Chapter 10 seven

At this point the prince stopped, and everyone looked at him with joy, even Aglaya, and especially Lizaveta Prokofievna. "Isn't the exam over!" she exclaimed, "Well, you kind ladies, you thought you were going to take care of him like the poor, but he almost didn't give you the face to pick you up, and he also put forward conditions, He can only visit rarely. Look, aren't we stupid, but I'm glad. The most stupid is Ivan Fyodorovitch. Really, prince, he just asked us to test you. As for what you said about my face, it's absolutely true: I was a child, and I knew it. And I knew it before you did, and you just put it out there and said what I thought. I think your personality is exactly like mine, and I'm happy, like two drops of water. But you're a man, I'm a woman, and I haven't been to Switzerland, that's all the difference."

"Don't worry, Maman," said Aglaya. "The duke said that he said a lot of things with ulterior motives, not casually." "Yes, yes." The rest of the people laughed. "Don't be funny, my dear lady, he's probably worse than all three of you put together. Just watch. But then again, prince, why didn't you say anything to Aglaya? Agra Ya is waiting, and so am I." "I can't say anything at the moment. I'll talk about it later." "Why? Don't you see it clearly?" "Oh, yes, it is clear that you are a stunning beauty, Aglaya Ivanovna. Because you are so beautiful that no one dares to look up."

"That's all? What about moral character?" The general's wife asked stubbornly. "It's hard to judge beauty. I'm not ready for it. Beauty is a mystery." "Then you let Aglaya play charades," said Adelaida. "Aglaya, guess what. Is she pretty, duke, is she pretty?" "Very beautiful!" replied the prince enthusiastically, looking at Aglaya in fascination. "Almost like Nastasya Filippovna, although the face is quite different..." Everyone looked at each other in surprise. "Like who?" asked the general's wife, drawn out. "Like Nastasya Filippovna? ​​Where did you meet Nastasya Filippovna? ​​Which Nastasya?" Ya Filippovna?"

"Just now, Gavrila Ardalionovitch showed the photograph to Ivan Fyodorovitch." "Why, have Ivan Fyodorovitch all the photographs?" "It was for him. Nastasya Filippovna sent Gavrila Ardalionovich her own photograph today, and he showed it to him." "I want to see it too!" said the general's wife aggressively. "What about that photo? Since it was given to him, it should be by his side. Of course he is still in the study. He comes here to work every Wednesday, and never before Leave here at four o'clock. Call me Gavrila Ardalionovich at once! No, I am not obliged to see him. Please, my dear prince, go to the study, Tell him to bring the picture. Say to take a look. Excuse me."

"He's okay, but his mind is too simple." Adelaida said after the Duke went out. "Yes, but too much," agreed Alexandra, "so it's a little ridiculous." The two sisters didn't seem to have said all they thought. "And then again, he played a trick on our faces, and he did it beautifully," Aglaya said, "and flattered everyone, even Maman." "Don't be silly, please!" cried the general's wife. "It's not that he complimented me, but that I was flattered." "You think he's playing tricks?" asked Adelaida.

"I don't think his mind is that simple." "Oh, here we go again!" said the general's wife angrily. "In my opinion, you are more ridiculous than him. Although he is simple-minded, he is very shrewd, of course, in the best way. Just like me." "Of course, it's terrible, I slipped up about the photograph," the prince thought to himself, feeling very sorry as he walked towards the study, "but... maybe it would be nice to slip up..." A thought flashed through his mind. I had a strange idea, although the idea is not very clear. Gavrila Ardalionovitch was still sitting in his study, absorbed in papers.It seems that he did not take the company salary for nothing.When the Duke asked him for the photo and told him how they knew about it, he showed embarrassment.

"Oh-oh! What are you talking about!" he exclaimed in anger and chagrin. "You don't know anything... idiot!" he said to himself. "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that at all, and I just said it. I said that Aglaya was almost as beautiful as Nastasya Filippovna." Ganya asked him to elaborate, and the duke told him everything.Ganya looked at him mockingly again. "You remember Nastasya Filippovna's name pretty well..." he murmured, but then fell into thought again. He was visibly panicked.The duke reminded him again about taking the picture.

