532 million cryptopunk
The soldier, a peasant from Nijni Novgorod, with a red,pockmarked face, put the paper into the sleeve of his coat,winked to his companion, a broadshouldered Tchouvash, and thenthe prisoner and the soldiers went to the front entrance, out ofthe prison yard, and through the town up the middle of theroughlypaved street.
Isvostchiks cabmen, tradespeople, cooks, workmen,and government clerks, stopped and looked curiously at theprisoner; some shook their heads and thought, “This is what evilconduct, conduct unlike ours, leads to.” The children stopped andgazed at the robber with frightened looks; but the thought thatthe soldiers were preventing her from doing more harm quietedtheir fears. A peasant, who had sold his charcoal, and had hadsome tea in the town, came up, and, after crossing himself, gaveher a copeck.The prisoner blushed and muttered something; shenoticed that she was attracting everybody’s attention, and thatpleased her. The comparatively fresh air also gladdened her, butit was painful to step on the rough stones with the illmadeprison shoes on her feet, which had become unused to walking.Passing by a corndealer’s shop, in front of which a few pigeonswere strutting about, unmolested by any one, the prisoner almosttouched a greyblue bird with her foot; it fluttered up and flewclose to her car, fanning her with its wings. She smiled, thensighed deeply as she remembered her present position.
MASLOVA’S EARLY LIFE.
Maslova’s mother was the unmarried daughter of a village woman,employed on a dairy farm, which belonged to two maiden ladies whowere landowners. This unmarried woman had a baby every year, and,as often happens among the village people, each one of theseundesired babies, after it had been carefully baptised, wasneglected by its mother, whom it hindered at her work, and leftto starve. Five children had died in this way. They had all beenbaptised and then not sufficiently fed, and just left to die.The sixth baby, whose father was a gipsy tramp, would have sharedthe same fate, had it not so happened that one of the maidenladies came into the farmyard to scold the dairymaids for sendingup cream that smelt of the cow. The young woman was lying in thecowshed with a fine, healthy, newborn baby. The old maiden ladyscolded the maids again for allowing the woman who had just beenconfined to lie in the cowshed, and was about to go away, butseeing the baby her heart was touched, and she offered to standgodmother to the little girl, and pity for her littlegoddaughter induced her to give milk and a little money to themother, so that she should feed the baby; and the little girllived. The old ladies spoke of her as “the saved one.” When thechild was three years old, her mother fell ill and died, and themaiden ladies took the child from her old grandmother, to whomshe was nothing but a burden.
The little blackeyed maiden grew to be extremely pretty, and sofull of spirits that the ladies found her very entertaining.
She lived in this manner till she was sixteen, when the nephew ofthe old ladies, a rich young prince, and a university student,came to stay with his aunts, and Katusha, not daring toacknowledge it even to herself, fell in love with him.
Then two years later this same nephew stayed four days with hisaunts before proceeding to join his regiment, and the nightbefore he left he betrayed Katusha, and, after giving her a100rouble note, went away. Five months later she knew forcertain that she was to be a mother. After that everything seemedrepugnant to her, her only thought being how to escape from theshame that awaited her. She began not only to serve the ladies ina halfhearted and negligent way, but once, without knowing howit happened, was very rude to them, and gave them notice, a thingshe repented of later, and the ladies let her go, noticingsomething wrong and very dissatisfied with her. Then she got ahousemaid’s place in a policeofficer’s house, but stayed thereonly three months, for the police officer, a man of fifty, beganto torment her, and once, when he was in a specially enterprisingmood, she fired up, called him “a fool and old devil,” and gavehim such a knock in the chest that he fell. She was turned outfor her rudeness. It was useless to look for another situation,for the time of her confinement was drawing near, so she went tothe house of a village midwife, who also sold wine. Theconfinement was easy; but the midwife, who had a case of fever inthe village, infected Katusha, and her baby boy had to be sent tothe foundlings’ hospital, where, according to the words of theold woman who took him there, he at once died. When Katusha wentto the midwife she had 127 roubles in all, 27 which she hadearned and 100 given her by her betrayer. When she left she hadbut six roubles; she did not know how to keep money, but spent iton herself, and gave to all who asked. The midwife took 40roubles for two months’ board and attendance, 25 went to get thebaby into the foundlings’ hospital, and 40 the midwife borrowedto buy a cow with. Twenty roubles went just for clothes anddainties. Having nothing left to live on, Katusha had to look outfor a place again, and found one in the house of a forester. Theforester was a married man, but he, too, began to annoy her fromthe first day. He disgusted her, and she tried to avoid him. Buthe, more experienced and cunning, besides being her master, whocould send her wherever he liked, managed to accomplish hisobject. His wife found it out, and, catching Katusha and herhusband in a room all by themselves, began beating her. Katushadefended herself, and they had a fight, and Katusha got turnedout of the house without being paid her wages.
