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FOOTNOTE:
[10] Pronounced Aryol.–TRANSLATOR.

FOOTNOTE:
[11] Such a sledge, drawn by the national team of three horses, will hold five or six persons closely packed.–TRANSLATOR.

V

Leaving the Caucasus, he presented himself once more in Moscow, in a Circassian coat, with cartridge-pouches on the breast, a dagger in his belt, and a tall fur cap on his head. From this costume he did not part until the end, although he was no longer in the military service, from which he had been dismissed for not reporting on time. He called on me, borrowed a little money … and then began his “divings,” his progress through the tribulations,[12] or, as he expressed it, “through the seven Semyons”;[13] then began his sudden absences and returns, the despatching of beautifully-written letters addressed to all possible persons, beginning with the Metropolitan and ending with riding-masters and midwives! Then began the visits to acquaintances and strangers! And here is one point which must be noted: in making his calls he did not cringe and did not importune; but, on the contrary, he behaved himself in decorous fashion, and even wore a cheery and pleasant aspect, although an ingrained odour of liquor accompanied him everywhere–and his Oriental costume was gradually reduced to rags.

FOOTNOTE:
[13]
A folk-tale narrates how the Tzar Arkhidei obtained his beauteous bride by the aid of seven brothers called “The Seven Semyons,” who were his peasants. The bride was distant a ten years’ journey; but each of the brothers had a different “trade,” by the combined means of which they were enabled to overcome time and space and get the bride for their master.–TRANSLATOR.

FOOTNOTE:
[12] The word he used, mytarstvo, has a peculiar meaning. It refers specifically to the experiences of the soul when it leaves the body. According to the teaching of divers ancient fathers of the church, the soul, as soon as it leaves the body, is confronted by accusing demons, who arraign it with all the sins, great and small, which it has committed during its earthly career. If its good deeds, alms, prayers, and so forth (added to the grace of God), offset the evil, the demons are forced to renounce their claims. These demons assault the soul in relays, each “trial,” “suffering,” or “tribulation” being a mytarstvo. One ancient authority enumerates twenty such trials. The soul is accompanied and defended in its trials by angels, who plead its cause. Eventually, they conduct it into the presence of God, who then assigns to it a temporary abode of bliss or woe until the day of judgment. The derivation of this curious and utterly untranslatable word is as follows: Mytar means a publican or tax-gatherer. As the publicans, under the Roman sway over the Jews, indulged in various sorts of violence, abuses, and inhuman conduct, calling every one to strict account, and even stationing themselves at the city gates to intercept all who came and went, mytarstvo represents, in general, the taxing or testing of the soul, which must pay a ransom before it is released from its trials and preliminary tribulations.–TRANSLATOR.

“Give–God will reward you–although I do not deserve it,” he was accustomed to say, smiling brightly and blushing openly. “If you do not give, you will be entirely in the right, and I shall not be angry in the least. I shall support myself. God will provide! For there are many, very many people who are poorer and more worthy than I!”

Misha enjoyed particular success with women; he understood how to arouse their compassion. And do not think that he was or imagined himself to be a Lovelace…. Oh, no! In that respect he was very modest. Whether he had inherited from his parents such cold blood, or whether herein was expressed his disinclination to do evil to any one,–since, according to his ideas, to consort with a woman means inevitably to insult the woman,–I will not take it upon myself to decide; only, in his relations with the fair sex he was extremely delicate. The women felt this, and all the more willingly did they pity and aid him until he, at last, repelled them by his sprees and hard drinking, by the recklessness of which I have already spoken…. I cannot hit upon any other word.