"There, if you go out in the morning through the fields with the dew on them, and shout, it sounds like a bell ringing in the open air. You watch the cheerfulness of the animals, and listen to the birds chirping on the ground and above, and you feel cheerful too. And if you breathe the air coming from those fields and meadows, as if it came from a censer in church, you feel its strength going into you.
I"ve never felt so strong anywhere as at sunrise at Mocarze, when I used to say "Good-morning!" to the sun. Here the morning"s no morning--there"s no pleasure in it; none of the birds or animals or people know anything about it. At home it"s different.
"I"ve seen so many countries; I"ve been through all this big Siberia, and a good bit of the Lake Baikal country, but I"ve never seen a country like ours anywhere. But I"ve learnt that since being here.
Yes, here! Am I the only one? We"ve clever people at home--priests and gentlemen and peasants with heads on their shoulders--but none of them know what they have!"
"Each of these villages called Mocarze has its own name. They call the one that"s the oldest, Korzeniste; the second, Suche; and the third, which is the newest, Mokry. I am from Mocarze-Suche.
"It"s a big village. Pan Olszeski was our master, and we were his serfs. Everyone knows it"s not very pleasant to be that. When I was about twenty, Olszeski took me into his service at the house.
"He was a very quick-tempered man, yellow, dry, and small--the very devil, I can tell you! He wasn"t really bad, only when he was angry; but he got angry about everything, and then he"d just be beside himself with rage--oh my goodness! Yet not for long. He"d shout and run up and down and get yellower still; but when he"d finished you could say anything to him, and, though he"d tremble, he"d listen and say nothing. He was just. It can"t be said that the young men liked him, but the older ones--the farmers--always told us: "Don"t take any notice of his shouting; his bark is worse than his bite." And they were right. He never harmed and never worried people; but this I only knew later. At the time I only knew that Olszeski was bad-tempered, and I feared him like fire, and--well, every bad thing. But I don"t know how it came about; the farther I went from him, the more he came after me. He was always at me, scolding, cursing, and shouting. But I remembered what my father had said: "Don"t take any notice of his being angry, but remember that he"s just"; so I stood it--stood it and never said a word. And I should have stood it longer if Olszeski hadn"t gone too far. But he said everything he could think of against me, and at last, on purpose to wound my feelings, he began to call me a "stupid great b.o.o.by" and "greenhorn." Even now I don"t like to think about it. He happened to come into the yard. Though I was at work, and he didn"t see me, and I ran away from him like a hare from a dog, he at once began to shout: "Eh, there! you stupid great b.o.o.by, you greenhorn!" His voice was like himself, thin and shrill, and so penetrating it sounded like a whistle. When he called me all those names I boiled over with rage. It was only he who thought me stupid, not my own people. There wasn"t a fellow in the village equal to me, either with the fiddle at the inn or at the hardest field work. For I never shirked work any more than play. And I was so strong--I"m speaking seriously--not as I am now; if there was ever anything anyone couldn"t do, Maciej did it.
"And then to be insulted like that, and go on standing it--why should I? So I thought, "There"s been enough of this, and I"ve had enough of it, too! With G.o.d"s help I"ll show him I"m not so stupid, and not such a b.o.o.by." I don"t know if I could do it now, but at that time there wasn"t a team I couldn"t have held. When I was holding them from behind, you could have beaten the horses to death, they wouldn"t have stirred. I hadn"t tried with the carriage horses; the coachman wouldn"t allow it. "You"ll get the landau smashed, and I"m responsible," he said. But I thought: "Let come what may, I"ll try."
"It was a Sunday when he ordered the horses to be put to, but not to go to church, for he was driving alone, only to go to the town. He got in, sat down, shut the door, and waited. He liked the horses to start off at once at a sharp trot. But I was behind. I put my feet wide apart to stand firm. I took hold of the side of the landau with one hand, and of the back with the other. My heart was going like a mill, for I was thinking: "Perhaps I shan"t be able to hold horses in such good condition." But you"re all right after the start. I gathered all my strength together, and strained forward till my joints cracked. The horses started--they started once, twice, and--didn"t move a step.
""Go on!" a shrill voice called out from the landau, while the mistress and the young ladies stood at the window waving their handkerchiefs.
""Go on, blockhead!" and his shrill voice went into a squeak.
