Chapter 8 Fives

The general's wife is very proud of her origin and does not allow others to make irresponsible remarks.When she heard out of the blue, and hadn't prepared for it, that the last of her lineage, Prince Myshkin (of whom she had heard a little), was nothing but a poor idiot, a beggar It's almost the same, she is going to be poor, and accepting other people's handouts - what should she feel in her heart after hearing this.This was exactly what the general wanted to achieve: to make her gape suddenly, to divert her attention, to put everything aside for a while. When encountering extraordinary situations, the general's wife always opened her eyes wide, leaned back a little, stared dumbfounded, and said nothing.The general's wife is tall and tall, the same age as her husband, with thick black hair, although there is a lot of fine hair mixed in, her nose is raised and slightly stooped, her complexion is yellow and clear, her cheeks are sunken, and her two thin, shriveled Into the lips.Her forehead, though high, was narrow; her gray eyes, rather large, sometimes took on an unexpected expression.She had had a weakness in the past: the belief that her beautiful eyes were especially charming, a belief that had never been extinguished in her mind.

"Acceptance? You said to receive him, now, at once?" The general's wife stared hard at Ivan Fyodorovitch, who was scrambling in front of her, with wide-eyed eyes. "Oh, there's no need to be polite about it, my dear, if you want to see him," explained the general hastily. "He's quite a boy, and it's even pathetic; Came back, just off the train, dressed strangely, like a German, and penniless, not a kopek; almost didn't cry. I gave him twenty-five rubles, and wanted to find him in our office A copy-writing job. Mesdames, I beg you to treat him, for he seems to be hungry..."

"I am surprised by what you said," said the general's wife, still in the same manner as before. "You are hungry again, and you are often ill! What is the illness?" "Oh, he doesn't often suffer from it, and he's almost a boy, but he's very learned. Mesdames," he said, turning to his daughters, "I'd like you to test him, and see what he can do. " "Tao—?" the general's wife asked in a drawn-out voice, and stared again, turning her eyes from her daughter to her husband, and then from her husband to her daughter in surprise.

"Gee, baby, don't take it too seriously... But then again, whatever you want, I mean be nice to him and make him feel at home, because that's kind of a thing Good thing." "Make him feel welcome? From Switzerland?!" "It has nothing to do with Switzerland, but, I repeat, it's up to you. You know, I say this, firstly, because he is from your family, maybe a relative; and secondly, he doesn't know where he can settle .I even thought you were interested in him, because after all, he belongs to our family." "Needless to say, Maman, since you can be polite with him, why don't you see him? Besides, he must be hungry after working hard all the way. Why can't we let him have a full meal? And he doesn't know where to go." Settle down," said the elder sister Alexandra.

"Besides he's quite a child, and you can play hide and seek with him." "Hide and seek? How to hide and seek?" "Oh, Maman, stop acting, okay?" Aglaya interrupted her angrily. The second sister, Adelaida, loves to laugh, and couldn't help laughing out loud. "Papa, go call him, Maman agrees." Aglaya made a decisive decision.The general rang the bell, and ordered his servants to fetch the duke. "But there is one condition. When he eats, he must wrap a napkin around his neck," the general's wife finally decided, "Call Fyodor, or let Mavra come... When eating, Let her stand behind him and look at him a little bit. At least he is honest when he is ill? Will he not hit someone? "

"On the contrary, very well-bred, even polite, but sometimes a little too honest... Look, here he comes! Come, come, let me introduce you, this is Prince Myshkin, our kinsman, maybe He is still a relative, he is the last seedling in the clan, please treat him well. They are going to eat right away, duke, please show me your favor... It's just that I am late, sorry, I have something urgent..." "It's not clear what urgent matter you have." The general's wife said solemnly. "I'm in a hurry, I'm in a hurry, baby, I'm late! Give him your yearbook, Mesdames, and let him do some writing on it for you, he's a great calligrapher, a rare one these days! Talented. He wrote me some ancient characters over there: 'in the handwriting of the humble abbot Pavnuj'... Well, goodbye."

