and his marriage with my grandfather's cousin, Praskovya Ivanovna
Bagroff. This story begins about 1760, earlier than the time described
in the First Fragment of this history, and ends much later. I shall now
fulfil my promise.
Stepan Mihailovitch was the only son of Mihail Bagroff; Mihail had a
brother Peter, whose only daughter was Praskovya Ivanovna. As she was
his only cousin and the sole female representative of the Bagroff family
in that generation, my grandfather was much attached to her. While still
in the cradle she lost her mother, and her father died when she was ten.
Her mother, one of the Bakteyeff family, was very rich and left to her
daughter 900 serfs, a quantity of money, and still more in silver and
valuables; and her father's death added 300 serfs to her property.
Praskovya Ivanovna was therefore a rich orphan, and would bring a great
fortune to her future husband. After her father's death she lived at
first with her grandmother, Mme. Bakteyeff; then she paid a long visit
to Bagrovo; and finally Stepan Mihailovitch took her to his house as a
permanent inmate. He was quite as fond of his orphan cousin as of his
daughters and was very affectionate to her in his own way. But she was
too young, too babyish, one might say, to appreciate her cousin's love
and tenderness, which never took the form of spoiling, while, under her
grandmother's roof, where she had spent some time, she had grown
accustomed to indulgence. So it is not surprising that she grew tired of
Bagrovo and wished to go back to old Mme. Bakteyeff. Praskovya Ivanovna,
though she was not beautiful, had regular features and fine intelligent
grey eyes; her dark eyebrows, long and rather thick, were a sign of her
masculine strength of character; she was tall and well-made, and looked
eighteen when she was only fourteen. But, in spite of her physical
maturity, her mind and feelings were still those of a mere child: always
lively and merry, she capered and frisked, gambolled and sang, from
morning till night. She had a remarkable voice and was passionately fond
of joining with the maids in their singing or dancing or swinging; or,
when nothing of that kind was to be had, she played with her dolls all
day, invariably accompanying her occupation with popular songs of all
sorts, of which she knew even then an immense number.
A year before Praskovya Ivanovna went to live at Bagrovo, Mihail
Kurolyessoff, an officer in the Army, came on leave to the Government of
Simbirsk. He belonged to a noble family in the district, and was then
twenty-eight years old. He was a fine-looking fellow, and many people
called him handsome; but some said that, in spite of his regular
features, there was something unpleasing about him; and I remember to
have heard as a child debates on this point between my grandmother and
her daughters. Entering the Army at fifteen, he had served in a regiment
of high reputation in those days and had risen to the rank of major. He
did not often come home on leave, and he had little reason to come,
because the serfs--about 150 in all--who formed his property, owned
little land and were scattered about. As a matter of course, he had
received no proper education, but he had a ready tongue and wrote in an
easy correct style. Many of his letters have passed through my hands;
and they prove clearly that he was a man of sense and tact and also firm
of purpose and business-like. I don't know his exact relationship to our
immortal Suvoroff;[26] but I found in the correspondence some letters
from the great captain, which always begin thus--
"Dear Sir and cousin, Mihail Maximovitch,"
and end--
"With all proper respect for you and my worthy cousin, Praskovya
Ivanovna,
"I have the honour to be," etc.
[26] A famous general in the reign of Catherine II. and a great popular
hero.
Kurolyessoff was little known in the Government of Simbirsk. But "rumour
runs all over the earth," and perhaps the young officer on leave
permitted himself some "distractions" as they are called; or perhaps the
soldier servant whom he brought with him, in spite of his master's
severity, let something leak out at odd times. Whatever the reason, an
opinion gradually took shape about him, which may be summed up in the
following statements--"Toe the line, when you parade before the
Major"--"Mind your P's and Q's, when talking to Kurolyessoff"--"When one
of his men is caught out, he shows no mercy, though he may try to shield
him"--"When he says a thing, he means it"--"He's the very devil when his
temper's up." People called him "a dark horse" and "a rum customer"; but
every one admitted his ability as a man of business. There were also
rumours, probably proceeding from the same sources, that the Major had
certain weaknesses, which, however, he gratified with due regard to time
and place. But these failings were excused by the charitable
proverbs--"A young man must sow his wild oats," and "It's no crime in a
man to drink," and "The man who drinks and keeps his head, Scores two
points, it must be said." So Kurolyessoff had not a positively bad
reputation; on the contrary many people thought highly of him.
