The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories Part 27

"And thou wert counting on remaining, I suppose?"--said Akim, bitterly, as he continued to sit in the cart.

"Remain, indeed! Yes, dear little father,"--put in Avdotya, who had raised herself on her knees, and again beat her brow against the ground;--"for thou dost not know, seest thou, I.... Kill me, Akim Semyonitch, kill me here, on the spot...."

"Why should I beat thee, Arefyevna!"--replied Akim, dejectedly:--"thou hast vanquished thyself! what more is there to say?"

"But what wilt thou think, Akim Semyonitch.... Why, the money .... was thy money.... It is gone, thy money... For I took it, accursed that I am, I got it from the cellar..... I gave it all to that man, that villain, that Naum, accursed creature that I am!... And why didst thou tell me where thou hadst hidden thy money, wretched being that I am!....

For he bought the inn with thy money .... the villain...."

Sobs drowned her voice.

Akim clutched his head with both hands.

"What!"--he screamed at last;--"and so all the money too ... the money, and the inn, thou hast.... Ah! thou hast got it from the cellar ....

from the cellar.... Yes, I will kill thee, thou brood of vipers!..."

And he leaped from the cart....

"Semyonitch, Semyonitch, don't beat her, don't fight,"--stammered Efrem, whose intoxication began to dissipate at such an unexpected event.

"Yes, dear little father, kill me, kill me, dear little father, kill me, the vile creature: beat away, don't heed him!"--shrieked Avdotya, as she writhed convulsively at Akim's feet.

He stood awhile and stared at her, then retreated a few paces, and sat down on the gra.s.s, by the roadside.

A brief silence ensued. Avdotya turned her head in his direction.

"Semyonitch, hey, Semyonitch!"--began Efrem, half-rising in the cart;--"have done with that--that will do ... for thou canst not repair the calamity. Phew, what an affair!"--he continued, as though to himself;--"what a d.a.m.ned bad woman... Do thou go to him,"--he added, bending over the cart-rail toward Avdotya;--"canst not see that he has gone crazy?"

Avdotya rose, approached Akim and again fell at his feet.

"Dear little father,"--she began in a faint voice.

Akim rose and went back to the cart. She clutched the skirt of his kaftan.

"Get away!"--he shouted fiercely, repulsing her.

"Whither art thou going?"--Efrem asked him, perceiving that he was taking his seat again beside him.

"Why, thou didst offer to drive me to the inn,"--said Akim:--"so drive me to thy house.... I have none any more, seest thou. They have bought it from me, you know."

"Well, all right, let 's go to my house. And how about her?"

Akim made no answer.

"And me, me,"--chimed in Avdotya, weeping;--"to whose care dost thou leave me .... whither am I to go?"

"Go to him,"--returned Akim, without turning round:--"to the man to whom thou didst carry my money... Drive on, Efrem!"

Efrem whipped up the horse, the cart rolled off, and Avdotya set up a shrill scream....

Efrem lived a verst from Akim's inn, in a tiny cot in the priest's glebe, disposed around the solitary five-domed church, which had recently been erected by the heirs of a wealthy merchant, in conformity with his testamentary dispositions. Efrem did not speak to Akim all the way, and only shook his head from time to time, uttering words of the following nature: "Akh, thou!" and, "Ekh, thou!" Akim sat motionless, slightly turned away from Efrem. At last they arrived. Efrem sprang out first from the cart. A little girl of six years in a little chemise girt low ran out to meet him, and screamed:

"Daddy! daddy!"

"And where is thy mother?"--Efrem asked her.

"She 's asleep in the kennel."

"Well, let her sleep. Akim Semyonitch, won't you please come into the house?"

(It must be observed that Efrem addressed him as "thou" only when he was intoxicated. Far more important persons than he addressed Akim as "you.")

Akim entered the chanter's cottage.

