The Little Demon Fyodor Sologub (large ebook reader .TXT) đ
- Author: Fyodor Sologub
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Bengalsky, carrying the Geisha, ran through the dining-room into the kitchen. She lay tranquilly in his arms and said nothing. Bengalsky thought he could hear the strong beating of the Geishaâs heart. On her tightly-clutching bare arms he noticed several scratches and near the elbow the blue-yellow stain of a bruise. In a hurried voice Bengalsky said to the crowding servants in the kitchen:
âQuick, an overcoat, a dressing-gown, a sheetâ âanything! I must save this lady.â
An overcoat was thrown on Sashaâs shoulders, Bengalsky somehow wrapped it round the Geisha, and traversing the dark stairs, lighted by dim, smoky paraffin lamps, carried her into the yard and through a gate into the street.
âTake off the mask. Youâll be more likely to be recognised with it onâ âand anyway itâs quite dark here. Iâll tell no one,â said he rather inconsistently.
He was curious. He knew for certain that it was not Kashtanova, but who was it then? The Geisha obeyed. Bengalsky saw an unfamiliar, smooth face, on which fright was giving place to an expression of joy at an escaped danger. A pair of cheerful eyes gazed at the actorâs face.
âHow can I thank you?â said the Geisha in a clear voice. âWhat would have become of me, if you hadnât saved me?â
âSheâs no coward. An interesting little woman!â thought the actor. âBut who is she?â
It was obvious that she was a new arrival; Bengalsky knew the women of the district. He said quietly to Sasha:
âI must take you home at once. Give me your address and Iâll call a cabby.â
The Geishaâs face again became dark with fear.
âYou mustnât, you simply mustnât,â she whispered. âI will go home alone. Let me down here.â
âBut how can you go home in such mud and with those wooden shoes. Youâd better let me call a cab,â said the actor persuasively.
âNo, Iâll go by myself. For Godâs sake let me down,â entreated the Geisha.
âI give you my word of honour I wonât tell anyone,â said Bengalsky reassuringly. âI mustnât let you go, youâll catch cold. Iâm responsible for you now, and I canât let you go. But tell me quicklyâ âthey might get after you even here. You saw what savages they are. Theyâre capable of anything.â
The Geisha trembled, quick tears suddenly trickled from her eyes. She said, sobbing:
âTerribly cruel people! Take me to the Routilovs for the present and Iâll spend the night there.â
Bengalsky called a cab. They got in and drove off. The actor looked intently at the Geishaâs face. There seemed to him to be something strange about it. The Geisha turned her face away. The town-talk about Liudmilla and a schoolboy suddenly occurred to Bengalskyâs mind.
âAh-ha! Youâre a boy!â he said in a whisper, so that the cabby should not hear.
âFor Godâs sake!â said Sasha growing pale with fear.
And his smooth hands under the overcoat stretched themselves towards Bengalsky with a movement of entreaty. Bengalsky laughed quietly and whispered:
âI wonât tell anyone. Donât be afraid. My business is to get you home safe, and beyond that I know nothing. But youâre a daring kid. Wonât they find out at home?â
âIf you donât say anything no one will know,â said Sasha in a voice of gentle entreaty.
âYou can depend on me. I shall be silent as the grave,â replied the actor. âI was a boy myself once; I was up to all sorts of pranks.â
The clamour in the Club had already begun to calm down, but the evening terminated in a new calamity. While they were tussling with the Geisha in the corridor, the flaming nedotikomka, jumping on the lustres, laughed and insistently whispered to Peredonov that he should strike a match and let loose her, the flaming but confined nedotikomka on these dingy, dirty walls, and, when she had gorged herself with the destruction of this building where such terrible and incomprehensible deeds were happening, then she would leave Peredonov unmolested. And Peredonov could not resist her importunate whisper. He entered the little dining-room which was next to the dancing-hall. It was empty. Peredonov looked around, struck a match, put it to the window curtain at the floor and waited till the hangings caught fire. The flaming nedotikomka, like an active little snake, crept up the curtain, squealing softly and happily. Peredonov walked out of the dining-room, closing the door behind him. No one noticed the incendiary.
The fire was only seen from the street when the whole room was in flames. The fire spread quickly. The people escapedâ âbut the Club House was burnt down.
On the next day the town talked of nothing but the Geisha affair and the fire. Bengalsky kept his word and told no one that the Geisha was a disguised boy.
As for Sasha he had redressed himself that night at Routilovs and, turning once more into a simple barefoot boy, ran home, crept through the window and went quietly to sleep. In the town, seething with slanders, in the town where everyone knew everything about everyone, Sashaâs nocturnal adventure remained a secret. For long, but, of course, not for always.
XXXIEkaterina Ivanovna Pilnikova, Sashaâs aunt and guardian, received simultaneously two letters about Sashaâ âone from the Headmaster and the other from Kokovkina. These letters greatly alarmed her. She put all her affairs aside and drove at once from her village through the muddy autumn roads to our town. Sasha, who loved his aunt, met her with great joy. His aunt came with the intention of rating him soundly. But he threw himself on her neck with such gladness and kissed her hands so affectionately that she could not at first speak severely to him.
âDear Auntie, how good of you to come!â said Sasha, and looked happily at her full, rosy face with its kind dimples on the cheeks and its grave, hazel eyes.
âYouâd better postpone your pleasure, I must scold you first,â said his aunt in an irresolute voice.
âI donât mind that,â said Sasha indifferently, âscold me, if you have anything to
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