Insinuating and courteous in his address, and respectful to all persons
of rank and position, he was a welcome guest in every house. As he was a
near neighbour of the Bakteyeff family, and indeed a distant connexion,
he soon managed to make his way into their good graces; they took a
great liking to him and sounded his praises everywhere. At first he had
no special object, but was merely following his invariable rule--to make
himself agreeable to persons of rank and wealth; but later, when he met
in their house Praskovya Ivanovna, lively, laughing, and rich, and
looking quite old enough to be married, he formed a plan of marrying her
himself and getting her wealth into his hands. With this definite object
in view, he redoubled his attentions to her grandmother and aunt, till
the two ladies quite lost their heads about him; and at the same time he
paid court so cleverly to the girl herself, that she soon had a liking
for him, as she naturally would for a man who agreed to everything she
said, gave her everything she asked, and spoiled her in every possible
way. Next he showed his hand to her relations: he professed that he had
fallen in love with the orphan girl, and they believed that he was
suffering all a passionate lover's pangs, mad with longing, and haunted
by his darling's image day and night. They approved of his plan and took
the poor victim of love under their protection. The favour and
connivance of her relations made it easy for him to proceed along his
path: he did everything he could to entertain and amuse the
child--taking her out for drives behind his spirited horses, pushing her
in the swing and sitting beside her in it himself, singing with her the
popular songs which he sang very well, giving her many trifling
presents, and ordering amusing toys for her from Moscow.
Kurolyessoff knew, however, that the consent of her cousin and guardian
was a necessary preliminary to complete success, and therefore tried to
get into the good graces of Stepan Mihailovitch. Under various pretexts
and provided with introductory letters from Praskovya Ivanovna's
relations, he paid a visit at Bagrovo; but the visit proved a failure.
At first sight this may seem strange; for some of the young officer's
qualities were likely to appeal to Stepan Mihailovitch. But my
grandfather, as well as his quick eye and sound sense, had that
instinct, peculiar to men who are perfectly honest and straightforward
themselves, which is instantly conscious of the hidden guile and crooked
ways even of a complete stranger--the instinct which detects evil under
a plausible exterior and surmises its future development. Kurolyessoff's
respectful manner and polite speeches did not take him in for a moment:
he guessed at once that there was some knavery underneath. There were
other objections. My grandfather's own life was very strict, and the
reports of the Major's peccadilloes which had casually come to his ear,
though many people treated them lightly enough, filled his honest breast
with disgust; and, though he was himself capable of furious anger, he
hated deliberate unkindness and cold cruelty. For all these reasons his
reception of his guest was cool and dry, though Kurolyessoff talked in a
sensible practical way on all subjects and especially the management of
land. Praskovya Ivanovna had now come to live with my grandfather; and,
when the Major began, on the strength of their old acquaintance, to pay
her compliments which she accepted with pleasure, his host's head bent a
little to one side, his eyebrows met, and he shot a look at his guest
which was hardly hospitable. Arina Vassilyevna, on the contrary, and her
daughters, had been charmed straight off by the young man's seductions
and were quite inclined to say kind things to him; but the storm-signals
on the face of Stepan Mihailovitch quenched their ardour and made them
all hold their tongues. The guest tried to restore the harmony of the
party and to resume their agreeable conversation. But it was no use: he
received short answers from them all, and his host was not even quite
polite. Though it was getting late and an invitation to stay the night
would have been the natural thing, there was nothing for it but to take
his leave. "The man is a knave and rotten all through," said Stepan
Mihailovitch to his family; "but perhaps he won't come here again." No
voice was raised to contradict him; but, behind his back, the women went
on for a long time praising the dashing young officer; and one who liked
to listen to his merits and to tell of them herself, was the orphan girl
with the large fortune.
