I caught my eye and was amazed, so I was just amazed. An instant passed. An evil smile flashed in her eyes, but she stopped being naughty and sat silently until the end of dinner.

“Damn me to laugh! - I thought, annoyed with myself, that I was so goof. “Perhaps she will not forgive me a smile, call her husband and ... forgive my hopes ...”

But, to my surprise, the next day she was much kinder with me after lunch, when, as usual, I wanted to leave, I noticed:

- Well, what, are you satisfied with your student?

- Satisfied.

- And they wrote about his studies to her husband? She asked with a faint smile.

- No, I have not written.

- You will write. Leonid G. loves Volodya so much that a report on his studies will please him. Well, and you yourself are satisfied with the village life? ..

- Highly.

- And do not you miss?

- Not.

“It all seemed to me that you must be bored.” You are all sitting upstairs and never walking.

- I walk.

The conversation did not start. She looked at me intently and suddenly smiled in a strange way, as if a sudden thought struck her beautiful head.

- Where are you going? We are going to ride now. Want to? - She said.

I flushed from this unexpected invitation. She looked at me, confident that she had made the unhappy teacher sad. A whim appeared to invite him, and he, poor thing, was embarrassed with delight.

- Thank you, but I'd rather stay at home. I wanted to walk to the forest.

- Do not want? ... - Elena Aleksandrovna was surprised. - As you wish!

She turned and went to the balcony.

Its bad location continued. Elena Alexandrovna has had a hand. There were no guests, and if they were, they were not interesting - some kind of antediluvian neighbor with his wife and distant relatives of Ryazanov. Ryazanov, apparently, missed. She spent the whole evening riding and, returning tired, let her hair loose and lay idly on the ottoman, forcing the teenager to play the piano.

- Oh, Vera, you're not playing that way! Came her voice from below. - How can you drum Chopin?

She sat at the piano, and the piano began to sing under her fingers. Moody, passionate sounds came to me. I went out to the balcony and listened eagerly.

Usually she soon ceased, went into the garden, and for a long time in the shade of a dense garden flashed her light silhouette.

With me she became more kind, left me after lunch to "sit" and sometimes went down to the joke.

The hostess, apparently, with boredom was not averse to even flirt with the teacher. This I saw very well and kept myself on the alert. She is fun, but I can end badly. On the one hand - a capricious woman, and on the other - a jealous husband.

I already guessed about his jealousy from conversations that sometimes led between my sisters, laughing that they were living in the village, locked up with a “Blue Beard”.

July came.

I didn’t already sit up with a beech tree upstairs, but spent most of the time downstairs with the ladies, walked together, taught to speak English, and sometimes went on horseback with Elena Alexandrovna and kept myself with respectful modesty of a young man secretly sighing at her. This, I noted, Ryazanova liked. I timidly sometimes looked at the young woman, and when she looked at me, I immediately lowered my eyes, as if embarrassed, as she noticed. Having taken shelter somewhere in the corner, when Ryazanova played the piano, I thought, and when she asked about the reasons for my reverie, I shuddered and answered, as if caught off guard. And she somehow grinned cheerfully and seemed to accept my respectful courtship condescendingly, as a little amusement from the village boredom, especially since she didn’t even think that a modest teacher would ever dare to find the feelings that excited him.

I was interested in this game, I looked with a secret smile, as this capricious, spoiled woman, self-confident, proud of her beauty, condescended to a modest young man, confident that he was secretly in love with her and that just one kind word from her to make happy him. And Ryazanova sometimes gave me this happiness! She threw the old tone and became even, affectionate, patronizing, affectionate. She seemed to be funny and fun to see the silent and shy teacher (she thought I was shy), timidly raising her eyes and somehow carefully moving away from her when she honored to sit next to me. She sometimes took me on horseback and we rushed like mad together in the woods.

Elena Alexandrovna's sister, having gotten closer to me, was unusually affectionate. This kind, sick woman, always with a suffocating cough, felt sorry for the “young man separated from her family,” asked about the mother and sister with female participation and at breakfast and dinner, she ate me more and a few times ordered me to serve dishes. Everyone took me for a modest and quiet, and I, of course, did not disbelieve them. Only a teenage schoolgirl and Volodya treated me dryly and rarely spoke to me; Well, yes, I did not care. The boy did very well; I wrote two letters to Ryazanov about his successes and received a letter of thanks from him. Afterwards, it turned out that Elena Alexandrovna responded to him very flatteringly about me, as about a modest young man, not like ordinary teacher-students.

Little by little, I was so used to Il'sky that when I sat up long after dinner, they sent for me, and Elena Alexandrovna asked capriciously:

- What are you doing there, Roman Antonovich? We are waiting for you, we want to do!

I got up at the projector, while the ladies listened attentively, and Verochka spun on the chair, causing the stern looks of an aunt.

It was a beautiful July evening. The heat of the day just slept. The air was drawn in a pleasant freshness and aroma of flowers and greenery. All went for a walk. Elena Alexandrovna stayed home; she was unwell, and she asked me to speak to her in English.

She sat on the balcony, in a light black negligee, with her hair loose, stretching her legs to the pillows, and listening to simple speech, occasionally answering questions. When I finished, Elena Alexandrovna looked thoughtfully into the garden, playing with a terry rose.

I got up to leave, but she stopped me:

- Where are you going? Sit down.

We were silent for several minutes. I looked at her. She noticed my eyes and smiled.

- Do you like summer this year? She asked.

“Yes,” I replied. - It seems to me that there were very few cloudy days. AND...

- And how would you like to spend it for yourself? - she interrupted.

- More to be in the open air and eat seasonal berries and fruits.

She grinned.

“Isn't it a pity that everything will end soon and the cold will come again?” - asked Elena Alexandrovna.

She rose from her chair, squinting like a sly fox, looked at me and remarked cheerfully:

- What else are you a young boy! How old are you?

- Twenty three! - I said seriously.

- Twenty three! How much! - She joked over my serious answer.

She quietly grinned and left the balcony, forgetting on the table the flower she was holding.

Less than a minute, she returned. I quickly pulled the rose from my lips and seemed embarrassed. She looked, grinned, and did not say a word. I sat, head down, as though guilty. I was amused by the game with this yoke - amused and filled my heart with some kind of gloating. I liked that she believes; I was pleased that this beautiful, glamorous woman, who first treated me like a servant, now keeps herself on an equal footing and even hints about her failed life with her husband. Of course, she freaked out, as they say, with fat, imagined her misfortune of boredom.Satisfied, rich, surrounded by common worship, who did not know where to spend the time - did you never know what nonsense she could think of? And here, at his side, young, fresh and, according to his conscience, far from being an ugly fellow, not daring to raise his eyes to the bright beauty and secretly through it ... Read more →