Fifty-Two Stories by Chekhov Anton
Author:Chekhov, Anton [Chekhov, Anton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Classics, Historical
ISBN: 9780525520818
Amazon: 0525520813
Goodreads: 52024701
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: 1883-01-01T08:00:00+00:00
CHAPTER TWO / A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
But she did not think about anything and only wept. When soft, fluffy snow had completely covered Kashtankaâs back and head, and she had sunk into a deep slumber from exhaustion, suddenly the door clicked, creaked, and hit her on the side. She jumped up. A man came out, belonging to the category of customers. As Kashtanka squealed and got under his feet, he could not help noticing her. He leaned down and asked:
âWhere did you come from, pooch? Did I hurt you? Oh, poor thing, poor thingâ¦.Well, donât be angry, donât be angryâ¦Iâm sorry.â
Kashtanka looked up at the stranger through the snowflakes that stuck to her eyelashes and saw before her a short, fat little man with a plump, clean-shaven face, wearing a top hat and an unbuttoned fur coat.
âWhy are you whining?â the man went on, brushing the snow from her back. âWhere is your master? You must be lost. Oh, poor pooch! What shall we do now?â
Catching a warm, friendly note in the strangerâs voice, Kashtanka licked his hand and whined even more pitifully.
âYouâre a nice, funny one!â said the stranger. âA real fox! Well, nothing to be done. Come with me, maybe Iâll find some use for youâ¦Well, phweet!â
He whistled and made a gesture to Kashtanka which could only mean: Letâs go! Kashtanka went.
In less than half an hour she was sitting on the floor of a large, bright room, with her head cocked, looking tenderly and curiously at the stranger, who was sitting at the table eating supper. He ate and tossed her some scrapsâ¦At first he gave her bread and the green rind of cheese, then a small piece of meat, half of a dumpling, some chicken bones, and she was so hungry that she gobbled them up without tasting anything. And the more she ate, the hungrier she felt.
âYour master doesnât feed you very well,â said the stranger, seeing with what fierce greed she swallowed the unchewed pieces. âAnd what a scrawny one! Skin and bonesâ¦â
Kashtanka ate a lot, yet she didnât feel full, only groggy. After supper she sprawled in the middle of the room, stretched her legs and, feeling pleasantly weary all over, began wagging her tail. While her new master sat back in an armchair, smoking a cigar, she wagged her tail and kept trying to decide where she liked it betterâat this strangerâs or at the cabinetmakerâs. At the strangerâs the furnishings were poor and ugly. Apart from the armchairs, the sofa, the lamp, and the rugs, he had nothing, and the room seemed empty. At the cabinetmakerâs, the whole place was chock-full of things: he had a table, a workbench, a pile of wood shavings, planes, chisels, saws, a basin, a goldfinch in a cageâ¦.The strangerâs room had no particular smell, while at the cabinetmakerâs there was always a fog and the wonderful smell of glue, varnish, and wood shavings. Still, being with the stranger had one great advantage: he gave her
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