Liza; Or, "A Nest of Nobles" Part 10

[Footnote A: About _50_.]

"Ah, Fedia!" she began, as soon as she saw him

"You didn't see my family last night. Please to admire them now; we are all met together for tea. This is our second, our feast-day tea.

You may embrace us all. Only Shurochka wouldn't let you, and the cat would scratch you. Is it to-day you go?"

"Yes," said Lavretsky, sitting down on a low chair. "I have just taken leave of Maria Dmitrievna. I saw Lizaveta Mikhailovna too."

"Call her Liza, my dear. Why should she be Mikhailovna for you? But do sit still, or you will break Shurochka's chair."

"She was on her way to church," continued Lavretsky. "Is she seriously inclined?"

"Yes, Fedia, very much so. More than you or I, Fedia."

"And do you mean to say you are not seriously inclined?" lisped Nastasia Carpovna. "If you have not gone to the early ma.s.s to-day, you will go to the later one."

"Not a bit of it. Thou shalt go alone. I've grown lazy, my mother,"

answered Marfa Timofeevna. "I am spoiling myself terribly with tea drinking."

She said _thou_ to Nastasia Carpovna, although she lived on a footing of equality with her--but it was not for nothing that she was a Pestof. Three Pestofs occur in the Sinodik[A] of Ivan the Terrible.

Marfa Timofeevna was perfectly well aware of the fact.

[Footnote A: "_I.e._, in the list of the n.o.bles of his time, in the sixteenth century.]

"Tell me, please," Lavretsky began again. "Maria Dmitrievna was talking to me just now about that--what's his name?--Panshine. What sort of a man is he?"

"Good Lord! what a chatter-box she is!" grumbled Marfa Timofeevna.

"I've no doubt she has communicated to you as a secret that he hangs about here as a suitor. She might have been contented to 'Whisper about it with her _popovich_[A] But no, it seems that is not enough for her. And yet there is nothing settled so far, thank G.o.d! but she's always chattering."

[Footnote A: The priest's son. _i.e._, Gedeonovsky.]

"Why do you say 'Thank G.o.d?'" asked Lavretsky.

"Why, because this fine young man doesn't please me. And what is there in the matter to be delighted about, I should like to know?"

"Doesn't he please you?"

"No; he can't fascinate every one. It's enough for him that Nastasia Carpovna here is in love with him."

The poor widow was terribly disconcerted.

"How can you say so, Marfa Timofeevna? Do not you fear G.o.d?" she exclaimed, and a blush instantly suffused her face and neck.

"And certainly the rogue knows how to fascinate her," broke in Marfa Timofeevna. "He has given her a snuff-box. Fedia, ask her for a pinch of snuff. You will see what a splendid snuff-box it is. There is a hussar on horseback on the lid. You had much better not try to exculpate yourself, my mother."

Nastasia Carpovna could only wave her hands with a deprecatory air.

"Well, but about Liza?" asked Lavretsky. "Is he indifferent to her?"

"She seems to like him--and as to the rest, G.o.d knows. Another person's heart, you know, is a dark forest, and more especially a young girl's. Look at Shurochka there! Come and a.n.a.lyze her's. Why has she been hiding herself, but not going away, ever since you came in?"

Shurochka burst into a laugh she was unable to stifle, and ran out of the room. Lavretsky also rose from his seat.

"Yes," he said slowly; "one cannot fathom a girl's heart."

As he was going to take leave.

"Well; shall we see you soon?" asked Marfa Timofeevna.

"Perhaps, aunt. It's no great distance to where I'm going."

"Yes; you're going, no doubt, to Vasilievskoe. You won't live at Lavriki. Well, that's your affair. Only go and kneel down at your mother's grave, and your grandmother's, too, while you are there. You have picked up all kinds of wisdom abroad there, and perhaps, who can tell, they may feel, even in their graves, that you have come to visit them. And don't forget, Fedia, to have a service said for Glafira Petrovna, too. Here is a rouble for you. Take it, take it please; it is I who wish to have the service performed for her. I didn't love her while she lived, but it must be confessed that she was a girl of character. She was clever. And then she didn't hurt you. And now go, and G.o.d be with you--else I shall tire you."

And Marfa Timofeevna embraced her nephew.

"And Liza shall not marry Panshine; don't make yourself uneasy about that. He isn't the sort of man she deserves for a husband."

"But I am not in the least uneasy about it," remarked Lavretsky as he retired.

XVIII.