"Pavnuj? Abbot? Stop, you stop, where are you going, what Pavnuj?" the general's wife was very annoyed, and almost panicked to her husband who was trying to escape. "Yes, yes, darling, there was such an abbot in olden times... I went to the count, he was waiting for me, a long time, the main thing is that he personally invited... Good-bye, duke!" The general hurried out the door. "I know which count he is going to!" said Elizaveta Prokofyevna threateningly, and turning her eyes angrily to the prince. "What the hell!" she began, thinking back with disgust and exasperation, "well, what is it! Oh, yes, well, which abbot?"

"Maman..." Alexandra was about to speak, but Aglaya even stomped her feet. "Don't interrupt, Alexandra Ivanovna," the general's wife said to her, "I want to gain some knowledge too. Come here, prince, sit in this comfortable chair." Sit in the chair opposite me, no, sit here, face the sun, move forward, come closer to the sun, and let me have a good look at you. Well, which abbot?" "Abbot Pavnuj," answered the prince earnestly and solemnly. "Pavnuj? That's interesting. Well, what's the matter with him?" The general's wife was very impatient when she asked questions, spoke quickly and impatiently, and looked at the prince intently, but when the prince answered, she nodded frequently, and nodded once every word.

"Abbot Pavnud lived in the fourteenth century," the prince began. "He presided over a monastery on the banks of the Volga, in what is now our Kostroma province. Shengming is famous, he often went to Ordu, helped them with some affairs of the time, and signed a document. I have seen a facsimile of this signature. I liked this font very much, so I learned it. Just now the general wanted to see my calligraphy and find an errand for me, so I wrote a few sentences in various fonts, including imitating the handwriting of the abbot of Pavnuj himself, and wrote 'Pavnuj Monastery Long autograph'. The general liked it very much, so I remembered it just now."

"Aglaya," said the general's wife, "remember, Pavnuj, you'd better write it down, or I'll forget it all the time. But I think it's more interesting that way. Where's the signature?" "It seems to be left on the table in the general's study." "Call someone to bring it at once." "If you want to read it, I can write it to you again." "Of course, Maman," Alexandra said, "it's better to eat now, we are all hungry." "That's true," decided the General's wife. "Let's go, Duke, you must be very hungry?"

"Yes, I am very hungry now, thank you very much." "You're very polite, that's very nice, I don't think you're at all that... monster, not at all like you've been introduced to. Let's go. You just sit here, across from me." As soon as she entered the dining room, she said He made the duke take his seat, "I want to see you. Alexandra, Adelaida, it's up to you two to entertain the duke. He's not one of those... so-called patients, is he? Apparently, napkins are too No need...Duke, do you wear a napkin when you eat?" "In the past, when I was six or seven years old, I seemed to have tied a napkin, but now when I eat, I always put the napkin on my lap." "That's how it should be. Do you still get sick often?" "Sickness?" The Duke was a little surprised. "I seldom get sick now. But it's hard to say. I heard that the climate here is harmful to my health." "He speaks very well," said the general's wife to her daughters, who continued to nod at every word the prince said. Yes, Prince, you said as you ate: Where were you born and where were you brought up? I want to know everything, and you interest me very much." The prince thanked him, and while he ate with relish, he repeated from beginning to end what he had said more than once that morning.The general's wife became more and more satisfied as she listened.The three ladies also listened with considerable attention.They thought they were relatives, but it turned out that the Duke was quite familiar with his family tree, but no matter how hard he tried, he and the general's wife still couldn't establish any relationship.Their ancestors can barely be considered distant relatives.Although this kind of material is very boring, the