




                      _VIZETELLY'S RUSSIAN NOVELS._





                             Uncle's Dream;

                                   AND

                         The Permanent Husband.






                        CELEBRATED RUSSIAN NOVELS





                         By FEDOR DOSTOIEFFSKY.

        _Translated from the original Russian by Fred. Whishaw._



    "There are three Russian novelists who, though, with one
    exception, little known out of their own country, stand head and
    shoulders above most of their contemporaries. In the opinion of
    some not indifferent critics, they are superior to all other
    novelists of this generation. Two of them, Dostoieffsky and
    Turgenieff, died not long ago; the third, Lyof Tolstoi, still
    lives. The one with the most marked individuality of character,
    probably the most highly gifted, was unquestionably
    Dostoieffsky."--_Spectator._





         _In crown 8vo. containing nearly 500 pages, price 6s._

                               THE IDIOT.



    "Is unquestionably a work of great power and originality. M.
    Dostoieffsky crowds his canvas with living organisms, depicted
    with extreme vividness."--_Scotsman._





                        _In crown 8vo, price 5s._

               THE FRIEND OF THE FAMILY; AND THE GAMBLER.



    "Dostoieffsky is one of the keenest observers of humanity amongst
    modern novelists. Both stories are very valuable as pictures of a
    society and a people with whom we are imperfectly acquainted, but
    who deserve the closest scrutiny."--_Public Opinion._





   _Third edition. In crown 8vo, with Portrait and Memoir, price 5s._

                           INJURY AND INSULT.



    "That 'Injury and Insult' is a powerful novel few will deny. Vania
    is a marvellous character. Once read, the book can never be
    forgotten."--_St. Stephen's Review._

    "A masterpiece of fiction. The author has treated with consummate
    tact the difficult character of Natasha, 'the incarnation of the
    slave of passion.' She lives and breathes in these vivid pages,
    and the reader is drawn into the vortex of her anguish, and
    rejoices when she breaks free from her chain."--_Morning Post._





           _Third edition. In crown 8vo, 450 pages, price 6s._

                          CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.



    "Dostoieffsky is one of the most remarkable of modern writers, and
    his book, 'CRIME AND PUNISHMENT' is one of the most moving of
    modern novels. It is the story of a murder and of the punishment
    which dogs the murderer; and its effect is unique in fiction. It
    is realism, but such realism as M. Zola and his followers do not
    dream of. The reader knows the personages--strange grotesque,
    terrible personages they are--more intimately than if he had been
    years with them in the flesh. He is constrained to live their
    lives, to suffer their tortures, to scheme and resist with them,
    exult with them, weep and laugh and despair with them; he breathes
    the very breath of their nostrils, and with the madness that comes
    upon them he is afflicted even as they. This sounds extravagant
    praise, no doubt; but only to those who have not read the volume.
    To those who have, we are sure that it will appear rather under
    the mark than otherwise."--_The Athenaeum._








                      _VIZETELLY'S RUSSIAN NOVELS._





                             Uncle's Dream;

                                   AND

                         The Permanent Husband.

                         By FEDOR DOSTOIEFFSKY,


 AUTHOR OF "CRIME AND PUNISHMENT," "INJURY AND INSULT," "THE IDIOT," "THE
                 FRIEND OF THE FAMILY; AND THE GAMBLER."

            TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY FREDERICK WHISHAW.

                              [Illustration]
LONDON:

_VIZETELLY & CO., 16, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN._

1888.






CONTENTS


UNCLE'S DREAM.


CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
Footnotes





THE PERMANENT HUSBAND


CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.





UNCLE'S DREAM.





CHAPTER I.


Maria Alexandrovna Moskaleva was the principal lady of Mordasoff--there was
no doubt whatever on that point! She always bore herself as though _she_
did not care a fig for anyone, but as though no one else could do without
_her_. True, there were uncommonly few who loved her--in fact I may say
that very many detested her; still, everyone was afraid of her, and that
was what she liked!

Now, why did Maria Alexandrovna, who dearly loves scandal, and cannot
sleep at night unless she has heard something new and piquant the day
before,--why, or how did she know how to bear herself so that it would
never strike anyone, looking at her, to suppose that the dignified lady
was the most inveterate scandal-monger in the world--or at all events in
Mordasoff? On the contrary, anyone would have said at once, that scandals
and such-like pettiness must vanish in her presence; and that
scandal-mongers, caught red-handed by Maria Alexandrovna, would blush and
tremble, like schoolboys at the entrance of the master; and that the talk
would immediately be diverted into channels of the loftiest and most
sublime subjects so soon as she entered the room. Maria Alexandrovna knew
many deadly and scandalous secrets of certain other Mordasoff inhabitants,
which, if she liked to reveal them at any convenient opportunity, would
produce results little less terrible than the earthquake of Lisbon. Still,
she was very quiet about the secrets she knew, and never let them out
except in cases of absolute need, and then only to her nearest and dearest
friends. She liked to hint that she knew certain things, and frighten
people out of their wits; preferring to keep them in a state of perpetual
terror, rather than crush them altogether.

