WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:12.720 Chapter thirteen, Bobok from Somebody's diary. Semyon Ardoyanovitch said to me, all 2 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:16.839 of a sudden, the day before yesterday, why will you ever be sober? 3 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:23.800 Ivan Ivanovitch tell me that pray a strange requirement. I did not resent 4 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:28.079 it. I am a timid man. But here they have actually made me 5 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:33.799 out mad. An artist painted my portrait as it happened. After all, 6 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:38.880 you are a literary man, he said. I submit it. He exhibited 7 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:44.479 it. I read, go and look at that morbid face suggesting insanity. 8 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:50.560 It may be so, but think of putting it so bluntly into print. 9 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:57.359 In print everything ought to be decorous. There ought to be ideals, while 10 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.439 instead of that, say it indirectly. At least that's what you have style 11 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:07.480 for. But no, he doesn't care to do it indirectly. Nowadays, 12 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.359 humor and a fine style have disappeared, and abuse has accepted as wit. 13 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:17.519 I do not resent it, but God knows I am not enough of a 14 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:22.000 literary man to go out of my mind. I have written a novel, 15 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.799 it has not been published. Have written articles, and they have been refused. 16 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:33.920 Those articles I took about from one editor to another everywhere. They refused 17 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:38.560 them. You have no salt, They told me, what sort of salt 18 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:45.560 do you want? I asked, with a jeer attic salt. They did 19 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:51.040 not even understand. For the most part, I translate from the French for 20 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:57.480 the booksellers. I write advertisements for shopkeepers too, unique opportunity, fine tea 21 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:02.319 from our own plantation. I made a nice little sum over a panegyric on 22 00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:09.280 his deceased, Excellency Pyotr Matveitch. I compiled The Art of Pleasing the Ladies, 23 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:15.000 a commission from a bookseller. I have brought out some six little works 24 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.199 of this kind in the course of my life. I'm thinking of making a 25 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:23.560 collection of the bonnemaus of Voltaire, but I am afraid it may seem a 26 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:30.800 little flat to our people. Voltaire's no good now Nowadays we want a cudgel, 27 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:38.599 not Voltaire. We knock each other's last teeth out nowadays. Well, 28 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:44.400 so that's the whole extent of my literary activity. Although indeed I do send 29 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:49.639 ram letters to the editors, gratis and fully signed. I give them all 30 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:55.360 sorts of counsels and admonitions, criticize and point out the true path. The 31 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:00.479 letter I sent last week to an editor's office, was the fortieth had sent 32 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:06.719 in the last two years. I've wasted four rubles over stamps alone for them. 33 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:10.840 My temper is at the bottom of it all. I believe that the 34 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:15.759 artist who painted me did so not for the sake of literature, but for 35 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:23.319 the sake of two symmetrical warts on my forehead, a natural phenomenon. He 36 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:29.879 would say, they have no ideas, so now they are out for phenomena. 37 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.639 And didn't he succeed in getting my warts in his portrait? To the 38 00:03:32.840 --> 00:03:40.080 life? That is what they call realism? And as to madness, a 39 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:45.599 great many people were put down as mad among us last year, and in 40 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:52.280 such language, with such original talent. And yet after all it appears, 41 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.840 however, one ought to have foreseen it long ago. Oh, that is 42 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:01.360 rather artful, so that from the point of view of pure art one may 43 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:08.120 really commend it well. But after all, these so called madmen have turned 44 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:13.360 out cleverer than ever. So it seems the critics can call them mad, 45 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:18.160 but they cannot produce anyone better. The wisest of all, in my opinion, 46 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:21.680 is he who can, if only once a month, call himself a 47 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:29.040 fool. A faculty unheard of nowadays. In old days, once a year 48 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:32.079 at any rate, a fool would recognize that he was a fool. But 49 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:36.240 nowadays not a bit of it. And they have so muddled things up that 50 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:41.639 there is no telling a fool from a wise man. They have done that 51 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.879 on purpose. I remember a witty Spaniard saying, when two hundred and fifty 52 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:53.800 years ago the French built their first madhouses, they have shut up all their 53 00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:00.439 fools in a house apart to make sure that they are wise men themselves, 54 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:04.399 just so you don't show your own wisdom by shutting someone else in a madhouse. 55 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:11.079 Kay has gone out of his mind. Means that we are sane now, 56 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:16.160 No, it doesn't mean that yet. Hang it, though, Why 57 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:21.560 am I maundering on? I go on, grumbling and grumbling. Even my 58 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.600 maid servant is sick of me. Yesterday a friend came to see me. 59 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.240 Your style is changing, He said, it is choppy. You chop and 60 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:35.720 chop, and then the parenthesis, and then a parenthesis in the parenthesis, 61 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:41.079 and then you stick in something else in brackets. Then you begin chopping and 62 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:46.800 chopping again. The friend is right. Something strange is happening to me. 63 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:55.079 My character is changing, and my head aches I am beginning to see and 64 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:01.360 hear strange things. Not voices exactly, but as though some one beside me 65 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:09.920 were muttering, bobok, bobok, bobok. What's the meaning of this bobok? 