Interrupted Stories

III.

THE TENDER BROTHER OF THE LATE UNCLE.

Mikhaylo Stepanovich was the son of Lev Stepanovich’s brother, Stepan Stepanovich. While Lev Stepanovich was dedicating his days to brilliant civil service, receiving high marks of favor and kissing illustrious shoulders, his younger brother’s career was playing out on a different field, not so loud, but more heartfelt.

A favorite of his parents, a spoiled child and a “tender soul,” as the household staff expressed it, he constantly remained in the country under his mother’s wing. At twelve years old, the old nanny still bathed him every Saturday in a tub and brought him cakes from the village so he would allow her to lather his head properly and not scream for the whole house to hear when the soapy water got in his eyes. At fourteen, signs

of early maturity began to appear clearly in Stepushka’s relations with the maidservants’ room. His mother, who doted on him, not only did not hinder the development of his early talents but even looked with pleasure at her son’s boldness and gradually helped him, which, given her means and civil relations with the maidservants, did not present insurmountable difficulties. Tender feelings, nurtured from such a tender age, soon consumed all of Stepushka. Love, as the poets put it, was his only vocation; until his death, he remained faithful to the chosen path of a bucolic-erotic landowner.

Stepushka did not enjoy the protection of his parents for long. He was seventeen when he lost his mother; about three years later, his father died. The death of his parents and the honorable delivery of their bodies to the earth did not cause Stepan Stepanovich as much anxiety and heartache as the arrival of his brother; he did not generally distinguish himself by courage, and he was especially afraid of his brother. Not knowing what to do, he consulted with his subjects and could not think without shuddering how they would divide the household serfs, among whom the maidservants belonged. He took certain measures, ordering all the housemaids to be locked in the cook’s room, leaving on display only those who had significant facial defects, severe pockmarks, or crossed