that nothing else would ever have induced her either to walk
about with this Frenchwoman or to send me a note not to touch
the Baron. Yes, it is THERE that the influence lies before which
everything in the world must bow! Yet she herself it was who
launched me at the Baron! The devil take it, but I was left no
choice in the matter."
"You forget, in the first place, that this Mlle. de Cominges is
the General's inamorata, and, in the second place, that Mlle.
Polina, the General's step-daughter, has a younger brother and
sister who, though they are the General's own children, are
completely neglected by this madman, and robbed as well."
"Yes, yes; that is so. For me to go and desert the children now
would mean their total abandonment; whereas, if I remain, I
should be able to defend their interests, and, perhaps, to save
a moiety of their property. Yes, yes; that is quite true. And
yet, and yet--Oh, I can well understand why they are all so
interested in the General's mother!"
"In whom? " asked Mr. Astley.
"In the old woman of Moscow who declines to die, yet concerning
whom they are for ever expecting telegrams to notify the fact of
her death."
"Ah, then of course their interests centre around her. It is a
question of succession. Let that but be settled, and the General
will marry, Mlle. Polina will be set free, and De Griers--"
"Yes, and De Griers?"
"Will be repaid his money, which is what he is now waiting for."
"What? You think that he is waiting for that?"
"I know of nothing else," asserted Mr. Astley doggedly.
"But, I do, I do!" I shouted in my fury. "He is waiting also
for the old woman's will, for the reason that it awards Mlle.
Polina a dowry. As soon as ever the money is received, she will
throw herself upon the Frenchman's neck. All women are like
that. Even the proudest of them become abject slaves where
marriage is concerned. What Polina is good for is to fall head
over ears in love. That is MY opinion. Look at her--especially
when she is sitting alone, and plunged in thought. All this was
pre-ordained and foretold, and is accursed. Polina could
perpetrate any mad act. She--she--But who called me by name?" I
broke off. "Who is shouting for me? I heard some one calling in
Russian, 'Alexis Ivanovitch!' It was a woman's voice. Listen!"
At the moment, we were approaching my hotel. We had left the cafe
long ago, without even noticing that we had done so.
"Yes, I DID hear a woman's voice calling, but whose I do not
know. The someone was calling you in Russian. Ah! NOW I can see
whence the cries come. They come from that lady there--the one
who is sitting on the settee, the one who has just been escorted
to the verandah by a crowd of lacqueys. Behind her see that pile
of luggage! She must have arrived by train."
"But why should she be calling ME? Hear her calling again! See!
She is beckoning to us!"
"Yes, so she is," assented Mr. Astley.
"Alexis Ivanovitch, Alexis Ivanovitch! Good heavens, what a
stupid fellow!" came in a despairing wail from the verandah.
We had almost reached the portico, and I was just setting foot
upon the space before it, when my hands fell to my sides in limp
astonishment, and my feet glued themselves to the pavement!
IX
For on the topmost tier of the hotel verandah, after being
carried up the steps in an armchair amid a bevy of footmen,
maid-servants, and other menials of the hotel, headed by the
landlord (that functionary had actually run out to meet a
visitor who arrived with so much stir and din, attended by her
own retinue, and accompanied by so great a pile of trunks and
portmanteaux)--on the topmost tier of the verandah, I say, there
was sitting--THE GRANDMOTHER! Yes, it was she--rich, and imposing,
and seventy-five years of age--Antonida Vassilievna Tarassevitcha,
landowner and grande dame of Moscow--the "La Baboulenka" who had
caused so many telegrams to be sent off and received--who had been
dying, yet not dying--who had, in her own person, descended upon
us even as snow might fall from the clouds! Though unable to walk,
she had arrived borne aloft in an armchair (her mode of conveyance
for the last five years), as brisk, aggressive, self-satisfied,
bolt-upright, loudly imperious, and generally abusive as ever.
