No Plagiarism!4GMRWH7bZn88xtyxp6iZposted on PENANA ON THE MORNING when Countess Zelenina called on Eric at the Staraya Rossiya Hotel in Rybichkala, he was suffering a recurrence of one of his old enemies: migraine.
It was just a mild attack as yet, compared with previous bouts, but he took it as a warning sign. Was it possible that all his old familiar foes---which he thought he had abandoned on the Siberian plain, somewhere between Omsk and Tomsk---were even now hastening to catch up with him? Were his hemorrhoids rolling along the Road within striking distance of Krasnoyarsk? Was his gastritis likewise coming this way? Probably. All because he had dallied in one place too long.
At the bedroom door Eric begged to excuse himself, but the countess practically forced her way into the room. He yielded and called to a passing maid, requesting a cup of tea from her.
Lydia Zelenina was a tall slim woman with a fine oval face. He hair was chestnut, and her eyes dark and bold, with thickly "seductive" lashes. At 32 she was a widow, whose husband, a rich local merchant, had perished from cholera three summers ago, leaving her with two young daughters and a big townhouse, as well as income from forestry, lumber mills and tanneries. Unfortunately, she tended to smoke and drink; this married her somewhat in Eric's eyes.
Today she was attired eccentrically, in riding boots, a black brocaded gown, and (although it was the dead of summer) in an impossibly hot fur hat the size of a rook's nest. She looked as if she had set out for a ball, to be held immediately after a funeral, but suspected she might have to escape from a wolf pack en route!
Her noble grandfather had been exiled to Krasnoyarsk back in '25 for taking part in the Decembrist conspiracy. Accompanied by his loyal wife, together they had become part of the kernel of civilizing forces which eventually made this town a decent place to live in. Lydia inherited a penchant for conspiring, in the shape of organizing social events, and for wild deeds....
When tea arrived, she lit a cigarette. Mostly she held it far from her lips, puffing only two defiant billows into the air. After a while she crossed her legs with a flourish, to display the best effect her smartly tooled boots which were so much more finely cut than Eric's own torturers.
He regarded her through his pince-nez in silence. At last, she crushed out her cigarette amidst the stubs of Eric's own Spanish cigars.
"Mon cher Eric Saveli. I'm sure there are secrets hidden in your silence which no one will ever know!"
"If that's so, Countess, then they're likely a secret from me as well..." Actually, he had been thinking about gastritis.
She disregarded his wry smile. "No, I mean it: just as surely as there's a secret locked in the silent heart of the taiga! En tout cas, that's why I'm here. Voyez: we aren't all illiterates in Siberia. I propose that we should raise funds for your coming expedition by means of a benefit performance of your delicious farce, The Bear."
Eric could have groaned aloud. That stupid piece of vaudeville, hacked out for provincial buffoons to laugh their stupid heads off at!
On the other hand, he had been living off the proceeds of its wretched nonsense for the best part of last year....
" I would be delighted to take the role of the widow Kristina, personally."
Oh, yes. Without a doubt! Ca va sans dire. And which of her suitors would she nominate for the role of the "Bear." Yanovich? With whom did she wish to conduct a flaming row in public? And challenge to a duel? And wave a revolver at? Ah yes, with her eyes sparkling and her face a flush---gunpowder and fireworks popping off at every word! And which of her rivals, among the ticket holders in the audience, would she glare at while flinging her gauntlet? Had Countess Zelenina maybe found a packet of her own former husband's billet-doux locked up in some drawer after his death, just as Kristina had?
