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
In the morning after all these dreams Liudmilla felt that she was passionately in love with Sasha. An impatient desire to see him seized hold of herâ âbut the thought that she would see him dressed made her sad. How stupid that small boys donât go about naked! Or at least barefoot, like the streets gamins in summer upon whom Liudmilla loved to gaze because they walked about barefoot, and sometimes showed their bared legs quite high.
âAs if it were so shameful to have a body,â thought Liudmilla, âthat even small boys hide it!â
XVVolodin went punctually to the Adamenkos to give his lessons. His hopes that the young woman would invite him to take coffee were not realised. Each time he came he was taken straight to the little shanty used for carpentry. Misha usually stood in his linen apron at the joinerâs bench, having got ready what was necessary for the lesson. He did obediently but unwillingly all that Volodin told him to do. In order to work less, Misha tried to drag Volodin into conversation, but Volodin wished to work conscientiously and refused to comply.
âMishenka,â he would say, âyou had better do your work for a couple of hours and then, if you like, we can have a talk. Then as much as you like, but now not a bitâ âbusiness before everything.â
Misha sighed lightly and went on with his work, but at the end of the lesson he had no desire to talk: he said he had no time and that he had much home work to do.
Sometimes Nadezhda came to the lesson to see how Misha was getting along. Misha noticedâ âand made use of the factâ âthat in her presence Volodin could much more easily be lured into conversation. When Nadezhda saw that Misha was not working she immediately said to him:
âMisha, donât be lazy!â
And when she left she said to Volodin:
âIâm sorry that Iâve interrupted. If you give him a little leeway he gets very lazy.â
At the beginning Volodin was mortified by Nadezhdaâs behaviour; then he thought that she hesitated to ask him to take coffee in case there should be gossip. Then he thought that she need not have come to look on at the lessons at all and yet she cameâ âwas it because she liked to see him? So Volodin reasoned to his advantage from the fact that Nadezhda from the very first had eagerly agreed that he should give lessons and had not stopped to bargain. He was encouraged in these suppositions by Peredonov and Varvara.
âIt is clear that sheâs in love with you,â said Peredonov.
âAnd what better fiancĂ© could she have?â added Varvara.
Volodin tried to look modest and felt pleased with his prospects.
Once Peredonov said to him:
âYouâre a fiancĂ© and yet you wear that shabby tie!â
âIâm not her fiancĂ© yet, Ardasha,â said Volodin soberly, nevertheless trembling with pleasure. âBut I can easily get a new tie.â
âBuy yourself one with a pattern in it,â advised Peredonov. âSo that it will be clear that love is burning within you.â
âBetter get a red one,â said Varvara, âand the fancier the better. And a tiepin. You can buy a tiepin cheaply and with a stone tooâ âit will be quite chic.â
Peredonov thought that possibly Volodin had not enough money. Or he might think of economising and buy a simple black one. And that would be fatal, thought Peredonov: Adamenko is a fashionable girl and if he should come to propose to her in any kind of a tie she might be offended and reject him. Peredonov said:
âOnly donât buy a cheap one. Pavloushka, youâve won from me enough money to pay for a tie. How much do I owe you? I think itâs one rouble forty kopecks, isnât it?â
âYouâre quite right about the forty kopecks,â said Volodin with a wry smile, âonly itâs not one rouble but two.â
Peredonov knew himself that it was two roubles, but it was more pleasant to pay only one. He said:
âYouâre a liar! What two roubles?â
âVarvara Dmitrievnaâs my witness,â said Volodin.
âYouâd better pay, Ardalyon Borisitch,â said Varvara, âsince you lostâ âand I remember that it was two forty.â
Peredonov thought that as Varvara was interceding for Volodin, that meant that she was going over to his side. He frowned, produced the money from his purse and said:
âAll right, let it be two fortyâ âit wonât ruin me. Youâre a poor man, Pavloushka. Well, here it is.â
Volodin took the money, counted it, then assumed an offended expression and bent down his thick forehead, stuck out his lower lip and said in a bleating, cracked voice:
âArdalyon Borisitch, you happen to be in debt to me and therefore youâve got to pay, and that I happen to be poor has nothing to do with the matter. I havenât yet come down to begging my bread off anyone, and as you know the only poor devil is the one that hasnât any bread to eat, and as I eat bread, and butter with it, that means Iâm not poor.â
And he became mollified and at the same time blushed with joy to think that he had answered so cleverly, and twisted his lips into a smile.
At last Peredonov and Volodin decided to go and fix up the match. They arranged themselves very elaborately and they had a solemn and more than usually stupid look. Peredonov put on a white stock. Volodin a vivid red tie with green stripes. Peredonov argued thus:
âAs I am to do the matchmaking, mine is a sober role. I must live up to it. So I must wear a white tie, and you, the lover, should show your flaming feelings.â
With intense solemnity Peredonov and Volodin seated themselves in the Adamenkosâ drawing-room. Peredonov sat on a sofa
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