The Gambler Read online

 

  THE GAMBLER

  by FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY

  Translated by CJ Hogarth

  I

  At length I returned from two weeks leave of absence to find

  that my patrons had arrived three days ago in Roulettenberg. I

  received from them a welcome quite different to that which I had

  expected. The General eyed me coldly, greeted me in rather

  haughty fashion, and dismissed me to pay my respects to his

  sister. It was clear that from SOMEWHERE money had been

  acquired. I thought I could even detect a certain shamefacedness

  in the General's glance. Maria Philipovna, too, seemed

  distraught, and conversed with me with an air of detachment.

  Nevertheless, she took the money which I handed to her, counted

  it, and listened to what I had to tell. To luncheon there were

  expected that day a Monsieur Mezentsov, a French lady, and an

  Englishman; for, whenever money was in hand, a banquet in

  Muscovite style was always given. Polina Alexandrovna, on seeing

  me, inquired why I had been so long away. Then, without waiting

  for an answer, she departed. Evidently this was not mere

  accident, and I felt that I must throw some light upon matters.

  It was high time that I did so.

  I was assigned a small room on the fourth floor of the hotel

  (for you must know that I belonged to the General's suite). So

  far as I could see, the party had already gained some notoriety

  in the place, which had come to look upon the General as a

  Russian nobleman of great wealth. Indeed, even before luncheon

  he charged me, among other things, to get two thousand-franc

  notes changed for him at the hotel counter, which put us in a

  position to be thought millionaires at all events for a week!

  Later, I was about to take Mischa and Nadia for a walk when a

  summons reached me from the staircase that I must attend the

  General. He began by deigning to inquire of me where I was going

  to take the children; and as he did so, I could see that he

  failed to look me in the eyes. He WANTED to do so, but each time

  was met by me with such a fixed, disrespectful stare that he

  desisted in confusion. In pompous language, however, which

  jumbled one sentence into another, and at length grew

  disconnected, he gave me to understand that I was to lead the

  children altogether away from the Casino, and out into the park.

  Finally his anger exploded, and he added sharply:

  "I suppose you would like to take them to the Casino to play

  roulette? Well, excuse my speaking so plainly, but I know how

  addicted you are to gambling. Though I am not your mentor, nor

  wish to be, at least I have a right to require that you shall

  not actually compromise me."

  "I have no money for gambling," I quietly replied.

  "But you will soon be in receipt of some," retorted the

  General, reddening a little as he dived into his writing desk

  and applied himself to a memorandum book. From it he saw that he

  had 120 roubles of mine in his keeping.

  "Let us calculate," he went on. "We must translate these

  roubles into thalers. Here--take 100 thalers, as a round sum. The

  rest will be safe in my hands."

  In silence I took the money.

  "You must not be offended at what I say," he continued. "You

  are too touchy about these things. What I have said I have said

  merely as a warning. To do so is no more than my right."

  When returning home with the children before luncheon, I met a

  cavalcade of our party riding to view some ruins. Two splendid

  carriages, magnificently horsed, with Mlle. Blanche, Maria

  Philipovna, and Polina Alexandrovna in one of them, and the

  Frenchman, the Englishman, and the General in attendance on

  horseback! The passers-by stopped to stare at them, for the

  effect was splendid--the General could not have improved upon it.

  I calculated that, with the 4000 francs which I had brought with

  me, added to what my patrons seemed already to have acquired,

  the party must be in possession of at least 7000 or 8000

  francs--though that would be none too much for Mlle. Blanche,

  who, with her mother and the Frenchman, was also lodging in our

  hotel. The latter gentleman was called by the lacqueys

  "Monsieur le Comte," and Mlle. Blanche's mother was dubbed

  "Madame la Comtesse." Perhaps in very truth they WERE "Comte et

  Comtesse."

  I knew that "Monsieur le Comte" would take no notice of me

  when we met at dinner, as also that the General would not dream

  of introducing us, nor of recommending me to the "Comte."

