^B^^^ 
 
 K^: ^ 
 
 ■^rsss:®' V 
 
 k3Hlilfe£„.~_^ Oil.. 
 
 ■^ 
 
 ^^^^^^^2ffl 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Joseph Whitmore Barry 
 dramatic library 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 TWO FRIENDS 
 
 OF Cornell University 
 
 ^934 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027510944 
 
PG- 
 
 Ex LiBRIS 
 
 f . ISIfjitmorc Parrp 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 PG 3421.N6 1878 
 
 3 1924 027 510 944 
 
 I. S. TOURGENIEF- 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 ASHTON W. DILKE. 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 1878. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 A LONG preface is a great evil, besides which 
 Tourgdniefj thanks to some able translations, 
 now needs no introduction to English readers. 
 His last work possesses a special interest at this 
 moment, arising from the fact that it treats of 
 those secret societies of which we have heard so 
 much and know so little. Fiction may well be a 
 valuable adjunct to more serious work, and I 
 venture to think that those who read this novel 
 with understanding may retain a more correct 
 impression of Russian Socialism than many who 
 have studied the question through the light of 
 correspondent or essayist. The work of transla- 
 tion has been a pleasure to me ; and my pleasure 
 will be greatly enhanced if I think that the pub- 
 
vi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 licatiop of this work may lead a single English- 
 man to a better acquaiiitance with a noble and 
 deeply maligned people, which has suffered long, 
 but for which the dawn of freedom at last seems 
 breaking, as ever, in misery and bloodshed. 
 When it is remembered that this book was 
 written before the Turko-Russian War broke 
 out, some of its sentences read almost like 
 prophecies. I may add that the writer's imparti- 
 ality is proved by the fact that Conservatives 
 and Socialists are alike ill pleased with their own 
 portraits and those of their adversaries. 
 Algiers, April, 1878. 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 One afternoon in the spring of the year . 1868, b etween 
 twelve and one, a young man, some seven-and-twenty 
 years old, carelessly and poorly dressed, was climbing 
 up the dark backstairs of a five-story house in the 
 Ophits^rskaia Street in ^t..>£etersbiirg. Shuffling 
 heavily in his worn-down goloshes, and slowly swing- 
 ing his ponderous, clumsy body, he at length reached 
 the top of the staircase, stopped before a dilapidated 
 door which was standing ajar, then rolled into a 
 narrow dark passage without ringing the bell, but 
 heaving a loud sigh. 
 
 " Is Nejddnof in ?" he called, in a loud, hoarse voice. 
 
 " He is not, I am here ; come in," answered from 
 the adjoining 'room another voice, a woman's, also 
 rather rough. 
 
 " Mashiirina .-• " asked the new-comer. 
 
 " She herself. Are you Ostrodiimof ? " 
 
 " Pi'men Ostrodiimof," he answered, and first care- 
 fully removing his goloshes, and hanging his shabby 
 cloak on a nail, he entered the room whence the 
 woman's voice had proceeded. 
 
 It was a low, untidy room, with the walls painted a 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. 
 
 dirty green, and dimly lighted by two dusty windows. 
 The only furniture in it was an iron bedstead in a 
 corner, a table in the middle, a few chairs, and an 
 itaghe piled up with books. By the table sat a 
 woman of thirty, without a bonnet, in a black 
 woollen dress, smoking a cigarette. On seeing 
 Ostrodiimof come in, she gave him her broad red 
 hand in silence. He shook it, also in silence, and, 
 dropping on to a chair, pulled out of his pocket a 
 half-crushed cigar. Mashiirina gave him a light, he 
 took it, and set to work emitting jets of blueish smoke 
 into the dim atmosphere of the room, which was 
 already considerably overcharged. Not a word was 
 spoken, nor even a look exchanged. 
 
 The faces of the smokers did not resemble each 
 other, yet in their plain countenances, with their thick 
 lips, large teeth, and flat noses (Ostrodiimof in 
 addition was pitted with small-pox), there was a 
 common expression which told of honesty and hard- 
 working determination. 
 
 "Have you seenNejdanof .'" said Ostrodiimof at last. 
 
 " I have ; he will be here directly. He is taking 
 books to the library." 
 
 " Why has he taken to running about so much 
 lately ? " said Ostrodiimof, spitting aside ; " there is no 
 getting hold of him." 
 
 ^ Mashiirina took out another cigarette. "He is 
 dull," she said, as she lit it carefully. 
 
 " Dull .? " repeated Ostrodiimof, reproachfully. 
 " Spoilt child ! One would think that none of us had 
 anything to do. Here we are, God grant we may get 
 through all the work properly — and he is dull ! " 
 
 " Has the letter from Moscow come .? " asked 
 Mashiirina, after a pause. 
 
 " It came the day before yesterday." 
 
 " Have you read it .' " 
 
 Ostrodiimof only nodded his head. 
 
CHAP. I.j A NOVEL. 
 
 " Well, and what news ? " 
 
 " We shall soon have to go." 
 
 Mashurina took the cigarette out of her mouth. 
 
 " What is that for } Everything is going on well 
 there, as far as one can hear." 
 
 " Everything is going on much as usual. Only 
 one of their men has turned out untrustworthy. So 
 there — he must be changed, perhaps even altogether 
 removed. And there are other matters. They want 
 you as well." 
 
 " Do they say so in the letter .' " 
 
 " Yes ; in the letter." 
 
 Mashurina tossed back her thick hair, which, 
 carelessly twisted up behind, fell in front over her 
 forehead and eyebrows. 
 
 " W?ll," she said, " if the order comes, there is no 
 arguing." 
 
 " Of course not. Only without money we can do 
 nothing ; and where are we to find that same money 1 " 
 
 Mashurina became thoughtful. 
 
 " Nejddnof must find it," she at last said, in a low 
 voice, as if to herself. 
 
 " I have come about that very matter," remarked 
 Ostrodiimof 
 
 " Have you got the letter .' " suddenly asked 
 Mashurina. 
 
 " Yes. Would you like to read it ? " 
 
 " Give it here ; or — stop. I don't want it. We will 
 read it together, afterwards." 
 
 "I am not mistaken," growled Ostrodiimof "Don't 
 doubt it." 
 
 " I do not doubt it." 
 
 Both became silent again, and once more the jets of 
 smoke sprang from their lips, and rose in gentle Curls 
 above their rough heads. 
 
 The sound of footsteps was heard in the passage. 
 
 " There he is," whispered Mashurina. 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. 
 
 The doo'r opened slightly, and a head was thrust in, 
 only it was not Nejddnofs. 
 
 It was a round little head, with coarse black hair, a 
 broad wrinkled forehead and restless grey eyes under 
 thick brows ; a snub nose like a duck's bill, and a small, 
 pink, queerly cut mouth. The little head looked round, 
 nodded, laughed — showing a multitude of tiny white 
 teeth — and came into the room, followed by a small 
 body with short arms and crooked, limping legs. At 
 the sight of this head, the faces of both Mashdrina 
 and Ostroddmof expressed a kind of condescending 
 contempt, just as if they had said to themselves, 
 " Oh ! only he ! " And they did not let fall a single 
 word — did not even move. However, the reception 
 shown him, far from confusing the new arrival, appa- 
 rently afforded him a certain pleasure. 
 
 " What does this mean 1 " he said in a shrill voice. 
 " A duet .> Why not a trio .? And where is the chief 
 tenor .? " 
 
 " You are inquiring after Nejdanof, Mr. Pdklin } " 
 •=aid Ostrodiimof, with a grave air. 
 
 "Just so, Mr. Ostrodiimof; after Nejddnof." 
 
 " He will probably be here soon, Mr. Pdklin." 
 
 " I am delighted to hear it, Mr. Ostrodiimof." 
 
 "The little lame man turned to Mashiirina, who 
 was sitting hunched up and was steadily going on with 
 her cigarette. 
 
 " How do you do, my dear — my dear — How tire- 
 some ! I always forget your names."* 
 
 Mashiirina shrugged her shoulders. " It is quite 
 unnecessary for you to know ! You know my sur- 
 name. What do you want more .' And what a 
 question, ' How do you do .' ' f You can surely see 
 that I am living." 
 
 * Russians do not use the surname in addressing a person, 
 but the Christian name and patronymic. 
 t Literally, " How are you living ?" 
 
CHAP. I.J A NOVEL. 
 
 " Quite right ! quite right ! " exclaimed PdkHn, 
 puffing out his nostrils and working his eyebrows up 
 and down. " Otherwise your humble servant would 
 not be enjoying the pleasure of seeing and talking 
 with you here. Put down my question to ingrained 
 bad habit. Then, as to your Christian name and 
 father's name, you know, it is a little awkward to say 
 right out — Mashiirina ! True, I know that you always 
 sign your letters simply Bonaparte — I mean Mashii- 
 rina — ^but somehow in conversation — " 
 
 " But who wants you to converse with me ? " 
 
 Pdklin laughed nervously, as if he were choking. 
 "Well, that will do, my dear. Give me your hand, 
 and don't be angry. You are so good ; and I, too, am 
 not a bad fellow. Eh ? " 
 
 Pdklin held out his hand. Mashiirina looked at 
 him sullenly, but gave him hers. 
 
 " If you insist upon knowing my name," she con- 
 tinued, with the same sullen air, "all right. It is 
 Th^kla." 
 
 " And mine Pfmen,'' added Ostrodumof, in his deep 
 voice. 
 
 " Oh ! that is very, very .... instructive ! But in that 
 case tell me, O Th^kla, and you, O Pfmen, tell me 
 why you both so persistently keep me at a distance, 
 while I—" 
 
 " Mashiirina thinks," interrupted Ostrodumof — " and 
 she is not the only one — that as you look at all matters 
 from their laughable side, one cannot rely upon you." 
 
 Pdklin turned sharp round on his heels. 
 
 " There it is ; there is the one mistake which all 
 who judge me make, worthy Pi'men. Firstly, I am 
 not always laughing ; secondly, it does no harm, and 
 I can be trusted, as is proved by the flattering confi- 
 dence which has more than once been shown me in your 
 own ranks ! I am an honourable man, worthy Pfmen !" 
 
 Ostrodumof muttered something between his teeth ; 
 
VIRGIN SOU. [chap. I. 
 
 but Paklin shook his head, and repeated, this time 
 without any smile, " No, I am not always laughing. 
 I am by no means a jovial man ! Just look at me ! " 
 
 Ostrodumof looked at him. Truly enough, when 
 Paklin was neither laughing nor talking, his face took 
 an expression almost of misery, almost of fear. It 
 became amusing, and even wicked, as soon as he 
 opened his mouth. Ostrodumof, however, said nothing. 
 
 Piklin again turned to Mashiirina. "Well, and 
 how do your studies get on .' Are you achieving 
 successes in your truly philanthropic science 1 I 
 expect it is a hard business, that of assisting the 
 inexperienced citizen in his first introduction to the 
 light of day .? " 
 
 " No, there is not much trouble, if he is no bigger 
 than you," answered Mashiirina, with a self-satisfied 
 smile. Mashiirina had just passed an examination in 
 midwifery. A year and a half before this she had 
 left her family, poor nobles in Southern Russia, 
 had come to Petersburg with six roubles in her pocket, 
 had entered a lying-in hospital, and, by incessant work, 
 had gained the desired certificate. She was a maiden, 
 and a very virtuous maiden. Not a wonderful thing ! 
 may exclaim some sceptic, remembering what has 
 been said about her appearance. A wonderful and 
 a rare thing, we may be allowed to say. 
 
 Hearing her answer, Paklin again laughed. " You 
 are a sharp girl, my dear," he exclaimed ; " put me 
 down splendidly ! Served me right ! Why did I re- 
 main such a dwarf ! But what has become of our host .' " 
 
 Pdklin had his reasons for changing the conversa- 
 tion. He had never been able to reconcile himself to 
 the smallness of his stature, to his decidedly unattrac- 
 tive little figure, and he felt it the more because he 
 was very fond of the society of women. What would 
 he not have given to have found favour in their eyes ! 
 The consciousness of his miserable appearance tor- 
 
CHAP. I.J A NOVEL. 
 
 mented him far more than his low birth or his unen- 
 viable position in society. Pdklin's father was a 
 mere tradesman, who by all manner of trickery had 
 worked his wayup to the rank of Honorary Councillor;* 
 a busybody always eager after law-suits, after steward- 
 ships of estates and of houses. Thus he turned a penny, 
 but drank hard towards the end of his life, and at his 
 death left nothing behind him. Young Pdklin (his 
 name was Sfla — STla Sams6nitch,-|- which he also con- 
 sidered a satire) was brought up in a commercial school, 
 where he learnt German perfectly. After a series of 
 almost unbearable struggles, he found himself at last 
 in a private office on a salary of 1,500 roubles a year.J 
 With this money he kept himself, a sick aunt, and 
 a hunchbacked sister. At the time our story begins he 
 was only just entering his twenty-eighth year. He was 
 acquainted with a number of young students, whom he 
 pleased by his cynical audacity, by the amusing bile of 
 his self-satisfied talk, and by his undoubted information, 
 which, though one-sided, was free from pedantry. Only 
 now and then did he get the worst of it. On one occa- 
 sion he somehow came late to a " political " meeting ; 
 on entering he began hurriedly to excuse himself . . . 
 " A bit of a coward was our poor Pdklin," sang some 
 one in the corner, and every one laughed. Pdklin 
 himself at length joined in the laugh, though secretly 
 much put out. " The scoundrel is right," he thought to 
 himself He became acquainted with Nejddnof in a 
 Greek cook-shop, where he was in the habit of dining, 
 and where he sometimes expressed extremely free and 
 startling opinions. He maintained that the chief cause 
 of his democratic tendency was the bad Greek cookery, 
 which had ruined his liver. 
 
 * One of the lowest ranks of the official hierarchy, 
 t The name means strength, son of Samson, 
 j At the time this story was written, about seven roubles were 
 equivalent to a pound sterling. • 
 
8 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. I. 
 
 "Yes; what has become of our host?" repeated 
 Pdklin. " I have noticed that lately he has been quite 
 out of sorts. I hope he is not in love. Heaven fore- 
 fend!" 
 
 Mashiirina frowned. " He has gone to the library 
 for books ; and as for falling in love, he can neither 
 find the time nor the person." 
 
 " What if you were the person ? " almost broke from 
 Pdklin's lips. " I want to see him," he said, aloud, 
 "because I have to speak with him about a most 
 important cause." 
 
 " What cause .'' " interrupted Ostrodiimof. " Ours >" 
 
 " Possibly yours — I mean ours, our common cause." 
 
 Ostrodiimof grunted. In his heart he doubted, 
 but instantly thought, " Deuce knows, it may be : the 
 fellow pokes his nose everywhere." 
 
 " And here he comes at last," suddenly said Mashii- 
 rina, and in her small and common-place eyes, which 
 were turned towards the door of the passage, there 
 flitted a something warm and tender, a spark of 
 inward brightness .... 
 
 The door opened, and this time there came in a 
 young man of twenty-three, with his cap on his head, 
 and a parcel of books under his arm : Nejddnof 
 himself. 
 
CHAP. II.] A NOVEL. 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 
 At the sight of the visitors who were in his room he 
 stopped on the threshold, glanced round at them, 
 threw off his cap, dropped the books straight on to the 
 floor, and walking up to his bed, sat down on the 
 edge of it without a word. His handsome pale face, 
 rendered even paler by the deep red tinge of his 
 wavy hair, expressed displeasure and vexation. 
 
 Mashiirina slightly turned away and bit her lip ; 
 Ostrodiimof grumbled, " At last ! " 
 
 \Pdklin was the first to approach Nejddnof " What 
 is the matter with you, Alex^i Dmftrievitch, you 
 Russian Hamlet .' Has any one vexed you .-' or are 
 you merely sad without any reason .? " 
 
 " Do stop, please, you Russian Mephistopheles," 
 answered Nejddnof irritably. " I am not in the 
 humour to bandy dull witticisms with you." 
 
 Pdklin laughed. 
 
 " You express yourself inaccurately. What is witty 
 cannot be dull ; what is dull cannot be witty." 
 
 " Oh, all right ; you are a clever fellow, we all 
 know that." 
 
 " And your nerves are out of order," said Pdklin, 
 slowly. " No, really ; ha,s anything happened ? " 
 
 " Nothing particular has happened ; what has 
 
lo VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. II. 
 
 happened is that it is impossible to put one's nose 
 out of doors in this vile town, in Petersburg, without 
 stumbling over some meanness, some stupidity, some 
 grotesque injustice, some nonsense ! Life here has 
 become impossible." 
 
 " Ah ! that is why you advertised in the papers 
 that you were seeking a tutorship, and were prepared 
 to leave town," again grumbled Ostrodiimof 
 
 " Of course. I should leave it with the greatest 
 possible pleasure if only some one could be found 
 fool enough to offer me a place." 
 
 " One ought first to fulfil one's duty here" said 
 Mashiirina significantly, continuing meanwhile to look 
 away. 
 
 " What do you mean t " said Nejddnof, turning 
 abruptly to her. Mashiirina pressed her lips tighter. 
 
 " Ostrodiimof will tell you," she said. 
 
 Nejdanof turned to Ostrodiimof; but he only 
 grunted and coughed, as much as to say, "Wait a bit." 
 
 "No, seriously, without joking," broke in P^klin, 
 " have you learned something — some bad news^ ? " 
 
 Nejdanof sprang from the bed as if something 
 had stung him. "What other bad news do you 
 . want.?" he cried, in an unexpectedly ringing tone. 
 ^-^ " Half Russia is dying of hunger ; the Moscow 
 Gazette is triumphant, and trying to introduce clas- 
 sical education; the students' benefit societies are 
 being closed; everywhere are spies, persecutions, 
 denunciations, lies, and deceit; one cannot step in 
 any direction .... and' all this is not enough for 
 him : he expects some fresh bad news ; he thinks I 
 am joking .... Basdnof is arrested," he added, 
 dropping his voice slightly; "they told me, at the 
 library." 
 
 Ostrodiimof and Mashiirina simultaneously raised 
 their heads. 
 
 " My dear friend, Alex^i Dmi'trievitch," began 
 
CHAP. II.] A NOVEL. 
 
 II 
 
 Pdklin, " you are excited. I can quite understand it. 
 .... But have you forgotten in what times and in 
 what a country we are living .' With us it is the 
 drowning man that must provide the straw for him- 
 self to catch at. Is this a time to be soft-hearted .' 
 No, brother, we must learn to look the devil in the 
 face, and not to be fractious like children ! " 
 
 " Oh, enough, enough," said Nejdanof, impatiently, 
 and his face contracted, literally as if he were in pain. 
 " Every one knows you for an energetic man, you 
 fear nothing and no one . . . ." 
 
 " / ffear no one .' " began Pdklin. 
 
 " But who could have betrayed Basdnof ?" continued 
 Nejddnof ; " I do not understand." 
 
 " Why, a friend, of course ! They are good hands 
 at that, are friends. In their company keep your ears 
 open. I, for instance, had a friend, and he seemed a 
 good fellow ; interested himself so much about me 
 and my reputation. He comes to me one day : 
 ' Imagine,' he cries, ' what an absurd report people are 
 spreading about you ! They say that you poisoned 
 your uncle ; that you were introduced into a certain 
 house, and that you immediately sat down with your 
 back to the hostess, and sat thus the whole evening, 
 while she was crying, absolutely crying at the insult ! 
 Can you imagine such nonsense, such stuff.? What 
 fools can believe such things .' ' Well, a year after I 
 quarrelled with that same friend, and in his farewell 
 letter to me he wrote : ' You, who made away with 
 your uncle ! you who were not ashamed to insult a re- 
 spectable lady by turning your back to her ! ' and so 
 on, and so on. That 's what friends are like ! " 
 
 Ostrodiimof glanced at Mashurina. 
 
 " Alex^i Dmi'trievitch ! " he broke out, in his deep 
 bass — he evidently wished to stop the useless quibbling 
 which had arisen. " A letter has come from Vasili 
 Nikoldevitch at Moscow." 
 
12 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. II. 
 
 Nejddnof slightly shuddered and sank into thought, 
 " What does he say ? " he at length asked. 
 
 " Well, she and I "— Ostrodumof pointed at Mashu- 
 rina by raising his eyebrows — " must go." 
 
 "What, she as well?" 
 
 " She as well." 
 
 " What are you waiting for .? " 
 
 " The usual thing — money." 
 
 Nejdanof rose from the bed and walked to thewindow. 
 
 " How much do you want .' " 
 
 " Fifty roubles .... we can't do with less." 
 
 Nejddnof was silent. 
 
 " I have not got them now," he at length whispered, 
 tapping on the window with his nails ; " but I can 
 get them. I will get them. Have you the letter .■' " 
 
 " The letter } It ... . that is .... of course . . . ." 
 1- " Now, why is it that you conceal everything from 
 me ? " exclaimed Pdklin. " Can it be that I have not 
 gained your confidence. Even if I do not fully 
 sympathize with — your undertaking, can you possibly 
 imagine that I am capable of betraying you, or chat- 
 tering > " 
 
 " Unintentionally, perhaps," said Ostrodumof. 
 
 "Neither intentionally or unintentionally. There 
 is Miss Mashiirina looking at me and smiling ; yet I 
 will say . . . ." 
 
 " I am not smiling in the least," said Mashurina, 
 snappishly. 
 
 " — Yet I will say," continued Paklin, "that you, 
 gentlemen, have no keenness of scent. You cannot 
 distinguish who are your real friends ! A man laughs, 
 and so you think he cannot be serious." 
 
 " Perhaps not," again put in Mashurina. 
 
 " For instance," resumed Paklin, with fresh vigour, 
 not even answering Mashurina. " You are in want of 
 money, and Nejddnof has none at present. Well, I 
 can let you have it." 
 
CHAP. II.] A NOVEL. 13 
 
 Nejddnof turned abruptly from the window. 
 
 " No, no ; why should you .■' I will get it. I will 
 draw a part of my pension in advance. I remember 
 ikey owe me some money. And now, Ostrodumof, 
 show us the letter." 
 
 Ostrodumof at first remained motionless ; then 
 looking round he rose, and, bending his whole 
 body, turned up his trousers, and took from inside his 
 boot a carefully folded sheet of blue paper ; having 
 taken it out, for some unknown reason he blew upon 
 it, then handed it to Nejddnof 
 
 The latter took the letter, opened it, read it care- 
 fully, and passed it to Mashiirina. She first rose from 
 her chair, then also read it and gave it back to 
 Nejdanof, though Piklin stretched his hand out for it. 
 Nejddnof shrugged his shoulders and gave him the 
 niysterious letter. Piklin in his turn glanced over 
 the letter, and, closing his lips impressively, laid it 
 quietly and solemnly on the table. Then Ostrodiimof 
 took it, lighted a large match, which emitted a strong 
 smell of sulphur, and having first raised the letter 
 high above his head, as if showing it to all present, he 
 burnt it to ashes in the match, without sparing his 
 fingers, and threw the ashes into the stove. No one 
 said a word ; no one even moved during this opera- 
 tion. All sat with their eyes cast down. Ostrodumof 
 had a concentrated and determined expression ; 
 Nejddnofs face seemed hard ; Pdklin was all atten- 
 tion ; Mashiirina seemed in ecstasy. 
 
 So passed a couple of minutes ; after which they 
 all felt rather uncomfortable. Pdklin first saw the 
 necessity of breaking the silence. 
 
 " Well," he began, " is my sacrifice on the altar of 
 my country accepted or not .' am^I to be allowed to 
 contribute, if not the whole fifty, at any rate twenty- 
 five or thirty roubles to the common cause > " 
 
 Nejddnof suddenly broke out. It seemed as if his 
 
14 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. II. 
 
 vexation had boiled over. The solemn burning of 
 the letter had not diminished it, and it waited but an 
 excuse to overflow. " I' have already told you, I don't 
 want it, don't want it, don't want it ! I won't allow it, 
 and won't take it. I will find the money — will find it 
 at once. I need help from no one." 
 
 " Well, brother," said Pdklin, " I see though you 
 are a revolutionist you are no democrat." 
 
 " You had better call me an aristocrat outright." 
 
 " So you are an aristocrat — to a certain extent." 
 
 Nejdanof laughed uneasily. " That is, you wish to 
 hint at my being illegitimate. You are troubling 
 yourself for nothing, my friend. I should not forget 
 it, even without your help." 
 
 Pdklin clasped his hands. " Ali6sha !* for goodness' 
 sake, what is the matter .? How could you take my 
 words so ! You are not yourself to-day .4' Nejdanof 
 made an impatient movement with his head and 
 shoulders. " Basanof's arrest has upset you, but then 
 he did behave so imprudently " 
 
 " He did not conceal his convictions," broke in 
 Mashiirina, gloomily. " It is not for us to lalame him." 
 
 " No ; only he ought also to have thought of others, 
 whom he may now compromise." 
 
 " What makes you think thus of him } " growled 
 Ostroddmof, in his turn. " Basanof is a man of firm 
 character ; he will betray no one. And as for pru- 
 dence .... do you know what ? it is not given to 
 every one to be prudent, Mr. Paklin." 
 
 Pdklin grew angry, and would have answered, but 
 Nejdanof stopped him. " Gentlemen," he exclaimed, 
 " do me the favour of setting politics aside for a time." 
 
 A silence ensued. 
 
 " I met Skoropi'khin to-day," at length said Paklin, 
 " the enthusiast and esthetic critic of all the Russias. 
 What an unbearable being ! He is always boiling over 
 * Diminutive of Alexdi. 
 
CHAP. II.] A NOVEL. 15 
 
 and fizzing, exactly like a bottle of bad kislie stshi* The 
 waiter, as he runs, claps his finger into the mouth 
 instead of a cork, or a fat raisin sticks in the gullet, 
 and the bottle keeps on hissing and whistling, and 
 when all the foam has flown out of it, at the bottom 
 remain a few drops of an abominable liquid, which 
 not only fails to quench thirst, but makes one sick 
 besides. A most dangerous individual for young 
 people!" 
 
 The comparison which Pdklin had used, though 
 true and apt, did not call a smile to any face. Ostro- 
 diimof alone remarked that there was no reason for 
 lamenting over young people who could be interested 
 by aestheticism, even if Skoropfkhin did lead them 
 astray. 
 
 " But, begging your pardon, stop," exclaimed Pdklin, 
 warmly ; the less sympathy he met the hotter he 
 grew. " Though not political, perhaps, this question 
 is none the less important. To listen to Skoropfkhin, 
 every old production of art is worth nothing, from the 
 mere fact that it is old. But, in that case, art, taste 
 generally, is nothing more than a fashion, and is not 
 worth the trouble of treating seriously. If there is 
 nothing in it which is changeless, eternal, let it go to 
 the deuce! In science, in mathematics for example, 
 you do not count Euler, Laplace, Gauss as doting 
 simpletons .' You are ready to acknowledge their 
 dictates, but Raphael and Mozart are fools, and your 
 pride revolts against their authority ? The laws of 
 art are more difficult to comprehend than those of 
 science, I grant you ; but they exist, and he who does 
 not see them is blind, wilfully or not, no matter." 
 
 Piklin ceased, and they all sat silent, as if they had 
 filled their mouths with water — just as if they all felt 
 a little ashamed of him. Ostrodumof alone mumbled, — 
 
 * A kind of sparkling drink. 
 
i6 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. II. 
 
 " Still, I have not the smallest pity for those young 
 people whom Skoropi'khin is leading astray." 
 
 "Oh, deuce take you all!" thought PAklin. "I 
 shall be off." 
 
 He had come to Nejdanof in order to communicate 
 to him his ideas on the subject of introducing the 
 Pole Star* from abroad (the Bell* had already ceased 
 to exist), but the conversation had taken such a turn 
 that it seemed better not to raise that question. 
 Piklin had already taken up his hat, when suddenly, 
 without any warning noise or knock, there resounded 
 in the passage a wonderfully pleasant, rich, manly, 
 baritone voice, the very sound of which breathed as it 
 were a perfume in its extreme elegance and perfect 
 refinement. 
 
 " Is Mr. Nejdanof at home V 
 
 They all glanced at one another in amaze. 
 
 " Is Mr. Nejddnof at home V repeated the voice. 
 
 " Yes," at last answered Nejddnof 
 
 The door opened discreetly and smoothly, and 
 there entered the room a man of under forty, tall, 
 well-made, and majestic, who slowly removed a well- 
 brushed hat from his neatly-clipped head. Dressed 
 in a well-made cloth overcoat, with a superb beaver 
 collar, though it was already near the end of April, he 
 impressed them all — Nejddnof, Paklin, even Mashu- 
 rina, nay, even Ostrodumof — by the elegant self- 
 confidence of his gait and the quiet condescension of 
 his address. All instinctively rose at his appearance. 
 
 * Russian revolutionary newspapers printed abroad. 
 
CHAP. III.] A NOVEL. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The distinguished visitor walked up to Nejddnof, 
 and, bowing, said with a gracious smile, — 
 
 " I have already had the pleasure of meeting and 
 even conversing with you, Mr. Nejddnof, if you 
 remember, at the theatre the day before yesterday." 
 (The visitor ceased, as if awaiting an answer. Nej- 
 danof nodded slightly, and blushed.) "Am I not 
 right ? And to-day I am brought here by having seen 
 an advertisement which you have inserted in the 
 papers. I should like to have a chat with you, if I do not 
 inconvenience those present" (the visitor bowed to 
 Mashiirina, and waved his hand, which was clad in a 
 grey Swedish glove, in the direction of Pdklin and 
 Ostrodiimof), " and if I am not in the way . . . ." 
 
 "No .... why should you be V answered Nejddnof, 
 not without an effort. "My friends will allow us. 
 Won't you take a seat }" 
 
 The visitor gracefully inclined himself, and, taking 
 a chair by the back, drew it towards him. He did 
 not sit down, as all in the room were standing, but 
 only glanced round with his bright though half-closed 
 eyes. 
 
 "Good-bye, Alexei Dmi'tritch," suddenly said 
 Mashurina. " I will come in later." 
 
 C 
 
i8 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. III. 
 
 " And I also," added Ostrodumof. 
 
 Avoiding the visitor, and rather as if to annoy him, 
 yMasiukioaJjook Nejddnofs hand, shook it vigorously, 
 and went out without bowing to any one. Ostro- 
 dumof followed her, stamping on his heels with un- 
 necessary noise, and even snorting once or twice as 
 much as to say, " That 's for you, beaver collar." 
 The visitor followed them both with a polite but 
 slightly curious look, then glanced at Paklin, as if 
 expecting that he would imitate the example of the two 
 departing guests ; but Paklin, whose face had been lit 
 up by a curious, meaning smile ever since the arrival 
 of the stranger, went aside and subsided into a corner. 
 Then the visitor settled down on his chair. Nej- 
 danof did the same. 
 
 " My name is Sipidgin ; perhaps you have 
 heard it," began the visitor, with an air of modest pride. 
 
 But first we ought to relate how Nejdanof met him 
 at the theatre. 
 
 On the occasion of Sadovski's* arrival from Moscow, 
 Ostrdvski's piece, 'Do not Sit in Other People's 
 Sledges,' was given. The part of Rusak6f was, as is 
 well known, a favourite one with the famous actor. 
 In the morning Nejddnof went to the ticket-office, 
 where there was a considerable crowd. He had the 
 intention of taking a pit-ticket, but just as he was ap- 
 proaching the window of the oiifice an officer, who 
 was next to him in the file, stretched out two rouble- 
 notes over Nejddnofs head, and called to the 
 cashier,— 
 
 " This gentleman will probably want change, while 
 I shall not ; so please be quick and give me a ticket 
 for the stalls : I am in a hurry ! " 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," said Nejddnof, in a sharp voice, 
 "1 am also going to take a stall," and then and there 
 
 * A celebrated Russian actor. 
 
CHAP. III.J A NOVEL. 19 
 
 threw two roubles, his whole available capital, on to 
 the counter. 
 
 The cashier gave him his ticket, and thus Nejdanof 
 found himself that evening in the aristocratic division 
 of the Alexandrine Theatre. 
 
 He was shabbily clad, he had no gloves, his boots 
 were dirty ; he felt confused, and was vexed with 
 himself for feeling so. Next him to the right sat a 
 general bespangled with stars ; on his left the same 
 elegant gentleman, the Privy Councillor* Sipidgin, 
 whose appearance two days later was to cause 
 Mashiirina and Ostrodiimof such agitation. 
 
 The general now and again glanced at Nejddnof as 
 at something incongruous, unexpected, and even 
 offensive ; Sipidgin, on the contrary, cast glances at 
 him which, if sidelong, were at any rate not hostile. 
 All the people roundNejddnof seemed, in the first place, 
 to be personages rather than mere persons ; secondly, 
 they all knew each other intimately, and exchanged 
 short sentences, words, and even simple exclamations 
 and salutations, occasionally even across Nejda- 
 nof 's head, while he sat motionless and uncomfortable 
 in his broad, soft armchair, feeling as if he were a 
 pariah. 
 
 He felt bitter, awkward, and uneasy at heart, and 
 little did he enjoy Ostrovski's comedy or Sad6vski's 
 acting. When suddenly, oh, wonder ! between two of 
 the acts, his left-hand neighbour — not the star-spangled 
 general, but the other, who bore no mark of distinction 
 on his breast, addressed him politely and softly, with a 
 certain condescending interest. He spoke of Os- 
 tr6vski's piece, wishing to know what Nejddnof, as 
 " one of the representatives of our youthful generation," 
 thought of it. 
 
 Nejdanof, astonished and even frightened, at first 
 
 * The second rank of the Russian bureaucracy. 
 
20 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. hi. 
 
 answered abruptly and in monosyllables .... his heart 
 even beat faster ; but then he became annoyed with 
 himself. Why was he so upset .■' Was he not a man 
 like any one else.' And he began to express his 
 opinion without restraint or concealment, and at last 
 so loudly and excitedly that he evidently disturbed 
 the mind of his star-spangled neighbour. 
 
 NejdAnof was a warm admirer of Ostr6vski ; but, 
 with all his respect for the talent shown in the comedy, 
 'Do not Sit in Other People's Sledges,' he could not 
 approve the manifest wish to disparage civilization in 
 the caricatured part of Vikhordf His polite neigh- 
 bour listened to him with great attention — nay, even 
 with sympathy — and in the next entr'acte again spoke 
 to him, this time not about Ostr6vski's comedy, but 
 about various subjects connected with every-day life, 
 science, and even politics. He was evidently interested 
 by his young and eloquent neighbour. Nejddnof, as 
 before, not only threw off all restraint, but even put 
 the steam on a little, as people say. " As you will be 
 inquisitive then, that 's for you ! " he seemed to 
 say. 
 
 He now aroused not merely discomfort in his 
 neighbour, the general, but wrath and suspicion. 
 At the end of the piece, Sipiigin took a gracious 
 leave of Nejddnof, but did not express a wish to 
 know his name nor did he name himself As he was 
 waiting for his carriage on the staircase, he met an 
 intimate friend, a certain aide-de-camp. Prince G . 
 
 " I was looking at you from my box," said the 
 prince, smiling through his perfumed moustaches. 
 " Do you know to whom you were talking .' " 
 
 " No, I do not ; do you .' " 
 
 " The fellow was no fool, was he ? " 
 
 " By no means ; who is he .' " 
 
 The prince bent towards Sipiigin and whispered in 
 French, " My brother. Yes ; he is my brother. A 
 
CHAP. HI.] A NOVEL. 
 
 21 
 
 natural son of my father. His name is Nejdanof. I 
 will tell you about it some day. My father did not 
 expect him in the least, so he called him Nejdanof* 
 However, he has made a provision for him — /'/ lui. a 
 fait un sort .... We give him an annuity. He has 
 brains, too ; and, thanks to my father, he received a 
 good education. Only he has quite gone wrong, - 
 become a kind of Republican. We don't receive him 
 . . . . il est impossible. But, good-bye ; they are 
 calling my carriage." 
 
 The prince disappeared, and the next day Sipiagin 
 read in the Police Gazette the advertisement which 
 Nejddnof had inserted, and thereon went to his 
 rooms 
 
 " My name is Sipiagin," he said to Nejddnof, as he 
 sat before him on a cane chair, and scanned him with 
 a piercing glance. "I have learnt from the papers 
 that you are desirous of taking a tutorship, and I have 
 come to you with the following proposition. I am 
 married, and have one son, a boy nine years old, and 
 can say frankly that he has good abilities. We 
 spend the greater part of the summer and autumn in 
 the country, in the government of S., five verstsf 
 from the chief town. So will you come to us for the 
 vacation, and teach my son Russian and history, the 
 subjects you mention in your advertisement } I 
 venture to think that you will be satisfied with m.e, 
 my family, and the situation of my house. A beauti- 
 ful garden, a river, good air, a roomy house. Do you 
 agree ? In that case I have only to ask your terms, 
 though I do not suppose," added Sipidgin, with a 
 slight smile, " that any difficulties can arise between 
 us on that score." 
 
 The whole time that Sipidgin was speaking, Nej- 
 
 * Nejddnof means " unexpected." 
 
 t A versti or verst (pronounced viorst) is two-thirds of a mile 
 
22 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. III. 
 
 dinof looked at him steadily. He looked at the small 
 head slightly thrown back, the narrow forehead, low, 
 though clever, the thin Roman nose, the pleasant 
 eyes, the well-formed lips, from which flowed the 
 courteous speech, the long whiskers, cut after the 
 English fashion — at all this he looked and wondered. 
 " What does it all mean .? " he thought. " Why is 
 this man literally making up to me .? This aristocrat 
 and I, how did we meet ? What has brought him 
 here .? " 
 
 He became so wrapped in his thoughts that he did 
 not open his lips, even when Sipidgin, having finished 
 his speech, ceased, awaiting an answer. Sipiagin cast 
 a glance into the corner where sat Paklin, devouring 
 him with his eyes, at least as much as Nejddnof Was 
 it not the presence of this third person which was 
 preventing Nejddnof from speaking out .' Sipidgin 
 raised his eyebrows, as if resigning himself to the 
 strangeness of the scene in which, of his own free will, 
 he had become involved ; and, raising his voice as 
 well as his eyebrows, repeated hjs question. 
 
 Nejdanof started. "Of course," he said, rather 
 
 hurriedly, " I agree .... willingly Though I must 
 
 admit .... that I cannot help feeling some astonish- 
 ment, as I have no recommendations .... and the 
 opinions which I uttered the day before yesterday 
 at the theatre ought rather to deter you . . . ." 
 
 " In that you are quite mistaken, Alex^i .... 
 Alex^i Dmi'tritch > I think," said Sipidgin, smiling. " I 
 
 ^ may boldly say that I am known as a man of liberal, 
 
 ^progressive convictions, and, on the contrary, allow- 
 ance being made for all that is peculiar to youth, 
 which is given, with your leave, to a certain exaggera- 
 tion, those opinions of yours are not in the least 
 
 \ opposed to mine, and even please me by their youth- 
 
 Iful fervour." 
 
 __s^ipidgin spoke without the smallest hesitation ; his 
 
CHAP. lll.J A NOVEL. 23 
 
 well-rounded, swimming phrases rolled on like honey- 
 on butter. 
 
 " My wife shares my line of thought,'' he continued ; 
 " her opinions, perhaps, are even closer to yours than 
 to mine, which is intelligible ; she is younger. When 
 I read your name (which, by the way, contrary to the 
 usual custom, you published together with your 
 address) in the papers the day after we met— for I had 
 learnt your name at the theatre — it impressed me. I 
 saw in the coincidence — excuse my superstitious ex- 
 pression — as it were, the finger of Fate. You men- 
 tioned recommendations : to my mind none are 
 necessary. Your appearance, your person, arouse my 
 sympathy — that is enough. I am accustomed to trust 
 my glance ; and so, I may hope that you agree .' " 
 
 " I agree, of course," answered Nejddnof, " and will 
 endeavour to be worthy of your confidence. Only 
 allow me to warn you of one thing, I am ready to be 
 a teacher to your son, but not a tutor. I am not fit 
 for it ; and I do not want to have my hands tied, to 
 lose my freedom." 
 
 Sipiigin waved his hand lightly through the air, as 
 if driving away a fly. 
 
 " Be at ease, my dear sir, you are not of the stuff of 
 which tutors are made, nor do I need a tutor. I want 
 a teacher, and have found one. Now, as to the terms 
 — the money question — the ' filthy lucre ' ? " 
 
 Nejddnbf seemed at a loss what to say. 
 
 " Listen ! " said Sipidgin, leaning his whole body 
 forward, and touching Nejddnof 's knee lightly with 
 the ends of his fingers ; " between civilized people 
 such questions are settled in two words. I offer you a 
 hundred roubles a month ; of course I pay the ex- 
 penses of the journey there and back. Do you agree?" 
 
 Nejdanof again blushed. 
 
 " It is far more than I meant to have asked, because 
 .... I ... ." 
 
24 
 
 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. lii. 
 
 "Enough," broke in Sipi^gin. "I look on the 
 matter as settled, and on you as one of the house- 
 hold." He rose from his chair, and suddenly became 
 quite gay and lively, as if he had received a gift. In 
 all his movements there appeared a kind of pleasant 
 and even jocular familiarity. "We shall be leaving 
 soon," he said, in a frank voice. " I like welcoming 
 the spring in the country, although, from the nature of 
 my occupations, I am a prosaic man, and bound fast 
 to town. Therefore, allow me to count this as your 
 first month, commencing from to-day. My wife and 
 son are already at Moscow ; she has gone on in front, 
 and we shall find them in the country — in the bosom 
 of nature ! You and I will go together as bachelors. 
 He ! he ! " Sipiagin laughed shortly and affectedly 
 'through his nose. " And now . . . ." 
 
 He took from the pocket of his overcoat a black 
 and silver pocket-book, and drew out a card. 
 
 " Here, is my present address. Come and see me — 
 to-morrow, if you like — about twelve o'clock ; we will 
 have anotheir chat. I will explain to you some of my 
 ideas on education ; and we will decide when to 
 leave." , Sipidgin took Nejdanof's hand. "And, 
 another thing," he added, dropping his voice, and 
 putting his head on one side, " if you are in want of 
 an earnest, do not hesitate. Take a month in advance, 
 if you will." 
 
 Nejdanof simply did not know what to answer, and 
 still stood looking doubtfully into that clear, agreeable 
 face, which was so far removed from him, and yet was 
 so close, and smiled so graciously. 
 
 " Don't want it, eh .' " whispered Sipiagin. 
 
 " If you will allow me, I will tell you to-morrow," 
 said Nejdanof, at length. 
 
 " As you wish ! So good-bye, till to-morrow.'' 
 
 Sipiigin let go Nejdanofs hand, and was going 
 out .... 
 
CHAP. III.] A NOVEL. 25 
 
 " Let me ask you ! " suddenly said Nejddnof. " You 
 said just this moment that you learnt my name at the 
 theatre. Who told it you >. " 
 
 " Who ? Why a very good friend of yours, and I 
 think a relation, Prince G ." 
 
 " The aide-de-camp ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Nejddnof blushed redder than before, and opened 
 his mouth, but said nothing. 
 
 Sipidgin again shook his hand, this time in silence, 
 and bowing first to him and then to Pdklin, put on his 
 hat at the door and went out, with a self-satisfied 
 smile on his face. On it was visible the knowledge of 
 the deep impression which his visit could not fail to 
 produce. 
 
26 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SiPlAGiN had hardly had time to step across the 
 threshold before Paklin sprang from his chair, and^ 
 rushing at Nejdanof began to congratulate him. 
 
 "What a sturgeon you have caught!" he said again 
 and again, laughing and dancing about. " Do you 
 know who it is .■" It is the famous Sipidgin, a gen- 
 tleman of the bedchamber — a kind of pillar of society, 
 -a future minister ! " 
 
 " I never heard of him," said Nejdanof, sullenly. 
 
 Paklin waved his hand despairingly. 
 
 " That is just our misfortune, Alex6i Dmi'tritch, that 
 we know no one. We want to act, to turn the whole 
 world upside down, and we live away from that same 
 world, know only a few friends, move in one place, in 
 a narrow circle . . . ." 
 
 " Excuse me," said Nejddnof, " that is not true. We 
 only object to knowing our enemies ; but with people 
 of our own standing, with the nation, we are in con- 
 stant communication." 
 
 " Stop, stop, stop," interrupted Pdklin in his turn. 
 " First, as to our enemies : let me recall to you 
 ■Goethe's lines, — 
 
 " ' Wer den Dichter will versteh'n 
 Muss im Dichter's Lande geh'n.' 
 But I say, — 
 
 " ' Wer die Feinde will versteh'n 
 Muss im Feindes Lande geh'n.' 
 
CHAP. IV.] A NOVEL. 27 
 
 To avoid one's enemies, not to know their customs 
 and life, is ridiculous. Yes, ri . . di . . cu . . lous ! If 
 I want to shoot a Wolf in the forest .... I must know 
 all his ways. Secondly, you said just now, ' to be 
 intimate with the people.' .... Why, my good friend, 
 in 1862 the Poles went out ' do liasu,' into the forest, 
 and we are now going out into the same forest, alone 
 among the people, which to us is as dark and impene- 
 trable as any forest you will ! " 
 
 " Then what ought we to do, according to you ? " 
 
 " The Hindoos throw themselves under the wheels 
 
 of Jaggernaut," continued Pdklin, gloomily. " It 
 
 ^rushes them, and they die .... in bliss. We also 
 
 have our Jaggernaut; as for crushing, it crushes us 
 
 sure enough, but we don't get the bliss." 
 
 " Then what ought we to do, according to you .' " 
 repeated Nejdinof, almost With a shout. "Write^ 
 novels ' with a purpose,' or what .' " 
 
 Paklin opened his arms, and put his head on one 
 side. " The novels you might write, in any case, as yon^ 
 
 have a literary bent Now, don't be angry, I 
 
 won't do it again. I know you do not like hints at 
 that, and I agree with you. To write those things 
 with a purpose, and with the last new terms of ex- 
 pression, too, ' Oh, I love you, she leapt,' ' It 's all the 
 same to me, he scratched his head ' .... is by no 
 means amusing. That is why I repeat to you, be 
 intimate with all classes, beginning with the highest. 
 Don't rely entirely on Ostrodumofs alone. They are 
 worthy fellows, good enough, but stupid, stupid. You 
 look at our friend. The very soles of his shoes are 
 not like those clever people wear. Why did he go 
 out just this minute .' He did not wish to stay in the 
 same room, to breathe the same air, as the aristocrat." 
 
 " I beg you will not speak thus of Ostrodumof in 
 my presence," interrupted Nejdanof, impetuously. " He 
 wears thick boots because they are cheaper." 
 
28 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. IV. 
 
 " I did not mean that," began Paklin. 
 
 " If he does not care to remain in the same room 
 as an aristocrat," continued Nejdanof, in a shriller 
 voice, "why, I praise him for it; and, above all, he 
 knows how to sacrifice himself, and, if needful, he will 
 face death, which neither you nor I will ever do." 
 
 Paklin made a pitiful face, and pointed at his own 
 thin little bandy legs. " How should I fight, friend 
 
 Alex^i Dmitritch ? But enough of that subject 
 
 I repeat I am heartily glad of your intimacy -with Mr. 
 Sipidgin, and even foresee great advantage from that 
 intimacy for our cause. You will find yourself in a 
 higher circle; you will see those lionesses, those womenH^ 
 with velvet bodies on steel springs, as it is said in 
 ' Letters from Spain.' Study them, brother — study 
 them. If you were an epicurean, I should even fear 
 for you, really. But, of course, it is not with that 
 intention that you are taking a situation .' " 
 
 " I am taking a situation," exclaimed Nejdanof, 
 " to give my teeth something to do ... . and to get 
 away from you all for a time," he added inwardly. 
 
 " Why, of course, of course ; and for that reason I 
 tell you ' study.' But what a perfume that gentleman 
 has left behind him !" Paklin sniffed the air. " This 
 is the very ' amber ' of which the mayoress in the 
 ' Revisdr ' * dreamt." 
 
 "He has asked Prince G about me," muttered 
 
 Nejdanof, who was again leaning against the window ; 
 " so he now probably knows all my story." 
 
 "Not 'probably,' but 'certainly.' Why, I will 
 lay a bet that that was exactly what put the 
 idea of taking you as a tutor into his head. What- 
 _ ever you may say, you know that you are an aristocrat 
 — by blood. Well, and in that case one of his caste: 
 But I have stayed too long with you ; I must be 
 
 * A well-known comedy by Gdgol. 
 
CHAP. IV.] A NOVEL. 29 
 
 off to my office, to the exploiteurs* Good-bye, 
 brother." 
 
 Pdklin went towards the door, but stopped and 
 turned round. " Listen, AIi6sha," he said in a 
 caressing voice ; " you refused me a moment ago — you 
 will have money now, I know — but, all the same, allow 
 me to subscribe, if it is only a little, to the common 
 cause. I can give no other help, so let me help with 
 my purse ! Look, I have put a ten-rouble note on 
 the table. Is it accepted 1 " 
 
 Nejdanof did not answer, and did not" even move. 
 
 " Silence is consent. Thanks ! " exclaimed Pdklin 
 Ijgaily, and disappeared. 
 
 Nejddnof remained alone. He continued to look 
 through the window at the narrow dismal yard where 
 no rays even of the summer sun ever penetrated, and 
 his face, too, was dismal. 
 
 Nejddnof's parents, as we already know, were a 
 
 certain Prince G , a wealthy general aide-de-camp, 
 
 and the governess of the latter's daughters, a pretty 
 school-girl, who died on the day of his birth. Nejda- 
 nof received his early education in a school kept by 
 a Swiss, an able and severe pedagogue. He after- 
 wards entered the university. His own wish was to 
 take his degree in law ; but his father, the general, 
 who hated all Nihilists, made him choose " aesthetics," 
 as Nejddnof used t!^ say with a bitter smile, i.e. the 
 school of history and philology .f Nejddnof's father 
 saw him but three or four times a year ; but he took 
 an interest in his fate, and at his death left him, " in 
 remembrance of Ndstenka" (his mother), a sum of 
 6,000 roubles, the interest of which under the name 
 of a pension was paid him by his brothers,'the Princes, 
 
 * A name frequently applied to the middle-class in Russian 
 social St writings. 
 
 + Nihilistic tendencies are much more common among 
 students in law than among those who study classics. 
 
30 VIRGIN SOIL. [cilAP. IV, 
 
 Piklin was not wrong when he called him an 
 
 aristocrat. Everything in him betrayed breeding- 
 his small ears, hands, and feet, his somewhat small 
 but finely cut features, the delicacy of his^skin, the 
 fineness of his hair, his very voice, which had a slight 
 but pleasant lisp. He was terribly nervous, terribly 
 self-conscious, impressionable, and even capricious. 
 The false position in which he had been placed from 
 his very childhood had made him susceptible and 
 touchy ; but the natural nobility of his character pre- 
 vented him from becoming suspicious and distrustful. 
 This same false position also explained the contra- 
 dictions which were apparent in Nejdanof's nature.l 
 Neat to a fault, particular to fastidiousness, he endea- 
 voured to be cynical and coarse in his language. An 
 idealist by nature, passionate and chaste, bold and 
 timid at one and the same time, he was as ashamed 
 of his timidity and of his modesty as if they had 
 been disgraceful faults ; and he held it a duty to ridi- 
 cule all ideals. His heart was tender, yet he avoided 
 people ; he was easily angered, yet he never bore 
 malice. He was enraged with his father for having 
 started him in " aesthetics." Openly in the sight of 
 people he occupied himself solely with political and 
 social questions. He propounded the most advanced 
 opinions (and they at least in him were no mere 
 words) ; but in secret he enjoyed art, poetry, beauty 
 
 ■-in all its forms. He even wrote verses He care- 
 fully hid the book in which he wrote them down ; and 
 of all his Petersburg friends only Paklin — and he by 
 his peculiarly sharp scent — suspected its existence. 
 Nothing made Nejdanof so angry, or offended him 
 so much, as the smallest hint at his poetic tendencies, 
 at that which he deemed an unpardonable weakness. 
 Thanks to the Swiss who had educated him, he knew 
 a good many facts, and was not afraid of work. He 
 
 ■ even worked with pleasure — a little feverishly and 
 
CHAP, IV. j A NOVEL. 31 
 
 irregularly, it is true. His companions liked him. 
 They were attracted by his natural goodness, truth, 
 and purity. But Nejddnof was not born under a 
 lucky star ; his life was not an easy one. He himself 
 felt this deeply, and knew that he was isolated in spite 
 of the attachment of his friends. 
 
 He continued to stand before the window, and he 
 thought, thought sadly and heavily of the journey he 
 had before him — of this sudden, unexpected turn in 
 his fortunes. He did not regret Petersburg. He left 
 in it nothing specially dear to him ; and he knew 
 that he should return in the autumn. And yet he 
 was deep in thought, and an involuntary sadness 
 crept over him. 
 
 " What a tutor I shall make ! " came into his head. 
 " What a pedagogue ! " He was ready to blame 
 himself for having accepted the position. Yet such 
 blame would not have been deserved. Nejdanof's 
 knowledge was sufficient, and, despite his uneven 
 temper, children went to him without compulsion ; 
 and he also easily became attached to them. The 
 sadness which had seized Nejddnof was that feeling 
 which accompanies every change of abode — a feeling 
 which all melancholy, all thoughtful people have. 
 To those of an alert, sanguine temperament it is 
 unknown. They are rather ready to rejoice when the 
 daily groove of their life is broken into, when their 
 usual habits are changed. Nejddnof became so 
 wrapped in his thoughts that at last, almost uncon- 
 sciously, they began to take the form of words. The 
 ideas which were wandering within him were shaping 
 themselves into rhythm 
 
 " Oh, the devil ! " he exclaimed aloud. " I believe I 
 was beginning to versify ! " He roused himself and 
 left the window ; seeing the ten-rouble note which 
 Pdklin had left lying on the table, he put it into his 
 pocket, and began walking to and fro. 
 
 "I shall have totake an earnest," he thought, " as that 
 
32 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. IV. 
 
 gentleman proposes it. A hundred roubles from him, 
 and another hundred from my brothers, the Princes. 
 Fifty for my debts, fifty or seventy for the journey, and 
 the rest to Ostrodiimof And this of Pdklin's he can 
 have too ; and I must get something from Merkiilof." 
 
 While he was making these calculations, the rhythm- 
 ical feeling again stirred within him. He stopped 
 thoughtfully, and, looking to one side, remained im- 
 movable. Then his hands, as if of their own accord, 
 sought and opened the drawer of the table, and brought 
 out from its inmost depths a manuscript book. . . . 
 
 He sank on to a chair, without changing the direction 
 of his look, took a pen, and humming to himself half 
 audibly, while now and then tossing back his hair, he 
 began, with many blots and corrections, to set down 
 ■one line after another. 
 
 The door in the passage opened slightly, and 
 Mashurina's head appeared. Nejddnof did not notice 
 her, and continued his work. She looked at him long 
 and steadily, and shaking her head from right to left, 
 •drew back. But Nejdanof suddenly started up, looked 
 round, and saying with vexation, " Oh, it is you ! " 
 threw the book into the table-drawer. 
 
 Then Mashdrina entered with her firm step. 
 
 " Ostrodiimof has sent me to you," she said, slowly, 
 *' to know when he can have the money. If you can 
 get it to-day, we will leave this evening." 
 
 " To-day I cannot," answered Nejddnof, knitting his 
 brows. " Come to-morrow." 
 
 "At what time.?" 
 
 "At two." 
 
 " Good." 
 
 Mashurina remained silent a moment, then gave 
 Nejdanof her hand. 
 
 " I think I interrupted you. Excuse me. And 
 then .... I am going away. Who knows if we shall 
 meet again .■' I wished to say good-bye to you." 
 
 Nejddnof shook her cold, red fingers^ 
 
CHAP. IV.] A NOVEL. 33 
 
 " You saw that gentleman who was with me ? " he 
 began. " We have agreed that I am to take a situation 
 in his house. His property is in the government of 
 S., near the town itself." 
 
 A smile of pleasure passed across Mashiirina's face. 
 
 " Near S. ! Then perhaps we shall meet again. 
 Perhaps they will send us there." 
 
 Mashurina sighed, " Ah, Alex6i Dmi'tritch . . . ." 
 
 " What .' " said Nejdanof 
 
 Mashurina put on a pre-occupied look. 
 
 " Nothing. Good-bye. Nothing ! " 
 
 She once more pressed Nejddnof s hand, and went 
 out. 
 
 " And in all Petersburg there is no one scr attached 
 to me as that queer girl ! " thought Nejddnof. " But 
 what did she want to disturb me for .' . . . . However, 
 it is just as well ! " 
 
 The next morning Nejddnof went to Sipidgin's 
 town house ; he found him in a superb study, 
 furnished in the most severe style, quite befitting the 
 position of the liberal statesman and gentleman, sit- 
 ting before an enormous desk, on which in perfect 
 order lay papers which were of no use to any one or 
 for anything side by side with gigantic ivory paper- 
 cutters which had never cut a sheet. There for a 
 whole hour Nejddnof listened to the host as he ex- 
 pounded his liberal ideas, and gave himself up to the 
 charm of the wise, benevolent, condescending flow of 
 words, then received his hundred roubles earnest 
 money. Ten days later that same Nejddnof, 
 reclining on a velvet sofa in a reserved compartment 
 of a first-class carriage, side by side with the same 
 wise and liberal statesman and gentleman, was. being 
 hurried towards Moscow over the uneven rails of the 
 Nicolas line. 
 
34 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. V. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 In the drawing-room of a large stone house with a 
 classical facade and columns, built about the year 
 twenty of the present century by Sipidgin's father, a 
 well-known agriculturist and "dentiste,"* sat his 
 wife, Valenti'na Mikhailovna, a remarkably handsome 
 woman, awaiting every moment the arrival of her 
 husband, announced by telegram. The furniture of 
 the drawing-room bore signs of the latest and^^ost 
 artistic taste. Everything in it was pretty and 
 cheerful — everything, from the gay chintz curtains 
 and coverings down to the various china, bronze, and 
 crystal trifles which were scattered over tables and 
 etagires. Everything stood out softly and harmo- 
 niously, and blended with the cheerful beams, of the 
 May-day sun, which poured freely through the lofty 
 windows standing wide open. The air in the room, 
 heavy with the scent of the lily of the valley (large 
 bouquets of which lovely spring flower gleamed 
 brightly iiere and there), drifted gently now and 
 again, stirred by a light breath of wind which wan- 
 dered in from over the richly blossoming garden. 
 
 It was a beautiful picture, and the hostess herself, 
 Valentfna Mikhailovna Sipiagina, completed the 
 picture hy giving it meaning and life. She was 
 ' * Russian slang for a bully. 
 
AP. v.] A NOVEL. 35 
 
 Dut thirty, tall, with dark chestnut hair, a brown but 
 
 ar even-tinted face, whoseoutline reminded oneof the 
 
 ttine Madonna, with wonderful deep velvety eyes. 
 
 ;r lips were a little thick and pale, her shoulders 
 
 ;her high, her hands rather big. But, in spite of all 
 
 is, every one who could have seen her moving easily 
 
 d gracefully through the drawing-room, now bend- 
 
 y her slim, slightly made figure, with a smile, over 
 
 t flowers, to enjoy their scent, now moving some 
 
 linese vase, now quickly arranging her shining curls 
 
 fore the glass, with her marvellous eyes half closed, — 
 
 ery one, we repeat, would certainly have exclaimed, 
 
 :her to himself or aloud, that he had never met a 
 
 3re captivating creature ! 
 
 A pretty, curly-headed boy of nine, in a Scotch 
 
 sturae, with bare legs, with his hair elaborately 
 
 rled and pomaded, ran headlong into the drawing- 
 
 om, and stopped suddenly at the sight of Valenti'na 
 
 ikhdilovna. 
 
 "What is it, Kolia?"* she asked. Her voice was 
 
 soft and velvety as her eyes. 
 
 " Why, mamma," the boy began, in a confused 
 
 anner, " auntie sent me ... . told me to bring her 
 
 me lilies of the valley .... for her room .... she 
 
 isn't any . . . ." 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna took her son by the chin and 
 
 ised his curly head. 
 
 " Tell auntie that she may send to the gardener for 
 
 ies of the valley : these are mine. I do not want 
 
 lem to be touched. Tell her that I do not like my 
 
 rangements upset. Shall you be able to repeat my 
 
 ords >. " 
 
 " Yes . . . ." whispered the boy. 
 
 " Well, tell me what you will say." 
 
 " I will say .... that you won't let me." 
 
 * Diminutive of Nikoldi. 
 
• 6 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. v. 
 
 Valentfna Mikhailovna laughed. Her laugh too 
 was soft. 
 
 " I see that I can't trust you with messages yet. 
 Well, it 's all the same ; say whatever comes into 
 your head." 
 
 The boy quickly kissed his mother's hand, which 
 was loaded with rings, and rushed out. 
 
 Valentfna Mikhdilovna followed him with her eyes, 
 gave a sigh, and sauntered towards a gilt wire cage, 
 up the side of which a little green parrot was climbing, 
 holding on carefully with beak and claws, and tickled 
 him with the end of her finger ; then she sank on to 
 a low divan, and, taking the last number of the Revue 
 des Deux Mondes off a little round carved table, began 
 to turn over the leaves. 
 
 A respectful cough made her look up. On the 
 threshold stood a highly correct servant in livery and 
 a white necktie. 
 
 " What is it, Agath6n .? " she asked, in the same soft 
 voice. 
 
 " Seme6n Petrovitch Kallom^itsef has arrived, 
 ma'am. Will you receive him } " 
 
 " Show him in, of course, show him in ; and let 
 Marianna Vik^ntievna be asked to come down to the 
 drawing-room." 
 
 Valentfna Mikhailovna threw the Revue on to the 
 table, and, leaning back on the divan, raised her eyes 
 and looked thoughtful, which was extremely becoming. 
 Seme6n Petrovitch Kallom^itsef was a young man 
 of thirty-two. Merely by the way in which, he 
 entered the room, freely, carelessly, and languidly ; by 
 the way he suddenly beamed out, as he bowed rather 
 to one side and straightened himself springily ; 
 by the manner he spoke, slightly through his nose 
 and rather affectedly ; by the respectful way in which 
 he kissed Valentfna Mikhdilovna's hand, — by all these 
 tigns one could guess that the new arrival was no 
 
CHAP, v.] A NOVEL. 37 
 
 inhabitant of the country, no casual neighbour, even 
 of the richest, but a real Petersburger of the highest 
 flight. Besides which, he was dressed in the last 
 English fashion ; the embroidered corner of a new 
 white cambric handkerchief peeped in a tiny triangle 
 out of the flat breast-pocket of a morning jacket ; a 
 single eye-glass dangled at the end of a rather broad 
 black ribbon. The dull grey of his Swedish gloves 
 went well with the pale grey of his checked trousers. 
 Mr. Kallomditsef had his hair clipped close, his chin 
 shaved smooth. His somewhat feminine face, with 
 its small eyes set near each other, its thin turned-up 
 nose and fat red lips, wore the easy expression of a 
 highly educated nobleman. Though full of politeness, 
 it easily became wicked, even rude ; it was sufficient 
 for any one to ruffle Semedn Petr6vitch in any way, 
 to ruffle his conservative, patriotic, and religious feel- 
 ings, and then, oh, then, he became merciless ; all his 
 elegance vanished instantly, his gentle eyes shone 
 with an unpleasant light, his charming mouth uttered 
 words by no means charming, and he invoked, in 
 shrill tones he invoked, the aid of government. 
 
 Seme6n Petr6vitch's family was descended from 
 simple market-gardeners. His great-grandfather was 
 called Kolomdntsof,* after the place of his birth ; 
 but his grandfather already styled himself Kolom^itsef, 
 his father wrote it Kollomditsef, Semeon Petrovitch 
 changed the " o," and deemed himself an aristocrat of 
 the bluest blood. On this subject he allowed no 
 jests. He even hinted that his family sprang from 
 certain Barons von Gallenmeier, one of whom was an 
 Austrian field-marshal in the Thirty Years' War. 
 Seme6n Petr6vitch was a court official, and held the 
 rank of Kammerjunker ; his patriotism prevented 
 him from entering the diplomatic service, where, it 
 might have been thought, everything would have 
 * Kolomna is a town not far from Moscow. 
 
38 VIRGIN SOIL. [ctlAP. V. 
 
 been in his favour : his education, his experience of the 
 world, his success among women, his very appear- 
 ance mais quitter la Russie ? — ^jamais ! Kallo- 
 
 m6itsef had a fair property and some influence ; he 
 passed for a trustworthy and loyal man — " un peu 
 trop .... f^odal dans ses opinions," as the famous 
 Prince B., one of the lights of the Petersburg official 
 world, expressed it. He had come into the govern- 
 ment of S. on a two months' leave, " to occupy him- 
 self with his estate," i.e., "to frighten one, to squeeze 
 another." Impossible, you know, to do otherwise ! 
 
 " I thought I should have found Bon's Andr^itch 
 already here," he began, standing first on one leg, then 
 on the other, and looking suddenly to one side, in 
 imitation of a certain very great personage. 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna closed her eyes softly. 
 " Otherwise you would not have come ? " 
 
 Kallom^itsef almost fell backwards, so unjust and 
 impossible did the question appear to him. 
 
 " Valenti'na Mikhailovna ! " he exclaimed, " is it 
 possible that you can imagine .... .■' " 
 
 "Well, well, sit down. Bon's Andr^itch will be 
 here directly. I have sent a carriage to the station 
 for him. Wait a little, you will see him. What is 
 the time > " 
 
 " Half past two," answered Kallom^itsef, taking 
 out of his pocket a large enamelled gold watch. He 
 showed it to Sipiagina. " Have you seen my watch .■' 
 Mikhdil gave it me — the Prince of Servia, you know, 
 the Obr^novitch. Look, this is his motto. He is a 
 great friend of mine ; we have hunted together. A 
 capital fellow ! And an iron hand, as a ruler should 
 have. Oh, he will stand no nonsense ! No-o-b ! " 
 
 Kallom^itsef sat down in an armchair, crossed his 
 legs, and began slowly to pull off his left glove. 
 " Now if we had such a Mikhdil here, in our govern- 
 ment of S. ! " 
 
CHAP, v.] A NOVEL. 39 
 
 " Why, are you dissatisfied with anything ? " 
 Kallom^itsef made a wry face. "Why, that Zemstvo !* 
 that Zemstvo ! what is the use of it ? Only" weakens 
 the administration, and excites .... unnecessary ideas^ 
 .... (Kallomditsef waved his left hand, which was 
 now free from the pressure of the glove) " and hopes 
 which cannot be realized " (Kallom^itsef breathed on 
 
 his hand). " I told them all this in Petersburg 
 
 Mais, bah ! the wind is not blowing in that quarter. 
 -Even your husband, just think! However, he is a 
 well-known radical." 
 
 Sipiigina sat up on her ottoman. 
 
 " What, are you also, Mr. Kallom^itsef, among the 
 opposition .-"' 
 
 " I in the opposition .' Never ! Not on any 
 account. Mars j'ai mon franc parler. I sometimes 
 criticize, but always submit." 
 
 "Ah, I reverse that. I never criticize, and never 
 submit." 
 
 " Ah, mais c'est un mot. I will tell it, with your 
 permission, to my friend Ladislas — vous savez — who is 
 about to publish a novel of high life, and has already 
 read me a few chapters. It will be delightful. Nous 
 aurons enfin le grand monde russe peint par lui- 
 meme." 
 
 " Where will it appear .' " 
 
 " In the Russian Messenger, of course. It is our 
 Revue des Deux Mondes. I see, you read that."- 
 
 " Yes ; but do you know it is becoming very dull." 
 
 " Possibly, possibly. And the Russian Messenger, 
 too, of late has perhaps, to speak the language of the 
 day, gone down a peg." 
 
 Kallomditsef laughed hugely. He seemed to think 
 his expression extremely funny. 
 
 "Mais c'est un journal qui se respecte," he con- 
 tinued ; " and that is the chief thing. I may tell you 
 * Elective provincial assembly, instituted in 1866. 
 
y 
 f 
 
 i\i 
 
 40 VIRGIN SOU. [chap. V. 
 
 I take little interest in Russian literature. All sorts 
 of low people figure in it now. They have reached a 
 point at last when the heroine of a novel is a cook — a 
 mere cook, parole d'honneur. But Ladislas's novel I 
 must certainly read. II y aura le petit mot pour rire. 
 And the tendency, the tendency ! The Nihilists w ill 
 |^\^ be held up to scorn. That is guaranteed by the 
 y 'opinions of Ladislas — qui est tr^s correct." 
 
 " More than his past is," remarked Sipi%ina. 
 
 "Ah, jetons un voile sur les erreurs de sa jeunesse," 
 exclaimed Kallom^itsef, as he drew off his right 
 glove. 
 
 Mrs. Sipiagina again slightly closed her eyes. She 
 used to play the coquette a little with those wonderful 
 eyes. 
 
 " Semeon Petr^itch," she said, " let me ask you 
 why it is that in speaking Russian you use so many 
 French words ? It seems to me — excuse me — that 
 the fashion has rather gone out." 
 
 " Why ^ why ? Everybody cannot wield our native 
 tongue as well as you, for instance. As for me, I 
 recognizee the Russian language, the language of 
 ukazes and regulations. I value its purity. I bow 
 before Karamzin.* But the Russian language for 
 every-day use, does it exist } Now, for instance, how 
 would you translate my exclamation, de tout a 
 Fheure ; 'c'est un mot'.? — It is a — wprd? Impos- 
 sible." 
 
 " I should have said, ' It is a happy word.' " 
 
 Kallomditsef laughed. 
 
 '"A happy word,' Valenti'na Mikhailovna! Do 
 you not feel that it smells of the seminary . . . . ? All 
 the salt is gone . . . V 
 
 "Well, you will not convince me. But where is 
 Mariinna V 
 
 * A well-known historian, who wrote in rather pompous, 
 formal -Russian. 
 
JAP, v.] A NOVEL. 41 
 
 She rang a bell. A page appeared. 
 " I ordered that Marianna Vikdntievna should be 
 iked to come into the drawing-room. Was she not 
 .Id?" 
 
 The page had not time to answer when behind him 
 1 the threshold appeared a young girl, with her hair 
 opped, dressed in a dark blouse, Marianna Vikdn- 
 evna Sindtskaia, a niece of Sipidgin on her mother's, 
 de. 
 
42 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ^' Excuse me, Valentfna Mikhailovna," she said, ap- 
 proaching Sipiagina. " I was occupied and time 
 slipped away." 
 
 Then she bowed to Kallom^itsef, and, going aside, sat 
 down on a Httle stool close to the parrot, which on 
 seeing her fluttered its wings and stretched its neck 
 towards her. 
 
 " Why have . you gone so far off, Mariai;ina .' " 
 remarked Sipiagina, whose eyes had followed her 
 up to the stool. " You want to be near your small 
 friend .' Imagine, Seme6n Petr6vitch," — ^she turned to 
 Kallom^itsef — " that parrot is simply in love with our 
 Marianna . . . ." 
 
 " I do not wonder at it ! " 
 
 " And cannot endure me." 
 
 " Now that is wonderful ! I suppose you tease 
 it ■>. " 
 
 " Never ; on the contrary I feed it with sugar ; only 
 it will take nothing from me. No, it is sympathy and 
 antipathy . . . ." 
 
 Maridnna and Sipiagina glanced at each other under 
 their eyebrows. There was no love lost between 
 these two women. 
 
 Compared to her aunt, Marianna might almost 
 have been called ugly. Her face was round, her nose 
 large and hooked, her eyes grey, but also large and 
 very bright, her eyebrows and lips thin, the thick 
 
CHAP. VI. J A NOVEL. 43 
 
 brown hair was cut short, and her look was heavy. 
 
 \But there was something strong and bold, something 
 impetuous and passionate, about her. Her hands and 
 feet were tiny ; her small, firm, and lithe figure 
 reminded one of the Florentine statues of the six- 
 teenth century, and her movements were graceful and 
 light 
 
 Sin^tskaia's position in the Sipiagins' house was 
 somewhat difficult. Her father, a clever and energetic 
 man of partly Polish blood, worked his way up to the 
 rank of general, but suddenly fell, detected in a 
 gigantic fraud against the Crown ; he was tried, 
 condemned, deprived of his rank and nobility, and 
 sent to Siberia. Then he was pardoned and returned, 
 but could not regain his place, and died in the greatest 
 poverty. His wife, Sipiigin's sister, the mother of 
 Mariclnna (who was an only child) could not bear the 
 blow which had destroyed all her comfort, and died 
 soon after her husband. Sipiagin gave his niece 
 Maridnna a home. But she had a horror of living as 
 a dependent. She was eager for freedom, with all the 
 might of her untameable soul, and between her and her 
 aunt raged a continual though concealed struggle. 
 
 VSipiagina considered her a Nihilist and an atheist ; on 
 her side Marianna hated Sipiigina as her inevitable 
 oppressor. Her uncle she avoided, as she did other 
 
 V. people. I say avoided, and not feared ; her character 
 was a fearless one. 
 
 "Antipathy," echoed Kallomeitsef, "yes, it is a 
 strange thing. Every one, for instance, knows that I 
 am a most religious man. Orthodox in the full sense of 
 the word ; but the long hair of a priest I cannot behold 
 with equanimity. Something boils within me — simply 
 boils." 
 
 Kallomeitsef even showed, by twice raising his 
 clenched fist, how something boiled within his 
 breast. 
 
44 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. VI, 
 
 " You are generally touchy on the subject of hair,* 
 Seme6n Petr6vitch," remarked Marianna, " I am sure 
 you cannot see with equanimity hair cut close like 
 mine." 
 
 , Sipiagina slowly raised her eyebrows, and put her 
 head on one side, as if wondering at the freedom with 
 I which the young ladies of the present day take part- 
 fin conversation ; Kallomeitsef smiled condescend- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Of course," he said, " I cannot but regret the fate 
 of fair curls like yours, Marianna Vikentievna, which 
 fall under the ruthless blade of the scissors ; but I 
 have no antipathy to short hair, and in any case your 
 example might convert me." 
 
 " Thank Heaven ! Marianna has not yet taken to 
 spectacles," broke in Sipidgina, " nor parted with 
 collars and cuffs ; but she occupies hers glf with 
 natural science, to my sincere regret, and she also 
 takes an mterest inJji e rights of wome n^.^ . . . Do you 
 not ^ Marianna .? " 
 
 AH this was meant to confuse her, but she was not 
 to be confused. 
 
 ■" Yes, aunt," she answered, " I read all that is written 
 about it and do my best to understand the question." 
 
 " This is what comes of being young," said Sipidgina, 
 turning to Kallomeitsef: "now you and I no longer 
 occupy ourselves with such things — eh ? " 
 
 Kallomeitsef smiled sympathizingly ; he had to 
 countenance the charming lady's amusing joke. " 
 
 " Maridnna Vikentievna," he began, " is still filled 
 with that idealizing romance of youth, which in 
 time " 
 
 " However, I am making myself out worse than I 
 am," interrupted Sipiagina. "These questions do 
 interest me. I am not quite an old woman yet." 
 
 " And I too am interested in all this," hurriedly ex- 
 * Priests in Russia wear their hair uncut. 
 
CHAP. VI.] A NOVEL. 45 
 
 claimed Kallom^itsef, " only I should forbid people to 
 talk about it 1 " 
 
 " Forbid people to talk about it ? " asked Maridnna. 
 
 " Yes ! I should tell the public, ' You may take an 
 interest, but no talking,' — sh — " he placed his finger on 
 his lips. " In any case, I should forbid print, uncon- 
 ditionally ! " 
 
 Sipiagina laughed. 
 
 " Why, would you appoint a commission from the 
 ministry to decide that question } " 
 
 " A commission, and why not .-' Do you think we 
 should decide the question worse than all those starve- 
 ling scribblers who see no further than their own 
 noses and who imagine that they are geniuses of the 
 first water. . .? We would appoint Bon's Andr^itch 
 president. . . ." 
 
 Sipidgina laughed more merrily than before. "Take 
 care," she said, " my husband is sometimes a terrible 
 Jacobin." 
 
 " Jacko, jacko, jacko," said the parrot. 
 
 Valent/na Mikhiilovna shook her handkerchief at it. 
 " Don't interrupt clever people's talk ! Maridnna, play 
 with it." 
 
 Maridnna turned to the cage and began to scratch 
 the parrot's neck, which it at once stretched out. 
 
 " Yes," continued Sipidgina, " Bor/s Andrditch some- 
 times astonishes even me. He has in him something 
 of the . . . tribune." 
 
 " C'est parce qu'il est orateur!" broke in Kallom^itsef, 
 warmly, in French. " Your husband has the gift of 
 speaking as few have it, and he is accustomed to 
 shine .... ses propres paroles le grisent .... and 
 then there is the wish for popularity, and he is a little 
 put out now, too, is he not ? II boude .' Eh .' " 
 
 Sipidgina looked at Maridnna. 
 
 " I have not remarked anything," she said, after 
 short pause. 
 
46 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. VI. 
 
 " Yes," continued Kallom^itsef, in a thoughtful 
 tone, " they rather passed him over at Easter. . . ." 
 
 Sipiagina again indicated Marianna with her eyes. 
 
 Kallomditsef smiled and blinked, as if to say, " I 
 understand." " Maridnna Vik^ntievna ! " he suddenly 
 exclaimed, in an unnecessarily loud tone, "do you 
 intend to teach in the school again this year .' " 
 
 Marianna turned away from the cage. 
 
 " Does that also interest you, Semeon Petrovitch?" 
 
 " Of course ; it interests me very greatly." 
 
 " You would not forbid it, then } " 
 
 " I would forbid Nihilists even to think of schools ; 
 but under the care of the clergy, and with supervision 
 over the clergy, I would start them myself." 
 
 " Really, I do not know what I shall do this year. 
 Last year everything went so badly. And what 
 school can one expect in summer ? " 
 
 Whe n Marianna spoke, she grew redder and redder, 
 as if it cost her an effort, as if she had to force herself 
 to continue.. She was still very self-conscious. 
 
 " You are perhaps not sufficiently prepared ? " said 
 Sipiagina, with an ironical quiver in her voice. 
 
 " Perhaps not." 
 
 "What.?" exclaimed Kallom^itsef "What do I 
 hear ? Good Heaven^ ! To teach peasant-girls the 
 ^s^lphabet one needs preparation ?" 
 
 At that moment Kolia rushed into the drawing- 
 room, with a shout, — 
 
 " Mamma, mamma, papa is coming ! " and after 
 him, rolling along on her fat little legs, came a white- 
 haired old lady in a cap and a yellow shawl, who also 
 said that Bori'nka * would be here in a minute. 
 
 The old lady was Sipidgin's aunt, Anna Zakharovna 
 
 by name. All those who were in the drawing-room 
 
 sprang from their seats, and rushed into the hall, then 
 
 down the steps of the main entrance. A long avenue 
 
 * Diminutive of Borfs. 
 
CHAP. VI.] A NOVEL. 47 
 
 of clipped firs ran from the main road straight up to 
 the door, and a four-horse carriage was already driving 
 up it. Valentfna Mikhdilovna, who was standing in 
 front, waved her handkerchief; K61ia screamed 
 shrilly ; the coachman pulled up the steaming horses 
 smartly ; the footman flew down from the box, and 
 almost jerked the carriage-door off its hinges, handle, 
 lock, and all ; then, with a benevolent smile on his 
 lips, in his eyes, over all his face, throwing off his 
 cloak with one active movement of his shoulders, 
 Boris Andrditch stepped to the ground. Valentina 
 Mikhiilovna quickly and gracefully threw her arms 
 round his neck and kissed him thrice. K61ia was 
 stamping and pulling his father's coat-tails, but the 
 latter first kissed Anna Zakharovna, after having 
 removed from his head a very ugly and uncomfortable 
 Scotch travelling-cap, then saluted Marianna and 
 Kallomditsef, who had also come out (with Kallom^it- 
 sef he shook hands vigorously after the English style, 
 as if he were ringing a bell), and only then turned to 
 his son, whom he took under the arms and raised to 
 his face. 
 
 While all this was going on, Nejddnof alighted 
 quietly from the carriage, with a guilty look, and 
 stood by the front wheel, keeping his hat on and look- 
 ing from under his eyebrows. Valentina Mikhdilovna, 
 as she embraced her husband, glanced keenly over 
 his shoulder at the new figure ; Sipiigin had warned 
 her to expect the tutor with him. 
 
 All the company, continuing to welcome the newly 
 arrived master of the house, moved up the staircase, 
 on either side of which were ranged the upper 
 servants. They did not kiss his hand.that " Asiaticism " 
 V had long been abolished, but only bowed respectfully, 
 and Sipiigin answered their bows, rather with his 
 brows an(i nose than with his head. 
 
 Nejdinof, too, walked up the broad steps. When 
 
48 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. VI. 
 
 they reached the hall, Sipidgin, who had been seeking 
 him with his eyes, presented him to his wife, to Anna 
 Zakharovna and to Maridnna, and said to K6Ha, — 
 
 " This is your tutor ; you will please obey him. 
 Give him your hand." 
 
 K61ia timidly gave Nejddnof his hand, and then 
 looked at him, but apparently not finding anything 
 remarkable or agreeable in him, eaught hold of his 
 papa again. 
 
 Nejdclnof felt as uncomfortable as he had been at 
 the theatre. He had on rather an old and worn-out 
 cloak, and the dust of the road had settled on his 
 hands and face. Valenti'na Mikhailovna said a few 
 pleasant words, but he did not hear them clearly and 
 did not answer ; he only remarked that she looked 
 very brightly and pleasantly at her husband, and leant 
 upon him very lovingly. K61ia's carefully curled and 
 pomaded hair did not please him. When he saw 
 Kallom^itsef, he thought " What a well-licked face ! " 
 and to the others he paid no attention whatever. 
 
 Sipiagin twice turned his head round gravely, as if , 
 inspecting his penates, by which his long whiskers 
 and the rather small prominent back of his head were 
 very clearly shown. Then, in a strong, pleasing voice, 
 though rather hoarse from dust, he called to one of 
 the servants, — 
 
 " Ivdn, show this gentleman to the green room, and 
 take his portmanteau up," and told Nejddnof that 
 he might now rest, see to his things, and wash himself, 
 and that dinner was at five precisely. 
 
 Nejdanof bowed and followed Ivdn to the green 
 loom, which was on the first floor. 
 
 Every one then went into the drawing-room, where 
 the welcoming recommenced. There appeared a half- 
 blind old nurse "with her duty." Sipidgin, out of 
 respect for her age, allowed her to kiss his hand, then, 
 •excusing himself to Kallom^itsef, went to his room 
 accompanied by his wife. 
 
CHAP. VII.] A NOVEL. 49 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The room into which the servant showed Nejdanof 
 was large and pleasant, and overlooked the garden. 
 The windows were open, and a gentle wind puffed out 
 the white curtains, which swelled like sails and alter- 
 nately rose and fell. Across the ceiling patches of 
 golden light moved gently to and fro, and the whole 
 room was full of the fresh, somewhat moist breath of 
 spring. Nejddnof began by sending away the servant, 
 unpacking his portmanteau, washing, and changing. 
 The journey had worn him out. Spending two days 
 alone with a stranger, with whom he had talked much 
 and fruitlessly on many Subjects, had irritated his 
 nerves. A bitter feeling, hardly dulness, nor yet 
 anger, had secretly pervaded the very depths of his 
 being. He hated himself for his weakness, but in 
 his heart was still despondent. 
 
 He walked to the window and stood looking into 
 the garden. It was a garden of the time of our fore- 
 fathers, such as flourishes on the black land,* such as 
 you will not find to the north of Moscow. It was 
 situated on the gentle slope of a hill, and consisted of 
 four quite distinct divisions. For two hundred yards 
 in front of the house exten'ded the flower-garden, with 
 straight gravel walks, groups of acacias and lilacs, and 
 round flower-beds ; to the left, past the stable, up to 
 
 * A strip of very fertile land running across the centre of 
 
 ■Russia. 
 
