The Enchanted Wanderer and Other Stories

“Is there anything here from the past that was prophetic and has come true?” asked Lanskoy.

The constable leafed through the familiar pages and read: “In her correspondence with Voltaire, the empress called him a second Chrysostom. For this incongruous comparison, our monarch’s life will not have a peaceful end.”

In the margin by this place it was noted: “Fulfilled with the grievous marriage of Pavel Petrovich.”²³

“Show me something else.”

Ryzhov again flipped through the pages and pointed to another place, which consisted only of the following: “An ukase issued on stump duties. Henceforth the cold will intensify in poor cottages. A special punishment is to be expected.” And again a note in the margin: “Fulfilled—see page such-and-such,” and on that page was reported the death of the baby daughter of the emperor Alexander I, with the note: “This followed the imposition of the tax on timber.”²⁴

“Excuse me,” asked Lanskoy, “but doesn’t timber constitute property?”

“Yes, but to heat the air in a dwelling constitutes a necessity.”

“Are you against property?”

“No, I only want people to be warm when it’s cold out. Timber shouldn’t go to those who are warm anyway.”

“And how do you judge about taxes: should taxes be imposed on people?”

“They should, and there should be an additional tax on everything that’s a luxury, so that the rich pay into the treasury for the poor.”

“Hm, hm! Have you drawn that teaching from somewhere?”

“From Holy Scripture and my conscience.”

“You haven’t been led to it by some other source from modern times?”

“All other sources are impure and filled with vain thinking.”

“Now tell me one last thing: how is it that you’re not afraid either of writing what you write, or of doing what you did to me in church?”

“What I write, I write for myself, and what I did in church had to be committed to protect the tsar’s authority.”

“Why the tsar’s?”

“So that everybody could see his servant showing respect for the people’s faith.”

“But I could have dealt with you quite differently than I’m doing.”

Ryzhov looked at him “with pity” and replied:

“And what harm can be done to a man who is able to live with his family on ten roubles a month?”

“I could have you arrested.”

“They eat better in jail.”

“You could be exiled for this insolence.”

“Where could I be exiled where I’d be worse off and where my God would abandon me? He’s with me everywhere, and besides Him I fear no one.”

The haughty neck bent, and Lanskoy’s left hand reached out to Ryzhov.

“Your character is honorable,” he said and told him to leave.

But apparently he still did not quite trust this biblical socialist and personally asked several simple people about him.

Twirling their hands in the air, they all answered in the same way:

“He’s this-that-and-the-other.”

None of them knew anything more definite about him.

On bidding him farewell, Lanskoy said to Ryzhov:

“I won’t forget you, and I’ll take your advice—I’ll read the Bible.”

“Only that’s not enough, you must also learn to live on ten roubles a month,” Ryzhov added.

But that advice Lanskoy did not promise to take, but only laughed, gave him his hand again, and said:

“An odd fellow, an odd fellow!”

Sergei Stepanovich left, and Ryzhov carried his Singlemind home and went on writing in it whatever poured out from his observations and prophetic inspiration.

XIII

Quite some time had gone by since Lanskoy’s visit, and the events that had accompanied his passing through Soligalich were already largely forgotten and rubbed out by the everyday hurly-burly, when suddenly out of the blue, a wonder of wonders not only for Soligalich but for all enlightened Russia, the inspected town received some absolutely incredible news, even impossible in an orderly system of government: Constable Ryzhov had been awarded the St. Vladimir’s Cross, which confers nobility²⁵—the first St. Vladimir’s Cross ever bestowed on a police constable.

The decoration itself arrived along with instructions for putting it on and wearing it according to the rules. Both the cross and the diploma were handed to Alexander Afanasyevich with an announcement that he had been vouchsafed this honor and this bestowal on the recommendation of Sergei Stepanovich Lanskoy.

Ryzhov took the decoration, looked at it, and said aloud:

“An odd fellow, an odd fellow!” and noted in the Singlemind next to Lanskoy’s name: “Will be made a count,” which, as we know, was fulfilled. As for wearing the decoration, Ryzhov had nothing to wear it on.