  However, the latter had lived awhile in Russia, and knew that

  the person referred to as an "uchitel" is never looked upon as

  a bird of fine feather. Of course, strictly speaking, he knew

  me; but I was an uninvited guest at the luncheon--the General

  had forgotten to arrange otherwise, or I should have been

  dispatched to dine at the table d'hote. Nevertheless, I presented

  myself in such guise that the General looked at me with a touch

  of approval; and, though the good Maria Philipovna was for

  showing me my place, the fact of my having previously met the

  Englishman, Mr. Astley, saved me, and thenceforward I figured as

  one of the company.

  This strange Englishman I had met first in Prussia, where we had

  happened to sit vis-a-vis in a railway train in which I was

  travelling to overtake our party; while, later, I had run across

  him in France, and again in Switzerland--twice within the space

  of two weeks! To think, therefore, that I should suddenly

  encounter him again here, in Roulettenberg! Never in my life had

  I known a more retiring man, for he was shy to the pitch of

  imbecility, yet well aware of the fact (for he was no fool). At

  the same time, he was a gentle, amiable sort of an individual,

  and, even on our first encounter in Prussia I had contrived to

  draw him out, and he had told me that he had just been to the

  North Cape, and was now anxious to visit the fair at Nizhni

  Novgorod. How he had come to make the General's acquaintance I

  do not know, but, apparently, he was much struck with Polina.

  Also, he was delighted that I should sit next him at table, for

  he appeared to look upon me as his bosom friend.

  During the meal the Frenchman was in great feather: he was

  discursive and pompous to every one. In Moscow too, I

  remembered, he had blown a great many bubbles. Interminably he

  discoursed on finance and Russian politics, and though, at

  times, the General made feints to contradict him, he did so

  humbly, and as though wishing not wholly to lose sight of his

  own dignity.

  For myself, I was in a curious frame of mind. Even before

  luncheon was half finished I had asked myself the old, eternal

  question: "WHY do I continue to dance attendance upon the

  General, instead of having left him and
his family long ago?"

  Every now and then I would glance at Polina Alexandrovna, but

  she paid me no attention; until eventually I became so irritated

  that I decided to play the boor.

  First of all I suddenly, and for no reason whatever, plunged

  loudly and gratuitously into the general conversation. Above

  everything I wanted to pick a quarrel with the Frenchman; and,

  with that end in view I turned to the General, and exclaimed in

  an overbearing sort of way--indeed, I think that I actually

  interrupted him--that that summer it had been almost impossible

  for a Russian to dine anywhere at tables d'hote. The General

  bent upon me a glance of astonishment.

  "If one is a man of self-respect," I went on, "one risks abuse

  by so doing, and is forced to put up with insults of every kind.

  Both at Paris and on the Rhine, and even in Switzerland--there

  are so many Poles, with their sympathisers, the French, at these

  tables d'hote that one cannot get a word in edgeways if one

  happens only to be a Russian."

  This I said in French. The General eyed me doubtfully, for he

  did not know whether to be angry or merely to feel surprised

  that I should so far forget myself.

  "Of course, one always learns SOMETHING EVERYWHERE," said the

  Frenchman in a careless, contemptuous sort of tone.

  "In Paris, too, I had a dispute with a Pole," I continued,

  "and then with a French officer who supported him. After that a

  section of the Frenchmen present took my part. They did so as

  soon as I told them the story of how once I threatened to spit

  into Monsignor's coffee."

  "To spit into it?" the General inquired with grave disapproval

  in his tone, and a stare, of astonishment, while the Frenchman

  looked at me unbelievingly.

  "Just so," I replied. "You must know that, on one occasion,

  when, for two days, I had felt certain that at any moment I

  might have to depart for Rome on business, I repaired to the

  Embassy of the Holy See in Paris, to have my passport visaed.

