‘But what should I do? Go and confess?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Well, let’s suppose so! I’m not averse to taking Urbenin’s place, but I won’t give in without a struggle. Let them come and take me if they want, but I shan’t go and give myself up. Why didn’t they take me when I was in their hands? I howled so loudly at Olga’s funeral, I became so hysterical that even a blind man must have spotted the truth… It’s not my fault that they’re so stupid.’
‘I find you perfectly loathsome,’ I said.
‘That’s only natural… I’m loathsome to myself.’
Silence followed. I opened the cash ledger and mechanically started totting up some figures. Kamyshev reached for his hat.
‘I see you find it stuffy in here with me,’ he said. ‘By the way, would you care to see Count Karneyev? He’s outside sitting in the cab.’
I went to the window and looked out. With his back towards us there he sat, a small, hunched figure in a shabby hat and faded collar. It was hard to recognize him as one of the leading characters in the drama!
‘I’ve heard that Urbenin’s son is living here in Moscow, in Andreyev’s Chambers,’ Kamyshev said. ‘I want to arrange for the Count to receive a little “offering” from him… Let at least one of them be punished! However, I must bid you adieu!’
Kamyshev nodded and hurried out of the room. I sat at the table and gave myself up to bitter thoughts.
I felt suffocated.
Notes
1. Spencer: Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), English sociologist and biologist. In his Education: Intellectual, Moral, Physical (1861), he championed the many-sided development of man, giving special emphasis to physical education. Chekhov mentions him often and in a letter to Aleksandr Chekhov (17/18 April 1883) praises the chapter dealing with moral education.
2. ‘sweet sounds’ in words: Periphrasis of last words of Pushkin’s famous Poet and the Crowd (1829):
We are born for inspiration
For sweet sounds and prayers.
3. Gaboriau: Emile Gaboriau (1832–73), originator of crime novel (roman policier) in France, whose detective Monsieur Lecoq was a forerunner of Sherlock Holmes. His thrillers – they first appeared as feuilletons – include Monsieur Lecoq (1869): extremely popular in Russia, it appeared in Russian translation in the year of its publication. His other main detective novels are L’Affaire Lerouge (1865–6); Le Crime d’Orcival (1867); and Le Dossier no. 113 (1867). The young Maxim Gorky was acquainted with the French writer, whom he avidly read – along with others such as Dumas père (My Apprenticeship, Harmondsworth, 1974).
4. Shklyarevsky: A. A. Shklyarevsky (1837–83), Russian author of detective novels and known as the ‘Russian Gaboriau’. His main novels are: Tales of an Investigating Magistrate (1872) and The Unsolved Crime (1878). For details of the current vogue for detective novels see A Note on the Text, p. xx.
5. sui generis: Unique.
6. Lecoq: See note 3.
7. The Count of Monte Christo: By Alexandre Dumas (Dumas père, 1802–70), highly popular novel (1844–5) of betrayal and vengeance. In a letter of 28 May 1892, to Suvorin, Chekhov writes: ‘What shall I do with Monte Christo? I’ve abridged it until it resembles someone suffering from typhus. The first part – until the Count becomes rich – is very interesting and well written, but the second (with few exceptions) is unbearable, since Monte-Christo performs and speaks inflated nonsense. But on the whole the novel is quite effective.’ In 1892 Suvorin intended publishing an abridged version of the novel, on which Chekhov worked May/June that year.
8. Auguste Comte: French mathematician and philosopher (1798–1857), founder of Positivism. His Cours de philosophie positive (1830–42) expounds a religion of humanity.
9. you: Actually the familiar form in Russian = ‘thou’.
10. Riga balsam: A kind of brandy, usually black, distilled with herbs.
11. Eynem’s: famous Moscow shop selling biscuits and preserves.
12. Leporello: Faithful servant and confidant of Don Juan, hero of Pushkin’s Stone Guest (1830).
13. stukolka: A popular card game of the time.
14. The Cornfield (Niva): A popular illustrated family magazine published in St Petersburg (1870–1918).
15. ‘I lo-ove the storms of early Ma-ay’: The first line of the poem Spring Storm (1829) by Fyodor Tyutchev (1803–73). It was set to music by many composers.
16. one of Born’s books: Pseudonym of Georg Fülleborn (1837–1902), highly prolific German novelist, author of cheap ‘boulevard’ novels. His Eugene, or Secrets of the French Court was published in Russian translation in 1882.
17. Yevtushevsky’s Mathematics Problem Book: A collection of arithmetical problems by A. A. Yevtushevsky (1836–88).
18. The Task: Literary-political journal, published in St Petersburg (1866–88).
19. Miscellany: A literary miscellany published in St Petersburg in 1874 for the benefit of famine sufferers in Samara district. It comprised minor works by Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Ostrovsky, Goncharov and others.
20. ‘pitcher-snouts’: Reference to Gogol’s clerk Ivan Antonovich in Dead Souls (1848), whose face appeared to have turned into one enormous nose: ‘…the whole of the middle of his face stuck out and looked like a nose – briefly, it was the kind of face commonly called pitcher-snout’ (chap. 7).
21. Mount Athos: Athos – a Greek peninsula in Chalcidice (Macedonia), with numerous monasteries and churches, the object of pilgrimages since the eleventh century.
22. English bitters: Liquor with bitter flavour used for mixing with cocktails.
23. Depré’s: Well-known wine shop in Moscow.
24. ‘Ah, Moscow, Moscow… stone walls’: From the well-known folk song.
25. ‘Down Mo-other Volga… Vo-olga’: Famous folk song.
26. ‘Oh burn, oh speak… speak!’: Refrain from folk dance song, ‘See the young dandy strutting down the street.’
27. ‘Nights of madness, nights of gladness’: Inaccurate quotation from the poem Nights of madness, sleepless nights (1886) by A. N. Apukhtin (1841–93). It was set to music by Tchaikovsky and others. In the 1880s it became a very popular gipsy romance, with various musical settings. The second line runs: ‘Wild words, tired glances…’
28. Shandor candle: A heavy candlestick.
29. ad patres: (Lat.) to his forefathers – i.e. he died.
30. terra incognita: (Lat.) unknown territory. Latin and French tags occur frequently in Chekhov’s earlier stories.
31. Themis: Greek goddess of justice and law.
32. casus belli: (Lat.) an act or situation provoking war.
33. beau monde: Fashionable society.
34. sinister old crones: Words spoken by Chatsky, hero of A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy Woe from Wit (1822–4).