During my imprisonment2 in the Petersburg House of Detention3 my spirits were altogether more cheerful than they had been since my first arrest. At Freiburg I had been in a chronic4 state of excitement and unrest, longing5 for the freedom that seemed so near. In the Fortress6 of Peter and Paul I had been downcast and despairing. Now I had reached a condition of equanimity7 and indifference8.
“Hard labour in the Siberian mines,” I thought to myself. “What does it matter whether it be for ten years or fifteen? It is much the same to me.” My future was done for, my life gone. It is hard for a man to reconcile himself to such a thought, particularly when he feels physically9 sound and healthy, but one does somehow get accustomed to it. At times there will arise sudden hopes, dreams of unexpected luck, of happiness in a distant future; and then wild visions chase one another in dazzling pictures through one’s brain. But I had lived through too many bitter self-deceptions of the kind when I was at Freiburg; and I was only annoyed with myself when I found my fancy dallying10 with them, and tried to extinguish them at once. “Nonsense!” I cried to myself; “if anything, the only unexpected turn Fate will do you will be some bad trick.” And I steadfastly11 made up my mind to the worst.
68Weeks had gone by since my change of prisons, and during that time I had not been once up for examination. I did not know in the least how my affair was going. “Perhaps in ‘high circles’ they’ve taken a new departure, and invented some other means of treating me as a political criminal. Why am I not brought before the court? Why do they not send me to Odessa? Something must be happening.” I had begun to fidget in this way occasionally, when one July morning, as I came back from my walk feeling rather cheerful, the warder said to me, “Make yourself ready; they have come to fetch you!” A hired droschky awaited me at the door, and I and a gendarme1 got into it. From him I could learn nothing as to our destination, and although this uncertainty12 did not last long, it made me feel uncomfortably nervous. After about half an hour the carriage stopped in the courtyard of a large building. I was taken into a small cell with a tiny window, whose panes13 were of thick ribbed glass. As I was pacing up and down here I noticed an officer at the peephole in the door observing me closely.
“May I come in?” he asked, hesitatingly opening the peephole window.
“A strange question! I am at your disposal, not you at mine,” said I. The door opened, and smiling apologetically, a young man in the uniform of a colonel of gendarmerie stepped in.
“Allow me to introduce myself”—he bowed and clicked his spurs together—“Colonel Ivànov.”
“I do not understand,” said I. “Will you please tell me where I am, and why I have been brought here?”
“This is the office of the gendarmerie headquarters; you have been brought here for examination, and will soon be taken before the Public Prosecutor14. I only wanted to have a chat with you, and revive some old memories. We have many common acquaintances.”
“But how do you know me?” I asked, surprised.
“Oh, excuse me,” he cried, smiling, “there is hardly 69an intelligent person in all Russia who does not know you by name.”
The young gentleman appeared to class himself among the “intellectuals”—that set in Russian Society which just at this time was protesting against the reactionary15 tendency and making its influence felt in some of the best Russian journals. In the language of that section of the Press it was customary to designate the revolutionists by the harmless title of “intellectuals.”
“Oh, we have many common acquaintances,” the colonel resumed. “I knew all your comrades—Malinka, Drebyàsghin, Maidànsky. I was formerly16 adjutant of gendarmerie at Odessa, and made acquaintance with them there. They were really delightful17 people.”
Now I understood why this man was a colonel already, notwithstanding his youth. The big political cases during the end of the seventies and beginning of the eighties had given many officers of gendarmerie and of the law grand opportunities for self-advancement. The lives and freedom of the “politicals” were the merchandise by which they founded their fortunes. This gentleman had no doubt played no insignificant18 part in condemning19 to penal20 servitude or to death those comrades of mine on whom he was now lavishing21 his compliments. Perhaps he had been the originator of the happy thought by which the traitor22 Kùritzin was induced to sacrifice so many victims.[30]
My interview with this engaging young man was not exactly to my mind, and I was glad to be called away. I was taken to a comfortably furnished apartment, where Kotliarèvsky was seated in an armchair before a large table, looking over some papers.
