Chapter 11 "Black Friars" VI

six When Yegor Semyonitch learned from Kovrin that not only the love affair had been successful, but that the wedding was about to take place, he walked for a long time from corner to corner, trying to conceal his excitement.His hands began to shake, his neck thickened, and his face flushed.He ordered the horse-racing cart to be ready, got in it, and went off somewhere.Tanya saw him whipping the horse, pulling down his hat so hard that it almost covered his ears, and understood his state of mind, and shut himself up in his room and wept all day. Peaches and plums are ripening in the greenhouse.Packing and transporting such a delicate and delicate cargo to Moscow required a great deal of energy, labor, and painstaking care.Since this summer is very hot and dry, every tree has to be watered, which takes a lot of time and labor.There were so many caterpillars that the workers simply crushed them with their fingers, and Yegor Semyonitch and Tanya did the same, to the disgust of Kovrin.As busy as they were, they had to take autumn orders for fruit and trees and write a lot of letters.In this tense time, when no one seemed to have a free moment, it happened that during the busy farming season, more than half of the workers were taken from the orchard to the fields to do farm work.Yegor Semyonitch, sunburned and exhausted, lost his temper and rode now into the orchard and now into the fields, crying that he was too busy , going to put a gun in the forehead.

In addition, there was the preparation of the dowry, which the Pisotskys attached great importance to.The clanging of the scissors, the clicking of the sewing machine, the soot from the iron, and the waywardness of the seamstress (a brash and angry woman) made everyone in the house dizzy.Moreover, as if on purpose, guests came every day, so they had to play with them, feed them, and even stay overnight.However, all these hardships passed away imperceptibly, like in a fog.Although Tanya had believed, for some reason, that Kovrin would marry her since she was fourteen, now she felt that love and happiness had seized her as if out of the blue.

She was surprised, confused, and didn't believe herself. ...Sometimes, such great joy suddenly surged in her heart, she wished to fly to the clouds and pray to God; sometimes, she suddenly remembered that she would have to leave this relative's house in August, leaving her father alone Or else, God knows why, she suddenly realized that she was shallow, small, and not worthy of such a great man as Kovrin, so she went back to her room, locked the door, and cried bitterly for a few days. an hour.When there were guests, she would suddenly feel that Kovrin was so beautiful that all the women loved him and envied her, and her soul would be filled with joy and pride, as if she had conquered the whole world.But whenever he smiled politely at a young lady, she would go back to her room, trembling with envy, and weep again.These new feelings took hold of her completely, and she absent-mindedly helped her father with his work, without thinking of peaches, caterpillars, workers, or how quickly time passed.

Yegor Semyonitch was almost the same.He was always in a hurry to get somewhere from morning to night, lost his temper and got angry, but all this happened as if in a state of fascination.There seemed to be two people in him: one was the real Yegor Semyonitch, who became angry when the gardener Ivan Karlych reported to him the trouble, and hugged his head in despair. the other is false, as if half-drunk and half-awake, often talking about business, suddenly stopped halfway, touched the gardener's shoulder, and muttered: "No matter what you say, blood always has a lot to do with it. He My mother is an excellent, noble, and intelligent woman. It is a pleasure to look at her kind, cheerful, pure, angelic face. She is good at painting, writing poetry, speaking five foreign languages, and singing. . . . the poor woman died of consumption, may she go to heaven."

The fake Yegor Semyonitch sighed, pondered for a moment, and went on: "When he was a boy, growing up in my house, he had the face of an angel, too, cheerful and kind. His eyes Whether it is his actions or his speech, he is as gentle and gentle as his mother. As for his mind, his intelligence has always surprised us secretly. Of course, he did not become a master for no reason. Not for nothing! Just wait and see, Ivan Karleitch, and see what he will be like in ten years! Then he will rise so high that you won't even be able to reach out!" But at that moment Yegor Semyonitch really woke up, made a terrible face, put his head in his arms, and cried: "Damn it! It's all ruined, it's all ruined, it's a mess! This The garden is over! This garden is over!"

But Kovrin, absorbed in his work as before, did not notice this confusion.Love made him more obsessed with his work.After each meeting with Tanya, he would go back to his room, happy and triumphant, and take the book or his manuscript with the same enthusiasm with which he had just kissed Tanya and professed his love to her.Those words of the Black Friar about God's chosen people and eternal truths, about the splendid future of mankind, gave his work a special and extraordinary significance, filling his soul with pride and awareness of his own sublime. Once or twice a week he met the black friar in the garden or in the main house and had a long talk with him, but it pleased him rather than frightened him, for he was already firmly convinced that such apparitions Only God's elect who excel and work for ideas will be visited.

Once the monk appeared at lunch and sat by the window in the dining room.Kovrin was secretly delighted, and tactfully said something to Yegor Semyonitch and Tanya that might interest the monk.The visitor in black listened and nodded kindly.Yegor Semyonitch and Tanya were also listening, smiling gaily, not realizing that Kovrin was not talking to them, but to his phantom. Without knowing it, the fast of the Feast of the Assumption came, and shortly thereafter, the wedding took place.According to Yegor Semyonitch's obstinate wishes, the wedding was "very respectable," that is to say, the meaningless banquet lasted two full days and two nights.Three thousand rubles were spent on food and wine, but because of the hired and unskillful band, because of the noisy toasts and the running of the servants, because of the noise and the crowd, no one was careful to taste the expensive wine and order it from Moscow. The deliciousness of the cold meat dishes came.

"Notes" ①Christian holiday, on August 15th.