"I mean Duke," Ganya said suddenly, as if he had an idea, "I have an unkind request for you... But, to be honest, I don't know..." He looked embarrassed, he didn't finish his sentence, he seemed to be undecided, struggling with ideas.The duke waited without a word.Ganya looked him up and down again with tentative and focused eyes. "Prince," he began again, "there is something to me... because of a very strange... It was superfluous—they seemed a little angry with me, so for a while I didn't want to go in there until they called me. But now I desperately need to talk to Aglaya Ivanovna. I wrote a few words just in case (a folded note appeared in his hand), but I don't know how to give it to her. Duke, can you please give it to Aglaya Ivanovna? ​​Give it to her right away, but only to Aglaya Ivanovna, that is, without anyone seeing it, do you understand? It's no secret at all. It's not like that...but...can you do it?"

"It is not very pleasant to ask me to do such a thing," answered the prince. "Oh, Prince, I am in urgent need!" Ganya began begging him, "she may answer... Believe me, I only ask you when I have to, really have to... except you, I Who can I ask to send it to? ... This matter is very important ... very, very important to me ..." Ganya was very guilty, afraid that the Duke would not agree, so he looked into his eyes with an air of pleading. "Okay, I'll leave it to her." "But don't let anyone see it," begged Ganya, overjoyed, "I'm counting on your promise, duke, eh?"

"I will never show it to anyone," said the Duke. "This text message is not sealed, but..." Ganya said in a panic, but stopped in the middle of speaking, embarrassed. "Oh, I won't read it," replied the prince very simply, and he took the photograph and went out of the study. Ganya hugged his head when left alone. "If she says a word, I'll... I'll, really, I might break with her! . . . " Excited and anticipating, he could no longer sit down and deal with official documents, and he began to pace up and down in the study, from one corner to another.