Four hours later he was on his way towards his home. His taranta.s.s rolled swiftly along the soft cross-road. There had been no rain for a fortnight. The atmosphere was pervaded by a light fog of milky hue, which hid the distant forests from sight, while a smell or burning filled the air. A number of dusky clouds with blurred outlines stood out against a pale blue sky, and lingered, slowly drawn. A strongish wind swept by in an unbroken current, bearing no moisture with it, and not dispelling the great heat. His head leaning back on the cushions, his arms folded across his breast, Lavretsky gazed at the furrowed plains which opened fanwise before him, at the cytisus shrubs, at the crows and rooks which looked sideways at the pa.s.sing carriage with dull suspicion, at the long ridges planted with mugwort, wormwood, and mountain ash. He gazed--and that vast level solitude, so fresh and so fertile, that expanse of verdure, and those sweeping slopes, the ravines studded with clumps of dwarfed oaks, the grey hamlets, the thinly-clad birch trees--all this Russian landscape, so-long by him unseen, filled his mind with feelings which were sweet, but at the same time almost sad, and gave rise to a certain heaviness of heart, but one which was more akin to a pleasure than to a pain. His thoughts wandered slowly past, their forms as dark and ill-defined as those of the clouds, which also seemed vaguely wandering there on high. He thought of his childhood, of his mother, how they brought him to her 011 her death-bed, and how, pressing his head to her breast, she began to croon over him, but looked up at Glafira Petrovna and became silent. He thought of his father, at first robust, brazen-voiced, grumbling at every thing--then blind, querulous, with white, uncared-for beard. He remembered how one day at dinner, when he had taken a little too much wine, the old man suddenly burst out laughing, and began to prate about his conquests, winking his blind eyes the while, and growing red in the face. He thought of Varvara Pavlovna--and his face contracted involuntarily, like that of a man who feels some sudden pain, and he gave his head an impatient toss.

Then his thoughts rested on Liza. "There," he thought, "is a new life just beginning. A good creature! I wonder what will become of her. And she's pretty, too, with her pale, fresh face, her eyes and lips so serious, and that frank and guileless way she has of looking at you.

It's a pity she seems a little enthusiastic. And her figure is good, and she moves about lightly, and she has a quiet voice. I like her best when she suddenly stands still, and listens attentively and gravely, then becomes contemplative and shakes her hair back. Yes, I agree, Panshine isn't worthy of her. Yet what harm is there in him?

However, as to all that, why am I troubling my head about it? She will follow the same road that all others have to follow. I had better go to sleep." And Lavretsky closed his eyes.

He could not sleep, but he sank into a traveller's dreamy reverie.

Just as before, pictures of by-gone days slowly rose and floated across his mind, blending with each other, and becoming confused with other scenes. Lavretsky began to think--heaven knows why--about Sir Robert Peel; then about French history; lastly, about the victory which he would have gained if he had been a general. The firing and the shouting rang in his ears. His head slipped on one side; he opened his eyes--the same fields stretched before him, the same level views met his eyes. The iron shoes of the outside horses gleamed brightly by turns athwart the waving dust, the driver's yellow[A] shirt swelled with the breeze. "Here I am, returning virtuously to my birth-place,"

suddenly thought Lavretsky, and he called out, "Get on there!" drew his cloak more closely around him, and pressed himself still nearer to the cushion. The taranta.s.s gave a jerk. Lavretsky sat upright and opened his eyes wide. On the slope before him extended a small village. A little to the right was to be seen an old manor house of modest dimensions, its shutters closed, its portico awry. On one side stood a barn built of oak, small, but well preserved. The wide court-yard was entirely overgrown by nettles, as green and thick as hemp. This was Vasilievskoe.

[Footnote A: Yellow, with red pieces let in under the armpits.]

The driver turned aside to the gate, and stopped his horses.

Lavretsky's servant rose from his seat, ready to jump down, and shouted "Halloo!" A hoa.r.s.e, dull barking arose in reply, but no dog made its appearance. The lackey again got ready to descend, and again cried "Halloo!" The feeble barking was repeated, and directly afterwards a man, with snow-white hair, dressed in a nankeen caftan, ran into the yard from one of the comers. He looked at the taranta.s.s, shielding his eyes from the sun, then suddenly struck both his hands upon his thighs, fidgeted about nervously for a moment, and finally ran to open the gates. The taranta.s.s entered the court-yard, crushing the nettles under its wheels, and stopped before the portico. The white-headed old man, who was evidently of a very active turn, was already standing on the lowest step, his legs spread awkwardly apart.

He unb.u.t.toned the ap.r.o.n of the carriage, pulling up the leather with a jerk, and kissed his master's hand while a.s.sisting him to alight.

"Good day, good day, brother," said Lavretsky. "Your name is Anton, isn't it. So you're still alive?"

The old man bowed in silence, and then ran to fetch the keys. While he ran, the driver sat motionless, leaning sideways and looking at the closed door; and Lavretsky's man-servant remained in the picturesque att.i.tude in which he found himself after springing clown to the ground, one of his arms resting on the box seat. The old man brought the keys and opened the door, lifting his elbows high the while, and needlessly wriggling his body--then he stood on one side, and again bowed down to his girdle.

"Here I am at home, actually returned!" thought Lavretsky, as he entered the little vestibule, while the shutters opened, one after another, with creak and rattle, and the light of day penetrated into the long-deserted rooms.