 E 
 
so, VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. VII. 
 
 the farm-yard, lay a kitchen-garden, thickly planted 
 with apple, pear, and plum-trees, currant and raspberry 
 bushes. Straight in front of the house rose alleys of 
 limes planted in a square. To the right the view was 
 bounded by a path planted with a double row of 
 silver poplars ; the gabled roof of a hot-house peeped 
 over a group of weeping birch-trees. The whole 
 garden was in the first beauty of its delicate green 
 spring foliage ; the deep hum of insects was not yet 
 heard as in summer ; the young leaves whispered ; 
 chaffinches twittered here and there ; a couple of doves 
 sat cooing on the same tree, and a cuckoo was heard, 
 changing its place every time ; while from over 
 the mill-pond came the distant cawing of a multitude 
 of rooks, like the creaking of many cart-wheels. And 
 over all this young, quiet, solitary life sailed the bright, 
 round-breasted clouds, like great, lazy birds. Nejdanof 
 looked and listened, and drew in the air through his 
 cold, open lips, and his heart grew lighter ; the quiet 
 reacted upon him also. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the dressing-room below, the talk 
 was about him. Sipiagin told his wife how he had 
 
 made his acquaintance, what Prince G- . had told 
 
 him, and the conversation they had carried on during 
 the journey. 
 
 " A clever lad," he repeated, " and well informed. 
 It is true he is a ' red,' but then you know I do not 
 mind that : those people are at least ambitious. And 
 K61ia is too young to catch any silly ideas .from 
 him." 
 
 Valentina Mikhailovna listened to her husband 
 with a gentle but slightly mischievous smile, as if he 
 were confessing to her a rather strange but amusing 
 folly. She seemed rather pleased that her seigneur et 
 mattre, such a staid man and important oflScial, was 
 still capable of playing such a trick, like a lad of 
 twenty. Sipidgin stood before the glass in a snow- 
 
CHAP, vn.] A NOVEL. 51 
 
 white shirt, with light-blue silken braces, and brushed 
 his head with a pair of brushes after the English 
 fashion, while Valentfna Mikhdilovna, who was sitting 
 with her feet under her on a low Turkish divan, 
 began to give him bits of information about the 
 estate ; the paper-mill — which, alas ! was not going 
 on as satisfactorily as it should ; about the cook, who 
 would have to be changed ; about the church, off 
 which the plaster was peeling ; about Maridnna, 
 Kallom^itsef, &c. 
 
 Between this couple there existed a sincere • con- 
 fidence and understanding. They really did live " in 
 love and counsel," as was said of old, and when 
 Sipidgin, having finished his toilet, gallantly asked 
 his wife for her hand, when she gave him both, and 
 looked at him with tender pride as he kissed them 
 alternately, the feeling expressed in their faces was 
 a good and truthful one, though in her it shone in 
 eyes worthy of Raphael, and in him in the simple 
 " peepers " of a general.* 
 
 At five precisely Nejddnof went downstairs to 
 dinner, which was announced not by a bell, but by 
 the clash of a Chinese gong. The whole compariy 
 was already assembled in the dining-room. Sipi%in 
 again welcomed him from over his lofty cravat, and 
 showed him his place at table between Anna Zakhd- 
 rovna and K61ia. 
 
 Anna Zakhdrovna was an old maid, sister of 
 Sipiigin's father. She smelt of camphor, like clothes 
 that have long been put aside, and had a restless and 
 unhappy look. Her part in the household was that 
 of a kind of nurse to K61ia, and her wrinkled face 
 expressed displeasure when Nejddnof took his place 
 between her and her pupil. 
 
 K61ia kept on looking sideways at his new neigh- 
 
 * Civilians in Russia often assume the military rank corre- 
 sponding to their own in the official service. 
 
52 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. vn. 
 
 bour. The sharp boy soon understood that his 
 tutor was uncomfortable and confused. Nejddnof 
 did not raise his eyes, and ate hardly anything. 
 K61ia was pleased at this. Up to this time he had 
 feared lest the tutor should prove stern and severe. 
 Valentfna Mikhdilovna also glanced from time to 
 time at Nejddnof. 
 
 " He looks like a student," she thought, " and he 
 has seen nothing of the world ; but his face is inter- 
 esting, and the colour of his hair is original, like that 
 of the apostle whom the early Italian masters always 
 painted with red hair. His hands, too, are clean." 
 
 In fact, every one at the table looked at Nejddnof, 
 but seemed to pity him, and to wish to leave him to 
 himself at first ; and he felt this, and was content 
 that it should be so, and yet, for some reason, was 
 vexed. Kallom^itsef and Sipidgin carried on the 
 conversation. It ran on the provincial assembly, on 
 the governor, on the taxes for roads, on certificates of 
 exemption, on common friends in Moscow and 
 Petersburg, on Mr. Kdtkof's college, which was then 
 coming into power, on the difiSculty of finding 
 labourers, on fines, and pounding of cattle ; also on 
 Bismarck, the war of 1866, and on Napoleon III., 
 whom Kallom^itsef called a fine fellow. 
 
 The young Kammerjunker expressed the most 
 retrograde opinions. He went so far at last as to 
 repeat — as a joke, however — a toast which some 
 friend of his had proposed at a birthday banquet. 
 "I drink to the only principles I recognize," had 
 exclaimed this excited landowner, "the knout and 
 Roederer!" 
 
 Valentfna Mikhdilovna frowned, and remarked that 
 the quotation was " de tr^s-mauvais gofit." 
 
 Sipidgin, on his side, expressed the most liberal 
 ideas. He refuted Kallom^itsef politely, but with a 
 shade of contempt, and even laughed at him. 
 
CHAP. VII.] A NOVEL. S3 
 
 " Your fears about emancipation, my dear Seme6n 
 Petr6vitch," he said, among other things, " remind me 
 of the report which our most worthy and excellent 
 Alex^i Ivanitch Tverftinof sent in in i860, and which 
 he read everywhere in Petersburg drawing-rooms. 
 There was one particularly superb phrase in it, how our 
 peasant, when freed, would certainly march, torch in 
 hand, over the face of the land. You should have 
 seen how our dear friend Alex^i Ivdnovitch, pufiSng 
 out his cheeks and rolling his eyes, uttered, with his 
 baby mouth, ' Torch, t . . . . torch, t . . . . torch in hand.' 
 Well, the emancipation is completed. Where is ydtns,,^^^ 
 peasant with his torch V 
 
 "Tverftinof," answered Kallom^itsef, gloomily, 
 "was only mistaken in one thing. It is not th^\ 
 peasants who will take up torches, but others." 
 
 At these words Nejddnof, who up to this mdment 
 had hardly noticed Maridnna — she was sitting across 
 the table, but not exactly opposite — suddenly inter- 
 changed glances with her, and felt directly that he 
 and that siillen-looking girl had the sartie opinions 
 and the same object. She had made no impression 
 on him when Sipidgin had introduced them ; how 
 was it then that he had chosen her to exchange glances 
 with now } He put a question to himself Was it 
 not disgraceful, was it not shameful, to sit by and 
 hear such opinions without protest, giving by his 
 silence reason to think that he shared them .' Nej- 
 ddnof again glanced at her, and it seemed to him 
 that he read the answer to his question in her eyes, — 
 " Wait ; this is not the time. It is not worth while. 
 By-and-by you will always have a chance." 
 
 He was pleased to think that she understood him, 
 and again listened to the conversation. Valenti'na 
 Mikhdilovna had taken her husband's place, and was 
 expressing herself more freely, more radically even 
 than he. She could not understand, simply could 
 
54 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. VII. 
 
 not un . . . . der .... stand, how a man, young and 
 well educated, could hold such old-fashioned ideas. 
 " However," she added, " I am sure you only talk like 
 that for the sake of saying something smart. As for 
 you, Alex^i Dmftritch," turning to Nejddnof with a 
 gracious smile (he felt astonished at her knowing his 
 name and patronymic), " I am sure you do not share 
 Seme6n Petr6vitch's fears. Bon's has repeated to me 
 the conversation you had on the journey." 
 
 NajdAnof blushed, bent over his plate, and mur- 
 mured something inaudible ; not that he was shy, 
 but he was unaccustomed to conversing with such 
 brilliant personages. Sipiagina continued to smile at 
 him ; her husband gave her an encouraging nod. As 
 for Kallom6itsef, he stuck his round eye-glass de- 
 liberately between his nose and his eyebrow, and 
 stared at the student who ventured not to share his 
 " fears." That, however, was not the way to confuse 
 Nejddnof; on the contrary, he immediately drew 
 himself up,, and also stared at the elegant official, and 
 just as suddenly as he had felt in Maridnna a friend 
 he felt in Kallom^itsef an enemy. Kallom^itsef, too, 
 had the same feeling : he dropped his eye-glass, 
 turned away and tried to smile, but made nothing of 
 it. Anna Zakhdrovna alone, who secretly worshipped 
 him, mutely took his part, and felt more wrath than 
 ever at the unwished-for guest who was separating 
 her from K61ia. 
 
 Soon after this the dinner ended. The company 
 went on to the terrace to drink coffee. Sipidgin and 
 Kallom^itsef lighted cigars. The former offered 
 Nejddnof an excellent regalia, but he declined it. 
 
 " Ah, yes," exclaimed Sipidgin, " I had forgotten ; 
 you only smoke your own cigarettes." 
 
 " Curious taste ! " remarked Kallomditsef between 
 his teeth. 
 
 Nejddnof nearly broke out. " I know the difference 
 
CHAP. VII.] A NOVEL. 
 
 55 
 
 between a regalia and a cigarette very well, but I do 
 not choose to be under obligations," almost sprang 
 from his tongue. He restrained himself, but scored 
 this second insult to his enem/s " debit." 
 
 "Mariinna," suddenly said Sipiagina, in a loud 
 voice, " don't stand on ceremony before a stranger ; 
 smoke your cigarette. The more," she added, turning.^ 
 to Nejddnof, " that in your society, I have been told,^- 
 all ladies smoke } " 
 
 " Just so," said Nejddnof, drily. This was the first 
 word he had said to Sipidgina. 
 
 "Ah, I do not smoke," she continued, gently 
 closing her velvety eyes. " I am behind the age." 
 
 Maridnna slowly and carefully, as if to annoy her 
 aunt, drew out a- cigarette and a match-box, and 
 began to smoke. Nejddnof also produced a cigarette, 
 and asked Maridnna for a light. 
 
 It was a lovely evening. K61ia and Anna Zakhd- 
 rovna went into the garden ; the rest of the company 
 remained on the terrace about an hour, enjoying the 
 air. The conversation was animated. Kallom^itsef 
 attacked literature ; Sipidgin in this also declared 
 himself a liberal, demanded its independence, proved 
 its value, and even recalled Chateaubriand, and the 
 fact that the Emperor Alexdndre Pdvlovitch had 
 granted him the order of St. Andrew the First-Called. 
 Nejddnof did not interfere in this controversy. 
 Sipidgina looked at him with an expression as if, on 
 the one hand, she approved his modest reticence, on 
 the other, was rather astonished at it. 
 
 For tea they all went into the drawing-room. 
 
 "We have a very bad habit, Alex^i Dmftritch," 
 said Sipidgin to Nejddnof ; " in the evening we play 
 at cards, and at a forbidden game, too, — stuk61ka, just 
 fancy ! I do not ask you to join us, besides Maridnna 
 will be so good as to play us something on the piano. 
 You are fond of music, I hope ? " And without waiting 
 
56 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 for an answer, Sipi%in took up a pack of cards. 
 Maridnna sat down to the piano, and played a few of 
 Mendelssohn's Songs without Words, neither well nor 
 badly. " Charmant ! charmant ! Quel toucher ! " 
 called Kallomeitsef from his distant position, as if in 
 ecstasy, but politeness was the chief motive of his 
 exclamation, and Nejddnof, in spite of the hope 
 Sipidgin had expressed, had no taste for music. 
 
 Meanwhile, Sipidgin and his wife, Kallomeitsef 
 and Anna Zakharovna had sat down to cards ; K61ia 
 came in to say good-night, and, having received his 
 parents' blessing, and a large glass of milk instead of 
 tea, went off to bed. His father called after him that 
 to-morrow he would begin his lessons with Alex6i 
 Dmftritch. Soon after, seeing that Nejdanof was 
 mooning about the room with nothing to do, and was 
 pretending to be intent on a photograph album which 
 he was turning over, Sipidgin asked him not to stand 
 upon ceremony, and to go to rest if he liked, as he 
 was probably tired after his journey, for the motto of 
 their house was " liberty." 
 
 Nejdanof took advantage of the permission, and 
 having bowed all round went out ; at the door he met 
 Marianna, and, having again glanced at her face, felt 
 sure that they would be companions, though far from 
 smiling at him, she even frowned. 
 
 He'found his room full of fresh perfume, the windows 
 having been open all day. In the garden, just opposite, 
 a nightingale was pouring out its clear, abrupt, ring- 
 ing song ; over the round tops of the limes the night 
 sky reddened dimly and warmly ; it was the moon 
 rising. Nejddnof lit his candle ; little grey moths at 
 once flew in from the dark garden and came to the 
 light, turning and fluttering round it, but the breeze 
 which blew 9iem away made the blueish-yellow flame 
 of the candle flicker. 
 
 " Curious ! " thought Nejddnof, as he got into his 
 
CHAP. VII.] A NOVEL. 57 
 
 bed. " The people of the house are goed, I think> 
 liberal, sympathetic even, and yet I feel uncomfort- 
 able. A Kammerherf .... a Kammerjunker .... 
 Well, morning 's wiser than evening. I mustn't be 
 sentimental." 
 
 But at that moment in the garden a watchman beat 
 his board sturdily, and a long cry rang out, " List .... 
 en ! 
 
 " Obser . . . . ve ! " answered another dismal voice. 
 
 " Good Heavens ! One might as well be in a 
 fortress ! " 
 
58 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. Vlil. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Nejdanof woke early, and without waiting for the 
 appearance of the servant dressed and went down 
 into the garden. It was a very large and lovely 
 garden, and was beautifully kept ; hired labourers 
 were scraping the paths ; through the bright green 
 of the shrubs glanced the red handkerchiefs worn by 
 a troop of peasant girls, armed with hoes. Nejdinof 
 strolled to the pond ; the morning mist was drifting 
 off it, but it was still steaming in places, in shady 
 inlets. The sun still low, threw a pink hue over the 
 broad expanse, smooth as molten lead. Five carpenters 
 were busy round a raft ; by it lay a new, brightly 
 painted boat, which heaved gently from side to side, 
 sending each time a slight ripple through the water. 
 Voices sounded from time to time suppressed and low; 
 the whole scene breathed of morning, of quiet, and 
 fresh, vigorous work, breathed of discipline and the re- 
 gularity of well-ordered life. And at the turn of an 
 alley there stood before Nejddnof the very incarna- 
 tion of order and regularity, Sipidgin himself. 
 
 He had on a green coat, somewhat like a dressing- 
 gown, and a checked cap ; he was leaning on an 
 English bamboo cane, and his clean-shaved face ex- 
 pressed satisfaction ; he was going to look over his 
 establishment. He met Nejddnof with a civil greeting. 
 
 " Aha ! " he exclaimed. " Young and early, I see " 
 (by which somewhat ill-applied saying he probably 
 
CHAP. VIII.] A NOVEL. 
 
 59 
 
 wished to show his satisfaction that Nejddnof, like 
 himself, had not remained late in bed). We drink 
 tea together at eight, and breakfast at twelve ; at ten 
 you will give K61ia his first lesson in Russian, and at 
 two in history ; to-morrow, the 9th of May, is his 
 name-day,* and he will have no lessons, but I beg you 
 will begin to-day." 
 
 Nejddnof inclined his head, and Sipidgin, waving his 
 hand quickly to and fro before his face after the French 
 manner, passed on, whirling his cane about and whistl- 
 ing, not in the least like an important official or states- 
 man, but like a plain Russian country gentleman. 
 
 Till eight o'clock Nejddnof remained in the garden, 
 enjoying the shade of the trees, the fresh air, and the 
 singing of the birds ; the clamour of the gong called 
 him in, and he found all the company in the dining- 
 room. Valenti'na Mikhdilovna was very friendly ; in 
 her morning costume she seemed to him the very 
 perfection of beauty. Maridnna's face expressed its 
 usual hardness and concentration. Exactly at ten 
 o'clock took place the first lesson, in the presence of 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna ; she began by inquiring of 
 Nejddnof whether she should be in the way, and 
 remained extremely quiet the whole time. K61ia 
 turned out an intelligent boy ; after a few unavoidable 
 hesitations and confusions the lesson went off satis- 
 factorily. Valentfna Mikhdilovna seemed to be 
 favourably impressed by Nejddnof, and spoke to him 
 amicably several times. He did not respond, but his 
 resistance was slight. She also came to the second 
 lesson, on Russian history, saying, with a smile, that 
 she required a tutor on that subject as much as K61ia, 
 and behaved as sedately and quietly as before. 
 
 From three to five Nejddnof sat in his room and 
 wrote letters to Petersburg ; he felt fairly well, 
 
 * The actual day of birth is not kept in Russia, but is replaced 
 by the feast of the patron saint, generally not far distant. 
 
^' 
 
 60 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. VIII. 
 
 he was not dull, not melancholy, his high-strung 
 nerves were gradually being relaxed. During dinner 
 they again suffered a little, though Kallom^itsef was 
 absent. The attentions which were shown him rather 
 angered him. Then his neighbour, the old maid, 
 Anna Zakhdrovna, was sulky, and decidedly hostile. 
 Marianna continued serious, and K61ia kicked him 
 rather too unceremoniously under the table. Sipiigin 
 also seemed rather out of spirits. He was very 
 dissatisfied with the manager of his paper-mill, a 
 
 erman, whom he had engaged at a large salary. 
 Sipidgin began to abuse all Germans, and declared 
 himself a Slavophile to some extent, though not a 
 fanatic ; then mentioned a young Russian, a certain 
 Solomin, who, as he had heard, had put the factory of 
 a neighbouring merchant in excellent order ; he 
 expressed a great wish to become acquainted with 
 this Sol6min. In the evening arrived Kallom^itsef, 
 whose estate was only some six miles from Arjdnoe, 
 as Sipiagin's village was called. The arbitrator of 
 the peace * also came, one of those landowners whom 
 L^rmontof has so well drawn — " all hidden in cravat, 
 his coat to his heels, moustaches, a tenor voice, and a 
 dull eye." There came too another neighbour with a 
 miserable toothless face, but very neatly dressed; 
 also the district doctor, a very bad doctor, but fond of 
 using scientific terms ; he affirmed, for instance, that 
 he preferred Kuk61nik to Pushkin, because Kuk61nik 
 had plenty of " protoplasm." They all sat down to 
 stukdlka. Nejddnof slipped away to his room, and 
 read and wrote till past midnight. 
 
 The next day, the 9th of May, was K61ia's name- 
 day. The whole house, in three open carriages, with 
 footmen behind, set off to the church, which was not 
 a quarter of a mile away. Everything was very grand 
 
 - * An official appointed at the emancipation to regulate 
 difficulties arising between landlords and peasants. 
 
CHAP, vlll.] A NOVEL. 6i 
 
 and formal. Sipidgin put on the ribbon of his order. 
 Valentfna Mikhiilovna was dressed in a lovely Paris 
 gown of pale lilac, and in church during the mass 
 prayed from a small book bound in crimson velvet, 
 which prayer-book greatly puzzled several old men ; 
 one at last could not contain himself, and asked his 
 neighbours, "What witch's tricks is she at, God 
 forgive me .' " * The sweet scent of the flowers 
 which filled the church was mixed with the strong 
 smell of newly prepared sheepskins, tarred boots and 
 shoes, and above all rose the pleasant but some- 
 what oppressive smell of the incense. The choristers 
 tried their best ; with the help of some workmen they 
 even attempted part-singing. There was a moment 
 when all present felt rather uncomfortable. The tenor 
 voice, which belonged to a workman named Klim, 
 who was in a rapid consumption, was emitting terribly 
 flat sounds, all alone without any support ; terrible 
 they were, but if they had stopped the whole concert 
 would infallibly have broken down. However, every- 
 thing passed off" — somehow. Father Cyprian, a priest 
 of the most reverend appearance, in full costume, read 
 a most instructive sermon from a book ; unfortunately 
 the worthy father considered it necessary to bring in 
 the names of certain most wise Assyrian kings, over 
 the pronunciation of which he became much embar- 
 rassed, and though heshowed off his learning, yet itcost 
 him much perspiration. Nejddnof, who had not been 
 inside a church for a long time, slipped into a corner 
 among the peasant women ; they only looked at him 
 occasionally, as they crossed themselves assiduously, 
 now bowing low, now gravely wiping their children's 
 noses ; but the peasant girls in new frocks, with 
 pendants on their foreheads, and the boys in carefully 
 girt shirts, with embroidered shoulders and red patches 
 on their sleeves, inspected the new worshipper atten- 
 * Prayer-books are hardly ever used in Russian churches. 
 
62 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. VIII, 
 
 tively, turning right round to stare at him. Nejddnof 
 looked at them and many thoughts passed through 
 his head. 
 
 After the mass, which continued rather a long 
 time — the prayer to St. Nicholas, the worker of 
 miracles, being, as is known, perhaps the longest of 
 all the prayers of the Orthodox Church — all the 
 clergy, at Sipidgin's invitation, set off to the house. 
 Here, after having performed a few more ceremonies 
 proper to the occasion, and even sprinkled the rooms 
 with holy water,^ they sat down to an excellent break- 
 fast, during which proceeded the usual conversations, 
 most admirable indeed, but somewhat tedious. The 
 master and mistress of the house, though they never 
 ate anything at that hour, nevertheless tasted the 
 breakfast. Sipiagin even told a story, highly proper, 
 though laughable, which, considering his red ribbon 
 and his dignity, produced a most excellent impres- 
 sion ; while in Father Cyprian it roused a feeling of 
 gratitude and astonishment. In return, and perhaps 
 to show that he, too, on occasion could tell some- 
 thing worth knowing. Father Cyprian recounted his 
 conversation with the bishop when the latter, in 
 making a tour of his diocese, had summoned all the 
 clergy of the district to the monastery in the town. 
 
 " He is severe, very severe," affirmed Father 
 Cyprian. " First asks one about one's parish, about 
 matters generally, and then examines one. He 
 turned to, me, too. 'Which is the feast-day of thy 
 church V ' The Transfiguration of the Saviour,' I 
 answer. ' Dost know the collect for that day .'" 'Of 
 course I know it' ' Sing it.' Of course I began, 
 ' Christ our God was transfigured on the Mount . . . .' 
 ' Stop ! What is the Transfiguration, and how is one 
 to interpret it .?' ' Simply enough,' I answer ; ' Christ 
 wished to show His glory to His disciples ' ' Good,' 
 he answered : ' here is an image for you as a remem- 
 
CHAP. VIII.] A NOVEL. 63 
 
 brance.' I fell at the bishop's knees and thanked 
 him. So I did not go away empty." 
 
 " I have the honour to know the Very Reverend 
 personally," remarked Sipidgin, with solemnity ; " a 
 most worthy pastor ! " 
 
 " Most worthy," echoed Father Cyprian ; " only he 
 trusts the superior priests too much." 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna spoke of the school for 
 \ peasants, and pointed out Mariinna as a future 
 teacher ; whereupon the deacon to whom was entrusted 
 the care of this school, a man of mighty frame, with a 
 head of hair* which vaguely recalled the neatly 
 combed tail of a trotter from the Orl6ff stud, endea- 
 voured to express his approval, but, forgetting the 
 strength of his voice, uttered so deep a sound that he 
 frightened himself and astonished everybody else. 
 After that the clergy soon took their leave. 
 
 K61ia, in a new jacket with gilt buttons, was the 
 
 hero of the day. He had presents made him, he was 
 
 congratulated, his hands were kissed at the front door 
 
 and at the back by workmen, servants, old women, 
 
 »^^ and young girls alike ; as for the peasants, they, as in 
 
 ^_^ the days of serfdom, mostly buzzed about the tables 
 
 " which were set out in front of the house, and laden 
 
 with pasties and pots of whiskey. K61ia blushed and 
 
 was pleased, was proud and shy by turns ; sometimes 
 
 kept close to his parents, sometimes ran out of the 
 
 room. 
 
 At dinner, Sipidgin ordered champagne to be 
 
 brought in, and, before drinking his son's health, made 
 
 a speech. He spoke of the meaning of the phrase, 
 
 \ " To do one's duty in this world," then of the path in 
 
 which he wished his NikoUi to tread— for thus he 
 
 .called his son— and of what was expected from him, 
 
 \, firstly by his family, „secondly_byJiis_£la_ss.-and.SQ£iety: 
 
 __ generally, th ird l y by th e_nation,— " Yes, gentlemen, 
 
 * Priests in Russia do not shave or cut their hair. 
 
64 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. VIII. 
 
 -the nation " — and fourthly by the Government ! 
 Sipidgin, gradually increasing in warmth, at length 
 reached real eloquence (when in imitation of Sir 
 Robert Peel he thrust his hand into the breast of his 
 coat), grew enthusiastic over the word science, and 
 finished his speech with the Latin exclamation 
 " laboremus," which he at once translated into Rus- 
 sian. K61ia, glass in hand, went round the table to 
 thank his father and kiss everybody. 
 
 Nejddnof again happened to interchange glances 
 with Maridnna. They probably both had the same 
 feeling, but not a word was said. 
 
 Yet all that Nejddnof saw seemed to him amusing 
 and even interesting, rather than vexing or unpleasant, 
 and the agreeable mistress of the house struck him as 
 a clever woman who knew that she was playing a part, 
 and at the same time was secretly pleased that there 
 was another clever and observant person present who 
 understood her. Nejddnof, probably, did not at all 
 suspect how much his vanity was flattered by her 
 conduct towards him. 
 
 The next day the lessons recommenced and life 
 ran on in its usual groove. 
 
 So a week passed insensibly. The best idea that 
 can be given of Nejddnof's feelings and thoughts may 
 be formed from an extract from a letter of his to a 
 certain Silin, his former schoolfellow and best friend. 
 This Sflin lived not in Petersburg, but in a distant 
 town, with a wealthy relative, on whom he entirely 
 depended. He was so tied down by the position he 
 was in that he could not possibly dream of ever 
 escaping from it ; he was a sickly and timid man, 
 without much depth, but of a remarkably pure mind. 
 He took no interest in politics, read but few books, 
 played the flute from want of anything else to do, and 
 was afraid of young ladies. Si'lin loved Nejddnof 
 deeply ; his heart altogether was an affectionate one. 
 
;hap. vm.] A NOVEL. 6s 
 
 ^ejddnof never opened his mind so freely as to 
 Vladimir Si'lin ; when he wrote to him it always seemed 
 IS if he were conversing with a being, who, though 
 ivell known and friendly, yet inhabited some other 
 ivorld, or else with his own conscience. Nejdanof 
 :6uld not even imagine ever again living in the same 
 town as Silin merely as comrades. He would pro- 
 bably have instantly cooled in his friendship, for they 
 had but little in common ; but he wrote to him 
 constantly and willingly, and without the least reserve. 
 In his intercourse with others, especially when writing,"! 
 everything seemed false or exaggerated ; with Silin 
 never. Sflin, who wrote badly, answered in short', 
 awkward sentences, but Nejdanof did not need long 
 answers ; he knew all the same that his friend 
 devoured every word, as the dust of the road absorbs 
 drops of rain, that he kept his secrets as sacred, and 
 that, lost in dull and hopeless solitude, he only lived 
 through the life of his friend. Nejddnof never told a 
 soul of his intercourse with Sflin, and valued it 
 greatly. 
 
 " Well, my friend, my worthy Vladfmir," for so he 
 always called him, and not without reason. " Con- 
 gratulate me ; I have found food to hand, and can 
 now rest and collect my strength. I am living as 
 tutor in the house of a certain wealthy statesman 
 named Sipidgin. I teach his son, and have excellent 
 dinners (in my life I have never eaten so well) ; I 
 sleep soundly, take long walks in a lovely country, and, 
 best of all, I have escaped for a time from the guardian- 
 ship of my Petersburg friends ; at first I was exceed- 
 ingly dull, but now I feel all the better. I shall soon 
 have to take up the business you wot of, to ' go to the 
 basket, as I call myself a mushroom.' (that is the 
 reason why I have been allowed to come here), but in 
 the mean time I can live that precious animal life, 
 put on fat, and even write verses, if the fancy take me. 
 
66 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. viil. 
 
 My observations, as people call them, I will put off to 
 another time ; the property seems in good order, 
 except perhaps that the manufactory has gone a little 
 to the dogs ; the peasants who have bought themselves 
 
 \.off* seem difficult to approach; as for the hired 
 servants, they all have the most highly respectable 
 faces. But all that we will talk about by-and-by. 
 
 X^The people of the house are polite and liberal in their 
 ideas ; Sipidgin is all condescension, while now and 
 then he suddenly soars up through the clouds — a most 
 admirably educated man ! The lady is a great beauty, 
 and I should say somewhat sly, always observing 
 one, and so soft ! Simply has no bones at all ! I am 
 rather afraid of her ; you of course know what a 
 ladies' man I am ! I have neighbours at table, there 
 is an old woman always in the way .... but I am most 
 interested by a girl, a relation or companion. Heaven 
 only knows ! to whom I have not said two words, but 
 whom I feel to be a fruit off the same tree as bore 
 me." 
 
 Here followed a description of Marianna and of all 
 her ways ; then he continued, — 
 
 " She is . unhagw, proud, self-conscious, reserved, 
 but, above all^ unhappy ; of that I have no doubt. 
 But why she should be unhappy up to this time I do 
 not know. That she is straightforward I am sure ; 
 whether she is good is another question. But can 
 perfect goodness exist in. women who are not stupid 1 
 And should it } However, I know very little about, 
 women. The lady of the house does not like her, 
 and she returns the feeling. But which is in the 
 right I know not. I am inclined to think that the 
 mistress is wrong, as she is so very polite to this girl ; 
 while the latter twitches her eyebrows nervously, even 
 when she is only talking to her. Yes, she is very 
 
 * Under the Emancipation Act, the domestic servants, a 
 very large class in Russia, came under different arrangements. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] A NOVEL. 67 
 
 nervous ; in that, too, she is like me. And she is in much 
 the same situation as I am, though probably not in 
 exactly the same manner. 
 
 "When all this is a little more unravelled I will 
 write to you .... 
 
 " She ' hardly ever converses with me, as I have 
 already told you, but in the few words she has said 
 (always suddenly and unexpectedly) there rings a 
 certain harsh frankness which I like. 
 
 " By the way, does your old relation still keep you 
 on. short commons, and make no signs of dying ? 
 
 " Have you read in the Messenger of Europe the 
 article about the last pretenders in the government of 
 Orenburg 1 This was in the year 1834, brother ! I 
 do not like the review, and the writer is a conserva- 
 tive, but the article is interesting and may suggest 
 ideas . . . . " 
 
68 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. IX. 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 The middle of May had already come and gone, and 
 the first warm days of summer had appeared. 
 One dayNejdanof, after finishing the history lesson, 
 went into the garden, and thence crossed into a copse 
 of birch-trees which adjoined it on one side. Part of 
 the copse had been cut down and sold some fifteen 
 years back, and a thick^ underwood had grown up all 
 over the places which had been cut. The stems of 
 the trees stood close together like pillars of dull silver, 
 with grey rings at intervals ; the tiny leaves shone 
 green and bright, exactly as if they had been washed 
 and varnished ; the spring grass shot up its sharp 
 little tongues through the smooth carpet of dark- 
 brown leaves fallen the autumn before. Through 
 the copse ran little rides ; yellow-billed blackbirds, 
 with their sharp, frightened cry, flew across them, 
 low down, close to the earth, and bustled headlong 
 into the underwood. Nejdanof, after half an hour's 
 stroll, at length sat down on the stump. of a tree, 
 surrounded by grey chips ; they lay in a heap as they 
 had fallen when they first flew from the axe. Many 
 times had the snow covered them in winter and 
 melted off them in spring, yet no one had touched 
 them. Nejddnof was sitting with his back to a dense 
 wall of young birch-trees in a short though dark 
 shade ; he thought of nothing, but yielded himself up 
 
CHAP. IX.] A NOVEL. 69 
 
 entirely to that peculiar feeling of spring-time which, 
 both in young and old hearts, is mingled with melan- 
 choly: in the young, the excited melancholy of 
 anticipation ; in the old, the immovable melancholy 
 of regret .... 
 
 Suddenly Nejddnof heard the sound of advancing 
 footsteps. 
 
 It was not a single person, neither a peasant in 
 bark shoes or heavy boots, nor a bare-footed woman. 
 Two people were advancing steadily without hurry, 
 and the rustling of a woman's dress could be 
 heard. 
 
 All at once a deep, hollow man's voice broke the 
 silence. 
 
 " So that is your final decision .' Never ? " 
 
 " Never ! " repeated another, a female voice, which 
 Nejddnof seemed to know, and at that moment, at 
 the corner of the ride, which here took a turn round 
 the underwood, appeared Maridnna, accompanied by 
 a dark, black-eyed man, whom Nejddnof had never 
 seen before. 
 
 They stopped short at the sight of Nejddnof, and 
 he was so astonished that he did not even rise from 
 the stump upon which he was sitting. Marianna 
 blushed up to the roots of her hair, but instantly 
 curled her lip with contempt. To whom did the 
 sneer apply ? To herself, for blushing, or to Nejddnof .? 
 Her companion contracted his thick eyebrows, and 
 rolled the yellowish whites of his restless eyes. Then 
 he glanced at Marianna, and both of them, turning 
 their backs on Nejddnof, walked away in silence, 
 without hurrying, followed by his astonished gaze. 
 
 Half an hour after he returned home to his room, 
 and when he went to the dining-room, summoned by 
 the sound of the gong, he there saw the same dark 
 stranger who had come upon him in the copse, 
 Sipidgin introduced him to Nejddnof as his "beau- 
 
70 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, IX. 
 
 fr^," the brother of Valenti'na Mikhailovna, • Sergei 
 Mikhdilovitch Mark61of. 
 
 " I hope, gentlemen, you will make friends and like 
 one another," exclaimed Sipiagin, with that superbly- 
 condescending though absent smile which was peculiar 
 to him. 
 
 Mark^lof bowed in silence ; Nejdanof did the same ; 
 while Sipidgin, slightly throwing back his little head 
 and shrugging his shoulders, moved away, as much as 
 to say, " I have introduced you, and whether you do 
 make friends and like one another or not is a matter 
 of absolute indifference to me ! " 
 
 Then Valenti'na Mikhiilovna approached them as 
 they stood motionless, introduced them again, and 
 addressed her brother with that peculiarly bright and 
 caressing expression which seemed to come into her 
 beautiful eyes whenever she wished. 
 
 " Why, inon cher Serge, you have entirely forgotten 
 us ! You did not even come for Kolia's name-day. 
 Or have you so much business to attend to .? He 
 is introducing certain new arrangements with his 
 peasants," she turned to Nejdanof : "most original 
 they are, too ; he gives them three-quarters of every- 
 thing, and keeps a quarter for himself, and he still 
 thinks that his share is too large." 
 
 " My sister is fond of joking," said Mark^lof in his 
 turn to Nejdanof, " but I am ready to agree with her 
 that for one man to take a quarter of that which 
 belongs to a hundred is really too much." 
 
 " Have you remarked, Alex6i Dm/tritch, that I am 
 fond of joking .' " inquired Sipiagina, with the same 
 caressing softness in her voice and look. 
 
 Nejdanof had not found an answer when Kallo- 
 mditsef was announced. Sipiigina advanced to meet 
 him, and a few minutes later the butler appeared and 
 announced in a sing-song voice that dinner was 
 readv 
 
.CHAP. IX.] A NOVEL. 71 
 
 During dinner Nejddnof could not keep his eyes 
 off Maridnna and Markelof. They were sitting side 
 by side, with their eyes downcast, their Hps tightly 
 closed, and a severe and gloomy, almost angry, ex- 
 pression on their faces. What seemed strangest to 
 Nejddnof was how Markdlof could be Sipiagina's 
 brother, there were so few points of resemblance. One 
 certainly there was, they both had dark complexions ; 
 but in Valentfna Miklidilovna the clear olive of her 
 face, arms, and shoulders formed one of her chief 
 beauties, while in her brother it verged on that 
 colour which polite people call bronze, but which to a 
 Russian eye recalls — a boot. Mark^lof's hair was 
 curly, his nose slightly hooked, his lips thick, his 
 cheeks hollow, his sides lank, and his hands sinewy. 
 In fact he was sinewy and dry all over, and he spoke 
 in a harsh, abrupt, metallic voice. His eyes were dull, 
 his appearance sullen ; a bilious man altogether. He 
 ate little, and most of the time made pellets of his 
 bread, sometimes casting his eyes at Kallom^itsef ; 
 the latter had just returned from town from an inter- 
 view with the governor about a somewhat unpleasant 
 matter, about which, however, he was scrupulously 
 silent, while chattering the whole time. 
 ^ Sipidgin as usual put him down when he went too far, 
 
 ^ but laughed immensely at his anecdotes and bonmots 
 ^ X though he affirmed "qu'il est un affreux r^actionnaire." 
 ' Kallom6itsef among other things went into ecstasies 
 over the name by which peasants — "oui, oui, les 
 simples mougiks " — call barristers. "Barkers, barkers!" 
 he repeated with delight, " ce peuple russe est d61i- 
 cieux ! " Then he related how once in visiting a 
 national school he had asked the boys the following 
 question, " What is a struthokamel >. " * and as no one 
 could answer him, not even the teacher, he asked 
 another question, " What is a pithek .? " * adding 
 * Eccentric names for an ostrich and an ape. 
 
72 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. IX- 
 
 Khdmnitser's verse. " The silly pithek, mimic of beasts' 
 faces." And yet no one answered. " That is all the 
 good your national schools do ! " 
 
 " But," said Valenti'na Mikhailovna, " I myself do 
 not know what these beasts are 1 " 
 
 "Nor do you, madam, need to know," exclaimed 
 Kallomeitsef. 
 
 " Then why should the people } " 
 
 " Because it is very much better that they should 
 have heard of a struthokamel or a pithek than of your 
 Proudhons and your Adam Smiths ! " 
 
 Here Sipidgin again checked Kallomeitsef, and 
 declared that Adam Smith was one of the lights of 
 human thought, and that one ought to suck in his 
 principles (here he poured himself out a glass of 
 Chateau d'Yquem) together with one's mother's (here 
 he raised it to his nose and smelt it) milk ! And the 
 wine disappeared. Kallomeitsef also drank the wine 
 and praisfed it. " 
 
 Markeiof paid no particular attention to the decla- 
 mations of the Kanimerjunkerirom Petersburg^but 
 looked at Nejdanof inquirmgly once or twice, and, 
 shooting a ball of bread from his fingers, nearly hit 
 the nose of the eloquent guest. 
 
 Sipiagin left his brother-in-law alone, neither did 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna talk to him ; it was evident 
 that both husband and wife were used to regarding 
 Markeiof as an eccentric being whom it was best not 
 to excite. 
 
 After dinner Mark^lof went into the billiard-room 
 to smoke a pipe, and Nejddnof went to his room. In 
 the passage he met Marianna. He tried to pass 
 her, but she stopped him by an abrupt movement of 
 her hand. 
 
 " Mr. Nejddnof," she said, in a somewhat uncertain 
 voice, " your opinion of me ought to be of little 
 moment to me ; but all the same I think it .... I 
 
CHAP. IX.] A NOVEL. 73 
 
 think . . . . " (she hesitated for a word), " I think it 
 proper to tell you that when you met me and 
 Mr. Markdof in the copse to-day .... Tell me, you 
 probably wondered why we looked so confused, and 
 how it was we had come there, just as if we had made 
 an appointment ? " 
 
 " It certainly seemed to me rather strange . . . ." 
 began Nejddnof. 
 
 " Mr. Markdof proposed to me," interrupted Mari- 
 dnna, " and I refused him. That is all I had to tell 
 you ; so good-night. And think of me as you will." 
 
 she turned away and went quickly along the 
 passage. 
 
 Nejdanof returned to his room, and, sitting down 
 before the window, fell a-thinking. 
 
 " What a strange girl ! and why this wild outburst, 
 this uncalled-for frankness ? What is it — a wish to 
 be original, or simply a love of effect, or pride .' Most 
 likely pride. She cannot endure the smallest suspi- 
 cion. She cannot bear the idea that another should 
 have a false opinion of her. A strange girl ! " 
 
 So thought Nejddnof ; while on the terrace under- 
 neath the conversation turned on him, and he could 
 hear every word. 
 
 "My nose tells me," said Kallomditsef, "my_nose^ 
 teUsjneUiaMie^^isajred/) While I was still in the 
 bureau oTtHe Governor- General of Moscow, on a special 
 mission, avec Ladislas, I learned something about those 
 gentlemen, the ' reds,' and dissenters too. I had a 
 particular faculty for scenting them." And Kallo- 
 m^itsef recounted how once, near Moscow, he 
 caught by the heel an old dissenter, on whom he 
 had made a descent with the police, and who had 
 almost jumped out of the cottage-window. "And 
 the scoundrel up to that minute had sat so quietly on 
 the bench ! " 
 
 Kallom^itsef forgot to add that that same old man. 
 
74 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. IX. 
 
 when put into prison, refused all food and starved 
 himself to death. 
 
 " And your new tutor," continued the zealous 
 Kammerjunker, "is a ' red ' for certain. Have you 
 noticed that he never bows first .' " 
 
 " Why should he bow first .' " remarked Sipiagina. 
 " I, on the contrary, like that in him." 
 
 " I am a visitor in the house where he serves," 
 exclaimed Kallomditsef "Yes, serves for money, 
 comme un salari^ .... Therefore I am his superior, 
 and he is bound to bow first to me." 
 
 "You are extremely particular, my most excellent 
 friend," said Sipidgin, emphasizing the " most" ; " but, 
 excuse me, all that has a very ancient flavour. I have 
 bought his services, his work, certainly, but he remains 
 a free man." 
 
 " He does not feel the bit," continued Kallomeitsef, 
 " the bit, — le frein ! All those ' reds ' are the same. I 
 tell you I have a wonderful scent for them. Only 
 Ladislas perhaps can equal me in that respect. If 
 that tutor of yours were to fall into my hands I 
 would give him a lesson, I would ! He would sing a 
 different song then ; and we should see his hat coming 
 off; it would be a real pleasure." 
 
 " You silly boaster ! " Nejdanof was on the point of 
 shouting from his window. But at that moment the 
 door of his room opened, and, not a little to his 
 astonishment, walked in Markdlof. 
 
CHAP. X.} A NOVEL. "ji 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Nejdanof rose from his seat to meet him ; but 
 Markdlof advanced straight up to him without a bow 
 or a smile, and asked if he were Alexdi Dmftrief 
 Nejdanof, a student of the University of Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 " Yes ; that is my name," answered Nejdinof. 
 
 Mark^lof took an open letter from a side pocket. 
 
 " In that case, read this. From Vasi'li Nikolde- 
 vitch," he added, lowering his voice significantly. 
 
 Nejddnof unfolded and read the letter. It was a 
 kind of half-official circular, in which the bearer, 
 Sergdi Mark^lof, was introduced as one of " ours," 
 worthy of entire confidence. Further on followed a 
 paragraph insisting on the necessity of immediate 
 and concerted action, and on the diffusion of certain 
 ideas. The circular was addressed to Nejddnof, 
 among others, as a trustworthy man. 
 
 Nejdanof gave Mark^lof his hand, asked him to 
 be seated, and sat down himself Mark^lof, without 
 saying anything, lighted a cigarette ; Nejdinof fol- 
 lowed his example. 
 
 "Have you had time to become acquainted 
 with the peasants round here } " asked Mark^lof at 
 length. 
 
 " No, not as yet." 
 
 " Have you been here long .' " 
 
 " Nearly a fortnight." 
 
76 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. X. 
 
 "Much to do?" 
 
 " Not overmuch." 
 
 Mark^lof coughed discontentedly. 
 
 " The people round here are somewhat stupid," he 
 continued, " and unenlightened. We must instruct 
 them. Great poverty; and no one to tell them whence 
 that poverty arises." 
 
 "The peasants who were your brother-in-law's serfs 
 are not badly off as far as one can judge," remarked 
 Nejddnof 
 
 " My brother-in-law is a clever man, and knows 
 admirably how to distract attention. The peasants 
 are, as you say, fairly well off ; but he has a manu- 
 ' factory. It is on that ■ we ought to concentrate our 
 endeavours. Give a dig there with your spade ; it is 
 like an ant-heap, — it will all be on the move at once. 
 Have you any pamphlets with you 1 " 
 
 " A few, not many." 
 
 " I will get you some. But how could you be so 
 remiss ? " 
 
 Nejdanof made no answer. __Maxk£lQ£^ also re- 
 mained silent, and only blew the smoke through his 
 nostrils. 
 
 " What a scoundrel that Kallomditsef is ! " he sud- 
 denly said. " At dinner I felt inclined to get up and 
 go over to that gentleman, and to smash all his 
 impertinent face into bits, that others might be 
 warned. But no ! There is more important work to 
 be done than thrashing a Kammerjunker. This is 
 not a time to be angry with fools for uttering stupid 
 words ; it is a time for preventing them from commit- 
 ting stupid acts." 
 
 Nejdanof nodded, and Markelof resumed his 
 cigarette. 
 
 " Among all this mass of servants there is one 
 useful man," he began again ; " not your servant 
 Ivan, he is as dull as a fish ; but another one who 
 
77 
 
 CHAP. X.] A NOVEL. 
 
 serves at table ; his name is Ki'rill " (this Ki'rill was a 
 notorious drunkard). "You notice him. He is a 
 dissolute fellow, but we must not be too particular. 
 And what do you think of my sister .? " he added, 
 suddenly raising his head, and fixing his yellow eyes 
 on Nejdanof " She is more cunning even than my 
 brother-in-law. What do you think of her ? " 
 
 " I think she is a'very agreeable and pleasant lady ; 
 she is certainly very handsome." 
 
 " H'm ! With what nicety you gentlemen from 
 Petersburg express yourselves ! Astonishing. Well, 
 and about — " he began, but suddenly stopped ; his 
 face grew dark, and he did not finish the sentence. 
 " I see we must have a good talk," he continued. 
 " Here it is impossible. Deuce knows but they may 
 be listening at the doors now. Do you know what I 
 mean to propose ? To-day is Saturday, and I sup- 
 pose you give my nephew no lessons to-morrow ">. Is 
 it not so } " 
 
 " We have a repetition to-morrow at three o'clock." 
 
 " A repetition ! Just as if we were at the theatre ! 
 I suppose it is my sister who invents such words. 
 But it is all the same. I want you to come with me 
 at once ; my village is only ten versts away. I have 
 good horses, which will take us there in a twinkling ; 
 you can sleep at my house, spend the morning with 
 me, and by three o'clock you shall be back here. Do 
 you agree .' " 
 
 " I agree," said Nejdanof Since Mark^lof's en- 
 trance he had felt excited and uncomfortable. The 
 suddenness of their intimacy had confused ' him, yet 
 at the same time he felt drawn towards him. He 
 knew and understood that before him was a man, 
 possibly dull, but undoubtedly honourable and strong- 
 willed. Besides which, there was the strange meet- 
 ing in the copse, — Marianna's unexpected explana- 
 tion .... 
 
78 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. X. 
 
 " Capital ! " exclaimed Mark^lof. " Do you get 
 ready, and I will go and order the horses to be put 
 to. You have no need, I hope, to ask these people 
 for permission ? " 
 
 " I had better tell them. I had rather not absent 
 myself without doing that." 
 
 "I will tell them," said Mark^lof "Do not be 
 uneasy. They are now hard at work at cards, and 
 will not remark your absence. My brother-in-law is 
 aiming at becoming a statesman, and the only point 
 "^he has in his favour is that he plays cards well. And 
 why not .■' many rise through that accomplishment ! 
 So be ready. I will arrange everything at 
 ofice." 
 
 Markdof went out ; an hour later Nejdanof was 
 sitting by his side on a large leathern cushion in a 
 broad, rickety, very old and very comfortable tarantas.* 
 A tiny coachman sat on the box, and whistled con- 
 stantly with a pleasant bird-like chirrup ; three pie- 
 bald horses, with their black manes and tails plaited up, 
 carried them quickly over a good road. It struck 
 ten o'clock as they started, and in the dim twilight 
 trees, copses, fields, meadows, and hills slipped 
 smoothly past, some backward^, some forwards, ac- 
 cording as they were near or far. 
 
 Mark^lof's little village lay three versts from the 
 Government town, from which Sipidgin's was distant 
 seven versts. It had only 200 desidtines of land, 
 and brought in a revenue of about 700 roubles a 
 year.f 
 
 To reach Borzi6nkovo, for so it was called, they 
 had to cross the town. Before the new acquaintances 
 had had time to exchange fifty words they were 
 passing through the rows of ill-built little houses 
 forming the suburbs, with shingled roofs full of holes, 
 
 * A kind of rough travelling carriageor covered cart. 
 t A desidtine = 2\ acres ; a rouble = about 2s. 6d. 
 
CHAP. X.] A NOVEL. 79 
 
 and with dim patches of light in their rickety 
 windows. Then the stone paving of the town 
 sounded under the wheels, making the tarantas 
 jump and roll from side to side ; while past them 
 slipped the two-storied merchants' houses, with 
 their monstrous fagades, the churches with their 
 columns, the taverns .... It was a Saturday evening ; 
 there was no one to be seen in the streets, but the 
 taverns were still full of people. From them there 
 
 \. issued hoarse voices, drunken songs, and the wheez- 
 ing [sound of concertinas ; when a door opened 
 suddenly there came a puff of foul heat, of the strong 
 smell of spirits, together with the red glare of the 
 lights. Before almost every tavern stood the peasants' 
 carts and the shaggy, big-bellied jades, which, with 
 their untidy heads almost touching the ground, seemed 
 to be asleep ; a wild-looking peasant without a belt, 
 with his winter cap falling over the back of his 
 neck, would come out, and leaning on the shafts, 
 remain motionless, feeling for something and waving 
 his hands helplessly to and fro ; or a stunted work- 
 man with his cap on one side, his calico shirt flying 
 loose, and without boots — the boots having been left 
 • in the tavern — would take a few uncertain steps, stop, 
 scratch his back, and, with a sudden exclamation, 
 return .... 
 
 \ "That whiskey kills our Russian folk," remarked 
 Mark^lof, gloomily. 
 
 " It 's all from sorrow, father Sergei Mikhdilovitch," 
 said the little coachman without turning round. As 
 they passed each tavern he stopped chirruping, and 
 seemed to become wrapped in thought. 
 
 " Go on, go on ! " answered Mark^lof, angrily 
 shaking his coat collar. The tarantas crossed the 
 broad market-place, which smelt of cabbage and 
 matting, passed the governor's house, with the striped 
 sentry-boxes in front ; the police-station, with its 
 
80 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. X. 
 
 signal-tower ; the boulevard, with its row of young 
 trees just planted, and already dying ; the bazaar, re- 
 sounding with the bark of dogs and the rattling of 
 chains ; and, after getting through the barrier, and 
 avoiding an interminable caravan (which had started 
 in the night for the sake of coolness), found itself 
 once more in the free country air, on the willow- 
 planted high road, and rolled along more quickly and 
 steadily. 
 
 Mark^lof — for we must say a few words of him — 
 was six years older than his sister Sipiagina. He was 
 educated in an artillery school, whence he came out 
 an officer, but, having attained the rank of captain, he 
 resigned from a disagreement with his colonel, a 
 German. Since that time he had hated all Germans, 
 especially Russian Germans. His father quarrelled 
 with him on account of his resignation, and they did 
 not meet again before the old man's death, but he 
 left Mark^lof the village in which he had settled. In 
 Petersburg he frequently met several clever persons of 
 advanced opinions, whom he worshipped ; they finally 
 fixed his ideas in one groove. He read little, and 
 chiefly books connected with the " cause," especially 
 
 ^ Herzen. He retained his military habits, and lived 
 like a Spartan or a monk. A few years back he had 
 fallen deeply in love with a girl ; but she jilted him 
 most unceremoniously, and married an aide-de-camp, 
 also a German. Mark^lof took a hatred to all aides- 
 de-camp. He tried to write essays on his special 
 subject — the shortcomings of our artillery ; but he 
 had no talent for explanation ; he could not even 
 finish a single essay, yet he continued to cover large 
 sheets of grey paper with his clumsy, round, childish 
 writing. Mark^lof was obstinate and fearless, even to 
 
 ■v__/recklessness ; he could neither forgive nor forget,' and 
 
 v.^ was always angry, both at his own sufferings and those 
 
 of all persecuted people ; and he was ready for any- 
 
V 
 
 CHAP. X.] A NOVEL. 8 1 
 
 thing. His narrow mind was concentrated on one 
 point ; all that he did not understand had no existence 
 "■-^for him, but he despised and hated all lies and double- 
 dealing. With people of the upper classes, the 
 "redes," as he called them, he was abrupt and even 
 ■\y rude ; with the people, simple ; the peasant he treated 
 as he would a brother. He was a middling landlord ; 
 certain socialistic notions were always whirling about 
 his brain, which he could no more put into definite 
 shape than he could finish his essays on the short- 
 comings of the artillery He_aei:sr_ succeeded^- 
 
 never_and._ in .^nothing ; his fellow-caHets called 
 him the unlucky. Siricere, straightforward, pas- 
 sionate, and unhappy, he might, under certain cir- 
 cumstances, have turned out merciless and blood- 
 thirsty, might have earned the name of a monster, 
 but he could also have sacrificed himself without 
 hesitation or regret. 
 
 At the third verst from the town, the tarantas sud- 
 denly entered the soft gloom of a copse of aspens, 
 with the rustle and murmur of its invisible leaves, 
 with its sharp aromatic odour, its breaks of uncertain 
 light overhead and tangled shadows beneath. The 
 moon was already above the horizon, round and red 
 as a copper shield. Emerging from under the trees, 
 the tarantas turned towards a small landowner's 
 dwelling. Three lighted windows stood out square 
 and sharp on the front of the low house which now 
 concealed the moon ; the gates were wide open, and 
 looked as if they were never shut. In the yard 
 through the darkness could be seen a large kibitka,* 
 to the back of which were fastened a couple of white 
 post-horses ; and two puppies, also white, sprang out 
 from some hiding-place or other, and set up a pro- 
 longed but not vicious bark. A stir was heard in the 
 house, the tarantas rolled up to the door, and 
 * Also a kind of rough travelling-cart. 
 
 G 
 
82 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAF. X. 
 
 Mark^lof, as he got out slowly, feeling with his foot 
 for the step which the indigenous blacksmith had as 
 usual put in the most inconvenient place, said to 
 Ne}ddnof, — ■ 
 
 "Here we are at home, and you will find some 
 guests whom you know well, but whom you do not 
 in the least expect to meet. Come in ! " 
 
CHAP. XI.] A NOVEL. 83 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 These guests \)roved to be our old friends Ostro- 
 diimof and _MasHurina. They were sitting in the small, 
 badly furnished parlour of Mark^lof's house, drinking 
 beer and smoking by the light of a kerosene lamp. 
 They were not surprised at Nejddnof's arrival, for they 
 knew that Markelof meant to bring him if possible ; 
 but Nejddnof was greatly surprised at seeing them. 
 yVhen he entered, Ostrodiimof said, " Good-day, 
 brother," and nothing more, while Mashurina first 
 turned very red, and then gave him her hand. Mar- 
 kelof explained to Nejddnof that they had both been 
 sent dbwn there for the common cause, which would 
 soon be taking a definite shape ; that they had left 
 Petersburg about a week ; that Ostrodumof would 
 remain in the Government of S. to spread the 
 doctrines, while Mashurina was to go to K. to see a 
 certain person. 
 
 Markelof suddenly grew excited, though no one 
 
 contradicted him. With his eyes sparkling as he 
 
 gnawed his moustache, he began to speak, in a hollow 
 
 and agitated though distinct voice, of the iniquities 
 
 \which were being perpetrated ; of the necessity for 
 
 {immediate action, saying that everything was ready, 
 
 '^and that only cowards could hesitate ; that a certain 
 
 amount of force would be necessary, as is the stroke 
 
 of a lancet on an abscess, however mature that abscess 
 
 may be. This comparison with a lancet evidently 
 
84 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XI. 
 
 pleased him, for he repeated it several times ; not 
 that it was his own invention, for he had read it some- 
 where. It seemed as if, having lost all hope of sym- 
 pathy from Marianna, he had now nothing to consider, 
 ' and thought of nothing but how the sooner to set to 
 work at the " cause." His words fell like the blows of 
 an axe, abruptly, sharply, and angrily, without any 
 attempt at eloquence ; they flowed from his pale lips 
 one after another, monotonously and weightily, like 
 the hoarse bark of an old and vigilant house-dog. He 
 said that he knew the neighbouring peasants well, and 
 the artisans also ; that there were useful men among 
 them — for instance, lerem^i of Galapli6k — men who 
 were ready for anything at any moment. This lerem^i 
 of Galapli6k was constantly on his tongue. After 
 every ten words or so he struck the table with his 
 hand, not with the palm, but with the side, at the 
 same time extending in the air his left hand, with the 
 first finger outstretched. Those dry, hairy hands, that 
 finger, that deep voice, those fiery eyes, produced a 
 strong impression on those present. On the road 
 Markdof had said little to Nejdanof; his bile had 
 accumulated, and now it overflowed. 
 
 Mashiirina and Ostrodiimof showed their approval 
 by a smile, a glance, sometimes a brief exclamation, 
 while Nejddnof was conscious of a strange struggle 
 withinhim. At first he endeavoured to answer Mark^lof; 
 he hinted at the evils of too great haste, of premature 
 and ill-considered action ; but he wondered most how 
 it was that everything seemed decided, that there was 
 no hesitation, no consideration of circumstances, nor 
 even any endeavour to ascertain what the people 
 really wanted. Then all his nerves became highly 
 strung and excited, and, in a kind of wild fit, his 
 voice breaking with anger, and almost with tears of 
 wrath in his eyes, he began to speak in the same tone 
 as Mark^lof, going even further than he did. It would 
 
CHAP. XI.] A NOVEL. 85 
 
 be difficult to say what moved him to do this. Was 
 it repentance because he had as it were fallen off a 
 little of late, was he angry with himself or others, did 
 he wish to drown some hidden voice, was it perhaps 
 the wish to show himself off before the newly arrived 
 emissaries, or did Markdlof's words really act upon 
 him and fire his blood ? The conversation continued 
 till morning ; Ostrodumof and Mashiirina did not rise 
 from their seats ; Markdof and Nejdinof did not sit 
 down. Mark^lof stood in one place, exactly like a 
 sentinel ; Nejddnof walked up and down the room, 
 sometimes hurriedly, sometimes slowly. They talked 
 of means and ways, of the part which each of them 
 was to undertake ; they sorted and tied tip various 
 pamphlets and broad-sheets ; they talked of a certain 
 dissenting merchant named Goloiishkin, a trustworthy 
 though uneducated man ; of Kisliak6f, a young propa- 
 gandist, very well informed, but somewhat too quick 
 and too sure of his own talents ; they also mentioned 
 the name of Sol6min .... 
 
 " Is that the manager of the cotton-mill .' " asked 
 Nejddnof, remembering what had been said about 
 him at the Sipidgins' table. 
 
 "That is the man," said Mark^lof; "you must 
 make his acquaintance. We have not sounded him 
 yet, but he is a valuable man." 
 
 leremdi of Galapli6k again made his appearance ; 
 also KirfU from Sipidgin's, and a certain Mendel^i, 
 nicknamed Windbag ; only this same Windbag was 
 not to be relied upon ; when he was sober he was 
 brave, but he was a coward when drunk, and he 
 almost always was drunk. 
 
 " And among your own people," asked Nejdanof of 
 Mark^lof, " are there any on whom you can rely } " 
 
 Mark61of said there were, but did not name any one 
 in particular, and began to talk about the townspeople 
 and the seminarists, whose chief use, however, lay in 
 
86 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XI. 
 
 the fact that they were physically very strong, and 
 when they set to work with their fists, then — ! 
 Nejddnof inquired about the nobles. Mark^lof 
 answered that there were five or six among the 
 younger men, especially one, a German, the most 
 radical of all ; but then it was well known you could 
 never depend on a German, for he might always 
 abandon or betray you ! They must wait to see 
 what news Kisliak6f could give them. Nejddnof also 
 inquired about the soldiers. Here Mark^lof hesitated, 
 pulled his long whiskers, and at length answered that" 
 nothing as yet was certain ; perhaps Kisliak6f might 
 give them some information. 
 
 " But who is this Kisliak6f .' " asked Nejddnof, 
 impatiently. 
 
 Mark^lof smiled meaningly and said he was a man, 
 such a man .... 
 
 " However," he added, " I do not know him well ; 
 I have only seen him twice, but what letters he writes ! 
 what letters ! I will show them you ; you will be 
 astonished at his vigour. And what a worker ! He 
 has travelled from one end of Russia to the other five 
 or six times, and from each station a letter of ten — 
 twelve pages ! " 
 
 Nejdanof looked inquiringly at Ostrodumof, but the 
 latter sat like a statue and did not even move an 
 eyelid. Mashiirina contracted her lips into a bitter 
 smile, but also — not a word ! Nejddnof would have 
 ^ asked Markelof about the socialistic innovations on 
 his estate, but here Ostrodumof broke in. 
 
 " Why talk of that now .'' It is all the same ; it will 
 all have to be altered — afterwards." 
 
 The conversation returned to politics. The hidden 
 
 ■* worm was again gnawing at Nejddnof, but the more 
 
 he felt its bite, the louder and more merciless grew 
 
 his talk. He had drunk but one glass of beer, yet he 
 
 occasionally thought that he was quite drunk, for his 
 
CHAP. XI.] A NOVEL. 87 
 
 head turned and his heart beat painfully. When 
 finally, after three o'clock, the discussion ceased, and 
 the friends, without disturbing the boy who was asleep 
 in the passage, sought their rooms, Nejddnof, before 
 lying down, long stood motionless, looking at the 
 floor in front of him. He seemed still to hear the 
 perpetual, bitter, soul-rending tone which ran through 
 all Jijark^of's utterances. The vanity of this man 
 could not but be hurt ; he must have been suffering ; 
 his hopes for his personal happiness had been ruined ; 
 \^ yet how he forgot himself, how completely he gave 
 himself up to what he considered the truth ! " A 
 narrow-minded man," thought Nejddnof " But is it 
 not a hundred times better to be narrow-minded as 
 ^he is, than to be such, — such as I, for instance, know 
 that I am .? " 
 
 But here he revolted against his own self-deprecia- 
 tion. " Why do I say this ? Do not I, too, know 
 how to sacrifice myself .? Wait a bit, gentlemen .... 
 ■s^ Even you, Pdklin, shall be convinced in time that, 
 though I am aesthetic, though I do write verses . . . ." 
 
 He tossed back his hair, ground his teeth angrily, 
 and, hurriedly tearing off his clothes, threw himself on 
 to the cold and damp bed. 
 
 " Good-night ! " said Mashiirina's voice through the 
 partition. " I am your neighbour." 
 
 " Good-night ! " answered Nejddnof, who at that 
 moment remembered that she had not taken her eyes 
 off him all the evening. 
 
 " What does she want 1 " he whispered to himself, 
 with a feeling of shame. " Oh, if I could only go to 
 sleep soon ! " But nerves are not easy to subdue, and 
 the sun was already high when he at length sank into 
 a heavy and unrefreshing sleep. 
 
 The next morning he woke late with a headache. 
 Having dressed, he walked to the window of his 
 room. He saw that Mark^lof had really no farm to 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XI. 
 
 speak of. His house stood alone, not far from a 
 copse. On one side was a small granary, a stable, a 
 cellar, a cottage with a dilapidated thatched roof ; on 
 the other a tiny pond, a kitchen garden, a field of 
 hemp, and another cottage with a similar roof. 
 Further on stood an oast house, a threshing-floor, and 
 an empty rick-yard ; these were all the worldly goods 
 which met his eye. Everything seemed poor and 
 wretched, not as if it had decayed or been neglected, 
 but as if it had never prospered, like a tree that has 
 not taken root. Nejdanof went downstairs. Mashiirina 
 was sitting in the parlour behind a tea-urn, and appa- 
 rently waiting for him. She told him that Ostroddmof 
 had gone away for the cause and would not be back 
 for a fortnight, and that Mark^lof had gone to look 
 after his hired labourers. As the end of May was 
 approaching, and there was no important work on 
 hand, Mark^lof had taken it into his head to cut 
 down a small birch copse at his own expense,* and 
 had been there since early morning. 
 
 Nejddnof felt strangely fatigued in his mind. The 
 day before so much had been said as to the impossi- 
 bility of further delay, the necessity for immediate 
 action. But Tvhat action, and how could it be imme- 
 diate .? It was no use asking Mashiirina ; she knew 
 no hesitation, she had no doubt as to what she 
 was to do, viz., to go to K. Further than that she 
 did not look. Nejdanof did not know what to say to 
 her, and, having drunk his tea, put on his hat, and 
 walked towards the birch wood. On the road he 
 met some peasants, Mark^lof 's former serfs, who had 
 been carrying manure to the fields. He talked with 
 them, but did not get much out of them. They too 
 seemed tired, but with an ordinary physical fatigue, 
 not in the least like the feeling from which he was 
 
 * Wood in Russia is almost always sold standing, and cut 
 down by the buyer. 
 
CHAP. XI.J A NOVEL. 89 
 
 suffering. Their former master, they said, was a 
 straightforward gentleman, only a bit queer ; they pro- 
 phesied that he would ruin himself, for he did not know 
 how to set about matters, and wanted to alter every- 
 thing, — not like his fathers. " Then he is so learned at 
 times ; do what you will you won't understand him. 
 But good enough for all that ! " Nejdanof proceeded, 
 and came on Mark^lof himself. 
 
 He was walking along, surrounded by a crowd of 
 labourers. Nejddnof saw from afar how he explained 
 something to them, talked about it, then made a 
 hopeless gesture, as much as to say, " I give it up." 
 By his side walked his manager, a short-sighted young 
 fellow, with an appearance the reverse of imposing. 
 He incessantly repeated, " As you please, sir,", to the 
 great disgust of his master, who expected more self- 
 kssertion from him. Nejddnof walked up to Mark^lof, 
 and saw expressed on his face the same mental 
 weariness as he felt himself They said good- 
 morning, and Markdlof immediately began speaking, 
 though briefly, of the questions they had discussed 
 the day before, of the approach of a revolution, but 
 the expression of fatigue did not quit his face. He 
 was very dusty and hot ; his clothes were covered 
 with chips of wood and green fibres of moss ; his voice 
 was hoarse. The people round him were silent, a 
 little from fright, a little because they were laughing 
 at him. Nejddnof looked at Mark^lof, and again 
 Ostrodiimof 's words rang in his ears, " What is the 
 good of all this .' it will all have to be changed after- 
 wards." A labourer who had been fined began to 
 beg Markdlof to let him off. Markdlof flew into a 
 passion, and shouted at him furiously, but ended by 
 forgiving him. " It was all the same ; it would all 
 "Niave to be changed afterwards." Nejdanof asked 
 him for horses and a conveyance to return home. 
 Markdlof seemed to be surprised at his request. 
 
90 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. xi. 
 
 but answered that everything would be ready 
 directly. 
 
 As he walked homeward with Nejddnof he literally 
 staggered from fatigue. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Nejddnof 
 
 " I am dead beat," said Mark^lof, savagely. " Say 
 .what you will to those people, they understand nothing, 
 and do not do what they are told. They don't even 
 understand Russian. They know what the word 
 ' part ' means, but ' to take part,' — they don't under- 
 stand it. But, devil take it ! — it 's good Russian, isn't it .'' 
 They think I want to give them a part of land." 
 
 Mark^lof had been trying to explain to the peasants 
 the principle of co-operation, and to introduce it, and 
 they were resisting. One of them said, " The hole 
 always was deep, but now one cannot see the bottom," 
 whereat all the other peasants with one accord heaved 
 a loud sigh, which completely annihilated poor 
 Mark^lof 
 
 On arriving at the house he dismissed his workmen, 
 and began to see about horses and a cart, also about 
 breakfast. His household consisted of a boy, a cook, 
 a coachman, and a certain venerable old man with 
 hairy ears, in a long cotton caftan, who had once been 
 his grandfather's valet. This old man was always 
 looking at his master in a most dismal manner, but he 
 never did anything, and probably could not had he 
 tried, but was ever present leaning against the wall 
 by the door. 
 
 After breakfasting off hard-boiled eggs, kilki, and 
 akroshka * (while the page handed mustard in an old 
 pomade pot, vinegar in an eau-de-cologne flask), 
 Nejddnof took his seat in the same tarantas in which 
 he had come the evening before, but instead of three 
 
 * Kilki, a kind of small fish, preserved in salt and bay-leaves. 
 Akroshka, an iced soup, with lumps of meat — a common and 
 excellent Russian summer dish. 
 
CHAP,. XI.] A NOVEL. 
 
 91 
 
 horses there were only two, the third having been 
 lamed in shoeing. During breakfast Mark^lof said 
 little, ate nothing, and only sat still, breathing heavily. 
 He let drop a few bitter words about his own estab- 
 lishment, and again waved his hand. 
 
 " It is all the same ; it will all have to be changed 
 afterwards." 
 
 Mashurina asked Nejddnof to take her as far as the 
 town, as she had to make a few purchases. 
 
 " I can come back on foot," she said, " or a peasant 
 will give me a seat on his cart." 
 
 Markdlof accompanied them to the door, and said 
 that he would soon send for Nejddnof again, and then 
 (he brightened up, and seemed to take courage 
 afresh) — then they would settle matters finally. 
 Solomin would come ; he himself was only waiting 
 instructions from Vasi'li Nikoldevitch, and then — for 
 \„immediate action, as the " people " (that same people 
 who did not understand the word " to take part ") 
 would wait no longer ! 
 
 " By the way," said Nejddnof, " you wanted to 
 show me the letters of that — what 's his name i" — 
 Kisliak6f." 
 
 " Yes, later — later," answered Mark^lof, hurriedly. 
 " We will do it all at the same time." 
 
 The tarantas moved off. " Be ready ! " cried 
 Markelof, for the last time. He was standing at the 
 door, and by his side, with his unchangingly miserable 
 look, his bent figure, his hands behind his back, smell- 
 ing of black bread and fusty cotton, hearing nothing, 
 stood the old man, his grandfather's valet, the model 
 servant. 
 
 Mashurina smoked her cigarette in silence till they 
 reached the town. • As they approached the barrier 
 she suddenly gave a loud sigh. 
 
 " I am sorry for Sergei Mikhdilovitch," she said, and 
 her face clouded over. 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XI. 
 
 " He is quite worried to death," said Nejddnof. 
 " I think his affairs are doing badly." 
 
 " Oh, it was not for that." 
 
 "What was it for, then .? " 
 
 " He is an unhappy, unlucky man. Where can you 
 find a better one } But no — no one will have him ! " 
 
 Nejddnof looked at his companion. " Do you know 
 anything .■' " he asked. 
 
 " I know nothing, but one feels it for oneself Good 
 bye, Alexei Dmi'tritch ! " 
 
 Mashurina got out, and an hour afterwards Nejdanof 
 was entering Sipiagin's court-yard. He did notfeel well. 
 He had hardly slept, and then all that_talk^all that 
 iicjplp ps riiscussinn . . . . 
 
 A handsome face glanced out of a window, and 
 smiled pleasantly at him. It was Sipiigina welcoming 
 his return. 
 
 " What eyes she has ! " he thought. 
 
CHAP. XII.] A NOVEL, 93 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 V. 
 
 There were a great many people at dinner that day, 
 so immediately after it was over Nejdinof took ad- 
 vantage of the crowd to slip away to his room. He 
 wanted to be alone if it were only to put into order 
 the impressions which he had gathered during his trip. 
 At table Valentfna Mikhdilovna had looked at him 
 several times with attention, but apparently had not 
 found an opportunity of speaking to him, while 
 Maricinna, since the unexpected outbreak which had 
 so surprised him, seemed to be avoiding him as if 
 ashamed. Nejddnof took up his pen ; he wished to 
 converse on paper with his friend Si'lin ; but he found 
 nothing to say even to him, or possibly so many con- 
 tradictory thoughts and feelings were crowding"through 
 his brain that he made no attempt to unravel them, 
 so he put everything off to another day. Kallomditsef 
 had been present at dinner, and never had he shown 
 more self-sufficiency, more aristocratic contempt ; but 
 his impertinent speeches had no effect on Nejddnof ; 
 he did not notice them. He was surrounded by a kind 
 of cloud ; it hung like a semi-transparent veil between 
 him and the rest of the world, and strange to say 
 through this veil he saw but three faces ; all three 
 were women's faces, and all three kept their eyes 
 obstinately on him. They were Sipiagina, Mashiirina, 
 and Maridnna. What did it mean } and why these 
 
94 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. Xll. 
 
 three faces and no others ? What had they in com- 
 mon ? and what did they want with him ? 
 
 He went to bed early, but could not sleep. The 
 thoughts which visited him were not melancholy, but 
 solemn — thoughts of the inevitable end — of death. 
 He knew them well. Long did he turn them over 
 one way and another, sometimes shuddering at the 
 
 -probability of annihilation, sometimes welcoming it, 
 almost rejoicing in it. At length he felt a particular 
 inspiration which he knew. He rose, sat down before 
 his writing-table, and with little thought, almost with- 
 out a correction, v/rote the following verses in the 
 book which he kept so carefully concealed : — 
 
 " My dear friend, when I die here are my commands. 
 Heap together all my writings, and destroy them that 
 same hour. Surround me with flowers, let the sun 
 into the room ; behind the open doors let musicians 
 play. Forbid them the mournful dirge ; let the giddy 
 waltz resound under the stroke of the bow, as in the 
 hour of feasting. Drinking in the dying strains with my 
 weakening ear I too will die, will sleep, and without 
 having disturbed the peace before death with useless 
 groans, I will go to another world, rocked by the 
 joyous sounds of the joyous pleasures of this earth." 
 
 As he wrote the word "friend " he was thinking of 
 Sflin. He read his own verses to himself half aloud, 
 and was astonished at what had flowed from his pen. 
 H^iw did this scepticism, this indifference, this frivolous 
 
 infidelity agree with his principles, with all that he 
 had said at Mark^lof's. He threw the book into the 
 drawer of the table, and went back to his bed, but he 
 found no sleep till morning, when the larks were 
 beginning to sing in the grey sky. 
 
 The next day, as he was sitting in the billiard-room, 
 after finishing his lesson, Sipiigina came in, glanced 
 round, and going up to him with a smile asked 
 him to come into her sitting-room. She had on a 
 
CHAP, XII.] A NOVEL. 95 
 
 light barege dress, very plain and very pretty ; the 
 sleeves, trimmed with ruches, only came down to her 
 elbows, a broad ribbon encircled her waist, and her 
 hair fell on her neck in thick curls. Her whole 
 manner expressed welcome, and cautious but en- 
 couraging kindliness, from the gentle gleam of her 
 half-closed eyes to her languid and soft voice, her move- 
 ments, her very walk. Nejddnof followed her into 
 the sitting-room, a secluded, pretty room, the air of 
 which was impregnated with the odour of flowers and 
 scents, and spoke of the cleanly freshness of a woman's 
 attire, of the constant presence of a woman. She 
 made him sit down in an armchair, took a seat by his 
 side, and began to ask him about his journey, about 
 Mark^lof's way of living ; and all so discreetly, so 
 affectionately, so nicely. She spoke of her sincere 
 interest in the welfare of her brother, whose name up 
 to that time Nejddnof had never heard her utter ; 
 from some of her words he gathered that the feeling 
 with which Maridnna had inspired Mark^lof had nst 
 escaped her notice ; and there was a tinge of sorrow 
 in her voice, but whether it was because he had not 
 met with sympathy from Maridnna, or because his 
 choice had fallen on a girl who had really nothing in 
 common with him, Nejddnof could not tell. The 
 main point was that she was evidently trying to tame 
 Nejddnof, to awake confidence in him, to break 
 through his reserve. She even reproached him gently 
 for having a false opinion of her. 
 
 Nejddnof listened and hstened, looking at her hands 
 and shoulders, and occasionally throwing a glance at 
 her red lips and gently waving curls. At first he 
 answered very briefly ; he felt as it were a sense of 
 oppression in his throat and chest, but little by little 
 this feeling gave way to another, just as disquieting, 
 but not devoid of a certain pleasure. He had never 
 expected that such a great lady, so Viandsome, so 
 
96 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. Xir. 
 
 aristocratic, would deign to take an interest in him, 
 a plain student ; and she not only took an interest in 
 him ; she really seemed to coquet a little with him. 
 
 Nejddnof asked himself why she did all this, but 
 found no answer, and, to tell the truth, wanted none. 
 Sipi%ina spoke of K61ia ; she even assured Nejdinof 
 that the reason she wished to become intimate with 
 him was that she might speak seriously to him about 
 her son, and generally that she might learn his ideas 
 on the education of Russian children. The sudden- 
 ness with which this wish had seized her might seem 
 somewhat strange, but the important fact was not 
 what Valentfna Mikhdilovna was talking about, but 
 that a certain wave of emotion had come over her ; 
 she had felt the desire to subdue, to bend to her feet 
 this stubborn neck .... 
 
 Here we must retrace our steps awhile. 
 
 Valentfna Mikhdilovna was the daughter of a very 
 stupid and incapable general with only one decora- 
 tion and a clasp for fifty years' service — and of an 
 extremely clever and cunning Little-Russian, who, 
 like many of her countrywomen, possessed a most 
 simple and even stupid countenance, the advantages 
 of which she thoroughly understood. Her parents 
 were not wealthy, yet Valentfna Mikhdilovna managed 
 to enter the Smolny convent,* where, though she 
 was considered a republican, she nevertheless enjoyed 
 favour, as she behaved admirably and worked dili- 
 gently. When she came out she settled with her 
 mother (her father, the general with the star and the 
 clasp, was already dead, her brother had gone into 
 the country) in a clean but very cold lodging ; when 
 visitors talked, one could see the breath coming out 
 of their mouths ; Valentfna Mikhiilovna used laugh- 
 ingly to say that it was like being in church. She 
 bore all the miseries of her comfortless and poor life 
 * A famous educational establishment near Petersburg. 
 
CHAP. XII.] A NOVEL. 97 
 
 with bravery, for she was very even-tempered. With 
 the help of her mother she managed to keep up 
 acquaintances and connexions, and to make new 
 ones ; eveiy one, even in the highest circles, spoke of 
 her as a pleasant, well-educated girl, and very well 
 behaved. She had several suitors ; she chose Sipidgin, 
 and made him fall in love with her easily, quickly, and 
 cleverly. Besides which, he soon understood that he 
 could not find a more suitable wife. She was clever 
 and not bad-hearted, nay rather good-natured, but at 
 bottom cold and indifferent ; nor could she imagine 
 that any one could be indifferent to he>. She was 
 full of that grace which is peculiar to charming 
 egoists. There is no poetry in it, no true feeling ; but 
 there is gentleness, there is sympathy, there is even 
 affection. Only one must not cross these same charming 
 
 . egoists ; they love power and cannot bear that others 
 should be independent. Women like Sipidgina excite 
 
 , and agitate passionate and inexperienced men ; for 
 themselves they love a regular and quiet life. Virtue 
 comes naturally to them, for they are not easily 
 
 ^ moved, but the continual wish to command, to 
 attract and to please, gives them life and brilliancy ; 
 their will is firm, and their very influence partly 
 depends on that firmness. It is difficult for a man to 
 resist when sparks of a secret flame flit as it were 
 involuntarily over such a bright pure being ; he waits 
 and waits for the hour when the ice shall melt, but 
 the sunbeams only play on the clear surface, — ^it never 
 melts, and its clearness is never troubled ! 
 
 Her coquetry cost Sipidgina but little ; she knew 
 very well that for her there was and could be no 
 danger. While how sweet it was to her soul to make 
 eyes grow dim or sparkle, to make cheeks glow with 
 fear and passion, a voice tremble and break, to 
 disturb the peace of a mind ! How delightful it was 
 in the evening, as she laid herself down on her white 
 
 H 
 
98 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. Xll. 
 
 bed for a dreamless sleep, to remember all those 
 excited words and looks and sighs ! With what a 
 satisfied smile she then wrapped herself in the con- 
 sciousness of her safety, of her pre-eminence, and 
 graciously stiijtendered herself to the lawful caresses 
 of her well-bsed husband ! It was so pleasant that 
 at times her heart grew quite soft, and she was ready 
 to do some good deed to help her neighbour. She 
 once founded a small hospital, after a certain secretary 
 of legation, madly in love with her, had tried to cut 
 his throat ! She prayed for him sincerely, though 
 from her earliest childhood religious feeling had been 
 but weak in her. 
 
 So she conversed with Nejdanof, and in every way 
 endeavoured to bring him to her feet. She allowed 
 him to be friendly, she even unveiled her mind a little 
 before him ; and she looked on with gracious curiosity, 
 with a half-maternal pleasure, as this interesting and 
 sulky radical, with his good looks, came slowly and 
 awkwardly towards her. A day, an hour, a minute, 
 later, and all would be gone, without leaving a trace ; 
 but meanwhile she felt it pleasant, was a little in- 
 clined to laugh, a little frightened, and even a little, 
 melancholy. Forgetting his birth, and knowing how 
 such an attention is valued by solitary and shy people, 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna began to ask Nejdanof about 
 his youth, about his family .... But guessing in- 
 stantly, by, his confused and abrupt answers, that she 
 had made a wrong move, she endeavoured to efface 
 her mistake, and expanded even a little more before 
 him . . , ."as a rose in full blossom opens its sweet 
 petals in the warmth of a summer's day, soon to be 
 folded and closed by the refreshing coolness of night. 
 
 However, she did not quite succeed in undoing her 
 mistake. Nejddnof had been touched on a sore place, 
 and cQuld not trust as before. That bitter feeling 
 which he .always had, always carried about in the 
 
CHAP., XII.] A NOVEL. 
 
 99 
 
 depths of his soul, again stirred within him ; the re- 
 proachful suspicions of the democrat awoke. " It was 
 not for this that I came here," he thought, and re- 
 membered Paklin's satirical warnings. Then he took 
 advantage of the iirst pause, rose, bowed abruptly, 
 and went out " very stupidly," as he involuntarily 
 whispered to himself. 
 
 His agitation did not escape Valenti'na Mikhdilovna, 
 but, to judge by the smile with which her eyes followed 
 him, she interpreted that agitation favourably to her- 
 self 
 
 In the billiard-room Nejddnof found Maridnna. 
 She was standing with her back to the window, not 
 far from the door of the sitting-room, with her arms 
 tightly crossed. Her face was in deep shadow, but 
 her bold eyes looked at Nejdanof so inquiringly, so 
 defiantly, and there was such contempt, such scornful 
 pity expressed on her clenched lips, that he stopped 
 irresolutely. 
 
 " Do you wish to say anything to me t " he said 
 almost involuntarily. 
 
 Marianna did not answer at once. 
 
 " No," she said, " or, rather, yes, I do ; but not 
 now." 
 
 "When.?" 
 
 " Wait a little. Perhaps to-morrow, perhaps never. 
 You see, I hardly know you — what you are really 
 like." 
 
 " Yet," began Nejdanof, " I had thought that 
 
 there was between us . . . ." 
 
 "And you do not know me at all," interrupted 
 Marianna. "Well, wait. Perhaps it will be to-morrow. 
 Now I must be going to my — mistress. To-morrow." 
 
 Nejdanof took two steps, and then suddenly turned 
 round. 
 
 " By the way, Mariinna Vik^ntievna, I have been 
 wanting to ask you — will not you let me accompany 
 
100 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XII. 
 
 you to the school, to see what you are doing there, 
 before it is shut up ? " 
 
 "Certainly. Only it was not about the school I 
 wished to speak to you." 
 
 " About what, then ? " 
 
 " To-morrow," repeated Maridnna. 
 
 But she did not wait till the morrow, and the con- 
 versation between her and Nejddnof took place the 
 same evening, in one of the alleys of lime-trees not 
 far from the terrace. 
 
CHAP. XIII.] A NOVEL. 
 
 lOI 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 She was the first to speak. 
 
 "Mr. Nejdinof," she began, hurriedly, "you are 
 quite enchanted, I think, with Valentfna Mikhailovna .?" 
 
 She turned round without waiting for an answer, 
 and went down the alley. He walked by her side. 
 
 " What makes you think so } " he asked, after a 
 pause. 
 
 " Is it not true ? In that case she managed badly 
 to-day. I can fancy what trouble she took in setting 
 her little snares ! " 
 
 Nejddnof said nothing, but glanced sideways at 
 his strange companion. 
 
