In the town of Vladimir lived a young businessman named Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov. He had two shops and a house of his own.
Aksionov was a handsome man. He was full of fun, and very fond of singing. He used to drink too much, but after he married he gave up drinking, except now and then.
One summer Aksionov was going to the Nizhny Fair2, and as he said good-bye to his family, his wife said to him, “Ivan Dmitrich, do not start today; I have had a bad dream about you.”
Aksionov laughed, and said, “You are afraid that when I get to the fair I shall drink and get drunk.”
His wife replied: “I do not know what I am afraid of; all I know is that I had a bad dream. I dreamt you returned from the town, and when you took off your cap I saw that your hair was quite grey.”
Aksionov laughed. “That's a lucky sign,” said he. “See if I don't sell out all my goods, and bring you some presents from the fair.”
So he said good-bye to his family and drove away.
When he had travelled halfway, he met a businessman whom he knew, and they put up3 at the same inn for the night. They had some tea together, and then went to bed in adjoining rooms4.
It was not Aksionov's habit to sleep late, and, wishing to travel while it was still cool, he woke up his driver before dawn, and told him to put in the horses.
Then he paid his bill, and continued his journey.
When he had gone about twenty-five miles, he stopped for the horses to be fed.
Suddenly a troika5 drove up and an official got out of it, followed by two soldiers. He came to Aksionov and began to question him, asking him who he was and where he came from. Aksionov answered him fully, and said, “Won't you have some tea with me?” But the official went on questioning him and asking him. “Where did you spend last night? Were you alone, or with someone? Did you see him this morning? Why did you leave the inn before dawn?”
Aksionov wondered why he was asked all these questions, but he described all that had happened, and then added, “Why do you question me as if I were a thief or a robber? I am travelling on business of my own, and there is no need to question me.”
Then the official, calling the soldiers, said, “I am the police-officer of this district, and I question you because the businessman with whom you spent last night has been found with his throat cut6. We must search your things.”
Then the soldiers and the police officer searched Aksionov's luggage. Suddenly the officer drew a knife out of a bag, crying, “Whose knife is this?”
Aksionov looked, and seeing a bloodstained7 knife taken from his bag, he was frightened.
“How is it there is blood on this knife?”
Aksionov tried to answer, but could hardly say a word, and only stammered8: “I—don't know—not mine.” Then the police officer said: “This morning the businessman was found in bed with his throat cut. You are the only person who could have done it. The house was locked from inside, and no one else was there. Here is this bloodstained knife in your bag. Tell me how you killed him, and how much money you stole?”
Aksionov swore he had not done it; that he had not seen the businessman after they had had tea together; that he had no money except eight thousand rubles9 of his own, and that the knife was not his. But his voice was broken, his face pale, and he shook with fear as though he went guilty10.
The police officer ordered the soldiers to tie Aksionov and to put him in the cart. His money and goods were taken from him, and he was sent to the nearest town and put in prison there. Then the trial came on: he was charged with murdering a businessman from Ryazan11, and robbing him of twenty thousand rubles.
His wife was in despair12, and did not know what to believe. Her children were all quite small. Taking them all with her, she went to the town where her husband was in prison. At first she was not allowed to see him; but after much begging, she got permission from the officials, and was taken to him. When she saw her husband in prison-dress and in chains, shut up with thieves and criminals, she fell down, and did not come to her senses for a long time. Then she drew her children to her, and sat down near him. She told him of things at home, and asked about what had happened to him. He told her all, and she asked, “What can we do now?”
“We must petition13 the Czar14 not to let an innocent15 man perish16.”
His wife told him that she had sent a petition to the Czar, but it had not been accepted.
Aksionov did not reply, but only looked sad.
Then his wife said, “It was not for nothing I dreamt your hair had turned grey. You remember? You should not have started that day.” And passing her fingers through his hair, she said: “My dearest, tell your wife the truth; was it not you who did it?”
“So you, too, suspect17 me!” said Aksionov, and, hiding his face in his hands, he began to weep. Then a soldier came to say that the wife and children must go away; and Aksionov said good-bye to his family for the last time.
When they were gone, Aksionov thought of what had been said, and when he remembered that his wife also had suspected him, he said to himself, “It seems that only God can know the truth.”
And Aksionov wrote no more petitions; gave up all hope, and only prayed to God.
Aksionov was sentenced to be whipped18 and sent to the mines19. When the wounds made by the whip were healed, he was driven to Siberia20.
For twenty-six years Aksionov lived in Siberia. His hair turned white as snow, and his beard grew long, thin, and grey. All his mirth21 went; he walked slowly, spoke little, and never laughed, but he often prayed.
