Part 11

Makar Semenof stood there as if nothing were happening, looked at the superintendent, and did not even glance at Aksenof. Aksenof, however, stood with his hands and lips all a-tremble, and for a long time he could not utter a word. He thought, “Suppose I should hide him--but why should I forgive him, when he has ruined me? Why shouldn’t I be revenged for my misery? Then, again, to tell on him would mean a knouting. But what put the thought into my head? Would it make my burden lighter to bear?”

The superintendent repeated his question:

“Now, come, old man, tell the truth: who did the digging?”

Aksenof glanced at Makar Semenof and said:

“I can’t tell, Your Honor. God forbids me to tell. And I won’t tell, do with me whatsoever you will--I’m at your mercy.”

The superintendent struggled with him, but Aksenof would say nothing more.

So they never knew who had dug the hole.

The next night, when Aksenof lay down in his bunk and had hardly closed his eyes, he became conscious that some one came near him and sat down at his feet. He looked into the dark and recognized Makar. Aksenof spoke first:

“What more do you want from me? What are you up to now?”

Makar Semenof remained silent. Aksenof raised himself and said:

“What is it you want? Begone! Or else I’ll call a soldier.”

Makar Semenof bent over close to Aksenof and said in a whisper:

“Ivan Dmitrievich, forgive me!”

Aksenof said, “Forgive you for what?”

“It was I who killed the merchant, and it was I who slipped the knife into your sack. I wished to kill you too, but there was a noise outdoors, and so I slipped the knife in and crawled out through the window.”

Aksenof was silent, and he did not know what to say. Makar Semenof let himself down from the bunk, performed a genuflection, and said:

“Ivan Dmitrievich, forgive me, forgive me for God’s sake! I will let them know that I killed the merchant, and they will let you go free. Then you can return home.”

Aksenof replied:

“It is easy for you to say that, but it is for me to suffer. Where can I go now?... My wife is dead; my children have forgotten me; there is nowhere for me to go....”

Makar Semenof did not rise from the ground; he beat his head against the earth and continued saying:

“Ivan Dmitrich, forgive me! When they put the lash on me, it was much easier for me to bear than to look at you now.... And to think that you had pity on me--and did not tell. Forgive me, for the sake of Christ! Forgive me, accursed wretch that I am!”

Then he began to weep.

When Aksenof saw that Makar Semenof was weeping, he too wept, and said:

“God will forgive you; perhaps I am a hundredfold worse than you!”

And all at once he felt as if something were lifted from his soul. And he ceased to yearn for home, and did not wish to leave the prison, but thought only of the final hour.

Makar Semenof did not listen to Aksenof, and confessed his guilt. But when Aksenof’s release arrived, he was already dead.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] It will be observed that Aksenof is also called Dmitrievich (_Son of Dmitri_) and Dmitrich, and that the name of another character is variously spelled Semenof, Semenovich, and Semenich. The translator has preserved these forms as they are in the original. Such changing of name-forms is by no means uncommon in Russian stories.