Idiot (2003) s01e08 Episode Script
Part 8
Ordered by the Russia TV-channel with the support of the Cinematography Service of the Russian Ministry of Culture produced by 2-B-2 Studio ENTERTAlNMEN Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoevsky lDlO Evgeni MlRONOV As prince Muishkin Starring Vladimir MASHKOV Lidiya VELEZHEVA Olga Budina lnna CHURlKOVA Oleg Basilashvili Alexei PETRENKO Vladimir lLYlN Alexander LAZAREV Larisa MALEVANNAYA Maria KlSELYOVA Written and directed by Vladimir BORTKO Photography by Dmitri MASS Design by Vladimir SVETOZAROV Marina NlKOLAYEVA Original music by lgor KORNELYUK Producer Valery TODORORVSKl Episode 8 When you open this letter look first at the signature.
The signature will tell you all, so that l need explain nothing, nor attempt to justify myself.
However, observe, that although l couple you with him, yet l have not once asked you whether you love him.
He fell in love with you, though he saw you but once.
He spoke of you as of 'the light.
' These are his own words l heard him use them.
But l understood without his saying it that you were all that light is to him.
l lived near him for a whole month, and l understood then that you, too, must love him.
l think of you and him as one.
How she has dared to write to her? How she could write about it? And how could such mad idea arise in her head? But the dream this is, is already carried out.
And it is more surprising than all, that l almost believe in an opportunity realization of this dream.
Why do l wish to unite you two? For your sakes or my own? For my own sake, naturally.
l have thought so for a long time.
l have renounced the world.
You think it is strange that l should say so, for you saw me decked with lace and diamonds.
''Take no notice of that; l know that'' l have almost ceased to exist.
God knows what it is dwelling within me now it is not myself.
l can see it every day in two dreadful eyes which are always looking at me, even when not present.
These eyes are silent now, but l know their secret.
l am convinced that in some box he has a razor hidden, tied round with silk.
He is always silent, but l know well that he loves me so much that he must hate me.
''My wedding and yours are to be on the same day;'' so l have arranged with him.
l have no secrets from him.
l would kill him from very fright, but he will kill me first.
How did you come here? l l came in Mamma is not very well, nor is Aglaya.
Adelaida has gone to bed, and l am just going.
We were alone the whole evening.
l have come to you now to -Do you know what time it is? -N--no! Half-past twelve.
We are always in bed by one.
l thought it was half-past nine! Never mind! But why didn't you come earlier? Perhaps you were expected! I was thinking.
Au revoir! l shall amuse them all with this story tomorrow! Get up! Get up at once! What? Are you happy? Are you happy? Get up! Get up! Say this one word.
Are you happy now? Oh, be calm be calm! Today, this moment? Have you just been with her? Are you happy now? -What did she say? -Get up! Get up! l am going away tomorrow, as you bade me l won't write so that this is the last time l shall see you, the last time! This is really the last time! Good-bye! Wait a minute, prince, l shall be back in a moment.
l've put her in the carriage, it has been waiting round the corner there since ten o'clock.
She expected that you would be with that girl all the evening.
l told her exactly what you wrote me.
She won't write to the girl any more, and tomorrow she will be off, as you wish.
Did she bring you with her of her own accord? Of course she did! And l saw for myself what l knew before.
You've read her letters? Did you read them? Of course She showed them to me herself.
You are thinking of the razor? Oh, she is mad! Who knows? Perhaps she is not so mad after all.
Well, good-bye.
l'm off tomorrow too, you know.
Remember me kindly! Why didn't you answer her question just now? Are you happy, or not? No, no, no! Ha, ha! l never supposed you would say 'yes.
Upon my honour, l really believed l had fancied something of the kind, after all.
At first, it seemed a new idea, and then, somehow, it looked as familiar as possible.
To me affairs are not present that lvan Fedorovich seems to you Was all this good or bad? lf bad -which was hardly doubtful, Wherein, especially, bad? If good, which hardly might be the case, of course, Why good? Of course, you know all this is very strange, if true, which l cannot deny; but But, on the other hand, if one looks things in the face, you know upon my honour, the prince is a rare good fellow and well, his name, you know your family name all this looks well, and perpetuates the name and title and all that which at this moment is not standing so high as it might from one point of view don't you know? The world, the world is the world, And the prince has property, you know if it is not very large The whole thing had been one huge, fantastical, absurd, unpardonable mistake.
Forgive me dear, it is time Why am l driven to think, and foresee, and worry for everybody, while they all sucked their thumbs, and counted the crows in the garden, and do nothing? And why is not the prince such a husband as you would have desired for Aglaya.
First of all, this prince is an idiot, and, secondly, he is a fool, knows nothing of the world, and has no place in it.
What will old Bielokonski say? We never thought of such a husband as that for our Aglaya! Father's remark may be not so far out.
ln the eyes of the world, probably the choice of the prince as a husband for one of the Epanchin girls would be considered a very wise one.
The prince is by no means a fool, and never has been; and that as to place in the world, no one know what the position of a respectable person would imply in a few years Whether it would depend on successes in the government service, on the old system, or what.
You are a freethinker, and that all this is due to that cursed woman's rights question.
Very simply indeed! ''l found it under the chair upon which my coat had hung;'' so that it is clear the purse simply fell out of the pocket and on to the floor! -Under the chair? -So.
Why, you told me yourself that you had searched every corner of the room? How could you not have looked in the most likely place of all? Of course l looked there, of course l did! Very much so! l looked and scrambled about, and felt for it, and wouldn't believe it was not there, and looked again and again.
l don't quite understand, You say it wasn't there at first, and that you searched the place thoroughly.
So.
And yet it turned up on that very spot! Yes, sir, on that very spot.
And the general? How do you mean, the general? Oh, good heavens! l mean, what did the general say when the purse turned up under the chair? l thought better to say nothing about finding it.
l found it alone.
And the money? Was it all there? Right to a single rouble.
l wanted to appear, myself, to have found nothing.
l took the purse, and opened it, and counted the money, and shut it and put it down again under the chair.
What in the world for? l was half in hopes the general might find it.
l moved the chair several times so as to expose the purse to view, but the general never saw it.
Well, but have you taken the purse away now? No, it disappeared from under the chair in the night.
