The Torrents Of Spring

More documents

Recommendations

Info

that seemed to cleave to him, and to shake it all off, and fling it away, he was unable, had not the power? Nonsense! nonsense! to-morrow it would all vanish and leave no trace… . But would she let him go to-morrow? Yes… . All these question he put to himself, but the time was moving on to three o’clock, and he put on a black frockcoat and after a turn in the park, went in to the Polozovs! He found in their drawing-room a secretary of the legation, a very tall light-haired German, with the profile of a horse, and his hair parted down the back of his head (at that time a new fashion), and … oh, wonder! whom besides? Von Dönhof, the very officer with whom he had fought a few days before! He had not the slightest expectation of meeting him there and could not help being taken aback. He greeted him, however. ‘Are you acquainted?’ asked Maria Nikolaevna who had not failed to notice Sanin’s embarrassment. ‘Yes … I have already had the honour,’ said Dönhof, and bending a little aside, in an undertone he added to Maria Nikolaevna, with a smile, ‘The very man … your compatriot … the Russian … ’ ‘Impossible!’ she exclaimed also in an undertone; she shook her finger at him, and at once began to bid good-bye both to him and the long secretary, who was, to judge by every symptom, head over ears in love with her; he positively gaped every time he looked at her. Dönhof promptly took leave with amiable docility, like a friend of the family who understands at half a word what is expected of him; the secretary showed signs of restiveness, but Maria Nikolaevna turned him out without any kind of ceremony. ‘Get along to your sovereign mistress,’ she said to him (there was at that time in Wiesbaden a certain princess di Monaco, who looked surprisingly like a cocotte of the poorer sort); ‘what do you want to stay with a plebeian like me for?’ ‘Really, dear madam,’ protested the luckless secretary,’ all the princesses in the world… .’ But Maria Nikolaevna was remorseless, and the secretary went away, parting and all. Maria Nikolaevna was dressed that day very much ‘to her advantage,’ as our grandmothers used to say. She wore a pink glacé silk dress, with sleeves à la Fontange, and a big diamond in each ear. Her eyes sparkled as 108
much as her diamonds; she seemed in a good humour and in high spirits. She made Sanin sit beside her, and began talking to him about Paris, where she was intending to go in a few days, of how sick she was of Germans, how stupid they were when they tried to be clever, and how inappropriately clever sometimes when they were stupid; and suddenly, point-blank, as they say – à brûle pourpoint – asked him, was it true that he had fought a duel with the very officer who had been there just now, only a few days ago, on account of a lady? ‘How did you know that?’ muttered Sanin, dumfoundered. ‘The earth is full of rumours, Dimitri Pavlovitch; but anyway, I know you were quite right, perfectly right, and behaved like a knight. Tell me, was that lady your betrothed?’ Sanin slightly frowned … ‘There, I won’t, I won’t,’ Maria Nikolaevna hastened to say. ‘You don’t like it, forgive me, I won’t do it, don’t be angry!’ Polozov came in from the next room with a newspaper in his hand. ‘What do you want? Or is dinner ready?’ ‘Dinner’ll be ready directly, but just see what I’ve read in the Northern Bee … Prince Gromoboy is dead.’ Maria Nikolaevna raised her head. ‘Ah! I wish him the joys of Paradise! He used,’ she turned to Sanin, ‘to fill all my rooms with camellias every February on my birthday, But it wasn’t worth spending the winter in Petersburg for that. He must have been over seventy, I should say?’ she said to her husband. ‘Yes, he was. They describe his funeral in the paper. All the court were present. And here’s a poem too, of Prince Kovrizhkin’s on the occasion.’ ‘That’s nice!’ ‘Shall I read them? The prince calls him the good man of wise counsel.’ ‘No, don’t. The good man of wise counsel? He was simply the goodman of Tatiana Yurevna. Come to dinner. Life is for the living. Dimitri Pavlovitch, your arm.’ The dinner was, as on the day before, superb, and the meal was a very lively one. Maria Nikolaevna knew how to tell a story … a rare gift in a woman, and especially in a Russian one! She did not restrict herself in her expressions; her countrywomen received particularly severe treatment at her hands. Sanin was more than once set laughing by some bold and well-directed word. Above all, Maria Nikolaevna had no patience with hypocrisy, cant, and humbug. She discovered it almost everywhere. 109
