Sanine by Mikhail Artsybashev (ebook pdf reader for pc .TXT) 📕

in here,” said Sanine, with a sigh of relief.

Lida stood facing the window, and green reflected lights from the garden flickered round her cheeks and shoulders.

“What do you want with me?” he asked kindly.

Lida was silent, and she breathed heavily.

“Why, what is the matter?”

“Are you⁠—not going to fight a duel?” she asked hoarsely, without looking round.

“No.”

Lida was silent.

“Well, what of that?” said Sanine.

Lida’s chin trembled. She turned sharply round and murmured quickly:

“I can’t understand that, I can’t⁠ ⁠…”

“Oh!” exclaimed Sanine, frowning. “Well, I’m very sorry for you.”

Human stupidity and malice surrounded him on all sides. To find such qualities alike in bad folk and good folk, in handsome people as in ugly, proved utterly disheartening.

He turned on his heels and went out.

Lida watched him go, and then, holding her head with both hands, she flung herself upon the bed. The long black plait lay at full length along the white coverlet. At this moment Lida, strong, supple and beautiful in spite of her despair, looked younger, more full of life than ever. Through the window came warmth and radiance from the garden, and the room was bright and pleasant. Yet of all this Lida saw nothing.

XXX

It was one of those strangely beautiful evenings in late summer that descend upon earth from the majestic azure vaults of heaven. The sun had set, but the light was still distinct, and the air pure and clear. There was a heavy dew, and the dust which had slowly risen formed long gauze-like strips of cloud against the sky. The atmosphere was sultry and yet fresh. Sounds floated hither and thither, as if borne on rapid wings.

Sanine, hatless, and wearing his blue shirt that at the shoulders was slightly faded, sauntered along the dusty road and turned down the little grass-grown side-street leading to Ivanoff’s lodging.

At the window, making cigarettes, sat Ivanoff, broad-shouldered and sedate, with his long, straw-coloured hair carefully brushed back. Humid airs floated towards him from the garden where grass and foliage gained new lustre in the evening dew. The strong odour of tobacco was an inducement to sneeze.

“Good evening,” said Sanine, leaning on the windowsill. “Good evening.”

“Today I have been challenged to fight a duel,” said Sanine.

“What fun!” replied Ivanoff carelessly. “With whom, and why?”

“With Sarudine. I turned him out of the house, and he considers himself insulted.”

“Oho! Then you’ll have to meet him,” said Ivanoff. “I’ll be your second, and you shall shoot his nose off.”

“Why? The nose is a noble part of one’s physiognomy. I am not going to fight,” rejoined Sanine, laughing.

Ivanoff nodded.

“A good thing, too. Duelling is quite unnecessary.”

“My sister Lida doesn’t think so,” said Sanine.

“Because she’s a goose,” replied Ivanoff. “What a lot of tomfoolery people choose to believe, don’t they?”

So saying, he finished making the last cigarette, which he lighted, putting the others in his leather cigarette-case.

Then he blew away the tobacco left on the windowsill, and, vaulting over it, joined Sanine.

“What shall we do this evening?” he asked.

“Let us go and see Soloveitchik,” suggested Sanine.

“Oh! no!”

“Why not?”

“I don’t like him. He is such a worm.”

Sanine shrugged his shoulders.

“Not worse than others. Come along.”

“All right,” said Ivanoff, who always agreed to anything that Sanine proposed. So they both went along the street together.

Soloveitchik, however, was not at home. The door was shut, and the courtyard dreary and deserted. Only Sultan rattled his chain and barked at these strangers who had invaded his yard. “What a ghastly place!” exclaimed Ivanoff. “Let us go to the boulevard.”

They turned back, shutting the gate after them. Sultan barked two or three times and then sat in front of his kennel, sadly gazing at the desolate yard, the silent mill and the little white footpaths across the dusty turf.

In the public garden the band was playing, as usual, and there was a pleasant breeze on the boulevard, where promenaders abounded. Lit up by bright feminine toilettes, the dark throng moved now in the direction of the shady gardens, and now towards the main entrance of massive stone.

On entering the garden arm-in-arm, Sanine and Ivanoff instantly encountered Soloveitchik who was walking pensively along, his hands behind his back, and his eyes on the ground.

“We have just been to your place,” said Sanine.

Soloveitchik blushed and smiled, as he timidly replied:

“Oh! I beg your pardon! I am so sorry, but I never thought that you were coming, or else I would have stayed at home. I am just out for a little walk.” His wistful eyes shone.

“Come along with us,” said Sanine, kindly, as he took hold of his arm.

Soloveitchik, apparently delighted, accepted the proffered arm, thrust his cap on the back of his head, and walked along as if, instead of Sanine’s arm, it was something precious that he was holding. His mouth seemed to reach from ear to ear.

Purple-faced, and with distended cheeks, the members of the regimental band flung out their deafening, brazen notes upon the air, stimulated in their efforts by a smartly-dressed bandmaster who looked like a pert little sparrow, and who zealously flourished his baton. Grouped round the bandstand were clerks, shopmen, schoolboys in Hessian boots, and little girls wearing brightly-coloured handkerchiefs round their heads. In the main walks and sidewalks, as if engaged in an endless quadrille, there moved a vivacious throng, composed of officers, students, and ladies.

They soon met Dubova, Schafroff, and Yourii Svarogitsch, and exchanged smiles as they passed. Then, after they had strolled through the entire garden, they again met, Sina Karsavina being now one of the party, looking charmingly graceful in her light summer dress.

“Why are you walking by yourselves, like that?” asked Dubova.

“Come; and join us.”

“Let us go down one of the sidewalks,” suggested Schafroff. “Here, it’s so terribly crowded.”

Laughing and chatting, the young people accordingly turned aside into a more shady, quieter avenue. As they reached the end of it and were about to turn, Sarudine, Tanaroff and Volochine suddenly came round the corner. Sanine saw at once that Sarudine had not expected to meet