""No, Astafy Ivanovitch," said he, "those riding breeches of yours, maybe, you are thinking, maybe, I took them, but I never touched them."
""But what can have become of them, Emelyan Ilyitch?"
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch," said he, "I"ve never seen them."
""Why, Emelyan Ilyitch, I suppose they"ve run off of themselves, eh?"
""Maybe they have, Astafy Ivanovitch."
"When I heard him say that, I got up at once, went up to him, lighted the lamp and sat down to work to my sewing. I was altering a waistcoat for a clerk who lived below us. And wasn"t there a burning pain and ache in my breast! I shouldn"t have minded so much if I had put all the clothes I had in the fire. Emelyanoushka seemed to have an inkling of what a rage I was in. When a man is guilty, you know, sir, he scents trouble far off, like the birds of the air before a storm.
""Do you know what, Astafy Ivanovitch," Emelyanoushka began, and his poor old voice was shaking as he said the words, "Antip Prohoritch, the apothecary, married the coachman"s wife this morning, who died the other day----"
"I did give him a look, sir, a nasty look it was; Emelyanoushka understood it too. I saw him get up, go to the bed, and begin to rummage there for something. I waited--he was busy there a long time and kept muttering all the while, "No, not there, where can the blessed things have got to!" I waited to see what he"d do; I saw him creep under the bed on all fours. I couldn"t bear it any longer. "What are you crawling about under the bed for, Emelyan Ilyitch?" said I.
""Looking for the breeches, Astafy Ivanovitch. Maybe they"ve dropped down there somewhere."
""Why should you try to help a poor simple man like me," said I, "crawling on your knees for nothing, sir?"--I called him that in my vexation.
""Oh, never mind, Astafy Ivanovitch, I"ll just look. They"ll turn up, maybe, somewhere."
""H"m," said I, "look here, Emelyan Ilyitch!"
""What is it, Astafy Ivanovitch?" said he.
""Haven"t you simply stolen them from me like a thief and a robber, in return for the bread and salt you"ve eaten here?" said I.
"I felt so angry, sir, at seeing him fooling about on his knees before me.
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch."
"And he stayed lying as he was on his face under the bed. A long time he lay there and then at last crept out. I looked at him and the man was as white as a sheet. He stood up, and sat down near me in the window and sat so for some ten minutes.
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch," he said, and all at once he stood up and came towards me, and I can see him now; he looked dreadful. "No, Astafy Ivanovitch," said he, "I never--sort of--touched your breeches."
"He was all of a shake, poking himself in the chest with a trembling finger, and his poor old voice shook so that I was frightened, sir, and sat as though I was rooted to the window-seat.
""Well, Emelyan Ilyitch," said I, "as you will, forgive me if I, in my foolishness, have accused you unjustly. As for the breeches, let them go hang; we can live without them. We"ve still our hands, thank G.o.d; we need not go thieving or begging from some other poor man; we"ll earn our bread."
"Emelyanoushka heard me out and went on standing there before me. I looked up, and he had sat down. And there he sat all the evening without stirring.
At last I lay down to sleep. Emelyanoushka went on sitting in the same place. When I looked out in the morning, he was lying curled up in his old coat on the bare floor; he felt too crushed even to come to bed. Well, sir, I felt no more liking for the fellow from that day, in fact for the first few days I hated him. I felt as one may say as though my own son had robbed me, and done me a deadly hurt. Ach, thought I, Emelyanoushka, Emelyanoushka! And Emelyanoushka, sir, went on drinking for a whole fortnight without stopping. He was drunk all the time, and regularly besotted. He went out in the morning and came back late at night, and for a whole fortnight I didn"t get a word out of him. It was as though grief was gnawing at his heart, or as though he wanted to do for himself completely.
At last he stopped; he must have come to the end of all he"d got, and then he sat in the window again. I remember he sat there without speaking for three days and three nights; all of a sudden I saw that he was crying. He was just sitting there, sir, and crying like anything; a perfect stream, as though he didn"t know how his tears were flowing. And it"s a sad thing, sir, to see a grown-up man and an old man, too, crying from woe and grief.
""What"s the matter, Emelyanoushka?" said I.
"He began to tremble so that he shook all over. I spoke to him for the first time since that evening.
""Nothing, Astafy Ivanovitch."
""G.o.d be with you, Emelyanoushka, what"s lost is lost. Why are you moping about like this?" I felt sorry for him.
