"Are you going to see him on account...on account--"Paklin looked at Solomin who was smiling and at Markelov who sat enveloped in his gloom.
"Come, Aliosha, tell them--make some sort of Masonic sign..
tell them not to be on ceremony with me...I am one of you--of your party.""Golushkin is also one of us," Nejdanov observed.
"Why, that's splendid! It is still a long way off from three o'clock.Suppose we go and see my relatives!"What an idea! How can...
"Don't be alarmed, I take all the responsibility upon myself.
Imagine, it's an oasis! Neither politics, literature, nor anything modern ever penetrates there.The little house is such a squat one, such as one rarely sees nowadays; the very smell in it is antique; the people antique, the air antique...whatever you touch is antique, Catherine II.powder, crinolines, eighteenth century! And the host and hostess...imagine a husband and wife both very old, of the same age, without a wrinkle, chubby, round, neat little people, just like two poll-parrots; and kind to stupidity, to saintliness, there is no end to their kindness! Iam told that excessive kindness is often a sign of moral weakness....I cannot enter into these subtleties, but I know that my dear old people are goodness itself.They never had any children, the blessed ones! That is what they call them here in the town; blessed ones! They both dress alike, in a sort of loose striped gown, of such good material, also a rarity, not to be found nowadays.They are exactly like one another, except that one wears a mob-cap, the other a skull-cap, which is trimmed with the same kind of frill, only without ribbons.If it were not for these ribbons, you would not know one from the other, as the husband is clean-shaven.One is called Fomishka, the other Fimishka.I tell you one ought to pay to go and look at them!
They love one another in the most impossible way; and if you ever go to see them, they welcome you with open arms.And so gracious;they will show off all their little parlour tricks to amuse you.
But there is only one thing they can't stand, and that is smoking, not because they are nonconformists, but because it doesn't agree with them....Of course, nobody smoked in their time.However, to make up for that, they don't keep canaries--this bird was also very little known in their day.I'm sure you'll agree that that's a comfort at any rate! Well? Will you come?""I really don't know," Nejdanov began.
"Wait a moment! I forgot to tell you; their voices, too, are exactly alike; close your eyes and you can hardly tell which is speaking.Fomishka, perhaps, speaks just a little more expressively.You are about to enter on a great undertaking, my dear friends; may be on a terrible conflict...Why not, before plunging into the stormy deep, take a dip in to--""Stagnant water," Markelov put in.
"Stagnant if you like, but not putrid.There are ponds in the steppes which never get putrid, although there is no stream flowing through them, because they have springs at the bottom.My old people have their springs flowing in the depths of their hearts, as pure and as fresh as can be.The question is this: do you want to see how people lived a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago? If so, then make haste and follow me.Or soon the day, the hour will come--it's bound to be the same hour for them both--when my little parrots will be thrown off their little perches--and everything antique will end with them.The squat little house will tumble down and the place where it stood will be overgrown with that which, according to my grandmother, always grows over the spot where man's handiwork has been--that is, nettles, burdock, thistles, wormwood, and dock leaves.The very street will cease to be--other people will come and never will they see anything like it again, never, through all the long ages!""Well," Nejdanov exclaimed, "let us go at once!""With the greatest of pleasure," Solomin added."That sort of thing is not in my line, still it will be interesting, and if Mr.
Paklin really thinks that we shall not be putting anyone out by our visit...then...why not--""You may be at ease on that score!" Paklin exclaimed in his turn.
"They will be delighted to see you--and nothing more.You need not be on ceremony.I told you--they were blessed ones.We will get them to sing to us! Will you come too, Mr.Markelov?"Markelov shrugged his shoulders impatiently.
"You can hardly leave me here alone! We may as well go, Isuppose." The young people rose from the seat.
"What a forbidding individual that is you have with you," Paklin whispered to Nejdanov, indicating Markelov."The very image of John the Baptist eating locusts...only locusts, without the honey! But the other is splendid!" he added, with a nod of the head in Solomin's direction."What a delightful smile he has!
I've noticed that people smile like that only when they are far above others, but without knowing it themselves.""Are there really such people? " Nejdanov asked.
"They are scarce, but there are," Paklin replied.
