Virgin Soil Part 38

"Till tomorrow," she replied softly.

XXIX

EARLY the next morning Nejdanov again knocked at Mariana's door.

"It is I," he replied in answer to her "Who's that?" "Can you come out to me?"

"In a minute."

She came out and uttered a cry of alarm. At first she did not recognise him. He had on a long-skirted, shabby, yellowish nankin coat, with small b.u.t.tons and a high waist; his hair was dressed in the Russian fas.h.i.+on with a parting straight down the middle; he had a blue kerchief round his neck, in his hand he held a cap with a broken peak, on his feet a pair of dirty leather boots.

"Heavens!" Mariana exclaimed. "How ugly you look!" and thereupon threw her arms round him and kissed him quickly. "But why did you get yourself up like this? You look like some sort of shopkeeper, or pedlar, or a retired servant. Why this long coat? Why not simply like a peasant?"

"Why?" Nejdanov began. He certainly did look like some sort of fishmonger in that garb, was conscious of it himself, and was annoyed and embarra.s.sed at heart. He felt uncomfortable, and not knowing what to do with his hands, kept patting himself on the breast with the fingers outspread, as though he were brus.h.i.+ng himself.

"Because as a peasant I should have been recognised at once Pavel says, and that in this costume I look as if I had been born to it ... which is not very flattering to my vanity, by the way."

"Are you going to begin at once?" Mariana asked eagerly.

"Yes, I shall try, though in reality--"

"You are lucky!" Mariana interrupted him.

"This Pavel is a wonderful fellow," Nejdanov continued. "He can see through and through you in a second, and will suddenly screw up his face as if he knew nothing, and would not interfere with anything for the world. He works for the cause himself, yet laughs at it the whole time.

He brought me the books from Markelov; he knows him and calls him Sergai Mihailovitch; and as for Solomin, he would go through fire and water for him."

"And so would Tatiana," Mariana observed. "Why are people so devoted to him?"

Nejdanov did not reply.

"What sort of books did Pavel bring you?" Mariana asked.

"Oh, nothing new. 'The Story of the Four Brothers,' and then the ordinary, well-known ones, which are far better I think."

Mariana looked around uneasily.

"I wonder what has become of Tatiana? She promised to come early."

"Here I am!" Tatiana exclaimed, coming in with a bundle in her hand. She had heard Mariana's exclamation from behind the door.

"There's plenty of time. See what I've brought you!"

Mariana flew towards her.

"Have you brought it?"

Tatiana patted the bundle.

"Everything is here, quite ready. You have only to put the things on and go out to astonish the world."

"Come along, come along, Tatiana Osipovna, you are a dear--"

Mariana led her off to her own room.

Left alone, Nejdanov walked up and down the room once or twice with a peculiarly shuffling gait (he imagined that all shopkeepers walked like that), then he carefully sniffed at this sleeves, the inside of his cap, made a grimace, looked at himself in the little looking-gla.s.s hanging in between the windows, and shook his head; he certainly did not look very prepossessing. "So much the better," he thought. Then he took several pamphlets, thrust them into his side pocket, and began to practise speaking like a shopkeeper. "That sounds like it," he thought, "but after all there is no need of acting, my get-up is convincing enough."

Just then he recollected a German exile, who had to make his escape right across Russia with only a poor knowledge of the language. But thanks to a merchant's cap which he had bought in a provincial town, he was taken everywhere for a merchant and had successfully made his way across the frontier.

At this moment Solomin entered.

"I say!" he exclaimed. "Arrayed in all your war paint? Excuse me, my dear fellow, but in that garb one can hardly speak to you respectfully."

"Please don't. I had long meant to ask you--"

"But it's early as yet. It doesn't matter if you only want to get used to it, only you must not go out yet. My employer is still here. He's in bed."

"I'll go out later on," Nejdanov responded. "I'll explore the neighbourhood a little, until further orders come."

"Capital! But I tell you what, Alexai... I may call you Alexai, may I not?"

"Certainly, or Lexy if you like," Nejdanov added with a smile.

"No; there is no need to overdo things. Listen. Good counsel is better than money, as the saying goes. I see that you have pamphlets.

Distribute them wherever you like, only not in the factory on any account!"

"Why not?"

"In the first place, because it won't be safe for you; in the second, because I promised the owner not to do that sort of thing here. You see the place is his after all, and then something has already been done...

a school and so on. You might do more harm than good. Further than that, you may do as you like, I shall not hinder you. But you must not interfere with my workpeople."

"Caution is always useful," Nejdanov remarked with a sarcastic smile.

Solomin smiled his characteristic broad smile.

"Yes, my dear Alexai, it's always useful. But what do I see? Where are we?"

The last words referred to Mariana, who at that moment appeared in the doorway of her room in a print dress that had been washed a great many times, with a yellow kerchief over her shoulders and a red one on her head. Tatiana stood behind her, smiling good-naturedly. Mariana seemed younger and brighter in her simple garment and looked far better than Nejdanov in his long-skirted coat.

"Va.s.sily Fedot.i.tch, don't laugh, please," Mariana implored, turning as red as a poppy.

"There's a nice couple!" Tatiana exclaimed, clapping her hands. "But you, my dear, don't be angry, you look well enough, but beside my little dove you're nowhere."

"And, really, she is charming," Nejdanov thought; "oh, how I love her!"

"Look now," Tatiana continued, "she insisted on changing rings with me.

She has given me a golden ring and taken my silver one."