A.P. Chekhov
- The Duel
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XXI
XXI
More than three months had passed.
The day came that Von Koren had fixed on for his departure. A
cold, heavy rain had been falling from early morning, a
north-east wind was blowing, and the waves were high on the sea.
It was said that the steamer would hardly be able to come into
the harbour in such weather. By the time-table it should have
arrived at ten o'clock in the morning, but Von Koren, who had
gone on to the sea-front at midday and again after dinner, could
see nothing through the field-glass but grey waves and rain
covering the horizon.
Towards the end of the day the rain ceased and the wind began to
drop perceptibly. Von Koren had already made up his mind that he
would not be able to get off that day, and had settled down to
play chess with Samoylenko; but after dark the orderly announced
that there were lights on the sea and that a rocket had been
seen.
Von Koren made haste. He put his satchel over his shoulder, and
kissed Samoylenko and the deacon. Though there was not the
slightest necessity, he went through the rooms again, said
good-bye to the orderly and the cook, and went out into the
street, feeling that he had left something behind, either at the
doctor's or his lodging. In the street he walked beside
Samoylenko, behind them came the deacon with a box, and last of
all the orderly with two portmanteaus. Only Samoylenko and the
orderly could distinguish the dim lights on the sea. The others
gazed into the darkness and saw nothing. The steamer had stopped
a long way from the coast.
"Make haste, make haste," Von Koren hurried them. "I am afraid
it will set off."
As they passed the little house with three windows, into which
Laevsky had moved soon after the duel, Von Koren could not
resist peeping in at the window. Laevsky was sitting, writing,
bent over the table, with his back to the window.
"I wonder at him!" said the zoologist softly. "What a screw he
has put on himself!"
"Yes, one may well wonder," said Samoylenko. "He sits from
morning till night, he's always at work. He works to pay off his
debts. And he lives, brother, worse than a beggar!"
Half a minute of silence followed. The zoologist, the doctor,
and the deacon stood at the window and went on looking at
Laevsky.
"So he didn't get away from here, poor fellow," said Samoylenko.
"Do you remember how hard he tried?"
"Yes, he has put a screw on himself," Von Koren repeated. "His
marriage, the way he works all day long for his daily bread, a
new expression in his face, and even in his walk -- it's all so
extraordinary that I don't know what to call it."
The zoologist took Samoylenko's sleeve and went on with emotion
in his voice:
"You tell him and his wife that when I went away I was full of
admiration for them and wished them all happiness . . . and I
beg him, if he can, not to remember evil against me. He knows
me. He knows that if I could have foreseen this change, then I
might have become his best friend."
"Go in and say good-bye to him."
"No, that wouldn't do."
"Why? God knows, perhaps you'll never see him again."
The zoologist reflected, and said:
"That's true."
Samoylenko tapped softly at the window. Laevsky started and
looked round.
"Vanya, Nikolay Vassilitch wants to say goodbye to you," said
Samoylenko. "He is just going away."
Laevsky got up from the table, and went into the passage to open
the door. Samoylenko, the zoologist, and the deacon went into
the house.
"I can only come for one minute," began the zoologist, taking
off his goloshes in the passage, and already wishing he had not
given way to his feelings and come in, uninvited. "It is as
though I were forcing myself on him," he thought, "and that's
stupid."
"Forgive me for disturbing you," he said as he went into the
room with Laevsky, "but I'm just going away, and I had an
impulse to see you. God knows whether we shall ever meet again."
"I am very glad to see you. . . . Please come in," said Laevsky,
and he awkwardly set chairs for his visitors as though he wanted
to bar their way, and stood in the middle of the room, rubbing
his hands.
"I should have done better to have left my audience in the
street," thought Von Koren, and he said firmly: "Don't remember
evil against me, Ivan Andreitch. To forget the past is, of
course, impossible -- it is too painful, and I've not come here
to apologise or to declare that I was not to blame. I acted
sincerely, and I have not changed my convictions since then. . .
. It is true that I see, to my great delight, that I was
mistaken in regard to you, but it's easy to make a false step
even on a smooth road, and, in fact, it's the natural human lot:
if one is not mistaken in the main, one is mistaken in the
details. Nobody knows the real truth."
"No, no one knows the truth," said Laevsky.
