A Hero of Our Time

I was travelling post from Tiflis.

All the luggage I had in my cart consisted of one small portmanteau half
filled with travelling-notes on Georgia; of these the greater part has
been lost, fortunately for you; but the portmanteau itself and the rest
of its contents have remained intact, fortunately for me.

As I entered the Koishaur Valley the sun was disappearing behind the
snow-clad ridge of the mountains. In order to accomplish the ascent of
Mount Koishaur by nightfall, my driver, an Ossete, urged on the horses
indefatigably, singing zealously the while at the top of his voice.

What a glorious place that valley is! On every hand are inaccessible
mountains, steep, yellow slopes scored by water-channels, and reddish
rocks draped with green ivy and crowned with clusters of plane-trees.
Yonder, at an immense height, is the golden fringe of the snow. Down
below rolls the River Aragva, which, after bursting noisily forth from
the dark and misty depths of the gorge, with an unnamed stream clasped
in its embrace, stretches out like a thread of silver, its waters
glistening like a snake with flashing scales.

Arrived at the foot of Mount Koishaur, we stopped at a dukhan. [1] About
a score of Georgians and mountaineers were gathered there in a noisy
crowd, and, close by, a caravan of camels had halted for the night. I
was obliged to hire oxen to drag my cart up that accursed mountain, as
it was now autumn and the roads were slippery with ice. Besides, the
mountain is about two versts [2] in length.

There was no help for it, so I hired six oxen and a few Ossetes. One of
the latter shouldered my portmanteau, and the rest, shouting almost with
one voice, proceeded to help the oxen.

Following mine there came another cart, which I was surprised to see
four oxen pulling with the greatest ease, notwithstanding that it
was loaded to the top. Behind it walked the owner, smoking a little,
silver-mounted Kabardian pipe. He was wearing a shaggy Circassian cap
and an officer's overcoat without epaulettes, and he seemed to be about
fifty years of age. The swarthiness of his complexion showed that
his face had long been acquainted with Transcaucasian suns, and the
premature greyness of his moustache was out of keeping with his firm
gait and robust appearance. I went up to him and saluted. He silently
returned my greeting and emitted an immense cloud of smoke.

"We are fellow-travellers, it appears."

Again he bowed silently.

"I suppose you are going to Stavropol?"

"Yes, sir, exactly--with Government things."

"Can you tell me how it is that that heavily-laden cart of yours is
being drawn without any difficulty by four oxen, whilst six cattle
are scarcely able to move mine, empty though it is, and with all those
Ossetes helping?"

He smiled slyly and threw me a meaning glance.

"You have not been in the Caucasus long, I should say?"

"About a year," I answered.

He smiled a second time.

"Well?"

"Just so, sir," he answered. "They're terrible beasts, these Asiatics!
You think that all that shouting means that they are helping the oxen?
Why, the devil alone can make out what it is they do shout. The oxen
understand, though; and if you were to yoke as many as twenty they still
wouldn't budge so long as the Ossetes shouted in that way of theirs....
Awful scoundrels! But what can you make of them? They love extorting
money from people who happen to be travelling through here. The rogues
have been spoiled! You wait and see: they will get a tip out of you as
well as their hire. I know them of old, they can't get round me!"

"You have been serving here a long time?"

"Yes, I was here under Aleksei Petrovich," [3] he answered, assuming an
air of dignity. "I was a sub-lieutenant when he came to the Line; and
I was promoted twice, during his command, on account of actions against
the mountaineers."

"And now--?"

"Now I'm in the third battalion of the Line. And you yourself?"

I told him.

With this the conversation ended, and we continued to walk in silence,
side by side. On the summit of the mountain we found snow. The sun set,
and--as usually is the case in the south--night followed upon the day
without any interval of twilight. Thanks, however, to the sheen of the
snow, we were able easily to distinguish the road, which still went
up the mountain-side, though not so steeply as before. I ordered the
Ossetes to put my portmanteau into the cart, and to replace the oxen
by horses. Then for the last time I gazed down upon the valley; but
the thick mist which had gushed in billows from the gorges veiled it
completely, and not a single sound now floated up to our ears from
below. The Ossetes surrounded me clamorously and demanded tips; but the
staff-captain shouted so menacingly at them that they dispersed in a
moment.

"What a people they are!" he said. "They don't even know the Russian for
'bread,' but they have mastered the phrase 'Officer, give us a tip!'
In my opinion, the very Tartars are better, they are no drunkards,
anyhow."...

We were now within a verst or so of the Station. Around us all was
still, so still, indeed, that it was possible to follow the flight of a
gnat by the buzzing of its wings. On our left loomed the gorge, deep and
black. Behind it and in front of us rose the dark-blue summits of the
mountains, all trenched with furrows and covered with layers of snow,
and standing out against the pale horizon, which still retained the last
reflections of the evening glow. The stars twinkled out in the dark sky,
and in some strange way it seemed to me that they were much higher than
in our own north country. On both sides of the road bare, black rocks
jutted out; here and there shrubs peeped forth from under the snow; but
not a single withered leaf stirred, and amid that dead sleep of nature
it was cheering to hear the snorting of the three tired post-horses and
the irregular tinkling of the Russian bell. [4]

"We will have glorious weather to-morrow," I said.

The staff-captain answered not a word, but pointed with his finger to a
lofty mountain which rose directly opposite us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Mount Gut."

"Well, what then?"

"Don't you see how it is smoking?"

True enough, smoke was rising from Mount Gut. Over its sides gentle
cloud-currents were creeping, and on the summit rested one cloud of such
dense blackness that it appeared like a blot upon the dark sky.

By this time we were able to make out the Post Station and the roofs of
the huts surrounding it; the welcoming lights were twinkling before us,
when suddenly a damp and chilly wind arose, the gorge rumbled, and a
drizzling rain fell. I had scarcely time to throw my felt cloak round
me when down came the snow. I looked at the staff-captain with profound
respect.

"We shall have to pass the night here," he said, vexation in his tone.
"There's no crossing the mountains in such a blizzard.--I say, have
there been any avalanches on Mount Krestov?" he inquired of the driver.

"No, sir," the Ossete answered; "but there are a great many threatening
to fall--a great many."

Owing to the lack of a travellers' room in the Station, we were assigned
a night's lodging in a smoky hut. I invited my fellow-traveller to drink
a tumbler of tea with me, as I had brought my cast-iron teapot--my only
solace during my travels in the Caucasus.

One side of the hut was stuck against the cliff, and three wet and
slippery steps led up to the door. I groped my way in and stumbled up
against a cow (with these people the cow-house supplies the place of a
servant's room). I did not know which way to turn--sheep were bleating
on the one hand and a dog growling on the other. Fortunately, however,
I perceived on one side a faint glimmer of light, and by its aid I was
able to find another opening by way of a door. And here a by no means
uninteresting picture was revealed. The wide hut, the roof of which
rested on two smoke-grimed pillars, was full of people. In the centre of
the floor a small fire was crackling, and the smoke, driven back by the
wind from an opening in the roof, was spreading around in so thick a
shroud that for a long time I was unable to see about me. Seated by the
fire were two old women, a number of children and a lank Georgian--all
of them in tatters. There was no help for it! We took refuge by the fire
and lighted our pipes; and soon the teapot was singing invitingly.

"Wretched people, these!" I said to the staff-captain, indicating our
dirty hosts, who were silently gazing at us in a kind of torpor.

"And an utterly stupid people too!" he replied. "Would you believe
it, they are absolutely ignorant and incapable of the slightest
civilisation! Why even our Kabardians or Chechenes, robbers and
ragamuffins though they be, are regular dare-devils for all that.
Whereas these others have no liking for arms, and you'll never see a
decent dagger on one of them! Ossetes all over!"

"You have been a long time in the Chechenes' country?"

"Yes, I was quartered there for about ten years along with my company in
a fortress, near Kamennyi Brod. [5] Do you know the place?"

"I have heard the name."

"I can tell you, my boy, we had quite enough of those dare-devil
Chechenes. At the present time, thank goodness, things are quieter; but
in the old days you had only to put a hundred paces between you and the
rampart and wherever you went you would be sure to find a shaggy devil
lurking in wait for you. You had just to let your thoughts wander and at
any moment a lasso would be round your neck or a bullet in the back of
your head! Brave fellows, though!"...

"You used to have many an adventure, I dare say?" I said, spurred by
curiosity.

"Of course! Many a one."...

Hereupon he began to tug at his left moustache, let his head sink on
to his breast, and became lost in thought. I had a very great mind to
extract some little anecdote out of him--a desire natural to all who
travel and make notes.

Meanwhile, tea was ready. I took two travelling-tumblers out of my
portmanteau, and, filling one of them, set it before the staff-captain.
He sipped his tea and said, as if speaking to himself, "Yes, many a
one!" This exclamation gave me great hopes. Your old Caucasian officer
loves, I know, to talk and yarn a bit; he so rarely succeeds in getting
a chance to do so. It may be his fate to be quartered five years or so
with his company in some out-of-the-way place, and during the whole
of that time he will not hear "good morning" from a soul (because the
sergeant says "good health"). And, indeed, he would have good cause
to wax loquacious--with a wild and interesting people all around him,
danger to be faced every day, and many a marvellous incident happening.
It is in circumstances like this that we involuntarily complain that so
few of our countrymen take notes.

"Would you care to put some rum in your tea?" I said to my companion. "I
have some white rum with me--from Tiflis; and the weather is cold now."

"No, thank you, sir; I don't drink."

"Really?"

"Just so. I have sworn off drinking. Once, you know, when I was a
sub-lieutenant, some of us had a drop too much. That very night there
was an alarm, and out we went to the front, half seas over! We did catch
it, I can tell you, when Aleksei Petrovich came to hear about us!
Heaven save us, what a rage he was in! He was within an ace of having us
court-martialled. That's just how things happen! You might easily spend
a whole year without seeing a soul; but just go and have a drop and
you're a lost man!"

On hearing this I almost lost hope.

"Take the Circassians, now," he continued; "once let them drink their
fill of buza [6] at a wedding or a funeral, and out will come their
knives. On one occasion I had some difficulty in getting away with a
whole skin, and yet it was at the house of a 'friendly' [7] prince,
where I was a guest, that the affair happened."

"How was that?" I asked.

"Here, I'll tell you."...

He filled his pipe, drew in the smoke, and began his story.

"YOU see, sir," said the staff-captain, "I was quartered, at the time,
with a company in a fortress beyond the Terek--getting on for five years
ago now. One autumn day, a transport arrived with provisions, in charge
of an officer, a young man of about twenty-five. He reported himself to
me in full uniform, and announced that he had been ordered to remain in
the fortress with me. He was so very elegant, his complexion so nice and
white, his uniform so brand new, that I immediately guessed that he had
not been long with our army in the Caucasus.

"'I suppose you have been transferred from Russia?' I asked.

"'Exactly, captain,' he answered.

"I took him by the hand and said:

"'I'm delighted to see you--delighted! It will be a bit dull for you...
but there, we will live together like a couple of friends. But, please,
call me simply "Maksim Maksimych"; and, tell me, what is this full
uniform for? Just wear your forage-cap whenever you come to me!'

"Quarters were assigned to him and he settled down in the fortress."

"What was his name?" I asked Maksim Maksimych.

"His name was Grigori Aleksandrovich Pechorin. He was a splendid fellow,
I can assure you, but a little peculiar. Why, to give you an instance,
one time he would stay out hunting the whole day, in the rain and cold;
the others would all be frozen through and tired out, but he wouldn't
mind either cold or fatigue. Then, another time, he would be sitting in
his own room, and, if there was a breath of wind, he would declare that
he had caught cold; if the shutters rattled against the window he
would start and turn pale: yet I myself have seen him attack a boar
single-handed. Often enough you couldn't drag a word out of him for
hours together; but then, on the other hand, sometimes, when he started
telling stories, you would split your sides with laughing. Yes, sir,
a very eccentric man; and he must have been wealthy too. What a lot of
expensive trinkets he had!"...

"Did he stay there long with you?" I went on to ask.

"Yes, about a year. And, for that very reason, it was a memorable year
to me. He gave me a great deal of trouble--but there, let bygones be
bygones!... You see, it is true enough, there are people like that,
fated from birth to have all sorts of strange things happening to them!"

"Strange?" I exclaimed, with an air of curiosity, as I poured out some
tea.

"WELL, then, I'll tell you," said Maksim Maksimych. "About six versts
from the fortress there lived a certain 'friendly' prince. His son, a
brat of about fifteen, was accustomed to ride over to visit us. Not a
day passed but he would come, now for one thing, now for another. And,
indeed, Grigori Aleksandrovich and I spoiled him. What a dare-devil the
boy was! Up to anything, picking up a cap at full gallop, or bringing
things down with his gun! He had one bad quality; he was terribly
greedy for money. Once, for the fun of the thing, Grigori Aleksandrovich
promised to give him a ducat if he would steal the best he-goat from his
father's herd for him; and, what do you think? The very next night he
came lugging it in by the horns! At times we used to take it into our
heads to tease him, and then his eyes would become bloodshot and his
hand would fly to his dagger immediately.

"'You'll be losing your life if you are not careful, Azamat,' I would
say to him. 'That hot head of yours will get you into trouble.'

"On one occasion, the old prince himself came to invite us to the
wedding of his eldest daughter; and, as we were guest-friends with him,
it was impossible to decline, Tartar though he was. We set off. In the
village we were met by a number of dogs, all barking loudly. The women,
when they saw us coming, hid themselves, but those whose faces we were
able to get a view of were far from being beauties.

"'I had a much better opinion of the Circassian women,' remarked Grigori
Aleksandrovich.

"'Wait a bit!' I answered, with a smile; I had my own views on the
subject.

"A number of people had already gathered at the prince's hut. It is the
custom of the Asiatics, you know, to invite all and sundry to a
wedding. We were received with every mark of honour and conducted to the
guest-chamber. All the same, I did not forget quietly to mark where our
horses were put, in case anything unforeseen should happen."

"How are weddings celebrated amongst them?" I asked the staff-captain.

"Oh, in the usual way. First of all, the Mullah reads them something
out of the Koran; then gifts are bestowed upon the young couple and all
their relations; the next thing is eating and drinking of buza, then the
dance on horseback; and there is always some ragamuffin, bedaubed with
grease, bestriding a wretched, lame jade, and grimacing, buffooning, and
making the worshipful company laugh. Finally, when darkness falls, they
proceed to hold what we should call a ball in the guest-chamber. A poor,
old greybeard strums on a three-stringed instrument--I forget what they
call it, but anyhow, it is something in the nature of our balalaika. [8]
The girls and young children set themselves in two ranks, one opposite
the other, and clap their hands and sing. Then a girl and a man come out
into the centre and begin to chant verses to each other--whatever comes
into their heads--and the rest join in as a chorus. Pechorin and I
sat in the place of honour. All at once up came our host's youngest
daughter, a girl of about sixteen, and chanted to Pechorin--how shall I
put it?--something in the nature of a compliment."...

"What was it she sang--do you remember?"

"It went like this, I fancy: 'Handsome, they say, are our young
horsemen, and the tunics they wear are garnished with silver; but
handsomer still is the young Russian officer, and the lace on his tunic
is wrought of gold. Like a poplar amongst them he stands, but in gardens
of ours such trees will grow not nor bloom!'

"Pechorin rose, bowed to her, put his hand to his forehead and heart,
and asked me to answer her. I know their language well, and I translated
his reply.

"When she had left us I whispered to Grigori Aleksandrovich:

"'Well, now, what do you think of her?'

"'Charming!' he replied. 'What is her name?'

"'Her name is Bela,' I answered.

"And a beautiful girl she was indeed; her figure was tall and slender,
her eyes black as those of a mountain chamois, and they fairly looked
into your soul. Pechorin, deep in thought, kept his gaze fixed upon her,
and she, for her part, stole glances at him often enough from under her
lashes. Pechorin, however, was not the only one who was admiring the
pretty princess; another pair of eyes, fixed and fiery, were gazing at
her from the corner of the room. I took a good look at their owner, and
recognised my old acquaintance Kazbich, who, you must know, was neither
exactly 'friendly' nor yet the other thing. He was an object of much
suspicion, although he had never actually been caught at any knavery. He
used to bring rams to our fortress and sell them cheaply; only he never
would haggle; whatever he demanded at first you had to give. He
would have his throat cut rather than come down in price. He had the
reputation of being fond of roaming on the far side of the Kuban with
the Abreks; and, to tell the truth, he had a regular thief's visage. A
little, wizened, broad-shouldered fellow he was--but smart, I can tell
you, smart as the very devil! His tunic was always worn out and
patched, but his weapons were mounted in silver. His horse was renowned
throughout Kabardia--and, indeed, a better one it would be impossible
to imagine! Not without good reason did all the other horsemen envy
Kazbich, and on more than one occasion they had attempted to steal the
horse, but they had never succeeded. I seem to see the animal before
me now--black as coal, with legs like bow-strings and eyes as fine as
Bela's! How strong he was too! He would gallop as much as fifty versts
at a stretch! And he was well trained besides--he would trot behind his
master like a dog, and actually knew his voice! Kazbich never used to
tether him either--just the very horse for a robber!...

"On that evening Kazbich was more sullen than ever, and I noticed that
he was wearing a coat of mail under his tunic. 'He hasn't got that coat
of mail on for nothing,' I thought. 'He has some plot in his head, I'll
be bound!'

"It grew oppressively hot in the hut, and I went out into the air
to cool myself. Night had fallen upon the mountains, and a mist was
beginning to creep along the gorges.

"It occurred to me to pop in under the shed where our horses were
standing, to see whether they had their fodder; and, besides, it is
never any harm to take precautions. My horse was a splendid one too, and
more than one Kabardian had already cast fond glances at it, repeating
at the same time: 'Yakshi tkhe chok yakshi.' [9]

"I stole along the fence. Suddenly I heard voices, one of which I
immediately recognised.

"It was that of the young pickle, Azamat, our host's son. The other
person spoke less and in a quieter tone.

"'What are they discussing there?' I wondered. 'Surely it can't be
my horse!' I squatted down beside the fence and proceeded to play the
eavesdropper, trying not to let slip a single word. At times the noise
of songs and the buzz of voices, escaping from the hut, drowned the
conversation which I was finding interesting.

"'That's a splendid horse of yours,' Azamat was saying. 'If I were
master of a house of my own and had a stud of three hundred mares, I
would give half of it for your galloper, Kazbich!'

"'Aha! Kazbich!' I said to myself, and I called to mind the coat of
mail.

"'Yes,' replied Kazbich, after an interval of silence. 'There is not
such another to be found in all Kabardia. Once--it was on the other side
of the Terek--I had ridden with the Abreks to seize the Russian herds.
We had no luck, so we scattered in different directions. Four Cossacks
dashed after me. I could actually hear the cries of the giaours behind
me, and in front of me there was a dense forest. I crouched down in the
saddle, committed myself to Allah, and, for the first time in my life,
insulted my horse with a blow of the whip. Like a bird, he plunged among
the branches; the sharp thorns tore my clothing, the dead boughs of the
cork-elms struck against my face! My horse leaped over tree-trunks and
burst his way through bushes with his chest! It would have been
better for me to have abandoned him at the outskirts of the forest and
concealed myself in it afoot, but it was a pity to part with him--and
the Prophet rewarded me. A few bullets whistled over my head. I could
now hear the Cossacks, who had dismounted, running upon my tracks.
Suddenly a deep gully opened before me. My galloper took thought--and
leaped. His hind hoofs slipped back off the opposite bank, and he
remained hanging by his fore-feet. I dropped the bridle and threw myself
into the hollow, thereby saving my horse, which jumped out. The Cossacks
saw the whole scene, only not one of them got down to search for me,
thinking probably that I had mortally injured myself; and I heard them
rushing to catch my horse. My heart bled within me. I crept along the
hollow through the thick grass--then I looked around: it was the end of
the forest. A few Cossacks were riding out from it on to the clearing,
and there was my Karagyoz [10] galloping straight towards them. With a
shout they all dashed forward. For a long, long time they pursued him,
and one of them, in particular, was once or twice almost successful in
throwing a lasso over his neck.

"I trembled, dropped my eyes, and began to pray. After a few moments
I looked up again, and there was my Karagyoz flying along, his tail
waving--free as the wind; and the giaours, on their jaded horses, were
trailing along far behind, one after another, across the steppe.
Wallah! It is true--really true! Till late at night I lay in the hollow.
Suddenly--what do you think, Azamat? I heard in the darkness a horse
trotting along the bank of the hollow, snorting, neighing, and beating
the ground with his hoofs. I recognised my Karagyoz's voice; 'twas he,
my comrade!"... Since that time we have never been parted!'

"And I could hear him patting his galloper's sleek neck with his hand,
as he called him various fond names.

"'If I had a stud of a thousand mares,' said Azamat, 'I would give it
all for your Karagyoz!'

"'Yok! [11] I would not take it!' said Kazbich indifferently.

"'Listen, Kazbich,' said Azamat, trying to ingratiate himself with him.
'You are a kindhearted man, you are a brave horseman, but my father is
afraid of the Russians and will not allow me to go on the mountains.
Give me your horse, and I will do anything you wish. I will steal my
father's best rifle for you, or his sabre--just as you like--and his
sabre is a genuine Gurda; [12] you have only to lay the edge against
your hand, and it will cut you; a coat of mail like yours is nothing
against it.'

"Kazbich remained silent.

"'The first time I saw your horse,' continued Azamat, 'when he was
wheeling and leaping under you, his nostrils distended, and the flints
flying in showers from under his hoofs, something I could not understand
took place within my soul; and since that time I have been weary of
everything. I have looked with disdain on my father's best gallopers; I
have been ashamed to be seen on them, and yearning has taken possession
of me. In my anguish I have spent whole days on the cliffs, and, every
minute, my thoughts have kept turning to your black galloper with his
graceful gait and his sleek back, straight as an arrow. With his keen,
bright eyes he has looked into mine as if about to speak!... I shall
die, Kazbich, if you will not sell him to me!' said Azamat, with
trembling voice.

"I could hear him burst out weeping, and I must tell you that Azamat was
a very stubborn lad, and that not for anything could tears be wrung from
him, even when he was a little younger.

"In answer to his tears, I could hear something like a laugh.

"'Listen,' said Azamat in a firm voice. 'You see, I am making up my
mind for anything. If you like, I will steal my sister for you! How she
dances! How she sings! And the way she embroiders with gold--marvellous!
Not even a Turkish Padishah [13] has had a wife like her!... Shall I?
Wait for me to-morrow night, yonder, in the gorge where the torrent
flows; I will go by with her to the neighbouring village--and she is
yours. Surely Bela is worth your galloper!'

"Kazbich remained silent for a long, long time. At length, instead of
answering, he struck up in an undertone the ancient song:

     "Many a beauty among us dwells

      From whose eyes' dark depths the starlight wells,

      'Tis an envied lot and sweet, to hold

      Their love; but brighter is freedom bold.

      Four wives are yours if you pay the gold;

      But a mettlesome steed is of price untold;

      The whirlwind itself on the steppe is less fleet;

      He knows no treachery--no deceit." [14]

"In vain Azamat entreated him to consent. He wept, coaxed, and swore to
him. Finally, Kazbich interrupted him impatiently:

"'Begone, you crazy brat! How should you think to ride on my horse? In
three steps you would be thrown and your neck broken on the stones!'

"'I?' cried Azamat in a fury, and the blade of the child's dagger rang
against the coat of mail. A powerful arm thrust him away, and he struck
the wattle fence with such violence that it rocked.

"'Now we'll see some fun!' I thought to myself.

"I rushed into the stable, bridled our horses and led them out into the
back courtyard. In a couple of minutes there was a terrible uproar in
the hut. What had happened was this: Azamat had rushed in, with his
tunic torn, saying that Kazbich was going to murder him. All sprang out,
seized their guns, and the fun began! Noise--shouts--shots! But by this
time Kazbich was in the saddle, and, wheeling among the crowd along the
street, defended himself like a madman, brandishing his sabre.

"'It is a bad thing to interfere in other people's quarrels,' I said to
Grigori Aleksandrovich, taking him by the arm. 'Wouldn't it be better
for us to clear off without loss of time?'

"'Wait, though, and see how it will end!'

"'Oh, as to that, it will be sure enough to end badly; it is always
so with these Asiatics. Once let them get drunk on buza, and there's
certain to be bloodshed.'

"We mounted and galloped home."

"TELL me, what became of Kazbich?" I asked the staff-captain
impatiently.

"Why, what can happen to that sort of a fellow?" he answered, finishing
his tumbler of tea. "He slipped away, of course."

"And wasn't he wounded?" I asked.

"Goodness only knows! Those scoundrels take a lot of killing! In action,
for instance, I've seen many a one, sir, stuck all over with bayonets
like a sieve, and still brandishing his sabre."

After an interval of silence the staff-captain continued, tapping the
ground with his foot:

"One thing I'll never forgive myself for. On our arrival at the fortress
the devil put it into my head to repeat to Grigori Aleksandrovich
all that I had heard when I was eavesdropping behind the fence. He
laughed--cunning fellow!--and thought out a little plan of his own."

"What was that? Tell me, please."

"Well, there's no help for it now, I suppose. I've begun the story, and
so I must continue.

"In about four days' time Azamat rode over to the fortress. As his usual
custom was, he went to see Grigori Aleksandrovich, who always used to
give him sweetmeats to eat. I was present. The conversation was on the
subject of horses, and Pechorin began to sound the praises of Kazbich's
Karagyoz. What a mettlesome horse it was, and how handsome! A perfect
chamois! In fact, judging by his account, there simply wasn't another
like it in the whole world!

"The young Tartar's beady eyes began to sparkle, but Pechorin didn't
seem to notice the fact. I started to talk about something else, but
immediately, mark you, Pechorin caused the conversation to strike off on
to Kazbich's horse. Every time that Azamat came it was the same story.
After about three weeks, I began to observe that Azamat was growing
pale and wasted, just as people in novels do from love, sir. What wonder
either!...

"Well, you see, it was not until afterwards that I learned the whole
trick--Grigori Aleksandrovich exasperated Azamat to such an extent
with his teasing that the boy was ready even to drown himself. One day
Pechorin suddenly broke out with:

"'I see, Azamat, that you have taken a desperate fancy to that horse
of Kazbich's, but you'll no more see him than you will the back of your
neck! Come, tell me, what would you give if somebody made you a present
of him?'

"'Anything he wanted,' answered Azamat.

"'In that case I will get the horse for you, only on one condition...
Swear that you will fulfil it?'

"'I swear. You swear too!'

"'Very well! I swear that the horse shall be yours. But, in return,
you must deliver your sister Bela into my hands. Karagyoz shall be her
bridegroom's gift. I hope the transaction will be a profitable one for
you.'

"Azamat remained silent.

"'Won't you? Well, just as you like! I thought you were a man, but
it seems you are still a child; it is early for you to be riding on
horseback!'

"Azamat fired up.

"'But my father--' he said.

"'Does he never go away, then?'

"'True.'

"'You agree?'

"'I agree,' whispered Azamat, pale as death. 'But when?'

"'The first time Kazbich rides over here. He has promised to drive in
half a score of rams; the rest is my affair. Look out, then, Azamat!'

"And so they settled the business--a bad business, to tell the truth!
I said as much to Pechorin afterwards, but he only answered that a wild
Circassian girl ought to consider herself fortunate in having such
a charming husband as himself--because, according to their ideas, he
really was her husband--and that Kazbich was a scoundrel, and ought to
be punished. Judge for yourself, what could I say to that?... At the
time, however, I knew nothing of their conspiracy. Well, one day Kazbich
rode up and asked whether we needed any rams and honey; and I ordered
him to bring some the next day.

"'Azamat!' said Grigori Aleksandrovich; 'to-morrow Karagyoz will be in
my hands; if Bela is not here to-night you will never see the horse.'..

"'Very well,' said Azamat, and galloped to the village.

"In the evening Grigori Aleksandrovich armed himself and rode out of the
fortress. How they settled the business I don't know, but at night they
both returned, and the sentry saw that across Azamat's saddle a woman
was lying, bound hand and foot and with her head wrapped in a veil."

"And the horse?" I asked the staff-captain.

"One minute! One minute! Early next morning Kazbich rode over, driving
in half a score of rams for sale. Tethering his horse by the fence, he
came in to see me, and I regaled him with tea, for, robber though he
was, he was none the less my guest-friend.

"We began to chat about one thing and another... Suddenly I saw Kazbich
start, change countenance, and dart to the window; but unfortunately the
window looked on to the back courtyard.

"'What is the matter with you?' I asked.

"'My horse!... My horse!' he cried, all of a tremble.

"As a matter of fact I heard the clattering of hoofs.

"'It is probably some Cossack who has ridden up.'

"'No! Urus--yaman, yaman!' [151] he roared, and rushed headlong away
like a wild panther. In two bounds he was in the courtyard; at the gate
of the fortress the sentry barred the way with his gun; Kazbich jumped
over the gun and dashed off at a run along the road... Dust was whirling
in the distance--Azamat was galloping away on the mettlesome Karagyoz.
Kazbich, as he ran, tore his gun out of its cover and fired. For a
moment he remained motionless, until he had assured himself that he had
missed. Then he uttered a shrill cry, knocked the gun against a rock,
smashed it to splinters, fell to the ground, and burst out sobbing like
a child... The people from the fortress gathered round him, but he took
no notice of anyone. They stood there talking awhile and then went back.
I ordered the money for the rams to be placed beside him. He didn't
touch it, but lay with his face to the ground like a dead man. Would you
believe it? He remained lying like that throughout the rest of that day
and the following night! It was only on the next morning that he came to
the fortress and proceeded to ask that the name of the thief should
be told him. The sentry who had observed Azamat untying the horse and
galloping away on him did not see any necessity for concealment. At the
name of Azamat, Kazbich's eyes flashed, and he set off to the village
where Azamat's father lived."

"And what about the father?"

"Ah, that was where the trick came in! Kazbich could not find him;
he had gone away somewhere for five or six days; otherwise, how could
Azamat have succeeded in carrying off Bela?

"And, when the father returned, there was neither daughter nor son to be
found. A wily rogue, Azamat! He understood, you see, that he would lose
his life if he was caught. So, from that time, he was never seen again;
probably he joined some gang of Abreks and laid down his turbulent life
on the other side of the Terek or the Kuban. It would have served him
right!"...

"I CONFESS that, for my part, I had trouble enough over the business.
So soon as ever I learned that the Circassian girl was with Grigori
Aleksandrovich, I put on my epaulettes and sword and went to see him.

"He was lying on the bed in the outer room, with one hand under his head
and the other holding a pipe which had gone out. The door leading to the
inner room was locked, and there was no key in the lock. I observed all
that in a moment... I coughed and rapped my heels against the threshold,
but he pretended not to hear.

"'Ensign!' I said, as sternly as I could. 'Do you not see that I have
come to you?'

"'Ah, good morning, Maksim Maksimych! Won't you have a pipe?' he
answered, without rising.

"'Excuse me, I am not Maksim Maksimych. I am the staff-captain.'

"'It's all the same! Won't you have some tea? If you only knew how I am
being tortured with anxiety.'

"'I know all,' I answered, going up to the bed.

"'So much the better,' he said. 'I am not in a narrative mood.'

"'Ensign, you have committed an offence for which I may have to answer
as well as you.'

"'Oh, that'll do. What's the harm? You know, we've gone halves in
everything.'

"'What sort of a joke do you think you are playing? Your sword,
please!'...

"'Mitka, my sword!'

"'Mitka brought the sword. My duty discharged, I sat down on the bed,
facing Pechorin, and said: 'Listen here, Grigori Aleksandrovich, you
must admit that this is a bad business.'

"'What is?'

"'Why, that you have carried off Bela... Ah, it is that beast Azamat!...
Come, confess!' I said.

"'But, supposing I am fond of her?'...

"Well, what could I say to that?... I was nonplussed. After a short
interval of silence, however, I told him that if Bela's father were to
claim her he would have to give her up.

"'Not at all!'

"'But he will get to know that she is here.'

"'How?'

"Again I was nonplussed.

"'Listen, Maksim Maksimych,' said Pechorin, rising to his feet. 'You're
a kind-hearted man, you know; but, if we give that savage back his
daughter, he will cut her throat or sell her. The deed is done, and the
only thing we can do now is not to go out of our way to spoil matters.
Leave Bela with me and keep my sword!'

"'Show her to me, though,' I said.

"'She is behind that door. Only I wanted, myself, to see her to-day and
wasn't able to. She sits in the corner, muffled in her veil, and neither
speaks nor looks up--timid as a wild chamois! I have hired the wife of
our dukhan-keeper: she knows the Tartar language, and will look after
Bela and accustom her to the idea that she belongs to me--for she shall
belong to no one else!' he added, banging his fist on the table.

"I assented to that too... What could I do? There are some people with
whom you absolutely have to agree."

"Well?" I asked Maksim Maksimych. "Did he really succeed in making
her grow accustomed to him, or did she pine away in captivity from
home-sickness?"

"Good gracious! how could she pine away from home-sickness? From
the fortress she could see the very same hills as she could from the
village--and these savages require nothing more. Besides, Grigori
Aleksandrovich used to give her a present of some kind every day. At
first she didn't utter a word, but haughtily thrust away the gifts,
which then fell to the lot of the dukhan-keeper's wife and aroused her
eloquence. Ah, presents! What won't a woman do for a coloured rag!...
But that is by the way... For a long time Grigori Aleksandrovich
persevered with her, and meanwhile he studied the Tartar language and
she began to understand ours. Little by little she grew accustomed to
looking at him, at first furtively, askance; but she still pined and
crooned her songs in an undertone, so that even I would feel heavy
at heart when I heard her from the next room. One scene I shall never
forget: I was walking past, and I looked in at the window; Bela was
sitting on the stove-couch, her head sunk on her breast, and Grigori
Aleksandrovich was standing, facing her.

"'Listen, my Peri,' he was saying. 'Surely you know that you will have
to be mine sooner or later--why, then, do you but torture me? Is it that
you are in love with some Chechene? If so, I will let you go home at
once.'

"She gave a scarcely perceptible start and shook her head.

"'Or is it,' he continued, 'that I am utterly hateful to you?'