66 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:15.720 I must divert my mind. I went out in search of diversion. 67 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:23.279 I hit upon a funeral, a distant relation, a collegiate counselor. However, 68 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:29.879 a widow and five daughters, all marriageable young ladies. What must it 69 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:33.839 come to even to keep them in slippers? Their father managed it, but 70 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:39.199 now there is only a little pension. They will have to eat humble pie. 71 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:45.720 They have always received me ungraciously, and indeed I should not have gone 72 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:49.959 to the funeral now, had it not been for a peculiar circumstance. I 73 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:55.360 followed the procession to the cemetery with the rest. They were stuck up and 74 00:06:55.480 --> 00:07:01.000 held aloof from me. My uniform was certainly rather shadow abbe it's five and 75 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:04.959 twenty years, I believe. Since I was at the cemetery, what a 76 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:15.279 wretched place to begin with the smell. There were fifteen hearses with palls varying 77 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:19.879 inexpensiveness. There were actually two catafalques. One was a General's and one some 78 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:27.120 ladies. There were many mourners, a great deal of feigned mourning, and 79 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.839 a great deal of open gaiety. The clergy have nothing to complain of. 80 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:38.279 It brings them a good income. But the smell, the smell, I 81 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:44.040 should not like to be one of the clergy. Here. I kept glancing 82 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:50.120 at the faces of the dead, cautiously distrusting my impressionability. Some had a 83 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:57.759 mild expression, some looked unpleasant. As a rule, the smiles were disagreeable, 84 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:03.319 and in some cases very much so. I don't like them. They 85 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:09.000 haunt one's dreams. During the service, I went out of the church into 86 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:15.399 the air. It was a gray day, but dry. It was cold, 87 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:20.680 too, but then it was October. I walked about among the tombs. 88 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:26.600 They are of different grades. The third grade cost thirty roubles. It's 89 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:33.080 decent and not so very dear. The first two grades are tombs in the 90 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.039 church and under the porch. They cost a pretty penny. On this occasion 91 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.600 they were burying in tombs of the third grade, six persons, among them, 92 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:48.639 the General and the lady. I looked into the graves, and it 93 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:58.360 was horrible water and such water, absolutely green, and but there why talk 94 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:03.720 of it. The grave digger was baling it out every minute. I went 95 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:09.080 out while the service was going on and strolled outside the gates. Close by 96 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:13.759 was an almshouse, and a little further off there was a restaurant. It 97 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:18.799 was not a bad little restaurant. There was lunch and everything. There were 98 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:22.919 lots of the mourners here. I noticed a great deal of gaiety and genuine 99 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:28.840 heartiness. I had something to eat and drink. Then I took part in 100 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:35.360 the bearing of the coffin from the church to the grave. Why is it 101 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:41.120 that corpses in their coffins are so heavy? They say it is due to 102 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:46.039 some sort of inertia, that the body is no longer directed by its owner, 103 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.799 or some nonsense of that sort, in opposition to the laws of mechanics 104 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:54.600 and common sense. I don't like to hear people who have nothing but a 105 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:01.799 general education ventured to solve the problems that require special knowledge, and with us 106 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:07.960 that's done continually. Civilians love to pass opinions about subjects that are the province 107 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:13.720 of the soldier and even of the field marshal, while men who have been 108 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:20.600 educated as engineers prefer discussing philosophy and political economy. I did not go to 109 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:26.159 the requiem service. I have some pride, and if I am only received 110 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:31.960 owing to some special necessity, why force myself on their dinners, even if 111 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:37.559 it be a funeral dinner. The only thing I don't understand is why I 112 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:43.399 stayed at the cemetery. I sat on a tombstone and sank into appropriate reflections. 113 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:50.639 I began with the Moscow exhibition and end it with reflecting upon astonishment. 