"Well, good-bye. . . . God give you all happiness."
Von Koren gave Laevsky his hand; the latter took it and bowed.
"Don't remember evil against me," said Von Koren. "Give my
greetings to your wife, and say I am very sorry not to say
good-bye to her."
"She is at home."
Laevsky went to the door of the next room, and said:
"Nadya, Nikolay Vassilitch wants to say goodbye to you."
Nadyezhda Fyodorovna came in; she stopped near the doorway and
looked shyly at the visitors. There was a look of guilt and
dismay on her face, and she held her hands like a schoolgirl
receiving a scolding.
"I'm just going away, Nadyezhda Fyodorovna," said Von Koren,
"and have come to say good-bye."
She held out her hand uncertainly, while Laevsky bowed.
"What pitiful figures they are, though!" thought Von Koren. "The
life they are living does not come easy to them. I shall be in
Moscow and Petersburg; can I send you anything?" he asked.
"Oh!" said Nadyezhda Fyodorovna, and she looked anxiously at her
husband. "I don't think there's anything. . . ."
"No, nothing . . ." said Laevsky, rubbing his hands. "Our
greetings."
Von Koren did not know what he could or ought to say, though as
he went in he thought he would say a very great deal that would
be warm and good and important. He shook hands with Laevsky and
his wife in silence, and left them with a depressed feeling.
"What people!" said the deacon in a low voice, as he walked
behind them. "My God, what people! Of a truth, the right hand of
God has planted this vine! Lord! Lord! One man vanquishes
thousands and another tens of thousands. Nikolay Vassilitch," he
said ecstatically, "let me tell you that to-day you have
conquered the greatest of man's enemies -- pride."
"Hush, deacon! Fine conquerors we are! Conquerors ought to look
like eagles, while he's a pitiful figure, timid, crushed; he
bows like a Chinese idol, and I, I am sad. . . ."
They heard steps behind them. It was Laevsky, hurrying after
them to see him off. The orderly was standing on the quay with
the two portmanteaus, and at a little distance stood four
boatmen.
"There is a wind, though. . . . Brrr!" said Samoylenko. "There
must be a pretty stiff storm on the sea now! You are not going
off at a nice time, Koyla."
"I'm not afraid of sea-sickness."
"That's not the point. . . . I only hope these rascals won't
upset you. You ought to have crossed in the agent's sloop.
Where's the agent's sloop?" he shouted to the boatmen.
"It has gone, Your Excellency."
"And the Customs-house boat?"
"That's gone, too."
"Why didn't you let us know," said Samoylenko angrily. "You
dolts!"
"It's all the same, don't worry yourself . . ." said Von Koren.
"Well, good-bye. God keep you."
Samoylenko embraced Von Koren and made the sign of the cross
over him three times.
"Don't forget us, Kolya. . . . Write. . . . We shall look out
for you next spring."
"Good-bye, deacon," said Von Koren, shaking hands with the
deacon. "Thank you for your company and for your pleasant
conversation. Think about the expedition."
"Oh Lord, yes! to the ends of the earth," laughed the deacon.
"I've nothing against it."
Von Koren recognised Laevsky in the darkness, and held out his
hand without speaking. The boatmen were by now below, holding
the boat, which was beating against the piles, though the
breakwater screened it from the breakers. Von Koren went down
the ladder, jumped into the boat, and sat at the helm.
"Write!" Samoylenko shouted to him. "Take care of yourself."
"No one knows the real truth," thought Laevsky, turning up the
collar of his coat and thrusting his hands into his sleeves.
The boat turned briskly out of the harbour into the open sea. It
vanished in the waves, but at once from a deep hollow glided up
onto a high breaker, so that they could distinguish the men and
even the oars. The boat moved three yards forward and was sucked
two yards back.
"Write!" shouted Samoylenko; "it's devilish weather for you to
go in."
"Yes, no one knows the real truth . . ." thought Laevsky,
looking wearily at the dark, restless sea.
"It flings the boat back," he thought; "she makes two steps
forward and one step back; but the boatmen are stubborn, they
work the oars unceasingly, and are not afraid of the high waves.
