In silence, only rarely exchanging a few words, our friends traveled as far as Fedot’s.
Bazarov was not altogether pleased with himself, and Arkady was displeased1 with him. He also felt gripped by that melancholy2 without a cause, which only very young people experience. The coachman changed the horses and getting up on to the box, inquired: “To the right or to the left?”
Arkady shuddered3. The road to the right led to the town, and from there home; the road to the left led to Madame Odintsov’s place. He looked at Bazarov. “Evgeny,” he asked, “to the left?”
Bazarov turned away.
“What folly4 is this?” he muttered.
“I know it is folly,” answered Arkady. “But what harm does it do? It’s not for the first time.”
Bazarov pulled his cap down over his forehead. “As you like,” he said at last.
“Turn to the left,” shouted Arkady.
The tarantass rolled off in the direction of Nikolskoe. But having decided5 on committing the folly, the friends maintained an even more obstinate6 silence than before, and seemed positively7 bad tempered.
Already, by the manner in which the butler met them in the porch of Madame Odintsov’s house, the friends could guess that they had acted injudiciously in giving way so suddenly to a passing caprice. They were obviously not expected. They sat for quite a long time in the drawing room with rather stupid faces. At length Madame Odintsov came in to them. She greeted them with her usual politeness, but showed surprise at their rapid return, and judging by the, deliberation of her gestures and words, she was not over pleased about it. They hastened to explain that they had only called there on their way, and within four hours must continue their journey to the town. She confined herself to a mild exclamation8, asked Arkady to convey her greetings to his father, and sent for her aunt. The princess appeared, looking half asleep, which gave her wrinkled old face an even more hostile expression. Katya was unwell and did not leave her room. Arkady suddenly realized that he was at least as anxious to see Katya as to see Anna Sergeyevna herself. The four hours passed in small talk about one thing or another; Anna Sergeyevna both listened and talked without smiling. It was only when they were already saying good-by that her former friendliness9 seemed somehow to light up again in her.
“I have an attack of spleen just now,” she said, “but don’t pay any attention to that, and come here again — I say that to both of you — before long.”
Both Bazarov and Arkady responded with a silent bow, took their seats in the carriage, and without stopping again anywhere, drove straight home to Maryino, where they arrived safely on the evening of the following day. During the whole journey neither of them so much as mentioned the name of Madame Odintsov; Bazarov, in particular, hardly opened his mouth, and kept staring sideways at the road with a kind of embittered10 concentration.
At Maryino everyone was overjoyed to see them. The prolonged absence of his son had begun to make Nikolai Petrovich uneasy; he uttered a joyful11 exclamation and bounced up and down on the sofa, dangling12 his legs, when Fenichka ran in to him with sparkling eyes and announced the arrival of the “young gentlemen”; even Pavel Petrovich felt to some degree pleasantly excited, and smiled indulgently as he shook hands with the returned wanderers. Talk and questions followed quickly; Arkady talked most, especially at supper, which lasted till long after midnight. Nikolai Petrovich ordered up some bottles of porter which had just been brought from Moscow, and he himself made merry till his cheeks turned purple, laughing repeatedly with a rather childlike but nervous laughter. Even the servants were affected13 by the general gaiety. Dunyasha ran up and down like one possessed14, slamming doors from time to time; while Pyotr at three o’clock in the morning was still trying to play a Cossack waltz on the guitar. The strings15 emitted their sweet and plaintive16 sounds in the motionless air, but except for some short preliminary flourishes the cultured valet’s efforts failed to produce any tune17; nature had granted him no more talent for music than it had for anything else.
But meanwhile things had not been going too well at Maryino, and poor Nikolai Petrovich was having a hard time. Every day difficulties arose on the farm — senseless, distressing18 difficulties. The troubles with the hired laborers19 had become intolerable. Some gave notice or asked for higher wages, while others walked off with wages they had received in advance; the horses fell sick; the harness was damaged as though it had been burnt; the work was carelessly done; a threshing machine ordered from Moscow turned out to be unusable because it was too heavy; another winnowing20 machine was ruined the very first time it was used; half the cattle sheds were burned down because a blind old woman on the farm went with a blazing firebrand in windy weather to fumigate21 her cow . . . of course, the old woman maintained that the whole mishap22 was due to the master’s plan of introducing new-fangled cheeses and dairy products. The bailiff suddenly turned lazy and began to grow fat as every Russian grows fat when he gets an easy living. When he caught sight of Nikolai Petrovich in the distance, he would try to demonstrate his zeal23 by throwing a stick at a passing pig, or by threatening some half-naked ragamuffin, but for the rest of the time he was generally asleep. The peasants who had been put on the rent system did not pay in time and stole wood from the forest; almost every night the watchmen caught peasants’ horses in the farm meadows and sometimes removed them after a scrimmage. Nikolai Petrovich would fix a money fine for damages, but the matter usually ended by the horses being returned to their owners after they had been kept for a day or two on the master’s forage24. On top of all this the peasants began to quarrel among themselves; brothers asked for their property to be divided, their wives could not get on together in one house; suddenly a quarrel would flare25 up, they would all rise to their feet, as though at a given signal, would run to the porch of the estate office, and crawl in front of the master, often in a drunken state with battered26 faces, demanding justice and retribution; an uproar27 and clamor would ensue, the shrill28 screams of the women mingling30 with the curses of the men. The contending parties had to be examined, and one had to shout oneself hoarse31, knowing in advance that it was in any case quite impossible to reach a just settlement. There were not enough hands for the harvest; a neighboring yeoman, in the most benevolent32 manner, contracted to supply him with reapers33 for a commission of two rubles per acre — and cheated him in the most shameless way; his peasant women demanded exorbitant34 prices, and meanwhile the corn got spoiled; the harvest was not in the common ownership, but at the same time the Council of Guardians35 issued threats and demanded immediate36 and full payment of interest due . . .
