boiling up in us. More +extraordinary still was the absence of causes for reconciliation. +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes words, explanations, or even tears, but sometimes, I remember, +after insulting words, there tacitly followed embraces and declarations. +Abomination! Why is it that I did not then perceive this baseness?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p> +“All of us, men and women, are brought up in these aberrations of feeling +that we call love. I from childhood had prepared myself for this thing, and I +loved, and I loved during all my youth, and I was joyous in loving. It had been +put into my head that it was the noblest and highest occupation in the world. +But when this expected feeling came at last, and I, a man, abandoned myself to +it, the lie was pierced through and through. Theoretically a lofty love is +conceivable; practically it is an ignoble and degrading thing, which it is +equally disgusting to talk about and to remember. It is not in vain that nature +has made ceremonies, but people pretend that the ignoble and the shameful is +beautiful and lofty. +</p> + +<p> +“I will tell you brutally and briefly what were the first signs of my +love. I abandoned myself to beastly excesses, not only not ashamed of them, but +proud of them, giving no thought to the intellectual life of my wife. And not +only did I not think of her intellectual life, I did not even consider her +physical life. +</p> + +<p> +“I was astonished at the origin of our hostility, and yet how clear it +was! This hostility is nothing but a protest of human nature against the beast +that enslaves it. It could not be otherwise. This hatred was the hatred of +accomplices in a crime. Was it not a crime that, this poor woman having become +pregnant in the first month, our <i>liaison</i> should have continued just the +same? +</p> + +<p> +“You imagine that I am wandering from my story. Not at all. I am always +giving you an account of the events that led to the murder of my wife. The +imbeciles! They think that I killed my wife on the 5th of October. It was long +before that that I immolated her, just as they all kill now. Understand well +that in our society there is an idea shared by all that woman procures man +pleasure (and <i>vice versa</i>, probably, but I know nothing of that, I only +know my own case). <i>Wein, Weiber und Gesang</i>. So say the poets in their +verses: Wine, women, and song! +</p> + +<p> +“If it were only that! Take all the poetry, the painting, the sculpture, +beginning with Pouschkine’s ‘Little Feet,’ with ‘Venus +and Phryne,’ and you will see that woman is only a means of enjoyment. +That is what she is at Trouba,[*] at Gratchevka, and in a court ball-room. And +think of this diabolical trick: if she were a thing without moral value, it +might be said that woman is a fine morsel; but, in the first place, these +knights assure us that they adore woman (they adore her and look upon her, +however, as a means of enjoyment), then all assure us that they esteem woman. +Some give up their seats to her, pick up her handkerchief; others recognize in +her a right to fill all offices, participate in government, etc., but, in spite +of all that, the essential point remains the same. She is, she remains, an +object of sensual desire, and she knows it. It is slavery, for slavery is +nothing else than the utilization of the labor of some for the enjoyment of +others. That slavery may not exist people must refuse to enjoy the labor of +others, and look upon it as a shameful act and as a sin. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[*] A suburb of Moscow. +</p> + +<p> +“Actually, this is what happens. They abolish the external form, they +suppress the formal sales of slaves, and then they imagine and assure others +that slavery is abolished. They are unwilling to see that it still exists, +since people, as before, like to profit by the labor of others, and think it +good and just. This being given, there will always be found beings stronger or +more cunning than others to profit thereby. The same thing happens in the +emancipation of woman. At bottom feminine servitude consists entirely in her +assimilation with a means of pleasure. They excite woman, they give her all +sorts of rights equal to those of men, but they continue to look upon her as an +object of sensual desire, and thus they bring her up from infancy and in public +opinion. +</p> + +<p> +“She is always the humiliated and corrupt serf, and man remains always +the debauched Master. Yes, to abolish slavery, public opinion must admit that +it is shameful to exploit one’s neighbor, and, to make woman free, public +opinion must admit that it is shameful to consider woman as an instrument of +pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +“The emancipation of woman is not to be effected in the public courts or +in the chamber of deputies, but in the sleeping chamber. Prostitution is to be +combated, not in the houses of ill-fame, but in the family. They free woman in +the public courts and in the chamber of deputies, but she remains an +instrument. Teach her, as she is taught among us, to look upon herself as such, +and she will always remain an inferior being. Either, with the aid of the +rascally doctors, she will try to prevent conception, and descend, not to the +level of an animal, but to the level of a thing; or she will be what she is in +the great majority of cases,—sick, hysterical, wretched, without hope of +spiritual progress.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“But why that?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! the most astonishing thing is that no one is willing to see this +thing, evident as it is, which the doctors must understand, but which they take +good care not to do. Man does not wish to know the law of +nature,—children. But children are born and become an embarrassment. Then +man devises means of avoiding this embarrassment. We have not yet reached the +low level of Europe, nor Paris, nor the ‘system of two children,’ +nor Mahomet. We have discovered nothing, because we have given it no thought. +We feel that there is something bad in the two first means; but we wish to +preserve the family, and our view of woman is still worse. +</p> + +<p> +“With us woman must be at the same time mistress and nurse, and her +strength is not sufficient. That is why we have hysteria, nervous attacks, and, +among the peasants, witchcraft. Note that among the young girls of the +peasantry this state of things does not exist, but only among the wives, and +the wives who live with their husbands. The reason is clear, and this is the +cause of the intellectual and moral decline of woman, and of her abasement. +</p> + +<p> +“If they would only reflect what a grand work for the wife is the period +of gestation! In her is forming the being who continues us, and this holy work +is thwarted and rendered painful . . . by what? It is frightful to think of it! +And after that they talk of the liberties and the rights of woman! It is like +the cannibals fattening their prisoners in order to devour them, and assuring +these unfortunates at the same time that their rights and their liberties are +guarded!” +</p> + +<p> +All this was new to me, and astonished me very much. +</p> + +<p> +“But if this is so,” said I, “it follows that one may love +his wife only once every two years; and as man” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“And as man has need of her, you are going to say. At least, so the +priests of science assure us. I would force these priests to fulfil the +function of these women, who, in their opinion, are necessary to man. I wonder +what song they would sing then. Assure man that he needs brandy, tobacco, +opium, and he will believe those poisons necessary. It follows that God did not +know how to arrange matters properly, since, without asking the opinions of the +priests, he has combined things as they are. Man needs, so they have decided, +to satisfy his sensual desire, and here this function is disturbed by the birth +and the nursing of children. +</p> + +<p> +“What, then, is to be done? Why, apply to the priests; they will arrange +everything, and they have really discovered a way. When, then, will these +rascals with their lies be uncrowned! It is high time. We have had enough of +them. People go mad, and shoot each other with revolvers, and always because of +that! And how could it be otherwise? +</p> + +<p> +“One would say that the animals know that descent continues their race, +and that they follow a certain law in regard thereto. Only man does not know +this, and is unwilling to know it. He cares only to have as much sensual +enjoyment as possible. The king of nature,—man! In the name of his love +he kills half the human race. Of woman, who ought to be his aid in the movement +of humanity toward liberty, he makes, in the name of his pleasures, not an aid, +but an enemy. Who is it that everywhere puts a check upon the progressive +movement of humanity? Woman. Why is it so? +</p> + +<p> +“For the reason that I have given, and for that reason only.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p> +“Yes, much worse than the animal is man when he does not live as a man. +Thus was I. The horrible part is that I believed, inasmuch as I did not allow +myself to be seduced by other women that I was leading an honest family life, +that I was a very moral being, and that if we had quarrels, the fault was in +my wife, and in her character. +</p> + +<p> +“But it is evident that the fault was not in her. She was like everybody +else, like the majority. She was brought up according to the principles exacted +by the situation of our society,—that is, as all the young girls of our +wealthy classes, without exception, are brought up, and as they cannot fail to +be brought up. How many times we hear or read of reflections upon the abnormal +condition of women, and upon what they ought to be. But these are only vain +words. The education of women results from the real and not imaginary view +which the world entertains of women’s vocation. According to this view, +the condition of women consists in procuring pleasure and it is to that end +that her education is directed. From her infancy she is taught only those +things that are calculated to increase her charm. Every young girl is +accustomed to think only of that. +</p> + +<p> +“As the serfs were brought up solely to please their masters, so woman is +brought up to attract men. It cannot be otherwise. But you will say, perhaps, +that that applies only to young girls who are badly brought up, but that there +is another education, an education that is serious, in the schools, an +education in the dead languages, an education in the institutions of midwifery, +an education in medical courses, and in other courses. It is false. +</p> + +<p> +“Every sort of feminine education has for its sole object the attraction +of men. +</p> + +<p> +“Some attract by music or curly hair, others by science or by civic +virtue. The object is the same, and cannot be otherwise (since no other object +exists),—to seduce man in order to possess him. Imagine courses of +instruction for women and feminine science without men,—that is, learned +women, and men not <i>knowing</i> them as learned. Oh, no! No education, no +instruction can change woman as long as her highest ideal shall be marriage and +not virginity, freedom from sensuality. Until that time she will remain a serf. +One need only imagine, forgetting the universality of the case, the conditions +in which our young girls are brought up, to avoid astonishment at the +debauchery of the women of our upper classes. It is the opposite that would +cause astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Follow my reasoning. From infancy garments, ornaments, cleanliness, +grace, dances, music, reading of poetry, novels, singing, the theatre, the +concert, for use within and without, according as women listen, or practice +themselves. With that, complete physical idleness, an excessive care of the +body, a vast consumption of sweetmeats; and God knows how the poor maidens +suffer from their own sensuality, excited by all these things. Nine out of ten +are tortured intolerably during the first period of maturity, and afterward +provided they do not marry at the age of twenty. That is what we are unwilling +to see, but those who have eyes see it all the same. And even the majority of +these unfortunate creatures are so excited by a hidden sensuality (and it is +lucky if it is hidden) that they are fit for nothing. They become animated only +in the presence of men. Their whole life is spent in preparations for coquetry, +or in coquetry itself. In the presence of men they become too animated; they +begin to live by sensual energy. But the moment the man goes away, the life +stops. +</p> + +<p> +“And that, not in the presence of a certain man, but in the presence of +any man, provided he is not utterly hideous. You will say that this is an +exception. No, it is a rule. Only in some it is made very evident, in others +less so. But no one lives by her own life; they are all dependent upon man. +They cannot be otherwise, since to them the attraction of the greatest number +of men is the ideal of life (young girls and married women), and it is for this +reason that they have no feeling stronger than that of the animal need of every +female who tries to attract the largest number of males in order to increase +the opportunities for choice. So it is in the life of young girls, and so it +continues during marriage. In the life of young girls it is necessary in order +to selection, and in marriage it is necessary in order to rule the husband. +Only one thing suppresses or interrupts these tendencies for a +time,—namely, children,—and then only when the woman is not a +monster,—that is, when she nurses her own children. Here again the doctor +interferes. +</p> + +<p> +“With my wife, who desired to nurse her own children, and who did nurse +six of them, it happened that the first child was sickly. The doctors, who +cynically undressed her and felt of her everywhere, and whom I had to thank and +pay for these acts,—these dear doctors decided that she ought not to +nurse her child, and she was temporarily deprived of the only remedy for +coquetry. A nurse finished the nursing of this first-born,—that is to +say, we profited by the poverty and ignorance of a woman to steal her from her +own little one in favor of ours, and for that purpose we dressed her in a +<i>kakoschnik</i> trimmed with gold lace. Nevertheless, that is not the +question; but there was again awakened in my wife that coquetry which had been +sleeping during the nursing period. Thanks to that, she reawakened in me the +torments of jealousy which I had formerly known, though in a much slighter +degree.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p> +“Yes, jealousy, that is another of the secrets of marriage known to all +and concealed by all. Besides the general cause of the mutual hatred of +husbands and wives resulting from complicity in the pollution of a human being, +and also from other causes, the inexhaustible source of marital wounds is +jealousy. But by tacit consent it is determined to conceal them from all, and +we conceal them. Knowing them, each one supposes in himself that it is an +unfortunate peculiarity, and not a common destiny. So it was with me, and it +had to be so. There cannot fail to be jealousy between husbands and wives who +live immorally. If they cannot sacrifice their pleasures for the welfare of +their child, they conclude therefrom, and truly, that they will not sacrifice +their pleasures for, I will not say happiness and tranquillity (since one may +sin in secret), but even for the sake of conscience. Each one knows very well +that neither admits any high moral reasons for not betraying the other, since +in their mutual relations they fail in the requirements of morality, and from +that time distrust and watch each other. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, what a frightful feeling of jealousy! I do not speak of that real +jealousy which has foundations (it is tormenting, but it promises an issue), +but of that unconscious jealousy which inevitably accompanies every immoral +marriage, and which, having no cause, has no end. This jealousy is frightful. +Frightful, that is the word. +</p> + +<p> +“And this is it. A young man speaks to my wife. He looks at her with a +smile, and, as it seems to me, he surveys her body. How does he dare to think +of her, to think of the possibility of a romance with her? And how can she, +seeing this, tolerate him? Not only does she tolerate him, but she seems +pleased. I even see that she puts herself to trouble on his account. And in my +soul there rises such a hatred for her that each of her words, each gesture, +disgusts me. She notices it, she knows not what to do, and how assume an air of +indifferent animation? Ah! I suffer! That makes her gay, she is content. And my +hatred increases tenfold, but I do not dare to give it free force, because at +the bottom of my soul I know that there are no real reasons for it, and I +remain in my seat, feigning indifference, and exaggerating my attention and +courtesy to <i>him</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I get angry with myself. I desire to leave the room, to leave them +alone, and I do, in fact, go out; but scarcely am I outside when I am invaded +by a fear of what is taking place within my absence. I go in again, inventing +some pretext. Or sometimes I do not go in; I remain near the door, and listen. +How can she humiliate herself and humiliate me by placing me in this cowardly +situation of suspicion and espionage? Oh, abomination! Oh, the wicked animal! +And he too, what does he think of you? But he is like all men. He is what I was +before my marriage. It gives him pleasure. He even smiles when he looks at me, +as much as to say: ‘What have you to do with this? It is my turn +now.’ +</p> + +<p> +“This feeling is horrible. Its burn is unendurable. To entertain this +feeling toward any one, to once suspect a man of lusting after my wife, was +enough to spoil this man forever in my eyes, as if he had been sprinkled with +vitriol. Let me once become jealous of a being, and nevermore could I +re-establish with him simple human relations, and my eyes flashed when I looked +at him. +</p> + +<p> +“As for my wife, so many times had I enveloped her with this moral +vitriol, with this jealous hatred, that she was degraded thereby. In the +periods of this causeless hatred I gradually uncrowned her. I covered her with +shame in my imagination. +</p> + +<p> +“I invented impossible knaveries. I suspected, I am ashamed to say, that +she, this queen of ‘The Thousand and One Nights,’ deceived me with +my serf, under my very eyes, and laughing at me. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus, with each new access of jealousy (I speak always of causeless +jealousy), I entered into the furrow dug formerly by my filthy suspicions, and +I continually deepened it. She did the same thing. If I have reasons to be +jealous, she who knew my past had a thousand times more. And she was more +ill-natured in her jealousy than I. And the sufferings that I felt from her +jealousy were different, and likewise very painful. +</p> + +<p> +“The situation may be described thus. We are living more or less +tranquilly. I am even gay and contented. Suddenly we start a conversation on +some most commonplace subject, and directly she finds herself disagreeing with +me upon matters concerning which we have been generally in accord. And +furthermore I see that, without any necessity therefor, she is becoming +irritated. I think that she has a nervous attack, or else that the subject of +conversation is really disagreeable to her. We talk of something else, and that +begins again. Again she torments me, and becomes irritated. I am astonished and +look for a reason. Why? For what? She keeps silence, answers me with +monosyllables, evidently making allusions to something. I begin to divine that +the reason of all this is that I have taken a few walks in the garden with her +cousin, to whom I did not give even a thought. I begin to divine, but I cannot +say so. If I say so, I confirm her suspicions. I interrogate her, I question +her. She does not answer, but she sees that I understand, and that confirms her +suspicions. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What is the matter with you?’ I ask. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Nothing, I am as well as usual,’ she answers. +</p> + +<p> +“And at the same time, like a crazy woman, she gives utterance to the +silliest remarks, to the most inexplicable explosions of spite. +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes I am patient, but at other times I break out with anger. Then +her own irritation is launched forth in a flood of insults, in charges of +imaginary crimes and all carried to the highest degree by sobs, tears, and +retreats through the house to the most improbable spots. I go to look for her. +I am ashamed before people, before the children, but there is nothing to be +done. She is in a condition where I feel that she is ready for anything. I run, +and finally find her. Nights of torture follow, in which both of us, with +exhausted nerves, appease each other, after the most cruel words and +accusations. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, jealousy, causeless jealousy, is the condition of our debauched +conjugal life. And throughout my marriage never did I cease to feel it and to +suffer from it. There were two periods in which I suffered most intensely. The +first time was after the birth of our first child, when the doctors had +forbidden my wife to nurse it. I was particularly jealous, in the first place, +because my wife felt that restlessness peculiar to animal matter when the +regular course of life is interrupted without occasion. But especially was I +jealous because, having seen with what facility she had thrown off her moral +duties as a mother, I concluded rightly, though unconsciously, that she would +throw off as easily her conjugal duties, feeling all the surer of this because +she was in perfect health, as was shown by the fact that, in spite of the +prohibition of the dear doctors, she nursed her following children, and even +very well.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see that you have no love for the doctors,” said I, having +noticed Posdnicheff’s extraordinarily spiteful expression of face and +tone of voice whenever he spoke of them. +</p> + +<p> +“It is not a question of loving them or of not loving them. They have +ruined my life, as they have ruined the lives of thousands of beings before me, +and I cannot help connecting the consequence with the cause. I conceive that +they desire, like the lawyers and the rest, to make money. I would willingly +have given them half of my income—and any one would have done it in my +place, understanding what they do—if they had consented not to meddle in +my conjugal life, and to keep themselves at a distance. I have compiled no +statistics, but I know scores of cases—in reality, they are +innumerable—where they have killed, now a child in its mother’s +womb, asserting positively that the mother could not give birth to it (when the +mother could give birth to it very well), now mothers, under the pretext of a +so-called operation. No one has counted these murders, just as no one counted +the murders of the Inquisition, because it was supposed that they were +committed for the benefit of humanity. Innumerable are the crimes of the +doctors! But all these crimes are nothing compared with the materialistic +demoralization which they introduce into the world through women. I say nothing +of the fact that, if it were to follow their advice,—thanks to the +microbe which they see everywhere,—humanity, instead of tending to union, +would proceed straight to complete disunion. Everybody, according to their +doctrine, should isolate himself, and never remove from his mouth a syringe +filled with phenic acid (moreover, they have found out now that it does no +good). But I would pass over all these things. The supreme poison is the +perversion of people, especially of women. One can no longer say now: +‘You live badly, live better.’ One can no longer say it either to +himself or to others, for, if you live badly (say the doctors), the cause is in +the nervous system or in something similar, and it is necessary to go to +consult them, and they will prescribe for you thirty-five copecks’ worth +of remedies to be bought at the drug-store, and you must swallow them. Your +condition grows worse? Again to the doctors, and more remedies! An excellent +business! +</p> + +<p> +“But to return to our subject. I was saying that my wife nursed her +children well, that the nursing and the gestation of the children, and the +children in general, quieted my tortures of jealousy, but that, on the other +hand, they provoked torments of a different sort.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<p> +“The children came rapidly, one after another, and there happened what +happens in our society with children and doctors. Yes, children, maternal love, +it is a painful thing. Children, to a woman of our society, are not a joy, a +pride, nor a fulfilment of her vocation, but a cause of fear, anxiety, and +interminable suffering, torture. Women say it, they think it, and they feel it +too. Children to them are really a torture, not because they do not wish to +give birth to them, nurse them, and care for them (women with a strong maternal +instinct—and such was my wife—are ready to do that), but because +the children may fall sick and die. They do not wish to give birth to them, and +then not love them; and when they love, they do not wish to feel fear for the +child’s health and life. That is why they do not wish to nurse them. +‘If I nurse it,’ they say, ‘I shall become too fond of +it.’ One would think that they preferred india-rubber children, which +could neither be sick nor die, and could always be repaired. What an +entanglement in the brains of these poor women! Why such abominations to avoid +pregnancy, and to avoid the love of the little ones? +</p> + +<p> +“Love, the most joyous condition of the soul, is represented as a danger. +And why? Because, when a man does not live as a man, he is worse than a beast. +A woman cannot look upon a child otherwise than as a pleasure. It is true that +it is painful to give birth to it, but what little hands! . . . Oh, the little +hands! Oh, the little feet! Oh, its smile! Oh, its little body! Oh, its +prattle! Oh, its hiccough! In a word, it is a feeling of animal, sensual +maternity. But as for any idea as to the mysterious significance of the +appearance of a new human being to replace us, there is scarcely a sign of it. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing of it appears in all that is said and done. No one has any faith +now in a baptism of the child, and yet that was nothing but a reminder of the +human significance of the newborn babe. +</p> + +<p> +“They have rejected all that, but they have not replaced it, and there +remain only the dresses, the laces, the little hands, the little feet, and +whatever exists in the animal. But the animal has neither imagination, nor +foresight, nor reason, nor a doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“No! not even a doctor! The chicken droops its head, overwhelmed, or the +calf dies; the hen clucks and the cow lows for a time, and then these beasts +continue to live, forgetting what has happened. +</p> + +<p> +“With us, if the child falls sick, what is to be done, how to care for +it, what doctor to call, where to go? If it dies, there will be no more little +hands or little feet, and then what is the use of the sufferings endured? The +cow does not ask all that, and this is why children are a source of misery. The +cow has no imagination, and for that reason cannot think how it might have +saved the child if it had done this or that, and its grief, founded in its +physical being, lasts but a very short time. It is only a condition, and not +that sorrow which becomes exaggerated to the point of despair, thanks to +idleness and satiety. The cow has not that reasoning faculty which would enable +it to ask the why. Why endure all these tortures? What was the use of so much +love, if the little ones were to die? The cow has no logic which tells it to +have no more children, and, if any come accidentally, to neither love nor nurse +them, that it may not suffer. But our wives reason, and reason in this way, and +that is why I said that, when a man does not live as a man, he is beneath the +animal.” +</p> + +<p> +“But then, how is it necessary to act, in your opinion, in order to treat +children humanly?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“How? Why, love them humanly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, do not mothers love their children?” +</p> + +<p> +“They do not love them humanly, or very seldom do, and that is why they +do not love them even as dogs. Mark this, a hen, a goose, a wolf, will always +remain to woman inaccessible ideals of animal love. It is a rare thing for a +woman to throw herself, at the peril of her life, upon an elephant to snatch +her child away, whereas a hen or a sparrow will not fail to fly at a dog and +sacrifice itself utterly for its children. Observe this, also. Woman has the +power to limit her physical love for her children, which an animal cannot do. +Does that mean that, because of this, woman is inferior to the animal? No. She +is superior (and even to say superior is unjust, she is not superior, she is +different), but she has other duties, human duties. She can restrain herself in +the matter of animal love, and transfer her love to the soul of the child. That +is what woman’s <i>rôle</i> should be, and that is precisely what we do +not see in our society. We read of the heroic acts of mothers who sacrifice +their children in the name of a superior idea, and these things seem to us like +tales of the ancient world, which do not concern us. And yet I believe that, if +the mother has not some ideal, in the name of which she can sacrifice the +animal feeling, and if this force finds no employment, she will transfer it to +chimerical attempts to physically preserve her child, aided in this task by the +doctor, and she will suffer as she does suffer. +</p> + +<p> +“So it was with my wife. Whether there was one child or five, the feeling +remained the same. In fact, it was a little better when there had been five. +Life was always poisoned with fear for the children, not only from their real +or imaginary diseases, but even by their simple presence. For my part, at +least, throughout my conjugal life, all my interests and all my happiness +depended upon the health of my children, their condition, their studies. +Children, it is needless to say, are a serious consideration; but all ought to +live, and in our days parents can no longer live. Regular life does not exist +for them. The whole life of the family hangs by a hair. What a terrible thing +it is to suddenly receive the news that little Basile is vomiting, or that Lise +has a cramp in the stomach! Immediately you abandon everything, you forget +everything, everything becomes nothing. The essential thing is the doctor, the +enema, the temperature. You cannot begin a conversation but little Pierre comes +running in with an anxious air to ask if he may eat an apple, or what jacket he +shall put on, or else it is the servant who enters with a screaming baby. +</p> + +<p> +“Regular, steady family life does not exist. Where you live, and +consequently what you do, depends upon the health of the little ones, the +health of the little ones depends upon nobody, and, thanks to the doctors, who +pretend to aid health, your entire life is disturbed. It is a perpetual peril. +Scarcely do we believe ourselves out of it when a new danger comes: more +attempts to save. Always the situation of sailors on a foundering vessel. +Sometimes it seemed to me that this was done on purpose, that my wife feigned +anxiety in order to conquer me, since that solved the question so simply for +her benefit. It seemed to me that all that she did at those times was done for +its effect upon me, but now I see that she herself, my wife, suffered and was +tortured on account of the little ones, their health, and their diseases. +</p> + +<p> +“A torture to both of us, but to her the children were also a means of +forgetting herself, like an intoxication. I often noticed, when she was very +sad, that she was relieved, when a child fell sick, at being able to take +refuge in this intoxication. It was involuntary intoxication, because as yet +there was nothing else. On every side we heard that Mrs. So-and-so had lost +children, that Dr. So-and-so had saved the child of Mrs. So-and-so, and that in +a certain family all had moved from the house in which they were living, and +thereby saved the little ones. And the doctors, with a serious air, confirmed +this, sustaining my wife in her opinions. She was not prone to fear, but the +doctor dropped some word, like corruption of the blood, scarlatina, or +else—heaven help us—diphtheria, and off she went. +</p> + +<p> +“It was impossible for it to be otherwise. Women in the old days had the +belief that ‘God has given, God has taken away,’ that the soul of +the little angel is going to heaven, and that it is better to die innocent than +to die in sin. If the women of to-day had something like this faith, they could +endure more peacefully the sickness of their children. But of all that there +does not remain even a trace. And yet it is necessary to believe in something; +consequently they stupidly believe in medicine, and not even in medicine, but +in the doctor. One believes in X, another in Z, and, like all believers, they +do not see the idiocy of their beliefs. They believe <i>quia absurdum</i>, +because, in reality, if they did not believe in a stupid way, they would see +the vanity of all that these brigands prescribe for them. Scarlatina is a +contagious disease; so, when one lives in a large city, half the family has to +move away from its residence (we did it twice), and yet every man in the city +is a centre through which pass innumerable diameters, carrying threads of all +sorts of contagions. There is no obstacle: the baker, the tailor, the coachman, +the laundresses. +</p> + +<p> +“And I would undertake, for every man who moves on account of contagion, +to find in his new dwelling-place another contagion similar, if not the same. +</p> + +<p> +“But that is not all. Every one knows rich people who, after a case of +diphtheria, destroy everything in their residences, and then fall sick in +houses newly built and furnished. Every one knows, likewise, numbers of men who +come in contact with sick people and do not get infected. Our anxieties are due +to the people who circulate tall stories. One woman says that she has an +excellent doctor. ‘Pardon me,’ answers the other, ‘he killed +such a one,’ or such a one. And <i>vice versa</i>. Bring her another, who +knows no more, who learned from the same books, who treats according to the +same formulas, but who goes about in a carriage, and asks a hundred roubles a +visit, and she will have faith in him. +</p> + +<p> +“It all lies in the fact that our women are savages. They have no belief +in God, but some of them believe in the evil eye, and the others in doctors who +charge high fees. If they had faith they would know that scarlatina, +diphtheria, etc., are not so terrible, since they cannot disturb that which man +can and should love,—the soul. There can result from them only that which +none of us can avoid,—disease and death. Without faith in God, they love +only physically, and all their energy is concentrated upon the preservation of +life, which cannot be preserved, and which the doctors promise the fools of +both sexes to save. And from that time there is nothing to be done; the doctors +must be summoned. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus the presence of the children not only did not improve our relations +as husband and wife, but, on the contrary, disunited us. The children became an +additional cause of dispute, and the larger they grew, the more they became an +instrument of struggle. +</p> + +<p> +“One would have said that we used them as weapons with which to combat +each other. Each of us had his favorite. I made use of little Basile (the +eldest), she of Lise. Further, when the children reached an age where their +characters began to be defined, they became allies, which we drew each in his +or her own direction. They suffered horribly from this, the poor things, but +we, in our perpetual hubbub, were not clear-headed enough to think of them. The +little girl was devoted to me, but the eldest boy, who resembled my wife, his +favorite, often inspired me with dislike.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<p> +“We lived at first in the country, then in the city, and, if the final +misfortune had not happened, I should have lived thus until my old age and +should then have believed that I had had a good life,—not too good, but, +on the other hand, not bad,—an existence such as other people lead. I +should not have understood the abyss of misfortune and ignoble falsehood in +which I floundered about, feeling that something was not right. I felt, in the +first place, that I, a man, who, according to my ideas, ought to be the master, +wore the petticoats, and that I could not get rid of them. The principal cause +of my subjection was the children. I should have liked to free myself, but I +could not. Bringing up the children, and resting upon them, my wife ruled. I +did not then realize that she could not help ruling, especially because, in +marrying, she was morally superior to me, as every young girl is incomparably +superior to the man, since she is incomparably purer. Strange thing! The +ordinary wife in our society is a very commonplace person or worse, selfish, +gossiping, whimsical, whereas the ordinary young girl, until the age of twenty, +is a charming being, ready for everything that is beautiful and lofty. Why is +this so? Evidently because husbands pervert them, and lower them to their own +level. +</p> + +<p> +“In truth, if boys and girls are born equal, the little girls find +themselves in a better situation. In the first place, the young girl is not +subjected to the perverting conditions to which we are subjected. She has +neither cigarettes, nor wine, nor cards, nor comrades, nor public houses, nor +public functions. And then the chief thing is that she is physically pure, and +that is why, in marrying, she is superior to her husband. She is superior to +man as a young girl, and when she becomes a wife in our society, where there is +no need to work in order to live, she becomes superior, also, by the gravity of +the acts of generation, birth, and nursing. +</p> + +<p> +“Woman, in bringing a child into the world, and giving it her bosom, sees +clearly that her affair is more serious than the affair of man, who sits in the +Zemstvo, in the court. She knows that in these functions the main thing is +money, and money can be made in different ways, and for that very reason money +is not inevitably necessary, like nursing a child. Consequently woman is +necessarily superior to man, and must rule. But man, in our society, not only +does not recognize this, but, on the contrary, always looks upon her from the +height of his grandeur, despising what she does. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus my wife despised me for my work at the Zemstvo, because she gave +birth to children and nursed them. I, in turn, thought that woman’s labor +was most contemptible, which one might and should laugh at. +</p> + +<p> +“Apart from the other motives, we were also separated by a mutual +contempt. Our relations grew ever more hostile, and we arrived at that period +when, not only did dissent provoke hostility, but hostility provoked dissent. +Whatever she might say, I was sure in advance to hold a contrary opinion; and +she the same. Toward the fourth year of our marriage it was tacitly decided +between us that no intellectual community was possible, and we made no further +attempts at it. As to the simplest objects, we each held obstinately to our own +opinions. With strangers we talked upon the most varied and most intimate +matters, but not with each other. Sometimes, in listening to my wife talk with +others in my presence, I said to myself: ‘What a woman! Everything that +she says is a lie!’ And I was astonished that the person with whom she +was conversing did not see that she was lying. When we were together; we were +condemned to silence, or to conversations which, I am sure, might have been +carried on by animals. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What time is it? It is bed-time. What is there for dinner to-day? +Where shall we go? What is there in the newspaper? The doctor must be sent for, +Lise has a sore throat.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Unless we kept within the extremely narrow limits of such conversation, +irritation was sure to ensue. The presence of a third person relieved us, for +through an intermediary we could still communicate. She probably believed that +she was always right. As for me, in my own eyes, I was a saint beside her. +</p> + +<p> +“The periods of what we call love arrived as often as formerly. They were +more brutal, without refinement, without ornament; but they were short, and +generally followed by periods of irritation without cause, irritation fed by +the most trivial pretexts. We had spats about the coffee, the table-cloth, the +carriage, games of cards,—trifles, in short, which could not be of the +least importance to either of us. As for me, a terrible execration was +continually boiling up within me. I watched her pour the tea, swing her foot, +lift her spoon to her mouth, and blow upon hot liquids or sip them, and I +detested her as if these had been so many crimes. +</p> + +<p> +“I did not notice that these periods of irritation depended very +regularly upon the periods of love. Each of the latter was followed by one of +the former. A period of intense love was followed by a long period of anger; a +period of mild love induced a mild irritation. We did not understand that this +love and this hatred were two opposite faces of the same animal feeling. To +live thus would be terrible, if one understood the philosophy of it. But we did +not perceive this, we did not analyze it. It is at once the torture and the +relief of man that, when he lives irregularly, he can cherish illusions as to +the miseries of his situation. So did we. She tried to forget herself in sudden +and absorbing occupations, in household duties, the care of the furniture, her +dress and that of her children, in the education of the latter, and in looking +after their health. These were occupations that did not arise from any +immediate necessity, but she accomplished them as if her life and that of her +children depended on whether the pastry was allowed to burn, whether a curtain +was hanging properly, whether a dress was a success, whether a lesson was well +learned, or whether a medicine was swallowed. +</p> + +<p> +“I saw clearly that to her all this was, more than anything else, a means +of forgetting, an intoxication, just as hunting, card-playing, and my functions +at the Zemstvo served the same purpose for me. It is true that in addition I +had an intoxication literally speaking,—tobacco, which I smoked in large +quantities, and wine, upon which I did not get drunk, but of which I took too +much. Vodka before meals, and during meals two glasses of wine, so that a +perpetual mist concealed the turmoil of existence. +</p> + +<p> +“These new theories of hypnotism, of mental maladies, of hysteria are not +simple stupidities, but dangerous or evil stupidities. Charcot, I am sure, +would have said that my wife was hysterical, and of me he would have said that +I was an abnormal being, and he would have wanted to treat me. But in us there +was nothing requiring treatment. All this mental malady was the simple result +of the fact that we were living immorally. Thanks to this immoral life, we +suffered, and, to stifle our sufferings, we tried abnormal means, which the +doctors call the ‘symptoms’ of a mental malady,—<i>hysteria</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“There was no occasion in all this to apply for treatment to Charcot or +to anybody else. Neither suggestion nor bromide would have been effective in +working our cure. The needful thing was an examination of the origin of the +evil. It is as when one is sitting on a nail; if you see the nail, you see that +which is irregular in your life, and you avoid it. Then the pain stops, without +any necessity of stifling it. Our pain arose from the irregularity of our life, +and also my jealousy, my irritability, and the necessity of keeping myself in a +state of perpetual semi-intoxication by hunting, card-playing, and, above all, +the use of wine and tobacco. It was because of this irregularity that my wife +so passionately pursued her occupations. The sudden changes of her disposition, +from extreme sadness to extreme gayety, and her babble, arose from the need of +forgetting herself, of forgetting her life, in the continual intoxication of +varied and very brief occupations. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus we lived in a perpetual fog, in which we did not distinguish our +condition. We were like two galley-slaves fastened to the same ball, cursing +each other, poisoning each other’s existence, and trying to shake each +other off. I was still unaware that ninety-nine families out of every hundred +live in the same hell, and that it cannot be otherwise. I had not learned this +fact from others or from myself. The coincidences that are met in regular, and +even in irregular life, are surprising. At the very period when the life of +parents becomes impossible, it becomes indispensable that they go to the city +to live, in order to educate their children. That is what we did.” +</p> + +<p> +Posdnicheff became silent, and twice there escaped him, in the half-darkness, +sighs, which at that moment seemed to me like suppressed sobs. Then he +continued. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<p> +“So we lived in the city. In the city the wretched feel less sad. One can +live there a hundred years without being noticed, and be dead a long time +before anybody will notice it. People have no time to inquire into your life. +All are absorbed. Business, social relations, art, the health of children, +their education. And there are visits that must be received and made; it is +necessary to see this one, it is necessary to hear that one or the other one. +In the city there are always one, two, or three celebrities that it is +indispensable that one should visit. +</p> + +<p> +“Now one must care for himself, or care for such or such a little one, +now it is the professor, the private tutor, the governesses, . . . and life is +absolutely empty. In this activity we were less conscious of the sufferings of +our cohabitation. Moreover, in the first of it, we had a superb +occupation,—the arrangement of the new dwelling, and then, too, the +moving from the city to the country, and from the country to the city. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus we spent a winter. The following winter an incident happened to us +which passed unnoticed, but which was the fundamental cause of all that +happened later. My wife was suffering, and the rascals (the doctors) would not +permit her to conceive a child, and taught her how to avoid it. I was +profoundly disgusted. I struggled vainly against it, but she insisted +frivolously and obstinately, and I surrendered. The last justification of our +life as wretches was thereby suppressed, and life became baser than ever. +</p> + +<p> +“The peasant and the workingman need children, and hence their conjugal +relations have a justification. But we, when we have a few children, have no +need of any more. They make a superfluous confusion of expenses and joint +heirs, and are an embarrassment. Consequently we have no excuses for our +existence as wretches, but we are so deeply degraded that we do not see the +necessity of a justification. The majority of people in contemporary society +give themselves up to this debauchery without the slightest remorse. We have no +conscience left, except, so to speak, the conscience of public opinion and of +the criminal code. But in this matter neither of these consciences is struck. +There is not a being in society who blushes at it. Each one practices +it,—X, Y, Z, etc. What is the use of multiplying beggars, and depriving +ourselves of the joys of social life? There is no necessity of having +conscience before the criminal code, or of fearing it: low girls, +soldiers’ wives who throw their children into ponds or wells, these +certainly must be put in prison. But with us the suppression is effected +opportunely and properly. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus we passed two years more. The method prescribed by the rascals had +evidently succeeded. My wife had grown stouter and handsomer. It was the beauty +of the end of summer. She felt it, and paid much attention to her person. She +had acquired that provoking beauty that stirs men. She was in all the +brilliancy of the wife of thirty years, who conceives no children, eats +heartily, and is excited. The very sight of her was enough to frighten one. She +was like a spirited carriage-horse that has long been idle, and suddenly finds +itself without a bridle. As for my wife, she had no bridle, as for that matter, +ninety-nine hundredths of our women have none.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<p> +Posdnicheff’s face had become transformed; his eyes were pitiable; their +expression seemed strange, like that of another being than himself; his +moustache and beard turned up toward the top of his face; his nose was +diminished, and his mouth enlarged, immense, frightful. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he resumed “she had grown stouter since ceasing to +conceive, and her anxieties about her children began to disappear. Not even to +disappear. One would have said that she was waking from a long intoxication, +that on coming to herself she had perceived the entire universe with its joys, +a whole world in which she had not learned to live, and which she did not +understand. +</p> + +<p> +“‘If only this world shall not vanish! When time is past, when old +age comes, one cannot recover it.’ Thus, I believe, she thought, or +rather felt. Moreover, she could neither think nor feel otherwise. She had been +brought up in this idea that there is in the world but one thing worthy of +attention,—love. In marrying, she had known something of this love, but +very far from everything that she had understood as promised her, everything +that she expected. How many disillusions! How much suffering! And an unexpected +torture,—the children! This torture had told upon her, and then, thanks +to the obliging doctor, she had learned that it is possible to avoid having +children. That had made her glad. She had tried, and she was now revived for +the only thing that she knew,—for love. But love with a husband polluted +by jealousy and ill-nature was no longer her ideal. She began to think of some +other tenderness; at least, that is what I thought. She looked about her as if +expecting some event or some being. I noticed it, and I could not help being +anxious. +</p> + +<p> +“Always, now, it happened that, in talking with me through a third party +(that is, in talking with others, but with the intention that I should hear), +she boldly expressed,—not thinking that an hour before she had said the +opposite,—half joking, half seriously, this idea that maternal anxieties +are a delusion; that it is not worth while to sacrifice one’s life to +children. When one is young, it is necessary to enjoy life. So she occupied +herself less with the children, not with the same intensity as formerly, and +paid more and more attention to herself, to her face,—although she +concealed it,—to her pleasures, and even to her perfection from the +worldly point of view. She began to devote herself passionately to the piano, +which had formerly stood forgotten in the corner. There, at the piano, began +the adventure. +</p> + +<p> +“The <i>man</i> appeared.” +</p> + +<p> +Posdnicheff seemed embarrassed, and twice again there escaped him that nasal +sound of which I spoke above. I thought that it gave him pain to refer to the +<i>man</i>, and to remember him. He made an effort, as if to break down the +obstacle that embarrassed him, and continued with determination. +</p> + +<p> +“He was a bad man in my eyes, and not because he has played such an +important <i>rôle</i> in my life, but because he was really such. For the rest, +from the fact that he was bad, we must conclude that he was irresponsible. He +was a musician, a violinist. Not a professional musician, but half man of the +world, half artist. His father, a country proprietor, was a neighbor of my +father’s. The father had become ruined, and the children, three boys, +were all sent away. Our man, the youngest, was sent to his godmother at Paris. +There they placed him in the Conservatory, for he showed a taste for music. He +came out a violinist, and played in concerts.” +</p> + +<p> +On the point of speaking evil of the other, Posdnicheff checked himself, +stopped, and said suddenly: +</p> + +<p> +“In truth, I know not how he lived. I only know that that year he came to +Russia, and came to see me. Moist eyes of almond shape, smiling red lips, a +little moustache well waxed, hair brushed in the latest fashion, a vulgarly +pretty face,—what the women call ‘not bad,’—feebly +built physically, but with no deformity; with hips as broad as a woman’s; +correct, and insinuating himself into the familiarity of people as far as +possible, but having that keen sense that quickly detects a false step and +retires in reason,—a man, in short, observant of the external rules of +dignity, with that special Parisianism that is revealed in buttoned boots, a +gaudy cravat, and that something which foreigners pick up in Paris, and which, +in its peculiarity and novelty, always has an influence on our women. In his +manners an external and artificial gayety, a way, you know, of referring to +everything by hints, by unfinished fragments, as if everything that one says +you knew already, recalled it, and could supply the omissions. Well, he, with +his music, was the cause of all. +</p> + +<p> +“At the trial the affair was so represented that everything seemed +attributable to jealousy. It is false,—that is, not quite false, but +there was something else. The verdict was rendered that I was a deceived +husband, that I had killed in defence of my sullied honor (that is the way they +put it in their language), and thus I was acquitted. I tried to explain the +affair from my own point of view, but they concluded that I simply wanted to +rehabilitate the memory of my wife. Her relations with the musician, whatever +they may have been, are now of no importance to me or to her. The important +part is what I have told you. The whole tragedy was due to the fact that this +man came into our house at a time when an immense abyss had already been dug +between us, that frightful tension of mutual hatred, in which the slightest +motive sufficed to precipitate the crisis. Our quarrels in the last days were +something terrible, and the more astonishing because they were followed by a +brutal passion extremely strained. If it had not been he, some other would have +come. If the pretext had not been jealousy, I should have discovered another. I +insist upon this point,—that all husbands who live the married life that +I lived must either resort to outside debauchery, or separate from their wives, +or kill themselves, or kill their wives as I did. If there is any one in my +case to whom this does not happen, he is a very rare exception, for, before +ending as I ended, I was several times on the point of suicide, and my wife +made several attempts to poison herself.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<p> +“In order that you may understand me, I must tell you how this happened. +We were living along, and all seemed well. Suddenly we began to talk of the +children’s education. I do not remember what words either of us uttered, +but a discussion began, reproaches, leaps from one subject to another. +‘Yes, I know it. It has been so for a long time.’ . . . ‘You +said that.’ . . . ‘No, I did not say that.’ . . . ‘Then +I lie?’ etc. +</p> + +<p> +“And I felt that the frightful crisis was approaching when I should +desire to kill her or else myself. I knew that it was approaching; I was afraid +of it as of fire; I wanted to restrain myself. But rage took possession of my +whole being. My wife found herself in the same condition, perhaps worse. She +knew that she intentionally distorted each of my words, and each of her words +was saturated with venom. All that was dear to me she disparaged and profaned. +The farther the quarrel went, the more furious it became. I cried, ‘Be +silent,’ or something like that. +</p> + +<p> +“She bounded out of the room and ran toward the children. I tried to hold +her back to finish my insults. I grasped her by the arm, and hurt her. She +cried: ‘Children, your father is beating me.’ I cried: +‘Don’t lie.’ She continued to utter falsehoods for the simple +purpose of irritating me further. ‘Ah, it is not the first time,’ +or something of that sort. The children rushed toward her and tried to quiet +her. I said: ‘Don’t sham.’ She said: ‘You look upon +everything as a sham. You would kill a person and say he was shamming. Now I +understand you. That is what you want to do.’ ‘Oh, if you were only +dead!’ I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“I remember how that terrible phrase frightened me. Never had I thought +that I could utter words so brutal, so frightful, and I was stupefied at what +had just escaped my lips. I fled into my private apartment. I sat down and +began to smoke. I heard her go into the hall and prepare to go out. I asked +her: ‘Where are you going? She did not answer. ‘Well, may the devil +take you!’ said I to myself, going back into my private room, where I lay +down again and began smoking afresh. Thousands of plans of vengeance, of ways +of getting rid of her, and how to arrange this, and act as if nothing had +happened,—all this passed through my head. I thought of these things, and +I smoked, and smoked, and smoked. I thought of running away, of making my +escape, of going to America. I went so far as to dream how beautiful it would +be, after getting rid of her, to love another woman, entirely different from +her. I should be rid of her if she should die or if I should get a divorce, and +I tried to think how that could be managed. I saw that I was getting confused, +but, in order not to see that I was not thinking rightly, I kept on smoking. +</p> + +<p> +“And the life of the house went on as usual. The children’s teacher +came and asked: ‘Where is Madame? When will she return?’ +</p> + +<p> +“The servants asked if they should serve the tea. I entered the +dining-room. The children, Lise, the eldest girl, looked at me with fright, as +if to question me, and she did not come. The whole evening passed, and still +she did not come. Two sentiments kept succeeding each other in my +soul,—hatred of her, since she tortured myself and the children by her +absence, but would finally return just the same, and fear lest she might return +and make some attempt upon herself. But where should I look for her? At her +sister’s? It seemed so stupid to go to ask where one’s wife is. +Moreover, may God forbid, I hoped, that she should be at her sister’s! If +she wishes to torment any one, let her torment herself first. And suppose she +were not at her sister’s. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose she were to do, or had already done, something. +</p> + +<p> +“Eleven o’clock, midnight, one o’clock. . . . I did not +sleep. I did not go to my chamber. It is stupid to lie stretched out all alone, +and to wait. But in my study I did not rest. I tried to busy myself, to write +letters, to read. Impossible! I was alone, tortured, wicked, and I listened. +Toward daylight I went to sleep. I awoke. She had not returned. Everything in +the house went on as usual, and all looked at me in astonishment, +questioningly. The children’s eyes were full of reproach for me. +</p> + +<p> +“And always the same feeling of anxiety about her, and of hatred because +of this anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +“Toward eleven o’clock in the morning came her sister, her +ambassadress. Then began the usual phrases: ‘She is in a terrible state. +What is the matter?’ ‘Why, nothing has happened.’ I spoke of +her asperity of character, and I added that I had done nothing, and that I +would not take the first step. If she wants a divorce, so much the better! My +sister-in-law would not listen to this idea, and went away without having +gained anything. I was obstinate, and I said boldly and determinedly, in +talking to her, that I would not take the first step. Immediately she had gone +I went into the other room, and saw the children in a frightened and pitiful +state, and there I found myself already inclined to take this first step. But I +was bound by my word. Again I walked up and down, always smoking. At breakfast +I drank brandy and wine, and I reached the point which I unconsciously desired, +the point where I no longer saw the stupidity and baseness of my situation. +</p> + +<p> +“Toward three o’clock she came. I thought that she was appeased, or +admitted her defeat. I began to tell her that I was provoked by her reproaches. +She answered me, with the same severe and terribly downcast face, that she had +not come for explanations, but to take the children, that we could not live +together. I answered that it was not my fault, that she had put me beside +myself. She looked at me with a severe and solemn air, and said: ‘Say no +more. You will repent it.’ I said that I could not tolerate comedies. +Then she cried out something that I did not understand, and rushed toward her +room. The key turned in the lock, and she shut herself up. I pushed at the +door. There was no response. Furious, I went away. +</p> + +<p> +“A half hour later Lise came running all in tears. ‘What! Has +anything happened? We cannot hear Mamma!’ We went toward my wife’s +room. I pushed the door with all my might. The bolt was scarcely drawn, and the +door opened. In a skirt, with high boots, my wife lay awkwardly on the bed. On +the table an empty opium phial. We restored her to life. Tears and then +reconciliation! Not reconciliation; internally each kept the hatred for the +other, but it was absolutely necessary for the moment to end the scene in some +way, and life began again as before. These scenes, and even worse, came now +once a week, now every month, now every day. And invariably the same incidents. +Once I was absolutely resolved to fly, but through some inconceivable weakness +I remained. +</p> + +<p> +“Such were the circumstances in which we were living when the <i>man</i> +came. The man was bad, it is true. But what! No worse than we were.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<p> +“When we moved to Moscow, this gentleman—his name was +Troukhatchevsky—came to my house. It was in the morning. I received him. +In former times we had been very familiar. He tried, by various advances, to +re-establish the familiarity, but I was determined to keep him at a distance, +and soon he gave it up. He displeased me extremely. At the first glance I saw +that he was a filthy <i>débauché</i>. I was jealous of him, even before he had +seen my wife. But, strange thing! some occult fatal power kept me from +repulsing him and sending him away, and, on the contrary, induced me to suffer +this approach. What could have been simpler than to talk with him a few +minutes, and then dismiss him coldly without introducing him to my wife? But +no, as if on purpose, I turned the conversation upon his skill as a violinist, +and he answered that, contrary to what I had heard, he now played the violin +more than formerly. He remembered that I used to play. I answered that I had +abandoned music, but that my wife played very well. +</p> + +<p> +“Singular thing! Why, in the important events of our life, in those in +which a man’s fate is decided,—as mine was decided in that +moment,—why in these events is there neither a past nor a future? My +relations with Troukhatchevsky the first day, at the first hour, were such as +they might still have been after all that has happened. I was conscious that +some frightful misfortune must result from the presence of this man, and, in +spite of that, I could not help being amiable to him. I introduced him to my +wife. She was pleased with him. In the beginning, I suppose, because of the +pleasure of the violin playing, which she adored. She had even hired for that +purpose a violinist from the theatre. But when she cast a glance at me, she +understood my feelings, and concealed her impression. Then began the mutual +trickery and deceit. I smiled agreeably, pretending that all this pleased me +extremely. He, looking at my wife, as all <i>débauchés</i> look at beautiful +women, with an air of being interested solely in the subject of +conversation,—that is, in that which did not interest him at all. +</p> + +<p> +“She tried to seem indifferent. But my expression, my jealous or false +smile, which she knew so well, and the voluptuous glances of the musician, +evidently excited her. I saw that, after the first interview, her eyes were +already glittering, glittering strangely, and that, thanks to my jealousy, +between him and her had been immediately established that sort of electric +current which is provoked by an identity of expression in the smile and in the +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“We talked, at the first interview, of music, of Paris, and of all sorts +of trivialities. He rose to go. Pressing his hat against his swaying hip, he +stood erect, looking now at her and now at me, as if waiting to see what she +would do. I remember that minute, precisely because it was in my power not to +invite him. I need not have invited him, and then nothing would have happened. +But I cast a glance first at him, then at her. ‘Don’t flatter +yourself that I can be jealous of you,’ I thought, addressing myself to +her mentally, and I invited the other to bring his violin that very evening, +and to play with my wife. She raised her eyes toward me with astonishment, and +her face turned purple, as if she were seized with a sudden fear. She began to +excuse herself, saying that she did not play well enough. This refusal only +excited me the more. I remember the strange feeling with which I looked at his +neck, his white neck, in contrast with his black hair, separated by a parting, +when, with his skipping gait, like that of a bird, he left my house. I could +not help confessing to myself that this man’s presence caused me +suffering. ‘It is in my power,’ thought I, ‘to so arrange +things that I shall never see him again. But can it be that I, <i>I</i>, fear +him? No, I do not fear him. It would be too humiliating!’ +</p> + +<p> +“And there in the hall, knowing that my wife heard me, I insisted that he +should come that very evening with his violin. He promised me, and went away. +In the evening he arrived with his violin, and they played together. But for a +long time things did not go well; we had not the necessary music, and that +which we had my wife could not play at sight. I amused myself with their +difficulties. I aided them, I made proposals, and they finally executed a few +pieces,—songs without words, and a little sonata by Mozart. He played in +a marvellous manner. He had what is called the energetic and tender tone. As +for difficulties, there were none for him. Scarcely had he begun to play, when +his face changed. He became serious, and much more sympathetic. He was, it is +needless to say, much stronger than my wife. He helped her, he advised her +simply and naturally, and at the same time played his game with courtesy. My +wife seemed interested only in the music. She was very simple and agreeable. +Throughout the evening I feigned, not only for the others, but for myself, an +interest solely in the music. Really, I was continually tortured by jealousy. +From the first minute that the musician’s eyes met those of my wife, I +saw that he did not regard her as a disagreeable woman, with whom on occasion +it would be unpleasant to enter into intimate relations. +</p> + +<p> +“If I had been pure, I should not have dreamed of what he might think of +her. But I looked at women, and that is why I understood him and was in +torture. I was in torture, especially because I was sure that toward me she had +no other feeling than of perpetual irritation, sometimes interrupted by the +customary sensuality, and that this man,—thanks to his external elegance +and his novelty, and, above all, thanks to his unquestionably remarkable +talent, thanks to the attraction exercised under the influence of music, thanks +to the impression that music produces upon nervous natures,—this man +would not only please, but would inevitably, and without difficulty, subjugate +and conquer her, and do with her as he liked. +</p> + +<p> +“I could not help seeing this. I could not help suffering, or keep from +being jealous. And I was jealous, and I suffered, and in spite of that, and +perhaps even because of that, an unknown force, in spite of my will, impelled +me to be not only polite, but more than polite, amiable. I cannot say whether I +did it for my wife, or to show him that I did not fear <i>him</i>, or to +deceive myself; but from my first relations with him I could not be at my ease. +I was obliged, that I might not give way to a desire to kill him immediately, +to ‘caress’ him. I filled his glass at the table, I grew +enthusiastic over his playing, I talked to him with an extremely amiable smile, +and I invited him to dinner the following Sunday, and to play again. I told him +that I would invite some of my acquaintances, lovers of his art, to hear him. +</p> + +<p> +“Two or three days later I was entering my house, in conversation with a +friend, when in the hall I suddenly felt something as heavy as a stone weighing +on my heart, and I could not account for it. And it was this, it was this: in +passing through the hall, I had noticed something which reminded me of +<i>him</i>. Not until I reached my study did I realize what it was, and I +returned to the hall to verify my conjecture. Yes, I was not mistaken. It was +his overcoat (everything that belonged to him, I, without realizing it, had +observed with extraordinary attention). I questioned the servant. That was it. +He had come. “I passed near the parlor, through my children’s +study-room. Lise, my daughter, was sitting before a book, and the old nurse, +with my youngest child, was beside the table, turning the cover of something or +other. In the parlor I heard a slow <i>arpeggio</i>, and his voice, deadened, +and a denial from her. She said: ‘No, no! There is something else!’ +And it seemed to me that some one was purposely deadening the words by the aid +of the piano. +</p> + +<p> +“My God! How my heart leaped! What were my imaginations! When I remember +the beast that lived in me at that moment, I am seized with fright. My heart +was first compressed, then stopped, and then began to beat like a hammer. The +principal feeling, as in every bad feeling, was pity for myself. ‘Before +the children, before the old nurse,’ thought I, ‘she dishonors me. +I will go away. I can endure it no longer. God knows what I should do if. . . . +But I must go in.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The old nurse raised her eyes to mine, as if she understood, and advised +me to keep a sharp watch. ‘I must go in,’ I said to myself, and, +without knowing what I did, I opened the door. He was sitting at the piano and +making <i>arpeggios</i> with his long, white, curved fingers. She was standing +in the angle of the grand piano, before the open score. She saw or heard me +first, and raised her eyes to mine. Was she stunned, was she pretending not to +be frightened, or was she really not frightened at all? In any case, she did +not tremble, she did not stir. She blushed, but only a little later. +</p> + +<p> +“‘How glad I am that you have come! We have not decided what we +will play Sunday,’ said she, in a tone that she would not have had if she +had been alone with me. +</p> + +<p> +“This tone, and the way in which she said ‘we’ in speaking of +herself and of him, revolted me. I saluted him silently. He shook hands with me +directly, with a smile that seemed to me full of mockery. He explained to me +that he had brought some scores, in order to prepare for the Sunday concert, +and that they were not in accord as to the piece to choose,—whether +difficult, classic things, notably a sonata by Beethoven, or lighter pieces. +</p> + +<p> +“And as he spoke, he looked at me. It was all so natural, so simple, that +there was absolutely nothing to be said against it. And at the same time I saw, +I was sure, that it was false, that they were in a conspiracy to deceive me. +</p> + +<p> +“One of the most torturing situations for the jealous (and in our social +life everybody is jealous) are those social conditions which allow a very great +and dangerous intimacy between a man and a woman under certain pretexts. One +must make himself the laughing stock of everybody, if he desires to prevent +associations in the ball-room, the intimacy of doctors with their patients, the +familiarity of art occupations, and especially of music. In order that people +may occupy themselves together with the noblest art, music, a certain intimacy +is necessary, in which there is nothing blameworthy. Only a jealous fool of a +husband can have anything to say against it. A husband should not have such +thoughts, and especially should not thrust his nose into these affairs, or +prevent them. And yet, everybody knows that precisely in these occupations, +especially in music, many adulteries originate in our society. +</p> + +<p> +“I had evidently embarrassed them, because for some time I was unable to +say anything. I was like a bottle suddenly turned upside down, from which the +water does not run because it is too full. I wanted to insult the man, and to +drive him away, but I could do nothing of the kind. On the contrary, I felt +that I was disturbing them, and that it was my fault. I made a presence of +approving everything, this time also, thanks to that strange feeling that +forced me to treat him the more amiably in proportion as his presence was more +painful to me. I said that I trusted to his taste, and I advised my wife to do +the same. He remained just as long as it was necessary in order to efface the +unpleasant impression of my abrupt entrance with a frightened face. He went +away with an air of satisfaction at the conclusions arrived at. As for me, I +was perfectly sure that, in comparison with that which preoccupied them, the +question of music was indifferent to them. I accompanied him with especial +courtesy to the hall (how can one help accompanying a man who has come to +disturb your tranquillity and ruin the happiness of the entire family?), and I +shook his white, soft hand with fervent amiability.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<p> +“All that day I did not speak to my wife. I could not. Her proximity +excited such hatred that I feared myself. At the table she asked me, in +presence of the children, when I was to start upon a journey. I was to go the +following week to an assembly of the Zemstvo, in a neighboring locality. I +named the date. She asked me if I would need anything for the journey. I did +not answer. I sat silent at the table, and silently I retired to my study. In +those last days she never entered my study, especially at that hour. Suddenly I +heard her steps, her walk, and then a terribly base idea entered my head that, +like the wife of Uri, she wished to conceal a fault already committed, and that +it was for this reason that she came to see me at this unseasonable hour. +‘Is it possible,’ thought I, ‘that she is coming to see +me?’ On hearing her step as it approached: ‘If it is to see me that +she is coming, then I am right.’ +</p> + +<p> +“An inexpressible hatred invaded my soul. The steps drew nearer, and +nearer, and nearer yet. Would she pass by and go on to the other room? No, the +hinges creaked, and at the door her tall, graceful, languid figure appeared. In +her face, in her eyes, a timidity, an insinuating expression, which she tried +to hide, but which I saw, and of which I understood the meaning. I came near +suffocating, such were my efforts to hold my breath, and, continuing to look at +her, I took my cigarette, and lighted it. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What does this mean? One comes to talk with you, and you go to +smoking.’ +</p> + +<p> +“And she sat down beside me on the sofa, resting against my shoulder. I +recoiled, that I might not touch her. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I see that you are displeased with what I wish to play on +Sunday,’ said she. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I am not at all displeased,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Can I not see?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well, I congratulate you on your clairvoyance. Only to you every +baseness is agreeable, and I abhor it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘If you are going to swear like a trooper, I am going away.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Then go away. Only know that, if the honor of the family is +nothing to you, to me it is dear. As for you, the devil take you!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What! What is the matter?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Go away, in the name of God.’ +</p> + +<p> +“But she did not go away. Was she pretending not to understand, or did +she really not understand what I meant? But she was offended and became angry. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have become absolutely impossible,’ she began, or some +such phrase as that regarding my character, trying, as usual, to give me as +much pain as possible. ‘After what you have done to my sister (she +referred to an incident with her sister, in which, beside myself, I had uttered +brutalities; she knew that that tortured me, and tried to touch me in that +tender spot) nothing will astonish me.