[47] _Zapiski Markera._
[48] Count Tolstoï himself apparently narrowly escaped a similar fate.
His brother-in-law induced him to give up gambling; but, after he went
to Teheran, he fell into his old habits, and incurred such debts that
he was unable to pay them. He tells how full of despair he was at the
thought of a certain note falling due when he had nothing wherewith to
meet it. He began to pray; and, as though in answer to his prayer, he
received a playfully sarcastic letter from his brother, enclosing the
dreaded note which a brother officer had generously refused to press or
even collect. Yashvin’s passion for the gaming-table, in Anna Karénina,
is also a reminiscence of this wild-oats period in Count Tolstoï’s
life. All true fiction must be fact.--N. H. D.
[49] Aleksander Sergeyévitch Griboyédof was born in January, 1795, and
died in 1829. He studied law at first, but at the age of seventeen
entered the army, and afterwards the college of foreign affairs, the
service of which took him to Persia and Georgia, where a part of his
great comedy, The Misfortune of having Brains (Gore ot Uma), was
written.--N. H. D.
[50] Cadet, or ensign.
[51] M. Dupuy, in his condensation of the story, loses the perspective.
Olénin taps lightly on the window. “He ran to the door, and actually
heard Marianka’s deep sigh and her steps. He took hold of the latch,
and shook it softly. Bare, cautious feet, scarcely making the boards
creak, drew near the door. The latch was lifted: the door was pushed
ajar. There was a breath of gourds and marjoram, and suddenly
Marianka’s full form appeared on the threshold.” But the prospective
interview is broken by the appearance of Lukashka’s friend Nazarka, who
has to be bought off. The next day Olénin writes a letter, which, being
more like a diary, he does not send, “because no one would understand
what he meant to say.” In this letter occurs the passage which M. Dupuy
quotes.--N. H. D.
[52] She takes a dose of arsenic, but prompt means save her life.--N.
H. D.
[53] M. Dupuy adds, that he borrows “the inelegant but expressive
translation of this scene” from the _Journal de Saint Pétersbourg_.
In the present case, as in nearly all other quotations in the book,
the originals have been used, which will account for greater or less
variations from the literal version of the French text.--N. H. D.
[54] _Vasha prevoskhodítelstvo_; literally, Your Excellency.
[55] The Russians, after the retreat of the French, conferred the
epaulets on Jack Frost: it was said that General _Morozof_ won the
victory for them.--N. H. D.
[56] The word _podspórye_ might be rendered by the much less expressive
periphrasis “the _succedanea_ of bread.”--_Author’s note._
[57] At last accounts, the reports about Count Tolstoï’s vagaries
were found to be idle exaggerations: he is living on his estate,
like a reasonable man, studying Greek and Hebrew, and writing short
stories.--N. H. D.
[58] In 1882 a Russian writer, Mr. Abramof, published, in The
Annals of the Country, a very curious study of the _Shalaputui_.
Turgénief was greatly struck by it. He said in regard to it: “There
is the peasant getting up steam; before long he will make a general
up-turning.”--_Author’s Note._