In prison Aksionov learnt to make boots, and earned a little money, with which he bought The Lives of the Saints22. He read this book when there was light enough in the prison; and on Sundays in the prison-church he read the lessons and sang in the choir23; for his voice was still good.
The prison authorities24 liked Aksionov for his meekness25, and his fellow-prisoners respected him: they called him “Grandfather,” and “The Saint.” When they wanted to petition the prison authorities about anything, they always made Aksionov their spokesman, and when there were quarrels among the prisoners they came to him to put things right, and to judge the matter.
No news reached Aksionov from his home, and he did not even know if his wife and children were still alive.
One day a newcomer got to the prison. In the evening the old prisoners collected round the new ones and asked them what towns or villages they came from, and what they were sentenced for. Among the rest Aksionov sat down near the newcomers, and listened with sad air to what was said.
One of the new newcomers, a tall, strong man of sixty, with a grey beard, was telling the others what he had been arrested for.
“Well, friends,” he said, “I only took a horse, and I was arrested and accused of stealing26. I said I had only taken it to get home quicker, and had then let it go; besides, the driver was a friend of mine. So I said, 'It's all right.' 'No,' said they, 'you stole it.' But how or where I stole it they could not say. I once really did something wrong, and ought by rights to have come here long ago, but that time I was not found out. Now I have been sent here for nothing at all... Eh, but it's lies I'm telling you; I've been to Siberia before, but I did not stay long.”
“Where are you from?” asked some one.
“From Vladimir. My family are of that town. My name is Makar.”
Aksionov raised his head and said: “Tell me, do you know anything of the businessman Aksionov of Vladimir? ”
“Of course I do. The Aksionovs are rich, though their father is in Siberia! As for you, Gran'dad, how did you come here?”
Aksionov did not like to speak of his bad luck. He only sighed, and said, “For my wrongs I have been in prison these twenty-six years.”
“What wrongs?” asked Makar.
But Aksionov said nothing, but his companions told the newcomers how Aksionov came to be in Siberia; how someone had killed a businessman, and had put the knife among Aksionov's things, and Aksionov had been unjustly put in prison.
When Makar heard this, he looked at Aksionov, and said with surprise, “Well, this is wonderful! Really wonderful! But how old you've grown, Gran'dad!”
The others asked him why he was so surprised, and where he had seen Aksionov before; but Makar did not reply. He only said: “It's wonderful that we should meet here!”
These words made Aksionov wonder whether this man knew who had killed the businessman; so he said, “Perhaps you have heard of that affair, or maybe you've seen me before?”
“But it's a long time ago, and I've forgotten what I heard.”
“Perhaps you heard who killed the businessman?” asked Aksionov.
Makar laughed, and replied: “It must have been him in whose bag the knife was found! If someone else hid the knife there, 'He's not a thief till he's caught,' as the saying goes. How could anyone put a knife into your bag while it was under your head? It would surely have woken you up.”
When Aksionov heard these words, he felt sure this was the man who had killed the businessman. He rose and went away. All that night Aksionov lay awake. He felt terribly unhappy, and all sorts of pictures rose in his mind. There was the picture of his wife as she was when he left her for the fair. He saw her as if she were present; her face and her eyes rose before him; he heard her speak and laugh. Then he saw his children, quite little, as they were at that time. And then he remembered himself as he used to be young and merry. He remembered how he sat playing the guitar in the inn where he was arrested, and how free from care27 he had been. He saw, in his mind, the place where he was whipped and the people standing around; the chains, all the twenty-six years of his prison life. The thought of it all made him so angry that he was ready to kill himself.
“And it's all that man's doing!” thought Aksionov. And his anger was so great against Makar that he longed for vengeance28, even if he himself should die for it. He kept repeating prayers all night, but could get no peace. During the day he did not go near Makar, nor even look at him.
Two weeks passed in this way. Aksionov could not sleep at night, and was so sad that he did not know what to do.
One night as he was walking about the prison he noticed some earth that came rolling out from under one of the shelves on which the prisoners slept. He stopped to see what it was. Suddenly Makar got out from under the shelf, and looked up at Aksionov with frightened face. Aksionov tried to pass without looking at him, but Makar seized his hand and told him that he had dug a hole under the wall, getting rid of29 the earth by putting it into his high-boots, and emptying it out every day on the road when the prisoners were driven to their work.
“Just keep quiet, old man, and you shall get out too. If you don't, I will kill you first.”
Aksionov shook with anger as he looked at his enemy. He drew his hand away, saying, “I have no wish to escape, and you have no need to kill me; you killed me long ago! As to30 telling of you—I may do so or not, as God shall direct.”