general's wife listened with great interest.She wanted very much to talk about her family tree, but almost never found the opportunity.So when she rose from the table she was refreshed and excited. "Go to our sitting-room," she said, "where the coffee is served. We have this common room," she said, leading the Duke out, "which is really only my little drawing-room, Whenever we sit around at home, we meet there, each doing his own business: Alexandra, this is the lady, my oldest daughter, who plays the piano, reads, or makes clothes; Adelaida Painting—landscapes and portraits (none of them finished). Only Aglaya sits, doing nothing. I don’t have the mind to work either: nothing can be done. Well, here we are; the Duke Sit here, please, near the fireplace, and go on. I want to see the way you speak. When I see that old woman, Princess Belokonskaya, next time, I hope to be able to hold you Tell her exactly what happened to her. I hope you will interest them all. Come, tell me." "Maman, isn't it weird for people to say that?" Adelaida said. At this time, she had already tidied up her easel, picked up the brush and palette, and began to copy from a picture card that she had drawn a long time ago. landscape painting.Alexandra and Aglaya, sitting together on a small sofa, folded their arms, ready to listen to them.The Duke found that attention was focused on him from all directions. "If someone told me to talk like that, I would never be able to say anything," said Aglaia. "Why? What's so strange about it? He can't speak? He has a mouth. I want to know about his ability to speak. Tell me, whatever. Tell me your impressions of Switzerland, your first impressions. You see right away that he's about to start talking, and it's fascinating from the start." "I have a strong impression..." the Duke said. "Listen, listen," said the impatient Elizaveta Prokofievna, turning to her daughters, "isn't it the beginning?" "Maman, at least you have to let people keep talking." Alexandra stopped her. "The Duke may be a great liar, not an idiot at all," she whispered to Aglaya. "It must be so, I have seen it long ago," replied Aglaya. "The man is mean enough to put on airs. Is he trying to gain anything by this method?" "The first impression was very strong," repeated the prince. "When I was taken out of Russia, through the German cities, I just watched in silence, remembered, and asked nothing. After severe and painful seizures. When my condition worsened and after continuous seizures, I fell into a state of complete ignorance, completely lost memory, and although my brain could still move, the logical development of thinking seemed to be cut off. I could not Two or more concepts connected together in an orderly way. That's how I feel. But when I'm not sick, I'm as strong as I am now. I remember: an unbearable feeling within me Sad, I even wanted to cry. I was always surprised and disturbed: seeing it all was strange, and it affected me strongly. I know that. Strange things depress me. I remember, When I came out of my depression, it was one evening in Basel, as the train crossed the Swiss border, when a donkey brayed in the town market. The donkey took me by surprise, I don't know why I like it very much again, and with a donkey braying, everything in my mind suddenly becomes clear." "Donkeys braying? That's strange," said the General's wife, "but it's not uncommon for some of us to fall in love with donkeys." The girls laughed, and she gave them a sullen look, and said, "The myth There's the story in it. Go on, duke." "Since then, I've been very fond of donkeys. There's even developed a feeling of affection in my heart. I started asking about donkeys, since I'd never seen one, and I was immediately convinced that it was a very useful species. A good animal, capable of work, strong, hard-working, and cheap. Through this donkey, I suddenly fell in love with the whole of Switzerland, and all the old gloom disappeared." "It's all very strange, but let's not talk about the donkey, let's talk about something else. Why are you laughing, Aglaya? And you, Adelaida? About the donkey, prince." Well said. He has seen donkeys with his own eyes, and what