His dream was a happy hearth16 and home and a large family, and yet he never married. Perhaps the reason of this might have been found in the pure and sacred image of his mother, with which he unconsciously compared all other women to their detriment17; also a little in the fact that he was inclined to be proud and suspicious. He rarely went to Petrograd, and the provincial18 young ladies whom he met in S? were far too frankly19 in ecstasies20 before his wealth and brilliant[104] position. Gzhatski was never happy abroad, and now deeply regretted that, after an attack of inflammation of the lungs caught during an autumn hunt, his doctors had persuaded him to pass the rest of the winter in Italy.
In spite of the mutual21 impertinences they had exchanged at their first meeting, Irene had not displeased22 Gzhatski, and, seeing her a few days later on the Corso, he approached her with a friendly greeting. Irene was so touched by this absence of rancour, that, wishing to destroy the unpleasant impression of their previous conversation, she invited him to come and see her. Two days later Gzhatski availed himself of her invitation, and, in the good old provincial Russian fashion, stayed three hours! He told Irene all about his estate and about the other S? landowners, and expressed his horror at the indecent haste with which many of them, frightened by the recent “revolution,” had sold their ancestral estates and moved to Petrograd.
“I say nothing,” he remarked, “of the fact that their children will be penniless,[105] since they will very quickly lose their newly acquired money in all sorts of doubtful speculations23; our landowners are proverbially credulous24 and unbusinesslike! But the principal trouble is that these ruined children will, in addition, have lost the ties which bound them to our soil—and it is my firm belief that one can only be a true patriot25 if one has lived from childhood on one’s own land and among one’s own people, and has stored in one’s heart all the charming recollections and associations of an early youth spent in one’s ancestral country home. Even now, when after a long absence I approach my little station, my heart beats, and I recognize with joy, almost with tenderness, the station officials, my coachman, my troika.[1] It is all near and dear to me; the woods, the fields, the peasants who greet me smilingly, and who have known and loved me all my life. How much that is sacred breathes in memories of childhood, and how sad life must be when they are absent! I think, for instance, that if you, Irene Pavlovna, had in your heart[106] the remembrance of some modest little village church where you prayed as a child, you would never have dreamt of betraying the faith of your childhood; you would never even have formulated27 your vague, cosmopolitan28 belief in Christ, a belief that certainly cannot give you happiness.”
From that day they became friends. Irene enjoyed the society of Gzhatski, who was always gay, interesting, and sincere. However dear Italy had grown to her, however deeply she respected Père Etienne, it was delightful29 to talk to a Russian, a man of her own race, her own social circle, and her own education and traditions. She never suspected that she, on her side, represented for Gzhatski a sort of anchor of salvation30.
Poor Gzhatski had been unbearably31 lonely in Rome. Active, energetic, busy as he had always been, the enforced idleness of this new existence was insufferable to him. The Roman museums and monuments did not touch his heart. He had not enough imagination to people them with shadows of the past, as did Irene. He tried to study Rome with a[107] Baedeker’s guide-book in his hand, but soon abandoned the task, and came to the conclusion that all the churches and ruins and galleries were exactly alike.
“When you have seen one, you have seen them all,” he remarked frankly to his acquaintances.
Gzhatski had begun to take an interest in Italian fox-hunting, but happened the very first time he joined a hunt to be caught in a downpour of rain, and developed such a severe chill that his alarmed doctor forbade him any future expeditions of the kind, on pain of death from galloping32 consumption!
Every day the poor man wandered about sadly and aimlessly, finding fault with everything, hating everything, and abusing the strange Southern town that held him prisoner! Everything irritated him, even the climate, with its eternally warm, balmy breezes, even the dry Southern vegetation. Often, when sitting in the gardens of the Villa26 Borghese, he shut his eyes, and pictured to himself a Russian winter, the snow on the fields gleaming under the blue sky,[108] the red sun, the little waves of smoke rising from a cottage chimney, the crunch33 of footsteps on the frozen ground, the frosty, invigorating air…! And then he opened his eyes, and looked resentfully at the broad Roman pines and the dusty grass and shrubs34.
“What is this extraordinary time of the year?” grumbled35 Gzhatski capriciously. “It is not autumn, because there are no yellow leaves; it is not winter, because it is not cold; it is not summer, because it is not hot; and it is not spring, because there is nothing vivifying or rejuvenating36 in the air. No—this is a sort of fifth season, Roman, stupid, and senseless!”
He watched the passing crowd with animosity. They all seemed to him to be dressed in their Sunday best! There go two young Italian brunettes, in fashionable tight skirts, with wide fur scarves on their shoulders, showing, under their short dresses, dainty feet, shod as for a ball in elegant open shoes over open-work silk stockings. Here is a baby being taken for a walk, in a little white piqué summer coat, a hat to match,[109] and a huge collar of white goat-fur! And behind comes something quite wild—two little boys and a girl in sailor suits, without coats, and with bare legs and necks—yet the little girl carries an enormous muff, and the boys have sealskin caps!
