The Second Marriage and the Second Family
VERY shortly after getting his four-year-old Mitya off his hands Fyodor Pavlovitch married a second time. His second marriage lasted eight years. He took this second wife, Sofya Ivanovna, also a very young girl, from another province, where he had gone upon some small piece of business in company with a Jew. Though Fyodor Pavlovitch was a drunkard and a vicious debauchee he never neglected investing his capital, and managed his business affairs very successfully, though, no doubt, not over-scrupulously. Sofya Ivanovna was the daughter of an obscure deacon, and was left from childhood an orphan2 without relations. She grew up in the house of a general’s widow, a wealthy old lady of good position, who was at once her benefactress and tormentor3. I do not know the details, but I have only heard that the orphan girl, a meek4 and gentle creature, was once cut down from a halter in which she was hanging from a nail in the loft5, so terrible were her sufferings from the caprice and everlasting6 nagging7 of this old woman, who was apparently8 not bad-hearted but had become an insufferable tyrant9 through idleness.
Fyodor Pavlovitch made her an offer; inquiries10 were made about him and he was refused. But again, as in his first marriage, he proposed an elopement to the orphan girl. There is very little doubt that she would not on any account have married him if she had known a little more about him in time. But she lived in another province; besides, what could a little girl of sixteen know about it, except that she would be better at the bottom of the river than remaining with her benefactress. So the poor child exchanged a benefactress for a benefactor11. Fyodor Pavlovitch did not get a penny this time, for the general’s widow was furious. She gave them nothing and cursed them both. But he had not reckoned on a dowry; what allured12 him was the remarkable13 beauty of the innocent girl, above all her innocent appearance, which had a peculiar14 attraction for a vicious profligate15, who had hitherto admired only the coarser types of feminine beauty.
“Those innocent eyes slit16 my soul up like a razor,” he used to say afterwards, with his loathsome17 snigger. In a man so depraved this might, of course, mean no more than sensual attraction. As he had received no dowry with his wife, and had, so to speak, taken her “from the halter,” he did not stand on ceremony with her. Making her feel that she had “wronged” him, he took advantage of her phenomenal meekness18 and submissiveness to trample19 on the elementary decencies of marriage. He gathered loose women into his house, and carried on orgies of debauchery in his wife’s presence. To show what a pass things had come to, I may mention that Grigory, the gloomy, stupid, obstinate20, argumentative servant, who had always hated his first mistress, Adelaida Ivanovna, took the side of his new mistress. He championed her cause, abusing Fyodor Pavlovitch in a manner little befitting a servant, and on one occasion broke up the revels21 and drove all the disorderly women out of the house. In the end this unhappy young woman, kept in terror from her childhood, fell into that kind of nervous disease which is most frequently found in peasant women who are said to be “possessed by devils.” At times after terrible fits of hysterics she even lost her reason. Yet she bore Fyodor Pavlovitch two sons, Ivan and Alexey, the eldest22 in the first year of marriage and the second three years later. When she died, little Alexey was in his fourth year, and, strange as it seems, I know that he remembered his mother all his life, like a dream, of course. At her death almost exactly the same thing happened to the two little boys as to their elder brother, Mitya. They were completely forgotten and abandoned by their father. They were looked after by the same Grigory and lived in his cottage, where they were found by the tyrannical old lady who had brought up their mother. She was still alive, and had not, all those eight years, forgotten the insult done her. All that time she was obtaining exact information as to her Sofya’s manner of life, and hearing of her illness and hideous23 surroundings she declared aloud two or three times to her retainers:
“It serves her right. God has punished her for her ingratitude24.”
