For creativity A.I. Kuprin is characterized by special attention to the concept of love. What is true love? What is it like? The same story is dedicated to one of the types of love - between husband and wife. Therefore, it seems to give the reader the opportunity to think about what family relationships can be called deep, sincere, and what they are built on.
“Lilac Bush” - a story by A.I. Kuprin, written in 1894 and published in October of the same year in the journal Life and Art. It refers to early prose author. A great thematic variety and a humane, sensitive attitude towards the characters are characteristic of this writer's pen test.
The work immediately fell in love with reviewers and ordinary readers. It can be said that it made the author a name in literary world. Not surprising, because the writer began his creative way with descriptions of human virtues. Only then did he begin active journalistic activity which brought him to the social bottom. The plots of that period no longer pleased the public, but confused it.
The meaning of the name
Why did Kuprin call his story that way? The image of lilac is found more than once in Russian literature and, in particular, in prose. So, in "Spring Waters" I.S. Turgenev, lilac symbolizes the emerging love and at the same time separation, just as in the novel by I.A. Goncharov "Oblomov" with a branch of lilac is associated with the beginning of the relationship between Oblomov and Olga, and the same image is associated with parting.
In the story of A.I. Kuprin's image of lilac is also associated with love theme: it symbolizes true marital affection and love, sincere participation and mutual assistance, which is main problem, the semantic center of the work. In addition, this bush means the beginning of spring, and in the context of the work, it indicates that the spouses have not cooled off towards each other, on the contrary, a wonderful time has opened in their relationship, where mutual warmth enlivens everything around.
Genre and direction
The story of A.I. Kuprin's "Lilac Bush" refers to the method and direction of realism. Kuprin is one of the most well-known representatives this trend in Russian literature. His works are distinguished by very vivid and detailed descriptions of everyday life (daily conversations, events), filled with the feeling of a living participation of the author-narrator in them.
In the story, as a rule, one or several events in the life of the hero or heroes are depicted, one story line- these features are characteristic of the work "The Lilac Bush", and therefore, we can define it as a story (the plot is built around how Vera and Nikolai Evgrafovich solve the problem successful delivery exam).
Composition
Compositionally, the work can be divided into three parts:
- The return of Nikolai Evrgafovich from work and a message to his wife about the failure;
- Verochka's energetic help to her husband - every effort to rectify the situation;
- Happy ending - Vera meets Almazov again, and he informs her already good news about success.
Such a composition is called a mirror composition: both at the beginning and at the end of the story, Vera's husband returns with news from work.
About what?
The story "Lilac bush" about marital love. This theme is revealed in the relationship between Vera and Nikolai Evgrafovich. So, Verochka takes an ardent part in everything that happens in her husband's life. She constantly supports him, denying herself everything, even the necessary, for the sake of his success. Thus, a woman pawns her jewelry to get money for a gardener who can plant bushes so that her husband can pass an exam. The fact is that he accidentally put a blot on the drawing, and instead of it, in order not to redo it, he drew a bush. The professor got angry and did not credit the work, as he knew the area by heart. But the heroine planted a lilac in that place, and the embarrassed teacher, seeing him, changed his grade. At the end of the story, the happy spouses laugh and share their joy and mutual love with each other. In that brief episode, revealing the essence of the story "The Lilac Bush", the writer showed a recipe for getting rid of life problems. Alone, a person has a hard time, he loses faith in himself, but in marriage he gains not only emotional attachment, but also a faithful ally in the person of a lover or beloved. The main thing is to learn how to put common interests above personal.
The other side of the story is the theme life values. For Verochka and her husband, this is love, prosperity, mutual understanding. Professor Nikolai Evgrafovich, for example, is shown as a person who devoted himself, his whole life, to his beloved work.
Main characters and their characteristics
- Nikolai Evgrafovich Almazov- a young poor officer who only the third time entered the Academy of the General Staff. All exams were given to him very hard, costing a lot of work. He is described as a strong man, but failure on last exam hit his self-control very hard, and he was so upset that he almost wanted to cry from resentment. IN Hard time he listens to his wife, does not resist her desire to help, fulfills her short instructions.
- His wife supported him in everything. Verochka, capable of deep sympathy, able to take on the role of the head of the family in difficult times, resolve a difficult situation, become a peacemaker.
