'Mumu, Mumu, come to me, come to your mistress,' said the lady; 'come,silly thing ... don't be afraid.'
'Come, Mumu, come to the mistress,' repeated the companions. 'Comealong!'
But Mumu looked round her uneasily, and did not stir.
'Bring her something to eat,' said the old lady. 'How stupid she is!she won't come to her mistress. What's she afraid of?'
'She's not used to your honour yet,' ventured one of the companions ina timid and conciliatory voice.
Stepan brought in a saucer of milk, and set it down before Mumu, butMumu would not even sniff at the milk, and still shivered, and lookedround as before.
'Ah, what a silly you are!' said the lady, and going up to her, shestooped down, and was about to stroke her, but Mumu turned her headabruptly, and showed her teeth. The lady hurriedly drew back herhand....
A momentary silence followed. Mumu gave a faint whine, as though shewould complain and apologise.... The old lady moved back, scowling.The dog's sudden movement had frightened her.
'Ah!' shrieked all the companions at once, 'she's not bitten you, hasshe? Heaven forbid! (Mumu had never bitten any one in her life.) Ah!ah!'
'Take her away,' said the old lady in a changed voice. 'Wretchedlittle dog! What a spiteful creature!'
And, turning round deliberately, she went towards her boudoir. Hercompanions looked timidly at one another, and were about to followher, but she stopped, stared coldly at them, and said, 'What's thatfor, pray? I've not called you,' and went out.
The companions waved their hands to Stepan in despair. He picked upMumu, and flung her promptly outside the door, just at Gerasim's feet,and half-an-hour later a profound stillness reigned in the house, andthe old lady sat on her sofa looking blacker than a thunder-cloud.
What trifles, if you think of it, will sometimes disturb any one!
Till evening the lady was out of humour; she did not talk to anyone, did not play cards, and passed a bad night. She fancied theeau-de-Cologne they gave her was not the same as she usually had, andthat her pillow smelt of soap, and she made the wardrobe-maid smellall the bed linen--in fact she was very upset and cross altogether.Next morning she ordered Gavrila to be summoned an hour earlier thanusual.
'Tell me, please,' she began, directly the latter, not without someinward trepidation, crossed the threshold of her boudoir, 'what dogwas that barking all night in our yard? It wouldn't let me sleep!'
'A dog, 'm ... what dog, 'm ... may be, the dumb man's dog, 'm,' hebrought out in a rather unsteady voice.
'I don't know whether it was the dumb man's or whose, but it wouldn'tlet me sleep. And I wonder what we have such a lot of dogs for! I wishto know. We have a yard dog, haven't we?'
'Oh yes, 'm, we have, 'm. Wolf, 'm.'
'Well, why more, what do we want more dogs for? It's simplyintroducing disorder. There's no one in control in the house--that'swhat it is. And what does the dumb man want with a dog? Who gave himleave to keep dogs in my yard? Yesterday I went to the window, andthere it was lying in the flower--garden; it had dragged in somenastiness it was gnawing, and my roses are planted there....'
The lady ceased.
'Let her be gone from to-day ... do you hear?'
'Yes, 'm.'
'To-day. Now go. I will send for you later for the report.'
Gavrila went away.
As he went through the drawing-room, the steward by way of maintainingorder moved a bell from one table to another; he stealthily blew hisduck-like nose in the hall, and went into the outer-hall. In theouter-hall, on a locker was Stepan asleep in the attitude of a slainwarrior in a battalion picture, his bare legs thrust out below thecoat which served him for a blanket. The steward gave him a shove,and whispered some instructions to him, to which Stepan respondedwith something between a yawn and a laugh. The steward went away,and Stepan got up, put on his coat and his boots, went out and stoodon the steps. Five minutes had not passed before Gerasim made hisappearance with a huge bundle of hewn logs on his back, accompanied bythe inseparable Mumu. (The lady had given orders that her bedroom andboudoir should be heated at times even in the summer.) Gerasim turnedsideways before the door, shoved it open with his shoulder, andstaggered into the house with his load. Mumu, as usual, stayed behindto wait for him. Then Stepan, seizing his chance, suddenly pounced onher, like a kite on a chicken, held her down to the ground, gatheredher up in his arms, and without even putting on his cap, ran out ofthe yard with her, got into the first fly he met, and galloped off toa market-place. There he soon found a purchaser, to whom he sold herfor a shilling, on condition that he would keep her for at least aweek tied up; then he returned at once. But before he got home, he gotoff the fly, and going right round the yard, jumped over the fenceinto the yard from a back street. He was afraid to go in at the gatefor fear of meeting Gerasim.
