The Project Gutenberg EBook of The House with the Mezzanine and Other
Stories, by Anton Tchekoff
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Title: The House with the Mezzanine and Other Stories
Author: Anton Tchekoff
Translator: S.S. Koteliansky
Gilbert Cannan
Release Date: December 4, 2008 [EBook #27411]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE HOUSE
WITH THE MEZZANINE
AND OTHER STORIES
BY
ANTON TCHEKOFF
TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY
S. S. KOTELIANSKY
AND
GILBERT CANNAN
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published August, 1917
CONTENTS
THE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINE
TYPHUS
GOOSEBERRIES
IN EXILE
THE LADY WITH THE TOY DOG
GOUSSIEV
MY LIFE
THE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINE
(A PAINTER'S STORY)
It happened nigh on seven years ago, when I was living in one of the
districts of the J. province, on the estate of Bielokurov, a landowner,
a young man who used to get up early, dress himself in a long overcoat,
drink beer in the evenings, and all the while complain to me that he
could nowhere find any one in sympathy with his ideas. He lived in a
little house in the orchard, and I lived in the old manor-house, in a
huge pillared hall where there was no furniture except a large divan, on
which I slept, and a table at which I used to play patience. Even in
calm weather there was always a moaning in the chimney, and in a storm
the whole house would rock and seem as though it must split, and it was
quite terrifying, especially at night, when all the ten great windows
were suddenly lit up by a flash of lightning.
Doomed by fate to permanent idleness, I did positively nothing. For
hours together I would sit and look through the windows at the sky, the
birds, the trees and read my letters over and over again, and then for
hours together I would sleep. Sometimes I would go out and wander
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