 " Listen," she said. " I will not be a hypocrite. I 
 do not love Valentfna Mikhdilovna, and you know it 
 very well. I may seem unjust to you, but first con- 
 sider . . . ." 
 
 Her voice failed her. She grew red and excited. 
 In her, agitation always seemed like anger. 
 
 " You are probably asking yourself," she began 
 again, " ' Why is this young lady telling me all this ? ' 
 You probably asked yourself the same question when 
 I spoke to you about Mr. Mark^lof." 
 
 She stopped suddenly, picked a small mushroom, 
 broke it in twain, and flung it away. 
 
102 VIRGIN SOIL. [chat. XIII. 
 
 "You are mistaken,Mariinna Vik^ntievna," answered 
 Nejdanof ; " on the contrary, I thought I inspired you 
 with confidence, and- that thought gave me pleasure." 
 
 Nejdinof spoke only half the truth ; that idea has 
 but just entered his head. 
 
 Mariinna glanced quickly at him. Up to that time 
 she had kept her face turned away. 
 
 " I cannot say that you have inspired me with con- 
 fidence," she said, as if in thought ; " you see, you are 
 quite a stranger to me. But your position and mine 
 . are very similar : we are equally unhappy ; that is 
 the link between us." 
 
 " You are unhappy "> " asked Nejddnof 
 
 " Are you not .'' " said Maridnna. 
 
 He did not answer. 
 
 " You know my story," she said impetuously, " the 
 story of my father ; his punishment. No .' Well, let 
 me tell you that he was tried, found guilty, deprived 
 of his rank — of everything, and sent to Siberia. Then 
 he died, and my mother, she too died. My uncle, 
 Sipfagin, my mother's brother, took charge of me ; I 
 live on his bread — he is my benefactor, and she, 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna, is my benefactress, and I re- 
 pay them by black ingratitude, because I suppose my 
 heart is hard, and strangers' bread is bitter, and I 
 know not how to bear insulting condescension, and 
 cannot endure protection, and cannot hide my 
 feelings, and when I am continually pricked with 
 pins I only refrain from crying out because I am too 
 proud." 
 
 As she uttered these broken phrases, she walked 
 faster and faster. 
 
 Suddenly she stopped. 
 
 " Do you know that my aunt, merely to get rid of me, 
 
 is trying to marry me to that horrible Kallom^itsef ? 
 
 ^et she knows my opinions — in her eyes I am a 
 
 r^ihilist ; and he ! — of course I do not please him ; I 
 
CHAP. Xlll.] A NOVEL. i03 
 
 am not pretty, but I can be sold. You see that too 
 would be an act of kindness." 
 
 " Then why . . . ." began Nejddnof, and stopped. 
 
 Marianna again glanced at him. 
 
 "Then why did I not accept Mr. Mark^lofs pro- 
 position, you were going to ask ? Were you not ? 
 True ; but what could I do ? He is a good man ; but 
 I cannot help it — I do not love him." 
 
 Marianna again hurried her steps, as if she wished 
 to save her companion from the necessity of answering 
 her unexpected confession. 
 
 They reached the end of the alley. Maridnna turned 
 sharply into a tiny path, which led through a thick 
 plantation of firs, and went along it. Nejddnof fol- 
 lowed her. He felt doubly perplexed ; it seemed 
 strange to him that that wild girl should suddenly be 
 so frank with him, and he wondered still more that he 
 felt no astonishment at that same frankness, but 
 thought it natural. 
 
 Suddenly Marianna turned round, and stood still in 
 the centre of the path, so that her face was only a 
 couple of feet from Nejddnof s, and looked him straight 
 in the eyes. 
 
 " Alex^i Dmi'tritch," she said, " do not imagine 
 that my aunt is wicked. No, she is all — a lie ; she is 
 an actress, she poses ; she insists on being admired by 
 all as a beauty, and worshipped by all as a saint ! 
 She invents some epigrammatic sentimentality, and 
 says it to one person, then repeats it to another, to a 
 third, and all with the same air as if she had just in- 
 vented the epigram; and then she uses her beautiful 
 eyes. She knows herself well — knows that she is 
 like a Madonna, and that she cares for no one. She 
 pretends to be always occupied with K61ia, and in 
 reality does nothing but talk about him to clever 
 people. She wishes no evil to any one — not she — she 
 is all goodwill. But all the bones in your body may 
 
I04 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. xin. 
 
 be broken in her presence, and it is all the same to 
 her. She will not move a finger to save you ; but if 
 she gains anything by it, or thinks it to her advantage, 
 then oh, then ! " 
 
 Maridnna was silent. The gall seemed to choke 
 her ; she had determined to give it vent ; she could 
 not restrain herself, yet her voice failed her. She 
 \ belonged to that unhappy_slass_of people (they have 
 increased in Russ ia of late) whom justice satjshes^ 
 without pleasing, wHiIe injustice, to which they are 
 very sensitive, stirs them to the depth of their soul. 
 While she was speaking, Nejddnof looked attentively 
 at her ; her flushed face, with the short hair slightly 
 disordered, with the thin lips quivering, seemed to him 
 threatening and full of meaning — and handsome. A 
 ray of sunlight, broken by the thick shield of foliage, 
 lay in a golden patch across her brow ; and that beam 
 of light suited the excited expression of her whole 
 face, the wide, motionless and brilliant eyes, the burn- 
 ing tones of lier voice. 
 
 "Tell me," at length said Nejdanof, "why did you 
 call me unhappy ? Do you know my past ?" 
 
 She nodded " yes." 
 
 " That is, what do you know .' Has any one spoken 
 to you about me .■• " 
 
 " I know — your birth." 
 
 " You know it — who told you .? " 
 
 "Why she, of course, always the same Valenti'na 
 Mikhiilovna, with whom you are so enchanted. She 
 did not forget to mention — a mere hint, but plain 
 enough — not pityingly, but as a liberal who was above 
 all prejudices, that there was such a remarkable fact in 
 the history of the new teacher ! Do not be astonished, 
 please ; Valentfna Mikhdilovna remarks to almo.st 
 every visitor, also as a mere hint, but this time 
 with pity, that there is in the life of her niece 
 such a — remarkable fact : her father was sent to 
 
CHAP. XIII.] A NOVEL. lOS 
 
 Siberia for taking bribes ! However much of an 
 aristocrat she may think herself, she is simply a 
 scandalmonger and an actress — that Raphael's 
 Madonna of yours ! " 
 
 " One moment," said Nejdanof. " Why do you call 
 her ' mine ' ? " 
 
 Mariinna turned away, and walked on down the 
 path. 
 
 " You had such a long conversation with her ! " she 
 said, in a hollow voice. 
 
 " I hardly uttered a word," said Nejddnof ; " it was 
 she who talked the whole time." 
 
 Maridnna walked on in silence. The path here 
 turned ; they passed beyond the fir-trees, and before 
 them lay a little glade with a venerable weeping birch 
 in the centre, round the trunk of which ran a bench. 
 On this bench Maridnna sat down, and Nejddnof took 
 his place by her side. Over their heads waved slowly 
 the long streamers of hanging branches, covered with 
 their young green leaves. The turf around was white 
 with lily of the valley, and the fresh scent of the young 
 grass rose from the whole glade, and relieved their 
 lungs oppressed by the strong exhalations of the 
 firs. 
 
 " You want to accompany me to our school," began 
 Maridnna. " Very well, we can go. Only, I am not 
 sure .... You will not be pleased. You have heard 
 that our chief teacher is the deacon. He is a good 
 man, but you cannot imagine what strange things he 
 tells his pupils. Amongst these there is a boy — his 
 name is Garas^i — he is an orphan of nine, and is the 
 best scholar of all : only fancy ! " 
 
 Maridnna, in changing the subject of conversation, 
 seemed herself to change ; she again became pale and 
 quiet, and her face expressed confusion, as if she were 
 ashamed of all she had said. She evidently wished 
 .o draw Nejddnof on to some " question " — education. 
 
io6 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xm. 
 
 the peasantry — no matter what, so long as she did not 
 continue in her former tone. But he was not thinking 
 of " questions " at that moment. 
 
 " Maridnna Vik6ntievna," he began, " I will tell you 
 frankly, I never expected all ... . all that has passed 
 between us." (At the word "passed" she drew 
 slightly away from him.) " It seems to me that we 
 have suddenly become very friendly ; and so it should 
 be. We have long been drawing nearer ; only a word 
 was wanting. So I will speak to you without reserve. 
 You find your life heavy and burdensome in this 
 house ; but your uncle, though he may be narrow, is 
 yet, as far as I can judge, a kindly man. Does he 
 not understand your position, take your side .' " 
 
 " My uncle } First, he is not a man ; he is an 
 
 'official — a senator or minister, or something of the 
 kind. Secondly, I do not wish to complain and 
 gossip without reason ; my life is not heavy and bur- 
 densome here, that is to say, I am not persecuted, and 
 my aunt's little needle stabs are really nothing to me. 
 I am quite free." 
 
 Nejddnof looked at Marianna in astonishment. 
 "But in that case, all that you have just told 
 
 me " 
 
 " You are free to laugh at me," she interrupted, 
 " but if I am unhappy it is not for myself. I some- 
 times think I suffer for all the poor miserable oppressed 
 
 _people in our country ; no, not suffer, but am angry, 
 agitated ; that I am ready to lay down my life for them. 
 
 .1 am unhappv that I am a young la dy , a hanger-on, 
 and can da-iiothing_and knowjiothiiig! When my 
 father was in Siberia, and my motheTandl remained 
 in Moscow, oh, how I yearned for him ! Not that I 
 loved him or respected him overmuch, but I wanted 
 
 * so much to try myself, to see with my own eyes, how 
 
 the exiles, the persecuted, live .... And how angry 
 I was with myself and with all who were quiet and 
 
CHAP. XIII.] A NOVEL. 
 
 107 
 
 comfortable and well fed ! And then when he came 
 back, broken down, worn out, and began to lower 
 himself, to push and to toady, oh, how hard it was ! 
 How well he did to die, and mother too ! But I have 
 remained alive. What for ? To feel that my nature 
 is evil, that I am ungrateful, that no one can get on 
 with me, and that I can do nothing — nothing for any 
 one or anything ! " 
 
 Marianna looked away and her hand fell on the 
 bench. Nejdanof felt very sorry for her ; he touched 
 the hand as it hung, but Maridnna at once drew 
 it away ; not that Nejddnof's movement seemed 
 to her out of place, but that he might not for a 
 moment think that she was begging for sympathy. 
 
 Through the branches of the firs they caught a 
 glimpse of a woman's dress. 
 
 Marianna sat up. " Look, your Madonna has sent 
 out her spy. That maid has orders to look after 
 me, and see where I go, and with whom ! My aunt 
 probably guessed that I was with you, and thought it 
 was improper, especially after the sentimental comedy 
 she had been playing for your benefit. Besides which 
 it really is time to return. Let us go." 
 
 She arose ; Nejddnof also stood up. She looked 
 at him over her shoulder, and all at once there passed 
 across her face a pretty, almost childish, expression, 
 slightly confused. 
 
 " You are not angry with me, are you } You do 
 not think that I too have been acting } No, you do not 
 think that," she said before Nejddnof had time to 
 answer. " You too are like me, unhappy ; and your 
 nature is bad, like mine. And to-morrow we will go 
 to the school together ; for now we are good friends, 
 are we not .-"' 
 
 As they approached the house, Valentfna Mikhai- 
 lovna looked down at them through a glass from the 
 verandah, and slightly shook her head with her usual 
 
lOS VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XIII. 
 
 gentle smile. Then she turned round, and walking 
 through the open glass door into the drawing-room, 
 where Sipidgin was already sitting at prdfdrence with 
 the toothless neighbour who had come in for a cup of 
 tea, she said in a loud measured voice, pronouncing 
 each syllable distinctly, — 
 
 " How damp the air is ! How very imprudent ! " 
 Marianna looked quickly atNejddnof, while Sipiagin, 
 who had that moment utterly defeated his adversary, 
 threw a truly ministerial glance sideways and upwards 
 at his wife without moving his head, and then turned 
 the same sleepily cold yet keen look on the young 
 pair who were coming in from the garden. 
 
CHAP. XIV.] A NOVEL. 109 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Another fortnight passed during which everything 
 flowed on in its usual course. Sipidgin settled the 
 employment of each day with his usual lofty, affable, 
 and rather contemptuous manner, and if his air in so 
 doing was not quite that of a minister, it might at 
 least have belonged to an under-secretary of state. 
 K61ia took his lessons; Anna Zakharovna had the 
 same perpetual look of persecuted sullenness ; guests 
 appeared, talked, played at cards, and apparently did 
 nbt find it dull ; Valentfna Mikhdilovna continued 
 her by-play with Nejdanof, though her graciousness 
 was now mingled with a slight dash of good-natured 
 irony ; Nejddnof became firm friends with Marianna, 
 and found to his astonishment that her temper was 
 fairly even, and that it was possible to speak to her 
 on any subject without running the risk of angry 
 contradiction. In her company he twice visited the 
 school, but the first visit was sufficient to show him 
 that there was nothing to be done there. The deacon 
 had entire sway over it, with Sipiagin's permission, 
 in fact by his distinct wish. The deacon taught the 
 elements moderately well, though in an old-fashioned 
 way ; but at the examinations he asked extraordinary 
 questions, for instance he once asked Garas^i how he 
 explained the expression, " dark water in the firma- 
 
no VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XIV. 
 
 f , 
 
 merit," whereon Garas^i, by the deacon's own instruc- 
 tion, had to answer, " This is inexplicable." Besides 
 which the school was soon closed till the autumn on 
 account of the field-work. Nejdanof, remembering 
 --the recommendation of Paklin and others, endeavoured 
 
 V to gain the confidence of the peasants; but he soon 
 
 ^ found out that he was simply studying them, as far 
 
 as his powers of observation extended, and was doing 
 
 clothing for the propaganda. He had lived nearly 
 
 N^ all his life in towns, and between him and the country 
 
 people there was a gulf or rather an expanse across 
 
 which he could not spring. He interchanged a few 
 
 words with Ki'rill the drunkard, and Mendel^i the 
 
 " windbag," but, strange to say, he felt timid before 
 
 them, and, except for a few words of coarse and 
 
 Xj' ordinary discontent, he got nothing out of them. 
 Another peasant of the name of Thitiiief, simply 
 puzzled him completely ; the fellow had a most energetic 
 face, almost brigand-like. " Well," thought Nejdanof, 
 " this man at least can be trusted." And what was 
 really the case .' This same Thitiiief turned out to be 
 a mere vagabond ; the commune of his village had 
 taken away his land, because, though a healthy and 
 even a strong man, he could not work. " I can't," 
 sobbed Thitiiief, with a deep groan from within and a 
 long sigh. " I can't work ; kill me for it if you like ! 
 I would sooner make away with myself!" And 
 ended by asking for alms — a halfpenny for a bit of 
 bread. And from his face he might have been a 
 Rinaldo Rinaldini. With the workmen, too, Nejdinof 
 could not get on at all ; they were all either terribly 
 \- dissipated or terribly sullen, and nothing came of his 
 endeavours in that direction. About all this he wrote 
 a long letter to his friend Si'lin, in which he complained 
 bitterly of his clumsiness, and attributed it to his bad 
 education and his abominable aesthetic nature. He 
 ■ then suddenly imagined that his calling in the work 
 
CHAP. XIV.] A NOVEL. 
 
 in 
 
 of propaganda was to act not by the vivid, spoken 
 word, but by his pen ; but the pamphlets which he 
 tried did not succeed. Everything that he en- 
 deavoured to put down on paper gave him the impres- 
 sion of being false — strained and unnatural in tone and 
 language, and twice, oh horror ! he unwittingly found 
 himself writing verse and his own personal, sceptica^ 
 feelings. He even determined (and it was a great 
 sign of confidence and friendship) to speak of his 
 failure to Mariinna, and — again to his astonishment—, 
 he found sympathy in her, not of course for his versi- 
 fying, but for the mental suffering which he under- 
 went, and which was not unknown to her. Marianna 
 attacked '' aesthetics " as much as he did, but in truth 
 her real reason for not loving and marrying Mark^lof- 
 was that he had not a trace of those very " aesthetics." 
 Maridnna of course did not dare acknowledge this 
 even to herself; but that only is strong within us 
 which is for ourselves but a half-suspected secret. 
 
 So the days passed, heavily and unevenly, but 
 without actual dulness. 
 
 A curious change was going on in Nejddnof He 
 was dissatisfied with himself, with his work, or rather 
 his inactivity ; his words were always full of bitterness 
 and keen self-reproach, but in his soul, somewhere 
 very far away within, he was not uncomfortable ; he 
 even felt that he was calming down. Was it a con- 
 sequence of the country quiet, of the air, the summer, 
 the good food, the comfortable life; or was it that for 
 the first time since his birth he was enjoying the 
 pleasure of intercourse with the mind of a woman '^ 
 It would be difficult to say, but his mind was really 
 lighter, though he. complained, and complained with- 
 out affectation, to his friend S/lin. 
 
 However, this state of mind was suddenly and 
 violently broken up in one day. 
 
 On the morning of that day he received a letter 
 
N' 
 
 H2 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XIV. 
 
 from Vasfli Nikolaevitch, in which he, together with 
 Mark^lof, was ordered — in expectation of further 
 instructions — immediately to make the acquaintance of 
 and to concert with SpJ6min^ whom we have men- 
 tioned, and a certain merchantJGoloushkin, a n Old 
 Bel iever,* living in the town of S. This letter agi- 
 rtated i\ejHanof ; he read in it a reproach for his want 
 of zeal. The bitterness which had hitherto found its 
 vent only in words now rose once more from the 
 depths of his heart. 
 
 At dinner-time appeared Kallomeitsef, excited and 
 furious. "Just imagine," he cried out, almost in tears, 
 " what horrors I have this moment read in the paper ; 
 my friend, my good Mikhdil, the Prince of Servia, 
 has been murdered in Belgrade by a set of scoundrels. 
 What will those Jacobins and Republicans not do 
 next, if ajirm barrier be not at last opposed to them!" 
 Sipidgin "ventured to remark" that this horrible 
 murder was probably committed not by Jacobins, 
 " whose existence in Servia is not ascertained," but by 
 partisans of the faction of Karage6rgevitch, the enemies 
 of the Obr^novitch. But Kallomditsef would listen to 
 nothing, and again began in the same plaintive voice to 
 recount how the late prince had loved him, and what a 
 gun he had given him. At length, warming and getting 
 still more excited^ Kallamjitsef^passed from Jacobins 
 abroad to Nihilists and Socialists at home, and ended 
 by breaking out into an absolute philippic. Taking a 
 large piece of white bread in both hands, and breaking 
 it in the fashionable manner over his plate of soup, as 
 real Parisians do at the Cafd Riche, he expressed his 
 .onging to break and pulverize all who opposed — 
 anything or any one ! That was his very expression. 
 " It is time, it is time," he said, as he lifted his spoon 
 to his mouth ; " it is time, it is time," he repeated, as 
 he raised his glass to the servant who was handing 
 * Dissenter from the Orthodox Church. 
 
CHAP. XIV,] A NOVEL. 113 
 
 the sherry. He alluded with respect to the great jour- 
 nalists of Moscow, and Ladislas,notrebon et cher Ladis- 
 las, was never off his tongue. And all this time he was 
 glaring at Nejddnof, as if attacking him. "There's 
 one for you ; take that ! that is for you ; there 's 
 another ! " . NejdAnof at length lost his temper ai^d 
 began to argue in a voice which was hoarse and slightly 
 tremulous (not of course from any timidity) ; to 
 defend the aspirations, the principles, the ideals of th^v 
 young generation. Kallom^itsef at once raised his N 
 voice, for indignation in him was always expressed by 
 a falsetto, and began to be rude. Sipidgin grand- 
 iloquently took Nejddnof's part, Valentfna Mikhdil- 
 ovna agreed with her husband ; Anna Zakhdrovna 
 tried to divert K61ia's attention, and shot furious 
 glances in all directions from under her cap ; Maridnna 
 sat like a statue. 
 
 But suddenly, on hearing the name of Ladislas for 
 the twentieth time, Nejddnof exploded, and, striking 
 his hand on the table, exclaimed, "There's an 
 authority for you ! As if we didn't know who your 
 Ladislas was ! A born hireling, and nothing more ! " 
 
 " A . . . . a .... a ... . what 's that !" shrieked Kal- 
 •lom^itsef, choking with wrath. " Is that how you 
 dare to express yourself about a man who enjoys the 
 respect of such personages as Count Bldsenkrampf 
 and Prince Kovrijkin .'' " 
 
 Nejddnof shrugged his shoulders. "A good recom- 
 mendation indeed ! Prince Kovrfjkin, that servile 
 enthusiast . . . . " 
 
 " Ladislas is my friend," shouted Kallom^itsef, " he 
 is my companion, and I .... " 
 
 " So much the worse for you," interrupted Nejddnof; 
 " that means that you share his ideas, and my words 
 therefore apply to you as well." 
 
 Kallom^itsef grew speechless with anger. " How ! 
 What! How dare you! You ought .... at once . . . ." 
 
 I 
 
'^ 
 
 114 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XIV, 
 
 "What would you be pleased to do to me at once ?" 
 repeated Nejdanof, with ironical politeness. 
 
 Heaven knows how the skirmish between these 
 two enemies would have ended if ..SiE iagin had not 
 interrupted it at the commencement. He raised his 
 voice and assumed an attitude in which it was difficult 
 to say what predominated, the importance of the 
 statesman or the dignity of the master of the house ; 
 then announced quietly, but firmly, that he did not 
 wish any longer to hear such violent recriminations at 
 his table, that he had long laid it down as a rule (he 
 corrected himself, as a sacred rule) to respect every 
 kind of conviction, but only on condition (here he 
 Vaised his first finger, which was adorned by a signet- 
 ring) that they kept within the recognized limits of 
 gentlemanly feeling and propriety ; that if on the one 
 side he could not but blame in Mr. Nejdanof a certain 
 incontinence of language, which however was excused 
 by his youth, yet on the other hand he could not 
 approveof the violence with which Mr.Kallom^itsef had 
 attacked thinkers in the other camp, a violence which 
 however was explained by his zeal for the common 
 good. " Under my roof," he concluded, " under the 
 roof of the Sipiagins, there are neither Jacobins nor 
 hirelings, there are only conscientious people, who, 
 making allowance for each other's feelings, will cer- 
 tainly close their dispute by shaking hands ! " 
 
 Nejdanof and Kallom^itsef both remained silent, 
 but did not shake ■ hands ; apparently the hour for 
 mutual understanding had not yet struck. On the 
 contrary, they had never yet felt their hatred so 
 intense. The dinner finished in unpleasant and 
 awkward silence. Sipiagin endeavoured to tell a 
 diplomatic story, but dropped it in the middle. 
 Maridnna looked steadily at her plate. She did not 
 wish to show the sympathy which had been awakened 
 in her by Nejddnofs words, not from cowardice, cer- 
 
CHAP. XIV.] A NOVEL. IIS 
 
 tainly, but because it was above all necessary not to 
 betray herself to Sipiagina, whose steady, piercing 
 gaze she felt fixed upon her. And in truth Sipiagina 
 never took her eyes off either Maridnna or Nejddnof. 
 His unexpected outburst at first astonished the clever 
 lady, and then something seemed to flash across her, 
 so that she involuntarily whispered. Ah ! She had 
 suddenly guessed that Nejddnof, that same Nejdinof 
 who not long since was coming at her call, had now 
 turned away from her. Something had happened. 
 Could it be Mariinna } It must be. She is in love 
 with him, and he ... . 
 
 " I must take precautions," she concluded her 
 reflections. In the mean time Kallom^itsef was still 
 panting with wrath. Even two hours after, while 
 playing at pr^f^rence, he uttered the words " pass " or 
 " buy " with a grieved spirit, and the deep quiver of 
 the injured soul was heard in his voice, though he 
 pretended to be " above it all." Sipidgin alone was 
 well satisfied with the scene. He had had a chance 
 of showing off the power of his eloquence, of quelling 
 a rising storm .... He knew Latin, and Virgil's Quos 
 ego was familiar to him. He did not consciously 
 compare himself to Neptune, but somehow thought 
 of him with complacent fellow-feeling. 
 
ii6 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XV. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 As soon as possible Nejdanof went to his room and 
 locked himself in. He wished to see nobody — nobody 
 but Maridnna. 
 
 Her room was at the very end of a long passage 
 which intersected the whole of the upper floor. Nej- 
 dinof had only been in it once, and then but for a few 
 moments ; but he thought that she would not be angry 
 if he knocked — he thought that she. might even be 
 ^lad to speak to him. 
 
 It was already late — about ten o'clock. The 
 Sipiigins, after the scene at dinner, had thought it 
 better to leave him alone, and had continued to play 
 :ards with Kallom^itsef Valenti'na Mikhailovna had 
 isked twice after Marianna, who had also disappeared 
 soon after dinner. 
 
 " Where is Marianna Vikentievna .' " she said, first 
 n Russian then in French, addressing herself not to 
 my one in particular, but rather to the walls, as people 
 lo when they are very much astonished. However, 
 ;he soon became interested in her game. 
 
 Nejddnof paced a few times up and down his room, 
 hen walked down the corridor to Maridnna's door and 
 cnocked gently. There was no answer. He knocked 
 igain, then tried the door ; it was locked. He re- 
 
CHAP. XV.] A NOVEL. 117 
 
 turned to his room, but before he could sit down his 
 own door creaked slightly, and he heard Marianna's 
 voice. 
 
 " Alex^i Dmi'tritch, was it you knocked at my 
 door ? " 
 
 He sprang up at once and hurried to the door. 
 Marianna was standing in the passage, with a candle 
 in her hand, pale and motionless. 
 
 " Yes, it was I," he whispered. 
 
 " Come with me," she answered, and walked along 
 the corridor ; but before reaching the end she stopped 
 and pushed open a low door. Nejddnof saw a small 
 room, almost empty. "We had better go in here, 
 Alexdi' Dmitritch ; here we shall not be disturbed." 
 Nejdanof obeyed. Maridnna put down the candle on 
 the window-sill and turned towards him. " I under- 
 stand," she said, " why you wished to see me particu- 
 larly — you find life unbearable in this house, and so 
 do I." 
 
 " Yes, I wished to see you, Maridnna Vikdntievna ; 
 but I do not find my life unbearable since I have 
 become friendly with you." 
 
 Maridnna smiled thoughtfully. 
 
 " Thanks, Alex^i Dmftritch ; but tell me, you can- 
 not mean to stay here after all that has happened .' " 
 
 " I should think they would not keep me — that they 
 would send me away," answered Nejddnpf 
 
 " But you will not resign of your own accord .'' " 
 
 "I? No." 
 
 "Why.?" 
 
 " You wish to know the truth 1 Because you are 
 here." 
 
 Maridnna cast down her eyes and advanced a little 
 further into the room. 
 
 " Besides which," continued Nejddnof, " I am bound 
 to remain here. You as yet know nothing ; but I 
 wish — I feel that I ought to tell you everything." 
 
ii8 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XV. 
 
 He went up to Marianna and grasped her hand. 
 She did not draw it away, but only looked him in the 
 face. 
 
 " Listen ! " he exclaimed, suddenly and impetuously, 
 — " listen ! " He remained standing, though a few 
 chairs were scattered about the room, and, still holding 
 Maridnna's hand, began- to discourse warmly, excitedly, 
 with an eloquence of which he did not know himself 
 capable. He told her of his plans, his intentions, his 
 reasons for accepting Sipiagin's proposal ; of all his 
 ties, his acquaintances, his past, all that he had hitherto 
 concealed and told to no one. He spoke of the letters 
 he had received, of Vasili Nikoldevitch, of everything, 
 even of Si'lin ! He spoke hurriedly, without a stammer 
 — without the smallest hesitation, as if he were 
 ^.reproaching himself with not having already initiated 
 Maridnna into all his secrets — as if he were asking her 
 pardon. 
 
 She listened to him attentively, even greedily, at 
 first with astonishment ; but this feeling soon disap- 
 peared. Gratitude, devotion, pride, and determination 
 replaced it in her soul. Her face and eyes glowed ; 
 she placed her other hand in Nejdinof's, and her lips 
 opened in admiration. She suddenly became strangely 
 beautiful ! 
 
 At last he stopped and glanced at her, and then, for 
 the first time, seemed to see that face which was at 
 once so dear and so familiar to him. He heaved a 
 loud, deep sigh. 
 
 " How right I was to tell you all this ! " he managed 
 to whisper. 
 
 " Yes, right .... right ! " she answered, also in a 
 whisper. She imitated him unconsciously, but her 
 voice had really failed her. " You know, then," she 
 continued, "that I am at your disposal, that I, too, 
 \ wish to be of use to your cause, that I am ready to do 
 all that is needful, that I will go wherever I am 
 
CHAP. XV.] A NOVEL. H9 
 
 ordered, that I have always, with all my heart, desired 
 the same as you." 
 
 She ceased. Another word, and tears of thankful- 
 ness would have burst forth. This strong nature all 
 at once became soft as wax. She was devoured 
 by the thirst for action, for self-sacrifice, immediate 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Steps were heard outside the door — cautious, light, 
 rapid steps. 
 
 Maridnna suddenly drew herself up, pulled away 
 her hands, and entirely changed in a moment. She 
 seemed to grow quite gay. A contemptuous, bold 
 expression flitted across her face. 
 
 " I know who is spying on us at this moment," 
 she said, so loud that the echo of each word rang 
 clearly back from the passage. Mrs. Sipidgina is spy- 
 ing, but I do not care one atom." 
 
 The noise of the steps ceased. 
 
 " Well," said Maridnna, turning to Nejddnof," what 
 am I to do ? How can I help you .' Speak — speak 
 quickly ! What am I to do .' " 
 
 " What are you to do ? " repeated Nejddnof " I 
 do not yet know .... I have received a note from 
 Mark^of" 
 
 "When.?" 
 
 " This evening. I must go with him to-morrow to 
 Sol6min at the factory. 
 
 " Yes, yes. Markdlof, too, is a good fellow ; he is 
 a true friend." 
 
 " As I am .? " 
 
 Maridnna looked Nejddnof straight in the face. 
 
 " No, not as you are." 
 
 " How then .? " 
 
 She suddenly turned away. 
 
 " Oh, don't you know what you have become for me, 
 and what I feel at this moment .? " 
 
 Nejddnof s heart beat fast, and he involuntarily 
 
I20 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XV. 
 
 looked down. This girl who loved him — him, a 
 houseless wanderer — who was entrusting herself to 
 him, was ready to follow him, to accompany him, 
 with one and the same object, — this wonderful girl, 
 Maridnna, at that moment represented to Nejddnof 
 the incarnation of truth and goodness upon the earth, 
 ^-the incarnation of that love of a family, of a sister, of 
 ^ a wife, which he had never known — the incarnation of 
 happiness, fatherland, conflict, and freedom ! 
 
 He raised his head, and saw those eyes again fixed 
 on him. How that clear, proud glance sank into his 
 soul! 
 
 " So," he began, in an uncertain voice, " to-morrow 
 I go ; and when I come back I will tell you all I 
 know, all that has been decided. Henceforth all 
 that I do, all that I think, you shall be the first to 
 know ! " 
 
 " Oh, my friend ! " exclaimed Mariinna, again 
 seizing his hand. " I promise you the same. May I 
 see the letter .? " 
 
 " Here it is." 
 
 Maridnna skimmed through it, and raised her eyes 
 on him with awe. 
 
 " Do they entrust you with such important missions 
 as this > " 
 
 He smiled in answer, and put the letter back into 
 his pocket. 
 
 " Strange," he said ; " we have made our love clear 
 to each other, we love one another, and yet not a word 
 of love has passed between us ! " 
 
 "Why should it.'" whispered Marianna,,and sud- 
 denly threw herself on to his neck, and hid her head 
 on his shoulder .... They did not even interchange a 
 kiss, it would have seemed mean and somewhat 
 foolish, at least so they both felt, but at once separ- 
 ated, giving each other one more warm grasp of the 
 hand. 
 
CHAP. XV.] A NOVEL. 
 
 121 
 
 Marianna returned for the candle which she had 
 left on the window-sill of the empty room, and then 
 only did a feeling of doubtful wonder steal over her. 
 She blew it out, and, slipping quickly along the pas- 
 sage in complete darkness, returned to her room, un- 
 dressed, and lay down still in that darkness which 
 seemed to enwrap her so pleasantly. 
 
122 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XVI. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 When Nejdanof awoke the next morning he felt no 
 confusion at the recollection of what had passed the 
 evening before ; on the contrary he experienced a 
 pleasant and sober joy,as if he had fulfilled a duty which 
 ought properly to have been fulfilled long since. 
 After asking for permission to be away two days, which 
 Sipiagin granted instantly, but with a severe air, 
 Nejdanof set off to Mark^lof's. Before starting he 
 contrived to see Maridnna. She, too, seemed to feel 
 no shame or confusion ; her look was composed and 
 determined. She was only agitated about what he 
 might hear at Mark^lof's, and begged him to let her 
 know at once. 
 
 " Of course," answered Nejdanof. 
 
 "And in truth," he thought, "why should we be 
 
 agitated .' Personal feeling played but a secondary 
 
 part in bringing us together ; but we are united for 
 
 ever. In the name of the cause ? Yes, in the name 
 
 ^ of the cause ! " 
 
 He did not suspect how much truth or how much 
 falsehood there was in his thoughts. 
 
 He found Markdlof in the same fatigued and sullen 
 ^tate of mind. After dining anyhow and off anything, 
 they set off in the tarantas, whose acquaintance we 
 have already made, to the great cotton mill of the 
 
^ 
 ^ 
 
 :hap. XVI.] A NOVEL. 123 
 
 merchant Fal^ief, where Sol6min lived. (As Markdlofs 
 lorse was still lame, they hired from a peasant a second 
 >utside * horse, a colt which had never been in harness 
 Defore.) Nejdanof's curiosity was aroused ; he greatly 
 ivished to make the acquaintance of a man of whom he 
 lad lately heard so much. Sol6min had been warned, 
 ind as soon as the travellers arrived at the gate of the 
 "actory and gave their names, they were shown into 
 :he unpretentious wing occupied by the " engineer-in- 
 :hief." He happened to be at that moment in the 
 main building. While one of the workmen ran for 
 [lim Nejd^nof and Mark^lof had time to go to the 
 ivindow and glance round. It was evident that the 
 Factory was in full work and flourishing ; from all 
 sides came the invigorating sound of incessant activity ; ^ 
 machines puffed and thumped, lathes creaked, wheels 
 liummed, straps flapped, barrows and casks were rolled 
 ibout, and laden carts drove away, commands rang 
 Dut, whistles and bells sounded, workmen with their 
 shirts girt up and their hair tied up with a strap, and 
 factory girls in print dresses, ran hurriedly about ; 
 tiarnessed horses moved from place to place ; every- 
 where vibrated the strength of a thousand men at its 
 highest pressure. All went on regularly, intelligently, 
 and at full speed. Yet there was no special accuracy 
 or neatness — even tidiness was nowhere to be seen ; 
 on the contrary, one was everywhere struckbythe 
 carelessness, the mud, t he filth. Here aBroken 
 window, there the plaster peelmg bfl", planks tumbling 
 about, a door gaping half open ; a large black pool of 
 water, with a rainbow sheen of stagnation on it, stood 
 in the centre of the main yard ; further away were 
 scattered heaps of bricks ; everywhere were strewn 
 scraps of matting, of boxes, ends of rope ; lean and 
 mangy dogs walked about without even barking ; in 
 
 * Horses in Russia are harnessed three abreast, the two out- 
 ide having no shafts. The Greek Se^iocreipoi. 
 
124 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XVI. 
 
 a corner under a fence sat a boy of four years old, 
 with a huge stomach and an unkempt head, all 
 besmudged with soot ; there he sat and cried hope- 
 lessly, as if all the world had deserted him ; by his 
 side a sow, smeared with the same soot, and sur- 
 rounded by pied porkers, was devouring cabbage- 
 stalks ; ragged linen was hanging about on ropes, and 
 -what an atmosphere, what a stench everywhere ! A 
 r eal R ussian mill,XLO.ta_FrejichjQr.Gerinanjnanilfactory ! 
 
 NejdanoF tilrned to Markdlof 
 
 "People have told me so much about Sol6min's 
 wonderful qualities," he began, " that I confess all this 
 disorder astonishes me ; I had not expected it." 
 
 " There is no disorder here," said Markdlof, sullenly; 
 
 ~"this is only Russian untidiness. All the same, the 
 
 place is worth millions ; and he has to accommodate 
 
 himself to old habits, to the kind of work, and to 
 
 his employer. You know something of Fal^ief .■' " 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 " The greatest skinflint in Moscow : a pure bour- 
 geois." 
 
 At that moment Sol6min came in. Nejdanof was 
 disappointed in him as he had been in the factory. 
 At the first glance Solomin gave one the impression 
 of a Fin, or rather of a Swede. He was tall, fair, thin, 
 but broadly built, his face was long and yellow, his 
 nose short and broad, his eyes very small and greenish, 
 his expression quiet, his lips thick and slightly pro- 
 jecting, his teeth white and also large, and his chin 
 cleft and slightly covered with down. He was dressed 
 as a mechanic, as a stoker. He wore an old pea 
 jacket with gaping pockets, a battered oilcloth cap on 
 his head, a woollen comforter round his neck, and 
 tarred boots. Accompanying him was a man of 
 forty in a simple blouse, with a very mobile gipsy 
 face and sharp black eyes, with which on entering 
 he took in Nejddnof at a glance. Markdlof he 
 
:hap. XVI.] A NOVEL. 1 25 
 
 ilready knew. His name was Pdvel ; he was 
 5ol6min's factotum. 
 
 Sol6min went leisurely up to, each of the visitors, 
 jave them his hard bony hand without a word, took 
 1 sealed packet out of a drawer in the table, and 
 landed it without comment to Pdvel, who immediately 
 disappeared. Then he stretched himself and coughed, 
 :hrew off^his cap with one movement of his hand, sat 
 iown on a painted wooden chair, and, pointing to a 
 iimilar sofa, said, " Pray sit down." 
 
 Markdof introduced Nejddnof to Sol6min, who 
 igain gave him his hand. Then Mark^lof began to 
 ;peak about the " cause," and mentioned Vasili 
 !^ikoldevitch's letter, which Nejddnof gave to Sol6min. 
 iVhile he read it, passing his eyes attentively and 
 ilowly from one line to another, Nejddnof looked at 
 lim. Sol6min was sitting by the window ; the low 
 lun lit up his sun-burnt face, a little moist with work, 
 md his dusty, fair hair, in which played a multitude 
 )f little golden motes. His nostrils rose and fell, and 
 lis lips moved while he read as if he were pronouncing 
 ;very word ; he h-eld the letter firmly and high up 
 vith both hands. All this, without any particular 
 eason, pleased Nejddnof. Sol6min returned him the 
 etter with a smile, and began to listen to Mark^lof, 
 vho spoke for some time. 
 
 " I will tell you what," began Sol6min, when he had 
 inished, and his voice, which was young and strong, 
 hough a little hoarse, also pleased Nejddnof — " it is 
 lot very convenient here : let us go to your house ; it 
 s only seven versts away. You came in a taran- 
 as 1 " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, I shall find room. In an hour the work here 
 inishes, and I am free. Then we will have a talk 
 fou, too, are disengaged ? " said he, turning to 
 Jejdanof 
 
[26 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XVI. 
 
 " Till the day after to-morrow." 
 
 " Capital. We will sleep at his house ; may we, 
 Sergei Mikhailovitch ? " 
 
 " What a question ! 0f course you may." 
 
 " I ghall be ready directly. Only let me tidy my- 
 self a little." 
 
 " And how are matters going in the factory 1 " asked 
 Mark^lof, significantly. 
 
 Solomin looked away. ' 
 
 " We will have a talk," he repeated. " Wait a 
 moment ; I will come directly. I have forgotten 
 something." 
 
 He went out. Had it not been for the good im- 
 pression which he had made on Nejddnof, the latter 
 ivould perhaps have thought, and might even have 
 asked Markelof, " Is he not failing us .' " But nothing 
 of the sort came into his head. 
 
 An hour later, when the noisy crowd of workmen 
 had descended from all the stories of the immense 
 building, pouring out by every door and staircase, 
 the tarantas, containing the three friends, rolled 
 through the gates into the road. 
 
 " Vasili Fedotitch, shall we begin .'' " called out 
 Pavel, who had accompanied them to the gates. 
 
 " Wait a bit," answered Solomin. " That refers to 
 a certain piece of night-work," he explained to his 
 companions. 
 
 They arrived at Borzi6nkovo and supped, rather 
 for the sake of appearances. Then cigars were lighted, 
 and a conversation began, one of those interminable 
 night conversations peculiar to Russians, which 
 perhaps no other nation is capable of conceiving, so 
 long and so curious are they. 
 
 Here again, Sol6min did not confirm Nejdanof's idea 
 of him. He spoke remarkably little — so little, one might 
 almost say he was completely silent ; but he listened 
 attentively, and if "he did utter any opinion or remark 
 
CHAP. XVI.] A NOVEL. 127 
 
 it was weighty, short, and to the point. It turned out 
 that Sol6min did not beheve in the imminence of a 
 'revolution in Russia ; but as he did not wish to im- 
 pose his opinion on others, he avoided hampering 
 them, and looked on, not from afar, but standing by 
 -their side. He knew the Petersburg revolutionists- 
 well, and to a certain extent sympathized with them,, 
 for he was of the people ; but he also understood the 
 involuntary hesitation of that same people, without 
 i which, however, nothing could be done, and which it 
 ■ would be necessary to train for a long time, and not 
 in the same manner or for the same end as the others 
 were doing. So he remained on one side, not as a. 
 cunning turncoat, but like a sensible man, who would 
 ruin neither himself nor others for nothing. But 
 he would listen — why not .' — and learn too, if so 
 happened. 
 
 '-) Sol6min was the only son of a deacon ; he had five 
 listers, alT married to priests and deacons, but he him- 
 -self, with the consent of his father, a sedate and sober 
 man, abandoned the seminary and occupied himself 
 with mathematics, especially mechanics, his particular 
 passion. He entered a factory under an Englishman, 
 who loved him as a son, and gave him the means to 
 go to Manchester, where he lived two years and learned 
 English. He had not long since taken in hand the 
 factory of the Moscow merchant, and though he was 
 strict with his workmen (he had learnt that in England), 
 yet was popular among them. " He is one of us," they 
 said. His father was well pleased with him, called 
 him a " steady lad," and only regretted that he would 
 not marry. 
 
 During the evening's conversation at Mark^lofs, 
 Sol6min, as we have said, was silent nearly all the 
 time; but when Mark^lof began talking about the 
 hopes he had of the artisans, Sol6min remarked,, 
 laconically as usual, that in Russia artisans were not 
 
128 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XVI. 
 
 what they were abroad, but the quietest folk on 
 earth. 
 
 "And the peasants ? " said Mark^lof. 
 
 " The peasants ? There are a good many hard- 
 fisted ones among them, and will be more every 
 year, and they only know their own advantage ; the 
 rest are sheep, lost in darkness." 
 
 " Then where must we seek 1" 
 
 Sol6min smiled. 
 
 " Seek, and ye shall find." 
 
 He was nearly always smiling, but his smile, 
 though candid enough, was not vacant ; it was like 
 himself. Nejddnof he treated especially kindly; the 
 young student had aroused interest in him — almost 
 tenderness. 
 
 During the conversation Nejddnof suddenly flared 
 up and grew hot. Sol6min rose quietly, and, walking 
 across the room with his steady gait, shut the window 
 which was open behind Nejdinof's head. 
 
 "You might take cold," he remarked good- 
 naturedly, in answer to the astonished look of the 
 orator. 
 { Nejdanof began to ask him whether he could intro- 
 \ duce any socialistic ideas into the factory which he 
 \ managed, and whether he could arrange matters so 
 as to give the workmen a share in the profits. 
 
 " My dear friend," answered Sol6min, " we have 
 ^ started a school and a small hospital, and the gover- 
 nor fought the change against like a bear." 
 
 Once only Solomin grew really angry, and struck 
 his mighty fist on the table so that everything on it 
 danced, including even a half-hundredweight which 
 was lying by the inkstand. They had told him of 
 some legal injustice — some oppression of a society of 
 workmen. 
 
 When Nejdanof and Mark^lof began to talk about 
 starting, of how to put the plan into action, Sol6min 
 
CHAP. XVI.} A NOVEL. 129 
 
 continued to listen with curiosity, almost with respect, 
 but said not a word. Their talk went on till four 
 o'clock. And about what did they not tallc' Markdlof 
 among other things spoke mysteriously of the untiring 
 traveller Kisliak6f and of his letters, which were 
 becoming more and more interesting; he promised 
 to show Nejddnof some of them, and even to let him 
 take them home, as they were very long and written 
 somewhat indistinctly, besides which they were very 
 learned, and sometimes contained verses, — nothing 
 frivolous of course, but with socialistic tendencies. 
 From Kisliak6f Mark^lof got on to the army, to 
 aides-de-camp, to Germans, and came at length to 
 his essays on the artillery ; Nejddnof spoke of the 
 antagonism between Heine and Boerne, of Proudhon, 
 of realism in art, while Sol6min listened, and listened, 
 and smoked on, and, without ceasing to smile, with- 
 out saying a single witty word, seemed to understand 
 better than either of the others wherein lay the gist 
 of the matter. 
 
 Four o'clock struck .... Nejddnof and Markdlof 
 could hardly stand from fatigue, while Solcjmin never 
 so much as winked ! The friends separated, but first 
 agreed that on the morrow they should go to town to 
 visit the dissenting merchant, Goloiishkin, " for the 
 propaganda." Goloiishkin himself was very zealous, 
 and even promised proselytes. Soldmin expressed a 
 doubt whether it was worth visiting Goloiishkin, but 
 at length agreed that it was. 
 
130 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XVII. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Markelof's guests were still sleeping when a mes- 
 senger arrived with a letter for him from his sister, 
 Mrs. Sipiagina. In this letter Valenti'na Mikhailovna 
 talked about domestic trifles, asked him to return a 
 book he had taken, and added in a postscript a bit of 
 " interesting news " : his former flame Marianna had 
 fallen in love with the tutor Nejdanof, and the tutor 
 with her; and this was no gossip that she was telling 
 him, for she had seen with her own eyes and heard 
 with her own ears. Mark^lofs face grew black as 
 night, but he did not say a word, ordered the book 
 to be given to the messenger, and seeing Nejddnof 
 coming down stairs wished him good-day as usual ; 
 he even gave him the packet of Kisliak6fs letters 
 which he had promised him, but did not remain with 
 him, and went off " on business." Nejdanof returned 
 to his room and glanced over the letters which had 
 been given him. In them the young propagandist 
 \^ spoke everlastingly of himself, of his feverish activity; 
 according to his own account, during the last month 
 ^ he had galloped over eleven districts, had been in 
 _,) nine towns, twenty-seven villages, fifty-three hamlets, 
 one farmhouse, and eight factories ; had passed sixteen 
 nights under hayricks, one in a stable, one even in a 
 cowshed (here he remarked parenthetically, with a 
 nota bem^ that fleas did not bite him), had been in 
 underground dwellings, in workmen's barracks, had 
 
CHAP. XVII,] A NOVEL, 131 
 
 everywhere taught, preached, distributed pamphlets, 
 and collected information on the wing ; had written 
 down som^e of it at once, had learnt the rest by heart, 
 according to the latest method in mnemonics ; had 
 written fourteen long letters, twenty-eight short ones, 
 i and eighteen notes (four of them in pencil, one in 
 I blood, and one in soot and water) ; and had managed 
 ; to do all this because he had learnt to arrange his 
 jijtime systematically, according to the systems of 
 ; Quintin Johnson, Sverlitski, Karelius, and other 
 writers and statisticians. Then he recommenced 
 about himself, his star, how and in what points he 
 had completed Fourier's theory of passions ; asserted 
 that he had been the first at length to find " soil " for 
 the seed of the cause, that he would not " pass through 
 the world without making a mark," that he himself 
 wondered how he, a young man of two-and-twenty, 
 had already managed to solve all the problems of life 
 and science, and that he would transform Russia, that 
 he would. even stir her up ! " Dixi! !" he added to 
 the end of the line. This word, dixi, occurred very 
 often in Kisliakdf's writings, and was always accom- 
 panied by two notes of admiration. In one of the 
 letters there was even a socialistic poem, addressed 
 M:o a certain girl, and commencing — 
 
 " Love not me — but the idea ! " 
 
 Nejddnof marvelled inwardly not only at the self- 
 conceit of Mr. Kisliak6f, but at the kindly simplicity 
 of Mark^lof ; then thought, " Bother aesthetics ! even 
 \Kisliak6f may be useful." All three friends met in 
 the parlour for breakfast, but the conversation of the 
 day before was not renewed. None of them wished 
 to talk, but only Sol6min seemed to be silent without 
 effort ; both Nejddnof and Markdlof were inwardly- 
 excited. 
 
 After breakfast they started for the town ; the old 
 
i32 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XVII. 
 
 servant, sitting on the steps, followed his master with 
 his usual melancholy gaze. 
 
 Golou shkin. the merchan t, whose acquaintance 
 Nejdiinof was about to make, was the son of a trader 
 who had grown wealthy by selling groceries — a dis- 
 senter of the Theodosian sect. He did not add to his 
 father's money, for he was a glutton, an Epicurean 
 after the Russian fashion, and had no special aptitude 
 for business matters. He was a man of forty, stout 
 and ugly, with little pig's eyes, and pitted with small- 
 pox. He talked very quickly, *and his words seemed 
 to tumble over each other ; he moved his hands and 
 ' feet restlessly, laughed at everything, and altogether 
 gave one the impression of being stupid, spoilt, and 
 exceedingly vain. He considered himself an educated 
 
 \man, because he wore European clothes, lived freely 
 though dirtily, and knew rich people ; he went to the 
 theatre, and protected exuberant actresses, with whom 
 he conversed in a marvellous tongue which he sup- 
 posed to be French. His chief passion was a_ihirgt 
 
 — fiarLnotoriety. " Let the name of Goloushkin resound 
 through all lands " ; Suv6rof and Potdmkin were 
 famous, why not Kapiton Goloushkin .' This same 
 passion, overcoming his natural stinginess, threw him, 
 as he said, with a certain satisfaction, into the opposi- 
 ^^-tion (he used to say simply " into the positiofl/' but 
 had learnt better), and brought him into connexion 
 with the Nihilists ; he uttered the most extreme 
 opinions^ laughed at his own dissenting faith, ate 
 meat during fast-time, played at cards, and drank 
 champagne like water. He was lucky in everything, 
 " because," he said, " I have all the authorities bribed 
 in proper style ; every hole sewn up, every mouth 
 stopped, every ear closed." He was a widower with- 
 out any children ; his nephews fawned on him with 
 obsequious timidity, but he called them uneducated 
 boors and barbarians, and hardly allowed them into 
 
CHAP. XVII.] A NOVEL. 133 
 
 his presence. He lived in a large stone house, rather 
 untidily kept ; a few of the rooms had foreign furni- 
 ture, in others there was nothing but painted chairs 
 and an oil-cloth sofa. There were pictures everywhere, 
 and all execrable ; orange landscapes, purple sea- 
 pieces, Moller's " Kiss," and fat naked women with 
 red knees and elbows. Although Goloiishkin had no 
 family, a crowd of servants and toadies sheltered 
 themselves under his roof; it was not generosity which 
 prompted him to support them, but the same eagerness 
 for popularity and the need for some one to command 
 and lord it over. " My clients," he called them, when 
 he wanted to throw dust in any one's eyes ; for, 
 though he read no books, he had a capital memory 
 for learned terms. 
 
 The young men found Goloiishkin in his study. 
 Wrapped in a long coat, with a cigar in his mouth, he 
 was pretending to read the paper. On seeing them 
 he sprang up, fidgeted nervously, grew red, called for 
 lunch immediately, asked a question, laughed at some- 
 thing — all in a minute. Mark^lof and Sol6min he 
 knew. Nejdanof was a stranger to him. Hearing 
 that he was a student, he laughed again, shook his 
 hand once more, and said, — 
 
 " Capital ! capital ! An addition to our ranks. In- 
 struction is light ; ignorance is darkness. I got my 
 learning by ha'porths, but have common sense, so I 
 have got on." 
 
 Nejddnof thought that Goloiishkin was frightened 
 and confused, and so he was. " Take care, Kapit6n, 
 do not fall into the mud," was his first thought at the 
 sight of every new face. However, he soon came 
 round, and began in the same hurried and confused 
 manner to speak about Vasi'li Nikoldevitch, his cha- 
 racter, the necessity for pro-pa-gan-da (he knew 
 this word well, but pronounced it slowly) ; that he, 
 Goloiishkin, had discovered a new adherent, a sure 
 
134 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XVII. 
 
 fellow, that the time was near, that things were ripe 
 for .... for the lancet (here he glanced at Mark^lof, 
 "who did not njove an eyebrow) ; then, turning to Nej- 
 ddnof, he began to praise himself almost as well as 
 the great correspondent Kisliakof himself He said 
 that he had long since left the ranks of the incapables ; 
 that he perfectly understood the rights of the prole- 
 tariat (he also remembered that word well) ; that 
 
 ' though he had abandoned trade and taken to bank- 
 ing operations to increase his capital, yet it was simply 
 in order that that capital might, at a given minute, 
 
 J serve the common cause — the people, he might say ; 
 but that he, Goloiishkin, in reality despised capital. 
 
 Here came in the servant with the lunch, and 
 Goloushkin, clearing his throat, significantly asked 
 whether the guests would not " take a snack," and 
 himself was the first to toss down a goodly allowance 
 of peppery whiskey. 
 
 The guests set to work at the lunch. Goloushkin stuffed 
 down enormous lumps of pressed caviar, and drank 
 steadily, sayhig now and then, "Come on, gentlemen, 
 come on ; acapital glass of macon." Then, turning again 
 to Nejdanof, he asked whence he came, for how long, 
 and where he was living ; and, hearing that he was at 
 Sipiagin's, exclaimed, "I know the gentleman ; he is 
 of no account." Then he began to abuse all the 
 landowners of the province, saying that, besides having 
 no sense of the public good, they had even no sense 
 of their own interests. Only, oddly enough, while he 
 was pouring out this abuse, his e5'es were restless, and 
 he was evidently uneasy. 
 
 Nejdanof could not thoroughly explain to himself 
 what sort of a man he was, or why they needed him. 
 Sol6min, as usual, was silent. MarkJlof looked so 
 sullen that at last Nejdanof asked him what was the 
 matter. Markdof answered, " Nothing," but in that 
 particular tone in which people generally answer 
 
CHAP, XVII.] A NOVEL. 13s 
 
 when they wish to hint that " there is something, but 
 not for you to know." 
 
 Goloiishkin again began to abuse some one or 
 other, and then to praise the young generation — ^what 
 geniuses they were now ! what geniuses ! Sol6min 
 interrupted him by asking who the trustworthy prose- 
 lyte was of whom he had spoken, and where he had 
 found him ? Goloiishkin burst out laughing, and said 
 several times, " You shall see, you shall see ! " and 
 began to ask him questions about his factory, about 
 his " scoundrel of a master," all which Sol6min 
 answered in monosyllables. 
 
 Then Goloiishkin poured out chjampagne all round, 
 and, bending over to Nejddnof, whispered, " To thfe^v^ 
 Republic ! " and drank his at a draught. Nejddnof 
 put his lips to it ; Sol6min said he did not drink wine 
 in the morning ; Mark^lof drained his glass angrily 
 and determinedly. He was evidently devoured by 
 impatience. " Here we are," his look seemed to say, 
 " all cooling down, and not talking of anything serious." 
 He struck the table with his hand, and said sullenly, 
 " Gentlemen ! " as if about to speak. 
 
 But at that moment entered a respectable youth, 
 with a foxy face and a consumptive air, in a mer- 
 chant's nankeen coat, his arms dangling far from his 
 sides. Bowing to everybody, he whispered something 
 to Goloiishkin, who hurriedly answered, " Directly, 
 directly." " Gentlemen," he ^added, " I must ask you 
 to excuse me. My clerk here, Vcisia, has told me 
 of a matter which makes it absolutely necessary for 
 me to absent myself for a time ; but I hope, gentle- 
 men, that you will be able to dine with me at three 
 o'clock ; we shall be much more at our ease 
 then." 
 
 Neither Sol6min nor Nejdanof knew what to answer, 
 but Mark^lof at once said, with the same sullen voice 
 and air, — 
 
136 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 " Of course we will ; do you think we are playing a 
 comedy ? " 
 
 " I am much obliged," said Goloiishkin, and, stoop- 
 ing, whispered to Markdlof, " In any case, I give a 
 thousand roubles to the cause ; do not doubt it ! " 
 
 And he twice waved his right hand, with the thumb 
 and little finger extended, meaning, " It 's sure ! " 
 
 He saw his visitors to the door, and, as he stood on 
 the threshold, called out, — 
 
 " I shall expect you at three ! " 
 
 " Expect us," answered Markelof, alone. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Sol6min, as soon as they got 
 into the street, " I shall take a droshky and go back 
 to the factory. What could we do till dinner-time .^ 
 Walk up and down ? And our merchant, I am think- 
 ing, is like a goat, good for neither wool nor milk ! " 
 
 " Wool there will be ! " remarked Markdlof angrily. 
 "He has promised me money. Or do you despise 
 him .'' We can't look into everything. We are not 
 young ladies, to pick and choose lovers." 
 
 " Despise him ! not I," answered Sol6min, quietly. 
 " I was only wondering whether my presence could be 
 of any use. However," he added, glancing at Nej- 
 ddnof, and smiling, " I will stay — with pleasure. Even 
 death is fair in company." 
 
 Markelof raised his head. 
 
 " In the mean time let us go to the public garden : 
 the weather is fine. We will look at the peop le." 
 
 " Come along." ~ 
 
 So they set off, Markdlof and Sol6min leading the 
 way, Nejddnof after them. 
 
CHAP. XVIIt.] A NOVEL. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 NejdanOF's state of mind was very curious. In the 
 last two days he had undergone so many new ex- 
 periences, seen so many new faces .... For the first 
 time in his life he had met a girl with whom, in all 
 probability, he was in love ; he had been present at 
 
 I the very beginning of an enterprise to which, in all 
 probability, he had entirely devoted himself Well, 
 
 |was he happy ? No. Did he hesitate .' No. Was 
 he troubled or afraid ? Certainly not. Did he at 
 least feel that tension of his whole body, that longing 
 to rush forward to the first ranks of the fighters, which 
 is inspired by the nearness of the struggle ? No. 
 Did he then believe in the cause, if in nothing else ? 
 Did he believe in his own love .? " O vile aestheti- 
 cism ! Sceptic ! " whispered his lips silently. Why / 
 \ this fatigue, this disinclination to speak as soon as he I 
 was hp longer shouting and furious.? What internal \ 
 voice did he try to drown by that same furious zeal ? J 
 But Maridnna, that brave, true companion, that pure, 
 passionate soul, that peerless girl, did she not love 
 him ? Was not his good fortune great to have met 
 her, to have won her friendship, her love .' And those 
 two men who are walking in front of him, Mark^lof 
 and that Sol6min, whom he at present knows little, but 
 to whom he feels so instinctively drawn, are they not 
 
 
X 
 
 138 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XVllt. 
 
 ,i^excellent specimens of Russian life, Russian thought ; 
 A and is not their acquaintance, their friendship, also to 
 jbe called good fortune ? Then why this doubtful, 
 (vague, annoying feeling ? Why and wherefore this 
 * sorrow ? " If you are visionary and melancholy, what 
 business have you with revolutions ? " he again whis- 
 pered to himself. " Go on writing verses and growing 
 sour, and wrap yourself in your own little thoughts 
 and feelings, burrow in a mass of psychological reflec- 
 tions and refinements, but do not consider your sickly, 
 nervous irritation and caprices as the manly indigna- 
 tion, the honest anger, of a man convinced of the truth 
 of his cause ! Oh Hamlet ! Hamlet ! Prince of Den- 
 mark ! How to escape trom thy shadow ? 'How to 
 escape imitating thee in everything, even in the 
 miserable satisfaction of self-depreciation ? " 
 
 " Alexdi, my friend, thou Russian Hamlet ! " re- 
 sounded suddenly a shrill and well-known voice, as if 
 echoing his own thoughts, " is it thee I behold ? " 
 
 Nejdanof raised his eyes, and beheld with amaze- 
 ment Paklin — Pdklin as a shepherd, dressed in a light- 
 coloured summer suit, without a necktie, with a large 
 straw hat encircled by a blue ribbon resting on the 
 back of his head, and in varnished shoes ! 
 
 He limped up to Nejddnof and shook his hand. 
 
 " To begin with," he said, " though we are in a 
 public garden, we must embrace according to the old 
 fashion. Once, twice, and thrice ! Secondly, be it 
 known to you that, if I had not met you here to-day, 
 you would nevertheless infallibly have seen me to- 
 morrow, for I know where you live, and in fact came 
 here on purpose ; how, I will tell you later. Thirdly, 
 introduce me to your friends, tell me briefly who they 
 are, them, who I am, and then let us enjoy life ! " 
 
 Nejdanof fulfilled his friend's wish, named him, 
 Sol6min and Mark^lof, and said of each of them who 
 he was, where he lived, what he did, &c. 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] A NOVEL. 139 
 
 " Excellent," exclaimed Pdklin ; " now let me carry 
 you away far from the crowd, which, by the way, 
 doesn't exist, to a secluded bench, where I occasionally 
 sit, in the hours of meditation, and enjoy nature. A 
 wonderful view there is from it — the governor's house, 
 two striped sentry-boxes, three gendarmes, and not a 
 single dog ! Please do not be too much astonished at 
 the discourses with which I try to enliven you ! 
 According to my friends I represent Russian wit ; 
 that is probably the reason why I am lame ! " 
 
 Piklin led his friends to the " secluded bench," and 
 made them sit down, having as a preliminary driven 
 off two beggars. Then the young men " exchanged 
 ideas," an occupation which is somewhat dull, espe- 
 cially at first, and remarkably unprofitable. 
 
 " Stop," suddenly exclaimed Piklin, turning to 
 Nejddnof ; " I must explain to you how I happen to be 
 here. You know, every summer I take my sister 
 somewhere. When I heard that you were starting for 
 the neighbourhood of this town, I remembered that I 
 had living here a couple of relations on my mother's 
 5ide — marvellous creatures. My father was a small 
 tradesman" (Nejdanof knew this, but Pdklin said it for 
 the benefit of " the others "), " and she was a noble ; 
 and for a long time they have been asking us to come. 
 Wait a moment, I thought, that will just suit me 
 They are most excellent people ; my sister will be in 
 good hands ; what more do we want .' So we came 
 as you see ; and I can't say how well we get on here. 
 But what strange creatures ! You must certainly 
 make their acquaintance. What are you doing ; where 
 do you dine ; and what has specially brought you 
 here.?" 
 
 " We dine to-day with a certain Goloushkin, a mer- ' 
 chant here," answered Nejdanof. 
 
 " At what time .? " 
 
 " At three." 
 
I40 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XVIII. 
 
 " Are you visiting him for the .... for the . . . ." 
 Pdklin looked round at Sol6min, who was smiling, 
 and Mark^lof, who was growing blacker and 
 
 blacker " But tell them, Ali6sha — make them some 
 
 Masonic sign — tell them that they need not stand on 
 ceremony. I am one of yours .... of your 
 society . . . ." 
 
 " Goloiishkin too is one of us," remarked Nejdanof. 
 
 " Admirable. But you have still plenty of time 
 before three o'clock. Here 's an idea ; let us go and 
 see my relations." 
 
 " But have you gone mad .-' How can we go in like 
 that .? " 
 
 " Don't be afraid. I take it all on myself Just 
 imagine an oasis into which neither literature, nor 
 politics, nor any product of the age ever finds its way. 
 It 's a plump little house, such as one does not see 
 nowadays. Its very smell — is antique ; the people 
 are antique, the air is antique, the whole thing is 
 antique ; Catherine the Second, powder, hoops, the 
 eighteenth century ! As for the people, just imagine 
 a husband and wife, both old, very old, of the same 
 age, and without wrinkles, round, fat, and neat, just 
 like a pair of love-birds, and good even to stupidity, 
 to holiness — unimaginably good ! You may tell me 
 that unimaginable goodness often exists together with 
 the absence of moral feeling .... I don't go into those 
 refinements, and only know that my old people are as 
 good as can be. They never had any children. They 
 are saints ! So they call them in the town saints. 
 They are dressed just alike, in a kind of striped gar- 
 ment : and the stuff is good too ; you won't find any- 
 thing like it now. They are marvellously alike, 
 except that one wears a cap and the other a bonnet, 
 with lace like the cap, only without the bow. But for 
 that bow you would not know which was which, for 
 the husband, too, has no beard. One is called 
 
CHAP. XVm.] A NOVEL. 141 
 
 F6moushka and the other Ffmoushka. I tell yom 
 you ought to pay to be allowed to see them. They 
 love each other to absurdity, and if any one chooses to 
 visit them, he is welcome. And they are very good 
 natured — show all their little tricks at once. Only 
 there is one thing : you must not smoke in their 
 house. Not that they are dissenters, but they do so 
 dislike tobacco. You see, in their time no one smoked. 
 But then they do not keep canaries, because that bird, 
 too, was little known then. And that is a real bless- 
 ing, too, isn't it ? Well, are you coming ? " 
 
 " I really don't know," began Nejdanof. 
 
 " Wait, I haven't told you everything. Their voices 
 are exactly alike ; shut your eyes and you won't 
 know which is speaking, only F6moushka has a shade 
 inore expression in his voice perhaps. Well, gentle- 
 men, you are preparing yourselves for a great cause, 
 for a fierce struggle, possibly. How would it be if, 
 before plunging into those wild waves, you took a 
 dip " 
 
 " Into stagnant water," broke in Markelof. 
 . " And even if it were ? It is stagnant, perhaps, 
 but not putrid. There are ponds like that in the 
 steppe. Though there is no stream through them, 
 they never become slimy, because there are springs at 
 the bottom. And there are springs in my old people 
 — in their hearts, as bright and clear as can be. Do you 
 want to know how people lived a hundred — a hundred 
 and fifty years ago .■■ Then come with me at once. 
 For a day and an hour will come, and it will certainly 
 be the same for both, when my love-birds will fall off 
 their perches, and all this antique fashion will come to 
 an end, and the plump little house will go to ruin, and 
 on its place will grow what, according to my grand- 
 mother, always grows where men have been — nettles, 
 , ivild sorrel, henbane, wormwood, and dock ; the street 
 will exist no longer, and people will come and go, 
 
142 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. xviiIj 
 
 and see nothing like ,it again till the end of 
 clays ! " 
 
 " Well," said Nejdanof, " seriously, shall we go ? " 
 
 " I will come with pleasure," said Sol6min ; " it is 
 not much in my line, but it must be interesting, and if 
 Mr. Paklin can really assure us that we shall disturb 
 no one, why shouldn't we . . . ." 
 
 " Don't doubt it ! " exclaimed Paklin, in turn ; 
 " you will be received simply with enthusiasm ; we 
 need not stand on ceremony. I tell you, they are 
 saints ; we will make them sing. Now, Mr. Markdlof, 
 what say you } " 
 
 Mark^lof shrugged his shoulders angrily. 
 
 " I can't stay here alone ! Go on." 
 
 They all rose*from the bench. 
 
 " What a ferocious gentleman you have there ! " 
 whispered Pdklin to Nejdinof ; " he is just like John 
 the Baptist when he had eaten the locusts — nothing 
 but locusts without any honey ! But he," nodding his 
 head towards Sol6min, " is a capital fellow. What a 
 pleasant smile he has ! I have remarked that only 
 those men smile like that who are superior to others 
 and do not themselves know it." 
 
 " Are there such people > " asked Nejdanof 
 
 " Not many, but there are," answered PAklin. 
 
CHAP. XIX.]. A NOVEL. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FoMOUSHKA and Fi'moushka, or Fomi Lavrdntievitch 
 and Evfi'mia Pdvlovna Soubotchef, both belonged to 
 the same class of genuine Russian nobility, and were 
 reckoned about the oldest inhabitants of the town of 
 S. They had married very young, and had settled 
 a very long time ago in the wooden home of their 
 ancestors in the suburbs of the town. They had never 
 left it to travel, and had never made any change in 
 their manner of living or in their habits. It seemed 
 as if, for them, time had stood still ; no innovations 
 had ever crossed the boundary of their " oasis." 
 
 Their fortune was not great ; but their peasants 
 continued to bring them several times a year live stock 
 and provisions, as in the old days of serfdom. At 
 the fixed date the head man of the village appeared 
 with the redemption-money and a brace of riabchiks,* 
 supposed to have been killed in the woods of the 
 " masters " — woods which, in reality, had long since dis- 
 appeared. The head man received a cup of tea on the 
 thresholdoftheparlour,alambskinbonnet,apairof green 
 leather mittens, and was dismissed with a blessing. 
 
 Their house was full of servants, as of old. An 
 ancient serving-man, Kalliopytch, clad in a jacket of 
 , . * A species of grouse. 
 
144 VIRGIN SOIL. [qHAP. xix. 
 
 marvellously thick cloth, with an upright collar and 
 tiny steel buttons, still announced, in a sing-song tone, 
 that "dinner was on table," and then dozed off, as 
 he stood behind his mistress's chair. The sideboard 
 was in his hands ; he superintended " the various pots, 
 cardamoms, and lemons," and when he was asked 
 whether he had not heard that all the serfs had 
 received their freedom he invariably answered 
 that there was a great deal of nonsense talked in the 
 world, that it was the Turks who had their freedom, 
 and that up to this time, God be thanked, he had 
 escaped it. 
 
 They kept a dwarf, Poiifka, to amuse them, and 
 at dinner-time Vasi'lievna, an old nurse, used to come 
 in with a dark handkerchief tied round her head, and 
 tell them all the latest news, in a mumbling voice, 
 about Napoleon the First, the year 1812, antichrist, 
 and the white Arabs ; or she would prop her chin on 
 her hand, as if in great grief, and relate what a dream 
 she had had and what it meant, or what the cards had 
 foretold. 
 
 Even their house was unlike all the other houses in 
 the town. It was built entirely of oak, and had 
 square windows, out of which the double winter 
 frames were never taken. It possessed all kinds of 
 little rooms and closets and cabinets and cupboards, 
 verandahs with railings and penthouses on neatly 
 turned pillars, and every manner of back entrances 
 and passages. Before it were palings, behind it a 
 garden, and in the garden a mass of little barns, 
 lumber-rooms, store-closets, cellars, ice-houses — a 
 perfect nest ! Not that there was over much stored 
 in these various receptacles. Some had even tumbled 
 in ; but so it had been built long ago, and so it 
 remained. 
 
 They had only two horses, very old, with hollow 
 backs and shaggy coats ; one had even grey patches 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVEL, 145 
 
 over it from old age ; it was called the Immovable. 
 They were harnessed, once a month at most, to a 
 marvellous carriage, known to the whole town. It 
 resembled a globe with the front quarter cut away, 
 and was lined with some foreign yellow stuff, covered 
 with little spots looking like warts. The last yard of 
 that stuff must have been woven at Utrecht or Lyons 
 in the reign of the Empress Elizabeth. 
 
 And their coachman was a venerable old man, 
 smelling strongly of grease and tar. His beard began 
 just under his eyes, and his eyebrows fell in a small 
 water-fall down to his beard. He was so slow in all his 
 movements that it took him five minutes for a pinch 
 of snuff, two minutes to put his whip inside his belt, 
 and over two hours to harness the Immovable alone ; 
 and his name was Perfishka.* 
 
 When the Soub6tchefs were out for a drive, if the 
 road ran the least bit up-hill they became frightened 
 (they were just as frightened, too, if the road ran 
 down-hill), they caught at the straps, and repeated 
 aloud this incantation, " For the horses, the horses, 
 the strength of Samuel ; for us, for us, the lightness 
 of breath, the lightness of down ! " 
 
 In the town of S. they were considered eccentric, 
 
 , almost mad ; and they themselves knew that their 
 
 \ ways were not those of the present day, but cared 
 
 Uittle. They kept to the fashion in which they had 
 
 been born, had grown up, and been married. There 
 
 was only one peculiarity of that same old fashion 
 
 which they had not preserved — never by any chance 
 
 \did they punish or prosecute a servant. If one of 
 
 their people turned out a hopeless drunkard or thief, 
 
 they bore it long and patiently, as people endure bad 
 
 weather. Then they tried to get rid of him, to pass 
 
 him on to other masters, — " Let others have their turn 
 
 a bit ! " But it was seldom they had any such trouble 
 
 * Diminutive of Porphz'ri. 
 
 L 
 
146 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xix, 
 
 —so seldom that when it happened it formed an 
 epoch in their hfe, and they used to say, for instance, 
 " Ah, that was long ago ; that happened when that 
 rascal Ald6shka was living with us " ; or, " That was 
 when grandfather's fur cap with the fox tail was 
 stolen," for the Soub6tchefs still possessed such caps. 
 
 There was also another distinguishing feature of 
 olden days which was missing — neither Fi'moushka 
 nor Fomoushka was specially religious. F6moushka 
 was even rather a follower of Voltaire, and Fi'moushka 
 dreaded priests greatly ; according to her experience 
 they had the evil eye. " The priest has been sitting 
 here," she would say ; " see, the cream has turned." 
 
 They seldom went to church, and fasted as Catholics 
 do- — that is, allowed themselves eggs, butter, and 
 milk. This was known in the town, and of course did 
 not better their reputation. But their goodness over- 
 came everything, and, though people laughed at the 
 eccentricity of the Soub6tchefs, and called them inno- 
 cents and saints, yet in truth every one respected 
 them. 
 
 Yes, they were respected, but as for visiting them, 
 no one went near them, which however did not 
 distress them greatly. They were never dull together, 
 and therefore never left each other, nor wished for 
 any other company. Neither of them had ever been 
 ill, and if one of them had by chance some slight 
 ailment, they both drank lime-flower tea, or rubbed 
 their backs with warm oil, or dropped melted grease 
 on to the soles of their feet, which quickly cured their 
 malady. They always passed the day in the same 
 manner. They rose late and drank chocolate out of 
 tiny mortar-like cups — " tea," they said, " had come 
 in after their time;" then sat opposite one another and 
 either talked — they always found subjects — or read in 
 the ' Agreeable Book of Pastimes,' ' the Mirror of the 
 World,' or the ' Aonides,' or they turned over an old 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVUL. 147 
 
 album, bound in red leather with a gold edging, 
 which had once belonged, as an inscription testified, 
 to Mme. Barbe de Kabyline. How and when this 
 album came into their hands they did not know. 
 There were in it a few French and many Russian 
 contributions both in verse and prose ; of which the 
 following reflections on " Cdc^ro " are a fair 
 sample. 
 
 " In what disposition of mind C^c^ro entered on 
 the office of qusestor, is manifested by him thus : 
 calling the gods to witness the purity of his senti- 
 ments in all the offices' wherewith he had unto that 
 time been honoured, he reckoned himself bound by 
 the most sacred ties to fulfil them worthily, and, with 
 this intention, he, C^c^ro, not only refused himself 
 pleasures which were contrary to the law, but avoided 
 even such amusements as seemed universally indis- 
 pensable." Underneath ran, " Written in Siberia, in 
 cold and privation." There was also a remarkable 
 piece of verse, headed 'Thyrsis,' in which were 
 strophes such as these : " Calm rules the world ; the 
 dew gleams pleasantly, softens and refreshes nature, 
 and gives it a new life. Alone Thyrsis, with down- 
 cast mind, suffers, is tormented and melancholy ; when 
 his dear Annette is not with him, nothing will raise his 
 spirits." Also an impromptu by a certain captain on 
 a passing visit, on the 6th of May, 1790: — " Never shall 
 I forget thee, sweet village, and shall ever remember 
 how pleasantly the time slipped away, when I had 
 the honour in the home of thy possessor to spend the 
 best five days of my life in a most respectable circle, 
 amidst a number of ladies and damsels, and other 
 gwteresting personages ! " On the last page, instead of 
 verses, were recipes against stomach-ache, spasms, and, 
 alas ! even against worms. The Soub6tchefs dined 
 exactly at twelve, and ate nothing but old-fashioned 
 dishes : cheesecakes, soups of giblets and various ma- 
 
148 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XIX. 
 
 terials, porridge, jellies, pasties, chicken with saffron, 
 pancakes and honey. After dinner they slept an 
 hour, not more ; when they awoke, they again sat 
 tlown opposite each other and drank bilberry-water, 
 or a kind of drink called " forty minds," which, how- 
 ever, almost always flew in foam out of the bottle, 
 causing "the masters" much laughter and Kalliopytch 
 much vexation ; he had to " wipe up everywhere," 
 and always grumbled for a long time at the house- 
 keeper and the cook, whom he held responsible for 
 the invention of this drink. " What is the good of it.'" 
 he said ; " only spoils the furniture." Then they 
 either read something more, or laughed at Poufka the 
 dwarf, or sang old romances in duet (their voices were 
 exactly alike, high, weak, rather tremulous and hoarse, 
 especially after sleeping, but not unpleasant), or even 
 played at cards,, but here again the games were all 
 old — kr'ebs, la mouche, or boston "sans prendre." Then 
 the tea-urn appeared ; for they drank tea in the 
 evening ; that concession they had made to the spirit 
 of the age, though they invariably remarked that they 
 were spoiling themselves, and that people were becom- 
 ing decidedly weaker from the use of that " Chinese 
 herb." However, as a rule they refrained from attack- 
 ing the present time and praising the past : they had 
 . never lived otherwise from their birth ; but that other 
 people might live otherwise, and even better, they 
 readily allowed, so long as they were not forced to 
 change. At eight o'clock Kalliopytch brought up the 
 inevitable cold soup for supper, and at nine the great 
 feather beds received into their comfortable embraces 
 the plump little persons of Fomoushka and Fi- 
 moushka, and peaceful sleep soon descended on their 
 eyelids. Then all became quiet in the old house ; 
 the lamp burnt before the holy image, a scejat of musk 
 and mint rose into the air, the cricket chirped, and 
 the good, laughable, innocent couple slept. 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVEL. 149 
 
 It was to these saints,* or, as he called them; love- 
 birds, with whom his sister was living, that Paklin 
 took his companions. 
 
 His sister was a clever girl, and her face was far 
 from ugly ; her eyes were very fine, but an unhappy 
 deformity crushed her, took away all her gaiety, all 
 her self-reliance, and made her suspicious, almost ill- 
 tempered. Besides which she had an extraordinary 
 name, Snandulia. Pdklin wanted to rechristen her 
 S6phia, but she obstinately clung to her strange name, 
 saying that a humpbacked woman deserved to be 
 called Snandiilia. She was a good musician, and 
 played the piano well. " Thanks to my long fingers," 
 she used to say, with a tinge of bitterness ; " deformed 
 people always have long fingers." 
 
 The visitors found F6moushka and Fi'moushka at 
 the moment when they had awoke from their siesta, 
 and were drinking their bilberry-water. 
 - " Let us enter the eighteenth century," exclaimed 
 Pdklin, as he crossed the threshold of their house. 
 
 And the eighteenth century did meet them in the 
 very entrance, in the shape of little blue screens, 
 covered with black silhouettes of powdered ladies and 
 gentlemen. These silhouettes, due to Lavater's hand, 
 were greatly the fashion in Russia in the years 1780 — 
 1790. The unexpected appearance of so large a 
 number of visitors — four together — caused a commo- 
 tion in the house which was so seldom visited. There 
 was a shuffling of both shod and bare feet, women's 
 faces appeared and vanished, some one was shut into 
 a room, there was a groan, an outburst of laughter, 
 and a hurried whisper, " I '11 give it you ! " 
 
 At length appeared Kalli6pytch in his jacket, and 
 opening the door of the drawing-room, cried aloud, 
 
 * The word used means half a saint, half a fool, " silly," in 
 the old sense. The two things are very closely connected in 
 Russia. 
 
ISO VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XIX. 
 
 "Sir, this is Sfla Sams6nytch with other gentle- 
 men ! " 
 
 The Soub6tchefs were much less disturbed than 
 their servants. They were, it is true, a little alarmed 
 by the irruption of four great fellows into their parlour, 
 which however was fairly large, but Pdklin put them 
 at once at their ease by presenting in turn each of the 
 three with his usual jokes, as peaceable folk, and not 
 belonging " to the Crown." 
 
 They could not endure " Crown " people, that is, 
 officials. 
 
 Snandulia, who appeared at her brother's call, was 
 much more troubled and uneasy than the old people. 
 These latter asked their guests — both at once, and in 
 the same words — to be seated, and inquired what they 
 would take, tea, chocolate, or sparkling water with 
 syrup. But when they found that their visitors would 
 take nothing, having but lately breakfasted with the 
 merchant Goloushkin, and having promised to dine 
 with him, they ceased to press them, and, folding their 
 arms with the same gesture, began the conversation. 
 
 At first it languished a little, but soon became more 
 lively. Pdklin greatly amused the old people by 
 G6gors well-known anecdote, how the church was 
 crammed till the mayor appeared, yet room was found 
 for him ; and how a certain pie therefore resembled 
 the mayor. At this they laughed till they cried. 
 Their laughter, too, was exactly alike ; it was shrill, 
 and finished with a cough and a general redness of 
 face and perspiration. 
 
 Pdklin had remarked that quotations from G6gol 
 always have a great effect in sending people like the 
 Soub(5tchefs into convulsions ; but as his object was 
 not so much to amuse them as to draw them out 
 for the . benefit of his acquaintances, he changed his 
 tactics, and managed so well that the old people 
 became quite lively. 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVEL. 151 
 
 F6inous]ika produced and exhibited to the visitors 
 his favourite carved wooden snuff-box, on which at 
 one time might have been counted thirty-six human 
 figures in various positions. They had all long since 
 disappeared, but F6moushka still saw them, and could 
 enumerate them and point out each one. " See," he 
 said, " there is one looking out of window ; see, he has 
 put his head out." And the place at which his fat 
 little finger with its turned-up nail was pointing was as 
 smooth as the rest of the snuff-box. 
 
 Then he called the attention of the visitors to an 
 oil-painting hanging over his head. It portrayed a 
 hunter in profile, mounted on a blue roan, also in 
 profile, and riding at breakneck speed over a snow- 
 covered plain. The hunter had on a tall white sheep- 
 skin cap, with a light blue top, a camel's hair Circas- 
 sian coat with velvet facings, encircled with a girdle 
 of wrought gold ; a glove embroidered, with silk was 
 stuck into the girdle, and a dagger, in a silver and 
 black sheath, was attached to it. In one hand the 
 hunter, who was young and plump, held an enormous 
 horn, adorned with bright red tassels ; in the other 
 his reins and whip. The horse had all four feet in the 
 air, and on each the artist had carefully painted the 
 shoe, without omitting even the nails. 
 
 " And notice," said F6moushka, pointing with the 
 same fat finger at four semicircular marks painted on 
 the snow behind the horse, " there are the tracks on 
 the snow ; he has painted even those ! " 
 
 Why there were only four marks, and further back 
 not a single one, F6moushka forgot to mention. 
 
 "That is myself," he said, after a pause, with a 
 shamefaced smile. 
 
 "Why," exclaimed Nejdanof, "used you to hunt.'" 
 
 " Yes, but not for long. Once when my horse was 
 galloping at full speed I was thrown over its head and 
 hurt myself in the 'kourp^i.' So Fi'moushka was 
 
IS2 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XIX. 
 
 frightened and made me stop. Since that time I have 
 given it up." 
 
 " Where did you hurt yourself > " asked Nej- 
 dinof. 
 
 " In the ' kourp^j,' repeated F6moushka, in a lower 
 tone. 
 
 The visitors looked at one another in silence. No 
 one knew'what a kourp^i was ; at least, Mark^lof knew 
 that the tufted tassel on a Cossack or Circassian 
 bonnet is called a kourpdi, but could it be there that 
 F6moushka had hurt himself.' But no one had the 
 courage to ask him what he meant precisely by the 
 word. 
 
 ' "Well, now you have had your turn at showing 
 yourself off," suddenly exclaimed Fi'moushka, " I will 
 sing my own praises a little." 
 