have you seen? You have never been abroad, have you?" "I've seen donkeys, Maman," said Adelaida. "I've heard of it too." Aglaya said.The three ladies laughed again, and the prince laughed with them. "It's very bad of you," said the general's wife. "Forgive them, duke, but they have good hearts. I love them, though I've always quarreled with them. They're frivolous, simple-minded, and crazy." "Then why?" laughed the duke. "I wouldn't have missed the chance if it had been them. But I'm in favor of the donkey: the donkey is a good and useful fellow." "Are you kind, Duke? I ask out of curiosity," asked the general's wife. Everyone laughed again. "Again that damned ass, I never thought of it!" cried the General's wife. "Believe me, duke, I have no—" "No insinuations? Oh, I believe, there is no doubt about it." The Duke was still smiling. "It is very good that you are laughing. You are a very kind young man, I see," said the General's wife. "Not kind sometimes," replied the duke. "I am kind," interposed the General's wife abruptly. "I will tell you that I have always been kind, and that is my only fault, for one should not always be kind. I often lose my temper with them, especially I was angry with Ivan Fyodorovich, but the bad thing is that I am at my best when I am angry. Just now, before you came in, I was very angry, I pretended not to understand anything, and I couldn't figure out what it was all about. What's the matter. It happens to me a lot, like a child. Aglaya taught me a lesson, thank you, Aglaya. But it's all bullshit. I'm not as confused as I seem and I'm not as muddled as the girls are trying to make me out to be. I'm strong and I'm not afraid to rip my skin off. But then again, I mean it with no malice. Come here, Aglaya, kiss me, all right . . . a kiss is enough," she said, after Aglaya had kissed her lips and hands passionately, "go on, Prince. Perhaps you will come up with a more interesting story than the donkey." "I don't understand again, how can it be like this, let people say it as soon as they open their mouths," Adelaida said again, "If it were me, I would definitely not know where to start." "But the duke, because the duke is very clever, at least ten times smarter than you, maybe twelve times. I hope you will be a little bit self-aware from now on. You can prove it to them, duke, and go on. As for the donkey, you can." Leaving aside. Well, what else have you seen abroad besides donkeys?" "It's still very smart to say about donkeys," Adelaida said. "It's funny how the duke talked about his illness and how he liked everything through an external push. Sensibility, and how it heals afterwards is always of interest. Especially when it happens so suddenly." "Isn't it? Isn't it?" the general's wife became excited. "I see, you are very clever sometimes! Come, don't laugh! You seem to be talking about the natural beauty of Switzerland, Duke, go on." !" "We came to Lucerne, Switzerland, and someone took me to swim in the lake. I think the lake is beautiful, but at the same time I feel very heavy." The Duke said. "Why?" Alexandra asked. "I don't understand either. The first time I saw such a natural scenery, I always felt heavy and irritable, relaxed and happy, and upset, but it was all because of my illness." "No, I'd love to see it," said Adelaida. "I don't know when we're going abroad. I haven't been able to find a subject for painting for two years. The East and the South have long been written about." Light...Duke, please find me something to paint." "I don't know anything about painting. I thought: just look at it and paint." "I just won't watch." "What charades are you two playing? You can't understand a word!" The general's wife interrupted them, "Why can't you see? You can see if you have eyes. You can't read at home, and you can't learn it abroad. .Duke, why don't you tell me what you think." "That's all right," added Adelaida, "you know, the duke learned to read abroad." "I don't know, I just recovered my health abroad, and I don't know if I learned to see. But I've pretty much always been happy." "Happiness! Are you still happy?" cried Aglaya. "Then how do you say you haven't learned to read? You