Where is it now, then? Here, in the lining of my coat.
Look, you can feel it for yourself, if you like! I took it out and had a look at it; it's all right.
l've let it slip back into the lining now, as you see, ''and so l have been walking about ever since yesterday morning;'' it knocks against my legs when l walk along.
-And you take no notice of it? -Quite so, l take no notice of it.
And the general? Ah, very angry all day, sir; all yesterday and all today.
He shows decided bacchanalian predilections at one time, and at another is tearful and sensitive, but at any moment he is liable to paroxysms of such rage that l assure you, prince, l am quite alarmed.
l am not a military man, you know.
Yesterday we were sitting together in the tavern, and the lining of my coat was quite accidentally, of course sticking out right in front.
The general squinted at it, and flew into a rage.
I intend to find the purse tomorrow; but till then l am going to have another night of it with him.
What's the good of tormenting him like this? l don't torment him, prince, l don't indeed! l love him, my dear sir, l esteem him.
And believe it or not,l love him all the better for this business, yes and value him more.
-Love him and torment him so! -Yes.
And tormenting him like this? Why, by the very fact that he put the purse prominently before you, first under the chair and then in your lining, he shows that he does not wish to deceive you, but is anxious to beg your forgiveness in this artless way.
Do you hear? He is asking your pardon.
He confides in the delicacy of your feelings, and in your friendship for him.
And you can allow yourself to humiliate so thoroughly honest a man! Thoroughly honest, quite so, prince, thoroughly honest! And only you, prince, could have found so very appropriate an expression.
l honour you for it, prince.
Very well, that's settled l shall find the purse now and not tomorrow.
Well, take care, you don't tell him to his face that you have found the purse.
Simply let him see that it is no longer in the lining of your coat, and form his own conclusions.
l know, prince, of course l know, but l'm afraid l shall not carry it out.
for to do so one needs a heart like your own.
He is so very irritable just now, and so proud.
At one moment he will embrace me, and the next he flies out at me and sneers at me, and then l stick the lining forward on purpose.
Well, au revoir, prince, l see l am keeping you, and boring you, too, interfering with your most interesting private reflections.
Go and take this hedgehog to the prince from me, and ask him to accept it as a token of my profound respect.
Certainly l shall pass.
Colia, dear, please take care not to drop him! No, l will not drop him! Don't be afraid, Aglaya lvanovna! What does the hedgehog mean? What is the meaning of such a present.
Mom - a hedgehog is simply a hedgehog.
Good afternoon general.
l have determined, prince, to leave this house, Mr.
Lebedeff's house.
Why? l do not need his hospitality, having my own family at Pavlofsk.
l leave Lebedeff's house, my dear prince, because l have quarreled with this person.
l broke with him last night, and am very sorry that l did not do so before.
Prince, l have often given away my heart, and am nearly always deceived.
This person was quite unworthy of the gift.
There is much that might be improved in him, but though amid them one cannot but discern a cunning nature reveal what is often a diverting intellect.
Oh, that he possesses good traits, l was the first to show, a present of my friendship.
l have drunk with this man, and perhaps l deplore the fact now, l was attracted by his good qualities.
But when the fellow declares that he was a child in 1812, and had his left leg cut off, and buried in the Vagarkoff cemetery, in Moscow, such a cock-and-bull story amounts to disrespect, my dear sir, to impudent exaggeration.
Oh, he was very likely joking, he said it for fun.
l quite understand you.
But when a man makes use of extravagance in order to show the intimacy bores him, it is time for a man of honour to break off the said intimacy, and to teach the offender his place.
Oh, but Lebedeff cannot have been in Moscow in 1812.
He is much too young, it is all nonsense.
but even if we admit that he was alive in 1812, can one believe that a French chasseur pointed a cannon at him for a lark, and shot his left leg off? He says he picked his own leg up and took it away and buried it in the cemetery.
He swore he had a stone put up over it with the inscription: 'Here lies the leg of 'Rest, beloved ashes, till the morn of joy.
' and that he has a service read over it every year, which is simply sacrilege, and goes to Moscow once a year on purpose.
He invites me to Moscow in order to prove his assertion, and show me his leg's tomb, and the very cannon that shot him, he says it's the eleventh from the gate of the Kremlin.
And, meanwhile both his legs are still on his body.
l assure you, it is only an innocent joke, and you need not be angry about it.
Well, if you were one of Napoleon's pages in 1812, you might let me bury my leg in the Moscow cemetery.
Why, did you say I am rather young-looking, I know; but l am actually older.
than l appear to be.
l was ten or eleven in the year 1812.
And with 10 years child it is possible to explain adventures age.
Had l been fifteen years old l should probably have been terribly frightened, but as l was only just ten l was not in the least alarmed, and rushed through the crowd to the very door of the palace when Napoleon alighted from his horse.
Undoubtedly, at ten years old you would not have felt the sense of fear, as you say.
Yes, it's quite true, isn't it? A small boy, a child, would naturally realize no danger, he would shove his way through the crowds to see the shine and glitter of the uniforms, and especially the great man of whom everyone was speaking.
Napoleon, passing a couple of paces from me, caught sight of me accidentally.
l was very well dressed, and being all alone, in that crowd, as you will easily imagine Oh, of course! Naturally the sight impressed him.
Just so just so! When his eagle eye fell on me, mine probably flashed back in response.
Voila un garcon bien eveille! Qui est ton pere? l immediately replied, almost panting with excitement, A general, who died on the battle-fields of his country! Le fils d'un boyard et d'un brave, pardessus le marche.
J'aime les boyards.
M'aimes-tu, petit? To this keen question l replied as keenly, The Russian heart can recognize a great man even in the bitter enemy of his country.
At least, l don't remember the exact words.
Napoleon was struck.
He thought and then told his men: "I like that boy's pride, if all Russians think like this child" then he didn't finish, but went on and entered the palace.
l instantly mixed with his suite, and followed him.
A couple of days after this, Napoleon's page, De Bazancour, died, he had not been able to stand the trials of the campaign.
Napoleon remembered me, l was taken away without explanation, the dead page's uniform was tried on me, and when l was taken before the emperor, dressed in it, he nodded his head to me, and l was told that l was appointed to the vacant post of page.
l was called 'page'.