So, she addressed her husband very carefully and affectionately, her quick decisive actions were caused by sincere concern. state of mind spouse, his possible future failure.
Themes
The main themes of the story, closely related to each other - love and happiness. What's happened real love? Does it contain happiness? True feeling is based on mutual trust, on the ability to sacrifice for the sake of a loved one, on the ability to understand the pain and joy of a loved one, and real happiness, spiritual and elevating the personality, can be found in possessing it. That is why we can call Vera happy: she is capable of such deep love, and her husband cherishes her just as much as she does them.
In the story are given short descriptions details of everyday life, the environment in which the action itself takes place, and sketches of nature convey special feeling at one time or another, such as the silence and beauty of the late evening:
When the Almazovs arrived at the gardener, the white St. Petersburg night had already spilled over the sky and in the air with blue milk.
This state of evening peace is also continued by the fact that at this time people are already returning home to their families.
The gardener, a Czech, a little old man with golden glasses, had just sat down to dinner with his family.
Problems
The work raises, first of all, the problem of love and the related problem of happiness. In particular, this is the difficulty of the true sacrificial love, and the ability to sincere participation, empathy. This is both a lack of fortitude in the protagonist, and a difficult task on the shoulders of Vera - to take on the role of the main one and resolve difficult situation when a loved one is confused.
One way or another, the problems of the work are connected with moral categories. love relationships between people. What are the properties of true love, and how does it manifest itself? Is it capable of making a person truly happy and spiritually free in his happiness? moral issues also touched Vera's husband, when he realized his deceit and realized that he did not act very well towards the professor.
Meaning
The main idea of the work is that deep affection, mutual love, trust and respect of spouses are built on the ability to sacrifice oneself for the sake of loved one, support, sympathize - to be near. Life in harmony can only be born if both people treat each other very carefully and with love. It is such a marriage that can make a wife and husband happy, elevate them above the routine and everyday life.
It's interesting that the main idea Kuprin focuses on the role of a woman in marriage. The weather in the house largely depends on it. If she had not shown proper understanding and only attacked her husband for lack of attentiveness, then Nikolai would have broken down completely, and the family would have turned into mutual torture. But the support, sympathy and love of Vera, who sacrifices her interests for the good of her husband, saved the situation and rescued the hero, who is again ready to conquer the granite cliffs of science.
Conclusion
So, the story of A.I. Kuprin's "Lilac Bush", representing a certain ideal of marital relations, and completely realistic, inspires the reader natural beauty human feelings: mutual respect, trust, sacrifice, participation. Thus, our consciousness can absorb this ideal, accordingly, rise and approach it, understand its essence and unconsciously reach out to its beauty.
You need to learn to love. Many people think that this feeling falls from the sky or depends entirely on the mysterious compatibility of hearts, but the writer draws our attention to the fact that he needs to study, overcoming difficulties together. True love is not a gift, but an achievement to which moral and virtuous people who are ready to work on themselves to achieve harmony in the family. This is what Kuprin teaches in his story.
Criticism
The story of A.I. Kuprin "Lilac Bush" I perceived as something very solid, organic, natural. The relationship between Vera and Nikolai Evgrafovich, everyday, seemingly everyday, is described so intently and truly that it is easy to be enchanted by the mutual friendship and love of the spouses. The impression from the story is a certain example of marital relations that appeared somewhere in the memory, natural, completely close to real life and at the same time very noble and beautiful.
The writer's contemporaries took the story enthusiastically. So, I. V. Terentiev wrote that “A. Kuprin’s work has healing power the purest moral source. In his article, he especially praised the image of Vera, as the most successful discovery of the author.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Nikolai Evgrafovich Almazov barely waited until his wife opened the door for him, and without taking off his coat, in his cap, went into his office. The wife, as soon as she saw his frowning face with knitted eyebrows and nervously biting his lower lip, immediately realized that a very great misfortune had happened ... She silently followed her husband. In the office, Almazov stood for a minute in one place, looking somewhere in the corner. Then he let go of the briefcase, which fell to the floor and opened up, and he threw himself into an armchair, angrily cracking his fingers folded together ...
Almazov, a young poor officer, attended lectures at the General Staff Academy and has just returned from there. Today he presented to the professor the last and most difficult practical work- instrumental survey of the area ...
