"Oh, how kind, how good you are! Can't we go at once, Maria Alexandrovna?"

"Goodness gracious, no! What a very green hand you are, Paul! She's far too proud! she would take it as a new rudeness and impertinence! To-morrow I shall arrange it all comfortably for you: but now, couldn't you get out of the way somewhere for a while, to that G.o.dfather of yours, for instance? You could come back in the evening, if you pleased; but my advice would be to stay away!"

"Yes, yes! I'll go-of course! Good heavens, you've made a man of me again!-Well, but look here-one more question:-What if the prince does _not_ die so soon?"

"Oh, my dear boy, how delightfully nave you are! On the contrary, we must pray for his good health! We must wish with all our hearts for long life to this dear, good, and chivalrous old man! I shall be the first to pray day and night for the happiness of my beloved daughter! But alas! I fear the prince's case is hopeless; you see, they must visit the capital now, to bring Zina out into society.-I dreadfully fear that all this may prove fatal to him; however, we'll pray, Paul, we can't do more, and the rest is in the hands of a kind Providence. You see what I mean? Very well-good-bye, my dear boy, bless you! Be a man, and wait patiently-be a man, that's the chief thing! I never doubted your generosity of character; but be brave-good-bye!" She pressed his hand warmly, and Mosgliakoff walked out of the room on tip-toes.

"There goes _one_ fool, got rid of satisfactorily!" observed Maria Alexandrovna to herself,-"but there are more behind--!"

At this moment the door opened, and Zina entered the room. She was paler than usual, and her eyes were all ablaze.

"Mamma!" she said, "be quick about this business, or I shall not be able to hold out. It is all so dirty and mean that I feel I must run out of the house if it goes on. Don't drive me to desperation! I warn you-don't weary me out-don't weary me out!"

"Zina-what is it, my darling? You-you've been listening?" cried Maria Alexandrovna, gazing intently and anxiously at her daughter.

"Yes, I have; but you need not try to make me ashamed of myself as you succeeded in doing with that fool. Now listen: I solemnly swear that if you worry and annoy me by making me play various mean and odious parts in this comedy of yours,-I swear to you that I will throw up the whole business and put an end to it in a moment. It is quite enough that I have consented to be a party in the main and essence of the base transactions; but-but-I did not know myself, I am poisoned and suffocated with the stench of it!"-So saying, she left the room and banged the door after her.

Maria Alexandrovna looked fixedly after her for a moment, and reflected.

"I must make haste," she cried, rousing herself; "_she_ is the greatest danger and difficulty of all! If these detestable people do not let us alone, instead of acting the town-criers all over the place (as I fear they are doing already!)-all will be lost! She won't stand the worry of it-she'll drop the business altogether!-At all hazards, I must get the prince to the country house, and that quickly, too! I shall be off there at once, first, and bring my fool of a husband up: he shall be made useful for once in his life! Meanwhile the prince shall have his sleep out, and when he wakes up I shall be back and ready to cart him away bodily!"

She rang the bell.

"Are the horses ready?" she inquired of the man.

"Yes, madam, long ago!" said the latter.

She had ordered the carriage the moment after she had taken the prince upstairs.

Maria Alexandrovna dressed hurriedly, and then looked in at Zina's room for a moment, before starting, in order to tell her the outlines of her plan of operations, and at the same time to give Zina a few necessary instructions. But her daughter could not listen to her. She was lying on her bed with face hidden in the pillows, crying, and was tearing her beautiful hair with her long white hands: occasionally she trembled violently for a moment, as though a blast of cold had pa.s.sed through all her veins. Her mother began to speak to her, but Zina did not even raise her head!

Having stood over her daughter in a state of bewilderment for some little while, Maria Alexandrovna left the room; and to make up for lost time bade the coachman drive like fury, as she stepped into the carriage.

"I don't quite like Zina having listened!" she thought as she rattled away. "I gave Mosgliakoff very much the same argument as to herself: she is proud, and may easily have taken offence! H'm! Well, the great thing is to be in time with all the arrangements,-before people know what I am up to! Good heavens, fancy, if my fool of a husband were to be out!!"

And at the very thought of such a thing, Maria Alexandrovna's rage so overcame her that it was clear her poor husband would fare badly for his sins if he proved to be not at home! She twisted and turned in her place with impatience,-the horses almost galloped with the carriage at their heels.

CHAPTER X.

On they flew.

I have said already that this very day, on her first drive after the prince, Maria Alexandrovna had been inspired with a great idea! and I promised to reveal this idea in its proper place. But I am sure the reader has guessed it already!-It was, to "confiscate" the prince in her turn, and carry him off to the village where, at this moment, her husband Afana.s.sy Matveyevitch vegetated alone.

I must admit that our heroine was growing more and more anxious as the day went on; but this is often the case with heroes of all kinds, just before they attain their great ends! Some such instinct whispered to her that it was not safe to remain in Mordasoff another hour, if it could be avoided;-but once in the country house, the whole town might go mad and stand on its head, for all she cared!

Of course she must not lose time, even there! All sorts of things might happen-even the police might interfere. (Reader, I shall never believe, for my part, that my heroine really had the slightest fear of the vulgar police force; but as it has been rumoured in Mordasoff that at this moment such a thought _did_ pa.s.s through her brain, why, I must record the fact.)

