The Cavalier Guards. 1812.White colet and phrygian cap

— Now, I’ll sit, but I’ll cut wood, — said the young man, — otherwise it will get dark soon.

— With taxes, how, — thought, asked Martha, — there was no money, then suddenly appeared.

— In parts we will give the headman, the ruble now, the ruble in a month.

— And then, — the girl agreed, — otherwise she will think what is unkind, how we stole where.

Fedot went out into the yard, took his father’s ax, and began to break the firewood into logs. The deck was good, stable, so the work was arguing. The sun was already setting, and there was already a good supply of firewood at home.

The young man took off his shirt, rinsed himself from a wooden bucket of water, and was going to rest. He took off his boots, closed the door with a bolt, and instead of boots he stuck his legs into old cut-off felt boots. Two rays burned in the room, illuminating the hut drowning in darkness. Martha was already wrapped in a cloth blanket, maybe she was asleep. The young man also lay down on the feather bed (a bag full of good spiritual grass) of his shop, and covered himself with the same blanket, then with his sister. Luchins burned out, and ash fell into the substituted troughs with water. As the fire went out, so Fedot fell asleep.

Marfa’s loss and escape

Only russed- and Ivan Ivanovich at work, sentences: — Do everything right, Fedot, you are not making the fifth wheel for a cart, — and he smiles.

— Everything will work out, — the guy says, but checks the pattern of his difficult work.

In the corner, already another apprentice, Thomas, lit coal, but already began to warm the tire. It was necessary to heat the iron according to my mind, so as not to overheat, but it was clear from the color of the metal, and now, carefully, the apprentice began to settle the iron welded strip on the wheel, so that it would take so long, but it would not break.

The work was argued, the apprentices brought a dry tree, and began to iron it with planters. Suddenly there was the voice of the clerk:

— Finish work, went to church. Our master died, and Kuzma Petrovich, the old clerk of the Telnovs, having removed the same old master’s cylinder, crossed himself, looking at the icon in the red corner.

— Let’s go, Thomas, — the master said quietly, — our calm life ended.

Fedot looked back at the mentor, but only shrugged. A boy, Thomas’s brother, remained in the workhouse to look after the fire, with which jokes are always bad.

There were artisans, twelve people, and Ivan Ivanovich was ahead of everyone, leaning on a stick for order, and not because his legs hurt. The people flocked to the church, torn off by the clerk for a mournful occasion.

The village woke up from bad news. Their master, the evil Georgy Petrovich, died. The body was brought to an old stone church on the outskirts of the village — to be buried. I saw Fedot and his wife, the lady, Ekaterina Alekseevna, with a tearful face, and a black shawl on her head holding the hand of her son, Yevgeny Georgievich, also in a mourning outfit. Pop conducted the service with a full outfit, they stood for a long time, incense from the censer in a thin stream rose to the dome of the church painted with old frescoes. The young man looked more at the strict and beautiful figures of the apostles and saints than at the coffin and relatives of the master. Finally, the service ended, and six dozen men carried the coffin to a ready-made grave near the church. But not a simple pit, but a family crypt, established in European fashion by the grandfather of the deceased master.

It was necessary to work — but the clerk sent everyone to the church to honor the hostess. So not Sunday, but today was a day off.

It all ended and people went home, Fedot did not even know now how it would end for them.

A month passed, and the second, but nothing happened. The young master drove off to Moscow to serve in official service. And in Telnovka everything went on as usual, only the landowners did not forget about the quitrent and corvee.

***

A year passed, everything went on as usual. The workhouse brought Telnov huge income, so the clerk did not go in vain, but left Ivan Ivanovich to keep order. The lady was also affectionate, but in her own way. In the village, the people were almost not flogged, only if the shepherd Arkady, so called by the late Telnov at the time of Ovid’s passion for “Bucolics.” This guard of sheep herds did not at all resemble the hundred-eyed Argus, but rather the cheerful Silenus, and often entertained children, and especially girls, by playing the pipe or horn (he did not have a flute, like harps). So it happened that he did not have time for cattle, but what would have been, Kuzma Petrovich himself flogged the shepherd, because there were no Cossacks and Haidukov from retired soldiers in the village. The old master served as a civilian, not a military unit, and retired as a college secretary.