can still teach us and be our teacher!" "Please teach us." Adelaida smiled. "I have nothing to teach you," the Duke also laughed. "When I was abroad, I lived almost all the time in this Swiss village. I rarely went out, and even I did not go far. What can I teach you? At first, I just didn't feel lonely. I started to get better very quickly. Then I started to feel that each day was precious and more precious with each passing day, so I started to notice it. When I lay down to sleep, I felt Satisfied, even happier when I get up. What is the cause of all this--it is difficult to explain." "So you don't want to go anywhere, and nowhere attracts you?" Alexandra asked. "In the beginning, that is, at the beginning, it really attracted me, and I felt very irritated. I kept thinking about how I would live. I wanted to try my own destiny, especially at some times, I felt very irritated. You You know, there are moments like this, especially when you are alone. There is a waterfall in our place, not big, falling high from the mountain, like a thin line, falling almost straight—in vain, There was a lot of noise, foam splashing, and a big drop, but it seemed to be a small drop. It was only half a mile away, but it seemed to be only fifty paces. Every night, I always liked to hear the noise it made. At such moments, sometimes I feel very irritable. Sometimes this happens at noon, for example, when I go up the mountain, I stand alone on the mountain, surrounded by a pine forest, tall, vigorous and shiny ancient pines There is an old medieval castle on the cliff at the top of the mountain, with broken walls and ruins. Our small village is at the foot of the mountain far away, vaguely in sight. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and it is very quiet. At this time , I often feel that there is always something calling me to go somewhere, I always feel that if I keep going forward, keep walking, keep walking out of that line, out of the line where the sky and the earth meet, I will go there It will suddenly become clear, the whole mystery will be presented to you, and you will immediately see a new life, a new life a thousand times stronger and a thousand times more lively than ours. I always fantasize about a city like Naples. A big city, full of palaces, people bustling, bustling, living a happy life... Yes, I have a lot of fantasies! But then I felt that it is also very meaningful to live in a prison. life." "This last, laudable thought, I read in "Anthology" when I was only twelve years old," said Aglaya. "It's all philosophy," said Adelaida. "You are a philosopher, and you have come to teach us." "Your words may be right," the Duke smiled slightly. "I may indeed be a person who likes to meditate. Who knows, maybe I do mean to teach you... This is also possible. Really, it is also possible. .” "Your philosophy is exactly the same as Evlandia Nikolaevna's," continued Aglaya. "She is the wife of a petty official, a widow, and she used to come to our house like a diner. She lived all her life. What Zhong strives for is to spend less money. As long as life is cheap and less money is enough, one mouth is like a mother-in-law, and one penny more and one penny less. But please be careful, she has plenty of money, and she is a liar. This is the same as you just now You can live as meaningful a life in prison as you say, perhaps as well as four years of happy life in the country, for which you sold your imaginary city of Naples, though only for A few pennies, but it seems to have taken advantage of it." "I don't agree with you about life in prison," said the duke. "I heard a story told by a man who spent twelve or three years in prison. He was a patient of the professor who treated me. , he was also treated there. He had recurrent attacks, sometimes he was restless, wept bitterly, and once even attempted suicide. His life in prison was very bleak, but, I assure you, it was also Not worthless. All he has ever been with is a spider and a small tree growing out of the window... But I'd better tell you about another guy I met last year. There is a very strange episode here—strange because it is so rare in this case. Once this man