"She heaved a sigh.

"'Or that your faith prohibits you from giving me a little of your
love?'

"She turned pale and remained silent.

"'Believe me, Allah is one and the same for all races; and, if he
permits me to love you, why, then, should he prohibit you from requiting
me by returning my love?'

"She gazed fixedly into his face, as though struck by that new idea.
Distrust and a desire to be convinced were expressed in her eyes. What
eyes they were! They sparkled just like two glowing coals.

"'Listen, my dear, good Bela!' continued Pechorin. 'You see how I love
you. I am ready to give up everything to make you cheerful once more.
I want you to be happy, and, if you are going to be sad again, I shall
die. Tell me, you will be more cheerful?'

"She fell into thought, her black eyes still fixed upon him. Then she
smiled graciously and nodded her head in token of acquiescence.

"He took her by the hand and tried to induce her to kiss him. She
defended herself feebly, and only repeated: 'Please! Please! You
mustn't, you mustn't!'

"He went on to insist; she began to tremble and weep.

"'I am your captive,' she said, 'your slave; of course, you can compel
me.'

"And then, again--tears.

"Grigori Aleksandrovich struck his forehead with his fist and sprang
into the other room. I went in to see him, and found him walking moodily
backwards and forwards with folded arms.

"'Well, old man?' I said to him.

"'She is a devil--not a woman!' he answered. 'But I give you my word of
honour that she shall be mine!'

"I shook my head.

"'Will you bet with me?' he said. 'In a week's time?'

"'Very well,' I answered.

"We shook hands on it and separated.

"The next day he immediately despatched an express messenger to Kizlyar
to purchase some things for him. The messenger brought back a quite
innumerable quantity of various Persian stuffs.

"'What think you, Maksim Maksimych?' he said to me, showing the
presents. 'Will our Asiatic beauty hold out against such a battery as
this?'

"'You don't know the Circassian women,' I answered. 'They are not at all
the same as the Georgian or the Transcaucasian Tartar women--not at all!
They have their own principles, they are brought up differently.'

"Grigori Aleksandrovich smiled and began to whistle a march to himself."

"AS things fell out, however," continued Maksim Maksimych, "I was right,
you see. The presents produced only half an effect. She became
more gracious more trustful--but that was all. Pechorin accordingly
determined upon a last expedient. One morning he ordered his horse to be
saddled, dressed himself as a Circassian, armed himself, and went into
her room.

"'Bela,' he said. 'You know how I love you. I decided to carry you off,
thinking that when you grew to know me you would give me your love.
I was mistaken. Farewell! Remain absolute mistress of all I possess.
Return to your father if you like--you are free. I have acted
wrongfully towards you, and I must punish myself. Farewell! I am going.
Whither?--How should I know? Perchance I shall not have long to court
the bullet or the sabre-stroke. Then remember me and forgive.'

"He turned away, and stretched out his hand to her in farewell. She did
not take his hand, but remained silent. But I, standing there behind the
door, was able through a chink to observe her countenance, and I felt
sorry for her--such a deathly pallor shrouded that charming little face!
Hearing no answer, Pechorin took a few steps towards the door. He was
trembling, and--shall I tell you?--I think that he was in a state to
perform in very fact what he had been saying in jest! He was just that
sort of man, Heaven knows!

"He had scarcely touched the door, however, when Bela sprang to her
feet, burst out sobbing, and threw herself on his neck! Would you
believe it? I, standing there behind the door, fell to weeping too,
that is to say, you know, not exactly weeping--but just--well, something
foolish!"

The staff-captain became silent.

"Yes, I confess," he said after a while, tugging at his moustache, "I
felt hurt that not one woman had ever loved me like that."

"Was their happiness lasting?" I asked.

"Yes, she admitted that, from the day she had first cast eyes on
Pechorin, she had often dreamed of him, and that no other man had ever
produced such an impression upon her. Yes, they were happy!"

"How tiresome!" I exclaimed, involuntarily.

In point of fact, I had been expecting a tragic ending--when, lo! he
must needs disappoint my hopes in such an unexpected manner!...

"Is it possible, though," I continued, "that her father did not guess
that she was with you in the fortress?"

"Well, you must know, he seems to have had his suspicions. After a few
days, we learned that the old man had been murdered. This is how it
happened."...

My attention was aroused anew.

"I must tell you that Kazbich imagined that the horse had been stolen by
Azamat with his father's consent; at any rate, that is what I suppose.
So, one day, Kazbich went and waited by the roadside, about three versts
beyond the village. The old man was returning from one of his futile
searches for his daughter; his retainers were lagging behind. It was
dusk. Deep in thought, he was riding at a walking pace when, suddenly,
Kazbich darted out like a cat from behind a bush, sprang up behind
him on the horse, flung him to the ground with a thrust of his dagger,
seized the bridle and was off. A few of the retainers saw the whole
affair from the hill; they dashed off in pursuit of Kazbich, but failed
to overtake him."

"He requited himself for the loss of his horse, and took his revenge at
the same time," I said, with a view to evoking my companion's opinion.

"Of course, from their point of view," said the staff-captain, "he was
perfectly right."

I was involuntarily struck by the aptitude which the Russian displays
for accommodating himself to the customs of the people in whose midst
he happens to be living. I know not whether this mental quality is
deserving of censure or commendation, but it proves the incredible
pliancy of his mind and the presence of that clear common sense which
pardons evil wherever it sees that evil is inevitable or impossible of
annihilation.

IN the meantime we had finished our tea. The horses, which had been
put to long before, were freezing in the snow. In the west the moon
was growing pale, and was just on the point of plunging into the black
clouds which were hanging over the distant summits like the shreds of a
torn curtain. We went out of the hut. Contrary to my fellow-traveller's
prediction, the weather had cleared up, and there was a promise of
a calm morning. The dancing choirs of the stars were interwoven in
wondrous patterns on the distant horizon, and, one after another, they
flickered out as the wan resplendence of the east suffused the dark,
lilac vault of heaven, gradually illumining the steep mountain slopes,
covered with the virgin snows. To right and left loomed grim and
mysterious chasms, and masses of mist, eddying and coiling like snakes,
were creeping thither along the furrows of the neighbouring cliffs, as
though sentient and fearful of the approach of day.

All was calm in heaven and on earth, calm as within the heart of a man
at the moment of morning prayer; only at intervals a cool wind rushed
in from the east, lifting the horses' manes which were covered with
hoar-frost. We started off. The five lean jades dragged our wagons with
difficulty along the tortuous road up Mount Gut. We ourselves walked
behind, placing stones under the wheels whenever the horses were spent.
The road seemed to lead into the sky, for, so far as the eye could
discern, it still mounted up and up, until finally it was lost in the
cloud which, since early evening, had been resting on the summit of
Mount Gut, like a kite awaiting its prey. The snow crunched under our
feet. The atmosphere grew so rarefied that to breathe was painful; ever
and anon the blood rushed to my head, but withal a certain rapturous
sensation was diffused throughout my veins and I felt a species of
delight at being so high up above the world. A childish feeling, I
admit, but, when we retire from the conventions of society and draw
close to nature, we involuntarily become as children: each attribute
acquired by experience falls away from the soul, which becomes anew such
as it was once and will surely be again. He whose lot it has been, as
mine has been, to wander over the desolate mountains, long, long to
observe their fantastic shapes, greedily to gulp down the life-giving
air diffused through their ravines--he, of course, will understand my
desire to communicate, to narrate, to sketch those magic pictures.

Well, at length we reached the summit of Mount Gut and, halting, looked
around us. Upon the mountain a grey cloud was hanging, and its cold
breath threatened the approach of a storm; but in the east everything
was so clear and golden that we--that is, the staff-captain and
I--forgot all about the cloud... Yes, the staff-captain too; in
simple hearts the feeling for the beauty and grandeur of nature is a
hundred-fold stronger and more vivid than in us, ecstatic composers of
narratives in words and on paper.

"You have grown accustomed, I suppose, to these magnificent pictures!" I
said.

"Yes, sir, you can even grow accustomed to the whistling of a bullet,
that is to say, accustomed to concealing the involuntary thumping of
your heart."

"I have heard, on the contrary, that many an old warrior actually finds
that music agreeable."

"Of course, if it comes to that, it is agreeable; but only just because
the heart beats more violently. Look!" he added, pointing towards the
east. "What a country!"

And, indeed, such a panorama I can hardly hope to see elsewhere. Beneath
us lay the Koishaur Valley, intersected by the Aragva and another stream
as if by two silver threads; a bluish mist was gliding along the valley,
fleeing into the neighbouring defiles from the warm rays of the morning.
To right and left the mountain crests, towering higher and higher,
intersected each other and stretched out, covered with snows and
thickets; in the distance were the same mountains, which now, however,
had the appearance of two cliffs, one like to the other. And all these
snows were burning in the crimson glow so merrily and so brightly that
it seemed as though one could live in such a place for ever. The sun was
scarcely visible behind the dark-blue mountain, which only a practised
eye could distinguish from a thunder-cloud; but above the sun was a
blood-red streak to which my companion directed particular attention.

"I told you," he exclaimed, "that there would be dirty weather to-day!
We must make haste, or perhaps it will catch us on Mount Krestov.--Get
on!" he shouted to the drivers.

Chains were put under the wheels in place of drags, so that they should
not slide, the drivers took the horses by the reins, and the descent
began. On the right was a cliff, on the left a precipice, so deep that
an entire village of Ossetes at the bottom looked like a swallow's nest.
I shuddered, as the thought occurred to me that often in the depth of
night, on that very road, where two wagons could not pass, a courier
drives some ten times a year without climbing down from his rickety
vehicle. One of our drivers was a Russian peasant from Yaroslavl, the
other, an Ossete. The latter took out the leaders in good time and led
the shaft-horse by the reins, using every possible precaution--but
our heedless compatriot did not even climb down from his box! When I
remarked to him that he might put himself out a bit, at least in the
interests of my portmanteau, for which I had not the slightest desire to
clamber down into the abyss, he answered:

"Eh, master, with the help of Heaven we shall arrive as safe and sound
as the others; it's not our first time, you know."

And he was right. We might just as easily have failed to arrive at
all; but arrive we did, for all that. And if people would only reason a
little more they would be convinced that life is not worth taking such a
deal of trouble about.

Perhaps, however, you would like to know the conclusion of the story
of Bela? In the first place, this is not a novel, but a collection of
travelling-notes, and, consequently, I cannot make the staff-captain
tell the story sooner than he actually proceeded to tell it. Therefore,
you must wait a bit, or, if you like, turn over a few pages. Though I do
not advise you to do the latter, because the crossing of Mount Krestov
(or, as the erudite Gamba calls it, le mont St. Christophe [15]) is
worthy of your curiosity.

Well, then, we descended Mount Gut into the Chertov Valley... There's
a romantic designation for you! Already you have a vision of the evil
spirit's nest amid the inaccessible cliffs--but you are out of your
reckoning there. The name "Chertov" is derived from the word cherta
(boundary-line) and not from chort (devil), because, at one time,
the valley marked the boundary of Georgia. We found it choked with
snow-drifts, which reminded us rather vividly of Saratov, Tambov, and
other charming localities of our fatherland.

"Look, there is Krestov!" said the staff-captain, when we had descended
into the Chertov Valley, as he pointed out a hill covered with a shroud
of snow. Upon the summit stood out the black outline of a stone cross,
and past it led an all but imperceptible road which travellers use only
when the side-road is obstructed with snow. Our drivers, declaring that
no avalanches had yet fallen, spared the horses by conducting us round
the mountain. At a turning we met four or five Ossetes, who offered
us their services; and, catching hold of the wheels, proceeded, with
a shout, to drag and hold up our cart. And, indeed, it is a dangerous
road; on the right were masses of snow hanging above us, and ready,
it seemed, at the first squall of wind to break off and drop into the
ravine; the narrow road was partly covered with snow, which, in many
places, gave way under our feet and, in others, was converted into ice
by the action of the sun by day and the frosts by night, so that the
horses kept falling, and it was with difficulty that we ourselves
made our way. On the left yawned a deep chasm, through which rolled a
torrent, now hiding beneath a crust of ice, now leaping and foaming
over the black rocks. In two hours we were barely able to double Mount
Krestov--two versts in two hours! Meanwhile the clouds had descended,
hail and snow fell; the wind, bursting into the ravines, howled and
whistled like Nightingale the Robber. [16] Soon the stone cross was
hidden in the mist, the billows of which, in ever denser and more
compact masses, rushed in from the east...

Concerning that stone cross, by the way, there exists the strange, but
widespread, tradition that it had been set up by the Emperor Peter the
First when travelling through the Caucasus. In the first place, however,
the Emperor went no farther than Daghestan; and, in the second place,
there is an inscription in large letters on the cross itself, to the
effect that it had been erected by order of General Ermolov, and that
too in the year 1824. Nevertheless, the tradition has taken such firm
root, in spite of the inscription, that really you do not know what to
believe; the more so, as it is not the custom to believe inscriptions.

To reach the station Kobi, we still had to descend about five versts,
across ice-covered rocks and plashy snow. The horses were exhausted;
we were freezing; the snowstorm droned with ever-increasing violence,
exactly like the storms of our own northern land, only its wild melodies
were sadder and more melancholy.

"O Exile," I thought, "thou art weeping for thy wide, free steppes!
There mayest thou unfold thy cold wings, but here thou art stifled and
confined, like an eagle beating his wings, with a shriek, against the
grating of his iron cage!"

"A bad look out," said the staff-captain. "Look! There's nothing to be
seen all round but mist and snow. At any moment we may tumble into an
abyss or stick fast in a cleft; and a little lower down, I dare say, the
Baidara has risen so high that there is no getting across it. Oh, this
Asia, I know it! Like people, like rivers! There's no trusting them at
all!"

The drivers, shouting and cursing, belaboured the horses, which
snorted, resisted obstinately, and refused to budge on any account,
notwithstanding the eloquence of the whips.

"Your honour," one of the drivers said to me at length, "you see, we
will never reach Kobi to-day. Won't you give orders to turn to the left
while we can? There is something black yonder on the slope--probably
huts. Travellers always stop there in bad weather, sir. They say," he
added, pointing to the Ossetes, "that they will lead us there if you
will give them a tip."

"I know that, my friend, I know that without your telling me," said
the staff-captain. "Oh, these beasts! They are delighted to seize any
pretext for extorting a tip!"

"You must confess, however," I said, "that we should be worse off
without them."

"Just so, just so," he growled to himself. "I know them well--these
guides! They scent out by instinct a chance of taking advantage of
people. As if it was impossible to find the way without them!"

Accordingly we turned aside to the left, and, somehow or other, after
a good deal of trouble, made our way to the wretched shelter, which
consisted of two huts built of stone slabs and rubble, surrounded by a
wall of the same material. Our ragged hosts received us with alacrity. I
learned afterwards that the Government supplies them with money and food
upon condition that they put up travellers who are overtaken by storm.

"ALL is for the best," I said, sitting down close by the fire. "Now you
will finish telling me your story about Bela. I am certain that what you
have already told me was not the end of it."

"Why are you so certain?" answered the staff-captain, winking and
smiling slyly.

"Because things don't happen like that. A story with such an unusual
beginning must also have an unusual ending."

"You have guessed, of course"...

"I am very glad to hear it."

"It is all very well for you to be glad, but, indeed, it makes me
sad when I think of it. Bela was a splendid girl. In the end I grew
accustomed to her just as if she had been my own daughter, and she loved
me. I must tell you that I have no family. I have had no news of my
father and mother for twelve years or so, and, in my earlier days, I
never thought of providing myself with a wife--and now, you know, it
wouldn't do. So I was glad to have found someone to spoil. She used to
sing to us or dance the Lezginka. [17].. And what a dancer she was! I
have seen our own ladies in provincial society; and on one occasion,
sir, about twenty years ago, I was even in the Nobles' Club at
Moscow--but was there a woman to be compared with her? Not one! Grigori
Aleksandrovich dressed her up like a doll, petted and pampered her, and
it was simply astonishing to see how pretty she grew while she lived
with us. The sunburn disappeared from her face and hands, and a rosy
colour came into her cheeks... What a merry girl she was! Always making
fun of me, the little rogue!... Heaven forgive her!"

"And when you told her of her father's death?"

"We kept it a secret from her for a long time, until she had grown
accustomed to her position; and then, when she was told, she cried for a
day or two and forgot all about it.

"For four months or so everything went on as well as it possibly
could. Grigori Aleksandrovich, as I think I have already mentioned, was
passionately fond of hunting; he was always craving to be off into the
forest after boars or wild goats--but now it would be as much as he
would do to go beyond the fortress rampart. All at once, however, I saw
that he was beginning again to have fits of abstraction, walking about
his room with his hands clasped behind his back. One day after that,
without telling anyone, he set off shooting. During the whole morning
he was not to be seen; then the same thing happened another time, and so
on--oftener and oftener...

"'This looks bad!' I said to myself. 'Something must have come between
them!'

"One morning I paid them a visit--I can see it all in my mind's eye, as
if it was happening now. Bela was sitting on the bed, wearing a black
silk jacket, and looking rather pale and so sad that I was alarmed.

"'Where is Pechorin?' I asked.

"'Hunting.'

"'When did he go--to-day?'

"'She was silent, as if she found a difficulty in answering.

"'No, he has been gone since yesterday,' she said at length, with a
heavy sigh.

"'Surely nothing has happened to him!'

"'Yesterday I thought and thought the whole day,' she answered through
her tears; 'I imagined all sorts of misfortunes. At one time I fancied
that he had been wounded by a wild boar, at another time, that he had
been carried off by a Chechene into the mountains... But, now, I have
come to think that he no longer loves me.'

"'In truth, my dear girl, you could not have imagined anything worse!'

"She burst out crying; then, proudly raising her head, she wiped away
the tears and continued:

"'If he does not love me, then who prevents him sending me home? I am
not putting any constraint on him. But, if things go on like this, I
will go away myself--I am not a slave, I am a prince's daughter!'...

"I tried to talk her over.

"'Listen, Bela. You see it is impossible for him to stop in here with
you for ever, as if he was sewn on to your petticoat. He is a young man
and fond of hunting. Off he'll go, but you will find that he will come
back; and, if you are going to be unhappy, you will soon make him tired
of you.'

"'True, true!' she said. 'I will be merry.'

"And with a burst of laughter, she seized her tambourine, began to sing,
dance, and gambol around me. But that did not last long either; she fell
upon the bed again and buried her face in her hands.

"What could I do with her? You know I have never been accustomed to
the society of women. I thought and thought how to cheer her up, but
couldn't hit on anything. For some time both of us remained silent... A
most unpleasant situation, sir!

"At length I said to her:

"'Would you like us to go and take a walk on the rampart? The weather is
splendid.'

"This was in September, and indeed it was a wonderful day, bright and
not too hot. The mountains could be seen as clearly as though they were
but a hand's-breadth away. We went, and walked in silence to and fro
along the rampart of the fortress. At length she sat down on the sward,
and I sat beside her. In truth, now, it is funny to think of it all! I
used to run after her just like a kind of children's nurse!

"Our fortress was situated in a lofty position, and the view from the
rampart was superb. On one side, the wide clearing, seamed by a few
clefts, was bounded by the forest which stretched out to the very ridge
of the mountains. Here and there, on the clearing, villages were to be
seen sending forth their smoke, and there were droves of horses roaming
about. On the other side flowed a tiny stream, and close to its banks
came the dense undergrowth which covered the flinty heights joining the
principal chain of the Caucasus. We sat in a corner of the bastion, so
that we could see everything on both sides. Suddenly I perceived
someone on a grey horse riding out of the forest; nearer and nearer he
approached until finally he stopped on the far side of the river, about
a hundred fathoms from us, and began to wheel his horse round and round
like one possessed. 'Strange!' I thought.

"'Look, look, Bela,' I said, 'you've got young eyes--what sort of a
horseman is that? Who is it he has come to amuse?'...

"'It is Kazbich!' she exclaimed after a glance.

"'Ah, the robber! Come to laugh at us, has he?'

"I looked closely, and sure enough it was Kazbich, with his swarthy
face, and as ragged and dirty as ever.

"'It is my father's horse!' said Bela, seizing my arm.

"She was trembling like a leaf and her eyes were sparkling.

"'Aha!' I said to myself. 'There is robber's blood in your veins still,
my dear!'

"'Come here,' I said to the sentry. 'Look to your gun and unhorse that
gallant for me--and you shall have a silver ruble.'

"'Very well, your honour, only he won't keep still.'

"'Tell him to!' I said, with a laugh.

"'Hey, friend!' cried the sentry, waving his hand. 'Wait a bit. What are
you spinning round like a humming-top for?'

"Kazbich halted and gave ear to the sentry--probably thinking that we
were going to parley with him. Quite the contrary!... My grenadier took
aim... Bang!... Missed!... Just as the powder flashed in the pan Kazbich
jogged his horse, which gave a bound to one side. He stood up in his
stirrups, shouted something in his own language, made a threatening
gesture with his whip--and was off.

"'Aren't you ashamed of yourself?' I said to the sentry.

"'He has gone away to die, your honour,' he answered. 'There's no
killing a man of that cursed race at one stroke.'

"A quarter of an hour later Pechorin returned from hunting. Bela
threw herself on his neck without a single complaint, without a single
reproach for his lengthy absence!... Even I was angry with him by this
time!

"'Good heavens!' I said; 'why, I tell you, Kazbich was here on the other
side of the river just a moment ago, and we shot at him. How easily
you might have run up against him, you know! These mountaineers are a
vindictive race! Do you suppose he does not guess that you gave Azamat
some help? And I wager that he recognised Bela to-day! I know he was
desperately fond of her a year ago--he told me so himself--and, if he
had had any hope of getting together a proper bridegroom's gift, he
would certainly have sought her in marriage.'

"At this Pechorin became thoughtful.

"'Yes,' he answered. 'We must be more cautious--Bela, from this day
forth you mustn't walk on the rampart any more.'

"In the evening I had a lengthy explanation with him. I was vexed that
his feelings towards the poor girl had changed; to say nothing of his
spending half the day hunting, his manner towards her had become cold.
He rarely caressed her, and she was beginning perceptibly to pine away;
her little face was becoming drawn, her large eyes growing dim.

"'What are you sighing for, Bela?' I would ask her. 'Are you sad?'

"'No!'

"'Do you want anything?'

"'No!'

"'You are pining for your kinsfolk?'

"'I have none!'

"Sometimes for whole days not a word could be drawn from her but 'Yes'
and 'No.'

"So I straightway proceeded to talk to Pechorin about her."

"'LISTEN, Maksim Maksimych,' said Pechorin. 'Mine is an unfortunate
disposition; whether it is the result of my upbringing or whether it
is innate--I know not. I only know this, that if I am the cause of
unhappiness in others I myself am no less unhappy. Of course, that is a
poor consolation to them--only the fact remains that such is the case.
In my early youth, from the moment I ceased to be under the guardianship
of my relations, I began madly to enjoy all the pleasures which money
could buy--and, of course, such pleasures became irksome to me. Then I
launched out into the world of fashion--and that, too, soon palled upon
me. I fell in love with fashionable beauties and was loved by them, but
my imagination and egoism alone were aroused; my heart remained empty...
I began to read, to study--but sciences also became utterly wearisome to
me. I saw that neither fame nor happiness depends on them in the
least, because the happiest people are the uneducated, and fame is good
fortune, to attain which you have only to be smart. Then I grew bored...
Soon afterwards I was transferred to the Caucasus; and that was
the happiest time of my life. I hoped that under the bullets of the
Chechenes boredom could not exist--a vain hope! In a month I grew so
accustomed to the buzzing of the bullets and to the proximity of death
that, to tell the truth, I paid more attention to the gnats--and I
became more bored than ever, because I had lost what was almost my last
hope. When I saw Bela in my own house; when, for the first time, I held
her on my knee and kissed her black locks, I, fool that I was, thought
that she was an angel sent to me by sympathetic fate... Again I was
mistaken; the love of a savage is little better than that of your lady
of quality, the barbaric ignorance and simplicity of the one weary you
as much as the coquetry of the other. I am not saying that I do not love
her still; I am grateful to her for a few fairly sweet moments; I would
give my life for her--only I am bored with her... Whether I am a fool or
a villain I know not; but this is certain, I am also most deserving of
pity--perhaps more than she. My soul has been spoiled by the world,
my imagination is unquiet, my heart insatiate. To me everything is of
little moment. I become as easily accustomed to grief as to joy, and my
life grows emptier day by day. One expedient only is left to me--travel.

"'As soon as I can, I shall set off--but not to Europe. Heaven forfend!
I shall go to America, to Arabia, to India--perchance I shall die
somewhere on the way. At any rate, I am convinced that, thanks to storms
and bad roads, that last consolation will not quickly be exhausted!'

"For a long time he went on speaking thus, and his words have remained
stamped upon my memory, because it was the first time that I had heard
such things from a man of five-and-twenty--and Heaven grant it may
be the last. Isn't it astonishing? Tell me, please," continued the
staff-captain, appealing to me. "You used to live in the Capital, I
think, and that not so very long ago. Is it possible that the young men
there are all like that?"

I replied that there were a good many people who used the same sort
of language, that, probably, there might even be some who spoke in all
sincerity; that disillusionment, moreover, like all other vogues, having
had its beginning in the higher strata of society, had descended to the
lower, where it was being worn threadbare, and that, now, those who were
really and truly bored strove to conceal their misfortune as if it were
a vice. The staff-captain did not understand these subtleties, shook his
head, and smiled slyly.

"Anyhow, I suppose it was the French who introduced the fashion?"

"No, the English."

"Aha, there you are!" he answered. "They always have been arrant
drunkards, you know!"

Involuntarily I recalled to mind a certain lady, living in Moscow, who
used to maintain that Byron was nothing more nor less than a drunkard.
However, the staff-captain's observation was more excusable; in order to
abstain from strong drink, he naturally endeavoured to convince himself
that all the misfortunes in the world are the result of drunkenness.

MEANWHILE the staff-captain continued his story.

"Kazbich never put in an appearance again; but somehow--I don't know
why--I could not get the idea out of my head that he had had a reason
for coming, and that some mischievous scheme was in his mind.

"Well, one day Pechorin tried to persuade me to go boar-hunting with
him. For a long time I refused. What novelty was a wild boar to me?

"However, off he dragged me, all the same. We took four or five soldiers
and set out early in the morning. Up till ten o'clock we scurried about
the reeds and the forest--there wasn't a wild beast to be found!

"'I say, oughtn't we to be going back?' I said. 'What's the use of
sticking at it? It is evident enough that we have happened on an unlucky
day!'

"But, in spite of heat and fatigue, Pechorin didn't like to return
empty-handed... That is just the kind of man he was; whatever he set
his heart on he had to have--evidently, in his childhood, he had been
spoiled by an indulgent mother. At last, at midday, we discovered one
of those cursed wild boars--Bang! Bang!--No good!--Off it went into the
reeds. That was an unlucky day, to be sure!... So, after a short rest,
we set off homeward...

"We rode in silence, side by side, giving the horses their head. We had
almost reached the fortress, and only the brushwood concealed it from
view. Suddenly a shot rang out... We glanced at each other, both struck
with the selfsame suspicion... We galloped headlong in the direction of
the shot, looked, and saw the soldiers clustered together on the rampart
and pointing towards a field, along which a rider was flying at full
speed, holding something white across his saddle. Grigori Aleksandrovich
yelled like any Chechene, whipped his gun from its cover, and gave
chase--I after him.

"Luckily, thanks to our unsuccessful hunt, our horses were not jaded;
they strained under the saddle, and with every moment we drew nearer and
nearer... At length I recognised Kazbich, only I could not make out what
it was that he was holding in front of him.

"Then I drew level with Pechorin and shouted to him:

"'It is Kazbich!'

"He looked at me, nodded, and struck his horse with his whip.

"At last we were within gunshot of Kazbich. Whether it was that his
horse was jaded or not so good as ours, I don't know, but, in spite of
all his efforts, it did not get along very fast. I fancy at that moment
he remembered his Karagyoz!

"I looked at Pechorin. He was taking aim as he galloped...

"'Don't shoot,' I cried. 'Save the shot! We will catch up with him as it
is.'

"Oh, these young men! Always taking fire at the wrong moment! The shot
rang out and the bullet broke one of the horse's hind legs. It gave a
few fiery leaps forward, stumbled, and fell to its knees. Kazbich sprang
off, and then we perceived that it was a woman he was holding in his
arms--a woman wrapped in a veil. It was Bela--poor Bela! He shouted
something to us in his own language and raised his dagger over her...
Delay was useless; I fired in my turn, at haphazard. Probably the bullet
struck him in the shoulder, because he dropped his hand suddenly. When
the smoke cleared off, we could see the wounded horse lying on the
ground and Bela beside it; but Kazbich, his gun flung away, was
clambering like a cat up the cliff, through the brushwood. I should have
liked to have brought him down from there--but I hadn't a charge ready.
We jumped off our horses and rushed to Bela. Poor girl! She was lying
motionless, and the blood was pouring in streams from her wound. The
villain! If he had struck her to the heart--well and good, everything
would at least have been finished there and then; but to stab her in
the back like that--the scoundrel! She was unconscious. We tore the
veil into strips and bound up the wound as tightly as we could. In vain
Pechorin kissed her cold lips--it was impossible to bring her to.

"Pechorin mounted; I lifted Bela from the ground and somehow managed to
place her before him on his saddle; he put his arm round her and we rode
back.

"'Look here, Maksim Maksimych,' said Grigori Aleksandrovich, after a few
moments of silence. 'We will never bring her in alive like this.'

"'True!' I said, and we put our horses to a full gallop."

"A CROWD was awaiting us at the fortress gate. Carefully we carried the
wounded girl to Pechorin's quarters, and then we sent for the doctor.
The latter was drunk, but he came, examined the wound, and announced
that she could not live more than a day. He was mistaken, though."

"She recovered?" I asked the staff-captain, seizing him by the arm, and
involuntarily rejoicing.

"No," he replied, "but the doctor was so far mistaken that she lived two
days longer."

"Explain, though, how Kazbich made off with her!"

"It was like this: in spite of Pechorin's prohibition, she went out of
the fortress and down to the river. It was a very hot day, you know, and
she sat on a rock and dipped her feet in the water. Up crept Kazbich,
pounced upon her, silenced her, and dragged her into the bushes. Then
he sprang on his horse and made off. In the meantime she succeeded in
crying out, the sentries took the alarm, fired, but wide of the mark;
and thereupon we arrived on the scene."

"But what did Kazbich want to carry her off for?"

"Good gracious! Why, everyone knows these Circassians are a race of
thieves; they can't keep their hands off anything that is left lying
about! They may not want a thing, but they will steal it, for all that.
Still, you mustn't be too hard on them. And, besides, he had been in
love with her for a long time."

"And Bela died?"

"Yes, she died, but she suffered for a long time, and we were fairly
knocked up with her, I can tell you. About ten o'clock in the evening
she came to herself. We were sitting by her bed. As soon as ever she
opened her eyes she began to call Pechorin.

"'I am here beside you, my janechka' (that is, 'my darling'), he
answered, taking her by the hand.

"'I shall die,' she said.

"We began to comfort her, telling her that the doctor had promised
infallibly to cure her. She shook her little head and turned to the
wall--she did not want to die!...

"At night she became delirious, her head burned, at times a feverish
paroxysm convulsed her whole body. She talked incoherently about her
father, her brother; she yearned for the mountains, for her home... Then
she spoke of Pechorin also, called him various fond names, or reproached
him for having ceased to love his janechka.

"He listened to her in silence, his head sunk in his hands; but yet,
during the whole time, I did not notice a single tear-drop on his
lashes. I do not know whether he was actually unable to weep or was
mastering himself; but for my part I have never seen anything more
pitiful.

"Towards morning the delirium passed off. For an hour or so she lay
motionless, pale, and so weak that it was hardly possible to observe
that she was breathing. After that she grew better and began to talk:
only about what, think you? Such thoughts come only to the dying!... She
lamented that she was not a Christian, that in the other world her
soul would never meet the soul of Grigori Aleksandrovich, and that in
Paradise another woman would be his companion. The thought occurred to
me to baptize her before her death. I told her my idea; she looked at me
undecidedly, and for a long time was unable to utter a word. Finally she
answered that she would die in the faith in which she had been born.
A whole day passed thus. What a change that day made in her! Her pale
cheeks fell in, her eyes grew ever so large, her lips burned. She felt
a consuming heat within her, as though a red-hot blade was piercing her
breast.

"The second night came on. We did not close our eyes or leave the
bedside. She suffered terribly, and groaned; and directly the pain began
to abate she endeavoured to assure Grigori Aleksandrovich that she felt
better, tried to persuade him to go to bed, kissed his hand and would
not let it out of hers. Before the morning she began to feel the death
agony and to toss about. She knocked the bandage off, and the blood
flowed afresh. When the wound was bound up again she grew quiet for a
moment and begged Pechorin to kiss her. He fell on his knees beside
the bed, raised her head from the pillow, and pressed his lips to
hers--which were growing cold. She threw her trembling arms closely
round his neck, as if with that kiss she wished to yield up her soul
to him.--No, she did well to die! Why, what would have become of her if
Grigori Aleksandrovich had abandoned her? And that is what would have
happened, sooner or later.

"During half the following day she was calm, silent and docile, however
much the doctor tortured her with his fomentations and mixtures.

"'Good heavens!' I said to him, 'you know you said yourself that she was
certain to die, so what is the good of all these preparations of yours?'

"'Even so, it is better to do all this,' he replied, 'so that I may have
an easy conscience.'

"A pretty conscience, forsooth!

"After midday Bela began to suffer from thirst. We opened the windows,
but it was hotter outside than in the room; we placed ice round the
bed--all to no purpose. I knew that that intolerable thirst was a sign
of the approaching end, and I told Pechorin so.

"'Water, water!' she said in a hoarse voice, raising herself up from the
bed.

"Pechorin turned pale as a sheet, seized a glass, filled it, and gave
it to her. I covered my eyes with my hands and began to say a prayer--I
can't remember what... Yes, my friend, many a time have I seen people
die in hospitals or on the field of battle, but this was something
altogether different! Still, this one thing grieves me, I must confess:
she died without even once calling me to mind. Yet I loved her, I should
think, like a father!... Well, God forgive her!... And, to tell the
truth, what am I that she should have remembered me when she was
dying?...

