It was the benefit night of Fenogcnov, thc tragic
actor. They were acting "Prince Serebryany". The tragedian himself was playing
Vyazemsky: Limonadov, the stage manager, was playing Morozov; Madame Bcobahtov.
Elena. The performance was a grand success. The tragedian accomplished wonders
indeed. When he was carrying off Elena, he held her in one hand above his head
as he dashed across the stage. He shouted, hissed, banged with his feet, tore
his coat across his chest. When he refused to fight Morozov, he trembled all
over as nobody ever trembles in reality, and gasped loudly. The theatre shook
with applause. There were endless calls. Fenogenov was presented with a silver
cigarette-case and a bouquet tied with long ribbons. The ladies waved their
handkerchiefs and urged their men to applaud, many shed tears... But the one who
was the most enthusiastic and most excited was Masha, daughter of Sidoretsky the
police captain. She was sitting in the first row of the stalls beside her papa;
she was ecstatic and could not take her eyes off the stage even between the
acts. Her delicate little hands and feet were quivering, her eyes were full of
tears, her cheeks turned pater and paler. And no wonder - she was at the theatre
for the first time in her life. "How well they act! How
splendidly!"she said to her papa the potice captain, every time the curtain
fell. "How good Fcnogcnov is! "And if her papa had been capable of reading faces
he would have read on his daughter’s pale little countenance a rapture that was
ahnost anguish. She was overcome by the acting, by the play, by the
surroundings. When the regimental band began playing between the acts, she
chased her cycs, exhausted. "Papa!" she said to the police captain during the
last interval, "go behind the scenes and ask them all to dinner
tomorrow!" The police captain went behind the scenes.praised
them for all their fine acting, and complimented Madame Bcobahtov."Your lovely
face demands a canvas, and I only wish I could wield the brush ! "And with a
scrapc, he thereupon invited the company to dinner. "All except the fair sex, "
he whispered. "I don’t want the actresses, for I have a daughter. "
Next day the actors dined at the police captain’s. Only three turned up,
the manager Limonadov, the tragedian Fcnogcnov, and the comic man Vodolazov; the
others sent excuses. The dinner was a dull affair Limonadov kept telling
the police captain how much he respected him, and how highly he thought of all
persons in authority; Vodolazov mimicked drunken merchants and Armenians; and
Fenogenov, a tall .stout little Russian with black cyes and frowning brow,
declaimed "At the portals of the great, " and "To be or not to be."Limonadov,
with tears in his cycs.described his interview with the former Governor. General
Kanyutchin. The police captain listened, was bored, and smiled affably. He was
well satisfied, although Limonadov smelt strongly of burnt feathers, and
Fenogcnov was wearing a hired dress coat and boots trodden down at heel. Thcy
plcascd his daughtcr and made her lively, and that was enough for him. And Masha
never took her eyes off the actors. She had never before scen such clever,
exceptional people! In the evening the police captain and Masha
were at the theatre again. A week later the actors dined at the police captain’s
again.and after that came almost every day either to dinner or supper. Masha
became more and more devoted to the theatre, and went there every
evening. She fell in love with the tragedian. One fine morning,
when the police captain had gone to meet the bishop, Masha ran away with
Limonadov’s company and married her hero on thc way. After celebrating the
wedding, the actors composed a long and touching letter and sent it to the
police captain. It was the work of their combined efforts. The
answer to this letter was most discomforting. The police captain disowned his
daughter for marrying, as he said, "a stupid, idle little Russian with no fixed
home or occupation." Which of the following words CANNOT describe the police captain as a
father