Suddenly his eye fell on me and an idea seemed to flash across him.
'Child,' he said, abruptly.
lf l were to recognize the Russian orthodox religion and emancipate the serfs, do you think Russia would come over to me? 'Never!' l cried, indignantly.
The Emperor was much struck.
ln the flashing eyes of this patriotic child l read and accept the fiat of the Russian people.
And, do you know, l all but went off to Paris.
but, alas, our destinies were otherwise ordered.
Heavens! it's two o'clock! How l have kept you, prince! lt is really most unpardonable of me.
Oh, not in the least, On the contrary, l have been so much interested, l'm really very much obliged to you.
Prince, Prince, you are so kind, so simple-minded, that sometimes l really feel sorry for you! l gaze at you with a feeling of real affection.
Oh, Heaven bless you! May your life blossom and fructify in love.
Mine is over.
Mine is over.
He has taken offence.
that has reached such inspiration.
Colia.
You invite tonight, and ask to transfer it as a token of the deepest respect.
And what is it? l must part forever, l am grateful, but even from you l could not accept signs of sympathy which were humiliating to the dignity of a man already miserable enough.
Badly the railway works.
Yes.
To repair railway it would be very useful.
Sit, prince.
Did you get my hedgehog? Yes, l got it.
Tell us now, at once, what you made of the present? l must have you answer this question for mother's sake, she needs pacifying, and so do all the rest of the family! -This is going beyond all limits! -Look here, Aglaya lt is not in the least beyond all limits, mamma! l sent the prince a hedgehog this morning, and l wish to hear his opinion of it.
Go on, prince.
What sort of opinion, Aglaya lvanovna? About the hedgehog.
That is l suppose you wish to know how l received the hedgehog, Aglaya lvanovna, or, l should say, how l regarded your sending him to me? ln that case, l may tell you in a word You haven't told us much! Very well, l am ready to drop the hedgehog, if you like, but l am anxious to be able to clear up this accumulation of misunderstandings.
Allow me to ask you, prince, l wish to hear from you, personally are you making me an offer, or not? Gracious heavens! Don't deceive me now, prince tell the truth.
All these people persecute me with astounding questions about you.
ls there any ground for all these questions, or not? l have not asked you to marry me, Aglaya Ivanovna.
but you know yourself how much l love you and trust you.
Even now.
l asked you this, answer this! Do you intend to ask for my band, or not? l do ask for it! My dear girl.
You cannot proceed like this, Aglaya, if that's how the matter stands.
lt's impossible.
Prince, forgive it, my dear fellow, but Lizabetha Prokofievna! Not l not l! Allow me to speak, please, mamma.
An important moment of my destiny is about to be decided.
l wish to find out how the matter stands, for my own sake, though l am glad you are all here.
Allow me to ask you, prince, since you cherish those intentions, how you consider that you will provide for my happiness? l don't quite know how to answer your question, Aglaya lvanovna.
What is there to say to such a question? And and must l answer? l think you are rather overwhelmed and out of breath.
Have a little rest, and try to recover yourself.
Take a glass of water, though they'll give you some tea directly.
l love you, Aglaya lvanovna, l love you very much.
l love only you.
Please don't jest about it, for l do love you very much.
Well, this matter is important.
We are not children we must look into it thoroughly.
Now then, kindly tell me what does your fortune consist of? No, Aglaya.
Come, enough of this, you mustn't behave like this.
-lt's disgraceful.
-She's mad quite! Fortune? Just so.
Money do you mean? l have now a hundred and thirty-five thousand roubles.
ls that all, really? However, it's not so bad, especially if managed with economy.
Do you intend to serve? l intended to try for a certificate as private tutor.
Very good.
That would increase our income nicely.
Have you any intention of being a Kammer-junker? A Kammer-junker? l had not thought of it, but l knew it was all a joke! No, no! l cannot allow this, this is a little too much.
lt's really.
now could you have imagined anything like it, Lef Nicolaievitch? Seriously now, seriously l mean.
l only see that Aglaya lvanovna is laughing at me.
Wait a bit, my boy, l'll just go But do just explain, if you can, Lef Nicolaievitch, how in the world has all this come about? And what does it all mean? You must understand, my dear fellow.
l am a father, you see, and l ought to be allowed to understand the matter.
.
do explain, l beg you! l love Aglaya lvanovna l think she must have long known it.
Strange.
lt's strange.
And you love her very much? Yes, very much.
lt's all most strange to me.
That is my dear fellow, it is such a surprise such a blow that You see, it is not your financial position, though l should not object if you were a bit richer, l am thinking of my daughter's happiness, and the thing is are you able to give her the happiness she deserves? And then is all this a joke on her part, or is she in earnest? l don't mean on your side, but on hers.
Papa! Wait for me here, my boy, will you? Just wait and think it all over, and l'll come back directly.
There, look at her now lvan Fedorovitch! Here she is all of her! This is our real Aglaya at last! Papa! Oh, you cruel little girl! How will you treat us all next, l wonder? Cruel? Yes, l am cruel, and worthless, and spoiled My darling, my little idol, so you love this young man, do you? No, no, no, can't bear him, l can't bear your young man! And if you dare say that once more, papa l'm serious, you know, l'm, do you hear me lf that's the case, darling then, of course, you shall do exactly as you like.
He is waiting alone downstairs.
Hadn't l better hint to him gently that he can go? No, no, you needn't do anything of the sort, you mustn't hint gently at all.
l'll go down myself directly.
l wish to apologize to this young man, because l hurt his feelings.
-Yes, seriously.
-Seriously.
Seriously.
l'll just go in and then you can follow me almost at once.
That's the best way.
l shall laugh l shall die of laughing.
Well, what does it all mean? What do you make of it? l hardly dare say.
But l think it's as plain as anything can be.
l think so too, as clear as day, she loves him.
She is head over ears in love, that's what she is.
Well, God bless her, God bless her, if such is her destiny.
Her destiny it is, and there's no getting out of destiny.
Forgive a silly, horrid, spoilt girl and be quite assured that we all of us esteem you beyond all words.
And if l dared to turn your beautiful, admirable simplicity to ridicule, forgive me as you would a little child its mischief.