114 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:58.919 In the abstract, my deductions about astonishment were these, to be surprised at 115 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:03.159 everything is stupid, of course, and to be astonished at nothing is a 116 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:07.159 great deal more becoming, and for some reason accepted as good form. But 117 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:13.639 that is not really true to my mind. To be astonished at nothing is 118 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.600 much more stupid than to be astonished at everything. And moreover, to be 119 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:24.639 astonished at nothing is almost the same as feeling respect for nothing, And indeed 120 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:30.759 a stupid man is incapable of feeling respect. Well. But what I desire 121 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:37.200 most of all is to feel respect. I thirst to feel respect. One 122 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:41.960 of my acquaintance has said to me the other day, he thirsts to feel 123 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:46.279 respect. Goodness, I thought, what would happen to you if you dared 124 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:54.279 to print that nowadays. At that point I sank into forgetfulness. I don't 125 00:11:54.279 --> 00:12:01.799 like reading the epitaphs of tombstones. They are everlastingly the same. An unfinished 126 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:09.240 sandwich was lying on the tombstone near me. Stupid and inappropriate, I threw 127 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:11.240 it on the ground, as it was not bread, but only a sandwich. 128 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:15.960 Though I believe it is not a sin to throw bread on the earth, 129 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:20.440 but only on the floor. I must look it up in Savorin's calendar. 130 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:26.840 I suppose I sat there a long time, too long a time. 131 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.559 In fact, I must have lain down on a long stone, which was 132 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:37.039 of the shape of a marble coffin. And how it happened I don't know. 133 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:43.600 But I began to hear things of all sorts being said. At first 134 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.200 I did not pay attention to it, but treated it with contempt. But 135 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:52.720 the conversation went on. I heard muffled sounds, as though the speaker's mouths 136 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:58.000 were covered with a pillow, and at the same time they were distinct and 137 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:05.120 very near. I came to myself, sat up and began listening attentively. 138 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:13.200 Oh, your excellency, it is utterly impossible, you led hearts. I 139 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.759 return your lead. And here you play the seven of diamonds. You ought 140 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:24.240 to have given me a hint about diamonds. What play by hard and fast 141 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:28.200 rules? Where is the charm of that? Oh, you master, your 142 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:35.159 excellency. One can't do anything without something to go upon. We must play 143 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:39.200 with dummy. Let one hand not be turned up. Well, you won't 144 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:46.639 find a dummy here? What conceited words? And it was queer and unexpected. 145 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:54.080 One was such a ponderous, dignified voice, and the other softly suave. 146 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:58.919 I should not have believed it if I had not heard it myself, 147 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:03.480 I had not been to the requiem dinner, I believe. And yet how 148 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:09.000 could they be playing preference here? And what general was this? That the 149 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:15.559 sounds came from under the tombstones? Of that there could be no doubt. 150 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.159 I bent down and read on the tomb. Here lies the body of Major 151 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:26.960 General Pervoyedov, a cavalier of such and such orders, hum passed away in 152 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.879 August of this year fifty seven, rasped, beloved ashes till the joyful dawn 153 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:41.240 hump dash it it really is a general. There was no monument on the 154 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:46.279 grave from which the obsequious voice came there was only a tombstone. He must 155 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.639 have been a fresh arrival. From his voice, he was a lower court 156 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:58.799 councilor. Oh oh, oh oh. I heard a new voice a dozen 157 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:03.039 yards from the general's resting place, coming from quite a fresh grave. The 158 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:09.039 voice belonged to a man and a plebeian mawkish with its affectation of religious fervor. 159 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:18.600 Oh oh oh, here he is hiccupping again, tried the haughty and 160 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:24.519 disdainful voice of an irritated lady, apparently of the highest society. It is 161 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:31.799 an affliction to be by this shopkeeper. I didn't hiccup. Why I've had 162 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:37.679 nothing to eat. It's simply my nature. Really, madam, you don't 163 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:43.159 seem to be able to get rid of your caprices here? Then why did 164 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:50.799 you come and lie down here? Will they put me here? My wife 165 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:54.759 and little children put me here? I did not lie down here of myself 166 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:00.879 the mystery of death, and I would not have lain down beside you, 167 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:07.320 not for any money. I lie here as befitting my fortune, judging by 168 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:14.600 the price, for we can always do that pay for a tomb of the 169 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:22.720 third grade. You made money. I suppose you fleeced people fleece you. 170 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:30.679 Indeed, we haven't seen the color of your money since January. There's a 171 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:37.240 little bill against you at the shop. Well, that's really stupid. To 172 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:41.320 try and recover debts here is too stupid in my thinking. Go to the 173 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:48.399 surface. Ask my niece. She is my heiress. There's no asking anyone 174 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:55.559 now, and no going anywhere. We have both reached our limit, and 175 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:03.200 before the judgment seat of God are equal will in our sins, in our 176 00:17:03.599 --> 00:17:10.119 sins. The lady mimicked him contemptuously. Don't dare to speak to me? 177 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:18.400 Oh oh, oh, you see the shopkeeper obeys the lady, Your excellency, 178 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:26.119 Why shouldn't he Why, your excellency, because as we all know, 179 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:33.359 things are different here. Different. Oh oh, we are dead, so 180 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:41.599 to speak, your excellency. Oh yes, but still well, this is 181 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:45.839 an entertainment. It is a fine show, I must say. If it 182 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.599 has come to this down here, what can one expect on the surface? 