The Little Demon Fyodor Sologub (large ebook reader .TXT) đ
- Author: Fyodor Sologub
Book online «The Little Demon Fyodor Sologub (large ebook reader .TXT) đ». Author Fyodor Sologub
âI havenât read it either. I donât read such nonsense. Thereâs nothing but stupidities in stories and novels.â Nadezhda Vassilyevna smiled amiably and said:
âYouâre very severe towards contemporary literature. But good books are written even nowadays.â
âI read all the good books long ago,â announced Peredonov. âI donât intend to begin to read whatâs being written now.â
Volodin looked at Peredonov with respect. Nadezhda Vassilyevna sighed lightly andâ âas there was nothing else for her to doâ âshe began a string of small-talk and gossip to the best of her ability. Although she disliked such conversation she managed to keep it up with the ease and buoyancy of a lively, well-trained girl. The guests became animated. She was intolerably bored, but they thought that she was particularly gracious and they put it down to the charm of Volodinâs personality.
Once in the street Peredonov congratulated Volodin upon his success. Volodin laughed gleefully and skipped about. He had already forgotten all the other girls who had rejected him.
âDonât kick up your heels like that,â said Peredonov. âYouâre hopping about like a young sheep! Youâd better wait; you may have your nose pulled again.â
But he said this only in jest, and he fully believed in the success of the match he had devised.
Grushina came to see Varvara almost every day. Varvara was at Grushinaâs even oftener, so that they were scarcely ever parted from each other. Varvara was agitated because Grushina delayedâ âshe assured Varvara that it was very difficult to copy the handwriting so that the resemblance would be complete.
Peredonov still refrained from fixing a date for the wedding. Again he demanded his inspectorâs post first. Recollecting how many girls were ready to marry him, he more than once, as in the past winter, said to Varvara threateningly:
âIâm going out to get married. I shall be back in the morning with a wife and then out you go. This is your last night here!â
And having said this he would goâ âto play billiards. From there he would sometimes return home, but more often he would go carousing in some dirty hole with Routilov and Volodin. On such nights Varvara could not sleep. That is why she suffered from headaches. It was not so bad if he returned at one or twoâ âthen she could breathe freely. But if he did not turn up till the morning then the day found Varvara quite ill.
At last Grushina had finished the letter and showed it to Varvara. They examined it for a long time and compared it with the Princessâs letter of last year. Grushina assured her that the letter was so like the other that the Princess herself would not recognise the forgery. Although there was actually little resemblance, Varvara believed her. She also realised that Peredonov would not remember the Princessâs unfamiliar handwriting so minutely that he would see it was a forgery.
âAt last!â she said joyously. âI have waited and waited, and Iâd almost lost patience. But what shall I tell him about the envelope if he asks?â
âYou canât very well forge an envelope; thereâs the postmark,â said Grushina laughing as she looked at Varvara with her cunning unequal eyes, one of them wider open than the other.
âWhat shall we do?â
âVarvara Dmitrievna darling, just tell him that you threw the envelope into the fire. Whatâs the good of an envelope?â
Varvaraâs hopes revived. She said:
âOnce weâre married, he wonât keep me any longer on the run. Iâll do the sitting and he can do the running for me.â
On Saturday after dinner Peredonov went to play billiards. His thoughts were heavy and melancholy. He thought:
âItâs awful to live among hostile and envious people. But what can one doâ âthey canât all be inspectors! Thatâs the struggle for existence!â
At the corner of two streets he met the Officer of the gendarmerieâ âan unpleasant meeting.
Lieutenant-Colonel Nikolai Vadimovitch Roubovsky, a medium-sized, stout man with heavy eyebrows, cheerful grey eyes, and a limping gait which made his spurs jingle unevenly and loudly, was a very amiable person and was therefore popular in society. He knew all the people in town, all their affairs and relations, and loved to hear gossip, but was himself as discreet and silent as the grave, and caused no one any unnecessary unpleasantness.
They stopped, greeted each other and entered into conversation. Peredonov looked frowningly on each side and said cautiously:
âI hear that our Natasha is with you now. You mustnât believe anything she tells you about me, because sheâs lying.â
âI donât listen to servantsâ gossip,â said Roubovsky with dignity.
âSheâs really a bad one,â said Peredonov, paying no attention to Roubovskyâs remark; âher young man is a Pole; very likely she came to you on purpose to get hold of some official secret.â
âPlease donât worry about that,â said the Lieutenant-Colonel dryly. âI havenât any plans of fortresses in my possession.â
This introduction of fortresses perplexed Peredonov; it seemed to him that Roubovsky was hinting at somethingâ âthat he thought of imprisoning Peredonov in a fortress.
âItâs nothing to do with fortressesâ âitâs a very different matter,â he muttered. âBut all sorts of stupid things are being said about me, for the most part from envy. Donât believe any of them. Theyâre informing against me in order to get suspicion away from themselves, but I can do some informing myself.â
Roubovsky was mystified.
âI assure you,â he said, shrugging his shoulders and jingling his spurs, âthat no one has informed against you. It is obvious that someone has been pulling your legâ âpeople of course will talk nonsense sometimes.â
Peredonov was mistrustful. He thought that the Lieutenant-Colonel was concealing something, and he suddenly felt a terrible apprehension.
Every time that Peredonov walked past Vershinaâs garden, Vershina would stop him and with her bewitching gestures and words would lure him into the garden. And he would enter, unwillingly yielding to her quiet witchery. Perhaps she had a better
Comments (0)