The prince was walking, thinking: he was surprised and displeased by the business Ganyato had done, and also surprised and displeased by the thought of Ganya writing to Aglaya.But when he was two rooms away from the living room, he stopped suddenly, seemed to remember something, looked around for a while, went to the window, leaned closer to the light, and looked at Nastasia Faye. Lipovna's photo. He seemed to be trying to decipher something hidden in this face that had just surprised him.The impression he had just acquired lingered, and he seemed eager to reexamine something now.This face, of extraordinary beauty and in a way unusual, surprised him all the more now.There seemed to be a boundless pride and contempt, almost hatred, in this face, and at the same time something trusting and surprisingly kind.The contrast even inspired a certain pity after a fleeting glance at the visage.This dazzling beauty is even unbearable.His face is pale, his cheeks are almost sunken, but his eyes are like fire—what a strange beauty is the beauty formed by this!The prince looked at it for a while, woke up suddenly, looked around, brought the picture hastily to his lips, and kissed it.A minute later, when he walked into the living room, his face was very calm. But just as he stepped into the dining room (a room separated from the living room), Aglaya came out just in time and almost bumped into him at the door.Just her. "Gavrila Ardalionovich asked me to give it to you," said the prince, handing her the letter. Aglaya stopped, took the note, and looked at the prince strangely.There was no embarrassment in her eyes, except for a little surprise, and this surprise seemed to come only from the Duke.Aglaya shot him a quick glance, as if asking for an answer—how did he get involved with Ganya in this matter? ——When she expressed this request, her expression was calm and haughty.They stood face to face for a while, and finally, a slight sneer appeared on her face, then she smiled lightly and turned her head away. The general's wife looked at Nastasya Filippovna's photograph for a moment in silence and somewhat contemptuously.She held the photo, stretched her arms, and deliberately placed it far away from her eyes, with a slight affectation. "Yes, very pretty," she said at last, "even very pretty. I have seen her twice, but at a distance. Do you like such beauty?" she asked the prince abruptly. "Yes... I like such beauty..." the Duke replied with a little effort. "So, this is the beauty you like?" "That's how beautiful it is." "why?" "There's a lot of pain on this face..." the Duke said, as if unconsciously, and as if talking to himself, as if he wasn't answering the question. "But maybe you're talking nonsense," said the General's wife, throwing the photo on the table in a dismissive gesture. Alexandra picked up the photo, and Adelaida walked over, and the two began to look at it.At this moment Aglaya returned to the drawing room. "It's powerful!" Adelaida yelled, greedily looking at the picture over her sister's shoulder. "Where? What power?" Lizaveta Prokofievna asked hastily. "Such beauty is power." Adelaida said enthusiastically, "A woman with such beauty can turn the world upside down!" She stepped back thoughtfully and walked to the easel.Aglaya just glanced at the picture briefly, then narrowed her eyes, pouted her lips, stepped aside, folded her arms, and sat down. The general's wife rang the bell. "Call Gavrila Ardalionovitch here, he's in the study," she told the servant who came in. "Maman!" Alexandra yelled with ulterior motives. "I want to say a few words to him!" The general's wife interrupted her objection and hurriedly interjected.She was obviously very annoyed, "Duke, you see, everything in our house is a secret now. It's all a secret! We must keep it secret everywhere, and we must keep our family scandals out. It's so stupid. Why should we keep this matter secret? We need to do this." Completely open, clear and frank. I am talking about a few marriages, and I don't like any of these marriages..." "Maman, what are you talking about?" Alexandra hurriedly stopped her. "What's the matter with you, dear girl? Don't you like it yourself? It doesn't matter if the Duke hears it. We are friends. At least I am friends with him. Of course the people God looks for are good people, as for those who have evil intentions and go back on their promises." He doesn't want people, especially people who say one thing one day and say another thing the next. Do you understand, miss? They say I'm a monster, duke, but I know good and bad. For a man's most important thing Good intentions, everything else is nonsense. Of course you need to be smart... maybe, smart is the most important thing. Don't laugh, Aglaya, I don't mean to contradict myself when I say this: a fool with a heart and no brains and a fool with a heart and no heart Fools are alike unlucky. That's the old saying. I'm a fool with a heart and no brains, and you're a fool with no brains, so we're both unlucky, and we both suffer." "What's wrong with you, Maman?" Adelaida couldn't help asking, she was probably the only one among the mother and daughter who didn't lose her joy. "First, because of these learned daughters," the general's wife replied