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, offended, humiliated, and dishonored, and after that to hold +me still responsible,’ thought I, and suddenly a rage, such a hatred +invaded me as I do not remember to have ever felt before. For the first time I +desired to express this hatred physically. I leaped upon her, but at the same +moment I understood my condition, and I asked myself whether it would be well +for me to abandon myself to my fury. And I answered myself that it would be +well, that it would frighten her, and, instead of resisting, I lashed and +spurred myself on, and was glad to feel my anger boiling more and more +fiercely. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Go away, or I will kill you!’ I cried, purposely, with a +frightful voice, and I grasped her by the arm. She did not go away. Then I +twisted her arm, and pushed her away violently. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What is the matter with you? Come to your senses!’ she +shrieked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Go away,’ roared I, louder than ever, rolling my eyes +wildly. ‘It takes you to put me in such a fury. I do not answer for +myself! Go away!’ +</p> + +<p> +“In abandoning myself to my anger, I became steeped in it, and I wanted +to commit some violent act to show the force of my fury. I felt a terrible +desire to beat her, to kill her, but I realized that that could not be, and I +restrained myself. I drew back from her, rushed to the table, grasped the +paper-weight, and threw it on the floor by her side. I took care to aim a +little to one side, and, before she disappeared (I did it so that she could see +it), I grasped a candlestick, which I also hurled, and then took down the +barometer, continuing to shout: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Go away! I do not answer for myself!’ +</p> + +<p> +“She disappeared, and I immediately ceased my demonstrations. An hour +later the old servant came to me and said that my wife was in a fit of +hysterics. I went to see her. She sobbed and laughed, incapable of expressing +anything, her whole body in a tremble. She was not shamming, she was really +sick. We sent for the doctor, and all night long I cared for her. Toward +daylight she grew calmer, and we became reconciled under the influence of that +feeling which we called ‘love.’ The next morning, when, after the +reconciliation, I confessed to her that I was jealous of Troukhatchevsky, she +was not at all embarrassed, and began to laugh in the most natural way, so +strange did the possibility of being led astray by such a man appear to her. +</p> + +<p> +“‘With such a man can an honest woman entertain any feeling beyond +the pleasure of enjoying music with him? But if you like, I am ready to never +see him again, even on Sunday, although everybody has been invited. Write him +that I am indisposed, and that will end the matter. Only one thing annoys +me,—that any one could have thought him dangerous. I am too proud not to +detest such thoughts.’ +</p> + +<p> +“And she did not lie. She believed what she said. She hoped by her words +to provoke in herself a contempt for him, and thereby to defend herself. But +she did not succeed. Everything was directed against her, especially that +abominable music. So ended the quarrel, and on Sunday our guests came, and +Troukhatchevsky and my wife again played together.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<p> +“I think that it is superfluous to say that I was very vain. If one has +no vanity in this life of ours, there is no sufficient reason for living. So +for that Sunday I had busied myself in tastefully arranging things for the +dinner and the musical <i>soirée</i>. I had purchased myself numerous things +for the dinner, and had chosen the guests. Toward six o’clock they +arrived, and after them Troukhatchevsky, in his dress-coat, with diamond +shirt-studs, in bad taste. He bore himself with ease. To all questions he +responded promptly, with a smile of contentment and understanding, and that +peculiar expression which was intended to mean: ‘All that you may do and +say will be exactly what I expected.’ Everything about him that was not +correct I now noticed with especial pleasure, for it all tended to tranquillize +me, and prove to me that to my wife he stood in such a degree of inferiority +that, as she had told me, she could not stoop to his level. Less because of my +wife’s assurances than because of the atrocious sufferings which I felt +in jealousy, I no longer allowed myself to be jealous. +</p> + +<p> +“In spite of that, I was not at ease with the musician or with her during +dinner-time and the time that elapsed before the beginning of the music. +Involuntarily I followed each of their gestures and looks. The dinner, like all +dinners, was tiresome and conventional. Not long afterward the music began. He +went to get his violin; my wife advanced to the piano, and rummaged among the +scores. Oh, how well I remember all the details of that evening! I remember how +he brought the violin, how he opened the box, took off the serge embroidered by +a lady’s hand, and began to tune the instrument. I can still see my wife +sit down, with a false air of indifference, under which it was plain that she +hid a great timidity, a timidity that was especially due to her comparative +lack of musical knowledge. She sat down with that false air in front of the +piano, and then began the usual preliminaries,—the <i>pizzicati</i> of +the violin and the arrangement of the scores. I remember then how they looked +at each other, and cast a glance at their auditors who were taking their seats. +They said a few words to each other, and the music began. They played +Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata.’ Do you know the first +<i>presto?</i> Do you know it? Ah!” . . . +</p> + +<p> +Posdnicheff heaved a sigh, and was silent for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +“A terrible thing is that sonata, especially the <i>presto!</i> And a +terrible thing is music in general. What is it? Why does it do what it does? +They say that music stirs the soul. Stupidity! A lie! It acts, it acts +frightfully (I speak for myself), but not in an ennobling way. It acts neither +in an ennobling nor a debasing way, but in an irritating way. How shall I say +it? Music makes me forget my real situation. It transports me into a state +which is not my own. Under the influence of music I really seem to feel what I +do not feel, to understand what I do not understand, to have powers which I +cannot have. Music seems to me to act like yawning or laughter; I have no +desire to sleep, but I yawn when I see others yawn; with no reason to laugh, I +laugh when I hear others laugh. And music transports me immediately into the +condition of soul in which he who wrote the music found himself at that time. I +become confounded with his soul, and with him I pass from one condition to +another. But why that? I know nothing about it? But he who wrote +Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ knew well why he found himself +in a certain condition. That condition led him to certain actions, and for that +reason to him had a meaning, but to me none, none whatever. And that is why +music provokes an excitement which it does not bring to a conclusion. For +instance, a military march is played; the soldier passes to the sound of this +march, and the music is finished. A dance is played; I have finished dancing, +and the music is finished. A mass is sung; I receive the sacrament, and again +the music is finished. But any other music provokes an excitement, and this +excitement is not accompanied by the thing that needs properly to be done, and +that is why music is so dangerous, and sometimes acts so frightfully. +</p> + +<p> +“In China music is under the control of the State, and that is the way it +ought to be. Is it admissible that the first comer should hypnotize one or more +persons, and then do with them as he likes? And especially that the hypnotizer +should be the first immoral individual who happens to come along? It is a +frightful power in the hands of any one, no matter whom. For instance, should +they be allowed to play this ‘Kreutzer Sonata,’ the first +<i>presto</i>,—and there are many like it,—in parlors, among ladies +wearing low necked dresses, or in concerts, then finish the piece, receive the +applause, and then begin another piece? These things should be played under +certain circumstances, only in cases where it is necessary to incite certain +actions corresponding to the music. But to incite an energy of feeling which +corresponds to neither the time nor the place, and is expended in nothing, +cannot fail to act dangerously. On me in particular this piece acted in a +frightful manner. One would have said that new sentiments, new virtualities, of +which I was formerly ignorant, had developed in me. ‘Ah, yes, +that’s it! Not at all as I lived and thought before! This is the right +way to live!’ +</p> + +<p> +“Thus I spoke to my soul as I listened to that music. What was this new +thing that I thus learned? That I did not realize, but the consciousness of +this indefinite state filled me with joy. In that state there was no room for +jealousy. The same faces, and among them <i>he</i> and my wife, I saw in a +different light. This music transported me into an unknown world, where there +was no room for jealousy. Jealousy and the feelings that provoke it seemed to +me trivialities, nor worth thinking of. +</p> + +<p> +“After the <i>presto</i> followed the <i>andante</i>, not very new, with +commonplace variations, and the feeble <i>finale</i>. Then they played more, at +the request of the guests,—first an elegy by Ernst, and then various +other pieces. They were all very well, but did not produce upon me a tenth part +of the impression that the opening piece did. I felt light and gay throughout +the evening. As for my wife, never had I seen her as she was that night. Those +brilliant eyes, that severity and majestic expression while she was playing, +and then that utter languor, that weak, pitiable, and happy smile after she had +finished,—I saw them all and attached no importance to them, believing +that she felt as I did, that to her, as to me, new sentiments had been +revealed, as through a fog. During almost the whole evening I was not jealous. +</p> + +<p> +“Two days later I was to start for the assembly of the Zemstvo, and for +that reason, on taking leave of me and carrying all his scores with him, +Troukhatchevsky asked me when I should return. I inferred from that that he +believed it impossible to come to my house during my absence, and that was +agreeable to me. Now I was not to return before his departure from the city. So +we bade each other a definite farewell. For the first time I shook his hand +with pleasure, and thanked him for the satisfaction that he had given me. He +likewise took leave of my wife, and their parting seemed to me very natural and +proper. All went marvellously. My wife and I retired, well satisfied with the +evening. We talked of our impressions in a general way, and we were nearer +together and more friendly than we had been for a long time.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<p> +“Two days later I started for the assembly, having bid farewell to my +wife in an excellent and tranquil state of mind. In the district there was +always much to be done. It was a world and a life apart. During two days I +spent ten hours at the sessions. The evening of the second day, on returning to +my district lodgings, I found a letter from my wife, telling me of the +children, of their uncle, of the servants, and, among other things, as if it +were perfectly natural, that Troukhatchevsky had been at the house, and had +brought her the promised scores. He had also proposed that they play again, but +she had refused. +</p> + +<p> +“For my part, I did not remember at all that he had promised any score. +It had seemed to me on Sunday evening that he took a definite leave, and for +this reason the news gave me a disagreeable surprise. I read the letter again. +There was something tender and timid about it. It produced an extremely painful +impression upon me. My heart swelled, and the mad beast of jealousy began to +roar in his lair, and seemed to want to leap upon his prey. But I was afraid of +this beast, and I imposed silence upon it. +</p> + +<p> +“What an abominable sentiment is jealousy! ‘What could be more +natural than what she has written?’ said I to myself. I went to bed, +thinking myself tranquil again. I thought of the business that remained to be +done, and I went to sleep without thinking of her. +</p> + +<p> +“During these assemblies of the Zemstvo I always slept badly in my +strange quarters. That night I went to sleep directly, but, as sometimes +happens, a sort of sudden shock awoke me. I thought immediately of her, of my +physical love for her, of Troukhatchevsky, and that between them everything had +happened. And a feeling of rage compressed my heart, and I tried to quiet +myself. +</p> + +<p> +“‘How stupid!’ said I to myself; ‘there is no reason, +none at all. And why humiliate ourselves, herself and myself, and especially +myself, by supposing such horrors? This mercenary violinist, known as a bad +man,—shall I think of him in connection with a respectable woman, the +mother of a family, <i>my</i> wife? How silly!’ But on the other hand, I +said to myself: ‘Why should it not happen?’ +</p> + +<p> +“Why? Was it not the same simple and intelligible feeling in the name of +which I married, in the name of which I was living with her, the only thing I +wanted of her, and that which, consequently, others desired, this musician +among the rest? He was not married, was in good health (I remember how his +teeth ground the gristle of the cutlets, and how eagerly he emptied the glass +of wine with his red lips), was careful of his person, well fed, and not only +without principles, but evidently with the principle that one should take +advantage of the pleasure that offers itself. There was a bond between them, +music,—the most refined form of sensual voluptuousness. What was there to +restrain them? Nothing. Everything, on the contrary, attracted them. And she, +she had been and had remained a mystery. I did not know her. I knew her only as +an animal, and an animal nothing can or should restrain. And now I remember +their faces on Sunday evening, when, after the ‘Kreutzer Sonata,’ +they played a passionate piece, written I know not by whom, but a piece +passionate to the point of obscenity. +</p> + +<p> +“‘How could I have gone away?’ said I to myself, as I +recalled their faces. ‘Was it not clear that between them everything was +done that evening? Was it not clear that between them not only there were no +more obstacles, but that both—especially she—felt a certain shame +after what had happened at the piano? How weakly, pitiably, happily she smiled, +as she wiped the perspiration from her reddened face! They already avoided each +other’s eyes, and only at the supper, when she poured some water for him, +did they look at each other and smile imperceptibly.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Now I remember with fright that look and that scarcely perceptible +smile. ‘Yes, everything has happened,’ a voice said to me, and +directly another said the opposite. ‘Are you mad? It is +impossible!’ said the second voice. +</p> + +<p> +“It was too painful to me to remain thus stretched in the darkness. I +struck a match, and the little yellow-papered room frightened me. I lighted a +cigarette, and, as always happens, when one turns in a circle of inextricable +contradiction, I began to smoke. I smoked cigarette after cigarette to dull my +senses, that I might not see my contradictions. All night I did not sleep, and +at five o’clock, when it was not yet light, I decided that I could stand +this strain no longer, and that I would leave directly. There was a train at +eight o’clock. I awakened the keeper who was acting as my servant, and +sent him to look for horses. To the assembly of Zemstvo I sent a message that I +was called back to Moscow by pressing business, and that I begged them to +substitute for me a member of the Committee. At eight o’clock I got into +a <i>tarantass</i> and started off.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<p> +“I had to go twenty-five versts by carriage and eight hours by train. By +carriage it was a very pleasant journey. The coolness of autumn was accompanied +by a brilliant sun. You know the weather when the wheels imprint themselves +upon the dirty road. The road was level, and the light strong, and the air +strengthening. The <i>tarantass</i> was comfortable. As I looked at the horses, +the fields, and the people whom we passed, I forgot where I was going. +Sometimes it seemed to me that I was travelling without an object,—simply +promenading,—and that I should go on thus to the end of the world. And I +was happy when I so forgot myself. But when I remembered where I was going, I +said to myself: ‘I shall see later. Don’t think about it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“When half way, an incident happened to distract me still further. The +<i>tarantass</i>, though new, broke down, and had to be repaired. The delays in +looking for a <i>télègue</i>, the repairs, the payment, the tea in the inn, the +conversation with the <i>dvornik</i>, all served to amuse me. Toward nightfall +all was ready, and I started off again. By night the journey was still +pleasanter than by day. The moon in its first quarter, a slight frost, the road +still in good condition, the horses, the sprightly coachman, all served to put +me in good spirits. I scarcely thought of what awaited me, and was gay perhaps +because of the very thing that awaited me, and because I was about to say +farewell to the joys of life. +</p> + +<p> +“But this tranquil state, the power of conquering my preoccupation, all +ended with the carriage drive. Scarcely had I entered the cars, when the other +thing began. Those eight hours on the rail were so terrible to me that I shall +never forget them in my life. Was it because on entering the car I had a vivid +imagination of having already arrived, or because the railway acts upon people +in such an exciting fashion? At any rate, after boarding the train I could no +longer control my imagination, which incessantly, with extraordinary vivacity, +drew pictures before my eyes, each more cynical than its predecessor, which +kindled my jealousy. And always the same things about what was happening at +home during my absence. I burned with indignation, with rage, and with a +peculiar feeling which steeped me in humiliation, as I contemplated these +pictures. And I could not tear myself out of this condition. I could not help +looking at them, I could not efface them, I could not keep from evoking them. +</p> + +<p> +“The more I looked at these imaginary pictures, the more I believed in +their reality, forgetting that they had no serious foundation. The vivacity of +these images seemed to prove to me that my imaginations were a reality. One +would have said that a demon, against my will, was inventing and breathing into +me the most terrible fictions. A conversation which dated a long time back, +with the brother of Troukhatchevsky, I remembered at that moment, in a sort of +ecstasy, and it tore my heart as I connected it with the musician and my wife. +Yes, it was very long ago. The brother of Troukhatchevsky, answering my +questions as to whether he frequented disreputable houses, said that a +respectable man does not go where he may contract a disease, in a low and +unclean spot, when one can find an honest woman. And here he, his brother, the +musician, had found the honest woman. ‘It is true that she is no longer +in her early youth. She has lost a tooth on one side, and her face is slightly +bloated,’ thought I for Troukhatchevsky. ‘But what is to be done? +One must profit by what one has.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, he is bound to take her for his mistress,’ said I to +myself again; ‘and besides, she is not dangerous.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘No, it is not possible’ I rejoined in fright. +‘Nothing, nothing of the kind has happened, and there is no reason to +suppose there has. Did she not tell me that the very idea that I could be +jealous of her because of him was humiliating to her?’ ‘Yes, but +she lied,’ I cried, and all began over again. +</p> + +<p> +“There were only two travellers in my compartment: an old woman with her +husband, neither of them very talkative; and even they got out at one of the +stations, leaving me all alone. I was like a beast in a cage. Now I jumped up +and approached the window, now I began to walk back and forth, staggering as if +I hoped to make the train go faster by my efforts, and the car with its seats +and its windows trembled continually, as ours does now.” +</p> + +<p> +And Posdnicheff rose abruptly, took a few steps, and sat down again. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I am afraid, I am afraid of railway carriages. Fear seizes me. I sat +down again, and I said to myself: ‘I must think of something else. For +instance, of the inn keeper at whose house I took tea.’ And then, in my +imagination arose the <i>dvornik</i>, with his long beard, and his grandson, a +little fellow of the same age as my little Basile. My little Basile! My little +Basile! He will see the musician kiss his mother! What thoughts will pass +through his poor soul! But what does that matter to her! She loves. +</p> + +<p> +“And again it all began, the circle of the same thoughts. I suffered so +much that at last I did not know what to do with myself, and an idea passed +through my head that pleased me much,—to get out upon the rails, throw +myself under the cars, and thus finish everything. One thing prevented me from +doing so. It was pity! It was pity for myself, evoking at the same time a +hatred for her, for him, but not so much for him. Toward him I felt a strange +sentiment of my humiliation and his victory, but toward her a terrible hatred. +</p> + +<p> +“‘But I cannot kill myself and leave her free. She must suffer, she +must understand at least that I have suffered,’ said I to myself. +</p> + +<p> +“At a station I saw people drinking at the lunch counter, and directly I +went to swallow a glass of vodka. Beside me stood a Jew, drinking also. He +began to talk to me, and I, in order not to be left alone in my compartment, +went with him into his third-class, dirty, full of smoke, and covered with +peelings and sunflower seeds. There I sat down beside the Jew, and, as it +seemed, he told many anecdotes. +</p> + +<p> +“First I listened to him, but I did not understand what he said. He +noticed it, and exacted my attention to his person. Then I rose and entered my +own compartment. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I must consider,’ said I to myself, ‘whether what I +think is true, whether there is any reason to torment myself.’ I sat +down, wishing to reflect quietly; but directly, instead of the peaceful +reflections, the same thing began again. Instead of the reasoning, the +pictures. +</p> + +<p> +“‘How many times have I tormented myself in this way,’ I +thought (I recalled previous and similar fits of jealousy), ‘and then +seen it end in nothing at all? It is the same now. Perhaps, yes, surely, I +shall find her quietly sleeping. She will awaken, she will be glad, and in her +words and looks I shall see that nothing has happened, that all this is vain. +Ah, if it would only so turn out!’ ‘But no, that has happened too +often! Now the end has come,’ a voice said to me. +</p> + +<p> +“And again it all began. Ah, what torture! It is not to a hospital filled +with syphilitic patients that I would take a young man to deprive him of the +desire for women, but into my soul, to show him the demon which tore it. The +frightful part was that I recognized in myself an indisputable right to the +body of my wife, as if her body were entirely mine. And at the same time I felt +that I could not possess this body, that it was not mine, that she could do +with it as she liked, and that she liked to do with it as I did not like. And I +was powerless against him and against her. He, like the Vanka of the song, +would sing, before mounting the gallows, how he would kiss her sweet lips, +etc., and he would even have the best of it before death. With her it was still +worse. If she <i>had not done it</i>, she had the desire, she wished to do it, +and I knew that she did. That was worse yet. It would be better if she had +already done it, to relieve me of my uncertainty. +</p> + +<p> +“In short, I could not say what I desired. I desired that she might not +want what she <i>must</i> want. It was complete madness.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<p> +“At the station before the last, when the conductor came to take the +tickets, I took my baggage and went out on the car platform, and the +consciousness that the climax was near at hand only added to my agitation. I +was cold, my jaw trembled so that my teeth chattered. Mechanically I left the +station with the crowd, I took a <i>tchik</i>, and I started. I looked at the +few people passing in the streets and at the <i>dvorniks</i>. I read the signs, +without thinking of anything. After going half a verst my feet began to feel +cold, and I remembered that in the car I had taken off my woollen socks, and +had put them in my travelling bag. Where had I put the bag? Was it with me? +Yes, and the basket? +</p> + +<p> +“I bethought myself that I had totally forgotten my baggage. I took out +my check, and then decided it was not worth while to return. I continued on my +way. In spite of all my efforts to remember, I cannot at this moment make out +why I was in such a hurry. I know only that I was conscious that a serious and +menacing event was approaching in my life. It was a case of real +auto-suggestion. Was it so serious because I thought it so? Or had I a +presentiment? I do not know. Perhaps, too, after what has happened, all +previous events have taken on a lugubrious tint in my memory. +</p> + +<p> +“I arrived at the steps. It was an hour past midnight. A few +<i>isvotchiks</i> were before the door, awaiting customers, attracted by the +lighted windows (the lighted windows were those of our parlor and reception +room). Without trying to account for this late illumination, I went up the +steps, always with the same expectation of something terrible, and I rang. The +servant, a good, industrious, and very stupid being, named Gregor, opened the +door. The first thing that leaped to my eyes in the hall, on the hat-stand, +among other garments, was an overcoat. I ought to have been astonished, but I +was not astonished. I expected it. ‘That’s it!’ I said to +myself. +</p> + +<p> +“When I had asked Gregor who was there, and he had named Troukhatchevsky, +I inquired whether there were other visitors. He answered: +‘Nobody.’ I remember the air with which he said that, with a tone +that was intended to give me pleasure, and dissipate my doubts. +‘That’s it! that’s it!’ I had the air of saying to +myself. ‘And the children?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Thank God, they are very well. They went to sleep long +ago.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I scarcely breathed, and I could not keep my jaw from trembling. +</p> + +<p> +“Then it was not as I thought. I had often before returned home with the +thought that a misfortune had awaited me, but had been mistaken, and everything +was going on as usual. But now things were not going on as usual. All that I +had imagined, all that I believed to be chimeras, all really existed. Here was +the truth. +</p> + +<p> +“I was on the point of sobbing, but straightway the demon whispered in my +ear: ‘Weep and be sentimental, and they will separate quietly, and there +will be no proofs, and all your life you will doubt and suffer.’ And pity +for myself vanished, and there remained only the bestial need of some adroit, +cunning, and energetic action. I became a beast, an intelligent beast. +</p> + +<p> +“‘No, no,’ said I to Gregor, who was about to announce my +arrival. ‘Do this, take a carriage, and go at once for my baggage. Here +is the check. Start.’ +</p> + +<p> +“He went along the hall to get his overcoat. Fearing lest he might +frighten them, I accompanied him to his little room, and waited for him to put +on his things. In the dining-room could be heard the sound of conversation and +the rattling of knives and plates. They were eating. They had not heard the +ring. ‘Now if they only do not go out,’ I thought. +</p> + +<p> +“Gregor put on his fur-collared coat and went out. I closed the door +after him. I felt anxious when I was alone, thinking that directly I should +have to act. How? I did not yet know. I knew only that all was ended, that +there could be no doubt of <i>his</i> innocence, and that in an instant my +relations with her were going to be terminated. Before, I had still doubts. I +said to myself: ‘Perhaps this is not true. Perhaps I am mistaken.’ +Now all doubt had disappeared. All was decided irrevocably. Secretly, all alone +with him, at night! It is a violation of all duties! Or, worse yet, she may +make a show of that audacity, of that insolence in crime, which, by its excess, +tends to prove innocence. All is clear. No doubt. I feared but one +thing,—that they might run in different directions, that they might +invent some new lie, and thus deprive me of material proof, and of the +sorrowful joy of punishing, yes, of executing them. +</p> + +<p> +“And to surprise them more quickly, I started on tiptoe for the +dining-room, not through the parlor, but through the hall and the +children’s rooms. In the first room slept the little boy. In the second, +the old nurse moved in her bed, and seemed on the point of waking, and I +wondered what she would think when she knew all. And pity for myself gave me +such a pang that I could not keep the tears back. Not to wake the children, I +ran lightly through the hall into my study. I dropped upon the sofa, and +sobbed. ‘I, an honest man, I, the son of my parents, who all my life long +have dreamed of family happiness, I who have never betrayed! . . . And here my +five children, and she embracing a musician because he has red lips! No, she is +not a woman! She is a bitch, a dirty bitch! Beside the chamber of the children, +whom she had pretended to love all her life! And then to think of what she +wrote me! And how do I know? Perhaps it has always been thus. Perhaps all these +children, supposed to be mine, are the children of my servants. And if I had +arrived to-morrow, she would have come to meet me with her <i>coiffure</i>, +with her <i>corsage</i>, her indolent and graceful movements (and I see her +attractive and ignoble features), and this jealous animal would have remained +forever in my heart, tearing it. What will the old nurse say? And Gregor? And +the poor little Lise? She already understands things. And this impudence, this +falsehood, this bestial sensuality, that I know so well,’ I said to +myself. +</p> + +<p> +“I tried to rise. I could not. My heart was beating so violently that I +could not hold myself upon my legs. ‘Yes, I shall die of a rush of blood. +She will kill me. That is what she wants. What is it to her to kill? But that +would be too agreeable to him, and I will not allow him to have this pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, here I am, and there they are. They are laughing, they. . . . Yes, +in spite of the fact that she is no longer in her early youth, he has not +disdained her. At any rate, she is by no means ugly, and above all, not +dangerous to his dear health, to him. Why did I not stifle her then?’ +said I to myself, as I remembered that other scene of the previous week, when I +drove her from my study, and broke the furniture. +</p> + +<p> +“And I recalled the state in which I was then. Not only did I recall it, +but I again entered into the same bestial state. And suddenly there came to me +a desire to act, and all reasoning, except such as was necessary to action, +vanished from my brain, and I was in the condition of a beast, and of a man +under the influence of physical excitement pending a danger, who acts +imperturbably, without haste, and yet without losing a minute, pursuing a +definite object. +</p> + +<p> +“The first thing that I did was to take off my boots, and now, having +only stockings on, I advanced toward the wall, over the sofa, where firearms +and daggers were hanging, and I took down a curved Damascus blade, which I had +never used, and which was very sharp. I took it from its sheath. I remember +that the sheath fell upon the sofa, and that I said to myself: ‘I must +look for it later; it must not be lost.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Then I took off my overcoat, which I had kept on all the time, and with +wolf-like tread started for <i>the room</i>. I do not remember how I proceeded, +whether I ran or went slowly, through what chambers I passed, how I approached +the dining-room, how I opened the door, how I entered. I remember nothing about +it.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<p> +“I remember only the expression of their faces when I opened the door. I +remember that, because it awakened in me a feeling of sorrowful joy. It was an +expression of terror, such as I desired. Never shall I forget that desperate +and sudden fright that appeared on their faces when they saw me. He, I believe, +was at the table, and, when he saw or heard me, he started, jumped to his feet, +and retreated to the sideboard. Fear was the only sentiment that could be read +with certainty in his face. In hers, too, fear was to be read, but accompanied +by other impressions. And yet, if her face had expressed only fear, perhaps +that which happened would not have happened. But in the expression of her face +there was at the first moment—at least, I thought I saw it—a +feeling of <i>ennui</i>, of discontent, at this disturbance of her love and +happiness. One would have said that her sole desire was not to be disturbed +<i>in the moment of her happiness</i>. But these expressions appeared upon +their faces only for a moment. Terror almost immediately gave place to +interrogation. Would they lie or not? If yes, they must begin. If not, +something else was going to happen. But what? +</p> + +<p> +“He gave her a questioning glance. On her face the expression of anguish +and <i>ennui</i> changed, it seemed to me, when she looked at him, into an +expression of anxiety for <i>him</i>. For a moment I stood in the doorway, +holding the dagger hidden behind my back. Suddenly he smiled, and in a voice +that was indifferent almost to the point of ridicule, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“‘We were having some music.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I did not expect—,’ she began at the same time, +chiming in with the tone of the other. +</p> + +<p> +“But neither he nor she finished their remarks. The same rage that I had +felt the previous week took possession of me. I felt the need of giving free +course to my violence and ‘the joy of wrath.’ +</p> + +<p> +“No, they did not finish. That other thing was going to begin, of which +he was afraid, and was going to annihilate what they wanted to say. I threw +myself upon her, still hiding the dagger, that he might not prevent me from +striking where I desired, in her bosom, under the breast. At that moment he saw +. . . and, what I did not expect on his part, he quickly seized my hand, and +cried: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Come to your senses! What are you doing? Help! Help!’ +</p> + +<p> +“I tore my hands from his grasp, and leaped upon him. I must have been +very terrible, for he turned as white as a sheet, to his lips. His eyes +scintillated singularly, and—again what I did not expect of him—he +scrambled under the piano, toward the other room. I tried to follow him, but a +very heavy weight fell upon my left arm. It was she. +</p> + +<p> +“I made an effort to clear myself. She clung more heavily than ever, +refusing to let go. This unexpected obstacle, this burden, and this repugnant +touch only irritated me the more. I perceived that I was completely mad, that I +must be frightful, and I was glad of it. With a sudden impulse, and with all my +strength, I dealt her, with my left elbow, a blow squarely in the face. +</p> + +<p> +“She uttered a cry and let go my arm. I wanted to follow the other, but I +felt that it would be ridiculous to pursue in my stockings the lover of my +wife, and I did not wish to be grotesque, I wished to be terrible. In spite of +my extreme rage, I was all the time conscious of the impression that I was +making upon others, and even this impression partially guided me. +</p> + +<p> +“I turned toward her. She had fallen on the long easy chair, and, +covering her face at the spot where I had struck her, she looked at me. Her +features exhibited fear and hatred toward me, her enemy, such as the rat +exhibits when one lifts the rat-trap. At least, I saw nothing in her but that +fear and hatred, the fear and hatred which love for another had provoked. +Perhaps I still should have restrained myself, and should not have gone to the +last extremity, if she had maintained silence. But suddenly she began to speak; +she grasped my hand that held the dagger. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Come to your senses! What are you doing? What is the matter with +you? Nothing has happened, nothing, nothing! I swear it to you!’ +</p> + +<p> +“I might have delayed longer, but these last words, from which I inferred +the contrary of what they affirmed,—that is, that <i>everything</i> had +happened,—these words called for a reply. And the reply must correspond +to the condition into which I had lashed myself, and which was increasing and +must continue to increase. Rage has its laws. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Do not lie, wretch. Do not lie!’ I roared. +</p> + +<p> +“With my left hand I seized her hands. She disengaged herself. Then, +without dropping my dagger, I seized her by the throat, forced her to the +floor, and began to strangle her. With her two hands she clutched mine, tearing +them from her throat, stifling. Then I struck her a blow with the dagger, in +the left side, between the lower ribs. +</p> + +<p> +“When people say that they do not remember what they do in a fit of fury, +they talk nonsense. It is false. I remember everything. +</p> + +<p> +“I did not lose my consciousness for a single moment. The more I lashed +myself to fury, the clearer my mind became, and I could not help seeing what I +did. I cannot say that I knew in advance what I would do, but at the moment +when I acted, and it seems to me even a little before, I knew what I was doing, +as if to make it possible to repent, and to be able to say later that I could +have stopped. +</p> + +<p> +“I knew that I struck the blow between the ribs, and that the dagger +entered. +</p> + +<p> +“At the second when I did it, I knew that I was performing a horrible +act, such as I had never performed,—an act that would have frightful +consequences. My thought was as quick as lightning, and the deed followed +immediately. The act, to my inner sense, had an extraordinary clearness. I +perceived the resistance of the corset and then something else, and then the +sinking of the knife into a soft substance. She clutched at the dagger with her +hands, and cut herself with it, but could not restrain the blow. +</p> + +<p> +“Long afterward, in prison when the moral revolution had been effected +within me, I thought of that minute, I remembered it as far as I could, and I +co-ordinated all the sudden changes. I remembered the terrible consciousness +which I felt,—that I was killing a wife, <i>my</i> wife. +</p> + +<p> +“I well remember the horror of that consciousness and I know vaguely +that, having plunged in the dagger, I drew it out again immediately, wishing to +repair and arrest my action. She straightened up and cried: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Nurse, he has killed me!’ +</p> + +<p> +“The old nurse, who had heard the noise, was standing in the doorway. I +was still erect, waiting, and not believing myself in what had happened. But at +that moment, from under her corset, the blood gushed forth. Then only did I +understand that all reparation was impossible, and promptly I decided that it +was not even necessary, that all had happened in accordance with my wish, and +that I had fulfilled my desire. I waited until she fell, and until the nurse, +exclaiming, ‘Oh, my God!’ ran to her; then only I threw away the +dagger and went out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I must not be agitated. I must be conscious of what I am +doing,’ I said to myself, looking neither at her nor at the old nurse. +The latter cried and called the maid. I passed through the hall, and, after +having sent the maid, started for my study. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What shall I do now?’ I asked myself. +</p> + +<p> +“And immediately I understood what I should do. Directly after entering +the study, I went straight to the wall, took down the revolver, and examined it +attentively. It was loaded. Then I placed it on the table. Next I picked up the +sheath of the dagger, which had dropped down behind the sofa, and then I sat +down. I remained thus for a long time. I thought of nothing, I did not try to +remember anything. I heard a stifled noise of steps, a movement of objects and +of tapestries, then the arrival of a person, and then the arrival of another +person. Then I saw Gregor bring into my room the baggage from the railway; as +if any one needed it! +</p> + +<p> +“‘Have you heard what has happened?’ I asked him. ‘Have +you told the <i>dvornik</i> to inform the police?’ +</p> + +<p> +“He made no answer, and went out. I rose, closed the door, took the +cigarettes and the matches, and began to smoke. I had not finished one +cigarette, when a drowsy feeling came over me and sent me into a deep sleep. I +surely slept two hours. I remember having dreamed that I was on good terms with +her, that after a quarrel we were in the act of making up, that something +prevented us, but that we were friends all the same. +</p> + +<p> +“A knock at the door awoke me. +</p> + +<p> +“‘It is the police,’ thought I, as I opened my eyes. ‘I +have killed, I believe. But perhaps it is <i>she;</i> perhaps nothing has +happened.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Another knock. I did not answer. I was solving the question: ‘Has +it happened or not? Yes, it has happened.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I remembered the resistance of the corset, and then. . . . ‘Yes, +it has happened. Yes, it has happened. Yes, now I must execute myself,’ +said I to myself. +</p> + +<p> +“I said it, but I knew well that I should not kill myself. Nevertheless, +I rose and took the revolver, but, strange thing, I remembered that formerly I +had very often had suicidal ideas, that that very night, on the cars, it had +seemed to me easy, especially easy because I thought how it would stupefy her. +Now I not only could not kill myself, but I could not even think of it. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Why do it?’ I asked myself, without answering. +</p> + +<p> +“Another knock at the door. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, but I must first know who is knocking. I have time +enough.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I put the revolver back on the table, and hid it under my newspaper. I +went to the door and drew back the bolt. +</p> + +<p> +“It was my wife’s sister,—a good and stupid widow. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Basile, what does this mean?’ said she, and her tears, +always ready, began to flow. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What do you want?’ I asked roughly. +</p> + +<p> +“I saw clearly that there was no necessity of being rough with her, but I +could not speak in any other tone. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Basile, she is dying. Ivan Fedorowitch says so.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Ivan Fedorowitch was the doctor, <i>her</i> doctor, her counsellor. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Is he here?’ I inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“And all my hatred of her arose anew. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what? +</p> + +<p> +“‘Basile, go to her! Ah! how terrible it is!’ said she. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Go to her?’ I asked myself; and immediately I made answer +to myself that I ought to go, that probably that was the thing that is usually +done when a husband like myself kills his wife, that it was absolutely +necessary that I should go and see her. +</p> + +<p> +“‘If that is the proper thing, I must go,’ I repeated to +myself. ‘Yes, if it is necessary, I shall still have time,’ said I +to myself, thinking of my intention of blowing my brains out. +</p> + +<p> +“And I followed my sister-in-law. ‘Now there are going to be +phrases and grimaces, but I will not yield,’ I declared to myself. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Wait,’ said I to my sister-in-law, ‘it is stupid to +be without boots. Let me at least put on my slippers.’” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<p> +“Strange thing! Again, when I had left my study, and was passing through +the familiar rooms, again the hope came to me that nothing had happened. But +the odor of the drugs, iodoform and phenic acid, brought me back to a sense of +reality. +</p> + +<p> +“‘No, everything has happened.’ +</p> + +<p> +“In passing through the hall, beside the children’s chamber, I saw +little Lise. She was looking at me, with eyes that were full of fear. I even +thought that all the children were looking at me. As I approached the door of +our sleeping-room, a servant opened it from within, and came out. The first +thing that I noticed was <i>her</i> light gray dress upon a chair, all dark +with blood. On our common bed she was stretched, with knees drawn up. +</p> + +<p> +“She lay very high, upon pillows, with her chemise half open. Linen had +been placed upon the wound. A heavy smell of iodoform filled the room. Before, +and more than anything else, I was astonished at her face, which was swollen +and bruised under the eyes and over a part of the nose. This was the result of +the blow that I had struck her with my elbow, when she had tried to hold me +back. Of beauty there was no trace left. I saw something hideous in her. I +stopped upon the threshold. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Approach, approach her,’ said her sister. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, probably she repents,’ thought I; ‘shall I +forgive her? Yes, she is dying, I must forgive her,’ I added, trying to +be generous. +</p> + +<p> +“I approached the bedside. With difficulty she raised her eyes, one of +which was swollen, and uttered these words haltingly: +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have accomplished what you desired. You have killed +me.’ +</p> + +<p> +“And in her face, through the physical sufferings, in spite of the +approach of death, was expressed the same old hatred, so familiar to me. +</p> + +<p> +“‘The children . . . I will not give them to you . . . all the +same. . . . She (her sister) shall take them.’ . . . +</p> + +<p> +“But of that which I considered essential, of her fault, of her treason, +one would have said that she did not think it necessary to say even a word. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, revel in what you have done.’ +</p> + +<p> +“And she sobbed. +</p> + +<p> +“At the door stood her sister with the children. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, see what you have done!’ +</p> + +<p> +“I cast a glance at the children, and then at her bruised and swollen +face, and for the first time I forgot myself (my rights, my pride), and for the +first time I saw in her a human being, a sister. +</p> + +<p> +“And all that which a moment before had been so offensive to me now +seemed to me so petty,—all this jealousy,—and, on the contrary, +what I had done seemed to me so important that I felt like bending over, +approaching my face to her hand, and saying: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Forgive me!’ +</p> + +<p> +“But I did not dare. She was silent, with eyelids lowered, evidently +having no strength to speak further. Then her deformed face began to tremble +and shrivel, and she feebly pushed me back. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Why has all this happened? Why?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Forgive me,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, if you had not killed me,’ she cried suddenly, and her +eyes shone feverishly. ‘Forgiveness—that is nothing. . . . If I +only do not die! Ah, you have accomplished what you desired! I hate you!’ +</p> + +<p> +“Then she grew delirious. She was frightened, and cried: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Fire, I do not fear . . . but strike them all . . . He has gone. +. . . He has gone.’ . . . +</p> + +<p> +“The delirium continued. She no longer recognized the children, not even +little Lise, who had approached. Toward noon she died. As for me, I was +arrested before her death, at eight o’clock in the morning. They took me +to the police station, and then to prison, and there, during eleven months, +awaiting the verdict, I reflected upon myself, and upon my past, and I +understood it. Yes, I began to understand from the third day. The third day +they took me to the house.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +Posdnicheff seemed to wish to add something, but, no longer having the strength +to repress his sobs, he stopped. After a few minutes, having recovered his +calmness, he resumed: +</p> + +<p> +“I began to understand only when I saw her in the coffin.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +He uttered a sob, and then immediately continued, with haste: +</p> + +<p> +“Then only, when I saw her dead face, did I understand all that I had +done. I understood that it was I, I, who had killed her. I understood that I +was the cause of the fact that she, who had been a moving, living, palpitating +being, had now become motionless and cold, and that there was no way of +repairing this thing. He who has not lived through that cannot understand +it.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +We remained silent a long time. Posdnicheff sobbed and trembled before me. His +face had become delicate and long, and his mouth had grown larger. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said he suddenly, “if I had known what I now know, I +should never have married her, never, not for anything.” +</p> + +<p> +Again we remained silent for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that is what I have done, that is my experience, We must understand +the real meaning of the words of the Gospel,—Matthew, v. +28,—‘that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath +committed adultery’; and these words relate to the wife, to the sister, +and not only to the wife of another, but especially to one’s own +wife.” +</p> + +<h5>THE END.</h5> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part02"></a>LESSON OF “THE KREUTZER SONATA.”</h2> + +<p> +I have received, and still continue to receive, numbers of letters from persons +who are perfect strangers to me, asking me to state in plain and simple +language my own views on the subject handled in the story entitled “The +Kreutzer Sonata.” With this request I shall now endeavor to comply. +</p> + +<p> +My views on the question may be succinctly stated as follows: Without entering +into details, it will be generally admitted that I am accurate in saying that +many people condone in young men a course of conduct with regard to the other +sex which is incompatible with strict morality, and that this dissoluteness is +pardoned generally. Both parents and the government, in consequence of this +view, may be said to wink at profligacy, and even in the last resource to +encourage its practice. I am of opinion that this is not right. +</p> + +<p> +It is not possible that the health of one class should necessitate the ruin of +another, and, in consequence, it is our first duty to turn a deaf ear to such +an essential immoral doctrine, no matter how strongly society may have +established or law protected it. Moreover, it needs to be fully recognized that +men are rightly to be held responsible for the consequences of their own acts, +and that these are no longer to be visited on the woman alone. It follows from +this that it is the duty of men who do not wish to lead a life of infamy to +practice such continence in respect to all woman as they would were the female +society in which they move made up exclusively of their own mothers and +sisters. +</p> + +<p> +A more rational mode of life should be adopted which would include abstinence +from all alcoholic drinks, from excess in eating and from flesh meat, on the +one hand, and recourse to physical labor on the other. I am not speaking of +gymnastics, or of any of those occupations which may be fitly described as +playing at work; I mean the genuine toil that fatigues. No one need go far in +search of proofs that this kind of abstemious living is not merely possible, +but far less hurtful to health than excess. Hundreds of instances are known to +every one. This is my first contention. +</p> + +<p> +In the second place, I think that of late years, through various reasons which +I need not enter, but among which the above-mentioned laxity of opinion in +society and the frequent idealization of the subject in current literature and +painting may be mentioned, conjugal infidelity has become more common and is +considered less reprehensible. I am of opinion that this is not right. The +origin of the evil is twofold. It is due, in the first place, to a natural +instinct, and, in the second, to the elevation of this instinct to a place to +which it does not rightly belong. This being so, the evil can only be remedied +by effecting a change in the views now in vogue about “falling in +love” and all that this term implies, by educating men and women at home +through family influence and example, and abroad by means of healthy public +opinion, to practice that abstinence which morality and Christianity alike +enjoin. This is my second contention. +</p> + +<p> +In the third place I am of opinion that another consequence of the false light +in which “falling in love,” and what it leads to, are viewed in our +society, is that the birth of children has lost its pristine significance, and +that modern marriages are conceived less and less from the point of view of the +family. I am of opinion that this is not right. This is my third contention. +</p> + +<p> +In the fourth place, I am of opinion that the children (who in our society are +considered an obstacle to enjoyment—an unlucky accident, as it were) are +educated not with a view to the problem which they will be one day called on to +face and to solve, but solely with an eye to the pleasure which they may be +made to yield to their parents. The consequence is, that the children of human +beings are brought up for all the world like the young of animals, the chief +care of their parents being not to train them to such work as is worthy of men +and women, but to increase their weight, or add a cubit to their stature, to +make them spruce, sleek, well-fed, and comely. They rig them out in all manner +of fantastic costumes, wash them, over-feed them, and refuse to make them work. +If the children of the lower orders differ in this last respect from those of +the well-to-do classes, the difference is merely formal; they work from sheer +necessity, and not because their parents recognize work as a duty. And in +over-fed children, as in over-fed animals, sensuality is engendered unnaturally +early. +</p> + +<p> +Fashionable dress to-day, the course of reading, plays, music, dances, luscious +food, all the elements of our modern life, in a word, from the pictures on the +little boxes of sweetmeats up to the novel, the tale, and the poem, contribute +to fan this sensuality into a strong, consuming flame, with the result that +sexual vices and diseases have come to be the normal conditions of the period +of tender youth, and often continue into the riper age of full-blown manhood. +And I am of opinion that this is not right. +</p> + +<p> +It is high time it ceased. The children of human beings should not be brought +up as if they were animals; and we should set up as the object and strive to +maintain as the result of our labors something better and nobler than a +well-dressed body. This is my fourth contention. +</p> + +<p> +In the fifth place, I am of opinion that, owing to the exaggerated and +erroneous significance attributed by our society to love and to the idealized +states that accompany and succeed it, the best energies of our men and women +are drawn forth and exhausted during the most promising period of life; those +of the men in the work of looking for, choosing, and winning the most desirable +objects of love, for which purpose lying and fraud are held to be quite +excusable; those of the women and girls in alluring men and decoying them into +liaisons or marriage by the most questionable means conceivable, as an instance +of which the present fashions in evening dress may be cited. I am of opinion +that this is not right. +</p> + +<p> +The truth is, that the whole affair has been exalted by poets and romancers to +an undue importance, and that love in its various developments is not a fitting +object to consume the best energies of men. People set it before them and +strive after it, because their view of life is as vulgar and brutish as is that +other conception frequently met with in the lower stages of development, which +sees in luscious and abundant food an end worthy of man’s best efforts. +Now, this is not right and should not be done. And, in order to avoid doing it, +it is only needful to realize the fact that whatever truly deserves to be held +up as a worthy object of man’s striving and working, whether it be the +service of humanity, of one’s country, of science, of art, not to speak +of the service of God, is far above and beyond the sphere of personal +enjoyment. Hence, it follows that not only to form a liaison, but even to +contract marriage, is, from a Christian point of view, not a progress, but a +fall. Love, and all the states that accompany and follow it, however we may try +in prose and verse to prove the contrary, never do and never can facilitate the +attainment of an aim worthy of men, but always make it more difficult. This is +my fifth contention. +</p> + +<p> +How about the human race? If we admit that celibacy is better and nobler than +marriage, evidently the human race will come to an end. But, if the logical +conclusion of the argument is that the human race will become extinct, the +whole reasoning is wrong. +</p> + +<p> +To that I reply that the argument is not mine; I did not invent it. That it is +incumbent on mankind so to strive, and that celibacy is preferable to marriage, +are truths revealed by Christ 1,900 years ago, set forth in our catechisms, and +professed by us as followers of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +Chastity and celibacy, it is urged, cannot constitute the ideal of humanity, +because chastity would annihilate the race which strove to realize it, and +humanity cannot set up as its ideal its own annihilation. It may be pointed out +in reply that only that is a true ideal, which, being unattainable, admits of +infinite gradation in degrees of proximity. Such is the Christian ideal of the +founding of God’s kingdom, the union of all living creatures by the bonds +of love. The conception of its attainment is incompatible with the conception +of the movement of life. What kind of life could subsist if all living +creatures were joined together by the bonds of love? None. Our conception of +life is inseparably bound up with the conception of a continual striving after +an unattainable ideal. +</p> + +<p> +But even if we suppose the Christian ideal of perfect chastity realized, what +then? We should merely find ourselves face to face on the one hand with the +familiar teaching of religion, one of whose dogmas is that the world will have +an end; and on the other of so-called science, which informs us that the sun is +gradually losing its heat, the result of which will in time be the extinction +of the human race. +</p> + +<p> +Now there is not and cannot be such an institution as Christian marriage, just +as there cannot be such a thing as a Christian liturgy (Matt. vi. 5-12; John +iv. 21), nor Christian teachers, nor church fathers (Matt. xxiii. 8-10), nor +Christian armies, Christian law courts, nor Christian States. This is what was +always taught and believed by true Christians of the first and following +centuries. A Christian’s ideal is not marriage, but love for God and for +his neighbor. Consequently in the eyes of a Christian relations in marriage not +only do not constitute a lawful, right, and happy state, as our society and our +churches maintain, but, on the contrary, are always a fall. +</p> + +<p> +Such a thing as Christian marriage never was and never could be. Christ did not +marry, nor did he establish marriage; neither did his disciples marry. But if +Christian marriage cannot exist, there is such a thing as a Christian view of +marriage. And this is how it may be formulated: A Christian (and by this term I +understand not those who call themselves Christians merely because they were +baptized and still receive the sacrament once a year, but those whose lives are +shaped and regulated by the teachings of Christ), I say, cannot view the +marriage relation otherwise than as a deviation from the doctrine of +Christ,—as a sin. This is clearly laid down in Matt. v. 28, and the +ceremony called Christian marriage does not alter its character one jot. A +Christian will never, therefore, desire marriage, but will always avoid it. +</p> + +<p> +If the light of truth dawns upon a Christian when he is already married, or if, +being a Christian, from weakness he enters into marital relations with the +ceremonies of the church, or without them, he has no other alternative than to +abide with his wife (and the wife with her husband, if it is she who is a +Christian) and to aspire together with her to free themselves of their sin. +This is the Christian view of marriage; and there cannot be any other for a man +who honestly endeavors to shape his life in accordance with the teachings of +Christ. +</p> + +<p> +To very many persons the thoughts I have uttered here and in “The +Kreutzer Sonata” will seem strange, vague, even contradictory. They +certainly do contradict, not each other, but the whole tenor of our lives, and +involuntarily a doubt arises, “on which side is truth,—on the side +of the thoughts which seem true and well-founded, or on the side of the lives +of others and myself?” I, too, was weighed down by that same doubt when +writing “The Kreutzer Sonata.” I had not the faintest presentiment +that the train of thought I had started would lead me whither it did. I was +terrified by my own conclusion, and I was at first disposed to reject it, but +it was impossible not to hearken to the voice of my reason and my conscience. +And so, strange though they may appear to many, opposed as they undoubtedly are +to the trend and tenor of our lives, and incompatible though they may prove +with what I have heretofore thought and uttered, I have no choice but to accept +them. “But man is weak,” people will object. “His task should +be regulated by his strength.” +</p> + +<p> +This is tantamount to saying, “My hand is weak. I cannot draw a straight +line,—that is, a line which will be the shortest line between two given +points,—and so, in order to make it more easy for myself, I, intending to +draw a straight, will choose for my model a crooked line.” +</p> + +<p> +The weaker my hand, the greater the need that my model should be perfect. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<i>Leo Tolstoy.</i> +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part03"></a>IVAN THE FOOL.</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p> +In a certain kingdom there lived a rich peasant, who had three +sons—Simeon (a soldier), Tarras-Briukhan (fat man), and Ivan (a +fool)—and one daughter, Milania, born dumb. Simeon went to war, to serve +the Czar; Tarras went to a city and became a merchant; and Ivan, with his +sister, remained at home to work on the farm. +</p> + +<p> +For his valiant service in the army, Simeon received an estate with high rank, +and married a noble’s daughter. Besides his large pay, he was in receipt +of a handsome income from his estate; yet he was unable to make ends meet. What +the husband saved, the wife wasted in extravagance. One day Simeon went to the +estate to collect his income, when the steward informed him that there was no +income, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“We have neither horses, cows, fishing-nets, nor implements; it is +necessary first to buy everything, and then to look for income.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeon thereupon went to his father and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You are rich, <i>batiushka</i> [little father], but you have +given nothing to me. Give me one-third of what you possess as my share, +and I will transfer it to my estate.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man replied: “You did not help to bring prosperity to our +household. For what reason, then, should you now demand the third part of +everything? It would be unjust to Ivan and his sister.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Simeon; “but he is a fool, and she was born dumb. +What need have they of anything?” +</p> + +<p> +“See what Ivan will say.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s reply was: “Well, let him take his share.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeon took the portion allotted to him, and went again to serve in the army. +</p> + +<p> +Tarras also met with success. He became rich and married a merchant’s +daughter, but even this failed to satisfy his desires, and he also went to his +father and said, “Give me my share.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man, however, refused to comply with his request, saying: “You +had no hand in the accumulation of our property, and what our household +contains is the result of Ivan’s hard work. It would be unjust,” he +repeated, “to Ivan and his sister.” +</p> + +<p> +Tarras replied: “But he does not need it. He is a fool, and cannot marry, +for no one will have him; and sister does not require anything, for she was +born dumb.” Turning then to Ivan he continued: “Give me half the +grain you have, and I will not touch the implements or fishing-nets; and from +the cattle I will take only the dark mare, as she is not fit to plow.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan laughed and said: “Well, I will go and arrange matters so that +Tarras may have his share,” whereupon Tarras took the brown mare with the +grain to town, leaving Ivan with one old horse to work on as before and support +his father, mother, and sister. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p> +It was disappointing to the <i>Stary Tchert</i> (Old Devil) that the brothers +did not quarrel over the division of the property, and that they separated +peacefully; and he cried out, calling his three small devils +(<i>Tchertionki</i>). +</p> + +<p> +“See here,” said he, “there are living three +brothers—Simeon the soldier, Tarras-Briukhan, and Ivan the Fool. It is +necessary that they should quarrel. Now they live peacefully, and enjoy each +other’s hospitality. The Fool spoiled all my plans. Now you three go and +work with them in such a manner that they will be ready to tear each +other’s eyes out. Can you do this?” +</p> + +<p> +“We can,” they replied. +</p> + +<p> +“How will you accomplish it?” +</p> + +<p> +“In this way: We will first ruin them to such an extent that they will +have nothing to eat, and we will then gather them together in one place where +we are sure that they will fight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well; I see you understand your business. Go, and do not return to +me until you have created a feud between the three brothers—or I will +skin you alive.” +</p> + +<p> +The three small devils went to a swamp to consult as to the best means of +accomplishing their mission. They disputed for a long time—each one +wanting the easiest part of the work—and not being able to agree, +concluded to draw lots; by which it was decided that the one who was first +finished had to come and help the others. This agreement being entered into, +they appointed a time when they were again to meet in the swamp—to find +out who was through and who needed assistance. +</p> + +<p> +The time having arrived, the young devils met in the swamp as agreed, when each +related his experience. The first, who went to Simeon, said: “I have +succeeded in my undertaking, and to-morrow Simeon returns to his father.” +</p> + +<p> +His comrades, eager for particulars, inquired how he had done it. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he began, “the first thing I did was to blow some +courage into his veins, and, on the strength of it, Simeon went to the Czar and +offered to conquer the whole world for him. The Emperor made him +commander-in-chief of the forces, and sent him with an army to fight the +Viceroy of India. Having started on their mission of conquest, they were +unaware that I, following in their wake, had wet all their powder. I also went +to the Indian ruler and showed him how I could create numberless soldiers from +straw. +</p> + +<p> +“Simeon’s army, seeing that they were surrounded by such a vast +number of Indian warriors of my creation, became frightened, and Simeon +commanded to fire from cannons and rifles, which of course they were unable to +do. The soldiers, discouraged, retreated in great disorder. Thus Simeon brought +upon himself the terrible disgrace of defeat. His estate was confiscated, and +to-morrow he is to be executed. All that remains for me to do, +therefore,” concluded the young devil, “is to release him to-morrow +morning. Now, then, who wants my assistance?” +</p> + +<p> +The second small devil (from Tarras) then related his story. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not need any help,” he began. “My business is also all +right. My work with Tarras will be finished in one week. In the first place I +made him grow thin. He afterward became so covetous that he wanted to possess +everything he saw, and he spent all the money he had in the purchase of immense +quantities of goods. When his capital was gone he still continued to buy with +borrowed money, and has become involved in such difficulties that he cannot +free himself. At the end of one week the date for the payment of his notes will +have expired, and, his goods being seized upon, he will become a bankrupt; and +he also will return to his father.” +</p> + +<p> +At the conclusion of this narrative they inquired of the third devil how things +had fared between him and Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said he, “my report is not so encouraging. The first +thing I did was to spit into his jug of <i>quass</i> [a sour drink made from +rye], which made him sick at his stomach. He afterward went to plow his +summer-fallow, but I made the soil so hard that the plow could scarcely +penetrate it. I thought the Fool would not succeed, but he started to work +nevertheless. Moaning with pain, he still continued to labor. I broke one plow, +but he replaced it with another, fixing it securely, and resumed work. Going +beneath the surface of the ground I took hold of the plowshares, but did not +succeed in stopping Ivan. He pressed so hard, and the colter was so sharp, that +my hands were cut; and despite my utmost efforts, he went over all but a small +portion of the field.” +</p> + +<p> +He concluded with: “Come, brothers, and help me, for if we do not conquer +him our whole enterprise will be a failure. If the Fool is permitted +successfully to conduct his farming, they will have no need, for he will +support his brothers.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p> +Ivan having succeeded in plowing all but a small portion of his land, he +returned the next day to finish it. The pain in his stomach continued, but he +felt that he must go on with his work. He tried to start his plow, but it would +not move; it seemed to have struck a hard root. It was the small devil in the +ground who had wound his feet around the plowshares and held them. +</p> + +<p> +“This is strange,” thought Ivan. “There were never any roots +here before, and this is surely one.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan put his hand in the ground, and, feeling something soft, grasped and +pulled it out. It was like a root in appearance, but seemed to possess life. +Holding it up he saw that it was a little devil. Disgusted, he exclaimed, +“See the nasty thing,” and he proceeded to strike it a blow, +intending to kill it, when the young devil cried out: +</p> + +<p> +“Do not kill me, and I will grant your every wish.” +</p> + +<p> +“What can you do for me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me what it is you most wish for,” the little devil replied. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan, peasant-fashion, scratched the back of his head as he thought, and +finally he said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am dreadfully sick at my stomach. Can you cure me?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can,” the little devil said. +</p> + +<p> +“Then do so.” +</p> + +<p> +The little devil bent toward the earth and began searching for roots, and when +he found them he gave them to Ivan, saying: “If you will swallow some of +these you will be immediately cured of whatsoever disease you are afflicted +with.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan did as directed, and obtained instant relief. +</p> + +<p> +“I beg of you to let me go now,” the little devil pleaded; “I +will pass into the earth, never to return.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well; you may go, and God bless you;” and as Ivan pronounced +the name of God, the small devil disappeared into the earth like a flash, and +only a slight opening in the ground remained. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan placed in his hat what roots he had left, and proceeded to plow. Soon +finishing his work, he turned his plow over and returned home. +</p> + +<p> +When he reached the house he found his brother Simeon and his wife seated at +the supper-table. His estate had been confiscated, and he himself had barely +escaped execution by making his way out of prison, and having nothing to live +upon had come back to his father for support. +</p> + +<p> +Turning to Ivan he said: “I came to ask you to care for us until I can +find something to do.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” Ivan replied; “you may remain with us.” +</p> + +<p> +Just as Ivan was about to sit down to the table Simeon’s wife made a wry +face, indicating that she did not like the smell of Ivan’s sheep-skin +coat; and turning to her husband she said, “I shall not sit at the table +with a moujik [peasant] who smells like that.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeon the soldier turned to his brother and said: “My lady objects to +the smell of your clothes. You may eat in the porch.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan said: “Very well, it is all the same to me. I will soon have to go +and feed my horse any way.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan took some bread in one hand, and his <i>kaftan</i> (coat) in the other, +and left the room. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap32"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p> +The small devil finished with Simeon that night, and according to agreement +went to the assistance of his comrade who had charge of Ivan, that he might +help to conquer the Fool. He went to the field and searched everywhere, but +could find nothing but the hole through which the small devil had disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, this is strange,” he said; “something must have +happened to my companion, and I will have to take his place and continue the +work he began. The Fool is through with his plowing, so I must look about me +for some other means of compassing his destruction. I must overflow his meadow +and prevent him from cutting the grass.” +</p> + +<p> +The little devil accordingly overflowed the meadow with muddy water, and, when +Ivan went at dawn next morning with his scythe set and sharpened and tried to +mow the grass, he found that it resisted all his efforts and would not yield to +the implement as usual. +</p> + +<p> +Many times Ivan tried to cut the grass, but always without success. At last, +becoming weary of the effort, he decided to return home and have his scythe +again sharpened, and also to procure a quantity of bread, saying: “I will +come back here and will not leave until I have mown all the meadow, even if it +should take a whole week.” +</p> + +<p> +Hearing this, the little devil became thoughtful, saying: “That Ivan is a +<i>koolak</i> [hard case], and I must think of some other way of conquering +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan soon returned with his sharpened scythe and started to mow. +</p> + +<p> +The small devil hid himself in the grass, and as the point of the scythe came +down he buried it in the earth and made it almost impossible for Ivan to move +the implement. He, however, succeeded in mowing all but one small spot in the +swamp, where again the small devil hid himself, saying: “Even if he +should cut my hands I will prevent him from accomplishing his work.” +</p> + +<p> +When Ivan came to the swamp he found that the grass was not very thick. Still, +the scythe would not work, which made him so angry that he worked with all his +might, and one blow more powerful than the others cut off a portion of the +small devil’s tail, who had hidden himself there. +</p> + +<p> +Despite the little devil’s efforts he succeeded in finishing his work, +when he returned home and ordered his sister to gather up the grass while he +went to another field to cut rye. But the devil preceded him there, and fixed +the rye in such a manner that it was almost impossible for Ivan to cut it; +however, after continuous hard labor he succeeded, and when he was through with +the rye he said to himself: “Now I will start to mow oats.” +</p> + +<p> +On hearing this, the little devil thought to himself: “I could not +prevent him from mowing the rye, but I will surely stop him from mowing the +oats when the morning comes.” +</p> + +<p> +Early next day, when the devil came to the field, he found that the oats had +been already mowed. Ivan did it during the night, so as to avoid the loss that +might have resulted from the grain being too ripe and dry. Seeing that Ivan +again had escaped him, the little devil became greatly enraged, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“He cut me all over and made me tired, that fool. I did not meet such +misfortune even on the battle-field. He does not even sleep;” and the +devil began to swear. “I cannot follow him,” he continued. “I +will go now to the heaps and make everything rotten.” +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly he went to a heap of the new-mown grain and began his fiendish +work. After wetting it he built a fire and warmed himself, and soon was fast +asleep. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan harnessed his horse, and, with his sister, went to bring the rye home from +the field. +</p> + +<p> +After lifting a couple of sheaves from the first heap his pitchfork came into +contact with the little devil’s back, which caused the latter to howl +with pain and to jump around in every direction. Ivan exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“See here! What nastiness! You again here?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am another one!” said the little devil. “That was my +brother. I am the one who was sent to your brother Simeon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Ivan, “it matters not who you are. I will fix +you all the same.” +</p> + +<p> +As Ivan was about to strike the first blow the devil pleaded: “Let me go +and I will do you no more harm. I will do whatever you wish.” +</p> + +<p> +“What can you do for me?” asked Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +“I can make soldiers from almost anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what will they be good for?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, they will do everything for you!” +</p> + +<p> +“Can they sing?” +</p> + +<p> +“They can.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, make them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Take a bunch of straw and scatter it on the ground, and see if each +straw will not turn into a soldier.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan shook the straws on the ground, and, as he expected, each straw turned +into a soldier, and they began marching with a band at their head. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Ishty</i> [look you], that was well done! How it will delight the +village maidens!” he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +The small devil now said: “Let me go; you do not need me any +longer.” +</p> + +<p> +But Ivan said: “No, I will not let you go just yet. You have converted +the straw into soldiers, and now I want you to turn them again into straw, as I +cannot afford to lose it, but I want it with the grain on.” +</p> + +<p> +The devil replied: “Say: ‘So many soldiers, so much +straw.’” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan did as directed, and got back his rye with the straw. +</p> + +<p> +The small devil again begged for his release. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan, taking him from the pitchfork, said: “With God’s blessing you +may depart”; and, as before at the mention of God’s name, the +little devil was hurled into the earth like a flash, and nothing was left but +the hole to show where he had gone. +</p> + +<p> +Soon afterward Ivan returned home, to find his brother Tarras and his wife +there. Tarras-Briukhan could not pay his debts, and was forced to flee from his +creditors and seek refuge under his father’s roof. Seeing Ivan, he said: +“Well, Ivan, may we remain here until I start in some new +business?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan replied as he had before to Simeon: “Yes, you are perfectly welcome +to remain here as long as it suits you.” +</p> + +<p> +With that announcement he removed his coat and seated himself at the +supper-table with the others. But Tarras-Briukhan’s wife objected to the +smell of his clothes, saying: “I cannot eat with a fool; neither can I +stand the smell.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Tarras-Briukhan said: “Ivan, from your clothes there comes a bad +smell; go and eat by yourself in the porch.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said Ivan; and he took some bread and went out as +ordered, saying, “It is time for me to feed my mare.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap33"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p> +The small devil who had charge of Tarras finished with him that night, and +according to agreement proceeded to the assistance of the other two to help +them conquer Ivan. Arriving at the plowed field he looked around for his +comrades, but found only the hole through which one had disappeared; and on +going to the meadow he discovered the severed tail of the other, and in the +rye-field he found yet another hole. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he thought, “it is quite clear that my comrades have +met with some great misfortune, and that I will have to take their places and +arrange the feud between the brothers.” +</p> + +<p> +The small devil then went in search of Ivan. But he, having finished with the +field, was nowhere to be found. He had gone to the forest to cut logs to build +homes for his brothers, as they found it inconvenient for so many to live under +the same roof. +</p> + +<p> +The small devil at last discovered his whereabouts, and going to the forest +climbed into the branches of the trees and began to interfere with Ivan’s +work. Ivan cut down a tree, which failed, however, to fall to the ground, +becoming entangled in the branches of other trees; yet he succeeded in getting +it down after a hard struggle. In chopping down the next tree he met with the +same difficulties, and also with the third. Ivan had supposed he could cut down +fifty trees in a day, but he succeeded in chopping but ten before darkness put +an end to his labors for a time. He was now exhausted, and, perspiring +profusely, he sat down alone in the woods to rest. He soon after resumed his +work, cutting down one more tree; but the effort gave him a pain in his back, +and he was obliged to rest again. Seeing this, the small devil was full of joy. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he thought, “now he is exhausted and will stop work, +and I will rest also.” He then seated himself on some branches and +rejoiced. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan again arose, however, and, taking his axe, gave the tree a terrific blow +from the opposite side, which felled it instantly to the ground, carrying the +little devil with it; and Ivan, proceeding to cut the branches, found the devil +alive. Very much astonished, Ivan exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Look you! Such nastiness! Are you again here?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am another one,” replied the devil. “I was with your +brother Tarras.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Ivan, “that makes no difference; I will fix +you.” And he was about to strike him a blow with the axe when the devil +pleaded: +</p> + +<p> +“Do not kill me, and whatever you wish you shall have.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan asked, “What can you do?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can make for you all the money you wish.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan then told the devil he might proceed, whereupon the latter began to +explain to him how he might become rich. +</p> + +<p> +“Take,” said he to Ivan, “the leaves of this oak tree and rub +them in your hands, and the gold will fall to the ground.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan did as he was directed, and immediately the gold began to drop about his +feet; and he remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“This will be a fine trick to amuse the village boys with.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can I now take my departure?” asked the devil, to which Ivan +replied, “With God’s blessing you may go.” +</p> + +<p> +At the mention of the name of God, the devil disappeared into the earth. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap34"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p> +The brothers, having finished their houses, moved into them and lived apart +from their father and brother. Ivan, when he had completed his plowing, made a +great feast, to which he invited his brothers, telling them that he had plenty +of beer for them to drink. The brothers, however, declined Ivan’s +hospitality, saying, “We have seen the beer moujiks drink, and want none +of it.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan then gathered around him all the peasants in the village and with them +drank beer until he became intoxicated, when he joined the <i>Khorovody</i> (a +street gathering of the village boys and girls, who sing songs), and told them +they must sing his praises, saying that in return he would show them such +sights as they had never before seen in their lives. The little girls laughed +and began to sing songs praising Ivan, and when they had finished they said: +“Very well; now give us what you said you would.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan replied, “I will soon show you,” and, taking an empty bag in +his hand, he started for the woods. The little girls laughed as they said, +“What a fool he is!” and resuming their play they forgot all about +him. +</p> + +<p> +Some time after Ivan suddenly appeared among them carrying in his hand the bag, +which was now filled. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I divide this with you?” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; divide!” they sang in chorus. +</p> + +<p> +So Ivan put his hand into the bag and drew it out full of gold coins, which he +scattered among them. +</p> + +<p> +“Batiushka,” they cried as they ran to gather up the precious +pieces. +</p> + +<p> +The moujiks then appeared on the scene and began to fight among themselves for +the possession of the yellow objects. In the mêlée one old woman was nearly +crushed to death. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan laughed and was greatly amused at the sight of so many persons quarrelling +over a few pieces of gold. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! you duratchki” (little fools), he said, “why did you +almost crush the life out of the old grandmother? Be more gentle. I have plenty +more, and I will give them to you;” whereupon he began throwing about +more of the coins. +</p> + +<p> +The people gathered around him, and Ivan continued throwing until he emptied +his bag. They clamored for more, but Ivan replied: “The gold is all gone. +Another time I will give you more. Now we will resume our singing and +dancing.” +</p> + +<p> +The little children sang, but Ivan said to them, “Your songs are no +good.” +</p> + +<p> +The children said, “Then show us how to sing better.” +</p> + +<p> +To this Ivan replied, “I will show you people who can sing better than +you.” With that remark Ivan went to the barn and, securing a bundle of +straw, did as the little devil had directed him; and presently a regiment of +soldiers appeared in the village street, and he ordered them to sing and dance. +</p> + +<p> +The people were astonished and could not understand how Ivan had produced the +strangers. +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers sang for some time, to the great delight of the villagers; and +when Ivan commanded them to stop they instantly ceased. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan then ordered them off to the barn, telling the astonished and mystified +moujiks that they must not follow him. Reaching the barn, he turned the +soldiers again into straw and went home to sleep off the effects of his +debauch. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap35"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p> +The next morning Ivan’s exploits were the talk of the village, and news +of the wonderful things he had done reached the ears of his brother Simeon, who +immediately went to Ivan to learn all about it. +</p> + +<p> +“Explain to me,” he said; “from whence did you bring the +soldiers, and where did you take them?” +</p> + +<p> +“And what do you wish to know for?” asked Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, with soldiers we can do almost anything we wish—whole +kingdoms can be conquered,” replied Simeon. +</p> + +<p> +This information greatly surprised Ivan, who said: “Well, why did you not +tell me about this before? I can make as many as you want.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan then took his brother to the barn, but he said: “While I am willing +to create the soldiers, you must take them away from here; for if it should +become necessary to feed them, all the food in the village would last them only +one day.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeon promised to do as Ivan wished, whereupon Ivan proceeded to convert the +straw into soldiers. Out of one bundle of straw he made an entire regiment; in +fact, so many soldiers appeared as if by magic that there was not a vacant spot +in the field. +</p> + +<p> +Turning to Simeon Ivan said, “Well, is there a sufficient number?” +</p> + +<p> +Beaming with joy, Simeon replied: “Enough! enough! Thank you, +Ivan!” +</p> + +<p> +“Glad you are satisfied,” said Ivan, “and if you wish more I +will make them for you. I have plenty of straw now.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeon divided his soldiers into battalions and regiments, and after having +drilled them he went forth to fight and to conquer. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon had just gotten safely out of the village with his soldiers when Tarras, +the other brother, appeared before Ivan—he also having heard of the +previous day’s performance and wanting to learn the secret of his power. +He sought Ivan, saying: “Tell me the secret of your supply of gold, for +if I had plenty of money I could with its assistance gather in all the wealth +in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan was greatly surprised on hearing this statement, and said: “You +might have told me this before, for I can obtain for you as much money as you +wish.” +</p> + +<p> +Tarras was delighted, and he said, “You might get me about three +bushels.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Ivan, “we will go to the woods, or, better +still, we will harness the horse, as we could not possibly carry so much money +ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +The brothers went to the woods and Ivan proceeded to gather the oak leaves, +which he rubbed between his hands, the dust falling to the ground and turning +into gold pieces as quickly as it fell. +</p> + +<p> +When quite a pile had accumulated Ivan turned to Tarras and asked if he had +rubbed enough leaves into money, whereupon Tarras replied: “Thank you, +Ivan; that will be sufficient for this time.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan then said: “If you wish more, come to me and I will rub as much as +you want, for there are plenty of leaves.” +</p> + +<p> +Tarras, with his <i>tarantas</i> (wagon) filled with gold, rode away to the +city to engage in trade and increase his wealth; and thus both brothers went +their way, Simeon to fight and Tarras to trade. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon’s soldiers conquered a kingdom for him and Tarras-Briukhan made +plenty of money. +</p> + +<p> +Some time afterward the two brothers met and confessed to each other the source +from whence sprang their prosperity, but they were not yet satisfied. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon said: “I have conquered a kingdom and enjoy a very pleasant life, +but I have not sufficient money to procure food for my soldiers;” while +Tarras confessed that he was the possessor of enormous wealth, but the care of +it caused him much uneasiness. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go again to our brother,” said Simeon; “I will order +him to make more soldiers and will give them to you, and you may then tell him +that he must make more money so that we can buy food for them.” +</p> + +<p> +They went again to Ivan, and Simeon said: “I have not sufficient +soldiers; I want you to make me at least two divisions more.” But Ivan +shook his head as he said: “I will not create soldiers for nothing; you +must pay me for doing it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, but you promised,” said Simeon. +</p> + +<p> +“I know I did,” replied Ivan; “but I have changed my mind +since that time.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, fool, why will you not do as you promised?” +</p> + +<p> +“For the reason that your soldiers kill men, and I will not make any more +for such a cruel purpose.” With this reply Ivan remained stubborn and +would not create any more soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +Tarras-Briukhan next approached Ivan and ordered him to make more money; but, +as in the case of Tarras, Ivan only shook his head, as he said: “I will +not make you any money unless you pay me for doing it. I cannot work without +pay.” +</p> + +<p> +Tarras then reminded him of his promise. +</p> + +<p> +“I know I promised,” replied Ivan; “but still I must refuse +to do as you wish.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why, fool, will you not fulfill your promise?” asked Tarras. +</p> + +<p> +“For the reason that your gold was the means of depriving Mikhailovna of +her cow.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how did that happen?” inquired Tarras. +</p> + +<p> +“It happened in this way,” said Ivan. “Mikhailovna always +kept a cow, and her children had plenty of milk to drink; but some time ago one +of her boys came to me to beg for some milk, and I asked, ‘Where is your +cow?’ when he replied, ‘A clerk of Tarras-Briukhan came to our home +and offered three gold pieces for her. Our mother could not resist the +temptation, and now we have no milk to drink. I gave you the gold pieces for +your pleasure, and you put them to such poor use that I will not give you any +more.’” +</p> + +<p> +The brothers, on hearing this, took their departure to discuss as to the best +plan to pursue in regard to a settlement of their troubles. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon said: “Let us arrange it in this way: I will give you the half of +my kingdom, and soldiers to keep guard over your wealth; and you give me money +to feed the soldiers in my half of the kingdom.” +</p> + +<p> +To this arrangement Tarras agreed, and both the brothers became rulers and very +happy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap36"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p> +Ivan remained on the farm and worked to support his father, mother, and dumb +sister. Once it happened that the old dog, which had grown up on the farm, was +taken sick, when Ivan thought he was dying, and, taking pity on the animal, +placed some bread in his hat and carried it to him. It happened that when he +turned out the bread the root which the little devil had given him fell out +also. The old dog swallowed it with the bread and was almost instantly cured, +when he jumped up and began to wag his tail as an expression of joy. +Ivan’s father and mother, seeing the dog cured so quickly, asked by what +means he had performed such a miracle. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan replied: “I had some roots which would cure any disease, and the dog +swallowed one of them.” +</p> + +<p> +It happened about that time that the Czar’s daughter became ill, and her +father had it announced in every city, town, and village that whosoever would +cure her would be richly rewarded; and if the lucky person should prove to be a +single man he would give her in marriage to him. +</p> + +<p> +This announcement, of course, appeared in Ivan’s village. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s father and mother called him and said: “If you have any of +those wonderful roots, go and cure the Czar’s daughter. You will be much +happier for having performed such a kind act—indeed, you will be made +happy for all your after life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said Ivan; and he immediately made ready for the +journey. As he reached the porch on his way out he saw a poor woman standing +directly in his path and holding a broken arm. The woman accosted him, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“I was told that you could cure me, and will you not please do so, as I +am powerless to do anything for myself?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan replied: “Very well, my poor woman; I will relieve you if I +can.” +</p> + +<p> +He produced a root which he handed to the poor woman and told her to swallow +it. +</p> + +<p> +She did as Ivan told her and was instantly cured, and went away rejoicing that +she had recovered the use of her arm. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s father and mother came out to wish him good luck on his journey, +and to them he told the story of the poor woman, saying that he had given her +his last root. On hearing this his parents were much distressed, as they now +believed him to be without the means of curing the Czar’s daughter, and +began to scold him. +</p> + +<p> +“You had pity for a beggar and gave no thought to the Czar’s +daughter,” they said. +</p> + +<p> +“I have pity for the Czar’s daughter also,” replied Ivan, +after which he harnessed his horse to his wagon and took his seat ready for his +departure; whereupon his parents said: “Where are you going, you +fool—to cure the Czar’s daughter, and without anything to do it +with?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” replied Ivan, as he drove away. +</p> + +<p> +In due time he arrived at the palace, and the moment he appeared on the balcony +the Czar’s daughter was cured. The Czar was overjoyed and ordered Ivan to +be brought into his presence. He dressed him in the richest robes and addressed +him as his son-in-law. Ivan was married to the Czarevna, and, the Czar dying +soon after, Ivan became ruler. Thus the three brothers became rulers in +different kingdoms. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap37"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p> +The brothers lived and reigned. Simeon, the eldest brother, with his straw +soldiers took captive the genuine soldiers and trained all alike. He was feared +by every one. +</p> + +<p> +Tarras-Briukhan, the other brother, did not squander the gold he obtained from +Ivan, but instead greatly increased his wealth, and at the same time lived +well. He kept his money in large trunks, and, while having more than he knew +what to do with, still continued to collect money from his subjects. The people +had to work for the money to pay the taxes which Tarras levied on them, and +life was made burdensome to them. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan the Fool did not enjoy his wealth and power to the same extent as did his +brothers. As soon as his father-in-law, the late Czar, was buried, he discarded +the Imperial robes which had fallen to him and told his wife to put them away, +as he had no further use for them. Having cast aside the insignia of his rank, +he once more donned his peasant garb and started to work as of old. +</p> + +<p> +“I felt lonesome,” he said, “and began to grow enormously +stout, and yet I had no appetite, and neither could I sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan sent for his father, mother, and dumb sister, and brought them to live +with him, and they worked with him at whatever he chose to do. +</p> + +<p> +The people soon learned that Ivan was a fool. His wife one day said to him, +“The people say you are a fool, Ivan.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, let them think so if they wish,” he replied. +</p> + +<p> +His wife pondered this reply for some time, and at last decided that if Ivan +was a fool she also was one, and that it would be useless to go contrary to her +husband, thinking affectionately of the old proverb that “where the +needle goes there goes the thread also.” She therefore cast aside her +magnificent robes, and, putting them into the trunk with Ivan’s, dressed +herself in cheap clothing and joined her dumb sister-in-law, with the intention +of learning to work. She succeeded so well that she soon became a great help to +Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing that Ivan was a fool, all the wise men left the kingdom and only the +fools remained. They had no money, their wealth consisting only of the products +of their labor. But they lived peacefully together, supported themselves in +comfort, and had plenty to spare for the needy and afflicted. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap38"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p> +The old devil grew tired of waiting for the good news which he expected the +little devils to bring him. He waited in vain to hear of the ruin of the +brothers, so he went in search of the emissaries which he had sent to perform +that work for him. After looking around for some time, and seeing nothing but +the three holes in the ground, he decided that they had not succeeded in their +work and that he would have to do it himself. +</p> + +<p> +The old devil next went in search of the brothers, but he could learn nothing +of their whereabouts. After some time he found them in their different +kingdoms, contented and happy. This greatly incensed the old devil, and he +said, “I will now have to accomplish their mission myself.” +</p> + +<p> +He first visited Simeon the soldier, and appeared before him as a +<i>voyevoda</i> (general), saying: “You, Simeon, are a great warrior, and +I also have had considerable experience in warfare, and am desirous of serving +you.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeon questioned the disguised devil, and seeing that he was an intelligent +man took him into his service. +</p> + +<p> +The new General taught Simeon how to strengthen his army until it became very +powerful. New implements of warfare were introduced. +</p> + +<p> +Cannons capable of throwing one hundred balls a minute were also constructed, +and these, it was expected, would be of deadly effect in battle. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon, on the advice of his new General, ordered all young men above a certain +age to report for drill. On the same advice Simeon established gun-shops, where +immense numbers of cannons and rifles were made. +</p> + +<p> +The next move of the new General was to have Simeon declare war against the +neighboring kingdom. This he did, and with his immense army marched into the +adjoining territory, which he pillaged and burned, destroying more than half +the enemy’s soldiers. This so frightened the ruler of that country that +he willingly gave up half of his kingdom to save the other half. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon, overjoyed at his success, declared his intention of marching into +Indian territory and subduing the Viceroy of that country. +</p> + +<p> +But Simeon’s intentions reached the ears of the Indian ruler, who +prepared to do battle with him. In addition to having secured all the latest +implements of warfare, he added still others of his own invention. He ordered +all boys over fourteen and all single women to be drafted into the army, until +its proportions became much larger than Simeon’s. His cannons and rifles +were of the same pattern as Simeon’s, and he invented a flying-machine +from which bombs could be thrown into the enemy’s camp. +</p> + +<p> +Simeon went forth to conquer the Viceroy with full confidence in his own powers +to succeed. This time luck forsook him, and instead of being the conqueror he +was himself conquered. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian ruler had so arranged his army that Simeon could not even get within +shooting distance, while the bombs from the flying-machine carried destruction +and terror in their path, completely routing his army, so that Simeon was left +alone. +</p> + +<p> +The Viceroy took possession of his kingdom and Simeon had to fly for his life. +</p> + +<p> +Having finished with Simeon, the old devil next approached Tarras. He appeared +before him disguised as one of the merchants of his kingdom, and established +factories and began to make money. The “merchant” paid the highest +price for everything he purchased, and the people ran after him to sell their +goods. Through this “merchant” they were enabled to make plenty of +money, paying up all their arrears of taxes as well as the others when they +came due. +</p> + +<p> +Tarras was overjoyed at this condition of affairs and said: “Thanks to +this merchant, now I will have more money than before, and life will be much +pleasanter for me.” +</p> + +<p> +He wished to erect new buildings, and advertised for workmen, offering the +highest prices for all kinds of labor. Tarras thought the people would be as +anxious to work as formerly, but instead he was much surprised to learn that +they were working for the “merchant.” Thinking to induce them to +leave the “merchant,” he increased his offers, but the former, +equal to the emergency, also raised the wages of his workmen. Tarras, having +plenty of money, increased the offers still more; but the +“merchant” raised them still higher and got the better of him. +Thus, defeated at every point, Tarras was compelled to abandon the idea of +building. +</p> + +<p> +Tarras next announced that he intended laying out gardens and erecting +fountains, and the work was to be commenced in the fall, but no one came to +offer his services, and again he was obliged to forego his intentions. Winter +set in, and Tarras wanted some sable fur with which to line his great-coat, and +he sent his man to procure it for him; but the servant returned without it, +saying: “There are no sables to be had. The ‘merchant’ has +bought them all, paying a very high price for them.” +</p> + +<p> +Tarras needed horses and sent a messenger to purchase them, but he returned +with the same story as on former occasions—that none were to be found, +the “merchant” having bought them all to carry water for an +artificial pond he was constructing. Tarras was at last compelled to suspend +business, as he could not find any one willing to work for him. They had all +gone over to the “merchant’s” side. The only dealings the +people had with Tarras were when they went to pay their taxes. His money +accumulated so fast that he could not find a place to put it, and his life +became miserable. He abandoned all idea of entering upon the new venture, and +only thought of how to exist peaceably. This he found it difficult to do, for, +turn which way he would, fresh obstacles confronted him. Even his cooks, +coachmen, and all his other servants forsook him and joined the +“merchant.” With all his wealth he had nothing to eat, and when he +went to market he found the “merchant” had been there before him +and had bought up all the provisions. Still, the people continued to bring him +money. +</p> + +<p> +Tarras at last became so indignant that he ordered the “merchant” +out of his kingdom. He left, but settled just outside the boundary line, and +continued his business with the same result as before, and Tarras was +frequently forced to go without food for days. It was rumored that the +“merchant” wanted to buy even Tarras himself. On hearing this the +latter became very much alarmed and could not decide as to the best course to +pursue. +</p> + +<p> +About this time his brother Simeon arrived in the kingdom, and said: +“Help me, for I have been defeated and ruined by the Indian +Viceroy.” +</p> + +<p> +Tarras replied: “How can I help you, when I have had no food myself for +two days?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap39"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p> +The old devil, having finished with the second brother, went to Ivan the Fool. +This time he disguised himself as a General, the same as in the case of Simeon, +and, appearing before Ivan, said: “Get an army together. It is +disgraceful for the ruler of a kingdom to be without an army. You call your +people to assemble, and I will form them into a fine large army.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan took the supposed General’s advice, and said: “Well, you may +form my people into an army, but you must also teach them to sing the songs I +like.” +</p> + +<p> +The old devil then went through Ivan’s kingdom to secure recruits for the +army, saying: “Come, shave your heads [the heads of recruits are always +shaved in Russia] and I will give each of you a red hat and plenty of +vodka” (whiskey). +</p> + +<p> +At this the fools only laughed, and said: “We can have all the vodka we +want, for we distill it ourselves; and of hats, our little girls make all we +want, of any color we please, and with handsome fringes.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus was the devil foiled in securing recruits for his army; so he returned to +Ivan and said: “Your fools will not volunteer to be soldiers. It will +therefore be necessary to force them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” replied Ivan, “you may use force if you want +to.” +</p> + +<p> +The old devil then announced that all the fools must become soldiers, and those +who refused, Ivan would punish with death. +</p> + +<p> +The fools went to the General; and said: “You tell us that Ivan will +punish with death all those who refuse to become soldiers, but you have omitted +to state what will be done with us soldiers. We have been told that we are only +to be killed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that is true,” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +The fools on hearing this became stubborn and refused to go. +</p> + +<p> +“Better kill us now if we cannot avoid death, but we will not become +soldiers,” they declared. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! you fools,” said the old devil, “soldiers may and may +not be killed; but if you disobey Ivan’s orders you will find certain +death at his hands.” +</p> + +<p> +The fools remained absorbed in thought for some time and finally went to Ivan +to question him in regard to the matter. +</p> + +<p> +On arriving at his house they said: “A General came to us with an order +from you that we were all to become soldiers, and if we refused you were to +punish us with death. Is it true?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan began to laugh heartily on hearing this, and said: “Well, how I +alone can punish you with death is something I cannot understand. If I was not +a fool myself I would be able to explain it to you, but as it is I +cannot.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, we will not go,” they said. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” replied Ivan, “you need not become soldiers +unless you wish to.” +</p> + +<p> +The old devil, seeing his schemes about to prove failures, went to the ruler of +Tarakania and became his friend, saying: “Let us go and conquer +Ivan’s kingdom. He has no money, but he has plenty of cattle, provisions, +and various other things that would be useful to us.” +</p> + +<p> +The Tarakanian ruler gathered his large army together, and equipping it with +cannons and rifles, crossed the boundary line into Ivan’s kingdom. The +people went to Ivan and said: “The ruler of Tarakania is here with a +large army to fight us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let them come,” replied Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +The Tarakanian ruler, after crossing the line into Ivan’s kingdom, looked +in vain for soldiers to fight against; and waiting some time and none +appearing, he sent his own warriors to attack the villages. +</p> + +<p> +They soon reached the first village, which they began to plunder. +</p> + +<p> +The fools of both sexes looked calmly on, offering not the least resistance +when their cattle and provisions were being taken from them. On the contrary, +they invited the soldiers to come and live with them, saying: “If you, +dear friends, find it is difficult to earn a living in your own land, come and +live with us, where everything is plentiful.” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers decided to remain, finding the people happy and prosperous, with +enough surplus food to supply many of their neighbors. They were surprised at +the cordial greetings which they everywhere received, and, returning to the +ruler of Tarakania, they said: “We cannot fight with these +people—take us to another place. We would much prefer the dangers of +actual warfare to this unsoldierly method of subduing the village.” +</p> + +<p> +The Tarakanian ruler, becoming enraged, ordered the soldiers to destroy the +whole kingdom, plunder the villages, burn the houses and provisions, and +slaughter the cattle. +</p> + +<p> +“Should you disobey my orders,” said he, “I will have every +one of you executed.” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers, becoming frightened, started to do as they were ordered, but the +fools wept bitterly, offering no resistance, men, women, and children all +joining in the general lamentation. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you treat us so cruelly?” they cried to the invading +soldiers. “Why do you wish to destroy everything we have? If you have +more need of these things than we have, why not take them with you and leave us +in peace?” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers, becoming saddened with remorse, refused further to pursue their +path of destruction—the entire army scattering in many directions. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap40"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p> +The old devil, failing to ruin Ivan’s kingdom with soldiers, transformed +himself into a nobleman, dressed exquisitely, and became one of Ivan’s +subjects, with the intention of compassing the downfall of his kingdom—as +he had done with that of Tarras. +</p> + +<p> +The “nobleman” said to Ivan: “I desire to teach you wisdom +and to render you other service. I will build you a palace and +factories.