183 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:55.440 But what a queer business. I went on listening, however, though with 184 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:03.559 extreme indignation. Yeah, yes, I should like a taste of life. 185 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:11.160 Yes, you know, I should like a taste of life. I heard 186 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.759 a new voice suddenly, somewhere in the space between the General and the irritable 187 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:21.480 lady. Do you hear, your excellency, our friend is at the same 188 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:23.720 game again for three days at a time. He says nothing, and then 189 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:27.759 he burst out with I should like a taste of life, Yes, a 190 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:36.640 taste of life. And with such appetite and such frivolity, it gets hold 191 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:41.079 of him, your excellency, And do you know he's growing sleepy, quite 192 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:45.359 sleepy. He has been here since April, and then all of a sudden, 193 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:51.519 I should like a taste of life. It is rather dull, though, 194 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:57.880 observed his excellency. It is, your excellency. Shall we tease avdotya 195 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:06.559 ignatyevna. No spare me, please, I can't endure that quarrelsome virago, 196 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:12.559 and I can't endure either of you, cried the virago disdainfully. You are 197 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:18.240 both of you bores and can't tell me anything ideal. I know one little 198 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.759 story about you, your excellency. Don't turn up your nose, please, 199 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:27.319 how a man servant swept you out from under a married couple's bed one morning, 200 00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:38.839 nashty woman. The General muttered through his teeth, duchy ignatyevna, ma'am. 201 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:44.880 The shopkeeper wailed suddenly again, my dear lady, don't be angry, 202 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:49.440 but tell me, am I going through the ordeal by torment now? Or 203 00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:56.839 is it something else? Ah? He is at it again as I expected, 204 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.240 For there's a snell from him, which means he is turning round. 205 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.119 I am not turning round, ma'am. And there's no particular smell from me, 206 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:14.400 for I've kept my body whole as it should be, while you're regularly 207 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:19.319 high. For the smell is really horrible, even for a place like this. 208 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:29.480 I don't speak of it merely from politeness. Are you horrid insulting wretch? 209 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:34.480 He positively stinks and talks about me. Oh, ho ho ho. 210 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:41.759 If only the time for my requiem would come quickly, I should hear their 211 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:48.480 tearful voices over my head, my wife's lament, and my children's a soft 212 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:53.400 weeping. Well, that's a thing to fret for. They'll stuff themselves with 213 00:20:53.559 --> 00:21:00.920 funeral rice and go home. Oh I wish somebody would wake up. Avdotya 214 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:07.279 Ignatyevna, said the insinuating government clerk. Wait a bit, the new arrivals 215 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:12.799 will speak, and are there any young people among them? Yes, there 216 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:18.279 are, Avdotya Ignatyevna. There are some not more than lads. Oh, 217 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:26.640 how welcome that would be. Haven't they begun yet? Inquired, his excellency. 218 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:32.160 Even those who came the day before yesterday haven't awakened yet, your excellency. 219 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.839 As you know, they sometimes don't speak for a week. It's a 220 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.200 good job that to day and yesterday and the day before they brought a whole 221 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:45.119 lot. As it is, they are all last years for seventy feet round. 222 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:52.720 Yes, it will be interesting, Yes, your excellency, they buried 223 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.640 Tarasevitch the Privy councilor to day. I knew it from the voices. I 224 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:03.319 know his nephew. Help to lower the coffin. Just now, Hm? 225 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:08.759 Where is he then? Five steps from you, your excellency, on the 226 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:12.759 left, it's almost at your feet. You should make his acquaintance, your 227 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:18.200 excellency, HM. No, it is not for me to make advances. 228 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:22.359 Oh, he will begin of himself, your excellency, He will be flattered. 229 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:27.839 Leave it to me, your excellency. And I, oh, oh, 230 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:33.279 what is happening to me? Croaked the frightened voice of a new arrival. 231 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:37.519 A new arrival, your excellency, A new arrival, Thank God, 232 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:41.759 And how quick he's been. Sometimes they don't say a word for a week. 233 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:49.200 Oh, I believe it's a young man. Avdotya Ignatjevna cried shrilly. 