Chapter 71 quagmire

quagmire one A young man wearing a snow-white officer's uniform, swaying gracefully on the saddle, walked into the large courtyard of the "Heir of Mo. Ye. Rotstein" brewery.The sun smiled carelessly at the lieutenant's little star, at the white trunks of the birch trees, at the piles of broken glass here and there in the yard.Everything has the bright and healthy beauty of the summer day, and nothing can stop the green leaves from trembling happily, eye-catching with the clear blue sky.Not even the smoky squalor of the brick buildings and the stifling smell of fusel oil did not spoil the good mood that prevailed.The lieutenant dismounted happily, handed the horse over to a servant who ran over, stroked his sparse black mustache with his fingers, and walked into the front door of the main house.He went up an old staircase that was brightly lit and carpeted.On the top step he met a maidservant, who was no longer young, and looked a little haughty.The lieutenant silently handed her the card.

The maid came into the inner room with the card, and saw the words "Alexander Grigorevich Sokolsky" printed on it.After a while, she came back and told the lieutenant that the lady could not receive him because she was not well.Sokolski raised his eyes to the ceiling and stuck out his lower lip. "It's nerve-wracking!" he said. "Listen, dear," he said hastily, "go again and tell Susana Moiseyevna that I need to speak to her. Very much! I just want Delay her a minute. Please forgive me." The maid shrugged only one shoulder, and then slouched over to meet her mistress.

"Okay!" She came back after a while and said with a sigh. "Come in!" The lieutenant followed her through large, richly furnished rooms of fifty or sixty, through a long passage, and finally into a spacious, square room.As soon as he entered the room, he was secretly amazed, because there were so many flowers there, and the sweet smell of jasmine was disgustingly strong.The hedgerows along the walls were covered with flowers, and the foliage shaded the windows, and hung upside down from the ceiling, and covered the corners with foliage, making the room more like a conservatory than a dwelling.Titmouse, canaries, and goldfinches twittered and hopped among the green leaves and bumped against the window panes.

"Forgive me for receiving you here!" The lieutenant heard a woman's clear voice, the letter P was pronounced indistinctly, but pleasantly. "I had a migraine attack yesterday, and today I was afraid of another attack, so I tried my best not to move. What can you do?" It turned out that a woman was sitting on a large armchair for the elderly directly opposite the door, her head was leaning back on the pillow, and she was wearing an expensive Chinese nightgown with her head covered. Only one big black eye and a long white nose with a slightly arched bridge and a sharp tip emerged from her knitted wool scarf.The long nightgown concealed her figure and figure, but from her beautiful white hands, her voice, her nose and eyes, it could be concluded that she was no more than twenty-six to twenty-eight years old.

"Forgive me for asking so stubbornly to see you..." the lieutenant began to speak, putting the heels of his boots together and saluting, his spurs slamming. "I have the honor to introduce myself, my name is Sokolsky! I have come here at the behest of my cousin, your neighbor Alexey Ivanovich Kryukov, He..." "Oh, I know him!" interrupted Susana Moiseyevna. "I know Kryukov. Sit down, I don't like such a big man standing in front of me." "My cousin asked me to ask you to do me a favor," the lieutenant continued, clinking his spurs again, sitting down. "The thing is, your dead father owed my cousin a small sum for buying oats at my cousin last winter. The bill my cousin got wasn't due until next week, but my cousin earnestly I beg you: can this debt be paid off today?"

The lieutenant squinted sideways as he spoke. "Yes, I seem to be in her bedroom?" he thought to himself. There is a corner of this room where the green leaves are densest and tallest. There is a bed with a coffin-like pink curtain. The quilt on the bed is messy and has not been tidied up.Beside the bed were two armchairs, upon which were piled up a heap of women's dress, with skirts and sleeves ruffled with lace and frills, which were now rumpled and hanging down on the carpet.Here and there on the carpet were little white ribbons, two or three cigarette butts, wrappers for bonbons. ...a long row of pointed and round-toed slippers of various colors emerged from under the bed.It seemed to the lieutenant that the sweet scent of jasmine was emanating not from the flowers but from the bed and the row of slippers.

"And how much money is on the bill?" Susana Moiseyevna asked. "Two thousand three." "Hey!" said the Jewish woman, showing her other big, dark eye. "You say it's not a lot! But it doesn't matter if it's paid today or in a week, it's all the same, but after my father died, I paid so much in these two months... ...so many troubles that I am dizzy! I have repeatedly asked to go abroad to recuperate, but they force me to do these boring things, such as white wine, oatmeal..." she complained, Closing his eyes slightly, "Oats, IOUs, interest, or 'liggies', as my chief steward calls them. . . . This is terrible. I simply sent the tax collector away yesterday. He took his The Tralles of the 2 came to pester me. I said to him: You and your Tralles go away, I will not accept anyone! He kissed my hand and went away. Listen! I said, can't your cousin wait another two or three months?"