“It’s beyond my power!” exclaimed Nikolai Petrovich several times in despair. “I can’t flog them myself; to send for the police — is against my principles, but without the fear of punishment you can do absolutely nothing with them!”
“Du calme, du calme,” Pavel Petrovich would remark on these occasions, but he hummed to himself, frowned and twisted his mustache.
Bazarov held himself aloof37 from all the “squabbles,” and indeed as a guest it was not incumbent38 on him to meddle39 in other people’s affairs. On the day after his arrival in Maryino he set to work on his frogs, his infusoria, and his chemical experiments, and spent all his time over them. Arkady, on the contrary, considered it his duty, if not to help his father, at least to create an impression of being ready to help him. He listened to him patiently and sometimes gave his advice, not that he expected it to be acted upon, but in order to show his concern. The details of agricultural management were not repugnant to him; he even indulged in pleasant dreams about agricultural work, but at this time his mind was preoccupied40 with other ideas. To his own surprise Arkady found he was thinking incessantly41 of Nikolskoe; formerly42 he would have just shrugged43 his shoulders if anyone had told him he could feel bored under the same roof as Bazarov — particularly in his own home — but now he was bored and longed to get away. He tried walking till he was tired out, but that did not help either. One day when talking to his father, he found out that Nikolai Petrovich possessed a number of quite interesting letters, written to his wife by Madame Odintsov’s mother, and Arkady gave him no peace until he had taken out the letters, for which Nikolai Petrovich was obliged to rummage44 in twenty different drawers and boxes. Having gained possession of these crumbling45 papers, Arkady somehow calmed down as if he had secured a clearer vision of the goal towards which he ought now to move. “‘I say that to both of you,’” he kept on repeating to himself, “those were the words she added. I shall go there, I shall go, hang it all!” Then he recalled his last visit, the cold reception and his previous embarrassment46, and shyness overwhelmed him. But the adventurous47 daring of youth, the secret desire to try his luck, to test his powers independently without anyone else’s protection — prevailed at last. Before ten days had passed after his return to Maryino, on the pretext48 of going to study the organization of Sunday schools, he galloped49 off again to the town, and from there on to Nikolskoe.
Uninterruptedly urging the driver forward, he dashed on like a young officer riding into battle; he felt at once frightened and lighthearted and breathless with impatience50. “The main thing is — I mustn’t think,” he kept on saying to himself. His driver happened to be a high-spirited fellow, who stopped in front of every inn and exclaimed, “A drink?” or “What about a drink?” but, to make up for that, after the drink he did not spare his horses. At length there came into sight the high roof of the familiar house . . . “What shall I do?” suddenly flashed through Arkady’s mind. “Anyhow, I can’t turn back now!” The three horses sped gaily51 on; the driver yelled and whistled at them. Already the little bridge was echoing under the wheels and the horses’ hoofs52, and the avenue of lopped pines was drawing nearer . . . he caught a glimpse of a woman’s pink dress moving among the dark green trees, and a young face peeped out from under the light fringe of a parasol . . . he recognized Katya, and she recognized him. Arkady ordered the driver to stop the galloping53 horses, jumped out of the carriage and went up to her.
“It’s you!” she murmured and slowly blushed all over; “let us go to my sister, she’s here in the garden; she will be pleased to see you.”
Katya led Arkady into the garden. His meeting with her struck him as a particularly happy omen29; he was delighted to see her, as though she were someone close to his heart. Everything had happened so agreeably; no butler, no formal announcement. At a turn in the path he caught sight of Anna Sergeyevna. She was standing54 with her back to him; hearing his footsteps, she gently turned round.
Arkady would have felt embarrassed again, but the first words which she uttered immediately set him at ease. “Welcome, you runaway55!” she said in her smooth caressing56 voice, and came forward to meet him, smiling and screwing up her eyes from the sun and breeze. “Where did you find him, Katya?”
“I have brought you something, Anna Sergeyevna,” he began, “which you certainly don’t expect . . .”
“You have brought yourself; that’s better than anything else.”
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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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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strings
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| n.弦 | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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winnowing
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| v.扬( winnow的现在分词 )；辨别；选择；除去 | |
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fumigate
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| v.烟熏；用香薰 | |
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mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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exorbitant
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| adj.过分的；过度的 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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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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meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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rummage
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| v./n.翻寻，仔细检查 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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50
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53
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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54
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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runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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