The Giants of Russian Literature: The Greatest Russian Novels, Stories, Plays, Folk Tales & Legends. Максим Горький

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The Giants of Russian Literature: The Greatest Russian Novels, Stories, Plays, Folk Tales & Legends - Максим Горький


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      “Nevertheless, I have a right not to continue it, seeing that you are not playing as an honest man should do.”

      “You are lying — you cannot truthfully say that.”

      “’Tis you who are lying.”

      “But I have NOT cheated. Consequently you cannot refuse to play, but must continue the game to a finish.”

      “You cannot force me to play,” retorted Chichikov coldly as, turning to the chessboard, he swept the pieces into confusion.

      Nozdrev approached Chichikov with a manner so threatening that the other fell back a couple of paces.

      “I WILL force you to play,” said Nozdrev. “It is no use you making a mess of the chessboard, for I can remember every move. We will replace the chessmen exactly as they were.”

      “No, no, my friend. The game is over, and I play you no more.”

      “You say that you will not?”

      “Yes. Surely you can see for yourself that such a thing is impossible?”

      “That cock won’t fight. Say at once that you refuse to play with me.” And Nozdrev approached a step nearer.

      “Very well; I DO say that,” replied Chichikov, and at the same moment raised his hands towards his face, for the dispute was growing heated. Nor was the act of caution altogether unwarranted, for Nozdrev also raised his fist, and it may be that one of her hero’s plump, pleasant-looking cheeks would have sustained an indelible insult had not he (Chichikov) parried the blow and, seizing Nozdrev by his whirling arms, held them fast.

      “Porphyri! Pavlushka!” shouted Nozdrev as madly he strove to free himself.

      On hearing the words, Chichikov, both because he wished to avoid rendering the servants witnesses of the unedifying scene and because he felt that it would be of no avail to hold Nozdrev any longer, let go of the latter’s arms; but at the same moment Porphyri and Pavlushka entered the room — a pair of stout rascals with whom it would be unwise to meddle.

      “Do you, or do you not, intend to finish the game?” said Nozdrev. “Give me a direct answer.”

      “No; it will not be possible to finish the game,” replied Chichikov, glancing out of the window. He could see his britchka standing ready for him, and Selifan evidently awaiting orders to draw up to the entrance steps. But from the room there was no escape, since in the doorway was posted the couple of well-built serving-men.

      “Then it is as I say? You refuse to finish the game?” repeated Nozdrev, his face as red as fire.

      “I would have finished it had you played like a man of honour. But, as it is, I cannot.”

      “Kindly tell me which of you is Monsieur Nozdrev?” said the unknown with a glance of perplexity both at the person named (who was still standing with pipe-shank upraised) and at Chichikov (who was just beginning to recover from his unpleasant predicament).

      “Kindly tell ME whom I have the honour of addressing?” retorted Nozdrev as he approached the official.

      “I am the Superintendent of Rural Police.”

      “And what do you want?”

      “I have come to fulfil a commission imposed upon me. That is to say, I have come to place you under arrest until your case shall have been decided.”

      “Rubbish! What case, pray?”

      “The case in which you involved yourself when, in a drunken condition, and through the instrumentality of a walking-stick, you offered grave offence to the person of Landowner Maksimov.”

      “You lie! To your face I tell you that never in my life have I set eyes upon Landowner Maksimov.”

      “Good sir, allow me to represent to you that I am a Government officer. Speeches like that you may address to your servants, but not to me.”

      At this point Chichikov, without waiting for Nozdrev’s reply, seized his cap, slipped behind the Superintendent’s back, rushed out on to the verandah, sprang into his britchka, and ordered Selifan to drive like the wind.

      Chapter V

       Table of Contents

      Certainly Chichikov was a thorough coward, for, although the britchka pursued its headlong course until Nozdrev’s establishment had disappeared behind hillocks and hedgerows, our hero continued to glance nervously behind him, as though every moment expecting to see a stern chase begin. His breath came with difficulty, and when he tried his heart with his hands he could feel it fluttering like a quail caught in a net.

      “What a sweat the fellow has thrown me into!” he thought to himself, while many a dire and forceful aspiration passed through his mind. Indeed, the expressions to which he gave vent were most inelegant in their nature. But what was to be done next? He was a Russian and thoroughly aroused. The affair had been no joke. “But for the Superintendent,” he reflected, “I might never again have looked upon God’s daylight — I might have vanished like a bubble on a pool, and left neither trace nor posterity nor property nor an honourable name for my future offspring to inherit!” (it seemed that our


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