Forgive me all my absurdity of just now, which, of course, meant nothing, and could not have the slightest consequence.
Who is it? Why do you speak so? Why do you ask my forgiveness? l'm unworthy of being asked for forgiveness by you, l'm perfectly happy, that l may come and speak to you, and walk with you That all this is quite enough to satisfy me for the whole of my life, and l would desire no more to the end of time? Hippolyte.
Didn't l tell you the truth now, when l said you were in love? l am glad that you look better.
How are you? You wouldn't believe, they invited me there under the express condition that l should die quickly, and they are all as wild as possible with me for not having died yet, and for being, on the contrary, a good deal better! lsn't it a comedy? l don't mind betting that you don't believe me! l certainly thought they invited you with quite other views.
You are not nearly so simple as they try to make you out! This is not the time for it, or l would tell you a thing or two about that beauty, Gania, and his hopes.
You are being undermined, pitilessly undermined, and and it is really melancholy to see you so calm about it.
Why, do you think l should be any happier if l were to feel disturbed about the excavations you tell me of? lt is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise! l suppose you don't believe that you have a rival in that quarter? Your insinuations as to rivalry are rather cynical, Hippolyte.
l don't know what in the world you are driving at.
Very well.
You can't look at anything but in your exalted, generous way.
However, l see l must make arrangements to die soon, or l myself Leave me, good-bye.
Look here.
Just give me your opinion: how do you think l ought to die, now? l mean--the best, the most virtuous way? Tell me! You should pass us by and forgive us our happiness.
Speak! Speak! Speak under the penalty of a father's curse.
Oh, father's curse be hanged you don't frighten me that way -Ganya! -Whose fault is it that you have been as mad lt is just a week, you see, l count! Don't provoke me too much, or l'll tell all.
And you call yourself an old man, too, with grey hair, and father of a family! Nice sort of a father! Be quiet, Gania.
Shut up, you fool! And you Hippolyte be silent! But what have l done? Why does he call me a screw? He came to me himself and began telling me about some Captain Eropegoff.
l don't wish for your company, general.
What have l to do with Captain Eropegoff? All l did was to express my opinion that probably Captain Eropegoff never existed at all! Of course he never existed! There, you see! Even your own son supports my statement That there never was such a person as Captain Eropegoff! Kapiton Eropegoff not Captain Eropegoff! Kapiton major retired Eropegoff Kapiton.
Kapiton didn't exist either! What? Didn't exist? Kapiton didn't and couldn't exist! And this is my son my own son.
Whom l Eropegoff Eroshka Eropegoff didn't exist! Ha, ha! it's Eroshka now! No, sir, Kapitoshka not Eroshka.
l mean, Kapiton Alexeyevitch retired major married Maria Petrovna Su he was my friend and companion l closed his eyes for him he was killed.
Kapiton Eropegoff never existed! Kapiton Eropegoff never existed! Enough of this! My curse! Away, out of the house l go! Colia, bring my bag away! What have you done? -What a disgrace it all is! -Well, he shouldn't steal! As for you, sir, you should at least remember that you are in a strange house and receiving hospitality, you should not take the opportunity of tormenting an old man, sir, who is too evidently out of his mind.
l don't quite agree with you that your father is out of his mind.
On the contrary, l cannot help thinking he has been less demented of late.
He spoke to me about that Kapiton fellow with an object.
-He wanted me to -Oh, devil take what he wanted you to do! lf you are aware of the real reason for my father's present condition you had no right whatever to torment the unfortunate man, and to worry my mother by your exaggerations of the affair, because the whole business is nonsense simply a drunken freak, and nothing more, But you must needs spy and watch over us all, because you are a -Screw! -Because you are a humbug, and thought fit to worry people for half an hour, and tried to frighten them into believing that you would shoot yourself with your little empty pistol, pirouetting about and playing at suicide! l gave you hospitality, you have fattened on it, your cough has left you, and you repay all this.
Excuse me--two words! l am Varvara Ardalionovna's guest, not yours.
l believe you are yourself indebted to Mr.
Ptitsin's hospitality.
l certainly do feel better here, though l am not fat, nor have l ceased to cough.
Four days ago l begged my mother to come down here and find lodgings.
l intend to leave the house this evening.
l beg your pardon.
l interrupted you l think you were about to add something? May l ask you to be so good as to leave this room? You'd better speak out.
You'll be sorry afterwards if you don't.
Hippolyte, stop, please! lt's so dreadfully undignified.
Because an explanation between your brother and myself has become an absolute necessity, ln inviting me here you yourself entrapped me for your own use.
You thought l wished to revenge myself upon the prince.
l am quite content to leave you to your conscience, and to feel that we understand one another capitally.
What a history you are weaving out of the most ordinary circumstances! l told you the fellow was nothing but a scandalmonger.
Excuse me, Varia Ardalionovna, l will proceed.
l can, of course, neither love nor respect the prince, though he is a good-hearted fellow, if a little queer.
But there is no need whatever for me to hate him.
l quite understood your brother when he first offered me aid against the prince, though l did not show it.
l knew well that your brother was making a ridiculous mistake in me.
l will proceed to explain why l specially wished to make your brother look a fool.
l hate you, Gavrila Ardalionovitch, solely because you are the type, and incarnation, and head, and crown of the most impudent, the most self-satisfied, the most vulgar and detestable form of commonplaceness.
You have no chance of ever fathering the pettiest idea of your own.
You consider yourself a great genius Although there are dark moments of doubt and rage.
You will never gain a certain person.
This is intolerable! You had better stop, you little mischief-making wretch! Are you off? Wait a moment.
look at this.
Gavrila Ardolionovich persuaded of your kindness of heart, l have determined to ask your advice on a matter of great importance to myself.
l should like to meet you tomorrow morning at seven o'clock by the green bench.
lt is not far from our house.
Varvara Ardalionovna, who must accompany you, knows the place well.
A.
E.
Good heavens! What on earth is one to make of a girl like that? And this is the very day that they were to announce the engagement! What do you suppose she wants to talk about tomorrow? Oh, that`s all the same! The chief thing is that she wants to see you.
Look here, Gania, this is a serious business.
Very serious.
