Chapter thirteen, Bobok from Somebody's diary. Semyon Ardoyanovitch said to me, all
of a sudden, the day before yesterday, why will you ever be sober?
Ivan Ivanovitch tell me that pray a strange requirement. I did not resent
it. I am a timid man. But here they have actually made me
out mad. An artist painted my portrait as it happened. After all,
you are a literary man, he said. I submit it. He exhibited
it. I read, go and look at that morbid face suggesting insanity.
It may be so, but think of putting it so bluntly into print.
In print everything ought to be decorous. There ought to be ideals, while
instead of that, say it indirectly. At least that's what you have style
for. But no, he doesn't care to do it indirectly. Nowadays,
humor and a fine style have disappeared, and abuse has accepted as wit.
I do not resent it, but God knows I am not enough of a
literary man to go out of my mind. I have written a novel,
it has not been published. Have written articles, and they have been refused.
Those articles I took about from one editor to another everywhere. They refused
them. You have no salt, They told me, what sort of salt
do you want? I asked, with a jeer attic salt. They did
not even understand. For the most part, I translate from the French for
the booksellers. I write advertisements for shopkeepers too, unique opportunity, fine tea
from our own plantation. I made a nice little sum over a panegyric on
his deceased, Excellency Pyotr Matveitch. I compiled The Art of Pleasing the Ladies,
a commission from a bookseller. I have brought out some six little works
of this kind in the course of my life. I'm thinking of making a
collection of the bonnemaus of Voltaire, but I am afraid it may seem a
little flat to our people. Voltaire's no good now Nowadays we want a cudgel,
not Voltaire. We knock each other's last teeth out nowadays. Well,
so that's the whole extent of my literary activity. Although indeed I do send
ram letters to the editors, gratis and fully signed. I give them all
sorts of counsels and admonitions, criticize and point out the true path. The
letter I sent last week to an editor's office, was the fortieth had sent
in the last two years. I've wasted four rubles over stamps alone for them.
My temper is at the bottom of it all. I believe that the
artist who painted me did so not for the sake of literature, but for
the sake of two symmetrical warts on my forehead, a natural phenomenon. He
would say, they have no ideas, so now they are out for phenomena.
And didn't he succeed in getting my warts in his portrait? To the
life? That is what they call realism? And as to madness, a
great many people were put down as mad among us last year, and in
such language, with such original talent. And yet after all it appears,
however, one ought to have foreseen it long ago. Oh, that is
rather artful, so that from the point of view of pure art one may
really commend it well. But after all, these so called madmen have turned
out cleverer than ever. So it seems the critics can call them mad,
but they cannot produce anyone better. The wisest of all, in my opinion,
is he who can, if only once a month, call himself a
fool. A faculty unheard of nowadays. In old days, once a year
at any rate, a fool would recognize that he was a fool. But
nowadays not a bit of it. And they have so muddled things up that
there is no telling a fool from a wise man. They have done that
on purpose. I remember a witty Spaniard saying, when two hundred and fifty
years ago the French built their first madhouses, they have shut up all their
fools in a house apart to make sure that they are wise men themselves,
just so you don't show your own wisdom by shutting someone else in a madhouse.
Kay has gone out of his mind. Means that we are sane now,
No, it doesn't mean that yet. Hang it, though, Why
am I maundering on? I go on, grumbling and grumbling. Even my
maid servant is sick of me. Yesterday a friend came to see me.
Your style is changing, He said, it is choppy. You chop and
chop, and then the parenthesis, and then a parenthesis in the parenthesis,
and then you stick in something else in brackets. Then you begin chopping and
chopping again. The friend is right. Something strange is happening to me.
My character is changing, and my head aches I am beginning to see and
hear strange things. Not voices exactly, but as though some one beside me
were muttering, bobok, bobok, bobok. What's the meaning of this bobok?
I must divert my mind. I went out in search of diversion.
I hit upon a funeral, a distant relation, a collegiate counselor. However,
a widow and five daughters, all marriageable young ladies. What must it
come to even to keep them in slippers? Their father managed it, but
now there is only a little pension. They will have to eat humble pie.
