On Saturdays and Sundays, the trains that came to their station from Moscow were crammed full of people, weekend guests of the dacha-dwellers, even in the morning. Sometimes there was that delightful rain through sunshine, when the green carriages were washed down by it and shone like new, the white clouds of smoke from the steam engine seemed especially soft, and the green tops of the pines, standing elegant and thick behind the train, drew circles unusually high in the bright sky. The new arrivals vied with each other to grab the cab men’s chaises on the rutted hot sand behind the station, and drove with the joy of the dacha down the sandy roads in the cuttings of the forest under the ribbons of sky above them. The complete happiness of the dacha set in when in the forest, which endlessly hid the dry, slightly undulating land all around. Dacha-dwellers taking their Muscovite friends for a walk said that bears were the only thing lacking here, they declaimed, “Both of resin and wild strawb’rries smells the shady wood,”[122] and hallooed one another, enjoyed their summer well-being, their idleness and freedom of dress – kosovorotkas with embroidered hems worn outside of trousers[123], the long braids of coloured belts, peaked canvas caps: the odd Muscovite acquaintance, some professor or journal editor, bearded and wearing glasses, was not even immediately recognizable in such a kosovorotka and such a cap.
Amidst all this dacha happiness Levitsky was doubly unhappy. Feeling himself from morning till evening pitiful, deceived, superfluous, he suffered all the more for understanding very well how vulgar his unhappiness was. Day and night he had one and the same thought: why, why had she so quickly and pitilessly let him close to her, made him not quite her friend, not quite her slave, and then her lover, who had had to be content with the rare and always unexpected happiness of kisses alone, why had she sometimes been intimate with him, sometimes formal, and how had she had the cruelty so simply and so easily to cease even noticing him all of a sudden on the very first day of her acquaintance with Titov? He was burning up with shame over his brazen loitering on the estate too. Tomorrow he should disappear, flee in secret to Moscow, hide from everyone with this ignominious unhappiness of deceived dacha love, so evident even for the servants in the house! But at this thought he was so pierced by the recollection of the velvetiness of her cherry-red lips that he lost the power of his arms and legs. If he was sitting on the balcony alone and she by chance was passing, she would with excessive naturalness say something particularly insignificant to him as she went – “Now where ever can my aunt be? You haven’t seen her?” – and he would hasten to answer her in the same tone, while ready to break into sobs[124]
Примечания
1
tarantass: A large, springless carriage. (прим. перев.)
2
peaked cap – фуражка
3
to bear resemblance – иметь сходство
4
Nicholas I’s… Alexander II: Russian Emperors of the nineteenth century: Nicholas I (b.1796) ruled 1825–55 and was succeeded by his son Alexander II (b.1818), who ruled until his assassination in 1881. (прим. перев.)
5
to come to a halt – остановиться
6
dress uniform – мундир
7
to make a living – зарабатывать на жизнь
8
Thou shalt remember… away: “Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.” Job 11:16. (прим. перев.) «Тогда забудешь горе: как о воде протекшей будешь вспоминать о нем» (Книга Иова).
9
at a trot – рысцой
10
to lend money on interest – давать деньги в рост
11
All round… dark limes stood: A slightly inaccurate quotation from the poem ‘An Ordinary Tale’ (1842) by Nikolai Platonovich Ogaryov (1813–77): “all round” should be “nearby”. (прим. перев.) «Кругом шиповник алый цвел, стояли темных лип аллеи… » (в повести И. А. Бунина) «Вблизи шиповник алый цвел, стояла темных лип аллея» (оригинальный текст Н. П. Огарева)
12
to put up at (some place) – остановиться где-либо
13
to commit to memory – запоминать
14
cab men’s droshkies – пролетки извозчиков (пролетка – легкий открытый двухместный экипаж)
15
The second bell rang – Ударил второй звонок (для извещения пассажиров и паровозной прислуги о наступлении времени отправления поездов использовались станционные наружные колокола, которые размещались на стенах пассажирских зданий и платформах)
16
Narzan: Mineral water from the Caucasus. (прим. перев.)
17
pressed dung – кизяк (высушенный или переработанный навоз, используемый в качестве топлива)
18
to grow accustomed – привыкнуть
19
coffee with chartreuse – кофе с шартрезом (Шартрез – название французского ликера)
20
red corners: The name given to the corner of a room where the icons hang. (прим. перев.)
21
felt boots – валенки
22
Hear my prayer… my fathers were: Psalms 39:12 (slightly inaccurate: the phrase “on the earth” has been added). (прим. перев.)
23
Say unto God… thy works: Psalms 66:3. (прим. перев.)
24
He that dwelleth… trample under foot: Psalms 91:1, 13. (прим. перев.) Живущий под кровом всевышнего под сенью всемогущего покоится… На аспида и василиска наступишь, попрешь льва и дракона…
25
For every beast… on a thousand hills: Psalms 50:10 (slightly inaccurate: the word “his” replacing “mine”). (прим. перев.)
26
Tiger-Euphrates: The Russian word for the river Tigris is the same as the word for “tiger”. (прим. перев.) Тигр и Евфрат – названия двух основных рек Месопотамии и Ближнего Востока.
27
(to be) at smb’s beck and call – (быть) всецело в чьем-либо распоряжении; на побегушках
28
Howls the cold wind… the highway: A slightly inaccurate quotation from a poem by Alexei Fyodorovich Merzlyakov (1778–1830), “Black of brow and black of eye” (1803), set to music by D.N. Kashin (1769–1841). (прим. перев.) Воет сыр-бор за горою,/ Метет в белом поле, (Метелица в поле (у А.Ф. Мерзлякова))/ Стала (Встала) вьюга-непогода,/ Запала дорога…
29
in the time of the great Tsarina: Catherine the Great (1729–96) ruled Russia after her husband, Peter III, was deposed and killed in 1762. (прим. перев.)
30
to fall for smb – почувствовать влечение к кому-либо
31
Not for nothing – Недаром
32
Love’s fires rage… all round the globe: The closing lines of the poem ‘If young women, mistresses’ (published 1781) by Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (1717–77). (прим. перев.) Жар любви во всяком царстве,/ Любится земной весь круг…
33
to pay heed – обращать внимание
34
not to bat an eyelid – глазом не моргнуть
35
Adam’s apple – кадык
36
to take communion – причащаться
37
racing droshky – беговые дрожки (легкий одноконный четырехколесный экипаж)
38
dashboard – щиток (укрепляется в передней части экипажа, предназначен для защиты пассажиров от пыли и грязи)
39
Lafitte – Лафит, сорт французского красного вина
40
blacked boots – сапоги, смазанные гуталином
41
kosovorotka and poddyovka: A Russian peasant-style shirt fastened at the side and a light, tight-fitting, long-waisted coat respectively. (прим. перев.)
42
As if they’d snuffed it! – Как подохли!
43
plank bed – нары (кровать в виде дощатого настила на некотором возвышении от пола)
44
someune’s = someone’s
45
ecclesiastical vestment – церковное облачение
46
Epiphany – (церк.) Богоявление (одно из названий христианского праздника Крещения Господня)
47
I was then no longer in the first flush of youth – Я был тогда уже не первой молодости
48
the open transoms of the double glazing – отворенные фортки (форточки) двойных рам
49
overshoes – ботики (высокие, до щиколотки, дамские галоши)
50
In any event – Во всяком случае
51
Shor’s concert: David Solomonovich Shor (1867–1942), pianist and Professor at the Moscow Conservatoire. (прим. перев.)