 So out of a tiny bonheur-du-jour (as was called an 
 old-fashioned desk on twisted legs, with a curved lid 
 which slid back into the desk when opened) she took 
 a little water-colour miniature in an oval bronze frame ; 
 it represented a perfectly naked child of about four, 
 with a quiver behind its back and a light-blue ribbon 
 across its shoulder, trying the sharpness of the arrows 
 on the tips of its fingers. The child was very curly 
 headed, with a smile and a slight squint. 
 
 " That is I," she said. 
 
 " You } " 
 
 " Yes, when I was small. There was a Frenchman 
 who used to come to my father's, an excellent painter. 
 He took this likeness of me for my father's birthday. 
 Such a nice Frenchman ! He used to come to our 
 house afterwards. He would come and scrape his 
 foot as he bowed, then shake it a little in the air and 
 kiss one's hands, and when he went away he would 
 kiss his own fingers, he would indeed ! And he bowed 
 to the right, to the left, and backwards and forwards ! 
 Such a nice Frenchman ! " 
 
CHAP, XIX.] A NOVEL. I S3 
 
 The visitors praised the painting. Pdklin even said 
 that he saw a certain likeness. 
 
 Then F6moushka began to talk about the French- 
 men of the present day, and expressed the opinion 
 that they must all have become very wicked. 
 
 " Why so, Fomd Lavr^ntievitch ? " 
 
 " Why .' why, see what names they have now ! " 
 
 " For instance } " 
 
 " For instance, Nogent-Saint- Laurent, simply a 
 bandit's * name ! " 
 
 F6moushka inquired, casually, who was ruling in 
 Paris. He was told " Napoleon," whereupon he 
 seemed astonished, and even grieved. 
 
 " What .' " he said, " such an old ..." and suddenly 
 stopped, and looked round doubtfully. 
 
 Fdmoushka knew but little French, and read Vol- 
 taire in a translation (he kept a manuscript of ' Candide' 
 in a private box under his pillow), but he occasionally 
 dropped expressions such as " That, my good sir, is 
 fausse parquet," meaning " suspicious," " untrue," which 
 made people laugh greatly, till one day a certain 
 learned Frenchman explained that it was an old 
 Parliamentary expression used in France up to 1789. 
 
 As the conversation had turned on France and 
 Frenchmen, Fi'moushka mustered up courage to ask 
 for an explanation of a matter which had been 
 weighing on her soul. She at first thought of turning 
 to Mark^lof, but he did look so very fierce ! Sol6min 
 she would have asked, but " no ! " she thought, " he 
 looks too simple ; I should doubt his knowing French." 
 So she fixed upon Nejdinof. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," she began, " I wish you would 
 tell me ... . My relation there, Sila Sams6nytch, is 
 always laughing at an old woman like me, and at my 
 ignorance." 
 
 * This name bears a ludicrous resemblance to certain Russian 
 words. 
 
!S4 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 " What is it you wish to know ? " 
 
 " It is this. If any one wants to ask in the French 
 ' dialect ' ' What is that ?' ought he to say ' K6 se ke 
 s^keseld?'" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And may he also say, ' K6 se ke se Id } ' " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Or simply 'K^se Id.?'"* 
 
 " He can." 
 
 " And all that means the same thing .' " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Ffmoushka was silent for a moment, then opened 
 her hands as if accepting defeat. 
 
 " Well, Sfla," she at length said, " I was wrong, and 
 you were right. Only those French — what queer 
 people they are ! " 
 
 Pdklin then began to beg the old folk to sing 
 something. They both laughed, and wondered at his 
 having such an idea, but soon consented, on condition 
 that Snandiilia should play the accompaniment " she 
 knew of" on the "clavecin." In one corner of the room 
 there was a small piano which none of the visitors 
 had noticed. Snandiilia accordingly sat down to the 
 "clavecin," and struck a few chords. Such sharp, 
 feeble, miserable, toothless sounds Nejdanof had never 
 heard in his life, but the old people started off at 
 score : — 
 
 " Is it to find grief," 
 began F6moushka, 
 
 " Grief in our love, 
 That the gods have given us hearts, 
 Hearts which can love? " 
 
 " Is there on earth," 
 
 answered Fi'moushka, 
 
 * Ffmoushka's phonetic renderings of course mean, " Qu'est 
 ce que c'est que cela ? " " Qu'est ce que cela ? " and " Ou'est 
 cela?" 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVEL. ISS 
 
 " One feeling of passion 
 Free from ills and troubles ? " 
 
 " Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere," 
 
 F6moushka broke in, and Fi'moushka took up the 
 burden : — 
 
 " Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere." 
 
 Then both together — 
 
 " Bitter hardships follow it 
 Always, always, always," 
 
 and F6moushka finished alone — 
 
 " Always, always, always ! " 
 
 "Bravo!" exclaimed Pdklin. "That is the first 
 verse ; now for the second ! " 
 
 " Certainly," answered F6moushka ; " only Snandulia 
 Sams6novna, what about my shake ? After my piece 
 I want a shake." 
 
 "Good," said Snandulia, "you shall have your 
 shake." 
 
 F6moushka began again : — 
 
 " Has man in the world e'er loved 
 Without tasting of tortures ? 
 What lover worthy of the name 
 Has not wept, has not sighed ? " 
 
 Then F/moushka : — 
 
 " Since a heart must in sorrow sink, 
 As a boat does in the sea. 
 Why then was it given us ? " 
 
 "Forill, forill, forill!" 
 
 exclaimed F6moushka, and waited for Snandulia to 
 give the shake, which duly followed. 
 
 " For ill, for ill, for ill," 
 
 repeated Fi'moushka ; and then both in chorus : — 
 
IS6 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XIX. 
 
 " Take, O God, our heart away. 
 Away, away, away ! 
 Away, away, away ! " 
 
 and another shake finished the song. 
 
 " Bravo, bravo ! " they all exclaimed except 
 Mark^lof, and even clapped their hands. 
 
 " I wonder," thought Nejddnof, as soon as the 
 applause had subsided, "' whether they feel that they 
 are playing the part of jesters .' Perhaps they do not ; 
 perhaps they do, but think, ' We do no one any harm, 
 we even amuse people.' And when one comes to 
 think of it, they are right — a hundred times right." 
 
 Influenced by these ideas he began to compliment 
 them, in answer to which they only curtseyed slightly 
 without rising from their chairs. At this moment, 
 from the neighbouring room, probably a bedroom or 
 workroom, whence for some time past had issued 
 a whispering and rustling, suddenly appeard Poufka 
 the dwarf, accompanied by the nurse Vasi'Hevna, 
 Poufka began to make faces and whine, while the 
 nurse sometimes scolded, sometimes excited her. 
 
 Mark^lof, who had long been giving signs of im- 
 patience (as for Sol6min, he simply smiled more than 
 usual), suddenly turned to Fomoushka. 
 
 " I should not have expected," he began, in his 
 abrupt manner, " that you, with your education, for I 
 hear that you are an admirer of Voltaire, would have 
 derived amusement from a deformity which ought to 
 be an object of pity." Here he remembered that 
 Paklin's sister was deformed, and stopped suddenly, 
 while Fomoushka grew red and murmured, " It is not 
 I . . . . she herself . . . . " But Poufka charged head- 
 long at Mark^lof 
 
 " What has made you take it into your head," she 
 cried, in a lisping voice, " to abuse my masters ? They 
 have helped me, lodged me, given me food and drink, 
 so you are envious. Other people's bread makes your 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVEL. IS7 
 
 eyes look askant, does it ! You black-faced, wretched 
 good-for-nothing, with moustaches like a blackbeetle!" 
 And Podfka showed with her short thick fingers what 
 Mark^lofs moustaches were like. Vasilievna was 
 stretching her toothless old mouth to her ears, 
 and her laugh was echoed in the neighbouring 
 room. 
 
 "Of course it is not for me to blame you," con- 
 tinued Markdof: "to nourish the poor and the de- 
 formed is a good work. But let me tell you that to 
 live in comfort, in clover, as you do, and though you 
 may not ruin any one else's life, yet never to stir a 
 finger for the good of your neighbour, that is not to 
 be good ; I at least, to tell the truth, count such good- 
 ness as nought ! " 
 
 Here Poiifka cried out deafeningly ; she did not 
 understand a word of what Mark^lof had said, but 
 the " black fellow " was scolding, how did he dare ! 
 Vasilievna muttered something, and F6moushka laid 
 his hands on his breast, and, turning his face to his 
 wife, said, almost sobbing, "F/moushka darling, do 
 you hear what our visitor says ? You and I are 
 sinners, evil-doers, Pharisees, we live in clover, 
 ai, ai . . . . We ought to be turned out of the house into 
 the street and given a broom apiece to work for our 
 livelihood, oh — ho!" On hearing such dismal words 
 Poufka howled worse than before, Fi'moushka half 
 closed her eyes, and bit her lips, taking in a breath as 
 if for a good loud cry .... 
 
 Heaven knows how it would all have finished had 
 not Pdklin interfered. 
 
 " What is the matter .' " he broke in, laughing and 
 gesticulating. " What is it all about .? How can you 
 be so stupid } Mr. Mark^lof was joking ; but as he 
 looks very solemn, it seemed serious, and you were 
 taken in t Evffmia Pdvlovna, my good friend, we 
 must be going directly, so as a parting favour tell us 
 
IS8 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XIX. 
 
 our fortunes ; you are first-rate at it ! Sister, get the 
 cards ! " 
 
 Fi'moushka looked at her husband, but he seemed 
 quite placid, so she calmed down. 
 
 " The cards, the cards," she said, " but I have for- 
 gotten, Sila, it is long since I have taken them up." 
 
 But she took a pack of wonderful old cards, used 
 for playing ombre, which Snandiilia handed her. 
 
 " Whose fortune am I to tell } " she asked. 
 
 "Why, everybody's," said Paklin, and thought 
 "what a tractable old lady, one can turn her round 
 one's finger, she is quite charming. Yes, everybody's, 
 mother," he said out loud, "tell us our destiny, our 
 character, our future, everything ! " 
 
 Fi'moushka began to lay out the cards, but suddenly 
 threw them aside. " I need no cards," she said, " I 
 know each of you without them. And as a man's 
 nature is, such is his destiny. He " (she pointed at 
 Solomin) " is a calm, steadfast man ; that one " (she 
 shook her finger at Mark^lof) " is hot and headstrong" 
 (Poufka put out her tongue at him) ; " about you " (she 
 turned to Paklin) " one need say nothing ; you know 
 what you are, a featherbrain ; as for that one . . . . " 
 
 She pointed at Nejdanof and hesitated. 
 
 " Well," he said, " tell me, please, what sort of a 
 man am I ? " 
 
 " What sort of a man are you . . . . " said Fi'moushka, 
 slowly ; " you are to be pitied, you are ! " 
 --., Nejdanof roused himself " To be pitied .' Why.'" 
 - " Simply enough ! I pity you, that is all ! " 
 
 " But why ? " 
 
 " Why .... because my eyes tell it me. You think 
 I am an old fool .' I am sharper than you, for all 
 your red* hair ! You are to be pitied ; there is your 
 fortune for you ! " 
 
 * Red-haired people in Russia are looked upon as unusually- 
 clever, even rather uncanny. 
 
CHAP. XIX.] A NOVEL, 159 
 
 They were all silent, then exchanged glances and 
 were still silent. 
 
 " Well, farewell, good people," suddenly said 
 Pdklin. " We have stayed too long and tired you, I 
 shouldn't wonder. These gentlemen must be going, 
 and I am off too. Good-bye, thanks for your kind- 
 ness." 
 
 " Good-bye, good-bye ; come in again, don't over- 
 look us," said both together. And F6moushka 
 suddenly began — 
 
 " Many, many, many years . . . ." 
 
 " Many, many,"* sang Kalliopytch quite unexpect- 
 edly, as he opened the door to let the young people 
 out. 
 
 And they all four found themselves in the street, in 
 front of the plump little house, while through the 
 window came Poiifka's shrill voice, " Fools, fools ! " 
 
 Piklin laughed loudly, but no one responded. 
 Mark^lof looked round at each one in turn, as if 
 expecting some sign of indignation. 
 
 Sol6min alone smiled as usual. 
 
 * The beginning of a Russian hymn wishing long life. 
 
i6o VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XX. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Now," said Pdklin, who was the first to speak, " we 
 
 , have been in the eighteenth century, let us go straight 
 
 \ into the twentieth. Goloushkin is such an advanced 
 
 gentleman that it would be improper to count him as ' 
 
 belonging to the nineteenth." 
 
 "Why, do you know him .'"' asked Nejdanof. 
 
 " The earth is filled with the glory of his name, and 
 I said ' let us go,' because I mean to go with you." 
 
 " But how can you } You do not know him .' " 
 
 ■" What does that matter .? Did you know my love- 
 birds 1 " 
 
 " But you introduced us ! " 
 
 " Well, you can introduce me ! You can have no 
 secrets from jne, and Golouishkin is a man of broad 
 views. You see if he is not delighted at a new 
 acquaintance ; and here in S. we are unceremonious." 
 
 " Yes," grumbled Mark^lof, " people here are rather 
 ' too unceremonious." 
 
 Piklin shook his head. 
 
 " That was meant for me, I suppose. Well, I 
 deserve it. But I will tell you what, my new ac- 
 quaintance, put aside for a time those dismal thoughts 
 which your bilious temperament suggests ; and above 
 all " 
 
CHAP. XX.] A NOVEL. i6t 
 
 " Sir," interrupted Mark^lof, sharply, "let me in my 
 turn caution you as a new acquaintance that I never 
 had the smallest inclination for joking, especially to- 
 day. And how do you know my temperament ? " 
 (he emphasized the last word). "I somehow think 
 it is not long since we first saw one another." 
 
 " Oh, enough, enough, don't be angry, and don't 
 call all the gods to witness ; I will believe you without 
 that," said Pdklin ; and turning to Sol6min, " O 
 you ! " he exclaimed, " whom the acute Fi'moushka 
 herself called a cool man, and who do indeed seem to 
 have a soothing influence, tell me whether I really 
 did mean to say anything unpleasant or to make 
 jokes out of season ? I only asked for permission to 
 accompany you to Goloushkin's ; besides, I am a 
 harmless person, and it is not my fault if Mr. Mark^Iof's 
 face is yellow ! " 
 
 Sol6min shrugged first one shoulder, then the 
 other ; he had a way of doing so when he did not 
 quite know what to answer. 
 
 " Of course, Mr. Pdklin," he at length said ; " you 
 could not offend any one, nor do you wish to ; and 
 why should you not go with us to Goloiishkin's 1 I 
 fancy we shall spend our time there as agreeably as 
 with your relations, and about as profitably." 
 
 Pdklin shook his finger at him. 
 
 " I see you too can be spiteful ; but you are coming 
 to Goloushkin's, are you not .' " 
 
 " Of course I am coming. My day is wasted any- 
 how." 
 
 " Well, then, en avant ! marchons ! into the twentieth 
 centuiy. Nejddnof, you are an advanced man, lead 
 the way ! " 
 
 " All right, come along ! But don't repeat your 
 jokes, or people might think you had not too many 
 of them." 
 
 "Enough to bury such as you," answered Pdklin, 
 
 M 
 
i62 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XX. 
 
 gaily, and stepped out into a swinging walk, or rather, 
 as he put it, "a swinging limp." 
 
 " An amusing fellow ! " remarked Solomin to 
 Nejdanof, as they followed arm-in-arm; "if we are 
 all sent to Siberia, which Heaven forefend ! we shall at 
 all events have some one to amuse us." 
 
 Markelof walked behind in silence. 
 
 Meanwhile in Goloiishkin's house everything was 
 being done to provide a superb dinner, in fact some- 
 thing chic. An oiikha * had been made, very 
 greasy and very nasty ; various " pat^sho " and 
 "phrikas^i" had been prepared (for Goloiishkin, as 
 befitted a man who, though a dissenter, stood on the 
 height of European civilization, had adopted French 
 cookery, and had hired a cook who had been turned 
 out of a club for dirtiness), and, to crown all, several 
 bottles of champagne had been put in ice. 
 
 Goloiishkin met the visitors with his usual clumsy 
 gestures, hurried manner, and everlasting giggle. He 
 was delighted to see Pakiin, as the latter had pre- 
 dicted, and asked, " One of ours .' " and, without 
 waiting for an answer, exclaimed, " Of course, he must 
 be ! " Then he related how he had that moment left 
 " that queer fellow, the governor, who is always 
 bothering me about almshouses or some nonsense of 
 the kind." And it was impossible to say whether 
 Goloushkin was more pleased at being received by 
 the governor or at having the opportunity of abusing 
 him before some of the leaders of the young genera- 
 tion. Then he presented the proselyte whom he had 
 promised to show them. And who did this said 
 proselyte turn out to be .' That same consumptive, 
 smooth little man with the sharp face, who had come 
 in with a message that morning, and whom Goloushkin 
 called Vdsia, one of his clerks. " He is not eloquent," 
 said Goloushkin, pointing at him with his whole hand, 
 * Fish soup. 
 
CHAP. XX.] A NOVEL. 163 
 
 " but devoted to our cause with all his heart." And 
 Vdsia only bowed and blushed and winked and 
 showed his teeth, so that it was impossible to make 
 out what he was — a mere fool, or the veriest scoundrel 
 and impostor ! 
 
 " Come, gentlemen, come, dinner is on the table," 
 called Goloiishkin ; so they sat down after a mighty 
 zakouska.* Directly after the soup, Goloiishkin 
 called for the champagne. It gurgled out of the 
 bottle into the glasses in half-frozen lumps which 
 looked like tallow. " I drink to our — our under- 
 taking,'' exclaimed Goloiishkin, winking as he spoke, 
 and nodding in the direction of the servant, as if to 
 show that in the presence of a stranger one must be 
 careful. Vasia, the proselyte, remained silent, but 
 though he sat on the edge of his chair, and generally 
 behaved with a servility altogether incompatible with 
 the principles to which, according to Goloiishkin, he 
 was devoted with his whole heart, yet he did drink 
 desperately ; but the others all talked, that is, Paklin 
 and the host, especially Pdklin. Nejdanof was secretly 
 annoyed ; Mark^lof was as angry and indignant as he 
 had been at the Soub(5tchefs, but in a different 
 manner ; Sol6min sat watching them. 
 
 Paklin was in his glory. His amusing chatter 
 delighted Goloiishkin, who did not in the least suspect 
 that the " little lame fellow " was all the time whisper- 
 ing in the ear of his neighbour Nejddnof the most 
 bitter sarcasms on him, Goloiishkin ! He even thought 
 that Pdklin was a good, simple fellow whom one could 
 treat familiarly, and that was one of the many reasons 
 why he was pleased with him. Had Paklin been sitting 
 next to him he would long since have poked him in 
 the ribs with his finger,, or clapped him on the 
 shoulder ; as it was he nodded and wagged his head 
 at him across the table ; but between them sat first 
 * Preliminary whet. 
 
i64 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xx. 
 
 Mark^lof, like a threatening storm-cloud, and then 
 Sol6min. So Goloiishkin could only laugh, which he 
 did at every word Piklin uttered, laughing on trust, 
 before the joke, smacking himself with the palm of 
 his hand and showing his blueish gums. Paklin soon 
 understood what was wanted, and began to abuse 
 every one and everything (a task by the way for which 
 he was eminently suited) ; conservatives, liberals, 
 officials, barristers, statesmen, landowners, provincial 
 assemblies, town councils, Moscow and Petersburg, 
 all alike! 
 
 Goloiishkin kept on interrupting ; " Yes, yes, that is 
 it ; yes, just so ! Our mayor, for instance, an absohite 
 donkey, an impenetrable blockhead ! I tell him this, 
 that, or the other, and he doesn't understand a word 
 I say ; he is as bad as the governor ! " 
 
 " Why, is the governor stupid ? " inquired Paklin. 
 " I tell you he is an ass ! " 
 
 " Have you noticed whether he snores or wheezes.'" 
 " What do you mean.'" asked Goloiishkin, in wonder. 
 " Why, don't you know .' In our dear Russia im- 
 portant statesmen snore, distinguished generals 
 wheeze through their noses, and only the very greatest 
 officials both wheeze and snore together." 
 
 Goloiishkin shrieked with laughter, till the tears 
 absolutely ran down. " Yes, yes ! " he said, " he 
 wheezes, he wheezes ; he is a military man ! " 
 " Oh, you idiot ! " thought Paklin. 
 Soon after Goloiishkin exclaimed, "Everything 
 with us is rotten, wherever you touch. Everything, 
 everything ! " 
 
 " My worthy Kapit6n Andreitch," remarked Paklin, 
 sententiously, " trust me, half measures are of no use 
 here ! " At the same time he whispered to Nejdanof, 
 " Why does he perpetually wriggle his arms, as if his 
 coat cut him under the shoulders .' " 
 
 " Half measures ! " shouted Goloiishkin, suddenly 
 
CHAP. XX.] A NOVEL. i6s 
 
 ceasing to laugh, and assuming a ferocious expres- 
 sion. "There is only one thing to be done; root 
 and branch is the word ! Vasia, drink, you son of 
 a dog ! " 
 
 " I am drinking, Kapit6n Andreitch ! " answered 
 the clerk, emptying a tumbler down his throat. 
 
 Goloiishkin also " put away " a glass. 
 
 " How is it he does not burst } " whispered Pdklin 
 to Nejdanof. 
 
 " Habit ! " answered the latter. 
 
 But it was not only the clerk who drank. By 
 degrees the wine began to have its effect, and one 
 after another they all, even Sol6min, joined in the 
 conversation. 
 
 Nejddnof, with a kind of disgust and contempt for 
 himself for not keeping up his character and for 
 uselessly beating the waves, began to say that it was 
 time to cease amusing themselves with words, time to 
 act ; he even talked about the " soil " he had fouftd. 
 And then without noticing that he was contradicting 
 himself, he demanded to be shown the real palpable 
 support on which they could rely, for he himself could 
 not see it. " In society there is no sympathy, in thi 
 
 people there is no appreciation what are you to 
 
 do .-" " Of course no one answered him ; not because 
 no answer was possible, but because every one was 
 arguing from his own point of view. Markelof began\ 
 in a low, angry voice, persistent and monotonous ("just ^ 
 as if he were chopping cabbage," remarked Paklin). 
 What he was actually talking about was not quite 
 clear ; at times the word " artillery " was distinguish- 
 able — he was probably mentioning the defects which 
 he had discovered in its organization. Germans and 
 aides-de-camp also got their share. Sol6min re- 
 marked that there were two ways of waiting — waiting 
 and doing nothing, waiting and pushing the work.,^, 
 forward. 
 
i66 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xx. 
 
 " We don't want your gradual improvers ! " said 
 Markelof, gloomily. 
 
 " The ' gradual improvers,' as you call them, have 
 hitherto worked from above," remarked Solomin ; " we 
 will try from below." 
 
 " We don't want them, devil take them ! " broke in 
 ^oloiishkin fiercely ; " we mu.st do it at a blow, all 
 at once ! " 
 
 " That means that you will jump out of window .-' " 
 
 " I will ! " yelled Goloiishkin, " I will jump ! And 
 Vasia here will jump. If I tell him, he will jump ! 
 Eh, Vdsia, won't you 1 " 
 
 The clerk finished his glass of champagne. 
 
 "Wherever you go, Kapit6n Andr^itch, I follow 
 you ! It is not for us to reason ! " 
 
 " I should think not ! I would twist you into a 
 ram's horn ! " 
 
 Soon there began what is called in the language of 
 drunkards the building of the Tower of Babel. A 
 mighty noise and confusion arose. As the first 
 snow-flakes twist and turn in rapid dance in the yet 
 warm autumn air, so in the heatened atmosphere of 
 Goloushkin's dining-room words of every sort whirled, 
 crossed, and encountered each other; progress, govern- 
 ment, literature, taxation ; the church question, the 
 woman's rights question, the law question ; classicism, 
 realism. Nihilism, communism ; international, clerical, 
 liberal, capital ; administration, organization, associa- 
 _tion, and even crystallization ! This same hubbub 
 seemed to delight Goloiishkin, he was in ecstasies ; it 
 seemed to contain the real essence of the matter. " See 
 what fellows we are ! Out of the way, or I crush you ! 
 Kapit6n Goloiishkin is coming ! " Vasia the clerk 
 at length got so drunk that he began to laugh and 
 
 alk in his plate, and at last shouted as if he were mad, 
 
 What the devil is a/ra-gymnasium ? " 
 Goloiishkin suddenly rose, and tossing back his 
 
• CHAP. XX.] A NOVEL. 167 
 
 purple face, on which the expression of coarse power 
 and triumph was strangely mingled with that of secret 
 dread and even fear, shouted, " I sacrifice another 
 thousand : fetch it along, Vasia ! " whereon Vasia 
 answered in a low tone, " Go ahead ! " Paklin, pale 
 and heated (for during the last quarter of an hour he 
 had drunk almost as much as the clerk), sprang from 
 his seat, and, raising his hands above his head, said 
 slowly, " Sacrifice ! He said sacrifice ! Oh, pollution 
 of a holy word ! Sacrifice ! No one dares to elevate 
 himself to thee, no one has the strength to fulfil the 
 duties which thou imposest, at least none of us here 
 present, and yet this self-satisfied fool, this senseless 
 sack, shakes his inflated person, scatters a handful of 
 roubles, and cries ' Sacrifice ! ' and he claims gratitude 
 for it ; he expects a laurel crown ! The scoundrel ! " 
 Goloiishkin either did not clearly hear or did not 
 understand what Pdklin was saying, or possibly took 
 his words as a joke, for he repeated once more, " Yes, 
 a thousand roubles ! What Kapit6n Goloiishkin has 
 said is sacred ! " He suddenly thrust his hand into a 
 side pocket. " Here it is — the money. Here, take it 
 and remember Kapit6n ! " As soon as he became 
 excited he talked of himself in the third person, as 
 little children do. Nejddnof collected the notes which 
 were scattered over the wine-sodden table-cloth. 
 After this there was no reason for stopping ; beside 
 which it was getting late. They all rose, took thei 
 hats and departed. The contact of the fresh air mad 
 their heads turn, especially Paklin's. 
 
 " Whither now .' " he said, not without difficulty. 
 
 " I don't know where you are going," said Sol6min, 
 " but I am off home." 
 
 " To the factory .? " 
 
 " To the factory." 
 
 " Now, by night, on foot ? " 
 
 " Why not .' There are no wolves or robbers 
 
VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XX. 
 
 here, and I am a good walker. It is cool, too, by 
 night." 
 
 " But it is four versts ! " 
 
 "Well, and what if it were five! Good night, 
 gentlemen ! " 
 
 Solomin buttoned up his coat, pulled his cap on to 
 his forehead, lighted a cigar, and started down the 
 street with long strides. 
 
 " Where are you going.?" ask ed Paklin o f Nejdanof. 
 
 " With him" ; he pointed at Mark^lof, who was stand- 
 ing motionless with his arms folded across his breast. 
 " We have a trap and horses here." 
 
 " All right .... I, brother, shall go back to the 
 oasis, to F6moushka and Fimoushka. And I will tell 
 you what, brother ! There is folly in that house, and 
 folly in this. But their folly, the folly of the eighteenth 
 century, is nearer the Russian nature than that of the 
 twentieth. Good-bye, gentlemen ; I am drunk, don't 
 mind me. Listen once more to what I say. A better 
 woman than my sister .... Snandulia .... you won't 
 find in the world ; and she, you see, is hunchbacked, and 
 her name is ... . Snandulia ! And it is always so in 
 the world ! But it is right she should be called so. 
 Do you know who Saint Snandulia was .' A bene- 
 ficent womap, who went about prisons and ministered 
 to the prisoners and the sick ! However, good-bye ! ' 
 good-bye, Nejddnof, you pitiful man ! Good-bye, you 
 officer, you .... the solemn man ! " 
 
 He set off to the oasis limping and unsteady, while 
 Markelof and Nejddnof sought the stables where they 
 had left their conveyance, ordered the horses to be 
 put to, and half an hour later were rolling along the 
 high road. 
 
CHAP. XXI.] A NOVEL. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The sky was covered with low clouds, and though it 
 was not quite dark, and the wheel-tracks on the road 
 in front were just visible, yet on either side everything 
 was misty, and the outlines of separate objects became 
 large confused masses. It was a dull, uncertain night ; 
 the damp wind blew in fitful gusts, bringing a scent 
 of rain and of the broad stretches of corn land. When 
 they had passed the clump of oak-trees which was 
 the landmark for turning into the by-road, matters 
 became even worse. The narrow path at times 
 almost disappeared, and the coachman began to drive 
 slower. 
 
 " We must take care we do not lose our way ! " 
 remarked Nejddnof, who had been silent up to this 
 time. 
 
 " Never fear ; we shall not lose our way," said 
 Mark^lof "Two misfortunes never happen in one 
 day." 
 
 "What was the first misfortune ? " 
 
 " Do you count it as nothing that we have lost a 
 day > " 
 
 "You mean about Goloushkin, of course! One 
 ought not to drink so much wine. My head is split- 
 ting ! " 
 
I/O VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXI, 
 
 " I do not mean Goloushkin. He at least gave 
 us money, so we gained some advantage from our 
 visit." 
 
 " You cannot be regretting that Paklin took us to 
 see his ... . what did he call them .■'... his love- 
 birds .' " 
 
 " I neither regret it nor am pleased at it. I am not 
 the kind of man to be interested in such toys. That 
 was not the misfortune I meant." 
 
 " What did you mean then .' " 
 
 Markdlof made no answer, but only stirred uneasily 
 in his corner, as if he were shrinking back. Nejddnof 
 could not see his face clearly ; his moustaches alone 
 stood out in a straight horizontal line ; but since the 
 morning he had felt that there was something on 
 Markelof's mind with which he had better not meddle 
 — a kind of deep and secret dissatisfaction. 
 
 " Sergei Mikhailovitch ! " he began, after a pause, 
 " can you seriously be pleased with those letters of Mr. 
 Kisliak6f which you gave me to read to-day } Excuse 
 the severity of the expression, but they are rubbish ! " 
 
 Mark^lof roused himself "To begin with," he 
 said, fiercely, " I do not in the least share your 
 opinion of those letters. I consider them very 
 remarkable — and conscientious ; secondly, Kisliakof 
 N. works and struggles, and above all he believes — 
 believes in the cause, in a revolution ! Let me tell 
 you one thing, Alex^i Dmi'tritch, I have remarked that 
 you are cooling down ; you no longer believe in the 
 cause." 
 
 " What makes you draw that conclusion 1 " said 
 Nejddnof, slowly. 
 
 " What .' Your own words, your own conduct alto- 
 gether. To-day at Goloushkin's who said that he did 
 \v not see on what support we could rely 1 You ! Who 
 asked for information .' You again ! And when that 
 friend of yours, that empty joker and buffoon, Paklin, 
 
CHAP. XXI.] A NOVEL. 171 
 
 raised his eyes to heaven and maintained that not one 
 of us had the strength to sacrifice himself, who en- 
 couraged him, who nodded his head affirmatively ? 
 Was it not you ? Speak of yourself as you like, 
 think of yourself as you will .... that is your busi- 
 ness, but I know men who have had the strength to 
 reject everything which makes life fair, the happiness 
 of love itself — that they might serve their con- 
 victions, that they might not betray them ! Rut 
 to-day, of course, you were not thinking of that ! " 
 
 " To-day ? Why to-day particularly } " 
 
 " Don't be a hypocrite, for God's sake, you happy 
 Don Juan, you myrtle-crowned lover ! " cried Mar- 
 k^lof, entirely forgetting that the coachman could hear 
 every word perfectly, without even turning round on 
 the box. It was true that the coachman at that 
 moment was much more intent on the road than on 
 the quarrels of the gentlemen who were sitting behind 
 his back. He was talking carefully and even rather 
 timidly to the centre horse, which was shaking its 
 head and almost sitting down on its haunches as it 
 held back the tarantas from slipping too fast down a 
 certain steep slope, which had no business whatever to 
 be where it was. 
 
 " Excuse me," said Nejdanof, " I don't quite under- 
 stand you." 
 
 Mark^lof broke into a forced and vicious laugh. 
 " You don't understand me, don't you ! I know 
 everything, my dear sir ! I know to whom you 
 declared your love yesterday ; I know whom you have 
 enthralled by your good looks and your eloquence ; 
 I know who lets you into her room after ten o'clock 
 at night 1 " 
 
 " Master," exclaimed the coachman suddenly, turn- 
 ing to Mark^lof, " hold the reins a minute while I get 
 down and look ! I think we must have got off the 
 road. There is a drain here, or something . . . ." 
 
172 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXI. 
 
 The tarantas was indeed all on one side. 
 
 Mark^Iof caught the reins which the coachman 
 handed him and continued as loudly as before, — 
 
 " 1 do not blame you in the least, Alex^i Dmi'tritch. 
 You took advantage .... you were right. I only say 
 that I do not wonder at your cooling down towards 
 the cause ; I repeat, you are not thinking about it. 
 And I add as coming from myself, Where is the man 
 who can guess beforehand what will enchant a young 
 \ girl's heart, or find out what it desires .? " 
 
 " I understand you now," began Nejddnof. " I 
 understand your bitterness, and guess who it was that 
 watched us and hastened to inform you . . . ." 
 
 " It is not any particular merit," continued Mar- 
 k^lof, pretending not to hear Nejddnof and inten- 
 tionally prolonging all the words in a sing-song tone ; 
 "it is not any extraordinary mental or bodily qua- 
 lities. No ! It is simply the luck, the cursed luck, of 
 ^ all illegitimate children, of all bastards ! " 
 
 The last sentence Mark^lof uttered in a quick, 
 broken voice, and after it stopped suddenly, as if 
 turned to stone. 
 
 Nejdanof, even in the darkness, felt his face grow 
 pale and a shiver run over his cheeks. He with diffi- 
 culty restrained himself from springing on Mark^lof, 
 and catching him by the throat, " This insult must be 
 avenged by blood ....!" 
 
 " I have found the road," exclaimed the coachman, 
 appearing close to the off front wheel. " I had made 
 a little mistake, borne too much to the left ; it is all 
 right now. We shall be home in a twinkling ; it is 
 not a verst. Keep your seats, gentlemen." • 
 
 He clambered on to his seat, took the reins from 
 Markdlof, and turned the centre horse to one side. The 
 tarantas gave two violent jolts, then rolled along more 
 evenly and quickly ; the darkness seemed to rise and 
 disperse ; there was a smell of smoke, and a dark 
 
CHAP. XXI.] A NOVEL. 173 
 
 mass appeared in front ; a light twinkled and vanished 
 again, then another ; a dog barked .... 
 
 " Our cottages," said the coachman. " Now, my 
 little kittens ! " 
 
 The lights reappeared more numerous and 
 closer. 
 
 " After such an insult," at length said Nejdanof, 
 " you will easily understand, Sergdi Mikhdilovitch, that 
 it is impossible for me to spend the night under your 
 roof, therefore I have to ask you, unpleasant though 
 it be for me to do so, to let your tarantas, as soon as 
 we arrive, conduct me to the town ; to-morrow I will 
 find a means of returning home, and then you will 
 feceive a communication from me which you in all 
 probability expect." 
 
 Mark^lof did not answer for a moment. 
 
 " Nejddnof ! " he at last said, in a voice not loud, 
 but almost despairing, " Nejdanof! for God's sake come 
 into my house, if only to let me beg your pardon on my 
 knees ! Nejddnof, forget my mad words ! Oh, if 
 any one could know how unhappy I am ! " Mark^lof 
 struck himself on the breast, and it resounded almost 
 like a groan. " Nejdanof, be generous ! give me your 
 hand. Do not refuse to forgive me ! " 
 
 Nejdinof stretched out his hand, — hesitatingly, per- 
 haps, but he did it ; Mark^lof gripped it so tightly 
 that he almost cried out. 
 
 At this moment the tarantas stopped before 
 Mark^lof's house. 
 
 " Listen, Nejdanof," said Markelof, in his study, a 
 quarter of an hour later. 
 
 He called him " thou," and in that unexpected 
 " thou," — addressed to a man whom he knew to be his 
 fortunate rival, whom he had just mortally insulted, 
 and whom he had been ready to kill, to tear in pieces, 
 —in that " thou " there was hopeless renunciation and 
 humble, sad entreaty, and, as it were, a right .... 
 
174 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXr. 
 
 Nejddnof recognized that right by alsocalling Markdof 
 "thou." 
 
 " Listen," he said, " I told you this moment that I 
 had rejected the bliss of love, had thrust it from me 
 simply that I might serve my convictions. That was 
 nonseinse — boasting ! Nothing of the sort was ever 
 offered me, so there was nothing for me to reject. I 
 was born unlucky, and so I shall remain ; and perhaps 
 it ought to be so. I am not made for that ; perhaps 
 there is something for me to do elsewhere. If you can 
 ^ unite the two — love and be loved — and, at the same 
 time, serve the cause, you are a lucky man .... I envy 
 you .... but I cannot, I cannot. You are lucky ! and 
 I cannot." 
 
 Markelof said all this in a quiet voice, sitting on a 
 low chair, with his head bowed down and both arms 
 drooping by his side. Nejdanof stood before him, 
 sunk in a reverie, yet attentive ; and though Markelof 
 called him lucky, he neither looked nor felt so. 
 
 " When I was young a girl jilted me," continued 
 Markelof ; " she was a charming girl — but she 
 jilted me all the same; and for whom.' For a 
 German, an aide-de-camp ! Now Marianna . . . ." 
 He stopped. It was the first time he had pro- 
 nounced her name, and it seemed to burn his lips. 
 " Marianna never deceived me ; she told me at 
 once that I did not please her. And why should I ? 
 So she gave herself to you .... Well, why not .? she 
 was free." 
 
 " But, stop ! stop ! " exclaimed Nejddnof ; " what 
 are you talking about } You say, ' Gave herself.' I 
 do not know what your sister may have written to 
 you, but . . . ." 
 
 " I don't mean that ; but she has given herself to 
 you morally, heart and soul," said Markelof who, 
 however, for some reason, seemed pleased byNejdanofs 
 exclamation ; " and she has done well. As for my 
 
CHAP, XXI.] A NOVEL, 17s 
 
 sister .... of course she did not mean to liurt me. 
 That is, it is really all the same to her ; but I expect 
 she hates you and Marianna too. She told no lies ; 
 but it is all the same, let us say no more of her." 
 
 " Yes," thought Nejddnof, " she does hate us." 
 
 " It is all for the best," continued Markdlof, without 
 changing his position. " The last fetters are taken off 
 me now ; nothing any longer hinders me. Don't you 
 mind Goloiishkin's being a fool ; that does not matter. 
 And Kisliak6f's letters too, perhaps, are ridiculous. 
 That may be ; but we must look at the main object. 
 According to him all is ready everywhere. Perhaps 
 you do not believe that .' " 
 
 Nejdanof did not answer. 
 
 " Well, perhaps you are right ; but if we are to wait 
 for the moment when everything is absolutely ready, 
 we shall never begin. If one weighs all the conse,; 
 quences, there are sure to be some against us. For "^ 
 instance, when our predecessors were planning the 
 abolition of serfdom, could they foresee that one of 
 the consequences of that abolition would be the 
 appearance of a whole class of landlord usurers, who 
 sell the peasant a quarter of bad rye for six roubles, 
 and receive from him, firstly" (Mark^lof bent down one 
 finger), "work equivalent to the six roubles ; secondly" 
 (he bent down another finger), "a whole quarter of good 
 rye," and again (he bent down one more), " something 
 extra for the trouble : that is, who suck the last drops 
 of blood out of the peasant ? Now our emancipators 
 could not have foreseen that, could they .■" And even 
 if they had foreseen it, they would have done well to 
 free the peasants, and not to weigh all the conse- 
 quences ; so I have made up my mind." 
 
 Nejddnof looked in an inquiring and puzzled way 
 at Mark^lof, but the latter turned his head aside. His 
 brows were downcast and hid his pupils ; he was 
 biting his lips and moustaches. 
 
176 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXr. 
 
 " Yes ; I have made up my mind," he repeated, 
 striking his knee violently with his brown, hairy fist. 
 " I am obstinate, you know. It is not for nothing my 
 mother was a Little Russian." 
 
 Then he rose, and, shuffling along as if his legs had 
 suddenly become weak, he went into his bedroom and 
 fetched a small mounted portrait of Maridnna. 
 
 "Take this," he said, in a melancholy but calm 
 voice, " I drew it once on a time. I am a bad artist, 
 but look, I think it is like " (the portrait, drawn in pro- 
 file with a pencil, was really like). " Take it, brother, 
 it is my legacy. With this portrait I give you not my 
 rights, for I never had any, but everything, you know. 
 I give you everything — and her. She, brother, is a 
 good. . . ." 
 
 Mark^lof stopped, his chest was heaving visibly. 
 
 " Take it. You are not angry with me, are you .? 
 Well, take it then. I shall no longer want anything 
 of that kind." 
 
 Nejdanof took it, but a strange feeling oppressed 
 him. He thought that he had no right to take this gift ; 
 that if Markdlof had known what was passing in his 
 mind he would not have given it him. Nejdanof held 
 in his hand the little round piece of drawing-paper, 
 carefully set in a black frame with a narrow border of 
 gold, and did not know what to do with it. " This 
 is the whole life of a man that I am holding," he 
 thought. He understood what a sacrifice Markelof 
 was making, but why for him, for him especially .' 
 Should he return the portrait } No ! That would 
 be even a worse insult. Was not that face dear to 
 him .? did he not love her .? 
 
 Nejddnof raised his eyes towards Markelof with a 
 sort of inward dread — was he not looking at him, 
 endeavouring to seize his thoughts } But Markelof 
 was still staring at the corner and gnawing his 
 moustache. 
 
CHAP. XXI.] A NOVEL. 177 
 
 The old servant came into the room with a candle. 
 Mark^lof roused himself. " Time to sleep, Alexei," 
 he exclaimed. "Morning's counsel is clearer than 
 evening's. I will give you horses to-morrow, you will 
 go off home, and so, good-bye." 
 
 " Good-bye to you too, old man ! " he suddenly 
 added, turning round to the old servant and clapping 
 him on the shoulder. " Don't think ill of me ! " 
 
 The old man was so astonished that he almost 
 dropped the candle, and the look which he fixed on 
 his master expressed something more than his 
 habitual melancholy. 
 
 Nejddnof went to his room. He did not feel well 
 His head was aching from the wine he had drunk, his 
 ears were singing, and he saw colours before his eyes 
 even when he closed them. Goloiishkin, Vdsia the 
 clerk, F6moushka and Fi'moushka, were all revolving 
 before him ; the image of Maridnna remained afar off 
 as if afraid of approaching him. All that he himself 
 had said or done seemed such a lie and imposture, 
 such unnecessary and hypocritical rubbish, and the 
 object on which they were bent, to which they aspired, 
 seemed to be hidden in some unknown and inaccessible 
 place, behind a dozen locks, somewhere in a cavern. 
 
 Again and again he thought of rising and going 
 down to Mark^lof, and saying to him, " Take your 
 present ; take it back ! " 
 
 " Pheugh ! What a disgusting thing life is ! " he at 
 last exclaimed. 
 
 The next day he left early. Mark^lof was already 
 on the steps, surrounded by peasants. Whether he 
 had summoned them, or whether they had come of 
 their own accord, Nejddnof did not learn, for Mark^lof 
 said good-bye in a dry, short tone ; but he seemed to 
 be about to communicate something important to 
 them. The old servant was standing by with his 
 everlasting, melancholy gaze. 
 
 N 
 
178 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xxr. 
 
 The tarantas soon passed the town, and on reaching 
 the open country rolled more smoothly along. The 
 horses were the same ; but the coachman, either 
 because Nejdanof lived in a rich house or for some 
 other reason of his own, counted on a good present 
 for drink-money, and it is well known that when the 
 coachman has drunk or is certain of drinking the 
 horses go capitally. It was real June weather, though 
 cool ; high, clearly cut clouds in a dark-blue sky, a 
 strong, even breeze, the dust on the road beaten down 
 by the rain of the previous day ; the willows were 
 shivering and glistening as the wind caught them ; all 
 was in motion and blowing about ; the cry of the quail 
 came in a thin whistle from the distant hills, across 
 the green valleys, as if the very cry had wings, and 
 was flying past on them ; the rooks shone in the sun- 
 light, and on the even line of the horizon moved some 
 black specks — the peasants busy ploughing their 
 fallows a second time. 
 
 But Nejdanof observed none of all this ; he did not 
 even notice that he had reached Sipiagin's property, 
 .so wrapt was he in his thoughts. 
 
 However, he started when he saw the roof of the 
 house, the upper story, the window of Maridnna's 
 room. "Yes," he said to himself, and his heart 
 warmed within him, "he was right, she is a good 
 girl, and I love her." 
 
CHAP. XXII.] A NOVEL. 179 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 He changed his clothes quickly and went down to 
 give K61ia his lesson. Sipidgin, whom he met in the 
 dining-room, bowed politely but coldly, and muttering 
 through his teeth, " I hope you have had a pleasant 
 journey," went on into his study. The great states- 
 man had made up his diplomatic mind that as soon 
 as the holidays were over he would send back to 
 Petersburg this tutor, who was " really too red," and 
 in the mean time he determined to keep a watch on 
 him. Je n'ai pas eu la main heureuse cette fois-ci 
 he thought, however, "j'aurais pu tomber pire." 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna's opinion of Nejddnof was 
 much more energetic and decided. She now simply 
 could not endure him ; he, that boy, had dared to insult 
 her ! Maridnna had not been mistaken ; it was 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna who was listening to her and 
 Nejddnof in the passage. This grand lady did not 
 despise even such means. During the two days that 
 he had been absent, although she said nothing to her 
 " thoughtless " relative, yet she constantly gave her to 
 understand that she knew everything, that she might 
 have been indignant had she not been so astonished, 
 and would have been even more astonished had she 
 not felt contempt and compassion. An inward and 
 
l8o VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xxil. 
 
 ' half-concealed disdain was expressed in her face, her 
 eyebrows were arched with a tinge of raillery com- 
 bined with pity whenever she spoke to or looked at 
 Marianna ; those lovely eyes rested on her with gentle 
 wonder and sorrowful horror at the presumptuous girl 
 who, after all her eccentricities and whims, had ended 
 by kissing — yes, kissing ! a kind of half-schoolboy, 
 half-student, in a dark room ! 
 
 Poor Maridnna ! Her proud and stern lips had 
 never yet been touched by a kiss. 
 
 However, Valentfna Mikhailovna gave her husband 
 no hint of the discovery she had made ; she contented 
 herself by accompanying the few words she had to 
 say to Maridnna in his presence with a meaning 
 sneer which had absolutely no connexion with the 
 phrase. She even repented somewhat of having 
 written to her brother ; but on the whole she preferred 
 repenting and having written the letter to not repent- 
 ing and not having written it. 
 
 Nejdinof only saw Maridnna for a short time in 
 the dining-room at breakfast. He thought that she 
 had grown thin and yellow ; she was not pretty that 
 day, but the quick glance which she threw at him as 
 he came in went to his heart. Valenti'na Mikhdilovna 
 looked at them as if she were saying all the time, 
 " Excellent ! My compliments ! Admirably acted ! " 
 At the same time she was trying to read on his face 
 whether Markelof had shown him the letter or not. 
 At last she decided that he had. 
 
 Sipidgin, on hearing that Nejddnof had been to the 
 factory which Sol6min superintended, began to ques- 
 tion him about a " commercial establishment so 
 remarkable in every way," but soon discovering from 
 his answers that he had really seen nothing at all, 
 relapsed into a majestic silence, as if reproaching him- 
 self with having expected any observations of value 
 from such an unformed mind. As they came out of 
 
CHAP. XXII. A NOVEL. i8i 
 
 the dining-room Maridnna managed to whisper to 
 Nejddnof, — 
 
 " Wait for me at the old birch copse at the end of 
 the garden ; I will be there as soon as possible." 
 
 Nejddnof thought, " So she calls me ' thou ' as 
 well." And how pleasant it was, though a little awk- 
 ward, and how strange it would have been, how im- 
 possible, if she had begun to call him ' you ' again, if 
 she had drawn back from him ! He felt that this 
 would have been a misfortune. He did not know yet 
 whether he was in love with her, but she had become 
 dear to him, and intimate, and, above all, necessary to 
 his existence. This he felt fully. 
 
 The copse to which Maridnna had sent him con- 
 sisted of about a hundred tall and old birches, mostly 
 weeping birches. The breeze was still blowing ; the 
 long masses of branches dangled and waved like dis- 
 hevelled locks, the clouds were still drifting swiftly 
 high overhead, and each time one passed over the sun 
 things around became not dark, but of a uniform 
 tint. But the cloud passed over, and everywhere the 
 bright patches of sunlight again began their tumul- 
 tuous movement. They danced and entangled them- 
 selves in the patches of shade, and all was life and 
 motion as before, but a kind of holiday joy was there 
 besides. With such a burst of joy does passion enter 
 a dark, tumultuous heart, and such a heart did Nej- 
 ddnof bring to the interview. 
 
 He leaned against the trunk of a birch and began 
 to wait. He hardly knew his own feelings, and hardly 
 cared to know them ; they were more excited and yet 
 lighter than at Markdof's. Above all he wished to 
 see and speak to her ; the knot which suddenly binds 
 two human beings had encircled him. Nejddnof 
 thought of the rope which is launched from the quay 
 to a steamer when it is nearing the shore. See, it is 
 passed round a block, and the ship stops 
 
1 82 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXII. 
 
 In harbour, thank Heaven ! 
 
 Suddenly he started. He saw the flutter of a dress 
 afar in the path. It was she ; but whether she 
 was coming to him or going away he could not tell, 
 till he saw that the patches of light on her figure 
 moved upwards. She was coming closer. Had she 
 been going away they would have passed downwards. 
 A few instants more and she was standing before him 
 with a bright face of welcome, with a gentle light in 
 her eyes, with lips smiling slightly but gaily. He 
 caught the hands which she stretched out to him, but 
 for a moment could say nothing ; and she too was 
 silent. She had walked fast and was panting, but 
 was evidently greatly pleased that he too was so 
 pleased to see her. 
 
 She was the first to speak. 
 " Now tell me quickly what has been decided." 
 Nejddnof seemed astonished. 
 
 " Decided ! Why what was there to decide just 
 now .' " 
 
 " Oh, you understand me. Tell me what you 
 talked about ? Whom did you see .'' Did you make 
 Sol6min's acquaintance .■' Tell me all — all ! Wait a 
 moment. Come a little further. I know a place 
 where we cannot be seen so well." 
 
 She carried him off, and he followed her obediently 
 through the tall, scant, dry grass. They came to the 
 place she meant, where a large birch was lying, which 
 had fallen in some storm ; on this they seated them- 
 selves. 
 
 " Now tell me ! " she repeated ; but at once added, 
 " Oh, I am so glad to see you ! I began to think 
 these two days would never end. You know I am 
 certain now that Valentfna Mikhailovna was listening 
 to us." 
 
 " She wrote about it to Mark61of," said Nejdanof 
 " To him \ " Maridnna stopped and gradually grew 
 
CHAP. XXII,] A NOVEL. 183 
 
 red all over, not from shame, but from another and 
 a stronger feeling. " Wicked, bad woman ! " she 
 whispered slowly, "she had no right to do that. 
 Never mind ! Come, tell me everything." 
 
 Nejdanof began to speak. Maridnna listened with 
 motionless attention, and only interrupted him when 
 she noticed that he was hurrying, not dv/elling on 
 details. However, the details of his journey were not 
 all equally interesting to, her. She laughed over 
 F6moushka and Fi'moushka, but they did not interest 
 her. Their life was too far removed from hers. ,/ 
 
 " It is exactly as if you were talking to me about 
 Nebuchadnezzar," she remarked. 
 
 But what Mark^lof said, what even Goloushkin 
 said (though she at once understood what kind of 
 creature he was), and, above all, what Sol6min thought 
 of matters, and what sort of a man he seemed, that 
 was what she wanted to know, what she was uneasy 
 about. " When, when 1 " was the question always 
 moving in her brain, and coming to her lips all the 
 time that Nejddnof was speaking. He seemed to 
 avoid everything which could give a direct answer to • 
 that question. He himself began to notice that he^ 
 was dwelling on those details which least interested / 
 Maridnna, and was always coming back to them. A, 
 humorous description she was impatient at ; a seep- ( 
 cal or melancholy tone grieved her. She wanted him 
 always to come back to " the cause," " the question." 
 Here no prolixity of language seemed to weary her. 
 Nejddnof remembered a time when he was spending/ 
 the summer in the country-house of some friends,| 
 before he was a student, and when he had taken to 
 telling the children stories. They, too, did not appre-l 
 ciate descriptions or expressions of purely personal \ 
 feeling ; they, too, demanded action, facts ! Marianna 
 was not a child, but in the straightforward simplicity 
 of her character she was like a child. 
 
i84 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP, XXII. 
 
 Nejddnof praised Markdlof sincerely and warmly, 
 and spoke of Sol6min with great sympathy. While 
 using almost enthusiastic expressions about him, he 
 asked himself what it was that gave him such a high 
 opinion of the man. He had said nothing specially 
 clever ; some of his words had even been opposed to 
 Nejdanof's convictions. 
 
 " A well-balanced mind," he thought, " that is it ; 
 a solid, cool man, as Fimoushka said, of broad ideas ; 
 his strength is calm and firm ; he knows what he 
 wants, and is confident in himself, and excites con- 
 fidence in others ; there is no excitement, and there 
 is the evenly poised mind, just what is wanting in 
 me!" 
 
 Nejdanof was silent, buried in thought, but pre- 
 sently he felt a hand laid on his shoulder. He raised 
 his head ; Marianna was looking at him with a tender 
 and anxious glance. 
 
 " What is the matter, my friend t " she asked. 
 
 He took her hand from his shoulder, and for the 
 first time kissed this small but strong hand. 
 
 Maridnna laughed slightly, as if wondering how 
 such a politeness had come into his head. Then she, 
 too, relapsed into thought. 
 
 "Mark^lof showed you Valenti'na Mikhdilovna's 
 letter ? " she at length asked. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " What did he say .? " 
 
 " He .'' He is a most noble, self'sacrificing man. 
 He . . . ." Nejddnof iJiought of telling Maridnna 
 about the portrait, but refrained, and only repeated— 
 " is a most noble man ! " 
 
 " Yes, he is indeed." 
 
 Maridnna was again silent, and suddenly turning to 
 Nejddnof, as they sat together on the birch-trunk, said 
 _quickly,— 
 
 " Then what have you decided ? " 
 
CHAP, xxil.] A NOVEL. i! 
 
 NejdAnof shrugged his shoulders. 
 " I have told you already — nothing as yet ; we mu 
 wait longer." 
 
 "Wait.? Wait for what.?" 
 
 " The last instructions." (" I am telling a lie 
 thought Nejdinof.) 
 " From whom ? " 
 
 " From, you know, from Vasili Nikoldevitch. Ai 
 we must wait, too, till Ostrodumof returns." 
 Maridnna looked inquiringly at Nejddnof 
 " Tell me," she said, " have you ever seen Vas 
 Nikoldevitch 1 " 
 
 " I have seen him twice, for a moment." 
 " Is he a remarkable man ? " 
 " What shall I say ? He is the chief now, ai 
 ~ directs everything. Tn nnr^c ause we g ailDotdo^wit 
 o ut discipline. We must obey." (" And iAat is ; 
 
 nonsense, too," th oughFTJ^ eidandl.) 
 
 ' " What is he like in person .?" 
 
 " A short, stout, dark man. A bony Kalmuck fa 
 — a coarse face. But his eyes are very bright." 
 " And how does he speak ? " 
 " He does not speak, so much as command." 
 " How did he become chief .? " 
 " Because he is a man of character. Recoils befc 
 nothing. If necessaiy, he will kill a man ; and 
 ^ people are afraid of him." 
 
 " And what is Sol6min like .' " said Maridnna, af 
 a pause. 
 
 " Sol6min, too, is not very handsbme, only he ha: 
 good face, plain and honourable. Among Seminari 
 — the good ones — such faces occur." 
 
 Nejdi,nof described Sol6min in detail. Marian 
 looked long and steadily at him, and then said, a; 
 talking to herself, — 
 
 " You, too, have a good face. I should think : 
 with you would be easy." 
 
i86 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxii, 
 
 Nejddnof was touched by her words. He took her 
 hand again to raise it to his lips. 
 
 "Wait a little before you are too amiable," said 
 Maridnna, laughing ; she always laughed when her 
 hand was kissed, " you don't know ; I have a sin to 
 confess." 
 
 "What is it.?" 
 
 " Why, while you were away I went into your room, 
 and there on your table I saw a book with verses — " 
 
 Nejdanof started ; he remembered -that he had left 
 the book on the table in his room. 
 
 "And — I am very sorry — but I could not overcome 
 my curiosity, and read them. Are they your verses .' " 
 
 " They are ; and do you know, Maridnna, that the 
 best proof of how attached I am to you, and how I 
 trust you, is that I am almost not angry with you .'" 
 
 " Almost .'' Then you are angry, if only a little .' 
 By the way, you call me Marianna. Why should I 
 call you Nejddnof I will call you Alex^i. And the 
 piece which begins ' My dear friend, when I die ' — is 
 that yours, too .'' " 
 
 " It is, it is ! But drop that subject. Do not torture 
 me." 
 
 Marianna shook her head. 
 
 I " It is very melancholy. I hope you wrote it before 
 
 I you knew me. But the lines are good, as far as I can 
 
 judge. I think you might have become a writer, only 
 
 'J know for certain that a calling is open to you higher 
 
 j and greater than that of a writer. It was well enough 
 
 to occupy yourself with that formerly, when the other 
 
 was impossible." 
 
 Nejdanof threw a quick glance at her. 
 
 " You think so 1 I agree with you. Better to perish 
 here than to succeed there." 
 
 Maridnna rose impetuously. 
 
 " Yes, my friend," she exclaimed, '' you are right ! " 
 and her whole face beamed, shone with the light and 
 
CHAP. XXII.] A NOVEL. 187 
 
 fire of enthusiasm, with the charm given by noble 
 sentiments. " You are right ; but perhaps we shall 
 not perish at once. We shall succeed, you will see. 
 .jWe shall be useful. Our life will not be lost. We 
 Hill— go-a jiong tb e-pe&ple^ You know some trade?" 
 Ifo^?, WelL,allJ:Jie_ same,„ we „TOU,_worF; wiTT teach 
 thejn,. QULjbrothers, all we know. ^f^if-needSiIilwijr 
 cook, wash, or sew. . . . You will see, you will see .... 
 and there will be no reward but happiness, happi- 
 ness. . . ." 
 
 She ceased ; but her eyes gleamed as she looked 
 into the distance — not that which lay before her, 
 but another, unknown, untried, but which she clearly 
 saw. . . . 
 
 Nejddnof bent towards her. 
 
 " Oh, Maridnna ! " he whispered, " I am not worthy 
 of you!" 
 
 She suddenly started. 
 
 " It is time. I must be going," she said, " or they 
 will be seeking us directly. However, I think Valen- 
 tfna Mikhdilovna has given me up. In her eyes, I am 
 lost ! " 
 
 Maridnna uttered this word with such a bright, 
 joyous face that Nejddnof could not help smiling as 
 he looked at her and repeated, " Lost ! " 
 
 " Only she is very indignant," continued Maridnna, 
 " that you are not at her feet. But that is all stuff. 
 Let us come to the point. I cannot remain here. I 
 must fly." 
 
 " Fly } " repeated Nejddnof 
 
 " Yes, fly ; for you will not stop here, will you ? 
 We will go together. We must work together. You 
 will come with me, will you not ? " 
 
 " To the end of the world ! " exclaimed Nejddnof ; 
 and his voice unexpectedly failed him from excitement 
 and overwhelming gratitude. " To the end of the 
 world ! " and at that moment he would have gone 
 
i88 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xxil. 
 
 with her, without shrinking, to any place she 
 would ! 
 
 Marianna understood, and sighed tenderly and 
 happily. 
 
 " Then take my hand. Do not kiss it ; but grasp 
 it firmly, as that of a friend, of a comrade — so ! " 
 
 They walked home together, thoughtful but happy. 
 The young grass yielded to their feet ; the young 
 leaves rustled around ; the patches of light and shade 
 ran merrily over them ; and they both smiled at the 
 restless motion and at the brisk freshness of the 
 breeze ; at the brightness of the leaves, at their own 
 youth and at each other. 
 
CHAP, xxm.] A NOVEL. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The dawn had already appeared in the sky on the 
 morning after Goloiishkin's dinner when Sol6min, 
 after striding his four versts briskly, knocked at the 
 wicket of the high palisade which surrounded the 
 factory. The watchman let him in at once, and, 
 followed by three watch-dogs, wagging their bushy 
 tails with wide sweeps, escorted him to his room with 
 respectful attention. He was evidently pleased by the 
 safe return of his chief. 
 
 " Why did you come by night, Vasili Fed6titch ? 
 We only expected you to-morrow." 
 
 " It is all right, Gavrfla. It is pleasanter walking 
 by night." 
 
 The relations between Sol6min and the workmen 
 were excellent, though somewhat unusual. They re- 
 .spected him as a superior, but treated him as an equal 
 ■ — as one of themselves ; but in their eyes he was very 
 wise ! " What Vasfli Fed6titch has said is gospel truth ; 
 because he has gone through every kind of learning, 
 and would put every Englishman that ever was into 
 his pocket!" And, in fact, a great English manufacturer 
 did once visit the factory ; and whether it was because 
 Sol6min spoke to him in English, or because he really 
 was impressed with his knowledge, but at any rate he 
 
igo VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxiii. 
 
 kept patting him on the shoulder and laughing, and 
 inviting him to go back to Liverpool, saying to the 
 workmen, in broken Russian, " This fellow good ; aye, 
 very good ! " at which the workmen, in their turn, 
 laughed hugely, but not without pride. " See what 
 our friend is ! One of us ! " And he really was 
 theirs, and one of them. 
 
 Early the next morning there came into Sol6min's 
 room his favourite Pavel, who woke him, helped him 
 to dress, told him one thing, asked him another. Then 
 they drank tea hurriedly together ; and Solomin, put- 
 ting on his greasy grey working-coat, went off into the 
 factory, and his life began turning again like a great 
 fly-wheel. 
 
 But a new interruption was in store. Five days 
 after Solomin's return to his old ways, a handsome 
 phaeton, with four excellent horses, rolled into the 
 yard of the factory, and a footman in a pale-green 
 livery was shown by Pavel into the wing, and solemnly 
 handed to Sol6min a letter sealed with a crest, " from 
 His Excellency Bon's Andreitch Sipidgin." In this 
 letter, which smelt not of perfume — oh, no ! — but was 
 impregnated with some subtle and highly elegant 
 English scent, and which, though written in the 
 third person, was not in a secretary's handwriting, 
 but in that of the great man himself, the enlightened 
 proprietor of the village of Arjanoe excused himself 
 for addressing one personally unknown to him. He 
 said that he had heard most flattering reports of Mr. 
 Soldmin, and took the liberty of inviting him to his 
 village, where his advice might be of the greatest use 
 to him, Sipidgin, in a certain important commercial 
 undertaking. In the hope of Mr. Sol6min's kind 
 consent, he, Sipidgin, had sent his carriage. In the 
 event of Mr. Solomin being unable to leave on that 
 day, he, Sipiagin, begged Mr. Sol6min to be so good 
 as to appoint another whenever he chose, when he 
 
CHAP. xxiII.J A NOVEL. igi 
 
 would be glad to place the same carriage at Mr. Sol6- 
 min's disposal. After which came the usual formula ; 
 and at the end of the letter was a postscript in the 
 first person : " I hope that you will not refuse to dine 
 with me as you are, in a frock-coat." The words " as 
 you are " were underlined. Together with this letter^ 
 the pale-green footman, in some trepidation, as it 
 seemed, handed Sol6min another note, not even sealed,, 
 but gummed. It was from Nejddnof, and contained 
 these few words : " Please come. You are much 
 wanted here, and may be very useful — not, of course^ 
 to Mr. Sipi^in." 
 
 As he read Sipi^in's letter, Sol6min thought, — 
 " How could I go except as I am 1 I haven't a 
 dre.ss-coat in the place. And why the deuce should I 
 go and waste my time there .? " 
 
 But when he read Nejddnofs ncJte, he scratched the 
 back of his head and walked doubtfully to the window. 
 " What answer do you graciously please to give ? " 
 said the pale-green footman, primly. 
 
 Sol6min stood a moment longer at the window, and 
 at last, tossing back his hair, passed his hand over his 
 forehead, and said, — 
 
 " I will come ; give me time to dress first." 
 The footman went out in a dignified manner, and 
 Sol6min called Pivel, said a few words to him, and 
 ran once more into the factory. Then he put on a 
 black frock-coat, very long in the waist, cut by the 
 provincial tailor, and a rather rusty tall hat, which 
 gave his face a wooden appearance, and took his seat 
 in the phaeton, but suddenly remembered that he 
 had no gloves ; so he called the ever-present Pavel,, 
 who brought him a pair of newly washed white buck- 
 skins, each finger of which, flattened out at the end, 
 looked like a biscuit. Sol6min thrust these into his 
 pocket, and told them to start. Then the footman 
 sprang on to the box with a sudden and perfectly 
 
192 VIRGIN SOIL. [( 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 unnecessary display of energy ; the well-trained coach- 
 man whistled to his horses, and the carriage moved off. 
 
 While Solomin was rolling towards Sipidgin's house, 
 that statesman was sitting in his study with a half-cut 
 political pamphlet on his knees, and talking about 
 him to his wife. He confided to her that he had 
 really invited him in order to see whether it was not 
 possible to allure him away from the merchant's 
 factory to his own, which was doing extremely badly, 
 and needed a thorough reformation. * Sipidgin rejected 
 the idea that Solomin would not come or would name 
 another day, though he himself in his letter had given 
 him the option. 
 
 " But then ours is a paper-mill and his a cotton- 
 spinning factory," remarked Valenti'na Mikhailovna. 
 
 " It is all the same, my dear ; there are machines 
 here and machines there, and he is a mechanician." 
 ~~--^ " But perhaps he is a specialist ! " 
 
 " In the first place, my darling, there_.are_JiQ_g£e- 
 -cialistsJnJRussiaj secondly, I repeat, he is a mecEi>- 
 nician ! " 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna smiled. 
 
 " Take care, my dear ; you have been unlucky once 
 with young men ; you might make a second mis- 
 take ! " 
 
 " You mean about Nejdanof .' " But I think I found 
 what I wanted ; he is a good tutor for K61ia. Then 
 you know, non bis in idem ! Excuse my pedantry .... 
 That means that the same danger does not repeat 
 itself" 
 
 " Do you think so ? Now / think that everything 
 in the world repeats itself, especially that which is in 
 the nature of things, and especially that which con- 
 cerns young people." 
 
 " Que voulez-vous dire ? " asked Sipidgin, throwing 
 his pamphlet on to the table with an easy gesture. 
 
 " Ouvrez les yeux, et vous verrez ! " answered 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] A NOVEL. 193 
 
 Sipidgina, for of course in French they always said 
 voiis to one another. 
 
 " H'm ! " said Sipiagin. " You mean about the 
 student ? " 
 
 " About the student." 
 
 " H'm ! Has he got any absurd ideas hereabouts 1 " 
 (he tapped his forehead with his fingers). " Eh ? " 
 
 " Open your eyes ! " 
 
 " Maridnna, eh ? " The second " eh ? " was more 
 nasal than the first. 
 
 " Open your eyes, I tell you ! " 
 
 SipicLgin frowned. 
 
 "Well, we will see about all that by-and-by. I 
 wanted to say one thing to you now. This Solomin 
 will probably not be quite at his ease. Naturally 
 enough ; he is not used to society. So we must be 
 as gentle as possible with him, so as not to frighten 
 him. I don't say this for you, you are as good as 
 gold ; you can enchant any one you please in a 
 twinkling. J'en sais quelque chose, madame ! I 
 mean it for others — for him, for instance . . . ." 
 
 He pointed to a fashionable grey hat on a stand ; 
 it belonged to Kallom^itsef, who had been at Arjdnoe 
 since the morning. 
 
 " II est tres cassant, you know ; he despises the 
 people really too much — an attitude I most strongly 
 blame ! Besides which, I have lately remarked in him 
 a kind of pettishness, of vehemence. Are matters 
 there " (Sipidgin waved his head vaguely, but his wife 
 understood) " going on badly — eh ? " 
 
 " I again say, open your eyes ! " 
 
 Sipiagin rose. 
 
 " Eh .? " (this time the " eh > " was quite different 
 in tone and in meaning ; it was much deeper). " That 
 is it, is it .? In that case I might have to open my 
 eyes too wide ! " 
 
 " That is your business ; as for your young man, if 
 
 O 
 
194 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXlii. 
 
 he comes to-day, do not be alarmed ; every precau- 
 tion shall be taken." 
 
 But it turned out that no measures of precaution 
 were necessary. Sol6min was neither confused nor 
 frightened. When the servant announced him, 
 Sipidgin jumped up, and said in a loud tone, so that 
 he could be heard in the hall, " Show him in, of course, 
 show him in ! " then walked to the door, and stood 
 just before it. As soon as Sol6min crossed the 
 threshold, Sipiagin, over whom he had almost fallen, 
 stretched out both his hands, and with a pleasant 
 smile and bend of the head, exclaimed joyfully, 
 " How kind .... on your part .... how much obliged 
 I am ! " and led him up to Valenti'na Mikhdilovna. 
 
 " This is my wife," he said, laying his hand gently 
 on Solomin's back, and as it were moving him towards 
 her, "and this, my dear, is our great manager and 
 mechanician, Vasi'li .... Fedos^evitch Sol6min. 
 
 Sipiagina half got up, and raising her eyelashes with 
 a pretty gesture, first smiled kindly at him as an ac- 
 quaintance, then stretched out her hand with the 
 palm upwards, keeping her elbow close to her side, 
 and bending her head over her arm like a suppliant. 
 Sol6min let the husband and wife perform their little 
 tricks on him, shook their hands, and sat down as 
 soon as he was asked. Sipidgin inquired pressingly 
 if he would not take anything 1 But Solomin 
 answered that he would not, that his journey had not 
 ti;'ed him in the least, and that he was entirely at his 
 disposal. 
 
 " May I, then, ask you to come to the factory .? " 
 exclaimed Sipiagin, as if he were ashamed, and could 
 not venture to believe in such condescension on the 
 part of his guest. 
 
 " At once, if you like," answered Sol6min. 
 
 " How good you are ! Shall I order a carriage .' 
 or perhaps you would rather go on foot } " 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] A NOVEL. 19s 
 
 " But your factory is not far, is it ? " 
 
 "Half a verst, not more." 
 
 " Then why have a carriage ? " 
 
 " As you please. Give me a hat and stick, quick ! 
 And do you, my dear, give us a good dinner. My hat ! " 
 
 Sipiagin was much more excited than his guest. 
 He repeated, "Why don't they, bring my hat .'" and, 
 starting up, bounced out — he, the great statesman — 
 like a frolicsome schoolboy. 
 
 While he and Solomin were talking, Valenti'na 
 Mikhdilovna was looking furtively, but attentively, at 
 this young man of the new generation. He sat 
 quietly in his arm-chair, with his gloveless hands on 
 his knees (he had not put on his gloves after all), and 
 looked calmly, but with a little curiosity, at the furni- 
 ture and pictures. 
 
 " What does it all mean t " she thought. " He is 
 \a plebeian, evidently a plebeian, and yet how simply he 
 behaves ! " 
 
 Sol6min really did behave very simply ; not like 
 some men, with an affectation of simplicity, as much 
 as to say, " Look at me, and see what a man I am ! " 
 but like one whose feelings and ideas are intelligent 
 though not complicated. Sipidgina wished to talk to 
 him, but, to her astonishment, did not at once find 
 anything to say. 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " she thought, " can it be that I 
 am afraid of this workman } " 
 
 " Bon's Andr^itch should be very much obliged to 
 you," she at length said, " for consenting to sacrifice a 
 part of your valuable time to him." 
 
 " It is not very valuable, madam," answered 
 Sol6min, " and I shall not stay here very long." 
 
 " Voila ou I'ours a montr6 sa patte," she thought in 
 French ; but at that moment her husband appeared at 
 the open door with his hat on and a stick in his hand. 
 Turning half round, he exclaimed jauntily, — 
 
196 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxiii. 
 
 " Vasi'li Fedos^itch, I am at your service." 
 
 Sol6min rose, bowed to Valenti'na Mikhdilovna, and 
 followed Sipidgin. 
 
 " This way, this way, Vasi'li Fedos^itch ! " repeated 
 Sipiagin, as if they were walking over broken ground 
 and Sol6min needed a guide. " This way ; mind the 
 steps, Vasi'li Fedos^itch." 
 
 " As you are good enough to call me by my 
 patronymic," said Solomin, slowly, " my name is 
 Fedotitch, not Fedos^itch." 
 
 Sipidgin looked back over his shoulder almost as if 
 he were frightened. 
 
 " Oh ! please excuse me, Vas/li Fed6titch." 
 
 " It is of no importance." 
 
 They reached the courtyard, where they met Kallo- 
 m6itsef 
 
 " Where are you going .' " he asked, looking askant 
 at Sol6min ; "to the factory.? C'est la I'individu en 
 question } " 
 
 Sipidgin opened his eyes wide, and shook his head 
 slightly, as a sign to him to be careful. 
 
 " Yes, to the factory .... to show my sins and 
 shortcomings to this gentleman. Let me introduce 
 you : Mr. Kallomditsef, a neighbouring landowner, 
 Mr. Solomin " 
 
 Kallomditsef nodded twice almost imperceptibly, 
 not towards Sol6min, and without looking at him. 
 Sol6min, on the other hand, looked hard at him, and 
 a flash passed through his half-closed eyes. 
 
 " May I join you ? " asked Kallom^itsef ; " you 
 know I like to be instructed." 
 
 " Of course you may." 
 
 They quitted the court-yard for the road, and before 
 they had gone twenty yards they saw the parish 
 priest, with his robe tucked up, striding off to the so- 
 called " priests' quarters." Kallom^itsef at once left 
 his companions and walked with long, firm strides up 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] A NOVEL. 197 
 
 to the priest, who did not in the least expect it and 
 was rather timid, asked his blessing, and kissed his 
 red, moist hand noisily ; then, turning to Solomin, 
 threw a defiant glance at him. He had evidently- 
 heard something of him, and wanted to show himself 
 off, and " give this scientific adventurer a slap ! " 
 
 " C'est une manifestation, mon cher ? " muttered 
 Sipidgin through his teeth. 
 
 Kallom^itsef snorted, " Oui, mon cher, une manifes- 
 tation necessaire par le temps qui court ! " 
 
 On their arrival at the factory they were met by a 
 Little Russian, with an enormous beard and false teeth, 
 who had replaced the former manager, a German, 
 whom Sipiagin had finally dismissed. This Little 
 Russian was only there for the time ; it was evident 
 that he knew nothing. He only gave vent to brief 
 ejaculations in his native dialect and perpetual sighs. 
 They began to inspect the factory. Several of the 
 workmen knew Sol6min by sight, and bowed to him. 
 To one he said, " Ah, Grig6ri 1 good morning, are you 
 here .'' " He was soon convinced that the manage- 
 ment was bad. A great deal of money had been 
 ! spent, and spent recklessly. The machinery was bad 
 in quality ; there was a great deal that was superfluous 
 and unnecessary, and much that was really necessary 
 was wanting. Sipidgin occasionally glanced at 
 j Sol6min's eyes, as if to guess his opinions, and put 
 ' timid questions, asking whether he was at least satis- 
 \_ fied with the order. 
 V " It is orderly enough," answered Sol6min ; " but is 
 there any profit } I doubt it." 
 
 Not only Sipidgin, but Kallom^itsef himself, felt that 
 
 Sol6min was at home in the factory ; that everything 
 
 was familiar and known to him to the smallest detail ; 
 
 ithat here he was master. He laid his hand on a 
 
 \machine, as a rider would on his horse's neck ; he 
 
 touched a wheel, and it stopped, or began to turn ; he 
 
198 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXIII. 
 
 took out of a vat a little of the paste of which paper 
 is made, and it at once showed all its faults. Soldmin 
 said little, and did not even look at the bearded Little 
 Russian, and he walked out of the factory in silence. 
 Sipiigin and Kallom^itsef followed him. 
 
 Sipidgin ordered that no one should accompany 
 him. He even stamped and ground his teeth : he was 
 evidently very much put out. 
 
 " I can see by your face," he turned to Sol6min, 
 " that you are not satisfied with my factory, and I am 
 quite aware that it is in an unsatisfactory condition 
 and unprofitable ; but please tell me exactly, and 
 without being afraid of hurting my feelings, what are 
 its chief defects "i And what ought I to do to im- 
 prove it .'' " 
 
 " The manufacture of paper is not in my line," 
 answered Sol6min, "but one thing I can tell 
 you : productive industries are not suited to the 
 nobility." 
 
 "You think these pursuits lowering to the nobi- 
 lity .' " broke in Kallomditsef 
 
 Solomin smiled his usual broad smile. 
 
 " Oh, no ! not in the least ! What is there lowering 
 in them .' And if there were, the nobility would not 
 mind." 
 
 " How } What do you mean, sir ? " 
 
 " I only mean," continued Sol6min, calmly, " that 
 nobles are not used to that sort of business. Here you 
 need the commercial spirit ; everything has to be 
 ^managed differently ; economy is necessary. The 
 nobles do not understand that. So you see all over 
 the place they have established cloth factories and 
 paper-mills, and so on ; and into whose hands do they 
 fall in the end } Into those of the merchants. It 
 is a pity, for the merchant is simply a leech, but it 
 cannot be helped." 
 
 "To listen to you," shouted Kallomeitsef, "one 
 
CHAP. XXm,] A NOVEL. 199 
 
 would think that the nobles are incapable of under- 
 standing any financial question ! " 
 
 " Oh, on the contrary, they are first-rate in them. 
 To obtain a concession for a railway, to start a bank, 
 to intrigue for some monopoly, or anything of the 
 sort, there is no one like a noble ! They make large 
 fortunes in that way. It was that I was hinting at 
 
 ?Vhen you were pleased to be angry. But I was 
 hinking of genuine commercial undertakings ; I say 
 .genuine because such operations as establishing their 
 ojwn taverns, or those little shops which do business 
 ) by barter, or lending peasants corn and money at a 
 I hundred and a hundred and fifty per cent., as many 
 noble proprietors do now, I cannot count as genuine 
 financial business." 
 
 Kallom^itsef made no answer. He himself be- 
 longed to that very class of pawnbroking landowners 
 whom Markdlof had mentioned In his last conversa- 
 tion with Nejddnof, and he was all the more inhumane 
 in his demands because he had no personal dealings 
 with the peasants — could he be expected to admit 
 them into his sweet-smelling study furnished in Euro- 
 pean style ! — but communicated with them through a 
 clerk. As he listened to Sol6min's slow and almost 
 indifferent speech, he felt his bile rising ; but he 
 managed to remain silent this time, and it was only 
 the play of the muscles of his cheeks as his jaws 
 tightened which showed what a struggle was going on 
 within. 
 
 " But excuse me, excuse me, Vasfli Fed6titch," said 
 Sipiigin, "all the opinions that you are expressing 
 were perfectly just in former times, when the nobles 
 enjoyed quite different rights and were generally in a 
 different position. But now, after all these beneficial 
 reforms, in this industrial age, why should not the 
 nobility direct their attention, their abilities in 
 short, to such undertakings.' Why should they be 
 
200 ^VIR(An soil. [chap. XXIII, 
 
 unable to master that which a simple merchant, often 
 totally uneducated, can master ? They do not suffer 
 from the want of education, and one may even affir/n 
 with confidence that they are to a certain extent the 
 representatives of enlightenment and progress ! " 
 
 Boris Andr^itch spoke very well ; his eloquence 
 would have produced a great effect in Petersburg*, in 
 his department, or even higher, but on Sol6min it,did 
 not have the smallest effect. 
 
 "The nobles cannot manage such matters," he 
 repeated. 
 
 " But why .' why > " almost shrieked Kallom^itsef. 
 
 " Why ! Because after all they are nothing but 
 -officials ! " 
 
 " Officials ! " Kallom^itsef laughed satirically. "You 
 probably do not quite realize, Mr. Sol6min, what you 
 are talking about .' " 
 
 Sol6min continued to smile. "What makes you 
 think so, Mr. Kolom^ntsof .' " (Kallom^itsef positively 
 shuddered on hearing such a mutilation of his 
 name). " You are wrong. I always realize what I am 
 saying." 
 
 " Then explain what you meant by that phrase ! " 
 
 " I meant this : according to me, e^z ery offic ialis 
 ,-an— ali£n.__ and always was, and now the nobI e~^Eas 
 _hecQine_analien. ' 
 
 Kailom?itsefianghed more than ever. 
 
 " Excuse me, my dear sir, but I do not understand 
 you in the least ! " 
 
 " So much the worse for you. Exert yourself, and 
 perhaps you will succeed." 
 
 " Sir ! " 
 
 " Gentlemen, gentlemen," said Sipiigin, hurriedly, 
 as if seeking sortie heavenly intervention with his 
 eyes, "please be quiet. . . . Kallomditzeff, je vous prie 
 de vous calmer. And dinner, I suppose, will soon be 
 ready. Pray follow me, gentlemen ! " 
 
CHAP. XXm.] A NOVEL. 201 
 
 " Valenti'na Mikhdilovna ! " exclaimed Kallomditsef, 
 rushing into her study five minutes after. " Your 
 husband is really committing unpardonable absur- 
 dities. You have already one Nihilist in the house ; 
 now he has found another ! And this one is worse ! " 
 
 " How so .? " 
 
 "Why, he promulgates the devil knows what 
 doctrines ; and please take note of this : he talked a 
 whole hour with your husband, and not once, not once 
 did he call him ' Your Excellency ! ' Le vagabond ! " 
 
202 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXIV. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Before dinner Sipidgin called his wife aside into the 
 library. He wanted to speak to her in private. He 
 seemed perturbed, and told her that the factory was 
 undoubtedly doing badly, and that Sol6min gave him 
 the impression of being an intelligent man, though a 
 little abrupt, and that they ought to continue to be aux 
 petits soins with him. 
 
 " What a thing it would be to have him ! " he 
 repeated twice. 
 
 Kallom^itsef's presence annoyed him greatly. 
 
 " Deuce take him ! Sees Nihilists everywhere, and 
 f^ill not rest till he has exterminated them ! He 
 might stay at home and exterminate them ! Can't 
 ) keep a civil tongue in his head ! " 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna remarked that she would be 
 delighted to be aux petits soins with the stranger ; but 
 she thought that he did not care for these same petits 
 soins, and paid no attention to them ; not that he was 
 rude, but curiously indifferent, which was very remark- 
 able in a man du commun. 
 
 " All the same, do your best," begged Sipiigin. 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna promised to do her best — 
 and did it. She began by having an interview — en 
 t^te-a-t^te — with Kallomditsef. What she said to him 
 is not known, but he appeared at table with the air of 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] A NOVEL. 203 
 
 a man who has taken a pledge to be peaceful and 
 quiet whatever he may hear. This timely resignation 
 threw over his whole person a shade of gentle sorrow ; 
 but what dignity — oh, what dignity — there was in 
 every movement ! Valentina Mikhailovna introduced 
 Sol6min to all the inmates of the house (he looked at 
 Maridnna more attentively than at the others), and at 
 table made him sit at her right hand. Kallomeitsef 
 sat on her left. As he spread out his napkin he 
 smiled and shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say, 
 " Now for our little farce ! " Sipidgin, who was sitting 
 opposite, looked at him somewhat uneasily. By this 
 new arrangement Nejdanof found himself no longer 
 next Maridnna, but between Anna Zakharovna and 
 Sipidgin. Maridnna found her name (as the dinner 
 was a formal one) on a napkin between the places of 
 Kallomeitsef and K61ia. The dinner was admirably 
 put on table ; there was even a menu — a neatly 
 engraved card lay before each plate. Directly after 
 the soup, Sipidgin again turned the conversation on 
 to his factory, and on Russian manufactures gene- 
 rally. Sol6min, as his way was, answered very briefly. 
 As soon as he spoke Maridnna turned her eyes on to 
 him. Kallomeitsef, who sat next her, addressed her 
 various compliments, as he had been asked not to 
 excite a polemical discussion, but she did not listen to 
 him ; and in truth he uttered his compliments in an 
 indifferent manner, as if merely to satisfy his con- 
 science ; he felt that between that young girl and 
 himself there was an impassable barrier. 
 
