Oblomov - Ivan Goncharov [238]
But what did it mean? It meant that for over a year the income from Oblomovka, sent punctually by Stolz, went in payment of the IOU given by Oblomov to the landlady.
The ‘perfectly legal’ transaction of the landlady’s brother had been successful beyond expectation. At the first hint from Tarantyev at the ‘disgraceful affair’, Oblomov flushed and was thrown into confusion; then they came to an agreement, then all the three of them had a drink, and Oblomov signed an IOU which had to be met at the end of four years. A month later Agafya Matveyevna signed a similar IOU made out in her brother’s name, without suspecting what it was and why she was signing it. Her brother told her that it was a document relating to the ownership of the house and asked her to write: ‘This IOU so-and-so’ (rank, name, and surname) ‘has signed with her own hand.’ The only objection she raised was that she would have so much to write, and she asked her brother to make Vanya write instead, because he wrote beautifully now and she might make a mess of it. But her brother insisted most firmly that she should do it herself, and she wrote it crookedly and slantingly and in big letters. She never heard of it again.
In signing the IOU, Oblomov partly comforted himself by the thought that the money would benefit Agafya Matveyevna’s children, and on the following day, when his head had cleared, he recalled the affair with shame and tried to forget it, avoiding his landlady’s brother; when Tarantyev brought up the subject, he threatened to leave the house immediately and go to the country. Afterwards, when he received the money from his estate, the landlady’s brother came to see him and declared that he, Oblomov, might find it easier to start paying at once out of his income, for then the claim would be paid in three years, while if he waited for the time the payment fell due, his estate would have to be sold by auction, since Oblomov had not the necessary amount in cash and was not likely to have it. Oblomov realized into what clutches he had fallen when all the money sent by Stolz went to the payment of his debt and he had only a small sum left to live on. The landlady’s brother was in a hurry to finish this voluntary arrangement with his debtor in about two years, fearing that something or other might happen to upset his plans, and that was why Oblomov suddenly found himself in difficulties. At first he did not notice it very much owing to his habit of never knowing how much money he had in his pocket; but Ivan Matveyevich took it into his head to become engaged to the daughter of some corn-chandler, and he rented a flat and moved out. Agafya Matveyevna’s ambitious housekeeping plans were suddenly curtailed: sturgeon, snow-white veal, turkey made their appearance in another kitchen, in Ivan Matveyevich’s new flat. There in the evenings the rooms were lit up, and his future relations, his colleagues, and Tarantyev gathered; everything had found its way there. Agafya Matveyevna and Anisya were suddenly left with nothing to do, gaping in astonishment over their empty pots and pans. Agafya Matveyevna learnt for the first time that she possessed only a house, a kitchen garden, and chickens, and that neither cinnamon nor vanilla grew in her garden; she saw that the shopkeepers