Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories Read online

expression--savage and frightened.

  "Get up and come along," said Naum.

  Akim got up and stepped over the threshold.

  "Akim Semyonitch!" Yefrem wailed, "you've brought ruin on yourself, mydear!"

  Akim glanced at him without speaking.

  "If I had known why you asked for vodka I would not have given it toyou, I really would not. I believe I would have drunk it all myself!Eh, Naum Ivanitch," he added clutching at Naum's arm, "have mercy uponhim, let him go!"

  "What next!" Naum replied with a grin. "Well, come along," he addedaddressing Akim again. "What are you waiting for?"

  "Naum Ivanitch," Akim began.

  "What is it?"

  "Naum Ivanitch," Akim repeated, "listen: I am to blame; I wanted tosettle my accounts with you myself; but God must be the judge betweenus. You have taken everything from me, you know yourself, everything Ihad. Now you can ruin me, only I tell you this: if you let me go now,then--so be it--take possession of everything! I agree and wish youall success. I promise you as before God, if you let me go you willnot regret it. God be with you."

  Akim shut his eyes and ceased speaking.

  "A likely story!" retorted Naum, "as though one could believe you!"

  "But, by God, you can," said Yefrem, "you really can. I'd stake mylife on Akim Semyonitch's good faith--I really would."

  "Nonsense," cried Naum. "Come along."

  Akim looked at him.

  "As you think best, Naum Ivanitch. It's for you to decide. But you arelaying a great burden on your soul. Well, if you are in such a hurry,let us start."

  Naum in his turn looked keenly at Akim.

  "After all," he thought to himself, "hadn't I better let him go? Orpeople will never have done pestering me about him. Avdotya will giveme no peace." While Naum was reflecting, no one uttered a word. Thelabourer in the cart who could see it all through the gate did nothingbut toss his head and flick the horse's sides with the reins. The twoother labourers stood on the steps and they too were silent.

  "Well, listen, old man," Naum began, "when I let you go and tell thesefellows" (he motioned with his head towards the labourers) "not totalk, shall we be quits--do you understand me--quits ... eh?"

  "I tell you, you can have it all."

  "You won't consider me in your debt?"

  "You won't be in my debt, I shall not be in yours."

  Naum was silent again.

  "And will you swear it?"

  "Yes, as God is holy," answered Akim.

  "Well, I know I shall regret it," said Naum, "but there, come whatmay! Give me your hands."

  Akim turned his back to him; Naum began untying him.

  "Now, mind, old man," he added as he pulled the cord off his wrists,"remember, I have spared you, mind that!"

  "Naum Ivanitch, my dear," faltered Yefrem, "the Lord will have mercyupon you!"

  Akim freed his chilled and swollen hands and was moving towards thegate.

  Naum suddenly "showed the Jew" as the saying is--he must haveregretted that he had let Akim off.

  "You've sworn now, mind!" he shouted after him. Akim turned, andlooking round the yard, said mournfully, "Possess it all, so be itforever! ... Good-bye."

  And he went slowly out into the road accompanied by Yefrem. Naumordered the horse to be unharnessed and with a wave of his hand wentback into the house.

  "Where are you off to, Akim Semyonitch? Aren't you coming back to me?"cried Yefrem, seeing that Akim was hurrying to the right out of thehigh road.

  "No, Yefremushka, thank you," answered Akim. "I am going to see whatmy wife is doing."

  "You can see afterwards.... But now we ought to celebrate theoccasion."

  "No, thank you, Yefrem.... I've had enough. Good-bye."

  And Akim walked off without looking round.

  "Well! 'I've had enough'!" the puzzled sacristan pronounced. "And Ipledged my word for him! Well, I never expected this," he added, withvexation, "after I had pledged my word for him, too!"

  He remembered that he had not thought to take his knife and his potand went back to the inn.... Naum ordered his things to be given tohim but never even thought of offering him a drink. He returned homethoroughly annoyed and thoroughly sober.

  "Well?" his wife inquired, "found?"