Page 1 and 2:
The Torrents Of Spring Turgenev, Iv
Page 3 and 4:
‘Years of gladness, Days of joy,
Page 5 and 6:
I It was the summer of 1840. Sanin
Page 7 and 8:
‘But meanwhile Emil will die!’
Page 9 and 10:
‘He is saved, mother, he is alive
Page 11 and 12:
Roselli pointed to his portrait, pa
Page 13 and 14:
much ado and accompanying himself w
Page 15 and 16:
illustrissimo maestro Rossini - in
Page 17 and 18:
‘The whole fare!’ Sanin said do
Page 19 and 20:
VIII He had not finished dressing,
Page 21 and 22:
IX Emil, who had continued to stand
Page 23 and 24:
presence of the ladies of the house
Page 25 and 26:
XI The bell tinkled at the outer do
Page 27 and 28:
XII It appeared that Gemma was not
Page 29 and 30:
carrying with him the image of the
Page 31 and 32:
powerful whiff of the most refined
Page 33 and 34:
mirthfulness of the company; he beg
Page 35 and 36:
muttered something unintelligible,
Page 37 and 38:
embarrassed by his presence - Gemma
Page 39 and 40:
and all that’s left is that I am
Page 41 and 42:
XVIII An hour later the waiter came
Page 43 and 44:
single-triggered and not rifle-barr
Page 45 and 46:
to leave off, and for the first tim
Page 47 and 48:
XX It was bright starlight when he
Page 49 and 50:
XXI It was quite morning when he fe
Page 51 and 52:
‘Your return,’ moaned Emil - an
Page 53 and 54:
The old man looked dejectedly at hi
Page 55 and 56:
arm with Baron Dönhof. And afterwa
Page 57 and 58: XXIII He slept for some hours witho
Page 59 and 60: you… .’ And Frau Lenore half ro
Page 61 and 62: ‘Oh, come! I have not been expose
Page 63 and 64: ‘Very well,’ said Gemma. ‘If
Page 65 and 66: that I cannot give you any advice
Page 67 and 68: XXVI At eight o’clock next mornin
Page 69 and 70: morning, in one of the public garde
Page 71 and 72: to say, which could compare, in imp
Page 73 and 74: XXVIII Sanin walked along, at one t
Page 75 and 76: ‘But, Gemma,’ cried Sanin, ‘d
Page 77 and 78: XXIX If Gemma had announced that sh
Page 79 and 80: XXX The transition from despair to
Page 81 and 82: ‘Come, that’s nonsense, nonsens
Page 83 and 84: XXXI Sanin woke up very early. He f
Page 85 and 86: ordered with intense care a very la
Page 87 and 88: ‘There’s one means,’ Polozov
Page 89 and 90: argaining with her. I shall tell he
Page 91 and 92: XXXIII It takes less than an hour i
Page 93 and 94: flew up another man, also very well
Page 95 and 96: But Gemma’s image preserved Sanin
Page 97 and 98: XXXV The free and easy deportment o
Page 99 and 100: ‘I should be satisfied with a few
Page 101 and 102: XXXVI Long after midnight the lamp
Page 103 and 104: avenues of the park, now mounting a
Page 105 and 106: XXXVII Sanin proceeded to expound h
Page 107: XXXVIII Oh, what a deep sigh of del
Page 111 and 112: XXXIX In the year 1840, the theatre
Page 113 and 114: Maria Nikolaevna suddenly turned to
Page 115 and 116: ‘Yes, Dimitri Pavlovitch,’ she
Page 117 and 118: XL The play lasted over an hour lon
Page 119 and 120: faith in its pressure. What sort of
Page 121 and 122: She seemed so happy that Sanin was
Page 123 and 124: XLII This track soon changed into a
Page 125 and 126: and plunged into a rather narrow go
Page 127 and 128: The same day, two hours later, Sani
Page 129 and 130: that smile he knows already, the sm
Page 131 and 132: probably know her husband’s addre
Page 133 and 134: We will not attempt to describe the
Page 135 and 136: continues today to seem as fresh an
show all

The Torrents Of Spring

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?