With the taste of this rebuff in his mouth, Kurolyessoff went back and
told Mme. Bakteyeff of his failure. The people there knew my grandfather
well, and at once abandoned all hope that he would give his consent.
Long consideration brought no solution of the difficulty. The bold Major
suggested that her grandmother should invite the girl on a visit, and
that the marriage should take place without the consent of Stepan
Mihailovitch; but both Mme. Bakteyeff and her daughter, Mme. Kurmysheff,
were convinced that Stepan Mihailovitch would not let his cousin go
alone, or, if he did, would be slow about it, and the Major's leave was
nearly at an end. Then he proposed a desperate scheme--to induce
Praskovya Ivanovna to elope with him, and to get married in the nearest
church; but her relations would not hear of such a scandalous expedient,
and Kurolyessoff went back to his regiment. The ways of Providence are
past finding out, and we cannot judge why it came about that this
nefarious scheme was crowned with success. Six months later, Mme.
Bakteyeff heard one day that Stepan Mihailovitch was called away to some
distance by very important business and would not return for some time.
His destination and errand I do not know; but it was some distant place,
Astrakhan or Moscow, and the business was certainly legal, because he
took with him his man of business. A letter was sent at once to Stepan
Mihailovitch, begging that the child, during the absence of her cousin
and guardian, might stay with her grandmother. A curt answer was
received--that Parasha was very well where she was, and, if they wished
to see her, they were welcome to visit Bagrovo and stay as long as they
liked. Stepan Mihailovitch sent this plain answer, and gave the
strictest injunctions to his always submissive wife, that she was to
watch Parasha as the apple of her eye and never let her out of the house
alone; and then he started on his journey.
Mme. Bakteyeff was constantly sending letters and messages to Praskovya
Ivanovna and my grandfather's womankind; and she sent news of his
departure at once to Kurolyessoff, adding that the absence would be a
long one, and asking whether the Major could not come on leave, to take
a personal share in the promotion of their scheme. She herself and her
daughter went at once to Bagrovo. She had always been on friendly terms
with Arina Vassilyevna, and now, on discovering that she also liked
Kurolyessoff, revealed the fact that the young officer was passionately
in love with Parasha; she launched out into praise of the suitor, and
said, "There is nothing I wish so much as to see the poor little orphan
comfortably settled in my lifetime; I am sure she will be happy. I feel
that I have not long to live, and therefore I should like to hurry on
the business." Arina Vassilyevna, on her side, entirely approved of the
plan but expressed doubts whether Stepan Mihailovitch would consent:
"Heaven knows why," she said, "but he took a strong dislike to that
delightful Kurolyessoff." Arina Vassilyevna's elder daughters were
summoned to a council presided over by Mme. Bakteyeff and her daughter,
a strong partisan of the Major's; and it was settled that the
grandmother, as the girl's nearest relation, should manage the affair,
without involving Arina Vassilyevna and her daughters; it was to appear
that they knew nothing about it and took no hand in it. I have said
already that Arina Vassilyevna was a kind-hearted and very simple woman;
her daughters sympathised entirely with Mme. Bakteyeff, and it is not
surprising that she was persuaded by them to promote a scheme which was
sure to provoke the furious rage of Stepan Mihailovitch.
