"After the wedding, there was not even a light meal." 18-year-old girl Anya married 52-year-old official Modest Alekseich. After the wedding, they go to the monastery, on a pilgrimage.
On the train, Modest Alekseich, smiling, recalls one incident: “When Kosorotov received the Order of St. Anne of the second degree and came to thank, His Excellency put it this way: “So, you now have three Anna: one in the buttonhole, two on the neck.” At that time, his wife, a grumpy and frivolous person called Anna, had just returned to Kosorotov. I hope that when I receive Anna of the second degree, His Excellency will have no reason to tell me the same thing. " And Anya thinks that even though she married a rich woman, “she still didn’t have money, and when her father and brothers saw her off today, she saw by their faces that they didn’t have a dime”. After the death of her mother, her father (a teacher of calligraphy and drawing at the gymnasium) Peter Leontich washed down, and Petya and Andryusha (younger brothers and gymnasium students) did not even have boots. “But the familiar ladies began to fuss and began to look for Ani a good man. Soon this very Modest Alekseich was found, not young and not beautiful, but with money. ”
The couple began to live in a government apartment. Anya spent the whole day playing the piano, or cried out of boredom, or read novels and fashion magazines. Modest Alekseich at dinner talked about politics, appointments and awards, that family life is not pleasure, but duty. In society, Modest Alekseich forced Anya to obsequiously bow to people with high ranks. He was greedy when Anya asked him to buy something for her. When Anya came to visit her father and brothers, she felt that they were embarrassed and did not know how to behave. The weak and kind father Pyotr Leontyich played the old harmonium on holidays and still drank. And the brothers “Petya and Andryusha, slender, pale boys with big eyes, took the carafe from him and said perplexedly:“ Don’t, daddy ... Enough, daddy ... “”
Anya’s money got worse after marriage. Only once Pyotr Leontyich asked Anin's husband 50 rubles. Modest Alekseich gave money, but threatened that for the last time, because Peter Leontyich drinks, and this is shameful. And the brothers who came to visit Ana, also had to listen to Anin’s husband’s instructions: “Each person should have his own duties!” Modest Alekseich did not give money, but he gave Anna jewelry, saying that it’s good to have these things about a rainy day. And he often checked: are all things intact.
Long before Christmas Modest Alekseich began to prepare Anya for the traditional winter ball and even gave her 100 rubles for a dress.
The time has come for the ball. Anya shone, charmed even the most indifferent men. Anya himself was noticed even by His Excellency and invited her to lead a charity bazaar. Things from Anin’s hands diverged like hot cakes. “Artynov came up, rich man. Without taking his eyes off Ani, he drank a glass of champagne and paid a hundred rubles, then drank tea and gave another hundred. " Anya "realized that she was created exclusively for this noisy, brilliant, laughing life with music, dancing, fans." She began to be shy of her father: "she was already ashamed that she had such a poor, such an ordinary father."
The next day Artynov came to visit Ana, and then His Excellency. When her husband came, Modest Alekseich, “now he also stood before her with the same servile-respectful expression that she was used to seeing in the presence of strong and noble ones. And with delight, already convinced that there would be nothing for her, she said, clearly pronouncing every word: “Go away, you idiot!”
After this, Ani did not have a single free day, since she took part in a picnic, now in a walk, or in a play. She returned home every day in the morning. She needed a lot of money, but she only sent her husband bills or notes: “immediately pay 100 rubles.”
At Easter Modest Alekseich received Anna of the second degree. His Excellency said to this: "So you now have three Anne: one in the buttonhole, two on the neck." Modest Alekseich replied: “Now it remains to expect the birth of little Vladimir. I dare to ask your excellency to the recipients. ” He hinted at Vladimir IV degree and already imagined how he would talk about this with his pun.
And Anya rode on triples, went hunting with Artynov and less and less visited her father and brothers. Pyotr Leontyevitch drank more than before, there was no money, and the harmonium had long been sold for debt. And when, during walks, he met Anya on a trip with Artynov, “Pyotr Leontyich took off his top hat and was going to shout something, and Petya and Andryusha took him by the arms and said imploringly:“ No need, daddy ... There will be, daddy .. . ""