Don't swagger again and lose the game play carefully, but don't funk, As if she could possibly avoid seeing what l have been working for all this last six months! We can't let him go out! We can't afford to have a breath of scandal about the town at this moment Run after him and beg his pardon, quick.
He'll be back here in half an hour.
What are you up to? Where are you off to? You've nowhere to go to, you know.
''Come back, father; the neighbours will hear!'' My curse be upon this house! Never! Which observation should always be made in as theatrical a tone as possible.
-A.
E.
The signature will tell you all, so that l need explain nothing, nor attempt to justify myself.
However, observe, that although l couple you with him, yet l have not once asked you whether you love him.
He fell in love with you, though he saw you but once.
He spoke of you as of 'the light.
' These are his own words l heard him use them.
But l understood without his saying it that you were all that light is to him.
l lived near him for a whole month, and l understood then that you, too, must love him.
l think of you and him as one.
How she has dared to write to her? How she could write about it? And how could such mad idea arise in her head? But the dream this is, is already carried out.
And it is more surprising than all, that l almost believe in an opportunity realization of this dream.
Why do l wish to unite you two? For your sakes or my own? For my own sake, naturally.
l have thought so for a long time.
l have renounced the world.
You think it is strange that l should say so, for you saw me decked with lace and diamonds.
''Take no notice of that; l know that'' l have almost ceased to exist.
God knows what it is dwelling within me now it is not myself.
l can see it every day in two dreadful eyes which are always looking at me, even when not present.
These eyes are silent now, but l know their secret.
l am convinced that in some box he has a razor hidden, tied round with silk.
He is always silent, but l know well that he loves me so much that he must hate me.
''My wedding and yours are to be on the same day;'' so l have arranged with him.
l have no secrets from him.
l would kill him from very fright, but he will kill me first.
How did you come here? l l came in Mamma is not very well, nor is Aglaya.
Adelaida has gone to bed, and l am just going.
We were alone the whole evening.
l have come to you now to -Do you know what time it is? -N--no! Half-past twelve.
We are always in bed by one.
l thought it was half-past nine! Never mind! But why didn't you come earlier? Perhaps you were expected! I was thinking.
Au revoir! l shall amuse them all with this story tomorrow! Get up! Get up at once! What? Are you happy? Are you happy? Get up! Get up! Say this one word.
Are you happy now? Oh, be calm be calm! Today, this moment? Have you just been with her? Are you happy now? -What did she say? -Get up! Get up! l am going away tomorrow, as you bade me l won't write so that this is the last time l shall see you, the last time! This is really the last time! Good-bye! Wait a minute, prince, l shall be back in a moment.
l've put her in the carriage, it has been waiting round the corner there since ten o'clock.
She expected that you would be with that girl all the evening.
l told her exactly what you wrote me.
She won't write to the girl any more, and tomorrow she will be off, as you wish.
Did she bring you with her of her own accord? Of course she did! And l saw for myself what l knew before.
You've read her letters? Did you read them? Of course She showed them to me herself.
You are thinking of the razor? Oh, she is mad! Who knows? Perhaps she is not so mad after all.
Well, good-bye.
l'm off tomorrow too, you know.
Remember me kindly! Why didn't you answer her question just now? Are you happy, or not? No, no, no! Ha, ha! l never supposed you would say 'yes.
Upon my honour, l really believed l had fancied something of the kind, after all.
At first, it seemed a new idea, and then, somehow, it looked as familiar as possible.
To me affairs are not present that lvan Fedorovich seems to you Was all this good or bad? lf bad -which was hardly doubtful, Wherein, especially, bad? If good, which hardly might be the case, of course, Why good? Of course, you know all this is very strange, if true, which l cannot deny; but But, on the other hand, if one looks things in the face, you know upon my honour, the prince is a rare good fellow and well, his name, you know your family name all this looks well, and perpetuates the name and title and all that which at this moment is not standing so high as it might from one point of view don't you know? The world, the world is the world, And the prince has property, you know if it is not very large The whole thing had been one huge, fantastical, absurd, unpardonable mistake.
Forgive me dear, it is time Why am l driven to think, and foresee, and worry for everybody, while they all sucked their thumbs, and counted the crows in the garden, and do nothing? And why is not the prince such a husband as you would have desired for Aglaya.
First of all, this prince is an idiot, and, secondly, he is a fool, knows nothing of the world, and has no place in it.
What will old Bielokonski say? We never thought of such a husband as that for our Aglaya! Father's remark may be not so far out.
ln the eyes of the world, probably the choice of the prince as a husband for one of the Epanchin girls would be considered a very wise one.
The prince is by no means a fool, and never has been; and that as to place in the world, no one know what the position of a respectable person would imply in a few years Whether it would depend on successes in the government service, on the old system, or what.
You are a freethinker, and that all this is due to that cursed woman's rights question.
Very simply indeed! ''l found it under the chair upon which my coat had hung;'' so that it is clear the purse simply fell out of the pocket and on to the floor! -Under the chair? -So.
Why, you told me yourself that you had searched every corner of the room? How could you not have looked in the most likely place of all? Of course l looked there, of course l did! Very much so! l looked and scrambled about, and felt for it, and wouldn't believe it was not there, and looked again and again.
l don't quite understand, You say it wasn't there at first, and that you searched the place thoroughly.
So.
And yet it turned up on that very spot! Yes, sir, on that very spot.
And the general? How do you mean, the general? Oh, good heavens! l mean, what did the general say when the purse turned up under the chair? l thought better to say nothing about finding it.
l found it alone.
And the money? Was it all there? Right to a single rouble.
l wanted to appear, myself, to have found nothing.
l took the purse, and opened it, and counted the money, and shut it and put it down again under the chair.
What in the world for? l was half in hopes the general might find it.
l moved the chair several times so as to expose the purse to view, but the general never saw it.
Well, but have you taken the purse away now? No, it disappeared from under the chair in the night.
Where is it now, then? Here, in the lining of my coat.
Look, you can feel it for yourself, if you like! I took it out and had a look at it; it's all right.
l've let it slip back into the lining now, as you see, ''and so l have been walking about ever since yesterday morning;'' it knocks against my legs when l walk along.
-And you take no notice of it? -Quite so, l take no notice of it.
And the general? Ah, very angry all day, sir; all yesterday and all today.
