Insulted and Injured
PART I
CHAPTER III
Nikolay Sergeyitch came of a good family, which had long sunk into decay. But
he was left at his parents' death with a fair estate with a hundred and fifty
serfs on it. At twenty he went into the Hussars. All went well; but after six
years in the army he happened one unlucky evening to lose all his property at
cards. He did not sleep all night. The next evening he appeared at the
card-table and staked his horse - his last possession.
His card was a winning one, and it was followed by a second and a third, and
within half an hour he had won back one of his villages, the hamlet Ichmenyevka,
which had numbered fifty souls at the last census. He sent in his papers and
retired from the service next day. He had lost a hundred serfs for ever. Two
months later he received his discharge with the rank of lieutenant, and went
home to his village. He never in his life spoke of his loss at cards, and in
spite of his well-known good nature he would certainly have quarrelled with
anyone who alluded to it. In the country he applied himself industriously to
looking after his land, and at thirty-five he married a poor girl of good
family, Anna Andreyevna Shumilov, who was absolutely without dowry, though she
had received an education in a high-class school kept by a French emigree,
called Mon-Reveche, a privilege upon which Anna Andreyevna prided herself all
her life, although no one was ever able to discover exactly of what that
education had consisted.
Nikolay Sergeyitch was an excellent farmer. The neighbouring landowners
learned to manage their estates from him. A few years had passed when suddenly a
landowner, Prince Pyotr Alexandrovitch Valkovsky, came from Petersburg to the
neigh- bouring estate, Vassilyevskoe, the village of which had a population of
nine hundred serfs, His arrival made a great stir in the whole neighbourhood.
The prince was still young, though not in his first youth. He was of good rank
in the service, had important connexions and a fortune; was a handsome man and a
widower, a fact of particular interest to all the girls and ladies in the
neighbourhood. People talked of the brilliant reception given him by the
governor, to whom he was in some way related; of how he had turned the heads of
all the ladies by his gallantries, and so on, and so on. In short, he was one of
those brilliant representatives of aristocratic Petersburg society who rarely
make their appearance in the provinces, but produce an extraordinary sensation
when they do. The prince, however, was by no means of the politest, especially
to people who could be of no use to him, and whom he considered ever so little
his inferiors. He did not think fit to make the acquaintance of his neighbours
in the country, and at once made many enemies by neglecting to do so.
And so everyone was extremely surprised when the fancy suddenly took him to
call on Nikolay Sergeyitch. It is true that the latter was one of his nearest
neighbours. The prince made a great impression on the Ichmenyev household. He
fascinated them both at once; Anna Andreyevna was particularly enthusiastic
about him. In a short time he was on intimate terms with them, went there every
day and invited them to his house.
He used to tell them stories, make jokes, play on their wretched piano and
sing. The Ichmenyevs were never tired of wondering how so good and charming a
man could be called a proud, stuck- up, cold egoist, as all the neighbours with
one voice declared him to be. One must suppose that the prince really liked
Nikolay Sergeyitch, who was a simple-hearted, straightforward, dis- interested
and generous man. But all was soon explained.
The prince had come to Vassilyevskoe especially, to get rid of his steward, a
prodigal German, who was a conceited man and an expert agriculturist, endowed
with venerable grey hair, spectacles, and a hooked nose ; yet in spite of these
advantages, he robbed the prince without shame or measure, and, what was worse,
tormented several peasants to death. At last Ivan Karlovitch was caught in his
misdeeds and exposed, was deeply offended, talked a great deal about German
honesty, but, in spite of all this, was dismissed and even with some ignominy.
The prince needed a steward and his choice fell on Nikolay Sergeyitch, who was
an excellent manager and a man of whose honesty there could be no possible
doubt. The prince seemed particularly anxious that Nikolay Sergeyitch should of
his own accord propose to take the post, But this did not come off, and one fine
morning the prince made the proposition himself, in the form of a very friendly
and humble request. Nikolay Sergeyitch at first refused; but the liberal salary
attracted Anna Andreyevna, and the redoubled cordiality of the prince overcame
any hesitation he still felt.
The prince attained his aim. One may presume that he was skilful in judging
character. During his brief acquaintance with Ichmenyev he soon perceived the
kind of man he had to deal with, and realized that he must be won in a warm and
friendly way, that his heart must be conquered, and that, without that, money
would do little with him. Valkovsky needed a steward whom he could trust blindly
for ever, that he might never need to visit Vassilyevskoe again, and this was
just what he was reckoning on. The fascination he exercised over Nikolay Serge-
yitch was so strong that the latter genuinely believed in his friendship.
Nikolay Sergeyitch was one of those very simple- hearted and naively romantic
men who are, whatever people may say against them, so charming among us in
Russia, and who are devoted with their whole soul to anyone to whom (God knows
why) they take a fancy, and at times carry their devotion to a comical pitch.
Many years passed. Prince Valkovsky's estate flourished. The relations
between the owner of Vassilyevskoe and his steward continued without the
slightest friction on either side, and did not extend beyond a purely business
correspondence. Though the prince did not interfere with Nikolay Sergeyitch's
manage- ment, he sometimes gave him advice which astonished the latter by its
extraordinary astuteness and practical ability. It was evident that he did not
care to waste money, and was clever at getting it indeed. Five years after his
visit to Vassilyevskoe the prince sent Nikolay Sergeyitch an authorization to
purchase another splendid estate in the same province with a population of four
hundred serfs. Nikolay Sergeyitch was delighted. The prince's successes, the
news of his advancement, his promotion, were as dear to his heart as if they had
been those of his own brother. But his delight reached a climax when the prince
on one occasion showed the extraordinary trust he put in him. This is how it
happened.... But here I find it necessary to mention some details of the life of
this Prince Valkovsky, who is in a way a leading figure in my story.