University of Virginia Library

10. X.

When Prince Alexis received his son's letter, an expression
of fierce, cruel delight crept over his face, and
there remained, horribly illuminating its haggard features.
The orders given for swimming horses in the Volga—one
of his summer diversions—were immediately countermanded;
he paced around the parapet of the castle-wall
until near midnight, followed by Sasha with a stone jug
of vodki. The latter had the useful habit, notwithstanding
his stupid face, of picking up the fragments of soliloquy
which the Prince dropped, and answering them as if

talking to himself. Thus he improved upon and perfected
many a hint of cruelty, and was too discreet ever
to dispute his master's claim to the invention.

Sasha, we may be sure, was busy with his devil's work
that night. The next morning the stewards and agents
of Prince Alexis, in castle, village, and field, were summoned
to his presence.

“Hark ye!” said he; “Borka and his trumpery wife
send me word that they will be here to-morrow. See to
it that every man, woman, and child, for ten versts out on
the Moskovskoi road, knows of their coming. Let it be
known that whoever uncovers his head before them shall
uncover his back for a hundred lashes. Whomsoever
they greet may bark like a dog, meeouw like a cat, or bray
like an ass, as much as he chooses; but if he speaks a
decent word, his tongue shall be silenced with stripes.
Whoever shall insult them has my pardon in advance.
Oh, let them come!—ay, let them come! Come they
may: but how they go away again”—

The Prince Alexis suddenly stopped, shook his head,
and walked up and down the hall, muttering to himself.
His eyes were bloodshot, and sparkled with a strange
light. What the stewards had heard was plain enough;
but that something more terrible than insult was yet held in
reserve they did not doubt. It was safe, therefore, not
only to fulfil, but to exceed, the letter of their instructions.
Before night the whole population were acquainted
with their duties; and an unusual mood of expectancy,
not unmixed with brutish glee, fell upon Kinesma.

By the middle of the next forenoon, Boris and his
wife, seated in the open kibitka, drawn by post-horses,
reached the boundaries of the estate, a few versts from
the village. They were both silent and slightly pale at
first, but now began to exchange mechanical remarks, to
divert each other's thoughts from the coming reception.

“Here are the fields of Kinesma at last!” exclaimed
Prince Boris. “We shall see the church and castle from
the top of that hill in the distance. And there is Peter,
my playmate, herding the cattle! Peter! Good-day,
brotherkin!”

Peter looked, saw the carriage close upon him, and,
after a moment of hesitation, let his arms drop stiffly by
his sides, and began howling like a mastiff by moonlight.
Helena laughed heartily at this singular response to the
greeting; but Boris, after the first astonishment was over,
looked terrified.

“That was done by order,” said he, with a bitter
smile. “The old bear stretches his claws out. Dare
you try his hug?”

“I do not fear,” she answered; her face was calm.

Every serf they passed obeyed the order of Prince
Alexis according to his own idea of disrespect. One
turned his back; another made contemptuous grimaces
and noises; another sang a vulgar song; another spat
upon the ground or held his nostrils. Nowhere was a
cap raised, or the stealthy welcome of a friendly glance
given.

The Princess Helena met these insults with a calm,

proud indifference. Boris felt them more keenly; for the
fields and hills were prospectively his property, and so
also were the brutish peasants. It was a form of chastisement
which he had never before experienced, and
knew not how to resist. The affront of an entire community
was an offence against which he felt himself to be
helpless.

As they approached the town, the demonstrations of
insolence were redoubled. About two hundred boys, between
the ages of ten and fourteen, awaited them on the
hill below the church, forming themselves into files on
either side of the road. These imps had been instructed
to stick out their tongues in derision, and howl, as the
carriage passed between them. At the entrance of the
long main street of Kinesma, they were obliged to pass
under a mock triumphal arch, hung with dead dogs and
drowned cats; and from this point the reception assumed
an outrageous character. Howls, hootings, and hisses
were heard on all sides; bouquets of nettles and vile
weeds were flung to them; even wreaths of spoiled fish
dropped from the windows. The women were the most
eager and uproarious in this carnival of insult: they beat
their saucepans, threw pails of dirty water upon the
horses, pelted the coachman with rotten cabbages, and
filled the air with screeching and foul words.

It was impossible to pass through this ordeal with indifference.
Boris, finding that his kindly greetings were
thrown away,—that even his old acquaintances in the
bazaar howled like the rest,—sat with head bowed and

despair in his heart. The beautiful eyes of Helena were
heavy with tears; but she no longer trembled, for she
knew the crisis was yet to come.

