NEKHLUDOFF SEES THE GENERAL.
When they got to the top of the hill bank the driver turned to Nekhludoff.
"Which hotel am I to drive to?"
"Which is the best?"
"Nothing could be better than the Siberian, but Dukeoff's is also good."
"Drive to whichever you like."
The driver again seated himself sideways and drove faster. The town was like all such towns. The same kind of houses with attic windows and green roofs, the same kind of cathedral, the same kind of shops and stores in the principal street, and even the same kind of policemen. Only the houses were almost all of them wooden, and the streets were not paved. In one of the chief streets the driver stopped at the door of an hotel, but there was no room to be had, so he drove to another. And here Nekhludoff, after two months, found himself once again in surroundings such as he had been accustomed to as far as comfort and cleanliness went. Though the room he was shown to was simple enough, yet Nekhludoff felt greatly relieved to be there after two months of post-carts, country inns and halting stations. His first business was to clean himself of the lice which he had never been able to get thoroughly rid of after visiting a halting station. When he had unpacked he went to the Russian bath, after which he made himself fit to be seen in a town, put on a starched shirt, trousers that had got rather creased along the seams, a frock-coat and an overcoat, and drove to the Governor of the district. The hotel-keeper called an isvostchik, whose well-fed Kirghiz horse and vibrating trap soon brought Nekhludoff to the large porch of a big building, in front of which stood sentinels and a policeman. The house had a garden in front, and at the back, among the naked branches of aspen and birch trees, there grew thick and dark green pines and firs. The General was not well, and did not receive; but Nekhludoff asked the footman to hand in his card all the same, and the footman came back with a favourable reply.
"You are asked to come in."
The hall, the footman, the orderly, the staircase, the dancing-room, with its well-polished floor, were very much the same as in Petersburg, only more imposing and rather dirtier. Nekhludoff was shown into the cabinet.
The General, a bloated, potato-nosed man, with a sanguine disposition, large bumps on his forehead, bald head, and puffs under his eyes, sat wrapped in a Tartar silk dressing-gown smoking a cigarette and sipping his tea out of a tumbler in a silver holder.
"How do you do, sir? Excuse my dressing-gown; it is better so than if I had not received you at all," he said, pulling up his dressing-gown over his fat neck with its deep folds at the nape. "I am not quite well, and do not go out. What has brought you to our remote region?"
"I am accompanying a gang of prisoners, among whom there is a person closely connected with me, said Nekhludoff, and now I have come to see your Excellency partly in behalf of this person, and partly about another business." The General took a whiff and a sip of tea, put his cigarette into a malachite ashpan, with his narrow eyes fixed on Nekhludoff, listening seriously. He only interrupted him once to offer him a cigarette.
The General belonged to the learned type of military men who believed that liberal and humane views can be reconciled with their profession. But being by nature a kind and intelligent man, he soon felt the impossibility of such a reconciliation; so as not to feel the inner discord in which he was living, he gave himself up more and more to the habit of drinking, which is so widely spread among military men, and was now suffering from what doctors term alcoholism. He was imbued with alcohol, and if he drank any kind of liquor it made him tipsy. Yet strong drink was an absolute necessity to him, he could not live without it, so he was quite drunk every evening; but had grown so used to this state that he did not reel nor talk any special nonsense. And if he did talk nonsense, it was accepted as words of wisdom because of the important and high position which he occupied. Only in the morning, just at the time Nekhludoff came to see him, he was like a reasonable being, could understand what was said to him, and fulfil more or less aptly a proverb he was fond of repeating: "He's tipsy, but he's wise, so he's pleasant in two ways."
The higher authorities knew he was a drunkard, but he was more educated than the rest, though his education had stopped at the spot where drunkenness had got hold of him. He was bold, adroit, of imposing appearance, and showed tact even when tipsy; therefore, he was appointed, and was allowed to retain so public and responsible an office.
Nekhludoff told him that the person he was interested in was a woman, that she was sentenced, though innocent, and that a petition had been sent to the Emperor in her behalf.
"Yes, well?" said the General.
"I was promised in Petersburg that the news concerning her fate should be sent to me not later than this month and to this place-"
The General stretched his hand with its stumpy fingers towards the table, and rang a bell, still looking at Nekhludoff and puffing at his cigarette.
"So I would like to ask you that this woman should he allowed to remain here until the answer to her petition comes."
The footman, an orderly in uniform, came in.
"Ask if Anna Vasilievna is up," said the General to the orderly, "and bring some more tea." Then, turning to Nekhludoff, "Yes, and what else?"
"My other request concerns a political prisoner who is with the same gang."
"Dear me," said the General, with a significant shake of the head.
"He is seriously ill--dying, and he will probably he left here in the hospital, so one of the women prisoners would like to stay behind with him."
"She is no relation of his?"
"No, but she is willing to marry him if that will enable her to remain with him."
The General looked fixedly with twinkling eyes at his interlocutor, and, evidently with a wish to discomfit him, listened, smoking in silence.