He shows decided bacchanalian predilections at one time, and at another is tearful and sensitive, but at any moment he is liable to paroxysms of such rage that l assure you, prince, l am quite alarmed.
l am not a military man, you know.
Yesterday we were sitting together in the tavern, and the lining of my coat was quite accidentally, of course sticking out right in front.
The general squinted at it, and flew into a rage.
I intend to find the purse tomorrow; but till then l am going to have another night of it with him.
What's the good of tormenting him like this? l don't torment him, prince, l don't indeed! l love him, my dear sir, l esteem him.
And believe it or not,l love him all the better for this business, yes and value him more.
-Love him and torment him so! -Yes.
And tormenting him like this? Why, by the very fact that he put the purse prominently before you, first under the chair and then in your lining, he shows that he does not wish to deceive you, but is anxious to beg your forgiveness in this artless way.
Do you hear? He is asking your pardon.
He confides in the delicacy of your feelings, and in your friendship for him.
And you can allow yourself to humiliate so thoroughly honest a man! Thoroughly honest, quite so, prince, thoroughly honest! And only you, prince, could have found so very appropriate an expression.
l honour you for it, prince.
Very well, that's settled l shall find the purse now and not tomorrow.
Well, take care, you don't tell him to his face that you have found the purse.
Simply let him see that it is no longer in the lining of your coat, and form his own conclusions.
l know, prince, of course l know, but l'm afraid l shall not carry it out.
for to do so one needs a heart like your own.
He is so very irritable just now, and so proud.
At one moment he will embrace me, and the next he flies out at me and sneers at me, and then l stick the lining forward on purpose.
Well, au revoir, prince, l see l am keeping you, and boring you, too, interfering with your most interesting private reflections.
Go and take this hedgehog to the prince from me, and ask him to accept it as a token of my profound respect.
Certainly l shall pass.
Colia, dear, please take care not to drop him! No, l will not drop him! Don't be afraid, Aglaya lvanovna! What does the hedgehog mean? What is the meaning of such a present.
Mom - a hedgehog is simply a hedgehog.
Good afternoon general.
l have determined, prince, to leave this house, Mr.
Lebedeff's house.
Why? l do not need his hospitality, having my own family at Pavlofsk.
l leave Lebedeff's house, my dear prince, because l have quarreled with this person.
l broke with him last night, and am very sorry that l did not do so before.
Prince, l have often given away my heart, and am nearly always deceived.
This person was quite unworthy of the gift.
There is much that might be improved in him, but though amid them one cannot but discern a cunning nature reveal what is often a diverting intellect.
Oh, that he possesses good traits, l was the first to show, a present of my friendship.
l have drunk with this man, and perhaps l deplore the fact now, l was attracted by his good qualities.
But when the fellow declares that he was a child in 1812, and had his left leg cut off, and buried in the Vagarkoff cemetery, in Moscow, such a cock-and-bull story amounts to disrespect, my dear sir, to impudent exaggeration.
Oh, he was very likely joking, he said it for fun.
l quite understand you.
But when a man makes use of extravagance in order to show the intimacy bores him, it is time for a man of honour to break off the said intimacy, and to teach the offender his place.
Oh, but Lebedeff cannot have been in Moscow in 1812.
He is much too young, it is all nonsense.
but even if we admit that he was alive in 1812, can one believe that a French chasseur pointed a cannon at him for a lark, and shot his left leg off? He says he picked his own leg up and took it away and buried it in the cemetery.
He swore he had a stone put up over it with the inscription: 'Here lies the leg of 'Rest, beloved ashes, till the morn of joy.
' and that he has a service read over it every year, which is simply sacrilege, and goes to Moscow once a year on purpose.
He invites me to Moscow in order to prove his assertion, and show me his leg's tomb, and the very cannon that shot him, he says it's the eleventh from the gate of the Kremlin.
And, meanwhile both his legs are still on his body.
l assure you, it is only an innocent joke, and you need not be angry about it.
Well, if you were one of Napoleon's pages in 1812, you might let me bury my leg in the Moscow cemetery.
Why, did you say I am rather young-looking, I know; but l am actually older.
than l appear to be.
l was ten or eleven in the year 1812.
And with 10 years child it is possible to explain adventures age.
Had l been fifteen years old l should probably have been terribly frightened, but as l was only just ten l was not in the least alarmed, and rushed through the crowd to the very door of the palace when Napoleon alighted from his horse.
Undoubtedly, at ten years old you would not have felt the sense of fear, as you say.
Yes, it's quite true, isn't it? A small boy, a child, would naturally realize no danger, he would shove his way through the crowds to see the shine and glitter of the uniforms, and especially the great man of whom everyone was speaking.
Napoleon, passing a couple of paces from me, caught sight of me accidentally.
l was very well dressed, and being all alone, in that crowd, as you will easily imagine Oh, of course! Naturally the sight impressed him.
Just so just so! When his eagle eye fell on me, mine probably flashed back in response.
Voila un garcon bien eveille! Qui est ton pere? l immediately replied, almost panting with excitement, A general, who died on the battle-fields of his country! Le fils d'un boyard et d'un brave, pardessus le marche.
J'aime les boyards.
M'aimes-tu, petit? To this keen question l replied as keenly, The Russian heart can recognize a great man even in the bitter enemy of his country.
At least, l don't remember the exact words.
Napoleon was struck.
He thought and then told his men: "I like that boy's pride, if all Russians think like this child" then he didn't finish, but went on and entered the palace.
l instantly mixed with his suite, and followed him.
A couple of days after this, Napoleon's page, De Bazancour, died, he had not been able to stand the trials of the campaign.
Napoleon remembered me, l was taken away without explanation, the dead page's uniform was tried on me, and when l was taken before the emperor, dressed in it, he nodded his head to me, and l was told that l was appointed to the vacant post of page.
l was called 'page'.
Suddenly his eye fell on me and an idea seemed to flash across him.
'Child,' he said, abruptly.
lf l were to recognize the Russian orthodox religion and emancipate the serfs, do you think Russia would come over to me? 'Never!' l cried, indignantly.
The Emperor was much struck.
ln the flashing eyes of this patriotic child l read and accept the fiat of the Russian people.
