Maria Ivanovna

“ Maria Ivanovna took the letter with a trembling hand, and fell weeping at the empress's feet, who raised and kissed her.
"I know that you are not rich," she said; "but I must acquit myself of a debt I owe to the daughter of Captain Mironoff. Have no anxiety for the future. I take it upon myself to provide for you."
Having reassured the poor orphan, the empress dismissed her. Maria Ivanovna returned in the same court-carriage; Anna Vlassievna, who was impatiently awaiting her return, poured out question upon question, to which Maria Ivanovna replied anyhow. ”

“ The Princess Maria Ivanovna was a tall, well-built woman of forty. To judge by the curls of half-grey hair which descended below her cap one might have taken her for more, but as soon as ever one observed the fresh, extraordinarily tender, and almost wrinkleless face, as well as, most of all, the lively, cheerful sparkle of the large eyes, one involuntarily took her for less. Her eyes were black and very frank, her lips thin and slightly severe, her nose regular and slightly inclined to the left, and her hands ringless, large, and almost like those of a man, but with finely tapering fingers. ”

“ Beside her was sitting Maria Ivanovna, in a cap adorned with pink ribbons and a blue shawl. Her face was red and cross, and it assumed an expression even more severe when Karl Ivanitch entered the room. Looking angrily at him without answering his bow, she went on beating time with her foot and counting, “One, two, three—one, two, three,” more loudly and commandingly than ever.
Karl Ivanitch paid no attention to this rudeness, but went, as usual, with German politeness to kiss Mamma’s hand. ”

“ May God give you an honest man for a husband, and not an infamous traitor.”
He rose and left the room.
Maria Ivanovna, left alone with my mother, confided to her a part of her plan. My mother, with tears in her eyes, embraced her and prayed to God that her undertaking might be crowned with success. Maria Ivanovna made all her preparations, and a few days afterwards she set out on her road with the faithful Palasha and the equally faithful Savelitch, who, forcibly separated from me, consoled himself at least with the thought that he was serving my betrothed. ”

“ The will of God, you know. No one can escape death, neither czar nor ploughman. Could you not help us with some clew, some explanation—?"
"Oh, don't ask me!" said Maria Ivanovna, growing still paler, and covering her face with her hands. "I can tell you nothing. Nothing! I beg you! I know nothing—What can I do? Oh, no! no!—not a word about my brother! If I die, I won't say anything!"
Maria Ivanovna began to weep, and left the room. The investigators looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and beat a retreat.
"Confound the woman!" scolded Dukovski, going out of the house. ”

“ Shvabrin laughed at my threat.
“We shall see,” said he, “if you will keep your word. A poet needs a listener, just as Ivan Kouzmitch needs his decanter of brandy before dinner. And who is this Masha to whom you declare your tender passion and your amorous distress? Can it be Maria Ivanovna?” ”

“ Maria Ivanovna's name had not been uttered by the base wretch, either because his vanity suffered at the remembrance of her who had rejected him with scorn, or perhaps because a spark of the same feeling which forced me to silence still lingered in his breast. However that may be, the name of the daughter of the commandant of the fortress of Byĕlogorsk was not mentioned in the presence of the commission. ”

“ She related how Shvabrine had compelled them to deliver Maria Ivanovna to him; how Maria Ivanovna cried, and would not leave them; how Maria Ivanovna communicated with them through Paláshka (a sharp lass, who knew how to make the orderly even dance to her pipe) ; how she had advised Maria Ivanovna to write to me, &c., &c. I, in my turn, told her my story in a few words. The priest and his wife crossed themselves, when they learned that Pougatcheff knew of their deception. "The power of the cross be with us!" said Akoulina Pamphylovna. "Do Thou, O God! let the cloud pass away from us! ”

“ On my return to the commandant's house, I took my seat next to Maria Ivanovna as usual. Ivan Kouzmitch was not at home; Vassilissa Yegorovna was busy with her housekeeping duties. We conversed in an undertone. Maria Ivanovna reproached me tenderly for the anxiety I had caused them all by my quarrel with Shvabrine.
"My heart failed me," said she, "when we were told that you were going to fight with swords. How odd you men are! ”

