Short Fiction, Vladimir Korolenko [finding audrey TXT] 📗

up in jail. But the lady persisted; she went so far as to intercede for me with the higher authorities, and it was not long before a document was received that made it hot for the inspector. One day I was summoned to the office, and, after a great deal of loud talking, was at last released. So, after all, I had no trial⁠ ⁠… and I hardly know⁠ ⁠… I have been told that, nowadays, justice is to be found in our courts, and I sometimes wish I could be tried by a jury and abide by their verdict.”

“And what became of Iván Zakhárof?”

“Iván Zakhárof has never been heard from since. It was said that he and Bezrúky planned that the former was to follow me at a short distance, and, if I should refuse to commit the murder, Zakhárof was to shoot me. But you see it was not the will of the Lord,⁠ ⁠… for, when Zakhárof arrived upon the scene, everything was all over, and he took fright. I heard that, when he returned, he went directly to work to dig up his money; and, having done this, he made for the woods, without saying a word to anyone.⁠ ⁠… Towards morning the house caught fire. Whether he set it on fire accidentally, or whether it was done by Kuzmá, was never known; but one thing is certain⁠—that, by nightfall, nothing was left of it but a bed of coals, and thus the rogues’ nest was destroyed. The women are beggars to this day, and the son is a convict, for he had no money to buy himself off.

“Ho!⁠ ⁠… my dearies, we have arrived, thanks be to God! See, the sun is just rising!⁠ ⁠…”

IV A Voltairian of Siberia

A month passed. I had transacted my business, and was returning to the city of N⁠⸺ by post relays.

About noon we reached, the station, where the stout postmaster stood on the porch, smoking a cigar.

“I suppose you want fresh horses?” he asked, before I had time to utter a greeting.

“Yes,” I replied.

“All gone!”

“Please, don’t say that, Vasíli Ivánovitch! Cannot I see that⁠ ⁠…”

For I distinctly saw a partly harnessed troika standing under the shed.

He laughed.

“Truly, I know you are not in haste just now, and I will ask you to wait awhile.”

“For what reason? Are you expecting the governor?”

“Not quite so high a personage as the governor, I should hope; no, only a privy councillor, but I should like to accommodate this fellow.⁠ ⁠… Don’t get vexed, for I am quite as anxious to accommodate you; but your need is not urgent, and this is in the interests of justice and humanity in general, so to speak.”

“What have you to do with justice? What business is it?”

“If you will wait I will tell you all about it. But why stand here? Come into my ‘cabin,’ will you?”

I agreed, and followed Vasíli Ivánovitch into his “cabin,” where his wife, a stout, good-natured person, was waiting for us at the tea-table.

“You were speaking about justice,” began Vasíli Ivánovitch; “have you heard the name of Proskuróf?”

“No, I have not.”

“How should he?” interposed Matróna Ivánovna. “He is just such another lawless fellow as my husband; he even writes for the papers.”

“You are very much mistaken, Matróna Ivánovna,” said Vasíli Ivánovitch, warmly; “Proskuróf is a highly respectable man, and in favor with his superiors. You ought to burn a wax taper to my patron saint as a thanks-offering for your husband’s respectable acquaintances. If that’s your opinion in regard to Proskuróf, I should like to ask if you suppose that they would send a good-for-nothing man as examining magistrate on such important business as this?”

“What are you talking about?” I inquired. “What about an examining magistrate on important business?”

“That’s what I say!” said Matróna Ivánovna, encouraged. “I think you are talking nonsense. Do you take me for a fool, pray? Do important magistrates look like that?”

“You have made Matróna Ivánovna doubt me,” said the stationmaster, shaking his head reproachfully, “and without any sufficient knowledge on your part. True, no office like that exists; but if a man is appointed owing to the special confidence that is reposed in him, it is still better.⁠ ⁠…”

“I am at a loss to understand you,” I remarked.

“That is just what I complain of; you admit that you don’t understand, and yet you don’t hesitate to excite doubts in the mind of an inexperienced woman! Yes, and are you not aware that a stock-company, so to speak, has been organized, that manages all this highway and dark night business? Is it possible that you know nothing about it!”

“I have heard such rumors, of course.”

“I thought you must have heard of it. It is a company that embraces every class of society. The business is conducted on a large scale, having for its motto: ‘One hand washes the other.’ They have no objection to a certain notoriety; and it is a fact that everyone knows of the existence of such a company, and even the names of the individuals who are interested in it. I say everyone⁠—His Excellency, of course, excepted. Not very long ago, a notorious affair occurred, after which His Excellency conceived a brilliant idea. He had come to the determination that, if it was possible, this evil should be suppressed. Of course, such attempts have been made before. The members of the company, for instance, have suppressed themselves, and all ended well. But this time the idea was particularly brilliant. His Excellency was very much enraged, and empowered his private clerk, Proskuróf, with ample authority to act on every occasion⁠—not only in regard to affairs that have already taken place, but also in all future ones or in such as might have any connection with those that had previously occurred.”

“What is there so remarkable in that?”

“Well, sometimes the Lord sees fit to enlighten even babes. But the wonder is that an honest and energetic man has been found: he has been engaged in this business of suppression for the past