‘You get out of here, you blackguard, get out, you tramp! I’ve spent on you every penny of the money I’ve earned by sweating blood. You fill your belly8 with the farthings I sweat for my children!’
‘You fill your belly with our farthings,’ squalled the schoolboy Romka, making faces at him from behind his mother’s skirt.
‘You fill your belly!’ Adka and Edka accompanied from a distance.
Arseny the porter, in stony9 silence, pressed9 his chest against the lieutenant. From room No. 9, the valiant10 possessor of a magnificently parted black beard leaned out to his waist in his underclothes, with a round hat for some reason perched on his head, and resolutely11 gave his advice:
‘Arseny, give him one between the eyes.’
Thus the lieutenant was driven to the stairs; but there was a broad window opening on to these very stairs from the corridor. Anna Friedrichovna hung out of it and still went on shouting after the lieutenant:
‘You dirty beast ... you murderer ... scoundrel ... Kiev gutter-sweeping!’
‘Gutter-sweeping!’ ‘Gutter-sweeping!’ the brats12 in the corridor strained their voices, shouting.
‘Don’t come eating here any more! Take your filthy13 things away with you. Take them. Take them!’
The things the lieutenant had left upstairs in his haste descended14 on him: a stick, his paper collar, and his notebook. The lieutenant halted on the bottom stair, raised his head, and brandished15 his fist. His face was pale, a bruise16 showed red beneath his left eye.
‘You just wait, you scum. I tell everything in the proper quarter. Ah! ah.... They’re a lot of pimps, robbing the lodgers17!’
‘You just sling18 your hook while you’ve got a whole skin,’ said Arseny sternly, pressing on the lieutenant from behind and pushing him with his shoulder.
10 ‘Get away, you swine! You’ve not the right to lay a finger on an officer,’ the lieutenant proudly exclaimed. ‘I know about everything! You let people in here without passports! You receive—you receive stolen goods.... You keep a broth——’
At this point Arseny seized the lieutenant adroitly19 from behind. The door slammed with a shattering noise. The two men rolled out into the street together like a ball, and thence came an angry: ‘Brothel!’
This morning, as it had always happened before, Lieutenant Tchijhevich came back penitent20, with a bouquet21 of lilac torn out of somebody’s garden. His face was weary. A dim blue surrounded his hollow eyes. His forehead was yellow, his clothes unbrushed, and there were feathers in his hair. The reconciliation22 goes slowly. Anna Friedrichovna hasn’t yet had her fill of her lover’s submissive look and repentant23 words. Besides, she is a little jealous of the three nights her Valerian has passed, she knows not where.
‘Anna, darling, ... where ...’ the lieutenant began in an extraordinarily24 meek25 and tender falsetto, slightly tremulous even.
‘Wha-at! Who’s Anna darling, I’d like to know,’ the landlady contemptuously cut him short. ‘I’m not Anna darling to any scum of a road sweeper!’
‘But I only wanted to ask what address I was to write for “Praskovia Uvertiesheva, 34 years old,” there’s nothing written down here.’
11 ‘Put her down at the Rag-market, and put yourself there, too. You’re a pretty pair. Or put yourself in a doss-house.’
‘Dirty beast,’ thinks the lieutenant, but he only gives a deep, submissive sigh. ‘You’re very nervous to-day, Anna, darling!’
‘Nervous! Whatever I am, I know I’m an honest, hard-working woman.... Get out of the way, you bastards,’ she shouts at the children, and suddenly, ‘Shlop, shlop’—two well-aimed smacks26 with the spoon come down on Adka’s and Edka’s foreheads. The boys begin to snivel.
‘There’s a curse on my business, and on me,’ the landlady growls28 angrily. ‘When I lived with my husband I never had any sorrows. Now, all the porters are drunkards, and all the maids are thieves. Sh! you cursed brats!... That Proska ... she hasn’t been here two days when she steals the stockings from the girl in No. 12. Other people go off to pubs with other people’s money, and never do a stroke....’
