Short Fiction, Anton Chekhov [websites to read books for free .TXT] 📗

“ ‘What do you know?’

“ ‘Gy⁠—y! I saw you near the willows kissing Sasha. I followed you and saw it all.’

“Zinotchka started, flushed all over, and overwhelmed by ‘my hint’ she sank down on the chair, on which stood a glass of water and a candlestick.

“ ‘I saw you⁠ ⁠… kissing⁠ ⁠…’ I repeated, sniggering and enjoying her confusion. ‘Aha! I’ll tell mamma!’

“Cowardly Zinotchka gazed at me intently, and convincing herself that I really did know all about it, clutched my hand in despair and muttered in a trembling whisper:

“ ‘Petya, it is low.⁠ ⁠… I beg of you, for God’s sake.⁠ ⁠… Be a man⁠ ⁠… don’t tell anyone.⁠ ⁠… Decent people don’t spy.⁠ ⁠… It’s low.⁠ ⁠… I entreat you.’

“The poor girl was terribly afraid of my mother, a stern and virtuous lady⁠—that was one thing; and the second was that my grinning countenance could not but outrage her first love so pure and poetical, and you can imagine the state of her heart. Thanks to me, she did not sleep a wink all night, and in the morning she appeared at breakfast with blue rings round her eyes. When I met Sasha after breakfast I could not refrain from grinning and boasting:

“ ‘I know! I saw you yesterday kissing Mademoiselle Zina!’

“Sasha looked at me and said:

“ ‘You are a fool.’

“He was not so cowardly as Zinotchka, and so my effect did not come off. That provoked me to further efforts. If Sasha was not frightened it was evident that he did not believe that I had seen and knew all about it; wait a bit, I would show him.

“At our lessons before dinner Zinotchka did not look at me, and her voice faltered. Instead of trying to scare me she tried to propitiate me in every way, giving me full marks, and not complaining to my father of my naughtiness. Being intelligent beyond my years I exploited her secret: I did not learn my lessons, walked into the schoolroom on my head, and said all sorts of rude things. In fact, if I had remained in that vein till today I should have become a famous blackmailer. Well, a week passed. Another person’s secret irritated and fretted me like a splinter in my soul. I longed at all costs to blurt it out and gloat over the effect. And one day at dinner, when we had a lot of visitors, I gave a stupid snigger, looked fiendishly at Zinotchka and said:

“ ‘I know. Gy⁠—y! I saw!⁠ ⁠…’

“ ‘What do you know?’ asked my mother.

“I looked still more fiendishly at Zinotchka and Sasha. You ought to have seen how the girl flushed up, and how furious Sasha’s eyes were! I bit my tongue and did not go on. Zinotchka gradually turned pale, clenched her teeth, and ate no more dinner. At our evening lessons that day I noticed a striking change in Zinotchka’s face. It looked sterner, colder, as it were, more like marble, while her eyes gazed strangely straight into my face, and I give you my word of honour I have never seen such terrible, annihilating eyes, even in hounds when they overtake the wolf. I understood their expression perfectly, when in the middle of a lesson she suddenly clenched her teeth and hissed through them:

“ ‘I hate you! Oh, you vile, loathsome creature, if you knew how I hate you, how I detest your cropped head, your vulgar, prominent ears!’

“But at once she took fright and said:

“ ‘I am not speaking to you, I am repeating a part out of a play.⁠ ⁠…’

“Then, my friends, at night I saw her come to my bedside and gaze a long time into my face. She hated me passionately, and could not exist away from me. The contemplation of my hated pug of a face had become a necessity to her. I remember a lovely summer evening⁠ ⁠… with the scent of hay, perfect stillness, and so on. The moon was shining. I was walking up and down the avenue, thinking of cherry jam. Suddenly Zinotchka, looking pale and lovely, came up to me, she caught hold of my hand, and breathlessly began expressing herself:

“ ‘Oh, how I hate you! I wish no one harm as I do you! Let me tell you that! I want you to understand that!’

“You understand, moonlight, her pale face, breathless with passion, the stillness⁠ ⁠… little pig as I was I actually enjoyed it. I listened to her, looked at her eyes.⁠ ⁠… At first I liked it, and enjoyed the novelty. Then I was suddenly seized with terror, I gave a scream, and ran into the house at breakneck speed.

“I made up my mind that the best thing to do was to complain to maman. And I did complain, mentioning incidentally how Sasha had kissed Zinotchka. I was stupid, and did not know what would follow, or I should have kept the secret to myself.⁠ ⁠… After hearing my story maman flushed with indignation and said:

“ ‘It is not your business to speak about that, you are still very young.⁠ ⁠… But, what an example for children.’

“My maman was not only virtuous but diplomatic. To avoid a scandal she did not get rid of Zinotchka at once, but set to work gradually, systematically, to pave the way for her departure, as one does with well-bred but intolerable people. I remember that when Zinotchka did leave us the last glance she cast at the house was directed at the window at which I was sitting, and I assure you, I remember that glance to this day.

“Zinotchka soon afterwards became my brother’s wife. She is the Zinaida Nikolaevna whom you know. The next time I met her I was already an ensign. In spite of all her efforts she could not recognize the hated Petya in the ensign with his moustache, but still she did not treat me quite like a relation.⁠ ⁠… And even now, in spite of my good-humoured baldness, meek corpulence, and unassuming air, she still looks askance at me, and feels put out when I go to see my brother. Hatred