登陆注册
5215100000003

第3章

Fyodor Pavlovitch was all his life fond of acting, of suddenly playing an unexpected part, sometimes without any motive for doing so, and even to his own direct disadvantage, as, for instance, in the present case.This habit, however, is characteristic of a very great number of people, some of them very clever ones, not like Fyodor Pavlovitch.Pyotr Alexandrovitch carried the business through vigorously, and was appointed, with Fyodor Pavlovitch, joint guardian of the child, who had a small property, a house and land, left him by his mother.Mitya did, in fact, pass into this cousin's keeping, but as the latter had no family of his own, and after securing the revenues of his estates was in haste to return at once to Paris, he left the boy in charge of one of his cousins, a lady living in Moscow.It came to pass that, settling permanently in Paris he, too, forgot the child, especially when the Revolution of February broke out, making an impression on his mind that he remembered all the rest of his life.The Moscow lady died, and Mitya passed into the care of one of her married daughters.I believe he changed his home a fourth time later on.I won't enlarge upon that now, as I shall have much to tell later of Fyodor Pavlovitch's firstborn, and must confine myself now to the most essential facts about him, without which I could not begin my story.

In the first place, this Mitya, or rather Dmitri Fyodorovitch, was the only one of Fyodor Pavlovitch's three sons who grew up in the belief that he had property, and that he would be independent on coming of age.He spent an irregular boyhood and youth.He did not finish his studies at the gymnasium, he got into a military school, then went to the Caucasus, was promoted, fought a duel, and was degraded to the ranks, earned promotion again, led a wild life, and spent a good deal of money.He did not begin to receive any income from Fyodor Pavlovitch until he came of age, and until then got into debt.He saw and knew his father, Fyodor Pavlovitch, for the first time on coming of age, when he visited our neighbourhood on purpose to settle with him about his property.He seems not to have liked his father.He did not stay long with him, and made haste to get away, having only succeeded in obtaining a sum of money, and entering into an agreement for future payments from the estate, of the revenues and value of which he was unable (a fact worthy of note), upon this occasion, to get a statement from his father.Fyodor Pavlovitch remarked for the first time then (this, too, should be noted) that Mitya had a vague and exaggerated idea of his property.Fyodor Pavlovitch was very well satisfied with this, as it fell in with his own designs.He gathered only that the young man was frivolous, unruly, of violent passions, impatient, and dissipated, and that if he could only obtain ready money he would be satisfied, although only, of course, a short time.So Fyodor Pavlovitch began to take advantage of this fact, sending him from time to time small doles, instalments.In the end, when four years later, Mitya, losing patience, came a second time to our little town to settle up once for all with his father, it turned out to his amazement that he had nothing, that it was difficult to get an account even, that he had received the whole value of his property in sums of money from Fyodor Pavlovitch, and was perhaps even in debt to him, that by various agreements into which he had, of his own desire, entered at various previous dates, he had no right to expect anything more, and so on, and so on.The young man was overwhelmed, suspected deceit and cheating, and was almost beside himself.And, indeed, this circumstance led to the catastrophe, the account of which forms the subject of my first introductory story, or rather the external side of it.But before I pass to that story I must say a little of Fyodor Pavlovitch's other two sons, and of their origin.

Chapter 3

The Second Marriage and the Second FamilyVERY shortly after getting his four-year-old Mitya off his hands Fyodor Pavlovitch married a second time.His second marriage lasted eight years.He took this second wife, Sofya Ivanovna, also a very young girl, from another province, where he had gone upon some small piece of business in company with a Jew.Though Fyodor Pavlovitch was a drunkard and a vicious debauchee he never neglected investing his capital, and managed his business affairs very successfully, though, no doubt, not over-scrupulously.Sofya Ivanovna was the daughter of an obscure deacon, and was left from childhood an orphan without relations.She grew up in the house of a general's widow, a wealthy old lady of good position, who was at once her benefactress and tormentor.I do not know the details, but I have only heard that the orphan girl, a meek and gentle creature, was once cut down from a halter in which she was hanging from a nail in the loft, so terrible were her sufferings from the caprice and everlasting nagging of this old woman, who was apparently not bad-hearted but had become an insufferable tyrant through idleness.

Fyodor Pavlovitch made her an offer; inquiries were made about him and he was refused.But again, as in his first marriage, he proposed an elopement to the orphan girl.There is very little doubt that she would not on any account have married him if she had known a little more about him in time.But she lived in another province; besides, what could a little girl of sixteen know about it, except that she would be better at the bottom of the river than remaining with her benefactress.So the poor child exchanged a benefactress for a benefactor.Fyodor Pavlovitch did not get a penny this time, for the general's widow was furious.She gave them nothing and cursed them both.But he had not reckoned on a dowry; what allured him was the remarkable beauty of the innocent girl, above all her innocent appearance, which had a peculiar attraction for a vicious profligate, who had hitherto admired only the coarser types of feminine beauty.