They have always received me ungraciously, and indeed I should not have gone
to the funeral now, had it not been for a peculiar circumstance. I
followed the procession to the cemetery with the rest. They were stuck up and
held aloof from me. My uniform was certainly rather shadow abbe it's five and
twenty years, I believe. Since I was at the cemetery, what a
wretched place to begin with the smell. There were fifteen hearses with palls varying
inexpensiveness. There were actually two catafalques. One was a General's and one some
ladies. There were many mourners, a great deal of feigned mourning, and
a great deal of open gaiety. The clergy have nothing to complain of.
It brings them a good income. But the smell, the smell, I
should not like to be one of the clergy. Here. I kept glancing
at the faces of the dead, cautiously distrusting my impressionability. Some had a
mild expression, some looked unpleasant. As a rule, the smiles were disagreeable,
and in some cases very much so. I don't like them. They
haunt one's dreams. During the service, I went out of the church into
the air. It was a gray day, but dry. It was cold,
too, but then it was October. I walked about among the tombs.
They are of different grades. The third grade cost thirty roubles. It's
decent and not so very dear. The first two grades are tombs in the
church and under the porch. They cost a pretty penny. On this occasion
they were burying in tombs of the third grade, six persons, among them,
the General and the lady. I looked into the graves, and it
was horrible water and such water, absolutely green, and but there why talk
of it. The grave digger was baling it out every minute. I went
out while the service was going on and strolled outside the gates. Close by
was an almshouse, and a little further off there was a restaurant. It
was not a bad little restaurant. There was lunch and everything. There were
lots of the mourners here. I noticed a great deal of gaiety and genuine
heartiness. I had something to eat and drink. Then I took part in
the bearing of the coffin from the church to the grave. Why is it
that corpses in their coffins are so heavy? They say it is due to
some sort of inertia, that the body is no longer directed by its owner,
or some nonsense of that sort, in opposition to the laws of mechanics
and common sense. I don't like to hear people who have nothing but a
general education ventured to solve the problems that require special knowledge, and with us
that's done continually. Civilians love to pass opinions about subjects that are the province
of the soldier and even of the field marshal, while men who have been
educated as engineers prefer discussing philosophy and political economy. I did not go to
the requiem service. I have some pride, and if I am only received
owing to some special necessity, why force myself on their dinners, even if
it be a funeral dinner. The only thing I don't understand is why I
stayed at the cemetery. I sat on a tombstone and sank into appropriate reflections.
I began with the Moscow exhibition and end it with reflecting upon astonishment.
In the abstract, my deductions about astonishment were these, to be surprised at
everything is stupid, of course, and to be astonished at nothing is a
great deal more becoming, and for some reason accepted as good form. But
that is not really true to my mind. To be astonished at nothing is
much more stupid than to be astonished at everything. And moreover, to be
astonished at nothing is almost the same as feeling respect for nothing, And indeed
a stupid man is incapable of feeling respect. Well. But what I desire
most of all is to feel respect. I thirst to feel respect. One
of my acquaintance has said to me the other day, he thirsts to feel
respect. Goodness, I thought, what would happen to you if you dared
to print that nowadays. At that point I sank into forgetfulness. I don't
like reading the epitaphs of tombstones. They are everlastingly the same. An unfinished
sandwich was lying on the tombstone near me. Stupid and inappropriate, I threw
it on the ground, as it was not bread, but only a sandwich.
Though I believe it is not a sin to throw bread on the earth,
but only on the floor. I must look it up in Savorin's calendar.
I suppose I sat there a long time, too long a time.
In fact, I must have lain down on a long stone, which was
of the shape of a marble coffin. And how it happened I don't know.
But I began to hear things of all sorts being said. At first
I did not pay attention to it, but treated it with contempt. But
the conversation went on. I heard muffled sounds, as though the speaker's mouths
were covered with a pillow, and at the same time they were distinct and
very near. I came to myself, sat up and began listening attentively.
Oh, your excellency, it is utterly impossible, you led hearts. I
return your lead. And here you play the seven of diamonds. You ought
to have given me a hint about diamonds. What play by hard and fast
rules? Where is the charm of that? Oh, you master, your
excellency. One can't do anything without something to go upon. We must play
with dummy. Let one hand not be turned up. Well, you won't
find a dummy here? What conceited words? And it was queer and unexpected.