Exactly three months after Sofya Ivanovna’s death the general’s widow suddenly appeared in our town, and went straight to Fyodor Pavlovitch’s house. She spent only half an hour in the town but she did a great deal. It was evening. Fyodor Pavlovitch, whom she had not seen for those eight years, came in to her drunk. The story is that instantly upon seeing him, without any sort of explanation, she gave him two good, resounding25 slaps on the face, seized him by a tuft of hair, and shook him three times up and down. Then, without a word, she went straight to the cottage to the two boys. Seeing, at the first glance, that they were unwashed and in dirty linen26, she promptly27 gave Grigory, too, a box on the ear, and announcing that she would carry off both the children she wrapped them just as they were in a rug, put them in the carriage, and drove off to her own town. Grigory accepted the blow like a devoted28 slave, without a word, and when he escorted the old lady to her carriage he made her a low bow and pronounced impressively that, “God would repay her for orphans29.” “You are a blockhead all the same,” the old lady shouted to him as she drove away.
Fyodor Pavlovitch, thinking it over, decided30 that it was a good thing, and did not refuse the general’s widow his formal consent to any proposition in regard to his children’s education. As for the slaps she had given him, he drove all over the town telling the story.
It happened that the old lady died soon after this, but she left the boys in her will a thousand roubles each “for their instruction, and so that all be spent on them exclusively, with the condition that it be so portioned out as to last till they are twenty-one, for it is more than adequate provision for such children. If other people think fit to throw away their money, let them.” I have not read the will myself, but I heard there was something queer of the sort, very whimsically expressed. The principal heir, Yefim Petrovitch Polenov, the Marshal of Nobility of the province, turned out, however, to be an honest man. Writing to Fyodor Pavlovitch, and discerning at once that he could extract nothing from him for his children’s education (though the latter never directly refused but only procrastinated31 as he always did in such cases, and was, indeed, at times effusively32 sentimental), Yefim Petrovitch took a personal interest in the orphans. He became especially fond of the younger, Alexey, who lived for a long while as one of his family. I beg the reader to note this from the beginning. And to Yefim Petrovitch, a man of a generosity33 and humanity rarely to be met with, the young people were more indebted for their education and bringing up than to anyone. He kept the two thousand roubles left to them by the general’s widow intact, so that by the time they came of age their portions had been doubled by the accumulation of interest. He educated them both at his own expense, and certainly spent far more than a thousand roubles upon each of them. I won’t enter into a detailed34 account of their boyhood and youth, but will only mention a few of the most important events. Of the elder, Ivan, I will only say that he grew into a somewhat morose35 and reserved, though far from timid boy. At ten years old he had realised that they were living not in their own home but on other people’s charity, and that their father was a man of whom it was disgraceful to speak. This boy began very early, almost in his infancy36 (so they say at least), to show a brilliant and unusual aptitude37 for learning. I don’t know precisely38 why, but he left the family of Yefim Petrovitch when he was hardly thirteen, entering a Moscow gymnasium and boarding with an experienced and celebrated39 teacher, an old friend of Yefim Petrovitch. Ivan used to declare afterwards that this was all due to the “ardour for good works” of Yefim Petrovitch, who was captivated by the idea that the boy’s genius should be trained by a teacher of genius. But neither Yefim Petrovitch nor this teacher was living when the young man finished at the gymnasium and entered the university. As Yefim Petrovitch had made no provision for the payment of the tyrannical old lady’s legacy40, which had grown from one thousand to two, it was delayed, owing to formalities inevitable41 in Russia, and the young man was in great straits for the first two years at the university, as he was forced to keep himself all the time he was studying. It must be noted42 that he did not even attempt to communicate with his father, perhaps from pride, from contempt for him, or perhaps from his cool common sense, which told him that from such a father he would get no real assistance. However that may have been, the young man was by no means despondent43 and succeeded in getting work, at first giving sixpenny lessons and afterwards getting paragraphs on street incidents into the newspapers under the signature of “Eye-Witness.” These paragraphs, it was said, were so interesting and piquant44 that they were soon taken. This alone showed the young man’s practical and intellectual superiority over the masses of needy45 and unfortunate students of both sexes who hang about the offices of the newspapers and journals, unable to think of anything better than everlasting entreaties46 for copying and translations from the French. Having once got into touch with the editors Ivan Fyodorovitch always kept up his connection with them, and in his latter years at the university he published brilliant reviews of books upon various special subjects, so that he became well known in literary circles. But only in his last year he suddenly succeeded in attracting the attention of a far wider circle of readers, so that a great many people noticed and remembered him. It was rather a curious incident. When he had just left the university and was preparing to go abroad upon his two thousand roubles, Ivan Fyodorovitch published in one of the more important journals a strange article, which attracted general notice, on a subject of which he might have been supposed to know nothing, as he was a student of natural science. The article dealt with a subject which was being debated everywhere at the time — the position of the ecclesiastical courts. After discussing several opinions on the subject he went on to explain his own view. What was most striking about the article was its tone, and its unexpected conclusion. Many of the Church party regarded him unquestioningly as on their side. And yet not only the secularists but even atheists joined them in their applause. Finally some sagacious persons opined that the article was nothing but an impudent47 satirical burlesque48. I mention this incident particularly because this article penetrated49 into the famous monastery50 in our neighbourhood, where the inmates51, being particularly interested in question of the ecclesiastical courts, were completely bewildered by it. Learning the author’s name, they were interested in his being a native of the town and the son of “that Fyodor Pavlovitch.” And just then it was that the author himself made his appearance among us.
