Oblomov / Обломов. Книга для чтения на английском языке. Иван Гончаров

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      «Nonsense, you’ll move all right!» said Tarantyev. «Just consider: it’ll cost you half of what you’re spending here: you’ll save five hundred in rent alone. Your food will be twice as good and as clean; your cook and Zakhar won’t be able to steal…»

      A growl was heard from the entrance hall.

      «– and there’ll be more order too», Tarantyev went on. «Why, it’s dreadful to sit down to dinner at your place now. You want the pepper – it isn’t there; vinegar – they’ve forgotten to buy any, the knives have not been cleaned; you say you keep losing your linen – dust everywhere – it’s disgusting! And there a woman will be keeping house – neither you, nor that fool Zakhar…»

      The growling in the entrance hall grew louder.

      «– that old dog won’t have to bother about anything», Tarantyev went on. «You will be provided with board and lodgings. Why hesitate? Move – and that’s the end of it».

      «But how could I – for no rhyme or reason – suddenly move to Vyborg?»

      «What’s the use of talking to you?» Tarantyev said, wiping the perspiration from his face. «It’s summer time now: why, it’s as good as living in a country house. Why rot here in Gorokhovaya Street? There you would have the Bezbarodkin Gardens, Okhta is next door, the Neva within a few yards, your own kitchen garden – no dust, no stuffiness! Why waste time thinking? I’ll nip over to her now before dinner – you’ll let me have the cab fares – and to-morrow you can move…»

      «What a man!» said Oblomov. «Suddenly he gets a crazy idea into his head and I have to move to Vyborg. I mean, it’s not difficult to think of such a plan. No, sir, you’d better think of something that would make it possible for me to stay here. I’ve lived here for eight years and I don’t want to change».

      «It’s settled: you’re going to move. I’ll go and see my friend at once and call about my job another time».

      He was about to go, but Oblomov stopped him.

      «Wait, wait! Where are you off to? I’ve a much more important business to settle. Have a look at the letter I’ve received from my bailiff and tell me what to do about it».

      «Dear me, you are a queer fish and no mistake», Tarantyev replied. «You can’t do anything by yourself. It’s always I who have to do things for you. Of what use is a man like you? But, then, you’re not a man: you’re just a stuffed dummy».

      «Where’s that letter? Zakhar, Zakhar! He’s put it away somewhere again!» Oblomov said.

      «Here’s the bailiff’s letter», said Alexeyev, picking up the crumpled letter.

      «Yes, here it is», Oblomov repeated and began to read it aloud. «What do you say?» he asked when he had finished reading the letter. «What am I to do? Droughts, arrears…»

      «You’re hopeless – hopeless!» said Tarantyev.

      «But why am I hopeless?»

      «Why, aren’t you hopeless?»

      «Well, if I am, tell me what to do».

      «And what will I get out of it?»

      «I’ve promised you champagne – what more do you want?»

      «Champagne was for finding you a flat. Why, I’ve done you a favour, and you don’t appreciate it – you argue about it – you’re ungrateful. Well, try and find a flat by yourself! And what a flat! The main thing is you’ll have absolute peace, just as if you were living at your own sister’s. Two children, an unmarried brother, I shall be calling every day…»

      «All right, all right», Oblomov interrupted. «You’d better tell me now what I am to do about the bailiff».

      «No, sir, not unless you add beer for dinner. I’ll tell you then».

      «He wants beer now! Haven’t you had enough».

      «Good-bye, then», said Tarantyev, again putting on his hat.

      «Good heavens! here the bailiff writes that my income will be two thousand less, and he wants beer, too! All right, buy some beer».

      «Let’s have some more money», said Tarantyev.

      «But what about the change from the ten-rouble note?»

      «And what about the cab fares to Vyborg?»

      Oblomov took out another rouble and thrust it into his hand crossly.

      «Your bailiff is a rogue – that’s what I think», Tarantyev began, putting the rouble in his pocket, «and you stand there with your mouth open and believe him. You see the sort of tall story he tells you! Drought, bad harvest, arrears, runaway peasants – it’s all a pack of lies! I’ve heard that in our district, on the Shumilov estate, the harvest last year was so good that they paid off all their debts. And Shumilov is only thirty-five miles from you: why haven’t the crops there been burnt up? Then there is something else he has invented – arrears! But what was he doing? Why did he neglect them? Why should there be arrears? Is there no work to be had in our district – no market for a peasant’s produce? Why, the thief – I’d teach him a lesson! And I daresay the peasants ran away because he got some money from them and then let them go, and he never complained to the police at all».

      «I don’t believe it», said Oblomov. «Why, he actually quotes the police inspector’s answer in the letter and so authentically, too».

      «Oh, you simpleton! You don’t know anything. All rogues write authentically – take my word for it. Here, for instance», he went on, pointing to Alexeyev, «sits an honest fellow who won’t hurt a fly – well, will he write an authentic letter? Never. But his relation, though a rogue and a swine, will. And you won’t write such a letter, either. Your bailiff therefore is a rascal just because he has written such a clever and authentic-sounding letter. You see how carefully he chose his words: „to send them back to their place of domicile“».

      «What am I to do with him?» asked Oblomov.

      «Sack him at once».

      «But whom shall I appoint in his place? What do I know about the peasants? Another one might be worse. I haven’t been there for twelve years».

      «Go to your estate yourself: that must be done. Spend the summer there and in the autumn come straight to the new flat. I’ll see that it’s all ready for you».

      «Move to a new flat – go to the country – and all by myself! What desperate measures you suggest!» Oblomov said, looking displeased. «Nothing about avoiding extremes and suggesting some sort of compromise».

      «Well, my dear fellow, you’re as good as done for. Why, in your place I’d have mortgaged the estate long ago and bought another or a house here in a good residential part of the town; that’s a damn sight better than that country place of yours. And then I’d have mortgaged the house and bought another. Let me have your estate and I’d soon make them sit up».

      «Stop boasting and think of something so that I need not leave this flat or go to the country and so that everything should be settled satisfactorily», Oblomov remarked.

      «But will you ever do anything?» СКАЧАТЬ