Chapter 104 Part Two - Forty Two

Before Nekhludoff got out of the carriage, he saw several luxurious carriages parked in the station square, each with three or four fat horses with tinkling bells around their necks.He walked to the rain-soaked platform and saw a group of people standing beside the first-class carriage.The most striking of them is a tall and fat lady wearing a hat with precious feathers and a raincoat; A stout dog with an expensive collar around its neck.Behind them stood some servants, carrying raincoats and umbrellas, and a coachman, all of whom had come to receive the guests.Everyone in this group, from the fat lady to the coachman holding his robes, looked well-off and contented.A group of curious and money-worshiping people immediately surrounded this group, including a station master wearing a red cap, a military policeman, a Russian national costume and a necklace, who would definitely come to the station every time a train arrives in summer. The thin girl, the telegraph operator and several male and female passengers who came to meet him.

Nekhludoff recognized the young man with the dog as Master Korchagin, who was in secondary school.The fat lady was the Duchess's sister--her estate the Korchagins had moved to.The conductor, in his shining uniform with gold lacing, and well-polished boots, opened the carriage door and, in a sign of respect, held it open so that Philip and the porter in the white apron could wipe the horse's face. The armchair on which the Duchess was sitting was carefully lifted out of the carriage.The two sisters greeted each other, and they were heard discussing in French whether the Duchess should take a car or a wagon.So the procession moved towards the exit of the station with curly-haired maids holding parasols and hat boxes in the rear.

Nekhludoff didn't want to meet them again and bid farewell to them again, so he stopped and waited for the procession to walk out of the station in a mighty manner.The Duchess went first with her son, Missy, the doctor, and the maid, followed by the old Duke and his sister-in-law.Nekhludoff did not go up to them, but heard only fragments of their conversation in French.One line in the prince's speech, which, of course, often happened, had somehow made its way into Nekhludoff's mind, along with his tone and voice. "Ah! He is a real gentleman, a real gentleman," the prince said in a loud and confident voice, and he walked out of the station with his wife and sister, surrounded by respectful conductors and porters.

Just then, a group of workers from nowhere appeared around the corner of the station.Wearing bark shoes, carrying sheepskin jackets and bags, they walked towards the platform.The workers strode vigorously to the nearest carriage, trying to get up, but were immediately driven away by the conductor.The workers did not stop, but hurried forward again, stepping on each other's feet, and boarded the train at the door of the next carriage.The bags on their backs kept banging against car corners and doors.At that moment another conductor at the exit of the station saw them getting on and yelled at them viciously.The workers who had already got on the train got out of the train quickly, and walked to the next carriage with the same vigorous steps.Nekhludoff was sitting in that carriage.The conductor stopped them again.They had just stopped and were about to go on, but Nekhludoff told them that there were vacant seats in the carriage and they could get on.They obeyed him, and Nekhludoff got into the carriage after them.The workers were about to find their own seats, but the gentleman with the cockade on his hat and the two ladies saw that they dared to sit in their carriage, thought it was an insult to them, resolutely objected, and drove them out .There are some old and some very young workers in this group of workers. There are about twenty people in total, all of them are dark and thin, with weathered faces.Chased away by the gentlemen and wives, they evidently felt they were in the wrong, and immediately moved on across the carriage, their bags slamming against the seats, the walls, and the doors.They looked as if they were ready to go to the ends of the earth, to sit wherever they were told to sit, even on a nail.

"Where are you going, you bastards! Get a seat right here!" cried another conductor, coming towards them. "That's a novelty!" said the younger of the two ladies, thinking that her beautiful French would attract Nekhludoff's attention.The lady with the bracelet just frowned, sniffed, and said mockingly that it was a blessing to sit with these scumbags. The workers felt relieved and relaxed as if they had passed through a major danger. They stopped, found seats and sat down, moved their shoulders, unloaded the bags on their backs, and stuffed them under the seats.

The gardener, who was talking to Taras, was not in his own seat, and returned to his own.In this way, three seats were left vacant next to and opposite Taras.Three workmen were sitting in these vacant seats, but as soon as Nekhludoff came up to them they were bewildered by his gentlemanly attire.They got up to go, but Nekhludoff told them to sit still, and sat down on the armrest of the seat near the aisle. Among the few workers, an old man in his fifties exchanged glances with a young man, showing doubts and even fear.Nekhludoff, instead of yelling at them and driving them away like gentlemen, gave up his seat to them, which surprised them and did not understand what was going on.They even worry that something will happen against them in the end.But when they saw that there was no intrigue here, and that Nekhludoff was talking casually with Taras, they were relieved, and ordered a young man to sit on the sack, and Nekhludoff to sit on his own. seat up.The elderly workman, who was sitting opposite Nekhludoff, balked at first, trying to keep his bast shoes from touching the master's, but then talked with Nekhludoff and Taras Very speculatively, he touched Nekhludoff's knee with the back of his hand when he wanted Nekhludoff to pay attention to what he was saying.He told all about himself and his work on the peat fields.It turned out that they had worked in the peat fields for two and a half months, earning about ten rubles each—part of which they had paid in advance when they were employed—and now they were going home with their wages.He said that they always work in knee-deep water, from sunrise to sunset, and take a two-hour break for lunch.

"Whoever is not used to it, of course it's hard work," he said, "but once you get used to it, you don't feel it anymore. The only thing is to have decent food. At first the food was bad, and everyone was very dissatisfied. Later, the food With improvements, work becomes easier.” He went on to say that he had worked outside for twenty-eight years and always sent all his wages home, first to his father, then to his elder brother, and now to his nephew who is in charge of the family.He earns fifty or sixty rubles a year, and spends only two or three rubles on himself, for tobacco and matches, and for fun.

"Sin, sometimes when I'm tired, I also drink a little vodka," he added with a guilty smile. He also talked about how the women were in charge of the house after the men went out, and how the contractor gave them half a barrel of white wine before returning home today, and how one of them died and the other fell ill, and now they send them home go.The patient was sitting in the corner of this carriage.He was a child, with a pale face and blue lips.He was clearly suffering from malaria, and the fever had not yet subsided.Nekhludoff came up to him, but the boy gave him such a stern and painful look that Nekhludoff dared not ask any questions, but persuaded the old man to buy him some quinine, and Write the name of the medicine on a small piece of paper and give it to him.Nekhludoff wanted to give some money, but the old man said no need, he would buy it himself.

"Oh, how many times have I been out, but I have never seen such a gentleman. Not only does he not beat you, but he also gives you a seat. It can be seen that each gentleman is different," he said to Taras at last. "Yes, this is a very different world, a brand new world," said Nekhludoff, looking at the muscular but gaunt limbs, the rough homespun clothes, and the dark, tired, friendly faces, He thought, and felt at the same time, that these people around him, who lived real working lives, who had serious interests, joys, and pains, were new men through and through. "Look, they are the real gentlemen," Nekhludoff recalled what Prince Korchagin had said, and at the same time he thought of the idle, luxurious world of Korchagin and his ilk, and their wretchedness. interest of.

He was like a traveler who rejoices in discovering a strange and beautiful new world.