The Queen of Spades, and other stories
and a call to a meeting of the commune. The citizens one after the
other appeared in the courtyard round the office hut, which served as
a council ground. Their eyes were dim and red, their faces swollen;
yawning and scratching their heads, they stared at the man with the
cap, in an old blue caftan, standing pompously on the steps of the
office hut, while they tried to recollect his features, which they
seemed to have seen some time or another.
The starosta and his clerk Avdei stood by his side, bareheaded, with
the same expression of dejection and sorrow.
"Are all here?" inquired the stranger.
"Are all here?" repeated the starosta.
"The whole hundred," replied the citizens, when, the starosta informed
them that he had received a letter from the master, and, directed the
clerk to read it aloud to the commune. Avdei stepped forward and read
as follows:
N.B. This alarming document, which he kept carefully shut up in the
icon-case, together with other memorandum of his authority over the
people of Gorohina, I copied at the house of Tryphon, our starosta.
"TRYPHON IVANOFF,
"The bearer of this letter, my agent.... is going to my patrimony,
the village of Gorohina, to assume the management of it. Directly he
arrives assemble the peasants and make known to them their master's
wishes; namely, that they are to obey my agent as they would myself,
and attend to his orders without demur; otherwise he is empowered to
treat them with great severity. I have been forced to take this step
by their shameless disobedience and your, Tryphon Ivanoff, roguish
indulgence.
"(Signed) NIKOLAI _N...._
Then the agent, with his legs extended like an X and his arms akimbo
like a phitab, addressed to them the following pithy speech: "See that
you are not too troublesome, or I will certainly beat the folly out
of your heads quicker than the fumes of yesterday's drink." There
were no longer any fumes left in the head of any man of Gorohina. All
were dumbfounded, hung their noses, and dispersed in fear to their own
houses. The agent seized the reins of government, called for the list
of peasants, divided them into rich and poor, and began to carry into
effect his political system, which deserves particular description. It
was founded upon the following maxims: That the richer a peasant, the
more fractious he grows, and the poorer, the quieter.
Consequently, like a good Christian, I cared most for the peace of the
estate.
First, the deficits were distributed among the rich peasants, and were
exacted from them with the greatest severity. Second, the defaulting
or idle hands were forthwith set to plough, and if their labour proved
insufficient according to his standard, he assigned them as workmen
to the other peasants, who paid him for this a voluntary tax. The men
given as bondsmen, on the other hand, possessed the right of redeeming
themselves by paying, besides their deficit, a double annual tithe. All
the communal obligations were thrown upon the rich peasants. But the
recruiting arrangements were the masterpiece of the avaricious ruler,
for by turns all the rich peasants bought themselves off, till at last
the choice fell upon either the blackguard or the ruined one.
Communal assemblies were abolished. The tithes were collected in small
sums and all the year round. The peasants, it seems, did not pay very
much more than before, but they could not earn or save enough to pay.
In three years Gorohina was quite pauperised. Gorohina quieted down;
the bazaar was empty, the songs of Arhip the Bald were unsung, one
half the men were ploughing in the fields, the other half serving
them as bond labourers. The children went begging, and the day of the
church fête became, according to the historian, not a day of joy and
exultation, but an annual mourning and commemoration of sorrow.
FROM A GOROHINA ANNALIST.
The accursed steward put Anton Timofeieff into irons, but the old man
Timofei bought his son's freedom for one hundred rubles. The steward
then put the irons on Petrusha Gremeieff, who likewise was ransomed
by his father for sixty-eight rubles. The accursed one then wanted to
handcuff Lech Tarassoff, but he escaped into the woods, to the regret
of the steward, who vented his rage in words; but sent to town in place
of Lech Tarassoff Vanka the drunkard, and gave him for a soldier as a
substitute.
PETER THE GREAT'S NEGRO.
CHAPTER I.
Amongst the young men sent abroad by Peter the Great to acquire the
information necessary for a civilised country was his godson Ibrahim
the negro. He was educated in a Parisian military school, passed out
as a captain of the artillery, distinguished himself in the Spanish
war, and when seriously wounded returned to Paris. In the midst of his
enormous labours the emperor never ceased to ask after his favourite,
of whose progress and good conduct the accounts were always favourable.
Peter was exceedingly pleased with him, and frequently invited him to
Russia; but Ibrahim was in no hurry. He excused himself; either his
wound, or his wish to complete his education, or want of money, served
as the pretext; and Peter complied with his wishes, begged him to take
care of his health, thanked him for his assiduity in study, and though
exceedingly economical himself was lavish to his _protégé,_ and sent
together with gold pieces fatherly advice and warning.