70“I have some documents here that concern you,” he said, and began to read aloud:—
“In the beginning of August, 1878, the widow of the murdered Baron23 Gèhkin, adjutant in the gendarmerie, observed in the neighbourhood of General Mèzentzev’s house two young men who were apparently24 watching for the General.” The document went on to state that the Baroness25 had recognised one of these young men to be myself; and on the following day she had seen them again on the watch, her cousin Baron Berg being with her at the time. Then followed a paper in which Baron Berg corroborated26 the lady’s evidence. There was a time, 1878-9, when a good many people delighted in romancing about me, and persisted in ascribing to me a prominent r?le in events taking place in the most widely separated parts of Russia. These imaginings even found their way into the press, and I was often surprised to read in the papers accounts of my varied27 exploits; I seemed to be a perfect Stenka Rasìn![31]
I remember, for example, that on May 25th, 1878, when I was still in prison at Ki?v, a rich lady of that place was murdered, evidently by thieves. Baron Gèhkin was shot on the following night, May 26th; and on the night after that, May 27th, I and two comrades escaped from prison. I soon saw in the newspapers that, according to the opinion of many astute28 persons, the author of both these murders could be none other than myself!
The evidence as to my being concerned in the death of General Mèzentzev was in the same way complete nonsense. When Kotliarèvsky had read me the documents, he asked me what I had to say about them.
“It appears that the Government has not given up the attempt to implicate29 me in affairs not specified30 in the extradition31 treaty,” I said; “I shall therefore refuse to answer questions relating to any outside matter.”
71“Well, if you refuse to give evidence, we will leave it alone,” said Kotliarèvsky, with perfect composure, and he clapped the papers together again. “Besides, I may as well tell you that I attach no importance to the testimony32 of these good people. So far as I can make out, you had already gone abroad when Mèzentzev was murdered?”
I assented33. He seemed, nevertheless, to want to draw me out on this subject; but as I did not assist his endeavours in that direction he began to chat about indifferent matters, asking me questions as to our Socialist34 propaganda and our views. When, however, I quoted from some of our writings, he confessed that they were quite unknown to him.
While we were talking, Bogdanòvitch came in from a neighbouring room. My readers will remember him as the gentleman who had been by way of identifying me at Freiburg. He greeted me, and sat down at the table. We met without any sign of ill-feeling or recollection of the sharp passage-at-arms we had had together.
“I wish you would tell me,” I said to him, “as it is now a thing of the past, when did you see me in Ki?v? I have no remembrance of you.”
He replied, laughing, that he had seen me once in prison; but I saw at once that he was bluffing35. Evidently he had recognised me at Freiburg merely from Kotliarèvsky’s description. I was curious to know when exactly the Baden authorities had found out with whom they were dealing36; and when I asked him this, Bogdanòvitch replied, “They knew some weeks before the extradition that you could not be Bulìgin, and then you were put under stricter supervision37, with a guard before the prison. About ten days before my arrival they were informed that you were Deutsch.”[32]
72It was now clear to me why I had been moved into a different cell, and also why Herr von Berg had forbidden me to speak Russian with my visitors.
As I was going away, to be taken back to the House of Detention, I asked Kotliarèvsky whether I should soon be brought before a fully38 qualified39 tribunal. He could give me no decided40 answer, and himself seemed surprised at my being kept in Petersburg so long.
This was the last time I saw Kotliarèvsky. I learned afterwards in Siberia, from comrades arriving there, that though he had dealt fairly by me, his conduct of some political trials had been considered altogether too mean; it not only drew down on him the bitter hatred41 of the accused, but was too much even for his superiors, and he was withdrawn42 from the cases. About three years ago he was President of the Courts at Vilna; where he is now (1902) I do not know.
This interview convinced me still further that the Government would not be content to restrict themselves to prosecuting43 me in the Gorinòvitch case. Every morning I awoke wondering what would happen next; but day after day went by without anything fresh. July came, then August, and I was still waiting in my cell. One day towards the end of August gendarmes44 again came for me, and I was ordered to prepare for a journey; it had at last been decided to send me to Odessa. While the carriage conveyed me through the streets I sadly took leave of my beloved Petersburg, which I could never hope to see again.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
gendarme
|
|
| n.宪兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
imprisonment
|
|
| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
detention
|
|
| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
chronic
|
|
| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
fortress
|
|
| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
equanimity
|
|
| n.沉着，镇定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
dallying
|
|
| v.随随便便地对待( dally的现在分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
steadfastly
|
|
| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
uncertainty
|
|
| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
panes
|
|
| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
prosecutor
|
|
| n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
reactionary
|
|
| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
condemning
|
|
| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
penal
|
|
| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
lavishing
|
|
| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
traitor
|
|
| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
baron
|
|
| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
baroness
|
|
| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
corroborated
|
|
| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
astute
|
|
| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
implicate
|
|
| vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
specified
|
|
| adj.特定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
extradition
|
|
| n.引渡（逃犯） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
socialist
|
|
| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
bluffing
|
|
| n. 威吓，唬人 动词bluff的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
qualified
|
|
| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
prosecuting
|
|
| 检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
gendarmes
|
|
| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |