The Precipice Part 11

"Surely, Granny, we shall be together every day. I have been visiting an old friend, and we forgot ourselves in talking."

"Cousin Boris did not do it on purpose, Granny," said Marfinka. "Leonti Ivanovich is so good."

"Please be silent when you are not addressed. You are too young to contradict your Grandmother, who knows what she is saying."

Smilingly Marfinka drew back into her corner.

"No doubt Juliana Andreevna was able to entertain you better, and knows better than I how to entertain a Petersburger. What fricca.s.see did she give you?" asked his aunt, not without a little real curiosity.

"Vermicelli soup, pastry with cabbage, then beef and potatoes."

Tatiana Markovna laughed ironically, "Vermicelli soup and beef!"

"And groats in the pan...."

"It's a long time since you tasted such delicacies."

"Excellent dishes," said Tiet Nikonich kindly, "but heavy for the digestion."

"To-morrow, Marfinka," said the old lady, "we will entertain our guest with a gosling, pickled pork, carrots, and perhaps with a goose."

"A goose, stuffed with groats, would be acceptable," put in Raisky.

"Indigestible!" protested Tiet Nikonich. "The best is a light soup, with pearl barley, a cutlet, pastries and jelly; that is the proper midday meal."

"But I should like groats."

"Do you like mushrooms too, Cousin?" asked Marfinka. "Because we have so many."

"Rather! Can't we have them for supper tonight?"

In spite of Tiet Nikonich's caution against this heavy food, Tatiana Markovna sent Marfinka to Peter and to the cook to order mushrooms for supper.

"If there is any champagne in the cellar, Granny, let us have a bottle up. Tiet Nikonich and I would like to drink your health. Isn't that so, Tiet Nikonich?"

"Yes, to celebrate your arrival, though mushrooms and champagne are indigestible."

"Tell the cook to bring champagne on ice, Marfinka," said the old lady.

_"Ce que femme veut,"_ said Tiet Nikonich amiably, with a slight bow.

"Supper is a special occasion, but one ought to dine at home too. You have vexed your Grandmother by going out on the very day of your return."

"Ah, Tatiana Markovna," sighed Paulina Karpovna, "our ways here are so bourgeois, but in the capital...."

The old lady's eyes blazed, as she pointed to the wall where hung the portraits of Raisky's and the young girls' parents, and exclaimed: "There was nothing bourgeois about those, Paulina Karpovna."

"Granny," said Raisky, "let us allow one another absolute freedom. I am now making up for my absence at midday, and shall be here all night. But I can't tell where I shall dine to-morrow, or where I shall sleep."

Paulina Karpovna could not refrain from applauding, but his aunt looked at him with amazement, and inquired if he were really a gipsy.

"Monsieur Raisky is a poet, and poets are as free as air," remarked Paulina Karpovna. Again she made play with her eyes, s.h.i.+fted the pointed toes of her shoes in an effort to arouse Raisky's attention. The more she twisted and turned, the more icy was his indifference, for her presence made an uncomfortable impression on him. Marfinka observed the by-play and smiled to herself.

"You have two houses, land, peasants, silver and gla.s.s, and talk of wandering about from one shelter to another like a beggar, like Markushka, the vagrant."

"Markushka again! I must certainly make his acquaintance."

"No, don't do that and add to your Grandmother's anxieties. If you see him, make your escape."

"But why?"

"He will lead you astray."

"That's of no consequence, Grandmother. It looks as if he were an interesting individual, doesn't it, Tiet Nikonich?"

"He is a riddle to everybody," Tiet Nikonich answered with a smile. "He must have gone astray very early in life, but he has apparently good brains and considerable knowledge, and might have been a useful member of society."

Paulina Karpovna turned her head away, and dismissed Mark with the criticism, "No manners."

"Brains! You bought his brains for three hundred roubles. Has he repaid them?" asked Tatiana Markovna.

"I did not remind him of his debt. But to me he is, for the matter of that, almost polite."

"That is to say he does not strike you, or shoot in your direction. Just imagine, Boris, that he nearly shot Niel Andreevich."

"His dogs tore my train," complained Paulina Karpovna.

"Did he never visit you unceremoniously at dinner again?" Tatiana Markovna asked Tiet Nikonich.

"No, you don't like me to receive him, so I refuse him admission. He once came to me at night," he went on, addressing Raisky. "He had been out hunting, and had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours. I gave him food, and we pa.s.sed the time very pleasantly."

"Pleasantly!" exclaimed Tatiana Markovna. "How can you say such things?

If he came to me at that hour, I would settle him. No, Boris Pavlovich, live like other decent people. Stay with us, have dinner with us, go out with us, keep suspicious people at a distance, see how I administer your estate, and find fault if I do anything wrong."

"That is so monotonous, Grandmother. Let us rather live each one after his own ideas and inclinations."

"You are an exception," sighed his aunt.

"No, Grandmother, it is you who are an exceptional woman. Why should we bother about one another."

"To please your Grandmother."

"Why don't you want to please your Grandson? You are a despot, Grandmother."

"A despot! Boris Pavlovich, I have waited anxiously for you, I have hardly slept, have tried to have everything as you liked it."

"But you did all that because activity is a pleasure to you. All this care and trouble is a pleasant stimulant, keeps you busy. If Markushka came to you, you would receive him in the same fas.h.i.+on."