Униженные и оскорбленные | страница 31



All that was known was that he succeeded in buying an estate of four hundred serfs, as I have mentioned already.Известно было только, что он успел прикупить четыреста душ, о чем уже я упоминал.
It was many years later that he returned from abroad; he was of high rank in the service and at once received a very prominent post in Petersburg.Воротился он из-за границы уже много лет спустя, в важном чине, и немедленно занял в Петербурге весьма значительное место.
Rumours reached Ichmenyevka that he was about to make a second marriage which would connect him with a very wealthy, distinguished and powerful family.В Ихменевке носились слухи, что он вступает во второй брак и роднится с каким-то знатным, богатым и сильным домом.
"He is on the high road to greatness," said Nikolay Sergeyitch, rubbing his hands with pleasure."Смотрит в вельможи!" - говорил Николай Сергеич, потирая руки от удовольствия.
I was at Petersburg then, at the university, and I remember Nikolay Sergeyitch wrote on purpose to ask me to find out whether the report was true.Я был тогда в Петербурге, в университете, и помню, что Ихменев нарочно писал ко мне и просил меня справиться: справедливы ли слухи о браке?
He wrote to the prince, too, to solicit his interest for me, but the prince left the letter unanswered.Он писал тоже князю, прося у него для меня покровительства; но князь оставил письмо его без ответа.
I only knew that the prince's son, who had been brought up first in the count's household and afterwards at the lycee, had now finished his studies at the age of nineteen.Я знал только, что сын его, воспитывавшийся сначала у графа, а потом в лицее, окончил тогда курс наук девятнадцати лет от роду.
I wrote about this to Nikolay Sergeyitch, and told him, too, that the prince was very fond of his son, and spoilt him, and was already making plans for his future.Я написал об этом к Ихменевым, а также и о том, что князь очень любит своего сына, балует его, рассчитывает уже и теперь его будущность.
All this I learnt from fellowstudents who knew the young prince.Все это я узнал от товарищей-студентов, знакомых молодому князю.
It was about this time, that one fine morning Nikolay Sergeyitch received a letter from Prince Valkovsky that greatly astonished him.В это-то время Николай Сергеич в одно прекрасное утро получил от князя письмо, чрезвычайно его удивившее...
The prince, who had till now, as I have mentioned already, confined himself to dry business correspondence with Nikolay Sergeyitch, wrote to him now in the most minute, unreserved, and friendly way about his intimate affairs. He complained of his son, said that the boy was grieving him by his misconduct, that of course the pranks of such a lad were not to be taken too seriously (he was obviously trying to justify him), but that he had made up his mind to punish his son, to frighten him; in fact, to send him for some time into the country in charge of Nikolay Sergeyitch.