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said Ivan; “you may live with us.” +</p> + +<p> +The next day the “nobleman” appeared on the Square with a sack of +gold in his hand and a plan for building a house, saying to the people: +“You are living like pigs, and I am going to teach you how to live +decently. You are to build a house for me according to this plan. I will +superintend the work myself, and will pay you for your services in gold,” +showing them at the same time the contents of his sack. +</p> + +<p> +The fools were amused. They had never before seen any money. Their business was +conducted entirely by exchange of farm products or by hiring themselves out to +work by the day in return for whatever they most needed. They therefore glanced +at the gold pieces with amazement, and said, “What nice toys they would +be to play with!” In return for the gold they gave their services and +brought the “nobleman” the produce of their farms. +</p> + +<p> +The old devil was overjoyed as he thought, “Now my enterprise is on a +fair road and I will be able to ruin the Fool—as I did his +brothers.” +</p> + +<p> +The fools obtained sufficient gold to distribute among the entire community, +the women and young girls of the village wearing much of it as ornaments, while +to the children they gave some pieces to play with on the streets. +</p> + +<p> +When they had secured all they wanted they stopped working and the +“nobleman” did not get his house more than half finished. He had +neither provisions nor cattle for the year, and ordered the people to bring him +both. He directed them also to go on with the building of the palace and +factories. He promised to pay them liberally in gold for everything they did. +No one responded to his call—only once in awhile a little boy or girl +would call to exchange eggs for his gold. +</p> + +<p> +Thus was the “nobleman” deserted, and, having nothing to eat, he +went to the village to procure some provisions for his dinner. He went to one +house and offered gold in return for a chicken, but was refused, the owner +saying: “We have enough of that already and do not want any more.” +</p> + +<p> +He next went to a fish-woman to buy some herring, when she, too, refused to +accept his gold in return for fish, saying: “I do not wish it, my dear +man; I have no children to whom I can give it to play with. I have three pieces +which I keep as curiosities only.” +</p> + +<p> +He then went to a peasant to buy bread, but he also refused to accept the gold. +“I have no use for it,” said he, “unless you wish to give it +for Christ’s sake; then it will be a different matter, and I will tell my +<i>baba</i> [old woman] to cut a piece of bread for you.” +</p> + +<p> +The old devil was so angry that he ran away from the peasant, spitting and +cursing as he went. +</p> + +<p> +Not only did the offer to accept in the name of Christ anger him, but the very +mention of the name was like the thrust of a knife in his throat. +</p> + +<p> +The old devil did not succeed in getting any bread, and in his efforts to +secure other articles of food he met with the same failure. The people had all +the gold they wanted and what pieces they had they regarded as curiosities. +They said to the old devil: “If you bring us something else in exchange +for food, or come to ask for Christ’s sake, we will give you all you +want.” +</p> + +<p> +But the old devil had nothing but gold, and was too lazy to work; and being +unable to accept anything for Christ’s sake, he was greatly enraged. +</p> + +<p> +“What else do you want?” he said. “I will give you gold with +which you can buy everything you want, and you need labor no longer.” +</p> + +<p> +But the fools would not accept his gold, nor listen to him. Thus the old devil +was obliged to go to sleep hungry. +</p> + +<p> +Tidings of this condition of affairs soon reached the ears of Ivan. The people +went to him and said: “What shall we do? This nobleman appeared among us; +he is well dressed; he wishes to eat and drink of the best, but is unwilling to +work, and does not beg for food for Christ’s sake. He only offers every +one gold pieces. At first we gave him everything he wanted, taking the gold +pieces in exchange just as curiosities; but now we have enough of them and +refuse to accept any more from him. What shall we do with him? he may die of +hunger!” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan heard all they had to say, and told them to employ him as a shepherd, +taking turns in doing so. +</p> + +<p> +The old devil saw no other way out of the difficulty and was obliged to submit. +</p> + +<p> +It soon came the old devil’s turn to go to Ivan’s house. He went +there to dinner and found Ivan’s dumb sister preparing the meal. She was +often cheated by the lazy people, who while they did not work, yet ate up all +the gruel. But she learned to know the lazy people from the condition of their +hands. Those with great welts on their hands she invited first to the table, +and those having smooth white hands had to take what was left. +</p> + +<p> +The old devil took a seat at the table, but the dumb girl, taking his hands, +looked at them, and seeing them white and clean, and with long nails, swore at +him and put him from the table. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s wife said to the old devil: “You must excuse my +sister-in-law; she will not allow any one to sit at the table whose hands have +not been hardened by toil, so you will have to wait until the dinner is over +and then you can have what is left. With it you must be satisfied.” +</p> + +<p> +The old devil was very much offended that he was made to eat with +“pigs,” as he expressed it, and complained to Ivan, saying: +“The foolish law you have in your kingdom, that all persons must work, is +surely the invention of fools. People who work for a living are not always +forced to labor with their hands. Do you think wise men labor so?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan replied: “Well, what do fools know about it? We all work with our +hands.” +</p> + +<p> +“And for that reason you are fools,” replied the devil. “I +can teach you how to use your brains, and you will find such labor more +beneficial.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan was surprised at hearing this, and said: “Well, it is perhaps not +without good reason that we are called fools.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not so easy to work with the brain,” the old devil said. +“You will not give me anything to eat because my hands have not the +appearance of being toil-hardened, but you must understand that it is much +harder to do brain-work, and sometimes the head feels like bursting with the +effort it is forced to make.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why do you not select some light work that you can perform with +your hands?” Ivan asked. +</p> + +<p> +The devil said: “I torment myself with brain-work because I have pity for +you fools, for, if I did not torture myself, people like you would remain fools +for all eternity. I have exercised my brain a great deal during my life, and +now I am able to teach you.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan was greatly surprised and said: “Very well; teach us, so that when +our hands are tired we can use our heads to replace them.” +</p> + +<p> +The devil promised to instruct the people, and Ivan announced the fact +throughout his kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +The devil was willing to teach all those who came to him how to use the head +instead of the hands, so as to produce more with the former than with the +latter. +</p> + +<p> +In Ivan’s kingdom there was a high tower, which was reached by a long, +narrow ladder leading up to the balcony, and Ivan told the old devil that from +the top of the tower every one could see him. +</p> + +<p> +So the old devil went up to the balcony and addressed the people. +</p> + +<p> +The fools came in great crowds to hear what the old devil had to say, thinking +that he really meant to tell them how to work with the head. But the old devil +only told them in words what to do, and did not give them any practical +instruction. He said that men working only with their hands could not make a +living. The fools did not understand what he said to them and looked at him in +amazement, and then departed for their daily work. +</p> + +<p> +The old devil addressed them for two days from the balcony, and at the end of +that time, feeling hungry, he asked the people to bring him some bread. But +they only laughed at him and told him if he could work better with his head +than with his hands he could also find bread for himself. He addressed the +people for yet another day, and they went to hear him from curiosity, but soon +left him to return to their work. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan asked, “Well, did the nobleman work with his head?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet,” they said; “so far he has only talked.” +</p> + +<p> +One day, while the old devil was standing on the balcony, he became weak, and, +falling down, hurt his head against a pole. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing this, one of the fools ran to Ivan’s wife and said, “The +gentleman has at last commenced to work with his head.” +</p> + +<p> +She ran to the field to tell Ivan, who was much surprised, and said, “Let +us go and see him.” +</p> + +<p> +He turned his horses’ heads in the direction of the tower, where the old +devil remained weak from hunger and was still suspended from the pole, with his +body swaying back and forth and his head striking the lower part of the pole +each time it came in contact with it. While Ivan was looking, the old devil +started down the steps head-first—as they supposed, to count them. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Ivan, “he told the truth after all—that +sometimes from this kind of work the head bursts. This is far worse than welts +on the hands.” +</p> + +<p> +The old devil fell to the ground head-foremost. Ivan approached him, but at +that instant the ground opened and the devil disappeared, leaving only a hole +to show where he had gone. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan scratched his head and said: “See here; such nastiness! This is yet +another devil. He looks like the father of the little ones.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan still lives, and people flock to his kingdom. His brothers come to him and +he feeds them. +</p> + +<p> +To every one who comes to him and says, “Give us food,” he replies: +“Very well; you are welcome. We have plenty of everything.” +</p> + +<p> +There is only one unchangeable custom observed in Ivan’s kingdom: The man +with toil-hardened hands is always given a seat at the table, while the +possessor of soft white hands must be contented with what is left. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part04"></a>A LOST OPPORTUNITY.</h2> + +<p class="footnote"> +“Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin +against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” . . . . “So +likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts +forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”—ST. MATTHEW +xviii., 21-35. +</p> + +<p> +In a certain village there lived a peasant by the name of Ivan Scherbakoff. He +was prosperous, strong, and vigorous, and was considered the hardest worker in +the whole village. He had three sons, who supported themselves by their own +labor. The eldest was married, the second about to be married, and the youngest +took care of the horses and occasionally attended to the plowing. +</p> + +<p> +The peasant’s wife, Ivanovna, was intelligent and industrious, while her +daughter-in-law was a simple, quiet soul, but a hard worker. +</p> + +<p> +There was only one idle person in the household, and that was Ivan’s +father, a very old man who for seven years had suffered from asthma, and who +spent the greater part of his time lying on the brick oven. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan had plenty of everything—three horses, with one colt, a cow with +calf, and fifteen sheep. The women made the men’s clothes, and in +addition to performing all the necessary household labor, also worked in the +field; while the men’s industry was confined altogether to the farm. +</p> + +<p> +What was left of the previous year’s supply of provisions was ample for +their needs, and they sold a quantity of oats sufficient to pay their taxes and +other expenses. +</p> + +<p> +Thus life went smoothly for Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +The peasant’s next-door neighbor was a son of Gordey Ivanoff, called +“Gavryl the Lame.” It once happened that Ivan had a quarrel with +him; but while old man Gordey was yet alive, and Ivan’s father was the +head of the household, the two peasants lived as good neighbors should. If the +women of one house required the use of a sieve or pail, they borrowed it from +the inmates of the other house. The same condition of affairs existed between +the men. They lived more like one family, the one dividing his possessions with +the other, and perfect harmony reigned between the two families. +</p> + +<p> +If a stray calf or cow invaded the garden of one of the farmers, the other +willingly drove it away, saying: “Be careful, neighbor, that your stock +does not again stray into my garden; we should put a fence up.” In the +same way they had no secrets from each other. The doors of their houses and +barns had neither bolts nor locks, so sure were they of each other’s +honesty. Not a shadow of suspicion darkened their daily intercourse. +</p> + +<p> +Thus lived the old people. +</p> + +<p> +In time the younger members of the two households started farming. It soon +became apparent that they would not get along as peacefully as the old people +had done, for they began quarrelling without the slightest provocation. +</p> + +<p> +A hen belonging to Ivan’s daughter-in-law commenced laying eggs, which +the young woman collected each morning, intending to keep them for the Easter +holidays. She made daily visits to the barn, where, under an old wagon, she was +sure to find the precious egg. +</p> + +<p> +One day the children frightened the hen and she flew over their +neighbor’s fence and laid her egg in their garden. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s daughter-in-law heard the hen cackling, but said: “I am very +busy just at present, for this is the eve of a holy day, and I must clean and +arrange this room. I will go for the egg later on.” +</p> + +<p> +When evening came, and she had finished her task, she went to the barn, and as +usual looked under the old wagon, expecting to find an egg. But, alas! no egg +was visible in the accustomed place. +</p> + +<p> +Greatly disappointed, she returned to the house and inquired of her +mother-in-law and the other members of the family if they had taken it. +“No,” they said, “we know nothing of it.” +</p> + +<p> +Taraska, the youngest brother-in-law, coming in soon after, she also inquired +of him if he knew anything about the missing egg. “Yes,” he +replied; “your pretty, crested hen laid her egg in our neighbors’ +garden, and after she had finished cackling she flew back again over the +fence.” +</p> + +<p> +The young woman, greatly surprised on hearing this, turned and looked long and +seriously at the hen, which was sitting with closed eyes beside the rooster in +the chimney-corner. She asked the hen where it laid the egg. At the sound of +her voice it simply opened and closed its eyes, but could make no answer. +</p> + +<p> +She then went to the neighbors’ house, where she was met by an old woman, +who said: “What do you want, young woman?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s daughter-in-law replied: “You see, <i>babushka</i> +[grandmother], my hen flew into your yard this morning. Did she not lay an egg +there?” +</p> + +<p> +“We did not see any,” the old woman replied; “we have our own +hens—God be praised!—and they have been laying for this long time. +We hunt only for the eggs our own hens lay, and have no use for the eggs other +people’s hens lay. Another thing I want to tell you, young woman: we do +not go into other people’s yards to look for eggs.” +</p> + +<p> +Now this speech greatly angered the young woman, and she replied in the same +spirit in which she had been spoken to, only using much stronger language and +speaking at greater length. +</p> + +<p> +The neighbor replied in the same angry manner, and finally the women began to +abuse each other and call vile names. It happened that old Ivan’s wife, +on her way to the well for water, heard the dispute, and joined the others, +taking her daughter-in-law’s part. +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl’s housekeeper, hearing the noise, could not resist the temptation +to join the rest and to make her voice heard. As soon as she appeared on the +scene, she, too, began to abuse her neighbor, reminding her of many +disagreeable things which had happened (and many which had not happened) +between them. She became so infuriated during her denunciations that she lost +all control of herself, and ran around like some mad creature. +</p> + +<p> +Then all the women began to shout at the same time, each trying to say two +words to another’s one, and using the vilest language in the +quarreller’s vocabulary. +</p> + +<p> +“You are such and such,” shouted one of the women. “You are a +thief, a <i>schlukha</i> [a mean, dirty, low creature]; your father-in-law is +even now starving, and you have no shame. You beggar, you borrowed my sieve and +broke it. You made a large hole in it, and did not buy me another.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have our scale-beam,” cried another woman, “and must +give it back to me;” whereupon she seized the scale-beam and tried to +remove it from the shoulders of Ivan’s wife. +</p> + +<p> +In the mêlée which followed they upset the pails of water. They tore the +covering from each other’s head, and a general fight ensued. +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl’s wife had by this time joined in the fracas, and he, crossing the +field and seeing the trouble, came to her rescue. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan and his son, seeing that their womenfolk were being badly used, jumped +into the midst of the fray, and a fearful fight followed. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan was the most powerful peasant in all the country round, and it did not +take him long to disperse the crowd, for they flew in all directions. During +the progress of the fight Ivan tore out a large quantity of Gavryl’s +beard. +</p> + +<p> +By this time a large crowd of peasants had collected, and it was with the +greatest difficulty that they persuaded the two families to stop quarrelling. +</p> + +<p> +This was the beginning. +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl took the portion of his beard which Ivan had torn out, and, wrapping it +in a paper, went to the <i>volostnoye</i> (moujiks’ court) and entered a +complaint against Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +Holding up the hair, he said, “I did not grow this for that bear Ivan to +tear out!” +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl’s wife went round among the neighbors, telling them that they must +not repeat what she told them, but that she and her husband were going to get +the best of Ivan, and that he was to be sent to Siberia. +</p> + +<p> +And so the quarrelling went on. +</p> + +<p> +The poor old grandfather, sick with asthma and lying on the brick oven all the +time, tried from the first to dissuade them from quarrelling, and begged of +them to live in peace; but they would not listen to his good advice. He said to +them: “You children are making a great fuss and much trouble about +nothing. I beg of you to stop and think of what a little thing has caused all +this trouble. It has arisen from only one egg. If our neighbors’ children +picked it up, it is all right. God bless them! One egg is of but little value, +and without it God will supply sufficient for all our needs.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s daughter-in-law here interposed and said, “But they called +us vile names.” +</p> + +<p> +The old grandfather again spoke, saying: “Well, even if they <i>did</i> +call you bad names, it would have been better to return good for evil, and by +your example show them how to speak better. Such conduct on your part would +have been best for all concerned.” He continued: “Well, you had a +fight, you wicked people. Such things sometimes happen, but it would be better +if you went afterward and asked forgiveness and buried your grievances out of +sight. Scatter them to the four winds of heaven, for if you do not do so it +will be the worse for you in the end.” +</p> + +<p> +The younger members of the family, still obstinate, refused to profit by the +old man’s advice, and declared he was not right, and that he only liked +to grumble in his old-fashioned way. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan refused to go to his neighbor, as the grandfather wished, saying: “I +did not tear out Gavryl’s beard. He did it himself, and his son tore my +shirt and trousers into shreds.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan entered suit against Gavryl. He first went to the village justice, and not +getting satisfaction from him he carried his case to the village court. +</p> + +<p> +While the neighbors were wrangling over the affair, each suing the other, it +happened that a perch-bolt from Gavryl’s wagon was lost; and the women of +Gavryl’s household accused Ivan’s son of stealing it. +</p> + +<p> +They said: “We saw him in the night-time pass by our window, on his way +to where the wagon was standing.” “And my <i>kumushka</i> +[sponsor],” said one of them, “told me that Ivan’s son had +offered it for sale at the <i>kabak</i> [tavern].” +</p> + +<p> +This accusation caused them again to go into court for a settlement of their +grievances. +</p> + +<p> +While the heads of the families were trying to have their troubles settled in +court, their home quarrels were constant, and frequently resulted in +hand-to-hand encounters. Even the little children followed the example of their +elders and quarrelled incessantly. +</p> + +<p> +The women, when they met on the riverbank to do the family washing, instead of +attending to their work passed the time in abusing each other, and not +infrequently they came to blows. +</p> + +<p> +At first the male members of the families were content with accusing each other +of various crimes, such as stealing and like meannesses. But the trouble in +this mild form did not last long. +</p> + +<p> +They soon resorted to other measures. They began to appropriate one +another’s things without asking permission, while various articles +disappeared from both houses and could not be found. This was done out of +revenge. +</p> + +<p> +This example being set by the men, the women and children also followed, and +life soon became a burden to all who took part in the strife. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan Scherbakoff and “Gavryl the Lame” at last laid their trouble +before the <i>mir</i> (village meeting), in addition to having been in court +and calling on the justice of the peace. Both of the latter had grown tired of +them and their incessant wrangling. One time Gavryl would succeed in having +Ivan fined, and if he was not able to pay it he would be locked up in the cold +dreary prison for days. Then it would be Ivan’s turn to get Gavryl +punished in like manner, and the greater the injury the one could do the other +the more delight he took in it. +</p> + +<p> +The success of either in having the other punished only served to increase +their rage against each other, until they were like mad dogs in their warfare. +</p> + +<p> +If anything went wrong with one of them he immediately accused his adversary of +conspiring to ruin him, and sought revenge without stopping to inquire into the +rights of the case. +</p> + +<p> +When the peasants went into court, and had each other fined and imprisoned, it +did not soften their hearts in the least. They would only taunt one another on +such occasions, saying: “Never mind; I will repay you for all +this.” +</p> + +<p> +This state of affairs lasted for six years. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s father, the sick old man, constantly repeated his good advice. He +would try to arouse their conscience by saying: “What are you doing, my +children? Can you not throw off all these troubles, pay more attention to your +business, and suppress your anger against your neighbors? There is no use in +your continuing to live in this way, for the more enraged you become against +each other the worse it is for you.” +</p> + +<p> +Again was the wise advice of the old man rejected. +</p> + +<p> +At the beginning of the seventh year of the existence of the feud it happened +that a daughter-in-law of Ivan’s was present at a marriage. At the +wedding feast she openly accused Gavryl of stealing a horse. Gavryl was +intoxicated at the time and was in no mood to stand the insult, so in +retaliation he struck the woman a terrific blow, which confined her to her bed +for more than a week. The woman being in delicate health, the worst results +were feared. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan, glad of a fresh opportunity to harass his neighbor, lodged a formal +complaint before the district-attorney, hoping to rid himself forever of Gavryl +by having him sent to Siberia. +</p> + +<p> +On examining the complaint the district-attorney would not consider it, as by +that time the injured woman was walking about and as well as ever. +</p> + +<p> +Thus again Ivan was disappointed in obtaining his revenge, and, not being +satisfied with the district-attorney’s decision, had the case transferred +to the court, where he used all possible means to push his suit. To secure the +favor of the <i>starshina</i> (village mayor) he made him a present of half a +gallon of sweet vodka; and to the mayor’s <i>pisar</i> (secretary) also +he gave presents. By this means he succeeded in securing a verdict against +Gavryl. The sentence was that Gavryl was to receive twenty lashes on his bare +back, and the punishment was to be administered in the yard which surrounded +the court-house. +</p> + +<p> +When Ivan heard the sentence read he looked triumphantly at Gavryl to see what +effect it would produce on him. Gavryl turned very white on hearing that he was +to be treated with such indignity, and turning his back on the assembly left +the room without uttering a word. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan followed him out, and as he reached his horse he heard Gavryl saying: +“Very well; my spine will burn from the lashes, but something will burn +with greater fierceness in Ivan’s household before long.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan, on hearing these words, instantly returned to the court, and going up to +the judges said: “Oh! just judges, he threatens to burn my house and all +it contains.” +</p> + +<p> +A messenger was immediately sent in search of Gavryl, who was soon found and +again brought into the presence of the judges. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it true,” they asked, “that you said you would burn +Ivan’s house and all it contained?” +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl replied: “I did not say anything of the kind. You may give me as +many lashes as you please—that is, if you have the power to do so. It +seems to me that I alone have to suffer for the truth, while he,” +pointing to Ivan, “is allowed to do and say what he pleases.” +Gavryl wished to say something more, but his lips trembled, and the words +refused to come; so in silence he turned his face toward the wall. +</p> + +<p> +The sight of so much suffering moved even the judges to pity, and, becoming +alarmed at Gavryl’s continued silence, they said, “He may do both +his neighbor and himself some frightful injury.” +</p> + +<p> +“See here, my brothers,” said one feeble old judge, looking at Ivan +and Gavryl as he spoke, “I think you had better try to arrange this +matter peaceably. You, brother Gavryl, did wrong to strike a woman who was in +delicate health. It was a lucky thing for you that God had mercy on you and +that the woman did not die, for if she had I know not what dire misfortune +might have overtaken you! It will not do either of you any good to go on living +as you are at present. Go, Gavryl, and make friends with Ivan; I am sure he +will forgive you, and we will set aside the verdict just given.” +</p> + +<p> +The secretary on hearing this said: “It is impossible to do this on the +present case. According to Article 117 this matter has gone too far to be +settled peaceably now, as the verdict has been rendered and must be +enforced.” +</p> + +<p> +But the judges would not listen to the secretary, saying to him: “You +talk altogether too much. You must remember that the first thing is to fulfill +God’s command to ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself,’ and all will +be well with you.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus with kind words the judges tried to reconcile the two peasants. Their +words fell on stony ground, however, for Gavryl would not listen to them. +</p> + +<p> +“I am fifty years old,” said Gavryl, “and have a son married, +and never from my birth has the lash been applied to my back; but now this bear +Ivan has secured a verdict against me which condemns me to receive twenty +lashes, and I am forced to bow to this decision and suffer the shame of a +public beating. Well, he will have cause to remember this.” +</p> + +<p> +At this Gavryl’s voice trembled and he stopped speaking, and turning his +back on the judges took his departure. +</p> + +<p> +It was about ten versts’ distance from the court to the homes of the +neighbors, and this Ivan travelled late. The women had already gone out for the +cattle. He unharnessed his horse and put everything in its place, and then went +into the <i>izba</i> (room), but found no one there. +</p> + +<p> +The men had not yet returned from their work in the field and the women had +gone to look for the cattle, so that all about the place was quiet. Going into +the room, Ivan seated himself on a wooden bench and soon became lost in +thought. He remembered how, when Gavryl first heard the sentence which had been +passed upon him, he grew very pale, and turned his face to the wall, all the +while remaining silent. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s heart ached when he thought of the disgrace which he had been the +means of bringing upon Gavryl, and he wondered how he would feel if the same +sentence had been passed upon him. His thoughts were interrupted by the +coughing of his father, who was lying on the oven. +</p> + +<p> +The old man, on seeing Ivan, came down off the oven, and slowly approaching his +son seated himself on the bench beside him, looking at him as though ashamed. +He continued to cough as he leaned on the table and said, “Well, did they +sentence him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, they sentenced him to receive twenty lashes,” replied Ivan. +</p> + +<p> +On hearing this the old man sorrowfully shook his head, and said: “This +is very bad, Ivan, and what is the meaning of it all? It is indeed very bad, +but not so bad for Gavryl as for yourself. Well, suppose his sentence <i>is</i> +carried out, and he gets the twenty lashes, what will it benefit you?” +</p> + +<p> +“He will not again strike a woman,” Ivan replied. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it he will not do? He does not do anything worse than what you +are constantly doing!” +</p> + +<p> +This conversation enraged Ivan, and he shouted: “Well, what did he do? He +beat a woman nearly to death, and even now he threatens to burn my house! Must +I bow to him for all this?” +</p> + +<p> +The old man sighed deeply as he said: “You, Ivan, are strong and free to +go wherever you please, while I have been lying for years on the oven. You +think that you know everything and that I do not know anything. No! you are +still a child, and as such you cannot see that a kind of madness controls your +actions and blinds your sight. The sins of others are ever before you, while +you resolutely keep your own behind your back. I know that what Gavryl did was +wrong, but if he alone should do wrong there would be no evil in the world. Do +you think that all the evil in the world is the work of one man alone? No! it +requires two persons to work much evil in the world. You see only the bad in +Gavryl’s character, but you are blind to the evil that is in your own +nature. If he alone were bad and you good, then there would be no wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man, after a pause, continued: “Who tore Gavryl’s beard? +Who destroyed his heaps of rye? Who dragged him into court?—and yet you +try to put all the blame on his shoulders. You are behaving very badly +yourself, and for that reason you are wrong. I did not act in such a manner, +and certainly I never taught you to do so. I lived in peace with Gavryl’s +father all the time we were neighbors. We were always the best of friends. If +he was without flour his wife would come to me and say, ‘<i>Diadia +Frol</i> [Grandfather], we need flour.’ I would then say: ‘My good +woman, go to the warehouse and take as much as you want.’ If he had no +one to care for his horses I would say, ‘Go, <i>Ivanushka</i> [diminutive +of Ivan], and help him to care for them.’ If I required anything I would +go to him and say, ‘Grandfather Gordey, I need this or that,’ and +he would always reply, ‘Take just whatever you want.’ By this means +we passed an easy and peaceful life. But what is your life compared with it? As +the soldiers fought at Plevna, so are you and Gavryl fighting all the time, +only that your battles are far more disgraceful than that fought at +Plevna.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man went on: “And you call this living! and what a sin it all is! +You are a peasant, and the head of the house; therefore, the responsibility of +the trouble rests with you. What an example you set your wife and children by +constantly quarrelling with your neighbor! Only a short time since your little +boy, Taraska, was cursing his aunt Arina, and his mother only laughed at it, +saying, ‘What a bright child he is!’ Is that right? You are to +blame for all this. You should think of the salvation of your soul. Is that the +way to do it? You say one unkind word to me and I will reply with two. You will +give me one slap in the face, and I will retaliate with two slaps. No, my son; +Christ did not teach us foolish people to act in such a way. If any one should +say an unkind word to you it is better not to answer at all; but if you +<i>do</i> reply do it kindly, and his conscience will accuse him, and he will +regret his unkindness to you. This is the way Christ taught us to live. He +tells us that if a person smite us on the one cheek we should offer unto him +the other. That is Christ’s command to us, and we should follow it. You +should therefore subdue your pride. Am I not right?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan remained silent, but his father’s words had sunk deep into his +heart. +</p> + +<p> +The old man coughed and continued: “Do you think Christ thought us +wicked? Did he not die that we might be saved? Now you think only of this +earthly life. Are you better or worse for thinking alone of it? Are you better +or worse for having begun that Plevna battle? Think of your expense at court +and the time lost in going back and forth, and what have you gained? Your sons +have reached manhood, and are able now to work for you. You are therefore at +liberty to enjoy life and be happy. With the assistance of your children you +could reach a high state of prosperity. But now your property instead of +increasing is gradually growing less, and why? It is the result of your pride. +When it becomes necessary for you and your boys to go to the field to work, +your enemy instead summons you to appear at court or before some kind of +judicial person. If you do not plow at the proper time and sow at the proper +time mother earth will not yield up her products, and you and your children +will be left destitute. Why did your oats fail this year? When did you sow +them? Were you not quarrelling with your neighbor instead of attending to your +work? You have just now returned from the town, where you have been the means +of having your neighbor humiliated. You have succeeded in getting him +sentenced, but in the end the punishment will fall on your own shoulders. Oh! +my child, it would be better for you to attend to your work on the farm and +train your boys to become good farmers and honest men. If any one offend you +forgive him for Christ’s sake, and then prosperity will smile on your +work and a light and happy feeling will fill your heart.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan still remained silent. +</p> + +<p> +The old father in a pleading voice continued: “Take an old man’s +advice. Go and harness your horse, drive back to the court, and withdraw all +these complaints against your neighbor. To-morrow go to him, offer to make +peace in Christ’s name, and invite him to your house. It will be a holy +day (the birth of the Virgin Mary). Get out the samovar and have some vodka, +and over both forgive and forget each other’s sins, promising not to +transgress in the future, and advise your women and children to do the +same.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan heaved a deep sigh but felt easier in his heart, as he thought: “The +old man speaks the truth;” yet he was in doubt as to how he would put his +father’s advice into practice. +</p> + +<p> +The old man, surmising his uncertainty, said to Ivan: “Go, Ivanushka; do +not delay. Extinguish the fire in the beginning, before it grows large, for +then it may be impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s father wished to say more to him, but was prevented by the arrival +of the women, who came into the room chattering like so many magpies. They had +already heard of Gavryl’s sentence, and of how he threatened to set fire +to Ivan’s house. They found out all about it, and in telling it to their +neighbors added their own versions of the story, with the usual exaggeration. +Meeting in the pasture-ground, they proceeded to quarrel with Gavryl’s +women. They related how the latter’s daughter-in-law had threatened to +secure the influence of the manager of a certain noble’s estate in behalf +of his friend Gavryl; also that the school-teacher was writing a petition to +the Czar himself against Ivan, explaining in detail his theft of the perchbolt +and partial destruction of Gavryl’s garden—declaring that half of +Ivan’s land was to be given to them. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan listened calmly to their stories, but his anger was soon aroused once +more, when he abandoned his intention of making peace with Gavryl. +</p> + +<p> +As Ivan was always busy about the household, he did not stop to speak to the +wrangling women, but immediately left the room, directing his steps toward the +barn. Before getting through with his work the sun had set and the boys had +returned from their plowing. Ivan met them and asked about their work, helping +them to put things in order and leaving the broken horse-collar aside to be +repaired. He intended to perform some other duties, but it became too dark and +he was obliged to leave them till the next day. He fed the cattle, however, and +opened the gate that Taraska might take his horses to pasture for the night, +after which he closed it again and went into the house for his supper. +</p> + +<p> +By this time he had forgotten all about Gavryl and what his father had said to +him. Yet, just as he touched the door-knob, he heard sounds of quarrelling +proceeding from his neighbor’s house. +</p> + +<p> +“What do I want with that devil?” shouted Gavryl to some one. +“He deserves to be killed!” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan stopped and listened for a moment, when he shook his head threateningly +and entered the room. When he came in, the apartment was already lighted. His +daughter-in-law was working with her loom, while the old woman was preparing +the supper. The eldest son was twining strings for his <i>lapti</i> +(peasant’s shoes made of strips of bark from the linden-tree). The other +son was sitting by the table reading a book. The room presented a pleasant +appearance, everything being in order and the inmates apparently gay and +happy—the only dark shadow being that cast over the household by +Ivan’s trouble with his neighbor. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan came in very cross, and, angrily throwing aside a cat which lay sleeping +on the bench, cursed the women for having misplaced a pail. He looked very sad +and serious, and, seating himself in a corner of the room, proceeded to repair +the horse-collar. He could not forget Gavryl, however—the threatening +words he had used in the court-room and those which Ivan had just heard. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Taraska came in, and after having his supper, put on his sheepskin +coat, and, taking some bread with him, returned to watch over his horses for +the night. His eldest brother wished to accompany him, but Ivan himself arose +and went with him as far as the porch. The night was dark and cloudy and a +strong wind was blowing, which produced a peculiar whistling sound that was +most unpleasant to the ear. Ivan helped his son to mount his horse, which, +followed by a colt, started off on a gallop. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan stood for a few moments looking around him and listening to the clatter of +the horse’s hoofs as Taraska rode down the village street. He heard him +meet other boys on horseback, who rode quite as well as Taraska, and soon all +were lost in the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan remained standing by the gate in a gloomy mood, as he was unable to banish +from his mind the harassing thoughts of Gavryl, which the latter’s +menacing words had inspired: “Something will burn with greater fierceness +in Ivan’s household before long.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is so desperate,” thought Ivan, “that he may set fire to +my house regardless of the danger to his own. At present everything is dry, and +as the wind is so high he may sneak from the back of his own building, start a +fire, and get away unseen by any of us. +</p> + +<p> +“He may burn and steal without being found out, and thus go unpunished. I +wish I could catch him.” +</p> + +<p> +This thought so worried Ivan that he decided not to return to his house, but +went out and stood on the street-corner. +</p> + +<p> +“I guess,” thought Ivan to himself, “I will take a walk +around the premises and examine everything carefully, for who knows what he may +be tempted to do?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan moved very cautiously round to the back of his buildings, not making the +slightest noise, and scarcely daring to breathe. Just as he reached a corner of +the house he looked toward the fence, and it seemed to him that he saw +something moving, and that it was slowly creeping toward the corner of the +house opposite to where he was standing. He stepped back quickly and hid +himself in the shadow of the building. Ivan stood and listened, but all was +quiet. Not a sound could be heard but the moaning of the wind through the +branches of the trees, and the rustling of the leaves as it caught them up and +whirled them in all directions. So dense was the darkness that it was at first +impossible for Ivan to see more than a few feet beyond where he stood. +</p> + +<p> +After a time, however, his sight becoming accustomed to the gloom, he was +enabled to see for a considerable distance. The plow and his other farming +implements stood just where he had placed them. He could see also the opposite +corner of the house. +</p> + +<p> +He looked in every direction, but no one was in sight, and he thought to +himself that his imagination must have played him some trick, leading him to +believe that some one was moving when there really was no one there. +</p> + +<p> +Still, Ivan was not satisfied, and decided to make a further examination of the +premises. As on the previous occasion, he moved so very cautiously that he +could not hear even the sound of his own footsteps. He had taken the precaution +to remove his shoes, that he might step the more noiselessly. When he reached +the corner of the barn it again seemed to him that he saw something moving, +this time near the plow; but it quickly disappeared. By this time Ivan’s +heart was beating very fast, and he was standing in a listening attitude when a +sudden flash of light illumined the spot, and he could distinctly see the +figure of a man seated on his haunches with his back turned toward him, and in +the act of lighting a bunch of straw which he held in his hand! Ivan’s +heart began to beat yet faster, and he became terribly excited, walking up and +down with rapid strides, but without making a noise. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan said: “Well, now, he cannot get away, for he will be caught in the +very act.” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan had taken a few more steps when suddenly a bright light flamed up, but not +in the same spot in which he had seen the figure of the man sitting. Gavryl had +lighted the straw, and running to the barn held it under the edge of the roof, +which began to burn fiercely; and by the light of the fire he could distinctly +see his neighbor standing. +</p> + +<p> +As an eagle springs at a skylark, so sprang Ivan at Gavryl, saying: “I +will tear you into pieces! You shall not get away from me this time!” +</p> + +<p> +But “Gavryl the Lame,” hearing footsteps, wrenched himself free +from Ivan’s grasp and ran like a hare past the buildings. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan, now terribly excited, shouted, “You shall not escape me!” and +started in pursuit; but just as he reached him and was about to grasp the +collar of his coat, Gavryl succeeded in jumping to one side, and Ivan’s +coat became entangled in something and he was thrown violently to the ground. +Jumping quickly to his feet he shouted, “<i>Karaool! derji!</i>” +(watch! catch!) +</p> + +<p> +While Ivan was regaining his feet Gavryl succeeded in reaching his house, but +Ivan followed so quickly that he caught up with him before he could enter. Just +as he was about to grasp him he was struck on the head with some hard +substance. He had been hit on the temple as with a stone. The blow was struck +by Gavryl, who had picked up an oaken stave, and with it gave Ivan a terrible +blow on the head. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan was stunned, and bright sparks danced before his eyes, while he swayed +from side to side like a drunken man, until finally all became dark and he sank +to the ground unconscious. +</p> + +<p> +When he recovered his senses, Gavryl was nowhere to be seen, but all around him +was as light as day. Strange sounds proceeded from the direction of his house, +and turning his face that way he saw that his barns were on fire. The rear +parts of both were already destroyed, and the flames were leaping toward the +front. Fire, smoke, and bits of burning straw were being rapidly whirled by the +high wind over to where his house stood, and he expected every moment to see it +burst into flames. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this, brother?” Ivan cried out, as he beat his thighs with +his hands. “I should have stopped to snatch the bunch of burning straw, +and, throwing it on the ground, should have extinguished it with my +feet!” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan tried to cry out and arouse his people, but his lips refused to utter a +word. He next tried to run, but he could not move his feet, and his legs seemed +to twist themselves around each other. After several attempts he succeeded in +taking one or two steps, when he again began to stagger and gasp for breath. It +was some moments before he made another attempt to move, but after considerable +exertion he finally reached the barn, the rear of which was by this time +entirely consumed; and the corner of his house had already caught fire. Dense +volumes of smoke began to pour out of the room, which made it difficult to +approach. +</p> + +<p> +A crowd of peasants had by this time gathered, but they found it impossible to +save their homes, so they carried everything which they could to a place of +safety. The cattle they drove into neighboring pastures and left some one to +care for them. +</p> + +<p> +The wind carried the sparks from Ivan’s house to Gavryl’s, and it, +too, took fire and was consumed. The wind continued to increase with great +fury, and the flames spread to both sides of the street, until in a very short +time more than half the village was burned. +</p> + +<p> +The members of Ivan’s household had great difficulty in getting out of +the burning building, but the neighbors rescued the old man and carried him to +a place of safety, while the women escaped in only their night-clothes. +Everything was burned, including the cattle and all the farm implements. The +women lost their trunks, which were filled with quantities of clothing, the +accumulation of years. The storehouse and all the provisions perished in the +flames, not even the chickens being saved. +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl, however, more fortunate than Ivan, saved his cattle and a few other +things. +</p> + +<p> +The village was burning all night. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan stood near his home, gazing sadly at the burning building, and he kept +constantly repeating to himself: “I should have taken away the bunch of +burning straw, and have stamped out the fire with my feet.” +</p> + +<p> +But when he saw his home fall in a smouldering heap, in spite of the terrible +heat he sprang into the midst of it and carried out a charred log. The women +seeing him, and fearing that he would lose his life, called to him to come +back, but he would not pay any attention to them and went a second time to get +a log. Still weak from the terrible blow which Gavryl had given him, he was +overcome by the heat, and fell into the midst of the burning mass. Fortunately, +his eldest son saw him fall, and rushing into the fire succeeded in getting +hold of him and carrying him out of it. Ivan’s hair, beard, and clothing +were burned entirely off. His hands were also frightfully injured, but he +seemed indifferent to pain. +</p> + +<p> +“Grief drove him crazy,” the people said. +</p> + +<p> +The fire was growing less, but Ivan still stood where he could see it, and kept +repeating to himself, “I should have taken,” etc. +</p> + +<p> +The morning after the fire the <i>starosta</i> (village elder) sent his son to +Ivan to tell him that the old man, his father, was dying, and wanted to see him +to bid him good-bye. +</p> + +<p> +In his grief Ivan had forgotten all about his father, and could not understand +what was being said to him. In a dazed way he asked: “What father? Whom +does he want?” +</p> + +<p> +The elder’s son again repeated his father’s message to Ivan. +“Your aged parent is at our house dying, and he wants to see you and bid +you good-bye. Won’t you go now, uncle Ivan?” the boy said. +</p> + +<p> +Finally Ivan understood, and followed the elder’s son. +</p> + +<p> +When Ivan’s father was carried from the oven, he was slightly injured by +a big bunch of burning straw falling on him just as he reached the street. To +insure his safety he was removed to the elder’s house, which stood a +considerable distance from his late home, and where it was not likely that the +fire would reach it. +</p> + +<p> +When Ivan arrived at the elder’s home he found only the latter’s +wife and children, who were all seated on the brick oven. The old man was lying +on a bench holding a lighted candle in his hand (a Russian custom when a person +is dying). Hearing a noise, he turned his face toward the door, and when he saw +it was his son he tried to move. He motioned for Ivan to come nearer, and when +he did so he whispered in a trembling voice: “Well, Ivanushka, did I not +tell you before what would be the result of this sad affair? Who set the +village on fire?” +</p> + +<p> +“He, he, <i>batiushka</i> [little father]; he did it. I caught him. He +placed the bunch of burning straw to the barn in my presence. Instead of +running after him, I should have snatched the bunch of burning straw and +throwing it on the ground have stamped it out with my feet; and then there +would have been no fire.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ivan,” said the old man, “death is fast approaching me, and +remember that you also will have to die. Who did this dreadful thing? Whose is +the sin?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan gazed at the noble face of his dying father and was silent. His heart was +too full for utterance. +</p> + +<p> +“In the presence of God,” the old man continued, “whose is +the sin?” +</p> + +<p> +It was only now that the truth began to dawn upon Ivan’s mind, and that +he realized how foolish he had acted. He sobbed bitterly, and fell on his knees +before his father, and, crying like a child, said: +</p> + +<p> +“My dear father, forgive me, for Christ’s sake, for I am guilty +before God and before you!” +</p> + +<p> +The old man transferred the lighted candle from his right hand to the left, +and, raising the former to his forehead, tried to make the sign of the cross, +but owing to weakness was unable to do so. +</p> + +<p> +“Glory to Thee, O Lord! Glory to Thee!” he exclaimed; and turning +his dim eyes toward his son, he said: “See here, Ivanushka! Ivanushka, my +dear son!” +</p> + +<p> +“What, my dear father?” Ivan asked. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you going to do,” replied the old man, “now that +you have no home?” +</p> + +<p> +Ivan cried and said: “I do not know how we shall live now.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man closed his eyes and made a movement with his lips, as if gathering +his feeble strength for a final effort. Slowly opening his eyes, he whispered: +</p> + +<p> +“Should you live according to God’s commands you will be happy and +prosperous again.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man was now silent for awhile and then, smiling sadly, he continued: +</p> + +<p> +“See here, Ivanushka, keep silent concerning this trouble, and do not +tell who set the village on fire. Forgive one sin of your neighbor’s, and +God will forgive two of yours.” +</p> + +<p> +Grasping the candle with both hands, Ivan’s father heaved a deep sigh, +and, stretching himself out on his back, yielded up the ghost. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Ivan for once accepted his father’s advice. He did not betray Gavryl, and +no one ever learned the origin of the fire. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan’s heart became more kindly disposed toward his old enemy, feeling +that much of the fault in connection with this sad affair rested with himself. +</p> + +<p> +Gavryl was greatly surprised that Ivan did not denounce him before all the +villagers, and at first he stood in much fear of him, but he soon afterward +overcame this feeling. +</p> + +<p> +The two peasants ceased to quarrel, and their families followed their example. +While they were building new houses, both families lived beneath the same roof, +and when they moved into their respective homes, Ivan and Gavryl lived on as +good terms as their fathers had done before them. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan remembered his dying father’s command, and took deeply to heart the +evident warning of God that <i>a fire should be extinguished in the +beginning</i>. If any one wronged him he did not seek revenge, but instead made +every effort to settle the matter peaceably. If any one spoke to him unkindly, +he did not answer in the same way, but replied softly, and tried to persuade +the person not to speak evil. He taught the women and children of his household +to do the same. +</p> + +<p> +Ivan Scherbakoff was now a reformed man. +</p> + +<p> +He lived well and peacefully, and again became prosperous. +</p> + +<p> +Let us, therefore, have peace, live in brotherly love and kindness, and we will +be happy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part05"></a>“POLIKUSHKA;”<br/> +<small>or,<br/><i>The Lot of a Wicked Court Servant</i></small>.</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap41"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p> +Polikey was a court man—one of the staff of servants belonging to the +court household of a <i>boyarinia</i> (lady of the nobility). +</p> + +<p> +He held a very insignificant position on the estate, and lived in a rather +poor, small house with his wife and children. +</p> + +<p> +The house was built by the deceased nobleman whose widow he still continued to +serve, and may be described as follows: The four walls surrounding the one +<i>izba</i> (room) were built of stone, and the interior was ten yards square. +A Russian stove stood in the centre, around which was a free passage. Each +corner was fenced off as a separate inclosure to the extent of several feet, +and the one nearest to the door (the smallest of all) was known as +“Polikey’s corner.” Elsewhere in the room stood the bed (with +quilt, sheet, and cotton pillows), the cradle (with a baby lying therein), and +the three-legged table, on which the meals were prepared and the family washing +was done. At the latter also Polikey was at work on the preparation of some +materials for use in his profession—that of an amateur veterinary +surgeon. A calf, some hens, the family clothes and household utensils, together +with seven persons, filled the little home to the utmost of its capacity. It +would indeed have been almost impossible for them to move around had it not +been for the convenience of the stove, on which some of them slept at night, +and which served as a table in the day-time. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed hard to realize how so many persons managed to live in such close +quarters. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey’s wife, Akulina, did the washing, spun and wove, bleached her +linen, cooked and baked, and found time also to quarrel and gossip with her +neighbors. +</p> + +<p> +The monthly allowance of food which they received from the noblewoman’s +house was amply sufficient for the whole family, and there was always enough +meal left to make mash for the cow. Their fuel they got free, and likewise the +food for the cattle. In addition they were given a small piece of land on which +to raise vegetables. They had a cow, a calf, and a number of chickens to care +for. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey was employed in the stables to take care of two stallions, and, when +necessary, to bleed the horses and cattle and clean their hoofs. +</p> + +<p> +In his treatment of the animals he used syringes, plasters, and various other +remedies and appliances of his own invention. For these services he received +whatever provisions were required by his family, and a certain sum of +money—all of which would have been sufficient to enable them to live +comfortably and even happily, if their hearts had not been filled with the +shadow of a great sorrow. +</p> + +<p> +This shadow darkened the lives of the entire family. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey, while young, was employed in a horse-breeding establishment in a +neighboring village. The head stableman was a notorious horse-thief, known far +and wide as a great rogue, who, for his many misdeeds, was finally exiled to +Siberia. Under his instruction Polikey underwent a course of training, and, +being but a boy, was easily induced to perform many evil deeds. He became so +expert in the various kinds of wickedness practiced by his teacher that, though +he many times would gladly have abandoned his evil ways, he could not, owing to +the great hold these early-formed habits had upon him. His father and mother +died when he was but a child, and he had no one to point out to him the paths +of virtue. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to his other numerous shortcomings, Polikey was fond of strong +drink. He also had a habit of appropriating other people’s property, when +the opportunity offered of his doing so without being seen. Collar-straps, +padlocks, perch-bolts, and things even of greater value belonging to others +found their way with remarkable rapidity and in great quantities to +Polikey’s home. He did not, however, keep such things for his own use, +but sold them whenever he could find a purchaser. His payment consisted chiefly +of whiskey, though sometimes he received cash. +</p> + +<p> +This sort of employment, as his neighbors said, was both light and profitable; +it required neither education nor labor. It had one drawback, however, which +was calculated to reconcile his victims to their losses: Though he could for a +time have all his needs supplied without expending either labor or money, there +was always the possibility of his methods being discovered; and this result was +sure to be followed by a long term of imprisonment. This impending danger made +life a burden for Polikey and his family. +</p> + +<p> +Such a setback indeed very nearly happened to Polikey early in his career. He +married while still young, and God gave him much happiness. His wife, who was a +shepherd’s daughter, was a strong, intelligent, hard-working woman. She +bore him many children, each of whom was said to be better than the preceding +one. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey still continued to steal, but once was caught with some small articles +belonging to others in his possession. Among them was a pair of leather reins, +the property of another peasant, who beat him severely and reported him to his +mistress. +</p> + +<p> +From that time on Polikey was an object of suspicion, and he was twice again +detected in similar escapades. By this time the people began to abuse him, and +the clerk of the court threatened to recruit him into the army as a soldier +(which is regarded by the peasants as a great punishment and disgrace). His +noble mistress severely reprimanded him; his wife wept from grief for his +downfall, and everything went from bad to worse. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey, notwithstanding his weakness, was a good-natured sort of man, but his +love of strong drink had so overcome every moral instinct that at times he was +scarcely responsible for his actions. This habit he vainly endeavored to +overcome. It often happened that when he returned home intoxicated, his wife, +losing all patience, roundly cursed him and cruelly beat him. At times he would +cry like a child, and bemoan his fate, saying: “Unfortunate man that I +am, what shall I do? <i>Let my eyes burst into pieces</i> if I do not forever +give up the vile habit! I will not again touch vodka.” +</p> + +<p> +In spite of all his promises of reform, but a short period (perhaps a month) +would elapse when Polikey would again mysteriously disappear from his home and +be lost for several days on a spree. +</p> + +<p> +“From what source does he get the money he spends so freely?” the +neighbors inquired of each other, as they sadly shook their heads. +</p> + +<p> +One of his most unfortunate exploits in the matter of stealing was in +connection with a clock which belonged to the estate of his mistress. The clock +stood in the private office of the noblewoman, and was so old as to have +outlived its usefulness, and was simply kept as an heirloom. It so happened +that Polikey went into the office one day when no one was present but himself, +and, seeing the old clock, it seemed to possess a peculiar fascination for him, +and he speedily transferred it to his person. He carried it to a town not far +from the village, where he very readily found a purchaser. +</p> + +<p> +As if purposely to secure his punishment, it happened that the storekeeper to +whom he sold it proved to be a relative of one of the court servants, and who, +when he visited his friend on the next holiday, related all about his purchase +of the clock. +</p> + +<p> +An investigation was immediately instituted, and all the details of +Polikey’s transaction were brought to light and reported to his noble +mistress. He was called into her presence, and, when confronted with the story +of the theft, broke down and confessed all. He fell on his knees before the +noblewoman and plead with her for mercy. The kind-hearted lady lectured him +about God, the salvation of his soul, and his future life. She talked to him +also about the misery and disgrace he brought upon his family, and altogether +so worked upon his feelings that he cried like a child. In conclusion his kind +mistress said: “I will forgive you this time on the condition that you +promise faithfully to reform, and never again to take what does not belong to +you.” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey, still weeping, replied: “I will never steal again in all my +life, and if I break my promise may the earth open and swallow me up, and let +my body be burned with red-hot irons!” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey returned to his home, and throwing himself on the oven spent the entire +day weeping and repeating the promise made to his mistress. +</p> + +<p> +From that time on he was not again caught stealing, but his life became +extremely sad, for he was regarded with suspicion by every one and pointed to +as a thief. +</p> + +<p> +When the time came round for securing recruits for the army, all the peasants +singled out Polikey as the first to be taken. The superintendent was especially +anxious to get rid of him, and went to his mistress to induce her to have him +sent away. The kind-hearted and merciful woman, remembering the peasant’s +repentance, refused to grant the superintendent’s request, and told him +he must take some other man in his stead. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap42"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p> +One evening Polikey was sitting on his bed beside the table, preparing some +medicine for the cattle, when suddenly the door was thrown wide open, and +Aksiutka, a young girl from the court, rushed in. Almost out of breath, she +said: “My mistress has ordered you, Polikey <i>Illitch</i> [son of Ilia], +to come up to the court at once!” +</p> + +<p> +The girl was standing and still breathing heavily from her late exertion as she +continued: “Egor Mikhailovitch, the superintendent, has been to see our +lady about having you drafted into the army, and, Polikey Illitch, your name +was mentioned among others. Our lady has sent me to tell you to come up to the +court immediately.” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as Aksiutka had delivered her message she left the room in the same +abrupt manner in which she had entered. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina, without saying a word, got up and brought her husband’s boots to +him. They were poor, worn-out things which some soldier had given him, and his +wife did not glance at him as she handed them to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you going to change your shirt, Illitch?” she asked, at last. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” replied Polikey. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina did not once look at him all the time he was putting on his boots and +preparing to go to the court. Perhaps, after all, it was better that she did +not do so. His face was very pale and his lips trembled. He slowly combed his +hair and was about to depart without saying a word, when his wife stopped him +to arrange the ribbon on his shirt, and, after toying a little with his coat, +she put his hat on for him and he left the little home. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey’s next-door neighbors were a joiner and his wife. A thin +partition only separated the two families, and each could hear what the other +said and did. Soon after Polikey’s departure a woman was heard to say: +“Well, Polikey Illitch, so your mistress has sent for you!” +</p> + +<p> +The voice was that of the joiner’s wife on the other side of the +partition. Akulina and the woman had quarrelled that morning about some +trifling thing done by one of Polikey’s children, and it afforded her the +greatest pleasure to learn that her neighbor had been summoned into the +presence of his noble mistress. She looked upon such a circumstance as a bad +omen. She continued talking to herself and said: “Perhaps she wants to +send him to the town to make some purchases for her household. I did not +suppose she would select such a faithful man as you are to perform such a +service for her. If it should prove that she <i>does</i> want to send you to +the next town, just buy me a quarter-pound of tea. Will you, Polikey +Illitch?” +</p> + +<p> +Poor Akulina, on hearing the joiner’s wife talking so unkindly of her +husband, could hardly suppress the tears, and, the tirade continuing, she at +last became angry, and wished she could in some way punish her. +</p> + +<p> +Forgetting her neighbor’s unkindness, her thoughts soon turned in another +direction, and glancing at her sleeping children she said to herself that they +might soon be orphans and she herself a soldier’s widow. This thought +greatly distressed her, and burying her face in her hands she seated herself on +the bed, where several of her progeny were fast asleep. Presently a little +voice interrupted her meditations by crying out, “<i>Mamushka</i> [little +mother], you are crushing me,” and the child pulled her nightdress from +under her mother’s arms. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina, with her head still resting on her hands, said: “Perhaps it +would be better if we all should die. I only seem to have brought you into the +world to suffer sorrow and misery.” +</p> + +<p> +Unable longer to control her grief, she burst into violent weeping, which +served to increase the amusement of the joiner’s wife, who had not +forgotten the morning’s squabble, and she laughed loudly at her +neighbor’s woe. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap43"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p> +About half an hour had passed when the youngest child began to cry and Akulina +arose to feed it. She had by this time ceased to weep, and after feeding the +infant she again fell into her old position, with her face buried in her hands. +She was very pale, but this only increased her beauty. After a time she raised +her head, and staring at the burning candle she began to question herself as to +why she had married, and as to the reason that the Czar required so many +soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +Presently she heard steps outside, and knew that her husband was returning. She +hurriedly wiped away the last traces of her tears as she arose to let him pass +into the centre of the room. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey made his appearance with a look of triumph on his face, threw his hat +on the bed, and hastily removed his coat; but not a word did he utter. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina, unable to restrain her impatience, asked, “Well, what did she +want with you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Pshaw!” he replied, “it is very well known that Polikushka +is considered the worst man in the village; but when it comes to business of +importance, who is selected then? Why, Polikushka, of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“What kind of business?” Akulina timidly inquired. +</p> + +<p> +But Polikey was in no hurry to answer her question. He lighted his pipe with a +very imposing air, and spit several times on the floor before he replied. +</p> + +<p> +Still retaining his pompous manner, he said, “She has ordered me to go to +a certain merchant in the town and collect a considerable sum of money.” +</p> + +<p> +“You to collect money?” questioned Akulina. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey only shook his head and smiled significantly, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“‘You,’ the mistress said to me, ‘are a man resting +under a grave suspicion—a man who is considered unsafe to trust in any +capacity; but I have faith in you, and will intrust you with this important +business of mine in preference to any one else.’” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey related all this in a loud voice, so that his neighbor might hear what +he had to say. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You promised me to reform,’ my noble mistress said to me, +‘and I will be the first to show you how much faith I have in your +promise. I want you to ride into town, and, going to the principal merchant +there, collect a sum of money from him and bring it to me.’ I said to my +mistress: ‘Everything you order shall be done. I will only too gladly +obey your slightest wish.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Then my mistress said: ‘Do you understand, Polikey, that your +future lot depends upon the faithful performance of this duty I impose upon +you?’ I replied: ‘Yes, I understand everything, and feel that I +will succeed in performing acceptably any task which you may impose upon me. I +have been accused of every kind of evil deed that it is possible to charge a +man with, but I have never done anything seriously wrong against you, your +honor.’ In this way I talked to our mistress until I succeeded in +convincing her that my repentance was sincere, and she became greatly softened +toward me, saying, ‘If you are successful I will give you the first place +at the court.’” +</p> + +<p> +“And how much money are you to collect?” inquired Akulina. +</p> + +<p> +“Fifteen hundred rubles,” carelessly answered Polikey. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina sadly shook her head as she asked, “When are you to start?” +</p> + +<p> +“She ordered me to leave here to-morrow,” Polikey replied. +“‘Take any horse you please,’ she said. ‘Come to the +office, and I will see you there and wish you God-speed on your +journey.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Glory to Thee, O Lord!” said Akulina, as she arose and made the +sign of the cross. “God, I am sure, will bless you, Illitch,” she +added, in a whisper, so that the people on the other side of the partition +could not hear what she said, all the while holding on to his sleeve. +“Illitch,” she cried at last, excitedly, “for God’s +sake promise me that you will not touch a drop of vodka. Take an oath before +God, and kiss the cross, so that I may be sure that you will not break your +promise!” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey replied in most contemptuous tones: “Do you think I will dare to +touch vodka when I shall have such a large sum of money in my care?” +</p> + +<p> +“Akulina, have a clean shirt ready for the morning,” were his +parting words for the night. +</p> + +<p> +So Polikey and his wife went to sleep in a happy frame of mind and full of +bright dreams for the future. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap44"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p> +Very early the next morning, almost before the stars had hidden themselves from +view, there was seen standing before Polikey’s home a low wagon, the same +in which the superintendent himself used to ride; and harnessed to it was a +large-boned, dark-brown mare, called for some unknown reason by the name of +<i>Baraban</i> (drum). Aniutka, Polikey’s eldest daughter, in spite of +the heavy rain and the cold wind which was blowing, stood outside barefooted +and held (not without some fear) the reins in one hand, while with the other +she endeavored to keep her green and yellow overcoat wound around her body, and +also to hold Polikey’s sheepskin coat. +</p> + +<p> +In the house there were the greatest noise and confusion. The morning was still +so dark that the little daylight there was failed to penetrate through the +broken panes of glass, the window being stuffed in many places with rags and +paper to exclude the cold air. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina ceased from her cooking for a while and helped to get Polikey ready for +the journey. Most of the children were still in bed, very likely as a +protection against the cold, for Akulina had taken away the big overcoat which +usually covered them and had substituted a shawl of her own. Polikey’s +shirt was all ready, nice and clean, but his shoes badly needed repairing, and +this fact caused his devoted wife much anxiety. She took from her own feet the +thick woollen stockings she was wearing, and gave them to Polikey. She then +began to repair his shoes, patching up the holes so as to protect his feet from +dampness. +</p> + +<p> +While this was going on he was sitting on the side of the bed with his feet +dangling over the edge, and trying to turn the sash which confined his coat at +the waist. He was anxious to look as clean as possible, and he declared his +sash looked like a dirty rope. +</p> + +<p> +One of his daughters, enveloped in a sheepskin coat, was sent to a +neighbor’s house to borrow a hat. +</p> + +<p> +Within Polikey’s home the greatest confusion reigned, for the court +servants were constantly arriving with innumerable small orders which they +wished Polikey to execute for them in town. One wanted needles, another tea, +another tobacco, and last came the joiner’s wife, who by this time had +prepared her samovar, and, anxious to make up the quarrel of the previous day, +brought the traveller a cup of tea. +</p> + +<p> +Neighbor Nikita refused the loan of the hat, so the old one had to be patched +up for the occasion. This occupied some time, as there were many holes in it. +</p> + +<p> +Finally Polikey was all ready, and jumping on the wagon started on his journey, +after first making the sign of the cross. +</p> + +<p> +At the last moment his little boy, Mishka, ran to the door, begging to be given +a short ride; and then his little daughter, Mashka, appeared on the scene and +pleaded that she, too, might have a ride, declaring that she would be quite +warm enough without furs. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey stopped the horse on hearing the children, and Akulina placed them in +the wagon, together with two others belonging to a neighbor—all anxious +to have a short ride. +</p> + +<p> +As Akulina helped the little ones into the wagon she took occasion to remind +Polikey of the solemn promise he had made her not to touch a drop of vodka +during the journey. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey drove the children as far as the blacksmith’s place, where he let +them out of the wagon, telling them they must return home. He then arranged his +clothing, and, setting his hat firmly on his head, started his horse on a trot. +</p> + +<p> +The two children, Mishka and Mashka, both barefooted, started running at such a +rapid pace that a strange dog from another village, seeing them flying over the +road, dropped his tail between his legs and ran home squealing. +</p> + +<p> +The weather was very cold, a sharp cutting wind blowing continuously; but this +did not disturb Polikey, whose mind was engrossed with pleasant thoughts. As he +rode through the wintry blasts he kept repeating to himself: “So I am the +man they wanted to send to Siberia, and whom they threatened to enroll as a +soldier—the same man whom every one abused, and said he was lazy, and who +was pointed out as a thief and given the meanest work on the estate to do! Now +I am going to receive a large sum of money, for which my mistress is sending me +because she trusts me. I am also riding in the same wagon that the +superintendent himself uses when he is riding as a representative of the court. +I have the same harness, leather horse-collar, reins, and all the other +gear.” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey, filled with pride at thought of the mission with which he had been +intrusted, drew himself up with an air of pride, and, fixing his old hat more +firmly on his head, buttoned his coat tightly about him and urged his horse to +greater speed. +</p> + +<p> +“Just to think,” he continued; “I shall have in my possession +three thousand half-rubles [the peasant manner of speaking of money so as to +make it appear a larger sum than it really is], and will carry them in my +bosom. If I wished to I might run away to Odessa instead of taking the money to +my mistress. But no; I will not do that. I will surely carry the money straight +to the one who has been kind enough to trust me.” +</p> + +<p> +When Polikey reached the first <i>kabak</i> (tavern) he found that from long +habit the mare was naturally turning her head toward it; but he would not allow +her to stop, though money had been given him to purchase both food and drink. +Striking the animal a sharp blow with the whip, he passed by the tavern. The +performance was repeated when he reached the next kabak, which looked very +inviting; but he resolutely set his face against entering, and passed on. +</p> + +<p> +About noon he arrived at his destination, and getting down from the wagon +approached the gate of the merchant’s house where the servants of the +court always stopped. Opening it he led the mare through, and (after +unharnessing her) fed her. This done, he next entered the house and had dinner +with the merchant’s workingman, and to them he related what an important +mission he had been sent on, making himself very amusing by the pompous air +which he assumed. Dinner over, he carried a letter to the merchant which the +noblewoman had given him to deliver. +</p> + +<p> +The merchant, knowing thoroughly the reputation which Polikey bore, felt +doubtful of trusting him with so much money, and somewhat anxiously inquired if +he really had received orders to carry so many rubles. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey tried to appear offended at this question, but did not succeed, and he +only smiled. +</p> + +<p> +The merchant, after reading the letter a second time and being convinced that +all was right, gave Polikey the money, which he put in his bosom for +safe-keeping. +</p> + +<p> +On his way to the house he did not once stop at any of the shops he passed. The +clothing establishments possessed no attractions for him, and after he had +safely passed them all he stood for a moment, feeling very pleased that he had +been able to withstand temptation, and then went on his way. +</p> + +<p> +“I have money enough to buy up everything,” he said; “but I +will not do so.” +</p> + +<p> +The numerous commissions which he had received compelled him to go to the +bazaar. There he bought only what had been ordered, but he could not resist the +temptation to ask the price of a very handsome sheep-skin coat which attracted +his attention. The merchant to whom he spoke looked at Polikey and smiled, not +believing that he had sufficient money to purchase such an expensive coat. But +Polikey, pointing to his breast, said that he could buy out the whole shop if +he wished to. He thereupon ordered the shop-keeper to take his measure. He +tried the coat on and looked himself over carefully, testing the quality and +blowing upon the hair to see that none of it came out. Finally, heaving a deep +sigh, he took it off. +</p> + +<p> +“The price is too high,” he said. “If you could let me have +it for fifteen rubles—” +</p> + +<p> +But the merchant cut him short by snatching the coat from him and throwing it +angrily to one side. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey left the bazaar and returned to the merchant’s house in high +spirits. +</p> + +<p> +After supper he went out and fed the mare, and prepared everything for the +night. Returning to the house he got up on the stove to rest, and while there +he took out the envelope which contained the money and looked long and +earnestly at it. He could not read, but asked one of those present to tell him +what the writing on the envelope meant. It was simply the address and the +announcement that it contained fifteen hundred rubles. +</p> + +<p> +The envelope was made of common paper and was sealed with dark-brown sealing +wax. There was one large seal in the centre and four smaller ones at the +corners. Polikey continued to examine it carefully, even inserting his finger +till he touched the crisp notes. He appeared to take a childish delight in +having so much money in his possession. +</p> + +<p> +Having finished his examination, he put the envelope inside the lining of his +old battered hat, and placing both under his head he went to sleep; but during +the night he frequently awoke and always felt to know if the money was safe. +Each time that he found that it was safe he rejoiced at the thought that he, +Polikey, abused and regarded by every one as a thief, was intrusted with the +care of such a large sum of money, and also that he was about to return with it +quite as safely as the superintendent himself could have done. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap45"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p> +Before dawn the next morning Polikey was up, and after harnessing the mare and +looking in his hat to see that the money was all right, he started on his +return journey. +</p> + +<p> +Many times on the way Polikey took off his hat to see that the money was safe. +Once he said to himself, “I think that perhaps it would be better if I +should put it in my bosom.” This would necessitate the untying of his +sash, so he decided to keep it still in his hat, or until he should have made +half the journey, when he would be compelled to stop to feed his horse and to +rest. +</p> + +<p> +He said to himself: “The lining is not sewn in very strongly and the +envelope might fall out, so I think I had better not take off my hat until I +reach home.” +</p> + +<p> +The money was safe—at least, so it seemed to him—and he began to +think how grateful his mistress would be to him, and in his excited imagination +he saw the five rubles he was so sure of receiving. +</p> + +<p> +Once more he examined the hat to see that the money was safe, and finding +everything all right he put on his hat and pulled it well down over his ears, +smiling all the while at his own thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina had carefully sewed all the holes in the hat, but it burst out in other +places owing to Polikey’s removing it so often. +</p> + +<p> +In the darkness he did not notice the new rents, and tried to push the envelope +further under the lining, and in doing so pushed one corner of it through the +plush. +</p> + +<p> +The sun was getting high in the heavens, and Polikey having slept but little +the previous night and feeling its warm rays fell fast asleep, after first +pressing his hat more firmly on his head. By this action he forced the envelope +still further through the plush, and as he rode along his head bobbed up and +down. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey did not awake till he arrived near his own house, and his first act was +to put his hand to his head to learn if his hat was all right. Finding that it +was in its place, he did not think it necessary to examine it and see that the +money was safe. Touching the mare gently with the whip she started into a trot, +and as he rode along he arranged in his own mind how much he was to receive. +With the air of a man already holding a high position at the court, he looked +around him with an expression of lofty scorn on his face. +</p> + +<p> +As he neared his house he could see before him the one room which constituted +their humble home, and the joiner’s wife next door carrying her rolls of +linen. He saw also the office of the court and his mistress’s house, +where he hoped he would be able presently to prove that he was an honest, +trustworthy man. +</p> + +<p> +He reasoned with himself that any person can be abused by lying tongues, but +when his mistress would see him she would say: “Well done, Polikey; you +have shown that you can be honest. Here are three—it may be +five—perhaps ten—rubles for you;” and also she would order +tea for him, and might treat him to vodka—who knows? +</p> + +<p> +The latter thought gave him great pleasure, as he was feeling very cold. +</p> + +<p> +Speaking aloud he said: “What a happy holy-day we can have with ten +rubles! Having so much money, I could pay Nikita the four rubles fifty kopecks +which I owe him, and yet have some left to buy shoes for the children.” +</p> + +<p> +When near the house Polikey began to arrange his clothes, smoothing down his +fur collar, re-tying his sash, and stroking his hair. To do the latter he had +to take off his hat, and when doing so felt in the lining for the envelope. +Quicker and quicker he ran his hand around the lining, and not finding the +money used both hands, first one and then the other. But the envelope was not +to be found. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey was by this time greatly distressed, and his face was white with fear +as he passed his hand through the crown of his old hat. Polikey stopped the +mare and began a diligent search through the wagon and its contents. Not +finding the precious envelope, he felt in all his pockets—<i>but the +money could not be found!</i> +</p> + +<p> +Wildly clutching at his hair, he exclaimed: “<i>Batiushka!</i> What will +I do now? What will become of me?” At the same time he realized that he +was near his neighbors’ house and could be seen by them; so he turned the +mare around, and, pulling his hat down securely upon his head, he rode quickly +back in search of his lost treasure. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap46"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p> +The whole day passed without any one in the village of Pokrovski having seen +anything of Polikey. During the afternoon his mistress inquired many times as +to his whereabouts, and sent Aksiutka frequently to Akulina, who each time sent +back word that Polikey had not yet returned, saying also that perhaps the +merchant had kept him, or that something had happened to the mare. +</p> + +<p> +His poor wife felt a heavy load upon her heart, and was scarcely able to do her +housework and put everything in order for the next day (which was to be a +holy-day). The children also anxiously awaited their father’s appearance, +and, though for different reasons, could hardly restrain their impatience. The +noblewoman and Akulina were concerned only in regard to Polikey himself, while +the children were interested most in what he would bring them from the town. +</p> + +<p> +The only news received by the villagers during the day concerning Polikey was +to the effect that neighboring peasants had seen him running up and down the +road and asking every one he met if he or she had found an envelope. +</p> + +<p> +One of them had seen him also walking by the side of his tired-out horse. +“I thought,” said he, “that the man was drunk, and had not +fed his horse for two days—the animal looked so exhausted.” +</p> + +<p> +Unable to sleep, and with her heart palpitating at every sound, Akulina lay +awake all night vainly awaiting Polikey’s return. When the cock crowed +the third time she was obliged to get up to attend to the fire. Day was just +dawning and the church-bells had begun to ring. Soon all the children were also +up, but there was still no tidings of the missing husband and father. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning the chill blasts of winter entered their humble home, and on +looking out they saw that the houses, fields, and roads were thickly covered +with snow. The day was clear and cold, as if befitting the holy-day they were +about to celebrate. They were able to see a long distance from the house, but +no one was in sight. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina was busy baking cakes, and had it not been for the joyous shouts of the +children she would not have known that Polikey was coming up the road, for a +few minutes later he came in with a bundle in his hand and walked quietly to +his corner. Akulina noticed that he was very pale and that his face bore an +expression of suffering—as if he would like to have cried but could not +do so. But she did not stop to study it, but excitedly inquired: “What! +Illitch, is everything all right with you?” +</p> + +<p> +He slowly muttered something, but his wife could not understand what he said. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” she cried out, “have you been to see our +mistress?” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey still sat on the bed in his corner, glaring wildly about him, and +smiling bitterly. He did not reply for a long time, and Akulina again cried: +</p> + +<p> +“Eh? Illitch! Why don’t you answer me? Why don’t you +speak?” +</p> + +<p> +Finally he said: “Akulina, I delivered the money to our mistress; and oh, +how she thanked me!” Then he suddenly looked about him, with an anxious, +startled air, and with a sad smile on his lips. Two things in the room seemed +to engross the most of his attention: the baby in the cradle, and the rope +which was attached to the ladder. Approaching the cradle, he began with his +thin fingers quickly to untie the knot in the rope by which the two were +connected. After untying it he stood for a few moments looking silently at the +baby. +</p> + +<p> +Akulina did not notice this proceeding, and with her cakes on the board went to +place them in a corner. +</p> + +<p> +Polikey quickly hid the rope beneath his coat, and again seated himself on the +bed. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it that troubles you, Illitch?” inquired Akulina. +“You are not yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have not slept,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a dark shadow crossed the window, and a minute later the girl Aksiutka +quickly entered the room, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“The <i>boyarinia</i> commands you, Polikey Illitch, to come to her this +moment!” +</p> + +<p> +Polikey looked first at Akulina and then at the girl. +</p> + +<p> +“This moment!” he cried. “What more is wanted?” +</p> + +<p> +He spoke the last sentence so softly that Akulina became quieted in her mind, +thinking that perhaps their mistress intended to reward her husband. +</p> + +<p> +“Say that I will come immediately,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +But Polikey failed to follow the girl, and went instead to another place. +</p> + +<p> +From the porch of his house there was a ladder reaching to the attic. Arriving +at the foot of the ladder Polikey looked around him, and seeing no one about, +he quickly ascended to the garret. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Meanwhile the girl had reached her mistress’s house. +</p> + +<p> +“What does it mean that Polikey does not come?” said the noblewoman +impatiently. “Where can he be? Why does he not come at once?” +</p> + +<p> +Aksiutka flew again to his house and demanded to see Polikey. +</p> + +<p> +“He went a long time ago,” answered Akulina, and looking around +with an expression of fear on her face, she added, “He may have fallen +asleep somewhere on the way.” +</p> + +<p> +About this time the joiner’s wife, with hair unkempt and clothes +bedraggled, went up to the loft to gather the linen which she had previously +put there to dry. Suddenly a cry of horror was heard, and the woman, with her +eyes closed, and crazed by fear, ran down the ladder like a cat. +</p> + +<p> +“Illitch,” she cried, “has hanged himself!” +</p> + +<p> +Poor Akulina ran up the ladder before any of the people, who had gathered from +the surrounding houses, could prevent her. With a loud shriek she fell back as +if dead, and would surely have been killed had not one of the spectators +succeeded in catching her in his arms. +</p> + +<p> +Before dark the same day a peasant of the village, while returning from the +town, found the envelope containing Polikey’s money on the roadside, and +soon after delivered it to the <i>boyarinia</i>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part06"></a>THE CANDLE.</h2> + +<p class="footnote"> +“Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for +a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not +evil.”—S<small>T</small>. M<small>ATTHEW</small> v. 38, 39. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the time of serfdom—many years before Alexander II.’s +liberation of the sixty million serfs in 1862. In those days the people were +ruled by different kinds of lords. There were not a few who, remembering God, +treated their slaves in a humane manner, and not as beasts of burden, while +there were others who were seldom known to perform a kind or generous action; +but the most barbarous and tyrannical of all were those former serfs who arose +from the dirt and became princes. +</p> + +<p> +It was this latter class who made life literally a burden to those who were +unfortunate enough to come under their rule. Many of them had arisen from the +ranks of the peasantry to become superintendents of noblemen’s estates. +</p> + +<p> +The peasants were obliged to work for their master a certain number of days +each week. There was plenty of land and water and the soil was rich and +fertile, while the meadows and forests were sufficient to supply the needs of +both the peasants and their lord. +</p> + +<p> +There was a certain nobleman who had chosen a superintendent from the peasantry +on one of his other estates. No sooner had the power to govern been vested in +this newly-made official than he began to practice the most outrageous +cruelties upon the poor serfs who had been placed under his control. Although +this man had a wife and two married daughters, and was making so much money +that he could have lived happily without transgressing in any way against +either God or man, yet he was filled with envy and jealousy and deeply sunk in +sin. +</p> + +<p> +Michael Simeonovitch began his persecutions by compelling the peasants to +perform more days of service on the estate every week than the laws obliged +them to work. He established a brick-yard, in which he forced the men and women +to do excessive labor, selling the bricks for his own profit. +</p> + +<p> +On one occasion the overworked serfs sent a delegation to Moscow to complain of +their treatment to their lord, but they obtained no satisfaction. When the poor +peasants returned disconsolate from the nobleman their superintendent +determined to have revenge for their boldness in going above him for redress, +and their life and that of their fellow-victims became worse than before. +</p> + +<p> +It happened that among the serfs there were some very treacherous people who +would falsely accuse their fellows of wrong-doing and sow seeds of discord +among the peasantry, whereupon Michael would become greatly enraged, while his +poor subjects began to live in fear of their lives. When the superintendent +passed through the village the people would run and hide themselves as from a +wild beast. Seeing thus the terror which he had struck to the hearts of the +moujiks, Michael’s treatment of them became still more vindictive, so +that from over-work and ill-usage the lot of the poor serfs was indeed a hard +one. +</p> + +<p> +There was a time when it was possible for the peasants, when driven to despair, +to devise means whereby they could rid themselves of an inhuman monster such as +Simeonovitch, and so these unfortunate people began to consider whether +something could not be done to relieve <i>them</i> of their intolerable yoke. +They would hold little meetings in secret places to bewail their misery and to +confer with one another as to which would be the best way to act. Now and then +the boldest of the gathering would rise and address his companions in this +strain: “How much longer can we tolerate such a villain to rule over us? +Let us make an end of it at once, for it were better for us to perish than to +suffer. It is surely not a sin to kill such a devil in human form.” +</p> + +<p> +It happened once, before the Easter holidays, that one of these meetings was +held in the woods, where Michael had sent the serfs to make a clearance for +their master. At noon they assembled to eat their dinner and to hold a +consultation. “Why can’t we leave now?” said one. “Very +soon we shall be reduced to nothing. Already we are almost worked to +death—there being no rest, night or day, either for us or our poor women. +If anything should be done in a way not exactly to please him he will find +fault and perhaps flog some of us to death—as was the case with poor +Simeon, whom he killed not long ago. Only recently Anisim was tortured in irons +till he died. We certainly cannot stand this much longer.” +“Yes,” said another, “what is the use of waiting? Let us act +at once. Michael will be here this evening, and will be certain to abuse us +shamefully. Let us, then, thrust him from his horse and with one blow of an axe +give him what he deserves, and thus end our misery. We can then dig a big hole +and bury him like a dog, and no one will know what became of him. Now let us +come to an agreement—to stand together as one man and not to betray one +another.” +</p> + +<p> +The last speaker was Vasili Minayeff, who, if possible, had more cause to +complain of Michael’s cruelty than any of his fellow-serfs. The +superintendent was in the habit of flogging him severely every week, and he +took also Vasili’s wife to serve him as cook. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, during the evening that followed this meeting in the woods Michael +arrived on the scene on horseback. He began at once to find fault with the +manner in which the work had been done, and to complain because some lime-trees +had been cut down. +</p> + +<p> +“I told you not to cut down any lime-trees!” shouted the enraged +superintendent. “Who did this thing? Tell me at once, or I shall flog +every one of you!” +</p> + +<p> +On investigation, a peasant named Sidor was pointed out as the guilty one, and +his face was roundly slapped. Michael also severely punished Vasili, because he +had not done sufficient work, after which the master rode safely home. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening the serfs again assembled, and poor Vasili said: “Oh, what +kind of people <i>are</i> we, anyway? We are only sparrows, and not men at all! +We agree to stand by each other, but as soon as the time for action comes we +all run and hide. Once a lot of sparrows conspired against a hawk, but no +sooner did the bird of prey appear than they sneaked off in the grass. +Selecting one of the choicest sparrows, the hawk took it away to eat, after +which the others came out crying, ‘Twee-twee!’ and found that one +was missing. ‘Who is killed?’ they asked. ‘Vanka! Well, he +deserved it.’ You, my friends, are acting in just the same manner. When +Michael attacked Sidor you should have stood by your promise. Why didn’t +you arise, and with one stroke put an end to him and to our misery?” +</p> + +<p> +The effect of this speech was to make the peasants more firm in their +determination to kill their superintendent. The latter had already given orders +that they should be ready to plough during the Easter holidays, and to sow the +field with oats, whereupon the serfs became stricken with grief, and gathered +in Vasili’s house to hold another indignation meeting. “If he has +really forgotten God,” they said, “and shall continue to commit +such crimes against us, it is truly necessary that we should kill him. If not, +let us perish, for it can make no difference to us now.” +</p> + +<p> +This despairing programme, however, met with considerable opposition from a +peaceably-inclined man named Peter Mikhayeff. “Brethren,” said he, +“you are contemplating a grievous sin. The taking of human life is a very +serious matter. Of course it is easy to end the mortal existence of a man, but +what will become of the souls of those who commit the deed? If Michael +continues to act toward us unjustly God will surely punish him. But, my +friends, we must have patience.” +</p> + +<p> +This pacific utterance only served to intensify the anger of Vasili. Said he: +“Peter is forever repeating the same old story, ‘It is a sin to +kill any one.’ Certainly it is sinful to murder; but we should consider +the kind of man we are dealing with. We all know it is wrong to kill a good +man, but even God would take away the life of such a dog as he is. It is our +duty, if we have any love for mankind, to shoot a dog that is mad. It is a sin +to let him live. If, therefore, we are to suffer at all, let it be in the +interests of the people—and they will thank us for it. If we remain quiet +any longer a flogging will be our only reward. You are talking nonsense, +Mikhayeff. Why don’t you think of the sin we shall be committing if we +work during the Easter holidays—for you will refuse to work then +yourself?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then,” replied Peter, “if they shall send me to +plough, I will go. But I shall not be going of my own free will, and God will +know whose sin it is, and shall punish the offender accordingly. Yet we must +not forget him. Brethren, I am not giving you my own views only. The law of God +is not to return evil for evil; indeed, if you try in this way to stamp out +wickedness it will come upon you all the stronger. It is not difficult for you +to kill the man, but his blood will surely stain your own soul. You may think +you have killed a bad man—that you have gotten rid of evil—but you +will soon find out that the seeds of still greater wickedness have been planted +within you. If you yield to misfortune it will surely come to you.” +</p> + +<p> +As Peter was not without sympathizers among the peasants, the poor serfs were +consequently divided into two groups: the followers of Vasili and those who +held the views of Mikhayeff. +</p> + +<p> +On Easter Sunday no work was done. Toward the evening an elder came to the +peasants from the nobleman’s court and said: “Our superintendent, +Michael Simeonovitch, orders you to go to-morrow to plough the field for the +oats.” Thus the official went through the village and directed the men to +prepare for work the next day—some by the river and others by the +roadway. The poor people were almost overcome with grief, many of them shedding +tears, but none dared to disobey the orders of their master. +</p> + +<p> +On the morning of Easter Monday, while the church bells were calling the +inhabitants to religious services, and while every one else was about to enjoy +a holiday, the unfortunate serfs started for the field to plough. Michael arose +rather late and took a walk about the farm. The domestic servants were through +with their work and had dressed themselves for the day, while Michael’s +wife and their widowed daughter (who was visiting them, as was her custom on +holidays) had been to church and returned. A steaming samovar awaited them, and +they began to drink tea with Michael, who, after lighting his pipe, called the +elder to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said the superintendent, “have you ordered the +moujiks to plough to-day?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, I did,” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Have they all gone to the field?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; all of them. I directed them myself where to begin.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is all very well. You gave the orders, but are they ploughing? Go +at once and see, and you may tell them that I shall be there after dinner. I +shall expect to find one and a half acres done for every two ploughs, and the +work must be well done; otherwise they shall be severely punished, +notwithstanding the holiday.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hear, sir, and obey.” +</p> + +<p> +The elder started to go, but Michael called him back. After hesitating for some +time, as if he felt very uneasy, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“By the way, listen to what those scoundrels say about me. Doubtless some +of them will curse me, and I want you to report the exact words. I know what +villains they are. They don’t find work at all pleasant. They would +rather lie down all day and do nothing. They would like to eat and drink and +make merry on holidays, but they forget that if the ploughing is not done it +will soon be too late. So you go and listen to what is said, and tell it to me +in detail. Go at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hear, sir, and obey.” +</p> + +<p> +Turning his back and mounting his horse, the elder was soon at the field where +the serfs were hard at work. +</p> + +<p> +It happened that Michael’s wife, a very good-hearted woman, overheard the +conversation which her husband had just been holding with the elder. +Approaching him, she said: +</p> + +<p> +“My good friend, Mishinka [diminutive of Michael], I beg of you to +consider the importance and solemnity of this holy-day. Do not sin, for +Christ’s sake. Let the poor moujiks go home.” +</p> + +<p> +Michael laughed, but made no reply to his wife’s humane request. Finally +he said to her: +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve not been whipped for a very long time, and now you have +become bold enough to interfere in affairs that are not your own.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mishinka,” she persisted, “I have had a frightful dream +concerning you. You had better let the moujiks go.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said he; “I perceive that you have gained so much +flesh of late that you think you would not feel the whip. Lookout!” +</p> + +<p> +Rudely thrusting his hot pipe against her cheek, Michael chased his wife from +the room, after which he ordered his dinner. After eating a hearty meal +consisting of cabbage-soup, roast pig, meat-cake, pastry with milk, jelly, +sweet cakes, and vodka, he called his woman cook to him and ordered her to be +seated and sing songs, Simeonovitch accompanying her on the guitar. +</p> + +<p> +While the superintendent was thus enjoying himself to the fullest satisfaction +in the musical society of his cook the elder returned, and, making a low bow to +his superior, proceeded to give the desired information concerning the serfs. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” asked Michael, “did they plough?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” replied the elder; “they have accomplished about half +the field.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there no fault to be found?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not that I could discover. The work seems to be well done. They are +evidently afraid of you.” +</p> + +<p> +“How is the soil?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. It appears to be quite soft.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Simeonovitch, after a pause, “what did they say +about me? Cursed me, I suppose?” +</p> + +<p> +As the elder hesitated somewhat, Michael commanded him to speak and tell him +the whole truth. “Tell me all,” said he; “I want to know +their exact words. If you tell me the truth I shall reward you; but if you +conceal anything from me you will be punished. See here, Catherine, pour out a +glass of vodka to give him courage!” +</p> + +<p> +After drinking to the health of his superior, the elder said to himself: +“It is not my fault if they do not praise him. I shall tell him the +truth.” Then turning suddenly to the superintendent he said: +</p> + +<p> +“They complain, Michael Simeonovitch! They complain bitterly.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what did they say?” demanded Michael. “Tell me!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, one thing they said was, ‘He does not believe in +God.’” +</p> + +<p> +Michael laughed. “Who said that?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“It seemed to be their unanimous opinion. ‘He has been overcome by +the Evil One,’ they said.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good,” laughed the superintendent; “but tell me what +each of them said. What did Vasili say?” +</p> + +<p> +The elder did not wish to betray his people, but he had a certain grudge +against Vasili, and he said: +</p> + +<p> +“He cursed you more than did any of the others.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what did he say?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is awful to repeat it, sir. Vasili said, ‘He shall die like a +dog, having no chance to repent!’” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, the villain!” exclaimed Michael. “He would kill me if he +were not afraid. All right, Vasili; we shall have an accounting with you. And +Tishka—he called me a dog, I suppose?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said the elder, “they all spoke of you in anything +but complimentary terms; but it is mean in me to repeat what they said.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mean or not you must tell me, I say!” +</p> + +<p> +“Some of them declared that your back should be broken.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeonovitch appeared to enjoy this immensely, for he laughed outright. +“We shall see whose back will be the first to be broken,” said he. +“Was that Tishka’s opinion? While I did not suppose they would say +anything good about me, I did not expect such curses and threats. And Peter +Mikhayeff—was that fool cursing me too?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; he did not curse you at all. He appeared to be the only silent one +among them. Mikhayeff is a very wise moujik, and he surprises me very much. At +his actions all the other peasants seemed amazed.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did he do?” +</p> + +<p> +“He did something remarkable. He was diligently ploughing, and as I +approached him I heard some one singing very sweetly. Looking between the +ploughshares, I observed a bright object shining.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what was it? Hurry up!” +</p> + +<p> +“It was a small, five-kopeck wax candle, burning brightly, and the wind +was unable to blow it out. Peter, wearing a new shirt, sang beautiful hymns as +he ploughed, and no matter how he handled the implement the candle continued to +burn. In my presence he fixed the plough, shaking it violently, but the bright +little object between the colters remained undisturbed.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what did Mikhayeff say?” +</p> + +<p> +“He said nothing—except when, on seeing me, he gave me the holy-day +salutation, after which he went on his way singing and ploughing as before. I +did not say anything to him, but, on approaching the other moujiks, I found +that they were laughing and making sport of their silent companion. ‘It +is a great sin to plough on Easter Monday,’ they said. ‘You could +not get absolution from your sin if you were to pray all your +life.’” +</p> + +<p> +“And did Mikhayeff make no reply?” +</p> + +<p> +“He stood long enough to say: ‘There should be peace on earth and +good-will to men,’ after which he resumed his ploughing and singing, the +candle burning even more brightly than before.” +</p> + +<p> +Simeonovitch had now ceased to ridicule, and, putting aside his guitar, his +head dropped on his breast and he became lost in thought. Presently he ordered +the elder and cook to depart, after which Michael went behind a screen and +threw himself upon the bed. He was sighing and moaning, as if in great +distress, when his wife came in and spoke kindly to him. He refused to listen +to her, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“He has conquered me, and my end is near!” +</p> + +<p> +“Mishinka,” said the woman, “arise and go to the moujiks in +the field. Let them go home, and everything will be all right. Heretofore you +have run far greater risks without any fear, but now you appear to be very much +alarmed.” +</p> + +<p> +“He has conquered me!” he repeated. “I am lost!” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” demanded his wife, angrily. “If you will +go and do as I tell you there will be no danger. Come, Mishinka,” she +added, tenderly; “I shall have the saddle-horse brought for you at +once.” +</p> + +<p> +When the horse arrived the woman persuaded her husband to mount the animal, and +to fulfil her request concerning the serfs. When he reached the village a woman +opened the gate for him to enter, and as he did so the inhabitants, seeing the +brutal superintendent whom everybody feared, ran to hide themselves in their +houses, gardens, and other secluded places. +</p> + +<p> +At length Michael reached the other gate, which he found closed also, and, +being unable to open it himself while seated on his horse, he called loudly for +assistance. As no one responded to his shouts he dismounted and opened the +gate, but as he was about to remount, and had one foot in the stirrup, the +horse became frightened at some pigs and sprang suddenly to one side. The +superintendent fell across the fence and a very sharp picket pierced his +stomach, when Michael fell unconscious to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Toward the evening, when the serfs arrived at the village gate, their horses +refused to enter. On looking around, the peasants discovered the dead body of +their superintendent lying face downward in a pool of blood, where he had +fallen from the fence. Peter Mikhayeff alone had sufficient courage to dismount +and approach the prostrate form, his companions riding around the village and +entering by way of the back yards. Peter closed the dead man’s eyes, +after which he put the body in a wagon and took it home. +</p> + +<p> +When the nobleman learned of the fatal accident which had befallen his +superintendent, and of the brutal treatment which he had meted out to those +under him, he freed the serfs, exacting a small rent for the use of his land +and the other agricultural opportunities. +</p> + +<p> +And thus the peasants clearly understood that the power of God is manifested +not in evil, but in goodness. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KREUTZER SONATA ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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