同类推荐
  • 权谋残卷

    权谋残卷

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 汝南遗事

    汝南遗事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 总制浙闽文檄

    总制浙闽文檄

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 台海恩恸录

    台海恩恸录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 道德经三帝注

    道德经三帝注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 独立的女人更幸福

    独立的女人更幸福

    “《独立的女人更幸福》是一本定位于新时代女性的时尚励志类读本。《独立的女人更幸福》教给女性读者以赏识自我、开发自我的方法,不但如此,还会给女性以自信,让女性更具魅力。这是一本彻头彻尾的“女人成功书”,因为女性的成功也许同男性一样,需要付出努力,需要捕获机遇。但是女性也有自身的优势,那就是女性的“软实力”。《独立的女人更幸福》会依据现实,鼓励女性勇敢地正视自己,拿出自己的优势,运用自己的资本,成为一个成功的人。”
  • 重生首席女神:帝少,来一战!

    重生首席女神:帝少,来一战!

    她是苍凌大陆独掌六界的女帝,一朝重生,成了懦弱无能的出气筒学渣千金。说她丑?眼瞎吗,第一校花她能甩几条街!学渣?满分试卷一甩,打得你脸啪啪响!组团欺负她?虐得你生不如死,后悔出生!他是帝都拥有“冷面罗刹”之称的帝家大少,高冷腹黑,却偏偏对她一见钟情,再见倾心,宠她上天。【白樱,你是我的,也只能是我的——帝夜寒】读者群:822394051
  • 曼弗雷德

    曼弗雷德

    本书为哈佛经典丛书第十八卷——“现代英国戏剧”中的一部。这里所指“现代”为本书编著者所处年代的时代划分方式。现称“古典主义”。诗剧《曼弗雷德》是英国诗人拜伦游弋欧陆时创作的作品,是诗人的代表作之一。曼弗雷德更是典型的“拜伦式英雄”,高傲、孤独、叛逆、浪漫:三幕诗剧中,他上穷碧落下黄泉,却终究无法摆脱爱欲的苦楚,得到灵魂的平静。
  • 星际养娃手札

    星际养娃手札

    【文案一】:古人南姝魂穿星际,成了四千年后一枚又丑又穷的星际女,还附送了一只面黄肌瘦的小包子。对此,南姝眉头轻挑:穷?一碗药膳卖出千万天价!丑?一粒美颜丸瞬间美出星际!小包子?来,拉好手,咋们母子玩转星际!只是,某男,你少将节操的节操丢哪了?为啥总缠着她们母子两不放?【文案二】:四千年后的星际,科技极致,文明没落;地球成为废星,华夏文明沉寂。南姝身携系统,立志复兴华夏。至此,诗书礼乐重现!中医药膳风靡!古武修真震世!【文化篇】:某日,一渣女污蔑南姝,盗窃家藏至宝——留存千年的古籍!南姝:“盗了几本?”渣女:“四本!分别是:《书谱》、《百家姓》、《适情雅趣》、《书法创作论》”南姝轻描淡写:“我各有十本,共四十本!”观众们:“···”说好的古籍罕见,价值连城呢?
  • 三个火枪手

    三个火枪手

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 成功的起点(学生心理健康悦读)

    成功的起点(学生心理健康悦读)

    成功就如同一个圆,有了终点,也有起点。好的起点是成功的一半。成功的起点来自于勤奋的汗水,来自于坚定的信念,来自于自信的微笑,来自于以美丽的心情去工作,来自于快乐不倒翁的心态,来自于好习惯的培养,来自于头脑灵活,善于利用现有条件创造成功……
  • 凤舞依天

    凤舞依天

    天生丽质,就会得人宠爱吗?出生高贵,就能诸事顺利吗?嫁入皇宫,就会享尽荣华吗?哪儿有那么容易!本文的女主经历了人生不易、命途多舛,但是她选择了接受挑战,并活出了精彩。女神是怎样炼成的?凤凰涅槃便是最好的诠释。
  • 水灵

    水灵

    江宇文提着旅行袋,肩扛着一大捆的书籍,来到渔村里的小木屋,他不知自己会不会厌倦这里的单纯与孤寂,但至少可暂时拋却城市里复杂的感情纠缠,和那炙心的折磨……。云霏华厦、风铃、心香数朵、水灵……多篇精彩绝伦、感人至深的故事,值得您一一品赏……
  • 霸业:战武大陆

    霸业:战武大陆

    我叫火君天,君临天下的火君天。这是一片古大陆,名唤战武,一切都比照于古代冷兵器时代!奔驰的战马,披甲的战士;崇尚武力至上,强权公理。随着几千年的发展,大陆上已繁衍出各类种族,到处都有人类的足迹,有的建立起强大的国家,有的还是聚居一处,形成族群部落。文明伴着战争在发展,历史的脚步总是在不断更迭中前进。在这片战武大陆之上,我将打下一片大大地江山,成就我的宏图霸业。
  • 草原犬赛汗

    草原犬赛汗

    它是大名鼎鼎的草原犬安布的后代,是台来花草原上最骁勇善战的牧羊犬。它总是被委以重任,常常在关键时刻化解危机。你能想到它也曾惨败于普通家狗的嘴下吗?你能想到它也曾犯下大错被主人遗弃深林吗?善良坚强、知恩图报、勇敢上进就是它命运转变的要点!