"But the old coachman must have guessed what was happening, for, when he saw the horses didn"t move, he didn"t whip them, so that there shouldn"t be an accident. He didn"t slash at them, but turned to the master and said: "How can I start while Maciej is holding on?"
Olszeski jumped as if he"d been scalded, and trembled so much he couldn"t get his breath. The carriage was half open, so he turned towards me, quite green with anger, and looked me straight in the face. But I held on, and when once I"d looked at him I didn"t take my eyes off him; my veins swelled from holding on to the carriage, and the blood went to my head. What I was like I don"t know, but my master looked and looked. I thought: "G.o.d knows what he"ll do to me." But he must have understood, for he only laughed, and said: "How strong you are! How strong you are! But now let go, Maciej." I let go, and the horses started off; I thought they would bolt."
Maciej sat down tired, for he had been reproducing the whole scene of holding back the carriage as accurately as possible before us. He had stood leaning sideways, had held the carriage with his hand, been tugged at by the powerful horses, and had looked his master threateningly in the face; even his eyes had become bloodshot, and his tightly clenched hands had swelled.
If, wearing his clumsy "juntas,"[5] grey-headed, bent, and but half his weight, he looked splendid and threatening, if his eyes flashed now, what must he have been like when he faced his master in defence of his human dignity?
"From that time," Maciej continued, after a short pause, "my master was different. Not all at once, it"s true; for at first he avoided me, and, though he left off scolding, he never said a word for a long time. I thought to myself: "I"m in for something worse; he"s surely thinking out something for me I shan"t forget." But no. He began to talk to me, but always good-naturedly and kindly, and a year hadn"t pa.s.sed before I was high in his favour. If anyone had to be sent out with money, or go with the mistress or young ladies, no one might do it but Maciej; and later, when he knew me, he didn"t tell me: "Don"t get drunk, don"t be too long, and don"t kill the horses"; he only said I was to go, and everything he had ordered was as right as if it had been written in a book. So he got fond of me. I never heard a bad word from him all the last years I was in his house. And I was very happy.
But though I was happy there, I had my future to think of, too. Though my father often talked of it, I myself certainly shouldn"t have troubled to get married in a hurry, and didn"t think much about it.
For why think of anything better when you"re happy? And no one runs away from happiness. There was work, but there was plenty of fun.
"What a happy time the harvest at home used to be! And when our Mocarze fiddler played at the inn on Sundays, even the old people couldn"t keep their feet still.
"And our girls! Hah! There aren"t such girls anywhere. For example, do you ever see one like them here? When they were all together, and you came up, they were like flowers--like the lilies themselves. And when you heard them t.i.ttering, "Hi! hi! hi!" and saw their bright eyes behind their ap.r.o.ns, you didn"t know yourself that you were calling out: "Heh there! Go ahead, you fellows! Now then, fiddler, strike up something lively! Come along, my dear!""
Maciej was about to start off dancing, for he burst out with the "Heh there!" so energetically that it set our ears tingling. But a scornful remark of the shoemaker checked him.
"They hid behind their ap.r.o.ns? What vulgar foolishness!"
Maciej, who had already started up, sat down, but would not allow the shoemaker"s words to pa.s.s.
"Vulgar? Everyone knows it"s not like in a town. But don"t be disagreeable. Now, among these girls the best-looking seemed to me----"
"Kaska?" interposed the shoemaker.
"No, not Kaska, but Marya. She was the best girl in Mocarze, and though she had no mother, and was alone at home, she was tidy and hard-working, and everything round her was clean.
"In the field she always went at the head of the mowers. She could always be seen when she was standing in the corn, it never hid her.
My Marya was a fine girl, well grown, and red like a poppy or cherries in the sun. And her body was so healthy--it was as hard as a nut. When I wanted to pinch her----"
"Did you pinch her cheek?" the shoemaker interrupted impertinently.
"Don"t talk bosh! Am I a gentleman, or do I come from a town, that I should pinch a girl"s cheek, to say nothing of the girl being my Marya? I pinched where we are all used to pinching the girls----"
The shoemaker was triumphant and smiled ironically. Obviously this peasant did not know the most elementary rules of genteel behaviour.