The lieutenant knew perfectly29 who Anna Friedrichovna was speaking about, but he maintained a concentrated silence. The smell of the bigoss inspired him with some faint hopes. Then the door opened and Arseny the porter entered without taking off his hat with the three gold braids. He looks like an Albino eunuch, and his dirty face is pitted. This is at least the fortieth time he has had this place with Anna Friedrichovna. He keeps it until the first fit12 of drinking, when the landlady herself beats him and puts him into the streets, first having taken away the symbol of his authority, his three-braided cap.
Then Arseny puts a white Caucasian fur hat on his head and a dark blue pince-nez on his nose, and swaggers in the public-house opposite until he’s drunk everything on him away, and at the end of his spree he will cry on the bosom30 of the indifferent waiter about his hopeless love for Friedrich and threaten to murder Lieutenant Tchijhevich. When he sobers down he comes to the ‘Serbia’ and falls at his landlady’s feet. And she takes him back again, because the porter who succeeded Arseny had already managed in this short time to steal from her, to get drunk, to make a row and be taken off to the police station.
‘You ... have you come from the steamer?’ Anna Friedrichovna asked.
‘Yes. I’ve brought half a dozen pilgrims. It was a job to get ’em away from Jacob—the “Commercial.” He was just leading them off, when I comes up to him and says, “It’s all the same to me, I says, go wherever you like. But as there are people who don’t know these places, and I’m very sorry for you, I tell you straight you’d better not go with that man. In their hotel last week they put some powder in a pilgrim’s food and robbed him.” So I got them away. Afterwards Jacob shook his fist at me in the distance, and called out: “You just wait, Arseny. I’ll get you. You won’t get away13 from me!” But when that happens, I’ll do it myself....’
‘All right,’ the landlady interrupted. ‘I don’t care twopence about your Jacob. What price did you fix?’
‘Thirty kopeks. I did my best, but I couldn’t make them give more.’
‘You fool. You can’t do anything.... Give them No. 2.’
‘All in the one room?’
‘You fool. Two rooms, each.... Of course, all in one room. Bring three mattresses31 from the old ones, and tell them that they’re not to lie on the sofa. These pilgrims have always got bugs32. Get along!’
When he had gone the lieutenant said in a tender and solicitous33 undertone: ‘Anna, darling, I wonder why you allow him to enter the room in his hat. It is disrespectful to you, both as a lady and proprietress. And then—consider my position. I’m an officer in Reserve, and he is a private. It’s rather awkward.’
But Anna Friedrichovna leapt upon him in fresh exasperation34: ‘Don’t you poke6 your nose in where it’s not wanted. Of-ficer indeed! There are plenty of officers like you spending the night in a shelter. Arseny’s a working man. He earns his bread ... not like.... Get away, you lazy brats, take your hands away!’
‘Ye-es, but give us something to eat,’ roars Adka.
14 ‘Give us something to eat....’
Meanwhile the bigoss is ready. Anna Friedrichovna clatters35 the dishes on the table. The lieutenant keeps his head busily down over the register. He is completely absorbed in his business.
‘Well, sit down,’ the landlady abruptly36 invited him.
‘No thanks, Anna, darling. Eat, yourself. I’m not very keen,’ Tchijhevich said, without turning round, in a stifled37 voice, loudly swallowing.
‘You do what you are told.... He’s giving himself airs, too.... Come on!’
‘Immediately, this very minute. I’ll just finish the last page. “The certificate issued by the Bilden Rural District Council ... of the province ... number 2039....” Ready.’ The lieutenant rose and rubbed his hands. ‘I love working.’
‘H’m. You call that work,’ the landlady snorted in disdain38. ‘Sit down.’
‘Anna, darling, just one ... little....’
‘You can manage without.’
But since peace is already almost restored, Anna Friedrichovna takes a small, fat-bodied cut-glass decanter from the cupboard, out of which the deceased’s father used to drink. Adka spreads his cabbage all over his plate and teases his brother because he has more. Edka is upset and screams:
‘Adka’s got more. You gave him——’
Shlop! Edka gets a sounding smack27 with15 the spoon upon his forehead. Immediately Anna Friedrichovna continues the conversation as if nothing had happened:
‘Tell us another of your lies. I bet you were with some woman.’
