The fifth chapter of the dreary story

Author: Chekhov

Translation: Duan Yuechu

Chapter V

There are terrible nights, thunder and lightning, rain, wind, as is known in the people's "Sparrow Night." "I've had nights like this in my personal life.

I woke up after midnight and suddenly jumped out of bed. For some reason, it looked like I was going to die soon. Why does it look the way it does? My body didn't feel anything to indicate that I was going to die immediately, but my soul was oppressed by fear, as if I had suddenly seen a huge, menacing fire.

I quickly lit a lamp, drank some water directly from the decanter, and hurried to the open window. The weather outside was excellent. There was a smell of hay and some very sweet smells. I could see the spikes on the fence, the withered, sleepy trees by the windows, the dark stripes of the roads, the woodlands, a quiet, very bright moon in the sky, not a single cloud, a silence, no leaves fluttering. I felt like all the people were watching me, waiting for me to die...

It's incredible. I closed the window and ran to my bed. I touched my pulse, couldn't find it on my wrist, looked for it on my temples, then on my chin, then on my wrist, and everything I touched was cold, wet sweat. My breathing was getting faster and faster, my body was trembling, my heart was stirring; there was a feeling on my face and on my bald head, as if it were covered with cobwebs.

What am I going to do? No, it doesn't work to call my family. I can't imagine what my wife and Lisa would do when they came to me.

I hid my head under my pillow, closed my eyes, and waited... My back was cold, as if shrinking inwards, and I felt death creeping toward me from behind

"Kiwivi," I heard a sudden scream in the silent night, not knowing whether it was in my chest or on the street—"Kivi! Kivi"

"Oh my God, it's horrible!" I wanted to drink some more water, but when I opened my eyes, I was scared. I didn't dare look up. I was controlled by unexplained animal fears, and I couldn't understand why I was so scared: did I want to live, or was there something new and unknown waiting for me?

Upstairs, overhead, someone was groaning, someone was laughing. I listened. Soon after, footsteps came from the stairs. One man hurried down and then went up again. A minute later, there were footsteps downstairs again, and someone stopped in front of my door to listen.

"Who's there?" I cried.

The door opened. I boldly opened my eyes and saw my wife. Her face was pale and her eyes were full of tear marks.

"You haven't slept, Nikolai Stepanovich?" she asked.

"What is this?"

"For God's sake, go up and see Lisa, there's something wrong with her..."

"Very well, nice to see you," I murmured, and I was greatly relieved because it wasn't alone here. "Very good, this minute."

I followed my wife and heard what she said to me, so excited that I couldn't understand a word. Her candlelight flickered on the stairs, and our long shadows trembled. My feet were wrapped around the hem of my dressing gown, and I gasped for breath, feeling something chasing me from behind and trying to catch me.

"I'll die on the spot on the stairs," I thought. "On the spot..." But we went up the stairs, past the dim hallway with Italian-style windows, and into Lisa's room. She sat on the bed in her pajamas, hunched barefoot, moaning incessantly.

"Oh my God! Oh, my God! "She muttered to herself and squinted at our candle." I couldn't stand it anymore. ”

"Lisa, my boy," I said, "what's the matter?" ”

As soon as she saw me, she screamed and pounced on my neck.

"My kind dad! She sobbed, "My dear good daddy... My dear, my pet, I don't know what's wrong with me... I was in pain! “

She hugged me, kissed me, and talked about the sweet words she used to hear as a child.

"Calm down, my boy. "God is with you," I said. "There's no need to cry. I was also in pain. ”

I tried to cover her with a quilt and my wife fed her water, and we stumbled awkwardly on the side of her bed, my shoulder bumping against her while I wondered how we had bathed our children together.

"Save her, save her!" My wife begged me, "Do something!" ”

What can I do? There was nothing I could do. The girl had a burden in her heart, but I didn't understand it, I knew nothing about it, and could only mutter:

"Nothing, nothing; it will pass. Sleep, sleep! ”

To make matters worse, suddenly came the howling of a dog, first low and uncertain, and then very large, with two dogs howling together. I had never paid much attention to such a sign as a dog howl or an owl's scream, but that time it made my heart feel a sharp pain, and I hurried to explain the howl to myself.

"It's nonsense," I thought, "the effect of one organism on another. My nervous state of nervousness had infected my wife, Lisa, the dog – nothing more... This infection may explain why there is a premonition. “

After a while I went back to my room to prescribe medicine to Lisa, and I no longer thought I was going to die immediately, but there was a heavy, oppressive feeling in my soul that I really regretted that I hadn't died on the spot. I stood motionless in the middle of the room for a long time, wondering what medicine to prescribe to Lisa. But the moaning above my head stopped and I decided not to open anything, but I continued to stand there...

There was a dead silence, as some writers put it, "that voice echoed in the ear." "Time passed very slowly, and the moonlight on the windowsill did not move their position, as if frozen... It's not yet dawn.

But the door on the fence creaked, and someone sneaked in, folded a branch from a dead tree, and carefully used it to knock on the window.

"Nikolai Stepanovich," I heard a whisper, "Nikolai. Stepanovich. ”

I opened the window and thought I was dreaming. Under the window, a woman dressed in black, curled up against the wall, the moonlight shining on her, looking at me with wide eyes. Her face looked pale, stern, and odd in the moonlight, like marble, and her jaw was trembling.

"It's me," she said, "I... Katya. ”

In the moonlight, all the women's eyes looked big and dark, and all the men looked taller and paler, which was probably why I didn't recognize her in the first place.

"Forgive me!" She said. "I suddenly felt unbearable pain... I couldn't stand it anymore so I came here. There was a light in your window and I took the liberty of knocking on the door. Please say it again. Ah if you know how much pain I have! What were you doing? ”

"Nothing... I can't sleep. ”

I have a feeling that something is wrong, but that's.

Her eyebrows were raised, tears flashed in her eyes, and her familiar look of trust made her whole face light up, something I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Nikolai Stepanovich," she said pleadingly, holding out her hands to me, "my dear friend, I beg you, I beg you..." If you do not despise my affection and respect for you, agree to my request of you. “

"Take my money!"

"Got it! What a great idea! What do I want your money for? ”

"You'll go somewhere else for your health. You should think about your health. Will you accept it? What's the matter with Nikola Stepanovich, my dear, is it? ”

She looked greedily at my face and repeated, "Yes, will you accept it?" ”

"No, honey, I don't." I said, "Thank you. ”

She turned her back on me and kept her head down. Maybe it was my tone of rejection of her that made it impossible for me to talk about money anymore.

"Go home and sleep," I said, "we'll see you tomorrow." ”

"So you don't consider me a friend?" She asked in frustration.

"I didn't say that. But your money is useless to me now. ”

"I'm sorry..." she said, lowering her voice a full octave. I understand you... Thanks to people like me... A retired actress... But goodbye. ”

She was walking so fast that I didn't even have time to say goodbye to her.

The novel comes from: https://americanliterature.com/author/anton-chekhov/book/a-dreary-story/chapter-5