Short Fiction, Leo Tolstoy [general ebook reader .txt] 📗

her. He was glad that it was he who was guilty, and that he had nothing to forgive, but that he himself needed forgiveness. She took him to her tiny room, and told him how she lived; but she did not show him the child, nor did she mention the past, knowing how painful it would be to him.

He told her that she must live differently.

“Yes; if I could only live in the country,” said she.

“We will talk it over,” he said. Suddenly the child began to wail and to scream. She opened her eyes very wide; and, not taking them from her father’s face, remained hesitating and motionless.

“Well⁠—I suppose you must feed him,” said Michael Ivanovich, and frowned with the obvious effort.

She got up, and suddenly the wild idea seized her to show him whom she loved so deeply the thing she now loved best of all in the world. But first she looked at her father’s face. Would he be angry or not? His face revealed no anger, only suffering.

“Yes, go, go,” said he; “God bless you. Yes. I’ll come again tomorrow, and we will decide. Goodbye, my darling⁠—goodbye.” Again he found it hard to swallow the lump in his throat.

When Michael Ivanovich returned to his brother’s house, Alexandra Dmitrievna immediately rushed to him.

“Well?”

“Well? Nothing.”

“Have you seen?” she asked, guessing from his expression that something had happened.

“Yes,” he answered shortly, and began to cry. “I’m getting old and stupid,” said he, mastering his emotion.

“No; you are growing wise⁠—very wise.”

Endnotes

Novels by the above-mentioned authors. ↩

Frogs in the Caucasus make a noise quite different from the croaking of frogs elsewhere. —⁠L. T. ↩

Shamil was the leader (in 1834⁠–⁠1859) of the Caucasian hill-tribes in their prolonged resistance to Russia. ↩

A naib was a man to whom Shamil had entrusted some administrative office. —⁠L. T. ↩

He is a collective noun by which the soldiers indicate the enemy. —⁠L. T. ↩

The Terek Territory lies to the northeast of the Caucasian Mountains. The Great and Little Chechnya are districts in the southern part of it. ↩

The vintovka was a long Asiatic rifle used by the Circassians (Cherkeses). When firing, they rested the barrel on a support formed by two thin spiked sticks tied at the top by a strap. ↩

A distinction very frequently met with in Russian is between literate and illiterate people; i.e., between those who can and those who cannot read and write. ↩

A soldier’s card game. —⁠L. T. ↩

Most of the Russian army at that time were armed with smoothbore muskets, but a few had wide-calibred muzzle-loading rifles (stutzers), which were difficult to handle and slow to load. Vintovkas were also rifles. ↩

Russians in the Caucasus used the word “Tartar” loosely for any of the native Mohammedan tribes (Circassians, Karbadans, etc.). ↩

The “unicorn” was a type of gun, narrowing towards the muzzle, used in the Russian artillery at that time. ↩

The cherez is a purse in the form of a garter, usually worn by soldiers below the knee. —⁠L. T. ↩

The “Tartars,” being Mohammedans, made a point of not letting the bodies of their slain fall into the hands of the “unbelievers,” but removed them and buried them as heroes. The capture of the three bodies therefore indicates the vigour of the attack and the demoralization of the enemy. ↩

General A. P. Ermolov (1772⁠–⁠1861), who was renowned for his firmness and justness as a ruler in the Caucasus, and who subdued Chechnya and Daghestan, used to say that after ten years in the Caucasus an officer “either takes to drink or marries a loose woman.” ↩

An officer’s allowance in Russia proper is very small, but when on service in Poland, the Caucasus, Siberia, etc., they receive a higher rate of pay. ↩

It is customary, especially among the peasants and soldiers, to wrap long strips of linen round the feet and legs instead of wearing stockings. ↩

Ryabco, soldier’s food, made of soaked hardtack and dripping. —⁠L. T. ↩

Dargo, in the Terek Territory, was the headquarters of Shamil until 1845. ↩

The soldier miscalls the Andiysky chain of mountains “Indeysky,” apparently connecting them with India. ↩

Polish name for lord or gentleman. ↩

Fedot, da nyé tot, an untranslatable play on the word. ↩

Kitudubl = Fr. quitte ou double. ↩

Asé = assez. ↩

The landing-place here called the Gráfskaya, is evidently the one called the Ekateríninskaya on Todleben’s plans of Sevastopol. ↩

Cannons were removed from the vessels for use on the fortifications. ↩

The samovar, or “self-boiler,” is an urn in which water can be boiled and kept hot without any other fire having to be lit. ↩

A hot drink made with treacle and lemon, also sometimes with honey and spice. ↩

The first bombardment of Sevastopol took place on 5th October, old style, i.e. the 17th our style. ↩

Among a population largely illiterate, the signboards were usually pictorial. The bakers showed loaves and rolls, the bootmakers boots and shoes, etc., etc. ↩

The 24th October, o.s. = 5th November N.S., i.e., the date of the battle of Inkerman. ↩

Called by the English the “Flagstaff Bastion.”