An hour later the sergeant brought me a pass, signed by Pugachev's scrawl, and called me to him on his behalf. I found him ready to hit the road. I can’t explain that, what i felt, parting with this awful man, izvergom, villain for everyone, but one of my. Why not tell the truth? At that moment, strong sympathy drew me to him. I fervently wanted to snatch him from the midst of villains, which he led, and save his head, while there was still time. Schwabrin and the people, crowding around us, prevented me from expressing everything, what filled my heart.
We parted amicably. Pugachev, seeing Akulina Pamfilovna in the crowd, shook his finger and blinked significantly; then sat down in the wagon, ordered to go to Byrd, and when the horses started to move, then he once again leaned out of the wagon and shouted to me: "Goodbye, your honor! Maybe I'll see you someday ". - We definitely saw him, but in what circumstances!..
Pugachev left. I stared at the white steppe for a long time, along which his troika rushed. The people dispersed. Shvabrin disappeared. I went back to the priest's house. Everything was ready for our departure; I didn't want to hesitate any longer. Our good was all packed into the old curfew. The coachmen instantly laid the horses. Marya Ivanovna went to say goodbye to the graves of her parents, buried behind the church. I wanted to see her off, but she asked me to leave her alone. After a few minutes she returned, shedding silent tears. The carriage was served. Father Gerasim and his wife went out on the porch. We sat down in the wagon three of us: Marya Ivanovna with Palasha and I. Savelich climbed the irradiation. "Goodbye, Marya Ivanovna, my dear! Farewell, Petr ANDREIĆ, our clear falcon! - said the good priest. - Happy journey, and God bless you both!»We went. At the window of the commandant's house, I saw Shvabrin standing. His face portrayed gloomy malice. I did not want to triumph over the destroyed enemy and turned my eyes to the other side. Finally we drove out of the fortress gates and left the Belogorsk fortress forever.
Chapter XIII Arrest
Do not be angry, sir: in my debt
I have to send you to jail now.
- Please, I'm ready; but I'm in such hope,
Let me explain the matter first. *
Knyazhnin.
Connected so inadvertently with a sweet girl, which in the morning I worried so painfully, I didn’t believe myself and imagined, that everything that happened to me was an empty dream. Marya Ivanovna looked pensively at me, then on the road and, it seemed, I have not yet had time to recover and come to my senses. We were silent. Our hearts were too tired. In an inconspicuous way, two hours later we found ourselves in a nearby fortress, also subject to Pugachev. Here we changed horses. By speed, with which they were harnessed, by the hasty obligingness of the brad Cossack, put by Pugachev as commandant, I saw, what, thanks to the talkativeness of the driver, who brought us, I was accepted as a court temporary worker.
We went further. It began to get dark. We approached the town, Where, according to the bearded commandant, there was a strong detachment, going to join the impostor. We were stopped by the sentries. Question: who is going? - the driver answered loudly: "The sovereign godfather with his mistress". Suddenly a crowd of hussars surrounded us with terrible abuse. "Come out, demon godfather! - said to me the mustache sergeant. - There will be a bath for you, and with your mistress!»
I left the wagon and demanded, to take me to their boss. Seeing an officer, the soldiers stopped fighting. The sergeant took me to the major. Savelich did not lag behind me, talking to myself: "So much for the sovereign godfather! From fire to fire ... Lord Vladyka! how will it all end?»The kibitka followed us at a step.
In five minutes we came to the house, brightly lit. The sergeant left me under guard and went to report to me. He immediately returned, declaring me, that his honor once I accept, and that he ordered to take me to jail, and bring the mistress to you.
- What does it mean? - I cried in a rage. - Is he crazy?
- I can not know, your honor, - answered the sergeant. - Only his honor ordered your honor to be taken to prison, and her honor is ordered to be brought to his high nobility, your honor!
I rushed to the porch. The guards didn't think to hold me back, and I ran straight into the room, where about six hussar officers played the bank. Major metal. What was my amazement, when, looking at him, I recognized Ivan Ivanovich Zurin, who once beat me in the Simbirsk tavern!
- Is it possible to? I cried. - Ivan Ivanovich! You're Lee?
"Yes, and, and, Petr ANDREIĆ! What are the fates? where are you from? awesome, brother. Would you like to put a card?
- Thankful. Order me better to give me an apartment.
- What is your apartment? Stay with me.
- Can not: I'm not alone.
- Well, give me a friend too.
- I'm not with a friend; I ... with a lady.
- With a lady! Where did you pick her up? Ege, brother! (With these words Zurin whistled so expressively, that everyone laughed, and I was completely embarrassed.)