One was such a ponderous, dignified voice, and the other softly suave.
I should not have believed it if I had not heard it myself,
I had not been to the requiem dinner, I believe. And yet how
could they be playing preference here? And what general was this? That the
sounds came from under the tombstones? Of that there could be no doubt.
I bent down and read on the tomb. Here lies the body of Major
General Pervoyedov, a cavalier of such and such orders, hum passed away in
August of this year fifty seven, rasped, beloved ashes till the joyful dawn
hump dash it it really is a general. There was no monument on the
grave from which the obsequious voice came there was only a tombstone. He must
have been a fresh arrival. From his voice, he was a lower court
councilor. Oh oh, oh oh. I heard a new voice a dozen
yards from the general's resting place, coming from quite a fresh grave. The
voice belonged to a man and a plebeian mawkish with its affectation of religious fervor.
Oh oh oh, here he is hiccupping again, tried the haughty and
disdainful voice of an irritated lady, apparently of the highest society. It is
an affliction to be by this shopkeeper. I didn't hiccup. Why I've had
nothing to eat. It's simply my nature. Really, madam, you don't
seem to be able to get rid of your caprices here? Then why did
you come and lie down here? Will they put me here? My wife
and little children put me here? I did not lie down here of myself
the mystery of death, and I would not have lain down beside you,
not for any money. I lie here as befitting my fortune, judging by
the price, for we can always do that pay for a tomb of the
third grade. You made money. I suppose you fleeced people fleece you.
Indeed, we haven't seen the color of your money since January. There's a
little bill against you at the shop. Well, that's really stupid. To
try and recover debts here is too stupid in my thinking. Go to the
surface. Ask my niece. She is my heiress. There's no asking anyone
now, and no going anywhere. We have both reached our limit, and
before the judgment seat of God are equal will in our sins, in our
sins. The lady mimicked him contemptuously. Don't dare to speak to me?
Oh oh, oh, you see the shopkeeper obeys the lady, Your excellency,
Why shouldn't he Why, your excellency, because as we all know,
things are different here. Different. Oh oh, we are dead, so
to speak, your excellency. Oh yes, but still well, this is
an entertainment. It is a fine show, I must say. If it
has come to this down here, what can one expect on the surface?
But what a queer business. I went on listening, however, though with
extreme indignation. Yeah, yes, I should like a taste of life.
Yes, you know, I should like a taste of life. I heard
a new voice suddenly, somewhere in the space between the General and the irritable
lady. Do you hear, your excellency, our friend is at the same
game again for three days at a time. He says nothing, and then
he burst out with I should like a taste of life, Yes, a
taste of life. And with such appetite and such frivolity, it gets hold
of him, your excellency, And do you know he's growing sleepy, quite
sleepy. He has been here since April, and then all of a sudden,
I should like a taste of life. It is rather dull, though,
observed his excellency. It is, your excellency. Shall we tease avdotya
ignatyevna. No spare me, please, I can't endure that quarrelsome virago,
and I can't endure either of you, cried the virago disdainfully. You are
both of you bores and can't tell me anything ideal. I know one little
story about you, your excellency. Don't turn up your nose, please,
how a man servant swept you out from under a married couple's bed one morning,
nashty woman. The General muttered through his teeth, duchy ignatyevna, ma'am.
The shopkeeper wailed suddenly again, my dear lady, don't be angry,
but tell me, am I going through the ordeal by torment now? Or
is it something else? Ah? He is at it again as I expected,
For there's a snell from him, which means he is turning round.
I am not turning round, ma'am. And there's no particular smell from me,
for I've kept my body whole as it should be, while you're regularly
high. For the smell is really horrible, even for a place like this.
I don't speak of it merely from politeness. Are you horrid insulting wretch?
He positively stinks and talks about me. Oh, ho ho ho.
If only the time for my requiem would come quickly, I should hear their
tearful voices over my head, my wife's lament, and my children's a soft
weeping. Well, that's a thing to fret for. They'll stuff themselves with
funeral rice and go home. Oh I wish somebody would wake up. Avdotya
Ignatyevna, said the insinuating government clerk. Wait a bit, the new arrivals
will speak, and are there any young people among them? Yes, there
are, Avdotya Ignatyevna. There are some not more than lads. Oh,
how welcome that would be. Haven't they begun yet? Inquired, his excellency.