"As soon as she had drunk the water, she grew easier--but in about three
minutes she breathed her last! We put a looking-glass to her lips--it
was undimmed!

"I led Pechorin from the room, and we went on to the fortress rampart.
For a long time we walked side by side, to and fro, speaking not a word
and with our hands clasped behind our backs. His face expressed nothing
out of the common--and that vexed me. Had I been in his place, I should
have died of grief. At length he sat down on the ground in the shade and
began to draw something in the sand with his stick. More for form's sake
than anything, you know, I tried to console him and began to talk. He
raised his head and burst into a laugh! At that laugh a cold shudder ran
through me... I went away to order a coffin.

"I confess it was partly to distract my thoughts that I busied myself in
that way. I possessed a little piece of Circassian stuff, and I covered
the coffin with it, and decked it with some Circassian silver lace which
Grigori Aleksandrovich had bought for Bela herself.

"Early next morning we buried her behind the fortress, by the river,
beside the spot where she had sat for the last time. Around her little
grave white acacia shrubs and elder-trees have now grown up. I
should have liked to erect a cross, but that would not have done, you
know--after all, she was not a Christian."

"And what of Pechorin?" I asked.

"Pechorin was ill for a long time, and grew thin, poor fellow; but
we never spoke of Bela from that time forth. I saw that it would be
disagreeable to him, so what would have been the use? About three months
later he was appointed to the E----Regiment, and departed for Georgia.
We have never met since. Yet, when I come to think of it, somebody told
me not long ago that he had returned to Russia--but it was not in the
general orders for the corps. Besides, to the like of us news is late in
coming."

Hereupon--probably to drown sad memories--he launched forth into a
lengthy dissertation on the unpleasantness of learning news a year late.

I did not interrupt him, nor did I listen.

In an hour's time a chance of proceeding on our journey presented
itself. The snowstorm subsided, the sky became clear, and we set off. On
the way I involuntarily let the conversation turn on Bela and Pechorin.

"You have not heard what became of Kazbich?" I asked.

"Kazbich? In truth, I don't know. I have heard that with the Shapsugs,
on our right flank, there is a certain Kazbich, a dare-devil fellow who
rides about at a walking pace, in a red tunic, under our bullets, and
bows politely whenever one hums near him--but it can scarcely be the
same person!"...

In Kobi, Maksim Maksimych and I parted company. I posted on, and he,
on account of his heavy luggage, was unable to follow me. We had no
expectation of ever meeting again, but meet we did, and, if you like,
I will tell you how--it is quite a history... You must acknowledge,
though, that Maksim Maksimych is a man worthy of all respect... If
you admit that, I shall be fully rewarded for my, perhaps, too lengthy
story.

AFTER parting with Maksim Maksimych, I galloped briskly through the
gorges of the Terek and Darial, breakfasted in Kazbek, drank tea in
Lars, and arrived at Vladikavkaz in time for supper. I spare you a
description of the mountains, as well as exclamations which convey no
meaning, and word-paintings which convey no image--especially to
those who have never been in the Caucasus. I also omit statistical
observations, which I am quite sure nobody would read.

I put up at the inn which is frequented by all who travel in those
parts, and where, by the way, there is no one you can order to roast
your pheasant and cook your cabbage-soup, because the three veterans
who have charge of the inn are either so stupid, or so drunk, that it is
impossible to knock any sense at all out of them.

I was informed that I should have to stay there three days longer,
because the "Adventure" had not yet arrived from Ekaterinograd and
consequently could not start on the return journey. What a misadventure!
[18]... But a bad pun is no consolation to a Russian, and, for the sake
of something to occupy my thoughts, I took it into my head to write down
the story about Bela, which I had heard from Maksim Maksimych--never
imagining that it would be the first link in a long chain of novels: you
see how an insignificant event has sometimes dire results!... Perhaps,
however, you do not know what the "Adventure" is? It is a
convoy--composed of half a company of infantry, with a cannon--which
escorts baggage-trains through Kabardia from Vladikavkaz to
Ekaterinograd.

The first day I found the time hang on my hands dreadfully. Early next
morning a vehicle drove into the courtyard... Aha! Maksim Maksimych!...
We met like a couple of old friends. I offered to share my own room with
him, and he accepted my hospitality without standing upon ceremony; he
even clapped me on the shoulder and puckered up his mouth by way of a
smile--a queer fellow, that!...

Maksim Maksimych was profoundly versed in the culinary art. He roasted
the pheasant astonishingly well and basted it successfully with cucumber
sauce. I was obliged to acknowledge that, but for him, I should have had
to remain on a dry-food diet. A bottle of Kakhetian wine helped us to
forget the modest number of dishes--of which there was one, all told.
Then we lit our pipes, took our chairs, and sat down--I by the window,
and he by the stove, in which a fire had been lighted because the day
was damp and cold. We remained silent. What had we to talk about? He had
already told me all that was of interest about himself and I had nothing
to relate. I looked out of the window. Here and there, behind the trees,
I caught glimpses of a number of poor, low houses straggling along the
bank of the Terek, which flowed seaward in an ever-widening stream;
farther off rose the dark-blue, jagged wall of the mountains, behind
which Mount Kazbek gazed forth in his highpriest's hat of white. I took
a mental farewell of them; I felt sorry to leave them...

Thus we sat for a considerable time. The sun was sinking behind the cold
summits and a whitish mist was beginning to spread over the valleys,
when the silence was broken by the jingling of the bell of a
travelling-carriage and the shouting of drivers in the street. A few
vehicles, accompanied by dirty Armenians, drove into the courtyard of
the inn, and behind them came an empty travelling-carriage. Its light
movement, comfortable arrangement, and elegant appearance gave it a kind
of foreign stamp. Behind it walked a man with large moustaches. He was
wearing a Hungarian jacket and was rather well dressed for a manservant.
From the bold manner in which he shook the ashes out of his pipe and
shouted at the coachman it was impossible to mistake his calling. He was
obviously the spoiled servant of an indolent master--something in the
nature of a Russian Figaro.

"Tell me, my good man," I called to him out of the window. "What is
it?--Has the 'Adventure' arrived, eh?"

He gave me a rather insolent glance, straightened his cravat, and turned
away. An Armenian, who was walking near him, smiled and answered for
him that the "Adventure" had, in fact, arrived, and would start on the
return journey the following morning.

"Thank heavens!" said Maksim Maksimych, who had come up to the window at
that moment. "What a wonderful carriage!" he added; "probably it belongs
to some official who is going to Tiflis for a judicial inquiry. You can
see that he is unacquainted with our little mountains! No, my friend,
you're not serious! They are not for the like of you; why, they would
shake even an English carriage to bits!--But who could it be? Let us go
and find out."

We went out into the corridor, at the end of which there was an open
door leading into a side room. The manservant and a driver were dragging
portmanteaux into the room.

"I say, my man!" the staff-captain asked him: "Whose is that marvellous
carriage?--Eh?--A beautiful carriage!"

Without turning round the manservant growled something to himself as he
undid a portmanteau. Maksim Maksimych grew angry.

"I am speaking to you, my friend!" he said, touching the uncivil fellow
on the shoulder.

"Whose carriage?--My master's."

"And who is your master?"

"Pechorin--"

"What did you say? What? Pechorin?--Great Heavens!... Did he not serve
in the Caucasus?" exclaimed Maksim Maksimych, plucking me by the sleeve.
His eyes were sparkling with joy.

"Yes, he served there, I think--but I have not been with him long."

"Well! Just so!... Just so!... Grigori Aleksandrovich?... that is his
name, of course? Your master and I were friends," he added, giving the
manservant a friendly clap on the shoulder with such force as to cause
him to stagger.

"Excuse me, sir, you are hindering me," said the latter, frowning.

"What a fellow you are, my friend! Why, don't you know, your master and
I were bosom friends, and lived together?... But where has he put up?"

The servant intimated that Pechorin had stayed to take supper and pass
the night at Colonel N----'s.

"But won't he be looking in here in the evening?" said Maksim Maksimych.
"Or, you, my man, won't you be going over to him for something?... If
you do, tell him that Maksim Maksimych is here; just say that--he'll
know!--I'll give you half a ruble for a tip!"

The manservant made a scornful face on hearing such a modest promise,
but he assured Maksim Maksimych that he would execute his commission.

"He'll be sure to come running up directly!" said Maksim Maksimych, with
an air of triumph. "I will go outside the gate and wait for him! Ah,
it's a pity I am not acquainted with Colonel N----!"

Maksim Maksimych sat down on a little bench outside the gate, and I
went to my room. I confess that I also was awaiting this Pechorin's
appearance with a certain amount of impatience--although, from the
staff-captain's story, I had formed a by no means favourable idea of
him. Still, certain traits in his character struck me as remarkable. In
an hour's time one of the old soldiers brought a steaming samovar and a
teapot.

"Won't you have some tea, Maksim Maksimych?" I called out of the window.

"Thank you. I am not thirsty, somehow."

"Oh, do have some! It is late, you know, and cold!"

"No, thank you"...

"Well, just as you like!"

I began my tea alone. About ten minutes afterwards my old captain came
in.

"You are right, you know; it would be better to have a drop of tea--but
I was waiting for Pechorin. His man has been gone a long time now, but
evidently something has detained him."

The staff-captain hurriedly sipped a cup of tea, refused a second,
and went off again outside the gate--not without a certain amount of
disquietude. It was obvious that the old man was mortified by Pechorin's
neglect, the more so because a short time previously he had been telling
me of their friendship, and up to an hour ago had been convinced that
Pechorin would come running up immediately on hearing his name.

It was already late and dark when I opened the window again and began to
call Maksim Maksimych, saying that it was time to go to bed. He muttered
something through his teeth. I repeated my invitation--he made no
answer.

I left a candle on the stove-seat, and, wrapping myself up in my cloak,
I lay down on the couch and soon fell into slumber; and I would have
slept on quietly had not Maksim Maksimych awakened me as he came into
the room. It was then very late. He threw his pipe on the table, began
to walk up and down the room, and to rattle about at the stove. At last
he lay down, but for a long time he kept coughing, spitting, and tossing
about.

"The bugs are biting you, are they not?" I asked.

"Yes, that is it," he answered, with a heavy sigh.

I woke early the next morning, but Maksim Maksimych had anticipated me.
I found him sitting on the little bench at the gate.

"I have to go to the Commandant," he said, "so, if Pechorin comes,
please send for me."...

I gave my promise. He ran off as if his limbs had regained their
youthful strength and suppleness.

The morning was fresh and lovely. Golden clouds had massed themselves on
the mountaintops like a new range of aerial mountains. Before the gate
a wide square spread out; behind it the bazaar was seething with people,
the day being Sunday. Barefooted Ossete boys, carrying wallets of
honeycomb on their shoulders, were hovering around me. I cursed them;
I had other things to think of--I was beginning to share the worthy
staff-captain's uneasiness.

Before ten minutes had passed the man we were awaiting appeared at the
end of the square. He was walking with Colonel N., who accompanied him
as far as the inn, said good-bye to him, and then turned back to the
fortress. I immediately despatched one of the old soldiers for Maksim
Maksimych.

Pechorin's manservant went out to meet him and informed him that they
were going to put to at once; he handed him a box of cigars, received
a few orders, and went off about his business. His master lit a cigar,
yawned once or twice, and sat down on the bench on the other side of the
gate. I must now draw his portrait for you.

He was of medium height. His shapely, slim figure and broad shoulders
gave evidence of a strong constitution, capable of enduring all the
hardships of a nomad life and changes of climates, and of resisting with
success both the demoralising effects of life in the Capital and the
tempests of the soul. His velvet overcoat, which was covered with dust,
was fastened by the two lower buttons only, and exposed to view linen of
dazzling whiteness, which proved that he had the habits of a gentleman.
His gloves, soiled by travel, seemed as though made expressly for
his small, aristocratic hand, and when he took one glove off I was
astonished at the thinness of his pale fingers. His gait was careless
and indolent, but I noticed that he did not swing his arms--a sure sign
of a certain secretiveness of character. These remarks, however, are the
result of my own observations, and I have not the least desire to make
you blindly believe in them. When he was in the act of seating himself
on the bench his upright figure bent as if there was not a single bone
in his back. The attitude of his whole body was expressive of a
certain nervous weakness; he looked, as he sat, like one of Balzac's
thirty-year-old coquettes resting in her downy arm-chair after a
fatiguing ball. From my first glance at his face I should not have
supposed his age to be more than twenty-three, though afterwards I should
have put it down as thirty. His smile had something of a child-like
quality. His skin possessed a kind of feminine delicacy. His fair hair,
naturally curly, most picturesquely outlined his pale and noble brow, on
which it was only after lengthy observation that traces could be noticed
of wrinkles, intersecting each other: probably they showed up more
distinctly in moments of anger or mental disturbance. Notwithstanding
the light colour of his hair, his moustaches and eyebrows were black--a
sign of breeding in a man, just as a black mane and a black tail in a
white horse. To complete the portrait, I will add that he had a slightly
turned-up nose, teeth of dazzling whiteness, and brown eyes--I must say
a few words more about his eyes.

In the first place, they never laughed when he laughed. Have you not
happened, yourself, to notice the same peculiarity in certain people?...
It is a sign either of an evil disposition or of deep and constant
grief. From behind his half-lowered eyelashes they shone with a kind
of phosphorescent gleam--if I may so express myself--which was not the
reflection of a fervid soul or of a playful fancy, but a glitter like to
that of smooth steel, blinding but cold. His glance--brief, but piercing
and heavy--left the unpleasant impression of an indiscreet question and
might have seemed insolent had it not been so unconcernedly tranquil.

It may be that all these remarks came into my mind only after I had
known some details of his life, and it may be, too, that his appearance
would have produced an entirely different impression upon another; but,
as you will not hear of him from anyone except myself, you will have
to rest content, nolens volens, with the description I have given.
In conclusion, I will say that, speaking generally, he was a very
good-looking man, and had one of those original types of countenance
which are particularly pleasing to women.

The horses were already put to; now and then the bell jingled on the
shaft-bow; [19] and the manservant had twice gone up to Pechorin with
the announcement that everything was ready, but still there was no sign
of Maksim Maksimych. Fortunately Pechorin was sunk in thought as he
gazed at the jagged, blue peaks of the Caucasus, and was apparently by
no means in a hurry for the road.

I went up to him.

"If you care to wait a little longer," I said, "you will have the
pleasure of meeting an old friend."

"Oh, exactly!" he answered quickly. "They told me so yesterday. Where is
he, though?"

I looked in the direction of the square and there I descried Maksim
Maksimych running as hard as he could. In a few moments he was beside
us. He was scarcely able to breathe; perspiration was rolling in large
drops from his face; wet tufts of grey hair, escaping from under his
cap, were glued to his forehead; his knees were shaking... He was about
to throw himself on Pechorin's neck, but the latter, rather coldly,
though with a smile of welcome, stretched out his hand to him. For
a moment the staff-captain was petrified, but then eagerly seized
Pechorin's hand in both his own. He was still unable to speak.

"How glad I am to see you, my dear Maksim Maksimych! Well, how are you?"
said Pechorin.

"And... thou... you?" [20] murmured the old man, with tears in his
eyes. "What an age it is since I have seen you!... But where are you off
to?"...

"I am going to Persia--and farther."...

"But surely not immediately?... Wait a little, my dear fellow!... Surely
we are not going to part at once?... What a long time it is since we
have seen each other!"...

"It is time for me to go, Maksim Maksimych," was the reply.

"Good heavens, good heavens! But where are you going to in such a hurry?
There was so much I should have liked to tell you! So much to question
you about!... Well, what of yourself? Have you retired?... What?... How
have you been getting along?"

"Getting bored!" answered Pechorin, smiling.

"You remember the life we led in the fortress? A splendid country for
hunting! You were awfully fond of shooting, you know!... And Bela?"...

Pechorin turned just the slightest bit pale and averted his head.

"Yes, I remember!" he said, almost immediately forcing a yawn.

Maksim Maksimych began to beg him to stay with him for a couple of hours
or so longer.

"We will have a splendid dinner," he said. "I have two pheasants; and
the Kakhetian wine is excellent here... not what it is in Georgia, of
course, but still of the best sort... We will have a talk... You will
tell me about your life in Petersburg... Eh?"...

"In truth, there's nothing for me to tell, dear Maksim Maksimych...
However, good-bye, it is time for me to be off... I am in a hurry...
I thank you for not having forgotten me," he added, taking him by the
hand.

The old man knit his brows. He was grieved and angry, although he tried
to hide his feelings.

"Forget!" he growled. "I have not forgotten anything... Well, God be
with you!... It is not like this that I thought we should meet."

"Come! That will do, that will do!" said Pechorin, giving him a friendly
embrace. "Is it possible that I am not the same as I used to be?... What
can we do? Everyone must go his own way... Are we ever going to meet
again?--God only knows!"

While saying this he had taken his seat in the carriage, and the
coachman was already gathering up the reins.

"Wait, wait!" cried Maksim Maksimych suddenly, holding on to the
carriage door. "I was nearly forgetting altogether. Your papers were
left with me, Grigori Aleksandrovich... I drag them about everywhere I
go... I thought I should find you in Georgia, but this is where it has
pleased Heaven that we should meet. What's to be done with them?"...

"Whatever you like!" answered Pechorin. "Good-bye."...

"So you are off to Persia?... But when will you return?" Maksim
Maksimych cried after him.

By this time the carriage was a long way off, but Pechorin made a sign
with his hand which might be interpreted as meaning:

"It is doubtful whether I shall return, and there is no reason, either,
why I should!"

The jingle of the bell and the clatter of the wheels along the flinty
road had long ceased to be audible, but the poor old man still remained
standing in the same place, deep in thought.

"Yes," he said at length, endeavouring to assume an air of indifference,
although from time to time a tear of vexation glistened on his
eyelashes. "Of course we were friends--well, but what are friends
nowadays?... What could I be to him? I'm not rich; I've no rank; and,
moreover, I'm not at all his match in years!--See what a dandy he
has become since he has been staying in Petersburg again!... What
a carriage!... What a quantity of luggage!... And such a haughty
manservant too!"...

These words were pronounced with an ironical smile.

"Tell me," he continued, turning to me, "what do you think of it?
Come, what the devil is he off to Persia for now?... Good Lord, it is
ridiculous--ridiculous!... But I always knew that he was a fickle man,
and one you could never rely on!... But, indeed, it is a pity that he
should come to a bad end... yet it can't be otherwise!... I always did
say that there is no good to be got out of a man who forgets his old
friends!"...

Hereupon he turned away in order to hide his agitation and proceeded to
walk about the courtyard, around his cart, pretending to be examining
the wheels, whilst his eyes kept filling with tears every moment.

"Maksim Maksimych," I said, going up to him, "what papers are these that
Pechorin left you?"

"Goodness knows! Notes of some sort"...

"What will you do with them?"

"What? I'll have cartridges made of them."

"Hand them over to me instead."

He looked at me in surprise, growled something through his teeth, and
began to rummage in his portmanteau. Out he drew a writing-book and
threw it contemptuously on the ground; then a second--a third--a tenth
shared the same fate. There was something childish in his vexation, and
it struck me as ridiculous and pitiable...

"Here they are," he said. "I congratulate you on your find!"...

"And I may do anything I like with them?"

"Yes, print them in the newspapers, if you like. What is it to me? Am
I a friend or relation of his? It is true that for a long time we lived
under one roof... but aren't there plenty of people with whom I have
lived?"...

I seized the papers and lost no time in carrying them away, fearing that
the staff-captain might repent his action. Soon somebody came to tell
us that the "Adventure" would set off in an hour's time. I ordered the
horses to be put to.

I had already put my cap on when the staff-captain entered the room.
Apparently he had not got ready for departure. His manner was somewhat
cold and constrained.

"You are not going, then, Maksim Maksimych?"

"No, sir!"

"But why not?"

"Well, I have not seen the Commandant yet, and I have to deliver some
Government things."

"But you did go, you know."

"I did, of course," he stammered, "but he was not at home... and I did
not wait."

I understood. For the first time in his life, probably, the poor old man
had, to speak by the book, thrown aside official business 'for the sake
of his personal requirements'... and how he had been rewarded!

"I am very sorry, Maksim Maksimych, very sorry indeed," I said, "that we
must part sooner than necessary."

"What should we rough old men be thinking of to run after you? You young
men are fashionable and proud: under the Circassian bullets you are
friendly enough with us... but when you meet us afterwards you are
ashamed even to give us your hand!"

"I have not deserved these reproaches, Maksim Maksimych."

"Well, but you know I'm quite right. However, I wish you all good luck
and a pleasant journey."

We took a rather cold farewell of each other. The kind-hearted Maksim
Maksimych had become the obstinate, cantankerous staff-captain! And why?
Because Pechorin, through absent-mindedness or from some other cause,
had extended his hand to him when Maksim Maksimych was going to throw
himself on his neck! Sad it is to see when a young man loses his best
hopes and dreams, when from before his eyes is withdrawn the rose-hued
veil through which he has looked upon the deeds and feelings of mankind;
although there is the hope that the old illusions will be replaced by
new ones, none the less evanescent, but, on the other hand, none the
less sweet. But wherewith can they be replaced when one is at the age
of Maksim Maksimych? Do what you will, the heart hardens and the soul
shrinks in upon itself.

I departed--alone.

TAMAN is the nastiest little hole of all the seaports of Russia. I was
all but starved there, to say nothing of having a narrow escape of being
drowned.

I arrived late at night by the post-car. The driver stopped the tired
troika [21] at the gate of the only stone-built house that stood at the
entrance to the town. The sentry, a Cossack from the Black Sea, hearing
the jingle of the bell, cried out, sleepily, in his barbarous voice,
"Who goes there?" An under-officer of Cossacks and a headborough [22]
came out. I explained that I was an officer bound for the active-service
detachment on Government business, and I proceeded to demand official
quarters. The headborough conducted us round the town. Whatever hut we
drove up to we found to be occupied. The weather was cold; I had not
slept for three nights; I was tired out, and I began to lose my temper.

"Take me somewhere or other, you scoundrel!" I cried; "to the devil
himself, so long as there's a place to put up at!"

"There is one other lodging," answered the headborough, scratching his
head. "Only you won't like it, sir. It is uncanny!"

Failing to grasp the exact signification of the last phrase, I ordered
him to go on, and, after a lengthy peregrination through muddy byways,
at the sides of which I could see nothing but old fences, we drove up to
a small cabin, right on the shore of the sea.

The full moon was shining on the little reed-thatched roof and the white
walls of my new dwelling. In the courtyard, which was surrounded by a
wall of rubble-stone, there stood another miserable hovel, smaller and
older than the first and all askew. The shore descended precipitously
to the sea, almost from its very walls, and down below, with incessant
murmur, plashed the dark-blue waves. The moon gazed softly upon the
watery element, restless but obedient to it, and I was able by its light
to distinguish two ships lying at some distance from the shore, their
black rigging motionless and standing out, like cobwebs, against the
pale line of the horizon.

"There are vessels in the harbour," I said to myself. "To-morrow I will
set out for Gelenjik."

I had with me, in the capacity of soldier-servant, a Cossack of the
frontier army. Ordering him to take down the portmanteau and dismiss
the driver, I began to call the master of the house. No answer! I
knocked--all was silent within!... What could it mean? At length a boy
of about fourteen crept out from the hall.

"Where is the master?"

"There isn't one."

"What! No master?"

"None!"

"And the mistress?"

"She has gone off to the village."

"Who will open the door for me, then?" I said, giving it a kick.

The door opened of its own accord, and a breath of moisture-laden air
was wafted from the hut. I struck a lucifer match and held it to the
boy's face. It lit up two white eyes. He was totally blind, obviously so
from birth. He stood stock-still before me, and I began to examine his
features.

I confess that I have a violent prejudice against all blind, one-eyed,
deaf, dumb, legless, armless, hunchbacked, and such-like people. I have
observed that there is always a certain strange connection between a
man's exterior and his soul; as, if when the body loses a limb, the soul
also loses some power of feeling.

And so I began to examine the blind boy's face. But what could be read
upon a face from which the eyes are missing?... For a long time I gazed
at him with involuntary compassion, when suddenly a scarcely perceptible
smile flitted over his thin lips, producing, I know not why, a most
unpleasant impression upon me. I began to feel a suspicion that the
blind boy was not so blind as he appeared to be. In vain I endeavoured
to convince myself that it was impossible to counterfeit cataracts; and
besides, what reason could there be for doing such a thing? But I could
not help my suspicions. I am easily swayed by prejudice...

"You are the master's son?" I asked at length.

"No."

"Who are you, then?"

"An orphan--a poor boy."

"Has the mistress any children?"

"No, her daughter ran away and crossed the sea with a Tartar."

"What sort of a Tartar?"

"The devil only knows! A Crimean Tartar, a boatman from Kerch."

I entered the hut. Its whole furniture consisted of two benches and a
table, together with an enormous chest beside the stove. There was not
a single ikon to be seen on the wall--a bad sign! The sea-wind burst
in through the broken window-pane. I drew a wax candle-end from my
portmanteau, lit it, and began to put my things out. My sabre and gun
I placed in a corner, my pistols I laid on the table. I spread my felt
cloak out on one bench, and the Cossack his on the other. In ten minutes
the latter was snoring, but I could not go to sleep--the image of the
boy with the white eyes kept hovering before me in the dark.

About an hour passed thus. The moon shone in at the window and its rays
played along the earthen floor of the hut. Suddenly a shadow flitted
across the bright strip of moonshine which intersected the floor. I
raised myself up a little and glanced out of the window. Again somebody
ran by it and disappeared--goodness knows where! It seemed impossible
for anyone to descend the steep cliff overhanging the shore, but that
was the only thing that could have happened. I rose, threw on my tunic,
girded on a dagger, and with the utmost quietness went out of the hut.
The blind boy was coming towards me. I hid by the fence, and he passed
by me with a sure but cautious step. He was carrying a parcel under
his arm. He turned towards the harbour and began to descend a steep and
narrow path.

"On that day the dumb will cry out and the blind will see," I said to
myself, following him just close enough to keep him in sight.

Meanwhile the moon was becoming overcast by clouds and a mist had risen
upon the sea. The lantern alight in the stern of a ship close at hand
was scarcely visible through the mist, and by the shore there glimmered
the foam of the waves, which every moment threatened to submerge it.
Descending with difficulty, I stole along the steep declivity, and all
at once I saw the blind boy come to a standstill and then turn down to
the right. He walked so close to the water's edge that it seemed as if
the waves would straightway seize him and carry him off. But, judging by
the confidence with which he stepped from rock to rock and avoided the
water-channels, this was evidently not the first time that he had made
that journey. Finally he stopped, as though listening for something,
squatted down upon the ground, and laid the parcel beside him.
Concealing myself behind a projecting rock on the shore, I kept watch
on his movements. After a few minutes a white figure made its appearance
from the opposite direction. It came up to the blind boy and sat down
beside him. At times the wind wafted their conversation to me.

"Well?" said a woman's voice. "The storm is violent; Yanko will not be
here."

"Yanko is not afraid of the storm!" the other replied.

"The mist is thickening," rejoined the woman's voice, sadness in its
tone.

"In the mist it is all the easier to slip past the guardships," was the
answer.

"And if he is drowned?"

"Well, what then? On Sunday you won't have a new ribbon to go to church
in."

An interval of silence followed. One thing, however, struck me--in
talking to me the blind boy spoke in the Little Russian dialect, but now
he was expressing himself in pure Russian.

"You see, I am right!" the blind boy went on, clapping his hands. "Yanko
is not afraid of sea, nor winds, nor mist, nor coastguards! Just listen!
That is not the water plashing, you can't deceive me--it is his long
oars."

The woman sprang up and began anxiously to gaze into the distance.

"You are raving!" she said. "I cannot see anything."

I confess that, much as I tried to make out in the distance something
resembling a boat, my efforts were unsuccessful. About ten minutes
passed thus, when a black speck appeared between the mountains of the
waves! At one time it grew larger, at another smaller. Slowly rising
upon the crests of the waves and swiftly descending from them, the boat
drew near to the shore.

"He must be a brave sailor," I thought, "to have determined to cross
the twenty versts of strait on a night like this, and he must have had a
weighty reason for doing so."

Reflecting thus, I gazed with an involuntary beating of the heart at
the poor boat. It dived like a duck, and then, with rapidly swinging
oars--like wings--it sprang forth from the abyss amid the splashes of
the foam. "Ah!" I thought, "it will be dashed against the shore with all
its force and broken to pieces!" But it turned aside adroitly and leaped
unharmed into a little creek. Out of it stepped a man of medium height,
wearing a Tartar sheepskin cap. He waved his hand, and all three set to
work to drag something out of the boat. The cargo was so large that, to
this day, I cannot understand how it was that the boat did not sink.

Each of them shouldered a bundle, and they set off along the shore, and
I soon lost sight of them. I had to return home; but I confess I was
rendered uneasy by all these strange happenings, and I found it hard to
await the morning.

My Cossack was very much astonished when, on waking up, he saw me fully
dressed. I did not, however, tell him the reason. For some time I stood
at the window, gazing admiringly at the blue sky all studded with wisps
of cloud, and at the distant shore of the Crimea, stretching out in a
lilac-coloured streak and ending in a cliff, on the summit of which the
white tower of the lighthouse was gleaming. Then I betook myself to the
fortress, Phanagoriya, in order to ascertain from the Commandant at what
hour I should depart for Gelenjik.

But the Commandant, alas! could not give me any definite information.
The vessels lying in the harbour were all either guard-ships or
merchant-vessels which had not yet even begun to take in lading.

"Maybe in about three or four days' time a mail-boat will come in," said
the Commandant, "and then we shall see."

I returned home sulky and wrathful. My Cossack met me at the door with a
frightened countenance.

"Things are looking bad, sir!" he said.

"Yes, my friend; goodness only knows when we shall get away!"

Hereupon he became still more uneasy, and, bending towards me, he said
in a whisper:

"It is uncanny here! I met an under-officer from the Black Sea
to-day--he's an acquaintance of mine--he was in my detachment last year.
When I told him where we were staying, he said, 'That place is uncanny,
old fellow; they're wicked people there!'... And, indeed, what sort of
a blind boy is that? He goes everywhere alone, to fetch water and to buy
bread at the bazaar. It is evident they have become accustomed to that
sort of thing here."

"Well, what then? Tell me, though, has the mistress of the place put in
an appearance?"

"During your absence to-day, an old woman and her daughter arrived."

"What daughter? She has no daughter!"

"Goodness knows who it can be if it isn't her daughter; but the old
woman is sitting over there in the hut now."

I entered the hovel. A blazing fire was burning in the stove, and they
were cooking a dinner which struck me as being a rather luxurious one
for poor people. To all my questions the old woman replied that she was
deaf and could not hear me. There was nothing to be got out of her. I
turned to the blind boy who was sitting in front of the stove, putting
twigs into the fire.

"Now, then, you little blind devil," I said, taking him by the ear.
"Tell me, where were you roaming with the bundle last night, eh?"

The blind boy suddenly burst out weeping, shrieking and wailing.

"Where did I go? I did not go anywhere... With the bundle?... What
bundle?"

This time the old woman heard, and she began to mutter:

"Hark at them plotting, and against a poor boy too! What are you
touching him for? What has he done to you?"

I had enough of it, and went out, firmly resolved to find the key to the
riddle.

I wrapped myself up in my felt cloak and, sitting down on a rock by the
fence, gazed into the distance. Before me stretched the sea, agitated
by the storm of the previous night, and its monotonous roar, like the
murmur of a town over which slumber is beginning to creep, recalled
bygone years to my mind, and transported my thoughts northward to our
cold Capital. Agitated by my recollections, I became oblivious of my
surroundings.

About an hour passed thus, perhaps even longer. Suddenly something
resembling a song struck upon my ear. It was a song, and the voice was a
woman's, young and fresh--but, where was it coming from?... I listened;
it was a harmonious melody--now long-drawnout and plaintive, now swift
and lively. I looked around me--there was nobody to be seen. I listened
again--the sounds seemed to be falling from the sky. I raised my eyes.
On the roof of my cabin was standing a young girl in a striped dress
and with her hair hanging loose--a regular water-nymph. Shading her eyes
from the sun's rays with the palm of her hand, she was gazing intently
into the distance. At one time, she would laugh and talk to herself, at
another, she would strike up her song anew.

I have retained that song in my memory, word for word:

     At their own free will

     They seem to wander

     O'er the green sea yonder,

     Those ships, as still

     They are onward going,

     With white sails flowing.

     And among those ships

     My eye can mark

     My own dear barque:

     By two oars guided

     (All unprovided

     With sails) it slips.

     The storm-wind raves:

     And the old ships--see!

     With wings spread free,

     Over the waves

     They scatter and flee!

     The sea I will hail

     With obeisance deep:

     "Thou base one, hark!

     Thou must not fail

     My little barque

     From harm to keep!"

     For lo! 'tis bearing

     Most precious gear,

     And brave and daring

     The arms that steer

     Within the dark

     My little barque.

Involuntarily the thought occurred to me that I had heard the same voice
the night before. I reflected for a moment, and when I looked up at the
roof again there was no girl to be seen. Suddenly she darted past me,
with another song on her lips, and, snapping her fingers, she ran up
to the old woman. Thereupon a quarrel arose between them. The old
woman grew angry, and the girl laughed loudly. And then I saw my Undine
running and gambolling again. She came up to where I was, stopped, and
gazed fixedly into my face as if surprised at my presence. Then she
turned carelessly away and went quietly towards the harbour. But this
was not all. The whole day she kept hovering around my lodging, singing
and gambolling without a moment's interruption. Strange creature! There
was not the slightest sign of insanity in her face; on the contrary, her
eyes, which were continually resting upon me, were bright and piercing.
Moreover, they seemed to be endowed with a certain magnetic power, and
each time they looked at me they appeared to be expecting a question.
But I had only to open my lips to speak, and away she would run, with a
sly smile.