- Well, - continued Zurin, - so be it. Will you flat. A pity ... We would feast on the old-fashioned ... Gay! small! But why are not here are some gossips Pugacheva? or she is stubborn? Tell her, so that she is not afraid: barin de lovely; will not offend, yes, well on her neck.
- What are you? - I said to Zurin. - What a gossip Pugachev? This is the daughter of the late Captain Mironov. I took her out of captivity and now I accompany her to the village of Father, where I will leave her.
- How! So it was reported to me about you now? Have mercy! what does that mean?
- After that I'll tell you everything. And now, for god's sake, calm the poor girl, which your hussars scared.
Zurin immediately ordered. He himself went out into the street to apologize to Marya Ivanovna in an involuntary misunderstanding and ordered the sergeant to give her the best apartment in the city. I stayed overnight with him.
We had supper, and, when we were alone, I told him my adventures. Zurin listened to me with great attention. When i finished, he shook his head and said: "All this, brother, Good; one thing is not good: why the hell are you getting married? I, honest officer, I don't want to deceive you: believe me, that marriage is a whim. Well, where do you mess with your wife and babysit the kids? Hey, spit. Obey me: untie you with the captain's daughter. The road to Simbirsk I cleaned and safe. Send her tomorrow Well one to your parents; and he stay in my detachment. In Orenburg there is no need to come back to you. Again you will fall into the hands of the rioters, so it is unlikely that you will get rid of them again. Thus, the love dope will pass by itself, and everything will be okay ".
Although I didn't quite agree with him, however I felt, that a debt of honor demanded my presence in the army of the empress. I decided to follow Zurin's advice; send Marya Ivanovna to the village and stay in his detachment.
Savelich came to undress me; I announced to him, so that next day he was ready to go on the road with Marya Ivanovna. He was stubborn. "What are you, sir? How can I leave you? Who will follow you? What will your parents say?»
Knowing the stubbornness of my uncle, I set out to convince him with affection and sincerity. “My friend, Archive Saveliель! - I said to him,. - Don't cancel, be my benefactor; I won't need a servant here, I will not be calm, if Marya Ivanovna goes on the road without you. Serving her, you serve me too, because I made up my mind, how soon will circumstances allow, to marry her".
Then Savelich clasped his hands with an air of indescribable amazement.. "Marry! He repeated. - The child wants to marry! And what will the father say, and mother what will think?»
- Agree, surely agree, - I answered, - when they know Marya Ivanovna. I hope and at you. Father and mother you believe: you will intercede for us, is not it?
The old man was touched. "Oh, you sir, Pyotr Andreyevich! - he answered. - Though early on you thought of getting married, but Marya Ivanovna is such a kind young lady, what a sin and miss the opportunity. Yin be your way! Take her, angel of god, and I will slavishly inform your parents, that such a bride does not need a dowry ".
I thanked Savelich and went to bed in the same room with Zurin. Hot and agitated, I got loose. Zurin talked to me willingly at first; but little by little his words became less frequent and incoherent; finally, instead of answering some request, he snored and whistled. I fell silent and soon followed suit.
The next morning I came to Marya Ivanovna. I told her my assumptions. She recognized their prudence and immediately agreed with me. Zurin's detachment was supposed to leave the city on the same day. There was nothing to delay. I immediately broke up with Marya Ivanovna, entrusting her to Savelich and giving her a letter to my parents. Marya Ivanovna burst into tears. "Farewell, Petr ANDREIĆ! She said in a low voice. - Will we have to see each other or not, God only knows it; but never forget you; until the grave, you alone will remain in my heart ". I couldn't answer anything. People surrounded us. I did not want to indulge in feelings with them, who worried me. Finally she left. I returned to Zurin sad and silent. He wanted me to cheer; I thought myself to dispel: we spent a day noisy and riotous evening and marched.
It was at the end of February. Winter, Difficult to military orders, took place, and our generals were preparing for friendly assistance. Pugachev still stood near Orenburg. Meanwhile, near his troops united and from all sides approached the villainous nest. Riot villages, at the sight of our troops, came into obedience; gangs of robbers everywhere fled from us, and everything foreshadowed a quick and safe ending.
Soon Prince Golitsyn, under the fortress Tatishcheva, defeated Pugachev *, scattered his crowds, liberated Orenburg and, it seemed, dealt a final and decisive blow to the riot. Zurin was at that time detached against a gang of rebellious Bashkirs, which scattered before, than we saw them. Spring laid siege to us in a Tatar village. The rivers spilled, and the roads became impassable. We consoled ourselves in our inaction with the thought of an early end to the boring and petty war with robbers and savages..