The boat goes on and on. Now she is out of sight, but in half an
hour the boatmen will see the steamer lights distinctly, and
within an hour they will be by the steamer ladder. So it is in
life. . . . In the search for truth man makes two steps forward
and one step back. Suffering, mistakes, and weariness of life
thrust them back, but the thirst for truth and stubborn will
drive them on and on. And who knows? Perhaps they will reach the
real truth at last."
"Go--o--od-by--e," shouted Samoylenko.
"There's no sight or sound of them," said the deacon. "Good luck
on the journey!"
It began to spot with rain.
NOTES
cap of a clerk: Russian civil service workers were supposed to
wear uniforms
shashlik: a dish of marinated cubes of lamb or beef grilled on a
spit, often with slices of eggplant, onion, and tomato
Vereshtchagin: the Russian painter V. V. Vereshchagin
(1842-1904) who frequently painted battle scenes
Vladimir cross: one of the many Russian decorations for
distinction
Circassians: people who lived in the northern Caucasus
Anna Karenin: the chief character in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina;
see Part I, Chapter 30
Prince Vorontsov: Field Marshal M. S. Vorontsov (1782-1856),
Russian General in war of 1812; Viceroy of the Caucasus
superfluous man: a common Russian literary type; see, for
example, Turgenev's The Diary of a Superfluous Man (1850)
Onyegin, Petchorin, Byron's Cain, and Bazarov: all examples of
"superfluous men"; Onyegin is the hero of Pushkin's verse novel
Eugene Onegin; Petchorin is the hero of Lermontov's novel A Hero
of Our Time; "Cain" is a poem by the English poet Byron; Bazarov
is the hero of Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons
Faust: legendary figure and the subject of many literary
treatments; Chekhov probably has in mind the character in
Goethe's poetic drama Faust
Tolstoy: the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Schopenhauer: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German
philosopher known for his gloomy outlook
Spencer: Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher
whose writings on evolution were influential
aubergines: eggplants
thirty degrees: about 99 degrees F.
duhan: a lodge
hut on hen's legs: in the Russian fairy tale a witch lives in
the hut
Night in the Ukraine: a famous descriptive passage in the second
canto of Pushkin's narrative poem "Poltava"
ikon on his breast: panagia, an image of Mary and Jesus worn by
bishops around their necks
Thy Hand has planted: Psalms 80:15-16
His beaver collar is silver with hoar-frost: from verse 16 of
Chapter 1 of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin
cocotte: prostitute
peace: phrases from the Russian Orthodox funeral service
Stanley: Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904), an English
explorer
who so offendeth one of these little ones: Mark 9:42
kalii bromati: potassium bromide, used as a sedative
tinctur gentian: tincture of gentia, used to improve digestion
aqu foeniculi: fennel water, used as a sentative and laxative
William I.: Wilhelm I (1797-1888) was King of Prussia and
Emperor of Germany
Rudin: the hero of Turgenev's novel of the same name; another
superfluous man
Russification: the state policy of Tsar Alexander III, that
non-Russian ethnic groups should be assimilated
consistory: an administrative and judicial institution set up
under the archbishop
train: in Tolstoy's novel, Anna Karenina kills herself because
of an unhappy adulterous love affair
smear the gates with tar: to mark where a woman lived who was
involved in an immoral love affair
fives and fours: A's and B's
post: game were participants write anonymous notes addressed to
someone present
art for art's sake: idea in Cours de Philosophie (1818) by
Victor Cousin
Kant or Hegel: the German philosophers Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
and Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831)
Leskov: Nikolay Leskov (1831-1895), a Russian novelist and short
story writer; the story is "Conscientious Daniel," first
published in 1888
knees of the gods: more accurately, "in the laps of the gods"
fortress: prison were political prisoners were held
PUSHKIN: the final lines of Pushkin's lyric poem "Memory"; the
poet was tragically killed in a duel in 1837
green rays: the green flash is a rare atmospheric phenomena,
only observed when the sun is near the horizon; despite its
name, the green flash usually lasts several seconds.
Lermontov: there is a duel in Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our
Time
Bazarov had a duel: Bazarov has a duel with Pavel Kirsanov in
Turgenev's Fathers and Sons
portmanteaus: suitcases
screw he has put on himself: how he has buckled down
One man vanquishes thousands and another tens of thousands: cf.
1 Samuel 18:7
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