This was real talent--the talent of tactics.

We all considered Maria Alexandrovna as our type and model of
irreproachable _comme-il-faut_! She had no rival in this respect in
Mordasoff! She could kill and annihilate and pulverize any rival with a
single word. We have seen her do it; and all the while she would look as
though she had not even observed that she had let the fatal word fall.

Everyone knows that this trait is a speciality of the highest circles.

Her circle of friends was large. Many visitors to Mordasoff left the town
again in an ecstasy over her reception of them, and carried on a
correspondence with her afterwards! Somebody even addressed some poetry to
her, which she showed about the place with great pride. The novelist who
came to the town used to read his novel to her of an evening, and ended by
dedicating it to her; which produced a very agreeable effect. A certain
German professor, who came from Carlsbad to inquire into the question of a
little worm with horns which abounds in our part of the world, and who
wrote and published four large quarto volumes about this same little
insect, was so delighted and ravished with her amiability and kindness
that to this very day he carries on a most improving correspondence upon
moral subjects from far Carlsbad!

Some people have compared Maria Alexandrovna, in certain respects, with
Napoleon. Of course it may have been her enemies who did so, in order to
bring Maria Alexandrovna to scorn; but all I can say is, How is it that
Napoleon, when he rose to his highest, that _too_ high estate of his,
became giddy and fell? Historians of the old school have ascribed this to
the fact that he was not only not of royal blood, but was not even a
gentleman! and therefore when he rose too high, he thought of his proper
place, the ground, became giddy and fell! But why did not Maria
Alexandrovna's head whirl? And how was it that she could always keep her
place as the first lady of Mordasoff?

People have often said this sort of thing of Maria Alexandrovna; for
instance: "Oh--yes, but how would she act under such and such difficult
circumstances?" Yet, when the circumstances arose, Maria Alexandrovna
invariably rose also to the emergency! For instance, when her
husband--Afanassy Matveyevitch--was obliged to throw up his appointment, out
of pure incapacity and feebleness of intellect, just before the government
inspector came down to look into matters, all Mordasoff danced with
delight to think that she would be down on her knees to this inspector,
begging and beseeching and weeping and praying--in fact, that she would
drop her wings and fall; but, bless you, nothing of the sort happened!
Maria Alexandrovna quite understood that her husband was beyond praying
for: he must retire. So she only rearranged her affairs a little, in such
a manner that she lost not a scrap of her influence in the place, and her
house still remained the acknowledged head of all Mordasoff Society!

The procurer's wife, Anna Nicolaevna Antipova, the sworn foe of Maria
Alexandrovna, though a friend so far as could be judged outside, had
already blown the trumpet of victory over her rival! But when Society
found that Maria Alexandrovna was extremely difficult to put down, they
were obliged to conclude that the latter had struck her roots far deeper
than they had thought for.

As I have mentioned Afanassy Matveyevitch, Maria Alexandrovna's husband, I
may as well add a few words about him in this place.

Firstly, then, he was a most presentable man, so far as exterior goes, and
a very high-principled person besides; but in critical moments he used to
lose his head and stand looking like a sheep which has come across a new
gate. He looked very majestic and dignified in his dress-coat and white
tie at dinner parties, and so on; but his dignity only lasted until he
opened his mouth to speak; for then--well, you'd better have shut your
ears, ladies and gentlemen, when he began to talk--that's all! Everyone
agreed that he was quite unworthy to be Maria Alexandrovna's husband. He
only sat in his place by virtue of his wife's genius. In my humble opinion
he ought long ago to have been derogated to the office of frightening
sparrows in the kitchen garden. There, and only there, would he have been
in his proper sphere, and doing some good to his fellow countrymen.

Therefore, I think Maria Alexandrovna did a very wise thing when she sent
him away to her village, about a couple of miles from town, where she
possessed a property of some hundred and twenty souls--which, to tell the
truth, was all she had to keep up the respectability and grandeur of her
noble house upon!

Everybody knew that Afanassy was only kept because he had earned a salary
and perquisites; so that when he ceased to earn the said salary and
perquisites, it surprised no-one to learn that he was sent away--"returned
empty" to the village, as useless and fit for nothing! In fact, everyone
praised his wife for her soundness of judgment and decision of character!

Afanassy lived in clover at the village. I called on him there once and
spent a very pleasant hour. He tied on his white ties, cleaned his boots
himself (not because he had no-one to do it for him, but for the sake of
art, for he loved to have them _shine_), went to the bath as often as he
could, had tea four times a day, and was as contented as possible.

