The Man Who Was Afraid [29]
as though intoxicating him--he would rise and, straightening his shoulders, inhale the perfumed air with a full chest; but sometimes these same visions brought to him a feeling of sadness--he felt like crying, but ashamed of shedding tears, he restrained himself and never wept in silence. Or suddenly his heart began to tremble with the desire to express his gratitude to God, to bow before Him; the words of the prayer flashed through his memory, and beholding the sky, he whispered them for a long time, one by one, and his heart grew lighter, breathing into prayer the excess of his power.
The father patiently and carefully introduced him into commercial circles, took him on the Exchange, told him about his contracts and enterprises, about his co-associates, described to him how they had made their way, what fortunes they now possessed, what natures were theirs. Foma soon mastered it, regarding everything seriously and thoughtfully.
"Our bud is blooming into a blood-red cup-rose!" Mayakin smiled, winking to Ignat.
And yet, even when Foma was nineteen years old, there was something childish in him, something naive which distinguished him from the boys of his age. They were laughing at him, considering him stupid; he kept away from them, offended by their relations toward him. As for his father and Mayakin, who were watching him vigilantly, this uncertainty of Foma's character inspired them with serious apprehensions.
"I cannot understand him!" Ignat would say with contrite heart. " He does not lead a dissipated life, he does not seem to run after the women, treats me and you with respect, listens to everything--he is more like a pretty girl than a fellow! And yet he does not seem to be stupid!"
"No, there's nothing particularly stupid about him," said Mayakin.
"It looks as though he were waiting for something--as though some kind of shroud were covering his eyes. His late mother groped on earth in the same way.
"Just look, there's Afrikanka Smolin, but two years older than my boy--what a man he has become! That is, it is difficult to tell whether he is his father's head or his father his. He wants to go to some factory to study. He swears:
"'Eh,' says he, 'papa, you have not taught me enough.' Yes. While mine does not express himself at all. 0h Lord!"
"Look here," Mayakin advised him, "you had better push him head foremost into some active business! I assure you! Gold is tested in fire. We'll see what his inclinations are when at liberty. Send him out on the Kama--alone."
"To give him a trial?"
"Well, he'll do some mischief--you'll lose something--but then we'll know what stuff he is made of."
"Indeed--I'll send him off," Ignat decided.
And thus in the spring, Ignat sent his son off on the Kama with two barges laden with corn. The barges were led by Gordyeeff's steamer "Philezhny," under the command of Foma's old acquaintance, the former sailor Yefim--now, Yefim Ilyich, a squarely built man of about thirty with lynx-like eyes--a sober-minded, steady and very strict captain.
They sailed fast and cheerfully, because all were contented. At first Foma was proud of the responsible commission with which he had been charged. Yefim was pleased with the presence of the young master, who did not rebuke or abuse him for each and every oversight; and the happy frame of mind of the two most important persons on the steamer reflected in straight rays on the entire crew. Having left the place where they had taken in their cargo of corn in April, the steamer reached the place of its destination in the beginning of May, and the barges were anchored near the shore with the steamer at their side. Foma's duty was to deliver the corn as soon as possible, and receiving the payments, start off for Perm, where a cargo of iron was awaiting him, which Ignat had undertaken to deliver at the market.
The barges stood opposite a large village, near a pine forest, about two versts distant from the shore. On the very next day after their arrival, a big and noisy crowd of women and peasants, on foot and on horses,
The father patiently and carefully introduced him into commercial circles, took him on the Exchange, told him about his contracts and enterprises, about his co-associates, described to him how they had made their way, what fortunes they now possessed, what natures were theirs. Foma soon mastered it, regarding everything seriously and thoughtfully.
"Our bud is blooming into a blood-red cup-rose!" Mayakin smiled, winking to Ignat.
And yet, even when Foma was nineteen years old, there was something childish in him, something naive which distinguished him from the boys of his age. They were laughing at him, considering him stupid; he kept away from them, offended by their relations toward him. As for his father and Mayakin, who were watching him vigilantly, this uncertainty of Foma's character inspired them with serious apprehensions.
"I cannot understand him!" Ignat would say with contrite heart. " He does not lead a dissipated life, he does not seem to run after the women, treats me and you with respect, listens to everything--he is more like a pretty girl than a fellow! And yet he does not seem to be stupid!"
"No, there's nothing particularly stupid about him," said Mayakin.
"It looks as though he were waiting for something--as though some kind of shroud were covering his eyes. His late mother groped on earth in the same way.
"Just look, there's Afrikanka Smolin, but two years older than my boy--what a man he has become! That is, it is difficult to tell whether he is his father's head or his father his. He wants to go to some factory to study. He swears:
"'Eh,' says he, 'papa, you have not taught me enough.' Yes. While mine does not express himself at all. 0h Lord!"
"Look here," Mayakin advised him, "you had better push him head foremost into some active business! I assure you! Gold is tested in fire. We'll see what his inclinations are when at liberty. Send him out on the Kama--alone."
"To give him a trial?"
"Well, he'll do some mischief--you'll lose something--but then we'll know what stuff he is made of."
"Indeed--I'll send him off," Ignat decided.
And thus in the spring, Ignat sent his son off on the Kama with two barges laden with corn. The barges were led by Gordyeeff's steamer "Philezhny," under the command of Foma's old acquaintance, the former sailor Yefim--now, Yefim Ilyich, a squarely built man of about thirty with lynx-like eyes--a sober-minded, steady and very strict captain.
They sailed fast and cheerfully, because all were contented. At first Foma was proud of the responsible commission with which he had been charged. Yefim was pleased with the presence of the young master, who did not rebuke or abuse him for each and every oversight; and the happy frame of mind of the two most important persons on the steamer reflected in straight rays on the entire crew. Having left the place where they had taken in their cargo of corn in April, the steamer reached the place of its destination in the beginning of May, and the barges were anchored near the shore with the steamer at their side. Foma's duty was to deliver the corn as soon as possible, and receiving the payments, start off for Perm, where a cargo of iron was awaiting him, which Ignat had undertaken to deliver at the market.
The barges stood opposite a large village, near a pine forest, about two versts distant from the shore. On the very next day after their arrival, a big and noisy crowd of women and peasants, on foot and on horses,