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roof of the nearby house and virtually inaccessible once the ladder had been
pulled up. No one would find her up here, unless the search should be guided
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by someone who knew where to look. And apart from one or two servants, Gregori
was the only one who might easily guess her hiding place. She could think of
no one on the estate at the moment who would be willing to give help to the
police.
All below remained quiet, while the passing minutes lengthened into an hour.
Natalya had no watch or clock available except the sun, but she could track
the summer shadows, making the same familiar patterns across the bare wooden
floor as in her childhood. Pigeons, who had their own ways in and out of this
place up under the corners of the roof, soon reached an accommodation with her
unexpected human presence. Then the fat birds cooed and walked the floor near
her, lurching about on their tiny legs that moved at almost-invisible speed.
Everything here reminded her with great poignancy of the days of childhood,
when she and Gregori had used this aerie as their private game room and
sanctuary. Maxim, even in those days, had more often than not demonstrated a
crude contempt for such childish things. He had really wanted slaves rather
than playmates, and when he could not enforce his authority over the other
children, he tended to withdraw from their company.
Once, she seemed to remember, they had pretended that they were lodging on
the eastern estate, Grandfather's land, Padarok Sivera Grandfather of course
had been glad to see them and that they had gone there to hunt polar bears.
Grandfather had told them that he was getting a little too old to hunt
anymore.
On the previous evening, Maxim, after partaking of a little food and drink
and unrevealing conversation with his brother and Sherwood, had fallen, as if
exhausted, into an innocent-looking sleep beside the hunters' fire, while
Sherwood and Gregori debated breaking off the chase.
Shortly after the sun was fully up, Maxim awoke beside the ashes of the fire,
where Gleb had just finished boiling water for tea, and stretched. After a cup
of the hot liquid, he took a horse mounting the suddenly unhappy animal only
with some difficulty and announced that he was riding back to the house.
At first he seemed to assume that the others had only been waiting for him to
wake up and announce his intention, and that they would come home with him.
But when it became apparent that his brother and Sherwood intended to pursue
the hunt, Maxim did not push the matter and rode home alone. He remarked that
he, for one, had certainly been out in the woods long enough.
Meanwhile the hounds, avoiding Maxim as much as possible while he was in
camp, had reached a state in which they could only slink about, confused and
whimpering.
Once Maxim had departed, the hunters saddled up again and pushed on for
another hour or so, but the trail had inevitably grown cold, and they failed
to discover their quarry.
By midday, Gregori and Sherwood and their two guides had also returned to the
house.
With all the patience of an experienced political criminal, Natalya was still
looking down from her high window a couple of hours after the arrival of the
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police. She experienced a shock of surprise, not exactly joyful, on catching
sight of the brother she had supposed dead, arriving matter-of-factly on one
of the horses the hunting party had taken. Obviously, her brothers had
encountered each other in the woods. She experienced relief, but the feeling
was mixed with something darker. The result was hardly joy; a cold welcome
home on her part, for this political policeman.
Watching with intense interest and considerable surprise from among the
cobwebs in her dusty observation post, she realized that she was not entirely
happy to see that Maxim was still alive.
Within a minute or two she also observed, with an unpleasant feeling, Maxim's
reaction when he was confronted by the police. Maxim did not seem in the least
surprised.
Looking down from her high place, Natalya saw her younger brother standing in
the yard, handing over first his rifle, and then the reins of his horse, to
one of the stable boys, and talking in an animated fashion with the police,
who had emerged from wherever they had been waiting, and were now all
gathering around him. Maxim was doing most of the talking, and his attitude
and gestures were not those of a suspect being questioned. And the attitude of
the police was respectful or it soon turned that way. Natalya was even able to
overhear a few words of their conversation when one or another of the men
raised his voice.
Maxim showed them a certain document he took from an inner pocket. After the
officer in charge had examined the paper, his behavior and that of his men
became almost obsequious. Before turning away, the officer in charge actually
saluted Maxim.
As soon as Natalya got over her first surprise at seeing Maxim still alive, a
suspicion began to grow in her that this untrustworthy brother had somehow
managed their father's death. And now, clenching her small fists and muttering
swearwords in three languages under her breath, she had good evidence, if she
had not earlier, that Maxim was in league with the police.
After a minute or two of further conversation, Maxim dismissed the uniformed
men at least that was how his sister interpreted the behavior of the figures
in the yard below and went on into the house. Distantly, she could hear the
raised voice of her mysterious brother, calling calmly to the servants for a
bath, his razor, and some food.
Though Maxim had given the impression of dismissing them, the police did not
leave the estate. Nor did they change their waiting tactics, as far as Natalya
could see; still, they made no effort to search the house or grounds, but were
content to remain on watch inside the house or near it. They hung about as if
they were waiting patiently for something to happen or perhaps for someone
else to arrive.
The moving sun had marked off another half-hour before she saw the young
maid, Evdokia, moving with all the furtiveness of an inexperienced
conspirator, come quickly out of the house by the back door and run straight
to the lower level of the old theater, at a moment when none of the policemen
were around.
First slipping off her shoes, moving as quietly as she could in stocking
feet, Natalya ran down to a level just above the ground. From here she
conducted a whispered conversation with the servant who had come looking for
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her, while Evdokia remained at ground level.
Evdokia had heard one of the police say that they were waiting for Gregori
Ivanovich to come back, so they could take him in for questioning. They had
asked about Gregori's whereabouts, and all the servants had told them that he
was out hunting. The visitors had not even mentioned Natalya.
Of course, thought Natalya, that could be an attempt at cunning misdirection.
"What did Maxim Ivanovich say to them?" she asked the girl.
"I don't know, mistress. But he was laughing after he talked to them, and he
has ordered the cook to feed them well."
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zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkwiatpolny.htw.pl
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| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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