Certainly never before had I seen a woman like her. She was by no means
beautiful; but, as in other matters, I have my own prepossessions on the
subject of beauty. There was a good deal of breeding in her... Breeding
in women, as in horses, is a great thing: a discovery, the credit of
which belongs to young France. It--that is to say, breeding, not young
France--is chiefly to be detected in the gait, in the hands and feet;
the nose, in particular, is of the greatest significance. In Russia a
straight nose is rarer than a small foot.

My songstress appeared to be not more than eighteen years of age. The
unusual suppleness of her figure, the characteristic and original way
she had of inclining her head, her long, light-brown hair, the golden
sheen of her slightly sunburnt neck and shoulders, and especially her
straight nose--all these held me fascinated. Although in her sidelong
glances I could read a certain wildness and disdain, although in
her smile there was a certain vagueness, yet--such is the force of
predilections--that straight nose of hers drove me crazy. I fancied
that I had found Goethe's Mignon--that queer creature of his German
imagination. And, indeed, there was a good deal of similarity between
them; the same rapid transitions from the utmost restlessness to
complete immobility, the same enigmatical speeches, the same gambols,
the same strange songs.

Towards evening I stopped her at the door and entered into the following
conversation with her.

"Tell me, my beauty," I asked, "what were you doing on the roof to-day?"

"I was looking to see from what direction the wind was blowing."

"What did you want to know for?"

"Whence the wind blows comes happiness."

"Well? Were you invoking happiness with your song?"

"Where there is singing there is also happiness."

"But what if your song were to bring you sorrow?"

"Well, what then? Where things won't be better, they will be worse; and
from bad to good again is not far."

"And who taught you that song?"

"Nobody taught me; it comes into my head and I sing; whoever is to
hear it, he will hear it, and whoever ought not to hear it, he will not
understand it."

"What is your name, my songstress?"

"He who baptized me knows."

"And who baptized you?"

"How should I know?"

"What a secretive girl you are! But look here, I have learned something
about you"--she neither changed countenance nor moved her lips, as
though my discovery was of no concern to her--"I have learned that you
went to the shore last night."

And, thereupon, I very gravely retailed to her all that I had seen,
thinking that I should embarrass her. Not a bit of it! She burst out
laughing heartily.

"You have seen much, but know little; and what you do know, see that you
keep it under lock and key."

"But supposing, now, I was to take it into my head to inform the
Commandant?" and here I assumed a very serious, not to say stern,
demeanour.

She gave a sudden spring, began to sing, and hid herself like a bird
frightened out of a thicket. My last words were altogether out of place.
I had no suspicion then how momentous they were, but afterwards I had
occasion to rue them.

As soon as the dusk of evening fell, I ordered the Cossack to heat the
teapot, campaign fashion. I lighted a candle and sat down by the table,
smoking my travelling-pipe. I was just about to finish my second tumbler
of tea when suddenly the door creaked and I heard behind me the sound of
footsteps and the light rustle of a dress. I started and turned round.

It was she--my Undine. Softly and without saying a word she sat down
opposite to me and fixed her eyes upon me. Her glance seemed wondrously
tender, I know not why; it reminded me of one of those glances which,
in years gone by, so despotically played with my life. She seemed to be
waiting for a question, but I kept silence, filled with an inexplicable
sense of embarrassment. Mental agitation was evinced by the dull
pallor which overspread her countenance; her hand, which I noticed was
trembling slightly, moved aimlessly about the table. At one time her
breast heaved, and at another she seemed to be holding her breath. This
little comedy was beginning to pall upon me, and I was about to break
the silence in a most prosaic manner, that is, by offering her a glass
of tea; when suddenly, springing up, she threw her arms around my neck,
and I felt her moist, fiery lips pressed upon mine. Darkness came before
my eyes, my head began to swim. I embraced her with the whole strength
of youthful passion. But, like a snake, she glided from between my arms,
whispering in my ear as she did so:

"To-night, when everyone is asleep, go out to the shore."

Like an arrow she sprang from the room.

In the hall she upset the teapot and a candle which was standing on the
floor.

"Little devil!" cried the Cossack, who had taken up his position on the
straw and had contemplated warming himself with the remains of the tea.

It was only then that I recovered my senses.

In about two hours' time, when all had grown silent in the harbour, I
awakened my Cossack.

"If I fire a pistol," I said, "run to the shore."

He stared open-eyed and answered mechanically:

"Very well, sir."

I stuffed a pistol in my belt and went out. She was waiting for me
at the edge of the cliff. Her attire was more than light, and a small
kerchief girded her supple waist.

"Follow me!" she said, taking me by the hand, and we began to descend.

I cannot understand how it was that I did not break my neck. Down below
we turned to the right and proceeded to take the path along which I had
followed the blind boy the evening before. The moon had not yet risen,
and only two little stars, like two guardian lighthouses, were twinkling
in the dark-blue vault of heaven. The heavy waves, with measured and
even motion, rolled one after the other, scarcely lifting the solitary
boat which was moored to the shore.

"Let us get into the boat," said my companion.

I hesitated. I am no lover of sentimental trips on the sea; but this was
not the time to draw back. She leaped into the boat, and I after her;
and I had not time to recover my wits before I observed that we were
adrift.

"What is the meaning of this?" I said angrily.

"It means," she answered, seating me on the bench and throwing her arms
around my waist, "it means that I love you!"...

Her cheek was pressed close to mine, and I felt her burning breath upon
my face. Suddenly something fell noisily into the water. I clutched at
my belt--my pistol was gone! Ah, now a terrible suspicion crept into
my soul, and the blood rushed to my head! I looked round. We were about
fifty fathoms from the shore, and I could not swim a stroke! I tried
to thrust her away from me, but she clung like a cat to my clothes,
and suddenly a violent wrench all but threw me into the sea. The boat
rocked, but I righted myself, and a desperate struggle began.

Fury lent me strength, but I soon found that I was no match for my
opponent in point of agility...

"What do you want?" I cried, firmly squeezing her little hands.

Her fingers crunched, but her serpent-like nature bore up against the
torture, and she did not utter a cry.

"You saw us," she answered. "You will tell on us."

And, with a supernatural effort, she flung me on to the side of the
boat; we both hung half overboard; her hair touched the water. The
decisive moment had come. I planted my knee against the bottom of the
boat, caught her by the tresses with one hand and by the throat with the
other; she let go my clothes, and, in an instant, I had thrown her into
the waves.

It was now rather dark; once or twice her head appeared for an instant
amidst the sea foam, and I saw no more of her.

I found the half of an old oar at the bottom of the boat, and somehow or
other, after lengthy efforts, I made fast to the harbour. Making my way
along the shore towards my hut, I involuntarily gazed in the direction
of the spot where, on the previous night, the blind boy had awaited the
nocturnal mariner. The moon was already rolling through the sky, and it
seemed to me that somebody in white was sitting on the shore. Spurred by
curiosity, I crept up and crouched down in the grass on the top of the
cliff. By thrusting my head out a little way I was able to get a good
view of everything that was happening down below, and I was not very
much astonished, but almost rejoiced, when I recognised my water-nymph.
She was wringing the seafoam from her long hair. Her wet garment
outlined her supple figure and her high bosom.

Soon a boat appeared in the distance; it drew near rapidly; and, as on
the night before, a man in a Tartar cap stepped out of it, but he now
had his hair cropped round in the Cossack fashion, and a large knife was
sticking out behind his leather belt.

"Yanko," the girl said, "all is lost!"

Then their conversation continued, but so softly that I could not catch
a word of it.

"But where is the blind boy?" said Yanko at last, raising his voice.

"I have told him to come," was the reply.

After a few minutes the blind boy appeared, dragging on his back a sack,
which they placed in the boat.

"Listen!" said Yanko to the blind boy. "Guard that place! You know where
I mean? There are valuable goods there. Tell"--I could not catch the
name--"that I am no longer his servant. Things have gone badly. He will
see me no more. It is dangerous now. I will go seek work in another
place, and he will never be able to find another dare-devil like me.
Tell him also that if he had paid me a little better for my labours, I
would not have forsaken him. For me there is a way anywhere, if only the
wind blows and the sea roars."

After a short silence Yanko continued.

"She is coming with me. It is impossible for her to remain here. Tell
the old woman that it is time for her to die; she has been here a long
time, and the line must be drawn somewhere. As for us, she will never
see us any more."

"And I?" said the blind boy in a plaintive voice.

"What use have I for you?" was the answer.

In the meantime my Undine had sprung into the boat. She beckoned to her
companion with her hand. He placed something in the blind boy's hand and
added:

"There, buy yourself some gingerbreads."

"Is this all?" said the blind boy.

"Well, here is some more."

The money fell and jingled as it struck the rock.

The blind boy did not pick it up. Yanko took his seat in the boat; the
wind was blowing from the shore; they hoisted the little sail and sped
rapidly away. For a long time the white sail gleamed in the moonlight
amid the dark waves. Still the blind boy remained seated upon the shore,
and then I heard something which sounded like sobbing. The blind boy
was, in fact, weeping, and for a long, long time his tears flowed... I
grew heavy-hearted. For what reason should fate have thrown me into the
peaceful circle of honourable smugglers? Like a stone cast into a smooth
well, I had disturbed their quietude, and I barely escaped going to the
bottom like a stone.

I returned home. In the hall the burnt-out candle was spluttering on
a wooden platter, and my Cossack, contrary to orders, was fast asleep,
with his gun held in both hands. I left him at rest, took the candle,
and entered the hut. Alas! my cashbox, my sabre with the silver chasing,
my Daghestan dagger--the gift of a friend--all had vanished! It was
then that I guessed what articles the cursed blind boy had been dragging
along. Roughly shaking the Cossack, I woke him up, rated him, and lost
my temper. But what was the good of that? And would it not have been
ridiculous to complain to the authorities that I had been robbed by a
blind boy and all but drowned by an eighteen-year-old girl?

Thank heaven an opportunity of getting away presented itself in the
morning, and I left Taman.

What became of the old woman and the poor blind boy I know not.
And, besides, what are the joys and sorrows of mankind to me--me, a
travelling officer, and one, moreover, with an order for post-horses on
Government business?

I ONCE happened to spend a couple of weeks in a Cossack village on our
left flank. A battalion of infantry was stationed there; and it was the
custom of the officers to meet at each other's quarters in turn and play
cards in the evening.

On one occasion--it was at Major S----'s--finding our game of Boston not
sufficiently absorbing, we threw the cards under the table and sat
on for a long time, talking. The conversation, for once in a way, was
interesting. The subject was the Mussulman tradition that a man's fate
is written in heaven, and we discussed the fact that it was gaining many
votaries, even amongst our own countrymen. Each of us related various
extraordinary occurrences, pro or contra.

"What you have been saying, gentlemen, proves nothing," said the old
major. "I presume there is not one of you who has actually been a
witness of the strange events which you are citing in support of your
opinions?"

"Not one, of course," said many of the guests. "But we have heard of
them from trustworthy people."...

"It is all nonsense!" someone said. "Where are the trustworthy people
who have seen the Register in which the appointed hour of our death is
recorded?... And if predestination really exists, why are free will
and reason granted us? Why are we obliged to render an account of our
actions?"

At that moment an officer who was sitting in a corner of the room stood
up, and, coming slowly to the table, surveyed us all with a quiet and
solemn glance. He was a native of Servia, as was evident from his name.

The outward appearance of Lieutenant Vulich was quite in keeping with
his character. His height, swarthy complexion, black hair, piercing
black eyes, large but straight nose--an attribute of his nation--and the
cold and melancholy smile which ever hovered around his lips, all seemed
to concur in lending him the appearance of a man apart, incapable of
reciprocating the thoughts and passions of those whom fate gave him for
companions.

He was brave; talked little, but sharply; confided his thoughts and
family secrets to no one; drank hardly a drop of wine; and never dangled
after the young Cossack girls, whose charm it is difficult to realise
without having seen them. It was said, however, that the colonel's
wife was not indifferent to those expressive eyes of his; but he was
seriously angry if any hint on the subject was made.

There was only one passion which he did not conceal--the passion for
gambling. At the green table he would become oblivious of everything. He
usually lost, but his constant ill success only aroused his obstinacy.
It was related that, on one occasion, during a nocturnal expedition,
he was keeping the bank on a pillow, and had a terrific run of luck.
Suddenly shots rang out. The alarm was sounded; all but Vulich jumped up
and rushed to arms.

"Stake, va banque!" he cried to one of the most ardent gamblers.

"Seven," the latter answered as he hurried off.

Notwithstanding the general confusion, Vulich calmly finished the
deal--seven was the card. By the time he reached the cordon a violent
fusillade was in progress. Vulich did not trouble himself about the
bullets or the sabres of the Chechenes, but sought for the lucky
gambler.

"Seven it was!" he cried out, as at length he perceived him in the
cordon of skirmishers who were beginning to dislodge the enemy from the
wood; and going up to him, he drew out his purse and pocket-book and
handed them to the winner, notwithstanding the latter's objections on
the score of the inconvenience of the payment. That unpleasant duty
discharged, Vulich dashed forward, carried the soldiers along after him,
and, to the very end of the affair, fought the Chechenes with the utmost
coolness.

When Lieutenant Vulich came up to the table, we all became silent,
expecting to hear, as usual, something original.

"Gentlemen!" he said--and his voice was quiet though lower in tone than
usual--"gentlemen, what is the good of futile discussions? You wish for
proofs? I propose that we try the experiment on ourselves: whether a man
can of his own accord dispose of his life, or whether the fateful moment
is appointed beforehand for each of us. Who is agreeable?"

"Not I. Not I," came from all sides.

"There's a queer fellow for you! He does get strange ideas into his
head!"

"I propose a wager," I said in jest.

"What sort of wager?"

"I maintain that there is no such thing as predestination," I said,
scattering on the table a score or so of ducats--all I had in my pocket.

"Done," answered Vulich in a hollow voice. "Major, you will be judge.
Here are fifteen ducats, the remaining five you owe me, kindly add them
to the others."

"Very well," said the major; "though, indeed, I do not understand what
is the question at issue and how you will decide it!"

Without a word Vulich went into the major's bedroom, and we followed
him. He went up to the wall on which the major's weapons were hanging,
and took down at random one of the pistols--of which there were several
of different calibres. We were still in the dark as to what he meant
to do. But, when he cocked the pistol and sprinkled powder in the pan,
several of the officers, crying out in spite of themselves, seized him
by the arms.

"What are you going to do?" they exclaimed. "This is madness!"

"Gentlemen!" he said slowly, disengaging his arm. "Who would like to pay
twenty ducats for me?"

They were silent and drew away.

Vulich went into the other room and sat by the table; we all followed
him. With a sign he invited us to sit round him. We obeyed in
silence--at that moment he had acquired a certain mysterious authority
over us. I stared fixedly into his face; but he met my scrutinising
gaze with a quiet and steady glance, and his pallid lips smiled. But,
notwithstanding his composure, it seemed to me that I could read the
stamp of death upon his pale countenance. I have noticed--and many old
soldiers have corroborated my observation--that a man who is to die in
a few hours frequently bears on his face a certain strange stamp of
inevitable fate, so that it is difficult for practised eyes to be
mistaken.

"You will die to-day!" I said to Vulich.

He turned towards me rapidly, but answered slowly and quietly:

"May be so, may be not."...

Then, addressing himself to the major, he asked:

"Is the pistol loaded?"

The major, in the confusion, could not quite remember.

"There, that will do, Vulich!" exclaimed somebody. "Of course it must be
loaded, if it was one of those hanging on the wall there over our heads.
What a man you are for joking!"

"A silly joke, too!" struck in another.

"I wager fifty rubles to five that the pistol is not loaded!" cried a
third.

A new bet was made.

I was beginning to get tired of it all.

"Listen," I said, "either shoot yourself, or hang up the pistol in its
place and let us go to bed."

"Yes, of course!" many exclaimed. "Let us go to bed."

"Gentlemen, I beg of you not to move," said Vulich, putting the muzzle
of the pistol to his forehead.

We were all petrified.

"Mr. Pechorin," he added, "take a card and throw it up in the air."

I took, as I remember now, an ace of hearts off the table and threw
it into the air. All held their breath. With eyes full of terror and
a certain vague curiosity they glanced rapidly from the pistol to the
fateful ace, which slowly descended, quivering in the air. At the moment
it touched the table Vulich pulled the trigger... a flash in the pan!

"Thank God!" many exclaimed. "It wasn't loaded!"

"Let us see, though," said Vulich.

He cocked the pistol again, and took aim at a forage-cap which was
hanging above the window. A shot rang out. Smoke filled the room; when
it cleared away, the forage-cap was taken down. It had been shot right
through the centre, and the bullet was deeply embedded in the wall.

For two or three minutes no one was able to utter a word. Very quietly
Vulich poured my ducats from the major's purse into his own.

Discussions arose as to why the pistol had not gone off the first
time. Some maintained that probably the pan had been obstructed; others
whispered that the powder had been damp the first time, and that,
afterwards, Vulich had sprinkled some fresh powder on it; but I
maintained that the last supposition was wrong, because I had not once
taken my eyes off the pistol.

"You are lucky at play!" I said to Vulich...

"For the first time in my life!" he answered, with a complacent smile.
"It is better than 'bank' and 'shtoss.'" [23]

"But, on the other hand, slightly more dangerous!"

"Well? Have you begun to believe in predestination?"

"I do believe in it; only I cannot understand now why it appeared to me
that you must inevitably die to-day!"

And this same man, who, such a short time before, had with the greatest
calmness aimed a pistol at his own forehead, now suddenly fired up and
became embarrassed.

"That will do, though!" he said, rising to his feet. "Our wager is
finished, and now your observations, it seems to me, are out of place."

He took up his cap and departed. The whole affair struck me as being
strange--and not without reason. Shortly after that, all the officers
broke up and went home, discussing Vulich's freaks from different points
of view, and, doubtless, with one voice calling me an egoist for having
taken up a wager against a man who wanted to shoot himself, as if he
could not have found a convenient opportunity without my intervention.

I returned home by the deserted byways of the village. The moon, full
and red like the glow of a conflagration, was beginning to make its
appearance from behind the jagged horizon of the house-tops; the stars
were shining tranquilly in the deep, blue vault of the sky; and I was
struck by the absurdity of the idea when I recalled to mind that once
upon a time there were some exceedingly wise people who thought that the
stars of heaven participated in our insignificant squabbles for a slice
of ground, or some other imaginary rights. And what then? These lamps,
lighted, so they fancied, only to illuminate their battles and triumphs,
are burning with all their former brilliance, whilst the wiseacres
themselves, together with their hopes and passions, have long been
extinguished, like a little fire kindled at the edge of a forest by a
careless wayfarer! But, on the other hand, what strength of will
was lent them by the conviction that the entire heavens, with
their innumerable habitants, were looking at them with a sympathy,
unalterable, though mute!... And we, their miserable descendants,
roaming over the earth, without faith, without pride, without enjoyment,
and without terror--except that involuntary awe which makes the heart
shrink at the thought of the inevitable end--we are no longer capable
of great sacrifices, either for the good of mankind or even for our own
happiness, because we know the impossibility of such happiness; and,
just as our ancestors used to fling themselves from one delusion to
another, we pass indifferently from doubt to doubt, without possessing,
as they did, either hope or even that vague though, at the same time,
keen enjoyment which the soul encounters at every struggle with mankind
or with destiny.

These and many other similar thoughts passed through my mind, but I
did not follow them up, because I do not like to dwell upon abstract
ideas--for what do they lead to? In my early youth I was a dreamer; I
loved to hug to my bosom the images--now gloomy, now rainbowhued--which
my restless and eager imagination drew for me. And what is there left to
me of all these? Only such weariness as might be felt after a battle by
night with a phantom--only a confused memory full of regrets. In that
vain contest I have exhausted the warmth of soul and firmness of will
indispensable to an active life. I have entered upon that life after
having already lived through it in thought, and it has become wearisome
and nauseous to me, as the reading of a bad imitation of a book is to
one who has long been familiar with the original.

The events of that evening produced a somewhat deep impression upon me
and excited my nerves. I do not know for certain whether I now believe
in predestination or not, but on that evening I believed in it firmly.
The proof was startling, and I, notwithstanding that I had laughed at
our forefathers and their obliging astrology, fell involuntarily into
their way of thinking. However, I stopped myself in time from following
that dangerous road, and, as I have made it a rule not to reject
anything decisively and not to trust anything blindly, I cast
metaphysics aside and began to look at what was beneath my feet. The
precaution was well-timed. I only just escaped stumbling over something
thick and soft, but, to all appearance, inanimate. I bent down to see
what it was, and, by the light of the moon, which now shone right upon
the road, I perceived that it was a pig which had been cut in two with
a sabre... I had hardly time to examine it before I heard the sound of
steps, and two Cossacks came running out of a byway. One of them came up
to me and enquired whether I had seen a drunken Cossack chasing a pig.
I informed him that I had not met the Cossack and pointed to the unhappy
victim of his rabid bravery.

"The scoundrel!" said the second Cossack. "No sooner does he drink his
fill of chikhir [24] than off he goes and cuts up anything that comes in
his way. Let us be after him, Eremeich, we must tie him up or else"...

They took themselves off, and I continued my way with greater caution,
and at length arrived at my lodgings without mishap.

I was living with a certain old Cossack underofficer whom I loved,
not only on account of his kindly disposition, but also, and more
especially, on account of his pretty daughter, Nastya.

Wrapped up in a sheepskin coat she was waiting for me, as usual, by the
wicket gate. The moon illumined her charming little lips, now turned
blue by the cold of the night. Recognizing me she smiled; but I was in
no mood to linger with her.

"Good night, Nastya!" I said, and passed on.

She was about to make some answer, but only sighed.

I fastened the door of my room after me, lighted a candle, and threw
myself on the bed; but, on that occasion, slumber caused its presence
to be awaited longer than usual. By the time I fell asleep the east was
beginning to grow pale, but I was evidently predestined not to have
my sleep out. At four o'clock in the morning two fists knocked at my
window. I sprang up.

"What is the matter?"

"Get up--dress yourself!"

I dressed hurriedly and went out.

"Do you know what has happened?" said three officers who had come for
me, speaking all in one voice.

They were deadly pale.

"No, what is it?"

"Vulich has been murdered!"

I was petrified.

"Yes, murdered!" they continued. "Let us lose no time and go!"

"But where to?"

"You will learn as we go."

We set off. They told me all that had happened, supplementing their
story with a variety of observations on the subject of the strange
predestination which had saved Vulich from imminent death half an hour
before he actually met his end.

Vulich had been walking alone along a dark street, and the drunken
Cossack who had cut up the pig had sprung out upon him, and perhaps
would have passed him by without noticing him, had not Vulich stopped
suddenly and said:

"Whom are you looking for, my man?"

"You!" answered the Cossack, striking him with his sabre; and he cleft
him from the shoulder almost to the heart...

The two Cossacks who had met me and followed the murderer had arrived on
the scene and raised the wounded man from the ground. But he was already
at his last gasp and said these three words only--"he was right!"

I alone understood the dark significance of those words: they referred
to me. I had involuntarily foretold his fate to poor Vulich. My instinct
had not deceived me; I had indeed read on his changed countenance the
signs of approaching death.

The murderer had locked himself up in an empty hut at the end of the
village; and thither we went. A number of women, all of them weeping,
were running in the same direction; at times a belated Cossack, hastily
buckling on his dagger, sprang out into the street and overtook us at a
run. The tumult was dreadful.

At length we arrived on the scene and found a crowd standing around the
hut, the door and shutters of which were locked on the inside. Groups of
officers and Cossacks were engaged in heated discussions; the women were
shrieking, wailing and talking all in one breath. One of the old
women struck my attention by her meaning looks and the frantic despair
expressed upon her face. She was sitting on a thick plank, leaning her
elbows on her knees and supporting her head with her hands. It was the
mother of the murderer. At times her lips moved... Was it a prayer they
were whispering, or a curse?

Meanwhile it was necessary to decide upon some course of action and to
seize the criminal. Nobody, however, made bold to be the first to rush
forward.

I went up to the window and looked in through a chink in the shutter.
The criminal, pale of face, was lying on the floor, holding a pistol in
his right hand. The blood-stained sabre was beside him. His expressive
eyes were rolling in terror; at times he shuddered and clutched at his
head, as if indistinctly recalling the events of yesterday. I could not
read any sign of great determination in that uneasy glance of his, and
I told the major that it would be better at once to give orders to the
Cossacks to burst open the door and rush in, than to wait until the
murderer had quite recovered his senses.

At that moment the old captain of the Cossacks went up to the door and
called the murderer by name. The latter answered back.

"You have committed a sin, brother Ephimych!" said the captain, "so all
you can do now is to submit."

"I will not submit!" answered the Cossack.

"Have you no fear of God! You see, you are not one of those cursed
Chechenes, but an honest Christian! Come, if you have done it in an
unguarded moment there is no help for it! You cannot escape your fate!"

"I will not submit!" exclaimed the Cossack menacingly, and we could hear
the snap of the cocked trigger.

"Hey, my good woman!" said the Cossack captain to the old woman. "Say a
word to your son--perhaps he will lend an ear to you... You see, to go
on like this is only to make God angry. And look, the gentlemen here
have already been waiting two hours."

The old woman gazed fixedly at him and shook her head.

"Vasili Petrovich," said the captain, going up to the major; "he will
not surrender. I know him! If it comes to smashing in the door he will
strike down several of our men. Would it not be better if you ordered
him to be shot? There is a wide chink in the shutter."

At that moment a strange idea flashed through my head--like Vulich I
proposed to put fate to the test.

"Wait," I said to the major, "I will take him alive."

Bidding the captain enter into a conversation with the murderer and
setting three Cossacks at the door ready to force it open and rush to my
aid at a given signal, I walked round the hut and approached the fatal
window. My heart was beating violently.

"Aha, you cursed wretch!" cried the captain. "Are you laughing at us,
eh? Or do you think that we won't be able to get the better of you?"

He began to knock at the door with all his might. Putting my eye to the
chink, I followed the movements of the Cossack, who was not expecting an
attack from that direction. I pulled the shutter away suddenly and threw
myself in at the window, head foremost. A shot rang out right over my
ear, and the bullet tore off one of my epaulettes. But the smoke which
filled the room prevented my adversary from finding the sabre which was
lying beside him. I seized him by the arms; the Cossacks burst in; and
three minutes had not elapsed before they had the criminal bound and led
off under escort.

The people dispersed, the officers congratulated me--and indeed there
was cause for congratulation.

After all that, it would hardly seem possible to avoid becoming a
fatalist? But who knows for certain whether he is convinced of anything
or not? And how often is a deception of the senses or an error of the
reason accepted as a conviction!... I prefer to doubt everything. Such a
disposition is no bar to decision of character; on the contrary, so far
as I am concerned, I always advance more boldly when I do not know what
is awaiting me. You see, nothing can happen worse than death--and from
death there is no escape.

On my return to the fortress I related to Maksim Maksimych all that
I had seen and experienced; and I sought to learn his opinion on the
subject of predestination.

At first he did not understand the word. I explained it to him as well
as I could, and then he said, with a significant shake of the head:

"Yes, sir, of course! It was a very ingenious trick! However, these
Asiatic pistols often miss fire if they are badly oiled or if you don't
press hard enough on the trigger. I confess I don't like the Circassian
carbines either. Somehow or other they don't suit the like of us: the
butt end is so small, and any minute you may get your nose burnt! On the
other hand, their sabres, now--well, all I need say is, my best respects
to them!"

Afterwards he said, on reflecting a little:

"Yes, it is a pity about the poor fellow! The devil must have put it
into his head to start a conversation with a drunken man at night!
However, it is evident that fate had written it so at his birth!"

I could not get anything more out of Maksim Maksimych; generally
speaking, he had no liking for metaphysical disputations.

YESTERDAY I arrived at Pyatigorsk. I have engaged lodgings at the
extreme end of the town, the highest part, at the foot of Mount Mashuk:
during a storm the clouds will descend on to the roof of my dwelling.

This morning at five o'clock, when I opened my window, the room was
filled with the fragrance of the flowers growing in the modest little
front-garden. Branches of bloom-laden bird-cherry trees peep in at my
window, and now and again the breeze bestrews my writing-table with
their white petals. The view which meets my gaze on three sides is
wonderful: westward towers five-peaked Beshtau, blue as "the last cloud
of a dispersed storm," [25] and northward rises Mashuk, like a shaggy
Persian cap, shutting in the whole of that quarter of the horizon.
Eastward the outlook is more cheery: down below are displayed the
varied hues of the brand-new, spotlessly clean, little town, with its
murmuring, health-giving springs and its babbling, many-tongued throng.
Yonder, further away, the mountains tower up in an amphitheatre, ever
bluer and mistier; and, at the edge of the horizon, stretches the
silver chain of snow-clad summits, beginning with Kazbek and ending with
two-peaked Elbruz... Blithe is life in such a land! A feeling akin to
rapture is diffused through all my veins. The air is pure and fresh,
like the kiss of a child; the sun is bright, the sky is blue--what more
could one possibly wish for? What need, in such a place as this, of
passions, desires, regrets?

However, it is time to be stirring. I will go to the Elizaveta spring--I
am told that the whole society of the watering-place assembles there in
the morning.

*****

Descending into the middle of the town, I walked along the boulevard,
on which I met a few melancholy groups slowly ascending the mountain.
These, for the most part, were the families of landed-gentry from the
steppes--as could be guessed at once from the threadbare, old-fashioned
frock-coats of the husbands and the exquisite attire of the wives
and daughters. Evidently they already had all the young men of the
watering-place at their fingers' ends, because they looked at me with
a tender curiosity. The Petersburg cut of my coat misled them; but
they soon recognised the military epaulettes, and turned away with
indignation.

The wives of the local authorities--the hostesses, so to speak, of the
waters--were more graciously inclined. They carry lorgnettes, and they
pay less attention to a uniform--they have grown accustomed in the
Caucasus to meeting a fervid heart beneath a numbered button and a
cultured intellect beneath a white forage-cap. These ladies are very
charming, and long continue to be charming. Each year their adorers
are exchanged for new ones, and in that very fact, it may be, lies the
secret of their unwearying amiability.

Ascending by the narrow path to the Elizaveta spring, I overtook a crowd
of officials and military men, who, as I subsequently learned, compose a
class apart amongst those who place their hopes in the medicinal waters.
They drink--but not water--take but few walks, indulge in only mild
flirtations, gamble, and complain of boredom.

They are dandies. In letting their wicker-sheathed tumblers down into
the well of sulphurous water they assume academical poses. The officials
wear bright blue cravats; the military men have ruffs sticking out above
their collars. They affect a profound contempt for provincial ladies,
and sigh for the aristocratic drawing-rooms of the capitals--to which
they are not admitted.

Here is the well at last!... Upon the small square adjoining it a little
house with a red roof over the bath is erected, and somewhat further on
there is a gallery in which the people walk when it rains. Some wounded
officers were sitting--pale and melancholy--on a bench, with their
crutches drawn up. A few ladies, their tumbler of water finished, were
walking with rapid steps to and fro about the square. There were two or
three pretty faces amongst them. Beneath the avenues of the vines with
which the slope of Mashuk is covered, occasional glimpses could be
caught of the gay-coloured hat of a lover of solitude for two--for
beside that hat I always noticed either a military forage-cap or the
ugly round hat of a civilian. Upon the steep cliff, where the pavilion
called "The Aeolian Harp" is erected, figured the lovers of scenery,
directing their telescopes upon Elbruz. Amongst them were a couple of
tutors, with their pupils who had come to be cured of scrofula.

Out of breath, I came to a standstill at the edge of the mountain, and,
leaning against the corner of a little house, I began to examine the
picturesque surroundings, when suddenly I heard behind me a familiar
voice.

"Pechorin! Have you been here long?"

I turned round. Grushnitski! We embraced. I had made his acquaintance
in the active service detachment. He had been wounded in the foot by a
bullet and had come to the waters a week or so before me.

Grushnitski is a cadet; he has only been a year in the service. From
a kind of foppery peculiar to himself, he wears the thick cloak of a
common soldier. He has also the soldier's cross of St. George. He is
well built, swarthy and black-haired. To look at him, you might say he
was a man of twenty-five, although he is scarcely twenty-one. He tosses
his head when he speaks, and keeps continually twirling his moustache
with his left hand, his right hand being occupied with the crutch on
which he leans. He speaks rapidly and affectedly; he is one of those
people who have a high-sounding phrase ready for every occasion in
life, who remain untouched by simple beauty, and who drape themselves
majestically in extraordinary sentiments, exalted passions and
exceptional sufferings. To produce an effect is their delight; they have
an almost insensate fondness for romantic provincial ladies. When
old age approaches they become either peaceful landed-gentry or
drunkards--sometimes both. Frequently they have many good qualities,
but they have not a grain of poetry in their composition. Grushnitski's
passion was declamation. He would deluge you with words so soon as the
conversation went beyond the sphere of ordinary ideas. I have never been
able to dispute with him. He neither answers your questions nor listens
to you. So soon as you stop, he begins a lengthy tirade, which has
the appearance of being in some sort connected with what you have been
saying, but which is, in fact, only a continuation of his own harangue.

He is witty enough; his epigrams are frequently amusing, but never
malicious, nor to the point. He slays nobody with a single word; he has
no knowledge of men and of their foibles, because all his life he has
been interested in nobody but himself. His aim is to make himself the
hero of a novel. He has so often endeavoured to convince others that he
is a being created not for this world and doomed to certain mysterious
sufferings, that he has almost convinced himself that such he is in
reality. Hence the pride with which he wears his thick soldier's cloak.
I have seen through him, and he dislikes me for that reason, although
to outward appearance we are on the friendliest of terms. Grushnitski
is looked upon as a man of distinguished courage. I have seen him in
action. He waves his sabre, shouts, and hurls himself forward with his
eyes shut. That is not what I should call Russian courage!...

I reciprocate Grushnitski's dislike. I feel that some time or other we
shall come into collision upon a narrow road, and that one of us will
fare badly.

