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“But why did she poison herself?” asked Aratoff. “The newspaper stated….”

Kupfer waved his hands.–“Well…. That I cannot say…. I don’t know. But the newspaper lies, Clara behaved in an exemplary manner … she had no love-affairs…. And how could she, with her pride! She was as proud as Satan himself, and inaccessible! An insubordinate head! Firm as a rock! If thou wilt believe me,–I knew her pretty intimately, seest thou,–I never beheld a tear in her eyes!”

“But I did,” thought Aratoff to himself.

“Only there is this to be said,” went on Kupfer:–“I noticed a great change in her of late: she became so depressed, she would remain silent for hours at a time; you couldn’t get a word out of her. I once asked her: ‘Has any one offended you, Katerina Semyonovna?’ Because I knew her disposition: she could not endure an insult. She held her peace, and that was the end of it! Even her success on the stage did not cheer her up; they would shower her with bouquets … and she would not smile! She gave one glance at the gold inkstand,–and put it aside!–She complained that no one would write her a genuine part, as she conceived it. And she gave up singing entirely. I am to blame, brother!… I repeated to her that thou didst not think she had any school. But nevertheless … why she poisoned herself is incomprehensible! And the way she did it too….”

“In what part did she have the greatest success?”…. Aratoff wanted to find out what part she had played that last time, but for some reason or other he asked something else.

“In Ostrovsky’s’ Grunya'[62] I believe. But I repeat to thee: she had no love-affairs! Judge for thyself by one thing: she lived in her mother’s house…. Thou knowest what some of those merchants’ houses are like; a glass case filled with holy images in every corner and a shrine lamp in front of the case; deadly, stifling heat; a sour odour; in the drawing-room nothing but chairs ranged along the wall, and geraniums in the windows;–and when a visitor arrives, the hostess begins to groan as though an enemy were approaching. What chance is there for love-making, and amours in such a place? Sometimes it happened that they would not even admit me. Their maid-servant, a robust peasant-woman, in a Turkey red cotton sarafan,[63] and pendulous breasts, would place herself across the path in the anteroom and roar: ‘Whither away?’ No, I positively cannot understand what made her poison herself. She must have grown tired of life,” Kupfer philosophically wound up his remarks.

FOOTNOTES:
[62]
Turgenieff probably means Grusha (another form
for the diminutive of Agrippina, in Russian Agrafenya).
The play is “Live as You Can.”–TRANSLATOR.

[63]
A full gown gathered into a narrow band just
under the armpits and suspended over the shoulders
by straps of the same.–TRANSLATOR.

Aratoff sat with drooping head.–“Canst thou give me the address of that house in Kazan?” he said at last.

“I can; but what dost thou want of it?–Dost thou wish to send a letter thither?”

“Perhaps so.”

“Well, as thou wilt. Only the old woman will not answer thee. Her sister might … the clever sister!–But again, brother, I marvel at thee! Such indifference formerly … and now so much attention! All that comes of living a solitary life, my dear fellow!”

Aratoff made no reply to this remark and went away, after having procured the address in Kazan.

Agitation, surprise, expectation had been depicted on his face when he went to Kupfer…. Now he advanced with an even gait, downcast eyes, and hat pulled low down over his brows; almost every one he met followed him with a searching gaze … but he paid no heed to the passers-by … it was quite different from what it had been on the boulevard!…