Chapter 2 Duchess

Duchess A four-wheeled carriage drawn by four well-proportioned horses drove into the gate of a certain friary, commonly called the "Red Gate".The monks, priests and novices stood in groups near the part of the guest room for the nobles. From a distance, by the coachman and the horses, they already recognized the lady sitting in the carriage as the handsome duchess they knew well. Vera Gavrilovna. An old man in livery jumped down from the driver's seat and helped the Duchess out of the carriage.She raised her black veil, walked unhurriedly in front of all the monks and priests, received their blessings, then nodded cordially to the apprentice monks, and walked into a room.

"Well, your Duchess is not here, do you miss it?" she said to the monks who were carrying her luggage. "I haven't been to you for a whole month. But here, here I am, and look at your Duchess. But where is the Priest Friar? My God, I am anxious to see you." He, my heart is anxious! He is such an amazing old man, amazing! You should feel proud to have such a monk high priest." When the High Priest Friar came in, the princess gave a shriek of joy, folded her arms, and went up to him to receive her blessing. "No, no! Let me kiss your hand!" she said, taking his hand, and kissing it three times passionately. "How glad I am, holy priest, to see you at last!

You may have forgotten your Duchess, but my heart is always in your lovely monastery.How nice you are here!There is a special charm in this life, far from the pomp of the world, and devoted to God, holy priest, I feel it with my whole soul, but I cannot express it in words! " The Duchess' cheeks flushed and she shed tears.She talked vehemently.The monk-high priest, however, was a serious, ugly, prim seventy-year-old man who kept silent, except for occasional military-like stammers: "Yes, ma'am. . . . I heard you. . . . I understand. . . . " "Are you going to stay with us long?" he asked.

"Today I will spend the night with you, and tomorrow I will drive to the house of Kravtya Nikolaevna, whom I have not seen for a long time, but the day after tomorrow I will come to your place again for three or four days. I want to rest my soul with you, holy fathers..." The Duchess liked to linger in this monastery for a while.In the past two years, she has taken a fancy to this place, and in the summer, she will come and live here for two or three days almost every month, sometimes for a week.Those timid novices, the silence, the low ceilings, the smell of cypresses, the simple food, the cheap curtains, touched her heart, filled her with tenderness, and made her brood. I think, many beautiful thoughts have been added to my mind.She had only to stay in this room for half an hour, and she would feel that she herself had become shy and humble, that she smelled of cypress, and that the past receded into the distance and lost its value, and the Duchess began to think. Although she is only twenty-nine years old, she looks very much like an old monk high priest. Like him, she was not born into the world to live a rich life, nor to enjoy the glory and love in the world, but to live a happy life. A quiet, secluded, monastery-like dark life.

There is often such a situation: the fasting person is concentrating on praying in the dark monastic room, suddenly, a ray of sunlight unexpectedly shines into the room, or a bird sits on the window sill and begins to sing.The austere fasting man smiled involuntarily, and out of his bosom, like a stream of peaceful, sinless joy, burst forth from under the deep sorrow of sin, as from under a stone.The Duchess felt that she herself had brought here from the outside world precisely the comfort that sunshine or birds bring.Her friendly and cheerful smile, her gentle eyes, her voice, her smile, in short, her whole person, her small and slender body in plain black clothes, once you appear here, you will definitely be here. There is a feeling of tender joy in the hearts of those who are simple and serious.Everyone who saw her must have thought: "God has sent an angel to us. . . . " She felt that everyone could not help thinking of this, so she smiled more kindly and tried to look like a bird. .

She drank tea, rested for a while, and then went out for a walk.The sun has set.In the flowerbeds of the monastery, the freshly watered mignonette gave off a fragrant moisture, which fell directly on the face of the Duchess, and the low voice of a man singing in the church sounded melodious and melancholy from a distance.Vespers are being said there.Those gloomy windows gently shone with the dim light of the ever-burning lamp, some shadows flickered, and the figure of an old monk sitting on the steps in front of the church, close to the statue, guarding a donation box, all these showed tranquility , making the Duchess want to cry for some reason. ... Outside the gate, on the avenue lined with benches between the walls and the birch trees, it was already dusk, the sky was darkening rapidly. ... The princess walked the avenue for a while, sat down on a bench, and began to think.

