THE GAMBLER
by FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
Translated by CJ Hogarth
I
At length I returned from two weeks leave of absence to find
that my patrons had arrived three days ago in Roulettenberg. I
received from them a welcome quite different to that which I had
expected. The General eyed me coldly, greeted me in rather
haughty fashion, and dismissed me to pay my respects to his
sister. It was clear that from SOMEWHERE money had been
acquired. I thought I could even detect a certain shamefacedness
in the General's glance. Maria Philipovna, too, seemed
distraught, and conversed with me with an air of detachment.
Nevertheless, she took the money which I handed to her, counted
it, and listened to what I had to tell. To luncheon there were
expected that day a Monsieur Mezentsov, a French lady, and an
Englishman; for, whenever money was in hand, a banquet in
Muscovite style was always given. Polina Alexandrovna, on seeing
me, inquired why I had been so long away. Then, without waiting
for an answer, she departed. Evidently this was not mere
accident, and I felt that I must throw some light upon matters.
It was high time that I did so.
I was assigned a small room on the fourth floor of the hotel
(for you must know that I belonged to the General's suite). So
far as I could see, the party had already gained some notoriety
in the place, which had come to look upon the General as a
Russian nobleman of great wealth. Indeed, even before luncheon
he charged me, among other things, to get two thousand-franc
notes changed for him at the hotel counter, which put us in a
position to be thought millionaires at all events for a week!
Later, I was about to take Mischa and Nadia for a walk when a
summons reached me from the staircase that I must attend the
General. He began by deigning to inquire of me where I was going
to take the children; and as he did so, I could see that he
failed to look me in the eyes. He WANTED to do so, but each time
was met by me with such a fixed, disrespectful stare that he
desisted in confusion. In pompous language, however, which
jumbled one sentence into another, and at length grew
disconnected, he gave me to understand that I was to lead the
children altogether away from the Casino, and out into the park.
Finally his anger exploded, and he added sharply:
"I suppose you would like to take them to the Casino to play
roulette? Well, excuse my speaking so plainly, but I know how
addicted you are to gambling. Though I am not your mentor, nor
wish to be, at least I have a right to require that you shall
not actually compromise me."
"I have no money for gambling," I quietly replied.
"But you will soon be in receipt of some," retorted the
General, reddening a little as he dived into his writing desk
and applied himself to a memorandum book. From it he saw that he
had 120 roubles of mine in his keeping.
"Let us calculate," he went on. "We must translate these
roubles into thalers. Here--take 100 thalers, as a round sum. The
rest will be safe in my hands."
In silence I took the money.
"You must not be offended at what I say," he continued. "You
are too touchy about these things. What I have said I have said
merely as a warning. To do so is no more than my right."
When returning home with the children before luncheon, I met a
cavalcade of our party riding to view some ruins. Two splendid
carriages, magnificently horsed, with Mlle. Blanche, Maria
Philipovna, and Polina Alexandrovna in one of them, and the
Frenchman, the Englishman, and the General in attendance on
horseback! The passers-by stopped to stare at them, for the
effect was splendid--the General could not have improved upon it.
I calculated that, with the 4000 francs which I had brought with
me, added to what my patrons seemed already to have acquired,
the party must be in possession of at least 7000 or 8000
francs--though that would be none too much for Mlle. Blanche,
who, with her mother and the Frenchman, was also lodging in our
hotel. The latter gentleman was called by the lacqueys
"Monsieur le Comte," and Mlle. Blanche's mother was dubbed
"Madame la Comtesse." Perhaps in very truth they WERE "Comte et
Comtesse."
I knew that "Monsieur le Comte" would take no notice of me
when we met at dinner, as also that the General would not dream
of introducing us, nor of recommending me to the "Comte."
However, the latter had lived awhile in Russia, and knew that
the person referred to as an "uchitel" is never looked upon as
a bird of fine feather. Of course, strictly speaking, he knew
me; but I was an uninvited guest at the luncheon--the General
had forgotten to arrange otherwise, or I should have been
dispatched to dine at the table d'hote. Nevertheless, I presented
myself in such guise that the General looked at me with a touch
of approval; and, though the good Maria Philipovna was for
showing me my place, the fact of my having previously met the
Englishman, Mr. Astley, saved me, and thenceforward I figured as
one of the company.
This strange Englishman I had met first in Prussia, where we had
happened to sit vis-a-vis in a railway train in which I was
travelling to overtake our party; while, later, I had run across
him in France, and again in Switzerland--twice within the space
of two weeks! To think, therefore, that I should suddenly
encounter him again here, in Roulettenberg! Never in my life had
I known a more retiring man, for he was shy to the pitch of
imbecility, yet well aware of the fact (for he was no fool). At
the same time, he was a gentle, amiable sort of an individual,
and, even on our first encounter in Prussia I had contrived to
draw him out, and he had told me that he had just been to the
North Cape, and was now anxious to visit the fair at Nizhni
Novgorod. How he had come to make the General's acquaintance I
do not know, but, apparently, he was much struck with Polina.