When Nekhludoff had finished, the General took a book off the table, and, wetting his finger, quickly turned over the pages and found the statute relating to marriage.
"What is she sentenced to?" he asked, looking up from the book.
"She? To hard labour."
"Well, then, the position of one sentenced to that cannot be bettered by marriage."
"Yes, but--"
"Excuse me. Even if a free man should marry her, she would have to serve her term. The question in such cases is, whose is the heavier punishment, hers or his?"
"They are both sentenced to hard labour."
"Very well; so they are quits," said the General, with a laugh. "She's got what he has, only as he is sick he may be left behind, and of course what can be done to lighten his fate shall be done. But as for her, even if she did marry him, she could not remain behind."
"The Generaless is having her coffee," the footman announced.
The General nodded and continued:
"However, I shall think about it. What are their names? Put them down here."
Nekhludoff wrote down the names.
Nekhludoff's request to be allowed to see the dying man the General answered by saying, "Neither can I do that. Of course I do not suspect you, but you take an interest in him and in the others, and you have money, and here with us anything can be done with money. I have been told to put down bribery. But how can I put down bribery when everybody takes bribes? And the lower their rank the more ready they are to be bribed. How can one find it out across more than three thousand miles? There any official is a little Tsar, just as I am here," and he laughed. "You have in all likelihood been to see the political prisoners; you gave money and got permission to see them," he said, with a smile. "Is it not so?"
"Yes, it is."
"I quite understand that you had to do it. You pity a political prisoner and wish to see him. And the inspector or the convoy soldier accepts, because he has a salary of twice twenty copecks and a family, and he can't help accepting it. In his place and yours I should have acted in the same way as you and he did. But in my position I do not permit myself to swerve an inch from the letter of the law, just because I am a man, and might be influenced by pity. But I am a member of the executive, and I have been placed in a position of trust on certain conditions, and these conditions I must carry out. Well, so this business is finished. And now let us hear what is going on in the metropolis." And the General began questioning with the evident desire to hear the news and to show how very human he was.
马车上了斜坡,车夫转过身来问道:
"送您到哪一家旅馆哪?"
"哪一家好些?"
"最好的要数西伯利亚旅馆了.要不玖可夫旅馆也不错."
"那就随便吧."
马车夫又侧身坐上驭座,加速赶车.这个城市也同所有俄国城市一样,有带阁楼的房子和绿色的屋顶,有一座大教堂,有小铺子,大街上有大商店,甚至还有警察.只不过房屋几乎都是木头造的,街道没有铺石子.到了最热闹的街道,车夫就把车停在一家旅馆门口.可是这家旅馆没有空房间,只得到另一家.这另一家旅馆还有一个空房间.这样,聂赫留朵夫两个月来才第一次来到他生活惯的清洁舒服的环境里.尽管聂赫留朵夫租用的房间算不上奢侈,但在经历了驿车,客店和旅站的生活以后还是感到十分舒适.他得首先清除身上的虱子,因为自从他进出旅站以来,从来没有彻底清除过.他安置好行李,立刻到澡堂子洗澡,然后换上城里人装束,穿了浆硬的衬衫,压皱的长裤,礼服和大衣,出去拜会当地长官.旅馆看门人叫来一辆街头马车.那是一辆吱嘎作响的四轮马车,套着一匹膘肥力壮的吉尔吉斯高头大马.车夫把聂赫留朵夫送到一所富丽的大厦门前,门口站着几个卫兵和警察.宅前宅后都是花园,园里的白杨和桦树的叶子都已凋落,露出光秃的树枝,但其中夹杂着的枞树,松树和冷杉却枝叶茂密,苍绿可一爱一.
将军身一体不舒服,不见客.聂赫留朵夫还是要求听差把他的名片送进去.听差回来,带来满意的答复:
"将军有请."
前厅,听差,传令兵,楼梯和擦得亮光光的铺着镶木地板的客厅,都同彼得堡差不多,只是肮脏些,古板些.聂赫留朵夫被带到书房里.
将军脸孔浮肿,鼻子象土豆,额上有几个疙瘩,头顶光秃,眼睛底下挂着眼袋,是个多血质的人.他身穿一件鞑靼式绸袍,手拿一支香烟,坐在那里用一只带银托的玻璃杯喝茶.
"您好,阁下!我穿着睡袍见客,请不要见怪,不过总比不见好,"他说,拉起长袍盖住他那后颈上堆起几道胖肉的粗脖子."我身一体不太好,没有出门.什么风把您吹到我们这个偏僻的小城来了?"
"我是随一批犯人来的,其中有个人跟我关系密切,"聂赫留朵夫说,"我现在来求阁下帮忙,部分就是为了这个人,另外还有一件事."
将军深深地吸了一口烟,呷了一口茶,把香烟在孔雀石烟灰碟上揿灭了,用他那双狭小浮肿,炯炯有神的眼睛盯住聂赫留朵夫,一本正经地听着.他只打断聂赫留朵夫一次,问他要不要吸烟.