But Pugachev was not caught. He appeared at the Siberian factories, gathered new gangs there and again began to act villainously. Rumors of his success spread again. We learned about the destruction of Siberian fortresses. Soon the news of the capture of Kazan * and the imposter's campaign against Moscow alarmed the chiefs of the troops, carelessly dozing in the hope of the powerlessness of the despicable rebel. Zurin was ordered to cross the Volga.[7]
I will not describe our campaign and the end of the war. I will briefly say, that the disaster went to the extreme. We passed through villages, ravaged by rioters, and they involuntarily took away from the poor inhabitants, what did they manage to save. The board was terminated everywhere: landowners took refuge in the woods. Gangs of robbers have been atrocious everywhere; the chiefs of individual detachments arbitrarily punished and pardoned; the state of the entire vast region, where the fire raged, it was awful ... God forbid to see a Russian riot, senseless and merciless!
Pugachev fled, pursued by Ivan Ivanovich Michelson. Soon, we learned about the complete destruction of it.. Finally, Zurin received news of the capture of the impostor, and at the same time the command to stop. The war was over. Finally I could go to my parents! Thought to hug them, see Marya Ivanovna, from which I had no news, inspired me with delight. I was jumping like a child. Zurin laughed and spoke, shrugging shoulders: "Not, you won't get it! You get married - you will never be lost!»
But meanwhile a strange feeling was poisoning my joy: the thought of the villain, splattered with the blood of so many innocent victims, and about the execution, waiting for him, disturbs me unwillingly: "Emelya, Emelya! - I thought with annoyance;- Why do not you come across on the bayonet or not turned up a canister? Nothing better could you come up with ". What would you do? The thought of him was inseparable in me with the thought of mercy, given to me in one of the terrible moments of his life, and about the deliverance of my bride from the hands of the vile Shvabrin.
Zurin gave me leave. In a few days I was supposed to find myself again in the middle of my family, to see my Marya Ivanovna again ... Suddenly an unexpected thunderstorm struck me.
In a day, designated for departure, at the very moment, when I was preparing to set off on the road, Zurin entered my hut, holding paper, looking extremely concerned. Something stabbed me in the heart. I was afraid, without knowing what. He sent my batman and announced, what matters to me. "What?"I asked with concern.. "A little nuisance, - he answered, giving me paper. - Read, what have I got now ". I began to read it: it was a secret order to all individual chiefs to arrest me, wherever you get, and immediately send under guard to Kazan to the Investigative Commission, established in the Pugachev case.
The paper almost fell out of my hands. "Nothing to do! - said Zurin. - It is my duty to obey the order. probably, the rumor about your friendly travels with Pugachev somehow reached the government. I hope, that the case will not have any consequences and that you will justify yourself before the commission. Cheer up and go ". My conscience was clear; I was not afraid of the court; but the thought of postponing a minute of a sweet date, may be, for a few more months, frightened me. The cart was ready. Zurin said goodbye to me. They put me in a cart. Two hussars with sabers sat down with me, and I drove down the high road.
Chapter XIV The Court
World rumor - Sea wave.
Proverb.
I was sure, that my unauthorized absence from Orenburg was to blame. I could easily make excuses: equestrianism has not only never been prohibited, but still with all his might was encouraged. I could be accused of being overly passionate, and not in disobedience. But my friendly relations with Pugachev could be proven by many witnesses and must have seemed at least highly suspicious. All the way I thought about interrogations, I waiting, considered my answers and decided to declare the real truth before the court, believing this way of justification is the simplest, and together the most reliable.
I arrived in Kazan, devastated and burned. Down the streets, instead of houses, there were heaps of coals and smoky walls without roofs and windows sticking out. Such was the trace, left by Pugachev! I was brought to the fortress, surviving in the middle of a burnt city. The hussars handed me over to the guard officer. He ordered to call the blacksmith. They put a chain on my legs and chained it tightly. Then they took me to jail and left me alone in a cramped and dark kennel, with only bare walls and a window, enclosed by an iron grate.
This beginning did not bode well for me. However, I did not lose vigor, no hope. I resorted to the comfort of all the mourners and, having tasted the sweetness of prayer for the first time, poured out of pure, but a torn heart, fell asleep calmly, not caring, what will happen to me.
The other day, the prison guard woke me up, with announcement, that I am required to the commission. Two soldiers led me across the courtyard to the commandant's house, stopped in the hallway and let one into the inner rooms.