“I suppose they have heard that people wear furs in the winter, but they don’t know exactly how, so they have made guys of themselves!” muttered Gzhatski crossly.
His loneliness was even greater than his despair. He had already decided to risk his health and return to Russia, when his meeting with Irene turned his thoughts into another channel. He had no difficulty in assuring himself that she was the victim of Jesuit priests, that the poor girl was being wickedly deceived, and that it was his duty as a compatriot to come to her aid and save her. With all the accumulated energy of all those idle weeks, he threw himself into the struggle with Père Etienne, and in spite of Irene’s wish to bring her two friends together, Gzhatski curtly37 refused to make the acquaintance of the “Catholic rogue38.” He[110] was very annoyed to see how obstinately39 Irene defended her friendship with the priest, and used all his eloquence40 to disillusion41 her on the subject of convent life.
“And what is the meaning of that insufferable manner,” he cried irritably42, “in which all priests make a prisoner of Christ, and announce to the world that He can only be found in their churches? They lie! I don’t deny that in the early days of Christianity, monasteries44 and convents really represented Christian43 oases45 in a pagan desert. But that time has long since passed. Christ has long ago left the monasteries, and dwells among us, in our science, our literature, our law. We may quarrel as much as we please, we may accuse each other of treachery, but in spite of everything, we are all going along the path of Christian progress. Every time we liberate46 slaves in America or serfs in Russia, every time we abolish torture or corporal punishment, we are proclaiming liberty and brotherhood47, we are serving Christ, and Christ is among us. Let them say, if they will, that the foundations of Christianity are shaking, that Christianity is at its last ebb48, and must[111] make way for a new religion. It is absurd even to listen to these wild speeches. Christianity is eternal, if only because Christ did not invent anything strange or new or incomprehensible, but expressed clearly and simply truths which every human being feels dimly in his soul. It is not Christianity that will disappear, but its old and worn-out forms. Christianity is slowly and surely passing from the realms of legend and romance into real daily life, where it will take root more and more firmly, until it reigns49 supreme50 on earth. As to your convents, they are nothing but empty hives that the working-bees have long ago abandoned, while the monks51 are drones who have remained behind to linger lazily in the old place until they die. Is it possible that you, with your heart and your intelligence, can wish to end your life among these unnecessary, useless, sleeping drones?”
Irene listened in dismay. Both Gzhatski and Père Etienne spoke52 so eloquently53 and with such conviction. Which of them was in the right?
“And what a wild idea!” exclaimed Gzhatski furiously, “to become a nun55! Do you really[112] think there are not enough nuns56 in Rome without you? Why, the whole town is teeming57 with convents that give one no peace with their everlasting58 bells. How many sick women and weak children are there in Rome, who need rest and sleep? And yet those imbeciles start their pandemonium59 at five o’clock every morning. You see, they have to save their precious souls. We in Russia, with our modest monks and nuns, can hardly grasp the extent of the impudence60 of these Southern religious orders, and the fury to which they can drive people. I perfectly61 understand why they were expelled from France, and I only profoundly regret that they have not yet been expelled from Italy. Just look what they have done with Rome. It is no longer a city, it is one huge cemetery62. I can’t listen to that eternal dull sound of bells. It always seems to me that they are burying me alive, and celebrating masses for the peace of my sinful soul. I always feel inclined to cry out: ‘You lie! I am alive! And I am going to live a long time yet, and do many useful things.’”
[113]
In his enthusiasm, Gzhatski sometimes took recourse to means of which he himself would at another time have disapproved63. Thus, on one occasion, he began, with a malicious64 smile and in some excitement, almost before he had shaken hands:
“You always go to the Via Gallio. But do you know by what nickname your S?urs Mauves are known in Roman Society?”
“Nickname?” questioned Irene. “I did not know nuns could have nicknames.”
“They are called ‘Les Hetairas du bon Dieu,’” said Gzhatski, lowering his voice.
Irene was angry.
“Are you not ashamed of yourself?” she exclaimed indignantly. “You call yourself a gentleman, and you find it possible to insult these saintly women, who deserve the profoundest respect. I quite believe that the young people of the present day are capable of inventing this or any other obscenity. In their eyes, all women are low and worthless, and they cannot imagine or understand anything good or noble. But you—you! That you should repeat such things!”
[114]
“Well, well, I beg your pardon,” said the confused and apologetic Gzhatski. “I did not mean to offend you. I only wanted to tell you how painful to me is the thought that you, my countrywoman, will also be known by this shameful65 title.”
