Short Fiction - Vladimir Korolenko (easy books to read in english txt) 📗

what I say; don’t go in yet!’⁠—‘What’s all this about!’ I thought to myself; but I turned and went up to the hayloft, where I stretched myself out on the hay. Finding it impossible to sleep, and remembering that I had left my axe by the brook, I decided to go after it, for I thought to myself that those men might discover it on their way home, and carry it off with them. As I passed by the windows, I looked in and saw that the room was full of men; the inspector himself was seated at a table, on which were spread food and brandy, together with paper and pens⁠ ⁠… in short, it was plainly to be seen that an investigation was going on; and seated on a bench near the wall I beheld Bezrúky himself. Good heavens! I was completely paralyzed! His hair was disarranged, his hands bound behind him, his eyes shining like two fiery coals.⁠ ⁠… I can hardly tell you how dreadful he seemed to me.⁠ ⁠…

“I drew back, and stood at a short distance from the window.⁠ ⁠… It was autumn; the night was dark and starry; I shall never forget it. I heard the splash of the river and the murmur of the forests as if in a dream. Trembling, I dropped on the grass by the riverbank. How long I had stayed there I cannot say when I heard someone coming along the forest-path, swinging a cane. He wore a white coat and hat, and I recognized the clerk, who lived four versts from there. He crossed the bridge and went straight to the hut, and I could not resist going up to the window to see what would happen next.⁠ ⁠… He entered, took off his cap, and looked around. Evidently, he did not know why he had been summoned. As he went up to the table, he said, in passing Bezrúky, ‘How do you do, Iván Alekséyitch!’ Such a glance as Bezrúky gave him! The proprietor pulled him by the sleeve and whispered something in his ear that seemed to surprise him. He went up to the inspector, who had already been imbibing rather freely, and who, rousing himself, looked up at him with his blurred eyes, and, after exchanging the usual greeting, asked, pointing at Bezrúky, ‘Do you know this man?’⁠—‘No,’ he replied, ‘I don’t remember ever seeing him before.’

“What could it all mean? The inspector certainly knew him well. He went on with his examination.

“ ‘Is this Iván Alekséyef, who belongs in this neighborhood, and is known under the name of Bezrúky?’

“ ‘No,’ replied the clerk; ‘that is not he.’

“The inspector picked up his pen, and, after writing something down, he proceeded to read it aloud. And I stood outside, by the window, wondering what it all meant; for he read from the paper that this old man, Iván Alekséyef, was not Iván Alekséyef; that neither the clerk nor the neighbors recognized him as such; and that he called himself Iván Ivánof, and showed his passport in proof of it. Wonderful thing! Of all these people who set their hands to the document, not one of them seemed to know him. It was certain that the witnesses had been carefully chosen for the occasion, for they were all debtors of Iván Zakhárof⁠—his slaves, in fact.

“After this business was transacted, the witnesses were allowed to depart.⁠ ⁠… The inspector had previously ordered that Bezrúky should be set at liberty, and Iván Zakhárof brought the money and handed it to the inspector, who, after counting it, put it in his pocket.

“ ‘Now, old man, you will have to leave these parts for the next three months! But if you choose to stay, remember that you are not to blame me.⁠ ⁠… Well, now get my horses ready.’

“I left the window and went up into the hayloft, expecting that someone would presently come to fetch the horses, and I did not want to be found lurking under the windows. As I lay on the hay, unable to go to sleep, I felt as if I were in a dream.⁠ ⁠… Somehow, I could not collect my thoughts. I heard the tinkling of the bell as the inspector drove away, saw that the lights were put out, and all became still in the house. I was just falling asleep when again I heard a bell, for it was a very still night, and one could hear sounds a long way off⁠ ⁠… it drew nearer and nearer.⁠ ⁠… Someone was coming towards the hut from the direction of the river. By and by the folks in the hut heard it, and a fire had been kindled by the time the troika drove up into the yard. A driver whom we knew had brought the travellers here, as a friendly return for the customers we had brought him.

“I thought that they would very likely spend the night here, and, if not, I knew that they seldom sent me out at night, for it was generally the master who drove⁠—or maybe his son, with the workman; so I was just falling asleep again, when I was roused by the voices of the master and Bezrúky, who were conversing in an undertone under the roof of the hay-shed.

“ ‘Well, what shall we do now?’ said the old man; ‘where is Kuzmá?’

“ ‘That’s the trouble; Iván has gone with the inspector, and as soon as Kuzmá saw the crowd he ran to the bushes, and he is not to be found.’

“ ‘Such a fool! I believe he is half-witted! And how about Feódor?’ the old man said⁠—meaning me, you understand.

“ ‘When Feódor came home from the mill tonight, he wanted to go into the hut, but I would not let him.’

“ ‘That’s well. He must have gone to sleep. You don’t think that he saw anything?’

“ ‘I suppose not, for he went directly to the hayloft.’

“ ‘That is good. We will try him tonight.’

“ ‘You had better look out! Do you dare to trust him?’ said Zakhárof.

“ ‘Yes; although he is a simple-minded lad, he has