So far, all the exams have gone well, and only God and Almazov's wife knew what terrible work they cost ... To begin with, entering the academy itself seemed impossible at first. For two years in a row, Almazov solemnly failed, and only on the third year did he overcome all obstacles with hard work. Without a wife, he, perhaps, not finding enough energy in himself, would have given up on everything. But Verochka did not let him lose heart and constantly kept him cheerful ... She learned to meet every failure with a clear, almost cheerful face. She denied herself everything necessary to create comfort for her husband, although cheap, but still necessary for a person busy with head work. She was, as needed, his scribe, draftsman, reader, tutor and memorial book.
Five minutes of heavy silence passed, drearily broken by the lame running of the alarm clock, long familiar and boring: one, two, three, three: two clean beats, the third with a hoarse interruption. Almazov sat without taking off his coat and hat and turned away... Vera stood two steps away from him, also silently, with suffering on her beautiful, nervous face. Finally, she spoke first, with that caution with which only women speak at the bedside of a close seriously ill person ...
Kolya, how is your work?.. Is it bad?
He shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer.
Kolya, your plan was rejected? You say it doesn't matter, because we'll discuss it together.
Almazov quickly turned to his wife and spoke ardently and irritably, as they usually say, restrained resentment.
Well, yes, well, yes, they were rejected, if you really want to know. Can't you see yourself? Everything went to hell! .. All this rubbish, - and he angrily poked his briefcase with the drawings with his foot, - all this rubbish even into the stove now! That's the academy for you! A month later, again in the regiment, and even with disgrace, with a bang. And this is because of some filthy stain ... Oh, hell!
What stain, Kolya? I do not understand anything.
She sat down on the arm of the chair and threw her arm around Almazov's neck. He did not resist, but continued to stare into the corner with an offended expression.
What is the stain, Kolya? she asked again.
Ah, well, the usual stain, green paint. You know, I didn't go to bed until three o'clock yesterday, I had to finish. The plan is beautifully drawn and illuminated. That's what everyone says. Well, I sat up yesterday, got tired, my hands began to tremble - and planted a stain ... And even such a thick stain ... greasy. Began to clean up and smeared even more. I thought, I thought what to make of it now, and I decided to depict a bunch of trees in that place ... It turned out very well, and it’s impossible to make out that there was a stain. I bring it to the professor today. “Yes, yes, yes. And where did you get the bushes here, lieutenant? I would have to tell you how it all happened. Well, maybe he would only laugh ... However, no, he won’t laugh - such a neat German, a pedant. I tell him: "Here, indeed, bushes grow." And he says: “No, I know this area like the back of my hand, and there can be no bushes here.” Word for word, we had a big conversation with him. And there were still many of our officers. “If you say so,” he says, “that there are bushes on this saddle, then if you please ride there with me tomorrow ... I will prove to you that you either worked carelessly or drew directly from a three-verst map ...”
But why does he say so confidently that there are no bushes there?
Oh my God, why? What are you, by God, childish questions you ask. Yes, because for twenty years now he knows this area better than his bedroom. The most ugly pedant in the world, and a German on top of that... Well, it turns out in the end that I'm lying and entering into an altercation... Besides...
During the whole conversation, he pulled out burnt matches from the ashtray in front of him and broke them into small pieces, and when he stopped talking, he threw them on the floor with anger. It was evident that this strong man want to cry.
Husband and wife sat for a long time in heavy thought, not uttering a word. But suddenly Verochka jumped up from her chair with an energetic movement.
Listen, Kolya, we have to go this minute! Get dressed soon.
Nikolai Evgrafovich frowned all over, as if from unbearable physical pain.
Oh, don't talk nonsense, Vera. Do you really think I'm going to make excuses and apologize. This means directly signing the verdict on yourself. Please don't do stupid things.
No, not stupidity, - objected Vera, stamping her foot. - No one is forcing you to go with an apology ... But simply, if there are no such stupid bushes, then they should be planted right away.
Plant? .. Bushes? .. - Nikolai Evgrafovich goggled his eyes.
Yes, plant. If you already told a lie, you need to correct it. Get ready, give me a hat ... A blouse ... You are not looking for it here, look in the closet ... An umbrella!
