Fathers and Children. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

Чтение книги онлайн.

      CHAPTER III

      'So here you are, a graduate at last, and come home again,' said Nikolai Petrovitch, touching Arkady now on the shoulder, now on the knee. 'At last!'

      'And how is uncle? quite well?' asked Arkady, who, in spite of the genuine, almost childish delight filling his heart, wanted as soon as possible to turn the conversation from the emotional into a commonplace channel.

      'Quite well. He was thinking of coming with me to meet you, but for some reason or other he gave up the idea.'

      'And how long have you been waiting for me?' inquired Arkady.

      'Oh, about five hours.'

      'Dear old dad!'

      Arkady turned round quickly to his father, and gave him a sounding kiss on the cheek. Nikolai Petrovitch gave vent to a low chuckle.

      'I have got such a capital horse for you!' he began. 'You will see. And your room has been fresh papered.'

      'And is there a room for Bazarov?'

      'We will find one for him too.'

      'Please, dad, make much of him. I can't tell you how I prize his friendship.'

      'Have you made friends with him lately?'

      'Yes, quite lately.'

      'Ah, that's how it is I did not see him last winter. What does he study?'

      'His chief subject is natural science. But he knows everything. Next year he wants to take his doctor's degree.'

      'Ah! he's in the medical faculty,' observed Nikolai Petrovitch, and he was silent for a little. 'Piotr,' he went on, stretching out his hand, 'aren't those our peasants driving along?'

      Piotr looked where his master was pointing. Some carts harnessed with unbridled horses were moving rapidly along a narrow by-road. In each cart there were one or two peasants in sheepskin coats, unbuttoned.

      'Yes, sir,' replied Piotr.

      'Where are they going—to the town?'

      'To the town, I suppose. To the gin-shop,' he added contemptuously, turning slightly towards the coachman, as though he would appeal to him. But the latter did not stir a muscle; he was a man of the old stamp, and did not share the modern views of the younger generation.

      'I have had a lot of bother with the peasants this year,' pursued Nikolai Petrovitch, turning to his son. 'They won't pay their rent. What is one to do?'

      'But do you like your hired labourers?'

      'Yes,' said Nikolai Petrovitch between his teeth. 'They're being set against me, that's the mischief; and they don't do their best. They spoil the tools. But they have tilled the land pretty fairly. When things have settled down a bit, it will be all right. Do you take an interest in farming now?'

      'You've no shade; that's a pity,' remarked Arkady, without answering the last question.

      'I have had a great awning put up on the north side over the balcony,' observed Nikolai Petrovitch; 'now we can have dinner even in the open air.'

      'It'll be rather too like a summer villa. … Still, that's all nonsense. What air though here! How delicious it smells! Really I fancy there's nowhere such fragrance in the world as in the meadows here! And the sky too.'

      Arkady suddenly stopped short, cast a stealthy look behind him, and said no more.

      'Of course,' observed Nikolai Petrovitch, 'you were born here, and so everything is bound to strike you in a special——'

      'Come, dad, that makes no difference where a man is born.'

      'Still——'

      'No; it makes absolutely no difference.'

      Nikolai Petrovitch gave a sidelong glance at his son, and the carriage went on a half-a-mile further before the conversation was renewed between them.

      'I don't recollect whether I wrote to you,' began Nikolai Petrovitch, 'your old nurse, Yegorovna, is dead.'

      'Really? Poor thing! Is Prokofitch still living?'

      'Yes, and not a bit changed. As grumbling as ever. In fact, you won't find many changes at Maryino.'

      'Have you still the same bailiff?'

      'Well, to be sure there is a change there. I decided not to keep about me any freed serfs, who have been house servants, or, at least, not to intrust them with duties of any responsibility.' (Arkady glanced towards Piotr.) 'Il est libre, en effet,' observed Nikolai Petrovitch in an undertone; 'but, you see, he's only a valet. Now I have a bailiff, a townsman; he seems a practical fellow. I pay him two hundred and fifty roubles a year. But,' added Nikolai Petrovitch, rubbing his forehead and eyebrows with his hand, which was always an indication with him of inward embarrassment, 'I told you just now that you would not find changes at Maryino. … That's not quite correct. I think it my duty to prepare you, though. … '

      He hesitated for an instant, and then went on in French.

      'A severe moralist would regard my openness, as improper; but, in the first place, it can't be concealed, and secondly, you are aware I have always had peculiar ideas as regards the relation of father and son. Though, of course, you would be right in blaming me. At my age. … In short … that СКАЧАТЬ