  "Found what?" answered Yefrem, "to be sure I've found it: here is yourpot."

  "Akim?" asked his wife with especial emphasis.

  Yefrem nodded his head.

  "Yes. But he is a nice one! I pledged my word for him; if it had notbeen for me he'd be lying in prison, and he never offered me a drop!Ulyana Fyodorovna, you at least might show me consideration and giveme a glass!"

  But Ulyana Fyodorovna did not show him consideration and drove him outof her sight.

  Meanwhile, Akim was walking with slow steps along the road to LizavetaProhorovna's house. He could not yet fully grasp his position; he wastrembling all over like a man who had just escaped from a certaindeath. He seemed unable to believe in his freedom. In dullbewilderment he gazed at the fields, at the sky, at the larksquivering in the warm air. From the time he had woken up on theprevious morning at Yefrem's he had not slept, though he had lain onthe stove without moving; at first he had wanted to drown in vodka theinsufferable pain of humiliation, the misery of frenzied and impotentanger ... but the vodka had not been able to stupefy him completely;his anger became overpowering and he began to think how to punish theman who had wronged him.... He thought of no one but Naum; the idea ofLizaveta Prohorovna never entered his head and on Avdotya he mentallyturned his back. By the evening his thirst for revenge had grown to afrenzy, and the good-natured and weak man waited with feverishimpatience for the approach of night and ran, like a wolf to its prey,to destroy his old home.... But then he had been caught ... lockedup.... The night had followed. What had he not thought over duringthat cruel night! It is difficult to put into words all that a manpasses through at such moments, all the tortures that he endures; moredifficult because those tortures are dumb and inarticulate in the manhimself.... Towards morning, before Naum and Yefrem had come to thedoor, Akim had begun to feel as it were more at ease. Everything islost, he thought, everything is scattered and gone ... and hedismissed it all. If he had been naturally bad-hearted he might atthat moment have become a criminal; but evil was not natural to Akim.Under the shock of undeserved and unexpected misfortune, in thedelirium of despair he had brought himself to crime; it had shaken himto the depths of his being and, failing, had left in him nothing butintense weariness.... Feeling his guilt in his mind he mentally torehimself from all things earthly and began praying, bitterly butfervently. At first he prayed in a whisper, then perhaps by accidenthe uttered a loud "Oh, God!" and tears gushed from his eyes.... For along time he wept and at last grew quieter.... His thoughts wouldprobably have changed if he had had to pay the penalty of hisattempted crime ... but now he had suddenly been set free ... and hewas walking to see his wife, feeling only half alive, utterly crushedbut calm.

  Lizaveta Prohorovna's house stood about a mile from her village to theleft of the cross road along which Akim was walking. He was about tostop at the turning that led to his mistress's house ... but he walkedon instead. He decided first to go to what had been his hut, where hisuncle lived.

  Akim's small and somewhat dilapidated hut was almost at the end of thevillage; Akin walked through the whole street without meeting a soul.All the people were at church. Only one sick old woman raised a littlewindow to look after him and a little girl who had run out with anempty pail to the well gaped at him, and she too looked after him. Thefirst person he met was the uncle he was looking for. The old man hadbeen sitting all the morning on the ledge under his window takingpinches of snuff and warming himself in the sun; he was not very well,so he had not gone to church; he was just setting off to visit anotherold man, a neighbour who was also ailing, when he suddenly sawAkim.... He stopped, let him come up to him and glancing into hisface, said:

  "Good-day, Akimushka!"

  "Good-day," answ
ered Akim, and passing the old man went in at thegate. In the yard were standing his horses, his cow, his cart; hispoultry, too, were there.... He went into the hut without a word. Theold man followed him. Akim sat down on the bench and leaned his fistson it. The old man standing at the door looked at him compassionately.

  "And where is my wife?" asked Akim.

  "At the mistress's house," the old man answered quickly. "She isthere. They put your cattle here and what boxes there were, and shehas gone there. Shall I go for her?"