While Almazov, who tried to object, but was not listened to, was looking for a hat and blouse, Vera quickly pulled out the drawers of tables and chests of drawers, pulled out baskets and boxes, opened them and scattered them on the floor.
Earrings... Well, it's nothing... They won't give anything for them... But this ring with a solitaire is expensive... We must definitely buy it back... It will be a pity if it disappears. A bracelet ... they will also give very little. Antique and bent... Where is your silver cigarette case, Kolya?
Five minutes later, all the jewelry was packed into the reticule. Faith, already dressed, last time she looked around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything at home.
Let's go," she finally said decisively.
But where are we going? Almazov tried to protest. - Now it will become dark, and my site is almost ten miles away.
Nonsense... let's go!
First of all, the Almazovs stopped at a pawnshop. It was evident that the appraiser had been so used to the daily spectacles of human misfortunes that they did not touch him at all. He examined the things he had brought so methodically and for a long time that Verochka was already beginning to lose her temper. He especially offended her by the fact that he tried the diamond ring with acid and, having weighed it, valued it at three rubles.
Why, it's a real diamond, - Vera was indignant, - it costs thirty-seven rubles, and then on occasion.
The appraiser closed his eyes with a look of tired indifference.
We don't care, sir, ma'am. We don’t accept stones at all,” he said, throwing next thing. - We evaluate only metals, sir.
But the old and bent bracelet, quite unexpectedly for Vera, was valued very dearly. In general, however, there were about twenty-three rubles. This amount was more than enough.
When the Almazovs arrived at the gardener, the white St. Petersburg night had already spilled over the sky and in the air with blue milk. The gardener, a Czech, a little old man with golden glasses, had just sat down to dinner with his family. He was very surprised and dissatisfied with the late appearance of customers and their unusual request. He probably suspected some kind of hoax and answered Verochkin's persistent requests very dryly:
Sorry. But I can't send workers to such a distance at night. If you want tomorrow morning - then I'm at your service.
Then there was only one remedy left: to tell the gardener in detail the whole story of the ill-fated spot, and Verochka did just that. The gardener listened at first incredulously, almost hostilely, but when Vera got to the point where she had the idea of planting a bush, he became more attentive and smiled sympathetically several times.
Well, there is nothing to do, - the gardener agreed, when Vera had finished talking, - tell me, what kind of bushes can you plant?
However, of all the breeds that the gardener had, not one turned out to be suitable: willy-nilly, he had to stop at lilac bushes.
In vain Almazov tried to persuade his wife to go home. She went with her husband to the countryside, all the time while the bushes were being planted, she fussed hotly and interfered with the workers, and only then agreed to go home when she made sure that the turf near the bushes could not be distinguished at all from the grass that covered the entire saddle.
The next day, Vera could not sit at home and went out to meet her husband on the street. Even from a distance, from only her lively and slightly bouncing gait, she learned that the story with the bushes ended happily ... Indeed, Almazov was covered in dust and could hardly stand on his feet from fatigue and hunger, but his face shone with the triumph of victory.
Fine! Wonderful! he shouted ten more paces away in response to the worried expression on his wife's face. - Imagine, we came with him to these bushes. He already looked at them, looked, even tore off a leaf and chewed it. "What is this tree?" - asks. I say: "I don't know, yours." - "Birch, must be?" - speaks. I answer: "It must be, birch, yours." Then he turned to me and even extended his hand. “Excuse me,” he says, “me, lieutenant. I must be starting to get old if I forgot about these bushes. He is a nice professor, and such a clever one. Really, I'm sorry that I deceived him. One of the best professors we have. Knowledge is simply awesome. And what speed and accuracy in assessing the terrain is amazing!
But Vera was not enough that he told. She made him tell her the whole conversation with the professor again and again in detail. She was interested in the smallest details: what was the expression on the professor’s face, what tone he spoke about his old age, what Kolya himself felt at the same time ...
And they walked home as if there was no one else on the street except them: holding hands and constantly laughing. Passers-by stopped in bewilderment to take another look at this strange couple ...
Nikolai Evgrafovich had never dined with such an appetite as on that day ... After dinner, when Vera brought a glass of tea to Almazov in the office, the husband and wife suddenly laughed at the same time and looked at each other.