His anxiety was unnecessary, however; Gerasim was no longer in theyard. On coming out of the house he had at once missed Mumu. He neverremembered her failing to wait for his return, and began running upand down, looking for her, and calling her in his own way.... Herushed up to his garret, up to the hay-loft, ran out into the street,this way and that.... She was lost! He turned to the other serfs, withthe most despairing signs, questioned them about her, pointing to herheight from the ground, describing her with his hands.... Some of themreally did not know what had become of Mumu, and merely shook theirheads, others did know, and smiled to him for all response, while thesteward assumed an important air, and began scolding the coachmen.Then Gerasim ran right away out of the yard.
It was dark by the time he came back. From his worn-out look, hisunsteady walk, and his dusty clothes, it might be surmised that he hadbeen running over half Moscow. He stood still opposite the windows ofthe mistress' house, took a searching look at the steps where a groupof house-serfs were crowded together, turned away, and uttered oncemore his inarticulate 'Mumu.' Mumu did not answer. He went away.Every one looked after him, but no one smiled or said a word, and theinquisitive postillion Antipka reported next morning in the kitchenthat the dumb man had been groaning all night.
All the next day Gerasim did not show himself, so that they wereobliged to send the coachman Potap for water instead of him, at whichthe coachman Potap was anything but pleased. The lady asked Gavrilaif her orders had been carried out. Gavrila replied that they had.The next morning Gerasim came out of his garret, and went about hiswork. He came in to his dinner, ate it, and went out again, withouta greeting to any one. His face, which had always been lifeless, aswith all deaf-mutes, seemed now to be turned to stone. After dinner hewent out of the yard again, but not for long; he came back, and wentstraight up to the hay-loft. Night came on, a clear moonlight night.Gerasim lay breathing heavily, and incessantly turning from side toside. Suddenly he felt something pull at the skirt of his coat. Hestarted, but did not raise his head, and even shut his eyes tighter.But again there was a pull, stronger than before; he jumped up ...before him, with an end of string round her neck, was Mumu, twistingand turning. A prolonged cry of delight broke from his speechlessbreast; he caught up Mumu, and hugged her tight in his arms, shelicked his nose and eyes, and beard and moustache, all in oneinstant.... He stood a little, thought a minute, crept cautiously downfrom the hay-loft, looked round, and having satisfied himself that noone could see him, made his way successfully to his garret. Gerasimhad guessed before that his dog had not got lost by her own doing,that she must have been taken away by the mistress' orders; theservants had explained to him by signs that his Mumu had snapped ather, and he determined to take his own measures. First he fed Mumuwith a bit of bread, fondled her, and put her to bed, then he fell tomeditating, and spent the whole night long in meditating how he couldbest conceal her. At last he decided to leave her all day in thegarret, and only to come in now and then to see her, and to take herout at night. The hole in the door he stopped up effectually with hisold overcoat, and almost before it was light he was already in theyard, as though nothing had happened, even--innocent guile!--thesame ex
pression of melancholy on his face. It did not even occur tothe poor deaf man that Mumu would betray herself by her whining; inreality, every one in the house was soon aware that the dumb man's doghad come back, and was locked up in his garret, but from sympathy withhim and with her, and partly, perhaps, from dread of him, they did notlet him know that they had found out his secret. The steward scratchedhis hand, and gave a despairing wave of his hand, as much as to say,'Well, well, God have mercy on him! If only it doesn't come to themistress' ears!'