"That's a cruel question!" laughed the lieutenant. "Cousin, it's all right to wait another year, but I can't wait! You know, the money, I must explain to you, was raised for myself. I must get some money anyway, but Cousin Unfortunately, I don't have any spare money. I had to ride out to collect debts. Just now I went to the house of a farmer who rented his land. Now, I am sitting here with you, and I will go out from you to pay back the debt. I have to go elsewhere until the five thousand is collected. I am anxiously waiting for the money to be used!" "Come on, what do young people want money for? This is evil thinking, nonsense.

Have you lost money by eating, drinking and playing, or owed gambling debts, or are you going to get married? " "You guessed it right!" The lieutenant smiled, leaned up slightly, and slammed his spurs. "Indeed, I'm getting married soon..." Susana Moiseevna fixed her eyes on her visitor, made a grimace, and sighed. "I don't understand why people are so obsessed with getting married!" she said, looking for a handkerchief beside her. "Life is so short, freedom is so rare, yet they still want to tie their own hands and feet." "Each has his own opinion. . . . "

"Yes, yes, of course, everyone has their own opinion. . . . But listen to me, did you marry a poor girl? Was it out of passionate love? And why did you ask for five thousand instead of Four thousand, not three thousand?" "Hey, she's such a slob!" thought the lieutenant, and then replied, "Here's the thing: Officers are not legally allowed to marry before the age of twenty-eight. If you must marry, you must either retire or pay a five thousand bond." .” "Oh, now I see. Listen, you said just now that everyone has an opinion. ... Maybe your fiancée is a great, wonderful woman, but ... I just don't understand how decent people can live with women.Even if you kill me, I don't understand.Thank goodness I've lived to be twenty-seven years old, but I've never seen a barely passable woman in my life.They're all posturing, immoral, liars. ... Only maids and cooks I can bear, as for the so-called high-class women, even if they are as far away from me as a cannon-shot, I will not tolerate them.Yeah, thank goodness they hate me too and don't come here.If they want money, they send their husbands, and they say nothing.It's not because of pride, no, it's just because of cowardice, I'm afraid I'll make a big fuss with them.Ah, their jealousy, I know very well!Of course!Some of their thoughts try to hide from God and outsiders, but I put them out in the open.That being the case, how can they not hate me?They've probably already said a whole lot of bad things about me when they've told you about me. ...""I haven't been here too long, so...""Come on, come on, come on,... I can see it in your eyes!

Could it be that your cousin didn't tell you anything when you came here?How could a young man go to such a bad woman without warning?Ha ha. ...But how is your cousin?He's a nice guy, and he's really pretty. … I saw him a few times at mass.Why are you looking at me like that?I go to church a lot!Everyone believes in one God.Appearance is always less important to educated people than thought. ……right? " "Yes, of course, . . . " said the lieutenant, smiling slightly. "Yes, thought. . . . But you don't look like your cousin at all. You're pretty, too, but your cousin is much prettier. It's strange how you don't look like an elephant!" "It's not surprising: we're not blood brothers, but cousins." "Yes, that's true. Then you must have the money today? Why must it be today?" "My vacation will be full in a few days." "Oh, what can I do with you!" sighed Susana Moiseyevna. "That's how it is, I'll just give you money, but I know that you will scold me in the future. When you get into a quarrel with your wife after you're married, you'll say, "I might be as free as a bird now if that dirty Jew didn't pay me!" Is your fiancée pretty?" "Yes, it's pretty good..." "Well!...Anyway, it's better to be decent and prettier than not to be pretty. However, to a husband, no matter how beautiful a woman is, she can't make up for her shallowness and boredom." "That's