Kupala week was approaching. They prepared festive treats in all the huts, and new clothes.

— Fedot, are you going home yet? — Thomas asked, — yes I would pass with you, and we will talk.

— Let’s go, and your house is not far, — the young man answered.

In truth, the house of Thomas and his father with his mother and two brothers and sister was just on the other side of Telnovka. The guy deliberately took his time to put the instrument in the box, adjusted the shirt, put the cap on the hair cut off by his sister in a circle, and went home, Thomas moved with him, who also started a felt cap instead of a cap, and even with a varnished visor.

The track on the road was broken by the wheels of heavy carts, so the grass grew little, but there was a lot of manure from the cows, and Fedot walked carefully so that the beautiful leather tops of new clothes would not be cleaned with grass. Why not pamper yourself? Money, read six rubles a month earned, and silver, not pieces of paper. The lady saved, very sweeping. Although recruitment kits became frequent, and Ekaterina Alekseevna paid neighboring landowners for recruitment, they in turn sent men to the royal service. Who? Yes, who is the worst for the landowner, lazy or violent, even as a soldier.

Here is the hut, and the dog, spinning nearby. Fedot took off his cap, smoothed his hair with both palms, as he learned from Ivan Ivanovich, and opened the door.

He went through the canopy, Martha kept everything in the house, and not alone. Next to her stood Alyona, Thomas’s smiling sister, two years younger than him, a girl of fifteen. And Fedot is no longer a child, seventeen years old. And Thomas as much. The young man has long understood what Thomas is visiting them, but many of the mentor’s habits stuck to him — he only smiled, but pretended not to understand what was what. Still give your sister in marriage — and Thomas not old, sensible, and not offended by the mind. Previously, matchmakers were not sent to their sister, with their orphanhood, but recently grandma Lukerya came in, but she twisted everything with a long nose, what and how, what is the wealth in the house? Marfa’s dowry? Do not let go of the porch — old, and not accepted. Even the lady respects her very much and calls her nothing more than my Aphrodite or wingless Erot. What kind of Erot, God knows, the young man cursed to himself. But what about Alyona? Yes, it’s too early for him to marry, like God is holy.

“Hello, brother. Why are you standing? Martha smiled slyly, Alyona came to me, she also cooks treats.

“Yes, and I didn’t just come, Fedot Andreevich,” a friend addressed him for the first time by patronymic, “I would like to send matchmakers to your sister, Martha Andreevna. That in the fall, honor by honor, we get married.

“Yes, I don’t mind,” said the young man, the head of the family, “it is also necessary to ask the lady permission.”

— Tomorrow I will tell my father, he will discuss with the clerk, and there, and Ekaterina Alekseevna will decide.

“So we agreed. Well, as for the dowry, I’ll talk to your father and matchmakers.

— Thank you, — and Fedota hugged and kissed her flushed sister.

“Thank you for your brother,” Alyona said quietly.

— Well, feed then, what only “thank you,” — smiled and the owner of the house.

Apparently, everything was discussed without him, cunning girls, and began to lay out cabbage soup with corned beef, and porridge with honey, and rye gingerbread.

— Yes, — only Fedot said, looking at the table, — the hostess from the house, and finally feeds better.

— Well, what, — said the sister, — here, you marry Alyona, she will be sixteen in the summer. Reference hostess, I checked.

Fedot almost dropped a spoon with cabbage soup into his pants, and deftly grabbed his teeth.

“What are you doing?” sister laughed, she wouldn’t eat you, tea. And you are not afraid of horses, and at fairs on your fists, you will not stop you, will you really be scared of the red girl?

The young man sighed and looked at Alyona, who was sitting neither alive nor dead, only she turned red, and that look would burst.

— Sorry, Alyona, — he said loudly, — if good and nice for you, I will send matchmakers in the summer. And you are also to my heart.

— Okay… said a pleased Thomas.