234 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:56.240 It was a complication, and so sudden faltered the young man again only the 235 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:00.559 evening before her. Scholtz said to me, there's a complication, and I 236 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:06.640 died suddenly before morning. Oh oh, well, there's no help for it, 237 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:11.240 young man, the general observed, graciously, evidently pleased at a new 238 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:18.480 arrival. You must be comforted. You are kindly welcome to our vale of 239 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:23.839 Jehoshaphat, so to call it. We are a kind hearted people. You 240 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:32.880 will come to know us and appreciate us. Major General Vassili Vassilitch pervoyedov at 241 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:37.599 your servis, Oh, no, no, certainly not. I was at 242 00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:41.359 Chautzs. I had a complication, you know. At first it was my 243 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:45.960 chest and a cough, and then I caught a cold, my lungs and 244 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:51.000 influenza, and all of a sudden, quite unexpectedly. Oh, the worst 245 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:56.200 of all was its being so unexpected. You say that it began with the 246 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:00.319 chest. The government clerk put in suavely, as though he wished to reassure 247 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:06.559 the new arrival. Yes, my chest and guitar, and then no guitar, 248 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:10.319 but still the chest, and I couldn't breathe. And you know, 249 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.640 I know, I know, But if it was the chest, you ought 250 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:18.480 to have gone to acc and not to Shultz. You know, I kept 251 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:23.359 meaning to go to Botkins, and all at once. Botkin is quite prohibitive, 252 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:27.920 observed the General. Oh no, he is not forbidding at all. 253 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:34.680 I've heard he is so attentive and foretells everything beforehand. His excellency was referring 254 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:40.720 to his fees. The government clerk corrected him, Oh, no, not 255 00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:45.240 at all. He only asks three roubles, and he makes such an examination 256 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.440 and gives you a prescription. And I was very anxious to see him, 257 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:53.079 for I have been told, well, gentlemen, had I better go to 258 00:24:53.119 --> 00:25:00.759 a or to Botkin? What to whom the general's co shook with agreeable laughter. 259 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:08.319 The government clerk echoed it in falsetto dear boy, dear delightful boy, 260 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:15.920 how I love you. Avdotya Ignatyevna squealed ecstatically. I wish they had put 261 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:22.559 someone like you next to me. No, that was too much, and 262 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:27.319 these were the dead of our times still I ought to listen to more and 263 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:33.680 not be in too great a hurry to draw conclusions. That sniveling new arrival. 264 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:37.480 I remember him just now in his coffin had the expression of a frightened 265 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:44.920 chicken, the most revolting expression in the world. However, let us wait 266 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:49.319 and see. But what happened next was such a bedlam that I could not 267 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:53.039 keep it all in my memory. For a great many woke up at once. 268 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:59.400 An official, a civil counselor, woke up and began discussing at once 269 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.640 the project of a new subcommittee in a government department, and of the probable 270 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:11.519 transfer of various functionaries in connection with the subcommittee, which very greatly interested the 271 00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:15.920 general. I must confess I learnt a great deal that was new myself, 272 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:22.160 so much so that I marveled at the channels by which one may sometimes in 273 00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:27.279 the metropolis learn government news. Then an engineer half woke up, but for 274 00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:33.160 a long time muttered absolute nonsense, so that our friends left off worrying him 275 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.480 and let him lie till he was ready. At last, the distinguished lady 276 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:41.759 who had been buried in the morning under the catafalque, showed symptoms of the 277 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:49.759 reanimation of the tomb, Lebeziatnikov for the obsequious Lower Court Councilor, whom I 278 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:57.079 detested and who lay beside General Pervoyedov was called. It appears Lebeziatnikov became much 279 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:03.279 excited and surprised that they were all waking up so soon this time, I 280 00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:07.519 must own I was surprised too, though some of those who woke had been 281 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.039 buried for three days, as for instance, of every young girl of sixteen 282 00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:19.759 who kept giggling and giggling in a horrible and predatory way. But your excellency, 283 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:29.720 Privy Councilor Tarasevitch is waking, Lebeziatnikov announced, with extreme fussiness. Eh, 284 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:36.480 what the Privy Councilor waking up? Suddenly mumbled with a lisp of disgust. 285 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.400 There was a note of ill humored peremptoriness in the sound of his voice. 286 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:45.759 I listened with curiosity, for during the last few days I had heard 287 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:53.000 something about Tarassevitch shocking and upsetting in the extreme. It is all your excellency 288 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:59.079 so far, only I what is your petition? What do you want, 289 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:06.359 oh, merely to inquire after your Excellency's health In these unaccustomed surroundings. Every 290 00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:11.400 one feels at first as it were, oppressed. General Pervoyedov wishes to have 291 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:18.160 the honor of making your Excellency's acquaintance, and hopes I've never heard of him, 292 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:26.680 surely, your excellency, General Pervoyedov, Vassili Vassilitch are you, General 293 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:33.880 Pervoyedov, No, your excellency, I am only the lower court councilor Lebeziatnikov 294 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:40.640 at your service. But General Pervoyedov nonsense, and I beg you to leave 295 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:48.200 me alone. Let him be. General Pervoyedov at last himself checked with dignity 296 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:55.400 the disgusting officiousness of his sycophant in the grave. He is not fully awake, 297 00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:59.960 Your excellency. You must consider that it's the novelty of it all. 298 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:04.160 When he is fully awake, he will take it differently. Let him be 299 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:15.519 repeated, the General Vassili Vassilitch, Hey, your excellency, A perfectly new 300 00:29:15.640 --> 00:29:22.640 voice shouted loudly and aggressively from close beside Avdotya Ignatyevna. It was a voice 301 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:30.200 of gentlemanly insolence, with the languid pronunciation now fashionable, and an arrogant drawl. 