amazing!" the lieutenant laughed. "You are a woman yourself, yet you hate women so much!" "Woman..." Susana sneered. "God can blame me for giving me such a body? It's not my fault, just like you can't blame you for having a mustache. What kind of violin case should be chosen is not up to the violin itself. I I like myself very much, but when people mention I'm a woman, I start to hate myself. Well, you go out, I want to change. You wait for me in the drawing room." The first thing the lieutenant did when he went out was to exhale deeply, so that he could exhale the strong aroma of jasmine, which had made his head dizzy and his throat itchy. He was secretly surprised. "What a strange woman!" he thought to himself, looking around. "She's quite methodical in her speech, but . . . she talks too much, and too openly. She seems a little out of her mind." He is standing in the living room now.The furnishing here is sumptuous, trying to be gorgeous and fashionable.Here were dark copper plates carved in relief, and pictures of Nice and the Rhine on the table.There are also ancient candle holders and Japanese figurines.But all this, for all its splendor and fashion, had a lack of beauty, which was strongly expressed by the gilded cornices, the colorful wallpaper, the bright velvet table-cloths, the cheap colored pictures in heavy frames. a little.It seems that the decoration here has not been completed, but it is already overcrowded, which further shows the lack of aesthetic feeling, making people feel that there is something missing here, and at the same time, there are many things that should be discarded.Obviously, all the furnishings were not bought all at once, but they were put together one by one while taking advantage of the favorable opportunity of sale at a reduced price. The lieutenant's own aesthetic ability is not very good!But even he found a characteristic characteristic of the whole arrangement, which neither splendor nor fashion could ever obliterate, namely the complete absence of traces of the woman's housekeeping hands, which, as we all know, are It will add warm, poetic and comfortable colors to the layout of the room.The atmosphere here is as cold as in station waiting rooms, clubs, and theater lounges. There is almost nothing in this room of real Jewish things, with the possible exception of a large painting depicting the meeting of Jacob and Esau.The Lieutenant looked around, and shrugged his shoulders at the thought of his strange new acquaintance, her casual manner and manner of speaking.But then the door opened, and she herself appeared in the doorway, a slender figure in a long black dress with a narrow waist that seemed to have been turned by a turner.Now the lieutenant saw not only the nose and eyes, but a thin, white face with black hair curled like wool.Although he didn't think she was ugly, he still didn't like her.In general, he was prejudiced against non-Russian faces, and now, besides this, he found that the mistress's white face was so disproportionate to her black curly hair and bushy eyebrows that he was not as white as him. How can I think of the sweet fragrance of jasmine.He also noticed that her ears and nose were strangely white, as if they were on the face of a dead person, or as if they were made of transparent wax.She smiled, showing her white teeth and pale gums, which also disliked him. "It's chlorosis, . . . " he thought to himself. "Maybe she's nervous, like a hen." "Here, here I come! Let's go!" She said, walking quickly in front of him, picking off yellow leaves from the flowering branches along the way. "I'll give you the money right away, and I'll treat you to breakfast if you like. Two thousand three hundred rubles! You've got an appetite for dinner after making such a fortune. You like mine." A room? The ladies here say I smell of garlic. Their cleverness is spent on such kitchen-like sarcasm. I hasten to assure you that I don't even have garlic in my cellar. Once a doctor came to see me, and there was a smell of garlic, so I asked him to take his hat and get in the carriage to go to other places to spread his fragrance. I don't have garlic here, only