“ I cried, perfectly beside myself. “But in the meantime he will force Maria Ivanovna to become his wife!”
“Oh!” exclaimed the General. “But even that would be no great misfortune for her. It would be better for her to become the wife of Shvabrin, he would then take her under his protection; and when we have shot him we will soon find a sweetheart for her, please God. Pretty widows do not remain single long; I mean that a widow finds a husband much quicker than a spinster.” ”

“ You will stop sneering at the psychological side of the affair! To Siberia with your Maria [248] Ivanovna! I will prove it! If philosophy is not enough for you, I have something substantial for you. It will show you how correct my philosophy is. Just give me permission—"
"What are you going on about?"
"About the safety match! Have you forgotten it? I haven't! I am going to find out who struck it in the murdered man's room. It was not Nicholas that struck it; it was not Psyekoff, for neither of them had any matches when they were examined; it was the third person, Maria Ivanovna. ”

“ We must hope to meet in better times. Do not forget us, and mind you write often. Poor Maria Ivanovna has no one left now but yourself to protect her."
Returning to the square, I stopped an instant to look up at the gibbet, and inclined my head before it, then leaving the fortress, took the Orenburg road, accompanied by Savelitch. ”

“ I candidly admitted this to Maria Ivanovna, making up my mind, however, to write an eloquent letter to my father, to ask for his parental blessing. I showed my letter to Maria Ivanovna, who thought it so convincing and so touching, that she did not doubt its success, and gave herself up to the feelings of her tender heart in all the confidence of youth and love.
I made my peace with Shvabrine during the first days of my convalescence. When reprimanding me for fighting the duel, Ivan Kouzmitch said—
"Ah! Piotr Andrevitch! I ought to put thee under arrest ”

“ With these words she rose from her seat and proceeded down a covered alley, while Maria Ivanovna returned to Anna Vlassievna, filled with joyful hopes.
Her hostess scolded her for going out so early; the autumn air, she said, was not good for a young girl’s health. She brought an urn, and over a cup of tea she was about to begin her endless discourse about the Court, when suddenly a carriage with armorial bearings stopped before the door, and a lackey entered with the announcement that the Empress summoned to her presence the daughter of Captain Mironoff. ”

“ What, Masha, art thou afraid?"
"No, papa," replied Maria Ivanovna; "I feel more frightened sitting at home."
She looked at me and made an effort to smile. I involuntarily grasped the hilt of my sword, remembering that I had received it from her own hands the night before, as if for the protection of the one I loved best. My heart burned within me; I fancied myself her chosen knight. I longed to prove that I was worthy of her trust, and impatiently awaited the decisive moment. ”

“ As for us, my little father, we have only our one servant-girl, Palashka; but, thank God, we manage to get along well enough! There is only one thing that we are troubled about. Masha is an eligible girl, but what has she got for a marriage portion? A clean comb, a hand-broom, and three copecks—Heaven have pity upon her!—to pay for a bath. If she can find a good man, all very well; if not, she will have to be an old maid.”
I glanced at Maria Ivanovna ”

“ It is for my sake alone that he has subjected himself to all that has befallen him. And if he has not justified himself before the commission, it has only been because he has not wished to introduce my name."
Here she narrated with warmth what my reader already knows.
The lady listened attentively.
"Where are you staying?" she asked, when Maria Ivanovna had concluded; and, upon learning that it was at Anna Vlassievna's, added, with a smile—"Ah! I know. Good-bye; do not mention our meeting to any person. I hope that you will not have to wait long for an answer to your letter." ”

“ Pougatcheff looked at Shvabrine, and said with a bitter sneer:
"Thy hospital is not bad!" He then approached Maria Ivanovna. "Tell me, my little dove, why does thy husband punish thee? How hast thou wronged him?"
"Husband!" she repeated. "He is not my husband. I shall never be his wife! I prefer to die, and I shall die, if I am not rescued."
Pougatcheff looked at Shvabrine menacingly. ”

