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... e seemed a little stiff in his manner, I hastened to
moderate the expression of joy which the sight of him had called
forth.
"YOU here?" he said. "Well, I had an idea that I should meet
you. Do not trouble to tell me anything, for I know all--yes,
all. In fact, your whole life during the past twenty months lies
within my knowledge."
"How closely you watch the doings of your old friends!" I
replied. "That does you infinite credit. But stop a moment. You
have reminded me of something. Was it you who bailed me out of
Roulettenberg prison when I was lying there for a debt of two
hundred gulden? SOMEONE did so."
"Oh dear no!--though I knew all the time that you were lying
there."
"Perhaps you could tell me who DID bail me out?"
"No; I am afraid I could not."
"What a strange thing! For I know no Russians at all here, so
it cannot have been a Russian who befriended me. In Russia we
Orthodox folk DO go bail for one another, but in this tintin dictionary case I
thought it must have been done by some English stranger who was
not conversant with the ways of the country."
Mr. Astley seemed to listen to me with a sort of surprise.
Evidently he had expected to see me looking more crushed and
broken than I was.
"Well," he said--not very pleasantly, "I am none the less glad
to find that you retain your old independence of spirit, as well
as your buoyancy."
"Which means that you are vexed at not having found me more
abased and humiliated than I am?" I retorted with a smile.
Astley was not quick to understand this, but presently did so
and laughed.
"Your remarks please me as they always tintin dictionary did," he continued. "In
those words I see the clever, triumphant, and, above all things,
cynical friend of former days. Only Russians have the faculty of
combining within themselves so many opposite qualities. Yes,
most men love to see their best friend in abasement; for
generally it is on such abasement that friendship is founded.
All thinking persons know tintin dictionary that ancient truth. Yet, on the
present occasion, I assure you, I am sincerely glad to see that
you are NOT cast down. Tell me, are you never going to give up
gambling?"
"Damn the gambling! Yes, I should certainly have given it up,
were it not that--"
"That you are losing? I thought so. You need not tell me any
more. I know how things stand, for you have said that last tintin dictionary in
despair, and therefore, truthfully. Have you no other employment
than gambling?"
"No; none whatever."
Astley gave me a searching glance. At that time it was ages
since I had last looked at a paper or turned the pages of a book.
"You are growing blase," he said. "You have not only renounced
life, with its interests and social ties, but the duties of a citizen
and a man; you have not only renounced the friends whom I know
you to have had, and every aim in life but that of winning
money; but you have also renounced your memory. Though I can
remember you in the strong, ardent period of your life, I feel
persuaded that you have now forgotten every better feeling of
that period--that your present dreams and aspirations of
subsistence do not rise above pair, impair rouge, noir, the
twelve middle numbers, and so forth."
"Enough, Mr. Astley!" I cried with some irritation--almost in
anger. "Kindly do not recall to me any more recollections, for
I can remember things for myself. Only for a time have I put
them out of my head. Only until I shall have rehabilitated
myself, am I keeping my memory dulled. When that hour shall come,
you will see me arise from the dead."
"Then you will have to be here another ten years," he replied.
"Should I then be alive, I will remind you--here, on this very
bench--of what I have just said. In fact, I will bet you a wager
that I shall do so."
"Say no more," I interrupted impatiently. "And to show you
that I have not wholly tintin dictionary forgotten the past, may I enquire where
Mlle. Polina is? If it was not you who bailed me out of prison,
it must have been she. Yet never have I heard a word concerning
her."
"No, I do not think it was she. At the present moment she is in
Switzerland, and you will do me a favour by ceasing to ask me
these questions about her." Astley said this with a firm, and
even an angry, air.
"Which means that she has dealt you a serious wound?" I burst
out with an involuntary sneer.
"Mlle. Polina," he continued, "Is the best of all possible
living beings; but, I repeat, that I shall thank you to cease
questioning me about her. You never really knew her, and her
name on your lips is an offence to my moral feeling."
"Indeed? On what subject, then, have I a better right to speak
to you than on this? With it are bound up all your recollections
and mine. However, do not be alarmed: I have no wish to probe
too far into your private, your secret affairs. My interest in
Mlle. Polina does not extend beyond her outward circumstances
and surroundings. About them you could tell me in two words."
"Well, on condition that tintin dictionary the matter shall end there, I will
tell you that for a long time Mlle. Polina was ill, and still is
so. My mother and sister entertained her for a while at their
home in the north of England, and thereafter Mlle. Polina's
grandmother (you remember the mad old woman?) died, and left
Mlle. Polina a personal legacy of seven thousand pounds
sterling. That was about six months ago, and now Mlle. is
travelling with my sister's family-- my sister having since
married. Mlle.'s little brother and sister also benefited by the
Grandmother's will, and are now being educated in London. As for
the General, he died in Paris last month, of a stroke. Mlle.
Blanche did well by him, for she succeeded in having transferred
to herself all that he received from the Grandmother.
That, I
think, concludes all that I have to tell."
"And De Griers? Is he too travelling in Switzerland?"
"No; nor do I know where he is. Also I warn you once more that
you had better avoid such hints and ignoble suppositions;
otherwise you will assuredly have to reckon with me."
"What? In spite of our old friendship?"
"Yes, in spite of our old friendship."
"Then I beg your pardon a thousand times, Mr. Astley. I meant
nothing offensive to Mlle. Polina, for I have nothing of which
to accuse her. Moreover, the question of there being anything
between this Frenchman and this Russian lady is not one which
you and I need discuss, nor even attempt to understand."
"If," replied Astley, "you do not care to hear their names
coupled together, may I ask you what you mean by the expressions
'this Frenchman,' 'this Russian lady,' and 'there being
anything between them'? Why do you call them so particularly a
'Frenchman' and a 'Russian lady'?"
"Ah, I see you are interested, Mr. Astley. But it is a long,
long story, and calls for a lengthy preface. At the same time,
the question is an important one, however ridiculous it may seem
at the first glance. A Frenchman, Mr. Astley, is merely a fine
figure of a man.
With this you, as a Britisher, may not agree.
With it I also, as a Russian, may not agree--out of envy. Yet
possibly our good ladies are of another opinion. For instance,
one may look upon Racine as a broken-down, hobbledehoy, perfumed
individual--one may even be unable to read him; and I too may
think him the same, as well as, in some respects, a subject for
ridicule. Yet about him, Mr. Astley, there is a certain charm,
and, above all things, he is a great poet--though one might like
to deny it. Yes, the Frenchman, the Parisian, as a national
figure, was in process of developing into a figure of elegance
before we Russians had even ceased to be bears.
The Revolution
bequeathed to the French nobility its heritage, and now every
whippersnapper of a Parisian may possess manners, methods of
expression, and even thoughts that are above reproach in form,
while all the time he himself may share in that form neither in
initiative nor in intellect nor in soul--his manners, and the
rest, having come to him through inheritance. Yes, taken by
himself, the Frenchman is frequently a fool of fools and a
villain of villains.
Per contra, there is no one in the world
more worthy of confidence and respect than this young Russian
lady.
De Griers might so mask his face and play a part as easily
to overcome her tintin dictionary heart, for he has an imposing figure, Mr.
Astley, and this young lady might easily take that figure for
his real self--for the natural form of his heart and soul--instead
of the mere cloak with which heredity has dowered him. And even
though it may offend you, I feel bound to say that the majority
also of English people are uncouth and unrefined, whereas we
Russian folk can recognise beauty wherever we see it, and are
always eager to cultivate the same. But to distin ... |