was led to the guillotine with others, and the death sentence for execution by shooting was read to him. He committed a political crime. After about twenty minutes, the pardon was read to him again, and another sentence was commuted. But then again, there was twenty minutes, or at least a quarter of an hour, between the two sentences, and he was no doubt sure that in a few more days He will die suddenly within a few minutes. I really want to hear what he sometimes said about his personal feelings at that time. Later, I recalled the old incident several times and asked him in detail. He remembered everything very clearly. He said, He will never forget what he experienced in a few minutes. A great crowd of men and soldiers stood by the guillotine, and three pillars were planted twenty paces from the scaffold, because there were several prisoners. They threw the first three The prisoners were escorted over, tied to the pillars, put on death row uniforms (a kind of white robes) for them, and pulled down the pointed white hoods to cover their eyes and prevent them from seeing the guns. Afterwards, facing each A column of soldiers (consisting of several soldiers) was lined up on the pillar, and my friend was ranked eighth, so it should be the third batch when it was his turn to stand in front of the pillar. The priest walked around in front of everyone with a cross in his hand. .Therefore, there were only five minutes left to live, no more. He told me that he felt that these five minutes were endless and a great asset to him. He felt that during these five minutes, He was going to live such a long life that he now had no need to think about the last moment of his death, so he made various arrangements: he counted the time, stipulated two minutes to say goodbye to his comrades, and then took out two minutes to say goodbye to his comrades. Minutes to reflect on himself one last time, and then look around for the last time. He remembers very clearly that after he had done these three things, the time was exactly as he had counted it. He was only twenty-seven years old and in the prime of life , was dying. He remembered that, when he was saying goodbye to his comrades, he asked one of them a very irrelevant question, and was even interested in how to answer it. Then, when he was saying goodbye to his comrades, After the farewell, the two minutes he had estimated for self-reflection arrived. He had already estimated what he would be thinking. He always wanted to be able to imagine, and think as quickly and as clearly as possible. What happened: he exists now, he is alive, but in three minutes he has become something, someone or something—what kind of person? and where? , he wants to be hereSolved in two minutes!There was a church not far away, and the gilded roof on top of the cathedral shone in the bright sun.He remembered staring at the roof and the light that radiated from it.He couldn't take his eyes off the light: he seemed to feel that this light was his new identity, and in three minutes he would become one with it... The unknowability of the future and the fear of this new state that was coming at once The hatred made him shudder.But he said that nothing weighed him down more than a single thought that he had incessantly at the time, and he was thinking: 'So what if I don't die!What if life could be saved! —how infinite!And it's all mine!At that time, I must turn every minute into an entire century, not wasting a single minute, calculating carefully every minute, and never wasting it! ’ He said, his thoughts turned into anger, and he wished he could be shot. " At this point, the Duke stopped suddenly, and everyone waited for him to continue to explain the ending. "Are you done?" Aglaya asked. "What? It's over." The Duke said, waking up from a moment's contemplation. "What do you mean by telling this story?" "I don't want to explain anything... I accidentally remembered this... Just talk about it..." "You are always wrong," Alexandra pointed out. "Duke, do you want to say that no moment should be underestimated. Sometimes, five minutes are even more precious than a treasure. All of this should be Praise, but I would like to