Why Ivan Fyodorovitch had come amongst us I remember asking myself at the time with a certain uneasiness. This fateful visit, which was the first step leading to so many consequences, I never fully1 explained to myself. It seemed strange on the face of it that a young man so learned, so proud, and apparently so cautious, should suddenly visit such an infamous52 house and a father who had ignored him all his life, hardly knew him, never thought of him, and would not under any circumstances have given him money, though he was always afraid that his sons Ivan and Alexey would also come to ask him for it. And here the young man was staying in the house of such a father, had been living with him for two months, and they were on the best possible terms. This last fact was a special cause of wonder to many others as well as to me. Pyotr Alexandrovitch Miusov, of whom we have spoken already, the cousin of Fyodor Pavlovitch’s first wife, happened to be in the neighbourhood again on a visit to his estate. He had come from Paris, which was his permanent home. I remember that he was more surprised than anyone when he made the acquaintance of the young man, who interested him extremely, and with whom he sometimes argued and not without inner pang53 compared himself in acquirements.
“He is proud,” he used to say, “he will never be in want of pence; he has got money enough to go abroad now. What does he want here? Everyone can see that he hasn’t come for money, for his father would never give him any. He has no taste for drink and dissipation, and yet his father can’t do without him. They get on so well together!”
That was the truth; the young man had an unmistakable influence over his father, who positively54 appeared to be behaving more decently and even seemed at times ready to obey his son, though often extremely and even spitefully perverse55.
It was only later that we learned that Ivan had come partly at the request of, and in the interests of, his elder brother, Dmitri, whom he saw for the first time on this very visit, though he had before leaving Moscow been in correspondence with him about an important matter of more concern to Dmitri than himself. What that business was the reader will learn fully in due time. Yet even when I did know of this special circumstance I still felt Ivan Fyodorovitch to be an enigmatic figure, and thought his visit rather mysterious.
I may add that Ivan appeared at the time in the light of a mediator56 between his father and his elder brother Dmitri, who was in open quarrel with his father and even planning to bring an action against him.
The family, I repeat, was now united for the first time, and some of its members met for the first time in their lives. The younger brother, Alexey, had been a year already among us, having been the first of the three to arrive. It is of that brother Alexey I find it most difficult to speak in this introduction. Yet I must give some preliminary account of him, if only to explain one queer fact, which is that I have to introduce my hero to the reader wearing the cassock of a novice57. Yes, he had been for the last year in our monastery, and seemed willing to be cloistered58 there for the rest of his life.
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fully
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orphan
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tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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meek
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loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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nagging
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| adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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allured
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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profligate
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slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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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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revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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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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procrastinated
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| 拖延，耽搁( procrastinate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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effusively
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| adv.变溢地，热情洋溢地 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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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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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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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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burlesque
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| v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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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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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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mediator
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| n.调解人，中介人 | |
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novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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cloistered
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| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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