She thought to herself: life in this monastery is quiet and stable, like a summer evening, and it would be good to simply move here and live for the rest of my life.How good it would be to forget completely the fickle and dissolute prince, her vast estate, the creditors who came to trouble her every day, her misfortunes, and Tasya, the handmaiden who had disapproved this morning.It would be nice to be able to sit on this bench here all my life, looking out from the trunks of the many birches, watching the evening mist swirling in wisps at the foot of the hills, and the rooks plentiful over the distant woods. Like a dark cloud, flying back to its nest for the night, as if casting a veil over the woods, seeing two novices leading their horses to pasture at night, one on a piebald, one on foot, both rejoicing at their freedom Happy, playing and fighting like children, their young voices rang clearly in the stagnant air, and every word could be heard clearly.It is good even to sit here and listen to the silence: sometimes the wind blows the tops of the birch trees, and sometimes a frog rustles last year's dead leaves, and sometimes the clock on the belfry outside the wall passes a quarter The bell rang. ... One might as well just sit still, listen, think, think. ... An old woman with a rucksack walked in front of her.It would not be so bad, the Duchess thought, to stop the old woman, say a few kind words to her, and give her a few dollars. ... But the old woman never turned her head to look at her, but turned the corner and disappeared.

After a while, a tall man with a white beard and a straw hat appeared on the avenue.When he reached the Duchess, he took off his hat and bowed to her.The princess recognized him by his large bald spot and his pointed hooked nose as the physician Mikhail Ivanovich, who had been a doctor at her Dubovki estate five years before. Work.She remembered that someone had told her that the doctor's wife died last year, and she wanted to express his sympathy and comfort him. "Perhaps you don't recognize me, doctor?" she asked, smiling kindly. "No, Duchess, I know it," said the doctor, taking off his hat again.

"Oh, thank you, to be honest, I thought you had forgotten your Duchess too. People only remember their enemies and forget their friends.Are you here to pray too? " "I spend the night here every Saturday because of my job. I see people here." "Oh, how are you doing?" asked the Duchess, sighing. "I hear your wife is dead! What a misfortune!" "Yes, Duchess, that is my great misfortune." "What can we do! We have to submit to all misfortunes. Not a single hair falls from a man's head without the will of God." "Yes, Duchess."

To the Duchess's kind and gentle smile and her sighs, the doctor simply replied coldly: "Yes, Duchess." Even his face was icy. "What can I say to him?" thought the Duchess. "Yes, how long has it been since I've seen you!" she said. "Five years! How much water has flowed into the sea, what changes have taken place during this time, it is frightful to even think about it!You know, I'm married... I've changed from a countess to a duchess.I have even broken up with my husband. " "Yes, I heard." "What a test God has given me! You have probably heard that I was almost broke.

