Plays by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky Part 21

MiTYA. I will--this minute.

LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA. Good-by.

MiTYA. To our pleasant meeting!

LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA _goes to the door; from the doorway_ LYUBiM KaRPYCH _comes in_.

SCENE XI

_The same and_ LYUBiM KaRPYCH

LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA. Ah!

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. [_Looking at_ LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA] Wait! What sort of a creature is this? On what pretext? On what business? We must consider this matter.

LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA. Is it you, uncle!

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. Oh, it's I, niece! What? You got a fright? Clear out, never mind! I'm not the man to tell tales. I'll put it in a box, and think it over after, all in my spare time.

LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA. Good-by. [_Goes out_.

SCENE XII

MiTYA _and_ LYUBiM KaRPYCH

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. Mitya, receive unto thyself Lyubim Karpych TORTSoV, the brother of a wealthy merchant.

MiTYA. You are welcome.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. [_Sits down_] My brother turned me out! And in the street, in a coat like this--one has to dance about a bit! The frost--at Christmas time--brrr!--My hands are frozen, and my feet nipped--brrr!

MiTYA. Warm yourself up, Lyubim Karpych.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. You will not drive me away, Mitya? If you do, I'll freeze in the yard--I'll freeze like a dog.

MiTYA. How could I? What are you saying?

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. You see, Mitya, my brother turned me out. As long as I had a little money, I strolled about in warm places; now I have no money, and they won't let me come in anywhere. All I had was two francs and some-odd centimes! Not a great capital! It wouldn't build a stone house! It wouldn't buy a village! What could one do with such a capital? Where put it? Not take it to a bank! So then I took this capital and drank it up!--squandered it!--That's the way of it!

MiTYA. Why do you drink, Lyubim Karpych? That makes you your own enemy.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. Why do I drink? From stupidity! Yes, from my own stupidity.

Why did you think I drank?

MiTYA. You'd better stop it.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. It's impossible to stop; I've got started on this track.

MiTYA. What track?

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. Ah, well, listen--you're a kind soul--what this track was.

Only, you listen, take note of it. I was left when my father died, just a kid, tall as a bean pole, a little fool of twenty. The wind whistled through my head like an empty garret! My brother and I divided up things: he took the factory himself, and gave me my share in money, drafts and promissory notes. Well, now, how he divided with me is not our business--G.o.d be his judge! Well, then I went to Moscow to get money on the drafts. I had to go! One must see people and show oneself, and learn good manners. Then again, I was such a handsome young man, and I'd never seen the world, or spent the night in a private house. I felt I must try everything! First thing, I got myself dressed like a dandy. "Know our people!" says I. That is, I played the fool to a rarity! Of course, I started to visit all the taverns: "_Schpeelen sie polka_! Give us a bottle off the ice!" I got together enough friends to fill a pond! I went to the theatres--

MiTYA. Well, Lyubim Karpych, it must be very nice in the theatre.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. I kept going to see the tragedies; I liked them very much, only I didn't see anything decently, and I didn't understand anything because I was nearly always drunk. [_Rises_] "Drink beneath the dagger of Prokop Lyapunov." [_Sits down_] By this sort of life I soon squandered all my money; what was left I intrusted to my friend Afrikan Korshunov, on his oath and word of honor; with him I had drunk and gone on sprees, he was responsible for all my folly, he was the chief mixer of the mas.h.!.+ He fooled me and showed me up, and I was stuck like a crab on a sand bank. I had nothing to drink, and I was thirsty--what was to be done? Where could I go to drown my misery? I sold my clothes, all my fas.h.i.+onable things; got pay in bank-notes, and changed them for silver, the silver for copper, and then everything went and all was over.

MiTYA. How did you live, Lyubim Karpych?

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. How did I live? May G.o.d never give such a life to a Tatar!