302 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:33.799 I have been watching you all for the last two hours. Do you 303 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:41.319 remember me, Vassili Vassilitch. My name is Kyevitch. We met at Tavolokonski's, 304 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:45.319 where you too were received as a guest. I am sure, I 305 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:53.039 don't know why what KMT. Pyotro Petrovitch? Can it be really you? 306 00:29:55.119 --> 00:30:00.839 And at such an early age? How sorry I am to hear. I'm 307 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:06.720 sorry myself, though I don't really mind, and I want to amuse myself 308 00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:10.799 as far as I can everywhere. And I am not a count, but 309 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:15.480 a baron, only a baron. We are only a set of scurvy barons, 310 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:19.119 risen from being flunkeys. But why I don't know, and I don't 311 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:26.039 care. I am only a scoundrel of the pseudo aristocratic society, and I 312 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:30.440 am regarded as a charming holy soul. And my father is a wretched little 313 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:36.240 general, and my mother was at one time received on all lie with the 314 00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:41.440 help of the Jews. Eiffel I forged a fifty thousand rouble notes last year, 315 00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:47.880 and then I informed against him, while Julisha Pentier de Lusignan carried off 316 00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:52.440 the money to Bordeaux, and only fancy I was engaged to be married to 317 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:57.480 a girl still at school, three months under sixteen, with a dowry of 318 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:06.279 ninety thousand Avdotya Ignatyevna. Do you remember how you seduced to me fifteen years 319 00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:11.039 ago when I was a boy of fourteen in the Corps des page. Ah, 320 00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:15.519 that's you, your rascal. Well, you are a godsend anyway. 321 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:22.839 For here though you were mistaken in suspecting your neighbor, the business gentlemen of 322 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:27.880 unpleasant fragrance. I said nothing, but I laughed. The stench came from 323 00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:34.440 me. They had to bury me in a nailed up coffin. You hurried 324 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:40.759 creature. Still, I am glad you are here. You can't imagine the 325 00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:45.000 lack of life and wit here quite so, quite so, And I intend 326 00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:52.319 to start here something original, Your excellency, I don't mean you Pervoyedov, 327 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:57.680 your excellency the other one Tarasevitch the Privy councilor answer, I am Kleinevitch who 328 00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:01.279 took you to mademoiselle. You will be in lent, do you hear? 329 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:07.720 I do Kleanovich, and I am delighted. And trust me, I wouldn't 330 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:12.839 trust you with a halfpenny, and I don't care I simply want to kiss 331 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:15.839 you, dear old man, but luckily I can't. And do you know, 332 00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:22.759 gentlemen, what this ground pair's little game was. He died three or 333 00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:25.279 four days ago, and would you believe it, he left a deficit of 334 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:32.240 four hundred thousand government money from the Fund for Widows and Orphans. He was 335 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:37.880 the sole person in control of it for some reason, so that his accounts 336 00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:42.720 were not audited for the last eight years. I can fancy what long faces 337 00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:47.079 they all have now? And what do they call him? It's a delectable 338 00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:52.160 thought, isn't it. I have been wondering for the last year how a 339 00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:59.920 wretched old man of seventy, gouty and rheumatic succeeded in preserving the physical energy 340 00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:06.720 for his debaucheries. And now the riddle is solved. Those widows and orphans, 341 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:10.880 the very thought of them must have egged him on. I knew about 342 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:15.160 it long ago. I was the only one who did know. It was 343 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:19.720 Julie told me. And as soon as I discovered it, I attacked him 344 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:23.319 in a friendly way. At once in Easter week, give me twenty five 345 00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:29.200 thousand. If you don't, they'll look into your accounts tomorrow and just fancy. 346 00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:35.000 He had only thirteen thousand left then, so it seems it was very 347 00:33:35.079 --> 00:33:43.519 apropos is dying now A grandpere, A grandpere, do you hear cher Klinevitch, 348 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:49.519 I quite agree with you, And there was no need for you to 349 00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:55.000 go into such details. Life is so full of suffering and torment, and 350 00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:00.200 so little to make up for it, that I want it at last to 351 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:05.960 be addressed. And so far as I can see, I hope to get 352 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:12.280 all I can from here too. I bet he has already sniffed, Katiche, 353 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:20.920 Barista, Who what Ketiche? There was a rapacious quiver in the old 354 00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:28.440 man's voice, Who what Katich? Why here on the left five paces from 355 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:32.280 me and ten from you. She's been here for five days. And if 356 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:37.519 only you knew, Grandpere, what a little wretch she is, of good 357 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:44.559 family and breeding, and a monster, a regular monster. I did not 358 00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:47.960 introduce her to anyone there. I was the only one who knew her. 359 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:58.599 Katiche answer. The girl responded with a jangling laugh, in which there was 360 00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:04.800 a note of something I sharp as the prick of a needle, and a 361 00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:15.199 little blonde. The grand pair faltered, and drawling out the syllables I have, 362 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:22.320 I have long The old man faltered breathlessly and cherished the dream of a 363 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:31.880 little fair thing of fifteen and just in such surroundings, Ah, the monster 364 00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:39.440 cried, avdotya ignatyevna. Enough Klinevitch decided, I see there is excellent material. 