And, do you know, l all but went off to Paris.
but, alas, our destinies were otherwise ordered.
Heavens! it's two o'clock! How l have kept you, prince! lt is really most unpardonable of me.
Oh, not in the least, On the contrary, l have been so much interested, l'm really very much obliged to you.
Prince, Prince, you are so kind, so simple-minded, that sometimes l really feel sorry for you! l gaze at you with a feeling of real affection.
Oh, Heaven bless you! May your life blossom and fructify in love.
Mine is over.
Mine is over.
He has taken offence.
that has reached such inspiration.
Colia.
You invite tonight, and ask to transfer it as a token of the deepest respect.
And what is it? l must part forever, l am grateful, but even from you l could not accept signs of sympathy which were humiliating to the dignity of a man already miserable enough.
Badly the railway works.
Yes.
To repair railway it would be very useful.
Sit, prince.
Did you get my hedgehog? Yes, l got it.
Tell us now, at once, what you made of the present? l must have you answer this question for mother's sake, she needs pacifying, and so do all the rest of the family! -This is going beyond all limits! -Look here, Aglaya lt is not in the least beyond all limits, mamma! l sent the prince a hedgehog this morning, and l wish to hear his opinion of it.
Go on, prince.
What sort of opinion, Aglaya lvanovna? About the hedgehog.
That is l suppose you wish to know how l received the hedgehog, Aglaya lvanovna, or, l should say, how l regarded your sending him to me? ln that case, l may tell you in a word You haven't told us much! Very well, l am ready to drop the hedgehog, if you like, but l am anxious to be able to clear up this accumulation of misunderstandings.
Allow me to ask you, prince, l wish to hear from you, personally are you making me an offer, or not? Gracious heavens! Don't deceive me now, prince tell the truth.
All these people persecute me with astounding questions about you.
ls there any ground for all these questions, or not? l have not asked you to marry me, Aglaya Ivanovna.
but you know yourself how much l love you and trust you.
Even now.
l asked you this, answer this! Do you intend to ask for my band, or not? l do ask for it! My dear girl.
You cannot proceed like this, Aglaya, if that's how the matter stands.
lt's impossible.
Prince, forgive it, my dear fellow, but Lizabetha Prokofievna! Not l not l! Allow me to speak, please, mamma.
An important moment of my destiny is about to be decided.
l wish to find out how the matter stands, for my own sake, though l am glad you are all here.
Allow me to ask you, prince, since you cherish those intentions, how you consider that you will provide for my happiness? l don't quite know how to answer your question, Aglaya lvanovna.
What is there to say to such a question? And and must l answer? l think you are rather overwhelmed and out of breath.
Have a little rest, and try to recover yourself.
Take a glass of water, though they'll give you some tea directly.
l love you, Aglaya lvanovna, l love you very much.
l love only you.
Please don't jest about it, for l do love you very much.
Well, this matter is important.
We are not children we must look into it thoroughly.
Now then, kindly tell me what does your fortune consist of? No, Aglaya.
Come, enough of this, you mustn't behave like this.
-lt's disgraceful.
-She's mad quite! Fortune? Just so.
Money do you mean? l have now a hundred and thirty-five thousand roubles.
ls that all, really? However, it's not so bad, especially if managed with economy.
Do you intend to serve? l intended to try for a certificate as private tutor.
Very good.
That would increase our income nicely.
Have you any intention of being a Kammer-junker? A Kammer-junker? l had not thought of it, but l knew it was all a joke! No, no! l cannot allow this, this is a little too much.
lt's really.
now could you have imagined anything like it, Lef Nicolaievitch? Seriously now, seriously l mean.
l only see that Aglaya lvanovna is laughing at me.
Wait a bit, my boy, l'll just go But do just explain, if you can, Lef Nicolaievitch, how in the world has all this come about? And what does it all mean? You must understand, my dear fellow.
l am a father, you see, and l ought to be allowed to understand the matter.
.
do explain, l beg you! l love Aglaya lvanovna l think she must have long known it.
Strange.
lt's strange.
And you love her very much? Yes, very much.
lt's all most strange to me.
That is my dear fellow, it is such a surprise such a blow that You see, it is not your financial position, though l should not object if you were a bit richer, l am thinking of my daughter's happiness, and the thing is are you able to give her the happiness she deserves? And then is all this a joke on her part, or is she in earnest? l don't mean on your side, but on hers.
Papa! Wait for me here, my boy, will you? Just wait and think it all over, and l'll come back directly.
There, look at her now lvan Fedorovitch! Here she is all of her! This is our real Aglaya at last! Papa! Oh, you cruel little girl! How will you treat us all next, l wonder? Cruel? Yes, l am cruel, and worthless, and spoiled My darling, my little idol, so you love this young man, do you? No, no, no, can't bear him, l can't bear your young man! And if you dare say that once more, papa l'm serious, you know, l'm, do you hear me lf that's the case, darling then, of course, you shall do exactly as you like.
He is waiting alone downstairs.
Hadn't l better hint to him gently that he can go? No, no, you needn't do anything of the sort, you mustn't hint gently at all.
l'll go down myself directly.
l wish to apologize to this young man, because l hurt his feelings.
-Yes, seriously.
-Seriously.
Seriously.
l'll just go in and then you can follow me almost at once.
That's the best way.
l shall laugh l shall die of laughing.
Well, what does it all mean? What do you make of it? l hardly dare say.
But l think it's as plain as anything can be.
l think so too, as clear as day, she loves him.
She is head over ears in love, that's what she is.
Well, God bless her, God bless her, if such is her destiny.
Her destiny it is, and there's no getting out of destiny.
Forgive a silly, horrid, spoilt girl and be quite assured that we all of us esteem you beyond all words.
And if l dared to turn your beautiful, admirable simplicity to ridicule, forgive me as you would a little child its mischief.
Forgive me all my absurdity of just now, which, of course, meant nothing, and could not have the slightest consequence.
Who is it? Why do you speak so? Why do you ask my forgiveness? l'm unworthy of being asked for forgiveness by you, l'm perfectly happy, that l may come and speak to you, and walk with you That all this is quite enough to satisfy me for the whole of my life, and l would desire no more to the end of time? Hippolyte.
