I conjectured that this was the officer who had been dismissed from the Guards on account of the duel. We soon became acquainted. Shvabrin was by no means a fool. His conversation was witty and entertaining. With great liveliness he described to me the family of the Commandant, his society, and the place to which fate had conducted me. I was laughing with all my heart when the old soldier who had been mending his uniform in the Commandant’s ante-chamber, came to me, and, in the name of Vassilissa Egorovna, invited me to dinner. Shvabrin declared that he would go with me.
On approaching the Commandant’s house, we perceived on the square about twenty old soldiers, with long pig-tails and three-cornered hats. They were standing to the front. Before them stood the Commandant, a tall and sprightly old man, in a nightcap and flannel dressing-gown. Observing us, he came forward towards us, said a few kind words to me, and then went on again with the drilling of his men. We were going to stop to watch the evolutions, but he requested us to go to Vassilissa Egorovna, promising to join us in a little while. “Here,” he added, “there is nothing for you to see.”
Vassilissa Egorovna received us with unfeigned gladness and simplicity, and treated me as if she had known me all my life. The pensioner and Palashka spread the tablecloth.
“What is detaining my Ivan Kouzmitch so long to-day?” said the Commandant’s wife. “Palashka, go and call your master to dinner.... But where is Masha?”[6]
At that moment there entered the room a young girl of about eighteen years of age, with a round, rosy face, and light brown hair, brushed smoothly back behind her ears, which were tinged with a deep blush. She did not produce a very favourable impression upon me at the first glance. I regarded her with prejudiced eyes. Shvabrin had described Masha, the Captain’s daughter, as a perfect idiot. Maria Ivanovna[7] sat down in a corner and began to sew. Meanwhile, the cabbage-soup was brought in. Vassilissa Egorovna, not seeing her husband, sent Palashka after him a second time.
“Tell your master that the guests are waiting, and that the soup is getting cold. Thank Heaven, the drill will not run away! he will have plenty of time to shout himself hoarse.”
The Captain soon made his appearance, accompanied by the little one-eyed old man.
“What is the meaning of this, little father?” said his wife to him; “the dinner has been ready a long time, and you would not come.”
“Why, you see, Vassilissa Egorovna,” said Ivan Kouzmitch, “I was occupied with my duties; I was teaching my little soldiers.”
“Nonsense!” replied his wife; “it is all talk about your teaching the soldiers. The service does not suit them, and you yourself don’t understand anything about it. It would be better for you to stay at home and pray to God. My dear guests, pray take your places at the table.”