The sweet, quiet night came, and brought her enchantments. The weary
din of day lost itself in oblivion. The clear, tranquil, anaemic moon
encircled herself with her own radiance, basked in her own light. She
looked at the earth and did not dissipate the mist--it was as if she
had taken to herself all the brightness and translucence of the sun’s
last afterglow. A calm poured itself out upon the earth and upon the
water, and embraced every tree, every bush, every blade of grass.
A soothing mood took possession of Elisaveta. It struck her as strange
that they should have quarrelled and stood facing one another like
enemies. Why shouldn’t she love him? Why not give herself up to him,
submit to the will of another, make it her will? Why all this noisy
discussion, these fine, yet remote words about a struggle, about
ideals?
Every one in the house, she thought, was tired--was it with the heat?
With wrangling? With a secret sorrow inducing sleep, soothingness? The
sisters went to their rooms somewhat earlier than usual. Fatigue and a
languorous sadness oppressed them. The sisters’ bedrooms were next to
each other, one entering the other by a wide, always open door. They
could hear one another. The even breathing of her sleeping sister gave
a poignant reality to the terrible world of night and slumber.
Elisaveta and Elena did not converse long that night. They parted
early. Elisaveta undressed herself, lit a candle, and began to admire
herself in the cold, dead, indifferent mirror. Pearl-like were the
moon’s reflections on the lines of her graceful body. Palpitating were
her white girlish breasts, crowned by two rubies. The living,
passionate form stood flaming and throbbing, strangely white in the
tranquil rays of the moon. The gradual curves of the body and legs
were precise and delicate. The skin stretched across the knees hinted
at the elastic energy that it covered. And equally elastic and
energetic were the curves of the calves and the feet.
Elisaveta’s body flamed all over, as though a fire had penetrated the
whole sweet, sensitive flesh; and oh, how she wished to press, to
cling, to embrace! If he would only come! Only by day he spoke to her
his dead-sounding words of love, kindled by the kisses of the accursed
Dragon. Oh, if he would only come by night to the secretly flaming
great Fire of the blossoming Flesh!
Did he love her? Was his a final and a single-souled love conquering
by the eternal spirit of the divine Aphrodite? Where love is there
daring should be also. Is love, then, gentle, meek, obedient? Is it
not a flame, decreed to take what is its own without waiting?
Her eager, impatient fancies seethed. If he only had come he would
have been a young god. But he was only a human being who bowed down
before his idol; he was a small slave of a small demon. He did not
come, he had not dared, he had not guessed: a dark grief came over
Elisaveta from the secret seething of her passion.
As she looked at her wonderful image in the mirror, Elisaveta thought:
“Perhaps he is praying. The weak and the haughty--why do they pray?
They should be taught to be joyous, to remake their religion and be
the first in the new sect.”
Elisaveta could not sleep. Desire tormented her; she did not know what
she wanted--was it to go?--to wait? She walked out on the balcony. The
nocturnal coolness caressed her naked body. She stood there long; the
contact of her naked feet with the warm, moist boards was pleasant.
She looked into the pale light of the mist-wrapt garden dreaming there
under the moon. She recalled at this moment the details of the day’s
walk, and all that they had seen in Trirodov’s house; she recalled it
all so clearly, with almost the vividness of a hallucination. Then a
drowsiness crept up, seized her. And Elisaveta could not recall later
how she found herself in her bed. It was almost as if an invisible
being had carried her, tucked her in, and rocked her to sleep.
It was a restless, tormenting sleep. She saw horrible visions,
nightmares. They were remarkably clear and real.
She was in a very dusty room. The air in it was stifling, it oppressed
her breast. The walls were covered with bookcases filled with books.
The tables were also covered with books--all new, slender, with bright
covers. The title-pages were for some reason ponderous, terrible to
look at. A tall, gaunt, long-haired student entered; his hair was very
straight, his face morose and grey, he wore spectacles. He whispered:
“Hide them.”
And he placed on the table a bundle of books and pamphlets. Some one
behind Elisaveta stretched out a hand, took the books, and thrust them
under the table. Then came a woman student, strangely resembling the
man student yet quite different; she was short, thick, red-cheeked,
short-haired, cheerful, and wore pince-nez. She also brought a bundle
of books, and said quietly:
“Hide them.”
Elisaveta hid the books in the bookcase and was afraid of something.
Then came more students, working men, young women, schoolboys,
military men, officials, and clerks; each, placing a packet of books
on the table, whispered:
“Hide them.”
Each one slipped away. And Elisaveta went to work to hide the books.
She put them in the table drawer, in the cupboard, under the sofas,
behind the doors, and in the fireplace. But the pile of books on the
table grew and grew; more and more persistent became the whisper:
“Hide them.”
