Hadji Murád, Leo Tolstoy [romantic books to read txt] 📗

and that the interpreter was giving them food and tea.

Hadji Murád shook his head in doubt, and after undressing said his prayers, and told Eldár to bring him his silver dagger. He then dressed, and, having fastened his belt, sat down with his legs on the divan to await what might befall him.

At four in the afternoon the interpreter came to call him to dine with the Prince.

At dinner he hardly ate anything except some pilau,16 to which he helped himself from the very part of the dish from which Márya Vasílevna had helped herself.

“He is afraid we shall poison him,” Márya Vasílevna remarked to her husband. “He has helped himself from the place where I took my helping.” Then, instantly turning to Hadji Murád, she asked him through the interpreter when he would pray again. Hadji Murád lifted five fingers and pointed to the sun. “Then it will soon be time,” and Vorontsóv drew out his watch and pressed a spring. The watch struck four and one quarter. This evidently surprised Hadji Murád, and he asked to hear it again, and to be allowed to look at the watch.

“Voilà l’occasion! Donnez-lui la montre,”17 said the Princess to her husband.

Vorontsóv at once offered the watch to Hadji Murád.

The latter placed his hand on his breast and took the watch. Several times he touched the spring, listened, and nodded his head approvingly.

After dinner, Meller-Zakomélsky’s aide-de-camp was announced.

The aide-de-camp informed the Prince that the General, having heard of Hadji Murád’s arrival, was highly displeased that this had not been reported to him, and required Hadji Murád to be brought to him without delay. Vorontsóv replied that the General’s command should be obeyed, and through the interpreter informed Hadji Murád of these orders, and asked him to go to Meller with him.

When Márya Vasílevna heard what the aide-de-camp had come about, she at once understood that unpleasantness might arise between her husband and the General, and decided, in spite of all her husband’s attempts to dissuade her, to go with him and Hadji Murád.

“Vous feriez bien mieux de rester⁠—c’est mon affaire, non pas la vôtre.⁠ ⁠…”18

“Vous ne pouvez pas m’empêcher d’aller voir madame la générale!”19

“You could go some other time.”

“But I wish to go now!”

There was no help for it, so Vorontsóv agreed; and they all three went.

When they entered, Meller with somber politeness conducted Márya Vasílevna to his wife, and told his aide-de-camp to show Hadji Murád to the waiting room, and not let him out till further orders.

“Please⁠ ⁠…” he said to Vorontsóv, opening the door of his study and letting the Prince enter before him.

Having entered the study, he stopped in front of the Prince and said, without offering him a seat:

“I am in command here and therefore all negotiations with the enemy have to be carried on through me! Why did you not report to me the fact of Hadji Murád’s having come over?”

“An emissary came to me and announced Hadji Murád’s wish to capitulate only to me,” replied Vorontsóv, growing pale with excitement, expecting some rude expression from the angry General and at the same time becoming infected with his anger.

“I ask you why was I not informed!”

“I intended to inform you, Baron, but⁠ ⁠…”

“You are not to address me as ‘Baron,’ but as ‘Your Excellency’!” And here the Baron’s pent-up irritation suddenly broke out, and he uttered all that had long been boiling in his soul.

“I have not served my sovereign twenty-seven years in order that men who began their service yesterday, relying on family connections, should give orders under my very nose about matters that do not concern them!”

“Your Excellency, I request you not to say things that are incorrect!” interrupted Vorontsóv.

“I am saying what is correct, and I won’t allow⁠ ⁠…” said the General, still more irritably.

But at that moment Márya Vasílevna entered, rustling with her skirts, and followed by a modest-looking little lady, Meller-Zakomélsky’s wife.

“Come, come, Baron! Simon did not wish to displease you,” began Márya Vasílevna.

“I am not speaking about that, Princess.⁠ ⁠…”

“Well, well, let’s forget it all!⁠ ⁠… You know, ‘A bad peace is better than a good quarrel!’⁠ ⁠… Oh dear, what am I saying?” and she laughed.

The angry General capitulated to the enchanting laugh of the beauty. A smile hovered under his moustache.

“I confess I was wrong,” said Vorontsóv, “but⁠—”

“Well, and I too got rather carried away,” said Meller, and held out his hand to the Prince.

Peace was reestablished, and it was decided to leave Hadji Murád for the present at Meller’s, and then to send him to the commander of the left flank.

Hadji Murád sat in the next room and though he did not understand what was said, he understood what it was necessary for him to understand⁠—namely, that they were quarrelling about him, that his desertion of Shamil was a matter of immense importance to the Russians, and that therefore not only would they not exile or kill him, but that he would be able to demand much from them. He also understood that though Meller-Zakomélsky was the commanding officer, he had not as much influence as his subordinate Vorontsóv; and that Vorontsóv was important and Meller-Zakomélsky unimportant; and therefore, when Meller-Zakomélsky sent for him and began to question him, Hadji Murád bore himself proudly and ceremoniously, saying that he had come from the mountains to serve the White Tsar, and would give account only to his Sirdar, meaning the commander-in-chief, Prince Vorontsóv, in Tiflis.

VII

The wounded Avdéev was taken to the hospital⁠—a small wooden building roofed with boards, at the entrance of the fort⁠—and was placed on one of the empty beds in the common ward. There were four patients in the ward: one, ill with typhus and in high fever, and another, pale, with dark shadows under his eyes, who had ague was just expecting another attack, and yawned continually; and two more who had been wounded in