***

The first night Kupalskaya passed like a moment, Fedot all went by the hand with Alena, the other girls did not pull him in a round dance, and they did not call him into the bushes. And he jumped over the fire with her, and lowered wreaths into the lake. Thomas was relentlessly with happy Martha. The lady allowed the marriage, and it’s good that the couple is beautiful, and the groom is not from a foreign village. Here, during the holiday, the clerk walked in circles, and with his friends, who are healthier, and with sticks, beat off guys from neighboring villages, other people’s slaves, who will be courting Telnov’s girls. And it’s not good, but what to do? If a guy and a girl of different owners stumble — trouble. Who will pay compensation? And they demand a lot of money for serfs: both fifty and one hundred rubles for a living soul.

The second night was also no worse than the first, or rather, so began…

Fedot walked along the path, Alenka laughed everything.

— Now I will overcome — I will find the grass, let me find a fern flower, all the treasures will open to us, — said the girl, I looked at everything under every leaf.

— Have you thought about it, Alyona? And where is the cart or wheelbarrow? What are you taking gold on?

— You, Fedot, strong, drag, — there was a beauty.

The moon was full, and it was clear, so at the edge of the forest it was not that light, but not dark. Restless Alyonka was looking for her happiness, and she found the floor with a bush. So she threw back the branches, and was stunned.

— AH! — pale, she shouted, — rushing to the young man, and burst into tears.

— What? Is it really a treasure? ‘the guy did not believe, taking the girl by the shoulders.

— Thomas is, — the girl lamented, starting to sniff, — killed…

— Come on… — he just swallowed, leaned over, and also threw back the branches.

Thomas lay on his back with his arms outstretched, staring into the black sky with unseen eyes. Opposite the heart, a small red speck spread on the shirt.

“Who is he?” Alyona looked into her companion’s eyes, not expecting an answer to her question.

— Okay, you still need to take it, — Fedot sighed, and sitting down, raised the dead in his arms.

Alena, all crying, found her brother’s cartouche nearby, and Martha’s scarf. The young man carried the body of a friend along the path to the village. And I did not know before that it was so difficult to carry an unyielding inanimate body, my hands were numb.

— Nothing, soon we will be at home, — he said everything, — Alyona! Run home, warn your mother and father, let them meet.

— I am now, — and the quick-footed girl ran to the village, home.

Fedot’s hands were already numb, but he walked and walked, as he finally heard that people were running towards him.

— Boy, where are you? Thomas’s father, Pankrat Semenovich, shouted.

“Here I am, Uncle Pancrath,” the youth replied.

— Fedot! Come on!

He came running and stood in front of him still unsteady Pankrat, and the two older brothers Fomy — Kuzma and Lazar, holding in their hands a large piece of rough canvas.

“Put it down,” the man said quietly, “we’ll take it.”

Fedot just nodded, and crouched down, carefully put the victim on the grass, and moved back two steps. The brothers spread the burlap, and put the body on it, crossed themselves. Then, taking up the edges of the canvas raised, Fedot took up the fourth corner. As soon as it began to shine, the sun rose, but there was no joy either, what kind of joy is there? They walked quickly, only in the village dogs howled because of the wattles, but people began to run away when they heard about the trouble. Finally we reached the house where Thomas’s mother, Evdokia Afanasyevna, stood at the gate. Fedot just lowered his head even lower.

— Carry home, — said the woman in a tired and dead voice, — thank you, Fedot, for helping in grief.

The young man just nodded. They brought the body, putting it on a bench in the house. He looked again at the dead Thomas, at a wound that looked like a red flower on his chest. Very narrow, what was the knife?

— I will go, — the young man said quietly, — yes, and Martha is missing, it is necessary to look.

He stood next to the house, like a quick step to the house of Pankrat Semenovich, almost running, and the clerk, Kuzma Petrovich, approached.

— What happened, Fedot? ‘he asked, frowning.

“Thomas was killed, and Martha was missing,” the young man replied in a gray voice.

— I suppose from Semenovka, stupid guys… — the clerk said, — ours often fight with them.

“Why should they?” They could have picked up, but beat Thomas. But kill? Alien it. And what a small wound, not a knife, but right in the heart.

— You are looking for what smart, — Kuzma scratched himself with evil, — we find out who and how… And where is your sister? Is she his bride?