  Akim was silent for a time.

  "Yes, do," he said at last.

  "Oh, uncle, uncle," he brought out with a sigh while the old man wastaking his hat from a nail, "do you remember what you said to me theday before my wedding?"

  "It's all God's will, Akimushka."

  "Do you remember you said to me that I was above you peasants, and nowyou see what times have come.... I'm stripped bare myself."

  "There's no guarding oneself from evil folk," answered the old man,"if only someone such as a master, for instance, or someone inauthority, could give him a good lesson, the shameless fellow--but asit is, he has nothing to be afraid of. He is a wolf and he behaveslike one." And the old man put on his cap and went off.

  Avdotya had just come back from church when she was told that herhusband's uncle was asking for her. Till then she had rarely seen him;he did not come to see them at the inn and had the reputation of beingqueer altogether: he was passionately fond of snuff and was usuallysilent.

  She went out to him.

  "What do you want, Petrovitch? Has anything happened?"

  "Nothing has happened, Avdotya Arefyevna; your husband is asking foryou."

  "Has he come back?"

  "Yes."

  "Where is he, then?"

  "He is in the village, sitting in his hut."

  Avdotya was frightened.

  "Well, Petrovitch," she inquired, looking straight into his face, "ishe angry?"

  "He does not seem so."

  Avdotya looked down.

  "Well, let us go," she said. She put on a shawl and they set offtogether. They walked in silence to the village. When they began toget close to the hut, Avdotya was so overcome with terror that herknees began to tremble.

  "Good Petrovitch," she said, "go in first.... Tell him that I havecome."

  The old man went into the hut and found Akim lost in thought, sittingjust as he had left him.

  "Well?" said Akim raising his head, "hasn't she come?"

  "Yes," answered the old man, "she is at the gate...."

  "Well, send her in here."

  The old man went out, beckoned to Avdotya, said to her, "go in," andsat down again on the ledge. Avdotya in trepidation opened the door,crossed the threshold and stood still.

  Akim looked at her.

  "Well, Arefyevna," he began, "what are we going to do now?"

  "I am guilty," she faltered.

  "Ech Arefyevna, we are all sinners. What's the good of talking aboutit!"

  "It's he, the villain, has ruined us both," said Avdotya in a cringingvoice, and tears flowed down her face. "You must not leave it likethat, Akim Semyonitch, you must get the money back. Don't think of me.I am ready to take my oath that I only lent him the money. LizavetaProhorovna could sell our inn if she liked, but why should he robus.... Get your money back."

  "There's no claiming the money back from him," Akim replied grimly,"we have settled our accounts."

  Avdotya was amazed. "How is that?"

  "Why, like this. Do you know," Akim went on and his eyes gleamed, "doyou know where I spent the night? You don't know? In Naum's cellar,with my arms and legs tied like a sheep--that's where I spent thenight. I tried to set fire to the place, but he caught me--Naum did;he is too sharp! And to-day he meant to take me to the town but he letme off; so I can't claim the money from him.... 'When did I borrowmoney from you?' he would say. Am I to say to him, 'My wife took itfrom under the floor and brought it to you'? 'Your wife is tellinglies,' he will say. Hasn't there been scandal enough for you,Arefyevna? You'd better say nothing, I tell you, say nothing."

  "I am guilty, Semyonitch, I am guilty," Avdotya, terrified, whisperedagain.

  "That's not what matters," said Akim, after a pause. "What are wegoing to do? We have no home or no money."

  "We shall manage somehow, Akim Semyonitch. We'll ask LizavetaProhorovna, she will help us, Kiriliovna has promised me."

  "No, Arefyenva, you and your Kirillovna had better ask her together;you are berries off the same bush. I tell you what: you stay here andgood luck to you; I shall not stay here. It's a good thing we have nochildren, and I shall be all right, I dare say, alone. There's alwaysenough for one."

  "What will you do, Semyonitch? Take up driving again?"

  Akim laughed bitterly.

