пребывает в стадии притворной покорности, которая, боюсь, не предвещает ничего хорошего.
Мы выводили его на ежедневную прогулку по коридору и дважды в неделю проветривали у открытого окна, естественно, мы соблюдали все необходимые меры предосторожности предохраняющие от его крика. В субботу он принимал ванну. Сами мы мылись на кухне. В воскресенье я читал ему короткие лекции и позволял выкурить три папиросы - в моём присутствии конечно. Что это были за лекции? О разного рода вещах. Пушкин, например, или древняя Греция. Только одна тема исключалась - политика. Он был совершенно испорчен политикой. Всё было так, как если бы подобных вещей просто не существовало на поверхности земли. И вы знаете? С того времени как я стал удерживать этого советского агента в заточении, с этого времени я служу Отечеству, я стал просто другим человеком. Весёлым и счастливым. И торговля оживилась, так что содержать его так же не было большой проблемой. Он стоил мне двадцать марок в месяц или около того, учитывая и плату за электричество: у него там совершенно темно, поэтому с 8 утра до 8 вечера горит одна слабая лампочка.
Вы спросите, из какой он среды? Ну, как я понял ... Ему двадцать четыре года, он крестьянин, к сожалению он остановился на уровне сельской школы, он был, что называется “честный Коммунист” и изучал только политическую литературу, которая в наших книгах представлена как попытка делать дебилов из крепкоголовых - это и всё, что я знаю. Да, если хотите, я покажу его вам, только помните, это секрёт.
Мартын вышел в коридор. Петя и я последовали за ним. Пожилой человек в удобном домашнем жакете, он и впрямь смотрелся как тюремный надзиратель. Пока шел, он достал ключ, и было что-то профессиональное в том, как он вставил его в замок. Замок дважды скрипнул, и Мартын быстро открыл дверь. Далёкая от представлявшейся прежде слабо освещённой норой, это была роскошная, просторная ванная, того типа, который каждый может найти в удобном немецком жилище. Электрический свет, сияющий достаточно приятно для глаз, горел за весёлым, декоративным абажуром, на стене с левой стороны блестело зеркало. На ночном столике рядом с ванной лежали книги, очищенный апельсин на глянцевитой тарелке и нетронутая бутылка пива. В белой ванне, на матрасе, покрытом чистой простыней, с большой подушкой под головой лежал упитанный светлоглазый парень с длинной бородой в купальной пижаме (досталась мне от хозяина) и в тёплых мягких шлёпанцах. “Ну, что вы скажете?” Спросил меня Мартын. Я нашёл эту сцену комичной и не знал что ответить. Здесь было окно. Мартын показал пальцем. Окно было совершенно заколочено досками.
Заключенный зевнул и отвернулся к стене. Мы вышли. Мартын ласкал задвижку с улыбкой. “Ни малейшего шанса, что он когда-нибудь убежит”, сказал он, и затем задумчиво добавил, “Всё-таки, мне было бы интересно узнать, сколько же лет он проведёт здесь ...“
RUSSIAN SPOKEN HERE
© Copyright 1923 by Vladimir Nabokov
© Copyright by Dmitry Nabokov, english translation
Martin martinich's tobacco shop is located in a corner building. No wonder tobacco shops have a predilection for corners, for Martin's business is booming. The window is of modest size, but well arranged. Small mirrors make the display come alive. At the bottom, amid the hollows of hilly azure velvet, nestles a motley of cigarette boxes with names couched in the glossy international dialect that serves for hotel names as well; higher up, rows of cigars grin in their lightweight boxes.
In his day Martin was a well-off landowner. He is famed in my childhood recollections for a remarkable tractor, while his son Petya and I succumbed simultaneously to Meyn Ried and scarlet fever, so that now, after fifteen years chock-full of all kinds of things, I enjoyed stopping by the tobacco shop on that lively corner where Martin sold
his wares.