"I think we will stage it at the Governor's residence. He was a good
"I think we shall stage it at the Governor’s residence. He was a good friend of Zelenin’s. Mais escoutez, there’s more! I’m an extravagantly wealthy woman---I’m sure I may speak frankly! Oh, yes! I would be more than happy to pay a substantial donation towards the cost of mounting the Tunguska Expedition, provided that…."8964 copyright protection272PENANAmOQash1nt6 維尼
"Provided what?" 8964 copyright protection272PENANAJdrP4apZCq 維尼
"That I am allowed to go along." 8964 copyright protection272PENANAJfXGsMxAAD 維尼
"You can't be serious!"8964 copyright protection272PENANAhIK6Izf2af 維尼
"I am serious. I want to accompany the expedition. I shan’t hold you back. I don’t expect any comfort. I anticipate danger and privation. Oh Eric Saveli, I’m so sick of frittering my life away on petty excitements. Dances or a duck shoot---what nonsense!" 8964 copyright protection272PENANATxnYaEUKTY 維尼
"I hardly think you fully understand….:8964 copyright protection272PENANAfGas5PX1mK 維尼
"Women regularly go through childbirth, mon ami. I don’t think you know how much toughness and courage it requires of us."8964 copyright protection272PENANAUUEl0t0FNB 維尼
"No," Eric said. "But I have seen what it's like when it goes wrong. You haven't."8964 copyright protection272PENANAR448DpmLsg 維尼
"I have so! Still, I doubt if a man could endure it!" 8964 copyright protection272PENANAzx9BpC4Uol 維尼
"Fortunately, we don’t often have to, Countess. But it wasn’t your stamina I was questioning. If I might be blunt: one woman, alone in the wilderness with a band of men?" 8964 copyright protection272PENANAf2wqK6ZJW3 維尼
"Oh, you're worried about my reputation?" She fluttered her eyelashes. "Or are you worried about yours?"8964 copyright protection272PENANAuAcAPUc5eR 維尼
Good Lord, he thought, she's making a pitch at me. Be careful, Eric, old Bean! On the other hand, don't rebuff her---that's dodgy, too. A woman scorned and all that bullshit!8964 copyright protection272PENANAO1KFavaCo1 維尼
He spoke jocularly. "It is said that there are giant rats out in the taiga."8964 copyright protection272PENANAbvHpHIeYkC 維尼
"You know perfectly well that's a local superstition. And quite inappropriate for the great Doctor Delko, the intrepid explorer of the Tunguska."8964 copyright protection272PENANAbaX6gNSp3R 維尼
"I can't believe you're serious!"8964 copyright protection272PENANAXmchTBztEJ 維尼
"You must."8964 copyright protection272PENANAKJ6ELqWQzz 維尼
"I do hope, Countess, that you won't challenge me to a duel if I greet your proposal with a certain degree of..."8964 copyright protection272PENANA5o0Z1LmsfZ 維尼
"Ecoutez: I can shoot straight, and I can ride."8964 copyright protection272PENANAISLyuCDBe4 維尼
"On pack horses!? We'll be walking most of the time."8964 copyright protection272PENANAEoWfGpjTw8 維尼
"I'd advise you to take a sledge or two."8964 copyright protection272PENANALIKTqQSe2s 維尼
"That's assuming we ever do set off..."8964 copyright protection272PENANAQ90wse35A7 維尼
"You will, with my help." Lighting another cigarette, she waved it around as if the whole matter was signed, sealed, and delivered.8964 copyright protection272PENANA9MSt4otmV2 維尼
"If you'll allow me to say so, Countess, you're not qualified scientifically. To make observations, for example..."8964 copyright protection272PENANAU91WbU1lJ1 維尼
"I have thought of that. It just so happens I own a camera, and you won't find it's like anywhere east of the Urals. It was given to me as a gift from an eccentric American inventor, whose name I can't remember, for some reason. With this camera, you don't have to fuss with heavy glass plates---it uses what it's inventor calls 'roll film.'"8964 copyright protection272PENANAvX7vdTfEIX 維尼
"Whatever 'roll film' is," he said with heavy sarcasm in his voice.8964 copyright protection272PENANAA6dT4wx2sE 維尼
Lydia smiled triumphantly. "See? You do need a photographic expert. You hadn't even thought of that! What's more, I don't see why you need to go on spending money in this dreadful hotel. Quel ennui! It must be so confining. I should consider myself privileged if you were to accept the hospitality of my own home." She wagged a finger at him. "With no obligations to be on display to casual visitors---or pay any attention whatsoever to my darling daughters. You wouldn't be bothered at all. You needn't even be present at rehearsals of The Bear. Though, if you wish, I could initiate you into the mysteries of the roll-film camera." She winked. "Click!"---as if snapping a photograph.8964 copyright protection272PENANA4f0OcaVFJd 維尼
Eric shifted about uncomfortably in his seat, and as he did so he felt a brief pang in his bum.8964 copyright protection272PENANAsOWlrZmqAm 維尼
He had to admit it; he'd been stuck in this hotel far too long. Writing letters to one and all. Squeezing out articles about the taiga and the Tunguska Mystery. The room wasn't exactly luxurious.8964 copyright protection272PENANAX2MA3AvaXO 維尼
Lydia leaped up and clapped her hands, knocking ash on the worn-out carpet. "I take it that's settled! What are you waiting for? Get your bags packed, mon ami."8964 copyright protection272PENANASEKtIDTvtA 維尼
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