What are you? Vera asked.
What are you?
No, you speak first, and I then.
Yes, that's nonsense. I remembered the whole story with lilacs. And you?
I, too, are stupid and also - about lilacs. I wanted to say that lilac will now forever be my favorite flower ...
| This work is in public domain in countries where the term of copyright protection is equal to the life of the author plus 70 years or less. |
public domainpublic domain false false
Despite the small volume, the work "Lilac Bush" is very soulful, the author is A. I. Kuprin. The story was written in 1894, and in the same year, in the fall, it was published in the journal Life and Art. The story quickly fell in love with readers and earned a lot of positive feedback.
For the theme, you can take love and relationships in the family, what a wife is ready to do for the sake of her beloved husband.
Idea-showing selfless and sacrificial love, disclosure family relations. Two main characters appear before the reader, these are the spouses Verochka and Nikolai. The author shows that Verochka is ready for anything for her husband. She does not sleep all night, and is ready to give away all the precious things, she is very good moral support for her husband, and does everything because she loves him. In his story, the author touched on the problem to some extent unequal marriage, Nikolai Almazov is a weak character, when Vera, on the contrary, is a very strong, wise, woman ready for anything for her husband.
Read the summary of the story Lilac Bush Kuprin
Nikolai Evgrafovich Almazov, one of the main characters of the story, comes home to his wife, and barely waiting for her to open the door, quickly goes to his office. The wife immediately understood from her husband’s face when something happened to him, and this time, seeing his stern and frowning face, she realized that something was wrong.
She followed Nikolai into his office. Almazov, in turn, was an ordinary poor young officer. Now he was studying at the Academy of the General Staff, and on this ill-fated day he had just returned from the exam. Today Almazov handed over his last completed work to the professor, and this work was very important and contained a survey of the area. Before that, there were other exams that were very difficult for Nikolai, and only his wife knew how he suffered and tried to pass everything.
Yes, if we take only the admission itself, then only in the third year of attempts Almazov managed to enter. All this time, his wife was next to him and supported him, perhaps if it were not for her support, Nikolai would have given up long ago and dropped his hands. Vera constantly tried in every possible way to help her husband, to cheer him up. She even taught herself not to get upset because of failures and always smile. Vera was ready to give up everything she wanted, if only to create comfortable conditions for her beloved husband, because she perfectly understood that he was at work with his head. She even helped him in every possible way at work and study, being his tutor, book, copyist and draftsman.
For about five minutes the couple sat in silence until Vera was the first to speak. She asked what happened to the job, if she was accepted, she wanted her husband to tell her everything. Nikolai reacted sharply, and in a nervous voice told his wife that the work had not been accepted. Almazov was very angry, because his work was not accepted because of the stain.
At first, Vera did not understand what had happened, after which her husband told her how he had been sitting at work until late in the evening, and was very tired. The plan turned out to be very good and neat, but at the very end, Nikolai's hands shook and he planted a stain on paper. I tried to clean it, but smeared it even more. Nikolai decided to draw trees in that place, and in the end everything turned out very well. At the check, the professor noticed the presence of bushes and began to ask where they came from in the drawing. So a dispute ensued, as a result, the professor was ready to go to that area to make sure that there were no bushes there.
Vera was probably even more upset than her husband. She thought about how to help him.
As a result, the wife goes to the pawnshop and rents there all the jewelry that she found in her. She wanted to use the money she received to buy vegetation and plant it in that place. Having come to the gardener, they start a conversation and the gardener recommends buying a lilac bush. The spouses, having listened to the man, buy a lilac bush and go to that area in order to plant vegetation there. The next day, the husband had to go back to hand over the work, Vera was very worried and was waiting for her husband. As a result, it turned out that the professor, who arrived at the place where the bush actually was, was very surprised and apologized. After that, he gave the go-ahead to this plan of the area. This incident brought together and made the spouses happy, because it turned out the way they wanted. Now the lilac will truly become their favorite tree.
A young and poor officer named "Almazov" came home from a speech at the Academy of General. headquarters and sat down in his office without taking off his clothes. The wife immediately realized that a misfortune had happened. On this day, Nikolai defended his instrumental survey of the area to the professor. Nikolai Almazov was offendedly silent, but because of his wife's demands, he told his situation.