 As to Nejddnof, his relations with the host had 
 suddenly become even worse than before. Sipidgin 
 seemed to look upon him as a piece of furniture, or 
 an airy space, which he simply and absolutely ignored. 
 This new attitude became defined so rapidly and 
 unmistakably that when during dinner Nejddnof 
 happened to say a few words in answer to a remark 
 
204 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 of his neighbour, Anna Zakhdrovna, Sipiigin looked 
 round with astonishment, as if asking himself "Whence 
 proceeds this sound ? " 
 
 It was evident that Sipiagin possessed some of the 
 Equalities which distinguish people of high rank in 
 Russia. 
 
 After the fish, Valenti'na Mikhdilovna, who on her 
 side was expending all her charms and allurements 
 on her right-hand neighbour, Solomin, remarked in 
 English across the table to Sipiagin, " Our guest does 
 not drink wine, perhaps he would like beer." Sipiagin 
 called loudly for ale, while Solomin, turning quietly 
 to Valenti'na Mikhailovna, said, " I suppose, madam, 
 you are not aware that I spent upwards of two years 
 in England, and know and understand English ; and 
 this I tell you in case you may wish to say anything 
 private in my presence." Valentfna Mikhailovna 
 laughed, and began to assure him that his warning 
 was unnecessary, as he would hear nothing but what 
 was favourable of himself; she thought Sol6min's act 
 a little strange, but in its way delicate. 
 
 Kallomeitsef at last could not restrain himself. 
 
 " Now, you have been in England," he said, " and 
 have probably studied the customs of that country. 
 Let me ask you, do you think them worthy of imita- 
 tion or not .' " 
 
 " In some ways, yes ; in others, the reverse." 
 
 " Short, and by no means clear," remarked Kallo- 
 meitsef, wilfully ignoring the signs which Sipiagin 
 was making to him. "You were talking about the 
 nobility to-day. Of course you had an opportunity 
 of studying on the spot what is called in EnglajuL. 
 ' landed gentry' > " 7 
 
 .-''-NcstT Jia3 no such opportunity ; I lived among 
 quite a different class, but I formed some idea of that 
 class of gentlemen." 
 — " Well, do you think that such ^ ' landed gentry ' is 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] A NOVEL. 205 
 
 impossible here ? Or anyhow that it would not be 
 desirable ? " 
 
 " Firstly, I do think it would be impossible, and in 
 the second place it is not worth wishing for." 
 
 " And why not, my dear sir ? " said Kallomditsef. 
 This " my dear sir " was meant to have a calming 
 effect on Sipiagin, who was very uneasy, and was 
 beginning to wriggle on his chair. 
 
 " Because in twenty or thirty years your ' landed 
 gentry' in any case would have ceased to exist." 
 
 " But excuse me, sir, why so } " 
 
 " Because by then the land will belong to proprietors 
 - without any distinction of birth." 
 
 " To merchants, sir .' " 
 
 " Probably largely to merchants." 
 
 "How so.?" 
 
 " Simply because they will buy the land." 
 
 "From the nobility.?" 
 I " From the nobility." 
 
 Kallom^itsef smiled condescendingly. " I remember 
 you said the same thing about works and factories. 
 And now you include the whole land." 
 
 " Now I include the whole land." 
 
 " And you will probably be greatly pleased at the 
 result." 
 
 " Not in the least, as I have already told you. The 
 'people will suffer none the less." 
 
 Kallom^itsef raised one hand a little. " What re- 
 markable sympathy for the people, when one comes 
 to think of it ! " 
 
 " Vasfli Fed<5titch ! " called Sipidgin, at the top of 
 his voice. "They have brought the beer. Voyons, 
 Simeon," he added in a lower tone. 
 
 But Kallom^itsef was not to be stopped. 
 
 " I see," he continued, turning to Sol6min, " your 
 opinion of the merchants is not a very high one ; but 
 do they not belong by birth to the people .? " 
 
206 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. xxiv. 
 
 " And what if they do ? " 
 , " I had imagined that you considered everything 
 connected with the people admirable." 
 
 " Oh, no ! You were quite mistaken. Our lower 
 
 \ classes have many faults, though they are not always 
 
 to blame for them. The merchant up to the present 
 
 time is a beast of prey, and grasps even his own 
 
 . wealth like a beast of prey. What is to be done .' 
 
 You are robbed — and you rob. As for the people . . . ." 
 
 " Well, the people ? " asked Kallom^itsef shrilly. 
 
 " The people — is a dormouse." 
 
 r And you would wish to wake it .-' " 
 
 " It would not be a bad thing." 
 
 " Oh, that is what . . . ." 
 
 " Allow me," said Sipiagin, majestically. 
 
 He understood that the moment had arrived when 
 it was necessary to put a limit to this, to stop it. And 
 this limit he put. He stopped them. He placed his 
 right elbow on the table, and waving his hand, com- 
 menced a long and comprehensive speech. On the 
 one hand he praised the conservatives, on the other the 
 liberals, giving the latter slightly the preference, and 
 proclaiming his adhesion to their ranks ; he exalted 
 the people, but pointed out some of its weak points ; 
 
 expressed his full confidence in the Government, but 
 
 asked himself whether all those who were in authority 
 under it fulfilled the noble task which it sketched out 
 for them } He acknowledged the value and import- 
 ance of literature, but said that without the greatest 
 care it was impossible ! He glanced at the West 
 with joy mingled with doubt ; he glanced at the East 
 with satisfaction mingled with enthusiasm ! He 
 ended by proposing a toast in honour of the triple 
 alliance, ' Religion, agriculture, and commerce ! ' " 
 
 "Under the ffigis of the Government," added 
 Kallomeitsef, severely. 
 
 " Under the aegis of a wise and benevolent Govern- 
 ment," corrected Sipiagin. 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] A NOVEL. 207 
 
 The toast was drunk in silence. The airy space on 
 Sipidgin's left called Nejddnof emitted, it is true, a 
 sound of disapprobation ; but as it attracted no atten- 
 tion, it again subsided, and the dinner came to a satis- 
 factory end, undisturbed by any further discussions. 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna gave Solomin a cup of 
 coffee with her most charming smile ; he drank it, 
 and began to look round uneasily for his hat, but 
 found himself gently taken by the arm and led off to 
 Sipidgin's study. There he received, first, an admir- 
 able cigar, secondly, a proposition to come to Sipid- 
 gin's factory on the most favourable terms. 
 
 " You will be entire master, Vasi'li Fed6titch, entire 
 master ! " 
 
 Sol6min took the cigar and refused the propo- 
 sition ; and he maintained his refusal in spite of all 
 Sipidgin's entreaties. 
 
 " Do not say ' No ' at once, my dear sir ! Give 
 yourself till to-morrow at least to think it over ! " 
 
 " But it will be all the same. I cannot accept your 
 proposition." 
 
 " Till to-morrow, Vasili Fed6titch. It makes no 
 difference to you." 
 
 Sol6min agreed that it made no difference to him, 
 but nevertheless left the study, and again began look- 
 ing for his hat. But Nejddnof, who up to that time 
 had not found an opportunity of exchanging a single 
 word with him, came up and whispered hurriedly, — 
 
 " For Heaven's sake do not go away, or we shall not 
 be able to speak to each other ! " 
 
 So Sol6min left his hat alone. For besides this 
 Sipidgin, noticing his hesitating movements up and 
 down the drawing-room, exclaimed, — 
 
 " Of course you sleep here .? " 
 
 " As you wish," answered Sol6min. 
 
 The grateful look which Marianna, who was stand- 
 ing at the window, gave him made him thoughtful. 
 
208 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xxv. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Before seeing Sol6min Marianna had drawn quite a 
 different picture of him in her mind. At the first 
 glance he appeared to her an undefined being, wanting 
 in individuality. She had seen so many of these fair- 
 haired, sinewy-handed, rawboned men in her life. But 
 the more she looked at him, the more she listened to 
 his words, the stronger grew within her a feeling of 
 confidence — of real confidence. This tranquil man, 
 hea\y rather than clumsy, was incapable of lying or 
 boasting ; more than that, one could lean on him as 
 against a stone wall. He would not betray you ; 
 
 ^nay, far more, he would sympathize and support. 
 Maridnna also thought that not she alone, but all who 
 were present, had the same feeling with regard to 
 Solomin. She paid no particular attention to what 
 he said ; all the talk about merchants and factories 
 was of little interest to her, but the way he spoke, the 
 way he looked and smiled when speaking, pleased her 
 greatly. 
 
 ( He was a truthful man ! That was the main point ; 
 
 ! that was what touched her. It is a well-known, if not 
 
 V quite intelligible, fact ; Russians lie more than any 
 
 nation^n the world ; but there-is-nothtng-thg y esteem 
 
 ! so much as~tfuth, nothing for which they fiav5~S"ncir- 
 
 r"5ympaffiy. Besides which in Marianna's eyes Solomin 
 
CHAP. XXV.]/ A NOVEL. 309 
 
 had an especial interest ; on his head rested the halo 
 of glory of being one of those whom Vasfli Niko- 
 Mevitch himself recommended to his followers. 
 
 During dinner Maridnna several times glanced at 
 Nejdanof with reference to something Sol6min had 
 said, and finally caught herself making an involuntary 
 omparison between the two, and not in Nejddnof's 
 favour. It is true that Nejdanof 's features were much 
 handsomer and pleasanter than Sol6min's, but his face 
 expressed a mixture of various uneasy feelings — an- 
 noyance, confusion, impatience, even unhappiness. 
 He sat as if on needles, sometimes commenced speak- 
 ing, and broke off again at once with a nervous laugh. 
 Whereas Soldmin gave the impression of being per- 
 fectly at home, though he might find it a little dull, 
 and that what he felt did not in the least depend on 
 what others felt. 
 
 " I must really ask that man his advice," thought 
 Maridnna ; " he is sure to say something useful." 
 
 It was she who sent Nejdinof to him after dinner. 
 
 The evening passed monotonously enough. Luckily 
 dinner had finished late, and there was not long to 
 wait before night. Kallom^itsef was sulking in polite 
 silence. 
 
 " What is the matter .■' " asked Sipidgina, half in joke. 
 " Have you lost anything .'' " 
 
 " That is exactly it," said Kallom^itsef " It is said 
 that a general in the Guard complained that his 
 soldiers had lost the cap of their shoes. * Find me 
 my cap,' he said. So I say, ' Find me my " s, i, r.' " 
 The " s, i, r " ' has gone, and with it all respect and 
 discipline." 
 
 Sipidgina informed Kallom6itsef that she should 
 not help him in his searches. 
 
 Encouraged by the success of his speech at dinner, 
 Sipidgin made two more, in which he propounded 
 various statesmanlike theories on certain necessary 
 
 P 
 
210 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXV. 
 
 measures. He also let drop a few epigrams — des 
 
 mots — not brilliant so much as weighty, which he had 
 
 prepared especially for Petersburg, One of these 
 
 ' epigrams he even repeated, prefacing it with the words, 
 
 " If I may thus express myself" He had said of one 
 
 of the ministers of the day that his mind was weak 
 
 and fickle, and sought after chimerical objects. On 
 
 ^ the other hand Sipidgin, remembering that he had to 
 
 \ do with a Russian, one of the people, did not omit to 
 
 \ drag in certain expressions which were meant to show 
 
 / that he himself was a pure-bred Russian — not merely 
 
 \ a Russian citizen — and that he was deeply acquainted 
 
 With the inmost life of the people. Thus, on Kallo- 
 
 m^itsef remarking that the rain might interfere with 
 
 the hay crop, he answered, " If the hay is black, the 
 
 buckwheat will be white." He also brought in such 
 
 phrases as " Merchandise, without the merchant, is an 
 
 orphan " ; " Measure thrice, cut once " ; " If you have 
 
 corn, you will find a bushel to put it in " ; " If on St. 
 
 George's Day the birch-leaf is the size of a farthing, 
 
 on the feast of Our Lady of Kazan, you will have 
 
 corn in the barn." Sometimes, indeed, he would become 
 
 confused, and let slip such expressions as theses— 
 
 " Eveiy curlew to its own pole," or " It is the corners 
 
 which make a cottage bright." But the society in 
 
 which these misfortunes happened seldom suspected 
 
 that their good friend, the pure-bred Russian, had 
 
 made a slip, and, thanks to Prince Kovrijkin, it was 
 
 used to such enormities in Russian. 
 
 All these proverbs and sayings Sipidgin uttered in 
 a peculiarly hearty, nay even hoarse voice, d'v.ne voix 
 rustigue. Such sayings, when produced at the right 
 time and place in Petersburg, caused important and 
 influential ladies to exclaim, — 
 
 " Comme il connait bien les mceurs de notre 
 peuple ! " and important and influential dignitaries 
 added, " Les. mceurs et les besoins ! " 
 
CHAP. XXV.] A NOVEL. 211 
 
 Valentfna Mikhailovna was most attentive to Sol6- 
 min, but the evident insuccess of her efforts dis- 
 couraged her, and once, passing near Kallom^itsef, 
 she involuntarily exclaimed, in a low tone, — 
 
 " Mon Dieu, que je me sens fatigude ! " 
 
 Whereon Kallomditsef responded, with an ironical 
 bow, — 
 
 " Tu I'as voulu, Georges Dandin ! " 
 
 At last, after the usual outburst of compliments and 
 pretty speeches which takes place at the breaking-up 
 of a party which has been very dull, — after the hand- 
 shakings, the smiles, the friendly ejaculations, — the 
 worn-out hosts separated from their equally worn-out 
 guests. 
 
 Sol6min, who had been put into perhaps the best 
 room on the first floor, with an English washing-stand 
 and a bath-room, went off to find Nejdinof 
 
 The latter began by thanking him warmly for con- 
 senting to stay. 
 
 " I know," he said, " that you are making a sacri- 
 fice." . . . 
 
 " How so } " said Solomin, quietly. " It is no sacri- 
 fice. And in any case I could not refuse you." 
 
 "Why not.?" 
 
 " Because I have taken a great fancy to you." 
 
 Nejdinof was both astonished and pleased, and 
 Sol6min shook his hand cordially. Then he sat down 
 across a chair, lighted a cigar, and, resting both his 
 elbows on the back of the chair, said, — 
 
 " Now tell me what is the matter." 
 
 Nejddnof also sat down across a chair in front of 
 Solomin, but did not light a cigar. 
 
 " You ask what the matter is ; the matter is that I 
 want to fly from here." 
 
 "You mean that you want to leave this house. 
 Well, why not?" 
 
 " Not to leave it, but to fly from it." 
 
212 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXV. 
 
 " But can they prevent you ? Perhaps you have 
 taken money in advance ? In that case you have only 
 a word to say. ... I shall be delighted. . . ." 
 
 " You do not understand me, my dear Sol6min. I 
 said ' to fly from,' and not ' to leave,' because I shall 
 not quit the house — alone." 
 
 Solomin raised his head. 
 
 " With whom, then .? " 
 
 " With that girl whom you saw to-day." 
 
 " With her } She has a good face. Do you love 
 one another, or have you only determined to leave the 
 house together because you are neither of you 
 happy } " 
 
 " We love one another." 
 
 " Ah ! " Solomin paused. " She is a relation of 
 the people here ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but she fully shares our opinions, and is 
 ready for anything." 
 
 Sol6min smiled. 
 
 "And are you ready, Nejddnof .?" 
 
 Nejddnof frowned slightly. 
 
 " Why do you ask .■' I will show you, when the time 
 comes, that I am ready." 
 
 " I do not doubt you, Nejdanof I only asked 
 because I fancy no one is ready but you." 
 
 "AndMark^lof.?" 
 
 "Yes, perhaps Markelof; but he, I should think, 
 was born ready." 
 
 At this moment some one knocked lightly and 
 hurriedly at the door, and opened it without awaiting 
 an answer. It was Mariinna. She went straight up 
 to Sol6min. 
 
 " I am certain," she began, " that you will not be 
 astonished at seeing me here at this hour. He" 
 (Maridnna pointed at Nejddnof) " will of course have 
 told you everything. Give me your hand, and let me 
 tell you that before you stands an honest girl." 
 
\ 
 
 CHAP. XXV.] A NOVEL. 213 
 
 " I am sure of it," said Solomin, gravely. He had 
 risen from his chair on Marianna's entrance. "At 
 dinner-time I was looking at you, and thinking, ' What 
 honest eyes that young lady has ! ' Nejdanof has told 
 me of your intention ; but what is your actual reason 
 for flying ? " 
 
 " What ? The work with which I sympathize — do not 
 be astonished, Nejdanof has concealed nothing from 
 me — that work will soon be beginning ; and am I to 
 remain in the house of a landowner, where all is lies 
 and deceit ? Those whom I love will be in danger, and 
 I . . . ." 
 
 Solomin stopped her by a motion of his hand. 
 
 " Do not excite yourself. Sit down, and Nejddnof 
 and I will do the same. Listen : if you have no other 
 reason than that, you need not fly from here. The 
 work will not begin so soon as you imagine. ' Some 
 prudence is necessary. You must not rush forward 
 headlong, believe me." 
 
 Mariinna sat down and flung round her a large 
 plaid which she had on her shoulders. 
 
 " But I cannot stay here any longer! Every one here 
 insults me. To-day again, before K61ia, that stupid 
 Anna Zakhdrovna said, hinting at my father, that the 
 apple never falls far from the parent tree ! K61ia was 
 astonished, and asked what she meant .-' As for 
 Valentfna Mikhdilovna, I do not mention her ! " 
 
 Sol6min stopped her again, and this time with a 
 smile. Marianna understood that he was laughing 
 at her a little, but his smile could never offend any one. 
 
 " Well, my dear young lady ! I do not know who 
 your Anna Zakhdrovna may be, or of what apple-tree 
 you are speaking, but, really, a stupid woman says a 
 stupid word, and you cannot bear that ? How do 
 you mean to live ? For the whole world is made up 
 V of stupid people ! No, that is not a reason. Is there 
 anything else ? " 
 
214 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXV. 
 
 " I am certain," broke in Nejddnof in a hollow 
 voice, "that from one moment to another Sipidgin 
 may dismiss me. Something must have been reported 
 to him. He treats me in the most contemptuous 
 manner." 
 
 Sol6min turned to Nejddnof. " Then why run away, 
 if they mean to dismiss you .' " 
 
 Nejdanof did not at the moment know what to 
 answer. 
 
 " I have already told you . ..." he began. 
 
 " He used that word," broke in Maridnna, " because 
 I am going with him." 
 
 Solomin looked at her and shook his head good- 
 naturedly. 
 
 " Just so, my dear young lady ; but I repeat, if you 
 are really thinking of leaving this house because 
 '■you imagine the revolution is going to break out 
 directly " 
 
 " That is the very reason we wrote to you to come," 
 mterrupted Marianna, " to know for certain in what 
 position matters stand." 
 
 " In that case," continued Solomin, " I say again 
 you may sit at home for some time yet. But if you 
 \ want to fly because you love one another, and cannot 
 be united otherwise .... why then . . . . " 
 
 "Well, what then.?" 
 
 " Then it only remains for me to wish you, as in 
 the days of old, love and counsel, and if need be, and 
 it is in my power, to give you actual help. Because I 
 have liked you, my dear lady — and him too — from the 
 first glance, as if we had been akin." 
 
 Maridnna and Nejddnof went up to him, one on 
 each side, and took each a hand. 
 
 " Only tell us what to do," said Maridnna. " Ad- 
 mitting that the revolution is yet far off, still there is 
 \ the preparatory work, the labour which in this house, 
 in our situation, is impossible ; we are so eager to 
 
CHAP. XXV.] A NOVEL. 215 
 
 assist, if you will show us the way. You only tell us 
 where to go ... . Send us out ! You will send us out, 
 will you not .? " 
 'c "Whither.?" 
 ^ " Among the people ! where else } " 
 
 " Into the forest," thought Nejdanof, remembering 
 one of Pdklin's phrases. 
 
 Sol6min looked intently at Maridnna. 
 
 " You want to study the people .-" " 
 
 " Yes ; that is, not only to study the people, but to 
 act, to work for them." 
 
 " Good ; you shall study them, I promise you. I 
 will give you the opportunity of acting, of working for 
 them. And you, Nejdanof, are you ready to go — 
 with her — and for them ? " 
 
 "Of course, I am ready," he answered quickly. 
 He remembered another expression of Piklin. " ' Jag- 
 gernaut ! ' Here it comes, the mighty chariot," he 
 thought, " and I hear the crash and the roll of its 
 wheels." 
 
 "Good," repeated Sol6min, thoughtfully. "And 
 when do you mean to fly .■' " 
 
 " To-morrow, if you like," exclaimed Marianna. 
 
 "Very well, but whither .? " 
 
 " Hush .... lower ... . " whispered Nejddnof. 
 " There is some one walking about the passage." 
 
 There was a silence. " Where do you mean to go ?" 
 again asked Sol6min, lowering his voice. 
 
 " We do not know," answered Maridnna. 
 
 Sol6min turned his eyes to Nejddnof, but the latter 
 only shook his head negatively. 
 
 Sol6min stretched out his hand and snuffed the 
 candle cautiously. 
 
 " Listen, my children," he said, after a pause. " Come 
 to me at the factory. It is not pretty there, but it is 
 safe. I will hide you. I have a room where no one 
 will find you. If you can reach it we will not give 
 
2i6 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXV. 
 
 you up. You may say there are a great many people 
 there. In that lies its advantage ; for where there 
 are many people it is easy to hide. What say you .' " 
 "We can but thank you," said Nejddnof, while 
 Marianna, whom the idea of the factory had at first 
 rather alarmed, added warmly, " Of course, of course [ 
 How kind you are ! But you will not let us stay there 
 long.' You will send us out .' " 
 
 " That depends on yourselves. And in case you 
 wanted to be married, the factory is convenient for 
 that too. I have a neighbour close by, a cousin of 
 mine, a priest, by name Z6sima, a most obliging man. 
 He will marry you in a twinkling." 
 
 Maridnna smiled to herself ; Nejdanof again grasped 
 Sol6min's hand, and after a moment added, — 
 
 " And your master, by the way, the proprietor of 
 the factory, will he not be angry .' Might he not 
 give you some trouble .' " 
 
 Solomin glanced sideways at Nejdanof 
 " Do not be uneasy about me. There is not the 
 least fear. If only the factory goes on all right, he is 
 absolutely indifferent to all the rest. And you need 
 not be afraid of the workmen. Only let me know 
 when to expect you." 
 
 Nejdanof and Maridnna interchanged looks. 
 " The day after to-morrow, early in the morning, 
 <3r a day later," said Nejdinof, after a moment. "We 
 cannot delay any longer. At any moment they may 
 dismiss me from the house." 
 
 " Very well," said Soldmin, rising from his chair; 
 " I will expect you every morning. And I will not 
 leave the place for a week. Every necessary pre- 
 caution shall be taken." 
 
 Marianna, who had turned toward the door, came 
 ■ back to him. 
 
 " Good-bye, my dear, good friend Vasili Fed6titch, 
 Is not that your name } " 
 
CHAP. XXV.] A NOVEL. 217 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Good-bye, till we meet again ! And thank you, 
 thank you." 
 
 " Good-bye. Good night, my dear lady." 
 
 " Good night, Nejdanof, till to-morrow . . . ." she 
 added, and went out quickly. 
 
 The two young men stood for a few moments 
 motionless and silent. 
 
 " Nejdinof . . . ." at length began Solomin, but 
 paused. " Nejdanof," he again said, " tell me what 
 you can about that girl. What has her life been till 
 now .' who is she .' why is she here .' " 
 
 Nejddnof briefly told Sol<5min all he knew ; the 
 latter listening attentively. 
 
 " Nejddnof . . . ." he said, " you ought to take loving 
 care of that girl ; for if ... . anything .... were to ... . 
 you would have a heavy responsibility to bear. Good 
 night." 
 
 He went out ; and Nejddnof stood for a few 
 moments in the centre of the room, and then mur- 
 muring, " Oh, it is better not to think of it," threw 
 himself face downwards on his bed. 
 
 Maridnna, on returning to her room, found on the 
 table a little note, running as follows, — 
 
 " I am sorry for you. You are ruining yourself. 
 Think what you are doing ; into what a gulf you are 
 rushing blindfold. For what or for whom 1 — ^V." 
 
 The room was perfumed with a delicate and pecu- 
 liar .scent ; it was evident that Valenti'na Mikhailovna 
 had but just left it. Maridnna took up a pen and 
 wrote underneath, — 
 
 " Do not pity me. God knows which of us is the 
 more worthy of pity. I only know that I should not 
 like to be in your place. — M." 
 
 She left the note on the table, not doubting but 
 that her answer would fall into Valenti'na Mikhdil- 
 ovna's hands. 
 
2i8 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXV. 
 
 The next morning Sol6min, after seeing Nejdanof, 
 and definitively refusing the management of Sipi%in's 
 paper-mill, started homewards. His thoughts occu- 
 pied him the whole way, which rarely happened with 
 him, for the swing of a carriage generally made him 
 rather dreamy. He thought of Marianna, of Nejdanof ; 
 it seemed to him that if he had been in love he would 
 have spoken and looked differently. " But," he then 
 thought, " as that has never happened to me, I do not 
 know what I should look like." He remembered an 
 Irish girl whom he had once seen behind the counter 
 of a shop ; he remembered what lovely hair she had, 
 almost black, and what deep-blue eyes, with thick 
 eyelashes, how inquiringly and sorrowfully she looked 
 at him, and how he walked for a long time up and 
 down the street before the shop-windows, and excitedly 
 asked himself whether he should make her acquaint- 
 ance or not. He was then in London for a few days 
 only ; his employer had sent him there with money to 
 make some purchases. Sol6min was on the point of 
 stopping in London, of sending the money back to 
 his employer, so strong was the impression the lovely 
 Polly had produced on him (he had learnt her name 
 by hearing one of her companions call her). However, 
 he conquered himself and went back to his employer. 
 Polly was more beautiful than Maridnna, but the 
 latter had the same inquiring and sad look, and she 
 was a Russian .... 
 
 " But what am I doing } " muttered Solomin to 
 himself. " Thinking of other people's betrothed ! " 
 And he shook the collar of his cloak, as if he wished 
 to throw off all needless thoughts. At this moment 
 he drove up to the factory, and on the threshold of 
 his rooms appeared the figure of the faithful Pdvel. 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] A NOVEL. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Sol6min'S refusal had greatly annoyed Sipidgin, who 
 suddenly discovered that this home-bred Stephenson 
 was, after all, not such a remarkable mechanician, and 
 that possibly he was, if not overrating himself, at all 
 events giving himself airs, like a genuine plebeian. 
 
 "All these Russians, when once they think that 
 they know something, are unbearable ! Au fond, 
 Kallom^itsef is right ! " 
 
 Under the influence of such unpleasant and irritable 
 feelings, the statesman en herbe looked at Nejddnof 
 even more' coldly and unsympathizingly than before. 
 He told K61ia that he need not take his lessons to-day ; 
 that he must accustom himself to working alone. 
 However, he did not dismiss Nejdanof, as the latter 
 expected ; he merely continued to ignore him. But 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna did not ignore Marianna. A 
 terrible scene passed between them. 
 
 A couple of hours before dinner they somehow 
 found themselves alone in the drawing-room. They 
 both felt at once that the moment of the inevitable 
 conflict had arrived ; and so, after an instant's hesita- 
 tion, they walked slowly towards each other. Valen- 
 ti'na Mikhdilovna was smiling slightly. Maridnna had 
 her lips firmly closed. Both were pale. As she walked 
 
220 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVI, 
 
 across the room, Valenti'na Mikhailovna looked to the 
 right, then to the left, then tore off a leaf of geranium 
 .... Marianna's eyes- were fixed on the smiling face 
 which was approaching. 
 
 Sipiagina was the first to stop ; and, tapping the 
 back of a chair with her fingers, she said in a careless 
 tone, — 
 
 " Marianna Vik^ntievna, I think that we are corre- 
 sponding with one another. As we live under the 
 same roof, that is rather peculiar ; and you know I 
 am not partial to eccentricities." 
 
 " It was not I who began the correspondence, 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna." 
 
 " Yes, you are right. I, for once, was to blame in 
 that eccentricity. Only I saw no other way of awak- 
 ing in you the feeling — how shall I say ? — the feeling 
 of . . . ." 
 
 " Speak openly, Valenti'na Mikhailovna. Do not 
 stand upon ceremony. You need not mind hurting 
 me. 
 
 " The feeling, then, .... of propriety." 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna paused ; and no sound was 
 heard in the room but the gentle tapping of her 
 fingers on the chair. 
 
 " In what do you consider that I have behaved with 
 impropriety? " asked Maridnna. 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Ma ch^re, vous n'^tes plus une enfant, and you un- 
 derstand me perfectly. Do you imagine that your 
 doings can have remained a secret for me, for Anna 
 Zakharovna, for any one in the house 1 You did not 
 even care that they should remain a secret. You 
 simply braved every one. Bon's Andr^itch is perhaps 
 the only person who has not paid attention to them. 
 He is occupied by more interesting and important 
 matters. But, except him, every one knows your 
 conduct — every one ! " 
 
CHAP, XXVI.] A NOVEL. 221 
 
 Maridnna grew paler and paler. 
 " I would ask you, Valenti'na Mikhailovna, to define 
 your meaning more clearly. What is it exactly with 
 which you are displeased } " 
 
 " L'insolente ! " thought Sipiigina, but restrained 
 herself. 
 
 "You wish to know what I am displeased with, 
 Marianna ? Well, I am displeased with your long inter- 
 \ views with a young man who by birth, by education, 
 and by position in society is placed below you. I am 
 displeased — no ! the word is not strong enough — I am 
 revolted at your late, your night visits to this same 
 man. And where does this happen ? Under my roof ! 
 Or do you imagine that this should be so, and that I 
 ought to be silent, and, as it were, shelter your light 
 conduct ? As an honest woman .... Oui, made- 
 moiselle, je I'ai 6t6, je le suis, et le serai toujours ! — I 
 cannot but feel indignant ! " 
 
 Valenti'na Miklidilovna threw herself into a chair, 
 as if overpowered by the weight of her indignation. 
 
 Maridnna, for the first time, gave a slight sneer. 
 
 " I do not doubt your honesty — past, present, or 
 future," she began ; " and this I say quite sincerely. 
 "But you are angry without reason. I have not brought 
 any disgrace upon your roof The man at whom you 
 hint, and whom I do indeed .... love . . . ." 
 
 " You love Monsieur Nejddnof .?" 
 
 " I do." 
 
 Valentfna Mikhailovna sat up in her chair. 
 
 " But just think, Marianna ! He is a student, with- 
 out birth or family. . . . He is younger than you ! " 
 She pronounced the last words with a kind of spiteful 
 joy. " What can come of it ? And what have you, a 
 clever woman, found in him ? After all, he is but an 
 insignificant boy." 
 
 " That was not always your opinion of him, Valen- 
 ti'na Mikhdilovna." 
 
222 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVI. 
 
 " Oh, my dear, please leave me out of the question. 
 Pas tant d'esprit que 9a, je vous prie. This matter 
 concerns you and your future. Just think, what sort 
 of a match would it be for you ? " 
 
 " I confess, Valenti'na Mikhdilovna, that I was not 
 thinking of a match." 
 
 " How .? What .' How am I to understand you .-' 
 Allowing that you followed the promptings of your 
 heart, .... still this must finish in a marriage." 
 
 " I do not know. ... I was not thinking of that .■" " 
 
 " You were not thinking of that .? But have you 
 gone mad .' " 
 
 Maridnna turned away a little. 
 
 "We had better stop this conversation, Valenti'na 
 Mikhdilovna. It cannot lead to anything. We shall 
 not be able to understand each other." 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna rose abruptly. 
 
 " I cannot, I must not stop this conversation ! It is 
 too important ! I am answerable for you before . . . ." 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna was going to say, "before God" ; 
 but she stopped herself, and said, " before the whole 
 world ! I cannot remain silent when I hear such 
 folly ! And why should I be unable to understand 
 you .'' How unbearably proud these young people 
 are ! No .... I understand you very well. I under- 
 stand that you are impregnated with these new ideas, 
 which will certainly lead you to ruin ! But then it 
 will be too late." 
 
 " Possibly ; but be sure that even were we 
 perishing we should not stretch out a finger to you to 
 save us ! " 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna clasped her hands. 
 
 " Again that pride, that unbearable pride ! Come, 
 listen, Marianna, listen to me," she added, suddenly 
 changing her tone. She wished to draw Marianna t& 
 her, but the latter stepped back. " Ecoutez-moi, je 
 vous en conjure. After all I am not such an old 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] A NOVEL. 223 
 
 woman, I am not so stupid as to make it impossible 
 to get on with me! Je ne suis pas une encrout^e ! 
 When I was young, people thought me a Republican, 
 as much as they do you ! Listen : I will not conceal 
 my thoughts ; I never felt a mother's tenderness for 
 you, nor is it in your nature to regret that. But I 
 knew, and I still know, that I have duties towards 
 you, and I have always endeavoured to fulfil them. 
 Perhaps the marriage which I was dreaming for you 
 — to bring about which Bon's Andr^itch and I would 
 have thought no sacrifice too great .... perhaps it 
 did not quite answer to your ideal, but from the 
 depth of my heart . . . ." 
 
 Marianna looked at Valenti'na Mikhdilovna, at the 
 lovely eyes, at the pink, slightly touched-up lips, the 
 white hands, the extended fingers adorned with rings, 
 which the elegant lady was so expressively clasping 
 to the bosom of her silk dress .... and suddenly 
 interrupted her. 
 
 " ' Marriage,' do you say, Valentina Mikhailovna ">. 
 Do you call that a marriage, with that heartless, vile 
 friend of yours, Mr. Kallom^itsef >. " 
 
 Valent/na Mikhdilovna removed her hand from her 
 dress. 
 
 "Yes, Maridnna Vik^ntievna, I mean Mr. Kallo- 
 m^itsef, that well-educated, excellent young man, who 
 will certainly make his wife happy, and whom a 
 woman must be mad to refuse ! Yes, mad ! " 
 
 " What is to be done, ma tante ? I suppose I am 
 mad ! " 
 
 " Why, seriously, what fault have you to find with 
 him .' " 
 
 " Oh, none ! I simply despise him, that is all ! " 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna shook her head impatiently 
 and sank into her armchair again. 
 
 " Let us leave that alone. Retournons a nos 
 moutons. So you love Nejddnof .■'" 
 
224 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, XXVI. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And intend to continue your .... your interviews 
 with him .? " 
 
 " Yes ; I do." 
 
 " And if I forbid you >. " 
 
 " I shall not obey you." 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna half sprang from her 
 chair. 
 
 " You will not obey me, eh .■" Oh ! And she who 
 tells me this is a girl whose benefactress I have been, 
 whom I have brought up in my house ; she who dares 
 to say this is . . . ." 
 
 "The daughter of a dishonoured father," inter- 
 rupted Marianna, gloomily ; " go on, do not stand upon 
 ceremony ! " 
 
 " Cen'est pas moi qui vous le fait dire, mademoiselle! 
 But at any rate you cannot be proud of that ! A girl 
 who eats my bread . . . ." 
 
 "Do not reproach me with your hospitality, 
 Valenti'na Mikhailovna ! It would cost you more to 
 have a governess for K61ia, for it is I who give him 
 his lessons in French ! " 
 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna raised the hand in which 
 she was holding a cambric handkerchief, embroidered 
 with an enormous white monogram in one corner, 
 scented with ylang-ylang, and tried to say something, 
 but Marianna continued impetuously, — 
 
 " You would be right, a thousand times right, if 
 instead of all that you have just enumerated, all those 
 fleeting benefits and sacrifices, you were able to say, 
 ' The girl whom I have loved.' .... But you are 
 honourable enough not to tell such a falsehood as 
 that ! " Maridnna was trembling as if she were in a 
 fever. " You have always hated me. Even now, in the 
 depths of your heart, of which you spoke a minute 
 ago, you are glad — ^yes, glad that I am bearing out 
 what you always predicted, that I am covering myself 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] A NOVEL. 22S 
 
 with shame and disgrace, and the only thing at which 
 you are displeased is that a certain share of this 
 disgrace will fall on your aristocratic, honourable 
 house . . . ." 
 
 "You are insulting me," stammered Valenti'na 
 Mikhdilovna: " please leave the room ! " 
 
 But now Maridnna had lost all control over herself. 
 
 " Your house, you have said, all your house, Anna 
 Zakhdrovna and all, know of my conduct, and they 
 are all horrified and indignant .... But do I want 
 anything from you, from them, from all these people .? 
 Do I care for their opinion ? Is not that same bread 
 of yours bitter ? What poverty should I not prefer to 
 these riches ? Between your house and me is there 
 not a gulf, a great gulf, which nothing, nothing can 
 close t Cannot you — for you, too, are a clever 
 woman — cannot you understand this ? And if you 
 feel hatred towards me, do not you comprehend the 
 feeling I have towards you, and which I do not name 
 only because it is too evident t " 
 
 " Sortez, sortez, vous dis-je !...." repeated Valen- 
 tfna Mikhdilovna, stamping her pretty little foot. 
 
 Marianna took a step towards the door. 
 
 " I will relieve you of my presence in a moment ; 
 but do you know, Valentfna Mikhdilovna, they say that 
 Rachel herself in Racine's 'Bayazet' could not manage 
 that ' sortez,' and how should you ? And one thing 
 more, what was it you said ? oh, yes, ' Je suis une 
 honndte femme, je I'ai ^t^ et le serai toujours ! ' Well, 
 just imagine ! I am quite sure that I am a great deal 
 more honest than you. Good-bye." 
 
 Marianna left the room hurriedly, while Valentfna 
 Mikhdilovna sprang from her chair, hardly knowing 
 whether to call out or to cry .... But she did not 
 know what to call, and her tears did not obey her. 
 So she contented herself with using her handkerchief 
 as a fan, but the scent it spread excited her nerves 
 
 Q 
 
226 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVI. 
 
 still more. She felt unhappy — injured .... She 
 knew that there was a certain amount of truth in that 
 which she had just heard. But how was it possible 
 to judge her so harshly ? 
 
 " I cannot be so wicked as that," she thought, and 
 looked at herself in the glass which stood before her 
 between the windows. The glass reflected a beautiful 
 face, now rather disfigured by red patches, but still 
 charming, and lovely soft velvety eyes. " I — I 
 wicked ? " she again thought, " with such eyes ! '' 
 
 At that moment her husband came in, and she 
 again hid her face in her handkerchief 
 
 " What is the matter .' " he asked, tenderly. "What 
 is it, Vdlia .'' " He had invented this diminutive of 
 her name, which, however, he only permitted himself 
 to use in the most absolutely private tete-a-t^te, and, 
 even then rather in the country than in Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 At first she denied that there was anything the 
 matter, but ended by turning round on her chair very 
 prettily and touchingly, and throwing her arms round 
 his shoulders as he stood bending over her. She hid 
 her face in his waistcoat and told him everything ; 
 without any dissimulation or afterthought she en- 
 deavoured, if not to justify Marianna, at all events to 
 excuse her to some extent. She threw the blame on 
 her youth, her passionate nature, the shortcomings of 
 her early education, and also, without any after- 
 thought, she blamed herself 
 
 " This would never have happened to a daughter of 
 mine ; I would have taken better care of her than 
 this." 
 
 Sipiagin listened to the end with benevolence and 
 sympathy, yet with severity ; remained stooping till 
 she unclasped her hands and withdrew her head, 
 called her an angel, kissed her forehead, and an- 
 nouncing that he now knew what course of action his 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] A NOVEL. 227 
 
 position as master of the house must dictate to him, 
 departed with the air of a humane but energetic 
 man, who has to fulfil an unpleasant yet necessary 
 duty .... 
 
 Towards eight o'clock that evening Nejddnof was 
 sitting in his room writing to his friend Silin : — 
 
 " Vladimir, my friend, I am writing to you at the 
 moment of a complete change in my existence. I 
 have been dismissed from this house and am leaving 
 it. That would be nothing .... but I do not leave it 
 alone. The girl of whom I wrote to you accompanies 
 me. Everything unites us — the similarity of our lives, 
 
 -of our convictions and aspirations, the reciprocity of 
 our feelings ; in a word, we love one another ; at least 
 I am convinced that I cannot feel love in any form 
 different from this. But I should not be telling you 
 the truth if I said that I feel no inward fear, no sink- 
 ing at heart. All is dark before us, and we twain are 
 
 "' rushing into that darkness. I need not explain to you 
 the end we have in view, nor the work which we have 
 chosen. We are not in search of happiness ; we do 
 not want to enjoy ourselves, but to struggle together, 
 side by side, supporting one another. Our object is 
 clear to us, but what paths may lead to it we know 
 not. Shall we find, if not sympathy or help, at least 
 the possibility of action ? Marianna is an admirable, 
 trustworthy girl. If it be our fate to perish, I shall 
 not reproach myself for having led her astray, for no 
 other life is now possible for her. Yet, Vladfmir, my 
 friend, my heart is heavy ! Doubt tortures me, not, of 
 
 course, of my feelings for her, yet I know not ; 
 
 only now it is too late to go back. Give us both your 
 hand from afar, and wish us patience and strength for 
 sacrifice and love — especially love. And thou, O 
 Russian people, whom we know not, but whom we 
 
 ^ove with all our being ; for whom we will give our 
 hearts' blood, receive us not too coldly, and teach us 
 
228 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVI." 
 
 -^hat to await from thee. Good-bye, Vladimir, good- 
 bye ! " 
 
 After writing these few lines Nejddnof went off to 
 the village. The next morning, at daybreak, he was 
 already standing at the edge of the birch copse not 
 far from Sipidgin's garden. A little further back, in 
 the tangled foliage of a thick mass of hazel-bushes, 
 stood a peasant's cart, almost hidden, with two un- 
 bridled horses. In the cart, under the seat of twisted 
 ropes, slept a little old grey peasant, lying on a bundle 
 of hay, with a ragged cloak pulled over his head. 
 Nejddnofwas looking steadfastly at the road and at 
 the clumps of willows along the edge of the garden. 
 The grey, silent night still lay around, and the stars 
 twinkled feebly one after another, lost in the dreary 
 depths of the heavens. A pale tint, arising from the 
 east, was spreading along the lower edges of the clouds 
 piled across the sky ; and from the east, too, came 
 the sharp cold of dawn. Suddenly Nejdanof started, 
 and listened eagerly ; a wicket-gate had creaked, then 
 shut, somewhere not far off. A slight, girlish figure, 
 wrapped in a kerchief, and holding a bundle in her 
 gloveless hand, came slowly out of the shadow of the 
 willows into the soft dust of the road and, crossing it 
 on tiptoe, in a slanting direction, came towards the 
 copse. Nejdanof rushed towards her. 
 
 " Maridnna ! " he whispered. 
 
 " It is I," came the low answer from under the 
 muffling handkerchief. 
 
 " This way, follow me," answered Nejdanof, awk- 
 wardly seizing the bare hand which held the bundle. 
 
 She shivered as if from cold. He led her up to 
 the cart and woke the peasant, who jumped up at 
 once, clambered on to the box, put on his cloak and 
 caught up the reins of rope. The horses made a 
 start ; he restrained them in a low voice, hoarse from 
 sleep. Nejddnof helped Marianna on to the seat of 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] A NOVEL. 229 
 
 twisted ropes, after spreading out his shawl for her to 
 sit on ; then, wrapping a rug round her feet, for the 
 hay at the bottom was damp, took his seat by her 
 side, and stooping towards the peasant said, " Go on, 
 you know the way." The peasant shook the reins and 
 the horses moved slowly out of the wood, shivering and 
 coughing ; then the cart, springing and jolting on its 
 narrow old wheels, rolled along the road. Nejddnof 
 had one hand round Marianna ; she raised the hand- 
 kerchief with her cold fingers, and, turning her face 
 towards him, smiled and said — 
 
 " How gloriously fresh, Ali6sha ! " 
 
 " Yes," answered the peasant, " there will be a heavy 
 dew ! " 
 
 The dew was so heavy already that the axles of the 
 wheels, as they touched the tips of the taller plants by 
 the roadside, sent whole showers of tiny drops flying, 
 and the green of the grass looked a blueish grey. 
 ^ Maridnna again shivered. 
 
 " It is fresh, fresh," she repeated, " and the freedom, 
 Aliosha, the freedom ! " 
 
230 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVII, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Sol6min hurried to the gate of the factory the 
 moment a workman ran to inform him that a gentle- 
 man and lady had arrived in a country cart and 
 were asking for him. He did not wish them good- 
 day, but only nodded to them several times, and 
 ordering the peasant who was driving to go into 
 the yard, made him draw up to the wing where he 
 lived, then helped Maridnna to alight. Nejddnof 
 sprang down after her. Sol6min led them through a 
 long and dark passage, then by a narrow spiral stair- 
 case to the first floor at the back of the wing. Here 
 he opened a low door, and they all entered a small 
 but fairly tidy room with two windows. 
 
 " Welcome ! " said Sol6min with his usual smile, 
 which now, however, seemed broader and brighter than 
 ever. This is your lodging — this room and another 
 here next to it. It is not much to look at, but I dare 
 say you can manage. And no one can stare at you 
 here. Under the windows you have what my em- 
 ployer calls a flower-garden ; I call ib a kitchen- 
 garden. It ends at the wall there, and there are 
 palisades to the right and left. Quiet enough ! Now, 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] A NOVEL. 231: 
 
 welcome again, my dear young lady, and you, 
 Nejddnof, welcome ! " 
 
 He shook hands with them. They were standing 
 motionless, without taking off their wraps, and were 
 looking straight in front of them in silent astonish- 
 ment, half excitement, half pleasure. 
 
 " Well, what is the matter with you?" said Sol6min. 
 " Come down from the clouds ! What have you 
 brought with you .' " 
 
 Maridnna showed the parcel which she was still 
 holding in her hand. " I have nothing but this." 
 
 " I have a carpet-bag and a hand-bag in the cart. I 
 will get them . . . . " 
 
 " Stop, stop!" Sol6min opened the door, " Pavel ! " 
 he called down the dark staircase, " run and fetch the 
 things which are in the cart, and bring them here." 
 
 " Directly," answered the voice of the " omnipre- 
 sent." 
 
 Sol6min turned to Maridnna, who had thrown off 
 her handkerchief and begun to unfasten her cloak. 
 
 " So everything went off well ? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes, no one saw us. I left a letter for Mrv 
 Sipi^in. I have brought no clothes or linen with 
 me, Vasili Fed6titch, because as you are going to send 
 ■ us out " (for some reason she did not add " among the 
 people ") " it will be all the same. They would have 
 been of no use. And I have some money with me to 
 buy all I want." 
 
 " We will see about all that afterwards. Here," he 
 added, pointing to Pdvel who was bringing in Nejda- 
 nof s luggage, " is the best friend I have in the place ; 
 I recommend him to you ; you can trust him fully, as 
 you would me. Have you told Tatiana about the 
 tea-urn ? " he asked Pavel, in a lower tone. 
 
 " It will be ready directly," answered Pavel, " cream 
 and all." 
 
 " Tatidna is his wife," explained Solomin, " and as 
 
232 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVII. 
 
 faithful as he is. While you are .... becoming used to 
 matters a little, my dear young lady, she will be your 
 servant." 
 
 Maridnna threw her cloak on to a leather sofa 
 which stood in the corner. " Call me Maridnna, Vasili 
 Fed6titch, I do not want to be a young lady ! And I 
 need no servant. I did not leave .... that place to 
 have servants. Do not look at my clothes, I had 
 nothing else there. That will all have to be 
 changed." 
 
 Her dress of dark drap de dame was very simple, 
 but it was made by a Petersburg dressmaker, and 
 fitted her shoulders and figure neatly — in fact it was 
 fashionable. 
 N. . " Well, if you will not have a servant, she shall be 
 your help, after the American fashion. Now you had 
 better have some tea. It is still early, but I expect 
 you are both tired. I must be off to look after the 
 factory ; we shall meet again later. If you want 
 anything, tell Pdvel or Tatilna." 
 
 Marianna stretched out both hands eagerly. " How 
 can we thank you, Vasi'li Fed6titch ? " she looked at 
 him gratefully. 
 
 Sol6min stroked one hand gently. " I would say, 
 ' It is not worth thanking me for,' but that would not 
 be true. I had better say that your thanks give me 
 great pleasure. So now we are quits. Good-bye. 
 Come along, Pdvel ! " 
 
 Maridnna and Nejdanof remained alone. She sprang 
 towards him, and looked at him with the same expres- 
 sion as at Solomin, only still more joyful, more grate- 
 ful and brighter, then said, " Oh my friend ! we are 
 beginning .a new life .... at last, at last! You would 
 not believe how sweet and pleasant this little room, in 
 which we are to spend only a few days, seems in 
 comparison with those hateful mansions ! Tell me, 
 are you happy .' " 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] A NOVEL. 233 
 
 Nejddnof took her hands, and pressed them to his 
 breast. 
 
 " I am happy, Maridnna, at beginning this new life 
 with you. You will be my guiding star, my support, 
 my strengh . . . ." 
 
 " Dear Ali6sha ! But wait a minute ; I must make 
 myself tidy, and freshen my dress a little. I will go 
 into that room ; you can stay here. I will be back in 
 an instant." 
 
 Maridnna went into the next room and shut the 
 door. The next moment she opened it again slightly, 
 put out her head, and said, " How charming Sol6min 
 is ! " then shut it, and Nejddnof heard the click of the 
 lock. 
 
 He walked up to the window and looked into 
 the garden .... An old, a very old apple-tree for 
 some inexplicable reason seemed to catch his eye. 
 He stretched and shook himself, opened his bag, but 
 took nothing out, and began to dream .... 
 
 In a quarter of an hour Maridnna came back, with 
 her face freshened and the dust washed off, gay and 
 lively ; and a few moments later appeared Pdvel's 
 wife, Tatidna, with the urn and tea-tray, the bread and 
 the cream. 
 
 The exact opposite to her gipsy-like husband, she 
 was a pure Russian type, stout, with light hair twisted 
 tightly in a long plait round a horn comb on her cap- 
 less head, with large, pleasant features and honest 
 grey eyes. She was dressed in a neat though faded 
 calico, and her hands were well made and clean, 
 though large. She bowed gravely, and saying in a firm, 
 clear voice without any sing-song, " I wish you health," 
 began to arrange the urn and cups. 
 
 Maridnna went up to her : " Let me help you, 
 Tatidna. Give me a napkin . . . ." 
 
 "Never mind, miss, we are used to that. Vasfli 
 Fed6titch has given orders. If you want any- 
 
234 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXVII. 
 
 thing be so good as tell us, and we will do it with 
 
 pleasure." 
 
 • " Tatidna, please do not call me ' miss.' I am 
 
 dressed like a young lady, but I am quite . . . . " 
 
 The steady look of Tatidna's clear eyes confused 
 Mariinna, who stopped. 
 
 " What might you be then .? " asked Tatiana, in her 
 even voice. 
 
 " Well, certainly, if you insistr-I-arn a noble ; but 
 Iwant to give^up .all.thatr-andjjecome. likelilLEeasiS^ 
 women." 
 
 " Oh, that is it 1 Now I know. You are one of 
 those who want to simpliiy_t hemselves. There are 
 not a few of them now." 
 
 " What did you say, Tatidna 1 — to simplify them- 
 selves .? " ^ 
 
 " Yes, that is the way we have of calling them. It 
 means to be all one with the simple people — to be 
 
 simplified. WpH ^ it is a g.ood_Jthing--to-Iteacli_4ie^ 
 
 people sense and wisdom. But difficult !— oh, diffi- 
 cult! God give you luck I " 
 
 " To simplify ourselves ! " repeated Maridnna. 
 " Do you hear, Ali6sha .-' you and I are simplified ! " 
 
 Nejddnof laughed, and also repeated " simplified." 
 
 " Will that be your husband or your brother .■' " 
 asked Tatidna, as she carefully washed out the cups 
 with her large nimble hands, and glanced with a good- 
 natured smile from one to the other. 
 
 " No," answered Maridnna, " he is neither my hus- 
 band nor my brother." 
 
 Tatidna raised her head. " Then you are living in 
 free grace ! Well, that too happens often now. Once 
 it was only the dissenters — and now other people too. 
 If only you have God's blessing, and live in peace, 
 you want no priest ; we have people like that in the 
 factory. Not the worst, either." 
 
 " What nice words you have, Tatidna ! ' In free 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] A NOVEL. 23S 
 
 . grace ! ' I like that very much. Now, I want to ask 
 
 \ you something-, Tatidna. I want to buy or make my- 
 
 Nself some clothes — like yours, now, or plainer still. 
 
 Shoes and stockings and a jacket — everything like 
 
 yours. I have money for it," 
 
 " Well, miss, that can be managed. Now, don't be 
 ^iigry> I won't do it again. I won't call you miss. 
 Only what am I to call you .' " 
 
 " Maridnna." 
 
 " And your father's name } " 
 
 "Why need you know it? Call me Maridnna 
 simply. I call you Tatiana." 
 
 "It is the same thing, and yet it isn't. You had 
 better tell me." 
 
 " Well, my father's name was Vik^nti. And yours .■• " 
 
 " Mine > Osip." * 
 
 " Then I shall call you Tatidna Osfpovna." 
 
 " And I shall call you Maridnna Vik^ntievna. How 
 nice that will be ! " 
 
 " Will you have a glass of tea with us, Tatidna 
 Osfpovna .' " 
 t " As this is our first meeting, I think I may, 
 V- Maridnna • Vik^ntievna. I '11 treat myself to a cup. 
 ' .Ieg6ritch would scold me if I did it often." 
 
 " Who is Ieg6ritch .? " 
 
 " Pdvel, my husband." 
 
 " Take a seat, Tatidna Osfpovna." 
 
 " So I will, Maridnna Vikdntievna." 
 
 Tatidna sat down and began to drink her tea, turn- 
 ing a lump of sugar round and round in her fingers, 
 and closing her eye on the side on which she nibbled 
 bits off it. Maridnna began talking to her. Tatidna 
 answered in a natural tone, and herself talked and 
 
 \ asked questions. She almost worshipped , Sol6min, 
 and ranked her husband directly after him. Still the 
 .factory life weighed upon her. 
 * Joseph. 
 
236 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVII. 
 
 ." " It is neither town nor village here. If it were 
 not for Vasi'li Fed6titch I should not stop an 
 hour ! " 
 
 Mariinna listened attentively to all she said, 
 Nejdanof, who was sitting a little aside, watched his 
 companion, and did not wonder at the attention she 
 showed. To Maridnna it was all new ; as for him he 
 seemed to have seen and talked to hundreds of such 
 Tatianas. 
 
 " You think, Tatidna Osi'povna," said Maridnna, pre- 
 sently, " that we want to teach the people ; no, we 
 want to serve them." 
 
 " Ho w serve them .'' T each thpm ; th erp^Jgynnr 
 sendg g for yoiL Why, look at me ! WhenTlnarnecl 
 legdritch there, I could neither read nor write ; and 
 now I know, thanks to Vasi'li Feddtitch. He did not 
 teach me himself, but paid an old man, who taught 
 me. For I am still young, big though I be." 
 
 Maridnna made no answer. 
 
 " I should like, Tatidna Osi'povna," she said, after a 
 pause, "to learn some trade .... but we will talk 
 again about that. I sew badly, but if I learnt I might 
 turn cook." 
 
 Tatidna looked thoughtful. " How cook ? Rich 
 people, merchants, have cooks ; the poor cook for 
 themselves. And as for cooking for an artel,* for 
 working men, why, that is the very last trade to 
 take to ! " 
 
 " But I should not mind living with rich people, as 
 long as I mixed with the poor. Otherwise how shall 
 I get to know them .? I shall not always have such 
 chances as this." 
 
 Tatidna turned her empty cup upside down, to show 
 that she had had enough. 
 
 " It is a ticklish business," she at last said with a 
 sigh ; " you cannot twist it round your finger like a 
 * Communistic associations of workmen. 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] A NOVEL. 237 
 
 ring. What I know I will tell you, but it is not much 
 that I am learned in. You must talk to Ieg6ritch ; 
 for he knows everything, reads all kinds of books, and 
 can tell you all you want in a minute." Here she 
 glanced at Maridnna, who was rolling a cigarette. 
 " There is another thing, begging -your pardon, Mari- 
 anna Vik6ntievna, but if you really want to simplify 
 yourself you must give that up." She pointed to the 
 cigarette. " Because in such callings, take a cook's 
 for instance, that is not allowed ; besides, every one 
 will see at once that you are a lady. Yes." 
 
 Mariinna threw the cigarette out of window. 
 
 " I will not smoke ; I can easily give that up. 
 Peasant women do not, so I ought not to." 
 
 "That is true, what you have just said, Marianna 
 Vik^ntievna. The men spoil themselves with that 
 smoking ; we women — no. Is it not so .? And here is 
 Vasi'li Fed6titch himself coming. I know his step. 
 You ask him ; he will set everything straight for you, 
 as best may be." 
 
 Soldmin's voice was heard at the door. 
 
 " May I come in .' " 
 
 " Come in, come in ! " cried Maridnna. 
 
 " That is an English habit I have caught," said 
 Sol6min, as he entered. "Well, how are you getting 
 on .'' Not dull yet .' I see you are chatting with 
 Tatiina over your tea. You listen to her. She is a 
 sensible woman. My employer is coming to-day, 
 by bad luck ! And he will stop to dinner. It can't 
 be helped ; he is the master." 
 
 " What sort of a man is he .' " asked Nejddnof, 
 coming out of his corner. 
 
 " Not bad. He is not a baby. One of the new 
 kind. Very polite, and wears linen. He peeps at 
 everything, as if he were an old hand. Flays one a 
 bit ; says ' Be so good as to turn over on to this side ; 
 there is another tender patch here I must touch up a 
 
238' VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXVII. 
 
 little ! ' But with me he is as good as gold ; he can't 
 do without me ! Only I came to tell you that to-day 
 you probably would not see much of me. They will 
 bring you your dinner. But do not show yourselves 
 ©utside. What do you think, Marianna, will the 
 Sipiagins endeavour to fiiid you — to follow you up } " 
 
 " I think not," answered Marianna. 
 ' " And I am sure they will," said Nejddnof. 
 
 " Well, all the same," said Sol6min, " we must be 
 careful just at first. By-and-by it will be all right." 
 
 "Yes," said Nejddnof, "but Mark^lof must know 
 where I am ; we must send to him." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " It is necessary for the cause. He must always 
 know where I am. I have promised. Besides, he 
 will not tell tales ! " 
 
 " All right. We will send Pavel." 
 
 " And my clothes will be ready .' " asked Nejddnof. 
 
 " Oh. the costume .^ Yes, oh, yes ! Quite a mas- 
 querade ; not~a dear"^ one, luckily. Good bye ; rest 
 yourselves. Come, Tatidna." 
 
 Maridnna and Nejddnof again remained alone. 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] A NOVEL. 239 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 They began by shaking hands once more, then 
 Marianna exclaimed, — 
 
 " Wait ! I will help you to set your room tidy," and 
 began to unpack his bags. Nejddnof wanted to help 
 her, but she declared that she meant to do it all her- 
 self. " Because I must accustom myself to be useful." 
 So she hung his clothes on some nails which she had 
 found in the table-drawer, and knocked into the wall 
 with the back of a brush, as she had no hammer ; 
 then put his linen into an old chest of drawers which 
 stood between the windows. 
 
 " What is this .-' " she asked, all at once. " A 
 revolver ! Is it loaded } What do you want it for } " 
 
 " It is not loaded ; but give it me. You ask what 
 it is for ? Do you think we can do without a revolver 
 in our calling ? " 
 
 She laughed, and continued her work, shaking out 
 each separate article and dusting it with the palm of 
 her hand ; she put two pairs of boots under the sofa, 
 and solemnly arranged a few books, a bundle of 
 papers, and the little manuscript book of poetry, on a 
 three-legged table in the corner, which she named the 
 writing and working table, as opposed to the other, 
 which was round, and which she called the dinner and 
 tea table. Then she took up the book of verses, and. 
 
240 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXVIII. 
 
 raising it to her face, looked over the edge at Nej- 
 dinof, and said with a smile, — 
 
 "We must read all this together at some leisure- 
 moment, eh ? " 
 
 " Give me that book — I will burn it," exclaimed 
 Nejddnof. " It is worth nothing else." 
 
 " If so, why did you bring it with you ? No, no, I 
 will not let you burn it. Besides, they say poets 
 always threaten, but never do burn their writings. 
 Still I had better carry it off." 
 
 Nejddnof tried to protest, but Marianna ran into her 
 room with the book and came back without it. 
 
 She sat down by his side, but rose again instantly. 
 
 " You have not been in my room yet : will you look 
 at it t It is as good as yours. Come and see it } " 
 
 Nejddnof rose and followed Maridnna. Her room, 
 as she called it, was a little smaller than his, but the 
 furniture seemed somewhat cleaner and newer ; on 
 the window-sill stood a crystal vase with flowers, and 
 in the corner an iron bedstead. 
 
 " Do you see how attentive Sol6min is ? " exclaimed 
 Maridnna, "only we must not spoil ourselves too 
 much ; we shall not often have such rooms as these. 
 I have thought of one thing which would be very 
 pleasant ; if we could manage to get some occupation 
 together, so as not to separate. It will be difficult," 
 she added, after a pause ; " we must think about it. 
 But in any case you will not go back to Petersburg, 
 will you ? " 
 
 " What should I do in Petersburg ? Attend the 
 University and give lessons ? That will not do now." 
 
 " We will see what Solomin thinks," said Maridnna. 
 ^' He will be better able to decide what we are to do 
 and how to do it." 
 
 They returned into the other room, and again sat 
 down side by side. They praised Sol6min, Tatidna, 
 Pdvel ; they spoke of Sipiagin, and of how their 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] A NOVEL. 241 
 
 former life had suddenly receded so far from them, as 
 
 I if a mist had hidden it. Then thej^ shook hands once 
 
 \ more, and looked at each other joyfully ; then they 
 
 \discussed into what classes they should endeavour to 
 
 \. penetrate, and how they should behave so as not to be 
 
 suspected. 
 
 Nejddnof maintained that the less they thought 
 about it, the simpler they behaved, the better they 
 would succeed. 
 
 " Of course ! " she exclaimed, " we want to simplify 
 ourselves, as Tatidna put it." 
 \ "I hardly meant that," began Nejddnof. "I meant 
 to say that we must not be unnatural . . . ." 
 
 Mariinna suddenly burst out' laughing. " I was 
 remembering, Ali6sha, how I called us ' simplified ! ' " 
 
 Nejddnof also laughed and repeated " simplified," 
 then fell into a reverie. 
 
 Mariinna too was silent. 
 
 " Ali6sha ! " she at length said. 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " I think we neither of us feel quite at our ease. 
 Newly married people the first day of their wedding 
 trip must feel as we do. They are happy — ^very 
 happy, but a little awkward." 
 
 Nejddnof's smile was rather constrained. 
 
 " You know quite well, Maridnna, that we are not a 
 newly married couple in your sense of the word." 
 
 Mariinna rose and stood in front of him. 
 
 "That depends on you." 
 
 " What do you mean .' " 
 
 " Ali6sha, when you tell me as an honest man — and 
 I trust you because I know you are an honest man — 
 when you tell me that you love me with that love — 
 well, that love which gives one a right over the life of 
 another person ; when you tell me that, I will be 
 yours." 
 
 Nejddnof grew red and turned away his head. 
 
 R 
 
242 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, XXVIII. 
 
 " When I tell you . . . ." he began. 
 
 " Yes ! But you yourself see you cannot tell me 
 
 that now Yes, Aliosha, you are indeed an honest 
 
 man. Now let us talk about more serious things." 
 
 " But I love you, Maridnna ! " 
 
 " I do not doubt it and can wait. Stop a 
 
 moment ; I have not put your writing-table in good 
 order yet. Here is something wrapped up as if it 
 belonged to a woman " 
 
 Nejdanof sprang from his chair. "Leave that 
 alone, Marianna ; please leave it alone." 
 
 Marianna looked at him over her shoulder, and 
 raised her eyebrows in astonishment. 
 
 "Why, is it a secret .? Have you a secret 1 " 
 
 " Yes, yes," said Nejddnof ; and in his confusion 
 added as an explanation, " It is a portrait." 
 
 The word had passed his lips involuntarily. In the 
 paper which Marianna held was wrapped her own 
 portrait, the one that Markelof had given him. 
 
 " A portrait ! " she said, slowly. " A woman's por- 
 trait .? " 
 
 She gave it him, but he took it so clumsily that it 
 almost slipped out of his hand; and the paper came 
 off. 
 
 " Why, it is my own," said Marianna quickly. " Well, 
 my own portrait I have a right to see." 
 
 She took it from Nejdanof 
 
 " Did you draw this ? " 
 
 "No, I did not." 
 
 "Who did .?— Markdof .? " 
 
 " You have guessed. It was." 
 
 " How did you obtain it .■' " 
 
 " He gave it me." 
 
 " When ? " 
 
 Nejdinof told her how and when. While he was 
 speaking Marianna looked alternately at him and at 
 the portrait, and both of them, both Nejddnof and 
 
CHAP, XXVIII.] A NOVEL. 243 
 
 she herself, felt the same thought flash across their 
 minds. 
 
 " If he had been in this room he would have had 
 
 the right " 
 
 But neither of them expressed this aloud, possibly 
 because each guessed the other's thoughts. 
 
 Marianna folded the paper round the portrait, and 
 laid it gently on the table. 
 
 " A good man ! " she said, in a low voice. " Where is 
 he now 1 " 
 
 " Where ? Why at home in his own house.' I 
 shall go to him to-morrow, or the day after, for books 
 and pamphlets. He meant to have given me some, 
 but I suppose forgot as I was leaving him." 
 
 " Do you think, Ali6sha, that when he gave you this 
 portrait he meant to give up everything — everything ? " 
 " I think so." 
 
 " And you expect to find him at home ? " 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Ah ! " Maridnna dropped her eyes and let her 
 hands fall. "And here is Tatidna bringing our 
 dinner," she suddenly exclaimed. " What an admir- 
 able woman ! " 
 
 Tatidna entered with the plates, napkins, and dishes. 
 As she spread the cloth she told them what had been 
 going on in the factory. 
 
 " The master came from Moscow by rail, and began 
 running all over the building like a madman ; but 
 you see, he understands nothing at all, and only does 
 it for the look of the thing, for the example. And 
 Vasili Fed6titch treats him like a little child. The 
 master wanted to have his own way in something, and 
 Vasili Fed6titch stopped him in a minute. ' I will 
 throw it all over,' he said. And the other one put his tail 
 between his legs directly. They are dining together 
 now, and the master has brought a friend with him. 
 This one only wonders at everything he sees. A rich 
 
244 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 man, I should guess, this friend, for he doesn't talk, 
 and only shakes his head. And fat — so fat ! A 
 Moscow ace of trumps ! It is a true proverb which 
 says, ' Moscow is downhill to all Russia ; everything 
 rolls towards her ! ' " 
 
 " How observant you are ! " exclaimed Maridnna. 
 " I keep my eyes open," answered Tatiana. "There, 
 your dinner is ready. May you enjoy it ! I will sit 
 here a little and watch you." 
 
 They sat down. Tatidna leaned against the 
 
 window-sill and propped her head on her hand. 
 
 X "When I come to look at you," she said, "what 
 
 ^^poor little tender lambs you both are! It is so 
 
 pleasant to look at you, I feel quite sad ! Oh, my 
 
 liittle doves, you are taking on yourselves trouble 
 
 Weater than you can bear ! Such people as you the 
 
 Jtsat's-iblk arejoiidjof_putting j^nto^ison." 
 
 "Never mind, my~good woman,"" remarked 
 Nejddnof, " do not you try and frighten us. You 
 know the proverb, ' If you call yourself a mushroom, 
 you must go into the basket ! ' " 
 
 " I know it, I know it ; but baskets nowadays are 
 narrower, and harder to get out of ! " 
 
 " Have you any children t " asked Marianna, to 
 change the conversation. 
 
 " One ; a boy. He has begun to go to school. 
 I had a daughter, but she died, poor heart ! She had 
 an accident, was caught in a wheel. And even if it 
 had killed her outright ! But she dragged on a long 
 time. From that day I have become tender-hearted ; 
 before then I was as hard as wood ! " 
 
 " And how about your Pdvel Ieg6ritch, did you not 
 love him .■■ " 
 
 " Oh, that is another thing. That is all very well 
 for a girl. Now you — do you love yours, or not .' " 
 "Yes." 
 " Love him very much } " 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] A NOVEL. 24s 
 
 « Very much." 
 
 "What...?" 
 
 Tatidna looked at Marianna, then at Nejddnof, and 
 did not finish her sentence. 
 
 Maridnna again changed the subject. She told 
 Tatidna that she had given up smoking ; whereon the 
 latter praised her. Then Maridnna again asked about 
 the clothes, and reminded her that she had promised 
 tor show her how to cook. 
 
 " And another thing," she said, " cannot I get some 
 coarse yarn ? I want to knit some plain stockings." 
 
 Tatidna answered that everything should be done 
 in proper style, and, having cleared the table, left the 
 room with her firm, quiet step, 
 
 " Now, what shall we do ? " said Maridnna turning 
 to Nejddnof ; and without waiting for an answer : " If 
 you like, as our real work only begins to-morrow, let 
 us devote this evening to literature. We will read 
 your verses. I will be a stern critic ! " 
 
 Nejddnof would not consent for some time. How- 
 ever, he ended by yielding, and began to read out of 
 his book. Maridnna sat near him and looked in his 
 face as he read. She was right in saying that she 
 would be a stern critic. Very few pieces pleased her ; 
 she preferred those which were short, purely lyric, and 
 without a moral, as she said. Nejddnof did not read 
 over well. He could not bring himself to declaim, and 
 did not like falling into mere flatness ; so the result 
 was neither fish nor flesh. 
 
 Maridnna all at once interrupted him by asking 
 whether he knew a beautiful piece of verse by 
 Dobroliubof, beginning, " Let me die, I care but 
 little,"* and at once repeated it, but not well either ; 
 in rather a childish, manner. 
 
 * " Let me die, I care but little : but one thing grieves my 
 melancholy soul ; I fear lest death may play some heartless 
 game over me. I fear lest o'er my cold body hot tears should 
 
246 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxviii, 
 
 Nejddnof remarked that it was too sad and bitter, and 
 then added that he, Nejddnof, could not have written 
 that poem because he had no reason to . fear tears 
 being shed over his grave, as there would not be any. 
 
 " There will be, if I survive you," said Maridnna, 
 slowly ; then, raising her eyes to the ceiling, she asked 
 after a pause, in a low voice, as if speaking to herself, 
 " How could he have drawn that portrait of me .' 
 From memory ? " 
 
 Nejdinof turned quickly round to her — 
 
 " Yes, from memory." 
 
 Mariinna was astonished at being answered. She 
 imagined that she had only thought the question. 
 
 " It is extraordinary," she continued, in the same 
 tone, " he has no talent whatever for drawing. What 
 was I about to say .-' " she added, aloud. " Oh, yes ; 
 about those verses of Dobroliiibof One ought to 
 write verses like Pushkin, or like those of Dobroliiibof; 
 it is not poetry, but at least as good." 
 
 "And verses like mine," asked Nejdanof, "ought 
 not to be written at all .? Is that not so ? " 
 
 " Verses like yours please friends, not because they 
 are very good, but because you are good and they are 
 like you." 
 
 Nejddnof smiled. " That is their epitaph ; and 
 mine too, by the way." 
 
 Maridnna tapped his arm and called him naughty. 
 Soon after she said she felt tired and was going to bed. 
 
 "By-the-by," she added, shaking her short, thick 
 curls, " you know, I have a hundred and thirty-seven 
 roubles ; and you .■' " 
 
 be shed ; lest some one in clumsy sympathy should bring flowers 
 to my bier ; lest any friends should follow it with no selfish 
 motive ; lest words of love should be spoken over the earth of 
 my grave ; lest all that I have craved so longingly and so 
 vainly here on earth, should smile at me joyously from over the 
 planks of my bier." 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] A NOVEL. 2.An 
 
 " Ninety-eight." 
 
 " Oh, we are rich. For simplified people ! Well, 
 till to-morrow." 
 
 She went into her room. A few moments later the 
 ■door again opened a little, and through the narrow 
 opening he heard, " Good-bye ! " and again in a softer 
 voice, " Good-bye ! " and the key snapped in the 
 lock. 
 
 Nejddnof threw himself on the sofa and covered 
 his face with his hands. Then he rose quickly, went 
 up to the door and knocked. 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Maridnna. 
 
 " Not ' till to-morrow,' Maridnna, but ' to-morrow.'" 
 
 " To-morrow ! " echoed the quiet voice. 
 
248 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXIX. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Early next morning Nejddnof again knocked at 
 Maridnna's door. 
 
 " It is I," he said, in answer to her question who 
 was there. " Can you come out to me ? " 
 
 " Directly. Wait a moment." 
 
 She came out, and started back. For a moment 
 she had not known him. He had on an old yellow 
 caftan of nankin, with a high waist and little buttons. 
 He had parted his hair in the middle, in the Russian 
 fashion, and had tied a blue handkerchief round his 
 neck. In his hand he held a cap with a broken peak ; 
 and he had on dirty boots of coarse hide. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " exclaimed Maridnna, " how ugly 
 you are ! " and she threw her arms quickly round him 
 and gave him a kiss. " But why have you dressed like 
 that .' You look like a second-rate shopkeeper, or a 
 pedlar, or a servant out of place. Why this caftan, 
 and not a blouse or a long peasant's coat .' " 
 
 " That is just it," began Nejddnof, who in his new 
 costume was really like some petty shopkeeper. He 
 felt this, and was inwardly vexed and confused — so 
 confused that he kept on touching his clothes with the 
 fingers of both hands, as if to get rid of them. " That 
 is just it. Pdvel assures me that in a blouse or a 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] A NOVEL. 249 
 
 peasant's dress I should be found out at once, 
 whereas this, according to him, suits me as if I had 
 never worn anything else in my life ! which, I may- 
 remark parenthetically, is not very flattering to my 
 vanity." 
 
 " Are you going to begin at once, then > " asked 
 Maridnna, excitedly. 
 ~" " Yes, I shall try, though, to tell the truth ..." 
 
 " Happy man ! " interrupted Maridnna. 
 
 " What a wonderful man that Pdvel is ! " continued 
 Nejddnof " He knows everything, and his eyes look 
 you through and through ; then he all at once screws 
 Up his face as if he were quite uninterested and knew 
 nothing at all about it ! Helps us, and yet does nothing 
 but laugh at us. He has brought me some pamphlets 
 from Mark^lof He knows him, too, and calls him by 
 his name, Sergei Mikhdilovitch ; and he would follow 
 Sol6min through fire and water." 
 
 " So would Tatidna," said Maridnna. " How is it 
 that people are so attached to him } " 
 
 Nejddnof made no ansvyer. 
 
 " What pamphlets has Pdvel brought you .' " asked 
 Maridnna. 
 
 " The usual, ones : ' The Tale of the Four Brothers,' 
 and others — the usual well-known ones'; and they are 
 the best." 
 
 Maridnna looked round impatiently. 
 
 " Where is Tatidna, I wonder .? She promised to 
 come early." 
 
 " Here she is," said Tatidna, coming into the room 
 with a parcel in her hand. She had heard Marianna's 
 exclamation at the door. " You will have plenty of 
 time. . . . You need not fret ! " 
 
 Maridnna rushed to meet her. 
 
 " Have you brought it } " 
 
 Tatidna touched the parcel. 
 
 " It is all here .... from top to toe. We will try it 
 
250 VIRGIN SOU. [chap. XXIX. 
 
 on ; and then you will only have to show it off, and 
 .astonish the people ! " 
 
 " Oh, come, come along, Tatidna Osi'povna. . . ." 
 And Mariinna dragged her into her room. 
 
 Nejddnof, who remained alone, walked once or twice 
 .across the room with a shuffling step, which for some 
 reason he imagined to be like that of a shopkeeper ; 
 then he cautiously sniffed his sleeve and the inside of 
 his cap, and made a wry face ; then looked at himself 
 in a little mirror by the window, and shook his head. 
 He was so ugly ! 
 
 "All the better," he thought. 
 
 Then he got out a few pamphlets and put them in 
 Tiis tail-pocket, and said in a low tone, — 
 
 " Well, .... my lads, .... nohow .... this, you see 
 .... so to say .... I think it will pass muster," he 
 .again thought. " But what is the use of acting this 
 farce 1 My dress answers for me." 
 
 And he remembered the story of a certain exile — a 
 German — who had to escape right through Russia, 
 and who spoke Russian very badly ; but, thanks to a 
 •catskin cap, such as merchants wear, which he bought 
 in a district town, he was taken for a merchant every- 
 where, and crossed the frontier in safety. 
 
 At this moment Sol6min came in. 
 
 " Aha ! " he exclaimed ; " fitted out ? But it is too 
 early yet. Or do you want to get used to it ? In that 
 case, all right. But anyhow you must wait a little. 
 My employer has not gone yet. He is still asleep." 
 
 "I will go out later," answered Nejddnof, "and take 
 - a walk round the neighbourhood, till we see whether 
 -we do not receive any orders from the chief." 
 
 " Right ! Only one thing, brother Alex^i. May I 
 call you Alex^i } " 
 
 " Do. Liksdi,* if you like," added Nejddnof, with 
 .a laugh. 
 
 • Popular corruption of Alexfi. 
 
CHAP, jqcix.] A NOVEL. 251 
 
 " No, no. Why overdo it ? Listen. A good under- 
 standing, it is said, is better than money. I see you 
 have some pamphlets. Give them away where you 
 \iWill, but not in the factory ! " 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 "Why, firstly, because it would be dangerous for 
 you. In the second place, I have promised my em- 
 ployer that there should be nothing of the kind here ; 
 for the factory, after all, belongs to him. Thirdly, we 
 ) have made a little start — schools and other things ; 
 and you might spoil all. Do what you please else- 
 . where, I do not hinder you, but let my workmen 
 alone." 
 
 " Prudence never does any harm, eh ?" said Nejddnof, 
 with a slight sneer. 
 
 Sol6min smiled broadly, as usual. 
 " Exactly so, brother Alex^i. It never does any 
 harm. But what vision do I see } Where are we .' " 
 
 These exclamations referred to Mariinna, who had 
 appeared on the threshold of her room, dressed in a 
 many-coloured, washed-out cotton gown, with a yellow 
 handkerchief over her shoulders and a red one on her 
 head. Tatiana was looking over her shoulder, and 
 was admiring her good-naturedly. Maridnna looked 
 younger and fresher in her simple dress, which suited 
 her far better than the long caftan did Nejddnof. 
 
 " Please do not laugh, Vasi'li Fedotitch," entreated 
 Maridnna, blushing like a poppy. 
 
 " What a couple ! " exclaimed Tatidna meanwhile, 
 and clapped her hands. " Only don't be angry, my 
 young gentleman. You are well enough ; but beside 
 my beauty you don't cut much of a figure." 
 
 " She is charming indeed," thought Nejddnof " Oh, 
 how I love her ! " 
 
 "And look !" continued Tatidna ; " we have changed 
 rings. She has taken my silver one, and given me 
 hers, which is gold." 
 
252 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXIX. 
 
 " Peasant -girls do not wear gold rings," said 
 Mariinna. 
 
 Tatidna sighed. " I will keep it for you, my pigeon ; 
 never fear." 
 
 "Now, sit down — sit down, both of you," began 
 Sol6min, who had been looking at Marianna all the 
 time with his head slightly on one side. " In olden 
 days, you remember, people always sat down before 
 setting forth on a journey. And before you lies a long 
 and difficult journey." 
 
 Mariinna, still blushing, sat down ; so did Nejdanof, 
 then Solomin ; even Tatiana sat down on a large log of 
 wood standing on end. Sol6min looked at first one 
 then another, and said with a half-smile, — 
 
 " Now let' us step aside and look 
 How nicely we are sitting," 
 
 then suddenly burst out laughing, but so pleasantly 
 that no one was offended ; on the contrary, they all felt 
 gayer. 
 
 Nejddnof suddenly rose. 
 
 " I shall go at once," he said ; " this is all very 
 ^^-eharming, but it is rather like a vaudeville in mas- 
 querading dress. Don't alarm yourself," he turned to 
 Sol6min, " I will not meddle with your workmen. I 
 will take a stroll in the neighbourhood, and when I 
 come back will tell you my adventures, Marianna, if 
 I have any to tell. Give me your hand, for luck ! " 
 
 " Won't you have some tea first .'" remarked Tatiina* 
 
 " No ; it is no time for tea-drinking. If I want 
 anything I will go into an inn, or a tavern will do." 
 
 Tatiana shook her head. " The way those taverns 
 have grown up along the high road ! Like fleas in a 
 sheepskin. There are plenty of big villages .... 
 Balmas6vo, for instance. . . ." 
 
 " Good-bye . . . ." said Nejddnof, but corrected him- 
 self, " wish you good-day," he said, trying to enter into 
 
\ 
 
 CHAP. XXIX.] A NOVEL. 2S3 
 
 his part. But before he reached the door, Pdvel 
 appeared from the passage under his very nose, and 
 giving him a long, thin staff, with the bark peeled 
 spirally all down it, said, — 
 
 " Take this, Alex^i Dmi'tritch, lean on it as you 
 walk, arid the further you place it from yourself, the 
 better it will be." 
 
 NejdcLnof took the staff in silence and went out, 
 with P^vel after him. Tatidna was also going out, 
 but Maridnna rose and stopped her ; " Wait a minute, 
 Tatidna Osfpovna, I want you." 
 
 " I will come back directly, and bring the tea-urn. 
 Your companion has gone out without tea ; I suppose 
 he was in a great hurry. But why should you punish 
 yourself } If you wait a bit, things will be clearer." 
 
 Tatidna left the room, and Sol6min also rose. 
 Maridnna was standing with her back to him, and 
 when she turned round, surprised at his long silence, 
 she saw in his face, and in his eyes, which were fixed 
 intently upon her, an expression such as she never 
 iioticed in them before ; an inquiring, uneasy, almost 
 inquisitive expression. She felt confused, and blushed 
 again. Sol6min seemed almost ashamed that she 
 should have seen the expression on his face, and said, 
 louder than usual, — 
 
 " So, Maridnna, you have begun at last." 
 " Begun, Vasi'li Fed6titch .? Do you call this 
 a beginning ? I feel very ill at ease just now. 
 Alex?i was right ; we seem to be playing a 'sort of 
 comedy." 
 
 Sol6min sat down again. 
 
 " But, Maridnna, how did you imagine you were 
 going to begin } By building barricades with a flag 
 on the top, and hurrah for the republic } That is 
 not a woman's business. No, to-day you may teach 
 some Luk^ria or other something useful, and it will 
 be no easy task, for Lukeria has a slow comprehension, 
 
254 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXIX. 
 
 and is afraid of you ; besides which, she imagines that 
 she has absolutely no use for what you want to teach 
 her ; and after a few weeks you will torment yourself 
 over another Luk^ria ; and meanwhile you will wash a 
 child, or teach him his alphabet, or give a sick man 
 medicine .... there is your beginning for you." 
 
 " But Sisters of Mercy do that, Vasi'li Fed6titch ! If 
 that is all, what is the good of all this .? . . . ." Mari- 
 anna pointed to herself and all round her with a vague 
 movement of her hand. "I dreamt of something 
 more." 
 
 " You wanted to sacrifice yourself.? " 
 
 Marianna's eyes sparkled. " Yes .... yes ! " 
 
 "AndNejdanof.?" 
 
 Marianna shrugged her shoulders. " What of 
 Nejdanof .' We will go together, or I will go alone." 
 
 Solomin looked steadily at Marianna. 
 
 " Do you know," he said, " excuse the coarseness of 
 my expression, but according to me, to comb the hair 
 of a filthy child is a sacrifice — a great sacrifice, of 
 which not many are capable." 
 
 " But I do not shrink from that, Vasi'li Fedotitch." 
 
 " I know you do not. Yes, you are capable of it. 
 And, meantime, you can do that ; later on you may 
 have something else to do." 
 
