the old countess anna fedotovna was in her dressing-room, seated before her looking-glass. three maids were in attendance. one held her pot of rouge, another a box of black pins, a third[pg 24] an enormous lace cap, with flaming ribbons. the countess had no longer the slightest pretence to beauty, but she preserved all the habits of her[pg 25] youth. she dressed in the style of fifty years before, and gave as much time and attention to her toilet as a fashionable beauty of the last century. her companion was working at a frame in a corner of the window.
"seated before her looking-glass."
"good morning, grandmother," said the young officer, as he entered the dressing-room. "good morning, mademoiselle lise. grandmother, i have come to ask you a favour."
"what is it, paul?"
"i want to introduce to you one of my friends, and to ask you to give him an invitation to your ball."
"bring him to the ball and introduce him to me there. did you go yesterday to the princess's?"
"certainly. it was delightful! we danced until five o'clock in the morning. mademoiselle eletzki was charming."
"my dear nephew, you are really not difficult to please. as to beauty, you should have seen her grandmother, the princess daria petrovna. but she must be very old the princess daria petrovna!"
"how do you mean old?" cried tomski thoughtlessly; "she died seven years ago."
the young lady who acted as companion raised her head and made a sign to the officer, who then remembered that it was an understood thing to conceal from the princess the death of any of her contemporaries. he bit his lips. the countess,[pg 26] however, was not in any way disturbed on hearing that her old friend was no longer in this world.
"dead!" she said, "and i never knew it! we were maids of honour in the same year, and when we were presented, the empress'"—and the old countess related for the hundredth time an anecdote of her young days. "paul," she said, as she finished her story, "help me to get up. lisaveta, where is my snuff-box?"
and, followed by the three maids, she went behind a great screen to finish her toilet. tomski was now alone with the companion.
"who is the gentleman you wish to introduce to madame?" asked lisaveta.
"narumoff. do you know him?"
"no. is he in the army?"
"yes."
"in the engineers?"
"no, in the horse guards. why did you think he was in the engineers?"
the young lady smiled, but made no answer.
"paul," cried the countess from behind the screen, "send me a new novel; no matter what. only see that it is not in the style of the present day."
"what style would you like, grandmother?"
"a novel in which the hero strangles neither his father nor his mother, and in which no one[pg 27]
[pg 28] gets drowned. nothing frightens me so much as the idea of getting drowned."
paul and lisaveta.
"but how is it possible to find you such a book? do you want it in russian?"
"are there any novels in russian? however, send me something or other. you won't forget?"
"i will not forget, grandmother. i am in a great hurry. good-bye, lisaveta. what made you fancy narumoff was in the engineers?" and tomski took his departure.
lisaveta, left alone, took out her embroidery, and sat down close to the window. immediately afterwards, in the street, at the corner of a neighbouring house, appeared a young officer. the sight of him made the companion blush to her ears. she lowered her head, and almost concealed it in the canvas. at this moment the counters returned, fully dressed.
"lisaveta," she said "have the horses put in; we will go out for a drive."
lisaveta rose from her chair, and began to arrange her embroidery.
"well, my dear child, are you deaf? go and tell them to put the horses in at once."
"i am going," replied the young lady, as she went out into the ante-chamber.
a servant now came in, bringing some books from prince paul alexandrovitch.
[pg 29]
"say i am much obliged to him. lisaveta! lisaveta! where has she run off to?"
"i was going to dress."
"we have plenty of time, my dear. sit down, take the first volume, and read to me."
the companion took the book and read a few lines.
"louder," said the countess. "what is the matter with you? have you a cold? wait a moment; bring me that stool. a little closer; that will do."
lisaveta read two pages of the book.
"throw that stupid book away," said the countess. "what nonsense! send it back to prince paul, and tell him i am much obliged to him; and the carriage, is it never coming?
"here it is," replied lisaveta, going to the window.
"and now you are not dressed. why do you always keep 'me waiting? it is intolerable."
lisaveta ran to her room. she had scarcely been there two minutes when the countess rang with all her might. her maids rushed in at one door and her valet at the other.
"you do not seem to hear me when i ring," she cried. "go and tell lisaveta that i am waiting for her."
[pg 30]
at this moment lisaveta entered, wearing a new walking dress and a fashionable bonnet.
"at last, miss," cried the countess. "but what is that you have got on? and why? for whom are you dressing? what sort of weather is it? quite stormy, i believe."
"no, your excellency," said the valet; "it is exceedingly fine."
"what do you know about it? open the ventilator. just what i told you! a frightful wind, and as icy as can be. unharness the horses. lisaveta, my child, we will not go out to-day. it was scarcely worth while to dress so much."
"what an existence!" said the companion to herself.
