Chapter 8 "My Life - A Mainlander's Story" 8

Eight Once, late at night, returning from Marya Viktorovna's house, I met in my room a young police chief in a new uniform.He was sitting at my desk, flipping through a book. "Here it is!" he said, standing up and stretching. "This is the third time I have come to see you. The prefect has ordered you to see him at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Be sure to go." He asked me to write a note stating that I must carry out the governor's order, and then he left.The late-night visit of the police chief and the sudden summons of the prefect struck me like a bolt from the blue.I have been afraid of the gendarmerie, the police, and the judges since I was a child, and now I feel like I have really committed some crime.I can't sleep no matter what.The nurse and Prokofy were also restless and could not sleep.In addition, the nanny had earaches, groaned and groaned, and cried several times due to the pain.Hearing that I was awake, Prokofy came cautiously into my room, holding a small lamp, and sat down at the table.

"You must have some pepper wine..." he said after a moment. "In the midst of the miseries of the world, it's easier to drink a little wine. It would do a lot of good, too, if Ma poured a little pepper wine in her ear." At two o'clock, he set off for the slaughterhouse to fetch the meat.I knew I could not sleep that night; and to pass the time till nine o'clock, I went with him.We carry a lantern.His apprentice Nikolka was about thirteen years old, his face was bruised with cold, and he looked very much like a robber. He followed us in a sledge, and shouted at the horse in a hoarse voice.

"You will probably be punished at the prefect," dear Prokofy told me. "The governor has the rules of the governor, the high priest has the rules of the high priest, the officer has the rules of the officer, the doctor has the rules of the doctor, and all walks of life have the rules of all walks of life. But if you don't follow your rules, people can't It's up to you." The slaughterhouse was behind the cemetery, and I had only seen it from a distance before.They were three dark barracks, surrounded by a gray fence, and on hot days in summer, when the wind blew from the barracks, the air was filled with a suffocating stench.Now when I go into the yard, I can't see the sheds in the dark, and I keep coming across horses and some empty or loaded sledges.People were walking around with lamps, swearing at each other with obscenities.Prokofy was swearing, and Nikolka was swearing, just as badly, and the air was filled with a constant din of cursing, coughing, neighing.

The stench of animal carcasses and manure was everywhere.This is the season of thawing, the snow has mixed with the mud, and I feel as if I am walking in a pool of blood in the dark. We loaded the sled with meat, and set out for the market butcher's.It was dawn.A cook with a basket and an elderly lady in a coat came one by one.Prokofy, with an ax in his hand and a white apron spattered with blood, swore viciously, crossed himself facing the church, and shouted so loudly that the whole marketplace could hear him, repeating Said that he did not make any money selling meat, and even lost money.He was skimping on his portion and giving less change, and the cooks like him could see it, but they were deafened by the shouting at him, and they didn't protest, just called him a hangman.He raised his dreadful axe, and cut it down, with such a vigorous gesture, and each time he yelled "Hey!" arm.

I spent the morning in the butcher's shop, and when I finally went to see the governor, my fur coat smelled of meat and blood too.I was in a state of mind as if I had been ordered to hunt a bear with a spear.I still remember the high staircase, with its striped carpet, and a young official in a frock coat with shiny buttons who, without saying a word, pointed to the door with both hands, and ran to announce .I walked into the hall, where the furnishings were luxurious, but tasteless and unattractive, especially the tall and narrow mirrors hung on the walls between the windows and the yellow lamps hung on the windows. Dazzling curtains.It could be seen that, despite the changes of the prefects, the furnishings remained the same.The young officer again pointed to the door with both hands, and I went up to a large green table, at which stood a general with the Order of Vladimir around his neck.

"Mr. Poloznev, I invite you," he began, holding a letter in his hand, and opening his mouth as wide and round as the letter "O," "I invite you to You explain one thing. His Excellency has written and verbally requested the chief nobleman of the province to summon you to point out that your behavior is very disproportionate to the title of nobility you are honored to hold. Alexander Pav Lord Lovech justly believes that your conduct may be abusive, and that it is no longer enough for him to come forward to advise you, but serious administrative intervention is necessary, and therefore sets out his opinion of you in this letter Once again, I agree with this view.”

He spoke in a low voice, respectful, and stood upright, as if I were his chief.He didn't look at me harshly either.His face was old and haggard, flabby and wrinkled, his eyes were swollen, and his hair was dyed. In short, it was difficult to tell whether he was forty or sixty based on his appearance. "I hope," he went on, "that you will appreciate the tactful and considerate manner of the venerable Alexander Pavlovitch, who made his request to me not formally but in a private way. I am not formally You are invited, not as a prefect, but as a sincere admirer of your father to address you. Therefore I beg you, or change your behavior, and return to a cause worthy of your name; or In order not to cause evil, please move to a place where no one knows you, where you can do what you want. Otherwise, I will have to take extreme measures."

He stood silent for half a minute, looking at me with his mouth open. "Are you vegetarian?" he asked. "No, my lord, I eat meat." He sat down and drew a document in front of him, and I bowed and came out. I can't afford to go to work again before lunch.I went home and went to bed, but couldn't sleep, because the conversation between the slaughterhouse and the governor aroused unpleasant and uncomfortable feelings in my heart, and in the evening I went to Marya Viktorovna in a trance and sullenly.I told her about my visit to the governor.She looked at me in bewilderment, as if in disbelief, and all of a sudden she laughed the way only a well-meaning, jolly person would laugh like that, loud and passionate.

"If only I could go to Petersburg and tell the story!" she said, nearly falling down with laughter, and leaning back on the table. "I wish I could go to Petersburg and tell about it!"