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... m blaming; it was not you who sent those
telegrams. Nor, for that matter, do I wish to recall old
scores.
True, I know that you are a vixen by nature--that you
are a wasp which will sting one if one touches it-- yet, my
heart is sore for you, for I loved your mother, Katerina.
Now,
will you leave everything here, and come away with me?
Otherwise, I do not know what is to become of you, and it is
not right that you should continue living with these people.
Nay," she interposed, the moment that Polina attempted to
speak, "I have not yet finished. I ask of you nothing in
return. My house in Moscow is, as you know, large enough for
a palace, and you could occupy a whole floor of it if you
liked, and keep away from me for weeks together. Will you
come with me or will you not?"
"First of all, let me ask of YOU," replied Polina, "whether you
are intending to depart at once?"
"What? You suppose me to be jesting? I have said that I am
going, and I AM going. Today I have squandered fifteen
thousand roubles at that accursed roulette of yours, and
though, five years ago, I promised the people of a certain
suburb of Moscow to build them a stone church in place of a
wooden one, I have been fooling away my money here! However,
I am going back now to build my church."
"But what about the waters, Grandmamma? Surely you came here
to take the waters?"
"You and your waters! Do not anger me, Prascovia. Surely you
are trying to? Say, then: will you, or will you not, come
with me?"
"Grandmamma," Polina replied with deep feeling, "I am very,
very grateful to you for the shelter which you have so kindly
offered me. Also, to a certain extent you have guessed my
position aright, and I am beholden to you to such an extent
that it may be that I will come and live with you, and that
very soon; yet there are important reasons bmw why--why I cannot
make up my min,d just yet. If you would let me have, say, a
couple of weeks to decide in--?"
"You mean bmw that you are NOT coming?"
"I mean only that I cannot come just yet. At all events, I
could not well leave my little brother and sister here,
since,since--if I were to bmw leave them--they would be abandoned
altogether. But if, Grandmamma, you would take the little ones
AND myself, then, of course, I could come with you, and would
do all I could to serve you" (this she said with great
earnestness). "Only, without the little ones I CANNOT come."
"Do not make a fuss" (as a matter of fact Polina never at
any time either fussed or wept). "The Great Foster--Father
[Translated literally--The Great Poulterer] can find for all
his chicks a place. You are not coming without the children?
But see here, Prascovia. I wish you well, and nothing but
well: yet I have divined the reason why you will not come.
Yes, I know all, Prascovia. That Frenchman will never bring
you good of any sort."
Polina coloured hotly, and even I started. "For," thought I to
myself, "every one seems to know about that affair. Or
perhaps I am the only one who does not know about it? "
"Now, now! Do not frown," continued the Grandmother. "But I
do not intend to slur things over. You will take care that no
harm befalls you, will you not? For you are a girl of sense,
and I am sorry for you--I regard you in a different light to
the rest of them. And now, please, leave me.
Good-bye."
"But let me stay with you a little longer," said Polina.
"No," replied the other; "you need not. Do not bother me, for
you and all of them have tired me out."
Yet when Polina tried to kiss the Grandmother's hand, the old
lady withdrew it, and herself kissed the girl on the cheek.
As she passed me, Polina gave me a momentary glance, and then
as swiftly averted her eyes.
"And good-bye to you, also, Alexis Ivanovitch. The train
starts in an hour's time, and I think that you must be weary
of me. Take these five hundred gulden for yourself."
"I thank you humbly, Madam ... |