lisaveta ivanovna was, in fact, a most unhappy creature. "the bread of the stranger is bitter," says dante, "and his staircase hard to climb." but who can tell the torments of a poor little companion attached to an old lady of quality? the countess had all the caprices of a woman spoilt by the world. she was avaricious and egotistical, and thought all the more of herself now that she had ceased to play an active part in society. she never missed a ball, and she dressed and painted in the style of a bygone age. she remained in a corner of the room, where she seemed to have been placed expressly[pg 31] to serve as a scarecrow. every one on coming in went to her and made her a low bow, but this ceremony once at an end no one spoke a word to her. she received the whole city at her house, observing the strictest etiquette, and never failing to give to everyone his or her proper name. her innumerable servants, growing pale and fat in the ante-chamber, did absolutely as they liked, so that that the house was pillaged as if its owner were really dead. lisaveta passed her life in continual torture. if she made tea she was reproached with wasting the sugar. if she read a novel to the countess she was held responsible for all the absurdities of the author. if she went out with the noble lady for a walk or drive, it was she who was to blame if the weather was bad or the pavement muddy. her salary, more than modest, was never punctually paid, and she was expected to dress "like every one else," that is to say, like very few people indeed. when she went into society her position was sad. everyone knew her; no one paid her any attention. at a ball she sometimes danced, but only when a vis-à-vis was wanted. women would come up to her, take her by the arm, and lead her out of the room if their dress required attending to. she had her portion of self-respect, and felt deeply the misery of her position. she looked with impatience for a liberator to break her chain. but the young[pg 32] men, prudent in the midst of their affected giddiness, took care not to honour her with their attentions, though lisaveta ivanovna was a hundred times prettier than the shameless or stupid girls whom they surrounded with their homage. more than once she slunk away from the splendour of the drawing-room to shut herself up alone in her little bed-room, furnished with an old screen and a pieced carpet, a chest of drawers, a small looking-glass, and a wooden bedstead. there she shed tears at her ease by the light of a tallow candle in a tin candlestick.
one morning—it was two days after the party at narumoff's, and a week before the scene we have just sketched—lisaveta was sitting at her embroidery before the window, when, looking carelessly into the street, she saw an officer, in the uniform of the engineers, standing motionless with his eyes fixed upon her. she lowered her head, and applied herself to her work more attentively than ever. five minutes afterwards she locked mechanically into the street, and the officer was still in the same place. not being in the habit of exchanging glances with young men who passed by her window, she remained with her eyes fixed on her work for nearly two hours, until she was told that lunch was ready. she got up to put her embroidery away, and[pg 33] while doing so, looked into the street, and saw the officer still in the same place. this seemed to her very strange. after lunch she went to the window with a certain emotion, but the officer of engineers was no longer in the street.
"there she shed tears."
[pg 34]
she thought no more of him. but two days afterwards, just as she was getting into the carriage with the countess, she saw him once more, standing straight before the door. his face was half concealed by a fur collar, but his black eyes sparkled beneath his helmet. lisaveta was afraid, without knowing why, and she trembled as she took her seat in the carriage.
on returning home, she rushed with a beating heart towards the window. the officer was in his habitual place, with his eyes fixed ardently upon her. she at once withdrew, burning at the same time with curiosity, and moved by a strange feeling which she now experienced for the first time.
no day now passed but the young officer showed himself beneath the window. before long a dumb acquaintance was established between them. sitting at her work she felt his presence, and when she raised her head she looked at him for a long time every day. the young man seemed full of gratitude for these innocent favours.
she observed, with the deep and rapid perceptions of youth, that a sudden redness covered the officer's pale cheeks as soon as their eyes met. after about a week she would smile at seeing him for the first time.
when tomski asked his grandmother's permission to present one of his friends, the heart of the poor young girl beat strongly, and when she[pg 35] heard that it was narumoff, she bitterly repented having compromised her secret by letting it out to a giddy young man like paul.
hermann was the son of a german settled in russia, from whom he had inherited a small sum of money. firmly resolved to preserve his independence, he had made it a principle not to touch his private income. he lived on his pay, and did not allow himself the slightest luxury. he was not very communicative; and his reserve rendered it difficult for his comrades to amuse themselves at his expense.
under an assumed calm he concealed strong passions and a highly-imaginative disposition. but he was always master of himself, and kept himself free from the ordinary faults of young men. thus, a gambler by temperament, he never touched a card, feeling, as he himself said, that his position did not allow him to "risk the necessary in view of the superfluous." yet he would pass entire nights before a card-table, watching with feverish anxiety the rapid changes of the game. the anecdote of count st. germaines three cards had struck his imagination, and he did nothing but think of it all that night.
"if," he said to himself next day as he was walking along the streets of st. petersburg, "if she would only tell me her secret—if she would only name the three winning cards! i must get[pg 36] presented to her, that i may pay my court and gain her confidence. yes! and she is eighty-seven! she may die this week—to-morrow perhaps. but after all, is there a word of truth in the story? no! economy, temperance, work; these are my three winning cards. with them i can double my capital; increase it tenfold. they alone can ensure my independence and prosperity."
dreaming in this way as he walked along, his attention was attracted by a house built in an antiquated style of architecture. the street was full of carriages, which passed one by one before the old house, now brilliantly illuminated. as the people stepped out of the carriages hermann saw now the little feet of a young woman, now the military boot of a general. then came a clocked stocking; then, again, a diplomatic pump. fur-lined cloaks and coats passed in procession before a gigantic porter.
hermann stopped. "who lives here?" he said to a watchman in his box.
"the countess anna fedotovna." it was tomski's grandmother.
hermann started. the story of the three cards came once more upon his imagination. he walked to and fro before the house, thinking of the woman to whom it belonged, of her wealth and her mysterious power. at last he returned to his den. but for some time he could not get to sleep; and[pg 37] when at last sleep came upon him, he saw, dancing before his eyes, cards, a green table, and heaps of rubles and bank-notes. he saw himself doubling stake after stake, always winning, and then filling his pockets with piles of coin, and stuffing his pocket-book with countless bank-notes. when he awoke, he sighed to find that his treasures were but creations of a disordered fancy; and, to drive such thoughts from him, he went out for a walk. but he had not gone far when he found himself once more before the house of the countess. he seemed to have been attracted there by some irresistible force. he stopped, and looked up at the windows. there he saw a girl's head with beautiful black hair, leaning gracefully over a book or an embroidery-frame. the head was lifted, and he saw a fresh complexion and black eyes.
this moment decided his fate.
