The small manor-house to which Lavretsky had come and in which two years before Glafira Petrovna had breathed her last, had been built in the preceding century of solid pine-wood; it looked ancient, but it was still strong enough to stand another fifty years or more. Lavretsky made the tour of all the rooms, and to the great discomfiture1 of the aged2 languid flies, settled under the lintels and covered with white dust, he ordered the windows to be opened everywhere; they had not been opened ever since the death of Glafira Petrovna. Everything in the house had remained as it was; the thin-legged white miniature couches in the drawing-room, covered with glossy3 grey stuff, threadbare and rickety, vividly4 suggested the days of Catherine; in the drawing-room, too, stood the mistress’s favourite arm-chair, with high straight back, against which she never leaned even in her old age. On the principal wall hung a very old portrait of Fedor’s great-grandfather, Andrey Lavretsky; the! dark yellow face was scarcely distinguishable from the warped5 and blackened background; the small cruel eyes looked grimly out from beneath the eyelids6, which dropped as if they were swollen7; his black unpowdered hair rose bristling8 above his heavy indented9 brow. In the corner of the portrait hung a wreath of dusty immortelles. “Glafira Petrovna herself was pleased to make it,” Anton announced. In the bedroom stood a narrow bedstead, under a canopy10 of old-fashioned and very good striped material; a heap of faded cushions and a thin quilted counterpane lay on the bed, and at the head hung a picture of the Presentation in the Temple of the Holy Mother of God; it was the very picture which the old maid, dying alone and forgotten by every one, had for the last time pressed to her chilling lips. A little toilet table of inlaid wood, with brass11 fittings and a warped looking-glass in a tarnished12 frame stood in the window. Next to the bedroom was the little ikon room with bare walls and a heavy case of holy images in the corner; on the! floor lay a threadbare rug spotted13 with wax; Glafira Petrovna used to pray bowing to the ground upon it. Anton went away with Lavretsky’s groom14 to unlock the stable and coach-house; to replace him appeared an old woman of about the same age, with a handkerchief tied round to her very eyebrows15; her head shook, and her eyes were dim, but they expressed zeal16, the habit of years of submissive service, and at the same time a kind of respectful commiseration17. She kissed Lavretsky’s hand and stood still in the doorway18 awaiting his orders. He positively19 could not recollect20 her name and did not even remember whether he had ever seen her. Her name, it appeared, was Apraxya; forty years before, Glafira Petrovna had put her out of the master’s house and ordered that she should be a poultry21 woman. She said little, however; she seemed to have lost her senses from old age, and could only gaze at him obsequiously22. Besides these two old creatures and three pot-bellied children in long smocks, Anton’s great-grandchildren, there was also living in the manor-house a one-armed peasant, who was exempted23 from servitude; he muttered like a woodcock and was of no use for anything. Not much more useful was the decrepit24 dog who had saluted25 Lavretsky’s return by its barking; he had been for ten years fastened up by a heavy chain, purchased at Glafira Petrovna’s command, and was scarcely able to move and drag the weight of it. Having looked over the house, Lavretsky went into the garden and was very much pleased with it. It was all overgrown with high grass, and burdock, and gooseberry and raspberry bushes, but there was plenty of shade, and many old lime-trees, which were remarkable26 for their immense size and the peculiar27 growth of their branches; they had been planted too close and at some time or other — a hundred years before — they had been lopped. At the end of the garden was a small clear pool bordered with high reddish rushes. The traces of human life very quickly! pass away; Glafira Petrovna’s estate had not had time to become quite wild, but already it seemed plunged28 in that quiet slumber29 in which everything reposes30 on earth where there is not the infection of man’s restlessness. Fedor Ivanitch walked also through the village; the peasant-women stared at him from the doorways31 of their huts, their cheeks resting on their hands; the peasants saluted him from a distance, the children ran out, and the dogs barked indifferently. At last he began to feel hungry; but he did not expect his servants and his cook till the evening; the waggons32 of provisions from Lavriky had not come yet, and he had to have recourse to Anton. Anton arranged matters at once; he caught, killed, and plucked an old hen; Apraxya gave it a long rubbing and cleaning, and washed it like linen33 before putting it into the stew-pan; when, at last, it was cooked Anton laid the cloth and set the table, placing beside the knife and fork a three-legged salt-cellar of tarnished plate and a cut decanter with a round glass stopper and a narrow neck; then he announced to Lavretsky in a sing-song voice that the meal was ready, and took his stand behind his chair, with a napkin twisted round his right fights, and diffusing34 about him a peculiar strong ancient odour, like the scent35 of a cypress-tree. Lavretsky tried the soup, and took out the hen; its skin was all covered with large blisters36; a tough tendon ran up each leg; the meat had a flavour of wood and soda37. When he had finished dinner, Lavretsky said that he would drink a cup of tea, if —“I will bring it this minute,” the old man interrupted. And he kept his word. A pinch of tea was hunted up, twisted in a screw of red paper; a small but very fiery38 and loudly-hissing samovar was found, and sugar too in small lumps, which looked as if they were thawing39. Lavretsky drank tea out of a large cup; he remembered this cup from childhood; there were playing-cards depicted40 upon it, only visitors used to drink out of it — and here was he drinking out if like a visitor. In the evening his servants came; Lavretsky did not care to sleep in his aunt’s bed; he directed them put him up a bed in the dining-room. After extinguishing his candle he stared for a long time about him and feel into cheerless reflection; he experienced that feeling which every man knows whose lot it is to pass the night in a place long uninhabited; it seemed to him that the darkness surrounding him on all sides could not be accustomed to the new inhabitant, the very walls of the house seemed amazed. At last he sighed, drew up the counterpane round him and fell asleep. Anton remained up after all the rest of the household; he was whispering a long while with Apraxya, he sighed in an undertone, and twice he crossed himself; they had neither of them expected that their master would settle among them at Vassilyevskoe when he had not far off such a splendid estate with such a capitally built house; they did not suspect that the very house was hateful to Lavretsky; it stirred painful memories within him. Having gossiped to his heart’s content, Anton took a stick and struck the night watchman’s board, which had hung silent for so many years, and laid down to sleep in the courtyard with no covering on his white head. The May night was mild and soft, and the old man slept sweetly.
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discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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indented
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| adj.锯齿状的，高低不平的；缩进排版 | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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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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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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obsequiously
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exempted
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| 使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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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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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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reposes
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的第三人称单数 ) | |
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doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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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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diffusing
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| （使光）模糊，漫射，漫散( diffuse的现在分词 )； （使）扩散； （使）弥漫； （使）传播 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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blisters
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| n.水疱( blister的名词复数 )；水肿；气泡 | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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thawing
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| n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化 | |
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depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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