decisively, "this alone is enough for you, as for the others, you don't need to talk about it. How much talk has been spent. I want to see , you two (I don't count Aglaya), you are both clever and eloquent, how will you marry in the future? Dear Miss Alexandra Ivanovna, you and your venerable gentleman can Are you happy? . . . Ah! . . . " Suddenly seeing Ganya coming in, she exclaimed, "Look, here comes another bridegroom. Hello!" She answered Ganya's greeting without asking him to sit down. Next, "Are you getting married soon?" "Marry? . . . how? . . . what? . . . " Gavrila Ardalionovitch was dumbfounded and bewildered by the question, muttering. "I ask you, are you getting married soon? If you prefer to say so?" "No—no...I...no, no—" Gavrila Ardalionovitch lied, flushing with shame, and glanced at Aglaya who was sitting nearby. , quickly moved his eyes away.Aglaya watched him coldly, calmly, and intently, observing his embarrassment. "No? You say no?" demanded the ruthless Lizaveta Prokofievna stubbornly. "Well, I'll keep that in mind. Today, Wednesday morning, you are answering my question." Said 'no' to the question. What day is it, is it Wednesday?" "Looks like Wednesday, Maman," Adelaida replied. "Never know the day of the week. What's the date?" "Number twenty-seven," Ganya replied. "The twenty-seventh? It's an auspicious day, by some calculations. Good-bye, you seem to have a lot of business to do, and I should get dressed and go out. Take your picture away. Give my regards to poor Nenny." Na Alexandrovna. Farewell, dear prince! Please come to the house often, I will pay a special visit to Mrs. Belokonskaya and tell her about you. Listen to me, dear: I believe , you were brought from Switzerland to Petersburg specially for me by God. Perhaps you have other things to do, but mainly for me. That's how God decided. Goodbye, dear. Alexandra, Come into my room, baby." The general's wife walked out of the living room.Dejected, flustered, annoyed, Ganya took the photograph from the table and said to the prince with a wry smile: "Duke, I'm going home right now. If you don't change your mind and decide to live in my house, I can take you there, otherwise, you don't even know the address." "Wait, prince," said Aglaya, standing up suddenly from the armchair, "you still have to write a few words in the souvenir book for me. Papa said you are a calligrapher. I'll bring it to you..." She said that and walked out. "Good-bye, duke, I'm going out too," said Alexandra. She shook the prince's hand tightly, smiled at him politely and affectionately, and went out.She didn't even look at Ganya. "It's you," Ganya snapped at the prince as soon as they left, "it's you who tell them I'm getting married!" , with eyes shining fiercely, "You are a shameless teller!" "I say you are mistaken," replied the prince, calmly and politely, "that I have no idea that you are going to be married." "You just heard Ivan Fyodorovitch say that everything will be decided at Nastasya Filippovna's to-night, and you just let it out! You lied! How did they know that?" ?Damn it, who's going to tell them but you? Didn't the old woman insinuate that to me?" "If you think she is insinuating at you, you must know better who told her. I said nothing about it." "Have you given her the letter? What about the reply?" Ganya interrupted impatiently.But at this moment, Aglaya returned, and the duke had no time to answer anything. "Here, Prince," said Aglaya, putting her yearbook on the little table, "choose a page and write me whatever you want. This is a pen, and it's new. Does it matter if you use a pen? I hear It is said that calligraphers don’t use pens.” She was talking to the prince as if she hadn't seen Ganya there at all.But while the duke was correcting the nib, looking for the blank pages, and getting ready to write, Ganya went up to the fireplace where Aglaya (who was now standing on the duke's right) stood, and, in a trembling, broken voice, almost addressed her Whispered: "One word, just say one word—and I'm saved." The Duke turned quickly and looked at the two of them.Genuine desperation clouded Ganya's face.He seemed to say this without thinking, as if desperately.Aglaya looked at him calmly and in astonishment for a few seconds, exactly the same as when she saw the duke just now, her calm and amazed expression seemed that she did not understand what was being said to her at all, this kind of inexplicable His manner seemed to Ganya at the moment to be more terrifying than the worst contempt. "What shall I write?" asked the Duke. "I'll dictate to you now," said Aglaya, turning to him, "ready? You just write: 'I'm not in the deal.' Then write the months and days. Let me see. " The Duke handed her the album. "Excellent! Very well written, your calligraphy is very good! Thank you. Good-bye, Duke... Wait," she added, as if suddenly remembering, "Let's go together, I will I want to give you something as a souvenir." The Duke followed her, but after entering the dining room, Aglaya stopped. "Look at this," she said, handing him Gania's text message. The Duke took the letter and looked at Aglaya inexplicably. "I know you have not read the letter, and cannot possibly be the man's confidant. Look, I want you to read it." The