As the kibitka slowly climbed the hill on its way to
the castle-gate, Prince Alexis, who had heard and enjoyed
the noises in the village from a balcony on the western
tower, made his appearance on the head of the steps
which led from the court-yard to the state apartments.
The dreaded whip was in his hand; his eyes seemed
about to start from their sockets, in their wild, eager,
hungry gaze; the veins stood out like cords on his forehead;
and his lips, twitching involuntarily, revealed the
glare of his set teeth. A frightened hush filled the castle.
Some of the domestics were on their knees; others watching,
pale and breathless, from the windows: for all felt
that a greater storm than they had ever experienced was
about to burst. Sasha and the castle-steward had taken
the wise precaution to summon a physician and a priest,
provided with the utensils for extreme unction. Both of
these persons had been smuggled in through a rear entrance,
and were kept concealed until their services should
be required.

The noise of wheels was heard outside the gate, which
stood invitingly open. Prince Alexis clutched his whip
with iron fingers, and unconsciously took the attitude of a
wild beast about to spring from its ambush. Now the
hard clatter of hoofs and the rumbling of wheels echoed
from the archway, and the kibitka rolled into the court-yard.
It stopped near the foot of the grand staircase.

Boris, who sat upon the farther side, rose to alight, in
order to hand down his wife; but no sooner had he made
a movement than Prince Alexis, with lifted whip and
face flashing fire, rushed down the steps. Helena rose,
threw back her veil, let her mantle (which Boris had
grasped, in his anxiety to restrain her action,) fall behind
her, and stepped upon the pavement.

Prince Alexis had already reached the last step, and
but a few feet separated them. He stopped as if struck
by lightning,—his body still retaining, in every limb, the
impress of motion. The whip was in his uplifted fist;
one foot was on the pavement of the court, and the other
upon the edge of the last step; his head was bent
forward, his mouth open, and his eyes fastened upon the
Princess Helena's face.

She, too, stood motionless, a form of simple and perfect
grace, and met his gaze with soft, imploring, yet
courageous and trustful eyes. The women who watched
the scene from the galleries above always declared that
an invisible saint stood beside her in that moment, and
surrounded her with a dazzling glory. The few moments
during which the suspense of a hundred hearts hung upon
those encountering eyes seemed an eternity.

Prince Alexis did not move, but he began to tremble
from head to foot. His fingers relaxed, and the whip fell
ringing upon the pavement. The wild fire of his eyes
changed from wrath into an ecstasy as intense, and a
piercing cry of mingled wonder, admiration and delight
burst from his throat. At that cry Boris rushed forward

and knelt at his feet. Helena, clasping her fairest hands,
sank beside her husband, with upturned face, as if seeking
the old man's eyes, and perfect the miracle she had
wrought.

The sight of that sweet face, so near his own, tamed
the last lurking ferocity of the beast. His tears burst
forth in a shower; he lifted and embraced the Princess,
kissing her brow, her cheeks, her chin, and her hands,
calling her his darling daughter, his little white dove, his
lambkin.

“And, father, my Boris, too!” said she.

The pure liquid voice sent thrills of exquisite delight
through his whole frame. He embraced and blessed Boris,
and then, throwing an arm around each, held them to
his breast, and wept passionately upon their heads. By
this time the whole castle overflowed with weeping. Tears
fell from every window and gallery; they hissed upon the
hot saucepans of the cooks; they moistened the oats in
the manger; they took the starch out of the ladies'
ruffles, and weakened the wine in the goblets of the
guests. Insult was changed into tenderness in a moment.
Those who had barked or stuck out their tongues at Boris
rushed up to kiss his boots; a thousand terms of endearment
were showered upon him.

Still clasping his children to his breast, Prince Alexis
mounted the steps with them. At the top he turned,
cleared his throat, husky from sobbing, and shouted—

“A feast! a feast for all Kinesma! Let there be rivers
of vodki, wine and hydromel! Proclaim it everywhere

that my dear son Boris and my dear daughter Helena
have arrived, and whoever fails to welcome them to Kinesma
shall be punished with a hundred stripes! Off, ye
scoundrels, ye vagabonds, and spread the news!”

It was not an hour before the whole sweep of the
circling hills resounded with the clang of bells, the blare
of horns, and the songs and shouts of the rejoicing multitude.
The triumphal arch of unsavory animals was
whirled into the Volga; all signs of the recent reception
vanished like magic; festive fir-boughs adorned the houses,
and the gardens and window-pots were stripped of their
choicest flowers to make wreaths of welcome. The two
hundred boys, not old enough to comprehend this sudden
bouleversement of sentiment, did not immediately desist
from sticking out their tongues: whereupon they were
dismissed with a box on the ear. By the middle of the
afternoon all Kinesma was eating, drinking, and singing;
and every song was sung, and every glass emptied in
honor of the dear, good Prince Boris, and the dear, beautiful
Princess Helena. By night all Kinesma was drunk.