But the dumb man had never shown such energy as on that day; hecleaned and scraped the whole courtyard, pulled up every singleweed with his own hand, tugged up every stake in the fence of theflower-garden, to satisfy himself that they were strong enough, andunaided drove them in again; in fact, he toiled and laboured so thateven the old lady noticed his zeal. Twice in the course of the dayGerasim went stealthily in to see his prisoner when night came on, helay down to sleep with her in the garret, not in the hay-loft, andonly at two o'clock in the night he went out to take her a turn in thefresh air. After walking about the courtyard a good while with her,he was just turning back, when suddenly a rustle was heard behindthe fence on the side of the back street. Mumu pricked up her ears,growled--went up to the fence, sniffed, and gave vent to a loud shrillbark. Some drunkard had thought fit to take refuge under the fence forthe night. At that very time the old lady had just fallen asleep aftera prolonged fit of 'nervous agitation'; these fits of agitation alwaysovertook her after too hearty a supper. The sudden bark waked her up:her heart palpitated, and she felt faint. 'Girls, girls!' she moaned.'Girls!' The terrified maids ran into her bedroom. 'Oh, oh, I amdying!' she said, flinging her arms about in her agitation. 'Again,that dog again!... Oh, send for the doctor. They mean to be the deathof me.... The dog, the dog again! Oh!' And she let her head fall back,which always signified a swoon. They rushed for the doctor, thatis, for the household physician, Hariton. This doctor, whose wholequalification consisted in wearing soft-soled boots, knew how tofeel the pulse delicately. He used to sleep fourteen hours out ofthe twenty-four, but the rest of the time he was always sighing, andcontinually dosing the old lady with cherrybay drops. This doctor ranup at once, fumigated the room with burnt feathers, and when the oldlady opened her eyes, promptly offered her a wineglass of the halloweddrops on a silver tray. The old lady took them, but began again atonce in a tearful voice complaining of the dog, of Gavrila, and of herfate, declaring that she was a poor old woman, and that every one hadforsaken her, no one pitied her, every one wished her dead. Meanwhilethe luckless Mumu had gone on barking, while Gerasim tried in vain tocall her away from the fence. 'There ... there ... again,' groanedthe old lady, and once more she turned up the whites of her eyes. Thedoctor whispered to a maid, she rushed into the outer-hall, and shookStepan, he ran to wake Gavrila, Gavrila in a fury ordered the wholehousehold to get up.
Gerasim turned round, saw lights and shadows moving in the windows,and with an instinct of coming trouble in his heart, put Mumu underhis arm, ran into his garret, and locked himself in. A few minuteslater five men were banging at his door, but feeling the resistanceof the bolt, they stopped. Gavrila ran up in a fearful state of mind,and ordered them all to wait there and watch till morning. Then heflew off himself to the maids' quarter, and through an old companion,Liubov Liubimovna, with whose assistance he used to steal tea, sugar,and other groceries and to falsify the accounts, sent word to themistress that the dog had unhappily run back from somewhere, but thatto-morrow she should be killed, and would the mistress be so graciousas not to be angry and to overlook it. The old lady would probablynot have been so soon appeased, but the doctor had in his haste givenher fully forty drops instead of twelve. The strong dose of narcoticacted; in a quarter of an hour the old lady was in a sound andpeaceful sleep; while Gerasim was lying with a white face on his bed,holding Mumu's mouth tightly shut.
Next morning the lady woke up rather late. Gavrila was waitingtill she should be awake, to give the order for a final assault onGerasim's stronghold, while he prepared himself to face a fearfulstorm. But the storm did not come off. The old lady lay in bed andsent for the eldest of her dependent companions.
'Liubov Liubimovna,' she began in a subdued weak voice--she was fondof playing the part of an oppressed and forsaken victim; needless tosay, every one in the house was made extremely uncomfortable at suchtimes--'Liubov Liubimovna, you see my position go, my love to GavrilaAndreitch, and talk to him a little Can he really prize some wretchedcur above the repose--the very life--of his mistress? I could not bearto think so,' she added, with an expression of deep feeling. 'Go, mylove; be so good as to go to Gavrila Andreitch for me.'