Do you remember, a year and a half ago, the dreadful stories that were
afoot about Zenaida, Maria Alexandrovna's and Afanassy's daughter? Zenaida
was undoubtedly a fine, handsome, well-educated girl; but she was now
twenty-three years old, and not married yet. Among the reasons put forth
for Zenaida being still a maid, one of the strongest was those dark
rumours about a strange attachment, a year and a half ago, with the
schoolmaster of the place--rumours not hushed up even to this day. Yes, to
this very day they tell of a love-letter, written by Zina, as she was
called, and handed all about Mordasoff. But kindly tell me, who ever saw
this letter? If it went from hand to hand what became of it? Everyone
seems to have heard of it, but no one ever saw it! At all events, _I_ have
never met anyone who actually saw the letter with his own eyes. If you
drop a hint to Maria Alexandrovna about it, she simply does not understand
you.

Well, supposing that there _was_ something, and that Zina did write such a
letter; what dexterity and skill of Maria Alexandrovna, to have so ably
nipped the bud of the scandal! I feel sure that Zina _did_ write the
letter; but Maria Alexandrovna has managed so well that there is not a
trace, not a shred of evidence of the existence of it. Goodness knows how
she must have worked and planned to save the reputation of this only
daughter of hers; but she managed it somehow.

As for Zina not having married, there's nothing surprising in that. Why,
what sort of a husband could be found for her in Mordasoff? Zina ought to
marry a reigning prince, if anyone! Did you ever see such a beauty among
beauties as Zina? I think not. Of course, she was very proud--too proud.

There was Mosgliakoff--some people said she was likely to end by marrying
_him_; but I never thought so. Why, what was there in Mosgliakoff? True,
he was young and good looking, and possessed an estate of a hundred and
fifty souls, and was a Petersburg swell; but, in the first place, I don't
think there was much inside his head. He was such a funny, new-idea sort
of man. Besides, what is an estate of a hundred and fifty souls, according
to present notions? Oh, no; that's a marriage that never could come off.

                  -------------------------------------

There, kind reader, all you have just read was written by me some five
months ago, for my own amusement. I admit, I am rather partial to Maria
Alexandrovna; and I wished to write some sort of laudatory account of that
charming woman, and to mould it into the form of one of those playful
"letters to a friend," purporting to have been written in the old golden
days (which will never return--thank Heaven!) to one of the periodicals of
the time, "The Northern Bee," or some such paper. But since I have no
"friend," and since I am, besides, naturally of a timid disposition, and
especially so as to my literary efforts, the essay remained on my
writing-table, as a memorial of my early literary attempts and in memory
of the peaceful occupation of a moment or two of leisure.

Well, five months have gone by, and lo! great things have happened at
Mordasoff!

Prince K---- drove into the town at an early hour one fine morning, and put
up at Maria Alexandrovna's house! The prince only stayed three days, but
his visit proved pregnant with the most fatal consequences. I will say
more--the prince brought about what was, in a certain sense, a revolution
in the town, an account of which revolution will, of course, comprise some
of the most important events that have ever happened in Mordasoff; and I
have determined at last, after many heart-sinkings and flutterings, and
much doubt, to arrange the story into the orthodox literary form of a
novel, and present it to the indulgent Public! My tale will include a
narrative of the Rise and Greatness and Triumphant Fall of Maria
Alexandrovna, and of all her House in Mordasoff, a theme both worthy of,
and attractive to any writer!

Of course I must first explain why there should have been anything
extraordinary in the fact that Prince K---- came to Mordasoff, and put up at
Maria Alexandrovna's mansion. And in order to do this, I must first be
allowed to say a few words about this same Prince K----. This I shall now
do. A short biography of the nobleman is absolutely necessary to the
further working out of my story. So, reader, you must excuse me.





CHAPTER II.


I will begin, then, by stating that Prince K---- was not so very, very old,
although, to look at him, you would think he _must_ fall to pieces every
moment, so decayed, or rather, worn-out was he. At Mordasoff all sorts of
strange things were told of him. Some declared that the old prince's wits
had forsaken him. All agreed that it was passing strange that the owner of
a magnificent property of four thousand souls, a man of rank, and one who
could have, if he liked, a great influence, and play a great part in his
country's affairs; that such a man should live all alone upon his estate,
and make an absolute hermit of himself, as did Prince K----. Many who had
known him a few years before insisted upon it that he was very far from
loving solitude then, and was as unlike a hermit as anyone could possibly
be.

However, here is all I have been able to learn authentically as to his
antecedents, etc.:--

Some time or other, in his younger days--which must have been a mighty long
while ago