medicine. My father was paralyzed for a while. A year and a half, and the whole house smells of medicine. A year and a half! I feel pity for him, but I am also happy that he is dead: he is in too much pain!" She led the officer through two parlor-like rooms, then down a hall, and stopped in her study.There stood a woman's desk, covered with knick-knacks.On the nearby rug lay several open and folded books.There was a small door in the study, through which one could see a table on which breakfast was already set. Nattering incessantly, Susana took a bunch of small keys from her pocket, and opened an exquisitely crafted chest with a lid that bent down obliquely.When the lid was lifted, the cabinet hummed, making a mournful note that reminded the lieutenant of a wind blower.Susanna took another key and slammed the kada again. "My house has a tunnel and a secret door," she said, taking out a small high-quality goatskin bag. "It's a ridiculous chest, isn't it? This leather bag contains a quarter of my property. Look how big its belly is! You won't strangle me, will you?" Susana raised her eyes to the lieutenant and smiled kindly.The lieutenant laughed too. "She's lovely!" he thought, turning the keys through her fingers. "I found it!" she said, picking out the small key to open her purse. "Well, Mr. Creditor, please show me the IOU. What a fool money is in fact! How trivial it is, but how much women love it! You know, I'm a Jew through and through, and I like it with all my heart. Shymur and Jankel⑦, but there is something in our Semitic blood that annoys me, and that is the desire to get rich. They always save money, and they don't know what they save it for. One should live and enjoyment, but they are afraid to spend an extra penny. I am more like a hussar than a Shymur in this respect. I do not like to have money sitting in one place for a long time. Generally speaking, it seems that I do not Elephant Jew. My accent gives me away, doesn't it?" "How should I tell you?" the lieutenant hesitated. "You speak Russian very well, but you can't pronounce some letters clearly." Susanna laughed, and slipped the little key into the keyhole of her purse.The lieutenant took out a small stack of IOUs from his pocket and put them on the table together with the notebook. "The Jewish accent is the easiest way to give them away," Susana went on, looking at the lieutenant cheerfully. "No matter how much a Jew pretends to be a Russian or a Frenchman, but if you ask him to say 'cloth', he says 'white'. . . . But I am right: cloth! cloth!cloth! " Both of them laughed. "My God, she's so lovely!" thought Sokolski. Susana put the purse on the chair, took a step towards the lieutenant, put her face close to his, and continued cheerfully: "I like the Russians and the French better than the Jews. I was poor in high school and knew nothing about history, but I always felt that the fate of the world was in the hands of these two peoples.I have lived abroad for a long time, ... even in Madrid for half a year, ... I have seen many people, and I have come to the conviction that there are no other decent peoples except the Russians and the French. .Take language for example. ... German neighs like a horse, and English, you can't imagine anything more difficult to understand, full of babbles!Italian is only good if you speak it slowly.But listening to an Italian rap is like listening to a Jew speak their vernacular.Polish?My God, Lord!It doesn't get any worse than Polish. 'Niebipuxi, Bietxie, Bixiemuweipusha, Baomozhixie, Bibixitsweshabixiemu. ’ This means: Peter, don’t sprinkle pepper on the suckling pig, or the suckling pig will be too hot. Hahaha! " Susana Moiseyevna rolled her eyes and laughed in a voice so sweet and contagious that the lieutenant, looking at her, laughed with delight.She took hold of her visitor by a button, and went on: "You, of course, don't like Jews. . . . I'm not going to argue that they have many faults, like all peoples. But can it be blamed on the Jews? No." You can't blame the Jewish men, but the Jewish women! They are stupid, greedy, poetic, and boring. . . . You have never lived with a Jewish