In order to pay off my unfortunate husband's debts, I sold my Dubovki estate, my Kylyakovo estate, and my Sophiino estate, and now my estate is only That leaves Baranovo and Mikhaltsevo.How terrible it is to look back: so many changes, so many misfortunes, so many mistakes! " "Yes, Duchess, many mistakes!" The Duchess panicked a little.She knows her mistakes.All those mistakes were personal secrets that only she could remember and tell.She couldn't help asking: "What mistakes do you think are?" "You mention the error yourself, so you know it..." replied the doctor, with a grim smile. "Why mention it again!" "No, tell me, doctor! I will be very grateful to you! Please don't be too polite to me. I like to hear the truth." "I cannot be your judge, Duchess." "Can't be my judge? The tone of your voice shows that you must know something. Tell me!" "If you will listen, I will obey. It is a pity that I cannot speak, and my words are not always intelligible." The doctor pondered for a moment, then spoke: "There are many mistakes, but, to be honest, the chief of them, it seems to me, is the general fashion, the... that prevails all over your estates. You see, I am not very good at expressing myself." I mean. That is to say, the main thing is a lack of love for people, a distaste for people, which is perfectly felt in everything. Your whole system of life is based on this dislike. Disgusting talk the voice, the face, the back of the head, the footsteps, ... in a word, everything that makes a man human. Well-fed, rude, Lazy servants in liveries, to keep out the poorly dressed, and high-backed chairs in the antechamber, so that, when there are balls and feasts, the footmen are kept in the rear. Keep your skulls from touching the wallpaper on the walls. All the rooms are carpeted with dense piles so that no footsteps can be heard. Anyone who comes in must be warned to speak in a low voice and to refrain from talking. , don't say anything that hurts the imagination and the nerves. You don't shake hands or invite people to sit down in your closets, just as you don't shake hands or invite me to sit down now. . ..." "If it pleases you, obey!" said the princess, smiling, holding out her hand to him. "Honestly, there's no reason to be angry about such a trivial matter..." "But, am I angry?" said the doctor with a smile, but he blushed immediately, took off his hat, shook it, and said fiercely: "Honestly! Say, I've been waiting for a chance to tell you all that's on my mind, all. . Something about him, and you have nothing but disgust!" "I hate people!" said the Duchess with a smile, shrugging her shoulders in surprise. "I!" "Yes, you! Do you want facts? Yes! In your village of Mikhaltsevo, three of your old cooks, blinded by smoke in your kitchen, are now begging. In your On the tens of thousands of dessias of land, you and your diners snatched everyone who was healthy, strong and good-looking, and became servants, footmen, and coachmen. All these two-legged creatures were raised as servants, eating Overeating, becoming rude, in a word, losing the image and likeness of God. . . And there are young physicians, agronomists, teachers, general mental workers, my God, you force them to leave their professions , leave honest labor behind, and force them to take part in all sorts of puppet shows that every honest man is ashamed of for a living! Some young men become hypocrites, sycophants, and slanderers before they have worked for three years. Is that right? Your Polish stewards, those dirty spies, those Kazimirs and Kaitans are running around all day and night on your tens of thousands of dessiatines of land , tried to peel off three layers of hide from a cow in order to please you. I'm sorry, but I didn't make sense, but that's all right! Ordinary people are nothing in your eyes. Even visiting you You see those dukes, earls, and bishops as decorations, not as living beings. But the main thing... the main thing that infuriates me the most is that you have millions and don't do anything for people I won't do anything at all!" The Duchess sat there, surprised, frightened, and annoyed, not knowing what to say or how to deal with it.No one had ever spoken to her in that tone before.The doctor's unpleasant angry tone and his clumsy and incoherent words were reduced to a sharp pounding in her ears and in her head, and then she felt as if the dictating doctor was hitting her on the head with a hat. "That's not true!" she whispered in a pleading voice. "I've done a lot of good for people, and you know it yourself!" "Forget it!" cried the doctor. "Don't you still think that your kind of charity is a serious and useful work, and not a puppet show? You know, that kind of thing is a complete farce, it's a trick of love, it's the most blatant. Tricks, even children and stupid country women can see through! Take your—what is it called?—your retirement home for lonely old women, where you asked me to be a kind of chief physician Your work as emeritus dean yourself. Oh, Lord, our God, what a lovely institution! It has a parquet floor, a weather-beacon on the roof, and a ten-thousand in the countryside. Some old women, force them to lie on Dutch linen sheets, cover them with blankets, and eat fruit candies." The doctor gave a vicious chuckle at his hat, and then stammered quickly: "Then It's a trick! The low-level staff of the nursing home take away the blankets and sheets and lock them in the cupboard, so that the old women won't get dirty. Just make them sleep on the floor! The old women dare not sit on the bed, nor Dare to wear a coat, let alone walk on the smooth parquet floor. Everything is used for ostentation, usually stored well, do not let the old women move, treat them like thieves. So these old women have to eat and wear Secretly relying on other people's charity. They prayed to God day and night, just to be released from prison quickly, and escape those distended wretches you sent to watch over them, lest they listen to their teachings on goodness. Also, what did the senior staff do?That is simply wonderful!Twice a week, and in the evening, 35,000 emissaries came in succession on horseback, announcing that the Duchess, that is, you, would be visiting the nursing home tomorrow.That means tomorrow I have to leave the patient