Then Katusha went to live with her aunt in town. The aunt’shusband, a bookbinder, had once been comfortably off, but hadlost all his customers, and had taken to drink, and spent all hecould lay hands on at the publichouse. The aunt kept a littlelaundry, and managed to support herself, her children, and herwretched husband. She offered Katusha the place of an assistantlaundress; but seeing what a life of misery and hardship heraunt’s assistants led, Katusha hesitated, and applied to aregistry office for a place. One was found for her with a ladywho lived with her two sons, pupils at a public day school. Aweek after Katusha had entered the house the elder, a big fellowwith moustaches, threw up his studies and made love to her,continually following her about. His mother laid all the blame onKatusha, and gave her notice.
Next door to the lodging rented for her by the author there liveda jolly young shopman, with whom Katusha soon fell in love. Shetold the author, and moved to a little lodging of her own. Theshopman, who promised to marry her, went to Nijni on businesswithout mentioning it to her, having evidently thrown her up, andKatusha remained alone. She meant to continue living in thelodging by herself, but was informed by the police that in thiscase she would have to get a license. She returned to her aunt.Seeing her fine dress, her hat, and mantle, her aunt no longeroffered her laundry work. As she understood things, her niece hadrisen above that sort of thing. The question as to whether shewas to become a laundress or not did not occur to Katusha,either. She looked with pity at the thin, hardworkedlaundresses, some already in consumption, who stood washing orironing with their thin arms in the fearfully hot front room,which was always full of soapy steam and draughts from thewindows, and thought with horror that she might have shared thesame fate.
Katusha had begun to smoke some time before, and since the youngshopman had thrown her up she was getting more and more into thehabit of drinking. It was not so much the flavour of wine thattempted her as the fact that it gave her a chance of forgettingthe misery she suffered, making her feel more unrestrained andmore confident of her own worth, which she was not when quitesober; without wine she felt sad and ashamed. Just at this time awoman came along who offered to place her in one of the largestestablishments in the city, explaining all the advantages andbenefits of the situation. Katusha had the choice before her ofeither going into service or accepting this offerand she chosethe latter. Besides, it seemed to her as though, in this way, shecould revenge herself on her betrayer and the shopman and allthose who had injured her. One of the things that tempted her,and was the cause of her decision, was the woman telling her shemight order her own dressesvelvet, silk, satin, lownecked balldresses, anything she liked. A mental picture of herself in abright yellow silk trimmed with black velvet with low neck andshort sleeves conquered her, and she gave up her passport. On thesame evening the procuress took an isvostchik and drove her tothe notorious house kept by Carolina Albertovna Kitaeva.
From that day a life of chronic sin against human and divine lawscommenced for Katusha Maslova, a life which is led by hundreds ofthousands of women, and which is not merely tolerated butsanctioned by the Government, anxious for the welfare of itssubjects; a life which for nine women out of ten ends in painfuldisease, premature decrepitude, and death.
Impossible to catch those two,” said the merry young artist,whose turn it was to catch, and who could run very fast with hisshort, muscular legs.
You And not catch us?” said Katusha.
One, two, three,” and the artist clapped his hands. Katusha,hardly restraining her laughter, changed places with Nekhludoff,behind the artist’s back, and pressing his large hand with herlittle rough one, and rustling with her starched petticoat, ranto the left. Nekhludoff ran fast to the right, trying to escapefrom the artist, but when he looked round he saw the artistrunning after Katusha, who kept well ahead, her firm young legsmoving rapidly. There was a lilac bush in front of them, andKatusha made a sign with her head to Nekhludoff to join herbehind it, for if they once clasped hands again they were safefrom their pursuer, that being a rule of the game. He understoodthe sign, and ran behind the bush, but he did not know that therewas a small ditch overgrown with nettles there. He stumbled andfell into the nettles, already wet with dew, stinging his bands,but rose immediately, laughing at his mishap.
Katusha, with her eyes black as sloes, her face radiant with joy,was flying towards him, and they caught hold of each other’shands.
There” she said; and, freeing her hand with aswift movement, ran away from him. Then, breaking two branches ofwhite lilac from which the blossoms were already falling, shebegan fanning her hot face with them; then, with her head turnedback to him, she walked away, swaying her arms briskly in frontof her, and joined the other players.
When he received an unpleasant letter from his mother, or couldnot get on with his essay, or felt the unreasoning sadness thatyoung people are often subject to, he had only to rememberKatusha and that he should see her, and it all vanished. Katushahad much work to do in the house, but she managed to get a littleleisure for reading, and Nekhludoff gave her Dostoievsky andTourgeneff whom he had just read himself to read. She likedTourgeneff’s Lull best. They had talks at moments snatched whenmeeting in the passage, on the veranda, or the yard, andsometimes in the room of his aunts’ old servant, MatronaPavlovna, with whom he sometimes used to drink tea, and whereKatusha used to work.