Next day, when the prisoners were led out to work, the soldiers noticed that one or other of the prisoners emptied some earth out of his boots. The prison was searched and the tunnel31 found. The Governor32 came and questioned all the prisoners to find out who had dug the hole. They all said they knew nothing of it. At last the Governor turned to Aksionov whom he knew to be a just man, and said:
“You are an honest old man; tell me, before God, who dug the hole?”
Aksionov's lips and hands trembled33, and for a long time he could not say a word. He thought,“Why should I help him who ruined34 my life? Let him pay for what I have suffered. But if I tell, they will probably beat him to death, and maybe I suspect him wrongly. And, after all, what good would it be to me?”
“Well, old man,”repeated the Governor, “tell me the truth: who has been digging under the wall?”
Aksionov looked at Makar, and said, “I cannot say, your honour. It is not God's will that I should tell! Do what you like with me.”
However much the Governor tried, Aksionov would say no more, and so the matter had to be left.
That night, when Aksionov was lying on his bed and just beginning to sleep, someone came quietly and sat down on his bed. It was Makar.
“What more do you want of me?” asked Aksionov. “Why have you come here?”
Makar was silent. So Aksionov sat up and said, “What do you want? Go away, or I will call the guard!”
Makar bent close over Aksionov, and whispered, “Aksionov, forgive me!”
“What for?” asked Aksionov.
“It was I who killed the businessman and hid the knife among your things. I meant to kill you too, but I heard a noise outside, so I hid the knife in your bag and got out of the window.”
Aksionov was silent, and did not know what to say. Makar got off the bed-shelf and knelt upon the ground35. “Aksionov,” said he, “forgive me! For the love of God, forgive me! I will confess36 that it was I who killed the businessman, and you will be set free and can go to your home.”
“It is easy for you to talk,” said Aksionov, “but I have suffered for you these twenty-six years. Where could I go to now? ... My wife is dead, and my children have forgotten me. I have nowhere to go...”
Makar did not rise, but beat his head on the floor. “Aksionov, forgive me!” he cried. “When they beat me with the whip it was not so hard to bear as it is to see you now ... yet you had pity on me, and did not tell. For Christ's sake forgive me!” And he began to weep.
When Aksionov heard him weeping he, too, began to weep. “God will forgive you!” said he. “Maybe I am a hundred times worse than you.” And at these words his heart grew light, and the longing for home37 left him. He no longer had any wish to leave the prison, but only hoped for his last hour to come.
In spite of what Aksionov had said, Makar confessed what he had done. But when the order to set him free came, Aksionov was already dead.
1. Leo Tolstoy 列夫·托尔斯泰(1828－1910),19世纪俄国伟大作家。
2． Nizhny Fair 尼兹尼集市
3． put up 宿夜
4． adjoining rooms 相邻的房间
adjoining adj． 邻接的，隔壁的
5． troika n． 三套马车
6．人们发现昨天晚上和你一起过夜的那个商人喉咙被人割断了。
7． bloodstained adj． 血迹斑斑的
8． stammer v． 结结巴巴地说
9． ruble n． （俄货币单位）卢布
10． as though he went guilty 好像犯了法似的。as though 同as if．．． guilty adj．有罪的
11． he was charged with murdering a businessman from Ryazan 他被控谋杀了一个来自梁赞的商人。charge v． 指控，控告。Ryazan 梁赞，俄国地名。
12． in despair 处于绝望中
13． petition v．请愿，请求
14． Czar n．（俄国）沙皇
15． innocent adj．无罪的，无辜的
16． perish v． 毁灭，死亡
17． suspect v． 怀疑
18． was sentenced to be whipped 被判受鞭刑
19． mine [main] n．矿井
20． Siberia n． 西伯利亚，沙皇时期流放犯人的地方
21． mirth n． 欢乐，欢笑
22． The Lives of the Saints 圣徒列传（书名）
23． choir n． 唱诗班，合唱队
24． authority [复] n． 当局
25． meekness n． 温顺，谦恭
26． accuse v． 指控，控告。
accuse sb． of sth． 指控某人犯有某罪
27． free from care 无忧无虑
28． he longed for vengeance 他渴望报仇。long v． 极想要，渴望
vengeance n．（正义的）报复，复仇
29． get rid of 除掉，丢掉
30． as to 关于
31． tunnel n． 隧道，地道
32． governor n． 典狱长
33． tremble n． 抖动，颤动
34． ruin v． 毁灭，毁掉
35． knelt upon the ground 跪在地上
36． confess v． 坦白, 承认
37． the longing for home 回家的渴望