In a word she saw clearly that Zina's marriage with the prince must be brought about at once, without delay! It was easily done: the priest at the village should perform the ceremony; why not the day after to-morrow?

or indeed, in case of need, to-morrow? Marriages had often been brought about in less time than this-in two hours, she had heard! It would be easy enough to persuade the prince that haste and simplicity would be in far better taste than all the usual pomps and vanities of common everyday weddings. In fact, she relied upon her skill in putting the matter to the old man as a fitting dramatic issue to a romantic story of love, and thus to touch the most sensitive string of his chivalrous heart.

In case of absolute need there was always the possibility of making him drunk, or rather of _keeping_ him perpetually drunk. And then, come what might, Zina would be a princess! And if this marriage were fated to produce scandal among the prince's relations and friends in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Maria Alexandrovna comforted herself with the reflection that marriages in high life nearly always _were_ productive of scandal; and that such a result might fairly be looked upon as "good form," and as peculiar to aristocratic circles.

Besides, she felt sure that Zina need only show herself in society, with her mamma to support her, and every one of all those countesses and princes should very soon either acknowledge her of their own accord, or yield to the head-washing that Maria Alexandrovna felt herself so competent to give to any or all of them, individually or collectively.

It was in consequence of these reflections that Maria Alexandrovna was now hastening with all speed towards her village, in order to bring back Afana.s.sy Matveyevitch, whose presence she considered absolutely necessary at this crisis. It was desirable that her husband should appear and invite the prince down to the country: she relied upon the appearance of the father of the family, in dress-coat and white tie, hastening up to town on the first rumours of the prince's arrival there, to produce a very favourable impression upon the old man's self-respect: it would flatter him; and after such a courteous action, followed by a polite and warmly-couched invitation to the country, the prince would hardly refuse to go.

At last the carriage stopped at the door of a long low wooden house, surrounded by old lime trees. This was the country house, Maria Alexandrovna's village residence.

Lights were burning inside.

"Where's my old fool?" cried Maria Alexandrovna bursting like a hurricane into the sitting-room.

"Whats this towel lying here for?-Oh!-he's been wiping his head, has he.

What, the baths again! and tea-of course tea!-always tea! Well, what are you winking your eyes at me for, you old fool?-Here, why is his hair not cropped? Grisha, Grisha!-here; why didn't you cut your master's hair, as I told you?"

Maria Alexandrovna, on entering the room, had intended to greet her husband more kindly than this; but seeing that he had just been to the baths and that he was drinking tea with great satisfaction, as usual, she could not restrain her irritable feelings.

She felt the contrast between her own activity and intellectual energy, and the stolid indifference and sheep-like contentedness of her husband, and it went to her heart!

Meanwhile the "old fool," or to put it more politely, he who had been addressed by that t.i.tle, sat at the tea-urn, and stared with open mouth, in abject alarm, opening and shutting his lips as he gazed at the wife of his bosom, who had almost petrified him by her sudden appearance.

At the door stood the sleepy, fat Grisha, looking on at the scene, and blinking both eyes at periodical intervals.

"I couldn't cut his hair as you wished, because he wouldn't let me!" he growled at last. " 'You'd better let me do it!'-I said, 'or the mistress'll be down one of these days, and then we shall both catch it!' "

"No," he says, "I want it like this now, and you shall cut it on Sunday. I like it long!"

"What!-So you wish to curl it without my leave, do you! What an idea-as if you could wear curls with your sheep-face underneath! Good gracious, what a mess you've made of the place; and what's the smell-what have you been doing, idiot, eh!" cried Maria Alexandrovna, waxing more and more angry, and turning furiously upon the wretched and perfectly innocent Afana.s.sy!

"Mam-mammy!" muttered the poor frightened master of the house, gazing with frightened eyes at the mistress, and blinking with all his might-"mammy!"

"How many times have I dinned into your stupid head that I am _not_ your 'mammy.' How can I be your mammy, you idiotic pigmy? How dare you call a n.o.ble lady by such a name; a lady whose proper place is in the highest circles, not beside an a.s.s like yourself!"

"Yes-yes,-but-but, you _are_ my legal wife, you know, after all;-so I-it was husbandly affection you know--" murmured poor Afana.s.sy, raising both hands to his head as he spoke, to defend his hair from the tugs he evidently expected.

"Oh, idiot that you are! did anyone ever hear such a ridiculous answer as that-legal wife, indeed! Who ever heard the expression '_legal_ wife,' in good society-nasty low expression! And how dare you remind me that I am your wife, when I use all my power and do all I possibly can at every moment to forget the fact, eh? What are you covering your head with your hands for? Look at his hair-now: wet, as wet as reeds! it will take three hours to dry that head! How on earth am I to take him like this? How can he show his face among respectable people? What am I to do?"

And Maria Alexandrovna bit her finger-nails with rage as she walked furiously up and down the room.

It was no very great matter, of course; and one that was easily set right; but Maria Alexandrovna required a vent for her feelings and felt the need of emptying out her acc.u.mulated wrath upon the head of the wretched Afana.s.sy Matveyevitch; for tyranny is a habit recallable at need.

Besides, everyone knows how great a contrast there is between the sweetness and refinement shown by many ladies of a certain cla.s.s on the stage, as it were, of society life, and the revelations of character behind the scenes at home; and I was anxious to bring out this contrast for my reader's benefit.