365 00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:45.559 We shall soon arrange things better. The great thing is to spend the 366 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:50.599 rest of our time cheerfully. But what time? Hey? You the government 367 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:57.079 clerk lebzian Nikov or whatever it is. I hear that's your name, semyon 368 00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:02.840 ye have say h lebesi Nikov lower court counselor at your service, Very very 369 00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:08.320 very much delighted to meet you. I don't care whether you're delighted or not, 370 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:13.360 but you seem to know everything here. Tell me, first of all, 371 00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:17.039 how is it we can talk? I've been wondering ever since yesterday. 372 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:22.960 We are dead, and yet we are talking and seemed to be moving, 373 00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:28.320 and yet we are not talking and not moving. What jugglery is this? 374 00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:34.360 Or if you want an explanation, Baron Platon Nikolayevitch could give you one better 375 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:38.320 than I. What Platon Nikolayevitch is that? To the point, don't beat 376 00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:45.800 about the bush a Platon. Nikolayevitch is our homegrown philosopher, scientist and master 377 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:52.719 of arts. He has brought out several philosophical works, but for the last 378 00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:57.280 three months he has been getting quite drowsy, and there's no stirring him up. 379 00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:02.280 Now once a week he mutters something utterly irrelevant, but to the point, 380 00:37:02.280 --> 00:37:07.639 to the point. Oh. He explains all this by the simplest fact, 381 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:14.400 namely that when we were living on the surface, we mistakenly thought that 382 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:21.760 death. There was death, But the body revives as it were. Here 383 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:30.440 the remains of life are concentrated, but only in consciousness. I don't know 384 00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:36.719 how to express it, but life goes on as it were by inertia. 385 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:42.840 In his opinion, everything is concentrated somewhere in consciousness and goes on for two 386 00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:46.360 or three months, sometimes even for half a year. There is one here, 387 00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:52.119 for instance, who is almost completely decomposed. But once every six weeks 388 00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:59.440 he suddenly utters one word, quite senseless, of course, about some bobok 389 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:06.960 mobok or mobok. But you see that an imperceptible speck of life is still 390 00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:13.000 warm within him. That's rather stupid. Well, and how is it? 391 00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:17.199 I have no sense of smell? And yet I feel this a stench that 392 00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:24.159 well, on that point, our philosopher is a bit foggy. It's apropos 393 00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:30.000 of smell. He says that the stench one perceives here is so to speak, 394 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:37.440 moral, It's the stench of the soul. He says that in these 395 00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:43.280 two or three months, it may have time to recover itself. And this 396 00:38:43.559 --> 00:38:49.280 is, so to speak, the last mercy. Only I think Baron that 397 00:38:49.320 --> 00:38:53.800 these are mystic ravings, very excusable in his position. Enough, all the 398 00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:58.119 rest of it, I am sure is nonsense. The great thing is that 399 00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:04.239 we have two or three months more of life and then book. I propose 400 00:39:04.719 --> 00:39:09.519 to spend these two months as agreeably as possible, and so to arrange everything 401 00:39:09.599 --> 00:39:17.920 on a new basis. Gentlemen, I propose to cast aside all shame ah 402 00:39:19.039 --> 00:39:24.119 let us cast aside, or shame let us. Many voices could be heard 403 00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:30.559 saying, and strange to say, several new voices were audible, which must 404 00:39:30.599 --> 00:39:36.400 have belonged to others newly awakened. The engineer, now fully awake, boomed 405 00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:43.920 out his agreement with peculiar delight. The girl katiche giggled gleefully, Oh, 406 00:39:43.960 --> 00:39:52.000 how I long to cast off all shame. Abdotya Ignatyevna exclaimed rapturously. I 407 00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:58.400 say, if Abdotya ignatiev no wants to cast off all shame, no no, 408 00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:01.159 no. Klinevitch I was shamed up. They're all the same. But 409 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:07.000 here I should like to cast off shame. I should like it awfully. 410 00:40:09.239 --> 00:40:16.239 I understand Klinevitch boomed the engineer that you want to rearrange life here on new 411 00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:22.559 and irrational principles. Oh, I don't care a hang about that, for 412 00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:25.679 that will wait for Kudarov, who was brought here yesterday. When he wakes, 413 00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:30.280 he'll tell you all about it. He is such a personality, such 414 00:40:30.280 --> 00:40:36.000 a titanic personality. Tomorrow they'll bring along another natural scientist, I believe, 415 00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:39.559 an officer for certain, and three or four days later a journalist, and 416 00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:45.440 I believe his editor with him. But Deuce take them all. There will 417 00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:52.760 be a little group of us anyway, and things will arrange themselves. Though 418 00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:57.239 meanwhile, I don't want us to be telling lies. That's all I care 419 00:40:57.280 --> 00:41:00.880 about, for that is one thing that matters. One cannot exist on the 420 00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:07.199 surface without lying, for life and lying are synonymous. But here we will 421 00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:13.840 amuse ourselves by not lying. Hang it all, the grave has some value. 