Judging by all historical accounts, the flightiness, madness, and
luxury of the French of that period were unequalled. The latter years
of Louis XIV.'s reign, memorable for the strict piety, dignity,
and propriety of the court, have left no traces behind. The Duke
of Orleans, in whom many brilliant qualities united with vice of
every kind, unfortunately did not possess an atom of hypocrisy. The
orgies of the Palais Royal were no secret in Paris; the example was
infectious. At that time Law made his appearance. To the love of money
was united the thirst for pleasure and amusement. Estates dwindled,
morals perished, Frenchmen laughed and discussed, while the kingdom
crumbled to the jovial tunes of satirical vaudevilles. Meanwhile
society presented a most uninteresting picture. Culture and the
craving for amusement united all classes. Riches, amiability, renown,
accomplishments, even eccentricity, whatever nourished curiosity or
promised entertainment, was received with equal pleasure. Literature,
learning, and philosophy left the seclusion of the study to appear in
the great world and minister to fashion, the ruler of opinions. Women
reigned, but no longer exacted adoration. Superficial politeness took
the place of profound respect. The escapades of the Duke de Richelieu,
the Alcibiades of modern Athens, belong to history and display the
morals of that period:
"Temps Fortune, marqué par la licence,
Ou la folie, agitant son grelot,
D'un pied leger parcourt toute la France,
Ou nul mortel ne daigne être dévot,
Ou l'on fait tout excepté pénitence."
Ibrahim's arrival, his appearance, culture, and native wit, attracted
general attention in Paris. All the ladies fought for a visit from
the Tsar's negro. More than once was he invited to the Regent's merry
evenings; he was present at the suppers enlivened by the youth of
Voltaire and the age of Shollier, the conversations of Montesquieu
and Fontenelle. Not a ball, not a fête, not one first representation
did he miss; and he gave himself up to the general whirl with all the
passion of his youth and nature. But the idea of exchanging these
entertainments, these brilliant pleasures for the simplicity of the St.
Petersburg Court was not all that Ibrahim dreaded. Other and stronger
ties bound him to Paris. The young African was in love. No longer in
the first bloom of youth, the Countess L. was still celebrated for
her beauty. At seventeen, on leaving the convent, she was married to
a man for whom she had not learnt to feel the love which ultimately
he showed no care to win. Rumour assigned her lovers, but through
the leniency of society she still enjoyed a good repute; for nothing
ridiculous or scandalous could be brought against her. Her house was
the most fashionable, a centre of the best society in Paris. Ibrahim
was introduced by young G. de Merville, who was regarded generally
as her latest lover; an impression which he tried by every means to
strengthen. The Countess received Ibrahim with civility, but without
particular attention. He was flattered. Usually the young negro was
regarded with wonder, surrounded and overwhelmed with attention
and questions; and this curiosity, though veiled by a display of
friendliness, offended his vanity.
The delightful attention of women, almost the sole aim of our
exertions, not only gave him no pleas are, but even ailed him with
bitterness and wrath. He felt that he was for them a species of rare
animal, a strange peculiar creature, accidentally brought into a
world with which he had naught in common. He even envied those whom
no one noticed, and deemed their insignificance a blessing. The idea
that nature had not formed him for tender passion robbed him of all
self-assertion and conceit, and added a rare charm to his manner
towards women. His conversation was simple and dignified. He pleased
the Countess L., who was tired of the formal pleasantries and pointed
innuendoes of French, wit.
Ibrahim visited her often. Little by little she grew used to the young
negro's looks, and even began to find something agreeable in that early
head, so black amid the powdered wigs that thronged her drawing-room
(Ibrahim had been wounded in the head and wore a bandage in the place
of a wig). He was twenty-seven, tall and well built, and more than one
beauty glanced at him with feelings more flattering to him than mere
curiosity. But Ibraham either did not observe them or thought their
notice merely coquetry. But when his gaze met that of the Countess his
mistrust vanished. Her eyes expressed so much kindness, her manner to
him was so simple, so easy, that it was impossible to suspect her of
the least coquetry or insincerity.
Though no thought of love entered his mind, to see the Countess daily
had become a necessity. He tried to meet her everywhere, and every
meeting seemed a godsend. The Countess guessed his feelings before he
did so himself. There is no doubt that a love which hopes nothing and
asks nothing touches the female heart more surely than all the arts of
the experienced. When Ibrahim was near, the Countess followed all his
movements, listened to all his words. Without him she became pensive,
and fell into her usual abstraction. Merville was first to notice their
mutual attraction, and congratulated Ibrahim. Nothing inflames love
like approving comments of outsiders. Love is blind, and putting no
trust in itself clings eagerly to every support.
Merville's words roused Ibrahim. Hope suddenly dawned upon his soul;
he fell madly in love. In vain the Countess, alarmed by the vehemence
of his passion, wished to meet him with friendly warnings and sage
counsels; but she herself was growing weak.
Nothing escapes the eye of the vigilant world. The Countess's new
attachment soon became known. Some ladies wondered at her choice;
many found him very ordinary. Some laughed; others considered her
inexcusably imprudent. In the first intoxication of their passion
Ibrahim and the Countess noticed nothing, but soon the jokes of the
men, the sarcasms of the women, began to reach them. Ibrahim's formal
and cold manner had hitherto guarded him from such attacks; he bore
them with impatience, and knew not how to retaliate. The Countess,
accustomed to the respect of society, could not calmly endure to see
herself an object of ridicule and scandal. She complained to Ibrahim