His arrival in the Caucasus is also the result of his romantic
fanaticism. I am convinced that on the eve of his departure from his
paternal village he said with an air of gloom to some pretty neighbour
that he was going away, not so much for the simple purpose of serving
in the army as of seeking death, because... and hereupon, I am sure,
he covered his eyes with his hand and continued thus, "No, you--or
thou--must not know! Your pure soul would shudder! And what would be the
good? What am I to you? Could you understand me?"... and so on.

He has himself told me that the motive which induced him to enter the
K----regiment must remain an everlasting secret between him and Heaven.

However, in moments when he casts aside the tragic mantle, Grushnitski
is charming and entertaining enough. I am always interested to see him
with women--it is then that he puts forth his finest efforts, I think!

We met like a couple of old friends. I began to question him about
the personages of note and as to the sort of life which was led at the
waters.

"It is a rather prosaic life," he said, with a sigh. "Those who drink
the waters in the morning are inert--like all invalids, and those who
drink the wines in the evening are unendurable--like all healthy people!
There are ladies who entertain, but there is no great amusement to be
obtained from them. They play whist, they dress badly and speak French
dreadfully! The only Moscow people here this year are Princess Ligovski
and her daughter--but I am not acquainted with them. My soldier's cloak
is like a seal of renunciation. The sympathy which it arouses is as
painful as charity."

At that moment two ladies walked past us in the direction of the well;
one elderly, the other youthful and slender. I could not obtain a good
view of their faces on account of their hats, but they were dressed in
accordance with the strict rules of the best taste--nothing superfluous.
The second lady was wearing a high-necked dress of pearl-grey, and a
light silk kerchief was wound round her supple neck. Puce-coloured boots
clasped her slim little ankle so charmingly, that even those uninitiated
into the mysteries of beauty would infallibly have sighed, if only from
wonder. There was something maidenly in her easy, but aristocratic gait,
something eluding definition yet intelligible to the glance. As she
walked past us an indefinable perfume, like that which sometimes
breathes from the note of a charming woman, was wafted from her.

"Look!" said Grushnitski, "there is Princess Ligovski with her daughter
Mary, as she calls her after the English manner. They have been here
only three days."

"You already know her name, though?"

"Yes, I heard it by chance," he answered, with a blush. "I confess I do
not desire to make their acquaintance. These haughty aristocrats look
upon us army men just as they would upon savages. What care they if
there is an intellect beneath a numbered forage-cap, and a heart beneath
a thick cloak?"

"Poor cloak!" I said, with a laugh. "But who is the gentleman who is
just going up to them and handing them a tumbler so officiously?"

"Oh, that is Raevich, the Moscow dandy. He is a gambler; you can see
as much at once from that immense gold chain coiling across his
skyblue waistcoat. And what a thick cane he has! Just like Robinson
Crusoe's--and so is his beard too, and his hair is done like a
peasant's."

"You are embittered against the whole human race?"

"And I have cause to be"...

"Oh, really?"

At that moment the ladies left the well and came up to where we were.
Grushnitski succeeded in assuming a dramatic pose with the aid of his
crutch, and in a loud tone of voice answered me in French:

"Mon cher, je hais les hommes pour ne pas les mepriser, car autrement la
vie serait une farce trop degoutante."

The pretty Princess Mary turned round and favoured the orator with a
long and curious glance. Her expression was quite indefinite, but it was
not contemptuous, a fact on which I inwardly congratulated Grushnitski
from my heart.

"She is an extremely pretty girl," I said. "She has such velvet
eyes--yes, velvet is the word. I should advise you to appropriate the
expression when speaking of her eyes. The lower and upper lashes are
so long that the sunbeams are not reflected in her pupils. I love those
eyes without a glitter, they are so soft that they appear to caress you.
However, her eyes seem to be her only good feature... Tell me, are her
teeth white? That is most important! It is a pity that she did not smile
at that high-sounding phrase of yours."

"You are speaking of a pretty woman just as you might of an English
horse," said Grushnitski indignantly.

"Mon cher," I answered, trying to mimic his tone, "je meprise les
femmes, pour ne pas les aimer, car autrement la vie serait un melodrame
trop ridicule."

I turned and left him. For half an hour or so I walked about the avenues
of the vines, the limestone cliffs and the bushes hanging between them.
The day grew hot, and I hurried homewards. Passing the sulphur spring,
I stopped at the covered gallery in order to regain my breath under its
shade, and by so doing I was afforded the opportunity of witnessing a
rather interesting scene. This is the position in which the dramatis
personae were disposed: Princess Ligovski and the Moscow dandy were
sitting on a bench in the covered gallery--apparently engaged in serious
conversation. Princess Mary, who had doubtless by this time finished her
last tumbler, was walking pensively to and fro by the well. Grushnitski
was standing by the well itself; there was nobody else on the square.

I went up closer and concealed myself behind a corner of the gallery.
At that moment Grushnitski let his tumbler fall on the sand and made
strenuous efforts to stoop in order to pick it up; but his injured foot
prevented him. Poor fellow! How he tried all kinds of artifices, as he
leaned on his crutch, and all in vain! His expressive countenance was,
in fact, a picture of suffering.

Princess Mary saw the whole scene better than I.

Lighter than a bird she sprang towards him, stooped, picked up the
tumbler, and handed it to him with a gesture full of ineffable charm.
Then she blushed furiously, glanced round at the gallery, and, having
assured herself that her mother apparently had not seen anything,
immediately regained her composure. By the time Grushnitski had opened
his mouth to thank her she was a long way off. A moment after, she came
out of the gallery with her mother and the dandy, but, in passing by
Grushnitski, she assumed a most decorous and serious air. She did not
even turn round, she did not even observe the passionate gaze which he
kept fixed upon her for a long time until she had descended the mountain
and was hidden behind the lime trees of the boulevard... Presently I
caught glimpses of her hat as she walked along the street. She hurried
through the gate of one of the best houses in Pyatigorsk; her mother
walked behind her and bowed adieu to Raevich at the gate.

It was only then that the poor, passionate cadet noticed my presence.

"Did you see?" he said, pressing my hand vigorously. "She is an angel,
simply an angel!"

"Why?" I inquired, with an air of the purest simplicity.

"Did you not see, then?"

"No. I saw her picking up your tumbler. If there had been an attendant
there he would have done the same thing--and quicker too, in the hope
of receiving a tip. It is quite easy, however, to understand that she
pitied you; you made such a terrible grimace when you walked on the
wounded foot."

"And can it be that seeing her, as you did, at that moment when her soul
was shining in her eyes, you were not in the least affected?"

"No."

I was lying, but I wanted to exasperate him. I have an innate passion
for contradiction--my whole life has been nothing but a series of
melancholy and vain contradictions of heart or reason. The presence of
an enthusiast chills me with a twelfth-night cold, and I believe
that constant association with a person of a flaccid and phlegmatic
temperament would have turned me into an impassioned visionary. I
confess, too, that an unpleasant but familiar sensation was coursing
lightly through my heart at that moment. It was--envy. I say "envy"
boldly, because I am accustomed to acknowledge everything to myself.
It would be hard to find a young man who, if his idle fancy had been
attracted by a pretty woman and he had suddenly found her openly
singling out before his eyes another man equally unknown to her--it
would be hard, I say, to find such a young man (living, of course, in
the great world and accustomed to indulge his self-love) who would not
have been unpleasantly taken aback in such a case.

In silence Grushnitski and I descended the mountain and walked along
the boulevard, past the windows of the house where our beauty had hidden
herself. She was sitting by the window. Grushnitski, plucking me by the
arm, cast upon her one of those gloomily tender glances which have so
little effect upon women. I directed my lorgnette at her, and observed
that she smiled at his glance and that my insolent lorgnette made
her downright angry. And how, indeed, should a Caucasian military man
presume to direct his eyeglass at a princess from Moscow?...

THIS morning the doctor came to see me. His name is Werner, but he is
a Russian. What is there surprising in that? I have known a man named
Ivanov, who was a German.

Werner is a remarkable man, and that for many reasons. Like almost all
medical men he is a sceptic and a materialist, but, at the same time, he
is a genuine poet--a poet always in deeds and often in words, although
he has never written two verses in his life. He has mastered all the
living chords of the human heart, just as one learns the veins of a
corpse, but he has never known how to avail himself of his knowledge. In
like manner, it sometimes happens that an excellent anatomist does not
know how to cure a fever. Werner usually made fun of his patients in
private; but once I saw him weeping over a dying soldier... He was poor,
and dreamed of millions, but he would not take a single step out of his
way for the sake of money. He once told me that he would rather do a
favour to an enemy than to a friend, because, in the latter case,
it would mean selling his beneficence, whilst hatred only increases
proportionately to the magnanimity of the adversary. He had a malicious
tongue; and more than one good, simple soul has acquired the reputation
of a vulgar fool through being labelled with one of his epigrams. His
rivals, envious medical men of the watering-place, spread the report
that he was in the habit of drawing caricatures of his patients. The
patients were incensed, and almost all of them discarded him. His
friends, that is to say all the genuinely well-bred people who were
serving in the Caucasus, vainly endeavoured to restore his fallen
credit.

His outward appearance was of the type which, at the first glance,
creates an unpleasant impression, but which you get to like in course of
time, when the eye learns to read in the irregular features the stamp of
a tried and lofty soul. Instances have been known of women falling madly
in love with men of that sort, and having no desire to exchange their
ugliness for the beauty of the freshest and rosiest of Endymions.
We must give women their due: they possess an instinct for spiritual
beauty, for which reason, possibly, men such as Werner love women so
passionately.

Werner was small and lean and as weak as a baby. One of his legs was
shorter than the other, as was the case with Byron. In comparison with
his body, his head seemed enormous. His hair was cropped close, and
the unevennesses of his cranium, thus laid bare, would have struck a
phrenologist by reason of the strange intertexture of contradictory
propensities. His little, ever restless, black eyes seemed as if they
were endeavouring to fathom your thoughts. Taste and neatness were to be
observed in his dress. His small, lean, sinewy hands flaunted themselves
in bright-yellow gloves. His frock-coat, cravat and waistcoat were
invariably of black. The young men dubbed him Mephistopheles; he
pretended to be angry at the nickname, but in reality it flattered his
vanity. Werner and I soon understood each other and became friends,
because I, for my part, am illadapted for friendship. Of two friends,
one is always the slave of the other, although frequently neither
acknowledges the fact to himself. Now, the slave I could not be; and to
be the master would be a wearisome trouble, because, at the same time,
deception would be required. Besides, I have servants and money!

Our friendship originated in the following circumstances. I met Werner
at S----, in the midst of a numerous and noisy circle of young
people. Towards the end of the evening the conversation took a
philosophico-metaphysical turn. We discussed the subject of convictions,
and each of us had some different conviction to declare.

"So far as I am concerned," said the doctor, "I am convinced of one
thing only"...

"And that is--?" I asked, desirous of learning the opinion of a man who
had been silent till then.

"Of the fact," he answered, "that sooner or later, one fine morning, I
shall die."

"I am better off than you," I said. "In addition to that, I have a
further conviction, namely, that, one very nasty evening, I had the
misfortune to be born."

All the others considered that we were talking nonsense, but indeed not
one of them said anything more sensible. From that moment we singled
each other out amongst the crowd. We used frequently to meet and discuss
abstract subjects in a very serious manner, until each observed that the
other was throwing dust in his eyes. Then, looking significantly at each
other--as, according to Cicero, the Roman augurs used to do--we
would burst out laughing heartily and, having had our laugh, we would
separate, well content with our evening.

I was lying on a couch, my eyes fixed upon the ceiling and my hands
clasped behind my head, when Werner entered my room. He sat down in an
easy chair, placed his cane in a corner, yawned, and announced that it
was getting hot out of doors. I replied that the flies were bothering
me--and we both fell silent.

"Observe, my dear doctor," I said, "that, but for fools, the world would
be a very dull place. Look! Here are you and I, both sensible men!
We know beforehand that it is possible to dispute ad infinitum about
everything--and so we do not dispute. Each of us knows almost all the
other's secret thoughts: to us a single word is a whole history; we see
the grain of every one of our feelings through a threefold husk. What
is sad, we laugh at; what is laughable, we grieve at; but, to tell the
truth, we are fairly indifferent, generally speaking, to everything
except ourselves. Consequently, there can be no interchange of feelings
and thoughts between us; each of us knows all he cares to know about
the other, and that knowledge is all he wants. One expedient remains--to
tell the news. So tell me some news."

Fatigued by this lengthy speech, I closed my eyes and yawned. The doctor
answered after thinking awhile:

"There is an idea, all the same, in that nonsense of yours."

"Two," I replied.

"Tell me one, and I will tell you the other."

"Very well, begin!" I said, continuing to examine the ceiling and
smiling inwardly.

"You are anxious for information about some of the new-comers here, and
I can guess who it is, because they, for their part, have already been
inquiring about you."

"Doctor! Decidedly it is impossible for us to hold a conversation! We
read into each other's soul."

"Now the other idea?"...

"Here it is: I wanted to make you relate something, for the following
reasons: firstly, listening is less fatiguing than talking; secondly,
the listener cannot commit himself; thirdly, he can learn another's
secret; fourthly, sensible people, such as you, prefer listeners to
speakers. Now to business; what did Princess Ligovski tell you about
me?"

"You are quite sure that it was Princess Ligovski... and not Princess
Mary?"...

"Quite sure."

"Why?"

"Because Princess Mary inquired about Grushnitski."

"You are gifted with a fine imagination! Princess Mary said that she was
convinced that the young man in the soldier's cloak had been reduced to
the ranks on account of a duel"...

"I hope you left her cherishing that pleasant delusion"...

"Of course"...

"A plot!" I exclaimed in rapture. "We will make it our business to see
to the denouement of this little comedy. It is obvious that fate is
taking care that I shall not be bored!"

"I have a presentiment," said the doctor, "that poor Grushnitski will be
your victim."

"Proceed, doctor."

"Princess Ligovski said that your face was familiar to her. I observed
that she had probably met you in Petersburg--somewhere in society...
I told her your name. She knew it well. It appears that your history
created a great stir there... She began to tell us of your adventures,
most likely supplementing the gossip of society with observations of her
own... Her daughter listened with curiosity. In her imagination you
have become the hero of a novel in a new style... I did not contradict
Princess Ligovski, although I knew that she was talking nonsense."

"Worthy friend!" I said, extending my hand to him.

The doctor pressed it feelingly and continued:

"If you like I will present you"...

"Good heavens!" I said, clapping my hands. "Are heroes ever presented?
In no other way do they make the acquaintance of their beloved than by
saving her from certain death!"...

"And you really wish to court Princess Mary?"

"Not at all, far from it!... Doctor, I triumph at last! You do not
understand me!... It vexes me, however," I continued after a moment's
silence. "I never reveal my secrets myself, but I am exceedingly fond of
their being guessed, because in that way I can always disavow them upon
occasion. However, you must describe both mother and daughter to me.
What sort of people are they?"

"In the first place, Princess Ligovski is a woman of forty-five,"
answered Werner. "She has a splendid digestion, but her blood is out of
order--there are red spots on her cheeks. She has spent the latter half
of her life in Moscow, and has grown stout from leading an inactive
life there. She loves spicy stories, and sometimes says improper things
herself when her daughter is out of the room. She has declared to me
that her daughter is as innocent as a dove. What does that matter to
me?... I was going to answer that she might be at her ease, because I
would never tell anyone. Princess Ligovski is taking the cure for her
rheumatism, and the daughter, for goodness knows what. I have ordered
each of them to drink two tumblers a day of sulphurous water, and to
bathe twice a week in the diluted bath. Princess Ligovski is
apparently unaccustomed to giving orders. She cherishes respect for
the intelligence and attainments of her daughter, who has read Byron in
English and knows algebra: in Moscow, evidently, the ladies have entered
upon the paths of erudition--and a good thing, too! The men here are
generally so unamiable, that, for a clever woman, it must be intolerable
to flirt with them. Princess Ligovski is very fond of young people;
Princess Mary looks on them with a certain contempt--a Moscow habit! In
Moscow they cherish only wits of not less than forty."

"You have been in Moscow, doctor?"

"Yes, I had a practice there."

"Continue."

"But I think I have told everything... No, there is something else:
Princess Mary, it seems, loves to discuss emotions, passions, etcetera.
She was in Petersburg for one winter, and disliked it--especially the
society: no doubt she was coldly received."

"You have not seen anyone with them today?"

"On the contrary, there was an aide-de-camp, a stiff guardsman, and a
lady--one of the latest arrivals, a relation of Princess Ligovski on the
husband's side--very pretty, but apparently very ill... Have you not met
her at the well? She is of medium height, fair, with regular features;
she has the complexion of a consumptive, and there is a little black
mole on her right cheek. I was struck by the expressiveness of her
face."

"A mole!" I muttered through my teeth. "Is it possible?"

The doctor looked at me, and, laying his hand on my heart, said
triumphantly:

"You know her!"

My heart was, in fact, beating more violently than usual.

"It is your turn, now, to triumph," I said. "But I rely on you: you
will not betray me. I have not seen her yet, but I am convinced that I
recognise from your portrait a woman whom I loved in the old days... Do
not speak a word to her about me; if she asks any questions, give a bad
report of me."

"Be it so!" said Werner, shrugging his shoulders.

When he had departed, my heart was compressed with terrible grief.
Has destiny brought us together again in the Caucasus, or has she come
hither on purpose, knowing that she would meet me?... And how shall we
meet?... And then, is it she?... My presentiments have never deceived
me. There is not a man in the world over whom the past has acquired such
a power as over me. Every recollection of bygone grief or joy strikes
my soul with morbid effect, and draws forth ever the same sounds... I am
stupidly constituted: I forget nothing--nothing!

After dinner, about six o'clock, I went on to the boulevard. It was
crowded. The two princesses were sitting on a bench, surrounded by young
men, who were vying with each other in paying them attention. I took
up my position on another bench at a little distance off, stopped two
Dragoon officers whom I knew, and proceeded to tell them something.
Evidently it was amusing, because they began to laugh loudly like a
couple of madmen. Some of those who were surrounding Princess Mary were
attracted to my side by curiosity, and gradually all of them left her
and joined my circle. I did not stop talking; my anecdotes were clever
to the point of absurdity, my jests at the expense of the queer people
passing by, malicious to the point of frenzy. I continued to entertain
the public till sunset. Princess Mary passed by me a few times,
arm-in-arm with her mother, and accompanied by a certain lame old man.
A few times her glance as it fell upon me expressed vexation, while
endeavouring to express indifference...

"What has he been telling you?" she inquired of one of the young men,
who had gone back to her out of politeness. "No doubt a most interesting
story--his own exploits in battle?"...

This was said rather loudly, and probably with the intention of stinging
me.

"Aha!" I thought to myself. "You are downright angry, my dear Princess.
Wait awhile, there is more to follow."

Grushnitski kept following her like a beast of prey, and would not let
her out of his sight. I wager that to-morrow he will ask somebody to
present him to Princess Ligovski. She will be glad, because she is
bored.

IN the course of two days my affairs have gained ground tremendously.
Princess Mary positively hates me. Already I have had repeated to me two
or three epigrams on the subject of myself--rather caustic, but at the
same time very flattering. She finds it exceedingly strange that I, who
am accustomed to good society, and am so intimate with her Petersburg
cousins and aunts, do not try to make her acquaintance. Every day we
meet at the well and on the boulevard. I exert all my powers to entice
away her adorers, glittering aides-de-camp, pale-faced visitors from
Moscow, and others--and I almost always succeed. I have always hated
entertaining guests: now my house is full every day; they dine, sup,
gamble, and alas! my champagne triumphs over the might of Princess
Mary's magnetic eyes!

I met her yesterday in Chelakhov's shop. She was bargaining for a
marvellous Persian rug, and implored her mother not to be niggardly: the
rug would be such an ornament to her boudoir... I outbid her by forty
rubles, and bought it over her head. I was rewarded with a glance in
which the most delightful fury sparkled. About dinnertime, I ordered my
Circassian horse, covered with that very rug, purposely to be led past
her windows. Werner was with the princesses at the time, and told me
that the effect of the scene was most dramatic. Princess Mary wishes to
preach a crusade against me, and I have even noticed that, already,
two of the aides-de-camp salute me very coldly, when they are in her
presence--they dine with me every day, however.

Grushnitski has assumed an air of mystery; he walks with his arms folded
behind his back and does not recognise anyone. His foot has got well
all at once, and there is hardly a sign of a limp. He has found an
opportunity of entering into conversation with Princess Ligovski and of
paying Princess Mary some kind of a compliment. The latter is evidently
not very fastidious, for, ever since, she answers his bow with a most
charming smile.

"Are you sure you do not wish to make the Ligovskis' acquaintance?" he
said to me yesterday.

"Positive."

"Good gracious! The pleasantest house at the waters! All the best
society of Pyatigorsk is to be found there"...

"My friend, I am terribly tired of even other society than that of
Pyatigorsk. So you visit the Ligovskis?"

"Not yet. I have spoken to Princess Mary once or twice, but that is
all. You know it is rather awkward to go and visit them without being
invited, although that is the custom here... It would be a different
matter if I was wearing epaulettes"...

"Good heavens! Why, you are much more interesting as it is! You simply
do not know how to avail yourself of your advantageous position... Why,
that soldier's cloak makes a hero and a martyr of you in the eyes of any
lady of sentiment!"

Grushnitski smiled complacently.

"What nonsense!" he said.

"I am convinced," I continued, "that Princess Mary is in love with you
already."

He blushed up to the ears and looked big.

Oh, vanity! Thou art the lever with which Archimedes was to lift the
earthly sphere!...

"You are always jesting!" he said, pretending to be angry. "In the first
place, she knows so little of me as yet"...

"Women love only those whom they do not know!"

"But I have no pretensions whatsoever to pleasing her. I simply wish
to make the acquaintance of an agreeable household; and it would be
extremely ridiculous if I were to cherish the slightest hope... With
you, now, for instance, it is a different matter! You Petersburg
conquerors! You have but to look--and women melt... But do you know,
Pechorin, what Princess Mary said of you?"...

"What? She has spoken to you already about me?"...

"Do not rejoice too soon, though. The other day, by chance, I entered
into conversation with her at the well; her third word was, 'Who is
that gentleman with such an unpleasant, heavy glance? He was with you
when'... she blushed, and did not like to mention the day, remembering
her own delightful little exploit. 'You need not tell me what day it
was,' I answered; 'it will ever be present to my memory!'... Pechorin,
my friend, I cannot congratulate you, you are in her black books... And,
indeed, it is a pity, because Mary is a charming girl!"...

It must be observed that Grushnitski is one of those men who, in
speaking of a woman with whom they are barely acquainted, call her my
Mary, my Sophie, if she has had the good fortune to please them.

I assumed a serious air and answered:

"Yes, she is good-looking... Only be careful, Grushnitski! Russian
ladies, for the most part, cherish only Platonic love, without mingling
any thought of matrimony with it; and Platonic love is exceedingly
embarrassing. Princess Mary seems to be one of those women who want to
be amused. If she is bored in your company for two minutes on end--you
are lost irrevocably. Your silence ought to excite her curiosity, your
conversation ought never to satisfy it completely; you should alarm her
every minute; ten times, in public, she will slight people's opinion for
you and will call that a sacrifice, and, in order to requite herself for
it, she will torment you. Afterwards she will simply say that she cannot
endure you. If you do not acquire authority over her, even her first
kiss will not give you the right to a second. She will flirt with you to
her heart's content, and, in two years' time, she will marry a monster,
in obedience to her mother, and will assure herself that she is unhappy,
that she has loved only one man--that is to say, you--but that Heaven
was not willing to unite her to him because he wore a soldier's cloak,
although beneath that thick, grey cloak beat a heart, passionate and
noble"...

Grushnitski smote the table with his fist and fell to walking to and fro
across the room.

I laughed inwardly and even smiled once or twice, but fortunately he did
not notice. It is evident that he is in love, because he has grown even
more confiding than heretofore. Moreover, a ring has made its appearance
on his finger, a silver ring with black enamel of local workmanship. It
struck me as suspicious... I began to examine it, and what do you think
I saw? The name Mary was engraved on the inside in small letters, and in
a line with the name was the date on which she had picked up the
famous tumbler. I kept my discovery a secret. I do not want to force
confessions from him, I want him, of his own accord, to choose me as his
confidant--and then I will enjoy myself!...

*****

To-day I rose late. I went to the well. I found nobody there. The
day grew hot. White, shaggy cloudlets were flitting rapidly from the
snow-clad mountains, giving promise of a thunderstorm; the summit of
Mount Mashuk was smoking like a just extinguished torch; grey wisps of
cloud were coiling and creeping like snakes around it, arrested in
their rapid sweep and, as it were, hooked to its prickly brushwood. The
atmosphere was charged with electricity. I plunged into the avenue of
the vines leading to the grotto.

I felt low-spirited. I was thinking of the lady with the little mole on
her cheek, of whom the doctor had spoken to me... "Why is she here?" I
thought. "And is it she? And what reason have I for thinking it is? And
why am I so certain of it? Is there not many a woman with a mole on her
cheek?" Reflecting in such wise I came right up to the grotto. I looked
in and I saw that a woman, wearing a straw hat and wrapped in a black
shawl, was sitting on a stone seat in the cold shade of the arch. Her
head was sunk upon her breast, and the hat covered her face. I was just
about to turn back, in order not to disturb her meditations, when she
glanced at me.

"Vera!" I exclaimed involuntarily.

She started and turned pale.

"I knew that you were here," she said.

I sat down beside her and took her hand. A long-forgotten tremor ran
through my veins at the sound of that dear voice. She gazed into my
face with her deep, calm eyes. Mistrust and something in the nature of
reproach were expressed in her glance.

"We have not seen each other for a long time," I said.

"A long time, and we have both changed in many ways."

"Consequently you love me no longer?"...

"I am married!"... she said.

"Again? A few years ago, however, that reason also existed, but,
nevertheless"...

She plucked her hand away from mine and her cheeks flamed.

"Perhaps you love your second husband?"...

She made no answer and turned her head away.

"Or is he very jealous?"

She remained silent.

"What then? He is young, handsome and, I suppose, rich--which is the
chief thing--and you are afraid?"...

I glanced at her and was alarmed. Profound despair was depicted upon her
countenance; tears were glistening in her eyes.

"Tell me," she whispered at length, "do you find it very amusing to
torture me? I ought to hate you. Since we have known each other, you
have given me naught but suffering"...

Her voice shook; she leaned over to me, and let her head sink upon my
breast.

"Perhaps," I reflected, "it is for that very reason that you have loved
me; joys are forgotten, but sorrows never"...

I clasped her closely to my breast, and so we remained for a long
time. At length our lips drew closer and became blent in a fervent,
intoxicating kiss. Her hands were cold as ice; her head was burning.

And hereupon we embarked upon one of those conversations which, on
paper, have no sense, which it is impossible to repeat, and impossible
even to retain in memory. The meaning of the sounds replaces and
completes the meaning of the words, as in Italian opera.

She is decidedly averse to my making the acquaintance of her husband,
the lame old man of whom I had caught a glimpse on the boulevard.
She married him for the sake of her son. He is rich, and suffers from
attacks of rheumatism. I did not allow myself even a single scoff at
his expense. She respects him as a father, and will deceive him as a
husband... A strange thing, the human heart in general, and woman's
heart in particular.

Vera's husband, Semyon Vasilevich G----v, is a distant relation of
Princess Ligovski. He lives next door to her. Vera frequently visits
the Princess. I have given her my promise to make the Ligovskis'
acquaintance, and to pay court to Princess Mary in order to distract
attention from Vera. In such way, my plans have been not a little
deranged, but it will be amusing for me...

Amusing!... Yes, I have already passed that period of spiritual
life when happiness alone is sought, when the heart feels the urgent
necessity of violently and passionately loving somebody. Now my only
wish is to be loved, and that by very few. I even think that I would be
content with one constant attachment. A wretched habit of the heart!...

One thing has always struck me as strange. I have never made myself the
slave of the woman I have loved. On the contrary, I have always acquired
an invincible power over her will and heart, without in the least
endeavouring to do so. Why is this? Is it because I never esteem
anything highly, and she has been continually afraid to let me out of
her hands? Or is it the magnetic influence of a powerful organism? Or is
it, simply, that I have never succeeded in meeting a woman of stubborn
character?

I must confess that, in fact, I do not love women who possess strength
of character. What business have they with such a thing?

Indeed, I remember now. Once and once only did I love a woman who had
a firm will which I was never able to vanquish... We parted as
enemies--and then, perhaps, if I had met her five years later we would
have parted otherwise...

Vera is ill, very ill, although she does not admit it. I fear she has
consumption, or that disease which is called "fievre lente"--a quite
unRussian disease, and one for which there is no name in our language.

The storm overtook us while in the grotto and detained us half an hour
longer. Vera did not make me swear fidelity, or ask whether I had loved
others since we had parted... She trusted in me anew with all her former
unconcern, and I will not deceive her: she is the only woman in the
world whom it would never be within my power to deceive. I know that we
shall soon have to part again, and perchance for ever. We will both go
by different ways to the grave, but her memory will remain inviolable
within my soul. I have always repeated this to her, and she believes me,
although she says she does not.

At length we separated. For a long time I followed her with my eyes,
until her hat was hidden behind the shrubs and rocks. My heart was
painfully contracted, just as after our first parting. Oh, how I
rejoiced in that emotion! Can it be that youth is about to come back to
me, with its salutary tempests, or is this only the farewell glance, the
last gift--in memory of itself?... And to think that, in appearance,
I am still a boy! My face, though pale, is still fresh; my limbs are
supple and slender; my hair is thick and curly, my eyes sparkle, my
blood boils...

Returning home, I mounted on horseback and galloped to the steppe. I
love to gallop on a fiery horse through the tall grass, in the face of
the desert wind; greedily I gulp down the fragrant air and fix my gaze
upon the blue distance, endeavouring to seize the misty outlines of
objects which every minute grow clearer and clearer. Whatever griefs
oppress my heart, whatever disquietudes torture my thoughts--all are
dispersed in a moment; my soul becomes at ease; the fatigue of the body
vanquishes the disturbance of the mind. There is not a woman's glance
which I would not forget at the sight of the tufted mountains, illumined
by the southern sun; at the sight of the dark-blue sky, or in hearkening
to the roar of the torrent as it falls from cliff to cliff.

I believe that the Cossacks, yawning on their watch-towers, when they
saw me galloping thus needlessly and aimlessly, were long tormented
by that enigma, because from my dress, I am sure, they took me to be a
Circassian. I have, in fact, been told that when riding on horseback, in
my Circassian costume, I resemble a Kabardian more than many a Kabardian
himself. And, indeed, so far as regards that noble, warlike garb, I am
a perfect dandy. I have not a single piece of gold lace too much; my
weapon is costly, but simply wrought; the fur on my cap is neither too
long nor too short; my leggings and shoes are matched with all possible
accuracy; my tunic is white; my Circassian jacket, dark-brown. I have
long studied the mountaineer seat on horseback, and in no way is it
possible to flatter my vanity so much as by acknowledging my skill in
horsemanship in the Cossack mode. I keep four horses--one for myself and
three for my friends, so that I may not be bored by having to roam about
the fields all alone; they take my horses with pleasure, and never ride
with me.

It was already six o'clock in the evening, when I remembered that it was
time to dine. My horse was jaded. I rode out on to the road leading
from Pyatigorsk to the German colony, to which the society of the
watering-place frequently rides en piquenique. The road meanders between
bushes and descends into little ravines, through which flow noisy brooks
beneath the shade of tall grasses. All around, in an amphitheatre,
rise the blue masses of Mount Beshtau and the Zmeiny, Zhelezny and Lysy
Mountains. [26] Descending into one of those ravines, I halted to water
my horse. At that moment a noisy and glittering cavalcade made its
appearance upon the road--the ladies in black and dark-blue riding
habits, the cavaliers in costumes which formed a medley of the
Circassian and Nizhegorodian. [27] In front rode Grushnitski with
Princess Mary.

The ladies at the watering-place still believe in attacks by Circassians
in broad daylight; for that reason, doubtless, Grushnitski had slung
a sabre and a pair of pistols over his soldier's cloak. He looked
ridiculous enough in that heroic attire.

I was concealed from their sight by a tall bush, but I was able to see
everything through the leaves, and to guess from the expression of their
faces that the conversation was of a sentimental turn. At length
they approached the slope; Grushnitski took hold of the bridle of the
Princess's horse, and then I heard the conclusion of their conversation:

"And you wish to remain all your life in the Caucasus?" said Princess
Mary.

"What is Russia to me?" answered her cavalier. "A country in which
thousands of people, because they are richer than I, will look upon me
with contempt, whilst here--here this thick cloak has not prevented my
acquaintance with you"...

"On the contrary"... said Princess Mary, blushing.

Grushnitski's face was a picture of delight. He continued:

"Here, my life will flow along noisily, unobserved, and rapidly, under
the bullets of the savages, and if Heaven were every year to send me a
single bright glance from a woman's eyes--like that which--"

At that moment they came up to where I was. I struck my horse with the
whip and rode out from behind the bush...

"Mon Dieu, un circassien!"... exclaimed Princess Mary in terror.

In order completely to undeceive her, I replied in French, with a slight
bow:

"Ne craignez rien, madame, je ne suis pas plus dangereux que votre
cavalier"...

She grew embarrassed--but at what? At her own mistake, or because my
answer struck her as insolent? I should like the latter hypothesis to be
correct. Grushnitski cast a discontented glance at me.

Late in the evening, that is to say, about eleven o'clock, I went for a
walk in the lilac avenue of the boulevard. The town was sleeping; lights
were gleaming in only a few windows. On three sides loomed the black
ridges of the cliffs, the spurs of Mount Mashuk, upon the summit of
which an ominous cloud was lying. The moon was rising in the east; in
the distance, the snow-clad mountains glistened like a fringe of silver.
The calls of the sentries mingled at intervals with the roar of the hot
springs let flow for the night. At times the loud clattering of a horse
rang out along the street, accompanied by the creaking of a Nagai wagon
and the plaintive burden of a Tartar song.

I sat down upon a bench and fell into a reverie... I felt the necessity
of pouring forth my thoughts in friendly conversation... But with
whom?...

"What is Vera doing now?" I wondered.

I would have given much to press her hand at that moment.