  There I encountered a sacristan of about fifty, and a man dry

  and cold of mien. After listening politely, but with great

  reserve, to my account of myself, this sacristan asked me to

  wait a little. I was in a great hurry to depart, but of course I

  sat down, pulled out a copy of L'Opinion Nationale, and fell to

  reading an extraordinary piece of invective against Russia which

  it happened to contain. As I was thus engaged I heard some one

  enter an adjoining room and ask for Monsignor; after which I saw

  the sacristan make a low bow to the visitor, and then another

  bow as the visitor took his leave. I ventured to remind the good

  man of my own business also; whereupon, with an expression of,

  if anything, increased dryness, he again asked me to wait. Soon

  a third visitor arrived who, like myself, had come on business

  (he was an Austrian of some sort); and as soon as ever he had

  stated his errand he was conducted upstairs! This made me very

  angry. I rose, approached the sacristan, and told him that,

  since Monsignor was receiving callers, his lordship might just

  as well finish off my affair as well. Upon this the sacristan

  shrunk back in astonishment. It simply passed his understanding

  that any insignificant Russian should dare to compare himself

  with other visitors of Monsignor's! In a tone of the utmost

  effrontery, as though he were delighted to have a chance of

  insulting me, he looked me up and down, and then said: "Do you

  suppose that Monsignor is going to put aside his coffee for YOU?"

  But I only cried the louder: "Let me tell you that I am

  going to SPIT into that coffee! Yes, and if you do not get me my

  passport visaed this very minute, I shall take it to Monsignor

  myself."

  "What? While he is engaged with a Cardinal? screeched the

  sacristan, again shrinking back in horror. Then, rushing to the

  door, he spread out his arms as though he would rather die than

  let me enter.

  Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and a barbarian--"Je

  suis heretique et barbare," I said, "and that these archbishops

  and cardinals and monsignors, and the rest of them, meant

  nothing at all to me. In a word, I showed him that I was not

  going to give way. He looked at me with an air of infinite

  resentment. Then he snatched up my passport, and departed with

  it upstairs. A minute later the passport had been visaed! Here

  it is now, if you care to see it,"--and I pulled out the

  document, and exhibited the Roman visa.

  "But--" the General began.

  "What really saved you was the fact that you proclaimed

  yourself a heretic and a barbarian," remarked the Frenchman with

  a smile. "Cela n'etait pas si bete."

  "But is that how Russian subjects ought to be treated? Why,

  when they settle here they dare not utter even a word--they are

  ready even to deny the fact that they are Russians! At all

  events, at my hotel in Paris I received far more attention from

  the company after I had told them about the fracas with the

  sacristan. A fat Polish nobleman, who had been the most

  offensive of all who were present at the table d'hote, at once

  went upstairs, while some of the Frenchmen were simply disgusted

  when I told them that two years ago I had encountered a man at

  whom, in 1812, a French 'hero' fired for the mere fun of

  discharging his musket. That man was then a boy of ten and his

  family are still residing in Moscow."

  "Impossible!" the Frenchman spluttered. "No French soldier

  would fire at a child!"

  "Nevertheless the incident was as I say," I replied. "A very respected

  ex-captain told me the story, and I myself could see the scar left on

  his cheek."

  The Frenchman then began chattering volubly, and the General

  supported him; but I recommended the former to read, for

  example, extracts from the memoirs of General Perovski, who, in

  1812, was a prisoner in the hands of the French. Finally Maria

  Philipovna said something to interrupt the conversation. The

  General was furious with me for having started the altercation

  with the Frenchman. On the other hand, Mr. Astley seemed to take

  great pleasure in my brush with Monsieur, and, rising from the

  table, proposed that we should go and have a drink together. The

  same afternoon, at four o'clock, I went to have my customary

  talk with Polina Alexandrovna; and, the talk soon extended to a

  stroll. We entered the Park, and approached the Casino, where

  Polina seated herself upon a bench near the fountain, and sent

  Nadia away to a little distance to play with some other

  children. Mischa also I dispatched to play by the fountain, and

  in this fashion we--that is to say, Polina and myself--contrived

  to find ourselves alone.