“ He was quiet suddenly, looked at the view mildly and, in a moment, thought me the best friend he had in the world—in the Russian manner.
"You see, Ivan Andreievitch," he said, looking at me with the eyes of an unnaturally wise baby, "that I cannot help wishing that my wife were here to advise Marie Ivanovna. She would have loved my wife very much, as every one did, and would have confided in her. That would have helped a girl who, like Marie Ivanovna, is ignorant of the world and the loves of men." ”

“ A man may have felt himself the most insignificant and useless of human creatures all his days, but face him with death and he becomes, by very force of the contrast, something of a figure.
Here am I, deprived of the only thing in life that gave me joy or pride. I should, after that deprivation, have slipped back, I suppose, to my old life of hopeless uninterest and insignificance, but now here the death of Marie Ivanovna has been no check at all. I half believe now that one can do with life or death what one will. ”

“ Marie Ivanovna and I remained in one of the empty rooms, the only sound the buzzing flies. Every detail of that room will remain in my heart and brain until I die. Marie Ivanovna, looking very white and cool, with the happiness shining in her large clear eyes, sat on an old worn sofa near the window. In the glass of the window there were bullet holes, and beyond the window a piece of blazing golden garden. The room was very dirty, dust lay thick upon everything. Some one had eaten a meal there, and there was a plate, a knife, also egg-shells, an empty sardine-tin, and a hunk of black bread. ”

“ The sun had set, and the shades of evening began settling in the corners under the furniture and on the cornices.
The silence was broken by Olga Ivanovna.
“No misfortune more terrible can be imagined,” she said, without turning from the window. “You know that life has no value for me whatever apart from the boy.”
“Yes, I know that,” said the doctor.
“No value whatever,” said Olga Ivanovna, and her voice quivered. “He is everything to me. He is my joy, my happiness, my wealth. And if, as you say, I cease to be a mother, if he . . . dies, there will be nothing left of me but a shadow. ”

“ Well, so be it, I am a pig, but she is a lady! I have the semblance of a beast, but Katerina Ivanovna, my spouse, is a person of education and an officer’s daughter. Granted, granted, I am a scoundrel, but she is a woman of a noble heart, full of sentiments, refined by education. And yet... oh, if only she felt for me! Honoured sir, honoured sir, you know every man ought to have at least one place where people feel for him! But Katerina Ivanovna, though she is magnanimous, she is unjust.... ”

“ The important personage, however, though content with his domestic caresses, thought it elegant to maintain friendly relations in another [Pg 121] part of the city. This friend was hardly prettier or younger than his wife; but many such mysteries exist on earth, and to solve them is none of our affair.
The important personage, therefore, descended the staircase, entered his sledge, and said to the driver, “To Karolina Ivanovna!” Then, wrapping himself luxuriously in his warm cloak, he settled into that happy mood, better than which cannot be even imagined by the Russian. ”

“ Exit Alexander Petróvich.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. And what can you have in common with such a man as that? Why is he nearer to you than your own wife? It is incomprehensible! And where are you going?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I have left a letter for you. I did not want to speak; it is too hard; but if you wish it, I will try to say it quietly.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. No, I don't understand. Why do you hate and torture your wife, who has given up everything for you? Tell me, have I been going to balls, or gone in for dress, or flirted? My whole life has been devoted to the family. I nursed them all myself ”

“ We'll all be killed. But it isn't ... it isn't ... I can't move...."
"You must move.... Come, Andrey Vassilievitch, [99] you've been brave enough all day. There's no danger, I tell you. See how quiet everything is. You must...."
"I can't.... It's nothing ... nothing to do with me.... It's awful all day—and now this!"
I thought of Marie Ivanovna early in the morning. I looked down the road and saw that the wagons were slowly moving into the distant shadows.
"You must come," I repeated. "We can't leave you here. Don't think of yourself. And nothing can touch you—nothing, I tell you." ”