him on the cheek.
He rose from the table, and staggering, without cap or coat, directed
his footsteps toward Vankin. The latter was at home.
"You rascal!" he said to Vankin. "Why have you covered me with mud
before the whole world? Why have you slandered me?"
"How; what slander? What are you inventing?"
"And who told everybody that I was kissing Marfa? Not you, perhaps? Not
you, you murderer?"
Vankin began to blink his eyes, and all the fibres of his face began to
quiver. He lifted his eyes toward the image and ejaculated:
"May God punish me, may I lose my eyesight and die, if I said even a
single word about you to any one! May I have neither house nor home!"
Vankin's sincerity admitted of no doubt. It was evident that it was not
he who had gossiped.
"But who was it? Who?" Akhineyev asked himself, going over in his mind
all his acquaintances, and striking his chest. "Who was it?"
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Slanderer, by Anton Chekhov
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLANDERER ***
***** This file should be named 23055.txt or 23055.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/5/23055/
Produced by David Widger
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTR
|