Ilyin, the cornet of uhlans, had not long been awake. The evening before,
he had sat down at the gambling-table at eight o'clock, and lost for
fifteen consecutive hours, till eleven o'clock that day. He had lost a
great amount, but exactly how much he did not know, because he had had
three thousand rubles of his money, and fifteen thousand belonging to the
treasury, which he had long ago mixed up with his own, and he did not dare
to settle his accounts lest his anticipations that he had made too great
inroads on the public money should be confirmed.
He went to sleep about noon, and slept that heavy, dreamless sleep,
peculiar to very young men who have been losing heavily. Waking at six,
about the time that Count Turbin had arrived at the hotel, and seeing cards
and chalk and soiled tables scattered around him in confusion in the room,
he remembered with horror the evening's games, and the last card, a knave,
which had lost him five hundred rubles; but, still scarcely believing in
the reality, he drew out from under his pillow his money, and began to
count it. He recognized a few notes which, with corners turned down and
indorsements, had gone from hand to hand around the table; he remembered
all the particulars. He had lost his own three thousand rubles, and
twenty-five hundred belonging to the treasury had disappeared.
The uhlan had been playing for four nights in succession.
He had come from Moscow, where the public money had been intrusted to him.
At K. the post-superintendent had detained him under the pretext that there
were no post-horses, but in reality in accordance with his agreement with
the hotel-keeper to detain all visitors for a day.
The uhlan, who was a gay young fellow, and had just received from his
parent three thousand rubles for his military equipment, was glad to spend
a few days in the city of K. during the elections, and counted on having a
good time.
He knew a landed proprietor whose family lived there, and he was preparing
to call upon him and pay his addresses to his daughter, when the cavalryman
appeared, and made his acquaintance. That very evening, without malice
prepense, he took him down into the parlor, and introduced him to his
friends, Lukhnof and several other gamblers. From that time, the uhlan had
kept steadily at gaming, and not only had not called on the proprietor, but
had not thought of inquiring further for horses, and for four days had not
left his room.
After he had dressed, and taken his tea, he went to the window. He felt an
inclination to go out so as to dispel the importunate recollections of the
game. He put on his cloak, and went into the street.
The sun had just sunk behind the white houses with their red roofs. It was
already twilight. It was warm. The snow was softly falling in big, damp
flakes, in the muddy streets. His mind suddenly became filled with
unendurable melancholy at the thought that he had spent all that day in
sleep, and now the day was done.
"This day which has gone, will never come back again," he said to himself.
"I have wasted my youth," he suddenly exclaimed, not because he really felt
that he had wasted his youth,--he did not think about it at all,--but
simply this phrase came into his head.
"What shall I do now?" he reasoned; "borrow of some one, and go away?"
A lady was passing along the sidewalk.
"What a stupid woman!" he said to himself for some reason.
"There's no one I can borrow of. I have wasted my youth."
He came to a block of stores. A merchant in a fox-skin shuba was standing
at the door of his shop, and inviting custom.
"If I hadn't taken the eight, I should have won."
A little old beggar-woman followed him, snivelling.
"I have no one to borrow of."
A gentleman in a bear-skin shuba passed him. A policeman was standing on
the corner.
"What can I do that will make sensation? Fire a pistol at them? No! That
would be stupid. I have wasted my youth. _Akh!_ what a splendid harness
that is hanging in that shop! I should like to be riding behind a
troïka!... _Ekh!_ you fine fellows![61] I am going back. Lukhnof will be
there pretty soon, and we'll have a game."
[Footnote 61: _golúbchiki_, little pigeons.]
He returned to the hotel, and once more counted his money. No, he was not
mistaken the first time; twenty-five hundred rubles of public money were
missing, just as before.
"I will put up twenty-five rubles first; the next time, a quarter stake;
then on seven, on fifteen, on thirty, and on sixty ... three thousand. I
will buy that harness, and start. He won't give me any odds, the villain!
I have wasted my youth!"
This was what was passing through the uhlan's mind just as Lukhnof himself
came into the room.
"Well, have you been up long, Mikháïlo Vasílyitch?" inquired Lukhnof,
deliberately removing from his thin nose his gold eye-glasses, and
carefully wiping them with a red silk handkerchief.
"No, only just this minute. I had a splendid sleep!"
"A new hussar has just come. He is staying with Zavalshevsky. Had you heard
about it?"
"No, I hadn't. Well, no one seems to be here yet. I believe they have gone
to call on Priakhin. They'll be here very soon."