There was no hiding-place left, and yet the books were still being
brought in--there was no end to them. Everywhere books--they were
pressing on her breast....
Elisaveta awakened. Some one’s face was bending over her. The bedcover
slipped from her handsome body. Elena was whispering something.
Elisaveta asked her in a drowsy voice:
“Did I wake you?”
“You cried out so,” said Elena.
“I’ve had such a stupid dream,” whispered Elisaveta.
She went to sleep again, and again the same hoard of books. There were
so many books that even the window-sills were piled up with them, and
a dim and dusty gleam of light barely penetrated. An ominous silence
tormented her. Behind the counter at her side stood a student and two
boys, strangely erect; they were pale, and seemed to wait for
something. All at once the door opened noiselessly. Many men entered,
making a loud noise with their boots--first a police official, then
another, then a detective in gold-rimmed spectacles, a house-porter,
another house-porter, a muzhik, a policeman, another muzhik, another
house-porter. More and more came; they filled the room, and still they
came--huge, moody, silent fellows. Elisaveta felt it stifling; she
awoke.
Again she dropped into sleep, again she was tormented by horrible
visions oppressing the breast.
She dreamt that the house was being searched.
“An illegal book!” exclaimed a detective, looking ominously at her as
he put a book on the table.
The pile of the illegal books on the table began to grow. They were
examined and shaken. A police official sat down to make out a list.
The pen ran on, but there was not enough paper.
“More paper!” cried the official.
Page was filled after page. The official mocked at her, threatened her
with a revolver.
Once more she awoke, once more she fell asleep. And still another
dream.
A small, frail schoolmaster with a squeaky voice came. Then another, a
third, and still others--an endless flock of peaceful men with wails
of revolt.
And yet another dream.
The city square was bathed in the bright sunlight. A muzhik appeared
and shouted at the top of his voice:
“Hey there! Stand up for your gov’r-ment, and for holy Russia!”
Another muzhik came in answer to his shout, then a third and a fourth.
Slowly and steadily the crowd grew, the turmoil increased. A muzhik in
a white apron wearing a conspicuous emblem[7] made his way through the
crowd and, screwing up his mouth, cried like a madman:
“For Rush-ya, I say, fel-lows, kill ‘em!”
He threw himself on Elisaveta and began to strangle her.
She awoke.
Again there was a dark, terrible dream. Nothing as yet was to be seen,
it was hard to tell what was happening. But fear filled the intense
darkness. Dark figures seemed to throng in it. The darkness cleared a
little, the atmosphere became ominously grey. A narrow courtyard
slowly outlined itself, flanked by high walls with windows closely
intersected by bars. Her heart whispered audibly:
“A prison. A prison courtyard.”
Out of a narrow door prisoners were being conducted into the still
dark courtyard on a cold early morning in winter. They walked in
single file--a soldier, a prisoner, a soldier, a prisoner, a
soldier--there seemed to be no end to it; there was a steady shuffling
of feet across the courtyard. A small gate opened in the wall with a
creaking sound. All walked through it. And beyond the wall Elisaveta
already caught a glimpse of a flat, endless field of snow, and of a
whole row of gallows that stretched into the invisible distance. They
were approaching these nearer and nearer--to meet their fate.
She could not remember how it happened, but she also walked with them.
A soldier strode in front of her and in front of the soldier was a
boy. Though the boy had his back to her she recognized him--it was
Misha. Terror paralysed her tongue--when she tried to cry out she
could not find her voice. Terror fettered her feet--when she tried to
run she remained rooted to the spot. Terror gripped her arms--when she
tried to lift them they hung helplessly at her sides.
People were being hanged at the nearest gallows and the prisoners had
to walk past the hanged ones to the gallows beyond. Misha was being
hanged, but he broke loose. He was hanged again, and again he broke
loose. This happened an endless number of times, and each time he
broke loose.
She could see a furious face and the grey bristles of trimmed
moustaches. She could hear the malignant cry:
“We must finish him off!”
A shot was fired; there was a low, dull discharge: the boy fell and
began to toss on the ground. Another shot--the boy kept on tossing.
The shots came faster--but the boy was still alive.
Elisaveta awoke; this time she did not go to sleep again. Her heart
beat half with pain, half with joy, because it was but a dream--but a
dream! Her heart was bright with exultant joy.
The golden arrows of the yet quiet and gentle Dragon fell softly with
sidelong glances. Evidently it was still early. In the distance
Elisaveta could hear the sound of a horn and the lowing of cows. The
bedroom walls were tinged with rose light. The early light stole in
through the windows and messaged an altogether new, better day. A
refreshing breeze blew in through the open window, the twitter of
birds also entered, the air resounded with early morning joy.
Elisaveta was soon aware that Elena was also awake.