Even those who came the day before yesterday haven't awakened yet, your excellency.
As you know, they sometimes don't speak for a week. It's a
good job that to day and yesterday and the day before they brought a whole
lot. As it is, they are all last years for seventy feet round.
Yes, it will be interesting, Yes, your excellency, they buried
Tarasevitch the Privy councilor to day. I knew it from the voices. I
know his nephew. Help to lower the coffin. Just now, Hm?
Where is he then? Five steps from you, your excellency, on the
left, it's almost at your feet. You should make his acquaintance, your
excellency, HM. No, it is not for me to make advances.
Oh, he will begin of himself, your excellency, He will be flattered.
Leave it to me, your excellency. And I, oh, oh,
what is happening to me? Croaked the frightened voice of a new arrival.
A new arrival, your excellency, A new arrival, Thank God,
And how quick he's been. Sometimes they don't say a word for a week.
Oh, I believe it's a young man. Avdotya Ignatjevna cried shrilly.
It was a complication, and so sudden faltered the young man again only the
evening before her. Scholtz said to me, there's a complication, and I
died suddenly before morning. Oh oh, well, there's no help for it,
young man, the general observed, graciously, evidently pleased at a new
arrival. You must be comforted. You are kindly welcome to our vale of
Jehoshaphat, so to call it. We are a kind hearted people. You
will come to know us and appreciate us. Major General Vassili Vassilitch pervoyedov at
your servis, Oh, no, no, certainly not. I was at
Chautzs. I had a complication, you know. At first it was my
chest and a cough, and then I caught a cold, my lungs and
influenza, and all of a sudden, quite unexpectedly. Oh, the worst
of all was its being so unexpected. You say that it began with the
chest. The government clerk put in suavely, as though he wished to reassure
the new arrival. Yes, my chest and guitar, and then no guitar,
but still the chest, and I couldn't breathe. And you know,
I know, I know, But if it was the chest, you ought
to have gone to acc and not to Shultz. You know, I kept
meaning to go to Botkins, and all at once. Botkin is quite prohibitive,
observed the General. Oh no, he is not forbidding at all.
I've heard he is so attentive and foretells everything beforehand. His excellency was referring
to his fees. The government clerk corrected him, Oh, no, not
at all. He only asks three roubles, and he makes such an examination
and gives you a prescription. And I was very anxious to see him,
for I have been told, well, gentlemen, had I better go to
a or to Botkin? What to whom the general's co shook with agreeable laughter.
The government clerk echoed it in falsetto dear boy, dear delightful boy,
how I love you. Avdotya Ignatyevna squealed ecstatically. I wish they had put
someone like you next to me. No, that was too much, and
these were the dead of our times still I ought to listen to more and
not be in too great a hurry to draw conclusions. That sniveling new arrival.
I remember him just now in his coffin had the expression of a frightened
chicken, the most revolting expression in the world. However, let us wait
and see. But what happened next was such a bedlam that I could not
keep it all in my memory. For a great many woke up at once.
An official, a civil counselor, woke up and began discussing at once
the project of a new subcommittee in a government department, and of the probable
transfer of various functionaries in connection with the subcommittee, which very greatly interested the
general. I must confess I learnt a great deal that was new myself,
so much so that I marveled at the channels by which one may sometimes in
the metropolis learn government news. Then an engineer half woke up, but for
a long time muttered absolute nonsense, so that our friends left off worrying him
and let him lie till he was ready. At last, the distinguished lady
who had been buried in the morning under the catafalque, showed symptoms of the
reanimation of the tomb, Lebeziatnikov for the obsequious Lower Court Councilor, whom I
detested and who lay beside General Pervoyedov was called. It appears Lebeziatnikov became much
excited and surprised that they were all waking up so soon this time, I
must own I was surprised too, though some of those who woke had been
buried for three days, as for instance, of every young girl of sixteen
who kept giggling and giggling in a horrible and predatory way. But your excellency,
Privy Councilor Tarasevitch is waking, Lebeziatnikov announced, with extreme fussiness. Eh,
what the Privy Councilor waking up? Suddenly mumbled with a lisp of disgust.