"Pray, come hither to the bench,"--said Efrem.--"Run along, you little rogues,"--he shouted at three other brats who, along with two emaciated cats bespattered with ashes, suddenly made their appearance from various corners of the room.--"Run away! Scat! Here, Akim Semyonitch, come here,"--he went on, as he seated his guest:--"and would n't you like something?"

"What shall I say to thee, Efrem?"--articulated Akim at last.--"Could n't I have some liquor?"

Efrem gave a start.

"Liquor? Certainly. I have none in the house,--liquor, that is to say,--but here, I 'll run at once to Father Feodor. He always has some on hand..... I 'll be back in a jiffy...."

And he s.n.a.t.c.hed up his large-eared cap.

"And bring as much as possible; I 'll pay for it,"--shouted Akim after him.--"I still have money enough for that."

"In a jiffy,"... repeated Efrem once more, as he disappeared through the door. He really did return very speedily with two quart bottles under his arm, one of which was already uncorked, placed them on the table, got out two small green gla.s.ses, the heel of a loaf, and salt.

"That 's what I love,"--he kept repeating, as he seated himself opposite Akim.--"What 's the use of grieving?"--he filled the gla.s.ses for both .... and set to babbling.... Avdotya's behaviour had stunned him.--"'T is an astonis.h.i.+ng affair, truly,"--said he:--"how did it come about? He must have bewitched her to himself by magic .... hey? That 's what it means, that a woman should be strictly watched! She ought to have had a tight hand kept over her. And yet, it would n't be a bad thing for you to go home; for you must have a lot of property left there, I think."--And to many more speeches of the same sort did Efrem give utterance; when he was drinking he did not like to hold his tongue.

An hour later, this is what took place in Efrem's house. Akim, who had not replied by a single word, during the entire course of the drinking-bout, to the interrogations and comments of his loquacious host, and had merely drained gla.s.s after gla.s.s, was fast asleep on the oven, all red in the face--in a heavy, anguished slumber; the youngsters were wondering at him, while Efrem .... Alas! Efrem was asleep also, but only in a very cramped and cold lumber-room, in which he had been locked up by his wife, a woman of extremely masculine and robust build. He had gone to her in the stable, and had begun to threaten her, if she repeated something or other, but so incoherently and unintelligibly did he express himself that she instantly divined what the trouble was, grasped him by the collar, and led him to the proper place. However, he slept very well and even comfortably in the lumber-room. Habit!

Kirillovna had not reported her conversation with Akim very accurately to Lizaveta Prokhorovna .... and the same may be said concerning Avdotya. Naum had not turned her out of the house, although she had told Akim that he had done so; he had not the right to expel her.... He was bound to give the former proprietors time to move out. Explanations of quite another sort had taken place between him and Avdotya. When Akim had rushed into the street, shouting that he would go to the mistress, Avdotya had turned to Naum, had stared at him with all her eyes, and clasped her hands.

"O Lord!"--she began;--"Naum Ivanitch, what is the meaning of this? Have you bought our inn?"

"What if I have, ma'am?"--he retorted.--"I have bought it, ma'am."

Avdotya said nothing for a while, then suddenly took fright.

"So that is what you wanted the money for?"

"Precisely as you are pleased to put it, ma'am. Ehe, I do believe that measly little husband of yours has driven off with my horse,"--he added, as the rumble of wheels reached his ear.--"What a fine das.h.i.+ng fellow he is!"

"Why, but this is robbery, nothing else!"--shrieked Avdotya.--"For the money is ours, my husband's, and the inn is ours ...."

"No, ma'am, Avdotya Arefyevna,"--Naum interrupted her:--"the inn was n't yours, and what 's the use of saying so; the inn stood on the lady-mistress's land, so it belonged to her also; and the money really was yours, only you were so kind, I may put it, as to contribute it to me, ma'am; and I shall remain grateful to you, and shall even, if the occasion arises, return it to you,--if I should see my way to it; only, it is n't right that I should strip myself bare. Just judge for yourself if that is n't so."

Naum said all this very calmly, and even with a slight smile.