  "I should be a fine driver, no mistake! You have pitched on the rightman for it! No, Arefyenva, that's a job not like getting married, forinstance; an old man is no good for the job. I don't want to stayhere, just because I don't want them to point the finger at me--do youunderstand? I am going to pray for my sins, Arefyevna, that's what Iam going to do."

  "What sins have you, Semyonitch?" Avdotya pronounced timidly.

  "Of them I know best myself, wife."

  "But are you leaving me all alone, Semyonitch? How can I live withouta husband?"

  "Leaving you alone? Oh, Arefyevna, how you do talk, really! Much youneed a husband like me, and old, too, and ruined as well! Why, you goton without me in the past, you can get on in the future. What propertyis left us, you can take; I don't want it."

  "As you like, Semyonitch," Avdotya replied mournfully. "You knowbest."

  "That's better. Only don't you suppose that I am angry with you,Arefyevna. No, what's the good of being angry when ... I ought to havebeen wiser before. I've been to blame. I am punished." (Akim sighed.)"As you make your bed so you must lie on it. I am old, it's time tothink of my soul. The Lord himself has brought me to understanding.Like an old fool I wanted to live for my own pleasure with a youngwife.... No, the old man had better pray and beat his head against theearth and endure in patience and fast.... And now go along, my dear. Iam very weary, I'll sleep a little."

  And Akim with a groan stretched himself on the bench.

  Avdotya wanted to say something, stood a moment, looked at him, turnedaway and went out.

  "Well, he didn't beat you then?" asked Petrovitch sitting bent up onthe ledge when she was level with him. Avdotya passed by him withoutspeaking. "So he didn't beat her," the old man said to himself; hesmiled, ruffled up his beard and took a pinch of snuff.

  * * * * *

  Akim carried out his intention. He hurriedly arranged his affairs anda few days after the conversation we have described went, dressedready for his journey, to say goodbye to his wife who had settled fora time in a little lodge in the mistress's garden. His farewell didnot take long. Kirillovna, who happened to be present, advised Akim tosee his mistress; he did so, Lizaveta Prohorovna received him withsome confusion but graciously let him kiss her hand and asked himwhere he meant to go. He answered he was going first to Kiev and afterthat where it would please the Lord. She commended his decision anddismissed him. From that time he rarely appeared at home, though henever forgot to bring his mistress some holy bread.... But whereverRussian pilgrims gather his thin and aged but always dignified andhandsome face could be seen: at the relics of St. Sergey; on theshores of the White Sea, at the Optin hermitage, and at the far-awayValaam; he went everywhere.

  This year he has passed by you in the ranks of the innumerablepeople who go in procession behind the ikon of the Mother of God tothe Korennaya; last year you found him sitting with a wallet onhis shoulders with other pilgrims on the steps of Nikolay, thewonder-worker, at Mtsensk ... he comes to Moscow almost every spring.

  From land to land he has wandered with his quiet, unhurried, butnever-resting step--they say he has been even to Jerusalem. He seemsperfectly calm and happy and those
who have chanced to converse withhim have said much of his piety and humility. Meanwhile, Naum'sfortunes prospered exceedingly. He set to work with energy and goodsense and got on, as the saying is, by leaps and bounds. Everyone inthe neighbourhood knew by what means he had acquired the inn, theyknew too that Avdotya had given him her husband's money; nobody likedNaum because of his cold, harsh disposition.... With censure they toldthe story of him that once when Akim himself had asked alms under hiswindow he answered that God would give, and had given him nothing; buteveryone agreed that there never had been a luckier man; his corn camebetter than other people's, his bees swarmed more frequently; even hishens laid more eggs; his cattle were never ill, his horses did not golame.... It was a long time before Avdotya could bear to hear his name(she had accepted Lizaveta Prohorovna's invitation and had reenteredher service as head sewing-maid), but in the end her aversion wassomewhat softened; it was said that she had been driven by poverty toappeal to him and he had given her a hundred roubles.... She must notbe too severely judged: poverty breaks any will and the