ask, that friend of yours who told you about this ordeal... Hasn't his sentence been commuted, that is to say, this 'endless life was given to him'. Well, What did he do with the wealth afterwards? Was he 'counting' life every minute?" "Oh no, that's what he told me himself—I've asked him that question—he doesn't live like that at all, and he's wasting a lot of time." "Well, so for you, too, as a matter of experience, one can't really 'calculate' one's life. Whatever the reason, not at all." "Yes, whatever the reason, it can't be done anyway," the prince repeated her words, "I feel it myself. . . . but I can't believe it . . . " "And do you think you will live wiser than everybody else?" asked Aglaya. "Yes. I think so sometimes." "Do you still think so?" "Still... still think so," answered the prince, looking at Aglaya with his old quiet, even timid smile, but at once he laughed again, and looked at her with pleasure. "How modest!" said Aglaya, almost angrily. "But you're brave, look, you're all laughing, and I was so shocked by what he said at the time, that I dreamed about it afterwards, and it was these five minutes that I dreamed..." He scanned his audience again with probing and serious eyes. "You're not going to be mad at me for something, are you?" he asked suddenly, seeming a little coy, but still looking straight into everyone's eyes. "Because of what?" the three girls exclaimed in surprise. "Just because I seem to be teaching people a lesson..." Everyone laughed. "If you are angry, please calm down," he said. "I know myself that I have had less life experience than anyone else, and I know less about life than anyone else. Maybe, sometimes, I talk strangely..." After all, he looked very embarrassed. "You said that you were once very happy, so it can be seen that your life experiences are not many, but very rich. Why do you want to apologize against your conscience?" Aglaya said with a straight face, "even if If you want to teach us a lesson, you don't need to feel uneasy about it, because you didn't take advantage of it. With your quiet and inactive thoughts, you can live a long life and enjoy the happiness. If someone shows you the death penalty , and show you a little finger, and you'll draw equally admirable thoughts from both, and be satisfied. You could live like that all your life." "Why are you so angry? I really don't understand," the general's wife, who had been observing the faces of the two when they were talking, interjected, "I don't understand what you are talking about. What little finger? Really. What nonsense! The duke said it well, but it's a little sentimental. Why did you make him look gray? He was laughing at first, but now he's all wilted." "It's nothing, Maman. Duke, it's a pity you haven't seen the execution, or else I'd like to ask you something." "I have seen executions," replied the duke. "Have you seen it?" cried Aglaya. "I should have guessed that long ago! That's all. How can you say that you have been living happily when you have seen it? Well, I say this." Isn't that right?" "Does murder happen in the village where you live?" asked Adelaida. "I saw it in Lyon. I went to Lyon with Schneider, and he took me there. I caught up with him as soon as I arrived." "How is it? Did you enjoy watching it? It was eye-opening? It was very instructive?" Aglaya asked. "I didn't enjoy watching it at all. After this incident, I also suffered from a small illness, but to tell you the truth, I was dumbfounded at the time, and I couldn't do it if I didn't want to." "If it were me, I would have watched closely," Aglaya said. "Women don't like to go there very much. Later, even the newspapers reported about these women." "Since they don't think it's a woman's thing, then they want to explain (that is, justify) it's a man's thing. The logic is wonderful. You naturally think so?" "Just talk about the death penalty," Adelaida interrupted. "I'd rather not now..." said the Duke flusteredly, and seemed to frown. "You seem reluctant to tell us." Aglaya said sarcastically. "No, it's because I've already told people about the death penalty just now." "To whom?" "To the servant at the house, I was waiting..." "What