""Oh, nothing, Astafy Ivanovitch, it"s no matter. I want to find some work to do, Astafy Ivanovitch."
""And what sort of work, pray, Emelyanoushka?"
""Why, any sort; perhaps I could find a situation such as I used to have.
I"ve been already to ask Fedosay Ivanitch. I don"t like to be a burden on you, Astafy Ivanovitch. If I can find a situation, Astafy Ivanovitch, then I"ll pay it you all back, and make you a return for all your hospitality."
""Enough, Emelyanoushka, enough; let bygones be bygones--and no more to be said about it. Let us go on as we used to do before."
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch, you, maybe, think--but I never touched your riding breeches."
""Well, have it your own way; G.o.d be with you, Emelyanoushka."
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch, I can"t go on living with you, that"s clear. You must excuse me, Astafy Ivanovitch."
""Why, G.o.d bless you, Emelyan Ilyitch, who"s offending you and driving you out of the place--am I doing it?"
""No, it"s not the proper thing for me to live with you like this, Astafy Ivanovitch. I"d better be going."
"He was so hurt, it seemed, he stuck to his point. I looked at him, and sure enough, up he got and pulled his old coat over his shoulders.
""But where are you going, Emelyan Ilyitch? Listen to reason: what are you about? Where are you off to?"
""No, good-bye, Astafy Ivanovitch, don"t keep me now"--and he was blubbering again--"I"d better be going. You"re not the same now."
""Not the same as what? I am the same. But you"ll be lost by yourself like a poor helpless babe, Emelyan Ilyitch."
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch, when you go out now, you lock up your chest and it makes me cry to see it, Astafy Ivanovitch. You"d better let me go, Astafy Ivanovitch, and forgive me all the trouble I"ve given you while I"ve been living with you."
"Well, sir, the man went away. I waited for a day; I expected he"d be back in the evening--no. Next day no sign of him, nor the third day either. I began to get frightened; I was so worried, I couldn"t drink, I couldn"t eat, I couldn"t sleep. The fellow had quite disarmed me. On the fourth day I went out to look for him; I peeped into all the taverns, to inquire for him--but no, Emelyanoushka was lost. "Have you managed to keep yourself alive, Emelyanoushka?" I wondered. "Perhaps he is lying dead under some hedge, poor drunkard, like a sodden log." I went home more dead than alive.
Next day I went out to look for him again. And I kept cursing myself that I"d been such a fool as to let the man go off by himself. On the fifth day it was a holiday--in the early morning I heard the door creak. I looked up and there was my Emelyanoushka coming in. His face was blue and his hair was covered with dirt as though he"d been sleeping in the street; he was as thin as a match. He took off his old coat, sat down on the chest and looked at me. I was delighted to see him, but I felt more upset about him than ever. For you see, sir, if I"d been overtaken in some sin, as true as I am here, sir, I"d have died like a dog before I"d have come back. But Emelyanoushka did come back. And a sad thing it was, sure enough, to see a man sunk so low. I began to look after him, to talk kindly to him, to comfort him.
""Well, Emelyanoushka," said I, "I am glad you"ve come back. Had you been away much longer I should have gone to look for you in the taverns again to-day. Are you hungry?"
""No, Astafy Ivanovitch."
""Come, now, aren"t you really? Here, brother, is some cabbage soup left over from yesterday; there was meat in it; it is good stuff. And here is some bread and onion. Come, eat it, it"ll do you no harm."
"I made him eat it, and I saw at once that the man had not tasted food for maybe three days--he was as hungry as a wolf. So it was hunger that had driven him to me. My heart was melted looking at the poor dear. "Let me run to the tavern," thought I, "I"ll get something to ease his heart, and then we"ll make an end of it. I"ve no more anger in my heart against you, Emelyanoushka!" I brought him some vodka. "Here, Emelyan Ilyitch, let us have a drink for the holiday. Like a drink? And it will do you good." He held out his hand, held it out greedily; he was just taking it, and then he stopped himself. But a minute after I saw him take it, and lift it to his mouth, spilling it on his sleeve. But though he got it to his lips he set it down on the table again.
""What is it, Emelyanoushka?"
""Nothing, Astafy Ivanovitch, I--sort of----"
""Won"t you drink it?"
""Well, Astafy Ivanovitch, I"m not--sort of--going to drink any more, Astafy Ivanovitch."