In fact, she looked exactly as she had on the only two
occasions when I had seen her since my appointment to the
General's household. Naturally enough, I stood petrified with
astonishment. She had sighted me a hundred paces off! Even while
she was being carried along in her chair she had recognised me,
and called me by name and surname (which, as usual, after
hearing once, she had remembered ever afterwards).
"And this is the woman whom they had thought to see in her
grave after making her will!" I thought to myself. "Yet she
will outlive us, and every one else in the hotel. Good Lord!
what is going to become of us now? What on earth is to happen to
the General? She will turn the place upside down!"
"My good sir," the old woman continued in a stentorian voice,
"what are you standing THERE for, with your eyes almost falling
out of your head? Cannot you come and say how-do-you-do? Are you
too proud to shake hands? Or do you not recognise me? Here,
Potapitch!" she cried to an old servant who, dressed in a frock
coat and white waistcoat, had a bald, red head (he was the
chamberlain who always accompanied her on her journeys). "Just
think! Alexis Ivanovitch does not recognise me! They have buried
me for good and all! Yes, and after sending hosts of telegrams
to know if I were dead or not! Yes, yes, I have heard the whole
story. I am very much alive, though, as you may see."
"Pardon me, Antonida Vassilievna," I replied good humouredly as
I recovered my presence of mind. "I have no reason to wish you
ill. I am merely rather astonished to see you. Why should I not
be so, seeing how unexpected--"
"WHY should you be astonished? I just got into my chair, and
came. Things are quiet enough in the train, for there is no one
there to chatter. Have you been out for a walk?"
"Yes. I have just been to the Casino."
"Oh? Well, it is quite nice here," she went on as she looked
about her. "The place seems comfortable, and all the trees are
out. I like it very well. Are your people at home? Is the
General, for instance, indoors?"
"Yes; and probably all of them."
"Do they observe the convenances, and keep up appearances? Such
things always give one tone. I have heard that they are keeping
a carriage, even as Russian gentlefolks ought to do. When
abroad, our Russian people always cut a dash. Is Prascovia here
too ?"
"Yes. Polina Alexandrovna is here."
"And the Frenchwoman? However, I will go and look for them
myself. Tell me the nearest way to their rooms. Do you like
being here?"
"Yes, I thank you, Antoni
da Vassilievna."
"And you, Potapitch, you go and tell that fool of a landlord to
reserve me a suitable suite of rooms. They must be handsomely
decorated, and not too high up. Have my luggage taken up to
them. But what are you tumbling over yourselves for? Why are you
all tearing about? What scullions these fellows are!--Who is that
with you?" she added to myself.
"A Mr. Astley," I replied.
"And who is Mr. Astley?"
"A fellow-traveller, and my very good friend, as well as an
acquaintance of the General's."
"Oh, an Englishman? Then that is why he stared at me without
even opening his lips. However, I like Englishmen. Now, take me
upstairs, direct to their rooms. Where are they lodging?"
Madame was lifted up in her chair by the lacqueys, and I
preceded her up the grand staircase. Our progress was
exceedingly effective, for everyone whom we met stopped to stare
at the cortege. It happened that the hotel had the reputation of
being the best, the most expensive, and the most aristocratic in
all the spa, and at every turn on the staircase or in the
corridors we encountered fine ladies and important-looking
Englishmen--more than one of whom hastened downstairs to inquire
of the awestruck landlord who the newcomer was. To all such
questions he returned the same answer--namely, that the old lady
was an influential foreigner, a Russian, a Countess, and a
grande dame, and that she had taken the suite which, during the
previous week, had been tenanted by the Grande Duchesse de N.