Meantime the innocent victim laughed and sang, with no suspicion that
her fate was being decided. They often spoke of Kurolyessoff in her
presence, praised him to the skies, and assured her that he loved her
more than his own life, was constantly studying how to please her, and
would certainly bring her a number of presents from Moscow on his next
visit. All this she heard with pleasure, and often said that she loved
Kurolyessoff better than any one in the world. While Mme. Bakteyeff was
at Bagrovo, she had a letter forwarded to her, in which Kurolyessoff
assured her that he would come, as soon as he could get leave. Arina
Vassilyevna promised to say nothing when writing to her husband, and
also to send Parasha to her grandmother's house, in spite of her
husband's strict orders to the contrary, on the pretext that her nearest
relative was dangerously ill. When the two ladies left Bagrovo and went
home, Praskovya Ivanovna cried and asked to go with them; the Major was
expected soon, and that was an additional attraction; but permission was
refused, out of respect, it was said, to her guardian's strict orders.
Kurolyessoff had some difficulty in getting leave, and it was two months
before he arrived. Immediately afterwards a special messenger was
despatched to Bagrovo, with a letter from Mme. Kurmysheff to Arina
Vassilyevna; the lady wrote that her mother was desperately ill and
wished to see her grand-daughter and give her her blessing; she
therefore asked that Parasha might be sent, with an escort. She also
wrote that Stepan Mihailovitch would certainly have sent the child to
see the last of her grandmother, and could not possibly resent this
infraction of his commands. The letter was clearly intended to be shown
by Arina Vassilyevna, in order to protect herself from her husband's
displeasure. True to her promise and reassured by this letter, Arina
Vassilyevna made her preparations at once and took Parasha herself to
the place where the grandmother was supposed to be dying; she stayed
there a week and returned home charmed by the politeness of Kurolyessoff
and also by some presents which he had brought from Moscow for her, and
for her daughters as well. Praskovya Ivanovna was very happy: her
grandmother took a sudden turn for the better; that fairy godmother, the
Major, had brought her a number of presents and toys from Moscow and
stayed in the house continuously. He flattered her in every possible
way, and soon took her fancy so completely, that, when her grandmother
told her he wished to marry her, she was charmed. She ran up and down
through the house like a perfect child, telling every one she met that
she was going to marry the Major and would have capital fun--driving all
day with him behind his fine trotters, swinging on a swing of immense
height, singing, or playing with dolls, not little dolls, but big ones
that were able to walk and bow. You can judge by this, how far the poor
little bride realised her position. Fearing that reports might reach
Stepan Mihailovitch, the plotters went to work quickly: they invited the
neighbours to a formal betrothal, at which the pair exchanged rings and
kisses, sat side by side at table, and had their healths drunk. At
first, the bride got tired of the ceremony where she had to sit still so
long and listen to so many congratulations; but, when she was allowed to
have her new doll from Moscow beside her, she quite cheered up,
introducing the doll to every one as her daughter, and making it curtsey
when she did, in acknowledgment of their kind wishes. A week later, the
marriage took place with all due formality; the bride's age was given as
seventeen instead of fifteen, but no one would have guessed the truth,
to look at her.
Though Arina Vassilyevna and her daughters knew what the end must be,
yet the news of the marriage, which came sooner than they expected,
filled them with horror. The scales fell from their eyes, and they now
realised what they had been about, and that neither the grandmother's
sham illness nor her letter would serve to cover them from the just
wrath of Stepan Mihailovitch. Before she heard of the marriage, Arina
Vassilyevna had written to her husband that she had taken the child to
her grandmother: "It was quite necessary," she wrote, "because the old
lady was in a dying state. I stayed there a whole week, and mercifully
the invalid took a good turn; but they insisted on keeping Parasha till
her grandmother got well. I was helpless: I could not take her by force,
so I agreed against my will and hurried back to our own children, who
were quite alone at Bagrovo. And now I am afraid that you will be
angry." In answering, he said she had done a foolish thing and told her
to go back and fetch Parasha home at all costs. Arina Vassilyevna sighed
and shed tears over this letter, and was puzzled how to act. The young
couple soon came to pay her a visit. Parasha seemed perfectly happy and
cheerful, though some of her childish gaiety had gone. Her husband
seemed happy too, and at the same time so composed and sensible that his
clever arguments had power to lull Arina Vassilyevna's fears to rest. He
proved to her convincingly that her husband's wrath must all fall upon
the grandmother: "And she," said he, "owing to that dangerous
illness--though now, thank God! she is better--had a perfect right not
to wait for the consent of Stepan Mihailovitch; she knew that he would
be slow in giving it, though of course he must have given it in time. It
was impossible for her to delay, owing to her critical condition, and it
would have been hard for her to die without seeing her orphan
grand-daughter settled in life; her place could not be filled even by a
brother, far less by a mere cousin." Many soothing assurances of this
kind were forthcoming, backed by some very handsome presents which were
received by the Bagrovo ladies with great satisfaction and some sinking
of heart. Other presents were left, to be given to Stepan Mihailovitch.