All at once I heard rapid and irregular steps... Grushnitski, no
doubt!... So it was!

"Where have you come from?"

"From Princess Ligovski's," he said very importantly. "How well Mary
does sing!"...

"Do you know?" I said to him. "I wager that she does not know that you
are a cadet. She thinks you are an officer reduced to the ranks"...

"Maybe so. What is that to me!"... he said absently.

"No, I am only saying so"...

"But, do you know that you have made her terribly angry to-day? She
considered it an unheard-of piece of insolence. It was only with
difficulty that I was able to convince her that you are so well bred
and know society so well that you could not have had any intention of
insulting her. She says that you have an impudent glance, and that you
have certainly a very high opinion of yourself."

"She is not mistaken... But do you not want to defend her?"

"I am sorry I have not yet the right to do so"...

"Oho!" I said to myself, "evidently he has hopes already."

"However, it is the worse for you," continued Grushnitski; "it will be
difficult for you to make their acquaintance now, and what a pity! It is
one of the most agreeable houses I know"...

I smiled inwardly.

"The most agreeable house to me now is my own," I said, with a yawn, and
I got up to go.

"Confess, though, you repent?"...

"What nonsense! If I like I will be at Princess Ligovski's to-morrow
evening!"...

"We shall see"...

"I will even begin to pay my addresses to Princess Mary, if you would
like me to"...

"Yes, if she is willing to speak to you"...

"I am only awaiting the moment when she will be bored by your
conversation... Goodbye"...

"Well, I am going for a stroll; I could not go to sleep now for
anything... Look here, let us go to the restaurant instead, there is
cardplaying going on there... What I need now is violent sensations"...

"I hope you will lose"...

I went home.

NEARLY a week has passed, and I have not yet made the Ligovskis'
acquaintance. I am awaiting a convenient opportunity. Grushnitski
follows Princess Mary everywhere like a shadow. Their conversations are
interminable; but, when will she be tired of him?... Her mother pays no
attention, because he is not a man who is in a position to marry. Behold
the logic of mothers! I have caught two or three tender glances--this
must be put a stop to.

Yesterday, for the first time, Vera made her appearance at the well...
She has never gone out of doors since we met in the grotto. We let down
our tumblers at the same time, and as she bent forward she whispered to
me:

"You are not going to make the Ligovskis' acquaintance?... It is only
there that we can meet"...

A reproach!... How tiresome! But I have deserved it...

By the way, there is a subscription ball tomorrow in the saloon of the
restaurant, and I will dance the mazurka with Princess Mary.

THE saloon of the restaurant was converted into the assembly room of a
Nobles' Club. The company met at nine o'clock. Princess Ligovski and her
daughter were amongst the latest to make their appearance. Several of
the ladies looked at Princess Mary with envy and malevolence,
because she dresses with taste. Those who look upon themselves as the
aristocracy of the place concealed their envy and attached themselves to
her train. What else could be expected? Wherever there is a gathering
of women, the company is immediately divided into a higher and a lower
circle.

Beneath the window, amongst a crowd of people, stood Grushnitski,
pressing his face to the pane and never taking his eyes off his
divinity. As she passed by, she gave him a hardly perceptible nod. He
beamed like the sun... The first dance was a polonaise, after which the
musicians struck up a waltz. Spurs began to jingle, and skirts to rise
and whirl.

I was standing behind a certain stout lady who was overshadowed by
rose-coloured feathers. The magnificence of her dress reminded me of the
times of the farthingale, and the motley hue of her by no means smooth
skin, of the happy epoch of the black taffeta patch. An immense wart
on her neck was covered by a clasp. She was saying to her cavalier, a
captain of dragoons:

"That young Princess Ligovski is a most intolerable creature! Just
fancy, she jostled against me and did not apologise, but even turned
round and stared at me through her lorgnette!... C'est impayable!... And
what has she to be proud of? It is time somebody gave her a lesson"...

"That will be easy enough," replied the obliging captain, and he
directed his steps to the other room.

I went up to Princess Mary immediately, and, availing myself of the
local customs which allowed one to dance with a stranger, I invited her
to waltz with me.

She was scarcely able to keep from smiling and letting her triumph be
seen; but quickly enough she succeeded in assuming an air of perfect
indifference and even severity. Carelessly she let her hand fall upon my
shoulder, inclined her head slightly to one side, and we began to dance.
I have never known a waist more voluptuous and supple! Her fresh breath
touched my face; at times a lock of hair, becoming separated from its
companions in the eddy of the waltz, glided over my burning cheek...

I made three turns of the ballroom (she waltzes surprisingly well).
She was out of breath, her eyes were dulled, her half-open lips were
scarcely able to whisper the indispensable: "merci, monsieur."

After a few moments' silence I said to her, assuming a very humble air:

"I have heard, Princess, that although quite unacquainted with you, I
have already had the misfortune to incur your displeasure... that you
have considered me insolent. Can that possibly true?"

"Would you like to confirm me in that opinion now?" she answered,
with an ironical little grimace--very becoming, however, to her mobile
countenance.

"If I had the audacity to insult you in any way, then allow me to have
the still greater audacity to beg your pardon... And, indeed, I should
very much like to prove to you that you are mistaken in regard to me"...

"You will find that a rather difficult task"...

"But why?"...

"Because you never visit us and, most likely, there will not be many
more of these balls."

"That means," I thought, "that their doors are closed to me for ever."

"You know, Princess," I said to her, with a certain amount of vexation,
"one should never spurn a penitent criminal: in his despair he may
become twice as much a criminal as before... and then"...

Sudden laughter and whispering from the people around us caused me to
turn my head and to interrupt my phrase. A few paces away from me stood
a group of men, amongst them the captain of dragoons, who had manifested
intentions hostile to the charming Princess. He was particularly well
pleased with something or other, and was rubbing his hands, laughing and
exchanging meaning glances with his companions. All at once a gentleman
in an evening-dress coat and with long moustaches and a red face
separated himself from the crowd and directed his uncertain steps
straight towards Princess Mary. He was drunk. Coming to a halt opposite
the embarrassed Princess and placing his hands behind his back, he fixed
his dull grey eyes upon her, and said in a hoarse treble:

"Permettez... but what is the good of that sort of thing here... All I
need say is: I engage you for the mazurka"...

"Very well!" she replied in a trembling voice, throwing a beseeching
glance around. Alas! Her mother was a long way off, and not one of
the cavaliers of her acquaintance was near. A certain aide-de-camp
apparently saw the whole scene, but he concealed himself behind the
crowd in order not to be mixed up in the affair.

"What?" said the drunken gentleman, winking to the captain of dragoons,
who was encouraging him by signs. "Do you not wish to dance then?... All
the same I again have the honour to engage you for the mazurka... You
think, perhaps, that I am drunk! That is all right!... I can dance all
the easier, I assure you"...

I saw that she was on the point of fainting with fright and indignation.

I went up to the drunken gentleman, caught him none too gently by the
arm, and, looking him fixedly in the face, requested him to retire.
"Because," I added, "the Princess promised long ago to dance the mazurka
with me."

"Well, then, there's nothing to be done! Another time!" he said,
bursting out laughing, and he retired to his abashed companions, who
immediately conducted him into another room.

I was rewarded by a deep, wondrous glance.

The Princess went up to her mother and told her the whole story. The
latter sought me out among the crowd and thanked me. She informed me
that she knew my mother and was on terms of friendship with half a dozen
of my aunts.

"I do not know how it has happened that we have not made your
acquaintance up to now," she added; "but confess, you alone are to blame
for that. You fight shy of everyone in a positively unseemly way. I hope
the air of my drawingroom will dispel your spleen... Do you not think
so?"

I uttered one of the phrases which everybody must have ready for such an
occasion.

The quadrilles dragged on a dreadfully long time.

At last the music struck up from the gallery, Princess Mary and I took
up our places.

I did not once allude to the drunken gentleman, or to my previous
behaviour, or to Grushnitski. The impression produced upon her by the
unpleasant scene was gradually dispelled; her face brightened up; she
jested very charmingly; her conversation was witty, without pretensions
to wit, vivacious and spontaneous; her observations were sometimes
profound... In a very involved sentence I gave her to understand that I
had liked her for a long time. She bent her head and blushed slightly.

"You are a strange man!" she said, with a forced laugh, lifting her
velvet eyes upon me.

"I did not wish to make your acquaintance," I continued, "because you
are surrounded by too dense a throng of adorers, in which I was afraid
of being lost to sight altogether."

"You need not have been afraid; they are all very tiresome"...

"All? Not all, surely?"

She looked fixedly at me as if endeavouring to recollect something, then
blushed slightly again and finally pronounced with decision:

"All!"

"Even my friend, Grushnitski?"

"But is he your friend?" she said, manifesting some doubt.

"Yes."

"He, of course, does not come into the category of the tiresome"...

"But into that of the unfortunate!" I said, laughing.

"Of course! But do you consider that funny? I should like you to be in
his place"...

"Well? I was once a cadet myself, and, in truth, it was the best time of
my life!"

"Is he a cadet, then?"... she said rapidly, and then added: "But I
thought"...

"What did you think?"...

"Nothing! Who is that lady?"

Thereupon the conversation took a different direction, and it did not
return to the former subject.

And now the mazurka came to an end and we separated--until we should
meet again. The ladies drove off in different directions. I went to get
some supper, and met Werner.

"Aha!" he said: "so it is you! And yet you did not wish to make the
acquaintance of Princess Mary otherwise than by saving her from certain
death."

"I have done better," I replied. "I have saved her from fainting at the
ball"...

"How was that? Tell me."

"No, guess!--O, you who guess everything in the world!"

ABOUT seven o'clock in the evening, I was walking on the boulevard.
Grushnitski perceived me a long way off, and came up to me. A sort of
ridiculous rapture was shining in his eyes. He pressed my hand warmly,
and said in a tragic voice:

"I thank you, Pechorin... You understand me?"

"No; but in any case it is not worth gratitude," I answered, not having,
in fact, any good deed upon my conscience.

"What? But yesterday! Have you forgotten?... Mary has told me
everything"...

"Why! Have you everything in common so soon as this? Even gratitude?"...

"Listen," said Grushnitski very earnestly; "pray do not make fun of
my love, if you wish to remain my friend... You see, I love her to the
point of madness... and I think--I hope--she loves me too... I have a
request to make of you. You will be at their house this evening; promise
me to observe everything. I know you are experienced in these matters,
you know women better than I... Women! Women! Who can understand them?
Their smiles contradict their glances, their words promise and allure,
but the tone of their voice repels... At one time they grasp and divine
in a moment our most secret thoughts, at another they cannot understand
the clearest hints... Take Princess Mary, now: yesterday her eyes, as
they rested upon me, were blazing with passion; to-day they are dull and
cold"...

"That is possibly the result of the waters," I replied.

"You see the bad side of everything... materialist," he added
contemptuously. "However, let us talk of other matters."

And, satisfied with his bad pun, he cheered up.

At nine o'clock we went to Princess Ligovski's together.

Passing by Vera's windows, I saw her looking out. We threw a fleeting
glance at each other. She entered the Ligovskis' drawing-room soon after
us. Princess Ligovski presented me to her, as a relation of her own. Tea
was served. The guests were numerous, and the conversation was general.
I endeavoured to please the Princess, jested, and made her laugh
heartily a few times. Princess Mary, also, was more than once on the
point of bursting out laughing, but she restrained herself in order not
to depart from the role she had assumed. She finds languor becoming to
her, and perhaps she is not mistaken. Grushnitski appears to be very
glad that she is not infected by my gaiety.

After tea we all went into the drawingroom.

"Are you satisfied with my obedience, Vera?" I said as I was passing
her.

She threw me a glance full of love and gratitude. I have grown
accustomed to such glances; but at one time they constituted my
felicity. The Princess seated her daughter at the pianoforte, and all
the company begged her to sing. I kept silence, and, taking advantage
of the hubbub, I went aside to the window with Vera, who wished to
say something of great importance to both of us... It turned out to
be--nonsense...

Meanwhile my indifference was vexing Princess Mary, as I was able to
make out from a single angry, gleaming glance which she cast at me...
Oh! I understand the method of conversation wonderfully well: mute but
expressive, brief but forceful!...

She began to sing. She has a good voice, but she sings badly... However,
I was not listening.

Grushnitski, on the contrary, leaning his elbows on the grand piano,
facing her, was devouring her with his eyes and saying in an undertone
every minute: "Charmant! Delicieux!"

"Listen," said Vera to me, "I do not wish you to make my husband's
acquaintance, but you must, without fail, make yourself agreeable to
the Princess; that will be an easy task for you: you can do anything you
wish. It is only here that we shall see each other"...

"Only here?"...

She blushed and continued:

"You know that I am your slave: I have never been able to resist you...
and I shall be punished for it, you will cease to love me! At least,
I want to preserve my reputation... not for myself--that you know very
well!... Oh! I beseech you: do not torture me, as before, with idle
doubts and feigned coldness! It may be that I shall die soon; I feel
that I am growing weaker from day to day... And, yet, I cannot think of
the future life, I think only of you... You men do not understand the
delights of a glance, of a pressure of the hand... but as for me, I
swear to you that, when I listen to your voice, I feel such a deep,
strange bliss that the most passionate kisses could not take its place."

Meanwhile, Princess Mary had finished her song. Murmurs of praise were
to be heard all around. I went up to her after all the other guests, and
said something rather carelessly to her on the subject of her voice.

She made a little grimace, pouting her lower lip, and dropped a very
sarcastic curtsey.

"That is all the more flattering," she said, "because you have not been
listening to me at all; but perhaps you do not like music?"...

"On the contrary, I do... After dinner, especially."

"Grushnitski is right in saying that you have very prosaic tastes... and
I see that you like music in a gastronomic respect."

"You are mistaken again: I am by no means an epicure. I have a most
wretched digestion. But music after dinner puts one to sleep, and
to sleep after dinner is healthful; consequently I like music in a
medicinal respect. In the evening, on the contrary, it excites my nerves
too much: I become either too melancholy or too gay. Both are fatiguing,
where there is no positive reason for being either sorrowful or glad.
And, moreover, melancholy in society is ridiculous, and too great gaiety
is unbecoming"...

She did not hear me to the end, but went away and sat beside
Grushnitski, and they entered into a sort of sentimental conversation.
Apparently the Princess answered his sage phrases rather absent-mindedly
and inconsequently, although endeavouring to show that she was
listening to him with attention, because sometimes he looked at her in
astonishment, trying to divine the cause of the inward agitation which
was expressed at times in her restless glance...

But I have found you out, my dear Princess! Have a care! You want to pay
me back in the same coin, to wound my vanity--you will not succeed! And
if you declare war on me, I will be merciless!

In the course of the evening, I purposely tried a few times to join in
their conversation, but she met my remarks rather coldly, and, at
last, I retired in pretended vexation. Princess Mary was triumphant,
Grushnitski likewise. Triumph, my friends, and be quick about it!...
You will not have long to triumph!... It cannot be otherwise. I have
a presentiment... On making a woman's acquaintance I have always
unerringly guessed whether she would fall in love with me or not.

The remaining part of the evening I spent at Vera's side, and talked to
the full about the old days... Why does she love me so much? In truth, I
am unable to say, all the more so because she is the only woman who
has understood me perfectly, with all my petty weaknesses and evil
passions... Can it be that wickedness is so attractive?...

Grushnitski and I left the house together. In the street he took my arm,
and, after a long silence, said:

"Well?"

"You are a fool," I should have liked to answer. But I restrained myself
and only shrugged my shoulders.

ALL these days I have not once departed from my system. Princess Mary
has come to like talking to me; I have told her a few of the
strange events of my life, and she is beginning to look on me as
an extraordinary man. I mock at everything in the world, especially
feelings; and she is taking alarm. When I am present, she does not dare
to embark upon sentimental discussions with Grushnitski, and already, on
a few occasions, she has answered his sallies with a mocking smile. But
every time that Grushnitski comes up to her I assume an air of meekness
and leave the two of them together. On the first occasion, she was glad,
or tried to make it appear so; on the second, she was angry with me; on
the third--with Grushnitski.

"You have very little vanity!" she said to me yesterday. "What makes you
think that I find Grushnitski the more entertaining?"

I answered that I was sacrificing my own pleasure for the sake of the
happiness of a friend.

"And my pleasure, too," she added.

I looked at her intently and assumed a serious air. After that for the
whole day I did not speak a single word to her... In the evening, she
was pensive; this morning, at the well, more pensive still. When I went
up to her, she was listening absent-mindedly to Grushnitski, who was
apparently falling into raptures about Nature, but, so soon as
she perceived me, she began to laugh--at a most inopportune
moment--pretending not to notice me. I went on a little further and
began stealthily to observe her. She turned away from her companion and
yawned twice. Decidedly she had grown tired of Grushnitski--I will not
talk to her for another two days.

I OFTEN ask myself why I am so obstinately endeavouring to win the love
of a young girl whom I do not wish to deceive, and whom I will never
marry. Why this woman-like coquetry? Vera loves me more than Princess
Mary ever will. Had I regarded the latter as an invincible beauty, I
should perhaps have been allured by the difficulty of the undertaking...

However, there is no such difficulty in this case! Consequently, my
present feeling is not that restless craving for love which torments us
in the early days of our youth, flinging us from one woman to
another until we find one who cannot endure us. And then begins our
constancy--that sincere, unending passion which may be expressed
mathematically by a line falling from a point into space--the secret of
that endlessness lying only in the impossibility of attaining the aim,
that is to say, the end.

From what motive, then, am I taking all this trouble?--Envy of
Grushnitski? Poor fellow!

He is quite undeserving of it. Or, is it the result of that ugly, but
invincible, feeling which causes us to destroy the sweet illusions of
our neighbour in order to have the petty satisfaction of saying to him,
when, in despair, he asks what he is to believe:

"My friend, the same thing happened to me, and you see, nevertheless,
that I dine, sup, and sleep very peacefully, and I shall, I hope, know
how to die without tears and lamentations."

There is, in sooth, a boundless enjoyment in the possession of a young,
scarce-budded soul! It is like a floweret which exhales its best perfume
at the kiss of the first ray of the sun. You should pluck the flower at
that moment, and, breathing its fragrance to the full, cast it upon the
road: perchance someone will pick it up! I feel within me that insatiate
hunger which devours everything it meets upon the way; I look upon
the sufferings and joys of others only from the point of view of their
relation to myself, regarding them as the nutriment which sustains my
spiritual forces. I myself am no longer capable of committing follies
under the influence of passion; with me, ambition has been repressed by
circumstances, but it has emerged in another form, because ambition is
nothing more nor less than a thirst for power, and my chief pleasure is
to make everything that surrounds me subject to my will. To arouse the
feeling of love, devotion and awe towards oneself--is not that the first
sign, and the greatest triumph, of power? To be the cause of suffering
and joy to another--without in the least possessing any definite right
to be so--is not that the sweetest food for our pride? And what is
happiness?--Satisfied pride. Were I to consider myself the best, the
most powerful man in the world, I should be happy; were all to love me,
I should find within me inexhaustible springs of love. Evil begets
evil; the first suffering gives us the conception of the satisfaction
of torturing another. The idea of evil cannot enter the mind without
arousing a desire to put it actually into practice. "Ideas are organic
entities," someone has said. The very fact of their birth endows them
with form, and that form is action. He in whose brain the most ideas
are born accomplishes the most. From that cause a genius, chained to an
official desk, must die or go mad, just as it often happens that a man
of powerful constitution, and at the same time of sedentary life and
simple habits, dies of an apoplectic stroke.

Passions are naught but ideas in their first development; they are an
attribute of the youth of the heart, and foolish is he who thinks that
he will be agitated by them all his life. Many quiet rivers begin their
course as noisy waterfalls, and there is not a single stream which will
leap or foam throughout its way to the sea. That quietness, however, is
frequently the sign of great, though latent, strength. The fulness and
depth of feelings and thoughts do not admit of frenzied outbursts. In
suffering and in enjoyment the soul renders itself a strict account of
all it experiences and convinces itself that such things must be. It
knows that, but for storms, the constant heat of the sun would dry it
up! It imbues itself with its own life--pets and punishes itself like a
favourite child. It is only in that highest state of self-knowledge that
a man can appreciate the divine justice.

On reading over this page, I observe that I have made a wide digression
from my subject... But what matter?... You see, it is for myself that I
am writing this diary, and, consequently anything that I jot down in it
will in time be a valuable reminiscence for me.

               .    .    .    .    .

Grushnitski has called to see me to-day. He flung himself upon my neck;
he has been promoted to be an officer. We drank champagne. Doctor Werner
came in after him.

"I do not congratulate you," he said to Grushnitski.

"Why not?"

"Because the soldier's cloak suits you very well, and you must confess
that an infantry uniform, made by one of the local tailors, will not add
anything of interest to you... Do you not see? Hitherto, you have been
an exception, but now you will come under the general rule."

"Talk away, doctor, talk away! You will not prevent me from rejoicing.
He does not know," added Grushnitski in a whisper to me, "how many hopes
these epaulettes have lent me... Oh!... Epaulettes, epaulettes! Your
little stars are guiding stars! No! I am perfectly happy now!"

"Are you coming with us on our walk to the hollow?" I asked him.

"I? Not on any account will I show myself to Princess Mary until my
uniform is finished."

"Would you like me to inform her of your happiness?"

"No, please, not a word... I want to give her a surprise"...

"Tell me, though, how are you getting on with her?"

He became embarrassed, and fell into thought; he would gladly have
bragged and told lies, but his conscience would not let him; and, at the
same time, he was ashamed to confess the truth.

"What do you think? Does she love you?"...

"Love me? Good gracious, Pechorin, what ideas you do have!... How could
she possibly love me so soon?... And a well-bred woman, even if she is
in love, will never say so"...

"Very well! And, I suppose, in your opinion, a well-bred man should also
keep silence in regard to his passion?"...

"Ah, my dear fellow! There are ways of doing everything; often things
may remain unspoken, but yet may be guessed"...

"That is true... But the love which we read in the eyes does not pledge
a woman to anything, whilst words... Have a care, Grushnitski, she is
befooling you!"

"She?" he answered, raising his eyes heavenward and smiling
complacently. "I am sorry for you, Pechorin!"...

He took his departure.

In the evening, a numerous company set off to walk to the hollow.

In the opinion of the learned of Pyatigorsk, the hollow in question is
nothing more nor less than an extinct crater. It is situated on a
slope of Mount Mashuk, at the distance of a verst from the town, and is
approached by a narrow path between brushwood and rocks. In climbing up
the hill, I gave Princess Mary my arm, and she did not leave it during
the whole excursion.

Our conversation commenced with slander; I proceeded to pass in
review our present and absent acquaintances; at first I exposed their
ridiculous, and then their bad, sides. My choler rose. I began in jest,
and ended in genuine malice. At first she was amused, but afterwards
frightened.

"You are a dangerous man!" she said. "I would rather perish in the
woods under the knife of an assassin than under your tongue... In all
earnestness I beg of you: when it comes into your mind to speak evil of
me, take a knife instead and cut my throat. I think you would not find
that a very difficult matter."

"Am I like an assassin, then?"...

"You are worse"...

I fell into thought for a moment; then, assuming a deeply moved air, I
said:

"Yes, such has been my lot from very childhood! All have read upon my
countenance the marks of bad qualities, which were not existent; but
they were assumed to exist--and they were born. I was modest--I was
accused of slyness: I grew secretive. I profoundly felt both good and
evil--no one caressed me, all insulted me: I grew vindictive. I was
gloomy--other children merry and talkative; I felt myself higher than
they--I was rated lower: I grew envious. I was prepared to love the
whole world--no one understood me: I learned to hate. My colourless
youth flowed by in conflict with myself and the world; fearing ridicule,
I buried my best feelings in the depths of my heart, and there they
died. I spoke the truth--I was not believed: I began to deceive. Having
acquired a thorough knowledge of the world and the springs of society, I
grew skilled in the science of life; and I saw how others without skill
were happy, enjoying gratuitously the advantages which I so unweariedly
sought. Then despair was born within my breast--not that despair which
is cured at the muzzle of a pistol, but the cold, powerless despair
concealed beneath the mask of amiability and a good-natured smile. I
became a moral cripple. One half of my soul ceased to exist; it dried
up, evaporated, died, and I cut it off and cast it from me. The other
half moved and lived--at the service of all; but it remained unobserved,
because no one knew that the half which had perished had ever existed.
But, now, the memory of it has been awakened within me by you, and I
have read you its epitaph. To many, epitaphs in general seem ridiculous,
but to me they do not; especially when I remember what reposes beneath
them. I will not, however, ask you to share my opinion. If this outburst
seems absurd to you, I pray you, laugh! I forewarn you that your
laughter will not cause me the least chagrin."

At that moment I met her eyes: tears were welling in them. Her arm, as
it leaned upon mine, was trembling; her cheeks were aflame; she pitied
me! Sympathy--a feeling to which all women yield so easily, had dug its
talons into her inexperienced heart. During the whole excursion she was
preoccupied, and did not flirt with anyone--and that is a great sign!

We arrived at the hollow; the ladies left their cavaliers, but she did
not let go my arm. The witticisms of the local dandies failed to make
her laugh; the steepness of the declivity beside which she was standing
caused her no alarm, although the other ladies uttered shrill cries and
shut their eyes.

On the way back, I did not renew our melancholy conversation, but to my
idle questions and jests she gave short and absent-minded answers.

"Have you ever been in love?" I asked her at length.

She looked at me intently, shook her head and again fell into a reverie.
It was evident that she was wishing to say something, but did not know
how to begin. Her breast heaved... And, indeed, that was but natural!
A muslin sleeve is a weak protection, and an electric spark was running
from my arm to hers. Almost all passions have their beginning in that
way, and frequently we are very much deceived in thinking that a woman
loves us for our moral and physical merits; of course, these prepare and
predispose the heart for the reception of the holy flame, but for all
that it is the first touch that decides the matter.

"I have been very amiable to-day, have I not?" Princess Mary said to me,
with a forced smile, when we had returned from the walk.

We separated.

She is dissatisfied with herself. She accuses herself of coldness... Oh,
that is the first, the chief triumph!

To-morrow, she will be feeling a desire to recompense me. I know the
whole proceeding by heart already--that is what is so tiresome!

I HAVE seen Vera to-day. She has begun to plague me with her jealousy.
Princess Mary has taken it into her head, it seems, to confide the
secrets of her heart to Vera: a happy choice, it must be confessed!

"I can guess what all this is leading to," said Vera to me. "You had
better simply tell me at once that you are in love with her."

"But supposing I am not in love with her?"

"Then why run after her, disturb her, agitate her imagination!... Oh, I
know you well! Listen--if you wish me to believe you, come to Kislovodsk
in a week's time; we shall be moving thither the day after to-morrow.
Princess Mary will remain here longer. Engage lodgings next door to us.
We shall be living in the large house near the spring, on the mezzanine
floor. Princess Ligovski will be below us, and next door there is a
house belonging to the same landlord, which has not yet been taken...
Will you come?"...

I gave my promise, and this very same day I have sent to engage the
lodgings.

Grushnitski came to me at six o'clock and announced that his uniform
would be ready to-morrow, just in time for him to go to the ball in it.

"At last I shall dance with her the whole evening through... And then I
shall talk to my heart's content," he added.

"When is the ball?"

"Why, to-morrow! Do you not know, then? A great festival--and the local
authorities have undertaken to organize it"...

"Let us go to the boulevard"...

"Not on any account, in this nasty cloak"...

"What! Have you ceased to love it?"...

I went out alone, and, meeting Princess Mary I asked her to keep the
mazurka for me. She seemed surprised and delighted.

"I thought that you would only dance from necessity as on the last
occasion," she said, with a very charming smile...

She does not seem to notice Grushnitski's absence at all.

"You will be agreeably surprised to-morrow," I said to her.

"At what?"

"That is a secret... You will find it out yourself, at the ball."

I finished up the evening at Princess Ligovski's; there were no other
guests present except Vera and a certain very amusing, little old
gentleman. I was in good spirits, and improvised various extraordinary
stories. Princess Mary sat opposite me and listened to my nonsense with
such deep, strained, and even tender attention that I grew ashamed of
myself. What had become of her vivacity, her coquetry, her caprices, her
haughty mien, her contemptuous smile, her absentminded glance?...

Vera noticed everything, and her sickly countenance was a picture of
profound grief. She was sitting in the shadow by the window, buried in a
wide arm-chair... I pitied her.

Then I related the whole dramatic story of our acquaintanceship, our
love--concealing it all, of course, under fictitious names.

So vividly did I portray my tenderness, my anxieties, my raptures; in
so favourable a light did I exhibit her actions and her character, that
involuntarily she had to forgive me for my flirtation with Princess
Mary.

She rose, sat down beside us, and brightened up... and it was only
at two o'clock in the morning that we remembered that the doctors had
ordered her to go to bed at eleven.

HALF an hour before the ball, Grushnitski presented himself to me in
the full splendour of the uniform of the Line infantry. Attached to
his third button was a little bronze chain, on which hung a double
lorgnette. Epaulettes of incredible size were bent backwards and upwards
in the shape of a cupid's wings; his boots creaked; in his left hand he
held cinnamon-coloured kid gloves and a forage-cap, and with his right he
kept every moment twisting his frizzled tuft of hair up into tiny curls.
Complacency and at the same time a certain diffidence were depicted upon
his face. His festal appearance and proud gait would have made me
burst out laughing, if such a proceeding had been in accordance with my
intentions.

He threw his cap and gloves on the table and began to pull down
the skirts of his coat and to put himself to rights before the
looking-glass. An enormous black handkerchief, which was twisted into a
very high stiffener for his cravat, and the bristles of which supported
his chin, stuck out an inch over his collar. It seemed to him to be
rather small, and he drew it up as far as his ears. As a result of
that hard work--the collar of his uniform being very tight and
uncomfortable--he grew red in the face.

"They say you have been courting my princess terribly these last few
days?" he said, rather carelessly and without looking at me.

"'Where are we fools to drink tea!'" [271] I answered, repeating a pet
phrase of one of the cleverest rogues of past times, once celebrated in
song by Pushkin.

"Tell me, does my uniform fit me well?... Oh, the cursed Jew!... How it
cuts me under the armpits!... Have you got any scent?"

"Good gracious, what more do you want? You are reeking of rose pomade as
it is."

"Never mind. Give me some"...

He poured half a phial over his cravat, his pocket-handkerchief, his
sleeves.

"You are going to dance?" he asked.

"I think not."

"I am afraid I shall have to lead off the mazurka with Princess Mary,
and I scarcely know a single figure"...

"Have you asked her to dance the mazurka with you?"

"Not yet"...

"Mind you are not forestalled"...

"Just so, indeed!" he said, striking his forehead. "Good-bye... I will
go and wait for her at the entrance."

He seized his forage-cap and ran.

Half an hour later I also set off. The street was dark and deserted.
Around the assembly rooms, or inn--whichever you prefer--people were
thronging. The windows were lighted up, the strains of the regimental
band were borne to me on the evening breeze. I walked slowly; I felt
melancholy.

"Can it be possible," I thought, "that my sole mission on earth is to
destroy the hopes of others? Ever since I began to live and to act, it
seems always to have been my fate to play a part in the ending of other
people's dramas, as if, but for me, no one could either die or fall
into despair! I have been the indispensable person of the fifth act;
unwillingly I have played the pitiful part of an executioner or a
traitor. What object has fate had in this?... Surely, I have not been
appointed by destiny to be an author of middle-class tragedies and family
romances, or to be a collaborator with the purveyor of stories--for the
'Reader's Library,' [272] for example?... How can I tell?... Are there
not many people who, in beginning life, think to end it like Lord Byron
or Alexander the Great, and, nevertheless, remain Titular Councillors
[273] all their days?"

Entering the saloon, I concealed myself in a crowd of men, and began to
make my observations.

Grushnitski was standing beside Princess Mary and saying something with
great warmth. She was listening to him absent-mindedly and looking about
her, her fan laid to her lips. Impatience was depicted upon her face,
her eyes were searching all around for somebody. I went softly behind
them in order to listen to their conversation.

"You torture me, Princess!" Grushnitski was saying. "You have changed
dreadfully since I saw you last"...

"You, too, have changed," she answered, casting a rapid glance at him,
in which he was unable to detect the latent sneer.

"I! Changed?... Oh, never! You know that such a thing is impossible!
Whoever has seen you once will bear your divine image with him for
ever."

"Stop"...

"But why will you not let me say to-night what you have so often
listened to with condescension--and just recently, too?"...

"Because I do not like repetitions," she answered, laughing.

"Oh! I have been bitterly mistaken!... I thought, fool that I was, that
these epaulettes, at least, would give me the right to hope... No,
it would have been better for me to have remained for ever in that
contemptible soldier's cloak, to which, probably, I was indebted for
your attention"...

"As a matter of fact, the cloak is much more becoming to you"...

At that moment I went up and bowed to Princess Mary. She blushed a
little, and went on rapidly:

"Is it not true, Monsieur Pechorin, that the grey cloak suits Monsieur
Grushnitski much better?"...

"I do not agree with you," I answered: "he is more youthful-looking
still in his uniform."

That was a blow which Grushnitski could not bear: like all boys, he
has pretensions to being an old man; he thinks that the deep traces
of passions upon his countenance take the place of the lines scored by
Time. He cast a furious glance at me, stamped his foot, and took himself
off.

"Confess now," I said to Princess Mary: "that although he has always
been most ridiculous, yet not so long ago he seemed to you to be
interesting... in the grey cloak?"...

She cast her eyes down and made no reply.

Grushnitski followed the Princess about during the whole evening and
danced either with her or vis-a-vis. He devoured her with his eyes,
sighed, and wearied her with prayers and reproaches. After the third
quadrille she had begun to hate him.

"I did not expect this from you," he said, coming up to me and taking my
arm.

"What?"

"You are going to dance the mazurka with her?" he asked in a solemn
tone. "She admitted it"...

"Well, what then? It is not a secret, is it"?

"Of course not... I ought to have expected such a thing from that
chit--that flirt... I will have my revenge, though!"

"You should lay the blame on your cloak, or your epaulettes, but why
accuse her? What fault is it of hers that she does not like you any
longer?"...

