No presents could rank with this entertainment. I never cared much for things ; the bump of acquisitiveness was never, at any age, highly developed in me. The satisfaction of my curiosity, the abundance of candles, the silver paper, the smell of gunpowder nothing was wanting but a companion of my own age. But I spent all my childhood in solitude and consequently was not exacting on that score.
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6
My father had another brother, the oldest of the three ; but he was not even on speaking terms with his two juniors. In spite of this, they all took a share in the management of the family property, which really meant that they combined to ruin it. This triple management by owners at variance with one another was the height of absurdity. Two of them were always thwarting their senior's plans, and he did the same for them. The head men of the villages and the serfs were utterly bamboozled : one landlord required carts to convey his household, the second demanded hay, and the third, firewood ; each of the three issued orders, and sent his man of business to see that they were carried out. If the eldest brother appointed a bailiff, the other two dismissed the man in a month on some absurd pretext, and appointed another, who was promptly disowned by their senior. As a natural result, there were spies and favourites, to carry slanders and false reports, while, at the bottom of this system, the wretched serfs, finding neither justice nor protection and harassed by a diversity of masters, were worked twice as hard and found it impossible to satisfy such unreasonable demands.
As a consequence of this quarrel between brothers, they lost a great lawsuit in which the law was on their side. Though their interests were identical, they could never settle on a common course of procedure, and their opponents naturally took advantage of this state of affairs. They lost a large and valuable property in this way; and the Court also condemned each brother to pay damages to the amount of JO,ooo roubles. This lesson opened their eyes for the first time, and they determined to divide the family estates between them. Preliminary discussions went on for nearly a year ; the land was divided into three fairly even parts, and chance was to decide to whom each should fall. My father and the Senator paid a visit to their brother, whom they had not seen for several years, in order to talk things over and be reconciled ; and then it was noised abroad that he would return the visit and the business would be finally settled on that occasion. The report of this visit spread uneasiness and dismay throughout our household.
N U R S E R Y A N D U N I V E R S I T Y
1 5
7
My uncle was one of those monsters of eccentricity which only Russia and the conditions of Russian society can produce. A man of good natural parts, he spent his whole life in committing follies which often rose to the dignity of crimes. Though he was well educated after the French fashion and had read much, his time was spent in profligacy or mere idleness, and this went on till his death.
In youth he served, like his brothers, in the Guards and was aidede-camp in some capacity to Potemkin ;8 next, he served on a diplomatic mission, and, on his return to Petersburg, was appointed to a post in the Ecclesiastical Court. But no association either with diplomatists or priests could tame that wild character. He was dismissed from his post, for quarrelling with the Bishops ; and he was forbidden to reside in Petersburg, because he gave, or tried to give, a box on the ear to a guest at an official dinner given by the Governor of the city. He retired to his estate at Tambov, and there he was nearly murdered by his serfs for interference with their daughters and for acts of cruelty ; he owed his life to his coachman and the speed of his horses.
After this experience he settled in Moscow. Disowned by his relations and by people in general, he lived quite alone in a large house on the Tver Boulevard, bullying his servants in town and ruining his serfs in the country. He collected a large library and a whole harem of country girls, and kept both these departments under lock and key. Totally unoccupied and inordinately vain, he sought distraction in collecting things for which he had no use, and in litigation, which proved even more expensive. He carried on his lawsuits with passionate eagerness. One of these suits was about an Amati :fiddle ; it lasted thirty years, and he won it in the end. He won another case for the possession of a party-wall between two houses : it cost him extraordinary exertions, and he gained nothing by owning the wall. After his retirement, he used to follow in the Gazette the promotions of his contemporaries in the public service ; and, whenever one of them received an Order, he bought the star and placed it on his table, as a painful reminder of the distinctions he might have gained.
His brothers and sisters feared him and had no intercourse with 8. Grigory Potemkin (1736--91), minister and favourite of the Empress Catherine.
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C H I L D H O O D, Y O U T H A N D E X I L E
him o f any kind ; our servants would not walk past his house, for fear of meeting him, and turned pale at the sight of him ; the women dreaded his insolent persecution, and the domestic servants had prayer offered in church that they might never serve him.
8
Such was the alarming character of our expected visitor. From early morning all the inmates of our house were keenly excited.
I had never seen the black sheep mys,elf, though I was born in his house, which was occupied by my' father on his return from foreign parts ; I was very anxious to see him, and I was also afraid, though I don't know what I was afraid of.
Other visitors came before him - my father's oldest nephew, two intimate friends, .and a lawyer, a stout good-natured man who perspired freely. For two hours they all sat in silent expectation, till at last the butler came in, and, with a voice that seemed somehow unnatural, announced the arrival of our kinsman. 'Bring him in,' said the Senator, in obvious agitation ; my father began to take snuff, the nephew straightened his tie, and the lawyer turned to one side and cleared his throat. I was told to go upstairs, but I remained in the next room, shaking all over.
The uncle advanced at a slow and dignified pace, and my father and the Senator went to meet him. He was carrying an icon 9 with both arms stretched out before him, in the way that icons are carried at weddings and funerals ; he turned towards his brothers and in a nasal drawl addressed them as follows :
'This is the icon with which our father blessed me on his deathbed, and he then charged me and my late brother, Peter, to take his place and care for you two. If our father could know how you have behaved to your elder brother . • . '.
'Come, mon che:r frere:,' said my father, in his voice of studied indifference, 'you have little to boast about on that score yourself. These references to the past are painful for you and for us, and we had better drop them.'
'What do you mean ? Did you invite me here for this ?'