FullReads

“In Yaroslavl?”

“Yes; I escorted the Princess thither…. She has settled in Yaroslavl now.”

“But hast thou trustworthy information?”

“The most trustworthy sort … at first hand! I made acquaintance in Kazan with her family.–But stay, my dear fellow … this news seems to agitate thee greatly.–But I remember that Clara did not please thee that time! Thou wert wrong! She was a splendid girl–only her head! She had an ungovernable head! I was greatly distressed about her!”

Aratoff did not utter a word, but dropped down on a chair, and after waiting a while he asked Kupfer to tell him … he hesitated.

“What?” asked Kupfer.

“Why … everything,” replied Aratoff slowly.–“About her family, for instance … and so forth. Everything thou knowest!”

“But does that interest thee?–Certainly!”

Kupfer, from whose face it was impossible to discern that he had grieved so greatly over Clara, began his tale.

From his words Aratoff learned that Clara Militch’s real name had been Katerina Milovidoff; that her father, now dead, had been an official teacher of drawing in Kazan, had painted bad portraits and official images, and moreover had borne the reputation of being a drunkard and a domestic tyrant … “and a cultured man into the bargain!”…. (Here Kupfer laughed in a self-satisfied manner, by way of hinting at the pun he had made);[60]–that he had left at his death, in the first place, a widow of the merchant class, a thoroughly stupid female, straight out of one of Ostrovsky’s comedies;[61] and in the second place, a daughter much older than Clara and bearing no resemblance to her–a very clever girl and “greatly developed, my dear fellow!” That the two–widow and daughter–lived in easy circumstances, in a decent little house which had been acquired by the sale of those wretched portraits and holy pictures; that Clara … or Katya, whichever you choose to call her, had astonished every one ever since her childhood by her talent, but was of an insubordinate, capricious disposition, and was constantly quarrelling with her father; that having an inborn passion for the theatre, she had run away from the parental house at the age of sixteen with an actress….

FOOTNOTES:
[60]
An image, or holy picture, is obraz; the
adjective “cultured” is derived from the same word
in its sense of pattern, model–obrazovanny.
–TRANSLATOR.

[61]
Ostrovsky’s comedies of life in the merchant
class are irresistibly amusing, talented, and true
to nature.–TRANSLATOR.

“With an actor?” interjected Aratoff.

“No, not with an actor, but an actress; to whom she had become attached…. This actress had a protector, it is true, a wealthy gentleman already elderly, who only refrained from marrying her because he was already married–while the actress, it appeared, was married also.”

Further, Kupfer informed Aratoff that, prior to her arrival in Moscow, Clara had acted and sung in provincial theatres; that on losing her friend the actress (the gentleman had died also, it seems, or had made it up with his wife–precisely which Kupfer did not quite remember …), she had made the acquaintance of the Princess, “that woman of gold, whom thou, my friend Yakoff Andreitch,” the narrator added with feeling, “wert not able to appreciate at her true worth”; that finally Clara had been offered an engagement in Kazan, and had accepted it, although she had previously declared that she would never leave Moscow!–But how the people of Kazan had loved her–it was fairly amazing! At every representation she received bouquets and gifts! bouquets and gifts!–A flour merchant, the greatest bigwig in the government, had even presented her with a golden inkstand!–Kupfer narrated all this with great animation, but without, however, displaying any special sentimentality, and interrupting his speech with the question:–“Why dost thou want to know that?” … or “To what end is that?” when Aratoff, after listening to him with devouring attention, demanded more and still more details. Everything was said at last, and Kupfer ceased speaking, rewarding himself for his toil with a cigar.