In fact, in a short time there came into the room an officer of the
garrison, who was always hovering round Lukhnof; a Greek merchant with a
huge hooked nose, cinnamon complexion, and deep-set black eyes; a stout,
puffy proprietor, a brandy-distiller who gambled all night long, and always
made his stakes on the basis of half a ruble. All of these wished to begin
playing as promptly as possible, but the more daring players said nothing
about it; Lukhnof, in particular, with perfect equanimity, told stories of
rascality in Moscow.
"Just think of it," said he, "Moscow, the metropolis, the capital; and
there they go out at night with crooks, dressed like demons; and they scare
the stupid people, and rob pedestrians, and that is the end of it. Do the
police notice it? No! It is astonishing!"
The uhlan listened attentively to the tales of these highwaymen, but
finally got up and unobtrusively ordered cards to be brought. The stout
proprietor was the first to notice it.
"Well, gentlemen, we are wasting golden moments. To work, let us to work!"
"Yes, you won by the half-ruble last evening, and so you like it,"
exclaimed the Greek.
"It's a good time to begin," said the garrison officer.
Ilyin looked at Lukhnof. Lukhnof, returning his gaze, went on calmly with
his story of the robbers who dressed themselves up like devils. "Will you
start the bank?" asked the uhlan.
"Isn't it rather early?"
"Byélof!" cried the uhlan, reddening for some reason or other; "bring me
something to eat.... I haven't had any dinner to-day, gentlemen. Bring some
champagne, and distribute the cards."
A this moment, the count and Zavalshevsky entered. It proved that Turbin
and Ilyin were in the same division. They immediately struck up an
acquaintance, drank a glass of champagne, clinking their glasses together,
and in five minutes were calling each other "thou."
It was evident that Ilyin made a very pleasant impression on the count. The
count smiled whenever he looked at him, and was amused at his freshness.
"What a fine young uhlan!" he said, "what a mustache! what a splendid
mustache!"
Ilyin's upper lip bore the first down of a mustache, that was as yet almost
white.
"You were preparing to play, were you not?" asked the count. "Well, I
should like to win from you, Ilyin. I think that you must be a master," he
added smiling.
"Yes, we were just starting in," replied Lukhnof, opening a pack of
cards.... "Aren't you going to join us, count?"
"No, I won't to-night. If I did there wouldn't be any thing left of any of
you! When I take a hand I always break the bank. But I haven't any money
just now. I lost at Volotchok, at the station-house. It was by some sort of
infantry-man who wore rings; what a cheat he was! and he cleaned me out
completely."
"Were you long there at the station?" asked Ilyin.
"I staid there twenty-two hours. I shall not forget that station, curse it!
and the superintendent won't forget it either."
"Why?"
"I got there, you see; the superintendent comes out, rascally face, the
liar! 'There are no horses,' said he. Well, now I must tell you, I have
made a rule in such cases: when there are no horses, I keep on my shuba,
and go straight to the superintendent's room,--not the waiting-room, mind
you, but the superintendent's own room,--and I have all the windows and
doors opened, as though it were stifling. Well, that's what I did here.
Cold! you remember how cold it has been this last month; twenty degrees
below. The superintendent began to remonstrate. I knock his teeth in for
him. There was some old woman there; and some young girls and
peasant-women[62] set up a piping, were going to seize their pots and fly
to the village.... I go to the door, and say, 'Let me have horses, and I'll
go away: if you don't, I won't let you out, I'll freeze you all to death.'"
[Footnote 62: _babas._]
"What an admirable way!" said the puffy proprietor, bursting out into a
laugh. "That's the way one would freeze out cockroaches."
"But I wasn't sufficiently on my guard: the superintendent and all his
women managed to get out and run away. Only the old woman remained on the
oven as my hostage. She kept sniffing, and offering prayers to God. Then we
entered into negotiations. The superintendent came back, and, standing at a
distance, tried to persuade me to let the old woman go. But I set Blücher
on him: Blücher is a magnificent dog to take care of superintendents. Even
then the rascal did not let me have horses till the next morning. And then
came along that footpad! I went into the next room, and began to play. Have
you seen Blücher?--Blücher! _Fiu_!" Blücher came running in. The players
received him with flattering attention, although it was evident that they
were anxious to get to work at entirely different matters.
"By the way, gentlemen, why don't you begin your game? I beg of you, don't
let me interfere with you. You see I am a chatterbox," said Turbin.
"_Whether you love or not_, 'tis an excellent thing."