Since last year, moreover, we have more than reminiscences in common. Martin has a secret, and I have been made party to that secret. 'So, everything as usual?' I ask in a whisper, and he, glancing over his shoulder, replies just as softly, 'Yes, thank heaven, all is quiet.' The secret is a quite extraordinary one. I recall how I was leaving for Paris and stayed at Martin's till evening the day before. A man's soul can be compared to a department store and his eyes to twin display windows. Judging by Martin's eyes, warm, brown tints were in fashion. Judging by those eyes, the merchandise inside his soul was of superb quality. And what a luxuriant beard, fairly glistening with robust Russian gray. And his shoulders, his stature, his mien. ... At one time they used to say he could slit a handkerchief with a sword-one of the exploits of Richard Coeur de Lion. Now a fellow emigre would say with envy, 'The man did not give in!'
His wife was a puffy, gentle old woman with a mole by her left nostril. Ever since the time of revolutionary ordeals her face had had a touching tic: she would give quick sidewise glances skyward. Petya had the same imposing physique as his father. I was fond of his mild-mannered glumness and unexpected humor. He had a large, flaccid face (about which his father used to say, 'What a mug-three days would not suffice to circumnavigate it') and reddish-brown, permanently tousled hair. Petya owned a tiny cinema in a sparsely populated part of town, which brought a very modest income. And there we have the whole family.
I spent that day before my departure sitting by the counter and watching Martin receive his customers-first he would lean lightly, with two fingers, on the countertop, then step to the shelves, produce a box with a flourish, and ask, as he opened it with his thumbnail,
'I could have made mincemeat of him,' said Petya, slamming his fist into his palm, 'but unfortunately I could not forget about my aunt in Moscow.'
'You already have a peccadillo or two on your conscience,' good-naturedly rumbled Martin. He was alluding to a most amusing incident. Not long ago, on his nameday, Petya had visited the Soviet bookstore, whose presence blemishes one of Berlin's most charming streets. They sell not only books there, but also various handmade bric-a- brac. Petya selected a hammer adorned with poppies and emblazoned with an inscription typical for a Bolshevik hammer. The clerk inquired if he would like something else. Petya said, 'Yes, I would,' nodding at a small plaster bust of Mister Ulyanov.* [Lenin's real name. -D.N.] He paid fifteen marks for bust and hammer, whereupon, without a word, right there on the counter, he popped that bust with that hammer, and with such force that Mister Ulyanov disintegrated.
I was fond of that story, just as I was fond, for instance, of the dear silly sayings from unforgettable childhood that warm the cockles of one's heart. Martin's words made me glance with a laugh at Petya. But Petya jerked his shoulder sullenly and scowled. Martin rummaged in the drawer and proffered him the most expensive cigarette in the shop. But even this did not dispel Petya's gloom.
I returned to Berlin a half-year later. One Sunday morning I felt an urge to see Martin. On weekdays you could get through via the shop, since his apartment-three rooms and kitchen-was directly behind it. But of course on a Sunday morning the shop was closed, and the window had shut its grated visor. I glanced rapidly through the grating at the red and gold boxes, at the swarthy cigars, at the modest inscription in a corner: 'Russian spoken here,' remarked that the display had in some way grown even gayer, and walked through the courtyard to Martin's place. Strange thing-Martin himself appeared to me even jollier, jauntier, more radiant than before. And Petya was downright unrecognizable: his oily, shaggy locks were combed back, a broad, vaguely bashful smile did not leave his lips, he kept a kind of sated silence, and a curious, joyous preoccupation, as if he carried a precious cargo within him, softened his every movement. Only the mother was pale as ever, and the same touching tic flashed across her face like faint summer lightning. We sat in their neat parlor, and I knew that the other two rooms-Petya's bedroom and that of his parents-were just as cozy and clean, and I found that an agreeable thought. I sipped tea with lemon, listened to Martin's mellifluous speech, and I could not rid myself of the impression that something new had appeared in their apartment, some kind of joyous, mysterious palpitation, as happens, for instance, in a home