woman, so you don't know the beauty of it!" These last words came out of Susana Moiseyevna's drawl, without enthusiasm or laughter.She fell silent, as if frightened by her own frankness.Suddenly her face changed drastically, she looked strange and incomprehensible.She stared blankly at the lieutenant without blinking her eyes, her lips parted to show her clenched teeth.All over her face, neck, and breasts, there was a vicious, feline look quivering.She didn't take her eyes off the guest, but she quickly bent to the side, and suddenly, like a cat, she snatched something from the table.All this is just a matter of seconds.The lieutenant watched her movements, and at a glance saw that her five fingers were clustering his IOU in her hand, and the rustling white paper flashed before his eyes and disappeared in her fist.He paled and took a step back, startled at the sudden and unusual transition from well-intentioned laughter to crime. . . . She kept her frightened and probing eyes from him, and at the same time stretched her clenched fists to her hips, searching for pockets.The fist was trembling like a caught fish, struggling around the pocket, unable to get into the pocket no matter what.A moment later the IOU would have sunk into the depths of the woman's dress, but at that moment the lieutenant gave a little cry, more instinct than consideration, and grabbed the Jew by the wrist, just in time. Grip the upper part of the clenched fist.The woman bared her teeth more and more, twisted violently with all her strength, and broke free.So Sokolski put one arm around her waist and the other around her upper body, and the two wrestled.He was afraid of hurting the woman's dignity and hurting her, so he just tried his best not to let her move, trying to grab her fist holding the IOU.And she, like an eel, twisted her soft and elastic body in his arms, tried her best to escape, bumped her elbows into his chest, stretched out her hands to scratch him, causing his hands to touch her all over her body. , bumped her involuntarily, ignoring her decency. "How rare such a thing is! How strange!" he thought to himself, inexplicably astonished, unable to believe himself, and at the same time he could feel the scent of jasmine making him sick. They moved from place to place without a word, panting and tripping over the furniture.Susanna struggles harder and harder.She blushed, closed her eyes, and once pressed her face against the Lieutenant's in spite of decency, leaving a faint sweetness on his lips.At last he caught her fist. ... He opened his fist, only to find that the IOU was no longer there, and let go of the Jewish woman.They were red-faced, with shaggy hair, and breathless, and looked at each other.The feline ferocity on the Jew's face gradually gave way to a good-natured smile.She laughed loudly, turned around sharply, and walked towards the room where breakfast was prepared.The lieutenant followed slowly behind her.She sat down at the table, still flushed and short of breath, and drank half a glass of Portwyn. "Listen," said the lieutenant, breaking the silence, "I think you're joking?" "It's not a joke at all," she replied, popping a small piece of bread into her mouth. "Well!... Then, how should we understand this matter?" "As you like. Sit down and have breakfast!" "But... you must know that this is not decent!" "Perhaps. But please don't bother to reason with me. I have my own opinion of things." "Won't you give it back to me?" "Of course not! It's a different matter if you're poor, unfortunate, and hungry, but you're going to get married!" "But the money is not mine, but my cousin's!" "What does your cousin want money for? To make fashionable clothes for his wife? Whether your belle-s oeur has clothes or not, I don't care at all." The lieutenant no longer cared that he was in a stranger's house, with a woman he did not know, and he was no longer formal.He walked up and down the room, squinting his eyes, tugging at his waistcoat irritably.The Jewish woman's dishonest deeds lowered her status in his eyes, so he felt bolder and more free. "God knows what it is!" he murmured. "Listen to me, I won't leave here until