Also, he was delighted that I should sit next him at table, for
he appeared to look upon me as his bosom friend.
During the meal the Frenchman was in great feather: he was
discursive and pompous to every one. In Moscow too, I
remembered, he had blown a great many bubbles. Interminably he
discoursed on finance and Russian politics, and though, at
times, the General made feints to contradict him, he did so
humbly, and as though wishing not wholly to lose sight of his
own dignity.
For myself, I was in a curious frame of mind. Even before
luncheon was half finished I had asked myself the old, eternal
question: "WHY do I continue to dance attendance upon the
General, instead of having left him and
his family long ago?"
Every now and then I would glance at Polina Alexandrovna, but
she paid me no attention; until eventually I became so irritated
that I decided to play the boor.
First of all I suddenly, and for no reason whatever, plunged
loudly and gratuitously into the general conversation. Above
everything I wanted to pick a quarrel with the Frenchman; and,
with that end in view I turned to the General, and exclaimed in
an overbearing sort of way--indeed, I think that I actually
interrupted him--that that summer it had been almost impossible
for a Russian to dine anywhere at tables d'hote. The General
bent upon me a glance of astonishment.
"If one is a man of self-respect," I went on, "one risks abuse
by so doing, and is forced to put up with insults of every kind.
Both at Paris and on the Rhine, and even in Switzerland--there
are so many Poles, with their sympathisers, the French, at these
tables d'hote that one cannot get a word in edgeways if one
happens only to be a Russian."
This I said in French. The General eyed me doubtfully, for he
did not know whether to be angry or merely to feel surprised
that I should so far forget myself.
"Of course, one always learns SOMETHING EVERYWHERE," said the
Frenchman in a careless, contemptuous sort of tone.
"In Paris, too, I had a dispute with a Pole," I continued,
"and then with a French officer who supported him. After that a
section of the Frenchmen present took my part. They did so as
soon as I told them the story of how once I threatened to spit
into Monsignor's coffee."
"To spit into it?" the General inquired with grave disapproval
in his tone, and a stare, of astonishment, while the Frenchman
looked at me unbelievingly.
"Just so," I replied. "You must know that, on one occasion,
when, for two days, I had felt certain that at any moment I
might have to depart for Rome on business, I repaired to the
Embassy of the Holy See in Paris, to have my passport visaed.
There I encountered a sacristan of about fifty, and a man dry
and cold of mien. After listening politely, but with great
reserve, to my account of myself, this sacristan asked me to
sat down, pulled out a copy of L'Opinion Nationale, and fell to
reading an extraordinary piece of invective against Russia which
it happened to contain. As I was thus engaged I heard some one
enter an adjoining room and ask for Monsignor; after which I saw
the sacristan make a low bow to the visitor, and then another
bow as the visitor took his leave. I ventured to remind the good
man of my own business also; whereupon, with an expression of,
if anything, increased dryness, he again asked me to wait. Soon
a third visitor arrived who, like myself, had come on business
(he was an Austrian of some sort); and as soon as ever he had
stated his errand he was conducted upstairs! This made me very
angry. I rose, approached the sacristan, and told him that,
since Monsignor was receiving callers, his lordship might just
as well finish off my affair as well. Upon this the sacristan
shrunk back in astonishment. It simply passed his understanding
that any insignificant Russian should dare to compare himself
with other visitors of Monsignor's! In a tone of the utmost
effrontery, as though he were delighted to have a chance of
insulting me, he looked me up and down, and then said: "Do you
suppose that Monsignor is going to put aside his coffee for YOU?"
But I only cried the louder: "Let me tell you that I am
going to SPIT into that coffee! Yes, and if you do not get me my
passport visaed this very minute, I shall take it to Monsignor
myself."
"What? While he is engaged with a Cardinal? screeched the
sacristan, again shrinking back in horror. Then, rushing to the
door, he spread out his arms as though he would rather die than
let me enter.
Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and a barbarian--"Je
suis heretique et barbare," I said, "and that these archbishops
and cardinals and monsignors, and the rest of them, meant
nothing at all to me. In a word, I showed him that I was not
going to give way. He looked at me with an air of infinite
resentment. Then he snatched up my passport, and departed with
it upstairs. A minute later the passport had been visaed! Here
it is now, if you care to see it,"--and I pulled out the
document, and exhibited the Roman visa.
"But--" the General began.
"What really saved you was the fact that you proclaimed
yourself a heretic and a barbarian," remarked the Frenchman with
a smile. "Cela n'etait pas si bete."