 " But for that I must learn from Tatiana ! " 
 
 " Certainly .... learn. You can wash the pots, pluck 
 the fowls .... And perhaps some day, — ^who knows ^ 
 — you will save the country ! " 
 
 " You are laughing at me, Vasi'li Fedotitch ! " 
 
 " My dear Marianna, believe me, I am not laugh- 
 ing at you ; my words are the plain truth. You 
 - Russian women are already greater and nobler than 
 we men." 
 
 Marianna raised her eyes. 
 
 " I could wish to fulfil your expectations, Sol6min, 
 and then — to die ! " 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] A NOVEL. 255 
 
 Sol6min again rose. 
 
 " No ! Live, live ! That is the great thing. By 
 the way, would you care to know what is thought of 
 your flight at the Sipiagins' .? Whether they are tak- 
 ing any steps to find you ? You have only to 
 whisper a word to Pdvel ; he will know everything in 
 a moment." 
 
 Marianna expressed her astonishment. "What a 
 wonderful man you have there ! " 
 
 " Yes ; remarkable enough. For instance, when 
 you and Alexdi wish to be married, it is he who will 
 arrange everything with Z6sima. . . . You remember, 
 I told you of the priest of that name. . . . But at 
 present it is not necessary. . . . Eh ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " No ? Very well, it shall be no." Sol6min sauntered 
 towards the door between the two rooms and glanced 
 at the lock. 
 
 " What are you looking at .■' " asked Maridnna. 
 
 " Does the lock fasten ? " 
 
 " Yes," she whispered. 
 
 Solomin turned towards her, but she did not raise 
 her eyes. 
 
 " So you do not care to know what Sipidgin's plans 
 are .... Eh ? " he said, gaily, and turned to go 
 -out .... 
 
 " Vasili Fed6titch " 
 
 " At your service." 
 
 " Please tell me why it is that you, who are generally 
 so silent, talk so much to me ? You do not know how 
 it pleases me." 
 
 " Why ? " (Sol6min took both her soft little hands 
 between his large horny palms), " why } Well, I sup- 
 pose because I am very fond of you. Good-bye." 
 
 He went out ; Marianna stood looking thoughtfully 
 after him, then went to find Tatidna, who had not 
 yet brought the tea-urn. With her she drank tea. 
 
2S5 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXIX, 
 
 certainly ; but she also washed some pots, and plucked 
 
 some fowls, and even combed out the tangled hair of 
 
 a boy. 
 
 About dinner-time she returned to her room. She 
 
 did not have to wait long for Nejddnof. He came in 
 
 tired and dusty, and dropped down on to the sofa. 
 
 She at once sat down by his side. 
 
 " Well ! what has happened .-" Tell me ! " 
 
 " You remember the two lines," he answered, in a 
 
 feeble voice, — 
 
 " ' All this would be laughable 
 If it were not so sad . . . .' 
 
 Do you remember them .' " 
 
 " Of course I remember them." 
 
 " Well, those same lines are admirably applicable 
 to my first attempt. No ; after all I think the laugh- 
 able decidedly predominates. In the first place, I am 
 sure that nothing is easier than to play a part ; no one 
 dreamt of suspecting me, only I had not thought of 
 one thing ; one ought to invent some story before- 
 hand, or they ask, ' Where are you from .? what 
 are you doing.?' and one has nothing ready. How- 
 ever, even that is hardly necessary. You have only 
 to offer a glass of whiskey in the first tavern and tell 
 what lies you like." 
 
 " Did you .... tell lies .' " asked Marianna. 
 
 " Yes, as best I could. Secondly:^.alLthe people to 
 'whom I talked are, without exception, dissatisfied, 
 and yet not one w ishes to know the reme dy! But as 
 for the propaganda, I am decidedly ol tne feeblest : 
 I left two pamphlets secretly in rooms, and put one 
 into a cart ; whether anything will come of them God 
 only knows. Then I offered pamphlets to four people ; 
 one asked whether it was a religious book, and would 
 not take it ; the second said he could not read, and 
 took it for the children because there was a picture on 
 
CHAP, XXIX.] A NOVEL. 257 
 
 the binding ; a third kept on saying, " Yes, yes," then 
 suddenly abused me most unexpectedly, and also re- 
 fused to take it ; and the last man took his, and 
 thanked me profusely for it, but I fancy did not 
 understand a word of what I said to him. Besides 
 all this, a dog bit my leg ; a woman, standing on the 
 threshold of her cottage, threatened me with a poker, 
 ' Ugh, you good-for-nothing Moscow ne'er-do-weels! 
 will nothing drown you ? ' And a soldier on unlimited 
 furlough called after me, ' Wait a bit, we will put a 
 cartridge through you, comrade ! ' and that after he 
 had got drunk at my expense ! " 
 
 " Anything more ? " 
 
 " Anything more ? I have given myself a corn :, one 
 of my boots is much too big. And I am very hungry, 
 and I have a headache from the whiskey } " 
 
 " Why, did you drink much ? " 
 
 " ]S{o, not much, just for the look of the thing ; but 
 I have been in five taverns, and I cannot endure that 
 filthy whiskey ! How the peasants can drink it I 
 cannot understand. If, to simplify myself, I must 
 drink whiskey, I had rather be excused." 
 
 " So no one suspected you ? " 
 
 " Not a soul. One tavern-keeper, a fat, pale man, 
 with light eyes, was the only person who even looked 
 suspiciously at me. I heard him say to his wife, 
 ' Keep your eye on that red-haired fellow who squints ' 
 (I didn't know before that I squinted) ; ' he is a bad 
 lot. See how queerly he drinks ! ' What he meant, 
 I don't know ; something like the ' moveton '* in 
 Gdgol's ' Revisor ' ; do you remember .' Perhaps it 
 was because I tried to throw the whiskey under the 
 .table on the sly. Oh, it is difficult, very difficult, to 
 ^^ombine aesthetics and actual life ! " 
 
 " Another time you will be more successful," said 
 
 * Some officials reading a letter are much puzzled by this 
 phonetic rendering of " mauvais ton." 
 
2S8 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Marianna, soothingly ; " but I am glad you have 
 looked at your first attempt from a humorous point 
 of view. You were not dull, were you ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, I was rather amused ; but I know 
 exactly what I shall think about all this presently, 
 and I shall be miserable and disgusted with it all." 
 
 " No, I will not let you think. I will tell you what 
 I have been doing. We shall have dinner directly ; 
 and I may tell you that I have washed the pot in 
 which Tatidna made our soup most admirably. I will 
 tell you everything as we eat." 
 
 And so she did ; and Nejdanof listened, and looked 
 and looked at her, so that she once or twice stopped 
 to allow him to say why he was looking at her so 
 intently, but he remained silent. 
 
 After dinner she proposed to read Spielhagen 
 aloud ; but she had not finished the first page when 
 he rose impetuously, and, going up to her, thre»r him- 
 self at her feet. She rose ; he caught her knees in his 
 arms, and began to utter confused, passionate, 
 desperate words. "He wanted to die ; he knew he 
 should die soon . . . ." She made no movement, no 
 resistance, calmly allowed him to embrace her knees, 
 and calmly, nay, even gently, looked down upon him 
 from above. She laid both hands on his head, which 
 was buried in the folds of her dress. But her very 
 calmness had a stronger effect on him than if she 
 had repelled him. 
 
 He rose and said, " Forgive me, Marianna, both for 
 to-day and for yesterday. Tell me once more that 
 you are ready to wait till I am worthy of your love, 
 and forgive me." 
 
 " I have given my word, and cannot change." 
 
 " Thanks. Good-bye." 
 
 He went out and Maridnna shut herself into her 
 room. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] A NO FEZ. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 A FORTNIGHT later, in the same lodging, Nejddnof 
 was writing to his friend Si'lin, bent over his three- 
 legged table, on which stood a tallow dip, giving a 
 dim and grudging light. It was long past midnight ; 
 some mud-stained clothing lay scattered over the floor, 
 just as it had been hurriedly thrown off; the rain 
 drizzled without intermission against the window, and 
 the warm wind swept with great sighs over the roof. 
 
 " Dear Vladimir, — I write to you without putting 
 any address on my letter, and even the letter itself 
 will be sent by messenger to a distant post-office 
 because my presence here is a secret, and to disclose 
 it would be to ruin others besides myself. It will 
 be enough for you to know that I have been living 
 • in a large factory, together with Mariinna, for the last 
 fortnight. We fled from the Sipiagins' house the same 
 day as I wrote to you ; and a friend, whom I will call 
 Vasfli, has given us shelter here. He is the manager- 
 of this factory, and an excellent fellow. We shall 
 only remain here for a time, till the moment for 
 action has arrived ; although, if one may judge from 
 what has passed since our coming, that moment will 
 not be yet, if ever ! Vladimir, I am very, very un- 
 
26o VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP, XXX, 
 
 happy I must tell you before going any further 
 that, though Maridnna and I fled together, yet, up to 
 this time, we are living as brother and sister. She 
 loves me, and has told me that she will be mine 
 whenever I feel that I have the right to ask her. 
 
 " It is that right which I feel I have not. She trusts 
 me and my honour and I will not deceive her. I 
 know that I have never loved and never shall love 
 any one (that is quite certain) more than I do her. 
 But all the same, how can I join her fate to mine for 
 ever .■' Bind a living being to a corpse 1 Well, if not 
 to a corpse, at any rate to a man who is half dead ! 
 How could I conscientiously do it .'' You may say 
 that if my passion were really strong my conscience 
 would be silent. But though I may be a corpse, yet 
 the corpse is still honourable and has good impulses. 
 Please do not exclaim that I always exaggerate. All 
 that I am telling you is the plain truth. As for 
 Marianna, she is by nature very reserved, and is now 
 entirely engrossed in her work, in which she be- 
 lieves .... while I } 
 
 " Well, let us put aside love and personal happiness 
 and such things. For the last fortnight I have been 
 
 ^' among the people,' and, honestly, it is difficult to 
 imagine anything more stupid. Of course, the fault 
 lies with me, and not with the cause. I grant that I 
 
 , «m not a Slavophil ; I am not one of those who cure 
 themselves by contact with the people ; I do not wear 
 it on my chest when I am ill, like a hot flannel .... 
 I want to act on it myself, but in what way } How 
 can I accomplish this.? When I am among the 
 people, I only look about me and listen, and if I am 
 called upon to say anything myself I am lost! I 
 myself feel that I am worth nothing. I am like a 
 bad actor in a part he does not know. First I have a 
 fit of conscientiousness, then comes scepticism and a 
 wretched sense of humour directed at myself. All 
 
CHAP. XXX.] A NOVEL. 261 
 
 this is not worth a farthing ! It is even disgusting to 
 think about it ; disgusting to look at the old rags 
 which I drag about — ^the_inasquerade,jas Vasili calls it ! 
 People say that one must'Begin "Ey learning the lan- 
 guage of the people, knowing its ways and customs 
 .... nonsense, nonsense, nonsense ! One must be- 
 
 \ lieve what one says, and then one can say what one 
 will ! I once happened to hear the preaching of a 
 dissenting prophet : deuce knows what the fellow was 
 saying ; it was a compound of phrases taken from the 
 Bible, from books, from the peasant dialect ; it was 
 not even Russian, but a kind of White Russian,* barely 
 intelligible, while in the midst of it all he went on ' the 
 spirit has come, the spirit has come,' like an old black 
 cock calling. But his eyes were burning, his voice 
 was firm and deep, his fists clenched, and he seemed 
 made of iron ! His listeners did not understand him, 
 but they worshipped, and they followed him. Now 
 when I begin to talk I do it as if I were begging their 
 pardon for some fault. I feel inclined to turn dis- 
 senter ; their wisdom is not great, true, but where is 
 
 ^"one to find the faith, the faith ! Now Maridnna has 
 
 ^ faith, begins in the early morning, and works with 
 Tatiina ; there is a woman here of that name, a 
 worthy soul, and no fool ; she, by the way, says we 
 want to 'simplify' ourselves, and calls us 'simplified'; 
 well, Maridnna begins work with this woman, and 
 never rests a moment, just like an ant. She is 
 delighted that her hands are becoming red and hard, 
 and is only waiting for the moment when she may go 
 -to the scaffold. As if the scaffold were not bad 
 / enough, she has even tried to do without shoes ; she 
 
 / went somewhere and came back barefoot. After that 
 I heard her washing her feet a long time, and I 
 noticed she was walking carefully, because it hurt 
 
 * White Russia borders on Poland, and the dialect spoken 
 there contains a good deal of Polish. 
 
262 VIRGIN SOU. [chap. XXX. 
 
 her, as she was not used to it ; but her face was all 
 bright and joyous, as if she had found a treasure, or 
 as if the sun were shining on it. Yes, Marianna is a 
 brave soul ! And whenever I talk to her about my 
 feelings, to begin with, I am as ashamed as if I were 
 laying hands on something which did not belong to 
 me, and then that look, that terrible, loving, unresist- 
 ing look . . . . ' take me if you will, but remember ! 
 And why think of it at all ? Is there nothing better 
 or nobler upon earth ? ' which in other words means 
 ' Put on a filthy caftan and go among the people ' . . . 
 So I go among the people. 
 
 " Oh, and how I curse all the nervousness, the sensi- 
 bility, the fastidiousness, which I have inherited from 
 my aristocratic father ! What right had he to call 
 me into existence and furnish me with organs which 
 are totally unfit for the sphere in which I am destined 
 to move } — to make a bird, and then throw it into the 
 water i" — ^tp jmake a man of taste, a nd la nd him in the 
 mud ? — to make a"g"eiTTocrat7a"T5ver of the pe opleTn T 
 whonTthe mere smell" of that accursed whiskey causes 
 disgust-^aimost sickness f — 
 
 ^"BeFwhat'^niave cqni'e to — begun to abuse my 
 father ! But -I- made_my§glf_a _democrat j he h ad 
 nothing to do w iriijt. 
 
 "Yes, Vladimir, I am doing badly. Grey and 
 dismal thoughts have begun to attack me. You may 
 ask me, Have I not, during this fortnight, come across 
 some one consoling point — some good and vigorous, 
 though ignorant, man 1 What shall I say } I have 
 met something of the sort. I even found an admirable 
 one, an energetic, fine fellow ; but, do what I would, 
 he would have nothing to do with me or my pam- 
 phlets, and there was an end of it. He is a friend of 
 Pdvel (a workman here, Vasi'li's right hand, a very 
 clever, nay cunning man — a fellow with brains ; I 
 mentioned him already, I think), a peasant, by name 
 
\ 
 
 CHAP, XXX.] A NOVEL. 263 
 
 lelisdr, also a clear-headed man, and with a mind free 
 from all prejudices. Yet when I am with him there 
 seems to be a wall between us. He looks the incar- 
 . nation of a negative. Then I ran against another 
 one, who belonged to the men of action. ' Now you, 
 master,' he said, ' don't give me any of your talk ; 
 tell me straight away, will you give us all your land 
 or not .' ' ' What do you mean 1 ' I said. ' What sort 
 of a master am I .■" (I remember I add.ed ' God be 
 with you ! ') ' Why, if you are one of us,' he repeated, 
 ' what is the use of you .-' Get away from me, will you ! ' 
 " Another thing I have noticed. If a man listens to 
 you very willingly, and takes pamphlets directly, he is 
 useless — ' blown out with wind.' Or you may come 
 across a peasant orator, one of the ' educated,' who 
 only knows one pet word, which he repeats at every 
 opportunity. I was simply tortured by such a one ; 
 everything with him was ' prodooction.' Whatever 
 you said, ' Ah,' he would repeat, ' that 's the " prodooc- 
 tion " of it ! ' — deuce take the fellow ! One more 
 remark. You may remember a discussion, a long 
 time back, about ' imoe cessarv ' people — Hamlets. 
 Fancy, such ' unnecessary ' peop le are found even 
 _^_am ong the peasa nts^ — Of co m^etHey have their pecu- 
 A liarities ; tTiey afej indeed, mostly consumptive. They 
 V are interesting in their way, and comeTous willingly 
 enough, but are of no real use for— the_£ause — as 
 (_Hamlets have ever been. 
 
 " Well, what are you to~d6 .■' Start a secret printing- 
 press ? But there are pamphlets enough without it 
 — pamphlets which say, ' Cross yourself and take up 
 your axe,' and pamphlets which say simply ' Take up 
 your axe.' Write stories of peasant life with a moral .' 
 You will probably not get them printed. Or take up 
 s^ the axe yourself .' — against whom, with whom, and for 
 what .'' For a soldier of the Crown to pot you with a 
 gun belonging to the Crown .' That is simply a j 
 
264 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXX. 
 
 'rather complicated form of suicide. One had better 
 shoot oneself — at any rate, one can choose time and 
 place, and be sure of the shot ! 
 
 " I really believe that, if a patriotic war were to 
 ^commence anywhere just now, I should start off and 
 go there, not to free any one (free other nations while 
 one's own is enslaved!), but merely to put an end to 
 myself. 
 ''' " Our friend Vasili, who has sheltered us here, is a 
 happy man. He belongs to our camp, yet he is 
 tranquil. He is not in a hurry. Another I might 
 blame, but not him. Thence I conclude that the 
 whole gist of the matter is not in one's opinion, but in 
 ^one's character. Vasi'li's is such that you would not 
 find a crack in it : and he is right. He spends a good 
 deal of time with us, especially with Marianna. And 
 here is a curious fact : I love her, and she loves me 
 (I see you smiling at this, but it is really true), and 
 yet we have no subjects of conversation. Now with 
 him she talks, discusses, and listens to what he 
 says. I have no cause for jealousy, for he is going to 
 find her a place somewhere — at least, she is asking 
 him to do so ; only I feel bitter when I look at them. 
 And yet, if I were to say a word about marriage, she 
 would consent at once, and Zosima the priest would 
 appear on the scene with ' Rejoice, Isaiah ! '* and all 
 the rest of it. Only that would not make my heart 
 lighter, and nothing would be changed by it. Life has 
 snipped me off, as our friend the drunken tailor (you 
 remember, Vladimir ?) used to say when he complained 
 of his wife. 
 
 " However, I feel' that this will not go on long. I 
 
 feci that something is impending. 
 
 "^' ' Have I not myself been insisting on, and proving 
 
 the necessity of, ' action ' .' Well, here we are at work ! 
 
 * I do not remember whether I have written to you 
 
 * A canticle in the marriage ceremony. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] A NOVEL, 26s 
 
 about another acquaintance, a dark fellow, a relation 
 of the Sipidgins ? He may yet make such a porridge 
 of things that no one will eat it ! 
 
 " I wanted to finish my letter, but no, I keep on 
 
 >v concocting verses. I do not read them to Marianna — 
 
 ^ she does not care for them much, while you sometimes 
 
 praise them, and, better still, will never tell tales. I was 
 
 struck by one characteristic common to all Russia. . . . 
 
 But here they are : — 
 
 "'A DREAM. 
 " ' 'Twas long since I had been in my native land, but 
 I found in it no great change. Always the same stag- 
 nation, bereft of life and thought, homes without rooft, 
 ruined walls, the same filth and mud, poverty and 
 apathy ; the same slavish look, now abject, now over 
 v^ bold. Our people now is free, but the free arm hangs 
 as before like a useless thong. All is as before^^.__. In_^ 
 on£-thing„only-hav£_-we_. surpassed—Europe, Asiar-the 
 whQle_wo?ld. Never, never yet have my dear country- 
 men slept so sound a sleep ! All sleeps arou nd, in 
 village, in town, in cart or sledge^ by day, by nigh^ 
 standing, sitting. . . . The merchant, the official,^leeps, 
 the sentinel on hts watch, in the depths of cold, or in 
 the burning heat ! The prisoner sleeps, and the judge 
 ■ snores. The peasants sleep like the dead ; they reap 
 ^ and plough asleep ; they thresh, and yet they sleep. 
 Father, mother, all the family, all sleep. He who 
 strikes sleeps, and he who receives the blow ! 
 ' Only the tavern is wakeful, and never closes an eye ; 
 and, clasping a whiskey-pot with a firm grip, her fore- 
 head at the Pole and her feet in the Caucasus, sleeps 
 a never-ending sleep our country, our holy Russia 1 ' 
 
 " There,, forgive me, but I did not wish to send you 
 such a melancholy letter without something to amuse 
 you at the end. You may laugh at my rhymes, and 
 will find plenty of weak ones. When shall I write 
 
266 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXX. 
 
 you my next letter ? and shall I ever write it ? What- 
 ever may happen to me I am sure you will not forget 
 your true friend, " A. N. 
 
 " P.S. — Yes, our people sleep, hnt T think i f an , 
 awalfpning wpi-e to romp it wnn1<3 he very dlBerent 
 from what we fancy." 
 
 Having written the last line, Nejddnof dropped his 
 pen, and lay down on his bed, saying to himself, 
 " Now, you poetaster, try and go to sleep, and forget 
 all this stuff ! " But it was long before sleep obeyed 
 his call. 
 
 The next morning he was awoke by Mariinna 
 crossing the room on her way to Tatidna; but he had 
 hardly dressed before she came back with an expres- 
 sion of joyous emotion on her face ; she seemed 
 excited. 
 
 " Do you know, Ali6sha, they say that in the 
 district of T., not far from here, it has already 
 begun ? " 
 
 " What .? What has begun .? Who says so .? " 
 
 "Pavel. They say that the peasants are rising, 
 refusing to pay taxes, and collecting in troops." 
 
 " Did you hear that yourself.?" 
 
 " Tatiana told me. And here is Pavel. Ask him." 
 
 Pdvel came in and confirmed what Marianna had 
 said. 
 
 " There are troubles in the district of T., that is 
 certain ! " he said, shaking his beard and blinking his 
 sharp black eyes. " Sergei Mikhdilovitch at work, I 
 suppose. He has not been at home now for five 
 days." 
 
 Nejddnof took up his cap. 
 
 " Vi^here are you going > " asked Marianna. 
 
 "Why, there, of course," he answered, without 
 raising his eyes, and frowning, " to the district of T." 
 
 " Then I shall come with you. You will take me. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] A NOVEL. 267 
 
 will you not ? Give me a moment to put on a ker- 
 chief." 
 
 "This is no woman's business," said Nejdanof, 
 gloomily, still looking down as if he were angry. 
 
 " You are wrong ! You do well to go, or Mark^lof 
 would think you a coward. But I will go with you." 
 
 " I am not a coward," said Nejddnof^ in the same 
 tone. 
 
 " I meant that he would think us both cowards. I 
 am going." 
 
 Maridnna went into her room to fetch her hand- 
 kerchief, while Pdvel exclaimed softly, drawing in his 
 breath, " Eh, eh!" and ran off instantly to let Sol6min 
 know. 
 
 Sol6min entered the room before Maridnna had 
 returned. Nejdinof was standing before the window, 
 with his forehead resting on his hand, and his hand on 
 the glass. He turned sharply when Sol6min touched 
 his shoulder. His look was wild and strange, for, 
 he had not washed and his hair was tangled. Sol6min 
 too had changed of late. He had grown yellower, his 
 face was longer, and his upper teeth showed a little 
 more. He also seemed excited, as far as his " well- 
 balanced " mind could be. 
 
 " Markdlof has not been able to restrain himself," 
 he began. " This may end badly, both for him .... 
 and for others." 
 
 " I must go and see what is doing," said Nejdanof. 
 
 "And I too," said Marianna, appearing on the 
 threshold. 
 
 Sol6min turned slowly towards her. 
 
 " I should advise you not,. Mariinna. You may 
 betray yourself, and us too, involuntarily, and without 
 the slightest necessity. Let Nejddnof go and look 
 about him to see what is happening ; and even that 
 must be with the greatest caution. But why should 
 you.?" 
 
268 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP, XXX. 
 
 " I will not leave him." 
 
 " You will only tie his hands." 
 
 Maridnna glanced at Nejdanof, who was standing 
 motionless, with a savage, immovable face. 
 
 " But if there is danger .' " she asked. 
 
 Solomin smiled. 
 
 " Do not be afraid. When there is danger, I will 
 let you go." 
 
 Marianna removed the kerchief from her head in 
 silence and sat down. 
 
 Then Solomin turned to Nejdanof 
 
 " I think, brother, that you had really better go and 
 see what is happening. Perhaps it is all exaggerated. 
 Only be careful, please, and come back quick. By the 
 way, I will send some one to drive you. Do you 
 promise, Nejdanof.'" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Are you sure .■■ " 
 
 " Of course. Does not every one here, from Mari- 
 anna downwards, obey you .'' " 
 
 Nejdanof went out into the passage without saying 
 good-bye. Pavel appeared out of a dark corner, and 
 ran down the staircase before him, stumping on his 
 iron heels. It was he who was to drive Nejdanof 
 
 Sol6min sat down by Maridnna. 
 
 " Did you hear Nejdanof s last words .? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes. He is vexed that I listen to you more than 
 to him. It is true I do. I love him, and obey you. 
 He is dearer to me, and you are nearer." 
 
 Solomin touched her hand gently with his. 
 
 "This is a bad business," he at length went on. 
 " If Markelof is mixed up in it he is lost." 
 
 Maridnna shuddered. 
 
 "Lost.?" 
 
 "Yes. He does nothing by halves, and will not 
 hide behind others." 
 
 " Lost ! " again whispered Maridnna ; and the tears 
 
LCHAP. XXX. A NOVEL. 269 
 
 ran down her face. " Oh, Vasi'li Feddtitch, I am so 
 sorry for him. But why should he not be successful .' 
 Why must he necessarily be lost .' " 
 
 " Because, Maridnna, in such undertakings the first 
 ^always perish, even if they arc successful ; and in the 
 cause which he has taken up not only the first and 
 second will perish, but even the tenth and the twen- 
 tieth " 
 
 ~ " So we shall not live to see it ? " 
 
 " What you are thinking of t No. With these eyes 
 we shall not behold it — with these, the eyes of the 
 body. With the eyes of the mind, perhaps. That is 
 another matter. Indulge yourself whenever you like. 
 Now, if you will. To their sight there are no bounds." 
 
 " Then why do you, Sol6min ....}" 
 
 " Why do I }" 
 
 " Follow that path .? " 
 
 " Because there is no other. That is to say, our 
 object is the same as Mark^lof's, but our paths are 
 different." 
 
 " Poor Sergei Mikhailovitch ! " said Marianna, sadly. 
 
 Sol6min again touched her hand gently. 
 
 " Do not be too much cast down. We know nothing 
 certain yet. We will see what news Pdvel brings. In 
 our calling we must be firm. The English say, ' Never 
 say die ! ' It is a good proverb. Better than ours : 
 ' Woe has come ; open the gates wide.' We must not 
 lament beforehand." 
 
 Solomin rose. 
 
 " What of the situation you promised to find me .' " 
 suddenly asked Marianna. 
 
 The tears were still shining on 'her cheeks, but the 
 sorrowful expression had left her eyes. 
 
 Solomin sat down again. 
 
 " Why, are you in such a hurry to leave us } " 
 
 " Oh, no ! but I want to be useful." 
 
 " You are very useful here, Marianna. Do not leave 
 
270 VIRGIN SOIL. ^ [cHAP. XXX, 
 
 us. Wait a little. What do you want ^ " he asked 
 Tatiana, who appeared at the door. 
 
 " There is a sort of female fellow outside asking for 
 Alex^i Dmi'tritch," answered Tatiana, laughing and 
 making gestures. " I tried to say that he was not 
 here — never had been ; that we knew nobody of the 
 name ; but he . . . ." 
 
 " What he .? " 
 
 " Why, this same female fellow. He took and wrote 
 his name on this bit of paper here, and said I was to 
 show it, and they would let him in ; and that if Alexdi 
 Dmi'tritch was really not at home, he would wait." 
 
 On the paper was written, in large capitals, " Ma- 
 shurina." 
 
 " Let her in," said Solomin. " She will not be in 
 your way, will she, Maridnna, if she comes in here ? 
 She is one of us." 
 
 " Not in the least, of course." 
 
 A few moments later Mashiirina appeared on the 
 threshold. She wore the same dress as we saw her 
 in at the beginning of the iirst chapter. 
 
CHAP. XXXI.} A NOVEL. 271 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 " Nejdanof is not at home ? " she asked ; then re- 
 cognizing Sol6min, went up and shook hands with 
 him. 
 
 At Maridnna she only threw a side glance. 
 
 " He will soon be back," answered Sol6min. " But 
 may I ask from whom you learnt ....?" 
 
 " From Mark^lof. Besides, two or three people in 
 town already know it." 
 
 " Really ! " 
 
 " Yes. Somebody has let it out ; and I was told 
 Nejddnof had been recognized." 
 
 " That is the use of your disguises ! " grumbled 
 Soldmin. " Let me introduce you," he added aloud. 
 " Miss Sinetskaia — Miss Mashiirina. Take a seat." 
 
 Mashiirina gave a little nod, and sat down. 
 
 " I have a letter for Nejddnof, and a verbal question 
 to ask you, Sol6min." 
 
 " What is it ? From whom .' " 
 
 " From the person you wot of. Is all ready here .'" 
 
 " Nothing is ready here." 
 
 Mashiirina opened her little eyes as wide as she 
 could. 
 
 " Nothing > " 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
272 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. xxxi. 
 
 "Absolutely nothing ?" 
 
 " Absolutely nothing." 
 
 " And I am to say so ? " 
 
 " And you are to say so." 
 
 Mashiirina took a cigarette from her pocket with a 
 thoughtful air. 
 
 " Can you give me a light } " 
 
 " Here is a match." 
 
 Mashurina lighted her cigarette. 
 
 " ' They ' expected something more," she began, 
 "and round about things. are different. However, 
 that is your business. I shall not stay long with you 
 — ^just to see Nejddnof and give him the letter." 
 
 " Where are you going then .-' " 
 
 " A long journey." 
 
 She was really going to Geneva, but did not wish to 
 say so to Sol6min. She thought him lukewarm ; 
 besides which a stranger was present. Mashurina, 
 who hardly knew a word of German, was going to 
 Geneva to give a person she did not know one half of 
 a piece of cardboard, with a vine-branch drawn on it, 
 and two hundred and seventy-nine silver roubles. 
 
 " And where is Ostrodiimof i" — ^with you .■' " 
 
 "No. He is not far off; but he will be found 
 when he is wanted. Pfmen will not be lost, no fear." 
 
 " How did you get here ? " 
 
 " In a cart. How else should I ? Give me another 
 match ? " 
 
 Solomin lighted a match and gave it her. 
 
 " Vasi'li Fedotitch ! " suddenly said a voice outside 
 the door ; " please come here ! " 
 
 " Who is it .? What is the matter > " 
 
 " Please come ! " insisted the voice, in a pleading 
 tone. "There are some strange workmen here 
 saying something or other, and Pavel Ieg6ritch is 
 away." 
 
 Solomin excused himself and left the room. 
 
CHAP. XXXI,] A NOVEL. 273 
 
 Mashiirina looked at Maridnna so long that the latter 
 began to feel uncomfortable. 
 
 " Excuse me," she said all at once in her rough, 
 abrupt manner, " I am a plain girl, and do not know 
 how to .... to put things. . . . Don't be angry ; you 
 need not answer me unless you like. Are you the 
 person who ran away from the Sipidgins t " 
 
 Maridnna was a little startled, but said, — 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "WithNejddnof.?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Please give me your hand. Excuse me, you must 
 be good if he loves you." 
 
 Maridnna shook her hand and said, — 
 
 " Do you know him intimately .' " 
 
 " I know him : I have seen him in Petersburg. 
 That is why I asked ; and Sergei Mikhdilovitch also 
 told me " 
 
 " Oh, Mark^lof ! have you seen him lately .' " 
 
 " Not long since. He is away now." 
 
 " Where has he gone .' " 
 
 " Where he was ordered to go." 
 
 Marianna sighed. " Ah, Miss Mashiirina, I fear for 
 him ! " 
 
 " To begin with, please don't call me ' Miss ' ; you 
 must give up those ways. Secondly, you said, ' I fear ' ; 
 that will not do either. One must not fear for one- 
 \ self, and one will give up fearing for others : one 
 must neither think of oneself, nor fear for oneself. 
 Only certainly I, Th^kla Mashiirina, can afford to talk 
 like that. I am ugly, while you are a beauty. So all 
 this is harder for you." Maridnna looked down, and 
 turned away her face. " Sergei Mikhdilovitch said, — he 
 knew I had a letter for Nejddnof, — ' Don't go to the 
 factory,' he said ; ' don't take the letter ; it will spoil 
 everything there ; leave them alone, they are happy ; 
 
 T 
 
374 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXI. 
 
 don't interfere with them ! ' So I would have gladly ; 
 but how about the letter ? " 
 
 " Of course it must be delivered," said Maridnna. 
 " But how good Sergei Mikhiilovitch is ! Do you 
 think he is really lost, Mashiirina ? Will it be 
 Siberia ? " 
 
 " And suppose it were ? Do people never escape 
 from Siberia ? And as for life, to some it is sweet, 
 to others bitter. His life is not all refined sugar." 
 
 Mashurina again looked attentively and inquiringly 
 at Marianna. 
 
 " You are really a beauty ! " she at length exclaimed ; 
 " quite a little bird ! But why doesn't Alex^i come ? 
 Shall I give you the letter } Why should I wait .? " 
 
 " I will give it him, you may be sure." 
 
 Mashurina rested her cheek on her hand, and 
 looked at her long in silence. 
 
 "Tell me," she began, "excuse me — but do you 
 love him very much ? " 
 
 " I do." 
 
 Mashurina tossed her hair back. 
 
 " I need not ask whether he loves you. But I niust 
 be going, or I shall be late. Tell him that I have 
 been here, and give him my regards. Tell him 
 Mashurina has been here. You will not forget my 
 name, will you .■" — Mashiirina. Oh, the letter — ^where 
 have I put it 1 " 
 
 Mashurina rose and turned away, making a pretence 
 of hunting in her pockets. She quickly raised a 
 ■ little roll of paper to her mouth and swallowed it. 
 
 " Good gracious ! how stupid of me. I cannot 
 have lost it ! But I have. Dear ! dear ! suppose 
 any one found it ! It is not here — no ! So it has 
 actually turned out as Sergei Mikhdilovitch wished." 
 
 " Look again," murmured Marianna. , 
 
 Mashurina waved her hand. 
 
 " What is the use > It is lost ! " 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] A NOVEL. 27s 
 
 Maridnna went up to her. 
 
 " Kiss me ! " she said. 
 
 Mashurina caught hold of her with an unfeminine 
 strength and hugged her to her breast. 
 
 " I would not have done it for any one else," she 
 whispered hoarsely ; " it is against my conscience .... 
 the first time ! Tell him to be more prudent, and 
 you too. Take care! There will soon be trouble 
 ^ here — trouble for all of us. Go away, both of you, for 
 a time. . . . Good-bye ! " she exclaimed aloud, and 
 in a sharp tone, " and tell him. . . . No ; it does not 
 matter — nothing." 
 
 Mashurina went out, slamming the door, and 
 Maridnna remained standing in the middle of the 
 room. 
 
 " What does it all mean .? " she at last asked her- 
 self. " That woman loves him more than I do ! 
 And what does she mean by her hints } and why 
 does not Sol6min come back .' " 
 
 She began to walk to and fro. A strange feeling, 
 partly fear, partly vexation and astonishment, had 
 seized her. Why had she not gone with Nejddnof 1 
 Sol6min had dissuaded her ; but where was he 1 
 and what was happening round her .? Mashurina had," 
 of course, refrained from delivering the dangerous 
 letter out of sympathy for Nejdinof How could she 
 have ventured on such an act of disobedience } She 
 wanted to show her generosity. What right had she 
 to do so } And why was she, Maridnna, so touched 
 by this act } And was she really touched } An ugly 
 woman takes an interest in a young man. There 
 was, after all, nothing so wonderful in that ! And 
 why should Mashurina imagine that Maridnna's affec- 
 tion for Nejddnof was stronger than her sense of 
 duty } Possibly Maridnna did not at all appreciate 
 this sacrifice. And what was in that letter .' — a call to 
 immediate action .' Well, why not ? " 
 
376 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXI. 
 
 "And Mark^lof? He is in danger, and what are 
 we doing ? Mark^lof is sparing us both, giving us the 
 possibility of being happy, will not separate us ! Is it 
 also generosity — or contempt ? Was it for this we 
 left the hated house, to remain together, and coo like 
 doves ? " 
 
 So thought Maridnna, and her excitement and 
 vexation increased every moment. Besides which her 
 vanity was hurt. Why had every one — every one left 
 her 1 That stout woman had called her a little bird, 
 a beauty .... why not a doll at once .■' And why had 
 Nejdanof not gone alone, but with Pdvel, just as if he 
 needed a guardian } And what were Sol6min's 
 opinions 1 He was no true republican ! But could 
 any one really think that she was not serious in the 
 cause .'' 
 
 These thoughts chased each other in whirling con- 
 fusion through Maridnna's heated brain. At length, 
 clenching her teeth and folding her arms like a 
 man, she sat down by the window and remained 
 motionless, without leaning on the back of her chair : 
 she was on the alert, every nerve strained, ready to 
 spring up instantaneously. She would not go to 
 Tatiana and work ; she would only wait ! So she 
 waited doggedly, almost sullenly. Sometimes her 
 own state of mind seemed to her strange and inex- 
 plicable. However, it was all the same ! Once the 
 idea even came into her head that she was doing all 
 this from jealousy ; but when she thought of poor 
 Mashiirina's appearance she shrugged her shoulders 
 and made a gesture, as if to say, " How absurd!" — not 
 an actual gesture, but a mental one. 
 
 She had to wait long ; at length she heard the 
 steps of two people climbing the staircase. She gazed 
 steadily at the door as the steps approached. It 
 opened, and Nejdinof, leaning on the arm of Pdvel, 
 appeared on the threshold. He was deadly pale, and 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] A NOVEL. 277 
 
 had lost his cap ; his dishevelled hair fell in damp 
 masses over his forehead ; he was looking straight 
 before him and evidently saw nothing. P^vel led him 
 across the room (for his legs dragged feebly and un- 
 certainly) and put him down on the sofa. 
 
 Mariinna had sprung from her seat. 
 
 " What is it ? What is the matter .? Is he ill .' " 
 
 But Pdvel, who was helping him, turned half round 
 and answered over his shoulder with a smile, " Don't 
 be alarmed, if you please ; it will pass off directly ; it 
 is only from want of habit." 
 
 " But what is the matter } " insisted Maridnna. 
 
 " He is a little drunk. He has taken it on an empty 
 stomach ; so it upset him ! " 
 
 Maridnna bent over Nejddnof He was lying across 
 the sofa, his head on his breast, his eyes vacant. He 
 smelt of whiskey ; he was drunk. 
 
 " Alex^i ! " broke from her lips. 
 
 He raised his heavy eyelids with an effort and tried 
 to smile. 
 
 " Ah, Marianna ! " he muttered, " you are always 
 saying ' Sim .... simpli . . . simplified,' now I am 
 simplified with a vengeance. Because the people is 
 always drunk .... so ... ." 
 
 He stopped, muttered a few unintelligible sounds, 
 closed his eyes, and went to sleep. Pdvel laid him 
 carefully on the sofa. 
 
 " Do not be alarmed, Maridnna Vik^ntievna," he 
 repeated, " he will sleep a couple of hours and get 
 up as if nothing had been." 
 
 Maridnna wanted to ask how it had happened ; but 
 her question would have detained Pavel, and she 
 wished to be alone, or rather she did not wish Pdvel 
 to see, him any longer before her in such a state. She 
 walked to the window, and Pdvel, who at once under- 
 stood, covered Nejdanof's legs carefully with the 
 skirts of his coat, put a pillow under his head, and 
 
278 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXI, 
 
 saying once more, " Never mind," went out on tiptoe. 
 Maridnna looked round. Nejddnof's head had fallen 
 heavily on the pillow ; on his pale face there was a 
 fixed expression of painful conflict, as on that of one 
 dangerously ill. 
 " How could it have happened ? " she thought. 
 
CHAP. XXXII.] A NOVEL. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 This was how it had happened. 
 
 When Nejddnof had got into the cart with Pdvel 
 he suddenly became very excited, and no sooner had 
 they left the yard of the factory, and reached the high 
 road, than he began to call to and stop all the 
 peasants who passed, and to utter short, incoherent 
 phrases : " Why do you sleep ! Arise ! It is time ! 
 Down with the taxes ! Down with the landowners ! " 
 Some of the peasants looked at him with astonish- 
 ment ; others passed by without noticing him, thinking 
 he was drunk ; one, on reaching his cottage, told his 
 people how he had met a Frenchman on the road, 
 " who was shouting something I could not make out." 
 Nejddnof had still sufficient wit left to understand 
 how unspeakably stupid, and even senseless, what he 
 was doing was ; but he had gradually worked himself 
 up to such a pitch that all action, stupid or wise, 
 seemed alike to him. Pdvel tried to quiet him, saying 
 that it was impossible to go on thus ; that they would 
 soon arrive at a large village, the first within the dis- 
 trict of T., called " The Woman's Springs," and that 
 there they might make inquiries .... But Nejdanof 
 would not be quieted, and yet his face was, at the 
 
28o VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXII. 
 
 same time, melancholy, almost desperate. They had a 
 vigorous little horse, fat and strong, with a hog-mane 
 on its arched neck ; it trotted along energetically on 
 its sturdy little legs, and pulled at the reins as if it 
 knew it was conveying people who were in a hurry. 
 Before reaching The Woman's Springs, Nejddnof 
 noticed eight peasants standing a little off the road 
 before an open granary ; he sprang from the cart, ran 
 iip^athem, and harangued them for some five minutes 
 with sudden cries and wild gestures. The words 
 " Freedom ! Forward ! Adyance boldly 1 " could be 
 heard' amid a torrent of unintelligible language, 
 poured out in a loud, hoarse voice. The peasants,, 
 who had collected at the granary to consult about 
 putting some corn into it, if only for appearance' sake 
 (it was a communal granary, therefore empty), gazed 
 at Nejddnof, and listened to him apparently with 
 great attention. Whether they understood anything 
 is more doubtful, because, when he rushed away, after 
 a final cry of " Freedom ! " one, the sharpest among 
 them, shook his head thoughtfully, and said, " How 
 severe he is ! " A second remarked, " Some official,, 
 eh } " whereon the sharp man replied, " We know 
 what ! He won't give himself a sore throat for 
 nothing ! Our money will have to weep for this 1 " 
 Nejdanof himself, as he climbed into the cart, and sat 
 down again by Pavel, thought, " Heavens, what non- 
 sense ! But none of us know how to arouse the 
 people ; perhaps, after all, this is the way. This is no 
 time for reasoning. Go ahead ! Never mind the 
 heart-ache ! " 
 
 They entered the village street. In the very centre,, 
 in front of a tavern, a good many people were stand- 
 ing. Pdvel tried to hold back Nejddnof, but he had 
 already throvi^n himself headlong out of the cart, and 
 with a shriek of " Brothers ! " had rushed into the 
 crowd. It opened for him, and Nejddnof again began 
 
CHAP. XXXII.] A NOVEL. 281 
 
 his speech without looking at any one, as if angry, 
 and with tears in his eyes. But here the result was 
 other than with the peasants at the granary. A 
 gigantic young fellow, with a beardless but ferocious 
 face, in a short, greasy sheepskin, high boots, and a 
 lambswool cap, went up to Nejdanof and slapping 
 him on the shoulder, cried in a piercing voice, " Capital, 
 my fine fellow ! But wait a bit ; you know a dry 
 spoon scrapes one's throat. Come along ! It is much 
 better for talking in here ! " And he dragged Nej- 
 ddnof into the tavern ; the rest of the crowd poured 
 in after them. " Mikh^itch," he cried, " look sharp ; 
 the ten-kopek stuff ! My favourite ! I am treating a 
 friend. Who he is, of what folk or people, devil 
 knows, but he lays it on to the masters capitally ! 
 Drink ! " he roared, turning to Nejdinof, and handing 
 him a heavy glassful of liquor, all dripping as if 
 with sweat, " Drink, if you are really for helping us 
 poor peasants ! " " Drink ! " shouted the chorus. 
 Nejdinof caught up the glass (he seemed half mad), 
 and calling, " To you, my boys ! " drank it at a draught. 
 Ugh ! He had drunk it with the same wild impulse 
 with which he would have rushed on a battery or a 
 row of bayonets. But what poison was this ? Some- 
 thing seemed to shoot down his back and legs, to 
 burn his throat, his chest, his stomach, to bring tears 
 into his eyes. A shudder of aversion passed all over 
 him, and he could hardly control himself. He cried 
 out with all his might, to keep the nausea from rising. 
 The dark room of the tavern seemed suddenly to grow 
 hot and close ; what a crowd there was in it ! Nej- 
 ddnof talked and talked, shouted angrily, fiercely ; had 
 to shake many broad palms, hard as horn, and kiss 
 many unsavoury beards. The gigantic fellow in the 
 sheepskin hugged him till he almost broke his ribs. 
 He seemed a sort of monster. "I will wring any 
 one's neck," he howled, "who insults our brothers, 
 
2S2 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXII. 
 
 or smash his head in ! He shall yell for it ! I have 
 been a butcher ; I know how to do that sort of thing !" 
 whereon he showed his huge fist, covered with freckles. 
 And again, oh Heavens ! some one shouted " Drink ! " 
 and again Nejdinof drank that horrible poison. The 
 second time it was dreadful. It was as if his inside 
 had been torn with blunt hooks. His head swam, 
 and green circles flitted across his sight. There was 
 a noise, a humming in his ears. Oh, horror ! A 
 third measure. Impossible that he could have swal- 
 lowed it ! He saw a confused mass of red noses, 
 dusty hair, sunburnt faces and necks, with deep 
 wrinkles ploughed across them. Hard fists gripped 
 him. " Go on ! " roared the relentless voices. " Talk ! 
 We_IiaiL fm nf hp r jbo l like tb is-yesterday, who wdS' 
 rare fun. Go on, you ....!" The earth reeled 
 under Nejddnof's feet. His own voice sounded 
 strange to him, as if it came from without. Was this 
 death, or what .? 
 
 Suddenly .... a feeling of fresh air on his face, and 
 no more crush, nor red faces, nor heat from the wine, 
 from the sheepskins, the tar, the leather .... He is 
 again sitting on the cart by Pdvel. At first he 
 struggles, and cries out, — 
 
 " Stop ! Where are you going ? I have not had 
 time to tell them anything ; we must explain. . . ." 
 Then he added, " And you, you devil, you yourself, 
 you cunning man, what do you think .'' " 
 
 Whereon PAvel answers, — 
 
 " It would be a good thing if there were no masters 
 and the land were all ours — a first-rate thing ; but 
 there has been no ukaze to say so yet "; and he turns 
 the horse round quietly, and suddenly strikes it over 
 the back with the reins, and away at full gallop from 
 all the noise and the yells, and back towards the 
 factory. 
 
 Nejddnof is dozing, and is rocked, and the wind 
 
CHAP. XXXII.] A NOVEL. 283 
 
 blows pleasantly in his face, and keeps dark thoughts 
 away. 
 
 But he is vexed that he had not time to say all 
 he wanted. . . . And again the wind cools his heated 
 face. 
 
 Then for a moment a glimpse of Mariinna — for a 
 moment a burning feeling of shame ; then sleep, 
 heavy, death-like sleep. . . . 
 
 Pdvel told Sol6min all this. He did not conceal 
 that he allowed Nejddnof to drink, otherwise he 
 could not have got him away. The others would 
 not have let him off. 
 
 " Well, then he got very weak ; so I bowed to 
 them, and asked them, ' Good gentlemen, let the lad 
 go ; you see he is over young yet.' So they let him go, 
 only they said, ' Give us half a rouble ransom ! ' So I 
 gave it them." 
 
 " And quite right too," said Sol6min. 
 
 Nejddnof slept, and Maridnna sat by the window 
 and gazed into the enclosure ; and, strange to say, the 
 unpleasant, almost evil feelings and thoughts which 
 had beset her before Nejddnof 's arrival with Pdvel 
 had left her all at once. Nejddnof did not appear 
 repulsive or disgusting to her : she only pitied him. 
 She knew quite well that he was not dissolute or a 
 drunkard, and she was already thinking of what she 
 should say to him when he woke — something friendly 
 and kindly, that he might not reproach himself too 
 bitterly. 
 
 " I must do that ; he must tell me himself how all 
 this misfortune happened to him." 
 
 She was not excited, but sad, unspeakably sad. 
 A breath of air seemed to have passed over her — a 
 foretaste of that world wh ichw as her goal, and she 
 shrank from its darkness and coarseness"; to wKaT 
 Moloch was she sacnfa cing herself ? "— 
 
 But no, it could not bei NoTtt was but an acci- 
 
284 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxxir, 
 
 dent, and would pass off directly. It was the impres- 
 sion of a moment, which had only struck her because 
 it was so unexpected. 
 
 So she rose, went up to the sofa on which Nejddnol 
 was lying, wiped his forehead, which even in his sleep 
 was painfully contracted, smoothed back his hair. . . . 
 
 Again she pitied him, as a mother pities her sicls 
 child. But the sight of him distressed her ; so she 
 went into her room, leaving the door open. 
 
 She left her work untouched, but sat down, and 
 the same thoughts filled her mind. She felt time 
 flying, one minute after another, and the feeling was 
 not unpleasant ; her heart beat fast, and she waited — 
 still waited for something. 
 
 " Where was Sol6min .' " 
 
 The door creaked slightly, and Tatiana came in. 
 
 " What do you want 1 " asked Maridnna, almost 
 irritably. 
 
 " Marianna Vik^ntievna," began Tatiana, in a low 
 tone, " you are not in a way about it, I hope ; because, 
 you see, it is a common thing, and thank God 
 that . . . ." 
 
 " I am not in the least ' in a way,' Tatiina 
 Osi'povna," interrupted Maridnna. " Alex^i Dmi'tritch 
 is not very well ; that is no great matter." 
 
 " That is right. It was only that I was thinking, 
 ' Why does not my Maridnna Vik^ntievna come .' ' 
 and thinking what can be the matter with her. But 
 I would not have come to you, for at such times this is a 
 good rule: 'Don't meddle.' Onlysome sort of man, deuce 
 knows who (a little lame fellow), has come to the factory 
 and, will he, nill he, will see Alex^i Dmftritch. Here 
 are wonders : that woman this morning, and now this 
 lame man. And if Alex^i Dmi'tritch is not here, he 
 must see Vasi'li Fed6titch ! He won't go away with- 
 out, he says ; because, he says, it 's very important. 
 We wanted to send him away, like the woman. Vasi'H 
 
CHAP, XXXII,] A NOVEL. 28s 
 
 Fed6titch is really not in ; he has gone out. But the 
 lame man says he won't go away — will stay till night, 
 if he must ; and there he is, walking about the yard. 
 Come here into the passage ; you can see him out of 
 the window. You may know who this gentleman is." 
 
 Mariinna followed Tatiina. She had to pass by 
 Nejddnof, and again noticed his contracted forehead, 
 and passed her handkerchief over it. Through the 
 dusty little window she could see the visitor of whom 
 Tatidna had spoken. She did not know him. But 
 at that moment Sol6min came round the corner. 
 
 The little lame man went quickly up to him and 
 gave him his hand, which Sol6min took. He evidently 
 knew him. They both passed out of sight. 
 
 A moment more, and their steps resounded on the 
 staircase ; they were coming up. 
 
 Maridnna went quickly back into her room, and 
 stood in the middle of it, breathing with difficulty. 
 She felt afraid .... of what } She herself did not 
 know. 
 
 Sol6min's head appeared in the doorway. 
 
 " May I come in, Maridnna Vik^ntievna } I have 
 brought a person, whom you must absolutely see." 
 
 Maridnna only nodded in answer, and following 
 Sol6min there entered— Piklin. 
 
286 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 " I AM a friend of your husband," he said, bowing 
 deeply before Marianna as if to conceal his alarmed 
 and agitated face, " and also of Vasili Fed6titch. 
 Alex^i Dmi'tritch is asleep ; I hear he is not well, and 
 unfortunately I have brought bad news which I have 
 already communicated in part to Vasili Fed6titch, 
 and in consequence of which some decisive measures 
 will have to be taken." 
 
 Paklin's voice failed him at each instant like that of 
 a man tormented by thirst. The news of which he was 
 the bearer were really very bad., Mark^lof had been 
 -seizfid^ y some p eagantg a nd taken to the tow^ The 
 proselyte clerk had betraj^dGoJoushkinjWho Iiad been 
 arrested, and in his turn was betraying^ everything and 
 everybody ; he had expressed his inferitr6n~of"Berng 
 converfed' to the orthodox faith, had given a' portrait 
 of the Metropolitan Philar^t to the gymnasium, and 
 5,000 roubles to be distributed among " the wounded 
 warriors." There could be no doubt that he had 
 denounced Nejdanof ; the poHce might invade the 
 factory at any moment. Vasili Fed6titch was also in 
 danger. " As for me," added Paklin, " I only marvel 
 how it is that I am still at liberty, although I really 
 never occupied myself with politics, and never took 
 
CHAP. XXXIII.] A NOVEL. 287 
 
 part in any of your plans. I have taken advan- 
 tage of the negligence or stupidity of the police to 
 warn you and help you to consider what means may 
 be taken .... to avoid misfortune." 
 
 Maridnna let Paklin finish all he had to say. She 
 was not frightened ; she even appeared calm. But 
 she felt that something must indeed be done. Her 
 first impulse was to look at Sol6min. 
 
 He too seemed calm, only the muscles round his 
 lips were twitching slightly, and his usual smile had 
 left him. 
 
 , He understood the meaning of Maridnna's look ; 
 she was waiting for what he would say, to act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 " The matter is indeed rather a ticklish one," he 
 began ; " I should think it would not be amiss for 
 Nejddnof to hide for a time. By the way, how did 
 you learn he was here, Mr. Pdklin 1 " 
 
 Paklin waved his hand. 
 
 " Oh, from a certain individual who had seen him 
 walking about the neighbourhood and preaching. So 
 he followed him, though with no bad intention, for he 
 is a sympathizer. Excuse me," he added, turning to 
 Maridnna, " but our friend Nejdanof was very .... 
 very imprudent." 
 
 " It is of no use blaming him now," said Sol6min. 
 " It is a pity we cannot consult him, but by to-morrow 
 his indisposition will have passed off, and the police is 
 not as expeditious as you think. You too, Marianna 
 Vik^ntievna, will have to leave us for a while." 
 
 " Of course," answered Maridnna, in a hoarse but 
 firm voice. 
 
 " Yes," continued Sol6min, " we must look about 
 and consider where we can go and how to get 
 away." 
 
 " Let me suggest an idea," began Pdklin. " It came 
 into my head as I was driving here. I may remark 
 
288 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 that I dismissed my isvostshik* a verst from 
 here." 
 
 "What is your idea ?" asked Sol6min. 
 
 " Why, this ? Give me a conveyance and horses, and 
 I will hasten to the Sipiigins." 
 
 " To the Sipidgins ! " exclaimed Maridnna. " What 
 for ? " 
 
 " You will see." 
 
 " Do you know them ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. But listen. Consider my idea 
 carefully. To me it seems quite a stroke of genius. 
 Mark^lof is Sipidgin's brother-in-law, is he not .' Well, 
 surely that gentleman will do something to save him. 
 Besides which, Nejdinof — admitting that Sipiagin is 
 angry with him — still Nejddnof has become his relation 
 by his marriage with you. And the danger which is 
 hanging over our friend's head . . . . " 
 
 "I am not married," remarked Marianna. 
 
 Pdklin absolutely shuddered. 
 
 " What .' Have you allowed all this time to pass 
 without being married } Never mind, I can tell a few 
 fibs. It will come to the same, for you will marry 
 him now. There really is nothing else to be done. 
 Just consider. Up to this time Sipiagin has not 
 followed you. So he has yet some feeling of generosity 
 left. I see you object to that expression, so I will 
 substitute, 'some wish to save appearances.' Why 
 should you not take advantage of it at such a moment? 
 Just consider ! " 
 
 Mariinna raised her head and passed her hand over 
 her hair. 
 
 " You may take any advantage you please for 
 Mark^lof, Mr. Pdklin .... or for yourself; but Alexdi 
 and I desire neither intercession nor protection from 
 Mr. Sipiagin. We did not leave his house to come 
 back as suppliants to his door. We care neither for 
 * Cabman. 
 
CHAP. XXXIII.] A NOVEL. 289 
 
 the generosity nor the wish to save appearances of Mr 
 Sipilgin or his wife." 
 
 " That is a most praiseworthy sentiment," answered 
 Pdklin (thinking at the same time, "What a douche 
 cold water she has given me, eh ! "), " although if you 
 come to think of it ... . However, I will obey you. 
 I will only intercede for Mark^lof, our good friend 
 Mark^lof I may remark, however, that he is Sipidgin's 
 relation not by blood, but through his wife, whereas 
 you . . . . " 
 
 " Mr. Paklin, I beg of you ! " 
 
 " I have done, I have done ! only I cannot but 
 express my regret, because Sipidgin is a very influen- 
 tial man." 
 
 " Have you no fears for yourself t " said Solomin. 
 
 Piklin struck an attitude. 
 
 " At such a moment one does not think of oneself," 
 he said, proudly. But it was just of himself that he 
 was thinking. Poor little feeble creature, he was 
 trying like a hare to get a good start. If he did 
 Sipidgin a service, a word might be said in his favour 
 if there were any necessity for it. For, whatever he 
 might pretend, he was mixed up in it — he had listened 
 — he had even chattered ! 
 
 " I think your idea is not a bad one," said Sol6min, 
 after a pause, " though I have not much faith in its 
 success. At all events, you might try. You cannot 
 spoil anything." 
 
 " Of course not. Suppose the worst, they can 
 only turn me out of the house. No great harm in 
 that!" 
 
 "Not the smallest harm " ("Merci/" thought 
 
 Pdklin ; and Sol6min continued) " What o'clock is it ? 
 Past four. You have no time to lose. You shall 
 have horses in a minute. PAvel ! " 
 
 But, instead of Pavel, Nejddnof appeared on the 
 threshold. He was unsteadily holding on to the door- 
 
 u 
 
290 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XXXIII, 
 
 post for support, and, with his mouth vaguely open, 
 was looking around with a vacant gaze. He evidently 
 understood nothing. 
 
 Paklin went up to him. 
 
 " Aliosha! " he exclaimed, " do you know me .? " 
 
 Nejdanof looked at him, blinking slowly. 
 
 " Paklin .? " he at length said. 
 
 " Yes, yes, it is I. You are not well } " 
 
 " No, not well. But why are you here .'' " 
 
 "Why.?" But at that moment Maridnna gently 
 touched Paklin's elbow. He looked round and saw 
 she was making signs to him. " Oh, yes ! " he mut- 
 tered ; " true. Well you see, Ali6sha," he added, 
 aloud, " I have come about some important business, 
 and am going further directly. Sol6min will tell you 
 all about it, and Marianna. . . . Vik^ntievna. They 
 both entirely approve of my intentions. It is a 
 matter which concerns us all. No, no, I mean," he 
 corrected himself in answer to a look and a sign from 
 Marianna, " it concerns Mark61of, our common friend 
 Mark^lof — him alone. But good-bye! Every moment 
 is precious ; good-bye, my friend ! We shall meet 
 again soon. Vasi'li Fedotitch, will you be good 
 enough to come with me and arrange about the 
 horses .' " 
 
 " Certainly. Marianna, I wanted to say to you, be 
 firm. But it is not necessary. You are of the right 
 sort, you are ! " 
 
 " That you are," said Paklin. " A Roman woman 
 of the days of Cato ! Cato of Utica ! But come 
 along, Vasi'li Fedotitch, come along ! " 
 
 " Time enough," answered Sol6min, with his lazy 
 smile. Nejdanof moved aside a httle to let them 
 pass. . . . But his eyes had still the same vague 
 expression. Then he took a step or two, and sat 
 down on a chair, with his face to Mariinna. 
 
 "Alex^i," she said, "all is discovered. Markdof 
 
CHAP. XXXIII.] A NOVEL. 291 
 
 has been seized by the peasants whom he was inciting 
 to revolt ; and he is in prison in the town as well as 
 that merchant with whom you dined, and probably 
 the police will soon be here after us. Pdklin has 
 gone to the Sipiagins." 
 
 "What for?" asked Nejdanof, in a whisper. But 
 his eyes had brightened, and his face had resumed its 
 usual expression. The effects of the drink had passed 
 away for a moment. 
 
 " To see if he will not intercede." 
 
 Nejdanof started. " For us .' " 
 
 " No ; for Markdof He wished to include us also, 
 but I would not let him. Was I right, Alex^i } " 
 
 "Were you right.'" said Nejdanof, stretching out 
 his hands to her, without rising from his chair; 
 " were you right ? " he repeated, and drawing her 
 towards him he buried his head in her dress and burst 
 into tears. 
 
 "What is the matter.?" exclaimed Maridnna. As 
 she had done that time when he fell before her on his 
 knees, panting and choking from a sudden outburst 
 of passion, so now she laid both her hands on his 
 trembling head. But her feelings now were quite 
 different from then. Then she obeyed him, gave her- 
 self up to him, only waited for him to say the word. 
 Now she pitied him, and her only thought was how 
 she might soothe him. 
 
 " What is it ? " she repeated. " Why are you cry- 
 ing ? Surely not because you came home ... in that 
 state ? No ! Or are you pitying Markelof ? or do 
 you fear for me or yourself } or do you regret the ruin 
 of our hopes .'' You surely did not expect everything 
 to go as on well-greased wheels ? " 
 
 Nejddnof suddenly raised his head. 
 
 " No, Maridnna," he said, checking his sobs, " I do 
 not fear for you or for myself. But I do pity. . . ." 
 
 " Whom ? " 
 
2g2 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XXXII 
 
 " You, Marianna ! I pity you for uniting your fat 
 to that of a man who is not worthy." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Why were it only because at such a momer 
 
 he is capable of crying ! " 
 
 " It is not you who are crying ; it is your nerves ! ' 
 
 "My nerves and I are the same thing. Listei 
 Maridnna ; can you look me in the eyes and tell m 
 that you do not repent. . . ." 
 
 "Of what.?" 
 
 " Of having followed me } " 
 
 " I do not." 
 
 "And you wpuld follow me still further — any 
 where .' " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Yes ? Marianna ! yes }" 
 
 " Yes. I gave you my hand, and as long as yoi 
 remain the same as when I began to love you I wil 
 not take it back." 
 
 Nejdanof was still sitting on the chair ; Mariann; 
 was standing in front of him. His arms were roun< 
 her ; her hands were resting on his shoulders. " Shi 
 says, ' Yes ' and ' No,' " thought Nejddnof, " and ye 
 when I have been holding her in my arms before he 
 body remained motionless, if nothing more ; now '. 
 feel that, though perhaps involuntarily, it draws awa; 
 from me." 
 
 He opened his arms, and Maridnna did indeec 
 recede almost imperceptibly. 
 
 " Now ! " he said, aloud. " If we must fly, befor 
 the police arrives, I think we should do, well to ge 
 married. Elsewhere we may not always find such ai 
 accommodaing priest as Z6sima!" 
 
 " I am ready," said Maridnna. 
 
 Nejddnof looked hard at her. "The Romai 
 woman ! " he said, with an unpleasant sneer. " Thi 
 sense of duty ! " 
 
CHAP. XXXIII.] A NOVEL. 293 
 
 Maridnna shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " We must tell Soldmin," she said. 
 
 "Oh Sol6min Yes ... ." said Nejddnof, 
 
 slowly. " But he is in danger too. The police will 
 arrest him as well. I fancy he has played a greater 
 part even than I have, and knows more." 
 
 " I cannot tell," answered Marianna. " He never 
 talks of himself" 
 
 " Not like me ! " thought Nejdanof " That is what 
 she means. Sol6min .... Sol6min ! " he said, after 
 a long pause. " Do you know, Maridnna, I should 
 not have pitied you if the man to whom you had tied 
 yourself for life were like Sol6min, or were Sol6min 
 himself!" 
 
 Maridnna, in her turn, looked hard at Nej- 
 ddnof. 
 
 "You had no right to say that," she at length 
 said. 
 
 " I had no right .' How am I to understand that ? 
 Do you mean that you love me, or generally that I 
 ought not to have touched that subject .'' " 
 
 " You had no right," repeated Maridnna. 
 
 Nejddnof looked down. 
 
 "Maridnna ! " he said, in a voice which had some- 
 what changed. 
 
 " What is it .? " 
 
 " If, now .... if I were to ask you that question — 
 you know what . . . . ? No, I don't ask anything. . . . 
 Good-bye ! " 
 
 He rose and went out. Maridnna did not prevent 
 him. He sat down on the sofa in his own room, and 
 hid his face in his hands. His own thoughts frightened 
 him, and he did his best not to think. He felt as if 
 an unseen hand beneath the earth had grasped the 
 very root of his existence, never again to let go. He 
 knqw that the good, the dear being in the next 
 room would not come to him, and he did not dare 
 
294 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXli: 
 
 go in to her. And why should he ? What shoul( 
 he say ? 
 
 A quick, firm step made him open his eyes. Sol6mii 
 crossed his room, and, knocking at Marianna's doot 
 went in. 
 
 " Honour and place ! " 
 
 The relieved sentinel's watchword came to Nej- 
 ddnot's mind, and he whispered it bitterly to himself. 
 
CHAP. XXXIV.] A NOVEL. 29s 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 It was already ten o'clock in the evening, and Sipidgin, 
 iis wife, and Kallom^itsef were playing at cards in the 
 drawing-room of the house of Arjdnoe, when a servant 
 came in and announced that a strange gentleman — a 
 Mr. Pdklin — wished to see B6ris Andr^itch on a most 
 pressing and important matter. 
 
 " At such an hour ! " exclaimed Valentina Mikhdil- 
 ■ovna, in astonishment. 
 
 " What .?" asked B6ris Andr6itch, twitching his well- 
 .shaped nose. "What did you say the gentleman's 
 name was .■' " 
 
 " Pdklin, he said, sir." 
 
 " Pdklin ! " exclaimed Kallom^itsef. " A good 
 country name that. Piklin .... Sol6min * . . . . de 
 vrais noms ruraux, hein .? " 
 
 "And you say," continued Boris Andr^itch, with 
 the same twitch in his nose, "that his business is 
 important, pressing } " 
 
 " So the gentleman says, sir." 
 
 " Hum ! some beggar or intriguer " (" Or both," 
 43roke in Kallom6itsef). "Very likely. Show him 
 into my study." He rose. " P.ardon, ma bonne. Have 
 
 * Paklia means oakum in Russian ; Soloma, straw. 
 
296 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxxiv. 
 
 a game at ^carte meanwhile ; or wait for me. I shall 
 be back directly." 
 
 " Nous causerons . . . . allez ! " said Kallom^itsef. 
 
 When Sipiagin entered his study and saw Pdklin's 
 wretched, miserable figure, cowering humbly in the 
 corner between the fireplace and the door, he expe- 
 rienced that truly ministerial feeling of lofty pity and 
 rather disgusted condescension which is peculiar to 
 the great men of Petersburg. 
 
 " Heavens ! " he thought ; " what a wretched little 
 snipe of a being, and lame too, I think ! " 
 
 " Take a seat," he said aloud, employing the most 
 condescending tones of his baritone voice, and nodding 
 his erect little head pleasantly. He himself sat down 
 before his guest. " You must be tired after your 
 journey. Sit down and explain what the important 
 business is which has brought you here at so late an 
 hour ! " 
 
 "Your Excellency," began Pdklin, sitting down 
 timidly on the edge of an armchair, " I have ventured 
 to come here . . . ." 
 
 " Stop a moment," said Sipidgin. " I have seen you 
 before. I never forget a face which I have once seen : 
 I always remember faces. Where, now, where have I 
 met you before 1 " 
 
 " You are not mistaken, your Excellency. I had the 
 honour of meeting you at Petersburg, in the rooms of 
 a man who .... since, .... unfortunately, has aroused 
 your displeasure . . . ." 
 
 Sipiagin rose hastily. 
 
 " At Mr. Nejdanof's ! I remember now. It is not 
 from him you have come, I hope ? " 
 
 " Not at all, your Excellency. On the contrary " 
 
 Sipiagin reseated himself. 
 
 " Fortunately. Because, in that case, I should have 
 asked you to leave the house at once. I can admit of 
 no intercourse between Mr. Nejdanof and myself He 
 
CHAP. XXXIV.] A NOVEL. 297 
 
 has offended me in a way which cannot be forgotten.. 
 .... I am above revenge ; but I will have nothing 
 more to do with him or with that girl — more de- 
 praved, however, in mind than in heart" (Sipiagin 
 had repeated this phrase some thirty times since 
 Maricinna's flight) — " who did not shrink from leaving 
 ihe roof which had sheltered her to become the 
 inistress of a houseless tramp ! Let them think 
 themselves fortunate that I have forgotten them ! " 
 
 At these words Sipidgin waved his hand upwards- 
 away from himself 
 
 " I have forgotten them, sir ! " 
 
 " Your Excellency, I have told you that I do not 
 come in their name, although I may inform your 
 Excellency that they are already joined by the bonds 
 of lawful matrimony." (" It is all the same," thought 
 Paklin. " I said I should have to tell lies. There is 
 one. What next .' ") 
 
 Sipiagin rubbed his neck against the back of his 
 chair. 
 
 " That does not interest nie in the least, my dear 
 sir. There is one more foolish marriage in the world, 
 that is all. But what is the most important affair to 
 which I am indebted for the pleasure of your visit .■' " 
 
 " Oh, you head of a department ! " thought Pdklin. 
 " I will give you something for showing yourself off like 
 that, you well-shorn Englishman ! " 
 
 " Your wife's brother," he said aloud, " Mr. Markdlof,, 
 has been seized by the peasants whom he had incited 
 to revolt, and is now imprisoned in the governor's- 
 residence." 
 
 Sipidgin again sprang up. 
 
 " What — what do you say ? " he stammered, in no 
 ministerial baritone this time, but in a kind of feeble 
 tenor. 
 
 " I said that your brother-in-law had been taken,, 
 and was in prison. As soon as I learnt it, I engaged a. 
 
298 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXIV. 
 
 conveyance and came to tell you. I thought I might 
 be rendering a service both to you and to that un- 
 Jiappy man, whom you may yet save 1 " 
 
 " I am much obliged to you," said Sipidgin, in the 
 :same feeble voice, and brought the palm of his hand 
 down upon a little bell in the shape of a mushroom, 
 which filled the house with its metallic ring. " I am 
 much obliged to you," he repeated, more vigorously ; 
 " but I may tell you, a man who has had the audacity 
 ito break all the laws of God and man, were he a 
 hundred times my relation, in my eyes is not unhappy, 
 he is a criminal ! " 
 
 A footman rushed into the room. 
 
 " Your orders, sir ! " 
 
 " A carriage ! A carriage and four directly. I am 
 going into town ; Philip and Stepdn with me. " The 
 servant disappeared. " Yes, sir, my brother-in-law is 
 a criminal, and I am going to town, — not with the 
 purpose of saving him — oh, no ! " 
 
 " But, your Excellency . . . ." 
 
 " Such is my rule of conduct, sir, and I beg you not 
 to trouble me with your arguments ! " 
 
 Sipidgin began to pace up and down his study, 
 while Paklin opened his eyes wide. " Oh, the deuce !" 
 he thought ; " people said you were a liberal ! Why, 
 you are a roaring lion ! " 
 
 The door flew open, and Valenti'na Mikhdilovna, 
 followed by Kallomditsef, entered hastily. 
 
 " What is it, Borfs ">. You have ordered a carriage — 
 you are going into town. What has happened .■' " 
 
 Sipiagin took his wife by the arm between the 
 wrist and the elbow. " II faut vous armer de courage, 
 ,ma ch^re. Your brother is arrested." 
 
 " Seri6ja ! * What for .? " 
 "~ " For preaching socialistic theories to the peasantry." 
 i(Kallom^itsef gave a slight groan.) " Yes. He was 
 * Diminutive of Sergdi. 
 
CHAP. XXXIV.] A NOVEL. 299 
 
 preaching a revolution, inciting them to rebel ! They 
 seized him, and gave him up ! He is now in prison — 
 in the town." 
 
 " Oh, the madman ! But who has told you all 
 this ? " 
 
 " This .... this gentleman .... what 's his name } 
 Mr. Konopdtin * . . . . has brought the news." 
 
 Valentina Mikhdilovna glanced at Pdklin, who 
 bowed in a humble manner. (" What a fine woman ! " 
 he thought. Even at such a moment, how amenable 
 faklin was to the influence of female beauty !) 
 
 " And you are going into town .' " 
 
 " It is not too late to find the governor up." 
 
 " I always prophesied it would end so," broke in 
 Kallomditsef. " It could not be otherwise. But what 
 fine fellows our Russian peasants are J Capital ! 
 Pardon, madame, c'est votre frere, — mais la v^rit^ 
 avant tout ! " 
 
 " You cannot really intend to go, Borfs 1 " asked 
 Valenti'na Mikhdilovna. 
 
 " I am convinced too," continued Kallom^itsef, 
 " that that tutor, Mr. Nejddnof, is mixed up in this. 
 J'en mettrais ma main au feu. It is all the same 
 band. He has not been taken ? You do not know ? " 
 
 Sipidgin again waved his hand. 
 
 " I do not know, and do not care to know ! By the 
 way," he added turning .to his wife, " il parait qu'ils 
 sont marids." 
 
 " Who told you .' This gentleman too .' " Valenti'na 
 Mikhdilovna again looked at Pdklin, but this time with 
 a slight frown. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " In that case," broke in Kallom^itsef, " of course he 
 knows where they are. Do you know where they are ? 
 Do you know where they are — eh .'' Do you know — 
 
 * Konopatit means to stuif with oakum. Sipidgin confounds 
 the two words. 
 
300 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxxi 
 
 eh ? " Kallomditsef began to dance about in front < 
 Pdklin, as if he wished to bar the way, though tl 
 latter showed not the smallest inclination to escap 
 " Come, speak, answer ! Do you know ? " 
 
 "If I did know," answered Paklin, in a nettle 
 tone, — his wrath had accumulated, and his ey( 
 were gleaming, — " if I did know, I should not fc 
 you ! " 
 
 " Oh, that is it, is it ? " exclaimed Kallom^itse 
 " Do you hear ? Why this man, too, must be one ( 
 the same band ! " 
 
 " The carriage is ready," announced a servant. 
 
 Sipiagin caught up his hat with a fine energeti 
 flourish, but- Valenti'na Mikhailovna begged hii 
 so earnestly to put it off till the morning, she ga\ 
 him such convincing reasons — it was dark, and everj 
 body in town would be asleep, and he would only rui 
 his nerves and might catch cold — that Sipiagin at la; 
 agreed, exclaiming, — 
 
 " I obey ! " and replaced his hat on the table wit 
 a flourish, quite as fine, but this time not so energeti 
 
 " Take out the horses," he ordered, " and let it b 
 ready to-morrowmorning atsix precisely. Do you hear 
 Go ! Stop ! Send away this .... this gentleman 
 droshky. Pay the driver ! I think you are sayin 
 something, Mr. Konopatin .' I will take you with m 
 to-morrow, Mr. Konopatin. What do you say ? — 
 didn't hear. You drink vodka .' Give Mr. Konopiti 
 some vodka. No, you don't .-' In that case . . . 
 Fe6dor, show this gentleman to the Green Room.. Gooc 
 night, Mr. Kono " 
 
 Pdklin at last lost his temper. 
 
 " Paklin ! " he roared,—" my name is Paklin ! " 
 
 " Yes, yes ; it is all the same. It is very like it, yo 
 see. But what a loud voice you have for so small 
 person ! Till to-morrow, Mr. Paklin — is that right 
 Simeon, vous viendrez avec nous .' " 
 
CHAP. XXXIV.] A NOVEL. 301 
 
 " Je crois bien." 
 
 So Pdklin was shown to the Green Room, and he 
 was even locked in. As he lay down he heard the key 
 turn with a ringing snap in the English lock. He 
 rated himself soundly for his " stroke of genius," and 
 slept very badly. 
 
 The next morning he was called at half-past five. 
 Coffee was brought him. While he drank it, the ser- 
 vant, with a parti-coloured epaulette on his shoulder, 
 waited, holding the tray and resting first on one leg, then 
 on the other, as if to say, " Look sharp ; the masters 
 are waiting for you." Then he was taken downstairs. 
 The carriage was already waiting at the front door, 
 as was Kallom^itsef's phaeton. Sipiagin appeared on 
 the threshold in a camelot cloak with a round collar. 
 Such cloaks no one now wore, except a certain states- 
 man of very high rank, whom Sipiagin endeavoured 
 to flatter by imitation ; so on important official 
 occasions he wore this cloak. 
 
 Sipidgin bowed to Pdklin graciously enough, and, 
 indicating the carriage by a brisk movement of his 
 hand, asked him to be seated. 
 
 " Mr. Pdklin, you are coming with me, Mr. Pdklin. 
 Put Mr. Pdklin's bag on the box. I am taking Mr. 
 Paklin to town," he repeated, laying stress on the word 
 " Pciklin," and especially on the " a." He seemed 
 to say, "You are blessed with such a name as 
 that, and yet you object to having it changed ! Well, 
 you shall have enough of it, then. Here, eat it, stuff 
 yourself with it!" "Pdklin!" "Mr. Pdklin ! " the 
 unfortunate name rang through the fresh morning air. 
 
 It was so fresh that Kallom^itsef, who appeared 
 behind Sipidgin, exclaimed several times "Brrr" 
 " Brrr " and wrapped his cloak tighter round him as 
 he took his seat in his elegant carriage with the hood 
 thrown back. (His poor friend, Mikhail Obr^novitch, 
 the Prince of Servia, on seeing it had bought a similar 
 
302 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXIV. 
 
 one of Binder, " Vous savez, Binder, le grand carrossier 
 des Champs-Elysees ! ") 
 
 From behind the half-opened shutters of her bed- 
 room peeped Valenti'na Mikhailovna in a cap, and with 
 a shawl over her shoulders. 
 
 Sipidgin, as he took his seat, waved his hand to her. 
 
 " Are you comfortable, Mr. Pdklin .? Drive on ! " 
 
 "Je vous recommande mon fr^re ; ^pargnez-le ! " 
 called out Valentfna Mikhailovna. 
 
 " Soyez tranquille ! " exclaimed Kallom^itsef, casting 
 a self-satisfied glance upwards at her from under the 
 peak of a travelling-cap with a cockade, which he had 
 invented himself. ..." C'est surtout 1' autre qu'il faut 
 pincer ! " 
 
 " Drive on ! " repeated Sipiigin. " Mr. Paklin, you 
 are not cold, are you .' Drive on ! " 
 
 The carriages started. 
 
 For the first ten minutes both Sipidgin and Pdklin 
 remained silent. The unhappy Si'loushka, in his 
 threadbare great-coat and crumpled cap, seemed 
 even more miserable by comparison with the rich 
 dark-blue silk lining of the carriage. He looked round 
 at the delicate light-blue blinds, which flew up swiftly 
 at the mere touch of a finger on the spring ; at the 
 rug of the whitest and fluffiest lamb's wool at his feet, 
 at the mahogany box, with a movable desk, and even 
 a little stand for books, which was fitted in front. 
 (Bon's Andr^itch, without actually working, wished to 
 make others believe that, like Thiers, he worked while 
 travelling.) 
 
 Paklin felt ill at ease. Sipiigin glanced at him 
 once or twice over his marvellously clean-shaven 
 cheek ; then, taking out of his pocket a silver case 
 with an elaborate monogram in Slavonic characters, 
 offered .... yes, actually offered him a cigar, which 
 he held lightly between his first and second fingers, 
 clad in a yellow English dog-skin glove. 
 
CHAP. XXXIV.] A NOVEL. 303. 
 
 " I do not smoke," said Pdklin. 
 
 " Oh ! " answered Sipidgin, and lighted the cigar,, 
 which proved to be an excellent regalia. " I must 
 tell, you, my dear Mr. Pdklin," he began, puffing deli- 
 cately, and emitting long straight streams of odorous 
 smoke, " that I am really .... very much .... obliged 
 to you .... I may yesterday .... have seemed to 
 
 you .... rather abrupt .... which it is not in 
 
 my nature to be " (Sipiagin intentionally broke up 
 his sentences) " I can assure you. But, Mr. Pdklin, 
 put yourself in my position." (Sipiigin rolled his cigar 
 from one corner of his mouth to the other.) " The 
 rank I hold .... puts me .... as it were .... before the 
 world ; and then .... my brother-in-law .... compro- 
 mises himself. . . . and me . . . .,in such an impossible 
 manner ! Eh, Mr. Paklin } You, perhaps, think that 
 is nothing ! " 
 
 " I do not think so, your Excellency ! " 
 
 "You do not know exactly for what and where 
 they arrested him ? " 
 
 "I heard it was in the district of T. . . ." 
 . "From whom did you hear it .'" 
 
 "From a man." 
 
 "Well, not from a bird, I suppose. What man.?" 
 
 " From an assistant of the chief of the governor's 
 private office." 
 
 " What is his name .? " 
 
 "The chief's.?" 
 
 " No, the assistant's .? " 
 
 " Uliash^vitch. He is a very good official, your 
 Excellency. As soon as I heard of the occurrence I 
 came to inform you." 
 
 "Yes, yes. I repeat that I am much obliged to 
 you. But what madness, is it not, Mr. Pdklin .? " 
 
 " Simple madness ! " exclaimed Paklin, and he felt 
 the warm perspiration run down his back like a snake.. 
 -" It shows," he continued, " an absolute incapacity to 
 
304 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXIV 
 
 Ntjnderstand our Russian peasant. Mr. Mark^lof, ai 
 
 far as I know, is good and honourable at heart ; bui 
 
 he never did understand the Russian peasant' 
 
 Pdklin glanced at Sipiagin, who had turned slightlj 
 
 towards him, and was examining him with a cold bul 
 
 not hostile look. "Even to incite the Russiar 
 
 ^ peasant to rebellion, one must take advantage of hi; 
 
 "■ devotion to the powers that rule him, to the Imperia] 
 
 ^ family. Some legend must be invented, as in the 
 
 \ case of the False Dimi'tri ; or the pretender musl 
 
 ' show some marks of his rank on his chest, burnt witli 
 
 \ red-hot coins, bearing the Imperial eagle. . . ." 
 
 " Yes, yes, like Pugatch^f," interrupted Sipiagin, in 
 a tone which was meant to say, "We have not for- 
 gotten our history yet; don't try to show off ! " He 
 added, " It is madness, madness ! " and seemed 
 wrapped in contemplation of the little stream ol 
 smoke which was curling quickly up from the tip oi 
 his cigar. 
 
 " Your Excellency ! " said Piklin, taking courage, 
 " I told you just now that I did not smoke; but it was 
 not true ; I do smoke, and your cigar smells so 
 ■delicious. . . ." 
 
 " Eh, what, what.'" said Sipidgin, as if rousing him- 
 self from a reverie, and, without giving Paklin time to 
 repeat what he had said, handed him his open cigar- 
 case, showing clearly that he had heard what was 
 said,' and had only asked the question for the 
 form. 
 
 Pdklin lighted his cigar directly, and with an 
 expression of thankfulness. 
 
 " Now is the favourable moment, I should say," he 
 thought, but Sipiagin forestalled him. 
 
 "You spoke also, I think," he said carelessly, in 
 broken sentences, inspecting his cigar and pushing 
 his hat from the back of his head on to his forehead ; 
 " you did, didn't you >. ... about that friend of yours. . . 
 
CHAP. XXXIV.] A NOVEL. 30s 
 
 .... who married my. , . . relative. You see them 
 often. They live not far from here, I think ? " 
 
 "Eh!" thought Pdklin. "Sfla,myfriend,becareful!" 
 
 "I have only seen them once, your Excellency. 
 They do live. . . . not very far from here." 
 
 " Of course you understand," continued Sipidgin, in 
 the same tone, " that I can take no serious interest, as 
 I have already explained to you, in that wayward 
 girl, or in your friend. I have no prejudices. Heaven 
 knows, but that is really going too far. It is sense- 
 less, you know. However, I believe it was more 
 sympathy in politics" ("politics!" he repeated, with a 
 shrug) " that united them than any other feeling." 
 
 " I quite agree with you, your Excellency ! " 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Nejddnof was a thorough 'red.' To do 
 him justice, he did not conceal his opinions." 
 
