it happened in winter, just before the holidays. ivan feodorovitch lobnitchenko, the lawyer, whose office is in one of the main streets of st. petersburg, was called hurriedly to witness the last will and testament of one at the point of death. the sick man was not strictly a client of ivan feodorovitch; under other circumstances, he might have refused to make this late call, after a day's heavy toil . . . but the dying man was an aristocrat and a millionaire, and such as he meet no refusals, whether in life, or, much more, at the moment of death.
lobnitchenko, taking a secretary and everything necessary, with a sigh scratched himself behind the ear, and thrusting aside the thought of the delightful evening at cards that awaited him, set out to go to the sick man.
general iuri pavlovitch nasimoff was far gone. even the most compassionate doctors did not give him many days to live, when he finally decided to destroy the will which he had made long ago, not in st. petersburg, but in the provincial city where he had played the tsar for so many years. the general had come to the capital for a time, and had lain down—to rise no more.
this was the opinion of the physicians, and of most of those about him; the sick man himself was unwilling to admit it. he was a stalwart-hearted and until recently a stalwart-bodied old man, tall, striking, with an energetic face, and a piercing, masterful glance, hard to forget, even if you saw him only once.
he was lying on the sofa, in a richly furnished hotel suite, consisting of three of the best rooms. he received the lawyer gayly enough. he himself explained the circumstances to him, though every now and then compelled to stop by a paroxysm of pain, with difficulty repressing the groans which almost escaped him, in spite of all his efforts. during these heavy moments, ivan feodorovitch raised his eyes buried in fat to the sick man's face, and his plump little features were convulsed in sympathy with the sufferer's pain. as soon as the courageous old man, fighting hard with the paroxysms of pain, had got the better of them, taking his hands from his contorted face, and drawing a painful breath, he began anew to explain his will. lobnitchenko dropped his eyes again and became all attention.
the general explained in detail to the lawyer. he had been married twice, and had three children, a son and a daughter from his first marriage, who had long ago reached adultship, and a nine-year-old daughter from his second marriage. his second wife and daughter he expected every day; they were abroad, but would soon return. his elder daughter would also probably come.
the lawyer was not acquainted with nazimoff's family; indeed he had never before seen the general, though, like all russia, he knew of him by repute. but judging from the tone of contempt or of pity with which he spoke of his second wife or her daughter, the lawyer guessed at once that the general's home life was not happy. the further explanations of the sick man convinced him of this. a new will was to be drawn up, directly contrary to the will signed six years before, which bequeathed to his second wife, olga vseslavovna, unlimited authority over their little daughter, and her husband's entire property. in the first will he had left nearly everything, with the exception of the family estate, which he did not feel justified in taking from his son, to his second wife and her daughter. now he wished to restore to his elder children the rights which he had deprived them of, and especially to his eldest daughter, anna iurievna borissova, who was not even mentioned in the first will. in the new will, with the exception of the seventh part, the widow's share, he divided the whole of his land and capital between his children equally; and he further appointed a strict guardianship over the property of his little daughter, olga iurievna.
the will was duly arranged, drawn up and witnessed, and after the three witnesses had signed it, it was left, by the general's wish, in his own keeping.
"i will send it to you to take care of," he said to the lawyer. "it will be safer in your hands than here, in my temporary quarters. but first i wish to read it to my wife, and . . . to my eldest daughter . . . if she arrives in time."
the lawyer and the priest, who was one of the witnesses, were already preparing to take leave of the general, when voices and steps were heard in the corridor; a footman's head appeared through the door, calling the doctor hurriedly forth. it appeared that the general's lady had arrived suddenly, without letting anyone know by telegram that she was coming.
the doctor hastily slipped out of the room; he feared the result of emotion on the sick man, and wished to warn the general's wife of his grave danger, but the sick man noticed the move, and it was impossible to guard him against disturbance.
"what is going on there?" he asked. "what are you mumbling about, edouard vicentevitch? tell me what is the matter? is it my daughter?"
"your excellency, i beg of you to take care of yourself!" the doctor was beginning, evidently quite familiar with the general's family affairs, and therefore dreading the meeting of husband and wife. "it is not anna iurievna. . . ."
"aha!" the sick man interrupted him; "she has come? very well. let her come in. only the little one . . . i don't wish her to come . . . to-day."
suffering was visible in his eyes, this time not bodily suffering.
the door opened, with the rustling of a silk dress. a tall, well- developed, and decidedly handsome woman appeared on the threshhold. she glanced at the pain-stricken face, which smiled contemptuously toward her. in a moment she was beside the general, kneeling beside him on the carpet, bending close to him, and pressing his hand, as she repeated in a despairing whisper:
"oh, georges! georges! is it really you, my poor friend?"
it would be hard to define the expression of rapidly changing emotions which passed over the sick man's face, which made his breast heave, and his great heart quiver and tremble painfully. displeasure and pity, sympathy and contempt, anger and grief, all were expressed in the short, sharp, bitter laugh, and the few words which escaped his lips when he saw his little daughter timidly following her mother into his room.
"do not teach her to lie!" and he nodded toward the child, and turned toward the wall, with an expression of pain and pity on his face. the lawyer and the priest hastened to take their leave and disappear.
"ah! sinners! sinners!" muttered the latter, as he descended the stairs.
"things are not in good shape between them?" asked lobnitchenko.
"they don't get on well together?"
"how should they be in good shape, when he came here to get a divorce?" whispered the priest, shaping his fur cap. "but god decided otherwise. even without a divorce, he will be separated forever from his wife!"
"i don't believe he is so very far gone. he is a stalwart old man.
perhaps he will pull through," went on the man of law.
"god's hand is over all," answered the priest, shrugging his shoulders. and so they went their different ways.