“Also missing.

— Now I will go to Pankrat, but I will call the men, looking after Martha, — and he slapped Fedot on the shoulder.

The clerk took off his top hat, crossed himself, and went into the house.

The young man trudged into his hut. I saw that walking from the forest, went home. At home I watched everything in the corners, everyone was waiting for Martha’s voice to sound. And I could not eat, I took out a zhban with kvass and bread from the crust, but I chewed and drank a little. I woke up from the fact that the crowd had gathered at the house, but I heard the voice of Andreika, also a friend from the workhouse:

— Let’s go to the forest, Fedot, Martha needs to look.

The guy jumped up from the bench, tucked his shirt into his belt, a bag of loaf of bread behind his back, and was ready. Twenty guys gathered, the hunter led everyone, Ilya. One lady allowed him to keep a gun in the house, and he always accompanied the old master on the hunt. And now behind the huntsman on the belt hung a double-barreled gun, exactly next to the bag. A small dog with a loud dog name Polkan was also spinning on the leash.

— Great guy, lead us straight to the place. And there, Polkashka, you look, and will lead to the villain.

Fedot walked in front, a hunter with a dog walked next to him, the rest kept up from behind. The guy noticed everything and recalled noticeable trees, and paths, walked past the bushes, and saw that crushed grass lying on it with the body of Thomas.

— Here Alyona found him, said the young man, sighing heavily.

— All right lad, step away and you’re not close, ‘the huntsman said sternly as he squatted down.

He seemed to sniff the grass himself, raised the branches, finally got up, and immediately sat down and shouted joyfully:

— there now! — and pointed to a distinct footprint of shoes with a heel, and nearby…

Ilya took the dog by the collar, and the dog sniffed for a long time, and now he quickly wagged, waving his tail, to the road, and the hunter followed him. Polkan led people, the huntsman saw that the dog was not getting lost.

“What did you see but the trail?” the young man asked, “I didn’t understand what I found?” — and pointed to a rounded trail in the ground from something sharp, — Stick? A stick?

— Big-eyed… Ilya looked up at him, — Whether it was a cane. Who was here with the cane?

“I haven’t seen anyone. And who was with the cane? Peasants do not walk with canes, you know.. — answered Fedot.

***

Several peasants from the village, looking around, approached the border of the forest. Soon the borders of the neighboring village, Semenovka, began.

— Do you know for sure that there were guys from Semenovka in our forest? ‘asked one another incredulously.

“Exactly, and Kuzma Petrovich himself said,” the peasant said confidently, “and the year before last, the fight was big for grazing, that they drive their cows to us, they feed our grass to cattle.

— Well, yes, — the interlocutor scratched his head, shedding his felt hat, — so it comes out, — but honestly we will, without drekol and without murder. We will fight according to custom.

— We agree, — the villagers chained, — do not beat bedridden. Blood is enough. Yes, and you look, it will be revealed who cuts our people there with a knife.

— Let’s go…

Telnovsky men quietly watched two shepherds from Semenovka grazing cattle on disputed land.

“What are you doing here?” — said one of Telnovsky, going out into the clearing, kneading, — let’s go from here!

— And that’s right, Vasyatka, otherwise we will show them the way! ‘another said.

— And which of yours, Semenovsky, rushes with knives and cuts people through the forests?

— You completely screwed up, Telnovsky, — began one of the shepherds, — ours are grazes, — you yourself go well, — and threw the whip to the ground, rolling up your shirt sleeves.

The second shepherd did the same by hanging a whip on the branch of a tree.

A fight broke out, sweeping, unlike English boxing, blows were inflicted in completely different ways. But now, the Telnovites prevailed, and the Semenovites trudged for help.

“We’ll be back now,” the shepherd promised, turning around.

— Yes, we are waiting, — the Telnovets promised, — do not forget to return!

While the men sat down on the fallen trees, wait for Semenov’s.

— It hasn’t been so good for a long time…

“Exactly,” nodded another, “more and more fun. Here they fought, and it became more pleasant at heart.

— You have a fingal under your eye, here, put a penny, — held out a large five-kopeck coin.