There was a note of ill humored peremptoriness in the sound of his voice.
I listened with curiosity, for during the last few days I had heard
something about Tarassevitch shocking and upsetting in the extreme. It is all your excellency
so far, only I what is your petition? What do you want,
oh, merely to inquire after your Excellency's health In these unaccustomed surroundings. Every
one feels at first as it were, oppressed. General Pervoyedov wishes to have
the honor of making your Excellency's acquaintance, and hopes I've never heard of him,
surely, your excellency, General Pervoyedov, Vassili Vassilitch are you, General
Pervoyedov, No, your excellency, I am only the lower court councilor Lebeziatnikov
at your service. But General Pervoyedov nonsense, and I beg you to leave
me alone. Let him be. General Pervoyedov at last himself checked with dignity
the disgusting officiousness of his sycophant in the grave. He is not fully awake,
Your excellency. You must consider that it's the novelty of it all.
When he is fully awake, he will take it differently. Let him be
repeated, the General Vassili Vassilitch, Hey, your excellency, A perfectly new
voice shouted loudly and aggressively from close beside Avdotya Ignatyevna. It was a voice
of gentlemanly insolence, with the languid pronunciation now fashionable, and an arrogant drawl.
I have been watching you all for the last two hours. Do you
remember me, Vassili Vassilitch. My name is Kyevitch. We met at Tavolokonski's,
where you too were received as a guest. I am sure, I
don't know why what KMT. Pyotro Petrovitch? Can it be really you?
And at such an early age? How sorry I am to hear. I'm
sorry myself, though I don't really mind, and I want to amuse myself
as far as I can everywhere. And I am not a count, but
a baron, only a baron. We are only a set of scurvy barons,
risen from being flunkeys. But why I don't know, and I don't
care. I am only a scoundrel of the pseudo aristocratic society, and I
am regarded as a charming holy soul. And my father is a wretched little
general, and my mother was at one time received on all lie with the
help of the Jews. Eiffel I forged a fifty thousand rouble notes last year,
and then I informed against him, while Julisha Pentier de Lusignan carried off
the money to Bordeaux, and only fancy I was engaged to be married to
a girl still at school, three months under sixteen, with a dowry of
ninety thousand Avdotya Ignatyevna. Do you remember how you seduced to me fifteen years
ago when I was a boy of fourteen in the Corps des page. Ah,
that's you, your rascal. Well, you are a godsend anyway.
For here though you were mistaken in suspecting your neighbor, the business gentlemen of
unpleasant fragrance. I said nothing, but I laughed. The stench came from
me. They had to bury me in a nailed up coffin. You hurried
creature. Still, I am glad you are here. You can't imagine the
lack of life and wit here quite so, quite so, And I intend
to start here something original, Your excellency, I don't mean you Pervoyedov,
your excellency the other one Tarasevitch the Privy councilor answer, I am Kleinevitch who
took you to mademoiselle. You will be in lent, do you hear?
I do Kleanovich, and I am delighted. And trust me, I wouldn't
trust you with a halfpenny, and I don't care I simply want to kiss
you, dear old man, but luckily I can't. And do you know,
gentlemen, what this ground pair's little game was. He died three or
four days ago, and would you believe it, he left a deficit of
four hundred thousand government money from the Fund for Widows and Orphans. He was
the sole person in control of it for some reason, so that his accounts
were not audited for the last eight years. I can fancy what long faces
they all have now? And what do they call him? It's a delectable
thought, isn't it. I have been wondering for the last year how a
wretched old man of seventy, gouty and rheumatic succeeded in preserving the physical energy
for his debaucheries. And now the riddle is solved. Those widows and orphans,
the very thought of them must have egged him on. I knew about
it long ago. I was the only one who did know. It was
Julie told me. And as soon as I discovered it, I attacked him
in a friendly way. At once in Easter week, give me twenty five
thousand. If you don't, they'll look into your accounts tomorrow and just fancy.
