“Ulyana, hold your tongue, you dirty slut!”
Trofimitch repeated. “Whoever heard of
such a thing, talking away? Eh? The husband
is the head; and yet she talks! Petka, don’t
budge, I’ll kill you.... Here’s the
watch!”
Trofimitch held out the watch to me, but did not let
go of it.
He pondered, looked down, then fixed the same intent,
stupid stare upon me. Then all at once bawled
at the top of his voice:
“Where is it? Where’s your rouble?”
“Here it is, here it is,” I responded
hurriedly and I snatched the coin out of my pocket.
But he did not take it, he still stared at me.
I laid the rouble on the table. He suddenly brushed
it into the drawer, thrust the watch into my hand
and wheeling to the left with a loud stamp, he hissed
at his wife and his son:
“Get along, you low wretches!”
Ulyana muttered something, but I had already dashed
out into the yard and into the street. Thrusting
the watch to the very bottom of my pocket and clutching
it tightly in my hand, I hurried home.
I had regained the possession of my watch but it afforded
me no satisfaction whatever. I did not venture
to wear it, it was above all necessary to conceal
from David what I had done. What would he think
of me, of my lack of will? I could not even lock
up the luckless watch in a drawer: we had all
our drawers in common. I had to hide it, sometimes
on the top of the cupboard, sometimes under my mattress,
sometimes behind the stove.... And yet I did not
succeed in hoodwinking David.
One day I took the watch from under a plank in the
floor of our room and proceeded to rub the silver
case with an old chamois leather glove. David
had gone off somewhere in the town; I did not at all
expect him to be back quickly.... Suddenly he
was in the doorway.
I was so overcome that I almost dropped the watch,
and, utterly disconcerted, my face painfully flushing
crimson, I fell to fumbling about my waistcoat with
it, unable to find my pocket.
David looked at me and, as usual, smiled without speaking.
“What’s the matter?” he brought
out at last. “You imagined I didn’t
know you had your watch again? I saw it the very
day you brought it back.”
“I assure you,” I began, almost on the
point of tears....
David shrugged his shoulders.
“The watch is yours, you are free to do what
you like with it.”
Saying these cruel words, he went out.
I was overwhelmed with despair. This time there
could be no doubt!
David certainly despised me.
I could not leave it so.
“I will show him,” I thought, clenching
my teeth, and at once with a firm step I went into
the passage, found our page-boy, Yushka, and presented
him with the watch!
Yushka would have refused it, but I declared that
if he did not take the watch from me I would smash
it that very minute, trample it under foot, break
it to bits and throw it in the cesspool! He thought
a moment, giggled, and took the watch. I went
back to our room and seeing David reading there, I
told him what I had done.
