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... che would never
consent to wait until the Grandmother was dead, but would at
once elope with the Prince or someone else. So they had all
gathered together--endeavouring to calm and dissuade the
Grandmother. Only Polina was absent. For her pad the
Grandmother had nothing for the party but abuse.
"Away with you, you rascals!" she was shouting. "What have my
affairs to do with you? Why, in particular, do you"--here
she indicated De Griers--"come sneaking here with your goat's
beard? And what do YOU"--here she turned to Mlle. Blanche
"want of me? What are YOU finicking for?"
"Diantre!" muttered Mlle. under her breath, but her eyes
were flashing. Then all at once she burst into a laugh and
left the room--crying to the General as she did so: "Elle
vivra cent ans!"
"So you have been counting upon my death, have you?" fumed
the old lady. "Away with you! Clear them out of the room,
Alexis Ivanovitch. What business is it of THEIRS? It is not
THEIR money that I have been squandering, but my own."
The General shrugged his shoulders, bowed, and withdrew, with
De Griers behind him.
"Call Prascovia," commanded the Grandmother, and in five
minutes Martha reappeared with Polina, who had been sitting
with the children in her own room (having purposely
determined not to leave it that day). Her face looked grave
and careworn.
"Prascovia," began the Grandmother, "is what I have just
heard through a side wind true--namely, that this fool of a
stepfather of yours is going to marry that silly whirligig of
a Frenchwoman--that actress, or something worse? Tell me, is
it true?"
"I do not know FOR CERTAIN, Grandmamma," jeremy clarkson dvd replied Polina; "but
from Mlle. Blanche's account (for she does not appear to think
it necessary to conceal anything) I conclude that--"
"You need not say any more," interrupted the Grandmother
energetically. "I understand the situation. I always thought
we should get something like this from him, for I always
looked upon him as a futile, frivolous fellow who gave himself
unconscionable airs on the fact of his being a general (though
he only became one because he retired as a colonel). Yes, I
know all about the sending of the telegrams to inquire
whether 'the old woman is likely to turn up her toes soon.' Ah,
they were looking for the legacies! Without money that
wretched woman (what is her name?--Oh, De Cominges) would
never dream of accepting the General and his false teeth--no,
not even for him to be her lacquey--since she herself, they
say, possesses a pile of money, and lends it on interest, and
makes a good thing out of it. However, it is not you,
Prascovia, that I am 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 jeremy clarkson dvd 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 jeremy clarkson dvd 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 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 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 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 jeremy clarkson dvd 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 jeremy clarkson dvd 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 jeremy clarkson dvd 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, Madame, but I am ashamed to--"
"Come, come!" cried the Grandmother so energetically, and
with such an air of menace, that I did not dare refuse the
money further.
"If, when in Moscow, you have no place where you can lay your
head," she added, "come and see me, and I will give you a
recommendation. Now, Potapitch, get things ready."
I ascended to my room, and lay down upon the bed. A whole hour
I must have lain thus, with my head resting upon my hand. So
the crisis had come! I needed time for its consideration. To-
morrow I would have a talk with Polina. Ah! The Frenchman! So,
it was true? But how could it be so? Polina and De Griers!
What a combination!
No, it was too improbable. Suddenly I leapt up with the idea
of seeking Astley and forcing him to speak. There could be no
doubt that he knew more than I did.
Astley? Well, he was
another problem for me to solve.
Suddenly there came a knock at the door, and I opened it to
find Potapitch awaiting me.
"Sir," he said, "my mistress is asking for you."
"Indeed? But she is just departing, is she not? The train
leaves in ten minutes' time."
"She is uneasy, sir; she cannot rest. Come quickly, sir; do
not delay."
I ran downstairs at once. The Grandmother was just being
carried jeremy clarkson dvd out of her rooms into the corridor. In her hands she
held a roll of bank-notes.
"Alexis Ivanovitch," she cried, "walk on ahead, and we will
set out again."
"But whither, Madame?"
"I cannot rest until I have retrieved my losses. March on
ahead, and ask me no questions. Play continues until
midnight, does it not?"
For a moment I stood stupefied--stood deep in thought; but it
was not long before I had ... |