But the offended Irene would not listen to his apologies. Immediately after Gzhatski’s departure (a somewhat hasty departure on this occasion), she went off to the convent. She hurried along, with the feeling one has when one rushes to friends who have just suffered some trouble or misfortune. Although Irene had never seen the face of a single one of the sisters, nor had spoken to any of them, she had gradually, through these daily hours of common prayer, come to regard them as her personal friends. She was therefore anxious, on this occasion, to prove by her presence her resentment66 of the insult offered to them by idle, vulgar gossips.
Evensong was almost at an end when Irene entered the church. There were very few people, the choir67 was singing an exultant68 hymn69, the nuns were frozen into a sort of beatific70 ecstasy71. Irene gazed at them long[115] and seriously, and suddenly realized that no insult could possibly reach them, that it was beyond the power of anyone to offend them. They were above all earthly troubles; nothing earthly had any value for them, all their hopes and dreams were concentrated in the next world. Thus, an emigrant72, during his first days on board ship, thinks restlessly of the home he has left behind him, but when weeks have slipped away, his interest in the past grows fainter, and he thinks and dreams only of what he will find in the new land.
Père Etienne noticed Irene’s restlessness, but although he was well aware of her friendship with Gzhatski, never mentioned the Russian’s name. The clever, self-controlled priest neither opposed nor contradicted Gzhatski’s views on Roman Catholicism, views which made themselves clearly felt in all Irene’s words and arguments. He only more eloquently than ever advocated the convent. Under his influence, Irene saw before her a happy, peaceful old age, illuminated73 by constant sunshine, in the lap of luxurious74 Southern nature. And then came Gzhatski to destroy this dream; for, listening to his[116] words, as eloquent54 as any of Père Etienne’s, she grew vaguely75 ashamed of having abandoned her home and her country, that dear Russia, of which Gzhatski spoke with such love and enthusiasm. He tried hard, indeed, to point out to Irene all the charm and goodness of the Russian people, and bitterly reproached her for having so light-mindedly hardened her heart and turned away from them.
“You have invented for yourself all sorts of fantastic heroes,” he said. And you are unreasonably76 cross because you do not meet them in real life. Be reasonable, Irene Pavlovna! Human beings are simply animals. It is not so very long since they lived in caves and dressed in skins. They have not been lazy. They have worked zealously77 at themselves, and have attained79 much. It is not their fault if it needs another thousand centuries to perfect them, to entirely80 overthrow81 the animal, and to attain78 the spiritual ideal that God has placed before them. If you personally have already attained all this, that is your special good luck; but, pardon me, I doubt it exceedingly. Your life is not[117] at an end yet, and the savage82 beast may yet awaken1 in you quite unexpectedly. I, of course, perfectly understand your dislike of the Petrograd career-hunters. I do not greatly admire them myself. Nevertheless, I still assert that ambition, especially in Russia, is more a virtue83 than a vice11. We Slavs are so listless and lazy, that without ambition we become, at the very best, Oblomoffs,[2] and at the worst, primitive84 beasts. You don’t know the kind of types one meets in our far away provinces.
“You are very proud of the fact that you care nothing for wealth or rank. But do you know, Irene Pavlovna, that this is only another sign of a morbid85, diseased nature? I always have the feeling that your ancestors must have lived too forcibly, too passionately—they have left you the legacy86 of an exhausted87 organism, and you no longer have the strength to love or care for anything. In your place, I should try to cultivate artificially some passion that would attach you more firmly to Mother Earth!”
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1
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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2
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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3
paralytic
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| adj. 瘫痪的 n. 瘫痪病人 | |
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4
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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7
distractions
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| n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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10
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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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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12
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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14
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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15
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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17
detriment
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| n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源 | |
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18
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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ecstasies
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| 狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 )； 出神； 入迷； 迷幻药 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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24
credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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27
formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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28
cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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unbearably
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| adv.不能忍受地，无法容忍地；慌 | |
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32
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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33
crunch
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| n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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35
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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rejuvenating
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| 使变得年轻，使恢复活力( rejuvenate的现在分词 ) | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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41
disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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42
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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oases
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲( oasis的名词复数 )；（困苦中）令人快慰的地方（或时刻）；乐土；乐事 | |
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46
liberate
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| v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由 | |
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47
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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48
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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49
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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50
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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51
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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52
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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53
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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54
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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55
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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56
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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57
teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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58
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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59
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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60
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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61
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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62
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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63
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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65
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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66
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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67
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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68
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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69
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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70
beatific
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| adj.快乐的，有福的 | |
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71
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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72
emigrant
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| adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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74
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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75
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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76
unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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77
zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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80
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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81
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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82
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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84
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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85
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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