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Updated: May 10, 2025
He looked at me rather queerly, and shook hands without speaking. I had come to him to repeat all I had heard from Punin; and though I felt at once that I had called on Tarhov at the wrong moment, still, after talking a little about extraneous matters, I ended by informing him of Baburin's intentions in regard to Musa.
Musa, it is true, had no ailment, and was less shy than usual too, but she was obviously vexed, angry.... At last she could not restrain herself, and, as she handed me a cup of tea, she whispered hurriedly: 'You can say what you like, you may try your utmost, you won't make any difference.... So there! I looked at her in astonishment, and, seizing a favourable moment, asked her, also in a whisper, 'What's the meaning of your words? 'I'll tell you, she answered, and her black eyes, gleaming angrily under her frowning brows, were fastened for an instant on my face, and turned away at once: 'the meaning is that I heard all you said there to-day, and thank you for nothing, and things won't be as you 'd have them, anyway. 'You were there, broke from me unconsciously.... But at this point Baburin's attention was caught, and he glanced in our direction.
His devotion to Baburin had also remained undiminished; he worshipped him as much as ever, and even at the last, wrapped about by the chill and dark of the end, he had faltered with halting tongue, 'benefactor! I learned also from Musa that soon after the Moscow episode, it had been Baburin's fate once more to wander all over Russia, continually tossed from one private situation to another; that in Petersburg, too, he had been again in a situation, in a private business, which situation he had, however, been obliged to leave a few days before, owing to some unpleasantness with his employer: Baburin had ventured to stand up for the workpeople.... The invariable smile, with which Musa accompanied her words, set me musing mournfully; it put the finishing touch to the impression made on me by her husband's appearance.
He had become quite an old man since I had seen him last; his deeply furrowed, copper-coloured face stood out sharply against his white hair. Signs of a life of toil and suffering, of continual struggle, could be seen in Baburin's whole figure; want and poverty had worked cruel havoc with him.
I was a little surprised at Baburin's last words, but I said nothing, called a cab, and proposed to Baburin to take him home; but he refused. The same day I went in the evening to see him. All the way there I was thinking of Punin.
As I have said already, our interview took place in the year 1849. Many people still remember what a disturbed and difficult time that was, and by what incidents it was signalised in St. Petersburg. I had been struck myself by certain peculiarities in Baburin's behaviour, in his whole demeanour.
'Do you mean to say Yakov Petrovitch wanted to flog you? Baburin's swarthy face grew red to the roots of his hair. 'You have not understood me right, madam. I make it a rule not to employ corporal punishment ... with the peasants. My grandmother was more surprised than ever; she positively threw up her hands.
But all of a sudden Baburin's face assumed a different, an intensely bitter, almost frenzied expression. 'What will be the end of it? he began all at once in a jerky, sobbing voice, utterly unlike him, while his wild eyes shifted restlessly about him.
'Madam, a hoarse almost stifled voice was heard suddenly. I looked round. Baburin's face was red ... dark red; under his overhanging brows could be seen little sharp points of light.... There was no doubt about it; it was he, it was Baburin, who had uttered the word 'Madam. My grandmother too looked round, and turned her eyeglass from Yermil to Baburin.
'He forgave his father long ago; but he cannot endure injustice of any sort; it's the sorrows of others that trouble him! I wanted to turn the conversation on what I had learned from Musa the day before, that is to say, on Baburin's matrimonial project, but I did not know how to proceed. Punin himself got me out of the difficulty.
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