I have the receipt in your hand!" "Ah, that's even better!" Susana laughed. "I'd be happier if you stayed here." Excited by the wrestling, the Lieutenant grew more and more daring as he watched Susanna's smiling, shameless face, her chewing mouth, and her panting breasts. Big and presumptuous.He no longer thought of the IOU, but recalled, for some reason or other, with a sort of greed, the affairs of the Jewish woman, the unscrupulous ways of her life, which his cousin had told him, and these recollections only aggravated him still more. .He simply sat down beside the Jewish woman, gave up the IOU, and ate. ... "Do you drink white wine or wine?" Susana asked with a smile. "Then you stayed to wait for the bill? Poor man, how many days and nights you have to spend with me waiting for the bill! Will your fiancée not be offended?" "Notes" ① refers to a Jewish accent (her name also indicates that she is Jewish). ② "Tralles" is a device for determining the alcohol content in wine, invented by German physicist Tralles. ——Russian text editor's note ③French resort. ④ The two legendary characters in "Old Testament Genesis" are the ancestors of the Jews. ⑤ women's anemia. ⑥A musical instrument that sounds when the wind blows. ⑦ The names of two Jews, which generally refer to "Jews" here. ⑧ A strong wine. ⑨French: sister-in-law. two Five hours passed.The lieutenant's cousin, Alexey Ivanovich Kryukov, in a long robe and slippers, was walking up and down from room to room on his estate, looking anxiously out of the windows.He was a tall, strong man, with a big black beard, and handsome, and the Jewish woman was right that he was beautiful, but he had come of age when men tend to be fat, flabby, and bald.In temperament and intellect, he was just the sort of man whom our intellectual circles are numerous in: earnest, gentle, cultivated, familiar with science, art, and faith, with the highest notions of honor, yet not deep in thought, indolent. scattered.He liked good food and good wine, was an ideal card player, and judged women and horses well, but in other respects he was as indifferent as a seal.To get him out of this state of ease, an extraordinary and very scandalous thing had to happen, and then he would forget everything in the world and be very active: he would cry out for a duel, give the minister Write a seven-page report, run all over the county at full speed, call people "bastards" in public, go to court, and so on. "Why does our Sasha Haven't come back by this time? "He looked out of the window and asked said his wife. "No, it's time for lunch." The Kryukovs waited for the lieutenant and did not sit down to lunch until six o'clock.In the evening, just as supper was about to be served, Alexey Ivanovitch shrugged his shoulders at the sound of footsteps and knocking at the door. "Strange!" he said. "This hateful young master has probably stayed at the tenant's house." After supper Kryukov went to bed, concluded that the lieutenant was a guest at the tenant's house, drank heavily, and stayed there for the night. Alexander Grigorevich did not return home until the next morning.He looked extremely embarrassed and dejected. "I want to talk to you alone, ..." he said furtively to his cousin. They went into the study.The lieutenant shut the door, and without speaking, walked up and down the room for a long time. "There's a strange thing going on, man," he began, "I don't even know how to tell you. You won't believe it. . . . " He stammered, blushing, and didn't look at his cousin. , Tell me about the IOU.Kryukov spread his legs, bowed his head and listened, frowning. "Are you joking?" he asked. "Which is a joke? Who has the heart to tell a joke!" "I don't understand!" murmured Kryukov, blushing and spreading his hands. "On your part, it's just . She kisses!" "But I don't even know how it happened!" whispered the lieutenant, squinting guiltily. "Honestly, I really don't understand! This is the first time in my life that I have encountered such a monster! She subdued me, not by beauty, nor by cleverness, but, you know, by shamelessness..." "Old Shameless, shameless... You are too dirty! If you really like old