Here his thoughts became confused and sank, one after the other, into
the mist of sleep. In a few minutes the Golovliovo manor was steeped in
heavy slumber.
The next day the whole household was up early in the morning. Everybody
went to church except Petenka, who pleaded fatigue. They listened to
the mass and the requiem and returned home. Petenka, as usual, came
up to kiss his father's hand, but Yudushka extended it sidewise, and
everyone noticed that he did not even make the sign of the cross over
his son. Tea was served, then _kutya._ Yudushka was dismal, scraped
the floor with his feet, avoided conversation, sighed, folded his
hands incessantly as if for inner prayer, and never once looked at his
son. Petenka, for his part, bristled up and smoked one cigarette after
another. The strained situation of yesterday, so far from relaxing,
became still more acute. It made Arina Petrovna very uneasy, and she
decided to find out from Yevpraksia if anything had happened.
"Has anything happened," she asked, "that makes them look daggers at
each other like that?"
"How do I know? I don't interfere in their private affairs," the girl
snapped back.
"Maybe it's on account of you. Perhaps my grandson is running after you
too?"
"Why should he run after me? A little while ago he tried to catch hold
of me in the corridor, and Porfiry Vladimirych saw him."
"Oh. So that's what it is."
In fact, in spite of his critical situation, Petenka had not lost
a bit of his levity. His eyes riveted themselves on Yevpraksia's
powerful back and he determined to let her know about it. That was
the real reason he had not gone to church, hoping Yevpraksia, as the
housekeeper, would stay home. So, when the house had turned silent,
he had thrown his cloak over his shoulders and hidden himself in the
corridor. A minute or two passed, the door of the maids' room banged,
and Yevpraksia appeared at the other end of the corridor, carrying a
tray with a butter-cake to be served with the tea. Petenka struck her
between the shoulder-blades and said, "A wonderful back you've got!"
and that instant the dining-room door opened and his father appeared.
"You, scoundrel! If you came here to behave in a nasty way, I'll throw
you down the stairs!" Yudushka hissed venomously.
Naturally, Petenka vanished in a moment. He could not fail to realize
that the incident of the morning was scarcely likely to improve his
case. So he decided to be silent and postpone the explanation until the
morrow. Nevertheless he did nothing to allay his father's irritation;
on the contrary, he behaved in a foolish, unguarded manner, smoking
cigarettes incessantly, heedless of his father's energetically fanning
away the clouds of smoke that filled the room; and every now and
then making sheep's eyes at Yevpraksia, who smiled queerly under the
influence of his glances. Yudushka noticed that, too.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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