The Forged Coupon

Chapter 12

AFTER having got rid of the coupon, Eugene Mihailovich forgot all about

it; but his wife, Maria Vassilievna, could not forgive herself for

having been taken in, nor yet her husband for his cruel words. And most

of all she was furious against the two boys who had so skilfully cheated

her. From the day she had accepted the forged coupon as p*****t, she

looked closely at all the schoolboys who came in her way in the streets.

One day she met Mahin, but did not recognise him, for on seeing her

he made a face which quite changed his features. But when, a fortnight

after the incident with the coupon, she met Mitia Smokovnikov face to

face, she knew him at once.

She let him pass her, then turned back and followed him, and arriving

at his house she made inquiries as to whose son he was. The next day she

went to the school and met the divinity instructor, the priest Michael

Vedensky, in the hall. He asked her what she wanted. She answered that

she wished to see the head of the school. "He is not quite well," said

the priest. "Can I be of any use to you, or give him your message?"

Maria Vassilievna thought that she might as well tell the priest what

was the matter. Michael Vedensky was a widower, and a very ambitious

man. A year ago he had met Mitia Smokovnikov's father in society, and

had had a discussion with him on religion. Smokovnikov had beaten

him decisively on all points; indeed, he had made him appear quite

ridiculous. Since that time the priest had decided to pay special

attention to Smokovnikov's son; and, finding him as indifferent to

religious matters as his father was, he began to persecute him, and even

brought about his failure in examinations.

When Maria Vassilievna told him what young Smokovnikov had done to her,

Vedensky could not help feeling an inner satisfaction. He saw in the

boy's conduct a proof of the utter wickedness of those who are not

guided by the rules of the Church. He decided to take advantage of this

great opportunity of warning unbelievers of the perils that threatened

them. At all events, he wanted to persuade himself that this was the

only motive that guided him in the course he had resolved to take. But

at the bottom of his heart he was only anxious to get his revenge on the

proud atheist.

"Yes, it is very sad indeed," said Father Michael, toying with the cross

he was wearing over his priestly robes, and passing his hands over its

polished sides. "I am very glad you have given me your confidence. As a

servant of the Church I shall admonish the young man--of course with the

utmost kindness. I shall certainly do it in the way that befits my holy

office," said Father Michael to himself, really thinking that he had

forgotten the ill-feeling the boy's father had towards him. He firmly

believed the boy's soul to be the only object of his pious care.

The next day, during the divinity lesson which Father Michael was giving

to Mitia Smokovnikov's class, he narrated the incident of the forged

coupon, adding that the culprit had been one of the pupils of the

school. "It was a very wicked thing to do," he said; "but to deny the

crime is still worse. If it is true that the sin has been committed by

one of you, let the guilty one confess." In saying this, Father Michael

looked sharply at Mitia Smokovnikov. All the boys, following his glance,

turned also to Mitia, who blushed, and felt extremely ill at ease, with

large beads of perspiration on his face. Finally, he burst into tears,

and ran out of the classroom. His mother, noticing his trouble, found

out the truth, ran at once to the photographer's shop, paid over the

twelve roubles and fifty kopeks to Maria Vassilievna, and made her

promise to deny the boy's guilt. She further implored Mitia to hide the

truth from everybody, and in any case to withhold it from his father.

Accordingly, when Fedor Mihailovich had heard of the incident in

the divinity class, and his son, questioned by him, had denied all

accusations, he called at once on the head of the school, told him what

had happened, expressed his indignation at Father Michael's conduct, and

said he would not let matters remain as they were.

Father Michael was sent for, and immediately fell into a hot dispute

with Smokovnikov.

"A stupid woman first falsely accused my son, then retracts her

accusation, and you of course could not hit on anything more sensible to

do than to slander an honest and truthful boy!"

"I did not slander him, and I must beg you not to address me in such a

way. You forget what is due to my cloth."

"Your cloth is of no consequence to me."

"Your perversity in matters of religion is known to everybody in the

town!" replied Father Michael; and he was so transported with anger that

his long thin head quivered.

"Gentlemen! Father Michael!" exclaimed the director of the school,

trying to appease their wrath. But they did not listen to him.

"It is my duty as a priest to look after the religious and moral

education of our pupils."

"Oh, cease your pretence to be religious! Oh, stop all this humbug

of religion! As if I did not know that you believe neither in God nor

Devil."

"I consider it beneath my dignity to talk to a man like you," said

Father Michael, very much hurt by Smokovnikov's last words, the more so

because he knew they were true.

Michael Vedensky carried on his studies in the academy for priests,

and that is why, for a long time past, he ceased to believe in what he

confessed to be his creed and in what he preached from the pulpit; he

only knew that men ought to force themselves to believe in what he tried

to make himself believe.

Smokovnikov was not shocked by Father Michael's conduct; he only thought

it illustrative of the influence the Church was beginning to exercise

on society, and he told all his friends how his son had been insulted by

the priest.

Seeing not only young minds, but also the elder generation, contaminated

by atheistic tendencies, Father Michael became more and more convinced

of the necessity of fighting those tendencies. The more he condemned the

unbelief of Smokovnikov, and those like him, the more confident he

grew in the firmness of his own faith, and the less he felt the need

of making sure of it, or of bringing his life into harmony with it. His

faith, acknowledged as such by all the world around him, became Father

Michael's very best weapon with which to fight those who denied it.

The thoughts aroused in him by his conflict with Smokovnikov, together

with the annoyance of being blamed by his chiefs in the school, made him

carry out the purpose he had entertained ever since his wife's death--of

taking monastic orders, and of following the course carried out by some

of his fellow-pupils in the academy. One of them was already a bishop,

another an archimandrite and on the way to become a bishop.

At the end of the term Michael Vedensky gave up his post in the school,

took orders under the name of Missael, and very soon got a post as

rector in a seminary in a town on the river Volga.