 " Nejddnof," hazarded Pdklin, "was led away, per- 
 haps, but his heart is. ..." s. 
 
 " Good," broke in Sipidgin : " of course it is/"^ 
 course, like Mark61of's. All these gentry have excel-^ 
 lent hearts. I suppose he, too, has taken a part in 
 this, and will probably be arrested. I shall have to^ 
 intercede for him as well ! " 
 
 Pdklin put his hands together in an imploring 
 attitude. " Oh, do, your Excellency ! Grant him your 
 protection! Truly, truly,he isworthyof your sympathy." 
 
 Sipidgin smiled. 
 
 "You think so.?" 
 
 " And even if not for him. ... for your relation's 
 
 sake his wife." (" Good God ! " thought Pdklin, 
 
 " what lies I am telling ! ") 
 
 Sipidgin half closed his eyes. 
 
 " I see you are a very faithful friend. It is a good 
 thing, a very praiseworthy thing, my dear sir. So 
 you say they live not far from here .' " 
 
 " Yes, your Excellency, in a large factory. . . ." 
 Pdklin bit his tongue. 
 
 X 
 
306 , VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. xxxr 
 
 Sipidgin made a noise with his lips. 
 
 " Te, te, te, te. . . . at Sol6min's, of course. I kne 
 it, I had been told ; I had forgotten. Oh, of course 
 (Sipiigin did not know it in the least, and no one ha 
 ever told him, but remembering Sol6min's visit, an 
 their conversation in the evening, he threw out th 
 bait. . . . Pdklin swallowed it instantly.) 
 
 "As you know," he began, and again broke o 
 hurriedly. But it was too late. Only from the loo 
 which Sipiagin cast at him, he understood that th 
 latter had been playing with him all this time as 
 cat does with a mouse. 
 
 "But, your Excellency," stammered the unhapp 
 man, "I am bound to tell you that I knoi 
 nothing. . . ." 
 
 "But I am not questioning you ! Good Heavens 
 what an idea! What do you take me for.' and you) 
 self as well .? " exclaimed Sipidgin haughtily, an 
 again shrouded himself in the Olympus of hi 
 ministerial dignity. 
 
 Paklin felt once more how wretched, how miserabl( 
 how entrapped he was. . . . Up to that moment h 
 had kept his cigar in the corner of his mouth furthes 
 from Sipiagin, and had puffed out the smoke dii 
 erectly to one side ; now he took it out of his mout 
 and stopped smoking altogether. 
 
 " Good God ! " he groaned inwardly, and the wan 
 perspiration ran down him quicker than ever, "wh; 
 have I done ! I have betrayed everything and everj 
 ^~~^ody. ... I have been befooled, bought with a goo 
 cigar ! J_ am an informer; and how can I undo tli 
 harm now? Good God ! "~ 
 
 It was impossible to undo the harm. Sipiagii 
 wrapped in his official cloak, had begun to doze wit 
 gravity and dignity, also as became a ministe 
 Besides which in less than a quarter of an hour bol 
 carriages stopped before the governor's house. 
 
CHAP. XXXV.] A NOVEL. 307 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The governor of the province of S. belonged to 
 that class of good-natured, indolent, and worldly- 
 generals, blessed with marvellously clean white skins, 
 and minds nearly as white ; are well born, well 
 educated, and well kneaded, if one may so say ; they 
 never set uptobe "shepherds of the people," yet display 
 very fair administrative capacities ; and while they do 
 little work, eternally sigh after Petersburg, and pay 
 court to the pretty provincial dames, they undoubtedly 
 benefit their province and leave a good name behind 
 them. He had just risen and was sitting before a 
 mirror in a silk dressing-gown with his night-gown 
 unfastened, and was rubbing his face and neck with 
 eau de cologne and water, having first taken off a 
 whole collection of images and amulets ; at this 
 moment the arrival of Sipidgin and Kallom^itsef, on 
 important and urgent business, was announced to 
 him. With Sipidgin he was very intimate ; he had 
 known him from his youth, had constantly met him 
 in the drawing-rooms of Petersburg, and of late, 
 whenever he thought of him, gave a mental ejacula- 
 tion, " Ah ! " of respect, as if he saw in him a future 
 dignitary. Kallom^itsef he did not know so well, 
 
308 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXX> 
 
 and had much less respect for him, especially a 
 several unpleasant complaints had been made agains 
 him within a short time ; still he counted him as 
 man — quifera son ckemin — somehow. 
 
 He ordered his visitors to be shown into his cabinei 
 and at once joined them there, still in his dressing 
 gown ; he made no excuses for receiving them in s 
 unoiificial a costume, but shook their hands in ; 
 friendly manner. Sipidgin and Kallomditsef ha( 
 alone entered the governor's cabinet ; Paklin ha( 
 remained in the drawing-room. On alighting fron 
 the carriage he had tried to slip away, muttering ai 
 excuse that he had business at home, but Sipidgii 
 had prevented him, politely yet firmly, and had broijgh 
 him in. (Kallom^itsef had^ rushed up and whisperec 
 to Sipidgin, " Ne le lachez pas ! Tonnerre de ton 
 nerres ! ") However Sipidgin did not conduct hin 
 into the cabinet, but requested him with the sam( 
 polite firmness to remain in the drawing-room till h< 
 was called. Pdklin hoped there would now be ; 
 chance, but at the door appeared a stalwart gendarme 
 who had been called by Kallom^itsef .... so h< 
 remained, 
 
 " I suppose you can guess what has brought me 
 V61demar .' " began Sipidgin. 
 
 " No, my dear fellow, I cannot," answered th( 
 amiable Epicurean, showing his white teeth hal 
 hidden by his silky moustache, while his rosy cheek 
 expanded into a welcoming smile. 
 
 " Why, Mark61of " 
 
 "Who is Markdlof.'" repeated the governor, con 
 tinuing to smile. Firstly he did not clearly remembe 
 that the man who had been arrested the day befon 
 was called Markdlof ; secondly, he had totally for 
 gotten that Sipidgin's wife had a brother of tha 
 name. " But why are you standing, Bon's ? sit down 
 won't you have some tea } " 
 
CHAP. XXXV.] A NOVEL. 309 
 
 But Sipidgin was thinking of other things than tea. 
 
 When he had explained what the matter was, and 
 why he and Kallom^itsef had come, the governor 
 gave an exclamation of sorrow, struck his forehead 
 with his hand, and an expression as of pain passed 
 over his face. 
 
 " Of course, of course ! " he repeated, " what a 
 
 misfortune ! He is still under guard here, for the 
 
 moment ; you know we never keep that class of 
 
 i offenders more than one night, but the chief of the 
 
 / secret police was not in town, so your brother-in-law 
 
 \ had to remain .... But to-morrow he will be sent off. 
 
 Good Heavens, how unfortunate ! How unhappy your 
 
 wife must be ! But what can I do for you .-' " 
 
 " I should like to see him here before you, if the 
 law permit." 
 . " My dear friend, of course ! The law was not 
 ^written for such as you. I do so sympathize with you. 
 C'est affreux, tu sais ! " 
 
 He gave an understood signal on his bell, and an 
 aide-de-camp appeared. 
 
 " My dear baron, I beg of you, arrange this for 
 me ..." He told him what to do, and the baron 
 disappeared. " Just imagine, mon cher ami ; the 
 ""^peasaJits almost killed him. His hands behind his 
 back, into a cart and off ! And as for him, he is not 
 angry with them, not even annoyed, not a bit ! His 
 calmness really astonished me. But you shall see for 
 yourself C'est un fanatique tranquille." 
 
 " Ce sont les pires," said Kallomditsef, sententiously. 
 
 The governor looked at him from under his eye- 
 brows. 
 
 " By the way I have to talk to you, Semeon 
 Petr6vitch." 
 
 "What about.?" 
 
 " Something unpleasant." 
 
 « What is it ? " 
 
3IO VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXV. 
 
 " Why, that peasant who owed you money, the one 
 )who came to complain to me . . . . " 
 
 " What about him .? " 
 
 " He has hanged himself." 
 
 " When ? " 
 
 " When doesn't matter, but it is an unpleasant 
 business." 
 
 Kallom^itsef shrugged his shoulders and walked to 
 the window, swinging his body carelessly to and 
 fro. At that moment the aide-de-camp entered with 
 Markelof. 
 
 The governor had told the truth about him ; he 
 was unnaturally calm. Even his usual sullenness had 
 left his face, and had been replaced by an expression 
 of fatigued indifference. His face remained un- 
 changed when he saw his brother-in-law, and only in 
 the glance which he cast at the German aide-de-camp 
 who. had escorted him in could be seen a trace of his 
 hatred for that class of people. His coat was torn in 
 two places, and hurriedly sewn up with coarse thread. 
 On his forehead, over his eyes, and on the bridge of 
 his nose, were little scars with clots of blood still on 
 them. He had not washed, but had combed his hair. 
 Pulling his coat-sleeves far over his wrists, he stopped 
 close to the door. His breathing was regular. 
 
 " Sergei Mikhdilovitch ! " began Sipiagin, in an 
 agitated voice, going up to within two paces of him 
 and stretching out his right hand, so that it could 
 touch him, or stop him if he made a movement for- 
 ward. " Sergei Mikhdilovitch ! I have not come here 
 to express our amazement, our profound distress, for 
 you can hardly doubt them ! You wished to ruin 
 yourself and you have done so ! But I have desired 
 to see you that I might tell you .... might give you 
 an opportunity of hearing the voice of common sense, 
 of honour, of friendship ! You may yet make your 
 penalty lighter, and, trust me, I for my part will do all 
 
CHAP. XXXV.] A NOVEL. 3" 
 
 that lies in my power. The respected chief of our 
 province here before us will confirm what I say." 
 Here Sipidgin raised his voice. " Sincere repentance 
 of your errors, and a full confession, concealing 
 nothing, which will be forwarded to the proper 
 authorities . . . . " 
 
 "Your Excellency," said Mark^lof all at once, 
 turning to the governor — and the sound of his voice 
 was calm, if a little hoarse — " I thought it was you 
 who wanted to see me, and perhaps to examine me 
 again ; but if you have only sent for me at Mr. 
 Sipidgin's request, please order me to be removed ; 
 we cannot understand one another ; all that he says 
 is so much Greek to me." 
 
 " Greek ! " broke in Kallom^itsef in a shrill, sharp 
 tone. " Is it Greek to stir up the peasantry .' Is it 
 Greek, eh, is it Greek ? " 
 
 " Is that gentleman an official of the secret police, 
 your Excellency.' He is so zealous!" asked Mark^lof, 
 and a slight smile of pleasure passed over his pale lips. 
 
 Kallom^itsef cried out and stamped his foot. . . . 
 but the governor stopped him. 
 
 " It serves you right, Seme6n Petrovitch. Why do 
 you interfere in matters which do not concern you .' " 
 
 " Which do not concern me } I should have 
 thought they concerned us all, us nobles. . . ." 
 
 Mark^lof turned his eyes coldly and slowly on 
 Kallom^itsef, as if looking at him for the last time, 
 then turned towards Sipidgin. " And if you wish me 
 to explain my ideas to you, here they are. I acknow- 
 ledge that the peasants had a right to arrest me and 
 give me up if they did not like what I said to them. 
 That was for them to decide. I went to them ; they 
 did not come to me. And if the government sends 
 me to Siberia I shall not complain, though I do not 
 consider myself guilty. It defends itself: well, that is 
 its business. Is that sufficient for you 1 " 
 
312 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXX\ 
 
 Sipidgin raised his hands to heaven. 
 
 "Sufficient! What a word! That is not th 
 question, it is not for us to judge of the conduct c 
 the government. What I wish to know is, do yo 
 feel, Sergei " (Sipiagin was endeavouring to appeal t 
 his feelings), " the unreasonableness, the madness, c 
 your undertaking ; will you give some proof of you 
 repentance, may I answer for you, answer for you a 
 least to a certain extent, Sergei } " 
 
 Mark61of lowered his thick eyebrows. 
 
 " I have said — and I do not choose to repeat wha 
 I have said." 
 
 " But the repentance, where is the repentance .' " 
 
 Mark^lof all at once lost all restraint. 
 
 " Oh, do leave me at peace with your repentance 
 Do you want to pry into my conscience ? At leas 
 you might leave that to me ! " 
 
 Sipidgin shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "You were always like that; you never woulc 
 listen to the voice of reason. I can give you thf 
 opportunity of saving yourself honourably anc 
 quietly. . . ." 
 
 " Honourably and quietly ! " repeated Mark^lof, ir 
 a morose voice. " I know those words ! They art 
 always used to persuade a man to commit som( 
 meanness. That is what they signify ! " 
 
 " We pity you," continued Sipidgin, still endeavour 
 ing to bring Markdof to reason, " and you hate us." 
 
 " Pity us ! You send us to Siberia, to penal servi 
 tude, — that is your pity. Oh, leave me alone, for God'i 
 sake ! " 
 
 And Mark^lof bowed down his head. 
 
 Quiet as was his manner externally, at heart h< 
 
 was greatly disturbed. What tortured and annoyec 
 
 him most of all was that the man who had betrayec 
 
 Nhim was — leremdi of Galapli6k! That same lerem^i 
 
 ^in whom he had had such blind confidence ! Thai 
 
CHAP. XXXV.] A NOVEL. 313 
 
 \ Mendeldi the wind-bag had not followed him did not 
 l really astonish him. For Mendel^i was drunk and 
 therefore a coward. But leremdi ! For Markdof, 
 lerem^i had been as it were the incarnation of the 
 Russian people. . . . and it was he who had betrayed 
 him ! Then was all for which he had worked a sham" 
 and nothing more ? Did Kisliak6f really lie and 
 boast, were Vasi'li NikolcLevitch's orders nonsense, and 
 all those essays, books, writings of socialists and 
 advanced thinkers, every letter of which had seemed 
 to him so certain and so infallible — were they all a 
 bubble .' Impossible ! And that splendid com- 
 parison, the mature abscess awaiting the stroke of 
 the lancet, was that too a mere phrase } " No, no ! "_ 
 he whispered to himself, and a faint tinge of brick-red 
 suffused his tanned cheeks ; "No ; all that is right: it 
 is I who am wrong, I who have failed ; I did not say 
 the right thing, did not know how to set to work ! I 
 ought simply to have commanded, and if any one 
 had hindered me, or resisted, to have put a ball 
 through his head, without further argument 1 The 
 man who is not with us has no right to live. . . . Are 
 not spies killed like dogs, worse than dogs ? " 
 
 And Mark^lof remembered every detail of his 
 capture. First a silence in the crowd, glances inter- 
 changed, cries among those furthest oiif; then a 
 peasant advancing to him on one side, as if to salute 
 him. Then that sudden tumult, as he felt himself 
 thrown to the ground, " My lads, my lads, what are 
 you doing.'" and in answer, "Bring a belt, bring a 
 belt, tie his hands ! " The cracking of his joints. . . . 
 and his unavailing fury. . . . and the filthy dust in his 
 mouth and nostrils. . . . "Into a cart with him, quick!" 
 Then a coarse laugh. . . . Pheugh ! 
 
 " I went the wrong way to work ! " 
 
 This was what was torturing him ; the fact that he 
 had fallen under the wheel was merely his own per- 
 
314 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 sonal misfortune ; it did not concern the cause ; i1 
 might have been borne, . . . but lerem^i ! 
 
 While Mark^lof stood with his head bowed forward, 
 Sipiagin had taken the governor to one side and was 
 talking to him in a low tone, making slight gestures 
 and performing a little shake with two fingers on his 
 own forehead, as much as to say that the poor fellow 
 was not quite right there ; in a word he was doing his 
 best to excite, if not sympathy, at least pity for this 
 madman. The governor shrugged his shoulders, now 
 raised his eyes to the ceiling, now closed them, 
 expressed regret at his own powerlessness, but still 
 gave a half-promise. . . . "Tous les ^gards, certaine- 
 ment, tous les ^gards," could be heard the pleasant 
 lisp through the perfumed moustache. ..." But you 
 know, the law ! " 
 
 " Of course, the law ! " answered Sipidgin with a 
 gesture of grave submission. 
 
 While they were talking in the corner, Kallom^itsef 
 seemed very restless ; he walked to and fro, emitting 
 various sounds and other signs of impatience. At 
 length he went up to Sipidgin, and said, hurriedly, — 
 
 " Vous oubliez I'autre ! " 
 
 " Ah, yes, by the way," said Sipidgin, aloud. " Merci 
 de me I'avoir rappeld I must bring the following fact 
 to the notice of your Excellency," he turned to the 
 governor (he used this title in addressing his friend 
 V61demar, in order not to impair the prestige of 
 authority before a rebel). " I have good grounds for 
 supposing that the mad attempt of my beau-frire has 
 certain ramifications, and that one of these branches 
 — that is, one of the persons I suspect — is now living 
 not far distant from this town. There is some one 
 in your drawing-room," he continued in a lower voice ; 
 " order him to be shown in. I brought him with me." 
 
 The governor looked at Sipiagin, and thought, with 
 a certain awe, " What a man it is ! " and gave the 
 
CHAP. XXXV,] A NOVEL. 3 IS 
 
 order. A moment after the servant of God,* Sfla 
 Pdklin, was standing before his eyes. 
 
 Pdklin began by bowing low to the governor, but, 
 catching sight of Markdlof, broke off in the middle, 
 and remained as he was, bent forward, twisting 
 his hat from one hand to the other. Mark^lof threw 
 an indifferent glance at him, but did not seem to 
 recognize him, for he relapsed into thought. 
 
 " Is that — the — branch .' " asked the governor, point- 
 ing at Pdklin with his large white finger, adorned with 
 a turquoise. 
 
 " Oh, no ! " answered Sipidgin, with a half-laugh. 
 "Yet . . . ." he added, after a moment's thought. 
 " Your Excellency," he again began, " you have before 
 you a certain Mr. Pdklin. He lives in Petersburg, I 
 believe, and is an intimate friend of a certain person 
 who was formerly a tutor in my house, and who left 
 it, carrying off at the same time, I blush to say, a 
 young lady, my relative." 
 
 " Ah, oui, oui ! " murmured the governor, nodding 
 his head. " I heard something about it. The coun- 
 tess told me . . . ." 
 
 Sipidgin raised his voice. 
 
 "This person is a certain Mr. Nejddnof, whom I 
 strongly suspect of holding subversive opinions and 
 theories. . . ." 
 
 " Un rouge a tous crins," broke in Kallomditsef 
 
 " Subversive opinions and theories," continued 
 Sipidgin, more distinctly than before, " and who, of 
 course, is mixed up in all this propaganda. He is 
 living .... hiding, as Mr. Pdklin told me, in the factory 
 of the merchant Fal^ief." 
 
 At the words, "As Mr. Pdklin told me," Mark^lof 
 again looked at Pdklin, and a languid, indifferent 
 sneer passed over his face. 
 
 An expression frequently used in the Orthodox Church. 
 
3i6 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap, xxxv 
 
 "Stop, stop, your Excellency," called out Pdklin 
 " and you too, Mr. Sipidgin. I never .... never . . . .' 
 
 "You say the merchant Fal^ief.'" asked the 
 governor, turning to Sipidgin, taking no notice oi 
 Pdklin except to wave his finger in his direction, 
 meaning, " Gently, my dear sir, gently ! " " But what 
 has possessed them all, our worthy long-beards ? One 
 was arrested yesterday about this same business, 
 You have heard his name, perhaps — Goloiishkin, a 
 rich fellow. But he is not the stuff for a revolutionist ; 
 he does nothing but crawl on his knees before us." 
 
 "Faldief has nothing to do with this," continued 
 Sipidgin, in his clear voice. "1 do not know his 
 opinions ; I am only speaking of his factory, where, 
 according to Mr. Pdklin, Mr. Nejdanof is living at 
 the present moment." 
 
 " I never said that ! " howled Pdklin again ; " it was 
 you who said it ! " 
 
 " Permit me, Mr. Pdklin," went on Sipidgin, with 
 the same merciless distinctness. " I respect the feel- 
 ing of friendship which inspires your denial." (" What 
 a Guizot ! " thought the governor.) " But I will be bold 
 enough to set myself up as an example to you. Do 
 you imagine that the feeling of relationship is not as 
 strong in me as that of friendship in you > But there 
 is another feeling, my dear sir, which is still stronger, 
 and which ought to rule all our actions and deeds : 
 the feeling of duty ! " 
 
 " Le sentiment du devoir ! " exclaimed Kallomditsef. 
 
 Mark^lof looked round at all the speakers. 
 
 " Your Excellency," he said, " I repeat my request ; 
 pray order me to be removed from out of hearing of all 
 this clap-trap." 
 
 At this the governor rather lost patience. 
 
 " Mr. Markdlof," he exclaimed, " in your position I 
 should advise you a little more restraint in your lan- 
 guage, and a little more respect for your superiors, 
 
CHAP. XXXV.] A NOVEL. 317 
 
 especially when they utter such patriotic sentiments 
 as you have just heard from the lips of your brother- 
 in-law ! I shall consider it a pleasure, my dear Bon's," 
 he added, turning to Sipidgin, " to bring your noble 
 conduct to the notice of the minister. But With whom 
 is Mr. Nejddnof living at this factory .' " 
 
 Sipiigin frowned. 
 
 " With theengineer-in-chief — a certain Mr. Sol6min, 
 as Mr. Pdklin also Told me." 
 
 Sipidgin seemed to find a special pleasure in tor- 
 menting the wretched Pdklin. He was revenging him- 
 self for the cigar the latter had smoked in the carriage, 
 and for the polite familiarity of his own behaviour 
 to him, and even for the little playfulness he had 
 expended upon him. 
 
 " And this Sol6min," interrupted Kallom^itsef, " is 
 an undoubted radical and republican ; and it would 
 not be amiss for your Excellency to turn your attention 
 on him as well." 
 
 " You know these gentlemen .... Sol6min, and 
 what 's his name .... Nejddnof .' " asked the governor 
 of Markdof, in rather a nasal and official tone. 
 
 Mark61of expanded his nostrils with malignant 
 pleasure. 
 
 "And you, your Excellency, do you know Con- 
 fucius and Livy ? " 
 
 The governor turned away. 
 
 " II n'y a pas moyen de causer avec cet homme," he 
 said, with a shrug of his shoulders. " Baron, please 
 come here." 
 
 The aide-de-camp sprang to his side, while Pdklin, 
 making the best of his opportunity, limped and 
 stumbled up to Sipidgin. 
 
 " What are you doing > " he whispered. "Why are 
 you ruining your relative ? For she is there, you 
 know, with Nejddnof ! " 
 
 " I am ruining no one, my dear sir," said Sipidgin, 
 
3J8 virgin soil. [chap. XXXV 
 
 aloud ; " I am obeying the dictates of my con 
 science " 
 
 " And of your wife, my sister, under whose petticoa 
 you are," said Mark^lof, also aloud. 
 
 Sipidgin took not the smallest notice It was sc 
 
 far below him ! 
 
 " Listen," Pdklin continued, still in a whisper ; hi; 
 whole person was quivering with emotion, with fear 
 perhaps ; his eyes were sparkling with anger, and 
 tears were rising in his throat — tears of pity for them 
 and of vexation with himself. " Listen ! I told you sh( 
 was married ; it is untrue. I told you a lie. But thej 
 are to be married, and if you prevent it by sending 
 the police, there will be a stain on your conscience 
 which nothing will ever wash off, while you . . . ." 
 ' " The information you have given me," interrupted 
 Sipidgin, still louder, " if it be true, which I have the 
 right to doubt, can only cause me to expedite the 
 measures which I consider it necessary to take ; while 
 as for the purity of my conscience, sir, I must ask you 
 not to concern yourself so much about it." 
 
 " It is polished, my friend, that conscience ol 
 yours," broke in Mark61of; "the real Petersburg 
 varnish, warranted to stand damp ! As for you, Mr 
 Pdklin, whisper — whisper as long as you like ; you 
 will not whisper yourself out of this mess, don't thinli 
 it ! " 
 
 The governor thought it time to put an end to this 
 scene. 
 
 " I think," he began, " that you, gentlemen, have 
 said all you wish to say, so, my dear baron, remove 
 Mr. Markdof N'est-ce pas, Bon's ? you want nothing 
 more. . . ." 
 
 Sipidgin waved his hands away from him. 
 
 " I have said all I could ! " 
 
 " Exactly so ; my dear baron. . . ." 
 
 The aide-de-camp approached Markdof, clicked hi; 
 
CHAP, XXXV.] A NOVEL. 319 
 
 heels together, and made a horizontal movement of 
 his hand, as much as to say, " If you please ! " Mar- 
 k^lof turned and went out. Pdklin mentally shook his 
 hand ; only mentally, true, but with deep sympathy 
 and pity. 
 
 . " And we will send our feHows to the factory," said 
 the governor. " Only, Bon's, I fancy that gentleman " 
 (he indicated Pclklin with his chin) " told you some- 
 thing about your relation ; about her being there too. 
 .... So what are we to do ? . . ." 
 
 " Of course you cannot arrest her," remarked 
 Sipi^gin, thoughtfully ; " perhaps she will repent and 
 return home. If you will allow me I will write her a 
 note." 
 
 " Certainly, certainly ; all we can do you may be 
 
 sure Nous coffrerons le quidam, mais nous 
 
 sommes galants avec les dames . . . . et avec celle-la 
 done ! " 
 
 "But are you going to do nothing about that 
 Sol6min ? " exclaimed Kallom^itsef, piteously. He 
 had been listening attentively the whole time, and 
 trying to catch what the governor and Sipiigin were 
 saying aside. " I am positive he is the leader ! I have 
 such a scent for them ! " 
 
 " Pas trop de z^le, my dear Seme6n Petr6vitch," said 
 the governor, showing his teeth. "You remember 
 Talleyrand .■' If he is implicated he will not escape 
 us. You had better think about your .... k k k ... . 
 k k ! " and the governor made a sign as of a rope 
 round his neck. " By the way," he once more turned 
 to Sipi^gin, " et ce gaillard-la " (he again pointed at 
 Paklinwith his chin) "qu'en ferons nous? He is not 
 very terrible to look at ! " 
 
 " Let him go," said Sipidgin in a low voice, and 
 added in German, " Lass' den Lumpen laufen ! " 
 
 He somehow imagined he was quoting Goethe's 
 ' Goetz von Berlichingen.' 
 
320 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XXXV 
 
 " You can go, my dear sir," said the governor out 
 loud. " We have no further need of you. I have the 
 honour of wishing you good-day." 
 
 Piklin made a general bow and went out into the 
 street, crushed and annihilated. This disdain had 
 finished him. 
 
 " Can it be 1 " he thought, with inexpressible 
 despair, " am I a coward, an informer ? No, no ; I 
 am an honest man, and have not lost all manliness ! " 
 
 But what is this well-known figure on the steps of 
 the governor's residence, looking at him with melan- 
 choly eyes filled with reproach ? Yes, it is Markdof s 
 old servant. He has followed his master into town, 
 and will not leave his prison-door. Only why does 
 he look at Paklin like that } It is not Paklin who has 
 betrayed Markdlof 
 
 "Why did I thrust myself in where I had no 
 business to be .' " he went on, in the same despairing 
 strain of thought. " Why couldn't I keep quiet in my 
 corner ? And now people will be saying, and perhaps 
 writing, 'A certain Mr. Piklin told everything, 
 betrayed them, betrayed his friends to the enemy ! ' " 
 Then he remembered the look Mark^lof had given 
 him, and his last words, "You will never whisper 
 yourself out of this mess, don't think it ! " and now 
 these melancholy, heart-broken eyes of the old man. 
 And, as it is said in the Scriptures, " He wept bit- 
 terly " as he made his way back to the oasis, to 
 F6moushka and Fimoushka, to Snandiilia. . . . 
 
CHAP. XXXVI.] A NOVEL. 321 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 When Maridnna left her room on the morning that 
 all this was happening, she saw Nejddnof sitting 
 dressed on the sofa. He was resting his head on one 
 hand, while the other lay feeble and motionless on 
 his knees. She went up to him. 
 
 " Good day, Alex^i .... why, you have not un- 
 dressed, you have not been to bed ! How pale you 
 are ! " 
 
 He slowly raised his heavy eyelids. 
 
 " I have not undressed, and I have not been to 
 bed." 
 
 " Are you not well, or is it still the effects of yes- 
 terday .? " 
 
 Nejddnof shook his head. 
 
 " I havei not slept since Sol6min went into your 
 room." 
 
 "When.?" 
 
 " Yesterday evening." 
 
 "Why, Alex6i, you are jealous! That is some- 
 thing new. And what a time you have chosen to be 
 jealous ! He only stopped in my room a quarter of 
 an hour, and we talked of his cousin, the priest, and 
 of how to arrange our marriage." 
 
 " I know he only stopped a quarter of an hour ; I 
 
 Y 
 
322 VIRGIN SOIL. [chap. XXXVI 
 
 saw him come out. And I am not jealous, no ! stil 
 I could not sleep after that." 
 
 " Why not .? " 
 
 Nejddnof remained silent for a moment. 
 
 " I was thinking .... thinking .... thinking ! " 
 
 "Of what.?" 
 
 " Of you .... of him .... and of myself" 
 
 " And to what results did your thoughts lead you t ' 
 
 " Shall I tell you, Maridnna .? " 
 
 " Tell me." 
 
 " I thought that I was in the way ; in your way . . . , 
 in his ... . and in my own." 
 
 " In my way, and in Solomin's ! I understand 
 what you mean by that, though you are so certain 
 that you are not jealous. But in your own way .' " 
 <^ " Marianna, there are two men within me, and one 
 -^ of them gives the other no peace. So I think that it 
 / would be better for both of them to cease living." 
 ^ " Oh, Alexdi, do not go on in that strain, please ! 
 Why torture yourself and me ^ We ought to be 
 consulting now what measures to take .... For 
 we can hardly hope to be left undisturbed by the 
 police." 
 
 Nejdanof took her hand caressingly. 
 
 " Sit down by me, Mariinna, and let us have a chat, 
 like friends, while there is time yet. Give me your 
 •hand. I think it would not be amiss for us to have 
 an explanation, although people do say that explana- 
 tions always lead to greater confusion. But you are 
 good and sensible ; you will understand me ; and 
 what I do not say you will iill up for yourself. Sit 
 down." 
 
 Nejddnofs voice was very low and quiet, and in his 
 eyes, which were gazing iixedly on Maridnna, was a 
 strange look of friendly tenderness and entreaty. 
 
 She at once and willingly sat down by his side and 
 took his hand. 
 
CHAP. XXXVI.] A NOVEL. 323 
 
 " Thanks, my dear one, and now listen. I will not 
 keep you long, for I have been thinking during the 
 night of what I should say to you. Listen. Do not 
 imagine that what happened yesterday has distressed 
 me over much. I was probably very ridiculous and 
 even a trifle disgusting ; but I know you did not think 
 anything low or bad of me .... you know me. I said 
 that it did not distress me much; that is not true ; that is 
 nonsense : I am distressed, not because I was brought 
 home drunk, but because it has finally_Br oved to nig . 
 \ my own impot ence. Not only that I cannot drink' as 
 Russians drink7~But in everything — in -eveiy thing,! 
 Marianna, I am bound to tell you -that_X_22loi^S^'^ 
 believe in that cause which first united u sTfor whic£ 
 we left that house together ; to tell theTruth, I was 
 cooling towards it even then, but the fire which was 
 in you heated me and urged me on ; I do not believe 
 in it, I do not believe in it ! " 
 
 He covered his eyes with the hand which was at 
 liberty, and paused for a moment. Marianna looked 
 down and did not say a word. She felt that he was 
 ^ telling her nothing she did not already know. 
 
 " I used to think," continued Nejddnof, removing 
 his hand from his eyes, but without looking at 
 Maridnna, " that I believed in the cause itself, but 
 only distrusted myself, my own strength, my own 
 ^ aptitudes. My abilities, I thought, were not on a par \ 
 with my convictions. But I suppose the two things ' 
 cannot be separated, and why deceive oneself any ) 
 longer .' No, it is the cause I do not believe in — the / 
 ^ actual cause. You do, do you not, Marianna .'' " ^ 
 Maridnna drew herself up and raised her head. 
 " Yes, Alex^i, I do. I believe in it with all my 
 strength, and will devote my life to the cause, to my 
 last breath ! " 
 
 Nejddnof turned round and contemplated her with 
 a touched yet envying look. 
 
324 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP. XXX\ 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I expected that answer. You see, the 
 is nothing for us to do together ; you yourself hai 
 snapped the tie between us with one blow." 
 
 Maridnna did not answer. 
 
 " Look at Sol6min," continued Nejddnof ; " he do( 
 not believe . . . ." 
 
 "What.?" 
 
 " No, he does not believe .... but he does not nee 
 to believe ; he moves calmly onwards. A man wh 
 is going towards a town does not ask himself, ' Bi 
 does this town really exist .■■ ' He goes on and o 
 So does Sol6min, and that is all that is wante( 
 While I . . . . cannot go forward, I will not go back 
 and to stop where I am is misery. Whom could 
 have the boldness to ask to be my companion 1 Yo 
 know the proverb, ' One takes one end of the pole, th 
 other the other, and things go capitally ! ' But : 
 one cannot carry his share, what is to become of th 
 other .? " 
 
 "But, Alex^i," said Marianna, hesitatingly. " 
 think you are exaggerating. We love each other." 
 
 Nejdanof gave a deep sigh. 
 
 " Maridnna .... I incline myself respectfully befor 
 you .... and you pity me, and each of us is sure c 
 the honesty of the other. That is the truth ; bu 
 there is no love between us ! " 
 
 " But, Alex^i, what are you saying .? We shall bi 
 pursued to-day, almost immediately. Surely wi 
 must go away together, not leave each other." 
 
 " Yes, and go to Zosima, the priest, to be married 
 as Sol6min proposes. I know very well that in you 
 eyes this marriage is nothing more than a passport, ; 
 means of avoiding difiSculties with the police ; still i 
 does bind us to a certain extent .... to living 
 together, or, rather, side by side .... or if it doei 
 not bind us, it at least presupposes a wish to livi 
 together." 
 
CHAP. XXXVI.] A NOVEL. 32S 
 
 " What do you mean; Alex6i ? Do you intend to 
 remain here ? " 
 
 " Yes !" was on the tip of Nejdanofs tongue; but 
 he restrained himself, and said, — 
 
 "No no." 
 
 " Then are you not going . from here to the same 
 place as I am ? " 
 
 Nejddnof grasped her hand, which was still lying 
 in his. 
 
 "To leave you without a protector, without a 
 defender, would be a crime ; and, however weak I 
 may be, I have not come to that yet. You will not 
 want for a defender, do not doubt it." 
 
 Marianna stooped over him, and, approaching her 
 face to his, endeavoured to look through his eyes into 
 his inmost soul. 
 
 " What is it, Alex^i .? What have you on your 
 mind } Tell me ! You distress me — your words are 
 so mysterious, so strange .... and your face, too ! I 
 have never seen such a look on it before." 
 
 Nejddnof pushed her back gently, and gently 
 kissed her hand. This time she did not resist, nor 
 laugh, but continued to look at him anxiously and 
 timidly. 
 
 " Do not alarm yourself, please. There is nothing 
 strange in it. My misery lies in this. They say that 
 ythe peasants beat Mark^lof ; they struck him with 
 their fists — bruised his bones. Me they did not beat ; 
 on the contrary, they drank with me — drank my 
 health .... but they bruised my soul, more than 
 Markelofs bones. I was torn out of joint, tried to 
 put myself in again, and dislocated myself worse 
 than before. That is what you notice on my 
 face." 
 
 "Alexdi," said Maridnna, slowly, "it would be a 
 sin on your part not to be frank with me." 
 
 He clenched his fists. 
 
326 VIRGIN^ SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVl. 
 
 " Maridnna, my whole being is before you, as if it 
 were on the palm of my hand ; and whatever I do, 
 I tell you beforehand, there will be nothing for you 
 to be astonished at, nothing ! " 
 
 Maridnna thought of asking for an explanation of 
 these words, but she did not, and at that moment 
 Sol6min entered the room. 
 
 His movements were quicker and more abrupt 
 than usual, His eyes were half closed, his thick lips 
 tightly compressed ; his whole face seemed sharper- 
 featured, and had taken a hard, firm, rather rough 
 expression. 
 
 " My friends," he began, " I have come to tell you 
 that there is no time to be lost. Collect your things, 
 for we must be going. In an hour we must be ready, 
 and you must go and be married. There is no news 
 of Paklin. They kept his conveyance some time at 
 Arjanoe, and then sent it back. Of course he will 
 not betray you, but who knows, he may chatter too 
 much. Besides which the horses may be recognized. 
 My cousin has had notice given him. Pdvel will go 
 with you and act as witness." 
 
 " And you," asked Nejddnof, " shall you not come 
 with us .'' I see you are r.eady for travelling," he 
 added, looking at the high boots which Sol6min had 
 on. 
 
 " That is nothing ; it is muddy out of doors." 
 
 " But they may make you suffer for us } " 
 
 " I do not think so ; in any case, that is my business. 
 So, in an hour. Maridnna, Tatiana wishes to see you. 
 She has something there . . . ." 
 
 " Yes ; I myself wish to speak to her." 
 
 Maridnna went towards the door. 
 
 On Nejddnof's face appeared a strange look — a 
 look of dread, of anguish. ... 
 
 "Marianna, are j'ou going?" he said, in a voice 
 which suddenly died away. 
 
CHAP. XXXVI.] A NOVEL. 327 
 
 She stopped. 
 
 " I shall be back in half an hour. It will not take 
 me long to pack." 
 
 " Yes ; but come here a moment. . . ." 
 
 " Certainly ; but why .? " 
 
 " I want to look at you once more." He looked 
 long and fixedly at her. " Good-bye, good-bye, 
 Maridnna ! " 
 
 She stared at him in astonishment. 
 
 " What .... what am I saying ? I was thinking of 
 something else. You are coming back in half an 
 hour?" 
 
 " Of course I am." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; of course. Excuse me. My brains are 
 wool-gathering from want of sleep. I too will .... 
 settle matters directly." 
 
 Marianna left the room, and Sol6min was following 
 her, when Nejddnof stopped him. 
 
 " Sol6min ! " 
 
 "What.?" 
 
 " Give me your hand. I must thank you for your 
 hospitality." 
 
 Sol6min smiled. 
 
 " What an idea ! " he said, but gave him his 
 hand. 
 
 "And another thing!" continued Nejddnof; "if 
 anything happens to me, I can rely on you not to 
 abandon Maridnna .' " 
 
 " Your future wife ? " 
 
 "Yes — Maridnna. 
 
 " Firstly, nothing is going to happen to you ; 
 secondly, you may reassure yourself — Maridnna is as 
 dear to me as she is to you." 
 
 " Yes, I know it I know it ! Well, all right ; 
 
 and thanks. So, in an hour ? " 
 
 " In an hour." 
 
 " I shall be ready. Good-bye." 
 
328 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 Sol6min went out and overtook Mariantia on the 
 staircase. He had thought of saying something to 
 her about Nejddnof, but did not. Marianna, tbo, 
 understood that Sol6min had something to say, and 
 that it was about Nejddnof, and that he did not like 
 to say it. So she too was silent. 
 
CHAP. XXXVII.] A NOVEL. 
 
 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Scarcely had Sol6min disappeared, when Nejddnof 
 sprang up from the sofa, took a couple of turns 
 up and down, then stood for a moment in the centre 
 of the room like a statue ; then again roused himself, 
 hurriedly threw off his " masquerade " costume, , thrust 
 it into a corner with his foot, and put on the clothes 
 he had formerly worn. Then he went up to the three- 
 legged table, and took out of the drawer two sealed 
 envelopes and a small object. This he put into his 
 pocket, leaving the letters oh the table. Then he 
 stooped down before the stove and opened it. Inside 
 ^it was a heap of ashes, all that remained of Nejdinofs 
 papers, of his book of poetry. He had burnt them all 
 during the night. But also within the stove,. leaning 
 against one side, was the portrait of Maridnna, which 
 Mark^lof had given him. This he had appareiitly not 
 had the courage to burn ; he took it out tenderly and 
 laid it on the table by the side of the letters. 
 
 Then he caught up his cap with a reckless gesture, 
 and made for the door .... but he stopped, came 
 back, and went into Mari^nna's room. There he stood 
 a moment, looked round, and, going up to her little 
 bed, bent over it, and, with one silent sob, kissed riot 
 
330 VIRGIN SOIL. [CHAP< XXXVI] 
 
 the pillow, but the foot of the bed. Then he spfan| 
 up, pulled his cap over his forehead, and rushed out. 
 
 He met no one either in the passage or on the stair 
 case or down below, and slipped out into the garden 
 It was a dull day, the clouds were low, and a damj 
 breeze was stirring the tops of the plants and th( 
 foliage of the trees. The noise of the factory was lesi 
 deafening than was usual at that hour of the day 
 From the yard came a smell of charcoal, tar, anc 
 tallow. 
 
 He looked round sharply and suspiciously, anc 
 walked directly up to that same old apple-tree whicli 
 had attracted his attention the day of his arrival, the 
 first time he had looked out of the window of theii 
 lodging. The trunk of this tree was overgrown witi 
 lichen ; its bare, knotty boughs, with here and there a 
 greenish-red leaf hanging to them, rose upwards, bent 
 like withered arms in prayer. 
 
 Nejddnof took his stand with firmness on the dark 
 soil, close to the root of the tree ; then drew from his 
 pocket the small object which had lain in the table- 
 drawer. He next looked attentively at the windows 
 of the house. " If any one were to see me now," he 
 thought, " I might put it off. . . ." But no human face 
 was visible anywhere .... it seemed as if everything 
 was dead, had turned away from him, departed for 
 ever, left him to his fate. Alone the noise and smell 
 of the factory came to him, while tiny little needle- 
 points of cold rain began to fall on him from above. 
 
 Nt^danof looked up through the gnarled boughs of 
 the tree under which he was standing, at the lowering, 
 grey, damp, indifferent sky ; yawned, shivered, and 
 thought, " After all, there was nothing else to be done; 
 I couldn't go back to Petersburg — to prison " ; then 
 threw off his cap. A strong shudder of nervous 
 emotion, almost unbearable, yet not without sweet- 
 ness, ran through his whole body as he placed the 
 
CHAP. XXXVII. A NOVEL. 33' 
 
 > muzzle of the Yevolver to his breast, and pulled the 
 trigger 
 
 As he did it, something struck him, not very hard, 
 it seemed .... but he found himself on his back, try- 
 ing to understand what had happened, and how it was 
 he had that moment seen Tatiana. He tried to call 
 her, to say, " Oh, it is all wrong ! " but his voice failed 
 him, and over his face, his forehead, before his eyes, 
 through his brain, there swept an opaque greenish 
 whirlwind, and he felt for ever crushed to earth by 
 some unbearable weight. 
 
 He had really seen Tatiana. At the moment he 
 had pulled the trigger, she had approached one of the 
 windows, and had seen him under the tree. Before 
 she had time to think, " What is he doing, bare-headed, 
 under the apple-tree, in weather like this 1 " she saw 
 him fall backwards like a sheaf of corn. She did not 
 hear the report, for the noise was very slight, but 
 guessed that something wrong had happened, and 
 rushed headlong down into the garden. She flew up 
 to him. 
 
 " Alex^i Dmi'tritch, what is it ? " 
 
 But darkness had already come over his eyes. 
 Tatiana bent over him, saw blood. . . . 
 
 " Pdvel ! " she shrieked, in a voice quite strange to 
 her,—" Pdvel ! " 
 
 A few moments after, Marianna, Solomin, Pavel, 
 and two other workmen were in the garden. They 
 lifted Nejdinof, carried him in, and laid him on the 
 same sofa on which he had passed his last night. 
 
 He lay on his back, with his eyes fixed and half 
 closed, his face blueish in colour, drawing long uneven 
 breaths with difficulty, and with occasional choking 
 sobs. Life had not yet fled. Marianna and Sol6min 
 stood on either side of the sofa, almost as pale as 
 Nejddnof himself. They were both crushed, broken 
 down almost annihilated, by the blow, especially 
 
332 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVII 
 
 ■ MariftHffivbut they were nqtj urprised. "How was i 
 we did not foresee this ? " they both thought ; and, ai 
 the same time, it seemed as if they had foreseen it 
 When he said to Marianna, " Whatever I do, I tell yoi 
 beforehand, do not be astonished ! " and again whei 
 he had spoken of the two men within him who could 
 not live together, had no dim apprehension then 
 stirred within her ? Why had she not then thought 
 over those words and examined her own apprehend 
 sions ? Why does she not dare glance at Sol6min, as 
 if he were her accomplice ; as if his conscience must 
 be smiting him too now ? Why does she feel not 
 only such utter, maddening pity for Nejdanof, but 
 terror, shame, and remorse ? Perhaps it had only 
 depended upon her to save him ! Why do they not 
 dare to utter a word, hardly to breathe ? They can 
 only wait .... and wait for what } My God ! 
 
 Sol6min had sent for a doctor, although, of course, 
 there was not the smallest hope. Tatiana had placed 
 a large sponge with cold water on the little wound, 
 almost bloodless, but nearly black, and was wetting 
 his forehead Ayith vinegar and water. All at once 
 Nejdanof ceased sobbing, and stirred. 
 
 " He is coming to himself," whispered Solomin. 
 
 Maridnna dropped on her knees by the sofa; 
 Nejdanof turned his eyes on her .... Up to that 
 time they bad been fixed like those of a dying 
 man. 
 
 " Still .... alive !...." he murmured, almost in- 
 audibly. " Even in this I have failed .... still hin- 
 dering you." 
 
 " Ali6sha ! " groaned Marianna. 
 
 "^ Directly. ... Do you remember, Marianna, in my 
 poem, ' Surround me with flowers ' 1 Where are the 
 flowers .? But, at least, you are here. In my 
 letter " 
 
 A shiver passed over him. 
 
CHAP. XXXVII.] A NOVEL. 333 
 
 "There she is ... . give one another .... your 
 hands .... before me .... quick .... give . . . ." 
 
 Sol6min took Marianna's hand. Her head was 
 resting, face downwards, on the sofa, close to the 
 wound. 
 
 Solomin was standing, upright and grave, black as 
 night. 
 
 "So ... . well .... so ... ." 
 
 The sobs recommenced, but now strangely different. 
 His chest stood out, his sides fell inwards. He was 
 evidently trying to lay his hand on theirs, but his were 
 already dead. 
 
 " He is dying ! " whispered Tatiana, who was stand- 
 ing by the door, and began to cross herself 
 
 The sobs grew sharper and rarer. He was seeking 
 Marianna with his eyes, but a terrible white mist had 
 spread over them from within .... 
 
 " Well . . . ." was his last word. 
 
 He was dead, and the hands of Sol6min and 
 Marianna still lay clasped on his breast. 
 
 These were the two letters he had left behind. One 
 was addressed to Sflin, and contained but a few lines. 
 
 "Good-bye, my friend, good-bye. When you re- 
 ceive this, I shall no longer be alive. Do not ask 
 why, or how, or pity me — it is better so. Take our 
 immortal Poushkin, and read the description of the 
 death of L^nski in ' Evg^ni Onegin." You remember. 
 ' The windows are splashed with lime, the mistress is 
 
 out ' That is all. I have nothing to tell you 
 
 for I should have too much to say, and my time is 
 short. But I would not depart without warning you, 
 or you would have thought me living, and I should 
 have sinned agajnst our friendship. Good-bye. Live 
 long. Your friend, ^^ ^ ^„ 
 
 The other letter was rather longer. It was 
 
334 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVU 
 
 addressed to Solomin and Maridnna, and ran a 
 follows :— 
 
 " My Children ! " 
 
 (After these words came a break ; sonaething ha( 
 been crossed out, or rather blotted, as if tears ha( 
 fallen there.) 
 
 " You may think it strange for me to call you thus 
 I am almost a child myself, and you, Sol6min, are o 
 course older than I. But I am about to die, and 
 standing at the end of my life, I look on myself ai 
 an old man. I am much to blame before you both 
 and especially before you, Marianna, for causing yot 
 so much grief (I know you will be grieved, Marianna 
 and so much anxiety. But what could I do ? I founc 
 \no other escape. I could not simplify myself; th( 
 only thing that remained was to strike myself ou' 
 altogether. Yes, Maridnna, I was a burden on my- 
 self and on you. You have a noble mind, and would 
 have rejoiced in that burden, or in a new sacrifice . . . 
 but I had no right to impose that sacrifice on you 
 you have a greater and worthier work to do. M} 
 children, let me- as it were put out a hand from mj 
 tomb to unite you. You will be happy together. Yoi 
 Maridnna will now give all your love to Sol6min, anc 
 as for hirn, he loved you as soon as he saw you a1 
 Sipiagin's. This was no secret for me, though we flee 
 together a few days later. Oh, that morning ! Hov 
 glorious and fresh and young it was ! It seems tc 
 me now like an expression, a symbol of your unitec 
 lives — yours and his ; I was only in his place b) 
 accident. But I must finish. I do not wish to seel 
 for sympathy. I only wish to justify myself. To 
 morrow you will have some very sad moments . . . 
 But what is to be done .■* Is there any other way oui 
 of it .'' Good-bye, Marianna, my dear, honest girl 
 Good-bye, SoI6min, I entrust her to you ! Liv( 
 happily ; do good to others ; and do you, Maridnna 
 
CHAP. XXXVII.] A NOVEL. 335 
 
 only remember me when you are happy. Think of me 
 _ as a man who was also good and honest, but who did 
 better by dying than he would have done by living. 
 Whether my love for you was real love, I know not, 
 my dear friend ; but this know, that I have never felt 
 any stronger feeling, and that death would be even 
 more terrible if I did not carry that feeling with me 
 to my grave. 
 
 " Marianna, if you, ever happen to meet a girl, by 
 name Mashiirina — Sol6min knows her, and, by the 
 way, I think you too have seen her — -tell her that I 
 remembered her kindly not long before my death .... 
 she will understand. 
 
 " But I must tear myself away. I was looking out 
 of window this moment, and in the midst of the 
 swiftly drifting cloud stood one lovely star. Fast 
 though they might drift, they could not hide it. That 
 star reminded me of you, Maridnna ! At this instant 
 you are sleeping in the next room, and suspect 
 nothing .... I went up to your door, listened, and 
 seemed to hear your pure calm breathing. Good- 
 bye, good-bye, my children, my friends ! 
 
 " Yours, A. 
 
 " Dear, dear ! How is it that in my last letter I 
 have said nothing about our mighty cause ! I sup- 
 pose because before death there is no object in lying. 
 Forgive me this, Marianna .... the lie was in me, and 
 not in the cause in which you believe ! 
 
 " Another thing : you will perhaps think, Marianna, 
 that I was afraid of the prison, into which I should 
 certainly have fallen, and that this was my way of 
 escaping it .' No ; the prison is nothing much ; but 
 to go to prison for a cause in which one does not 
 believe would never do. So I am making away with, 
 myself, but it is not from fear of prison. 
 
 " Good-bye, Marianna, my pure, dear girl ! " 
 
336 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVII 
 
 Mariinna and Sol6niin read this letter, one after th( 
 other. Then she put the portrait and both the letter 
 into her pocket — but did not offer to move. 
 
 Solomin said, " All is ready, Marianna ; let us go 
 We must fulfil his wishes." 
 
 Maridnna went up to Nejdanof, touched the cole 
 forehead with her lips, and turning to Sol6min said 
 " Come." 
 
 He took her hand and they went out. 
 
 A few hours later, when the police entered th( 
 factory, they found Nejdanof indeed, but found him ; 
 corpse. Tatidna had laid him out, crossed his hands 
 placed a white pillow under his head, even a bouque 
 of flowers on the table by him, and Pdvel, wh( 
 had received all the necessary instructions, met th( 
 officials with the utmost politeness dashed with ; 
 little satire, so that they hardly knew whether to thani 
 him or to arrest him. He gave them full details as t( 
 Nejddnof's suicide, accompanying them with Swisi 
 cheese and Madeira ; but professed the most absolufa 
 ignorance where Vasfli Feddtitch and the strang( 
 young lady might be ; he confined himself to repeat 
 ing that Vasi'li Fed6titch was never away long 
 because of the business ,; that if he were not bad 
 to-day he would be to-morrow, and then he would le 
 them know in town, without losing a minute. Oh 
 he was an accurate man, they might trust him fo 
 that ! 
 
 So the police departed as they had come, leaving ; 
 watch by the body, and saying that they would sen( 
 the proper official to inspect it. 
 
:hap. XXXVIII.] A NOVEL, 337 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Two days after this event a peasant's cart, in which 
 sat a man and a woman whom we well know, rolled 
 into the courtyard of Z6sima, the " accommodating " 
 priest — and on the morrow of their arrival they were 
 married. Soon afterwards they disappeared, and the 
 ;ood Z6sima had no cause to repent of his kindly act. 
 A. letter reached the factory, addressed to Sol6min's 
 employer, to whom it was forwarded by Pdvel ; it con- 
 tained a full and detailed account of the position of 
 :he business, which was extremely favourable, and a 
 request for three months' leave. This letter was dated 
 two days before Nejddnofs death, whence we may 
 jonclude that Sol6min had even then had the inten- 
 :ion of leaving with him and Maridnna, and of hiding 
 "or a time. The inquest which was held on Nejddnof 
 produced no result. The body was buried, and 
 5ipi%in made no further attempt to find Maridnna. 
 
 Nine months later Markdlof was tried. Before the 
 :ourt he bore himself as he had done before the 
 governor ; calmly, not without a certain dignity, and 
 •ather sadly. His usual abrupt, hard manner had 
 jrown gentler, not from weakness, but from another 
 md a more noble feeling. He made no defence, nor 
 lid he show any signs of repentance ; he accused no 
 
 z 
 
338 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXV] 
 
 one and named no one ; his pale face, with its sunk 
 eyes, expressed nothing but fortitude and resignatii 
 to his fate, and his brief but straightforward ai 
 truthful answers excited a feeling of sympathy evi 
 in his judges. The very peasants who had seiz( 
 him, and were now bearing witness against him, shan 
 this feeling, and spoke of him as a good, simple gentl 
 man. But his offence was too clear ; punishment w; 
 inevitable, and he himself seemed to accept th 
 punishment as his due. As to his confederates, wh 
 however, were but few in number, Mashiirina escapee 
 Ostrodiimof was killed by a small tradesman to whoi 
 
 - he had been preaching rebellion, and who had give 
 him, as he said, an " awkward " blow ; Goloushki: 
 " considering his sincere repentance " (he had near] 
 gone mad with fright and horror), was only slight! 
 punished ; Kisliakof was kept a month under arrest 
 then the authorities released him, and even raised n 
 objection to his rushing once more all over Russia 
 Nejdanof had escaped by suicide ; Solomin, thoug 
 strongl y suspected, was acquitted for wan Toreviden j 
 (he.did-not-attempt_tQ,av.Qid„trial,^,but_app eared wh e 
 
 -Summoned). About Marianna not a worffwas sale 
 and Pdklin, too, slipped through their fingers ; beside 
 which they paid no particular attention to him. 
 
 A year and a half had passed, and the winter o 
 _ i 870 had begun. In Petersburg the privy councillo 
 and Kammerherr Sipiagin was preparing to play ai 
 important part ; his wife posed as the patroness of al 
 the arts, gave evening concerts, and established soup 
 kitchens for the poor ; and Kallomditsef had come t( 
 be considered as one of the most promising official: 
 of his department. In this same Petersburg one day 
 
:hap. XXXVIII.] A NOVEL. 339 
 
 ilong one of the " lines " * of the Vasili^fski Island, 
 w^as hobbling and limping a little man in a shabby 
 :oat with a catskin collar. This was our friend Pdklin. 
 He had changed considerably in the interval ; there 
 ivere some white threads in the hair which peeped 
 from under the edge of his fur cap. A rather stout 
 ind tall lady, wrapped tightly in a dark cloth cloak, 
 ipproached him on the same side of the road. Pdklin 
 looked at her dreamily, and was passing by, when he 
 suddenly stopped and considered a moment, made a 
 rapid gesture, turned quickly round, and, running 
 ifter her, looked up at her face. 
 
 " Mashurina," he said, in a low tone. 
 
 The lady stared at him majestically, and went on 
 without a word. 
 
 " My dear Mashurina, I know you,'' continued 
 Pdklin, limping along by her side, " please do not be 
 afraid. I shall not betray you — and I really am too 
 glad to have met you. I am Pdklin, Sila Pdklin you 
 know, a friend of Nejddnof's. Come into my rooms .... 
 I live a few steps from here. Please do." 
 
 " lo sonoContessa Rocca di Santo Fiume!" answered 
 the lady, in a low voice, but with a wonderfully pure 
 Russian accent. 
 
 " The contessa ! What sort of a contessa ? Come in 
 and have a chat." 
 
 " But where do you live .? " suddenly inquired the 
 Italian countess in Russian. " I can't be wasting my 
 time." 
 
 " Here, in this same ' line' ; that is my house, that 
 grey three-storied one. How kind of you not to try 
 and conceal yourself from me 1 Take my arm, come 
 along. Have you been long in Petersburg .? And 
 how do you come to be a countess.' Have you 
 married some Italian conte ? " 
 
 * The streets of this part of Petersburg are only known 
 their numbers, and are called lines. 
 
340 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVI] 
 
 Mashiirina had married no conte whatever ; she He 
 been given a passport made out in the name of 
 certain Countess Rocca di Santo Fiume who had die 
 shortly before, and armed with that she had quiet 
 set off for Russia, although she did not know a word i 
 Italian, and her features were unmistakably Russian 
 
 Piklin brought her to his modest lodging. H 
 deformed sister, with whom he lived, came out 1 
 meet them from behind the partition which separate 
 the tiny kitchen from the equally tiny entrance. 
 
 " Snapotchka,"* he said, "I have brought you 
 great friend ; give us some tea directly." 
 
 Mashiirina, who would not have gone with Pdkli 
 had he not mentioned Nejdanofs name, took off he 
 hat, passed her almost masculine hand through he 
 hair, which was as usual cut short, then bowed, an 
 sat down without speaking. She had not changed 
 she even had on the same dress as when we iirst sai 
 her, but in her eyes could be seen a kind of fixei 
 melancholy, which gave an almost touching expres 
 sion to her usually stern face. 
 
 Snandiilia went to fetch the tea-urn, while Pakli: 
 sat down by Mashurina ; he tapped her gently on th 
 knee and cast down his eyes ; then tried to speal 
 but had to clear his throat ; his voice failed him an^ 
 tears came into his eyes. Mashurina sat upright, am 
 motionless, without leaning against the back of he 
 chair, and looking sternly in an opposite direction. 
 
 " Yes, yes," began Paklin, " we have seen Strang 
 things ! As I look at you I remember many thing 
 and people ; dead men and living ! My love-birds ar 
 dead ; but I do not think you knew them, — and bot 
 on the same day, as I foretold. And Nejdanof, poo 
 Nejdinof! You of course know. . . ." 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Mashurina, without looking a 
 him. 
 
 * Diminutive of Snandiilia. 
 
CHAP. XXXVIII.] A' NOVEL. 341 
 
 "And you know about Ostrodiimof too ?" 
 
 Mashiirina only nodded. She wished him to con- 
 tinue speaking about Nejddnof, but did not care to 
 ask him. But he understood. 
 
 " I heard that he spoke of you in his last letter. 
 Was it true .? " 
 
 Mashiirina did not answer for a moment. "Yes, 
 he did," she at length said. 
 
 "What an admirable man he was! But he got 
 into the wrong groove ! He was as fit to be a 
 revolutionary leader as I am. Do you know what he 
 really was .? A" romantic realist ! Do you under- 
 stand?" 
 
 Mashiirina threw a quick glance at Pdklin. She 
 had not understood him, and would not give herself 
 the trouble to do so. It seemed to her strange and 
 out of place for him to compare himself to Nejddnof; 
 but she thought, " Let him brag : it does not matter 
 now," though he was not bragging in the least, but 
 according to his views, rather disparaging himself. 
 
 "A man of the name of Si'lin found me out here," 
 continued Piklin. " Nejddnof had also written to 
 him before his death. So he, Si'lin, wanted to know 
 whether it would not be possible to find some of 
 Nejdanofs papers. But Alidsha's belongings were 
 all under seal : besides which there were no papers 
 among them ; he had burnt them all, including his 
 verses. You perhaps do not know that he wrote 
 verses .? I am sorry they were lost ; I am sure some 
 of them were by no means bad. But all that dis- 
 appeared with him ; was swallowed by the same 
 whirlpool, and vanished for ever. Nothing remains 
 of him but his memory in the hearts of his friends, 
 till they in their turn vanish ! " 
 Pdklin paused. 
 V "But the Sipidgins npw," he began again — " do you 
 rapiember, those condescending, important, objection- 
 
34^1 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 able people, — are at the summit of power and 
 lory ! " Mashurina had not the least idea who the 
 Sipidgins were; but Pdklin hated them both so much 
 — especially him^that he could not refrain from the 
 pleasure of " touching them up." " People say their 
 house has such a high moral tone ! They talk of 
 nothing but virtue ! I have noticed if people talk top 
 much of virtue it is exactly as if there is too strong a 
 smell of pastiles in a sick - room ; some very nasty 
 operation must have been performed there ! It is 
 always suspicious ! It was they, the Sipidgins, who 
 ruined poor Alex^i." 
 
 " And what about Sol6min ? " asked Mashurina.. 
 She did not care to hear any more about Nejdanot 
 from Paklin. 
 
 " Sol6min ! " exclaimed Pdklin ; " he is a splendid 
 fellow. Escaped cleverly. Hedeftthe^fact^y he was 
 ina naging , and took all the best workmen away with 
 him. There was one, by name Pdvel, a wonderful 
 man, they say ; he went with him too. Now he has 
 set up a small place of his own, in the Government of 
 Perm, on "a co-op^ ative system^ That man will stick 
 to his work! He wili make "his way! He has a 
 long beak, and a strong one too. He is a fine fellow ; 
 \and what is better, he does not set up to heal all 
 social wounds in a minute. You see, we Russians 
 
 iare always waiting for some one or something to turn 
 up which will cure all our sickness, pull out all ail- 
 ments like a bad tooth. Who or what will this 
 magician prove to be t Darwinism' .? The Commune ? 
 Arkhip Perepentief .' A foreign war .' What you will, 
 , only for God's sake, pull our tooth out ! It is all 
 from idleness, feebleness, want of thought ! But 
 . Sol6min is not like that — ^he does not pull out teeth— 
 I he is a fine fellow ! " 
 
 Mashurina waved her hand, as much as to say, — 
 " There, we have done with him ! " 
 
CHAP. XXXVIIl.] A NOVEL. 34; 
 
 " And the girl," she asked — " I have forgotten her 
 name — who was with Nejdinof?" 
 
 " Marianna ? But she is that same Solomin's wife. 
 They have been married more than a year. At first, 
 I believe, only in name, but now they say she is really 
 his wife." 
 
 Mashurina repeated her former gesture. 
 
 She had once been jealous of Marianna, on account 
 of Nejddnof; now she indignantly wondered how 
 Marianna could have been faithless to his memory .? 
 
 " I suppose there is a baby } " she said, con- 
 temptuously. 
 
 " Perhaps ; I do not know. But where are you 
 going ? " said Piklin, seeing Mashiirina take up her 
 hat. " Wait a little ; Sndpotchka will give us some 
 tea in a moment." 
 
 It was not so much that he wished to detain 
 Mashurina, as that he would not lose the occasion of 
 pouring out all that had so long been accumulating in 
 his mind. Since his return to Petersburg he had 
 seen but few people, especially of the younger 
 generation. The catastrophe which had led to 
 Nejddnofs death had frightened him. He had 
 become very prudent, and shunned all society ; while 
 the young people, on their part, looked at him with 
 suspicion. One had even called him an informer to 
 his face. With old people he did not care to asso- 
 ciate, so he sometimes had to be silent for a week at 
 a time. Before his sister he did not show off; not 
 because he considered her incapable of understand- 
 ing him ; no ! he ranked her intelligence very high. 
 But with her he had to talk seriously and with abso- 
 lute truth ; as soon as he began to " flavour his talk — 
 to bring out trumps," she would look at him with a 
 peculiar, attentive, rather pitying gaze ; and his con- 
 science would prick him. But he could not do with- 
 out trumping — even if it were only with the deuce. 
 
344 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP, XXXVIII 
 
 he must trump ! So, life in Petersburg had beconK 
 somewhat dismal for Pdklin, and he was beginning 
 to think of trying Moscow. Ideas, reflections, inten 
 tions, epigrams, witty or spiteful, collected in his mine 
 like water in a mill-pond when the mill is idle. H( 
 could not open the sluice, so the water became stag 
 nant and putrid. Mashurina appeared ; he openec 
 the sluice, and out flowed the stream of talk. 
 
 He abused Petersburg and its life, nay, the whole 
 of Russia ! He gave no quarter to any one or any- 
 thing. All this had not the very smallest interest foi 
 Mashurina, but she did not argue with him or inter- 
 rupt him, and that was all he cared for. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " it is a delightful time, I have the 
 honour to tell you. Society is at a standstill ; every 
 one is as dull as ditch-water. Literature is as flat as a 
 bowling-green. As for criticism, if one of our fore- 
 most writers of the young generation wants to say 
 that " a hen has the potential faculty of laying eggs," 
 he must have twenty pages in which to expound this 
 great truth, and even those twenty will hardly suffice ! 
 All these gentlemen, I tell you, are inflated like 
 feather-beds, and foam at the mouth with the inspira- 
 tion necessary to produce a commonplace. In science 
 we certainly possess the learned Kant* on the collars 
 of our engineers, ha ! ha 1 And as for art, would yoii 
 care to go and hear the national singer, Agremdntskt? 
 He is immensely popular. Well, I tell you, if a carp 
 stewed in porridge — yes, a carp in porridge — were to 
 be endowed with the faculty of speech, its singing 
 would exactly resemble that of this gentleman ! And 
 Skoropi'khin, you know, our eternal Aristarchus, 
 praises him ! None of your Western art this, he says ; 
 and he praises our wretched painters too ! Once 
 upon a time, he says, I too was enthusiastic about 
 Europe, about the Italians, but I heard Rossini — 
 * Kant in Russian means a border. 
 
CHAP. XXXVIII.] A NOVEL. 34S 
 
 phew ! I saw Raphael — phew ! And this, phew ! is 
 amply sufficient for our young people ; so they repeat 
 phew ! after Skoropfkhin, and are perfectly satisfied. 
 And meanwhile the misery among the people is fear- 
 ful, the taxes have completely crushed them, and the 
 only sign of progress is that the peasants wear caps 
 and the women have given up their head-dress. 
 While as for famine, and drunkenness, and usury . . !" 
 
 Here Mash>irina yawned, and Pdklin saw that he 
 must change the conversation. 
 
 " You have not told me yet," he said, turning to her, 
 " where you have been during these last two years, 
 and whether you have been back long, or what you 
 have been doing, and how you have been transformed 
 into an Italian, and . . . ." 
 
 " There is no. need for you to know all that," inter- 
 rupted Mashurina. Why should you ? It is not your 
 business now." 
 
 Paklin seemed wounded, and to hide his confusion 
 gave a. short, unnatural laugh. 
 
 " Well, as you will," he said. " I know that in the 
 eyes of the present generation I am a laggard, and of 
 course I cannot really rank myself as one of 
 
 those " He did not finish his phrase. " Here is 
 
 Snapotchka with our tea. Take a cup, and listen to 
 me. Perhaps you may be interested in what I have 
 to say." 
 
 Mashurina took a cup and a lump of sugar, and 
 began to break off bits and put them into her 
 mouth. 
 
 Paklin now gave a frank laugh. 
 
 " It is a good thing that the police is not here, or 
 else the Italian countess .... of what .' " 
 
 " Rocca di Santo Fiume," said Mashurina, with the 
 most imperturbable, gravity, as she drank the hot 
 fluid. 
 
 " Rocca di Santo Fiume," repeated Paklin, " who 
 
345 VIRGIN SOIL. [cHAP. XXXVlil* 
 
 drinks her tea with her sugar in her mouth. So 
 extremely probable ! The suspicions of the police 
 could hardly fail to be aroused." 
 
 " There was a fellow in uniform," remarked Mashii- 
 rina, " who annoyed me at the frontier ; he kept on 
 asking me questions ; at last I lost my temper, and 
 said, ' Do get away from me, for goodness' sake ! ' " 
 
 " You said it in Italian .' " 
 
 " No, in Russian." 
 
 " And what did he do 1 " 
 
 " He .'' He went away, of course." 
 
 " Bravo ! " exclaimed Paklin. " Good for the 
 contessa ! Another cup .'' Well, I just wanted to say 
 this to you. You spoke coldly of Soldmin. 'Well, do 
 you know what I am going to say'T Such men as he 
 are the real men. You do not see through them in a 
 moment ; but, believe me, they are the real men, and 
 it is to them th at the future belongs^^ . T hey are not 
 he^oesj^they are"hot even those ' heroes of toil,' about 
 whom some eccentric American or Englishman wrote 
 a book for the edification of us poor people ; they 
 are firm, grey, neutral-tinted men, and true Russians^. 
 |And that is the only kind of man we need now. Look 
 at Solomin, bright as the day, and yet sound as- a 
 roach. It is a miracle. For up to this time in Russia, 
 if a man were really a living being, with feelings and 
 consciousness, he was invariably sickly. Now Sol6- 
 min's heart aches at the same things at which our 
 hearts ache, and he hates the same things as we do : 
 but his nerves are under command, and his body 
 obeys him, as it should do. The result is — he is a 
 fine fellow ! a man with an ideal, yet guiltless 
 of fine-sounding phrases ; educated, yet belong- 
 ing to the people ; plain, yet perfectly clear-headed 
 .... what more do you want } And do not be 
 led away," continued Pdklin, growing more and 
 more excited, and not noticing that Mashiirina 
 
CHAP. XXXVni.] A NOVEL, 347 
 
 had long ceased listening to him, and was again 
 staring away into vacancy — "do not be led away 
 by the fact that we possess all kinds of strange 
 people in Russia just now : Slavophils, bureaucrats, 
 single-barrelled generals and double-barrelled gene- 
 rals. Epicureans, imitators, and eccentricities (I knew a 
 j certain lady, Khavronia Pry'stshova by name, who one 
 f fine day turned legitimist and assured all her friends 
 , that, if her body were opened after her death, they 
 1 would find the name of Henri V. engraved on her 
 I heart — Khavr6nia Pry'stshova's heart !) Do not be led 
 \ away by all this, my dear lady, but let me tell you that 
 our true national path is that on which the Solomins 
 are going; simple, neutral-tinted, clever Sol6mins I 
 , And remember when it is that I am speaking ; now,^ 
 I injhejwinter of i820j_when Germany is on the point 
 \jOfcrushing France, when . . . ." 
 
 ' " Siloushka," said Snandiilia's quiet voice from 
 behind his back, " I think that in your theories on 
 the future you forget our religion and its influence . . . 
 Besides which," she added hurriedly, " Miss Mashii- 
 rina is not listening to you .... you had better offer 
 her another cup of tea instead." 
 Paklin broke off. 
 
 " Yes, true ; will you not have some more, 
 Mashurina .? " 
 
 Mashurina turned her dark eyes slowly on him and 
 said thoughtfully, — 
 
 "I wanted to ask you, Pdklin, if you have not by 
 
 • chance some writing of Nej ddnof s, or his photograph 'i " 
 
 " I have his photograph ; and I think a fairly good 
 
 one. It is in the table-drawer. I will find it for you 
 
 in a moment." 
 
 He began to hunt for it, while Snandulia went up 
 to Mashurina, and looking long and fixedly at her 
 with deep sympathy, shook her hand as if it were that 
 of a fellow-sufferer. 
 
348 VIRGIN SOIL. '\CH.XV. XXXVIII. 
 
 " Here it is ! I have it ! " exclaimed Pdklin, and 
 gave her the photograph. Mashurina put it hastily 
 into her pocket, without looking at him or thanking 
 him, but grew very red, and putting on her hat, 
 made towards the door. 
 
 " Are you going .? " said Pdklin. " But at least tell 
 me where you live." 
 
 " Nowhere in particular." 
 
 "I understand; you would rather I did not know. 
 But please tell me one thing : are you still acting under 
 the orders of Vasfli Nikoldevitch .' " 
 
 " Why should you know .' " 
 
 " Is it then some one else — Sid6r Sid6rovitch, 
 perhaps } " 
 
 Mashurina made no reply. 
 
 " Or is the direction annny mnns }" 
 
 Mashiirina was crossing the threshold. 
 
 " It may be anonym ous," she said, and slammed 
 the door. 
 
 Paklin stood for some time without moving in front 
 of the closed door. 
 
 " Anony mous Russia! " he at length said. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 E. J. FRANCIS AND CO., OOK'S COUflT AND WINE OFFICE COURT, Z.C. 
 
Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London, 
 Novem ber 1878. 
 
 Macmillan &> Co.'s Catalogue of Works 
 in Belles Lettres, including Poetry, 
 Fiction, etc. 
 
 Allingham. — LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRELAND ; 
 OK, THE NEW LANDLORD. By William Allingham. 
 New and Cheaper Issue, with a Preface. Fcap. 8vo. cloth. 4r. (td. 
 
 An Ancient City, and other Poems. — By A Native 
 OF Surrey. Extra fcap. 8vo. ds. 
 
 Archer.— CHRISTINA NORTH. By E. M. Archer. New 
 and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6^. 
 
 Arnold. — THE POETICAL WORKS OF MATTHEW 
 ARNOLD. VoL I. Early Poems, Narrative Poems, and 
 Sonnets. Vol. II. Lyric, Dramatic, and Elegiac Poems. 
 New and Complete Edition. Two Vols. Crown 8vo. Price 
 "js. dd. each. 
 SELECTED POEMS OF MATTHEW ARNOLD. With 
 Vignette engraved by C. H. Jeens (Golden Treasury 
 Series). i8mo. 4J. dd. 
 
 — ' Large 
 
 Paper Edition. Crown 8vo. I2j. f>i. 
 
 Art at Home Series. — Edited by W. J. Loftie, f.s.a. 
 
 '"Jfthe whole series but continue as it has been begun — if the volumes 
 
 yet to be rival these two initial — it will be beyond ptice as a library 
 
 of household art." — EXAMINER. 
 
 A PLEA FOR ART IN THE HOUSE. With especial reference 
 
 to the Economy of Collecting Works of Art, and the importance 
 
 of Taste in Education and Morals. By W. J. Loftie, B. A., F.S.A. 
 
 With Illustrations. Fifth Thousand. Crown Svo. 2j. dd. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR HOUSE DECORATION IN PAINT 
 ING, WOODWORK, AND FURNITURE. By Rhoda and 
 Agnes Garrett. With Illustrations. ' Sixth Thousand. Crown 
 Svo. 2J. dd. 
 
 MUSIC IN THE HOUSE. By John Hullah. With Illus- 
 trations. Fourth Thousand. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 20,0=0,11,1878. A 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Art at Home Series — continued. 
 
 THE DRAWING ROOM ; ITS DECORATIONS AND FUR- 
 NITURE. By Mrs. Orrinsmith. Illustrated. Fifth Thousand, 
 Crown 8vo. 2J-. 6d. 
 
 THE DINING ROOM. By Mrs. Loftie. lUustrated. Fourth 
 Thousand. Crown 8vo. 2.S. 6d. 
 
 THE BED ROOM AND BOUDOIR. By Lady Barker. 
 Illustrated. Fourth Thousand. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 DRESS. By Mrs. Oliphant. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 PRIVATE THEATRICALS. By Lady Pollock. lUustrated. ' 
 
 [Siortlyi. 
 [Other vols, in preparation.] 
 
 Atkinson. — AN ART TOUR TO THE NORTHERN 
 CAPITALS OF EUROPE. By J. Beavington Atkinson. 
 8vo. I2S. 
 
 " We can highly recommend it ; not only for the valuable informa- 
 tion it gives on the special subjects to which it is dedicated, but also 
 for the interesting episodes of travel which are interwoven with, ana 
 lighten, the weightier matters of judicious and varied criticism on 
 art and artists in northern capitals." — Art Journal. 
 
 Atkinson (J. P.)— a week at the lakes, and what 
 
 CAME OF IT ; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF MR. DOBBS 
 AND HIS FRIEND MR. POTTS. A Series of Sketches by 
 J. P. Atkinson. Oblong 4to. is. 6d. 
 
 Baker CAST UP BY THE SEA; OR, THE ADVEN- 
 TURES OF NED GREY. By Sir Samuel Baker, Pasha, 
 F.R.G.S. With Illustrations by Huard. Sixth Edition. Crown 
 8vo. cloth srilt. 6s. 
 
 "An admirable tale of adventure, of marvellous incidents, wild 
 exploits, and terrible denouements." — Daily News. "A story of 
 adventure by sea and land in the good old style." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 Barker(Lady).— A YEAR'S housekeeping in SOUTH 
 AFRICA. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. gj. 
 " We doubt whether in any of her previous books she hxs written 
 more pleasantly than in this. . . . The great charm of these 
 tetters is that she is always natural, and tells of what she sees and 
 hears in a strange country, just as if she were quietly chatting to 
 her friends by their own fireside. ' ' — S tandard. 
 
 Beesly.— STORIES FROM THE HISTORY OF ROME. By 
 Mrs. Beesly. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 " A little book for which every cultivated and intelligent mother will 
 be grateful." — Examiner. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Besant.— STUDIES in early French poetry, bv 
 
 Walter Besant, M.A. Crown 8vo. %s. dd. 
 
 Betsy Lee ; a FO'C'S'LE YARN. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. (,d. 
 " We can at least say that it is the work of a true poet." — Athe- 
 naeum. 
 
 Black (W.) — Works by W. Black, Author of "A Daughter of 
 Heth." 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PHAETON. 
 
 Eleventh Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 " The book is a really charming description of a thousand English 
 landscapes and oj the emergencies and the fun and the delight of a 
 picnic journey through them by a party determined to enjoy them- 
 selves, and as well matched as the pair of horses which drew the 
 phaeton they sat in. " — Times. 
 
 A PRINCESS OF THULE. Thirteenth Thousand. Crown 
 
 8vo. 6^, 
 
 The Saturday Review says : — " A novel which is both romantic 
 and natural, which has much feeling, without any touch of 
 mawkishness, which goes deep into character without any suggestion 
 of painful analysis — this is a rare gem to find amongst the dim-is of 
 current literature, and this, or nearly this, Mr. Black has given 
 us in the ' Princess of Thule. '" "A beautiful and nearly perfect 
 story." :^StECTATOR. 
 
 THE MAID OF KILLEENA, and other Stories. Cheaper Edition, 
 Grown 8vo. 6^. 
 
 ' ' A collection of pretty stories told in the easiest and pleasantest manner 
 imaginable." — Times. ^' It was with something akin to joy 
 ■that we drew our chair closer to the fire as the weary work of the 
 novel critic gave place to the smile of satisfaction and pleasure, 
 when, in the very first page of our book, we discovered that we had 
 come again to those Western Isles in the quiet summer sea in the 
 far North, and to those simple people amidst whose loving alle- 
 giance the Princess of Thule — Sheila — held her modest Court . . . 
 We shall not be satisfied till ' The Maid of Killeena ' rests on our 
 shelves. "—Spectator. 
 
 MADCAP VIOLET. Eighth Thousand. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 "In the very first rank of Mr. BlacKs heroines ; proud as Sheila, 
 and sweet as Coquette, stands Madcap Violet. The true, proud, 
 tender nature of her, her beauty, her mischief, her self-sacrifice, 
 endear her to the reader."— JiAlLY News. _ 
 
 GREEN PASTURES AND PICCADILLY. Cheaper Edition. 
 Sixth Thousand. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 MACLEOD OF DARE. With Illustrations by Eminent Artists. 
 3 vols. Crown 8vo. 3 1.'. 6(/. 
 
 A 2 
 
BELLES LETT RES. 
 
 Blackie.— THE WISE MEN OF GREECE. In a Series of 
 Dramatic Dialogues. By J. E. Blackie, Professor of Greek in 
 the University of Edinburgh. Crown 8vo. gj. 
 
 Blakiston. — MODERN SOCIETY IN ITS RELIGIOUS AND 
 SOCIAL ASPECTS. By Peyton Blakiston, M.D., E.R.S. 
 Crown 8vo. 5j. 
 
 Borland Hall. — By the Author of " Olrig Grange." Cr. 8vo. ^s. 
 
 Bramston. — RALPH AND BRUNO. A Novel. By M. 
 Bramston. 2 vols, crown 8vo. 2,1s. 
 
 Brooke.— THE FOOL OF QUALITY ; OR, THE HISTORY 
 OF HENRY, EARL OF MORELAND. By Henry Brooke. 
 Newly revised, with a Biographical Preface by the Rev. Charles 
 KlNGSLEY, M.A., Rector of Eversley. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 Buist.— BIRDS, THEIR CAGES AND THEIR KEEP : Being 
 a Practical Manual of Bird-Keeping and Bird-Rearing. By K. A. 
 Buist. With Coloured Frontispiece and other Illustrations. 
 Crown 8vo. 5^. 
 
 Bunce.— FAIRY tales, their ORIGIN AND MEANING. 
 With some Account of the Dwellers in Fairy Land. By J. 
 Thackray Bunce. Extra fcap. 8vo. y. dd. [Shortly. 
 
 Burnand. — my TIME, AND WHAT I'VE DONE WITH IT. 
 By F. C. Burnand. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Cameron. — light, shade, and TpiL. Poems by W. C. 
 Cameron, with Introduction by the Rw. W. C. Smith,. D.D. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Carroll. — Works by " Lewis Carroll : "— 
 
 ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. With Forty- 
 two Illustrations by Tenniel, 55th Thousand. Crown 8vo. 
 cloth. 6s. 
 "An excellent piece of nonsense." — Times. " Elegant and delicious 
 
 nonsense." — GUARDIAN. "That most delightful of children's 
 
 stories."— Sa.tvk-da:i Review. 
 
 A GERMAN TRANSLATION OF THE SAME. With Ten- 
 niel's Illustrations. Crovm 8vo. gilt. 6s. 
 
 A FRENCH TRANSLATION OF THE SAME. With Ten- 
 niel's Illustrations. Crowii 8vo. gilt. 6s. 
 
 AN ITALIAN TRANSLATION OF THE SAME. By T. 
 P. RossETTE. With TenNIEl's Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Carroll (Lewis). — continued. 
 
 THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, AND WHAT ALICE 
 FOUND THERE. With Fifty Illustrations by Tenniel. Crown 
 8vo, gilt. 6j. 44th Thousand. 
 " Will fairly rank with the tale of her previous experiences. " — 
 
 Daily Telegraph. "Many of Mr. Tenniel' s designs are 
 
 masterpieces of wise absurdity. '" — Athenaeum. 
 
 THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK. An Agony in Eight Fits. 
 With Nine Illustrations by H. Holiday. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 
 Gilt edges. 4J. dd. 17th Thousand. 
 " This glorious piece of nonsense, .... Everybody ought to read it 
 
 — nearly everybody will — and all who deserve the treat will scream 
 
 with laughter." — Graphic. 
 
 Cautley. — a century of emblems. By G. S. Cautley, 
 Vicar of Nettleden, author of "The After Glow," etc. With 
 numerous Illustrations by Lady Marion Alford, Rear- 
 Admiral Lord W. Compton, the Ven. Lord A. Compton, R. 
 Barnes, J. D. Cooper, and the author. Pott 4to. cloth elegant, 
 gilt edges, los. 6d. 
 
 Christmas Carol (A), printed in Colours from Original 
 Designs by Mr. and Mrs. Trevor Crispin, with Illuminated 
 Borders from MSS. of the 14th and 15th Centuries. Imp. 4to. cloth 
 elegant. Cheaper Edition, 21s. ' 
 
 "A most exquisitely got-up volume." — Times. 
 
 Church (A. J.)— HOR^ TENNYSONIAN^, Sive Ecloga 
 e Tennysono Latine redditse. Cura A. J. Church, A.M. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Clough (Arthur Hugh).— the POEMS AND PROSE 
 REMAINS OF ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH. With a 
 Selection from his Letters and a Memoir. Edited by his Wife. 
 With Portrait. Two Vols. Crown 8vo. 21 J. 
 " Taken as a whole," the Spectator says, " these volumes cannot 
 fail to be a lasting monument of one of the most original men of 
 our age," 
 THE POEMS OF ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH, sometime FeUow 
 of Oriel College, Oxford. Fifth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 " From the higher mind of cultivated, all-questioning, but still conser- 
 vative England, in this our puzzled generation, we do not know 
 of any utterance in literature so characteristic as the poems of 
 Arthur Hu^h Clough."— Fras-ek's Magazine. 
 