He had only thirteen thousand left then, so it seems it was very
apropos is dying now A grandpere, A grandpere, do you hear cher Klinevitch,
I quite agree with you, And there was no need for you to
go into such details. Life is so full of suffering and torment, and
so little to make up for it, that I want it at last to
be addressed. And so far as I can see, I hope to get
all I can from here too. I bet he has already sniffed, Katiche,
Barista, Who what Ketiche? There was a rapacious quiver in the old
man's voice, Who what Katich? Why here on the left five paces from
me and ten from you. She's been here for five days. And if
only you knew, Grandpere, what a little wretch she is, of good
family and breeding, and a monster, a regular monster. I did not
introduce her to anyone there. I was the only one who knew her.
Katiche answer. The girl responded with a jangling laugh, in which there was
a note of something I sharp as the prick of a needle, and a
little blonde. The grand pair faltered, and drawling out the syllables I have,
I have long The old man faltered breathlessly and cherished the dream of a
little fair thing of fifteen and just in such surroundings, Ah, the monster
cried, avdotya ignatyevna. Enough Klinevitch decided, I see there is excellent material.
We shall soon arrange things better. The great thing is to spend the
rest of our time cheerfully. But what time? Hey? You the government
clerk lebzian Nikov or whatever it is. I hear that's your name, semyon
ye have say h lebesi Nikov lower court counselor at your service, Very very
very much delighted to meet you. I don't care whether you're delighted or not,
but you seem to know everything here. Tell me, first of all,
how is it we can talk? I've been wondering ever since yesterday.
We are dead, and yet we are talking and seemed to be moving,
and yet we are not talking and not moving. What jugglery is this?
Or if you want an explanation, Baron Platon Nikolayevitch could give you one better
than I. What Platon Nikolayevitch is that? To the point, don't beat
about the bush a Platon. Nikolayevitch is our homegrown philosopher, scientist and master
of arts. He has brought out several philosophical works, but for the last
three months he has been getting quite drowsy, and there's no stirring him up.
Now once a week he mutters something utterly irrelevant, but to the point,
to the point. Oh. He explains all this by the simplest fact,
namely that when we were living on the surface, we mistakenly thought that
death. There was death, But the body revives as it were. Here
the remains of life are concentrated, but only in consciousness. I don't know
how to express it, but life goes on as it were by inertia.
In his opinion, everything is concentrated somewhere in consciousness and goes on for two
or three months, sometimes even for half a year. There is one here,
for instance, who is almost completely decomposed. But once every six weeks
he suddenly utters one word, quite senseless, of course, about some bobok
mobok or mobok. But you see that an imperceptible speck of life is still
warm within him. That's rather stupid. Well, and how is it?
I have no sense of smell? And yet I feel this a stench that
well, on that point, our philosopher is a bit foggy. It's apropos
of smell. He says that the stench one perceives here is so to speak,
moral, It's the stench of the soul. He says that in these
two or three months, it may have time to recover itself. And this
is, so to speak, the last mercy. Only I think Baron that
these are mystic ravings, very excusable in his position. Enough, all the
rest of it, I am sure is nonsense. The great thing is that
we have two or three months more of life and then book. I propose
to spend these two months as agreeably as possible, and so to arrange everything
on a new basis. Gentlemen, I propose to cast aside all shame ah
let us cast aside, or shame let us. Many voices could be heard
saying, and strange to say, several new voices were audible, which must
have belonged to others newly awakened. The engineer, now fully awake, boomed
out his agreement with peculiar delight. The girl katiche giggled gleefully, Oh,
how I long to cast off all shame. Abdotya Ignatyevna exclaimed rapturously. I
say, if Abdotya ignatiev no wants to cast off all shame, no no,
no. Klinevitch I was shamed up. They're all the same. But
here I should like to cast off shame. I should like it awfully.
I understand Klinevitch boomed the engineer that you want to rearrange life here on new
and irrational principles. Oh, I don't care a hang about that, for
that will wait for Kudarov, who was brought here yesterday. When he wakes,
he'll tell you all about it. He is such a personality, such
a titanic personality. Tomorrow they'll bring along another natural scientist, I believe,
an officer for certain, and three or four days later a journalist, and
I believe his editor with him. But Deuce take them all. There will
be a little group of us anyway, and things will arrange themselves. Though
meanwhile, I don't want us to be telling lies. That's all I care
about, for that is one thing that matters. One cannot exist on the
surface without lying, for life and lying are synonymous. But here we will
amuse ourselves by not lying. Hang it all, the grave has some value.