"But is that how Russian subjects ought to be treated? Why,
when they settle here they dare not utter even a word--they are
ready even to deny the fact that they are Russians! At all
events, at my hotel in Paris I received far more attention from
the company after I had told them about the fracas with the
sacristan. A fat Polish nobleman, who had been the most
offensive of all who were present at the table d'hote, at once
went upstairs, while some of the Frenchmen were simply disgusted
when I told them that two years ago I had encountered a man at
whom, in 1812, a French 'hero' fired for the mere fun of
discharging his musket. That man was then a boy of ten and his
family are still residing in Moscow."
"Impossible!" the Frenchman spluttered. "No French soldier
would fire at a child!"
"Nevertheless the incident was as I say," I replied. "A very respected
ex-captain told me the story, and I myself could see the scar left on
his cheek."
The Frenchman then began chattering volubly, and the General
supported him; but I recommended the former to read, for
example, extracts from the memoirs of General Perovski, who, in
1812, was a prisoner in the hands of the French. Finally Maria
Philipovna said something to interrupt the conversation. The
General was furious with me for having started the altercation
with the Frenchman. On the other hand, Mr. Astley seemed to take
great pleasure in my brush with Monsieur, and, rising from the
table, proposed that we should go and have a drink together. The
same afternoon, at four o'clock, I went to have my customary
talk with Polina Alexandrovna; and, the talk soon extended to a
stroll. We entered the Park, and approached the Casino, where
Polina seated herself upon a bench near the fountain, and sent
Nadia away to a little distance to play with some other
children. Mischa also I dispatched to play by the fountain, and
in this fashion we--that is to say, Polina and myself--contrived
to find ourselves alone.
Of course, we began by talking on business matters. Polina
thought to receive from Paris, as the proceeds of the pledging
of her diamonds, at least 2000 gulden, or even more.
"Come what may, I MUST have money," she said. "And get it somehow
I will--otherwise I shall be ruined."
I asked her what had happened during my absence.
"Nothing; except that two pieces of news have reached us from
St. Petersburg. In the first place, my grandmother is very ill,
and unlikely to last another couple of days. We had this from
Timothy Petrovitch himself, and he is a reliable person. Every
moment we are expecting to receive news of the end."
"All of you are on the tiptoe of expectation? " I queried.
"Of course--all of us, and every minute of the day. For a
year-and-a-half now we have been looking for this."
"Looking for it?"
"Yes, looking for it. I am not her blood relation,
you know--I am merely the General's step-daughter. Yet I am
certain that the old lady has remembered me in her will."
"Yes, I believe that you WILL come in for a good deal," I said
with some assurance.
"Yes, for she is fond of me. But how come you to think so?"
I answered this question with another one. "That Marquis of
yours," I said, "--is HE also familiar with your family secrets?"
"And why are you yourself so interested in them?" was her retort
as she eyed me with dry grimness.
"Never mind. If I am not mistaken, the General has succeeded in
borrowing money of the Marquis."
"It may be so."
"Is it likely that the Marquis would have lent the money if he
had not known something or other about your grandmother? Did you
notice, too, that three times during luncheon, when speaking of
her, he called her 'La Baboulenka'? [Dear little Grandmother].
What loving, friendly behaviour, to be sure!"
"Yes, that is true. As soon as ever he learnt that I was likely
to inherit something from her he began to pay me his addresses.
I thought you ought to know that."
"Then he has only just begun his courting? Why, I thought he
had been doing so a long while!"
"You KNOW he has not," retorted Polina angrily. "But where on
earth did you pick up this Englishman?" She said this after a pause.
"I KNEW you would ask about him!" Whereupon I told her of my
previous encounters with Astley while travelling.
"He is very shy," I said, "and susceptible. Also, he is in
love with you.--"
"Yes, he is in love with me," she replied.
"And he is ten times richer than the Frenchman. In fact, what
does the Frenchman possess? To me it seems at least doubtful
that he possesses anything at all."
"Oh, no, there is no doubt about it. He does possess
some chateau or other. Last night the General told me that for
certain. NOW are you satisfied? "
"Nevertheless, in your place I should marry the Englishman."
"And why?" asked Polina.
"Because, though the Frenchman is the handsomer of the two, he
is also the baser; whereas the Englishman is not only a man of
honour, but ten times the wealthier of the pair."
"Yes? But then the Frenchman is a marquis, and the cleverer of
the two," remarked Polina imperturbably.
"Is that so?" I repeated.
"Yes; absolutely."
Polina was not at all pleased at my questions; I could see that
she was doing her best to irritate me with the brusquerie of her
answers. But I took no notice of this.
"It amuses me to see you grow angry," she continued. "However,
inasmuch as I allow you to indulge in these questions and
conjectures, you ought to pay me something for the privilege."
"I consider that I have a perfect right to put these questions
to you," was my calm retort; "for the reason that I am ready to
pay for them, and also care little what becomes of me."
Polina giggled.
"Last time you told me--when on the Shlangenberg--that at a
word from me you would be ready to jump down a thousand feet
into the abyss. Some day I may remind you of that saying, in
order to see if you will be as good as your word. Yes, you may