PAGE 11
Three Portraits
by
‘I can’t just now. Go along…. Well what are you standing there for?’ he went on, seeing that Palashka did not go away.
‘My mistress told me to say that she very particularly wants to see you,’ she said.
‘Why, what’s the matter?’
‘Would your honour please to see for yourself….’
Vassily got up, angrily flung the letters into a drawer, and went in to Olga Ivanovna. She was sitting alone in a corner, pale and passive.
‘What do you want?’ he asked her, not quite politely.
Olga looked at him and closed her eyes.
‘What’s the matter? what is it, Olga?’
He took her hand…. Olga Ivanovna’s hand was cold as ice… She tried to speak… and her voice died away. The poor woman had no possible doubt of her condition left her.
Vassily was a little disconcerted. Olga Ivanovna’s room was a couple of steps from Anna Pavlovna’s bedroom. Vassily cautiously sat down by Olga, kissed and chafed her hands, comforted her in whispers. She listened to him, and silently, faintly, shuddered. In the doorway stood Palashka, stealthily wiping her eyes. In the next room they heard the heavy, even ticking of the clock, and the breathing of some one asleep. Olga Ivanovna’s numbness dissolved at last into tears and stifled sobs. Tears are like a storm; after them one is always calmer. When Olga Ivanovna had quieted down a little, and only sobbed convulsively at intervals, like a child, Vassily knelt before her with caresses and tender promises, soothed her completely, gave her something to drink, put her to bed, and went away. He did not undress all night; wrote two or three letters, burnt two or three papers, took out a gold locket containing the portrait of a black-browed, black-eyed woman with a bold, voluptuous face, scrutinised her features slowly, and walked up and down the room pondering.
Next day, at breakfast, he saw with extreme displeasure poor Olga’s red and swollen eyes and pale, agitated face. After breakfast he proposed a stroll in the garden to her. Olga followed Vassily, like a submissive sheep. When two hours afterwards she came in from the garden she quite broke down; she told Anna Pavlovna she was unwell, and went to lie down on her bed. During their walk Vassily had, with a suitable show of remorse, informed her that he was secretly married–he was really as much a bachelor as I am. Olga Ivanovna did not fall into a swoon–people don’t fall into swoons except on the stage–but she turned all at once stony, though she herself was so far from hoping to marry Vassily Ivanovitch that she was even afraid to think about it. Vassily had begun to explain to her the inevitableness of her parting from him and marrying Rogatchov. Olga Ivanovna looked at him in dumb horror. Vassily talked in a cool, business-like, practical way, blamed himself, expressed his regret, but concluded all his remarks with the following words: ‘There’s no going back on the past; we’ve got to act.’
Olga was utterly overwhelmed; she was filled with terror and shame; a dull, heavy despair came upon her; she longed for death, and waited in agony for Vassily’s decision.
‘We must confess everything to my mother,’ he said to her at last.
Olga turned deadly pale; her knees shook under her.
‘Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid,’ repeated Vassily, ‘trust to me, I won’t desert you… I will make everything right… rely upon me.’
The poor woman looked at him with love… yes, with love, and deep, but hopeless devotion.
‘I will arrange everything, everything,’ Vassily said to her at parting… and for the last time he kissed her chilly hands….
Next morning–Olga Ivanovna had only just risen from her bed–her door opened… and Anna Pavlovna appeared in the doorway. She was supported by Vassily. In silence she got as far as an arm-chair, and in silence she sat down. Vassily stood at her side. He looked composed; his brows were knitted and his lips slightly parted. Anna Pavlovna, pale, indignant, angry, tried to speak, but her voice failed her. Olga Ivanovna glanced in horror from her benefactress to her lover, with a terrible sinking at her heart… she fell on her knees with a shriek in the middle of the room, and hid her face in her hands.