422 00:41:13.880 --> 00:41:19.159 After all, we'll all tell our stories aloud, and we won't be 423 00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:22.920 ashamed of anything. First of all, I'll tell you about myself. I 424 00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:28.880 am one of the predatory kind. You know, all that was bound and 425 00:41:29.039 --> 00:41:34.440 held in check by rotten chords. Up there are the surface, away with 426 00:41:34.679 --> 00:41:39.679 chords. And let us spend these two months in shameless truthfulness. Let us 427 00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:45.519 strip and be naked. Let us be naked, Let us be naked, 428 00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:51.960 cried all the voices. I long to me naked. I long to be 429 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:59.519 avdotya ignatyevna shrewd ah ah. I see we shall have fun here. I 430 00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:05.599 don't and eck after all, no, I tell you can give me a 431 00:42:05.679 --> 00:42:13.519 taste of life, gig Katiche. The great thing is that no one can 432 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:19.039 interfere with us. And though I see Pervoyedov is in a temper, he 433 00:42:19.119 --> 00:42:22.519 can't reach me with his hand. The grand Pere, do you agree? 434 00:42:23.679 --> 00:42:31.599 I fully agree, fully and with the utmost satisfaction. But on condition that 435 00:42:31.800 --> 00:42:40.079 Kotiche is the first to give us her biography. I protest. I protest 436 00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:46.639 with all my heart. General Pervoyedov, brought out firmly, are your excellency, 437 00:42:47.239 --> 00:42:53.280 the scoundrel Lebeziatnikov persuaded him in a murmur of fussy excitement. Your excellency, 438 00:42:53.639 --> 00:42:58.079 it will be to our advantage to agree. Here. You see, 439 00:42:58.320 --> 00:43:04.480 there's this girl's and the little affairs. There is the girl. It's true, 440 00:43:04.920 --> 00:43:08.719 but it's to our advantage, your excellency, upon my word, it 441 00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:15.440 is if only as an experiment, let us try it even in the grave. 442 00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:22.400 They won't let us rest in peace. In the first place, General, 443 00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:25.239 you were playing preference in the grave, and in the second we don't 444 00:43:25.239 --> 00:43:32.039 care a hang about you, drawled Klinevitch, Sir, I beg you not 445 00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:37.559 to forget yourself. What why you can't get at me? And I can 446 00:43:37.639 --> 00:43:43.400 tease you from here as though you were Julie's lap dog? And another thing, 447 00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:47.960 gentlemen, how is he a general here? He was a general there? 448 00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:55.960 But here he is mere refuse? No, not mere refuse. Even 449 00:43:57.280 --> 00:44:01.519 here here you will rot in the grave, and six brass buttons will be 450 00:44:01.599 --> 00:44:10.280 all that will be left of you. Bravo Kleinovich, roared voices. I 451 00:44:10.519 --> 00:44:19.440 have served my sovereign. I have the sword. Your sword is only fit 452 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:23.039 to prick mice, and you never do it even for that that makes no 453 00:44:23.400 --> 00:44:30.400 difference. I formed a part of the whole. There are all sorts of 454 00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:39.199 parts in a hole. Bravo, Kleinovich, Bravo. I don't understand what 455 00:44:39.239 --> 00:44:45.119 the sword stands for, boomed the engineer. Who we shall run away from 456 00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:49.679 the Prussians like mice, and they'll crush us the powder, cried a voice 457 00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:54.079 in the distance that was unfamiliar to me, that was positively spluttering with glee. 458 00:44:55.719 --> 00:45:01.199 The sword, sir, is an honor her, the general cried, 459 00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:07.760 but only I heard him. There arose a prolonged and furious roar, clamor 460 00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:15.039 and hubbub, and only the hysterically impatient squeals of Avdotya Ignatyevna were audible. 461 00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:20.320 But do let us make haste? Ah, When are we going to begin 462 00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:27.400 to cast off our shame? Oh? Oh, the soul does in truth 463 00:45:27.719 --> 00:45:35.599 passed through dorments, exclaimed the voice of the Plebeian. And and here I 464 00:45:35.920 --> 00:45:42.760 suddenly sneezed. It happened suddenly and unintentionally, but the effect was striking. 465 00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:49.280 All became as silent as one expects it to be in a churchyard. It 466 00:45:49.360 --> 00:45:53.679 all vanished, like a dream, a real silence of the tomb set in. 467 00:45:55.280 --> 00:45:59.599 I don't believe they were ashamed on account of my presence. They had 468 00:45:59.639 --> 00:46:05.119 made up their minds to cast off all shame. I waited five minutes, 469 00:46:06.440 --> 00:46:13.320 not a word, not a sound. It cannot be supposed that they were 470 00:46:13.360 --> 00:46:17.079 afraid of my informing the police, for what could the police do to them. 471 00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:22.199 I must conclude that they had some secret, unknown to the living, 472 00:46:22.840 --> 00:46:29.920 which they carefully concealed from every mortal. Well, my DearS, I thought, 473 00:46:30.480 --> 00:46:36.519 I shall visit you again, and with those words I left the cemetery. 474 00:46:37.719 --> 00:46:42.679 No that I cannot admit, No, I really cannot. The Bobok 475 00:46:42.679 --> 00:46:47.079 case does not trouble me. So that is what that Bobok signified. Depravity 476 00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:53.480 in such a place, depravity of the last aspirations, depravity of sodden and 477 00:46:53.679 --> 00:47:00.920 rotten corpses, and not even sparing the last moments of consciousness. Those moments 478 00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:07.679 have been granted vouchsafed to them, And and worst of all, in such 479 00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:13.840 a place. No that I cannot admit. I shall go to other tombs. 480 00:47:13.880 --> 00:47:19.199 I shall listen everywhere. Certainly one ought to listen everywhere, and not 481 00:47:19.320 --> 00:47:23.559 merely at one spot, in order to form an idea. Perhaps one may 482 00:47:23.599 --> 00:47:30.360 come across something reassuring. But I shall certainly go back to those they promised, 483 00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:37.000 their biographies and anecdotes of all sorts. But I shall go, I 484 00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:44.239 shall certainly go. It is a question of conscience. I shall take it 485 00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:50.400 to the citizen. The editor there has had his portrait exhibited too. Maybe 486 00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:53.880 he will print it. End of Chapter thirteen.