"But why give me hopes?"

"Why did you hope? To desire and to strive after something--that I can
understand! But who ever hopes?"

"You have won the wager, but not quite," he said, with a malignant
smile.

The mazurka began. Grushnitski chose no one but the Princess, other
cavaliers chose her every minute: obviously a conspiracy against me--all
the better! She wants to talk to me, they are preventing her--she will
want to twice as much.

I squeezed her hand once or twice; the second time she drew it away
without saying a word.

"I shall sleep badly to-night," she said to me when the mazurka was
over.

"Grushnitski is to blame for that."

"Oh, no!"

And her face became so pensive, so sad, that I promised myself that I
would not fail to kiss her hand that evening.

The guests began to disperse. As I was handing Princess Mary into her
carriage, I rapidly pressed her little hand to my lips. The night was
dark and nobody could see.

I returned to the saloon very well satisfied with myself.

The young men, Grushnitski amongst them, were having supper at the
large table. As I came in, they all fell silent: evidently they had been
talking about me. Since the last ball many of them have been sulky with
me, especially the captain of dragoons; and now, it seems, a hostile
gang is actually being formed against me, under the command of
Grushnitski. He wears such a proud and courageous air...

I am very glad; I love enemies, though not in the Christian sense. They
amuse me, stir my blood. To be always on one's guard, to catch every
glance, the meaning of every word, to guess intentions, to crush
conspiracies, to pretend to be deceived and suddenly with one blow
to overthrow the whole immense and laboriously constructed edifice of
cunning and design--that is what I call life.

During supper Grushnitski kept whispering and exchanging winks with the
captain of dragoons.

VERA and her husband left this morning for Kislovodsk. I met their
carriage as I was walking to Princess Ligovski's. Vera nodded to me:
reproach was in her glance.

Who is to blame, then? Why will she not give me an opportunity of
seeing her alone? Love is like fire--if not fed it dies out. Perchance,
jealousy will accomplish what my entreaties have failed to do.

I stayed a whole hour at Princess Ligovski's. Mary has not been out, she
is ill. In the evening she was not on the boulevard. The newly formed
gang, armed with lorgnettes, has in very fact assumed a menacing aspect.
I am glad that Princess Mary is ill; they might be guilty of some
impertinence towards her. Grushnitski goes about with dishevelled locks,
and wears an appearance of despair: he is evidently afflicted, as a
matter of fact; his vanity especially has been injured. But, you see,
there are some people in whom even despair is diverting!...

On my way home I noticed that something was lacking. I have not seen
her! She is ill! Surely I have not fallen in love with her in real
earnest?... What nonsense!

AT eleven o'clock in the morning--the hour at which Princess Ligovski
is usually perspiring in the Ermolov baths--I walked past her house.
Princess Mary was sitting pensively at the window; on seeing me she
sprang up.

I entered the ante-room, there was nobody there, and, availing myself of
the freedom afforded by the local customs, I made my way, unannounced,
into the drawing-room.

Princess Mary's charming countenance was shrouded with a dull pallor.
She was standing by the pianoforte, leaning one hand on the back of an
arm-chair; her hand was very faintly trembling. I went up to her softly
and said:

"You are angry with me?"...

She lifted a deep, languid glance upon me and shook her head. Her lips
were about to utter something, but failed; her eyes filled with tears;
she sank into the arm-chair and buried her face in her hands.

"What is the matter with you?" I said, taking her hand.

"You do not respect me!... Oh, leave me!"...

I took a few steps... She drew herself up in the chair, her eyes
sparkled.

I stopped still, took hold of the handle of the door, and said:

"Forgive me, Princess. I have acted like a madman... It will not happen
another time; I shall see to that... But how can you know what has been
taking place hitherto within my soul? That you will never learn, and so
much the better for you. Farewell."

As I was going out, I seemed to hear her weeping.

I wandered on foot about the environs of Mount Mashuk till evening,
fatigued myself terribly and, on arriving home, flung myself on my bed,
utterly exhausted.

Werner came to see me.

"Is it true," he asked, "that you are going to marry Princess Mary?"

"What?"

"The whole town is saying so. All my patients are occupied with that
important piece of news; but you know what these patients are: they know
everything."

"This is one of Grushnitski's tricks," I said to myself.

"To prove the falsity of these rumours, doctor, I may mention, as a
secret, that I am moving to Kislovodsk to-morrow"...

"And Princess Mary, too?"

"No, she remains here another week"...

"So you are not going to get married?"...

"Doctor, doctor! Look at me! Am I in the least like a bridegroom, or any
such thing?"

"I am not saying so... But you know there are occasions..." he added,
with a crafty smile--"in which an honourable man is obliged to marry,
and there are mothers who, to say the least, do not prevent such
occasions... And so, as a friend, I should advise you to be more
cautious. The air of these parts is very dangerous. How many handsome
young men, worthy of a better fate, have I not seen departing from here
straight to the altar!... Would you believe me, they were even going to
find a wife for me! That is to say, one person was--a lady belonging
to this district, who had a very pale daughter. I had the misfortune to
tell her that the latter's colour would be restored after wedlock, and
then with tears of gratitude she offered me her daughter's hand and the
whole of her own fortune--fifty souls, [28] I think. But I replied that
I was unfit for such an honour."

Werner left, fully convinced that he had put me on my guard.

I gathered from his words that various ugly rumours were already being
spread about the town on the subject of Princess Mary and myself:
Grushnitski shall smart for this!

I HAVE been in Kislovodsk three days now. Every day I see Vera at the
well and out walking. In the morning, when I awake, I sit by my window
and direct my lorgnette at her balcony. She has already been dressed
long ago, and is waiting for the signal agreed upon. We meet, as though
unexpectedly, in the garden which slopes down from our houses to the
well. The life-giving mountain air has brought back her colour and her
strength. Not for nothing is Narzan called the "Spring of Heroes." The
inhabitants aver that the air of Kislovodsk predisposes the heart to
love and that all the romances which have had their beginning at the
foot of Mount Mashuk find their consummation here. And, in very
fact, everything here breathes of solitude; everything has an air of
secrecy--the thick shadows of the linden avenues, bending over the
torrent which falls, noisy and foaming, from flag to flag and cleaves
itself a way between the mountains now becoming clad with verdure--the
mist-filled, silent ravines, with their ramifications straggling away
in all directions--the freshness of the aromatic air, laden with
the fragrance of the tall southern grasses and the white acacia--the
never-ceasing, sweetly-slumberous babble of the cool brooks, which,
meeting at the end of the valley, flow along in friendly emulation, and
finally fling themselves into the Podkumok. On this side, the ravine is
wider and becomes converted into a verdant dell, through which winds
the dusty road. Every time I look at it, I seem to see a carriage coming
along and a rosy little face looking out of the carriage-window. Many
carriages have already driven by--but still there is no sign of that
particular one. The village which lies behind the fortress has become
populous. In the restaurant, built upon a hill a few paces distant from
my lodgings, lights are beginning to flash in the evening through the
double row of poplars; noise and the jingling of glasses resound till
late at night.

In no place are such quantities of Kakhetian wine and mineral waters
drunk as here.

     "And many are willing to mix the two,

         But that is a thing I never do."

Every day Grushnitski and his gang are to be found brawling in the inn,
and he has almost ceased to greet me.

He only arrived yesterday, and has already succeeded in quarrelling with
three old men who were going to take their places in the baths before
him.

Decidedly, his misfortunes are developing a warlike spirit within him.

AT last they have arrived. I was sitting by the window when I heard the
clattering of their carriage. My heart throbbed... What does it mean?
Can it be that I am in love?... I am so stupidly constituted that such a
thing might be expected of me.

I dined at their house. Princess Ligovski looked at me with much
tenderness, and did not leave her daughter's side... a bad sign! On the
other hand, Vera is jealous of me in regard to Princess Mary--however,
I have been striving for that good fortune. What will not a woman do in
order to chagrin her rival? I remember that once a woman loved me
simply because I was in love with another woman. There is nothing more
paradoxical than the female mind; it is difficult to convince a woman of
anything; they have to be led into convincing themselves. The order of
the proofs by which they demolish their prejudices is most original;
to learn their dialectic it is necessary to overthrow in your own mind
every scholastic rule of logic. For example, the usual way:

"This man loves me; but I am married: therefore I must not love him."

The woman's way:

"I must not love him, because I am married; but he loves
me--therefore"...

A few dots here, because reason has no more to say. But, generally,
there is something to be said by the tongue, and the eyes, and, after
these, the heart--if there is such a thing.

What if these notes should one day meet a woman's eye?

"Slander!" she will exclaim indignantly.

Ever since poets have written and women have read them (for which the
poets should be most deeply grateful) women have been called angels so
many times that, in very truth, in their simplicity of soul, they have
believed the compliment, forgetting that, for money, the same poets have
glorified Nero as a demigod...

It would be unreasonable were I to speak of women with such malignity--I
who have loved nothing else in the world--I who have always been ready
to sacrifice for their sake ease, ambition, life itself... But, you see,
I am not endeavouring, in a fit of vexation and injured vanity, to pluck
from them the magic veil through which only an accustomed glance can
penetrate. No, all that I say about them is but the result of

     "A mind which coldly hath observed,

      A heart which bears the stamp of woe." [29]

Women ought to wish that all men knew them as well as I because I have
loved them a hundred times better since I have ceased to be afraid of
them and have comprehended their little weaknesses.

By the way: the other day, Werner compared women to the enchanted forest
of which Tasso tells in his "Jerusalem Delivered." [30]

"So soon as you approach," he said, "from all directions terrors, such
as I pray Heaven may preserve us from, will take wing at you: duty,
pride, decorum, public opinion, ridicule, contempt... You must simply go
straight on without looking at them; gradually the monsters disappear,
and, before you, opens a bright and quiet glade, in the midst of which
blooms the green myrtle. On the other hand, woe to you if, at the first
steps, your heart trembles and you turn back!"

THIS evening has been fertile in events. About three versts from
Kislovodsk, in the gorge through which the Podkumok flows, there is
a cliff called the Ring. It is a naturally formed gate, rising upon
a lofty hill, and through it the setting sun throws its last flaming
glance upon the world. A numerous cavalcade set off thither to gaze at
the sunset through the rock-window. To tell the truth, not one of them
was thinking about the sun. I rode beside Princess Mary. On the way
home, we had to ford the Podkumok. Mountain streams, even the
smallest, are dangerous; especially so, because the bottom is a perfect
kaleidoscope: it changes every day owing to the pressure of the current;
where yesterday there was a rock, to-day there is a cavity. I took
Princess Mary's horse by the bridle and led it into the water, which
came no higher than its knees. We began to move slowly in a slanting
direction against the current. It is a well-known fact that, in crossing
rapid streamlets, you should never look at the water, because, if you
do, your head begins to whirl directly. I forgot to warn Princess Mary
of that.

We had reached the middle and were right in the vortex, when suddenly
she reeled in her saddle.

"I feel ill!" she said in a faint voice.

I bent over to her rapidly and threw my arm around her supple waist.

"Look up!" I whispered. "It is nothing; just be brave! I am with you."

She grew better; she was about to disengage herself from my arm, but
I clasped her tender, soft figure in a still closer embrace; my cheek
almost touched hers, from which was wafted flame.

"What are you doing to me?... Oh, Heaven!"...

I paid no attention to her alarm and confusion, and my lips touched her
tender cheek. She shuddered, but said nothing. We were riding behind the
others: nobody saw us.

When we made our way out on the bank, the horses were all put to the
trot. Princess Mary kept hers back; I remained beside her. It was
evident that my silence was making her uneasy, but I swore to myself
that I would not speak a single word--out of curiosity. I wanted to see
how she would extricate herself from that embarrassing position.

"Either you despise me, or you love me very much!" she said at length,
and there were tears in her voice. "Perhaps you want to laugh at me, to
excite my soul and then to abandon me... That would be so base, so vile,
that the mere supposition... Oh, no!" she added, in a voice of tender
trustfulness; "there is nothing in me which would preclude respect; is
it not so? Your presumptuous action... I must, I must forgive you
for it, because I permitted it... Answer, speak, I want to hear your
voice!"...

There was such womanly impatience in her last words that, involuntarily,
I smiled; happily it was beginning to grow dusk... I made no answer.

"You are silent!" she continued; "you wish, perhaps, that I should be
the first to tell you that I love you."...

I remained silent.

"Is that what you wish?" she continued, turning rapidly towards me....
There was something terrible in the determination of her glance and
voice.

"Why?" I answered, shrugging my shoulders.

She struck her horse with her riding-whip and set off at full gallop
along the narrow, dangerous road. It all happened so quickly that I was
scarcely able to overtake her, and then only by the time she had joined
the rest of the company.

All the way home she was continually talking and laughing. There
was something feverish in her movements; not once did she look in my
direction. Everybody observed her unusual gaiety. Princess Ligovski
rejoiced inwardly as she looked at her daughter. However, the latter
simply has a fit of nerves: she will spend a sleepless night, and will
weep.

This thought affords me measureless delight: there are moments when I
understand the Vampire... And yet I am reputed to be a good fellow, and
I strive to earn that designation!

On dismounting, the ladies went into Princess Ligovski's house. I was
excited, and I galloped to the mountains in order to dispel the
thoughts which had thronged into my head. The dewy evening breathed an
intoxicating coolness. The moon was rising from behind the dark summits.
Each step of my unshod horse resounded hollowly in the silence of the
gorges. I watered the horse at the waterfall, and then, after greedily
inhaling once or twice the fresh air of the southern night.

I set off on my way back.

I rode through the village. The lights in the windows were beginning to
go out; the sentries on the fortress-rampart and the Cossacks in the
surrounding pickets were calling out in drawling tones to one another.

In one of the village houses, built at the edge of a ravine, I noticed
an extraordinary illumination. At times, discordant murmurs and shouting
could be heard, proving that a military carouse was in full swing. I
dismounted and crept up to the window. The shutter had not been made
fast, and I could see the banqueters and catch what they were saying.
They were talking about me.

The captain of dragoons, flushed with wine, struck the table with his
fist, demanding attention.

"Gentlemen!" he said, "this won't do! Pechorin must be taught a lesson!
These Petersburg fledglings always carry their heads high until they get
a slap in the face! He thinks that because he always wears clean gloves
and polished boots he is the only one who has ever lived in society.
And what a haughty smile! All the same, I am convinced that he is a
coward--yes, a coward!"

"I think so too," said Grushnitski. "He is fond of getting himself out
of trouble by pretending to be only having a joke. I once gave him such
a talking to that anyone else in his place would have cut me to pieces
on the spot. But Pechorin turned it all to the ridiculous side. I, of
course, did not call him out because that was his business, but he did
not care to have anything more to do with it."

"Grushnitski is angry with him for having captured Princess Mary from
him," somebody said.

"That's a new idea! It is true I did run after Princess Mary a little,
but I left off at once because I do not want to get married; and it is
against my rules to compromise a girl."

"Yes, I assure you that he is a coward of the first water, I mean
Pechorin, not Grushnitski--but Grushnitski is a fine fellow, and,
besides, he is my true friend!" the captain of dragoons went on.

"Gentlemen! Nobody here stands up for him? Nobody? So much the better!
Would you like to put his courage to the test? It would be amusing"...

"We would; but how?"

"Listen here, then: Grushnitski in particular is angry with
him--therefore to Grushnitski falls the chief part. He will pick a
quarrel over some silly trifle or other, and will challenge Pechorin
to a duel... Wait a bit; here is where the joke comes in... He will
challenge him to a duel; very well! The whole proceeding--challenge,
preparations, conditions--will be as solemn and awe-inspiring as
possible--I will see to that. I will be your second, my poor friend!
Very well! Only here is the rub; we will put no bullets in the pistols.
I can answer for it that Pechorin will turn coward--I will place them
six paces apart, devil take it! Are you agreed, gentlemen?"

"Splendid idea!... Agreed!... And why not?"... came from all sides.

"And you, Grushnitski?"

Tremblingly I awaited Grushnitski's answer. I was filled with cold rage
at the thought that, but for an accident, I might have made myself the
laughing-stock of those fools. If Grushnitski had not agreed, I should
have thrown myself upon his neck; but, after an interval of silence,
he rose from his place, extended his hand to the captain, and said very
gravely:

"Very well, I agree!"

It would be difficult to describe the enthusiasm of that honourable
company.

I returned home, agitated by two different feelings. The first was
sorrow.

"Why do they all hate me?" I thought--"why? Have I affronted anyone? No.
Can it be that I am one of those men the mere sight of whom is enough to
create animosity?"

And I felt a venomous rage gradually filling my soul.

"Have a care, Mr. Grushnitski!" I said, walking up and down the room:
"I am not to be jested with like this! You may pay dearly for the
approbation of your foolish comrades. I am not your toy!"...

I got no sleep that night. By daybreak I was as yellow as an orange.

In the morning I met Princess Mary at the well.

"You are ill?" she said, looking intently at me.

"I did not sleep last night."

"Nor I either... I was accusing you... perhaps groundlessly. But explain
yourself, I can forgive you everything"...

"Everything?"...

"Everything... only speak the truth... and be quick... You see, I
have been thinking a good deal, trying to explain, to justify, your
behaviour. Perhaps you are afraid of opposition on the part of my
relations... that will not matter. When they learn"...

Her voice shook.

"I will win them over by entreaties. Or, is it your own position?...
But you know that I can sacrifice everything for the sake of the man I
love... Oh, answer quickly--have pity... You do not despise me--do you?"

She seized my hand.

Princess Ligovski was walking in front of us with Vera's husband, and
had not seen anything; but we might have been observed by some of the
invalids who were strolling about--the most inquisitive gossips of all
inquisitive folk--and I rapidly disengaged my hand from her passionate
pressure.

"I will tell you the whole truth," I answered. "I will not justify
myself, nor explain my actions: I do not love you."

Her lips grew slightly pale.

"Leave me," she said, in a scarcely audible voice.

I shrugged my shoulders, turned round, and walked away.

I SOMETIMES despise myself... Is not that the reason why I despise
others also?... I have grown incapable of noble impulses; I am afraid of
appearing ridiculous to myself. In my place, another would have offered
Princess Mary son coeur et sa fortune; but over me the word "marry" has
a kind of magical power. However passionately I love a woman, if she
only gives me to feel that I have to marry her--then farewell, love! My
heart is turned to stone, and nothing will warm it anew. I am prepared
for any other sacrifice but that; my life twenty times over, nay, my
honour I would stake on the fortune of a card... but my freedom I will
never sell. Why do I prize it so highly? What is there in it to me? For
what am I preparing myself? What do I hope for from the future?... In
truth, absolutely nothing. It is a kind of innate dread, an inexplicable
prejudice... There are people, you know, who have an unaccountable dread
of spiders, beetles, mice... Shall I confess it? When I was but a child,
a certain old woman told my fortune to my mother. She predicted for me
death from a wicked wife. I was profoundly struck by her words at the
time: an irresistible repugnance to marriage was born within my soul...
Meanwhile, something tells me that her prediction will be realized; I
will try, at all events, to arrange that it shall be realized as late in
life as possible.

YESTERDAY, the conjurer Apfelbaum arrived here. A long placard made its
appearance on the door of the restaurant, informing the most respected
public that the above-mentioned marvellous conjurer, acrobat, chemist,
and optician would have the honour to give a magnificent performance on
the present day at eight o'clock in the evening, in the saloon of the
Nobles' Club (in other words, the restaurant); tickets--two rubles and a
half each.

Everyone intends to go and see the marvellous conjurer; even Princess
Ligovski has taken a ticket for herself, in spite of her daughter being
ill.

After dinner to-day, I walked past Vera's windows; she was sitting by
herself on the balcony. A note fell at my feet:

"Come to me at ten o'clock this evening by the large staircase. My
husband has gone to Pyatigorsk and will not return before to-morrow
morning. My servants and maids will not be at home; I have distributed
tickets to all of them, and to the princess's servants as well. I await
you; come without fail."

"Aha!" I said to myself, "so then it has turned out at last as I thought
it would."

At eight o'clock I went to see the conjurer. The public assembled before
the stroke of nine. The performance began. On the back rows of chairs
I recognized Vera's and Princess Ligovski's menservants and maids. They
were all there, every single one. Grushnitski, with his lorgnette, was
sitting in the front row, and the conjurer had recourse to him every
time he needed a handkerchief, a watch, a ring and so forth.

For some time past, Grushnitski has ceased to bow to me, and to-day
he has looked at me rather insolently once or twice. It will all be
remembered to him when we come to settle our scores.

Before ten o'clock had struck, I stood up and went out.

It was dark outside, pitch dark. Cold, heavy clouds were lying on the
summit of the surrounding mountains, and only at rare intervals did
the dying breeze rustle the tops of the poplars which surrounded
the restaurant. People were crowding at the windows. I went down the
mountain and, turning in under the gate, I hastened my pace. Suddenly it
seemed to me that somebody was following my steps. I stopped and looked
round. It was impossible to make out anything in the darkness. However,
out of caution, I walked round the house, as if taking a stroll. Passing
Princess Mary's windows, I again heard steps behind me; a man wrapped in
a cloak ran by me. That rendered me uneasy, but I crept up to the flight
of steps, and hastily mounted the dark staircase. A door opened, and a
little hand seized mine...

"Nobody has seen you?" said Vera in a whisper, clinging to me.

"Nobody."

"Now do you believe that I love you? Oh! I have long hesitated, long
tortured myself... But you can do anything you like with me."

Her heart was beating violently, her hands were cold as ice. She broke
out into complaints and jealous reproaches. She demanded that I should
confess everything to her, saying that she would bear my faithlessness
with submission, because her sole desire was that I should be happy. I
did not quite believe that, but I calmed her with oaths, promises and so
on.

"So you will not marry Mary? You do not love her?... But she thinks...
Do you know, she is madly in love with you, poor girl!"...

*****

About two o'clock in the morning I opened the window and, tying two
shawls together, I let myself down from the upper balcony to the lower,
holding on by the pillar. A light was still burning in Princess Mary's
room. Something drew me towards that window. The curtain was not quite
drawn, and I was able to cast a curious glance into the interior of the
room. Mary was sitting on her bed, her hands crossed upon her knees;
her thick hair was gathered up under a lace-frilled nightcap; her white
shoulders were covered by a large crimson kerchief, and her little feet
were hidden in a pair of many-coloured Persian slippers. She was sitting
quite still, her head sunk upon her breast; on a little table in front
of her was an open book; but her eyes, fixed and full of inexpressible
grief, seemed for the hundredth time to be skimming the same page whilst
her thoughts were far away.

At that moment somebody stirred behind a shrub. I leaped from the
balcony on to the sward. An invisible hand seized me by the shoulder.

"Aha!" said a rough voice: "caught!... I'll teach you to be entering
princesses' rooms at night!"

"Hold him fast!" exclaimed another, springing out from a corner.

It was Grushnitski and the captain of dragoons.

I struck the latter on the head with my fist, knocked him off his feet,
and darted into the bushes. All the paths of the garden which covered
the slope opposite our houses were known to me.

"Thieves, guard!"... they cried.

A gunshot rang out; a smoking wad fell almost at my feet.

Within a minute I was in my own room, undressed and in bed. My
manservant had only just locked the door when Grushnitski and the
captain began knocking for admission.

"Pechorin! Are you asleep? Are you there?"... cried the captain.

"I am in bed," I answered angrily.

"Get up! Thieves!... Circassians!"...

"I have a cold," I answered. "I am afraid of catching a chill."

They went away. I had gained no useful purpose by answering them: they
would have been looking for me in the garden for another hour or so.

Meanwhile the alarm became terrific. A Cossack galloped up from the
fortress. The commotion was general; Circassians were looked for in
every shrub--and of course none were found. Probably, however, a good
many people were left with the firm conviction that, if only more
courage and despatch had been shown by the garrison, at least a score of
brigands would have failed to get away with their lives.

THIS morning, at the well, the sole topic of conversation was the
nocturnal attack by the Circassians. I drank the appointed number of
glasses of Narzan water, and, after sauntering a few times about the
long linden avenue, I met Vera's husband, who had just arrived from
Pyatigorsk. He took my arm and we went to the restaurant for breakfast.
He was dreadfully uneasy about his wife.

"What a terrible fright she had last night," he said. "Of course, it was
bound to happen just at the very time when I was absent."

We sat down to breakfast near the door leading into a corner-room in
which about a dozen young men were sitting. Grushnitski was amongst
them. For the second time destiny provided me with the opportunity of
overhearing a conversation which was to decide his fate. He did not
see me, and, consequently, it was impossible for me to suspect him of
design; but that only magnified his fault in my eyes.

"Is it possible, though, that they were really Circassians?" somebody
said. "Did anyone see them?"

"I will tell you the whole truth," answered Grushnitski: "only please do
not betray me. This is how it was: yesterday, a certain man, whose name
I will not tell you, came up to me and told me that, at ten o'clock in
the evening, he had seen somebody creeping into the Ligovskis' house. I
must observe that Princess Ligovski was here, and Princess Mary at home.
So he and I set off to wait beneath the windows and waylay the lucky
man."

I confess I was frightened, although my companion was very busily
engaged with his breakfast: he might have heard things which he would
have found rather displeasing, if Grushnitski had happened to guess the
truth; but, blinded by jealousy, the latter did not even suspect it.

"So, do you see?" Grushnitski continued. "We set off, taking with us a
gun, loaded with blank cartridge, so as just to give him a fright.
We waited in the garden till two o'clock. At length--goodness knows,
indeed, where he appeared from, but he must have come out by the glass
door which is behind the pillar; it was not out of the window that he
came, because the window had remained unopened--at length, I say, we saw
someone getting down from the balcony... What do you think of Princess
Mary--eh? Well, I admit, it is hardly what you might expect from Moscow
ladies! After that what can you believe? We were going to seize him, but
he broke away and darted like a hare into the shrubs. Thereupon I fired
at him."

There was a general murmur of incredulity.

"You do not believe it?" he continued. "I give you my word of honour as
a gentleman that it is all perfectly true, and, in proof, I will tell
you the man's name if you like."

"Tell us, tell us, who was he?" came from all sides.

"Pechorin," answered Grushnitski.

At that moment he raised his eyes--I was standing in the doorway
opposite to him. He grew terribly red. I went up to him and said, slowly
and distinctly:

"I am very sorry that I did not come in before you had given your word
of honour in confirmation of a most abominable calumny: my presence
would have saved you from that further act of baseness."

Grushnitski jumped up from his seat and seemed about to fly into a
passion.

"I beg you," I continued in the same tone: "I beg you at once to retract
what you have said; you know very well that it is all an invention. I
do not think that a woman's indifference to your brilliant merits should
deserve so terrible a revenge. Bethink you well: if you maintain your
present attitude, you will lose the right to the name of gentleman and
will risk your life."

Grushnitski stood before me in violent agitation, his eyes cast down.
But the struggle between his conscience and his vanity was of short
duration. The captain of dragoons, who was sitting beside him, nudged
him with his elbow. Grushnitski started, and answered rapidly, without
raising his eyes:

"My dear sir, what I say, I mean, and I am prepared to repeat... I am
not afraid of your menaces and am ready for anything."

"The latter you have already proved," I answered coldly; and, taking the
captain of dragoons by the arm, I left the room.

"What do you want?" asked the captain.

"You are Grushnitski's friend and will no doubt be his second?"

The captain bowed very gravely.

"You have guessed rightly," he answered.

"Moreover, I am bound to be his second, because the insult offered
to him touches myself also. I was with him last night," he added,
straightening up his stooping figure.

"Ah! So it was you whose head I struck so clumsily?"...

He turned yellow in the face, then blue; suppressed rage was portrayed
upon his countenance.

"I shall have the honour to send my second to you to-day," I added,
bowing adieu to him very politely, without appearing to have noticed his
fury.

On the restaurant-steps I met Vera's husband. Apparently he had been
waiting for me.

He seized my hand with a feeling akin to rapture.

"Noble young man!" he said, with tears in his eyes. "I have heard
everything. What a scoundrel! Ingrate!... Just fancy such people
being admitted into a decent household after this! Thank God I have no
daughters! But she for whom you are risking your life will reward you.
Be assured of my constant discretion," he continued. "I have been young
myself and have served in the army: I know that these affairs must take
their course. Good-bye."

Poor fellow! He is glad that he has no daughters!...

I went straight to Werner, found him at home, and told him the whole
story--my relations with Vera and Princess Mary, and the conversation
which I had overheard and from which I had learned the intention of
these gentlemen to make a fool of me by causing me to fight a duel with
blank cartridges. But, now, the affair had gone beyond the bounds of
jest; they probably had not expected that it would turn out like this.

The doctor consented to be my second; I gave him a few directions with
regard to the conditions of the duel. He was to insist upon the
affair being managed with all possible secrecy, because, although I am
prepared, at any moment, to face death, I am not in the least disposed
to spoil for all time my future in this world.

After that I went home. In an hour's time the doctor returned from his
expedition.

"There is indeed a conspiracy against you," he said. "I found the
captain of dragoons at Grushnitski's, together with another gentleman
whose surname I do not remember. I stopped a moment in the ante-room,
in order to take off my goloshes. They were squabbling and making a
terrible uproar. 'On no account will I agree,' Grushnitski was saying:
'he has insulted me publicly; it was quite a different thing before'...

"'What does it matter to you?' answered the captain. 'I will take it all
upon myself. I have been second in five duels, and I should think I know
how to arrange the affair. I have thought it all out. Just let me alone,
please. It is not a bad thing to give people a bit of a fright. And why
expose yourself to danger if it is possible to avoid it?'...

"At that moment I entered the room. They suddenly fell silent. Our
negotiations were somewhat protracted. At length we decided the matter
as follows: about five versts from here there is a hollow gorge; they
will ride thither tomorrow at four o'clock in the morning, and we
shall leave half an hour later. You will fire at six paces--Grushnitski
himself demanded that condition. Whichever of you is killed--his death
will be put down to the account of the Circassians. And now I must tell
you what I suspect: they, that is to say the seconds, may have made
some change in their former plan and may want to load only Grushnitski's
pistol. That is something like murder, but in time of war, and
especially in Asiatic warfare, such tricks are allowed. Grushnitski,
however, seems to be a little more magnanimous than his companions. What
do you think? Ought we not to let them see that we have guessed their
plan?"

"Not on any account, doctor! Make your mind easy; I will not give in to
them."

"But what are you going to do, then?"

"That is my secret."

"Mind you are not caught... six paces, you know!"

"Doctor, I shall expect you to-morrow at four o'clock. The horses will
be ready... Goodbye."

I remained in the house until the evening, with my door locked. A
manservant came to invite me to Princess Ligovski's--I bade him say that
I was ill.

*****

Two o'clock in the morning... I cannot sleep... Yet sleep is what I
need, if I am to have a steady hand to-morrow. However, at six paces
it is difficult to miss. Aha! Mr. Grushnitski, your wiles will not
succeed!... We shall exchange roles: now it is I who shall have to seek
the signs of latent terror upon your pallid countenance. Why have you
yourself appointed these fatal six paces? Think you that I will tamely
expose my forehead to your aim?...

No, we shall cast lots... And then--then--what if his luck should
prevail? If my star at length should betray me?... And little wonder if
it did: it has so long and faithfully served my caprices.

Well? If I must die, I must! The loss to the world will not be great;
and I myself am already downright weary of everything. I am like a guest
at a ball, who yawns but does not go home to bed, simply because
his carriage has not come for him. But now the carriage is here...
Good-bye!...

My whole past life I live again in memory, and, involuntarily, I ask
myself: 'why have I lived--for what purpose was I born?'... A purpose
there must have been, and, surely, mine was an exalted destiny, because
I feel that within my soul are powers immeasurable... But I was not able
to discover that destiny, I allowed myself to be carried away by the
allurements of passions, inane and ignoble. From their crucible I
issued hard and cold as iron, but gone for ever was the glow of noble
aspirations--the fairest flower of life. And, from that time forth, how
often have I not played the part of an axe in the hands of fate! Like an
implement of punishment, I have fallen upon the head of doomed victims,
often without malice, always without pity... To none has my love brought
happiness, because I have never sacrificed anything for the sake of
those I have loved: for myself alone I have loved--for my own pleasure.
I have only satisfied the strange craving of my heart, greedily draining
their feelings, their tenderness, their joys, their sufferings--and
I have never been able to sate myself. I am like one who, spent with
hunger, falls asleep in exhaustion and sees before him sumptuous viands
and sparkling wines; he devours with rapture the aerial gifts of the
imagination, and his pains seem somewhat assuaged. Let him but awake:
the vision vanishes--twofold hunger and despair remain!

And to-morrow, it may be, I shall die!... And there will not be left on
earth one being who has understood me completely. Some will consider me
worse, others, better, than I have been in reality... Some will say:
'he was a good fellow'; others: 'a villain.' And both epithets will be
false. After all this, is life worth the trouble? And yet we live--out
of curiosity! We expect something new... How absurd, and yet how
vexatious!

IT is now a month and a half since I have been in the N----Fortress.

Maksim Maksimych is out hunting... I am alone. I am sitting by the
window. Grey clouds have covered the mountains to the foot; the sun
appears through the mist as a yellow spot. It is cold; the wind is
whistling and rocking the shutters... I am bored!... I will continue my
diary which has been interrupted by so many strange events.

I read the last page over: how ridiculous it seems!... I thought to die;
it was not to be. I have not yet drained the cup of suffering, and now I
feel that I still have long to live.

How clearly and how sharply have all these bygone events been stamped
upon my memory! Time has not effaced a single line, a single shade.

I remember that during the night preceding the duel I did not sleep a
single moment. I was not able to write for long: a secret uneasiness
took possession of me. For about an hour I paced the room, then I sat
down and opened a novel by Walter Scott which was lying on my table. It
was "The Scottish Puritans." [301] At first I read with an effort; then,
carried away by the magical fiction, I became oblivious of everything
else.

At last day broke. My nerves became composed. I looked in the glass:
a dull pallor covered my face, which preserved the traces of harassing
sleeplessness; but my eyes, although encircled by a brownish shadow,
glittered proudly and inexorably. I was satisfied with myself.

