In the course of a fortnight, Fedor Ivanitch had brought Glafira Petrovna’s little house into order and had cleared the court-yard and the garden. From Lavriky comfortable furniture was sent him; from the town, wine, books, and papers; horses made their appearance in the stable; in brief Fedor Ivanitch provided himself with everything necessary and began to live — not precisely1 after the manner of a country landowner, nor precisely after the manner of a hermit2. His days passed monotonously3; but he was not bored though he saw no one; he set diligently4 and attentively5 to work at farming his estate, rode about the neighbourhood and did some reading. He read little, however; he found it pleasanter to listen to the tales of old Anton. Lavretsky usually sat at the window with a pipe and a cup of cold tea. Anton stood at the door, his hands crossed behind him, and began upon his slow, deliberate stories of old times, of those fabulous7 times when oats and rye were not sold by measure, but in great sacks, at two or three farthings a sack; when there were impassable forests, virgin8 steppes stretching on every side, even close to the town. “And now,” complained the old man, whose eightieth year had passed, “there has been so much clearing, so much ploughing everywhere, there’s nowhere you may drive now.” Anton used to tell many stories, too, of his mistress, Glafira Petrovna; how prudent9 and saving she was; how a certain gentleman, a young neighbour, had paid her court, and used to ride over to see her, and how she was even pleased to put on her best cap, with ribbons of salmon10 colour, and her yellow gown of tru-tru levantine for him; but how, later on, she had been angry with the gentleman neighbour for his unseemly inquiry11, “What, madam, pray, might be your fortune?” and had bade them refuse him the house; and how it was then that she had given directions that, after her decease, everything to the last rag should pass to Fedor Ivanitch. And, indeed, Lavretsky found all his aunt’s household goods intact, not excepting the best cap with ribbons of salmon colour, and the yellow gown of tru-tru levantine. Of old papers and interesting documents, upon which Lavretsky had reckoned, there seemed no trace, except one old book, in which his grandfather, Piotr Andreitch, had inscribed12 in one place, “Celebration in the city of Saint Petersburg of the peace, concluded with the Turkish empire by his Excellency Prince Alexander Alexandrovitch Prozorovsky;” in another place a recipe for a pectoral decoction with the comment, “This recipe was given to the general’s lady, Prascovya Federovna Soltikov, by the chief priest of the Church of the Life-giving Trinity, Fedor Avksentyevitch:” in another, a piece of political news of this kind: “Somewhat less talk of the French tigers;” and next this entry: “In the Moscow Gazette an announcement of the death of Mr. Senior-Major Mihal Petrovitch Kolitchev. Is not this the son of Piotr Vassilyevitch Kolitchev? Lavretsky found also some old calendars and dream-books, and the mysterious work of Ambodik; many were the memories stirred by the well-known; but long-forgotten Symbols and Emblems13. In Glafira Petrovna’s little dressing-table, Lavretsky found a small packet, tied up with black ribbon, sealed with black sealing wax, and thrust away in the very farthest corner of the drawer. In the parcel there lay face to face a portrait, in pastel, of his father in his youth, with effeminate curls straying over his brow, with almond-shaped languid eyes and parted lips, and a portrait, almost effaced14, of a pale woman in a white dress with a white rose in her hand — his mother. Of herself, Glafira Petrovna had never allowed a portrait to be taken. “I, myself, little father, Fedor Ivanitch,” Anton used to tell Lavretsky, “though I did not then live in the master’s house, still I can remember your great-grandfather, Andrey Afanasyevitch, seeing that I had come to my eighteenth year when he died. Once I met him in the garden and my knees! were knocking with fright indeed; however, he did nothing, only asked me my name, and sent me to his room for his pocket-handkerchief. He was a gentleman — how shall I tell you — he didn’t look on any one as better than himself. For your great-grandfather had, I do assure you, a magic amulet15; a monk16 from Mount Athos made him a present of this amulet. And he told him, this monk did, “It’s for your kindness, Boyar, I give you this; wear it, and you need not fear judgment17.” Well, but there, little father, we know what those times were like; what the master fancied doing, that he did. Sometimes, if even some gentleman saw fit to cross him in anything, he would just stare at him and say, “You swim in shallow water;” that was his favourite saying. And he lived, your great-grandfather of blessed memory, in a small log-house; and what goods he left behind him, what silver, and stores of all kinds! All the storehouses were full and overflowing18. He was a manager. That very decanter, that you were pleased to admire, was his; he used to drink brandy out of it. But there was your grandfather, Piotr Andreitch, built himself a palace of stone, but he never grew rich; everything with him went badly, and he lived worse than his father by far, and he got no pleasure from it for himself, but spent all his money, and now there is nothing to remember him by — not a silver spoon has come down from him, and we have Glafira Petrovna’s management to thank for all that is saved.