Meanwhile the cause of the sensation--the Grandmother--was being
borne aloft in her armchair. Every person whom she met she
scanned with an inquisitive eye, after first of all
interrogating me about him or her at the top of her voice. She
was stout of figure, and, though she could not leave her chair,
one felt, the moment that one first looked at her, that she was
also tall of stature. Her back was as straight as a board,
and never did she lean back in her seat. Also, her large grey
head, with its keen, rugged features, remained always erect as
she glanced about her in an imperious, challenging sort of way,
with looks and gestures that clearly were unstudied. Though she
had reached her seventy-sixth year, her face was still fresh,
and her teeth had not decayed. Lastly, she was dressed in a
black silk gown and white mobcap.
"She interests me tremendously," whispered Mr. Astley as, still
smoking, he walked by my side. Meanwhile I was reflecting that
probably the old lady knew all about the telegrams, and even
about De Griers, though little or nothing about Mlle. Blanche. I
said as much to Mr. Astley.
But what a frail creature is man! No sooner was my first
surprise abated than I found myself rejoicing in the shock which
we were about to administer to the General. So much did the
thought inspire me that I marched ahead in the gayest of
fashions.
Our party was lodging on the third floor. Without knocking at
the door, or in any way announcing our presence, I threw open
the portals, and the Grandmother was borne through them in
triumph. As though of set purpose, the whole party chanced at
that moment to be assembled in the General's study. The time was
eleven o'clock, and it seemed that an outing of some sort (at
which a portion of the party were to drive in carriages, and
others to ride on horseback, accompanied by one or two
extraneous acquaintances) was being planned. The General was
present, and also Polina, the children, the latter's nurses, De
Griers, Mlle. Blanche (attired in a riding-habit), her mother,
the young Prince, and a learned German whom I beheld for the
first time. Into the midst of this assembly the lacqueys
conveyed Madame in her chair, and set her down within three
paces of the General!
Good heavens! Never shall I forget the spectacle which ensued!
Just before our entry, the General had
been holding forth to the company, with De Griers in support of
him. I may also mention that, for the last two or three days,
Mlle. Blanche and De Griers had been making a great deal of the
young Prince, under the very nose of the poor General. In short,
the company, though decorous and conventional, was in a gay,
familiar mood. But no sooner did the Grandmother appear than the
General stopped dead in the middle of a word, and, with jaw
dropping, stared hard at the old lady--his eyes almost starting
out of his head, and his expression as spellbound as though he
had just seen a basilisk. In return, the Grandmother stared at
him silently and without moving--though with a look of mingled
challenge, triumph, and ridicule in her eyes. For ten seconds
did the pair remain thus eyeing one another, amid the profound
silence of the company; and even De Griers sat petrified--an
extraordinary look of uneasiness dawning on his face. As for
Mlle. Blanche, she too stared wildly at the Grandmother, with
eyebrows raised and her lips parted-- while the Prince and the
German savant contemplated the tableau in profound amazement.
Only Polina looked anything but perplexed or surprised.
Presently, however, she too turned as white as a sheet, and then
reddened to her temples. Truly the Grandmother's arrival seemed
to be a catastrophe for everybody! For my own part, I stood
looking from the Grandmother to the company, and back again,
while Mr. Astley, as usual, remained in the background, and
gazed calmly and decorously at the scene.
"Well, here I am--and instead of a telegram, too!" the
Grandmother at last ejaculated, to dissipate the silence.
"What? You were not expecting me?"
"Antonida Vassilievna! O my dearest mother! But how on earth
did you, did you--?" The mutterings of the unhappy General died
away.
I verily believe that if the Grandmother had held her tongue a
few seconds longer she would have had a stroke.
"How on earth did I WHAT?" she exclaimed. "Why, I just got
into the train and came here. What else is the railway meant
for? But you thought that I had turned up my toes and left my
property to the lot of you. Oh, I know ALL about the telegrams
which you have been dispatching. They must have cost you a
pretty sum, I should think, for telegrams are not sent from
abroad for nothing. Well, I picked up my heels, and came here.
Who is this Frenchman? Monsieur de Griers, I suppose?"