I ordered the horses to be saddled, dressed myself, and ran down to the
baths. Plunging into the cold, sparkling water of the Narzan Spring, I
felt my bodily and mental powers returning. I left the baths as fresh
and hearty as if I was off to a ball. After that, who shall say that the
soul is not dependent upon the body!...

On my return, I found the doctor at my rooms. He was wearing grey
riding-breeches, a jacket and a Circassian cap. I burst out laughing
when I saw that little figure under the enormous shaggy cap. Werner
has a by no means warlike countenance, and on that occasion it was even
longer than usual.

"Why so sad, doctor?" I said to him. "Have you not a hundred times, with
the greatest indifference, escorted people to the other world? Imagine
that I have a bilious fever: I may get well; also, I may die; both are
in the usual course of things. Try to look on me as a patient, afflicted
with an illness with which you are still unfamiliar--and then your
curiosity will be aroused in the highest degree. You can now make a few
important physiological observations upon me... Is not the expectation
of a violent death itself a real illness?"

The doctor was struck by that idea, and he brightened up.

We mounted our horses. Werner clung on to his bridle with both hands,
and we set off. In a trice we had galloped past the fortress, through
the village, and had ridden into the gorge. Our winding road was
half-overgrown with tall grass and was intersected every moment by a
noisy brook, which we had to ford, to the great despair of the doctor,
because each time his horse would stop in the water.

A morning more fresh and blue I cannot remember! The sun had scarce
shown his face from behind the green summits, and the blending of the
first warmth of his rays with the dying coolness of the night produced
on all my feelings a sort of sweet languor. The joyous beam of the young
day had not yet penetrated the gorge; it gilded only the tops of the
cliffs which overhung us on both sides. The tufted shrubs, growing in
the deep crevices of the cliffs, besprinkled us with a silver shower
at the least breath of wind. I remember that on that occasion I loved
Nature more than ever before. With what curiosity did I examine every
dewdrop trembling upon the broad vine leaf and reflecting millions of
rainbowhued rays! How eagerly did my glance endeavour to penetrate the
smoky distance! There the road grew narrower and narrower, the cliffs
bluer and more dreadful, and at last they met, it seemed, in an
impenetrable wall.

We rode in silence.

"Have you made your will?" Werner suddenly inquired.

"No."

"And if you are killed?"

"My heirs will be found of themselves."

"Is it possible that you have no friends, to whom you would like to send
a last farewell?"...

I shook my head.

"Is there, really, not one woman in the world to whom you would like to
leave some token in remembrance?"...

"Do you want me to reveal my soul to you, doctor?" I answered... "You
see, I have outlived the years when people die with the name of the
beloved on their lips and bequeathing to a friend a lock of pomaded--or
unpomaded--hair. When I think that death may be near, I think of myself
alone; others do not even do as much. The friends who to-morrow will
forget me or, worse, will utter goodness knows what falsehoods about me;
the women who, while embracing another, will laugh at me in order not
to arouse his jealousy of the deceased--let them go! Out of the storm of
life I have borne away only a few ideas--and not one feeling. For a
long time now I have been living, not with my heart, but with my head.
I weigh, analyse my own passions and actions with severe curiosity, but
without sympathy. There are two personalities within me: one lives--in
the complete sense of the word--the other reflects and judges him; the
first, it may be, in an hour's time, will take farewell of you and the
world for ever, and the second--the second?... Look, doctor, do you
see those three black figures on the cliff, to the right? They are our
antagonists, I suppose?"...

We pushed on.

In the bushes at the foot of the cliff three horses were tethered; we
tethered ours there too, and then we clambered up the narrow path to the
ledge on which Grushnitski was awaiting us in company with the captain
of dragoons and his other second, whom they called Ivan Ignatevich. His
surname I never heard.

"We have been expecting you for quite a long time," said the captain of
dragoons, with an ironical smile.

I drew out my watch and showed him the time.

He apologized, saying that his watch was fast.

There was an embarrassing silence for a few moments. At length the
doctor interrupted it.

"It seems to me," he said, turning to Grushnitski, "that as you have
both shown your readiness to fight, and thereby paid the debt due to the
conditions of honour, you might be able to come to an explanation and
finish the affair amicably."

"I am ready," I said.

The captain winked to Grushnitski, and the latter, thinking that I was
losing courage, assumed a haughty air, although, until that moment, his
cheeks had been covered with a dull pallor. For the first time since our
arrival he lifted his eyes on me; but in his glance there was a certain
disquietude which evinced an inward struggle.

"Declare your conditions," he said, "and anything I can do for you, be
assured"...

"These are my conditions: you will this very day publicly recant your
slander and beg my pardon"...

"My dear sir, I wonder how you dare make such a proposal to me?"

"What else could I propose?"...

"We will fight."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Be it so; only, bethink you that one of us will infallibly be killed."

"I hope it will be you"...

"And I am so convinced of the contrary"...

He became confused, turned red, and then burst out into a forced laugh.

The captain took his arm and led him aside; they whispered together for
a long time. I had arrived in a fairly pacific frame of mind, but all
this was beginning to drive me furious.

The doctor came up to me.

"Listen," he said, with manifest uneasiness, "you have surely forgotten
their conspiracy!... I do not know how to load a pistol, but in
this case... You are a strange man! Tell them that you know their
intention--and they will not dare... What sport! To shoot you like a
bird"...

"Please do not be uneasy, doctor, and wait awhile... I shall arrange
everything in such a way that there will be no advantage on their side.
Let them whisper"...

"Gentlemen, this is becoming tedious," I said to them loudly: "if we are
to fight, let us fight; you had time yesterday to talk as much as you
wanted to."

"We are ready," answered the captain. "Take your places, gentlemen!
Doctor, be good enough to measure six paces"...

"Take your places!" repeated Ivan Ignatevich, in a squeaky voice.

"Excuse me!" I said. "One further condition. As we are going to fight
to the death, we are bound to do everything possible in order that
the affair may remain a secret, and that our seconds may incur no
responsibility. Do you agree?"...

"Quite."

"Well, then, this is my idea. Do you see that narrow ledge on the top of
the perpendicular cliff on the right? It must be thirty fathoms, if not
more, from there to the bottom; and, down below, there are sharp rocks.
Each of us will stand right at the extremity of the ledge--in such
manner even a slight wound will be mortal: that ought to be in
accordance with your desire, as you yourselves have fixed upon six
paces. Whichever of us is wounded will be certain to fall down and be
dashed to pieces; the doctor will extract the bullet, and, then, it will
be possible very easily to account for that sudden death by saying it
was the result of a fall. Let us cast lots to decide who shall fire
first. In conclusion, I declare that I will not fight on any other
terms."

"Be it so!" said the captain after an expressive glance at Grushnitski,
who nodded his head in token of assent. Every moment he was changing
countenance. I had placed him in an embarrassing position. Had the duel
been fought upon the usual conditions, he could have aimed at my leg,
wounded me slightly, and in such wise gratified his vengeance without
overburdening his conscience. But now he was obliged to fire in the air,
or to make himself an assassin, or, finally, to abandon his base plan
and to expose himself to equal danger with me. I should not have liked
to be in his place at that moment. He took the captain aside and said
something to him with great warmth. His lips were blue, and I saw them
trembling; but the captain turned away from him with a contemptuous
smile.

"You are a fool," he said to Grushnitski rather loudly. "You can't
understand a thing!... Let us be off, then, gentlemen!"

The precipice was approached by a narrow path between bushes, and
fragments of rock formed the precarious steps of that natural staircase.
Clinging to the bushes we proceeded to clamber up. Grushnitski went in
front, his seconds behind him, and then the doctor and I.

"I am surprised at you," said the doctor, pressing my hand vigorously.
"Let me feel your pulse!... Oho! Feverish!... But nothing noticeable
on your countenance... only your eyes are gleaming more brightly than
usual."

Suddenly small stones rolled noisily right under our feet. What was it?
Grushnitski had stumbled; the branch to which he was clinging had broken
off, and he would have rolled down on his back if his seconds had not
held him up.

"Take care!" I cried. "Do not fall prematurely: that is a bad sign.
Remember Julius Caesar!"

AND now we had climbed to the summit of the projecting cliff. The ledge
was covered with fine sand, as if on purpose for a duel. All around,
like an innumerable herd, crowded the mountains, their summits lost to
view in the golden mist of the morning; and towards the south rose
the white mass of Elbruz, closing the chain of icy peaks, among which
fibrous clouds, which had rushed in from the east, were already roaming.
I walked to the extremity of the ledge and gazed down. My head nearly
swam. At the foot of the precipice all seemed dark and cold as in a
tomb; the moss-grown jags of the rocks, hurled down by storm and time,
were awaiting their prey.

The ledge on which we were to fight formed an almost regular triangle.
Six paces were measured from the projecting corner, and it was decided
that whichever had first to meet the fire of his opponent should stand
in the very corner with his back to the precipice; if he was not killed
the adversaries would change places.

I determined to relinquish every advantage to Grushnitski; I wanted to
test him. A spark of magnanimity might awake in his soul--and then all
would have been settled for the best. But his vanity and weakness of
character had perforce to triumph!... I wished to give myself the full
right to refrain from sparing him if destiny were to favour me. Who
would not have concluded such an agreement with his conscience?

"Cast the lot, doctor!" said the captain.

The doctor drew a silver coin from his pocket and held it up.

"Tail!" cried Grushnitski hurriedly, like a man suddenly aroused by a
friendly nudge.

"Head," I said.

The coin spun in the air and fell, jingling. We all rushed towards it.

"You are lucky," I said to Grushnitski. "You are to fire first! But
remember that if you do not kill me I shall not miss--I give you my word
of honour."

He flushed up; he was ashamed to kill an unarmed man. I looked at him
fixedly; for a moment it seemed to me that he would throw himself at my
feet, imploring forgiveness; but how to confess so base a plot?... One
expedient only was left to him--to fire in the air! I was convinced
that he would fire in the air! One consideration alone might prevent him
doing so--the thought that I would demand a second duel.

"Now is the time!" the doctor whispered to me, plucking me by the
sleeve. "If you do not tell them now that we know their intentions, all
is lost. Look, he is loading already... If you will not say anything, I
will"...

"On no account, doctor!" I answered, holding him back by the arm. "You
will spoil everything. You have given me your word not to interfere...
What does it matter to you? Perhaps I wish to be killed"...

He looked at me in astonishment.

"Oh, that is another thing!... Only do not complain of me in the other
world"...

Meanwhile the captain had loaded his pistols and given one to
Grushnitski, after whispering something to him with a smile; the other
he gave to me.

I placed myself in the corner of the ledge, planting my left foot firmly
against the rock and bending slightly forward, so that, in case of a
slight wound, I might not fall over backwards.

Grushnitski placed himself opposite me and, at a given signal, began
to raise his pistol. His knees shook. He aimed right at my forehead...
Unutterable fury began to seethe within my breast.

Suddenly he dropped the muzzle of the pistol and, pale as a sheet,
turned to his second.

"I cannot," he said in a hollow voice.

"Coward!" answered the captain.

A shot rang out. The bullet grazed my knee. Involuntarily I took a few
paces forward in order to get away from the edge as quickly as possible.

"Well, my dear Grushnitski, it is a pity that you have missed!" said
the captain. "Now it is your turn, take your stand! Embrace me first: we
shall not see each other again!"

They embraced; the captain could scarcely refrain from laughing.

"Do not be afraid," he added, glancing cunningly at Grushnitski;
"everything in this world is nonsense... Nature is a fool, fate a
turkeyhen, and life a copeck!" [31]

After that tragic phrase, uttered with becoming gravity, he went back to
his place. Ivan Ignatevich, with tears, also embraced Grushnitski, and
there the latter remained alone, facing me. Ever since then, I have been
trying to explain to myself what sort of feeling it was that was boiling
within my breast at that moment: it was the vexation of injured vanity,
and contempt, and wrath engendered at the thought that the man now
looking at me with such confidence, such quiet insolence, had, two
minutes before, been about to kill me like a dog, without exposing
himself to the least danger, because had I been wounded a little more
severely in the leg I should inevitably have fallen over the cliff.

For a few moments I looked him fixedly in the face, trying to discern
thereon even a slight trace of repentance. But it seemed to me that he
was restraining a smile.

"I should advise you to say a prayer before you die," I said.

"Do not worry about my soul any more than your own. One thing I beg of
you: be quick about firing."

"And you do not recant your slander? You do not beg my forgiveness?...
Bethink you well: has your conscience nothing to say to you?"

"Mr. Pechorin!" exclaimed the captain of dragoons. "Allow me to point
out that you are not here to preach... Let us lose no time, in case
anyone should ride through the gorge and we should be seen."

"Very well. Doctor, come here!"

The doctor came up to me. Poor doctor! He was paler than Grushnitski had
been ten minutes before.

The words which followed I purposely pronounced with a pause between
each--loudly and distinctly, as the sentence of death is pronounced:

"Doctor, these gentlemen have forgotten, in their hurry, no doubt, to
put a bullet in my pistol. I beg you to load it afresh--and properly!"

"Impossible!" cried the captain, "impossible! I loaded both pistols.
Perhaps the bullet has rolled out of yours... That is not my fault! And
you have no right to load again... No right at all. It is altogether
against the rules, I shall not allow it"...

"Very well!" I said to the captain. "If so, then you and I shall fight
on the same terms"...

He came to a dead stop.

Grushnitski stood with his head sunk on his breast, embarrassed and
gloomy.

"Let them be!" he said at length to the captain, who was going to pull
my pistol out of the doctor's hands. "You know yourself that they are
right."

In vain the captain made various signs to him. Grushnitski would not
even look.

Meanwhile the doctor had loaded the pistol and handed it to me. On
seeing that, the captain spat and stamped his foot.

"You are a fool, then, my friend," he said: "a common fool!... You
trusted to me before, so you should obey me in everything now... But
serve you right! Die like a fly!"...

He turned away, muttering as he went:

"But all the same it is absolutely against the rules."

"Grushnitski!" I said. "There is still time: recant your slander, and I
will forgive you everything. You have not succeeded in making a fool of
me; my self-esteem is satisfied. Remember--we were once friends"...

His face flamed, his eyes flashed.

"Fire!" he answered. "I despise myself and I hate you. If you do not
kill me I will lie in wait for you some night and cut your throat. There
is not room on the earth for both of us"...

I fired.

When the smoke had cleared away, Grushnitski was not to be seen on the
ledge. Only a slender column of dust was still eddying at the edge of
the precipice.

There was a simultaneous cry from the rest.

"Finita la commedia!" I said to the doctor.

He made no answer, and turned away with horror.

I shrugged my shoulders and bowed to Grushnitski's seconds.

AS I descended by the path, I observed Grushnitski's bloodstained corpse
between the clefts of the rocks. Involuntarily, I closed my eyes.

Untying my horse, I set off home at a walking pace. A stone lay upon my
heart. To my eyes the sun seemed dim, its beams were powerless to warm
me.

I did not ride up to the village, but turned to the right, along the
gorge. The sight of a man would have been painful to me: I wanted to be
alone. Throwing down the bridle and letting my head fall on my breast, I
rode for a long time, and at length found myself in a spot with which
I was wholly unfamiliar. I turned my horse back and began to search
for the road. The sun had already set by the time I had ridden up to
Kislovodsk--myself and my horse both utterly spent!

My servant told me that Werner had called, and he handed me two notes:
one from Werner, the other... from Vera.

I opened the first; its contents were as follows:

"Everything has been arranged as well as could be; the mutilated body
has been brought in; and the bullet extracted from the breast. Everybody
is convinced that the cause of death was an unfortunate accident; only
the Commandant, who was doubtless aware of your quarrel, shook his head,
but he said nothing. There are no proofs at all against you, and you may
sleep in peace... if you can.... Farewell!"...

For a long time I could not make up my mind to open the second note...
What could it be that she was writing to me?... My soul was agitated by
a painful foreboding.

Here it is, that letter, each word of which is indelibly engraved upon
my memory:

"I am writing to you in the full assurance that we shall never see each
other again. A few years ago on parting with you I thought the same.
However, it has been Heaven's will to try me a second time: I have not
been able to endure the trial, my frail heart has again submitted to
the well-known voice... You will not despise me for that--will you? This
letter will be at once a farewell and a confession: I am obliged to tell
you everything that has been treasured up in my heart since it began to
love you. I will not accuse you--you have acted towards me as any other
man would have acted; you have loved me as a chattel, as a source of
joys, disquietudes and griefs, interchanging one with the other, without
which life would be dull and monotonous. I have understood all that from
the first... But you were unhappy, and I have sacrificed myself, hoping
that, some time, you would appreciate my sacrifice, that some time you
would understand my deep tenderness, unfettered by any conditions. A
long time has elapsed since then: I have fathomed all the secrets of
your soul... and I have convinced myself that my hope was vain. It has
been a bitter blow to me! But my love has been grafted with my soul; it
has grown dark, but has not been extinguished.

"We are parting for ever; yet you may be sure that I shall never love
another. Upon you my soul has exhausted all its treasures, its tears,
its hopes. She who has once loved you cannot look without a certain
disdain upon other men, not because you have been better than they, oh,
no! but in your nature there is something peculiar--belonging to you
alone, something proud and mysterious; in your voice, whatever the words
spoken, there is an invincible power. No one can so constantly wish to
be loved, in no one is wickedness ever so attractive, no one's glance
promises so much bliss, no one can better make use of his advantages,
and no one can be so truly unhappy as you, because no one endeavours so
earnestly to convince himself of the contrary.

"Now I must explain the cause of my hurried departure; it will seem of
little importance to you, because it concerns me alone.

"This morning my husband came in and told me about your quarrel with
Grushnitski. Evidently I changed countenance greatly, because he looked
me in the face long and intently. I almost fainted at the thought that
you had to fight a duel to-day, and that I was the cause of it; it
seemed to me that I should go mad... But now, when I am able to reason,
I am sure that you remain alive: it is impossible that you should die,
and I not with you--impossible! My husband walked about the room for a
long time. I do not know what he said to me, I do not remember what I
answered... Most likely I told him that I loved you... I only remember
that, at the end of our conversation, he insulted me with a dreadful
word and left the room. I heard him ordering the carriage... I have been
sitting at the window three hours now, awaiting your return... But you
are alive, you cannot have died!... The carriage is almost ready...
Good-bye, good-bye!... I have perished--but what matter? If I could be
sure that you will always remember me--I no longer say love--no, only
remember... Good-bye, they are coming!... I must hide this letter.

"You do not love Mary, do you? You will not marry her? Listen, you must
offer me that sacrifice. I have lost everything in the world for you"...

Like a madman I sprang on the steps, jumped on my Circassian horse which
was being led about the courtyard, and set off at full gallop along
the road to Pyatigorsk. Unsparingly I urged on the jaded horse, which,
snorting and all in a foam, carried me swiftly along the rocky road.

The sun had already disappeared behind a black cloud, which had been
resting on the ridge of the western mountains; the gorge grew dark and
damp. The Podkumok, forcing its way over the rocks, roared with a hollow
and monotonous sound. I galloped on, choking with impatience. The idea
of not finding Vera in Pyatigorsk struck my heart like a hammer. For one
minute, again to see her for one minute, to say farewell, to press her
hand... I prayed, cursed, wept, laughed... No, nothing could express
my anxiety, my despair!... Now that it seemed possible that I might be
about to lose her for ever, Vera became dearer to me than aught in the
world--dearer than life, honour, happiness! God knows what strange, what
mad plans swarmed in my head... Meanwhile I still galloped, urging on
my horse without pity. And, now, I began to notice that he was breathing
more heavily; he had already stumbled once or twice on level ground...
I was five versts from Essentuki--a Cossack village where I could change
horses.

All would have been saved had my horse been able to hold out for another
ten minutes. But suddenly, in lifting himself out of a little gulley
where the road emerges from the mountains at a sharp turn, he fell to
the ground. I jumped down promptly, I tried to lift him up, I tugged at
his bridle--in vain. A scarcely audible moan burst through his clenched
teeth; in a few moments he expired. I was left on the steppe, alone;
I had lost my last hope. I endeavoured to walk--my legs sank under me;
exhausted by the anxieties of the day and by sleeplessness, I fell upon
the wet grass and burst out crying like a child.

For a long time I lay motionless and wept bitterly, without attempting
to restrain my tears and sobs. I thought my breast would burst. All
my firmness, all my coolness, disappeared like smoke; my soul grew
powerless, my reason silent, and, if anyone had seen me at that moment,
he would have turned aside with contempt.

When the night-dew and the mountain breeze had cooled my burning brow,
and my thoughts had resumed their usual course, I realized that to
pursue my perished happiness would be unavailing and unreasonable.
What more did I want?--To see her?--Why? Was not all over between us? A
single, bitter, farewell kiss would not have enriched my recollections,
and, after it, parting would only have been more difficult for us.

Still, I am pleased that I can weep. Perhaps, however, the cause of
that was my shattered nerves, a night passed without sleep, two minutes
opposite the muzzle of a pistol, and an empty stomach.

It is all for the best. That new suffering created within me a fortunate
diversion--to speak in military style. To weep is healthy, and then,
no doubt, if I had not ridden as I did and had not been obliged to walk
fifteen versts on my way back, sleep would not have closed my eyes on
that night either.

I returned to Kislovodsk at five o'clock in the morning, threw myself on
my bed, and slept the sleep of Napoleon after Waterloo.

By the time I awoke it was dark outside. I sat by the open window, with
my jacket unbuttoned--and the mountain breeze cooled my breast, still
troubled by the heavy sleep of weariness. In the distance beyond the
river, through the tops of the thick lime trees which overshadowed it,
lights were glancing in the fortress and the village. Close at hand all
was calm. It was dark in Princess Ligovski's house.

The doctor entered; his brows were knit; contrary to custom, he did not
offer me his hand.

"Where have you come from, doctor?"

"From Princess Ligovski's; her daughter is ill--nervous exhaustion...
That is not the point, though. This is what I have come to tell you:
the authorities are suspicious, and, although it is impossible to prove
anything positively, I should, all the same, advise you to be cautious.
Princess Ligovski told me to-day that she knew that you fought a duel on
her daughter's account. That little old man--what's his name?--has told
her everything. He was a witness of your quarrel with Grushnitski in the
restaurant. I have come to warn you. Good-bye. Maybe we shall not meet
again: you will be banished somewhere."

He stopped on the threshold; he would gladly have pressed my hand...
and, had I shown the slightest desire to embrace him, he would have
thrown himself upon my neck; but I remained cold as a rock--and he left
the room.

That is just like men! They are all the same: they know beforehand all
the bad points of an act, they help, they advise, they even encourage
it, seeing the impossibility of any other expedient--and then they wash
their hands of the whole affair and turn away with indignation from him
who has had the courage to take the whole burden of responsibility upon
himself. They are all like that, even the best-natured, the wisest...

NEXT morning, having received orders from the supreme authority to
betake myself to the N----Fortress, I called upon Princess Ligovski to
say good-bye.

She was surprised when, in answer to her question, whether I had not
anything of special importance to tell her, I said I had come to wish
her good-bye, and so on.

"But I must have a very serious talk with you."

I sat down in silence.

It was clear that she did not know how to begin; her face grew livid,
she tapped the table with her plump fingers; at length, in a broken
voice, she said:

"Listen, Monsieur Pechorin, I think that you are a gentleman."

I bowed.

"Nay, I am sure of it," she continued, "although your behaviour is
somewhat equivocal, but you may have reasons which I do not know; and
you must now confide them to me. You have protected my daughter from
slander, you have fought a duel on her behalf--consequently you have
risked your life... Do not answer. I know that you will not acknowledge
it because Grushnitski has been killed"--she crossed herself. "God
forgive him--and you too, I hope... That does not concern me... I dare
not condemn you because my daughter, although innocently, has been
the cause. She has told me everything... everything, I think. You have
declared your love for her... She has admitted hers to you."--Here
Princess Ligovski sighed heavily.--"But she is ill, and I am certain
that it is no simple illness! Secret grief is killing her; she will not
confess, but I am convinced that you are the cause of it... Listen:
you think, perhaps, that I am looking for rank or immense wealth--be
undeceived, my daughter's happiness is my sole desire. Your present
position is unenviable, but it may be bettered: you have means; my
daughter loves you; she has been brought up in such a way that she will
make her husband a happy man. I am wealthy, she is my only child... Tell
me, what is keeping you back?... You see, I ought not to be saying all
this to you, but I rely upon your heart, upon your honour--remember she
is my only daughter... my only one"...

She burst into tears.

"Princess," I said, "it is impossible for me to answer you; allow me to
speak to your daughter, alone"...

"Never!" she exclaimed, rising from her chair in violent agitation.

"As you wish," I answered, preparing to go away.

She fell into thought, made a sign to me with her hand that I should
wait a little, and left the room.

Five minutes passed. My heart was beating violently, but my thoughts
were tranquil, my head cool. However assiduously I sought in my breast
for even a spark of love for the charming Mary, my efforts were of no
avail!

Then the door opened, and she entered. Heavens! How she had changed
since I had last seen her--and that but a short time ago!

When she reached the middle of the room, she staggered. I jumped up,
gave her my arm, and led her to a chair.

I stood facing her. We remained silent for a long time; her large eyes,
full of unutterable grief, seemed to be searching in mine for something
resembling hope; her wan lips vainly endeavoured to smile; her tender
hands, which were folded upon her knees, were so thin and transparent
that I pitied her.

"Princess," I said, "you know that I have been making fun of you?... You
must despise me."

A sickly flush suffused her cheeks.

"Consequently," I continued, "you cannot love me"...

She turned her head away, leaned her elbows on the table, covered her
eyes with her hand, and it seemed to me that she was on the point of
tears.

"Oh, God!" she said, almost inaudibly.

The situation was growing intolerable. Another minute--and I should have
fallen at her feet.

"So you see, yourself," I said in as firm a voice as I could command,
and with a forced smile, "you see, yourself, that I cannot marry you.
Even if you wished it now, you would soon repent. My conversation with
your mother has compelled me to explain myself to you so frankly and so
brutally. I hope that she is under a delusion: it will be easy for you
to undeceive her. You see, I am playing a most pitiful and ugly role
in your eyes, and I even admit it--that is the utmost I can do for your
sake. However bad an opinion you may entertain of me, I submit to it...
You see that I am base in your sight, am I not?... Is it not true that,
even if you have loved me, you would despise me from this moment?"...

She turned round to me. She was pale as marble, but her eyes were
sparkling wondrously.

"I hate you"... she said.

I thanked her, bowed respectfully, and left the room.

An hour afterwards a postal express was bearing me rapidly from
Kislovodsk. A few versts from Essentuki I recognized near the roadway
the body of my spirited horse. The saddle had been taken off, no doubt
by a passing Cossack, and, in its place, two ravens were sitting on the
horse's back. I sighed and turned away...

And now, here in this wearisome fortress, I often ask myself, as my
thoughts wander back to the past: why did I not wish to tread that way,
thrown open by destiny, where soft joys and ease of soul were awaiting
me?... No, I could never have become habituated to such a fate! I am
like a sailor born and bred on the deck of a pirate brig: his soul has
grown accustomed to storms and battles; but, once let him be cast upon
the shore, and he chafes, he pines away, however invitingly the shady
groves allure, however brightly shines the peaceful sun. The livelong
day he paces the sandy shore, hearkens to the monotonous murmur of the
onrushing waves, and gazes into the misty distance: lo! yonder, upon
the pale line dividing the blue deep from the grey clouds, is there not
glancing the longed-for sail, at first like the wing of a seagull, but
little by little severing itself from the foam of the billows and, with
even course, drawing nigh to the desert harbour?

A Hero of Our Time is a novel, but can be more aptly described as a Preface, five short stories, and a Foreword placed between the second and third short stories. The five short stories center on Pechorin, a young Russian officer serving in the Caucasus. Below are quick summaries of each of the sections in the novel. Preface Lermontov, the novel's author, describes his reasoning for creating the Preface. He states that the current population needs messages to be spelled out for it. He denies the claim that he portrayed himself through Pechorin. He mocks critics who are horrified by Pechorin and the contents of the novel. He tells them that they have been exposed to far worse literary characters. Bela This short story is a frame narrative. An unnamed narrator, who is traveling through the Caucasus Mountains, encounters Maxim Maximych, an old officer. They converse and travel through the mountains together. When they seek shelter due to a blizzard, the old officer tells the unnamed narrator a story about a young officer, Pechorin. The unnamed narrator listens intently. In Maxim Maximych's story, Pechorin is enamored with a native girl named Bela. He barters with Bela's younger brother, Azamat. He promises to help Azamat steal a local tribesman's horse in return for Bela. In the end, both men obtain what they desire. Azamat gets his horse and runs far away with it while Pechorin gets Bela. At first, Bela rejects Pechorin, but then she soon falls for him. Their happiness, however, does not last long. The horse's owner, Kazbich, seeks revenge for his stolen horse. Since he is unable to punish Azamat, he kills Bela's father, and then mortally wounds Bela. Bela dies two days after her injuries are obtained. Pechorin is transferred elsewhere soon after. The story ends here. In the present time, Maxim Maximych's baggage slows his cart down. He is unable to keep up with the unnamed narrator's ride. They decide to separate, not expecting to meet each other again. Maxim Maximych This short story picks up where the first story ends. The unnamed narrator and Maxim Maximych are reunited. Maxim Maximych's baggage had not slowed him down too much. The two characters are happy to see each other again, but they encounter a rude servant at the place in which they are lodging. After a few questions, Maxim Maximych discovers that the servant's master is Pechorin. The old officer is overwhelmed with joy due to this discovery. He tells the servant to pass his name along to Pechorin. The servant grudgingly agrees to the request. Maxim Maximych waits for Pechorin, but Pechorin does not come. The next day, the unnamed narrator encounters Pechorin. He sends someone to fetch Maxim Maximych and urges Pechorin to wait. Maxim Maximych is disappointed with his reunification with Pechorin. Pechorin refuses to dine with him and refuses to take back his personal documents. Maxim Maximych had held on to the documents when Pechorin had left them behind, thinking that they meant something to Pechorin. Maxim Maximych throws the documents on the floor after Pechorin leaves him in the dust. The unnamed narrator picks up the journals, and he and Maxim Maximych part again the next day, this time for good. Foreword The unnamed narrator informs the reader that Pechorin is dead and alludes to the fact that the next few stories are taken directly from Pechorin's journal. The unnamed narrator continues the Foreword by describing his reasoning for publishing these contents. He finds Pechorin to be an intelligent, introspective, and unusually honest individual and believes that contents from Pechorin's journal will benefit society. The unnamed narrator also states that only contents pertaining to Pechorin's stay in the Caucasus will be published. Certain reasons, which he does not reveal, stop him from disclosing information outside of Pechorin's adventures in the Caucasus. Taman This is the first story in the novel told through Pechorin's perspective. Pechorin has a short stay in the coastal town, Taman. He is unable to find lodgings and resigns to staying in a small hut on the very edge of the sea. Upon requesting to speak to the master of the house, a blind boy creeps out of the darkness and informs him that the old woman who owns the hut and the shack beside it has gone to the village, and she is not currently available. Pechorin stays in the hut, but he cannot sleep. He sees a shadow pass by his window and follows it. It is the blind boy making his way to the beach. At the beach, Pechorin witnesses what seems to be a smuggling enterprise involving the blind boy, a young woman, and a man named Yanko. The next morning, he confronts the blind boy and the old woman, who has returned from the village. They him give no answers. He encounters the young woman after he leaves the old woman and the boy. After he questions her and gets nowhere, he tells her that he will tell the authorities what he witnessed the night before. The young woman tells him to meet her in the middle of the night at the beach. He agrees to her request. He goes to the beach and gets on a boat with her. They go far out onto the sea. There, she kisses him and attempts to drown him. Pechorin escapes by throwing her overboard. On his way back to the hut, Pechorin sees the young woman, but she does not see him. She survived the sea. Pechorin decides to spy on the young woman. He witnesses her escaping with Yanko. They leave behind the blind boy and the old woman. Pechorin leaves Taman the next morning. He does not alert the authorities to the events that transpired for fear of being ridiculed. Princess Mary Shortly after arriving in Pyatigorsk, a spa town, Pechorin encounters an army acquaintance, Grushnitsky. Pechorin and Gushnitsky dislike each other, but they are cordial with each other. Grushnitsky shows interest in a young woman of noble birth, Princess Mary. The young woman is visiting Pyatigorsk with her mother, Princess Ligovskoy. Pechorin decides to entertain himself with the romance that he sees transpiring between Grushnitsky and Princess Mary. He knows that Princess Mary will soon grow tired of Grushnitsky. Pechorin eventually decides to seduce Princess Mary for three main reasons: to satisfy his vanities, to destroy Grushnitsky's happiness, and to communicate with Vera, a lost love and a member of Princess Mary's inner circle, without arousing suspicions. He succeeds in winning Princess Mary's heart, even though he has no romantic feelings towards her. Grushnitsky retaliates against Pechorin for this betrayal with the help of a dragoon captain who Pechorin had infuriated in an early part of the story. Grushnitsky and Pechorin fight a duel. Pechorin kills Grushnitsky. In the end, no one receives a happy ending, not even Pechorin who has outwitted everyone. He loses Vera. The Fatalist Pechorin's last adventure takes place in a Cossack village. Pechorin and some of his army peers have a conversation on predestination. Pechorin's peers are divided on the issue. Some tell tales that support predestination, and others recount stories that disprove it. Vulich, an old officer and a known gambler, claims he has a way to solve the question. He gambles with his life to prove that predestination exists. He holds a gun to his head and shoots. The gun misfires. The other officers assume that the gun was not loaded. Vulich aims the gun again, this time at a wall. The gun fires a bullet into the wall. Everyone is intrigued, and Vulich collects his gold coins from Pechorin, who had betted against him. Half an hour after this incident, Vulich dies. A drunk Cossack slices him in half. Pechorin learns about Vulich's death when he is summoned to help apprehend the murderer, who has barricaded himself in a cottage. Pechorin risks his life to apprehend the Cossack. He succeeds with just a slight graze from a bullet. The last scene of the story involves a conversation between Pechorin and Maximych. Pechorin recounts his experiences in the Cossack village and tries to have a conversation with Maxim Maximych. The old general offers no real discourse -- he is not good at "metaphysical discussions" .