behind, get dressed, and go for inspection.OK, here I go.The old women, dressed in new clothes, were clean and lined up, waiting to be driven.The old mouse who had been discharged from the garrison, the director of the nursing home, walked around beside them with a sweet smile on his face.The old women kept yawning and looking at each other, but dared not complain.we wait.A little steward came on horseback.Half an hour after that, a big butler came, then the big manager of the counting room came, and then this and that came, ... and so on and on!Everyone has mysterious and solemn faces.We waited and waited, switching feet, looking at the watch, all the while in the silence of the grave, because we hated each other and were enemies.An hour passed, two hours passed, and at last a carriage appeared in the distance, and... then..." The doctor let out a series of shrill laughter, and then said with a sharp throat: "You get out of the carriage.As for the old witches, the old mouse of the garrison gave an order and sang in unison: "The glory of my Lord on Mount Zion cannot be described by human words. . . . " A good show, but not ?" The doctor laughed in a low voice and waved his hands as if to show that he was speechless with laughter.He laughed sharply, sharply, with clenched teeth the way only a bad-tempered person would laugh.It could be seen from his voice, his face, his shining and somewhat haughty eyes, that he deeply despised the Duchess, despised the nursing home, despised the old women.All he said was so clumsy and rude that there was nothing humorous or merry about it, but his laughter was free, even gay. "And what about the school?" he continued, panting with laughter. "Do you remember that you were going to teach the peasants' children yourself? You probably did well, because soon all the boys ran away, so you had to beat them up and give them some money before they would Come back to you. Also, do you remember that you were going to nurse the babies from the pacifiers of the mothers who went to work in the fields? You walked around the village crying because those The children refused to entertain you, and all the mothers took their babies to the fields. Then the village chief ordered the mothers to take turns handing over their babies to you, so that you would be happy. Really Strange thing! All the children are unwilling to accept your gift and run away together, just like a mouse seeing a cat! What is the reason for this? It is very simple! It is not because our people are ignorant and ungrateful as you have always explained , but because (forgive me for saying this) there is no love or kindness in this game of yours! Nothing but a desire to amuse yourself with those living dolls.  … A man who cannot see the difference between poodles should not do charity. I assure you: there is a great difference between a man and a poodle!" The Duchess' heart was beating violently, her ears were ringing, and she still felt that the doctor was hitting her head with his hat.The doctor spoke quickly and violently, in a hurry, inarticulate, and with excessive gestures.All she understood was that a rude, ill-bred, vicious, ungrateful man was speaking to her, and what he wanted of her, what he was talking about, she did not understand. "Go away!" she said in a tearful voice, putting her hands up to shield her head from the doctor's hat. "Go away!" "And what are you doing to your staff!" continued the doctor indignantly. "You don't think of them as human beings. You despise them at all, as if they were the most despicable liars. Let me ask you, for example, why you dismissed me? I worked under your father and then under you." After ten years of hard work, no festivals, no holidays, people all around a hundred versts loved me, but one day, I suddenly got a notice saying that I would no longer have to work! Why is that?I still don't understand!I am a dignified doctor, a nobleman, a student of Moscow University, and the head of a family, but I have become such a humble person that I can be thrown out without giving any reason!Why do you have to be polite to me?Later I heard that my wife secretly went to you three times to intercede for me without telling me, but you never received her.She is said to have wept in your vestibule.Although she has passed away, I will never forgive her for this matter for the rest of my life!Never in my life! " The doctor kept silent, gritted his teeth, and thought nervously, trying to say some more unpleasant words to vent his anger.When he remembered, his frowning and icy face suddenly lit up. "Take your attitude to this monastery!" he began eloquently. "You never spare anyone. The holiest a place is, the more likely it is to be tortured by your kindness and angelic tenderness. Why do you come here? May I ask you, Why do you come to the monks here? What have you to do with Hecuba, and what have you to do with Hecuba? ①This is nothing more than trying to amuse people, play tricks on people, and desecrate human dignity.You know, you don't believe in a monk's God, you have your own God in you, which you have experienced in the spiritualist's seance.You despise the religious ceremonies in the church, you don't want to go to mass and vespers, you sleep until noon every day... Then why do you come here? . . . You have brought your God to this monastery, which has nothing to do with you, thinking that the monastery will consider it a great honor!Thank you for thinking it out!You might as well ask, by the way, how much trouble you have caused the monks by your visit.Thank you for your favor, I intend to come here this evening, so the accountant on your estate sent someone on horseback the day before yesterday to say that you are going to come here. They were busy cleaning your room all day yesterday, waiting for your arrival.Today came an advance, a tyrannical servant girl, she ran across the yard from time to time, rustling her clothes, asking this and that, giving orders, ... I just can't stand it!The monks waited nervously all day today.Yes, if you are not greeted respectfully, there will be trouble!You will complain to the bishop! 'Bishop, those monks don't like me.I don't know how I could annoy them.Yes, I am a great sinner, but you know how unfortunate I am! 