servant?" Questions came from all directions. "The one with the gray hair and the red face sitting in the antechamber. I was sitting in the antechamber waiting to see Ivan Fyodorovich." "This is something new." The general's wife said. "The Duke is a democrat," Aglaya snapped, "Well, since you can tell Alexei, there is no reason to reject us." "I must listen." Adelaida asked again. "It is true," said the prince to her, a little excited again (he seemed to be excited very quickly and frankly), "when you asked me for a subject for a painting, I did have an idea to give you a subject. : Just draw the face of the executed person one minute before the guillotine fell, when he was standing on the guillotine, before he fell sideways on the wooden board under the knife." "How do you paint a face? Just his face?" asked Adelaida. "What a strange subject, what kind of painting is this?" "I don't know, why not?" insisted the prince enthusiastically. "I saw such a painting in Basle. I want to tell you about it... But I'll tell you later when I have a chance... This painting made me wonder." was greatly shaken." "You must tell us about the painting in Basel," said Adelaida. "Now, tell me about the execution picture first. Can you tell me what you imagined?" Me? How do you draw this face? Just paint the face? What exactly is this face like?" "At that very moment before he died," began the prince, lost in conversation, absorbed in the memory of the past, apparently forgetting all the rest for a moment, "at the very moment when he mounted the ladder and had just stepped onto the guillotine. 。这时，他向我这边看了一眼，我望了望他的脸，就全明白了……但是，这事该怎么说给你们听呢！我非常，非常想，由您或者随便哪位能把这情景画下来！最好是您！我那时候就想，这画肯定是有益的。您知道，要画好这幅画必须先把一切好好想象一下，把这以前的一切，一切都好好想象一下。他住在监狱里，等候行刑，心想，刑期起码还有一星期，不知为什么他寄希望于通常的审批程序，判决书还要送到某处审批，一星期后才能批下来。可是这一回却因为某种情况，突然简化了手续。清晨五点，他还在睡觉。这发生在十月底，五点钟，天还很冷，很黑。监狱警官走进来，带着狱警，轻轻地微微推了推他的肩膀，他用胳膊肘支起身子，——看见了灯光：'怎么回事？''九点后处决。'他起初因为睡眼蒙眬不相信，还争辩说，公文得过一星期才能批下来，可是当他彻底醒过来以后，也就不再争辩了，闭上了嘴——人家是这么告诉我的——后来又说了一句：'这么突如其来，真让人受不了……'说完又闭上了嘴，他已经什么话也不想说了。这时又花了三四小时来做众所周知的事情：神父呀，用早餐呀，早餐时，还给了他葡萄酒、咖啡和牛肉（哼，这不是天大的笑话吗？试想，这多么残忍，可是另一方面，说真格的，这些天真无辜的人是出于真诚才这么做的，他们坚信，这是一种仁爱的举动），然后梳洗打扮（你们知道，犯人的梳洗打扮是怎么回事吗？），最后押上囚车去游街，上断头台……我想，他游街的时候一定以为，他还有无穷无尽的时间可以活下去。我觉得，他一路上大概在想：'时间还长着呢，还剩三条街好活呢。瞧，走完这条街后，还有一条街，之后，还有路北有家面包店的那条街……到面包店，还有一大段路好走呢！'周围人山人海，人声鼎沸，一万张脸，一万双眼睛，——这一切都必须经受住，而主要是他必须忍受这样的一个想法：'这儿有一万人，可是他们中间没有一个要杀头，要杀头的只有我！'嗯，这一切还只是开场。有一张小梯子通上断头台，可是他在这小梯前突然哭了，而这是个彪形大汉，据说，是个作恶多端的恶棍。一路上，神父不离左右，跟他一起坐在马拉的囚车上，一直跟他说话，——其实，他未必听得见；即使听，听了两句也就不知所云了。一定是这样。最后，他开始登上那张小梯子。他的两腿被捆绑着，所以只能迈着小步向上攀登。看来，神父是个聪明人，他不再说话了，而是一个劲地让他亲吻十字架。还在梯子下半部的时候，他的脸色就十分苍白，等他爬到顶上，站到断头台上，脸就刷地白了，白得像纸，完全像张白色的书写纸。他大概两腿发软，发麻，想呕吐，——仿佛喉咙里有什么东西堵着似的，感到痒痒的，——从前，当你感到惊慌，或者处在一种非常可怕的时刻，你虽然神志清醒，但却丝毫无力支配自己理智的时候，不知道你们是不是有过这样的感觉？我觉得，比如说，必死无疑，房子要塌了，向您身上压过来了，您会猛地横下一条心，索性坐下去，闭上眼睛，等着——听天由命，豁出去了！ ……就在这时候，即发生这种瘫软无力状态的时候，神父赶紧快速地忽然把十字架默默地送到他的唇边，这是一个小小的十字架，银的，四角形的，——一刻不停地频频送过去。十字架一碰到他的嘴唇，他就睁开眼睛，有几秒钟似乎活了过来，两腿也能走动了。他贪婪地吻着十字架，急急忙忙地连连亲吻，仿佛他急于不要忘记抓住什么东西似的，留着，万一有用呢，但是此刻，他未必有什么宗教意识。就这样直到横躺在木板上……奇怪的是，在临刑前的这最后几秒钟，很少有人昏过去，相反，这时脑子特别灵活，大概活动得也最厉害，就像一架开动的机器似的。我想，这时肯定有各种想法纷至沓来，但是这些想法都是有头无尾，或许还是很可笑的、没头没脑的：瞧那人东张西望——脑门上有个疣子，瞧这刽子手，底下的一枚纽扣都生锈了……与此同时，却什么都知道，什么都记得。有这么一个怎么也忘不掉的视点，他决不会昏厥，一切都围绕着它，围绕着这个点活动和旋转。试想，就这么一直到最后四分之一秒钟，那时候，他的脑袋已经横放在断头墩上，在等候，而且……他知道，会猛地听到头上的铁索哧溜一声向下滑落的声音！这一定听得见！如果我躺在那里受刑，我一定会特意去听，而且一定听得见！这时，也许只有十分之一的一刹那，但是一定听得见！你们不妨想象一下，至今还有人在争论，也许，当脑袋飞落的时候，大约有一秒钟的时间，他也许会知道脑袋飞落了，——这是什么观点啊！如果有五秒钟，那又怎样呢！ ……您可以画一座断头台，画得能看清梯子的最后一级，作为近景，就看得清这最后一级。犯人已经踏上这级梯子，脑袋，像纸一样苍白的脸，神父把十字架送过去，他贪婪地伸出发青的嘴唇，看着，——心里全明白。十字架和脑袋——这是画的中心，神父、刽子手、刽子手的两名助手的脸，还有向上仰望的几颗脑袋和几双眼睛，——这一切都可以画作远景，画模糊点，作为点缀……就画这么一幅画。 " 公爵说罢，望了望大家。 “这当然不同于寂静主义。”亚历山德拉自语道。 “好吧，现在就说说您是怎么恋爱的吧。”阿杰莱达说。 公爵诧异地望了望她。 “我说，”阿杰莱达似乎急匆匆地说道，“您还欠我们一段关于巴塞尔那幅画的故事，但现在我想听听您是怎么恋爱的。您不必抵赖，您一定恋爱过。再说，您现在一开始谈这种事，就不会坐而论道了。” “您一讲完就立刻对您所讲的事感到害羞，”阿格拉娅蓦地指出，“这是干吗呀？” “真是的，这话问得多蠢。”将军夫人愤怒地望着阿格拉娅，生硬地说道。 “不聪明。”亚历山德拉附和道。 “公爵，您别信她的话，”将军夫人对公爵说道，“她是存心气您。其实，她有教养，完全不是这么蠢。她们向您这么乱提问题，请您别介意。她们大概想干什么淘气的事儿，但是她们已经爱上您了。我看她们的脸就知道。” “我看他们的脸也知道。”公爵说，对自己的话特别加重了语气。 “这话怎讲？”阿杰莱达好奇地问。 “对于我们的脸，您知道什么呢？”其他两姊妹也感兴趣起来。 但是公爵沉默不语，神情很严肃，大家在等他回答。 “我以后再告诉你们。”他低声而又严肃地说道。 “您是存心想引起我们的兴趣，”阿格拉娅叫起来，“瞧您那副得意样！” “嗯，好吧，”阿杰莱达又急忙说，“既然您是一位通晓脸的行家，您一定恋爱过，可见，我还猜对了。您就快说吧。” “我没恋爱过，”公爵仍旧低声而又严肃地答道，“我……有过另一种幸福。” “那还用说，怎么幸福法呢？” “好，我来讲给你们听。”公爵仿佛在沉思中说道。