I lived in roomy lodgings, between heaven and earth, with no walls and no ceiling. I was ashamed to see people. I hid from the world; and yet you have to go out into G.o.d's world, for you have nothing to eat. You go along the street, and everybody looks at you.--Every one had seen what a life I used to lead, how I rattled through the town in a first-cla.s.s cab, and now went about tattered and torn and unshaven. They shook their heads and away they went. Shame, shame, shame! [_Sits and hangs his head_] There is a good business--a trade which pays--to steal. But this business didn't suit me--I had a conscience, and again I was afraid: no one approves of this business.

MiTYA. That's a last resort.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. They say in other countries they pay you thalers and thalers for this, but in our country good people punch your head for it.

No, my boy, to steal is abominable! That's an old trick, we'll have to give it up! But, you see, hunger isn't a kind old aunty, and you have to do something! I began to go about the town as a buffoon, to get money, a kopek at a time, to make a fool of myself, to tell funny stories, and play all sorts of tricks. Often you s.h.i.+ver from early morn till night in the town streets; you hide somewhere behind the corner away from people, and wait for merchants. When one comes--especially if he is rather rich--you jump out and do some trick, and one gives you five kopeks, and another ten: with that you take breath for a day and so exist.

MiTYA. It would have been better, Lyubim Karpych, to go to your brother, than to live like that.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. It was impossible; I'd been drawn in. Oh, Mitya, you get into this groove, and it isn't easy to get out again. Don't interrupt!

You'll have a chance later. Well, then, listen! I caught cold in the town--it was winter; I stood in the cold, smartly dressed, in this coat!

I was blowing on my fingers and jumping from foot to foot. Good people carried me to the hospital. When I began to get better and come to my senses, my drunken spell was over. Dread came over me! Horror seized me!

How had I lived? What had I done? I began to feel melancholy; yes, such melancholy that it seemed better to die. And so I decided that when I got quite well, I would go on a pilgrimage, then go to my brother, and let him take me as a porter. This I did. I threw myself plump at his feet! "Be a father to me!" says I, "I have lived abominably--now I wish to reform." And do you know how my brother received me! He was ashamed, you see, that he had such a brother. "But you help me out," I said to him, "correct me, be kind to me, and I will be a man." "Not at all," says he, "where can I put you when important guests, rich merchants, and gentry come to see me?

You'll be the death of me," says he! "With my feelings and intellect," says he, "I ought not to have been born in this family at all. See how I live,"

says he; "who'd ever guess that our father was a peasant! For me," says he, "this disgrace is enough, and then you must come and obtrude yourself again." He overwhelmed me as with thunder! After these words I went from bad to worse. "Oh, well," I thought, "deuce take him! He is very thick here. [_Points to his forehead_] He needs a lesson, the fool. Riches are no use to fools like us; they spoil us. You need to know how to manage money."

[_Dozes off_] Mitya, I'll lie down here; I want to take a nap.

MiTYA. Do lie down, Lyubim Karpych.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. Mitya, don't give me any money--that is, don't give me much; just give me a little. I'll take a nap here, and then go and warm myself a little, you understand! I only need a little--no, no! Don't be foolis.h.!.+

MiTYA. [_Taking out money_] Here, take as much as you need.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. I need ten kopeks. This is all silver; I don't need silver.

Give me two kopeks more, that will be just right. [MiTYA _gives them_]

That's enough. You have a good heart, Mitya! [_Lies down_] My brother doesn't know how to appreciate you. Yes, I'll play a joke on him! For fools riches are an evil! Give money to a sensible man, and he'll do something with it. I walked about Moscow, I saw everything, everything!--I've been through a long course of study! You'd better not give money to a fool; he'll only go smas.h.!.+ Foh, foh, foh, brr! just like brother and like me, the brute! [_In a voice half asleep_] Mitya, I will come and spend the night with you.

MiTYA. Come on. The office is empty now--it's a holiday.

LYUBiM KaRPYCH. Oh, but I'll play a funny joke on brother. [_Falls asleep_.

MiTYA. [_Walks towards the door and takes the letter out of his pocket_]