Chapter 15 Part One - Twelve

Yes, she is Katyusha. Nekhludoff's relationship with Katyusha was like this. Nekhludoff first met Katyusha in the summer of his third year at the university.He was staying with his aunt at the time, preparing to write a dissertation on land ownership.In previous years, he always spent summer with his mother and sister in his mother's large estate on the outskirts of Moscow.But that summer his sister got married, and his mother went abroad to recuperate in a hot spring.Nekhludoff wanted to write a thesis, so he decided to go to his aunt's to do it.The aunt's house was very quiet, and there was no entertainment to distract him, and the two aunts loved him very much as a nephew and heir to the estate.He loved them too, and liked their simple old-fashioned life.

That summer Nekhludoff felt alive and happy at his aunt's house.For the first time, a young man experienced the beauty and solemnity of life without following other people's instructions. There are three forms of warfare: manual warfare, positional warfare, and guerrilla warfare.Discusses the subjectivity in war, comprehends the full significance of human activities, and sees that the human mind and the whole world can achieve perfection.He is not only hopeful, but confident.That year Nekhludoff read Spenser's "Social Statics" at the university.Spencer was impressed by his discussions of private ownership of land, especially since he was himself the son of a large landowner.His father was not rich, but his mother had a dowry of ten thousand acres.At that time, he understood for the first time the cruelty and absurdity of private ownership of land, and he valued morality very much, and believed that self-sacrifice for morality was the highest spiritual enjoyment, so he decided to give up land ownership and donate the land he inherited from his father to to the farmers.He is currently writing a thesis on this issue.

That year, his life at his aunt's house in the country was like this: he got up early every morning, sometimes at three o'clock, before the sun came out, and went to take a bath in the river at the foot of the mountain, and sometimes returned home after taking a bath in the morning mist. There are still dewdrops rolling on the flowers and plants.In the morning, after drinking coffee, he sometimes sits down to write papers or look up information, but most of the time he neither reads nor writes, and goes outdoors, taking a walk in the fields and woods.Before lunch, he dozed off in the garden, and then happily ate lunch, talking funny things while eating, making the aunts laugh.After dinner, he went horseback riding or rowing, and in the evening he read books, or sat and played cards with his aunts.At night, especially on moonlit nights, he could not sleep, simply because he found life too pleasant and charming.Sometimes he couldn't sleep, so he would walk in the garden until dawn while thinking wildly.

In this way he lived happily and peacefully for a month at his aunt's house, not paying any attention to Katyusha, who was both adopted daughter and maid, with light steps and dark eyes. Nekhludoff was brought up by his mother from an early age.He was only nineteen years old at the time, and he was a very pure young man.In his mind, only his wife is a woman.Any woman who cannot be his wife is not a woman, but a human being.But by coincidence, that summer's Ascension Day ①Three Dialogues, "On Passive Obedience" and so on. One day, there was a female neighbor of my aunt's house who brought her children as guests, including two girls, a middle school student and a young painter who was born as a farmer who lived in her house.

-------- ①Christian holidays, forty days after Easter, between May 1st and June 4th. After tea, a game of tag was played on the flat, trimmed grass in front of the house.They called Katyusha also participated.After playing for a while, it was Nekhludoff's turn to run with Katyusha.Nekhludoff was always glad to see Katyusha, but it never occurred to him that he had any special connection with her. "Oh, now there's nothing to catch them both," said the merry Painter in his "catch" turn, running fast on his short, strong peasant legs, "unless they wrestle themselves."

"You can't catch it!" "one two three!" They clapped their hands three times.Katyusha couldn't help giggling, and quickly changed places with Nekhludoff.She shook his big hand with her rough, strong little hand, and ran to the left, her starched skirt rustling. Nekhludoff ran very fast.He didn't want to be caught by the painter, so he ran as fast as he could.He looked back and saw the painter chasing Katyusha, but Katyusha's two young, elastic legs were galloping nimbly, preventing him from catching up, and running to the left.There was a lilac bed ahead, and no one went there, but Katyusha turned her head and looked at Nekhludoff, and nodded to Nekhludoff to go behind the bed too.Nekhludoff understood her, and ran behind the lilac bed.Unexpectedly, there was a small ditch in front of the flowers, and the ditch was full of nettles. Nekhludoff didn't know it, so he stepped on the ground and fell into the ditch.His hands were pricked by nettles and covered with evening dew.But he immediately amused himself at his recklessness, got up, and ran to a clear place.