Last night, when Nikolai was already finishing work on the project, he planted a huge spot with ink. He wanted to clean it up, but it only made things worse. He did not think of anything better than to draw a bunch of trees in place of the spot. The scientist to whom Almazov handed over the work, of course, noticed this. Almazov wanted to argue, but the professor did not even want to hear that there were some trees there. The wife came up with an ingenious plan. They took all the jewelry from the house, and then went to the jewelry dealer. There they turned in a diamond ring and a bent bracelet, receiving 23 rubles for it.
Surprisingly, the diamond ring came out for only 3 rubles, and the old bracelet was priced much more expensive. Then they went to the gardener, it was already late, the gardener did not even agree to sell anything, but when Almazov's wife told this story, he sold them lilac bushes, and then they planted them in the right area. The next day, when Nikolai went to the professor to prove his case, the wife simply could not wait for her husband at home. She went out to meet him from work on the street. From afar, it was evident from his gait that everything went perfectly. They hugged, joined hands and happily went home.
So lilac became the favorite flower of the wife of Nikolai Almazov. This work teaches us that close people will often help us in a difficult situation, that such people should be greatly appreciated, because without them we cannot cope with this difficult life. The main thing in this life is the support of a loved one, they are the most important thing that we have.
Nikolai Evgrafovich Almazov barely waited until his wife opened the door for him, and without taking off his coat, in his cap, went into his office. The wife, as soon as she saw his frowning face with knitted eyebrows and nervously biting his lower lip, immediately realized that a very great misfortune had happened ... She silently followed her husband. In the office, Almazov stood for a minute in one place, looking somewhere in the corner. Then he let go of the briefcase, which fell to the floor and opened up, and he threw himself into an armchair, angrily cracking his fingers folded together ...
Almazov, a young poor officer, attended lectures at the Academy of the General Staff and has just returned from there. Today he presented to the professor the last and most difficult practical work - instrumental survey of the area ...
Until now, all the exams have passed safely, and only God and Almazov's wife knew what terrible labor they cost ... To begin with, the very admission to the academy seemed impossible at first. For two years in a row, Almazov solemnly failed, and only on the third year did he overcome all obstacles with hard work. Without a wife, he, perhaps, not finding enough energy in himself, would have given up on everything. But Verochka did not let him lose heart and constantly kept him cheerful ... She learned to meet every failure with a clear, almost cheerful face. She denied herself everything necessary to create comfort for her husband, although cheap, but still necessary for a person busy with head work. She was, as needed, his scribe, draftsman, reader, tutor and memorial book.
Five minutes of heavy silence passed, drearily broken by the lame running of the alarm clock, long familiar and boring: one, two, three, three: two clean blows, the third with a hoarse interruption. Almazov sat without taking off his coat and hat and turned away... Vera stood two steps away from him, also in silence, with suffering on her beautiful, nervous face. Finally, she spoke first, with the caution with which only women speak at the bedside of a close seriously ill person ...
– Kolya, how is your work?.. Is it bad?
He shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer.
– Kolya, your plan was rejected? You tell me, anyway, we'll discuss it together.
Almazov quickly turned to his wife and spoke ardently and irritably, as they usually say, expressing long-repressed resentment.
- Well, yes, well, yes, they rejected it, if you really want to know. Can't you see yourself? Everything went to hell!.. All this rubbish,” and he angrily kicked the portfolio with the drawings, “throw all this rubbish even into the stove now! That's the academy for you! A month later, again in the regiment, and even with disgrace, with a bang. And this is because of some filthy stain ... Oh, hell!
- What stain, Kolya? I do not understand anything.
She sat down on the arm of the chair and threw her arm around Almazov's neck. He did not resist, but continued to stare into the corner with an offended expression.
- What is the stain, Kolya? she asked again.
