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The brigadier went up to the pedestal, stuck the pinks he was carrying into the jar, and turning to me, and lifting his hand in the direction of the portrait, he observed: 'Agrippina Ivanovna Teliegin, by birth Lomov. The words of Narkiz came back to my mind; and I looked with redoubled interest at the expressive and evil face of the woman for whose sake the brigadier had lost all his fortune.
I tried to begin a conversation with the brigadier ... but Narkiz had not misinformed me; the poor old man certainly had become weak in his intellect. He asked me my surname, and after repeating his inquiry twice, pondered and pondered, and at last brought out: 'Yes, I fancy there was a judge of that name here.
They were the people he was most intimate with, Narkiz whispered, bending towards me; 'it was through them, through that same Alexey Ivanitch, that he called a Jew, and through a sister of Alexey Ivanitch's, Agrafena Ivanovna, as you may say, that he lost all his property.
Cucumber seemed to pull himself together, and brightened up; he was afraid of Narkiz he lived always under his eye; I was a stranger a new comer with me he was soon quite at home. 'Here's our gentleman, he said in a rapid flow; 'he's a small eater and no mistake! but only one perch, is that enough for him? Unless, your honour, you would like to contribute something?
On the day of my arrival, Narkiz, having given me lunch and cleared the table, stood in the doorway, looked intently at me, and with some play of the eyebrows observed: 'What are you going to do now, sir? 'Well, really, I don't know. If Nikolai Petrovitch had kept his word and come, we should have gone shooting together. 'So you really expected, sir, that he would come at the time he promised?
But the frowardness of Agrafena Ivanovna at times assumed extreme proportions; she was not of a mild temper, and somewhat too ready with her hands.... Once she pushed her page-boy down the stairs, and he went and broke two of his ribs and one leg.... Agrafena Ivanovna was frightened ... she promptly ordered the page to be shut up in the lumber-room, and she did not leave the house nor give up the key of the room to any one, till the moans within had ceased.... The page was secretly buried.... 'And had it been in the Empress Catherine's time, Narkiz added in a whisper, bending down, 'maybe the affair would have ended there many such deeds were hidden under a bushel in those days, but as ... here Narkiz drew himself up and raised his voice: as our righteous Tsar Alexander the Blessed was reigning then ... well, a fuss was made.... A trial followed, the body was dug up ... signs of violence were found on it ... and a great to-do there was.
He learned that I was a sportsman, and fell to talking of a very good friend of his, an officer, who had a 'Mindindenger' Swedish gun, with a copper stock, just like a cannon, so that when you fire it off you are almost knocked senseless it had been left behind by the French and a dog simply one of Nature's marvels! that he himself had always had a great passion for the chase, and his priest would have made no trouble about it he used in fact to catch quails with him but the ecclesiastical superior had pursued him with endless persecution; 'and as for Narkiz Semyonitch, he observed in a sing-song tone, 'if according to his notions I'm not a trustworthy person well, what I say is: he's let his eyebrows grow till he's like a woodcock, and he fancies all the sciences are known to him. By this time we had reached the inn, a solitary tumble-down, one-roomed little hut without backyard or outbuildings; an emaciated dog lay curled up under the window; a hen was scratching in the dust under his very nose.
Narkiz was surprised at my intention; but I paid no attention to the disapproving shake of his long-eared cap, and walked out of the garden with the brigadier, who was supported by Cucumber. The old man moved fairly quickly, with a motion as though he were on stilts. We walked along a scarcely trodden path, through a grassy glade between two birch copses.
Peter's day, he from Moscow, I from my own village, to his little house. My friend lingered in Moscow, and was two days late; I did not care to start shooting without him. I was received by an old servant, Narkiz Semyonov, who had had notice of my coming.
Or maybe I 'd better come myself? Narkiz obviously doubted whether I knew how to set about things properly by myself. 'Come, please, come along. Narkiz, without a word, grinned from ear to ear, then suddenly knitted his brows ... and went out of the room. Half an hour later we set off to catch fish. Narkiz had put on an extraordinary sort of cap with ears, and was more dignified than ever.
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