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

once more, and went close to the gray horse. ‘Get out of the way,’ I cried, ‘else I will kill you!’ He pricked up his ears, as much as to say, ‘I will not budge.⁠ ⁠… The deuce take you!’⁠ ⁠… Everything grew blurred before my eyes. My hair seemed to stand on end.⁠ ⁠… Swinging the axe, I struck him on the head with all my might.⁠ ⁠… He uttered a scream, and fell down dead.⁠ ⁠… I took him by the legs, dragged him towards his master, and then I put them side by side, near the edge of the road. ‘Stay there, will you!’

“ ‘Get in,’ I said to the lady. She helped the younger children first, but had not strength enough left to get the oldest one in.⁠ ⁠… ‘Will you help me?’ she said. As I went up to them, the boy put out his arms to me, and I was about to lift him up, when I remembered.⁠ ⁠… ‘Take the child away,’ I cried; ‘I am stained with blood, and am not fit to touch him!⁠ ⁠…’

“Finally they managed in some way to get into the telyéga, and I took the reins; but the horses snorted, and refused to stir. What was I to do? ‘Put the baby on the box,⁠ ⁠…’ I said. She placed the child beside me, holding him from behind. I gave the horses a blow with the reins, and they started on the run⁠ ⁠… just as you saw them a short time ago. They ran to escape the scent of blood.

“In the morning I brought the lady to the local police-quarters in the village, and there I told my story. ‘Arrest me, for I have killed a man.’ The lady told them just how it all happened. ‘This man saved my life,’ she said. They bound me with ropes, and she cried at the sight, poor dear! ‘Why do you bind him? He did a good deed; he saved my children from murderers!⁠ ⁠…’ She was a determined one! Seeing that no one heeded her words, she tried to untie the ropes with her own hands, but I stopped her. ‘Don’t do that,’ I said. ‘Don’t be anxious about this matter; it is no longer in the hands of man, but in the care of the Lord. Whether I am guilty or innocent, God and the world will judge.⁠ ⁠…’⁠—‘How can you be guilty?’ she said.⁠—‘It was my pride,’ I replied; ‘my guilt sprang from my pride. I thought I was better and wiser than most men, and I became intimate with those wretches because I was too proud to take advice, and through my own self-conceit I have become a murderer.⁠ ⁠…’ She yielded at last to my remonstrances, and desisted. When she came to bid me goodbye, in her compassion, she embraced me.⁠ ⁠… ‘My poor fellow!’ she said, and bade the children kiss me. ‘No, no!’ I exclaimed; ‘don’t stain the children; I am a murderer!⁠ ⁠…’ I feared lest the children might shrink from me. But she lifted the two younger ones in her arms, and the oldest one came of his own accord, and when he put his arms around my neck I broke down, and burst out sobbing. I could not control myself. Oh, what a kindhearted lady she was!⁠ ⁠… Maybe the Lord will forgive me, for her sake.⁠ ⁠…

“ ‘If there be any justice in this world,’ she said to me, ‘we will obtain it for you. I shall not forget you as long as I live!’ And she was as good as her word. You know what our courts are,⁠ ⁠… continual delays. I should have been in prison up to this day, had it not been for the efforts that she and her husband made to gain my release.”

“Then, you were imprisoned for some time?”

“Yes, for quite a while. And the want of money was the cause of it. After a time she sent me half a thousand rubles, and she and her husband wrote me a letter. As soon as it was known that money had come, my case began to move at once. The inspector appeared, and I was called to the office. Your case is before me,’ he said; ‘now, how much will you give me if I make it all right?’

“ ‘A fine official you are!’ I thought to myself; ‘and what is it that he wants to be paid for? Instead of judging me fairly, according to the law, for which I should be truly thankful, he asks for a bribe.⁠ ⁠…’

“ ‘I will give you nothing,’ I said; ‘judge me according to the law.⁠ ⁠…’

“He laughed. ‘I see that you are a fool! The law admits of two interpretations; but that has been shelved, and, meanwhile, I have the authority in my hands. It is in my power to put you wherever I please.’

“ ‘How so?’

“ ‘It is a simple matter. You appear to be a stupid fellow. Listen! You will say, in your defence, that you saved the lives of this lady and her children.’

“ ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘What then?’

“ ‘Very well; and this might be attributed to you as an act of virtue, for it is a good deed. That is one view of the case.’

“ ‘And what is the other one?’ I asked.

“ ‘The other one? Simply this. Consider your strength, see what a giant you are! The old man was like a child in your hands. When he suggested what you say, you should have politely tied his hands and brought him before the authorities; but, instead of doing this, you dealt him a blow which felled him to the ground. That was a lawless act, and one that you had no right to commit. You understand?’

“ ‘I do,’ I said. ‘I see that I can find no justice! But I will give you nothing! You are not the judge, and this is not impartial judgment!’

“He was angry.

“ ‘Very well, then!’ said he. ‘You may rot in jail while your suit is going on!’

“ ‘All right,’ I said; ‘but you need not threaten.’

“And so he had me locked