 • Clunes. — THE STORY OF PAULINE : an Autobiography. 
 By G. C. Clunes. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Coleridge. — HUGH CRICHTON'S ROMANCE. A Novel 
 By Christabel R. Coleridge. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ds. 
 " We have read it with more than average interest^ — SATURDAY 
 Review. " We can heartily commend this very charming book." — 
 Standard. 
 
 Collects of the Church of England, with a beautiMy 
 
 Coloured Floral Design to each Collect, and Illuminated Cover. 
 
 Crown 8vo. I2J. Also kept in various styles of morocco. 
 
 " This is beyond question" the Art Journal says, "the most 
 beautiful book of the season." The GUARDIAN thinks it "a sue- 
 cessful attempt to associate in a natural and unforced manner the 
 flowers of our fields and gardens with the course of the Christian 
 year. " 
 
 Colquhoun. — rhymes AND CHIMES. By F. S. CoLQU- 
 HOUN (nee F. S. Fuller Maitland). Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Cooper. — SEBASTIAN. A Novel. By Katherine Cooper. 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Dante ; an ESSAY. With a Translation of the " De Mon- 
 archia." By the Very Rev. R. W. Church, D.C.L., Dean of 
 St. Paul's. Crown 8vo. [Immediately, 
 
 Day.— GOVINDA SAMANTA; or, THE HISTORY OF A 
 BENGAL RAIYAT. By the Rev. Lal Behari Day. Crown 
 8vo. 6s. •' 
 
 " The book presents a careful, minute, and well-drawn picture of 
 Hindoo peasant life." — Daily News. 
 
 Days of Old ; stories from old English history. 
 
 By the Author of "Ruth and her Friends." New Edition. 
 
 i8mo. cloth, extra. 2s. 6d. 
 
 ' ' J^ull of truthful and charming historic pictures, is everywhere vital 
 with moral and religious principles, and is written with a brightness 
 of description, and with a dramatic force in the representation of 
 character, that have made, and will always make, it one of the 
 greatest favourites with redding boys." — Nonconformist. 
 
 Doyle (Sir F. H,)— lectures ON poetry, delivered 
 before the University of Oxford in i868. By Sir Francis 
 Hastings Doyle, Professor of Poetry in the University of 
 Oxford. Crown 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 Elsie A LOWLAND SKETCH. By A. C. M. Crown 8vo. 
 
 6s. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Estelle Russell. — By the Author of "The I'uvate Life of 
 
 Galileo." New Edition. Crown 8vo. bs. 
 
 Full of bright pictures of French life. The English family, whose 
 fortunesform the main drift of Ihe story, reside mostly in France, hit 
 there are also many English characters and scenes of great interest. 
 It is certainly the work of a fresh, vigorous, and most interesting 
 writer, with a dash of sarcastic humour which is refreshing and 
 not too bitter. . " We can send our readers to it with confidence." 
 — Spectator. 
 
 Evans. — Works by Sebastian Evans. 
 
 BROTHER FABIAN'S MANUSCRIPT, AND OTHER 
 POEMS. Fcap. 8vo. cloth. 6j. 
 
 " In this volume we have full assurance that he has ' the vision and 
 the faculty divine.^ . . . CUuer and full of kindly humour." — 
 Globe. 
 
 IN THE STUDIO : A DECADE OF POEMS. Extra fcap. 
 8vo. Sj. 
 
 " The finest thing in the book is 'Dudman in Paradise,^ a wonderfully 
 vigorous and beautiful story. The poem is a most remarkable one, 
 full of beauty, humour, and pointed satire." — Academy. 
 
 Farrell. — the lectures of a certain PROFESSOR. 
 By the Rev. Joseph Farrell. Crown 8vo. is. 6d. 
 
 Fawcett. — tales in political economy. By MiL- 
 LICENT Fawcett, Author of " Political Economy for Beginners.' 
 Globe 8vo. 3j. 
 
 " The idea is a good one, and it is quite wonderful what a mass of 
 economic teaching the author manages to compress into a smull 
 space. . . The true doctrines of international trade, currency, 
 and the ratio between production and population, are set before us 
 and illustrated in a masterly manner."— A'TSX.nJEVM. 
 
 Fleming. — works by George Fleming. 
 A NILE NOVEL. Third and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 MIRAGE. A Novel. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Fletcher thoughts from a girl'S life. By Lucv 
 
 Fletcher. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 4?. 6d. 
 
 Freeman. — historical and architectural 
 
 SKETCHES : CHIEFLY ITALIAN. By E. A. Freeman, 
 D.C.L., LL.D. With lUustrations by the Author. Crown 8vo. 
 
 ••^Those who knew Italy well will retrace their steps with delight in 
 Mr. Freeman's company, and And him k. most interesting %mde 
 and instructor."— 'ExAyiiNKK. 
 
BELLES LETTRES^ 
 
 Garnett ^idylls and epigrams, chiefly from the Gre.* 
 
 Anthology. By Richard Garnett. Fcap. 8vo. zs. bd. 
 
 "A charming little hook. For English readers, Mr. Garnett' z 
 
 translations will of en a new world of thought" — WESTMiNSTtk 
 
 Review. 
 
 Gilmore. — storm warriors ; or, life-boat work 
 
 ON THE GOODWIN SANDS. By the Rev. John Gilmore, 
 M.A., Rector of Holy Trinity, Ramsgate,- Author of "The 
 Ramsgate Life-Boat^" in Macmillan's Magazine. Second Edition. 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 " The stories, which are said to be literally exact, are more thrilling 
 
 than anything in fiction. Mr. Gilmore has done a good work as 
 
 well as written a good book." — DAILY News. 
 
 Guesses at Truth. — By Two Brothers. i8mo. 4^. [6rf. 
 Golden Treasury Series. 
 
 Hamerton.— A painter's camp. Second Edition, revised. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. (>s. 
 
 ^' These pages, written with infinite spirit and humour, bring into 
 close rooms, hack upon tired heads, the breezy airs of Lancashire 
 moors and Highland lochs, with a freshness which no recent 
 novelist has succeeded in preserving." — Nonconformist. 
 
 Harry. — a POEM. By the Author of "Mrs. Jemingham's 
 Journal." Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. (>d. 
 
 Heine. — SELECTIONS . FROM THE POETICAL WORKS 
 OF HEINRICH HEINE. Translated into English. Crowu 
 8vo. 4r. td. 
 
 Higginson,— MALBONE : An Oldport Romance. By T. W. 
 HiGGiNSON. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Hilda among the Broken Gods. — By the Author of 
 
 "OMg Grange." Extra fcap. 8vo. ^s. 6d. 
 
 Hobday. — COTTAGE GARDENING; or, FLOWERS, 
 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR SMALL GARDENS. 
 By E. Hobday. Crown 8vo. is. 6d. 
 " A sensible and useful little book." — Athen^um. 
 
 Home.— BLANCHE LISLE, and other Poems. By Cecil 
 Home. Fcap. 8vo. 4j. dd. 
 
 Hood (Tom).— THE PLEASANT TALE OF PUSS AND 
 
 ROBIN AND THEIR FRIENDS, KITTY AND BOB. 
 
 Told in Pictures by L. Frolich, and in Rhymes by ToM Hood. 
 
 Crown Svo. gilt y. id. 
 
 " The volume is prettily got up, and is sure to he a favourite in the 
 nursery," — Scotsman. " Herr Frolich has outdone himself im 
 his pictures of this dramatic chase." — Morning Post. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 9, 
 
 Hooper and Phillips.— a MANUAL OF marks ON 
 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. A Dictionary of Easy Refer- 
 ence. By W. H. Hooper and W. C. Phillips. With numerous 
 Illustrations. Second Edition, revised. l6mo. 4J. 6rf. 
 "It is one of the most complete, and beyond all comparison, the 
 handiest volume of the kind." — Athen^UM. 
 
 Hopkins. — rose TURQUAND; a Novel. By Ellice 
 Hopkins. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 " Rose Turquand is a noble heroine, and the story of her sufferings 
 
 and of her sacrifice is most touching. A tale of rare excellence." — 
 
 Standard. 
 
 Horace. — word for word from Horace. The odes 
 
 literally versified. By W. T. Thornton, C.B. Crown 8vo. 
 7^. bd. 
 
 Hunt. — TALKS ABOUT ART. By William Hunt. With 
 a Letter by J. E. Millais. Crown 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 " They are singularly racy and suggestive," Pall Mall 
 
 Gazette. 
 
 Irving. — Works by Washington Irving. 
 old CHRISTMAS. From the Sketch Book. With upwards 
 
 of 100 Illustrations by Randolph Caldecott, engraved by J. D. 
 
 Cooper. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. cloth elegant, bs. 
 
 ' ' This little volume- is indeed a gem. "—Daily News. " One of the 
 best and prettiest volumes we have seen this year. .... All the 
 illustrations are equally charming and equally worthy of the im- 
 mortal words to which they are wedded."— &a.t:v^-dk^ Review. 
 ERACEBRIDGE HALL. With 120 illustrations by R. Caldecott. 
 
 Crown 8vo. cloth gilt. 6^. , . , , , ... 
 
 ' ' yvo one who has seen ' Old Christmas' issued last year with 
 charming illustrations by Mr. Caldecott, is likely to forget the 
 Pleasure he derived from turning over its pages. Text and illus- 
 trations, both having a flavour of quaint, old-fashioned humour 
 at into each otha- to perfection, and leave an impression absolutely 
 unique. . . . This work is in no respect behind its pre- 
 decessor." —G^o-BS,. 
 
 James. — Works by Henry James, jun. 
 
 FRENCH POETS AND NOVELISTS. Crown 8vo. 8^. (>d. 
 Contents :— Alfred de Musset— Theophile Gautier— Baudelaire— 
 Honore de Balzac— George Sand— Turgteieff, etc. 
 " There has of late years appeared nothing upon French literature 
 so intelligent as this book— so acute, so full of good sense, so free 
 from a^ectation and pretence."— AmstiMVM. 
 THE EUROPEANS. A Novel. 2 vols. Crovra 8vo. 21s. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Joubert.— PENSfiES OF JOUBERT. Selected and Translate 
 witli the Original French appended, by Henry Attwell, KnigE 
 of the Order of the Oak Crown. Crown 8vo. 5^. 
 
 Keary (A.)— Works by Annie Keary:— 
 
 ^; CASTLE DALY: THE STORY OF AN IRISH HOMI 
 THIRTY YEARS AGO. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 " Extremely touching, and at the same time thoroughly amusing,^— 
 Morning Post. 
 
 JANET'S HOME. New Edition. Globe 8vo. 2.s. (>d. 
 
 CLEMENCY FRANKLYN. New Edition. Globe 8vo. 2J. 6rf, 
 "Full of wisdom and goodness, simple, truthful, and artistic. . . I 
 is capital as a story; better still in its pure tone and wholesotiit 
 influence." — Globe. 
 
 OLDBURY. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 "This is a very powerfully written story." — GLOBE. "This is c 
 recilly excellent novel." — Illustrated London News. " Thi 
 sketches of society in Oldbury are excellent. The pictures of chilis 
 life are full of truth." — Westminster Review. 
 
 A YORK AND A LANCASTER ROSE. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 " A very pleasant and thoroughly interesting book." — JOHN BuLL, 
 
 Keary (E.) — THE MAGIC VALLEY ; or, PATIENT 
 ANTOINE. With Illustrations by E. V. B. Globe 8vo. gUt. 
 4J. td. 
 "A very pretty, tender, quaint little tale." — TIMES. 
 
 Keary (A. and E.)— Works by A. and E. Keary:— 
 
 THE LITTLE WANDERLIN, and other Fairy Tales. l8mo. 2J. 6rf. 
 " The tales are fanciful and well written, and tkq/ are sure to mn 
 favour amongst little readers." — Athen^um. 
 
 THE HEROES OF ASGARD. Tales from Scandinavian 
 Mythology. New and Revised Edition, Illustrated by Huard, 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. +?. (>d, 
 
 " Told in a light and amusing style, which, in its drollery ana 
 quaintness, reminds us of our old favourite Grimm." — ^TlMES. 
 
 Kingsley. — Works by the Rev. Charle"! Kingsley, M.A., 
 Rector of Eversley, and Canon of Westminster : — 
 
 WESTWARD HO 1 or. The Voyages and Adventures of Sii 
 Amyas Leigh. Forty-first Thousand. 'Crovm 8vo. 6s, 
 
 TWO YEARS AGO. Ninth Edition. Crovra 8vo. 6s. 
 
 HYPATIA ; or, New Foes with an Old Face. Ninth Edition, 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Kingsley (C.) — continued. 
 HEREWARD THE WAKE— LAST OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo. ds. 
 YEAST : A Problem. Tenth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 ALTON LOCKE. New Edition. With a Prefatory Memoir by 
 Thomas Hughes, Q.C, and Portrait of the Author. Crown 
 8vo. 6s. 
 THE WATER BABIES. A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby. With 
 Illustrations by Sir Noel Paton, R.S.A., and P. Skelton. 
 New Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 " In fun, in humour, and in innocent imagination, as a child's 
 book we do not know its equal." — LONDON Review. "Mr. 
 Kingsley must have the credit of revealing to us a new order of life, 
 . . . There is in the ' Water Babies ' an abundance of wit, fun, 
 good humour, geniality, ^lan, go." — Times. 
 THE HEROES ; or, Greek Fairy Tales for my Children. With 
 Illustrations. New Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 " We do not think these heroic stories have ever been more attractively 
 told. . . There is a deep under-current of religious feeling traceable 
 throughout its pages which is sure to influence young readers power- 
 fully" — London Review. " One of the children's books that 
 will surely become a classic." — Nonconformist. 
 PHAETHON ; or, Loose Thoughts for Loose Thinkers. Third 
 Edition. Crown Svo. 2.S. 
 
 " The dialogue of ' Phaethon' has striking beauties, and its sugges- 
 tions may meet half-way many a latent doubt, and, like a light 
 breeze, lift from the soul clouds that are gathering heavily, and 
 threatening to settle down in misty gloom on the summer of many 
 a fair and promising young life." — Spectator. 
 
 POEMS; including The Saint's Tragedy, Andromeda, Songs, 
 
 Ballads, etc. Complete Collected Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 6s. 
 
 JT^^ Spectator calls '■^Andromeda" " the finest piece of English 
 hexameter verse that has ever been written. It is a volume 
 which many readers will be glad to possess," 
 PROSE IDYLLS. NEW AND OLD. Fourth Edition. Crovm 
 
 Svo. 6s. 
 
 Contents :—yi Charm of Birds; Chalk-Stream Studies; The 
 Fens ; My Winter-Garden ; From Ocean to Sea; North Devon. 
 
 "Altogether a delightful book It exhibits the author's best 
 
 iraits, and cannot fail to infect the reader with a love of nature 
 and of out-door life and its enjoyments. It is well calculated to 
 bring a gleam of summer with its pleasant associations, into tht 
 bleak winter-time; while a better companion for a summer ramble 
 could hardly be found."— Bmiisn Quarterly Review. 
 GLAUCUS ; or, THE WONDERS OF THE SEA-SHORE. 
 
 With Coloured Illustrations. Sixth Edition. Crown Svu. 6s. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Kingsley , (H.) — Works by Henry Kingsley :— 
 
 TALES OF OLD TRAVEL. Re-narrated. With Eight full-page 
 Illustrations by Huard. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo. cloth, 
 extra gilt. ^s. 
 
 "We know no better book for those who want knowledge or seek to 
 refresh it. As for the ^sensational,' most novels are tame com- 
 pared with these narratives" — Athen^um. " Exactly the book 
 to interest and to do good to intelligent and high-spiriied boys,"~ 
 LiTERARY Churchman. 
 
 THE LOST CHILD. With Eight Illustrations by Frolich. 
 Crown 4to. cloth gilt. y. 6d. 
 "A pathetic story, and told so as to give children an interest in 
 
 Australian ways and scenery, " — Globe. ' ' Very charmingly and 
 
 very touchingly told." — Saturday Review. 
 
 KnatchbuU-Hugessen. — Works by E. H. Knatchbull- 
 
 Hugessen, M.P. : — 
 
 Mr, KnatchbuU-Hugessen has won for himself a refutation as 
 a teller of fairy-tales, " His powers" says the Times, 
 ^' are of a very high order ; light and brilliant narrative flows 
 from his pen, and is fed by an invention as graceful as it is inex- 
 haustible." " Children reading his stories," the Scotsman says, 
 "or hearing them read, will have their minds refreshed and in- 
 vigorated as much as their bodies would be by abundance of fresh 
 air and exercise." 
 
 STORIES FOR MY CHILDREN. With lUustratious. Sixth 
 Edition. Crow^i 8vo. ^s, 
 
 " The stories are charming, and full of life and fun." — Standard. 
 " The author has an imagination as fanciful as Grimm himself, 
 while some of his stories are superior to anything that Hans Chris- 
 tian Andersen has written." — Nonconformist. 
 
 CRACKERS FOR CHRISTMAS. More Stories. With lUustra- 
 tions by Jellicoe and Elwes. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo. Jj. 
 " A fascinating little volume, which will make him friends in every 
 household in which there are children." — DAILY NEWS. 
 
 MOONSHINE: Fairy Tales. With Illustrations by W. Brunton. 
 
 Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo. cloth gUt. Sj. 
 
 "A volume of fairy tales, written not only for itngrown children, 
 but for bigger, and if you are nearly worn out, or sick, or sorry, 
 you will find it good reading. " — Graphic. ' ' The most charming 
 volumeof fairy tales which we have ever read. . , . We cannot quit 
 this very pleasant book without a word of praise to its illustrator, 
 Mr. Brunton from first to last has done admirably," — Times. 
 
 TALES AT TEA-TIME. Fairy Stories. With Seven Hlustra- 
 tions by W. Brunton. Fifth Edition. Crown^8vo. Cloth gilt. ^s. 
 
BELLES LETT RES. 13 
 
 [natchbull-Hugessen (E. H.) — continued. 
 
 " Capitally illustrated by W. Brunton. . . . In frolic and fancy they 
 are quite equal to his other books. The author knows how to write 
 fairy stories as they should be written. TTie whole hook is full of 
 the most delightful drolleries." — Times. 
 
 QUEER FOLK. FAIRY STORIES. Illustrated by S. E. 
 
 "Waller. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. Cloth gUt. Jj. 
 
 '^Decidedly the author's happiest effort. . . . One of the best story 
 hooks of the year." — Hour. 
 
 [natchbuU-Hugessen (Louisa). — the history of 
 PRINCE PERRYPETS. A Fairy Tale. By Louisa Knatch- 
 bull-Hugessen. With Eight Illustrations by Wetgand. 
 New Edition. Crown 4to. cloth gilt. 3J-. (>d. 
 "A grand and exciting fairy tale." — Morning Post. 'M delicious 
 piece of fairy nonsense." — Illustrated London News. 
 
 [nox. — SONGS OF CONSOLATION. By Isa Craig Knox. 
 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. Cloth extra, gilt edges, d^. (>d. 
 
 " The verses are truly sweet ; there is in them not only much genuine 
 
 poetic quality, but an ardent, ftmoin^ devotedness, and a peculiar 
 
 skill in propounding theological tenets in the most graceful way, 
 
 which any divine might envy." — Scotsman. 
 
 L,eading Cases done into English. By an Apprentice of 
 Lincoln's Inn. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 2j. (>d. 
 " The versifier of these 'Leading Cases' has been most successftd 
 He has surrounded his legal distinctions with a halo of mock 
 ■passion which is in itself in the highest degree entertaimng especi- 
 ally when the style of the different modern poets is so admirably 
 hit oft that the cloud of associations which hangs round one oj 
 Mr. Swinburne s, or Mr. Rossettfs, or Mr. Brownings, or Mr 
 dough's, or Mr. Tennyson's poems, is summoned up to set off 
 the mock tenderness or mock patriotism of the strain itself — 
 Spectator. 
 Leland.— TOHNNYICIN AND THE GOBLINS. By C. G. 
 LELAND, Author of "Hans Breitmann's BaUads." With numerous 
 Illustrations by the Author. Crown 8vo 6s. „^,.,//,> j,-„„ 
 
 "Mr. Lelandisrich in fantastic conception ""'^Af/'^™! 
 fun, and youngsters will amazingly enjoy his hook. — BRIilSH 
 Quarterly Review. 
 • ifP and Times of Conrad the Squirrel. A Story 
 
 " for ChSdreri By the Author of " Wandering WiUie." "Effie's 
 Friends "Tc. Wh a Frontispiece by R. Farren. Second 
 
 ^^^ng?::TJ:eTonf;.%)tfage,wewerecomfelledtogoonto 
 theloncluTion, and this we predict will he the case with every one 
 who opens the hook."-?»:L-L Mall Gazette. , 
 
14 BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Little E Stella, and other FAIRY TALES FOR THE YOUNG. 
 iSmo. cloth extra. 2j. (sd. 
 
 " This is a fine story, and we thank heaven for not being too wise to 
 enjoy it." — Daily News. 
 
 Loftie.-^FORTY-SIX SOCIAL TWITTERS. By Mrs. Loftie, 
 l6mo. IS. (>d. 
 
 " Many of these essays are bright and pleasant, and extremely sen- 
 sible remarks are scattered about tlie book. " — Athen^um. 
 
 Lome. — Works by the Marquis of Lorne : — 
 
 GUipO AND LITA : A TALE OF THE RIVIERA. A Poem. 
 
 Third Edition. Small 4to. cloth elegant, with Illustrations. Js, 6d. 
 
 " Lord Lorne has the gifts of expression as well as the feelings of t 
 
 poet, " — Times. ' ' A volume of graceful and harmonious verse, "^. 
 
 Standard. " JVe may congratulate the Marquis on something 
 
 more than a mere succh d'estime." — Graphic. "Lucidity of 
 
 thought and gracefulness of expression abound in this attractive 
 
 poem." — Morning Post. 
 
 THE BOOK OF THE PSALMS, LITERALLY RENDERED 
 IN VERSE. With Three Illustrations. Third Edition. Crown 
 8vo. "js. 6d. 
 
 " His version is such a great improvement upon Rous that it will be 
 surprising should it not supplant the old version in the Scottish 
 churches. , , . on the whole, it would not be rash, to call Lord 
 Lornis the best rhymed Psalter we have." — AtheNjEUM. 
 
 Lowell. — COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS of James Russell 
 Lowell. With Portrait, engraved by Jeens. i8mo. cloth extra. 
 
 4J. dd. 
 
 "All readers who are able to recognise and appreciate genuine verse 
 
 will give a glad welcome to this beautiful little volume." — Pall 
 
 Mall Gazette. 
 
 Lyttelton, — Works by Lord Lyttelton :— 
 THE "COMUS" OF MILTON, rendered into Greek Verse. 
 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. S'''. 
 THE "SAMSON AGONISTES" OF MILTON, rendered into 
 Greek Verse. Extra fcap. 8vo. ds. dd. 
 
 Macdonell.— FOR THE KING'S DUES. By Agnes Mac- 
 DONELL, Author of "Martin's Vineyard." Cheaper Edition. 
 Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 Mackinlay. POEMS. By James M. Mackinlay, M.A., Extra 
 
 fcap. 8vo. 3 J. dd. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 15 
 
 aclaren the fairy family, a series of Ballads and 
 
 Metrical Tales illustrating the Fairy Mythology of Europe. By 
 Archibald Maclaren. With Frontispiece, Illustrated Title, 
 and Vignette. Crown 8vo. gilt. 5^. 
 
 acmillan's Magazine.— PubUshed Monthly. Price \s. 
 Volumes I. to XXXVIII. are now ready. >]s. bd. each. 
 
 acquoid. — patty. By Katharine S. Macquoid. Third 
 and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. bs. 
 
 "A book to be read." — Standard. "A powerful and fascinating 
 story." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 aguire.— YOUNG PRINCE marigold, and other 
 
 FAIRY STORIES. By the late John Francis Maguire, M.P. 
 ' Illustrated by S. E. Waller. Globe 8vo. gilt. 4J. bd. 
 
 " The author has evidently studied the ways arid tastes of children and 
 got at the secret of amusing them ; and has succeeded in what is not 
 so easy a task as it may seem— in producing a really good children's 
 book." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 ahafFy. — Works by J. P. Mahaffy, M.A., Fellow of Trinity 
 
 College, Dublin. 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN GREECE FROM HOMER TO MENAN- 
 
 DER. Third Edition, enlarged, with New Chapter on Greek 
 
 Art. Crown 8vo. gs. 
 
 ^'Should be in the hands of all who desire thoroughly to understand 
 and to enjoy Greek literature, and to get an intelligent idea of the 
 old Greek liJe."—GvAKT>iAN. 
 SIAMBLES AND STUDIES IN GREECE. Illustrated. Second 
 
 Edition, revised and enlarged, with Map. Crown 8vo. los. 6d. 
 
 " A singularly instructive and agreeable mlume. " — Athen^um. 
 
 " This charmingly picturesque and lively volume." — Examiner. 
 
 assey.— SONGS OF the noontide REST. By Lucy 
 Massey, Author of " Thoughts from a Girl's Life." Fcap. 8vo. 
 cloth extra. 4J. 6d. 
 
 asson r(MrS.) — THREE CENTURIES OF ENGLISH 
 POETRY : being selections from Chaucer to Herrick, with Intro- 
 ductions and Notes by Mrs. Masson and a general introduction by 
 Professor Masson. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3J. (>d. 
 " Most excellently done. The selections are made with good taste 
 and discrimination. The notes, too, are to the point. We can 
 most strongly recommend the ^uc/J."— Westminster Review. 
 
 asson (Professor). — Works by David Masson, M.A., 
 Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University 
 of Edinburgh. 
 
f6 BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Masson (Professor) — continued. 
 WORDSWORTH, SHELLEY, KEATS, AND OTHER 
 
 ESSAYS. Crown 8vo. 5^. 
 CHATTERTON : A Story of the Year 1770. Crown 8vo. is. 
 THE THREE DEVILS: LUTHER'S, MILTON'S, and 
 GOETHE'S ; and other Essays. Crown 8vo. Jj. 
 
 Mazini.— IN THE GOLDEN SHELL ; A Story of Palermo. By 
 Linda Mazini. With Illustrations. Globe 8vo. cloth gilt. 4?. 6d. 
 " As beautiful and bright and fresh as the scenes to which it wafts 
 
 us over the blue Mediterranean, and as pure and innocent, but 
 
 piquant and sprightly as the little girl who plays the part of it! 
 
 heroine, is this admirable little book." — Illustrated London 
 
 News. 
 
 Merivale.— KEATS' HYPERION, rendered into Latin Verse. 
 By C. Merivale, B.D. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 3J. (>d. 
 
 Milner. — THE LILY OF LUMLEY. By Edith Milker, 
 Crown 8vo. Is. (sd. 
 
 Milton's Poetical Works. — Edited with Text collated from 
 the best Autliorities, with Introduction and Notes by David 
 Masson. Three vols. 8vo. 42J. With Three Portraits engraved by 
 C. H. Jeens. (Uniform with the Cambridge Shakespeare.) 
 "An edition of Milton which is certain to be the standard edition 
 
 for many years to come, and which is as complete and satisfactory 
 
 as can be conceived." — Examiner. 
 Golden Treasury Edition. By the same Editor. With Two 
 
 Portraits. 2 vols. i8mo. gj-. 
 
 Mistral (F.) — MIRELLE, a Pastoral Epic of Provence. Trans- 
 lated by H. Crichton. Extra fcap. 8vo. bs. 
 
 Mitford (A. B.)— TALES OP OLD JAPAN. By A. B. 
 
 MiTFORD, Second Secretary to the British Legation in Japan, 
 
 With Illustrations drawn and cut on Wood by Japanese Artists 
 
 New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " They will always be interesting <m memorials of a most exceptional 
 society ; while, regarded simply as tales, they are sparkling, sensa- 
 tional, and dramatic, and the originality of their ideas and th 
 quaintness of their language give them a most captivating piquancy. 
 The illustrations are extremely interesting, and for the curious in 
 such matters have a special and particular value," — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 Molesworth. — Works by Mrs. MoLESWORTH (Ennis 
 Graham) : — 
 GRANDMOTHER DEAR. Illustrated by Walter Crane. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. cloth gilt. /^.(>d. .__ [Just'ready. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 17 
 
 yioleSWOrth (Mrs.) — continued. 
 
 TELL ME A STORY. Illustrated by Walter Crane. Globe 
 8vo. gilt. 4J. td. Second Edition. 
 
 ^' So delightful that we are inclined to join in the petition, and we 
 hope she may soon tell us moi-e stories. " — Athen^um. 
 
 " CARROTS " : JUST A LITTLE BOY. Illustrated by Walter 
 
 Crane. Eighth Thousand. Globe 8vo. gilt. 4J-. 6d. 
 
 " One of the cleverest and most pleasing stories it has been our good 
 
 fortune to meet with for some time. ' Carrots ' and his sister are 
 
 delightful little beings, whom to read about is at once to be become 
 
 very fond of. — Examiner. 
 
 THE CUCKOO CLOCK. Illustrated by Walter Crane. Eighth 
 Thousand. Globe 8vo. gilt. 4^. dd. 
 
 "A beautiful little story. . . . It will be read with delight by 
 every child into whose hands it is placed. . . . Ennis Graham 
 deserves all the praise that has been, is, and will be, bestowed on 
 ' 7 he Cuckoo Clock. Children's stories are plentiful, but one like 
 this is not to be met with every day. " — Pall Mall GAZETTE. 
 
 Morgan. — BARON BRUNO ; or, the UNBELIEVING 
 PHILOSOPHER, AND OTHER FAIRY STORIES. By 
 Louisa Morgan. Illustrated by R. Caldecott. Crown 8vo. gilt. 5^. 
 " The prettiest collection of stories we have seen for a long time. 
 One and all are graceful and dreamy little prose-poems with some- 
 thing of the bewitching pathos of Hans Christian Andersen's 
 ^Little Mermaid,' and 'Eleven Swans' '.' — Examiner. 
 
 Moulton. — SWALLOW FLIGHTS. Poems by Louisa Chand- 
 ler MouLTON. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4^. 6d. 
 
 The Athenaeum says : — " Mrs. Moulton has a real claim to atten- 
 tion. It is not too much to say of these poems that they exhibit 
 delicate and rare beauty, marked originality, and perfection of 
 style. What is still better, they impress us with a sense of vivia 
 and subtle imagination, and that spontaneous feeling which is the 
 essence of lyrical poetry." 
 
 Moultrie. — poems by John Moultrie. Complete Edition. 
 
 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 7^. each. 
 Vol I. MY BROTHER'S GRAVE, DREAM OF LIFE, &c. 
 
 With Memoir by the Rev. Prebendary Coleridge. 
 Vol. II. LAYS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH, and other Poems. 
 
 With notices of the Rectors of Rugby, by M. H. Bloxham. 
 
 r.R.A.S. 
 
 Mrs. Jerningham's Journal. A Poem purportjng to be the 
 
 Journal of a newly-married Lady. Third Edition. Fcap, 8vo. 
 
 y. 6d. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 "It is nearly a perfect getn. We have had nothing so good /or a 
 lon^ time, and those who neglect to read it are neglecting one of 
 the jewels of contemporarv history." — Edinburgh Daily Re- 
 View. " One quality, in the piece, sufficient of itsdf to claim a 
 moments attention, is that it is unique— origincil, indeed, is not too 
 strong a word — in the manner of its conception and execution.' 
 ■-Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Mudie.— STRAY LEAVES. By C. E. MuDlE. New Edition. 
 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 3j. ()d. Contents: — "His and Mine" — 
 
 "Night and Day"— "One of Many," &c. 
 
 This little volume consists of a number of poems, mostly of a genuinely 
 devotional character. " They are for the most part so exquisitely 
 sweet and delicate as to be quite a marvel of cofnposiHon, They are 
 worthy of being laid up in the recesses of the heart, andrtcalled to 
 memory from time to time." — Illustrated London News. 
 
 Murray.— ROUND about France. By e. c. Grenville 
 
 Murray. Crown 8vo. ^s. dd. 
 
 "A most amusing series of articles." — Athen^um. 
 
 Myers (Ernest). — Works by Ernest Myers :— 
 THE PURITANS. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth. 2i. 6<i 
 
 POEMS. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4f. 6d. 
 
 " The diction is excellent, the rhythm falls pleasantly on the ear, 
 there is a classical flavour in the verse which is eminently grateful, 
 the thought and imagery are poetical in cha.racter." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 Myers (F. W. H.) — POEMS. ByF. W. H. Myers. Coh- 
 taining "St. Paul," "Sl John," and others. Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 4^. 6d. 
 
 "It is rare to find a writer who combines to such an extent the faculty 
 of communicating feelings with the faculty of euphoniotis expres- 
 sion." — Spectator. 
 
 Nichol. — HANNIBAL, A HISTORICAL DRAMA. By John 
 NiCHOL, B.A. Oxon., Regius Professor of English Language and 
 Literature in the University of Glasgow. Extra fcap. 8vo. fs, 6d. 
 
 Nine Years Old.— By the Author of "St. Olave's," "When I 
 was a Little Girl," &c. Illustrated by Frohch. Fourth Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth gilt. 4s. 6d. 
 
 It is believed that this story, by the favourably hncrw^n author of 
 " St, Olavis," will be found both highly interesting and instructive 
 to the young. The volume contains eight graphic illustrations by 
 Mr. L. FrSlich. The EXAMINER says : " Whether the readers 
 are nine years old, or twice, or seven times as old, they must entoy 
 this pretty volume." 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 19 
 
 Noel.— BEATRICE AND OTHER POEMS. By the Hon. 
 RoBEN Noel. Fcap. 8vo. 6j. 
 
 '^°?,L^^*^y Augusta).— OWEN GWYNNE'S GREAT 
 WORK. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 
 Norton. — Works by the Hon. Mrs. Norton :— 
 
 THE LADY OF LA GARAYE. With Vignette and Frontispiece 
 Eighth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 4^. (,d. 
 
 "Full of thought well expressed, and may be classed among her best 
 efforts." — Times. 
 
 OLD SIR DOUGLAS. New Edition. Crown Svo. ^s. 
 
 " This varied and lively novel— this clever novel so full of character, 
 and of fine incidental remark." — Scotsman. "One of the 
 pleasantest and healthiest stories of modern fiction." — Globe. 
 
 Oliphant. — Works by Mrs. Oliphant :— 
 
 AGNES HOPETOUN'S SCHOOLS AND HOLIDAYS. New 
 Edition with Illustrations. Royal i6mo. gilt leaves. 4j. dd. 
 " There are few books of late years more fitted to touch the heart, 
 purify the feeling, and quicken and sustain right principles." — 
 Nonconformist. ' ' A more gracefully written story it is impos- 
 sible to desire." — DAILY News. 
 
 A SON OF THE SOIL. New Edition. Crown Svo. fo 
 
 " It is a very_ different work from the ordinary run of nmels. 
 The whole life of a man is portrayed in it, worked out with subtlety 
 and insight." — Athen^um 
 
 THE CURATE IN CHARGE. Crown Svo. 6j. Sixth Edition 
 " We can pronounce it one of the happiest of her recent efforts." — 
 Times. 
 
 THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE : Dante, Giotto, Savpnarok, 
 and their City. With Illustrations from Drawings by Professor 
 Delamotte, and a Steel Portrait of Savonarola, engraved by C. H. 
 Jeens. Second Edition with Preface. Medium Svo; Cloth extra. 
 
 2,\S. 
 
 The Edinburgh Review says " We cannot leave this subject 
 without expressing our admiration for the beautiful volume which 
 Mrs. Oliphant has devoted lo the ' Makers of Florence' -r-one of 
 the most elegant and interesting books which ho^s been inspired in 
 our time by the arts and annals of that celebrated Republif." 
 YOUNG MUSGR AVE. Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo. . 6j. 
 
 Our Year, a Child's Book, in Prose and Verse. By t^ie Author 
 of "John Halifax, Gentleman." Illustrated by Clarence 
 DOBELL, Royal i6nio. 3^. 6d. 
 
 ■"Ztis fust the book we could wish to see in the hands of. every child: " 
 English Churchman. 
 
20 BELLES LETT RES. 
 
 Palgrave. — Works by Francis Turner Palgrave, M.A., late 
 Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford : — 
 
 THE FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS AT WENTWORTH 
 GRANGE. A Book for Children. With Illustrations by Arthur 
 Hughes, and Engraved Title-page by Jeens. Small 4to. cloth 
 extra, (ts. 
 
 " If you want a really good look for both sexes and all ages, buy 
 this, as handsome a volume of tales as you'll find in all the 
 market," — AtheNjEUM. "Mxquisite both in fonn and substance." 
 — Guardian. 
 
 LYRICAL POEMS. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 "A volume of pure quiet verse, sparkling with tender melodies, and 
 alive with thoughts of genuine poetry, , , , Turn where we wUl 
 throughout the volume, we find traces of beauty, tenderness, and 
 truth ; true poefs work, touched and refined by the master-hand of 
 a real artist, who shows his genius even in trifles." — Standard. 
 
 ORIGINAL HYMNS. Third Edition, enlarged, i8mo. \s. 6d. 
 " So choice, so perfect, and so refined, so tender in feeling, and so 
 scholarly in expression, that we look with specicU interest to every- 
 thing that he gives us." — Literary Churchman. 
 
 GOLDEN TREASURY OF THE BEST SONGS AND LYRICS. 
 Edited by F. T. Palgrave. i8mo. ^s. 6d. 
 
 EOIAKESPEARE'S SONNETS AND SONGS. Edited by F. T. 
 Palgrave. Gem Edition. With Vignette Tide by Jeens. y.6d, 
 " For m.inute elegance no volume could possibly excel the ' Gem 
 Edition' " — Scotsman. 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S TREASURY OF LYRICAL POETRY. 
 Selected and arranged with Notes by F. T. Palgrave. iSmo. 
 2s. 6d., and in Two Parts, Is. each. 
 
 HERRICK : SELECTIONS FROM THE LYRICAL POEMS. 
 With Notes. i8mo. 4J-. 6d. 
 
 Pater. — Works by Walter Pater, Fellow of Brasenose College, 
 Oxford :— 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. Studies in Art and Poetry. Second 
 Edition, Revised, with Vignette, engraved by C. H. Jeens. Crown 
 8vo. los. 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Pater's Studies in the history of the Renaissance, constitute 
 the most remarkable example of this younger movement towards a 
 fresh and inner criticism, and they are in themselves a singular 
 and interesting addition to literature. The subjects are of the very 
 kind in which we need instruction and guidance, and there is a 
 moral in the very choice of them.. From the point of view of ]orm 
 and literary comtosition they are striking in the highest degree. 
 They introduce to English readers a new and distinguished master 
 in the great ana difficult art of writing prose. Their style is 
 
BELLES LETT RES. 
 
 marked by a flavour at once full and exquisite, by a quality tkdt 
 mixes richness with delicacy and a firm, coherency with infinite 
 subtlety." — Fortnightly Review. 
 DIONYSUS ; and other Studies. Crown 8vo. [Shortfy. 
 
 Patmore.— THE children's garland, from the Best 
 Poets. Selected and arranged by Coventry Patmore. New 
 Edition. With Illustrations by J. Lawson. Crown 8vo. gilt. 6j. 
 Golden Treasury Edition. i8mo. 41. 6d. 
 
 " The charming illustrations added to many of the poems will add 
 greatly to their value in the eyes of children." — Daily News. 
 
 Peel. — ECHOES FROM HOREB, AND OTHER POEMS. 
 By Edmund Peel, ' Author of "An Ancient City," etc. Crown 
 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 Pember. — THE tragedy of LESBOS. a Dramatic Poem. 
 By E. H. Pember. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6d. • 
 
 Founded upon the story of Sappho. ' 'He tells his story with dramatic 
 force, and in language that often rises almost to grandeur." — 
 
 ATHENiEUM. 
 
 Phillips. — BENEDICTA. A Novel. By Mrs. Alfred Phillips. 
 3 Vols. Crown 8vo. 31 J. dd. 
 
 Philpot. — A POCKET OF PEBBLES, WITH A FEW 
 SHELLS ; Being Fragments of Reflection, now and then with 
 Cadence, made up mostly by the Sea-shore. By the Rev. W. B. 
 Philpot. Second Edition, picked, sorted, and polished anew ; 
 with Twb Illustrations by George Smith. Fcap. 8vo. S'- 
 
 Poole.— PICTURES OF COTTAGE LIFE IN THE WEST 
 OF ENGLAND. By Margaret E. Poole. New and Cheaper 
 Edition. With Frontispiece by R. Farren. Crown 8vo. 3^. td. 
 
 Population of an Old Pear Tree. From the French 
 of E. Van Bruyssel. Edited by the Author of " The Heir of 
 Redclyffe." With Illustrations by Becker. Cheaper Edition. 
 Crown 8vo. gilt. i\s. 6d. 
 " A whimsical and charming little book." — Athenaeum. 
 
 Prince Florestan of Monaco, The Fall of. By 
 
 Himself. New Edition, with Illustration and Map. 8vo. cloth. 
 Extra gilt edges, ^s. A French Translation, ^s. Also an Edition 
 for the People. Crown 8vo. \s. 
 Quin.— GARDEN RECEIPTS. Edited by Charles Quin. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. , , , n- 1. j ^ 
 
 " The most useful book for the garden that has been published for 
 some time."— F1.0KIST and Pomologist. 
 
 Realmah. — By] the". Author of " Friends in CounciL" Crown 
 8vo. 63. 
 
22 'BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Rhoades. — poems. By James Rhoades. Fcap. 8vo. 41. fd, 
 
 Richardson.— THE ILIAD OF the east, a Selection of 
 
 Legends drawn from Valmiki's Sanskrit Poem, "The Ramayana." 
 
 By Frederika Richardson. Crown 8vo. is. 6d. 
 
 "It is impossible to recut it without recognizing the t/alue and interest 
 
 of the Eastern epic. It is as fascinating as a fairy tale, this 
 
 romantic poem of India." — Globe. " A charming volume, which 
 
 at once enmeshes the reader in its snares. " — Athen^um. 
 
 Rimmer. — ANCIENT STREETS AND HOMESTEADS OF 
 ENGLAND. By Alfred Rimmer. With Introduction by the 
 Very Rev. J. S. HowsoN, D.D., Dean of Chester, Royal 8vo. 
 with 150 Illustrations by the Author. Cloth elegant, 21s, 
 " All the illustrations are clear and good, and they are eminently 
 
 truthful. . , . A look which gladdens the eye while it instructs 
 • and improves the mind." — Standard. " One of the most 
 
 interesting and beautiful boots we have seen this season. . . . 
 
 It is full of knowledge, the result of exact and faithful study, most 
 
 readable and interesting ; the illustrations are simply exquisite" 
 
 — Nonconformist. 
 
 Robinson.— GEORGE LINTON ; or, THE FIRST YEARS 
 OF AN ENGLISH COLONY. By John Robinson, F.R.G.S. 
 Crown 8vo. 7^. 61!?, 
 
 " If [one may speak confidently on such a matter from on^ s awn 
 experience, it must be a rare thiitgfor a critic to put down a novel, 
 having read eveiy word of it, and find himself at the end asking 
 for more. Yet this is what happened to us with George Linton." 
 — Spectator. 
 
 Rossetti. — Works by Christina Rossetti : — 
 
 POEMS. Complete Edition, containing " Goblin Market," "The 
 Prince's Progress," &c. With Four Illustrations. Extra fcap. 
 8vo. iis. 
 
 SPEAKING LIKENESSES. Illustrated by Arthur Hughes. 
 Crown 8vo. gilt edges. 4J. 6d. 
 
 "Certain to be a delight to many a juvenile fireside circle."—: 
 Morning Post. 
 
 Ruth and her Friends, a Story for Girls. With a Frontis. 
 piece. Seventh Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4^. ()d. 
 ' ' We wish all the school girls and home-taught girls in the land had 
 the opportunity of reading it." — Nonconformist. 
 
 Scouring of The White Horse; or, the Long 
 
 VACATION RAMBLE OF A LONDON CLERK. Illustrated 
 by Doyle. Imp. i6mo. Cheaper Issue. 3j. f>d. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 23 
 
 Shairp (Principal). — KILMAHOE, a HigMand Pastoral, with 
 
 other Poems. By John Campbell Shairp, Principal of the 
 
 United College, St. Andrews, Fcap. 8vo. S'''- 
 
 " Kihnahoe is a Highland Pastoral, redolent of the warm soft air 
 
 of the western lochs and moors, sketched out with remarkable 
 
 grace and picturesqueness." — Saturday Review. 
 
 Shakespeare. — The Works of William Shakespeare. Cam- 
 bridge Edition. Edited by W. George Clark, M.A. and W. 
 Aldis Wright, M.A. Nine vols. 8vo. cloth. 
 The Guardian calls it an " excellent, and, to the student, almost 
 
 indispensable edition ;" and the'KyHtMViV.Y. calls it "an unrivallsd 
 
 edition. " 
 
 Shakespeare's Plays. — An attempt to determine the Chrono- 
 logical Order. By the Rev. H. Paine Stokes, B.A. Extra 
 fcap. 8vo. 4J-. 6d. 
 
 Shakespeare Scenes and Characters. — a Series o 
 Illustrations designed by Adamo, Hofmann, Makart, Pecht, 
 ScHWOERER, and Speiss, engraved on Steel by Bankel, Bauer, 
 Goldberg, Raab, and Schmidt; with Explanatory Text, 
 selected and arranged by Professor Dowden. Royal Svo. Cloth 
 elegant, zl. 12s. (id. 
 Also a LARGE PAPER EDITION, India Proofs. Folio, half- 
 morocco elegant. 4/. i+f. 6d. 
 
 Shakespeare's Tempest. Edited vnth Glossand and Ex- 
 planatory Notes, by the Rev. J. M. Jephson. New Edition. 
 l8mo. IS. 
 
 Slip (A) in the Fens. — illustrated by the Author. Crown 
 
 8vO. 6s. . >, rp icr, 
 
 " An artistic little -volume, for every page is a pcture. — liMES. it 
 will be read with pleasure, and with a pleasure that u altogether 
 innocent."— SA-TV-B-Tii^-^ Review. 
 
 Smedley TWO dramatic poems. By Menella Bute 
 
 Smedley, Author of " Lady Grace," &c. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6x 
 " May be read with enjoyment and profit."— ^.^rsTJ^TiA:^ Review. 
 
 Smith. — POEMS. By ^Catherine Barnard Smith. Fcap. 
 
 8vo. 5J. 
 Smith (Rev. Walter).— HYMNS OF CHRIST AND the 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE. By the Rev. Walter C. Smith, M.A. 
 
 Fcap. Svo. 6s. 
 Southesk.-THE MEDA MAIDEN : AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 By the Earl of Southesk, K.T. Extra fcap. Svo. Is. 
 
84 BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 " It is pleasant in these days, when there is so much artificial and 
 sensuous verse published, to come across a book so thoroughly fresh 
 and healthy as Lord Southesk's. . . . There is an infinite charm 
 about them in their spontaneity and their healthful philosophy, in 
 the fervent love for nature which is their distinguishing character- 
 istic, and the manly and wholesome tone which pervades every 
 page." — Scotsman. 
 
 Stanley.— TRUE TO LIFE.— A SIMPLE STORY. By Mary 
 Stanley. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. ds. 
 "For many a long day we have not met with a more simple, healthy, 
 and unpretending story." — Standard. 
 
 Stephen (C. E.)— the service of the poor ; being 
 an Inquiry into the Reasons for and against the Establishment of 
 Religious Sisterhoods for Charitable Purposes. By Caroline 
 Emilia Stephen. Crown 8vo. ds. 6d. 
 
 "It touches incidentally and with much wisdom and tenderness on 
 so many of the relations of women, particularly of single women, 
 with society, that it may be read with advantage by many who 
 have never thought of entering a Sisterhood." — Spectator. 
 
 Stephens (J. B.)— convict once. a Poem. By J. 
 Brunton Stephens. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3j. td. 
 " It is as far more interesting than ninety-nine novels out of a 
 
 hundred, as it is superior to them in power, worth, and beauty. 
 
 We should most strongly advise everybody to read 'Convict Once. ' " 
 
 — Westminster Review. 
 
 Streets and Lanes of a City : Being the Reminiscences 
 of Amy Dutton. With a Preface by the Bishop of Salis- 
 bury. Second and Cheaper Edition. Globe 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 " One of the most really striking books that has ever come before us." 
 — Literary Churchman. 
 
 Thompson. — a HANDBOOK TO THE PUBLIC PICTURE 
 GALLERIES OF EUROPE. With a brief sketch of the 
 History of the various schools of Painting from the thirteenth 
 century to the eighteenth, inclusive. By Kate Thompson. 
 Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Extra fcap. 8vo. ds. 
 " A very remarkable memoir of the several gnat schools of painting, 
 and a singularly lucid exhibition of /he principal treasures of all 
 the chiej and some of the smaller picture galleries of Europe. 
 This unpretending book which does so much for the history of art 
 is also a traveller's guide-book ; a guide-book, moreover, so con- 
 venient in arrangement and comprehensive in design t/tai it will 
 not fail to become the companion of the m.ajoriiv of English 
 tourists. , . . The large crowd oj ordinary connoisseurs w!u> 
 only care to know u. little about pictures, and the choicer body of 
 intellii;ent students of all artistic objects that fall in their way, will 
 
BELLE S LETTRES. 25 
 
 extol the compact little volume as the model of what an art 
 explorers vade mecum should be. It will also be found in the 
 highest degree serviceable to the more learned connoisseurs and 
 erudite authorities on the matter of art." — Morning Post. 
 
 '^^'w^iT^.?"-^"^ ^°^^S. A CoUection of Songs for Schools. 
 With the Music arranged for four Voices. Edited by the Rev. E 
 Thring and H. Riccius. Folio, "js. 6d. 
 
 Tom Brown's School Days— By An Old Boy. 
 Golden Treasury Edition, 4s. 6d. People's Edition, 2s. 
 With Seven Illustrations by A. Hughes and Sydney Hall. 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 " The most famous boy's book in the language."— Ha.ii.y News. 
 
 Tom Brown at Oxford New Edition, with illustrations 
 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " In no other work that we can call to mind are the finer qualities of 
 the English gentleman more happily portrayed" — Daily News. 
 "A book of great power and truth." — NATIONAL Review. 
 
 Tourgenief.— VIRGIN SOIL. By I. Tourgenief. Trans- 
 lated by AsHTON W. DiLKE. Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d. 
 " If we want to knoiv Russian life and society in all its phases . . . 
 we cannot do better than take up the works of the greatest of 
 Russian novelists, and one of the greatest in all European litera- 
 ture, Ivan Tourgenief." — Daily News. 
 
 Trench. — Works by R. Chenevix Trench, D.D., Archbishop 
 of Dublin. (For other Works by this Author, see Theological, 
 Historical, and Philosophical Catalogues.) 
 
 POEMS. Collected and arranged anew. Fcap. 8vo. "Js. 6d. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY. Selected and 
 arranged, with Notes, by Archbishop Trench. Second Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. ^s. 6d. 
 
 " The Archbishop has conferred in this delightful volume an important 
 gift on the whole English-speaking population of the world. " — 
 Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 SACRED LATIN POETRY, Chiefly Lyrical. Selected and 
 arranged for Use. By Archbishop Trench, Third Edition, 
 Corrected and Improved. Fcap. 8vo. Is, 
 
 Turner. — yVorks by the Rev. Charles Tennyson Turner : — 
 SONNETS. Dedicated to his Brother, the Poet Laureate. Fcap. 
 
 8vo. 4^. 6d. 
 SMALL TABLEAUX. Fcap. 8vo. 4X. 6d. 
 
26 BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Tyrwhitt — OUR SKETCHING CLUB. Letters and Studies 
 on Landscape Art. By Rev. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, M.A. 
 With an Authorized Reproduction of the Lessons and Woodcuts 
 in Professor Ruskin's "Elements of Drawing." Second Edition. 
 Crown 8vo. is. 6d. 
 
 Under the Limes. — By the Author of " Christina North." 
 Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " One of the prettiest and best told stories which it has been our 
 good fortune to read for a longtime." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Villari. — in CHANGE UNCHANGED. By Linda Villari. 
 Author of "In the Golden Shell," &c. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 2 1 J. 
 
 Wandering Willie. By the Author of " Effie's Friends," and 
 " John Hatherton." Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 " This is an idyll of rare truth and beauty. . . . The story is simple 
 and touching, the style of extraordinary delicacy, frecisitm, and 
 picturesqueness. , , . A charming gift-book for young ladies not 
 yet promoted to novels, and will amply repay those of their elders 
 who may give an hour to its perusal." — Daily News. 
 
 Webster. — Works by Augusta Webster : — 
 
 "If Mrs. Webster only remains true to herself, she will assuredly 
 take a higher rank as a poet than any woman has yet done." — 
 Westminster Review. 
 
 DRAMATIC STUDIES. Extra fcap. 8vo. Jj. 
 
 'A volume as strongly marked by perfect taste as by poetic power."— 
 Nonconformist. 
 
 A WOMAN SOLD, AND OTHER POEMS. Crown 8vo. ^s. 6d. 
 "Mrs. Webster has shown us that she is able to draw admirably 
 from the life; that she can observe with subtlety, and render her 
 observations with delicacy ; that she can impersonate complex con- 
 cations and venture into recesses of the ideal world into which 
 few living writers can follow her." — Guardian. 
 
 PORTRAITS. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 "Mrs. Webster's poems exhibit simplicity and tenderness . . . her 
 taste is perfect . . . This simplicity is combined with a subtlety of 
 thought, feeling, and observation which demand that attention which 
 only real lovers of poetry are apt to bestow." — Westminster 
 Review. 
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND OF .^SCHYLUS. Literally translated 
 into English Verse. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
BELLES LE TTRES. 27 
 
 Webster {K^xzviBXa)—contmued. 
 
 " Closeness and simplicity combined -with literary skUl." — Athe- 
 naeum. " Mrs. Webster's 'Dramatic Studies^ and ' Translation 
 of Prometheus ' have won for her an honourable place among our 
 female poets. She writes with remarkable vigour and dramatic 
 recUization, and bids fair to be the most successful claimant of Mrs. 
 Browning's mantle." — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 MEDEA OF EURIPIDES. Literally translated into EngUsh 
 
 Verse. Extra fcap. 8vo. 'is. 6d. 
 
 " Mrs. Webster's translation surpasses our utmost expectations. It it 
 a photograph of the original without any of that harshness which 
 so often accompanies a photograph^ — Westminster Review. 
 
 THE AUSPICIOUS DAY. A Dramatic Poem. Extra fcap.Svo. 5j, 
 " The ' Auspicious Day' shows a marked advance, not only in art, 
 but, in what is of far more importance, in breadth of thought and 
 intellectual grasp." — Westminster Review. "This drama is 
 a manifestation of high dramatic power on the part of the gifted 
 writer, and entitled to our warmest admiration, as a worthy piece 
 of work." — Standard. 
 
 YU-PE-YA'S LUTE. A Chinese Tale in English Verse. Extra 
 fcap. 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 " A very charming tale, charmingly told in dainty verse, with 
 occtfsional lyrics of tender beauty." — Standard. " We close the 
 book with the renewed cotwiction that in Mrs. Webster we have a 
 profound and original i>oet. The book is marked not by mere 
 sweetness of melody — rare as that gift is — but by the infinitely 
 rarer gifts of dramatic power, of passion, and sympathetic insight." 
 — Westminster Review. 
 
 A HOUSEWIFE'S OPINIONS. Crown 8vo. ^s.f>d. 
 
 When I was a Little Girl. STORIES FOR children. 
 
 By the Author of "St Olave's." Fifth Edition. Extra fcap. 
 
 8vo. 4J. dd. With Eight Illustrations by L. Frolich. 
 
 " At the head, and a long way ahead, of all books for girls, we 
 place ' When I was a Little Girl.' "—Times. " It is one of the 
 choicest morsels of child-biography which we have met with. — 
 Nonconformist. 
 
 White. — RHYMES BY WALTER WHITE. 8vo, Is. 6d. 
 
 Whittier.— JOHN greenleaf whittier's poetical 
 
 WORKS. Complete Edition, with Portrait engraved by C. H. 
 Teens. i8mo. 4J. 6d. , , , n. ,1 
 
 " Mr Whittier has all the smooth melody and the pathos of the author 
 
 of' ' Hiawatha,' with a greater nicety of description and u, 
 
 quainter fancy."— G^Avmc. 
 
aS BEL LES LETTRES. 
 
 Willoughby.— FAIRY GUARDIANS. A Book for the Young. 
 By F. Willoughby. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. gilt. f,!. 
 
 "A dainty and delicious tale of the good old-fashioned type." 
 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 Wolf.— THE LIFE AND HABITS OF WILD ANIMALS. 
 
 Twenty Illustrations by Joseph Wolf, engraved by J. W. and E. 
 
 Whymper. With descriptive Letter-press, by D. G. Elliot, 
 
 F.L.S. Super royal 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges. 2lj. 
 
 This is the last series of drawings which will be made by Mr. Wolf, 
 either upon wood or stone. The Pall Mall Gazette says: 
 " The fierce, untamable side of brute nature has never received a 
 more robust and vigorous inttrfiretation, and the various incidents 
 in which particular character is shown are set forth with rare dra- 
 matic power. For excellence that will endure, we incline to place 
 this very near the top of the list of Christmas books." And the 
 Art Journal observes, " Rarely, if ever, have we seen animal 
 life more forcibly and beautifully depicted than in this really 
 splendid volume. " 
 
 Also, an Edition in royal folio. Proofs before Letters, each Proof 
 signed by the Engravers. , . 
 
 Woolner. — MY BEAUTIFUL LADY. By Thomas Woolner. 
 
 With a Vignette by A. Hughes. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. Ss. 
 
 " No man can read this poem without being struck by the fitness and 
 finish of the workmanship, so to speak, as well as by the chastened 
 and unpretending loftiness of thought which pervades the whole" 
 — Globe. 
 
 Words from the Poets. Selected by the Editor of " Rays 
 of Sunlight" With a Vignette and Frontispiece. i8mo. limp., \s. 
 " The sdection aims at popularity, and deserves it" — Guardian. 
 
 Yonge (C. M.) — Works by Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 
 THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE. Twenty-third Edition. With 
 Illustrations. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 HEARTSEASE. Fifteenth Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 
 Svo. ts. 
 
 THE DAISY CHAIN. Sixteenth Edition. With Illustrations. 
 Crown Svo. 6j. 
 
 THE TRIAL: MORE LINKS OF THE DAISY CHAIN. 
 Fourteenth Edition. With Illustrations. Crown Svo. f>s. 
 
 DYNEVOR TERRACE. Seventh Edition. Crovra Svo. 6/. 
 
 HOPES AND FEARS. Sixth Edition. Crown Svo. fc. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 29 
 
 Yonge (C. M.) — continued. 
 THE YOUNG STEPMOTHER. Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. ds. 
 
 CLEVER WOMAN OF THE FAMILY. Fifth Edition. Crown 
 8vo. 6j. 
 
 THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST. Seventh Edition. 
 Crown 8vo. ds. . 
 
 " We think the authoress of ' The Heir of Redely fe^ has surpassed 
 
 her previous efforts in this illuminated chronicle of the olden time" 
 
 —British Quarterly. 
 
 THE CAGED LION. Illustrated. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. 
 " Prettily and tenderly written, and will with young people especially 
 be a great favourite."— Tiui:^ News. "Everybody should read 
 /^j>."_LiTERARY Churchman. 
 
 THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS; or, THE WHITE AND 
 BLACK RIBAUMONT. Crown 8vo. 6j. Sixth Edition. 
 "Miss Yonge has brought a lofty aim as well as high art to the con- 
 struction of a story which may claim a place among the best efforts 
 in historical r<7OTa««."— Morning Post. " The plot, in truth, 
 is of the very first m-der of ot»?V."— Spectator. " We have 
 seldom read a more charming j/fl?y."— Guardian. 
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE PAGE. A Tale of the Last Crusade. 
 
 Illustrated. Third Edition. i8mo. is. 6d. 
 
 " A tale which, we are sure, will give pleasure to many others besides 
 
 the young people for whom it is specially intended. . . . This 
 
 ,-ciremelv irettUy-told story does not require the guarantee afforded 
 
 bvZnfme of the author of ' The Heir of Redclyffe' on the title- 
 
 page to ensure its becoming a universal favourite. —Dublin 
 
 Evening Mail. 
 
 THE LANCES OF LYNWOOD. New Edition, with Coloured 
 
 ' Illustrations. iSmo. 4J. 6</. .... , ,„ „„j ,1. 
 
 " The illustrations are very spirited and nch in colour, and the 
 
 ^tycThTMyfaUtocZmtheyouthfulreader:^~^K^on^^T^^ 
 
 Examiner. 
 THE LITTLE DUKE : RICHARD THE FEARLESS. Sixth 
 
 Edition. Illustrated. l8mo. is. 6d. 
 A STOREHOUSE OF STORIES. First and Second Series. 
 Globe 8vo. y. M. each. 
 
 Contents of First Series :— History of PhiUp QuarU— 
 Goody Twoshoes-The Governess-Jemima P^cid-The Perambu- 
 lations of a Mouse- The Village School-The Little Queen- 
 HUtory of Little Jack. 
 
30 BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Yonge (C. yi.)— continued. 
 
 " Miss yonge has done great service to the 'infantry of this generation 
 
 by putting these eleven stories of sage simplicity within their reach." 
 
 — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 Contents of Second Series ; — Family Stories — Elements of 
 Morality — A Puzzle for a Curious Gkli — Jjlosgoms of Morality. 
 
 A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS OF ALL TIMES AND ALL 
 COUNTRIES. Gathered and Narrated Anew. Golden 
 Treasury Series). 4^. dd. Cheap Edition, is. 
 " We have seen no prettier gift-book for a longtime, and none which, 
 
 both for its cheapness and the spirit in which it has been compiled, 
 
 is more deserving of praise," — Athen^um. 
 
 LITTLE LUCY'S WONDERFUL GLOBE. Pictured by 
 Frolich, and narrated by Charlotte M. Yonge. Second 
 Edition. Crown 4to. cloth gilt. 6j. 
 
 "'Luc^s Wonderful Globe' is capital, and will give its youthful 
 readers more idea oj foreign countries and customs than any number 
 of books of geography or travel." — Graphic. 
 
 CAMEOS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. From Rollo to 
 Edward. II. Extra fcap. 8vo. ^s. Third Edition, enlarged. 5^. 
 
 Second Series. THE WARS IN FRANCE. Third Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 5^. 
 
 "Instead oj dry details," says the Nonconformist, "we have 
 living pictures, faithful, vivid, and striking." 
 
 Third Series. THE WARS OF THE ROSES. Extra fcap. 
 8vo. 5^. 
 
 P's and Q's ; or, THE QUESTION OF PUTTING UPON. 
 
 With Illustrations by C. O. Murray. Third Edition. Globe 
 
 8vo. cloth gilt. 4J. ()d. 
 
 ' ' One of her most successful little pieces .... just what a narrative 
 should be, each incident simply and naturally related, no preaching 
 or moralizing, and yet the moral coming out most powerfully, and 
 the whole story not too long, or with the least appearance of being 
 spun out." — Literary Churchman. 
 
 THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE; or, UNDER WODE, 
 UNDER RODE. Fourth Edition. Two vols, crown 8vo. 12s. 
 " A domestic story oJ English professional life, which for sweetness 
 of tone and absorbing interest from first to last has never been 
 rivalled," — Standard. " Miss Yonge has certainly added to 
 her already high reputation by this charming book, which keeps the 
 reader's attention fixed to the end. Indeed we are only sorry there is 
 not another volume to come, and part with the Underwood family 
 with sincere regret." — Court Circular. 
 
BELLES LETTRES. 31 
 
 Yonge (C. M.) — continued. 
 
 LADY HESTER; OR, URSULA'S NARRATIVE. Third 
 Edition. Crown 8vo. ds. 
 
 " We shall not anticipate the interest by epitomizing the plot, butwt 
 shall only say that readers will find in it all the gracefulness, right 
 feeling, and delicate perception which they have been long accustomed 
 to look for in Miss Yong^s wriiings." — Guardian. 
 
 MY YOUNG ALCIDES ; OR, A FADED PHOTOGRAPH. 
 Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " Marked by all the perfect and untiring freshness that always 
 charm us in Miss Yongis navels." — GRAPHIC. " The story is 
 admirably told, and extremely interesting. " — STANDARD. 
 
 THE THREE BRIDES. Eighth Edition. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 I2S. 
 
32 GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. 
 
 MACIVIILLAN'8 GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. 
 
 Uniformly printed in i8mo., with Vignette Titles by Sir 
 Noel Paton, T. Woolner, W. Holman Hunt, J. E. 
 MiLLAis, Arthur Hughes, &c. Engraved on Steel by 
 Jeens. Bound in extra cloth, 4?. f>d. each volume. Also 
 kept in morocco and calf bindings. 
 
 " Messrs. Macmillan have, in their Golden Treasury Series, especially 
 provided editions of standard works, volumes of selected poetry, and 
 original compositions, which entitle this series to be called classical. 
 Nothing can be better than the literary execution, nothing more 
 elegant than the material worhmanshij>."—^B^iTlSH QUARTERLY 
 Review. 
 
 The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and 
 
 LYRICAL POEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 Selected and arranged, with Notes, by Francis Turner 
 
 Palgrave. 
 
 " This delightful little volume, the Golden Treasury, which contains 
 many of the best original lyrical pieces and songs in our language, 
 grouped with care and skill, so as to illustrate each other like the 
 pictures in a well-arranged gallery." — Quarterly Review. 
 
 The Children's Garland from the best Poets. 
 
 Selected and arranged by Coventry Patmore. 
 
 " It includes specimens of all the great masters in the art of poetry, 
 selected with the matured judgment of a man concentrated on 
 obtaining insight into the feelings and tastes of childhood, and 
 desirous to awaken its finest impulses, to cultivate its keenest sensi- 
 bilities" — Morning Post. 
 
 The Book of Praise. From the Best English Hymn Writers. 
 Selected and arranged by Lord Selborne. A New and En- 
 larged Edition. 
 
 " All previous compilations of this kind must undeniably for the 
 present give place to the Book of Praise. . . . The selection has 
 been made throughout with sound judgment and critical taste. The 
 pains involved in this compilation must have been immense, em- 
 bracing, as it does, every writer of note in this special province of 
 English literature, and ranging over the most widely divergent 
 tracks of religious thought." —Satvuva-y Review. 
 
GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. 33 
 
 The Fairy Book ; the Best Popular Fairy Stories. Selected 
 and rendered anew by the Author of " John Halifax, 
 Gentleman." 
 
 " A delightful selection, in u. delightful external form ; full of the 
 physical splendour and vast opulence of proper fairy tales."— 
 Spectator. 
 
 The Ballad Book, a Selection of the Choicest British Ballads. 
 
 Edited by William Allingham. 
 
 " His taste as a judge of old poetry will de found, by all acquainted with 
 the various readings oj old English ballads, true enough to justify 
 his undertaking so critical a task." — Saturday Review. 
 
 The Jest Book. The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings. Selected 
 and arranged by Mark Lemon. 
 
 " The fullest and best jest book that has yet appeared." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 Bacon's Essays and Colours of Good and Evil. 
 
 With Notes and Glossarial Index. By W. Aldis Wright, 
 
 M.A. 
 
 " The beautiful little edition of Bacon's Essays, now before us, does 
 credit to the taste and scholarship of Mr. Aldis Wright. . . . It 
 puts the reader in possession of all the essential literary facts and 
 chronology necessary for reading the Essays in connection with 
 Bacon's life and times." — Spectator. 
 
 The Pilgrim's Progress from this World to that which is to 
 come. By John Bunyan. 
 "/i beautiful and scholarly reprint" — Spectator. 
 
 The Sunday Book of Poetry for the Young. 
 
 Selected and arranged by C. F. Alexander. 
 
 " A well-selected volume of Sacred Poetry." — SPECTATOR. 
 
 A Book of Golden Deeds ot All Times and All Countries 
 Gathered and narrated anew. By the Author of "The Heir of 
 Redclyffe." 
 
 "... To the young, for whom it is especially intended, as a most 
 interesting collection of thrilling tales well told ; and to their elders, 
 as a useful handbook of reference, and a pleasant one to take up 
 when their wish is to while away a weary half-hour. We have 
 seen no prettier gift-book for a longtime." — Athen^um. 
 
 The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. Edited, with 
 Biographical Memoir, Notes, and Glossary, by Alexander 
 Smith. Two Vols. 
 
 "Beyond all question this is the most beautiful tdition of Bvrns 
 yet ««/."— Edinburgh Daily Review. 
 c 
 
34 GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. 
 
 The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Edited trom 
 the Original Edition by J. W. CLARK, M.A. Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge. 
 
 " Mutilated and modified editions of this English classic are so much 
 the rule, that a cheap and pretty copy of it, rigidly exact to the 
 original, will be a prize to m.any book-buyers" — EXAMINES, 
 
 The Republic of Plato. Translated into English, with 
 Notes by J. LI. Davies, M.A. and D. J. Vaughan, M.A. 
 "A dainty and cheap little edition." — Examiner. 
 
 The Song Book. Words and Tunes from the best Poets and 
 Musicians. Selected and arranged by John Hullah, Professor 
 of Vocal Music in King's College, London. 
 
 " A choice collection of the sterling songs of England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland, with the music of each prefixed to the Words. How much 
 true wholesome pleasure such a book can difiuse, and will diffuse, 
 we trust through manv thousand families" — Examiner. 
 
 La Lyre Francaise. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by 
 GUSTAVE Masson, French Master in Harrow School. 
 A selection of the best French songs and lyrical pieces, 
 
 Tom Brown's School Days. By An Old Boy. 
 
 " A perfect gem o/^a book. The best and most healthy book about 
 boys for boys that ever was written.'''' — Illustrated Times. 
 
 A Book of Worthies. Gathered from the Old Histories and 
 
 written anew by the Author of " The Heir of Redclyffe." 
 
 With Vignette. 
 
 ^^ An admirable addition to an admirable series." — Westminster 
 Review. 
 A Book of Golden Thoughts. By Henry Attwell, 
 Knight of the Order of the Oalc Crown. 
 
 " Mr. Atiwellhas produced abookof rarevalue . . . . Happily it 
 is small enough to be carried about in the pocket, and of such a com- 
 panion it would be difficult to weary"— ?iCLi. Mall Gazette. 
 
 Guesses at Truth. By Two Brothers. New Edition. 
 
 The Cavalier and his Lady. Selections trom the Works 
 of the First Duke and Duchess of Newcastle. With an Intro- 
 ductory Essay by Edward Jenkins, Author of "Ginx'sBaby,"&o. 
 " A charming little volume." — Standard. 
 
 Theologia Germanica. — Which setteth forth many fair Linea- 
 ments of Divine Truth, and saith very lofty and lovely things 
 touching a Perfect Life. Edited by DR. Pfeiffer, from the only 
 complete manuscript yet known. Translated from the German, 
 by Susanna Winkworth. With a Preface by the Rev. Charles 
 KiNGSLEY, and a Letter to the Translator by the Chevalier 
 Lunsen, D.D. 
 
GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES. 35 
 
 Milton's Poetical Works. — Edited, with Notes, &c., by 
 Professor Masson. Two vols. iSmo. gj. 
 
 Scottish Song, a Selection of the Choicest Lyrics of Scotland. 
 
 Compiled and arranged, with brief Notes, by Mary Carlylb 
 
 Aitkin. 
 
 "Miss AMin's exquisite collection of Scottish Song is so alluring, 
 and suggests so many topics, that we find it difficult to lay it down. 
 The book is one that should find a place in every library, we haci 
 almost said in every pocket, and the sutnmer tourist who wishes to 
 carry with him into the country a volume of genuine poetry, will 
 find it difficult to select one containing within so small a compass 
 so much of rarest value." — Spectator. 
 
 Deutsche Lyrik. — The Golden Treasury of the best German 
 Lyrical Poems, selected and arranged with Notes and Literary 
 Introduction. By Dr. BuCHHEIM. 
 
 " This collection of German poetry is compiled with care and con- 
 scientiousness The result of his labours is satisfactory. 
 
 Almost all the lyrics dear to English readers of German will be 
 found in this little volume." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 ■Robert Herrick.— SELECTIONS FROM THE LYRICAL 
 POEMS OF. Arranged with Notes by F. T. Palgrave. 
 " A delightful little book. Herrick, the English Catullus, is simply 
 one of the most exquisite of poets, and his fame and memory are 
 fortunate in having found one so capable op doing honour to them 
 as the present editor ; who contribute a charming dedication and 
 u. preface full of delicate and sensitive criticism to a volume than 
 which one would hardly desire a choice;- companion for a journey 
 or for hours of ease in the country."— Ht^Wi News. 
 
 Poems of Places. — Edited by H. W. Longfellow. England 
 and Wales. Two Vols. 
 
 " After a careful perusal we must pronounce his work an excellent 
 collection . . In this compilation we find not only a guide- 
 book for' future travels, hut a fund of reminiscences of the past. 
 To many of us it will seem like a biography of our best and 
 happiest emotions. ... For those who know not all these places 
 the book will be an excellent travelling companion or guide, or may 
 even stand some in good stead in place of travel. '—1 IMES. 
 
 Matthew Arnold's Selected Poems. 
 
 Also a Large Paper Edition. Crown 8vo. I2j. 6(/. 
 
 The Story of the Christians and Moors in Spain. 
 
 —By Charloite M. Yonge. With a Vignette by Holman 
 Hunt. 
 Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. — Edited with Preface 
 by the Rev. Alfred Ainger, Reader at the Temple. 
 
36 GLOBE LH3RARY. 
 
 MACMILLAN'S GLOBE LIBRARY. 
 
 Beautifully printed on toned paper and hound in cloth extra, gilt 
 edges, price s^. (sd. each ; in cloth plain, 3^. 61/. Also kept in a 
 variety oj calf and morocco bindings at moderate prices. 
 
 Books, Wordsworth says, are 
 
 "the spirit breathed 
 By dead men to their kind ; " 
 
 and the aim of the publishers of the Globe Library has 
 been to make it possible for the universal kin of English- 
 speaking men to hold communion with the loftiest " spirits 
 of the mighty dead ; " to put within the reach of all classes 
 complete and accurate editions, carefully and clearly printed 
 upon the best paper, in a convenient form, at a moderate 
 price, of the works of the master-minds of English 
 Literature, and occasionally of foreign literature in an 
 attractive English dress. 
 
 The Editors, by their scholarship and special study of 
 their authors, are competent to afford every assistance to 
 readers of all kinds : this assistance is rendered by original 
 biographies, glossaries of unusual or obsolete words, and 
 critical and explanatory notes. 
 
 The publishers hope, therefore, that these Globe Editions 
 may prove worthy of acceptance by all classes wherever the 
 English Language is spoken, and by their universal circula- 
 tion justify their distinctive epithet ; while at the same time 
 they spread and nourish a common sympathy with nature's 
 most "finely touched" spirits, and thus help a little to 
 " make the whole world kin." 
 
 The Saturday Review says : " The Globe Editions are admirable 
 for their scholarly editing, their typographical excellence, their com- 
 pendious form, and their cheapness." The British Quarterly 
 Review says: "In compendiousness, elegance, and scholarliness, 
 the Globe Editions of Messrs. Macmillan surpass any popular series 
 of our classics hitherto given to the public. As near an approach 
 to miniature perfection as has ever been made." 
 
 Shakespeare's Complete Works. Edited by w. G. 
 
 Clark, M. A., and W. Aldis Wrisht, M, A., of Trinity College, 
 
GLOBE LIBRARY. 37 
 
 Cambridge, Editors of the "Cambridge Shakespeare," With 
 
 Glossary. Pp. 1,075. 
 
 TX^AxHENyBUM says this edition is "a marvel of beauty, cheapness, 
 and compactness. . . . For the busy man, above all for the 
 •working student, this is the best of all existing Shakespeares." 
 And the Pall Mall Gazette observes : " To have produced 
 the complete works of the world's greatest poet in such a form-, 
 and at a price within the reach of every one, is of itself almost 
 sufficient to give the publishers a claim to be considered public bene- 
 factors." 
 
 Spenser's Complete ^A^orks. Edited from the Original 
 
 Editions and Manuscripts, by R. Morris, with a Memoir by J. 
 
 W. Hales, M.A. With Glossary, pp. Iv., 736. 
 
 "Worthy — and higher praise it needs not — of the beautiful 'Globe 
 
 Series.' The work is edited with all the care so noble a poet 
 
 deserves." — DAILY News. 
 
 Sir W^alter Scott's Poetical Works. Edited with a 
 Biographical and Critical Memoir by Francis Turner Palgrave, 
 and copious Notes, pp. xliii., 559. 
 
 " We can almost sympathise with a middle-aged grumbler, who, after 
 reading Mr. Palgrav^s memoir and introduction, should exclaim 
 — 'Why was there not such an edition of Scott when I was a school- 
 boy ? ' " — Guardian. 
 Complete Works of Robert Burns. — THE POEMS, 
 
 SONGS, AND LETTERS, edited from the best Printed and 
 Manuscript Authorities, with Glossarial Index, Notes, and a 
 Biographical Memoir by Alexander Smith, pp. Ixii., 636. 
 "Admirable in all respects." — Spectator. " The cheapest, the 
 
 most perfect, and the most interesting edition which has ever been 
 
 published." — Bell's Messenger. 
 Robinson Crusoe. Edited after the Original Editions, with a 
 Biographical IntroducUon by Henry Kingsley. pp. xxxi., 607. 
 "A most excellent and in every way desirable edition." — Court 
 
 Circular. "Macmillaris ' Globe' Robinson Crusoe is a book to 
 
 have and to ,5^/. "—Morning Star. 
 Goldsmith's Miscellaneous Works. Edited, with 
 Biographical Introduction, by Professor Masson. pp. Ix., 695.. 
 "Such an admirable compendium of the facts of Goldsmiths life, 
 
 and so careful and minute a delineation of the mixed traUs of his 
 
 Peculiar character as to be a very model of a literary biography 
 
 in little."— ScoTSUXN. 
 Pone's Poetical Works. Edited, with Notes and Intro- 
 ductory Memoir, by Adolphus William Ward, MA Fellow 
 of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and Proiessor of History m 
 Owens College, Manchester, pp. Hi., 508- 
 The Literary Churchman remarks : " 7he editor's own notes 
 
 and introductory -memoir are excellent, the memoir alon^ would 6e 
 
 cheap and well worth buying at the price of the whole volume. 
 
38 GLOBE LIBRARY. 
 
 Dryden's Poetical Works. Edited, with a Memoir, 
 Revised Text, and Notes, by W. D. Christie, M.A., of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, pp. Ixxxvii., 662. 
 
 " An admirable edition, the result of great research and of a careful 
 revision of the text. The memoir prefixed contains, within less 
 than ninety pages, as much sound criticism and as comprehensive 
 a biography as the student of Dry den need desire." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 Cowper's Poetical Works. Edited, with Notes and 
 Biographical Introduction, by William Benham, Vicar of 
 Addington and Professor of Modem History in Queen's College, 
 London, pp. Ixxiii., 536. 
 
 "Mr. Benham' s edition of Cowper is one of permanent value. 
 The biographical introduction is excellent, full of information, 
 singularly neat and readable and modest — indeed too modest in 
 its comments. The notes are concise and accurate, and the editor 
 has been able to discover and introduce some hitherto unprinted 
 matter. Altogether the book is a very excellent one." — Satijrday 
 Review. 
 
 Morte d' Arthur. — SIR THOMAS MALORY'S BOOK OF 
 KING ARTHUR AND OF HIS NOBLE KNIGHTS OF 
 THE ROUND TABLE. The original Edition of Caxton, 
 revised for Modem Use. With an Introduction by Sir Edward 
 Strachey, Bart. pp. xxxvii., 509. 
 
 ' 'It is with perfect confidence that we recommend this edition of the ola 
 romance to every class of readers." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 The Works of Virgil. Rendered into English Prose, with 
 Introductions, Notes, Running Analysis, and an Index. By James 
 Lonsdale, M.A., late Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, 
 Oxford, and Classical Professor in King's College, London ; and 
 Samuel Lee, M.A., Latin Lecturer at University College, 
 London, pp. 288. 
 
 "A more complete edition of Virgil in English it is scarcely possible 
 to conceive than the scholarly work before us. " — Globe. 
 
 The Works of Horace. Rendered into English Prose, with 
 
 Introductions, Running Analysis, Notes, and Index. By JOHN 
 
 Lonsdale, M.A., and Samuel Lee, M.A. 
 
 The Standard says, " To classical and non-classical readers it 
 
 will be invaluable as a faithful interpretation of the mind ana 
 
 meaning of the poet, enriched as His with notes and dissertations 
 
 of the highest value in the way of criticism, illustration, and 
 
 explanation." 
 
 Milton's Poetical Works. — Edited with Introductions by 
 Professor Masson. 
 
 " A worthy addition to a valuable series." — Athenaeum. 
 " In every way an admirable book." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
MACMILLAN'S POPULAR NOVELS. 
 
 In Crown 8vo. cloth, price ds. each Volume. . 
 
 BY WILLIAM BLACK. 
 A PRINCESS OF THULE. 
 MADCAP VIOLET. 
 THE MAID OF KILLEENA; and other Tales. 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PHAETON. 
 
 Illustrated. 
 GREEN PASTURES AND PICCADILLY. 
 
 BY CHARLES KINGSLEY. 
 TWO YEARS AGO. 
 "WESTWARD HO!" 
 ALTON LOCKE. With Portrait. 
 HYPATIA. 
 YEAST. 
 HEREWARD THE WAKE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. 
 
 THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY. Illustrated. 
 THE OGILVIES. Illustrated. 
 AGATHA'S HUSBAND. Illustrated. 
 OLIVE. Illustrated. 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. 
 THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE. With Illustrations. 
 HEARTSEASE. With Illustrations. 
 THE DAISY CHAIN. With Illustrations. 
 
 THE TRIAL : More Links in the Daisy Chain. With Illus- 
 trations. 
 HOPES AND FEARS. 
 DYNEVOR TERRACE. 
 MY YOUNG ALCIDES. 
 
 THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE. 2 Vols. 
 CLEVER WOMAN OF THE FAMILY. 
 THE YOUNG STEPMOTHER. 
 THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST. 
 THE CAGED LION. Illustrated. 
 
MACMILLAN'S POPULAR THOYELS—^onfmueri. 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE-««^«««a'. 
 THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS. 
 LADY HESTER ; or, Ursula's Narrative. 
 THE THREE BRIDES. 2 Vols. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 YOUNG MUSGRAVE. 
 THE CURATE IN CHARGE. 
 A SON OF THE SOIL. 
 
 BY ANNIE KEARY. 
 CASTLE DALY. 
 OLDBURY. 
 A YORK AND A LANCASTER ROSE. 
 
 BY GEORGE FLEMING. 
 A NILE NOVEL. 
 MIRAGE. 
 
 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. 
 
 TOM BROWN AT OXFORD. 
 
 PAULINE. By G. C. Clunes. 
 
 THE FOOL OF QUALITY. By H. Brooke. 
 
 UNDER THE LIMES. 
 
 CHRISTINA NORTH. 
 
 ELSIE. By A. C. M. 
 
 REALMAH. By the Author of "Friends in Council." 
 
 PATTY. By Mrs. Macquoid. 
 
 HUGH CRICHTON'S ROMANCE. By C. R. Coleridge. 
 
 OWEN GWYNNE'S GREAT WORK. By Lady Augusta 
 
 NOEL. 
 A SLIP IN THE FENS. Illustrated. 
 
 MY TIME, AND WHAT I'VE DONE WITH IT By F 
 
 C. BURNAND. ' '' 
 
 ROSE TURQUAND. By Ellice Hopkins. 
 OLD SIR DOUGLAS. By the Hon. Mrs. Norton. 
 SEBASTIAN. By Katherine Cooper. 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON. 
 
w • -;,-5-- 
 
 
 -■«,' 
 
 
 
 
 
 m1^