‘Anna, darling!’ the lieutenant exclaimed reproachfully. Then he stopped eating and pressed his hands—in one of which was a fork with a piece of sausage—to his chest. ‘I ... oh, how little you know me. I’d rather have my head cut off than let such a thing happen. When I went away that time, I felt so bitter, so hard! I just walked in the street, and you can imagine, I was drowned in tears. My God,’ I thought, ‘and I’ve let myself insult that woman—the one woman whom I love sacredly, madly....’
‘That’s a pretty story,’ put in the landlady, gratified, but still somewhat suspicious.
‘You don’t believe me,’ the lieutenant replied in a quiet, deep, tragic39 voice. ‘Well, I’ve deserved it. Every night I came to your window and prayed for you in my soul.’ The lieutenant instantly tipped the glass into his mouth, took a bite, and went on with his mouth full and his eyes watering:
‘I was thinking that if a fire were to break out suddenly or murderers attack, I would prove to you then.... I’d have given my life joyfully40. Alas41! my life is short without that. My days are numbered....’
Meanwhile the landlady fumbled42 in her purse.
‘Go on!’ she replied, coquettishly. ‘Adka,16 here’s the money. Run to Vasily Vasilich’s and get a bottle of beer. But tell him it’s got to be fresh. Quick!’
Breakfast is finished, the bigoss eaten, and the beer all drunk, when Romka, the depraved member of the preparatory class of the gymnasium, appears covered in chalk and ink. Still standing43 at the door he pouts44 and looks angrily. Then he flings his satchel45 down on the floor and begins to howl:
‘There!... you’ve been and eaten everything without me. I’m as hungry as a do-og.’
‘I’ve got some more. But I shan’t give you any,’ Adka teases him, showing him his plate across the room.
‘There!... it’s a dirty trick,’ Romka drags out the words. ‘Mother, tell Adka——’
‘Be quiet!’ Anna Friedrichovna cries in a piercing voice. ‘Dawdle till it’s dark, why don’t you? Take twopence. Buy yourself some sausage. That’ll do for you.’
‘Ye-es, twopence! You and Valerian Ivanich eat bigoss, and you make me go to school. I’m just like a do-o-o-g.’
‘Get out!’ Anna Friedrichovna shouts in a terrible voice, and Romka precipitately46 disappears. Still he managed to pick his satchel up from the floor. A thought had suddenly come into his head. He would go and sell his books in the Rag-market. In the doorway47 he ran into his elder sister Alychka, and seized the opportunity to pinch her arm very hard. Alychka entered grumbling48 aloud:
17 ‘Mamma! tell Romka not to pinch.’
She is a handsome girl of thirteen, beginning to develop early, a swarthy, olive brunette, with beautiful dark eyes, which are not at all childish. Her lips are red, full and shining, and on her upper lip, which is lightly covered with a fine black down, there are two delightful49 moles50. She is a general favourite in the house. The men give her chocolates, often invite her into their rooms, kiss her and say impudent51 things to her. She knows as much as any grown-up, but in these cases she never blushes, but just casts down her long black eyelashes which throw a blue shade on her amber52 cheeks, and smiles with a strange, modest, tender yet voluptuous53, and somehow expectant smile. Her best friend is the woman Eugenia who lives in No. 12—a quiet girl, punctual in paying for her room, a stout54 blonde, who is kept by a timber merchant, but on her free days invites her cavaliers from the street. Anna Friedrichovna holds her in high esteem55, and says of her: ‘Well, what does it matter if Eugenia is not quite respectable, she’s an independent woman anyhow.’
Seeing that breakfast is over Alychka gives one of her constrained56 smiles and says aloud in her thin voice, rather theatrically57: ‘Ah! you’ve finished already. I’m too late. Mamma! may I go to Eugenia Nicolaievna?’
‘Go wherever you like!’
‘Merci!’
She goes away. After breakfast complete18 peace reigns58. The lieutenant whispers the most ardent59 words into the widow’s ear, and presses her generous knee under the table. Flushing with the food and beer, she presses her shoulder close to him, then pushes him away and sighs with nervous laughter.
‘Yes, Valerian. You’re shameless. The children!’
Adka and Edka look at them, with their fingers in their mouths and their eyes wide open. Their mother suddenly springs upon them.
‘Go for a run, you ruffians. Sitting there like dummies60 in a museum. Quick march!’
‘But I don’t want to,’ roars Adka.
