A pause ensued.
Then the bailiff, true to his nature and his nickname, lost patience and began to shift from one leg to another, obviously burning with the desire to unburden his mind of something.
"He's a clever one, though," he finally blurted out. "People say he brought back a hundred rubles from the campaign.
It isn't a fortune, but still one can live on it for a time."
"Well?"
"He thought he might improve his situation and went in for a shady business."
"Go on, go on, and don't give me any lies."
"He went to the German Club.
He thought he would find a fool to beat at cards, but instead he happened on a cunning hawk.
He tried to get away, but was held up in the lobby.
Of course, he was plucked clean."
"I suppose he was roughly handled, too."
"Of course.
The next morning he came to our man, Ivan Mikhailych, and told the tale himself.
It's queer, he was in high spirits and laughed as if they had treated him like a lord." "Things run from him like water off a duck's back.
But I won't grieve over it, provided he does not come within sight of me."
"But I believe he will."
"Nonsense, I will not allow him to cross my threshold."
"But I'm sure he will," insisted Anton Vasilyev. "He said so in plain words to Ivan Mikhailych. 'Enough,' he says, 'I am going back to the old woman to eat her dry crusts.'
And, madam, to speak the truth, where can he lay his head but here?
He cannot keep on forever feeding on our men in Moscow.
And besides, he needs clothing and comforts."
That was exactly the thing Arina Petrovna dreaded. It was the very essence of the obscure thought that so deeply alarmed her.
"Yes, he will turn up," she said to herself, "he has no other place to go to, there's no doubt of it."
He would always be there, within her sight, that accursed, hated stranger of a son.
What had been the good of throwing his portion to him?
She had thought that, having received "his due," he would drop into eternity. And there he was, rising from the dead.
He would come, make insolent demands, and hang on like a leech, shocking everybody by his beggarly appearance.
And she would have to meet his demands, because he was a brazen-faced bully, capable of any violence. You cannot put such a man under restraint; he is capable of parading in tatters before strangers, of the wildest debauchery, of running away to the neighbors and telling them the ins and outs of the family affairs.
Should she have him deported to the Suzdal Monastery, which was said to be a place for ridding parents in distress of the sight of their refractory children? But the Lord knows whether that fabulous institution existed at all.
People said there were such things as houses of correction. But how could one get an overgrown dolt into one of them?
In short, Arina Petrovna was altogether upset by the thought of how the arrival of Simple Simon was going to disturb her peaceful existence.
"I shall billet him upon you," was her threat to the bailiff. "Feed him at your own expense."
"Why so, madam?"
"Because you stand there croaking:
'He's sure to come,'" she mimicked. "Get out of my sight, you raven!"
Anton Vasilyev turned to go, but Arina Petrovna stopped him:
"Wait a minute. Is it true that he is starting out for Golovliovo?"
"I'm not in the habit of telling lies, madam.
He said so plainly—'I am going back to the old woman to eat her dry crusts.'"
"He'll soon find out what kind of crusts the old woman has prepared for him."
"But, madam, he won't live with you long."
"Why not?"
"Well, madam, he coughs very badly and keeps on clutching the left side of his chest. He won't live long."
"That kind generally lives very long. He'll outlive us all.
The coughing doesn't hurt him. Well, we shall see about it later.
Leave me now. I have several matters to attend to."
Arina Petrovna spent the whole evening pondering over this problem. Finally she found it best to convoke the family council for the purpose of deciding what was to be done with Simple Simon.
Such constitutionalism was not her habit. She made up her mind to digress from the traditions of autocracy solely for the purpose of shielding herself from public censure, and as she did not doubt the outcome of the conference, she sat down with a light heart to write to Porfiry and Pavel asking them to come to Golovliovo immediately.
_____ CHAPTER III