Our disagreement touches upon certain delicate matters. To analyze these subjects is ridiculous and awkward. I never even thought of going with you. Larissa Fyodorovna is another matter. On those rare occasions when our anxieties were separable and we remembered that we were not one being but two, with two different destinies, I thought that Lara should consider your plans more attentively, especially for Katya’s sake. And she constantly did just that, coming back again and again to those possibilities.”
“But only on condition that you come, too.”
“We have the same difficulty imagining our separation, but perhaps we must overcome ourselves and make this sacrifice. Because there can be no talk of my going.”
“But you don’t know anything yet. First listen. Tomorrow morning … Viktor Ippolitovich!”
“Clearly, Larissa Fyodorovna has in mind the information I brought and have already told her. An official train of the Far Eastern government is standing under steam on the tracks at Yuriatin. It arrived yesterday from Moscow and tomorrow it continues on its way. It’s the train of our Ministry of Transportation. It is half made up of international sleeping cars.
“I must be on that train. Places have been put at my disposal for persons invited to join my working team. We’ll roll along in full comfort. Such an occasion will not present itself again. I know you don’t throw words to the wind and will not change your refusal to come with us. You’re a man of firm decisions, I know. But all the same. Bend yourself for Larissa Fyodorovna’s sake. You heard, she won’t go without you. Come with us, if not to Vladivostok, at least to Yuriatin. And there we’ll see. But in that case we have to hurry. We mustn’t lose a minute. I have a man with me, I’m a poor driver. The five of us, counting him, won’t fit into my sleigh. If I’m not mistaken, you have Samdevyatov’s horse. You said you drove her to fetch firewood. Is she still harnessed up?”
“No, I unhitched her.”
“Then hitch her up again quickly. My driver will help you. Though, you know … Well, devil take the second sleigh. We’ll make it in mine somehow. Only for God’s sake be quick. Take the most necessary things for the road, whatever you’ve got at hand. Let the house stay as it is, unlocked. We must save the child’s life, not go looking for locks and keys.”
“I don’t understand you, Viktor Ippolitovich. You talk as if I had agreed to come. Go with God, if Lara wants it that way. And don’t worry about the house. I’ll stay, and after your departure I’ll tidy things and lock up.”
“What are you saying, Yura? Why this deliberate nonsense, which you don’t believe yourself? ‘If Larissa Fyodorovna has decided.’ He himself knows perfectly well that without his participation in the trip, there is no Larissa Fyodorovna in the works and none of her decisions. Then what are these phrases for: ‘I’ll tidy the house and take care of everything.’ ”
“So you’re implacable. Then I have another request. With Larissa Fyodorovna’s permission, may I have a couple of words with you in private, if possible?”
“Very well. If it’s so necessary, let’s go to the kitchen. You don’t object, Larusha?”
12
“Strelnikov has been seized, given a capital sentence, and the sentence has been carried out.”
“How terrible. Can it be true?”
“So I’ve heard. I’m sure of it.”
“Don’t tell Lara. She’ll go out of her mind.”
“Of course I won’t. That’s why I invited you to another room. After this execution, she and her daughter are in direct, imminent danger. Help me to save them. Do you flatly refuse to accompany us?”
“I told you so. Of course.”
“But she won’t go without you. I simply don’t know what to do. In that case I’ll ask you for help of another sort. Pretend in words, deceitfully, that you’re ready to give in, that you may be persuaded. I can’t picture your parting to myself. Neither here on the spot, nor at the station in Yuriatin, if you really were to go to see us off. We must make it so that she believes you’re also coming. If not now, along with us, then sometime later, when I offer you a new opportunity, which you will promise to make use of. You must be able to give her a false oath on it. But these are not empty words on my part. I assure you on my honor that, at the first expression of your desire, I will undertake to deliver you from here to us and send you further on, wherever you like. Larissa Fyodorovna must be certain that you’re accompanying us. Convince her of it with all your power of persuasion. Let’s say you pretend that you’re running to hitch up the horse and insist that we set out at once, without waiting, while you harness up and overtake us on the road.”
“I’m shaken by the news of Pavel Pavlovich’s execution and can’t come to my senses. I’m having trouble following your words. But I agree with you. After Strelnikov has been dealt with, by our present-day logic, the lives of Larissa Fyodorovna and Katya are also in danger. One of us is certain to be deprived of freedom, and therefore, one way or the other, we’ll be separated. It’s true, then, that it’s better if you separate us and take them somewhere far away, to the ends of the earth. Right now, as I say this to you, things are going your way anyhow. I probably won’t be able to bear it and, surrendering my pride and self-love, will obediently come crawling to you to receive her from your hands, and life, and a way by sea to my family, and my own salvation. But let me sort it all out. The news you’ve reported has stunned me. I’m overwhelmed by suffering, which deprives me of the ability to think and reason. Maybe by obeying you I’m committing a fatal, irrevocable error that will horrify me all my life, but in the fog of pain that robs me of strength the only thing I can do now is mechanically agree with you and obey you blindly and will-lessly. And so, for the sake of her good, I’ll pretend now and tell her that I’m going to hitch up the horse and overtake you, and I’ll stay here alone by myself. Only one small thing. How are you going to go now, with night falling? It’s a forest road, there are wolves around, you must be careful.”
“I know. I have a rifle and a revolver. Don’t worry. And, incidentally, I brought a bit of alcohol along in case of cold. A good amount. Want some?”
13
“What have I done? What have I done? Given her away, renounced her, surrendered her. Run headlong after them, overtake them, bring her back. Lara! Lara!
“They can’t hear. The wind’s against me. And they’re probably talking loudly. She has every reason to be cheerful, calm. She’s let herself be deceived and doesn’t suspect the delusion she’s in.
“These are probably her thoughts. She’s thinking. Everything has turned out in the best possible way, just as she wanted. Her Yurochka, a fantastic and obstinate man, has finally softened, praise God, and is now setting out with her for some safe place, to people wiser than they, under the protection of law and order. Even if, to stand on his mettle and show his character, he turns pigheaded and refuses to get on their train tomorrow, Viktor Ippolitovich will send another one for him in the nearest future.
