SHORTLY after finding his wife in flagrante delicto Fyodor Fyodorovitch Sigaev was standing1 in Schmuck and Co.‘s, the gunsmiths, selecting a suitable revolver. His countenance2 expressed wrath3, grief, and unalterable determination.
“I know what I must do,” he was thinking. “The sanctities of the home are outraged4, honour is trampled5 in the mud, vice6 is triumphant7, and therefore as a citizen and a man of honour I must be their avenger8. First, I will kill her and her lover and then myself.”
He had not yet chosen a revolver or killed anyone, but already in imagination he saw three bloodstained corpses9, broken skulls10, brains oozing11 from them, the commotion12, the crowd of gaping13 spectators, the post-mortem. . . . With the malignant14 joy of an insulted man he pictured the horror of the relations and the public, the agony of the traitress, and was mentally reading leading articles on the destruction of the traditions of the home.
The shopman, a sprightly15 little Frenchified figure with rounded belly16 and white waistcoat, displayed the revolvers, and smiling respectfully and scraping with his little feet observed:
“. . . I would advise you, M’sieur, to take this superb revolver, the Smith and Wesson pattern, the last word in the science of firearms: triple-action, with ejector, kills at six hundred paces, central sight. Let me draw your attention, M’sieu, to the beauty of the finish. The most fashionable system, M’sieu. We sell a dozen every day for burglars, wolves, and lovers. Very correct and powerful action, hits at a great distance, and kills wife and lover with one bullet. As for suicide, M’sieu, I don’t know a better pattern.”
The shopman pulled and cocked the trigger, breathed on the barrel, took aim, and affected17 to be breathless with delight. Looking at his ecstatic countenance, one might have supposed that he would readily have put a bullet through his brains if he had only possessed18 a revolver of such a superb pattern as a Smith-Wesson.
“And what price?” asked Sigaev.
“Forty-five roubles, M’sieu.”
“Mm! . . . that’s too dear for me.”
“In that case, M’sieu, let me offer you another make, somewhat cheaper. Here, if you’ll kindly19 look, we have an immense choice, at all prices. . . . Here, for instance, this revolver of the Lefaucher pattern costs only eighteen roubles, but . . .” (the shopman pursed up his face contemptuously) “. . . but, M’sieu, it’s an old-fashioned make. They are only bought by hysterical20 ladies or the mentally deficient21. To commit suicide or shoot one’s wife with a Lefaucher revolver is considered bad form nowadays. Smith-Wesson is the only pattern that’s correct style.”
“I don’t want to shoot myself or to kill anyone,” said Sigaev, lying sullenly22. “I am buying it simply for a country cottage . . . to frighten away burglars. . . .”
“That’s not our business, what object you have in buying it.” The shopman smiled, dropping his eyes discreetly23. “If we were to investigate the object in each case, M’sieu, we should have to close our shop. To frighten burglars Lefaucher is not a suitable pattern, M’sieu, for it goes off with a faint, muffled24 sound. I would suggest Mortimer’s, the so-called duelling pistol. . . .”
“Shouldn’t I challenge him to a duel25?” flashed through Sigaev’s mind. “It’s doing him too much honour, though. . . . Beasts like that are killed like dogs. . . .”
The shopman, swaying gracefully26 and tripping to and fro on his little feet, still smiling and chattering27, displayed before him a heap of revolvers. The most inviting28 and impressive of all was the Smith and Wesson’s. Sigaev picked up a pistol of that pattern, gazed blankly at it, and sank into brooding. His imagination pictured how he would blow out their brains, how blood would flow in streams over the rug and the parquet29, how the traitress’s legs would twitch30 in her last agony. . . . But that was not enough for his indignant soul. The picture of blood, wailing31, and horror did not satisfy him. He must think of something more terrible.
“I know! I’ll kill myself and him,” he thought, “but I’ll leave her alive. Let her pine away from the stings of conscience and the contempt of all surrounding her. For a sensitive nature like hers that will be far more agonizing32 than death.”
And he imagined his own funeral: he, the injured husband, lies in his coffin33 with a gentle smile on his lips, and she, pale, tortured by remorse34, follows the coffin like a Niobe, not knowing where to hide herself to escape from the withering35, contemptuous looks cast upon her by the indignant crowd.
“I see, M’sieu, that you like the Smith and Wesson make,” the shopman broke in upon his broodings. “If you think it too dear, very well, I’ll knock off five roubles. . . . But we have other makes, cheaper.”
The little Frenchified figure turned gracefully and took down another dozen cases of revolvers from the shelf.
“Here, M’sieu, price thirty roubles. That’s not expensive, especially as the rate of exchange has dropped terribly and the Customs duties are rising every hour. M’sieu, I vow36 I am a Conservative, but even I am beginning to murmur37. Why, with the rate of exchange and the Customs tariff38, only the rich can purchase firearms. There’s nothing left for the poor but Tula weapons and phosphorus matches, and Tula weapons are a misery39! You may aim at your wife with a Tula revolver and shoot yourself through the shoulder-blade.”