“Ah, well, an ordinary stain, green paint. You know, I didn't go to bed until three o'clock yesterday, I had to finish. The plan is beautifully drawn and illuminated. That's what everyone says. Well, I sat up yesterday, I was tired, my hands began to tremble - and I planted a stain ... And even such a thick stain ... greasy. Began to clean up and smeared even more. I thought, I thought what to make of it now, and I decided to depict a bunch of trees in that place ... It turned out very well, and it’s impossible to make out that there was a stain. I bring it to the professor today. “Yes, yes, yes. And where did you get the bushes here, lieutenant? I would have to tell you how it all happened. Well, maybe he would just laugh... However, no, he won't laugh, such a neat German, a pedant. I tell him: "Here really bushes grow." And he says: “No, I know this area like the back of my hand, and there can be no bushes here.” Word for word, we had a big conversation with him. And there were still many of our officers. “If you say so, he says that there are bushes on this saddle, then if you please ride there with me tomorrow ... I will prove to you that you either worked carelessly or drew directly from a three-verst map ...”
“But why does he say so confidently that there are no bushes there?”
- Oh, my God, why? What are you, by God, childish questions you ask. Yes, because for twenty years now he knows this area better than his bedroom. The most ugly pedant in the world, and a German on top of that... Well, it turns out in the end that I'm lying and entering into an altercation... Besides...
During the whole conversation, he pulled out burnt matches from the ashtray in front of him and broke them into small pieces, and when he stopped talking, he threw them on the floor with anger. It was evident that this strong man wanted to cry.
Husband and wife sat for a long time in heavy thought, not uttering a word. But suddenly Verochka jumped up from her chair with an energetic movement.
“Listen, Kolya, we have to go right now!” Get dressed soon.
Nikolai Evgrafovich frowned all over, as if from unbearable physical pain.
- Oh, don't talk nonsense, Vera. Do you really think I'm going to make excuses and apologize. This means directly signing the verdict on yourself. Please don't do stupid things.
“No, not stupidity,” Vera objected, stamping her foot. - No one is forcing you to go with an apology ... But simply, if there are no such stupid bushes, then they should be planted right away.
- Plant? .. Bushes? .. - Nikolai Evgrafovich goggled his eyes.
- Yes, plant. If you already told a lie, you need to correct it. Get ready, give me a hat ... A blouse ... You are not looking for it here, look in the closet ... An umbrella!
While Almazov, who tried to object, but did not listen, was looking for a hat and blouse. Vera quickly pulled out the drawers of tables and chests of drawers, pulled out baskets and boxes, opened them and scattered them on the floor.
“Earrings… Well, these are nothing… They won’t give anything for them… But this ring with a solitaire is expensive… We must definitely buy it back… It will be a pity if it disappears.” A bracelet ... they will also give very little. Antique and bent... Where is your silver cigarette case, Kolya?
Five minutes later, all the jewelry was packed into the reticule. Vera, already dressed, looked around for the last time to make sure that nothing had been forgotten at home.
"Let's go," she finally said decisively.
“But where are we going?” Almazov tried to protest. - Now it will become dark, and my site is almost ten miles away.
- Nonsense ... let's go!
First of all, the Almazovs stopped at a pawnshop. It was evident that the appraiser had been so used to the daily spectacles of human misfortunes that they did not touch him at all. He examined the things he had brought so methodically and for a long time that Verochka was already beginning to lose her temper. He especially offended her by the fact that he tried the diamond ring with acid and, having weighed it, valued it at three rubles.
- Why, this is a real diamond, - Vera was indignant, - it costs thirty-seven rubles, and then on occasion.
The appraiser closed his eyes with a look of tired indifference.
“We don’t care, sir, madam. We do not accept stones at all,” he said, throwing the following thing onto the scales, “we evaluate only metals, sir.
But the old and bent bracelet, quite unexpectedly for Vera, was valued very dearly. In general, however, there were about twenty-three rubles. This amount was more than enough.
When the Almazovs arrived at the gardener, the white St. Petersburg night had already spilled over the sky and in the air with blue milk. The gardener, a Czech, a little old man with golden glasses, had just sat down to dinner with his family. He was very surprised and dissatisfied with the late appearance of customers and their unusual request. He probably suspected some kind of hoax and answered Verochkin's persistent requests very dryly:
- Sorry. But I can't send workers to such a distance at night. If you want tomorrow morning, then I am at your service.
Then there was only one remedy left: to tell the gardener in detail the whole story of the ill-fated spot, and Verochka did just that. The gardener listened at first incredulously, almost hostilely, but when Vera got to the point where she had the idea of planting a bush, he became more attentive and smiled sympathetically several times.
