a motto was added to the family arms: in recto
virtus .
. . In reality, Glafira’s power
suffered no diminution; the giving out and buying
of stores still depended on her. The Alsatian
steward, brought from abroad, tried to fight it out
with her and lost his place, in spite of the master’s
protection. As for the management of the house,
and the administration of the estate, Glafira Petrovna
had undertaken these duties also; in spite of Ivan
Petrovitch’s intention,—more than
once expressed—to breathe new life into
this chaos, everything remained as before; only the
rent was in some places raised, the mistress was more
strict, and the peasants were forbidden to apply direct
to Ivan Petrovitch. The patriot had already a
great contempt for his fellow-countrymen. Ivan
Petrovitch’s system was applied in its full
force only to Fedya; his education really underwent
a “radical reformation;” his father devoted
himself exclusively to it.
Until Ivan Petrovitch’s return from abroad,
Fedya was, as already related, in the hands of Glafira
Petrovna. He was not eight years old when his
mother died; he did not see her every day, and loved
her passionately; the memory of her, of her pale and
gentle face, of her dejected looks and timid caresses,
was imprinted on his heart for ever; but he vaguely
understood her position in the house; he felt that
between him and her there existed a barrier which she
dared not and could not break down. He was shy
of his father, and, indeed, Ivan Petrovitch on his
side never caressed him; his grandfather sometimes
patted him on the head and gave him his hand to kiss,
but he thought him and called him a little fool.
After the death of Malanya Sergyevna, his aunt finally
got him under her control. Fedya was afraid of
her: he was afraid of her bright sharp eyes and
her harsh voice; he dared not utter a sound in her
presence; often, when he only moved a little in his
chair, she would! hiss out at once: “What
are you doing? sit still.” On Sundays,
after mass, he was allowed to play, that is to say,
he was given a thick book, a mysterious book, the
work of a certain Maimovitch-Ambodik, entitled “Symbols
and Emblems.” This book was a medley of
about a thousand mostly very enigmatical pictures,
and as many enigmatical interpretations of them in
five languages. Cupid—naked and very
puffy in the body—played a leading part
in these illustrations. In one of them, under
the heading, “Saffron and the Rainbow,”
the interpretation appended was: “Of this,
the influence is vast;” opposite another, entitled
“A heron, flying with a violet in his beak,”
stood the inscription: “To thee they are
all known.” “Cupid and the bear licking
his fur” was inscribed, “Little by little.”
Fedya used to ponder over these pictures; he knew
them all to the minutest details; some of them, always
the same ones, used to set him dreaming, and afforded
him food for meditation; he! knew no other amusements.