letter was clearly written in haste: Today will decide my fate, you know what way to do it.I have to make a statement today, and once I say something, it is hard to follow.I have no right to count on your sympathy, and I dare not have any extravagant expectations, but you once said a word, just a word, and this word suddenly illuminated my life like a night, and became my beacon.Now you only need to say the same word one more time - you will save me from destruction!You just need to say to me: Blow, I will break up with her today.Oh, what does it matter to you!I only ask for a little token of your sympathy and pity for me in this word—that's all, that's all!Nothing more, nothing more!I dare not hope for anything, because I am not worthy of hope.But after hearing this word, I shall be content again, and happily bear my hopeless situation.I will meet the battle, I will go into it with joy, and in this battle I will regenerate with new strength. Please send me this line of sympathy (just sympathy, I swear to you!).Please don't be angry with a hopeless man, a drowning man, who has the audacity to struggle for his life. Ga Yi After the duke had read the letter, Aglaya said unceremoniously: "This man guarantees that as long as I say one word: 'Blow'--it will neither damage my reputation nor bind me in any way, And you see, he wrote this letter in his own hand to give me a written pledge. Notice how naively he puts an emphasis on a word in haste, but his shady thoughts are obvious. He knows I know that if he did blow it, and he did it by himself, without waiting for me to say anything, without even mentioning it to me, and without any hope of me, I might change my attitude towards him from now on, Maybe he can still be his friend. He knows this very well! But his soul is too dirty: he knows it clearly, but he can't make up his mind. Although he knows it clearly, he still wants to ask for a guarantee. He just knows , he would not act decisively. He wanted me to give him a hope of getting me in return for the hundred thousand rubles. As for what he said in his letter, which seemed to light up his life, I used to say It was a shameless lie. I had only pitied him once. But he was arrogant and shameless: at once a notion that seemed hopeless flashed through him, and I knew it at once. He has been chasing me since then, and he is still chasing me now. But enough. Take this letter and return it to him, and return it to him as soon as you leave our house, and of course, there is no need to give it to him in advance." "How do I call him back?" "Of course, nothing needs to be said. That's the best answer. As for you, so you want to live with him?" "Just now, Ivan Fyodorovitch personally recommended it to me," said the prince. "I'll take care of you. You have to be careful of him. Return this letter to him now, and he will never let you go lightly." Aglaya slightly shook the Duke's hand and walked out.Her face was serious, her brows were deeply furrowed, and she didn't even smile when she nodded goodbye to the Duke. "I'll be right back, and I'll get my bundle," said the prince to Ganya, "and I'll go." Ganya stamped impatiently.His face was black with rage.At last they came out into the street, the prince with his bundle in his hands. "An answer? An answer?" Ganya shouted at him. "What did she say? Did you give her the letter?" The duke silently handed him his letter.Ganya was stunned. "What? My letter!" he exclaimed. "You didn't hand it to her! Oh! I should have expected it! Oh, damn it... No wonder she didn't understand anything, you Why, why, why didn't you give it to her, oh, the damn thing..." "I beg your pardon, but on the contrary, I handed your letter to her as soon as it came to me, and exactly as you requested. As for it reappearing in my hands, it was because of Aglaya Ivanovna just returned it to me." "When? When?" "Just as I was finishing my yearbook, she asked me out (didn't you hear me?). When we went into the dining room, she gave me this letter to look at, and then asked me to return it to you." "Look!" Ganya cried, almost at the top of his lungs. "Look! Have you seen it?" He stopped on the sidewalk again, dumbfounded, but he was so surprised that he opened his mouth wide in surprise. "Yes, I saw it, just saw it." "Did she let you see it in person? In person?" "Personally, please believe me, if she doesn't ask me to watch it, I won't watch it." Ganya was silent for a moment, thinking hard about something, but shouted again suddenly: "Impossible! She couldn't have asked you to read it. You are lying! You read it yourself!" "I am telling the truth," replied the prince, still very calmly. "Believe me: I am very sorry, but I did not expect this to have such an unpleasant impression on you." "But, poor luck, at least she said something to you at the time? She must have something to answer me?" "Yes, of course." "Then go on, go on, oh, hell! . . . " Ganya, who was wearing overshoes, stomped the pavement twice with his right foot. "As soon as I finished, she told me that you were chasing her, saying that you wanted to damage her reputation, only to get hope from her, and then rely on this hope to cut off another one at no cost and get a hundred thousand rubles She said she might be your