— Yes, it will heal — but I put a coin under my eye.

While the men were talking like that, Semenov’s came running, also twenty people. The Telnovsky breeder came forward, a man of about thirty, with a felt hat knocked down on the back of his head.

— Tell me kindly, which of you went to the forest for the Kupala holiday?

“What do you want?” — answered the osanite man from the Semenovskys who came forward.

— Thomas, one of the chariots, was killed with a knife, — the evil one answered, — ask if any of yours saw.

“It’s the right thing to do. But we didn’t kill, for sure. Let’s ask the boys. — nodded Semenovsky, — well, we start?

The men threw off their hats, and a cruel fun began — a wall battle. The fight was two to one, or even three at once, in the ranks as lucky as anyone. Only you can see how the hands and fists of the fighters fly wildly, and the retired participants fall on the grass. Finally, only the Telnovsky factory and the first of the Semenovs remained standing. Telnovets, who was smaller in stature, was fast and dodgy, and finally knocked Semenovsky to the ground.

“Tomorrow I’ll know who saw what. I’ll ask ours, “said a smiling man wiping blood from his nose.

“Then see you,” she answered, shaking hands with her interlocutor, “let’s go, men,” he called his fellow villagers, who were putting themselves in order.

***

Ilya turned around, and realized that he was carried away by the traces near the place of murder, he missed all his fellow villagers. Fedot also looked around, not understanding what was the matter. Nobody else was here.

— Where did they go? — the young man was surprised, even confused.

— How to where? Fight with the Semenovskys, — the huntsman explained, — and there was a reason, and they believe that it was Thomas’s neighbors who decided.

— And you?

In response, Ilya grinned, and taking little Polkan by the leash, went out of the forest, and Fedot trudged along with him. The hunter himself was like a dog, and the guy saw how a man and a dog looked at each other, for nothing, then one with a tail, and the other did not.

They went to the road leading to the Telnov estate, and nearby there were traces of a carriage, and a noticeable mark from a cane on the ground.

“Do they carry knives in a cane?”

— You are not so simple, Fedot, — Ilya smiled, — The head is smart. This is not a knife, a stiletto, and they put it in a cane. Just the wound is small, narrow, after hitting such a blade remains, but the blade is very strong.

— So you think that Thomas was killed by one of Telnov’s guests, and Martha in the manor house?

— Take your time the guy, — and Ilya took the young man by the hand, — you need to see everything, but find out.

— I agree. Thank you, Ilya. But what will Pankrat say, and I am Alyona? Fedot thought aloud.

“What they didn’t find. Now let’s see what will happen at Thomas’s funeral. And what the Semenovskys know — I suppose the fight is over.

— Ilya, — and the young man took the hunter’s hand, — find out where Martha is. Here is a ruble for you — and he put a coin in his wide palm of coins — four more, as you please.

“And that would help. But you understand, I live here, and you will go on the run. And here I will help, you will need to get to Kostroma, Rodion Khrenov lives in the suburbs, tomorrow I will do a letter to him, he will help. He is one of the schismatics, to help any fugitive from the authorities is God’s work for him. The only thing — take your mugs and spoons — they are strict with this.

— Thank you, Ilya.

“There’s nothing to it. Fedot, go and rest home. And I’m in the Telnov estate.

***

The fight ended, and the funny men returned to Telnovka.

— And you saw how I deftly screwed — once and with a fist in my ear! ‘said one loudly.

— Yes, me too, he is in my nose, — and I walked, and I am in his forehead! He fell!

— Yes, we gave them, they will know!

— Yes, all the good fellows, — concluded the breeder, only who killed Thomas, did not know… These, Semenov’s, were promised to find out, but who knows, saw what not?

— I go coffin get along… recalled another.

He walked towards, but the clerk almost ran, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief according to the lordly fashion.

— Where were you? ‘he yelled.

— Yes, you, Petrovich, do not serch. We went to the forest, walked.

“Why are the faces broken?” ‘he asked, waking up.

— Slippery there, Kuzma Petrovich. Branches, cones, mushrooms. Everyone got in, and they beat their faces.