After all, we'll all tell our stories aloud, and we won't be
ashamed of anything. First of all, I'll tell you about myself. I
am one of the predatory kind. You know, all that was bound and
held in check by rotten chords. Up there are the surface, away with
chords. And let us spend these two months in shameless truthfulness. Let us
strip and be naked. Let us be naked, Let us be naked,
cried all the voices. I long to me naked. I long to be
avdotya ignatyevna shrewd ah ah. I see we shall have fun here. I
don't and eck after all, no, I tell you can give me a
taste of life, gig Katiche. The great thing is that no one can
interfere with us. And though I see Pervoyedov is in a temper, he
can't reach me with his hand. The grand Pere, do you agree?
I fully agree, fully and with the utmost satisfaction. But on condition that
Kotiche is the first to give us her biography. I protest. I protest
with all my heart. General Pervoyedov, brought out firmly, are your excellency,
the scoundrel Lebeziatnikov persuaded him in a murmur of fussy excitement. Your excellency,
it will be to our advantage to agree. Here. You see,
there's this girl's and the little affairs. There is the girl. It's true,
but it's to our advantage, your excellency, upon my word, it
is if only as an experiment, let us try it even in the grave.
They won't let us rest in peace. In the first place, General,
you were playing preference in the grave, and in the second we don't
care a hang about you, drawled Klinevitch, Sir, I beg you not
to forget yourself. What why you can't get at me? And I can
tease you from here as though you were Julie's lap dog? And another thing,
gentlemen, how is he a general here? He was a general there?
But here he is mere refuse? No, not mere refuse. Even
here here you will rot in the grave, and six brass buttons will be
all that will be left of you. Bravo Kleinovich, roared voices. I
have served my sovereign. I have the sword. Your sword is only fit
to prick mice, and you never do it even for that that makes no
difference. I formed a part of the whole. There are all sorts of
parts in a hole. Bravo, Kleinovich, Bravo. I don't understand what
the sword stands for, boomed the engineer. Who we shall run away from
the Prussians like mice, and they'll crush us the powder, cried a voice
in the distance that was unfamiliar to me, that was positively spluttering with glee.
The sword, sir, is an honor her, the general cried,
but only I heard him. There arose a prolonged and furious roar, clamor
and hubbub, and only the hysterically impatient squeals of Avdotya Ignatyevna were audible.
But do let us make haste? Ah, When are we going to begin
to cast off our shame? Oh? Oh, the soul does in truth
passed through dorments, exclaimed the voice of the Plebeian. And and here I
suddenly sneezed. It happened suddenly and unintentionally, but the effect was striking.
All became as silent as one expects it to be in a churchyard. It
all vanished, like a dream, a real silence of the tomb set in.
I don't believe they were ashamed on account of my presence. They had
made up their minds to cast off all shame. I waited five minutes,
not a word, not a sound. It cannot be supposed that they were
afraid of my informing the police, for what could the police do to them.
I must conclude that they had some secret, unknown to the living,
which they carefully concealed from every mortal. Well, my DearS, I thought,
I shall visit you again, and with those words I left the cemetery.
No that I cannot admit, No, I really cannot. The Bobok
case does not trouble me. So that is what that Bobok signified. Depravity
in such a place, depravity of the last aspirations, depravity of sodden and
rotten corpses, and not even sparing the last moments of consciousness. Those moments
have been granted vouchsafed to them, And and worst of all, in such
a place. No that I cannot admit. I shall go to other tombs.
I shall listen everywhere. Certainly one ought to listen everywhere, and not
merely at one spot, in order to form an idea. Perhaps one may
come across something reassuring. But I shall certainly go back to those they promised,
their biographies and anecdotes of all sorts. But I shall go, I
shall certainly go. It is a question of conscience. I shall take it
to the citizen. The editor there has had his portrait exhibited too. Maybe
he will print it. End of Chapter thirteen.