有些有学问的军人,往往认为自一由主义思想和人道主义思想可以同他们的职业调和.这位将军就是那种人.但他生一性一聪明善良,不久就发觉这是根本不可能调和的.为了解除经常出现的内心苦恼,他越来越沉湎于军人中盛行的酗酒恶一习一,如今在担任了三十五年军职以后,他就成了医生们所谓的嗜酒成癖者.他浑身细胞都渗透了酒一精一.他什么酒都喝,只要能觉得醺醺然就好.喝酒已成为他生活的绝对需要,不喝酒他就无法过日子.每天他到傍晚总是喝得烂醉,但这种状态他已一习一惯,因此走路不会摇晃,说话也不至于太不成体统.即使说出什么蠢话来,由于他地位显赫,人家反而会把它当作警世格言.只有在聂赫留朵夫找他的那种早晨时光,他才象个头脑清醒的人,能听懂人家的话,证实他那句心一爱一的谚语:"喝酒不糊涂,难能又可贵."最高当局知道他是个酒鬼,但他受的教育毕竟比别人多一点(尽管他的学识仍停留在酗酒成癖前的水平),而且为人胆大,灵活,威严,即使喝醉酒也不会丧失一身分,因此让他一直留在这个显要的位子上.
聂赫留朵夫告诉他,他所关心的人是个女的,她被错判了罪,为她的事已递了御状.
"哦!那又怎么样?"将军说.
"彼得堡方面答应我,有关这女人命运的消息至迟这个月通知我,通知书将寄到这里......"
将军依旧盯住聂赫留朵夫,伸出指头很短的手,按了按桌上的铃,然后嘴里喷着烟,特别响亮地清了清喉咙,又默默地听下去.
"因此我有个要求,如果可能的话,在没有收到那个状子的批复以前暂时把她留在此地."
这时候,一个穿军服的听差,勤务兵,走了进来.
"你去问一下,安娜·瓦西里耶夫娜起来了没有,"将军对勤务兵说,"另外再送点茶来.那么,您还有什么事吗?"将军问聂赫留朵夫.
"我还有一个要求,"聂赫留朵夫说,"牵涉到这批犯人中的一个政治犯."
"哦,是这么回事!"将军意味深长地点点头说."他病得很厉害,人都快死了.得把他留在这儿的医院里.
有一名女政治犯愿意留下来照顾他."
"她不是他的亲属吧?"
"不是,但只要能让她留下来照顾他,她准备嫁给他."
将军那双炯炯有神的眼睛一直盯着聂赫留朵夫,默默地听着,显然想用这种目光一逼一得对方局促不安.他不住地吸着烟.
等聂赫留朵夫讲完,他从桌上拿起一本书,迅速地一舔一湿手指,翻一动书页,找到有关结婚的条款,看了一遍.
"她判的是什么刑?"他抬起眼睛问.
"她判的是苦役."
"哦,要是判了这种刑,即使结了婚,也不能改善待遇."
"可是您要知道......"
"请您让我把话说完.即使一个自一由人同她结了婚,她照样得服满她的刑.这儿有个问题:谁判的刑更重,是他呢,还是她?"
"他们两人都判了苦役."
"嘿,那倒是门当户对了,"将军笑着说."他什么待遇,她也什么待遇.他有病可以留下来,"他继续说,"而且当然会设法尽量减轻他的痛苦.不过她即使嫁给他,也不能留在此地......"
"将军夫人正在喝咖啡,"勤务兵报告说.
将军点点头,继续说:
"不过再让我考虑一下.他们叫什么名字?请您写在这儿."
聂赫留朵夫写下他们的名字.
"这事我也无能为力,"将军听到聂赫留朵夫要求同病人见面,这样说."对您我当然不会怀疑,"他说,"您关心他,关心别的人,您又有钱.在我们这里确实钱能通神.上面要我彻底消灭贿赂.可如今大家都在接受贿赂,怎么消灭得了?官位越小,贿赂收得越多.唉,他在五千俄里外受贿,怎么查得出来?他在那边是个土皇帝,就象我在这儿一样,"他说到这里笑了起来."不过您大概常跟政治犯见面吧,您给了钱,他们就放您进去,是吗?"他笑嘻嘻地说."是这么回事吧?"
"是的,确实是这样."
"我明白您非这样做不可.您想见见那个政治犯.您可怜他.于是典狱长或者押解兵就接受贿赂,因为他的薪水只有那么几个钱,他得养家活口,非接受贿赂不可.我要是处在他的地位或者您的地位,我也会那么办的.可是就我的地位来说,我不能容许自己违反最严格的法律条文,要不我也是个人,也会动恻隐之心的.可我是个执法官,凭一定条件才得到信任,我不能辜负这种信任.好吧,这事就到此为止.那么,现在您给我讲讲,你们京城里有些什么新闻?"
于是将军就开始发问,同时自己也发表意见,分明既想听听新闻,又想显示自己的知识和人道主义一精一神.