Liubov Liubimovna went to Gavrila's room. What conversation passedbetween them is not known, but a short time after, a whole crowdof people was moving across the yard in the direction of Gerasim'sgarret. Gavrila walked in front, holding his cap on with his hand,though there was no wind. The footmen and cooks were close behind him;Uncle Tail was looking out of a window, giving instructions, that isto say, simply waving his hands. At the rear there was a crowd ofsmall boys skipping and hopping along; half of them were outsiderswho had run up. On the narrow staircase leading to the garret sat oneguard; at the door were standing two more with sticks. They began tomount the stairs, which they entirely blocked up. Gavrila went up tothe door, knocked with his fist, shouting, 'Open the door!'
A stifled bark was audible, but there was no answer.
'Open the door, I tell you,' he repeated.
'But, Gavrila Andreitch,' Stepan observed from below, 'he's deaf, youknow--he doesn't hear.'
They all laughed.
'What are we to do?' Gavrila rejoined from above.
'Why, there's a hole there in the door,' answered Stepan, 'so youshake the stick in there.'
Gavrila bent down.
'He's stuffed it up with a coat or something.'
'Well, you just push the coat in.'
At this moment a smothered bark was heard again.
'See, see--she speaks for herself,' was remarked in the crowd, andagain they laughed.
Gavrila scratched his ear.
'No, mate,' he responded at last, 'you can poke the coat in yourself,if you like.'
'All right, let me.'
And Stepan scrambled up, took the stick, pushed in the coat, and beganwaving the stick about in the opening, saying, 'Come out, come out!'as he did so. He was still waving the stick, when suddenly the doorof the garret was flung open; all the crowd flew pell-mell down thestairs instantly, Gavrila first of all. Uncle Tail locked the window.
'Come, come, come,' shouted Gavrila from the yard, 'mind what you'reabout.'
Gerasim stood without stirring in his doorway. The crowd gathered atthe foot of the stairs. Gerasim, with his arms akimbo, looked down atall these poor creatures in German coats; in his red peasant's shirthe looked like a giant before them. Gavrila took a step forward.
'Mind, mate,' said he, 'don't be insolent.'
And he began to explain to him by signs that the mistress insists onhaving his dog; that he must hand it over at once, or it would be theworse for him.
Gerasim looked at him, pointed to the dog, made a motion with his handround his neck, as though he were pulling a noose tight, and glancedwith a face of inquiry at the steward.
'Yes, yes,' the latter assented, nodding; 'yes, just so.'
Gerasim dropped his eyes, then all of a sudden roused himself andpointed to Mumu, who was all the while standing beside him, innocentlywagging her tail and pricking up her ears inquisitively. Then herepeated the strangling action round his neck and significantly struckhimself on the breast, as though announcing he would take upon himselfthe task of killing Mumu.
'But you'll deceive us,' Gavrila waved back in response.
Gerasim looked at him, smiled scornfully, struck himself again on thebreast, and slammed-to the door.
They all looked at one another in silence.
'What does that mean?' Gavrila began. 'He's loc
ked himself in.'
'Let him be, Gavrila Andreitch,' Stepan advised; 'he'll do it if he'spromised. He's like that, you know.... If he makes a promise, it's acertain thing. He's not like us others in that. The truth's the truthwith him. Yes, indeed.'
'Yes,' they all repeated, nodding their heads, 'yes--that's so--yes.'
Uncle Tail opened his window, and he too said, 'Yes.'
'Well, may be, we shall see,' responded Gavrila; 'any way, we won'ttake off the guard. Here you, Eroshka!' he added, addressing a poorfellow in a yellow nankeen coat, who considered himself to be agardener, 'what have you to do? Take a stick and sit here, and ifanything happens, run to me at once!'
Eroshka took a stick, and sat down on the bottom stair. The crowddispersed, all except a few inquisitive small boys, while Gavrila wenthome and sent word through Liubov Liubimovna to the mistress, thateverything had been done, while he sent a postillion for a policemanin case of need. The old lady tied a knot in her handkerchief,sprinkled some eau-de-Cologne on it, sniffed at it, and rubbed hertemples with it, drank some tea, and, being still under the influenceof the cherrybay drops, fell asleep again.