skin and shamelessness so much, then you simply pull a pig out of the mud and swallow it alive! That would at least The cost is not much, but now, two thousand and three!" "Look at what you're talking about!" said the lieutenant, frowning. "I'll give you back two thousand and three in the future!" "I know you will pay it back, but is the problem with the money? Get the hell out of it, the money! What makes me angry is that you are such an idiot, useless,... damn cowardly! You are still a fiancé! You actually have a fiancée! " "But you don't mention that..." said the lieutenant, blushing. "Even I hate myself now. I wish I could get into a crack in the ground. . . . I'm full of disgust and frustration: now I'm going to trouble my aunt for the five thousand. . . . " Kryukov complained. After nagging for a long time, he calmed down, sat down on the sofa, and began to laugh at his cousin. "What a lieutenant!" he said, with contemptuous sarcasm in his tone. "What a fiancé!" Suddenly, he jumped up as if bitten by a snake, stamped his feet, and ran around the room. "No, I can't just let this matter go!" He shook his fist and said. "I want to take back the IOU! I have to take it back! I want to show her some strength! Generally speaking, men don't like to beat women, but I want to beat her to the point of bruises all over her body... so that she has no good meat left." No! I'm not a lieutenant! Old cheeks and shamelessness won't impress me. No, damn her! Mischka," he cried, "go and order me to harness that buggy for me." Hurry up!" Kryukov quickly put on his overcoat, disobeyed the anxious lieutenant, got into the carriage, waved decisively, and drove straight to Susana Moiseyevna's house.The lieutenant looked out of the window for a long time, saw the smoke billowing up behind Kryukov's carriage, stretched himself, yawned, and went back to his room.A quarter of an hour later he was fast asleep. At five o'clock, someone woke him up to have lunch. "That's very nice of Alexei!" said the cousin, meeting him in the dining-room. "He forced everyone to wait for him, unable to eat lunch!" "Is he not back yet?" said the lieutenant, yawning. "Well, . . . probably went to the tenant's house." But when supper came, Alexey Ivanovitch still did not come back.His wife and Sokolski concluded that he had become obsessed with playing cards at the tenant's house, and probably spent the night there.In fact, what happened was completely different from what they had speculated. Kryukov returned only the next morning, and without greeting anyone, slipped off into his study without saying a word. "Oh, how is it?" whispered the lieutenant, looking at him with wide eyes. Kryukov shook his hand and snorted. "But what's the matter? What are you laughing at?" Kryukov threw himself on the couch, thrust his head under the cushion, and tried to hold back a laugh that made him tremble all over.After a minute he sat up, looked at the astonished lieutenant with tears of laughter, and said, "You close the door. Hey, this bitch can do it, let me tell you!" "Did you get the IOU back?" Kryukov waved his hand and laughed again. "Hey, this bitch can do it!" he went on. "Brother, if you know such a woman, you have to say merci! She's a devil in a dress. I went to her house, went in, you know, like Jupiter, and I was afraid of myself, . . . wrinkled She frowns, her face is full of anger, and she even clenched her fists in order to look majestic.... I said: "Madam, you can't joke with me! 'That's the way it is said.I moved out of the courthouse and the governor to frighten him. ... She cried at first, said she was playing with you, and even led me to the cabinet to pay me back the money, and then she kept saying that the future of Europe was in the hands of the Russians and French, and she cursed women. ... I was as enthralled as you were, my ass. ... She complimented me on how pretty I was, and patted my arm, right there near the shoulders, to see how strong I was, and ... so, you can see, I just came out of her now. ……Ha ha. ...she really likes you! " "What a doll!" The lieutenant laughed. "He's actually a high-class man who has a family. ...What, are