Kurolyessoff advised Arina Vassilyevna not to write to her husband till
he answered the letter of intimation from the young couple; and he
assured her that he and his wife would write this at once. He did not
really dream of writing: his sole object was to delay the explosion and
get time to take root in his new position. Immediately after his
marriage, he applied for leave to retire from the Army, and got it very
soon. He then began by paying a round of visits with his bride to all
the relations and friends on both sides. At Simbirsk he began by calling
on the Governor and neglected no one of any importance who could be
useful to him. All were enthusiastic in praise of the handsome young
couple, and they were so popular everywhere, that the marriage was soon
sanctioned by public opinion. Thus several months passed away.
Stepan Mihailovitch had had no news from home for a long time, and his
lawsuit dragged on interminably. He was suddenly seized by a longing to
see his family again, and returned one fine day to Bagrovo. Arina
Vassilyevna trembled all over when she heard the awful words, "The
master has come!" Hearing that all were alive and well, he entered his
house in high spirits, kissed his Arisha and daughters and son, and then
asked in an easy tone, "But where on earth is Parasha[27]?" Encouraged
by her husband's kind manner, Arina Vassilyevna answered: "I don't know
for certain where she is; perhaps, with her grandmother. Of course you
heard long ago, _batyushka_, that she was married." I shall not describe
my grandfather's amazement and fury; but his fury became twice as hot,
when he heard the name of the bridegroom. He was proceeding to settle
accounts with his wife on the spot, when she and all her daughters fell
at his feet and showed him Mme. Bakteyeff's letter; thus she had time to
convince him that she knew nothing about it and had been deceived
herself. The fury of Stepan Mihailovitch was now diverted to Mme.
Bakteyeff; he ordered fresh horses to be ready, rested two hours, and
then galloped straight off to her house. The battle royal that took
place between the two may be imagined. The old lady stood his first
torrent of unmeasured abuse without flinching; then she drew herself up,
grew hot in her turn, and delivered her own attack upon my grandfather.
"How dare you make this furious assault on me," she asked, "as if I was
your bond-slave? Do you forget that my birth is quite as good as yours,
and that my late husband held a much higher rank than you? I am a nearer
relation to Parasha, I am her own grandmother, and her guardian as much
as you are. I arranged for her settlement without waiting for your
consent, because I was dangerously ill and did not wish to leave her
dependent upon you. I knew your infernal temper; under your roof, the
child would have had a taste of the stick some day. Kurolyessoff is an
excellent match for her, and Parasha fell in love with him of herself.
Everybody likes him and praises him. I know he did not take your fancy;
but just ask your own family, and you will soon find out that they can't
say enough in his praise!"
[27] A short form of Praskovya, which itself represents the Greek name
Paraskeva.
"You lie, you old swindler!" roared my grandfather; "you deceived my
wife by pretending that you were dying! Kurolyessoff has bewitched you
and your daughter by the power of the devil, and you have sold your
grand-daughter into his hands!"