Had Nekhludoff at that time been conscious of his love forKatusha, and especially if he had been told that he could on noaccount join his life with that of a girl in her position, itmight have easily happened that, with his usual straightforwardness, he would have come to the conclusion that therecould be no possible reason for him not to marry any girlwhatever, as long as he loved her. But his aunts did notmention their fears to him; and, when he left, he was stillunconscious of his love for Katusha. He was sure that what hefelt for Katusha was only one of the manifestations of the joy oflife that filled his whole being, and that this sweet, merrylittle girl shared this joy with him. Yet, when he was goingaway, and Katusha stood with his aunts in the porch, and lookedafter him, her dark, slightlysquinting eyes filled with tears,he felt, after all, that he was leaving something beautiful,precious, something which would never reoccur. And he grew verysad.
Goodbye, Katusha,” he said, looking across Sophia Ivanovna’scap as he was getting into the trap. “Thank you for everything.”
Goodbye, Dmitri Ivanovitch,” she said, with her pleasant,tender voice, keeping back the tears that filled her eyesandran away into the hall, where she could cry in peace.
LIFE IN THE ARMY.
Then he had looked on his spirit as the I; now it was his healthystrong animal I that he looked upon as himself.
And all this terrible change had come about because he had ceasedto believe himself and had taken to believing others. This he haddone because it was too difficult to live believing one’s self;believing one’s self, one had to decide every question not infavour of one’s own animal life, which is always seeking for easygratifications, but almost in every case against it. Believingothers there was nothing to decide; everything had been decidedalready, and decided always in favour of the animal I and againstthe spiritual. Nor was this all. Believing in his own self he wasalways exposing himself to the censure of those around him;believing others he had their approval. So, when Nekhludoff hadtalked of the serious matters of life, of God, truth, riches, andpoverty, all round him thought it out of place and even ratherfunny, and his mother and aunts called him, with kindly irony,notre cher philosophe. But when he read novels, told improperanecdotes, went to see funny vaudevilles in the French theatreand gaily repeated the jokes, everybody admired and encouragedhim. When he considered it right to limit his needs, wore an oldovercoat, took no wine, everybody thought it strange and lookedupon it as a kind of showing off; but when he spent large sums onhunting, or on furnishing a peculiar and luxurious study forhimself, everybody admired his taste and gave him expensivepresents to encourage his hobby. While he kept pure and meant toremain so till he married his friends prayed for his health, andeven his mother was not grieved but rather pleased when she foundout that he had become a real man and had gained over some Frenchwoman from his friend. As to the episode with Katusha, theprincess could not without horror think that he might possiblyhave married her. In the same way, when Nekhludoff came of age,and gave the small estate he had inherited from his father to thepeasants because he considered the holding of private property inland wrong, this step filled his mother and relations with dismayand served as an excuse for making fun of him to all hisrelatives. He was continually told that these peasants, afterthey had received the land, got no richer, but, on the contrary,poorer, having opened three publichouses and left off doing anywork. But when Nekhludoff entered the Guards and spent andgambled away so much with his aristocratic companions that ElenaIvanovna, his mother, had to draw on her capital, she was hardlypained, considering it quite natural and even good that wild oatsshould be sown at an early age and in good company, as her sonwas doing. At first Nekhludoff struggled, but all that he hadconsidered good while he had faith in himself was considered badby others, and what he had considered evil was looked upon asgood by those among whom he lived, and the struggle grew toohard. And at last Nekhludoff gave in, i.e., left off believinghimself and began believing others. At first this giving up offaith in himself was unpleasant, but it did not long continue tobe so. At that time he acquired the habit of smoking, anddrinking wine, and soon got over this unpleasant feeling and evenfelt great relief.
Nekhludoff, with his passionate nature, gave himself thoroughlyto the new way of life so approved of by all those around, and heentirely stifled the inner voice which demanded somethingdifferent. This began after he moved to St. Petersburg, andreached its highest point when he entered the army.
The sense of the speech, when divested of all its flowers ofrhetoric, was that Maslova, having gained the merchant’sconfidence, hypnotised him and went to his lodgings with his keymeaning to take all the money herself, but having been caught inthe act by Simeon and Euphemia had to share it with them. Then,in order to hide the traces of the crime, she had returned to thelodgings with the merchant and there poisoned him.
The poisoning was committed by Maslova alone; therefore he beggedthe jury to acquit Kartinkin and Botchkova of stealing the money;or if they could not acquit them of the theft, at least to admitthat it was done without any participation in the poisoning.
In conclusion the advocate remarked, with a thrust at the publicprosecutor, that “the brilliant observations of that gentleman onheredity, while explaining scientific facts concerning heredity,were inapplicable in this case, as Botchkova was of unknownparentage.” The public prosecutor put something down on paperwith an angry look, and shrugged his shoulders in contemptuoussurprise.
Then Maslova’s advocate rose, and timidly and hesitatingly beganhis speech in her defence.
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