you shy?Disgusted?But man, no kidding, there's Queen Tamara in your county. ... "" More than just our county?You will not find another chameleon like this in all Russia!I've never seen a woman like this in my life, and I'm pretty much an expert when it comes to women.I've hooked up with witches, but I just never saw a woman like this.She really subdues people with her old face and shamelessness.When it comes to her attraction, it's the sharp shifts, the color shifts, that damned quickness. ……Pooh!IOUs are all gone.There is no hope.We are both great sinners, and our sin should be shared.I don't think you owe me two thousand three thousand, but only half of it.Be careful, you will tell my wife that I have gone to the tenant's house. " Kryukov and the lieutenant put their heads under the cushions and began to laugh.They looked up, looked at each other, and then collapsed on the cushions. "What a fiancé!" Kryukov sneered. "What a lieutenant!" "What a married man!" Sokolski retorted. "What a gentleman! Still the head of the family! " During lunch, they spoke some lingo, winked at each other, and repeatedly covered their mouths with napkins to laugh, which surprised the whole family secretly.饭后，他们心绪仍然非常好，扮成土耳其人，手拿武器互相追逐，给孩子们表演打仗。傍晚他们争论很久。中尉口口声声说，收妻子的陪嫁钱，甚至在双方热烈相爱的情形下，也是下流而卑鄙的。克留科夫却伸出拳头捶着桌子说，这是荒谬，凡是不愿意妻子有财产的丈夫，都是利己主义者和暴君。两个人大嚷大叫，拍桌子瞪眼，谁也不想了解谁，灌下不少的酒，临了各自提起各自的长袍底襟，回到各自的卧室去了。他们不久就睡熟，而且睡得很香。 生活仍然照先前那样平稳、懒散、无忧无虑地流过去。阴影铺满大地，云端响起隆隆的雷声，偶尔大风悲凉地哀号，仿佛想证明大自然也能哭泣似的。可是任什么东西也不能惊扰这些人习以为常的安宁。关于苏萨娜·莫伊塞耶芙娜，关于借据，他们都绝口不提了。不知怎的，两个人都不好意思大声谈论这件事。不过这件事他们心里都记得，一想起来就高兴，仿佛偶然间，生活出人意外地为他们演了一出新奇的闹剧，到了老年回忆起来也会觉得愉快。……克留科夫在会晤犹太女人以后第六天或者第七天早晨，坐在自己的书房里，给姑母写一封贺信。亚历山大·格利果利耶维奇默默地在桌旁踱来踱去。中尉夜里睡得不好，醒来心绪恶劣，这时候感到烦闷无聊。他走来走去，想着假期就要满了，未婚妻在等她，想着人们永生永世住在乡下怎么会不闷得慌。他在窗前站住，久久地瞧着树木，一连吸了三支纸烟，忽然回转身来对他的表哥讲话。 “我有一件事想求你，阿辽沙④ ，“他说。”今天你借一匹 马给我骑一下。 ..." 克留科夫瞧着他，眼光里露出寻根究底的神情，然后皱起眉头，继续写信。 “那么你借给我了？”中尉问。 克留科夫又瞧着他，然后慢腾腾地拉开书桌抽屉，从那儿取出一大卷钞票，交给表弟。 “这是五千，……”他说。“虽然这钱不是我的，不过求上帝保佑你，那也没关系。我劝你马上派人去叫驿车来，动身走掉吧。真的！” 这回轮到中尉寻根究底地瞅着克雷科夫了。他忽然笑起来。 “你倒真猜中了，阿辽沙，”他说，脸红了。“我本来确实想去找她。昨天傍晚洗衣女工把我那次穿过的该死的军服交给我，军服上还带着茉莉花的香气，我……我就想去找她！” “你该动身走了。” “是的，确实该走了。顺便说一句，我的假期也已经满了。 真的，今天我就动身。我当着上帝说，一定走！不管住多久，到头来总还是得走。 ……我要动身了！ " 当天中饭前，驿车叫来了。中尉就跟克留科夫一家人告别，他们祝他一路平安，他就动身走了。 Another week passed.这天天色阴霾，然而又热又闷。从凌晨起克留科夫就漫无目的地在各处房间里走来走去，瞧着窗外，或者翻阅早已看厌的照片簿。他一瞥见妻子或者儿女，就生气地嘟嘟哝哝。这一天，不知什么缘故，他总觉得孩子们一举一动都惹人讨厌，妻子管教仆人不严，开支超过收入。 这一切都表明“老爷”心绪不佳。 临到吃中饭，他对汤和烤菜一概不满意，饭后吩咐套上那辆轻便马车。他慢腾腾地坐上去，出了院子，缓缓地走出四分之一俄里，然后停住了。 “要不要去……去找那个魔鬼？”他瞧着阴霾的天空暗想。 克留科夫甚至笑起来，仿佛那一天他还是第一次向自己提出这个问题似的。他顿时感到心里的烦闷消散，懒散的眼睛里闪出快活的光芒。他扬鞭打马。……一路上，他的想象力描绘着犹太女人见到他会多么诧异，他怎样笑，怎样谈天，然后又怎样精神焕发地回到家里。……“每个月都该做一次……不平常的事来提一提神，”他暗想，“那样的事要能在停滞的机体里产生很厉害的震动，……引起反应才行。……哪怕是痛饮一番，哪怕是……找苏萨娜也未尝不可。不这样是不行的。” 他的马车驶进酿酒厂的院子里，天色已经黑了。从厂主的房屋那些敞开的窗口传出笑声和歌声：比闪电还亮，比火焰还烫。……⑤一个有力而深沉的男低音唱道。 “哎呀，她家里有客人！”克留科夫暗想。 他想到她有客而怏怏不快。“要回去吗？”他摸到门铃，暗想，可是他仍旧拉了一下，登上那道熟悉的楼梯。他走到前厅，往大厅里看一眼。那儿大约有五个男人，都是他熟识的地主和文官。有一个又高又瘦的男人坐在钢琴旁边，用长手指按着琴键，嘴里在唱歌。其余的都在听，高兴得龇出牙来。 克留科夫照了照镜子，正要走进大厅，这时候，苏萨娜·莫伊塞耶芙娜本人轻飘飘地走进前厅来了，她兴高采烈，身上仍旧穿着那件黑连衣裙。……她见到克留科夫，一刹那间呆住了，随后却快活得叫起来，眉开眼笑。 “是您吗？”她说，抓住他的手。“多么意想不到啊！” “啊，她来了！”克留科夫说，微微一笑，搂住她的腰。 “那么，怎么样？欧洲的命运还掌握在俄国人和法国人手里吗？” “我真高兴！”犹太女人笑道，小心地推开他的胳膊。“喏，您到大厅里去吧。那儿都是熟人。……我去吩咐一声给您送茶来。您的名字是叫阿历克塞吧？好，请进，我马上就来。 ..." 她举起手，对他做了个飞吻的手势，就从前厅跑出去，身后留下了那种甜得发腻的茉莉花香气。克留科夫抬起头来，走进大厅。他跟所有那些在大厅里的人都熟识，然而他只略微向他们点点头，他们对他也略微点头作为回答，仿佛他们相逢的地点不成体统，或者他们心里有了默契：对他们来说还是装得互不相识比较妥当。 克留科夫穿过这个大厅走进一个客厅，再从那儿走进另一个客厅。一路上他碰见三四个客人，也是熟识的，然而他们似乎没认出他来。他们脸上带着醉意，神态快活。阿历克塞·伊凡诺维奇斜起眼睛瞧着他们，心里纳闷，不懂这些成了家的、体面的人受过穷，吃过苦，怎么会自甘堕落，竟然以这种可怜的无聊事为乐！他耸动肩膀，微微笑着，往前走去。 “有些地方清醒的人觉得恶心，”他想，“可是喝醉的人却喜欢得不得了。我记得我去看小歌剧，听茨冈姑娘唱歌，没有一回是清醒着去的。酒能使人的心软下来，于是安心干坏事了。……”忽然，他停住脚，象在地里生了根似的，伸出两只手去扶住门框。原来中尉亚历山大·格利果利耶维奇正坐在苏萨娜的书房里写字台旁边。他在跟一个肥胖而皮肉松弛的犹太男人小声谈天，见到表哥来了，就一下子涨红脸，低下眼睛去看照相簿。 在克雷科夫心里，正派人的感觉猛的一动，血涌上了他的头。他又惊又羞又气，心乱如麻，沉默地走到写字台附近。 索科尔斯基把头垂得越发低了。他感到羞愧难当，脸容大变。 ... “哦，是你来了，阿辽沙！”他说，极力抬起眼睛，微笑一下。 “我原是顺便到这儿来告别的，可是，你瞧，……明天我一定要动身走了！” “唉，我能跟他说什么呢？说什么呢？”阿历克塞·伊凡诺维奇想。“既然我自己也来了，怎么配骂他？” 他就一句话也没说，光是嗽了嗽喉咙，慢慢地走出去。 不要说她是天仙，不要叫她离开人间。……⑥男低音在大厅里唱道。过了不久，克雷科夫的轻便马车在尘土飞扬的大路上辘辘地响着。 "Notes" ①亚历山大的爱称。 ②十二世纪格鲁吉亚的女王，以美貌和残酷闻名。 ——Russian text editor's note ③蜥蜴的一种，善于很快地转变皮肤的颜色以适应四周的环境。 ④阿历克塞的爱称。 ⑤引自俄国作曲家格林卡的抒情歌曲《致莫里》，歌词系俄国作家库柯里尼克所作。 ——Russian text editor's note ⑥引自俄国作曲家格林卡所作的抒情歌曲，歌词系尼·费·巴浦洛夫所写。 ——Russian text editor's note