Page:Dostoevsky - The Gambler and Other Stories, Collected Edition, 1914.djvu/190

 "Half an hour later the old count went into his wife'sboudoir.

Well, my love, should we not order the samovar for our welcome guest?' he said, patting his wife on the cheek."

Well, I ask you, my dear soul, what do you think of it after that? It's true, it's a little free, there's no disputing that, but still it is fine. What is fine is fine! And now, if you will allow me, I will copy you another little bit from the novel Yermak and Zuleika.

You must imagine, my precious, that the Cossack, Yermak, the fierce and savage conqueror of Siberia, is in love with the daughter of Kutchum, the Tsar of Siberia, the Princess Zuleika, who has been taken captive by him. An episode straight from the times of Ivan the Terrible, as you see. Here is the conversation of Yermak and Zuleika.

You love me, Zuleika! Oh, repeat it, repeat it!'

I love you, Yermak,' whispered Zuleika.

Heaven and earth, I thank you! I am happy! You have given me everything, everything, for which my turbulent soul has striven from my boyhood's years. So it was to this thou hast led me, my guiding star, so it was for this thou hast led me here, beyond the Belt of Stone! I will show to all the world my Zuleika, and men, the frantic monsters, will not dare to blame me! Ah, if they could understand the secret sufferings of her tender soul, if they could see a whole poem in a tear of my Zuleika! Oh, let me dry that tear with kisses, let me drink it up, that heavenly tear unearthly one!'

Yermak,' said Zuleika, 'the world is wicked, men are unjust! They will persecute us, they will condemn us, my sweet Yermak! What is the poor maiden, nurtured amid the snows of Siberia in her father's yurta to do in your cold, icy, soulless, selfish world? People will not understand me, my desired one, my beloved one.'

Then will the Cossack's sabre rise up hissing about them.

And now, what do you say to Yermak, Varinka, when he finds out that his Zuleika has been murdered? The blind old man, Kutchum, under cover of night steals into Yermak's tent in his absence and slays Zuleika, intending to deal a mortal blow at Yermak, who has robbed him of his sceptre and his crown.

Sweet is it to me to rasp the iron against the stone,' Rh