"Tolstoy, Leo - Albert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolstoy Leo)

magnanimous days of his youth and no longer repented of what he had done.
At that moment he was sincerely and warmly attached to Albert, and firmly
resolved to be of use to him.

IV

Next morning when he was awakened to go to his office, Delesov with a
feeling of unpleasant surprise saw around him his old screen, his old
valet, and his watch lying on the small side-table. "But what did I expect
to see if not what is always around me?" he asked himself. Then he
remembered the musician's black eyes and happy smile, the motif of
Melancolie, and all the strange experiences of the previous night passed
through his mind.

He had no time however to consider whether he had acted well or badly by
taking the musician into his house. While dressing he mapped out the day,
took his papers, gave the necessary household orders, and hurriedly put on
his overcoat and overshoes. Passing the dining-room door he looked in.
Albert, after tossing about, had sunk his face in the pillow, and lay in
his dirty ragged shirt, dead asleep on the leather sofa where he had been
deposited unconscious the night before. "There's something wrong!" thought
Delesov involuntarily.

"Please go to Boryuzovski and ask him to lend me a violin for a couple of
days," he said to his manservant. "When he wakes up, give him coffee and
let him have some underclothing and old clothes of mine. In general, make
him comfortable - please!"

On returning late in the evening Delesov was surprised not to find Albert.

"Where is he?" he asked his man.

"He went away immediately after dinner," replied the servant. "He took the
violin and went away. He promised to be back in an hour, but he's not here
yet."

"Tut, tut! How provoking!" muttered Delesov. "Why did you let him go,
Zakhar?"

Zakhar was a Petersburg valet who had been in Delesov's service for eight
years. Delesov, being a lonely bachelor, could not help confiding his
intentions to him, and liked to know his opinions about all his
undertakings.

"How could I dare not to let him?" Zakhar replied, toying with the fob of
his watch. "If you had told me to keep him in I might have amused him at
home. But you only spoke to me about clothes."

"Pshaw! How provoking! Well, and what was he doing here without me?"