Boris Trofimov - Portartur. 1940

– From you, Tikhon, you can make a singer, even for the stage.

– I would never become an artist. But I love to sing. Occasionally sing something for friends is not bad.

Vale suddenly wanted to explain to Tikhon.

– For Wari?

“Varya is a good girl, but I did not give her any reason…”

– I can see…

Tikhon’s cheeks were covered with a blush.

– Listen, Quiet, I want to give you a riddle. Are you offended by my joke?

– I am afraid of your jokes only in a big company. Speak

– You decided to marry, and you have two beauties in mind. Both of them you like, and you are sure of success. In what order would you make an offer?

– First to you and last Vare. I’m sure of her, but you are not. And if I had made an offer to Vare, I could not have given you pleasure.

– That’s what you are mocking… But you would have lost. Would I have missed such a falcon?

Valya laughed loudly.

– And what kind of mansion will I take my fairy to?

– Won that came up! We have a different social position, you are the son of a peasant… But the heart, not the reason, participates in the choice of the beloved, “said Valya.

– All this is correct, but not for the husband, but for the beloved.

You’re intolerable boy, – bit her lip, answered Valya. “You argue like an old man, but you, with your dark gray eyes, lad…”

In May, the Inovs were to go to Harbin, and in late April it became known: the session of the court chamber would travel to the Far East in June. Tikhon was included in the session.

– One of your trips can justify your work as a registrar, – said Valya, having heard the news that was pleasant for Podkov.

Tikhon looked at the girl with embarrassment. His heart was beating fast.

five

The fertile plains of Manchuria turned around the Khingan Range before the Podkovin and judicial officials who left Irkutsk for a session. Around treeless, hilly expanse. There were still few villages, but herds of cows were often encountered. The train crossed fields with thick thickets of kaolin and corn. On high beds green soybeans. The fields sown by her seemed like striped fabric.

Delyusto and a member of the judicial chamber Kostinsky did not move away from the carriage window. The comrade of the prosecutor Yerakov, the defender Zverev, the member of the chamber Malinovsky and the chairman of the civil department Baron Taube played cards.

– A rich country lies at our side. Wild and desert country. Even the Chinese learned about its economic opportunities only after the Russian Chinese-Eastern Railway, “said Delyusto.

“The Chinese should be grateful to the Russians for this road,” said Baron Taube.

“Mmmmm,” muttered Zverev, smiling crookedly.

Along the roadway, after three or four kilometers, small fortresses of the railway guard, built to protect them from the Hunhuz, adorned the raids, still flaunted.

Behind Sungarii Bridge, on a large plain, noisy Harbin grew fabulously fast. On the river near the piers there were a dozen and a half beautiful river steamers plying along the Sungari and the Amur from Harbin to Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk and Nikolaevsk. Life in Harbin was in full swing.Huge flat-bottomed barges loaded wheat, beans, bean oil, barley, and eggs. The pipes of flour mills continuously smoked. At the stations, the products were fabulously cheap. The edge rose to life.

The sotolok of the Harbin station stunned Tikhon. Thick crowd of Chinese buzzing on the platform. It was difficult to get through it. Every now and then he was snatching a suitcase with the proposal to take him to the hotel.

– Tikhon, Tikhonya! – Podkovin heard a female voice behind him. – Where are you in a hurry?

– Valya!

Podkovin flushed and lowered his eyes. He became happy, and at the same time something confused him. He was confused.

– Yes hello! – Valya grabbed Tikhon by her free hand and kissed her cheek. – Not expected? Fima is well done, telegraphed.

Placing the suitcase, Tikhon took Valya by the hand, looked into her eyes:

– Hello, Valya!

– Oh, my God, how I missed Irkutsk… You have completely changed. A tunic suits you.

Podkovin looked at the judicial officials.

– You need to talk with the secretary! Let’s go together.

Delas was surprised. Valya met him and said:

– Today release Tikhon Stepanovich to us. We were friends with his sister when I lived in Irkutsk. Tomorrow morning, he will come to you, wherever you indicate.

– I am very happy. Tomorrow he can find us in the hotel “Far East”.

While members of the court chamber sat on dirty cabby cabs, Valya and Tikhon drove past them on a pair of well-groomed horses harnessed to a brand new carriage.

– Seems our registrar? – asked. Malinovsky.

“Yes,” Delauce laughed. – Today he was met by the daughter of a local bank employee. The guy is growing!..

– A sign of the times! – exclaimed Zverev.

6

The train raced between the hills. On the left stood jagged mountain. Podkovina satellites were military and two merchants. “Mount Samson,” said the soldier. “We will see Kinzhou soon.” The strongest position! And here are the first fortifications of the Kvantunsky Peninsula, see – trench belts.

On the left, the Gulf of Tiena was spread. The morning was quiet. The sea drew on itself, and Podkovin did not want to think about war and fortifications. He was full of experiences from Harbin. And at the same time, some awkwardness confused him. It seemed to him that in Harbin, in the presence of Vali, he did and did not say what was necessary.

“That seems to love – and suddenly so much doubt! I am afraid of her, I do not believe her, and therefore I cannot love her. But there is no mile and no find. Soon parted forever. For her, I am a toy, a hopeless raznochinets …”

At a train station in the city of Far, an unfamiliar fair-haired man approached Podkovina.

– I have the honor to introduce myself – Alexander Petrovich Lykov. For the duration of your stay here you are my guest. I carry out the orders of the Inovs. Here is a telegram in which all your signs are described… Fight! Take a suitcase!.. Probably need to notify your colleagues? Come on!..

Holding Tikhon under his arm, Lykov led him between the cars to the nondescript station building. There were fragments of bricks, sleepers, beams, barrels of cement lying around. It was hot and dusty. Pushing the passers-by, rickshaws ran up to Lykov.

– Allow me. I will walk on foot, “said Tikhon, embarrassed, when he saw a half-naked man who obediently stood at attention by the hand-carriage.

Ever and always the same story with the newcomers, – Lykov scoffed. Trying to be as courteous as possible, he took the Shoe under his elbow and sat him in the stroller. The crowd respectfully parted. Cab drivers and station workers, people knew Lykov as a rich man of a petty tyrant; tipsy, he did not give way to major local officials.

“This is my hut,” said Lykov, pointing to the mansion. “A decent house, but here I’ve become damn cheap.” Working hands in abundance.

In the hallway of Lykov and Podkovina, a tall, slender Japanese woman in a rich dress bowed low. She crouched so low that she touched the floor with her knees. Podkovin involuntarily backed away.

– Come in, Tikhon Stepanovich. Meet… My mistress. Sasha-san.

The Japanese woman bowed once again to Podkovin and, straightening out, extended her hand:

– Hello.

The guest looked into the face of the woman – it was beautiful. Crouching and backing back, Sasha-san led Tikhon into the living room and sat in a soft armchair.

– Smoke?

– No, I don not smoke.

“Yu ar notes tuxedo… do you not smoke?” The woman said in surprise. – Yes, yes, I forgot, Russian is very much not smoking… This is good.