  Of course, we began by talking on business matters. Polina

  seemed furious when I handed her only 700 gulden, for she had

  thought to receive from Paris, as the proceeds of the pledging

  of her diamonds, at least 2000 gulden, or even more.
r />   "Come what may, I MUST have money," she said. "And get it somehow

  I will--otherwise I shall be ruined."

  I asked her what had happened during my absence.

  "Nothing; except that two pieces of news have reached us from

  St. Petersburg. In the first place, my grandmother is very ill,

  and unlikely to last another couple of days. We had this from

  Timothy Petrovitch himself, and he is a reliable person. Every

  moment we are expecting to receive news of the end."

  "All of you are on the tiptoe of expectation? " I queried.

  "Of course--all of us, and every minute of the day. For a

  year-and-a-half now we have been looking for this."

  "Looking for it?"

  "Yes, looking for it. I am not her blood relation,

  you know--I am merely the General's step-daughter. Yet I am

  certain that the old lady has remembered me in her will."

  "Yes, I believe that you WILL come in for a good deal," I said

  with some assurance.

  "Yes, for she is fond of me. But how come you to think so?"

  I answered this question with another one. "That Marquis of

  yours," I said, "--is HE also familiar with your family secrets?"

  "And why are you yourself so interested in them?" was her retort

  as she eyed me with dry grimness.

  "Never mind. If I am not mistaken, the General has succeeded in

  borrowing money of the Marquis."

  "It may be so."

  "Is it likely that the Marquis would have lent the money if he

  had not known something or other about your grandmother? Did you

  notice, too, that three times during luncheon, when speaking of

  her, he called her 'La Baboulenka'? [Dear little Grandmother].

  What loving, friendly behaviour, to be sure!"

  "Yes, that is true. As soon as ever he learnt that I was likely

  to inherit something from her he began to pay me his addresses.

  I thought you ought to know that."

  "Then he has only just begun his courting? Why, I thought he

  had been doing so a long while!"

  "You KNOW he has not," retorted Polina angrily. "But where on

  earth did you pick up this Englishman?" She said this after a pause.

  "I KNEW you would ask about him!" Whereupon I told her of my

  previous encounters with Astley while travelling.

  "He is very shy," I said, "and susceptible. Also, he is in

  love with you.--"

  "Yes, he is in love with me," she replied.

  "And he is ten times richer than the Frenchman. In fact, what

  does the Frenchman possess? To me it seems at least doubtful

  that he possesses anything at all."

  "Oh, no, there is no doubt about it. He does possess

  some chateau or other. Last night the General told me that for

  certain. NOW are you satisfied? "

  "Nevertheless, in your place I should marry the Englishman."

  "And why?" asked Polina.

  "Because, though the Frenchman is the handsomer of the two, he

  is also the baser; whereas the Englishman is not only a man of

  honour, but ten times the wealthier of the pair."

  "Yes? But then the Frenchman is a marquis, and the cleverer of

  the two," remarked Polina imperturbably.

  "Is that so?" I repeated.

  "Yes; absolutely."

  Polina was not at all pleased at my questions; I could see that

  she was doing her best to irritate me with the brusquerie of her

  answers. But I took no notice of this.

  "It amuses me to see you grow angry," she continued. "However,

  inasmuch as I allow you to indulge in these questions and

  conjectures, you ought to pay me something for the privilege."

  "I consider that I have a perfect right to put these questions

  to you," was my calm retort; "for the reason that I am ready to

  pay for them, and also care little what becomes of me."

  Polina giggled.

  "Last time you told me--when on the Shlangenberg--that at a

  word from me you would be ready to jump down a thousand feet

  into the abyss. Some day I may remind you of that saying, in

  order to see if you will be as good as your word. Yes, you may