'There is a monastery that has already taken a reprimand for you.The High Priest Monk is a busy, learned man who never has a minute to spare, yet you keep asking him to come to your chamber.No respect at all for the elderly or for teaching positions!It would be all right if you donated a lot of money to the monastery, it would not be so annoying, but after all these days, the monks did not get even a hundred rubles from you! " Whenever the Duchess was disturbed, when people didn't understand, when she felt wronged, when she didn't know what to say and how to do it well, she would cry as a rule.This time, she finally covered her face and wept in a child's high-pitched voice.The doctor suddenly stopped talking and looked at her.His face darkened and became severe. "Forgive me, Duchess," he said in a low voice. "I lost my temper and lost my temper. It's not good." He coughed in embarrassment, and without thinking of putting on his hat, he walked away from the Duchess quickly. The sky is already full of stars.The moon must have been coming up behind the abbey, for the sky was bright and clear and soft.Bats flitted noiselessly along the white walls of the monastery. The clock ticked slowly to a quarter of a certain hour, probably a quarter to eight.The Duchess got up and walked slowly towards the gate.She felt wronged and kept crying, feeling that trees, stars, and bats all seemed to take pity on her.The melodious sound of the clock was only to express sympathy for her.She wept, thinking that she might as well go to a convent and live there all her life, and that she, a wronged, insulted, incomprehensible creature, would walk alone in the avenues on quiet summer evenings, with only God And the starry sky to see the tears of this suffering woman.Vespers were still being said in the church at this time.The Duchess stopped and listened to the singing.How sweet this song sounds in the still darkness!How sweet it is to weep and suffer under such songs! She went back to the lodgings, looked at her tear-stained face in the mirror, put on some powder, and sat down to supper.The monks knew that she liked vinegared sturgeon, mushrooms, Malaga wine, plain honey cakes that smelled like cypress in her mouth. Every time she came, they always brought her these meals.The Duchess ate mushrooms, drank Malaga wine, and imagined how she would be completely bankrupt and lonely in the future, and all her stewards, housekeepers, accountants, maids, despite all she had done for them, would treat her Ingratitude, speaking against her, she imagined that all people, the whole world, would attack her, speak ill of her, laugh at her, and she would renounce the title of Duchess, escape luxury and society, and retire to a convent. If she never said a word of reproach to anyone, but prayed for her enemies, then they would suddenly understand her and come to her to ask her forgiveness, but then it would be too late. ... After supper, she went to a corner, knelt down before the statue, and read two chapters of the Gospel.Then the handmaid made her bed, and she lay down to sleep.She stretched out her limbs under the white quilt cover, sighed deeply like someone who has cried, closed her eyes, and gradually fell asleep. ... She woke up in the morning and looked at her watch. It was already half past nine.The sunlight came in from the window, and there was a long and bright strip of light on the carpet beside the bed, dimly illuminating the whole room.Some flies were buzzing outside the black curtains on the window. "It's still early!" thought the Duchess, closing her eyes. Lying on the bed with her limbs spread out, she recalled her meeting with the doctor yesterday evening and all the thoughts she had had yesterday before going to bed.She thought of her misfortune. Then she could not help thinking of her husband in Petersburg, the steward, the doctor, neighbors, and acquainted civil servants. ...a long line of familiar men's faces flitted across her imagination.She smiled, thinking: If these people could penetrate her soul and understand her, they would all fall at her feet. ... At a quarter past eleven she called her maid in. "Daxia, dress me," she said lazily. "But first, go and tell them to harness the car. I must go to Kravtya Nikolaevna's." She went out of the house to take the carriage, squinted her eyes against the bright daylight, and smiled happily.It was an amazingly beautiful day!She squinted her eyes at the monks gathered on the porch to see her off, nodded kindly, and said, "Goodbye, my friends! See you the day after tomorrow." She was surprised and delighted to find the doctor standing on the porch among the monks.His face was pale and stern. "Duchess," he said, taking off his hat and smiling responsibly, "I have been waiting here for you. . . . Please forgive me for God's sake. . . . Overwhelmed with vindictive, vengeful feelings, I have said many ... stupid things to you. In short, I have come to make amends." The princess smiled cordially, and put a hand to his lips.He kissed the hand and blushed. The Duchess, trying to look like a bird, flew into her carriage, nodding in all directions.Her heart was happy, bright, and warm, and even she herself felt that her smile was very kind and gentle.When her carriage drove up to the gate, and then along the dusty road, past farmhouses and gardens, past the long line of salt-mongers' carts and the stream of pilgrims on their way to the monastery, she still squinted her eyes, Smiling softly.There is no joy higher, she thought, than to bring warmth, light, and joy wherever she goes, to forgive insults, and to smile kindly at enemies.The peasants met on the road saluted her one after another, the carriage rustled softly, billowing smoke and dust billowed under the wheels, and drifted into the golden rye field with the wind, the Duchess felt that her body was not in the carriage. Instead of bouncing on the mat, she swayed in the cloud, and she herself was like a light and transparent cloud. ... "How happy I am!" she whispered, closing her eyes. "How happy I am!" "Notes" ①It means "the two are irrelevant", and it comes from Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamley Poem".Hecuba was the wife of King Prian of Troy in Greek legend, who lost her husband and son when Troy was besieged.