Didn't l tell you the truth now, when l said you were in love? l am glad that you look better.
How are you? You wouldn't believe, they invited me there under the express condition that l should die quickly, and they are all as wild as possible with me for not having died yet, and for being, on the contrary, a good deal better! lsn't it a comedy? l don't mind betting that you don't believe me! l certainly thought they invited you with quite other views.
You are not nearly so simple as they try to make you out! This is not the time for it, or l would tell you a thing or two about that beauty, Gania, and his hopes.
You are being undermined, pitilessly undermined, and and it is really melancholy to see you so calm about it.
Why, do you think l should be any happier if l were to feel disturbed about the excavations you tell me of? lt is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise! l suppose you don't believe that you have a rival in that quarter? Your insinuations as to rivalry are rather cynical, Hippolyte.
l don't know what in the world you are driving at.
Very well.
You can't look at anything but in your exalted, generous way.
However, l see l must make arrangements to die soon, or l myself Leave me, good-bye.
Look here.
Just give me your opinion: how do you think l ought to die, now? l mean--the best, the most virtuous way? Tell me! You should pass us by and forgive us our happiness.
Speak! Speak! Speak under the penalty of a father's curse.
Oh, father's curse be hanged you don't frighten me that way -Ganya! -Whose fault is it that you have been as mad lt is just a week, you see, l count! Don't provoke me too much, or l'll tell all.
And you call yourself an old man, too, with grey hair, and father of a family! Nice sort of a father! Be quiet, Gania.
Shut up, you fool! And you Hippolyte be silent! But what have l done? Why does he call me a screw? He came to me himself and began telling me about some Captain Eropegoff.
l don't wish for your company, general.
What have l to do with Captain Eropegoff? All l did was to express my opinion that probably Captain Eropegoff never existed at all! Of course he never existed! There, you see! Even your own son supports my statement That there never was such a person as Captain Eropegoff! Kapiton Eropegoff not Captain Eropegoff! Kapiton major retired Eropegoff Kapiton.
Kapiton didn't exist either! What? Didn't exist? Kapiton didn't and couldn't exist! And this is my son my own son.
Whom l Eropegoff Eroshka Eropegoff didn't exist! Ha, ha! it's Eroshka now! No, sir, Kapitoshka not Eroshka.
l mean, Kapiton Alexeyevitch retired major married Maria Petrovna Su he was my friend and companion l closed his eyes for him he was killed.
Kapiton Eropegoff never existed! Kapiton Eropegoff never existed! Enough of this! My curse! Away, out of the house l go! Colia, bring my bag away! What have you done? -What a disgrace it all is! -Well, he shouldn't steal! As for you, sir, you should at least remember that you are in a strange house and receiving hospitality, you should not take the opportunity of tormenting an old man, sir, who is too evidently out of his mind.
l don't quite agree with you that your father is out of his mind.
On the contrary, l cannot help thinking he has been less demented of late.
He spoke to me about that Kapiton fellow with an object.
-He wanted me to -Oh, devil take what he wanted you to do! lf you are aware of the real reason for my father's present condition you had no right whatever to torment the unfortunate man, and to worry my mother by your exaggerations of the affair, because the whole business is nonsense simply a drunken freak, and nothing more, But you must needs spy and watch over us all, because you are a -Screw! -Because you are a humbug, and thought fit to worry people for half an hour, and tried to frighten them into believing that you would shoot yourself with your little empty pistol, pirouetting about and playing at suicide! l gave you hospitality, you have fattened on it, your cough has left you, and you repay all this.
Excuse me--two words! l am Varvara Ardalionovna's guest, not yours.
l believe you are yourself indebted to Mr.
Ptitsin's hospitality.
l certainly do feel better here, though l am not fat, nor have l ceased to cough.
Four days ago l begged my mother to come down here and find lodgings.
l intend to leave the house this evening.
l beg your pardon.
l interrupted you l think you were about to add something? May l ask you to be so good as to leave this room? You'd better speak out.
You'll be sorry afterwards if you don't.
Hippolyte, stop, please! lt's so dreadfully undignified.
Because an explanation between your brother and myself has become an absolute necessity, ln inviting me here you yourself entrapped me for your own use.
You thought l wished to revenge myself upon the prince.
l am quite content to leave you to your conscience, and to feel that we understand one another capitally.
What a history you are weaving out of the most ordinary circumstances! l told you the fellow was nothing but a scandalmonger.
Excuse me, Varia Ardalionovna, l will proceed.
l can, of course, neither love nor respect the prince, though he is a good-hearted fellow, if a little queer.
But there is no need whatever for me to hate him.
l quite understood your brother when he first offered me aid against the prince, though l did not show it.
l knew well that your brother was making a ridiculous mistake in me.
l will proceed to explain why l specially wished to make your brother look a fool.
l hate you, Gavrila Ardalionovitch, solely because you are the type, and incarnation, and head, and crown of the most impudent, the most self-satisfied, the most vulgar and detestable form of commonplaceness.
You have no chance of ever fathering the pettiest idea of your own.
You consider yourself a great genius Although there are dark moments of doubt and rage.
You will never gain a certain person.
This is intolerable! You had better stop, you little mischief-making wretch! Are you off? Wait a moment.
look at this.
Gavrila Ardolionovich persuaded of your kindness of heart, l have determined to ask your advice on a matter of great importance to myself.
l should like to meet you tomorrow morning at seven o'clock by the green bench.
lt is not far from our house.
Varvara Ardalionovna, who must accompany you, knows the place well.
A.
E.
Good heavens! What on earth is one to make of a girl like that? And this is the very day that they were to announce the engagement! What do you suppose she wants to talk about tomorrow? Oh, that`s all the same! The chief thing is that she wants to see you.
Look here, Gania, this is a serious business.
Very serious.
Don't swagger again and lose the game play carefully, but don't funk, As if she could possibly avoid seeing what l have been working for all this last six months! We can't let him go out! We can't afford to have a breath of scandal about the town at this moment Run after him and beg his pardon, quick.
He'll be back here in half an hour.
What are you up to? Where are you off to? You've nowhere to go to, you know.
''Come back, father; the neighbours will hear!'' My curse be upon this house! Never! Which observation should always be made in as theatrical a tone as possible.
-A.
E.