_____ CHAPTER V.
The next day Porfiry Vladimirych greeted her again with his ambiguous geniality, from which it was impossible to gather whether he wanted to show her affection or suck her blood dry.
"Well, you 'always-in-a-hurry-to-get-there,' did you sleep well? And where are you hurrying to now?" he asked her jestingly.
"Yes, uncle, I am in a hurry, indeed. I am on leave of absence, you know, and I must report on time."
"Is it to play the clown again? I won't let you."
"Whether you let me or not, I am going."
Yudushka shook his head sadly.
"And what would your deceased grandma say?" he asked in a tone of kindly reproach.
"Grandma knew about it when she was alive.
But why do you use those expressions, uncle? Yesterday you were sending me to the fairs with a guitar and today you speak of playing the clown.
I won't allow you to talk like that to me, you hear?"
"Eh-eh! The truth hurts!
Well, and I like the truth.
I think that if the truth——"
"No, no, I won't listen, I won't listen. I don't want your truth or your untruth.
Do you hear me? I don't want you to talk like that to me."
"Well, well! Look at her flaring up! Oh, you romp! Suppose we go in to tea while the drinking is good. I suppose the samovar is making music on the table by now."
Porfiry Vladimirych wanted by joke and jest to make amends for having said "playing the clown," and even tried to embrace her as a sign of reconciliation. But it all seemed so stupid to Anninka, so abominable, that she declined his advance with repugnance.
"I tell you seriously, uncle, I am in a hurry," she said.
"Well, then, let's go and have tea first, then we'll talk."
"But why talk after tea? Why not now?"
"Because.
Because everything has got to be done in its proper time.
First one, then the other, first we'll have tea and a chat, then we'll talk business.
Plenty of time."
She could not help but yield. His prattle was not to be overcome.
They went in to tea, and Yudushka temporized maliciously, sipping his tea with deliberation, crossing himself, slapping his thigh, babbling about his late mother dear, and so on.
"Well, now we can talk," he said at last. "Do you intend making a long visit here?"
"Not more than a week.
I have to be in Moscow before returning to the company."
"A week is a long time, my dear. You can accomplish a lot in a week, and you can accomplish little. It depends on how you go about it."
"We'd better try and accomplish a great deal, uncle."
"That's just what I say.
You can do a lot and you can do little, and sometimes you think you are doing little but before you look around, all the work is attended to.
Here, for instance, you are in a hurry to go to Moscow, you've got business there, you say; and what the business is, you yourself don't know, I dare say.
But the way I look on it is this, that you spend all your time here in real business instead of going to Moscow."
"No, I must go to Moscow because I want to see if I can't get on the stage there.
And as to business, didn't you say we could accomplish a lot in a week?"
"Depending on how you go about it, my friend.
If you go about it properly, all will be well and smooth, but if you don't go about it in a proper way, well, you'll strike a snag, and the thing will drag on."
"Well, you guide me, uncle."
"That's just it.
When in need then 'You guide me, uncle,' but when not in need, then 'It's dull here, uncle, and I want to go away.'
You can't say I'm not right."
"But please do tell me just what I am to do."
"Wait, don't be in a hurry!
So, as I was saying, when uncle is needed, he is a dear and darling and a sweety, and when he is not needed he is no good.
But you would never trust your uncle and ask him, 'What do you think, uncle dear, ought I to go to Moscow or not?'"
"How funny you are, uncle!
I must go to Moscow, and suppose I ask your advice and you say no?"