"Oui, madame," assented De Griers. "Et, croyez, je suis si
enchante! Votre sante--c'est un miracle vous voir ici. Une
surprise charmante!"
"Just so. 'Charmante!' I happen to know you as a mountebank,
and therefore trust you no more than THIS." She indicated her
little finger. "And who is THAT?" she went on, turning towards
Mlle. Blanche. Evidently the Frenchwoman looked so becoming in
her riding-habit, with her whip in her hand, that she had made
an impression upon the old lady. "Who is that woman there?"
"M
lle. de Cominges," I said. "And this is her mother, Madame de
Cominges. They also are staying in the hotel."
"Is the daughter married?" asked the old lady, without the
least semblance of ceremony.
"No," I replied as respectfully as possible, but under my
breath.
"Is she good company?"
I failed to understand the question.
"I mean, is she or is she not a bore? Can she speak Russian?
When this De Griers was in Moscow he soon learnt to make himself
understood."
I explained to the old lady that Mlle. Blanche had never visited
Russia.
"Bonjour, then," said Madame, with sudden brusquerie.
"Bonjour, madame," replied Mlle. Blanche with an elegant,
ceremonious bow as, under cover of an unwonted modesty, she
endeavoured to express, both in face and figure, her extreme
surprise at such strange behaviour on the part of the
Grandmother.
"How the woman sticks out her eyes at me! How she mows and
minces!" was the Grandmother's comment. Then she turned
suddenly to the General, and continued: "I have taken up my
abode here, so am going to be your next-door neighbour. Are you
glad to hear that, or are you not?"
"My dear mother, believe me when I say that I am. sincerely
delighted," returned the General, who had now, to a certain
extent, recovered his senses; and inasmuch as, when occasion
arose, he could speak with fluency, gravity, and a certain
effect, he set himself to be expansive in his remarks, and went
on: "We have been so dismayed and upset by the news of your
indisposition! We had received such hopeless telegrams about
you! Then suddenly--"
"Fibs, fibs!" interrupted the Grandmother.
"How on earth, too, did you come to decide upon the journey?"
continued the General, with raised voice as he hurried to
overlook the old lady's last remark. "Surely, at your age, and
in your present state of health, the thing is so unexpected that
our surprise is at least intelligible. However, I am glad to see
you (as indeed, are we all"--he said this with a dignified, yet
conciliatory, smile), "and will use my best endeavours to
render your stay here as pleasant as possible."
"Enough! All this is empty chatter. You are talking the usual
nonsense. I shall know quite well how to spend my time. How did
I come to undertake the journey, you ask? Well, is there
anything so very surprising about it? It was done quite simply.
What is every one going into ecstasies about?--How do you do,
Prascovia? What are YOU doing here?"
"And how are YOU, Grandmother?" replied Polina, as she
approached the old lady. "Were you long on the journey?".
"The most sensible question that I have yet been asked! Well,
you shall hear for yourself how it all happened. I lay and lay,
and was doctored and doctored,; until at last I drove the
physicians from me, and called in an apothecary from Nicolai who
had cured an old woman of a malady similar to my own--cured her
merely with a little hayseed. Well, he did me a great deal of
good, for on the third day I broke into a sweat, and was able to
leave my bed. Then my German doctors held another consultation,
put on their spectacles, and told me that if I would go abroad,
and take a course of the waters, the indisposition would finally
pass away. 'Why should it not?' I thought to myself. So I had
got things ready, and on the following day, a Friday, set out for
here. I occupied a special compartment in the train, and where
ever I had to change I found at the station bearers who were
ready to carry me for a few coppers. You have nice quarters
here," she went on as she glanced around the room. " But where
on earth did you get the money for them, my good sir? I thought
that everything of yours had been mortgaged? This Frenchman
alone must be your creditor for a good deal. Oh, I know all
about it, all about it."
"I-I am surprised at you, my dearest mother," said the General