I entered a rather extensive hall. At the table, covered with papers, two people were sitting: elderly general, kind of austere and cold, and the young guard captain, about twenty, very nice looking, dexterous and free to handle. At the window at a special table sat a secretary with a feather behind his ear, leaning over the paper, ready to record my testimony. The interrogation began. I was asked about my name and rank. The general inquired, Am I not the son of Andrei Petrovich Grinev? And my answer sternly objected: "Pity, that such a respectable man has such an unworthy son!"I answered calmly, that whatever the charges, gravitating on me, I hope to dispel them with a frank explanation of the truth. He didn’t like my confidence. "You, brother, waster, - he said to me frowning; - but we have seen not such!»
Then the young man asked me: on what occasion and at what time did I enter the service of Pugachev and on what assignments I was employed by him?
I answered indignantly, what am I, as an officer and a nobleman, to join Pugachev in any service and could not accept any instructions from him.
- How is it, - objected my interrogator, - one nobleman and an officer spared by the impostor, while all his comrades are viciously killed? How does this very officer and nobleman feast with the rioters, accepts gifts from the main villain, fur coat, horse and half money? Why such a strange friendship happened and what is it based on, if not on treason, or at least on vile and criminal cowardice?
I was deeply offended by the words of the guard officer and eagerly began my excuse. I told, how did my acquaintance with Pugachev begin in the steppe, during a storm; how during the capture of the Belogorsk fortress he recognized me and spared me. I said, what a sheepskin coat and a horse, truth, I was not ashamed to accept from an impostor; but that I defended the Belogorsk fortress against the villain to the last extreme. Finally I referred to my general, who could testify my zeal during the disastrous Orenburg siege.
The stern old man took an open letter from the table and began to read it aloud:
“At the request of your Excellency regarding Warrant Officer Grinev, allegedly involved in the current turmoil and entered into intercourse with the villain, unlawful service and duty nasty oaths, I have the honor to explain: this warrant officer Grinev was in service in Orenburg from the beginning of October last 1773 years before 24 February this year, on which date he left the city and since then has not been to my team. And heard from the defectors, that he was with Pugachev in the settlement and went with him to the Belogorsk fortress, in which he was previously in the service; as for his behavior, then I can ... "
Then he interrupted his reading and told me sternly: "What will you now tell yourself to justify?»
I wanted to continue, how did you start, and explain my connection with Marya Ivanovna just as sincerely, like everything else. But suddenly felt an overwhelming disgust. It occurred to me, what if I call her, then the commission will demand her to answer; and the thought of entangling her name between the vile rumors of the villains and bringing her herself to a full-time bet with them - this terrible thought so struck me, that I got confused and confused.
My judges, beginners, it seemed, listen to my answers with some kindness, were once again prejudiced against me at the sight of my embarrassment. The guards officer demanded, to be put on a confrontation with the main informer. The general ordered to click yesterday's villain. I turned to the door briskly, waiting for his accuser to appear. A few minutes later the chains rattled, the door opened, and entered - Shvabrin. I was amazed at his change. He was terribly thin and pale. His hair, newly jet black, completely gray; long beard was disheveled. He repeated his accusations to the weak, but in a bold voice. According to him, I was detached from Pugachev in Orenburg as a spy; went to shootouts daily, in order to transmit written news of all, what was going on in the city; that finally passed on to the impostor, rode with him from fortress to fortress, trying in every possible way to destroy their comrades-traitors, to take their places and enjoy the awards, distributed from the imposter. I listened to him in silence and was pleased with one: the name of Marya Ivanovna was not uttered by the vile villain, why, that his pride suffered at the thought of that, who rejected him with contempt; why, that there was a spark of the same feeling in his heart, which kept me silent too, - how else, the name of the Belogorsk commandant's daughter was not pronounced in the presence of the commission. I became even more established in my intention, and when the judges asked: how can I refute the testimony of Shvabrin, i answered, that I stick to my first explanation and cannot say anything else to justify myself. The general ordered to take us out. We went out together. I calmly looked at Shvabrin, but didn't say a word to him. He chuckled a wicked grin and, lifting their chains, got ahead of me and quickened his steps. I was again taken to prison and since then I have not been required for interrogation..
I have not witnessed everything, what remains for me to notify the reader; but I've heard stories about that so often, that the smallest details have engraved in my memory and that it seems to me, as if I were immediately invisibly present.
Marya Ivanovna was received by my parents with that sincere cordiality, which distinguished the people of the old age. They saw the grace of God in that, that they had a chance to shelter and caress a poor orphan. They soon became sincerely attached to her., because it was impossible to recognize her and not love her. My love no longer seemed to my father as an empty whim; but mother just wanted that, so that her Petrusha marry the sweet captain's daughter.