Katyusha's watery dark plum eyes were also shining with a smile, and she ran towards him as if flying.They ran together and held hands. ① -------- ①In this kind of game, the two being chased meet in one place and shake hands with each other to signify victory. "I think you must have stabbed your hand," said Katyusha.She smoothed out the loose braids with her free hand, gasping for breath and looking him from foot to head with a smile. "I didn't know there was a ditch here," said Nekhludoff, laughing too, without letting go of her hand. She moved closer to him, and he didn't know what he did, but moved his face towards her.She didn't evade, he held her hand tighter and kissed her lips.

"What are you doing!" said Katyusha.She hastily pulled out the hand he was holding, and ran away from him. Katyusha ran to the lilacs, picked off two withered white lilacs, hit her hot face with them, turned her head to look at him, swung her arms vigorously, and walked towards the people who were playing games. go. From that time on, the relationship between Nekhludoff and Katyusha changed. It was a special relationship of mutual attraction between a pure and innocent young man and a pure and innocent girl. As soon as Katyusha came into the room, or Nekhludoff saw her white apron from afar, everything in the world seemed to shine brightly in his eyes, everything became more interesting and lovable, It is more interesting and life is more joyful.She feels the same way.But it was not only Katyusha's presence or proximity to him that had such an effect; Nekhludoff felt this way whenever he thought that there was a Katyusha in the world.And for Katyusha, just thinking of Nekhludoff brought about the same feeling.Whether Nekhludoff received an unpleasant letter from his mother, whether his thesis was not going well, or felt a youthful melancholy, the mere thought that there was a Katyusha in the world and that he could see her was everything. All the troubles disappeared.

Katyusha has a lot of things to do at home, but she can always do one thing well, and even take some time to read some books.Nekhludoff lent her the novels by Dostoevsky and Turgenev which he had just read.Her favorite novella "A Quiet Corner" by Turgenev.They could only find a chance to talk a little, sometimes in the corridor, sometimes on the balcony or in the yard, sometimes in the room of Matrona, the aunt's old maid—Katyusha lived with her—and sometimes Nekhludoff. The husband was drinking tea in their little room with candy in his mouth.They talked most lightly and happily in Matrona's presence.But when the two of them were left alone, the conversation became awkward.At such times, what their eyes say is quite different from what their mouth says, and what the eyes say is much more important.They always pursed their lips, worried, and separated in a hurry after not staying for long.

For the first time Nekhludoff lived with his aunt, a relationship he maintained with Katyusha.The aunts were a little apprehensive at discovering their relationship, and even wrote abroad to inform Nekhludoff's mother, Princess Yelena Ivanovna.Aunt Maria was afraid that Dmitri would have an affair with Katyusha.But her fears were needless, for Nekhludoff also fell in love with Katyusha unconsciously, as all pure people fall in love, and his unconscious love for her ensured that they would not fall. .Not only did he have no desire to possess her physically, but he shuddered at the thought of such a relationship with her.But the worries of Aunt Sophia, who is poetic, are much more real.She was afraid that if Dmitri, who had a noble and courageous character, fell in love with this girl, he would marry her without hesitation, regardless of her birth and position.

If Nekhludoff had clearly realized that he was in love with Katyusha, and especially if he had been advised that he could never and should not combine his fate with such a girl, then, by his candor If there is no character, he will decide flatly that he must marry her, no matter what she is, as long as he loves her.However, the two aunts did not tell him their worries, so he left the aunt's house without realizing his love for the girl. He was fully convinced then that his affection for Katyusha was only an expression of the joy of life which permeated his whole being, and that this lively and lovely girl shared his affections.When it came time for him to leave, Katyusha stood on the steps with the two aunts, watching him with her tear-filled, squinting black eyes, and he felt that he was losing a kind of beauty. , precious, something that never returns.He felt an indescribable melancholy. "Good-bye, Katyusha, thank you for everything!" he said to Aunt Sophia, getting into the carriage, through her nightcap. "Good-bye, Dmitri Ivanitch!" she said in a sweet voice, and holding back the tears that filled her eyes, she ran to the porch, where she burst into tears.