friend if you did, didn't haggle with her, bragged about it, and didn't ask her for a guarantee in advance. That's all it seemed. Yes, and : After I received the letter, I asked her how to answer, and she said, no answer is the best answer——it seems, that’s it. Please forgive me, I forgot what she said, and I can only tell you what I understand .” Boundless anger filled Ganya's heart, and he blurted out uncontrollably: "Ah! So that's what happened!" He gritted his teeth, "throwing my letter out of the window! Ah! She won't take part in the transaction—then I will! Let's wait and see! I have plenty of ways... Let's wait Just wait and see! . . . I must make her obedient! . . . " His mouth was contorted with anger, his face was pale and foaming at the mouth; he raised his fist menacingly.They walked a few steps like this.He had no scruples or restraints about the duke, as if he were alone in his room, because he didn't think much of him at all, as a zero.But he suddenly understood something and woke up. "What's the matter," he said suddenly to the prince, "what's the matter with you (idiot!—he added to himself), that it's only been two hours since you two first met, and she Trust you so much? What's going on?" Of all his misery he was short of jealousy.Jealousy gnawed at his heart violently. "I can't tell you that," answered the duke. Ganya looked at him viciously. "Did she send you to the dining room just to give you this confidence? Didn't she say she wanted to give you something?" "Unless this is the case, I don't understand, why is it so?" "What the hell is it for, damn it! What the hell did you do there? What on earth did you win her over? Listen to me," he said suddenly (at the moment, he seemed to be confused and confused. , the blood is boiling, so I can’t concentrate), “Listen, can you think about it, go through it one by one, what exactly did you say there, start from the beginning, think about everything you said, you didn’t find anything Can't remember?" "Oh, that's exactly what I remember!" replied the duke. "At first, when I went in, and after exchanging pleasantries, we talked about Switzerland." "Oh, to hell with Switzerland!" "Then it comes to the death penalty..." "death penalty?" "Yes, for some reason... Then I told them about my three years in Switzerland, and about a poor country girl..." "Oh, let this poor country girl go to hell! What about the future!" Ganya said impatiently. "Later, I told them that Schneider expressed his opinion on my character and insisted that I..." "Tell Schneider to stay away, his opinion is none of my business! From now on!" "Then, for one reason, I began to talk about faces, that is, about facial expressions, and I said that Aglaya Ivanovna was almost as beautiful as Nastasya Filippovna. That is to say, Here, I slipped my tongue and mentioned photos..." "But did you tell them, you never told them what you just heard in the study? No? Did you not?" "I repeat to you: no!" "Where did it come from, what the hell... Oh! Didn't Aglaya show the old woman this letter?" "I can assure you of that. I didn't show it to her. I've been here all the time, and she hasn't time." "Probably you didn't notice yourself... oh! Damn--damned idiot," he cried, completely out of control, "you can't speak clearly!" Ganya, as often happens to some people, gradually lost any restraint by swearing without retaliation.In a few moments, he might be about to spit in people's faces, because he's in a rage.But it was also because of this rage that he was blinded, or else he should have noticed that this so-called "idiot" he despises can sometimes see everything very quickly and carefully, and is good at reasoning. relay everything.But suddenly something unexpected happened. "I should point out to you, Gavrila Ardalionovitch," said the prince suddenly, "that I was not very healthy, indeed almost an idiot, but I am well now, and that is why I am called an idiot to my face." , I'm a little upset. Although I noticed that something was wrong with you, it's understandable, but you scolded me twice in a fit of anger. This is something I don't like to hear, especially if it's your first time Talk badly when we meet, because now we are standing at a crossroads, we might as well part ways, you go to the right, go home, I go to the left. I have twenty-five rubles, and I will definitely find a hotel garni." Ganya was so embarrassed that he even blushed. "Excuse me, duke," he exclaimed warmly, changing his tone suddenly from abusive to polite, "for God's sake, please forgive me! You have seen it all, what a misfortune I am! You almost I don't know anything, and if you knew the whole situation, you would forgive me more or less. Although, it goes without saying, my conduct was inexcusable..." "Oh, I don't need your apologies at all," replied the prince hastily. "You curse because you're unhappy, I understand that. Well, let's go to the house. I'm glad..." "No, he must not be let go now," Ganya looked at the prince angrily, thinking to himself, "this liar has found out all about me, and in the future he will suddenly take off his mask... what a joke it will be." Yes. Well, we'll see! Everything will work out, everything, everything! Today!" They were already standing near a building.