"A girl like a turnip, I tell you," Maciej continued. "Strong as my fingers are--but no--nothing to be done--you couldn"t pinch her, anyhow.
"I courted her, and it seemed to me that she wasn"t against it; for she was always looking at me, and danced best with me. So I thought to myself: "I"ll just see how I stand in this." So one Sunday evening I watched her going off to the dance, and she had to climb over the fence near the Wojciecks" cottage. I stood and waited there. I heard her coming; I heard, because one can always hear one"s girl coming a long way off. She came to the fence, lifted her foot, jumped on to the other side, and was just going to hop down, when I, who was watching all this, couldn"t stand it any longer; I ran up to the fence and put my arm round her waist. You know, sir, there"s a song which ends:
""Maiden, turn not from me...."
"Well, I sang the song as I held her, and wanted to kiss her. But I hadn"t finished the last words before she gave me such a slap between the eyes that it quite blinded me, and before I could take it in--thwack! she went on my jaw, first one side and then another. "So there"s a kiss for you, that"s your kiss, you fine fellow! You just keep away from me!" she shouted, and thwacked and thwacked like a tadpole in the water. My word! how she did go for me! I was so taken aback I couldn"t come to myself; I could only feel my cheeks swelling from the blows, for she was such a strong girl. At last she stopped and sat down on the fence, and began to cry and say:
""I never expected a disgrace like this from you, Maciej. Am I just anyone, and not a respectable farmer"s daughter, that you should put yourself in my way when I was coming across the fence?"
"When she said this, I understood; still, I wasn"t able to come to my senses all at once, and out it slipped: "But why?" I said. It was just as if I"d covered her with hot coals!
""Why? Why?" she cried. "Are you a little boy? Aren"t you a farm labourer? You"re a clever fellow, to begin courting and not to know how to make up to a respectable girl! Well, if you"re such a fool, I"ll tell you: the way to do it is through one"s parents!"
"Now, that went to my heart so much I was ready to cry like a calf. I asked: "Will you have me?"
""Are you cracked? Doesn"t my father know you?" she said.
""And you, Marya?" I said.
""Well, why not--of course, if father tells me."
""Ah!" I thought to myself, "a girl like that"s a good one; I"m lucky if I get her!" And, if I hadn"t been careful not to vex her again, I"d have taken her into my arms once more. But someone came along, and down she jumped and ran to the dance; and back home I came, for my cheeks were as swollen as the white loaves father sometimes brought back from the fair at Lomza. I didn"t have any supper, I went straight to bed; but the next day I went to my parents and told them all about it, and asked them to arrange the match at once. They were surprised I was in such a hurry; but I was obstinate, and begged for it. The worst was to know how it would be about the master. But it was no use, I couldn"t do it without him; so I went and asked him, and he was very kind to me. He set me free from his service, and gave me a field ready sown as a start, and a farm of twenty acres.
"We put in our banns, and had a wedding such as the oldest people in Mocarze didn"t remember. For though my parents and her parents weren"t so very rich, they were well-to-do farmers; and as to the drink, the master gave that. We did dance and all enjoy ourselves!"
Maciej stopped abruptly.
"Those seven years I lived with my wife were the only ones in which I have really lived," Maciej began again slowly and emphatically, as though weighing each word. "Marya was a wonderful girl, but she was a still better wife.
"A child was born almost every year about Christmas time. But she never had any trouble with it, for she could have nursed three at once. They were all boys, and they are all as like me as peas in a pod."
The sadness we could hear in Maciej"s voice, and the way in which he paused, showed that the bright part of the story was now nearly ended.
"The home was clean and tidy, both the food and clothes," Maciej added in a measured tone. "And as to the farm, there"s no need to speak of that, either. I was successful all round; I only wanted the moon!"
Maciej became silent, and somehow we felt that with his last words the golden thread of his life had snapped. We felt that as the story went on it would be different, and we longed for it to continue as it had been. Therefore, although knowing it to be vain, we deceived ourselves by the hope that we should still hear a merry laugh, and watch the continuance of that tranquil life, though, maybe, only for a moment longer. But, rocked by memories, Maciej let his head fall on his broad chest, and remained mournfully silent. Possibly he was chasing the last gleams of those brighter days which had disappeared without return, or possibly, as he looked, the days of fear and pain emerged from the twilight of the distant past.