‘I don’ wan’——’
‘I’ll teach you “Don’t want to.” A half-penny for candy, and out you go.’
She locks the door after them, sits on the lieutenant’s knee, and they begin to kiss.
‘You’re not cross, my treasure?’ the lieutenant whispers in her ear.
But there is a knock at the door. They have to open. The new chambermaid enters, a tall, gloomy woman with one eye, and says hoarsely61, with a ferocious62 look:
‘No. 12 wants a samovar, some tea, and some sugar.’
Anna Friedrichovna impatiently gives out what is wanted. The lieutenant says languidly, stretched on the sofa:
‘I would like to rest a bit, Anna, dear. Isn’t there a room empty? People are always knocking about here.’
There is only one room empty, No. 5, and19 there they go. Their room is long, narrow, and dark, like a skittle-alley, with one window. A bed, a chest of drawers, a blistered63 brown washstand, and a commode are all its furniture. The landlady and the lieutenant once more begin to kiss; and they moan like doves on the roof in springtime.
‘Anna, darling, if you love me, send for a packet of ten “Cigarettes Plaisir,” six kopeks,’ says the lieutenant coaxingly64, while he undresses.
‘Later——’
* * * * *
The spring evening darkens quickly, and it is already night. Through the window comes the whistling of the steamers on the Dnieper, and with it creeps a faint smell of hay, dust, lilac and warm stone. The water falls into the washstand, dripping regularly. There is another knock.
‘Who’s there? What the devil are you prowling about for?’ cries Anna Friedrichovna awakened65. She jumps barefoot from the bed and angrily opens the door. ‘Well, what do you want?’
Lieutenant Tchijhevich modestly pulls the blanket over his head.
‘A student wants a room,’ Arseny says behind the door in a stage whisper.
‘What student? Tell him there’s only one room, and that’s two roubles. Is he alone, or with a woman?’
‘Alone.’
20 ‘Tell him then: passport and money in advance. I know these students.’
The lieutenant dressed hurriedly. From habit he takes ten seconds over his toilette. Anna Friedrichovna tidies the bed quickly and cleverly. Arseny returns.
‘He’s paid in advance,’ he said gloomily. ‘And here’s the passport.’
The landlady went out into the corridor. Her hair was dishevelled and a fringe was sticking to her forehead. The folds of the pillow were imprinted66 on her crimson67 cheeks. Her eyes were unnaturally68 brilliant. The lieutenant, under cover of her back, slipped into the landlady’s room as noiseless as a shadow.
The student was waiting by the window on the stairs. He was already no longer a young man. He was thin and fair-haired, and his face was long and pale, tender and sickly. His good-natured, short-sighted blue eyes, with the faintest shade of a squint69, look out as through a mist. He bowed politely to the landlady, at which she smiled in confusion and fastened the top hook of her blouse.
‘I should like a room,’ he said softly, as if his courage was ebbing70. ‘I have to go on from here. But I should be obliged for a candle and pen and ink.’
He was shown the skittle-alley.
‘Excellent,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t want anything better. It’s wonderful here. Just let me have a pen and ink, please.’ He did not require tea or bed-linen.
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1
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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6
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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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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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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brats
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| n.调皮捣蛋的孩子( brat的名词复数 ) | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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16
bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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17
lodgers
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| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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19
adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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smacks
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| 掌掴（声）( smack的名词复数 )； 海洛因； （打的）一拳； 打巴掌 | |
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smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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28
growls
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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mattresses
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| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
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bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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clatters
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| 盘碟刀叉等相撞击时的声音( clatter的名词复数 ) | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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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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44
pouts
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| n.撅嘴，生气( pout的名词复数 )v.撅（嘴）( pout的第三人称单数 ) | |
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satchel
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| n.(皮或帆布的)书包 | |
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precipitately
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| adv.猛进地 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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57
theatrically
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| adv.戏剧化地 | |
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58
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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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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dummies
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| n.仿制品( dummy的名词复数 )；橡皮奶头；笨蛋；假传球 | |
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61
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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62
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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63
blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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64
coaxingly
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| adv. 以巧言诱哄，以甘言哄骗 | |
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65
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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66
imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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67
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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68
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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69
squint
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| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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70
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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