‘I did not feel much remorse either then or afterwards; but I would not repeat the performance—believe it or not as you please. There—that’s all.’
‘Only, of course that’s not nearly your worst action,’ said
the actress, with evident dislike in her face.
‘That was a psychological phenomenon, not an action,’ remarked Totski.
‘And what about the maid?’ asked Nastasia Philipovna, with undisguised contempt.
‘Oh, she was turned out next day, of course. It’s a very strict household, there!’
‘And you allowed it?’
‘I should think so, rather! I was not going to return and confess next day,’ laughed Ferdishenko, who seemed a lit-tle surprised at the disagreeable impression which his story had made on all parties.
‘How mean you were!’ said Nastasia.
‘Bah! you wish to hear a man tell of his worst actions, and you expect the story to come out goody-goody! One’s worst actions always are mean. We shall see what the gener-al has to say for himself now. All is not gold that glitters, you know; and because a man keeps his carriage he need not be specially virtuous, I assure you, all sorts of people keep car-riages. And by what means?’
In a word, Ferdishenko was very angry and rapidly for-getting himself; his whole face was drawn with passion. Strange as it may appear, he had expected much better suc-cess for his story. These little errors of taste on Ferdishenko’s part occurred very frequently. Nastasia trembled with rage, and looked fixedly at him, whereupon he relapsed into alarmed silence. He realized that he had gone a little too far.
‘Had we not better end this game?’ asked Totski.
‘It’s my turn, but I plead exemption,’ said Ptitsin. ‘You don’t care to oblige us?’ asked Nastasia.
‘I cannot, I assure you. I confess I do not understand how anyone can play this game.’
‘Then, general, it’s your turn,’ continued Nastasia Phili-povna, ‘and if you refuse, the whole game will fall through, which will disappoint me very much, for I was looking for-ward to relating a certain ‘page of my own life.’ I am only waiting for you and Afanasy Ivanovitch to have your turns, for I require the support of your example,’ she added, smil-ing.
‘Oh, if you put it in that way ‘ cried the general, excitedly, ‘I’m ready to tell the whole story of my life, but I must con-fess that I prepared a little story in anticipation of my turn.’ Nastasia smiled amiably at him; but evidently her de-pression and irritability were increasing with every moment. Totski was dreadfully alarmed to hear her promise a revela-
tion out of her own life.
‘I, like everyone else,’ began the general, ‘have committed certain not altogether graceful actions, so to speak, during the course of my life. But the strangest thing of all in my case is, that I should consider the little anecdote which I am now about to give you as a confession of the worst of my ‘bad actions.’ It is thirty-five years since it all happened, and
yet I cannot to this very day recall the circumstances with-out, as it were, a sudden pang at the heart.
‘It was a silly affair—I was an ensign at the time. You know ensigns—their blood is boiling water, their circumstances generally penurious. Well, I had a servant Nikifor who used
to do everything for me in my quarters, economized and managed for me, and even laid hands on anything he could find (belonging to other people), in order to augment our household goods; but a faithful, honest fellow all the same.
‘I was strict, but just by nature. At that time we were sta-tioned in a small town. I was quartered at an old widow’s house, a lieutenant’s widow of eighty years of age. She lived in a wretched little wooden house, and had not even a ser-vant, so poor was she.
‘Her relations had all died off—her husband was dead and buried forty years since; and a niece, who had lived with her and bullied her up to three years ago, was dead too; so that she was quite alone.
‘Well, I was precious dull with her, especially as she was so childish that there was nothing to be got out of her. Even-tually, she stole a fowl of mine; the business is a mystery to this day; but it could have been no one but herself. I re-quested to be quartered somewhere else, and was shifted to the other end of the town, to the house of a merchant with a large family, and a long beard, as I remember him. Nikifor and I were delighted to go; but the old lady was not pleased at our departure.
‘Well, a day or two afterwards, when I returned from drill, Nikifor says to me: ‘We oughtn’t to have left our tureen with the old lady, I’ve nothing to serve the soup in.’
‘I asked how it came about that the tureen had been left. Nikifor explained that the old lady refused to give it up, be-cause, she said, we had broken her bowl, and she must have our tureen in place of it; she had declared that I had so ar-
ranged the matter with herself.
‘This baseness on her part of course aroused my young blood to fever heat; I jumped up, and away I flew.
‘I arrived at the old woman’s house beside myself. She was sitting in a corner all alone, leaning her face on her hand. I fell on her like a clap of thunder. ‘You old wretch!’ I yelled and all that sort of thing, in real Russian style. Well, when I began cursing at her, a strange thing happened. I looked at her, and she stared back with her eyes starting out of her head, but she did not say a word. She seemed to sway about as she sat, and looked and looked at me in the strang-est way. Well, I soon stopped swearing and looked closer at her, asked her questions, but not a word could I get out of her. The flies were buzzing about the room and only this sound broke the silence; the sun was setting outside; I didn’t know what to make of it, so I went away.
‘Before I reached home I was met and summoned to the major’s, so that it was some while before I actually got there. When I came in, Nikifor met me. ‘Have you heard, sir, that our old lady is dead?’ ‘DEAD, when?’ ‘Oh, an hour and a half ago.’ That meant nothing more nor less than that she was dying at the moment when I pounced on her and began abusing her.
‘This produced a great effect upon me. I used to dream of the poor old woman at nights. I really am not supersti-tious, but two days after, I went to her funeral, and as time went on I thought more and more about her. I said to myself,
‘This woman, this human being, lived to a great age. She had children, a husband and family, friends and relations; her
household was busy and cheerful; she was surrounded by smiling faces; and then suddenly they are gone, and she is left alone like a solitary fly … like a fly, cursed with the bur-den of her age. At last, God calls her to Himself. At sunset, on a lovely summer’s evening, my little old woman passes away—a thought, you will notice, which offers much food for reflection—and behold! instead of tears and prayers to start her on her last journey, she has insults and jeers from a young ensign, who stands before her with his hands in his pockets, making a terrible row about a soup tureen!’ Of course I was to blame, and even now that I have time to look back at it calmly, I pity the poor old thing no less. I repeat that I wonder at myself, for after all I was not really responsible. Why did she take it into her head to die at that moment? But the more I thought of it, the more I felt the weight of it upon my mind; and I never got quite rid of the impression until I put a couple of old women into an alms-house and kept them there at my own expense. There, that’s all. I repeat I dare say I have committed many a grievous sin in my day; but I cannot help always looking back upon this as the worst action I have ever perpetrated.’
‘H’m! and instead of a bad action, your excellency has detailed one of your noblest deeds,’ said Ferdishenko. ‘Fer-dishenko is ‘done.’’
‘Dear me, general,’ said Nastasia Philipovna, absently, ‘I really never imagined you had such a good heart.’
The general laughed with great satisfaction, and applied himself once more to the champagne.
It was now Totski’s turn, and his story was awaited with
great curiosity—while all eyes turned on Nastasia Phili-povna, as though anticipating that his revelation must be connected somehow with her. Nastasia, during the whole of his story, pulled at the lace trimming of her sleeve, and never once glanced at the speaker. Totski was a handsome man, rather stout, with a very polite and dignified manner. He was always well dressed, and his linen was exquisite. He had plump white hands, and wore a magnificent diamond ring on one finger.
‘What simplifies the duty before me considerably, in my opinion,’ he began, ‘is that I am bound to recall and relate the very worst action
