In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

82 | Pioneers Geverman’s face immediately darkened and he exclaimed with irritation, “What does she want from me? I don’t need her socks! Nor this pastry!” He made an abrupt movement to throw the pastry away. All of a sudden, remembering his own joke at Genesina’s house, he cried merrily, “To hell with it! Let’s eat the pastry and toast the health of the rescued hero and the downfall of the ‘black brigand.’ Let’s have some tea!” Mirkin took the samovar and started into the kitchen, but suddenly turned around and exclaimed, “What a terrible memory I have! I have to go to the Shifrins right now!” “Why do you have to go there?” “To collect money for the subscription. . . . Shifrina asked that I stop by this evening! Maybe you’ll come, too?” “I might, but I think she’s a flirt. . . . But her brother, I can’t stand! I can’t bear his aristocratic airs!” “I don’t like Shifrin much either,” replied Mirkin. “But there’s nothing I can do: I have to turn to them. . . .” 26 The Shifrins, brother and sister, were the children of a wealthy and strongly Russified contractor who’d moved from Moscow not long ago and settled in M. Among the democratic group of realists and freethinkers, they had the fatal reputation of being incorrigible aristocrats. Lev Shifrin, a gymnasium student in the eighth class, was considered cultured and well read, but he dressed impeccably, wore his hair parted down the middle, and spoke sarcastically about the sacred objects of realism. By so doing he’d alienated the comrades, even though he made an impression on them. He never kept company with the more democratic members , including Uler and the residents of the Ore Miklet, although he knew about them through his sister’s stories and often, through Mirkin, provided them with financial assistance. His sister, Liza, on the contrary, a nervous, romantically inclined girl, extremely bored in such an isolated town, made every effort to become close friends with the most democratic elements of the group; she gave them lessons and invited Pioneers | 83 them over as her guests. But nothing ever came of this. She could never strike the right tone: some sort of insincerity and false sentimentality were always present in her relations with them. The only person out of the whole group with whom she maintained more or less simple relations was Mirkin. And this occurred mainly because they were united by a common concern: something like an exchange of mutual assistance, organized by Liza Shifrina, with Mirkin’s initiative. Approaching the Shifrins’ house, Mirkin stood for a minute in indecision, until he rang the bell. When the maid opened the door, he didn’t ask any questions , merely hunched over and hurriedly proceeded to Shifrina’s room. After opening her door, he asked, “Are you home, Shifrina?” “Ah! It’s you, Mirkin? Please! Come in!” he heard the gleefully rapid exclamation of a woman’s nice voice. In addition to Shifrina, with her thin, lively, and somewhat birdlike face, Mirkin entered the room to find her fifteen-year-old sister and a tall, graceful blonde with an honest face and a thick braid. This face, with its large, somewhat indistinct Slavic features, couldn’t really be called beautiful, but it did reveal the imprint of strict simplicity and sincerity; that, together with the thoughtful, serious look of her large, lovely eyes, made her both attractive and interesting. The elder Shifrina, who’d been sitting with her legs tucked in on the sofa, jumped up to meet Mirkin and extended her hand. “I’m so glad you’ve come! I thought you wouldn’t!” she said quickly. “Are you acquainted?” she asked, glancing at her guest, and immediately remembered. “Ah, yes, I forgot that you’ve known each other a long time!” Mirkin had met Olga Yegorova—that was the guest’s name—only three times before at the Shifrins’; he’d spoken very little with her, but he remembered her and thought about her often with a nice, warm feeling, and regarded her as a very serious young woman. Yegorova approached Mirkin silently, looked deep into his eyes in a somewhat strange, very serious way, and shook his hand firmly in a masculine manner , pulling it slightly downward. Both her look and her handshake showed that she regarded Mirkin with great respect. Finding himself in the company of three young women, Mirkin blushed and...

Share