Sigaev suddenly felt mortified40 and sorry that he would be dead, and would miss seeing the agonies of the traitress. Revenge is only sweet when one can see and taste its fruits, and what sense would there be in it if he were lying in his coffin, knowing nothing about it?
“Hadn’t I better do this?” he pondered. “I’ll kill him, then I’ll go to his funeral and look on, and after the funeral I’ll kill myself. They’d arrest me, though, before the funeral, and take away my pistol. . . . And so I’ll kill him, she shall remain alive, and I . . . for the time, I’ll not kill myself, but go and be arrested. I shall always have time to kill myself. There will be this advantage about being arrested, that at the preliminary investigation41 I shall have an opportunity of exposing to the authorities and to the public all the infamy42 of her conduct. If I kill myself she may, with her characteristic duplicity and impudence43, throw all the blame on me, and society will justify44 her behaviour and will very likely laugh at me. . . . If I remain alive, then . . .”
A minute later he was thinking:
“Yes, if I kill myself I may be blamed and suspected of petty feeling. . . . Besides, why should I kill myself? That’s one thing. And for another, to shoot oneself is cowardly. And so I’ll kill him and let her live, and I’ll face my trial. I shall be tried, and she will be brought into court as a witness. . . . I can imagine her confusion, her disgrace when she is examined by my counsel! The sympathies of the court, of the Press, and of the public will certainly be with me.”
While he deliberated the shopman displayed his wares45, and felt it incumbent46 upon him to entertain his customer.
“Here are English ones, a new pattern, only just received,” he prattled47 on. “But I warn you, M’sieu, all these systems pale beside the Smith and Wesson. The other day—as I dare say you have read—an officer bought from us a Smith and Wesson. He shot his wife’s lover, and-would you believe it?—the bullet passed through him, pierced the bronze lamp, then the piano, and ricochetted back from the piano, killing48 the lap-dog and bruising49 the wife. A magnificent record redounding50 to the honour of our firm! The officer is now under arrest. He will no doubt be convicted and sent to penal51 servitude. In the first place, our penal code is quite out of date; and, secondly52, M’sieu, the sympathies of the court are always with the lover. Why is it? Very simple, M’sieu. The judges and the jury and the prosecutor53 and the counsel for the defence are all living with other men’s wives, and it’ll add to their comfort that there will be one husband the less in Russia. Society would be pleased if the Government were to send all the husbands to Sahalin. Oh, M’sieu, you don’t know how it excites my indignation to see the corruption54 of morals nowadays. To love other men’s wives is as much the regular thing to-day as to smoke other men’s cigarettes and to read other men’s books. Every year our trade gets worse and worse—it doesn’t mean that wives are more faithful, but that husbands resign themselves to their position and are afraid of the law and penal servitude.”
The shopman looked round and whispered: “And whose fault is it, M’sieu? The Government’s.”
“To go to Sahalin for the sake of a pig like that—there’s no sense in that either,” Sigaev pondered. “If I go to penal servitude it will only give my wife an opportunity of marrying again and deceiving a second husband. She would triumph. . . . And so I will leave her alive, I won’t kill myself, him . . . I won’t kill either. I must think of something more sensible and more effective. I will punish them with my contempt, and will take divorce proceedings55 that will make a scandal.”
“Here, M’sieu, is another make,” said the shopman, taking down another dozen from the shelf. “Let me call your attention to the original mechanism56 of the lock.”
In view of his determination a revolver was now of no use to Sigaev, but the shopman, meanwhile, getting more and more enthusiastic, persisted in displaying his wares before him. The outraged husband began to feel ashamed that the shopman should be taking so much trouble on his account for nothing, that he should be smiling, wasting time, displaying enthusiasm for nothing.
“Very well, in that case,” he muttered, “I’ll look in again later on . . . or I’ll send someone.”
He didn’t see the expression of the shopman’s face, but to smooth over the awkwardness of the position a little he felt called upon to make some purchase. But what should he buy? He looked round the walls of the shop to pick out something inexpensive, and his eyes rested on a green net hanging near the door.
“That’s . . . what’s that?” he asked.
“That’s a net for catching57 quails58.”
“And what price is it?”
“Eight roubles, M’sieu.”
“Wrap it up for me. . . .”
The outraged husband paid his eight roubles, took the net, and, feeling even more outraged, walked out of the shop.
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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avenger
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| n. 复仇者 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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11
oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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12
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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13
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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14
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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15
sprightly
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| adj.愉快的，活泼的 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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20
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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21
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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22
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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23
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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24
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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25
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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26
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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27
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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28
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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parquet
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| n.镶木地板 | |
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30
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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31
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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32
agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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36
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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38
tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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39
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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40
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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41
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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42
infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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43
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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44
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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45
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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46
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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47
prattled
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的过去式和过去分词 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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48
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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49
bruising
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| adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式) | |
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50
redounding
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| v.有助益( redound的现在分词 )；及于；报偿；报应 | |
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51
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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52
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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53
prosecutor
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| n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人 | |
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54
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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55
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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56
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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57
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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58
quails
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| 鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 )； 鹌鹑肉 | |
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