“But is it true,” Lavretsky interrupted him, “they called her the old witch?”
“What sort of people called her so, I should like to know!” replied Anton with an air of displeasure.
“And little father,” the old man one day found courage to ask, “what about our mistress, where is she pleased to fix her residence?”
“I am separated from my wife,” Lavretsky answered with an effort, “please do not ask questions about her.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the old man mournfully.
After three weeks had passed by, Lavretsky rode into O——— to the Kalitins, and spent an evening with them. Lemm was there; Lavretsky took a great liking19 to him. Although thanks to his father, he played no instrument, he was passionately20 fond of music, real classical music. Panshin was not at the Kalitins’ that evening. The governor had sent him off to some place out of the town. Lisa played alone and very correct; Lemm woke up, got excited, twisted a piece of paper into a roll, and conducted. Marya Dmitrievna laughed at first, as she looked at him, later on she went off to bed; in her own words, Beethoven was too agitating21 for her nerves. At midnight Lavretsky accompanied Lemm to his lodging22 and stopped there with him till three o’clock in the morning. Lemm talked a great deal; his bent23 figure grew erect24, his eyes opened wide and flashed fire; his hair even stood up on his forehead. It was so long since any one had shown him any sympathy, and Lavretsky was obviously interested in him, he was plying25 him with sympathetic and attentive6 questions. This touched the old man; he ended by showing the visitor his music, played and even sang in a faded voice some extracts from his works, among others the whole of Schiller’s ballad26, Fridolin, set by him to music. Lavretsky admired it, made him repeat some passages, and at parting, invited him to stay a few days with him. Lemm, as he accompanied him as far as the street, agreed at once, and warmly pressed his hand; but when he was left standing27 alone in the fresh, damp air, in the just dawning sunrise, he looked round him, shuddered28, shrank into himself, and crept up to his little room, with a guilty air. “Ich bin29 wohl nicht klug” (I must be out of my senses), he muttered, as he lay down in his hard short bed. He tried to say that he was ill, a few days later, when Lavretsky drove over to fetch him in an open carriage; but Fedor Ivanitch went up into his room and managed to persuade him. What produced the most powerful effect upon Lemm was the circumstance that Lavretsky had ordered a piano from town to be sent into the country expressly for him.
They set off together to the Kalitins’ and spent the evening with them, but not so pleasantly as on the last occasion. Panshin was there, he talked a great deal about his expedition, and very amusingly mimicked30 and described the country gentry31 he had seen; Lavretsky laughed, but Lemm would not come out of his corner, and sat silent, slightly tremulous all over like a spider, looking dull and sullen32, and he only revived when Lavretsky began to take leave. Even when he was sitting in the carriage, the old man was still shy and constrained33; but the warm soft air, the light breeze, and the light shadows, the scent34 of the grass and the birch-buds, the peaceful light of the starlit, moonless night, the pleasant tramp and snort of the horses — all the witchery of the roadside, the spring and the night, sank into the poor German’s soul, and he was himself the first to begin a conversation with Lavretsky.
1 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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2 hermit | |
n.隐士,修道者;隐居 | |
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3 monotonously | |
adv.单调地,无变化地 | |
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4 diligently | |
ad.industriously;carefully | |
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5 attentively | |
adv.聚精会神地;周到地;谛;凝神 | |
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6 attentive | |
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的 | |
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7 fabulous | |
adj.极好的;极为巨大的;寓言中的,传说中的 | |
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8 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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9 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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10 salmon | |
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的 | |
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11 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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12 inscribed | |
v.写,刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 );内接 | |
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13 emblems | |
n.象征,标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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14 effaced | |
v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 );抹去;超越;使黯然失色 | |
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15 amulet | |
n.护身符 | |
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16 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
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17 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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18 overflowing | |
n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的,充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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19 liking | |
n.爱好;嗜好;喜欢 | |
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20 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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21 agitating | |
搅动( agitate的现在分词 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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22 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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23 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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24 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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25 plying | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的现在分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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26 ballad | |
n.歌谣,民谣,流行爱情歌曲 | |
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27 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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28 shuddered | |
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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29 bin | |
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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30 mimicked | |
v.(尤指为了逗乐而)模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 );酷似 | |
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31 gentry | |
n.绅士阶级,上层阶级 | |
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32 sullen | |
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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33 constrained | |
adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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34 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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